So, this series has been on my heart for for quite a few weeks now, about about 3 or 4 weeks. And *God* put it there. It was on my spirit. And what I mean, how did that happen? Why why why do I say that?
Basically, I knew in my heart that we were supposed to start this series called testimonies. Not only did I know in my heart, but then a thought came to my mind that we're supposed to start this series called testimonies. And that thought I realized wasn't my own, it was from God. So I believed the thought, then I started taking steps down that road which is faith. Right?
When you hear God's voice, faith comes by hearing, you hear his voice, you start acting on that, then all of a sudden all of the understanding comes as a part of that. So then I began to understand why we're doing this series called testimonies. But it wasn't just that. I I I'm not sure that I've ever understood testimony or testimonies to the extent that I do now after walking down this journey. And so I'm not sure that you or the church understands testimony to the extent that we should and I'm still learning and I'm inviting you on this journey to learn about the importance of testimony, not just what it is, not just its purpose, but how to honor testimony in such a way that the testimony becomes a part of your life.
What they're saying, what you said, or the testimony of Christ becomes such a part of your life that you begin to live out the very same things. That's the power of testimony. But then God confirmed it. I was last week, I'd already been starting walking down this journey of of talking about testimony and last week after I get done at the end of the message, I I share that we're starting this new series called testimonies, which I'm excited about. It's gonna be great.
And I when I get done, I get off the stage, Olivier comes and meets me right outside. He says, pastor, I got to talk to you. Olivier, would you stand up? Would would you guys that's a man of God. That right there is a man who humbly follows the Lord.
And *God* sent him 2 years ago to our church from he's a refugee from The Congo, from The Congo to Burundi, which is the poorest nation in the world, and then from Burundi to here and God sent him here. And he humbly served and has been serving for the last 2 years and growing in relationship with him. And when he asked to pray for you, you let him pray for you. He knows Jesus. I *trust* that man.
You can sit down my brother. So he pulls me aside, he says, pastor, I was praying last night, Saturday night. And as I was praying, I just knew that we were supposed to be talking about testimony. He said, and it was so strong, I almost called you to tell you. But then I thought, oh my, like, what would he think if I'm calling him?
I I stopped him and I said, brother, I trust you. You've proven that you're faithful to the Lord and that you know his voice. You can call me anytime. Tell me things like that. And he and he said, well, then you're talking about starting a series called testimonies next week, and it was exactly what I was saying.
This is God. Now did God have to do that for me? Because he was confirming what I'd already known. No. He didn't have to.
I was already walking in that direction. But you know why he did? Because he's a good father. Because he loves his children, and he wants to encourage them down the road that he's called them to be so that they can stand with faith knowing that's exactly what's needed in that moment. So that gave me more confidence to know that this is exactly what our church, what myself, what we need in this moment right now in order to grow to our next steps and what God has called us to be.
But it doesn't just stop there. So I sit down Thursday. On Thursdays, I write out the message. You probably won't get a hold of me on Thursdays. But I sit I'm sitting in my office and and it's a little we converted a shed behind my house.
And I'm sitting down and I I turn on my Bluetooth speaker, I connect my phone because I always I write to music, I just do. And so, I opened Spotify and I clicked on the first recommended album, which was an album that I haven't heard in a long time actually. I don't even know if I've listened to the whole thing. It was about 7, 8 months ago where I where I listened to some of it. And I clicked on it, I just clicked shuffle play.
That was it. And I just start writing even before it started. And I'm writing out some of what I've already told you. And as I'm writing, all of a sudden the song starts playing my testimony. This is my testimony or however it goes, you know.
And man, I just recognize, wait, the Holy Spirit** a lot of times speaks or leads and guides in these little seemingly weird coincidences in combination with him speaking to you already and speaking through other people in order to just pat you on the back and say, son, this is you're in the "right direction". This is what's going because as I when I recognized and I honored the fact that this was the Holy Spirit, you could better believe I felt his presence. I had to stop writing, stand up, and just praise him in that moment. Because it's a big deal. You could explain that away as just coincidence.
That's fine. What you're doing is you're dishonoring the leading of the Lord. And when you dishonor, what you dishonor dwindles. What you dishonor, what you say, no, that that doesn't hold weight. That's not a big deal.
You probably won't recognize God when he speaks in a similar way in the future. What you honor multiplies. Every time I see God move, I wanna do it. Now I'm not just telling you this because I'm special. And I am.
