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You are an awesome God, King of kings and Lord of lords, creator of the heavens and the earth. Lord, we are just in awe of you, Lord. You're the same yesterday, today, and forever. You have not changed. Lord, we know that God, every miracle you did in the Bible, Lord, is available for us today. Lord, we just want your kingdom to come and your will to be done in our lives, in this church. Lord, we want your kingdom and your will to be done in earth as it is in heaven. And Holy Spirit, we just ask you to fill us with the knowledge of his will in every matter, in everything, and order our steps. And God, I love your word where it says that the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and though he falls, he will not be utterly cast down because you uphold him. So we thank you, Lord, that when we confess our sins and repent, there is forgiveness. That you restore us. You get us back on the path that you have for us. We just thank you, Jesus, that your precious blood shed on the cross made all of this possible. Your resurrection from the dead. We thank you for it all. Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Hallelujah. You may be seated this morning. Welcome everybody here to Fire and Grace Church this morning. Those watching and listening before we get the message, I just have a testimony to share. I think I shared it with our folks on Wednesday night. But as some of you know, we are really close to closing on the land. So as I said before, the Lord has provided the finances already to buy the land. I knew for some time that it would be around one hundred fifty thousand and that we would be close to my house. I just felt like that's what the Lord wanted. And sure enough, we found just that fifteen point six acres. And I think it's going to be one hundred fifty five thousand is what we are going to do. And of course, I said when I first announced it that, of course, we can buy the land. We're just taking a step of faith. We don't really have the money after that to build a building with. Well, in the two weeks following, I've had one check handed to me for. It was said, well, sent to us, I guess you'd say mail. But we've had sixty five hundred dollar one and eight thousand dollar one, a thirty thousand dollar one and a hundred thousand dollar one. Yeah. So we will be able to get started on doing something here pretty soon. So God is providing what we need to do, what we need to do. And I believe it's not we're going to do anything fancy or huge or anything like that. But I think in the days ahead, we're going to have to have our own spot because they almost canceled Skyfall on us like a week out after all those all that money spent and plans made.
And it was about to be a disaster. God just intervened. But I don't want to be renting a place. And then all of a sudden, at the last minute, they say we can't do it there. So anyway, that's kind of the reason behind that. If you have your Bibles this morning, I want to get your Bible out and turn. Oh, goodness, I guess we had just turned first to Isaiah fifty three. Isaiah fifty three. What I feel like the list one's been brewing for some time and I've been waiting on the Lord when he wanted me to get into this topic again, though I talk about it all the time. I feel like there's still some misunderstanding and there's some balance that needs to be brought to this. But what we're going to title today is knowing healing, knowing healing. Let me tell you, I've been in this charismatic, Pentecostal aspect of the church world now for going on thirty seven years. I've been in every type of meeting and revival meeting and healing service and prophetic meeting that you can imagine. I've been in primarily white churches. I've been in attended primarily black churches. I have been around word of faith preachers. I've been around crazy backwoods, Pentecostals that will walk the pews. I've seen a little bit of everything. There used to be a minister around here. He's passed away now. Brother Leon. Brother Leon was wild. Brother Leon was one of those old time Pentecostals. I remember one time they made the mistake down at Pine Grove United Methodist Church of asking Brother Leon to preach. Brother Leon said, the devil is in this church. And he ran. He said he was right, too. He said, we're going to run him out. And he ran down the aisle screaming at the devil, ran out the front door. You could hear him running around the building, just running around the building, came back in. We got rid of him. I mean, he was wild. So I've seen it all. I've been to places, places out in the woods. I've been to some good ones and bad ones. All right. And all in between. I've seen miracles and I've seen disasters. All right. I've seen God heal and do great miracles and I've seen God say no. And this is the hard thing for some of us Pentecostals and Charismatics to get a hold of because this is one of the errors. I'm going to say this at the outset. I listened to you. You wouldn't believe the rabbit hole. I went down yesterday. We don't even have time to get into all that. But one of the problems I heard Bill Johnson say this in one of the videos I watched yesterday, that it's always God's will to heal in every situation. I'm just going to go ahead and tell you that that's not biblical.
God does heal. God does miracles. But is he going to do it every single time? No, he's not. And it's not always about a lack of faith. Sometimes the Lord is allowing something in your life because if you did not have that in your life, as the Apostle Paul showed, he said, if it were, if it, you know, because of the abundance of revelations, he said that he would have gotten into pride in the Lord allowed the thorn in the flesh. We're going to deal with that. Now, I know I've heard somebody say, well, you're not the Apostle Paul. Let me tell you what Paul said in First Timothy chapter one. He said that God had made him an example of the believers. So I don't want to hear this. You're not the Apostle Paul type thing. Paul was an example for us to learn from. He was in fact, in fact, he said he was a pattern of a Christian that God made him a pattern. You look at him and say, there's a man that lived the Christian life and we can learn from him in many aspects. All right. But let me just go ahead and say this. It is God's will to heal and to do miracles. He hasn't changed. But does that mean it's that he is going to do it in every situation, every time we want, the way we want, how we want? No, he's not. And this is something I've witnessed over thirty six years. And this is somebody and unless you've walked into I see used to pray for people that were dying. Don't talk big stuff to me unless you've walked into people's homes that have four year old dying of cancer. You ever done that one? I've been in some places that were difficult and I've seen great miracle happen and I've seen death happen. And this is something I think we need to get a hold of as Christians is that death is part of this life. And it's going to come to us. It's going to come to us one way or the other unless we go in the rapture. Other than that, it comes to us all so pointed unto man. What wants to die. And after this, the judgment. Now, we get all been out of shape sometimes about how that may or may not happen. But I want to tell you right now, our job as born again, Bible believing Christians, our first up when it comes to the issue of healing, we should always believe that God wants to heal. And we should always move in that direction. It should never be the first thought should never be. Well, he's not going to do it in this situation. That's not for us to decide. You understand? Our job is to believe him.
Our job is to lay hands on the sick and believe that they will recover. Our job is to cast out demons. Our job is to first believe and ask for healing in the situation. God's intervention. And then after we've done all we can do to stand the results, the rest of the matter is up to him. But we can't get been out of shape if he says no. I've seen people situation years ago, a friend of mine, his sister, 19 years old, dying of cancer. Let me tell you what we did. We spent weeks and I'm talking about weeks at the hospital in the chapel, praying, fasting, asking God to do a miracle, laying hands on her, anointing her with oil. We did. We got everybody we knew praying for her and she died. But there's other stories like the woman that we knew in Montgomery who was in ICU. She had some type of serious blood disorder. She was bleeding out of her eyes and ears and everything. They even said that she only had maybe three days to live and she was unconscious. And we went and prayed for her in the name of Jesus and asked God to do a miracle. And I prayed a certain scripture over. I pray that she would live and not die and declare the works of the Lord. Again, do I have any power to do anything for anybody? No, no, none of us as a human being is just a regular normal human being. We don't have anything. If God doesn't do it, it doesn't get done. I'm sorry, but you can ask him. And I remember asking him and I said, Lord, I do. I pray. I said, Lord, would you walk in here and lay your hands on this woman and heal this woman? And I said, I pray that she will not die, but live and declare the works of the Lord. In fact, put that one up for me. I think that's Psalm 118, something 20. I don't remember now or one. I don't know. They'll find it. It's been a long time ago. But I remember that when like the next day we heard not only was she awake, she was completely healed and went home. They were in awe. They could not believe it. And you know what she said? She said that she felt death start creeping up her legs. She was she was unconscious, but she knew what was going on. And she said she felt death. She said the next thing she knew, she saw four angels at all sides of her four corners of her room. And then some she said she never saw the Lord, but she felt like it was Jesus leaned over in her ear and said,
you will not die, but live and declare the works of the Lord. And she was immediately healed. Now, I believe that's what I'm saying. I've seen those kind of things. And I believe that nothing is impossible with God. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. I've seen every manner of sickness. He I've seen the death healed after my 21 day fast years ago, prayed for a deaf woman. And I remember having complete faith when I laid hands on her ears that God was going to restore her ears. And, you know, she went home that night. She'd been deaf like 90 percent or whatever. I mean, she was she was very, very deaf in both ears. She went home that night. That was a Wednesday night. I remember praying for her. She went home. And again, it was one of those you have to believe it before you before you see it. And she believed it in her heart. She believed that God touched her. And I felt that God touched her. And she went home and her husband put his arm around her. And she realized she was hearing his watch ticking. And she's she was hearing ever since. In fact, that was the the family that God told me to give my car to. After that, that's that's the ones that they took that car and drove all the way to Arkansas and prayed for them. The mother that was in the hospital dying. God healed her because of that. The the brother and sister in law got saved, gave their lives to the Lord. So again, I could talk about these testimonies just on and on and on. But it's not every time. And this is where the word of faith movement, most of your prosperity, I will say word of faith extremists have gotten into error. And this is where they've heard a lot of people because a lot of times they're like, well, if you don't get healed, you didn't either. Either it's a lack of faith or you didn't give enough money. Oh, right. Well, let's just go through a few scriptures this morning. Everybody go to Isaiah, Isaiah 53. We'll start with verse one. He says, who has believed our report and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant and as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness. And when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. We hit as it were our faces from him and he was despised and we esteemed him. Not surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes. We are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray.
