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  DOES GOD HAVE TO HIDE HIS MIRACLES FROM YOU？
  by Carter Conlon
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Summary: This sermon emphasizes the power of God to bring forth miracles
and transformation in our lives, challenging us to trust in His voice
and believe that He can bring healing, restoration, and victory even in
the midst of despair and hopelessness. It highlights the importance of
faith, obedience, and the supernatural work of God in raising us up from
our struggles and limitations to walk in newness of life.

Topics: "Faith in God's Power", "Transformation through Obedience"
Scripture References: Mark 5:22, John 11:25, Isaiah 40:31, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Ephesians 3:20

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DESCRIPTION
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This sermon emphasizes the power of God to bring forth miracles and
transformation in our lives, challenging us to trust in His voice and
believe that He can bring healing, restoration, and victory even in the
midst of despair and hopelessness. It highlights the importance of
faith, obedience, and the supernatural work of God in raising us up from
our struggles and limitations to walk in newness of life.

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CONTENT
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What a wonderful thing it is in this generation to be in the presence of
God and to have hearts that are just filled with faith with the
knowledge that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
Thank God that if you need a victory tonight, I believe that if you will
reach out with all of your heart, this is a moment that God can do
something for you through His Son, Jesus Christ, that you never ever
thought could be done in your lifetime. He is still a God of miracles.

I'd like you to hear a testimony tonight before I speak, and it started
with a prayer request three years ago that was submitted to the TSC
Worldwide Prayer Meeting when we were still in the sanctuary of Times
Square Church in New York City. It should be up on the screen. I think
it's up on the screen or will be shortly coming up.

It was a prayer request submitted by a pastor. His name is Ross Kibodo.
He was pastoring a church in, there it is, and he took a picture of it
on his table, his living room table when it came up, and he said, my
wife is 28 years old and has chronic Lyme disease.

She's not been able to walk for six months. We pastor a church in
Missouri, is that right? Mississippi, I was close, all right, and have
two young children. So he took a picture of the prayer request when it
came up on the screen, and that's a little over three years ago, and now
Ross is part of our staff here at Summit International School of
Ministry, and he and his wife Sarah tonight want to share just a little
bit of their journey since the night that Ross submitted that prayer
request in this prayer meeting to Times Square Church.

So Ross, come and tell us the story and introduce your wife Sarah.
Praise God. So from the time that my wife was young, and she'll testify
herself, she had this incredible desire in her heart, just a burning
desire to be a godly wife and a godly mother.

Her paramount desire in life was just to be able to raise a family in
the fear and admonition of the Lord. In 2017, we actually became
pastors. We entered into full-time ministry, but around that same time,
my wife, because of chronic Lyme disease and brainstem compression,
actually became very ill.

She became so ill that that year she actually completely lost her
ability to walk and wound up in a wheelchair. And her dreams of being a
godly wife, her dreams of being involved in ministry and serving people,
her dreams of being a godly mother was seemingly threatened. It felt as
though she was never going to have the opportunity to be who it is that
she felt deep in her heart God was calling her to be.

And so these questions just began to swirl and formulate in her mind,
will I ever be what God has called me to be? But over these past few
years, I have had the incredible privilege of watching God meet with her
in the midst of this difficulty, in the midst of this darkness, in the
midst of all of these questions that have pervaded her heart and her
mind. And I have witnessed God lift her heart above the shadows. I've
witnessed God give her strength when I knew that her physical body could
not go on any longer.

I've watched as God delivered her and saved her from depression and
anxiety and this sense of hopelessness. I've been able to be a first-
hand witness of God meeting with someone in the midst of a very
difficult place and giving them the courage and the confidence and the
faith to just move forward. And I am so happy, I'm so privileged, and
I'm so honored that my wife is actually here with me tonight and she's
actually going to share with you some of the things that God spoke to
her and how that he helped her to just walk through these difficult
seasons.

And I believe her testimony of how God has sustained her and helped her
in the midst of this difficulty is going to be an incredible blessing to
you tonight. And so I just want to welcome my wife, Sarah Beth. Praise
God, he's been so good.

I'm so thankful for the opportunity to stand before y'all. Thank you,
Pastor Carter and Dr. Conlin, for this opportunity to testify of what
God's done for us in our life. He's been so good.

