Do You Need a Miracle? - Fear to Faith - Matthew S3E1

Amen, and amen, and amen, if you've got your Bibles, go to Matthew chapter 8, I've got to admit, I think the recap videos are better than the sermons. Don't you love Pastor One? Me too. You're welcome. He's like the African C.S. Lewis, that's what he is, all right? Hey, before we dive in, I don't know if you can feel it, can you feel it? Like the Lord is on the move, man. See, you don't know what's coming, I know what's coming. Way to sing, good job. Before we dive in, I just want to honor somebody. My mom is sitting right over here on the front row, and I want to give honor to what honors do. Thank you for being here, Mama. None of us would be here without you, that's a fact. Think about that for a little while, not too much. Matthew chapter 8, we're in a new season, Fear to Faith. What we're doing is we're aiming towards Resurrection Sunday, and for us, Thursday and Saturday and the whole weekend, all right? What we're going to see over and over and over are miracles, and you're going to see this wrestle between fear and faith, because the two cannot coexist. Because whether it's faith, fear will run and hide. Fear is when you think you're in control. Fear is when you put your trust in your circumstances, and faith is when you snatch it back and you put your trust in the sovereign king over all your circumstances. So we're in the home stretch. I don't typically tell you the titles to sermons, but this one's called, Do You Need a Miracle? So you need to ask yourself, do you? Do you need a miracle? Because I've got good news.

He's still in the miracle business. I mean, we — we're going to sing it at the end, spoiler alert. If the tomb is empty, anything is possible. And I have read to the — from the beginning to the very end of this book, I've even checked the maps and everything. And there is no expiration date on the work of the Spirit of God and His people. That what God did, He still does today. And so at the end of the service, if you're brand new here, welcome. If you ever see this anointing oil on the little table here, buckle up, buttercup, because we're about to go to war, OK? And so in about 45 minutes or so, we're going to shift this thing into a healing service. That makes you nervous, good, me too. But I am not a faith healer, I'm just a Bible believer. So we're going to walk through it, we're going to do exactly what the book says, and we're going to — we're going to pray, we're going to anoint, we're going to ask God to heal. And what we're going to see in our text here in Matthew chapter 8 is we are going to see Jesus show up and meet people right where they are. Not some future version of themselves once they get their act together, but He is going to meet them in their places of utter desperation. And Jesus enters the very places where our brokenness seems beyond repair and demonstrates that He has authority over it all. With a touch, He cleanses diseases, with a word, He heals from a distance, and with a command, He drives out the power of darkness. And I got good news. The healing and freedom that we cannot create for ourselves are found in Christ alone. That's what we're going to study. Matthew chapter 8 verse 1, the Bible says this, and when He came down from the mountain This is after the Sermon on the Mount, what we — the series we just finished. And when He came down from the mountain, a great crowd followed Him, and behold, a leper

— underline leper in your Bible. A leper was an outcast. A leper was somebody that had been separated from their people, separated from their community, separated from the synagogue. Back in Leviticus 13, the Bible gives instructions to priests on how to determine if somebody was a leper. It basically — anybody that had any kind of external skin disease, you kind of fell into this category. And they were called unclean. And what they would have to do is they would have to wear sackcloths with torn cloth, and they would actually have to announce themselves when they went into public, and they would have to yell, unclean, unclean. Imagine this. Now, again, this is not a story. This is not a fairy tale. This dude had a first name. This dude had a mom and dad, and when the mom and dad would see their boy in town, he would have to stand over to the side and announce to everybody, I'm not leper. like you, I'm uninvited, I'm on the outside. Some of you feel like that, like you don't have a skin thing, you wish you only had a skin thing because you could go get that fixed. But some of you feel like you're on the outside, like you're divorced and you wonder if you'll ever be able to share love again. Some of you are single and lonely and you keep trying to convince yourself like Jesus is more than enough, but quite honestly, he didn't feel like it.

Some of you are estranged from your kids and there ain't no pain like kid pain, right? Some of you have a prodigal child. Some of you got like legitimate church hurt, I think that word's used way too much, but I'm not trying to belittle what you're going through and quite honestly, you're not even here, you're watching online because you're just finally dipping your toe back in. And you feel like you're on the outside. That's how this guy feels. And behold, a leper came to Jesus and knelt before him saying, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. First of all, look at the humility. He kneels before Jesus, but he's simultaneously humble and very, very bold. The rules say you're not supposed to get this close to people, especially a rabbi, a famous rabbi, a miracle working Bible teaching rabbi. And yet he is not gonna let the tradition of man nullify the word of God, he gets right up to Jesus. He's been told all of his life he's not welcome, but like I tell us all the time, he's not gonna let the labels of this world tell him who he is. He's gonna check with the very son of God. And he goes and he kneels before him and I love this prayer so much. He says, Lord, here's what he's saying.

