Attitudes in Acts 6/2/2021

well we should thank the lord that he's given us overcoming power by his blood by the holy ghost sent down from heaven lord i honor you i praise you i give you glory i give you glory i give you honor jesus i praise you o lord thank you jesus thank you lord i give you praise tonight i give you honor o lord tonight as a chain breaker lord as a deliverer o hallelujah amen what a tremendous message well written thoughtful song powerfully ministered amen ryan did not get my voice god was much better to him in that department for sure that's my son if you don't know that ryan so okay acts chapter one and i joined brother jury in welcoming all of our students from the crowd all of our young adults from hyphen ministry in the month of june there's a lot of coming and going and a lot of our youth staff are participating in camps and they're good to have our youth pastor in church tonight he hasn't heard his pastor preach on a wednesday night much you know because of being in the crowd and they have been working extremely hard at the campground so if you uh have a day or so available in the next couple days they're they're building bucks for the guy's dorm and it takes about 30 minutes each triple bunk and making a lot of improvements and cleaning and a lot going on to make sure that our summer camps change lives amen that's the ultimate goal is to change lives for eternity acts chapter 1 verse 1 the former treaties have i made o theophilus of all that jesus began both to do and teach until the day in which he was taken up after that he threw the holy ghost and given commandments under unto his the apostles whom he had chosen to whom also he showed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs being seen of them 40 days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of god and being assembled together with them commanded them that they should not depart from jerusalem but wait for the promise of the father which sayethy you've heard of me for john truly baptized with water but you shall be baptized with the holy ghost not many days hence now that's pretty powerful right but look at the question when they were therefore were come together they asked him saying lord will thou at this time restore the kingdom to israel is that what you're getting ready to do think of the question and the mindset behind this question and he said to them it is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the father hath put in his own power but you shall receive power dunamis dynamite after that the holy ghost has come upon you and you shall be witnesses unto me you think i'm going to give the kingdom to you you're going to be witnesses unto me both in jerusalem and in all judea and in samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth and when he had spoken these things while they beheld he was taken up in a cloud received him out of their sight tonight i'm going to give you an overview of the book of acts but i i hope i make it there tonight to this idea i want to focus on attitudes in acts god bless you you can be seated thank you for standing for nine verses of scripture amen the book of acts is at a pivotal place in the new testament i'm amazed that non-pentecostal people who have never read the book of acts and do not understand his place in the bible and the message of the book of acts the original setting is a sequel to the book of luke it's a continuation of what luke wrote i'll be referring to many verses tonight only displaying a few but in luke 1 luke said many have taken in hand to set forth in order somewhat of a chronology of the things which you've most surely believed he said i had perfect understanding from the beginning and i'm writing to you most excellent theophilus he he addresses the book of luke to a man named theophilus and he tells him that you might know the certainty of those things wherein you have been instructed so luke the physician writes the book of luke and then he writes the book of acts as a sequel all anointed by the holy ghost if you ever question inspiration of scripture by a phrase that i would say we believe that holy men of god wrote as they were moved by the holy ghost when luke opens the book of acts acts 1 and 1 he says to him the former treaties have i made oath theophilus of all that jesus began both to do and teach until the day in which he was taken up i wrote the book of luke and that's the beginning and i wrote that book to tell you all that jesus began that's a very important word to me because jesus has never stopped doing and jesus has never stopped teaching the book of luke focuses on what jesus did and taught in the days of his flesh the words and works of jesus christ but then luke says in acts that he was taken up he had given commandments he showed himself a lie for 40 days and he took talk to them about things pertaining to the kingdom of god so there is this continuity between the book of luke and the book of acts and much of our understanding of christianity most of it would be lost without the book of acts the book of acts proves the apostleship of paul and it helps us understand his writing the book of acts to me is the key to the new testament you would have christianity without a church if you did not have the book of acts you would have what jesus did and then it would all go away one person said if christ had been born one thousand times in bethlehem and not in me then i would still be lost so jesus did not come just to prove that he was god in flesh to die be buried be raised again on the third day and to ascend into heaven god's grand plan from the very beginning was that he would pour his spirit out on all flesh that his work would not be confined to a single body you'll do greater works than these not in quality but in quantity amen after the ascension so there's a lot of evidence about the authorship of luke that i have in my notes i'll skip most of this except to tell you that there is external proof and internal evidence that this luke the physician wrote the book of acts in the book of acts there's a fascinating characteristic where the writer says we and when he says we he is saying that that he luke is in company with paul on a