A Fresh Perspective On Healing | Pastor Shane Idleman

Title this morning, A Fresh Perspective on Healing. What do I mean by that? Well, we've talked about healing before as a church many times. And obviously, when you go through things, what happens is you don't interpret Scripture based on your feelings. You interpret your feelings based on Scripture. But as you go through life, you begin to realize the truth of Scripture even more profoundly. So I want to give a fresh perspective on healing. We're already in the book of Acts. Acts 14. It's on healing. And it's an important topic because if you don't need healing now, you will in the future. How many of you are praying for that now? I'm just curious. Anybody in the front area? Okay, there's quite a few. Balcony as well. You guys are praying for healing as well. It's a hard topic, isn't it? Because we know that faith plays a big role. But then with a lot of Scripture, what they call doctrines, you have to be careful because you can get too far on the other side,

and you know what happens to a weight when it gets too heavy. Do you remember those little things when you were kids? Why don't they do those anymore? It's too dangerous. But that's what happens. And because the Bible's clear about faith and how important it is, it's equally as clear on sovereignty. God is sovereign. He's not our butler. We don't tell Him what to do. We submit to His sovereignty. And so trying to weigh faith versus sovereignty is the challenge before us. And that's what I'm going to try to do this morning. First service went well. And it's a challenging topic because I'm talking to you about healing, yet, as I mentioned at the first, and if you've been following the story, I can still feel the cancer. So I'm going to talk to you about healing, yet I can feel the area that needs to be healed. And it's an interesting spot to be. And I'm hoping to shed some light on it. A lot of great feedback from the first service helping people in this area. So Acts 14 is where we're at. Verse 1, Now it happened in Iconium that they went together.

Now remember, the apostles are going into synagogues. They're preaching the Gospel. And they spoke to a great multitude of the Jews and even Greeks believed. So both Jews and Greeks believed in the Gospel. But the unbelieving Jews, those who said, no, we don't believe your message about Jesus, what did they do? They stirred up the Gentiles and they poisoned their mind against the brethren. Do you know there are still pot stirrers in the church today? Actually, God says there's six things, seven things, yea, the Lord hates. One of those is somebody who sows discord among the brethren. So if you are planning little thoughts of gossip and slander, you are an enemy of God in that regard. You're fighting against God. Bring your thoughts into submission. We all have to work on it. Yours truly. But it can be done if we repent. And we say, God, I want to get my heart right before You. But we see this. They stirred the pot. And that's what the enemy intends to do. He poisons the mind.

Do you ever see, especially young adults, you're leading them to the Lord and then they meet an atheist friend? Or whatever, and they begin to poison their mind. And I tell my kids, don't poke fun at atheists, but you can ask them, so everything came from nothing? I mean, really, that's what you believe? Like, this building thing? Oh, no, of course, the building had a... So the whole world, all this came from nothing. Like, you actually have more faith than me. Faith that there is no God. And of course, we know that there is a God. But there's always pot stirrers on social media. Anybody have to block people? Just me? Block, block, block, block, block, block, block. Social media is not a free press. It's my site. So I can say, bye-bye. Block you. Nobody here, I'm just saying out there, like Morgan said a couple weeks ago, there are trolls. And they're not nice, cute, little kinds. They're mean trolls. And they spread division. But what did they do? They stayed a long time

and they spoke boldly in the Lord. There's always a boldness when you're filled with the Spirit of God. They shoot people straight. And it doesn't mean you're mean. It doesn't mean you're loud. You're a straight shooter. You're not arrogant. But you speak boldly because the opposite of that is not saying something when I need to say something. So boldness is saying what needs to be said. Cowardliness is not saying it. And so they spoke with great boldness. And at that time, God granted them signs and wonders to be done by their hands. As a church that still believes that the supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit are still active today, we do make a clear distinction that something incredible and more profound definitely happened at that time of church history. The Bible's pretty clear that He was confirming the Word through signs and wonders. And you will probably see more of this in the mission field when they haven't heard about the Gospel. And I've talked about this a lot before. I don't want to go into a lot of details.