So as my husband mentioned, from the time I can remember growing up,
that desire was in my heart to be a mom and a wife and to serve in
ministry alongside my husband. And even as a teenager, just God put the
desire in my heart to be a pastor's wife. And so in my early 20s, that
became reality for me.

My husband and I, Ross, we got married and we have two beautiful
daughters, Gracelyn and Kentlee. And soon after that, 2017, we began to
pastor a church. And not long after being married and starting to pastor
the church, I became very ill.

And we had no idea what was wrong with me. We had seen doctors, they
could give no answer, they could give no diagnosis, and they could give
no treatment plan to me. They just would send me home and say, drink
some water, get hydrated, you're stressed out.

But we knew that something was really wrong. And I would later find out
that I was suffering from Lyme disease and brain stem compression. And
it just continued to progress.

And by the end of 2017, my illness had gotten so bad, I completely lost
my ability to walk. So then we started trying to find doctors and
visiting specialists that could help me. We desperately just needed an
answer for treatment so that I could get better.

And we saw countless doctors. And the last doctor we saw looked at me at
the end of treatment, after I had gotten so much worse, and said, I'm
sorry, we've tried everything, and we don't know what else to do for
you. And we were shattered.

We had tried everything, we had gone all places, all over the country,
and no one could help me. And it shattered our hopes and our dreams. And
this time I was completely bent over.

So I lost my ability to walk. My legs were locked at a 90 degree angle,
contractured. And at this point, my chest was in my lap.

I could no longer even sit up on my own strength. And it was
devastating. I had become so sick.

I couldn't be a helpmate to my husband. I couldn't take care of our
children. I could not even properly take care of myself.

And there were weeks where I just couldn't even get out of bed. I
couldn't do anything. I was in so much pain.

My body was ravaged. My mind was tormented, because I couldn't do what I
was called to do. And I knew the desire God had put in my heart.

And worst of all was just the sense of hopelessness it gave me in my
heart that there was such darkness that overwhelmed me. And the season
of my life that was supposed to be like the greatest rejoicing, it
brought the greatest despair. I couldn't do what I was called to do.

And I'd waited all my life for this. This is the desire I knew the Lord
put in my heart. And the mental and emotional pain of it all, I'd gotten
so severe at this point, it was like, Lord, I don't even know how to
live.

I don't know how to go on. I thought that, Lord, if if you, if this is
how I'm going to live, and I can't be who I know you called me to be,
then what's the point of being alive? It was a despairing time full of
anxiety and fear. And the enemy really used that.

And he tormented my mind with that. But God began to speak to me through
that. He came to me at the weakest moments of my life when all I could
do was lay in bed and cry.

When I could say, God, why? Why are you doing this to me? But he was
leading me. He wasn't doing it to me to be, to be tormenting or ugly. He
was teaching me to trust him.

He was teaching me that he was all that I need. He began to show his
grace and his love to me and carry me through with his grace and his
love. And he began to speak promises to my heart.

He began to assure me that I wasn't alone and that he was with me. He
saw me and my suffering was not in vain. It wasn't for nothing.

It was suffering and it was bad, but it had a purpose and he had a plan
in it. And there were so many people in that time that, there were
several people in that time that had encouraged me with the verse and it
was the same verse that multiple people had given me. They were, they
didn't know each other.

We met at separate times in our life, but the word was, um, it was a
verse, Psalms 118, 17, that you shall not die, but live to declare the
works of the Lord. And these are words we really held on to because we
had nothing else to hold on to, but just the grace of God that carried
us through and these words that the Lord would lead people to encourage
us with. And there were so many times where I thought I wouldn't live
and that I couldn't be useful to God and that, you know, but he was
saying otherwise.

He wasn't saying that to me. He wasn't casting me down. He didn't leave
me in a pit of despair.

He came to me and through that, it was those saying, you know, I can use
you through this and I can deliver you out from it. And the sickness
doesn't define who you are. It doesn't define who I've called you to be.

It doesn't define what you can do for me. And that it just, whether
you're in that wheelchair or not, I can use you, you know, it's that
wheelchair doesn't bound you for what I'm called, what you're called to
do. And even though I felt that way, I felt like I was in a place where
I couldn't do what I wanted to do and be who I wanted to be and who I
knew the Lord had put in my heart, but he led me.

