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you you you you you Well good morning everyone welcome to Mountain Baptist Church take your songbooks and turn to song 134 Song 134 in your songbooks, we'll sing my anchor holds and if you would stand We'll sing song 134 Though the angry surges roll on my Tempest-driven soul I am peaceful for I know Wildly though the winds may blow I've an anchor safe and sure That can evermore Endure and it holds my anchor hold blow your wildest and oh gale On my barn so small and frail By its grace I shall not fail for my anchor holds my Anchor holds mighty tides about me sweep perils lurk within the deep Angry clouds are shade the sky and the tempest rises high Still I stand the tempest shock for my anchor grips the rock And it holds my anchor holds blow your wildest and oh gale On my barn so small and frail By his grace I shall not fail for my anchor holds my anchor holds I can feel the anchor fast As I meet each sudden blast and the cable though unseen bears the heavy strain between Through the storm I safely ride till the turning of the tide and it holds my anchor holds blow your wildest and oh gale On my barn so small and frail By his grace I shall not fail for my anchor holds my Anchor holds troubles almost wound the soul Greaves like billows o'er me roll tempters seek to lure astray storms obscure the light of day But in Christ I can be bold I've an anchor that shall hold And it holds my anchor holds blow your wildest and oh gale on my bark so small and frail By its grace I shall not fail for my anchor holds my anchor holds All right, let's pray have only follow the Lord again We just want to thank you God for this beautiful Sunday morning that we get to gather in your house and to hear you were Appreciated I pray Lord now that you would just be honored and glorified out of everything and said and done We love you for it's in Jesus name we ask all that. Amen. I may be seated and take your mountain Baptist Songs hymns and spiritual song books the blue folders should be in your seats or right in front in those little pouches or whatever and so take these blue song books and turn to Psalm 150 that'll be page 10 Page 10 and your mountain Baptist song books and we'll sing Psalm 150 Praise ye the Lord Praise God in his sanctuary Praise him in thine Firmament of his power praise him for his mighty acts praise him according to his excellent greatness praise him with the sound of the trumpet praise him with the Psalm to And our praise him with the timbrel and dance praise him with stringed instruments And organs praise him upon Symbols praise him upon The Sounding symbols let everything that has breath praise Praise Amen so welcome out Baptist Church on this Sunday morning and just some announcements here Everything's pretty much just as usual today and throughout the week. We have our Sunday morning service obviously right now but after the service we're gonna have Go get some lunch and then come back on at 1 p.m. We have our main soul winning time And so if you want to meet up here a little before 1 o'clock, we have teamed up to go out soul winning Also on during the week there We have our regional soul winning times with the men that lead up those times on the list there So Monday Tuesday Wednesday Saturday so Just be on the church group there as far as meet up times and locations and all that one when it comes to those regional times we have upcoming events Coming into September here We have We're gonna have our church anniversary On the 17th and that's actually the exact day that we started six years ago. So And so there we are six year anniversary we're gonna be having a fellowship kind of fun time in between the services like we did last year and so We're gonna have a dunk tank again, right? so so you can dunk me or brother Dave or whoever wants to get into that tank and get dunked but so so yeah, and then We're gonna have food and everything else with that obviously if you want to bring any type of sides or you know Dessert you're more welcome to but we're gonna be providing the main meal there The day before that brother Charles is gonna be leading up a soul winning Marathon in the point Marion area and then some other areas around it and then the next We had the prayer meetings on here as well in September, but we as far as the women's prayer meeting the men's prayer meeting on Two different Fridays there, but the Saturday after we're gonna have a soul winning marathon in Cleveland, Ohio, so We're gonna be basically partnering up with I think it's south is it south? Southwest Southwest Baptist I keep thinking that's an it. I think the airline Southwest and I'm like am I saying that right? But brother the Clemens brothers a brother brother Daniel and Gabriel Are kind of setting this all up and we're kind of partnering up with them to go up there and go soul winning and So that'll be on the 23rd. So we're gonna have a sewing marathon on the 16th and on the 23rd So if you can make it to either one of those, that'd be great making both of them that'd be cool too, but So those will be coming up if you have any questions about those. Let me know But And on the back of your your bullets in there we have our chapter memory of the month We're in the month of September now and so Malachi chapter 4 so memorizing the book of Malachi We don't have it on the list yet though. I was just thinking about upcoming events Brother Matt stuck. He's gonna be preaching for us on October 1st Technically at that point he will be pastor Matt Stuckey. So he's getting ordained He's been out in the Philippines for I don't know how many years now Leading up that satellite church out there in Manila. And so so he's getting ordained to be the be the pastor there. I Think it's in the middle of September. I can't remember what date exactly He'll be out of Verity Baptist Church getting ordained. So when he comes It's gonna be pastor Stuckey. So I'm gonna have to remember that so But excited about that And he'll be preaching both services that Sunday. So on October 1st, so you want to be here for that special preaching guest preacher there and then Our memory verse for the week is Ephesians 6 11 put on the harm Our God's may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil So that is our memory verse for the week Ephesians 6 11 and then birthdays We have that's here that we can You Yeah, Denzel definitely, yeah, so we'll sing happy birthday Denzel He we're back what the 27th of August, so we're getting him a little a little late there but we're gonna we're gonna sing happy birthday to him and then As far as so all of this Saturday, right Saturday so and then Kenji so I think a Kenji later making sure so So we'll sing happy birthday Denzel and happy birthday to all of And and then anniversaries, we don't have any yet To sing therefore so then we have on the pregnancy list there We have the ladies on there. So be in prayer for them and Amanda's coming up and here in September. We're in September. So What is the date and due date? the 12th, so There's a lot of September babies. So Clara's birthdays the 10th and Yeah, obviously you can see on there but the base of the whole Gandy family is born in September. So January's the best so just say no me and Samuel brother Wade Who else is January anybody else Luke Luke's January? Yeah Because we're born in adversity. I was born in the blizzard of 85 just so you know, so anyway All joking aside be in prayer for the ladies on the pregnancy list and be in prayer for tiara Who just had her baby and just be in prayer for her recovery and all that stuff So remember to always be praying for these ladies Especially after delivery and all that stuff after having the babies and so but just praise the Lord for all the children and it's about all I have for announcements the offering boxes in the back there if you want to give a tithe or an offering and then Just watch out for children and then the mother baby room for the most babies only Brother chains gonna be reading gonna be reading James chapter 5 for us after we do one more song All right, take your song books and turn to song number 96 Song number 96 in your song books was saying God leads us along But Before we do that, we need to sing a happy birthday to the two birthday kiddos Denzel Get you stand up. It's happy. Why don't you just stand up with Olive? No, no, no, no All right, well brother Denzel you just turned 50 and Olive you're gonna be to Olive Olive look at my daddy she doesn't Sounds about right All right, and your birthday was on the 27th hers is on Saturday and so we'll sing happy birthday to these two ready here we go Happy birthday to you Happy birthday to you Happy birthday God bless you Happy birthday to you All right, well happy birthday to both of you and we'll sing song number 96 In shady green pastures so rich and so sweet God leads his dear children Dear children Where the waters cold flow bays the weary one's feet God leads his dear children along Some through the water some through the flood Some through the fire but all through the blood Some through great sorrow But God gives a song in the night season and all the day long Sometimes on the mound where the sun shines so bright God leads his dear children along Sometimes in the valley And darkest of night God leads his dear children along Some through the water some through the flood Some through the fire But all through the blood some through great sorrow But God gives a song In the night season and all the day long No sorrow fall us and Satan oppose God leads his dear children along Through grace we can conquer Defeat all our foes God leads his dear children along Some through the water some through the flood Some through the fire But all through the blood some through great sorrow But God gives a song in the night season and all the day long Away from the mire and away from the clay God