We’re in the series called «The Evidence of God,» and God has just been speaking to us. If you haven’t made yourself available or availed yourself to the previous weeks, I encourage you to go back, listen to the podcast, or watch it on YouTube. God is building; this is a journey of building and development, and I believe that you don’t want to miss any week in this series. I want you to turn in your Bible to Mark, chapter 7. We’re going to look at verses 31 through 38. The Word of God reads like this:
«Again, departing from the region of Tyre and Sidon, He— that is, Jesus—came through the midst of the region of Decapolis to the Sea of Galilee. Then they brought to Him one who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech, and they begged Him to put His hand on him. He took him aside from the multitude and put His fingers in his ears, and He spat and touched his tongue. Then, looking up to heaven, He sighed and said to him, 'Ephphatha, ' that is, 'Be opened.' Immediately, his ears were opened and the impediment of his tongue was loosed, and he spoke plainly. Then He commanded them that they should tell no one; but the more He commanded them, the more widely they proclaimed it. They were astonished beyond measure, saying, 'He has done all things well. He makes both the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.'»
Hallelujah! We’re going to pray in a minute, but our thought for today—the idea that we’re going to build around—is a word that I want to put in your mouth, and that word is «open, says me.» In fact, I want you to put it right there in the feed: «Open up.» Just put it there—"open up,» or if you want, you can put «open, says me.» I just want to see if you’re watching live, or even if you’re listening to this via podcast; I just want you to say, «Open, says me! Open, says me! Open up! Open up! Open up! Open, says me!»
Let’s pray. Father, thank you so much for Your Word. It truly is a lamp unto our feet; it’s a light unto our path. God, it is healing, it is medicine, it is strength, it is bread, it is life. Hallelujah! We thank You for Your Word, and we thank You, God, for what You have in store for us today—the meal that You have prepared. God, may this meal bring healing, may it bring enlightenment, may it bring empowerment and activation, God, that we might be everything You have called, created, and formed us to be. We love You, we trust You, hallelujah! And it’s in the mighty name of Jesus that we pray. Amen! Amen! Amen!
Hallelujah! I just sense that God is going to do something real, real powerful and special and amazing today because He loves us, He is for us, and He has plans for us. As we move forward in our quest and our desire to be the evidence that makes God evident, I think it’s incumbent upon us to look at Jesus, because I can’t think of any other figure in history who succeeded at making God evident more than His Son, Jesus Christ. I just can’t see anybody else, and that is the role of the church. The role of the church, ultimately—watch this—is to prove God. We don’t prove God through legalism, but we prove God—watch this—through three things: love, life force—that’s the power of God—and our lifestyle. Our lifestyle, our love, and the power of our lives, I’ll call it our life force, is the Holy Spirit; it’s how we prove God.
As God was speaking to me while we were preparing to have our in-person service open, God made it emphatically clear: Your mission, your assignment, your mandate is to become the evidence that makes Me evident. God is saying that He can be seen, He can be known, He can be revealed. The Word of God even tells us that we’re called to reveal God. So as we’re looking for more ways, more effective ways—watch this—to prove God, I said it: To prove God can be proved, and He will be proved. The Almighty will be proved by your life and my life.
As we’re on our quest for this, we have to look at Jesus because, in addition to Jesus being our Savior, our Deliverer, our Divine King, our Healer, and all the things that He is—our eternal hope and all of that—in addition to being all these things, if you miss this one thing that He was, you miss the whole thing. And that one thing is Jesus was our model. He was more than a Savior, He was more than a Deliverer, He was more than a Healer, He was more than our eternal hope; Jesus was our model. That’s why His message—watch this—was this: Remember, He was always saying, «I am the way, I am the truth, and I am the life.» Let’s unpack that. He says, «I am the way.» What does that mean? It means, «Follow Me.» I’m the way; follow Me. I am the truth; what does that mean? It means, «Believe Me.» I’m the way, meaning to follow Me; I’m the truth, meaning to believe Me. And then He says, «I’m the life.» I’m the way…
