1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:11,280
Thank you for listening to this message from Life House Church.

2
00:00:14,720 --> 00:00:20,800
Good morning, good morning. Hey, pray for those children's workers, man. There are a herd of kids

3
00:00:20,800 --> 00:00:26,000
back there. So that's awesome. We love that. We love seeing that. I did want to take just a moment

4
00:00:26,000 --> 00:00:32,240
this morning and as the lead pastor here and just talk a little bit just about membership.

5
00:00:32,240 --> 00:00:36,480
We just recently had members come in and they're going to put their faces up there.

6
00:00:36,480 --> 00:00:41,120
All right, they're already up there and we always want to honor those who've come in

7
00:00:41,120 --> 00:00:45,360
and decided to go into membership. And if you don't know the process here at Life House,

8
00:00:46,560 --> 00:00:50,240
sometimes good just stop for a minute and talk about that. But we really try to take people

9
00:00:50,240 --> 00:00:54,800
from first-time guests and make a connection with them. We usually send out an email and then we do

10
00:00:54,800 --> 00:00:59,440
something called a connection lunch where we buy you some food. We get to sit down and talk together

11
00:00:59,440 --> 00:01:03,840
and then we do welcome to church and we try to get people involved in groups and teams following

12
00:01:03,840 --> 00:01:07,840
that. And a lot of times people are interested in membership and that's what these folks have done.

13
00:01:07,840 --> 00:01:14,000
And this is Carlos and Trini, Cintron, Justin and Katie Reeder and Dennis Frick all decided to

14
00:01:14,000 --> 00:01:19,680
become members of Life House. They're LHCers. We don't tattoo them or anything like that but

15
00:01:19,680 --> 00:01:24,400
we don't have an LHC tattoo or nothing going on except maybe those licking sticks. I might get

16
00:01:24,400 --> 00:01:28,400
some of those. But if you're interested in membership in the future, we'd love to sit and

17
00:01:28,400 --> 00:01:32,960
talk to you about that. We don't ask people to make that decision quickly or lightly but

18
00:01:33,520 --> 00:01:36,960
thank you to each one. Would you give them a hand? They joined in. Yep.

19
00:01:36,960 --> 00:01:43,920
I used to bring people up front and they and I had one person tell me if you ever do that,

20
00:01:43,920 --> 00:01:49,920
I will never become a member. So I stopped doing that. Yeah, I don't bring people up front. But

21
00:01:49,920 --> 00:01:55,360
this morning I'm excited to preach the Word of God. I always am. I love God's Word. I love

22
00:01:56,640 --> 00:02:03,120
what it speaks into our hearts and lives. And as I get ready to preach this morning, I want to ask

23
00:02:03,120 --> 00:02:09,760
you a question. Have you ever looked at something like a thousand times and maybe literally like a

24
00:02:09,760 --> 00:02:14,400
thousand times and all of a sudden the next time you looked at that something, you saw something

25
00:02:14,400 --> 00:02:20,480
that you never saw before? Now that thing didn't change. It was always the same way. But you walked

26
00:02:20,480 --> 00:02:25,760
by it a thousand times. You've gone, you stepped by it. You stood in the room where it was. That

27
00:02:25,760 --> 00:02:30,880
happened to me this week. This week we were in here at the church and we got temporary offices

28
00:02:30,880 --> 00:02:35,600
set up in the uptown room and the staff comes in and we're sitting there and we're in there for

29
00:02:35,600 --> 00:02:39,840
hours and hours and hours each week. Right. And I'm used to that room and everything. It's in that

30
00:02:39,840 --> 00:02:45,440
room and I spin it out of my chair and I look at a blind that's been hanging there for probably years

31
00:02:45,440 --> 00:02:52,640
and it was broke on the one side. First time I saw that and I'm like, what? You know, and his blind

32
00:02:52,640 --> 00:02:58,400
was broke and that's called familiarity blindness. You know what that is? Have you ever heard of that?

33
00:02:58,400 --> 00:03:02,880
Raise your hand if you ever heard of familiarity blinds. It's a thing. Okay. It's the thing. If you

34
00:03:02,880 --> 00:03:07,920
go into your house, right? You're so used to walking in your house. There could be a crack in

35
00:03:07,920 --> 00:03:13,200
the wall. There could be a dent in the door of your car. You don't notice it because you just gotten

36
00:03:13,200 --> 00:03:18,080
used to it. And that's what it was that I walked into, you know, up there and I spun around on my

37
00:03:18,080 --> 00:03:22,320
seat and I saw for the first time. I'm like, Hey, how long has it been broke? Did that break last

38
00:03:22,320 --> 00:03:26,880
week? And they're like, no, it's been like that for like months. And I'm like, really? You know,

39
00:03:26,880 --> 00:03:31,520
we got this conversation. It will be fixed by the way. Right. And if I'd have walked into an

40
00:03:31,520 --> 00:03:36,560
unfamiliar space, I would have picked up on that. And this morning I want you to look at something

41
00:03:36,560 --> 00:03:41,360
that you've probably looked at a thousand, maybe a hundred thousand times. And hopefully by the end

42
00:03:41,360 --> 00:03:43,920
of this message, you're going to see a little different. So I want you to do something. I want

43
00:03:43,920 --> 00:03:47,360
you to take your hands, lift them up right now in front of you. Okay. Just your hands. Look at the

44
00:03:47,360 --> 00:03:51,520
back of your hands. You probably very familiar with the back of your hands. Look at flip it over.

