He called them to Him. People talk of being called to the ministry. We are first called to Him.

I’m not sure there is a distinction. I believe every believer is called to labor in the gospel. I saw no distinction in my own experience. The moment I accepted Christ, I no longer had a choice in the matter.

To receive Him was to labor for Him. I knew the moment I received Him that I was His completely. One thing just led to another and here I am.

If a person has a special calling to full-time ministry, God will get you there. But your first calling is to Him – to love Him – to swell with Him – to spend time in His presence – to minister to Him.

The word means authority. It is different than force. It’s like when a policeman says, "Stop in the name of the law." The authority is not in him, but in the law. Our authority is in Christ. As with the officer, sometimes you have to enforce the order.

We are given power over unclean spirits – to cast them out or send them away.

We have the power to heal sicknesses. Three points I want to highlight here:

1. Jesus touched people and their sickness was healed – removed. So we are talking about miraculous, instantaneous, physical healing.
2. The word for healing here is therapeou. It means to care for, to treat, to heal. I believe our calling goes deeper than just touching the sick and exercising faith. It means we should care. Jesus not only call us to miracles, he calls us to compassion.

Possible, better than the physical healing was just the fact that He cared. People knew he cared and I believe that did more for them than the physical touch ever did.

If we don’t care deeply about people’s suffering, why should our prayer for them bring the miraculous?

3. He refers to "all manner", or ‘every’, sickness and disease. This healing virtue is not restricted.
4. Sickness = illness
5. Disease = debility or weakness

Evangelism, ministry, missions work starts from where you are and grows outward. Don’t go somewhere else for ministry. Bloom where you are planted. Win your friends and family first. Then go out. Why is it so much easier to preach to strangers?

Proclaim the Kingdom of God – preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. We’re preaching everything else. We have our own doctrines and ideas. We have prosperity specialists, faith specialists, experts in every area of theology. Let’s just preach what Jesus preached and stop reading into it. Proclaim the gospel.

Heal the sick – pray for, cure, care for, have compassion for, do whatever you can for those who are sick or weak, or feeble, or disabled. IF your miracle doesn’t come, don’t stop there. Minister to them.

Raise the dead – In this context, we naturally take this to mean actually bringing dead people back to life physically, and Jesus did that several times, so that meaning is valid.

But it also may refer to raising, or resurrecting, those who are dead spiritually as well. Bring life to people. Minister life in whatever ways you can. Minister release, not bondage. Too many people think of religion in terms of bondage. Jesus came to set the captives free.

Cleanse the lepers – Not only heal their sickness, but heal their wounded spirits. Lepers were social outcasts. They were rejects. But Jesus touched them. And when he did, he healed their broken spirits.

Cast out devils – Not only expel demon spirits, but also rid yourselves and your surroundings of negative attitudes and evil deeds.

I don’t want to water down the miraculous and reduce the gospel to social work, but neither do I want to narrowly interpret so that we miss the broader inferences here.

Our world needs a lot of brightening. It’s nice when the miraculous makes it east, but we have to tough out some of these things.

Freely – You received the gospel freely and generously. Give it the same way. You have received grace and forgiveness. Give it. You have received acceptance and love. Give it.

Be thankful for your blessings, not resentful of what isn’t right. Nothing is more distasteful than to hear gospel workers grumble about the conditions. Remember, we normally don’t minister by invitation, but by Divine order. We are going into enemy territory. Don’t expect the welcome mat to be thrown out before you.

Let go of all hostility and ingratitude. Shake it off and forget it. Move on. Rather than stay and grumble, just move on and put it behind you.

Don’t be surprised.

Be wise, but be nice. Keep the right attitude. Remember the example of Jesus: