Three Healing Truths

Praise God.

I remember the first service we had.

We had 103 people at our very first service.

I was completely bowled over, had no idea.

The devil tried to tell me, just me and our family would be there.

We had a few more than that and I sat on a metal chair and strung my omnic cord.

Most of you don't know what an omnic cord is.

Perhaps you'll never will have to learn.

Praise God, hallelujah, and I tell you, the Holy Ghost was there at that first service.

Praise God, thank God for the Holy Ghost, thank God for the anointing, praise God, god is so good.

And just congratulate all of you for being so faithful and being so involved.

I mean a church doesn't get to be 25 years old without a whole lot of folks dedicating themselves.

We call commitment.

Anybody can join the Rotor Club, they can join the Boy Scouts, but I mean it takes commitment to build a church and have it last 25 years.

And we're just getting started.

If Jesus tears, we'll just keep on going another 25.

We'll take another look at it.

Hallelujah, praise God.

You don't have to stand back up, but just raise your bibles up and wave them around.

We're a live stream audience.

We're glad you could join us and let's say this together Say Heavenly Father, I'm so glad to be here today.

I have reason to celebrate because I'm saved.

Thank God, I'm saved.

I know where I'm headed when I pass, when I leave this earth, I'll be present with the Lord.

I've got a lot of work to do between now and then and I come to be instructed in a more perfect way.

I'm teachable, I'm humble.

The word that I'm going to hear this morning is going to be implanted in my spirit and it will bring forth fruit.

In Jesus' name, let's turn our bibles, please, to John, chapter five, and I want to read some verses here.

Jesus is out among the people, you know.

Jesus was called to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

John chapter five, verse one.

After this, there was a feast of the Jews and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

Now there is at Jerusalem, by the sheep market, a pool which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches.

In these lay a great multitude everybody said great multitude A great multitude of impotent folk, of blind halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water, for an angel went down at a certain season to the pool and troubled the water Whosoever.

Then, first, after the troubling of the water, stepped in, was made whole of whatsoever disease he had.

And a certain man was there which had an infirmity 30 and eight years when Jesus saw him lie and knew that he had been now a long time.

In that case he saith unto him wilt thou be made whole?

Wilt thou be made whole?

Many other translations say do you want to be well?

Multitude of folk, they all wanted to be well and the impotent man answered him sir, I have no man when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool.

But while I am coming, another stepped it down before me.

Jesus saith unto him rise, take up thy bed and walk.

And immediately the man was made whole, took up his bed and walked.

And on the same day was the Sabbath.

So today I wanted to bring to you a message entitled Three Healing Truths.

I'm sure there could be a lot more than just three, but I like to keep things short and simple so we can get something out of something and not be confused with a dozen points.

But I'm doing this to prepare for Healing Wednesdays.

How many of you have heard about Healing Wednesdays?

You know we've said a little bit about it, but starting this next Wednesday night, first Wednesday of the February, usually in our first week, we usually have a power hour, but I just felt in my spirit of an urgency to teach on healing and to really pay attention on the subject of healing, and I'm sure it'll probably spill over some to Sunday mornings.

But you know, as God got my attention about healing, I thought about all these red envelopes and how many of them probably have something about healing.

People need healing in their bodies.

If it's going to be the greatest year yet for you, I'm sure some of you need to overcome certain issues, symptoms, things that you've been battling and standing against.

And so the messages that are going to be preached on these Wednesday nights and this morning for some it's going to be new, maybe something you haven't heard before.

So it'll be seed of the Word of God that's planted down in your spirit.

That's where the kingdom of God begins.

Seed has to be planted.

Amen.

No seed, no harvest.

You don't preach healing, you don't really get much healing.

You can have what you preach, because preaching is the broadcasting of the Word.

Amen, the good news.

Jesus was knowing it.

He said he's been wanting me to preach the good news, you know to heal the brokenhearted.

I'll tell you, at least there's a whole bunch of a multitude of brokenhearted people there that are talked about in these verses, and for some you've heard it before and you know it.

