SPEAKER_00 0:01

Hi, my name is Michelle Steele. Pastor Philip and I want to thank you for listening to this message from Life of Faith Church. We have more resources available to help you build your faith and frame your world by the Word of God. From our website, lifeoffaith.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 0:42

Proverbs 4. And uh we're gonna look at some things from the word today. Obviously, God's word is basically given for four reasons. And um the word of God tells you number one how God thinks. It tells you how God thinks. Um if I never heard from God in my spirit the voice of God in my spirit to tell me anything, I could go to the word and find out exactly anything I need to know. Because the word is how God thinks. Secondly, the word tells you what God has done. What God has done. Thirdly, it tells you what God will do and what he's doing. And fourthly, it tells you who you are. Alright, so what how God thinks, what he's done, what he's doing and will do, and who you are. Hallelujah. And so any anytime that I see in the Word of God what it says about me, uh, about a child of God, a believer, then that's how God thinks about me. Now, how God thinks is how God perceives things. So if, for instance, uh a very familiar scripture, when he said in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 17, if any man, we could say man or woman, any person be in Christ, they are a new creature, a new creation, a new species of being. Old things are passed away, all things have become new. Now that's how God thinks, that's what God has done, that's how God sees you. All right. Now it doesn't matter if there are multitudes, multiplied hundreds of thousands of Christians that don't see themselves that way. That's how God sees them. Now, so then living below the standard that God sees them, then is their choice. Because God has said what he said. He said, This is what I how I see it. This is what I've done. When you got born again, you became a new creature. You became the righteousness of God in Christ. Now, if you choose to live as just a sinner saved by grace, or someone whose righteousness is as filthy rags, then you're going to live below the standard of how I see it. Hallelujah. So it's what I believe about the Word of God, it's what I believe about what God said that is going to determine what level of truth that I live at. Now, this is important for what we're going to talk about. This, this, this was the moment of change in my life. All right, because we were we were getting a hold of the word of God, seeing some things in the word. And I've told the story before, uh meeting with some family members, and I don't even necessarily remember everything that we were talking about. Uh, but we started talking about the you know some things that we felt like God wanted us to do. Michelle and I hadn't even been married a year then. And uh I remember that family member looking at me and saying, You do know that you've always been the bottom of the barrel in this family. And they said, That's the way it'll always be. You'll always be there. Well, here's the thing: I had learned enough to know something. I have the ability as a child of God to agree with God. And if I can agree with God, God can do anything I can agree with him on. Anything I can agree with him about, he can do for me. All I've got to do is agree with it. I may not, I may not see it, I may not feel it, I may not even understand it, but if I can come into agreement with God, right, then God can do for me what he wants to do in my life. Amen. And so sometimes I say this jokingly, and and I'm I sometimes people uh maybe uh take me the wrong way because I say I have this degree, an IDC degree. I don't care. Right? Well, it does, I don't mean that like I don't care, I don't care about you, I don't care about your situation. That came from that meeting. I don't care what you say. If I find it in the word of God, I can have it, I can be it, because I have the ability to agree with God. And so God puts in his word and he says, This is what I want you to agree with, this is what I want you to come into union with, this is what I want you to come and be in oneness with, is what I'm saying. And so very often what happens is people misunderstand faith where faith is just being convinced that what God said was true, right? And and and believing that what God said was true is a simple act of your will. I choose to believe that's truth. That's what I choose to believe. You know, when somebody comes, if somebody came to you and they said, uh, for instance, it's gonna rain tomorrow, well, you have an opportunity right there to believe that's true or to believe that's not true. Well, if you believe it's true, if you've got errands to run, you'll probably take an umbrella with you. Maybe wear your rain boots. Right? Because here's your thinking. If nothing else happens, if it if it doesn't rain, I'm no worse off. I'm prepared. If you choose to believe it's not true, you'll you'll go out without an umbrella, without your rain boots. And and if it rains, I mean, I guess long-term scheme of things, the worst thing that happens is you got wet. But here's my point you chose to believe whether that was true or not. And then you prepared based on what you believe to be true. So if I see in the word of God and I take it as truth, for instance, the scripture that we use, 2 Corinthians 5.17, if any man's in Christ, he's a new creature. So if I choose to take that as truth, then I start talking about myself that way. I start acting that way. I start thinking about myself that way. I may not see all the evidence of that yet in my life. I may not see absolute new creaturehood in my life yet, but I've taken it as truth, and I say, in the name of Jesus, according to the word of God, I'm a new creature in Christ Jesus. Old things have passed away, and all things have become new. And then no matter what anybody says about you, to you, or around you, you're always going back and lining that up with what you believe to be the truth. And when someone says you're a failure, you go back to the truth and say, no, I'm more than a conqueror. When someone says you can't do this, you go back to the truth and say, No, I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me. Everything comes back to what you believe to be the truth. And so he gave us his word for primarily those four reasons. And so it's this what we'll look at is the same word, same results. Same word, same results. Jesus is the same, the word is the same, the results are the same. Hallelujah. So Proverbs 4, verse 20. And we'll read down through verse 22. We'll read some different translations