We have turned everyone to his own way. And the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. Now, I could keep reading this, but we know this entire chapter is about Jesus becoming the Lamb of God, becoming the offering, the atonement for our sins. But I don't care what anybody says. I've seen a lot of videos as I've been studying this and looking at this. A lot of people out there just, you know, they want to be negative. They want to mock and they want to, you know, because, listen, I understand. Most of the charismatic Pentecostals and the word of faith extremists and these guys out there, most of them are, I am totally, it's almost like I'm totally embarrassed to say I'm Pentecostal and charismatic because there's so many that have taught error and have gotten into and made such a mess of things. It's like, I hate to say it, but listen, this is what I've said before and I'll say it again. I don't care how much counterfeit money exists in the world. I'm not throwing my real money in the trash can, right? And this is the way we have to be. Yes, there's tons and tons of counterfeit errors, demonic supernatural manifestations. But just because there's all that counterfeit and demonic and false and just because that 99% of the charismatic Pentecostal church world has gotten off the rails and in error and in ditches on one side or the other, does not mean that we throw out the baby with the bathwater. Does not mean that we give up what the Bible says and teaches. And whether you like it or not, the Bible teaches clearly that part of Jesus shedding his blood, part of the atonement, part of that process was not just to deal with sin, but he makes it clear here to bring healing to us, supernatural healing. It is part of the atonement. A lot of people don't think that Jesus, you know, we forget sometimes that he started shedding his blood for us before he ever got nailed to the cross. The beating he took, I'm sure there was some blood flowing. Roman soldiers weren't little pansies. And I'm sure when they put the crown of thorn on his head, there was quite a bit of blood. And we know that even before that, when he was in the Garden of Gethsemane, the stress of beginning to take upon him our sins and our depression and our sorrows and our sicknesses and all of our stress and anxiety said that he began to sweat great drops of blood. And they said that's because such stress was upon him that he had arteries starting to burst. So Jesus started shedding his blood for our sins before they ever nailed him to the cross. That nailing to the cross, yeah, the blood then flowed from his veins, from his wrist and from his feet.
And then the blood and water flowed from his side when they stabbed him with the spear. And all of that, though, was to pay for and give us victory primarily over three things, sin, sickness and disease, and Satan. Now, sometimes Satan and the demon spirits are the one causing the sickness or the disease or the problem. Sometimes it's just part of the curse of the human body, the flesh that we inherited from Adam. You know, this is what a lot of people don't realize. They say, well, we're redeemed from the curse of the law. Really? Has that body been redeemed yet? Yeah, the price has been paid for it, but we hadn't cashed that check yet. I mean, if we had full redemption already for the body, then nobody would die. Nobody would get sick. There would be no pain, no problems. Now, the day is coming that this mortal body, this corruptible body, this body we got from Adam with all of his sin and the curse of sickness and death and everything else, there's going to be a day when the body is made new. It's going to be changed, transformed in the moment, twinkling of an eye. I can't wait for that. I need a new one, brother. I need a new one. I'm so glad to know I'm going to get a new one that's going to be like the one Jesus has that says when we see him, we shall be like him and we will have our flesh and bone back. I don't care if you were eaten by sharks and pooped out in the ocean. God's going to put you right back together. If you're his, your body is coming back together. He will raise it up. If he has to make you a new one just out of whatever particles are left, he'll make you a new one, but it's going to be eternal. But for now, we live in a mortal, corruptible and a body that is susceptible to the curse. Now, we can fight it. We can resist it. Now, let me say this also. Some sickness and disease, we can bring upon ourselves being el stupido, right? I know a pastor's wife years ago ate nothing but junk food, nothing but junk food. You eat junk food all the time, 24 seven, seven days a week. Guess what happens? Your body goes, something is wrong here. And then the body starts rebelling so you can make yourself sick, do some stupid stuff. Now, of course, we've got pharmaceutical companies that will make us sick.
We got vaccines that will make us sick. We got stuff they're spraying in the skies to make us sick. Right now, there is a war upon our health in every in the food industry and the pharmaceutical industry. You name it. I mean, Monsanto, there is a war. And you know what? I believe in the days ahead. Even now, and from this point on, we're going to have to believe God for his protection, for his deliverance and for supernatural healing. But does this mean, and I'm going to say this very clearly, I have never ever said don't go to the doctor if you need to go to the doctor. Some of the old time faith preachers used to say, oh, if you go to the doctor, it's a lack of faith. And a lot of people, you know, what happened to him didn't go to the doctor and died. God has given some knowledge to the world system of how to keep you alive sometimes. And you know what? I'm glad of that. There's not a problem. God does not have a problem with you going to a doctor. But whether you go to a doctor or not, you have to have discernment. How many of you have been to a doctor and they got something wrong about you? Then you went to another one and they got it right. You better, second and third opinions are necessary. Why? They're human beings. They're human beings. But folks will tell you right now, there's nothing wrong with going to a doctor. God can use a doctor. God can use a surgeon to save your life. There's nothing wrong with that. But what do you do? If the doctor says nothing, it can be done. Then you need supernatural help. You need God's help. And this is available to us. Now, let's go. Let's go to. Oh, there's so much here. Well, let's go to one of my favorites, Mark 16, Mark 16. We're going to read 15 through 20 after Jesus rose from the dead. We've read this many times in this church because we believe this. And we believe this because we've experienced this. I've experienced this for years, but I want you to notice something. And this is why I'm going to bring this up because I'm going to tell you a great portion of the charismatic Pentecostal prophetic healing miracle people out there. They have made healing and miracle signs and wonders an idol and they have
bypassed the first part of this. And the first part of this, he says, go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. If you'll notice, you'll watch some of these big time Word of Faith healing ministries all about signs and wonders. You know what? I don't hear from them anymore. They don't deal with sin. They don't talk about sin. They don't talk about repentance. In fact, most of them are once saved, always saved, no matter how you live. All fluff and puff and joy, joy, joy, jello and in skittles and everything else. And if we don't preach the gospel and the gospel is repent of your sin and make Jesus Lord of your life. And so if you bypass that, if that if that is not the main message that you preach and it's all about seeking signs and wonders and manifestations, then what's going to happen is that you make that an idol. You are out of order. And now because of that, you've opened the door for signs and wonders to come in that are not from God. And because that's your goal and not what Jesus said to do first, then you're in trouble. This is why Bethel is in trouble. This is why many of these is why all Roberts went down the tubes. I became about money. So that seed that that whole seed faith thing came from all Roberts. But he said, go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. That means the cross of Jesus. The primary message is that he came to deal with sin and he didn't come to save you in your sins. He came to save you from your sins. You have to repent. You have to hate sin and love righteousness. You have to turn from wickedness and evil. You have to follow Jesus. Jesus has to be Lord. And this is where it comes into being faithful to Jesus, regardless of whether you get the miracle or the healing or the manifestation or the supernatural. Will you be faithful to Jesus? Will you repent and live a holy life? Even if you're suffering, even if your prayers aren't answered, even if you're going through pain and difficulty, will you continue to believe? Let me tell you, it's no problem believing when everything is sunshine and, you know, skittles and rainbows. It's easy. But when you're suffering, when you're in pain, when you're weak, when you feel like you're at the point of death sometimes, when you feel so bad, so weak, so sick that you can't even pray for yourself,
will you remain faithful? If you're laying on your deathbed and God doesn't heal you, is that going to be, are you going to be offended with God? Are you ready to go? See, this is another thing as I get into this. I'm so sick and tired of Christians being afraid of death. We're not supposed to fear death. I can tell you when I was at the point of death with, you know, that thing that came through a few years ago, I can't say it or they'll block our video. I can't even say I had such and such. But I'm going to tell you when it was the worst, when I thought I might not make it, I was at peace, though. I was only worried about my wife and my daughter because I didn't want to leave them alone. But I was okay if that was it. You know why? Because this life is not an idol to me. Preserving this life is not an idol to me. This is not the end all, be all of everything, just surviving here a little longer. As Paul said, to depart and be with Christ is far better. He said, but I got to remain here in the flesh is more needful for you. Paul was saying, I'd rather just go on and be with him right now. And let me just go on and add this too. Death should be resisted until we know, absolutely know it's our time. But we've got to stop being afraid of it. Somebody, you know, I was talking to somebody that interviewed me this past week, and we were off the air. We were talking about, you know, they're going to release another disease X. It'll be something else, probably way more deadly than what we had before. And somebody, they were asking me, well, how do we how do we not get in fear? I said, we don't get in fear because, again, I'm not going to live my life scared to walk outside. If I'm not going to hide in my house. You say, well, what if you get disease X and you die? So be it. But I will not live in fear. I will not cower in fear.