And as hard as it was to believe, we believed and the Lord continued to
speak into my life and just encouraged me with those things. And then
last year we came to Summit. My husband, he did, he was doing the
sabbatical program and it really didn't make sense for us to come
because I was so sick and we were moving hours away from where, from
everything we knew.

And he was going to be in class, but we knew the Lord had called us to
come and we came and the first semester here was very hard. I was very
sick. Most of the time was spent in bed from October to about January,
but the Lord just came to me in that time and he began to fill me and
speak to me.

And I, there were multiple times where I just felt my spirit out of
nowhere that whenever you get out of that wheelchair, it's going to be
like you were never there. And he would just quietly speak to me and
speak it to my heart. And I held on to that.

And I didn't know how it was going to happen. I didn't know, you know,
what it was going to look like, but he gave me that to hold on to. And I
just began to cling to that.

Even though I could see no way out, there was no way. Every treatment
I've tried had failed. And I knew that the only way was the Lord.

Like we didn't know what direction to go or what to do. And then at the
beginning of this year, Pastor Carter gave us a word. And it was that by
the end of the year, you're going to be out of that wheelchair.

And I think multiple times when we spoke, he would say that to me and we
clung to it. And we believe that it seems so impossible, but the Lord
gave us the faith to believe. And we began to see this wonderful doctor.

We heard about this wonderful doctor in Brooklyn out of nowhere, Dr.
Tabic. And he has done incredible things. He has helped me in so many
ways.

And he diagnosed me immediately and began to treat me. And we began to
see great results. But I was still in the wheelchair.

I had gone to him for a couple months and began to get some movement in
my legs, but they were still locked at 90 degrees and I couldn't really
do much. I was still in a wheelchair, but we had seen so much progress
from seeing him. And then on July 22nd, the Lord said it was time.

The Lord spoke. It was the Lord's time. And I was sitting in my
apartment all alone.

My husband had gone to work and brought the children to Sky Camp. And I
was feeling horrible that day. I was feeling absolutely horrible.

And he came into the room before he left and he said, why don't you just
go sit outside for a little bit? It's nice. And so I did that. I took my
devotion with me and I sat outside.

And I was feeling horrible, but I'm like, Lord, I'm just going to sit
out here and enjoy this. It's beautiful in July. It's not where I come
from in July.

You don't sit outside and enjoy the weather. And so I did that. I did my
devotional.

I just was talking with the Lord. And then I came inside and I was going
to go lay back down. And I was looking around.

I was like, you know, this house needs clean. So I'm just going to do
some housework, even though I feel horrible. So I went into the kitchen.

I turned to worship music on my phone and I just started to pray and
praise the Lord as I was cleaning, as I usually do. And as I begin to
pray and just praise the Lord, not even praying for healing, I was just
praying for my family, really. And I began to feel in my spirit, stand
up and keep praying.

And I just almost started arguing with the Lord. Like, Lord, you see how
weak I am today. That day I felt so sick.

I was so weak. I couldn't even push myself up on my walker to even
practice standing up like I was supposed to be doing. And I was like,
Lord, I don't know.

I'm so weak today. But he just kept saying, stand up and keep praying.
And I just felt it so strongly in my heart.

And so with all the strength that I had, I pulled myself up on the edge
of the counter on the sink and I just began to worship him and praise
him and walk around the counter like that, like holding myself up on the
edge of it. And I was like, you know, after a few minutes of that, I
said, Lord, no, you told me to stand up and keep praying. You didn't
tell me to stand up and hold on to something.

You didn't tell me to do it in my own strength or you told me to stand
up and keep praying. So I walked to the edge of the counter and I said,
okay, Lord, I'm going to lift my hands up and I'm here by myself. If I
get hurt, it's on you, Lord, even though I knew he was going to give me
the strength.

If he's calling you to do that, he's going to give you what you need,
you know? And so I did. I walked to the edge of the counter. I lifted my
hands and started walking and praying and praising the Lord, just
weeping and crying and praising him.

