John Hagee - I Believe in Miracles (NEW)
Remember, and write it down in stone, our God is a miracle-working God. In the Genesis of time, he breathed into a handful of dirt and man became a living soul. You are created in the image of God and that's a miracle. It's a miracle that no doctor should be able to abort in the womb of the mother. He separated light from darkness. He is the light of the world. He flung the glittering stars against the velvet of the night to sparkle as celestial evangelists, proclaiming that there is an awesome God that created this. Man certainly could not have done it. A speck of his glory escaped his fingertips, as he set the blazing sun aflame with flames that leaped 300 miles from the surface of the sun.
The Bible says, "The heavens declare the glory of God". They speak to every man on the face of the earth that there is a power that did this that's greater than the power of humanity. He holds the seven seas in the palms of his hand. Think about that the next time you look at the ocean: that God Almighty holds the seven seas of the world like you could a drop in your hand. He is the shepherd of the stars. He calls them by names. He is the God of might and miracles. He is the God of grace and glory. He is the God of power and patience. He's the God that brings hope and healing. He brings life and liberty. He is greater than the greatest. He is higher than the highest. He is wiser than the wisest. He breathes life into the dead womb of Sarah at 90 years of age. And God gave her power with the relationship of a hundred-year-old man, Abraham, and they birthed a child. That's power! Hallelujah to the Lamb of God!
God parted the Red Sea for Moses and the children of Israel to walk across on dry ground. That was a miracle. He drowned Pharaoh's army and turned them to fish food, and said, "Your enemies you will see no more". Some of you in this audience need to say that prayer, "My enemies, I will see no more". He rained manna from the heavens for 40 years for the children of Israel where there was not one sick nor feeble among them. He gave them clouds by day to cool them from the sun in the desert. And at night when it became cold, he gave them a fire by night. He caused water to gush out of a rock, sufficient enough to give water for over a million people. He held the sun still for Joshua, as Israel fought to defeat their enemies. He muzzled the mouths of lions when Daniel was in the lion's den. He walked into a fiery furnace with the three Hebrew children, and they walked out without the smell of smoke upon them. When our God sees his children in trouble, he doesn't send someone: he shows up himself. Give him praise.
His son, Jesus Christ, was born in the womb of a virgin. Defying medical science, became the healing Jesus. And that healing Jesus, right now, is walking the aisles of the Cornerstone Church in San Antonio. He is the great physician! Nothing is impossible when the Lord shows up! Put your hands together and welcome king Jesus into the house! Jesus healed the lame. He healed the deaf. He healed the blind. He healed with one touch. He healed with two touches. He did with spittle in his hand. Why? Because the Jewish people believed that there was healing power in the spittle of the first-born son in any family. Jesus was sending the message to his audience, "I am the first-born Son of God the Father. I am the Waymaker. I am the Healer". Hallelujah.
Jesus healed blood diseases. That signified leprosy, which was considered a death sentence when Jesus was on earth. He healed one on one. He healed in mass. He healed long distance. There is no distance in prayer. There is no distance in prayer. For those of you who are watching on television today, and I pray for you over this network, that prayer can come right into your house and into your home, into your bedroom, as if Jesus Christ was standing right by your bed. Distance is no limitation to God. It's no limitation to God. Peter walked down the street and the sick were healed that fell in his shadow. That's supernatural power.
Jesus said to his church at the end of his ministry, "Greater things than these shall you do". Greater things than these shall you do. He had only raised the dead and healed everything that came to him. But he looked at those who would follow after him and said, "This power is in you if you exercise your faith". Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. What he did by the Sea of Galilee, he can do today. "These signs shall follow them that believe," he said, "In my name, they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover". And they shall recover. Our God is still Jehovah Rophe, the God who heals all of our diseases. His son, Jesus Christ, is the great physician. He is the balm of Gilead. He is the conqueror of death, hell and the grave. Give him glorious praise, for he is worthy of our praise.
I hold in my hand the most powerful force that God has ever given to man. This is the word of the living God. Show me a people who have a Bible that's falling apart and I'll show you a people whose life is not. This is a powerful force. It's sharper than any two-edged sword. This is the bread of life. This is living water. This word spoken under the anointing of the Holy Spirit makes every demon in hell tremble with fear. Secondly, you don't have to understand miracles to have one. Say that with me. You don't have to understand miracles to have one. I don't understand how a black cow eats green grass and gives white milk and produces yellow butter. But it happens every day.
Can you explain electricity? Nobody really can. But I'm not going to turn off the lights until I do understand it. I'm going to turn the light on so I might not stumble over the furniture. Would you rather sit in darkness until you understand it? Do you understand how food is converted into energy when you eat it? No one really does, but I'm not going to stop eating until I understand all of that. Point: are you will to experience only what your mind can understand? If you do, you are limiting an awesome God into absolutely nothing. Do you need a miracle? When you want what you've never had, you've got to do what you've never done. Have faith in God. Nothing is impossible.
