✝️ Why is life so challenging to Christians - Dan Mohler

[Applause] All right, good deal. Hey guys, everybody doing good? Ooh, lights are bright, can't hardly see your faces. I won't be intimidated at all now. God's good, huh?

Hey Kurt, I just love this guy! He's like a kid at Christmas. Here's what's beautiful: you just live a certain way, you believe a certain way, you live a certain way. You don't do things for a testimony; you do things because it's real. And all these years later—that was a long time ago, probably—you're talking about... I don't even, honestly, I'm sorry, I don't even remember going to lunch with you guys. But that testimony so blessed my heart because, yeah, so we're living by example. Paul said, "Follow me as I follow Christ." The whole vision of power and love was just empowering us to live Christ, just to just to love like he loves. And to hear that testimony all these years later, and how that stirred you and impacted you and affected you, it's just very humbling. It's my heart; it's why I travel. It's my heart that that would happen tonight. Amen. And, uh, shh, yeah, just feel humbled tonight by that.

I want you to go to Hebrews 1 with me. We got to do something. So, this is live streamed. I'm not a real technical guy; I'm a caveman. But, is there people watching this? There has to be, okay? 'Cause I'm kneeling. This has never really happened to me like this before. Where's... who's where... where am I? Am I in that camera if people are watching? Okay, I just heard this. I'm just going to obey this, and you can let these people at this church know this was real. But I heard the name Tina, and I heard that there's a Tina watching. That you tuned in, and you stay tuned in, please. You've been condemned. God loves you. There's answers for you. You're going to be absolutely liberated tonight. You have way more than hope by the time this is over tonight. So, Tina, I'm talking to you. Stay tuned in. God is ministering to your heart tonight in a supernatural way, I promise you. I was kneeling, and he said, "You make sure to tell Tina, 'I know her, I love her, and I'm going to minister to her tonight to stay on and stay tuned in.'" So I did that. Yeah, and, and, and, and, Miss Tina, you can let them know that that was legit. You can, you can get a hold of them and let them know that happened. I know when I hear the Lord, that's very real to me. That has me kind of trembling inside because I know when people get overwhelmed and they're believing lies, when people get condemned, right?

Look, you wouldn't be condemned if your heart was what you think it is. If your heart was what you think it is, you wouldn't be condemned. You wouldn't care if your heart was so bad and so messed up; you wouldn't be feeling the way you're feeling. The reason you're feeling that way is 'cause you do care on the inside, and it's actually being misguided and taken advantage of, and the devil is just lying to you. The condemnation is such a lie, like just shame is such a lie, like just feeling bad to you. So, feel bad that you believe you're just a loser. Come on, what is that? If your heart didn't have an ounce of life in it, you wouldn't care about that. Like, you can't condemn somebody that doesn't care. They'd be like, "Whatever." Yeah, whatever. I mean, legitimately, whatever. Like, if you're apostate, if you're just disconnected from truth, if you have no sense of of life and conviction in your heart, there'd be nothing the devil could use to condemn. What he's using is that thing that's alive, and he wants to condemn it, he wants to crush it, he wants to make sure that your desire to pursue hope never finds hope, that you become hopeless. But the whole time, your heart wants change. Are you following what I'm saying?

It's something I saw a long time ago as a pastor, and I'm like, "People come to you counseling, and they feel so bad." Like, there's a place for repentance. "Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand." But repentance isn't, "Boo-hoo, oh, and I'm such a mess, and I'm so wicked, and I'm so..." And then three weeks later, you even believe worse about yourself. That's not repentance. Repentance is, "Duh, what was I thinking? Wow, that wasn't cool! Wow, that sure wasn't God! Wow, I know I wasn't created for that! Wow, there has to be a higher answer!" And then you're seeking that truth. Repentance is: change the way you think. "Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand." Change the way you're thinking 'cause God and the way he works is here. Come out of the old into the new. That's the simplicity of repentance. Can it involve tears? Of course, but not something that lasts a week or two and encringes into your identity and starts questioning your own heart that's already alive, that wants change.

See, guilt, condemnation, and shame. Be honest with me tonight: guilt, condemnation, and shame. Who's experienced that and actually thought it was legitimate in your life since you were a Christian, and you held on to the to the to the to the thing of guilt, condemnation, or shame for a small, even a small window and season in your life? Be honest with me and let me see your hands. Do you see how many? Do you see how that's a majority? Look, Satan's not creative; he just uses what works. Watch. I'm not correcting you, I'm not being harsh, I'm trying to help you. Don't ever do that again. But isn't it amazing? Three-quarters of the people say, "Well, yeah." I'm not being smart, I'm not being cynical, I'm not demeaning you. What I'm saying is, guilt, condemnation, and shame are never, ever, ever, ever the answer. They're anti-finished work of Christ; they're counterproductive. They actually identify you with what's been wrong, identify you outside of him. When you're guilty, you're worthy of judgment. Why? 'Cause when you're guilty, you're not forgiven. "Condemned" means worthy of judgment. So, when you're guilty and you know you're guilty and you remain guilty, then condemnation creeps on you 'cause you're guilty. What happens now? You believe you deserve something back. He didn't tell you to be condemned. He said, "I didn't come to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved." You'll find it in John 12. In John 3, you'll find that God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, right? But in there, he says he did not send his Son to condemn the world, but that through his Son the world might be saved. So, guilt, condemnation, shame, people...

There's... I'm going... it... it's that young lady, it's her fault. So, if this don't work, the young lady that was praying Wednesday, if this don't work out, just... we blame it on her wherever she is. Because she's on to something; she heard from the Lord. This whole "oil of joy" thing... I'm going to explain what I saw when she shared that 'cause it got big in me. And, and, and, we might think when we're praying, not demeaning her at all, like, "Get a vision," like, "God's just going to start pouring joy on people." The joy of your salvation is real. It's a joy that comes from an understanding that anointing with the oil of joy even more than your companions. She's reading out of scripture; it's Hebrews 1. We're going to look at it in a minute, show you where it comes from. It's not the joy of your circumstances; it's not just the joy of your emotions; it's the joy of your salvation. The angel said, "I bring you good tidings of great joy." Man, if you were the enemy, wouldn't you try to suppress the good tidings of great joy? Wouldn't you be okay if they just go to church? Just make sure they never see what really happened, who they really are, what he really accomplished, who they are now that he came, who they are in his sight. If you were the enemy, would you just try to suppress that? Let them go on mission trips, let them meet, wave their flags, let them do what they do, just make sure they never see who they are. Good tidings of... I'm not being mean to you, smart to you. I look up. I've been saved 28 years. It's obvious to me a large portion of sincere, believing people don't understand the good tidings because the great joy is missing. So, we're only doing as good as things are going. Our circumstances are deciding who we are and how we are. What people say and what people do are identifying us, our value, and even our future, and none of it's true 'cause your life is found in Christ.

Yeah, it's just true. Shame, guilt, condemnation. Shame: guilt not forgiven, condemnation worthy to be judged. Shame: what is shame? Believing you still are what you're ashamed of. If you didn't believe you still are what you're ashamed of, you wouldn't be ashamed. We think 'cause we did it, we are it. And then our heart has no permission to change, and then our identity is stuck in what we did instead of what he did. And now there's no chance for redemption and new life through Christ 'cause we are what we did. We aren't what we did; we are what he did, if we believe. Now, that's the key. If we believe it, and we've been so busy—and I'm, I'm, I'm sorry, this is going to sound a little mean—but we've been so busy being intellectual and analytical and thinkers and processors that we've talked ourselves out of simple, childlike faith, if we're not careful, to where we can actually hear the good news, and we're so busy assessing around it, we don't even hear it. Don't you be blinded and led to sleep by some lie in the season we're in. The gospel is amazing as it's ever been. Don't you be a Christian for 30 years and think you know it all, 50 years and think you've been there, did that, done that. Are you kidding? Every day his mercy is new, and his grace is fresh and new, and this gospel is alive and fresh and beautiful. His "I love you" should be as life-giving as it was 50 years ago. And if it's not, we should be concerned that maybe we're puffed up in knowledge, or maybe we think to know is to grow instead of become what he paid for.

But guilt, condemnation, and shame—the girl I talked to, Tina—that's something that's going on with Tina. That's why, uh, uh, uh, I addressed it personally so she would stay on there because I felt like the Lord was going to say, "Hey," because he loves us. Look, if somebody wants change and they still keep believing they are what they did, how will they ever receive change unless they receive forgiveness, mercy, new life, new identity, new hope, new future, and stand new in him? You can't go back and change what you did. There's no one in here that can take back what you said. You can't go back and do it over. You don't get that opportunity. You can't do different once it's done, but you can become different. And people will remember what you did, and people will talk about it sometimes for years, but it doesn't have to be who you are, right?

See, people aren't looking at you like he is. We've been judged by each other our whole lives, so when we hear the mercy, the righteousness, and the redemption of God, we're like, "We don't get it," because we feel all this, and we've been stereotyped. And you made a mistake in grade school, and in high school you still have the nickname. Yeah, but in Christ, it's not like that. So, if you're finding your identity through people, we're in a tough spot. If you're trying to find your value through each other, then we're going to be way deceived. Then we're only as good as people are assessing us and valuing us and identifying us, and now we're at the mercy of men. Well, I'm telling you, I'm not at the mercy of men; I'm at the mercy of almighty God. And in my heart, I've always wanted change, and in my heart, I want to live this life. I want to live by the Spirit, and I want to walk in truth. Yeah, not even talking perfection; I'm talking purity; I'm talking a pure heart. Yeah. "Who's going to enter in? Who's going to ascend to the Holy Hill of God?" "He who has clean hands and what? A pure heart." So he says, "The pure in heart shall see God." "To the pure, all things are pure." He spends time in scripture talking about this thing called a pure heart. Must be possible to have one. Yay, come on, it must be possible to have one! Well, you say, "Well, yeah, but nobody knows the heart of man; it's always evil and wicked." Right, stop quoting the Old Testament! The new one's here. The new one's where he takes out the old and puts in the new heart. We're in the New Testament, a New Covenant through his blood, where I can have a new heart, a new nature. Yeah, come on. "Those who have clean hands and a pure heart ascend to what? The Holy Hill of God." So, it's possible to have a pure heart that comes with repentance, that's come with hearing and understanding and seeing truth. And as you get truth, you go, "Duh!"

