I Need A Miracle: Week 1

Let me tell you about the time that I needed a miracle. Before I

moved to Indianapolis. I was trying to sell my old house in Pennsylvania,

and we were struggling to find a buyer, and the move date was coming

closer and closer and closer. And then just a week before we moved,

a buyer came along and the buyer made an offer. We accepted the offer,

and then we moved to Indianapolis. Well, shortly after we moved to

Indianapolis, the buyer changed their mind and canceled the deal, and so I

was a little bit nervous, but not to worry. Short time after that,

a second buyer emerged and the second buyer made an offer. We accepted

the offer, and then a short time later, the buyer changed their mind

and canceled the deal. Now I was getting a little bit more nervous,

But then a third buyer came along and this third buyer made an offer.

We accepted the offer, and then a short time later, the third buyer

changed their mind and canceled the deal. Three buyers, three deals, three

cancelations. So at this point I was desperate and I was playing praying God,

we need a miracle, Why won't this house sell? Then we took

a step of faith and we made an offer on a home in Indianapolis and

bought a home before we sold the old home. And now I was really

praying for a miracle because I didn't want to have two mortgages on two homes

in two states. And so we made the offer on the new house.

The old house hadn't sold. We closed on the new house, the old

house hadn't sold. We moved into the new house. The old house had

not sold until December twenty fourth, twenty nineteen, Christmas Eve, a buyer

came through, made an offer. We accepted that offer, and the buyer

did not change their mind. And the beautiful part is that the last mortgage

payment on the old house was in December and the first mortgage payment on the

new house was in January. There wasn't a single month with a double payment

or an overlap. I consider that a miracle. What miracle are you praying

for? If God could do a miracle in your life, what do you

need him to do. I know one person in our church who's praying and

hoping for a kidney transplant. He needs a miracle. We've been praying for

a young boy in our church who just recently received a liver transplant, and

we're continuing to pray that that is successful and then his body accepts that new

organ. That's a miracle. There are people fighting cancer, fighting chronic pain,

fighting illnesses they've been diagnosed, who need miracles. There are marriages that

need miracles. I know. There are parents who are praying for their children

who've walked away from Jesus. They need a miracle. There are some who

are stuck with depression, mental health needs, some are fighting suicide. Thoughts,

what are you praying for? What miracle do you need to see in

your life? Miracles are not just something of the past. Miracles are not

just things that Jesus did when he was on earth. God still does miracles

today because God did the greatest miracle when Jesus died on the cross and when

he rose from the dead. When Jesus rose from the dead, he conquered

all sickness, he conquered all evil, He conquered and defeated all sin.

So whatever breakthrough you need, whatever transformation you need, we can find our

hope in the cross and resurrection of Jesus. And so As we start this

series called I Need a Miracle, I want to share the primary scripture for

this series. It's from Isaiah fifty three and verse three says talking about Jesus,

he was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering and familiar

with pain. Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering. He

has taken up your pain. He has borne your suffering. He's carried your

your sorrow, He's carried your grief, He's carried your disappointment, all of

it. He has carried your pain. But he was pierced for our transgressions.

He was crushed for our iniquities. When Jesus died on the cross,

he became a substitute for your sin and for my sin. When the nails

pierced his hands on the cross, he absorbed all of your sin. He

absorbed the wrath of God. He absorbed your penalty. He made a sacrifice

for you, so that everything that stands between you and the Father, all

of the shame, all of the brokenness, all the regret, it's all

been absorbed by Jesus. He was crushed for our iniquities, the punishment that

brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds, we are healed

by his wounds. We are healed by his wounds. You are healed.

His wounds are bigger than your wounds. His wounds are bigger than your pain.

His wounds are bigger than your suffering. His wounds are bigger than your

disappointment and your regret. His wounds are bigger than all of the brokenness and

