If you want to experience the power of Jesus (Matthew 8:1-4)
Let us look at Matthew 8:1-4 and let us read in one voice.
The title of today’s Word as well as the healing evangelism message title is, “If you want to experience the power of Jesus.” This is the message we must give to either new believers or people in the field who require spiritual maturation and nurturing.
If you meet Jesus Christ, there will be evidence.
-Testimony
In other words, you’ll be able to make a testimony. If you believe in Jesus Christ without having seen the evidence, perhaps you can say you haven’t met Jesus.
1)Gospel- Missionary
Because you have the Gospel. Then of course the evidence will be different depending on whether you have or don’t have the Gospel. The fact is that you’ve been called as a missionary to proclaim this Gospel. Then, whether it’s to a new believer or someone who’s believed for a long time, it is God’s plan, whether they understand or not. As soon as God called abraham, He gave him the Gospel and told him to testify of this
(Destruction)
We were in the midst of destruction. We were under the authority of Sin, Satan, and Hell. Through Christ, we are changed into children of God; imagine how great of a testimony you have! God has even given us the future we must have ahead of our lives as missionaries to testify this to the world
1)Answer
If you do this, there are answers of God being with you
(1)Thought (Decisions)
First, your thoughts will change. In the past, you thought thoughts that didn’t have God, but now that God is with you, your decisions will be different. However, if you don’t receive answers, your decisions and judgments are the same as an unbeliever.
(2)Peace
Then you receive peace because the Lord is with you. That’s not just some sort of theory, but He is realistically with you in spirit
(3)Thankfulness
That’s why you’re thankful. These are the answers that come when you receive the Gospel.
The main scripture passage we read was a situation where a man with leprosy was healed by Jesus. Leprosy was an extremely serious and severe disease, especially in the middle east where it was so warm. It was incurable. In the Old Testament, if someone had leprosy, they weren’t able to live with the rest of the society, so they isolated all the people with leprosy and had them live with each other. If you wanted to go back to live into normal society, you had to give evidence to the priest that you had been healed, because back in those days, the priest also played the role of a doctor.
But in this passage, there was a man of leprosy who was mixed in with a crowd of normal people. Is that allowed? Nope. It means he was doing an illegal act, because those with leprosy had to live among lepers. Because there was a large crowd of people following Jesus around, the man with leprosy couldn’t follow, however, the main point isn’t that this lepe rwas breaking the law, but he had a desperate and sincere heart.
1.Jesus Christ opportunity
In other words, he had this earnest heart, “I will not miss this opportunity to meet Jesus.” It’s not all the time that you have these opportunities in life.
1)Grace
You cannot lose this opportunity for grace that God gives you. The Bible says, “Look, this is the time to receive grace.” What is “this time?” Right now, during worship, during training, the time you’re praying to God alone. Do not lose that opportunity. You must not lose hold of this opportunity that God is giving you to receive His grace. This is not an opportunity you create for yourself, but it is the time God gives you His grace. In order for that to happen, first you must have this earnestness. You receive God’s grace in the midst of being in a sincere state where you need God’s grace.
2)People. Opinion. Crowds. Division. Scars
However, people lose this opportunity to meet Jesus Christ because of other people. They stand before people, they always worry about other people, they pray in front of people and live their walk of faith in front of people. Then what happens? They cannot receive God’s grace, because they’re only trying to reveal themselves in front of people. So, especially if there’s a new believer, you have to guide them well so thahm they do not live their walk of faith in front of other people.
People who do not have the fundamentals will speak however they want, and these words may make the new believer fall into tests and trials, but individuals do not know their own state, so people talk about financial worries without even thinking about it. Or they just complain about other people without recognizing it, they talk. “Oh, the pastor is like so-and-so,” they say whatever is on their heart, all the time. That is why new believers only see people in front of them instead of seeing God’s grace
The opinion of the majority is that a lot of people think this way. Or they follow the crowds, or words that cause division amongst people. There are these people who do that without even recognizing that they do it, they just divide people. If a new believer sees that, they get caught up in that. So, they have no choice but to receive scars. You have to be careful of that. I do not put new believers to anybody, because how important is a time for a new believer to meet God? I’m not trying to discriminate between people, but to save new believers, you can’t just attach them to anyone.
Everyone has a personality, but if you attach this person to another person who has the same spiritual problems, they will die . Let’s say an older believer has worries, but they only share their worries to the new believer, they will kill the new believer. I’m not discriminating among people, but if God sends us a new believer, we must nurture them correctly, so I will purposely control the environment so that the new believer will not meet with such believers, because for the new believer, everything is new, but if someone speaks out of their unbelief without even recognizing it, it gets imprinted in the new believer.
