The Word of God has little or no effect when preached only and not acted out. In the Acts of the Apostles we find the pattern for the Early Church and the Church Age of today. The Word was preached and acted on. Signs, wonders, miracles and healings took place; and people came to the Lord.

Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them (Acts 8:5). Philip didn’t preach politics, a social gospel, current events or sports; he preached Jesus. What happened when Jesus was preached? And the people with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. For unclean spirits, crying with loud voice, came out of many that were possessed with them: and many taken with palsies, and that were lame, were healed. And there was great joy in that city (Acts 8:6-8). The revival was on. When the Word of God is preached in power, love, faith as the Lord wills it to be preached, wonderful things take place. Churches become alive when the whole Word of God is preached through the anointing and power of the Holy Ghost.

Receiving the Holy Ghost, a Command of Jesus

Do we need the Holy Ghost today? Of course. People are not really in a condition to preach until they receive the baptism in the Holy Ghost. Before the disciples began their great work after the Resurrection, Jesus commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence (Acts 1:4,5). They obeyed that command. In the Upper Room the Holy Ghost filled them all, and they spoke in other tongues as the Holy Spirit gave utterance. Simon, who less than two months earlier had failed Jesus in His most trying hour, preached like a man afire after he received the Holy Ghost. His message poured forth in all the power of the Spirit. Immediately the harvest was reaped.

When the Word of God is preached in all the authority, power and anointing of the Holy Spirit, souls are saved.

The Early Church spoke the Word and the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith (Acts 6:7). Later on in Acts 19:20 we read that mightily grew the word of God and prevailed. The Word of God was paramount. God was preached to the people, holiness, clean living, the song of redemption, joy and happiness.

And the disciples were filled with joy, and with the Holy Ghost (Acts 13:52). Jesus told of the joy of the Holy Ghost when He said, He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified) (John 7:38,39). The truth of His words became clear after the Holy Ghost fell at Pentecost and flowed from the Early Church like rivers of living waters. When you have the good Holy Ghost, when He is free to operate in and through you, you are not constantly depressed but an open channel through which His joy can flow.

With joy unspeakable and full of glory, the Early Church preached the Word. Great, wonderful things happened. As they preached the Word, angels came to help them do battle. Peter, imprisoned for preaching the Word, was freed by an angel of the Lord. Peter didn’t call it fanaticism. When he found he hadn’t dreamed his deliverance, he accepted it rejoicing.

The Early Church sought to convert sinners, to tell them the way of life. Jesus died for the sinners, but He named the hypocrites. He exposed sin for what it was and compromised with no one over the Word of God. Many have compromised today by not receiving the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Many have compromised after they received the Holy Spirit when they failed to keep Him bubbling in their hearts.

Nothing Stopped the Early Church

Nothing could stop the Early Church. Persecutions, watching loved ones martyred, hardships drew them closer in the faith and power of God. How many today are ready to give up because someone has done nothing more than be critical?

Stephen preached one of the greatest messages recorded. Even though he was stoned to death for it, that message still lives like fire shut up in the bones of believers today.

The Early Church saw results, immediate results. Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk. And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God (Acts 3:6-8). A crippled man who had never walked was miraculously healed. Many today would call that fanaticism. Why? They simply won’t accept the Word of God.

The apostles prayed: And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word, By stretching forth thine hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus. And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness (Acts 4:29-31). The Lord shook the place when they prayed; but today some would say, “Why, that’s not God; that’s just a plain earthquake.” It was an earthquake of power of the Holy Ghost.

Paul and Silas cast out a demon from a girl. Even the deacons in the Early Church cast out devils. Philip, remember, cast out devils when he was in Samaria; but some preachers say impossible today, that there are no such things as demons and devils.

How long has it been since devils have been cast out in your church? How long since you have seen miracles and healings?

Miracle services were the rule in the Early Church. They started out following Jesus all the way, fasting and praying.

Miracle services must be prepared for by fasting, praying and seeking the face of the Lord, by studying His Word and promises. Let’s get the sick healed; let’s get help from Heaven. All of God’s works are miraculous, and all things are possible with Him. Why should it be so hard to believe these miraculous works?

I love what the Holy Ghost did through the Acts of the Apostles, shaking jail houses, bringing deliverances, casting out devils and healing the sick. The apostles were called these that have turned the world upside down (Acts 17:6). They didn’t have the social gospel; they had the old-time power of the Holy Ghost moving in and through them, for they had been to the Upper Room.

Sharper Than a Two-Edged Sword

Why should no one preach the Word without first being anointed, baptized and yielded daily to the Holy Ghost? Only then does the Holy Ghost have freedom to do the work of the Lord. The Holy Spirit flows that anointing forth. He knows exactly what the listening people need. He feeds their souls from the Word of the Living God.

