SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Lookout Weekly Podcast.
SPEAKER_00: Church of the Lookout is a bold color of them, and our vision is Jesus abiding in his presence, growing in his family, and living on his mission to transform the world with all inspiring love.
SPEAKER_00: Visit us online at the lookout.church.
SPEAKER_00: If we have not met yet, by the way, my name is Luke.
SPEAKER_00: So good to have you here.
SPEAKER_00: If this is your first time to the lookout, or uh a second or third time, or you just haven't met anybody yet.
SPEAKER_00: It's so so good to have you here.
SPEAKER_00: We're honored uh to have you join us in our family gathering here.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna jump into the message here today and open up the scriptures.
SPEAKER_00: So if you have your Bible, uh we're gonna start in Mark chapter 16.
SPEAKER_00: That's where we're gonna start this morning.
SPEAKER_00: And uh, we've been, after the elections a few weeks ago, we've been in this little mini teaching series called Heal Our Land.
SPEAKER_00: And I think all of us can appreciate right now what one of our prayers, uh, but then one of our actions, one of our one of the invitations from God, I think, for us as those who've put our hope in Jesus, is to uh be agents of healing.
SPEAKER_00: And so we want to start this week is Mark chapter 16.
SPEAKER_00: This is right at the end of the Gospel of Mark, um, which is the second of the four gospels.
SPEAKER_00: And uh and this is how Mark records Jesus' kind of final invitation, his great commission is what we call it.
SPEAKER_00: So starting in verse 16, it says, Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.
SPEAKER_00: And these signs will accompany those who believe.
SPEAKER_00: In my name they will cast out demons, they will speak in new tongues, they will pick up serpents with their hands, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them.
SPEAKER_00: They will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.
SPEAKER_00: Come on, somebody say amen.
SPEAKER_00: So this is this is an action-packed version of the Great Commission.
SPEAKER_00: This is Jesus talking to his disciples, saying, Listen, as you go, as you go out to proclaim the gospel, here's some things that you can look for.
SPEAKER_00: Now, let's just acknowledge some people have taken this passage to crazy, all right?
SPEAKER_00: Some people have taken this just to plain crazy.
SPEAKER_00: And so there's some churches you can find where they're actually handing out snakes instead of coffee and they're drinking poison and they're trying to.
SPEAKER_00: No, I'm a kid, you not.
SPEAKER_00: You go online, you can find all these people.
SPEAKER_00: And and they're like, all right, well, if Jesus said that, let's let's drink poison and handle snakes during our service.
SPEAKER_00: We're not doing that.
SPEAKER_00: That's not the that's not what we're here to do this morning.
SPEAKER_00: And you know, I think it's a misunderstanding of what Jesus is saying.
SPEAKER_00: What Jesus is actually trying to uh, he's casting a vision to his disciples of of this missional lifestyle.
SPEAKER_00: And then as you go out in my name, um there are going to be things that come against you.
SPEAKER_00: There is going to be evil and death that rises up against you.
SPEAKER_00: There will be things that try to stop or to prevent or to suck the life out of what I'm doing.
SPEAKER_00: But listen, as you go in my name, my power will be with you to the degree that you will be able to cast out evil spirits in my name.
SPEAKER_00: Where people have come under the oppression of the demonic or darkness, you will be able to liberate them and extend freedom to them, and you will be able to lay your hands on the sick and they will recover.
SPEAKER_00: And it's it's part of Jesus' expectation that there's a lifestyle of us actually believing that as we go out and we do things like pray and we do things like lay our hands on the sick, that there should be an expectation or a or faith to believe, regardless of the outcome, there's faith to believe that Jesus holds the keys of death and sickness and death, that Jesus has overcome the power of sickness and death and illness on the cross.
SPEAKER_00: And yes, we pray for the sick, and sometimes it's a mystery what is actually happening in the moment.
SPEAKER_00: We don't always know what's going on, but it's a normal thing for the life of a follower of Jesus to actually come with an expectation that the power of God is inside of me because Jesus has commissioned me in his own words.
SPEAKER_00: And that's what's exciting about being with Jesus is he sends us out.
SPEAKER_00: He sends us out to be agents of healing in our world.
SPEAKER_00: We are the agents of He sends us out to do the healing.
SPEAKER_00: And I think that's so important that we continue to recover this as a primary identity, not just praying for God to do the healing, but but but but responding to what he's already called us to do, to go actually do the work ourselves, right?