But we do believe still in the supernatural, but we also know there was a special work during church history where God obviously... Peter's shadow would fall on them. They would be healed. Paul's handkerchief. And people would be healed. And now you've got guys on TV selling handkerchiefs. Or water. I prayed over this water. Just send me $100. And see, they take it, they become charlatans. And it's sad. And of course, the enemy did not like what they were doing. The whole city was divided. Some sided with the Jews and some sided with the Apostles. And there was a violent attempt made by both the Gentiles and the Jews to abuse them and stone them. They were going to kill the Apostles. And we might say, wow, that's incredible. It actually still happens today. If you follow the news in Africa, Nigeria, third world countries, I mean, don't test this, fly to Iraq and Iran and let them know you're a Christian. Try to witness on the street.

Guys, we are so blessed and thankful here. I should say we are so blessed. We are so blessed. We should be very thankful. Very thankful. And what were they doing? They were preaching the Gospel there. So they became aware of this and then they fled to places called Lystra, Derby. You can look those up on a map. And so they left. They said, okay, you're trying to kill us? We're going to go somewhere where they're not trying to kill us. They're at least open. So what did they do? They didn't hide. Most people would say, I'm finding another career. That's not worth it. They're going to stone us. Have you ever been stoned? Not that kind you're thinking of? But what you would do, you would get the people down on a lower level and you would have big bolts, not little rocks. Not like throwing rocks at them. They were actually stoning them.

That's how they would kill people and do judgment in the Old Testament. And they fled that area. And then it goes on to say in v. 8, and then there was a certain man without strength in his feet. So there was a man sitting there. He was crippled from his mother's womb. He had never walked at all. And this man heard Paul speaking. And Paul observing him intently and seeing that he had faith to be healed, he said with a loud voice, stand up straight on your feet. And he leaped and he walked. So, wow! Is that the standard for all healing? I wish, right? So something's going on here. Well, here's what happens. When you take one aspect of Scripture and make doctrine out of it, what I told you before, anytime you talk about this type of topic, you have to weigh all the Scriptures and balance on this. It's a very important topic. And we do know that faith plays a very important role. I think if this man was negative

and not believing, I don't think there would have been a healing. But Paul saw, he's preaching, he saw, maybe in his consonance, maybe in his look, Paul kind of knew. And that's kind of what the gift of faith is too. If you look at the supernatural gifts of the Spirit, one of those is faith. It's that supernatural ability. It's beyond mere faith. We all have faith as believers, but it's like you know that you know. And Paul could have exercised that gift with this person. And so we do see faith playing a huge role in healing. Matthew 10. They were given authority to heal disease. Luke 10. They were commanded to heal. Mark 16. Believers laid hands on the sick. And of course, we all know the parable about the mustard seed. Matthew 17. Faith just is a mustard seed. You can ask this mountain to be moved and God will move the mountain. So, okay, Shane, I hear all this, but why does that not happen all the time?

Well, we do know this. You have faith as a mustard seed. And if you say to this mountain, it doesn't have to be a literal mountain. But what about if God doesn't want the mountain to move yet? See, that's where the rubber meets the road. God is sovereign. We are not. So we always want healing. Right now. I don't want another day of this. But because God is sovereign, faith plays an important role, but also God is sovereign. For example, let's look at a few things. When God doesn't heal, did you know? Most people aren't aware of this. Well, I think most of you are, but a lot of people aren't. Sin can lead to sickness. Did you know that? Actually, in James it says, go to the elders, they'll pray for you. And if there was a sin and you confessed to sin, healing can take place. What about in the Lord's communion where Paul says some of you are sick because you take communion in an unworthy manner. In other words, you mock the grace of God. And so, there can be a result of that. It can be a result of our fallen nature. Also, God is humbling and breaking the person

through the process. So let's say, okay, I'm sick. I want to be healed this day. But okay, God's not listening to me. Is there a humbling process? Is there a breaking process? Is there a process by which you'll be drawn more closer to the Lord? Is the Lord trying to teach you something? Is the waiting time so important? So you can see why faith is not just a... God's not a genie in a bottle. Or He wants to use the person's experience to bless others. Or for His glory later. It's His timing, not ours. Whatsoever. For example, the last three months of sermons would have not been what they were had it not been for a little curveball in my life. And the feedback that we've received has been amazing of people being touched by them. And only God can do that. But something had to happen in order for that to happen. Does that make sense? And what about if I said, one day I had this, the next day I'm healed. Praise God. What would I tell everybody else that that's not happening to as quickly?

