Manna for Ministers IV

back Manna
more Manna
 

 

 

How evangelical and charismatic churches can minister together in unity & power

For the sake of love, give up a little in your practices to gain a lot in unity in the body of Christ

Our purpose is to train believers how to minister healing in the context of proclaiming the Kingdom of God; that is, winning souls. Thus our teaching on healing need not focus on the gifts of the Holy Spirit which are primarily for ministry to the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12). Rather it can focus on the principles found in Scripture underlying the healing ministry of Jesus Christ Himself and His early disciples of which the primary purpose was to draw the lost to the Kingdom of God. Such Scriptural references to their healing miracles abound in the New Testament and provide powerful support for the teaching. In brief, Jesus and his disciples healed the sick primarily through the exercise of authority and not through spiritual gifts which were available only after the Day of Pentecost. Even in Acts, most of the healings recorded were through the exercise of authority. These references in the New Testament in fact outnumber the references to the "gifts of healings" and provide much detail about the exercise of authority.

Manifestations commonly present during charismatic healing services such as speaking in tongues and people being "slain in the Spirit" are in fact not necessary in an evangelistic setting. They were not present in the healing ministry of Jesus and His early disciples. The sick are simply healed of physical infirmities without having to fall down, and people come to Christ. In such an atmosphere both evangelical and charismatic believers feel comfortable. Strictly speaking, scriptural support for the manifestation of being "slain in the Spirit" is scant, and this is the primary reason for the controversy surrounding it within the body of Christ. Such peripheral manifestations should be minimized in public meetings for the sake of unity in the body of Christ. Moreover, there is a scriptural injunction against speaking in tongues outloud in public unless accompanied by an interpretation.

The Apostle Paul taught in Romans 14:21 that "It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother to fall." It is better to limit our public freedom in non-essential areas that can cause division between brothers and within the body of Christ. The charismatic manifestation of being "slain in the Spirit" falls into this category. For the sake of love toward one's non-charismatic brethren and for unity in Christ's body, its practice in public meetings should be limited. (Of course, in meetings where everyone present understands the manifestation, believers are free to enjoy this blessing.)

This is one important key in bringing evangelical and charismatic churches together to minister in power.

Christ Himself emphasized the necessity of unity for the fulfillment of the Great Commission:

"I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me." (John 17:20-23)

The Great Commission given to the Church by Jesus Christ consists of proclaiming and convincing the world that God sent Jesus into the world as our Savior and Redeemer. We are commanded to make all nations His disciples. This will be fulfilled when we have "become perfectly one." It is clear that unity in the Church is a requirement for the fulfillment of the Great Commission.

This unity and power was demonstrated in Perth, Australia when a traditional evangelical church and a full gospel church came together to host a Crusade in May 2002. In this historic meeting the Lord used believers from both churches to minister healing to the sick to confirm the gospel. As a result of the miraculous healings and the word of God, an unprecedented number of Vietnamese Buddhists and idol-worshippers came to Christ.

Click here for the Report on this Vietnamese Crusade
Reconciliation between evangelicals and charismatics
Evangelicals minister healing without becoming charismatic

 

 

 

Truth vs. truth: does God will to heal everyone?

There are truths and there is a Truth, and there are priorities as well as Priorities. The truth that God desires to heal everyone might be scriptural, but there is a Truth that transcends it---God desires to save the lost. If the Church is going to accomplish this---the Great Commission---the Church must be united. Evangelical churches will not accept the “truth” that God desires to heal everyone. The moment one presents and insists on that “truth” in an open meeting of believers, one has lost an element of unity with evangelical brethren. They will have difficulty ministering together with those who hold to that truth in preaching the gospel and ministering to the sick. For the sake of unity, we should consider an "alternative truth," one that evangelical believers can accept readily---that God can sovereignly choose not to heal someone. This truth also has scriptural support.

Yes, having every sick person healed is indeed a priority, a wonderful priority at that. But there is also a Priority---that every sinner hear the gospel of eternal life and see it confirmed through power encounters and miraculous signs so that they may believe. And I am convinced that Priority cannot be addressed effectively until the Church is one. Believers who have this priority should consider giving it up for the sake of the Priority. We should be willing to give up a little in order to gain a far greater benefit for the Kingdom of God, to give up a "peripheral truth" for the sake of the success of the Truth. We should minor in minors, and major in majors. It is more important for the Church to be one than for every sick person to be healed.

