Levi Lusko - You Don't Have to Carry That Anymore

I’m going to say something, and I want you to hear it: the Holy Spirit is not the only spirit. That’s why 1 John says we must test every spirit and know whether they are of God or not. Not everything you hear is true. He said, «How do we know?» Well, it comes down to Jesus. Jesus is the focus: Jesus, Jesus, bodily come; Jesus, bodily crucified; Jesus, bodily resurrected and coming again. It comes down to that. If that’s not the essence, if that’s not the heart, it’s not the truth, it’s not the gospel. It’s seeking to distract you, it’s seeking to tie you, it’s seeking to weigh you down. It’ll sound great, it’ll sound wonderful. It’ll sound so freeing, and «I can just manifest things,» and «I can just"-you know what I mean? We have to test every spirit, for it’s not of God if it’s not focused on the truth about Jesus.

All right, if you have a Bible, Luke chapter 13. The question I wanted to begin with today is: have you ever felt the pain or the sorrow of someone walking out on you? If so, this message is for you. The title is «Be Right Back.» We’ve all said it, right? Like, have you ever been in a line, and you just needed to go to the bathroom, and you had to ask a stranger to hold your place in line? That’s a tough spot to be in. You almost hold your bladder as long as you can, and I always hope someone will ask me to hold their spot so I can say yes. It’s easier to ask them to return the favor, right? A little quid pro quo. «I’ll be right back. Just hold my spot.» We’ve all said it, but not everybody who says it means it, though.

Stephen King, one of the most famous writers, writes books that are horrific, tortured, gnarly, crazy. It’s interesting to know some of the things in his life that brought him to a place of having so many awful things to write. When he was 4 years old, his dad told his family, «I’m going out for cigarettes,» and like a scene stolen from a meme, he never came back. The trip to get those smokes ended up being Stephen-who was four years old at the time-never saw his father again. Scary. It’s disorienting to have someone you trusted abandon you. For someone to walk out on you, it’s a terrible feeling, even when it’s not real. Even when you know it’s not there, still, like your mind can play tricks on you.

I remember when I was a little kid. One of my core memories, I was talking to my dad about this last night. He took me on a trip, just him and I, to Washington, D.C., to see the sights. We got to see Abraham Lincoln, and we actually toured the White House. Back then, you could just book a tour and go take a tour of the White House. Amazing! I was like, «That’s amazing!» There was a little piece of trash on the ground-that’s White House trash! It was awesome! I loved the trip. It was so sweet of my dad to do this and take this time to invest in me.

And it went really well until the very end when we got to the airport. We had successfully returned the rental car and gotten to the airport, and we were about to go through security when my dad goes like this, and guess what? He didn’t have his wallet! He realized it was right where he always puts it-in the console of the car, right? 'Cause how many of you know, you don’t want to sit on that; it’s just bad for your sciatic nerve. So, he had pulled it out and put it in the cup holder, and that’s where it was.

Now, the problem was we had to take a shuttle from the rental car center, and my dad is known for a lot of things, but getting early to the airport is not one of them. So, we did not have a great deal of margin. I could see the wheels turning in his head as he sized up my tiny legs and the amount of time it would take him to sprint to the shuttle, wait for the bus, get on the bus, go to the place, get the wallet-hopefully that the car is not at, like, the car wash at this point-and then sprint back to the rental car, get on the shuttle, get back to the airport, and hopefully get through security in time to board our airplane home.

He looked at my little legs and said, «Stay right here.» He said, «Stay right here.» That’s what he said to me. He said, «I’ll be-» what did he say? «I’ll be right back.» My eyes were about this big, and I stayed right there for what felt like 11 years, which is approximately how long I had been on Earth at that point, right? But just standing in this airport, right? I mean, I was good for about 2 minutes, and then I started to panic, right? I started to get scared. I started to think, «What if he doesn’t come back? What will I do? What will my course of action be?»

