The following sermon is by Capitol Community Church located in Raleigh, North Carolina. Capitol Community Church is a people awakened to a holy God. If you are searching for a new church home or from out of town looking for a church to worship with, or simply seeking for answers. Please join us for worship at 9 o'clock a.m. every Sunday morning. If you have any questions, please email us at info at CapitalCommunityChurch.com. We pray this sermon will help you grow deeper in your walk with Jesus Christ. Good evening, and welcome to evening worship at Capital Community Church. God is good. all the time. We are so glad to have you. I see a lot of guests visiting with us. Welcome and welcome to the family here at Capitol. We're glad that you're joining us. I know many are joining online across the country and all over the world for tonight's evening worship service at Capitol. And that's because we have a guest speaker here with us tonight, Kosti Hinn. Kosti is a good friend of mine and Grace Anna and We worked together, I think beginning in 2017, to start a ministry blog called Reformanda, and the Lord just kind of in the providence of God brought us together through that. Many of you know Kosti's story and just his background through the American Gospel film, and if you haven't read his book, God, greed, and the prosperity gospel. I would encourage you to pick that up and you can read all about his story there. But he's the real deal. He's a man of God. He's got four kids under the age of seven. So, man, he takes them everywhere he goes doing ministry. I mean, they're all plugged in and part of his ministry life. He got up at 2.56 a.m. in the morning to catch a flight out of Phoenix to be with y'all here tonight. So, yeah. So really excited to have him and just for him to come speak. He's going to be speaking on the subject of healing in the scriptures and what God's word says about sickness, what God's word says about healing, and along the way sharing a little bit of his story and background. And so what we're going to do is I'm going to pray and then Kosti is going to come and speak and minister to us from the word of God and he's going to speak for about 45 minutes or so and then you'll see we've got three microphones set up on each of the aisles and after he's done speaking that Kosti has said that he'll answer any questions that you might have. So any questions that you have that come to mind throughout his message, save them and bring those during the Q&A. And we'll have about probably 20 minutes, 25 minutes for Q&A, and then afterwards we will adjourn. And Kosti is willing to sign some books, his most recent book, More Than A Healer just came out a month ago, maybe six weeks ago, and you can pick that up. We have, Kenny, where are the copies of More Than A Healer? Where will those be? Next door. Okay, they'll be next door over in the Family Life Center. All right, so with that, let me pray, and then Kosti will come and minister the word of God to us. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, Lord, we come before you sovereign ruler over the universe, the God who orchestrates all things that come to pass, who's sovereignly ruling over the galaxies and the cosmos. And it's comforting to know also ruling over our lives. So Jesus said that you even know the hairs on our head. And so Lord, we come to you tonight as your your children, as those who love you, and thank you for calling us to yourself, calling us into the kingdom of light from the kingdom of darkness. And we thank you for your blessings, your gifts, and we pray, Lord, tonight, that you administer God's word to our heart. We need God's word. our souls feed on God's word. And so we pray, Lord, that you administer through our brother Kosti as he comes and speaks and delivers this message. And we pray, Lord, just that we would be comforted that You know, we all face times of sickness and times of pain, and we know loved ones that are walking through sickness and pain. So Lord, help us think biblically about these things. Have our minds sharpened according to your word about these things. And we ask all this in Christ's name, amen. Thanks, brother. grateful for. You do want me to leave this up or tilt it down? I always take it down. All right, good. I don't like obstruction. I agree. I just don't know what to do with these fancy southern pulpits. I like them. These are nice. We don't have these in Arizona. A lot of tabletops and fancy industrial things and modern. We need to go old school over in the desert. Good to be with all of you this evening. Thanks for coming out. And yeah, it was 2.56 this morning when I took the little cell phone photo of the oven. Technically, I had to wake up at 2.30. So even earlier, yeah, even more spiritual of me to do that. No, it was a real no-brainer when I told my wife, hey, I get to go be with Grant and Grace Anna and get to speak and be a part of their evening worship and fellowship on Sunday night. We just said, well, let's figure out a way to do it. Waking up early it is what it is and then driving over here was so fun I texted my wife and said look at my drive my ride on the way to church and it was a selfie with me and three of the four kids the Castleberry kids and She just wrote back big heart emojis and her face was lit up and And I said, there's literally no difference right now in this car than in our home. And we have a similar storyline. So we're grateful and miss my kids, but it's always good being with family in Christ. What I want to do tonight is spend about 45 minutes answering two big questions for you. The first is, why do people get sick? The second is, is it always God's will to heal right? Now, I am sometimes surprised, but maybe less and less now, at the reality that a lot of Christians don't have clean, clear, biblical answers to those two questions. A lot of speculation, a lot of opinion. What makes it really difficult is there's a lot of noise out there today where some people that are reputable and seem really convincing will say, hey, it's always God's will, you just need to believe and have faith, or it's totally God's will, just maybe not now, but it's gonna come, and your blessing's coming, and your healing's coming, I love the optimism of that type of friend I'm sure you do as well those people that say it's all gonna be okay and you'll hear slogans like God's got this and people do wristbands and all of those wonderful things that I think are very well-intentioned most often as People try to help you and I in the midst of sickness and trials believe that it's all gonna be okay, I think you have another crowd as well and maybe some noise from the people with conservative theology, maybe even people like us, who would say, well, you ought to not really expect a lot from God. Christianity is about suffering, and so you're going to suffer, and we all say yes and amen to that. And then, you know, they would say, though, you ought not to expect anything from God, that He doesn't heal. And that if you get too excited or too prayerful or too eager or press in too far with your prayers, you might look like one of those crazy charismatic people that are always telling you just, you know, give enough money and do this. And I think we do ourselves a disservice by swinging to either extreme. The extreme that it's always God's will to heal right now. You just got to do this and you just got to do this. But then we ought to be real careful. even if we're coming against certain excesses, in saying that God never or God doesn't. We want to have balance in this area. It was August 16, 2018, just a few years ago, when we had just put the kids down to bed. And you've already heard a little bit of how crazy it can be with four kiddos. And at that time we had three. We had a three-month-old baby boy named Timothy. We had a two-year-old named Grace. And then our oldest son at the time was four, named Titus. And I remember we got them down, which can often feel like running an obstacle course in our house. They get down at 7.30, right on the dot, and that was always the goal. If you start bedtime routine around 6.50, between bath time and family worship, and prayers, and then the extra prayer, and then the extra prayer, and then the extra prayer, and then the song, right? Because we need to sing it again. And you need to do the refrain. And everyone all of a sudden is a worship leader in the house. Stall tactics, right? For bedtime. We got them down. 730. I'm downstairs. My wife had done a little extra nighttime routine for Timothy, our three-month-old, because he was still nursing, and she would give him a little extra cuddles, a little extra kisses, check his diaper, make sure there was no trouble in that area. So he would go down and stay down, and then she'd meet me downstairs. And we often, like most couples, have some quality time, get some good conversation. We enjoy our time together. Maybe once in a while she likes to watch British baking shows, or I'll convince her to watch a hunting show. and she'll humor me and so it was gonna be a normal night. Unfortunately that night in particular it wasn't. She came into the kitchen area and she began to explain through tears that something very serious was happening with our three-month-old Timothy. See there's these red spots all over his body and they had been growing and maturing and that word maturing I remember thinking is very interesting because it looked like something growing and they were growing in number and they were growing in the way they looked and Remember one day she said should we biopsy these and you never want to just take a chunk out of your three-month-old You understand that obviously and that moment. I just said yeah, let's do it. They look a little weird Let's do it biopsy results were in the doctor hadn't called us yet my wife being the way her personality is had logged into our medical account and Saw the report there and then googled all the terms which I don't recommend you do she did and comes into the kitchen, tears coming down her face, and she said, there's something