Sharing good news of great joy to all people.
Elation Church. This is week number seven. Everybody
say week number seven. Week number seven in our
series on faith. And dad and I have been tag
teaming this, going back and forth a lot of the
weeks. But yeah, we're talking about faith. Everybody
say faith. The faith that does, right? The faith
that pleases God is a faith that acts. It's a
faith that is not passive. It doesn't just sit
by and let life happen to it. It's a faith that
takes hold of the promises of God. Amen? Takes
hold of the promises of God. It's not passive.
It doesn't sit back. It lays hold of what God
has in store for us and counts on it. There's
more to faith than believing, as we've been looking
at. There's more to faith than simply believing.
I know the majority of my Christian experience,
you know, I've thought faith was just hearing
or believing, right? But it's so much more than
that. It's acting. It's acting, standing on as
if God's word is true, right? We're doing those
things as like in our belief, we're standing
in them. We're moving towards them. It's more
than just simply believing. How many of you have
learned something through this series? Yeah,
it's really been good. It's really impacted me.
I've learned so much. And as we continue, we're
going to learn more today. But the faith that
pleases God is a faith that responds. It's a
faith that gives. It's a faith that does. It's
a faith that acts. Belief without action. does
not see the promised results. If we've seen time
and time again, right? Those stories that we
read about in the Bible are of men and women
who acted, who did, and saw the promises of God
fulfilled. They didn't just, you know, it was
because of their action, they wrote, and we see
them in the Bible in those stories. Things are
not just up to God, and we've learned that we
play a significant part in the things that happen
in our lives. Let's go over some verses just
to recap where we are. Ephesians 2 .8, for by
grace you have been saved through faith. Everybody
say faith. Grace is God's acts of kindness and
favor towards you and to me. And we experience
that his work, that work of salvation, right,
is what he did on the cross. It's what he accomplished.
Grace is what he does. Faith is what we do, right?
Galatians 3 .11, that no one is justified by
the law and the sight of God is evident, for
the just shall live by faith. 2 Corinthians 5
.7, for we walk by faith, not by sight. That
is the sphere of our existence. It illuminates
where we are. It shows us where we're going to
go. But each and every day, each one of us have
to choose to walk by faith. 1 John 5 .4, for
every child of God defeats this evil world. And
how do we achieve it? We achieve this victory
through our faith. Amen? Amen. As a believer,
we can have victory over the world. Why? Is it
because of something that we do? No, it's because
of what God has done, right? We can go ahead
and get happy about the victory that we walk
in. We are overcomers, the Bible says. We are
overcomers in this life. Do you believe that?
Are you an overcomer in this life as a Christian?
Say amen. Amen. You are an overcomer, and we
have victory through our faith. Hebrews 11, 6,
it is impossible to please God without faith.
So if we are saved through faith, if we're called
to live by faith, if we can only experience victory
through our faith, if we can only please God
by our faith, we need to be people of faith.
And like we said, we need to be people of faith.
We're actively living by faith each and every
day. We're dependent on it, right? We're dependent
on God and what he's going to do. We're actively
standing on his promises, standing in faith,
and then actively increasing in our faith, being
about the kingdom of heaven, learning, growing,
doing more and more faith acts. So what is faith?
Where does it come from? How do we have it and
how do we live it? We can see through Scripture,
Romans 10, 17. So then faith comes by hearing
and hearing by the word of God. That's the divine
utterance like we've talked about. It's spoken
and it's written. It's that still small voice
of the Holy Spirit on the inside of us, leading
us, guiding us, wooing us into the things that
God has for us, right? Showing us where to go.
People often ask, like, how do I hear from God?
It's that urge to do things. innate sense of
like okay this is what God has and this is according
to his word but then like you run those things
but it's like a still small voice and we talked
about how we have to be we have to be still in
order to hear something that is still we have
to put ourselves in places of stillness and places
of expectation places of places of Being able
to hear, right? I can't hear if I'm in like the
subway or something like that or if I'm on, you
know, and it's real loud and all that kind of
stuff. You can still hear the voice of God, but
that's why most people will hear the voice of
God when they're at church, right? Because you're
taking the time out of your schedule to sit,
to focus, to be conscious of what God has to
speak to you in that moment. So we have to hear
from God. So the first step of faith is hearing
the divine utterance from God. Second step of
faith is the confidence that we, Hebrews 11 .1,
faith is the confidence that what we hope for
will actually happen. It gives us assurance about
the things we cannot see, right? It's not the
world's view of hope, not hope so hope. It's
no -so hope. It's what we like to say. Hope is
the confident expectation. This is what it means
when we read hope in our Bibles. It's the confident
expectation that we will see the goodness and
promises of God fulfilled in our life. Amen.
So the second step of faith is wholeheartedly
believing and having confidence in God's word
and what he has said. And then James 2 .26 tells
us this. Faith without works is what? Is dead.