Watch this. This is simple, guys. I'm talking on a level we can all get this; the children can get this. Watch. "Wow, if I saw that, then I wouldn't have did that!" "Wow, if I realized that! Oh, if I realized that!" Oh, that's called repentance. We think repentance is, and we have auto-costs like that, and everybody's here, and we think the louder and harder they're crying, the more the move of God. Sometimes it's the more the condemnation and deception because you're crying 'cause you're so identified with what was wrong, and you have no answer. You can't see past what you've believed. Look, it is so possible. I've been around this thing. I could get the music going up here, I could have people here. I, I know I could. I, I don't want to, and I won't, but I know I could, Kurt. I could get people up here, and everybody would think it was a move of God. I could talk about how people have been feeling this week, what's been going through your mind, this, and some of you, and you need to, and you, and some of you've been feeling this, and I can have the music perfect. And I say, "Right now, you just need cleansed, you need to repent, you need to come clean, you need this everywhere." But what's going to make you go out and not have that same experience and qualify for the very next time a minister comes at you that way? No, I'm supposed to stand up here and teach you who you really are and show you why your heart cares in the first place 'cause he's drawing you. He's got your attention. You're closer than you think, way closer. But if the devil can keep making you believe something else, you'll keep producing what you believe. If you don't feel good about yourself in God, then you'll live up to what you feel. Do you understand that? The cause of almost every addictive behavior, whether it's drugs, alcohol, whatever, cycles, addiction, addictive stuff, compulsive addictive stuff, it's a low esteem, it's a low identity, it's people not knowing who they are and seeing their value, so they live up to the level in which they see themselves. If you can teach people who they are and change the way they think, you can change their whole life in a moment. The light comes on, they go, "Duh! What? Yeah, he loves me! Whoa, he made me worthy!" See, because I want to get to this pure heart and clean. See, you can't do nothing about the clean hands 'cause we all had dirty hands. So, the only way you're going to ascend to the Holy Hill is a pure heart that means repentance, sincerity, right? But you can't do nothing about the hands; they're dirty. So, who did something about the hands? So, are your hands clean? You see what's wrong with me? I got clean hands, and I know it, and I'm not embarrassed, I'm not ashamed. You can call me a heretic. I got clean hands. Why? 'Cause I'm pleading the blood of Jesus, and I fell on the mercy of God, and his mercy has triumphed over judgment, and he's given me life through Jesus Christ. Are you following me? He says, "I'll remember their lawless deeds no more." Then why are you remembering them? I got clean hands; that's my problem. I'm not ashamed to talk about it. He made me clean, he forgave me, he washed me clean. No sense of guilt, condemnation, or shame. He empowered me to stand before him unveiled as a bride. Come boldly, not arrogantly. "Hi, precious." Come boldly, not arrogantly, to the throne room of grace and mercy, right? If you don't see who you are in his sight, you won't come boldly. You'll come needy, you'll come backwards and call it humility. I call it deception. It's why people don't have intimacy and fellowship with God 'cause they don't see how he sees them. They see themselves the way they see themselves and somehow think he sees them that way, so they have no confidence to get alone with him, no confidence to have communion with him. Oh, they'll pray about needs and pray about the people they love and care about, but it's impersonal; it's from a distance, hoping it works and brings results. But they won't have this. Why? Because they don't see themselves the way he does. When you see yourself the way he does, you have confidence before him. You'll go right to him. You'll wake up and be excited. "Good tidings of..." has nothing to do with your circumstances, your job, how your boss is acting, or where your spouse is going through. It's the joy of your... not the joy of your circumstances. And if you don't get this, you'll get tricked into being a Christian hoping your circumstances change instead of you. That's not mean, right?

Come on, there's a motive out there that's just all about me getting what I need and what needs to change and how I need people to act for everything to go good, and that has nothing to do with why you're a Christian. You're a Christian to be washed clean so the Spirit of God can come back inside of you and get you back to why you're here in the first place: to walk in the light as he's in the light, to walk in love, to make peace, to show mercy. Yeah, that's why we're on the earth: not to have a good day, to have a God day. And when we're squeezed, Jesus comes out. Amen. You're not a Christian so you don't get squeezed. It's unscriptural and impossible. You're not a Christian so you don't get squeezed. Let's get that straight right now, because if you don't get that straight, when you're squeezed, you'll freak out, get in the quandary, question God, wonder why he's letting this happen to you, what door I open, why the devil, and it'll be the self-centered whirlwind of questions that have nothing to do with truth. Are we okay?

Come on, it is unscriptural for you to be a Christian for you. You are not a Christian so you go to heaven when you die. Stop, stop, stop, stop! I wish we'd stop just making that the only reason we're Christians. That's why people have the wrong motives in their life. Look, I'm excited about eternal life. I'm excited he washed me clean and made my hands clean. I'm excited my name's in a book called life, and I'm going to live forever with God. I'm not a Christian so I go to heaven when I die. I'm a Christian so I live everything he created me for and intended me for. Why? So then I'm living my life in purpose and not outside of purpose. Why is life a drive for people? Why is life a grind for people that believe they understand the cross and are saved? Why is life so challenging to Christians 'cause they're living life outside of purpose, and they're not finding grace on the road they're traveling because they're not supposed to be on it? You don't put diesel fuel in a gasoline car; it wasn't made for that. You don't live for yourself, you don't live for your own blessings, you don't live for your own protection, you don't live for your own provision. It's like putting metal in a microwave. Read the manufacturer's handbook. The way them waves work, you don't put metal in there. There's a conflict. Whoa! And if you keep putting metal in the microwave, you'll ruin the product. Why? It was made for that. It's what's happening to people that have good, sincere hearts but wrong understanding, and they mean well, but they don't understand. They're getting destroyed for the lack of knowledge. So, it's like putting metal in a microwave daily, and there's this conflict of soul, emotions, motive. Now it's all about me, and then the worse it gets, the more it's about me. The worse it gets, now I'm overwhelmed, and it's really about me. Come on, it's a cycle, and it just happens, and it's a terrible place because you get beat down and pressed down, and the highest grace you receive is that somebody seems like they care about how you feel, what you're going through, but there's no answer. Come on, I'm not being mean, I'm being real, and some of you are relating to what I'm saying. That's why I'm saying it so strong. Come on, God wants you out of there. He never wanted you there in the first place. It's misunderstanding, and there's nothing wrong with you; it's just wrong believing.

When does it become about his great name? When's our motive become all about him, not about what he can do for me, about who he is in me and why he is in me? When's it become about Christ in me, the hope of the manifestation of God? When are we going to take a step out of us and into him where I'm actually living for the glory of God, not the benefit of my life, to where I forget how to complain as if I never knew how because it was never about me? It's been always about him. I don't know how to hurt and be offended and give up and be discouraged. Why? 'Cause my life's not my own. I laid it down, I denied myself, picked up my cross, and I'm following Jesus. Come on, that sounds scriptural to me. And I don't know if you are, but I'm motivated to live this thing. Woohoo! Why? Because it's possible, because he empowers it. It's why we sing these surrender songs and stuff, because they're real. You can't mix the two; you can't mix self and him. You can't be a Christian for you. Isn't that a paradox? Oh, this is going to sound... Hold on, Kurt, pray, Pastor, grab your wife's hand or something. It's the only reason people continue to come to church discouraged, bewildered, overwhelmed, hurt, offended, hopeless, and not encouraged because we've never made the switch to where it's really all about him. You can't be discouraged if you're selfless. You can't be offended if it's not about you. You would never be hurt again if you understood what I'm saying because you didn't wake up for what somebody can do for you. You woke up to shine. You woke up to walk in the light as he's in the light. You woke up to follow him, not sing to him or need him. Follow him. There's a difference. Are you guys all right? I know I'm losing it, but I've lost it a long time ago. Some of you know that's not a surprise that I've lost it. You say he's worse than the last time I saw him. You know why? 'Cause I'm more convinced than before 'cause I know him just a little bit more. So, I'm not preaching a message. This isn't my sermon; this isn't my theology; it's not my scriptural interpretation. I'm gone, brother. I'm so sorry, I'm sorry. I've told people my whole Christian life. See, it's probably my fault because my whole Christian life I'm saying, "If you ever see me again, I'll be like this or worse." And he hasn't changed. His love never fails. Heaven and Earth's going to pass away, and his word remains forever. We're the ones that change. He's the same in your deepest, darkest crisis. He's the same as he was before it unfolded. And if I keep my eyes on truth, truth will make me free. If I walk in the light as he's in the light, I'll walk right through it and actually sow seeds, minister, and manifest him in what I thought had to destroy me. Why? 'Cause it ain't about me and what I'm going through and how I feel, and they said, "And that hurt." "Well, they should have never..." "Well, how come?" No, I've never seen Jesus manifested in that attitude. I've never seen people edified, and I've never seen healing and restoration in that mindset. "You know them by their fruits." How's that for straight talk? I've never seen anybody manifest Christ demanding their rights. How can we demand our rights when we denied ourself? How can you deny yourself and have so many rights that can be violated? I get so concerned in today's church world that if crisis truly hits this planet—true crisis, Christian persecution, total unfairness—that I get really concerned that we're not prepared to do anything more than picket or march the steps of Washington as a unit with signs of unrest. That's what I get concerned about. That we'll just follow the world's way and protest our rights instead of continue to just shine and walk in the light as he's in the light. You say, "Well, I don't deserve that." You show me where Jesus ever said that in scripture. You show me when they were punching him that he said, "Are you kidding me? You're punching me! I'm the Son of God! There's nothing that is, that wasn't, that that isn't because of me, and I was there from the beginning, and you created by me, dare punch me?" You don't find Jesus calling nothing out like that. That's right, men. He let men hit him. Men hit him. Why? 'Cause he understood the deception, and he's here to manifest the truth, right? And he wants all men to come after him and follow him, and he's setting a major example of what life really looks like in God. He made man for his image. He's letting men hit him, the Son of God. It just fascinates me to this day. I'm saved 28 years, and I haven't gotten over the fact that Jesus came. That's supposed to be, I guess, some theological position I should have settled a long time ago. I'm freaked out by the fact that God would put himself in the womb of a woman and be born of a woman to fulfill what man failed, to get man back to what he's here for. And we've turned it into blessing and favor and provision and protection. And then if we don't get the protection, we're discouraged, miss church for a month, and don't pray. That is not what he paid for: for me to stay the same and have more rights and even put demands on God. He, he came so I learned what it means to love not my own life unto death. But we don't preach that. We preach, "If you don't know where you're going tonight and you die and you don't know where you're going, pray this prayer so you can be in the right place." But then you don't teach them they got to die to self and deny themselves and get big rid of the biggest wretch of your life: you living for you when you're made for his image. You can't do both. Are we okay? I don't... I'm like freaking out up here, ain't I? Am I manifesting? So sorry, sorry. I still, I want you to feel like a little kid if I ever come back. I, I don't want you to be like, "Oh no, oh no, Dan's coming! Honey, you invited him! I didn't even know he was [Laughter] coming!"

