The Power of Jesus

This morning I want to share with you a message about the power of Jesus. What use is power to me? What do I need it for? Am I interested in knowing or understanding that Jesus has power? Brothers and sisters, life is quite complex. Life is quite difficult, and I do not know how you live your life, but I do know that I do not find all the answers to the great mysteries that confront me.

I know that I often encounter difficulties and problems that go beyond what I am capable of resolving. On more than one occasion, I feel that I lack either the knowledge, the strength, or the intelligence to face what life brings before me. And sometimes I need a power greater than myself, and this morning I want to suggest to you that the Lord Jesus is that power which can give you the strength to do the impossible, which can give you the power to accomplish the unattainable, power to give you victory when it seems that you are going from defeat to defeat.

And it is not simply the ability of a person to do something; as we say, “Can you bring me a glass of water?” and someone brings you a glass of water. I am saying that Jesus has power, but a power that goes beyond simply the ability to do something; it is the authority with which... the strength with which it is done. It is not that Jesus can simply give you a little push in life; Jesus can give you victory in life. And I want to show you three examples that we find in the Word of God where we see Jesus demonstrating His power, and this afternoon I want us to see Jesus demonstrating His power to overcome external forces, Jesus demonstrating power to defeat internal struggles, and Jesus demonstrating His power over physical problems.

If you have your Bibles, I am going to read the passage we find in the Gospel according to Saint Mark, chapter 4, beginning with verse 31, and in chapters 4 and 5 we are going to see three incidents in which we see Jesus working with power and what lesson we can draw from this.

Mark chapter 4, verse 35: “That day, when evening came, He said to the disciples, ‘Let us go over to the other side.’ Dismissing the crowd, they took Him just as He was in the boat, and there were other boats with Him. But a great windstorm arose, and the waves were beating into the boat, so that it was already filling with water. And He, Jesus, was in the front part, in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. And they woke Him and said to Him, ‘Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?’ And Jesus arose, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, ‘Be silent, be still,’ and the wind ceased and there was a great calm. And He said to them, ‘Why are you so afraid? How is it that you have no faith?’ Then they were greatly afraid and said to one another, ‘Who is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?’”

In this passage we find Jesus controlling a situation that was out of control. The disciples were—most of them were fishermen; they knew how to fish. The one thing they could not do was stop the wind, stop a storm. We still cannot do it. The weather can be forecast; we can know whether it will be cold or hot, but when it is cold, we cannot do anything to change the temperature. Nor can we ask the wind to stop. A hurricane comes; we do not like it, but it comes. And these are situations we do not seek, but they come. And they are crises that confront us, not because we want them, but because that is how it is in God’s design.

And here we find the disciples and Jesus in the midst of a crisis they did not seek. The disciples, being fishermen, realized that this was becoming dangerous. Lake Gennesaret, on the Sea of Galilee, is small but very deep, and waves do rise there, and these men, who were sailors, knew when things were dangerous.

But do you know the passage that most catches my attention in this entire chapter? The verse that gives me the greatest confidence is the one that says that in the midst of the storm, in verse 38, Jesus was sleeping. Jesus was sleeping in the midst of the storm. And the disciples go and say, ‘Hey, Jesus, wake up! Don’t You realize that we’re drowning? This isn’t a joke anymore, huh? This is dangerous.’ And Jesus was sleeping.

Two things could have been happening: either Jesus was foolish, a fool, unaware of the situation, so that the disciples had to tell Him, ‘Hey, don’t You realize what is happening?’ That is one possibility. Or the other possibility is that Jesus was so confident in His Father’s will and had fixed His life, anchoring it so firmly in the will of God, that He knew that not even the most severe storms could move Him or take Him out of God’s will. So much so that Jesus could rest in the midst of the storm.

And my message to you this morning is that there are storms in our lives, storms that we did not seek. They may involve illness, they may be psychological problems, they may be financial problems, and many times they are not our fault. And the issue here is not to look for who is to blame when a storm comes. The storm is here. And I want to tell you that if you believe that because you come to the Lion of Judah congregation you are not going to have any more problems in life, forgive me for saying so, but you are deceived. Because Jesus Himself said, ‘In the world you will have afflictions.’ Wow, that is not what you expected, but it does not end there. He says, ‘But take heart; I have overcome the world.’