all of the places where you need a miracle, where you need a break

through, you're so desperate. His wounds are bigger than those things. And

I want to say today, I believe someone needs to know that the wounds

of Jesus are bigger than your past, because some of us we need a

healing from something that happened in the past. And this is the big idea

today. The main point of this message is that God can heal you from

the past. We can't change the past. We can't erase the past,

even though we may want to have a do over and change something. The

past is the past. But sometimes what's in the past affects us in the

present. Sometimes what's in the past directs our future. And God can heal

you from the past. What do I mean by the past. What is

the past? Well, the past includes trauma, shame, regret, and

hurt from failures and wounds. So it's the failures we've made, It's the

things we want to do over. It's the mistakes. It's where we've dropped

the ball, where we've let others down, where we've let ourselves down,

those failures. But it's also the wounds that we've received from others, the

failures of others, the trauma of the abuse inflicted by others. Now,

I don't know what might be in your past. I don't know what might

be carrying in your past. Even if you're a follower of Jesus, it's

possible you may be struggling with something. The past is long gone, but

the wound is still here, the pain is still raw. I think about

the young man I spoke with who was struggling with something painful in his past,

and he shared with me this secret about his past, where he had

made a sinful choice that betrayed his family, and he was carrying so much

shame that he was stuck in the past. He couldn't move forward. He

was trapped with the shame of the past. He needed a miracle healing from

the past. Another person I know well who suffered a tragic loss in their

past, and since that loss and that grief, they've blamed God for their

suffering, and they've become bitter toward God. And I know this person,

and they've become resentful, and they've become stuck spiritually, stuck emotionally, and

they need a healing. They need healed from their past. I once knew

a couple, a mom and a dad who were raising an eight year old

daughter at the time, and they were a great couple, a loving couple,

And although they had been together for a long time, and although they've

been raising a child together, the man and the woman were reluctant to actually

get married and become husband and wife because of something in their past. The

dad shared with me that he had been married before, and the pain of

that previous marriage that ended in divorce was so traumatizing to him, and the

betrayal so traumatizing that he never wanted to make that kind of decision again,

or that commitment again. Something in the past was keeping him stuck from moving

forward and being what his family needed him to be. Now. I don't

know what might be an past I don't know what trauma, hurt, wounds,

regret might be in your past. And you may think that the past

is the past and you can't change it. And you may even think that

you're always gonna be the way that you are, that you're always gonna fight

this depression, that you're always gonna be living in fear, that you're always

gonna have trust issues. You may even say, I'm always gonna have this

addiction. But I'm here to tell you that Jesus can heal the past.

He changes us. Because of the Cross and the resurrection, we have a

hope. And so we're gonna look today at one of Jesus's miracles in John

chapter five. And in this story, Jesus meets a man who has been

suffering for many years. He's been stuck for a long time. Let's look

at John five, starting in verse two. Now, there is in Jerusalem,

near the sheep Gate, a pool which in Aramaic is called Bethesda,

and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. Here a great number of disabled

people used to lie, the blind, the lame, and the paralyze,

and they waited for the moving of the waters. From time to time,

an Angel of the Lord would come down and stir up the waters. The

first one into the pool after such disturbance would be cured of whatever disease they

had. And then verse five, one who had been there had been an

invalid for thirty eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that

he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him,

do you want to get well now? Before meeting Jesus, this man had

suffered for thirty eight years. He's got a past, and that past is

full of suffering, is full of pain, and it's full of disappointment.

Many people came to this water looking for a miracle, the hurting, the

broken, the suffering, hoping for healing. I'd like to point out that

in this text, verse four is not always included in every English translation of

the Bible, because some of the older Greek translations they're mixed. Some of

them have verse four and some of them don't have verse four. But I

want to highlight it because verse four helps gives us some context to what's happening

here. Because a lot of people believe the Pool of Bethesda had healing powers.

In fact, this wasn't just a Jewish belief. Even there's archaeology that

shows the Romans built bath house is dedicated to the Roman god of healing.

Like verse four says, some believe that an angel of God might come down

and stir the waters up, and the first person to get into the water

would be cured. Another theory is that this was a natural spring that would

bubble up from time to time with healing properties. The Pool of Bethesda is

what's called in Jewish tradition a mikva. Everyone say mikva mikvah. A mikvah

is a Jewish religious water used for religious purification. So the levites, the

priests, the religious leaders, they would wash in a mikvah before performing religious