Listen, this young lady was so on point. Go to Hebrews 1. "The oil of joy." "He anointed him with the oil of joy more than his companions." Why? 'Cause he loved righteousness and hated lawlessness. 'Cause righteousness is the scepter of his kingdom. Boy, if we'd learn to love righteousness! There's two uses of the word "righteousness" in the New Testament. Usually, being made right with God, being righteous in him, Jesus Christ, right? We find righteousness through Jesus Christ. "He who knew no sin was made to be sin so we could become the righteousness of God in Christ." So, it has two meanings. The word "righteousness" has to do with your position before God, to stand before him without any sense of guilt, condemnation, or shame: justified, clean, pure, holy, clean hands. Watch: as if you've never sinned. Absolutely true. I could back it up with so much scripture. The second use of righteousness is the manifestation of God. The work of righteousness is any manifestation of his person, his attributes, his kindness, his goodness, his mercy. Any manifestation of God is an expression of righteousness. We're righteous trees, "Trees of Righteousness," the planting of the Lord, that might... okay, "each fruit after its own kind." If we're Trees of Righteousness, what do we bear as fruit? Righteousness. Cherry trees ain't got apples. [Laughter] Guys. So, if I'm a tree of righteousness, and it's all God's idea, "the planting of the Lord," that what he... so, what's his plan? Why? Why is he quoting that way back there in the Old Testament to keep a truth alive and in front of us that God's coming? Ezekiel's even talking about it. He's going to take all the people together, he's going to bring them back as one. He's going to take out that old heart, put in a new heart. He's going to put a new spirit in them, put a new heart in them. He said, "And I'm not going to do it for their sake." Huh. He said, "I'm going to do it for my great name." Why? Why? 'Cause everywhere they went, they all scattered from their nation, and they all went out among the nations. Read it. They all went out among the nations, and everywhere they went, they profaned my name, meaning misrepresented who I am in a godless manner. That's what the word "profane" means: godless. So, they went out from among me and among themselves into every nation, and every nation they went to, they profaned my name. If you read in the Old Testament, why was there the children of Israel? Why was there a holy lump? Why did he pull a nation out of the pot and mark them so that the nations of the Earth would know him through them? So, look what the New Testament, the New Covenant, is: the total fulfillment of that initial desire. That's why we're Christians, guys, so we can become Christlike, not blessed and get a pay raise and have less trouble 'cause we pray. See, because that's all the higher we go. That's why people are discouraged 'cause life ain't helping it. Circumstances are speaking louder than truth, and all of a sudden, lack of understanding, lack of knowledge, we're being destroyed. And the whole time, the truth's the same. Whole time, God has, hasn't changed. Whole time, his love has never failed, but we're questioning his love 'cause we have three things that are challenging his love. Come on, I'm telling you, this motive and why we're here is the biggest deal of all. Like, why you're a Christian. If you don't settle that, "Why am I even going after God?" It better be deeper then. "I don't want to go to hell," because I promise you, if that's all the motive you have, you feel like you're there now, and then you're self-conscious. It's all about you. "Everybody's against me." "Where have you been, God? I thought you loved me." Come on, I've watched people live this way, and it's not because they're evil; it's because they're deceived, and their motives wrong, and they're not waking up for why they're really here. They're waking up for themselves and for the well-being of themselves, so they're already off on a wrong foot. So, they're already vulnerable, sensitive, and touchy because every step it's all about you, and how far can I make it before everything falls apart, and "knock on wood" and all that stuff people do. You're a tree of righteousness, "the planting of the Lord." Why? So he might be glorified. That's why his Spirit lives in you, not so you feel goosebumps at the right song. His Spirit lives in you so he can be glorified through your life. "Christian" itself. "Christian" means "little Christlike ones." You know what we think it means? We just think it means people that believe in Jesus. The word "Christian" means "little Christlike ones." Christian, Christian. Yeah, it amazes me. He came, put himself in the womb of a woman and fulfill what man failed with a purpose. The enemy creeps in, takes the message, makes it all about us, all about what we can get from him, how we can benefit by praying a prayer, makes it all about him meeting all our needs, answering our prayers. We're writing all these books, and if we really look at some of this stuff we're doing, it makes me more self-focused than I've ever been in my life. And if somebody's treating me wrong, I must need more faith, I must be doing something wrong. There must be a way to attack that in prayer and get that to change, and now all our focus is on me having a better day instead of a Christ day. Come on, I feel that in the room. Don't be challenged in a bad way by that; be challenged in a life-giving way. No, I can perceive that in the room. I feel that push back. This is not a hard message; it's not a bad message; it's not a corrective message. It's calling you into why he came because we're sincere enough to be here on a Saturday night. I'm not talking to a room of hypocrites, so let me talk plain. I'm talking to his children. Yeah, so if truth makes us free, I ought to want it. If the fruit of what I've been believing ain't turning the world upside down, I ought to be looking at something. If I'm not waking up full of the oil of joy, Hebrews 1... Are you there? You should be there by now, or you gave up. I wouldn't blame you if you gave up. Look at verse eight. "But to the Son (S-O-N, capital S), he says, 'Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.'" Woohoo! "A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your kingdom." That's incredible! What did Paul say in Romans 1? "I'm not ashamed of the gospel, for it's the power of God unto salvation, for in it righteousness is revealed." Where's the power of the Gospel unto salvation come from? The fact that God judges men righteously as if they never sinned. See, there's a difference between right and wrong and righteous. "Right" and "righteous"—two different words. If I come to your life and I'm right, I'll see what's wrong with you. I'll come at you from the angle of you being wrong to prove I'm right. There's no redemption in that. That's what gives men a right to be angry; that's what gives men a right to stereotype others and judge them for what they've done. God did not come to us right and wrong, or he's right and we're way wrong. He came to us righteous. The difference is, righteousness empowers wrong things to be made right. So, I could have lived in darkness, and yet I can walk in the light as he's in the light. I have given been so self-centered, and yet I could love not my own life unto death. Righteousness is a free gift. I have to put it on as if I've never sinned and come out of darkness into the light. You get it. He loved that. Jesus loved that more than anything, and therefore God anointed him with the oil of joy more than his companions. Why? Because his companions probably didn't love that like he loved that. So, is joy a "ha-ha" thing? No, it's something your heart sees. It's the joy of your salvation. Has nothing to do with your circumstances, people, affairs, who's doing what, who's treating you what. Has nothing to do with nothing but him, how he sees you, how he's judged you, how he's made you innocent in his sight, how he's made it available to approach him, to receive from him, and to live in him. Yeah, if you don't receive the abundance of grace... So, Paul is in a Judaism culture where it's legalism and law, and then have to work their way to God, and what a farce 'cause Jesus called out the Pharisees on every angle of their hypocrisy, right? Paul says, "I'm not ashamed." He's not saying, "I'm not embarrassed to wear a Christian t-shirt." He's not like saying, "I'm not ashamed the Lord, I'll get a bullhorn and yell on the street corner." He's not. What he's saying is, "I'm not ashamed to declare to you a message in this culture that we've been groomed in." "I'm not ashamed to stand here and tell you that there's a salvation that only comes from God, and it has nothing to do with a man's works; it has to do with him and how he sees you through what he's done." "And I am not ashamed to tell you that, and that truth is, is the power of God unto salvation." That's what Paul's saying. "A scepter of righteousness is a scepter of your kingdom." So, what do you do? So, I get saved. I kneel before him. "My life is yours." "I don't want to live for me." "I realize I've lived for me." "Oh my goodness, I've done so many things outside of who you are, what you created me for." "It's called sin." "And man, if I saw what I see now, I know that would be a different story because I'd see different, believe different, and be empowered different." "But man, I've messed up, and I've fallen short of the glory of God." "Yes, my life is guilty of sin." "I know that, I see that, I get that." "I'm not soft-pedaling that, I get that." What's he doing? He's anointing me. Boom! Tapping me with a scepter of righteousness. He's anointing me. Boom! Now I stand before him. Watch this: "except in the Beloved, clean, acquitted, justified, and forgiven as if I've never had that testimony, as if I've never lived a day outside of him." Why? He gave me new life through. I'm born again. "The old man is crucified with Christ; he's dead; he's in a sea of forgetfulness; he remembers him no more." So, watch this: no longer can I identify with former memories, actions, feelings, what others have said or done, or what I've done. I have to acknowledge what he's done. It's called salvation. It's called out of darkness into light. And I'm not sure we've taught it clear, and I'm not sure we've believed it well as a church because if you receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness, you'll reign in this life. That's not talking about riches and provision; that's talking about freedom, zeal, true.