And the Christian life is not a life in which there will be no winds, waves, or storms. The Christian life is being able to sleep and rest in the midst of the storm because I know that nothing and no one will separate me. If your life is anchored in the will of God, you can sleep in the midst of the storm.

In the world you will have afflictions. It is a reality. And the surest thing in the passage, the most important thing, the most striking thing, is not that Jesus calmed the storm. Jesus calmed the storm to show them that He had power. He did not need to calm the storm, because He was sleeping in the midst of the storm.

And what I want to tell you is that storms will come into your life, and the Lord will not take them away from you, but He will enable you to rest confidently in the Lord. And to show the disciples that He was not a fool or foolish: ‘Oh, do you want to see whether I have power or not? Wind, that’s enough. Waves, stop.’ Wow, the storm was over. And it says there that the disciples were more afraid now than they had been during the storm. This is serious. ‘Who is this?’ it says here.

Then they were greatly afraid and said to one another, “Who is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?”

Jesus has power. Jesus has power, and this morning I want to tell you to draw near to Him, to cling to Him, because in Him there is power—power to triumph and rest in the midst of life’s storms.

We find the next passage in Mark, chapter 5, verses 1 through 20. When they reached the other side of the sea, I imagine they were already so frightened that they no longer knew what to be afraid of... First they were frightened by the storm, and now they were afraid of Jesus. They must have arrived white with fear, but they reached the other side.

“They came to the other side of the sea, to the region of the Gadarenes, and when He, Jesus, stepped out of the boat, immediately a man with an unclean spirit came from the tombs to meet Him. He lived among the tombs, and no one could bind him, not even with chains, because he had often been bound with shackles and chains, but he had torn the chains apart and shattered the shackles, and no one could subdue him. And always, day and night, he went about crying out in the mountains and among the tombs and cutting himself with stones. Then, when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and knelt before Him, and crying out with a loud voice, he said, ‘What have You to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure You by God not to torment me.’

Who is speaking here? The demon inside him. And Jesus was saying to him, ‘Come out of this man, unclean spirit.’ And Jesus asked the spirit, ‘What is your name?’ And he answered, saying, ‘My name is Legion, because we are many,’ and he begged Him not to send them out of that region. Now nearby, on the hillside, there was a large herd of pigs feeding, and all the demons begged Him, saying, ‘Send us into the pigs so that we may enter them.’ And then Jesus gave them permission, and those unclean spirits came out and entered the pigs, which numbered about two thousand, and the herd rushed down a steep bank into the sea and drowned in the sea. And those who tended the pigs fled and reported it in the city and the countryside, and people came out to see what had happened. They saw Jesus and saw the man who had been tormented by the demon and who had terrified the region, sitting, clothed, and in his right mind, and they were afraid.”

What a strange story! A man completely out of control. You may say to me, ‘David, but perhaps this has a psychological explanation, that he was a man who had this...’ Look, brothers and sisters, I do not know whether we can define it in medical or psychiatric terms, but I know what he had. This man was completely possessed by a force that was destroying him. A man who was absolutely controlled by the devil. A man whom people had tried to help, but they could do nothing. They even bound him; they bound him with chains and shackles so that he would not hurt himself any further, and even so he broke them and continued destroying himself. And you are going to say to me, ‘But David, what does this have to do with us?’ It has far more to do with us than you think. Because unfortunately there are people in whom sin—Satan—has taken such control that they are completely unable to recover.

I have seen the devastation caused by alcohol. I have seen homes destroyed by alcohol, and I have prayed with people, and there are people who tell me through their tears, ‘David, I want to, but I can’t. It is stronger than I am. I want to, but I can’t; I can’t. It isn’t that I don’t want to.’

In the first service I recounted an experience I had. I have been in the pastorate for 36 years, and I have seen more cases like this than I would like to recount. But one case came to mind: about 20 years ago, approximately 23 years ago, we had to return to Argentina, and I was there in Buenos Aires, at our office headquarters, when someone came and knocked on the door. I went out and answered it. A man who seemed to be wearing good clothes, but they all looked worn and dirty, said to me, ‘Hello, David.’ I looked at him and did not realize who he was. But if someone calls me by my first name before I have introduced myself—and for someone to call me by my first name, he has to be a person who knows me. And I looked at him, and I was beginning to realize more or less who he was, but I was not completely sure.