duties. Now, the important thing about a mikvah is that a mikvah had

to be fresh, clean, flowing water. A mikvah couldn't be standing water

like in a pond, It couldn't be from a well. A mikvah had

to come from rain water or from a spring. And archaeologist who's studied and

uncovered the Pool of Bethesda show that the pool is actually two pools with a

dividing wall of stone between the two and so it's likely that the first pool

is where the water for the mikvah was collected, either by rainwater or a

spring, and then there was an opening channel in the stone wall that let

that water flow into the second pool where people could bathe and wash. And

so it's likely that if somebody was sick or wanted healing, that they might

push and shove and fight their way to get into this pool when that water

was flowing or when the spring was stirred up. And then Jesus shows up

and meets this man who's been there for thirty eight years, and he says,

do you want to get well? Now? We don't know what caused

this man's condition. We don't know if he was born this way or if

he was injured. His condition, his inability, made his life stuck because

he couldn't go into the temple to worship, he couldn't work to earn a

living. He maybe survived by begging, and perhaps for many many years,

he's been told his whole life, you got to get to the water,

You got to get into the water. Whatever you do, fight your way

get to the water. But he's been disappointed every time. And then Jesus

says, do you want to get well? In verse seven, Sir the

invalid replied, I have no one to help me into the pool. When

the water is stirred up. While I'm trying to get in, someone else

goes down ahead of me. Then Jesus said to him, get up,

pick up your mat, and walk at Once the man was cured, he

picked up his mat and walked. The TV show called The Chosen does a

great job depicting what this miracle could have looked like. So let's take a

look at this video clip. That's him, Oh him, the one who's

been here the longest, that doesn't belong shalloon. I have a question for

you for minute. I don't have many answers, but I'm listening. M

do you want to be healed? Who are you? We'll get to that

later, but my question remains, will you take me to the water.

I'm hearing a really bad day. You've been having a bad day for a

long time, Sir. I have no one to help me into the water

when it stirred up, And when I do get close, the others step

down in front of me, and so look at me, look at me.

That's not what I asked I'm not asking you about who's helping you out,

who's not helping, or who's getting in your way. I'm asking about

you. I've tried for a long time, I know, and you don't

want false up again. I understand. But this pool it does nothing for

you. It means nothing. You don't need this pool, You only need

me. So do you want to be healed? So let's go, get

up, make up your mind and walk who I'm free through wok? Like

he said, don't forget your bid. Why does this method? Because you're

not coming back here that life is over. Jesus said, do you want

to get well? And that's the question that he's asking us today. It's

the same question, do you want to get well? That word well in

the text is a Greek word that means healthy and whole. That's what he's

asking. Do you want to be whole from the past, the trauma,

the wounds, the regret, the shame. Do you want to be made

whole? Do you want to be made healthy? This man and the story

had been living this way for thirty eight years. I don't know what you've

been living with for thirty eight years, for thirty eight days, or even

just thirty eight hours. But whatever is in the past, the hurt,

the wound, the shame, it can be healed because of Jesus. Do

you want to be well? God can heal you from the past. What's

interesting about this man in John chapter five is that he couldn't even understand Jesus's

question because he was so distracted and so ingrained in his suffering. Jesus says,

do you want to get well? In verse seven, he says,

I have no one to help me into the pool. When the water is

stirred. While I'm trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of

me. Jesus didn't ask about the water. But this man had his wound,

his suffering, His condition had conditioned him to be so tunnel vision focused.

I wonder if this man had insecurities about himself, if he thought God

doesn't love me, I deserve this, or what if he thought I'm cursed.

God's forgotten about me. I wonder if insecurity kept him conditioned to be

on that vision. Insecurity will keep you from hearing the voice of God,

just like this man couldn't understand Jesus's question, The past keeps you stuck in

insecurity. How has insecurity blocked out your heart and your ears to see what

God's doing? How has insecurity kept you stuck in the past. I want

to be a little bit vulnerable with you and tell you about an insecurity in

my life. For most of my life, I've been a young leader,

and I've been leading people who are older than me. I started serving in

youth ministry when I was eighteen and very early in my twenties. I had

a lot of responsibility and a lot of leadership, and most of the people

I was leading were much older than me. And I could tell you stories

about how I've made missteps and mistakes and things that I've learned along the way,

and sometimes I've had this insecurity of being a young leader. I remember

one time when I made a decision. It wasn't the best decision. I

could have made a better decision, and it was really frustrating to a parent

volunteer that I was in the ministry I was leading, and that parent volunteer

was very frustrated and they complained about me and they criticized me. And someone