This here is why it's so important and why we
just keep hammering this same topic about faith
and the actions of faith. Because look, we can
hear, we can believe, we can wholeheartedly believe
and wholeheartedly do, right? But if we don't
act, if we don't act in faith, what good is it?
What good is it to you? Even the demons believe,
the Bible says. So there has to be more to believing.
There has to be more to faith than just simply
believing, right? We don't make up what to do.
You know, you don't just come up with things
to do when you're thinking about what God has
to say. A lot of people like to put words in
his mouth and say, oh, well, you know, I'm going
to make up something to do. But doing something
without direction is simply presumption. We must
do what he's told us to do. Under that divine
utterance, under that word that he has for us,
okay? So we must act according to God -given
direction. That's how we're going to see his
promise fulfilled. So the third step of faith
is acting in obedience, acting in obedience.
That is the connection point. That's the connection
point to the manifestation of power is when we
act upon what God has said. So faith is gained
by hearing, it's held by believing, and it's
lived by acting each and every day. And I love
this picture of like the little baby, right?
When I was... you know, designing the series
and coming up with what I wanted, you know, it
to look like. We go back and forth and we talk
about it. And I immediately, when I saw this
picture, it's like a meme of this little baby.
Now, I don't know what's going through the baby's
head or whatever. It's probably not thinking
what I'm thinking it means, but it was a good
picture, right? Because the baby is putting its
hands to something that it can't physically accomplish
on its own. And sometimes as Christians, God
is calling us to put our hands to things that
only he can do. Amen? That only he can do in
and through you. But, but, the problem is we
let our minds, we let logic and reason get in
the way of what God wants to do, but he's wanting
to do it through you. But are we going to be
people of faith to put our hands to things that
only he can do? But a lot of times we limit God.
We say, oh, well, God, that can't be done. That's
impossible. But like we saw last week, faith
laughs at impossibilities. Amen? It laughs at
it. It laughs at the face of it. Because what
with God, all things are possible. Amen? He wants
to use you. He wants to use you. And today we're
looking at, we're going to talk about healing,
going to talk about healing. Now we've looked
at healing with like Naaman, if you were here
for week one, some of these other faith acts
we've seen like healing being a big part of that.
But I noticed that immediately when I said healing,
everybody was like, oh, what's going to happen?
No, I'm praying that. that God will give us clarity,
that God will give us revelation here. I believe
there's a lot of ignorance surrounding this topic.
And I just want you to follow along through this
story. We're going to see some other things.
We're going to see a lot of things that God spoke
to me this week. And God just continues to show
me throughout Scripture about healing. We're
looking at, if you're familiar with the story,
we're looking at the woman with the issue of
blood. How many of you have heard this story
before? Please don't check out just because it's
a familiar story. I encourage you to like sit
up, get ready, and I need you to listen because
I don't want you to leave here and be like, well,
you know, that little kid that was standing,
I'm not a little kid, but anyways, that guy standing
up there, I used to be a little kid, no longer
a little kid anymore. Anyways. That guy sitting
up there said this when I really didn't, okay?
I know I'm country. I know it's a little hard
to understand sometimes. I'm going to try to
speak clear as I possibly can because I don't
want you to miss this and to miss the truth of
this. This will transform your life, amen? Because
that's what God wants to do. He wants us to leave
here different than the way we came in, okay?
So let's listen. Let's listen with our spiritual
ears to this story and let's view it in a different
way. This story is found, it's recorded in Mark,
Matthew, and Luke. Kind of gives us a little
different take of the same story. It tells us
all the same facts, but some of them just have
a different slant to the story, which reveals
a little bit more. I don't have time to dig into
the differences between each one, but we will
bounce a little bit around, okay? I encourage
you this week to read all three accounts of the
story. place in the overall thing of what Jesus
was doing was Jairus was coming with his daughter
being sick, you know, on her deathbed. And Jairus
is coming, talking, you know, to Jesus. And Jesus
is going with Jairus, going with Jairus to Jairus'
home. Okay? And then now we pick up our story.
Mark 5, 25 through 34 says this. Now a certain
woman, everybody say certain woman, certain woman,
had a flow of blood for 12 years. We don't know
her name. We don't know her name. None of the
accounts record that she has some sort of name.
We don't have that information. She was known
for her affliction, but she had suffered many
things from many physicians. She had spent all
that she had. Everybody say all that she had.
And she was no better, but rather. grew worse
she grew worse when i look at this i see just
because we have nothing else we can do right
it does not mean that nothing else can be done
okay Just when we hit those impossibility times,
when we think when medical science has gone as
far as it can go and lead you, you know, it stops.
And someone, what do they do? They say you're
terminal, right? Terminally ill. There's only
so much that can be done and what can happen.
It stops here, right? That does not mean nothing
else can be done. And I don't want it to be confused
here. We always need to look to God first. It's
a part of seeking his will, right? In all you
do, the Bible encourages us to seek his will.