SPEAKER_00: And in our time, that we're in a time of brokenness confusion.
SPEAKER_00: People, I believe, are craving to experience, to encounter God, the empower, the power of God.
SPEAKER_00: And so it's important that we see ourselves as those commissioned to bring the healing presence of Jesus everywhere we go.
SPEAKER_00: And so the last few weeks we've we've talked about a few angles of this.
SPEAKER_00: One, we talked about what it means to have eyes that heal, to actually be with people in such a way where we can look at them face to face, eye to eye, and behold them just as the Father beholds us.
SPEAKER_00: It's actually healing to make face-to-face contact.
SPEAKER_00: And last week we talked about words that heal, that the the words, the words that we speak have power of life and death.
SPEAKER_00: And all of us know that having come through an election season.
SPEAKER_00: The words we speak have power of for life and death.
SPEAKER_00: And the words we speak can either bring destruction or they can bring healing.
SPEAKER_00: Even last week during the service, somebody told me that they sent a text message during the service.
SPEAKER_00: They said, All right, I'm gonna send a text message right now to somebody I love.
SPEAKER_00: They sent a text message to uh uh their daughter-in-law and uh um uh step stepdaughter.
SPEAKER_00: I've I'm not sure exactly how you would say the relationship, but like sent a text message just saying how much he loved her and how much he's proud of her.
SPEAKER_00: And he said, he just told me this morning, it changed the entire week for her.
SPEAKER_00: It just everything flipped inside of her.
SPEAKER_00: It actually brought life, it just shifted things in the relationship.
SPEAKER_00: One text message of hope and and and uh encouragement and comfort and delight.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it just shifted everything.
SPEAKER_00: So our words have power.
SPEAKER_00: But I want to talk about this morning, though, for a moment is we have eyes that heal, words that heal, but God's given us hands that heal as well.
SPEAKER_00: Hands that heal.
SPEAKER_00: Now, four years ago was an interesting time.
SPEAKER_00: Um, and what we had to learn was how to be a church in the middle of a global pandemic, all right?
SPEAKER_00: Must I remind you?
SPEAKER_00: And not all of you were a part of the lookout at that point of time.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you were part of a different church and not part of a church at all.
SPEAKER_00: Um, but it was a time where most churches had a similar experience.
SPEAKER_00: We had to relearn how to meet, how to gather without being physically present with each other.
SPEAKER_00: And uh, and so we did what a lot of churches did.
SPEAKER_00: We purchased some new cameras, and then every week uh I had the privilege of speaking sermons to an empty room, sometimes in my living room, sometimes here, and uh, and we had a small worship team and they'd record a few songs and we'd stream it live on a Sunday, hoping that somebody out there was listening without ever actually knowing.
SPEAKER_00: We just sent it out into the universe and like, how does this even work?
SPEAKER_00: Um, and so for me, you know, it was a it was a very interesting time, just like it was for you, but like I just remember every week staring at this camera completely alone and just thinking, oh God, uh, thank you that you've given us technology.
SPEAKER_00: And this is the stupidest thing I have ever done.
SPEAKER_00: Like every week I finish a message, I'm just full straight up.
SPEAKER_00: I was just like, This is this is the dumbest.
SPEAKER_00: Like, this is this matter at all?
SPEAKER_00: Is this doing anything?
SPEAKER_00: It's just going out, right?
SPEAKER_00: And then and some of you maybe felt that way on the receiving end, okay, just don't tell me.
SPEAKER_00: Um and I was always thinking, why would anybody watch this?
SPEAKER_00: And but but it was an interesting time because it did force all of us to rethink what is church, right?
SPEAKER_00: And what is the irreducible minimum of what church could be, right?
SPEAKER_00: And so was church just a simply a powerful message and a time of worship?
SPEAKER_00: Is that what it was?
SPEAKER_00: Was just was church just is church just biblical content that you could take with you or stream on demand wherever you are?
SPEAKER_00: And uh some people you some people yeah, they realize like, oh, I I think it is that.
SPEAKER_00: And so they took, they you know, took up the invitation and decided to disconnect from whatever community they were part of and do their own thing, right?
SPEAKER_00: And so I'm gonna, I'm just gonna stream stream this bad boy from the mountains this week.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna go, this is gonna work really well on the beach in Mexico this week.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna stream my home church, right?
SPEAKER_00: And you know, the you know, and it was it kind of begged a question, even for us or for me.
SPEAKER_00: I was like, man, why would you ever stream this church here?
