Signs and Wonders!
You can expect that there will be signs and wonders in New Testament church services. The most normal signs Jesus talked about in Mark 16:15-18 are speaking in other tongues and laying hands on the sick and having them recover. (Of course, you should expect to see signs and wonders outside of church services, too. Most of the ones in the book of Acts were not in church services as we know them.)
Besides this, unusual things can happen when the anointing of God meets mortal flesh. I am mentioning this simply because you may see some unusual things happen to some people in services, and I don’t want you to leave “freaked out.” There is New Testament precedent for things that might surprise you.
The Glory of God in Manifestation
The priests at the dedication of Solomon’s temple could not even stand up when the glory of the Lord came in the first time: “It came even to pass, as the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the LORD; and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of musick, and praised the LORD, saying, For he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever: that then the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of the LORD; So that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud: for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of God.” – 2 Chronicles 5:13-14. “And it came to pass, when the priests were come out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of the LORD, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud: for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of the LORD.” – 1 Kings 8:10-11.
If men could not stand up when the glory of the Lord came in under the Old Covenant, we should expect there to be times under our “more glorious” covenant (2 Corinthians 3:7-11) when the same thing happens.
Now look what happened after Solomon’s speech under the “less glorious” covenant: “Now when Solomon had made an end of praying, the fire came down from heaven, and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the LORD filled the house. And the priests could not enter into the house of the LORD, because the glory of the LORD had filled the LORD’S house.” – 2 Chronicles 7:1-2.
Under a more glorious covenant, we should expect the glory of God to come into our services, too!
Drunk in the Spirit?!?
The men in Acts 2 were falsely assumed to be drunk (Acts 2:13-16). This could not have been concluded from the fact that they were speaking in other languages. If anything, everyone would have been shocked at their sudden intelligence. After all, these were not learned men. Apparently, the way they were acting gave some the impression that they had been drinking. This may be because weren’t standing up while they were speaking those languages. (Peter stood up with the eleven after they had already been speaking in other languages!) If they were acting normally other than speaking languages they had never learned, Peter would have said that Jesus had shed forth that which they heard. But Peter said that Jesus had shed forth that which they had seen and heard, so there was evidently something unusual to see, too!
If this happened when the Holy Spirit first came, we can expect that something similar could happen today, since we are still in the same Holy Spirit dispensation. If David could leap and dance before the Lord (2 Samuel 6:14-16), we may see people dance before the Lord. If Elijah could run in the Spirit and keep up with Ahab’s chariot (1 Kings 18:46), the Spirit may prompt men to run today. If those of Israel could be filled with laughter when the Lord turned their captivity, how much more should we, whose captivity has been permanently turned, be able to laugh? See Psalm 126:1-2: “When the LORD turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream. Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing: then said they among the heathen, the LORD hath done great things for them.”
Struck Dumb by God?!?
This almost seems like a contradiction. After all, didn’t Jesus heal the dumb? In this case, we are not talking about sickness, but a person being so overwhelmed by the anointing that he is unable to see or speak. (By the way, dumb in this usage means “unable to speak,” not “stupid.”)
Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, was struck dumb for at least nine months when he asked for a sign that the angel Gabriel was not lying. I suppose he would have considered that a sign! This sign had the double benefit of being portentous concerning the child’s future fame and forcing Zacharias to shut up so that he wouldn’t mess up the plan of God by speaking any more unbelief out of his mouth.
Daniel, on the other hand, was not in unbelief when he “set his face toward the ground, and became dumb” (Daniel 10:15). So, this can happen to the consecrated as well as to the unconsecrated.
I have seen people in services who became unable to speak. They didn’t have a physical problem; they were just so struck by the power of God that they couldn’t talk. Although the people in question were consecrated Christians, it is also quite possible that a scoffer could be struck dumb in a service and have a lot to think about!
Sickened by the Anointing?!?
“And I Daniel fainted, and was sick certain days; afterward I rose up, and did the king’s business, and was astonished at the vision, but none understood it.” – Daniel 8:27.
