He Heals The Brokenhearted

Thank you, just remain standing. It is an absolute honor to be here today. Thank you, Pastor Joe and Laurie and all the team. Thank you. Have you noticed by the way we dress the same? Pastor Joe, look at that. He called me, he said, let's do the cream and blue look. So we're doing that and Connor's joined us as well. So we're, but we are just, you know, pastors need pastors. It's not just churches that need pastors, we need pastors. And so we are honored to call Pastor Joe and Laurie our pastors and we're just so grateful. Pastor Joe calls me every week, every single week and checks in on me. And we talk a lot of nonsense, but then he always asks how am I doing? And so we're grateful for that and we're just honored to be here. So Father God, we thank you for your presence. From the very start of this day, I felt your presence in this room and it continues now. And so I pray as we come around your word, now you'd speak to us. We've worshiped, we've received our giving, but now is the moment you want to give back to us. So would you open our hearts? Would you plant a seed into our spirits? Would it grow and mature? Lord, our desire is to become more like Jesus today. Amen, amen.

You may be seated. Thank you, worship team. Can we just thank the worship team, all of the dream team. We appreciate you all. My wife, Chantal, and my two children, Miracle and Justice, would you just stand just so everyone can see you? There we go, that's my son, more than life. My daughter, Miracle, she's 14, going on 21, God help me. And my beautiful wife, Chantal. Some of you know her from the Women's Conference. And it's just an honor to speak across all the campuses today into what God is doing here. Thank you. Can I just thank Jackson and Kendall and the team for everything that they gave to the WAVE Conference. And I really mean that. Our kids, this is part of our diary now. We kind of work, we don't tell anyone, turn this off. We work our church calendar around to make sure our young people, our kids, are here to be part of WAVE. And so it really is. I believe that the WAVE is causing a ripple. And just, I was here on Friday night. I would have been here Friday morning, but American Airlines decided to leave me in Dallas for 12 hours. That was really good. I love the airport of Dallas for 12 hours. They're really lovely people. It was just such an honor to walk the corridors

and wait for a flight, which was only a two-hour drive. But thank you for allowing me to miss WAVE. But I was here on Thursday night. So, amazing, amazing. All right, you ready for God's Word? If you are from Argentina, you can leave. I'm kidding, you can sit at the back. We were robbed, and I'm not hard-hearted about it. I'm not feeling at all bitter about it. I'm angry. No, I'm kidding, I'm kidding, I'm kidding. All right, we better talk about the heart. Proverbs 4.23. King Solomon, the wisest king to ever live, he said this. He said, above, let's read this together. Above all else, God, your garden, your property, your business. He said, no, above all else, God, your heart. For everything you do flows from it. Everyone put their hand on their heart. This is your command center. This is the command center of your life. Everything, your business, your marriage, your friendships, your relationships, your education, your health, everything flows out of the heart. Last year, we did a series in our church called Above All Else. And I got a lot of people saying that the series really helped them to put it into writing. So I wrote my second book, Above All Else.

And it's 10 chapters that really dive into what the heart is all about. We talk about the hard heart. We talk about what happens when you've been robbed in a semifinal. When you were destined for your first final since 1966. We talk about those things. Who's ever had a hard heart? Four people. Who's ever had a hard heart? Come on. You've allowed something just to get in. Do you know you can even get a hard heart in church? I could say something today about Argentina and your heart could get hard in this moment. I'm just playing Espanol. What about a divided heart? A divided heart. Who's ever had a divided heart? You struggle to make a decision. Should I go to that city, that place, that church, that church, should I marry him or should I marry that guy? You know, we can be torn. Our hearts can so easily get torn when it comes to making decisions. What about a pure heart? Friday night. So John Bevere, he spoke on purity to these young people. I was so amazed to hear him speak so much truth

into our young people. But you know what the devil wants to do? He wants to take something pure and distort it. Do you know what God does? He takes something distorted and makes it pure. And so in the book I talk about even maybe you're trapped in destructive habits, how God can take something that's been so destructive and impure and he can create purity in the most impure places. But this is the key thing I want to land today is this, my heart is my responsibility. So many times we blame the government, we blame the White House, we blame our spouse, we blame our friend, we blame our employer for what's going on in our life. But here's what I've realized and King Solomon said it 4,000 years ago. He said, my heart is my responsibility. I have to take responsibility for what's going on in my heart. And so today in chapter four I talk about probably one of the most difficult subjects in the book. And it comes off the back of Jesus' teaching in Luke chapter four. Says he came to Nazareth which had been brought up and as his custom was he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read. And he was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah and when he had opened the book