And he gave me the strength to keep walking. I had no strength that day.
And I don't even really, I told my husband, I don't know how long I did
that for because his presence was so sweet and he was just carrying me.

I just walked around my house just praising the Lord and I couldn't
quit. And when I finally came to, I'm like, oh my gosh, the Lord just
healed me in my home. I'm all alone.

The Lord just came and touched me and he healed me and I'm still
walking. So when I finally came to and like could get a grasp of myself,
I called my husband who's at work and he's at the office. I was just
like hysterically weeping and crying and praying.

He was like, what is wrong? I was like, you need to come home right now.
You need to get home. And I was like, okay, I'm walking, I'm walking.

He was like, you're what? And he hung up and like, he walked into the
door. He walked into the door and he stood there for probably 30 minutes
in shock. And all I could do was walk around the house and pray and
praise the Lord with my hands up in the air.

Praise God. He still works miracles. He still works miracles.

It's been almost three months now and I'm still walking. He's continued
to strengthen my legs. My first time in almost three and a half years.

And there's just three things that I've really learned through this
entire time is that God is with you. And as a Christian, suffering is
never meaningless. It's never for nothing.

There's purpose in the pain. There's a meaning for it. And we might not
see it till we get to heaven.

You might be able to see it once, whatever you come through, what you're
going through, what you've come through it, but there is a reason and a
meaning for it. God doesn't just put you through suffering for nothing.
And that God is able to do the miraculous.

And I can stand here and testify that he is because he's done it me. I
thought that I was going to just be in the wheelchair forever and live
sick the rest of my life, but God spoke and said otherwise. And I would
never have thought that I'd be here tonight, being able to stand before
y'all and just testify what mighty works the Lord has done in my life.

It's been so much more than healing my legs y'all. And so there's a
verse that I wanted to leave y'all with a verse and a poem and then I'll
pray. The beginning of the year, I was just doing a devotional and this
verse was in it and it just really jumped out to me.

And every single day since then, it's just been such an encouragement to
me. And it is 1 Peter 5, 7. After you have suffered a little while, the
God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ,
will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. And he's
encouraged me so much through that verse of walking through suffering
and now coming out and seeing him bring restoration and do these things
in our family, in our hearts, and in our lives.

And then there's this one poem that has spoke so much to my heart that I
read out of a book from Elizabeth Elliott that's called Suffering is
Never for Nothing. I read this at probably the worst part of my illness
and this poem still to this day, it speaks so much to me. And it's, my
life is but a weaving between the Lord and me.

I do not choose the colors, he worketh steadily. Oft times he weaveth
sorrow and I am foolish pride. Forget to see that he sees the upper and
I see the underside.

Not until the limb is silent and the shuttle cease to fly, shall God
unroll the canvas and explain the reason why. The darkest threads are as
needful in the weaver's skillful hand as the threads of gold and silver
in the pattern he has planned. Everything that happens fits into a
pattern for good.

Suffering is never for nothing. And I just want to pray for those who
need encouragement tonight. For those who need just help from God to be
delivered and just for to be used for his glory, to bring a testimony
out of their suffering.

And for those that just need to have the courage to stand up and keep
going because they know they're called and they know the Lord's spoken
things to them, but they have no strength to get up. God will give it to
you. If he's speaking to you right now and he's telling you to get up,
he's telling you to do it, be obedient.

He will give you the strength because it's in our weakness that his
strength is made perfect. So I just want to pray, Lord, we come to you
tonight. Father, we thank you Lord that you never leave us, Lord.

And I just pray for all of those who are discouraged and need
encouragement, Lord God. For all of those who need deliverance, no
matter what the situation is, it doesn't have to be sickness, God.
Whatever it is, Lord God, that you would raise them up, that you would
strengthen them, Lord, that they would be pulled from a pit of despair,
God.

That they would be pulled from the pit, Lord, and that you would set
their feet on a solid rock, Lord, that you would confirm and restore and
establish them, Lord God, that they would bring glory to your name, Lord
God, that you would give them a mighty testimony of who you are, Lord,
and what you've done in their life, and they can speak that into others,
Lord God. They can testify, Lord God, that they thought they were alone,
but they were never alone. They thought the suffering would never end,
but there came an end, and there came victory, Lord God, and that they
would tread over every evil thought.

