Sermon

Great Conversations Week 3 - Pastor Kipp Penrod

Life House Church

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  1. Thank you for listening to this message from Lifehouse Church.

  2. Good morning, good morning.

  3. It's good to have you at Lifehouse this morning.

  4. I think they're still, I think the coffee line has gone down.

  5. I was checking to see.

  6. But it's good to have you.

  7. If you're listening online, welcome.

  8. We always appreciate our online audience who is congregation who really joins us from all over the place.

  9. And East Shore this morning is they're worshiping at East Shore at our other campus north of Harrisburg.

  10. And it's good, man.

  11. There's a lot going on.

  12. We got picnics going on today.

  13. We got mission strips taking place.

  14. And I want to give you just one more opportunity.

  15. If you want to get engaged in something, you might be thinking, well, I can't go to Guatemala.

  16. Well, I got something a lot closer for you to get engaged in.

  17. And we have door holders, say door holders.

  18. We've got door holders.

  19. And what we ask you to do, we launched this campus last October up in north of Harrisburg.

  20. And we're still getting going up there.

  21. We're trying to get things rolling along even more.

  22. And we ask for support from this church.

  23. So what we do is we give you a chance to do a little minor missions trip.

  24. How many like a little missions trip, right?

  25. Thirty minutes out of the way.

  26. You can go up and serve on one Sunday and you can sign up or you can serve on two Sundays in a semester.

  27. But it's for you to get an opportunity to see the campus there just to engage and go up and serve for Sunday morning.

  28. Do a mini missions trip.

  29. Listen, a missions trip can be 30 minutes away, can be 300 miles, can be three thousand miles away.

  30. As long as you're going there to serve God is the important part.

  31. So there's going to be a sign up coming around.

  32. They're going to start that if you want to get engaged.

  33. You want to go up sometime this semester.

  34. Some of you have already done that.

  35. By the way, we've heard lots of awesome testimony about those of you who've gone up to serve and how important it's been.

  36. But if you want to go up and serve, please sign up this morning.

  37. That sign up there is for you to go and just be a part.

  38. You'd be a part.

  39. We want to give you lots of opportunities here at LifeHouse.

  40. Well, listen, for the last several weeks, we've been talking about talking.

  41. OK, we've been talking about conversation.

  42. We've been talking about what constitutes a great conversation.

  43. Say a great conversation and get you involved.

  44. All right.

  45. We've determined this that a great conversation includes a conversation that has new life and Jesus in the conversation.

  46. Right.

  47. New life and Jesus conversations that really will reach to the deepest level of who we are.

  48. And I don't know if you know this or not, but the deepest level of every person is their spirit.

  49. Right. It is your spirit person.

  50. It is the eternal part of you.

  51. And I want you to think of it in this maybe light that there's three parts to every person sitting in this room.

  52. There's three things that make you up as a person.

  53. There's this physical being.

  54. Right.

  55. Come on, just move your arms around a bit.

  56. You got this physical being pinch the person beside you.

  57. If you know him, go ahead, pinch him.

  58. Say that's your physical right there.

  59. Pinch him on the arm.

  60. Pinch him on the leg.

  61. That's the first part of you.

  62. And you can think of that as the outer circle part of you.

  63. That's the exterior part.

  64. But if you take a concentric circle and go inside of that, right, is your soul.

  65. It's your mind, your will and emotions.

  66. And if you pinch the person beside you hard enough, you just stirred up their soul.

  67. All right.

  68. You start up their emotions.

  69. And if you didn't just reach across and do it again.

  70. All right.

  71. You'll get to see their soul part of them coming out.

  72. Right.

  73. But on the inner circle of you, right, in the smallest of the core of you is your spirit.

  74. And it's these Jesus, new life in Jesus conversations that go beyond the body, go beyond even the

  75. soul, and they get to the spirit of who you are.

  76. And it's these defining conversations that you can have anytime, anywhere.

  77. And it moves the conversation from the natural to the supernatural.

  78. It goes out of this realm and it goes into the next realm.

  79. And these are the conversations that are biblical.

  80. These are conversations that Jesus showed us how to have.

  81. And they're supernatural in nature.

  82. They move from natural to supernatural.

  83. And today, once again, we've been doing this all month long.

  84. We're going to eavesdrop on one of Jesus conversations to find out what he has to say about a great

  85. conversation.

