September 5, 2026 ”Does God Still Heal When I Pray?” Pastor Jamey Houghton

Hello and welcome to the McDonald Road

7th Day Adventist Church. I'm so glad

that you have chosen to worship with us

today and I hope that the worship is

meaningful and brings you closer to

Jesus as you sing with us and study the

[music] Bible with us. God bless each

one of you. So glad you're here. Happy

Sabbath.

Happy Sabbath, church family. It's good

to see you today and to worship. We're

wrapping up our sermon series on prayer

today. My sermon title is, "Is God still

heal?" When we pray without you even

likely knowing it, you've experienced

healing in your life. How many of you

have ever skinned your knee when you

were a kid and your knee was bleeding?

Yeah, probably. Everybody. How many of

you have ever cut yourself with a

kitchen knife before? I see a lot of

hands there, too.

built into you is a miraculous

a miraculous way of healing that God put

inside of you to make sure your blood

just doesn't all soak out of your body.

God created ways for your blood to clot,

to heal. There are cells in your body

that are working right now as you're

sitting here to fight bad cells to help

avoid getting sick. God's doing that

right now as you're sitting here. And I

look at that and think about that and I

think God truly is a healing God. He put

that inside of us ahead of time for in

case we got hurt. When you skinned your

knee, your knee healed up. Maybe even

have a scar there to show what happened.

But even built inside of you, God

planned to heal you when something went

wrong.

Often

our prayers involve asking for healing

either for ourselves or for somebody

that we love that is going through a

tough time and suffering some way

because of their health.

Long time ago, 1991, I remember there

was an expose by Diane Sawyer. Anybody

remember Diane Sawyer?

She did an expose on televangelists,

these healing preachers. And you might

recognize, see if I can get my clicker

going here. Maybe maybe push me up one

slide here. There we go. Anybody know

who this guy is? You all, you all know.

You're not watching him, are you?

Benny Hinn. Most people know who Benny

Hinn is. And Benny Hen preaches all

kinds of stuff, but he also claims to be

able to heal a lot of people um that

come to his meetings. There was um check

this one out. Um you can see his his

programs are action-packed.

He take off his suit jacket and start

whipping people with it. Um imagine if

we did that here at this church. If we

had that. There's people just laying all

over the front here. And I claim to be

healing people. Some of them would come

up and you've maybe seen them. They'll

come right up to their forehead and

boom, hit them in the forehead and

there's people there to catch them and

lay them down on the ground.

Lots of people, Kenneth Copeland, uh

there was there was several there was a

guy in Texas, too. His name is slipping

me um right now, but there was a whole

bunch of them that she would look at and

and and

they would send out part of their their

scam was that they would send out like

letters. if you made a donation, they

they'll call in and make make a make a

faith pledge and call in and we'll send

you something. And they would get like

an envelope and there would be like two

red strings and and some some healing

oil. And that was supposed to heal

whatever ailment they had if they made

the donation. Robert Tilton, that was

his name. Robert Tilton. And and he had

they would send this oil and stuff and

these people and and uh when they'd get

the letters back, they would just throw

the stuff away and and take the money

and put it. It was it was a it was a

scam. And unfortunately, a lot of people

look at this type of healing thing and

connect it with this type of online scam

where people are like, "Well, if you

just send us money, we'll heal." And of

course, a lot of the people, they catch

them out back and be like, "Hey, so did

your eyesight get better?" And they're

like, "No, it didn't get any better." It

was all just a big show. Unfortunately,

then a lot of people look at healing in

this type of of a manner.

[clears throat]

But we ask the question today, can God

heal? The answer to that, I believe, is

a 100% yes. It's all through the Bible,

we see evidence that God heals people.

He heals the blind. We see that in the

scriptures. And and that part,

I wish I could have been around to see

those healings when God gave people back

their sight. Uh that would have been

just incredible to witness and to watch.

The lame were healed. People who

couldn't walk were able to walk again.

And we see in the Bible says they would

when they were healed, they would leap

and jump. They were so excited to be

able to walk. Lepers were healed.

Paralytics were healed. Woman who

couldn't stop bleeding, she was healed.