I'm not in charge, you're in charge. He's pouring spirit. He's saying, I ain't got this. Lord, then he just says, if you will. So many times when we come to God, we don't say thy will be done. We say my will be done. God, I need you to get in alignment with my will. That's not what he does. He says, because you are Lord, I know you're in charge of all things. And so if you will this, he doesn't even ask for anything. He just makes a statement of faith. He just simply says, you can make me clean. Not hope this works, because you're my last resort. That's not what he does. He says, I know that you can do this. It's very similar to the prayers of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego before they're thrown into the fiery furnace. If you are going through whatever your fiery furnace is, this is a great big sovereign God and yet making your request way to pray. God, I know that you can do something about this situation. I've seen it before. I've read it in the book. I know other people have been healed. I know that you can. I believe that you will.

You say we have not because we ask not. So I believe that you can and I am believing that you will. And even if you don't answer the prayer the way I wish you would answer my prayer, I will not bow down to this idol. That's what they pray. And so this man simply says, Lord, thy will be done. You can make me clean. This is, by the way, when you find yourself in need, not if you find yourself in need. This is a great model prayer to come to Jesus. Not with demands, but on your knees. Lord, if you will, I know that you can fix this situation. And Jesus stretches out his hand and touched him. By the way, rabbis aren't supposed to touch people with leprosy. But you don't get to tell the Lord of the universe who he can and cannot reach out to. Some of you have been told by some church that he wouldn't reach out to you. Well, I'm glad you're not at that church anymore. Because what we're gonna see over and over and over here is that this gospel is a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus. That Jesus was for all people. And Jesus stretches out his hand and he touched them. And in our world, in this world, when dirty touches clean, the clean gets dirty, right?

Have you ever walked around the carpet with dirty shoes on and it makes your shoes clean? No, it gets the carpet dirty. That's the word. But where Jesus rules and reigns, when clean touches dirty, the dirty gets clean. That's how this works. Now, here's the thing, we talked about it a ton in the John series years and years and years ago, that miracles do happen. Miracles always have a message. That God is, Jesus is never just flexing his raw power because he can. He never just is like, watch this, and just twirls with the stars. He never does that. That a part of what Jesus is doing, what Matthew wants us to see here and all throughout the gospel of Matthew, is that he's not just flexing his raw power, but he's peeling back the curtain so that we can see into the kingdom of heaven, and guess what? Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand, and as he peels the curtain back in the kingdom of heaven, there are no outsiders. Nobody has to yell unclean because Jesus has made them clean. There is nobody with leprosy in the kingdom of heaven. And so he reaches out his hand and he touches them

and he says, I will be clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed, and Jesus said to him, see that you say nothing to anyone. And you're like, well, that seems weird. I thought we were supposed to tell everybody about Jesus. Is Jesus not into our one more program here? I mean, is that, you know, here's the thing. I learned this, by the way. Do y'all ever read Gretchen's devotionals when she writes them? If you don't, make a fist, punch yourself in the face, because you're dumb, okay, because they're awesome. They're really, really good, and she asked me to read over them, and she pointed out something that I've never seen before in the Bible, and I read it professionally. I have degrees in it, that when Jesus heals people in Judea, in Israel, he always tells them, hey, keep this to yourself, until I die on the cross and I'm resurrected. But when he heals people outside of there in Gentile land, when he heals Gentiles in Gentile land, he tells them, why don't you go and tell everybody? And I'm like, hmm, well, first of all, I never know that, so it's good to be decided by your wife, that's a good idea. And you ask, why, why, why? Well, I think a part of it could be because the Jewish people understand the sacrificial system and they will never be able to understand Jesus

until they see that he is the lamb who was slain for the forgiveness of our sin. He is going to complete what God set up in this atoning sacrificial system, and they will know him as Savior, Messiah, that's what that means. But the Gentiles who don't have an understanding of the sacrificial system, when they see him as more powerful than the darkness, then they can understand that he is Lord of all. And the reality is that Jesus was both Lord and Savior, and you can never divorce those things. He's always both Lord and Savior. So he says, see that you say nothing to anyone, but go and show yourself to the priest and offer the gift that Moses commanded for a proof to them. Now, this is pretty awesome. First of all, here's what I want you to see. When Jesus changes your life, when Jesus cleanses you, you are immediately connected to the family of God. So you got a disconnected guy, he can't go to the temple, he can't go to the synagogue his entire life, and now the moment Jesus cleanses him, he says, I need you to get connected into the faith family, because it matters a lot. Not only that, I think a part of what he's doing here is he's going to make the priest deal with this miracle. That this preacher on the mountain is also a miracle worker, and what you gonna do about that?