he found the place where it was written. Let's read this together. The spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted. Now if you're English or French you need this verse right now. That was a joke. Jesus reaches back to a 400 year old prophecy. He declares his mission on earth. He could have drawn from countless other passages or prophets but he chose the prophet Isaiah. Who knows that every business or organization, charity, school, university has a mission statement. The mission statement of Soul Church, the church that Chantal and I lead is Christ's love in action. We want Christ's love to be put in action in our community, our city, the nations around the world. Christ's love in action. That's our mission. That's what we exist to do. So Jesus says, hey, I'm gonna come and he gives us his mission statements. He gives us six mission statements. The Sermon on the Mount or the Beatitudes. He says, verse one he says, his first mission statement, he's come to preach the gospel to the poor. He's not talking about necessarily poor and pocket. He's talking about pure in spirit which is all of us.

His second mission statement is really interesting. First thing he wants to do is see people say, the second he says, I have come to heal the broken hearted. Doesn't say he's come to heal the sick. Doesn't say he's come to fill your bank account or give you a new promotion or a new job. He says, I have come to heal the broken hearted. I realize that pastoring the church now, I've been in full-time ministry for 25 years that so many people's hearts are broken. In this room today, there is so much brokenness. Every one of us at some point in life, we face loss, tragedy, heartache, disappointment. And the older you get, you realize this, that life is full of losses. And nothing on earth works perfectly. Who's ever gone for the perfect vacation until you got there? Yeah? The perfect Christmas and then your mother-in-law arrived. Sorry, she could be watching, there is a chance. What about the perfect marriage? It was perfect until you got back from honeymoon. And then you realized what the future looked like. Because there's nothing perfect. Life is full of losses. And the hardest part of being a pastor, Pastor Joe and Laurie, isn't, isn't fundraising, isn't keeping the air conditioning on or all the heaters on in England.

Isn't navigating this crazy world and culture and politics and all the social things that are happening around. Do you know the hardest part of pastoring is the pain in our churches. Because one minute you can be celebrating with someone as they get married. The next minute, you can be burying someone. In fact, just last year in one day, I married someone in the morning in Boston. And I was in the church for a week. And just last year in one day, I married someone in the morning and buried someone in the afternoon. I went from the morning, we were celebrating, coming together of a lovely young couple and in the afternoon burying a family's loved one. Pain, pain is real. Pain is real for people. This is why Jesus said, he said, I have come to heal what's been broken. So if we don't know how to navigate these seasons, you know what heartbreak does? It can actually devastate a person's life. Here's the good news. God gives us tools and scriptures to handle these seasons of brokenness and grief. I wanna begin by asking us two questions today. The first question is this, what is a broken heart? In the book, I describe a broken heart as extreme grief or depression,

or if I like to call it in everyday language, it's like you're dying on the inside. On the outside, we come to church, we put our best on, we put a smile on, but you know on the inside, it's like you're dying. My daughter's here today, she's just 14. One of her close friends in her class at school just a few weeks ago committed suicide. So as a family, we watched our daughter at 14, she should never be going through that at 14. We watched what it was to see a little tender heart broken, and her school and her friends mourning. This isn't just one thing that's happening, and this is happening all over. A world is giving up, even at 14, the hope of living. When people do that, the only way they know is a way of escape. Many of you, you've experienced friends and family who've been lost. What's a broken heart caused from? It's caused by one word, separation. Whenever we're separated from family or relationships, or loved ones, maybe a spouse that you adored and they went off and did their own thing and left you, and now you're left with this brokenness in your heart. Do you know you can even have a broken heart from money? You work your whole life to earn money, and you lose it in a divorce, in a bad stock, and you can feel broken hearted with the loss of material things.

