Does Jesus Still Heal the Sick?-DO NOT USE

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- Welcome to Crossroads, whoever and wherever you are.

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And if you're watching this in real time,

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Happy Mother's Day, moms.

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Without you, we literally wouldn't exist.

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So we're going to use cards, candy, hugs,

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brunch, and anything else we can think of

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just to say thank you and we love you so much.

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Now I've got young kids, five, six and eight,

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so my wife is about to be the proud recipient

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of a whole bunch of coloring pages and clay pots.

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But Happy Mother's Day, we love you.

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And no matter who you are, I'm just glad

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that you're tuning in today, because I think

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you're going to understand more of what it means

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to experience God as the true source

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of healing and hope in your life.

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We're kicking off a series of teachings

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called World's Best Hope, and we're going to be hearing

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from one of our teaching pastors, Alli Patterson.

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But before we get that, we're actually going

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to spend some time with music.

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We're going to spend some time with worship,

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using songs to connect us to God.

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In the midst of the chaos and craziness

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of our just weekly routines, it's really good

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to have a spot to pause and be reminded

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about what's true about God,

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and about what God says is true about us.

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So if you're in front of your TV

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or on your commute, whatever it is,

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turn this up and use these songs as a way

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to connect with God right now.

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- It's just five words,

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but they're are big five words. Am I right?

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I don't know what you come in today asking of Jesus.

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Maybe you're not even aware or remembering

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what you're asking of Him, but I bet you are.

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I bet you're asking something of Him.

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The five words, five words that I stand on,

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that we stand on as a community:

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You are more than able

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to do far more, far more than we could imagine.

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And so sometimes Eric and I will talk

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or one of our worship leaders will talk.

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We just -- we'll share a scripture

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to ground you in Scripture.

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Here's why I'm talking right now.

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Because it's not easy to believe these five words

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and don't play like it is.

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It's not easy to stand in our world

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and in our circumstances, the day to day,

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and go every moment, "Yes, He's more than able."

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It's not easy, but it's worth the risk to say it.

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This whole weekend is an invitation for you

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to believe those five words.

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And why? Because of the words of Jesus.

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They're not 2024 words.

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They're ancient words by the One I call

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King and Lord and Savior.

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Matthew 19 Jesus said: with God all things are possible.

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And it's worth the risk for me to take Him at His Word.

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And that's how I walk every single day.

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I've seen some stuff and had some loss

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in the last few months

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that would challenge those five words.

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And I'm telling you, I'm willing to risk it

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every time and say, "I take You at Your Word, Jesus.

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I will take You at Your Word and say

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time and time again 'You are more than able.'"

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An invitation.

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An invitation for you to say it for the first time,

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or maybe to say it again.

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Rarely do we have a song that's just

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an honest conversation about wrestling

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with the words of Jesus.

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That's exactly what this one is.

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First time, or say it again, but I invite you in

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to the conversation with Jesus.

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[applause] God, I interpret those claps as a thank you.

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As a thank you for this reminder

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that the reason we opt into worship moments

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and church services is because we want

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to be reminded of what You've done for us.

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And maybe we didn't know it from the get go,

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so we just want to know it for the first time.

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So God, I just ask in this space that You would --

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That You would bring some gratitude

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and some thankfulness out of our hearts

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for the fact that You died for us.

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You died.

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You died for all of our sin and our shame

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so that we didn't have to pay that penalty.

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God, and for that in my own life,

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I just say thank you.

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Thank you for being my living hope

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and not a dead hope or a past hope,

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but a hope that is alive and giving me life right now.

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There's nothing I could ever do to deserve it.

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But it's not about what I do.

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It's about Your love.

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Your love is the reason that chains can be broken,

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the reason that people and bodies can be healed.

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Because of who you are. So thank You, Lord.

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Thank You, Jesus for Your saving grace.

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And it's for this reason that we sing to You

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and we give Your Name praise when we say Amen.

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Yeah. Anybody agree with me on that? Come on.

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It's His grace that saves each and every one of us.

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Yeah. Thanks for singing and worshiping.

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I love this space. It's a beautiful space.

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Hey, why don't you head back to your seat.

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As you do, or if you're already sitting down,

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say hey to the person next to you, behind you.

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You can have a seat.

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- Crossroads started as a church

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in the Midwestern United States

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and has grown into a movement all over the globe.

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This is friends and families on a journey with God together.

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Now some of our community meets

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in physical buildings like the one you've already seen,

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but thousands of people also meet in homes,

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dorms, bars, coffee shops, in person and online.

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The important thing isn't where we watch the service,

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it's that we're connecting with God

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and growing with Him and growing with each other.

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One of my favorite recent examples of this

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is about Susie from Orlando.

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Now, Susie helps out translating

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some of our content into Spanish,

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but recently traveled all the way

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to Manchester, England and connected with

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the Lancy family that lived there.

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Now they are part of our Anywhere family.

