Healing

Let's turn in our Bibles to Acts chapter 9, we're going to get back into the book of Acts today. A lot of the scripture, God has given us a New Testament scripture and I think that I should emphasize New Testament theology. Hebrews chapter 1 says, God who at sundry times and diverse manners, vacant time passed unto the fathers, has in these last days spoken unto us by his Son.

I appreciate the prophets and all that they spoke and we can learn a lot from them. But God in these last days is speaking to us through his Son and in preaching through the New Testament. One of the things I've preached many, many times is on the subject of healing.

And I do that because I preach through the Bible verse by verse and there's a lot of healing in the New Testament. If you follow the life of Jesus, nearly every chapter in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John has some reference to healing. Healing.

Yes, there's a need for spiritual healing. We talk a lot about that. There's a lot of things in the scripture that deal with, a lot of stories in the scripture that deal with physical healing.

And I know maybe some of you struggle with that subject. I struggle with it. And I maybe struggle with it because of the condition of the church.

We're living in the last days and we don't see a lot of healing. Yet when you open your Bibles and read it, you see a lot of it. You see a lot of healing from the Lord Jesus.

Also here in the book of Acts, we've already seen a number of miraculous healings. And they're at the gate as he enters into the gate in Jerusalem. And at different times people are being healed.

I preached through the book of Mark a number of years ago. Just healing it, healing it, healing it, healing it. And I spent a lot of time on healing.

But I will acknowledge it's one of the more difficult subjects to talk about. And we've come here to Acts chapter 9. And you find another account here, actually two accounts of individuals being healed. And the one is actually an account of the raising from the dead.

So I'm going to read those accounts. Then I'm going to talk some about healing. And we're going to look at a few lessons from both of these accounts.

They're very similar, seem to have the same lesson, one of them. So let me start here in Acts chapter 9, verse 32. And it came to pass as Peter passed throughout all the quarters.

He is moving outside of Jerusalem here. He came down also to the saints which dwelt at Lydda. And there he found a certain man named Aeneas which had kept his bed eight years and was sick of the palsy.

I think he paralyzed in some way. And Peter said unto him, Aeneas, Jesus Christ maketh thee whole. Arise and make thy bed.

And he arose immediately. And all that dwelt in Lydda and Saron saw him and turned to the Lord. It had an amazing effect on people.

Now there was at Joppa a certain disciple named Tabitha. These are about 25 or 30 miles from Jerusalem. Which by interpretation is called Dorcas.

This woman was full of good works and alms deeds which she did. And it came to pass in those days that she was sick and died. Whom when they had washed, they laid her in an upper chamber.

And for as much as Lydda was nigh to Joppa and the disciples had heard that Peter was there, they sent unto him two men desiring him that he would not delay to come to them. Then Peter arose and went with them. When he was come, they brought him into the upper chamber.

And all the widows stood by him weeping and showing the coats and garments which Dorcas made while she was with them. But Peter put them all forth and kneeled down and prayed. And turning him to the body said, Tabitha, arise.

And she opened her eyes. And when she saw Peter, she sat up. And he gave her his hand and lifted her up.

And when he had called the saints, widows presented her alive. And it was known throughout all Joppa certainly. And many believed in the Lord.

Again, this has an effect upon people's hearts. And it came to pass that he married many days in Joppa with one Simon, a tanner. Heavenly Father, we thank you this morning for the good word of God that we've already heard and the sufferings of Jesus and the fact that by his stripes we are healed.

And all that that he went through, he went through to heal us, not only spiritually but our souls and even our bodies, Lord. And we thank you that you love us, care for us, Lord. And so help me and help us, Lord.

I pray for faith again to rise up in our hearts. And may the Spirit of God use your word here to quicken us and make us alive. Perfect.

Pray. Well, I said this before that I truly believe that healing is in the atonement. That when Jesus died on the cross, by his stripes we are healed.

And I understand that to mean that, you know, ultimately here, every one of you are going to have a healed body. Every one of you are going to be healed. You're going to have a changed body.

We think of it as a new body, but it's actually going to be a changed body. That body that you have will be changed in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye, and it will put on incorruption. So that change was purchased by the Lord Jesus Christ when he died on the cross.

And so in truth, ultimately, we're all going to get a new body. But the Bible also teaches us that God has healing for us now. And even as you go on in the Scriptures, in the book of 1 Corinthians, the Bible talks about the gifts, the gifts of the Spirit.