It's normal to feel that way, separation. My word today to you is that God can bring healing where there's been hurt and separation. How do I know that? How do I know that? Because Jesus said, or David said in Psalm 147, verse three, he's talking about the power of Christ. He says he's come to heal the broken hearted and bind up their wounds. So I wanna talk today for the next three and a half hours on the subject matter. Sorry, I grew up in a church where that was real. Anyone else know what I'm talking about? Come on, who grew up in a church where you're like, are we ever gonna get out of here before midnight? Yeah, you know what I'm talking about, brother. We stick together. You're not from Argentina, are you? Oh, good luck. Just wanna make sure before we're sticking together. I'm believing wherever there's been separation, wherever there's been separation, there will be healing in this room. And today would be the start, or today would be the continuation of God bringing healing. Now, I wanna just show you kind of a metaphor of how we're gonna go this afternoon, but there are two paths that we get to choose in life. Whenever your heart has been broken, wherever there's been separation,

there is a path the enemy wants to lead you on. It is the path towards unbelief. It's where you get disheartened, something goes against you, your heart gets hardened, broken, and you start walking, questioning, God, are you really real? Does the church really care? Is the pastor really, does he really love me? Is my small group really there for me? And we start walking and asking questions away from God towards unbelief. Now, the challenge with the path of unbelief is it doesn't stop with a broken heart, it stops with when you lose heart. And when you lose heart, the Bible talks about its path leads to destruction. And that's path number one. Now, we remember this, we cannot choose what happens to us, but we can choose the path that we walk. There are a whole lot of things we cannot choose. When things suddenly happen, death and destruction and we're lost, we cannot choose those things, but we can choose which path we walk. So the first path is towards unbelief that leads to destruction. The second path is the path towards the comforter, which leads to freedom. There are two paths that you can walk on the broken heart. I talk about them in the book to help people. The path to the comforter or the path to unbelief.

Matthew chapter five, verse four, Jesus says, blessed are those who mourn. on, for they shall be comforted. And the path of the comforter starts in complete abandonment to God. The path to the comforter, it doesn't always feel good. Who knows it doesn't always feel good to lift your hands and worship. You walk into church, it's the last place you wanna be, and they start singing a song, you're like, God, I don't really feel I lifted my hands. But as you lift your hands, what happens is you go on the path towards the comforter. Well, the other path is to unbelief. I've seen so many people in a season of mourning, not only with a broken heart, but they lose heart. We have two families, two individuals in our church recently faced in pretty similar circumstances, and they chose two different paths. First individual chose the path towards unbelief, questioning, questioning, questioning, questioning, questioning, looking for answers. They're no longer even part of the church community. Second group chose the path towards the comforter. Difficult, hard, windy road. But today, they're no longer in wounds, they're in scars. God has healed them, because he promises to heal the broken hearted. I'm not an expert on this, in some ways, I feel a little underqualified to speak on it,

but my wife who's here today, Chantel, when she was 31, eight years ago, her father, her father was murdered. He was shot dead in a drive-by shooting in Los Angeles. And I witnessed firsthand the pain of someone who was heartbroken. Chantel had to make a choice, many of you have heard her story, she shared her story in the women's conference here. Over the last eight years, she's had therapy, trauma therapy, counsel, support, love. Pastor Laurie's walked this journey with her. But his, Chantel's down the front, if you'd look at her, you'd think, well, there's nothing, she's just got it all together, everything's fine. Hasn't always been that case. But she chose to walk the path towards the comforter. She's forgiven the individual who did that act. You see, forgiveness doesn't make them right, but it sets you free. So she's chose to walk the difficult, hard, lonely path. But she now lives in freedom. Does she have the scars of life? Oh yeah. Does she have days where she feels like she goes backwards? Oh yeah, she has those days. But she's committed to the path to freedom. Remember, we don't get to choose what happens to us. We get to choose the path that we walk.

We've walked with so many people with heartbreak and tragedy, just like your pastors. And here's what I've realized. I cannot change what's happened to you. I cannot pray it away. I cannot press rewind on your life. But here's one thing I can, and I am committed, I am not a preacher, I am a local church pastor. I just love people. I wrote this book to help people simply do this, choose the right path. Because if you can get off this path towards unbelief, towards destruction, your life can turn around. If God can heal Chantel's heart, a broken heart, he can heal your heart. If God can heal the furthest heart, he can heal yours. And maybe today, just maybe, could be day one of your healing. The second thing that Jesus came to earth to do was to heal the broken hearted. That was your heart, and that was my heart. So the message is titled today, He Heals the Broken Hearted. Everything I share today is gonna take time. This isn't just a quick fix message. I'm kind of done with those messages where I sort of preach at people and they walk away feeling good, and the next day it's all back to normal.