45
00:03:51,520 --> 00:03:54,160
Take a look at the palm of your hands. You're probably thinking there's nothing new there.

46
00:03:54,160 --> 00:03:58,640
Okay. I've seen that this morning. I saw it yesterday. I saw it the day before. Right. Well,

47
00:03:58,640 --> 00:04:03,120
hopefully by the end of this message, you're going to learn something different about your hands.

48
00:04:03,120 --> 00:04:06,720
You're going to, there's going to be a different spiritual aspect that's going to go along with

49
00:04:06,720 --> 00:04:11,840
their hands. And if you got your Bible, you can head to second Timothy chapter one, verse one,

50
00:04:11,840 --> 00:04:15,680
turn to somebody right now, why you're turning into your Bible and say, we're going to talk about

51
00:04:15,680 --> 00:04:20,800
hands today. We're going to talk about hands today. We're going to talk about hands. Second Timothy,

52
00:04:21,520 --> 00:04:28,160
one chapter one, all right, verse one. And just to give you a little background as we go there,

53
00:04:28,160 --> 00:04:34,560
second Timothy is a letter from the apostle Paul to Timothy, a young minister, a young protege of

54
00:04:34,560 --> 00:04:41,840
Paul's and Paul walked alongside of Timothy for some, so quite a bit of time. Timothy went along

55
00:04:41,840 --> 00:04:47,600
with him on multiple missionary journeys. As Paul went, the apostle Paul went to different cities.

56
00:04:47,600 --> 00:04:50,240
And at this point, what we're going to pick up in the, in the letter,

57
00:04:51,440 --> 00:04:58,000
Timothy's been at the city of Ephesus now for about four years. Paul is writing to Timothy

58
00:04:58,000 --> 00:05:06,880
from a dark, damp Roman prison cell. And just, this is taking place just before Paul is going to die.

59
00:05:06,880 --> 00:05:15,360
This is in AD 1967. Paul would soon be beheaded by the Roman emperor Nero. If you know anything

60
00:05:15,360 --> 00:05:22,160
about Nero and the Roman empire, Nero was what I would call certifiably crazy. Okay. He really was.

61
00:05:22,160 --> 00:05:26,240
And one of the things that Nero did, he would torture Christians. He kind of used them for

62
00:05:26,240 --> 00:05:30,720
scapegoats to complain about everything that was going on in their society. And he would literally

63
00:05:30,720 --> 00:05:35,360
torture them and kill them. And Paul ends up being one of those. So this letter is to Timothy,

64
00:05:35,920 --> 00:05:42,560
and he's writing it to Timothy right before he's going to die. And so second Timothy chapter one,

65
00:05:42,560 --> 00:05:48,400
verse one says this, Paul went a possible of Jesus Christ by the will of God, according to the promise

66
00:05:48,400 --> 00:05:55,040
of life, which is in Christ Jesus, to Timothy, a beloved son, grace, mercy, and peace from God the

67
00:05:55,040 --> 00:06:01,280
father and Christ Jesus our Lord. I thank God in whom I serve with a pure conscience as my forefathers

68
00:06:01,280 --> 00:06:07,200
did. And as without ceasing, I remember you in my prayers night and day greatly desire to see you

69
00:06:07,200 --> 00:06:13,440
being mindful of your tears that I may be filled with joy when I call remembrance to genuine faith

70
00:06:13,440 --> 00:06:18,960
that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother, Lois and your mother, Eunice. And I am persuaded

71
00:06:18,960 --> 00:06:23,520
is in you. You can hear the personal nature of this letter that he's writing. He knows the family,

72
00:06:23,520 --> 00:06:32,720
right? And and he's talking to him in that way. Then it says this, therefore, in verse six, therefore,

73
00:06:32,720 --> 00:06:40,880
I remind you to stir up the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my what hands.

74
00:06:41,680 --> 00:06:46,960
Paul's writing to this young protege and encouraging him to stir up the gift of God in him,

75
00:06:46,960 --> 00:06:52,160
to stir up the gift of the Holy Spirit in him, to stir up the gift of preaching and teaching that

76
00:06:52,160 --> 00:06:58,720
was in Timothy. But he tagged something on the end of this, he said, which comes to you or through you

77
00:06:58,720 --> 00:07:05,040
by the laying on of my hands. These spiritual gifts became active in Timothy's life after

78
00:07:05,040 --> 00:07:11,360
Paul laid hands on Timothy. So what's Paul talking about here? What does he mean by the laying on of

79
00:07:11,360 --> 00:07:17,040
hands? Right? What is he referring to? Is this just kind of a metaphorical reference of some kind?