leads his dear children along Away up in glory Eternity's day God leads his dear children along Some through the water Some through the flood Some through the fire But all through the blood Some through great sorrow But God gives a song in the night season and all the day long All right, so your Bible's in turn to the book of James chapter number five James five and your Bibles will have brother Shane come and read that for us James chapter five James chapter five and the Bible reads Go to now you rich men weep and how for your miseries that shall come upon you your riches are Corrupted and your garments are moth-eaten your gold and silver is cankered and the rest of them Shall be a witness against you and shall eat your flesh as it were fire Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days behold the hire of the laborers who have reaped down your fields which is of you kept backward by fraud crieth and the cries of them which have Reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabbath Ye have lived in pasture on the earth and been wanton you have nourished your hearts as in the day of slaughter Ye have condemned and killed the just and he doth not resist you be patient therefore brethren unto the coming of the Lord behold the husband waited for the precious fruit of the earth and Hath long patience for it until he received the early and latter rain Be also patient stabless your hearts for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh grudge not one Against another brethren lest ye be condemned behold the judge standeth before the door Take my brethren the prophets who have spoken in the name of the Lord for an example of suffering affliction and of patience behold we count them happy which endure ye have heard of the patience of Job and have seen the end of the Lord and That the Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy But above all things my brethren swear not neither by heaven you're neither by the earth neither by any other oath But let your yea be a and let your nay nay Lest ye fall into condemnation is any among you afflicted Let him pray is any Mary let him sing psalms is any sick among you Let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him Anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord and the prayer of faith Shall save the sick and the Lord shall raise him up and if he have committed sins They shall be forgiven him confess your faults one to another and pray one for another that ye may be healed The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain and it rained not On the earth by the space of three years and six months and he prayed again in the heaven gave rain and the earth brought Forth her fruit brethren if any of you do err from the truth and one convert him Let him know that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death and hide a multitude Of sins, let us pray Dear Heavenly Father Lord. Thank you to be gathered in your house this morning I pray that you fill your spirit with Pastor and just pray for the message and just help us be edified this morning in Jesus name. Amen Amen So you're there in James chapter 5 and I'm gonna be preaching a sermon this morning Called anointing the sick with oil anointing the sick with oil. This is actually a question that this passage particularly I've had a lot of just questions or inquiries as far as where we stand on issue of anointing the sick with oil and Praying over them. And so I'm gonna be getting I'm gonna be explaining What our position is on that and and where I stand on on this the subject and so you may say well It's not that's not too exciting Well, here's the thing. There's a lot of times especially if there's a lot of questions. That's definitely the sermons I want to preach is where Someone wonder where we stand on this issue So this may be more of a doctrinal sermon, but I think it's gonna be something at least Edifying in the fact that you know where we stand on this And so what are we talking about? Well in James chapter 5 verse 13? It says is any among you afflicted let him pray is any Mary let him sing Psalms So we see here that he's basically talking about different types of people that are in different situations Any basis saying if you're afflicted pray if you're if you're married sing Psalms But then it goes on to say here in verse 14 is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church And let them pray over him anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord and the prayer of faith She'll save the sick and the Lord shall raise him up. And if you have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him and It's it goes on to say confess your faults one to another and pray one for another that you may be healed the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much and so When it comes to this this is something that is is in the New Testament We're not talking about something in the Old Testament or anything like that when it comes to anointing with oil I literally have oil in my office to use for this very thing and so There's no like ritual it's not like I I'm like in the name of the Father Son of the Holy Ghost and I'm like here You go but here's the thing though the oil If the Bible says to anoint them with oil So we're gonna anoint them with oil and I take it very literal that it's actual oil Now obviously I'm gonna use all of beaten oil, you know, because that's you know, well basically just olive oil and all that stuff I'm not gonna use canola oil You know, there's some kind of vegetable oil or something like that. That's like not real so anyway, but The question I think that a lot of people have with this is who would this apply to right? so that's the question right who would this apply to and Some churches are gonna have different stances on this and I'm not here to like attack other churches as far as like Okay, your your stance is too light your stance is too strict or whatever the case may be But here's my stance on it This would obviously apply to someone that's got some terminal illness Like cancer or something like that to where you could do this But I don't believe it's just for that, you know Like if you're like on your deathbed or you have some illness that could kill you. I believe this this Could deal with chronic illnesses that aren't necessarily they're not terminal but they're debilitating Or there's something that's like holding you back or things like that Okay So I don't believe this is talking about like you got a cold and you're calling for the elders of the church To pray over you and anoint you with oil so that you get over your cold like earlier than a week Okay, like that's not what this is talking about So That's where my stance is on this is I don't take it to the extreme where it's only terminal You know, it's only if you're like on your deathbed and and and all that. I Believe this is dealing with a lot of things when you think about in the Bible There's a lot of people that had issues for like years, right? You think of the woman that had the issue of blood for 12 years You think of other people that had like different types of issues that There were some that were completely debilitating meaning like they were like hunched over and leaning over they couldn't even move They couldn't even lift themselves up. But then there were some that were just dealing with it that it was just really Like the woman was walking around she even came up and grabbed the the garment of Jesus that had the issue of blood but obviously that that was something that she was dealing with for a long time that she didn't want to have anymore and so I Believe this is dealing with obviously the cases of where You are getting an illness or you got something to where you might it might It might kill you But then also I think it's dealing with just chronic issues and everything now. I'm gonna be getting into just what this passage is teaching and what it's you know, what it's not teaching to but When it says confess your faults one to another I just kind of want to touch on this real quick It doesn't say sins. It says false. So You know, I take the Bible literally So if it said sins, it would be sins But I don't believe that we have to confess our sins one to another all the time, right? We're just like like a confession booth to everybody and we're just like here's my sins for the week and and all that But as far as confessing your faults, there are things that are false that aren't necessarily sins, right? Where you're you're lacking an area you struggle in one area. Let's say it's reading or something like that Is it a sin that you don't read like for let's say let's say your goal is to read You know the Bible once a year, but you're kind of faltering in that And you're not doing it. Maybe like you should or maybe you're getting three-quarters of the way through there It's a fault right or a fault where you're maybe not reading as much as you should. Is it a sin though? Right. I mean, that's the thing. You're still reading the Bible. You're still You know, maybe reading every single day, but maybe there's a fault there Okay, and a lot of times this is what the Bible talks about when it says not judging your brother It's judging your brother on things that aren't Commandments Like oh, you know, this person is doing this over here I wouldn't do that It's like cool. You wouldn't do that. But is there a commandment saying that you can't do that, right? You don't want to make Commandments a man and all that stuff. So when you're dealing with faults You Know we a lot of times you could say hey, you know, hey, I have a fault and it could be a sin Maybe it's like anger or something like that and you say hey I get angry and I think that would be a sin and I'm just you know, like I need help with that but it could be Just things were just like man. I needed I need to do better in this