And one of those gifts is the gift of healing. So when God blesses a church, he blesses his people, he puts in there those who have the gift of healing. So it's the will of God.

It's the mind of God to heal. James chapter 5. I want to just read that one to you. You probably have that in memory, but it says, Is any among you afflicted? Let him pray.

Is any merry? Let him sing songs. Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing with oil in the name of the Lord, and the prayer of faith shall save the sick. But it says, The prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up.

Now it's the will of God in many instances, I believe, for the Lord to raise people up. And if he has committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that you may be healed.

There's healing again. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. And so here it's revealed, even in James' epistle, that it is God's heart for us to have healing.

It's his will, it's his desire for us to have our bodies healed. I believe that. And I know there's not always that way, and there are situations.

The apostle Paul, he appealed to the Lord for a thorn in his flesh. There's a lot of debate about what that thorn is. But I will say this with regards to that, and I've been trying to think through this and study this subject.

But I do believe that God placed upon his heart, Saul was a man who had needs. He had infirmities, he said, and he went to the Lord to get healed. And so in Saul's heart, when he has infirmity, he says, I'm going to go to the Lord, and I'm going to trust the Lord to heal me.

So even Saul, even Paul has a desire, and that desire, I think, comes from the Lord. In James here we're told that sickness oftentimes, not always, I have to say this, not always, sin is a sin issue. By the way, sin is what brought sickness into the world anyway.

No sin, there'd be no sickness. No sin, there'd be no death. But sin sometimes brings sickness.

You know, there in 1 Corinthians 11, they had the Lord's Supper like us here, and instead of doing it reverently, instead of doing it with fear, they mocked, and they made a feast out of it, and they ridiculed the Lord's Supper. And the Bible says many were sick, and many died because of their irreverence towards the Lord's Supper. And so sickness sometimes causes, excuse me, sin sometimes causes sickness.

You remember when the men opened up the roof, and they let that man down in his bed and right in Jesus' presence, and Jesus healed the man? And the Lord said in that healing, He said, well, it's easier to say, thy sins be forgiven thee, or to say, take up thy bed and walk. Very simple. Sin and sickness oftentimes go hand in hand.

So we can all acknowledge here that the wages of sin is death, and yes, we're not going to be delivered from some of the wages of sin until the resurrection. There in the resurrection in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? There is a victory that comes at the resurrection when all sin and all death is removed. And yes, that's the final stage of healing.

But I do believe that it's God's will for us to find healing according to His purposes and will. And if you go through the New Testament, that's what we're doing. If you go through the book of Acts, there is healing all over.

I mean, I'm amazed at how we look at the Bible, you know, head covering is mentioned one time in the Bible in 1 Corinthians 11, healing is probably mentioned 100 times, and yet we give far much more emphasis on the head covering than we do on healing. There are certain aspects that we just, this is something that God says is a big issue, and He puts it in the Bible often. So we should consider it, I think, a little bit more seriously.

Now, I try to understand why we don't see healing as much as we should, and I'm going to go back. I'd like you to turn with me to Luke chapter 4, and I think our biggest issue is a human issue. It's us.

It's not the Lord's issue. It's more our issue. And when Jesus came the first time, He had an issue with the people, and He wanted to heal the people, but He couldn't.

And I believe this issue is the same issue that we have today. Jesus said it this way, When the Son of Man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth? In other words, we're living in days where there is very little true faith to be healed. Now, you're going to get angry with me.

I'll tell you what, I'm going to read a passage, and they got angry with Jesus, saying these very things. Let's look here in Luke chapter 4, starting in verse number 20. I think Brother David brought this out last week.

Jesus has handed the book of Isaiah, and He's going to preach in His hometown here in Nazareth, where He was brought up. He does this. He has a little message.

He reads from Isaiah, and then verse 20, it says, He closed the book, and He gave it again to the minister, and sat down, and the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on Him. And He began to say unto them, This day the Scripture is fulfilled in your ears. And all of them bear Him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth.

And they said, Is not this Joseph's son? And He said unto them, He was surely saying to Me, this proverb, Physician, heal thyself. Whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also hear in thy country. So as Jesus is there, He says, The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me.

And one of the things the Spirit of the Lord wants to do is heal. And they had heard that Jesus was healing multitudes of people in Capernaum, which is many miles away up in Galilee. And so He comes down to the hometown of Nazareth, and He says, Physician, why don't you start in your hometown? Heal thyself first.

