Mark 16:15–18 KJV 1900

15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. 16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. 17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; 18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

Signs Follow Faith

it has been called the great commission. The catalyst for a movement that started with a sound from heaven in an upper room some 2,00 years ago, that is still reverberating throughout the land today!

The linchpin for the church to see revival was that call to GO.

Go into all the world

Go and preach the Gospel

Go and baptize them in the name

Go!!

Its only two letter, but it sets the world in motion.

The definition of the word go simply means to move or to proceed, especially on or from something.

and 2,000 years later, it is still the commission to the church…to go into the all of the world and preach the Gospel.

The antonyms and opposites of going is staying, stopping, apathy, inactivity and idleness among an array of other words that can be used.

We must be a going church! We cannot be a staying church! We can not be an idle church!

every force in hell is aligned to stop the church. To dull the urgency that compels the church.

I would say that being a going church…a church that like the tribe of Dan that we looked at Friday night, is increasing its borders…that is moving beyond its present position that is reaching beyond it current influence. It take great intentionality!

You will not accidentally reach your world!

You will not slip into revival

You will not wish your way into the sort of impact that leaves a mark and reaches masses.

I honor your pastor for this weekend of intention.

This weekend to lift our eyes unto the fields that are white unto harvest.

And then following the command to GO, Jesus tells his disciples, the signs will follow them that believe!

Powerful, impacting, transforming signs!

Miracles, signs and wonders!

You will cast out devils in my name!

You will speak with new tongues!

You will lay hands on the sick and they shall recover

Those signs are still present!

A few years ago, a lady in our hispanic congregation called and asked if we could pray for her mother that lived in Mexico who was on her deathbed. We couldn’t get there to pray for her…so we had to call her over Skype. (that was before zoom was the preferred method of video calls). We called and prayed…her body was lifeless, you could see the affect of the disease had worn away her health. But we prayed in the name of Jesus for 10 or 15 minutes and then the call ended.

Early that next morning, the lady in our church, was awakened by the sound of an incoming skype call. She turned on the camera to see her mother leaping up and down, shouting “I’m healed, I’m healed”!!!

Last week my father preached in Ohio, and there was a young lady there....Kelly…A good Roman Catholic girl in her early 30’s. She had been in prison…had lived a rough life. Just three weeks ago she was placed in hospice with stage 4 thyroid cancer. A young man that she knew and had partied with, had gone to a little Pentecostal church outside of Cleveland and received the baptism of the Holy Ghost and his life had been changed…he found out that Kelly was dying of cancer…he called and asked if he could have the Pentecostal pastor in her city come and pray for her.

Pastor came and prayed a prayer of faith…he said that when they walked into the room they thought she was already dead…she looked so sick. He prayed and then told her…we will pray, but kelly, you have to cry out to God!

After everyone had left the room that night, she was laying in the bed filled with pain…and she began to cry out to God…and began to speak with other tongues…Kelly said she witnessed the spirit of cancer leave her body and go out of the room. She slept that night, woke up the next morning, with no pain in her body, and her healthy completely restored!!

These signs shall follow them that believe!

And we love the signs! The signs are powerful…the signs are transforming....but in order for there to be signs, there must be someone moving in faith!

you look at Hebrews chapter 11…the chapter titled the Heroes of faith. We are inspired by the great things that God accomplished through the list of names mentioned in that chapter.

but one thing that they all had in common, before any great works were done through them, there had to be an act of faith!

By faith Abel offered a morce excellent sacrfiice

By faith Enoch walked with God

By faith Noah built an ark

By faith Abraham, when he was called to GO into a place which he should after received for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out

By faith Moses refused to be called he son of Pharoah;s daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God!

And we could continue on and on…But it was when someone stepped out in faith…and said I’m going to offer a sacrifice…I’m going to build an ark…I’m going to walk with God.

That it opened up the door for the miraculous! It paved the way for the supernatural.

Signs Follow Faith!

I can recall at 7 years of age. My father calling the family into the living room in Sedona Arizona and telling us that we were moving to a place called Maryland.

He had started a church in Sedona about 5 years before that and the church was small, but it was growing. He was also selling insurance, and had been the top salesman in company for the year previous. He was just starting to make good money…I remember that we had moved out of the trailer that we had lived in, and moved into a larger house with, at least what seemed to me as a child, a huge yard.

He had gone to an insurance convention where he had been celebrated for his success and the pathway to riches and success was placed before him. He says that the night after all of the celebration, God spoke to him and called him to go to Lexington Park, Maryland and if he didn’t go, he would go down this path of riches and career success and lose his family.

3 months later we were in a Uhaul driving 2,000 miles from the desert of Arizona to the marshes of the Chespeake Bay.

Signs follow faith!

I can remember as a child, our church was mom, dad, myself and my three siblings, and one young man,, Pete, that had moved with our family to help us plant the church…Our chuch was the living room…you didnt have to guess who dad was preaching to!

