Miracles

Good morning. Welcome to Insights with

Pastor John. I'm Pastor John and today

we're going to talk about miracles. You

know, um, one of the things that you

hear a lot is, you know, Jesus did many

mighty miracles in his ministry. And,

um,

a lot of people think that with the

death of the apostles, the miracles

ended.

And uh I want to make sure that we we

all are aware of the fact that

miracles still happen today. And I've

witnessed many of them. And uh I want

you to

think about this. What was it about

Jesus's ministry that caused miracles to

happen?

And it all comes back to one thing,

faith. And uh I want to share with you

out of the book of Mark chapter 5.

And we're talking about the woman with

the issue of blood.

Now what's going on at this time is

Jesus's fame is spread all about and uh

people have heard about the miracles and

people being raised from the dead and

these kind of things and um

it's important to realize

what happened and that um so this is

this is how a miracle takes place. It's

also how healings take place and things

that come from God that take place. So

Jesus is uh

he he's went across the sea from

Dopolis. He comes to the to the city

there. Gyrus is uh he's a ruler of the

synagogue. He comes to Jesus. His

daughter's dying. He asked Jesus to come

and pray for his daughter. Jesus says he

will.

And then as he's going towards Gyrus's

house, he's he's surrounded by a throng

of people. And what happens is amazing,

but it still happens to uh today. And I

want to look at this. It says, "And

Jesus went with him, and much people

followed him and thronged him." And if

you don't know what a throng is, it's

like

in the 90s mosh pits were really big and

these are just people just pressing in

trying to touch somebody. Um

it says, "And a certain woman which had

an issue of blood 12 years and had

suffered many things of many physicians

and had spent all that she had and was

nothing bettered, but rather grew worse.

And when she had heard of Jesus,

came in the press behind and touched his

garment.

For she said, "If I may touch but his

clothes, I shall behold." And

straightway the fountain of her blood

was dried up. And she felt in her body

that Jesus was healed of that plague.

And Jesus immediately knowing in himself

that virtue had gone out of him, turned

him about in the press, and said, "Who

touched my clothes?"

And his disciples said unto them, "Thou

seeest the multitude throng in thee, and

sayest thou, who touched me?"

And he looked around about to see her

that had done this thing.

But the woman, fearing and trembling,

knowing that knowing what was done in

her, came and fell down before him, and

told him all the truth. And he said unto

her, "Daughter, thy faith have made thee

whole. Go in peace, and behold of thy

plague."

It's important to understand what

happened here. Number one,

she heard

about Jesus.

Without hearing about Jesus, there's no

faith to activate.

And she had heard about all of the

things that he had done and healings.

And she had determined in herself. She

she was desperate. She's at the end of

her rope. Everything she's she's tried

for 12 years has uh not helped. She's um

trying to

get healthy and the doctors can't help

her. She has no hope. It's it's an

impossible situation.

And she hears about Jesus. And in

hearing about Jesus, her faith is

activated. She realized in herself, this

is someone that can help me. This is

someone I can turn to. I can go to. I

can touch this person

and I can be made whole.

When she hears he comes into the town,

she determines to come out of her house.

And there's some stuff here that's

that's really important to know. Number

one, she had an issue of blood. And

because of that issue of blood,

according to the law of Moses, she was

unclean. She wasn't allowed to be in

public. She couldn't go and she wasn't

she couldn't go to the synagogue. Um,

and if she touched anybody because of

the issue of blood, they too were

unclean. So, she's got all these things

stacked against her. She's lost

everything she had. All her money is

gone. She spent it all on doctors. Sound

familiar? You've been in that position.

You're at that place now. You're

desperate and you're looking for

answers. And I'm here to tell you, there

is an answer. And that answer is Jesus.

And what happens is she makes a decision

if I'm going to

I am going to get healed of this

affliction.

And I know that if I can just get into

this group and get close enough to touch

his clothes, I can be whole. And she

does it. She violated every law there

was

because she was desperate to get to

Jesus. And what happens which is a

fantastic thing is Jesus doesn't chide

her. In other words, he doesn't put her

down for having faith enough to come and

and touch his clothes. But there's

something happens in there. And when she

touches him,

he feels virtue flow out of him and

she's healed. And he turns around and

says, "Who touched me?"

And uh his disciples can't understand

why he's asking that question because

he's he's surrounded by a mob of people

that are all touching him. Yet with all

these other people that touched him,

only one person

received this healing. And it's because

her faith said, "If I can do this,

I can be made whole." And that's what

Jesus told her. your faith has made you

whole. U and her plague dried up. Now, I

want you to stop and think about this.

Have you ever been desperate enough to

actually

go after God with everything you've got

and say, "You know what? No matter what

happens, no matter what the situation

is, I am going to get an answer. I am

going to get what I need." And she

needed a healing. She needed to be

restored from this so that her life

would go forward. so she could do and be

who she was supposed to be and she could

live her life without fear of regret or

any other thing.

So here's the point.

When you're seeking God

and you need to touch, you need virtue

to flow.

And that virtue is the anointing power

of God. It's through the Holy Spirit.

And this is what happens. And I've

experienced this firsthand.

When you go to pray for somebody, you

lay hands on them, you anoint them,

you're going to pray for them, and their

faith, it's not about you. You're just a

point of contact between God and and the

person being prayed for. But what

happens when you when you pray for them

and their faith is reaching out to God

and they actually have faith enough to

receive it? When you pray for them, you

feel the virtue flow. It flows through

you to them and they feel it because

they receive it. Now,

how important is it

to understand

that every single Christian

that there is today

was given that authority by Christ

to heal the sick.