80
00:07:17,040 --> 00:07:21,760
You know, did he physically lay hands on Timothy? Did he shake the spirit of God into him? You know,

81
00:07:21,760 --> 00:07:25,520
the gift of God into him. Everyone shakes somebody a little bit. All right. You know,

82
00:07:26,800 --> 00:07:32,640
or did Paul's hands possess some kind of spiritual power that we're not aware of? What did he mean

83
00:07:32,640 --> 00:07:37,680
by this? Well, to fully understand what Paul was talking about here, we got to explore the whole

84
00:07:37,680 --> 00:07:41,280
counsel of God. How many of you got to look in God's word? You got to look for patterns,

85
00:07:41,280 --> 00:07:45,040
you got to look for places, you got to look for repetition, you got to find out, you confirm the

86
00:07:45,040 --> 00:07:49,040
word with the words. Good theology, by the way. So we're going to start and we're going to take a

87
00:07:49,040 --> 00:07:53,360
look in the Old Testament and the New Testament and try to pair a little a little bit today and

88
00:07:53,360 --> 00:07:59,360
talk about what hands have to do with scripture and hands and really the transfer something that

89
00:07:59,360 --> 00:08:03,520
takes place with our hands. So while you're turning, I'm going to go to Leviticus 1.1. I'm

90
00:08:03,520 --> 00:08:07,760
going to jump a lot in the Bible today. So if you got your Bible, you introduce some Bible flipping.

91
00:08:07,760 --> 00:08:11,440
If not, you can just look up at the screens and if you're online, you got the screens as well.

92
00:08:11,440 --> 00:08:15,040
They're going to have the scriptures up for you. Thank you for joining us online this morning.

93
00:08:15,040 --> 00:08:21,200
It's good to have you. But I want to make a statement. Things are transformed with our hands.

94
00:08:21,200 --> 00:08:29,200
Do you know that? Things are they're transferred by our hands. We can transfer something by our

95
00:08:29,200 --> 00:08:33,840
hands. Now I could go, I could walk down here. How many know it pays to sit in the front seat,

96
00:08:33,840 --> 00:08:39,120
right? And I can say, Dennis, you know, you're looking really good today and I love that you're

97
00:08:39,120 --> 00:08:42,640
here at church. I'm just going to give you my credit card today. All right. And I'm going to

98
00:08:42,640 --> 00:08:49,280
let you go shopping this afternoon. All right. No limit. And that's like, yes. Right. I transferred

99
00:08:49,280 --> 00:08:55,200
something right from my hand to his hand. Now, Dennis is going to transfer it back to me. Right.

100
00:08:55,200 --> 00:08:59,760
Right. Yeah. He's passing it around a car gauge. I'll get that later. All right. He's going to

101
00:08:59,760 --> 00:09:05,680
pass that around. There's a transfer that takes place. We can transfer something from our hands.

102
00:09:05,680 --> 00:09:11,280
And Dennis, I transferred over to him. Leviticus 1.1 says this. Let's go back into the Old Testament.

103
00:09:11,280 --> 00:09:16,000
It says, now the Lord called to Moses and spoke to him from the tabernacle of meeting, saying,

104
00:09:16,000 --> 00:09:20,400
speak to the children of Israel and say to them, when any one of you brings an offering to the Lord,

105
00:09:20,400 --> 00:09:26,080
you shall bring your offering of livestock of the herd of the flock. If his offering is a burnt

106
00:09:26,080 --> 00:09:32,480
sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a meal without blemish. He shall offer it to his own free or at

107
00:09:32,480 --> 00:09:37,680
his own free will at the door of the tabernacle of meeting before the Lord. Then look what it says.

108
00:09:37,680 --> 00:09:43,360
Then he shall put his hand on his head of the burnt offering and it will be accepted on his

109
00:09:43,360 --> 00:09:48,000
behalf to make atonement for him. He shall kill the bull before the Lord and the priest.

110
00:09:48,640 --> 00:09:53,840
Aaron's sons shall bring the blood and sprinkle the blood all around the altar that is by the door

111
00:09:53,840 --> 00:10:00,160
of the tabernacle of meeting. What is happening here? There's a transfer taking place. There's

112
00:10:00,160 --> 00:10:08,000
a transfer from one hand right to the bull. In the Old Testament, the central worship location was

113
00:10:08,000 --> 00:10:14,080
the temple. This was before Jesus. This is before Jesus came and became the final sacrifice for our

114
00:10:14,080 --> 00:10:18,880
sin. So the only way for remission of sins, the only way for forgiveness of sins is they would

115
00:10:18,880 --> 00:10:24,880
bring an animal sacrifice. Blood had to be shed. The word of God tells us that anything that sin

116
00:10:24,880 --> 00:10:34,080
touches eventually dies. This is what took place. Instead of, if we had sin in our lives,

117
00:10:34,080 --> 00:10:40,320
we would bring a bull. We would take from the flock and we would bring an animal that was not

118
00:10:40,320 --> 00:10:45,520
blemished and we would come to the temple that was set up and they would go through the door of the

119
00:10:45,520 --> 00:10:50,400
temple. There was a brazen altar and when they got inside, what would take place is they would

120
00:10:50,400 --> 00:10:55,680
place their hand on the bull and so would the priest and he would lay his hand on it. There was

121
00:10:55,680 --> 00:11:04,560
a transference of sin. It was symbolic of sin being transferred over as they laid hands on that

122
00:11:04,560 --> 00:11:09,920
bull and then they would sacrifice that animal and the blood would be sprinkled on the brazen altar.