But I can remember that everyday, my dad would get into the old pinto station wagon and drive, and park in a neighborhood and start knocking doors.

2 weeks after we had been there, he walked into Spring Valley subdivision and started knocking doors…he made his way up a sidewalk and before he could even knock on the door, the door opened a man stepped out, said Jerry Staten, we don’t want you or your family here....you need to get in your car and go back where you came from.

Pete was with my dad, and asked him…How did that guy know you? My dad said, Ive never seen that man in my life, but its just confirmation from the enemy that I am where Im supposed to be!

Signs follow faith!

Before long, my Dad was teaching 6 and 7 bible studies a week…the church outgrew the living room, so we moved into another house and the basement became the church.

The church grew to 30, and then 40 and then 50…the basement was crowded to overflowing!!

My dad had been to a conference where Bro. Jack Yonts, who was the Home missions director at the time, had shared the idea to have business cards made and take them into business owners in your community, and let them know that you are starting a church in the community.

He went into the ford dealership and gave the card to the owner…Mr. Aldridge. Mr. Aldridge said “preacher, if I can ever do anything to help you, you let me know”.

A few weeks later, my dad walked through a neighborhood and there was a vacant building that used to be an old telephone building . The sign in the window said that it was owned by the Aldridge family.

My dad went back to see him, and asked him about that building on Midway Drive…He said...”preacher, you think you can do something with that building”…my dad said, I think we can…He reached in the desk and threw my dad the keys and said go see what you can do with it and we can talk money later.

Christmas for Christ gave the church $10,000 to make the downpayment and for the next 30 years that building would be the home of our church.

Signs follow faith!!

my story about the building campaign in the middle of the recession in 2009.

At the time, the church was growing, the total seating capacity of the church was less than 200 according the fire marshall, but we were packing over 250 in every service.

It was running on one little A/C unit that would give up about halfway through service.

In prayer, god spoke to me that it was time to start a building campaign so that we could build. It was 2009, right in the middle of the recession. Every friend I talked to, advised me it was bad timing. Even the capital campaign group I reached out, told me that NOW was not the best time to do a campaign. But God said Go!

We launched the campaign. around $800,000 in commitments came in to be given over a 3 year period of time.

1 year into it, we planted an involuntary daughter work (church split). By that time, we had started renting an elementary school auditorium for our sunday morning service and the church was running over 300…After we planted that daughter work, the church recoiled back to about 180 on Sunday mornings.

In a building campaign, in the middle of a recession and going through a church split.

But God said Go

Signs follow faith!

We had a little over $300,0000 come in through that campaign. We put into a savings account and prayed.

About 8 years later, we went and looked at a little 5 acre piece of land…it was a great location, but he price was 3.1 million…the average price for an acre of land in a good location, at that time was around $250,000. With our little $300,000 in the bank, we decided to not put an offer on the 3.1 million.

A few months later, the real estate agent called me and said, “pastor, I want you to meet me and this address, I have something you might be interested in”. I drove over there on a Thursday morning and pulled up to this large wooded lot. He told me it was 40 acres, right on one of the main roads in our community

In my head , I was doing the math…if 5 acress is 3 million, then this was going to be way out of our price range.

He said 5 years ago, this property was selling for $10 million. Someone had already put an offer on it and was going to turn it into a housing subdivision.

That deal feel through and then the economy started going downhill

He said, its owned by a family…That family had bought it the same month that our family drove into town from Arizona in 1982.

He said, last week, they brought the price down to $200,000 and they are opening up for people that are interested to buy to make an offer…but you have to have the money ready and available if you are going to buy.

They had 8 offers, ours was the 9th. the next Tuesday, the family chose our offer and God gave us 40 acres for $200,000. Next month we will celebrate our 5 year anniversary in our new building

Signs Follow Faith!

All ive ever known is when god says Go…you Go!

16 years ago, my dad left an established church to go and start another church in Washington D.C. because God said GO!

14 years ago, my brother left an IT position with the government and went to the Republic of Georgia as a missionary because God said Go

Right now, my oldest daughter is working with the missionaries in the nation of Greece, because God said go!!

There is a go in this building today!

IT may not be GO to another country…but there is a call to action…It may be an Abel offering!

It may be a moses called to make a choice today

it may be an Enoch that is being called to Walk with God!

But signs follow faith!

one last, just a very simple story…nothing earth shaking or jaw dropping.

But early in our marriage. We were really struggling financially. I was working for a contractor supporting the military, but was really at that time in an entry level, low income position.

We had a missionary come through and ask us to give a sacrificial offering to support the work. We didn’t have $5 of undesignated funds in our budget, let alone $50…but I felt the Holy Ghost speak to me to write a check for $500. my wife prayed and felt the same amount. So we wrote the check out. At the end of service one of the ladies in the church walked over and gave us a card. We got home and opened the card and inside were 5 $100 dollar bills

signs follow faith!