Power Me: Emboldened by God’s Power (Message Only)

[Music] [Music] [Music] praise the Lord bridge way praise the Lord bridge way one more time for the Holy Spirit you ready praise the Lord bridge way it's good to see you today thank you so much for being in the house of the Lord as well as online we are in the second installment of a three week series the series is power me and the second sermon which is today emboldened by God's power last week we talked about God's purpose next week God's peace but today God's power in just a few minutes I'm going to pray for the message and get right into it but before I do I want to read you the scripture of the morning it's the same scripture that we read last week and we'll read next week dissecting this story about Paul and the thorn in his flesh it's 2nd Corinthians chapter 12 verses 7 through 9 let me read it in your hearing to keep me from becoming conceited Paul says because of these surpassingly great revelations there was given me a thorn in my flesh a messenger of Satan to torment me three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me but he said to me my grace is sufficient for you for my power is made perfect in weakness therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses so that Christ's power may rest on me may the Lord add blessing to the reading of his word let's pray together Heavenly Father we thank you that you give us your word and now as you send it out we pray that it would accomplish everything that you have purposed for it to do might we be emboldened by your power what is in Jesus's name we pray together everyone said amen and amen the Apostle Paul says for my power is made perfect in weakness quoting Jesus it also says so that Christ's power may rest on me in these verses it mentions power Christ power twice you see when he quotes Jesus Jesus is saying my power is made perfect in weakness not Paul's power its Christ's power Paul says therefore I'm going to actually boast in my weaknesses so that Christ's power may rest on me it is the power of Christ alone that gives us any kind of chance of living the victorious Christian life on this corrupt earth without the power of Christ working we would be left to the wiles of the devil and without the power of Christ working we would be subject to our fleshly temptations and appetites that would control us without the power of Christ working we would have to fend for ourselves in our classwork in middle school or high school in college or in our careers and our relationships and our marriages and our families and our ministries in our health and our finances but God doesn't leave us alone even with our own thorns Apostle Paul said there was a thorn in my flesh even when a messenger of Satan is there to torment me God gives us divine power each of you has divine power as a believer because God has given you everything you need for life and godliness in fact 2nd Peter chapter 1 verse 3 says this listen his divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness if you are a believer then God has given you power to overcome anything that is coming against you but you have to actually believe it by the time I'm done with today's message some of you are actually going to get the message you're gonna get it not simply because you understand it but you're actually going to catch what it is that I'm putting out because I believe that if you do catch it you'll be able to live at a dimension where you can access and leverage the power that God is actually invested in you as a believer now there are three aspects to the power that every believer possesses I want you to get these three things down and I also want you to get my practical applications down at the end of the message you can write them down you can take a picture of them from the screen but this is something you want to hold on to because you're going to need it three aspects of power that every believer possesses here's the first one we have the power to comfort and intercede on other's behalf if we're in the book of second Corinthians where we took our key text I want you to back it up to the very first chapter because what the Apostle Paul wants to show us is that the power that God gives us is power that can be activated in multiple areas and the first one is that we have the power to comfort and to enter seed check out verses 3 and 4 in Chapter 1 I'm in 2nd Corinthians chapter 1 verses 3 and 4 listen to what the Word of God says praise be to the God and the father of our Lord Jesus Christ the father of compassion and the God of all comfort who comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God for just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives so also through Christ our comfort overflows with the Apostle Paul is saying is that I need to be comforted sometimes and God will use you to do it when I'm going through sorrow and when I'm going through grief God can use you as believers to help bring comfort to my soul and then once I've gotten through that grief and once I've gotten through the pain of what I've been going through you're gonna go through something and then when you go through something I'm going to be able to now comfort you with the comfort that I myself experienced are you with me so I comfort you you will comfort me with the comfort we received from God and from one another so as believers we have the power to comfort one another but we also have the power to intercede for one another when we're going through difficult times in this same chapter the Apostle Paul talks about the difficulties that he and those that are leading with him are going through and when you get to verses 10 and 11 you can see not only the power to comfort but the power to intercede but I'm gonna pick it up at verse 8 listen to what Paul says we do not want you to be uninformed brothers sisters are included about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia we were under great pressure far beyond our ability to endure so that we despaired even of life indeed in our hearts we felt the sentence of death some of you may be at that place right now where you're at the place