But it'll be water for your seed that's already been planted.

I mean, when we've got seed in the ground and we have not yet received the culmination or the harvest of that seed, then that seed needs water, doesn't it?

Because without water it's not going to bear fruit, and we need healing in our bodies.

We need the fruit of what the Word says.

We can have right, amen.

And so it's either seed or it's water, or it's both, thank God.

And so either way, we can have what is preached.

And so here Jesus comes, upon a multitude of very ill people, and they're mostly Jews who have a covenant.

Healing was in the old covenant.

He revealed himself as Jehovah Raphael.

I am the Lord, that healeth thee.

And when Israel was in the will of God, obedient to the covenant, they walked in health.

Remember, when they left Egypt, they bore the stamp of health and prosperity.

There was not one feeble among their tribes after 430 years of slavery.

Not one feeble among their tribes.

Oh really, god?

That is what God had in mind for his people, israel.

He wanted them to be a witness to the nations.

See, god is strategic, he just doesn't do things haphazard.

He selected one people out of all the 70 nations.

He picked one nation, the Hebrews, and on them, just by grace, he decided, okay, I'm gonna make a covenant with them.

And then he wanted to use them and place them in a place right there in Jerusalem, right there in Israel, which is at a crossroads between three continents, the known world at that time.

I mean, you're there between Africa and Europe and Asia, there is the crossroads.

These are all the trade routes of people that are trading goods and so forth and so on.

They come right through Israel, right through Jerusalem, and God intended for his goodness to be displayed so that everybody that came through that man, these people, worship somebody else.

I'm not acquainted with that God.

They don't have any carved wooden sticks, they don't have any stones stacked up on each other, they don't have any funny drawings.

They worship the Creator.

Wow, look at how blessed they are, look at how healthy they are.

See, that was God's intention and it's still his intention today.

But beyond that, god wants to heal people, and so you know, we know the story that Israel did not, was not faithful to the covenant, they started worshiping other gods.

And here in this situation, when Jesus came on the scene, john the Baptist had been the first prophet in over 400 years and John the Baptist was warning Israel in preparing the way for the Messiah to come.

And so he came preparing the way, and so then, when Messiah came, they didn't believe it was the Messiah.

In other words, you could say that Israel was backslidden and for the most part, israel did not accept Jesus as Messiah.

Did they Right?

And so that's the group that's laying out there by the pool of Bethesda, sick, withered.

Just think about that word withered.

I mean, here's this guy Now.

How did anybody know it was 38 years, say?

The Holy Ghost told John, the apostle John, who wrote the Gospel of John, that it was 38 years, 38 years laying there.

And you know you can't set your clock by the angel coming along.

The angel just came at certain times.

You didn't know when he was coming.

So that meant that if you really were desperate and these people were desperate they had to wait around till the angel showed up.

You ever go to the doctor and have to wait around for the doctor to finally call your name.

I mean it takes longer and longer.

I mean sometimes you'd be there an hour, hour and a half waiting, waiting, wait.

There's a lot longer than that for them to see the doctor and so.

But I think about all these people.

They had a covenant with God that they were ignorant of.

They did not have to do this to obtain healing.

Why did they do this Ignorance and our disobedience to the covenant?

A lot of times we do without what God wants us to have, through ignorance or through disobedience.

Are you with me now?

Y'all following along, say, I want to kind of prepare us for these Wednesday nights with a message like this, because I want us to get all on the same page.

How many are planning on coming on Wednesday nights?

A bunch of you and some of you that can't come.

We understand.

But I mean, if you can it would help you.

But I mean they're just waiting, like the people up in Pennsylvania.

They're waiting for the groundhog.

He's probably already come out, he's probably already seen his shadow and, as they say, it's six more weeks of winter waiting for the groundhog.

And you know it's a double whammy because it's also the super bowl.

Can you imagine how many drunk people they're gonna be by this afternoon?