I'm like, I wanna give you some tools to help you when we're gone tomorrow. Okay, so I know your pastor's heart. We track together. They want to see your heart healed, and they wanna see your heart whole. So I wanna give you seven prayers today to pray when your heart's been broken. Real simple, okay, real simple. I'm a simple guy, I come from a farming community, rural guy, you're not gonna get anything complex from me. You get that next week, okay? So I'm gonna give you seven, seven simple prayers to pray when your heart's been, and maybe you say, well, my. Your heart's not broken, well you share these seven prayers with someone whose is. Is that all right? Okay, so seven prayers. Number one is this. Lord, draw me close to you. Just gonna have a little sip of water. Oh yeah, my favorite, wave water. I'll come all the way just for that, Joe. Amazing. Lord, draw me close to you. Psalm 48, Psalm 34, 18. Lord, draw me close to you. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted. You know, whoever finds when their heart is broken

it feels like God is a million miles away. Come on, let's just be honest. Sometimes we feel that God is a million miles away. What we feel and what is real is different. The promise is he is close to the brokenhearted. God is not scared away by my brokenness. He's not scared off. You know sometimes you share your heart with someone and you never see them again? Because they get scared away. It's just too big, they can't handle. They can't help you process. God is not like that. When I was younger, my dad, he bought me a poem. I was like 12, 13, he bought me a poem. Most dads are buying like pictures of the latest American football stars, baseball stars. I got a poem. That was Harry Kane. I don't know if I ever buy my son, I just get him a Harry Kane post. My dad got me a poem. You know, this has actually gone from a poem to a personal story. I don't want to read this because it helps to really illustrate how God is close to us in a season of brokenness. It says, one night I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord. Scenes from my life flashed across the sky.

In each I noticed footprints in the sand. Sometimes there were two sets of footprints, other times there was only one. During the low periods of my life, I could see only one set of footprints. So I said, you promised me, Lord, that you would always walk with me. Why, when I've needed you most, have you not been there for me? The Lord replied, the times when you have seen only one set of footprints, my child, is when I carried you. Some of you right now, you're saying, God, where are you? God is saying, I am carrying you in this season. The writer of Hebrews put it like this, I will never leave you and I will never forsake you. God's plan is for you never to go through seasons of pain alone. His plan is to draw close. You say, well, that's all right, that's all right, because I don't really need Jesus right now. I don't really need to know he's close because my life is fine. I've got all the money, I've got my second home, I've now got my new boat, that's fantastic. But what are you gonna do when heartbreak does happen? Who are you gonna draw close to? I'll be totally honest, I don't know how people do life without Jesus. Sometimes I don't know how I do life with Jesus,

let alone do life without Jesus. Maybe you're here today. Do you know, I was on a plane, I was on that plane. I was like, this is a cool story. I was on that plane that was delayed for like 12 hours in Dallas. I'm sitting there, I witnessed to the guy. He was in church with his mom this morning. I brought him to church. He just came and got the book. I'm like, God, is that why I miss Wave Conference? I didn't miss that on Wave Water, because I got the Wave Water. He is close, he is close to the broken heart. The Lord is speaking today, and he's saying this. I'm close to you in the midst of your broken heart. Prayer number one, Lord, draw me close to you. Prayer number two, Lord, grieve with me in my brokenness. Who thinks it would be a bit weird if somebody came to see you in your brokenness, and you're crying, and you're mourning, and they just sat there staring at you? They were close to you, but they didn't grieve with you. Who'd think that's a little odd? They just brought their Starbucks and stared at you on the couch, and you're sobbing. Jesus isn't just close to you when you're going through a broken heart. It says he grieves with you. He says in Isaiah, he is acquainted with our grief.

What does acquainted mean? He is familiar with our grief. When he went to the cross, he took our grief and our pain on him. The reason you and I have the ability to grieve is because we were made in the image of God. God was all God, but Jesus was also all man. He was all man. He came in flesh and dwelt amongst us, which means he feels what we feel. God shares in our grief. God sees the war in Iran, and God sees the war in Ukraine. He sees the Christians being slaughtered in Nigeria today. He sees the famine in the Sudan today, and he grieves. He grieves. Jesus knew pain even before the cross. He feels what we feel. We know that in John 11, 35. It says that Jesus wept, Jesus goes to the tomb of his close friend Lazarus. I don't think Jesus was grieving because Lazarus was dead, because Jesus knew that he had the power of God in him and he was about to raise him from the dead. So he wasn't crying because he was crying because Mary and Martha were grieving and broken hearted. Who knows that sometimes when you, sometimes I do funerals of people I don't even know so it's hard for me to necessarily grieve the person who's dead. But when I walk in the room and I see friends and family and they are grieving, what happens is I draw close and I begin to grieve. A couple came up to me afterwards, they'd been through a huge tragedy in this church in the last two weeks. And she said, would you give me a hug?