If that was the only verse in the Bible, it would make Christianity the most exciting adventure on the earth. Nothing is impossible with God. Faith starts out before you know how it's going to turn out. The Bible says, "Faith is the victory that overcomes the world". The Bible says, "Without faith, it is impossible to please God". It says, "By faith, Noah built an ark to save his household". "By faith, Abraham looked for a city whose builder and maker was God". By faith, David picked up five smooth stones and he destroyed Goliath. By faith, we walk, not by sight. "Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God". Fact: until the person seeking healing, it is certain that it is God's will to heal them, you're trying to reap a harvest where no seed has been planted. Have faith in God. Give the Lord praise in the house.
Everything God offers you in his word comes with the currency of faith. Faith is heaven's currency. There are 8,810 promises in the Bible that God promises you. This is a book of promise. Man has a two-fold nature. He is physical and he's spiritual. Both natures have been equally addressed in the scripture. The God of the natural is the God of the supernatural. You be natural. You let God be supernatural. Sometimes people get so heavenly minded they're no earthly good. The God who enforces the law of gravity, the law of physics, enforces the laws of the supernatural. Your physical body is exposed to disease. And your soul is corrupted by sin. The cross made it possible for your sins to be forgiven and for your body to be healed.
David writes again in Psalm 103, "Bless the Lord, o my soul: and forget not his benefits: who forgives all of your iniquities," that's sin, "And heals all your diseases". That's healing. Notice that the connection is made between the spiritual and the physical. Notice that all sin is first forgiven, and then all diseases are then healed, not some, all. Say that word with me. All. Isaiah 53 says, "Surely he hath borne our grief, carried our sorrows, and with his stripes we are healed". Look at the words "Borne" and "carried". Say that with me. Borne and carried. They denote more than sympathy. They represent actual substitution, the absolute removal of a thing being born. Jesus Christ has borne our sins. He has carried our sicknesses away. He is our burden bearer. He is God's scapegoat at Calvary. When he said, "It is finished," death died. Our sicknesses and disease died.
In Matthew 8:16, the Bible says: and he healed all that were sick, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying, "He has taken our infirmities and bore our sicknesses". Mark 16 says, "And these signs shall follow them that believe: in my name, they shall cast out demons". Now let me tell you, that is not a popular message in America. But I assure you America is undergoing a demonic attack from coast to coast. Demonology is becoming a Hollywood theme. And the church of Jesus Christ needs to take a stand against that. "And these signs shall follow them believe: in my name they shall cast out demons: they shall speak with new tongues... And if they lay hands on the sick, they shall recover". Mark doesn't say, "These signs shall follow them that are religious". Religion does nothing.
"These signs shall follow them that are church members". It doesn't say that. It doesn't say, "These signs shall follow the scholars". The requirement is "These signs shall follow those that believe". Do you believe? Do you believe in Jesus Christ? Faith is contagious. Faith is transferable. When you lay your hands on the sick, God's healing power is exploding, when you do it God's way. Some people wonder why they can't have faith for healing. They feed their bodies three hot meals a day and they give it one cold snack a week at church. What if you spun that around, you only ate one time a week? We'd be a lot littler than we are. James 5, "Is any sick among you? Let them call for the elders of the church".
And we're going to do that this morning. "And let them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord Jesus. And", listen, "And the prayer of faith shall save the sick and the Lord shall raise them up. And if they have committed any sin, God will forgive it". Note again the relationship between sin being forgiven and bodies being healed. Notice also to whom the power is committed. Not the apostles who were passing away, but to church leaders. Why is that important? Because there are people who are preaching today that the day of miracles ended when the last apostle died. That's not so. Biblically, the gift of healing was passed to the leaders of the church.
"Let them call for the elders of the church. They shall anoint them with oil, and the prayer of faith shall save the sick. And the Lord will raise them up". That means that there is enough healing power in this church, based upon the fact we are doing exactly what God presented as the same power that Peter had when he walked down the street. When God says, "Nothing is impossible to you," it means nothing is impossible to you. You can go home today well, healed, charged with the power and the presence of God. Give him praise in the house.
I love the verse in 3 John 2, "Beloved, I pray above all things that you may prosper", that's financial prosperity, "And be in good health even as your soul prospers". Finally, as a voice that God has been speaking 20 centuries, let us hear the words of Hebrews 13 that says, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever". What he did in Jerusalem, healing the sick: what he did at Capernaum, what he did by the Sea of Galilee, he can do it today. This is an echo of the voice of Jesus that said, "Lo, I am with you always even to the ends of the earth". Christ has never withdrawn his presence. His presence is in this building right now. His love has no measure and it knows no boundary. His power to save can reach from the balconies of heaven into this church right now and into the home where you're listening. He has power to deliver. If this is true, the power to heal has never been withdrawn from the earth. He is the same, the same, the same yesterday, today and forever! Give him praise in the house!
