Healing Starts Here | Names of God | Pastor Brian Aulick

Come on, let's bless this day. ♪♪♪ Thank you, Lord. ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ There's nobody like you, God. Yeah. ♪♪♪ Come on. ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ Come on, does anyone have a testimony? What can they say? ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ And just this morning, I just want to take a moment and be transparent. I feel like as I was coming into church today, I just felt this heaviness in my heart. Just this heaviness, this cloud, this weight. And I just want you to know that as your worship pastor, even there are times when I feel like I have to really fight to give God a glory today. But I want you to know that when you sing, and when you think about the goodness of God, everything has to come into alignment. Where your mind forgets the goodness of God, when you sing, your soul reminds yourself of the truth of the gospel. And all across the room, as a sign of surrender, can you just lift your hands? Can you just focus on the goodness of God? Come on, maybe you came in with joy and happiness today. I want you to know the Lord has more joy for you in the room today. ♪ I thank you Jesus ♪ ♪ That when I call on your name you always show up ♪ ♪ When I call your name you always come ♪ ♪ Every time I call your name ♪ ♪ Every time I bless your name ♪ ♪ You are faithful to call and meet me ♪ ♪ For the weary heart in the room ♪ ♪ You're faithful to meet them right now ♪ ♪ And the humble secrets are still there ♪

♪ Sweet the song that saved a wretch like me ♪ ♪ And I once was lost but now am found ♪ ♪ And I once was lost but now am found ♪ ♪ Was blind but now I see ♪ Come on, do you feel that joy, the Lord in the room today? Come on, just sing that. ♪ Into amazing grace how sweet the sound ♪ ♪ That saved a wretch like me ♪ Thank you, Lord, for saving me, God. ♪ And I once was lost but now am found ♪ ♪ Was blind but now I see ♪ Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Lord. ♪ I am an instrument of exaltation ♪ ♪ And I was born to lift your name above all names ♪ ♪ You hear the melody of my heart ♪ ♪ Of all creation ♪ ♪ But there's a song of praise that only I can bring ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy, who else is worthy ♪ ♪ There is no one but me and Jesus ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy, who else is worthy ♪ ♪ There is no one but me and Jesus ♪ ♪ You are the infinite God of the ages ♪ ♪ Yet you chose to make my heart forever in praise ♪ ♪ You hear the birthplace, show me your glory ♪ ♪ So I have song of thanks that even angels sing ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy, who else is worthy ♪ ♪ There is no one but me and Jesus ♪ Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy?

There is no one Only in Jesus Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one Only in Jesus Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one Only in Jesus You're the only one worthy Lord Seated high, seated high We bring our praise as a sacrifice to you Jesus Come on let's sing out Lamb of God Lamb of God, anointed one For once it is, it is to come Seated on the throne above Holy, holy Righteous one who shed his blood Rebuke to us the Father's love Jesus Christ be lifted up Lamb of God, anointed one For once it is, it is to come Seated on the throne above Holy, holy Righteous one who shed his blood Rebuke to us the Father's love Jesus Christ be lifted up Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy?

There is no one Only in Jesus Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one Only in Jesus There is no one Only in Jesus There is no one Only in Jesus Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one Only in Jesus Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one Only in Jesus There is no one Only in Jesus You call me strong and courageous When I don't feel like I am You could have turned me away But you chose me instead You say that I'm gonna make it When I don't feel like I can You see the battle I'm facing And you're stepping in You're in it with me Working through me

Fighting for me God is not against me You're in it with me You're working through me Fighting for me God is not against me And I have a new revelation A Savior who calls me His friend And I used to fight on my own, but never again And I have a power that's greater Than all of the enemy's lies And I know the truth of the gospel You're on my side, You're on my side You're in it with me, You're working through me You're fighting for me, God is not against me You're in it with me, You're working through me You're fighting for me, God is not against me You're in it with me, You're working through me You're fighting for me, God is not against me You're in it with me, You're working through me You're fighting for me, God is not against me You're not against me Lord, You are for me Jesus Thank You Lord, thank You God again You got plans to prosper me Jesus My best days are still ahead Your way So I'll be clear on the mountain This is not my fight, You are my defense You hold my life, this is my confidence You are by my side, You have called me friend You hold my life, this is my confidence This is not my fight, You are my defense You hold my life, this is my confidence You are by my side, You have called me friend You hold my life, this is my confidence You're in it with me, You're working through me You're fighting for me, God is not against me You're in it with me, You're working through me You're fighting for me, God is not against me You're in it with me, You're working through me You're fighting for me, God is not against me You're in it with me, You're working through me You're fighting for me, God is not against me This is not my fight, You are my defense You hold my life, this is my confidence You are by my side, You have called me friend You hold my life, this is my confidence This is not my fight, You are my defense You hold my life, this is my confidence You are by my side, You have called me friend You hold my life, this is my confidence Thank You Lord, thank You Lord The God is not against me

Thank You Jesus, thank You Jesus The God is not against me No matter what your feelings are telling you, I'm here to declare in Jesus Christ, God is for you Somebody say God is for me In Jesus name, Amen and Amen Give God a praise Well that's the way we start out a Sunday If you want you can grab a seat It is so good to be with you today My name is Brian, if we haven't met And I'm so glad you came into church today We've got a great day in front of us And the very first thing I want to do is welcome our other locations And so I want to say good morning to our Grand Rapids campus We love you so much. I want to say good morning to En Gedi Español and to all those who are joining us online across the country, to those who are joining us from jails and prisons through the Pando app. We just want you to know we love you. It's a privilege to study the Word of God with you today. And can we make some noise for first-time guests today? Can we do that, church? You're here for the first time. Man, we honor you, all right? So glad you're in church. I got a couple of things before I get to the preach. I got a couple of things I want to share with you that are coming up, both of which I'm really excited about. So the first thing I want to share with you is this fall we are launching something brand new and it is called En Gedi College, all right? En Gedi College. And here's what En Gedi College is all about. You can get an internship here at the church while simultaneously working towards a four-year accredited college degree through Southeastern University. OK, that's En Gedi College.

