Bible Teaching

Calvary Temple Teaching Library

The Hope of Healing Pt.4

[Let's take a] few minutes in review. Let's go back, in our minds, over these last couple of services, over what the Lord has been speaking to us as He is stirring our hearts to represent the Kingdom of God in power. [Two] of the ways the Kingdom is represented in power is in casting out devils and in healing the sick. We have been talking about that: having to go back and renew our own minds to the fact that we serve an awesome God, and His name is Jehovah-Rapha. Amen? He is the Lord Our Healer. Praise God!

We have been talking about the fact that there is that balm in Gilead; there is that supernatural blessing that God has given to us. He said, "I will put none of these diseases upon thee, that I have brought upon the Egyptians" (Exodus 15:26). We see that God brings judgment, many times, with sickness and pestilence; it is how He has shown Himself mighty. Many times in the past He has delivered His people by bringing pestilence and disease and destruction on the enemies of God's people. He said, "I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee" (Genesis 12:3). One of the ways, of course, is in the demonstration of plague, pestilence, and disease. (Pharaoh found that out in Egypt, didn't he?) And the Lord said, "As you walk in the covenant, as you obey My commandments, as you get to know Me, I will take sickness out of the midst of you; I will put upon you none of these diseases."

We are living in a world, right now, in which there is a lot of sickness and a lot of disease. It is going to get more; just read the book of Revelation. As this time is coming, and sin begins to manifest itself in a greater way, I believe there is going to be a greater judgment of God upon humanity. Men's hearts will be hardened to the place where, in the last days, the Scripture says, as God begins to pour out the pestilence, they will hide in caves. They will curse Him, they will mock Him, and they will defy Him! Rather than crying for His presence to heal them, they would just as soon have the rocks fall upon them and take them out of their misery (Revelation 6:12-17). We realize that this is the spirit we are in contention with. The Lord called us, in this day, to represent Him as the Church always has: in power and authority.

In our review, we saw that He is the Lord Our Healer. "He sent His Word and healed them," the Scripture told us (Psalm 107:20). The Psalmist cried, "Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless His holy name...Who forgiveth all our iniquities; Who healeth all our diseases" (Psalm 103:1). We see the heart of the covenant child, and the awareness of His making us whole, forgiving our iniquities, and healing our diseases. We took time in Isaiah 53, and saw how "He hath borne our [sins], and carried our sorrows...and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all...yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him...and with His stripes we [what?] are healed" (Isaiah 53:4-10). Praise God! In redemption, in the atonement, He not only forgave our sins but He paid the price and bore our sickness, our disease, our pain, our arthritis, our cancer, whatever is wrong, on His body, on the tree. He even took care of guys who put their fingers in Sawz-Alls--if you had seen Dan Konczal yesterday, his finger was about [this big], and looked about that long, with all of the [bandages, since he] got his finger caught in a Sawz-All, and crushed it, and ripped the fingernail off: Ouch! Amen? But He bore our pain; praise God! Those are the things that we can put on Him. And see [the healing] manifest, and the power of God! Isn't that what you want to see and live?

What a blessing in your heart and in your life when you see these things, [as I have] so often in my life, and in things I have lived [through], the [events] in our family, not only the miracle rallies, but every day. Right on this playground, when it used to be over there, one of the children was out there playing when we had the teeter-totters, and the teeter-totter came down while this little girl had her hand under it, and the full weight came down right on her finger and the cement under it. I don't remember who brought the girl to me. I think, for some reason, that Forbe was involved--not, you know, in hurting the little girl, but in bringing her. I can still remember, we were in the white house (the offices were there) and somebody ran and got me, and said, "We have a problem: come and look at this. What are we supposed to do?" They showed me this little girl, whose finger looked more like a popsicle stick: it was just crushed. I can still remember taking that little child's hand, and praying in the name of Jesus. It was just like one of those cartoons where he just blew in the thumb: Pfft; that finger popped out, just like that. We sent her out to play; praise God! God is good. Amen?