123
00:11:09,920 --> 00:11:14,560
There was a transfer that took place. You see it all through the Old Testament before Jesus came

124
00:11:14,560 --> 00:11:19,600
and became that final sacrifice. In Leviticus 3.1, when his offering, it says this, when his

125
00:11:19,600 --> 00:11:25,760
offering is a sacrifice of peace offering, if he offers it of the herd, whether male or female,

126
00:11:25,760 --> 00:11:31,840
he shall offer it without blemish before the Lord and he shall lay his hand on the head of his

127
00:11:31,840 --> 00:11:36,720
offering and kill it at the door of the tabernacle of meaning and Aaron's sons and the priest shall

128
00:11:36,720 --> 00:11:43,440
sprinkle the blood all around the altar. If the whole nation of Israel sinned, Leviticus 4.15 says

129
00:11:43,440 --> 00:11:48,880
then the elders of the congregation shall lay their hands on the head of the bull before the Lord

130
00:11:48,880 --> 00:11:55,200
and the bull shall be slain before the Lord. Over and over again, this took place every day at the

131
00:11:55,200 --> 00:12:00,720
tabernacle where worship was taking place. Every day they would come in and there would be this

132
00:12:01,600 --> 00:12:07,120
transference that would take place and God did that for a reason. One, I believe, I don't know

133
00:12:07,120 --> 00:12:11,520
I'm going to confirm this one day when I get them, but I think God wanted people to see the hideousness

134
00:12:11,520 --> 00:12:18,560
of sin, right? How sin can lead to death and how there has to be a blood that was sacrificed and two,

135
00:12:18,560 --> 00:12:24,400
he wanted them to see this transference that takes place. It was symbolic of what Jesus would do when

136
00:12:24,400 --> 00:12:30,640
he come to this earth and he would be the final sacrifice for all the mankind, for the sins of

137
00:12:30,640 --> 00:12:37,200
mankind. Three, things are transferred by our hands. Now listen, it's not only a sin thing,

138
00:12:37,200 --> 00:12:41,600
aren't you glad it just didn't stop there, right? Wasn't just about our sin being transferred,

139
00:12:41,600 --> 00:12:46,480
it wasn't just that, but there are things that are transferred, there are spiritual aspects

140
00:12:46,480 --> 00:12:49,520
that accompany the laying on of your hands. Look at your hands again, come on,

141
00:12:49,520 --> 00:12:53,520
just keep looking at them this morning, all right? There's spiritual things that can happen with your

142
00:12:53,520 --> 00:12:59,760
hands. There's a transfer of authority that can take place. There's an authorization that can take

143
00:12:59,760 --> 00:13:05,840
place. There's a recognition of somebody's calling. There's a recognition of mission on someone's

144
00:13:05,840 --> 00:13:10,640
life, a commissioning. There's a recognition of God's gift and call on someone's life. There's

145
00:13:10,640 --> 00:13:16,720
an empowerment of that gift that comes. There's a setting aside of a large group of people or

146
00:13:16,720 --> 00:13:24,000
even a small group of people for an authorized work all by the laying on of hands. Numbers eight,

147
00:13:24,000 --> 00:13:27,920
five, we'll go into the Old Testament first. It says, then the Lord spoke to Moses saying,

148
00:13:27,920 --> 00:13:33,600
take the Levites. The Levites were one of the tribes of Israel. If you think about a nation,

149
00:13:33,600 --> 00:13:39,760
there were 12 tribes in the nation of Israel and God says, I want to set one tribe, the tribe of

150
00:13:39,760 --> 00:13:45,440
the Levites aside from among the children of Israel and cleanse them ceremony. Thus you shall do to them

151
00:13:46,160 --> 00:13:51,280
to cleanse them, sprinkle water purification on them, let them shave all their body, let them wash

152
00:13:51,280 --> 00:13:56,480
their clothes and so make themselves clean and let them take a young bull with its grain offering,

153
00:13:56,480 --> 00:14:02,480
a fine flour mixed with oil and you shall take another young bull as a sin offering and you shall

154
00:14:02,480 --> 00:14:07,120
bring the Levites before the tabernacle of meaning and you shall gather together the whole

155
00:14:07,120 --> 00:14:12,160
congregation of Israel, the children of Israel. You shall bring the Levites before the Lord and

156
00:14:12,160 --> 00:14:19,600
the children of Israel lay their hands on the Levites. They would pray over them. They would

157
00:14:19,600 --> 00:14:26,160
commission them. They would assign them. They would empower them. Moses was instructed to have

158
00:14:26,160 --> 00:14:32,480
the children of Israel lay their hands on the Levites, tens of thousands in this group and they

159
00:14:32,480 --> 00:14:38,640
would take care of the temple. They were set aside as a group of people to care for the things of the

160
00:14:38,640 --> 00:14:45,200
temple, to care for the holy things of God. There was an authorization that took place, right? We

161
00:14:45,200 --> 00:14:49,760
still practice this in ministry today. If we have young ministers who come up and get credentialed

162
00:14:49,760 --> 00:14:55,520
and do the study and do the work and they test and they get their ordination, what we do is we bring

163
00:14:55,520 --> 00:15:01,440
those ministers together. The bishops come together in the organization and they lay hands on them and

164
00:15:01,440 --> 00:15:07,120
they pray over them. They authorize them. They say, we see the gift of God. This happens in the church

165
00:15:07,120 --> 00:15:11,680
and should happen in the church. People in the church recognize the gift of God or the gifting

166
00:15:11,680 --> 00:15:18,160
in someone's life and we lay hands on them. We pray over them, right? We see this over and over.

