David Hathaway

Moses is 120 years old, but forty years before this something had happened which brought a bigger change to the nation of Israel than anything ever experienced in any nation before or since – the moment when God, for the first time, began to demonstrate the greatness of His power by working the most outstanding, visible miracles in front of the most powerful nation in the whole earth. Moses asks the people a question in two dimensions – time and space. First Moses says, from the very beginning of time until now, has anyone ever witnessed a miracle as big as this, the biggest, most earth-shaking demonstration of God’s power ever seen? Secondly Moses says, ask the question in space, from one side of the world to the other, from America to Russia, from the north to the south – in the whole world – has ever any man seen a greater miracle than this happen, visibly, on earth? The answer is no! It is the greatest miracle ever. 

I’m looking at the start of the ministry of Jesus. In Luke 4:14 it says, ‘Jesus returned in the Power of the Spirit into Galilee, and there went out a fame of Him through all the region round about and He taught in their synagogues being glorified by all.’ He’s been baptised by John; and full of the Holy Spirit, He’s been led by the Spirit into the wilderness where He was tempted for 40 days by the devil! In v9, the devil takes Him to a pinnacle of the Temple, it’s the last of the temptations, saying, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down!” It was a challenge of course and Jesus resisted him, saying, “It is written, you shall not tempt the Lord your God.” There’s a big lesson here that we must be careful we don’t ‘tempt’ God in the wrong way by attempting to do something that is not in His Will for us. And the devil, having finished tempting Jesus, departs from Him – ‘for a time’!
That is very significant. The devil hasn’t left Him – only for a time.
So now Jesus returns from the wilderness, from being tempted, in the Power of the Spirit, and goes into Galilee. I want to emphasise: Jesus Himself NEEDED the Power of the Holy Spirit in order that He could fulfil His ministry. By v16, He arrives in Nazareth, His hometown where He grew up, and, as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and got up to read. They gave Him the book of Isaiah and He found the place where it is written, saying, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He – the Spirit of the Lord – has anointed Me to preach the Gospel to the poor, He’s sent Me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, the recovery of sight to the blind, and to set at liberty those that are bruised, and to preach the Acceptable Year of the Lord.” He closed the book and said, “Today, this Scripture is fulfilled!”
What He reads from Isaiah covers the whole of His ministry! For some of us, this is OUR ministry. It certainly is mine! I would say, as an evangelist, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, and for 75 years this has been my ministry. 75 years ago, He anointed me to preach the Gospel. To the poor, to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance, to heal, to set at liberty those that are bruised – and to preach the Acceptable Year of the Lord. In other words – JESUS IS COMING! This is the whole of the Gospel that we preach! And as I read the New Testament, I find that Jesus spends more time talking about His Kingdom than He does teaching about healing and salvation.

I want to share with you something that God has been saying strongly to ME since 1992 and which is powerfully motivating MY life. And I want to give YOU the same strong spiritual challenge which Moses gave to Israel in Deuteronomy 4:32 – ‘Ask now of the days that are past, since the day that God created man on the earth, and ask from the one side of Heaven to the other, WHETHER THERE HAS BEEN ANY SUCH THING AS THIS GREAT THING IS, OR HAS BEEN HEARD LIKE IT?’ I have not found any other man who could make a statement as strong as this, that Israel had witnessed the greatest miracle ever! Yes, this was 3000 years ago, but I believe that it also relates to today, and will be EXCEEDED.

The centurion KNEW Jesus had authority to heal his servant, just by the word He spoke! But Jesus was amazed at the centurion! Absolutely amazed. He said in 8:10, “I haven’t found such faith anywhere!” Not in Galilee, not in Syria, Decapolis nor Trans-Jordan, not in Judea nor Jerusalem, not in all the places where He was working with Jewish people. He said bluntly, “I’ve not found such great faith in all Israel!” You see, your religion without faith in God, in Jesus, without relationship, without obedience – is nothing. He says in v11, “Many will come from the East and the West and shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven…” Outsiders will enter the Kingdom! But the religious, those who think themselves to be ‘children of the Kingdom’ will be cast into outer darkness, where they will weep and gnash their teeth!
To the Roman centurion Jesus said, “Go your way, and it will be done as you have believed.” And his servant was healed at that very same moment. THAT’S the authority God has given us THROUGH Christ.
Jesus had authority because of His obedience to His Father. If we follow His example, we too can ask the Father – in the Name of Jesus – for whatever we want – and He will give us what we ask. It’s incredible! BUT we must ourselves be willing to be OBEDIENT, whatever the cost, and so follow Jesus.

Moses asks God, What is Your Name? God has already described Himself to Moses as the God of his ancestors: the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Now in Exodus 3 God says, "I Am Who I Am and What I Am, and I Will Be What I Will Be," (verse 14, Amplified Bible).

The miracles God could do 2000 years ago, He can do the same today; He can even do greater! When I had throat cancer, God cut it out as if with a knife!