SPEAKER_00: Why would you stream me preaching when you have access to the best preachers and the best worship leaders all around the world?
SPEAKER_00: Like, just go stream Bill Johnson every week, or go stream your favorite guy in Texas, or your favorite guy in New York, or whatever.
SPEAKER_00: However, that works.
SPEAKER_00: Um, because they're doing it a lot better than we do, first of all.
SPEAKER_00: And uh, and and but all of that was kind of housed in what what is church?
SPEAKER_00: Is it just content?
SPEAKER_00: Can it all be downloadable?
SPEAKER_00: Are you guys with me?
SPEAKER_00: So, no doubt technology is a blessing.
SPEAKER_00: And if you're watching online, blessing to you.
SPEAKER_00: Love you.
SPEAKER_00: Um, we uh we do have people that are streaming right now, okay?
SPEAKER_00: Either you're not feeling well or you're just not able to physically come, and I do legitimately say blessing to you.
SPEAKER_00: Um but I think what we found during this giant experiment during the pandemic that you can download all the content in your world, but something was still missing.
SPEAKER_00: You could even experience the presence of God in your living room, but what we were missing was the presence of people.
SPEAKER_00: And we realized that there's some things we need that cannot be downloaded.
SPEAKER_00: There's some things that we need that cannot be streamed online.
SPEAKER_00: You cannot hear the voices of other people singing around you when you're at home.
SPEAKER_00: And that's actually very important for a communal experience.
SPEAKER_00: You cannot receive communion together and actually break the bread and drink the cup and have an experience where we're all receiving the grace and mercy of God together.
SPEAKER_00: You cannot hear somebody shout, Amen, that's such a great point, Pastor Luke.
SPEAKER_00: Because we do that all the time here.
SPEAKER_00: So you can't do that, yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_00: No, no, no, no.
SPEAKER_00: It's forced now.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't count.
SPEAKER_00: It's forced.
SPEAKER_00: It's not genuine.
SPEAKER_00: So you gotta wait, wait five minutes and then do it randomly.
SPEAKER_00: When you're when you when you're participating online, you cannot physically serve others.
SPEAKER_00: You cannot open a door, you cannot change a diaper, you cannot hand somebody a cup of coffee, right?
SPEAKER_00: And but top of the list that was missing was, I believe, human touch.
SPEAKER_00: When you're at home, nobody can actually hug you, nobody can fist bump you, nobody can shake your hand, nobody can put a hand on your shoulder, and you cannot lay hands on the sick to pray for their healing.
SPEAKER_00: So when we reduce, this is really important actually, when we reduce the human experience to only the mind and the heart, we lose something because we are actually embodied beings.
SPEAKER_00: Your body, the physical presence, actually matters.
SPEAKER_00: It actually has to do with the kind of person you're becoming.
SPEAKER_00: And and what you do bodily, and even as it relates to the bodily aspect of your worship to God and your interaction with the household of God, it all matters, and it matters even in the lives that we live.
SPEAKER_00: When it comes to living as agents of healing, physical touch actually matters.
SPEAKER_00: No, listen, I know that some of you here do not like to be touched at all.
SPEAKER_00: And we've heard that before from people that come here, they're like, I love your church, but you guys really like to touch each other.
SPEAKER_00: You guys are touching.
SPEAKER_00: It's like, listen, you guilty is charged.
SPEAKER_00: Guilty is charged, man.
SPEAKER_00: Um, because physical touch actually is an important reflection of the gospel message, which is Jesus came in person and in flesh to be with us, to dwell with us, with the people that he loves.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus did not phone in on a Zoom call.
SPEAKER_00: You guys come on.
SPEAKER_00: Now we're heating up.
SPEAKER_00: We got the juice flowing.
SPEAKER_00: Woo! Gonna have some revival in here.
SPEAKER_00: And that is not an indictment on technology, it's an indictment on anybody online.
SPEAKER_00: But I'm saying if you're watching online, you deserve a hug.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: You deserve to be touched.
SPEAKER_00: I was with some pastors this week.
SPEAKER_00: I gathered with a group of pastors across Boulder, and we were together just sharing a meal and fellowshipping with each other, and uh, and one of the pastors sitting right next to me, he acknowledged the whole group.
SPEAKER_00: He's like, I do not like to be touched, I don't like that, I don't like that at church, which was so foreign to me.
SPEAKER_00: And so I did the most sensible thing.