167
00:15:18,160 --> 00:15:24,320
Numbers 27 and 18. Moses lays hands on Joshua who would be the next leader of Israel. So the Lord

168
00:15:24,320 --> 00:15:30,400
said to Moses, take Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit and lay our hands on him.

169
00:15:30,400 --> 00:15:37,040
It's all through the Old Testament. We see it in the New Testament as well. In Acts chapter 6,

170
00:15:37,040 --> 00:15:42,080
the early church, in Acts chapter 6 verse 1 says, now in those days when the number of the disciples

171
00:15:42,080 --> 00:15:48,160
were multiplying, there arose a complaint. How many know a complaint happens? Okay, doesn't matter

172
00:15:48,160 --> 00:15:53,760
what century it's in, what year it's in. There was a complaint that took place and the Hebrews were

173
00:15:53,760 --> 00:15:58,560
upset or the Hellenists were upset with the Hebrews. And really what this boiled down to is it boiled

174
00:15:58,560 --> 00:16:03,360
down to a complaint that the disciples, the 12 disciples were not taking care of the widows

175
00:16:04,080 --> 00:16:10,080
and they needed something, something needed to happen in this. And they came, they brought the

176
00:16:10,080 --> 00:16:15,200
complaint and the disciples said, you know what? We can't walk away from the work we're doing. We're

177
00:16:15,200 --> 00:16:19,680
in the word, we're preaching the word, we're studying the word. So we need to set seven men

178
00:16:19,680 --> 00:16:24,160
aside. That's what they did. Stephen was one of the men. It says, full of faith in the Holy Spirit,

179
00:16:24,160 --> 00:16:30,640
Philip, Prochorus, Nacor, Timian, Parnithius, Nicholas, a proselyte from Antioch whom they

180
00:16:30,640 --> 00:16:37,280
set before the apostles. And what did they do? They prayed and they laid what on them? Hands on

181
00:16:37,280 --> 00:16:44,320
them. There was a transfer of authority. There was an assigning of God on them. There was an authorization

182
00:16:45,120 --> 00:16:52,400
by faith, right? By the Spirit laying on of hands. Look at your hands. You didn't know all that was

183
00:16:52,400 --> 00:16:59,280
in there, did you? Come on, let me show you another place. Acts chapter 13 verse one. It says,

184
00:16:59,280 --> 00:17:03,760
now in the church that was at Antioch, there were certain prophets and teachers, Barnabas,

185
00:17:03,760 --> 00:17:08,800
Simeon, who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manian, who was been brought up by the Herod,

186
00:17:08,800 --> 00:17:13,440
the Tetrarch and Saul. As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, now separate

187
00:17:13,440 --> 00:17:18,800
to me Barnabas and Saul, which would be Paul, for the work of which I have called them. Then having

188
00:17:18,800 --> 00:17:26,480
fasted and prayed, they laid hands on them and sent them away. Right? Whether you're a clergy,

189
00:17:26,480 --> 00:17:32,080
whether you're a lay person and working in the church, there's this idea of laying on hands and

190
00:17:32,080 --> 00:17:39,760
saying, we authorize you to do this, to do the work of God in this area. Paul tells Timothy in his

191
00:17:39,760 --> 00:17:45,920
first letter, this very thing. He says, let no one despise your youth. It's his first Timothy 412.

192
00:17:45,920 --> 00:17:50,720
Be an example to believers in word and conduct and love and spirit and faith and impurity.

193
00:17:50,720 --> 00:17:56,400
Till I come, give attention to the reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. Do not neglect the gift

194
00:17:56,400 --> 00:18:02,720
that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of hands of the eldership.

195
00:18:03,520 --> 00:18:11,040
The elders recognize the call of God on Timothy's life and they laid hands. Don't underestimate

196
00:18:11,040 --> 00:18:18,320
the power of laying on of hands to authorize. There's a transfer that takes place. Right?

197
00:18:18,320 --> 00:18:23,920
When we did last week, we did a baby dedication. We brought the parents up and we did the dedication

198
00:18:23,920 --> 00:18:30,880
ceremony and at the end, the family came together. You all laid hands or raised hands out and we laid

199
00:18:30,880 --> 00:18:36,640
hands on that child and we dedicated that child back to the Lord. Right? It's the laying on of

200
00:18:36,640 --> 00:18:41,600
hands. It's the praying over people. It's the signing spiritual work and I want to do more of

201
00:18:41,600 --> 00:18:47,360
this here. We need to lay hands on one another and pray and right. Amen. It's true. We do that.

202
00:18:47,360 --> 00:18:53,520
Sometimes we come to the altar, we lay hands on shoulders and we pray. There's power in that. It's

203
00:18:53,520 --> 00:18:58,640
biblical. I don't know what it's going to look like one day when I go to heaven.