We're supposed to be spirit -led. individuals.
If you want a good series about being spirit
led, go look it up. It's on YouTube, on the podcast,
everything. Go back and listen to that if you
want to know more about it. I don't have time
to sit there today, but we need to be Christians
who are led by the spirit. So what does that
mean? We're always taking everything that comes
to us. We're viewing our world and everything
around us in that lens of God. What would you
have me do? Okay. When it comes to healing, this
is so important because God might lead you to
do, to have some sort of procedure. God might
lead you to take some sort of medicine. So don't
get me wrong here. We have two different camps,
I think. Sometimes we have the camp that's just
like, well, okay, God, you know, God's able and
he's just going to heal everything and I'm going
to be miraculously healed. of everything, and
I don't need to use doctors. And then you have
the people that's like, well, God gave that wisdom
to the doctors, and we need to rely on them and
forsake everything supernatural. But I believe
there's a very balanced view we can take here,
okay, and what we'll see. God might direct you
to utilize what physicians can do. Who gave those
doctors the wisdom that they have, the natural
wisdom that they have? God did. And all healing
comes through him. And I don't care what a doctor
does to you, what kind of procedure you have,
there's going to still be some healing involved
that they don't do. You have a surgery on your
back, there's going to be six months of healing
involved, right? But we need to seek God first.
We need to look to him first. You don't look
to the doctors for your healing. You recognize
that all healing comes from God. You look to
him and be spirit -led, okay? So please don't
leave here and say something that I didn't say.
I'm just throwing this out there. We're going
to be real clear, and we're going to move forward.
Okay? Everybody say, we're moving forward. We're
moving forward. We need to do what God tells
us to do. That's the whole point of this whole
series, is being willing to act upon what he
tells you. And I don't know what he's told you
to do. You can't do something that someone else
did and expect the same result. Moving ahead.
Mark 5, 27. When she heard about Jesus, everybody
say heard. Heard everywhere she went, or everywhere
Jesus went, he was healing people. You read throughout
the New Testament, he's healing people time and
time and time again. A lot of people want to
just discredit healing altogether and just brush
it under a rug. But what did Jesus do when he
was here? Look at his earthly ministry. Look
at the things that he did on a day -to -day basis.
We see time and time again, he is healing people.
People are coming to him and things are happening.
Miracles are taking place. The power of God is
on display. It's to the point where he's telling
people, shh, don't tell. anybody what just happened
here today, right? And like this, this is a healing
taking place with inside another healing. It's
a miracle taking place with inside of another.
He turns around and there's some more, like two
blind guys come up in Luke, right? And he heals
them too. But let's take, let's take a look.
But she heard about Jesus. So based on what she
said and what she did, As we will see, or if
you already know what's coming, she most likely
had heard that the Messiah would have healing
in his wings. It's Malachi 4 .2. So she had probably
heard this prophecy of the coming one, of the
king of Israel, right? The one who would reign.
He's coming, and he will have healing in his
wings. He'll be healing people, right? That was
a part of... That prophecy that Jesus fulfilled.
And the wings here in Malachi, this word here
in Hebrew is kanaf, and it means the edge of
a garment. It means the edge of a garment. It's
very clear here. The edge of a garment. 27, when
she heard about Jesus, and then 28, we're going
to skip forward. She said, everybody say she
said. She said. This Greek word is lego. It's
lego. If only I may touch his clothes, I shall
be made well. If only I touch his clothes, because
she's standing on this word of the promised Messiah.
We're tracking, right? So she's standing on that
and she said, if I touch his clothes, I'll be
whole. If I just touch his clothes, and this
is in a different translation we'll see in a
second, I think it's in Luke. Again, it says
the edge of his garment. I will be made well.
Now this is a lady who spent 12 years. This isn't
something that just came up overnight. She spent
12 years, every penny that she had, she had went
to every doctor, every natural understanding
and physician that she could, and she was out
of options, okay? She's completely out of options.
And when she hears that the Messiah is coming
and the Messiah is close, she knows and remembers,
and she stands on this word and says, if I touch
his clothes, I shall be made well. This is her
first act of faith. She spoke in agreement with
what she believed. Her lego. What does that mean
when you look at the definition of that Greek
word? It's to lay forth in words. It's lay forth
in words. It's a systematic or set discourse
building or establishing. Okay? So this means
that she didn't just say it once. She didn't
just say it once and give up. No, she kept saying
it over and over and over again. She laid forth
in her words and built this up in her spirit.
