Will God Do It For Me?

Open your Bibles to Matthew chapter 8, and meet me at verse 1.

Matthew 8 · chapter mention

Matthew chapter 8, verse 1.

Matthew 8:1

When he, Jesus, had come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him.

And behold, a leper came and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if you are willing,

somebody say willing, you can make me clean.

Verse 3, then Jesus put out his hand and touched him, saying,

I am willing. Somebody say willing.

Be cleansed. Immediately his leprosy was cleansed.

Now let's look at Mark chapter 1, and meet me at verse 40. Mark chapter 1 and verse 40.

Mark 1 · chapter mention Mark 1 · chapter mention

Now a leper came to him, imploring him, kneeling down to him and saying to him,

if you are willing, somebody shout willing, you can make me clean.

Verse 41, then Jesus moved with compassion, stretched out his hand and touched

him and said to him, I am willing, shout willing, be cleansed.

And soon as he had spoken, immediately the leprosy left him, and he was cleansed.

Now let's look at Luke chapter 5, and we'll look at verse 12.

Luke 5 · chapter mention

Luke chapter 5, verse 12.

Luke 5:12

And it happened when he was in a certain city that, behold, a man who was full of leprosy saw Jesus,

and he fell down on his face and implored him, saying, Lord,

if you are willing, say willing,

you can make me clean.

Verse 13, then he put out his hand and touched him, saying, I am,

shout willing, be cleansed. immediately the leprosy left him.

Now, here's what I want you to see. This passage shows up three times in Scripture.

Three times. If it shows up one time, it's vitally important.

If it shows up two times, it's greatly important. If it shows up three times,

God is trying to say something to you and I.

And I want you to know this, that faith begins where the will of God is known.

Faith begins where the will of God is known. Let me say it this way.

Faith in God begins where the perfect will of God is known.

We're talking about a summer of miracles. The Lord spoke to my heart the first

of June and said this will be a summer of miracles. In the last couple of weeks,

we've been talking about miracles.

And about a decade ago or so, there was this young couple that moved into our

neighborhood. They were in their middle 20s, 25, 26 or so.

They were recently married, and we connected with them. Stacey and I,

they had them over at the house. We got a chance to talk to them.

They loved Zavin. He was a young man at the time. Zarek was just born.

And they loved our kids and loved us. And we just had a chance just to hang

out with them and watch some games and fellowship with this particular couple.

And then out of the blue, the man, he went to the doctor for a routine checkup.

And when he came back from the routine checkup, the doctor said that he had

stage four lymphoma. Is that right?

Lymphoma. Stage four lymphoma.

And so he looked healthy, felt fine, but the report said that he was stage four cancer.

And so he came over, talked to me a little bit about it.

I shared with him that the Lord is willing to heal.

The Lord is willing to heal. Well, the church he went to told him that it was

God's will for him to have cancer, right?

And that God put this on him. And because God put it on him,

he needed to simply just receive what the Lord has done.

And I really tried to minister to him and show him verse after verse that the Lord is willing to heal.

But his pastor and his community told him that God wanted him to have this cancer.

Faith begins where the will of God is known.

And when his church told him and his pastor told him that it was God's will

for him to have cancer, he didn't have faith to believe God for healing.

Shortly thereafter, he shriveled up and he died.

Ironically, he died on his wife's birthday.

And they were only married a year or two or so and the church told them that

that should be a celebration so that every time she has a birthday she can remember him.

What a sad story. Truth be told, she was suicidal afterwards.

What a sad story. But faith begins where the will of God is known.

When you know the will of God,

You will release your faith, and then you will fight for God's will.

And so we have this leper.

Dr. Luke says he has stage four leprosy.

Scripture said he was full of leprosy.

Leprosy is a skin disease that affects not only the way you look,

but it affects the way you feel.

You can have limbs that are missing. You may be missing fingers, ears, nose.

You could be missing limbs because of this disease. Leprosy was viewed to be extremely contagious.

And so lepers were outcasts. They were put somewhere else outside of society

because of this incurable, contagious disease.

Imagine a leper has not been touched in a long time. Nobody wants to touch a

leper because they may contact and contract that disease.

They don't want to be around. Imagine the conversations that this leper had.

He's only talking to other lepers.

Conversations like, I wish I could see my family.

I wish I can get a hug.

Imagine the financial constraints that this leper endured. He was devastated financially.

He can't work. He can't be in society.

He's an outcast. He's unclean. He's pushed away.

He's unfit to live in society. And so when you contract leprosy,

and let's add on to that, a lot of people felt like leprosy was a curse from God.

A lot of people felt like you have sinned and you have contracted leprosy because of your sin.

And so this young man is full of leprosy, stage four leprosy.