204
00:18:59,360 --> 00:19:03,920
Maybe you, I don't know if you've ever imagined heaven. I do sometimes like what's God's kingdom

205
00:19:03,920 --> 00:19:08,640
going to be like, you know, is it going to, I don't know, your picture is probably different than mine,

206
00:19:08,640 --> 00:19:13,360
but you know, as I walk into heaven one day, I know why I want the first words to be. I want to

207
00:19:13,360 --> 00:19:17,440
hear well done, the good and faithful servant enter into the joy of the Lord. That's the first thing

208
00:19:17,440 --> 00:19:21,760
I want to hear. But when we come into the kingdom, I wonder what it's going to be like, you know,

209
00:19:21,760 --> 00:19:26,400
because we're going to get authorized to do new things. Right? They do not need preachers in heaven.

210
00:19:27,280 --> 00:19:32,880
I'm going to be out of a job. Okay. They don't need preachers in heaven. So what's going to happen

211
00:19:32,880 --> 00:19:37,680
in heaven? You know, I don't know. I kind of imagine like a kingdom, you know, and in the kings,

212
00:19:37,680 --> 00:19:41,440
they used to night people, right? They, they'd lay the sword on the shoulder. They come and kneel and

213
00:19:41,440 --> 00:19:46,560
they were authorized to defend the king and they represented the king and were ambassadors for

214
00:19:46,560 --> 00:19:50,960
Christ. But what's going to happen in heaven? We're going to get authorized to do new things. Maybe

215
00:19:50,960 --> 00:19:55,200
the hosts of heaven will lay their hands on us and you're going to get a new assignment in heaven.

216
00:19:55,200 --> 00:20:00,800
I don't know. I can't confirm that, but I imagine in my mind, because you see it all through the

217
00:20:00,800 --> 00:20:06,160
word of God, there's a transfer of authority. Hands also can be, there's a transfer of the

218
00:20:06,160 --> 00:20:11,600
spiritual that takes place. Deuteronomy chapter 34 verse nine. Listen, I'm walking you down through

219
00:20:11,600 --> 00:20:15,840
scripture. I'm talking fast this morning, but I want you to see this through the old testament

220
00:20:15,840 --> 00:20:22,400
and the new testament. Now, Joshua, the son of nine was full of the spirit of wisdom for Moses had

221
00:20:22,400 --> 00:20:29,040
laid hands on him. There was a transfer. So the children of Israel heeded him as did also the Lord

222
00:20:29,040 --> 00:20:35,120
had commanded Moses. It's old testament, new testament, following Pentecost when there were

223
00:20:35,120 --> 00:20:40,880
120 individuals in the upper room at acts chapter two, and they're waiting on the promise of the

224
00:20:40,880 --> 00:20:46,160
Holy Spirit following this event. When they're baptized in the Holy Spirit, they go out into the

225
00:20:46,160 --> 00:20:50,640
community. They begin to speak God's word. They're speaking in the language of the people that are

226
00:20:50,640 --> 00:20:57,120
all around in the city of Jerusalem. And there's, and that continues. And in acts chapter eight,

227
00:20:57,120 --> 00:21:01,680
shortly after when the apostles were in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God,

228
00:21:01,680 --> 00:21:07,120
they sent Peter and John to them who when they had come down, prayed for them that they might receive

229
00:21:07,120 --> 00:21:14,880
the Holy Spirit for as yet they had, for as yet he had not fallen on none of them. They only had been

230
00:21:14,880 --> 00:21:20,080
baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. They were only baptized in water. Then they laid

231
00:21:20,080 --> 00:21:27,600
hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit. The apostles and disciples were going out. They got

232
00:21:27,600 --> 00:21:32,800
out beyond Jerusalem. They started going out into Samaria and they began to lay hands on these

233
00:21:32,800 --> 00:21:39,440
these individuals who came to Christ for salvation. And let me be clear here. I can't just pick

234
00:21:39,440 --> 00:21:43,920
somebody out at random and will and just come lay hands on you, right? And you're going to receive

235
00:21:43,920 --> 00:21:47,760
the baptism of the Holy Spirit. That's not what it's saying. There's other factors that work. First

236
00:21:47,760 --> 00:21:52,720
of all, you got to have faith to receive anything from God, right? That's from salvation on. You

237
00:21:52,720 --> 00:21:58,000
got to have faith. There's got to be desire. You got to be seeking. All right. But the power of the

238
00:21:58,000 --> 00:22:04,080
Holy Spirit from the laying on of hands, we're just a conduit always for God. We're just the word of

239
00:22:04,080 --> 00:22:09,600
God goes through us. The spirit of God works in us. We're just a conduit, right? I'm just a message

240
00:22:09,600 --> 00:22:15,200
boy. I say that all the time. I'm just a vessel that God can use. I have no power in me. It's all

241
00:22:15,200 --> 00:22:20,880
God and it's all here. But there's a transfer that takes place. We don't possess the power within

242
00:22:20,880 --> 00:22:25,840
ourselves, but we know the one who does. Do you know that if you're a follower of Jesus Christ,

243
00:22:25,840 --> 00:22:32,640
you are an ambassador for Christ? Do you know that ambassadors are authorized, right? They represent

244
00:22:32,640 --> 00:22:39,440
the government. They represent a president. They are authorized. There is some power that goes behind

245
00:22:39,440 --> 00:22:44,800
that. And I could tell you the enemy doesn't want you to know this. He doesn't want you to realize,

246
00:22:44,800 --> 00:22:48,880
look at your hands again. He doesn't want you to realize there's anything there. He wants you to

247
00:22:48,880 --> 00:22:53,280
think that you got nothing. He wants you to think, well, hey, you're saved and you're on your way to

248
00:22:53,280 --> 00:22:57,360
heaven, but you got nothing else, right? Man, good thing God just got you through. He doesn't want

249
00:22:57,360 --> 00:23:02,240
you to know that there's power there. He wants you to, he doesn't want you to know that there's

250
00:23:02,240 --> 00:23:05,440
authority there. He doesn't want you to know that there's transfer that takes place.