Come on, let's see some healing right here in your hometown. As you did in Capernaum, do also here. And in verse 24 He says, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country.

Now this is really important because I've shared this before, but here is Jesus. They say, This is Joseph's son. He is not a great man.

He is not a great prophet. He cannot do these things. And the very fact that they knew Him, and He was familiar with them, caused them to have little or no faith in their heart that anything could be done.

You know, that's why it is when we call some outside preacher to come in, it seems to work out a lot better than the preacher who is here every week because you know me, you know my faults, and it's oftentimes harder to accept something that I say to you but bring in someone from South Africa, someone that we've never seen before, and somehow this person, we open up our hearts to. Well, Jesus is here in His hometown, and there is not that in-the-heart excitement and anticipation of what God is going to do. There is doubt.

Oh, what can He do? We know Him. He's Joseph's son. He can't do anything.

He doesn't. That's something we've got to be careful of. God can't do it.

Here in our church. Oh, who could do it? He could. And yes, you know, we can believe on the Lord Jesus for salvation, but we struggle in other areas of life.

Let's keep reading here, and he gives them some examples. In verse 25, But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land. But unto none of them was Elijah sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow.

So he calls them to remembrance about the times during Elijah when the heavens were shut up. There was no rain for three, three and a half years, and widows suffered. Widows were suffering greatly during that time.

And the story here, and you can read it in the Old Testament, Elijah comes upon this widow, and this widow is in Sidon. That's a Gentile city. That's a Gentile town.

And here this widow has enough faith in God and in Elijah's ability to feed her miraculously that the Lord does a miracle for her. Of course, if you're a Jew, and especially down there around Jerusalem and Nazareth, you know, okay, what are you saying? Saying that this woman has more faith than we do? Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying. And then to provoke them a little further, he gives another one, verse 27, and many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elijah the prophet, and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian, this Gentile Syrian.

And there was many lepers that walked around in Israel in Elijah's day, but none of them were healed. It wasn't God's fault, was it not His will for them to be healed? All over the place there were lepers. None of them were healed except one guy, and he's a Gentile, a dog.

Yet he's got enough faith. It wasn't a lot, enough faith. I believe God put him on a wash in that river.

Like Jesus. And so Jesus brings up these accounts as he is there in the hometown, and he shows them why things are not happening for you here in Nazareth. And if you go to the Matthew account, you'll find that Jesus says this regarding this story.

He says, He did not many mighty works because of their unbelief. I think that's one of the greatest challenges that we face as a church. I think we need to get a hold of what real faith is.

I've preached on this many times, but even in revival meetings I love preaching on that subject because real faith has to move past God can to God will. God can. We all know that God can, but it has to move past that to God's God will.

And see, here's the thing that God shows us over and over in the Bible. He uses the examples in Hebrews chapter 11, but many examples of God coming to a Noah and saying, Noah, build me a boat. I'm going to have a flood.

And Noah's never seen it rain. But Noah says God is going to do it. He doesn't question it.

He says, God said it. It's going to happen. It's just going to happen.

He spends his whole life building a boat. And if you'd have walked up to Noah one day and said, Noah, is there going to be a flood? He wouldn't have said, well, if the Lord will. He already knew the Lord.

He'd say, you better believe it. Me and my children are spending all our life building this boat. You better believe it.

I mean, I wouldn't be doing it if I wasn't convinced. And God says, that's what faith is. Faith is not this wishy-washy stuff.

So you have faith, the definition, it is the confident expectation of those things that God promised. It's the substance. Abraham's a good example.

He's used, again, in Hebrews chapter 11. And you go through that whole chapter. These people were not wishy-washy.

You know, God said to Abraham, I'm going to give you a son. I've told this story before, but when Abraham leaves that place and someone stops Abraham along the way and says, Abraham, are you going to have children? Abraham says, yeah, I'm going to have children. There's no doubt about it.

Is that pride? No, it's not pride. It's believing what God promised you. How many of you believe you're going to have eternal life? You know, it's interesting.

We could believe that one. God said, I'm going to have eternal life. So, hey, that's it.

I'm going to have eternal life. And so, one of the things that's difficult, I think, for us, is to really grasp what faith is. That woman, and many, many examples, that woman, Jesus, it says in her heart, the Lord tells us, in her heart, she said, if I may be able to touch the hem of his garment, I shall.

