Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Suffering, Sickness, Sin—and Healing │ Msg 1416 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

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Suffering, Sickness, Sin—and Healing │ Msg 1416 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: There are some people every day who must accept the
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Speaker 1: fact that they will never be healed.
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Speaker 2: This is extremely.
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Speaker 1: Difficult for most, but for the believer it often raises
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Speaker 1: a number of different.
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Speaker 2: Questions, like where is God?
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Speaker 1: And didn't Christ heal all kinds of paralysis and sicknesses?
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Speaker 1: Here's another is there unconfessed sin in my life? Or
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Speaker 1: do anointed cloths have healing power? I mean, are these
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Speaker 1: things real? What about the use of medicine? Should we
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Speaker 1: trust God alone for healing without the assistance of any medication?
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Speaker 1: What method does God seem to honor? What process does
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Speaker 1: God use to bring about healing today? Oh, the questions
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Speaker 1: just go on and on. Perhaps you have your own
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Speaker 1: list of questions that you'd love to ask the Lord. Well,
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Speaker 1: I believe some of these questions are answered in the
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Speaker 1: passage we're looking at today. I'm referring to James five
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Speaker 1: thirteen to sixteen, which is a part of the series
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Speaker 1: I'm calling hands on Christianity. I want to read this
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Speaker 1: very important passage to you, and I want to do
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Speaker 1: so carefully. I want to use the Amplified Bible as
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Speaker 1: I read, which is a wonderfully reliable translation. This version
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Speaker 1: of the Bible contains vivid word, pictures and expressions that
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Speaker 1: will be helpful in our understanding of how to handle
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Speaker 1: and how to view illnesses. Our passage today is James
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Speaker 1: five thirteen through sixteen. Again I'll be reading from the
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Speaker 1: Amplified Bible. James five, verse thirteen begins, Is anyone among
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Speaker 1: you afflicted, ill, treated, suffering evil, he should pray. Is
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Speaker 1: anyone glad at heart he should sing praise to God.
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Speaker 1: Is anyone among you sick, he should call in the
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Speaker 1: church elders, the spiritual guides, and they should pray over him,
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Speaker 1: anointing him with oil in the Lord's name. And the
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Speaker 1: prayer that is of faith will save him that is sick,
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Speaker 1: and the Lord will restore him. And if he has
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Speaker 1: committed sins, he will be forgiven. Confess to one another.
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Speaker 1: Therefore your faults, your slips, your false steps, your offenses,
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Speaker 1: your sins, and pray also for one another, that you
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Speaker 1: may be healed and restored to a spiritual tone of
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Speaker 1: mind and heart. The earnest, heartfelt, continued prayer of a
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Speaker 1: righteous man makes tremendous power available dynamic in its working.
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Speaker 3: Last February, I was on board plane flying back from
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Speaker 3: Dallas and the celebration that I'd enjoyed along with a
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Speaker 3: number of other ministers and wives from our alma mater,
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Speaker 3: Dallas Seminary. It had been a jubilee week and we
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Speaker 3: were really rejoicing in what God had done over the
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Speaker 3: past fifty years in our school. We were giving thanks
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Speaker 3: in so many realms and with one another that I'm
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Speaker 3: afraid we were preoccupied with our celebration, and we missed
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Speaker 3: a family on the plane that was not celebrating. The
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Speaker 3: father of the family was terribly sick. He was deathly ill.
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Speaker 3: When the wife of this man realized that so many
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Speaker 3: of us were pastors and Christian workers, she sought out
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Speaker 3: a few of us and began to pour out her
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Speaker 3: heart to.
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Speaker 2: Us concerning the need in their home.
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Speaker 3: Husband had terminal cancer, so he had been told in
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Speaker 3: their residence in Louisiana, and she was bringing him to
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Speaker 3: a faith healer on the West coast. He was phasing
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Speaker 3: in and out of consciousness, mainly out of consciousness during
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Speaker 3: the trip, and therefore, because the plane allowed it, he
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Speaker 3: was taking up three seats actually out most of the time,
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Speaker 3: I think, completely disoriented in the advanced stages of that
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Speaker 3: particular and damnable disease of cancer. She began to share
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Speaker 3: with us the burden that she had, how concerned she
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Speaker 3: was that they might not substitute medicine for faith, and
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Speaker 3: that they had therefore sought very little from the physician
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Speaker 3: and had been trusting God. And therefore she was bringing
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Speaker 3: this man to one who claimed to have the power
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Speaker 3: to heal, of course, giving it, as it were, to
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Speaker 3: the power of God, but bringing this person to an
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Speaker 3: individual on the West coast who claims to have such
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Speaker 3: contact ability. And then she posed to me a question
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Speaker 3: that was terribly delicate, and which I frankly was not
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Speaker 3: ready to handle at that moment because of the difficulty
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Speaker 3: of that situation. She said, what do you think about
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Speaker 3: what I'm doing? My answer to her was brief, after
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Speaker 3: some period of thought, and if I had had the time,
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Speaker 3: I would share with her what I want to share
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Speaker 3: with you tonight, because tonight I have been giving further
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Speaker 3: thought and am able to develop it much more completely
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Speaker 3: in the minutes we're going to spend together in the Word.
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Speaker 3: But let me say first briefly what I believe, and
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Speaker 3: then let me say it further from scripture as to
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Speaker 3: why I believe in I believe in divine healing. I
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Speaker 3: do not believe in divine healers. I believe in faith healing.