  86. So if you got your Bibles, you can begin to flip or turn to Matthew chapter seven.

  87. You might be looking it up on your electronic device.

  88. Pull that up.

  89. Matthew chapter seven.

  90. And as you turn, I'm going to pray, Father, we just give you this day.

  91. We thank you for all that we have been blessed with.

  92. But God, most of all, we come here, Lord, to worship you.

  93. We come to lift up your name.

  94. We thank you, God, for your son, Jesus.

  95. We thank you for the Holy Spirit.

  96. Father, I'm grateful as Lord and creator, God, that you walk with us.

  97. And Lord, I pray that today, God, your word would soak into our hearts, God, and it would

  98. change our minds.

  99. And God, it would begin to shift what we do.

  100. And Lord, we just give you praise and glory in Jesus' name.

  101. Everybody say it together.

  102. Amen.

  103. Amen.

  104. Matthew chapter seven.

  105. Just say amen.

  106. All right.

  107. Good, good.

  108. If you're online, just type it in the chat.

  109. Matthew seven, twenty-eight says this.

  110. And so it was when Jesus had ended these sayings that the people were astonished at his teachings,

  111. for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes.

  112. Right?

  113. And then he had when he and it says in verse chapter eight, verse one, when he had come

  114. down from the mountain.

  115. Now, when it's talking about Jesus there, Jesus was probably preaching and teaching

  116. in an elevated spot just outside of Capernaum.

  117. He's up on a hillside.

  118. He's on a high spot of some kind.

  119. And it says when he had come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him.

  120. And behold, a leper came and worshiped him, saying, Lord, if you're willing, you can make

  121. me clean.

  122. And when Jesus put out his hand and touched him, saying, I am willing, be cleansed, immediately

  123. the leprosy was cleansed.

  124. And Jesus said to him, see that you tell no one, but go your way.

  125. Show yourself to the priest.

  126. This is what they did if they if they were healed of a disease and offer the gift that

  127. Moses commanded as a testimony to them.

  128. Jesus, now you got a picture of this.

  129. I want you to get this in your mind.

  130. When you read something in scripture, don't just gloss over it.

  131. Start to picture in your mind what this look like.

  132. Jesus is teaching and he's preaching.

  133. Right?

  134. And he's healing people on the side of a mountain somewhere on a high spot somewhere.

  135. Maybe it was a rolling hill of some kind, but he leaves this location.

  136. After he's done ministering, after he's done preaching and teaching, and he begins to descend

  137. off of this place, he begins to come down off of the hill.

  138. And as he's going down, the multitude, the word of God says, multitude follows him.

  139. So we don't know how many were there.

  140. We don't know if it was hundreds or thousands, but they're coming behind Jesus.

  141. Jesus and his disciples are descending right there heading down the hill.

  142. The multitudes coming with him.

  143. And then all of a sudden something unusual happens.

  144. Something takes place because there's somebody come in the opposite direction towards him,

  145. heading to where he's coming from.

  146. Right.

  147. And it's a leper.

  148. And you got to understand something about leprosy.

  149. This is unusual because back then, if you had leprosy, if you had this disease, you weren't allowed to approach people.

  150. You couldn't come forward and just walk up to somebody and get in their personal space.

  151. In fact, they say if you study this out a little bit, they say in some parts of that culture, they would have to actually yell out unclean as they came close.