And the cool thing is all of your work and all of your internship time here at En Gedi actually counts toward that undergraduate degree. We're so excited about that to help build into and raise up more leaders here within our church. Now, I don't know if you've noticed this, college is expensive. Anybody notice college is expensive, yeah? So the cool thing about this degree is it's only gonna be about $12,000 a year. I know that's a lot of money on the one hand, but compared to what unnamed schools might cost in the vicinity of West Michigan, I'm telling you $12,000 is a good deal. And so that's gonna launch this fall. We couldn't be more excited about it. If you have interest in En Gedi College, and man, this is brand new off the, like right off the press here. So you can email us, college at engedichurch.com, college at engedichurch.com, and we will share everything we know. We'll get you more information if that's something that interests you. But again, our heart is, we're just like, we're looking at the next generation. And we feel like, honestly, here's what I said to our team. I don't believe that it's gonna be vision that limits what God wants to do through En Gedi. I don't think it's gonna be finances that limit what, I think it's gonna be capable leaders for the kingdom of God. And so we're just saying, God, do it. Raise them up, raise them up, raise them up, raise up the next generation. In fact, our son Evan is gonna be one of En Gedi College's first students. He just finished his freshman year at a local unnamed university, but he is transferring to En Gedi College for this fall, and so that's how fired up our family is about it. I hope we'll have many more join him. It's gonna be a great, great year. So that's En Gedi College.

The other thing I wanted to share with you, just as we get going today, is that Christina and I are actually going to begin an eight-week sabbatical time beginning tomorrow morning, in point of fact. And so we're excited about that, eight weeks. And some of you know our journey around En Gedi, that normally in the, in the summer I do like a study intensive is what I call it, and it's not just chilling on the beach, it's like I go into a room and I sit with a bunch of books in my computer and get ready on messages for, for the coming year. This is not that. A few years previous, our elder board said, what can we do to really help build into and care for the long-term, long-term sustainability and, and vitality of our, our pastoral team? And they said, we want to create a sabbatical program where every seven years or so, our full-time pastors can have a period of time, about eight weeks' time, for just ministry rest and rejuvenation. And so that's what this is. And man, I just need to stop there and say, can we just thank God for elders who have the heart of our staff? I mean, I love that. I want to honor our elders. Our elder team spends hundreds of hours serving and overseeing our church on your behalf. They're not visible, they're not on the platform, they do it because they love Jesus and they love you and they love this church. But anyway, they created this sabbatical opportunity and Christina and I have been waiting. We wanted to do it together, we've been waiting until we were, you know, like empty nesters and our final kid was in college. And once he was in college, we're like, we outta here, all right, it's time. And he's home for the summer, but we're like, you're big enough now, bro, your meals, you figure it out, all right, we don't care, you're gonna do your own thing. And we're gonna go spend some time on this sabbatical and we're really excited about it.

We're not tired or burned out in the slightest, but what we are eager for is God to use the next weeks. We're gonna visit churches all over the country, all over the world, to be quite honest. We're gonna spend time with ministry leaders and our prayer is just like, God, would you speak into our spirits? You've been faithful for the first 20 years of En Gedi, God, would you breathe into our spirits with everything we need for the next 20? That's what we're praying for and we're expecting for that in this sabbatical time period. And so, I'm just so grateful for our elder team for making it possible for Christina and me to do this. I wanna ask y'all two favors, are y'all up for two favors? Man, you guys are so optimistic, like you don't even know what the favors are yet. I just need one. $1,000 from each one, no, I'm kidding, I'm kidding. Two favors this, number one, if you would just pray for us over these eight weeks. We're just hungry to hear from the Holy Spirit, okay? And I would love if you would pray for us as we're traveling, we're gonna get on a plane Monday and we'll be in England by Monday night. And I just wanna ask if you'd be praying for us during this time for what God has to do in us and how that can be a benefit to Engedi Church. That's what we're really about for this sabbatical. The second thing though, I wanna ask you to do, you're good with praying for us, right church? Everybody good on that? Second thing I want you to do though is I want you to come every Sunday just expectant over this next eight weeks

because I think God wants to do some incredible things over this time period. And listen, we've got enormously great speakers coming in. We've got people that you know, but we've got some guests coming in that you have never met before and you're gonna have some good Sunday starting next week. I'm not even gonna talk about next week, it's gonna be incredible. So I wanna ask if you could come in every single week with expectancy for what the Spirit of God wants to do. Can you do that church? All right, sounds good. So that's our sabbatical and now we're gonna get to the actual preaching. Can we turn to the Word of God today? I mean, let's go with this, right? The series we've been in is called Names of God. And during this series, we're looking at the different names God has addressed by in the Old Testament. And the reason why studying God's name is important is because every time you understand one of God's names, you get a little bit clearer glimpse of God's character, who God is. And as you understand who God is, you can better understand how he wants to meet you exactly where you are, even today. And so today, the name of God we're looking at

really speaks to God's ability to meet us in our places of deepest pain and deepest need. The name of God we're looking at today is Jehovah Rapha. Everybody shout out Jehovah Rapha. And Jehovah Rapha means the Lord heals. The Lord heals. Here's what I know. There are many right now in the sound of my voice in Holland, online, in Grand Rapids. There are many in the sound of my voice who could use a touch from God today. And some of you need a touch from God emotionally. You have hard memories or experiences from the past that keep surfacing in your mind or in your heart and keep pulling you down, keep pulling you back. Some of us need a touch of God physically. Some of you wake up today and even today, as you got going and got ready for church, you are in pain. You're facing some kind of sickness, pain, or even disease. And you're like, God, I just need you to show up. And some of us are dealing with mental health issues. We feel like we keep getting stuck in depression or some kind of other mental health place. And I know many of us need, and just, man, we would just need and benefit from a touch from God. What grieves me for many of us in the church today is I think that many of us are not leaning into God's power as Jehovah Rapha, the God who heals. I think most Christians would say, oh yeah, I pray to God.