I will not let them have that pleasure. They will have to kill me with it. You understand? It's the same thing if they were threatening us. You got to go to church or we're going to come kill you. Well, guess what? I'm going to church, bud. So come do it. We've got to stop being afraid. You know, when I was running for governor, one of the things I was talking about people people shutting down the state and all this nonsense, taking away our freedom. I said, what happened to Americans? You know, we forget Patrick Henry was a was a very devout Christian. And when he was talking about give me liberty or give me death, I thought I would rather have my liberty and die than live in some kind of slavery under the government's foot. Freedom. You're not really free unless you truly are not afraid to die. And the only way you cannot be afraid, truly not afraid to die is to know Jesus Christ, the resurrection and the life, to know Him intimately, fully, completely, knowing you're born again, knowing the blood of Jesus has washed your sins away, knowing that you are living for Him, that He is Lord of your life, that He is your best friend, and that no matter what happens, if you get in the car today and you get hit by an 18-wheeler, you are ready to go with Him. So when these people want to talk about healing and signs and wonders and stuff, they should be also preparing people for that day that they're going to die and that you're ready for that day. Because the moment you die, let me tell you, I'm going to tell you right now, it's only like stepping from one room to another. You're going to step out of your body and you're going to go into heaven or you're going to go into hell, just like that. All these people talk about soul sleep, that's nonsense. The only thing sleeping until the resurrection is the body. The Spirit and the soul will immediately be present either with the Lord Jesus or in hell in torment. That's it. And I'll tell you right now, that's what you want to be ready for. And this is why the preaching of repentance from sin and truly making Jesus Lord of your life and being a true disciple of Jesus is the most important part of this.
That's why He said first, go into all the world and preach the gospel. And every time Jesus said, when Jesus first said the word gospel, you know what came out of His mouth first? Repent and believe the gospel. Repent. Now let's keep reading this, then we'll go to Matthew 11. I'll show you something else. He says, He that believeth in his baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe. In my name they shall cast out devils. They shall speak with new tongues. They shall take up serpents. And this is talking about demon spirit, serpents, not literal snakes. Anybody brings a real snake to church? You're heading right back out the door with it. He says, If they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them. And they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. Let's keep reading. He says, So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, He was received up into heaven and sat on the right hand of God. And they went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, the Lord with signs following. But notice what it says there. They went forth and preached the word everywhere. The preaching of the word of God, the preaching of repentance, the preaching of Jesus Christ dying on that cross for our sins and being raised from the dead on the third day. That He is the only propitiation, sacrifice, atonement for sin, and that you must not just believe in Him, but you must follow Him. You must surrender your entire life to Him. You must be willing to turn from these things. He said, If we'll go preach that everywhere, then He says, the Lord will work with us and confirm the word with signs following. People all the time, I want to see people healed. But are you preaching everywhere? It's kind of a prerequisite here. And what are you preaching? What are you preaching? You see, like some of these people like Todd White, Bethel, Kenneth Copeland, you don't hear repent. You don't hear live holy life. You don't hear go out and preach the gospel everywhere. No, no. I saw Kenneth Copeland video of him basically shoving a guy over who was in a wheelchair, flipped the guy over backwards. If I was that dude, I would own several of those airplanes ahead. But this is the level of ridiculousness that we have come to.
Now, let's go to Matthew 11. As you turn into Matthew 11, I'm just going to read something. This is in John 4. And we may go and read this, but in John 4, 36 through 54, this is where Jesus heals the noble. But He says something to them when they, this guy comes in saying, you know, my son is sick and near death. And Jesus said this to him, He said, And you know what that tells me? He was getting a little frustrated. It's like all they wanted was signs and wonders. And you know what Jesus really wants? He wants us to believe whether we see those or not. He wants us to follow Him whether we see them or not. He does not want these things to be the end all be all to everything. Like a lot of Charismatics and Pentecostals have made them everything. Like this is the entire goal of Christianity is to see signs and wonders and miracles. This is not the entire goal. The entire, the number one goal is to live for Jesus whether you ever see a miracle or not. Remember when Thomas said, I won't believe unless I see? And Jesus said, blessed are those though Thomas who have never seen but yet believe. See, that's real faith. Matthew 11, verse 20, He says this, Now the word upright, He begins to basically strongly rebuke the cities wherein most of His mighty works were done. Why? Because they repented not. He says, One to thee Corazin, one to thee Bethsaida, for if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyrean Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for Tyrean Sidon in the day of judgment than for you. Whoo. And thou Capernaum, which are exalted unto heaven, thou shall be brought down to hell. For if the mighty works which have been done in thee had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say unto you, that it should be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for thee. So He is saying here, you know what? He did mighty works in Bethsaida and Corazin and Capernaum. Mighty works, raised the dead, healed multitudes, but they as a whole did not repent. So He said it's going to be worse for you than it was for the wicked cities of Tyrean Sidon, Sodom and Gomorrah.
So you can have all the signs and wonders and miracles and manifestations you want. But if there's no true repentance, if there's no fear of God, if there's no hatred of sin, if there's no real change in your life and you're just using Jesus for your little slot machine, then you are going to be in more trouble than the people of Sodom and Gomorrah. Because Jesus is like, what more do I have to do to get you to repent? It's almost like He's saying here, I did all that, and was it for nothing? I'm telling you, I feel the Lord's attitude about this sometimes. He's like, do I have to do stuff for you like this all the time? Do you have to see it all the time? And yet He will do it. That's what amazes me. You know, I think about Hezekiah. Well, how did you like this prophecy? The prophet Isaiah visits you and says set your house in order because you're going to die. That's a great word of prophecy to receive right there, right? But let me tell you, God knows the future and really Hezekiah should have submitted to that. But instead Hezekiah wanted to keep living longer and he turned to the wall and he just cries out to the Lord and before Isaiah can get out of the palace compound, the Holy Spirit turns him around and say go tell him I'm giving him 15 more years. Well, let me tell you what happened in the 15 more years. He had this evil little son named Manasseh who became one of the most wicked, evil, brutal kings Israel ever had. Had he been gone, there would have been no Manasseh. Also, he got into sin. Hezekiah had been compared to David, even more righteous than David. But then he got into sin and showed the Babylonians all his treasure and all these things and the Lord is like now everything you showed them is going to be theirs. I think about the death of Keith Green. Keith Green was one of the mightiest men of God in the late 70s and the early 80s. God was using him to bring thousands and thousands of young people to Jesus. He was a true prophet. He was a true man of prayer. He was a psalmist. He was humble. He was submitted to Leonard Ravenhill and David Wilkerson and those guys.