So I held her, I began to well up. I know nothing of her situation, but I felt, it's like I felt her grief. Do you know Jesus is close to you right now in your season of broken, but he's not just close to you, he grieves with you. Sometimes in seasons of grief, sometimes I just put my arms around myself and I imagine the father with his arms wrapped around me saying, John, I grieve with you. I feel what you're feeling today. Jesus was the strongest man who ever lived, yet the Bible says he wept. Jesus is with you today. The pain you're feeling in your divorce right now, he's with you. The pain of losing a loved one, he's with you. He's with you. Lord, grieve with me in my brokenness. Prayer number three, Lord, bring me into community. When God brings healing to a broken heart, it rarely starts with answers. God starts, write this down, God starts the healing of a broken heart more often than not with a person, with a person. Who's ever been going through a broken season and God sent someone to you? God sent someone to you to walk that journey with you. God never meant us to go through seasons of mourning and brokenness alone. So what did God do? He said, I'm going to give you the church and I want to commend every single one of you. First of all, you've been up praying early this morning, that's why you're in church late. Okay, I know what you've all been doing this morning, you've all been praying. I know that. This is the most spiritual service. I can sense it. But I commend you for being in church today.

Can we just have a real honest moment? Who would say today, if you're really honest, you did think about maybe skipping out of church today? It could have been golf. Come on, it could have been the World Cup final. Come on, just get, come on on the left-hand side. The lady in the pink. Yeah, Pastor Joe's got his hand up. He was like, we've got Pastor John here, I'll just skip out. Here's the deal, you ready? Healing comes through community. Healing comes through community. Healing starts with Jesus drawing close to us, grieving with us, and then he says, I'm going to send someone to you. Now here's the deal, we need to be in community regularly. Why does everyone show up at Easter and Christmas and ticks the box? That's great when life's going well, but what when it's not? So here's what happens. We've got to be in community. Every person in this church needs to be in a small group. I'm too busy, I'm too old, I'm too young. I've got no time. No, no, no, we have to create time for small community. This is a small church with a lot of people. Oh, I prefer a small church. Well, you better not go to heaven. People say that to me all the time, I prefer a smaller group of people. What's going to happen when God sends a revival? Are you just going to keep moving churches until you find a small one? When we get to heaven, we're going to be surrounded by billions, billions of worshipers.

We've got to get used to big. Every tribe, every tongue, every generation worshiping God. Pastor Joe, this is the smallest this church will ever be. How exciting is that to think this is the smallest this church will ever be? Because God is building His church. But we're not just talking about a big group of people, we're talking about you and your community. We need community. Everyone in this church, join a small group. You need community. Lord, bring me into community. Prayer number four, now put your belts on because this is the hardest prayer of all. We're about to hit some turbulence. Lord, give me courage to surrender my need to understand. Who's a why guy, where's all the why people? You know when I was on that tarmac in Dallas, I'm like, I want to know why. They're saying there's a maintenance issue. What issue? Where's the issue? Who's fixing it? When are we leaving? Because I'm a why guy. The problem is with why guys is when turbulence comes in our lives, when our hearts are challenged, when our hearts are broken, we want to know why. Why God is this happening to me? And when we go on the why train, we end up on the path to unbelief. Because God, if you're so good, why? God, if you're so kind, why? If God, you're so loving, why? But why takes us on a path of unbelief?

So we have to surrender our need to understand. Now this is so difficult because some of you have been through so much pain and trauma in your life. And you've searched your whole life, and you've been asking God the same question, why? Here's the deal. Most questions of why will be unanswered this side of eternity. I hate to be the bearer of bad news today, but you're searching for something that you will not find. So what do we do? We surrender it to God. A couple of years ago, I was given a gift. It was a kneeling cushion. Now I'm told that it's around 200 years old, from the 1800s, from an Anglican church that closed down. I got hold of this. It smells that way too. It's one of the most precious things that I was ever given because probably tens of thousands of people have knelt on this cushion and offered up tens of thousands, maybe even more of prayers over the centuries. So many of those prayers have been, God, I don't understand. But though he slay me, yet will I trust you. For the last two years, every morning before I head out on the school run, I kneel on my prayer cushion. Not religiously. I'm not talking about religion. I'm talking about a posture of surrender. Say, God, I'm frustrated at this thing at work, I'm hurt, I'm letting go of my shame. But God, I surrender through the help of your Holy Spirit, the need to know why. And the Holy Spirit comes upon me. And do you know what this has done?