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Together they got to tour around the city,

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connect over great food.

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I just love this reminder that the church

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is bigger than Sunday morning,

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and that your church family

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is bigger than you might think.

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Now speaking of this, if you want some chances

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to make some new friends from all over

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and experience a different kind of church,

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I would love for you to join us for Anywhere Weekend.

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This is the one time of year where we invite

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our entire anywhere community,

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that is our entire church that doesn't live

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close to one of our physical locations

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to come to Cincinnati, where our church began

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for a weekend of great fun, food,

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great people, and just encouragement.

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We're going to have Crossroads music.

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Some of the same leaders that you see on stage

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every week, and so much more.

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And it only costs $10 and I don't want you to miss it.

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I want you here for this.

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If you think this is for somebody else,

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no, no, no, no, this is for you.

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And hey, we've removed every barrier we can think of.

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The food, the drinks, the experiences,

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even the swag are all on us.

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Head to Crossroads.net/AnywhereWeekend

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for all the details and to RSVP.

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Now, intuitively, we kind of know

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there's this connection between

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where our money goes and where our attention goes.

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Right? Now around here, we believe that

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God calls us to do something intentional

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with our money, and we call this tithing.

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Tithing means we give the first 10% of what we earn

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back to the local church as a sign of trust,

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and that it's ultimately God who's in control

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and not us.

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Now, you don't have to believe that.

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But if you have questions around

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what we believe about money, or you want to join

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the team of faithful people who make

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this place work and everything we do possible,

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head to Crossroads.net/give.

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Now we're going to jump in with our content

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as we hear from Alli about

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what it means to follow a God who heals.

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- Well. Hey, everybody,

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I'm so glad to be with you here this weekend.

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My name is Alli Patterson.

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I'm one of the teaching pastors here at Crossroads.

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And if you're coming back after Horse Week,

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I'm excited about this weekend because I think

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we have the only trump card for horses,

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and it's moms, right?

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So moms beat horses.

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I'm glad to have all you moms here.

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I'm a mom of four myself and I love being a mom.

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So I just want to say Happy Mother's Day

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to all kinds of moms out there.

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Maybe you've got a newborn, maybe your grandmom,

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maybe you've got -- maybe you're a spiritual mom,

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an adoptive mom, whoever you are,

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just extra fist bump for you this weekend from me.

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And I don't just love moms.

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I actually have my eye on all you women in our community.

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I don't know, you probably don't know this yet,

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but in January I took kind of an expanded role

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here at Crossroads, and I'm going to be

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thinking more strategically about how to serve

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all the women in our community in deeper ways

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so we can connect and grow and be activated

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in mission around here together.

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So if you want to check out what's going on

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with women and some of the things that are coming up,

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you can go to Crossroads.net/women.

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Find where to get the monthly newsletter update,

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email, or join the cohort that's about to start

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so you can get involved with what's going on here.

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And I'm really excited to have taken on

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this expanded role.

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I think there's just tons of opportunity for us

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to grow as women in this community.

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So join me and, moms, you're amazing.

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I think you're going to be happy that you came

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this weekend and all the next few weeks,

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because we are going to be majoring on hope.

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I don't think there's enough voices in our world

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talking about hope, and followers of Jesus

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should be the ones yelling hope the loudest,

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because the gospel makes

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all kinds of crazy hope possible.

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Let me pray for us. Lord, thank you for

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opening a door of hope in our life.

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I pray that as we leave this weekend we would be

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changed by new possibility and new hope from You.

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In Jesus' name, Amen.

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Well, I said, the gospel makes hope possible,

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like, all kinds of hope possible.

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But one of my favorite things about our community

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is that we don't take for granted that

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we all have the same understanding of terms,

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like the gospel.

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We don't assume that you walk in the door

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and that you know all the religious lingo.

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That's part of the beauty of our community.

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So just to get us started off on the same page,

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I want to read to you one articulation

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of the gospel in the New Testament.

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It comes from Romans 3.

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And I chose this one because it makes so obvious

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why the gospel and hope are connected.

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And I even chose what -- it's a version called

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the Easy to Read Version, the ERV.

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I literally wanted the most primer basic language

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what are we talking about when we say

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the gospel brings hope?

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Here's what Romans 3 says, ERV:

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This is the gospel.

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The gospel is that a life without Jesus

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is apart from all the amazing things of God,

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all the majesty, all the greatness,

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all the divinity, all the miracles.

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A life without Jesus is a life

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apart from the greatness of God,

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but with Him in a space where sin is dealt with,

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in a space where sin has lost power,

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new life is possible.

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The greatness of God, the divinity of God,

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is possible in all kinds of new ways.

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This is the kind of hope that we're talking about

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for the next few weeks, the kind of hope

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that we desperately need.

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And tonight we're going to hit on

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one specific kind of hope.

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And I believe it's a hope we've all needed.

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I'll bet everybody in this community

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has needed this kind of hope

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or will shortly need it.