I mean, he didn't think he had it all. He had true elders in his life and everybody's like wondering what in the world happened. His last days magazine was the biggest Christian magazine in the world at the time. I think they were in 180 countries. They were shipping that magazine all over the world. There was no internet back then. So there was no digital magazine. It was a real magazine going all over the world. I actually know people that worked for him during that time period. Then he gets on this plane to do a little joyride. Their private plane around their property along with two of his children and the plane never makes it fully above the tree line before it goes down and kills everyone in the plane. He was getting ready to do one of the biggest pushes across the country to get young people to go to missions. A lot of people say, why would God let that happen? Maybe, just maybe. God looked in the life of Keith Green in the future and saw that one day he might fall and cause a great, great scandal, a great reproach on the body of Christ and the ministry that he had had such a powerful impact for those seven or eight years that he did ministry, that it was more important for him to go to heaven than to stay here a little longer and end up screwing everything up like most men do that get success in the ministry. But see, who are we to say? Now, I have a theory. He may have been martyred. He may have actually been killed by the Jesuits because his last one of his last series that he had started in last day's magazine was exposing the Roman Catholic Church. So they might have planted, you know, the Jesuit CIA combo, their specialty in taking down small aircraft. That's one of their ways they get folks. In fact, if you're a target of theirs, you probably don't need to get on anybody's private plane. Probably not a good idea, but that's part of it. I would rather, if God looked in my future and saw that I was going to become a reproach, an embarrassment, a stumbling block, I would pray he would take me out or allow me. He can just back away and allow me to be taken out before I become an embarrassment, a reproach, a stumbling block. Now, I'd rather just be faithful and be able to say, like Paul, I've run my course. I've finished my course. But there is healing, and there are miracles.
Amen? Let me look at Acts 10.38 real quick. We know Jesus did this, and I'm going to give you a few verses, and I want to talk about the balance. Not even 12, y'all. We're doing good. Is it just me or my voice sound weird this morning? Maybe I'm tired. I've been up since 3. What did I say? Acts 10.38. I put it up here. Of course, this is Peter preaching to Cornelius' household and part of his sermon, but he says here, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost in power who went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil, for God was with him. I want to show you some things here. A lot of people think Jesus always healed, but I want you to go with me. Go to Mark 1. We're going to look at some things here. Mark 1. We're going to go down to verse 29. This is right after Jesus first came from the wilderness, the temptation. He comes in. He preaches in the synagogue. A man with an unclean spirit cries out. He casts the demon out. People are freaking out. When they left the synagogue that day, verse 29, it says, When they were come out of the synagogue, they entered into the house of Simon and Andrew with James and John. This is Simon Peter. But Simon's wife's mother lay sick of a fever and anon, or quickly they tell him of her. And he came and took her by the hand. Luke's version says also he didn't just take her by the hand, but he rebuked the fever. And immediately the fever left her, and she ministered unto them. And at even, so a little bit later in the day, the sun did set. They brought unto him all that were diseased, and them that were possessed with devils. And all the city was gathered together at the door. Now look at verse 34. It's very important. And he healed many. Does it say he healed all? See, these words are important. He healed many that were sick of divers' diseases and cast out many devils and suffered not the devils to speak because they knew him. So here we see, all these people will gather. It does not say he healed every single one of them. It says he healed many of them. Now I'm going to show you another thing. Let's go to let's go to John chapter 5. John chapter 5.
Verse 1. Everybody there? John chapter 5 verse 1. And after this there was a feast of the Jews and Jesus went up into Jerusalem. And now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk. Sick people. Crippled people. Main people. It says of blind. Halt. Withered. Waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool and troubled the water. And whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had. And a certain man was there which had an infirmity. Somebody say 38 years. 38 years. And when Jesus saw him lie and knew that he had been now a long time in that case he saith in him will thou be made whole? And the immanent man answered him sir I have no man when the water is troubled to put me into the pool but while I am coming another step it down before me. And Jesus saith in him rise take up thy bed and walk and immediately the man was made whole and took up his bed and walked. And on the same day was the Sabbath. The Jews therefore said in him that was cured it is the Sabbath day it is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed. And he answered he that made me whole the same said unto me take up thy bed and walk. Then asked they him what man is that which said did he take up thy bed and walk? And he says he that was healed was not who it was for Jesus had conveyed himself away a multitude being in that place. And afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple and said unto him behold thou art made whole sin no more lest the worst thing come upon thee meaning your sickness your problem can come back upon you. The man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus which had made him whole and therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus and sought to slay him or to kill him because he had done these things on the Sabbath. Now I am going to stop there but I wanted to point out something. Notice it says that he went to this place the five porches the pool of Bethesda. To me I find this just odd thing that God was doing back there having an angel go down and stir the waters. Now it wasn't the angel that was healing anybody but the angel was there to just stir the waters. The people were to step in to the waters by faith. And it's interesting that it was set up to whoever stepped in first and that was it. This also shows something about the character nature of God. He doesn't always do it the way you think and he wasn't necessarily doing it for everybody nor was he doing it at the same time. But here we have Jesus God in the flesh who's healing people casting out demons raising the dead crippled people walking blind people seeing and he goes to
where there's a great multitude of impotent folk and he heals one person and then leaves. Somebody say one person. Why didn't Jesus heal everybody? I get this some people talk these people that want to mock us who do believe in healing and miracles still happen today. Why don't you go to the hospital and clean it out? I can't do that unless God says to do that. And obviously Jesus said he always did what the Father told him to do. So obviously he was not instructed by the Holy Spirit to stay there for the afternoon or the whole day or for two or three days and hold a revival and heal everybody there. That wasn't what God wanted him to do. So I wonder what the faith healers out here the word of faith extremists. I wonder what they do with this. I want to tell you one thing I believe the Lord revealed to me. One of the reasons I think he walked away from there as well and didn't do anything else. I think what was there was a spirit of selfishness. People always just cared about themselves. Think about it. The man's sick for 38 years. You know what? Why didn't some people who weren't as sick as him help him? You know what? Might have caused a revival. Might have happened that God would say, you know what? Everybody get in the pool and get healed if somebody would have showed some kindness and compassion and put somebody else in front of them. But who knows? That's just my speculation. But the Lord made this stand out to me because look I've read all the books. I've read all the Hagan books. I've read all the Charles Capps Hagan, Norval Hayes. Some of you all don't even know who I'm talking about. I'm talking about all the big healing Word of Faith preachers from the 60s and 70s and 80s. I've met them. I've been in their meetings. And they teach. Look, I know a lot of people go off and think that it was all error. Let me tell you. There's truth in believing God. There's truth in speaking the Word of God out of your mouth. There's truth to this. You know, the whole Word of Faith comes from Romans chapter. The Word of Faith is neither even in the eye mouth. Right? Death and life's in the power of the tongue, Proverbs says. We are saved when we what? Confess with our belief in our heart and then confess with our mouths the Lord Jesus. Faith does have confession tied to it. And again, I have no disagreement with any of them that God still heals and does miracles and signs and wonders still happen. I have no problem with that. The Bible teaches that.
In fact, you know, put up Hebrews 13-7. What do we see? Let's keep going. It says, Remember them which have the rule over you who have spoken unto you the Word of God whose faith follow considering the end of their conversation. Keep going. Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever. He has not changed. Did Jesus heal the sick? Was that a big part of his ministry? Yes. Did he heal every single person that was sick? No. So, the way I look at it is if we're following Jesus and he's the same yesterday, a big part of our ministry should be praying for healing and believing for healing. But we have to be balanced and understand that we do all we can do and the rest is up to God. And it's not always in every situation. God's will to heal. And it's not always, look, it can be, look, it can be a lack of faith. There can be a lack of faith and God says, I'm not going to do this. This is biblical. In fact, go to Mark chapter 6. Going through a lot of scripture and it's not even 12 yet. Mark 6, we see this. So, this is part of it. Verse 1, it says, And he went out from thence, and he came into his own country, and his disciples followed him. When Jesus came, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many hearing him were astonished from whence hath this saying, from whence hath this man these things, and what wisdom is this that is given unto him, that even such mighty works are wrought by his hands? Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joseph, and Judah, and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us, and they were offended at him? Now, the word offended at him means they were stumbling. They were stumbling at, like, wait a minute. Does this guy have this power and this authority? But wait a minute, but we know his family. Right? But Jesus said to them, A prophet is not without honor, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house. And he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk and healed them. And he marveled because of their unbelief, and he went round about the village's teaching. So, unbelief can be a factor. What is unbelief? You just don't believe in your heart. You don't believe God will do it.