No doubt about it. She knew that as soon as she touched it. We need that faith to believe that God said something.

How many of you believe when God says something, it's done, right? His promises are yea and amen. You know what amen means? So be it. And that's a good faith to have, that so be it faith.

Well, he gives these two examples. In verse 28, it says, and all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath. You know, it was convicting.

He was telling them they didn't have much faith, and they rose up and thrust him out of the city and led him into the brow of the hill wherein their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong. They were angry. The fact that their heart was exposed for not having faith.

And then he goes back to Capernaum. This is amazing. And this is not the message here, but look at verse 31.

He came down to Capernaum, the city of Galilee, and taught them in the Sabbath. Starting in verse 33, a devil was cast out, jumped down to verse 38, and he arose out of the synagogue and entered into Simon's house. And Simon's wife's mother was taken with great fever, and they besought him for her.

And he stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her, and immediately she arose. Verse 40, now when the sun was setting, all they that had sick with diverse diseases brought them unto him, and he laid his hands on every one of them and healed them. I mean, he gets out of Nazareth, evidently where there's very little faith.

He does hardly anything there. Then he goes back to Capernaum where they have an expectation that he can do amazing things. He does amazing things.

You know, the truth of the matter is this. The Lord had a man in front of him, a blind man. The blind man said to him, Lord, that I might see what happened.

Jesus said to him, if thou believe. And it's hard to get away from that. If thou believe.

What does it say? All things are possible if thou believe. So when I am in my own personal life or when I try to teach the Scriptures, I just want to make sure that we have the right standard here, confidence, expectation. Let me just say this.

If God says something, you can bank on it. Bank on it. And I know sometimes it's hard to understand what God's will and what his word is, but just a reminder that God's word is true, and we can stand on it and believe it.

I'll read to you another passage here in Matthew chapter 17. You don't have to turn there. And I'm going to get back to Acts here, but I want to lay this out first of all.

Matthew chapter 17, verse 14. It says they're coming down from the Mount of Transfiguration. There's a demonic man there.

It says in verse 16, And I brought him to thy disciples. This man is talking about this stun that he has, and the disciples couldn't cast him out. And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him.

And then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you? Bring him hither to me. In other words, the problem here is a faithless and perverse generation. Jesus rebuked the devil, and he departed out of him, and a child was cured from that very hour.

Then came the disciples. Now think about this for a minute. These disciples in Matthew chapter 17, these disciples are the same disciples in Matthew chapter 10, seven chapters earlier, who were given power to cast out devils, to heal the sick, to raise the dead.

Matthew 10. I give you power. Go out into the cities.

Now these same disciples. You know some people have power. You know if you're a child of God, you have power.

All power is given to you. Heaven and earth go ye therefore. You shall receive power after the Holy Spirit has come upon you.

But anyway, here's what Jesus says. Why could we not cast him out? Because of your unbelief. And it all gets back down to that unbelief.

All things are possible in belief. And lack of belief. I have such a lack.

I'm like that man. Belief. I don't buy none.

Struggle. I've been struggling for 30 years to come and say anointing with oil. And I struggle to find my way in the subject.

But I see this over and over again. And I just can't get away from the reality of the Bible. So just because you were an apostle back then doesn't mean that having a healing or healing was a given.

You know, we think of other apostles. It was a given. No, even those apostles could not do things because of their own unbelief.

So let's go back here. I want to look at a couple of lessons now from Acts chapter 9 in these two stories of healing. The lesson I want you to see here is this.

Peter, the one who does the healing, even when there are other saints there. Now, both of these accounts, it's interesting to me. I try to put myself back in this story.

But in both of these accounts, this man that was paralyzed for eight years, he was sick of the palsy. He was in a group of believers. It says there, and it came to pass as Peter passed around all the quarters, he came on also to the saints, which dwelt at Lydda, and there he found a certain man named Aeneas.

So here is a man who is in the midst of believers. You say, well, why didn't these believers pray and get this man healed? But Peter has to come and heal. And this story again, and this woman, this Tabitha, that she's got saints around her.

And the saints call Peter. And so I ask this question, if I'm a friend of this Aeneas, and I'm a child of God, and I'm a friend of Tabitha, and I'm a child of God, why can't we help this man? But in the second instance here, they call Peter. Here, send two people over to get Peter.