where you see death right in front of you you're under great pressure great hardship and he says we despaired even of life but it doesn't stop there he says but this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God who raises the dead he's talking about the resurrection power of the Lord Jesus Christ verse 10 he has delivered us from such a deadly peril and he will deliver us on him we have set our hope and he will continue to deliver us as you help us by your what by your prayers as you help us by your prayers then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us answer to the what and answer to the prayers of many with the Apostle Paul is saying is that we were feeling great pressure and we were so down that we were despairing our own lives and I don't know if that was suicide or if he just thought people were coming after him but he was staring death in the face and they were feeling like they were at the very end but because of the prayers of God's people they were able to gain hope and help to get them out of the situation you have the ability to intercede on behalf of other people that need help God has given us power not only to comfort one another but to intercede on behalf of other people so while you need to know how to pray for yourself if you're going through something that's difficult the wise thing to do is to get two or three other people who can touch and agree with you to help break whatever it is you're dealing with are you with me so even when you can't pray for yourself if you've got two or three other people that will knock on the door of heaven for you and pray for you God can still answer the prayers that you yourself don't even have the strength to pray and so the power for us to intercede on one another's behalf is absolutely critical now some people don't believe in intercession I mean they wouldn't say that but the way they live their life they pray for themselves but they don't pray for other people or they pray for themselves but they don't ask other people to pray for them but you see if you're going through something difficult the scripture says where two or three are gathered in my name there I am in the midst so when two or three people touch and agree in Jesus's name and they call out on behalf of the issue that you're dealing with that's what's going to give you the strength and the hope and the help that you need in order to get through your situation are you with me the bottom line is some of you came into a relationship with the Lord not simply because you prayed to invite Christ into your life which is true but what really happened where you were ambushed by people who have been praying for you long before you came to that moment and you just walked in to a situation so then when you gave your life to Christ you think that it was because you chose him but really he chose you before the foundations of the world and then people were interceding on your behalf that one day your will would be broken and you'd humble yourself to come to know Lord Jesus as Savior that's what happened and the reality is we had the power to pray for other people and to pray with other people you know not long ago is on Monday April the 1st that Amber and I went into a home of another couple and the husband said on that Friday before the Monday his wife was diagnosed with cancer and I shared this with some of you and he said pastor would you pray for us and I remember amber and I holding hands with this couple in their kitchen and God gave me the utterance of what to pray in that moment I said lord I pray for a reversal in her house the house of her body I pray for a reversal that whatever is going on you would reverse it in the name of Jesus that was on Monday April the 1st that Thursday the Lord laid it on my heart to call the man to see how he's doing so I called about 8:30 in the morning after our elders meeting was done and he was in the car with his wife he says I'm glad you caught him I'll put you on the speakerphone I'm here with my wife Kim and I said hey guys how you doing he says we just left a Rundle hospital and they told us at the hospital that Kim's cancer is cured praise the Lord and right now we're on our way to Hopkins why are you going to Hopkins we're going to Hopkins to get a second opinion I said well praise the Lord let me know how it goes so they went to Hopkins later that day he calls and he says Hopkins doesn't like the term cured and so they said she's in a hundred percent remission I said I don't care what they call it we prayed for a reversal and God did a reversal we have the ability to intercede on behalf of other people we just have to actually believe that when we touch and agree in Jesus's name and believe in faith that God can do what he said he can do we can see miracles that God is still Jehovah Rapha the God who heals I said there three aspects to the power that God gives every believer and the first one is the power to comfort and intercede the second one comes out of the next chapter we are in chapter 1 now we're gonna move to chapter 2 here it is we have the power to forgive and free others we have the power to forgive and free others you can catch it at verses 10 and 11 but let's pick it up at verse 5 if anyone has caused grief he has not so much grieved me as he has grieved all of you to some extent not to put it too severely the punishment inflicted on him by the majority is sufficient for him now instead you ought to forgive and comfort him so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow I urge you therefore to reaffirm your love for him the reason I wrote you was to see if you would stand the test and be obedient and everything if you forgive anyone I also forgive him and what I have forgiven if there is was anything to forgive I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake in order listen and order that Satan might not outwit us for we are not unaware of his schemes so it within the community of the Church of Corinth there was somebody that did something wrong now we don't know if this is the guy from first Corinthians chapter five who had been doing some immoral and bad things