They would tread over every lie and deception of the enemy, as you've
given me and our family the ability to do, God. Every lie and deception
the enemy meant to bring harm into our life, you've given us victory to
tread upon it and victory in your victory, Jesus. So I just pray, Lord
God, for those, Lord, just bring encouragement.

Encourage their hearts, and for those that need the courage to stand up,
Lord, they have nothing. They have no strength in their own, Lord God.
Would you strengthen them by your spirit, God? Would you speak to them
and give them the courage to stand and walk with you, one step at a
time.

They don't have to start by running a race, Lord God, but just give them
the ability, Lord, the courage and the strength to stand up and take one
more step towards you, Lord God, and what you've called them to do. I
thank you, Lord. I thank you, Lord, that you didn't leave us, Lord, and
that you didn't leave me in that pit, Lord, but you brought us out, Lord
God, and you are victorious over it all.

We thank you, Lord God. We praise you, Lord, for you are wonderful. Have
your way tonight, Jesus.

What an encouragement for those tonight listening to this prayer
meeting, whether you're here physically or you're with us online
tonight, that you need the courage to believe that the same Jesus Christ
that gave Sarah the strength to stand up on legs that hadn't been used
for three and a half years and were literally atrophied at a 90-degree
angle without any muscle tone left in them and gave her the ability to
walk around her apartment praising God. A modern-day miracle, and we
just are so, so thankful for what he has done for Sarah and for what
he's going to be able to do for you. At the end of the service tonight,
after we go off the air, I told Sarah, I said, the day you walk, this
was my promise to you, the day you walk, we're going to do a Jericho
march around the church.

Now, the Jericho march is in honor of Joshua and the children of Israel
when they came into the Promised Land, and there was a stronghold called
Jericho. The very first thing before they inherited the place God had
prepared for them that had to be taken down was this stronghold. They
didn't have the strength to defeat it, but they had a battle plan.

The battle plan was just for seven days just walk around and say
nothing, walk around, just obey me, just walk around, and the worshipers
went first, blowing the trumpets, and it must have been quite a sight to
the enemies that were inside this stronghold. But the Lord gave them an
instruction. He said, at the end of seven days, I want you to walk
around seven times, and when I tell you, you give a shout.

And the scripture says when they gave a shout, the walls came down. And
so we're going to do that tonight after the service, and we're going to
ask you to do that in your home too as well. You might have just a
little room you're in tonight, but you walk around your little room, and
whatever it is, whatever walls are in that place of your promise,
whatever strongholds that are too difficult for you to defeat, you
simply walk around your kitchen, and at the appropriate time, you give
God a shout.

And the Lord says, I'm going to bring your walls down, and I'm going to
give you victories that you can't win for yourself in your own strength
that can only be won by the power, and the goodness, and the grace of
Almighty God. You know, we're folks, we're living in the very last days.
We're living in the days before Christ's return, and I do believe that
God is going to show himself powerful again on behalf of those whose
hearts are turned towards him.

And Sarah, by her own testimony, didn't have a great amount of faith. I
love the fact that in your story, you said, if I fall down and get hurt,
this is on you. I love that.

And the fact that the Lord is not looking for us to have mountains of
faith, but a mustard seed of faith, just a little bit, God, I'll do it.
Although in the natural, this is insane. If I stand up, I'm going to end
up on the floor for the rest of the day, and it's not going to bring
honor to you.

And the courage to let go of the counter, after just the miracle of even
standing up, the courage to let go, and to begin to raise your hands and
praise God. I love, I love, I love, I love, I love that fact. I was
going to share a thought.

I'm going to share very quickly this evening before we go to communion.
But the thought that I, the original title I had for this was, does God
have to take you out of the house to do a miracle? But then I thought
about Ross and the testimony, how he had to go to the office so that God
could do a miracle. And I thought, well, I won't call it that.

So I'm going to call it, does God have to hide his miracles from you? So
Father, I just want to thank you. I want to thank you, Lord, for this
wonderful testimony tonight. I want to thank you for the great, great
privilege, Lord, of returning to prayer.