How could a vision from God make Daniel sick? It depends what you mean by sick. You can be sure that Daniel did not catch the flu from having a divine vision. Daniel was apparently without strength (he “fainted”) for several days. I have had similar experiences. The anointing was so strong on me that I could barely function normally for a day or more. I was not physically sick; the anointing was just overwhelming. What’s the difference? Sick people tend to get short-tempered, but people under the anointing can’t help but think about God and His awesomeness and goodness. Once, I was physically unable to move for a short while. I was literally paralyzed. It’s the only time in my life I’ve known what it’s like to be a paralyzed person; I tried to tell parts of my body to move and they wouldn’t. However, while I was in that state, God revealed an urgent situation to me that He knew would be hard for me to believe. He certainly had my undivided attention.
If this could happen to Daniel, we may see some in our day who are “wiped out” by the power of God for a while.
Signs and Wonders You Don’t Want to See
The Holy Spirit gave Peter a word of knowledge about Ananias and Sapphira’s plot to look more generous and self-sacrificing than they really were. He spoke, and Ananias fell down dead. Soon thereafter, Peter spoke, and Sapphira fell down dead. (See Acts 5:1-11.) They lied to the Holy Spirit and paid for it with their lives. You can expect that in our day there will be those who try to deceive the sheep and die on the spot. The Holy Spirit does not appreciate having people play games with the things of God. Do so, and we could soon be scheduling your funeral (or “homegoing celebration,” “celebration of your life,” or whatever nice euphemism you want to use for the event commemorating your premature death). Actually, a funeral would be better than Ananias and Sapphira got; the believers just buried the liars and went on with church.
A certain sorcerer tried to interfere with Paul’s preaching of the gospel to a government official who had asked to hear him. God struck him blind, and the official believed after seeing this wonder of judgment take place! You may read the full account in Acts 13:6-12. We should expect that there will be similar judgment miracles today on those who attempt to stop God’s plans from being accomplished.
I am not sure what kind of insurance and legal issues could come up these days when these signs happen, but I’m sure we'll find out sooner or later.
A “church” leader tried to publicly contradict me when I was in a town park leading some of the deceived people who attended his new-birth-denying “synagogue of Satan” to Christ. Also immediately, he was transferred to the remotest part of the state and that was the end of that problem. He got off light in the scheme of things.
I saw something a little more drastic in Guyana, a former British colony where they still speak English. First, a little background. I had felt led prior to this trip to prepare by reading the entire New Testament in Spanish so that I could really work on my Spanish. So I did, even though it made no sense to do that because they don’t speak Spanish in Guyana! When I got there, I was housed with one of the speakers who was from Costa Rica and did not speak any English. I didn’t know about him until I got there. He had a translator with him for general purposes and then there was a “professional” preacher/translator just for when he was actually preaching in the conference. I thought it would be fun because I’d understand him before he got translated and could banter with him in Spanish. It turned out that the personal translator they assigned wasn’t up for the job, so they replaced him with me on the spot. I got to hear all his wild miracle stories as I translated them for people he talked to. Finally, he spoke in a service and the professional guy handled that. But I started noticing that the translator was not actually translating what the preacher was saying; he was saying what he thought the preacher SHOULD have been saying! For example, when the preacher actually said “Speak in tongues!” the translator said, “Dance now! Dance in the Holy Spirit!” He was in effect preaching the service in place of the real speaker! Anyway, the next morning, that translator showed up gesturing at his throat. He couldn’t say a word! God had hit his “mute” button! I was immediately appointed to the do the service translating as well (which I still consider the hardest thing I’ve ever done because he preached really quickly and didn’t stop much for his translator), and when he got interviewed for the only nightly TV news broadcast they had in the country (on the government station), I translated the plan of salvation (correctly as the preacher said it) for the entire country to hear at once! At that point, I was glad that I had obeyed God by brushing up on Spanish before going to that English-speaking country, no matter how ridiculous that seemed to my head at the time.
Signs and wonders of this kind are necessary to restore the fear of God to the Church, which has been largely lost in our day. The idea is not to be the object lesson yourself.