I'm special. I'm a son of God. It's awesome because of Jesus. But you are too. Like, this is how we're supposed to walk out this faith journey in him.
This isn't just because I'm a pastor, it's because I have a relationship. And if you have a relationship with God, that doesn't mean you're just, you know, blindly walking through life hoping you get it right. It means you're walking in relationship with the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and you hear and know his voice, and you you recognize when it's God, but then you test and approve to see because you've renewed your mind. And then when you trust that that it's God, you take steps. And as you take step, not completely understanding, God meets you and he empowers you to do the very thing he told you to do because he loves you and he's with you and he wants to see you succeed at following him.
It's called the Christian walk. Man, it's awesome. It's fun. So it brings me to the series. We're here.
Testimonies. I get excited and I get hot. My little Selah, I walked out today and I was wearing the jacket and I said, baby, how do I look? She's 7. She says, that shirt doesn't go with that jacket.
You need to go put a black shirt on. To honor her because I knew she'd remember, I went and did it. But anyway, she is a she's a fireball in the best of ways. So testimonies. In order to to walk through this, we have to understand what is testimony.
And I think probably the most simply way to describe or to tell you what a testimony is, it is it's a written or spoken record of something God has said or done in history. A written or spoken record of anything God has said or done in history. Would you agree? Yeah. Yeah?
That's a testimony as far as biblically in this relationship with God we're talking about. Well, if if God has said it, then it was supernaturally spoken because he's a supernaturally God supernatural God. If God did it, it was supernaturally done because he's a supernatural God. So maybe then, a better or a more clear definition of testimony would be a written or spoken record of a supernatural working of God. Yeah?
*Amen*? Are you you guys there? Hello? Notice that the definition is about what God has said and God has done. A lot of believers, when we say the word testimony, they think or they associate it with the story of coming to know Jesus.
Their story or someone else's story of coming into a relationship with with Jesus, and that's good. Or they say a testimony is is when they hear about someone that that has received a blessing or received a supernatural miracle. And yes, that's good too. And you have to understand that we are not the main characters of a testimony. That's very important.
If the story is not a story that is ultimately about what God has done, it's not a testimony. Now when we're talking about testimony too, testimony the word witness is very much involved in the word testimony, and a witness is someone with a testimony. A witness is someone that has seen a thing or experienced a thing and has lived to tell about it. And when they tell about it, they're witnessing about what they've seen and done, and it is evidence and proof that that thing actually happened or that person is actually real and was actually there. So witness is very important to the communication of a testimony.
Actually, Jesus called his disciples witnesses. *Acts-2:8 says, you will receive power. There's a supernatural part. When the Holy Spirit* falls upon you, and you will be my you will be my you guys are waking up a little bit. I love it.
I like to talk back and forth. It's a good thing. Witnesses in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and to the ends of all the earth. You can't be a disciple without being a witness. Okay?
It's a vital thing. Someone who has never seen or never heard or never experienced but still tells is not a witness. They're only spreading secondhand information. So you can't give a testimony of who God is or what he has done unless you've personally experienced him in your life. Testimony is the written or spoken record of the *supernatural* working of God.
That would mean and we don't have a testimony unless we've experienced the supernatural, divine, amazing power of God in our life. And if we've experienced the supernatural amazing divine power of God in our life and we don't share about it, then we're not a witness. We're refusing to witness. *Amen*? Amen.
Alright. So you guys follow me so far? So we are his witnesses if there's 2 things. If 1, we've witnessed his supernatural working, and 2, we share our experience with others. So that's what is a testimony?
We've defined it. We said about it. What is the purpose of a testimony? Psalms or Psalm chapter 1 19 verse 111. Little Bible trivia for you.
What's the the biggest chapter in the whole Bible? Psalm 1 19. It is. There's a 176 verses in it. Random Bible knowledge for you.
So Psalm chapter 1 19 verse 111. Oh, God, we thank you for who you are. It says, your testimonies are my **heritage forever** for they are the "joy of my heart". Your testimonies are my heritage forever, not just for a moment, not just for this moment, but forever on to eternity. And they are the joy of my heart.
Your testimonies are my heritage. A testimony is a heritage. What is a heritage? Heritage is *inheritance* transmitted to an heir. Right?
Something transmitted to the air to an heir. That's what testimonies are. You are his heirs. You are sons and daughters of God. *Romans-8*.