Some may be concerned that if we "compromise" on the word of God regarding this issue, not only will the Lord be displeased but our faith will be weakened. As a result we will not witness the miracles of healing that God desires to perform. I do not believe this will happen. When we give up a truth for the Truth, there will be no loss of power and authority to minister healing as we proclaim the Kingdom of God. The Lord is pleased with unity and will release His healing power and anointing in even greater measure than before.

Psalm 133:1 How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity! 2 It is like precious oil (anointing) poured on the head, running down on the beard, running down on Aaron’s beard (we New Testament believers are also priests), down upon the collar of his robes. 3 It is as if the dew of Hermon were falling on Mount Zion. For there the LORD bestows his blessing, even life forevermore.

The body of Christ will be able to preach “life forevermore” with far greater power and anointing when brothers live together in unity. In these last days, the Father is giving Priority to answering the prayer of Jesus in John 17.21:

"that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in you; that they also may be one in Us; that the world may believe that You sent Me."

During these endtimes, the body of Christ must be one in order that the Great Commission be fulfilled, that the world may believe that Jesus is sent by the Father. After that, Christ will return. For this reason we should be willing to give up our priorities for the Priority.

Having presented the above, I would add that each person has their own calling in the body of Christ. Some have been called to a healing ministry to a certain segment of the body of Christ where they can reasonably teach the "truth" that God desires to heal everyone.

 

 

The new and scriptural model of evangelism

Mass evangelism usually focuses on a single gifted preacher who performs most of the ministry in a very large and expensive venue like a stadium. He (or she) can be a very powerful and anointed speaker. Many sinners may convert to Christ when the invitation is given.

Outside of the industrialized West, mass Crusades are often even larger and involve an added dimension: miraculous healings of the infirm. But as in the West, the one anointed servant of God does all the preaching and the many miracles take place only as he ministers or prays for the sick. After the Crusade is over, the miracles cease and the excitement dies down. It is generally back to business as usual in the participating churches after the anointed servant of God leaves. Generally, only charismatic or pentecostal churches are involved in such Crusades, and evangelical churches choose not to participate. This potentially erodes the unity of the body of Christ.

The primary goal of mass evangelism is the fulfillment of the Great Commission. This goes beyond simply preaching the gospel. The Great Commission also includes discipling the nations and new believers after they receive Christ. Therefore participating local churches should be growing if mass evangelism is performing its intended function. But this is not generally the case.

In the industralized West, only a tiny percentage of people accepting Christ at a Crusade actually ends up joining and being discipled in a local church. The rest are "lost." The statistics are even worse for mass Crusades on the mission field. In Indonesia, for example, thousands of Muslims accepted Christ at a Crusade held last year in the Indonesian city of Bandung after they saw great miraculous healings and heard the gospel. But due to the protest of a mainline Christian denomination against this very high-profile event, the meetings were stopped by the local government. Moreover, Muslim pressure against the new believers ensured that virtually none of them could be followed up and discipled.

Today the Lord is restoring to the Church a scriptural model of evangelism which will enable churches and believers to fulfill the Great Commission.

• In this model based on John 14:12, "ordinary" disciples of Christ will preach the gospel and minister miraculous healing in low-budget, low-profile, relatively small (or even one-on-one) meetings. When the listeners see the miracles and hear the gospel, their hearts will be open to accepting Christ.

• The new believers will be followed up by the believing friend, family member, neighbor, or business associate who brought them to the meeting. Such personal follow-up of new believers will be more effective than the impersonal follow up after large mass crusades. There is a far greater likelihood that the new believer will join the church and be discipled for Jesus Christ.

• This kind of evangelism involving miraculous healings and the demonstration of the Spirit's power is through ordinary disciples and therefore not dependent on the presence of a specially gifted and anointed minister. As such, evangelism of this kind can be an ongoing and continuous feature of the life of every local church.