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And it's the hope that the sick can be healed.

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The gospel gives us the hope that the sick can be healed.

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Now, I believe, and maybe I'm alone in this,

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I doubt it, I doubt it, but maybe

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I'm in the minority of this.

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I believe that someone is going to walk into

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a gathering of our community this weekend,

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and they're going to walk out physically healed.

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I believe that, and I invite you to consider

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that belief with me as we talk for the next few minutes,

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because I know that Jesus healed

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and He is the same God today, that He heals.

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Jesus heals physical sickness.

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Do you know how many churches in this country,

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in this world, that no one will stand up and say,

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"Do you know that Jesus has the power to heal you?"

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He does. He has the power.

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He is more than able to heal you.

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And so as we consider His Word from Luke 5,

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we're going to look at a few healings that

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take place in Luke chapter 5, because

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it gives us a fascinating picture

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of a variety of kinds of healing.

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And the first one, the first time that we hear

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about Luke in Luke 5,

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it's about Jesus's widespread healing ministry.

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This was a staple part of what He did.

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Listen to Luke 5, itt says:

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This is why people were coming, you all.

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It took a while for His message to spread,

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but it didn't take very long for people

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to figure out that guy is healing people,

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like, the people that were sick are coming home well,

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the people that were injured are coming home whole.

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What in the world is going on?

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And people followed Jesus around in droves

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because He generously healed, like,

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He just was kind.

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He encountered people who needed healed,

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and He didn't ask them

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what their theological belief system was,

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He healed them to show them the kindness of God.

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He wanted them to have an experience with a God

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who meets you in a point of weakness.

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Now, I had an experience with this myself

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a handful of months ago.

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I got really, really sick.

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I wouldn't say that I even get sick very often,

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which, praise God, thank You, Jesus.

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But I had been out in California

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and I was traveling home

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and my flight got delayed for 24 hours.

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It was just one of those awful travel experiences.

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And by the time I got home, I thought I was

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just feeling badly because of the travel.

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But it became obvious to me on the final leg

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of the flight, I was probably scaring people

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on my airplane because

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I was really, really, obviously sick.

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And so I come in my house, but my family

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had been out doing things because

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I rolled in at a weird time.

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And so I came in and I just wanted a hot bath

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and to crawl into bed.

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So I was back in the bathroom

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and I can't hear very well back in the corner.

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And the water was running,

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so I didn't hear my family come in the door.

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And I'm just feeling awful.

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I'm waiting for the tub to fill up.

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And I'm standing there with my back to the door,

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and one of my daughters could hear that I was home.

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And she came back into the bathroom

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and she goes, "Mom!"

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It took my last 1%, like, she scared me so badly

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and I was so close to done that I, you all,

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I fell on the floor, I literally collapsed

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and I started sobbing.

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You should have seen her face.

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She didn't even know I was sick,

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so she was like (gasps).

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And she does one of these, she starts backing up,

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like, "What did I do to mom?"

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I could not stop crying.

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I couldn't have even told you why I was crying.

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I was holding it together.

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And when she walked in and yelled, mom,

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the last 1%, it just gave.

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And I just -- it took me a few minutes

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to collect myself again.

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And these are the points where Jesus meets us

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in our physical weakness.

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It brings us -- when something's physically

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not right in your life, even if it's just for 72 hours,

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you know, like, like that kind of illness,

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you cannot do anything else, right?

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Everything falls away because you so need healed.

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And praise God, we have bodies that

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are inclined to heal themselves,

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which I think is an amazing comment

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on the nature of God.

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But He is so kind.

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The kindness of Jesus, the compassion of Jesus,

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met people in that kind of weakness all the time,

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in that kind of final 1%.

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This is why word about Him spread.

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And yes, people were interested in what He was saying,

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but they were interested in what He was saying

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because He was healing them.

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He was meeting them with that kind of kindness,

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with that kind of goodness.

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Let me ask you, if you are sick or have been sick

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or have something physically wrong with you,

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have you asked Jesus to heal you?

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Have you asked Him?

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Sometimes moments in our faith come down to

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these little tiny things.

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We're like, "You know, come to think of it,

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I actually haven't. Surely He knows, right?

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Like, sure, if You want to heal me, go ahead."

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But no, have you? Have you asked Him?

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I'm amazed at myself how many times something

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will be wrong and I'll have Googled it,

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I'll have checked WebMD about it.

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I will -- if you have a doctor friend,

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you know you take a picture of it

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and send it to them, right?

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I have a friend who's a pediatrician

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and I'm like, "I know you look at this on kids,

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but what do you think of this?" You know?

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And I'll send her pictures.

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"Should I go to the doctor?"

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And it's amazing how far down the path I can get

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without ever asking Jesus, "Hey, Jesus,

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will You heal me? Will you heal me?"

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what if he says yes to you?

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Do you know how many yeses we've had in this community?

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I have the advantage of being on staff,

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so I hear your stories.