wrong with Timothy. And I remember the C word coming out of her mouth, cancer. Our three month old had been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer and the doctor ends up telling us, well, it's, it's treatable, but it's not curable. And in that moment, I, I saw the tears. I saw her breaking down. I went and sat at our kitchen table. She sat right down on my lap. I held her. She collapsed in my arms. I didn't really know what to say. You don't have a lot of great things to say in those moments. Sometimes you just need to be quiet like Job's friends in the Bible. You just sit silently. Two statements came out of my mouth just off the cuff. I said first, we weren't going to get out of this life unscathed, were we? She just nodded no and kept crying and crying. I was crying with her. And the second thing I said, which again just came out, was, we're now going to live what I've been preaching. And she nodded, yeah. We prayed, we went to bed, there wasn't a lot to say, and the journey began. Timothy's now three years old. And anybody who's been hit by cancer in the home knows the word is like a gut punch. It takes the air out of the room. It takes the air out of your lungs. And we've spent our time in different hospitals and we've spent our time in cancer patient waiting rooms. We've met people and got the opportunity to pray with people and watch God work in different ways and ultimately just trust him in the midst of suffering. Some of the biggest questions that came to mind besides, God, are you gonna take my son? God, am I going to bury my one-year-old if he lasts seven months? Am I going to bury a three-year-old, an eight-year-old, a 20-year-old? Is he going to be 30 with a couple of kids and everything was going great and then it's going to come out of left field and I'm going to be standing graveside with grandkids one day and Timothy's in glory at that point? What's it going to be? Is he going to live just have a dormant cancer but it's gonna get him at 60 or 70 or 80 and I'll be gone you know what's it gonna be Lord what are you gonna do what's happening right now in the midst of all of that there were other questions though that came to mind what's my family gonna say If you're not familiar with my background, I don't expect that everyone is, is I came out of the prosperity gospel, health, wealth, healing type of stuff, the preachers that fly on private planes and drive Bentleys and Ferraris and all that kind of stuff. That was my world. And so you picture, you know, in your mind, you know, the Joel Osteen, the Kenneth Copeland, the Stephen Furtick over in Charlotte, my uncle's Benny Hinn, so the guy in the white suit who's waving the jacket everywhere and knocking people over. I mean, that's my family. I grew up in it, but more than grew up in it, I worked for him in it. And so I bought and sold the t-shirt in that movement. I preached that type of theology. I was a sort of heir apparent in our family because Middle Eastern family, your first born next generation hymn in our family is going to carry the family mantle or the family name. And so like in the Bible where you have Elijah and Elisha and Elisha wants the double portion and the mantle falls on him, all that kind of stuff was very oddly and sometimes weirdly prophesied over me. And there was oil thrown everywhere and different prophecies given. The bottom line was this, I was going to be kind of the next hin to take the ministry onward. Well, it didn't work out that way. I got saved. And I began to study the Bible and really nice people who I used to think were dead Christians, they were Baptists. I'm not even being funny. Baptist people that we used to say those are dead Christians. They don't have the power. They don't have the anointing. They don't have the Holy Spirit. They don't have the gifts and signs and wonders like we do. We operate at a different level than they ever could or ever will. And I remember one time, even my uncle, that we were meeting with Liberty University and doing some sort of ecumenical hangout time with them and Baptist sort of circles. And I remember him saying after the people had left that we were meeting with kind of high up and ups, you know, the Baptist preach a solid word. You know, if I wasn't called to be a healing evangelist, I'd be a Baptist. And I was going to go to a Baptist school to play baseball a short time later. So he said, you know, you're going to go to a great school eventually, and you'll get a solid word. They just don't have the spirit. And I remember thinking, huh, OK. I guess he's right. I come to find out down the road that the Baptists actually had the spirit, and they had the word. And everybody gets the Spirit when they get saved. But also, my Baptist friends asked a lot of questions. Good theological questions. A lot of HMU questions, you know, to help me understand. So help me understand. You drive a Hummer right now, you wear a $10,000 watch, you fly on a Gulfstream jet or whatever that was. Yep. So in God always, it's his will for us to be healthy and wealthy and everything's gonna go great for us if we follow, absolutely. Or if you have enough faith, obviously, well, yeah. And if you give enough money, yeah. And if you name it and claim it. If you declare it, absolutely, because there's power in confession, I'd tell them there's power in the tongue. Life and death are in the power of the tongue. You can confess yourself to be saved, Romans 10, nine. So you can confess yourself to have a bigger house, a job promotion, a new Bentley, whatever you want. You just gotta believe. And I remember often it was my coach actually who would ask a lot of questions and the sovereignty of God would come up. And I would think that's just weird that he's in control and I'm not. See, I always thought I was in control of God and I'm the puppet master and he's the puppet and I name it and claim it. I tell him what to do. He does it because I'm anointed and he's for me and my glory and what I'm about to do. He already did his thing. Now it's my turn. And that whole paradigm got flipped, and so I come out of that world, another longer story for another time, and here I am. I had spoken out publicly about the issue after about four years of silence, going to seminary, getting discipled. You know, my pastor was a good man, still is, he's a mentor and a brother, a friend of mine, basically told me early on, you listen, Hen, you're gonna sit down and be quiet, and you're gonna go serve the church, and we're gonna make sure you're actually saved, I got baptized because I was a false convert before that. I got truly baptized after my biblical conversion. I lost my title. I was sort of a youth pastor at the time. I became a pastor-in-training. And I did nothing but serve in our church. I was a children's pastor at one point. I was basically told, figure out how to make every ministry work and be quiet. That was my job. And so after that season, you know, eventually people begin to ask, you know, you're a hymn, you're at a Bible church. That's kind of weird. You went to a Baptist seminary. What's the deal? And so I would share. and speak about these issues. And obviously I care for souls and I care for people who are caught up in what I was caught up in. And one of the things that God said to me was, if you dare to touch the Lord's anointed, if you dare to talk about anyone publicly, if you name a name, when you come against us, especially when it's your family, you are going to experience the judgment of God. Touch not the Lord's anointed was the phrase that was often used, which we hear that in the Old Testament when David basically is reciting God's command not to kill a monarchial king in the lineage of Israel and not to aggressively assault prophets. Nothing to do with speaking out against heretical teaching or dangerous wolves, which Paul does ten times over in the New Testament. But that was the belief. Well, when my son got diagnosed with cancer, I knew right away where it would go because I had taught this, believed it. I even knew the levels that we would go to in order to abuse or suppress a person who would ever dare come against us. And one of the things I knew would come is this exact statement. Wow, God is judging you so intensely for touching his anointed that it would have been mercy to give you cancer and have you suffer, but now, even worse, you're untouched, but you have to watch your son suffer. Greater degree of judgment. Sure enough, not long after, the questions begin to come. Are you sure? You're sure this isn't because of what you've been doing? No. You're sure there's not one little part of you that thinks, what if you repented? What if you pull back? What if we don't really talk about false teaching or these issues, and you don't name names, and you don't go after this? Are you sure? Don't you think God then would have a little more mercy? No. We had studied the goodness of God. We had looked at the attributes of God. We had now understood the sovereignty of God, and it was time to live what we had believed and been preaching. One of the things that I set out to do, though, better than ever than I had done, best as I could up until this point, was try to answer questions biblically. Because how many understand the authority of Scripture trumps everything? And even in a conversation with somebody who doesn't believe that the Bible is authoritative and sufficient, like you might, you can go to bed at night a lot easier. And it's even easier to love people and be gentle with them when you have formulated clarity in your position. You ever get caught by your kids and you knew you weren't clear? Whoa, because I said so. That's why. and then you're gonna talk to your wife or your husband later and go, we gotta figure that one out quick. They're starting to catch on to us. That kind of idea, it can happen theologically. When we go into debate with someone or we go to reach somebody or talk to somebody or they go through something and our answer is, well, you know, because God will do it. He'll do it. Jesus did it. Well, that's not always