The Word of God is alive. The Word is full of Life and full of Power. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. ” (John 1:1–2, NIV84) It is possible in our lives to enable to Word of God to grow in power. It is also possible to quench the Word of God (1 Thess 5:19) The question becomes, what can we do to grow the Word.
In Acts, we read an extraordinary account of how the Word of God spread and grew in power. “God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them. Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, “In the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.” Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. One day the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?” Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding. When this became known to the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus, they were all seized with fear, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor. Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed their evil deeds. A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas. In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power. ” (Acts 19:11–20, NIV84)
“In this way the Word of God spread widely and grew in power.” The Word was strong, overcoming, prevailing, spreading, growing.
I notice first that Paul was obedient to his commission to God. Paul was preaching the Gospel and he was demonstrating the Gospel. He healed the sick, cleansed the lepers, cast our demons and raised the dead. I believe that as we are obedient to our Great commission to preach the Gospel that signs and wonders will also follow us. “And these signs will accompany those who believe. ” (Mark 16:17, NIV84) Our obedience to God’s Word empowers the Word to become effective around us.
I notice too that because of the signs and the wonders that “the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor.” The word “honor” means to magnify. It is to make conspicuous, to declare as great, to esteem, to celebrate, to glorify and to praise. I believe that we begin to honor Jesus in our worship, the Word of God will grow in power and will spread. We can and should celebrate Jesus. We can dance, we can shout, we can attribute the glory due Him. Our conspicuous worship of Jesus should not be confined to a church building. Our worship should be the fruit of our lives. Our conspicuous worship of Jesus will cause others to see Him.
Once people saw the power of the Gospel through the obedient preaching and saw the name of Jesus honored, they began to repent. They confessed their sins. They destroyed those things that did not glorify and honor God. They did this publically. Repentance is crucial for the Word to grow in power and influence. Our repentance and our public testimony of how our lives have changed demonstrate to others the power of the Word of God. Repentance and holiness starts with God’s people. As the world sees the power of a holy life (as they did in Paul) they too will be drawn to repent. “if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. ” (2 Chronicles 7:14, NIV84) The power of repentance will cause the life of the Word of God to heal a city, a nation, a land.
Christians who preach the Gospel with their lives and live in obedience to the word of God, demonstrating a repentant and holy life become history makers. These Christians cause the Word of God to grow in power and spread through a city to cause transformation and revival.