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I hear the stories that get emailed in

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to all kinds of places here,

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or told in different settings,

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from nights of healing, from weekends,

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from camps that we do, from services,

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from worship services.

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You all, Jesus is healing people.

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We have stories of stroke recoveries,

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heart damage reversal, joint inflammation gone,

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cancers that no longer show up.

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I just got an email this week,

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this week from a woman who's in a small group

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that prayed for someone who's been infertile

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for her entire life, and after they prayed for her,

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she brought her sonogram, the picture of

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the living baby that is in her womb.

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Jesus heals people. [applause]

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And I will I -- I know, I -- I know the urge

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that we all have to caveat this,

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to explain Him, to go like, "But He did it --

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He might, but He didn't. And He only."

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And as I was preparing for this weekend,

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I just thought, no. Jesus heals. Period.

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End of statement with no qualification,

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with no caveating.

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And as much as I want you to believe that

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for your faith to be increased about that,

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for you to live life expectant that Jesus

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has the power to heal you, that as much as

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I want that in your life, it's too small.

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It's too small.

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I actually want you to think bigger than that.

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I want you to think about healing way beyond

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your days on earth, way beyond your physical body.

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That is far, far too small for

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the kind of healing that Jesus does.

00:37:10

He didn't just heal physically.

00:37:12

Jesus healed spiritually.

00:37:15

Jesus healed spiritual sickness, I'll call it,

00:37:18

because he often used His physical healing

00:37:21

to point out a bigger, deeper, more eternal healing.

00:37:25

Remember the words of the gospel

00:37:27

that I read to you from the easy reader,

00:37:29

our primary version of the gospel: All have sinned.

00:37:33

All have sinned and are therefore

00:37:35

apart from God's divine greatness.

00:37:39

Sin is our unsolvable problem.

00:37:42

It's the problem that we're born into.

00:37:44

It's the thing that's going to take,

00:37:45

not just your physical life,

00:37:47

but your eternal spiritual life as well.

00:37:50

The impact of sin is pervasive,

00:37:52

and it goes far, far beyond your body

00:37:55

and all your days on earth.

00:37:56

But honestly, when you're sick,

00:37:59

it's not your main concern, is it?

00:38:02

You'd rather He deal with the thing

00:38:05

that is keeping you from living your life?

00:38:07

What is it, like, MS or IBS or PCOS

00:38:11

or whatever the letters of your diagnosis are,

00:38:13

that's the thing that, truth be told,

00:38:16

you'd much rather He deal with, right?

00:38:18

"Like, hey, we can -- We'll talk about my sin later.

00:38:21

Could You just handle this thing, Jesus?"

00:38:24

And I get it. Totally get it.

00:38:26

And Jesus knew that we thought like this.

00:38:28

I want you to listen to another healing

00:38:30

that happens in Luke 5, and how Jesus was thinking

00:38:33

far beyond, far, far beyond what these people came for.

00:38:37

It says:

00:38:39

Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a mat

00:38:42

and tried to take him into the house

00:38:44

to lay him before Jesus.

00:38:46

When they could not find a way to do this

00:38:48

because of the crowd, they went up on the roof

00:38:50

and they lowered him on his mat

00:38:52

through the tiles into the middle of the crowd,

00:38:55

right in front of Jesus.

00:38:56

When Jesus saw their faith, he said,

00:38:59

"Friend, your sins are forgiven."

00:39:03

Now hold on. Let's pause the story right here.

00:39:05

If you're the guy that carried him there,

00:39:08

went up on the roof, dug the hole in the roof

00:39:11

and lowered him down and sat him right in front of Jesus,

00:39:13

your paralyzed friend. Are you happy with that?

00:39:19

What do you think they were thinking?

00:39:21

That's what Jesus said.

00:39:23

He said, "Here you are. Your sins are forgiven."

00:39:29

Do you think they were going like, "What the heck?

00:39:31

Did you not see what we did?

00:39:33

Do you not see the obvious problem this guy has?"

00:39:37

And instead he says your sins are forgiven.

00:39:39

And Jesus knows that this is how we think.

00:39:43

And so here's what He says:

00:40:05

Jesus used this physical healing to say,

00:40:08

"Look at the bigger thing here.

00:40:10

Don't you see what I'm doing?

00:40:12

But just in case you don't,

00:40:14

just in case you don't have the faith to understand

00:40:17

this bigger, eternal cosmic healing,

00:40:20

that I'm offering you, I'll go ahead

00:40:23

and heal this guy. Sure. Get up.

00:40:25

Take your mat. Go home.

00:40:26

That's the -- That's the small deal.

00:40:29

That's the little thing. That's the light work.

00:40:33

The healing I've come to give

00:40:35

is so much bigger than that."

00:40:36

And Jesus used this over and over

00:40:38

to point to this bigger healing.

00:40:40

Here's what He says just a sentence or two later. He said:

00:40:52

He used this metaphor, if you will, of the sick

00:40:56

to point at our deep unsolvable problem of sin.