  152. And and leprosy at this time was a contagious, uncurable, debilitating disease.

  153. And if you became infected with it, you were removed.

  154. You were quarantined from society.

  155. You were taken out of society.

  156. You were put into a leper colony.

  157. And that's where you stayed.

  158. You didn't go back to your family.

  159. You didn't go back to your job.

  160. You didn't go back to anything.

  161. You live and existed in a leper colony.

  162. And it was really a death sentence in more than just one way.

  163. If you had leprosy.

  164. So Jesus is coming off the hill.

  165. The crowd is following.

  166. And all of a sudden, a leper comes this direction.

  167. Now, I don't know.

  168. It doesn't say in God's word, but I'm thinking as Jesus heading down the hill, the crowds right behind him.

  169. And all of a sudden, they see a leper.

  170. Right.

  171. And I think the crowd started doing this.

  172. Right.

  173. I think they just stood still and Jesus just kept on moving.

  174. Right.

  175. And I think they just froze in place because they knew that this was a contagious disease.

  176. And the leopard, the word of God says that the leopard came worshipping Jesus.

  177. I don't know if he was singing.

  178. I don't know if he was praising.

  179. I don't know if he was just talking and saying glory, you know, to your name.

  180. I don't know what he was doing.

  181. But it says he came and he said and he made one statement.

  182. He said, Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.

  183. This was a faith statement, by the way.

  184. All right.

  185. He worships Jesus first and then he declares, Lord, if you're willing, you can make me clean.

  186. Lord, this isn't a matter of if you have enough power to do this.

  187. This is a matter of if you choose to do this.

  188. Right.

  189. Lord, if you want to, you can make me clean.

  190. Right.

  191. It's not a matter of if I can be healed.

  192. It's a matter if you will heal me.

  193. And he comes and he's speaking faith.

  194. He has no doubt in his mind that Jesus has the power to heal him.

  195. That's not even up for question.

  196. He just wants to find out if Jesus is willing to.

  197. He says, Lord, if you will, you can do this.

  198. How many of us should always come to prayer like that?

  199. We should always come to prayer.

  200. And it's not we shouldn't come like, Lord, I hope you do this.

  201. I pray you do this.

  202. I think you can do this.

  203. Right.

  204. We should just come saying, Lord, I know you can do this.

  205. It's just a matter of whether it's your will or not.

  206. Right.

  207. Your kingdom come, your will be done.

  208. Lord, is this your will?

  209. Is this your purpose in my life?

  210. I'm coming in faith.

  211. I'm coming in believing.

  212. I know you can do it.

  213. I know you got the power.

  214. You've got all power.

  215. Right.

  216. You carry every bit of power on the face of the in the universe.

  217. Actually not in the face of the earth only you have it all.

  218. And I don't know if you've ever had that kind of conversation with someone.

  219. Sometimes we come into conversations like that.

  220. Right.

  221. I don't know if you ever approached somebody and asked them for something.

  222. And you knew they had the means to do it.

  223. You know, you knew that they had the ability to do it.

  224. Right.

  225. They do this all the time.

  226. They come to their parents.

  227. They know you have what they need or they want.

  228. Right.

  229. They'll come and ask for it.

  230. It's not a matter of if you can do it.

  231. It's a matter of will you do this.

  232. That's fake talk to Jesus.

  233. Lord, I know I know you can do this.

  234. I'm just asking if you will.

  235. And the leper zero doubt.

  236. Right.

  237. He just come to find out what God's will in that moment.

  238. And in this brief interaction that we can start to pick up on a couple of things that

  239. really help us in conversation that really moves the conversation from just good, bad,

  240. or ugly conversation to great conversation in Jesus.

  241. I'm going to give you three rapid fires.

  242. If you're taking notes, you can go ahead and write them down.

  243. Right.

  244. And I'm going to review them, by the way.

  245. OK.

  246. There was a willing.

  247. I'm going to preach all morning on them, actually.

  248. There was a willingness to get up close and personal.

  249. Right.

  250. If you're going to get into conversations, you've got to be up close and personal.

  251. Also, the conversation has to be filled with faith in Jesus.

  252. That's the second thing.

  253. And then the conversation that is faith filled, the conversation that is up close and personal

  254. can move towards healing.

  255. This is great conversation.

  256. This isn't me telling you.

  257. This is what Jesus showed us.

  258. And he does it is up close.

  259. Right.

  260. Faith filled, healing conversation.

  261. And not only do you see it in this particular portion of scripture, but if you read on,

  262. it goes to the next time that Jesus meets someone.

  263. It immediately goes to a different story in Matthew.

  264. And you see the same pattern.

  265. Just the next verse.

  266. Matthew 8.5 says this.

  267. Now, when Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, pleading with him, saying, Lord,

  268. my servant is lying at home paralyzed, dreadfully tormented.

  269. And Jesus said to him, I will come and heal him.

  270. And the centurion answered and said, Lord, I'm not even worthy that you should come under

  271. my roof.

  272. But only speak a word and my servant will be healed.

  273. For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me.

  274. And I say to one, go.

  275. And he goes.

  276. And to another, come.

  277. And he comes.

  278. And to my servant, do this.

  279. And he does it.

  280. And when Jesus heard it, he marveled.

  281. And he said to those who followed, surely I say to you, I have not found such great

  282. faith, not in Israel.

  283. And I say to you that many will come from the east and the west and sit down with Abraham

  284. and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.

  285. But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness, where there will be weeping

  286. and gnashing of teeth.