• This model of evangelism is not based on the charismatic gifts of the Holy Spirit but rather on principles gleaned from the ministry of Jesus Himself. Thus both conservative evangelical as well as charismatic pentecostal believers are able to preach the gospel in this way and even work together in a spirit of unity.

• When every church is equipped with the new model of evangelism, the Body of Christ will be significantly closer to the fulfillment of the Great Commission.


How did the Apostle Paul preach the gospel?

1 Corinthians 2:1 When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. 2 For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 4 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, 5 so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power.

Hebrews 2:4 God bearing witness with them by both miraculous signs and wonders, and by various works of power, even by distribution of the Holy Spirit, according to His will.

For the most part, the Church has not emulated the example of Paul in its presentation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Often we preach the gospel with persuasive words deriving from man's wisdom and philosophy. In the West in particular, needy people are drawn to churches through very positive messages of encouragement that minister to people's "felt needs." However large a church may grow with new souls through this type of preaching, there is a diversion from the main focus of evangelism which should be Jesus Christ and him crucified. Why has this taken place?

Part of the reason is due to the lack of a demonstration of the Spirit's power when the gospel is preached today. The visible demonstration of miraculous healings accompanying Paul's preaching was convincing proof to the listeners that Jesus Christ had indeed suffered on the cross to save them from sin and death. No eloquence of superior wisdom was needed. But since this visible demonstration is for the most part lacking today in our churches, we tend rather to minister to people's "felt needs" as a means of evangelism. This approach may indeed bring many new people into a church. It may in fact be important in the teaching and discipleship of born-again believers. However if we use it as an evangelistic tool to reach the lost we run the risk of them ultimately basing their faith on men's wisdom and not on God's power. Of course this approach would appear preferable to running the risk of proclaiming God's power to heal in a gospel meeting but then no miracles taking place. This is the spirit of fear that restrains the Church from proclaiming the gospel the way Paul did.

But God is restoring the Apostle Paul's model of evangelism to the Church. During September 2004 in Indonesia, the largest Muslim nation in the world, Brother Bill and his team witnessed Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, and idol-worshippers come to Christ as the gospel was preached in the way that Paul taught. First, Jesus Christ was presented in a very concise way as the Savior who suffered on the cross and the only way to the Father. Then trained local disciples of Christ---at times both evangelical and charismatic---were called to minister healing to the infirm at the meetings to prove that the gospel as presented was indeed true. The sick, both believers and non-believers, were healed in Christ's name and came forward to testify. (No manifestations such as people being "slain in the Spirit" occurred.) Only then the invitation to accept Christ was given. Because the listeners saw the demonstration of the Spirit's power and heard the message of Jesus Christ and Him crucified, they responded to the call.

Indonesia: Six Cities Witness the New Model of Evangelism


 

Christ is now fulfilling his promise in John 14:12

John 14:12 Most assured, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also...

The context of this verse indicates that believers will be doing works---especially miracles---that provide evidence for the deity of Jesus Christ and the proof that he is the only way to the Father.

The preceding verse (John 14:11) reads, "Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves." (NIV) John 14:12 then tells us that believers will be doing these same miracles for the very same purpose of providing evidence to the lost that Jesus is the Son of God.

Going back a few more verses, 14:6 reads "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." Thus the miracles are also the proof that Jesus is the only way to the Father as His Son.

In the year of 2004 The Elijah Challenge held Seminars and Crusades in Nigeria (Port Harcourt, Abba, Babbe Kingdom), Burkina Faso, California, Australia (Perth, Melbourne, Sydney), Malaysia, Philadelphia, Indonesia, and Nigeria (Enugu, Onitsha, Port Harcourt). In each Seminar, "ordinary" local disciples of Christ were trained to heal the sick as Jesus did for the express purpose of proving to the lost that Jesus is the only way to the Father. Then in the evangelistic Crusade following the Seminar, these believers healed the sick in front of the crowds after the gospel was preached. In every Crusade, Jesus performed miraculous healings through the believers. No strange or controversial manifestations---like people being "slain in the Spirit"---occurred. No unusual practices---like tossing one's jacket or a towel over the sick person---were observed. We are not saying that these practices are not of God. However, we saw the sick being healed just as they were healed in the ministry of Jesus. This is the beginning of the fulfillment of His promise in John 14:12.