SPEAKER_00: I reached over and just bear hugged him right there.
SPEAKER_00: And he announced, he's like, I am deeply uncomfortable right now.
SPEAKER_00: But he's gotta learn, right?
SPEAKER_00: It matters, touch actually matters.
SPEAKER_00: So what happens is when you are touched, it does a lot of different things.
SPEAKER_00: It it actually affects us neurologically, it affects us psychologically, it affects us communally, affects us spiritually.
SPEAKER_00: A loving touch has it's actually very important to the lives that we live and helping people experience healthy and appropriate touch where that has been abused in their life, or where it's been absent.
SPEAKER_00: Not everybody wants that, but everybody does need it.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: I know that seems very basic.
SPEAKER_00: This is so profound because neurologically it affects us.
SPEAKER_00: When somebody, when you receive a loving touch on your arm, or somebody holds your hand, somebody blesses you, just a touch from another human being, it releases oxytocin, which is a bonding hormone, it fosters feelings of trust and connectivity, especially uh especially reinforcing relationships between parents and children, or between husband and wife.
SPEAKER_00: It it's it's it's very important.
SPEAKER_00: Um, it reduces cortisol, which you guys know is a stress hormone.
SPEAKER_00: It uh a loving touch actually um uh it brings down cortisol that and that helps with lowering blood pressure, decrease of heart rate, improving overall well-being.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, it activates the parasympathetic parasynthetic nervous system, uh, which is the rest and digest system.
SPEAKER_00: It slows the heart rate, promotes a sense of safety and relaxation.
SPEAKER_00: This is what's happening when you when you're touched.
SPEAKER_00: Psychologically, it heals trauma and emotional pain, it increases feelings of belonging and connection, it builds empathy and trust.
SPEAKER_00: And what happens is like when you receive a touch or when you go up and and you uh are able to put your hand on your child's shoulder or go to a friend and actually give them an appropriate hug or a handshake, it says to them this is all you know subconscious, but what it's communicating to them is I am not afraid of you, you're worth coming near, that you belong, and I I receive you into my heart.
SPEAKER_00: Not I'm not just receiving who you could be or who you should be, I'm receiving you right now, and it's a joy to be in your presence.
SPEAKER_00: That's what's happening when we touch each other appropriately.
SPEAKER_00: Now, for that reason, back in 2020, my wife decided, all right, we need to start a hug ministry at church.
SPEAKER_00: So she and her friend decided to start a ministry called Holy Huggers.
SPEAKER_00: The tagline, we'll hug the hell out of you.
SPEAKER_00: Hugging the hell out of you since 2020.
SPEAKER_00: So if you need a hug, my wife's the one for the job, all right?
SPEAKER_00: I hope I can volunteer you.
SPEAKER_00: So, anyways, when we hug, when we touch, you don't have to be a hugger, that's fine.
SPEAKER_00: But I'm just saying, appropriate touch, it does several things.
SPEAKER_00: Scripturally, it's baked into the scriptures.
SPEAKER_00: It actually is this recurring theme, which is very interesting for us because having lived, you know, we've been so shaped by the enlightenment that has made everything rational and logical.
SPEAKER_00: But the scriptures are so embodied.
SPEAKER_00: The communal, the communal nature of being together as the body of Christ really is bottle.
SPEAKER_00: It just it there's there's certain parts, there's aspects of that's happening in you, just being in the room with others, singing together, receiving communion together, praying for each other that actually heals us from the inside out.
SPEAKER_00: And it matters for the way that we pray and the way that we extend healing in this world.
SPEAKER_00: I want to walk through four things here that that happens when we pray through the laying on of hands.
SPEAKER_00: It's really an interesting thing through the New Testament when Jesus told us to go and lay on, lay your hands on people.
SPEAKER_00: Isn't that weird?
SPEAKER_00: Like pray for them and put your hand on them.
SPEAKER_00: We know that the Jesus, there's power in his words, right?
SPEAKER_00: He can heal without, you can heal somebody without uh needing to lay your hand on.
SPEAKER_00: We see that in the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: But over and over again, we see him healing others with a touch, and then the the early church and the apostles, they were doing the same thing.
SPEAKER_00: So here's four things I just want to walk through just to kind of create um uh you know, just a little bit of vision for why this actually still matters and why we cannot lose it in the church.
SPEAKER_00: So Mark chapter 1, verse 40 captures this small encounter with Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: It says, And a leper came to him, imploring him and kneeling, said to him, If you will, can you make me clean?