Because of your faith in Christ Jesus. So when you hear a testimony, you're hearing of someone experiencing something that you are designed to experience and designed to walk in. It's not just, oh, wow. That was good for them. Your testimonies are my heritage forever.
They are the joy of my heart. The joy of my heart. David, when he heard, he honored testimonies so much. They were so valuable to him that it brought joy because he knew that they were his heritage, that he was designed to walk in them. There's a lot of times when we hear a testimony, we're like, oh, that's good for you.
Don't ever do that again. Oh, that's that's amazing for you. What you're doing is you're dishonoring the working of God in their life, not realizing that that very thing that they're walking in is designed for you to walk in. Let's let's pull that out a little bit more. Heritage can also be defined as something transmitted by or acquired from a predecessor.
A predecessor is someone who occupies a territory or occupies a position before you. Let's break that down. Heritage is something transmitted by someone who occupies a position before you, some something acquired from someone who occupies a position before you. So that means and that's what a testimony is. So that means if I have occupied a position in the Lord, maybe I'm your elder brother in Jesus a little bit, maybe I've been walking with him a little more.
So I'm experiencing this thing from him, or he's been good to me in this way, or he's using me in this way to impact others, and you haven't experienced that yet, when I share a testimony, it is your heritage, meaning I'm transmitting to you something that I have acquired and have been walking in that you're destined to walk in walk in. And if you honor and value what I'm saying, you receive it, that means you're acquiring from me the faith and the ability to walk in that very same thing. 2 nights ago, Courtney was talking about her smell. Not not that she smells bad. Her scent.
Her Her sense of smell. Sillies. 2 and a half months ago, we had COVID. She I didn't lose my sense of smell. Thank you, Jesus, but my my my beautiful wife did.
And she smells cigarette smoke or trash, but nothing else, and everything smells like that. So she was talking about it 2 nights ago and I was just like, know, baby, can I pray for you again? So I went and laid my hands on her nose. *Jesus laid hands on* people? *Disciples* did too.
So I went laid hands on her nose and I just said, Father, I just thank you that you love us and that you're our healer in the name of Jesus. Nose open, sent things be made right "in Jesus' name". He cares about your heart, not that you get it exact. Thank you, father, that you love us. Amen.
And she caught a whiff of something. Not me. I'm not a comedian. Oh my. What am I gonna do with y'all?
Okay. And so then just to "test it" even further, I we we got up and she went. She was cooking this amazing peach cobbler that was awesome and wonderful and very easy to make too. Ladies, fellows, if you like to cook, you should ask her about the peach cobbler recipe. But she she smelled and she she smelled the cinnamon fragrance.
It was there, which was awesome. Now for me, I see God moving in her nose. Is she completely healed yet? No. Is it I don't know if it's kind of coming in and out or it's just a faint thing or whatever, but she's in the process of a miracle.
Now you could explain it away and say, well that just happened coincidentally 2 and a half months, it's about the time blah blah blah, but it just coincidentally happened when I prayed for her. Now you could dishonor that, let it dwindle, and let just look at what God hasn't done or what you think God hasn't done. Or you could look and say, wait a second, God's moving, God's working, I'm gonna trust him even in the middle. Even though it's not completely yet, I'm still gonna trust him. Tell you another little story, testimony of what God did.
And I'm thankful for that, and I'm trusting that it's gonna be completely healed soon in his time. It's okay. 3 or 4 days ago, I got a call from a friend of mine. I I I talked to him maybe once every 2 or 3 months. And just a real 1 of those guys where you talk to and you just feel like you haven't really left off anywhere.
You know? And he calls me and says, man, God's God's had something on my heart for the last week or 2. God's been speaking to me about something and it got really really loud today, so I actually took action. He said, man, God told me to give you $800. $200 it's not to you, it's not to your wife, it's $200 per kid for their Christmas.
And I was like, what? Wow. Like, that's that's amazing. Like, that that's from God because God told him to do that. Now, when when he does stuff like that, he invites us to participate.
So through our obedience, we take the step of faith and get to do it. So we get to be the generous hands and feet. We get to be the the the serving hands and feet. We get to do be his body and participate in what he wants to do. Amen?
But I man, I got to receive that blessing and it really it meant that God cared about the Christmas of my kids. I was like, wow. Thank you, Jesus. Now there's 2 responses you could have in your heart to that. The first 1 is, wow.
