Day 16 - Assignment by Pastor Philip Olubakin: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

They Stepped Out Before They Had the Answer

Mark 16:1-4

On resurrection morning, the women — Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of Jesus, and Salome — took their spices and set out for the tomb. As they walked, they asked each other: who will roll away the stone from the door of the tomb?

They did not have an answer. But they went anyway.

They could have stayed home and said, "We cannot go because there is nobody to roll away the stone." They had a legitimate excuse. But they set out regardless, without knowing how the obstacle would be removed.

If you wait for everything to be figured out before you move, you will always be too late.

By the time they looked up, the stone was already rolled away. The very thing they were afraid of had already been handled. This is a pattern with God: the obstacles you are most afraid of have often already been dealt with. The provision is waiting at the destination.

• God said to Elijah: go to the brook at Cherith. I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.
• If Elijah had waited at home for the first raven to arrive, he would have starved.
• Your consignment has been sent to the place of your assignment. You will not receive it by standing still.

Provision is called provision because it is for the vision. God sends your supply to the address of your calling.

He Rose As He Said He Would

Mark 16:6-7

The angel told the women: Jesus is risen — exactly as he said. Everything Jesus did was something he had first said. He said he would die. He said he would rise in three days. And it happened because he kept saying it.

This is the power of declaring what God has said. Jesus rose from the dead because he kept confessing his resurrection. He said it — and it came to pass.

The Great Commission and the Sending

Mark 16:15-17

Jesus told his disciples: go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Notice what he said — and what he did not say:

• He told them where to go: all the world.
• He told them what to do: preach the gospel.
• He told them who to reach: every creature.
• He did not tell them how.

The "how" is left to every generation, every nation, every context. There is a way to preach to lawyers. A way to reach doctors. A way to reach entertainers. The method changes. The mission does not.

Signs Follow — They Do Not Lead

Mark 16:17

These signs shall follow them that believe. The word "follow" means the signs are coming behind you. They are not ahead of you. They are not signs you chase — they are signs that chase you.

People who are not seeing enough supernatural movement in their lives may simply not be going enough. The signs are designed to follow you into the harvest field. If you are not in the field, the signs have nowhere to follow you to.

Go enough, and you will see enough signs.

On the matter of drinking deadly things: Jesus said if you drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt you — not when. The word "if" makes it conditional. Believers are not called to prove their anointing by seeking out dangerous things. Lay hands on the sick — yes, always. But deliberately endangering your life is not faith. It is testing God.