She's taking a hold of this and building up her
faith over and over and over again. She's standing
on, speaking in agreement with the word that
was spoken with that prophecy. Now, when I think
of Legos, When I think of Legos, and like Dad's
used this illustration before, and I got to be
honest, you know, when it's real early in the
morning, I am not at the peak of mental ability,
okay? And, you know, I spent roughly like, it
was two evenings building this beautiful Lego
set. of a X -Wing, Star Wars X -Wing. And I had
every intention to bring it. And I thought it
was so cool looking. I like set it up on my piano
at home. And what did I do this morning? I got
everything except that one piece for that illustration
that I worked so hard on. Anyways, we're moving
on. Now, growing up, I had Legos, but not like
Legos that they have today with like the sets
and all that kind of stuff. I just had a blue
box. Did anybody have like a big blue box of
just Legos? Me and Talia. Yeah. Yeah, so like
we just had this big... box of legos there were
different shapes but pretty much consistent right
like how with how big they were there wasn't
all these cool ones like big sticks and see -through
ones and all these fun stuff we just had to use
our imagination to just create stuff i'd be like
oh i'm going to create a a building you know
and stack a few up or i'm going to make a plane
and it would look funny and not hold together
real well and and uh for this for this though
it you know dad he was like hey we need to buy
this lego set let's do that it'll be a great
illustration piece ah yeah gotta love it gotta
love it but anyways you know all these all these
fancy lego things they come in this big beautiful
full color box showing you what you're going
to make they come with the instruction manual
which also shows this beautiful thing in some
sort of like you know green screen background
like it's flying and shooting stuff out of it
it looks so cool and then it gives step -by -step
instructions that if you've built anything from
ikea you can follow and you should be okay at
it at the end of the day i only had to break
it apart like two or three times but we built
it and it and it looks great sitting on my piano
at home yeah um But, you know, I followed it
step by step, and I built this beautiful X -Wing,
built this beautiful X -Wing. And the thing with
this, this word, I don't know how it's connected
to, or even if it is connected, but in my head,
this makes really good sense, because God, listen.
God gives us a vision, just like a Lego gives
you a vision of what will be. If you follow the
book, right, if you follow step by step the instructions
of the book, it shows you what will be. If you
build it, if you put your hands to it, brick
by brick, by brick, by brick, systematically,
over and over and over again, to complete. And
it's all given to you. The manufacturer gives
you everything that you need in the box. Like
20 billion bags. But yeah, there's this box and
it has all these pieces in it. It has everything
that you need. And the manufacturer gives it
to you and says, if you do this, you will have...
the vision, the image of what it could be, right?
So first off, God's like this. God's like this
with things in your life. He gives you a vision
of what will be in your life if you follow his
direction. But he always gives you that image
of what will happen. God gives us vision through
the promise, right? Gives us that image and directions,
the instruction. And our words, listen, our words,
our Lego, are intentionally placed in accordance
with his word, our action. It makes God's vision
become a reality in my life. Okay? Confessions,
though, are merely words unless they are connected
to the promise of God. I can't just create things
that I want and just make it up in my head and
then just see the promises of God. No, I've got
to stand on a word from God. That divine utterance,
that's what we're talking about. Written or spoken,
it's the word of God. It is God who has the power
to accomplish his word, right? But it's through
faith, through faith, that we see it a reality
in our life. Okay? So listen, she said what she
heard. Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the
word of God. She had heard that when the Messiah
comes, he will have healing in her wings. That
was the written word that she had heard and that
she's standing on. And get this. Don't miss this.
She receives. according to her level of faith.
Could she have been healed differently? You know,
could she have been healed? We see later on with
the centurion, right? Going, just speak your
word, and it'll be. You don't have to come to
my house. You don't have to lay hands. You don't
have to even be there. Just speak the word and
it will be done. In Jairus, in the context of
this story, he's going to receive according to
what? His level of faith. He said, if you come
and lay hands on my daughter, she will be whole.
And what did this lady say? She's standing on
the light in which she has, on the knowledge
of which she has, on the word in which was spoken
to her through divine utterance, and she receives
according to her confession of faith. Faith is
at different levels. That's why God said if you
can have faith as a mustard seed, as small as
a mustard seed, you can move a mountain. Think
about that a little bit. Back to her story. When
she heard about Jesus, she came behind him in
the crowd and touched his garment. For she said,
if only I may touch his clothes, I shall be made
well. But she pushes through the crowd. You know,
having that issue of blood, she would have been
pronounced unclean. It would have been unseemly
for her to be out in public. People would have
looked at her. People would have possibly stoned
her according to their times and their traditions.
It would have been a very weird time. And she's
really putting herself out on a ledge here, really
as her last resort. But she came behind him,
pushed through the crowd. And notice, Jesus here
is not looking for her. He's going to the house
of Jairus. See, I think that's why this miracle
is really important. It's like, it's a little
different than some of the other ones. Jesus
wasn't intentionally seeking her out, right?
She had to go where Jesus was and press through
the crowd. She pressed through. When she saw
the crowd and how difficult it was going to be
to get to Jesus, this is the moment she could
have lost her miracle. She could have said it.
She could have believed it. She could have heard
it. But she could have saw that and let all of
that get in the way of what God had for her.