«Home Alone» was just coming out at that time, so I knew I needed to start arming myself. Like, I needed to figure out what I could use. I wish I had grabbed that piece of trash from the White House; that would have been useful! Eventually, my dad did return. I was crying at that point, but holding it together, right? I had not reached out for assistance from an airport personnel. Right? It was a different era; I mean, it was pre-9/11, so you could just leave stuff. Security was a pretty chill affair. We made our flight. Amazingly! Come on, somebody. Miracles happen!

But now, I’m a little older, and I’ve been on the other side of it, right? So, I know that panic- the panic of a child. But now, I also know the panic of a father because recently I lost my son. Not proud to admit it. We were in a mall, and the girls were shopping, and I grew weary and said to my son, «Son, come with me!» Right? This was the greatest moment of having a son yet! It was like, «Come with me, boy! We’re leaving this establishment!» We went to find coffee, you know what I mean? It was like, «We’re going to find this coffee.» We found a coffee shop; it was wonderful. I had ordered the coffee on the app walking to the coffee shop, so I knew it was going to be ready momentarily.

As we got to this coffee shop, it was kind of crowded, and he was tired, so I said, «Bro, just rest. Sit on this little bench, and I’m going to go get the coffee right there.» I said, «I’ll be right back, but stay put.» Whether he heard me or he says he didn’t hear me, I got my coffee and came back, and there was no Lennox! I could have sworn I had a son sitting right there. I was cool for a minute. It’s like, «He’s got to be around here somewhere.» «Where could he be?»

And, with every passing moment, my heart rate got faster, and I started to feel that stress response. Now I’m like running quickly around the coffee shop, and I’m like, «What if I run outside?» and he’s not outside. I run back, I run around, I kick the bathroom doors open, and then I’m scrambling-like, I finally break down and go to the worker: «Have you seen a child?» The person at Starbucks is like, «What does he look like?» I’m like, «Cute and little!» What does it matter? Is there a child? She looks at me like I' m a bad dad. It’s exactly how I felt.

Then I had to do what no father wants to do: call Jenny. Oh, I would have walked over a thousand yards of Legos barefoot before I had to make that call! I called her and tried to sound calm as I said casually, «Have you seen Lennox? I can’t find him.» Just then, I’m running towards the store, and one of the sisters comes out of the store, and Lennox is right there with them, right? Lennox was right there with him. He had not heard what I said, apparently, and although it’s a point of contention to this day, I had been very clear. So, when he couldn’t see me, he thought, «I’ll go find my family,» and he went off to this other location. Man, the feeling of that hug! Oh, long hug! I’ll hug him right now for that moment, right? I’ll be right back; I’m going to go find him now. But I could…it’s still here for me. It’s not here; it’s like here, up in my throat.

In Luke chapter 13, we find Jesus teaching, verse 10, and one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. And behold, there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity 18 years and was bent over and could in no way raise herself up. But when Jesus saw her, he called her to him, and he said to her, «Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity.» He laid his hands on her, and immediately she was made straight and glorified God. But the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath.

In a case study on burying the lead, he’s frustrated about when this happened. He said to the crowd-it’s passive-aggressive-this is like when you are mad at your husband, so you say something to your kids: «Tell Dad to…» Right? It’s never a good plan. He said to the crowd, «There are six days on which men ought to work. Therefore, come and be healed on them and not on the Sabbath day.» The Lord answered him and said, «Hypocrite! Play- actor! You faker! Your heart’s phony! Does not each one of you, religious leaders on the Sabbath, loose his ox or donkey from the stall and lead it away to water it? So ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham whom Satan has bound-think of it! — what she’s had to go through for 18 years; should she not be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath?» When he had said these things, all his adversaries were put to shame, and all the multitude rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by him.