in the church and they ended up having to kick him out we don't know if that's him or somebody else but clearly somebody has caused pain within the community of the church they had received punishment and now with the Apostle Paul is saying you need to now release him from condemnation from judgment you need to go ahead and forgive him and Paul goes on to say if you don't forgive him he's gonna be living in excessive sorrow and guilt and in shame and if Paul says but if you forgive him then I'll forgive him too because what happens is have you ever had a situation where somebody hurts someone you knew and then you were trying to comfort them so now you're mad at this person and then a little bit later on that person forgave the one that hurt him but you're still mad at that person because they hurt the person that you love but what Paul assent look if he forgave her then you got to forgive her - if she forgave him then why you still hold him again if she forgave him and he didn't cause you pain then you should forgive him in other words don't stay locked in the dungeon of unforgiveness because he goes on to say that Satan might outwit you because we are not unaware of his schemes in other words if you continue to persist and unforgiveness then Satan can get into your life to such a degree that bitterness will creep deep down in your soul and end up imprisoning you more than them so you forgive them because you've been forgiven by God but also because if you don't the enemy can get involved and mess up you spirit and what the enemy would like to do is have a community of people who have been forgiven by God but are still locked in the dungeon of unforgiveness in their own relationships that way he can create division within your family and division within your friendships and division within your life group and division within your ministry and division within your church and so he wants a bunch of Christians who are worshiping that Jesus who forgave them not to extend the same forgiveness to other people so that the power of God that could be released through that people will never find its way to fruition with the enemy wants us to be locked down by our own unforgiveness and he wants our pain to turn on us instead of us turning our pain into something that God can use for his purpose and so what text is teaching us today is that we have power to comfort power to intercede but we also have power to forgive and free other people see in times of sin and hurt we we actually have the power to free other people from the guilt and from the shame but the reality is some of us want people to stay in that guilt and shame because they hurt us they hurt someone we love but God is teaching us today that Satan can use that to bring division and cause you to be imprisoned yourself Paul says if you forgave them I'll forgive them let's all be a forgiving people otherwise the enemy can use that as a foothold to get into our families and into our lives so these aspects of power that have been given to every believer are right in front of us and Paul teaches us that this power that comes from Christ is available to us and there are three aspects of power that every believer possesses the power to comfort and intercede the power to forgive and free others third finally we have power to demolish strongholds if you'll keep flipping through your Bible over to chapter 10 of this same book 2nd Corinthians chapter 10 let me read to you these verses so you can see it for yourself the Apostle Paul says for though we live in the world we do not wage war as the world does the weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world on the contrary they have divine power to demolish strongholds we demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ with the Apostle Paul is teaching us is that we actually have the power to demolish strongholds when we are in spiritual battle we have the power to demolish the enemy who's coming against us trying to hold us in bondage and every thought and every idea that deceive people and lead them away from the faith every false teaching and false teacher must be refuted every thought of the enemy must be rebuked that he puts into your mind and in my mind and we must take those thoughts and bring it up under the authority of Christ now we're under Christ authority so when we speak in Jesus's name that means that we're under the authority of Jesus and so whenever we capture and pit up under the authority of Jesus must then bow to Jesus therefore whenever something comes against you that is evil when you rebuke it in the name of Jesus and refute it in the name of Jesus you can literally demolish strongholds that are coming on your family that are coming in your life and that are coming towards your soul even your mind this is important to understand because you have to believe it in order to achieve it if you don't believe it then you'll never exercise the power that God has provided for every believer the reason why some believers can't live the victorious Christian life is because they actually don't believe what I'm saying they believe that God loves them and that God's grace is sufficient but they do not believe that God has actually invested in them a divine power to do what God has given them the authority to do but you actually have the authority that God is giving you and if you will exercise it you will see that it will come to be and so you have the power as a believer and as believers together where two or three are gathered we have the power to demolish strongholds just a couple of Sunday's ago after one of the services the earlier services I was out front in the lobby where I meet people just out here to the to the right and a woman was dealing with tremors in her body and she came to me and say I have anxiety I have PTSD and I have tremors and I'm anxious but I feel like I'm supposed to come and you're supposed to pray for me may I touch your shoulder I asked he said sure I said let me pray for you and as I begin to pray for her as the Lord was just giving me the words to pray she began to shake even harder and she began from head to toe this