Now, here's what's interesting. The gift that Moses commanded is, you gotta go all the way back to Leviticus chapter 13, the whole, if you wanna go to sleep tonight, read Leviticus 13. It's how to diagnose leprosy. It is, man. It's about flaking skin and pus, and I mean, it's like, what are we doing here? I can't find a memory verse in it, but it's all inspired by God. So 13 is the diagnosis, and then Leviticus chapter 14 is what you do if someone is cleansed of leprosy. How you reinstate them into right fellowship with the body of believers, and here, I mean, if you wanna see the scarlet thread of the gospel on every page of your Bible, you didn't realize the gospel was in Leviticus 14, did you? I mean, to be honest, you haven't read Leviticus 14. You try to do your Bible in a year plan, crush you some Genesis, Exodus, nailed it. You get to Leviticus, you're like, I'm going to John. Okay, it's better. Stories, okay, I understand. Here's what the priest has to do. Here's the prescription on what to do when somebody with leprosy, and they never say that leprosy is healed. They say that you are cleansed of it.

Here's what you do. You take two birds. The person comes with leprosy. They don't have it anymore. You take two birds, and they're both clean birds, and you sacrifice one of them. the birds, okay? And then you take a scarlet thread, literally a scarlet thread, you tie it around the living bird, and then you dip it in the blood of the sacrificed one. So a clean animal sheds its blood to cover over the other animals. Anybody, does that sound familiar? And then once you do this, you go to the priest and you bathe. It's like a precursor to baptism. It's like because the blood of Jesus has washed me clean, now I'm gonna take a bath. That's what baptism means, man. It means to dip, dunk, submerge. And if you've never been baptized as a believer and you're cleansed by the blood of Jesus, you should bathe, not at your house. I mean, you should do that too, but you should come get baptized so that you show the whole world, I am dying to my old self. The blood of Jesus has washed away my sin,

and when I come out of this water, I'm gonna be resurrected to a newness of life. This is a precursor to what we know as baptism. And then after that, now you are being made right in this fellowship again, and the priest makes the sacrifice of atonement for you. So he sheds the blood of a lamb on your behalf to cover over your sins. Again, this is all pre-Jesus stuff. We don't have to shed the blood of lamb anymore because Jesus is the lamb who is slain for the forgiveness of our sin. And then after you spread the blood of the lamb, you take some of it, it seems random, and you put blood on your right earlobe, your right thumb, and your right toe. How about that? And you do the hokey pokey, that's what it sounds like, right? No, no, no. Then you take oil, anointing oil, and you wash off the blood of your ear, your thumb, and your toe, and then they anoint you. Why? Because what they're saying is now, not only have you been reconciled to God, you've been reconciled back into God's family, and may you hear and heed the word of God. May you put your hands towards the work of God, and may your feet follow the path of God.

Welcome home, that's what they do. So not only are you healed, but you're restored to the people of God and re-consecrated to the Lord. Now remember, Jesus said that he did not come to do away with the law, but to fulfill it. And so he tells the priests, all right, you guys deal with this guy. And some of you, you're like, what does this have to do with anything? Some of you need to be healed, and reconnected to God, and reconnected to his family. And then he keeps going. Jesus is on a little bit of a miracle roll here. And now he's gonna go for a Gentile. I mean, movement's movement. This movement is for all people, so he's not gonna stop with the guy with leprosy. He keeps going, verse five. And when they had entered Capernaum, that's where Peter lives, a centurion, this is a Roman soldier who was the boss of a bunch of soldiers. By the way, the Jewish people would have hated him. The reason that he is in Capernaum is because of Roman occupation. He is the enemy, he is the oppressor. They hate this guy. But Jesus enters Capernaum, and a centurion came forward to him, appealing to him.

And I'm just telling you, the Jewish people, the crowd is like, whoa, what you talking to him for? Why you talking to those people? But in the kingdom of God, there are no those people. You understand? For God so loved the world. No matter what you look like, what you've done, where you've been, how you were raised, what your current condition is, that Jesus is for you. He gave his life for you. To quote my man Jelly Roll, Jesus is for everybody, y'all. That's what he said. And some of you are like, yeah, but you don't know what I've done. All right, Scooter, quite honestly, who the heck do you think you are? There is more grace in Jesus than sin in you. Amen. That when the almighty sovereign king of the universe lived a perfect life and went to the cross, not just for you, but instead of you, what he did when he endured the full wrath of God on the cross is infinitely bigger than whatever it is that you think you've done to disqualify yourself to Jesus. And so a centurion came forward to him, appealing to him. Look what he says. Lord, again, this is a boss. This is a military guy. Lord, my servant, that's like bond servant, is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly.