Lord, would you please minister to our hearts? Put your hands on us, God. We thank you for your heart. We thank you for your power. We thank you for your ways that are not our ways. We love you, Lord. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Would you thank God for his word and how powerful it is to steal your heart as we begin this new collection of messages that we’ve called «The Wonderful Cross.» The Wonderful Cross! Say that with me: «The Wonderful Cross.» Our goal is to leave no stone unturned when it comes to the healing waiting for us at will call. Have you ever had something at will call? You show up at an event; you don’t have a ticket, but you know someone left one for you. You have to walk up to that window and tell them your name and say, «Please give me what’s coming for me.»

Jesus, when he died on the cross, when he rose from the dead, and when he ascended to heaven, left a lot for you at will call. In fact, Isaiah 53:5 puts it this way: «He was wounded for our transgressions; he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon him, and by his stripes, we are…» say this loud, last word, out loud with me: «healed.» Healing from his stripes, forgiveness because of his bruises, peace because of his chastisement. God treated Jesus like we deserved to be treated, so he then could treat us like Jesus deserves to be treated. As one preacher put it, «God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us so that we in him could become the righteousness of God.»

Are there any grateful hearts today? Is there anybody who feels like saying, «I’m thankful for a crucified, buried, risen, exalted, ascended Lord who gave healing and peace for me! Not because of anything I did, not because I did one good deed or one nice thought, but it’s not…it’s not about a good deed. Now the angels get their wings. Wow. Hallelujah! That’s not salvation. I wasn’t good enough. I wasn’t nice enough. Gosh darn it, people don’t even like me! But because of a slaughtered Savior, I get set free! That doesn’t make any sense, but I’m really grateful about it. The Wonderful Cross! The Wonderful Cross! But I’m afraid that some of us have just stopped at forgiven. We’re like, „I’m not going to hell anymore!“ Yay for that! Now, to be clear, yay for that! That’s not all, though. He left more for you! Keep opening up. Keep pulling stuff out of that envelope. He’s got more in store for you.

The author of one hymn put it this way: „Oh, help me understand it! Help me to take it in! What it meant for thee, the Holy One, to take away our sin!“ I believe that in order for us to understand all that is for us in the cross, all that is for us in his wounds- that we get healed by his stripes, we get peace by his bruising-gosh, think of it! His body bruised that gives us forgiveness from our iniquities.

So, what we’re going to do is, through the weeks of the series, just ask the question: What happened to him, and what is the result for us? Seven messages starting today for seven places from his arrest moving forward. His body bled-his body bled. I can count, looking through the Gospels, from seven unique places, and through each of those places, I believe there is healing and freedom for us. We start today with his back because as he went through the process of his trials, the first time we know conclusively there was bleeding that took place from his body. And of course, at this point, he had already been mishandled, put in chains, punched, and he had already — goodness-he had already sweat great drops of blood in the Garden of Gethsemane.

As part of the torture before he was crucified, he was scourged. Isaiah references this specifically: his stripes, his stripes, his stripes because his back was whipped. The text in John 19:1 tells us, „So then Pilate took Jesus and scourged him.“ We know from the Roman Empire and how they approached whippings that there were different levels. If you were a Roman citizen or not, different whether you were beaten with rods or with straps that had nothing. But Jesus, not being a Roman citizen in any way-whether a Roman citizen who had become one or born one — had no Roman citizenship. So, he would have been given the full, worst treatment, the worst version of scourging.

This would be to say that the cat of nine tails weren’t just whips. It would be bad enough to be whipped with leather straps hanging down from a wooden handle, but to know that our Savior was whipped with a whip that had pieces of bone and pieces of sharp metal tied to the end of the whip. This was drawn across his back while he was tied up to a pillar or a post so that all of his back muscles would become tightened. Some think it was to where you were up on your tiptoes where every muscle remained tightened in order to stabilize yourself. Then, stripped naked, professional torturers were to take that whip across the back over and over again, from the shoulder, reaching to the front to the pectoral, around the side.