He said, ‘David, you don’t remember me, do you? I’m Luis.’ And at that moment my heart stopped. Standing before me was a man who had been the pastor of the largest Baptist church in Buenos Aires, with a fabulous ministry. He was no novice in ministry: he had been a pastor for many years, was the son of pastors and the brother of pastors, and led a church anointed by the Holy Spirit. Little by little, he began to drink and began to allow alcohol to have a place in his life. It reached a point when the church realized that the pastor had a problem, and they could not resolve it. The problem grew so serious that he had to leave the church. It reached the point where his wife and two beautiful daughters had to leave him.

This pastor ended up homeless on the streets of Buenos Aires. Why? There was a force in his life that he could not control, and I remember that I was speaking with him—we were the same age—and he said to me, ‘David, do you think I haven’t tried? Do you think I haven’t tried? I can’t.’ And after he had been at our home, I called by telephone. We fed him and helped him, and I called a very dear brother, his brother-in-law, who is a psychiatrist and a pastor. He told me, ‘David, we will help him today, and tomorrow it will be the same thing all over again. We have been trying for years, and we cannot do it.’

And how many times have we dealt with young people who are involved with drugs? Or how many times have we tried to solve problems in homes where there is violence? At this very moment I am helping in a congregation on Long Island where one of the leaders is in jail for abusing his daughter. Do not tell me that the devil does not attack the believer.

None of these people do it because they want to or because they like it. And there it hides, it seems... it says, ‘bring the extremes.’ They exist, brothers and sisters. Wake up. They exist. All you have to do is drive through the streets at night in cities like Boston or New York and observe the reality of sin.

And I imagine Pastor Miranda and I could tell you many more stories about men, women, and young people who are completely possessed by sin, to such a degree that they cannot find a way to break free. And how many times have they told me, with tears in their eyes, ‘David, I want to, but I can’t. It is greater than I am.’ And I want to tell you that there is Someone who is greater. For the Word tells us, ‘Greater is He who is in us than he who is in the world.’

And the Lord, the Son of God, has appeared to destroy the works of the devil. And I want to tell you this morning—this afternoon—that no matter how Satan may try to enter and cling to your life, the Lord Jesus Christ has power to destroy the works of the devil. The Lord Jesus Christ has power to break the chains of addiction. The Lord Jesus Christ has power to restore broken homes.

And the people there became frightened. Why? Because they saw this man who had been hurting himself, who had been living among the tombs—they saw him seated and in his right mind. I want to tell you that the power of Jesus has not run out. The power of the Lord Jesus Christ is still at work today. Jesus has power when you are running short. The Lord Jesus Christ has power to overcome that which seems invincible.

And the third and final case I want to read to you is the one we find in verse 24 of the same chapter of Mark. Mark, chapter 5, verse 24. It says: “So He went with him, and a crowd followed Him and pressed around Him. Jesus—a very popular person—has cured people, has healed them, is the man of the hour; people have eaten without having to pay, He multiplied it, He gave them bread and fish; He teaches beautifully, and they understand Him. He is a very popular person. People follow Him. But a woman who had suffered from a flow of blood for 12 years and had suffered greatly under many doctors, spending everything she had, and had gained nothing from it but instead had grown worse—when she heard about Jesus, she came up behind Him in the crowd and touched His cloak. For she kept saying to herself, ‘If I only touch His cloak, I will be saved,’ and immediately the source of her bleeding dried up, and she felt in her body that she had been healed of that affliction. Then Jesus, knowing within Himself that power had gone out from Him, turned around in the crowd and said, ‘Who touched My clothes?’ And the disciples said, ‘You see the crowd pressing around You, and You say, “Who touched Me?”’ But He kept looking around to see who had done it. Then the woman, fearful and trembling, knowing what had been done in her, came and fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth. And He said to her, ‘Daughter, your faith has saved you. Go in peace and be healed of your affliction.’”

Jesus demonstrated power when physical forces seemed to take control of our lives. In this way, a woman who had been suffering—12 years, it says, 12 years—and it was not that she had not sought treatment. It says she had spent everything she had in the hands of doctors, and I am sure the doctors tried to help her, and she was sure that everyone wanted to help her. But this was a case in which she had not only suffered; because of her suffering, according to Jewish law, she could not be part of society. While a woman was suffering from a discharge, she was a person who could not participate in the life of her city—and this had already gone on for 12 years. She was excluded; she was marginalized. She had not brought it upon herself; it was an illness.