The deaf were healed. Can you imagine

not hearing anything in your whole life

and then hearing beautiful harmonies or

instruments for the first time and how

that would blow your mind to hear music

that you've never heard music before in

your life? God gave them back the gift

of hearing.

And he restored Malchus' physical ear as

well. Peter took a swipe at it with a

sword, got his ear, and Jesus put his

hand over Malchus's ear and [snorts]

healed the wound. And I believe it's in

Habach, it says in describing Jesus, it

says that there were rays flashing from

his hands and that's where his power was

hidden. I like to picture in my mind

that as Jesus had his hand on Malchus's

ear, maybe there were rays of light

flashing from his hands then as he

healed Malcus' ear.

Non again, another leper. The pool of

Bethesda.

This is an interesting topic and maybe

this is for another another sermon

because sometimes we wrestle with the

idea, well, why are some healed and some

aren't healed? Why was just that one

person at the pool of Bethesda healed?

Why not just heal everybody that was

there? We'll wrestle with that in just a

little bit in this sermon. Paul was bit

by a snake on Malta. He stuck his hand

down. The snake got him. The local

people looked at him and were like,

"Well, he must have done something

because that's a poisonous snake and

we're just going to wait for him to die

right here." Very poisonous snake. Paul

didn't die. He just kept and they kept

looking at him and then he had a chance

to witness to the people on that island.

People in the Bible were even healed

from death. It's a weird thing to say,

isn't it? Healed from death,

but they were brought back to life after

they had died. There's a um one of my

favorite Christian artists is my friend

Nathan Green. Anybody know who Nathan

Green is and seen some of his pictures

of Jesus? Um fantastic artist, amazing.

And I I got a a picture of his one of

his newest paintings that is up in uh

going up in Lomolinda University in the

medical center there. And it's a picture

of of um Lazarus, a painting of Lazarus.

And the perspective is from inside of

the tomb looking out of the tomb. And in

this picture, I'll have to I'll have to

get it in the next couple of weeks and

show it to you on the screens. It's so

cool. It might be my favorite picture of

his. In it, Lazarus's feet are kind of

from the perspective where you're seeing

it from. And he's up on one elbow, but

he's in all the all the wrappings of

somebody who's been put in the tomb. And

behind him, over his shoulder is Jesus

in a crowd. And you can see Jesus with

his hand like this. And and Lazarus is

up on one elbow kind of looking back

over his shoulder. And the perspective

is just so cool as Lazarus is brought

back to life.

God can do that. Like the words of

Gabriel, I mention this from time to

time in my sermons because it's a

reminder to me. Gabriel said in the book

of Matthew, for God nothing shall be

impossible.

So we know that God can heal in the most

miraculous ways. And the Bible

encourages us to pray for healing, not

only for ourselves, but for other people

as well. Jeremiah 17:14, "Heal me, O

Jeremiah 17:14

Lord, and I shall be healed. Save me and

I shall be saved. For you are my

praise." 1 Peter 2:24, "He himself bore

1 Peter 2:24

our sins in his body on the tree that we

might die to sin and live to

righteousness. By his wounds, you have

been healed." And this is talking about

a healing of your heart, which is maybe

more important than physical healing,

but healing nonetheless.

Psalm 147:3, "He heals the brokenhearted

Psalms 147:3

and binds up their wounds." I love that

one, too. Again, talking about the

healing of our hearts when there's been

hurting. It says, "He binds up their

wounds." What a personal thing there.

Psalm 41:3, "The Lord sustains him on

Psalms 41:3

his sick bed. In his illness, you

restore him to full health." Proverbs

Proverbs 17:22

17:22, "A joyful heart is good medicine,

but a crushed spirit dries up the

bones." I think this is there's a lot of

of wisdom in this. There have been a

whole lot of studies on the effects of

going to church and being part of a

church family and believing in God and

something bigger than yourself and a

hope in something better. And a lot of

these studies, secular studies included,

um come to the finding that if you are a

believer, you will likely live 10 to 14

years longer than a non-believer because

you have a spirit in you that has hope.

There is something different about being

a believer in God that changes your

physical health. And it says, "A joyful

heart is good medicine.

Believing in God and your home in heaven

will be good for your health."