Ask a tattoo artist where’s the most painful place to receive a tattoo? It’s the back. It’s the ribs, it’s the sternum, it’s the chest, shoulders-excruciating! Excruciating! He says they were torn by scourges down to deep-seated veins and arteries; their intestines and organs were at times exposed to sight. It was enough to render people unconscious, sometimes even to kill people. The Jews had a rule-a rule — their law was no man could be whipped 40 times, which is why in 2 Corinthians 11, Paul says, „From the Jews, five times I received 40 minus one.“

Paul the Apostle! What would his back look like? Five different scourgings throughout his life that he received. Now, they weren’t all with the pieces of bone and metal and all the things because he was a Roman citizen, and the Jews had different manners. But you get the idea-well, Jesus wasn’t whipped by Jews; he was whipped by Romans, and the Romans did not have a rule about 39 lashes. Their rule was you could be whipped until the person whipping you got tired. Why would he go through this when he could have flexed, and the ropes tying him to the pillar would have popped off? Blinked and lightning bolts would have taken out the soldiers? The word and the legions of angels begging God to let them intervene would have come to his rescue.

You think it was chains or leather straps that kept him tied up? It was you and me on his mind, his great love and his desire for us to receive healing. Listen to me: he stayed bound so you could go free. So that, like he said to this woman, he could say to you, „Be thou loosed.“ In the Greek language, it’s the phrase of untying a shoe. This woman for 18 years was all tied up-bent out of shape. Her spine was curved in some unique way. We don’t know exactly how it happened, but somehow she ended up where her chest would have been parallel to the floor; that’s what the language suggests. Can you imagine it? Can you imagine 18 years?

You’ve never looked anyone in the eyes, and she still showed up at church! I’m in awe of people who can grieve but still worship on the Sabbath day! Jesus was in one of the synagogues teaching, and she found her way to the synagogue to worship. Every step painful, humiliating; she’s there to worship. She’s there to declare the goodness of God. How high could she raise her hands as she gathered together with God’s people to adore him? Jesus stopped what he was doing, which was teaching, to put both of his hands on her back and heal her. „Be untied! Be loosed!“ He wants the same for you; he wants the same for me. Why was his back whipped? Why were his hands tied high over his head? By his stripes, we who are bent over, stooped over, can be loosed. He speaks to you today: be thou loosed! Be set free! Be untied!

Now, I should probably preach a whole follow-up sermon on how bad of a leader the ruler of the synagogue is! Follow-up series to Wonderful Cross: The Terrible Leader, Part One! She’s busy glorifying God! Why did she receive a miracle, by the way? She showed up. She handled disappointment successfully for 18 years-18 years of „no,“ 18 years of silence, radio silence from heaven-but she kept praising! And one day, God saw fit to touch her with both of his hands-both hands of blessing. Come on, somebody! Who wants all of God’s hands on you?

That’s what God-I want all of your hands on me! I want all of your hands on our church! All of your hands on my children! There’s something so crooked in the human heart. That’s what he calls the man: hypocrite! He might as well have said you’re crooked; you’re not real! You care more for animals than people! How funny is it? We live in a time where you would be safer as a bald eagle baby or a grizzly baby than a human baby! This doesn’t make sense. More protection for baby wolves than baby people!

Six hundred thousand abortions done in our country every year. Jesus said, „You don’t care about this woman, but this morning, you made sure to untie your donkey and get it water!“ The interpretation of the law, on these leaders' part, so they could keep people under their control, was to legislate what it meant to take a day off. It became more work to take the day off because as long as they kept people confused and concerned, they could keep people thinking they needed to keep coming back to them for the answers. Jesus wasn’t about all that. He said, „You hypocrite! You care more for animals than you care for this woman! You untied your donkey this morning’cause he’s around it! Well, if we untie it, it’s okay! As long as we don’t carry the bucket of water to the animal!“ I’m chilling. I’m chilling. I’m chilling. That you don’t care that this woman has been set free!