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Speaker 3: I do not believe in faith healers. There is a
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Speaker 3: great difference. I believe that God, in his sovereign grace
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Speaker 3: and power, will in fact reach down in some cases
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Speaker 3: and change a condition that was terminal and put that
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Speaker 3: person back on his feet for years. And I am
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Speaker 3: of the conviction that God does that apart from any
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Speaker 3: individual who claims to have certain powers.
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Speaker 2: Now, having said that, I.
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Speaker 3: Am prepared to back it up from the verses we're
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Speaker 3: looking at this evening. Will you turn to James chapter
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Speaker 3: five and look with me at four pregnant verses filled
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Speaker 3: with meaning, which time, if we had all night, would
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Speaker 3: not allow a sufficient occasion to develop all that they
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Speaker 3: have to say James five thirteen through sixteen. I realize
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Speaker 3: I cannot answer all the questions tonight, nor can I
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Speaker 3: deal with all the passages now James five thirteen, Let
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Speaker 3: me read the four verses.
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Speaker 2: Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray? Is anyone cheerful?
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Speaker 2: Let him sing praises? Is anyone among you sick? And notice? Carefully?
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Speaker 3: Let him call for the elders of the church. Literally,
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Speaker 3: and having anointed him with oil, let them pray over
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Speaker 3: him in the name of the Lord. Let me read
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Speaker 3: the phrase again, And having anointed him with oil, let
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Speaker 3: them pray over him in the name of the Lord.
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Speaker 2: And the prayer.
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Speaker 3: The prayer mentioned in verse fourteen, in the name of
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Speaker 3: the Lord, offered in faith, will restore, literally, will save
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Speaker 3: the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise
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Speaker 3: him up. There's the faith healer. There is the healer.
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Speaker 3: The Lord will raise him up. And if he has
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Speaker 3: committed sins, they will be forgiven him. Therefore, confess your
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Speaker 3: sins to one another, and pray for one another, so
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Speaker 3: that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a
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Speaker 3: righteous man can accomplish much. Let me lay on you
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Speaker 3: this evening five foundational facts that serve as a basis
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Speaker 3: of what I want to share. Forgive the pedantic approach
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Speaker 3: to this, but it seems to be the very best
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Speaker 3: way to rivet certain things into our minds as we
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Speaker 3: prepare our thoughts for what this is saying. First fact
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Speaker 3: number one, you may want to write them in your Bible.
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Speaker 3: I do not claim inspiration, but I certainly can tell
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Speaker 3: you these will come to your rescue. If people ask
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Speaker 3: at times what you believe about this subject. If you
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Speaker 3: haven't thought through it, this may help you get started
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Speaker 3: in thinking through it. First fact, there are two classifications
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Speaker 3: of sin, original sin.
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Speaker 2: Personal sin.
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Speaker 3: The two classifications of sin are original sin, personal sin,
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Speaker 3: or the.
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Speaker 2: Sin nature the root and daily disobedience. The fruit.
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Speaker 3: That which we get from Adam in our being called
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Speaker 3: the depraved nature, and that which it produces in daily
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Speaker 3: acts or regular intervals, acts of sin, which may come
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Speaker 3: in the form of words or thoughts, our deeds. Fact
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Speaker 3: number two, Original sin introduced sickness and death to man.
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Speaker 3: I am of the conviction that had Adam and Eve
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Speaker 3: never sinned, they would have never died.
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Speaker 2: They would have never known the terrible consequences of it.
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Speaker 3: Of course, when original sin took place, then there was
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Speaker 3: introduced to man sickness and death. They are related directly
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Speaker 3: Romans five twelve, through one man's sin into the world
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Speaker 3: and death by sin, so death passed upon all men.
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Speaker 3: For all of sin, death and sin are related to
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Speaker 3: that original act of Adam. I guess in the same
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Speaker 3: way we could say all auto accidents are the result
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Speaker 3: of human weakness. The same type of thing would apply.
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Speaker 3: It may be a breakdown in the repair job that
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Speaker 3: had been done. It may be a breakdown in the
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Speaker 3: mind of the driver. But somewhere down the line there
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Speaker 3: was a human weakness.
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Speaker 2: So it's related.
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Speaker 3: Now the third fact, listen carefully because it bears upon
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Speaker 3: this passage. Sometime there is a direct link between personal sin.
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Speaker 2: And sickness.
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Speaker 3: This is true in the case of Saul, who sought
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Speaker 3: out the witch of Indoor and as a result was
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Speaker 3: terribly afflicted.
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Speaker 2: In fact, he finally died.
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Speaker 3: Personal sin and sickness sometime are related well one Corinthians
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Speaker 3: eleven thirty. For this cause, many are weak and sickly
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Speaker 3: among you, and many are dead, So that is to
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Speaker 3: be remembered, not every time, but sometime. Fourth, sometimes there
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Speaker 3: is no relationship between the two, and I would bring
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Speaker 3: as an evidence of this such passages as John nine
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Speaker 3: one through four, where the man was blind and they
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Speaker 3: said who's sin and Jesus said nobody. The sickness is
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Speaker 3: not the result of sin. Acts three two through eight.
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Speaker 3: There was great affliction and suffering had nothing to do
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Speaker 3: with sin. In fact, it had to do with obedience,
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Speaker 3: and they were therefore persecuted. Acts three two through eight,
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Speaker 3: there is a link between sickness. Sometimes there is no
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Speaker 3: link between sickness and sin. Now the fifth, Oh, by
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Speaker 3: the way, under the fourth, if personal sin were always
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Speaker 3: related to sickness, you know how you could be healed
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Speaker 3: the confession of your sins.
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Speaker 2: It's so simple. We stumble over that. Now.
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Speaker 3: Fifth, it is not God's will that everyone be healed.