area. I'm lacking in this area I need to memorize more I need to do this or that and I just have I'm just faltering in this area And you can fast one to another and pray one for another the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much There's a lot in that obviously in the fact that effectual Meaning like it's it's it's actually gonna produce something. It's actually gonna you know It's not Ineffectual, I guess the way you would look at that but fervent meaning that you're praying without ceasing but also a righteous man dealing with the fact that I'm gonna be getting into the idea of praying but Sometimes it depends on who is praying and Is that person righteous? Are they living a godly life to where is God gonna hear that prayer? There's more weight given to a prayer of someone that is keeping the Commandments doing what they should be doing and Living a righteous life to where you know, they're gonna be hurt obviously Elijah's brought up is that kind of person right and You can see the power and the effectual prayer that Elijah had with the fact that didn't rain for three years and six months and Then he prayed again and then it brained. So that's the kind of effectual prayer that Elijah had Now obviously being right a righteous man doesn't mean that you're perfect without sin But the idea there is that you are by and large doing what you should be doing You don't have some major sins in your life that are holding you back. Okay? Now What does the oil represent because I believe you literally use oil I don't think it's figurative and be like well, you know, you just kind of like figuratively like, you know They use the oil in the Old Testament. No, I Literally, it says anointing them with oil. Okay, so So there's physical oil being used but the question is what does that represent well go back to 1st Samuel chapter 16 What I believe the oil represents is the Holy Spirit. So Just very simple that the anointing oil is Representing the Holy Spirit and really getting the Holy Spirit up, you know in in the mix there now when you think about prayer Obviously the Holy Ghost It will pray at you know, things that we don't know how to pray, right? I mean meaning like there's cases where we're praying for something, but we don't know how it should be prayed for right and Or What route you should go or whatever and the thing is that sometimes we're praying for things but we We don't know what the best route is, but God does and so that's where the Holy Ghost comes in there And obviously is praying for us making intercession for us. So obviously the Holy Ghost being involved with this Particular prayer over the sick is very important to the point where you're using a physical material to represent that So the oil I believe is representing being anointed with the Spirit so chapter 16 in verse 13 so first same as chapter 16 verse 13 says then Samuel took the horn of oil and Anointed him in the midst of his brethren talking about David. So he's anointing David to be king So he takes this horn of oil Anointing him in the midst of his brethren and notice what happens right after that and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward So Samuel rose up and went to Rhema So you can see what's what's the correlation the anointing with oil and what's the very next thing that it says is the Spirit Of the Lord comes upon him Go to 1st John chapter 2 1st John chapter 2 I'm going to show you this, you know the idea that The Spirit and the anointing are being Correlated it literally calls the Holy Spirit the anointing So in 1st John chapter 2 and verse 20 here 1st John chapter 2 in verse 20 And not to get real deep into the doctrine here But there's a difference between being indwelled with the Holy Ghost and the Holy Ghost coming upon you So when you get saved in the New Testament The big thing the big difference between the Old Testament New Testament is the fact that now we have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit Where the Holy Spirit is taking up residence and our body is the temple of the Holy Ghost and it says He'll never leave you know forsake thee. He's always there, right? So whether you're sinning or not, but the Bible talks about if you sin and defile the temple of the Holy Ghost Then you're grieving the Holy Ghost and all of that and so obviously there's going to be worse punishment here in the New Testament if you're Openly sinning and committing fornication or doing things like that to where because the Holy Ghost isn't dwelling you at all times, but the Bible also talks about the Spirit of God coming upon you and being filled with the Spirit and you know Something that it was always even in the Old Testament it still happens today and it's still something that we constantly want to have the Spirit upon us and be filled with the Spirit and All that now in 1st John chapter 2 and verse 20 It says but ye have an unction from the Holy One And you know all things now unction there is a term that we usually wouldn't associate with anointing but it's the same thing is That we have an unction from the Holy One. It's basically an anointing from the Holy One and Notice what it says in verse 27 kind of going back to that and you know all things I've not written it to you because you know not the truth But because you know it and that no lies of the truth But then it goes on to clarify here when it's talking about we know all things The reason we know we can know all things is because the Holy Ghost the anointing that's that's that's within us it says in verse 27, but the anointing which you have received of him abideth in you and You need not that any man teach you but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things So notice that the anointing that abides in you He's teaching you all things and is truth and is no lie And even as it had taught you you shall abide in who him so and we know that The the Spirit of God, you know, he's gonna send the Comforter which is the Spirit of truth He shall teach you all things obviously, we're talking about the Spirit of God and So the anointing the Holy Ghost I I believe that it just without a shadow of a doubt That's what that oil is representing. So when you're anointing someone with the oil when they're sick and you're praying over them you are Essentially representing the Holy Ghost with that oil. Okay, you may ask to yourself. Okay. Well how much oil? You Put a little bit of oil do you pour oil over them? Well, it doesn't say baptized So we're not like dipping them in oil, right? You're not like immersing them in oil. Okay But I'll say this is that when the Bible doesn't give you specifics then there's Liberty Okay There's a lot of times where the Bible doesn't give you a lot of specifics about something and there's Liberty when it comes that if You want to take oil and pour it over their head? I don't think that would be wrong Or if you just want to just take oil and put it on their head and and and all that I don't think that'd be wrong either. So And you can say well when they anointed the priest they poured the oil over his head and it ran down to the skirts of His garments. Yeah, but we're not anointing priests Okay So there there's a little difference there to where I would argue that I could see where someone could go with that and say hey You need to pour a whole thing of oil over their head and you're like well They had a horn of oil when they're anointing. Yeah, but they're anointing them to be king, right? So the thing is is that in the New Testament, it doesn't tell us You know how much oil to use it just says to use oil. So I Personally don't pour the whole bottle of oil over their head. That's just me personally, right? I take oil and I put it on their head and then you know, I'll pray over them. Okay, so When it comes to that I'm not against people if they're like no you need to use that whole thing right, you need to use a whole like What's the log of oil right in the Old Testament they handle at you know, whatever that how big that is You know, you just need to use that whole thing a whole horn of oil then you get into the argument Well, how big is a horn, you know, like there's different size horns So when it comes to that, I don't think that that's what's important I think the important thing is that you are you are believing the Bible when it says to use oil And this is where I think the details matter meaning this is that if I said, okay Yeah call for the elders of the church and then I don't use oil Then I Feel like you're not you're not following it the way God wants you to do it And you may say well that seems trivial. It's just oil, right? There's nothing magical or anything about that oil, but here's the thing though. There was nothing magical about the Jordan River when Elijah told Naaman or I'm sorry, was it? No, it was Elisha. Elisha told Naaman the Syrian to dip himself in that Jordan River He even said he's like there's better rivers where I'm from all this stuff. There was nothing special about it But listen, if he didn't dip himself in that river, he wouldn't have been healed And it's not like Jordan had the best cleanest water Right is the idea that it was the obedience of what God said to do So if in James 5 it says take a certain amount of oil and pour it over their head Guess what? I would do I would take a certain amount of oil and I would pour it over their head But it says the anointing with oil and I think that there's Liberty there as far as how you do that. Okay, so And for someone to come to me and say you need to pour it and be like well the chapter and verse You know that that's what I would say Not that I'm against someone that does it but I'm just saying that I I have my way, you know, like the way I I Have Liberty to do it there, but I'm using oil calling for the elders of the church and the idea there is the fact that What one of the titles of a