Why is it so easy for me to see how bad of a leader he is? Because the sins we struggle with always look uglier on other people’s lives! Oh, hypocrisy is nauseating in you, in me! It’s justified always because, „You don’t know what I’ve been through!“ The crooked, we’re all bent over! There’s sort of a spiritual scoliosis. All we like sheep have gone astray; every one of us has turned off the straight and narrow path — the path God’s called us to. Every one of us has gone to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him that iniquity. The result of and the outcome of all that crookedness has been put on Jesus for our sake. God wants to straighten out the crooked places in our lives so we would be sincere and pure and not have the pretense and the phoniness and the self-interestedness. What could contribute to our kinks? Well, four things. Jot them down.

First is burdens. You carry a burden long enough; it’s easy to have good posture. Right away when you put a pack on, but man, you walk with a heavy pack long enough, right? I took a friend uphill skiing for the first time, and he started out so excited and pumped! I love you, but by the end, man, that guy was bowing down low! I told him, „He said, 'Why are we doing this again? '“ I said, „'Cause we don’t need a chairlift! Isn’t that great? We are the chairlift!“ We got to the top, and I said, „How’d you do?“ He said, „I just kept telling myself: 'I am the chairlift. I am the chairlift. I am the chairlift…' „Right? It’s a great feeling, but it’ll get you! You carry something heavy long enough; it’ll get you. Carry what? Levi sin? Sin gets heavy! The longer you stick with it, the longer it persists! Psalm 38: „For my iniquities have gone over my head; like a heavy burden, they are too heavy for me. My wounds, he says, are foul and festering because of my foolishness.“ It’s heavy to walk in sin-your conscience screaming out, you knowing better, right?

I think about for me when I started to dabble with drugs and drinking and pornography, having grown up in the church. I hadn’t made my own faith decision yet. I had too much of the truth in me to be happy in the world and too much of the world in me to be happy in the church. As a result, I was miserable everywhere and began to despair even of life. It was heavy! I couldn’t get- there’s not a brightness in my eyes, always having to cover your tracks, wondering if they’re going to find out. You can’t just trust people. It makes you miserable; it rots you away because of your own foolishness! Grief can cause you to be bent over too! It doesn’t have to, but it can.

Psalm 44: „Our soul is bowed down to the dust; our body clings to the ground.“ Grief- just, I mean, it’s a natural reaction! I’ve seen it in myself; I’ve seen it in others. When you receive news that could almost kill you, you can’t help but crumple to the ground! If you don’t let God heal you, you’ll stay down. Oh, you’ll eventually get up because you’ve got to go to work, and you’ve got to go through the motions, but you can get to a place where you just stoop down all the time.

Both of these things, the sin we experience and the suffering we face, if they persist long enough, lead to a sort of despair and depression. David said, „Why are you cast down, oh my soul? Why are you disquieted within me?“ And he gives himself his own solution: „Hope in God! For I will praise him for the help of his countenance! I want him to put both his hands on my burden and do what he did to Christian in „The Pilgrim’s Progress“ to cause it to be untied from my back!»

The second area that brings a kink to our spine and our spirit is attack: spiritual attack. This is warfare! Jesus says Satan has kept this woman bound, these 18 years! He said that she has dealt with this because of a spirit, quote, «of infirmity.» I’m going to say something, and I want you to hear it: the Holy Spirit is not the only spirit. That’s why 1 John says we must test every spirit and know whether they are of God or not! Not everything you hear is true! He said, «How do we know?» Well, it comes down to Jesus. Jesus is the focus: Jesus! Jesus, bodily come; Jesus, bodily crucified; Jesus, bodily resurrected and coming again. It comes down to that! If that’s not the essence, if that’s not the heart, it’s not the truth; it’s not the gospel! It’s seeking to distract you; it’s seeking to tie you; it’s seeking to weigh you down. It’ll sound great; it’ll sound wonderful! It’ll sound so freeing; «I can just manifest things!» I can just-you know what I mean? We have to test every spirit, for it’s not of God if it’s not focused on the truth about Jesus!