And Peter comes. Well, you, and I'm trying to understand this, but you remember when we talked about two or three months ago about why the apostles had to come and lay hands and to give the Holy Spirit. And as the gospel is being spread forth further and further, there is order.

Remember, God is a God of order. He does all things by order. The Bible says he first gave apostles, then he gave prophets.

There's order. Then pastors and teachers, then evangelists, and the whole thing, it's in order. And so God is establishing his church, and he is laying it out in order.

Remember, the Bible says that Jesus Christ is the chief cornerstone, and the apostles are the foundation. Whenever you build a house, you start with the foundation. There's order.

What is happening here? So Peter, Peter is the one that's called because Peter has the blessing of God. God gave Matthew chapter 10 those 12 disciples power. He gave that to them because they were the foundation of the church.

Now, here's what I believe. I know this is a hard subject. I got this from the board.

I believe that Jesus Christ was the fullness of God in a human body. The Bible says that he was the fullness. And you see all the fullness of God.

You see him healing. You see wisdom. You see understanding.

You see power. I mean, you see everything in him. The fullness of God was in him bodily.

Well, he's leaving. The Bible says he ascends up. Then before he ascends, he gives those apostles power.

That power is now placed on the apostles. You see in the early church the sign, Paul says, of an apostle. You see that there is power.

And so Jesus Christ, when he was here, he represented the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Now, that fullness is given to the apostles. And you look at the book of Acts, and it's basically the life of Jesus.

The Acts of the apostles. Jesus raised the dead. Here we have a story of raised apostles.

Then it's interesting. I didn't see this this week, but those apostles then passed that down to the body of Christ. And I'd like you to look here at Acts chapter 6 once here.

We've gone through this, but I didn't comment on this when we went through it. In Acts chapter 6, starting in verse number 5. Now, this is the first example that we find of the apostles laying hands on someone. Acts chapter 6, starting in verse number 5. The ordination of some deacons.

Look what it says in Acts 6 verse 5. And the same pleased the whole multitude, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, and Philip, and Procorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicholas, a proselyte of Antioch, whom they set before the apostles. And when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them. So the apostles, these individuals right here.

Jesus gave the apostles power. The apostles now are the ones doing these amazing things. They lay hands.

It's interesting. They lay hands on these deacons. Look what happens.

What do they do after? It says in verse number 8, And Stephen, one of these men, full of faith and power, did great wonders, miracles among the people. Verse 10, And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake. Now look over at chapter 8 and what Philip is doing.

Philip is another man that just received the laying on of hands in Acts chapter 8, starting in verse 5. Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ. There's two men here, Stephen and Philip. And God gives us their examples.

And the people with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. For unclean spirits crying with a loud voice came out of many that were possessed with them, and many taken with palsies. This is the same man that we just saw healed.

Palsies, and that were lame, were healed. So here you have. And I think it's what God is showing us is this, that God deposited gifts, things, and apostles.

And the signs of the apostles were clear. And those apostles began to ordain, lay hands on individuals, and impart those things to others. Listen to what Paul told 1 Timothy 4. And some of these verses, you know, we just read them over.

We don't really think about them. It's maybe out of our realm a little bit. 1 Timothy 4, it says, Neglect not the gift that is in thee, Timothy, which was given thee by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the Presbyterians.

In other words, Timothy, you've got a gift, and that gift was given to you by the laying on of the hands of the Presbyterians. So spiritual endowment given here to Timothy. Don't neglect the gift.

Are we neglecting gifts? Don't neglect the gift. Do we really understand what's God's heart? And I'm still trying to understand all these things. But my understanding right now is this, that Jesus, as the fullness of the Godhead, he imparted those things to the apostles.

There was 11 of them. Then those apostles were to impart those things to the body of Christ. And this is Jesus.

This ought to represent Jesus. And guess what we ought to represent? We are the body of Christ. Let me ask you this.

If we're the body of Christ, should we not show all the body of Christ? I mean, why show Christ without arms? Why show Christ without limbs? Why show Christ without eyes? You know, when the Bible talks about the gifts of the spirit, it mentions these are the aspects of different members of the body. Not everybody's a foot. Not everybody's a hand.

Not everybody's an eye. I wonder if we take our body for Jesus. There's enough people here that we ought to represent Jesus in his fullness.

Do you agree with that? Okay. Those who neglect their gifts show a Jesus maybe with one eye or one leg. It's not the full manifestation who he is.

