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Everybody stand up. Let's give the Lord a hand clap. Prayed Jesus, we anticipate what you will do in this service. Yeah, yeah. Yes, yes, yes. Come on. How many believe God's gonna do something today? How many came hungry and ready? Come on, don't come to church if you're not hungry, genuinely hungry. Get leaning in and say, "God, I expect something to happen." Turn to your neighbor and say, "I expect something to happen." Go ahead, do that, and then be seated.
I want to say hello to all the campuses. I love multi-site church. I didn't know it would work. I didn't think it would work. I went on a prayer retreat, and I felt like God said, "You're going to do multi-site." I said, "God, it won't work here. It won't work." How many know God knows what he's doing? And I want to say hi to all the campuses that are watching. And I love, I love, love how technology allows us to just be all over the place. And so again, thank you for all the campuses that are watching. Can I say this—I love your pastors. I mean, he didn't say I'm enough, but I feel like he's my brother. Okay, I love your pastors, and I know right now they're on a much-needed break. But if you love your pastors, they might be watching this right now, livestream. Can you show your love and appreciation to your pastor, Jonathan and Angie? We love you. We sat next to each other on the bus the entire time in Israel. I have seen him with a shepherd scarf on, holding sheep. I've got—all right, I got pictures. I could blackmail him. But anyways, I want to let you know, too, that I have admired your church since 1984. Okay, that goes way back. Many of you probably weren't even part of the church then, but I go back then. I went to Bible school here in Louisiana, and I remember that Bethany was the place to go. God was doing something amazing here, and I was leaning in all the way back since 1984. Many of my best friends in ministry are sent out from your church: names like Chris Hodges, Rick and Randy Bizet, Casey Hennigan, all the Hornsby family. I mean, so I have what I would call church envy. You know, I'm talking about—I love my church that I pastor right now. I have a wonderful church in Minnesota, but I have envy because I see the spiritual heritage that's here. I see the longevity that's here, and I just see Pastor Larry in the way that he has raised up his family, and and I see the way that he's raised up these ministers that have been sent out. So if you could just adopt me today and make me part of your family, can you just do that? So from now on, I'm part of the Bethany family.
So anyways, I love this state. I love Louisiana. I went to Bible school here. A side note: I asked my wife to marry me here in Louisiana. It was in a park right by your church here with the South Campus. We're in a park. I wanted to go out in the, you know, out in the park and propose and get on a knee. I didn't have a ring, and that is a problem. But hey, but I want to at least get on the knee and like ask her, but it was pouring rain, like it does in Louisiana. So we're in a car, and I asked my wife in a park, you know, and I said, "Will you marry me? I want to spend the rest of my life with you. You know, will you marry me?" And she said, "Maybe." Guys, if you don't have a ring, that's as good as you're going to get. I'm just going to tell you right there, if you're in a car and you're not on a knee. And so I just want to show a picture of my wife and my family if they could throw that up on the screen. Yeah, my wife, DeAnn, is with me today, and our oldest boy, Connor, next to be in our youngest son with the hat, Logan, and they are just—they love Louisiana. LSU is their favorite team. And so we're part of you. Okay, so I just want to let you know, we're here. We love you guys.
Now I love your Bible reading that you're doing. Okay, your pastor just talked to you about that, the Bible reading. I want to tell you this, that the number one thing that that changed our church was when we had everyone read the Bible together. We've been doing it for years now. Okay, we assign two chapters every day, year-round. Okay, two chapters every day, the whole church does together. Now I love that you're doing through the Bible in a year, and what he said was, even if you aren't keeping up, get in on this. Okay, God is going to do something. There's something there about reading the Word of God, letting the Holy Spirit speak to you while you read the Word of God. Where those things—how many know there are like time-release moments in the Bible? Okay, you read it one time, and if that scripture—you read right over it. You read it another time, and bam, it jumps out, and God gets you. Let Him get you and read the word. Get back on this and do this. And so I jumped in with you. I said, "I'm going to do the same thing," and they said, "If you can preach from one of the texts that the people are reading," and I thought that was great, so I did it. And I jumped in with you guys, and I loved your reading last week, and I was—how many know I was like David and Goliath is there? Okay, so I was like, "That is a good one, God." I mean, I was giving God's suggestions for the sermon, but God, that is good. That's David and Goliath. That's good. And you know, I mean, I thought it'd be really good. Our youngest son, the one with the hat, he's kind of an artist/entrepreneur, and he has a jewelry piece that's releasing this week. He has a company called Urbane, and it's called "Where the Story," and his jewelry piece releasing this week is called "The Giant Killer." I think they have a picture of it they can show on the screen. Okay, in that little, little piece of jewelry is a rock from the Valley of Elah where David killed Goliath. And so here's the thing: I'm there in Israel with my son, and I'm seeing rocks, and he's walking around going, "Business to be started! Yeah, saying, 'I think God, elevate my thinking. Elevate my thinking.'" Okay, then I make a pre-shot David and Goliath. Um, I felt very strong about this. I felt very strong as I was reading with you that John chapter 9 just jumped out at me. John chapter 9, the story of a man born blind that was healed. Okay, and and I just—it just jumped, and again I was suggesting other texts, other passages, other things, and then you're thinking, "Okay, I'm going to preach on healing," and I'm going to preach on—is this resonating with what God is doing in the church? So I called Pastor Jonathan. I said, "Hey, I want to know, is this something you think is resonating?" And I believe it is something that is resonating right now for your church.