Brothers and sisters, we do not have illnesses because we are masochists, right? Illnesses come. We do not seek them, but they come. This woman was suffering from something. What is interesting is what is happening here. Because Jesus is a popular person, and everyone is there with Jesus, and they all follow Him. And Jesus did not have, like these basketball players who go around with 14 bodyguards so that no one can come near them. No, people came and... He was a popular, cheerful person; besides that, Jesus had a lovely social life. If they invited Him to dinner, He went.

You know that it is said there are more—and this is true, take note—in the Gospels, there are more instances of Jesus having dinner and spending time in people’s homes than of Him going to the temple. It is not that He did not go to the temple, but neither did He turn down a good invitation. So much so that what did they accuse Him of? This man goes to dinner with sinners. He was a man people liked; if I were having a party, I would invite Him, brothers and sisters. He was not a killjoy. And He was a popular man; He made Himself loved, and the people came. And so everyone is following Him, thinking that this popular man, this new man, might perhaps be the new religious leader we have been looking for. And suddenly Jesus stops and says, ‘Someone touched Me.’ The disciples say, ‘But, Lord, everyone is touching You.’ No, everyone is around Me, everyone is crowding Me, jostling Me, but someone touched Me with faith. Someone touched Me in a different way. There are thousands around Me, but I felt that only one was healed. And so He stops and looks around, and it says that this woman, ‘fearful and trembling, and knowing what had been done in her, fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth.’

Well, you can imagine, can’t you? Jesus could very well have said to her, ‘Who are you to touch Me? Don’t you know that socially you are not allowed to touch Me? You are unclean. Don’t you know that now I have to go to the temple and perform the ritual, and for 30 days I cannot go to the synagogue because you touched Me? Because the ritual says, in the Book of Leviticus, that a man who touches an unclean woman cannot go to the temple for 30 days and must bring a sacrifice.’ What this woman had done was serious.

But the woman comes forward and tells Him—well, two things happen here. On the one hand, it says that the woman already knew—look how interesting this is—she already knew because of the tense, the past perfect; a bit of grammar here. The translation we have here says, ‘But knowing what had been done in her.’ She already knew she had been healed. She told Him everything.

Two things could have happened: the Lord could have said, ‘Aren’t you ashamed that you touched Me?’ The woman could have said, ‘Lord, I am not ashamed, and even if I am ashamed, it does not matter, because now I am healed.’ But she told Him everything, and what does Jesus say to her? Woman—daughter; He does not say woman, but daughter—your faith has saved you. Go in peace and be healed of your affliction.’

Brothers and sisters, I do not know this woman’s theology. I do not know whether she knew much about the law, the Old Testament, or the prophecies about the Messiah. I do not know, but I do know one thing: when I go to heaven, she will be there, and I will see her. And perhaps she has not learned much theology during the last two thousand years she has been in heaven, but she knows one thing: she was sick, and now she is well. And her faith had saved her.

My brother, the power of Jesus was not manifested because of how much theology the woman knew, nor because of the influence this woman might have had, nor because of any benefit or social standing Jesus might gain by demonstrating that He could perform miracles. A woman who was suffering touched Jesus in faith, and this woman was healed. And I want to tell you this afternoon that a little faith, a small amount of faith in a great God, can heal you—can heal you physically, emotionally, and spiritually. And I ask you this afternoon, if you are experiencing any kind of emotional, physical, or psychological suffering, touch Jesus, because there is power.

He has power; of course He has power. And I can assure you that many of us who are here this afternoon have felt the touch of the power of the Lord Jesus Christ in our lives. Between the two services, a brother came to tell me, ‘You know, Pastor, I was a prisoner of the bottle for 18 years, and it has been more than 15 years since the Lord set me free.’ Is there power? Yes, there certainly is power.

If you do not believe there is power, look at who was able to sleep in the middle of the storm. If you do not believe there is power, look at the demon-possessed man, now transformed, seated in his right mind at Jesus’ feet. Do you want to know whether there is power? A woman who did not know very much but had faith came near and touched Him, and she was healed and transformed because there is power.

