IT’S TIME FOR MERE TALKERS TO BECOME FAITH WALKERS
PART 1-IT’S SHOW DOWN TIME
1 Corinthians 2:1-5 (ESV)
1 And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom.
2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.
3 And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling,
4 and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,
5 so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.
Paul was saying it’s show down time.
Talk is cheap there comes a time when we must put up or just be quiet. Shouldn’t we be able to heal the sick. We need a demonstration of Power not just mere words.
Now I do realize that there are men and women who are doing great things for God. They are being faithful and leading people to Christ whether from the pulpit or pew. I do believe most just don’t know how to heal the sick. That is why we come up with what I call Excuse Theology. Sometimes God heals and sometimes he doesn’t As I was thinking about this a thought struck me. We are not far from giving up on this completely and turning only to man’s methods. That would be a tragedy. No matter how good medical care can be, and it is outstanding; and it is not a sin or wrong to go to the doctor and we are all at different stages of growth when it comes to Divine Healing; let’s face medical treatments can’t cure many things.
I believe we have moved so far away from God in the area of Divine Healing that now our greatest hope is in finding a cure for cancer and other deadly diseases.
Here is my thought; if we Christians put as much time into Studying the Word with the help of the Holy Spirit in the arena of Divine healing and unwrapped the promises we would be light years ahead of where we are.
Let me tell you a story (this is an excerpt about TL Osborn-from Charisma Magazine) He is one of my heroes and role models along with John G. Lake; Smith Wigglesworth; Reinhard Bonnke; and Andrew Wommack. They all did or do it a little differently but they all did it effectively and miraculously.
Miracles Prove Jesus Is Alive (Article from Christianity Today)
A great part of T.L. Osborn’s success was his beloved wife, Daisy. They were married in 1942 when T.L. was 18 and Daisy was 17. Shortly afterward they committed to travel to India for five years as missionaries, only to return to America after just one year, disappointed they were unable to convince anyone to be a Christian. They showed the people in India the Bible and in return the people showed them a different holy book. When the Osborns were unable to prove which book was true, they gave up and returned home in defeat.
Osborn was changed after he had four encounters with Jesus. One morning at 6, Jesus appeared to him. On another occasion, Osborn saw Jesus working though another preacher who was praying for the sick. Then, Osborn experienced Jesus working through his own prayers. Finally, Osborn saw Jesus in the pages of the Bible. Because of these revelations about Jesus, T.L. and Daisy returned to the mission field and eventually traveled to more than 90 nations over a half-century of ministry and led millions of people to Jesus.
Osborn often started his sermons by telling the story of a man who had been healed in one of his services. Then he told a story about one of the miracles Jesus performed in the Bible. Then he prayed for the sick. Across the field, cripples lifted their crutches into the air as they were healed. A blind boy was suddenly able to see. A deaf man’s ears were opened. Testimonies flooded the stage as God touched people.
Miracles became the proof to Osborn that Jesus is alive and the Bible is true. The banner on his crusade platform usually featured Hebrews 13:8, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” He explained the differences between Christianity and other religions: “Jesus is the only one who offers proof, the only one who lives today, the only one who can heal the sick.”
We are looking at three verses that will change your life that are found in Romans Chapter 12.
What we forget to realize is there is a cure for cancer already; it’s called the stripes of Jesus. Its been available to those who truly believe with child-like faith for 2000 years Psalms 103 tells us “not to forget his benefits.” That is exactly what is happening to the church in America. Now we must learn again how to get the stripes working in our lives.
So, lets do it and do it safely.
I always says that Divine Healing has no side effects
I really felt strong that I was to share this. Some of you have almost given up. You are thinking Can God even fix my situation; it’s so bad?
John 11:38-44 (ESV)
38 Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it.
39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.”
40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?”
41 So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me.
42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.”
43 When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.”
44 The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”
· So, what does this have to do with my situation?
· Jesus healed a dead man? Not only was he a dead man; but had been dead for 4 days; not only was he dead and for 4 days; He was stinking dead.
· Is your situation worse than stinking dead? I don’t think so?
So, if Jesus can heal a dead man he can certainly heal you or your loved ones?
And he gave us the power to do the same
We are going to look at three verses that can literally change you from a Mere Talker to a Faith Walker because we need a Demonstration of Power not just mere words