Okay, I want to tell you right now, I believe this: faith is more like a muscle than we realize. Faith is more like a muscle than we realize. And if this area of the church is getting weak, it's because we're not exercising it enough. We are not stepping out in faith enough to believe for healing, to believe for God to do something supernatural, for God to show up in a mighty way. And so we start getting comfortable, and our faith starts to atrophy. Our faith starts—and we don't give it up. We love Jesus. We love Jesus. Jesus is a savior. Jesus will help people, but we start taking away part of what Jesus has paid for, part of what he wants to bring to us. And so we start sanitizing Jesus and weakening Jesus, and Jesus becomes, "Yes, you will save you if you have a problem." We almost turn Jesus into chaplain Jesus. And what—somebody needs a miracle? What we don't need to do is bring them chaplain Jesus. We need to bring them miracle-working Jesus, healing Jesus. Okay, I'm serious now. Again, please don't get me wrong, the chaplain part, piece part is good, but let's not negate the price that Jesus paid for our healing. Let's not negate the—so let's let our faith rise up. And I think God is is is starting the church again on what I would call a faith workout. Again, God wants to put you on a faith workout right now to have your faith rise up so you can believe God for more. You can start expecting signs and wonders again. Start expecting the supernatural. Start expecting something to stir up in your heart. Okay, again, let's not just make it so easy, so light, so tame, Jesus. I'll expect Jesus is dangerous. He's dangerous. If we want to have the next generation serve Jesus, we need to expose them to the dangerous part of Jesus. All right, so we got to get there.
So when I read John chapter 9, and I'm there with you on this reading, this story jumped out at me, and the healing story, John chapter 9. Let me just read it: "As he went along—as Jesus went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, 'Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?' 'Neither this man nor his parents,' said Jesus, 'but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me; night is coming when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.' After saying this, he spat on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man's eyes. 'Go,' he told him, 'wash in the pool of Siloam'—this word means 'sent.' So the man went and washed and came home seeing. His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, 'Isn't this the same man who used to sit and beg?' Some claimed that he was; others said, 'No, he only looks like him.' But he himself insisted, 'I am the man.' 'How then were your eyes opened?' they asked. He replied, 'The man they call Jesus made some mud, put it on my eyes, and told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see.'" Amazing story. Amazing scripture. And it's not like, okay, that's what Jesus used to do. Jesus still does the miraculous today. Jesus is the great I AM. He's not the great I WAS, by the way. I love your feedback. All right, in Minnesota, they're so—you know, Minnesotans are so tame. I mean, they're just like this—is a screaming Amen in Minnesota. Okay, so thank God. I thank God for the South. I did a pastor's—dare I just say it? Is all right. I want us to move from, you know, "Is—would God ever—can God do that? Would He do that?"—He would—He did—our—I want to move in a progression today. And I again, I don't want us to let go of healing. I believe healing is for today.