Oh, sorry. Where's your faith? See, that just doesn't fly in the light of Scripture. Again, I'm not minimizing faith. It actually takes more faith to believe God when He doesn't heal you right away. Does it not? That's when faith is really challenged. God wants us to trust in Him as in Paul's case. So, let me ask you this question. Did Paul not have enough faith? The Apostle Paul. Did he not have enough faith to be healed? Did you know he kept praying for healing? How many of you are aware that Paul did not pray for healing? You're just finding out today that the Apostle Paul prayed to be healed, and God said, no, wait a minute, Paul. You just raised people from the dead earlier. You healed people. Where's your faith? Because God said, I'm doing something different in you. My grace will be sufficient. So as you still have that thorn, Paul, whatever that infirmity is, the Bible says infirmity. It's probably a sickness or something. He said that's going to keep you humble

as a reminder, and My grace is going to override the healing and it's going to be sufficient. That's what's going to get you through. My grace is going to be sufficient. So you have to wrestle. I still get those people, you just don't have enough faith. Give me a break. I've never had more faith in all my life. And nobody has perfect faith. So here's the question. You need more faith. Okay, is it 100% faith? Oh, nobody can have 100% faith. Okay, so if you're at 95%? That's when you get healing? Okay, 90%? Where's your gauge here? Now of course, you have to exercise it. You have to believe. You have to have faith. You have to trust God. Say, Lord, I believe, but help my unbelief. Because as part of our fallen nature, that unbelief creeps in. Usually at very interesting times in your life, it will creep in. So what is faith? Maybe you're wondering.

Hebrews 11 v. 1, the English Standard Version says, now faith, here's the definition of faith. By the way, it's impossible to please God without faith. And also, there's faith to salvation. To be saved, you have to believe that Jesus Christ is the Savior, that God raised Him from the dead. You have to have faith. This type of faith though, for believers, is the type where there's an assurance of things hoped for. Like I know Christ is coming someday. There is a heaven. There's more than the sun's coming up tomorrow. I have more hope in that as do many of you. It's the assurance of things hoped for. I know God, no matter what the road is, will be with you, be with me. I have faith in that as do you. It's a conviction. We know certain things because the Bible says, and it's confirmed it through Scripture, the Holy Spirit bears witness of it. And that's what faith is. It's the assurance of things hoped for. And then Matthew 9.22, Jesus actually said, take heart, daughter, woman. I see your faith, and your faith has healed you. So often, people aren't healed without faith.

Because Jesus rebukes unbelief. So faith plays a very important role. And actually, there's a verse I forgot to include. Many of you have used it before. I've heard it a lot. By His stripes you are healed. Contextually, I believe that's dealing with spiritual healing. If you look at the whole Isaiah 53, it's dealing with spiritual healing. But something very interesting in there, He says, bore our iniquities and our infirmities. And then Matthew actually quotes Isaiah, and it says Jesus was healing all the sick, thus fulfilling Isaiah 53.4, I believe. That He bore our sickness. And He's healing those. So there is something to that. There is something to that. But it's a topic that nobody has a perfect answer for. Well, God will do it this way. When this happens, and this happens, and you follow this checklist, and these conditions are right. Because I've seen Him do it. It's like, it doesn't make sense. The person didn't even have faith, but the intercessor did. Amazing. God will heal unbelievers as a sign to who He is.