And he said to him, Jesus says to the guy, I will come and heal him. But the centurion replied, Lord, I am not. I'm worthy to have you come under my roof. Do you see the humility here? This guy's got power, this guy's got money. This guy has influence. And it ain't helping him here. Okay, how much power, money, influence, how many likes and checks you have? Jesus has what you need, and this is what this guy understands. And what he doesn't do is he doesn't come rolling up on Jesus going, do you know who I am? He actually comes rolling up on Jesus and says, I know who you are. This is humility. He's saying, I know I'm powerful, but I need your help. I know I got money, but I need your help. This is why when David stands before Goliath, he said, it's not by sword or spear that the Lord saves, but the battle belongs to the Lord. He says, Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word and my servant will be healed. For I too am a man under authority with soldiers under me. Here's what this guy recognizes. Here's what this Gentile military boss recognizes, that Jesus is under the authority of God the Father. By the way, in the scriptures,

God always works in and through authority. So, especially you young cats out there with a vision for your life. Why in the world would you ever expect God to give you any authority if you don't learn to live under the authority he's placed you under? That's always how God works, and that's how this man works. And he says, this is the guy, the Scytherian, and I say to one, go, and he goes, and to another, come, and he comes, and to my servant, do this, and he does it. Verse 10. Look at this verse real quick. And when Jesus heard this, he marveled. When's the last time you think Jesus was marveled at your faith? Like, what would you have to do for Jesus to marvel at your faith? Because from the outside, it doesn't look like this guy does anything, but pray and ask for something. Well, you're gonna have an opportunity at the end of the service to not be controlled by fear, but to act in faith and to step out and come to Jesus. And we're gonna, the Bible tells us how to do this. And to say, Jesus, I need help. And we're gonna have people up here to pray for you and anoint you with oil, like the Bible says to do. And I'm hoping and praying your ego will not prevent you from this blessing of Jesus seeing you

and marveling at you getting over yourself and humbling yourself and coming down and saying, I need some help. It says, truly, I tell you that no one in Israel have I found such faith. You see, faith is acting as if you actually believe that Jesus is who he says he is and he always keeps his promises. Jesus goes on to say, so now he does this thing for this guy who is outside of the children of God. Because Jesus is reminding us, because remember, the reason Matthew writes this thing is that Jesus is the greater Israel. Remember this? We've only talked about it 100 times. That God blesses Abraham, says, I'm gonna bless you. That you would be a blessing. And through you, I'm gonna give this promise and it's gonna bless the entire world. But by the time Jesus comes on the scene, Israel has turned inward, because that's what people, that's what churches have a tendency to do. Oh, we're blessed, we're chosen just to be blessed. And so Jesus goes on to say, he says, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith that many will come from the east and from the west. Look at the east, look at the west, that's us. Jesus was talking about 1122. Not us only, but we're included in this. I hope you know this.

This is, 249 people in last weekend's service have surrendered their life to the lordship of Jesus Christ. You got that? 1,307 people this year have surrendered their life to the lordship of Jesus Christ. We've already baptized 301 people this year. We've baptized almost about 13,000 people since we started this year. Over 20,000 people have signified a first time decision to surrender their life to the lordship of Christ through the ministry of 1122 since we started. And you know what we're doing this year? You know what the big thing is to like, get everybody? Matthew. Why, because the power is the gospel of Jesus. It ain't a preacher, it ain't music, it's not a program. The power is in the word and this is what we are doing. By the way, we're gonna baptize on. Easter, if you've never been baptized as a believer, you should go. And boy, the reason I'm telling you is because, I mean, if you wanna get baptized in your dress with one of our shirts over it, fine. But why, it'd be fine with me. How about this? You can just show up in your board shorts if you want to at Easter. If you go, that's what you're wearing to Easter, be like, I'm getting baptized, sucker.

That's what you oughta do, all right? Yeah, man. From the East, from the West, I love this. He says, I tell you, many will come from the East and from the West, that's all over the world, and will recline at table with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. You see, Jesus is reminding us of the point, the promise to Abraham was to be a blessing to the whole world. Jesus is this blessing. And he says, while the sons of the kingdom, these are the Jewish people that don't humble themselves and surrender to Jesus. I think this would also apply to church people that think, well, I'm just, you know, I got a Groupon. I'm Baptist, so I'm in. No, no, no, no, no. The line to get into the kingdom of heaven is a single file line. And if you personally, I don't care who your grandma is, if you personally have not surrendered your life to the lordship of Jesus Christ, this is your future. We'll be thrown into the outer darkness, into that place where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And to the centurion, Jesus says, go, let it be done for you as you have believed. And the servant was healed at that very moment. Now, this is a one-off.

