So how well are you going on the great commission? Mark 16:15-18, 16:1-20. Mark 16:15-18 (New King James Version) 15 And He said to them, a€?Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. 16 He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. 17 And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; 18 they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.a€? Every time I have read this scripture it has arrested me. I am not sure if I am like you but scripture seems to cut me and tears me up before I am comfortable with it. So I am going to have a brief look at this scripture and then look at some scriptures before and after it as mentioned in other scriptures and here in chapter sixteen. So am I preaching the Gospel to every person that I meet? I share the Gospel with a lot of people each week. God has given me some of the gifts of the Holy Spirit and this allows me to be able to tell a person that I meet all about themselves in a casual conversation on a bus. When they are blown away and thinking I am a clairvoyant I tell them ita€™s a similar gift and yet I hear from God and ita€™s Him that tells me the information. Then I share the Jesus really wants them to love Him and that if theya€™d pray the God that God would most often hear their prayers. I have just read a book on how to witnesses more effectively then this and am putting it into practice. There are so many people that we know that are going past us each day and it saddens me that so many people are dying each night without the saving knowledge of Jesus and why He came to earth to die on the Cross. There exists a white harvest field out there, there are so many hurting people that need the saving grace and we all need to know how to share our faith ad we need to share our faith with them. 16 He who believes and is baptized will be saved; Many churches believe in full emersion baptism for adults just like John the Baptist and many people notice a better level of faith in their life when they submit to this public display. I grew up in a church that did not believe in the gifts of the Spirit such as prophesy and words of knowledge that I used with my buss passengers. I think that most Baptists could be baptised in the Holy Spirit when the were baptized in water as the preacher says in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit when he baptises. When I was very young at a beach I was in the water and a saw a girl I really like get baptised by a Baptist minister that personally spoke in tongues and had the gift of healing and when she came out of the water she was speaking in tongues. She was shocked and confused as to what was happening and he smiled and told her things were fine and this is her prayer language . She was open to the Lord Jesus and the things of the Holy Spirit and had not sat under negative teaching on the manifestations of the Holy Spirit. If you think tongues are from Satan or do not have the faith that God would give you tongues in water Baptism well there is a good chance you would not get them. Years later at 27 years of age I finally got baptised and a week later I began to speak in tongues. My fist utterance was when something took over my mind when I was praying a prayer for my wife that had left me. At one time I was struggling for words and then my mouth was saying some words that we the very best words of prayer I have ever said for my former wife. So I challenge all you who have the faith of a man or women that wants the best in Jesus who are afraid of someone laying hands on you to be a€?baptised in the Holy Spirita€? to go to a Pentecostal pastor and go and get another water baptism and watch the new language come. but he who does not believe will be condemned. Some people need to be presented the Gospel more then once. They say it takes about an average of eight times for a person to hear the Gospel before they repent and love Jesus and accept the message. If someone does not listen to you make sure to keep them in prayer and be patient. We all have different times to see the Lord. Of course if you saw a crippled man walk who has been in a wheel char for ten years and a friend of your friend and he saw him healed and still denied Christ well then he might be condemned. Though in saying that Benny Hinn has been blessed by God and has healed thousands of people who do not use wheel chairs anymore and much of the church calls him a false prophet. Theya€™ll say a Lear Jet, his excesses and the way he goes about is all to much. Then theya€™ll quote things he thought the Lord said was going to happen and they wona€™t happen and hea€™ll be a false prophet as one supposed prophecy will nto come true. Meanwhile millions of people come to the saving grace of Jesus Christ and you only need to look at the tears in the eyes of people singing at his events to see sincerity. I think Jesus was talking about the mockers of the Pentecostal church right here as he goes straight into the next part of the verses. And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons. If like me you have demons in you, ita€™s hard to get a person who has the power and the knowledge to get them out. In Baptist circles I only know on man who I could go to for this problem I have. In the future this will be in a book and this wona€™t be a problem in my life, but at present if I did not have counsellor that was not gifted in deliverance I would be scared. I know a preacher who every single time twenty people come forward for prayer he is casting a demon out of at least one person. These are Christians like me that are on the floor coughing and vomiting and all he is doing is shouting at something in them and covering the person in the blood of Jesus. I have sat in churches for many years and had never met a man like this man, and since meeting him I have met three men like him. All of them were Indian in