I mean they started early in the morning drinking, drinking, drinking and then all afternoon waiting for the super bowl.

They'll all be asleep by the time the super bowl is on, kind of like that.

I mean, you know, just think about an aimless life.

Just think about you know you don't do anything except lay around the pool of Bethesda waiting for the angel to show up.

You don't know when he's coming and then when he does, there's only one person out of the entire multitude that gets ill.

Think about the disappointment that I mean you talk about a depressed crowd.

Now, I mean, what if you were waiting for punks of Tony Phil and only one person saw him?

Some overgrown rat.

I mean I really don't know what the deal is, but anyway, I guess it's a Pennsylvania thing.

No, it's kind of silly.

I mean, you know, you just.

But here, just look at the tragedy of this.

These are people who got real things from.

This man has been laying.

He can't even stand up.

He doesn't say what was wrong with him, but he's laying.

Do you want Jesus comes up to him?

Do you want to be?

Well, sir, I have no man.

Here's the son of God, here is the man anointed of the Holy Ghost, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed of the devil, for God was with him.

Here he is standing right there.

Sir, I have no man.

I get beat out every time.

I've been here for 37 out of the 38 years and I haven't gotten in there first yet.

I mean, every time I'm just about right there.

I'm right there and no.

Somebody else gets healed, somebody else gets healed, and I have to go back and lay down and wait for the angel to come again.

I have no man.

Oh, I'm believing for a man.

If I just had a man, oh, if I just had a man, maybe I could see.

Isn't that pitiful?

So this healing is in the Old Testament and so therefore, it qualifies as a type and shadow of what we have in the New Testament.

We can get some truth out of what happened there.

Did you know every healing that Jesus performed in the gospels was Old Testament healing.

They had a right under their covenant to receive that.

Are you with me now?

Yeah, now there's truth that we can glean out of every one of those.

For instance, we're gonna make this point on Wednesdays.

You know, but 12 out of the 19 healing miracles that are named in the gospels and 12 out of the 19 mentioned faith, you know, go your way.

Your faith has made you whole.

I have not found so great a faith.

No, not in Israel, old woman, great is thy faith, and so forth.

If you, you know, lord, help my unbelief.

Oh, lord I believe, help my unbelief.

Oh, if you had just faith as a mustard seed, you'd say to this sycamine tree be removed, be cast in the city.

It would have bagged.

So faith was involved in 12 out of the 19 miracles, and so faith must be pretty important.

But here there's no mention of faith.

What we see is how eager God is to do something for suffering, sighing, crying, dying humanity, even though they're ignorant of their covenant, even though they're disobedient to their covenant, even though there's no faith, he's still willing to do something to stir them up.

Just think about how many years.

And they weren't any of them stirred up to seek God.

For more, they nobody was stirred.

Looks like one of the priests would have caught on to that.

You know, the priests are charged with representing the people to God, god to the people.

All the priests and the high priests and all that.

I mean, you see, their religion was dead.

This Judaism was dead.

They weren't performing their duties, or they would have said what are you people doing out here waiting for this to happen?

You've got access to healing.

I mean, the Jewish law had a remedy for people to certify when they were healed of leprosy.

There is no known cure for leprosy and yet Jewish people were regularly healed of leprosy and God had an entire way for them to go and be certified.

See, because they had to be certified.

I mean, it wasn't good enough just to stand up.

Oh, I was healed of leprosy last week, Glory to God.

Well, that's fine and good, but you're gonna have to go show yourself to the priests and there's a whole thing that you gotta be examined and all of that.

Everything's gotta be examined.

Look at your hair, look at your skin and all of that, and it's all written right out there in black and white.

You gotta read it.

And then there's a sacrifice, a cleansing ritual.

You know where?

They've got two birds and they kill one of them, you know, as a sacrifice, and let the other one go free.

Jesus was slain for our healing and we flew away like a free bird.

Glory to God.

They've got that, but they were blind.

Are you with it or with me now?