I don't have time for this. I probably won't do this on Sunday, except 7.22 a.m. I will definitely do it for you. But, you know what he doesn't tell him? He doesn't say, now, here's what you have to do. You gotta put your sword down, because I'm a pacifist and we don't hurt people. That's not what he does. I do this thing, my friend Kyle runs a podcast called Undaunted Life, and once a month, we do this segment called Ask a Pastor, and people ask all these questions and I answer them. And at the end, he always tries to get me. Not like, get me, get me, he's for me, he's my friend, but he asks me some hard questions. And somebody wrote in and asked this. If somebody broke into your house, and you were in a standoff, mano y mano, with guns, would you, because you know you're going to heaven, would you let this person kill you so that they may have the opportunity to hear the gospel and go to heaven? What say you, pastor? And I said, I would shoot that mug in the face. Glory to God. Now, what has happened in the internet, I don't know if you've heard of the internet, people have opinions. So, this thing's going all over the place now, and all these little pastors are like,

oh, man, I would've done that, oh, that's a good idea. I would've done that, oh, that's not nice, okay. That's adorable. The reason I would shoot that intruder in the face is a couple. One, is not to protect me necessarily, but to protect my position as a protector of my home. And the Bible says, if you don't take care of your family, you're worse than an unbeliever. Not only that, we live in America, praise God. And in America, guess who has the authority to run this joint? Not those goofballs we vote for, but it's we the people. And in Florida, we have these laws called stand your ground. And so, it is actually, and if you love the First Amendment, you better be into the second, because they go together. And so, actually, according to Romans 13, I have the authority of the law to shoot that mug in the face, and salvation is the Lord's. He don't need me. If he wants to save the dude, he will save him. And so, and then, I get it, I get it. You know, one of the pastors online was like, that makes me uncomfortable. Oh, does it, Scooter? Imagine how uncomfortable your wife or children are,

so you can't, since you won't do your job. So, anyway, that's just a one-off, doesn't have anything to do with the sermon, but I said it, okay? All right, back to miracles. Let's get back to miracles. This is better. Verse 14. And when Jesus entered Peter's house, he saw his mother-in-law lying sick with a fever. So, he said, we're just gonna let this one go. No, that's not what he said. Nah. I'm kidding. You know, I don't have a lot of mother-in-law jokes, because I have hit the jackpot. Gretchen's mama is the best ever. Joy Nicely. She leads worship at her church, Lone Star, forever. The church that Gretchen grew up in, and she is just the absolute best. So, thank you, Jesus, for Joy Nicely. All right, verse 15, he touched her hand. This is the mother-in-law. He touched her hand, and the fever left her. And she rose, and she began to serve him. Her response to being healed is not to serve herself. Her response is to serve Jesus. When Jesus heals you, you serve. Some of you are gonna come up here for healing,

and part of what I need you to wrestle with is why. Why? Some of you want Jesus to heal you for your own comfort. Jesus isn't really in the comfort business, I don't know if you know that. Because how in the world are you gonna learn the secret of being content in any situation if all you ever do is ask him to remove you from the uncomfortable situation? But the Bible does say that we are to love the Lord our God with our heart, soul, mind, and strength. So when I pray for you to be healed, it's so that you can love God with all of your physical body and I don't want any limitations to that. And so she immediately begins to serve. And then that evening they brought to Jesus many who were oppressed by demons. And he cast out the spirits with a word and he healed all who were sick. Usually about once a year when I talk about the demonic, I'll get an email that says, you mean to tell me you believe in demons? I do. I actually think one might be emailing me, but that's a different conversation. What do you, I mean, you don't believe in darkness? You don't think there are spiritual forces at work? We think it's just poor decision-making? Like how do you logically explain child exploitation

not just around the world out there somewhere, but right here in our own city? You don't think that the demonic is completely behind that? Listen, man, if you don't, I've told you many times, if you try to fight the devil in the dark, you're gonna get your butt kicked. And if you don't know that you're in a fight, ask anybody that's ever been in a fight, if you don't realize you're in a fight, you got no chance. You know what a sucker punch is? I know y'all do, you're 11, 22. A sucker punch is when punches started and you didn't know punches were gonna start and you're the sucker. Every single day we wake up behind enemy lines and there is a thief, an enemy, and the only thing he wants to do is steal, kill, and destroy. So let me tell you what this means for you, man. Some of you are just battling with depression and you just can't explain it. That's the thing about wrestling with dark forces. I mean, the circumstances are pretty decent and yet you can't turn happy on or you've got a debilitating fear and people try to talk you out of it and you just can't be talked out of it or you're overwhelmed with shame. Where do you think shame comes from?