The same thing happened to Kimberly when we were at church in Herndon. A lot of kids were playing on a trailer. They were all standing on the [back of the] trailer and [the tongue] was up in the air like this. Then they all jumped off, and the tongue came down right on her foot. It just smashed her foot. We just took her up, and began to pray in the name of Jesus, and believed God; and, just to show you how these things work--like I have said, we don't trust in medicine. I don't see anything wrong with it; I don't have a problem with doctors. I have a problem [with people] forgetting about God. Amen?--we were just praying. We put her in the car; we were headed toward the emergency room (this is when [there were only] one or two lights between here and Leesburg); we were driving up there and just praying and believing God. That foot was just torn up, swollen and big. We were just praying, and believing God, and praising God, when we pulled up in front of the hospital, looked down, [and saw that] the swelling was gone, the blueness was gone. We turned around, and came home. Praise God! She was whole.

Star stepped on a broken bottle in the yard at the parsonage. He slashed his foot, and I mean it was just pouring blood. I just grabbed the foot and closed it and said, "In the name of Jesus, I command you to stop bleeding!" All the bleeding stopped. They [had been] playing in the sprinklers, so I threw a sock on him and let him play; praise God!

"I am the Lord that healeth thee" (Exodus 15:26). Amen? You live that way, and you grow up that way. It was normal. It is how we lived. But you can lose it (amen?), but you can lose it. But you can get it back again (praise God! Amen?), because it is a covenant; and though we deny Him, He cannot deny Himself (2 Timothy 2:12-13). Praise God!

We are returning in our hearts to Him, and we are realizing that we want Him big in the eyes of our children, and in the eyes of the community, to proclaim Him for who He is: Jehovah-Rapha; the Lord Our Healer. Praise God! We were looking in our last session, as we were going through Matthew 10 and Luke 9-10, [at] the calling of the 12 disciples, and how He gave them power to go out and to preach, "The Kingdom of God is here," and to heal the sick. We saw how they did that. Then, as the 70 others were anointed and sent out, they went out preaching the Kingdom of God, and healing the sick, and casting out devils. "This is the proof, that that Jesus whom you crucified, whom you mocked, God has raised from the dead; and His name, and faith in His name, is what made you whole, praise God!" (Acts 4:10). Amen? That is what this is all about. The doctrine of healing is not just for the covenant people, but it is the message of the Kingdom, it is the proclamation of the resurrected Jesus. The confirmation of the resurrection is seen in the miraculous, as God raises up those who are sick around us. They might not accept Him as Lord, but they cannot deny that a notable miracle has been done. How are you going to deal with this? The disciples went out and were ministering.

Oh, I would to God that we would have that same spirit our brothers had that day, when they were walking through the temple mount in that hour of prayer, just looking to worship the Lord; and who is that beggar who so many times had sat there, day after day, begging, looking for alms. How many times have you walked past that person at work; that person in the store? How many opportunities to minister? Don't take it as failure, but tomorrow could be the day. Amen? How many times did they pass him? Then, this time they fasten their eyes upon him; then Peter looks at him and says, "Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee." He reached down, took the man by the hand, pulled him up, and said, "In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk" (Acts 4:1-8). Praise God! And he began to leap and to jump and to praise God; and he joined them in church. Amen?

Have you reached your one this year? That could be a way to reach him, praise God! Have them chase you to church, the crippled man: just rejoicing, and leaping, and jumping, and praising God. They could not deny that a notable miracle had been done. You know, tragically, today we do it the other way: "Silver and gold have I; I'll pay for your doctor bill; I have insurance; I'll help you get to the hospital; but faith have I none." What do we have to give? What do we have to give?