251
00:23:06,640 --> 00:23:11,520
We need to understand what the word of God says. And this isn't a spooky thing. I know about the

252
00:23:11,520 --> 00:23:16,240
spiritual spooky stuff. I mean, how many know that you get into spiritually weird, right? That's not

253
00:23:16,240 --> 00:23:22,480
what I'm talking about here. I'm talking biblical laying on of hands is an act of faith. You can

254
00:23:22,480 --> 00:23:27,760
think of it in that manner. When you go pray for somebody, you lay hands on them. It's an act of

255
00:23:27,760 --> 00:23:34,160
faith. When I'm bold enough to lay hands and pray over somebody, that's me stepping out and God

256
00:23:34,160 --> 00:23:39,200
always meets faith. I got a friend who does that. He'll go into a restaurant, man. If he sees

257
00:23:39,200 --> 00:23:43,200
somebody that's got a crutches or they got her arm in a sling, he doesn't even know him. He

258
00:23:43,200 --> 00:23:47,200
don't care. He gets up, goes over, starts chatting with them, talking with him. Hey, how'd you get

259
00:23:47,200 --> 00:23:52,080
hurt? How'd you get injured? Can I pray for you? And he just quietly kneels down and he'll just put

260
00:23:52,080 --> 00:23:57,040
his hand right on, right? And he just prays. He's seen people, he'll in restaurants, flips them out,

261
00:23:57,040 --> 00:24:02,880
right? Like this, look, what, huh? You know, and it's working. Also, he's seen that happen,

262
00:24:02,880 --> 00:24:09,520
but it's because he steps out in faith and he lays hands. There's a transfer that takes place. And

263
00:24:09,520 --> 00:24:13,600
even if they're not healed, right? Even if you go pray for somebody and they're not healed,

264
00:24:13,600 --> 00:24:17,200
because I'd like to say every time I prayed for somebody, they got healed. Listen, I prayed for

265
00:24:17,200 --> 00:24:23,840
people in the hospital and they died. I'm just saying it happens sometimes, right? I'm just being

266
00:24:23,840 --> 00:24:27,840
honest. I can't tell you every time I pray for you, you're going to get healed. I've seen people get

267
00:24:27,840 --> 00:24:33,680
healed praying, but that doesn't always happen. But it's a very minimum. Do you know that a couple

268
00:24:33,680 --> 00:24:38,240
things are taking place? One, you're showing them the love of God. You're showing them the care of

269
00:24:38,240 --> 00:24:44,400
God for one, right? For two, they're sensing God's presence because God's presence dwells with you.

270
00:24:44,400 --> 00:24:51,040
You should know that as you lay hands on. And, you know, as we do this, if nothing else, there's a

271
00:24:51,040 --> 00:24:56,640
transfer of blessing that you can put on somebody's life. Do you know that? You can speak blessing.

272
00:24:56,640 --> 00:25:02,640
There can be a transfer of blessing with our hands. You can bring blessing over them. Joseph,

273
00:25:02,640 --> 00:25:09,760
in the Old Testament, the word of God shows us this idea of blessing. Jacob, his dad, who God

274
00:25:09,760 --> 00:25:15,680
renames Israel, is going to bless his grandsons. He's going to speak blessing over his grandchildren.

275
00:25:15,680 --> 00:25:23,200
Jacob's getting an elderly. He's getting ready to breathe his last soon. And Joseph, his son, brings

276
00:25:23,200 --> 00:25:30,880
his two boys to Jacob, and he wants Jacob to bless him. He wants to lay his hands. This was tradition.

277
00:25:30,880 --> 00:25:35,360
This was Jewish tradition. They would bless their children, right? Their grandchildren, and they

278
00:25:35,360 --> 00:25:42,880
would speak blessing over them. So Joseph brings the boys in, and, you know, dad's old, Jacob's old,

279
00:25:42,880 --> 00:25:49,600
and he thinks that his dad is confused because what Jacob begins to do is he begins to put his

280
00:25:49,600 --> 00:25:54,480
right hand, which was meant for the firstborn, by the way, right? In Jewish culture, the firstborn

281
00:25:54,480 --> 00:26:01,360
got a portion of the inheritance, and the right hand was supposed to bless the firstborn, and then

282
00:26:01,360 --> 00:26:08,400
the left the others. But when Jacob's grandsons come in, he switches it. He puts his right hand

283
00:26:08,400 --> 00:26:14,880
on the younger brother and his left hand on the older brother. And Joseph says this in 48, 70, he

284
00:26:14,880 --> 00:26:19,840
says that Joseph saw that his father had laid his right hand on Ephraim, and it displeased him. So

285
00:26:19,840 --> 00:26:25,200
he took the hold of his father's hand and removed it from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's head. And

286
00:26:25,200 --> 00:26:30,400
Joseph said to his father, not so, my father, for this one is the firstborn. Put your right hand on