Sincere desire, hope beyond measure. Yeah, come on. How many Christians have just tried to cheer themselves on to just keep going? That means you're identifying your life, your value, and your purpose outside of Truth. Or it could never happen. I'm—that's a strong statement, but it's a true one. You, if you had a true assess. How can Jesus be ridiculed day in and day out while being perfect? We ain't even been perfect, and we ain't taking getting ridiculed day in and day out. He's totally perfect, and they're calling it something else, looking at him, not hearing what he's saying, listening for what they don't agree with, year after year after year. Come on. And he's not just speaking truth, he's the Truth. And men got something else to say. He's healing masses, and they're saying it's an evil spirit. He's multiplying their food, and they don't care what he has to say, they just want him to feed them again. It's one thing after the other. You see how powerful righteousness is, how he loves righteousness and hates lawlessness? Guess what? Lawlessness would be anything to do with darkness or anything outside of the nature of God. Righteousness, nature of God. Lawlessness, outside of his nature. He loves righteousness, hates lawlessness. Watch. He doesn't know how to be in unforgiveness. He doesn't know how to take it personal. Why? Because he came from the Father, and he knows who he is, and he's going back to the Father. I know where I came from, and I know where I'm going. I'm rock solid. I'm secure, and you can't touch that. Come on, come on. He's being mistreated. We get mistreated for three days, that's a boiling point. Peter's saying, "How many times should we forgive our brother?" Like, like seven? I mean, I, I'll stretch it out. I'll be super holy. Seven, perfect number of perfection. Seven. If I can make seven, I got it going. Dude, I don't say seven, but I say seven times seventy. Now, don't do the math. And when they hit 491, that's it, they cut off for life. Don't you do the math. He's making a point that love never fails, and God doesn't change, and there's no turning or shifting of shadow. And if people would really believe, he never gave up on you. That on your darkest day, he didn't change his mind about you, your value, your purpose, your destiny. And the whole time, his blood is speaking better things. Oh, if we just believe that and start to love righteousness, we'd be anointed with the oil of joy, maybe more than our companions. See, I, I love that she quoted that. I want to be guilty of that. I want to be in that scripture. I'm not being mean. You ask the average Christian how they're doing, they'll tell you the biggest trials in their life, that's their answer. Their biggest an—their answer is their biggest challenges. "How you doing, man?" "Well, it's been tough." "Well, just keep me in prayer." "Well, I'm glad you asked. Just, if you think about me, pray." You know, I'm telling the truth. You ask a Christian how they're doing, they will answer with their challenges, not their relationship, their communion, their identity in Christ, and the robe they're wearing. They will answer how they're doing by how it's going. Which means we're Christians hoping it goes better. And now that we're Christians, wondering why it isn't going better, and maybe worse. And now we have issues, questions, and more trouble than we had before we got in this thing. And then people backslide because they never front-slid. You front-slide. You cross home and see if you're—it's legal to go back to first. You cross home and try to go back to third. We don't backslide. We never front-slid. We just grow weary in well-doing and call it backsliding. He who has been set free by the Son is free. Why? Because you continued in his word, and you know the truth. It doesn't say your circumstances change. It doesn't say people treat you different. But you know the truth, and the truth will make you free. And he whom the Son has set free, and that isn't with the one people, that's not like, "Oh, free! Let's get out of that." It's understanding. It's seeing. It's knowing. Continuing the truth, you'll know the—the truth, and the truth itself, not a magic one. And the truth will make you free. And he who the Son set free, he's free. And there ain't no hell on the earth. There ain't no situation or circumstance that can touch that. Why? Because he sees. I hope, I hope you all are all right. I have burned a lot of calories for this thing. Somebody's got to get something. No, it's good to burn calories. This is my new workout program. Just preach like a madman, lose five pounds during a message, and only eat four pounds worth. You lose a pound every message. As much as I preach, who? Because he's loved righteousness and hated lawlessness. Therefore, God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness more than your companions. The Lord, in the beginning, laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They're all going to perish, but you, Lord, remain the same. It's a paradox. How, how the enemy has just used this gospel to get us into the thing we're delivered from. We're free from works, and yet we tend to live in works. People, when they go to—when they're trying to be healed, they're trying to do everything they need to do to be healed. Jesus did everything. We need healing. Healing is a gift. It's something we receive through righteousness. They lower a paralytic through the roof, and what's Jesus say? He doesn't say, "Take your bed and walk." He doesn't say, "Hey, I'm here to heal the sick, get up, boy." He says, "Son, take heart, your sins are forgiven." What's Jesus? He's a good teacher. What's the point he's trying to make? He's saying, "Do you realize the fact that I'm here makes you right with God? That what I'm about to accomplish and do is going to be the forgiveness of all men's sins, if they just believe?" He says he was an ambassador pleading on God's behalf to be reconciled with God. And that's what we're to be: ambassadors for God, reconciling people, not imputing their trespasses. In other words, not seeing them for what they've done and where they've been, but seeing them for what he's done and where he's been, and what he's created them to be. So when they lower the paralytic through, he doesn't see a paralytic. He doesn't see a sin-filled soul. He sees somebody that's waiting for redemption through his life and his blood. And he says, "Take heart, son. See, the fact that I'm standing here means something. Your sins are forgiven." That's what he said. And you know what the people did? He says, "Why do you bicker, debate, and think evil things in your mind? Why do your minds just go like this as soon as—as soon as I speak?" And called him on it. As soon as he said, "Your sins are forgiven," he turned and said, "Why do you think evil in your hearts?" Because he heard all. He thinks he is. He called him on it immediately. See, anybody can do that. Anybody can sit out there and try to figure me out and assess me and get so distracted that you don't hear one thing that's said. "Take heart, your sins are forgiven." He says, "People, why are you thinking evil in your minds?" Come on. What is easier to say? See, Jesus is so loving. Wonder if Jesus wasn't loving, and he to perceive their thinking. "Even up there, you all go again. Every time I preach, you—I hear it all the time. Don't think I don't hear it. God lets me hear it. Look, I'm just done with you people. I don't even know why I bother. You'll never change." If you didn't change, but now you ain't changing, I'll go to another town. Forget you. That's not Jesus at all. He says, "Why do you think evil things in your heart? What do you—" He says, "Guys, what's easier to say?" He's always looking for change. He's always reaching out and expending himself to bring repentance and change to the people. Why? Because he loves them. He isn't mad at them. He's not saying, "What a bunch of jerks." He's going, "Wow, you just don't see your sheep without a shepherd." And he weeps with compassion, not frustration. He says, "Guys, what's easier to say? Your sins are forgiven, or rise and walk?" But to show you the Son of Man has the power to forgive sins. What's he making it all about? Righteousness. The forgiveness of sins equals righteousness. You get it? I've come to make you right. Doesn't mean you did anything right. He's doing it right. So all glory goes to him. It's designed to so humble our hearts because no one's ever loved us like this. And then the devil says, "Yeah, but you really—yeah, but nothing really changed. Well, you still did that. Well, they still believe that. Well, you're telling me that this makes it different. You still slept with him. You still robbed. That. You still lie. You still—" See what happens? Instead of coming out of the darkness and say, "Look, Father, I thank you. You made me new. You gave me new life. I don't have no history with sin. I have history with you because in the beginning, you made me for your image. And Jesus, you paid the price to restore that truth. And I'm going to follow you and live by your Spirit and not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Thank you for loving me." He said, "But wonder if you mess up." So if you stumble into something, it doesn't say when you sin. If you sin, you have an advocate, Jesus, the righteous. So all of a sudden, you see it for what it is. You don't get condemned, guilty, or say, "Here I go again. If I was really sincere, I'd have changed by now." And now you're tricked into some perfection thing. No, you turn right to God and say, "Wow, I so appreciate the truth working in my life. I see that exactly for what it is. You never made me for that. Created me for that. That is not you. That's lawlessness. Thank you, God, for righteousness, wisdom, wiser, sharper. God, I so thank you for loving me. Amen." But see, I know lots and lots of Christians that aren't living that way. They stumble, and they become a stumble, then they back off and give up, then they identify with stumbling. They don't even wonder why they care so much about stumbling. It's because their heart's been so changed. You know what Satan would love to do? Get you so far away from that to where all of a sudden you actually believe, believe you don't even care anymore. And you can hear the clearest truth you could ever hear, and it don't matter, or it's too late, or whatever. That's exactly what he wants to do. Why? Because he wants to lull people to sleep. And the Bible says, "Awake unto righteousness." Then Christ will give you light. Awake unto what? You see what he wants to do? Lull you to sleep. He's the counterfeit. So if he sees we're supposed to be awake, his goal is to make sure you're at church but asleep. Not awake to spiritual hunger, not awake to mission work, not awake to feeding the poor. That all comes through this foundational truth, the power of God unto salvation. Awake unto—wow. Why would God put in scripture for the church to awake from her sleep and wake unto righteousness if that wasn't the main deal? Woo, that's just good preaching right there. So as a pastor, I was convinced the people I was pastoring weren't excited about that. So I actually started to believe that they weren't going to be able to enjoy the fruits of that, and that that made them selfish and deceived, and they wanted God on their terms and didn't want to believe their—their identity. So all of a sudden, it seems easier to just feel guilty or talk down a brother or stereotype somebody. But even though it seems easier, it doesn't bear good fruit. And I was watching that as a pastor, and I was in a very tender, difficult place two years into pastoring because I was starting to actually believe people wanted God's blessing but didn't want his life. They wanted his favor but didn't want his heart. They wanted his hands but they didn't want his nature and his face. I started to believe that. And I started to believe that we weren't thankful for the cross except that we get to go to heaven instead of wear what fits us the best. Because the only reason we look the way we look spiritually is because of what we're wearing. And if we take some things off that don't fit us right and that clash colors, we'll look different. We might need to take off some things and put on Christ. Are you all hearing me? Not 'cause I'm miked up. Are you all hearing me? I preach so long, didn't I? We did start at 6:00, so I just—for years, I can't pull that anymore. For years, they started at 6:00. I always thought they were giving me an extra hour. That's what I thought. I mean, it wasn't any bad intention. I just thought they would think, "A man dancing in town, we're just giving him an extra hour. We'll start at 6:00." So for years, I blew that out of the water because the real reason they start at 6:00 is 'cause we're coming back in the morning, and they thought we might not get out as late. "We start at 6:00, we won't get out as late." Well, sometimes we started at 6:00 and got out later than if we started at 7:00 because I thought they gave me an extra hour. And he said, "I want to give Dan as long as he wants." I heard that tonight from your pastor. "Give him as long as he wants to say whatever's on his heart." So I noted that you said that. I heard it. But no, no, we're coming back tomorrow. But we'll pray for the sick tonight. Would that be okay? Yeah, there's a—there's a—it would be good to pray for the sick tonight. There's a lot of things in the room that I feel God wants to change. That healing would be a beautiful thing in the room tonight. There's actually a need for actually a lot of healing in the room. I can feel that in my heart. Physical healing. Take heart, son, your sins are forgiven. Why are we healed? Because we believe. Right? Prayed, anointed, and powerful. Because we believe we're forgiven, and we believe we're not judged, but we're saved. Healed, delivered, protected, saved, healed, saved means healed, delivered, protected, preserved, made whole, kept safe and sound. Yeah, yeah. This righteous message is what opens the door for healing. People are in works trying to get healed. They're trying to do the right things. They're reading more books. They're