[Pastor] Rob said he was at a church in Richmond the other day--not ours. He was not being critical; he was just sharing some things, and I asked him about the teaching. He said it was actually pretty good; but it was so sad. I asked, "What do you mean?" He said, "Well, the good part was out of Acts: What Shall We Do was the title." What shall we do? The pastor began to give a whole list of things you should do to get things right, and plan, and organize, and be diligent, and sow with others, and all these different things. Then the sermon ended, and everything had spoken to the natural order, and how to accomplish things in the natural, but never answered [the question]; "What shall we do?" Repent! And be baptized. Amen? That is the answer to that question. The scriptural mandate for what we are to do, for who we are.

[Jesus] said, "I have chosen you, and I have ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain" (John 15:16). Praise God! "Behold, I send you forth as [lambs] in the midst of wolves" (Matthew 10:16). But He has given us power: He said, "Behold, I give you power [and all authority]...over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you" (Luke 9:1, 10:19). Do you believe that, as we begin to go, and to see, and to experience again the anointing of God, and to realize that call upon our lives.

Turn to Matthew 10 with me as we pick up where we left off in the last session, at the beginning of that passage: "And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power [he gave them power!] against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease." As we see the power of God manifested here, this is the Greek word exousia: authority. It says He gave them authority to therapeo all manner of sickness. He is speaking specifically towards the physical. Remember, we said therapeo was exclusively physical healing, and eaomai was total healing: spirit, soul, and body. It is interesting, here, that he has not necessarily put within us this force to use at our discretion; but, in fact, has given us authority to decree His power.

That is exactly what Mark 16 [:17] goes on to say, "And these signs shall follow them that believe in my name; they shall..." Then the chapter ends with, "And they went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the Word with signs following. Amen." See, we have authority. We can speak it, and God will come and do it; praise God! We are His representatives. We are just out saying what He said; and He said I can lay my hands on the sick, and they will recover. I can pray in His name, and He will confirm His Word with signs following. Whatsoever I ask in His name, [with] faith in His name, He will do it. Amen? In the last session we were studying these particular things, and [the Word] said, "But go...And as ye go, preach, [verse 7 of this tenth chapter] saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils:" and then, I think this is something we need to give a little attention to, "freely ye have received [say it], freely give." Are we really thankful for what we have received? When we talk about these things, do we see them as drudgery, a mandate, an obligation? Or do you see it as for what it is: this is a privilege to represent the Kingdom of God.

You remember, in the last session, (we will look at it again) how He said, "He that heareth you, heareth me" (Luke 10:16). We are speaking for God! Now, some people pervert that, and seem to think they are God, that they are the Holy Ghost. No! We are here speaking what He said; we are representing the divine. As long as we are saying what God said about this situation, He will confirm it with signs following. As long as our motive is God's motive--listen! --God's motive is not to get that person healed; it is to get Himself glorified. Amen? That is because everybody who is one of the covenant children will end up healed anyway. We are all going to be healed. We are all going to get new bodies. Can you say "Praise God" for that?

Some of us have just about got all we can get out of this: "Running her hard; putting it away wet; burning the candle at both ends." One of these days--Hallelujah! --I will never have to sleep again. How cool is that! I hate sleep: it is the biggest waste of time. What could we get done if we didn't have to sleep? I don't know how many more things I could think of to do. Until then, He sustains us, He strengthens us, and prepares us to go out and to represent Him; and it is a privilege to be ambassadors of Christ.

Ambassadors: we are representing the Kingdom of Healing, we are representing the Kingdom of Deliverance. Oh, dear Lord, people need deliverance! "The god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them [and they believe]" (2 Corinthians 4:4). And it is done in so many ways: some are blinded by Mercedes' and diamonds and fur coats and blue chip stocks, and others are blinded by drugs and alcohol and sex. People are running scared: some are so frightened that they have to wrap themselves in Armani suits; others are so frightened that they have to wear rags and paint their fingernails black. They are all scared! And they are demonized. And they are under the power of Satan: the god of this world. And we have the answer. Amen? Walk up to them in confidence: you have the answer! Praise God! "I have got some good news for you." Isn't that what the Gospel is? "Jesus took your sin on His body, on the tree; praise God. Jesus was crucified with your sins, that you might be made righteous with His righteousness. God raised Him from the dead; He is not dead. They did not kill Him: He killed death! God raised Him; and He has ascended; and He is at the right hand of God; and He is making intercession for us; and He is coming again (praise God!); and He is going to call us to Himself; and we are going to be with the Lord; and so shall we ever be with Him (praise God!); and we will see Him; and we will be like Him!"

