SPEAKER_00 0:02

Hi, my name is Michelle Steele. Pastor Phillip and I want to thank you for listening to this message from Life of Faith First. We have more resources available to help you build your faith and bring your world by the Word of God. From our website, lifeoffface.net, you can connect to our YouTube channel, watch the live stream feed from our church services, access books and downloads in our web store, and discover more about Life of Faith Church, producing life city, state, nation, and world. Visit lifeoffaith.net today.

SPEAKER_01 0:43

Let's um go to First Timothy 6. And um we're gonna read uh verse 12. This will be the basis, I believe, uh, for a series we're gonna get into. And Paul's writing Timothy here, and he tells him, he says, fight the good fight of faith. And then he says, Lay hold on eternal life wherein two you're called, you're called to eternal life, and you've professed a good profession before many witnesses. Um so the first thing that we see is he says, fight the good fight of faith. Now, depending on the circle that you may be in, the circles that you may be in, uh, that can take on different connotations for different people. Um very often uh the emphasis, you know, spirit-filled circles, charismatic circles is to emphasize that the fight of faith is a good fight. And then when they say, Well, what's a good fight? Well, it's a fight that you win. Well, not necessarily because I've seen some good fights, and there was a winner and a loser. Right? My d my dad was a boxing enthusiast, and way back in the day when you had to travel to have them uh uh to go to an arena and they would they would uh close circuit television, uh satellite the fights in, and we went, and and he used to like and here's the thing somebody would say, Oh, that was a great fight. Well, did your your fighter win? Well, no, they didn't win, but it's a good fight. Well, here's the thing. So a good fight can be a fight that you put up a lot of effort, uh, but yet you fell short. And so uh here's my point. A good fight is not necessarily a fight that you always win. All right. Uh a good fight, according to the Greek, a good fight is the manner in which you fight the fight. All right. Now, he says we fight the good fight of faith and we lay hold. All right. Now, I've seen God perform amazing miracles in people's lives. I mean, people with 0% chance of living. I mean, the doctor said, no chance. Zero, no chance. Uh, cannot live. I I mean, I've seen over and over again uh the doctor say, Well, you're gonna have to have this procedure, and then the person had prayer, and they went back, and the doctor said, Oh, well, whatever it was, it's gone. Right? And I mean, we I've seen that over and over and over and over again. Uh we've we've taught healing school ever since we've had a church. We've always laid hands on people that need healing. And we've seen people healed over and over again with uh uh diagnoses that were terminal. Uh again, you know, that this is it, three, six, eight weeks to live, and yet they get prayer and God heals them. So we've seen it over and over again. My dad was healed uh in uh early 1952 uh during the days of the voice of healing. Uh he went to an assembly of God church in Cleveland, Ohio, uh Glad Tidings Assembly of God. He now he didn't go there, uh they were Southern Baptist. Uh, but my uncle uh came to my my uh dad's house where they were living and told my grandmother, he said, uh there's uh a preacher in town that's saying Jesus still heals. And he said, Why don't we take Bud over there and see what might happen? You know, see if if anything will happen. And so he went and spent the night with them, which was good because uh, according to him, because they were very poor and my uncle was not poor. Uh but anyway, they they they went to the church. I'm not focusing on his testimony, but they went to the church and and the evangelist was a guy named Elsie Robey. Uh Lyman Charles Robey was his name, uh, healing evangelist during the days of the voice of healing. Clyde Bowman was the pastor. And uh he had hands laid on him and God healed him. I mean, healed him from things that they said would never change, but they changed. And uh he had a big write-up in the Pentecostal Evangel, which was the magazine for the uh Assembly of God, still is, the magazine for the assembly of God. But my point is, so it's ingrained in me that God heals. All right, there's no question. There's no absolutely no question. Uh I remember being eight years old and I broke my arm. We were we were on the road with my dad in Tulsa, Oklahoma. And uh that was this was back in the day when uh they had the rack over the toilet in the bathroom, and that's where they put all your towels and washcloths. And so I had uh taken a bath and and needed a towel, and I climbed up on the toilet and slipped and fell and broke my arm. And uh it was all the way broke. I went to the doctor and they said, Yep, that's sure enough, it's broke. And uh they had to set it and put it in a cast. But you know, my dad prayed for me, and we believed that God was going to heal it early, and so we left Tulsa, Oklahoma, and drove to Florida for a meeting. Eventually we moved there. He started pastoring a church, but within I only had it in the cast two weeks, and we went to the doctor for the uh two-week checkup, and they x-rayed it and they said, Well, that bone's completely healed, and so they took the cast off. So, I mean, it's it's not it's not something that that I've heard about, it's something I've lived, I've seen it over and over and over and over again. But that being said, even I've seen that. One thing I've seen in every person that I've seen God heal is that they were all fighters. They were all fighters. See, I can't get around the first part of that verse. Fight the good fight of faith. I have to fight the fight of faith. And the word fight, it means to endeavor with strenuous zeal. To endeavor with strenuous zeal, to strive to obtain something. All right, to endeavor with strenuous zeal, to strive to obtain