It's like, is there a checklist we can follow? No, but there's principles that can guide us. Jesus turned and saw her and said, take heart, daughter. Your faith has healed you. And so we rest in that. I don't get negative. I try and doze me. I say, Lord, I'm always praying for that. I'm trusting You, Lord. I have faith. Great faith. I believe, but help my unbelief. If any of you have perfect, 100% perfect faith, I'd love to meet you. Afterward, I don't think we'll have anybody turn up. So you understand that, don't you? Help my unbelief. Here's what happens as believers. We believe and we have great faith. Have you been there? Right? I believe. But then, as the day goes by, fiery darts come in. The fallen nature begins to influence you. And you're like, but Lord, I believe, but help my unbelief. That's part of where we're at as fallen humanity. Proverbs 4.15

Here's what you should say. If the Lord wills, we shall do this or that. If the Lord wills. And this is interesting. This one kind of caught me off guard over the years. I've prayed to people. They've actually stopped me from praying. Or I've talked to them. Or they'll email and they'll say, Pastor, you should never say if it's the Lord's will. Like that's a bad thing. Like you're saying it's the devil's will. Right? Don't say it's the Lord's will. No, no, no. You claim it. You name it. You claim it. You speak it into existence. No, no, no. Don't say if it's God's will, that's assuming there can be an out. Or that's assuming that might not happen. Don't pray that. Where do you come up with this stuff? So the opposite is if it's not according to Your will, of course, Lord, if this is Your will, if You know what's best, if You've accomplished Your purpose, then you pray accordingly. I don't think there's anything wrong with petitioning the Lord's will. I guess maybe they think you always assume.

See, that's another, I think it's heretical doctrine to always assume. I assume there's a church in Northern California that teaches God's will is always to heal. I just don't see that. And I just shared five points with you. Now, I know what they're saying, but it goes against other Scriptures in the Bible. In other words, if you're sick, that's not God's will. I don't know how that happened. Because here's the thing with faith. If faith heals you and we should never be sick, why do we die? Once you hit 80, then you're out of luck, but before then, you're not. Where do they come up with this doctrine? And it really confuses people. And it hurts people. Because they're left... My faith fell apart because I thought God was always going to heal. We should be expecting. We should be petitioning. We should be trusting in God. But here's the key, faith doesn't mean that we, I, you, I always hold the key that unlocks the door to healing. I hold that key. No, faith means we're trusting

the One Who does hold the key. That's what the definition of faith really is. Because can you imagine if my faith is in control? If everybody I pray for is healed, well, what about if God is doing something different on 90% of those? What about, hey, Shane, not yet. I've got to humble this guy for a while. But see, then I become God because my faith, I speak things into existence. False doctrine. Faith must be underscored with the realities of the other truths of Scripture which is God's sovereignty. Especially in the case of Paul. I mean, you have to wrestle with that. God said no. So His faith did not play a role. Here's another important thing. Testing creates the testimony. Testing creates your testimony. And sometimes we have to go through a test. And sometimes that test takes a long time. For some people, it's short. For others, it's longer. For other people, it's a lifetime. But when Jesus rebuked unbelief, here's the thing, when Jesus rebuked unbelief, it was always because they rejected Him

and His work. They weren't open. That's a far cry from a Christian saying, Lord, I believe, but help my unbelief. Because if somebody's struggling in their faith saying, Lord, I believe, but help my unbelief, people go, oh, see, you're unbelieving. Jesus had harsh words for you. He had harsh words for a reprobate, lost society who rejected Him. Don't you take Scripture out of context? Now, you might struggle with unbelief, but it's not the mark of who you are. Another translation says, I do have faith. Please help me to have more. Amen to that one? It doesn't take perfect faith, but surrendered faith. The person who is very critical and mocks healing versus someone who struggles with doubt and fear. When you can get to a point of you surrender your faith and say, Lord, I have faith. I trust You. I know You can. I'm trusting Your sovereignty. And so if faith alone doesn't heal, then there must be another reason behind it. Again, such as God is building faith.