Now I'll just tell you just a glimpse of where we're going with this. I—the reason I'm so passionate about this: I was in a spot as a spirit-filled preacher—as a spirit-filled preacher, I was in a spot where I started preaching Jesus as saving Jesus, loving Jesus, probably not going to heal you Jesus. I'm just telling you. I'm telling you. And it came from personal experience, and I got to a spot—and here I am, a spirit-filled preacher, and and people are asking for me to pray for the sick, and I'm in that spot. So it's a bad spot. So I was there, and I got out of that spot, and I don't want you to stay in that spot if you're there. Okay, so that's where my passion comes from. Let me read a couple scriptures on healing. Psalm 103, verses 2 & 3: "Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits—who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases." It says, "Don't forget his benefits." Have you ever had benefits that you've forgotten about? You didn't know—like maybe you stayed at a hotel and you did self-park and it was raining all the time, and then at the end they said, "Did you enjoy valet parking?" And he said, "Say what? I had valet parking? I didn't have that benefit." How many know you—you're upset that you didn't take advantage of the benefit? He says, "Don't forget the benefit." He says in Isaiah 53, verse 5: "But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed." And I'm thinking, if Jesus took the price, if Jesus took the punishment, I want to make sure that I am unwrapping whatever he paid for. I want to make sure I'm believing for whatever you paid for. Matthew 4: "Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness among the people." Exodus 15:26 talks about God, and he says, "If you obey me, I won't bring all these diseases that I brought on the Egyptians," and he says, "For I am the Lord who heals you." Okay, that's where we get God's name, Jehovah Rapha. Whenever God is revealing a name to people, he's telling them who he is, what he's like, what he does, what he will do. Okay, so he told us in Exodus, he said, "I'm the God that heals you. That's who I am." We've got to grab hold of this in faith, believing that's who he is. If he's going to reveal himself this way, he obviously wanted us to know this. Mark 16, verse 18: It talks about the disciples, those of us—even those that are following today—it says, "They will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well." That's something that we're called to do. Again, James talks about, "If anyone's sick, let them call for the elders, and let them anoint them." Here at all of our campuses at the end of the service, we're going to pray for the sick. We're going to have prayer team members and elders that will anoint you with oil and pray for the sick and believe what Jesus paid for can be applied to your life.
Now in this story, it's an amazing thing. It's an amazing thing. You know, the Bible, we have chapter divisions, and that's great for our reading plan, but when the Bible was written, there weren't the chapter divisions. And so if you go back to chapter 8, you'll see that Jesus was—that the crowd was upset with him. The crowd is upset with Jesus, and that the story tells us that they were going to stone Jesus. And Jesus slips away from them. He's there; they're upset with him, and he's running from a stoning. They're about to kill him, and he's running from the stoning, and he's getting away, and the Bible tells us, and then he came upon a man, and he stopped, and he fixed—now think about that. Jesus is running from death, and he stops because somebody in pain catches his attention. If you are wondering, "Does God love you? Does God care for you? Does God know where you are?" Even on his worst day, when they're trying to kill him, he still stops and goes, "You need something." That's the loving God. That's an amazing Savior. Okay, on my best days, I walk past easy knees and go, "I'm too busy. You do the same thing. Where like, 'I'm too busy. I gotta go. Somebody should help you. I hope so.'" You know, how many—nobody got a flat tire? Like, in summary, I have so many—they got AAA. Yeah, praise God. Yeah, I—my best day, I mean, I'm going to golf or something. I got plenty of time. I like—praise God. Hope—yeah. And Jesus, on his worst day, is stopping to help this guy. Okay, and he—in this moment, he is interested in helping, healing, and bringing a miracle. And what happened? His disciples stopped with him, like, "We gotta get out of here! They're gonna kill us!" And also, "Geez, like, stop!" And he looks, and they're like, "Uh, who—somebody say something. Somebody—somebody tell Jesus, who sinned, this guy or his mom? Like his parents? Whose fault is this?" And you can just almost—the way I see the picture, you know, like with my imagination when I read the Word of God, I almost see Jesus given one of those like, "You're kidding me. You didn't just ask that. You're not saying—seriously—just—" You know, almost like my parents, like, "Don't make me say your middle name," you know? I'm saying, like, it was one of those like, you know—that's how I see Jesus. And it's like, "Wrong question." Try to tell you this: when you see—so when you see pain, stop asking the wrong questions. Just start wanting to help. But we do it all the time. We are more like the disciples than we are like Jesus. We see people in trouble, and how many know how—how they—how they get there? How'd they get there? What did they do? And how many know, based on our bias, we fill in the story, right? We have a cognitive bias. And so if we like the person, we're like, "Probably they had some bad breaks." If we don't like them, we say, "They made bad choices." And the disciples are like, "Who made a bad choice? Who—who did something wrong here?" Matter of fact, they believe if you were born blind, probably one of your parents was messing around sexually. So they were basically saying this guy's blind, and we know where that comes from—was it Mom or Dad? Seriously? That's what their culture did. Isn't it crazy how culture can fill in the story? And we do it all the time. We do it all the time. And we were like, "I don't know why." I fill it in. And they—they did that, and they—they're probably there, and that's probably the reason. I used to do that all the time. I just admit—I used to fill in the story: us—bad choices, bad choices, bad