something, or to contend with an adversary. Strive to obtain something or contend with an adversary. You know, if if there's a fight, there's an adversary. If there's a fight, there's an enemy. Right? So when you're fighting, you're fighting to win. Amen. My amen corner is back. Glory to God. Amen. But you're you're fighting to win. You know, I think, I think, um, and we've all heard this and we've laughed about it, but you know, I don't know that it's such a big thing now. But, you know, they they went through a period like in youth sports, you know, and and I realize there are uh ditches on either side of the road, but you know, they went through a period in youth sports where everybody got a trophy, everybody got a medal. Right? Because there are no winners or losers. Everybody is a winner. No, when you're playing a game, there is a winner and there's a loser. And you can learn a lot about who you are when you go through a loss. Right? Amen. Can you do it graciously? Can you do it right humbly? Or are you gonna get mad? And right now, why is this so important? Because when you're fighting, you're fighting to win. In this issue with healing, we're not fighting for a participation trophy. Well, we did our best, right? We don't want that. We want to win. This is important. And you do whatever you must do to win. Right? If if I'm in an in an engagement, and I'm not just talking about something, you know, that's that's sanctioned and legal. You know, if there's a fight, if somebody jumps on you, if somebody is causing you a problem and you're starting to get overwhelmed, then what do you do? You look for a stick, a brick, something, because I'm in a fight. Whatever you're dealing with where sickness is concerned, you didn't ask for it, you didn't willingly open the door to it, it jumped on you. Right? It picked the fight. And so our job is to fight the good fight of faith and do whatever we have to do to win. Hallelujah. Now, I'm not just talking about attitude, I'm not just talking about uh, you know, standing strong and stiff upper lip and all this, although that's part of it. One translation says, fight for the best in the contest of faith. So what's the outcome? The best. The best outcome. Right? Well, what's the best outcome? The disease is out of your body, the sickness is gone, you're perfectly well, that's the best outcome. Right? Hallelujah. Another says, exert all your strength in the honorable struggle of faith. Exert all your strength. So in a fight of faith, the most important thing is that we win. That's the most important thing. Now, when I was growing up, ministers preached against doctors. I mean hard against doctors. Um it was, and and you would hear this over and over again. They're just practicing. It's on the wall. They're licensed to practice. They don't even know what they're doing, they're just practicing, right? And you're gonna go to somebody that's just practicing. Well, I mean, you know, that that was the the culture. That was the way it was. I remember when a renowned evangelist from the Voice of Healing Days uh fell ill and they put him in the hospital. Well, he died. And he was very young. He wasn't even 40 years old yet, and he passed away. And uh, oh, here's what it was. Well, he would have never died if they hadn't taken him to the doctor. They took him to the doctor and it killed him. And then it was the doctors killed him because he believed in healing. You know, well, I mean, that's all ridiculous. It's all ludicrous. But that was the mindset, that was the attitude. If you read some healing books from the early 1900s, mid-1900s, you hear some bad statements about doctors. I mean, they all but say you don't have faith if you go to the doctor. All right? Well, I mean, I obviously don't agree with that, but some of their sentiments were somewhat valid as well, because how many know that medical science has come a long way from then, right? Well, here's the thing is, you know, if we live another 10 years, it's gonna come a lot longer. It's gonna go a lot further than it is now. Amen. Now, the reason I'm going into this is when I was growing up, ministers preached against doctors. If you went to a doctor, you had a lack of faith and you weren't trusting in God because you went to the doctor. Well, you can either trust in God or go to the doctor. Well, why can't I trust in God and go to the doctor? You know, and they they just kind of look at you like, never thought of it. Yeah, well, yeah. Amen. We had an evangelist at our church that my parents pastored in New Mexico, and uh uh these these this was back when uh uh skateboards were, well, they're still popular, but I mean they they were really gaining popularity. And somebody got the bright idea to hook a rope to the fender of a car, right? And this kid, this evangelist kid get on skateboard and pull him down the street, right? Now, only teenagers would be that smart, right? And so uh, you know, no helmet, no pads, no nothing. And so uh they're going to, I don't know how fast they were going. I wasn't there, thankfully, or I'd have probably been on the skateboard. But the point is, is he hit a rock, a bump, something, fell off the skateboard, really got injured, right? Well, he was staying with this family. The evangelist was preaching at the church, and he was staying with this family. The family didn't know what to do, no cell phones back then. They couldn't get a hold of the dad, so they called the ambulance, took the boy to the hospital. You'd have thought they committed a crime. Oh, why'd they take him to the hospital? Because they thought he was gonna die. Right? And and I remember, I remember the discussion in my home. Can you believe that they took that boy to the hospital? Didn't even tell his dad. Well, what were they supposed to do? He was he was bleeding, he was, right? Um I'm just trying to show you the attitude. Right? Well, the the young man recovered, thank God he did, but that was the attitude people believed and were taught that if you had faith, you didn't use natural means.

unknown 15:13

Right?