Didn’t Paul say in Galatians 3, «Oh foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified?» You see, they were being told, «Yeah, Jesus' stuff’s all great, but now we just need, you know, we need more of a mystical energy! We need something else,» and we’re like, «That sounds right.» Paul’s saying, «It’s not!» Paul is saying we don’t graduate past the gospel. The gospel is not the ABCs of Christianity; the gospel is the A to Z’s of Christianity! Jesus Christ is Christianity-it’s the whole story! The church has been through, ever since Jesus left, subjected to heresies and mistruths and half- truths and to new phenomena! We’ve got to start there, but now we really need to be enlightened, and whether it’s this or that or the other, we have to come to a place where we, like Paul, say, «But God forbid, Galatians 6:14, that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me and I to the world!»

We have a devil who has demons who knows that the cross is wonderful and wants to pull us away from it and wants to pull us to other things, wants to pull us to other forms of spirituality and other New Age beliefs. We have to have our rugged cross right there in the midst of our hearts so that we are not pulled away by a demon masquerading as an angel of light! Right? Because demons don’t carry pitchforks, and they’re not all about the pentagram. There’s a breed of them that are about all that; there are others who wear business suits! I mean, just there’s an attack!

What does Ephesians 6:12 say? We do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places! And so we know from Jesus' mouth: the reason she’s dealing with this is because of the devil! It’s attack! The attack wants to bow you over, and she’s a Christian. How do you know that? Jesus said so! He called her a daughter of Abraham! He was more than capable of calling someone a son of Satan when he needed to. Doesn’t the text of scripture tell us that only those who have faith are sons of Abraham? Galatians 3:7: «Only those who have faith are truly sons of Abraham!» We are sons of Abraham, the daughters of Abraham, if we put our faith in Jesus!

Okay! He didn’t flippantly throw that term around, and I don’t think it’s the faith that she had that came seeking a miracle. She didn’t know she was going to receive a miracle on this day! That’s why it’s so preposterous that the leader says, «Aren’t there six days of the week where you can come for a miracle?» She didn’t come for a miracle; she came to bring God glory even though he hadn’t given a miracle! She wasn’t about a blessing; she was about giving praise to God’cause he’s worthy. Even a woman of faith like that still had areas of her life that were strongholds of the enemy. That should chill you to the core because it means you can be set free, but also still have elements of sabotage. You can be brought out of Egypt but still have some Egypt in you- patterns and ways of thinking! Right? We can have ways that we end up bound where we aren’t able to move into the future God has for us because we haven’t properly dealt with the things in our past.

Now, to be clear, I do not believe this woman was possessed by a devil, and the scripture does not indicate Jesus cast a devil out of her. You will never see in scripture the teaching or idea that a Christian heading to heaven, filled with the Spirit, can be possessed by a devil. But a Christian can be oppressed by the devil and can have the devil messing with them, and you can have given ground up. I mean, we see — let’s do two different kinds of the spectrum here-ways that the enemy can get a stronghold in our lives that could cause us to be stooped over. Kyle, come up here real quick.

Do you have your phone on you? Yeah, bring it! Yeah, yeah, it’s good; no, it’s good! So, just be on your phone for a minute. Yeah, like you’re not being watched by a ton of people. Now get comfortable. You’re really scrolling. You’re deep in scroll-Jessica’s shopping; she’s not coming back for a while-you’re going to be about this for a while! You’re really into this; you’re really enjoying it! Yeah, come on, really, truly! There we go, there we go, there we go, there we go! It’s called text neck! The human head weighs 12 pounds on average, but Kyle’s doesn’t right now to his neck. Right now, his head weighs 60 pounds!