pastor is elder I'm not a Mormon and I'm older than 17 and 18. So but elder Bishop and pastor are the three terms that are used All are legitimate terms, but they all mean different things So an elder the reason that's mentioned is not necessarily the age physical age of somebody but the spiritual age So someone that's not a novice someone that's an elder in the faith as far as they know the Bible They've been saved for a while. They're seasoned right there an elder in the faith and You know what? Someone can get saved at 80 years old and they're a babe in Christ So age doesn't necessarily determine that as far as that goes obviously you don't want some 16 year old up here preaching Even if they've been saved since five There needs to be maturity there. They need to be a full-grown adult but at the same time like someone that's 24 could be You know full-aged mature Christian where you should have someone that's 80 they get saved. It's a babe in Christ So when it comes to elder that's what you're dealing with there the elders of the church You could say well, that's that could just be those that are elder in the faith in the church. I Take that to mean pastor or maybe you know, a deacon would be involved in that as well as far as that goes but You say well if it's pastor then there's multiple elders. Do you believe that there can be multiple others? Well, yes and The church of Ephesus is one of those churches that The Bible the narrator states that that God had made them overseers of the church Now when it comes to if you have multiple elders one, you shouldn't just have multiple elders to have multiple elders. Okay? Meaning that our church isn't big enough to have multiple pastors, but if we were running thousands of people Then that would be the case but here's the thing. You always have a senior pastor You have someone that's that where the buck stops and even at the church of Jerusalem James was where the buck stops Meaning that they were all coming together even Peter and everybody was coming together about a question and James said here's what we're gonna do So he was the senior pastor there. So we don't have multiple elders, but We do have a deacon and you know when it comes to that I look at that as the leadership of the church and I don't think it would be wrong if someone's not technically a deacon But they're like an out there, you know, obviously a mature Christian man that wants to come and pray as well I'm not gonna be just super technical with that and be like it's only pastors right But I do put that the person that's getting prayed for I usually put that in their court Do you want just me do you want the deacon to be there as well? Would you want other men to be there? You know, do you want your husband to be there? Obviously the praying over you and stuff like that or do you you know, whatever whoever it is, right? There's cases like that I'll say this is that I think I do need to be there. I'm the pastor, right? So if you're calling for the elders of the church, I think I need to be there for this to be legit Okay But if you had, you know, I would say this is if you had multiple pastors, I think they should all be there Take it seriously. Like I don't care who it is. It's coming for this. I Believe they're all the pastor should be there if there were multiple pastors Obviously that's not kind of applicable to our situation anyway, but that's just where I stand on that Now go to Psalm 2. I want you to see here too that That when we're talking about being anointed I just want to really just nail this down that we're talking about the Spirit of God And Jesus is called the anointed but he's also called the Christ which is synonymous. Okay, so Messiah Christ anointed all the same thing Just different languages describing the same thing. So Messiah is coming from, you know, Hebrew or Aramaic I think it's Aramaic actually But either way they're very close and Aramaic and Hebrew are pretty much the same language with differences in spelling and some vocabulary, but They're using the same alphabet all that now In Psalm 2 it says in verse 1 why do the heathen rage and people imagine a vain thing the kings of the earth set themselves And the rulers take counsel against the Lord and against his anointed saying Now this is quoted in a New Testament. You could turn to Acts chapter 4 where it's quoted It's always sometimes a good way to define terms is to see Is it used in other places and just defining those terms? So in Acts chapter 4 this is quoted in verse 25 there So it says who by the mouth of thy servant David has said Why do the heathen rage and the people imagine vain things? The kings of the earth stood up and the rollers were gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ Now you can kind of understand how that would mean when you talk about christening somebody ever heard that term like christening somebody I Grew up Catholic so that term is very familiar to me right like where you christen somebody the idea is anointing You're anointing somebody right? So that's where that term comes from. You know, it's just that Chris Christ comes from Greek and Messiah is is Aramaic or Hebrew, right? So when you're dealing with Messiah Christ anointed they're all the same thing. It's just different words describing the same thing So Jesus is called the Christ And obviously you could think about while he's chosen one all that just like David the king is being chosen to be king But he's anointed with oil. So we should see the fact that Jesus is anointed with The spirit then right because go to Acts chapter 10. You're in Acts chapter 4 go to Acts chapter 10 in verse 35 Acts chapter 10 in verse 35. I'm sorry. I'm sorry Acts chapter 10 verse 37 verse 37 So I want the servant to obviously show you where I stand as far as Praying for those that are sick in This actual application of them calling for the elders of the church and getting anointed with oil But I also want you to see this what that oil represents and knowing you know that hey This is this all makes sense You know, why weren't it's not just throw a throwaway of like hey, here's some oil use that It's representing something in verse 37. It says The word I say, you know Which was published throughout all Judea and began from Galilee after the baptism which John preached how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power Who went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil for God was with him So he was anointed with what the Holy Ghost Now the interesting thing about that is that obviously we we have the anointing, too But Jesus who is the Son of God, right? He is God in the flesh And he's not ashamed to call his brethren but make no mistake about it. He is greater and will always be greater will never Be equal to the Lord. Okay, we're always striving to we want to be joint heirs and we want to be like him and we want Try to walk in his footsteps as much as we can but you know, we're liking on the stars for eternity He's the Sun. So if you want to think about the difference Think about the Sun and then think about the Stars and how much how bright they are compared to each other okay now in Hebrew chapter 1 what I want you to see with this is We know that it says that he's anointed with the Holy Ghost. Well, here's gonna literally say he's anointed with oil But knowing that correlation of being anointed with oil and being anointed with the Spirit of God you can see how This will help you understand passages in the Bible and understand. What does that mean when Aaron the priest was anointed with oil? What is that talking about? Why was it just to get him clean? Right? Is that just to make him smell good? No, there's a reason because it's talking about the Spirit of God being upon him as The hype as the high priest and in Hebrews 1 8 it says but unto the Son he said thy throne Oh God is forever and ever a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom So God the Father is calling the Son God because we believe in the Trinity The Father Son the Holy Ghost these three are one and they are all co equally God So the Father's God the Son's God the Holy Spirit's God But they're all three are the one true God Verse 9 here says thou has loved righteousness and hated iniquity therefore God even thy God so now Jesus The God the Father is is God So the Father is calling the Son God and then he's saying that the Father is God to Jesus because we have the Trinity But it says God even thy God hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows Now, what are we talking about with the oil of gladness? We're talking about The Spirit of God But the thing that's interesting about that is that notice that it says That he anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. So he was anointed With this oil and he was anointed with the Spirit of God More than anybody else more than anybody that's ever been anointed with the Spirit now Let me show you a passage that proves that go to John chapter 3 John chapter 3 John chapter 3 and verse 34 So Hebrews 1 9 and John 3 here. I think these match up perfectly when you think about What's being taught? When Jesus was baptized? By John, do you remember what happened? The Spirit descended like a dove and abode upon him and that was where he was baptized with the Holy Ghost and Later on the disciples at the day of Pentecost were also baptized with the Holy Ghost Okay, remember even his disciple He said can you be baptized with the baptism that I'm baptized with and they said yes, right? They said yay Lord and what did Jesus said? No, you can't is that what he said. They said no you will be You will indeed be baptized with the baptism that I'm baptized with But then obviously he's talking about who's gonna be on his right hand on his left He's like that's for the father to tell now So the baptism the Holy Ghost I believe happened with Jesus when he