Some churches have substituted singing for the Word of God. Others have replaced the Word with shouting, while still others have exchanged the Word for intellectual theories that rob it of its power and life. In all these things, the Holy Spirit has been hindered and even completely quenched.

The Word of God must be first and foremost in the Church. It’s the Word that gives strength, happiness, overcoming power to defeat the enemy, to remove fear. For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of the soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart (Hebrew 4:12).

The Word of God defeats the devil. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you (James 4:7). How do you resist the devil?—by using the Word of God, by submitting to God so that He can flow His power in you through the power of the Holy Ghost. When the devil came to Jesus tempting Him, Jesus resisted the devil by telling him what was written in the Scripture. Three times Jesus resisted the devil by using the Scripture (Luke 4:4-12).

God’s Prophecies Endure

What made the prophets of old so wonderful and great? They said thus saith the Lord—God’s words one hundred percent. The distinguishing difference between God’s prophets and false prophets is the accuracy of their words. The Bible clearly shows how to tell the difference. And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the Lord hath not spoken? When a prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him (Deuteronomy 18:21,22). And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him (verse 19). For the Lord your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul (Deuteronomy 13:3). God’s prophets spoke only what God told them. After hundreds and hundreds of years have passed, we are still seeing prophecies being fulfilled today.

God’s words are eternal, like God Himself. You cannot separate God from His Word. When God speaks, His words have great meaning. Yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it (Isaiah 46:11). This wonderful promise in Isaiah is the reason I hold onto the Word of God.

Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away (Mark 13:31). The Word of God is much stronger than people think. Man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live (Deuteronomy 8:3). The Word of God is stronger than the earth you walk on, more powerful than the heavens above. The Word will endure forever. It is so strong that we read in Psalm 107:20, He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions. Why not put your whole trust in the Word of God? Why not claim all that God has provided you?

Find Out for Yourself

Some reach out to the Word of God, only to be discouraged when they hear a preacher say, “Why, that isn’t for us today! Miracles were just for those in Bible days.” They turn their backs on a part of God’s Word, and it goes unfulfilled in their lives. But Hebrews 13:8 says, Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and for ever. This means that the miracles Jesus performed yesterday He will also do today.

Read the Word of God for yourself, claim all the promises for your own. A great price was paid so that you could have all God’s promises working in your life. Value them all. Be careless with none of them. Trust all of His promises, all that God has given you in His Word. Be conscious of what God has made available to His children.

Realize who you are in the Lord, that when you have the good Holy Ghost abiding in your soul, you are full of Him. He is greater than any power that may come against you because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world (I John 4:4).

You don’t have to worry about today or tomorrow; everything will be all right for you when the Holy Spirit is in the driver’s seat. The only way to live the abundant life is to be led by the Spirit, fed by the Spirit, for the Spirit to sing, pray and rejoice through you as you are obedient to the Word of God.

Talking Faith vs. Acting Faith

People say they believe the whole Word of God; but when it comes to acting out the Word, believing it and claiming the promises for their lives, they cry fanaticism. Their actions prove they don’t really believe the Word. Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away (II Timothy 3:5). They go to church, but have denied the power of God. What good does that kind of church attendance do?

Many have talking faith. They tell what God can do, but they don’t really believe He WILL do it. They talk faith—they just don’t use it. The only faith that matters is that which produces, that which is acted out. The rest is no good. The only valid faith is the faith of God that you can use; any other kind of faith is dead. Bury it. It’s useless. You need the faith of God, faith that lives, works and is in action producing results.

A great difference exists between talking faith and acting faith. When a preacher preaches to me, I want him to use Bible faith that lets God confirm what the Word of God says. God confirms His Word. Mark 16:20 tells us that the disciples went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. There is no honest denying of the Word when it is confirmed with signs and wonders. Those who try to deny it are on very dangerous ground.

In this final hour, prepare for any kind of persecution—unless you compromise with Lucifer. Compromising leads you into modernism—which is just as bad as fanaticism. I love the old-time power and the pure Word of God. I repeat what God has said in His Word. I don’t alter or change it at all. I don’t tell you what I believe or what I think. I tell you exactly what God has said in His Word. God said He would heal you; that should be enough. God said He would save you; that’s enough. Of course obedience to God’s commands is required of you; but you must also believe God’s promises, nothing doubting. Be faithful to God in all your ways; trust in Him.

Are you a child of the King? If so, why not claim the promises of God? Eat from the table loaded down with His blessings. Through the power of the Holy Ghost, the Lord offers you wonderful things.

All Things Are Possible with God

Perhaps you have tried in the past to claim God’s promises and failed, but this is a new day. Reach out! Blot out the discouragements of yesterday. Erase from your mind the times you feel that God hasn’t heard or answered your prayers, and let the times of answered prayer for you or someone else come marching before you. Hear the Spirit saying, “The Lord is ready!” With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible (Mark 10:27).