as well. But notice it says here, my son, attend to my words, incline your ear to my sayings. And we've taught extensively about attending, paying attention, inclining your ear, bending your ear, uh uh, uh tilting your ear to his sayings. Let them not depart from your eyes, keep them in the midst of your heart. Why? For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh. Well, obviously, that I mean, finding them does have to do with digging, it does have to do with getting in the Word of God. But finding them can also mean that you were in a service when they were ministered and you had never seen it before, and it was ministered and you found it. So it's it's it is effort, but it's not always this laborious digging, although that's involved. One translation says, they are life to those who find them and healing to all their flesh. Another says they are life to those who find them, they bring health to a man's body. Yet another says they will give life to anyone who understands them. And they will give health to their whole body. Another says, these words are the secret to life for those who find them. They bring health to the whole body. Hallelujah. And so when we see this, then the word is health. That's what it is. So when I'm partaking of the word, I'm partaking of health. Because that's what the word is. Now, there again, that's up to me. Do I choose to receive it as such? You can choose to receive this as the word of God and not receive it as health. Because that's why you'll have people say, Well, I've been declaring the word and nothing's changing. Well, wait a minute. If you've been declaring the word, you've been receiving healing. And so when someone says, I haven't received my healing yet, if if we're literal about what the word says about themselves, then the the question is, so you're not partaking of the word? Because if you're partaking of the word, you're receiving healing. It's there, it's in you. The healing is there. Amen. And so I've got to always move away from I'm declaring the word, trying to get healing, and I'm declaring to I'm declaring the word and I'm receiving healing. Because the word is health to me. The word health in verse 22 comes from the same word as Rapha, Jehovah Rapha, where he revealed himself in the book of Exodus. I'm the Lord that heals you. I am Jehovah Rapha. I'm the Lord your physician, the Lord your surgeon, your doctor, your healer. It's the same word as the Lord our healer. So the definition says that it comes from two words incurable plus health from the word Rafa. So, in other words, he's saying you have an incurable health disease that no amount of sickness can cure. That's how the Lord looks at it. You have an incurable health disease that no amount of sickness can cure. So God's telling me how he sees me. He sees me cured. He sees me healthy. That's how God sees me. Alright? That's what his word says. See, God's word says what God sees. God sees it that way, so he said it. And then he says, if you'll take what I said and start saying it, you'll start seeing it the way I see it. Hallelujah. Every word of God has God in it. And the Bible says God is life. Right? God is love. God is strength. Right over and over again. So every word of God has God in it. So when you say, let the weak say, I'm strong, and you're saying I'm strong based on the word of God, you're not just confessing something, you're partaking of the strength of God out of the word of God. Even if I feel weak, I'm saying what God said, not trying to make something happen, but I'm receiving what God said. And then I'm agreeing with it. Okay, I'm not weak, I'm strong. Yeah, but what if I am weak? Well, but you're saying I'm strong. Why? Because you're taking what the word of God says and you're agreeing with it. Amen. Every word of God has God in it. Every word of God is infused with the life of God. Everyone. And so when we partake of the word, we're partaking of healing. We're partaking of strength. We're partaking of health. I'm not just talking the word to get healed. When I take the word, I'm taking healing. Hallelujah. You know, if if you take vitamins, if you take vitamin D, vitamin E, vitamin whatever vitamin that you take. You know, somebody, if they come to you and they know you take that, they'll say, You take your vitamin D today? They don't say you take your pill that may or may not have vitamin D in it. They say, Did you take your vitamin D? Right? Because that's what's in the pill. So we're trusting whatever pharmaceutical company or whatever vitamin company that that what's in that capsule is that vitamin that I'm looking for. Well, what's in the word is the healing that God wants me to walk in. Hallelujah. And it's not I'm going to confess it until it becomes healing. It is healing, and that's why I'm confessing it. I'm confessing I'm healed because I've partaken of healing. So I'm not just taking the word to get healed when I take the word I am taking healing. In Psalm 107. Hallelujah. And that's the key. The two words that are so important are the words I am. Alright? When God said to Moses, He said, He said, sent Moses to Egypt. You remember Moses? He said, Who shall I say sent me? And he said, Tell them I am. In the Hebrew, it's it's double. I am, I am. In other words, what I am is what I have been and what I will be. Tell them the I am sent you. And someone has simplified it over the years, and it's a very good simplification that I am is a blank check. So whatever I need God to be, he is that. I am. God says to me, I am your healer, I am your provider, I am your father, I am whatever you need him to be. That's what I am. Well, I am, the Bible says, I am of God. Well, if I am of God, then I am of healing, I am of victory, I am, I am. Do you see? I am healed, I am prosperous, I am blessed, I am of a sound mind, I am righteous, I am holy, I am beloved, I am accepted into the family of God. Those two words are so crucial because I'm not waiting. See, when when someone says, I'm believing, I'm going to be healed, then they're saying, I am in a state of not being healed. But when that person says, I am the healed of the Lord, they're making a statement of what they are and who they are, regardless of what they may be facing. This is who I am. Right? Why? Because that I am of God has to get on the inside of me. Oh, glory. And every time you partake of the word, you are what the word says. See, this is me. That's why our fathers in the faith, Brother Hagin and others, they taught us that every time we saw something in the word that said what God said about us, we should stop and say, This is what I have and this is who I am. This is what I have and this is