"I don't believe that." "Okay. How about you; praise God! Hey, guess what: God raised Jesus..." Amen? There is somebody out there who will believe it. How excited are we about this message of the Kingdom; the message of wholeness. When He is talking about deliverance and healing here, He is talking about our bringing this message of wholeness to man. Man is broken, frightened, in bondage, a slave to sin, a slave to fear. "I'm afraid I'm going to die!" "You are! ‘It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment' (Hebrews 9:27). ‘And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell' (Matthew 10:28). You are going to stand before God one of these days." "I don't believe that." "Then why are you shaking? Why are you hiding?" The knowledge of God, Romans [1:18-20] says, is in every one of us. There is not a [man] you are going to speak to who does not believe in God. So we just come and share the goodness: the free course we have to Him. [The Word] says, "Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils." This is for every one of us. This is not just for preachers and big-time evangelists. Mark 16 says, "...these signs shall follow them that believe; in my name [they] shall..." We are just being challenged to be about what we say we believe as the children of God.

Turn to the Luke passage again: Chapter 10; Chapter 9 being the [sending forth of the] twelve; Chapter 10 being the [sending forth of the] seventy. As we are looking over there, we see the Great Commission. We seem to think that the Great Commission is in Matthew 28: "Go into all the world and preach the Gospel..." This is the commission: cast out devils; heal the sick; freely you have received, freely give. You remember, when we were [following] the sequence of events from Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, we saw that after He had brought that sermon, He began to practically bring deliverance and healing. "Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And he put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will: be thou clean" (Matthew 8:2-3). "Praise God; I will heal you." "Speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed." "When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, ‘Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel...Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee.' And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour" (Matthew 8:8-13). He raises Jairus' daughter, as you go into Chapter 9. Then the woman with the issue of blood, and He says to the woman, "Thy faith has made thee whole" (Matthew 9:22).

Do you see a common denominator here? It's all about faith. It's all about trusting God. It's all about living in the conscious presence of the promises of God. It's about getting out of your comfort zone. There is nothing comfortable about faith, and God is calling us to make it our daily life: warring in the heavenlies; warring in the spiritual realm; dealing with sin and sickness and disease; and proclaiming the victory that has been won. As that scenario [continues], we find Jairus' daughter raised; we find the woman with the issue of blood [healed]; then, we find the two blind men who are coming. Jesus asked them a question: "Believe ye that I am able to do this?" "Do you believe I am able to do this?"

You see, this is one of the things we do when we go out and proclaim [the gospel]. Ask people, "I am going to put my hands on you; do you believe you are going to be healed?" "Yes, I believe that." "Then, according to your faith it is going to be done unto you." Amen? Do you need healing, tonight? "According to your faith..." I did not say how much you merit it; I did not say how right you were with God; I did not say whether you were a son or a red-headed step-child. We are all sons of God. There is no merit, but He is [asking] this: What are you going to believe for? According to your faith it will be unto you. What are you believing for? Do you believe that I am able?" Yes. What do you want from God tonight? What are you willing to trust Him for, personally, tonight? What are you able to trust Him for tomorrow, when you are out about His business? If you believe, it will be done unto you. Do you want me to tell you something? It is easier to believe for others than for yourself. Amen? I have always found it to be that way. "Hey! I can believe for you to get healed of cancer; but I am having trouble in myself here." "I can believe for you to be raised from the dead, I have a little trouble when I'm..." You are not personally involved in many of these things. You are not feeling the pain. I don't want to get into hindrances right now, but, many times, our faith begins to waver because we have prayed so many times, and not seen it yet. But, when you get fresh meat; praise God. Amen? These are just some practical things. Get out there, and lay your hands on them, and pray, and declare the name of Jesus. Why? Because "these signs shall follow them that believe." If we are believers, this is the life we are admonished to be living: this is the Great Commission. "As they have believed;" "According to your faith." The Scripture says, "All things are possible to him that believeth" (Mark 9:23). Amen?