SPEAKER_01 15:13

They called it natural means. In a fight, you should use all the methods at your disposal. Right? Say that out loud. I want to use all the methods at my disposal. Amen. See, when people come to me with an issue of physical sickness, I don't just start praying. This is important. I need to locate them, I need to know where they're at. Right now, sometimes I'll have people come and they'll say, I want you to agree with me for my healing. You know, this is the report, but this is the scripture that I'm standing on, and this is what I'm declaring, and this is what I believe, and this is what I want you to agree with me about. I can do that pretty much immediately, because you've already shown me this is this is where you're at. I've located you. But if somebody comes and they say, uh, I need you to pray for me because I have this issue in my body, and and I need you to pray for me, and that's kind of where it's at. Okay, now I gotta locate them because I have no idea what they believe. Right? I don't know where their faith is. Now, the reason this is important is if I don't locate them, I can get them involved in a fight that they're not ready for. They're not prepared for it. Because I tell the ministers in our fellowship all the time, I was talking to Brother Jim. I was uh in Kansas this past weekend, we were out to dinner, and I was talking to him about some things. And I said, every pastor needs to remember something. The people are gonna go out those doors and do what you tell them to do, they're gonna act on what they heard from you. Right? And so this is important because I need I need to locate them because I don't want to get somebody involved in a fight that I don't know if they're ready for. Oh, hallelujah. I prayed for a man, for instance, just this past Sunday, and uh he came up to me, and and I've known him for years, for close, probably close to 20 years. And uh uh I had heard that he had been facing some physical things, but you know, he had he had not been coming to church, so I had not seen him for a while, and he came up, and and sure enough, he was battling some stuff, cancer, and uh fourth stage, stage four. And uh, you know, now here's what I want you to see. The Lord years ago said there was an anointing on this ministry to destroy cancer. I remember the night very plainly, and I won't go into that. So, but here's the thing I didn't just lay hands on him and curse the cancer. Because I'm searching right here. He's talking to me and I'm searching. And I called his name, I said, Well, brother, what are you believing? And he said, Well, I'm believing that the radiation I'm taking will shrink that tumor so that they can perform surgery on it. Okay, I've located him. This is where I can agree. I can't agree beyond that because that's what he's believing. Now, if I wanted to do something and push him, I would have said, Well, now, brother, you don't need radiation. We just need to believe God. God can heal you without radiation. Well, can he? Yeah, if he can't, he's not God. Of course he can. I've seen it happen. I've seen people come with the x-ray, the tumor under the lung. This is, this is, I got this x-ray last week. This is what's here. Lay hands on them. They came back the next week with another x-ray, and it just went away. So I've seen God do it time and again. Can He do that for that man? Yes, he can. If he can't, he's not God. But but see, God works in conjunction with what we believe. See, you you have a leg up if you just believe God wants to heal you. You've already got a leg up on most people, because most people are not sure what God wants to do. All right? So you start there with that knowledge. Okay, God wants to heal me, and so I'm gonna believe that he is healing me. Amen. That's what I'm gonna believe. And if I'm if I'm going to the doctor, you know, I I look at it this way. Can't God increase that radiation and make it stronger? Well, again, if he can't, he's not God. What do you think God would do it? Does God want people well? Will he meet them at the point of their faith? Yes, he will. He'll meet them at the point of their faith. And so we came into agreement, and I'm believing for the best possible outcome. Amen. We don't know if every person has the faith to believe for their healing without natural means. We don't know. That would be great, that would be perfect, but we don't know. Doctors are after the same thing we're after. By and large. Wellness and health. By and large. You say, well, but you know, there's doctors that are just out after money. Well, there's preachers that are just out after money. There are congregants that are just out after money. There are car dealers that are just out after money. They'll sell you a lemon in a minute and won't bat an eye. Yeah, they they are. You name the profession. There are people that are just out after money. There are people right now walking around with a phone that they have no business with all the all the bells and whistles on that phone that they have, but some slick salesman said, This will help you, and this will help you, and this will help you. Why? Because he's just out after money. But by and large, they're after the same thing. Look at Second Chronicles 16. We're fighting the good fight. This will help you. And I'll touch on this a little later as well. And I realize, like I say, there's a ditch on each side. I realize there are people that run to the doctor for every little thing. I mean, it's just ridiculous. Well, it didn't feel good last night, so I went to the doctor this morning because you didn't feel good. Well, yeah, I was a little nauseous. You're a little nauseous, so you went and sat three hours in the emergency room for them to tell you nothing was wrong. Right now, I mean, so but if that's where they're at, that's where I gotta meet them at. Right? But I'm trying to say, I understand that there are people that that do not ever go to God first. And I get it, I understand it. But the bigger problem is the way that people project what faith is. That's the bigger problem. All right? In 2 Chronicles 16 and verse 12, it says, and Asa in the 39th year of his reign was diseased in his feet. Now, when we say this, I know we say a lot, most theologians think, and they do, many theologians most think this was sugar diabetes. All right, resulting in this issue. All right. But in any event, until his disease was exceeding great, yet in his disease he did not seek the Lord, but to the physicians. Now, over and over again, I've heard ministers take this passage and say, see there, he died because he went to the doctor. Nope, that's not right. Let me ask you a question. Why was the Lord not able to help Asa? Because he what? He didn't seek him. Isn't that what it says? It says he did not seek the Lord, he went to the physicians. Well, if medical science is limited today, how much more was it