  287. Then Jesus said to the centurion, go your way.

  288. As you believe, so let it be done for you.

  289. And his servant was healed that same hour.

  290. Great conversation.

  291. Up close and personal.

  292. Filled with faith.

  293. Right?

  294. Faith filled.

  295. And it turns into a healing conversation.

  296. And you know, what does that tell me?

  297. What does that speak out?

  298. Let's unpack that just a little bit.

  299. Right?

  300. Let's talk about what it is to get up close and personal with somebody in a conversation.

  301. Slide a little closer to the person you came to church with right now.

  302. Right?

  303. Tell them, I got to get up close and personal.

  304. Just tell them right now.

  305. Preach to them.

  306. Come on.

  307. Tell them, just say, I got to get up close and personal.

  308. I'm going to get in your bubble.

  309. I'm going to get in your space.

  310. Right?

  311. Come on.

  312. Jesus was up close.

  313. Somebody like, you're getting in my space.

  314. Jesus was up close and personal guy with us.

  315. He really was.

  316. Not just like, and he didn't do just with people he liked.

  317. He didn't just pick out those people.

  318. Right?

  319. We do that.

  320. We just pick out the people we're going to get up close and personal with.

  321. And he wasn't just like that.

  322. He went to the lepers.

  323. Everybody else, the crowd probably stopped on the hillside.

  324. Maybe even his disciples backed up.

  325. But Jesus approached the leper as the leper approached him.

  326. Right?

  327. It didn't matter if it was a leper.

  328. It didn't matter if it was dangerous.

  329. It didn't matter if this person was disfigured, probably physically, maybe even emotionally.

  330. Right?

  331. Jesus was not afraid to get in the trenches.

  332. He was not afraid to get up close and personal with other people and have a faith filled

  333. healing conversation.

  334. Time and time again, you see this in scripture where Jesus gets up close and personal with

  335. people when everybody went literally when everybody else is backing off.

  336. Right?

  337. When it didn't really matter the condition.

  338. Right?

  339. Or the position of the person.

  340. It didn't matter if they were Jew or if they were Gentile.

  341. It didn't matter if they were military leaders like the Centurion servant or if they were

  342. civilian.

  343. It didn't.

  344. Jesus got up close and personal with other people and it didn't matter who it was.

  345. You can read it and I'm not going to go there.

  346. But in Matthew chapter eight, verse twenty eight, Jesus comes into a region of Gidera.

  347. Right?

  348. Ginnis Arat Gidera and he met two demon possessed people, two demon possessed men who were living

  349. on the hillside.

  350. And these men were so violent.

  351. They were so insane out of their minds that the word of God says that no one could pass

  352. that way.

  353. They were they were because of the demonic influence in these two men's lives.

  354. They were living out on the hillside and they were just violent.

  355. They were crazy.

  356. They were insane.

  357. And nobody went that way.

  358. Nobody went anywhere near them.

  359. But Jesus, full of faith, he gets up close and personal and he casts out those demons

  360. that were in these men.

  361. And the word of God says that when the city came out to see what was happening, they found

  362. these men in their right mind sitting completely full.

  363. Right?

  364. And their right minds.

  365. Another time you can look in scripture in John chapter eight.

  366. Now I'm going to read a portion of this, but another time the scribes and the Pharisees,

  367. they drag a woman into the temple when Jesus is teaching.

  368. This woman, she's caught in the act of adultery.

  369. According to the Mosaic law at that time, this woman should have been stoned and they

  370. bring her before Jesus.

  371. The scribes and Pharisees drag her in and put her throw her down at the feet of Jesus.

  372. And they're waiting for Jesus to condemn her.

  373. They're waiting for Jesus to be the first one to pick up a stone and cast it at her

  374. and stone her to death.

  375. And Jesus gets up close and personal and he actually, as this woman's laying there and

  376. as her accusers are all around her, he gets down and he starts to write in the dirt.

  377. He starts to write in the sand.

  378. In John chapter seven, verse seven, I'm going to read this for you.

  379. It says this, so when they continued asking him, he raised himself up and said to them,

  380. it's talking about Jesus, he who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her

  381. first.

  382. And again, he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

  383. Do you ever wonder what he was writing down there?

  384. I've heard this before and I kind of believe it.

  385. I think he was writing, all those people ready to throw stones and kill this woman, I think

  386. he was writing their sin out.