You have power over evil spirit, every sickness, every difficulty. Jesus said in Mark 16:17-18, 'These signs shall follow them that believe; in My Name they shall cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall lay their hands on the sick, and they shall recover.' When the devil comes, call upon the Name of Jesus! When you are weak in body, in the Name of Jesus be strong! When you are sick, in the Name of Jesus be healed! By faith receive your deliverance NOW!
When I had throat cancer the doctors and even my church members said God couldn't work the miracle - that it was impossible to be healed. I fought unbelief and doubt, many times I was in despair and felt hopeless. But when the answer came, it was an even greater miracle than I had asked for! God didn't just heal me, He actually cut the cancer out, as if with a knife, leaving me with a scar as the evidence of His healing power!
'Signs and Wonders' used by kind permission of Vinesong

When I was in prison for Bible smuggling, I challenged God to release me, just as He had done for Paul and Silas. God answered prayer, and sent the British Prime Minister to set me free!

When I was in a communist prison, I challenged God, I said, "If You could get Paul and Silas out of prison, then I want You to work a miracle for me! Is Your power the same today? If it is, I want you to get me out of prison!"

In the early days, when I had been a pastor for 15 years already, the Lord said to me, “Shut up! Stop talking, I’m tired of listening to you!” For the Lord to say that to me through the Holy Spirit was pretty damning! He said, “Go out and DO everything you talk about and tell other people to do – AND DON’T COME BACK TILL YOU’VE DONE IT!”
My whole life has been putting into practice what I have believed – and I’ve gained unbelievable experiences with God. All my life, whether it was the cancers, the communist prison, all my ministry, the whole of my life has simply been putting into practice what I believe.
In His teaching, in healing the sick, in His life, Jesus SHOWED who He was by the AUTHORITY that He had. The crowds following Jesus sensed this. I don’t suppose that the centurion had been on the mountain, but he must certainly have heard of Christ’s reputation. As a soldier, he understood authority. He had to respond to the authority of his superiors. And in turn, he had authority over those under him. It’s the chain of command. Under the authority of Rome, he only had to say to his soldiers, “Obey! DO IT!” – and they did! A soldier HAS to obey his commanding officer. When he says, “Go, do this!” – he does it! When the centurion said to Jesus, “You have authority; I’m a man under authority, and I’ve got soldiers under me” he understood, in a very practical way, the authority that Jesus had! 

If you want to be filled with the Holy Spirit and with all the Power of God, then you have to be emptied first, then God can fill you. 

I want to thank you for all your support over so many years. Together we have seen the most incredible miracles, the hundreds of thousands who have found Christ, and the hundreds of churches founded.
The miracles I’ve seen were not merely of healing, but storms stopped, miraculous provision of aircraft, a life of faith overcoming all opposition especially under the communist oppression. 

In Ch 8.1-4, He comes down the mountain, followed by the crowds. A leper comes to Him and says to Him – I’m quite fascinated by this – “If You WANT, You CAN heal me of my leprosy!” What a strong, bold statement! Leprosy was incurable! So, already at this stage, there is an incredible level of faith in what He can do! And yes, of course the leper was healed. Jesus says to him, “I will!” And He does!
Next, in v5, Jesus comes into Capernaum, and a centurion comes to Him – he’s not a Jew, he’s a Roman soldier, an officer in the army that is occupying the land. But this officer comes to Jesus saying, “My servant is at home, sick of the palsy – paralysed – and grievously tormented.” Immediately Jesus responds, “I will come and heal him.” That’s Jesus – the willingness – He would even go to a Roman and heal his servant. But the Roman says, no, I’m not a Jew, I’m not good enough for You to come to my home. Yes, I’m an officer – but I’m not worthy of You!
You can imagine what those Roman officers got up to, believe me! They weren’t normally kind, gentle people, they had the power to be brutal. Yet – and this is very interesting – he says, “I’m not worthy to have You in my house, but SPEAK ONLY A WORD, and my servant will be healed!” He recognised the AUTHORITY Jesus had!

Why do I see miracles? I WANT miracles, I LIVE for miracles. I live to see the Glory and the Power of God! Often it’s difficult, but I won’t give up, I won’t let go of God until He works the miracles, because God cannot fail.

When I think of the number of troubles I have had – being in a communist prison for a year, having cancer twice, having gunmen sent on three occasions to shoot me – God uses every circumstance to His glory, He uses the problems and the difficulties in our lives to convince us miraculously!

I want you to be the strongest believers anyway in the world: people with fire, people with power, people who pray, people who will change the world! Mark 11:22-23 is so revolutionary, so powerful, it will change your life! Jesus said, "Have faith in God! Truly I say unto you, whoever you are, look up, see the mountain over there - if you have got faith in God, you will say to that mountain 'be cast down into the sea' and if you don't doubt in your heart but believe that what you say will happen, you shall have whatever you say!" If you really believe what you say, you will speak and the mountain will move! Whatever you say, if you speak with faith and authority, and don't doubt, you will be healed, your family will be blessed, your financial burden will move - even if those things are mountains in your life!
'What a miracle' used by kind permission of Vinesong.
Original Air Date: 20 March 2015