SPEAKER_00: Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, I will be clean.
SPEAKER_00: And immediately the leprosy left him and he was made clean.
SPEAKER_00: It's just simple, very beautiful, simple interaction.
SPEAKER_00: And again, he could have healed with a word, but there's something about a touch that mattered here because touch represents connection, dignity, restoration in a culture where the lepers were the outcasts, they were the untouchables, but Jesus laying his hand on the leper when nobody else would do it, communicated, I am not afraid of you.
SPEAKER_00: And you were worthy to be seen and to be noticed and to be healed.
SPEAKER_00: I had an opportunity to go, um, Megan and I got to go to visit a friend yesterday who's in a battle with cancer and it's escalating pretty quickly.
SPEAKER_00: And we got to go and spend time with him and uh and and catch up and just enjoy each other's presence.
SPEAKER_00: And then we were able to lay our hands on him and actually just pray for the healing power of Jesus to go through his body, that every cancerous cell would just be removed in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: And we're still praying for him.
SPEAKER_00: We don't, when we prayed, you know, it's it's one of those things when you pray, you don't always see what's happening in the spirit.
SPEAKER_00: You don't see what's happening in a body.
SPEAKER_00: But it's praying with the belief that this isn't about how much faith I can muster up.
SPEAKER_00: This is about the reality of who God is and that we've been commissioned in his strength and in his power to go.
SPEAKER_00: When when there are those who are sick, we have the privilege of being able to say to somebody, hey, do you mind if I pray for you?
SPEAKER_00: Can I pray for you?
SPEAKER_00: Do you mind if I lay my hands on you and pray for you?
SPEAKER_00: This is what we get to do.
SPEAKER_00: And it should be a way of life for all of us that when we encounter somebody that needs health, physical touches if you bring healing in their body, that we pray for the sick and we trust God for the outcome.
SPEAKER_00: And this is why we make we make space in our gatherings to pray for the sick, because it's like this is this is central to the gospel message.
SPEAKER_00: So we pray for healing, but we also pray for blessing.
SPEAKER_00: Matthew chapter 19, starting in verse 13, it says this then the children were brought to him that he may lay his hands on them and pray.
SPEAKER_00: The disciples rebuked the people, but Jesus said, Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.
SPEAKER_00: And he laid his hands on them and went away.
SPEAKER_00: And so part of the reason when we lay our hands, when the physical touch for Jesus and the Hebrew culture was there was something about laying your hands, especially on a little children, uh, a child on their head and blessing them and blessing them.
SPEAKER_00: And this is what Jesus did because it emphasizes love, emphasizes affirmation.
SPEAKER_00: Parents, I want to say to you, never stop laying your hands on your children and speaking blessing over them.
SPEAKER_00: You lay your hands on their heads, you speak blessing to them at night, speak a blessing over them before they go to school.
SPEAKER_00: Speak a blessing over them as many times as you can, because they will not be blessed anywhere else in this world.
SPEAKER_00: But you can extend the blessing of God through the laying on of hands.
SPEAKER_00: This is what we did last week with when we did a child dedications last week.
SPEAKER_00: This whole stage was filled.
SPEAKER_00: with with families.
SPEAKER_00: We're blessing the parents.
SPEAKER_00: We're blessing the children.
SPEAKER_00: We did that by just surrounding them, actually putting our hands on them, believing that there's something about drawing near and physically touching them that extends the blessing of God.
SPEAKER_00: Are you guys with me?
SPEAKER_00: We get to bless others the same way.
SPEAKER_00: You can bless not just your kids, you can bless people in your life and and we should.
SPEAKER_00: Blessing also is has to do with imparting.
SPEAKER_00: And this is a really cool little nugget in the New Testament.
SPEAKER_00: In 2 Timothy chapter 1 verse 6, Paul he's writing to his spiritual son Timothy and he says this for this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands.
SPEAKER_00: Fan into flame the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands.
SPEAKER_00: So something happened in his relationship with Timothy that so at one point he laid his hands on Timothy and prayed for him and somehow there was a spiritual exchange there is what we would call an impartation a gift of God and that could be interpreted a lot of different ways but there was something given to him a new gift that was given to him through the laying on of hands and Paul saying don't forget that fan that into flame there's something that happens when we pray for each other especially in the household of God that we can actually impart new gifts and graces that can grow over time.