small gal began to shake so violently that it was shaking me as a big man and at that time as I was praying over her God gave me uh Tourette's and brought to my mind Psalm 46:10 and so I began to speak that out be still and know that I am God be still and know that I am God be still and know that I am God in her tremors begin to settle and she began to slow from her head to her feet she just stood in peace and I said it has left you the tremors have left you they're gone go in peace and whenever something feels like it's coming back to attack you that's your verse Psalm 46:10 you quote it be still and know that I am God you take authority over anything that's coming towards you like this she walked away in peace and then just this make week service I saw her she was lifting her hands in worship and after worship was over at our Wednesday night Alive service she came up to me she said I want I want it I want to tell you something that's how you doing and she says I have never gone without symptoms more than three days and this is day 10 this is day 10 she said dr. Anderson I went to the doctor and the doctor examined my body and she said there's no more trauma in your body something happened to you she says I've been in therapy for 14 years it's something like this has never happened to me I'm telling you it's not because of me it's not because of you it's because the power of God has been released to people who actually believe that there is power in the name of Jesus there's power in the word of God and if you will speak it and believe it in faith God will do it now God is God all by himself he's sovereign so he can choose not to do it he can choose to say my grace is sufficient you're gonna keep that thorn but we don't always know why things are happening but we do know that if we and ask him he told us this truth as well that we have power to demolish strongholds so who knows what is holding you that's from the devil side but we have the power to break it but you've got to be willing to believe that the God who knows how to break the chains can make them fall in Jesus's name when two or three are gathered together in his name he can do it he's still the god of miracles he's still the God who can change your situation but you've got to believe it the reality also is some people don't even believe in Satan you know they don't believe in demons not only you have some people don't believe God can still heal but you have some people who don't believe in and Satan but they believe in God they don't believe in demons but they believe in angels how convenient I sister believe all the things that we feel good to us but I'm here to let you know and I'm here to expose the enemy today to let you know demons are indeed fallen angels who were cast out of heaven along with Satan revelations chapter 12 verses 7 to 8 demons serve Satan and try to lure people into sin revelation 12:9 Satan is known as the small G god of this age in this very book 2nd Corinthians chapter 4 verse 4 first Peter 5:8 says that he prowls around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour demons are described in Scripture as in pure spirits marked 127 as deceiving spirits first Kings 22 23 in Ephesians 6:12 says they are the power of this dark world and the spiritual forces of evil demons can possess people causing them physical harm and spiritual harm Matthew 12:22 and mark 5 verses 1 through 20 in the same book 2nd Corinthians 4:4 we see that demons can blind the MA of unbelievers so they cannot see the light of the gospel demons can deceive people by listen from the same book disguising themselves as Angels of Light 2nd Corinthians chapter 11 verses 14 and 15 so demons are real no we don't have to fear demons because remember the God who lives in us gives us the power the divine power but remember that power has to be tapped into and we have to actually believe it you resist the devil and he will flee from you and it's not our power it's the power of Christ the reality is while demons are real I can be honest with you here we can't blame all of our mess on demons we can't always say what the devil made me do it friends sometimes it's not the enemy sometimes it's the enemy enemy sometimes it's our own flesh our own anger our own pride our own lust but whether it's the world the flesh or the devil God gives us power to help us deal with the issues that come against our lives but suffering is not always from the enemy hate to tell you this but sometimes suffering is ordained and permitted by God himself how can I explain this because you know good and evil are so close God and Satan are so close in proximity even Paul said whenever I try to do good evil is present right there with me maybe I can explain like this when they sacrificed animals in the Old Testament an unclean animal could not be sacrificed only an animal that was ceremonially ceremonially clean could be sacrificed when we get saved we are cleansed by the blood of the Lamb we are cleansed by God so in a sense only people who are cleansed can suffer for God that means that when you're saved listen to me you become eligible to suffer for Christ you now can become a sacrifice for Christ a living sacrifice when you are saved you become qualified and eligible to suffer for Christ an unclean animal cannot be sacrificed only a clean animal can be sacrificed and only someone who's cleansed by God is eligible to even suffer for him maybe the power in our pain comes from when we say God thank you that I'm even worthy to suffer for you maybe my pain is what God is using to bring me closer to him but also as a ministry to other people maybe pain is something that God is actually and trusting us with because he believes that you can handle it with him that you will steward what he has placed on your lap as difficult as it is it doesn't seem like a blessing does it but if you look at Scripture think about somebody like Jobe it's not like Satan was far away God and Satan are talking and it's not like Satan said you know there's Jobe over there let me beat up on him for a while that's not what happened have you read the text God said to Satan hey