Like, hey, God, you know, if you can do something about this, would you? But I think the truth is many of us have more confidence in medicine than we do in God's miracle working power. And I've just been praying for this message. God, I'm like, by the way, I'm a fan of medicine, all right, everybody? Like I took two ibuprofen yesterday, all right? I'm a fan of medicine, but watch this. I wanna have at least as much confidence in God as I do medicine. And ideally, I wanna have more confidence that my God can do a miracle than I do a pill in a bottle, right? That's what I'm praying for for today, that God would raise up, he would increase our faith and expectation that he is Jehovah Rapha, that the same God we read about in the Bible is the same God we worship right now. So let me pray and then we're gonna get into it. And so Father, right now, I just say thank you that you are Jehovah Rapha, the God who heals. I know even as I pray, there are profound needs and pains in this space. I pray through the power of the Holy Spirit, Jehovah Rapha, you would meet us right now. You would increase our faith in this moment

to believe you're actually present and you can do something about that place of pain that we're facing. I pray for the person who doesn't know you yet, who doesn't have a relationship with you. I pray this is the day they come home to you. I pray this is the day they realize the greatest need in their life is not a physical healing, but as a spiritual forgiveness. And I pray this would be the day they discover your grace and love through Jesus Christ. God, we have expectancy now. We have faith for this moment. We have trust in your word. And we pray, would you speak to us in Jesus' name? And everybody said, amen. If you have a Bible, could you turn to Exodus chapter 15 today? Exodus chapter 15. That's where we're gonna study from. I want to give you some context as you're turning there. And so Exodus chapters 13, 14, and 15 really describe when Moses leads the people of Israel out from under slavery and bondage in Egypt. They were in for 400 plus years, they were in slavery in Egypt, and Moses comes in through great signs and powers, ends up bringing them out, delivering them, there's the word I'm looking for with much stutters, and he brings them out, and then as they are leaving, as they're away on the promised land, they encounter their first problem. This is Exodus 15, verse 22, it says, Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea, and they went into the desert of Shur. For three days they traveled in the desert without finding water.

When they came to Marah, they could not drink its water because it was bitter. That's why the place is called Marah. And so the people grumbled against Moses, saying, what are we to drink? Now I just want to make a quick point here, some of you have been leaders at some point in your lives, and you've had that place you've been in where you're trying to lead people, and they're already grumbling against what you're trying to do, right? We got no Chick-fil-A ice in here, man, we're grumbling against you, right? We just got the normal ice. And you're like, I've been trying to lead you well, and I just want you to know, leaders, if you've ever had somebody you're trying to lead grumble against you, moms, dads, you're in good company with Moses, all right? And I just — it always — it makes me laugh when I read this. Moses had literally just performed signs and wonders, delivers Israel from 400-plus years of slavery. They are three days into freedom, and the people are like, yeah, but what you've done with us for us lately, you know? So just know, leaders, you're in good company, all right? Three days passed, they're grumbling against Moses, we got nothing to drink out here. And so listen to how the text goes on, verse 25, it says, Then Moses cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a piece of wood. He threw it into the water, and the water became fit to drink. There the Lord issued a ruling and instruction for them and put them to the test. He said, if you listen carefully to the Lord your God, and you do what is right in His eyes, if you pay attention to His commands and keep all of His decrees, I will not bring on you any of the disease — diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord who heals you. Or in Hebrew, I am Jehovah Rapha. How many of you know today our God is a healer? Our God is a healer. He is Jehovah Rapha.

He has always been a healer. Going all the way back into the Old Testament, we can chronicle all of the different places that God healed people. I'm gonna just highlight a few of them. Genesis chapter 20, there is a man named Abimelech and his wife, they could not have kids, their womb was closed, and Abraham prays over Abimelech and his wife, and they get pregnant. Skipping forward to Numbers chapter 12, Miriam gets leprosy, a horrible skin disease. And Moses prays over Miriam and that skin disease is healed. Skipping forward to 2 Kings chapter 20, King Hezekiah is about to die. He knows he is about to die. He calls out to the Lord and he said, I'm not ready yet, would you give me some additional years? And God says, as Hezekiah, you have sought me in faith, yes, I will preserve your life. And all throughout the Old Testament, I could point to so many stories, our God was a healer. Somebody shout out, God heals. This is the story of the whole Old Testament. God heals. Then we move forward to the life of Jesus. It's hard, honestly, to know where to start when you're describing God working through His Son Jesus Christ for healing. Anybody ever heard of the famous story of blind Bartimaeus, right? Mark chapter 10, and here's this blind man named Bartimaeus, hasn't seen a day in his life. He asked Jesus, would you heal me? I want my eyesight back. Jesus prays over him and all of a sudden, Bartimaeus sees again. God heals. Or I think of, for example, in Mark chapter 2 where Jesus encounters a paralyzed man. And this dude has not walked ever. Jesus prays for him.

He is healed in that moment. I'm telling you, that guy was dancing a jig after that thing, right? He was healed. He was in his legs again. Or perhaps what is in my mind one of the most touching healing stories in all of the Bible, is when Jesus healed that woman who was subjected to chronic bleeding in Mark chapter 5. And because she was always bleeding, she was deemed unclean by the Jewish codes of that day, and so she was ostracized from community. She was on the margins of fellowship and friendship, and she came to Jesus desperate, believing that he would heal her. If she could just touch, even just the hem of his robe, And he did. He healed her. she would be healed. He healed her. And Jesus, when she touches his robe, realizes that healing power has gone out from him. And he said, what happened here? And he encounters this woman, and she is healed in Jesus' name. Man, all throughout the New Testament, we see God healing through Jesus Christ. Somebody shout out again, Jesus heals. Now, you would think, all right, I see God moving in the Old Testament. I see God moving through the life of Jesus Christ. But that's Jesus. What about all the normal Christians? And if you turn to the book of Acts, what you quickly find is the story of God healing continues.