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Speaker 3: Will you please remember that forever and ever throughout this life.
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Speaker 3: The constant line I get across the television and across
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Speaker 3: the radio and in literature from these who believe such.
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Speaker 2: Is that it is God's will that everybody be healed.
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Speaker 3: And I want to say, wait a minute, what about
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Speaker 3: trophy Us, whom Paul left sick at malead Us. Paul
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Speaker 3: had the gift of healing, and he left Prophemus ill.
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Speaker 3: What about Epaphroditis, who lived with Paul and was sick.
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Speaker 3: What about Paul himself, who prayed three times, Lord take
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Speaker 3: that thorn from me? And God said no, no, no,
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Speaker 3: And Paul said, I've learned to live with it and
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Speaker 3: all the lessons that I've learned. It is not God's
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Speaker 3: will that every person be healed. The basis of this
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Speaker 3: is frequently Isaiah fifty three, verse five, which says, by
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Speaker 3: his scourging, by his stripes, we are healed.
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Speaker 2: But the whole context.
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Speaker 3: Of Isaiah fifty three is spiritual illness, spiritual problems, and
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Speaker 3: he died that he might heal us spiritually. It is
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Speaker 3: not God's will that every person be healed. Thank you
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Speaker 3: for your patience and working through those five. Keep them
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Speaker 3: handy because we're going to refer to the third one
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Speaker 3: in this passage, which I think is directly related. Now,
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Speaker 3: look carefully, it's so important that you just concentrate, don't
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Speaker 3: let your mind wander. If you're with someone else that
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Speaker 3: maybe doesn't have a Bible, share it and really zero
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Speaker 3: in on the passage just a few verses. Verse thirteen,
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Speaker 3: is anyone among you suffering? Look carefully, now, this verse
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Speaker 3: talks about, first of all, a person who is suffering.
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Speaker 3: The Greek word means in distress or afflicted. It may
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Speaker 3: have in mind mental illness or affliction. It may have
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Speaker 3: in mind anxiety. It may have in mind an illness
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Speaker 3: that creates an affliction or a distress, and there is
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Speaker 3: no answer for it.
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Speaker 2: There is no relief. Promise.
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Speaker 3: God says to that person, pray. He doesn't say When
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Speaker 3: you pray, you will be healed.
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Speaker 2: He says. Pray.
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Speaker 3: It's as if to say, pray for endurance, Pray for strength,
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Speaker 3: Pray for patience, Pray for those that minister to you
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Speaker 3: and your bodily needs. Ask God for strength to endure
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Speaker 3: the affliction. I was talking with a woman recently, and
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Speaker 3: she has gone through a, if you please, a Hell
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Speaker 3: on Earth experience physically, and she's tried one medicine after another,
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Speaker 3: one physician after another, a whole camp of physicians in
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Speaker 3: the UCLA Medical Center. She's gone to the top, and
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Speaker 3: she and her husband have spent literally thousands of dollars.
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Speaker 3: And she said to me, you know, Chuck, I'm now
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Speaker 3: convinced that what I have is an affliction on the
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Speaker 3: basis of James five thirteen. I thought, that's pretty good insight.
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Speaker 3: Maybe God has laid upon you an affliction. And she said, therefore,
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Speaker 3: I have learned to pray for patience and endurance, and
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Speaker 3: it's coming across now. Their Second, if a person, and
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Speaker 3: by the way, that's what Paul had in the thorn
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Speaker 3: in the flesh, he had what could be called an affliction. Now, Secondly,
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Speaker 3: if a person is cheerful, let him sing praises. Life
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Speaker 3: is filled with variety. Some are crying, some of the
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Speaker 3: same pew are rejoicing. Some in the family are under
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Speaker 3: great illness and distress.
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Speaker 2: Others in the.
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Speaker 3: Family just enjoy health. It seems as though health never ends. Now,
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Speaker 3: if you are cheerful, you are not to try to
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Speaker 3: second guess God. You're not to try to feel guilty,
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Speaker 3: because if you laugh and rejoice, God will drop it
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Speaker 3: on you.
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Speaker 2: That's James's point.
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Speaker 3: If you are really enjoying life, sing the praises, let
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Speaker 3: it out, let it go. That's God's will for you,
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Speaker 3: and praise him for it. Verse fourteen. Is the really
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Speaker 3: the one we're looking at when we are sick? Is
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Speaker 3: anyone among you sick? Before we look further, let me
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Speaker 3: explain the word sick. The Greek word means without strength.
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Speaker 3: It means ill to the point of being incapacitated.
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Speaker 2: So it's a serious illness. You're not able to work.
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Speaker 3: It's not a headache, unless, of course, the headache is
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Speaker 3: such that you are incapacitated.
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Speaker 2: In other words, it isn't a passing illness. It's an
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Speaker 2: illness that takes.
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Speaker 3: Your strength, that incapacitates you. You're unable to continue with
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Speaker 3: your responsibilities in life. All right, The steps are spelled
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Speaker 3: out for us right here in the passage, and just
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Speaker 3: before I go into those three steps, I want to
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Speaker 3: give you a couple of clarifying remarks. First, this is
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Speaker 3: not referring to extreme unction.
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Speaker 2: There are some in certain churches.
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Speaker 3: Today who believe that the passage is addressed to the clergy,
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Speaker 3: and that the clergy is to take a vial of
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Speaker 3: oil and come upon those that are on the verge
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Speaker 3: of death and go through the liturgy and the preparation
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Speaker 3: of the dying, applying the oil in a certain way.
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Speaker 3: So it's to help the soul as he reaches eternal destiny.
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Speaker 3: For the life of me, and I'm not being sarcastic.