good enough because it doesn't really unpack the authority and sufficiency of God's answers in his word. Or we maybe throw blanket, broad brush statements out there. and then the rubber meets the road and we go, wait a minute. And we need to know the who, what, where, why, when, how. And so I wanted to answer a couple of big questions in my own life when our world came crashing down, when the healing wasn't happening, when cancer touched our home, but even more than that as I began to meet so many other people who were faithful, godly believers going through intense suffering. Sitting in the waiting room, I remember my wife once was sort of the trigger on this conversation. I was feeling pretty sorry for myself. It was almost Christmas. We were a few weeks out and we had to go to Phoenix Children's and it was time to, you know, do the checkup and the blood work and the ultrasounds and you're worried about what they're going to find and he's got the steroid cream and you're only a step or two away and it's going to be chemo if it doesn't do this and if this doesn't happen and you have all the questions, and I'm sitting there feeling pretty sorry for myself, like no one else is going through this. We are. Nobody understands. And I'll never forget, two families, waiting room, chemo on Christmas Eve, and a chemo session for a different family they knew on Christmas Day. Now never in my life would I have imagined that anybody even works on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. you get your eyes open pretty quick. People every single day, no holidays, no vacations, no little sitting around the Christmas tree and you're gonna then go put all your gifts away and go have a good time. No party, no Christmas movie, no jammies, no whatever. It's chemo, it's suffering, it's challenges. It's a humbling thing. Many of you know this. I'm not saying anything so many of us have not gone through. Suffering brings a perspective and suddenly you think, God's working, he's teaching, he's guiding, he's humbling, he's breaking down any thoughts or preconceived notions that I had. He's even bringing a perspective I never would have thought of because of my suffering. And then you're in a real dangerous place because you almost say, God's doing something good in the midst of something so terrible? which messes with our Christianity, especially in American context, because maybe you're sitting here and you don't believe in the prosperity gospel. You're like, I'm not one of those crazy guys driving Bentleys, living in big houses on donations. But the prosperity gospel light, you know, like the Diet Coke version, the version that says, well, I'm a good Christian. I'm conservative. I vote a certain way. I'm very moral. I go to church. I'm obedient, I'm pretty righteous. Surely God's gonna bless me. Surely my life isn't gonna end up in a waiting room. I mean, some people it's like that, but for me, I mean, God's gonna, and then fill in the blank. God's got to fill in the blank. I expect him to. I believe he's gonna fill in the blank, and we can get quickly caught up ourselves as American Christians in a first world mentality that if I follow Jesus, everything's gonna be great. You know and I understand as well the reality is it's not. And so I want to give you some conversation points, some clear truths to go on when you're in these conversations. The first question that you're going to come across very often is, why in the world do people get sick? Why? The first reason is that sickness and death entered the world through original sin. We live on a broken planet. We're in a broken world. On the sixth day of creation in Genesis 131, God saw all that he made and it was very good. Everything was fine until Adam and Eve ruined it all for us. There was no sin in the world. Sickness did not exist. There was no brokenness. Everything was perfect. And then they sinned. They were deceived by the serpent. Shame fell upon humanity, which we see in Genesis 3, verse 10. Marital relationships experience conflict all of a sudden. Any of you ladies who've ever had babies, you can thank Eve. Pain in childbirth. Any of you guys that think, man, it's got to be easier to make a paycheck, or work, or produce, you can thank Adam. Work got hard. I don't know how it worked. In my creative, intuitive brain, I always think that the trees just produced and everything exploded. You'd have perfect, Edenic greatness, looking at everything going, wow, look at it in Eden. We'd never even have to try, and now we've got to toil the soil. We've got to labor and work to produce. Also, death entered the scene. Sin, brokenness, bodies breaking down. Because of sin, we need a Savior. We need Christ. We need healing. We need a solution. And all the while, in Christianity, we're a people looking forward, aren't we? We're on a broken ball of dirt. God is still doing great things, He's still redeeming His people, but we're not really waiting for a better life now, we're looking forward to a better life to come. We get sick, we end up in chemo, we end up in waiting rooms, we end up at graveside ceremonies way too soon for so many of our expectations because we live in a world that is broken by sin. That is why Christ is so important. That is why heaven is what we long for. That is why a new heaven and a new earth and the new Jerusalem are things to be excited about. This world is never going to be what you want it to be. We could win political wars. We could convince the whole community to follow Jesus. We could give away free stuff. You could see churches packed. You could have revival. Praise God. Glory to God for all of that. Guess what? It's still not the ultimate solution. We see sickness because we are in a broken world. Truth number two, sickness and death can strike us because of our own sin. We need to face this truth. In 1 Corinthians 11 verses 27 to 30, maybe you've talked about this before, before taking the Lord's table, you'll often be warned by a pastor. Those of you who aren't believers and you're visiting here, your family brought you, you're exploring questions about faith or about who Jesus is, or you're just here because we're having a potluck after and you want some free food. Whatever the reason is, right now we want you to let the elements pass. Because you're drinking a cup and you're eating a cracker or bread to commemorate something you've not even trusted in or believed in or benefited from. No judgment. Let it pass. We love you. We want you to know that Jesus is available to you. If you would confess your sins and you would repent, you could be saved as well. We do that at church. Why? Because of what Paul said to the church at Corinth, which they were a little wild. We always refer to them at our church as Vegas on steroids, right? Everything was crazy. They were doing everything wrong, abusing everything. Spiritual gifts, sexual issues, all of it, and communion. So he told them. When you mess around with this and take it unworthily, that's why some of you are sick, you're weak, and you're dead. Some people die or are in judgment because they take communion unworthily. Another reason we might say that you could be sick because of sin would be based on a principle when Paul's telling the church at Galatia that a man reaps what he sows. If you sow drunkenness over and over and over again, drug abuse, you're going to reap bodily dysfunction. If you sow constantly terrible eating habits, which it's probably a good thing I don't live in the South. I'd be one of those people constantly hitting the fried food. I love it. I would eventually reap some sort of heart disease, or even if I worked it all off and I looked real fit, my arteries would be clogging. You can reap what you sow. Very often our vices can lead to sin, and so we don't want to really have a naive perspective on this, like, oh, he's gone too soon. No, he was an alcoholic for 40 years. It's a miracle he lasted this long. These are honest things that we need to acknowledge. Or when we say, I just don't know why God would allow this to happen to me, and it's costly, and I've been hitting all the fried food for 30 years, and I'm mad at God because I'm having health issues, I need to humbly acknowledge I've been kind of tearing down my temple. If I smoke, or you chew, or you constantly put things in your body, or you hammer on your body in ways that God did not design it to retain, well, we can understand that sickness will come if we engage in activities that break down the body. If someone were to engage in rampant adulterous relationships, or even a lot of it premaritally, And they end up with certain types of diseases or certain types of issues. That's not like you going through a trial, man, God's really taken me through it. No, there's a difference, right, between trials and then self-inflicted consequences. In life, there is brokenness, there is sickness, sometimes because of sin. And so maybe you'll find yourself convicted of sin someday because of sickness or because of some element of brokenness in your body. 1 John 1 9 is still for you that you confess your sin and he's faithful and just to forgive you of your sin and cleanse you of all unrighteousness. That may not mean that your body is going to be perfect. It may mean that you experience various side effects or quote consequences of your treatment of your body because of sin But the beautiful thing is Romans 8 one says you're not going to experience condemnation because of it So your glorified body to come will far outperform Your broken down earthly body no matter how well you take care of it, but there is a reality that your body can break down because of what you do to it, or if you do certain things like take communion unworthily. And that is for certainly the Lord to know most often, but for us to be aware of and careful of. The third reality is sickness and death are not always the result of our sin. So we don't want to make blanket statements and say, well, body's breaking down, that's your fault, or you probably took communion the wrong way. There is a simple reality that