When the invitation to accept Christ as Lord and Savior was given, the lost streamed forward to accept Christ as never before. They had heard the gospel and seen the confirming miracles.

The Church has entered the time of the "latter rain" when she is being restored "without spot or wrinkle" in preparation for the Second Coming of the Bridegroom. Walls separating evangelicals and charismatics are being broken down as they are trained side-by-side in the Seminars and as they heal the sick side-by-side in the Crusades to confirm the truth of the gospel. No longer will the Church be dependent on a handful of world-class evangelists to do this type of evangelism. Instead, a huge army of foot soldiers, each equipped with the spiritual equivalent of an M-16, is being raised up to complete the Great Commission. The weapon given to each foot soldier is authority over disease and demons for proclaiming the kingdom of God just as Jesus did.

This is, finally, the beginning of the fulfillment of John 14:12. Now is the time for the New Model of Evangelism.

 

 

Is it necessary to be in good health to minister healing to others?

We know that the Lord does heal the sick, and that in Scripture He generally used his disciples to minister the healing. “Conventional wisdom” and just common sense would seem to tell us that we ourselves would need to be in good health before we could be vessels of healing to others. We all desire good health. But does Scripture teach that the Lord cannot use the sick to minister healing to other sick people?

To answer this question, let us focus on Elisha. He performed awesome miracles after receiving a double portion of the spirit of the mighty prophet Elijah. However, it’s not commonly known that he himself died of an illness.

2 Kings 13:14 Now when Elisha had fallen sick with the illness of which he was to die…

We could reasonably assume that Elisha did not want to die, but asked the Lord to heal him. Even if this were not the case, it is clear that it was not the Lord’s will to heal his servant, but to take home to heaven this man of faith and authority. Sometimes God's will is not to heal.

2 Kings 13:20-21 So Elisha died, and they buried him. Now bands of Moabites used to invade the land in the spring of the year. And as a man was being buried, behold, a marauding band was seen and the man was thrown into the grave of Elisha, and as soon as the man touched the bones of Elisha, he revived and stood on his feet.

Elisha was so anointed with power when he was alive that even contact with his bones by a corpse after his death brought the dead man back to life. Yet he himself died of an illness. How can we explain this paradox?

The Lord performs miracles of healing through His servants for the primary purpose of bringing glory to His name and drawing sinners to saving faith in Him. But believers are already saved and thus do not absolutely need to witness miracles of healing in their own bodies.

From the different perspective of the believers’ authority over disease and demons in the context of proclaiming the kingdom of God, that authority along with mountain-moving faith resides in the spirit of the believer. In contrast, disease resides separately in our physical bodies. Thus there is no necessary relationship between a believers’ authority in Christ to heal the sick and his own physical health.

We can conclude therefore that an infirm believer who has not been healed by the Lord should not feel somehow unqualified to minister healing to others.

Having said all this, however, “I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul.” (3 John 1:2)

 


 

An unintended consequence of western worldview
on the Great Commission

There are hundreds of thousands of Asian Buddhists in North America. Generally, the Asian churches---predominantly Chinese or Vietnamese---have been ineffective in reaching them. To the contrary, Buddhist groups have been known to purchase church buildings from western congregations and turn them into temples of idol-worship. My conviction is that this has taken place because Asian churches in North America (or whose roots are from more mainstream Western missionary organizations) have adopted a western worldview in which miraculous healings from God no longer occur, or are no longer important in the preaching of the gospel as it was during the time of the gospels and Acts. A third school of thought holds that only charismatic or pentecostal churches operate in the area of miraculous healings, and therefore the practice and the teaching thereof is to be view with skepticism and great caution by respectable evangelicals. When such a worldview takes root in the mainstream Church of a society, then miraculous healings as seen in the New Testament to confirm the validity of the gospel will be either rare or non-existent. This goes a long way in explaining the failure of the Asian churches to effectively evangelize the Buddhists in North America. It is also an important part of the reason why the Church has for the most part failed to fulfill the Great Commission in Muslim, Hindu, and Buddhist countries around the world.