He's developing character. He's developing growth. Anybody need that? That usually doesn't happen overnight. Anybody ever develop character? How long's it taken? Anybody arrive after just a week or so? Anybody balcony? Somebody might joke and raise their hand, but nobody's going to be serious about it. Character is a process. And that process can take time. Or there could be the need for repentance. I've noticed one of the best ways, almost one of the only ways, unfortunately, that God really encourages people to repent is if something happens. You think you're on top of the world. You get the call, hey, we're laying off everybody next week. Man, talk about soul searching. You get that call from the doctor or an attorney or the court, or there's people, even that come here, that they get that letter on the table, and the spouse is packed up and gone. It leads to... Repentance. Same in this case. Psalm 119.71 It is good for me.

Wait a minute, wait a minute. I don't know if I like this one. You can look up that word afflicted in the Hebrew language. Old Testament is Hebrew. And it can mean an enemy, of course, but it can also mean an infirmity that God has struck them like He struck the nation of Israel when they sinned against Him with plagues and different things. It's good for me that I've been afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes. One of the best ways to learn God's Word and to get back into it is to be afflicted, is it not? Because when things are going great, I wish it was not the case, but when things are going great, we have to humble ourselves. And so we see a tailor-made trial in the Old Testament. Joseph. How many of you remember Joseph? God said, here's what I'm going to do in your life. Praise God. Yes, yes, I'm ready. Next week. I'm packing next week. Are you going to do it next week? No, first you're going into a pit. Wait a minute.

You just told me I'm going to be a ruler. And then where does he go from the pit? To Potiphar's house. He becomes a servant at Potiphar's house. Then gets in trouble by the wife. And throws him in prison for a couple of days, right? A couple of weeks? What's wrong with God leaving Joseph in prison for a couple of weeks? How long was he in there? Anybody know exactly? Theologians? Two years? Three years? Let me figure it out. I'll come back. I didn't research it, so I'm not sure. But I know it was at least a couple of years because the guy never told him his dream, his ability to interpret dreams. He was there for a while. I just thought of this. This will be incredible when we can put it together. I met a guy yesterday at the men's breakfast. It went great. Great job, David Jackson, speaking at that. Woo-hoo, yeah, I heard you. I met a guy right here. And incredible testimony. I think he did 23 years locked up. And he was supposed to get out in 2056.

Three strikes, you're out, brother. Eighty-one years old. But God... But God, unbelievable. So I said, you've got to share your testimony sometime. Funny thing is, maybe I shouldn't say who it was, but a former correctional officer comes up and they know each other. I'm like, uh-oh, uh-oh. The correctional officer that was at the prison. The prisoner. Worshipping together. Unbelievable. Cindy, you know who it was, I'll tell you. Anybody want to know, ask Cindy. But I was just like in awe. In awe. I mean, how early did he get out? I have to do this. Yeah, 30 years early. So hopefully he's going to share his testimony on a Wednesday. And he's acclimated with life. I don't even know what the point was, but it sure sounded like it fits somewhere in here. Let me figure out. Oh yeah, Joseph in prison. Okay. Oh yeah, God's timing. God's timing the test. So Joseph in prison for a couple of years.

Then he gets out. Then Pharaoh raises him up. And he becomes the second-in-command of Egypt. That's when people say, oh, I don't know. But God. My favorite one right now is there is no hope for California. But God. Maybe not. Todd, you're kind of lowering the bar a little bit there. You never know what God might do. He could bring revival to Sacramento and surprise all of us. Or maybe it will remain challenging. I don't know. I do know this, you need to vote. Vote, vote, vote, vote, vote. I think we have somebody here collecting registrations out in the lobby afterwards. Hopefully we've got it. That's just biblical. Guys, it's just biblical to put the right people in office. You shouldn't be political. Where? What verse? What chapter? Where? When I say something political you like, then you agree. Give me this garbage. Don't be political. My goodness. I've been good for the last three months, but isn't it true? Leadership matters.

