FIVE SMOOTH STONES - The Five Ascension Gifts in the Heavenly Shepherds Bag

FIVE SMOOTH STONES — The Five Ascension Gifts in the Heavenly Shepherd’s Bag

to convince doubters and naysayers. He said it should not be mainly for anyone else, but for personal encouragement, by recalling God’s goodness. Most everyone would love to see increased miracles and see them more often. However, we also can be reminded that the Pharisees demanded more signs and wonders from even Jesus! So we might draw some understanding from this worldly perspective of judgment. Specifically, that if some people could not even be satisfied with the miracles and signs which Jesus did, why would a present day apostle try to impress them or convince them of the validity of his or her ministry through signs and miracles? God doesn’t, so why should we? When Jesus left His commission with His apostles and disciples, He said in Mark 16:17-18, “And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.” The only requirement the Lord gave for these signs was to believe. Those who would have faith to accomplish these things in His name (his authority), would be known as believers6. Consider that these signs and wonders are not signs of apostleship according to Jesus, these are just the “regular kind of everyday signs.” The signs Paul was speaking of were of the same general variety, but they were accomplished in the course of his apostolic ministry. There is one thing to take notice of, which is often overlooked in 2 Corinthians 12:12. Paul began his list with patience, not with miracles. Now the word translated patience in this verse is translated perseverance in other translations. Nevertheless, it must be pointed out because it is an attribute which Paul was using to set apart his apostleship from the everyday, garden variety, generally-willing- to- be-martyred-at-a-moments-notice-testify-for-Jesus, for this was the first century Christian attitude. Once, while speaking with a young man who was going through what you might call a “rebellious stage” and discovering that he had decided that he no longer believed in apostles and prophets because he wasn’t seeing “enough miracles” to suit him, he referred to 2 Corinthians 12:12 as proof. Mark 16:17 and 18 were pointed out to him and he was reminded that all saints should manifest supernatural signs and wonders, and that a significant difference in the two texts

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