Bill Johnson - How God Plans to Heal and Redeem the Planet
God actually plans to heal the planet; He values this planet. After He made everything, He said, "It's good," and after He made you, He said, "Ah, that's very good." In verse 15, He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature." I like that it says "every creature," not that I intend to lead the mule or deer to the Lord before they're harvested. That was rather brutal; sorry about that. God actually plans to heal the planet; yes, He values it. After He made everything, He said, "It's good," and after He made you, He said, "Ah, that's very good." He recognized the quality of His own work, and His desire isn't to destroy it. His desire is to revive and renew, and the gospel we carry is supposed to encompass a vision of bringing healing to the planet.
If only the unbeliever has the vision for taking care of the planet, they will always make it a god. If only the unbeliever carries the message of bringing healing to the planet, then they will serve the creation and not the Creator. The Church must recover our assignment—not in contempt, nor in a fight, but by stewarding what God has given to us. Preach the gospel to every creature. In verse 16, it says, "He who believes and is baptized will be saved." Don't ever underestimate the power of water baptism. "He who does not believe will be condemned." And these signs will follow those who believe: "In my name, they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; if they drink anything deadly, like coffee, it will by no means hurt them." Thank You, Lord! Grace was extended over coffee; it will by no means hurt them. "They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover."
For a moment, I was listening to a YouTube video—just audio—of John Wesley, as someone was reading from his personal journal. I don't remember all the details, but he was extremely sick, very ill, and this verse came to mind: "These signs will follow those who believe." Now, John Wesley is the father of the whole Methodist movement. He had this verse come to mind, "These signs will follow them who believe," and he prays, experiencing a bizarre supernatural healing of something that was hindering his extensive travels in preaching the gospel. He was able to step back into the pulpit because of the miracle of healing that he experienced in his own body. I love reading the stories of these saints of old who believed in this, but somehow it got removed from the history books. It's true—the Shantung Revival in China, one of the most bizarre Baptist revivals, had almost every manifestation in that revival that happened in Toronto. But in the reprint of the book, all those things are removed to make it clean. Randy Clark printed the original, so you can find it. The point is, these signs follow those who believe. When we have a healing meeting, people will say, "Well, you're not supposed to follow signs; signs are supposed to follow you." Well, my response is, if they're not following you, follow them until they do. If you're in the environment long enough, it'll get on you.
All right, let's wrap it up. In verses 19 and 20, after the Lord had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. They went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen. Read verse 20 again; this is fascinating to me, and I'll tell you why before I read it. Most of the time, we emphasize finding what God is doing and enjoying what He is doing, but in this verse, the emphasis is different. He said the Lord worked with them, and they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Sometimes nothing happens because we haven't said anything. Let me rephrase it: anyone can boldly make a decree after God has shown up and is performing miracles, but show me the person who will make the bold decree before He comes, and I'll show you where He's going to come. The bold decree attracts Him into an environment to confirm His word. Remember, this is His word. People become offended throughout history because someone living an immoral lifestyle prays for the sick and they get healed. Well, I don't like it either, but God's confirming His word; He's not confirming the person. It's never okay, but He still will confirm His word.
Actually, years ago, a woman who was part of this church had a husband who was not a believer. Someone at his workplace asked him how to get saved, and this unbeliever led his workmate to the Lord. That shouldn't be right, but He can do whatever He wants. In Psalms 115, God does as He pleases. This passage reminds me of the one in Acts 4, verse 23. He says, "Take note of their threats." Peter had just been released from prison, so he's praying and says, "God, take note of their threats. They've threatened that if we ever preach in Your name again, they'll harm us." Take note of their threats and grant that your bondservants can speak Your word with all boldness. Now, the previous chapter said they were arrested because they preached with boldness. Boldness got them in trouble; now, Peter's saying, "Increase that!" That got us in trouble. Apparently, we did it with partial boldness; we now want to go all in with all boldness. The Church tends to dumb down the message so that we don't offend. Peter's saying, "Let's amp it up a little bit here."
I didn't give you permission to be obnoxious. Take note of the threats; grant that your bondservants can speak Your word with all boldness while You extend Your hand to heal and signs and wonders take place through the name of Your holy servant Jesus. I just want to encourage you; I want to challenge you that the message of the resurrected Christ boils within you until you cannot help but speak, because the bold proclamation is what attracts the hand of God into impossible situations. The decree releases the hand of God. We don't control Him by any means, but He's already revealed His heart to us, and He's looking for a people who will boldly declare it.
And so this verse ends the chapter and concludes our message this morning: they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen. Every time you stop and talk to a friend about the Lord, every time you take just that moment at work or at home—in your neighborhood—just to pray for a friend who's going through hell, every time you take any of those moments, what you're doing is declaring Jesus is alive, and I want to introduce you now to the resurrected One. Everything in our relationship with the Holy Spirit is about discovering and manifesting the resurrected Christ. Everything is connected because without the resurrection, there is no forgiveness of sin; it is all connected to the resurrection. You and I are alive to illustrate He's alive. Well, I understand Jesus came in God's flesh, gave Himself as a sacrifice to pay a price none of us could afford. He paid it so that the power of self-destruction would be broken off our lives forever. He paid it; He took my place in death so I could take His place in life. He conquered death; He rose from the dead, and now we make the proclamation: Jesus is here to save, He is here to deliver, and He is here to heal.