And uh it's in Mark 16. And this is what

he said in Mark 16. I want to read it to

you because you really need to get this

down in your spirit so that you can walk

in the place that Jesus is called. And

it's in verse 17. It's Mark 16:17.

Listen to this. He says, "In these signs

shall follow them that believe.

In my name shall they cast out devils.

They shall speak with new tongues. They

shall take up serpents. and if they

drink any deadly thing, it shall not

hurt them. And they shall lay hands on

the sick and they shall recover.

That's your heritage. That's your

inheritance. That's something Jesus

promised you. And the word shall is used

through here several times.

Um and the and there's a reason for it.

And

Isaiah 55:11 says, "So shall my word be

that goeth forth out of my mouth. It

shall accomplish that thing where unto I

sent it, and shall not return unto me

void. Jesus spoke it into existence. He

said, "These signs shall follow them

which believe." They shall lay hands on

the sick, and they shall recover. God

gave you that authority to operate with

his power. It's his power you're

operating with. It requires two things.

First, you need to believe that you can

operate in that power. And then the

other side of that is the person you're

praying for also has to believe that God

is willing to heal them and all they

need to do is receive a touch from him.

They just need to reach out by faith and

touch him.

And it's the the most important thing

you can imagine right now. Because

if you can believe that, you can change

any situation you're facing. Whether

it's a physical healing, a financial

healing, a restoration, a of of a broken

family, whatever it is,

God can heal it. He can restore it. He

can perform a miracle. He can make

things better than they've ever been in

the past. Um,

in

2012,

um, there was a gentleman

and and I witnessed him getting off a

bus. Now, I'd seen him around several

times as, you know, he was in his early

60s. He was walking around. He was doing

life to the best he could. And, uh, he

got hurt. He really tore up his leg

really bad. and he got off the bus and I

seen him. He's on crutches

and the Holy Spirit spoke to me and

says, "When he gets over here, pray for

him

and I will heal this lake."

Okay, Lord. Now, I am on the street,

okay? I'm not inside a church. I'm not

inside some special sanctuary place. I

am on the street. And he gets over there

and he finally gets over to the this

grassy area and he sits down

and I asked him, "Do you believe in the

healing power of Christ?"

And he said, "Yes, I do."

I said, "Uh, will you let me pray for

you because I believe God wants to heal

your leg." And he said, "Yes, you can

pray for me." Now, give you a little

background about this. This man had been

prayed for at least 20 times that day by

different people. And everybody that

prayed for him all said the same thing.

They all prayed that he would have

strength to get through his time of

trouble.

But God spoke to me and said, "I want

you to pray for him. I'm going to heal

his leg."

So I prayed for him

and I asked him. I said, "Do you believe

that God has healed you?" And he said,

"Yes, I do." And I reached out with my

hand and grabbed his hand and I said,

"Then

rise up in the name of Jesus Christ and

walk." He got up.

He started shouting. He started praising

God. He started leaping. He took the

bandages off his leg. He put his shoe

back on. He goes back to the hospital

the next day

and he walks in carrying the crutches on

his shoulder and he walks up and he

says, "I need to return these cuz

there's nothing wrong with my leg." The

doctor freaks out. Okay, this is this is

verifiable. This this whole thing is

verified.

The doctor sends him in for new X-rays

and a new MRI.

And he comes back and there's nothing

wrong with his leg. And the doctor says,

"Well,

I don't know what to tell you. There's

nothing wrong with your leg." And he

says, "I told you there was nothing

wrong with my leg. God healed my leg."

And the doctor says, "Well, I don't know

if I actually believe that or not." He

says, "I think we just got your MRIs and

X-rays mixed up with somebody else's."

Now, the guy's still walking around to

this day. Still has no problems with

that leg. God restored that leg

completely and fully. And in any

situation, God can do the exact same

thing for you.

It requires two things. The person

praying for you to believe in the

healing power of God. The person

receiving the praying the prayer also

has to believe in the healing power of

God and has to believe have by faith has

to believe that God wants to heal them.

When those two things happen, virtue

flows. The person praying will feel it

flow through them and the person

receiving will feel touch them. And when

those two things happen, that miracle

takes place instantly.

God is still in the miracle working

business. It has not changed. He's the

same yesterday, today, and forever.

Do you need healing? Are you seeking

after God to change your situation?

Do you need anything in your life? It's

a need. It's something that you need.

It's not your desire. It's not, you

know, golden apples on a tree. I mean,

this is a need.

God can meet that need if you believe

him. And that's the key. You have to

believe him. And I believe with all my

heart in today's world in the in in the

church that miracles and healings should

be taking place on a regular basis. It

shouldn't be a hitand- miss situation.

It shouldn't be, well, you know, it

might happen or it could happen. This

needs to be something that you can

believe in, that you can hold on to. The

only time in Jesus's ministry

where he wasn't able to perform miracles

was in his hometown of Nazareth.

And it tells you in the word of God that

Jesus could not perform many mighty

miracles there because of their

unbelief.

God's not dead.

He's still on the throne.

Jesus is there with arms outstretched

saying, "Come unto me all you who are

weary, heavy laden, and I will give you

rest."

Healing is part of that rest.

You need a miracle, it's time to come in

faith. Come and seek God with a whole

heart. God will give you what you need.

He will take care of you in every single

situation

if you believe. So, I want to leave that

with you today. I want you to keep that

in mind when you go up and you get in

that prayer line and you're seeking to

receive a healing or a miracle or a

change in your situation. If you

believe, like the woman with the issue

of blood believed, all she needed to do

was touch the hem of his garment to be

made whole, God's got a miracle waiting

for you. We'll see you guys next week.

Goodbye and God bless.