Oh, god wants to heal, and yet there are people, even in the church, that are not convinced that it's God's will for them to be healed, when here, god was so wanting to do something for them that, in his mercy, he said come on, angel, get down there.

Maybe somebody will get stirred up enough to look into my word and find out that they don't have to wait for it, that they can appropriate healing.

I don't know why they're so dull.

I don't know why the scales are over their eyes.

That's what happens when you just get full of ignorance.

God can't bless ignorance and of course, he can't bless disobedience.

So by focusing on one particular individual, see, I had to really pray this through.

I've never quite understood this until I finally, god turned a light on, said this is a type and shadow of what you have.

See, I never did see it for that.

And now it begins to make sense that Jesus ignored a whole multitude of other people and focused on one person.

He did not have a healing meeting, he didn't stand up and start preaching, he didn't heal all of them.

How many places in the Bible where he healed them?

All did not do it, did not do it.

But he did focus on one person and he focused on this man.

38 years had been in that condition.

He shows us how to take the guesswork out of healing, to take to revoke and remove the uncertainty out of healing, to destroy the doubt.

Are you with me now, see?

Because that's what causes people many times to stumble and stay ill a lot longer than they should be these little nagging uncertainties.

I mean in the mind, in our brain.

We say, oh yeah, jesus is the healer, oh yeah, I believe it's God's will to heal.

But then, when we get down to us in our particular situation, those little foxes, those little things are nibbling around at the edges.

There's a little bit of uncertainty, there's a little bit of doubt, there's a little bit of something there that make us well, you know I don't know if you, you know we doubt our worth in this many times, we doubt whether our condition is really covered.

We, there's just doubt in there and I believe this month we're gonna build a foundation for us to see and experience greater levels not just of healing but health.

You know we have our covenant is not just healing.

Our covenant is a health covenant.

I mean, what's better than healing Health?

No need to be healed, wouldn't?

Isn't that a state of being?

Not one single solitary symptom has established itself in your body.

Are you with me now?

So three healing truths.

Number one, the one truth right here, front and center God wants us well and whole.

Everybody say God wants me well and whole.

So God responded to their need in this story right here.

He responded to their need just out of his sovereign mercy and will.

He wanted to do something for them.

And the reason he just went one person at a time is because he was.

You know, the angel was stirring the wars, but he's stirring the hearts.

He's trying, he's wanting to stir them, to investigate.

What is it that, what, what don't I understand?

This seems almost cruel.

I mean this, this.

You've got a multitude of people that are disappointed.

Nobody's shouting the victory for the one that got healed.

Everybody's wondering well, I didn't get there, I didn't have anybody to get me to the angel.

You know they're crying and sobbing.

They're not rejoicing.

Are you with me now?

God is wanting them to reach down on the inside and find out what is the problem, where's the gap?

He's stirring their hearts and so he, out of his own love for people, he basically says come to the word, come to Jesus, come.

You quit looking for a man you know, come to Jesus.

We have done everything right.

We've made a few Slip ups.

We can sit here and dwell on things We've done wrong.

What it could have, should have, that'll keep you right out of your healing.

Just get it under the blood.

Go ahead and plead guilty, quit.

Quit making excuses.

If you know what it is, go ahead and speak it out.

Get it under the blood.

Get on down the road.

Amen, he wants you well.

And then, of course, the second one is God is not limited in his healing power by man or a move or a meeting.

Well, if I could have just gotten to the meeting, if I could have just gotten in that move of God, oh, if I could have just lived when Jesus is there.

If I could have just lived back in the days of the voice of healing, when Oral Roberts had his tent and all those male.

Oh, if I could have.

Just if I could have been just a sat under brother Branham.

Oh, if I had one time I knew a couple that that went to some of the Branham meetings and all they could talk about was brother Branham.

Well, he did.

He was dead for 30 years.

And they're still talking about brother Branham.

Why don't talk about brother Jesus?

Why don't talk about Jesus?

Jesus didn't die.

Jesus is still alive.

Brother Branham went off course, thought he was Elijah.