In church, Don't let your mind, don't let reasoning
and logic based on your feeble humanity get in
the way of the things that God wants to do in
your life. Because God wants you to put your
hands to things that only he can do. She sees
the crowd. She doesn't let it get in the way.
She doesn't let that keep her. from having what
God has for her. And she touched his garment.
She touched his garment. Here in Luke 8, 44,
she touched the fringe of his garment. It adds
that word. Touched the fringe of his garment.
That's her third act of faith. And like we talked
about, A lot of times in the miracles or in the
power of God, when we see it, it requires multiple
actions. It's not simply just one action. It
requires multiple actions. But immediately, I
like that word, immediately, the fountain of
her blood was dried up and she felt in her body
that she was healed of the affliction. Amen?
And I love this. And Jesus, immediately knowing
in himself that power had gone out of him, turned
around. The kind of faith that makes Jesus turn
around and say, whoa, who touched me? Who touched
me? Who's reaching out in faith? Who's believing
what I have said and taking a hold of my promise?
Hey! Who's going to do it? Who's going to have
the kind of faith that makes Jesus turn around?
Who's going to have the type of faith that pleases
God? It pleases him when his children do this.
He's instructing us to do it and it pleases him
when we act upon what he said. Just like with
a parent, when your parent asks you to do something
and you do it, right? What happens? It pleases
your parent. Hallelujah. Right? Makes them happy.
Makes them smile on the inside. If they ask you
to do something, you're like, I don't know. That
don't seem right. I think I know better. I think
I can do it like this. And it kind of accomplishes
what you said, but I can do it my own way. Does
that please your parents? No. No. Sorry, I'll
get off of that. Get off of that. No. The kind
of faith that makes Jesus turn around. Turn around
and said, who touched my clothes? But his disciples
said to him, I love it because they're just like,
you know, you see the multitude around you, thronging
you, and you say, who touched me? I mean, everybody
has bumped up into you. Everyone has been, you're
in like a complete crowd. Everyone's bumping.
It's like being at a concert, right? Everybody's
just around, but they're all trying to get to
Jesus. They're all trying to get to Jesus. But
you know what? There was a multitude around him
that day. Listen, there's a multitude around
him. There's a multitude of people touching him.
It's not about the action. It's about the faith.
Multiple people touched the hem of his garment.
Only one lady took hold of his promise by faith.
Only one person received the goodness and promise
of God. Only one person saw the miracle happen.
Saw the affliction that had been troubling her
for 12 years get turned around. Like it never
even happened. Who touched me? There were many
people. Hearing Jesus bumping him, only one touched
him in faith. Only one received a miracle. And
he looked around to see her who had done this
thing. But the woman, fearing and trembling,
knowing what had happened to her, did she run
away? No, she didn't run away. She came and fell
down before him. Everybody say worship. Worshiped
him and told him the whole truth, what had happened.
Did Jesus rebuke her in any way? Did he say,
ah, you shouldn't have came to me like that.
That's not in order. Did he say that? We're talking
about healing this morning, in case you forgot.
Did he scold her in any way for doing what she
did? No. I love this. And he said to her something.
He said, daughter. Some of you got it. He said,
daughter. This whole entire time, listen, this
whole entire time, she had been the lady with
the issue of blood for 12 years. She had been
the lady isolated from everyone and everything.
And then now Jesus. Turns around and says, daughter.
You know, this is one of like the only times
Jesus like says this word here. Calls her daughter.
She went from being known as the person with
her affliction to child of God. Why? I think
it's to tell us something because his children.
His children take a hold of his promise. His
children do and are willing to do what he told
them to do when he told them to do it. His children
say that, well, if God has it and that's who
God is, I can take a hold of it and see it real
in my life because I'm an heir to him. So if
he has it, I have it. If he promised it, I can
take it to the bank. I can stand on it. I can
live it. I can speak those words. And it happened
in the same way, not from my ability, not from
what I can do, but because of what he has done.
Just like salvation, just like all of God's precious
promises are through faith. Daughter. Your faith
has made you well. Go in peace and be healed
of your affliction. She is no longer identified
by affliction. Her identity is now daughter of
God. But get this. He says it. It's so clear
as day. And this is not the only time it is said.
I talked about the two blind guys. He's going
to turn around and do this. He's going to heal
Jairus' daughter. And he's going to turn to the
two blind guys who came up to him. And he's going
to say, according to your faith, you will be
healed this day. Boom, their sight was restored.
Your faith has made you well. Your faith has
made you well. Do we believe God has the ability
to heal? Yeah, we believe that, right? We believe
that that is what God does. We believe that God
has the ability, right? He is more than able,
right? I hope as a church we agree to this. Do
we believe God has the ability to heal? But listen,
do we receive according to God's ability? What
does Scripture has to say? Do the people in the
Bible receive according to God's ability? Or
do they receive according to their faith? A lot
of people think that just because God is able
to do something, that He is going to do something
in their life despite what they do. That is passive
Christianity. That is the lie of the enemy keeping
you from taking hold of the promises of God.