The Word of God is the source of divine healing. Listen closely. Proverbs 3, "My son, forget not my law". That would be the Word of God. This is not a recommendation. This is a law. "For length of days, and long life shall it add to you. It shall be health to your navel". The navel is the source of life in your mother's body. "And marrow to your bones". Marrow in your bones is where the red blood cells in your body are reconstituted. What he's saying there is that when you read this, it's better than going to a health clinic. God instantly starts doing things in your physical body to heal you. You cannot look in opposite directions at the same time. Choose life. Choose faith. Choose to be healed and do so now.
You can't look at faith in doubt. You've got to look at faith and accept faith. Miracles are the only thing that can happen when you do. These six things are the Bible conditions for healing. One, confession of your sin. Paul said, "Those who take of the communion unworthily," that would be a sin, "Would be sick and some would die". Understand that in the church at Corinth, they were getting drunk at communion. And brother, Paul cleaned their clock for doing that. They repented and came back into the fold. Psalm 103 says, "Blessed the Lord, o my soul, and forget not all of his benefits: who forgives all of my iniquities (sin) and who heals all of my diseases".
The Bible gives nine ways for you to invite sickness into your body. Each one of these words is worthy of a 30-minute sermon. Resentment, bitterness, unforgiveness, rebellion against spiritual authority, lying, tale bearing, accusing the brethren, being a critical spirit, murmuring and complaining. I'm going to do a commentary on this with a sidebar. Murmuring and complaining, it's just a word until you know where this came from out of the Old Testament. Israel was murmuring and complaining against God. God was feeding them. God was sending a cloud by day. God was giving them everything they needed and it wasn't good enough. So God sent snakes to the camp. The ground was covered with them. Only the people who were complaining did the snakes bite. That's one way to have a house cleaning pretty quick.
Now, let's just at Cornerstone right now, the floor is covered with rattlesnakes from wall to wall, from front to back. And all you can hear is... If you haven't been complaining this week, you have no problem. But if you've been whining and complaining this week, you're lunch. You're lunch. Think about it. God never changes. Don't complain about the problem. Take the problem and give it to the Lord and let him solve it for you!
Secondly, believe that it's God's will to heal you. The Bible says, "Beloved, I wish above all things that you prosper and be in good health even as your soul prospers".
Thirdly, the healing power of God is activated by the Word of God. Psalm 107, "He sent his word and he healed them". Say that with me. "He sent his word and he healed them". Proverbs 4, "The word of the Lord is life to those who find them and health to all of their flesh". A sick soul will produce a sick body. The Proverbs 14, "A sound heart is the life of the flesh. But envy, jealousy and wrath are rottenness to the bones".
Four, you cannot earn your healing. Your healing was paid for at the cross. It was paid for at Calvary. Calvary was the place of exchange. Jesus took my poverty and gave me his wealth. Jesus took my sickness and gave me divine healing. Jesus took my guilt and took forgiveness. Jesus took my rejection and gave me acceptance. He took my death and gave me everlasting life. He took my shame and gave me sonship. That's what you get when you come to the cross. Nowhere else in the world is that available.
Five, you must act upon your faith. Faith moves first, and then God moves in response to faith. Jesus asked the woman who touched him, "Who touched me"? Because he was in a crowd. The woman touched him who reached out and took that tzitzit.
Six, recognize that healing comes on the wings of the Holy Spirit. Father God wills it. Jesus, the Son paid for it at the cross. And the Holy Spirit brings it. Listen to this verse. It's very important and it'll touch every life here and every life watching. Romans 8:11, "And if the spirit of him," meaning the Holy Spirit, "Who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who lives in you". It means when you as a righteous person die and you have the Holy Spirit in you, when you die, the Holy Spirit is still going to be a part of you. And you will be raptured because of the Holy Spirit anointing that's in your body!
Don't reject the presence of the Holy Spirit. Whenever the Lord shows up, give him praise, give him glory. Because it is in the spirit of praise and worship that the Holy Spirit abides. His power is released. It's released and miracles begin to happen. Now, we're ready to release God's healing power. I want you, one, just to stand to your feet. And I want you to invite the Holy Spirit here. And I want you to give the Lord praise for what he's going to do.
Heavenly Father, we worship you now in spirit and in truth. We release the anointing of the Holy Spirit on this audience. We ask you, Father God, that we today will give you praise, glory and honor for what you are about to do in this congregation. You're going to liberate people. You're going to heal. You're going to bring joy to the broken hearts. You're going to bring light to those that walk in darkness.
Now I want you to give the Lord a shout of praise for the victory that we're about to experience. Bless the Lord. Amen.