was there But notice what it says here in John 3 verse 34. This is John the Baptist speaking It says for he whom God has sent speaketh the words of God for God Giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him for the father the father love of the Son and have given all things into his hand Now, what does this mean that? The father that he hath not given the Spirit by measure unto him Well think about this if you're making a cake or something like that you measure out ingredients, don't you? And there's a certain measure that you're putting into that mix, right? Without measure is that you're just pouring it out and you're not you're not measuring it out. It's just all of it Right. So when it comes to think about this the gifts of the Spirit of God, right that It's given to every several ability and by measure it's given out to different people and there's different strengths in Christians right there's certain people that have strengths and languages there's certain people that have strength and in faith and different things that that the Spirit has has been poured out a little more and a Christians life, right? Jesus there was no measure. It was just all he got it all because he's the Lord so it makes sense He is the fullness of the Godhead bodily So, I mean when you think about the father indwelling him Without measure the spirit indwelling him without measure So when it says that he is anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows You can see what that means in the fact that the Spirit of God was poured upon him without measure So And there's other passages to Luke 4 18 says the Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor So just on and on time would fail me to show you all the places where this correlates So when you're called for the elders of the church and you say and you want to be prayed because you're sick Again, I believe that this is dealing with it could be a terminal illness but it could just be something that's chronic something that you're dealing with for a long time and that You want to get rid of right? and the oil Would you're really just getting the Holy Spirit involved in there? and Don't discount this either this this whole you say well, you know, I'll just pray at home and listen I'm not against you guys obviously everybody praying and and and all that and I'm not saying that God can't hear you But I do believe that that it's kind of like fasting right the idea of prayer and fasting and the idea that You could say well, how is not eating? Gonna change what's going on with this sickness? It's really about the obedience and the idea that you're gonna take that step to say, you know what? I'm gonna go that extra step. I'm gonna go a little further than the average person to deal with this Whether it's fasting when you're praying for something or whether it's hey, you know what I want to get the church involved and I want I want I want there I want to I want to see if I can get an extra blessing and get a little more weight to this prayer and sometimes you know my my friend will call me up and He'll say hey, can you pray for me on this and he'll say this to me and listen I Don't I don't believe I'm some like just all for spiritual guy to where I'm just like I got so much weight in my prayer But he thinks I do I do right. He'll call me I'd be like listen, I need I need I need you to pray for this because I feel like God will listen to you You know like he'll you know, there'll be more weight to that prayer if you pray for it, right and you know, I Appreciate the confidence in that but I do I do believe that God does put a lot of weight on This I mean he wrote it for a reason Listen, I'm I'm nothing special. It's not like I'm some super Christian but at the same time I magnify mine office though in the idea that this is the institution which God has set forth and That God recognizes that and he'll recognize the faith of the pastor. That'll say hey, let's do this with oil Let's do it the Bible the way Bible says it. Let's do it to the T and then he'll also Bless the person that says you know what? I believe that scripture. Let's do this And let's go that route now the interesting thing to go to mark chapter 6 is that that the 12 disciples were actually sent out to and to and There's actually another place where talked about the set 70 others that were sent out to and to the priests the gospel but notice in this passage that it's gonna mention Healing the sick, but it's gonna mention something interesting in there as well So in verse 7 here So mark chapter 6 verse 7 says and he called unto him the 12 and began to send them forth By two and two and gave them power of our unclean spirits and commanded them that they should take nothing for their journeys Save a staff only No script no bread No money in their purse, but Be shod with sandals and not put on two coats and he said unto them in the place So in what place so ever ye enter into an house there abide till ye depart from that place and whosoever shall not receive You nor hear you when ye depart thence shake off the dust under your feet for a testimony against them Barely I say unto you it shall be more tolerable for sodom and Gomorrah in that day of judgment than for that city And they went out and preached that men should repent and they cast out many Devils Knows in verse 13 here and anointed with oil many that were sick and healed them Now this is where I don't I Don't believe it's this hard Hardcore like like this person is like on their deathbed Kind of thing because I think they're just going out and there's someone that's sick and they were using oil and they were praying over them Again I don't think it was this trivial like oh I got the sniffles. Can you pray over me? I think it's something serious like someone that has the palsy the dropsy like there's different things that people were dealing with You know a leper. I don't know there was like things that were obviously You know major Sicknesses infirmities and all of that, but they were doing that during Jesus ministry You say well, you know, but that was during his ministry that was under the Old Testament, you know Things are different now. Yeah, except we have James 5 so I Could see that argument if we didn't have James 5 But we have James 5 so we see that I believe this was probably being done even before this passage, right? meaning that Prophets and and you know, obviously priests and stuff like that would Do the same thing back in the Old Testament as well. So there are things that are Are still done and all that in the New Testament With physical means just like baptism, right? We we actually dunk people underwater. We don't look at that as just being figurative When it says to baptize somebody we're not just like well, you know, that's just spiritual Which I agree that it happens spiritually right the moment you believe you're baptized in the spirit Your your soul and spirits made pure your walk from all your sins And you're buried with them in death and raised the walking in his life spiritually speaking no doubt But there's still that physical baptism That doesn't save you and if you never got baptized you still go to heaven, but it we're still commanded to do it though Right. It's still a commandment. It's still something you're supposed to do so The same thing applies here that physical oil I believe is something just like the Lord's Supper, right? We have physical bread physical juice. We're using physical materials to represent the source up We're not just up here just spiritualizing everything to the point of ridiculousness So the thing I want to get into though, is that the Bible says the prayer of faith shall save the sick and If they have committed sins, they should be forgiven it. I Believe there's two different cases here when it comes to someone being sick and Needing this prayer there can be cases where sin is the the culprit, right? It's the the reason that they that this has happened is because of sin But there are cases where it's not And I want to show you two passages in John that show you a case where sin was involved when someone was healed And a case where sin wasn't involved in someone was healed. Okay, so When it comes to this there It's not like it's well It's just for those that have sinned right because you can see that where someone would pull that out and be like well It talks about like their sins shall be forgiven them and all that So you think well, I you know, I got this this illness But it's not like I've got some deep sin that I'm dealing with. So this is this apply to me I think either or would apply it's kind of like this cat It's kind of like well if you've committed sins and it'll be forgiving you it's this idea that if if sins are involved Then get this covered sins aren't involved then hey You still have this sickness But there's different reasons why some people would have sicknesses and why God would have them be going through Certain things and I'm not up here to judge Everybody's cases as far as why someone's going through something and why they're not and all that. Okay Where I'd be like Job's friends and start making false accusations about the fact that hey You're in if you if you didn't sin and what's going on, you know Some people are going through trials and tribulations some people there's different reasons and let me just show you a couple here one John chapter 5 John chapter 5 By the way, if you have a new version of Bible this story won't be there Just so you know, well, it'll be there, but it won't technically be there They put it in there because it would look too bad for them to just rip it out so But they they claim this story isn't there it's not in the originals and according to them, of course, they're wrong This story is real. This is a real story. This is something that is true and in verse 1 here It says after this there was a feast