have you considered my servant job what have you considered my servant job like God is serving job up because God knows that over all he can trust job with this paint and do you know that he allowed as he said you take everything about his life and Satan took everything all his possessions all his children his health he was bankrupt Satan took everything but his wife we're talking about suffering today friends god I could serve up a few things that you can take God took away everything but left is why if he was saying why don't you just curse God and die all the things that I am assuming that he was thinking that never said that made it to Scripture but God said hey have you you considered my servant job and here's the thing all the other things happen outside of his body until his body was touched his body was touched like a thorn in the flesh now his body is touched being bankrupt is one thing losing your houses is one thing even losing your children it's one thing all that's bad but when your body is touched that is a connection between you and God that is crazy because that's inside of you it doesn't matter whether you're rich or poor it doesn't matter whether you're black white asian Hispanic whether you're young or old when your body is touched you turn to the God who created your body and even people who didn't believe in God call out to God when their bodies touched can't stand watching a chaplain walk through the hospital until you're in the hospital and your bodies touch all of a sudden that you want the chaplain to be your friend people will call on a pastor who's Church they will never darken the door of until their body is touched because regardless of where you are in your station of life life regardless of what zip codes you come from when your body is touched that's the moment where God says now maybe just maybe I can talk to you now maybe I can connect with you in your body in a way that you've never connected with me before this is the only way that we can go to the next dimension it's the only way that we can go to the next level the question is if God touched your body in order to touch your soul would that be okay with you even Jakob before his name was changed the angel had to touch his hip and he ended up having a limp but he had a physical ailment but at the same time he was promoted to a new name and a new dimension of connection with God and His purpose went to another level when his body was touched Paul had a thorn in the flesh Jacob had his hip touched job had his health and then in a New Testament you had the man born blind and John 9 remember him man born blind the disciples asked Jesus rabbi who who sent this man or his parents that he was born blind neither this man nor his parents said Jesus but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life Wow if God wanted to know you he would have to send someone in bodily form and he sends his son Jesus and bodily form and they crucified his body when we eat the bread we are eating his body there's something about your body where you can discover God in a way that otherwise you'd not be able to discover him and I'm not telling you that I want my body at all to go through pain I'm not saying that I want pain in my life I'm not saying any of that I'm just telling you the reality if I've got to go through it I'd rather go through it with God then with help God I'd rather go through the pain with God I'd rather go through the difficulty with God I'd rather go through the blindness with God I'd rather go through the wreck of a hip with God I'd rather go through a thorn with God God all I need to know is that you have a purpose God all I need to know is that your power is being made perfect in my weakness God all I have to know is that you have ordained this I don't want it if you were Dane my pain at least I know my pain won't be wasted God turned my weakness and to my witness turn my pain into my power turn my struggle into my strength turn my story into my stage God if I gotta go through it then use me Lord use me use my life because when I get to the other side I want to hear you say well done that I could and I faithful servant job was able to get double for his trouble when it was all over Satan did not win Jesus says the Paul my grace is sufficient for you for my power is made perfect in your weakness but do you believe this weekend I was with a pastor he started his church 44 years ago and he passed a church on to his son who's now the pastor and he's the man's a pastor emeritus and him and his son and I were together and they were telling me the story about how their church started Washington Christian Center and Temple Hills Maryland and the the father was saying that 44 years ago he was a dentist and never in ministry like that and some crisis happened to their family and the wife ended up needing to have back surgery and that was like a big crisis for them because the doctor says she might not ever walk again and after the surgery the the father you know her husband goes home it's on honey I'll see you tomorrow she's in recovery about an hour later she calls and says you need to come back to the hospital cuz cuz I'm gonna go walk in oh no no you know you can't you can't walk it's gonna be it's gonna be a few weeks before we can get the therapy and stuff you can't walk and they say you may not ever walk again she said you need to come back so he comes back it's one o'clock in the morning to call the doctor he says why ain't calling a doctor 1:00 in the morning call a doctor so he calls the doctor tells the doctor to come on in because she's about to walk doctor said I'm not coming and I'll see y'all on Monday hour later the doctor shows up and get the nurses she says God told me to walk so I'm gonna walk and so they help her get out the bed and she said when her feet hit the ground she felt strength going into her legs she felt strength going into her legs and she stood up and she was able to walk he said that so touched him that he realized God was trying to take him and his wife to another dimension spiritually and so he started a Bible study him and his wife for themselves he said