00:41:02

And so when He went into the crowds,

00:41:04

He would use it as an object lesson.

00:41:06

Sure, fine, have your physical symptoms eased

00:41:10

so that you will understand the only way to have

00:41:14

your spiritual ones dealt with is through Me.

00:41:18

And this was the object lesson of His healing

00:41:20

over and over and over again.

00:41:22

And I got an interesting email saying

00:41:24

something similar this last week.

00:41:26

Actually, it was about two weeks ago.

00:41:28

Some people knew that I was going to be

00:41:29

talking about healing this weekend,

00:41:31

and I heard from the prayer team leader

00:41:33

at our Dayton campus.

00:41:34

Shout out to our Dayton community.

00:41:36

And she contacted me and said, "Hey, I'm a doctor

00:41:39

and I'm the prayer team leader.

00:41:41

And I think a lot about this connection

00:41:43

between the physical and the spiritual.

00:41:45

And I'm very interested in helping my patients

00:41:49

be physically healed.

00:41:50

And also, I wanted to offer you the perspective

00:41:53

I've come to think about it."

00:41:54

And she described thinking about the things

00:41:57

she prays for physically for people

00:41:59

as the symptoms rather than the disease.

00:42:04

That's the language she used as a doctor.

00:42:07

And I really thought deeply about that.

00:42:10

And I came back to the message of the gospel,

00:42:14

because the gospel is everything that is outside

00:42:19

of God's designed divine greatness of life for you,

00:42:22

everything is due to the presence

00:42:26

and the impact of sin in our world.

00:42:28

And she said she's come to understand that,

00:42:30

that we come asking for what we're asking for,

00:42:33

for very obvious reasons, right?

00:42:36

And Jesus has compassion on those things.

00:42:38

And also they're rooted in this bigger, deeper,

00:42:44

eternal healing that Jesus can offer us.

00:42:49

I think we should ask Him for physical healing.

00:42:53

I think He can and often does say yes,

00:42:56

whether it's the moment you think about it,

00:42:58

whether it's He sets off a chain of events

00:43:00

in your life that bring it about,

00:43:02

whether you walk out the door

00:43:03

and you're literally in no more pain.

00:43:05

I think He often does that out of His kindness

00:43:08

and His compassion.

00:43:09

But let me just tell you,

00:43:11

your spiritual diagnosis,

00:43:14

it's much worse than your physical one.

00:43:18

It's much worse.

00:43:20

And so He constantly pointed people back,

00:43:22

"Don't you see that I have the authority

00:43:25

for life far, far beyond your days here on earth?"

00:43:30

And the power for both of these things,

00:43:31

the power to heal physically and spiritually.

00:43:34

It came from the same place.

00:43:37

And again, it's articulated in those words of the gospel.

00:43:40

It says that by the grace of God,

00:43:44

you receive this healing that Jesus has to offer.

00:43:48

So I want to read you another healing from Luke 5,

00:43:51

because grace is powerfully on display.

00:43:54

Grace is another one of those Bible words

00:43:56

that we've kind of emptied of its meaning.

00:43:58

You know, like we've assigned it grandma status.

00:44:01

Like, oh, bless you, you know, go in grace.

00:44:03

No, no, no, no, no, no. Listen to Luke 5.

00:44:32

Now this is a great healing.

00:44:33

We could say lots of things about this,

00:44:35

but why would I say that grace is on display here?

00:44:38

To understand the power of grace in this healing,

00:44:41

you have to understand what lepers

00:44:43

were really treated like in that culture.

00:44:46

So a leper was made to live in a leper colony

00:44:49

so that their unclean status,

00:44:51

basically in the Jewish law,

00:44:52

they were treated one step above death.

00:44:57

And they even wanted them far out of town

00:45:00

so that when the wind blew, this is why

00:45:02

they were far out of town, when the wind blew,

00:45:04

that that wind wouldn't touch you

00:45:07

that had touched the leper.

00:45:09

Because when you interacted with a leper,

00:45:11

you were made unclean.

00:45:13

And there were rules of defilement

00:45:14

and holiness and cleanliness,

00:45:16

and you had to go through a process

00:45:18

of becoming clean again, becoming whole again

00:45:22

when you interacted with a leper.

00:45:25

And so what has Jesus done here?

00:45:28

What does it say again?

00:45:29

It says He reached out His hand and touched him.

00:45:33

And there's not a mention of any law, any rule,

00:45:38

any cleanliness needing to take place.

00:45:41

Jesus reaches out, overtop the fear,

00:45:44

overtop the disease, over top of everything

00:45:48

that has isolated and kept this man sick

00:45:50

his entire life and He touches him.

00:45:53

And there's not a mention of Jesus

00:45:56

needing to be made clean afterwards. Why?

00:46:02

Because the grace of God.

00:46:05

The grace of God covers over everything it touches.