I go to Israel very, very often, and no matter what I do, no matter what activities I have, do you know where I always end my visit to Israel? I go to the garden where the tomb is. No one knows whether it is the actual tomb or not. It does not matter. There is a tomb called Gordon’s Tomb that, to me, is the most beautiful one there is. And so, after all the ups and downs, all these problems, when I finish my trip to Israel, I go to that tomb. And do you know what? I do not go to bring Him flowers. I look, and what do I see? There is no one there; the tomb is empty. Why? Because there is power. Because He has power not only to calm the storm, not only to restore the madman to soundness of mind, not only to restore health to the woman who was ill, but also to give life where there is death. And brothers and sisters, when I see that empty tomb, I say, ‘There is power here; there is power here.’

I want to invite you this afternoon to do by faith what this woman did. If something is afflicting you, if you are suffering, if you are going through something, it is something between the Lord and you. I ask you this afternoon to approach the Lord in faith and discover that your victory is found in His power. I want you to learn to rest, to sleep in the middle of the storm. I want you, sound and whole, to sit at Jesus’ feet. I want you to be made completely well, just as this woman was healed because she touched Jesus.

Pastor Miranda. Brothers and sisters, that is the Gospel taught almost like a loaf of bread fresh from the oven—very simple, yet nourishing and delicious. These are the essential truths of the Gospel. In Christ there is power to heal, to transform lives, to turn darkness into light, to give hope where there is despair, and to bring provision where there is drought and need.

How many believe that this afternoon? Amen. We believe in that Christ, the same One who walked on the water. The same One who silenced the storm, the One who healed the woman with the flow of blood, the One who set the demon-possessed man free, is here among us this afternoon. And many of us can say, ‘He did it for me too,’ and He can do it for you this afternoon.

And before concluding, I want to make an appeal, and I want us to spend a moment in deep meditation and communion with the Lord. On occasions like this, it is important to provide anyone here who has not had the opportunity to encounter Jesus Christ with the opportunity to take that step of faith. We would be more than irresponsible if we did not take advantage of this moment to invite someone—it may be a young person, an elderly person, or a child up in the balcony or somewhere here. Perhaps God has touched you this afternoon through the praise, through the sermon, or through the direct work of God in your spirit, and you feel that you want to take a step of faith and begin a personal relationship with Jesus, because that is very important—to say to the Lord, ‘Lord, come into my life. I want to become fully involved with You.’ If someone gets married, they do it publicly. If someone graduates, they do it publicly. If someone gets divorced, an announcement appears in a newspaper. If someone dies, they place an obituary there in the newspaper. And so it goes... The most important thing of all is when a person receives a new nature through Jesus Christ. That should not be left anonymous; rather, there should be a moment that marks what happened, that transaction that took place in the heart of a human being.

And I want to invite you this afternoon, if the Lord has spoken into your life and you want to say to the Lord, ‘Lord, I want You to do a transforming work in my life,’ I want to invite you to take a step of faith this afternoon and invite Jesus to enter your heart. We would like to celebrate with you, and I ask that if there is anyone here who wants to take that step, you raise your hand this afternoon and say to the Lord, ‘Lord, I receive You as my Savior.’ Is there anyone who wants to invite Jesus into their heart? Raise your hand if you have not done so before and want to do it now. Take a step of faith and surrender your life to the Lord.

Do you want to do it? Do you want to invite Jesus to enter your heart? You are already up there. I invite you to take that step. I know that someone will be like that woman with the flow of blood, who found faith where she had none, took a step, touched the edge of Jesus’ cloak, and was healed. God can do the same thing in your life. I want to invite you to take a step of faith. Is there anyone?

If you have not taken that step before and now want to take that step of faith, raise your hand. Is there anyone here this afternoon? I invite you. The Lord says, ‘I stand at the door and knock, and if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.’

I have always been struck by the greatest mystery of all: that the Creator of the universe would first humbly invite Himself into our lives. He could take our lives by force and say, ‘I am coming in and taking possession.’ That is what men do. But the Lord respects you too much to violate your freedom, and instead He says, ‘I would like to dine with you; I would like to enter your inner home and dwell with you.’

And the second thing is that the Creator of the universe, which contains the galaxies and everything that exists, can make Himself small enough to enter your life, enter your heart, and dwell there. That is a great mystery. God bless you, sister.

Is there anyone who wants to take that step of faith this afternoon and say to the Lord—amen—who wants to invite Jesus to enter their heart? I invite you to come forward. Sister, you would like to say a word, and we are going to do this briefly, sister.