who is much older and more experienced than me said to me, Andrew,

you need to address how you interact with adults, and that created an insecurity

in me because what my mind, in my heart, what I heard in

my insecurity, I heard, Andrew, you're not an adult and you're not

going to be good enough to lead adults. And so that created this insecurity

that walked with me, that traveled with me in my ministry and in my

work. And I was unpacking this with my counselor once in a therapy session

and I said, you know, I often feel like I'm the kid at

the adults table, Like we have Thanksgiving coming up, But if you've got

a big family and you've got the adult stable and you've got the table where

the kids sit, and then there's that awkward stage where you're like too big

for the kid's table. And I said, I feel like I'm a kid

at the adults table trying to prove that I'm good enough to lead. That's

an insecurity that's kept me stuck emotionally. Is there an insecurity from something in

your past, something that was said to you, that was said about you

that has kept you stuck in insecurity? Are you stuck believing that you deserve

your suffering? Do you think you brought this on yourself, or are you

thinking that God somehow is afflicting you, He's punishing you. Or are you

thinking that your past is so secret and so shameful that you don't want anybody

to ever know about it. Maybe you're carrying baggage from your family and you're

afraid of repeating the sins of your parents. There might be somebody here you've

suffered abuse from somebody else, but you've had this insecurity telling yourself that you're

a victim, that it was your fault, that abuse that happened to you.

You should have known better, you should have done something different. Are

you trying to make up for the pastor work it off or pay it back

somehow? God can heal you from the past. God heals our insecurities to

make us whole. I want to draw your attention to verse five in our

text. It says one who was there had been an invalid for thirty eight

years. This word invalid is a Greek word esthenia, and I want to

read what one Bible dictionary says about this Greek word. It means suffering illness

or an ailment that deprives someone of enjoying or accomplishing what they would like to

do. Weakness from being wrongly and overly dependent. Wrongly and overly dependent,

the past will deprive you from fulfilling God's vision in God's plan for your life.

How has the past urt the wounds, the regret? How has the

past made you overly dependent on the wrong things, overly dependent on trying to

make up for overly dependent on trying to hide it, dependent on the wrong

people looking to them to solve and to heal what's going on. The past

will keep us stuck in harmful habits. The past will keep us stuck dependent

on coping mechanisms, defense mechanisms, things like people pleasing just to keep the

peace because of something that happened in the past. It's the mechanism of lying

to cover up your mistakes because in the past you were shamed for making mistakes.

For some it's self medicating, it's self harm to cope with the hurt.

For others, it's going back to that toxic relationship, Like it's that

same relationship because there's something in your past that keeps you in that cycle.

Like you've dated many different people, but it's really the same person because there's

something that needs healed in the past or. Blame shifting is a coping mechanism,

a defense mechanism. Notice this man in our text in verse five,

he says, there's no one to help me. Someone else goes down ahead

of me, No one helps me. Someone gets in my way. It's

their fault. I'm just a victim. They don't care about me. I'm

all alone. It's like blame shifting. When I was younger, I had

a defense mechanism. Whenever someone would compare me to my dad, I would

get defensive. Now today, me and my dad have a healthy, restored

relationship, but there was a time where it was a broken relationship because of

the hurt and the wounds in my family. And I was angry with my

dad. And I look like my dad, I sound like my dad,

would share a similar personality, And so when someone would say, oh,

you remind me of your dad, or that's something your dad would say,

or wow, you look like your dad, I would get angry because I

didn't want to be like him, because I thought, if I'm like him,

I'm gonna turn out like him. I'm gonna make the same mistakes that

he made. It's when I was a young man, I made myself a

promise in my resentment. I promised I'm gonna grow up and I'm never gonna

be the man like he was. I'm gonna be a better man. I'm

gonna be a better father, a better husband, and I'll show him that

I'm better than he is. This hurt in my past was keeping me stuck

in the past. Had this defense coping mechanism? Is there an unhealthy habit,

a coping mechanism that's use a defense mechanism because of something in the past.

Someone here might be minimizing what happened to you, and you're saying,

Oh, that doesn't bother me, it's not a big deal. You know,

I'm tougher than that. Or are you making excuses about something? Are

you making excuses for a person and it's saying, well, you know he

just has a bad temper, Well, maybe he has a past and he

needs healing from something in the past. Or making excuses for abusing alcohol,

using pornography When you get triggered, is there a coping mechanism, a defense

mechanism that's keeping you stuck from moving forward, from healing. Just like this

man in John chapter five, he didn't need some magic water to be healed.

He needed Jesus. You don't need a defense mechanism, you need Jesus.

You don't need a coping mechanism, you need Jesus. You don't need

a bigger bank account, you don't need a bigger title or more power.