A lot of people say, listen, let me tell you something that's not faith. Believing God can do it is not faith. Believing God will do it for you, or for a person you're praying for. That's faith. You hear me? And we have to believe it. But also, walking in faith means we're walking in what? Repentance, obedience, holiness. So, when he says there was this unbelief, what it was was their sin, their sin of not recognizing, even if they didn't recognize him at the moment as being God in the flesh, but recognizing that he was a prophet of God, that he was sent by God, that he had the power of God, and they should have had a better attitude about it instead of worrying about who his family was. This is why, too, you catch more crap from your family than you do anybody else. You can go raise the dead and lead two million people to Jesus, and your family will still come in just not like you. I mean, that's just the way it is. But Jesus is what Jesus talked about right here, right? Y'all okay? Y'all doing all right? Now, let's go to the infamous 2 Corinthians 12. I alluded to this earlier, but let's address this, because there's a false teaching in the Word of Faith movement about Paul's thorn in the flesh. I had to correct this. One of our students posted some of this nonsense several years ago, and they posted it publicly, so I corrected them publicly. I actually still had to found what I wrote to them in my phone. But again, we hear things, and we just kind of regurgitate certain things that aren't necessarily true. Well, let's read this. Verse 1. He said, It is not expedient for me, doubtless to glory, when I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. I knew a man in Christ above 14 years ago, whether in the body I cannot tell, whether out of the body I cannot tell, God knoweth, such of one, caught up to the third heaven. And I knew such a man, whether in the body or out of the body, I cannot tell, God knoweth, how he was caught up into paradise and heard unspeakable words, which is not lawful for a man to utter. Of such and one will I glory, yet of myself I will not glory, but in my infirmities. He said, For though I would desire to glory, I shall not be a fool, for I will say the truth, but now I forebear, lest any man should think me above that which he seeth me to be, or that he heareth me to be. And lest I should be exalted above measure, through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh. Now notice he said, It is in the flesh.
So it is affecting his flesh. He says, The messenger of Satan, which demons can cause problems in your body, to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, three times that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities. I am not there. In reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake, for when I am weak, then I am strong. Now let's put this up in infirmities here. I have the definition of that there. Notice what it says. This word here, Esthenia, I don't know if it's a thesania, how you pronounce it. But it means lack of strength, weakness, infirmity of the body. It's native weakness and frailty, feebleness of health or sickness. Lack of strength. Let's keep going. We go down here to see how the word is translated in the King James. It's 24 times. In the New Testament, it's translated infirmity 17 times, weakness five times, disease one time, sickness one time. But this right here says feebleness of mind or what? Body. Malady, right? What does that mean? Sickness. Frailty, disease, infirmity, sickness. So one of the definitions of this word, infirmity, sickness. Now, I want you to go to Galatians 4. I'll show you something. We know there is no speculation what Paul's thorn in the flesh was. We are told, because he says this, we're going to go down to verse 13, Galatians 4 13. We're going to read this. This is what boggles my mind. Why this has been a mystery in the body of Christ. For decades upon decades upon decades, I don't understand, because we're told plainly what Paul's infirmity, weakness, frailty, disease, problem in his flesh was, and it was recognizable, because he tells the Galatians, you knew this and you didn't despise me. Let me show you something. All right? He said, verse 13, you know how through infirmity of the flesh, so we can say weakness, frailty, sickness, disease, whatever, of the flesh, I preach the gospel unto you at the first, and my temptation or my trial, he says this was a trial which was in my flesh, you despised not nor rejected.
Now, they could have easily, the Galatians said, oh mighty man of power and faith, where's your faith? What sin are you in? Like Job's friends, what sin are you in? But we know Paul had already told us, in Corinthians he told us plainly, what? God knew that if he didn't allow this in my life, this difficulty, this infirmity, this trial, this struggle, this weakness, this pain, if I didn't have this problem, I would have been exalted above measure, I would have fallen into pride, I would have gotten basically the big hit. Folks, it's like spoiling a child. You give a child everything they want when they want, you never say no, you never make them work for anything, you never make them suffer a toil for anything, you are spoiling and ruining that child. God is not going to spoil or ruin us, and he knows what will ruin us, and getting everything we want, how we want, when we want, is not the way he's going to make us into what we are to be. And with Paul, he allowed this, now what was it? What was the thorn in the flesh? What was the infirmity of Paul, the weakness, the trial that was in his flesh? He said, you didn't reject me over it, but now they were having a problem with him because the Judaizers had come in and were getting them to go back under the law, and Paul said, where is this then, this blessedness you spake of? For I bear you record that if it had been possible, you would have plucked out your own eyes and had given them to me. It was his eyesight, and it was probably from when he was struck blind on the road to Damascus and had scales come over his eyes, and the Lord obviously did not completely heal his eyes, which is why we see him, instead of writing the letters, he dictated them to Timothy. Now think about this, the Apostle Paul traveled all over the world, the known world at that time. Think about doing all that, all that he suffered, all the persecution and being thrown in jail and being beaten with rods and being whipped five times, being stoned and not being able to see clearly. Think about that. Why wouldn't the Lord just go ahead and heal him and make it easier on Paul? Paul was suffering enough. God knew what to do. Now, Paul was stoned one time, stoned to, I believe stoned to death. Most times they succeeded when they stoned you. You know what I'm saying? Because it wasn't like we see in the, some of the movies it's bad,
like they're throwing little rocks at people. They will literally put you in a hole and stone your head. And then finally, if you didn't, once they stoned you a bit, and if you weren't fully dead, then they'd take a big old rock and come over and go ahead and finish you off. That was stoning. And Paul, we know, it says, that after he was stoned, the disciples gathered round about him and he came back to consciousness, probably back to life, could have been the time he was caught up to the third heaven. Maybe he actually died for a few minutes and they raised him from the dead. But we know that they prayed over him and revived him. So Paul was healed of that stoning. He survived being whipped with a cat of nine tails five times. And that usually took a person to the point of death five times. So did God intervene in his life? Yes. But did he take away that thorn, that infirmity, that weakness? And Paul then says, what about that infirmity? I asked the Lord to take it. I asked him three times to take it away from me. And he said, my grace is sufficient. My strength is made perfect in weakness. Oh, nobody wants to hear that. Nobody, nobody wants to feel weakness, frailty, pain, sickness. Nobody wants that trial. But sometimes it has to be part of our life. Job did not sin. No sin came out of his mouth. No sin was in his life. And the devil said, let me touch him. Let me put some, let me take what he has. Let me take some of his family, his children from him. Let me take his health. Let me take all of his wealth. Let me take everything from him, God, and he will curse you to your face. And the Lord said, okay, you can go do it. You just can't kill him. Now, Job, by the time the devil got through with him, was like wishing he had never been born. Anybody ever felt like that? But still, in all of his emotion, can you imagine all your children being killed? See, we don't know anything about pain, y'all. We think we know about pain. Can you imagine the pain he was going through, that all of his grown children were killed in one time? Then all of his cattle and all of his livestock and all of his wealth taken away from him, and then sickness to the point he just fought, he's got boils all over his body, and then your wife says, just curse God and die.
Great encouragement there. Why do you retain your integrity? Curse God and die. You speak as a foolish woman. How many of us would pass that test? I haven't had a child die. I can't imagine the pain. I know there's people that have. I can't imagine that pain you have. Sickness. But sometimes these have to be part of the process. But does that mean that we cast out the truth that Jesus still heals and does miracles and answers prayer? Do we cast that aside? No. You know, I've gone through this. I've gone through this myself, in my personal life. I have the last three years. You know, a lot of people, y'all have heard me tell this story. Some of you have. Some of you haven't. When Bethany Grace, my middle child, was being born in 1997, I was in the hospital with my oldest, Caitlin, who was four at the time. And I had been in there, you know, going through the hours of the waiting. And I decided to come out. Caitlin was out in the waiting room with the grandparents. And I come out there and decided to start playing with her. And so I'm squatting down and letting her, a little four-year-old, run and jump in my arms, and I'm falling backwards. We're having a good old time. I didn't see that there was some construction going on in the hallway and there was a metal pipe sticking out of the wall. So after about the third time I fell backwards, I hit my head on this metal pipe. It felt like somebody swinging a baseball bat and hitting me in the back of the head. I'm surprised it didn't knock me unconscious. But when I leaned forward, when I sat back up, I felt this rush of fluid. I thought it was blood, but it didn't make sense to me. And, of course, I was a little woozy at the moment. It didn't make sense to me because I hit my head back here. Why would I feel blood coming out of my nose? It wasn't blood. I put my hands up because it was like a river. And I put my hands up like this, and it was the cerebral spinal fluid that's around your brain. All of it came out in my hands and filled my hands up and ran over onto my jeans. And I saw nurses' eyes like bug out, and they were like, oh, crap, you sit down right here. Don't move. So we get in the doctor. They ran and got, the doctor is supposed to be delivering Bethany, and you don't want to hear this. When the doctor walks up to you and says, you must be taken by wheelchair to the emergency room. You've got to have an emergency CAT scan right now. You can die from this, okay?