You think God's giving out shame? You hear the whispers of condemnation all the time. Who do you think that is whispering those lies in your head? It's not the Lord because the Bible says if you're in Christ, therefore now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Some of you have suicidal thoughts. God is procreation. He's for you, he knit you together in your mother's womb. Those voices are not your heavenly father saying hurt you. He's saying I love you, I gave my son for you, I have a purpose for you, I have a plan for you. Some of you have crippling anxiety. Some of you live with such deep suspicion about the people that are closest to you that they're gonna let you down that it rules your very thought life and it robs you of all your joy. Some of you have a low-grade frustration with everything and everyone. Some folks walk around with a bitterness, man. It's usually unforgiveness that you've carried around so long that that unforgiveness begin to ferment when things ferment, they stink, and you get drunk on it. And you get drunk on the emotions of unforgiveness and you get those whispers. Some folks, you struggle with an addiction. And you know, scientists may be able to talk about the chemical pathways that lead, okay, whatever. They're just describing what's going on

They're just describing the results of what is. They cannot tell you the why. I'll tell you the why, because our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities of darkness. If you've ever struggled with an addiction, if you've ever had a loved one struggle with an addiction, and they will talk to you and they'll say, I don't wanna do this anymore, but I can't explain it. This other thing begins to bait me down this road and I actually know if I continue down this road, it's gonna kill me. But somehow in that moment, that voice is the loudest voice in my life. What would you call that? It could be food, it could be alcohol. Some of you are addicted to weed. And I can hear it now. I'm not addicted. Okay, how about stop? Stop. Well, I don't need to stop. How about this? Pastor loves you and he's asking you, just stop. For a month, I know, I mean now you can do it legal, whatever, okay, so what? Be willing to lay this thing down that you depend on because you're searching for peace in a place that won't provide it. Pornography, you're addicted to it.

So how would you like to be free? That's what Jesus offers. Sometimes when I talk to people about being a Jesus follower, they're like, man, I just don't know if I'm ready to give up this stuff in my life, like what? You're not ready to give up sin, and shame, and fear, and these controlling entities of your life? Jesus said, you know what he wants to take from you? He wants to take all of your sin and all of your shame, he wants to take all of your pain, that's what he wants to take. He wants to take all of your pain, he wants to take it off to the cross and nail it there, and give you freedom, and give you life, and life abundantly, this is what he offers. And then Jesus roots all of this in the Old Testament. Matthew says, this was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah, he took our illness and bore our disease. This is Isaiah 53, I'll just read you a few verses. Says, surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows yet we esteem him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace. Anybody want peace? This is where it's found. And with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray,

we have turned everyone to his own way and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. The entire passage of Isaiah 53 was written 700 years before Jesus ever shows up on the scene on the earth. He was pierced for our transgression. This is what that says in Hebrew right there. This is what Christ offers. Now we're gonna skip verses 18 to 27 until next week because we're gonna stay on this healing. That's a miracle, we'll talk about that miracle next week but I just kind of wanted to stay on the people miracle thing. So we're jumping down to verse 28 because Jesus is rolling. And this might be the best one. And when Jesus came to the other side, to the country of the Gadarenes, by the way, this is a tough place, this is a territory where there were both Jews and Gentiles living. And a part of the reason that Jesus goes to tough places is because that's what Jesus does. Jesus doesn't show up in the most comfortable places. Jesus goes towards the hard. And listen, if you're a follower of Jesus, we should be going where he's going. Honestly, one of the things, some of you need to be healed from is you need to be healed from comfort because your whole life is too comfortable. And he's calling us to hard places.

And so he goes to the other side, to the country, the Gadarenes, and two demon-possessed men met him coming out of the tombs so fierce that no one would pass by. And here's the thing, they are in darkness, they live in the tombs and they're lashing out at people. And here's what happened. What they got into, got into them. They began to live in the tombs. Mark 5 says that one of them's naked. And Jesus comes rolling up and here comes some naked guy running at him. Demon-possessed. And here's the thing, man, some of you got into some stuff and now it's gotten into you. Like you reached out to that substance to make yourself feel better and now that substance has you. This is where these men are. Mark 5 lets us know that people tried to chain these people up and it used to work and now they can't chain them up anymore. In Mark 5, we find out that Jesus speaks to him and says, who are you? And the demon speaks and says, we are a legion, we are many, this is what Jesus is facing. Verse 29, and behold, they, the two men, they cry out, what have you to do with us, O son of God?