287
00:26:30,400 --> 00:26:36,880
his head. But his father refused and said, I know, my son, I know. He also shall become a people,

288
00:26:37,600 --> 00:26:42,480
and he also shall be great. But truly his younger brother shall be greater than he,

289
00:26:42,480 --> 00:26:47,120
and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations. So he blessed him that day saying,

290
00:26:47,120 --> 00:26:54,720
be by you, Israel, will bless saying, may God make you as Ephraim and Manasseh. And thus he said,

291
00:26:54,720 --> 00:27:00,880
Ephraim, before Manasseh, you see blessing taking place by the laying on of hands. You can go to

292
00:27:00,880 --> 00:27:07,360
the gospel of Mark and actually in Matthew. And Jesus has the disciples all around him,

293
00:27:07,360 --> 00:27:11,920
and there's children trying to come in to see Jesus. And the disciples are shooing him away,

294
00:27:11,920 --> 00:27:17,280
kind of like the whole herd up here, right up here in the class. And Jesus, you know, the kids

295
00:27:17,280 --> 00:27:22,400
want to come to Jesus and the disciples going, no, no, go to uptown. All right, go to class,

296
00:27:22,400 --> 00:27:27,600
go over here. And Jesus says, ah, let him in, let him in, let him in. And what does Jesus do?

297
00:27:28,240 --> 00:27:35,280
He blesses them. He lays his hands on them and he blesses them. At a minimum, when you pray

298
00:27:35,280 --> 00:27:40,880
someone for someone, you can pray a blessing over them. You can speak blessing over them.

299
00:27:40,880 --> 00:27:46,080
It's Jesus plus our hands. It's the Holy Spirit plus our hands. It's our hands

300
00:27:47,280 --> 00:27:53,600
transferring God's love and his purpose and his power, right? It's a transfer. As I get ready

301
00:27:53,600 --> 00:27:58,720
to close, I'm going to ask if the worship team would come. Our hands can also transfer healing.

302
00:27:59,680 --> 00:28:07,200
All right. Jesus hands always transferred healing. In Luke chapter four, verse 40,

303
00:28:07,200 --> 00:28:12,960
when the sun was setting, all those who had had any that were sick with various diseases,

304
00:28:12,960 --> 00:28:19,520
brought them to Jesus. And he said, and he laid his hands on every one of them and they were healed.

305
00:28:20,640 --> 00:28:26,880
The demons also came out of many crying out and saying, you are the Christ, the son of God. I want

306
00:28:26,880 --> 00:28:33,600
you to picture this. Jesus is there and everyone who comes with diseases and sicknesses, he lays

307
00:28:33,600 --> 00:28:39,760
hands on all of them and all of them are healed. Those who have demonic influence in their life,

308
00:28:40,320 --> 00:28:46,560
and that was very common back in that culture, witchcraft that was going on, he would lay hands

309
00:28:46,560 --> 00:28:53,520
on them and they would be free. And you say, well, that was Jesus. And to that I say, you're right.

310
00:28:53,520 --> 00:29:02,080
OK, that was the son of God. But listen what Jesus says in Mark 16, 14, as he's getting ready to leave

311
00:29:02,080 --> 00:29:07,920
this earth, he's rose from the grave. He's speaking to his disciples. He's talking to those who are

312
00:29:07,920 --> 00:29:13,200
witnesses that he rose from the grave. And he says this in Mark 16, 14. Later, he appeared to the leaven

313
00:29:13,840 --> 00:29:18,080
as they sat at the table and he rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart because they did

314
00:29:18,080 --> 00:29:23,120
not believe those who had seen him after he had risen. And he said to them, go into all the world

315
00:29:23,120 --> 00:29:28,000
and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes in his baptized will be saved, but he who

316
00:29:28,000 --> 00:29:34,400
does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will follow those who believe. Say believe.

317
00:29:34,960 --> 00:29:39,600
These are believers, right? In my name, they will cast out demons. They will speak with new tongues.

318
00:29:39,600 --> 00:29:44,320
They will take up serpents. And if they drink any deadly thing, it will by no means hurt them.

319
00:29:44,320 --> 00:29:50,800
They will lay hands on the sick and they will recover. They will recover.

320
00:29:50,800 --> 00:29:56,880
I didn't say it. The word of God says it. Look at your hands. Do they look different this morning?

321
00:29:57,840 --> 00:30:03,920
Are you seeing something that wasn't there before? Or you maybe you've looked at your hand a thousand

322
00:30:03,920 --> 00:30:12,560
times. What are you seeing different? God has purpose for your hands, right? Along with your

323
00:30:12,560 --> 00:30:17,200
faith in him and his power. Listen again, we don't got anything in us. There's nothing special about

324
00:30:17,200 --> 00:30:22,160
my hands. All right. I kind of got small hands actually. All right. There's nothing particularly

325
00:30:22,160 --> 00:30:27,520
special about my hands, but my hands plus Jesus, my hands plus the Holy Spirit, my hands plus the

326
00:30:27,520 --> 00:30:34,480
power of God, my hands plus blessing, right? All those things, right? We use our hands.

327
00:30:34,480 --> 00:30:46,960
Our hands. I'm going to ask you to stay in the school.

328
00:31:04,480 --> 00:31:10,960
dot lifehousecog.com