  387. Liar, cheater.

  388. I think he was just writing it out.

  389. I think he was.

  390. And it says, then those who heard it being convicted by their conscience went out one

  391. by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last.

  392. And Jesus was left alone and the woman standing in the midst.

  393. And then when Jesus had raised himself up and saw no one but the woman, he said to her,

  394. woman, where are those accusers of yours?

  395. Has no one condemned you?

  396. She said, no one, Lord.

  397. And Jesus said to her, neither do I condemn you.

  398. Go and sin no more.

  399. Up close and personal.

  400. Faith-filled healing conversations.

  401. Confronting the sin with this woman.

  402. Right?

  403. But have a great compassion.

  404. Great compassion and healing.

  405. Jesus teaches us by example that if we're going to have faith-filled conversations,

  406. we got to get up close and personal.

  407. You cannot phone it in with this.

  408. All right?

  409. You cannot do this from a distance.

  410. You can't say, well, I've had good intentions of getting up close and personal.

  411. Right?

  412. But keeping people at arm's length at all times.

  413. Right?

  414. Never getting too close.

  415. And I'm not just talking physical in nature.

  416. How many know you can get somebody, you know you can get somebody up close and personal with you,

  417. but you can stiff arm them.

  418. You can keep them at a distance emotionally.

  419. You ever meet someone like that?

  420. Right?

  421. You can be standing right beside them, but they'll stiff arm you right in the face emotionally.

  422. Anybody ever have that happen to you?

  423. Right?

  424. You're in close proximity.

  425. You're up close and personal, but boom!

  426. They're stiff arming you verbally in the face.

  427. Even body language.

  428. You get the right body language.

  429. You ever burn a hole through somebody just with your body language?

  430. Anybody do it this morning anytime?

  431. All right, come on.

  432. You can do it.

  433. You can just burn a hole right through someone.

  434. You got to get up close.

  435. You got to feel their pain.

  436. You got to know what they're going through.

  437. You got to be able to sit beside them and empathize.

  438. You might not approve of what's going on in their life, and you got to speak truth to them,

  439. but you can sit with them, and you can hear where they're at,

  440. and what's going on in their lives, right?

  441. And experience that they're going through.

  442. Body, soul, and spirit.

  443. We got to get up close.

  444. We got to get up close.

  445. Can I give you a little practical advice?

  446. How many of you, when you hear preaching sometimes, you need some practical advice?

  447. Can I give you some practical advice in this?

  448. A way that might help you do this on a practical level?

  449. When we begin to look at people, and I don't know if you realize this or not,

  450. but when we look at people in general, how many of we got boxes we put them in, right?

  451. Immediately when you start to view somebody, you don't even, they don't have to talk to you.

  452. You don't have to have a relationship, and you might not even get very close to them,

  453. but you start putting people in boxes.

  454. You put it based on what they look like.

  455. You put it on based on how they're talking, what they're saying, whatever.

  456. And we start putting people in boxes.

  457. Can I get you to do something as believers and followers of Jesus?

  458. Just have two, all right?

  459. If you want to get up close and personal with people, just have two boxes.

  460. Don't put them in any other box, right?

  461. Just one of these two.

  462. And the first one is this, it's those who have hope in Jesus.

  463. Those who realize they are sinners saved by grace, and they have found Jesus,

  464. and they're following Jesus with everything within them, that's one of the boxes, right?

  465. That's one of the things, that we see them in one light, right?

  466. And the other one is those who don't have hope in Jesus.

  467. That's it, right?

  468. Somebody who's where you used to be.

  469. Somebody who doesn't know Christ as Lord and Savior yet.

  470. And there's two boxes, those who have hope in Jesus and those who don't have hope in Jesus.

  471. And if you tie it down, if you narrow it down to those two boxes,

  472. and you chuck the rest of your boxes, you'll start getting up close and personal with people, right?

  473. Jesus ate with public officials, and He ate with sinners and tax collectors

  474. who were hated during that time or that part of society.

  475. Come on, church, it's true, amen? It's true.

  476. You got up close and personal with people.

  477. Get up close and personal.

  478. Put them in one of the two boxes.

  479. Either way, you should get up close and personal.

  480. Second thing, say second thing.

  481. We should listen for faith in the conversation.

  482. Faith in the conversation.

  483. We want to hear faith, because everyone's got faith in something.

  484. In both of these stories in scriptures, the people that Jesus approached,

  485. the leper, right, and the centurion, it's easy.