missionary journey usually and the we narratives talk about the inclusion of luke as an eyewitness to the events that took place in the book of acts there's questions about the dating of acts the earliest from 62 to 64 a.d there are some things that he does not include he doesn't include the death of paul he doesn't include nero's persecution of christians after the fire of rome in 64 a.d so luke is written early on in the history of the church when you read through the book of acts you wonder about a key word what is luke by the holy ghost trying to say in the book of acts and the key word is witness he tells them in acts 1 and 8 you're going to be witnesses of me now we know that acts is the history of the early church i grew up hearing people say that the book of acts has no formal ending and it does not we hope to get to that later tonight so the book of acts kind of gives you this idea that the church history church history is still being written it's being written in 2021 the church dispensation will not come to an end until the fullness of the gentiles come in so we are still writing church history tonight amen every time someone comes into the kingdom of god every time the lord performs a miracle jesus is continuing to do and teach just as he did in the days of his flesh but by the holy ghost the word witness is found in the book of acts 17 times i mentioned to you and we'll show it on the screens acts 1 and 8 but you shall receive power after that the holy ghost has come upon you and you shall be witnesses unto me both in jerusalem i want you to see that jesus is telling them you are going to be a witness of me now a witness is someone who simply tells and hurt here excuse me tells what they have seen and heard a witness is not a judge not the jury a witness just tells what they have seen and what they have heard so they will go everywhere telling everyone what they have seen what they have heard about the power of jesus christ to change lives in acts 4 33 the bible said and with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of jesus christ there is a theme that i won't get into too much tonight where the apostles said we are his witnesses so also is the holy ghost so i believe that when we share the gospel of jesus christ when we tell people about jesus that he will back up our witness our words with his power amen they went everywhere the bible says preaching the word the lord working with them confirming his word with signs following so i believe that when you tell someone about jesus christ when you share the gospel of his death burial resurrection when you share the gift of the holy ghost acts 2 38 that the lord will show up and he will show himself strong because you're testifying of him it's his words and it's his works that continue acts 5 32 they said we are his witnesses the holy ghost told the apostle paul in acts 23 that as you've borne witness of me in jerusalem so you must also bear witness of me in rome so if you want to think about the key word of the book of acts and i think the key function of every believer what has he called us to do he has called us to be his witnesses everywhere we go think back to the teachings of jesus in the sermon on the mount and he said you are the light of the world you are a city that is set on a hill that cannot be hid you don't light a candle and put it under a bushel a covering so that it is hid you set it on a lampstand so it will give light to the entire house jesus christ made christians conspicuous you should stand out in the world by your attitudes by your action by your witness by your appearance you should be a witness for jesus christ in every dimension of your life amen but we're as witnesses and so also is the holy ghost now it's very easy for people to believe that they're inadequate they don't deserve to see miracles work through their lives and we seem to defer or refer that to super christians the elite the apostles prophets evangelists pastors and teachers so the book of acts when you read it in your bible it will say the acts of the apostles but if you think through the book of acts you really do not see that this book is written to highlight or focus on what the apostles of the lamb those twelve men after the death of judas iscariot matthias is added to the twelve paul is another apostle born out of time no i don't believe one of the twelve but certainly an apostle just as barnabas was an apostle once sent to go establish the work of god where there is nothing paul said i don't go build on another man's foundation he's an apostle he's one sent to go into virgin territory and establish the kingdom of god so if the acts of the apostles is the actions of those 12 men then this book really misses its mark and i'm not just saying this to kind of teach some idea but this idea of the acts of the apostles came about by some heresy that was written there is what is known as the anti-marcy knight prologue this man marcy and was a heretic and he believed that paul was the only apostle of jesus christ and in something that is written against marcion is the first time we see the title the acts of the apostles and all the apostles were the apostles of jesus christ they were trying to make that point that it's not just the apostle paul now when you read through the book of acts you really get the idea that this is not just about those 12 men because many of them fade off the scene and i will get to that a little bit later about those who are called the apostles of jesus christ so i want you to think about this book being alive today the entire bible of course but i'm talking about the acts of the church the things that jesus began to do and teach in the days of his flesh that he is continuing to do in 2021 by the holy ghost through his church amen the whole idea is that he would pour out his spirit on all flesh and that we would be witnesses of him everywhere we go this book is written that we would know the certainty of the things that god has told us so that we would never doubt that he will back up our witness now if you're inactive if you are a camouflage christian then there is no light shining there's nothing for god to do to vindicate you to to authenticate