You ever put gas in your car? Leadership matters. You want companies to stay here? My goodness. So, let's get back on track. Psalm 105.19, to Joseph, Until the time His word came to pass, God's word to him, the word of the Lord tested him. And that will happen to you, my friends. God will put something on your heart. And guess what? It might not happen next week. Or next month. Or next year. Because what's He doing? He's testing you. Lord, no matter how long it takes, no matter even if that dream dies, I will follow You. And it tests you. As the days progress, and the weeks progress, and the months progress, it tests you. Will you still remain faithful? Will you still hold on to your integrity, Job? There's a testing, and that plays a role with healing often. Will you become discouraged and disgruntled and begin to mock Me? Or will you hold the line and still praise Me even in the storm? There's a testing that happens. Another great one is, how many of you know that King David

was anointed king? But, years. Anybody know the years on that one? I want to say 13, but I'm just guessing. I don't know. Look it up. Let us know next Sunday. I'll give you some homework. But He said, okay, you're king, David. Alright, let's go. No, no, no. Testing. Testing. Testing. I knew. I remember I can tell you the dream I had. I was preaching over a sea of people. It was 2001, I believe. No, maybe 2000. I knew what God was calling me to do. I could see this. But guess what? That's what you're doing, but your character's not yet ready. I don't think it's ever ready. You're constantly developing and humbling yourself and God-shaping. But He shows you where you're going, but it's the process of getting there that can take a lot of time. And the test isn't for God, but for us. Faith is aligning your heart with God's heart. The only person who is truly at rest has achieved it through conflict.

There are no cheap price tags on going deeper with the Lord. There are no cheap price tags on that. Psalm 25.3, Indeed, no one who waits on the Lord will be ashamed. Indeed, nobody. If you wait on the Lord, you will not be ashamed. You will not be disappointed, let down, humiliated as you wait on the Lord. Lord, show me. Guide me. Direct me. And this is important. If sickness is a result of something in the natural, the body's falling apart, you're just getting sick, then natural remedies, conventional, whatever, that might work. But if the illness is spiritually based, if the illness is spiritually based, like a demonic attack or God is disciplining you, I think I might have this on the next screen. I might not. It might be on the next screen. I'm not sure if I included this part on there. But if the illness is spiritually based, such as a demonic attack, or God's discipline, then spiritual healing is required. No doctor, no diagnosis, no treatment,

no protocol will work. If it's spiritually based. Hebrews 12.6 Did you know that God spanks you? God spanks me? Oh, boy. He disciplines those He loves. Get back on track. Doesn't He? Ow! Remember that? My mom, she'd find anything. I mean, just... Oh, there's an almond tree. Whoosh! Whoosh! Those little switches. Man, I still have bad dreams of the almond orchards in Quartzill. There's lots of switches. Remember those back then? Lots of switches. But what was the point? To stop the behavior. So God disciplines those He loves. And if you're in the discipline process, you can go take vitamin C, but it might not fix it. You can go to your doctor and get radiation, but it might not fix it. You can go do all these things, but it's a spiritual problem. Most things require spiritual tools.

So the key, Proverbs 16.3 Commit your works to the Lord and your thoughts will be established. Commit your works to the Lord and your thoughts will actually be... The Hebrew word means He'll make your plans secure or He'll cause them to succeed. See, you don't tell God, hey, Lord, here's what I'm doing now. Bless it. You ask Him, what do You want me to do? And then He blesses it. Because you're committing your works to the Lord, and then He'll actually guide your thinking. Have you ever had Him do that before? Like things that seem like, how am I getting out of this? What type of job? What type of career? And He establishes your thinking. And of course, we know Proverbs 3.5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart. So I don't know why I'm going through this, you might pray. I don't know why the Lord's delayed in His healing. I don't know, we have people watching this that can't be here. Lord, I don't know, but I'm trusting in You with some of my heart. I'm trying to wake up the people falling asleep. Can I go around? I know who You are.

Can I? I should get a squirt gun. Those long ones. Yep, next Sunday, squirt guns coming out. See how far that could go. Trust in the Lord with all of your heart. That means you lay it down at the foot of the cross. You say, Lord, everything, my finances, my emotions, my plans, Lord, I just trust You with all of my heart. And I lean not on my own understanding. It's like it's propping up like, okay, Lord, I trust You, but I'm leaning on... I'll handle this part. But that doesn't make sense. Anybody ever do that with God? That doesn't make sense. Now, if it's a foolish decision, listen, God could be convicting you, but a lot of times, God doesn't make sense when it comes to pursuing Him in the sense of what the world says to do. Does that make sense? Because what I'm doing, how I'm fighting this doesn't make sense to a lot of people. That's not what we do. You should be doing this, this, this, and this. Lean not on my own understanding. Acknowledge Him. And He will direct my path and your path as well.