who I am. Amen. And so, and so uh uh when when I start seeing that, it's it's those two words, I am, and then if we say what God says I am, then I have to avail myself to what God said I am. Hallelujah. Amen. You know, I remember uh uh in the church, especially in the Pentecostal church, if you were to say that you were the way we say it, a child of God, that God was your father, that you were of God, oh, who do you think you are? Well, I'm just who the word says I am. Right? But but because people had this idea that to be humble you had to call yourself something God never called you. How can anyone believe that God might use sickness to teach you a lesson when we just read that he said his word was healing? And someone will say, Well, you know, you might be believing God for healing, but if it's his will, now wait a minute. We already said that God's word outlines his plan, his will, what he has done, what he will do, what he wants to do for you, his thinking. Is that right? And so when someone says, Well, it may or may not be God's will, it's an oversimplification, especially in our circles, because immediately we go, well, but God's word is his will. But there are multiplied hundreds of thousands of people that don't know that. They don't believe that. You know, you can't go find teaching on healing everywhere. Every church doesn't teach it. There are churches throughout this area, Little Rock, Arkansas, 250, 70,000 people in the city proper. And there are huge churches that have huge footprints that will tell you it might not be God's will to heal you. You can't find it everywhere. Doesn't make us better than anybody. But here's what I'm trying to explain to you is when someone says, Well, you know, God's word is his will, but there are people that don't believe that. And so, but I've got to move it from God's word is his will to I agree with his will. So therefore, I am healed. Amen. I am healed. Say that out loud. I am healed. Hallelujah. And so I'm not trying to work something up, I'm just I'm just talking who I am. Amen. You know, I am Michelle's husband, and Michelle's not in the room, but I am, that's who I am. I'm not some guy, I'm not a husband, I'm her husband. So, yes, I am a child of God, but I am the healed child of God. I am the strong child of God. That's who I am. Hallelujah. See, that's who I am, and so every morning when you look in the mirror, you say, I am healed, I am strong, I am well, I am disease-free. And then whatever I am, you want to add to it, because that's what God said about you. If God said it, God thinks it. If God thinks it, that's how he wants me to think and how he wants me to say. In Psalm 107 20, it says, He, God, sent his word and healed them and delivered them from their destruction. Hallelujah. He sent his word. And healed them and delivered from, delivered them from their destruction. Oh, hallelujah. Amen. Well, here's the thing to understand. In the perfect context, he's talking about the children of Israel that he brought out of bondage. And he said, here's how he did it. He sent his word and healed them. And he healed them so much that when you read Psalm 78 and other passages, it says he brought them out and there was not one feeble person among them. Three and a half, three and one half million people, the estimate is. And there was not one sick person among them. Amen. If you just go to the houses either side of you in your neighborhood, you'll find somebody sick. Right? Talk to five people, and three of them won't feel good. And God sent his word and brought three and a half million out. Now notice that weren't even really serving him. Already grumbling and complaining. People talk about them grumbling in the wilderness. They were grumbling before they left. And he still brought three and a half million. Why? He sent his word. He sent his word and healed them. And notice, delivered them from their destruction. So, so not only am I healed, I'm delivered from the destruction that comes from sickness, I'm delivered from the destruction that comes from disease. Amen. Well, you know, if I keep dealing with this, it's damaging this and it's damaging that. You are healed and delivered from the damage that whatever you've been dealing with is trying to produce. See, I gotta believe that. This is who I am. Amen. One translation said he sent forth his word and healed them. Another says he spoke and they were healed. Glory to God. Another says he sent out his word and it healed. Now notice this. He's explaining something to us. The word showed up and they were healed. He sent his word, Moffat says, to heal them. So the purpose of the word was to heal. That's the purpose. So one of the purposes of the word is to heal. Hallelujah. And so what I'm always pushing back against, and I find this so much in charismatic spirit-filled circles, what I'm always pushing back against is people just going down a list of scriptures and just saying things by rote. And so I'm saying what it says because I'm getting the healing of God on the inside of me. Amen. You know, when you go to the doctor and you have blood work done and and and you know you go for your yearly physical, and and then you know the doctor calls you back, and and you know, you of course you're believing your numbers are going to be good and all these different things. But here's the point. You know, if he's a good doctor, he'll he'll or she they'll see something there, and they can generally, you know, if something's a little high, they'll say something like, you know, so be sure and lay off this. I think we can correct this through diet. Why? Because what you take, what you eat, affects those numbers. Hallelujah. Amen. What you eat affects your health, affects your healing. Hallelujah. Amen. Now, now this is an extreme example, and obviously I don't believe that that you would do this and and it's watching online. I don't I don't know, I don't believe you would either, but you know, there are people that talk about things that run in their family. And they're taking that run in their family medicine a lot. Well, you know, that runs in my family. You know, daddy had it, mama had it, Uncle Fred had it, whoever had it. That's the medicine they're taking. Amen. I had a relative that was going through a sickness, and they they there was there was a certain thing going on, and I had another relative, and they would constantly come to me and say, Well, you know, your grandmother had the same thing. That's exactly what happened to your grandmother. That's exactly what happened. That's exactly what happened, you know. Same family. And and I was constantly, I was constantly having to fight that and battle