Thank you, Kyle! You’re out of the sermon! Let’s hear it for Kyle! Okay, so let me show you the data. This is on the screen! This is what happens when your head is tilted over. For every 15 additional degrees-everyone’s getting real good posture right now; you should see yourselves, like, «Oh, this is how I always sit in church!» For every additional 15° your head tilts, your neck weighs twice as much as it did before. By 60°, which is how we see again-it’s so easy to see everybody else doing this; look at that guy, he’s got terrible posture! You know what I’m saying? By you get to the 60° mark, your head weighs to your neck four bowling balls! Thirty-two percent of young people say they have neck pain! Interesting! And I really do believe in physical ways and in every way: the devil does want to get us bending over! That’s why scripture is always talking about lifting your eyes up, up to the hills, up to the heavens!

Consider- I mean, you can’t look at the moon and the stars and the clouds without lifting your head up, and the devil wants us down, pulled down! «What are they doing?» «What do they have?» «My life, like…» and it leads to pain and misery. There’s a new phenomenon-this is going to be a little disturbing, so let me just disclaim what you’re about to see-it’s shocking and awful! There’s a drug on the street in every single state in the United States called Tran. It’s a mixture of animal sedative and cocaine, or animal sedative and heroin, animal sedative and fentanyl, animal sedative and other tranquilizers that has a stupefying effect on the body. It often leads to necrosis of tissue, and if untreated, eventually requires amputation of limbs. One of the unique phenomena of those who are on it is that from the waist up, it causes your body to sort of go into a bit of paralysis, and so, in cities from coast to coast in our country, it’s not uncommon to see people who cannot move anything from the waist up walking around! In case you think I’m exaggerating, this is a Twitter/X video shot that was posted in inner-city Philadelphia. The devil is a thief and a killer, a murderer from the beginning! He comes promising life, wholeness, peace, and freedom, euphoria, or even just escape from the pain, but in the end, all of his paths lead to death!

Attack! Thirdly, we can end up bowed over, our back needing his healing because of cowardice that we’ve exhibited. I’m not talking about you; I’m talking about me now. I’m often a coward! I know the right thing to say; I don’t say it! I had a situation two months ago where I knew I was supposed to share the gospel with someone, but I didn’t because I was afraid! I believe there is healing in Jesus' hands for the cowardice that we’ve exhibited, for the ways that we’ve been afraid!

What would it cost me to speak up? What would it cost me to do what I know the Spirit is urging me to do? I’m so grateful that Jesus doesn’t pile shame on us when we are cowards! There’s hope for the coward! I was reading in our crown of the year, «Fit for the Fight!» Actually, it’s called «Just This Just In.» I was reading in «Fit for the Fight» this year about how Paul was so brazen at the shores of the boat when he was standing at the boat with the Ephesian elders, weeping, like, «Don’t go, Paul, if you go, you’ll die!» What did he say? «Don’t cry for me!» And I just flashed back to when he was holding the coats while Stephen was being put to death! That he could go from «Hold the coats» to «Hold your tears!» There’s hope for the coward in the hands of Jesus!

Anybody with me today? I was thinking about Peter-talk about a turncoat! The guy went from denying he even knew Jesus to «Flip my cross upside down because I’m not worthy to die like Jesus did!» Praise God that you can go from turncoat to turning the cross, and all it takes is the hand of Jesus saying, «Be free! Be loosed! You can stand tall!» Lastly, what can cause us to be bowed over and have kinks in our spine and our spirit? Knives that we get in the back! If we live long enough-people who betray us, gossip about us, abandon us, cheat on us, lie to us, steal from us, exclude us intentionally to hurt us! For every one of us who have felt the sting of someone letting us down, if you live long enough on this Earth, you start to feel a little bit like a pin cushion! And you’ve done your fair share of stabbing, too! Both alike are heavy to carry, and they can tie you up! Burdens; attack; cowardice; knives! These are the things that Jesus wants to put his hands on today, Church! Why? Back to Isaiah: by his wounds we are healed! By his stripes, we go free!