You need Jesus. And you certainly don't need a self help plan. You

need Jesus. You do not need a new boyfriend or a new girlfriend to

make you feel better about your self esteem and your insecurities. We need Jesus.

Jesus can heal us from the past. Jesus heals where we have these

coping mechanisms and these defense mechanisms. He makes us whole. Well, so

far in this story, we've seen Jesus meets this man and then Jesus heals

this man. But the story's not over. There's a new development in the

text. Look at verse nine says that once the man was cured, he

picked up his mat and walked on which this took place was a sabbath.

And so the Jewish leader said to the man who had been healed, it

is the sabbath. The law forbids you to carry your mat. But he

replied, the man who had made me well, said to me, pick

up your mat and walk. This man had just been healed after thirty eight

years of suffering. Do you really think he cares about carrying his mat,

but these Jewish leaders try to intimidate him. Now, just to be clear,

the Bible doesn't have an explicit rule about carrying a mat on the Sabbath.

The Bible says the Sabbath is the Lord's day, it's a holy day.

It's a day for rest and a day for worship. But somewhere along

the Jewish tradition and history there were extra rules added to try and force obedience,

and these rules were used to manipulate and intimidate people. Fear will manipulate

and intimidate you from living healed and whole. The past keeps you stuck in

fear. Now, we don't have rules about carrying a mat on the Sabbath,

But what are some common beliefs in our day and age? They keep

us stuck in fear or manipulate God's word. Have you heard the sayings God

won't give you more than you can handle, or how about the one that

says everything happens for a reason. Those sayings are not in the Bible.

They're a misrepresentation of God's word. Manipulating God's word can keep us stuck in

fear. I knew a woman who was stuck in an abusive marriage. Her

husband verbally and emotionally abused her, He bullied her, and she felt trapped.

She felt stuck, and he would mock her faith. He would say

things to her like, you can't leave me, You're not allowed to divorce

me. You're a Christian, that's a sin. And she felt trapped because

of this manipulation and this intimidation. Another manipulating voice might say you don't have

enough faith to be healed, or God's trying to teach you a lesson in

your I've shared here before about my grandmother who passed away at a young age

from cancer. After she passed, a Christian preacher said to my grandfather,

if I had been there to pray for your wife, she'd still be alive

today. How cruel is that? How manipulative is that? Intimidation? Manipulating

God's word, Twisting beliefs keeps us stuck in fear. Fear will keep you

stuck in the past, and you may be afraid of even praying for a

miracle, like you know you need a miracle. You know that God can

do it. God can bring the healing, God can bring the transformation.

But there's some fear in you that's afraid. If you pray for the miracle

and God doesn't do what you ask him to do, then your faith is

going to be shaken. Then you're going to start to doubt. You're afraid

of being disappointed, afraid of being let down. But I want to tell

you that in our weakness, in our doubt, in our fear, God

meets us with love. God's not trying to teach you a lesson in your

suffering. He's trying to give you more grace. In First John chapter four,

we read there is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out

fear. There is no fear in the love of God because God's love is

bigger than fear. His love is greater than the fear of rejection. It's

greater than the fear of disappointment. His love is greater than the fear of

repeating the sins of the past or repeating those mistakes again. His love is

greater and more powerful, and it changes lives and transforms lives. The love

of God cannot be stopped because God can heal you from whatever in the past.

And so here's where we finish this story in John five, verse fourteen.

Later, Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, see

you are well again. Stop sinning, or something worse may happen to you.

Now, scholars have debated back and forth. What is Jesus talking about

here when Jesus says, stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.

Some scholars say that Jesus is saying something worse physically, worse pain, or

some scholars say Jesus is shifting out of the physical to the spiritual, saying,

hey, great that your body's been healed, But what about your soul?

If you're still living in sin, something worse can happen to you spiritually.

And whichever case it is, the point here is that sin can affect

our well being, and the past keeps us stuck in sin. The past

can keep you trapped in sin. Stuck in sin, unconfessed sin can become

a burden. Unconfessed sin can torment you and overwhelm you. Hidden sins and

hidden secrets will dominate you. Hiding, covering, up, acting like it

didn't happen. We'll catch you up. I remember praying with someone who was

asking for healing. This person she had pain in her jaw, just unrelenting

pain, and it was undiagnosed. They didn't know what to do with it.