that because that's what they were taking. Well, you know, arthritis runs in our family. You know, heart trouble runs in our family. You know, all this runs in our family, this, all this thing. And and people say, yeah, that's a bad confession. It's what they're taking. Your words are so important because that's what you're taking. That's that's what you're ingesting. And if I'm constantly, if a person's constantly saying, I'm sick, I'm tired, I'm weak, I can't, I don't, I won't, all of those things. People say, yeah, it's their negative words. It's the words. It's like a pill. They're taking that pill that says, I'm sick, that says I'm I'm whatever. You cannot find one scripture in the word of God where the believer is concerned that says you're sick or you're weak. You can't find it because God has outlined in his word what he wants us to take. Take my word, and it'll heal you. Take my word because it's health to you. Amen. So eat right, drink right, do right, exercise right, and take the word right. Oh, hallelujah. Amen. See, I don't have to be anything that anybody tells me I have to be. You do not have the right to tell me what I gotta believe. And I'll tell you the story again when I got the phone call from a young man and his wife, and they had just given birth to their first son, and the doctors had called them and told them what the what the what had happened. Half of this child's heart was gone. The main artery that supported heart function was not there. And they gave this child 0% chance to live. 0%. And they said, we you need to just you need to just take the the child off of the machine, let's wrap him up. He won't live, but maybe five minutes, give you guys time to say goodbye and to hold him. And thankfully the young man was cognizant enough that he came and called us. And I've told you the story before. I didn't just jump right in there and start confessing a lot of things and rebuking and binding and loosing and cursing the devil. I said, let me pray about it and I'll call you back. So I got off the phone, I went and I was praying about it. And I just I felt like I ought to go talk to my wife. So I went into her office and was talking to her. We were discussing it and we prayed about it. We took hands, we were praying about it. And she looked at me and she said, Philip, they cannot tell them what they believe. And that just resonated in my spirit. I went back and I called him back and I called his name. I said, uh, son, I said, uh, uh, what are you what are you believing? What do you believe? What do you want to see here? He said, I believe that God can restore my son and and do whatever needs to be done. And I said, Okay. Then they can't tell you what to believe. I said, that's what you believe, that's what we'll stand for. And they went and told the doctor, said, Well, you know, we're we're gonna believe God. You know, because they they couldn't make him take the child off the machines, couldn't do it. And and you know, they stood for over a year. They stood for about a year. That child, that child stayed in the hospital for the better part of a year, but they carried that baby home healed. Nobody can tell you what you have to believe. Because I can partake of healing when I want. See, when you start letting people try to push you into a corner and tell you what you gotta believe. Well, you know, at your age, what do you expect? They're trying to tell you what you gotta believe about your health. Why? Tell me why things have to fall apart when I turn 50? Why does everything have to start going downhill when I'm 60? Why does 70 and 80 have to be the hardest years of my life? When I read in the scripture, they were some of the best years of people's lives. Explain to me why that has to be that way. Well, you know, it's just the natural course of things. I'm nothing, I'm nowhere near just natural. I have the living presence of God on the inside of me. And Romans says that if the same spirit that lives in Christ that raised him from the dead lives in me, he will quicken my mortal body. See, that's the promise I have. Amen. That's the promise I have, that my body's being quickened right now. Right? Because this this is this is not just the word of truth. It's not just the word God spoke, it's the word of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is what makes this alive. Every time I'm partaking of the word of God, I'm partaking of that living life of God. Hallelujah. Do you see that? And that's and that's why you just can't care what people think about what you're believing. You just can't worry about it. Well, you know, they're they're just acting like they're healed. They're not acting, my dear, my brother, my sister, they're not acting. They're not acting, they are healed. They're not acting, they're just acting like everything's alright. Because it is. Because it is alright, because they have found it in the Word of God. Amen. Yeah, they're just acting like they're gonna live forever. I'm gonna live out my full life on this earth, and as a matter of fact, you are right, I am gonna live forever. I'm gonna live forever with my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and I'm gonna live as long and as strong as I want to right here on this earth. That's my choice. Am I helping you? Psalm chapter 118. Hallelujah. I uh I had to I had to learn that. You know, I remember something, and this has served me well, and this this can seem like it doesn't really have anything to do with healing, but it does because it has to do with the mindset. I I remember back some number of years ago, you know, everything started kind of shifting in the landscape of the church, and and uh uh, you know, back when it first started, it was it was really something. I mean, yeah, then you had you had ministers old and young and and everywhere in between, coming into the pulpit with holes in their jeans and wearing t-shirts, and I don't know what they were doing. Everybody was going and getting tattoos because you know that was like the end thing. And if you got tattoos, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with it. I'm just I'm I'm yeah, I'm just saying, you know, now you got a guy up here that has a sleeveless shirt on and showing off all, you know. And I don't, you know, again, I don't, I don't just poo-poo things, you know, and and just, you know, so I I I went to the Lord and I said, No, Lord, I, you know, I don't want to miss anything. If if some of this that's going on is your will, you know, I I just that's what I I want to be in the middle of the will of God. And he said, You just you just stay with your fathers and you'll stay safe. And so, so, you know, I've