Acts chapter 3, Peter encounters a man who had been lame since birth. And he prays over him and heals him. And that man is now dancing and jumping around and hollering that he's got his legs back. Acts chapter 14, the apostle Paul encounters a crippled man. And he prays over him. And that crippled man is healed. Acts chapter 20 has what may be my favorite healing story of all the Bible. I find this one really funny. There's a dude named Eutychus, young guy. And the apostle Paul is teaching late at night. They're on a second floor meeting room. And Eutychus is sitting in the windowsill of this house. And he's listening to Paul teach. The only problem is, the longer Paul preaches, the heavier Eutychus' eyes get, if you know what I'm saying. I always tell myself, if like somebody could fall asleep during the apostle Paul, then when I'm preaching, I need to show some grace to all of you. When I say yes, I catch some of you. You think you're getting by me. You are not getting by me. All the way in the back, I see heads bob once in a while. I went up, back in the day, I thought maybe we'd put a little electrical system in the seats where I could give you a little something something

while I was preaching. But we thought, that's probably not a good idea. But this man, this boy, or young man, it says in the text, Eutychus, is nodding off. And finally, my man Eutychus, Paul's preaching so late and so long, it says Paul wouldn't stop talking. Finally, Eutychus just straight up falls asleep in the windowsill, and what would have gone surely viral as a reel on Insta, is he falls out of the window. I mean, the story is hilarious, but for the fact that dude falls down and dies. Outside of that, but it's funny up until then. But what's interesting is, all these people see Eutychus on the ground, dead, Paul says not to worry, he prays over Eutychus, and just like that, in the witness of all of these people, Eutychus is raised back to life. Could somebody shout out, God heals. Now what I want you to see here, I'm taking you on a survey of the Bible right now. And I just want you to see that all the way from Genesis, and as we'll see later, all the way to Revelation, last look at the Bible, last book of the Bible, healing is filling the pages of Scripture from absolutely cover to cover. If you removed all the miracle stories, all the healings from the Bible, I'm sorry, you wouldn't have much of a Bible left, because what the Bible is clearly declaring is, our God is Jehovah Rapha, our God is a God who heals.

And I know some of you like right now, yeah, surely healed in the Bible, surely healed in the Old Testament, surely healed through the Son of God, through Jesus. Maybe he healed with the early church, but can I tell you something? God is still healing today, church. He's not done, like it didn't stop when the pages of Scripture were closed. Listen, if you want some great stories of healing, reliable, verified accounts of healing, I'm gonna give you two books right now, get ready. Number one, Miracles Today by Dr. Craig Keener, Miracles Today, and the other book is The Case for Miracles by Lee Strobel. These are two books, all these two authors did, Lee is a Yale-trained journalist, all right? All these two authors did is they compiled account after account of where the power of God showed up in somebody's life and the person was healed. That's what these books are about. Man, they'll encourage your faith. One of my favorite stories, favorite stories of modern-day healing is a lady named, happened to a lady named Barb Snyder in Wheaton, Illinois. Y'all know Wheaton's in Chicagoland, right? The wrong side of the Great Lakes, right? The wrong side, the Chicago side. We got the pretty side, I used to live in Chicago, trust me, it's no good, right?

We got the good side of the Great Lakes. And Barb lives in Wheaton, Illinois, and at age 15, at age 15, Barb was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, MS. From that point on, age 15 on, she saw her body steadily deteriorate. She lost the ability to control her bathroom functions and doctors had to accommodate for that. She needed to be on oxygen 24 hours a day. She lost most of her vision. Eventually, Barb was bedridden for seven years. and was fed through a feeding tube. This was her life. This is what M.S. took away from her. And so on one summer day, really as her life was beginning to wind down, her aunt and her two friends come over for a visit. And as they are visiting, Barb hears these words in her heart, My child, get up and walk. My child, get up and walk. Barb believes God is speaking to her. This woman who had spent seven years in bed on a feeding tube immediately gets up out of that bed, removes her oxygen, her vision is restored, and she proclaims to her aunt and to her friends, God just did a miracle. He healed my life. This is just three hours away from us, church.

This is what her doctor said the very next day, direct quote, Here was my patient who was not supposed to live another week totally cured. No one had ever seen anything like this before. I consider it a rare privilege to observe the hand of God performing a true miracle. Barb has gone on to live a normal life in every way. God is healing. Jehovah Rapha is still at work. And in case those are still like your size, Chicagoland is too far, Brian. It's too far. I need some closer. Let me just give like personal witness here. I've prayed with four couples over the last few years who for either months or in some cases years were unable to get pregnant and on four different occasions, nine months after I prayed for that couple, I was introduced to their child. God did that, all right? First time I was like, well, that's good timing. Second time, I'm like, there might be something here. Fourth time, I'm like, Jehovah Rapha, let's go. All right, Jehovah Rapha's on the move. That's not, doesn't mean every time I've prayed for a couple trying to get pregnant, they've gotten pregnant. But after four times, I'm like, man, I think Jehovah Rapha's doing something here. You want to hear a great healing story? Talk to our executive pastor, Josh Blum. He was hosting today. He's down here in front. Josh will share his story with you.

He was, he was in this accident. He shattered his heel. After his heel was shattered, they put in 10 screws and a plate. The doctors told him half of the people who get that surgery never run again after they get that surgery. That was concerning to Josh because he's a big runner. So Josh gets the surgery. It goes well. The main problem after the surgery was every time Josh would get up, he would have tremendous soreness in the foot that was operated on, even sometime after the procedure. He tried to run. Anytime Josh would run, his foot had all kinds of soreness to it. He could not run without being in pain. So one time, we're in Chicago with our pastors at a retreat. I don't know what it is about Chicago, okay? I'm just saying, God's doing something, right? We're in Chicago at a retreat, and our pastors all lay hands on Josh and pray over his, over his heel, over his foot. And after we've been praying for a while, we take a break. You can do this, by the way. When you're praying for people, you can take a break and you can say, do you feel anything? Are you sensing anything right now? We took a break. What's going on? Do you feel anything, Josh? He said, not really. You ever been there when you prayed for somebody? I don't know.