I will never forget when I was called on the carpet [by] the Potomac District [elders]. I had my credentials with the Assemblies of God, General Council, in this district, the Potomac District. All the Elders called me in on the carpet, and they said, "Brother Scott..." That is how we refer to each other in the Assemblies. [With deep "religious tone] "Brother Scott." And I said, "Yes, Brother Rhoden." They said, "We want to talk to you about your doctrine." I said, "Good! I love talking about doctrine. Praise God. Amen!" They said, "It seems a little extreme." I said, "It is extremely Biblical." They said, "Well, tell us what you believe" (and it had to do with healing). I was not being arrogant. I am a young man; these men are experienced. I can't remember how young I was. It was so long ago that I can't remember. I said to these men seated around the big table, "Let me tell you what I believe. I believe that healing is in the atonement, just like our doctrine says in the Assemblies of God. I believe that by His stripes we are healed, according to Isaiah and Peter. I believe that we call for the elders of the church, they anoint us with oil and pray the prayer of faith, and the Lord raises us up. I believe that. I believe that the prayer of faith saves the sick. In a nutshell, here is what I believe." Then I said, "Now, you men sit here, and I am a young man. Between you there are over two hundred ten years in the ministry. May I ask you a question?" They said, "Yes," so I asked, "Can you help me, please, to interpret the Scripture?" "Well, yes, we would be happy to, Brother Scott; which is it?" "Could you tell me what ‘all things are possible to him that believeth' means?" [Dramatic coughing and clearing of the throat] "Ah..." They were looking around the table--"Ah..."--waiting for one of them to talk. Finally, the head spokesman said, "Well (ahem), Brother Scott, uh, (ahem), it means that all things are possible to him that believeth." "That's what I'm preaching, praise God!" Amen? Then the meeting was over. The simplicity of the Word of God prevailed. Because the traditions of Men were making the Word of God of no effect, because, in fact, they had for so many years prayed without seeing people healed, they started changing their doctrine. The doctrine does not change based upon our experiences. God's Word is true! Amen? We are a healed people! The prayer of faith saves the sick! We have a mandate to go out, and lay hands upon the sick, and see them recover, and to cast out devils; praise God! Freely we have received; we are to freely give.

Can you say you are out about His business? I don't mean just talking about how He wants to heal their marriages--Thank God, He wants to heal marriages!--or how He wants to deliver them from drugs--Amen! He wants them off of drugs, praise God--or how He loves them in spite of all of their ugliness and all of their sin--Amen! Praise God! That is the Word of God. The Lord laid upon Him the iniquity of us all. Praise God!--but, beloved, [bringing] this doctrine of healing. Because it so personally involves us, and because God is sovereign, and we don't always see it the way we think it should happen, in the time that we think, in the way that we think, it scares us. We think our reputations are on the line, but they are not; it is about the glory of God. Amen? The only reason we don't do it is because we are afraid. We are afraid it is not going to happen, and then "God is going to look bad." You are not worried about God; God can take care of Himself. Amen? We just hide behind that: "I just don't want the Lord to be..." "Well, I just don't want the Lord and me to be misunderstood or...Look--okay; it's about me." You cannot heal anybody; the Lord raises them up. Amen? "I have done my job: I laid my hands on you; I prayed with all the faith I have; I wasn't here trying to show off; I wasn't here out of spiritual pride; I wasn't here out of obligation. I was here because I was moved with compassion for your needs, seeing you as sheep without a shepherd. I came, and I ministered the Gospel to you. I shared the Kingdom of God with you. I put my hands on you, because the Lord says He wants you whole; praise God. Now it is His job." Amen? You pray believing! What happens if nothing happens? Well, go pray for somebody else. Amen? Is it a percentage game? Does one out of every thirty [get healed]? It is the sovereignty of God. Because God is sovereign, because God does not always move the way we would like [Him to], does not negate our responsibility to bring this Gospel and be about Father's business; praise God. Will people misunderstand you? Yes.