Here's something that's striking to me in the New Testament, in the Gospels. The demons were always the first to recognize Jesus for who he was and the religious people are always the last. Because he didn't fit in their box, man. They had this preconceived notion about what the Messiah had to be and that's not who he was. And yet the demons could see past it and see it for who he really is. Listen, listen, please don't miss Jesus. Oh my gosh, please don't show up here week after week after week and sing the songs and go to group and do the passion service and do all the things. Missed the whole point, the whole point is Jesus. And they say, have you come here to torment us before the time? They know the end of the story too. They know that they will one day be thrown into the lake of fire forever and ever and ever and ever. Now a herd of many pigs was feeding at some distance from them. Now, these were Gentile folks raising pigs. The Jewish people didn't like them because pigs were unclean. But post-resurrection by God, that's gospel meat. Can I get a witness? Part of the way we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus is bacon.

I had some this morning to the glory of God. And the demons begged him saying, if you cast us out, send us away into the herd of pigs. One commentator said that the demons don't wanna be homeless. And so Jesus goes along with it. And he said to them, go. So they came out and they went into the pigs and behold, the whole herd, Mark tells us, it was 2,000 pigs, that's a lot of pigs. And the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the waters. Because that's what demons do. The thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy. Now, sometimes you're like, well, why? Why is Jesus putting demons up in pigs? All right, again, I learned this from one of Gresham's devos. I think maybe there's a bunch of Gentile people there and Jesus wants to show them that he is Lord of all. And it's one thing to just make a sick man healed. You can see that. Like if you're lame and you can walk, if you're blind and now you can see, but you got some crazy, how do you know it works? Well, if he takes the demons out of them and puts them in some pigs and then you watch them plummet to their own death, then he puts on display that he is in charge. Verse 33, and the herdsmen fled and going into the city, they told everything,

especially what had happened to the demon-possessed man. Well, that's the point, don't miss the point. And behold, all the city came out to meet Jesus. And when they saw him, they begged him to leave their region Why? Well, I'm sure the pig farmers are like, hey, you're not good for business, but I'll tell you why. You know what's scarier than two demon-possessed men that live in the caves, that break chains and won't let you pass? The one that's more powerful than them. So Mark 5 lets us know that when that demoniac is healed, when the people show up, then he is clothed and in his right mind. So back to the title. Do you need a miracle? You know what the connection between all these people that received the miracle was? It wasn't their race, it wasn't their socioeconomic status, it wasn't their gender, it wasn't their marital status. They're all over the map. You know what the commonality between these three are? They were in need. That's it, man, they were in need and they came to Jesus. Let me ask you, do you need a miracle? Do you need to be healed? Maybe some of you are like the leper and like you feel alone, you got broken relationships. You got broken relationships, you got broken relationships,

you got broken relationships. You find yourself in an impossible marriage and you need Jesus to do for you what you have not been able to do on your own. And you need to come and say, Lord, if you will, you can make this thing right. And some of you may have a broken body. Well, I've got really good news, man, that God is the great physician. All healing comes from him. Sometimes it comes through peoples like doctors and nurses and medicine. Sometimes it comes through technology and medication. Praise God. Every good and perfect gift is from above and sometimes it comes through prayers and most often is a combination of all of those things. So if you got a broken body, you should come and be prayed for. Some of you are struggling with infertility and it's consuming you and I get it. I don't get it, we've never experienced it, but I hurt for you so bad because it doesn't make any sense to me either. And you should come and beg the author of life to give you life. You should come and pray. Or maybe like the centurion, it's not you, but there's somebody that you love that's a long way from here

and they need a touch of Jesus. I got good news, man. Jesus can make the long distance call. He can do it. He didn't even have to show up just by a spoken word that person was healed. Or maybe you're bound up in chains of addiction or depression, fear, anxiety. And you're like, well, this, I mean, is this one of those churches? Let me tell you the kind of church this is. We believe what this book says right here and we're gonna do what it says and again man listen James chapter 5 just tells us what to do and I've told you before man it's gonna tell us to anoint with oil and I'm I'm a recovering Baptist like about half of y'all we didn't annoy we didn't healing services at the Baptist Church you crazy that's what the crazy charismatics did the only thing we anointed was biscuits with gravy you know but here's what the brother of Jesus says James is anyone among you suffering some of your own struggle bus right financially spiritually physically relationally he knows like he sees you it is no accident that you're here he worked out all the details of your life that you would be here in this very moment to hear his invitation the invitation of Christ is anyone among you suffering let him pray so in just a second we're gonna have a bunch of people down here to pray over you then it says look like it everybody's it ain't a bummer for everybody some of you live in the Lego movie right now I mean everything is awesome praise God dude we don't all have to just be miserable because we're believers no no no is anyone cheerful yeah let him sing praise so what we're about to do is an offskate we got prayers and praisers that's what we're gonna have and so there's gonna be a bunch of people typically when we do this there's a