James 5:15, and I referenced this last

James 5:15

week when it talks about anointing the

sick. Gives us direct instructions to

anoint those that are sick with oil and

to pray for them. And in James 5:15, it

James 5:15

says, "And the prayer of faith will save

the one who is sick, and the Lord will

raise him up." And like we talked about

last week, there seems to be a

connection between confession and prayer

requests like this. And it says, "And if

he has committed sins, he will be

forgiven."

But directly, we are encouraged to pray

to God for the sick for healing.

This is echoed in the book ministry of

healing where the author says this. It

is our work to present the sick and

suffering to God in the arms of our

faith. We should teach them to believe

in the great healer. I like that word

for God, the great healer.

The savior would have us encourage the

sick, the hopeless, the afflicted, and

take hold upon his strength. Christ

desires to manifest his presence in the

sick room, filling the hearts of

physicians and nurses with the sweetness

of his love. If the life of the

attendance upon the sick is such that

Christ can go with them to the bedside

of the patient, there will come to him

the conviction that the compassionate

savior is present. And this conviction

will itself do much for the healing of

both the soul and the body. It's

wonderful when you have a Christian

caretaker who believes in God. When I

had ankle surgery last year, before they

knocked me out with anesthesia, and

thank God for anesthesia, by the way,

my surgeon, a great guy, a believer in

Jesus, came up to my bedside and said,

"Hey, Jamie, can I pray with you before

we take you back and do the surgery?"

And I was like, "Yes, please." And he

prayed for me before we went into

surgery. Man, that put me at ease. And

it was so nice knowing that my surgeon

trusted and believed in God as well. And

I believe that those of you that are

medical workers, as you bring the sweet

spirit of Jesus that is in your life

around the patients that you deal with,

it'll make a difference for them. That's

what she's saying right here.

Now, I I spent some time this last week

reading through a variety of different

books and stories on prayer,

and some of the different authors looked

at it and suggested that maybe there

should be limits on things we pray for,

which I thought was kind of interesting.

But the more I read, I was like, "Okay,

let's wrestle with this for a little

bit." Does God overrule nature to answer

prayers of faith? Well, sometimes he

does in the Bible.

Are there things that we experience on a

physical level in regular life today

that we've never seen somebody be healed

from? Absolutely. There are sicknesses

where there is no known cure. And I've

not ever heard of anyone ever even being

supernaturally healed from that. You can

look at things like um like genetic

diseases, things like that. Um, will God

reverse the aging process if you pray

for it? Boy, that would be nice,

wouldn't it? I don't enjoy getting

older. I used to uh I used to enjoy

racing my kids at the park and whatnot,

but not anymore.

I know that's a loss coming right there

or an injury. [laughter]

Uh, the aging process happens to all of

us. We can't get away from it.

Will God regrow a leg that's been

amputated?

That's something that's a physical

malady that some people deal with. I've

dealt I' I've got friends, people that I

know that they've lost a leg and they'll

even say things like, "I have phantom

pain in my leg." And I'm like, "You

don't have a leg." He's like, "I know,

but I still have pain in it." Isn't that

weird? Phantom pain.

Would it be too bold to ask God to give

him a new leg?

I don't know that I've ever prayed that

prayer. Has God done it in nature in

other places? Yeah. If you chop off a

leg, I think if it's an octopus, it

regenerates and grows another leg. God

can do it. I think the same thing for a

starfish, it grows another one for

whatever reason. We've never seen that

happen with people. I'm sure all the

amputees in the world would love that.

But do we pray for that if we've never

seen it happen? These are some questions

that have been in some publications that

I've read. and and and how does that how

does that affect our faith? If we're

praying for something big like that

that's never happened and it doesn't

happen, will that then cause us to to

lose faith and trust in God? These are

things we wrestle with.

Can prayer help us avoid death? Everyone

at some point is going to die.

I know also that God is going to regrow

limbs when he comes. My grandfather, I

think I've told you about my grandfather

before. He lost all four of his fingers

in an accident. He worked in a factory

that made pews like the ones you're

sitting in. He was a young man, 21 22

years old. Lost all four of his fingers.