limited then? They would have had no idea what was going on in his sugar levels or whatever was causing the problem. So here's the point. He did not die because he went to the doctor. He didn't seek the Lord. In other words, he was putting all of his faith in the physician who had no idea what was going on. Hallelujah. He did not die because he went to the doctor. We know physicians are limited, but we want to use every tool in our tool belt. I mean, how often do you pray about your oil changes? See, I can tell by your laughter. None, zero times. Right? Well, here's a question. Couldn't God cleanse your oil? If he can't, he's not gone. Of course he could. But are you gonna leave your oil change up to God? No, you're gonna go. I bet I can go to most people's car and you got a little sticker up in the upper left-hand corner of your windshield that says, come back at this time. Right? Because it's there's no need to pray about it. Hallelujah. Do you see this? So what I'm trying to say is, so there's nothing wrong. If I see a uh a spot on my arm, my hand, my face, my whatever, well, of course, yes. I'm gonna I'm gonna say, well, Lord, I don't know what that is. I'm gonna declare the word over it. But you know, if it persists, do I really need to pray about going to the doctor about that? Maybe I'll go and I'll find out what it is, and the only thing I got to do then is now I know what it is, and I apply my faith and it gets taken care of. Maybe they'll give you a little, you know, a little chemo cream you put on it. It just takes care of it. Or they freeze it off. Are you following me? I'm not just trying to be elementary, but you know, people will make decisions like that. Well, I'm not gonna go to the doctor. Well, have you prayed about that? I don't need to pray about it. God's my source. Yes, he is. He certainly is. God is the healer. So if you get healed, if the disease is out of your body, nobody can take the credit for it but God. If they said this is all throughout your body and it ends up being nowhere in your body, God did that. They might have helped, but God did it. Amen. We're fighting the fight of faith. And I can only fight to the level of faith that I have. Amen. I can only fight to the level of faith that I have. And so when somebody says, Well, I just believe that, you know, if if God heals you, it'll be without natural means. And my comment is always this I pray your faith is there. Because, see, I don't know where your faith is. I know where my faith is. That's why if you come talk to me, I gotta spend time trying to locate you. Because I don't know where your faith is. Why is that important? Because there are people that come up to have hands laid on them in a prayer line, and they've spent no time building their faith about the healing power of God. Can God heal them? Again, if he can't, he's not God. Of course he can. I've seen people healed that didn't know anything about the Word of God. I've seen sinners heal that didn't know anything about God. God's good that way. Amen. But here's the thing: if somebody that knows about the things of God and they've spent no time building their faith, and they just want to come up and get hands laid on them, well, I don't know where their faith is. I don't know if they can receive. I've got to locate them. Amen. This is important because we're fighting the good fight of faith. What's our objective? To win. That's our objective is to win. See, fear of the doctor is just as bad as overuse of the doctor. Well, you know, I've seen, I was talking to one person, and this person ended up going to heaven with what they were dealing with. And when they came to me and told me what they were dealing with, I asked them, I said, Well, what did the doctor say? Because they went to the doctor. And they said, Well, the doctor wants me to undergo radiation. And I said, uh, okay, well, all right. So what's the problem there? Watch, every person I've ever seen go with radiation died. And I wasn't trying to be hard, I wasn't trying to be cold, but I looked at him and I said, that's fear. That's not faith. I said, you don't base your decision based on what happened to somebody else, you base your decision based on what God told you. You see what I'm saying? Now I believe, this is my belief. If I'm wrong when I get to heaven, the Lord can tell me. I believe that person went to heaven before their time. And I believe that if they would have gone through the treatment, that God could have helped them. You know, Charles Caps used to say this. Charles Capps used to say this. He'd say, People come to me and say, Well, I've got this in my body. Should I go to the doctor? He would say, the mere fact that you're asking me says yes, go to the doctor. Because you're not you're not certain. See, I got it. Faith is certain. And so if I'm if I'm praying, if I'm asking the Lord, if I'm seeking God about it, He's going to give me the wisdom about what to do. Hallelujah. So we're fighting the fight of faith. And so I've seen people, I believe, go to their reward early because they didn't want to use natural means. Now, I mean, I've seen people go early too, with only fighting with natural means. But but the point being is I want to use every tool in my tool belt. Let's look at 2 Kings chapter 20. And uh verse one. It says, In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death, and the prophet Isaiah, the son of Amos, came to him and said, Thus saith the Lord, set your house in order, for you will die and not live. Oh my! That's that's bleak circumstances. I mean, this isn't the doctor, this is the man of God. And he says, Here's what the Lord says put your affairs in order because you will die and not live. Right? And we know that Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, and it shows us what he prayed. Isaiah goes a little deeper into that. But verse 5 says, The Lord said to Isaiah, Turn again and tell Hezekiah, the captain of my people, thus saith the Lord the God of David, your father, I've heard your prayer, I've seen your tears, and behold, I'll heal you on the third day, I will heal you on the third day. You will go up into the house of the Lord, and I will add to your I will add to your days fifteen years, deliver you in this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and I'll defend this city for my own sake and for my servant David's sake. Hallelujah. Now that's shouting ground. Verse 7, and Isaiah said, Take a lump of figs, and they took and laid it on the boil, and he recovered. Now we know God healed him. Well, why'd they do something natural? Why didn't the boil just disappear? Most people believe this is what's called a carbuncle, all right, causing blood poisoning. And what was killing him was the blood poisoning. And you'll hear people that don't believe in natural means. Well, a lump of figs could never cure that. Well, we know God cured it. Because