Praise God for that. But don't be a yeah-but Christian. I get this sometimes. Maybe some of you said, yeah, shame, but you don't know my situation. Some of you are thinking that right now, I bet. But you don't know my spouse. Yeah, I know what the Bible says, but I've got to kind of handle this one myself. There's no gray area. This applies to all of us. But be warned, not everyone will agree with you. Again, not everyone will agree with you. And then I was going to give you a tailor-made trial in the New Testament, but we already talked about it. But we can at least put it up on the screen where Paul said, you actually see the Scripture in case you weren't aware of it. Where Paul said, God, You've humbled me through... It's actually a messenger of Satan was given. Did you know Satan works for God? Are you guys aware that he's under God's sovereignty? It's funny, Job says that the children of God, Ba'anah Elohim, the children of God, were going to and fro, and Satan came to God, and God's like, have you considered My servant Job? You want to go mess with him? I don't understand that one,

but that's okay, I'll ask God someday. Don't ever say, have you considered My servant Shane? I'm good. I'm good. I've got enough to handle right now. But God allowed Satan to test him. And then a messenger of Satan, God allowed this infirmity to come upon Paul. Why? Because Paul was taken up to heaven. And it revealed things that man cannot utter. Talk about prideful, probably. It says, I think what it says is because of the measure, the abundance of the revelation that God has given me, a thorn was given to me to keep me humble. To keep me humble. And God will do that often. You know, especially for me, for speakers. If I go speak somewhere, I know I've got to be careful I'm not that articulate with dyslexia. That's why I couldn't go to Washington, D.C. and read the Bible. I had to do it from video because there's no way I'm reading the King James So, you know, but that keeps you humble. So God will allow things to keep you humble. Remember that? Or maybe I'll come up and I'll fill that, you know, that something.

It's like keeps you humble. So Paul was given this messenger of Satan to keep him humble. The Bible uses the word infirmity. If we read infirmities, it's a physical weakness, it's a frailty, it's a sickness or a disease. And God said, no, Paul, my grace is sufficient. And there are times, I mean, this might ruin somebody's theology, but there are times that God doesn't heal. It's not always, always on our command. Faith must be tested. Let me close with some words here that you need to hear. Healing is a journey for some people. Many of you here listening even later will need to hear this. Healing is a journey. And answers don't come right away. Answers don't come right away. As a pastor, I've seen God heal people through conventional therapy. I've seen countless people healed when God led them to alternatives. I've seen God heal impossible situations. And I've witnessed Him call His saints home. Ultimately, all of us must bow our knee to God's sovereignty and trust in Jesus, the great physician. And as I shared before, a friend of ours, her name is Christy, she said,

we do what we can in the natural, and we trust God with the supernatural. Isn't that so true? That's why we do what we do in the natural, because we are actually called to steward our body. That's important. We're called to steward our health. We're called to eat an apple instead of Captain Crunch. You want me to keep going? Some overnight oats soaked with chia seeds and vanilla and cinnamon instead of Starbucks this morning. We're called to exercise. We're called to get that. We're called to steward our body. Do what we can in the natural. And then we trust God with the supernatural. And I truly believe that most disease that we are facing today is absolutely diet and lifestyle related, without a shadow of a doubt in my mind. And that's why often, when people change those things, they see healing. They're praying for healing, but God's saying, okay, but change what's causing it. And we still pray for healing. I'll pray for type two diabetes today, and I'll pray that God would heal. But I'll also encourage you to lose 50 pounds, get off McDonald's, stop feeding glycogen, every glucose every three hours,