About a year before before he died, he

and I were talking on the phone and he

said, "James," I was named after his

brother. That's my that's my legal name,

James. He said, "James,

I can't wait to heaven to get to heaven

so I can get my fingers back."

He believed with all of his heart that

God could regrow his fingers. If not

here, then up there.

and he was going to wait for that and he

was looking forward to that. Sometimes

the healings that we're looking for, we

have to wait for a little bit longer.

Can prayer

reverse genetic malady such as mental

retardation, Larri's disease, MS, cystic

fibrosis, some of these things that

there's no cure or that's genetic. Do we

pray for those things?

That's been a debate amongst theologians

for a long time. Is it asking too much

about God? Are there limits for prayer?

I I don't see a limit on a God but I see

God work in certain ways in our lives

now and I try to gauge my expectations

on how he has been working recently with

different people

brings up a lot of questions. This this

phrase kind of got to me as I was

reading through. The author of one of

the books I was reading said this, "They

are miracles, not ordinaries." And I was

like, "Oof, okay, I'm going to I'm going

to wrestle with this for a little bit

because most of the time when I pray for

the health of myself or somebody I love,

I'm praying for a miracle, right? Should

we expect miracles every time or are

there ordinary situations where we're

just going to have to deal with those in

life?" And sometimes God will intervene

to do these things. These are these are

tough things to wrestle with, aren't

they? Miracles versus ordinaries.

In the book, Ministry of Healing,

there's several aspects to to this idea

of praying for healing. Ministry of

healing, page 93, it says, "Believing

that they will be healed in an answer to

prayer. Some fear to do anything that

might seem to indicate a lack of faith.

Those who seek healing by prayer should

not neglect to make use of the remedial

agencies within their reach. It is not a

denial of faith to use such remedies as

God has provided to alleviate pain and

to aid nature in her work of

restoration.

There's a lot of great things out there

that can help us. For instance,

anesthesia.

None of you would ever want to go

through surgery without having

anesthesia, would you? You don't want to

feel that pain. You've heard of all the

stories of like battlefield stuff in the

Civil War where they had to they had to

amputate a leg with a saw and they're

just they give them whiskey and they

bite on a on a on like a piece of

leather and then just go for it.

Everybody holds them down. No thanks.

Hard pass for me on that. I'm thankful

for anesthesia. And here she's talking

about people that say, "Well, it's a

lack of faith if you get help for this

stuff." That's not how that works.

She indicates here that we should be

working together with those who can help

us heal and who maybe sometimes God uses

to help us heal. Point in case in the

70s and 80s there was a church in

Indiana called Faith Assembly Church.

And the pastor of that church

told his congregation that faith alone

can heal any disease and that to look

elsewhere for help like medical doctors

and demonstrated a lack of trust in God.

There was a couple, one of many, that

got in trouble at this church, Larry and

Lucky Parker. They watched their

11-year-old son die of a diabetic

complication, were arrested for

involuntary manslaughter and child

abuse. They later renounced those

beliefs in their book, We Leton Die.

All in all, in this church, around 126

children died after medical treatment

was withheld from their kids because the

pastor said, "You don't need any of

that. Just believe and your kid will be

all right."

God expects us to do our part as well.

And the Adventist Church has a long

record

of working in the healing business with

God from the very beginning, the

sanitariums back in the day to the

hospitals today in the clinics that we

have. Part of part of the gospel message

is to work on healing and bring people

into good health. I've been all over the

world doing mission work and evangelism

and things and almost everywhere I've

gone I've been close to a 7th day

Adventist hospital to which I've been

grateful for because our hospitals do

great work around the world and helping

people heal. I was in uh the Dominican

Republic and uh had a youth mission trip

group. We were building churches and

doing evangelism in the evenings and one

of the young men who was there, they

were moving concrete bags and one of the

bags took his thumb and just folded it

flat right down to his to his wrist.

Rough injury. He was in a lot of pain.

And so I got my car and he hopped in the

car and I knew there was a 7th Adventist

hospital right around the corner. We

went to the Adventist hospital in Santa

Domingo. Went into the emergency room,

had the emergency room doctor look at

it, took him to an X-ray, got an X-ray,

saw a hand specialist, and then got a

splint for his thumb.