So we said, well, let's keep praying for some more. We prayed some more, and it was interesting because as we're praying over Josh, all of a sudden, Josh just is tremendously emotional. Tremendously, as we found out later, just felt the presence of God come over him. And if you know Josh, he's a very level person emotionally, so this was different seeing Josh, you know, being emotional. And he said that he felt some warmth where we were praying. He felt some warmth in his heel and in his foot. So we finished praying, and one person asked Josh, you know, can you tell? Were you healed? Is there anything different? And Josh is like, well, I mean, he told us about the warmth, but he said, honestly, I don't know if I'm healed. I won't know until the morning. That's when I get all the pain or when I go for a run. And it wasn't time to go for a run. We had a meeting to do. So that wasn't going to happen. Next day, Josh, he's right down here. You can talk to him after church, all right? You can ask him, verify everything I'm saying, all right? Next day, Josh gets up, and he starts to walk down the hall at the place we're staying. And the moment he starts walking, all of a sudden, he's walking. He's like, oh my gosh, I don't have any pain in that heel. My man had woken up with pain every single day since the surgery. All of a sudden, he's not walking with any pain. He's like, I think God might have done something. So what's Josh do next? He's like, I know what I'm going to do next. I'm going to go for a run.

Let's see if this thing's cooking, right? My man goes out and runs three miles. And for the first time since his accident, he ran with absolutely no pain. Why? Jehovah Rapha touched his body and healed him. This is what Jehovah Rapha does. He is in the business of healing. How many of you know God's not done? Man, we've gotta get this locked into our minds. I love Hebrews chapter 13, verse eight, great famous verse. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Read that out loud with me, read it out loud. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Do you know what that tells me? It tells me, yes, Jesus, all those years of the past, God was healing people, that's who he was. It tells me in the future, God's gonna be healing people. In fact, if you read Revelation 22, and I believe verse four, it says when Jesus comes back, and when new creation is here, heaven is once and for all settled, there will be no more mourning, no more crying, no more sickness, or no more pain. Why? Our God is a healer. It's who he was in the past, it's who he is in the future, but can I tell you, it is who he is right now. Jehovah Rapha is present right now. And you are, Christian, you are Christ's follower,

his agent of healing in this world. It is important you understand this. Man, too many Christians are living their lives thinking like praying for healing and being agents of miracles is something reserved for special Christians, friends. That's not the case at all. When Jesus was given some of his parting instructions to his friends and to his followers, listen to what he says. John 14, verse 12. Very truly I tell you, Jesus says, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing. Somebody shout out will do. Will do. Ordinary Christians. He's not saying might do. He's not saying could do. He said if you follow Jesus, you will do the things that he has been. And then as if that shouldn't blow your mind enough, he goes, and they will do even what, church? You gotta say it better than that, all right? He says, and they will do even greater things than these because I am going to the Father. Now listen, either Jesus is crazy or he is promising to do a great thing through your life. It's one of the two. Either Jesus is confused, crazy, just talking in hyperbole,

or he's got a plan. How could Jesus possibly say this? Why does he say you'll do greater things than him? Why does he say you'll do the same kind of things he did once he goes to the Father? Because he knows that the moment he ascends to be with the Father, the same Holy Spirit that animated and empowered his life is going to descend on every Christ follower and animate and empower your life. That's why he can say it. Do you realize the Holy Spirit dwells in you? I want you to think about that for a moment. You read the pages of Scripture and you go, look what Jesus did. Look what he said. Look how he healed. He did all of that by the Holy Spirit. And he says the same Holy Spirit that empowered his ministry is dwelling in your life. Man, some of you, you think like you got the junior version of the Holy Spirit. You did not get the junior version of the Holy Spirit. There is no such thing. The same Holy Spirit that dwelled in Jesus' life dwells in yours. Some of you are like, I got the mini version. I got the mini me version of Holy Spirit, right? Jesus got the full, I got the mini me Holy Spirit.

There is no mini me Holy Spirit in the kingdom of God. And because you got the full dwelling of the Holy Spirit in your life, Jesus says you will do the works that he has been doing and you will do even greater things than this. And I know sometimes, you know, some of us were pulling back from God's power to heal in our lives. I understand it. And we pull back. Sometimes you prayed for somebody for a really long time. God, would you heal? God, would you heal? God, would you, and they didn't get healed. Or you prayed for yourself. God, would you deliver? God, would you deliver? And you didn't get delivered and you're still fighting that battle. And it's diminished your confidence in God to heal. Or maybe you have seen God heal, but you're like the number of people that I've seen get healed and experience a touch from God is way fewer than the people that I haven't. And that's diminished your faith. And listen, all I'm calling for today is for us to be a church that claims in faith that the same Jehovah Rapha, who worked in the Old Testament, the same Jehovah Rapha,

who worked through the life of Jesus, the same Jehovah Rapha, who was active in the New Testament, the same Holy Spirit who is dwelling in us right now can do greater things, just like Jesus did greater things. Are you willing to believe that church? Are you willing to actually believe that God can do something through you as an agent of healing in this world? He is Jehovah Rapha. Somebody shout out Jehovah Rapha. That's what we're talking about today. Now just because God is Jehovah Rapha doesn't mean he will heal every person we pray for. There are all kinds of reasons why we don't see people get healed. Sometimes the reason why you might not see somebody get healed is because, how many of you know we're still living in a spiritual battleground right now. There's still a very real devil, there's still a very real enemy who is battling against the people of God and the power of God. And even though we know through the resurrection that Jesus Christ has won the war and will win the war, there's still going to be some battles that the devil wins. And we are, right now we are caught up, our lives are contested territory and every day we are still fighting spiritual conflict, sometimes the reason why we don't see healing when we're praying for it is because the devil is winning certain battles. Sometimes the reason why we don't see healing when we ask for it is because, truth be told, the person who is praying for the healing doesn't have much faith that God will show up. It might be the person that wants the healing, it could be somebody praying on another person's behalf. Oh, and yes, you might be praying and going through all the motions, God, you see this