choices. Until this—two years ago in December, I'm working out. I'm working out. I am doing Insanity. Anybody else ever do Insanity or P90X? All right. So I'm doing lunges and high knees. High knees, honey. I'm get ready, you know, 6:00 in the morning. I'm being faithful. I'm keeping the weight off. I'm doing this, and I'm working out, and also, you know, I mean, I just feel like something in my body just exploded, and I don't know what it is, and I fall to my knees. I just start sweating, and I'm like, "I think I'm having a heatstroke. I don't know what's going on." And so I go up the flight stairs, and I wake up my wife. I said, "I don't know what's happening. I said, 'I was working out. I just—I feel hot. I can't stop sweating.'" She said, "You think it's your heart?" I said, "I don't think so. I was just—I just had a really good physical, and they said I'm doing good. I'm fine. And and I don't think it's heart." And then I'm writhing on the floor, and she's like, "I'm calling 911." I'm like, "Yeah, call 911." The paramedics get there, and they hooked me up, and they go, "You're having a heart attack." I'm like, "Yes, what—so I said, 'I get like a shot or a pill or something or—'" And they said, "No, you're going in for surgery." I'm like, "Surgery?" You know, it's 6:30 in the morning, and our boys were home from college. And so I said to my wife, I said, "Wake up the boys." I mean, to put an IV, to put a mask on—they're getting—calling it in. You're like, "We're bringing a hot one in," you know? And I mean, I'm getting ready—it is a hot light without—yeah, he's coming in hot, you know? And and so I wake up the boys. I said, "Get down here," and the paramedics are ready to take me. I look at my boys. I say, "Listen, I love Jesus with my whole heart. Everything is real. Serve Jesus your whole life. Don't ever walk away from Him. I love your mom with my whole heart. I've been faithful to your mom. I pray you find a faithful wife someday. Be faithful to her. Love her." And I said, "If something happens to me, take care of your mom." And I look to the paramedic. I said, "Dude, you can take me," and the paramedic's like, "Okay." So I get into the hospital, and they're like, "We got a real one," you know? I'm like, "Real one." Young pair of Ida. They're trying to get my shirt off. They got the cords. I said, "Cut it off!" So they cut my shirt off and they throw it towards the garbage. "Hey, don't throw that away! That's going to be a sermon illustration someday." How many know? Yeah, I'm just going to save that baby, right? And so I have the heart attack, and after I get done having the surgery, I find out—three stents in. You know, again, I'm like, "That's not fair. That's not fair." I'm trying to assign blame. I'm like the disciples—that is not fair. I mean, my nurse comes in, you know, all a270, you know? I'm saying. And I'm like, "Nurse should have a heart attack, not me!" I'm just telling you—last time—they get—like, "It's not fair! Come on, you're there to—do you hear they have a cancer? You go, 'What's the first thing you—'" Yes, when they say they have cancer, you say, "Did they smoke?" You're just trying to fill in the story. You're trying to put it in the "makes sense," "doesn't make sense" column. Sometimes it doesn't make sense. Here's the most sense I can make out of pain and suffering in this world. Romans 8 talks about this: "This world is broken, and all of creation is groaning, and everything within us is saying, 'God, fix the mess.'" Until we get there, we just keep moving towards the fixed date. How many know heaven is the fixed date? Heaven is the fixed date. Keep moving towards the fixed date. Okay, so it doesn't make sense. And in that moment, again, I'm assigning like—they should have—basically had it. I'm in the rehab thing, and I'm like, "This makes sense. Everybody here should have had one next up for me." This just says—I just telling us—take it—thank God's like, "All right, now we're going to work on you." And I'm like, "I didn't ask for this. I was doing like salmon eating, you know, working out guy, non-smoking." He's like, "This is not fair." And then God just breaks me down. And so—stop filling everybody else's story in. He said, "You drive by the guy on the corner with the sign, and you fill his story in. How do you know his story? How do you know he didn't think that he would come back with post-traumatic stress disorder?" You fill in the—you fill in the story for that lady over there. You think she wants to do that on the street? Do you think she wants—she did ask for her dad to violate her or for something bad to happen like that? Why are you filling in the story for everyone else? And Jesus—like, "I didn't care about the story. I just want to help them." And so what I would tell you right now is: forget about the story. Offer a helping hand. I don't care how they got in the ditch. I just want to lift them out of the ditch. Okay, so anything—but but but—they maybe—again, Jesus doesn't care about that bad choice. He said, "I want to lift you out of the ditch and help you make good choices." Even the woman at the well—he doesn't tell her all the things she did. She can—you know, she confesses it, you know? And then he's like—he's like, "Yeah, you're right there. You go." And she's like, "Now go and sin no more." He doesn't say, "Let's rehash all the story," seriously. He's like, "Lift them out of the ditch." So Jesus—like, "I want to lift this person out of the ditch," and I want us to have that mentality. "Lord, I desire for you to lift people out of—that's use me. Help me not to be a jerk." That's a good prayer to pray: "Help me not to be a jerk." [Applause] So Jesus says this—he says this happened so that God could get glory. So much there—I don't even understand the magnitude of that statement. God gets glory in my struggles. God gets glory in my victories. God gets glory in my bad times. I'm not saying bad things are good. Please don't—I don't want you to walk around like, "This is good. This is good. This is—
Bad, but God can get the glory. This is bad, but guy, there's nothing wrong with being honest, you know. This is—I don't like this, but God's going to get the glory. I am NOT a fan of this, but God's getting to get the glory. I'm not going to let this go by without God getting the glory. But God gets the glory when we live faithfully in our struggle, you know?