And so I had trip insurance for things

like this. And so I went to go pay the

bill. And I was expecting to, okay, get

my insurance out. out and they said,

"No, the the bill for the whole thing

will be $107."

I was like, "I'll pay cash. We won't

even get the insurance involved in

this." And we had great care, very

affordable, wonderful to have that kind

of medical help all around the world.

And the Seventh Adventist Church has

been very involved in working with God

through healing and and bringing people

into good health.

But I believe that God gives us wisdom

to do everything we can with the people

that he uses. Just like um sorry let me

come back here to this believing they

will be healed in answer to prayer some

fear to do anything that might indicate

a lack of faith. It's not a lack of

faith to get help. God sometimes uses

people who are good at healing us and

helping healing us. And uh praise God

for those people as well. Um

sometimes we try in looking at this

whole topic to figure out how God does

things and why God does things the way

he does. And if we're not careful, that

can cause us to doubt sometimes because

we look at at somebody who was healed

and then somebody who wasn't. Why? Why

wasn't the person I was praying for

healed when somebody else was healed of

the same thing? Those are tough things

to work through. And sometimes we expect

God to act in fixed patterns

and do the same thing every time

when God has a tendency to act in in

ways that seem unpredictable to us in

scripture. For instance, God chose

Jacob, not Es, excuse me,

[clears throat] Esau.

That was very unusual. He chose David

and not any of his older brothers. In

fact, David wasn't even invited to the

interview. Uh, that's how how little

they thought of him in the family. And

Samuel gets there and he's like, "Um, is

this it?" No, no, there's one more. He's

out with the with the sheep. Bring him

in. Well, God chose David for that.

God miraculously rescued Peter and Paul

from prison. incredible stories in the

New Testament. But both were eventually

re-imprisoned and executed.

Could they not pray again and God would

set them free again? Why was it that

they were then imprisoned again and

couldn't get out and then were both

executed? The Bible gives examples of

prayers answered and unanswered prayers,

illness healed, sometimes not healed.

But just because we're Christians, we

can't expect that we won't go through

tough times and have things that we

struggle with.

Although Paul through the Holy Spirit

had the power to heal a crippled man and

even bring a a man back to life.

The Bible tells of three references to

his friends who suffered from serious

illness. Epapraditis, Trophamus, and

Timothy.

And yet,

did he pray for them? And were they

healed? No. They still struggled with

it. Even though over here in these

situations,

one was healed and one's brought back to

life. How is it that we expect God to

work in these different things?

Sometimes it can be frustrating. But I

will always remind myself of this. I

know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I

serve a good God.

>> And in that I will trust in ways that I

don't understand

because God knows more than I do.

Paul even had what he called a thorn in

his own flesh. In 2 Corinthians 12, Paul

himself,

was a man of prayer, had seen God do

things in response to his prayers. It

says he prayed three times

for this thorn in his flesh to be

removed. It wasn't.

Why? How? Not sure. I want to look

briefly with you in Daniel chapter 3.

Daniel 3 · chapter mention

Turn with me in your Bibles to Daniel

Daniel 3 · chapter mention

chapter 3. one of the best speeches I

think ever given in the Bible.

And this I think can help us wrap our

heads around a little bit how we can

respond

to the different answers we get from God

when we pray for healing for people

whether it's us or for uh other people

that mean a lot to us that are going

through tough times. Daniel 3:13

Daniel 3:13

it says, "Then Nebuchadnezzar in a rage

and fury gave the command to bring

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego." Why

was he in a rage and fury? He had built

a tall about a 90 ft golden image. He

called everybody from the whole kingdom

to come and when they heard the music,

they were to bow down to this golden

image. This went against the conscience

of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego

because they were worshippers of God.

And God had specifically said, "I'm a

jealous God. Don't bow down to any other

images. I am your God. Nobody else." And

they knew they could not bow down to

this image. And if they didn't, there

would be some serious health

ramifications because there were several

fiery furnaces right near there that

they would be tossed into if they didn't

do it. It's pretty bad for your health

to be thrown into the fire.

It's either that or betray God and bow

down to a golden image. So the music the

music starts. Everybody hits the deck

and here they are, the three of them

standing there very awkward.