God at times will allow suffering, trial, and sickness in our life so he can be glorified. Remember when he heals the blind man in John 9, the disciples, what sin did his parents commit that he's like this? And Jesus corrects them saying, whoa, whoa, whoa, guys, hold on. Neither did his mother or father sin. He's this way so that the father would be glorified. Watch what I'm about to do. And that's where we need to be really careful. Though we're not saying it's always God's will to heal somebody, there are many times in which God will allow someone to go through something, and He will work supernaturally, beautifully, amazingly, so that we all stand in awe of Him. And you know what's so humbling about that? Is some of us in the room who are suffering, when we watch somebody else experience the beautiful work of God's healing power, it even allows us to humbly remember He still loves us, cares for us, we're still saved, and that healing for the soul is still more important than healing for your body. We learn to rejoice for someone else even in that moment. It's a healthy moment of sanctification or spiritual growth for us all. Sometimes God will allow it in order to bring himself much glory. Truth number four. Sickness and death can be used by God for His glory and the good of others. I want to pull out of that last point a little more and unpack it further. Just because God is not the cruel originator of sickness, He doesn't throw it on all of you, does not mean that He cannot or will not use it. This is one of the most dangerous, abhorrent theologies of the extreme prosperity gospel, word of faith movement world, is they'll say, you can never equate God and His glory to sickness. Sickness is of the devil. These things are from the devil. This isn't from God. We want to be really careful and understand that God wastes nothing. Nothing is outside of the scope of His control. Nothing that enters your life doesn't first pass through his hands. And so he will and can get good things from bad things. He is the creator of all things, though he does not create evil, or he's not the origin of evil. He is the sovereign ruler of all things, and so he can take evil and make it good for his own purposes. He is in control of everything. And so we want to be very prudent seeing that God is still in control. Whether that is someone we know dies, and it provides us with an opportunity to share the gospel at their funeral. There is something bad, something that is of loss and pain and hurt, and yet good can come out of it. I remember getting the chance to preach the gospel because a family didn't have somebody to do the funeral, and so they called someone who knew somebody who knew somebody. Next thing you know, I'm at this funeral, and it was my first ever funeral. It was like something out of those old preacher stories that when you're young and you're in seminary, you're like, oh, I wish that happened to me, and then it happens to you. You're like, I do not want this to happen to me. First funeral. packed with about 400 people at this historic cemetery in Los Angeles outside of Pasadena. And it was a family member of a major grocery chain owner, like power family. So everything there, like Nestle's there, and Dreyer's ice cream, and Breyer's ice cream, and Albert's, like everybody's there. And I'm in there to do a funeral And I step in that pulpit, and I'm looking, and they are in the nicest suits, I haven't seen suits and swag like that since the prosperity gospel, and now I'm a real pastor, and I'm sitting there to do a funeral, and I have to open my mouth and preach the gospel. And I remember thinking, there is no way, no how, that these people are gonna listen to some 29 year old kid preach to them. There was one woman on my right, like nine rows back. Don't know who she was, don't know who she was married to. She was dressed to the nines, probably about 50, 60 years old, and the whole time she's just nodding and smiling like, yeah, get them. Like she's one of the wives that's been praying for the gospel to hit the hearts of these guys who otherwise are never stepping foot in some religious ceremony. Something good out of a moment so tragic. From there, Somebody else with another food industry company needed a pastor. They weren't church folk. So they called the one family and said, hey, who's that kid that did the funeral? We need a pastor. He needs to do the next one. I find myself doing another one. All the same people there. I'm preaching the gospel again. It ended up happening three times. Something good coming out of it. If anything, for me, something good was learning to do funerals in really intense situations and learning to overcome fear of man. But it can be deeper and even more painful, but still helpful to acknowledge. Those of us in the room who experience challenges with our children or with loved ones, or when you lose a spouse far too soon for your own desire, or you lose a child, you will find yourself in situations to become an encouragement to someone else, where you never would have had the wisdom you have if you didn't go through the pain. I would love if God just gave us all wisdom and taught us all of life's lessons without pain and we all sounded so smart and could throw out all the one-liners till our hearts are content. He does his best work though in the valley. He gives you the wisdom. when you're at war within your heart, going through pain, going through turmoil. Romans 8, 28, a beautiful passage, when rightly understood, that God causes all things to work together for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. We need to remember, He causes all things, which is the good, the bad, and the ugly, to work together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose, His purpose being there, and then we gotta realize, His definition of good, not always ours. What he defines as good is the good that comes out of things that can be so bad. That is a fact. I love the way that James Montgomery Boyce, famous because he was faithful, a preacher, on Sunday, May 7th in the year 2000, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he takes the pulpit to address his congregation. He was diagnosed with a terminal cancer. And a lot of people were asking, what can we do for you, pastor? How can we serve you? How can we support you? How can we help you? And he addressed them regarding all of that and explained, a number of you have asked what you can do. And it strikes me that what you can do, you're doing. This is a good congregation. You do the right things. You're praying, certainly. And I've been assured of that by many people. And I know of many meetings that have been going on. A relevant question, I guess, when you pray is pray for what? Should you pray for a miracle? Well, you're free to do that, of course. My general impression is that the God who's able to do miracles, and He certainly can, is also able to keep you from getting the problem in the first place. So although miracles do happen, they can be rare by definition. A miracle would have to be an unusual thing to be a miracle. But I also think it's profitable to pray for wisdom for my doctors. Doctors have a great deal of experience, of course, in their expertise, but they're not omniscient. They do make mistakes. And then also for the effectiveness of the treatment I'm under. Sometimes it does very well, and sometimes not so well. So that's a certainly legitimate thing to pray for. Above all, though, I would say please pray for the glory of God. If you think of God glorifying Himself in history, and you say, where in all of history is God most glorified Himself? He did it at the cross of Jesus Christ. And it wasn't by delivering Jesus from the cross, though He could have. Jesus Himself said, don't you think I could call down from my Father ten legions of angels for my defense? But He didn't do that, and yet that's where God is most glorified. Beautiful moment for a man who would die just a short time later. Teaching and modeling for his congregation how to even pray, not just for the healing, but ultimately for God's glory to be seen through his suffering. And so I hope those points on why we get sick and what God can do with sickness are helpful. I want to quickly move into The second big question, and then land the plane and we'll go into Q&A. It's this, is it always God's will to heal right now? When you get into a conversation, maybe you've had that question, but perhaps you've already answered that question in your mind, but you're looking for talking points with people and it can be helpful for you to engage them logically and biblically. These answers are important. The first reality is this. God doesn't heal everyone all the time. So is it always God's will to heal right now? No. It is His will, ultimately, to bring all things to completion and glory one day, and we'll get there, but simple truth, God doesn't heal everyone all the time. We need to understand that, and the Bible gives irrefutable evidence of this. You see, during Jesus' earthly ministry, He didn't always heal everyone. There were even times, I think of Mark chapter 1 verse 38, where everyone's coming to find him again. They're going, hey, do some more healings. Where's the guy? Where's the Jesus guy? We're ready for more. And he says, let's go to the next town over. I want to preach. That's what I came to do. There's a moment where Jesus doesn't heal everyone. In John chapter 5, a particular chapter that helped with my conversion and opened my eyes in big ways to a more balanced view of healing, Jesus heals one man out of a multitude of sick people. I always thought it was always God's will to heal everybody right now. He's going to do it. Just believe. Or even if you don't, don't worry, because it's always His will to heal. He'll do it anyway. Well, at the Pool of Bethesda, a man had been there some 38 years sick in his situation. He doesn't just lack faith. He's a complainer, which in my old theological position was like the best way to lose your healing. He complains, he whines, every time I try to go