What it always amazes me, you know who always makes it to church at our church? The people that are struggling. I mean, it's like rain or snow or whatever, you know. Last night we had all sorts of rain; I mean, it was raining, you know. It's Louisiana; it's raining. And you know the faithful people here—people in wheelchairs, crutches, you're—I'm saying—and it's like people that could have made it like with no problem were kind of like, you know, "It's rain; we'll watch online," you know. Praise God. I thank God for everybody that shows up when they're in a struggle and says, "I'm faithful; I'm going to show up in my struggle, and please hear me."
Faithfulness is different than resignation, you know. You resigned, like, "Well, this is Molalla"—that's resignation. Faithfulness is like, "Hey, I may be here, but I'm going somewhere. I'm moving towards the fixing day; I'm moving towards the day where it gets fixed, and I'm going to stay faithful." And God gets glory in whatever is on you, okay? That's one way God gets glory—in our in our pain and our suffering—because it starts to form us to look more like Jesus. That's what First Peter 1:6 and 7 says: "In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold which perishes, even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed." It's like he is forming you into his image. How many know that I am a more compassionate person because I was able to see the pain and see the suffering? Like, I didn't ask for this, and now God, through that pain and suffering, has shaped me into a better person that loves God. So that's what God wants to do. It so God gives us the ability to be formed. God allows us, in our pain and our suffering, to help others. Second Corinthians talks about those of us that have gone through struggles, that have gone through pain, are able to go through it and get to the other side and then help others that are coming behind us. The Bible tells us, you know, that God will use those things for his glory and for his honor.
And there's something about being able to say, "I've been through that; you can make it. Come on, God is faithful; God will get you there; God will move you there." Then God is glorified. God is glorified clearly in the miraculous. God is glorified in the miraculous, and I just—I want us to get there. Now again, I understand he's glorified in our faithfulness, and I'm never leaving that spot. He's glorified when we are formed into His image, and I'm standing on that. God is glorified when I'm able to take what I have and give it to other people. I'm not letting go of any of that, but come on, there's another level; there's another level where the miraculous happens, where the healing breaks in, and where something happens in a supernatural way. And next thing you know, heaven opens up, and and and something unexpected shows up. And that's what we have there in John chapter 9. John chapter 9, and and they believe in this situation that the reason that Jesus took the mud and and and made it mud in that moment was the guy had no eyes, okay? So we're talking miracle of miracles; up we're talking now. Jesus takes—and like, in an interesting—God creates man out of mud, and then in this moment, Jesus, like, "Give me some mud; I specialize in mud. Give me some mud," you know, you know. Puts it—they expect it now. Whether he didn't have eyes or whether he could see—how many know it's still an amazing miracle? Okay, amazing miracle that God does, and in this moment he's healed, and God is glorified when we have our healing come to us. God is glorified this, and please, please don't let go of believing for your healing. Sometimes—now there's many facets appealing; this could be like a 10-part series on healing—but I just feel like God's exercising the muscle again at Bethany. God saying to Bethany, "Come on, exercise your muscle again; exercise your muscle again." I'm telling you what—again, when I was in Bible College, the place to go where supernatural was happening was Bethany. I'm just saying; it was like, "You need to go to Bethany; go to bed; go to"—that's very—I'm just saying, I think God wants to exercise the muscle again of what's going on.