Somebody runs over to Nebuchadnezzar and

says, "Oh, king, remember those three

Jews that you brought over? They're

traitors. They won't bow down to the to

the golden image. That's why he's so mad

here. He says, "In a rage of fear, he

gave the command to bring Shadrach,

Meshach, and Abednego." So they brought

these men before the king.

Nebuchadnezzar spoke, saying to them,

"Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach, and

Abednego, that you do not serve my gods

or worship the gold image which I have

set up?" He must have really liked them

to pause this and give him a second

chance cuz he's got people from all over

the country, all over the world, from

his kingdom here for this. And they've

interrupted the whole thing. But he's

willing

to start over for these three guys. Is

it true that you don't serve my gods or

worship the gold image which I have set

up? Now, if you are ready at the time,

you hear the sound of the horn, the

flute, the harp, the liar, the sultry,

and the symphony with all kinds of

music, and you fall down and worship the

image which I have made good.

But if you do not worship, you shall be

cast immediately into the midst of a

burning fiery furnace. And who is the

God who will deliver you from my hands?

a little bit of a challenge there at the

end to their faith.

Tough situation.

When we face

tough health situations, it's it's hard.

If you get a diagnosis or if you you're

you're fighting something, it's it it

takes up it changes your whole life.

How do you deal with it?

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Verse

16, answered and said to the king, "Oh,

Nebuchadnezzar,

we have no need to answer you in this

matter." I bet his eyebrows went up when

they said those words. Really?

If that is the case,

our God whom we serve is able to deliver

us from the burning fiery furnace, and

he will deliver us from your hand. Okay,

>> strong right there. They say, "No matter

what happens, our God is more powerful

and can deliver us from your hands."

Friends, if you are struggling with a

health diagnosis or a health struggle or

somebody you love is, you serve a God

who can heal anything that they're

struggling with, he is that powerful.

You can go to God. We're given

instructions in the Bible to go to him

and to ask for healing. And he is

powerful enough to do it. here. They

know that God is powerful enough to

deliver them in their trials. Right

there

he says, "Our God can deliver us from

this burning fiery furnace and he will

deliver us from your hand, O king." And

then there are three words

that I admire so much

in this story

because of the trust that it conveys in

God.

after they say that he can deliver us.

But if not,

but if not,

let it be known to you, oh king, that we

do not serve your gods, nor will we

worship the gold image in which you have

set up.

What they're saying here is my God

can save me. That's our request.

But if not,

I will hold on to my faith. I will still

trust in God

and I won't waver at all

>> as I go through this.

They didn't put God in a corner.

say, "Well, he has to do this, otherwise

I can't." They didn't say, "God, if you

get us out of this, then we'll do this

and this and this."

They said, "Our God can.

But if not,

we will still serve him."

>> Amen.

>> Friends, when we face different trials

in our lives,

I think this is the approach that we as

Christians should have.

>> Amen.

>> [clears throat]

>> Ask God to intervene

knowing that your God is powerful enough

to intervene.

And if he does, praise God for that.

Serve him with all your heart.

But if not,

remember that he will comfort you

through what you do and what you go

through. They went into the fire, didn't

they?

But Jesus was with him in the fire.

>> And if you have to go through the fire,

Jesus will be with you in the fire as

well.

>> And he'll give you the the strength and

the grace to make it through like

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

And you'll feel his presence there. Even

though you're in the fire, you'll be

with your maker as you go through it. I

love this story so much because of their

faith

and really because of those three words.

But if not,

[snorts]

friends, if you have something you're

struggling with or somebody you love is

struggling with something,

take it to the Lord in prayer. That's

what the Bible says to do. That's what

the spirit of prophecy says to do. It's

the best thing you can do because you're

taking it to your creator, God.

and then trust him.

I believe God is a healing God. And God

may heal you right away. You might be

healed before you make it to your car in

the parking lot.

And if you do, if you are, praise the

Lord for that. It might be six or eight

months down the road that you experience

healing and you go through some stuff

between now and then.

Praise the Lord for it when you get

healed. Then

it may be that you're healed when Jesus

comes the second time.