stressing. I've seen—I've seen the desire to be healed become people's identity and even strive and become a very negative thing in their life. Why? Because it's real. There's pain, there's symptoms. But it's usually the consternation of mind. It's usually people, "What did I do wrong? Why won't God heal me? Why isn't he?" And they're actually identifying themselves with not being healed instead of identifying themselves with being righteous. And it's a trap, and it's another way that Satan counterfeits and perverts and flips the coin over. Are you all with me? We'll do this real quick here. Go to Romans. I want you to see the power of right—righteousness. I've been preaching this a whole lot lately. So if you listen to anything recent, I've probably preached this about 10 weekends in a row. It's just one of them things where things get big in you at times. I've preached it for years and years ago, but it's big in me now. And I've been preaching it. Faith preachers use this because it's amazing when you read it. But I want you to see something. Romans chapter 4. He's talking about Abraham. And in verse 16, he says, "Therefore, it is well—" Let me, let me go to verse 17. Romans 4:17. "I have made you a father of many nations." Who knows that in Genesis, God came to Abraham and said he was going to make him a father of many nations? Who knows that? Abraham went into like some kind of trance or something? God cut covenant, walked through the meat. There was a smoking furnace. Who knows the whole story, right? It's a pretty intense story. So this is where we're jumping in at in Romans. So this is the writer in Romans. Watch this. "As I have written, I have—as it is written, 'I mean, I have made you a father of many nations in the presence of him who he believed.'" So he's talking about Abraham believing God. So God said this, and in God's presence, Abraham heard this and believed God. It says right, okay. "Who gives life to the dead and calls things—those things which do not exist as though they did." Who knows that's an analogy even based on Abraham's age, Sarah's womb? I mean, to tell Abraham, him and Sarah are going to have a baby naturally was a pretty big—that's one of them emoji with the head up here to right? Yeah. I mean, come on, Sarah, we'll give her another try. You know, he's 100 years old, she's like 90. I don't know if I can handle it. We've been trying for a while. We got to try. Have faith. Come on. Okay. E—I mean, just what's going on? Sorry, I acted that out, but it's just the way I saw it. I mean, I just see him going in the tent, and he got a little skip. He said, "We can, girl. Just one more go around." "Oh, babe, I don't know. Maybe it didn't happen like that." This is how I saw it. Maybe I should rebuke that, huh? "In the presence of him, he calls those things that be not as though they do exist." Okay, here's Abraham, who contrary to hope—that would be his body, his age, and Sarah. Are you with me? Contrary to hope, the facts, and hope, believed. So that he actually became the father of many nations according to what was spoken. So shall your descendants speak. Now look at verse 19. "And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body already dead, since he was about 100 years old, and the deadness of Sarah's womb, maybe around 90." I don't know. "He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what he had promised, he was able to perform." This faith, therefore, this kind of faith was accounted to him as what? So people preach that when they preach on faith, and they preach that when they preach on standing for healing, and they use Abe as the example. But it's astonishing how Romans writes it when you read Genesis. Because when you read Genesis, he wavered big time. Him and Sarah had a conversation, and she thought that maybe Hagar was the answer because it ain't working with me, boy. So how about you sleep with my maidservant, maybe have a baby with her, and that's how God will pull this thing off. And Abe probably didn't say, "Let me fast and pray." He probably said, "You want me to sleep with Hagar? Yeah, you got my permission." That's probably where the fist bump came from. So Abe, he goes, sleeps with Hagar. It says in hope against hope. It says he didn't waver. He was persuaded and convinced that God was able to perform. When I read Genesis, he was the total opposite in every way. He compromised. He questioned. He watched the time clock, clock, and he thought, "It ain't going to happen, or it'll happen by now. How many times do we have to try? It ain't working. Let's go try with Hagar." Now he has Ishmael. And you know what God does? A chapter after he has Ishmael, he says, "Abraham, stand before me and be righteous." What's he saying? "Stand before me and believe." Why? Because his faith was accounted. He wasn't believing. He said, "Stand before me and be righteous." So guess what God did? In Genesis 17, he reiterated the whole promise and covenant that he acted out in 15. He announced it all. In the middle of all that, guess what Abe did? Cut him off and said, "Oh, Lord, that Ishmael might stand before you." God said, "There ain't no way, Abraham. He can't. He's the son of your flesh, not promise. He has to be the son of promise." And according to the season of life, your wife is going to conceive. And he just never shifted or skipped a beat. And Abraham actually tried to get the work of his flesh to stand before God. And Romans says, like Romans reveals Abraham as the man we all want to be. But when I read Genesis, he didn't do anything that Romans is saying in chapter 16 and 17. So is the Bible lying? "Stand before me and be righteous." Boom. And he reiterates covenant. Abraham's say, "Oh, that Ishmael might be—" He said, "Abraham, no, listen. He's the son of your flesh. This is how it's going down. And according to season of life." And God just said, "And what did Abraham do?" He had to. He said, "I get it. Forgive me for all that. I ain't changing a beat from this point on. You got nothing but faith out of me from this point on, God. I believe you." And guess what? Romans remembers his faith, not his sin. And all that heaven remembers and records through the blood of Jesus Christ is Abraham's faith, not his compromise. In such a way that it writes his faith as if there never was compromise. Why? Because through the blood of Jesus and new life, there wasn't. Why? Because all things become new. A new creature in Christ. So at the end of the chapter, you get into 18. They come, they're cooking for him, and he's reiterating this thing again. And he says about the season of life and Sarah. And she's going—Sarah's going to conceive. Sarah goes, "Me? I ain't having no baby." "Oh, yeah, you having a baby." And all of a sudden, he says, "Why did Sarah laugh?" And Sarah says, "I didn't laugh." And guess what? He said, "Oh, but you did." That is not a good day to be at the dinner table with the Lord, and you laugh at what he says, cynically laugh, sarcastically. And then he calls you on the sarcastic laugh, and you say, "I didn't laugh." And he says, "Oh, but you did." Guess what Hebrews says? That we all should be like Sarah. What? Laugh and lie. We've all done that. Faith receives strength to conceive. And Miss Sarah, who laughed and lied in Genesis, through repentance and going at some point, "Duh, why did I laugh? Duh, why did I lie? I believe you." And in 21, she's pregnant. And all Hebrews remembers is her faith, not her laugh. And says, "We ought to all be like her and by faith receive strength." So Sarah goes down in the list of the patriarchs of faith as one of our examples that we should follow. Why? Because we've all lived the before life of Sarah and Abraham. But we can all follow the repentance and the faith and receive the righteousness. "Stand before me, Abraham, and be righteous." What's he saying? "Stand before me and believe me." And Abraham said, "Yes, sir," and never turned back. And Romans, all it remembers is his faith. Wasn't that swallowed? Guilt, condemnation, and shame? Because Abraham could still have a testimony. "Well, you know, I mean, I had my chance to believe God. I mean, he even came to me like, in person. I mean, the torch and the oven and the smoking flax. It was incredible. You should have seen it. I mean, and if I didn't believe after experiencing all that, I ain't no believer at all. I ain't even worthy. He shouldn't even entrust me with something so big that I can't carry. Yeah. And I mean, he came to me and told me we still had a shot, and we could still believe. But you know me, I just don't never get it right. I mean, God could lay it all right out in front of me, man. He can have 10 rights right in front of me, and I'll find the something that ain't right." Come on. But no, Abraham was guilty of all this stuff. And yet God said, "Stand before me and be righteous." Are you going to stand before me and believe me? Are you ready to believe me now, or are you going to keep making Ishmaels? And it was accounted to him righteousness because he believed. So in closing tonight, what do you believe about the finished work? What do you believe about your value? What do you believe about who you are sitting right there in your chair right now, and how God sees you and beholds you? Because I assure you, according to scripture, if you're willing to be seen clean, you'll be seen clean. If you want forgiveness, you've got it. If you want new life, it's yours. Yeah. And you can't look back. You can't go back. The one thing Paul did to apprehend is not look back. Forget what lies behind. And yet people talk about yesterday non-stop. Talk about what they've been through. And how, "You don't know my story." If your story ain't producing life, you ought to embrace his. That's 'cause your real story is found in him, not your childhood, not your first marriage. Your real story is found in him. Come on. That's just straight. "And these signs shall follow those that if you believe in me, the things I do and even greater, because I go to the Father." See, my question is, what do we all personally believe? We were enemies and alienated by the wicked way our minds were contrary to the kingdom. Yet he, in that moment, reconciled us through the body of his death to present us holy, blameless, and above reproach in his sight, if indeed we aren't moved away from the hope in which we heard. I want to encourage you every day to wake up holy, blameless, and above reproach, not because you're so awesome, because he's so awesome. And because you see he's awesome, it's put something awesome inside of you. And now you're empowered to be something you would never be if you didn't have this truth. Are you with me? So what do you say? In the light of that, we'll pray for the sick. Is that okay? So no condemnation, no guilt, and no shame ever again allowed in your life. Fair enough? And if it happens, God strike you right in the spot. No, I'm kidding. I'm just kidding. Boy, wouldn't that be something if half the people just smoked? Say, "Man, that message wasn't received." See, it's crazy how we see ourselves that way. But God hasn't done that to any of us. While we were lost, he paid a price for us to be found. We sang a song, "All these states we could come in here in, and all the states we could leave in." What a beautiful song. But it all comes to the believer. See, it's one thing if he did it. It's another thing to believe it and receive it. I can tell you God loves you. It's another thing for you to be loved by God. I could tell you he's merciful, but are you receiving his mercy? I could tell you you're clean, but do you believe you're clean? You get it? It's always goes back to the believer. And the enemy's onto this. So he says, "Okay, I'll just make sure I have a real influence in what they believe." Who's the author of your faith? Who finishes your faith? So when I keep my eyes on him, I see who I'm created to be. He's the one I follow, not pray to when I'm in a jam. He's the one I follow, not sing to when it's corporate worship time. He's the one I follow. He's the author. He gave me a reason to believe, and he will consummate that reason as I walk out faith. Are you with me? So why do we pray for the sick? Because they're sick. We pray for the sick because we're forgiven through the righteous blood of Jesus, and that forgiveness brings redemption, which means brought back to original value, as if the fall of man never happened and a curse never came upon the earth. Yeah, that's why Jesus healed everywhere he went because what he's saying is, "I'm bringing things back to original value. I'm bringing—I'm the Redeemer. I'm the Restorer." What are we doing? Growing up into him in all things. So what do we have to do? Look to him and see that's the standard. Look to him and see that's the goal. Look to him and see that's the finished work. Look to Him. Looking unto Jesus, the author and the—see, what we do is we go for healing based on principles. Then we look to whether we're healed or not, and go back to principles, get frustrated. In a year later, we had already given up eight months ago. We're still saying the right words, but we're disconnected. There's a place to continue in righteousness, continue in redemption, continue in believing he's for you and never against you. And you're never saying, "God, I thought you loved me." You know he loves you because Christ was crucified. You're rooted and you're grounded in love. You were prayed for 10 times, and the thing didn't change. Love is not challenged because of that. You're just growing up into him in all things. And you believe what you believe, and you won't change your mind, and you continue in the faith. That's how our lives change. But we keep assessing what we believe based on how things unfold, and we never come to an ending point of what we call faith. Are you—are you hearing me? Yes. So tonight, we're going to pray for the sick. Faith is never hit or miss, win or lose. It's never, "Maybe he will, maybe he won't. Let's see if he does. 30 days, try me. See if you like me. 60-day money-back guarantee." No. Faith is the position of your heart to believe and receive what he paid for and accomplished. Faith says, "He loves me, period." Faith