They took me down to the CAVA CAT scan, and while I'm sitting there waiting for the CAT scan, I make the mistake of leaning over a little bit, and more came out. So what had happened was I hit my head so hard back here that it pushed all the plates of my skull forward and cracked severely right here above my nose. Big crack. I saw the x-rays in the CAT scan. Big crack right here. And I'm just going to tell you this. 99 times out of 100, if all your cerebral spinal fluid comes out into your hands, you are a dead person. Am I correct, Cherie? Our surgical nurse over there, right? So first of all, I'm still living. So I have the CAT scan. Sure enough, they say, well, we've got to schedule you for surgery immediately as we can. They say the first neurosurgeon is going to be here on Monday. You're going to have to wear a neck brace. You can't do anything, you know? So they let me go back upstairs. I make it back upstairs right before Bethany is born. I could see her born. Hospital is freaking out. They're bringing us gifts, baskets, and food, and, you know, they're afraid of big lawsuits coming. But I don't do that. But what's wild is that a couple of days later, I go to the neurosurgeon to prepare for surgery, and they say, well, we're going to do another quick x-ray before we do surgery, prep you for surgery. And when they did the x-ray, the crack in my skull here was gone, instantly gone. Like, there was, in fact, the neurosurgeon told me, he said, I see the x-ray and the CAT scan from the day before, and I see this. It's like it never happened. And he said, what do you do for a living? I said, I'm a pastor. And he goes, I thought so. He was like he wasn't happy. He had to admit that a miracle happened. Now, so what I'm saying is, I've seen God's healing and miracle power in my own life. And I could talk about other times as well. But for three years now, I have suffered with a serious issue in my left foot that's caused me pain, pain, pain, excruciating pain, excruciating pain that has kept me up many, many nights. Worst pain, I've broken bones. Football, I've broken bones. I have had knee surgery. I tore my Achilles. I fractured my scapula. I've broken my wrist more than one time. Fractured my skull. Nothing has hurt me pain-wise like this foot problem. Now, I can assure you that probably, I've had thousands of people praying for me for the last three years about this foot problem.
I've had people fast and pray for me. How many nights? I can assure you me and the Lord have had a few conversations during the sleepless nights that I've had. We've had some long conversations about healing and miracles. And during this time, like Skyfall 2023, the power and anointing of God was so strong on me and so strong in those surfaces, I'm still getting testimonies of people who got healed and delivered. I'm talking about amazing things happening while I'm suffering. You say, that doesn't make sense, Pastor. I agree. It does not make sense. This has caused a strain in my family life. It's caused a strain with me and my wife. It's caused a strain in just doing normal things. Now, see, what's wild is, though, I can get up here and preach for two hours and not feel it one time. Explain that. I stop, though, it gets hard to walk. And let me tell you, I had a nerve study done because they're thinking that I have a problem in the main nerve that runs through my heel and under my foot. Let me tell you, nerve study, you don't want one. Anybody in here ever had a nerve study? Did they shock you and stick needles in you that far? Yeah, okay. That's the nerve study. I asked them if they were a CIA torture team. And I said, I'm glad you guys aren't evil because I'd be in trouble. They were sticking needles in my leg and in my foot, the top of my foot, this deep, and then shocking me hard enough to lift me up off the table because they're shocking like from here down, they're running to test the speed of the nerves so they can find out what nerve's having a problem. Oh, it's a painful hour and a half of torture, just absolute torture. I'm still bruised. I'm still bruised where they shocked me and where they stabbed me. I got a bruise right here on this thing that's still this long, this big. Now, why am I sharing that? You can ask in a second after we get done. Why do I share this with you? Because even though I'm going through this and even though the Lord has not done a miracle to heal me of this, I still believe he heals. My faith is not shaken. I still pray for people that are sick. I still pray for people that have a disease. I still pray for people that are injured. And we've just seen a miracle. We've seen their friend, Johnny, Jonathan, I'm sorry, Jonathan. I was close. Jonathan, 22-year-old, bad car accident. They think he was going to make it. They went and prayed for him. Wednesday night before, not this past Wednesday, but the Wednesday before that, the Lord showed me prayer over handkerchief. Let them take it. They were going like that weekend.
Pray over him. But that night, that Wednesday night, we prayed. I had a real feeling God was going to start miraculously bringing him out of that. So did Sal and Daniela. And sure enough, the doctors are amazed. He's coming out of it. He started responding where he wasn't responding, where they thought things were not going in a good direction. And this 22-year-old kid who was in a severe car accident who looked like he was going to die and end up in hell now has another chance. And this is just this week, this past couple of weeks. So what I'm saying is our job is to believe for the supernatural. It's to believe that Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. It's to pray for the sick, to pray for the disease, to pray for those suffering, and to believe that God will do it. And then the rest is up to him. But he does heal. Healing is in the promises. Amen? Say, well, Pastor Dean, I wish I'd be healed. Don't give up. I'm still believing for God to heal this. But if not, it doesn't change my faith in healing. It doesn't change my faith that God still does it, that he hasn't changed. And I do believe in the days ahead. Look, there's some folks that are on different medications and we get into bad times. And we're talking about medications that help keep them alive and they may not be able to get them. And it's going to come down to believing God, trusting God. And that's where you, again, you've got to be ready to say, whether I live or whether I die, I am the Lord's. I am ready. I'm willing to do whatever I can do. Let me show you this, just so you see. Well, just put up John 14, 12. For the people who believe that the gifts and miracles and all that ceased is not what Jesus taught. What did he say here? He said, verily, verily, or truly, truly, I say unto you, he that believeth on me, the works that I do, shall he do also, and greater works than these shall he do, because I go into my Father. He didn't say those... He didn't say that some of them that believe.
He didn't say that those who believed in the first century. He didn't say only the apostles. He said, he that believeth on me. True faith. The word believeth, pistio, is a present tense Greek verb. What does it mean? He means that those that truly trust me, rely on me, cling to me, obey me, follow me continually. He said the works that I do, shall you do also. Do you believe that? See, I believe. I don't care what... I don't care if I've seen people die. I don't believe I can see people miraculously live. And I've seen those kind of miracles. We saw some at Skyfall, this point of death, and instantly healed. I believe this. I don't care what... I don't care what I'm personally going through. My experience does not change the truth of the word of God. I love how David talked about God's blessing, and how, you know, God would bless those... the righteous and all this stuff. So, it's not that way with my health. See, it didn't matter his experience. God's word is true. See, a lot of people, they want to talk about Charismatics, always wanting to experience. But the people who haven't received a healing, or a miracle, or seen a healing, or a miracle, oh, well, I hadn't seen it, so I don't believe it. I don't believe it can happen. I believe it's done away with, or it's ceased, or it was only with the apostles, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. No. Your experience does not change the truth of the word of God, that Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever, that he said that we could lay hands on the sick, and they would recover. He said we cast out demons. He said the works that he did, we shall do also. But let me tell you this right now. If you never pray for anybody that's sick, or you never see a miracle, that's okay. It's not like required, where you have to do that to go to heaven, okay? I think there's a lot of pressure within this whole Charismatic, or I was called Charismaniac world, that if you're not doing, if you're not out raising the dead, you're a subpar Christian, no. But don't ever doubt that it can happen, that God may put you in a situation to where you're going to need it. Had a guy years ago, where I live now, I was just visiting my aunt, my great aunts, eating lunch with them after his church on Sunday.