That's what happens to men.

Men are men, are fallible.

Men can go down.

You start worshiping men and start putting them on a pedestal.

They'll fall right off.

But Jesus is faithful.

He's the healer.

Glory to come on.

Let's lift our hands, praise God.

Hope I could have just made it to the meeting.

Oh, my god, I miss the meeting.

There was a healing meeting.

I missed it.

Well, I'm not against healing meetings.

I'm not against healing evangelists.

I listen, I, I'm for them.

But it's better to find out what belongs to you.

Some people need a little help and we're willing to give that help.

That means we lay hands on people.

Sometimes we anoint people with oil, sometimes they just need what we can do to help them in their faith.

But the intention I have is let's find out where each of us are on our faith levels and let's just let's try to graduate.

Let's not just stay the same all our whole life and be dependent on a man or meeting, or Amen.

It's fine that they I mean God wants to get healing to people so badly.

What I've seen, you know.

We got we, we were close for a while with Benny Hinn.

We, we Put a lot of money in his minister there at one point in time, and it was God that we did.

But what I noticed about his meetings is that people came from a bunch of denominational dead churches.

Their church didn't want like this church, so they didn't have anybody praying for them.

They had no.

But they had no altar to come to, they had no teaching on healing and so they were dependent upon the gifts of the spirit.

They were dependent upon a meeting or a man or a ministry.

And if they could get there, wherever Benny was or wherever that that crusade was, if they could get there, many of them would get healed and they'd have results.

But between the time that they would stand up on the platform and testify Until the time that his teams could follow up, they would lose their healing.

Because those kind of meetings are really designed to.

They're God's dinner bell.

They're really designed to for the lost.

They're designed for the loss to get healed.

They're designed for as a sign and a wonder for people to realize hey, god is in the healing business and it's like God's dinner bell.

They come and they get healed and then they get saved.

And I don't believe God ever intended for the church to operate like that.

We do get people healed that are in the church, but that's not God's best.

God's best is for you to realize what kind of a covenant you've got.

God's best is for your faith to rise up where you're not Dependent on a man or a meeting or a or whatever.

Amen.

Jesus said come to me, come.

And who is Jesus?

He's the Word.

Everything you need is right here Now.

We believe in helping people and that's why we have laying hands on the sick.

That's not that's.

That's not second class, that's first class.

I Mean when, after you've believed God and you've confessed what the Bible says about your health and so forth and so on, you know it's, it's.

It's entirely in order for you to come up here and have hands laid on, and we do that all the time, and that's not a that's not a negative, that's, that's a positive.

But what I'm saying is we can begin to grow in our faith.

Faith can grow a canning, he told.

You know, paul told the Thessalonians he said I'm so glad I hear that your faith grows exceedingly.

So our faith can grow.

We can go from faith to faith, from one level to the next.

Are you with me now?

So God's not limited in his healing power by a man, a mover, a meeting.

We can come directly to Jesus.

He said to the man do you want to be well?

Well then, look at me, listen to me, rise, take up your bed and walk in that man.

I mean, he was instantly healed.

It didn't say a thing about his faith, he just got up, he took his bed.

He's walking through and later on in the chapter you know, the Pharisees stopped.

What are you doing?

You carried your bed on the Sabbath day.

Well, the man over here told me to do it.

That's not right.

All these excuse, religious excuses.

See, jesus loved to stick his finger in the eye of the religious crowd Just because you think it's so bad.

I'm gonna, I'm gonna do a lot of these miracles right on the Sabbath day, right in front of you.

I Mean you.

You're so hypocritical.

I mean, if you're donkey fell in a pit, you'd be out there pulling it out of the pit.

And then you're worried about God Pulling one of these people out of their pit.

Glory to God, hallelujah.

I tell you, religion is mean, has no answers.

Which leads me to the third truth about healing.

It is it to keep our healing.

We have to guard our heart.

You know, you've got to guard your heart.

Jesus said to the man later in verse 14 he saw him in the temple.