You will realize that mainly Satan uses pastors, the church, and the law to make the new believer lose grace. That is why there needs to be someone who understands this and can help the new believer well.
2.Sincere faith
In today’s scripture, the leper who came to Jesus had a sincere faith. If you come to worship, you must come with sincerity. When you have concentrated prayer to God in the morning, you have to have a heart of sincerity, why? Because you need to receive God’s grace spiritually. If you don’t have sincerity, it means you don’t care if you receive God’s grace or not, this is something that old believers have to be wary of. It turns into religious life. The fact that this leperous man was not able to go amongst the healthy crowd but he did so anyway means he had a very sincere heart, in other words, he came to Jesus with a faith that he staked his life on.
In Matthew 8:2, it says he bowed down and knelt before Jesus, so he was worshiping God. he was recognizing Jesus as the True God, the only one who could heal him. What else did he say? “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” He didn’t say, “Fix me,” but “If the Lord is willing, if God wants to,” so this is a very biblical faith. If the Lord doesn’t want to heal someone, they are not healed, so that is why we need to have a sincere prayer. We don’t don’t get everything we pray for. God gives you the answer that He needs.
We need to teach prayer properly. People think we will get whatever we pray for but that’s not the case. God gives an answer if something is necessary, God won’t give it to you if it isn’t. God is the one who gives answers; it is not about you. This is an important part about prayer. Then he says, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean,” which means he had the assurance to answer prayers. If the Lord is willing, He can make me clean.
1)Salvation
2)Power
3)Word
When we pray, we need to have the assurance that if it’s something God wants, He will surely answer us. When we pray for a prayer topic in the name of Jesus Christ, we have the assurance that if it’s what God wants, He will answer. The name of Jesus Christ is the name that opens all closed locks. This is what you must teach new believers or people who have believed a long time ago and have fallen away. Anything is possible in the name of Jesus Christ , but you can only receive answers when it’s what God needs. If you want to teach this in a more detailed way, you must pray according to the Word God gave you.
3.If You Meet the Lord
Matthew 8:3, Jesus reached out and touched the man and said, “I am willing, be clean!” and immediately cleans, if you meet the Lord, it means that your problems have been solved. When the will of God and my prayer are aligned, I receive answers. But if it is something I want that isn’t aligned with God’s will, then God doesn’t answer. It says in Matthew 8:3 that Jesus reached out His hand.
(1)Hand
The hand of the Lord must come upon me and upon our church. When we pray, God answers us as the hand of the Lord comes upon us. I hope you will pray so that the hand of the Lord is upon your family and business fields, in other words, I hope you will pray for the things that God desires.
(2)Command
Then, the Lord commanded, “Be clean!”
(3)Immediately
Immediately, he was cleansed. That’s what happens when the hand of the Lord comes upon you. The real problem is if the hand of the Lord is not upon you. However, if it is something God really needs, I hope you will pray with the assurance that He will surely answer.
4.Continuously experience
We have to continually experience the power and blessing of God; what is the secret to this? We shouldn’t have just one experience and end. The hand of the Lord is eternally existing, and it should always be upon our lives, then what happens? In Matthew 8:4, Jesus tells him to show himself to the priest. Back then, lepers could not live in normal society.
1)Law ——-> Gospel
So He is telling you to quickly turn from legalism to the Gospel. The secret to receiving answers is to escape from legalism and to go into the Gospel. What would happen if that leper went back to the leperous society? He would not have been healed. If we hold onto legalism, we have legalistic answers. Legalism is only used to beat people, to cut them off, to judge others, because the law reveals sin. Quickly, turn from that into the Gospel. It is not that we don’t need the law, but if you stay in the law, that’s a big problem. A legalistic person is someone who continues to stay in the law. That is a person who kills others; they will never save others. A legalistic person will say, “Why is there a leper here? Go back to your own city,” that’s a correct Word, the Word of God. The Jewish Pharisees said to Jesus, “Why are you working on Sunday?” it means they don’t know the point of the law. We need the law to save others. But the Pharisees were legalistic people who weren’t interested in the Gospel that saves people, but only used law and legalism to kill others. What happens if a new believer is attached to someone like that? It seems like the legalistic person is relaying the Word of God but is teaching not important things so make it so that the new believer cannot receive answers. You have to quickly turn away from legalism into the Gospel to receive answers continuously. If the members of the church are trapped within legalism, they cannot receive answers. You have to quickly go into the Gospel because otherwise, God will not answer you. In other words, unless you have Christ, God will not answer you.
2)Thanksgiving
The second mystery to these continuous answers is, “ Show self to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded.” Matthew 8:4 you have to have thanksgiving, to give the gift of God as thanksgiving, but many people do it forcefully without thanksgiving. You should give your tithe in thanksgiving as well, “I am giving this tithe in thanksgiving because You have given it to me in the first place.” A person who doesn’t have thanksgiving doesn’t have sincerity; they are stuck in their legalism. The legalistic person is centered on “me.” Even when they mentor new believers, their center is not in the Gospel. It’s all about you, “You sinned, you did this,” and that’s why there’s always conflict and division whenever they meet people, and that’s why Satan takes over them be careful. Not only will you die, but you will kill everyone you meet. They themselves know this, they say the correct words and think they’re good because of the correct words. That was the Jewish people, when crucified Jesus Christ they thought they were doing good. For 2000 years, they have suffered under curses and disasters.
3)Evangelism
Finally, Jesus says, “As a testimony to them.” What does that mean? It means to live a life of evangelism as you make your testimony. You shouldn’t try to evangelize, you need to have the content to evangelize with. You need to become a witness. God told you to live as a witness. How can you stand if you don’t have evidence? That’s nonsense. Those are just empty words. They are sounds you make without any content. However, if you have evidence, you can stand firmly as a witness.
5.Spiritual reality
The fifth main point today is from Matthew 8:14-17 which we did not read, but it is talking about the spiritual reality. In Matthew 8:16, it says that “many who were demon possessed were brought to him , and he drove out the demons with His word, healed the sick.” Matthew 8:17, “This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah He took up our infirmities and bore our diseases”
1)Healing. Atonement. Peace
The blessing of healing is within Christ, why? Because Christ died upon the cross for me, taking my sin upon Himself. You received the blessing of atonement because the Lord Himself has taken your sin and iniquity. Then you receive the blessing of peace that comes from that. This was already foretold and Jesus Christ already fulfilled it on the cross.
However, there’s an entity that blocks this. In Matthew 8:16, it is Satan, the devil, and demons. You have to cast them out. This is the authority we’ve been given. The authority isn’t with me, but the authority is revealed in the name of Jesus Christ. We have the ability to utilize the name of Jesus Christ, that is why in Mark 3:15, Jesus says, “I have given you authority to cast out demons,” that’s contained within the name of Christ. If you don’t know this spiritual fact, even if you have the authority to overcome, you’re always attacked by the spiritual enemy.
So, it’s the first point we talked about, the opportunity to meet Jesus. Don’t ever be tested by people. Our walk of faith is never about people’s words or actions, you need to guide people so they can receive the grace of God. But if you don’t know this, you’re just going to be judging and looking at people’s actions. If they don’t receive God’s grace, the future generations will collapse as well. That is when the darkness enters into the family and individual.
The new believer needs to come to church to receive God’s grace and drive out demons. If this does not take place, the darkness will overcome them and their family. People say correct words,and everyone knows those words are correct, but if those words have no faith, those are the words that kill the soul. If you look at people like this, they’re always influential because they have correct words, but these are the people you have to be careful about. If their words are incorrect, no one would listen to them anyway, but if their words are incorrect, their words will kill people.
On the other hand, words of faith will save people and their souls. So, you should never attach an unbelieving person to a new believer. “But that person is so smart, they will be able to teach the new believer so well” who cares, that person will unbelieve in their own intelligence.
The second point was about faith. If you believe, there’s a faith that gives person salvation. How do you receive salvation? You receive salvation through faith because God’s grace is upon you. You have to make a confession of faith, “I am a sinner, I was trapped under Satan and hell,” in order for you have to receive God’s grace. If God’s grace doesn’t come upon a person, even if they don’t understand spiritually. That is why there is a faith that gives you salvation.
And now there is a faith regarding God who gave you the power of salvation. Therefore, when a new believer asks you what faith is, tell them there is a faith that gives you salvation and a faith that gives you God’s power, and faith regarding God’s Word, teach them this. We talk about faith but they don’t understand so they get confused, teach it to them like this.
How do you teach them? Through prayer. We saw today that when you pray with sincerity before God, you receive answers. What is the beginning of prayer?
The beginning of prayer
They don’t know prayer, and if you tell a new believer to pray, they don’t know how.
1)Concentration- Healing
The first thing you must teach them is contemplative or meditative prayer, it is the prayer of being with God. It is the meditation where you’re completely giving yourself to God. It is not about holding onto yourself or your things, you need to let yourself go completely, and give yourself completely to God; only look to God. It’s better if the Word of God goes into them. But even without that Word of God, you must have a time of looking at God spiritually which means you have to lay your things down. You need to teach them this properly.
The second type of prayer is conversational prayer, and we call this continuous prayer. You face towards God and have a conversation with Him in your conscience. In other words, you converse with Him through your sense of conscience. You receive many answers this way because you yourself don’t know. However, when you face God and have a conversation with your own sense of conscience is when you can see yourself.
The third type of prayer is when you go in, holding onto God’s Word. You have to teach them about prayer properly. There are so many busy things you have to do in the field. Whenever you go into your field, you have to go holding onto God’s Word. WHat is the standard of prayer?
Everyone is different, a pastor and new believer both have to pray, but their perspective and standard of prayer will be different. So, you just pray according to whatever level you’re at. You shouldn’t follow what everyone else is doing; everyone has their own position. Is there a standard to prayer? It is the filling of the holy spirit, that’s the standard.
2)Level-Beginner
3)Standard- Filling of the Holy Spirit
You might be experiencing this or not, but nothing else can be the level. When a person who is diseased prays, they may receive the filling of the Holy Spirit and experience something, or they may not, because we cannot feel or see the spirit.
4)Joyful
Fourth, if you’re feeling very burdened or oppressed by prayer, that’s not prayer. Prayer should be very joyful. From my personal experience, when I try to pray with my own will, it’s very difficult, but when I completely lay myself down and look only to God, that is the greatest time of happiness. When I’m communicating with my own conscience, I can discover my own state, myself. Then, I discover that I’m this kind of person and have no choice but to lay myself down more.
Prayer is very good and it is very happy, but if you’re just challenging yourself to pray and to accomplish something by your willpower, that’s not prayer; that’s the same state as every other religion. You’re using prayer as an excuse to get what you want.
5)Special- Concentration
Fifth, there is a time of concentration for a special prayer that God desires. If there is a special topic of God you have to discover, you must pray in concentration. If you face a big circumstance or incident, you must concentrate on God and ask, “What is God’s plan or will in this?’
There is a reason to receive answers to prayer. What do you think you need to look for in God to receive answers? We cannot meet God; there is a blockage between us and God, why? Because we’re sinners. Our status is the children of the devil, so we cannot go to God. Just because you shout out, “God!” it doesn’t mean God will answer you. Even unbelievers shout to “God!” but their status is different. That’s why, Christ. That’s the reason why God sent us the Christ. You must always confirm your spiritual state through Christ. You can never confirm your spiritual state through anything else. Only through Christ can you confirm all the time of your spiritual address of being liberated from sin, curses, hell, and Satan. Without being able to confirm your spiritual address, you change back to yours self-centeredness.
Me
That’s the real problem, being centered on “me.” the reason why healing isn’t taking place for you is because you’re centered on “me.” You have to lay yourself down, but you’re not able to do that, so the thing called “yourself” Is causing all problems because that’s where Satan works. Especially people who have very strong thoughts, they think they don’t have any problems, so that means you’ve already been seized by Satan and you can’t receive healing. Quickly, you have to lay yourself down, only Christ.
Meeting
Trinity God
If someone is centered on themselves, what kind of meetings do you think they’ll have? They’ll meet people at the same level as them. If someone meets someone else who is also centered on themselves and physical things, will they have a good business together? No. Instead of being centered on yourself, be centered on the Triune God as your center. It is not about meeting people centered on yourself, but it is the meeting God gives you, that God has prepared. That is how your work will take place If you yourselves are not in a state where you’re changed, then no matter how many people you meet, you’ll meet people of the same state. Even when you run a business, you’ll meet people who are similar to you, however, if you’re centered on the Triune God, you’ll have the meeting God has prepared as a blessing.
The people who are self centered will gather together and try to gather their forces and try to do human work. When a bunch of like-minded people gather together, for people like this even though they pray, they don’t receive answers. We do the work of God, that is missions, evangelism, and saving the 237 nations of the world. People centered on the triune God will meet people whom God has prepared through blessings. If you look at Genesis 6, people who are self-centered will look at whatever they like, for example, beautiful women. When a bunch of people like that gather together, they’ll have the incident of the Tower of Babylon where they say, “Hey, let’s gather together and exalt our own name.”
Meeting God prepared
Us (work)
God’s work
Quickly become centered; it is no longer about you; there is no you. Only then can you have the blessings of meeting that God has prepared. Don’t you think that this is evangelism and missions? In other words, the work you are doing needs to meet people that are blessed by God and prepared by God. But if the people you meet are always cursed, and the meetings you have are just meetings with people who bring disasters in life like Genesis 6, and the only thing you ever try to do is exalt your own name, you’re just doing the work that brings you disasters and destruction. I hope you will enjoy these blessings and receive healing yourself and heal many others.
Prayer
Father God, we thank You. Allow us to experience the power of the name of Jesus Christ and stand as a witness. In the name of Jesus Christ we pray, amen.