So we're not to neglect. And so Peter here in Acts, the story that we're reading, he's an apostle. He has been given gifts by the Lord, and these gifts are not in those that are in Joppa and Lydda, and so they call Peter, he's an apostle, you come and help us.

So Peter is the one who comes, lays his hands on these individuals. By the way, Peter, this is not new to him. In Matthew Chapter 10, when the Lord sent them out to preach, he said, I'm going to give you the power to cast out devils, to heal the sick, to raise the dead.

So he had probably raised the dead before. He had seen Jesus raise the dead at Lazarus' tomb. He was there when that little Jairus' daughter was raised from the dead, Saul.

You know, I think if we would have walked with Jesus and saw those things, then we'd have stood with Jesus when he had sent it up and said, you go and do these things. I think we'd have had a lot more faith. We'd have had an expectation.

Well, I'm to go forth. So the Lord here, he represents the fullness. Then he passes that on to the apostles.

See that in the beginning here of the book of Acts. And then the church begins to get involved. Philip, Ethan, men of faith and of power.

And I love when the Lord gave those gifts in Matthew Chapter 10. I love this statement. He says to them, freely, you finish this for me.

Freely you have received. Freely what? Freely, fellas. And he's talking there about I give you power to do this, to cast out devils, to raise the dead, to heal the sick.

And then the next sentence is freely you have received. Freely give. In other words, don't take it to yourself and hold it.

Freely give. And I know that has to do with go out and heal. If I give you that power, go heal.

Cast out devils. Go raise the dead. I believe Peter believed that.

He did that very thing right here. And I know it's hard to preach that in our day to day. Maybe you just think, well, that's something in the past.

It just needs to be left in the past, and nothing's going to happen like that in the future, and that's fine. I haven't been settled with that yet. You know, I'm going to stand and give an account of myself.

So I need to make sure that I'm settled with what I believe. Freely you have received. Heal the sick.

Cleanse the lepers. Raise the dead. Cast out devils.

Freely you have received. Freely give. And I know those things are true because I've experienced some of that.

So we can't say that there are no miracles today. I've seen miracles. My wife and I, we've seen miracles.

So we can't say there are no miracles. The question is, how many miracles does the Lord want? Little or many? I know this is not on subject of Matthew, but this was a clarifying statement many years ago, and I've run to it often, and I run to it this morning. Matthew 28 says this.

The moment where Jesus is going to impart to the apostles. And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and on earth. Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost.

And here's the important thing. You've heard me say this before. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.

Now let's just be Peter for a minute. You're in that group. Jesus says, Peter, go into all the world and preach the gospel.

Teach your converts after you've baptized them to obey everything, all things I have commanded you. That's very simple. It's nice and neat.

I like to be neat in my teaching and living. I like to have things in order. So Peter says, okay, Lord, I understand that everything you've commanded me, I'm supposed to command them.

Am I off there or what? Pretty simple, isn't it? Teach them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you. And so if I read in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John that Jesus commanded Peter to do something, then follow me. So many people today have this mindset.

Those apostles, some sort of special people, and they had certain commands, certain things to do, but we don't. There's a breakdown. Jesus taught them, follow me.

Apostles say to us, follow me. Remember what Paul said? Follow me as I what? Follow Christ. This is a succession here.

Everybody is to follow along. Follow the leader. So in the Bible, if God commands or the Lord commands his apostles, guess what? Those apostles will turn around and say, you're going to get commanded too if you're my confidant.

That makes it real simple. And so many people today are trying to figure out which commandments are for us. They're all for us.

If God gave commandment to Peter, Paul, John, James, that's for us. Teach them to observe all things. I think a lot of people think, well, those are apostles.

Those are special people. God spoke to them, gave them commandments, but we're just the regular generic run-of-the-mill Christian today. I don't believe that.

I don't believe that. And whenever I see God do great things, my heart rises up in faith. I love it.

I lay in bed at night or I'm meditating on this. You've seen me do this on occasion before. I remember telling you that something's going to happen here and stepping out in faith.

But there are times that I just feel like I just need to step out in faith like Peter and just expect God. I might surprise you. You're going to think this church is a radical Pentecostal.

But I think we're going to both stand. You know, it's one thing to say, Brother David was sharing here, I stand on the Word, but I'm going to be real secretive. Why don't we stand on the Word publicly, saying, I believe, therefore have I spoken.