Reach out and touch the Lord; Jesus of Nazareth is passing your way, Jesus, the Son of the Living God! He is within reach. Put your whole trust in the Lord thy God, and forget what man has called impossible. You can’t always depend upon man, but you can upon your God who is alive and alive forever more. Put your whole trust in Jehovah God. He is the great I-Am, not the great I-Used-To-Be; and He is ready to bring deliverance to you.

He Came to Set the Captives Free

Setting the captives free is why Jesus came in the first place. He tells us in Luke 4:18, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised. If you are a captive of sickness, disease, of mental, emotional or financial bondage, Jesus wants to set you free. He came to deliver mankind from sin and sickness.

Have you received deliverance for your sins? Yes? Now you can have deliverance from your sicknesses. Healing belongs to the children of God. The Lord is so gracious with His healing that He passes it to sinners. That proves to me the great love of our God. How could you ever doubt God’s love for you, Child of God, when He even heals sinners? It’s more amazing to me when God doesn’t heal a child of God than when He does. He has promised healing; it’s in the Word.

When the Word of God increases, the miracles and healings increase also. Anywhere the Word of God is preached in all its fullness and power of the Holy Spirit, it produces the miraculous.

If the Word is being preached in your church and no miracles take place, the Word is being preached without power, without the faith of God, without the pure love of God. The Word is not weak; people are weak. When the pure Word is preached in belief, it produces, it brings souls to God. The Lord is diligent to see that His Word performs what it has promised. None of the Word is given without power.

You must be a doer as well as a hearer of the Word in order to see results. Faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works (James 2:17,18). If a minister really has the faith of God, the works of God will surround Him, miracles. I have no monopoly on the miracles and healings of God: God was performing miracles and healing thousands of years before I was born. Miracles and healings are signs that have followed believers down through the years, following those who simply trust the Word of God completely, those who believe what He has done in the past, what He is doing now and what He will do in the future. God has told us many things, but only through the Spirit can we believe.

Unwavering Faith

If you walk in the Spirit you can believe Him unwaveringly. James says, But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways (James 1:6-8). Walk in the Spirit at all times. When you learn to do that, you can believe Him the way He wants you to believe. As long as you are in and out, up and down, one moment believing God and the next not, you will not receive. One moment you think you have a miracle and the next you doubt. It won’t work. Let nothing take the place of the Word of God. Take the Word of God and stand. You are not afraid to stand on the earth; and the Word is much safer to stand on, much stronger. Step out on the living Word and proclaim what God has promised; put all your trust in Him, and be not afraid.

Doubters Don’t Matter When You Receive a Miracle

A woman who hadn’t seen in thirty years received her sight in one of my services. Her husband rushed back into the audience, got a young woman, brought her down and said, “Momma, do you know who this is?” It was her daughter. He ran back into the audience to another young lady and rushed down front with her. “Momma, do you know who this is?” She was introduced to another daughter. The mother was thrilled to death, and people all around her were rejoicing and praising God with her. The family was wild with delight. But then I saw one old doubter who had made his way from the back of the auditorium to stick his hands in front of her face and ask, “Woman, do you see that?” At the time she had both eyes tightly shut and was screaming, “I can see! I can see!” She wasn’t even conscious that he was there. Doubters did not matter to her at all, for she knew she had her miracle and no one could talk her out of it. After thirty years of blindness, she could see her husband and daughters. She was in seventh heaven, a believer who had received her sight—God had done it! How wonderful!

The Bible tells us to have the faith of God, that faith is a gift from God. You can’t merit His faith; you can’t buy it; you can’t shout it down, for God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith (Romans 12:3).

As you go into the Word of God with the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit will increase God’s faith in your heart. So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God (Romans 10:17).

Living in the Upper Room

This is the final hour, the hour to live in the Upper Room. The Lord said, And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh (Acts 2:17). This means we can all live in the Upper Room daily.

What does living in the Upper Room require?—fasting, praying and living the Word of the Living God, fellowshipping with the Lord, with the faith, the love and the Word of God. Then God can do great and wonderful things which edify and bless the children of God, blessings that spill over onto the sinners, enticing and compelling them to come into the Kingdom, too.

Do you love the old-time power? Are you asking the Lord, “Lord, give me more, give me more. Lord, I want all that you have for me”? God’s wonderful, marvelous power is offered you. It’s time to permit the Holy Spirit to have His way in your life, time to look up and let the power of God flow through you and out to others. It’s time to believe God to do everything He has promised to do.

We’re living in the final hour of the Gentiles. The Spirit is letting you know that Jesus is soon coming, telling you to hurry, hurry, do the work of the Lord daily. There is no time to lose. The hour is later than you think. Thank God for the Old Rugged Cross, for His Word, His indestructible Word. It’s alive today and it will work for you. God is ready to perform a work upon you today. Will you let Him? Acknowledge His truth and act on it! And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free (John 8:32).