he said, I'll heal you. But if that was all there was, why'd he tell him, lay a lump of figs on the boil? It could have been obedience, it could have been cleansing the. Maybe it burst and they're they're cleansing the spot. I don't know. But here's what I want you to see: God is not opposed to natural means and spiritual means working together. Not opposed to it. Your faith is not any greater because you didn't use natural means. And your faith is not any less because you use natural means. You used your faith where it was. Hallelujah. The reality of it is, is every person that you know can do whatever they can do. That's just the reality of it. And I don't need to feel bad if I can't do a certain thing, and I've got to do it this way. The goal is to win. So God promised Hezekiah that he would heal him and gave him 15 more years of life. Yet Isaiah said, place a lump of figs on the boil. So it is God's will that we live healthy and free from disease. That's God's perfect will. I believe that when we go to the doctor, that it's to receive a report of how healthy we are. All right? But if I go and he says, well, there's an issue here, well, we're not going to sidestep it, we're not going to sidetrack it, we're just going to deal with it. Oh, hallelujah. Do you see that? Because I said earlier, there are people that never exercise their faith. I mean, they they just, everything, they just they run to the doctor. And I'm not saying that critically. It's just that's the reality. So there's a ditch there. But I but I have to understand that I can believe God with natural means. Hallelujah. Because, you know, you don't pray about brushing your teeth. I hope. Right? You just you just do it. Why? Because if I don't, there's decay, there's disease, right? Lots of things that start. And so it's just something that we, well, you know, can't can't couldn't God keep everything in working order? He could. If he can, he's not God. But there are things I have some control over. I have control over how much sweets I eat. I have control over the care of my body, the care of my, right? Whatever. I have control over that. Now, why is that important? Because uh, I know this sounds foreign to us, but you know, there were people back in the day, and especially in the late 60s, mid-70s, early 70s, you know, this this teaching started going around. You didn't need to watch what you ate at all, you just cursed the calories. Cursed any impurities in the food, and it wouldn't hurt you. Hallelujah. You know, those folks were fat and flourishing. Because, right? Now, you understand, again, there's a ditch on both sides of the road. I'm not telling you that a piece of pie every now and then is gonna destroy your health. Right? But six pieces every day are sure enough, not help you. So I'm in control of that. But there are still people that will say, the Bible says not to refuse anything that you give prayer and thanksgiving over. Isn't that funny, though? There were things God said you shouldn't eat. So if he meant I could just pray over it, when he was when he was talking about praying over something, he was talking about food that had been offered to an idol. And somebody that didn't know and was a weak believer wanted you to eat that food. He said, Don't hurt your brother, don't destroy him because of meat. Right? He said, you can pray over that and dedicate it to God, and there's nothing wrong with it. He wasn't talking about cursing calories. I knew a man one time that was smoking cigarettes and and and he wanted to be free from cigarettes. And but he just wanted somebody to lay hands on him. Right? Get rid of the nicotine devil or whatever. Well, there is no nicotine devil, it's an addiction. And so, boy, he wanted to be free, but but finally he came and he said, Well, here's what I believe. Well, what do you believe? But the Lord has loosed these to me. Okay. In other words, I can smoke them and they're not gonna hurt me. You know, smoke inhalation hurts you in whatever form it is. Now, again, I know this sounds elementary, but we if if we think wrong about these things, I have a responsibility. I'm supposed to take care of the temple of the Holy Ghost. I'm supposed to treat it right, I'm supposed to do my part in keeping it healthy. Right? Now, only God can heal me. But just like with finances, there are people that they are, they are, they they would not have to exercise their faith as hard as they do in certain levels if they would just take some preventative measures. Hallelujah. So notice, he said, I'm gonna hew you and raise you up. You know he did, but he still said, put a lump of figs on that boil. When you read it in Isaiah, it says, for Isaiah had said, put a lump of figs on the boil, because the Lord raised him up. Hallelujah. Now see, I I can't overlook this. And so if I get a clearance from God, right, and you should pray about these different things. You know, if the doctor says, Well, we want to do this treatment, well, let me pray about it a day. Let me pray about it two days. When do I need to let you know? Let me pray about it. Right? Because if it's if you've been dealing with it for six months, two more days, it's not gonna matter. Let me pray about it. Why do I want to pray about it? I want to get a clearance. I want to get a peace in my spirit. I'm not I'm not praying to see if if I should do something that would help me. It's just, okay, Lord, if if you've got another way, I'll take it. But is this what I need to do? And if you get a clearance to do it, then by all means, go after it. Hallelujah. Because it'll work. It'll help you. 1 Timothy 5. Looking at a few of these verses. You know, I've I've told this story before about the man that had a tumor on the front of his brain. And it was causing him impairment of vision. And he worked for the railroad, and and his vision was extremely important in what he did because uh of his work. And he came to the church and and he he was already a believer, but they'd never been to a church that believed in healing. And of course, he got a hold of the things of God about healing and and began to believe God, and that tumor started shrinking. And I mean, it shrunk, it was it was real big, and it shrunk down to about the size of a marble. And uh he came to me one Sunday morning after service, and he said, I'm having some trouble. And I said, Well, what's the trouble? He said, I just don't know if I believe that this tumor can just go away. Right? Well, again, I'm hearing where he's at. There's no there's no disgrace in that. Now, see, you gotta be careful because uh uh, and everybody watching online is is doesn't go to our church or been around our ministry, so they're not taught the same way. But I'm saying for the people that have been taught, we we we gotta be careful with that reaction that we have. Well, God's already shrunk it so far, hadn't he? Well, if he's shrunk it