And so with her permission, I put my hand on her jaw and

we prayed for healing. And nothing happened, nothing changed. And then I

sensed the Holy Spirit prompting me that it was possible this woman had some unforgiveness

and bitterness that was blocking her miracle. And so what do I do with

that kind of information do I say to her? God told me you have

a spirit of bitterness. You need to repent. That's not what I said.

I gently and kindly asked her if there was a relationship or a person

in her life that was causing her trouble or frustration. I just opened the

door with the simple question, and immediately her demeanor changed, and she told

me all about this family member that had hurt her, and there was resentment,

there was friction and bitterness and just all of this anger around this one

person. And so then I asked if she would like to pray a prayer

forgiveness and forgive that person, and she agreed. And then after she prayed

to forgive that person, I asked her how did her pain in her jaw

feel, and she told me that the pain was fifty percent better. And

so then we prayed again and that pain completely left her. Unconfessed sin can

express itself in our bodies. Unprocessed grief can latch onto our bodies. Unprocessed

anger can affect our immune system and our health system. We read in James

chapter five. Is anyone among you sick, let them call the elders of

the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of

the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well.

The Lord will raise them up. If they have sin, they will

be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to each other, and pray for

each other so that you may be healed. I want to ask everyone to

look at me, just look at me right now, because I want to

be clear. Not every pain, in every illness is caused by sin.

This scripture says if they have sinned. It doesn't say because they have sinned

if they have him. Not every pain, not every sickness has been caused

by sin. So if your friend or if your spouse is complaining of a

toothache, don't say, hey, hey, hey, what secret sin are

you hiding from me? Not every pain is caused by sin, but sometimes

there are spiritual issues, emotional issues, things in the past that can express

themselves in our body, in our physical being. And God wants to heal.

God wants to heal you from the past. God wants to heal you

from the trauma. God wants to heal you from the abuse. God wants

to heal you from the shame and the regret. And sin that's unconfessed can

block us from that healing. It can block us from the love of God.

But God wants to heal that sin. Remember when Jesus was on the

cross, he absorbed all the wrath of God. He absorbed the punishment.

The punishment that brought us peace was on him by his wounds. You are

healed, So there is no fear coming to God. There's no fear confessing

your sins because God I will receive you, he will forgive you, and

he will heal you from the past. And so if you're afraid of bringing

a secret out of the dark. Bring it to the light and it will

lose its power over you. Confess it and let him heal you, let

him love you. As we end today, I want to share one more

story about a person who needed healed from the past. I met this person

not too long ago, and they were carrying a very dark secret, a

sinful secret from many many years ago in their past, and they were so

ashamed about it. And this person came to me with tears, just burden

with humiliation and grief, and they told me that they had confessed this sin

to God, but they still felt unforgiven, and they still felt oppressed and

tormented because they were keeping it a secret and no one knew about it.

And so they confessed this to me, and I told them that God forgives

them, and then we prayed, and that person chose to forgive themselves.

Sometimes we know in our mind that God forgives us, but the miracle that

we need is actually believing and knowing that we can forgive ourselves. And when

that person forgave themselves, that burden of shame, that humiliation lifted off.

Not only were they forgiven for the past, they were healed from the past.

And so I don't know what your story holds. I don't know what

pain or your past looks like. But God loves you and he wants to

heal you. He wants to restore you. He doesn't want you to stay

stuck. Do you need a miracle today? Do you need healing today?

Do you need more of God's love today? God wants to release more of

his love. And so I'd like to invite you to respond to what we've

heard today. Would you stand with me as we enter a time of response

Right now, I'm going to invite our prayer partner team to come forward,

and our prayer partner team is going to be available if you would like to

receive prayer, if you would like to receive anointing, they're going to be

available to do that even while we sing another song. And if you want

to receive prayer and anointing, I encourage you just to come down this middle

aisle and Genny will help direct you to a prayer partner. But I want

to open this response time with an invitation. Would you close your eyes and

bow your head with me? And this first invitation is for anyone here who

is listening to these words and you are living in sin. You are living

in brokenness. It's like your world is spiritually dark and you do not have

a relationship with God. You are far from God today. If you want

to be right with God and you want to be healed from your sin,

then I invite you to repeat this simple prayer in your heart. Say,

Dear God, I admit that I'm a sinner and I need your forgiveness.

I believe Jesus died for me and rose from the dead to save me.

Today I confess Jesus's Lord forgive me and heal me.