person, would you heal them? But if we were just doing an X-ray of your heart, deep down, you have high levels of skepticism that God will actually do anything in their lives. And no matter how you slice it, the Bible says that the combination of faith and healing is very, very important. It doesn't mean that when somebody is not healed that it is always the case that somebody didn't have enough faith, but can I tell you, friends, in the Bible, faith and healing are very important and they need to go together. Sometimes people aren't healed because there isn't enough faith in the prayer being prayed. Sometimes the reason why we don't see healing when we seek it is because the sickness that we see is actually connected to a sin that we do not see. In a westernized world, we tend to think of our lives in a very compartmentalized fashion. I've got my financial life over here, I've got my spiritual life over here, I've got my physical life over here, I've got my relational and marriage life over here, and they're all separate and distinct parts. Friends, can I tell you, that is not how God looks at your life. All of your life is one life and united. And sometimes what happens is we are calling out to heaven, God, would you heal me? And God is calling back to you, would you repent of that sin? For some of us, we are fixated on the symptom, but the actual problem is we are not dealing with the root issue of sin in our hearts. And it's preventing and getting in the way of receiving the healing that we seek. And then a final reason why sometimes we don't receive the healing that we hope for is because sometimes God uses suffering and sickness for redemptive suffering. Somebody say redemptive suffering. You ever been through this? And I'll tell you what, see a great example of it in 1 Corinthians chapter 12. The apostle Paul is conducting his ministry and he says that he is, what he describes as a thorn in his flesh. We don't know exactly what it was, but something was getting at him so much so he said, I pleaded

with God that he would remove this thorn in my flesh. He said, I prayed three times, God, will you take this thorn away? And three times the Lord said no. And what he said is, the thorn was given to me that I might stay humble in the midst of the surpassingly great revelations God was giving me. And I'll just go on record as saying this, some of my times and Christina's times of closest intimacy with the Lord have been during times of suffering. You ever experienced that, anybody? Sometimes God doesn't heal immediately because he's got something bigger for us than just a healing. And that is drawing close to him, redemptive suffering. I do not always know why God doesn't heal. But nevertheless, I know my God is still a healer. I do not know why God does not respond to every prayer for healing I pray. But despite that, I know Jehovah Rapha still wants me to be used as an agent for healing in this world. And that's what I've been praying for, is that even through this message and this Sunday, God would increase our faith for healing. God would increase our expectation that he is still at work. I've been praying that there would be a new spirit of spiritual risk-taking in the house today. I've been praying that there'd be a new spirit that says, I want to be a person who regularly prays for people who are hurting. plays for people who are sick because I believe Jehovah Rapha is not done I don't believe Jehovah Rapha's power is limited to the Old Testament or to the New Testament I believe God's power is for me right now in Jesus name that's what I'm praying for church that's what I'm praying for let's believe God for it and so for the people in the house who want to be used by God for the people in the house who say I want to be an agent of healing with the power that the Holy Spirit has put in me I want to just give you three principles today for

praying for the healing of others or even yourself the first is very simple and that is that you would pray with faith everybody say pray with faith pray with a confident expectation that God hears your prayer and he will move on your behalf it's interesting that story we looked at a few moments ago where Jesus heals the woman with the bleeding issue after he heals her he says this daughter your faith has healed you go in peace does that mess with you at all like every time I read that I want to be like it's a good thing you're Jesus or I would want to correct you right now because I want to be like no Jesus her faith didn't heal her you healed her Jesus her faith didn't heal the Holy Spirit healed her but watch this faith and healing are so closely connected that Jesus can say to this woman daughter your faith has healed you whenever you're approaching an opportunity to pray with someone who has a need friends you've got to actually believe that God is still Jehovah Rapha you've got it you've got and if you're struggling with that you say God increase my faith like that father who who is doubting and wrestling with doubt when his son was sick increase my faith increase my faith help me I'm doubting God I need more faith because watch this faith and praying with faith are tightly connected to seeing God move in healing everybody with me so far principle one pray with faith principle number two pray for as many people and as many needs as you possibly can here's the truth to be honest praying for healing was supposed to be a basic part of what every Christian does on a regular basis from the very beginning of the church I just be straight with you church I'm gonna give you here's Jesus bottom line baseline instructions for Christians I'm not talking to superstar Christians I'm not talking to you don't miss a Sunday at church ever and are like perfect in every way you know all that no no I'm talking to normal Christian here's what Jesus said as you go he said proclaim this message the kingdom of heaven has come near first he says go out and tell people the gospel that they can have a relationship with God by putting their trust in Jesus Christ who died on a cross for sins proclamation is important sometimes I'll run into people that say

oh you know pastor I don't like to talk about God but I tell people about God through my lifestyle listen your lifestyle is important but the only kind of gospel people are gonna hear is the gospel that you share with them with your mouth every time Jesus talks about the good news it says he proclaimed it everybody say proclaim that's half of it but then watch this this the other half verse 8 he goes on heal the sick Christians raise the dead cleanse those who have leprosy drive out demons freely you have received freely give for the first 350 years of the church normal Christ followers just assumed a regular part of following Jesus was praying for sick people it wasn't spiritual superstars it was normal Jesus followers like you and me just what Christians did and here's why praying for as many people and as many needs as you possibly can is so important years back I had a mentor friend who goes all around the country and teaches on on praying for people's healing and he said sometimes he'll train people about how to pray for healing and he said the people leave his training and they go out and they pray for a few people and they don't see anything happen and then they'll come back to me like oh I did everything you said but nobody got healed man it's not working and he said whenever somebody comes to you comes to me he said and says it's not working I always ask them one question I was like on the edge of my seat what's the one question it's gonna be super spiritual he goes I asked him do you know what a good batting average is I was like that is not spiritual bro that is not spiritual at all But I'm like, he said, I asked him that and he goes, do you know? And I said, yeah, it's like in the 300s, right? 300s is a good batter, 350, you are a killer batter. And he said, think about this, a good batter average is in the 300s, which means the batter only gets a hit at about a third of the times that he's at bat.