  486. It's easy to pick out in these ones, because in these two, they came worshipping.

  487. They both came speaking statements of faith, right?

  488. When Jesus approached them or they approached Jesus,

  489. it wasn't hard to pick out that these people had already thought through this.

  490. They already had faith in Christ.

  491. They are not only declaring it, but they're worshipping.

  492. But not so much when Jesus came, right, ashore,

  493. and there were demon-possessed people in His presence.

  494. Who was carrying faith then, right?

  495. There was no faith statements from the two demon-possessed individuals.

  496. Even the woman who was caught in adultery, she didn't come up in the name of the word of God.

  497. It's not recorded anywhere where she spoke or where she made a statement of faith in Christ, right?

  498. But Jesus was right there.

  499. Where's the faith?

  500. Listen, who was carrying faith in that conversation?

  501. Jesus was, right?

  502. There's got to be somebody in the conversation that's carrying faith.

  503. Jesus had faith in the Holy Spirit who was guiding Him and directing Him.

  504. He had faith in His Father who was constantly speaking to Him

  505. and what He should do and what He was going on.

  506. Someone in the conversation, how many conversations between two people?

  507. Somebody in the conversation, someone's got to have faith in Jesus.

  508. And it might be the person that's coming, or it might be you,

  509. the person that's talking with somebody,

  510. but it's got to be the power of the Holy Spirit in the conversation.

  511. It's got to be us leaning in to what Jesus is doing, or saying,

  512. or how He wants us to move in this situation.

  513. We need to make sure that when we come into a conversation,

  514. that our faith is squarely fixed on the Lord Jesus Christ.

  515. That we pursue a great conversation because we have faith in Him.

  516. Sometimes somebody's going to come up and you might hear them verbalize their position,

  517. and they might have faith in Christ, and it'll be an easy walkthrough to take them and say,

  518. hey, here's what Jesus can do for you, and this is what Jesus did for you.

  519. But there are other times you're going to be the one to carry the faith into the conversation.

  520. You're the only one of the two that is going to have faith in Christ.

  521. You're the one that's going to have to do the speaking,

  522. and drawing out, and bringing faith statements into the conversation. Amen? It's true.

  523. These kind of conversations change lives, and they change it down to the core, down to the spirit.

  524. Those are eternal things. They aren't temporary.

  525. How many of you know talking about the weather is temporary?

  526. How many of you talked about the weather this morning? It's beautiful out there.

  527. We're going to have 83 degrees, right? Next week, I'm getting older.

  528. I don't know what it is when you're older and you're a guy, you're always checking the weather.

  529. But you go next week, it's going to be in the 70s.

  530. How many of you know that conversation is going to change tomorrow because the weather is going to change tomorrow?

  531. When you start talking this stuff, this is eternal.

  532. It don't take you long. If you get into a conversation, it's not going to take you long

  533. to find out what somebody's got faith in. If you start talking out of the buttons of the heart,

  534. the mouth speaks. If you start talking, pretty soon you're going to find out,

  535. do they got their faith in financial security? Is there faith in money?

  536. Is there faith in pleasure? Is there faith in education?

  537. Is there faith maybe fixed in a relationship that currently they're very close to right now?

  538. Maybe not in a healthy manner? Is there faith in the ability of themselves to navigate this current world?

  539. A deep self-reliance? Is it rooted in their career?

  540. Is it maybe they're facing governmental change? They think at the next election,

  541. whatever happens at the next election, that's going to change it all.

  542. Listen, I'm not minimizing voting. You need to get out and vote. Amen?

  543. It's true. We should. But don't fix your faith there.

  544. Don't fix your faith there. You'll be disappointed.

  545. Come into a conversation. One of you or both of you have to come into the conversation

  546. speaking faith. Faith. Come on. God speak faith.

  547. While I'm on this subject, since I'm on this subject and I got the mic,

  548. let me go ahead and ask you a question this morning.

  549. What if somebody was listening in on your conversation over the last week?

  550. If they were listening to your conversations over the past week,

  551. would someone accuse you of having faith in Jesus?

  552. Just go ahead and say, hmm. Yeah.

  553. If somebody was eavesdropping on what you've been speaking about to other individuals,

  554. would somebody make the conclusion that this person has faith in Jesus Christ?