says, "He's a Healer, period." Look, I've prayed for the sick. I've—I've prayed for friends and had them die. Does it challenge Jesus's life? Does it challenge scripture? No. It gives me something to go after when that happens because I need to grow up into him in all things. Not my feelings, not my intellect, not my assessment, not regroup and change my theology. I'm following Jesus. That's not in his scenario. So I'm going to keep following him till that's not in mine. That's what it means for him to author and to finish. If I keep coming up with explanations to explain my troubled heart, it's always going to be at the cost of truth, which makes me free. Now I have a problem, and now I'm up and down, I'm in, I'm out, and I'm believing what I believe because of the way life unfolded instead of his life. Who's the author of our faith? Who's the finisher of our faith? Then circumstances never can be. We don't weigh outcomes to find the will of God. Jesus is the will of God revealed. When you see me, you see him. "I only do the will of the one who sent me." Jesus's life is the will of God, period. Yeah. So we're going to pray for the sick tonight. A couple little quick things. Who's ever prayed for the sick in the room? Be honest. Okay. So you'll chuckle about this, probably a lot of you. I know I chuckle about it. It used to be painful, but I'm getting over that. But when you go to pray for the sick, who's ever noticed that we flip this switch and get very conscious of our prayer, what we're praying, how we're praying? We try to pray right, powerful, and anointed so that God comes and does what we're praying. Who knows that? What I'm saying, we do. We get more focused on our prayer instead of what we're believing. We try to pray right. "The Lord told me to say this everywhere I go." And every time we do this little thing we're about to do, say it everywhere. "Dan, say it everywhere." Why? Because it's become a stronghold. See, 'cause that's works. Because if your prayer heals the sick, then we ought to probably all go to prayer college, and we probably shouldn't pray for the sick until we graduate. Your prayer never heals the sick. It's his finished work. Your prayer never happened, never will. Watch. "Be whole. Be free. See. Stand up. Stretch forth your hand. Walk." Come on. "Be whole in Jesus' name. Be healed." And watch this. That's plenty when it's backed by a revelation of believing. Are you with me? But when we, when we change our voice and put on our intercession [Music] tone, "Father, I come to you right now, and I just thank you, God. Know you will respond in the authority of the name of Jesus. Anything I ask shall be." And all of a sudden, you're quoting four or five more scriptures, and then you're all done, and that thing's going. And then you go, "Father God, I just thank you, Lord. H—name of Jesus." And before the second time, you're already discouraged. You're already self-conscious, and you're already striving. That's right. By the third time, and it's raw unbelief, but you're saying it right, so it sounds like you're praying. By the fourth time, you're frustrated, wonder how you got into this, and you're sure you're never going to be in this again. Who knows that I'm not that far off? See, we get tricked into making it all about us all the time. You can't heal anybody, but yet he says, "Heal the sick." He's expecting we understand he lives in us. And the reason we touch is because he touches. The reason we speak is because we facilitate what we believe, and he backs it up. So nobody can pray a good enough prayer tonight to heal the sick, but we can believe the right thing, that he loves us, that he forgave us, that we're clean in his sight, we're righteous, that we're holy, blameless, and above reproach in his sight. So be whole in Jesus' name. There's probably plenty. Yeah. And it does you and me good when we're praying for the sick when we believe that Jesus loves that person and that they ain't nothing they can do or not do to stop this thing. Why? Because it's mercy that triumphs over judgment. "Well, yeah, but they don't have faith, brother." "Yeah, but they're talking really negative." I've seen all the above get blown out of the water by simple faith. We've seen people on the street say, "Well, I don't even believe in God." "It's all right. We weren't asking you to. Would you just let us pray?" "What do you mean you're not asking them to? That's not evangelistic." "Just let us pray. Why? We're here to sow seeds. Let us pray." It's Luke 10. It's so scriptural. "Heal the sick, and then tell them the kingdom of God's here." Matthew says, "Tell them first, and then pray for him." But Luke 10 tells me, "Go ahead and pray for him, and then tell them." So whether you tell them and show them, or show them and tell them, it's the same. Some people have been to church just long enough that if you get talking about scripture and theology, that you won't—you'll lose your chance to pray. Some people have just enough religion in them to talk themselves out of letting you pray. So sometimes it's better to just not say anything and just heal the sick. And even when they, "What the bleep?" I've seen that one military guy walking down the sidewalk. "What's up, man?" "Ah, I tore my ACL, man. What's—" "What do they tell you about that?" "Oh, they said they'll never heal. They got to do some surgery. They want to replace a tendon. I'm just toughing it out, man. I'm just figuring it'll go away." "They said it'll never go away." "But I'm just—" "I said, well, it can go away." "What?" "No, it can go away." "Are you down with that? Like, if that could go away, you'd be okay?" "Well, yeah, man. What, what are you talking about?" "Just kneel right down." Grabbed his knee. Never said a word about Jesus. Jesus, like that. It's humbling. Grown man on his knees, white-haired fell, older than him, down on his knees praying. It's humbling factor. He's looking. I stand up and say, "Check your knee out." He goes, "What? What the bleep?" Now, here's what's the cool thing. He didn't go, "What the bleep?" Oh, like when he swore, the thing didn't come back. It's not works. It's mercy. It's grace. It's God's love. Did God know he was going to swear? Did he still heal him? He's not sitting there doing the three monkey emoji thing to Jesus when he curses, trying to cover his eyes, ears, and mouth. He's not shocked when he swears. He loves him. And now you get to tell him the kingdom of God's at hand. And then he's like, "Oh." 'Cause before that, he don't know nothing else. You get it? When you pray for the sick, you'll run into sickness that if they were—if they were healed, they'll know they're healed because it has symptoms. We were in a parking lot. Guy had a twisted leg. It was messed up visually, not terribly, just visually enough to know he had a situation. God—God fixed his leg on the tailgate of the truck. And his two friends threw more cursed words out than I knew was possible to say in like 15 seconds. And Holy Ghost just sat right there, confident. He didn't run. He didn't pull the healing off. He didn't mangle his leg worse. And in a minute, we could tell the guys what happened, and they can go, "Oops. Ain't that something?" It's a little—to he's given us called faith working through love. It's not faith working through works. It's faith working through. So if you and I see the value of our lives in God's sight, I bet we'll start realizing everybody looks that way to him. And I bet you everybody will start to matter. And I bet you'll be pretty easy to have faith working through love because our whole life, we've had first impressions, stereotyped, and judged men for what they were or weren't doing instead of who they're created to be and how God sees them through the Son. Are you with me? You pray for people, you'll pray for people that'll know they're healed if they're healed because they have symptoms. You'll pray for people, you'll just hear them talk, and they got a thing that comes and goes. "Or man, I hate. I've got to go to work tomorrow. Oh, man, I got a hard assignment." You'll be in a grocery line, and they're talking. Who's ever heard people talk like that? They'll say, "Man, tomorrow I'll be hurting so bad when I get home, I won't even be able to walk." And somebody else say, "Man, I'm just glad I don't have a migraine 'cause I thought I'd have one by now. It's going to hit me any day." Who—who's heard people talking like this? You just tap him. "Hey, I couldn't help but to hear what you said. Listen, I want to do something, man, that can change." "What do you mean?" "No, it can change. I want to do something." And don't say no. Okay? I always ask him not to say no before I tell him what I'm doing. And they'll say, "Say no to what?" "Well, just tell me you won't say no." "Okay, just don't say no." "Say no." "Say no." "Listen, I just want to pray for you. Now, don't say no, just let me pray for you, please. It's nothing weird. He's real. If I knew nothing would happen, I'd never ask to pray." That's what I tell people sometimes. "If I already knew nothing could possibly happen, why would I ask you to pray?" Come on. Let's just pray. We don't have to talk right now. Let's just pray. I've seen God do so much just doing that right there. You don't have a symptom. You just believe. You tell them, "Listen, I believe that ain't coming back." You say, "Well, wonder if it does?" Get your mind out of that place. Authority. Declaration. "Ain't coming back. I believe it with all my heart. He loves you so much." You walk away, thank God for the honor of believing. If they have a pulsating migraine, pray for them. You say, "Wonder if it doesn't go away?" It's the number one reason why Christians don't pray for the sick in their personal life. They're afraid nothing will happen. It's not their theological—it's they're afraid nothing will happen. So they back off and don't release faith. So guess what? They always have nothing. Why? Because they're reduced to never praying. So they're not praying for people because they're afraid nothing will happen, so they got nothing because they're never praying. What a paradox. Don't let that work for you. Don't let that be okay. "These signs shall follow those that they'll lay their—" So the only reason you're not laying your hands on the sick is because you either don't have understanding, you don't believe they'll get healed anyway. What we do is we turn healing into a point in time. We're afraid if the migraine won't leave, we're pressured by that. So we pray for them, and they say, "Oh, no, it's still hurting bad. I still feel nauseated." If they're in a hurry, if they're heading home, if they're uncomfortable, and they just want to get to their car, you need to respect that and find where grace is in every situation. That's just discernment. Hard to teach discernment. You don't have to pray again. Sometimes, if they're in a position, I'll say, "Can I just pray one more time and just speak some things?" And I'll do that. But at some point, if it doesn't change, guess what I have to do? Continue to believe. Believe that God's right here and he's doing something. I can't let what's not happening decide what I believe. I have to take my stand, my ground, and say, "Listen, I'm so humbled that you would let me pray for you. I can tell this thing's really bothering you, and I can see you need to get to your car. Can I help you? I'll just carry a couple things, okay? No, I won't bother you. I just want to—car. I just want to help." "It's okay. Get them in their car. God bless you." "Are you okay to drive?" "Yeah, yeah, I'll be fine." "I can—" Or say somebody else is driving. They're just sitting in the passenger seat. And it's just—they're at that point. You can let that crush you or say, "Man, what's wrong with me? I prayed, nothing happened. I ain't never doing this again. God, I'm stepping out in your word. You ain't even back in your word. I ain't doing this. I feel foolish. I feel like I just misrepresented you, and they're going to hate you now because I prayed for healing, they didn't get healed." That's what people do. Nope. Listen, I'm so encouraged. We prayed. It says, "If I pray and believe, we'll receive all things." Laid hands on you and believed. I'm believing that thing's going away. I'm not going to stop praying for you. I'm going to go to my car and just thank God for your life, life, and continue to believe for you. And I'm just excited to see what God's doing. And look at me. I'll get them, and I'll make a declaration. "I believe that's leaving you today, and here's going to be an amazing sign to you. There ain't one coming back." I'm just telling you. I don't believe one's coming back. And even if it's four weeks from now, and you realize, "I ain't had another one." God is moving in your life. You got to leave in faith. If you don't leave in faith, what did I do wrong? Why am I not anointed? Why doesn't anybody get healed when I pray? And the next time you go to pray for somebody, you're already on eggshells, half sunk. Are you with me? Let's pray for the sick tonight. It's 8:26. Y'all okay? Only because we started at 6:00, or it'd be 9:26. Dear Jesus. It's usually about quarter to 10 when we get started on this anyway when I travel. So thank you, Pastor CT, for 6:00. If you're sick in your body tonight, and you were healed, and you'd have no way of knowing because it's not symptomatic, there'd be no way to tell. It's something in your blood, internal. You'd need a test or time to know if you were actually healed. But there's a condition that's that's there that you can't test or check. You would just need to tell in time, retest. You all follow me? I need you to stand to your feet, please. Just that group right there. You have a sickness or condition in your body that if you were healed, you'd have no way of knowing right now because it's not symptomatic. It's internal or something. Please don't stay in your seat. I got—I got eight, nine. I got eight, eight or nine people still sitting in your seat that have a condition like that. You didn't stand up. Please stand up. Please stand up. Don't—don't come this far and then not come all the way. I still got seven, eight people that I need to stand up.