SPEAKER_00: Do you realize that you can that's part of the the reason we gather as a body so we when we pray for each other we can receive things and new gifts that we didn't have before because I can receive the grace of God from your life into my life and so if you're a parent go find somebody across the room who has who is in later stages of parenting ask them to bless you with wisdom and patience and and and and uh and the right attitude right to to parent well if if you if you need help in your marriage find somebody else who you know has a great marriage and invite them to pray for you and to impart to you what it is that they have walked through.
SPEAKER_00: If it's if there's somebody that is financially has has a gift of of wealth or generosity have them pray for you to receive what they have.
SPEAKER_00: Now this isn't just this magic formula but it it's in the scriptures here that Paul says fan into flame what was given to you in the laying on of my hands this happened even this last week my my my wife is friends with one of our neighbors and one of our uh our neighbors had a dream in the night and it the dream had to do with a work situation and and so Megan gets really excited when people have dreams and so she was able to go and interpret that dream on Tuesday night at the dream the biblical dream class that we do and they looked at this dream and said God what are you what are you trying to say in this stream and so they brought back an interpretation to our neighbor and uh and and and Megan gave it to her and she's like that that's incredible like that's that's what's going on and she like she bore witness with it like that's that's that's it that's a good interpretation.
SPEAKER_00: God must be speaking to me.
SPEAKER_00: And so then Megan said to her I'm praying right now that God speaks to you again tonight in your dreams and gives you another dream about work.
SPEAKER_00: So the next morning she gets a call from our neighbor and she said I had another dream got I think God is speaking to me.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know she I don't know if she said it like that but God gave her another dream that had another facet of what he was trying to tell her.
SPEAKER_00: And that came I believe because Megan prayed for her and said I'm gonna pray that you have the grace to dream again.
SPEAKER_00: And she did.
SPEAKER_00: When you pray you get to deposit your faith into the life of another person.
SPEAKER_00: This is a gift.
SPEAKER_00: This is how we move out.
SPEAKER_00: Now that didn't happen with the laying on of hands but this is an example of how when we pray we're giving away what God has given to us.
SPEAKER_00: Amen?
SPEAKER_00: You guys with me woo all right the fourth thing though in the New Testament that's it's really fun to see is that we pray and we lay hands on each other when we're sending each other or we're commissioning each other.
SPEAKER_00: Now I'm not going to read this full passage but in Acts chapter six what happened is the early church is forming there's a lot of new needs that were surfacing.
SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of single women and widows coming into the community of faith and they were trying to figure out how do we serve these widows.
SPEAKER_00: And uh and the apostles they they decided they said we really need uh we need to identify somebody else who can serve this need because we have to give ourselves to prayer and the ministry of the word they wanted to devote their best energy to praying together and to examining the scriptures together so that they could continue to proclaim the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: But it wasn't unimportant that there were widows in need and so they so they they saw and they identified several men in the community and they were they found somebody who was full of the spirit full of wisdom they found this guy Stephen they said he's the best that we have and we're gonna commission him to serve the widows because this is such an important task and so at the end of uh acts or uh Acts 6 verse 6 it says they set before the apostles these men and they prayed and they laid their hands on them and so they identified some new men into a ministry and together they surrounded them in prayer to bless them into a new work.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: And what I love about this is a few different things.
SPEAKER_00: First of all they found their very best men to go serve the widows.
SPEAKER_00: I thought that was awesome.
SPEAKER_00: It required somebody full of the spirit and of wisdom it wasn't just recruiting volunteers they were following who are the best people that we have and they're gonna go be the our servants to take care of the poor but what I love about this passage as well is it shows us that every work that we do matters in the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_00: Every work that we do matters in the church and outside of the church.
SPEAKER_00: That means every role every the jobs there's a difference between a vocation and a job and I believe that some of you some of you are treating your vocation as just a job and God wants to change your mind because in the body of Christ every single person is in full-time ministry thank you for that one amen.
SPEAKER_00: That's where you should have said it every single person is in full-time ministry that means everything you get to do deserves to be blessed to be commissioned that you are sent out into what you do.
SPEAKER_00: I don't care if you're a stay at home mom I don't care if you're a real estate developer, an accountant whatever you are blessed with the work that you do is sacred and it deserves you deserve somebody in your life to lay their hands on you and bless you into your work as an emissary as an ambassador as a missionary sent by the Holy Spirit into this world you deserve it.