I've I've had people say, I've had people comment, well, you know, you're one of those guys that still wears a suit. Yeah, because I like to. If I didn't like to, I wouldn't. And I wouldn't care what you thought. I don't care what you think about me wearing a suit. Well, you know, the the the the the you know uh the the church model today is, you know, well, I'm not concerned about the church model today. Is what what do I like? I'm comfortable in a jacket. This is casual for me. I'm fine with that. Well, it's not casual to me. Well, you you you do you, man, and I'll do me. You be casual your way, I'll be casual my way. Are you following? Now, here's why I'm saying this. See, that how does that serve me? If I know what the word of God says, then it doesn't matter to me what somebody else is saying, I'm gonna just go with what I know to be true. Amen. Oh, glory. Psalm 118, verse 17. Notice this I shall not die but live and declare the works of the Lord. Hallelujah. Now that that that is good to put in your mouth and to say every day, but here's here's the question: where is the power to not die but live? In the word. I will not die but live. That's where the power's at. Amen. And so this is not just an answer to a bad report. This is something you're saying every day. I won't die, I'll live. Well, you know, life expectancy in your family. I will not die, I will live. Amen. It doesn't matter when, who did, what, how they did it, when they did it, how they died, when they died. I will not die, but I will live. Hallelujah. One translation said, I will not die, I know it well, but by grace restored, I will be spared. Notice, I will not die, I know it well. I'll live. There's the key, I know it well. This is how it's gonna happen. Another says, I will not die, I will surely live. I'll surely live. So if I'm partaking of the word, I will not die. I will live. And I've noticed over the years, people that care too much about what people think, they have a hard time with healing. Because it's it's just they it's like they they they don't want anybody to think that they're being disagreeable. If you're gonna walk in health, there's times you gotta be disagreeable. That's not how it's gonna happen. Amen. I've seen it on both sides. I've seen people that just would not stand up against anybody. I've I've I've seen it, and they and they just, you know, they wanted to they wanted to to you know just be easy with everybody. They didn't make it. Because you just can't let people say whatever they want to say. You just can't do it. Because it it listen, it's your life, it's your health. Whatever the doctor diagnosed you with, he didn't diagnose them with it. It's real easy to sit when you're well in your body and talk to somebody else how they just need to face the facts. You are sick, you got this. It's real easy for them to say because they don't have it. Amen. And you can't just sit there and go, well, you know they mean well. No, they don't. They do not mean well, they wouldn't be saying what they were saying if they meant well. Amen. Hallelujah. Do you see that? So I I've seen that. I've I've seen that. I've seen I've seen people that God was healing. And some well, I say well-meaning, I I guess they were well-meaning, but they they were agents of destruction. They they came into the into the place, family members. I remember one lady that that had been diagnosed with stage four liver cancer, pancreatic cancer, and and uh the Lord had sent me up there. It's just a miracle how God got us up there. And I started, I prayed for her and told her what the Lord said. She had never met me ever in her life. And I walked into that room where she was, and I shut the door uh uh uh through obedience to what the Lord had told me. And I turned and I looked at her and I said, ma'am, I know you don't know me. I know we've never spoken before, but God is telling me that you do not have to die with this, you can live. And I prayed for her and gave her the material God said to give her. And and I was up to see her uh in a in a in a in about a week. And man, she was sitting up in bed, she had energy, she was full of the life of God, telling me how much the word was impacting her and this that material that we had brought her. Well, I had two weeks, about two weeks, and I wasn't able to get back up. And my dad was in town one day, and I asked him, I said, You I've got some visits to make. Would you like to go with me? And he said, Yes. And so I went to the hospital uh where she was at. And uh, you know, I I went in the room and and I'm just what you see with me is what you get. This is me all the time. And so I walked in the room and I was shocked. She was sitting there in a chair, and her mother was combing her hair. And and she was just looked like death warmed over again. And I looked around the room and I saw her Bible, and the material we had given was kind of in the corner on a table. I I didn't know what else to say. I just looked at her. I said, What? What happened? And she didn't answer me. Her mother did. Her mother looked at me and said, Can't you see she's dying? Well, as I was leaving, I was walking down the hallway, the Lord said to me, He said, Her mother unknowingly killed her. Trying to get her to face the facts. Now, I believe that lady did not know enough to stand against it. But you know, mom was just trying to do the right thing, she was just trying to trying to get her to be real. Right? Now, I understand there are people that are in denial, and at some time you gotta shake them and say, look, this is what you're dealing with, and you got to deal with it by the word of God. I understand that. But that's different than looking at someone going, look, you're gonna die. There's nothing anybody can do about it. This is all through your body. There's nothing anybody can do about you about it. The Bible says that no matter how far the case is, no matter how far down the road it is, listen, you get no farther down the road than this. Set your house in order because you are going to die. And yet, within moments, within minutes, within a matter of minutes, he's he's repenting. He's asking God to heal him, he's asking God to turn the situation around. Hezekiah, you remember. And within minutes, Isaiah's in the courtyard of the palace, and God said, Go back and tell him I'm not only gonna give him 15 more years, I'm gonna heal him. And the evidence is he's the sundial is gonna go backwards, and the third day he's gonna be well and go to the house of the Lord. You don't get any farther along than set your house in order, there's no hope. Talk about a diagnosis. That was a diagnosis from God. No way you can live. Go ahead and get your affairs in order because you you're gonna die. And yet Hezekiah said, now wait a minute. I've walked uprightly before you, I've done what I knew to do. He pled his case to God, and God said, Okay, not only will I heal you, I'll give you more years. Glory be to God. Amen. You you cannot just sit and let people say whatever they want. Well, you know, I I know, you know, I mean, I know what you, and here's what they say I know what you believe, but let's be real. Wait a minute. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute. You're about to go down a road that I'm not wanting to be on. Let me tell you what reality is. I have partaken of the good word of God, so therefore I am healed in the name of Jesus. I understand the symptoms I may be dealing with. I'm not denying them, but I'm telling you that symptoms are no evidence of truth. The truth is that I am healed, and regardless of the symptoms that I may be facing, I'm declaring to you that I am healed by the stripes of Jesus. I have partaken of the good word of healing, and I am well in Jesus' name. Hallelujah. And then to be quite honest with you, if they just want to persist, you may have to refuse to talk to them about it. And you may have to tell them I'm not going to talk to you about that. Because we are not on the same wavelength. Well, I don't want to hurt their feelings, but you don't want to die either. You want to stay sick. See, this is important. Because healing is personal. You know, somebody that you know died of a heart attack, there's going to be pain of loss, but it's not going to affect you. They died. They had a heart attack. You see what I'm saying? And so when people are saying, well, you know, he's got a bad heart, she's got this, he's got a bad this, she's got a bad this, they're not thinking what that's going to do to that person. If they don't counter that, they're not going to make it. They are going to die. And then everybody will stand around the casket and talk about what a great person they were and how much loss they have, not that not even stopping to think that their words helped put them there. Not even caring about that. I had a person one time that they had something that went contrary to what we were all believing, right? Where the health of a loved one was concerned, and this loved one passed away. And you know, people have questions. But here's what I know. It's always right to believe God. And I told them we were believing God, we were standing in faith, and that's always right. I don't have all the answers about everything, but I know it's always right to believe God. Always right to believe God. Amen. So if somebody comes to me and they say, Well, the doctors have only given me six months to live, I'm not gonna figure out how I can make their last days more comfortable. I'm gonna find a place that I can get in there and believe God with them. Amen. Because it listen, it only takes one moment of time for the word of God to do a work in your body and in your life to totally change everything. So I told you, you know, about about the negative. But I've also had people, and I told them, and they did it. I'm not because they did what I told them, but because they they believe what the word of God says, dealing with a drastic situation, another life and death. You know, there are people watching online. There might be people in here. You're dealing with life and death situations. This is not a game. I'm not up here teaching on healing just because it's what we believe. I'm up here teaching on healing because there are people today that are dying. And they need God to heal them. Amen. And the same is life and death. It was what they referred to as an idiopathic issue. They really don't know about it. Now they had medicine that could help, but they were trying to figure it out. I I I got with the the spouse of this individual. And I said, now listen, now, and I always preface it with this, you do what you want. But I need to tell you something. When people come through that door, you better meet them with what you're believing. And tell them in no uncertain terms, if you cannot be in agreement with this, I cannot let you visit my wife. Yeah, but that's mean. She's alive and getting better, progressing every day. See, this is important because I'm partaking of the word of God. Now, hopefully you don't have to go that far, but you cannot just let people say whatever they want to say. Well, you know, how's how's how's the problem you're dealing with? I know you deal with this, I know you got this, and and I know, you know, you do this, and and and so so, you know, how is healed, thank you? But at what point do you say, I would appreciate if you would quit saying that about me? Well, I don't want to offend them. I don't want to keep. If I was in that situation, I don't want to keep what I'm dealing with. I want to get rid of it. Amen. If somebody comes up to you and slaps you on the back and says, How you doing, old man? Where's he at? Where is he? Who? That old man you're talking about. Oh, I was talking about you. You can't be talking about me because I'm not old. Oh, yeah, I know. That's that's that's just words. No, it's not. The scripture, remember? This is how God thinks. And what'd he say? What did he say about your youth? It's what? It's renewed as the eagle. It says, if you don't have any strength, what do he do? Increase your might. What does God do? Gives power to the faint. So if somebody comes up and slaps you on the back and says, How are you doing, old man? You go, well, you know. See, you just took it. Now don't be surprised if you start acting like an old man. See, this is important. Because I am what God says I am, but even as important, I am what I say I am. Hallelujah. Amen. Glory to God. Well, he's just trying to act young. No, just acting like what I am. Do you see this? And you don't let people pigeonhole you into what they think you have to be. Amen. If I want to take a nap in the afternoon, I'll take a nap in the afternoon. It has nothing to do with whether I'm old or not. Charles Caps used to say the highest will of God in your life when you're tired is a nap. So if you like naps, nap. Don't let anybody bother you about it. I don't care what you think. Good night. Oh, he takes naps in the middle of the day. I sure do. Now I'm not saying I do. I'm saying that's what you need to say. But if I do, it don't matter. Oh, hallelujah. Say it out loud, I will not die. I will surely live. Look at Luke 5.15. I'm hurrying. Boy, this is good. You've got a lot to do for God. You've got things to get done. You have no time to listen to people that are trying to short circuit