That is the lie of the enemy keeping you from
experiencing the victory of God that God has
for you. That's why you see many Christians living
defeated lives, suffering, aching. It's not because
their God is not able. Your faith has made you
well. This same, I encourage you, go through
your Bible. Look at this phrase. Look through
the Testaments. You'll see it over and over and
over again. You'll see each one of these healing
miracles that take place. It's all because of
their action. They came to Jesus and they received
a miracle. They went. They did what he told them
to do. Why did they go? Because they believed
in him. They believed that they were going to
leave different than the way they came or they
wouldn't have went. And he said to her, daughter,
your faith has made you hell. Faith is what connects
God's ability, right, to our reality. To our
reality. Did Jesus ever refuse anyone in the
Bible who reached out to him in faith? Did he
ever turn someone away? We don't see it. Show
me a place in the Bible that you see where God
said, no, that ain't right. That's not the way
it happens. But our church, you know, churches
will propagate this. And I don't know where everybody's
came from. Different backgrounds and different
understandings and the way you've... read scripture
and how you've been taught, and I just want to
clear up some things. But did Jesus ever refuse
anyone in the Bible who reached out to him in
faith? No. I can't go through every single instance,
but listen. Here's two. Luke 4, 38 through 40.
As the sun went down that evening, people throughout
the village, wasn't just a select few, wasn't
just some that he just chose one day. No, people
brought, people... throughout the village brought
sick family members to Jesus, and no matter what
their diseases were, the touch of his hand healed
everyone. Does it take a touch of his hand? No.
But they received according to their faith. But
he healed everyone. Healed everyone. You know
why? Because that's who God is. Matthew 15, 30,
a vast crowd brought to him people who were lame,
blind, crippled, those who couldn't speak, and
many others. They laid them before Jesus, and
he did what? He healed them all. Healed them
all. Amen. Amen. God's name, we did a whole series
on the names of God. God's name reveals that
healing is not just something that he does on
the side, when or whenever he... His divine will
pleases. It's who he is. His identity as God
is healer. The name of God, Jehovah Rapha. The
Lord, healer. Not the Lord who heals. It's the
Lord, healer. The Lord. Deliverer, right? The
Lord, our healer. That's who he is. That's who
he is. And God has not changed. Hebrews 13, 8,
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and
forever, despite what anyone has to tell you.
Jesus is the same. He wants to do the same things
that he did. He even promised that he would do
greater things in and through his disciples,
in and through his followers. If they acted in
faith. Just because something is the will of
God, though, does not mean that his will is going
to be done in your life. Just because something
is the will of God does not mean his will is
going to be done in your life. Some of you might
not believe that. Some of you might be struggling
with that this morning. But think about our stories
that we've went through. It was God's will, right?
He promised it to them. He promised it to them.
It was God's will that the Israelites entered
the promised land. He laid it out, told them.
He was like, this is my plan for you. But you
will escape Egypt. You will enter into the land
I have given you. You go take hold of it. You
do those things. And time and time again, we
see them doing things, doing faith actions, right?
Him holding up the rod, parting the waters, them
being delivered out of Egypt. They move in. All
of a sudden, there's food. There's provision
for them, even though they're in a dry desert
place. God's taking care of them. Because they're
following what he said. They're headed to the
promised land. And as soon as they get there,
what happens? What happens? There's giants in
the land. But there's giants in the land. We
can't have what God told us to have. There's
giants in the land. We'll die. Did God tell them
that they could have it? Did God tell them that
it was theirs? Had they not defeated and conquered
and overcame and done all these things time and
time again to get all the way out there, all
the way to the end? They had acted in faith so
many times. And then in this one time, they missed
it. And they didn't receive it. They didn't receive
it. What happened? They wandered in the wilderness
another 40 years. Was it still God's promise?
Was that God's will for them to wander in the
wilderness, to die in the wilderness? No, he
told them to enter in. And they refused to do
what God told them to do. So to say that it is
God's will to perish is to also say that unbelief,
rebellion, suffering, and ultimately death was
the will of God for them. But it took two guys
acting in faith and said, hey, you know, if God
told us we can have it, we're going to go take
it. Caleb and John, they're like, hey, I'm going
to go over here. This is mine. I'm going to go.
I'm going to go take it. I don't care what the
giants are. It's a beautiful land. It's what
God had given me, and I'm going to go for it.
And what did they do? They acted in faith, and
they received the promise. When others died in
the wilderness, they received the promise. Amen?
But it was not God's will. for any one of them
to perish, to suffer and to die in the wilderness.
If God's will is always done in the earth, then
why did Jesus tell us to pray for God's will
to be done? Dad kind of touched on this last
week, but I want you to see it through this lens.
What is the Lord's prayer when the disciples
ask Jesus, teach us how to pray? What should
we pray? What does he say? And I love this. Look
at this this way. This changes the whole thing
right here. Look, for your father knows what
you need before you ask him. He knows what you
need. And then he says, pray then like this.