You'll find the Bible, people who believe something, they speak it out. Jesus, just speak the Word, and my servant shall be. How many times have you heard that in your Christian life? And who has great faith? You know what the Lord said? I've not seen it.

Not only faith to believe, but faith to speak. Whew, I like that. Okay, so we're working through this here, and I put this equation up on the board.

I know I'm getting off track here, but this is what I believe is the truth. Jesus, the fullness of the Godhead, he imparts to the apostles. This is order.

Those apostles then begin to teach their converts, show them the way that they're walking. Follow me, Paul said, as I follow Christ. Some of you who know math, if A equals B, and B equals C, then A equals C. Right? I learned that in algebra.

A equals B, and B equals C, therefore A equals C. If the life of Jesus and the apostles, Jesus said, do as I do, follow me, and those apostles turned to us and said, everything God's commanded us, we need to command you, then we are supposed to be like Christ. A equals C. Does that make sense? Somewhere along the line, we've got this mindset that A equals B, but somehow the fusion here doesn't move to us. All right.

1 Peter 2 says this, for even here unto you are called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow in his steps. Remember when I was a little boy walking behind my dad, big boots in the snow, and you try to step in the same hole in the snow as you follow him, and that's how we're to do. We're to follow in his steps.

Follow the steps of the Lord Jesus Christ. What I commanded you, I command them. Now remember this, that commandments are not gifts.

Not everyone has always had the same gift, but we all have the same commandment. I don't have the same gift the apostles had, but I do have the same commandment. I don't want to limit anybody here because the Bible says covenants are no limitation.

I would love to have covenants. Let's go back here to Acts. I'm going to give you just a couple quick lessons here in Acts Chapter 9. The first lesson I wanted you to see here was the fact that even though there were brothers and sisters amongst these two that were healed, Peter was called, and I think it's the order of God.

Peter is an apostle. God had imparted those abilities. Can you imagine if on the day of Pentecost everyone who received the Holy Spirit walked around and started raising the dead? There would probably be like a little bit of wildfire.

But here are men who have walked with Jesus, who have spent three years, who have been taught by the Lord, and God imparts unto them the power and the responsibility to lay the foundation. Now they begin to lay hands on themselves. All of a sudden they start having power in their life like the apostles.

Well, let's look at another lesson here. I have three lessons. I've already given you one, but number two, I like this.

Verse 34, it says this, And Peter said unto him, Aeneas, Jesus Christ maketh thee whole. Arise and make thy bed. One thing that Peter does, he does it here and he does it over here.

Look down to verse 39. Then Peter arose and went with them when he was come. They brought him into the upper chamber, and all the widows stood by him, weeping and showing the coats and the garments which Dorcas made while she was with them.

But Peter put them all forth and kneeled down and prayed. And turning him to the body, he said, Tabitha, arise. She opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter, she sat up.

A couple of things about Peter which I like is Peter shows great humility. You know, many men, if they had these gifts, make a big show of them. Many men would take credit for them.

But when Peter comes to this man who is paralyzed, he has no part in it. He says, Jesus Christ makes you whole. I'm just a channel.

I have no glory, nothing. It's Jesus Christ makes you whole. Oh, Peter, Peter the great evangelist, Peter the man of great power, call him to come over here and help us with healing.

I'm here now. Let's have a meeting. Draw people together.

You know, I have these great... No, just now when he comes to this dead person, he calls to take everybody out. Goes in and prays. You don't have to have some big banner.

The humility of Peter. Not me. I'm just a vessel.

I think maybe sometimes that's what happens to us humans. If God blesses us, we get a little elevated in our minds and get a little proud. But Peter says, I just come in his name, just in his place.

I got a text from Valerie. She's not here. This morning, this week, and I thought it was really a good example.

But Valerie was using the church credit card to pick up some ink for the printer that she used to do the CDs. And she just shot me a little text. She didn't do this on purpose, I think.

But she says, Brother Jerry, I went and bought some ink in your name. She did it twice, and I paid for it in your name. That was good.

That's exactly right. I said, you stood for me in my place with my credit or the church's credit card, and you did something. And I was blessed with it.

Valerie says, text me next week, Jerry, I bought a new printer. We're going to have problems with it. You know why? So as long as she's doing the work, go in my name and purchase in person.

But don't do it for selfish reasons. You're going to get shut off. No more credit card use from you.