get in the water, someone beats me there, like Eeyore, oh bother, all the time. Jesus still heals him. But we don't hear from John about any other healing. In fact, Jesus jets out of there real quickly, so quickly the man doesn't even know who he was when the Pharisees came and challenged him later on in those verses, in the early verses of John chapter five, verses one through 17. So we know that at times he'll heal. And at times, he wants to preach. And at times, he heals one. Certainly, Jesus' healing ministry does not give us license to make blanket promises or just launch our own healing crusade ministry just because someone gets healed. It is not always God's will to heal right. Now, Paul, who wielded the ability to perform miracles, and did, suffered. He told the church at Galatia, it was in bodily illness that I preached to you. Now, likely, most scholars believe that in 2 Corinthians 12, 7, the thorn in the flesh, it was not a physical ailment. Most scholars or reputable ones, though they debate on this, will say, you know, it could have been a demonic heckler, it could have been some other issue. But let's just say it wasn't a physical sickness. Paul still, in his example, shows us something very clear, at least God does through Paul's life. He says three times, will you take away the thorn in the flesh? Will you take away this issue? Will you take away this issue? Will you take away this issue? What does God tell him directly back in 2 Corinthians 12, 7? Nope. My grace is perfected in your weakness. In fact, all the better, basically, God is saying to him. You go ahead and keep going in your weakness, because my power is being put on display in an even bigger way, because everyone's going to know it ain't you. They'll know it's me. And so we see certainly that God is not always going to take away every issue. Timothy is told in 1 Timothy 5.23 to take a little wine for his stomach issue. In 2 Timothy 4.20, Paul is ending his letter there by talking about all the wonderful people and some not-so-wonderful people, with Demas, who deserted him, and Alexander the coppersmith, who did him much harm, but the Lord will repay him, he said. But many other people who were great partners in ministry, Paul left Trophimus sick somewhere. The guy who could heal and wield this gift at will leaves his body sick. Clearly, it was not always God's will that they be healed. Second, God doesn't heal based solely on someone's faith. So it's not always His will to heal right now, and then faith isn't always going to do it. Sometimes you'll see people get healed when they have no faith. I already mentioned John chapter 5, the man at the pool of Bethesda, but basically we see in scripture you can't believe your way into getting a guaranteed healing. You can't claim it enough, you can't name it enough, you can't shout it out, think it, focus on it enough to get a healing. The Bible clears the air completely on that. There was a situation in Luke chapter 5 as well where Jesus heals based on faith. We saw that even in the situation with the woman. Remember the woman with the issue of blood? She's crawling through the street. She grabs the hem of his garment. He says, who touched me? All the disciples say, what do you mean who touched you? Look around. People are everywhere. He says, no power left me. This was different. He turns to her and she's healed. And he says, daughter, your faith has made you well. Using a familial term. Daughter your faith has literally healed you the word is interchangeable not just with a physical healing but also healing for the soul or a completeness for someone the totality of someone and their situation Jesus healing her both physically and spiritually and then the man in Luke 5 one of my favorite stories He heals a man's soul through salvation Remember, he forgives his sins. The Pharisees don't like it. You can't forgive sins. Only God can forgive sins. There you go again, carpenter. You're blaspheming. You're not God. Jesus shows them, I have the authority to forgive sins. Watch this, heals them. Even then, the goal wasn't a healing crusade. The goal wasn't, hey, look what I can do. Now you can do it. Now everybody can do it. And it's all about healing. The goal was, I am God. I'm putting myself on display in front of you. You can't even see it. Let me show you one more time. I can't just forgive his sins and go on and, oh, it'll be fine. No, I'm going to forgive his sins and I'm also going to heal him. It was not just based on his faith. Jesus was proving a point. So we want to be real careful turning healing into a formula. Saying, if you just do this, you can have it. Another one, truth number three, God doesn't perform healing for a price. If you ever get told that you need to be giving in order to get your healing, you run. I doubt that's ever going to happen here. In fact, I'm sure it's never going to happen here. But you will find yourself in different situations, or even talking to certain people who will try to convince you, or they're convinced themselves, and you get a great opportunity to bring up instances in the New Testament when somebody tried to mix money with the power of God. You remember Simon the Sorcerer? Tried to buy the gift of God with money. Tried to be like Peter and the guys. Thought he could invest his way, buy in to the company, if you will. Peter says, you go ahead and perish with your money. That's not how power works. That's not how healing works. That's not how the gifts of the Holy Spirit work. You cannot move God into that level of power or through you into that level of power with any type of purchase or money. Even when a beggar asks Peter for some alms, you know, fill my cup. I'm broke. I'm poor. I just need a meal. Give me something for, you know, a McDonald's cheeseburger, one of those dollar coffees, anything at all. What does Peter tell him? Acts 3, 6. Silver and gold have I none, that which I have give I thee. In the name of Jesus Christ, rise up and walk healed. Instantly off to the races, praising God. You do not need to ever go broke to get healed. No apostle, New Testament writer, or Jesus himself ever told somebody to give a financial seed to get healing. Finally, God will heal all believers in heaven. That moment is coming. It is a reality for believers. The atonement, which often faith healers will say, just guarantees you everything. He already paid for it. You'll hear that. He already paid for your salvation and paid for your healing. Just receive them by faith. Healing and salvation are a package deal. The reality is this, the atonement paid for all of that. Yes, you don't get it all yet though. It's a now but not yet promise. Another thing that's in the atonement, 1 Corinthians 15, a glorified body. Anybody in one of those yet? I'm not. No, you're not. Every time my ankle twists or I feel back pain in the morning, closer to 40 every day. I'm definitely not. You get treasure in heaven. Matthew 6, 21. Store up for yourself treasure in heaven when you give and when you support the Lord's work and when you're pouring in your quote real seed of investment into real gospel work. Being generous like 2 Corinthians chapter 8 and chapter 9 talk about and you're giving with a joyful and generous heart wanting to see the gospel go forth. What are you doing? You're storing up treasure in heaven. You got all that now? No. Kenneth Copeland not long ago said, oh, I know we have treasure in heaven, but God never said you got to wait for it till then. I can have it now. And he talks about just kind of swiping God like a debit card machine to get your treasure now. Not happening for the rest of us on the bottom of the pyramid scheme. You got a lot of promises waiting for you in heaven. A lot of amazing promises. You got eternal life. But what do you have to do first to get there? Die. It's appointed to a man once to die. Then judgment. Healing is coming. No more tears. It's coming. No more sickness. It's coming. the reuniting of believers, some of us even with our loved ones, our family, our friends, worshiping around the throne. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. The joy, the infinite blessing and even exploration of heaven, the new heaven, the new earth, Christ, the ultimate treasure, all of that is guaranteed. All of that is coming. We don't have it fully yet. The atonement has bought and paid for it. It's coming, but we're still on a broken planet right now. God has left us here not to guarantee temporal things and more money and more stuff. He's left us here as plan A to be Acts 1-8. His witnesses to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and even to the ends of the earth. We're only here to preach a saving message, because Jesus said in John 10, I've got more sheep. I'm going to bring them. And who is he going to use to declare the truth that saves them? Like Romans 10, 17, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ. But before verse 17, who does he use? The preachers, the beautiful feet of those who bring the good news all over the place. He's saving people. So please remember that healing is coming. But right now the most important thing that we could pray for, that we desire, that we could labor for, is healing for the soul. That God could receive great glory, great honor, and great credit for those things is the greatest purpose for us to ever live. Let me pray for us and then we'll jump into Q&A. Father, When we think about your will and healing, there's so much noise. A lot of faith healers and even well-intentioned believers, they just don't know. And there were seasons where I didn't know and never studied this and looked at it and was so certain that you're just gonna do it because you're God and you're good and you're always good. And I was defining your good as my definition of good. We do that from time to time as sinful, finite people. We forget your word. Our hope breaks down because we begin to hope in the things of this world. Help us, please, when the cancer diagnosis comes, when the pain of searing loss, loved ones, family members, children gone too soon for our desire, when neighbors and friends and even in our own church family go through immense suffering. Please give us the words to speak or even the wisdom and the reminder from stories like Job that sometimes the best thing we can do is simply sit in silence and mourn with those who are mourning, looking forward with them to perfect glory with you. Bless our Q&A. Help me to answer from your word and to give encouragement to my fellow brothers and sisters here. Most of all, let your glory be known and seen in our lives and in the lives of our children. And if you would even will, our children's children, that we might see a generation rise up for your great name. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen. So we have basically 15 minutes for Q&A. So what we'll do is you see the microphones here in the aisles. If you have a question, go to one of those microphones and Barry will adjust accordingly with where people are standing. But when you have a question, if you would state your name and then the question, since we only have 15 minutes, Kosti will be next door after this. If you have a comment, just reserve that comment for next door. So just state your name and then the question and then Kosti, I know you'll answer them exceptionally and biblically. So, with that, the Q&A 4 is yours. Thank you. My name is Bill Lestini. I really thank you for your biblical approach to this question and the truths that you've given us. I especially love the way you've given us biblical verses to back them up. My question is, how would you address, if someone were to give you an example of James 5, verses 14 and 15, two questions. As far as 14 goes, where it says, when someone's ill to gather the elders and anoint them with oil, should we be doing that? And secondly, 15, when it says a prayer offered in faith will make them well, when that doesn't happen, is that because of the definition of well? Or how would you answer that question? It's a great question. Yeah, he's talking about at the end of James where James says, if you have a sick person, bring them to the elders. The way that I have interpreted and seen this passage goes back to the context that starts in 13. Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praises. It's a whole treatise on prayer all the way from verses 13 to 20. Is anyone among you sick? 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 offered in faith will restore the one who is sick and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him. There's two ways to take this. I've seen it done both ways. I truly don't mind either one. I think there's scholarship on both sides that would argue the case. I've been in a room with elders at a church past, a great church, a Bible church, where we had a woman in our congregation who had cancer, and she came to the elder meeting, and we prayed over her, and it was for a prayer of healing. Sadly, we love her so dearly. I did her funeral and her husband's three months later. It was one of our first church members who had passed away at that point of our church plant. But we enacted that as a form of open forum for prayer and healing, seeking the Lord. And part of it too for us was we want to be really careful because we had made sure that people in our church were clear on this sort of topic. that they also didn't feel discouraged. Like they couldn't come to the elder meeting and pull the James moment and say, hey, would you pray for us? Private, well, public, apparently everyone's watching. Hey, everyone, if you're watching this, it doesn't matter. I'll tell the story anyway. It was a Thursday night and it was very early on in the cancer journey, just several months in, and I was at a meeting at Grace Community Church where John MacArthur, who's no stranger to his thoughts on healing and miracles and shenanigans of faith healers, The elders were having a meeting, and they actually asked me to stay, and they said, we want to pray for Timothy, your son. And I don't know if this is what has happened. I'm still 36 years old, and my son's only three, so the Lord's will will be seen. But we've had literally no episodes since that. night of prayer. That's why when people harp on MacArthur or whatever with healing, I'm always like, hey, take it easy. He said some things publicly that are strong and maybe get taken too far. But the elders at Grace Community Church prayed for our son, and we have watched God keep the situation where it was, and even the doctors be so pleased with his report. So, there are moments where I think enacting that is very...well, there are plenty of moments when we need to do that. The other view, though, is that there's an issue of sin in the life of that believer, which is linked to the sickness. And they need to be brought to the elders, and it's a form of both prayer and church discipline where that issue is confronted and dealt with. That individual, if he's committed sins, the prayer of faith is restoring that one. So this is a confession of sin being made right with the Lord in conjunction with or complement with the prayer for healing, and both are made right. So I've seen that as well, which again I would probably have no issue with at all because if you have a person that's in rampant sin and they're experiencing brokenness in their life and sickness perhaps because of it, we covered that it is at times our own doing that could lead to sickness. This person has confessed their sins before the elders, they've been anointed with oil. There's one more position and I've seen this one as well argued for, which is this was a medicinal practice in which there were oils or Maybe now everyone's essential oils crazy nowadays, but back then like maybe the original essential oils in which for medicinal purposes they were they would come to the elders and be prayed over and they would be anointed with a type of oil that would alleve sickness or pain seeing that as well. I'm I don't like that view as much as the others because it seems a little weird for me to rub people with essential oils at this stage of humanity's existence, but perhaps in context there, I'm wrong. But that would be the three kind of main views. So no issue there for people to come to the elders and to pray and ask God to move mightily. Yeah. Don't all rush the mics now. And if you have a question and you decide to line up, that's great and easier too. We'll just rapid fire. Yes, sir. Hey, Kosti. My name is Tim. Hey, Tim. Hey, thanks again so much for being here tonight. I think we all just appreciate that so much. How can we be praying for you and your ministry and your family in the coming months and years? It's really kind of you to ask. Thanks. So I really like winning at home. I want to win at home and be a faithful husband there. It's First Ministries, so pray for that to be intact and thriving. Another one would be we're planting a church in Chandler, Arizona. in the new year, late February, called the Shepherd's House Bible Church. So we're planting Shepherd's House and gonna jump off a cliff basically and trust the Lord to make a church survive. So we're building our core team, training people, fundraising, identifying location, everything. We're gonna start in a school and just go for it. It'll be a Bible singing, Jesus, people, discipleship, and I think the Lord will build this church. I'm excited. But if it's not His will and it was just our great idea and some people were kind to support it, I'll come and ask Grant for a job and we'll just move to North Carolina or somewhere like this and we'll see you soon. So no clapping. We don't want it to fail. Thanks, brother. Yeah. Yes, sir. Hi, my name is Asher Bell. Me and my family joined here just over a month ago. And I was wondering how you and Pastor Grant met. Yeah, that's a really good question. We met first via kind of phone calls and in some mutual friendship circles. And then we met more formally in person and got to know each other a little bit more. And even up until last, probably three weeks ago, we got to hang out in Atlanta. And he and Miss Gray Santa, I don't know if that's what they call you, but it's pretty long, Mrs. Castleberry, whatever it is. Oh yes, pastor's wife. Yeah, we got to hang out some more and we've just grown our friendship that way. But all of our interactions have been, they started around Bible and doctrinal teaching like teaching from the Word of God and wanting to do ministry faithfully and wanting to serve people and help people and Do a good job loving our lives and raising our families faithfully And so yeah, we've struck up a friendship and he's probably one of the best storytellers I've ever met. He's very animated and He moves around a lot when he tells stories. I love it So he'll have to tell you one one day and when the hallways and show you how he gets crazy when he's telling stories But I absolutely love this brother. We're so thankful for them Yes, sir short mic for a tall man. Yeah, yeah. Listen, this is kind of a very personal question, but how can we pray for your uncle to get converted to the true gospel of Jesus Christ, and even now do you still communicate with him, and so how do you handle that? Great question. So first, how can you pray? Pray that the Lord would open his eyes. I believe, based on what the scriptures teach and the way that he conducts life and ministry, that he would be an unconverted individual. More than that, though, not just a benign unbeliever but a false teacher and an agent of the enemy's work. And so he's also still breathing though and still alive. So there could be an era of his life even up and down almost to a 70s where he's been deceived and walking in deception and the Lord in his sovereign kindness opens his eyes. So pray for that moment to happen that before Uncle Benny dies that he repents and comes to a full understanding of the true gospel, and if he has a full understanding, which I believe he does, that he would fully submit to it, and he would preach it and repent of his sin. So that would be a big thing. On that note, a lot of people ask, you know, I thought