It's kept me on the path towards the comforter. Because if I don't surrender my need to know why, I'm going to end up on the path of unbelief. Which path ends in destruction. I didn't know what to get. Every time we come in, we like to bring Pastors Joe and Laurie a little gift to say thank you for their love and care for our church and for our family. And I managed to get hold of another one of these. And I wanted to give them this as a gift. As a reminder that every day, you can surrender your need to understand, knowing that the Holy Spirit is with you. And this is a treasure, because every time I kneel on my prayer cushion, I think about the thousands of people that have gone before. And if God heard them, God will hear you. So I want to give you this gift, Pastor Joe and Laurie, as a treasure. Bless you. This is a hard prayer to pray. You know how many times I've said to God, God, I would just loved, my kids don't have a grandfather. I was even, my son was playing in a competition, a soccer competition here this week. And even I was on the sidelines yesterday, I thought, oh, wouldn't it be amazing if a granddad would be able to watch his grandson play football. I started a little bit on the path, and I felt the Holy Spirit say, surrender it, surrender it, get back on the path towards the comforter, because the devil will keep trying to get you on that path. It's amazing how subtle it is. It can be just a thought. It can be just, I'm just going to skip church this week. I've had such a tough week, I'm just going to skip out. Next week? Oh, I missed last week.

I'll come back in September, when everything's cooled down a little bit. And suddenly, before you know it, you're waiting. watching box sets every night, eating Doritos, questioning life, and then suddenly you're here and you're going, God, I thought you loved me, I thought, what happened? Simply, you chose the wrong path. Remember, you cannot choose what happens to you, but you can choose the path that you walk. Lord, I surrender my need to understand. You know what, if Jesus had to do that, we have to do it. The night before he was crucified, what did he say? Not my will, but your will be done. If Jesus had to surrender his right to understand, I have to surrender my heart. Is this helping anyone? We're gonna land this plane in just a couple of minutes, and we're gonna land it safely. But I wanna just share just two more, okay? Prayer number five is this. Lord, help me draw close to your word. When our hearts have been broken, the only way to heal is to stay close to the healer. Who knows, if your leg's broken, you don't wanna see the dentist. Yeah? Imagine walking into the dentist, can you fix my broken leg? He's like, wrong place. Jesus, listen to me, everyone in this room,

everyone watching online, every campus, listen to this. Jesus is the only one who can heal your broken heart. Psychology can't, a psychologist can't, yoga can't, looking to the stars can't. Jesus is the only person that can heal a broken heart. And the devil, during a season of loss and grief, he will do anything he can to keep you from his word. It says this, it says he gives strength. He gives strength to the weak. And increases the power of those who've lost strength. Let me just say this, if you ever get an opportunity to visit someone who's broken hearted, don't just bring sympathy, bring your Bible. Yes, be there close to them and cry with them, but speak God's word over them. You know, I've been at the deathbed of many, many people. I've been at some critically ill people. But there's only one thing, who's ever been at someone's bedside and think, I've just got no words. Whatever I say seems to come out wrong. Do you know, when you read God's word, it can't come out wrong. It's one of the best tips. I travel the little Bible in my glove box in my car. Every time I visit someone who's sick, I take my Bible out, and when I'm thinking, I don't know what to say, I'm gonna put my foot in it here, I'm gonna say the wrong thing, I open up Psalm 23. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

I was holding someone's hand in hospital a few months ago, they were unconscious and they had not moved, they hadn't done anything. As I began to read God's word, I was squeezing them, they began to squeeze my hand. They couldn't communicate with their words, they couldn't communicate with their body, but their spirit was connecting with my spirit. When you begin to speak God's word into the atmosphere, the spirit connects with the spirit. His word brings strength. Lord, help me draw close to your word. Prayer number six, Lord, in your time, use me to bring healing to others. Do you know we're either in one of two groups today, we're either going through pain and we need comfort, or we need to comfort others. If you're not in pain or heartbreak right now, someone in your world is. And Jesus' mission is your mission. He has sent you to heal the broken hearted. I watched the new documentary on Netflix on Hurricane Katrina, I think it was the 20 year anniversary recently, and the governor of Louisiana was asked what their strategy was when dealing with Hurricane Katrina. He said this, he said, we called upon the church to bring help and comfort. Wow. He didn't call upon the local golf club.