We heard this crash, boom, bam, outside. A car had come flying down the road like an old Camaro had come flying down the road, and there's a curve right before you get to my house. Well, they didn't hold the curve, so they flipped this Camaro down the road, and it landed in my yard. Well, the guy who was driving the car, it was only one guy in there, it had thrown him out, and then the car tire had come off the rim, and the entire rim and weight of the car had come down on his legs, and he was pinned underneath his leg. Now, I'm not talking about, no rubber. I'm talking about metal pinned. So we get out there before the firetrucks get there, and the rescue unit, and I'm thinking, oh, boy, this guy's legs are probably crushed. I don't know about you, but the weight of a car, pretty heavy. Human bones and legs aren't made to support that. We're not a carjack, all right? And I'm like, and, too, he was bleeding, he's all banged up, you know. We didn't know if he was concussions. We didn't know if his legs were crushed and his bones had tore up his arteries and everything. You just don't know. You just take a bone and cut your vena cava, and you got 15 minutes. So we just start praying for him. My brother's there. Two people from the youth group of the church were there, and we're just, we start praying for him. Now, this guy, we're praying for this guy. For God to heal him and spare him, and he starts cursing us, telling us to get away from him, stop praying for him. We disregarded that, and just kept praying for him. This is no joke. I was right there. The firemen threw this airbag under there, blew it up like quick. It lifted the car off of him. They pulled him out, right in front of me. I'm looking at him. They pulled him out. He was wearing jeans like I have all day. They pulled him out of there. His jeans were not even torn. Where the car landed on him. His legs were not bruised, broken, or crushed. They took him to the hospital. He went home that day, fine. Still cursing God and hating Christians. But see, sometimes the Lord's going to put you in those situations. But that was one. But then, a few months ago, I'm coming down from the old Midway Plaza area, almost to Walmart, and I see it happen. A woman runs out in front of a car. She's crossing the road, never looked. I mean, I was a witness for the poor lady that hit her because it was not her fault. The lady never even turned and looked, ran right in front of this car going about 50 miles an hour. It hit her and threw her up in the air,
higher than this ceiling, about 20 or 30 feet, and she lands almost right in front of me. I'm the first one to pull over and pray for her. And I can keep everybody from moving her because you don't know if her neck's broken or whatever. She's still breathing, and I'm like, but it doesn't look good. Her bones sticking out of her legs. You know, it was bad. It was ugly. But I had laid hands on her, and I prayed for her, that God would have mercy on her. She would live and not die, and I prayed the same prayer. But by the time they got there, and I'm gonna tell you what, they took their sweet time, and I'm like, this lady's gonna die if they don't hurry up. But they got there, they got her on the gurney, and then I saw it. She coded for they got her into the ambulance. And then we heard later she didn't make it. So let me say this. You don't win every battle. But you know what I prayed for her while I was praying? And not just that God would spare her life and let her live, but I prayed for her, and out loud said, Lord, I don't know this woman. I don't know if she's yours or not. But there's this thing we can do, and this may be controversial, and I'm gonna just say it. But I just asked the Lord, I said, I don't know if she's in sin or she's fallen away from you, but I just ask you, Lord, to forgive her sins. And I said to her, I didn't know if she was unconscious, but you still say it, but if you don't know Jesus, ask Jesus to be your Lord and Savior because that's what's most important. And I just prayed, Lord, that you'd forgive her sins and have mercy on her. And there is the Scripture talking about you can pray for those that do not have life that they would have life. Now, do I know where she is right now? I have no idea. I have no idea. I knew nothing about her. But this is again why it's more important that you repent of sin, and you know Jesus is Lord, and you know you're born again, and you know you're walking with Him, and you know you're ready if it's you that ends up stepping out in front of the car. It's more important than the miracle. It's more important than the healing. Do you know you are saved? You are born again. You are washed in the blood of the Lamb. Do you know by witness of the Holy Spirit that you have been your spirit man that was dead and alienated from the life of God, is alive to God? Do you know that you have a real relationship? Have you felt Him when He came in and cleaned you up and washed your sins away and gave you peace and joy and you know you have forgiveness of sins? That's most important. That is the gospel.
Then you are ready. Then if God wants to do a miracle for you, spare your life, extend your life, that's great. But see, this is why we've got to be clear what's more important. A healing or a miracle or a sign or a wonder or salvation. It's always more important, salvation. Always repentance of sin. Always the cross and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Always. Do you preach everywhere? Do you tell people this truth? You want God to work with you and you want signs to follow you? You've got to preach the gospel that includes repentance, that makes Jesus Lord, that hates sin, that talks specifically about sin that you need to turn away from. See, I tell the fornicators, you can't keep living in fornication. I tell the adulterers, you can't keep living in adultery. I tell the drug addicts, you can't keep living in the drugs. I tell the drunkards, you can't keep getting drunk. You've got to repent. You've got to confess that, forsake it, turn away from it. Do you preach that? Do you live that? If you do, then start expecting signs and wonders and healings and miracles to take place. Pray for the sick then. Lay hands on the sick. Cast demons out of people. Help people. But don't let your faith be shaken if you don't get a miracle or you don't get an answer sometimes or the miracle doesn't happen or the person dies or they stay sick or you still go through a struggle. Don't let your faith be shaken. He's still the same no matter what trial you're going through. He's still the same where the answer to the specific prayer is no. He's still the same if you have to go through a long season of trial and pain and suffering. Will you be faithful to Jesus and love Him and believe the Word of God even if you're going through all that? Let me tell you something. You think at Skyfall, I'm believing for people to get healed while I am in pain and having trouble even walking around in there and then Saturday evening before we do praise and worship or as we start praising worship, the Holy Spirit tells me on Saturday morning I'm going to heal people tonight. I thought, Lord, I'd like to be included in that group. But He did that night. We saw many, many people miraculously supernaturally healed that will testify this. We got sent testimonies. So let me ask you something. You think it's easier to pray and believe for a miracle when you need one, when you're suffering in pain, when you've asked and it hadn't happened? I think it takes more faith to believe it when it's not happening for you but to believe it for somebody else.
Oh, and I've been attacked. I've got some friends like Job. I won't name any names, though I could. I think some of them are repented of that. But this is one of two. If we pray for somebody and they don't get healed right then, you don't say, oh, it's because of your unbelief or it's because of your sin. Well, you don't know that. You know, the only one who knows that's God. You just tell them, you know what? Keep moving forward. Keep loving Jesus. Keep drawing near to Him, even if it's in suffering. Amen? I guess that's enough. Let's stand. Now, I want to say this. I haven't said all this this morning. Guess what we're going to do? James, Chapter 5, put it up there. My wife can come on up here with me. If you need healing this morning, we're going to do what the Bible says to do. We are going to pray. The Bible says if there's any sick among you, let Him call for the elders of the church, to menoine Him with oil. A prayer of faith will save the sick. See, this isn't a sermon about doubt and unbelief here. We still believe. So if you have something you need healing for, say, oh, Pastor Gene, I've asked and I've asked and I've asked and it hasn't happened. Well, are you going to quit or are you going to keep doing all you know to do? So one of the ways, and I got it up here on the screen, is any sick among you. Let Him call for the elders of the church. Let them pray over Him, anointing Him with oil in the name of the Lord. And what? The prayer of faith shall save the sick and the Lord shall raise Him up. And if He committed sins, they shall be forgiven Him. So we're going to do. I need a miracle. We need a miracle. What is it? I don't know. They know what I'm talking about. But here's what we're going to do. If you need prayer and you want prayer today, just come stand up here while we're singing the song. And we're just we're not going to spend a lot of time. I'm just going to anoint you with oil, lay hands on you and ask Jesus to heal you. And we're going to believe God. And I felt like the Lord showed me that just even with all of the trials and difficulties that we go through, that He's going to heal people today. And so what I want you to do is believe the word, not me.
Pastor Gene got nothing. I'm nothing. But I know this word is true. And it says we lay hands on the sick and they shall recover. It says call for the elders of the church, anoint you with the old prayer view. So you know what? We're going to do what the Bible says to do. And we're going to believe that God will do it because we're going to do all to stand and then keep standing. Amen. All right. If you want to be prayed for for healing today, I want you to step right up here. Amen. Amen. Amen. Go ahead. We're just going to anoint you with all and just pray over you.
Oh, His name is above everything. There are several people online that want prayer for healing. So we're going to pray. I want all the fire and grace church here today. Just point your hand toward the TV camera back there. And we're going to pray in the name of Jesus. For those of you out there that need healing today, we're going to pray for healing. And I want to tell you, that's the anointing and the presence of the Lord in here for their healing today. Even though some of us have been in long battles, there's healing anointing here. You know, there's a passage in the gospel where it says that the presence of the Lord was there to heal. And Jesus, when the woman who had the issue of blood, when she touched his garment, he said he felt virtue go out of him. And the Lord is just, you know, in the last couple of Wednesday night prayer meetings, I felt the Lord tell me that we were going to see another season of healing and miracles again. Like I remember in the in the late 80s and early 90s, it was like man stuff was God was moving in a powerful way. And there are seasons, but I think we're moving into another season. So you received this father in Jesus name. We pray for those watching listening out there, Lord. I know some are here in the United States. There are people watching in Australia and England and all over the place, Lord. And we just right now in the name of Jesus, Lord, we pray and ask right now for your healing virtue, Lord, that went out of the hem of your garment to the woman that had the issue of blood. Lord, we pray right now as they reach out for healing to you, as they reach out and touch your garment, not us, but Lord, we agree with them. Lord, that you would let your virtue, your healing virtue, your healing anointing that you paid for with those stripes upon your back. Lord, we pray right now in Jesus mighty name that healing virtue and healing anointing would flow in Jesus name to those watching and listening who need healing today. Lord, we rebuke sickness. We rebuke disease. We rebuke infirmity. We bind the demon spirits of infirmity and disease. We rebuke you and command you to loose them and go from them now in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.