your life. Hallelujah. And you know, I look at things a bit more. I've had people say, straightforward. See, you're not going to stand before God for what I do and what I don't do. I am. And He's got an assignment for me. And I'm not going to let anybody's words short circuit my time on this earth and cause me to miss my assignment. Oh, hallelujah. Amen. Luke 5.15, notice it says, but much more, there went a fame abroad of him, and great multitudes came together to hear and to be healed of their infirmities. Hallelujah. One translation says, large crowds came to Jesus to hear his message and to be healed of their sicknesses. So notice, hear and be healed. They were hearing something and they received something. What did they receive? What they were hearing. They received what they were hearing. Listen, there are multiplied, there are, and I've saying this a lot today, but I need you to get it. There's multiplied thousands of Christians that every day they leave the church and they're just walking out and they're having what they've been hearing. And the church they go to says, you never know what God may do. God might teach, be trying to teach you a lesson. It may not be God's will to heal you. And so they're walking out with what they heard. Amen. We're going to walk out of here today knowing it's God's will to heal me. And it's so much his will that he gave me his written word that contains health in it. And every time I partake of this word, I'm partaking of the healing power of God. Amen. If God had any purpose, if God had any purpose in sickness, nobody that's in the will of God would be healthy. Nobody. Because if he worked his purposes through sickness and disease, everybody in his will would be sick and diseased. Everybody. Amen. Now you understand what I mean by in his will. Doing what he wants them to do, living for God, everybody'd be sick. The holier you were, the sicker you'd be. The more righteous you saw yourself, the more diseased you would be.

unknown 54:41

Why?

SPEAKER_01 54:41

Because if a little dab would do you, a whole bottle will really do you. No? That's why he said, if you're sick and you're mine and you're a child of God, I want to take it away from you. Why? Because he has no purpose in it. There's no purpose in defeat. Hallelujah. In Acts 10, verse 36. I'm hurrying. My cry to God all the time is how do we get this out farther? How do we do it more? How do we get more people to hear what you're wanting to say? Acts 10, verse 36. Peter is preaching at Cornelius' house, and he says, The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ, he is Lord of all. That word, you know, which was published throughout all Judea and began from Galilee after the baptism which John preached. He's about to tell you what Jesus preached everywhere he went. What did he preach? How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power, who went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil because God was with him. Hallelujah. That's why he was preaching in Luke chapter 5. I'm anointed to heal. And what happened to the multitudes? They were healed. Because his words are health. One translation says, giving health to all that were oppressed by the devil. Another says, healing all those who were oppressed by the tyranny of the devil. So the word they were hearing from Jesus and the disciples was that Jesus was anointed to heal. They heard that word and they were healed. They heard it and they were healed. Well, I'm hearing the word and the symptoms are still there. But your faith says, I've heard it, so I'm healed. If I see it in the word, it's mine. I have to take it. I don't have to ask about it. I just have to take it. Amen. Got home yesterday and there were packages on the porch. I didn't have to ask who they were for. I knew they weren't for me. They were for one of the two girls. And they happened to be for the little one this time. I came around the corner with those packages and she said, There they are, and just took them. Didn't ask me whose name's on it, just there they are and took it. You're reading the scripture and it says, by his stripes, you were healed. There it is, I just take it. There it is, I take it. Amen. Well, how do you know it's for you? Because it's in my Bible. How did I know those packages for us? They're on my porch. They're at my address. Amen. You know Hebrews 13, 8, it says Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Well, here's the statement. If Jesus never changes, then if he ever healed, he's still healing today. If everyone that came to him got healed when he was on the earth, then everyone that will forever come to him has the legal right to be healed. Otherwise, Jesus has changed. He cannot change. The Phillips translation says Jesus Christ is always the same yesterday, today, and forever. I like the Wade translation. It says, Jesus Christ, the object of their faith, is in the past, in the present, and for all time to come, ever the same. All time to come, ever the same. Jesus is the same, the word is the same, the results are the same. That's just the way it is. Amen. Hallelujah. You know, I determined years ago. I don't argue with people. I don't. I mean, I don't. I remember one time I was, I I've had people come up to me and go, you know, I don't believe in God. Well, that's your problem. Well, don't you try to get them to prove that God exists? How can I? They you you're telling me they can look up into that beautiful sky and not believe there's a God? Remember what Roman said? It said that unbelievers should believe just by seeing creation. Hallelujah. I mean, every time I come up on uh our neighborhood and and you come into our neighborhood on a hill, and uh you gotta go down a big hill, but you come in on a hill and you see the hills all around a little rock. And and you know, especially when it's when it's warm, you know, it's humid, you see the mist, you know, that haze, you know. And every time I see it, I tell my wife, I never get tired of that. It's beautiful. You you mean to tell me that you believe that just happened? Right? I mean, we just saw it with what is it, uh the the spacecraft, Artemis, is that what it was called? And you know, they did the slingshot around the moon, and the one astronaut I saw him, he said, you know, I've never been a religious person. He said, but when I saw that, I thought, there's something more than people have told me. There's somebody's out here. Right? Because you just you just can't. Well, it's the same way with this. I've had people come to me and say, Well, I don't believe God heals every time. What am I supposed to do? I've just showed you scripture after scripture after