SPEAKER_00: Ministry is not this it's not this it is this but it's not just this okay I've been given a very specific role the worship team is given a specific role and you are given a specific role I love that my friend Michael is back in church this week the Freemans first of all we were lacking bearded men for the last six weeks but Michael has been out filming a film in Erie about zombies and it's gonna be awesome.
SPEAKER_00: And Michael I'll tell you this much Michael is full of the Spirit of God he is a man of wisdom and stature and God blessed him and anointed him and plucked him out of the church for a bit to go make a film and bring the community together I was just reading on Fox 31 there's this whole article just on this movie in Fox 31 yesterday it's it's really cool all the favor that it's brought because God's given him a vision for a peace and the gospel's in it.
SPEAKER_00: The gospel's in it you might not see that right away the gospel's in it he's telling the stories and it's awesome yeah God can send you out to go film a zombie movie and anoint you for the work he's given you to do and that's how outrageous this is and and we deserve to come he deserves us to come around him and to lay our hands on him and to bless him and said this is important work.
SPEAKER_00: You deserve that too and so that's why we look for opportunities to commission each other a physical touch that says what you do and who you are is important.
SPEAKER_00: There are people in your life who are craving to know that what they do matters.
SPEAKER_00: They need you to come into their life to bless them to even lay their hands and say you know you're starting a new job this week let me just pray for you that this is just full of favor and blessing and provision that that God gives you the ability to do great work that adds so much value into this world and to your company that they make tons of money or whatever whatever it is that you help so many people and serve so many people what would that be like next time your neighbor tells you that they're starting a new job for you to take a moment and bless them into their work this is part of what it means to be agents of healing to be agents of blessing and we do that because that's what we read in the scriptures they did.
SPEAKER_00: This is the normal life in the kingdom of God what if we as together what if we intentionally use touch to restore dignity and connection in a world increasingly disconnected how might God use our physical presence to touch to communicate his love and healing to others where in our lives is God inviting us to be people of compassion to use touch the way Jesus used touch to draw near to people that need to know that they're not alone to bless people who need to know that their life is worth a blessing.
SPEAKER_00: This is what we've been given to do and it's really fun when we see this happening.
SPEAKER_00: I was talking with um my good friend Shannon Capel this week and and God's given her a lot of faith to pray for the sick and it's awesome because over the last several months she's prayed for several of you specifically people with leg problems.
SPEAKER_00: And uh and and she was telling me that you know before and after church or throughout the week you know that she would pray for these people but a lot of the healings didn't take place up front you know in the mid the the auditorium it was out in the hallways it was somewhere else it was on her way as she went and and I think that's what God loves to do.
SPEAKER_00: He loves to give us power as we go and we're searching for the ones we're not just waiting for people to come to us.
SPEAKER_00: He's asking us who are who are the ones that you see that I am sending to you and I want to give you my power to go proclaim what I am doing to them through signs and wonders.
SPEAKER_00: And I love the stories because it because God has we have seen physical healing in this body we have seen it and as we go out and I think the days ahead of us as we minister healing it's we we pray that it happens here.
SPEAKER_00: Yes we pray that it happens here on a Sunday morning at church but I think there's a greater explosion waiting in your neighborhood in your workplace and on the streets because that is where God is sending us out.
SPEAKER_00: Amen so here's what we're gonna do this morning there's a couple things I want to do um before we go because you can't talk about this without actually doing it.
SPEAKER_00: All right that would be a travesty um so let's do a big group hug in the middle of the room I'm joking um no we're not gonna do that um but here's what we are gonna do I I do want to I do want to invite you um this morning to participate actually let's do this everybody close their eyes just for a minute let's invite the Holy Spirit let's welcome Holy Spirit we're not here to talk about God we're fellowshipping with him say come Holy Spirit if you're in the room today and you do have a physical need you need healing in your body and you would like others to pray for you and to lay their hands on you just nothing crazy just on your shoulder and your arm around you and you would like to experience that together.
SPEAKER_00: I just want you to stand where you're at I know it's a bold move if you're new here you don't have to but you know that if you would like to experience that together that's great.
SPEAKER_00: Across the room okay now if you're willing and you're around some of these individuals um there's I think there's a there's a couple more people in here that need to stand right now and you're not doing it.
SPEAKER_00: And you're maybe you're afraid to or you're embarrassed I'm just saying you should you should stand right now.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: Don't ignore what's going on in your body.
SPEAKER_00: If you need healing get healing if you're surrounded if you see somebody standing around um feel free just to go put your hand on their shoulder and we're gonna pray together.