But there's so many facets of it. Sometimes it's because of our faith, okay? Sometime—any know in Matthew 9, the woman with the issue of blood? She needs a miracle, and she's like, "If I can just touch the hem of His garment," BAM, something's gonna happen, okay? Sometimes it's our faith that does that, okay? Sometimes—now, please, if you believe for a miracle for a long time, do not have any condemnation, because a lot of people around on faith—our faith—I don't know faith, okay? I'm just going to tell you this: sometimes Jesus healed people that had no faith, okay? The man at the Pool of Bethesda, okay? He's sitting there; Jesus comes—I again—fixes his eyes—I'm—he says, "Do you want to be healed?" And the guy's like, "Well, every time the water bubbles, I don't have anybody throw me in the river," they—and Jesus, like, "Wrong answer." Here's the thing that troubles me about that healing—like, that's one that I want to ask Jesus about. Maybe it's because you just wanted to set us free from guilt that you think it's all on you, because this guy wasn't even a fan of Jesus after he heals them. They're like, "Who healed geez?" Like Narnia—no, I don't know. I mean, don't you think there would have been somebody around the pool, but that's it going? I think that's Jesus, you know, like he laughs—at least, you know, I'm saying. I think Jesus just did that to show, "Don't live in the guilt that it's all on you." It's a supernatural thing; supernatural thing. Sometimes it's other people's faith. The Centurion comes—Jesus, "Hey, my servant is sick, and I need him healed." And Jesus, like, "Let's go heal," and I'll go touch it. Yeah, no, no, "Speak the word, and he'll be healed." How many other servant didn't do anything? And Jesus, like, "Guys, this guy—whoa, he gets it; he gets"—like, wow, all right, miracle come into your way. So it wasn't even the sick person. When the people broke the ceiling off of the home and came in on Jesus, it says, "Seeing their faith"—like the four friends dropping them in—like they had faith. We don't even know if the guy had faith. It says, "Seeing their"—do you understand? There are so many facets to healing, so please don't live in guilt if you're like, "Well, it's all on me." No, it's all around. I mean, how many of it—even again—there's just so much. Your body works in alignment with healing. When you get sick, what does your body do? It starts to heal. When you have surgery, your body starts to heal. Doctors are just working in alignment with what I believe God's will is for your life; that's all they're doing. They're just discovering how your body and his knowledge can move you towards healing. And so I don't care if it's like natural healing; if it's if it's doctor healing; if it's doctor Jesus heal—you know, I'm saying—it all works together. The Bible tells us again, believers can lay their hands on them. How many know there's a gift of healing? Some people have a gift of healing, and they have a faith level that goes up with the gift of healing. How many know that the elders again can pray in a night?
I believe this now. Let me explain something to you, and then I want to share one last story with you. Remember I read the scriptures that he paid for our suffering? Isaiah talks about, "By his stripes we were healed." The Bible tells us that he that he paid the price for this this healing, all right? Here's what I believe, and I want you to understand that. Remember I said I used to pray like, maybe God could, you know, and unless he's a loving—I know that he would definitely would forgive you of your sins, but the miraculous, maybe, okay? Okay, here's it—the revelation I had, all right? Jesus paid for the healing when he suffered; when he died on the cross; when he was whipped. The Bible tells us that he paid the price for our healing, all right? So he paid for the price. Now the Bible tells us in Revelation—it says in Revelation—that he will wipe away every tear; there will be no pain; no suffering. You don't—saying—you're not going to walk around in heaven with your suffering. So here's what I understand: what Jesus paid for on the cross is waiting for us in heaven; it's there; paid for; waiting. Now what we're doing when we pray in faith, believing for the miracle, is we're believing—if this is the line between this life on Earth and eternity—we're just believing for what's there to jump into our now. That's what's called a miracle, okay? That's a miracle, because nothing on this side of the line said your disease or your sickness would be lifted, but what we're believing for is again what was placed there is held there; we'll jump the line into our now and manifest and become a miracle, okay? Now I don't know what makes it—again, I listed a whole bunch of things of how God works miracles—I don't know what makes it jump over. I know Jesus has the power to do it, and it's part of his plan. But here's—they say—like everybody's getting healed; everybody's moving towards their healing; everybody gets healed someday. And sometimes he releases them into our now so that God gets the glory. So so why not ask God in full faith, "God, I know it's waiting for me; I know it's wait—could I get it a little early? Come on!" Have you ever had Christmas where you know there's a gift wait—you're like, "Mom and Dad, can I open one present early? Can I just get one present early?" How many—oh, they always let you open the socks and the underwear—that's no good. But why not? Jesus, can you just release one thing early? I know it's wait—can you just give it to me a little early?
I trained my kids—like our boys, Conner and Logan—they used to say this: "Dad, you're—I know it's probably a no, but you're probably not going to buy us ice cream tonight." How many know—like I didn't want to buy him ice cream—like they were making a value judgment upon Dad that he was stingy, that he didn't want to do it, you know, saying—like he doesn't like ice cream—yeah. And so I said—when I said, "Guys, guys, guys, guys, if you're gonna ask me for something, do it this way: say, 'Hey, Dad, would today be a great day for ice cream? You are such a good Dad; I just thought today would be a good day for ice cream.'" How many know that in that Mom kind of like, "Yes, I am a good Dad! Wow, to get you some ice cream," you know? How many—they got a lot more ice cream that way, right? Now there were times that I said, "You know what? It's 4:30; dinner's coming; now's not a good time," Fraser. We had ice cream yesterday, or you don't know—Friday night we got ice cream planned, you know? How many know—I knew a bigger plan than them, but their posture—changing from, "Is today a good day for ice cream?"—changed the way that I responded. And I just want to tell you this: God is a loving God. If he will stop on his worst day to help somebody that needed a healing, you need to live in a posture and lean into everything he has for you. God—is today a good day for a miracle? Is today a good day for a healing? It's like, "Is today a good day for a breakthrough?" Is today—you see, I'm saying—and every day you're moving closer to everything he's got for you, and all you're doing is saying, "Will you let it jump the line?"