00:46:09

The grace of God is stronger than the leper.

00:46:12

The grace of God is stronger than that disease.

00:46:14

The grace of God is the stronger contagion.

00:46:17

When Jesus touched that man,

00:46:19

He touched him with the stronger contagion.

00:46:22

He left upon him the imprint that grace gives,

00:46:25

which is healing, wholeness, cleanliness.

00:46:29

Jesus didn't need to make Himself clean afterwards.

00:46:32

He literally embodied the power of the grace of God.

00:46:37

And so when He reached out and touched that guy

00:46:39

and he was made clean, I believe that

00:46:41

some of us walk around feeling like that leper.

00:46:45

We walk around thinking, "Maybe I'm not --

00:46:49

Maybe I'm not worthy.

00:46:51

Maybe I'm unclean in some way.

00:46:53

Maybe my past has made me like that.

00:46:54

Maybe my illness makes me like that.

00:46:56

Maybe my social status makes me like that."

00:46:59

But we walk around and we're not sure,

00:47:01

"Could the grace of God actually heal me?"

00:47:05

And the answer based on Luke 5 is an unequivocal yes,

00:47:10

that the grace of God is stronger than anything

00:47:13

physically, spiritually, relationally, emotionally.

00:47:16

That if Jesus touches you, friends, you are clean.

00:47:19

You are absolutely whole because

00:47:22

grace is stronger than anything else.

00:47:24

And when Jesus touches you with His grace,

00:47:27

He touches you with His healing.

00:47:30

It's the power to heal.

00:47:32

And it's also the power of the gospel.

00:47:34

And the power of the gospel is right here for the taking.

00:47:38

Romans 3says it's a free gift.

00:47:41

We can request it. We can receive it.

00:47:45

We can open it up and we can have it for ourselves.

00:47:49

The power, that kind of power.

00:47:51

Does anyone in here want touched with that kind of power?

00:47:54

That kind of grace? [applause] I do.

00:47:59

But I think before -- I'm going to give you

00:48:01

a chance to do that actually, tonight.

00:48:04

And before we do that, though, I think we have

00:48:06

to talk about sort of the elephant in the room

00:48:08

when it comes to healing, because some of us

00:48:10

have prayed for healing and it hasn't happened.

00:48:14

And some of us prayed for someone that

00:48:17

didn't get healed, someone that ended up dying,

00:48:20

someone that ended up living many years,

00:48:23

many days with a diagnosis

00:48:25

that Jesus never dealt with despite your request.

00:48:28

And there's a story about a different healing

00:48:31

that's in the book of John chapter 11.

00:48:34

And I think this is for those of you

00:48:37

who find yourself in this place tonight,

00:48:38

because I know that it can drive a wedge

00:48:42

between you and God.

00:48:44

And just as important, it can drive a wedge

00:48:47

into your faith to be able to ask for healing again.

00:48:54

So here's the story of Lazarus.

00:48:56

This is a really good friend of Jesus,

00:48:58

and he lives with two of his sisters,

00:49:00

who are named Mary and Martha.

00:49:01

And we meet them in other parts of the Gospels.

00:49:03

But here what's happening is that Lazarus is sick,

00:49:08

and the sisters send for Jesus.

00:49:12

And John makes a really big point

00:49:14

as he gives you the intro to this story

00:49:16

to tell you three times Jesus loved them.

00:49:20

Jesus loved them. Jesus loved them.

00:49:23

John doesn't want you to miss it.

00:49:25

Jesus loves them.

00:49:27

So how do you make sense of this?

00:49:43

What?

00:49:46

I mean, really, that should cause us to ask

00:49:50

a lot of questions.

00:49:51

And I'll bet it has caused some of you

00:49:53

to ask a lot of questions.

00:49:55

I called you, Jesus. I asked You to come.

00:50:00

You knew what was wrong, and You stayed where you were.

00:50:05

You didn't show up. How does love do that?

00:50:11

How does love find out their best friend is sick

00:50:14

and stay where they are two more days?

00:50:17

My guess is your words may have sounded

00:50:19

like some of Martha's when Jesus finally shows up.

00:50:22

He comes to them after a delay. He comes to them.

00:50:25

And I don't know Martha's tone.

00:50:27

You could probably read this in a couple of ways.

00:50:29

I'm going to guess at it.

00:50:30

I think I'm going to be close, she says,

00:50:32

"Lord, if You were here, my brother would not have died.

00:50:37

My brother wouldn't have died."

00:50:41

Where are you, God? Why didn't you show up, God?

00:50:45

From their vantage point, Jesus had let them down.

00:50:48

Jesus let these guys down.

00:50:52

And we know from John's record

00:50:54

that he delayed on purpose.

00:50:56

And he says He loved them, so He waited two more days.

00:51:03

And instead of defending Himself,

00:51:06

instead of explaining His decision,

00:51:08

instead of going into a philosophical treatise

00:51:10

on healing and life and why He'd done what He did,

00:51:15

you know what Jesus did?