in their own home just to get closer to God other people started other people started coming and that was the genesis of their church that had started and I was saying that how many people came to know the Lord how many marriages and how many young people were served because of this church over the last 44 years and God saw your mother pastor and your wife pastor emeritus as worthy to be touched in her back so that this church could be started are you worthy to have pain in your body for Christ none of us want it but maybe we flip the script and see that maybe it's actually a gift from God let me give you just a few practical applications I want you to get them down and then we'll bring it to a close there are four of them number one you ready thank God for and in your pain thank God for and in your pain that's not easy but start thanking him for it god I don't know what you're doing here but I just want to thank you because I know you're with me and in the midst of it I know your grace is sufficient god it is counter-intuitive to thank you for the pain but like paul now i will delight in my weaknesses now I understand there's a purpose here's the second thing pray for others who are in pain pray for others who are in pain remember where two or three are gathered if someone's in pain once you pray with them pray for them that God would give them peace the God would give them deliverance that God would give them perspective even in the midst of the pain that they are in God's called us to this here's number three exercise your power to forgive those who have caused pain somebody say Amen that's a hard one that's why I wanted you to say Amen and faith exercise your power to forgive those who have caused pain for some of you this is what you need to hear today you're holding on to somebody in the dungeon of unforgiveness this is the day you let them go send them over to God let God handle them vengeance is mine sayeth the Lord that's probably not the right voice to quote you they're probably engines an operate for them alright yeah I'll forgive them God you get them pray for him I know it's not easy but the power to forgive is just something like this dear lord help me to forgive them today I make a decision to forgive them I turn them over to you now Lord kill them in the name of Jesus I pray [Music] anybody else I get it I understand I understand we're not gonna pray those prayers right right here's the last one practice your power to demolish strongholds by refuting the enemy let me say it again practice your power to demolish strongholds by refuting the enemy the enemy comes your way you can actually practice this by by refuting him by rebuking him you don't have to take everything that comes your way you know I know one gal she doesn't use spiritual language she just says you know what I don't have any energy I'm how she put it I'm not gonna give any energy to that that was one way to say it I'm not gonna give any energy to that you know no I'm not gonna entertain that yeah if somebody ever come to you with some stuff just trying to draw you into some drama you know what you could use spiritual language if you want I rebuke you in the name of yeah but you know that doesn't always come across well or you know Satan get the hints behind me you know that doesn't always work well but there are other ways that you can still say the same thing without calling the seaton you start rebuking stuff and offending people just be like you know what I can't get with that right now now you know what you're saying you're saying Satan get thee hence behind me you're saying resist the devil and he will flee and and all that but you gotta say it in a way that is not gonna injure them at the same time you know what I can't get with that right now practice your power to demolish strongholds by refuting the enemy Paul had this thorn and Paul's thorn in his flesh some people believe it was blindness we don't know that for sure it could have been though because remember he was blinded when he was knocked off his horse on the road to Damascus so that's why some theologians thank that but if it was blindness again we don't know but if it was blindness then the last couple verses I'm gonna read to you before I end the message right now kind of have a different twist to it listen Paul says in 2nd Corinthians 4:16 therefore do not lose heart though outwardly we are wasting away yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day for our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all so fix so we fix our eyes not on what is seen but on what is unseen for what is seen is temporary but what is unseen is eternal and in Romans 8:18 it says our present sufferings are not even worth being compared to the future glory that will be revealed in us I don't know what you're going through but I can tell you what if you're faithful in the midst of it God will deliver you either on this side or on the other side but most of all when you go into the kingdom look for the Lord to say well done my good and faithful servant now after somebody in the auditorium today maybe even online and you can write on Facebook live there that needs prayer for healing of your body healing of your body if you can stand then stand to your feet now [Laughter] [Music] healing in your body now here's the thing I can't pray alone it says we're two or three are gathered right so if you're around somebody who's standing if you can just extend a hand and agree with me in prayer let's Circle them up a little bit a touch of if they say it so you're allowed to touch them if not just kind of lift a hand over them but I don't want to pray by myself I need your agreement and I don't want anybody standing alone so let's be a real congregation we don't have prayer service for two minutes so do you see anybody who's standing alone get to them please I see some sisters over here sometimes you get prayed for sometimes you do the praying we're gonna pray for you we're not gonna leave you alone anybody else need to stand okay dear God the people who have now stood are standing in the presence of the Assembly of the righteous because they