your witness because no one knows who you are i know that some people say you know preach the gospel wherever you go huge word use words if necessary i just want to tell you i can't think of the man that said that hundreds and hundreds of years ago but that is wrong the gospel means good news it is something that you tell and living it is important your life should undergird what you say but if you live in a neighborhood work on a job have friends and family and all you are doing is living the life you are not really his witness you are not obeying the great commission to be his witness everywhere you go and if he has nothing to back you up on then there will never be power and it is my opinion that the reason there is so little of the power of god demonstrated in the modern church is that we never get out on the proverbial limb you know in the military the resources flow to the tip or the point of the spear the resources flow to where a difference is being made where territory is being taken amen and wherever a believer is believing god and witnessing for jesus christ jesus christ will show up with his mighty power and he will prove himself with signs and wonders and miracles you may have heard me say through the years i do believe that god heals saints young and old alike james tells us that let them call for the elder is there any sick among you let them call for the elders of the church let them pray over them anointing with oil and the prayer facial save the sick and the lord will raise them up if they've committed any sins they'll be forgiven them i believe that god heals sick saints but as you read through the book of acts and i mentioned this on sunday much of the powerful demonstration of the holy ghost was to open the door of the gospel it was to create a curiosity and questions what mean it this in acts chapter 2 right what in the world does this mean i i mentioned innaes being healed is at the end of my notes from sunday and god opened doors by the preaching of the gospel and the performing of miracles and if there's no preaching or teaching or witnessing i'm not talking about you holding a microphone standing behind a pulpit and pounding on it that's fine but that's not really all the preaching in the book of the book of acts it's by people just like you people who don't have a license to preach right it's people who share the gospel of jesus christ so let me walk down this road about the book of acts the purpose is really not to talk about the actions of the apostles there's not a book in the bible that is written to exalt the exploits of men now think about a few things here after luke lists the 11 apostles you know matthias is added later nine of those apostles are not mentioned at all again in the book of acts if this is the act that is focused on what those 12 men did nine of them are not even mentioned after they are named in acts chapter 1. james the brother of john is killed in acts chapter 12 and there's only one sentence devoted to him john who wrote the book of john first second and third john and the book of revelation is not mentioned much at all in the book of acts and if there ever was an apostle certainly john was an apostle of jesus christ he's mentioned with peter going up to the temple to pray in acts chapter 3. peter is mentioned extensively but along with stephen and philip through chapter 12. the apostle peter has mentioned 56 times so he's a key character in the first 10 chapters of the book of acts especially a little bit after that in acts 15 he speaks at what is known as the jerusalem council and then you don't hear much about peter nothing really at all after that in the book of acts barnabas and paul paul is not one of the twelve they're given attention but barnabas disappears at a conflict and the book ends with paul in jail waiting trial this is hardly the way to close a book that is written about characters who are men this book is about everything that jesus christ started doing in the days of his flesh but continued doing in the book of acts to ordinary people like you and me who are empowered by the holy ghost and the reason i'm saying this my my theme is the attitudes and acts and this is not necessarily a bad attitude but it is an attitude of adequacy that they're superstars that do the great things for god and common people like you and me are left to watch on the sidelines but i would like for you to understand that if god is going to give us a net breaking boat sinking revival that he promised us a revival of all flesh that would reach to the ends of the earth then people like you and me must be empowered by the holy ghost amen so we need to step up to the plate we need to believe god amen we need to know that he will work through us with our flaws in our imperfections with our struggles he will work to us even when we're not in the best season of our life amen the purpose as i read through the book of acts and you know spent several years teaching this in a bible college and tried to focus on the book of acts i i ran across a theme that made so much sense to me about the book of acts that this book is not written to highlight the exploits of 12 ordinary men this book was written to highlight jesus christ but something is shown to us in the book of acts that to me is one of the most encouraging themes and you see it over and over and acts that the book of acts was written to show the triumph of the gospel over every barrier because in the book of acts there is opposition within without there are all kinds of struggles that the church faces in the book of acts and they are like test cases of what the church will face and how the church doesn't die but the opposition dies and the church prevails it is the church triumphant amen praise god now i know that the book of acts does cover the early history of the church the spreading of the gospel from acts chapter 1 verse 8 from jerusalem the province of judea samaria the neighboring province and to the uttermost part of the earth so you see the geographical spread of the gospel there's an old book that was once one of my textbooks teaching called from jerusalem to rome by homer kent and he focused on this geographical expansion of the