He's nameless. Thank God he's nameless. I'll come back to that.

He's nameless, but he comes to Jesus.

He is breaking all types of protocol. He's breaking all types of rules,

but he approaches Jesus.

He comes up to Jesus. He's supposed to stay away, but he comes up to Jesus,

quickly drops on the ground, worships Jesus, and asks a bold, audacious question.

He says to Jesus, I know you're able to heal.

I don't know if you are willing.

And many people today have this same question. Nobody questions God's ability.

Nobody questions God's power. No one really questions God's authority.

But somehow, someway, you and I question God's willingness.

And so this nameless man, why is this important that this man is nameless?

Because Scripture tells us, if we look at Romans 2.11, Scripture tells us that

it's important that he is nameless because God shows no partiality,

no undue favor or unfairness with him.

One man is not different from another.

And so there's no partiality. There's no favoritism. There's no bias.

There's no difference with God. He's nameless because if he had a name,

we would think, well, God did it for David, but he's not going to do it for Latoya.

God did it for Mike, but he won't do it for Jimmy.

Now, this man is nameless. God is telling you, if I do it for him,

I'll do it for you too. Say amen to that.

And so this man comes to Jesus and he says, Lord.

If you are willing, you are able to heal me.

Now, this question has still been asked today.

If it be thy will. Many people pray this way.

Lord, if it be thy will. And remember, faith begins where the will of God is known.

If you don't know the will of God, you're not going to have faith to believe

God for his perfect, precious promises.

So if we're always asking, if it be thy will, we wouldn't know what his will

is, and therefore we have no opportunity to release our faith in what his will actually is.

And so many times, people, I hear it today.

Well, you know, if it's God's, if the Lord's willing, I'll come over your house today.

Are you supposed to come over or not?

Don't blame God on that. Right? I believe it's God's will that you're supposed

to come over, okay? So just come on over the house, right?

If the Lord is willing, I'll be able to put my pants on. You don't pray that

way. Nobody says it. Just put your pants on.

And so we like to say if the Lord is willing as if we don't know his will.

But Ephesians tells us that God wants us to know his will.

And so in this scenario, the man didn't know the will of God. He says, I have leprosy.

I'm about to die. I don't like the condition I'm in. I'm broke financially. I'm not in society.

I know you're able, but are you willing?

That question is being asked today.

And if you're going to receive a miracle from God, you have to know his will.

His perfect will, and his perfect will is always found in the scriptures.

And so this nameless man, he goes up to Jesus. How many of you know that Jesus and God are one?

So he really comes to God. Well, let's go a little deeper. Jesus is the word made flesh.

So he really went to the word, and he found out in the word,

I know you're able. I know the word is able.

He said his word and he healed him. And I know the word says Abel.

I just don't know if the word is willing to heal me.

I just don't know if God's willing to heal me. I just don't know if Jesus wants to heal me.

And Jesus did not hesitate.

Jesus did not restrain. Jesus did not backpedal.

Jesus addressed it straight on. He said to the man, I am willing.

Woo, that's powerful words. He says, I am willing. Why is it so powerful?

Because Hebrews 13.8 says this, Jesus Christ, the same yesterday,

today, and what? Forever.

Jesus is the same. God is changeless. I like it in the Amplified there. Watch.

He says he's eternally changeless, always the same.

And so if Jesus told this man full of leprosy that he was willing to heal him,

then his answer to you and I today is the same.

If he's willing to heal the leper, when the leper asks him, are you willing? He says, yes.

If Jesus tells us no, then he has changed.

Track with me now. Lock in with me.

If Jesus says that man, yes, but to you, no, some way or somehow, he's changed.

And the devil has done a tremendous job. That is a persistent foe.

I must tell you, I don't like him, but he's very persistent.

Done a good job of convincing you and I that stuff happens for other people,

but it doesn't happen for me.

It happens for this person because of this various reasons.

Maybe this person was born at a certain time. Maybe his family has a lot of money.

Maybe he's the right gender or he's the right color or he was born at a certain period of time.

And we have all these excuses as to why things happen for others that's not

happening for us because some way or another, the enemy is convinced us that

God is unwilling to do it for you,

and for me.

He says, I am willing.

What he really said was, I am enthusiastic.

I am eager. I am ready.

I am overjoyed.

To heal you. And so if it was his will to heal the leper, then we have to say

that it wasn't the will of God for the leper to have leprosy.

Are you listening to me? If it was God's will to take it away,

then we have to conclude that it wasn't his will for him to have it.

To heal means to conclude, to finish.

What Jesus did was concluded the sickness. He stopped it.

He finished it. It's over now. Scripture said it happened immediately.

Immediately, immediately the leprosy left the man not only because of his ability,

but because of his willingness.