down, he'll get the rest of it. Now, right? Well, yeah, I mean, I can believe that. In my mind, I'm thinking it was the size of a golf ball, and now it's the size of a marble. It's working, brother. Now that's what I believe. But I'm I'm backing off. I want to locate him. And the question came out of my spirit to him. Well, do you think if they do the surgery, the procedure, that they'll get it all? He said, Yeah, I believe I have perfect faith in that. That's where we can agree. Yeah, but Pastor, he didn't need to go through the surgery. But if he doesn't act on the faith he has, he's in trouble either way. Because if he has the surgery, he needs to go in faith. If he doesn't have it, he needs to be in faith. So it's better to go have surgery in faith than it is to go without surgery and not be in faith. Right? And so the that that that procedure, they went up through his sinus cavity and basically vacuumed the tumor out from where it was. Well, I went up and saw him, and yeah, it was a recovery time, and I'm sure it wasn't comfortable. You know, his sinus cavities were all packed with gauze, and it wasn't easy to breathe and or comfortable. But here's the thing he's alive today. Yeah. Living his life, living for the Lord. See, you you you you you gotta you gotta understand that. That where where I meet people, I remember a young man came to the church, and uh his was not so much physical issues as it was uh he dealt with uh bipolar issues. And you know, that's a real thing. I mean, sometimes that's just left, you know, people kind of act like those people it's just all in their mind. Well, it is all in their mind, and it's horrible. And so he would have extreme highs and extreme lows. And so he came to the church and got a hold of the things of God. And I'll be very honest with you, I never cast a bipolar devil out of him. I never cast a depressive devil out of him. I never did, but he just got up under the word. You know, the Bible says the word is life, and it says it'll renew your mind and correct how you think, right? And I watched this young man. He was he was on he was on different medications, I don't know what they were, uh, but he came and uh got up under the word, and God started doing work in him. And and he couldn't work. I mean, it was so bad he couldn't work, and God started working in his life. And and from time to time I would talk to him and talk to him about his medication, and you know, emphasize you need to stay on your medicine, you need to make sure your medicine, your medical levels are right, right? I mean, why? Because that'll help you. And so he he got a hold of the word of God. He got so much better, he came to Bible school, he became an usher. I mean, cleaned up. You know, when you when you're going through all that depressive stuff and and bipolarism, you don't feel like showering, you don't feel like cleaning up. You know, that's why you see people dealing with that a lot and they look unkept and they look like they don't care about themselves. Well, they do, they just don't feel like doing it. When all you feel like doing is sleeping all day long. That's no life. And then when it goes the other way, you're just up and you want to clean everything. And so he it all leveled out. It all leveled out. And and I took a number of months. I don't just have people come testify about what God's done for them. I want to see him walk it out. And over, he went through Bible school, was in the second year of Bible school, and so it's been over a year now. And one Sunday morning I had him come up and testify. And he talked about where God had brought him from and the mess that he was in and and all these things. And uh, you know how the Lord had helped and get things leveled out and he was living a productive life and handsome young man. I mean, just handsome as could be. And his his uh post was the back door that Sunday morning. And he went back and was standing at the back door, and there was another usher back there. Uh, and I didn't know this happened until uh months after the fact I found out it happened. Another usher that was standing back there, he uh kind of whispered over to him and he said, So you believe God healed you? And he said, Yeah. And he said, Well, you know, if God healed you, you wouldn't need medicine. That young man went home and threw his medicine away. I didn't know it. And then all these things started coming back on him, right? And then the question from everybody is, well, look, he lost he lost his victory. No, no, he didn't. He got bad advice from somebody. Right? I I didn't I didn't know this till the young man got back in in trouble. You know, now there's there's good endings and there's sad endings. I couldn't ever get through to him again. And as far as I know, his life's still a wreck. Well, it wasn't a wreck because he lost his healing, it was a wreck because somebody told him, You're not in faith because you're taking that medicine. His faith was working really good. He would have come to the place where he could have got rid of that medicine. But his medicine was not stopping him from getting healed, it was helping him. Okay, Lord, I'll do that. I I got a call from uh an older man one time. This this man's in his 80s now, and uh he called me and he's in tears. His his wife had passed away some years previous, two or three years previous, and I'd been very close to both of them, and he him and her have been in our church for 18 years, 17 years. I say him and her, him. She passed away a few years ago. Matter of fact, she passed away the first year that we were here full time in Little Rock. And uh he called me in tears, and he said, I just my mind, he said, my mind is just it it this man was this young man's dad. And he and he's going through the same thing. And I called his name and I said, brother, and and I called his name, I said, have have you been to the doctor? Have you talked to the doctor? See, I'm trying to locate him. And he said, Well, yeah, but they just want to put me on medication. I said, Well, why don't you take the medicine? And here's what he said, Well, I don't want to get addicted. Now, here's my thought, and here's what I implied to him. It wasn't these exact words. Look, you're not gonna live forever. And if you can spend the last ten years of your life with balance in your life, who cares if you got to keep taking that medicine? Who cares? And that's what I told him. Who cares? In ten years, nobody's gonna care. You see what I'm saying? And he went and got on a regimen of that medication, and I just saw him Sunday morning, bright-eyed, happy, getting ready to move to Texas with his daughter and her fiance. Just living life, go in the shooting range with a guy from the church every week, right? How do you go? How do you go from not wanting to go anywhere, not wanting to see anybody, keeping the room dark, the blinds closed, I don't want