descent. Of course the Christian church is divided on this. Many people in the church believe and teach that we are a new creation and there is no way that a Christian can be possessed and yet when I am vomiting that does not seem to be the truth. Jesus said people who are real followers of Him will be able to cast out demons. I have never done it yet and so I am not very good yet. They will speak with new tongues Of course I dona€™t have to speak on this topic. The Baptista€™s by in large have convinced themselves that this gift does not only exist anymore and if it does you cana€™t get it because Satan has a counterfeit and you would not know the difference. He who believes and is baptized will be saved Jesus said the people who believes and is baptised will speak in tongues. I wonder if he also meant Baptists should believe and be re-baptised in the Spirit and speak in tongues and walk in the other gifts. Hey I am not saying Baptists are not saved. Some of them are a lot more holy then me. Though if you dona€™t believe in tongues it seems that the great commission is redundant already. There is a tongues that can be spoken out loud in a church in prophecy. On two occasions Jesu has given me and English interpretation to this prophecy that fitted in well with the music being sung, the other prophecies and the sermon about to be preached. So at times tongues out loud is good. There is also a tongues you can use if you spoke to a person from another country when you might suddenly start to speak Japanese to a Japanese person. This will save a person and reach a person you could not have. they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them I have not taken up serpents but we all know the Apostle Paul was bitten by one and confirmed this to be true. Many times snakes attack Indian pastors and the Lord saves them. I have been homeless and have no problems eating food left behind on a table like a half eaten hamburger or fries. I still do this when hungry. I am partial to half eaten cake and will simply sit down at a table with a cake left on it and drink my coffee pick up their spoon and eat away. I will even approach a few girls and ask for their cake that they have finished. I have never been sick on half eaten food and am not often physically sick. Though real men of God that have better walks then me will be able to tell you how every other person has got food poisoning but them from food. They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover Like it or not healing still exists. There needs to be an element of faith involved sure. But both James and proverbs 3 say that sometimes sin is in the way of healing. I had a leg that had a rush on it and when I gave a up a sin the Holy Spirit directed me to a cream and it cleared out as long as I had stopped the sin. The rash had been with me for a year and I was really worried about it. Most healings are happening overseas where they are not lukewarm and their faith is stronger as they are poor. We have a hundred books telling us why healing is rare these days, and overseas they flock to you for healing. Healing is still a mystery to me, but I have met healers that can heal most people that they lay hands on. Let God get all the honour in that for ita€™s only by the power of the living Christ that these people heal. My friend healed a persons withered hands in India and the man made a big scene when that was healed on the spot and so I have seen healings like the Bible. A real Christian should be able to heal. God used me to heal a mans back this year who had chronic back pain for years. For six weeks it was still healed and that was the last time I saw him as he moved away. God has proven to me that His servants on earth can still heal. Mark 16:19-20 (New King James Version) 19 So then, after the Lord had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God. 20 And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen. Where are the signs following most of the preachers in the West. All the powerful ex-Hindus I have met have had powerful signs following and all the Apostles had the signs following. Oh there is plenty of dry doctrine out there. There is plenty of stale churches and singing in the flesh, but where is the Spirit of prophecy and healing and tongues and signs and wonders? Perhaps we are like the Apostles in the upper room. Mary came back and reported that the Lord Jesus had risen and they did not believe her. Mark 16:9-11 (New King James Version) 9 Now when He rose early on the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast seven demons. 10 She went and told those who had been with Him, as they mourned and wept. 11 And when they heard that He was alive and had been seen by her, they did not believe. Are you one of the Apostles. I have seen Jesus many times in visions. Do you believe my report? I have met a person that raised his brother from the dead after three days, do your believe my report? I know this man has the whole nine Gifts of the Holy Spirit, do you take my word for it. Jesus has His power his resurrection power on earth today, are you going to use it? Mark 16:12-13 (New King James Version) 12 After that, He appeared in another form to two of them as they walked and went into the country. 13 And they went and told it to the rest, but they did not believe them either. Do you believe the reports from China, from India, form Africa. How many reports do you need to hear before your believe you can have all the gifts also. If all you have got is tongues what are you waiting for ask God for the other gifts. If you are not believing in the Baptism of the Holy Spirit go and read all about the worlds of people like Smith Wiggelsworth and get the faith. Dona€™t doubt any more. Get on your knees and pray and fast and find someone wit the faith to pray for you. You can do it! Jesus will come to you also.