Now, full disclosure, I would rather serve a God who was willing to heal me,

willing to provide for me, willing to take care of me, willing to watch over me, yet unable,

than to serve a God who was able to heal me, able to take care of me,

able to provide and watch over me, yet unwilling. Thank you.

Did you get that? Well, let me say it again. Most of you didn't get it.

I would rather serve a God who was willing yet unable than to serve a God who was able yet unwilling.

And the picture that's been painted for you and I is God is somehow unwilling.

But I'm telling you and the scripture is telling you three times this passage

is found in scriptures that God is willing he's ready, he's eager he's enthusiastic and he

wants you to be well he wants you to be taken care of he wants you to receive

a miracle he wants you to receive everything that God has placed in his heart for you

it's all for you and he's willing.

He even went the extra step and he touched the leper.

You don't touch lepers. He touched lepers.

He said that my touch is stronger than that leprosy.

Come on, say amen to that. I'm not scared of that. My touch is stronger than that sickness.

When people get sick in our home, you know sickness is around.

You know it floats around in the air, right?

And it's looking for a host that's weak enough to grab it.

The immune system's weak enough to grab it. There's stuff floating around in

here, not in this building because this is sanctified, okay?

But there's stuff floating around outside that's strong enough to take you out.

You're just stronger than it. There's stuff floating around right now.

You might be carrying stuff in your body right now that wants to take you out.

But you're stronger than it.

You're stronger than it listen when somebody gets sick in our home our kids

get sick some people oh we got to quarantine them we got to put them in the

corner listen I said bring the boy to me,

Bring the girl to me, okay? And I lay my hands on them and commend them to be healed in Jesus' name.

Oh, you don't believe that? Let's look at, guys, I know y'all not ready,

but find Matthew 10.1. Matter of fact, hand me my Bible. Matthew 10.1.

Matthew 10.1.

I want you to take a look at this. Watch this. Matthew 10.1.

Let's see who going to win, me or the guys in the tech room.

Here we go. I won, guys. Here we go.

And when he had called his 12 disciples to him, watch this, Jesus gave them

power over unclean spirits to cast them out and to heal,

all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease.

What am I saying? You have the power to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease.

Well, let's go to Luke 9.1. Let's go there. Luke 9.1, not my notes.

Let's see who's going to win, guys. Y'all going to beat me this time? Luke 9, 1.

I won. Here we go. Luke 9, 1.

Then he called his disciples together and gave them power and authority over

all demons and to cure diseases.

So listen, God is willing to heal, and then he gave you and I power to lay our

hands on the sick and see them recover.

To lay our hands on ourself, amen.

To cast that sickness out. God is able, but he's not just able, he's also willing.

And I don't have to choose between a willing God and an able God.

I actually get both of them.

Amen. I get them both at the same time because he's willing and he's able.

This is your summer for miracles.

This is your summer to expect God to do great things in your life.

This is your summer to get excited about God doing something superb in your life.

Understand that you're going to have to grab a hold of it by faith because he's

willing to give it, and you're just going to have to be bold enough to say, I'll receive it.

I'll take it. I'll have it. It's mine.

Say it. It's mine.

Say, I'll take it. I'll have it.

It's mine. He's willing. He's willing.

He's willing. Are you bold enough to ask big?

Are you bold enough? Are you audacious enough to ask him for something supernatural?

Are you bold enough to just simply say, Lord, you are willing,

and I receive your willingness?

Now, young scholars, I know some of y'all thinking, well, I've prayed.

I prayed for someone, and you say God's willing and is able,

and they died of that sickness, and they died of that disease.

And I prayed, and what happened?

Well, first I want to tell you, I don't know everything.

There's a lot of variables at play.

Let me share this with you. I've done some minor study, and I believe when we

talk about the will of God, I believe there are at least three wills of God.

There could be more because I don't know everything. But three,

you have the sovereign will of God. How many of you have heard of the sovereign will of God?

The sovereign will of God just simply means God is in control of everything

that's out of our control.

There's a lot of things out of our control. But God's in control of everything

completely out of our control.

I'll say this to you because some of y'all need to hear this.

You can't control, you individually cannot control who wins elections.

You just got to believe that God is in control of everything out of my control.

I do my part. That don't mean don't vote. I didn't say don't vote.

I do my part, but the results I leave to the hand of the Lord.

God's in control. Well, what if the election's stolen? God is in control of

the things out of our control. Say amen to that.

God's the one that uplifts and demotes.

And so there are some things in the sovereign will of God that we'll never understand,

but we trust that he's in control of the things that are not in our control.

Then there's the permissible will of God.