Lord Jesus, you are the same yesterday, today, and forever. You said the works that you did, we shall do also. You said nothing is impossible to those who believe, and we believe it today that you are the same, that you are the healer, not Pastor Dean, not anybody else. We don't have any, no human being has anything. It's all you, Lord. And Lord, we ask you, Jesus, to heal them. Heal them. I don't care, Lord, if it's cancer, if it's thyroid, if it's pancreas, if it's diabetes, if it's, Lord, I don't care what it is, Lord. We rebuke sickness and disease, and we pray, Lord, you went about healing every manner of sickness and disease, Matthew 9 says. So we pray for healing, Lord, where there's been injuries or residual problems from injuries, we pray for healing there. Stomach issues, digestion issues, Lord, we pray for healing to flow, in Jesus' name. Migraine headaches, we rebuke those and command them to stop. In Jesus' name, Lord, in fact, and also, Lord, you came to heal the brokenhearted. We bind spirits of depression, heaviness. We bind the spirit of suicide and rebuke you and command you to go from that person. Right now, in Jesus' name, you may not harm them. Lord, we thank you that you're the healer. Crohn's disease, in the name of Jesus. Vaccine injuries, immune, autoimmune disease right now. Lupus, Lord, we pray you're the healer. Let healing flow into bodies and minds and hearts. Let your healing virtue, your healing anointing flow. Lord, I feel that today. I thank you, Lord, that you, I know you wanted this message about knowing healing. And there's some people out there right now, Lord, they may have even grown up in a denomination or a church that taught against it. Said it was no more. And Lord, I pray right now, let healing flow. Lord, you said you would confirm your word with signs following. Lord, right now, injured backs, injured necks. Oh, in Jesus' name. Oh, in Jesus' name. Let healing flow. We thank you that you're the healer, Lord. You're the same yesterday, today, and forever. Just keep praying for it. I just feel like, I just feel the anointing and the Holy Spirit just going forth, Lord. Thank you. Thank you, Lord, for touching them, Lord. Thank you for having mercy. Even, Lord, if it's, they've been suffering
a long, long time. Let today be their day. I pray today will be their day. That healing of Jesus Christ manifests in their bodies. And we thank you for it, because you're the same yesterday, today, and forever. And the prayer of faith, you said, Lord, will save the sick. And Lord, you said you would raise them up. Not me or anybody else. You will raise them up. And we thank you for that. We put it in your hands. Jesus' name. Amen. You know the Lord says you have not because you ask not. We ask today. Amen. Yes. Yes, sir. Okay. Amen. Oh, no. Come on. Come on. Point your hands towards on Nancy. I'm going to lay hands on Dean. Oh, Father God. He lift up this mighty man of God. This man that you have put this special mantle upon, Lord, that you have called for this time in this generation. Father, he has given so much to the body of Christ. He has been so faithful to you over the years. And Father, as I'm led to pray right now, Lord, it's into the future. But Father, and there's so much work to be, more work to be done for your kingdom. His time is not up yet, Lord, and he needs healing in his body. Father, this foot has been a thorn. But Father, today, even as we touch and agree and faith, Father, knowing that you are able, Father, I pray and ask you right now. I remind you, Lord, of this man's faithfulness to the kingdom, to your kingdom, to even today, the word, Lord, the courage to be able to say what others would not say. So Father, I'm asking you today, as him being my elder,
Father, heal him from the top of his head to the soul of his feet. Heal him, Lord, right now. Father, I just decree and declare, Lord, right now, Lord, let healing virtue be released from your kingdom. Father, we pray. In Jesus' name, Father, we lift up Nancy, Pastor Nancy, before you right now also, Father. And I don't know the ailments. He does not complain much. So I don't know what she's going through, Father, but anything that's in her body, seen or unseen. Father, I just pray a prayer of purification, that your spirit, that the anointing would rest upon her. And Father, every ailment, every pain. Father, everything, Lord, in her blood. Father, let it be purified today. Father, we pray in the mighty name of your Son, Christ Jesus. Amen. Amen. Thank you. Amen. Hallelujah. Amen. Praise God. Okay. Yeah. Well, all right. Well, praise God. I tell you what. I still I feel just a sweet presence of the Lord here today. Like I said, I know this is this was his will for today. And, you know, I'll let me share this and then I'll let y'all go. Years ago, my dad worked at the VA where he works in Montgomery and years ago. This is late 80s, early 90s, somewhere in that time period. But I've shared this before, but it was it was powerful because my dad worked with this woman there who was diagnosed with breast cancer stage four and it wasn't looking good for her. And I'd never met her. And but my dad just told me, so would you pray for and, you know, he worked with her every day. And I said, sure. So I was praying that day and I was praying in tongues and just laying in in the floor. And I saw this vision. The Lord just showed me. I had my eyes closed, but I saw this like a movie almost play. And I saw the VA and I saw the office from my dad work and I saw her standing there and I saw this demon sized monkey monkey sized demon. I should say it was hanging on her like, you know, you would carry a little monkey. It had his little legs wrapped around right here and it had its hand across her chest and it had other hand around her back and its head was about right here. And it, you know, evil looking thing. It wasn't, you know, it's just I could see it, but I could see through it and I could see her. And the Lord said, command that thing to leave her command that demon to leave her. So I said in the name of Jesus, I command that demon spirit of cancer. I bind you. I break your power off of you. I command you to lose her and let her go.
I saw him fall off of her and like somebody took a little stick and beat it as it kind of whimpered and cried and ran away. So I knew she was healed. I knew God healed her delivered her because sometimes the sickness is a demon. It is a demon, not all the time, but sometimes. And I called my dad and I said, I told him exactly what happened. I said, you tell her that she is healed to believe it and it's done. So my dad told her the whole thing and she believed it. And when she went back to the doctor, cancer was gone completely. OK, but I tell that story because I never laid hands on her. I never met her. I never saw her. It was completely the Lord, but she had to believe it. And when I say believe it, you believe that you receive before you may even see the physical manifestation of it. And that's in fact, can we put up one more scripture for him? Put up Mark eleven twenty four. This is important. Whatsoever things you desire, when you pray, believe you receive them and you shall have them. See, this is faith. Some people say I believe it when I see it. Faith is you believe it and then you see it. All right. So but here's the thing. This is how you know you have a how do I put it? Faith is the substance of things. Hope for the evidence of things not seen. So how do you know you have faith for something? I'm going to tell you this morning. If you got prayed for this morning and you felt the touch of God upon you, the witness of the Holy Spirit upon you. That's God saying yes. You understand? That's the Lord saying I am doing this in your life. You just believe it. Don't doubt that it's done. You hear me? I'm not saying just presumptuously say that. I'm saying if you felt the witness and touch an anointing of the Holy Spirit when you were prayed for for healing, believe you have received it and you shall see the manifestation of it. And it was key in that woman's life. The Lord told me very strongly tell her to believe it, not to doubt, but to believe God touched me today. God delivered me today. The anointing of the Holy Spirit hit me today in Jesus name, and I believe it is done. Amen. Now, I'm going to tell you, when y'all were praying for me, I felt the witness of the Holy Spirit. Amen. So I believe I receive it. Amen. And I felt like I'll be honest with you. I felt like the whole time God's been dealing with me several weeks about this particular message on healing
and that it was kind of kind of be the beginning of a new day for some folks, including me. All right. But sometimes us preachers, we preach it and we need it. Amen. You know, it's not just it's not just for the it's for me, too. All right. Well, y'all know the drill. Hugs up next before you leave. And I think do we have after we go off, love y'all out there. Share testimonies with us. God touched you. Let us know. But hugs him next before you leave here. And then we got y'all here. Don't leave yet. We got a couple of announcements we do deal with. God bless.