SPEAKER_00: In fact Shannon I'm gonna ask you to come up and pray um so yeah just around the room this is family style so just find somebody around if that is new for you you can pray from your seat that's totally fine but we want to believe that as we lay our hands this is what Jesus he told us to do lay your hands on the sick and pray for them.
SPEAKER_00: And you don't know what's going on in their body their heart their their their mind um but we just want to ask that God ministers healing this morning Holy Spirit we welcome you Jesus to come and do what only you can do Father would you come and heal hearts and minds and bodies and souls and spirits and would you set them free and give them victory in the name of Jesus we speak to every cell in their being and we command it to come in alignment with what your word says that they would be healed in the name of Jesus when they receive scans back Lord that the doctors would be testifying of your goodness in their lives God thank you Jesus as Shannon's praying does anybody feel anything happening if you're getting prayed for do you feel anything in your body just just curious you can just kind of wave your hand up in the air do you feel anything happening in your body over here?
SPEAKER_00: Okay over here God's moving anywhere else in anywhere else in the room can you feel anything over here?
SPEAKER_00: Okay we'll just keep keep praying Father we thank you Lord Jesus to continue your work we bless the work of the Holy Spirit in this room we're not in a rush God we thank you that you love to love us and I thank you Father across this room to continue your healing work head to toe every cell every fiber every muscle of our body that every system would be ordered under the Lordship of Jesus Christ circulatory system nervous system every every way digestive system thank you God the heal digestive system in Jesus' name whatever that looks like across this room every cancerous cell would be removed in Jesus' name we pray as your body we pray in the name of Jesus that the Lordship of Jesus would be made known here and Father I just release a river of healing from this house I got a vision this morning and it was of a root system from a tree and it was going down and um it had been frozen but the Lord is is defrosting it and it is going out in each one of you.
SPEAKER_01: So I just declare the healing power of Jesus to be at work in your lives and that you would carry it into your neighborhoods you would carry it to your family at Thanksgiving that you would carry it to your neighbor who their lives just blew up because of sin.
SPEAKER_00: And that we would be carriers of his glory because Jesus resides in us so I bless each one of you to carry the healing power of Jesus at work in your bodies thank you Father in your minds in your marriages in your children's lives so that we can be agents of healing for Jesus in Jesus' name amen amen amen come on God is good this is good hey and listen if you feel something happen your body report that back let us know we'll just continue to pray for you this is good everybody keep keep keep staying engaged here I've got one more I want to try out um listen up listen up if you are here today you can take a seat take a seat if you are here today and you have either taken on a new job or you're about to or you're stepping into a new season or you are in the middle of a very important work that God has uh sent you to it could it could be a change of season a change of assignment or something like maybe you're in the middle of an important work like making a film or whatever that looks like and you want blessing over this new transition in your life and you want the blessing of others around you I want you to stand up across the room if is anybody kind of entering a new season here here in the back over here look at that it's awesome we got some double dippers too which is great the more the better hey come on that's what you're here for right okay same thing listen you don't know what is going on in their life but we're gonna bless them in Jesus' name if you're around them just put your hands on them again we're gonna bless them in Jesus' name as they start a new season I just want to pray for you we're gonna pray together God I thank you for all these men and women who are standing at the beginning of something new they're they're looking forward in anticipation of what you're going to do.
SPEAKER_00: And God maybe they don't even know exactly what this next season holds or maybe it looks daunting but we thank you for the favor and the blessing and the life of God to accompany in the work that you've called them to do.
SPEAKER_00: We pray that you would anoint their hands you would anoint their minds you would anoint their their their hearts and their words Lord God you would give them wisdom for what you're calling them into supernatural Lord Jesus that whatever they have been called to do would just be blessed and marked with the fragrance of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: We thank you for favor and all of your work and I thank you that as you go out as you work unto the Lord that it will attract more and more favor upon you.
SPEAKER_00: And I thank you Lord God to remove obstacles and anything that would keep them from flourishing in their work that they have been called by you, anointed by you to go into all of the world so we bless them in Jesus' name as ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ and everything they've been given.
SPEAKER_00: In Jesus' name amen come on let's give it up so good so good and listen today as we go this is our mindset this is what we've been given as the Father sends us and sent Jesus Jesus sends us and it fundamentally changes the way we perceive everything we do everything we do outside of this building we are called by God anointed by him to be agents of healing so God we thank you for this calling we receive it do you guys receive it today come on okay