He didn't call upon the local government. Who did he call upon? The local church. Why? Because we are the hands and the feet of Jesus to a hurting, a broken world. You say, well, my heart's not broken. We celebrate with you, but someone's around you is. So now God has healed you so you can help others in your world. Remember, God starts the healing of a broken heart more often than not with a person, and that person could be you and me today. Our final prayer is, Lord extend to me purpose for my pain. This is called by psychologists, redemptive pain. It's the highest and best use of pain. Because God doesn't want you to waste your hurt. He wants to use it. Think about who can help better the mother of a special needs child than another mother of a special needs child? Who can help someone who's battling cancer better than someone who's battled and beaten cancer? 2 Corinthians 1 says, who comforts us all in our troubles that we may be able to comfort those who are experiencing trouble. What I'm about to say, I don't want you to forget. Write this down. It's in the book, but I want you to write this down because it's important. Our greatest ministry in this life comes out of our deepest hurt. Just stand up, Chantal. I don't want to embarrass you, but I'm going to embarrass you. My wife is beautiful on the outside, but she's incredibly beautiful on the inside. But it hasn't always been that way because she was dying on the inside because of the trauma and the pain. But now she's whole because she chose to walk the path towards the comforter. It's taken months and years to walk to the destination

called freedom. But because the sun set her free, she's free indeed. And today can be day one of you turning around. Like Chantal, she now gets to stand on platforms all over the world and tell her story. And she speaks from her scars, not her wounds. Today, your wounds can become your scars. And you can see the Holy Spirit move through Chantal, through the Holy Spirit, just like she did Chantal. Your story, your story can become a miracle for somebody else if you allow his spirit to move on you today. Would you just close your eyes? Don't judge your story right now. Don't judge the journey before it's over. There is purpose in your pain. God wants to redeem you today. I'm going to simply pray as a closing moment. I want to pray these seven prayers once more over you. I'd love to know who I'm praying for. You're saying today, Pastor John, I've been on the wrong path. I've been walking towards unbelief and I even feel like the enemy's trying to steal and destroy my life. Today, you're making a turn, 180 degrees. Maybe you're watching online and you felt the Holy Spirit ministering to you in your home, in your workplace, listening in the car. You're saying today, Holy Spirit, I need you to come and begin a healing work. Remember, we cannot change what's happened to us, but we can choose the path we walk. You're saying, Pastor John, today I need healing. And today's the first day of my healing. Would you just lift up your hand right now? All over this room, just lift it up. If you're watching online, write something in the chat. Say today, I choose the path of the comforter. Write that in the chat, I choose the path of the comforter. Let me pray these prayers over you. Holy Spirit, right now, draw me close to you. Holy Spirit, would you grieve with me in my brokenness? Holy Spirit, would you bring me into community? I do not want to do this journey of pain alone. Lord, would you give me the courage to surrender my need to understand? I realize today that I may never get the answers that I'm looking for. So God, I surrender it to you. I take the posture and I bow before you. I bow before you. Though you slay me yet, I trust you today. Lord, would you help me draw close to your word? I might not feel like it, Father God, but would I pick up my Bible just for one minute every day and draw close to you? Lord, in your time, would you use me to bring healing to others? Lord, redeem my pain and show me in your time how you can extend to me purpose for my pain. May I be able to take my story. May my mess become my life message. Holy Spirit, keep us on the path towards the comforter. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.

The Holy Spirit is moving right now. He's here. What you're experiencing now, you don't just have to experience in church, you can experience in your daily walk with Him. As you hold out your hands and you kneel before Him, I believe that He wants to minister to your hearts. He heals the broken heart. I feel like the enemy has told multiple people in this room that your heart can never heal because of what you've been through. That is a lie from the enemy. That is a lie from the enemy. God begins the healing work today. Today it begins. There's no magic wand. It starts today. You are on the healing, the healing path. He has sent me to heal the broken heart. Amen. Amen. Church, I love you. Thank you for being in church today. Don't be one of those people who just pops in once a month. Be planted in God's house. Amen.