I shared with you some of the things we went through years ago when we used to teach these messages a lot. I believe today exactly the way I believed then, but I believe more than I used to believe. I believe all that I believed, but I believe more than that now. I know more; I know God better. Nothing has changed of what I believe. I believe fully that He wants us all healed. I believe that we are to be about His business in proclaiming these things. Some people don't like that because--"Well, explain to me why my mother, who loved God with all of her heart, died. We were praying, and we were believing, and I asked God, and I told God that if He would heal my mother I'd serve Him all my days, and she died." God is not going to negotiate with you. God is not moved by anybody's specific circumstances. God expects His creation to bow before Him and worship Him. Amen? He does not answer to us. But, in His love He has made great provision for us to be whole, and to be free from disease, and to live in victory over demons and over Satan's power, and to have the ability to live victoriously over sin, and we proclaim that, and expect that.

People won't understand; they will be critical; they will mock you; they will try to ask difficult questions; they will rail on you. I have shared with you before: People, when I was sharing on the radio while Janet was sick, would call me--you know: nice, good, Christian people--"Yeah, what are you going to preach when your wife dies?" With some of these Christians around, who needs the devil, eh? I shared with them, "I am going to preach the same thing I am preaching right now: "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him" (Job 13:15). Amen? I am going to trust Him. "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" (Genesis 18:25). Praise God! I am not going to change what I am preaching because of what we experienced.

Now, that sounds very noble. I would be lying to you if I told you that the battles we went through in Janet's sicknesses, and other things, did not affect me and cause different areas in my life to be challenged and examined. I would be lying to you if I told you I was not discouraged at times, that there were times when I didn't understand, and asked, "God, what in the world...?" I have shared that with you; I have lived my life openly before you. I can remember that day (I have shared it before), just looking down at my hands and weeping, and saying, "My God! I have laid these hands on people all over the world, and seen miracles. I have seen the dead raised. I have seen the lame walk. I have seen the blind eyes opened. My wife is dying before my very eyes, and I put my hands on her, and there is nothing there." What do you do when you face that? You step back and say, "By His stripes we are healed. Praise God! The prayer of faith saves the sick, and the Lord raises us up; and God, Jehovah-Rapha, is our healer; and He bore our sin and our sickness on His body on the tree, praise God, and the Judge of all the earth does right, and I will serve Him, praise God, though He slay me." Amen? Then go, and find somebody else to pray for, because it is not about our experience. I have come to realize that I did not fail in praying for the people who were not healed, anymore than I was successful in praying for those who were. I was obedient, and the Lord confirms His Word with signs following.

I want to encourage you to be about the Father's business. He has called us. Freely you have received; freely give (Matthew 10:8). Go into the highways and the byways and compel them to come (Luke 14:23). Spend some time, and go through these chapters, and ask yourself, "Am I a witness? Am I a believer? Am I doing what God has called me to do?" Now, don't do what some people do, and make the whole gospel [about] healing. It's not; it's just a part; but let's not leave it out. Don't make a doctrine out of casting out devils, to the point where everything is a demon. Dear God, we have talked about the Florida Five from all those years ago, Derek Prince and all those guys, and people vomiting in bags, and everything was a demon: "Ah, bless God, come out, you red-headed demon, in the name..." Sorry, you redheads; it is just what people believe. No, it's not--but let's bring the whole gospel. He wants to heal families; He wants to heal minds, and broken hearts, and He wants to heal broken bodies.