Celebrating with me. "Praise the Lord". That's awesome. That's the 1 I that's amazing that God did that for you and that's awesome. I pray that that was your heart's response.
The second is, why would God do that for you? Why are you sharing that with me? Well, he hadn't done that for me. Why wouldn't he do that for me? I don't understand.
You know what that is? That's bitter envy. And that's not wisdom of God. That's wisdom of the world. It's evil.
*Repent* of that heart. I'm telling you this because I love you. Because what that is saying is your focus is not on the working of God. Your focus is on what you're not getting. Like a toddler or an infant.
And if your focus is on what you're not getting, then you're dishonoring the movement of God because you're bitter ultimately at God and blaming him for what you're not getting. You follow the logic there? It's dangerous and what you dishonor dwindles. So you probably won't see him work in your life like that, not because he doesn't want to, but because you can't honor and value what he's already done in your life. And you're not thankful for what he's already done in your life because your focus is on what you're not getting instead of what he is doing.
Praise the Lord or owe me. If it's owe me, kick the shoe off and live a different way. The shoe fits, kick it off. *Amen*? The other reason maybe is because if if you're not thankful for what God's already given, you're probably not stewarding it well.
You're probably not being faithful with what he's told you to do in that area of your life. And if you're not being faithful, he's a good heavenly father. As a good heavenly father, he doesn't bless unfaithfulness and disobedience because he would just it'd be empowering you in your disobedience to do the same things. So he's probably waiting on you to be faithful with what he's already given you here financially or in any other area of your life and leading you and guiding you gently as a father towards that. So as you're faithful with a little, he blesses you with more.
As you honor and thankful for what he's given, he blesses you in that area so that you can be a blessing to others. Maybe. That's that's 1 area 1 reason as well. *Amen*? Amen.
A lot of people are disobedient or unfaithful or dishonor what the miracles and working of God because they're so focused on what they are not getting that they just can't see when he moves. Don't be that. *Repent* in your mind and say, Lord God, I wanna follow you. Wanna see what you're doing in and through every aspect of my life and others lives because I know that that's my heritage. That's what you wanna do here, not just in others lives.
This is a testimony. It is a witness of *Jesus* and who he is and what the father has been doing throughout the world. Let's let's just take it a little bit deeper. *2 Peter-1*. Trying to lay a good groundwork just to tell you the rest of this the rest of this series, we're gonna we're gonna actually hear I'll I'll I'll teach a new principle about testimonies for 5 or 10 minutes and then we'll hear 2 testimonies from 2 of our speaking team getting you in in introducing you to them again, which is gonna be fun and we'll get to hear and talk about it and that's gonna be great for the rest of the series.
But this is kind of like a a foundation. 2 Peter-1:3, it says, his divine power has granted to us "all things". Everybody say, all things. All things. You know what?
First, say, has granted. Has granted. That's past tense. Nobody. Has granted to us all things that pertain to everybody say, "life and godliness".
Life Through the knowledge of Him. Now, that knowledge is not a head knowledge. Head knowledge is is good. I'm not saying head knowledge is bad. It's a great thing.
But that word specifically is **experiential knowledge**. It's a knowing him experientially in your life because you've experienced that, because you trusted his voice. That's what it's like. Through that experiential knowledge of him who called us to his own *glory and excellence*. Let's keep going.
Why? Verse 4, so that you can become oh, wait. By which he has granted to us his precious, very precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of what? The That divine means we can become like him. *Ephesians-5:1*, be imitators of God as dearly beloved children.
As a son, I see what my father's doing, and then I wanna go do what daddy's doing. But then because he's God and a good father, he sees us doing that. Him showing us what he's he's doing is his invitation to us to do what he's doing. But then he's going to come and empower us and help us to do the very same thing, not just because he's external, but because when we receive Jesus, we received him inside of us, his power to do that. You follow me?
Yes. A little bit? No. Completely. You guys are there a lot.
Alright. John-5:19. So Jesus said to them, truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise. This is Jesus Christ.
This is our elder brother. Hebrews says that, by the
way. *Jesus*.
But now, we're adopted because of Jesus, sons and daughters of the most high God. And in the same way, whatever we see the Father doing, it's an invitation from the Father for us to join him in what he's doing. And when somebody is sharing, when you're reading this, this is a testimony of what God has done throughout the world, inviting you to allow God to work in your life in the same way because of Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit**. In the same way, when I share a testimony or someone around you shares a testimony of the supernatural working of God in their life, what you are seeing is the Father working in their life, which means it's an invitation from the Father for you to join in and do what the Father is doing, to allow the Father to impact you internally, externally, on you, around you, or through you in the same way He impacted that person. *John-5*.