Brothers and sisters, may the Lord bless you. I have already taken that step of faith and accepted the Lord into my life as my Lord and Savior. I want—I have several struggles in my life, and I have only come to ask Him once again to break my heart, remake it, and increase my faith. I have already accepted Him, but I need the prayers of all of you in order to keep moving forward, because I cannot face this struggle alone.

Amen, sister. The Lord hears your request. I know that being transparent requires courage, but we are family, and the Lord receives that, and your heart is broken before Him; that is where the blessing begins: when we humble ourselves before the Lord, when we are broken and transparent.

Perhaps there are other people here who need that touch from the Lord. We have proclaimed a Christ who sets people free and heals. If you have an urgent need like that, come here right now as well. We want to pray for you this afternoon, and we are going to bless you. Is there anyone who simply wants to say to Him, ‘Lord, I too have a need, and I need Your liberating touch this afternoon’? Come forward as well, and we will pray for you too and entrust you to the arms of the Lord, who wants to do a transforming work in your life.

Thank You, Lord Jesus. Thank You, Father. Thank You. Touch, touch lives, Lord. Touch lives. Thank You, Holy Spirit. You are here, You are here, Lord. You close what is excessively disordered and open what is stagnant, Lord. You open darkened hearts and closed minds, and You touch, Lord, what is not straight and straighten it. What is too exalted, You bring down. What is too depressed, You lift up, Lord. You are a God who sets everything in accordance with the life You have declared, with what You are: truth, justice, life, power, healing, Lord, abundance.

Look upon these lives, Father, in the name of Jesus: those who open their hearts to You for the first time, those who are reconciled with You, Father. Those who simply desperately want a touch like that received by the woman with the issue of blood. Lord Jesus, we now invoke Your healing power over Your people. I declare it in the name of Jesus. Grace. Grace. Grace. Thank You, in the name of Jesus. Healing, liberating grace, the Holy Spirit filling lives, Your water, Lord, flowing, cleansing, or removing every affliction of the spirit, the mind, and the emotions, Lord.

You are good, Jesus. You are good, and when You enter, it is to cleanse and heal, Lord. May it be so this afternoon over Your children. Oh, thank You, Jesus. We receive from You; we receive Your anointing, Father. Thank You. Receive it in the name... the anointing of God is here. I feel it at this moment, and God is healing lives and doing beautiful things. I declare it to be so. God is bringing new directions, new currents into your life. Thank You, Lord. Thank You, Lord. We receive it, Father. I receive my own portion as well, Lord. Breaking chains. Oh, hallelujah! Freeing thoughts, thank You, Lord. Oh, hallelujah!

We release a healing anointing over Your children, Father. Physical healing as well, Lord, right now. If there is sickness in your life, right now I declare healing. Claim it. Receive it. Make it your own. Say, ‘I am healed, I am healed in the name of Jesus,’ because the Lord has power. Just as He healed the woman with the issue of blood, in the name of Jesus, Father, I declare healing over Your people. We heal the bodies of Your children, Lord; we heal, we heal. We declare healing, the breaking of the devil’s power over lives. Where there is confusion and depression, we declare courage and joy. Hallelujah! The anointing of God, the anointing of God healing, setting free, reconciling. Forget the past, forget the wounds of the past, the failures of the past; today all things are made new. There is newness of life for you; in the name of Jesus, I declare it. Hallelujah! Thank You, Lord, for Your precious movement among us. Thank You, Lord. We worship You. We bless You. Hallelujah! Thank You, Lord. Thank You, Jesus. Receive it and say to Him, ‘Thank You, Christ. You have entered my life with renewed power, and I receive it, and today I declare myself free and stronger than ever to walk in victory.

I announce a new day in your life. I announce the visitation of the Lord in your life. Hallelujah! Thank You that we can celebrate before You like children, Lord, healthy children because we have a Father who loves and affirms us. Thank You, Lord. We bless You, God. Thank You, Jesus. Thank You, Jesus. Thank You, Lord. We worship You. It is the day of redemption, the day of healing. Amen. Amen.

Return to your seat, my brother, my sister. If you want to speak with one of us, with one of the ushers this afternoon, you may do so. We encourage you, if you need a Bible, to approach one of the ushers. Let us know, and we will get you a Bible. We encourage you to begin studying the word of the Lord, because there that healing becomes more and more firmly established, and the work God has done in your life is strengthened.