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Speaker 3: For the life of me, I do not know how
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Speaker 3: that comes out of this passage. Passage is not talking
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Speaker 3: about dying, it's talking about living. It's not talking about
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Speaker 3: giving up. It's talking about being restored. It's never addressed
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Speaker 3: to the clergy. Now there's another extreme that's taken by
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Speaker 3: some closer to us, and that would be those who
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Speaker 3: believe the passage is for the first century church only
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Speaker 3: that the apostles had what a healing gift, and they
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Speaker 3: therefore were to be called, and they were to minister,
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Speaker 3: and the healing was to come through their power of
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Speaker 3: the first century. But never once is the word apostle
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Speaker 3: found in the entire passage. This passage is addressed to
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Speaker 3: the sick person who calls upon elders. And the elders
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Speaker 3: are the spiritual leaders of the church. We would call
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Speaker 3: them the appointed leaders of the congregation, as well as
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Speaker 3: the pastoral staff in our day, these would be the elders. Now, then,
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Speaker 3: what are the steps that a person should follow when
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Speaker 3: he finds himself in this situation? Step number one, the
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Speaker 3: sick person takes the initiative and summons the spiritual leaders
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Speaker 3: Verse fourteen. Is anyone among you sick, let him call
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Speaker 3: for the elders of the church.
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Speaker 2: Let's stop right there.
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Speaker 3: How many people fall ill and say nothing to anyone
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Speaker 3: and then complain because nobody was there to help. Almost
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Speaker 3: as though the spiritual leaders of the church have a
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Speaker 3: magnificent crystal ball that reveals all the ailments and ills
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Speaker 3: of the congregation.
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Speaker 2: There's no way that a.
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Speaker 3: Person can know unless it is made known to him
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Speaker 3: or to her or to them. If you are afflicted,
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Speaker 3: and after we have gone through this passage, and you
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Speaker 3: feel that you are in this condition, you need to
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Speaker 3: announce it to those in the assembly that can help.
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Speaker 3: So it is not only the prerogative, it is the
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Speaker 3: requirement of those that are ill to summon those that
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Speaker 3: can help. That's step number one. Now, secondly, the elders
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Speaker 3: are to carry out two functions, and you can see
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Speaker 3: them in verse fourteen, let them pray over him, anointing
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Speaker 3: him with oil in the name of the Lord. The
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Speaker 3: Greek construction of this sentence.
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Speaker 2: Is a little bit catchy.
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Speaker 3: There's a there's a participle, and there's a main verb
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Speaker 3: and are They are difficult to handle if you don't
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Speaker 3: understand a basic rule that the action of one precedes
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Speaker 3: the action of the other. In this case, the anointing
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Speaker 3: is to precede the praying. That's why I read the passage.
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Speaker 3: Let them pray over him having anointed him with oil,
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Speaker 3: or more helpful, having anointed him with oil, let them
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Speaker 3: pray over him in the name of the Lord. So
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Speaker 3: the two functions are the anointing with oil and the prey.
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Speaker 3: Now let's spend some time here because this is super
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Speaker 3: signific Two things are important to me. With regard to
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Speaker 3: the anointing with oil. First, is this word anointing. It
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Speaker 3: conveys the connotation of a religious ceremony.
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Speaker 2: When you anoint David's head.
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Speaker 3: With oil, there seems to be a religious connotation in
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Speaker 3: the broadest sense of the word. When a person is
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Speaker 3: anointed for the ministry, there is again that same sense,
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Speaker 3: and there is a Greek.
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Speaker 2: Word for it. It's the root word creole.
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Speaker 3: We get the word Christos from It means anointed one.
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Speaker 3: There's another Greek word alifo, which does not mean anoint.
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Speaker 3: It means to apply to rub something in. It was
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Speaker 3: even used in extra biblical literature for plastering a wall,
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Speaker 3: for smearing something onto something else. You never would say
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Speaker 3: to your blood son, the wheel on your bike is squeaky.
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Speaker 3: You need to anoint your bike. You don't say that,
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Speaker 3: do you? You say you need to oil your bike.
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Speaker 3: That's literally what this is saying, having oiled him with oil?
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Speaker 2: What does it mean?
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Speaker 3: In those days, oil had medicinal effects upon illnesses. It
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Speaker 3: was used constantly upon those that were sick. The word
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Speaker 3: annoyt is the idea of massage or rubbing in or
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Speaker 3: pouring over like the good Samaritan in Luke ten thirty four.
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Speaker 3: He poured into the wounds oil and wine. Why did
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Speaker 3: he do that? Because it brought about helping the body
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Speaker 3: to heal? One very capable student of the New Testament
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Speaker 3: writes it better than I can say it. Now listen,
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Speaker 3: James content plated no magic when he mentions the use
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Speaker 3: of oil. Neither did he refer to the sacrament of
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Speaker 3: extreme unction.
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Speaker 2: As a matter of.
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Speaker 3: Fact, James does not even write about ceremonial anointing at all.
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Speaker 3: The word he uses was used to describe the personal
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Speaker 3: application of salves and lotions and perfumes, which usually had
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Speaker 3: an oil base. The word applied to Greece. It was
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Speaker 3: used of plastering walls. The cognate x alifo intensifies the
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Speaker 3: concept of rubbing in or applying, and conveys the idea
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Speaker 3: of smearing and wiping and blotting and erasing. And Aliac
25:48
Speaker 3: Tice was a trainer in a gym who would rub
25:53
Speaker 3: down athletes. Alipho was used frequently.
25:57
Speaker 2: In medical treatises.