Do you hear him? Your Savior is whispering to you today! He’s speaking to your back. You know what he’s saying? «Be right, be right back!» There’s this scene I love in «Jurassic Park,» the first one, where the two little children have been in this car that the T-Rex attacks. They’re in there with a lawyer named Gennaro, and the moment he feels like his life’s in danger, what does he do? He bails, goes to the bathroom, and gets eaten by the T-Rex off the toilet. But the kids have been left alone now by the man who was supposed to protect them, and that car ends up getting knocked off the cliff, and they end up in a tree. Who comes to them? Grant! Grant comes to them!

Alan Grant comes down to them, climbing down the tree, comes into the car, and the little girl is traumatized. She keeps saying over and over again, «He left us! He left us! He left us!» The one who was supposed to protect me left me! The one who should have looked after me took my innocence from me! He left us! He left us! Stuck in trauma! Alan grabs her, and he says, «But that’s not what I’m going to do.» The Holy Spirit’s here! When Jesus ascended, he told his disciples, «I’ll be right back!» We didn’t go out for milk or cigarettes and then bail on us! He went so we could send the Holy Spirit; the Holy Spirit could be in upon and with every one of us!

Right there, in whatever you’re dealing with on your back that causes you to bend over-your addiction, your proclivities, your pain, your grief, your suffering-the Spirit is speaking to you, and he’s saying to your back, «Well, be right! Be right! Be well! Be loosed!» He, with his healing hands, is saying to you right now, «Be right back! Be right back!» You see, it’s not just poetic language. «Come to me, ye who are heavy laden and weary, and you will find rest for your souls.» It’s not hyperbole! He’s saying, «Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart.» He really does have rest for his souls, friends! He really has healing for what has caused you to be bent over! I believe God does want to touch some bodies! I believe God wants to touch some emotions! I believe God wants to touch some minds and some memories! God wants to touch you today with his healing power that can touch every part of your life because he’s never going to leave you and never going to forsake you!

I wonder if you feel bent over today, but you want to stand up into healing and new life in Jesus’s hands. Would you stand up to your feet? Would you say, «I need my back touched. I need my back touched from the trauma. I need my back touched from the addiction. I need my back touched from the pain.» Come on, someone-if you’re around someone standing, put your hand on them! Begin to speak Jesus over them! Touch them and ask God that if in his mercy, he would heal their back that’s physically hurting, or their mind, or their heart! Thank you, God, that in heaven, you will eventually heal every wrong! We will get brand new bodies; death does not get the end in our future!

There’s full healing! But right now, God, we want to walk in power! We want to walk in what your stripes have brought us! Thank you, Jesus! Thank you, Lord! Thank you, God! If you’re here today and you’ve never received Jesus as Savior, while we’re praying, with heads bowed and eyes closed, you would say, «I don’t have the peace and promise of heaven, but I want it! I want to become a Christian today!» What does that mean? It means you trust in him; you believe in him-not what you do but what he did-and that can happen right now!

So, while we’re praying, if that’s the cry of your heart for freedom, for salvation, for God to make you new, I want to lead you in a prayer. The church family’s going to pray it with us! Say this to God: «Say, dear Lord, I know I’m a sinner, but I ask you to forgive me. Thank you for Jesus, his death on the cross, his resurrection from the dead! Thank you for new life! I give you mine!» If that’s you I’m describing and you would say, «I want to be free today! I want to be set free from sin!»

That’s- that’s just happened! I believe it just happened! It’s hard to truly understand that, but I believe that if that’s you and you prayed that prayer, every location-church, online-I’m going to count to three. I want you to put your hands up, just saying, «This is real! I’m a child of God today! One, two, three! Put your hands up! Put your hands up! God bless you! God bless you! Salvation in the house today! God bless you! Yeah, come on! We’re encouraging you!