anything to do with life, to going out every week, to going out with the seniors group, to doing all these things. Folks, listen, it wasn't the medicine, it was God that did the work, and God just used the channel of medicine. This is important. Amen. Now, I'll I'll share my story with you. We had come to Little Rock, Michelle and I, uh, to film at VTN to record our program, and uh to this day I don't I don't know, I don't know how all this happened, but something that I ended up fighting for, whoo, better part of that year, it it started, the symptoms started manifesting in my body and in me here that weekend. And so by the time we got home, it was full-blown. Well, I prayed about it. You know, Lord, what is this? And the Lord told me to go to the doctor, and I knew I was going to the doctor to find out what the problem was. So, what does that mean? I knew I was not gonna get any help, but I was gonna find out what the problem was. And so I did, I prayed about it, went to the doctor, and this particular doctor didn't have a very good bedside manner, which is fine, you know. I mean, you just need to know. I mean, fine for me. It might not, you know, I mean, I'm the kind of guy, just give it to me straight. It's but anyway, here's the point is uh he heard all the symptoms, and he said, Well, ain't nothing I can do for you. He said, uh, the only thing we can do is set up an appointment with this and and put you on this medicine. Well, the medicine that he said he wanted to put me on, you heard of Xanax? He wants to put me on Xanax. Well, here's the thing. Again, I'm not foo-foo in medicine, but I knew that right here, I knew God didn't want me on Xanax. You know why God didn't want me on Xanax? Because in the world I had a very addictive personality. He don't want me on Xanax. Right? So I'm learning something. They can't do anything for me except this. So on the way home, I said, now, Lord, you heard what he said. Now you know I'm not gonna take this. So you heard what he said, you're gonna have to heal me. Right? Now, here's, I'm telling you all these different scenarios. I knew where my faith was. I knew what level of word I had in me. Now, I still had to fight the fight of faith for the better part of six months. Still had to fight the fight of faith. Right? But the day came that the victory showed up. Amen. Now I had victory from day one. Because we're real quick, say, you know, we we've already got the victory. I had victory from day one, but boy, it sure didn't look like it for a few months. Right? Now it wasn't it it wasn't that the medicine was wrong, it wasn't that the diagnosis was wrong. That's not what it was, it's where I was at. It's where I was at. I was in a position of faith to stand against that. Right? Other people they do wherever your faith's at. But the result in most of those scenarios I just told you about is victory. People are walking in victory. Hallelujah. 1 Timothy 5 and verse 23. Let's see what the great apostle Paul told Timothy. He told him, drink no longer water, but use a little wine for your stomach's sake and your often infirmities, your frequent sicknesses or your stomach ailments. So the great apostle Paul that saw people raised from the dead, that had a venomous snake strike him, and he shook it off in the fire. Paul, who was stoned to death outside the city, and the disciples stood around him and prayed, and he rose up from the dead, went back in the city and started preaching. Paul, who sent aprons and handkerchiefs from his body, and demons were cast out when it touched people, and bodies were healed, tells Timothy, you got a lot of, you're having these stomach issues. I'll send you an anointed prayer cloth through the mail, and you put it on your stomach, and it'll all be okay. Oh, no, he didn't say that, did he? He said, drink no longer water, but use a little wine for your stomach issues. Now, I know preachers that would never preach from that because they don't want people to go drink wine. Well, I mean, I don't believe you're going to go drink wine, but understand why he did this. One translation says this as you travel, don't be so insistent on drinking water only. Impure water may be causing many of your digestive problems. Drink a little wine, as it will often kill the contaminants and reduce your risk of sickness. So we're well aware water in that day was not very safe. There was no clorification, there was no cleansing of the water. So it carries all these microbes. So it's not be a sipping saint, Timothy. It's take a little wine that'll kill these parasites. But now, wait a minute. Why didn't he just say, have hands laid on you? Just when I come to town, I'll pray for you and we'll take care of that. Could God have done that? He can't. He's not God. See, we need to ask ourselves these questions. Not avoid these things, but ask these questions. This is the great apostle Paul writing to the pastor of what many believe was the largest church in the world at that time, the church at Ephesus, which most estimates are it was 20 to 25,000 people in his church. With Mary, the mother of Jesus, and John the beloved disciple, on the front row every morning. How would you like to get up and preach to Jesus mama every Sunday? And talk about what Jesus did and Jesus believed, and there's his mother sitting on the front row. How would you like to talk about what Jesus taught in his earthly ministry? And you got the man that was with him the whole three and a half years of his ministry sitting on the front row. This this is not this is not this is not a young man that was unqualified, unanointed, with no ability. Hallelujah. But yet Paul says, do this little natural remedy. Hallelujah. Now it here's the question. Is this inspired scripture? It is. Do we believe Paul was giving Timothy godly advice? He was. So he is advising Timothy spiritually and naturally. Get prayer for your heart and adjust your diet. Get prayer for the A1C and limit your sugar intake. Get prayer for the arthritis and quit eating acidic foods. You know what I'm saying? Because if if if I'm throwing, listen, if you say, if you're in a room with a blazing fire in the stove, wood stove, and you say, Whoo, it's hot in here, the whole time you're putting wood on the fire, whoo, it's hot in here. Woo! Too hot in here. Woo, that's hot. Quit putting wood on the fire. Amen. If there's problems here, if there's problems in my joints, if there's problems in my body, what can cause that? What might be the problem? I've had people that had problems and it was as simple as not drinking coffee, heaven forbid, but not drinking coffee. Now that's I'm I'm thankful that I have no problems that coffee causes a problem with. But right? But what if it's that easy? I I've talked about this. I had pain in my body, and it just wouldn't go away a number of years ago. And uh every time I would go to the Lord and pray about it, he