And here's where it became a reality for me. I showed you a picture of our son—our oldest son, Connor. Our oldest son, Connor, was born with autism, and we didn't know it, you know. We're young parents, and we don't know what's going on. And so our oldest son has autism, and we're just kind of like, all right, what's what's going on with this? We don't know it, but he wants to—he won't only sleep in a car seat, okay? You put him in the crib, he screams. You leave him in the car seat, he sleeps. How many know—we just moved his car seat into the crib, you know? Left him buckled. It—we got at school, he like, you know, buckled in, you know. Everything that we did for him, he'd make a train; he would make a train. Like, we'd beaten his meal; everything would be in a train; everything would be lined up. We'd play toys; it was all his train. So we bought him all these train things. We thought our kid loves trains, you know? We didn't realize that—we talked to him, and he'd look down like this, and we say, "Hey, Conner," yeah, yeah, "Where we going? Where we going?" And he'd only pare it back to us; he wouldn't look to sin the—I—he—it was eye contact was painful for him. The Mom said one day, she said, "I think your son has something going on here. I think you should take him to the doctor; I think you should take him in for testing." Take him in for testing, and they say, "Your son has autism." And that moment is like, "Wait, wait—autism?" That it made sense now, because he—the son bothered him; sensory overload. He loved being, you know, buckled in. If you played with the toy in one room—like if you played with Legos at the kitchen, and you were to say to him, "Let's play with the Legos again," and you're in the living room, he would get the Legos and go to the kitchen, even though you're in the living room. And it's breaking your heart fully, you know, you're not saying—he doesn't interact with other kids at all. So how many know—in that moment, I am praying like crazy. I'm buying every book on healing; I am reading every scripture on healing; I am believing for everything possible on healing. I'm taking him to every crusade I can, every service, every visiting evangelists—pray for us—on—pray for our son—papers—two years go by; he's in special ed. Two years—I'm like, "Come on, God, heal and heal and heal." I get to that point—that's where I got to—where I was like, "God's loving God; he's an amazing God, but he's probably not going to heal." So again, everybody's coming to me for prayer; pastor's coming—"Will you pray for this?" As I go, okay, God, if it's your will—and it probably isn't—you know, he's a name—Amen. But glad they're saved and going out and—all right, I'm just telling you—can I be vulnerable or—I gotta dessert. I'm there; that's what I was living, okay?
Now the only thing—this is the only thing I did right—I knew God was a loving God, and I'll tell you how I knew that because in a prophecy that was shared that was that was specifically spoken, okay? So go along—weird—special—hi, we're doing that. And one day we're closing down Church—and a church closing down—like we were portable; we're putting everything in the canisters and do that. And in that moment there was a visiting pastor, and he says, "Hey, is there anything we can pray for today?" And I was just about ready to say, "Hey, we need more tie than offering; we need more church growth," you know, you know. I'm just going to pray like normal pastor prayer stuff. And in that moment my wife goes, "Our son has autism, and we want to see him healed." And I was like, "Where did that come from?" You know, I mean, like it was like almost a woman—like even the dogs get the scraps, you know, I'm saying. It was like one of those moments, and I was like, "I'm not trumping"—now that's a good one; that's a good prayer of us, you know, like. But how many—again, my face is way down here—but for some reason it was that moment—there was something in—and it was like she appropriated the healing; she grabbed it; it was like it was so close—it's almost like she went over to the other side, snatched it from eternity and just kinda like did it, you know? "I need it!" And I was like, "I'm just—I'm with her," you know, I'm with her, okay? And so then the pastor lays hands on our son, and again, no shouting, no screaming, no shaking, no nothing. She lays hands—you should—"God, you spoke to me," he said—"You spoke to me," and he said that he's gonna heal your son; he's seen that you have seen him as a loving God, as a kind God, and for his glory he will heal your son. We get done with the prayer, and our son—that can't look us in the eye—like, "Hi, Dad," yeah, he goes, "Hey, where we going?" I'm like, "Oh," and he's like, "Right, I'm hungry; let's go." You're like—I mean, our son was healed; I mean, miraculously—heal, heal, heal. And I give glory to God for this; I give it—so we bring him into special ed on Monday—like, "Take a look at Connor," yeah. And the special ed teacher's like, "What happened to Connor?" We said, "He got healed in church." I mean, like, he's sleeping in his bed; he's playing with toys wherever you are. He's like—"Oh," she's like—she can't believe—she's been working with him for two years; she's blown away. She brings in her supervisor; says, "Look at Connor." Tells us—and the supervisor tests them out and then looks at me and goes, "How dare you waste taxpayer money? This kid is normal, and you've been ripping off the system for two years!" And I said, "Yeah, every parent's dream—to rip off special ed," you know? I said, "Jesus healed my son, and he gets all the glory; he gets all the glory." I don't know how it happened, but I know it happened. I want to cry now. I see autism—know autism—come on—hearing at all the campuses. Let's give God praise one more time for the power of healing. We exercise our muscle, Lord. We believe—God—greater days ahead, in Jesus' name. You're not a has-been or once—you are a right now; right now full of faith and power; right now, Jesus' name; Jesus' name; Jesus' name; Jesus' name; Jesus' name.