he repented. He's repented several times throughout his ministry, and the end of 2 Peter chapter 2, I believe it's verse 22, Peter quotes an old proverb and says you know like like dogs they'll return to their vomit and Like a sow after washing return to the mire The pattern with my uncle has been we go back to it again and again and again after some years it recovers a lot of donors and a lot of support when you make those big statements like I the Lord's changed my heart or in the last one where he said, you know, the Holy Spirit's fed up and And I remember thinking, and not even being cheeky, just thinking like, now he's fed up? He's not been fed up for 30 years, 40 years? So these moments are great theatrics, and they restore a lot of support to the ministry, only for him to go back to it. So pray for a true, lasting repentance, Zacchaeus repentance. Crazy sinner up in the tree, doesn't care anymore, just wants to see Jesus. Jesus says, I'm coming to your house today. He's pumped. He wants to pay everyone back. He doesn't even have the money to do it all the way, and he's just going, I don't care. Just end his days that way would be the greatest joy. for my heart to see. We don't communicate two-way anymore. I've sent over messages from time to time, telling him I love him. When he did repent last, I texted him this long text. I called over. None of them got picked up or returned, but I said, hey, if this is the real deal, I'll be there. I don't care what people think. I've been loud for your false teaching, and I'll be loud for your repentance. Nothing back, but Yeah, some family members will talk to me, but a lot of them, I'm kind of the black sheep, the saved black sheep. So pray for their salvation. Yes, ma'am. My name is Abigail. Abigail, wonderful to meet you. Why do people still die? Oh, that's such a great question, Abigail. Why do people still die? People still die because we live in a broken world. Jesus hasn't returned yet. And he's going to, but he died on the cross so that we would believe in him and have faith in him and trust him and know that he's God and paid the penalty for our sin. And then when he rose from the dead, that wasn't just like a cool show to roll away the stone. He rose from the dead to show that he has power over death. And only one person has ever been raised from the dead like that. and it was God, the Son of God, Jesus. So He did that to show us all, follow me and trust me and believe, and then I'm going to bring you to heaven one day, and I'm going to come back to earth one day, and I'm going to make it so that there's no more death, and I'm going to end all this pain that sin caused. But until that moment happens, Death is still a reality. People are still gonna die. And so we pray that Jesus comes back one day, but also that people would believe in him so that they would go to heaven and not experience death and hell. So. Yes, sir. Thank you. So my name is Bradley. Thank you so much for coming tonight and speaking to us. I'm a member of the Shepherds Church in Cary, North Carolina. Oh, yeah. And a part of the young adult community within. And we have a few individuals in our midst that are either dealing with a form of criminal illness or they have sort of just a persistent debilitating illness. And so I appreciate your treatment of the doctrine because it is Super important that we have that right. I think part of my question to you is how can we practically minister to those individuals that are among us? I mean, prayer is an obvious one, certainly wanna do that, but I'm thinking, you know, meeting tangible needs, or if there are just ways that we can be sensitive to those individuals as they struggle with their illnesses, but still be a force of light and life to them. Yeah, it's a great question. When I read through 1 John, I see a ton of evidence for the life of a believer to be filled with love. And he says at one point, little children let us not love with just word, but in deed and truth, right, in our actions. And so I think there's a practical element in the life of a believer where they minister to the needs of a brother or a sister. That's just the outworking of your salvation as a Christian. So practically speaking, to answer your question, yes. Yes, you should be meeting their practical needs. Find out what they need. Do they need a ride somewhere? Do they need meals? Sometimes people are going to give you the like, oh, we're fine, we're fine, we're fine. And they do the like, Christian, I don't want to be a burden to you we've always just taken the position to just show up so my wife will just send something over and I'll just say come on my way what's your address you know that that kind of thing or send a card send a door dash some people are really private and they don't want me showing up at their house I get it so doing things like that for the people that are a little pushed back but if you got a friend like you know these individuals and you have access to their life, there is a lot of ways that you can meet needs. What it's going to do is challenge your comfort and the comfort of people around you because it's going to become not so cool and fresh and fun, it can actually be really mundane and very long-suffering to be a year, two years, three years, maybe five years, maybe 11 years. I know two young guys that kind of adopted a buddy of theirs that has an issue physically, and they live with them as his roommates. And man, it is not pretty. It's not like this cool, like, yeah, we did a good deed. Now everyone go back to their dorm room or go hang out and do their thing. These guys are living out that practicality. So I think praying for strength and thinking through that as well is one of the great ways to show your friends that you truly love them. And then maybe there's ways in a church setting, especially with the Shepherds Church, which we had already picked our name. They changed their name and announced it publicly, but good for them. I love those guys. There's probably some things that could be done, even from a practical resourcing ministry standpoint, where there's ways to reach those people and have a community around them that supports them. And, I mean, that's one of the best ways to just know your local flock. If there's a church that has those situations, and maybe another doesn't, another church maybe doesn't need that right now, but you guys could start something for those individuals. Kind of like Paul with orphans, widows, there's a lot of different practical elements in the New Testament. Just do it. Absolutely. Meet the needs. Get uncomfortable. And when things get ugly, be like Job's friends on their best days, not when they were blaming him for all of it. They're sitting with him quietly in mourning, and they're walking with him, and they're the guy that's going, hey, I'm here. I've got nothing more. I'm here. And I'll be here. That attitude can be really powerful. Yeah? We'll work our way this way. We'll go down the middle and then to the left. Center field, left field. Hi, my name is Melissa. Hi Melissa. I'm also from Arizona, so it's nice to have a fellow Phoenician here. Yes. My question might seem kind of silly, but I recently came out of this kind of wild health phase and in the midst of having people pray for me, and they prayed for healing, I almost felt kind of like uncomfortable, not uncomfortable, but just kind of like unsettled with that, when I really felt like the real prayer should be the Lord's will to be done. And so I just am curious, because I know Jesus prayed for healing and the disciples prayed for healing, so I just want to know what your perspective is on prayer and how we should pray when people are sick. And if heaven is our home, the thought of praying for healing seems a little bit confusing to me, if that makes sense. Great question. Always like to live in both so give you an illustration with it You've got you know heaven coming and the the excitement of dying and being with Christ Paul said to live as Christ to die as gain One point he says to the church at Corinth When you're absent from the body you're present with the Lord, but we'd still go to the gym and try to eat healthy and work out I'm not like, you know doing whatever and going. Yeah, let's go see Jesus early You want to take care of the temple and get as much out of it as you can? You use wisdom in the both end. I think the same thing with healing. I am a child of God. He's the father. I'm the kid. I'm going to go to my father in heaven and I'm going to plead and I'm going to beg that he heal Timothy and that he stay his hand of strength upon him and that my son gets to grow old and meet a beautiful, amazing wife and have children and experience the glory of God. I want him to be a preacher and I want him to be a warrior and all these things. I want, and I pray for that. I prayed for it this morning before flying out when I went in their rooms and I prayed for them while they're still sleeping and Timothy, I, Nuzzle up with my little guy. He's like a little tank now. He's getting big but I'll pray with him like he's still a little baby God Heal him sustain him use him for your glory Totally asking God to do that for me as a father Luke 22 42 though Jesus going to the cross Father, if possible, let this cup pass. And what does he say? But not my will, but yours be done. I think putting that on the end cap of every request as a child of God, Lord, please open the door for that incredible job. It is a large salary in a great place. It would make me a good steward, a generous giver at our church, effective in our community. It would give me influence. I would use it for your glory. I know in my sin, I'm sure I would get caught up in things that are about me, but you would correct me through the power of the Spirit and conviction. I want this. I really think I want this for the right reasons. Your will be done. There's nothing wrong with that prayer. In fact, you see people pray this all the time and end up in great situations. God decided to open the door. Don't get caught in the guilt and