The western theological stance regarding miraculous healings needs to be re-examined in the light of the fulfilment of the Great Commission and Christ's impending Second Coming. Should for the sake of the Great Commission we consider adopting a Middle Eastern perspective---taken from the culture in which the New Testament was written---on the issue of miracles?

And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you might have life in His name. (John 20:30-31)

 

 

Has the Church taken a step backwards to the Old Testament?

Luke 4:31 Then He went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and was teaching them on the Sabbaths. 32 And they were astonished at His teaching, for His word was with authority. 33 Now in the synagogue there was a man who had a spirit of an unclean demon. And he cried out with a loud voice, 34 saying, “Let us alone! What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Did You come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!” 35 But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet, and come out of him!” And when the demon had thrown him in their midst, it came out of him and did not hurt him. 36 Then they were all amazed and spoke among themselves, saying, “What a word this is! For with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits, and they come out.” 37 And the report about Him went out into every place in the surrounding region.

The people were astonished at Jesus because here was a flesh-and-blood human being just like them, but who had the amazing authority to command evil spirits. As far as they knew, God in heaven above had this authority and could do all things, but one of their own?

Eventually it was understood that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, God incarnate in human flesh. He died on the cross to bear our sins so that our sins could be forgiven. Through His blood and the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, we can become more and more like Him in holiness. But there was an additional dimension known to the early Church that has been forgotten and neglected by the contemporary Church.

John 14:11-12 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing… (NIV)

Luke 9:1 When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, 2 and he sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. …6 So they set out and went from village to village, preaching the gospel and healing people everywhere.

Luke 10:1 After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. …9 Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God is near you.’ 17 The seventy-two returned with joy and said, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.”

Not only did He give His disciples the power to become like him in character and holiness, He also gave them the power and authority to do miracles just as He did for the purpose of demonstrating to the world that He is indeed the Son of God, the only way to the Father. The Book of Acts records many miracles, especially healings, done by the apostles and disciples as they proclaimed the Christ.

Mark 16:15 He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. …17 And these signs will accompany those who believer: In my name… 18 they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.” 20 Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it.

It is clear that in the early church, the disciples become like their Master not only in holiness, but also in the power to perform miracles, especially healing, to demonstrate the truth of the gospel.

But eventually this grace was no longer manifest. Some doctrines even taught that the age of miracles done through disciples of Christ had completely ceased. Now that the Holy Bible was available, miracles were no longer necessary. However, whatever may be the validity of this teaching, it does not hold for those many people groups on earth to whom the word of God is not available and to whom it has never been preached.

Surprisingly, even among those disciples who do not hold to this cessationist position, miracles are quite rare. They believe that God’s power is available to the Church today as it was in the Book of Acts, but the reality is that this power is not in evidence today.

The situation has been reduced nearly to what it was before Christ appeared. At that time, it was: “God in heaven (the God of the Old Testament) has all power and can do all things, but who are we? We human beings are nothing; we can only wait on Him to move according to His will and time.” The man Jesus Christ proved to be the exception and taught that His disciples could do what He did. Now, two thousand years later, it is back to square one: “We all know that God in heaven (now consisting of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) can do anything. But we sinners saved by grace can do absolutely nothing but trust Him.” We know that God can do anything and are certain that we cannot. There is some truth to this, but regrettably it is only part of the story. The rest of the story is generally ignored.

In terms of the power and authority that Christ gave His disciples to proclaim His kingdom as evidenced in Acts, it is almost as if He never came. This is why the Church has failed to fulfill the Great Commission even though nearly two thousand years have elapsed since it was given by Her Lord and King.

But since we are in the last days, the King is restoring His power and authority to His bride. He is our High Priest, our Prophet, and King. We have already heard about the Church’s priestly anointing and her prophetic anointing. Now we are going to hear of the kingly anointing. This primarily consists of power and authority to destroy God’s enemies for the purpose of increasing His kingdom and His peace on earth before His return.

The prototypical king of the Old Testament was David.