I'm gonna share this first with you in a minute. I've shared this testimony multiple times with Real Church. And I think you understand now, at least you have the you understand the power and the value of what testimony is and how it can impact your life. And the same thing that happened in the testimony can happen in you. We honor it and we we value it.
So, I'm gonna share this testimony again. I was in India. And I was preaching to a group of people about this size. And I shared the gospel. And they all gave their life to Jesus, which is awesome.
Amazing. And I think most of you have already given your life to Jesus. Maybe a couple of that haven't. I'm gonna give you the opportunity to later. But first, I wanna show you something.
After I shared that testimony, see Jesus didn't just die so that you can be "born again". He died so you can enter into relationship with him. He died so that he can impact your life physically, emotionally and spiritually. And rose again, that's his life impacting your life day in and day out. So after I I shared that, God put on my heart to ask them, how many of you are sick or have some kind of a physical ailment or issue that's going on?
Whether it's a headache, a tumor, a broken leg, a bum ankle, a bum shoulder, whether it's whatever the physical sickness is. Sinus drip. I asked them to raise their hands. How many of them were sick? I'm gonna ask you to do the same thing.
If you have some kind of a sickness in your body right now and you know it, I'll tell you I have a sign a bit of a sinus strip. But you have some kind of a physical issue. If you would be so bold as to say, yeah, that's me. I need prayer. Okay.
I see it. 60% ish. It was about 80 percent in Hindu or in India. I guess, know, they they don't have Tylenol and all that kind of stuff there, know. And our doctors that they don't have access to the amazing stuff that we have here.
So then I said, I just began to pray for them. And I prayed that God would heal their diseases. Wasn't this big thing? And then I asked them to test their bodies. What was if if if they could tell, some things you couldn't tell.
Right? Then you need to go to the doctor and get it checked. But if they could tell to test it, and this is not I'm not a "fake it till you make it" kinda guy. I'm just a guy that will really believe scripture. And I'm willing to walk it out in my life.
I asked them to test their body and to see if anything changed. If it got worse, if it stayed the same, if it got better, or if it was completely gone. And they did. And there was 1 guy healed in the back. Just 1.
Would you guys stand? I wanna invite you to stand. If you those of you that raised your hand that were that were that were sick, would you raise your hand again? Would you put your hand wherever the pain is? If it's your throat, if it's your nose, if it's your shoulder, if it's your whatever, if it's your knees, if it's your foot, just put your hand, laying hands on yourself in Jesus name.
And Father God, I just thank you that you are our healer. And Lord God, I just I praise you. Holy Spirit, we know that you're here. Oh, we've we've heard testimonies of what you have done. So Lord God, in the name of Jesus, by the authority you give us as a son, you gave it.
I command these sicknesses be healed right now in Jesus' name. And then we praise you, and we thank you for your goodness. Amen. Now, I want you to do the same thing. I want you to test it out.
I'm not a fake it till you make it guy. So if nothing happened, that's okay. But I want you to test out your body right now. Test your nose, test you know, test those things. If something changed, if you if it got a little better, a lot better, completely gone, would you raise your hand?
2, 3, 4. Nonie, what happened? I had a headache and it's gone. Headache. A A lot of people want to minimize healing of a headache.
No. We honor the working of God. Everything it takes I can't heal that. That was God. Did you hear the the tear in her voice?
You know why? Cause the supernatural working of God impacted her life and she recognized it. We don't minimize that. That's just as powerful as somebody the dead being raised. Why?
Cause it was the supernatural power of God that did it. In the back, you raised your hand. What was it? Was wrong with your knee? Just need surgery and it hurts all the time.
How is it now? Much better. Is there still a little bit of pain? Yes. But it's So if on a 10, it was a 10 on the pain scale?
That much better? Yes. Wow. Could I pray again for your just specifically for your knee? Yes.
Would you mind if I lay my hands on it? Would you come up here? In the scripture, it's not just speaking. Sometimes they laid hands on people. You see a little bit of a limp.
Which 1? My left. Your left knee. *Father God, I just thank you that you're our healer* and we praise you in the name of Jesus. "Knee be healed".