of the Jews and Jesus went up to Jerusalem now There is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in Hebrew tongue Bethesda having five porches in These lay a great multitude of impotent folk a blind halt withered waiting for the moving of the water For an angel notice. I want you to notice that who's talking here the narrator It didn't say well, we've heard that an angel or someone's telling someone else Hey, there's an angel that comes down all this stuff. No the narrator speaking here Meaning that this is true Verifiably true the Holy Ghost is speaking here that this is true For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool and troubled the water Whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease He had guess what that actually happened And what people that don't believe the King James Bible will say and Don't believe the actual text that it came from and they'll say well, that's not in the the you know the older like Latin, you know in the in the Alexandrian text and all these different texts that they get their stuff from is to say well, that's just that's just a fairy tale Right. That's just not that's just we know that can't be right. I Mean if you start just counting one story, why not just discount them all right? Like where do you stop at that point just because you don't believe so are you telling me that Balaam's? You know ass didn't speak Right when it said in the New Testament says the dumbass speaking with man's voice for bad the madness of the Prophet Kids ass is a donkey by the way, that's just another term that the Bible that's the old term Actually, it's not even the old term. It's just a technical term when you when you get into animals, which I don't have donkeys Okay, I don't plan on having donkeys Unless it's just for fun. I don't know but You never know. I'm just we'll just start having every every animal that's out there in the farm. But anyway There's it. There's a reason there's different terms depending on what type of donkey it is Okay. So anyway, all that say is that that story is true this story is true and I'm not just gonna pick and choose because you think it's you know, all well, is that real there are angels are real Angels Are real Devils are real and in this story an angel would come down and trouble the water and whoever went in was healed That's a true story and notice what happens here though and John 5 5 it says in a certain man was there Which had an infirmity 38 30 and 8 years. That's how old I am Like literally I'm just thinking like that's my lifespan right there But this person had this infirmity It Says when Jesus saw him lie and knew that he had been now a long time in that case He says unto him wilt thou be made whole the impotent man answered him, sir I have no man when the water is troubled to put me into the pool But while I am coming another step it down before me Jesus said unto him rise take up thy bed and walk and immediately the man was made whole and took up his bed and walked And on the same day was the Sabbath the Jews therefore said unto him that that was cured it is the Sabbath day It is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed He answered them he that made me whole the same said unto me take up thy bed and walk then asked they him What man is that which said unto thee take up thy bed and walk and he that was healed? Whisked not who it was for Jesus had conveyed himself away and the multitude being in that place Multiple to being in that place afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple and said unto him behold thou art made whole notices sin no more lest the worst thing come on Come unto thee then then the man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus which had made him whole So notice that this man had this infirmity for 38 38 years It's because of sin wasn't it? And he's basically saying don't send anymore so that you go to heaven Know that a worse thing doesn't come upon you right the idea there Is that hey you've had this infirmity for 38 years because it's something you did Jesus obviously healed him had mercy on him healed him, and he's saying don't you need to Don't let something worse happen to you Than what you had to go through for 38 years so But I believe you know this guy's a believer He believed on on Christ and all that but here's thing that case is something where sin was involved Go to John 9 John 9. Let me show you another place where sin isn't involved Now here's the thing this next story Do you when Jesus describes this do you think that the people involved don't have that are just completely sinless? No, there's none that do with good no not one there's none righteous No, not one for all of sin and control the glory of God the idea here though is when when you're dealing with this idea Of like sins being committed to where you'd be sick you're dealing with major sins right if you think about like when you take the Lord's Supper some are sick and some sleep because they're not examining themselves and Specifically throughout the book of 1st Corinthians you're dealing with major sins like the railing Fornication you know idolatry like these different things to where if you're doing that and taking the Lord's Supper you shouldn't even be in the church You know there's church discipline that should happen But if no one knows that that stuff's happening, and then you take the Lord's Supper you might get sick and in some cases people were dying Because of it and that's a case where sin is involved and so But in John 9 and verse 1 it says and as Jesus passed by he said he saw a man Which was blind from his birth? So this man is blind from his birth and and his disciples asked him saying master who did sin this man or his parents that? He was made blind So this is a legit question right I mean think about in John chapter 5 You know he heals this guy that had obviously sins And then he had this infirmary for 38 years, and he's saying well who sinned was it the parents was it him if he's born blind then You know what happened here, right? Jesus answered neither had this man sin nor his parents, but that the works of God should be made manifest in him So and he ends up healing this guy just for sake of time You know you can look down at verse 7 that that he has him washed and to pull the Siloam and It says he went his way therefore in Washington came seeing Some people have infirmities or different things For the glory of God or there's other reasons, okay? That they're they're dealing with infirmities or different things like that okay in this case This guy was born blind so that Jesus could heal him and it's gonna be this miracle that no one can say anything against right Because there is just like they just know this guy never seen before and Even even the guy was born blind. He's like it never even been no one has ever heard of anybody being that was born blind being able to see Like it's just never been heard of so obviously you can think about this case where this guy was blind for you know It says that he was above 40 years old on him this miracle was made And that's why they couldn't speak anything against it That for 40 years from his birth couldn't see a thing and now he can see So when you're dealing with calling for the elders of the church and healing the sick you can be dealing with different situations It's not all just a just a broad stroke like it's just sin you know Or you don't look at it be like well. I've sinned so that I don't think I qualify It should only be people that aren't into sin therefore They're the ones that would come no anybody that is dealing I believe Anybody that that is alive that's a believer that is dealing with some kind of chronic illness that they've been dealing with for years I mean Listen when I'm saying this obviously if you have cancer or if you have other diseases Or you have something like that that would be a case too, right? But there are other things to where it's like hey, this is debilitating at times This is something that is giving me a lot of stress This is something that and and I'll say this not even just physical things, but even mental type of things that are going on Depression or different things that maybe you're dealing with to where hey, I want to get a hold of the Lord I Want to get the church involved to pray for this I? Don't want you to look at it be like well. I think pastor can reject here think Just come talk to me. What's the worst I could say no. I don't think that applies You know it's that'd be the worst Be like I get really bad allergies in the spring. Sorry I do to Eat some honey. I don't know Listen I I have bad allergies, but I don't think that allergies are something because I'm not dealing with a year-round where it's debilitating Okay, that's just me personally and so that's where you know you could just ask me and just say hey you know does this apply is this something that you think would apply and You know if I'll say this if it's something that you're dealing with on a daily basis for years Then I'm gonna say it applies You know it's something that's like you're just dealing with and it's something you're struggling with and all that Then I don't believe that the Bible was putting this cutthroat type of Requirement on it to where like you have to be on your deathbed. That's where I stand on that now When it comes to this now go to go to 1st John chapter 5 1st John 5 because it says the prayer of faith Shall save the sick and someone look at that and say well Then they need to be healed or that or that passage is wrong, okay? What you have to understand is that prayer? There there's components to prayer one it has to be the prayer of faith right so you have to believe That God is able to do it, but here's thing. It's kind of like when Shadrach Meshach and Abednego Were told unless you bow down to this image. You're gonna be cast the