1 Samuel 17:8 Goliath stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, “Why do you come out and line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose a man and have him come down to me. 9 If he is able to fight and kill me, we will become your subjects; but if I overcome him and kill him, you will become our subjects and serve us.” 10 Then the Philistine said, “This day I defy the ranks of Israel! Give me a man and let us fight each other.” 11 On hearing the Philistine’s words, Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified. …23 As he was talking with them, Goliath, the Philistine champion from Gath, stepped out from his lines and shouted his usual defiance, and David heard it. 24 When the Israelites saw the man, they all ran from him in great fear.

This is the typical response of the Church when confronted by present-day Goliaths like Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and witchcraft. We dare not to challenge them or their gods like Elijah challenged the servants of Baal on Mt. Carmel. In contrast, God gave David a kingly anointing, perhaps a different spirit.

1 Samuel 17:26 David asked the men standing near him, “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel? Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?” …45 …I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46 This day the LORD will hand you over to me, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. Today I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel.

We see here some ingredients of the kingly anointing:

• absolutely no fear, but rather great boldness and zeal for the Lord
• an understanding that the LORD uses His earthly king to come directly against the enemy in His name
• the earthly king exercises violence to destroy the LORD’s enemies
• the LORD's power is behind the victory and He receives the glory

We are certainly not advocating physical violence here. Rather, in these last days the Lord is restoring the kingly anointing to the Church to heal the sick and cast out demons in Christ’s name to demonstrate to the lost that the Kingdom of God is near. (Luke 10:9) Only when Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and idol-worshippers see great miraculous signs done through the disciples of the Great King will they acknowledge that our God is the true God.

No longer will the Church act like Israelites in the desert who followed Jehovah in the cloud from a distance. But we will realize what it means to have the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit live in us in terms of kingly power and authority in our daily lives on earth.

 

 

 

What was the purpose of the initial infilling of the Holy Spirit in Acts?


The immediate effect of the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples was not so much an enduement of power for healing the sick, but rather of boldness and power to speak forth as Christ’s witnesses. Prior to the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples in Acts 2, Jesus had already given them a measure of his authority to heal the sick and cast out demons for the purpose of preaching the kingdom of God. Even in the gospels, the disciples were doing miraculous healings to confirm that Jesus was the Messiah.

Luke 9:1 When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, 2 and he sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.

Luke 10:1 After this the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. …9 “Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God is near you.’”

Of course it is likely that their effectiveness in healing the sick increased after the coming of the Spirit, but this was not His primary purpose. What does the Scripture say in Acts?

Acts 1:8 “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

They were to receive power to be witnesses for Jesus Christ when the Holy Spirit came upon them. By definition a witness testifies or speaks on behalf of someone else. In a court of law, for example, the witness speaks on behalf of the defense or the prosecution. The primary function of a witness in Acts is to speak on behalf of the One who sends us, Jesus Christ.

Acts 2:1 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

After the Spirit came upon the disciples on the Day of Pentecost, they first began to speak in other tongues. What were they speaking?

5 Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6 When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. ….11 ….we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!”

They were boldly and openly praising God before a crowd of unbelieving Jews, quite a contrast from their timid behavior just a few days earlier after the crucifixion when they were in hiding. They were speaking forth boldly for God.

12 Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?” 13 Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.” 14 Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: …….

Peter, the one who denied Jesus three times several days earlier in fear of losing his life, steps forward before a crowd of thousands and speaks with uncharacteristic and unusual boldness.

37 When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” 38 Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. 40 With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” 41 Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.

The words Peter spoke were powerful---anointed by the Holy Spirit---and convicted the listeners. Some days later, Peter again speaks forth with great power and boldness, this time to a beggar who was hopelessly crippled since birth. Because of this the lame man was healed, resulting in the salvation of many souls.

It is reasonable to conclude that the immediate effect of the Spirit’s coming upon the disciples was not so much simply the power to heal the sick, but rather power and boldness to speak forth in connection with sharing the gospel of Christ, whether to unbelievers or to infirmities or to whatever the situation demanded. The very first manifestation of the Spirit’s coming was not a miraculous healing, but boldness to declare the wonders of God and to witness about Jesus Christ.