00:51:18

He stood there and He cried with them.

00:51:22

Jesus wept.

00:51:25

It's the shortest verse in the entire Bible,

00:51:27

and it says more about God

00:51:29

than maybe we could even fathom.

00:51:33

That the Son of God shows up at a scene

00:51:36

where His friend is now died.

00:51:37

He's been in the grave four days

00:51:38

by the time Jesus gets there.

00:51:40

And Jesus stood there and cried with them.

00:51:43

The world doesn't have a category for this.

00:51:45

The world doesn't understand a God like this.

00:51:47

The world doesn't understand a love like this.

00:51:49

The world doesn't get it.

00:51:51

The world knows instantaneous, meet my need now,

00:51:55

gratification when I want it, come when I ask you,

00:51:59

do what I say.

00:52:00

That's the kind of thing that we expect

00:52:02

when you say love, right?

00:52:04

We don't expect a God who will show up

00:52:07

and take up our pain and stand there

00:52:10

and cry with us at what we've been through.

00:52:14

You need a category for this kind of love in your faith,

00:52:18

because you have a God that's on a mission

00:52:20

that goes far beyond your body,

00:52:22

far beyond your days on earth,

00:52:25

and that is the mission that He's on for you.

00:52:30

And when you get caught down these avenues of pain,

00:52:35

He cries with you. He takes up your hurt.

00:52:37

He takes up your pain.

00:52:39

And I believe that some of us in here

00:52:41

need reminded, not that Jesus can heal,

00:52:46

not that He even might heal, but that He loves you,

00:52:51

even when you're unhealed.

00:52:54

The love of God contains all of these things.

00:52:58

The mission of God is way beyond

00:53:01

the status of our physical body.

00:53:03

And I think He left this story for us

00:53:05

so that you can look confidently ahead

00:53:08

knowing that all of your cries for healing,

00:53:13

He's already decided the answer to those

00:53:15

is yes in Christ.

00:53:17

Every single time you've asked Him,

00:53:19

every single thing you want healed,

00:53:21

all of those cries for healing,

00:53:24

they fall under these words.

00:53:27

Listen to what He said to Martha:"

00:53:42

And then He asks her a question:

00:53:47

"Do you believe this," He said,

00:53:51

"that I am the life that you're looking for,

00:53:53

that I am the resurrection power?"

00:53:56

And after He said those words, He walked over

00:53:58

to the grave where Lazarus was,

00:54:00

and He raised him straight up out of it.

00:54:02

And I think He's left this story for us

00:54:04

so that we understand that He is bigger

00:54:07

than the life we're facing here on earth.

00:54:08

He is -- His authority goes far beyond our body.

00:54:11

It goes far beyond the grave.

00:54:13

So let me ask you a question: Do you believe it?

00:54:17

Do you believe this?

00:54:19

Do you believe in a grace that raises the dead?

00:54:22

Do you believe in a Jesus with authority

00:54:25

over your physical body?

00:54:26

Do you believe in a Jesus with the authority

00:54:29

over your life far, far beyond this one?

00:54:32

Because the hope of the gospel is that with Jesus

00:54:35

any sickness, any sin, any claim

00:54:39

that death has had on you is demolished in Christ.

00:54:42

It has absolutely no hold on you.

00:54:45

And the power of grace is here to heal

00:54:48

and to set free from now into forever.

00:54:53

And it's a free gift.

00:54:56

And it's a gift that we can access only one way,

00:55:00

only through one person, only through one name.

00:55:04

And that name is Jesus. Jesus. Jesus.

00:55:12

He's the one we call on for our healing

00:55:15

from now into eternity.

00:55:17

Let me ask you: Do you believe it? Do you believe it?

00:55:20

If you do I want you to ask for it tonight.

00:55:22

And if you don't, I want you to ask for it tonight.

00:55:25

Because we have records of people in the gospel

00:55:28

that did not believe that Jesus was who He said He was,

00:55:32

and they were healed by Him and walked away believing.

00:55:36

So whether you believe or you don't believe,

00:55:38

it is yours for the asking.

00:55:40

The grace of God is here for you.

00:55:43

But it only comes through one name,

00:55:46

and that name is Jesus.

00:55:47

I'm going to invite someone up here right now.

00:55:50

He's -- He's pretty special to me.

00:55:53

I got permission for him to be here tonight

00:55:55

because we have amazing worship leaders

00:55:57

in our community, but he's my favorite one.

00:55:59

My absolute favorite one.

00:56:01

I want you to meet my son, Luke. That's right.

00:56:06

It's Mother's Day, I can do whatever I want up here.

00:56:11

My son Luke often leads our family in worship.

00:56:14

About once a week we worship as a family.

00:56:18

And part of that is just the delight of a parent

00:56:20

getting to see, like, "Hey, my kid has a gift.

00:56:23

Why don't we be blessed by it as a family?"