And if he heals you, then praise the

Lord for that as well

because he is a healing God and he cares

about you. There's

a lot of good guidance in here. We'll

look at a few more in scripture after

this one. Ministry of healing, page 93

says, "When we have prayed for the

recovery of the sick, whatever the

outcome of the case, let us not lose

faith in God."

>> Love that quote. 2 Corinthians

2 Corinthians 1:3–4

1:3-4 says, "Blessed be the God and

Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the

Father of mercies and God of all

comfort, who comforts us in all of our

affliction, so that we may be able to

comfort those who are in any affliction

with the comfort with which we ourselves

are comforted by God."

When we have to go through some tough

times, while we're waiting for our

healing, remember that the comforter is

there with you as well. And that can

bring us peace.

Sometimes God heals right away.

Sometimes he heals in his timing instead

of ours. And God might heal you when he

heals everyone.

Revelation 21:5 says, "Then he who sat

Revelation 21:5

on the throne said, "Behold, I make all

things new." And he said to me, "Write,

for these words are true and faithful. I

can't wait until he makes all of us

brand new." And there's nothing to

struggle with ever again. Philippians

Philippians 3:20

3:20 and 21 says, "But our citizenship

is in heaven, and we eagerly await a

savior from there, the Lord Jesus

Christ, who by the power that enables

him to subject all things to himself

will transform our lowly bodies to be

like his glorious body." There's a

transformation coming for all of us,

friends.

So, what do we do now?

[snorts]

When you pray,

pray for healing as we've been

instructed to do in scripture. Pray

boldly for healing.

Then trust your future into his hands.

Then ask yourself a couple of questions.

What am I doing with my life and the

time that I have on this earth? The time

that I have, what am I doing with it?

What am I doing with my life and the

time while I'm waiting to be healed?

And if I've been healed, what am I doing

in the time that I've been given

to shine for Jesus and tell somebody

about the hope that I have? What am I

doing with whatever time that I have

right now? How am I using that for God?

Friends,

I really like this last verse here about

our home being in heaven and not here.

I can't sit here and explain hows and

wise

and all the different situations that we

have faced and seen,

but I know we serve a good God. And my

home is not here in heaven or here. It's

in heaven.

And Jesus has promised to come and wipe

away every tear.

And I'm counting on that.

There's a man named William Wilberforce.

William was born in England in 1759,

Hull, England. [snorts]

And he was he inherited a whole bunch of

money and when he was young and [snorts]

and uh

traveled around

eventually got into politics at the

young age of 21.

[snorts]

He suffered from a lot of physical

ailments, ulcerative colitis,

spinal curvature to the point where he

got into his 50s that they had to make a

metal frame to support his arms and

torso.

For the last quarter of his life, he had

to deal with that because his back was

so weak. He had poor eyesight from birth

that worsened to near blindness later on

in life. [snorts]

He was physically small and weak at one

point, weighing only 76 pounds at his

lowest.

>> [snorts]

>> And about 10 years after he got into

politics,

he met Jesus, became a Christian.

And although he continued to struggle

with his health even from an early age,

[snorts] as he became a Christian, he

started a

he started a habit of getting up in the

morning and spending an hour and a half

reading his Bible and praying. And no

doubt as he was suffering immensely

physically, his prayers often involved

requests for healing and relief.

He was friends with Reverend John

Newton, a former slave trader, an

evangelical Anglican priest who's widely

known as the author of the hymn Amazing

Grace. [snorts] And he encouraged him to

instead of going where he felt he needed

to go in ministry to stay in politics.

So that's what he did.

John Newton said this of him.

It is hoped and believed that the Lord

has raised you up for the good of this

church and the good of the nation.

[snorts]

During his professional life, his health

was a constant struggle, but he

continued to pray every morning.

[snorts] His focus became the abolition

of the slave trade. He had seen how

horrible it was

and he in politics filed his first bill

to try and get rid of the slave trade

and it [snorts] failed miserably.

For the next 20 years

he worked on trying to abolish the slave

trade

throughout the British Empire.

He failed for 20 years. Faced strong

economic and political opposition along

with still battling lifelong physical

illness and pain. Through it all,

William kept on praying.