bunch of people to say honey Jesus cool you can come down we're gonna pray for you and everybody else in the room is gonna sing these praises to the one true God and blanket all the people up here it's like the whole church family is praising and praying over these people joining with the Almighty God the great physician to believe together and join together and pray for what we are praying for down here is anyone cheerful let him sing praise is anyone among you sick again that could be financially relationally I mean you know what it is is anyone among you sick let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord so here's what we're gonna do I mean we only got about 15 elders or something we got like 35,000 people so the math doesn't work so the elders have commissioned pastors and ministers and deacons and volunteers and all kinds of people because we believe in what is called the priesthood of the believer that if you are a believer then you are in ministry you're actually a saint you're that Catholics yeah if you put your faith in Jesus you're a saint we didn't have to vote we're not gonna sell a necklace with your face on it just according not not not according to your tradition but according to the Bible that's right you're a saint and so we're gonna have a bunch of folks up here to pray and to anoint with oil we serve a tactile God and when somebody puts oil on you in the Old Testament and the New Testament the anointing represented the Spirit of God now technically speaking if you're a believer the Spirit of God lives on the inside of you but as you feel this oil go on your head then this is just a tactile reminder that God sees you and God hears you and like Jesus touched people you are gonna be touched by God and the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick and the Lord will raise him up and if he has committed sins he will be forgiven therefore confess your sins to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed we're gonna pray for healing not everybody necessarily will be cured but we're gonna pray for it but the promise of Jesus in Isaiah 53 is that by his stripes we are healed and so no matter what you're walking through as devastating as it may be right now it's

only for a short time as compared to eternity and so let my friends in the wheelchairs right here I'm gonna pray man I'm gonna pray why not we'll pray I know that he can I believe that he will and even if he doesn't you will not put your faith in your physical condition because I can promise you this it ain't gonna be but a short time and me and you're gonna be walking the streets of gold together you know And the thing you'll be most pumped about won't even be the walking It will be the one that you get to walk up to that will walk with you in the kingdom of heaven And we're gonna pray like that and we ain't gonna pray some little weak sauce prayers We're gonna make no excuses to God. Well, you know, I mean, I'm not sure if I'm bothering you none of that jump We're gonna pray like crazy Pentecostal people up here We're gonna use the Queen's English the whole time, but we're gonna pray like We actually believe that we serve the God of miracles. That's what we're gonna do Therefore confess your sins to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed and then it says the prayer of a righteous person Has great power at his working And you know what? It means to be righteous. That means that you have a right standing before God Because you put your faith in Jesus and you have been imputed with his righteousness So that's what we're going to And so I would invite you to stand up at all of our locations If you are a an anointer a prayer person, I want to invite you right now to just make your way down front And if anyone among you is sick if anyone among you is suffering And you might be suffering like the leper because you're disconnected you feel lonely you have broken relationships You feel like an outsider. You got some serious hurt that you're having a hard time getting over then I would invite you to come And I'll tell you what this takes a while So you could just if you don't you don't need me to say go if you need to be prayed for you can just start Making your way now Some of you have a broken body and you need to be prayed for some of you are struggling with infertility Some of you have what you think is an impossible marriage But I'm just here to tell you that if Jesus if God can breathe new life into his dead son Jesus

Then he can breathe new life into that relationship that you thought was dead And so if you need prayer There's gonna say how can I pray for you and you just tell them and they are going to anoint you with the world Just like James 5 prescribes to the church today and we are going to pray and everybody in the seats One if it's fear keeping you there Perfect love drives out fear and I dare you to have the courage to get in line and come on But if you're cheerful, I'm we're gonna sing our lungs out to the one true God because he heals Let me pray our good and gracious Heavenly Father God We love you more than anything because you first loved us and God I'm just doing what you told us to do in the word And so Jesus, I know that you save I know that you redeem I know that you cleanse and God we know we also know that you are the Prince of peace and you are the great physician So God, I pray that repentance happens that sins are confessed that chains are broken That Relationships are put back together that marriage is restored that Prodigals come home that cancer is cured God We have not because we ask not and God we ask you because we know that you can we believe that you will And God no matter what we will not bow down to our circumstances. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen We're gonna sing we're gonna bring we're gonna pray let's go