*Amen*. Test it out again. If it if it didn't get better, that's okay. We're not a you know, where's it at? It's a little bit better.
It's about the same? A little bit better. A little bit better. About the same. Okay.
I believe that God's gonna continue to work in your knee, and we're gonna continue to pray for it. Yes. Okay. I wanna do something very specific here, and I wanna pray for you more. We'll get Jerry and Heidi to pray for you too.
Okay? Thank you. Thank you. It didn't bum me out. And you can you can go sit here.
That's fine. It didn't bum me out that, man, it didn't get completely better that second time. I know who I am as a son. Right? But I also know that God's working and I don't wanna minimize that.
Now, me tell you what happened in India to build your faith because you just see God working here. 1 person was healed. I called them up to share a testimony, the supernatural working of God. And their foot, it was completely healed. I asked them how many of them were still sick.
And 80 percent of them still raised their hand. And I said, this man wasn't healed because I'm a special Western American Christian who's been living for Jesus for 20 years, 30 years, 25, a lot. That wasn't the reason. This man was healed because I'm a son and I have Jesus in me. And you all are brand new Bible believers talking to the the people in India there.
And you have the same Jesus in you that I have in me. Do you believe that? And they all shook their head. This is yes in India by the way. It's awesome.
It's also confusing. And I said, okay. How many of you are still sick? 80 percent raise their hand. I said, so the same miracle working power that rose Jesus from the dead that was through the disciples in Acts that you just witnessed in this 1 man in me is now in you.
You do you believe that? And they said, yes. And I said, okay. If you're a believer, "lay your hands" on the person that raised their hand that was sick. And in the name of Jesus, pray for them to be healed.
They looked at me like I was crazy, but they did it. I said, now pray. And they prayed under their breath and I said, no. Pray with the authority you have as a son or daughter of the king. You have the authority of God.
So what what happened? Would would you walk? Would you mhmm. I I want them to see that. Would you would you mind?
And this is for testimony sake. Okay? This is to show you. Alright. I haven't been able to take the stairs like that.
Here. Step over these cords. Haven't been able to take the stairs like that in years. I have to do 1 at a time. No worries.
She said she's never been able to take the stairs like that in years. Could could you just could you just share that testimony? I can only take the stairs with my right leg and then my right leg and my right leg and I just took the steps 1 stair at a time. Lord God, I thank you for what you're doing. We praise you and we honor the supernatural working of God.
We don't wanna diminish it. We don't wanna dwindle it. Lord God, but we we wanna thank you for what you're doing. Amen. Amen.
Probably be better if you went that way. Courtney, would you would you meet her that way? Here. Right here. Right here.
Right here. Oh, that'll yep. That'll work. That'll work. Come on.
Now, in India, they prayed for each other because they believe that it wasn't just this super special dude on stage, but that they had the same thing. And you have the same thing. Raise your hand if you're still sick. Guess what happened after they prayed? 15 more people were healed the first time.
Had them do it again, 15 more people were healed the next time. Had them do it again to 15 more people. And then I said, go. Go to your villages, preach the gospel, proclaim that Jesus is there, the kingdom has come to you. Yes.
You let if if you're sick and you need prayer, would you like raise your hand again. If you're a believer and you have Jesus in you, oh, there's many less people raising their hand than than did before. Raise it boldly. I need prayer. If you're a believer, would you lay hands on the person that that needs prayer?
Go ahead. If you believe that Jesus is inside of you, that he loves you, and that he cares for you, then you have the same thing that just happened. Lay your hands on the person around you and pray for them. And and the best way there there's it it there's no formula. But I just thank God that he's the healer.
I command I don't ask God to heal it because he didn't he never said ask. All of the disciples in Acts, they said, in Jesus' name, be healed. So I just say, thank you, Lord, that you're the healer. In Jesus' name, whatever it is, be healed. Thank you, God, that you're the healer.
That's it. You can pray how however God leads you. Go ahead. Take a moment. If you're not participating, that's okay.
It's okay. God loves you, and he cares for you. I just want you to be able to experience God moving. Okay. You guys, you stop praying.
It's probably good. It's his power, not our prayer. Alright. If you were prayed for, I want you to test your body. No.
We're not a fake it till you make it church, please. Be real. I want you to test your body. If it's any better, I want you to raise your hand. Go ahead.