same hour to the burning fiery furnace remember. They said You know we're not careful to answer the concerning this matter, and I love that passage It's like you know we're not gonna be careful about how we answer you on this He says our God, and we serve is able to deliver us So notice that they knew he was able But if not We will not bow down at the end or serve thy image, and I'm kind of paraphrasing basically He's not saying he's able, but if he's not able that's not what they're saying what they're saying Is that he's able to but we don't know if he's going to do it right Now that puts a whole nother level on their their faith right and the the bravery that they had Because they didn't bow down they knew God was able to deliver him, but they didn't know whether he was gonna do it And That's where the prayer faith comes in is that you know God's able to do it. No doubt God can do it I mean God has raised people from the dead that were dead for four days and just other miracles that he's done It's like there's no doubt that God can heal any illness or infirmity or anything that's out there So you need to believe that he's able, but here's the thing that doesn't mean that we know he's going to do it Okay, he's able to do it and let me just give you some Verses on it because it says that the prayer of faith shall save the sick and the Lord shall raise him up And if you have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him now in 1st John chapter 5 verse 4 Here's a big stipulation when it comes to prayer and being healed from any type of illness or anything like that Is that it needs to be according to God's will? And It says in 1st John 5 14 and this is the confidence that we have in him that if we ask anything According to his will he heareth us and if we know that he hear us Whatsoever we ask we know that we had the petitions that we desired of him Here's how we know that we have petitions if it's according to his will now here's thing There are certain things that we know is according to his will right there's certain things that are just facts We know what's according to his will, right? They're just statements that are made that this is the will of God, you know, right? But here's the thing when it comes to being healed from an illness. We don't know if that's his will There's another thing to deal with that is the first the the effectual fervent prayer of righteous man avails much in 1st John chapter 3 in verse 21 It says beloved if our heart condemn us not then have we confidence toward God and whatsoever We ask of him we receive of him because we keep his commandments and do those things that are pleasing in his sight So there's where the righteousness comes in right the actual fervent prayer of a righteous man is because you're doing what you should be doing It says in John 15 7 it says if you abide in me and my words abide in you You shall walk you shall ask what you will and shall be done unto you So there's certain things that are when you're dealing with prayers that needs to be according to God's will and it needs to be If you really wanted answered then you need to be keeping his commandments and doing those things But you're pleasing in his sight you need to be righteous So it's this idea of like faith that you're you know, he's able to do it But you're keeping his commandments so you're right with God You're getting a hold of him right coming to the to the elders of the church is really just like hey I need some I need some effectual fervent prayer, right? I need some effectual fervent prayer and just putting extra emphasis. You may be fasting and you're just like Anything I can do to get a hold of God In the end It needs to be according to his will now go to 2nd Corinthians chapter 12 and you say well and listen I had this argument one time with this Pentecostal guy and This Pentecostal guy said hey, listen, if you pray for someone to be healed and they're not healed. It's because you lack faith Or if you're sick and then you pray to be healed that it's because you lack faith that is complete garbage That could be that you lack faith and that's why that could be a component But listen to just say well that person died of cancer because they lacked faith That's that's idiotic And here's why because the argument that they said is that well, it's always the will of God for someone to be healed healed like false completely false And you say well, give me a verse on that. Well go to 2nd Corinthians chapter 12 we're dealing with the Apostle Paul here It says in verse 5 here so 2nd Corinthians chapter 12 verse 5 I still remember this guy telling me he's like, you know well when when you have kids and this before I had kids before I was married say when you have kids and then you you're gonna you're gonna hope that you're gonna want this type of Basically you're gonna want someone like me to be praying for your child because then they're gonna be I just wanted this I mean, I wasn't a pastor then so I guess I wouldn't have been disqualified I'm going to punch them in the mouth But it was just that type of like attitudes just like you know You'd want someone like me to be praying for him because you know, they have this like anecdotal like oh, you know I had this tumor and then I prayed for it and then it disappeared and it's just like Well, I mean if that's true Fantastic but in my head I'm like you're a liar Like how do I know that's true? Like okay, let me just throw out the Bible because of your story Right because of your anecdotal story That maybe maybe someone thought they saw a tumor and it wasn't and then it came back and it really wasn't there Can God heal tumors? Can that happen? Sure There are things that happen all the time that people can't explain that God I believe is involved in But this idea that well, it's always according to God's will let's let's look at Paul here now Would anybody say that Paul wasn't a righteous man? I mean good night. I mean, he's he labored abundantly more than they all And so notice what it says in verse 5 here says of such and one will I glory yet of myself Well, I will not glory but in mine infirmities For though I would desire to glory I shall not be a fool to pry will say the truth But now I forbear lest any man should think of me above that which he seeth me to be or that he heareth of me And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelation there was given to me a thorn in the flesh The messenger of Satan to buffet me lest I should be exalted above measure So he kind of tells you from the very beginning why he has this thorn in the flesh Now it doesn't explain what it is. Now. I personally believe that it was his eyesight Okay, this has to do with from very beginning He was blinded when he's on the road to Damascus and in Galatians It says you would have plucked out your own eyes and given them the to me if it was possible, right? he says that the Galatians like he's talking about their charity and love toward him and So I personally believe it has to do with his eyesight, but it doesn't really matter what his infirmity is He's got some infirmity that Basically is stating that the reason that he has it is so that he's not exalted above measure that he doesn't like Get too puffed up because of all the knowledge and revelations that he has as a Christian, right? So it says in verse 8 there says for this thing I besought the Lord thrice that it might depart from me. So did Paul pray that this would depart from him? Yeah three times Let's see what the answer was And he said unto me my grace is sufficient for thee You know what that is? No Right, I mean it didn't depart His answer is my grace is sufficient for thee for my strength is made perfect and weakness most gladly therefore Will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me therefore? I take pleasure in infirmities and reproaches and necessities and persecutions and distresses for Christ's sake for when I am weak Then am I strong so this idea that God is always willing to heal infirmities Just completely contradicts this passage and actually complete Like just destroys the argument of when I'm weak Then am I strong the idea that sometimes God will allow us to go through things and infirmities to make us stronger Okay So that's the case. How about in 2nd Samuel and 12 you don't have to turn there, but this is where his he commits adultery with Bathsheba and They have a child The child ends up getting sick the child dies right and he's weeping and praying and fasting and he's basically trying to get a hold of God right and When the child dies they're afraid to even tell him because they're like what is he gonna do when they find out the child's the child died So they're asking him like what in the world is going on because as soon as the he hears the child's dead he gets up eats washes himself and He's not praying anymore. It says verse 22 and he said while the child was yet alive I fasted and wept for I said who can tell whether God will be gracious to me that the child may live so You know the sweet psalmist of Israel a man after God's own heart Realizes that he doesn't know whether God will do it or not Is that a little different than what people are these Pentecostals are teaching whether it's like well, no, it's always his will It doesn't matter. You know, like it's just that you just need to have more faith. You're lacking faith You know, there's a reason no, that's not always the reason I'm not saying it can't be the reason but to just put that on while you just lacked faith. You didn't have enough faith. No David says we don't know Paul asked three times and he got a no He he got an answer that no my grace is sufficient for you now You say well, that's David saying that is that really true? Well go to Joel go to Joel chapter 2 Joel chapter 2 and I'm almost done here I'm just kind of making a point here is that I'm all about