26:01
Speaker 3: So it turns out that what James required by the
26:04
Speaker 3: use of oil was the use of the best medical
26:10
Speaker 3: means of the day. James simply said to rub in
26:17
Speaker 3: oil on the body and then to pray. Often the
26:22
Speaker 3: oil was used as a base for mixtures of various
26:25
Speaker 3: medicinal herbs. What James advocated was the use of consecrated
26:32
Speaker 3: dedicated medicine. In this passage, he urged the treating of
26:39
Speaker 3: sickness by medical means accompanied by prayer. The two were
26:45
Speaker 3: to be used together, neither to the exclusion of the other.
26:52
Speaker 3: So instead of teaching faith healing apart from the use
26:56
Speaker 3: of medicine, the passage teaching is just the opposite. Why
27:06
Speaker 3: did the elders bring the oil because the medical profession
27:09
Speaker 3: of that day was nothing like the medical profession of
27:13
Speaker 3: our day. They were few and far between. The spiritual
27:18
Speaker 3: leader of the church wore many hats, one of which
27:21
Speaker 3: was sort of a practicing physician in the needs of
27:27
Speaker 3: the community, that is, of the congregations. So they would
27:33
Speaker 3: in fact use this as medicine. They would make sure
27:37
Speaker 3: that the person was well cared for medically. Some time ago,
27:43
Speaker 3: in fact, it's been years ago now, I was suffering
27:46
Speaker 3: from an ailment and the doctor had told me.
27:50
Speaker 2: To do two things, one.
27:52
Speaker 3: Of which was very simple, one of which was terribly difficult.
27:55
Speaker 2: For me.
27:57
Speaker 3: One was to take an antibiotic and the other was
28:00
Speaker 3: to stay in bed. I was happy to take the antibiotic.
28:09
Speaker 3: I was not happy to stay in bed. I was
28:13
Speaker 3: then the assistant of a man and he came by
28:16
Speaker 3: to visit me one day and I was up and
28:19
Speaker 3: around and he said, what are you doing up and around?
28:25
Speaker 3: And I said, well, it's hard for me to stay
28:28
Speaker 3: in bed. He said, didn't the doctor prescribe bed rest?
28:31
Speaker 3: And I said yeah, but he's wait a minute. You
28:34
Speaker 3: want us to pray for you at the church. I said, yes,
28:38
Speaker 3: I really do. I like that very much.
28:41
Speaker 2: Then get in bed.
28:44
Speaker 3: And I didn't like that very much, but that's good advice.
28:49
Speaker 3: Don't send your name all around the Christian community if
28:52
Speaker 3: you're refusing proper medical treatment. If the doctor says get
28:57
Speaker 3: in bed, then get in bed. If he says take this,
29:01
Speaker 3: then take that. That's applying in the first century the
29:06
Speaker 3: anointing of oil, which is now handed to the medical profession.
29:11
Speaker 2: And I give thanks for them.
29:13
Speaker 3: I think every week, for the good counsel and for
29:17
Speaker 3: their advice. All right, having taken care of the medical needs,
29:21
Speaker 3: then it says, let them pray over him in the
29:26
Speaker 3: name of the Lord. When you read the name of
29:30
Speaker 3: the Lord in the New Testament or anywhere you can
29:33
Speaker 3: identify that with the will of the Lord, they never
29:37
Speaker 3: are separated. The name of God and the will of
29:41
Speaker 3: God are like one arm and another of the same body.
29:47
Speaker 3: So when you fall on your face before God on
29:49
Speaker 3: behalf of your beloved who is under medical treatment and
29:53
Speaker 3: looks like he's not improving or she won't get better,
29:56
Speaker 3: you are claiming.
29:57
Speaker 2: God's will, calling upon his name, saying.
30:03
Speaker 3: Lord, I invoke your will your name upon this situation.
30:08
Speaker 2: May it be uplifted. Now we're ready for the third step.
30:14
Speaker 3: Specific results are left in the Lord's hands.
30:22
Speaker 2: That's step three.
30:25
Speaker 3: Having summoned help, having gone through the proper medical treatment,
30:30
Speaker 3: and been prayed for by the assembly.
30:33
Speaker 2: Leave the results in the name of the Lord.
30:39
Speaker 3: Now let's look carefully here. Don't separate fourteen and fifteen.
30:44
Speaker 3: There may be punctuation here, a semicolon, but in the
30:47
Speaker 3: Greek text it's all together. There's hardly a breath. And
30:52
Speaker 3: having anointed him, let them pray over him according to
30:57
Speaker 3: the will of the Lord or in the name of
30:58
Speaker 3: the Lord. And that prayer offered in faith will have
31:06
Speaker 3: three results. If I read verse fifteen correctly. First there
31:11
Speaker 3: will be the saving. The word sutzo is used right
31:15
Speaker 3: here in place of restore, I would rather place the
31:18
Speaker 3: word save. The prayer offered in faith will save the
31:22
Speaker 3: one who is sick. I'll tell you why in just
31:24
Speaker 3: a minute. The second result, the Lord will raise him up,
31:30
Speaker 3: and the third result is sins will be forgiven. The
31:36
Speaker 3: if in verse fifteen suggests maybe he is in sin,
31:40
Speaker 3: maybe he is not. The context Now listen carefully. The
31:44
Speaker 3: context of this passage is that he is in sin.
31:49
Speaker 3: It is a definite treatment of a spiritual problem, that
31:53
Speaker 3: his enablement brought on by sin. That's the case in
31:56
Speaker 3: point here. I'm not explained away the passage. I want
32:02
Speaker 3: you to rest assured. I have poured over this by
32:05
Speaker 3: the hours, not just this week, but half of my ministry.