Lord, you started, the church was birthed in prayer on this earth, and
you told your own people to tarry, to wait, to wait until I've given you
the power to stand up and do what you're called to do. And so, Lord,
thank you once again, as we see the darkness coming in and encroaching
literally on every, every facet of our society, there seems to be this
flood of evil. But once again, you're speaking to your church, and
you're telling us, tarry and wait upon me until I give you the power to
stand.

For when the enemy comes in like a flood, the spirit of the Lord will
raise up a standard against it. So God, here we are. And we do,
according to your word, yield our bodies as a living sacrifice for you,
for your purposes, which you tell us is only a reasonable service.

God, forgive us for trying to do this in our own strength. Forgive us,
Lord, for thinking we were smart enough to build a kingdom we can't even
see. Forgive us, Lord, for thinking that just by rationalization and
argument, somehow we could advance the kingdom of God farther than we
already have in our own efforts.

God Almighty, forgive us for the pride of wanting to be accepted by a
society that rejected you. Lord, we just ask you, God, for the courage
and the humility to just let you be God inside of each one of our lives.
And as you raised Sarah up, and you raised her up by your word, as you
raised her up, God, raise us up.

Raise me up. Raise everyone in this sanctuary up. Those that are
listening tonight, God, raise us up in this last generation to be a
testimony that will bring honor and glory to your name.

God Almighty, we put ourselves into your hands, Lord, and we trust Jesus
Christ as you trusted your Father would raise you from the dead on the
third day. Your word tells us that the same Spirit that raised you from
the dead will also quicken our mortal bodies. And so, God, we need
quickening.

We admit it, Lord. We confess it tonight, God. We need the quickening of
your Holy Spirit in order to be the people we're called to be.

You told us we're a city set upon a hill that cannot be hidden. You told
us that we're lights that shine in the firmament of heaven to give
direction to those who sit in darkness. You told us, Lord, that we're
the lanterns that are to be filled with oil to point the way to the
bridegroom in this last hour of time.

So, God, give us the strength that we now need. Every last one of us,
Lord, we bend our hearts before you, God. We will not steal ourselves in
pride.

We won't mock you. We won't laugh at your power. God Almighty, we
recognize our need of you, and we ask you to do in us what only you can
do.

Oh, Jesus Christ, Son of God, come and be glorified again. Before you
return physically to this earth, before you come and take your church
home, Lord Jesus, be glorified one more time, one more time on the
earth, oh God. Let it be known that you are God, and we ask it in your
precious name.

Amen. I'll try to make this quick tonight, and then we're going to go to
the communion table. And so, for those that are at home, take an
opportunity when you can get the time to get some crackers and some
juice, and then you can join with us and celebrate the victory of Christ
on the cross with us.

Now, Jesus is traveling. Mark chapter 5 and verse 4. In his journey, in
verse 22, it says, And behold, one of the rulers of the synagogue came,
Jairus by name. And when he saw him, he fell at his feet and begged him
earnestly, saying, My little daughter lies at the point of death.

Come and lay your hands on her that she may be healed, and she will
live. So Jesus went out, and a great multitude followed him and thronged
him. Now, in between this and where I'm now going to in verse 35, there
was another interaction that happened with a young lady that had a
physical problem.

Jesus met her and healed her. In verse 35 now, it says, While he was
still speaking, some came from the ruler of the synagogue's house, who
said, Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher any further? Now,
there are voices coming to some tonight that are listening to this
prayer service online, and these voices are saying, Your hope is dead.

Your future is dead. Your marriage is dead. Your hope of ever being free
from addiction is dead.

Your hope of ever escaping the imprint, perhaps, that pornography has
brought into your mind and into your character is dead. The list goes on
and on. Why trouble the master any further? Why trouble the teacher any
further? You always will have to break through those voices if you're
going to receive the miracle of God.

It would have been so easy for Sarah just to lean on the last doctor's
report that told her, There's nothing more we can do for you. Why
trouble the teacher any further in this thing? Now, as soon as Jesus
heard the word that was spoken, he said to the ruler of the synagogue,
Do not be afraid. Only believe.

Now, you can imagine you've just been told that that which you love the
most, perhaps, in life, that which you had put your greatest
expectations on and your heart is set for, is dead. Now, suddenly, the
voice of God comes and overrides these other voices that say, Don't
waste your time bothering the teacher any further. And the voice of
Jesus rises up and says, Do not be afraid.