People coming and calling for the elders of the church calling for me to pray over them with oil, but know this God is able to heal any of the illnesses and any of the things That we pray for and in that case where someone comes to the church and Is wanting that kind of that extra prayer if you will with the anointing of the oil? Know this is that It's not a guaranteed like healing we're not Pentecostal But I'll say this If you're dealing with something like that Wouldn't you at least say hey, I've done all I can do That makes sense like you at least say hey, I've taken every step that the Bible has told me to do At that point you could just say hey Lord it's in your hands Otherwise you're like well I could have done this would that have helped and do you want to You know, I'm not like trying to scare anybody or anything like that, but I'm just saying like Me personally if there's something that that chronic or that is like debilitating or something you're dealing with in your life to where hey Just do do whatever the Bible says you can do to try to get a hold of him and just like exhaust all Possibilities of what you need to do in order for God to take that away. I mean if the answer is no, it's no you know, but At least give it all you can as far as getting a hold of God, right? That's that's just how I look at it. Like hey, it's kind of like throw everything out there that you can And then in the end you say hey, you know I'm just gonna have to deal with it if God chooses to not let it pass or not heal it then It is what it is, but here's thing in Joel chapter 2 in verse 12 It says therefore also now said the Lord Turn ye even to me with all your heart and with fasting and with weeping and with mourning So the context here is obviously turning to God and and and get trying to get hold of God It says in verse 13 and rend your heart and not your garments. So this is obviously spiritual Getting a hold of God and it says and turn unto the Lord your God For he is gracious and merciful slow to anger and of great kindness and repenteth him of the evil So notice it's just giving all these things that he is gracious. He's merciful kind, right? But then it says in verse 14 who knoweth if he will return to repent and leave a blessing behind him Even a mean offering and drink offering unto the Lord your God So Notice that this is the narrator right? This is the this is you can't say like well, this is Joel speaking You know, he's just kind of giving his opinion. No, it's the narrator. Obviously Joel's the one writing it and he's you know The Holy Ghost but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. I Can see where you could argue that David spake that but is that true? I think the Bible validates that it's true But Joel here. I Mean there's no doubt. It's saying that he is gracious. He's merciful. He can forgive he can repent but the thing is is that will he And in the end what should you do rend your heart weep mourn fast pray because we don't know if he will or not, but I'll say this the chances of him doing it without you doing that though are slim because you have not because you ask not and I Believe that the the the passage in James chapter 5 is dealing with obviously a more extreme case of sickness. I Don't believe it has to be terminal Sickness like where you have like three months to live and like that's when you come that would apply. Don't get me wrong If you're if you're older and you get pneumonia, hey listen that applies because that could kill you right there There's certain things where I'm not saying it has to just be chronic, but I'll say this is that Exhaustion resources. That's the way I look at it. Hey, yeah, this is available and hey, let's go this route and see you know Why not try to try to see if we can get hold of God that way? But in the end even Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane He wanted the cup that would be removed from him That cup, you know, obviously of what he had to do in order to save us from our sins It's not because he didn't want to save us It's just the fact that if you think about what Jesus had to do when he's on the cross He said my God my God why I stopped forsaking me. He says that to God the Father When he's on the cross the Bible says that he took the sins of the world upon him And he was made to be sin for us who knew no sin It says his soul was made an offering for sin The Bible says that his soul was not left in hell neither his flesh and see corruption and then obviously God has raised him up and we all are witnesses and the thing is is that What did Jesus say though when he was in the garden? It said nevertheless not my will but thine be done and I'll say this we don't know in these cases of sicknesses. We don't know what his will is Maybe his will is that you're healed and that it just takes prayer fasting You know getting a hold of God maybe calling for the elders of the church to pray over you and just like really get a Hold of God and he maybe wants to see how far how much do you really want to be healed? And I'm not a Pentecostal. I'm not like up here be like listen come up here and shake my hand. You'll be healed I'm not gonna take off my coat and start hitting you with it. So that you'll be slain in the spirit, right? Like that's all garbage. That's all just like made-up stuff, right? But know this is that prayer does work God is able to heal any Illness any disease and just because it's not healed doesn't mean that you're not right with God Would you say that Paul the Apostle was not right with God? And So we don't always see the bigger picture we don't always understand his will as far as why did you let this person die Right. Why did he let this person die at such a young age? But maybe that person that died at a young age caused other people to either get saved to get on fire for God and That maybe hundreds eight thousands of people got saved because of that one person that died Think about Pharaoh. Why was Pharaoh's heart hardened and you may ask your question like why is he hardening him? You know doesn't want him to get saved Of course He wanted Pharaoh to get saved to begin with but then he hardened them because obviously he you know Pharaoh rejected the Lord Lord rejected him but by him doing that Rahab the harlot got saved Out in Jericho Right and many people got saved because of all the things that God did because that one hardened man And so we don't always understand the reason the big picture So I'm not here to say hey listen calling for the elders of church and praying for the sick. It's just like this 100% like sure But I'll say this is that I believe James 5 and I believe that God's able to do it I believe that we should do that as a church and we have done it I'll say this we I have done it. I've done it multiple times for multiple people and You know Obviously we want to we want to do anything that we can to help when it comes to any type of sickness illness chronic thing if someone You know God forbid God forbid get something that's terminal or like determined to be terminal or whatever Hey, let's let's throw everything we can at it. Let's fast. Let's pray. Let's bring the elders of the church Let's put the oil, you know, let's let's do everything we can To try to help and if it's the Lord's will hey, let's get a hold of this will right less Let's let not there be anything there be like hey, you know, if we just would have been a little more righteous Maybe God would have hurt us. Maybe oh if we just would have called for the elders of the church Maybe he would have hurt us Hey, no doubt. Hey, we've done everything we can do and we're just putting in the Lord's hand You know, I like I like the idea of not worrying about things that I can't control But if I can control it then I need to worry about it You know, it's like if I can control it like hey Let's do what we need to do to get this figured out and then then at that point put it on God I can't control this you're gonna have to deal with it. You're gonna have to figure out what's gonna go on here So let's end with a word prayer. Yeah, they follow we think for today Thank you for your word and thank you for this passage Lord And I do pray Lord for all the people that have come and we prayed over with oil Lord I pray that you heal them. I Pray in these cases that you perform a miracle That can't be explained and Lord I pray Lord that you would you would heal them of these these infirmities these illnesses and Lord that that It could be a testament to you just like the the the man that was born blind And Lord that it would be a testament that no one could could speak different of and Lord just pray for those in our church That are dealing with this different chronic issues and everything Lord and just pray that you would heal them And I pray that it would be according to your will but ultimately Lord You know more than we do and Lord Ultimately, let your will be done. And well, we we love you for your gracious merciful You know part on all of us Lord. We love you for loving us and what we pray all this in Jesus Christ's name Amen, but they will come and sing one more song and then we'll be dismissed You All right, take your song books in turn the song 138 Song 138 in your song books and if you would stand we'll sing the Haven of Rest song 138 My soul in sad acts I was out in life see so burdened with sin and distress Till I heard a sweet voice saying make me your choice and I entered the Haven of Rest I've anchored my soul in the haven of rest I'll sail the wide seas no more The tempest may sweep or the wild stormy deep and Jesus I'm safe evermore I Yielded myself to his tender embrace and faith taking hold My fetters fell off and I Anchored my soul the haven of rest is my Lord I've anchored my soul in the haven of rest I'll sail the wide seas no more The tempest may sweep or the wild stormy deep and Jesus I'm safe