Please, you got something going on that that you can't testify if you're healed other than believing you're healed. I need, I need a couple more. I need you. Come on. So I still need five. I know it. It's not going away. It won't leave me. Why am I pressing for five? Because I feel that in my heart. Why would I ask for five when I already got plenty of people to pray for? Because it's real, and God wants to move, and he wants you to release faith by standing. You're saying, "I believe you have a condition in your body that if you were healed, you wouldn't know it." I still need four. Would you jump up? Please. Don't. The longer you wait, the harder it is to just stand. Just stand like she just did. Please. I'm being aggressive on purpose because I do this all the time. I live this way. I know when there's a couple people holding out. God's just giving you a real merciful chance to just jump up. Has anybody else jumped up that I missed? That I didn't see you jump up? Yeah. How many? One. Huh? Okay. Three more stood up. Oh, I missed them. Oh, I got another one. So that's four. Well, I just saw two. Three more. So, see? Okay. See, you keep casting your line and fishing. Some are going to bite. You think you ain't got the right lure on? You switch it up. Some's going to know. Listen, can you tell that I'm serious and passionate about this? Why would I plead for a number of people to stand up if I didn't believe this is absolutely real? We already had plenty of people to pray for. That's not the point. God wants you believing him. And I knew in my spirit you're here and you just didn't stand up, but you qualified. That wouldn't let the spirit of God wouldn't let that go. That to me is intimate. That should say something about how much he loves us and he's trying to encourage us to. Are you with me? Okay. Whenever you're in a situation like this and you fit the thing and you've sat it out the whole night, don't hesitate. Just jump up. Don't talk yourself out of it. Don't say, "Well, you know, I'm already in faith." You. It doesn't take you out of faith when you stand up. It actually says, "I believe." Are y'all good? Okay. I feel like we got everybody now. If you're sitting real close to them, I don't need you to all get up and go running. But if you're just sitting real close, just tap somebody right in front of you or behind you. Look, if there's somebody right there where you're at standing, just make contact and say, "Hey, can I? Can I just?" You could just do a little finger hook if you don't want to get too touchy-feely. Just be gracious. Don't smother them. Don't slobber over them. Just touch them gently. Just say, "Hey, I'm going to believe for you." Okay. Now listen carefully. If you stood up for prayer, here's all I want you to do right now. I want you to believe one thing: that Father God has to love me, or he'd never send his son. That's all I want you to believe tonight. I don't want you gritting your teeth, praying in tongues, and saying you're trying to receive. Stop. I want you to believe one thing. You have to love me. You didn't never sent your son. Thank you for loving me. Would you believe that tonight? The people praying, I want you to believe one thing: that he heals them because he loves them, and he paid the price to not only forgive them but to heal all their disease through Jesus Christ. Amen. So because you believe that, I want you to say this over him right now. Say, "Be made whole in Jesus name. No more sickness, no more weakness, and no more symptoms in Jesus name. Be completely made whole." Wow. Father, we just thank you for that. Just believe he loves you. We can't check this stuff. This is. This is the one where we just can't check. And don't target them in your life. That doesn't make it easier. You still have to have sincere faith and believe. Okay. Go ahead. You guys can be seated. Thank you for participating. Thank you for jumping. You say, "That's too simple." No, it's not simple. It paid. It cost an incredible price. Jesus paid an incredible price to make that possible. Don't you ever think it's simple. Okay. So what's my second group? Symptoms. You would know. I've seen people with braces. I saw somebody with a foot thing on. I saw other stuff. There's people with herniated discs. There's people with stuff. It could be eyes, ears. You could be deaf in an ear, two ears. You could. It just have degenerated knees, bones, whatever. If you have symptoms in your body of sickness or degeneration. Okay, this is a good one because I just heard this. Don't let your age matter. Somebody needed to hear that tonight. Don't say, "Well, I am." Don't let your age matter. I've been in services. I've seen some amazing, beautiful, powerful things. People in their 80s, 90s. I watched an 82-year-old lady get totally free from every symptom of arthritis. She didn't have arthritis because she's 82. If you have symptoms in your body, anything less than wholeness, and if you were healed, without exaggeration, you'd be able to sincerely check it and find out if you were healed or not. I need, need you to stand to your feet, please. We're going to pray for every one of you. Sickness in your body. Don't make me go fishing. I'm a really good fisherman. I shouldn't have to go fishing. You should just jump up in faith. Like God should just be so excited and pleased that his kids believe him, and we just jump up like Abraham believed. Let's be the Romans Abraham, not Genesis, because the Romans Abraham is the one that'll be remembered. Amen. Wow. This is good, Pastor Kurt. This is good. Like, I feel excited about how people just jumped up. I feel like we got them. Like, boom. You guys blessed me like beyond what you know. Like, usually I have to go fishing for a couple, and usually there's somebody sitting there. "Now, Lord, if you want to heal me, you put in his heart what's wrong with me and get him to call me out." No, you should have already been standing before you had that conversation. Y'all good? We got everybody. We got everybody. Okay. I just, one person. It's the only one I'm hearing. I got one person. I need you to jump up. And as soon as I say it, it's just. It'll sound simple, but it's. It's not simple to your everyday life. It's your knees. They're not well. They bother you, and they're obviously not well, and you're still sitting in your chair. I need you to stand up. Okay. Thank you. I got one more. I wasn't even planning on fishing. It's your elbow. And when you go like that, you feel it. It bites you. It gets you. There's something wrong with it. When you pick something out of an upper cupboard, it bothers you. Who is that? Your elbow. Gotcha. Good. Good. Okay. All right. We're ready. We ready? Here's what I need you to do. The people standing, you're going to do what the first group did. You're going to believe. What? What are we going to believe? God has to love me, or he'd never send his son. You know why we say that? Some people have been around us. I know how we do. We don't. We're not evil when we do this. We just get deceived. We've been prayed for 10, 12, 15, 20 times. We vowed to never stand up in a service again because we're the one that never gets healed or whatever. And then we start questioning God, "Why won't you heal me?" And somehow it reverts back to, "I thought you loved me." The measuring stick of God's love isn't if you were healed or not. It's that Christ was crucified. You'll never be rooted and grounded in in love if you're looking for love along the way. You found love in the beginning when your faith got authored. Makes sense? Oh, that's just good preaching, Dan. Okay. I need you to raise one hand. And it's not an act of worship. It's not works to get healed. Raise one hand. This is so we don't lose you in a minute. Now listen, I know I'm setting you up. And if you're uncomfortable, that's amazing and awesome, and I want you on my team. Everybody sitting, look around. We're going to need everybody sitting. Don't pray for anybody. Just claim somebody. I want you all involved. I'm going to teach you something. We're going to pray for five quick seconds. It's not even going to be a prayer. It's going to be a declaration. I'll explain it. You can't go wrong. The only way you can miss it tonight is if you don't get involved. I promise you. You watch and see what God does. The people sitting, go claim somebody one-on-one. Leave your hand up until they got you. Just say, "Hey, I'm going to pray with you." "Hey, you got me." And I've never done this before. Just go have an icebreaker. Don't pray yet. Don't pray yet. We're going to do it together. When they claim you, put your hand down. I only want your hand up if you're waiting for a partner. Put your hand down if you have a partner. Only leave your hand up if you're waiting for a partner. Go like this if you're waiting so they see you. There's a lot of people. Go like this. Okay. He's got you. He's coming. Anybody else? There's a gentleman here in a blue shirt. He's still patiently waiting. Bam. Now you got double whammy. Tag teamed. That's awesome, buddy. They came by twos. Oh, okay. She drifted down the line. Anybody else waiting? Are we all covered? Oh, you guys did amazing. Now listen, I commend you. Be honest. Who's a little nervous that's participating, but you did just because I asked you to, but you're actually a little nervous and you just did it just because you're participating? Be honest with me. Okay. No. Look, that's honesty. That's. See, I love that. I want you on my team. Why? You're not overconfident. You're not self-confident. You're certainly not into works. You're like Jesus. If you don't show up in a minute. [Laughter] Help. So here's what we're going to do. Take three seconds. Don't tell him a long version. Take three or four seconds and tell the person why you stood up, what you're believing for. Give them a three, four-second idea of what you're standing for. You can say, "Arthritis symptoms all through my body, degenerated knees, torn rotator cuff, I got a herniated disc, can't hear out of my ear." Just three, four seconds. Tell them what it is. Tell them what it is. Y'all good? Soon as you tell them, get quiet and look back here. Don't get all social. Tell them and then look back up here. We'll do this thing. Y'all got it? Okay. Good. Oh, you guys are amazing. Pastor Kurt, you guys, your church is doing good. Now, here's why I did that. Matthew 17. It has to do with healing the epileptic boy. Why couldn't we heal the boy? He said, "Because of your unbelief." But truly I tell you, this is your little faith. But truly I tell you this, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, "Move," and the mountain of what? Watch, and nothing shall be impossible for you. He doesn't say God. He says you. Why? Because he wants us to understand God's in us, and he's telling us to do this. Ain't that amazing? So this is why I had you tell them. Because watch, faith's going to say to the mountain. So if you have arthritis symptoms in your body, if you have degenerate knees, if you have that thing in your elbow, I want you to simply say, "I'm only going to give you." I got a clock up there. That's actually where. Oh, I thought there was seconds on that. Where did I see seconds on a clock? I thought I saw seconds on a clock. I guess I didn't. So, no. Okay. But I'll clown it down. I'm only going to give you about five seconds because nobody can get in trouble in five seconds. You can't get into works. You can't. No, you can't get into trouble in five seconds. It's going to be so quick. Here's why I want you to do. Watch this. If they had a herniated disc, watch this. Back, you be completely healed. Disc, no more pain. You work, you bend, you flex in Jesus name. Whatever makes sense to the condition. Degenerate knees, knees, you be completely made whole in Jesus name. Rotator cuff, be completely healed. Total rotation without pain in Jesus name. What are we doing? We're saying to the. And the mountain will. And nothing shall be impossible for me. You. You get it? Why is he healing us? Because he loves us. How'd he prove he loves us? By sending his son. Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name. And don't forget His benefits. He forgives all my sin, and He heals all my disease. Is He a healer? Amen. So we don't heal anybody. We believe He does. We facilitate. We pray. We believe and receive all things through Him. So after they pray, I'm going to give them about five, six seconds. I'm going to say, "Okay, guys, pray." And I'm going to back out, and I'm going to stay quiet for five, six seconds. It's a challenge, but I'll do it. I can do it in the Holy Ghost. Maybe. No, I can do it in the Holy Ghost. So I'm going to say, "Okay, okay, guys, wrap that up." When I mean wrap it up, it doesn't mean the spirit of God's going to leave the room. If he don't stop it, you just wind down your prayer in a very faith-filled, polite way. Pray and in Jesus name. End it in the name of Jesus. Amen. You know what I say to people, especially on the streets when I pray for people? I do it in the church too. I say, "And thank you, Father, for your great love for them." I just believe people don't receive the love of God like they could. So I always acknowledge God's love. Amen. But the name of Jesus is vital. So watch this. Here's the example. Rotator cuff, you be completely healed and restored. No more pain in Jesus name. Who knows I can do that in five seconds or less? Be sincere and believe God. That's what we're doing tonight. You watch and see what he does in the room. As soon as we pray, we're going to close. As soon as we're done, I want you that are being prayed for to believe God loves you. You never sent his son. As you're affirming that in your heart, and they say amen, I want you to sincerely, without exaggeration. That's why there's no worship team up here. Without any. Not that they create exaggeration. Sometimes we just get in the emotion of things. I don't want any of that. I try to make it as dry as I can. It's usually dry in a parking lot when you're nervous trying to pray for somebody. It doesn't feel all that. Wouldn't it be great if you had a little fold-out box and these guys would just pop up? "Honey, I Shrunk the Worship Team," and you just lay them on the hood of the car, and they're already flowing. You'd be like, "Shaba." It's usually not like that. You just got to believe. So here's what I want you to do. Believe God loves you, or he never sent his son. And then I need you guys, without exaggeration, check your bodies. And you begin to check your bodies. And when you know you're healed, I just need you to let me know. Okay. Now, this is very important. If nothing changes in your body, Dan, you shouldn't be talking like that. If nothing changes in your body, there's three things I see when I pray for the sick because we're all growing. I see people healed instantly. I see people somewhat change and get better, but not all the way. And then I see things that just sit there and don't change. We tend to have an opinion about all three. I don't want you to have an opinion tonight or the rest of your life. Here's what I want you to do. If nothing changes in your body, don't say, "See, nothing happened. Why didn't I get healed? What am I doing wrong? See, I know something's blocking my healing because, well, I know this person and they're anointed." You know what we do? I want you to turn all that off. Off. Check your body. Nothing changes. Father, I so thank you that you love me. You can even tell the person, "No, it still feels the same." You can even say, "Listen, I'm just going to pray five more seconds because you're not asking God to heal you. You're saying, 'Mountain, be moved.'" Then we're going to listen to a couple testimonies. I want you, if nothing changed in your body, listen to a couple testimonies. Be thankful for what God's doing, that he's a healer, and believe the way he healed them, he's healing you. And check your body after the testimony. You watch what happens. We won't let go. We won't change our mind. We'll stay in faith. God will teach us what it means to believe. And like popcorn in a bag, things will just keep happening as we continue to believe. Are you with me? Many, many healing services we're in. We pray. We get what we get. And what we don't get, we believe we don't get. Are you with me? Yes. Yes. And I don't believe that for a second. I believe we need to continue to believe. Amen. Are you all ready? You didn't forget what you're praying for because I do take a long time to get there. Look at your person like they matter. Like they're really special. Would you give them like a warm-eyed look or something? Okay. Are you all ready? Okay. This is where I get quiet. This is where you pray for five to six seconds sincerely and speak to that mountain. Are y'all ready? Seriously? Okay. Ready. Give them the kingdom. Go ahead. Thank you, Lord. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Start to wind that down. That's good, man. That's real good. Just start to wind that down in the name of Jesus. Go ahead. Thank God that he loves you, or he didn't never sent his son. Wind it down, guys. Everybody should be just about done now. We pray long time in Jesus name. Yeah. Okay. Good. Check your bodies all over the room for me. Check your bodies. When you know you're healed, go like this. Just check your bodies. You know it for sure. You know it. Good. That's beautiful. You get them. Bam. Immediate things. I like them. Suddenly. Anybody else? As you're checking, you're realizing, "Wow." Check your right. You know it. Are you healed? Anybody else? Check your bodies. Anybody else? You know it for sure you're healed. You are. No. Okay. You are for sure. Beautiful. Keep checking out. Checking out back there. Yeah. Good. Good. Good. Anybody else? You know you're healed. The thing changed. Good. You know it. Wow. You took your time and checked it out. Was it right away, or did it get better as you were checking? As I was checking, it just kept getting better till it finally just was going. Yeah. That's how I felt. It went down for you. See how that's an aspect of faith? Watch. If he's checking, it ain't already going. He's like, "Man, what?" But he just kept checking, thanking God he loves him. And as you were checking, what happened? Just. And then now it's gone. What? What? What were we talking about? Oh, okay. A bone bruise. So that would have been easy to find. Feel. You'd have been able to find that if you looked for it. It ain't there at all. Completely gone within that little window of prayer and when you checked it. Beautiful. Beautiful. Check your bodies out. Check your bodies out. Who else? You knew you were healed. You. You raised your hand immediately. What happened? A degenerative disc. Okay. Degenerative disc. How would you know? Like, what would? So we understand your body and what you were living with. Like, you. You couldn't do that. He said, "I can't." He said, "I can't do this." Oh, okay. It sounded funny. I thought you said, "Well, I can't do this." What was that about the hand? Okay. So that would have been stiff and pain-filled, or what? So the back thing. Uh, it would have been easy to find, feel, to know it was there. Like, is that? Was that a 24/7 thing for you? I'm just trying to get everybody to appreciate what actually happened. So we don't just think, "Oh, his back feels better." I had a. A hard time standing forever. Really? So you just know it's changed. Wow. No, that's just beautiful. I just love it. Thank you, Jesus. Yes. What's amazing is I was standing. I was sitting here through service, and I was diagnosed with tendonitis. In God's healing upon me, going on. Then it would flare up real bad. And I'm sitting here, and then you call out somebody sitting. I stood up. This gentleman comes over, and you said, "Speak what it was." I. And he says, "Well, I can relate." While you're speaking, his hands on my shoulder, on my arm. I'm thanking God for him loving so much. He's loving me so much. And what you have expressed, his teaching through you tonight alone, it just resonated in me. Yeah. I started feeling healing before. Before we even got there. The amazing thing is, is I can touch every tendon that was sensitive. Wow. Incredibly healed. So with tendonitis, it's my understanding that you can touch flare-up spots, sense it, like, "Ah." Yeah. I was in Walmart, and a little girl was checking me out. She was thin, little thing, 18 years old. And I mean, she was really thin, and just sweet. And I said, "Hey, girl, what's up?" She had this big old brace, and it kind of. It was. She was so thin, it looked bulky and big on her, like she's carrying this big luggage around, you know? I said, "Honey, that's serious. What's?" She said, "They can't tell me. It's some kind of tendonitis." She said, "They put all this on because if I touch any point here, I will scream." I said, "Are you serious?" I said, "Honey, you need to just let me see your hand." She said, "Huh?" What? I said, "I'm not going to." Just let me see your hand. So I just prayed for her real gently and soft. And she got so touched that I was praying for her. She was like, "Thought he's praying for me." And I just prayed. And she said, "Because it's her hand." She goes, "No, I'm not kidding." This this is right in Walmart at the cash register. She goes, "Just pulls this thing off." "Oh my God. Oh my God. Everybody. God just healed my hand. Walmart. God just healed my hand." No, I'm not kidding. And she's crying. "This man just prayed, and I couldn't even touch it. I would scream." And I was wearing. "God just healed my hand." She's in Walmart, freaking out. So me with the white hair, meaning wise, I turned around and said, "Well, guys," because she had quite a crowd and attention. I said, "Well, guys, seeing the God's here in healing, who needs healed?" I can't even tell you how long I stood at the four-year of Walmart and prayed for people because one little girl had tendonitis to where if the thought of touching it made her scream and had this apparatus to take all pressure points away, and there would be no contact, and she stripped the whole thing off and in an instant had no sensitivity. And now all of Walmart was in the middle of a healing service. Isn't it cool? So it just reminded me of that little girl because you had the same thing. Like, if you have touched it, "Ah." And I've chosen not to wear the brace. Oh, okay. So you even had a brace. So you get it. Yeah, I get it. And you're totally great. Over Jesus. Anybody else? Check your body. Eyes. Anybody else? You want to testify? Anybody else that knows they're healed? You know you're healed? Anybody else? Anybody? Anybody? Anybody? Let me ask you this. Who is somewhat healed? You just didn't raise your hand because you're not 100%, but you know you're better. Let me see. Who's better? Wave your hand like this if you know you're better. Okay. If your person's still here, that's encouraging. Better. It's encouraging. So it's not like, "Wonder why I'm only 50% anointed?" No. Stop. Just pray for him again. Here's what I can promise you. I've never been on the street, prayed for somebody that was sick and got better that didn't let me pray again because they know they're better. They're like, "Let me pray again." So you can pray for your person again. Let me ask you this, and we got to wrap up. It's 8:52, but who knows, this is fun stuff that people's bodies are changing. That was a good. Many people. Who? Who is somewhat healed? You just didn't raise your hand, but you're somewhat healed. Let people see who that was again, just so you see God's moving all through this room. Look at that. That's 13 at least. I just counted that quick. Okay. Let me ask you this. Who's standing here and you're saying, "Okay, I know it hasn't been that super long, even though Dan, you're getting late, but my body hasn't changed. It's the same as it was when I first stood up. I've been checking it, but it hasn't changed." Let me see who you are. Don't be ashamed, embarrassed. I need to know. Keep your hand up. Now, this is important. Is your person still here? No. No. Did you get rid of them? Because I don't want you to get a new person. Your person's plenty. If you see your person with a hand up, go to your person. If that's your person, I want the same person on the same person. Come on. Did your person leave? Mary? Somebody go to her. Don't be afraid. She's nice. Do you got your person? Okay. Everybody that that's saying nothing changed, do you all have your person? Okay. In the back. Okay. Here's what I want you to do now. Watch. It's very important. Jesus is going to teach us here. Watch this. Very important. Don't change your prayer. Don't grab for straws. Don't get into works. Don't spice up your prayer. Pray the same thing you believe. Pretty much what you remember praying. Just be direct. Speak to them out and pray the same thing you prayed the first time. Would you do it right now? And just believe God loves you. Do it five seconds. Go ahead. Right now. This is just the people that nothing changed. In Jesus name. Okay. That's good, man. That's real good. Thank you, Lord. Just believe and he loves you. Okay. That's good. Guys, this is just the group that nothing changed. Check your bodies for me. Check your bodies. Sincerely check them. Don't grow weary in this. Just work with me a little. Just check your bodies. Has anybody in that group changed at all that time? You changed some. What? You couldn't lift it at all. So if you'd have got up to here, it would like bite you. You'd have had to manually lift it. You have. When's the last time you did that? Okay. She couldn't lift her arm at all. She'd have had to hold it up, and she's just going around. You don't have pain? Is it completely healed, or is it still biting you a little bit? Okay. Because I felt like it's not completely, but it's a lot different to you. Oh, that's beautiful. And up until now, nothing had changed. Nothing. Look at that. And that's probably 80% better. Yeah. At least 80. At least 80. Anybody else in that group? Just the last group. Anybody else changing? See here's what's beautiful. She had no change, and she changed at least 80%. That last time. If we'd drew conclusions and had mother belief, she's not standing here doing this. Do you get what I'm saying? So we. You have your brace off. What was wrong? Why'd you have a brace on? It was an old injury that flared up today for whatever reason. Is completely healed. You have no symptoms, no pain, no hindrance. And did that just change? Yes. Just now? Yeah. Oh, beautiful. So she had two things. Just changed just now. It's why we never change our mind. Listen, we're not taking a risk when we pray for the sick. We're taking a risk when we don't believe. So when you're prayed for and nothing changes, when you leave here, you have the same position that the person that's somewhat changed has. Father, thank you for loving me, and thank you for what you're doing in my life. I so appreciate what you did for that lady, and for him, and for her. And God, I thank you for what you're doing in me because you love me. And you go to bed in faith. You wake up in faith. When do you change that belief? Anybody else? My last group. Anybody else change? Change somewhat? All the way or somewhat? 60%. About 60. Oh, that's cool. But it's a definite 60% better right now. Is it getting better right now? Yeah. Oh my goodness. So you're doing things right now that you couldn't do since you were 17. How old are you? Come on, man. How old are you? 42. You're 42, and right now you're doing things you couldn't do since you were 17. For sure. Guys, you have to understand. It's his body. He knows. That's amazing. Anybody else in my last group where nothing had changed and now something's changing? See, to me, this is super encouraging because it tells us never stop believing. Somebody. What's up? You changed about 40% the last time we prayed, and nothing up until then, and now you got 40 going. What's that telling you? That the truth is still the truth, and God's God, right? We're just going to keep on believing. Who else? Somebody else. Did I see another hand? I thought I saw a hand. Yeah. Completely healed. You're completely healed. That. That last time. Oh, in the beginning. The first time. Five years. What did it go away? Oh. Oh, okay. Because you always could feel it. Oh. And you had it 24/7 for five years. 24/7. You could tell it was there. The sensation. Completely gone. Oh my goodness. That's you. That's you. That's why. Oh, yeah. I remember the first time they prayed because you were standing there. You looked real emotional, and you were like, and I thought, "Whoa, something's happening." And that was you. It's just bright. And I'm realizing that was the first prayer. He loves me. Oh, he loves you. This stuff is fun. Anybody else change at last time? Anybody? You changed somewhat. How much? Okay. But enough to raise your hand. At least 30, 40%. Oh, more than that. It left tonight. Okay. Okay. Is that a good? All a good thing. The hungry. What's your name, honey? What you say? Devon. Okay. Good. I didn't want him. I was thinking you were saying the number seven. I thought, "I ain't never heard nobody named seven." That's why I was. I look stumbled. Did you ever see me not know what to say? I was like, "Devon, stretch your hands to Devon Church. Come on in faith and love, Devon. We just bless you, Devon. We call you the blessed of the Lord. Completely healed. Completely made whole. That this season of infirmity would be over for you. That there be no more struggle, no more trial. Even what you would call a test, it's not been a test. It's just a thing to try to just crush you, and it's not going to crush you. Devon, we call you blessed of the Lord. That as of tonight, your body changes, begins to function the way God created and intended. That wholeness and health would come to you. That eating the way you need to would be possible. Digesting would be normal. That there would be no dysfunction in your makeup, your anatomy, or your body. We bless you, Devon, as the body of Christ. In the name of Jesus Christ, we say behold. In Jesus name. Amen and amen." Can I hug you, precious? Can I hug you? Bless you. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. God, you're good. Sometimes I got to get involved. I can't let you guys have all the fun. No, my heart was just going out to her, and I just felt like I wanted to get involved with you guys. Let's lift her. What's up? I was having trouble with my knees. I can't stand very long. Okay. God really. Oh my goodness. It's so good. He's 82. He said he has trouble with his knees and standing and things. He said when a man prayed for him back there, he's felt the fire of God come down through his legs, and he just feels good. Huh? Huh? Oh, thank you for being humble and sharing that. Oh my goodness. Yay for you. God. Would you do something as we close? Lift your hands with me and let's just start thanking God for being good and loving and a father and Holy Spirit just helping us to continue to see truth and believe truth, to appreciate righteousness, to unwrap the gift and put it on. This thing fits everyone in the room. Righteousness. You made us right in your sight through the blood of Jesus Christ. And I pray that everyone in this room will be marked with a deeper conviction to live in their right standing with God. That the whole purpose of righteousness would hit our hearts and begin to. The goodness of God lead us to change and and and be inspired and motivated to follow you even more because of the way you've seen us apart from sins. God, thank you for healing in the room tonight. Thank you for healing that's flowing. Oh, man. See, I see that now as I'm declaring, like healing is still big time flowing in this room. I'm telling you, you, if you have any symptoms left, or you're leaving here tonight and you feel like something didn't change, don't you buy into that. You leave here, "Thank you, Father, for loving me. You're doing something amazing because you love me." I just see healing still flowing and working in this room. I see testimonies just popping up out of this window of faith that we've released tonight. So Father, we lift our hands to you. We love you. We thank you. What an honor to be in in your presence and even more than that, be your children. In Jesus name. Amen. Amen. All right, guys. We love you. You want to say anything? Or what? Time's your service? 8:30. What is it? 8:30 and 10:30. 8:30 and 10:30 tomorrow. All righty. Well, if you're from the house, you knew that. Bless you guys. Stepping into your eyes makes my heart come alive.