The permissible will of God is you are a free moral agent,

you can do whatever you want to do did you know that you could do whatever one

of y'all can run up here if you do I'm gonna punch you that I'm gonna punch

it down but one of y'all could could run up here right now God didn't look I

saw security start moving God,

God didn't control that, right? You ran up here and got punched down, right?

That's your permissible will. You can marry who you want to marry.

You can date who you want to date under the permissible will of God.

God is going to allow you to do what you want to do. I didn't say there wasn't no consequences.

I didn't say there wasn't no judgment attached to it.

But God in his permissible will will allow you to do what you want to do.

And a lot of us need to release our

own control over things and allow the permissible will just to take place.

I can't always control what someone says or does or to me or about me.

That's under God's permissible will. I can't always control it.

I just need to go release it.

They're doing that, and I'm going to live my life to the fullest,

amen, until it overflows, amen.

And then there's the perfect will of God.

The perfect will of God is what's found in the scriptures.

What we see in this Bible is the perfect will of God.

And we found out that the leper found the perfect will of God.

He went to Jesus and he said, if you are willing.

And Jesus said, I am willing. Not once, not twice. It happened in three gospels.

That means the Lord wants us to see something here. That's the perfect will of God.

So to go back to your question, well, what happened when I prayed for someone and it didn't happen?

I prayed for this job and it didn't happen.

And you said God's willing and it didn't happen. What happened then?

Well, there's a lot of variables at play. One of them could be that person may have wanted to depart.

Have you considered that? they have a wheel.

And they may want to depart. You could pray all day long and fast and jump up

and down and do jumping jacks and speaking tongues and everything you know to

do. But if they want to go, they're going to go.

Right? And so another thing is Proverbs 6 says that our words can snare us.

What have you been saying? This is killing me. I used to say this all the time.

Don't eliminate this from your vocabulary.

That's killing me. That's killing me. I used to say it all the time.

Oh, no, that's killing me. I ain't ready to be killed.

I want nothing to kill me. Oh, man, I'm laughing to death. I don't want to die laughing.

Right? Get these things out of your voice. You say these things,

there's power in your words.

You say these things over and over and over, you start invoking these things.

And they begin to happen, and then you wonder why so-and-so laughed to death and he died.

Or who's the other one? Was it Red Fox? He's always fake that he was having

a heart attack. You know what he died of? A heart attack.

I mean, words were put in motion and it snared him.

And then you want something to happen at the last minute. At that point,

you didn't say that for centuries. Well, not centuries. For years.

For decades. And so there are some things that are against you.

That you've invoked in your life that you were unaware of.

There's a lot of variables of what happened. But one of the variables I want to share with you today.

And I want you to receive this God's perfect will doesn't always happen in the earth.

His perfect will doesn't always happen because there are some things that are at play.

They're at play.

There are a lot of variables.

And we've got to believe and receive the perfect will. It's not automatic.

You've got to grab a hold of it and say, this is God's perfect will, and I won't let go of it.

I'll hold on to it. He's willing.

And he's able, and he said it, and I'm going to hold on to it.

I'm going to stand firm because this is his perfect will for my life.

I gave you all the example a few weeks ago, but if I'm going to Dallas,

Texas, and I secure a hotel, and they give me a confirmation number,

and I have it on my phone, and I walk into the hotel and say,

I've got a room here today,

and they say to me, I don't see you have a room, Mr. Alexander.

I say, well, I have a room. and they say, well, we don't see that and I pull

out my phone, my confirmation number here, look, on this date,

I have a room here and they say, we don't see it am I going to say, okay.

Okay, y'all don't see it. I don't know what I'm going to do.

No. Somebody's going to have to build a room?

You're going to have to kick somebody out of a room? I don't really care what

you decide to do. I've got a room here.

That's what you're supposed to do with this word.

You're supposed to grab a hold and say, I don't care what the circumstances say.

I don't care what the variables say. I don't care what the symptoms say.

I don't care what Pookie and Ray Ray is saying.

I take this word and God gave me a word he said he's willing,

and I know he's able and I found out that he's willing and miracles are going

to happen for me today something good is going to happen to me today

something good is going to break forth for me what I'm believing for is going

to happen today because God said it

I believe it and that settles it it's going to happen today I found out that he's willing.

And I know that he's willing and that means it's going to happen.

My young children, when they find out that we're willing to do something to

them, they do not allow us to forget it.

They don't allow it. Mom, you said.

Dad, you. I'm like, I did say. I said it.

If you said it, God didn't make no mistakes. God's not a blabbermouth.

He don't be running off the mouth, be saying stuff, and, oh,

I forgot I said that. No, he know what he said.

We got to grab a hold of it because faith begins where the will of God is known.

And we found out it's his will for me to be healed.

It's his will for me to be prosperous. It's his will for me to be set free and

delivered. It's God's will.

This is how you experience true life.