00:56:26

And so Luke leads us in worship and we do this song.

00:56:29

And we were talking about this moment,

00:56:32

and I asked you what song you thought

00:56:34

would fit the moment, and you came up with this one.

00:56:37

So why don't you tell us why?

00:56:39

- So this song is called I Speak Jesus.

00:56:42

And I really love this song because

00:56:45

it's just speaking the powerful name of Jesus,

00:56:50

of our Lord over everything in our lives,

00:56:53

giving everything up to God

00:56:55

and just speaking it over our emotional pain,

00:56:58

our mental pain, our spiritual baggage,

00:57:01

and just lifting it up to Him.

00:57:03

- So we were -- when I asked Luke to come tonight,

00:57:06

I said, "Would you do I Speak Jesus?"

00:57:10

Because this is the name that covers you with grace.

00:57:14

This is the name that heals.

00:57:18

And this is the one name that we can ask

00:57:21

for the hope that is buried in the gospel.

00:59:29

- Jesus is the name with freedom.

00:59:32

Jesus is the name with power.

00:59:33

Jesus is the name with healing.

00:59:36

The one name, the one place,

00:59:38

the one piece of good news that you have

00:59:41

if you're facing a sickness tonight.

00:59:43

Are you sick? Aren't you sick of being sick?

00:59:47

I know for some of you that it's going to take

00:59:50

everything you've got to get up out of your seat

00:59:53

and come ask Him again.

00:59:54

And I want you to ask Him again,

00:59:56

because this place is filled with people

01:00:00

who believe that Jesus heals with no caveats,

01:00:03

with no qualifications.

01:00:06

That this is the name, this is the power,

01:00:09

this is the freedom that is yours in Christ.

01:00:13

So let me ask you, do you believe?

01:00:15

Do you believe?

01:00:16

And whatever the answer to that question is,

01:00:19

I want you to get up and I want you

01:00:21

to ask for healing tonight.

01:00:25

Jesus has the authority on earth to forgive sin.

01:00:28

Jesus has the authority on earth to forgive sin.

01:00:31

And I believe that some of you, He's going to say,

01:00:36

"You know what? I don't think you believe that.

01:00:40

So get up, take your mat and go home."

01:00:45

Because He's good, because He's kind,

01:00:48

because He'll take the time to convince you

01:00:50

that He really is the one place of hope that you have.

01:00:55

This is the hope of the gospel.

01:00:57

This is the hope of Jesus Christ.

01:00:58

So come, be touched by His grace.

01:01:03

Come to the one place where you have hope for healing.

01:01:07

No matter what room you're in

01:01:09

or online in our community, there are people

01:01:12

who have gifts and they are excited

01:01:14

to use them on your behalf.

01:01:17

No matter what space you're in,

01:01:19

you can get up and your steps forward

01:01:22

you can see, God will see those are your trust in Him.

01:01:30

And so as you come forward for prayer,

01:01:33

these folks in our community would love

01:01:36

to stand with you and ask with you

01:01:40

for the healing that is yours in Christ.

01:02:09

- I don't know what Ali's words sort of sparked in you.

01:02:12

I don't know what the words of that song,

01:02:14

how they resonated with you or what sort of doubts

01:02:17

or questions that they bring up.

01:02:19

But I do know that there's more healing,

01:02:23

there's more power, and there's more life

01:02:25

that Jesus has on offer for us.

01:02:28

Even as I say this, and I think over the last week,

01:02:30

the last seven days, I've had a friend

01:02:32

who experienced healing from cancer

01:02:34

and another friend who saw their cancer come back.

01:02:37

Now, in this moment, we have a chance

01:02:40

to sit back or tap out or say, "I don't know,

01:02:43

so I'm going to check out,"

01:02:44

or we have an opportunity to lean in.

01:02:47

And I want you to lean in.

01:02:48

I want you to lean in in the place

01:02:50

where you need to experience healing,

01:02:52

or the place where a loved one

01:02:54

needs to experience healing.

01:02:56

And we're gonna have an opportunity to lean in

01:02:58

right now as a community.

01:02:59

If you text healing to (855)944-6645,

01:03:04

we're gonna have a chance to pray with you.

01:03:06

And this is not a bot.

01:03:07

This is not an outsourced company.

01:03:09

These are our friends.

01:03:11

These are friends of mine, like Demanuel

01:03:13

and Tierra and Jamie.

01:03:14

These are real people who just want

01:03:15

to pray with you and pray for you,

01:03:17

that you'll experience more of Jesus's hope

01:03:20

and more of Jesus's healing in your life.

01:03:23

Lean in. Pray with us.

01:03:24

We'd love to connect with you, process with you,

01:03:26

and help encourage you on your walk with God.

01:03:28

That's why we do everything that we do around here.

01:03:31

Thanks for watching and we'll see you next week.

Born Wild: Saturday 5:00 PM

Does Jesus Still Heal the Sick?-DO NOT USE

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