Our father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth
as it is in heaven. Let it be done on earth.
as it is in heaven. He's telling us to pray for
that, to be ambassadors of that, to see his kingdom
come in the earth, right? To see his will be
done in the earth, and it's going to take us
acting in faith. Your will be done. See, God's
omniscience allows him to know your needs before
you ask them. His omnipotence Makes what you
need available. Faith takes hold of, on earth,
what is known and available to us in heaven.
God's omniscience allows him to know your needs.
He says, for I know your needs. The Father knows
your needs before you even ask him. But then
he says to pray. Pray that his kingdom come and
his will be done. His omnipotence makes what
we need available. He's able, right? He's all
-powerful. He has everything that we need to
live a life of godliness, to live a life exceedingly
abundantly, right? He has this life for us. He
has this life for victory. He has a plan. The
plan is not to harm you. Plans not for suffering
and disease. I had someone tell me one time that
God gave them cancer. God gave them cancer. And
we would deal with that a lot at Lakewood. These
people, they'd be like, well, God gave this to
me to show me something, to work something in
my life. I know I just hit a nerve, but I'm going
to keep going. And they said, well, God brought
this upon me so that he could teach me something.
Is that the way a father works? Would you do
that to your own kids? How much more does God
love you? How much more, if it makes sense to
us right now, how much more, like, we just wouldn't
do those things. God can turn something around,
something that sin and death has brought on you.
He can turn that around to a good. And He, no
matter what you've done, no matter what you've
not done, He can turn that around and you can
still see God move and do exciting, big things
in your life. Okay? There's never, there's never,
never. And a way, a time where God can't do something
big in your life, okay? But he has so much for
us, so much more for us than even you're experiencing
right now. He has more for us. And his omnipotence
makes what you need available. And then faith
takes hold of on earth what is known and available
to us in heaven. So do we believe that God is
our healer? That he wants us to be free from
injury and disease? For our bodies and minds
to be sound and whole? Do we believe that? Is
that his will for us? You've got to get this
through your head. If you want to see these things
real in your life, you've got to first believe
it. God wants you well. He is your healer. Right?
So no matter what the world and the corruption
of the world has and all the sin things that
impacts us on a day -to -day basis, we are overcomers.
We can overcome those things by the blood of
the Lamb, the word of our testimony, through
faith. We will see the goodness and promises
of God in our lives. And a part of that is who
He is, being healed, being whole. mentally, physically,
whole, and well. God can't use you if you're
laid up somewhere, sick in bed all the time,
and can't do anything, can't go outside. God
can't use you to win the world, to be a disciple
of him, to be an ambassador where he's placed
you if you're sick and can't move. He wants you
well. Have you ever prayed for healing? Now I
want us to be real honest here. Have you ever
prayed for someone to be healed and they haven't?
Yeah? Yeah? Prayed for healing? Didn't see it
happen, right? And a lot of times those prayers,
those prayers that I would pray, that I would
hear other prayers would involve this phrase,
if it be your will, God. God, if it be your will,
let so -and -so be healed of whatever, let this
happen, or if it be your will, if it be your
will. You know, I started thinking about this.
If it's all up to God, you know, if that's what
we think, that it's just all up to God, if he's
going to do what he's going to do despite what
you do, Why pray? Why are we even praying? God,
if it be your will to heal. You know what? In
Scripture, the people that came up said, if it
be your will, God, heal me. You know what he
said? It is. It is my will that you be healed.
And then he healed them. Because we can come
to God with imperfect faith, right? We can come
to him that way. But he said, it is my will.
So if, you know. But if we believe that, hey,
I'm just whatever will be will be, God, you know,
you're going to do what you're going to do. Why
are we praying if it's his will? No, we know
his will. He's made it clear to us what his will
is, that he is our healer. You know what? Our
experience does not change who he is. Something's
wrong with your faith. You're acting out in a...
not in accordance with his word, right? If you
do something and it doesn't happen in your life,
it's not God who's changed. It does not change
his will. It does not change what is provided
in Christ. This includes healing. This includes
healing. Some people will say, well, Jeffrey,
you know, eventually the corruption of sin, we're
all going to pass away. We're all going to die.
Eventually sin will corrupt our body, you know,
and we are passing away. We're in a constant
decay, right? And some people will say, well,
that kind of goes against because like people
are not just living forever. Listen, in the kingdom
of God, death is not a victory for sin. Death.
To be absent from the body is to be present with
the Lord. It's victory over death. Over death,
hell, the grave. That's what Jesus did. That's
why he came. So it's not seen as death's defeat.
No, it's seen as heaven's win. Because we will
be with him, amen? Immediately. Immediately with
him. With a new mind, new body. Faith does not
beg God to heal. Faith does not beg God to heal.