32:09
Speaker 3: This sort of thing I have worked with and discussed
32:12
Speaker 3: and gone over and over, and I've come to the
32:15
Speaker 3: conviction that this particular ailment James has in mind has
32:19
Speaker 3: to do with an ailment brought on by sin.
32:22
Speaker 2: Let me show you why.
32:23
Speaker 3: See the word save in verse fifteen will save or
32:26
Speaker 3: restore the one who is sick. If you drop down
32:29
Speaker 3: to nineteen and twenty the very same word is used,
32:32
Speaker 3: and it's built to a climax there nineteen, My brethren,
32:35
Speaker 3: if anyone strays from the truth, and one turns him back,
32:39
Speaker 3: let him know that he who turns a sinning one
32:42
Speaker 3: from the error of his way will sodzoe his soul
32:45
Speaker 3: from death. There's the word. The saving of the soul
32:49
Speaker 3: from death is a reference to restoring him to that
32:52
Speaker 3: place of fellowship and in fact health, because he's gotten
32:57
Speaker 3: right back with God. And that's why I wanted you
33:02
Speaker 3: to notice the word save. Here go back up to fifteen.
33:07
Speaker 3: The prayer offered in faith, That prayer in the name
33:10
Speaker 3: of the Lord will result in the saving of that
33:14
Speaker 3: one who is sick. And I suggest that has mainly
33:17
Speaker 3: to do with the saving of that individual in his
33:20
Speaker 3: basic spiritual life. The Lord will raise him up. That's
33:25
Speaker 3: physical that comes after the saving to save in the
33:31
Speaker 3: sense of deliver, and then finally, having confessed his sins,
33:36
Speaker 3: they will be forgiven him. You know what I cannot
33:40
Speaker 3: find in this passage a faith healer. I cannot find one.
33:49
Speaker 3: The man who is sick does not call for a professional,
33:53
Speaker 3: He calls for the assembly. He doesn't even necessarily call
33:57
Speaker 3: for those that have certain gifts.
34:01
Speaker 2: James is specific.
34:03
Speaker 3: Believe me, you that have been through the book with
34:05
Speaker 3: us know how specific he can be. He says, call
34:09
Speaker 3: for the spiritual leaders. That's where the need is. Bring
34:13
Speaker 3: them in, and when they are here, let them minister
34:15
Speaker 3: in a marvelous way and watch God work. And I
34:18
Speaker 3: noticed it's the Lord who raises him up. They get
34:21
Speaker 3: back out of the way. I can't base everything I
34:25
Speaker 3: say on experience. That's very shaky evidence, but I've had
34:27
Speaker 3: some experiences in this area that are incredible. I was
34:32
Speaker 3: called to a woman in a large city hospital in
34:35
Speaker 3: another metropolitan area a number of years ago. I was
34:40
Speaker 3: there along with two or three other brothers who happened
34:43
Speaker 3: not to be from the same assembly, but was a
34:46
Speaker 3: Christian worker, and two of them were officers in the church.
34:50
Speaker 3: Both of them happened to be elders in different churches.
34:54
Speaker 3: Then I went and we ministered to a woman who
34:56
Speaker 3: was the wife of a physician. She had a terrible
35:01
Speaker 3: back ailment and she was hospitalized. Her husband was a
35:05
Speaker 3: dear man. He was a pediatrician, and he was notoriously
35:09
Speaker 3: respected throughout that city. Vast ministry not only spiritual but
35:14
Speaker 3: physical of course, ministering to our children and many others.
35:17
Speaker 3: And as I stood in that room, I wanted so
35:22
Speaker 3: much to do what James has said. So we read
35:24
Speaker 3: the passage. They called for us because they respected our
35:28
Speaker 3: walk with God, and we began to go before God.
35:31
Speaker 3: One man fell to his knees right there by the bed,
35:34
Speaker 3: and I remember he just put his hands around that
35:37
Speaker 3: bedstead and just wept.
35:40
Speaker 2: He just was so mood. We loved her so much.
35:43
Speaker 3: And then I prayed, and then another one of the
35:46
Speaker 3: brothers prayed, and the physician was there, and he just
35:49
Speaker 3: wept and he prayed. It was a we met with God.
35:54
Speaker 3: Now when we finished and we're getting back on our feet.
36:00
Speaker 3: This woman immediately, I didn't say a word, nor did
36:05
Speaker 3: anyone else. She just began to confess half a life
36:09
Speaker 3: of rebellion. And she began to go further and further
36:13
Speaker 3: in her confession. And we stood there and were witnesses
36:16
Speaker 3: to a number of gross things that had never been
36:22
Speaker 3: openly given to the Lord, and she had been freed
36:25
Speaker 3: up to share them through this time in prayer. In
36:29
Speaker 3: a matter of a week, she was on her feet.
36:34
Speaker 3: Now I don't have a gift of healing. No one
36:38
Speaker 3: else in that room had a gift of healing. That
36:40
Speaker 3: physician had claimed no such gift.
36:43
Speaker 2: But I want you to know that God raised her up.
36:47
Speaker 3: It is almost a classic illustration of this very passage
36:51
Speaker 3: I'm sharing with you.
36:54
Speaker 2: Was the back ailment related.
36:55
Speaker 3: I don't know. I'm not a physician, I'm not God.
36:59
Speaker 3: I know that she openly shared there was a light
37:01
Speaker 3: that came across her face in that moment of time.
37:04
Speaker 3: The Lord raised her up. And through this beautiful relationship
37:10
Speaker 3: in the Body of Christ, where one shared and others listened,
37:13
Speaker 3: there was this sharing back and forth, and there was
37:16
Speaker 3: the ministry of the body. I noticed the sixteenth verse,
37:21
Speaker 3: which is an application. Therefore, and this is related to
37:25
Speaker 3: you and me. This isn't for the first century church only.