shame of we want to be careful of praying crazy weird things and it's going to happen and I named it and claimed it. So we tend to, at times, swing over to, well, Lord, just let your glory be seen in my suffering. And it becomes what's a word called asceticism, which is like the old monks in the old days. They'd whip themselves and beat themselves into a frenzy if they sinned to cause pain. I'm going to punish myself. we don't need to punish ourselves. Ask for healing and trust the Lord, your will be done. So that'd be kind of the both end, live in balance there. Left fielder. Yeah, hey Kosti, my name's Ezekiel. Hey Ezekiel. Thank you for taking our questions. Thanks for asking them. Yeah, I've got a curious question surrounding, are there historical thinkers that you've been influenced by surrounding God's sovereignty and human agency, say Calvin Arminius or even Molina or Aquinas? Or are there also contemporary thinkers also in that question? Good question. One of my favorite quotes is by a man who's often misappropriated as some crazy frozen chosen dude, John Calvin. He said, God is the author of salvation, but men are the ministers of it. I appreciated so much when I came out of the world that I was in, the clarity, and people get into Calvinism versus Arminianism, and it can become quite the thing. The bottom line is this, I'm trying to save everybody. Everybody I can find I'm preaching the gospel to everybody like they're the next convert So in a way, I'm I'm preaching and pursuing like a crazy Arminian I believe you just gotta repent. Choose this day whom you will serve. Come on, give your life to Jesus, man. I'm there. I also know, I have to know in humility now, after living the way I did and what I was saved out of and just reading the scriptures, that historically, men for ages have come to the reality of this. I'm going to labor like Paul. Like when he said, I've worked harder than them all. Then he said, it was only by his grace. I can't make people believe. I could try to preach the best sermon, I could tell an emotional story, I can get the altar call going. In the end, only God could change the heart. So historical thinkers who may lean Calvinistic, just to use the terms, even though I don't usually use them all like that because people can misunderstand, typically a balanced thinking Calvinistic church men or theologian, would simply say, I am here as plan A to preach the gospel to all, and I believe he can save people. I'm also aware that it is God who authors salvation. He draws, he saves, he does the heart surgery. So Spurgeon, probably my hero of heroes though in this, Because he would say things like if people be damned like basically if they're going to hell Let them get there through the teeth of our exertions like basically my hands are around their ankles like with uncle Benny with family I'm not like yeah, go on go on and burn you deserve it You know and I'm that's why I would call it the frozen chosen mentality is so dangerous like we're chosen. We're the elect So we all figure it out and then we kill evangelism because like well God sovereign he'll save them if they want to come they can come no way I'm going to my neighbor's house, inviting him to church. I'm looking at you, if you're somebody I know, and I'm going, brother, you gonna give your life to Jesus today? Hey, are you gonna give it up? You ready to follow him? Let's go. Choose right now. Come on, just accept his gift of salvation for you, that his blood bought you, that you're gonna follow him forever, that your way is bankrupt and his way is everything. Come on, let's do it. Let's go, Ezekiel. I'm still gonna preach like it can happen. You reject me in my preaching, you reject Christ, hey, it's you and him, I mean, in his image, not mine. So that's the way I've always tried to approach it. It's the way I'm still going to approach it. People would call me a Calvinist or say, like, hey, do you preach kind of a Calvinistic approach to salvation? I don't even like using the term and acting like, you know, all that. So Spurgeon, would be one of the greats who was an evangelistic pastor and believed everyone could be saved. But Paul the Apostle would be another huge influence. I become all things to all men that I might save some and win more. The stuffy Calvinist would say, what do you mean save? You don't save anyone. It's like easy. I'm asking the question more in that context. Oh, sorry. No, no, you're fine. You're fine. I mean, it revealed some more theology. But in the context of healing, would you negate an assertion like people don't heal? People don't heal? That's a bad way to put it. I think I know what you're asking. You see what I'm getting at? Yep. Let me tie this one off because I know what you're saying. I would not be aligned with B.B. Warfield who said that God does not do miracles anymore. He was like a full cessationist in that sense of God does nothing. I would say if somebody is going to say that they have the gift of healing, or the gift of tongues, or the gift of prophecy, they just need to look like my Bible, exactly. So that gift of tongues is not gibberish or whatnot, it's known language, you're doing it like Paul, I speak in tongues to all. It's gospel forward, it's assigned to unbelieving Jews, it's going to look like scripture. you're not going somewhere and like, hey, Papua New Guinea, I heard this story where this guy started saying the language and he never heard it and then he came back to America and never did it again and I'm not sure what that was. Is that the gift? I would say a gift is something that you do. Chances are, Pastor Grant, you catch him in his sweatpants, no coffee, or in his suit, he's gonna teach and preach because he's gifted. A gift is something you wield and in the Bible, I see a pattern of these men who wielded these gifts. That would be something that I would say, I just want to see that if we're there. But yeah, I don't align with thinkers that say God does nothing. But if people make claims, like prophecy, these guys were batting 1,000 in the Bible. They weren't going like, three for 10 will get you in the Hall of Fame in baseball. They didn't get you in the Hall of Faith for prophecy. You're a false prophet based on Deuteronomy 18. So I've landed there. I try to just look at the text, though, and if the Bible makes it clear. Just submit to that. I get in sticky waters when I go with the names of human guys. Some guys explain things well. I'll give you one. Tom Schreiner. You know Tom Schreiner? His book, Spiritual Gifts, one of my favorites because he's so balanced and he's even nice. He's like my Pentecostal friend. He's like not a heretic, you know. He's gracious. I like guys like that because there's a little There's a little aggressive Attila the Hun inside of all of us that wants to kill them all and wage war and burn the city down to get rid of one rat. It's like, easy. Guys like Tom Schreiner are just helpful for us younger guys. If that is more of an answer close to... Thanks, brother. If you want to shut it down, maybe the kids have to go. I don't know. So, yeah, look, man, I love that about you. Eat, sleep, preach. That's why I flew out. That's right. So we do have kids that are upstairs. So we're going to shut it down and let those kids, especially their teachers, be relieved. But hey, thank you for coming tonight. And let's give Kosti a thank you. Fantastic, I think, I know I was ministered to and I trust that you were ministered to as well. I mean, these are weighty issues and important things to think about biblically because one, we're all going through it and two, because there's so much static out there that you hear and and people are walking through stuff, and everybody's got a friend, and hey, this guy can do this, and so I think it's just so important that we hear biblically on how to address these issues and how to think about these things, and Kosti does that so well. So with that, what we're gonna do is I'm gonna pray, and we're going to, if you want to, we're gonna go next door to the Family Life Center, and Kosti's book, more than a healer. We have copies there for you to purchase. We only have 60 copies, but Kosti also said graciously he'd be willing to sign them. So if you want to get your copy, now would be a great night to get it, so that way you can get it signed and everything else. So let me pray for us, and then you'll be dismissed. Heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you so much for what the Lord Jesus Christ has done for us on the cross. And just as Kosti reminded us about the new heavens and the new earth and all the healing that has already been bought for us. And so Lord, as we live now, in these mortal bodies that are aging and that as we're walking through sickness and back pain and all these things, Lord, may we have the faith to seek your will. If it's your will that that that we be healed now in this life, that we would pursue that with optimism as your children. But may we also realize, Lord, that our ultimate healing awaits us on the last day when we will receive that resurrection body, which Christ already possesses at the right hand of God the Father. Lord, we thank you for Kosti. We pray, Lord, that you would bless him, that we pray, Lord, that you would bless his family. We pray, Lord, for Timothy. We pray, Lord, for healing for that young man, that young warrior poet. We pray, Lord, that your hand would be upon his life and Titus and his two girls and Christine as she's away from us. And we pray, Lord, that you would bless his church, Shepherd's House, Bible Church, we pray, Lord, for all the fundraising and the initial people that are going to be a part of that plant and his staff that's going with them. We pray, Lord, for your blessing upon them and that your hand would be with them in all things. And we pray, Lord, that you would bless us, that you would use us for the advance of your kingdom. We ask all these things in Christ's name. Amen. Thanks for listening. For more sermons, information, and events, check out our website at capitolcommunitychurch.com.