In just a moment we're going to pray for the sick. In just a moment, faith is rising up here and at the campuses. I just need you to take your seat for just a moment because God wants to do one thing. I don't want to negate the Savior—loving Savior—part of Jesus and the healing part; they're not exclusive; they run together. The God—Jesus is both Savior and he will do that. And for just a moment here in all of our campuses, I want to ask if there's somebody that is in a spiritual ditch, you know? I'm talking about—you came in today and you said, "If they knew what I was doing, they would never want me here." You don't have to tell us what you were doing; you don't have to tell us what did she read; you don't have to tell us where you're at. Here's the thing: we just want to help. Jesus is right now—before we pray for the sick—Jesus is right now saying, "I want to forgive you. I don't care how you got in the ditch; I know what you did, and I forgive." People that are in the worst ditch. And so hearing at all of our campuses, in just a moment we're going to ask people to say yes to Jesus. Maybe you've walked away, and you're like, "I am in a ditch. I once was just cruising with God; now I'm in a ditch." Jesus wants to say, "Welcome home." You may have never given your life to Jesus; you may never have said yes, but this is a moment where a loving Savior says, "I forgive you; I want to get you out of the ditch; I want to give you forgiveness; eternal life; I want to set you on the right path." And the Bible says, "If you'll ask him to forgive you, he'll do that." So before we go to him as healer, I don't want to miss anybody that would say, "I need him as Savior." So if you could bow your heads and close your eyes—I'm here at the South Campus, but at all the campuses there's a pastor right now going to be looking for you in just a moment. So know that even if you're watching at one of the campuses, there's somebody looking for you right now. With your heads bowed, your eyes closed, you say, "I'm ready; I'm ready; I'm in a ditch; I want to give my life to Jesus; I want to be back on track with Jesus; I want forgiveness right now." My face is high in believing that Jesus—if he could forgive the people around me, he could forgive me. Jesus doesn't need me to tell the story; he needs to just have me say, "I'm sorry." And if that's you, you say, "Pastor, just include me in the closing prayer. I want—today's my day to get right with Jesus." If that's you, hearing at all of our campuses, the heads are bowed; their eyes are closed; would you just quick slip up a hand and look up, and I would acknowledge that, and then you can put it down. They'll do the same at the campus, but right here, if you're saying, "Jesus, is my day," yes, amen. Other hands going up all over—hands, hands, hands, hands everywhere—people say, "Today is my day; today is my day." Your loving Savior—"I'm in a ditch, but you'll rescue me; you'll rescue me; you'll get me out"—yes, yes, yes. We're over on the side; I see the hands; yes. You're a loving Savior; that's right. Jesus forgives you today. Jesus sees that hand—jeez—it's like, "Get me out of the ditch," and he says, "Done; let's do this together; let's do this." It's his power that's going to forgive you. You can put your hands down. Hearing it all the campuses, and I want to pray a prayer. I don't want to ask that you would repeat it out loud after me. I've been asked that the people around you would pray it with you as a form of encouragement. I'm going to pray a line, and then you pray a line, and let's ask Jesus to forgive you of your sins and pull you out of that ditch and put you back on right with him, in his name. So let's pray this: "Dear Lord Jesus, I'm sorry for my sins and all that I've done wrong, and I confess them to you. I ask for forgiveness, and I receive that forgiveness. I believe you died on the cross and rose again from the dead so that I could be forgiving, and I receive that forgiveness right now, today. I pledge to live for you for the rest of my life. Give me the strength to do that, in Jesus' name, I pray." Lord, I thank you for all the people that have prayed that prayer right now—out of the ditch and right with you, forgiven, Lord. You know their story, but right now you're rewriting it, and you're putting a new ending on it, a new future on it. And so we rejoice with those people that raise their hand; we rejoice that you are Savior that forgives; we thank you for that, God, and we celebrate once again the lives that were changed for eternity. And we lean in to healing; we lean into all that you have for us, and we thank you, God, that you are such a loving Savior, in Jesus' name, we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen.