good morning church family and ministry
friends i'm pastor stephen brooks
and welcome today to our online internet
around the world church
service i am so happy that you are here
today
and i believe that god will speak to you
through his word
and that his anointed word will
strengthen you
and in will it will empower you to do
all that he has called
you to do and all that he has called you
to be praise god now let's take our holy
bibles
and go to the gospel of luke chapter 6 i
want to show you one verse
that i i believe that many of you
probably already have memorized but
let's take a look at it
we're going to use this verse to build
faith in their hearts
as we bring the tithes and the offerings
into the storehouse
of the lord now luke chapter 6 verse 38
jesus said give and it will be given to
you
good measure pressed down
shaken together and running over
will be put into your bosom for with the
same measure that you use
it will be measured back to you
now the action that gets
all of this rolling is that first word
give give and it will be given to you
in other words if you want a harvest you
have to sow seed
and we're going to honor the lord today
and bring the tithes
and the offerings into god's storehouse
and i want to
share with you just for a moment about
our next
project our next project is titled
internet studio
refresh now this is a refresh for the
internet studio we actually have two
studios for the internet
now this is not television the
television studio is separate
that's in charlotte but when we stream
on the internet
there are two sets that we have this is
one
right here that you're looking at
through the lens of the camera
and the set that is behind me the mural
and the decorations and so forth
this was done in the year 2012
and you know what my friends it's time
for a refresh
praise the lord let's do a refresh now
we also have the
the wednesday morning glory set which is
right over on the other side
in another room here in the same
building and that
really needs to be refreshed also what's
taking place
is that of course the internet
outreach of the ministry is growing but
as we are expanding through television
people see the pure gold television
program that i host and teach on
television
and many think wow i like that i enjoy
that
and what they end up doing is drifting
over to the ministry website because
they want
to have more uh spiritual resources that
they can connect to
they come to the website and the website
gives them the opportunity
to watch these online messages
so since god's word is being presented
let's present it in the best possible
platform that we can let's do a refresh
praise god
it's just it's been wonderful and we
thank god for it
but after uh almost nine years
it's time to it's time to do something
fresh praise the lord doesn't mean we
have to go crazy
but it does mean that let's let's
upgrade it
and update it the budget for this
project
and this this includes both internet
studios the one
that's right here and it'll be
everything that's back behind me and so
forth
and will also include the other room as
well
the budget so the total budget
is 12 000 okay that will allow us to
make these changes
that will allow us to do the technical
things that we need to work into it as
well
so that it looks as good as possible and
number two so that it also sounds as
good as possible
you uh you always want good video
but sometimes what people don't realize
is the thing actually
that carries the the greatest
weight is actually the audio you want
really good audio and we need to make
some adjustments on the audio
uh on the wednesday morning show we need
to bump that up to a higher level
we really need to get that and also this
room into
uh digital instead of analog audio it
will sound a lot clearer
cleaner and better so these are these
are upgrades we want to make as well as
visually
we want to make those upgrades as well
so jesus said give
and it will be given to you good measure
press down shaken together and running
over will be put into your bosom
for with the same measure that that you
use or whatever measure it is that your
that it is when you give into this
project jesus said it will be measured
back to you so i would just ask you to
do what the holy spirit is placing
upon your heart give and it will be
given unto you
because you're giving into the kingdom
work
and we want to present even on the
internet
we want to present the gospel in a very
professional manner
now some people would say well pastor
stephen it's just the internet
you know you're on youtube you're on you
know live stream or facebook and that's
just binge eating
well you know people want to come and
binge on the word of god well i'm all
for it yeah
watch all the programs you want one
after another back to back
and we'll we'll make it look as good as
possible praise god
hallelujah thank you jesus internet is
different from tv
but even still we want to do internet
with excellence
so thank you for standing with us as we
move now into
this refresh project for the two
internet studios
let me pray for you as you will be
sowing into this let me also pray for
you as you're bringing the tithe into
the storehouse
heavenly father i thank you for your
people that they are
champion givers they're gracious givers
and
together we have accomplished so much
already over the years
and we're moving forward into greater
glory and into greater dimensions
and father we just thank you for the
grace the ability
to refresh things and to give it the new
look and the better technology we thank
you for this
father for the twelve thousand dollars
that we need for this project
we just call it in in the name of jesus
and as your people
so seed we thank you father god that
they
are sowing upon that word of luke
chapter 6
verse 38 so that when they give
their sowing seed when they give it's
going to be
given back to them and it's going to be
multiplied over
coming back to them father god as good
measure pressed down
shaken together and running over
is going to be poured into their bosom
we thank you for the increase
in the lives of your people off these
seeds that are sown
we thank you father with the seed with
the measure that they are giving
is going to be measured back to them
hallelujah thank you father god for
breakthroughs and
money miracles and financial increase
and expansion in their lives
and we thank you father god for the many
people around the world that will
benefit from watching these programs
uh in a way that uh catches the fish
father we thank you sometimes the fish
need a little eye candy
so we'll give them some eye candy to
look at we'll give them some nice
backdrops and backgrounds and things
like that
so father we give you praise we thank
you for the privilege of being involved
in
the ever-increasing expansion of your
kingdom
and i thank you father for blessing your
people as they are sowing into
this special creative project
for the two internet studios to be
refreshed father thank you bless your
people in jesus name
amen and amen praise god now as you are
bringing
the tithe and as you are sowing the seed
into this kingdom work if you would like
to bring them in
through regular mail you can do so
please
send your tights and offerings to
stephen brooks international
p.o box 717
moravian falls north carolina the zip
code is 28654
if you want to go online and you want to
bring the
tithe and the special offering in over
the internet you can do that
it's very safe highly encrypted and
secure
please visit the ministry website
stevenbrooks.com
there's a link on the home page called
tides and offerings you can bring them
in right there now if you want to give
your
offering there as well make a little
notation and say that this
is for the internet studio
refresh we also have
a hitter on the website one of the
hitters says projects
and you'll see the project there that's
being designated for
the internet studios refresh you could
go there if you want
it's the same same place same thing it
will bring it into the same
account and it just needs to be
designated so that we know to put it
towards
that special use praise god by the way
speaking of a refresh we are having a
brand new website
that is being built out and i've already
seen it behind the scenes
and that's not quite complete yet but
what it is we will transition over to
that
still a lot of things to plug in as the
web team is really
working on that they're doing a
fantastic job but
everything is being upgraded and
refreshed
everything is being strengthened we are
doing all that we can
to present the gospel in a way
that we are utilizing the best
technology
that is out there and the new website
will have all of that new technology
built into it
that allows all of the
devices that are out there to sync so
much better
with the new site when you go to it it's
going to be really nice
so together we are doing a lot for the
lord
and we are very very thankful for your
support
your giving and your prayers
woohoo praise the lord amen
now let's go into today's message which
is actually found
in the good gospel of dr luke saint luke
chapter 17. we're going to start today
in verse 11
and i want to talk about the ten lepers
and
how they were healed as they went
and i think that this is a method of
divine healing
that doesn't get the attention that it
deserves
because there are a lot of healings that
take
this same route the bottom line is
is that if you get healed you're healed
you'll take it however it will come
because it sure beats being sick
but i need you to understand how
consistent and smooth this method is
because it could be the method that god
uses to bring the blessing in into your
life as well
now let's pray before we jump into the
sermon today
heavenly father as we go into your word
we ask that the holy spirit would come
and quicken the scripture that would be
a living word
that this would be spiritual food that
feeds
our inner man we thank you father god
this also
blesses our soul and it makes us happy
and we thank you for the great
miracles and healings that you are doing
in
our lives we give you all of the praise
and we believe we receive
in jesus name amen praise god
verse 11. now it happened as he went
to jerusalem that he passed through the
midst
of samaria and galilee
well we don't need to skip over this
verse
i think it's important that we address
it and i would like to spend just a few
minutes
on this verse and i'm actually going to
correct
about 200 it's actually longer than that
probably about 300 years
of wrong teaching concerning
this verse i just read to you now
i'll give you an example of what i'm
talking about when i'm speaking of wrong
teaching concerning this
verse here's just one example of
countless ones uh
one commentator actually wrote in his
commentary
that jesus never would have traveled
this route of having passed through
samaria
and this commentator even went so far to
say that
luke who also wrote the book of acts
he said that luke was confused with his
topography
well honestly the only person confused
was the commentator
oh yes a good theologian who in many
ways
had good knowledge of the word of god
but
whenever people tried to say that the
bible has made a mistake
you can just take it to the bank the
bible didn't make a mistake
they made a mistake so again it says now
what happened
as he went to jerusalem that he passed
through
the midst of samaria and galilee
and you can go to 90 99 out of 100
bible commentaries on this subject and
it will tell you
that this can't be right because there
was so much hatred between the jews and
the samaritans
there's no way there's no way jesus
would pass through samaria
well it says he did and my friends
he did and the new research
having dug into the scriptures and
having dug
into rabbinical literature proves
overwhelmingly
that the bible is right and they went
right through the middle
of samaria now there was another route
that went over to the east side
that was about twice as long and
took you through blistering desert
and also had a much higher uh
gradient of altitude change and stuff
like that
and the theologians say oh that's the
route jesus took
because there was such hatred with the
samaritans that they would just
double the length of the journey because
they couldn't stand to be around them
that's not true that is not true and we
are finding out now
through deeper research that the bible
was right all the time now there was
another route
but they never took it that route was
for a different purpose that is
if you were going over into the land of
the modern day jordan
now the reason there has been such
misunderstanding
about jesus passing through the middle
of samaria and galilee
uh largely was an overreaction to the
scripture of john chapter 4
verse 9. and the scripture says
then the woman of samaria said to him
how is it that you
being a jew ask a drink from me
a samaritan woman for jews have no
dealings with
samaritans this verse
has caused many authors and bible
commentators to teach that
jews in the first century avoided travel
through samaria due to the hatred that
existed between
them and the samaritans it was taught
that they took the much
longer route that i just mentioned going
eastward
and totally uh looping around that
entire
region now here's the truth
it is mentioned in three different
occasions
that jesus traveled directly through
samaria three different occasions i
won't list them all here's one
right here which would be luke 17
verse 11. now
we also know that philip the evangelist
who was a jew
traveled through samaria the same region
as well in acts chapter 8
verse 5. we also know that peter and
john
took the same route and cut right
through through the middle of samaria
in acts chapter 8 verse 14. we also know
that paul
and barnabas took the exact same route
went right through the middle
of that whole region there in acts
chapter 15
verse 30 they traveled right through the
middle of samaria
and it doesn't show that when they made
those journeys that
they had any type of concern about
taking that route
they just went right ahead and they made
their journey
now we have also learned from early
writings of levitic
literature that in the first century
in a similar way to jesus and his
immediate disciples
the ancient rabbis also traveled
through samaria when they were going
from jerusalem and they were going north
up through samaria they went right
through the middle
they never took that long loop over to
the side
we see that in a quotation from the
jerusalem talbot
in a section called avodah zarah five
chapter five verse four it says rabbi
shimon bin
eleazar went to a certain town
inhabited by samaritans so here you have
a jewish rabbi
cutting right up through the middle of
samaria
elsewhere we read in the same jerusalem
talmud
that rabbi ishmael ben yosef
went to the town of neapolis well well
neopolis is actually modern-day nablus
which is in northern samaria so he also
as a rabbi living in that first century
went right up from jerusalem
straight up right through the middle of
samaria praise the lord
the tosepha states that jewish herdsmen
were allowed to leave cattle in the care
of the samaritans
when they were being driven through that
region
i think that's amazing we also see in
the jerusalem talbot
that it says samaritan territory is
ritually clean and its ritual immersion
pools
dwellings and paths that's very
important
and paths the the roads they journeyed
aren't
are assumed to be ritually clean
and that is the teaching from the rabbis
that
that route was a uh ritually clean
path that you could journey on in fact
in the jerusalem talmud
it actually says cooked food prepared by
samaritans
is permitted to be eaten whoo praise the
lord so my friends
it shouldn't surprise us that jesus made
that direct
path praise the lord here's one more one
more story to back it up
the first century historian whose name
was
josephus anytime you really begin to
study the new testament scriptures
you're going to come across the writings
and the teachings of josephus
because it brings color to the story it
puts meat on the bones because
he was a contemporary of the apostles
and he wrote as a historian
about the same time in which the new
testament was being
written he was born and grew up in the
land of israel
and therefore josephus possessed
firsthand
familiarity with the geography of israel
the religious cultural and social
dynamics of the land
he was a jew and this is what he said
for rapid travel it was essential to
take that route
by which jerusalem may be reached in
three
days from galilee what route was that
going straight up through samaria he
also said
that it was the custom of the galileans
when they came to the holy city jeru
which would be jerusalem
at the time of the festivals to take
their journeys
through the country of the samaritans
praise the lord amazing so there we have
it from many
different witnesses that what we see
here in luke chapter
17 verse 11 is true praise god what does
that mean pastor stephen
it means you can trust the bible you can
trust the word of god
oh pastor stephen it was just a book
written by a bunch of old men
well those men were inspired by the holy
spirit
and it is god breathed and it
is accurate whoo whoo all the way
all the way to every word in there it is
straight from
the lord praise god now
one more interesting thing since we are
mentioning
passing through the midst of samaria
and galilee let me go
modern day if i can with you just for a
moment
samaria is never called samaria
by the news media they don't want to use
that that jewish name for
that area of land and if you ever hear
it mentioned
on the news it's always called the west
bank and you think well why would it be
called the west bank when it's a little
bit
northeast of israel that's because
it's being called west bank from the
mindset of the jordanians
and it is true that from jordan's
perspective
it is to their west it is westward of
the jordan river
but west bank is a political term
that is used by many of the arabs
who hate israel and refuse
to acknowledge that israel has a right
to their own sovereign land so
when the word or the phrase west bank is
used
it's actually being used to create a
false
narrative concerning who actually owns
the land because they'll never say the
land of samaria
oh that's a jewish term don't use that
use the term
west bank so if you hear reporters
saying west bank those are people who
have been pumped full of
fake news and they are trying to create
a narrative whether they know it or not
of who really owns the land well i'm
i'm saying that god gave that land
to the jewish people and the right
phrase would be
that land is the land of samaria if
you're dealing with the southern part of
israel
that is the land of judea and trust me
the news media will never say judea
they'll never say in the same phrase
judea and samaria unless they are
christian reporters
[Laughter]
why those those names
are in harmony with centuries
and millennia of jewish ownership
of the land praise the lord
hallelujah by the way i'm not a
supporter
of any type of peace treaty
i know that mr jared kushner under the
leadership of president trump
has tried to put together this so-called
peace plan and i know the palestinians
they've already said no to it
they said it's you know holding the map
up it looks like a piece of swiss cheese
well the problem is is that land doesn't
belong to the palestinians in the first
place
and anytime you have a treaty that gives
away
any of israel's land which is god's
property
given to his people then you're already
making a mistake
even if you give away an inch it's
already a mistake it will bring
an awful judgment upon anybody who's
involved in that so
for the sake of the president i'm glad
really that
that doesn't seem to be on the cooker in
the sense the palestinians have already
rejected it
but it was it was a bad it was a bad
plan
there is no good plan the only one the
only one who can solve
the middle east peace excuse me the
conflict
in the middle east is the lord jesus
christ because
he will be truthful about who the land
really belongs to
do you know that that so-called peace
plan that
mr kushner drew up with his team
that if that went through israel
would lose over 100
of some of their most valuable
archaeology sites
and at those sites which
present you know thousands of years of
the heritage and the lineage of the jews
in the land
if those sites come under palestinian
control and palestinian ownership
they'll
all be destroyed they'll take bulldozers
and they'll destroy every single
vestige of jewish identity in that land
so
the the whole the whole plan is it just
can't work
and so if you can't have peace without
giving away land
well then you have to just resolve to
hold firm and say well we're not giving
away any land
and there's no peace because that's not
agreed agreeable then
we're just going to have to wait till
the messiah comes back physically
and sets this order and uh you know
gives his judgment on it
well from his word he has already given
judgment on it and the lamb
rightfully belongs to the jews
whoo praise the lord if you believe it
shout amen
praise god now that's verse
11. let's see if we can get past the
first verse and dig into the day's story
a little bit we're going to move on now
to verse 12.
then as he entered a certain village
there met him ten men who were lepers
who stood afar off so along their
journey
there's a village the men are outside of
the village they're lepers
i'm sure that there were people in the
village
that would have compassion and would
give some food and would give some alms
and do some things like that
but they can't come into that city they
are outside of the city
ten men who were who were lepers
let's not just skip over that real quick
let's think about that for a moment
what is leprosy leprosy
also called hanson's disease
is a contagious disease one way it
spreads is from
person to person but the reality of
leprosy
is that it is actually hard
to catch according to the centers for
disease control and prevention about 95
percent
of humans are immune to the bacteria
that causes this disease so that's good
news
because so many people are immune how we
catch it
according to the disease control center
is still
somewhat of a mystery scientists have
learned that to catch leprosy
a healthy person must have months
of close contact with someone who has
leprosy it's believed that the disease
spreads when a person who has leprosy
coughs
or sneezes when a healthy person
repeatedly breathes in
the infected droplets this is most
likely what is causing the spread
of the disease however it takes a lot of
exposure to catch
leprosy if someone has leprosy
a handshake or a few hours spent sitting
next to that person
will not spread the disease you'd have
to shake hands and sit next to that
person for days
literally before you could ever be in
risk of catching that
disease of leprosy now this is important
to know
if you live in the southwest or if you
live in texas
you can get leprosy from an armadillo
i know they're cute i know they look
like something that survived from the
prehistoric dinosaur days
but please don't go around and pick up
and hug armadillos
it's possible to catch leprosy by
handling an armadillo
or spending time in an area where
these animals live let's come back to
the armadillo in just a moment
how is leprosy cured antibiotics
are able to cure leprosy they work
by killing the bacteria that causes
leprosy
while antibiotics can kill the bacteria
they cannot
reverse the damage caused by
the bacteria if you already have a
disability
such as loss of feeling or blindness of
course something like loss of a finger
or an ear
that's permanent antibiotics cannot
reverse the damage that has been done
to the body thank god jesus can
hallelujah but antibiotics they can't go
into that realm
how can leprosy be prevented well first
of all
never pick up an armadillo now i know
some of you in in other nations uh
certain countries maybe like india where
there are areas where leprosy is still
prevalent
there's no armadillos there that i know
of but nevertheless
for those of you that live in the
southwest don't pick up
or handle an armadillo because they
carry the bacteria
that causes leprosy number two stay out
of places where you find armadillos
one patient who was diagnosed with
leprosy
had been clearing overgrown wild brush
where armadillos had been found to have
been living for more than 20 years
another person a lady who caught leprosy
gardened in her backyard but this was
also in an area
where several armadillos were known to
have lived
and of course if you start to have
serious issues with your skin
you would want to see a dermatologist
that way
the diagnosis can be made and if the
disease is caught in the early stages
it can be knocked out by these very very
powerful
uh drugs that they have these
antibiotics and
the antibiotics are real strong and the
doctors what they'll do is they'll put
the patient on it
for about six months sometimes even up
to a year just to totally kill
all that bacteria and destroy it but my
friends this is this is
awful stuff back in those days um
in many ways we can knock it out today
in some
rural areas of the world it still
persists
but you know i read the story the life
story of saint damian
he was a catholic priest who lived on
the hawaiian island of
molokai and those of you that are
watching me from hawaii
you will know exactly what i'm talking
about because you have
different beautiful islands that make up
the state
of hawaii and you have oahu and you have
kauai and you have lanai and you have
all these beautiful islands but the
least visited island is molokai
and it used to be that you could only
get to that island with the doctor's
permit it was called the forbidden
island
and back in the 1800s particularly
around the 1860s
uh saint damien showed up around 1863
now that time he wasn't a saint it was
he was brother damien
but he went there on purpose to minister
to
the lepers and the only people living on
the island were lepers nobody else was
allowed because
if you were on the mainland and they
found out you had leprosy they would
take you
from your family and regardless of your
age and they would just take you to the
island
drop you off so the only people living
on the island were lepers
and when saint damian got there it was a
disaster
there was no housing there was no way
they could take a bath
there was a total breakdown there was no
societal rule
you had bullies who would intimidate who
would do cruel things there were awful
things taking place
and then when you did die what they
would do
because there was no burial they would
take your body and
throw it over a ravine and there at the
bottom of the ravine was a whole
giant herd of wild pigs and the wild
pigs would just eat the bodies
and so there was no dignity there was no
dignity in anything so he showed up
he said the first thing we have to do is
we have to start building some houses
for these people
and he lived on the island and he
started getting houses built for them
were still not a cure at that time but
he tried to do all he could to ease the
pain and suffering
so that that the people knew that if if
you died and you were a leper you would
least be buried
and they would he would also do things
where he would make available for them
a hot bath and he stopped all the
bullying
he established compassion and love and
of course he's preaching the gospel to
them
and he stayed there for about 12 years
and because he never pulled away
and took breaks and he was around them
all the time and they didn't know how
the disease spread
he eventually ended up getting it
himself he became a leper
and he died now when he died they took
his body back to
belgium because he was originally from
belgium but they sent his
right hand back to the island so
his body is buried in belgium but his
right hand is buried on the island
praise the lord
hallelujah and even today molokai is
still
the least visited of all the hawaiian
islands
now this leprosy my friends was awful
awful the smell hard to describe
uh the smell of riding human flesh this
is very difficult stuff here
let's continue on with the story they
stood afar
off now they stood afar off because they
were required to
by mosaic law it says in the book of
leviticus chapter 13
verses 45 46 now the leper on whom the
sore
is his clothes shall be torn
and his head bare and he shall
cover his mustache and cry unclean
unclean he shall be unclean
all the days he has to soar he shall
be unclean he is unclean
and he shall dwell alone his dwelling
shall be outside the camp
well it's very sad but at the same time
you have to put them outside of the camp
because you don't want everybody getting
affected and everybody dying
so at that time leprosy was
incurable it was a death sentence it was
contagious
and you lived in forced isolation and it
was often here's the difficult time
excuse me here's here's the extra hard
element
during the time of the lord's day it was
often viewed
as a judgment of god so if you had
leprosy
people viewed you with not much
compassion because they thought well you
deserved it you obviously have done
something wicked or sinful or wrong
that's why you got it and so there
wasn't a lot of compassion
going around for lepers it was
absolutely
awful now luke chapter 17 verse
13. and they lifted up their voice says
now there's a unity here because even
amongst the outcasts
they have a what we would call a leper
colony and they have
banned it together so there is a unity
in what they're crying out
and what they're expressing and
sometimes
these difficult scenarios that you may
face in life
may place you in company that you might
not prefer
but nevertheless you all have a common
denominator
so here you are grouped together now
this little group uh
unbeknownst to them is about to be
disbanded and they have been together
for
who knows how long maybe for years and
years
but something dramatic is going to
happen and
they've they've gotten to know each
other but that's all about to end
they're going to separate and they're
going to go
different directions because of what is
about to take place
so they're still all together banded
together they're lifting up their voices
in the unity and they're saying jesus
master have mercy on us now
the first thing you'll notice is that
this is a different
uh request or statement because if it
was a normal
stranger passing by the response of a
leper would be
alms for the poor alms for us
lepers they're not asking for alms
they're
saying jesus master
have mercy on us in other words they
knew who he was now
how does faith come we are told in god's
word in the book of romans chapter 10
verse 17 that faith comes by hearing
so what do you suppose these ten
lepers have heard they have heard
something
about the miracle ministry of jesus
christ of nazareth
i would go so far to say that they have
heard testimonies and reports
that this man is the messiah this
man is the miracle worker and even
lepers
by the hundreds have been healed under
his anointed ministry and they probably
thought whoa and he's passing by right
now
jesus jesus have mercy on us
hallelujah oh they knew who he was and
you have to understand that's how faith
comes
comes by hearing and you must be
continually hearing
that fresh rhema word of god that's what
builds faith
praise the lord verse 14
so when he saw them he said to them
go show yourselves to the priest
and so it was that as they went they
were cleansed
now this is this is fascinating now from
a new covenant perspective
if we look into this having
the knowledge of the new covenant if we
look at first corinthians chapter 12
and it lists the nine gifts of the holy
spirit
what you see manifesting right here
through the ministry of jesus
is the supernatural
word of wisdom out of the nine gifts of
the holy spirit
the word of wisdom is listed first why
it is the preeminent
gift it is the most important of all
the nine gifts and here it is right now
being manifested through jesus by the
holy spirit
and the word of wisdom comes forth jesus
picks up on it by the holy spirit and he
says
to those men go
show yourselves to the priest
well pastor steven how do you know that
that was a supernatural
word of wisdom well i can prove it to
you
um you can get on a plane and fly
somewhere
and find some lepers and just go up to
them and say
say to them go show yourself to the
priest
and if they get up go try to find the
priest see if they get healed
see here's here's two rules regarding
the supernatural manifestation
of the word of wisdom rule number one
if you obey it it will always work
100 of the time anytime there is a valid
genuine word of wisdom manifested to you
by the holy spirit you can take it to
the bank it will work
100 of the time that you obey it
number two number two rule is
you cannot take somebody else's word
of wisdom that god gave to them you
cannot take their
word and try to make it work for
yourself
praise the lord now the question has
been presented
pastor stephen would they have been
healed
if they didn't go in other words jesus
said go
show yourself to the priest what would
have happened
if they didn't go oh i'll tell you
exactly what would have happened
they would not they absolutely would not
have been healed
let's ask another question would naaman
the syrian army leader would naaman
have been healed if he did not bathe in
the jordan river
seven times see the word came
through elisha the prophet he shared the
word with the servant go
tell go tell damon this is what he's
supposed to do
this is the word of wisdom god would
have him to do go take a bath
seven times in the jordan river and that
the and you know
naaman really fought that word because
to him it seemed
crazy and from an intellectual
perspective
it didn't make any sense but
nevertheless it was the word that came
from on high
what would have happened to naaman if he
didn't do it
would he have been healed of leprosy no
no the blessing comes through the
obedience
of that word but
we know that naaman bathed seven times
and when he came up out of the jordan
river
his skin was like that of a young child
and we also know that they went
they heard that word of wisdom a word of
english
wisdom will always have an instruction
attached to it
and the instruction was going to show
yourself to the priest
and my friends that's exactly what they
did they got moving praise god now
jesus told them go show yourselves
to the priest well
from where they're at their little base
camp
outside of the the small town
they're in samaria they're still about
60 miles
north of jerusalem so it's not like they
can just you know
quickly go to the uh to jerusalem and uh
see a priest
there but that's okay they could still
easily
locate a priest in one of the
communities
that would have been located outside of
jerusalem
the priests who were the direct
descendants
of aaron were not given
a territorial allotment there in the
promised
canaan land instead they were allocated
13 cities with their pasture lands
where they could live there and dwell
there
and have their little home and have
raised their cattle and so forth
but even the homes they didn't own the
homes it was just all things they
that they would have at their
availability but they did not own those
things
praise the lord now we see this
displayed in the book of numbers chapter
35
verses 1-3 they that would be the priest
they shall have the cities to dwell in
that would be the 13 cities
and their common land shall be for their
cattle for their herds and for
all their animals command the children
of israel that they give the levites
cities to dwell in from the inheritance
of their possession
and you shall also give the levites
common land around the cities
so you had the priest and you had the
levites who were the servants to the
priest
and they had these areas allocated to
them
for their usage so it would not have
been difficult
for these tin lepers to conveniently
find a priest
that would have been close by now
why did jesus specifically direct
them to go to the priest number one
in order to obey the mosaic law
and they're still under the law christ
has not died yet at the cross
christ has not yet gone to calvary so
he is fulfilling the law he is in the in
the
role of fulfilling it but the law was
still functioning for the people
so number one it was required to obey
the mosaic law
and so that the priests could certify
their
healing and make it official have the
priest check you out
and the priests were specifically
trained in all the various forms of
leprosy and skin disease
and they had the ability to pronounce
unclean
they had the the ability to examine and
if it was all gone
they could certify that you were clean
and allow you to come back
into the community now number two reason
of why i believe the lord wanted these
ten
men to go to the priest would be
that these ten men would healed and
cleansed would be a very powerful
witness
to the priest because that that's going
to spread throughout the priesthood
this is not normal to have 10 men who
were lepers
show up completely cleansed and healed
well that's that news is like that's
going to go everywhere throughout the
entire priesthood
so this is a witness that jesus
is the son of god that he is the messiah
of israel praise god now
let's continue on this is a very very
heavyweight statement
as they went they
were cleansed whoo
hallelujah faith and works
blended together in a very beautiful
harmonious
way
as they went they were cleansed
not every healing i would even say that
not even
every miracle is always
instantaneous i'm sure you've noticed
that praise the lord
there have been many times when i have
prayed for people who were sick or had a
disease
had something wrong with their bodies i
would pray for them
and the anointing i could sense
spiritually the anointing
god sealing power flowing through me
into their bodies flowing from the lord
through me because i'm a vessel that the
lord is working through
flowing through me that anointing going
into their bodies and i would tell
them the healing power of god has gone
into your body and so often they would
say i can sense that
i can sense i can sense it so my
instructions would be
you have taken it by faith now claim
your healing
stand in faith that it's finished and
walk it out
and i can't even begin to tell how many
testimonies
of when the person who was prayed for
that night or the day before they would
wake
up the next morning and every symptom
gone
every symptom gone what happened they
were healed as they went
as they went back home after the
conference as they went back home after
the church service
as they went back home after i had
ministered to them as they went
as they went they were healed
well i don't see anything i don't notice
anything different pastor stephen
looks like it's still there no no no
you take that anointing you take that
anointing now in this case they're
taking that word
that in other words the lord's not
sending them there for exercise
and they also know hey something's got
to happen because if all ten of us show
up
and we're walking there full-blown
leprosy that
they're gonna say ah you're gonna infect
us all you know and
probably kill them or something like
that so
you know this has to be the real thing
so my friends
you take it and you stand on it praise
god
and that word that anointing works works
works and manifests
and it just goes away that disease that
sickness goes
away here's a question
if my healing is not instantaneous
what should i do my answer would always
be this
stay in faith and keep on walking
if you have received that anointing
you're in a service or in a meeting
and a mighty anointing was administered
to you stand on it praise god
hallelujah because jesus told me in a
vision
years back he came to me in a vision and
he said
he said do you remember when you had
strep throat
i said yes lord i remember that and he
said what did you do
i said i went to the doctor and i got a
shot of an antibiotic called penicillin
and i said within 30 minutes i was
already feeling better
and i said within a few hours it was
there was no symptom i was totally
healed
he said now my anointing works the same
way
and he told me this he said i've he said
i have given you a healing anointing
and he said tell the people and the
reason he wants me to tell the people is
to build faith in the people okay
so he said tell the people that when you
lay your hands on them and pray for them
he said when my anointing goes into them
he said tell them to receive it by faith
and many will see that the anointing
will work
and he said for some the healing will
manifest
immediately he said for others the
healing will manifest in three
six or nine hours and for others it will
manifest the next day
but he said tell them to take it by
faith the
moment that anointing goes into their
body woo
praise the lord so what are those lepers
doing
they are walking by faith while the
symptoms of leprosy are still physical
to their eyes
while the pain is still there while the
goo is still oozing out
while the stench is still there they're
still walking
they're still walking heavy weight
that's heavyweight faith i love it
praise god
they were cleansed
as they went praise god what a beautiful
thing
what a beautiful thing praise the lord
hallelujah
your physical healing may be instant
i've had instant healings before
but it could be that as the lord touches
you with this anointing
that you get better gradually and the
disease
the sickness whatever it was that has
troubled you just
it dematerializes it goes away
and you get stronger and stronger each
day
let's say that you need financial
healing you need to use
physical healing maybe you need also
financial healing
pastor stephen i'm believing god for
instant deliverance instant financial
bailout program a financial miracle
praise god
well if god chooses to do it like that
that's wonderful
but see as long as you cross the finish
line you still made it there
healing is a healing regard regardless
of how it comes
so it could be that god just helps you
to pay down pay down the bill
pay down the bill pay down the bill and
that anointing keeps
keeps flowing and before you know it the
whole thing's paid off and it's gone
so the result is the same it's gone
praise the lord
i'm delivered i'm free hallelujah so
it's good
my friends please do not neglect
or belittle a method of divine healing
that is actually scriptural
and so it was that as they went
they were cleansed praise god
hallelujah i believe god has a miracle
for you
that as you keep on going it's going to
manifest
in a full degree thank you jesus
let's continue with the story
now verse 15 and one of them
when he saw that he was healed now you
will come to a place
where the physical manifestation is
there
where you can see it it's gone it's gone
we were walking and the next thing i
knew it's it's all gone
okay so now now you're at the full
manifestation
until then keep on walking in faith
but yes it's a wonderful moment when it
manifests
fully it is absolutely a wonderful
moment
and one of them when he saw that he was
healed returned
and with a loud voice glorified god
don't be don't be afraid to get loud
sometimes in your thanksgiving and
praise the lord after all he's done for
you
don't be ashamed sometimes you need to
get a little bit loud
hallelujah thank you so with a loud
voice glorified god
and fell down on his face
at his feet giving him thanks and he
was a samaritan
so jesus answered and said well they're
not ten cleansed
but where are the nine
well
let's look at the nine just for a moment
understand
that if you would have been in that
group of the ten
if you would have been in that group and
suddenly
along with the other nine you all
realize oh it's gone
oh it's gone hallelujah it's gone it's
gone
and then you do your job you go to the
priest and he he he certifies you yeah
you're good to go
you know suddenly it's like it's like
you're being
picked up in a boat from a deserted
island
that you've been stranded on all by
yourself for years
you're off the island oh i can go see my
mother
i can go see my father i can go see my
wife i i can do all of these things
and if you get this burst of energy you
realize you've got your life back
that that's what's going on with the
nine
it it's like ending no it's like ending
a 40-day fast
and realizing it's over oh i can go eat
hallelujah i can go eat
but see the one the one would be like
well yes i just finished the fast but
before i eat i've got to go do something
for the one it would be like yes i just
got off the remote island
uh thank you for picking me up uh but
before you take me uh
you know to meet everybody i've got to
go do something first
and that's what the one did
is that he chose to be thankful
and i believe that when you
practice thanksgiving i really do
believe that you get
watch this you get god's very best for
your life
um thank you lord jesus
thank you lord jesus were there not any
found who
returned to give glory to god except
this foreigner
and he said to him arise go
your way your faith has made you
well i do prefer the king james version
in regards to this verse where in the
the authorized version it says your
faith has made you
whole that's a better translation now
i'm going to share with you what i
believe is really going on here in verse
19
when jesus said arise go your way
your faith has made you whole
the word well or sometimes
some translations use the word whole
is the greek word sozo
and this word in the greek means
saved to the uttermost
it means full salvation full salvation
now you have to ask yourself this
when jesus says to this man arise
go your way your faith has made you
sozo i believe
what happened is that this leper
who has been cleansed i believe
he moved into the blessing of a creative
miracle
where any disfigurement any loss
of anything loss see with leprosy the
first thing that goes is
your nerves don't work and
that's that's how saint damien knew that
he had leprosy he
accidentally put his foot in some
boiling water and he couldn't feel it
that's not good that means you have the
disease you you have no sense of feeling
so you can be losing a finger or
something like that and
oh it is horrible but i believe that any
disfigurement
that this man may have had he's not only
clean
okay there's no open sores or wounds
there's no sores at all he's totally
clean
but i believe he went into sozo
i believe he went into fullness of
healing and he went
literally from a healing into what we
would call
a miracle and i don't think
this is any stretch of scripture at all
to view it like that because remember
naaman when he came up out of that water
after the seventh bathing he came up and
he had more than the healing it's not
just like leprosy
you know stopped working in his life it
says when he came up out of the water
his skin was like that of a little child
and this is an old man
i mean that that's that's not just a
healing that's that's in the miracle
category
wow and i believe that
that's what thankfulness will carry you
into
it will carry you into not just a
blessing
not just to healing but it will actually
take you over into the miracle realm
where you get god's very best and i
believe
as that man lay there with his face down
laying on the dirt worshiping jesus
accepting jesus as his messiah
i believe that yes his life was now
right with god
but i also believe that when he stood up
there was no disfigurement on him
no no evidence of scars no evidence that
he ever
had leprosy ever before while
now that's full salvation full
deliverance
not half not half healing not a half
miracle
that's the he got the whole thing he got
the whole thing
there really is something to
this heart of thanksgiving
and it really takes faith to be thankful
when your flesh wants to complain
but my friends when we walk in
thanksgiving
i think there is a door into the
miraculous
that thanksgiving is the key there's not
many doors excuse me there's not many
keys to that door
but i i would say i would say that
thanksgiving is one of them
praise god and that is a great takeaway
from today's message now please
don't also skip this major
uh part here jesus said arise go your
way
your faith has made you whole now we've
put an emphasis on whole
but also don't forget jesus did not put
the emphasis on
my mighty power worked the miracle in
you that he did not put the focus on
that
and undoubtedly he was filled with the
spirit without measure
and you know there was power flowing
through him but he puts the focus on the
receiver
your faith has made you whole your faith
has made you so so
or not so so sozo
let me get the z in there praise the
lord so again
if you release your faith
based upon god's word god's promises
and you walk in thanksgiving you're in a
place where the miraculous can happen
so yes god has the anointing god has the
power
but god he has to have
the cooperation of your faith you have
to be in faith
you have to be in faith pulling on the
anointing
standing on the word praise god
and you'll see miracles take place
especially especially
when we are thankful and i would say
that
thankfulness is never really convenient
but it's something that if we just rise
up
and choose to be thankful when a
blessing happens or something really
good happens or
you know just as you go through life you
know
regardless of whatever just be thankful
you know what i
i believe you're gonna see god's very
best
just show up in your life
and i believe when he stood up it showed
up
he's already healed but this was the
next level this is sozo
this is wholeness wow no fingers missing
this is wholeness how can you be whole
if half your body's gone okay so i
believe you got the whole thing
praise god just like naaman did
hallelujah
please lift your hands heavenly father i
pray for your people
if there's anything missing in their
life and they're not experiencing
sozo salvation entire encapsulated full
salvation
i pray that whatever would be missing
would be restored
back into their life now father as your
people rise up in faith and take a hold
of your promises
i thank you for the moving of your
spirit i thank you for words of wisdom
coming to them
supernatural instruction of what to do
to walk out of that
situation of the defeat or sickness or
disease or whatever it might be
i thank you i thank you i thank you for
answers coming to them
divine solutions and i thank you that
their faith will be strengthened as they
continue to hear the word
i thank you for doing great healings and
miracles in their life
and i thank you father god i thank you
father god today that your
people are choosing to
incorporate constant thanksgiving
so that they may see the miraculous
father we give you praise we give you
praise
now father we seal this word by the
blood of jesus
this word will not be forgotten this
word will not be stolen by the enemy
this word is a seed sown into the hearts
of your people that will produce
100 fold in the soil
in the harvest of their heart thank you
father in jesus name
shout and say amen praise god
if you have been watching today's
program
but you do not know jesus messiah as
your personal
savior and lord i would like to give you
an opportunity right now
to meet the master to make the great
physician
the greek to meet the miracle worker if
you would like to give your heart to him
and you want to know him pray this
prayer out loud
right now say jesus i come to you as a
sinner
i don't have leprosy but leprosy
in many ways represents sin
jesus i come to you as a sinner jesus
save me from my sins
wash them all away and give me a new
heart
come into my heart jesus i make you my
lord and savior
now write my name in your book of life
thank you jesus thank you jesus for
saving me
right now amen amen he has heard your
prayer
you now belong to him you now have his
newness of life
living on the inside of you now serve
the lord
all the days of your life if you're
watching me and you're a backslidden
christian
you have fallen away from god and you're
in a dangerous place
come back right now come back to the
savior
of your soul say jesus i repent of my
sins
and i wonder no more i come back to you
now
jesus washed my sins away
restore me unto right relationship with
you
thank you jesus thank you jesus thank
you so much for your love
and your mercy thank you jesus amen
and amen praise god my friends it's a
glorious day
it's a beautiful day it's a new day in
the lord let's now take holy communion
i want to invite you to enjoy to join me
grab some unleavened bread i use these
little wafers you could use a cracker
whatever you have available
and i would encourage you grab some
grape juice that's what i have here in
the cup
but we're going to pray over it we're
going to bless it and this
will become the body and the blood of
jesus
father we bless this bread this juice we
set it apart now as holy
this is now the body and the blood of
our lord and savior jesus
the messiah father thank you as we
receive the body of jesus
we thank you that
we walk in faith we keep on walking and
as we walk
you're doing miracles in our life we
believe it we believe that things are
changing things are changing
we thank you father god for the power of
your spoken word
we hold to it we believe it our
circumstances are
changing for good hallelujah and father
we receive that word in jesus name
amen let's receive the body of jesus
father thank you for the blood of jesus
hallelujah thank you father god
that salvation is for the whole world
even the gentile samaritan
he got his miracle and he got him a
savior
whoo thank you father god i thank you
father there's power in the blood
and as we receive the blood of jesus we
thank you for forgiveness of our sins
we thank you that we have put our faith
and trust fully in jesus he is our
messiah
he is the savior of the world and we
belong to him and we are safe
o god in you thank you father god we say
maranatha
may the lord return quickly thank you
father in jesus
name amen and amen let's receive the
blood of christ
praise god let's close with this verse
and so it was that as they went they
were cleansed
as they went they were cleansed
keep on going your miracle
is about to manifest thank you for
joining me
on today's program i look forward to
seeing you back next time
thank you for partnering with us and
standing with us as we are endeavoring
to refresh the two internet
studios together we can do it praise god
and we can continue
to present the gospel in a spirit of
excellence
and joy thanks for watching i'll see you
back
next time bye bye
you