book of acts but when you see that you know when you cross a boundary it is not just a geographical boundary from going from one country to another or in parts of europe where the countries are small into other countries or provinces where there may be different laws but there are implications of those geographical barriers and boundaries that the book of acts focuses on a lot and luke under the inspiration of the holy ghost shows us that nothing can stop the church and you are part of that church amen the gospel breaks through these barriers that are religious racial national barriers that were overcome then to show us that they can be overcome now so i'm going to skim through them in acts 4 and 18 it became illegal to preach in the name of jesus christ and the result of that restriction was a prayer meeting where they were all filled with the holy ghost and in spite of it becoming illegal to preach in the name of jesus they the lord gave them boldness to witness and the multitude believed and the church grew and with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of jesus christ and great grace was upon them all persecution from the outside did not stop the church in acts 5 now there's an internal issue you've got ananias and his wife lying to the holy ghost keeping that part of the price of land that they say they sold and had given all the proceeds to the church now i grew up in the church and it can be disillusioning when you see people in the church not being genuine i know nobody wants to say amen right now because somebody may think you're talking about them he used to tell bible college students there is a lucifer in heaven serpent in the garden an akin in israel a judas among the 12 and ananias and sapphira in the early church and if you think you're going to find any place on this earth this side of heaven that doesn't have a a devil you are deceived no i don't mean a person that is a devil but you know ananias and sapphira were in the church brought their offering to the apostles lion dogs right and and in the new testament not the old testament the holy ghost god almighty struck ananias dead and when his wife came in and told the same lie the lord killed sapphira i don't i've never prayed for that to happen to anyone in case you're wondering that doesn't mean you're safe because i don't think anybody prayed but but the bible said after that happened now i don't think you're going to play church in a church like that right the bible says great fear came upon all the church that's probably an understatement you know nobody was lying and hypocriting and everybody decided they better get serious and when they heard these things and by after this judgment by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people and they were all with one accord in solomon's porch what seemed to be something that would undermine the effectiveness of the church god turned it around to be something powerful that really kind of tuned everybody up right and gave them faith that god could give them great revival in acts chapter 5 the high priest arose and he put peter and john in put in prison the apostles and told them that they could not preach and they disobeyed and they were intending to bring the blood of jesus on them it's interesting that they said let his blood be on us and on our children but peter didn't back down now we're living in a culture that is rapidly changing and there are countries where it is illegal to preach the name of jesus to be a christian that is known i pray that that never changes in the united states of america and in some countries where being a christian is forbidden and you can lose your life for it not just being an apostolic but a christian of any description there are people that live for god preach the gospel carefully have secret meetings but they have not walked away one of my concerns through the years because of scriptures like this is that in america we would be so comfortable believing that because we are americans we are exempt from persecution from martyrdom from pressure that we would be too soft but i believe if we face that that the same grace of god that's helped you through the worst trial you've ever experienced in your life will give you boldness will give you faith will help you get through it amen because this early church did not collapse they did not collapse when they were thrown in jail the same holy ghost that empowered them to preach and work miracles empowered them to believe god and delivered them from jail the result of that acts 6 the number of disciples multiplied greatly in jerusalem everybody breathes a sigh of relief looks like we're home free we had external persecution internal hypocrisy external persecution now we get to act six and everybody's happy but not really there must have been a benevolence fund and among the jewish church everybody's still basically jewish there are hellenistic or grecian widows and they are hebrew widows kind of where you had been born and raised around jerusalem or other parts of the world and migrated back to jerusalem the grecian widows must have had an inferiority complex must have thought that they were being looked down upon as an underclass less worthy than the hebraic jews the hebrew jewish widows so these are some precious ladies who thought whether it was true or not we do not know they were murmuring they were griping and they were griping against those other hebrew widows and they were saying that they were being neglected that's never happened to you i know or anybody in atlanta west we're being neglected more attention is being given to someone else than us so that could have been a pretty serious problem but the apostles dealt with that by appointing seven men to look over that business and after they addressed another internal problem not of sin but of dissension of misunderstanding of the feeling they were being prejudiced against as a result of that the bible said in acts chapter 6 and 7 that the word of god increased now let me pause this is not part of my message but the apostles said it is not meat or proper for us to leave the word of god to serve tables this is a place where the early church got creative had the authority to appoint a committee appoint people to do the work of god so that the ministers to stay focused on what they did and people in the church who were trusted full of the holy ghost had wisdom and an honest report they could help take care of that business so the the power the ministry was multiplied this is one of the verses that is key to me about sharing responsibility and authority and trusting people in the church because you can lock a church down if you want the pastor or three people to do everything in the church that is not how this church has ever functioned i'm just saying that for what it's worth in acts chapter 7 now stephen is stoned he preaches a very long sermon and saul of tarshish is holding his garments while he is stoned to death and it looks like saul of tarshish goes crazy in acts chapter radius breathing out threatenings and slaughter but what really is happening is that everyone but the apostles flee jerusalem the heat of persecution is so strong in the city of jerusalem that believers are scattered they are going everywhere to try to get away from saul he's he's throwing people in jail but the bible says that that didn't stop the church that they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word they had been i believe locked down in jerusalem jesus told them you're going to be a witness of me in jerusalem judea samaria the uttermost part of the earth i mentioned sunday that estimates are that the jerusalem church may have numbered 30 000 people that's a lot of believers they never got in one building by the way but in acts 8 now they're kind of dynamited out of jerusalem but they have the gospel they are believers now they go everywhere doing what jesus told them to do in acts chapter 1. so here's a barrier called persecution and here's a church overcoming that barrier by the power of the holy ghost but if you have the attitude that external persecution or internal sin is going to stop the church and you get an attitude and you get discouraged and you believe that the church is not god's best plan for what is happening on the earth then you might find yourself discouraged checking out and giving up on the church here's what i know that the church on its worst day is the hope of the world it is the best place in the world it is the best thing in the world i would rather be in the church with its flaws going to heaven than in the world with its flaws going to hell amen let me just flash back to acts 5 ananias and sapphira you know i've been in the ministry 43 years i think well there people say usually is people not in the church well i i'm not going to join a church because there are hypocrites in the church well where else would you find a hypocrite if they're not in the church they can't be a hypocrite think about that a minute and if a hypocrite is standing between you and the lord would that imply that they're closer to god than you i don't think that necessarily means that but i read where jesus said there are some things that i allow to grow together i'll sort it out in the end and sometimes it's none of your business if he wants to kill ananias and sapphira he can kill ananias and sapphira but if he hasn't by the holy ghost you shouldn't with your tongue for all the people that love it when preachers say things that aren't in their nose that's not in my nose stephen is killed saul is saved and his face stephen's face is like an angel and saul you know when the lord arrests him on the road to damascus saul saw why persecute his thou me it is it's hard for you to kick against those sharp jabbing sticks those pricks those ox goats here is saul he is running hard persecuting the church and i don't know what those goads were those sharp pointed sticks stabbing him directing him a goad would would move an ox in the right direction and god is using something to prod saul toward himself toward jesus christ maybe it was when he arrested a christian and he saw their response certainly when he saw the face of stephen as it was the face of an angel when he heard stephen say lord lay not this sin to their charge and he gave up the ghost maybe that was a sharp stick pointing in the sight of saul but if you would have seen the actions of saul you would have said nothing's changed he is a devil but god was working on him you never know what god is doing through your prayers through the power of his spirit and saul meets jesus on the road to damascus and he is saved and he becomes the greatest writer the greatest apostle really by what he accomplished of the new testament era in acts 12 herod kills james with the sword and then he decides he's going to kill john but as a result of this external persecution the apostle peter is delivered from jail he kills james the brother of john he wants to kill peter he delivers peter herod dies he's giving a speech it's an amazing acts chapter 12 and and he's eaten up with worms because he gave not god the glory and the word of god acts 12 24 says it grew and multiplied so i want you to see acts i want you to you can slice a book in the bible you know various ways to see nuances and facets and emphasis in this book but but i want you to see the book of acts as a test case for your life and for the church that it does not matter what comes against the church if we will keep our heart right our attitudes right nothing can stop the church of jesus christ missionary journeys were met with cost and opposition peter's imprisonment is a huge barrier and all of these things are coming against the church over and over and over but they could not stop the church but by far the greatest obstacle that i see in the book of acts it did not come from external persecution it did not arise from internal sin or murmuring it was the mentality of god's people years ago i was standing on my front porch i was talking to brother robert trapani who has now since passed away and i was dealing with the situation in our church i don't remember what it was at all but it was it was a situation and i felt i needed the counsel of an elder brother trapani was a counselor and he helped many people so i was talking to brother trapani i've referenced this at least once in the last 25 years and i