When you pray, you don't need to be begging God
to do things for you that he's already promised
that he will do for you. Don't beg God for what
he's already given you. All these promises are
in his word. If you don't know, read the book.
Get to know who he is. Be spirit -led. But faith
does not beg God to heal. And a prayer of faith
stands on the fact that God wants you well and
actively confesses that God's will, his healing,
will be done in your life. That's how he wants
us to pray. Our Father, which art in heaven,
hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come and
your will be done. It's literally like your will
is done in my life. And will be accomplished
through me. Your will. What you want for me,
I'm going to take hold of. For what you want
for me, I'm going to act on. That's why it says
fight the good fight of faith. You don't win
a war by standing back and letting, well, if
it's God's going to win, you know, he's going
to do what he's going to do despite what I do.
It might look good in Hobby Lobby on a sign,
but it doesn't play out in life. That's a lie
from the enemy. We got to fight. It's the only
time it's encouraged for us to fight. Fight the
good fight of faith. Lay hold of the promises
of God. Because if you don't take hold of it,
you're not going to see it real in your life.
If you don't lay hold of the promises of heaven,
they're not going to be reality to you here on
earth. John 10 .10, the thief does not come except
to steal and to kill and to destroy. So you know
what this tells me? That the things of this world
that steal from you and that kill you and that
are out to destroy you are not from God. They're
from the enemy. So if anyone tells you that something
that has taken from you, something that has stole
from your life, something that is trying to kill
you, either mentally, emotionally, physically,
destroy you, break apart your family, do whatever,
listen, that is the enemy. And at that moment,
you have the option to stand. and lay hold of
the promises of God for you, or you can let this
world overcome you. But it's your decision. God's
a gentleman. He's not forcing this on you. He's
not just guaranteeing, well, you're a Christian,
so therefore it's just all going to be done for
you. No, no, no. Why? Because He's just. And
as we've seen time and time again, That it's
his will that we be actively involved in the
things that God has for us. We play an active
part in what God wants to do. Because God has
come that we may have life. And not just the
world's kind of life of living. We may have the
God kind of life. The life that he has for us
is the life that he had, like the life of God,
and that we may have it, not just like average.
He wants us to not have just an average life.
He wants us to have an abundant life. And abundance
is not just about stuff. It's not about your
possessions or any of those things. He wants
us to have and lay hold of his promises, which
include joy, which include peace, which includes
righteousness, and all the things of his kingdom,
right? That's how we're going to see the victory
of God. That's how we're going to have a victorious
life. God does not choose to heal some and deny
healing to others according to his divine will.
This is the takeaway today. He doesn't choose
to heal some, deny healing to others. For God,
Romans 2 .11 says, For God does not show favoritism.
doing that would be against his very character
of being a just God. If he said, I'm not going
to heal this person. A lot of people, though,
think that, oh, it must be something that I did,
you know, some sort of sin that I committed.
I'm not going to have what God said, right? But
God is not like that. He is unconditional, right?
It doesn't matter what we've done. It doesn't
matter what's happened in our life. Like, he
doesn't show favoritism to one and not another.
So we can't say that, well, God chose to heal
this person but then denied healing to them,
according to his divine will. What we see throughout
Scripture is that God has chosen for us to always
be involved in our healing. God has always chosen
us to be involved in the miracles that he has
for us, in the supernatural things, by an act
of faith. by an act of faith, by willing to do,
be willing to go, be willing to give, be willing
to speak, to lay forth in our words, standing
on the promises of God. That's how we're going
to see those heaven things reality on earth in
our lives. God is just. And get this, our faith
act... is what justifies him doing something
for us that he does not do for someone else.
This is how it makes sense. This is God's will
for us to be involved. In our faith act, when
him telling us, hey, if you do this, you will
receive this, that's what justifies him doing
something for us that he does not do for everyone
else. Why? Because we would do what he told us
to do. when others would not. And you might be
struggling with that, but listen, it works with
salvation the same way. God's will for everyone
is that no one perish, that all will come to
repentance and all have life. But is that going
to happen? Is his will of God going to be done?
Is that what's going to happen in the earth?
No. Wide is the road. that leads to destruction.
Narrow is the road that leads to life. Few will
find it. Few will find it. And it's the same
thing with this. Why? Why do some receive healing?
Why do others do not? It's because they would
do what he told them to do. And you can't always
judge. Listen, you can't always know. What God
has told someone else to do. You don't know.
You can only be accountable for yourself in this,
right? So we don't know. We can't judge other
people and say like, well, okay. No. You don't
know. You don't know. I pray that this doesn't
like confuse. too much but I want us to see what
God has for us real in our lives I want to see
you healed I don't want to see you battling something
for 12 years when you can have something today
and I would be remiss not to share It's according
to your faith. You can have what God wants you
to have. And you can do what God wants you to
do. But you've got to have faith. You've got
to be willing. You've got to be obedient to act
in accordance to his word. Amen? Amen. This online
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