37:29
Speaker 3: This is for all of us. Confess your sins to
37:33
Speaker 3: one another. James says, let's get serious about this matter.
37:39
Speaker 3: So the first word of application I would say is
37:43
Speaker 3: confession of sin is healthy.
37:45
Speaker 2: Employ it.
37:49
Speaker 3: Don't use your life as a dyke to let sins
37:54
Speaker 3: build up so that sickness must come and then relief
37:58
Speaker 3: after long time availment.
38:02
Speaker 2: You notice it.
38:02
Speaker 3: Says, confess your sins to one another. I believe the
38:07
Speaker 3: passage has been ruined in so many areas as churches
38:11
Speaker 3: have public sharing and a person stands and spreads is
38:15
Speaker 3: built all over the congregation, and many of whom don't
38:18
Speaker 3: even know the fella's name can hardly even enter into
38:21
Speaker 3: the situation. For the life of me, I cannot see
38:25
Speaker 3: value in that kind of sharing, though the person may
38:28
Speaker 3: be totally sincere in the sharing. I think you have
38:31
Speaker 3: individuals who know you and love you and are in
38:34
Speaker 3: your family as it were in the family of God.
38:40
Speaker 3: I'm suggesting that you have a kind of discipleship relationship
38:43
Speaker 3: with these few, and that there be that sharing time,
38:47
Speaker 3: and when you have those battles, you share them so
38:51
Speaker 3: that in the confidence and the relationship, the tie of
38:54
Speaker 3: love that binds you together, Oh, they can give you reassurance.
38:58
Speaker 3: They can stand with you in the struggle.
39:02
Speaker 2: I do that. I have a couple of three friends
39:06
Speaker 2: like that. You need that.
39:13
Speaker 3: So that there is a regular fleshing out in confession,
39:16
Speaker 3: so that the body can ministered to parts of the body. Now, secondly,
39:22
Speaker 3: pray for one another. Second, praying for one another is
39:27
Speaker 3: essential practice. It doesn't mean you mumble through a list
39:33
Speaker 3: of names. It means that you know needs, and you
39:35
Speaker 3: take those needs to God, and those essential needs will
39:40
Speaker 3: help a person keep from being ill.
39:46
Speaker 2: Those prayers as they are offered.
39:48
Speaker 3: Third, the use of medical advice and assistance is imperative.
39:57
Speaker 2: Obey it.
40:04
Speaker 3: I find it very difficult to pray for an individual
40:08
Speaker 3: who is ill and has not sought the advice of
40:11
Speaker 3: a wise medical assistant or of wise medical assistance. Fourth,
40:19
Speaker 3: when healing comes from God, claim it. It says, Confessor
40:27
Speaker 3: sins to one another, pray for one another that you
40:29
Speaker 3: may be healed. Am I saying that all illnesses that
40:34
Speaker 3: God heals is like this one related to sin?
40:38
Speaker 2: I am not.
40:40
Speaker 3: I'm saying to you that some illnesses that God heals
40:43
Speaker 3: are not in any way related to sin that is
40:45
Speaker 3: personal sin. And I'm saying, when God heals, give him
40:52
Speaker 3: the glory disconnected with all men. Of close personal friend
40:58
Speaker 3: who had cancer of the tongue, I was away from him,
41:02
Speaker 3: and I heard the news when I was living in Boston,
41:04
Speaker 3: and I went to my knees in the basement of
41:06
Speaker 3: our home, and I prayed for Billy Houghton for a
41:11
Speaker 3: good hour at the same time, and I figured it
41:14
Speaker 3: with our clock and the change of time. Where he
41:16
Speaker 3: lived and a group of men met with him, and
41:18
Speaker 3: I prayed and they prayed. Is no touch of cancer
41:21
Speaker 3: in that tongue. Now I have a very close personal
41:28
Speaker 3: friend I did have who had cancer of the stomach.
41:32
Speaker 3: I prayed with her, I visited her, that assembly, prayed
41:35
Speaker 3: for her, and I buried her in nineteen seventy two,
41:40
Speaker 3: with absolute confidence that God was in it. Absolute confidence
41:45
Speaker 3: because it's not his pleasure that every person be healed.
41:51
Speaker 3: There's one healer, and that's God. Yesterday afternoon, I had
42:00
Speaker 3: the delightful experience to later rest or beloved Ben Hammerling
42:06
Speaker 3: from the Johnson family and known to so.
42:08
Speaker 2: Many of you.
42:11
Speaker 3: Following the cemetery experience, we were getting into our cars
42:16
Speaker 3: and I looked across the street and there was a
42:18
Speaker 3: dear woman kneeling down, in fact, sitting down by a
42:21
Speaker 3: pile of fresh flowers, and she was mumbling to herself
42:26
Speaker 3: and she was crying. And I thought, that's the most
42:29
Speaker 3: pitiful scene I think I've seen in months. And I
42:32
Speaker 3: just could not get into my car, so I stuck
42:34
Speaker 3: my Bible in the car, and I looked across the
42:37
Speaker 3: way and I thought, I've got to talk to her.