Only a third of the times does he get a hit. And so he said, watch this, anytime somebody comes up to me and says, I prayed for some people and nothing happened, this guy said, I always tell him, here's your assignment. You go pray for a hundred people and then you come back and talk to me. Because how many of you know, the more people you pray for, the more people you intercede for their healing, the more times you're gonna hear a healing story on the other side, right church? We're gonna pray for as many needs and as many people as we can. I want you to almost make a game out of it. Like God, where are the people I can pray for? I'm gonna pray for people sitting next to me in school. If I hear somebody that's at my job that's hurting, hey, can I stop and pray for you? I'll do this at restaurants. Man, I've had times, they don't know I'm a pastor or anything and I'll just say, how's it going? And I'll just discern that the server is in a tough place. And I've had it where, I feel like the Holy Spirit's saying, you need to pray for her right now, right here. Friends, I'm a pastor, it's still awkward, all right? It's still like, but I'm in a restaurant, God. This is gonna be weird, man. We're praying right here, like the food's supposed to come out. But how many of you know,

the Holy Spirit talks to you, you gotta do that, right? And man, I've had moments where, just real quick, I'll say, can I pray for you? I always ask if it's all right. And I remember one particular time, she said, yeah. And I prayed, it was just a short prayer, like 30, 45 seconds, man. I got done, ladies' eyes were just filled with tears because the Spirit of God was ministering to her right then, all right? And my point is this, I just want you to challenge yourself, pray for as many people and as many needs as you can. And some of y'all are going, well, I'm too embarrassed or I feel too insecure to do that. You know what I wanna say to you? Get over yourself, don't care. Can we put somebody else's healing in front of our own comfort zone? Could we put somebody's healing in front of our own? How are we gonna look in front of them? Could we be a church that says, I'm gonna care more about people and taking risks in faith than I am about looking good all the time? So we're gonna pray for many. And then thirdly, and lastly, we're gonna pray with perseverance. Everybody shout out perseverance. Perseverance. I love this.

In Mark chapter eight, there's a story of Jesus praying for a blind guy. It's one of my favorite healing stories. Jesus prays for this blind guy. He's like, after the prayer, he's like, all right, let me check in. What do you see? And dude's like, I see people, but they look like trees. And Jesus is like, we are not done here yet, clearly. And so the next thing Jesus does, he prays for him again. And then he checks in. What do you see? He's like, I got it. I can see clearly now. It's like a two-stage healing. It was a process. And then there's this other story I love. There's once a group of lepers, skin disease, came to Jesus. They want a healing. And it's interesting, because instead of Jesus healing them, right there in the moment, this is Luke 17, Jesus said, here's what I want you to do. I want you to go and present yourselves to the Jewish priests. And if you read the story, the text goes on. It says, as they were walking, they were healed. As they were on a journey of obedience, they were healed. Watch this.

What both those stories tell me is, sometimes healing isn't a moment. Sometimes healing is a process. Sometimes healing isn't one simple prayer. Sometimes healing is a journey of prayer. Too many of us, we give up too fast. We're praying for somebody. I prayed for them. It didn't seem like it worked. Well, keep praying then. Some of y'all had needs. You come up to the prayer room, or the prayer corner up here. Somebody prays over you, and you're like, I went up to church that one day. Nothing changes. Well, guess what you do the next Sunday? Come on up and get prayer again. Love this story. Dr. J.P. Moreland tells, and he wrote a book called, this is the best title ever. It's called A Simple Guide to Experience Miracles. A Simple Guide to Experience Miracles. He said, there was this Jewish woman who was, her body was riddled with cancer. And she knows that his church, which is the Anaheim Vineyard Church in Anaheim, California. We're gonna be in Anaheim in a few weeks, Christine. That's one of the areas we're visiting. And she comes in, this Jewish woman,

and her doctor had said, you just need to get hospice. There's nothing more we can do. It's time to prepare for the end. So she comes into his church. She says, could you guys pray for me? It's a prayer meeting. And they pray over her. They check in, how are you feeling? They say, anything change, anything shift? She's like, I feel really encouraged. I feel like God's love, but I don't feel like anything. change in my body, week one. Week two, same Jewish woman comes back again to the prayer meeting. And she said, would you pray over me? They pray over her. And she said, I feel, check in, how you doing? She said, I feel encouraged, I feel the presence of God, but I don't sense anything changing in my body. Week three, she comes back and she says, would you pray over me? And as they're praying, she says, there was a feeling of heat and electricity from the very tips of her toes to the top of her head. And she said, in that moment, as they were praying, I knew I was healed. She goes to her doctor the next day. The doctor does all the scans that you do to figure out if the person has cancer.

He sees absolutely no evidence for cancer. He says, as far as I can tell, you are healed. She gives her life to Jesus in that moment and is following him today. Our God is Jehovah Jaffa. Our God is healing. But notice, as good as that healing story is, it happened in stages. Do you see that, church? It wasn't one prayer, one moment. I'm like, thank God she came back for week three. Thank God the prayer team came back from week three. Thank God the prayer team didn't say, I tried, it's not working. I guess I'm just gonna quit. They stayed faithful, they kept interceding, they kept believing for her healing in Jesus' name. And so what I wanna do is take some moments at the close today here to just give us an opportunity to pray. Feels like it would be, we'd be missing something if we spent a whole message talking about praying for healing and didn't make space to pray for healing. But before I do that, the most important healing you can receive is not physical healing, actually, it's spiritual healing. The most important healing you can receive is to have your sins forgiven through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And so what I wanna do is, if you haven't taken that step of giving your life to Christ, I wanna give you that opportunity right now. Could you bow your heads with me? Amen. If you are here today and you have not yet taken the step of admitting you are a sinner before God, admitting you cannot save yourself nor forgive yourself, admitting that you need the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, His bloodshed to pay the punishment for your sins and mine, if you're here today and you wanna begin to follow Jesus as the leader of your life, then I wanna give you that opportunity. I'm gonna count to three. And when I say three, I'm just gonna ask you to raise your hand as a sign before God that today you wanna give your life to Christ. And you wanna begin a personal relationship with the God who loves you and the God who formed you. And I'm not gonna call you out or embarrass you, but by simple raised hand, you are saying, yes, God, today's the day I wanna come home to you. And so one, I want you to know God loves you so much He gave His son Jesus on the cross for your sins. Two, the same Jesus who died on the cross was raised to life three days later so that you could be raised to new life. And three, if you're here and you wanna give your life