So when she says, I'm going in your name, she's saying, we're buying this for what? So there's no attempt here, and Peter's free for show. Remember in Jude, they speak great, swelling words, having men's admiration. Look at me, my great minister.

Not Peter. Pride is the self-exaltation. We all have that in our hearts.

Self-exaltation. Lucifer, we read this, I think it was last week. I will exalt myself.

I will ascend up. I will sit in the north. I will be like the most high.

Up, up, up, up, up. That spirit that is in us that wants to lift ourselves up in the eyes of others. But the Bible says Jesus came what? Humble.

And as we learned this morning, he came low as low. You can't get any lower than a worm, right? And that's the direction we're headed. But here's something beautiful.

This, 1 Peter chapter 5. Humble yourselves therefore unto the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you. You know, you can exalt you, or he can exalt you. Much better that he exalts you.

And by the way, that exalting may not be in the next ten minutes. You know, Jesus was mocked and ridiculed, yet he humbled himself. He became a worm, and it looked like days, days.

What's going on here? When's God going to? Days later, he exalted him. He praised him. Sometimes, you know, you get humbled, or somebody humbles you, and you get ridiculed, or you humble yourself, and you don't see exalting right away.

God will exalt you. That's the promise. And you say here, here's a good example.

Brother Jerry, how can you say that I can guarantee you God will exalt you? All of you agree with me. You can say that, can't you? Why? Because God said it. Move that over into healing.

Do you agree the same way? God said it. We just take for example. We just take for granted.

Yeah, God's going to raise us up. I trust you. Well, here's something else I want to close with.

I won't take long here. Third lesson, you see this in both stories, is that the fullness of the body, the fullness of the manifestation of Christ will turn people. If I be lifted up, I will draw all men.

What the world really needs is a full manifestation of Christ. The book of Acts, a full manifestation of the apostle. Christ in them.

And we need to live that life too. A full manifestation of the person of Christ. And you see this here.

Verse 35, it says, And all that dwelt at Lydda and Saron saw him and turned to the Lord. Verse 41, And he gave her his hand and lifted her up. And when he had called the saints and widows, presented her alive, And it was known throughout all Joppa, and many believed the Lord.

So there was gospel, the power of God. And I think what I thought about what Paul said in the epistle, For our gospel came not unto you in word only. The church today is lacking a lot of word.

Gospel is a demonstration of the spirit of the Lord. Eli, Brother Eli, says it often. They have a form of godliness.

I believe the word of God in and of itself is powerful. Quick and powerful. But I also believe that God ought to, or the Lord ought to, Or wants to show himself powerful as we heal ourselves and go about his work.

Now, Peter was blessed. Peter got to participate in these things because he was an individual that was holy. Gave himself for that purpose.

So I labor. I probably took an extra week or two because I have a struggle with this subject. And I've preached on it sometimes.

I have seen a person in my life, the difference between faith, God's will, And what's the will of God? The will of God is right. If any of you are sick, call for the elders. And God has purpose.

Let them anoint you for the purification. So Peter is an apostle. The Lord has deposited in him signs of an apostle.

The anointing, the blessing of an apostle is functioning. Peter does not take credit for any of these. He is humble.

But these things are turning people to the Lord. Not neglecting. I said, you don't want to be that man that in the end you buried a gift with ground.

What did you do? Well, Lord, I didn't understand this gift thing. I didn't understand the whole nine yards. I just basically buried it in the ground.

God says, let's not bury our gift. I've also said this before. You say, what is my gift? I don't know what my gift is.

The Bible says in 1 Corinthians that manifestation of the spirit is given to every man. In other words, if I just live in the spirit and walk in the spirit, do the Lord's will, guess what will happen? That gift will manifest. It will manifest.

You can't hide it. It will come out. People will look at you and say, I know your gift.

I know your gift. It's manifested. We talked on Saturday mornings, anyone who would like to come, we're talking about demonic spirits manifesting.

And down there in Columbus, some of them are manifesting. We think they're manifesting. Yes, but the spirit of God would like to manifest.

You get a church where people are surrendering to the Lord, and they're hungry for the truth, and wanting to see people converted and baptized and bought and all these, build the church, and they're surrendering everything they have for that purpose, they'll start seeing gifts. All right, I'm going to finish there. I maybe left you more confused than I started.

I'm searching. I truly believe we have a need. Agree with me on that? God.