42:41
Speaker 3: So I walked over to see her, and I knelt
42:44
Speaker 3: down and then I sat down by her, and I said,
42:47
Speaker 3: excuse me for interrupting your privacy, and then I introduced
42:50
Speaker 3: myself and I said, if you would you mind if
42:52
Speaker 3: I talked with you for a few minutes, and she
42:54
Speaker 3: hesitated for about thirty seconds, and then she said, no,
42:57
Speaker 3: that's fine. And then I said, looks though you've lost
43:00
Speaker 3: someone that meant something to you, someone very important, and
43:04
Speaker 3: then she just cried, and then I cried. I just
43:10
Speaker 3: moved over her situation. And she said it was my
43:13
Speaker 3: husband and he was only forty seven. And she said
43:18
Speaker 3: the hardest part of all is that we were told
43:20
Speaker 3: he would be well.
43:23
Speaker 2: I said, by whom?
43:25
Speaker 3: And then she told me the name of a person
43:28
Speaker 3: who promised her he would be healed, and he wasn't.
43:35
Speaker 3: And this added to hurt and her anxiety, and she
43:39
Speaker 3: was completely disillusioned about God. At that point, she was
43:41
Speaker 3: born again, I'm pleased to say.
43:44
Speaker 2: And the more we.
43:45
Speaker 3: Talked and shared the Lord, the more the light came back,
43:47
Speaker 3: and the more the assurance. She had visited that place
43:50
Speaker 3: every day and she planned to continue to do that.
43:53
Speaker 3: And I said, you know, there's no life here, don't
43:57
Speaker 3: come back here. I can't tell you the times I
43:59
Speaker 3: go to a cemetery and when I drive away, I
44:01
Speaker 3: see people at grave sites and they're talking to the gravestone.
44:06
Speaker 3: A woman over at the other graves at the cemetery
44:10
Speaker 3: some time ago. As we drove away, the funeral director said,
44:13
Speaker 3: you see her, and I said yes. He said, she's
44:14
Speaker 3: here every day talking to her son, she thinks, who
44:18
Speaker 3: died at seventeen, and it had been months since they
44:21
Speaker 3: buried him. And this dear woman who had been told
44:25
Speaker 3: that this husband of hers would be he had cancer,
44:27
Speaker 3: the pancreas, and God could have done that, but that
44:32
Speaker 3: was a clause that was never repeated for fear that
44:35
Speaker 3: it wouldn't be faith. The faith is in the name
44:39
Speaker 3: of the Lord, not in my declaration or prediction or
44:44
Speaker 3: anyone else's. May God seal this to our hearts tonight,
44:50
Speaker 3: I'm happy to say.
44:51
Speaker 2: As I walked.
44:51
Speaker 3: Away, she was singing, Praise God, maybe bow. You know,
45:02
Speaker 3: it occurs to me at this moment that there might
45:04
Speaker 3: be somebody here tonight who just recently has heard that
45:09
Speaker 3: you have some terrible illness. Maybe you've come through a
45:13
Speaker 3: surgery and it isn't working as you expected it to work,
45:17
Speaker 3: and you're discouraged, and you've been afraid to share the anxiety. Listen,
45:26
Speaker 3: encircle yourself with those that love you, and you take
45:30
Speaker 3: this situation to God, and you claim in the name
45:35
Speaker 3: of the Lord his will, and you ask him to
45:39
Speaker 3: give you the quiet, calm assurance that you can accept
45:42
Speaker 3: whatever may be His will. That is the struggle. So tonight,
45:51
Speaker 3: I want to give you just a moment. You know
45:53
Speaker 3: someone who is this ill, who really would appreciate a
45:57
Speaker 3: word or a visit from you. Ah, don't hold back,
46:02
Speaker 3: don't just send a card.
46:05
Speaker 2: Go.
46:08
Speaker 3: You're not there to make any big predictions or promises.
46:11
Speaker 2: You're there to love them. You're there to minister, loving Father.
46:18
Speaker 1: I do not know where this message will reach in
46:20
Speaker 1: the weeks and the months, and possibly even the years
46:24
Speaker 1: to come. I don't know about what bedside or into
46:29
Speaker 1: which car it may someday be played. Neither do I
46:33
Speaker 1: know who will hear these words, what loved one suffering
46:37
Speaker 1: or waiting, or into what country it will be broadcasted,
46:42
Speaker 1: or into which language or dialect it may someday be translated.
46:47
Speaker 1: I leave, and I entrust all of those things.
46:50
Speaker 2: To you, dear Father.
46:52
Speaker 1: But I do pray for every person who has heard
46:56
Speaker 1: and will hear this message, that you would riten out
47:00
Speaker 1: any erroneous perspective or flawed understanding.
47:06
Speaker 2: To make certain we.
47:07
Speaker 1: Lift our eyes off of other people and our circumstances,
47:13
Speaker 1: and fix our gaze firmly.
47:15
Speaker 2: On you and you alone.
47:18
Speaker 1: May we willingly submit to whatever outcome you have ordained,
47:23
Speaker 1: whether it be healing or not. Father, cause us with
47:27
Speaker 1: great confidence to hope in your word and to place
47:31
Speaker 1: our trust in you, regardless of the depth or length
47:36
Speaker 1: of our trials. Bring peace to anxious hearts, hope to
47:41
Speaker 1: the despairing, and rescue quickly, our Father, those who cry
47:46
Speaker 1: out to you in faith. I pray this in the
47:50
Speaker 1: powerful name of Jesus Christ, our Victorious Lord.
47:55
Speaker 2: Amen.
47:57
Speaker 1: The preceding message, Suffer Sickness, Sin and Healing was copyrighted
48:05
Speaker 1: in nineteen seventy five, two thousand and three, and twenty sixteen,
48:10
Speaker 1: and the sound recording was copyrighted in twenty sixteen by
48:13
Speaker 1: Charles R.
48:14
Speaker 2: Swindall, Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide.
48:18
Speaker 1: Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.