to Jesus Christ and begin a relationship with God, could you put your hand in the air, wherever you are right now, whatever campus, I see you. Anybody else who's saying today is the day I need to give my life to Christ. Today is the day I need to come home to God. Today is the day I need to ask Him to forgive my sins. Anybody else in the room that's in that place? You can put your hands down, I see you, awesome. Let me pray, Father, for each person who wants to take that step. We confess our brokenness and our sin. We confess we fall short of your standards. Would the blood of Jesus be applied to our lives? Even in this moment, Father, would we receive your forgiveness? From this point forward, we follow you, Lord Jesus, both now and forevermore, we pray in Jesus' name, amen. I wanna invite our prayer team to come up at all of our locations. I wanna just kind of spread out across the stage here in the front. James chapter five says, is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them. And anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. Oil was a sign of the Holy Spirit's presence. Verse 15 says, and the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well, the Lord will raise them up.

And so over these next moments, we just wanna create some space to pray. I'm gonna ask you in just a moment to come forward if you'd like someone to pray for you. If you'd like to be anointed with oil, we will anoint you with oil. We are gonna ask God to release His healing power in your life. But before we release our locations, I want to just pray over this moment and invite God to move. Father, we believe you are Jehovah Rapha. We believe you are still healing today. And even today, God, I know there are hurts in this room. There is sickness, disease, and pain. There are emotional hurts. There are deep physical wounds, and God, we need your power to heal. And so Jehovah Rapha, over these next few minutes, as we pray in faith, would you move in power? Would you demonstrate your care, your love? Would you demonstrate your healing ability? We pray it in Jesus' name, amen. Let's stand to our feet and let's worship together. As I worship, I just want to encourage you, exercise some courage, come forward, and receive prayer for whatever you have in your life where you would like God to show up. Thank you Jesus, this is the hour of need, this is the hour of need, this is the hour of need, this is a place of praise, where every demon treads, where we proclaim your name, this is a house of healing, our hearts are full of faith, you have our full attention, you have the final say, come alive in the name of Jesus, come alive in the name of Jesus,

this is a house of miracles, we bring everything to the feet of Jesus, everything in the name of Jesus, this is a house of miracles, thank you Lord, this is a house of miracles, there's resurrection power, your blood runs through our veins, your kingdom of triumphs over all, even the coldest grave, thank you Lord, so come alive in the name of Jesus, come alive in the name of Jesus, this is a house of miracles, we bring everything to the feet of Jesus, everything in the name of Jesus, this is a house of miracles, come alive in the name of Jesus, come alive in the name of Jesus, this is a house of miracles, we bring everything to the feet of Jesus, everything in the name of Jesus, this is a house of miracles, I still believe you're moving, I still believe you're speaking, God I believe you're working, oh please forgive, I fixed my eyes on heaven, God I rest, God I believe you're working, oh please forgive, I still believe you're moving, I still believe you're speaking, God I believe you're working, oh please forgive, I fixed my eyes on heaven, God I rest, God I believe you're working, oh please forgive, so come alive in the name of Jesus, come alive in the name of Jesus, this is a house of miracles, we bring everything to the feet of Jesus. ♪ In the name of Jesus, everything ♪ ♪ In the name of Jesus, this is a house of miracles ♪ ♪ This is a house, this is a house of signs and warnings ♪ ♪ Signs and warnings, I see signs and warnings all around me ♪ ♪ I see signs and warnings all around me ♪ ♪ Your spirit is on the move ♪ ♪ Your spirit is on the move, it's moving ♪ ♪ It's moving, your spirit is on the move, Jesus ♪ ♪ It's always working, it's always working ♪ ♪ It's always working ♪ ♪ The God that was and is to come ♪ ♪ The power of the risen one ♪ ♪ The God that brings the dead to life ♪ ♪ Yeah, the God of miracles, the God of miracles ♪ ♪ The God of what, the God that was and is to come ♪ ♪ The God that was and is to come, I thank you, Lord ♪ ♪ The power of the risen one ♪

♪ The God that brings the dead to life ♪ ♪ The God that brings the dead to life ♪ ♪ You're the God of miracles, you're the God of miracles ♪ ♪ You're the God of miracles ♪ ♪ So I believe in you, I believe in you ♪ ♪ You're the God of miracles, I believe, Lord ♪ ♪ I believe in you, I believe in you ♪ ♪ You're the God of miracles, I thank you, Lord ♪ ♪ I believe in you, I believe in you ♪ ♪ You're the God of miracles, I believe in you, Lord ♪ ♪ I believe in Jehovah Rapha, I believe in you ♪ ♪ I believe in you, you're the God of miracles ♪ We're just gonna keep praying in this place. If you're praying up here, just keep on praying. Church, I hope you know Jehovah Rapha is moving even right now. And here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna end a little differently today. We're gonna keep praying. I know, and this is true first service, it may be that you wanna receive prayer and you haven't come up yet, and that's okay. We're just gonna keep praying in here and kinda keep an atmosphere of worship. I'm gonna ask you to, as you exit in just a moment, to use the side doors. We won't open up the barn doors. If you wanna go to Engedi 15, that's gonna happen right now. If you do have kids in ministry,

you do need to pick them up. But we're just gonna keep praying and worshiping in here. I'm gonna pray us out. So Father, even as we pray, even as this room is filled with faith, thank you, Jehovah Rapha, that you are here. Thank you, Jehovah Rapha, you are setting things right. Thank you, Jehovah Rapha, that you are healing sickness, that you are freeing us from oppression and addiction. And I pray that as we leave this place, God, we would be agents of healing in our world, knowing that we have been created for greater things than this. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we pray it in Jesus' name. Amen. God bless. Go in peace.