are humbling themselves and they're actually believing that you are the God who still does miracles that you are the God who still Jehovah Rapha the God who heals and so right now Lord whether it's disease whether it's disease whether it's aches or pains I am praying for a reversal in the name of Jesus that every cell and every molecule would come under the obedience of Christ and that you would deliver them even in the midst of their pain but we pray that you would begin healing them even now even now Lord even before the benediction is given Lord begin to heal them from the top of their head to the soles of their feet lord I pray that your spirit would give them peace in the midst of whatever it is they're going through Lord somebody here is not only dealing with physical pain but because of their health condition financially they are broken I pray God that you would provide everything they need to pay for every medical bill every bottle of medicine that the anxiety of not having that would now no longer captivate their minds that you are not only Jehovah Rapha but you are Jehovah Jireh the Lord will provide and so God right now as they turn their hands to the heavens we pray that you would send your healing down in the name of Jesus we pray oh and then Lord I want to pray against the enemy in their life that the blood of Christ would cover their home and would cover their body and symbolically I put the cross over their body right now Lord and I pray that the blood of Christ would cover them that the enemy would be evicted from their body from their household and that you would command your angels concerning them that they will now be protected Lord that a hedge would be about them in their family and that the enemy will have no access anymore that you would demolish every stronghold that you'd shut the door on every foothold that Lord Jesus the enemy would no longer have dominion over their life over their body over their health over their finances God that they would be free in the name of Jesus and every chain would fall and every curse would be broken and Jesus's name we pray amen and amen come on let's give God glory for what's being released in the house of the Lord [Music] go ahead and stand to your feet as I dismiss you I get a sense that what we have to do right now is praise God at a level that commands every demon to leave this situation right now in the unseen world right now you are not welcome in the house of God right here right now God inhabits the praises of his people let everything that has breath praise the Lord no matter what's going on in my body if I have breath I will praise the name of Jesus giving God the glory and now if you're in this house and you've never received Jesus Christ as your Lord and as your savior the house has been cleansed now this is your moment God is drawing you to himself all you have to do is say yes to the Lord he's asking you come son come daughter give your life to me if that is you then I want you to slip by the person next to you and I actually want you to come down to the altar if God is calling you not if I'm calling you but if God is calling you just tell your neighbor excuse me I've got to make my way to the altar I want to accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior who am I talking to [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] who else am I talking to god bless you God bless you the best decision you ever made cross over from death to life I'm so proud of you who else come on come on come on I want to accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior and I don't want this moment to pass me by today is the day of salvation if that is you if God is calling you not me if God is calling you then just slip out and come to the front right now is there anybody else is there anybody in this section you don't know Jesus as your Lord and Savior and the Holy Spirit is calling you say yes to the Lord and come on down you will not regret it [Music] anybody in this section going once going twice up there in the rafters don't let him tell you you're too far away we will wait for you if you are there and God is calling you say yes to the Lord and come on down we would pray this prayer together and you will cross over from death to life new life is yours lastly anybody in this middle section we done I don't know why I keep going over here there's one more opportunity is there anybody in this section God is calling you to be saved okay this is what we're gonna do oh come on young man come on this is what we're gonna do I'm just gonna say a prayer okay and you can you can pray with me I'm gonna say a prayer to accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior you just repeat after me pray your own words if you want to but the scripture says if you believe this in faith you will cross over from death to life that you will be his you will be born again as a child of God if you were to die today you'd spend the rest of your eternity in heaven with Almighty God once you believe this so let's pray together in church would you just pray with me say dear Jesus I invite you into my life to be my Lord and Savior forgive me for my sins save me today thank you for dying on the cross for me and rising again from the dead thank you for my new salvation Jesus amen and amen all right praise God welcome I'm proud of you man welcome welcome welcome come on we can do better than that the angels in heaven the angels in heaven are celebrating [Music] so make sure you get some information from our Usher's don't lose track of these folk you can always stop by the connexion corner we want to make sure you get all the information that you need okay and people have been trained to walk with you let me dismiss you in the name of Jesus Heavenly Father I dismiss your children in the name of Jesus with the peace and the power of the Lord Jesus Christ you are dismissed [Music]

Channel: Bridgeway Community Church

Views: 660

Rating: 4.6363635 out of 5

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Id: cCzW3ubb2b8

Length: 59min 39sec (3579 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 24 2019