explained the situation or i started the conversation and brother trapani said to me well brother john's if it's the devil we can cast him out but if it's a personality we got problems because you cannot cast out a personality and you cannot cast out a mentality you can't go lay hands on a person say in the name of jesus christ get a better attitude if that worked there would be a lot more of that going on in the name of jesus correct your stinking thinking mind yours i'm not being condescending here but in the bible in the book of acts old testament anew that's how god's people saw themselves saw god's work their narrow exclusivism they're questioning of what god intended to do that was a challenge in the book of acts and lord willing next week i'll continue talking about attitudes in the book of acts but i want to pause right now and we're going to pray and dismiss in just a little bit but i want you to think about how you see the church i remember the story of a young man he's now a medical doctor he was going through a difficult time this is years ago he took a year and went to bible college was questioning a lot of things and he was struggling with what he saw as all the imperfections in the church he was probably dealing with a little superiority complex he's a brilliant person and the person he was talking to said you know uh the church is like the old gospel ship you know may have some holes and tattered a little bit and all of that and and he said his response was that he asked this person this elder why are all the dingbats on this ship why are all these where are all these people on this ship and probably over time he realized that he was one of them too not many mighty might not many noble are called he made us a little lower than the angels he allowed us to have flaws and issues that no flesh would glory in his presence so the power will be of god and not of us but we look around at everybody else and think man if god's got to do it through them he's got a lot of work to do and then we look in the mirror say if this is going to be a triumphant church and he's going to do it through me boy you know i just don't think it's going to happen the devil's accuser right and we feel like we're not capable what i want to show you tonight and hopefully next week is that god almighty chose this church and he's empowered us with the holy ghost and the biggest challenge we have is to think like he thinks and believe what he has promised us and even with all of our issues that the church had in the book of acts external and internal we are god's best hope for this world and we are a church that is triumphant that will overcome every barrier amen would you please stand amen i want us to lift up our voices if you would join me now and would you ask god to use you flaws and awe would you ask him to help you see yourself and where you need a tune-up and where you need to change the way you think so that you would not be a hindrance to what he wants to do but where god could use you not just in spite of yourself but because of your faith in god and willingness to believe whatever god says lord i pray in the name of jesus christ right now i ask you lord to help us believe that the greatest revival and gathering of this entire history of the world will take place before you come again lord that simultaneous to the falling away that is talked about lord that you promised that this in the last days that begin on the day of pentecost that you would pour out of your spirit upon all flesh so i pray right now lord that you would help me overcome small thinking narrow thinking lord limiting you god for in the old testament your church in the wilderness limited the holy one of israel they asked the question can god prepare a table in the wilderness lord but you are able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we are able to ask or think you're able lord to carry out your work so i am asking you lord to change our thinking help us align our faith to your promises help us believe lord that people are hungry for the gospel that you will confirm your word with signs following that you will use ordinary people just like us thank you jesus now would you just worship him and thank him that he loves you that he saved you that he desires to use you to see his glory in the [Applause] i earth you lord i thank you lord i thank you lost i thank you lord i thank you lord i pray o god that you will lead us hallelujah lord i know that is our faith is lord so be it unto us so i pray o god that you would help us not limit you lord that you would help us not underestimate what you can do through us lord with our flaws and our humanities in jesus name i pray god lord i pray that you would increase our faith that you would help us exercise the faith that we do have so that it can be explosive in changing this world thank you jesus hallelujah amen and these signs shall follow them that believe in my name they shall cast out devils my name they shall speak with new tongues they believers just like you shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover but if it doesn't work that's god's business he is the healer not me you're you anyway but how will he heal you know the bible says how shall they hear without a preacher how are they going to be healed unless a believer like you believes that god can and he will and i know this may sound a little unorthodox to you but when i pray for a sinner i think i have more faith than when i pray for a saint because when i pray for a sinner i believe that god wants to show himself strong to a sinner to open that person's eyes that they can believe in jesus christ and be saved and i know that that is a greater purpose than just healing a sick body it is saving a lost soul so you should have that kind of faith that there is nothing too hard for god that he will use you let's worship him again amen lord i honor you and i praise you i give you glory and i pray that you will bless your people and multiply the ministries of this church help us lord have an attitude that matches your word in jesus name i pray god bless you go and change the world fellowship with one another it's great to have you in church tonight amen