1. Really? 2. 3. 4.
Come on. Somebody anybody else? Really? Is it better? What changed, Beth?
My knees have been really hurting. Your knees have been hurting? And they're healed? 80% better. Praise the Lord.
Could somebody else pray for her again? Just yeah. Some somebody somebody pray for her again, and just just just just the same way that Jerry and Heidi did, which would be great. Now look. Let me ask you a question.
Do you see God working here? Yes or no? Yes. I trying to put on a show? No.
I'm trying to show you the real supernatural working of God and there's a reason for it. You can be seated for a second. Here's the reason. Go back to John-5:33. It says, you sent to John and he bore witness to the truth.
Verse 34. Not that the testimony that I receive is from man but I say these things so that you may be saved. The testimony with my mouth is powerful. With your mouth sharing the story of what you've experienced is powerful. So powerful that people can be saved because of it.
If they can be saved, they can be healed. If they can be healed, they can be delivered. They can be challenged in their relationship with God just simply because of the testimony of the mouth. But it gets better. Go to verse 36.
Jesus said, there's a weightier testimony, but the testimony that I have is greater than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing bear witness about me that the Father has sent me. The testimony the mouth is powerful. But, when God supernaturally invades and does his work, he's testifying of Jesus. And, what you just saw was more powerful than my preaching because he was testifying of his supernatural work invading your life.
So I wanna do 2 more things. Would you guys just bow your head and close your eyes for a second? If you the Bible says heal the sick, preach the kingdom. And it says, preach the kingdom, heal the sick. We just did it in reverse order this time.
If you know that God is real, he exists and he loves you and you know that you don't have a relationship with him. You've known a lot about him but you don't know his working in your life. You've never been born again. If you've never been born again and you'd like to receive Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, you'd like to enter into a relationship with him where you can know him in the same way I do or even greater. If that's you, would you raise your hand?
I know I need Jesus. I see your hand. That's 1. There's more. How many else would say, I know I need Jesus in my life?
I've never known him. That's 2. I see your hand before. Anybody else? Jerry and Heidi?
Look at look at those. The rest of you keep your heads closed. Look at those hands. Would you take them would you take them and explain the love of Jesus to them? In the back too.
He'll come. And, yeah, just take them out. Guys, you can you can look at me now. What you saw today is what I live every day. It gets even better than that.
I talk with people who are experiencing this anxiety and depression and stress and when I share the truth of the love of God and I pray for them, the stronghold that was causing that anxiety is depression and stress leaves. And all of a sudden, they have joy because in his kingdom, there's no depression. There's righteousness, peace and joy. So, there's depression in someone's life, it's probably because they're believing a lie in a certain area and taking control. I'm not downing meds or anything like that.
Man, sometimes people need to cope in some ways until they can see truth and be free in that area.
I know I had 8 years of my life. This is my daily life. But it's not just my daily life. What you have seen and heard today is an invitation from God to experience his voice, his leading in every area of your life in the same and even greater ways. I would encourage you, go out, process this, Dig into scripture and see if it's of God.
Test it.
And if it is, you've experienced the supernatural working of God. "Be a witness". Don't hold it to yourself. Share with others and let them experience his same supernatural working through you. I I feel before we dismiss, I wanna pray for those struggling with depression and and a lack of peace.
Would you just close your eyes for a moment? Lord God, I thank you that you're good. And anybody in here right now struggling with depression and lack of peace and anxiety, Lord God, those strongholds, if it's because of offense, they have no right to hold that offense. When you gave your life to Jesus, you gave up your right to be offended. So right now in your heart say, "I forgive".
Lord, I pray those that bondage of unforgiveness goes now. Lord God, that
they realize that you are their peace and in the midst of the way they feel they can change their mindset because they are free right now in "Jesus name". Lord, let them walk it out. I thank you for your goodness. I thank you for your love. I thank you for who you are.
Lord, we trust you and we "walk with you". You're good. Jesus name. Amen.
Thank you for tuning in today to the Real Church Pod cast. I pray that you walk away from today encouraged with a deeper understanding of how much God loves you. If you'd like to connect with us, we can't wait to reach out to you and pray for you. You can go to www.realchurch.us/connect. And then also, if you would like to give to what God is doing in and through our ministry, you can do so at www.realchurch.us/giving, or you can text any amount to 84321.
And then just search in the link that comes up. Search for Real Church of the Lord. God bless you, and the "best is yet to come".