  555. That their faith is squarely. I know. This hits you right in the eyes.

  556. Yeah. Make you think. Great conversation.

  557. Would they accuse you of having faith in Jesus? Someone's got to come into the conversation

  558. with faith in Jesus. Last thing this morning. Say last thing.

  559. Come on. You know, I'm getting semi towards the end. All right.

  560. Up close and personal conversations that point to faith in Jesus will always heal someone.

  561. All right. Now, most of you might be thinking about a physical healing right now, and that's true.

  562. It could happen in this conversation. It often did with Jesus.

  563. But I understand something about healing, healing, a moment,

  564. a heartfelt moment where somebody begins to place their trust,

  565. begins to place their faith in Jesus Christ. Right. A healing begins to happen at the moment of faith,

  566. at the moment when they really realize that Jesus is Lord, that he really is Savior,

  567. that he can be Savior of my life, that he can make me whole, that he can make me clean,

  568. that he can secure my future right one day with him when somebody begins to come to faith,

  569. when they believe in their heart. That's what the word of God says.

  570. Healing automatically begins to happen because faith in Jesus,

  571. any time faith in Jesus is present, there's an automatic, you can hit an automatic button

  572. that healing is taking place. And that could be body. It could be soul. Right.

  573. Think about those circles again. It could be a bodily healing.

  574. We see that all through scripture when Jesus approached somebody.

  575. It could be you could go into the inner circle. It could be a soul healing.

  576. It could be your mind, your will and emotion. But I'm here to tell you,

  577. any time faith in Jesus begins, there's spirit healing. There's your spirit.

  578. When you begin to believe on Christ, your spirit goes from death to life. Right.

  579. How many know that's as good as it gets for as far as healing goes?

  580. If something's dead on the ground and it comes to life, right,

  581. that's as there is no greater healing that you're ever going to experience.

  582. And the moment somebody begins to step through and they begin to believe in faith,

  583. whatever was dead in their life, their spirit begins to come to new life. Right.

  584. Whatever was gone, whatever had no breath in it, in the core of who they are,

  585. begins to come to new life. There is healing. And sometimes that happens even from the inside out.

  586. Sometimes it begins there and it begins to go to their mind, their will and emotions.

  587. So I've seen God sweep through and just heal somebody like that in their emotional state.

  588. They're a wreck inside. They're a train wreck. And they come to faith in Christ.

  589. And all of a sudden, all things are new because that's what Jesus does.

  590. He makes things new. He doesn't patch them up. He doesn't stick a sticker on it. Right.

  591. He doesn't try to cover it over. He heals and they become new.

  592. And sometimes it even goes out to the physical.

  593. You've got to understand the spirit healing is the greatest healing of all.

  594. It is eternal. Right. It's the eternal part of you.

  595. And when that is healed, when Christ comes into your life and you go from death to life,

  596. it's an eternal healing. Any other kind of healing you experience is just temporary.

  597. I don't know if you know that or not. Right. Even if you're and I'm not minimizing it, man,

  598. if you're if your emotions are healed and your will is healed, your thinking is healed

  599. in some kind of way. You start talking to yourself. Right. You start talking to yourself

  600. like Jesus would talk to you instead of how you're always talking to yourself.

  601. That's putting you down and tearing you up. Right. That's an amazing thing.

  602. But one day that's going to stop. One day your mind is going to stop. My physical body.

  603. If you get healed in your physical body, that's an amazing thing. It's incredible.

  604. I've been healed physically. God's healed my body physically. It's incredible.

  605. But guess what? One day I'm going to die. It's going to happen. Right.

  606. The word of God says it's appointed once for man to die and then the judgment.

  607. So those are temporary. They're amazing. They're awesome. You should celebrate.

  608. If Jesus heals you in any one of those. Right. If it's a if it's a soul

  609. healing, if it's a physical healing of some kind. But I'm here to tell you it's the eternal

  610. healing. That's amazing because it translates from this life to the

  611. next life. If you're healed in Jesus and your spirit goes from death

  612. to life, it's going to be in this life. You're going to be brand new. And when you

  613. get to the next, it's going to get even better. Amen. For the Christian, this is

  614. as bad as it's going to get. Right. For the one who's lost, this is as good as it's

  615. going to get. It's an amazing thing.

  616. It's an amazing thing. Up close. Faith in Jesus

  617. conversation always leads to healing. I'm going to ask you to stand.

  618. Lifehouse Cog.com