scripture that says it's his will. So if you're not willing to take this as truth and say, I believe it just based on what the Word of God says, I cannot prove to you that it's God's will to heal. I can show you report after report after report after report. And I'm not talking about reports that nobody saw. I'm not talking about reports from some preacher that he's talking about from the bush of some foreign country that nobody can remember when it happened or how it happened or even who it was. I'm talking about reports that people saw in the local church over and over and over and over again. God healed. God brought them back. They were at death's door and God healed them, and they're alive today, or whatever the case may be. Here's the point that I'm making it's personal. I don't believe God is my healer because he healed you. I believe God is my healer because I saw it in his word. I don't believe that God is my healer. I don't believe that God is not my healer if he didn't heal you. He's my healer regardless of who receives it and who doesn't. God is my healer. I had the Lord ask me one time, and I asked a person. They were dealing with something, dealing with a situation where a loved one had passed away that they were believing. And I said it kindly, but I said, so the fact that they passed away, does that make God not the healer? Well, the answer had to be no, because God doesn't change. I wasn't being unkind. It's just you cannot allow that to affect what you believe. The word is health to you. And everybody, even people that you knew that were standing for healing in their bodies, that it seemed now understand, it seems like there was a failure there. They were doing the right thing by ingesting the word of God. I don't know, and you don't know. None of us know for sure what happened or why it happened. If I need to know when I get to heaven, I will know all things. I don't know that I need to know. Here's what I focus on. They're with Jesus. They're more alive now than they've ever been. There's no pain in their body, there's no disease in their body. I've never seen them as healthy as they are today. Amen. So I can't, I can't, I don't have an answer for people when they say, well, tell me why, so and so this or so-and-so that. I can give you some pat mechanical answer about faith and they didn't believe God enough and whatever did they know enough of the word, I can give you that answer, but is that going to help you? If your loved one passed away with the disease, does it help you for me to tell you they didn't have enough faith? Does it help you for me to tell, does it help you for me to say, you know, I don't know why God allows these things? See, neither one of those answers help. But the faith people will say, well, it had to be they didn't have enough faith. And then the other people say, well, God has purposes that we don't know. Well, what's the truth? Well, if they died, they didn't have faith. I can't say that. Maybe we didn't have enough time. I've had the Lord tell me that before. We didn't have enough time with this situation. It was working, and we just didn't have enough time. Amen. Well, why didn't God do a miracle? I'm not God, I don't know. See, that's another word where that IDC degree comes in. I don't care if you don't think I know everything. I don't. And if I don't know, I don't know. But here's what I do know: Scripture says that when I partake of the word, I'm partaking of health. So what do I have to lose by ingesting the word of God? Hallelujah. Did you see this? Because that's where the enemy and feelings will try to direct you down the wrong pathway. Well, you know, so-and-so they were believing, and they didn't make it. I understand that, and that's unfortunate. And I stood with them and I agreed with them and I prayed for them, and I believed God with them, and I believe I was in faith where they're concerned. I don't understand all that, but here's what I do know is that my healing is personal to me, and my faith is personal to me, and I believe God. Amen. This is important because people have such a guilt laid on them. If somebody feels like they were not in faith, it's always right to believe God. I wish every person that I ever laid hands on got healed. They haven't. I wish they did, but they haven't. If I allowed that to be a problem to me, I would never lay hands on nobody else because I could get in the mindset, you just don't know. I've laid hands on people before. And here's the thing: I learned years ago, this is a weighty thing to me. I'm up here telling you things about your health and about disease in your body. And you're gonna many of you are gonna go out of here and believe what I said, and you're gonna go put this into operation in your life, and you're gonna believe God. That's weighty. You start preaching and teaching healing that God wants to heal people, and God wants to heal their bodies and make them well. That's weighty. I don't take that lightly. And so every time I lay hands on people, I'm laying hands on people, and I have to be cognizant of this. I believe God wants to heal every person. I believe God will heal every person. But I'm also aware that every person I've laid hands on has not been healed. And if I if I start questioning that and start wondering about that, I won't lay hands on nobody. God is the healer because the word says he's the healer. God's word heals because the Bible says God's word heals. So don't give up now. Just keep ingesting the word. Just keep doing what you know you need to do. Listen, it's like you go back to the doctor. I'll close with this. You go back to the doctor, and he takes blood the next time. And he says, Oh, your numbers are looking better. And what's he say? Just keep doing what you're doing. You're seeing progress. Just keep doing what you're doing. Just keep doing what you're doing. Father, thank you for your wonderful people today. Thank you for the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ in our midst. Thank you, Father, that as we have proclaimed the word, the healing power of God has gone forth. And it has impacted their lives in that area in the name of Jesus. Disease and sickness have been thwarted. They have been put at bay. They are being run out of their bodies by the power of the name of Jesus Christ. And Father, we thank you for every person that's watched online. And we believe that the healing power of God has manifest in their bodies and in their situation and will forever and ever and ever and ever and ever give you the praise and the glory and the honor for it. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. And amen.

unknown 1:08:30

Hallelujah.