Father, we thank You for Your Word, tonight; and we just ask that You would stir us with Your Spirit, and give us a jealousy for Your Glory; because, Lord, You are being robbed. You are being robbed of some of Your glory. People are running to doctors, and giving them the glory, when we could be laying our hands on them, and seeing them healed. Praise God! People could be being saved as we pray and see You confirm Your Word with the anointing of God that would touch their bodies. Even if You do not heal their bodies, the confrontation with the anointing of God, and the presence of God, as we share the Kingdom with them--"I have never seen anybody like you before. You believe this, don't you?" "I just cannot help but speak the things I have seen and heard." "Well, could you tell me, then, why little children suffer, and some die, and innocent people die and..." "Hey! All I know is, once I was blind, and now I see. Praise God! I am one of the simple ones. Don't ask me those hard questions. God is good. His Word is sure to a thousand generations (Psalm 105:8). Let God be true, and every man a liar (Romans 3:4). If God explained it to you, you could not understand it. The infinite cannot be comprehended by the finite. Strengthen us, Father. Help us to shun the apathy, the fear of men's faces, the fear of a stigma, and the fear of failure. Help us to go out and freely give what we have so freely received, we ask in Jesus name. Amen.

Let's stand before the Lord. Take a moment, as Gary plays for us, to understand this great good news of the Kingdom of God. "The Kingdom is nigh unto you" (Luke 10:9). The kingdom is here in power (Mark 9:1), the Scripture says. You say, "Pastor, I feel like my tank is empty." "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God" (Romans 10:17). Just begin to go over these Scriptures. Meditate upon them. Read these passages; re-read them; re-read them. Get yourself to where you are hanging out with Jesus. Get yourself to where you hear the hustle and the bustle, and you see the woman come and press through. Watch them pull the tiles off the roof and lower the man down into His presence to be healed! Hear the crowds try to shut up blind Bartimaeus as he says, "Jesus!" "Be quiet, don't trouble Him." "Jesus! Son of David, heal." "Believe ye that I am able to do this?" (Matthew 9:28). "Do you believe Jesus is going to make you whole when I put my hands on you?" "Yes; I do, too. Praise God! Be healed in the name of Jesus."

Reach over the counter, and take that Jewish jeweler by the hand, and pray in the name of Jesus, and watch that woman left for dead come home. Watch a thirty-year-old roll her mother up into your presence, right down here, right where Greg is sitting. Watch it! See that wheel chair come up there, and that lady in the wheel chair, and that daughter--thirty years old--who has never seen her mother walk, and put your hands on her, and watch her come out of the wheel chair in the name of Jesus! Watch the face of that deaf child light up, in Haiti, fourteen years old, whom you touch, and into whose body the power of God comes, as he hears for the first time. And what he hears is the name of Jesus. See the crowd press upon you in Korea; and reach up and touch, and watch the goiter disappear from a lady's throat because God raised Jesus from the dead. Walk into the hospital room and see the brain-dead man back home preaching in forty days, because there is no other name under heaven... "These signs shall follow them that believe in my name" (Mark 16:17). Help us, Father, to be about Your business, we ask. Let's sing this together, and just worship Him:

"It gives strength to me when I worship Thee..."

Hallelujah! Be glorified, Lord. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Lord, we ask You to be glorified among us! Lord, we are not looking for some kind of carnival, some kind of show; we are looking for You to be glorified. We don't want less than what you have purchased for us by Your blood, and by the stripes You bore! We demand our rights against the lying accusations of the enemy! We just proclaim Your goodness, Lord! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Even now, just let Him just make your body whole; let Him strengthen you; let Him challenge you right now. Let Him fill you with the Spirit, those of you who have been seeking Him to be baptized. Just begin to worship Him in tongues, and praise Him, and believe for the infilling, that you might go out and represent Him. Hallelujah! It's about being prepared to serve. Oh, Hallelujah! Hallelujah! There are people around you whom you know have a need; just reach out, and lay hands on them, and believe God to raise them up in the name of Jesus!

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