would point out a specific food for me. And then I'd go have a big help into that. And then it would, it would, and finally one day I got tired of it, and I said, okay, I'll cut that out of my life. And and I don't eat it to this day. But we were at a at a at a at a home one time, and and you know, I don't, I don't, I don't like to be rude, and I don't like people to think I'm picky. I don't like people to you know misunderstand what I'm saying. And and uh, well, I'll tell you what it is, red meat. I I don't eat red meat, all right. Now I'm not saying red meat's bad for you. I don't eat red meat, all right, because that's what the Lord told me to get out of my diet, and I haven't had any pain since. But I went and this uh this person fixed a pot roast with potatoes and carrots. And I'll be real honest with you, and it still had a little fat on it. And that was one of my favorite things before the Lord told me not to eat red meat. And uh she said, Pastor, can I can I cut you a piece of this roast? And I should have said no, and I I just I blasphemed God and I said yes. And they gave me, she gave me a piece of roast, and and I ate it, and truly, my my family truly, it was delicious. It melted in my mouth. It was it was manna from heaven, it was delicious. I didn't need any dessert. That roast had been so good. Amen. Listen, I got in the car and I felt it when I when I got in the car. That pain started coming back up into my body. By the time I got home, I'm repenting. God forgive me. Right? Because it it's all back. It's all back. Now, listen, no, my healing didn't go anywhere. There's something in my body that does not function well with that. Now, I can't get up here and tell you red meat's bad. It's bad for me. Because it's not in all of its forms. I say in all of its forms. Because I I for whatever reason. Now, now here's the here's the thing. So if I'm constantly having that pain, the Lord said to me what he said to Timothy. Don't eat red meat any longer, and that'll clear up your often infirmities. Now, I realize what we've taught today may not seem deep, but it's extremely deep. Because what what you have what you have to understand is I gotta be in the fight of faith in whatever arena I'm in. And so if I feel like I have a clearance to go get a procedure, I need to be in faith. You you do not want to go under anesthesia and have a human being who is capable of mistakes operating on you without being in the arena of faith. But you also don't want to refuse that treatment without being in the arena of faith. That's the key. There's no gray area, in faith or not in faith. And whatever arena I'm in, I want to be in faith. God is the healer. Let me close with this. And he will show you the way of wisdom. God is the healer and he'll show you the way of wisdom. And I and just like with anything, when I teach on prospering financially, I don't tell people what to do with their money. I'm not a financial expert. I know what we do, but I have people that help me with that. I'm not gonna tell people where to invest and what to do. I've had people come to say, Well, what would you invest in? Look, I'm not gonna tell you that. I'm not gonna give you any advice about that because that's that's not what I do. I'm the same way with this. I know what the the Lord says about healing in the word. I teach and I preach healing, right? But here's the thing what we do naturally has so much to do with what we experience, and and I and I've got to be cautious about that. Because if I if I pray and I ask the Lord, Lord, I I need you to show me why this is persistent in my body, why this is persistently going on. Help me with that. Right? I have a friend that that he he was experiencing pain in his knee, and one day he he stepped on it, and when he did, it it gave out, he fell over, and he went to the doctor because he didn't know what was going on. And the doctor had diagnosed him with like bone on bone in that knee, no cartilage. And uh, but anyway, uh he he prayed about it and he went to the doctor, and and the first thing the doctor said so there are three options. He said, Number one is knee replacement. Well, he didn't want that. Uh number two was uh was it was it cortisone shots, I think. And then number Number three was uh physical therapy. And he said, I just checked my spirit. I said, Let me pray about it. And so he left and and prayed about it. And he said he felt led of the Lord that uh physical therapy was the step that he should take. He said, I'll go to a physical therapy session, and if I sense anything different, I'll do something different. Now I know that it sounds like we're attributing everything to spiritual things, but we're spiritual people. We need to pray about everything. You know, especially where when it comes to that. Well, he got in there and started doing the physical therapy, and they were doing some checks and doing some different things. And here's what they told him. They said, We don't believe that it's not that you don't have cartilage. We believe that the cartilage has shriveled. It dried out and it's shriveled. And he said, Well, if it dried out, can it be replenished? And they said, we believe it can. And they they kind of put him on a regimen that he's on now with physical therapy and different supplements that he's taking. Well, I, you know, I'm believing with him because I'm in agreement with what he said, I'm believing with him that that's going to work and it's going to be replenished. Right? But but here's the thing: that's the direction God told him to go. So that's where he's in faith. You know, you'll hear people say, tell you what, I wouldn't get a hip replacement or a knee replacement because I knew Billy Bob. See, they're basing everything on what happened to Billy Bob. They haven't prayed about it. They haven't asked God, what do I need to do? Just, I'm not going to do it because Billy Bob had so much trouble. I know people, I know people that have had knee replacement, hip replacement. They have absolutely no problems. Life is so much better than it was. Now, maybe that's not you. Maybe you don't need to do that. That's not what I'm saying. But I'm saying don't discount the natural because it's something you don't want to do. Are you with me? This is important. Because the hand of God, is the hand of God shortened? Nope. And so if the hand of God is on you going through that procedure, it's going to be perfect. Oh, hallelujah. Father, we thank you today for the word of God, the will of God, the power of God. We thank you for the manifestation of the things of God in our lives. And we thank you that as we fight this good fight of faith, that we fight it, Father, and that the result is your perfect will in every area of our lives. And we thank you and praise you for it in Jesus' name. Amen. We'll be here ministering the Word of God tomorrow night at 7 p.m. So until we see you there.