William continued to work to end slavery

once and for all. During the rest of his

life, for the the rest of his breathing

days, he was trying to end slavery.

He lived long enough to see the

institution of slavery abolished through

the British Empire in 1833. He died on

July 29, 1833, just days after learning

the legislation would pass. something

he'd been working on for 20 years and

failing while fighting off all kinds of

and dealing with all kinds of physical

pain and struggles

[snorts]

throughout it all. He kept on praying.

Who knows how God works sometimes? It it

looks like this that God kept him alive

for a purpose, for a very good and

worthy purpose to keep on fighting for

something that was good. He still had to

deal with this the pain and the

struggles.

But while he had breath in his lungs, he

was going to work for something good and

make a difference. Even though he

struggled.

Friends,

in our time here on earth,

it's not a matter of if, but when we

have physical struggles.

We have the privilege of going to an

almighty God and asking for help and

praying for for healing in our lives.

And if he heals us immediately, praise

God. Keep on serving him.

If it takes a little time to heal,

praise God. Keep on serving him in that

window as much as you can.

And if he heals you at the resurrection,

serve him faithfully from now until you

can with every breath that you have

until he heals you then.

But God is a healing God. And no matter

what we struggle with here on earth, he

has healing in our future

one way or the other. Isaiah 41:10 says,

Isaiah 41:10

"Fear not, for I am with you. Be not

dismayed, for I am your God. I will

strengthen you. I will help you. I will

uphold you with my righteous right hand.

>> No matter what we go through in this

life, God is there to comfort us.

Sometimes heal us. Sometimes promise the

healing later and keep our spirits up

until then. but to guide us. He says, "I

will lift you up with my righteous right

hand." Every time God says that, I

picture in my mind us falling because

we're going through so much. And he

picks us back up and he lifts us up and

he keeps on helping us go forward.

Friends,

no matter what you're struggling with, I

encourage you to have the faith of

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in your

struggle. Pray for that miraculous

healing.

But if not,

trust that God will do what is the very

best and put your life in his hands.

We're going to sing a song as we close.

I invite our worship team to come up.

The song is called It Is Well with My

Soul. And it [snorts] talks about peace.

Peace that only God can give. When peace

like a river attendeth my way. When

sorrows like sea billows roll. Whatever

my lot thou has taught me to say, it is

well, it is well with my soul. We can

say that when we have put our trust in

Jesus. Let's stand as we sing our

closing song. It is well with my soul.

Father in heaven, I especially want to

lift up those that are here and that are

watching online that are struggling with

their health right now. I want to lift

up those who I know our church members

have been praying for, people that they

love, friends, loved ones who've also

been struggling. God, you know every

struggle that we go through. And today,

I want to especially pray for your

healing hand on every single one of

them. God, we know that you have the

power to heal and you've told us to come

to the throne of grace boldly. And so

that's what we're doing today. God, in

every one of these situations, Lord, I'm

asking for your healing hand on them.

Lord, help us to put our 100% trust in

you, being reminded that this home, this

this world is not our home. We're just

passing through.

And if if not, Lord,

if not now, then Lord, keep our faith in

you strong.

Help it to be rock solid. And Lord, help

each one of us in the time that we have

here to be faithful witnesses for you of

the hope that we have in your second

coming. Thank you so much for that

promise, God. Keep us faithful until you

come to take us home. In Jesus name I

pray. Amen.

>> Amen. [music]

Thanks so much for joining us here at

the McDonald Road 7th Day Adventist

Church for worship. Each month we reach

between 25 and 30,000 people with gospel

content online. We're looking to expand

our audiovisisual department this year

and looking to raise $30,000 in this

project. We would love for you to

partner with us on this and consider

making a donation to our audiovisisual

department as we look at expansion

[music] and reaching more people with

the gospel across the internet this next

year. You can go to mrcsda.org

[music] to make a donation directly to

our audiovisisual department. Thank you

so much for considering making this

donation and the privilege is ours to

partner with you in making this a bigger

[music] and more effective ministry here

at the McDonald Road 7th Adventist

Church. God bless each one of you and

thanks again for joining us here at the

McDonald Road 7th Adventist Church.

>> [music]