and having your body resist insulin. Clean it up, get on God. That's what we can do in the natural. It's so important. So as I mentioned, we're gonna go in the prayer room based on James 5. It says, if anyone is sick among you, let him call for the elders, and they'll anoint them with oil. You guys can read this later if you want. And it says, the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up. And if he has committed sins, it will be forgiven them. Now here's what's interesting about anointing oil. For me, if you've got oil on you, it's a sign that something has happened. You have oil on you. So it's a sign that we are praying for the person. We believe that oil often represents the power of the Spirit. Right where the Spirit, the virgins who had no oil. There's lots of Scriptures, and it talks about the oil and the power of just trusting God. And we ask that the Holy Spirit will begin to heal and set people free, and we'd love to pray with you next door, but I want to encourage you with this as well. Sometimes you need to anoint yourself. It's okay. Oh, no pastor will stop by my house. Well, we'll try.

But guess what? You can anoint yourself. You can strengthen yourself in the Lord. You can encourage yourself. You can motivate yourself. You can inspire yourself. You can embolden yourself. You can reassure yourself. You can reinforce God's word in your heart, and you can remind yourself. Remind yourself often of Psalm 27. Put it to memory. The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? I love that. The light. He is my path. He directs me, but He's also my salvation, my security, my strength. The Lord is the strength of my life. Whom shall I be afraid? And of course, you know, one of my favorite verses I want to finally put up there so you can see it. One thing have I desired of the Lord. One thing of everything else in the Bible, He says, one thing have I desired of the Lord. And that I will seek. In other words, all of my life is spent seeking the heart of Christ. All of my whole life is spent

seeking the heart of the Father. One thing that I will seek, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. And I behold the beauty of the Father and the only begotten of the Son. And I come and I worship and I lay down my offering before you God. I seek your face. I want more of you. You are my sustainer. One thing have I desired. How many of you can say that? You can't say that because you're bound by compromise. You're conceding to carnality. And you need to repent to that this morning. I love that song. I think Richard does it sometimes. Take me past the outer court into the holy place. Past the brazen altar, Lord, I want to see your face. Pass me by the crowds of people and the priests who sing your praise. I hunger and I thirst for righteousness. And it's only found one place. Take me into the holies of holies. Take me in by the blood of the Lamb. Guys, you got to get to that spot of full surrender. Some people call it having a breakdown. God calls it surrender.

Get to that spot. And maybe for those who don't know, God, I want to remind you of a quote. I think I said it Sunday. Why do bad things happen to good people? Have you ever heard that? Why do bad things happen to good people? Well, that only happened once and he volunteered. In case you're a little slow, let me say that again. Okay, it took me a minute to read it by R.C. Sproul. People ask him, but why do bad things happen to good people? That only happened once and Christ volunteered. And some of you might need to make that decision. Psalm 50, 15, call upon me in the day of trouble and I will deliver you. I will deliver you and you shall glorify me. In other words, you will uphold God, you will praise God, you will point people to God, you will honor Him, you will treat Him as important, you will recognize His value. That's one thing I just, when I hear that the Bible's written by men, who's gonna make up a story that the Creator of the universe sent His Son, died on a cross, beaten beyond recognition, made the hill up called Calvary, Golgotha, the place of the skull, died for the sins of the world.

Nobody's gonna write that book. It has to be the truth. The greatest healing often takes place long before physical healing ever begins. So Christian, I can't get this across enough. The need, the desperate need for full surrender has never been greater. Did you know anytime we follow God half-heartedly, it's not biblical? Carnality's not biblical, lukewarm's not biblical. And I don't wanna discourage you, right? I hope you know I'm not talking about, well, I've gotta do everything perfect. But we know when we're surrendered, we know when we're not. We know when the world's got us and when we got God, big difference. And maybe there's nobody here, maybe there is if you don't truly know God, you need to repent and believe. Make that decision today. It says, I repent of my sin. Because you know what's way more important than physical healing? Spiritual healing. Spiritual healing. That's why I love when it says, I was blind, but now I see. I was lost, but now I'm found. What can wash away my sin?

Nothing but the blood of Jesus.