The man went to the temple and that was good.

I mean, here he is.

He was.

He was late and you know before he's late.

You know he's laying out there by the, by the water for years and the first place he went after he got healed was to the temple.

That speaks pretty well of him.

We don't know what he was doing there, but we assume that he was praising God and arranging for a thank offering, and probably you know I mean we don't know that but Jesus saw him in the temple and said go and send.

No more or less the worst thing happened to you.

So that lets us know that the reason he was in this shape he was in was some iniquity, some kind of sin that he'd never really gotten under the blood.

You see, they had all kind of ways that they could be forgiven and cleansed.

They had to have an offering.

They had continual burn offerings all the time.

They had a sin offering, a trespass offering, peace offerings, thank offerings.

I mean, man, they had more offerings than you can think of and all of it was designed to keep them in right relationship with God.

Evidently, he wasn't in right relationship and then the devil stole his health.

Are you with me?

Now?

We have to remove all obstacles to healing and health.

That means we need to check our love.

That's the biggest thing right there checking up on your love, walk in love, the walk in forgiveness, carry no grudges, and so forth and so on.

Praise God, hallelujah, come on, let's lift our hands right now.

Oh, thank you, lord.

You desire that we be not only healed but healthy, to be made whole.

Will you be made whole?

See?

I mean, to me that speaks of a whole another level.

I mean, yeah, we have individual diseases, individual infirmities.

You know that infirmity means frailty of mind and our body.

They're talking about a cure for Alzheimer's.

They haven't got one yet, but I believe that Jesus can heal Alzheimer's.

I believe he can heal dementia.

I remember back when the AIDS virus was discovered HIV and AIDS and all that in the 80s and I remember all the fear that went through.

You know people were so afraid and you know they just didn't even want to touch anybody.

You know I had one church call and we wanted somebody to come and minister to their prayer partners because you know they had alter calls and they'd regularly laid hands on the sick Check that box.

That's good.

There's not a lot of churches do that anymore.

That church I congratulate.

That's good for you.

I'm glad you got alter work.

Yeah, well, how do we know these alter workers?

I mean they could catch AIDS, they could do this.

I don't know.

You've got to build your faith up to the point where you know that you're not afraid of anything.

The same could be said for flu and for any kind of anything.

I mean, if you're going to pray for other people you can't do it with.

You know, just from 30 feet away.

You know, just like, give me a plastic hand, you know, and it just extends out.

I leave my hands like this.

I tell her please keep your distance.

I don't want what you have.

I don't want to.

I don't want to, I don't want to Really.

I mean, that's what they looked at me like I came from another planet when I said, oh, don't be thinking about that, don't even give place to that idea.

But now they've just about got it licked.

The AIDS virus HIV is, and then the full blown AIDS virus is just next.

And you know but I'm talking about supernatural, not natural.

I mean, thank God for what doctors can do, but Jesus can do it better and quicker.

Not against doctors.

Thank God for doctors.

Sometimes we need doctors because, whatever situation we're facing, many times it's moving faster than our faith is.

That's when it's good to know a doctor Not wrong, go to the doctor, but it's.

But let's not just look at that as the only solution.

No, jesus said come to me.

Praise God, praise God, thank you, lord.

Let's say this together.

Let's all stand together and let's make this confession together.

Lift your hand to heaven.

And let's say this together.

Let's say God's perfect will for me is my healing and health.

Jesus does what doctors and men can't do.

I received Jesus as my healer.

I looked to him.

By your stripes, jesus, I was healed.

I walk in love.

I forgive others.

Nothing can hinder my health.

I'm well and whole in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Well, let's thank God for that.

Praise God, thank God, praise God.

Let's be seated now.

Now, that's just an example of a confession that you can have every day.

You ought to have some form of confession about your healing and health every day.

You ought to speak some things every day, and when you have symptoms, you ought to speak to them, use the name of Jesus and don't let them go on and on and on.

In a minute, we're gonna open the altar for people that have needs.