Only believe. And this is what I feel that God's put on my heart for you
tonight that are listening online. Do not be afraid of whatever report
has come your way or whoever has told you that there's no hope for your
future, whether it's somebody close to you, whether it's somebody far
from you.

The voice of God rises above all these other voices. You remember, he is
the voice that rides above the storm. He has the power to cancel your
storm.

He has the power to lift you up above everything that would swallow you,
as Sarah said tonight, and bring you into a place of despair and
depression. Do not be afraid. Only believe.

I remember the first time I met Sarah and Ross. They came to a
fellowship that we had with the sabbatical students at that time. And I
remember there was almost like a heat rose in my spirit.

I looked at this precious young lady, not knowing her full story, and
the thought came into my heart, This girl does not belong in this
wheelchair. This is not her future. Now, I don't, I didn't know her
medical prognosis.

I didn't know what the doctors had said about her. It doesn't matter
when God speaks what anybody else has said. I remember looking at Sarah
and I said, You don't belong in this wheelchair.

You don't belong in this wheelchair. And this year you're going to get
out of this wheelchair. And, you know, somebody said to me later on, You
think you should have said that? And I said, Of course, if the Holy
Spirit is moving upon you to say something, say it.

Say it. God is still a God of miracles and God moves upon. It's not
wishful thinking when the Holy Spirit moves upon you.

You don't belong there. It was the Spirit of God, not just in me, but in
others, that looked at this young girl and said, This is not your
future. You don't belong in this chair.

God has something else for your life. And I was bold enough to say that
this year you're getting out of the chair. And when you do, we're going
to do a Jericho march in the chapel here at our Bible school, which
we're going to do at the end of the service tonight.

We're going to walk around this sanctuary, not seven times. We'll
probably just do it once or twice. Sarah is actually going to lead us in
the Jericho march.

We're going to finish our march at the altar, and then we're going to
give a shout like they did as they entered the promised land. We're
going to give a shout for you tonight. We're going to give a shout for
you and your struggle, you and your battle, you who have been led to
believe that something that has come and encroached on your freedom has
got the right to your future.

But I'm going to say to you, like I said to Sarah, this is not your
future. God has something for you that is beyond your addiction. It's
beyond your self-loathing.

It's far beyond any words that anybody at any time has ever spoken over
your life. God's word has the power to create a universe. God can raise
you up.

God can change you. He can set you free. And Jesus Christ can use your
life for his glory.

And he said to the ruler, don't be afraid, only believe. And he
permitted no one to follow him except Peter, James, and John, the
brother of James. And he came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue
and saw tumult, and those who wept and wailed loudly.

And there's no shortage of those. You know, the people tonight listening
to me online, and there's no shortage of people weeping and wailing over
you. Maybe it's your mother that says, oh, I'd hoped for so much more in
my son or my daughter.

I'd hoped they hadn't turned out like this. Maybe it's a friend. Maybe
it's a husband or wife or a coworker.

Who knows who it is, but somebody along the line is weeping over you and
what you've become and how it seems like your future is lost and you're
doomed to be this thing that you are for the rest of your days. And then
suddenly into your situation comes Jesus. Don't you love it? The
simplicity of it all.

Jesus, Jesus, in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God,
and the word was God. Without him was not anything made that was made.
And the word became flesh, and we saw him.

We beheld his glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth. And suddenly, suddenly the one who was with the Father in the
beginning, through whom all things were created, the one who has the
power with a spoken word to create a universe comes walking in the door.
And you would think that everybody in the room would be on their faces.

God has come. Oh, thank you, Lord. God has come.

Oh, thank you, God. The word has come to us that has the power to create
and recreate and set free and give life where life is not any longer.
And when he said to them, why do you make this commotion and weep? The
child is not dead, but sleeping.

Now, the original definition of the word sleeping means the child is
just laying down to rest. And you know, the people of that time should
have known this Scripture. It was not something that was strange to them
or was hidden.

For example, at the end of the book of Daniel, the Lord says to Daniel,
go your way till the end, for you shall rest and will arise to your
inheritance at the end of days. John chapter 4, Jesus himself in verse
25 to 29 says, Most assuredly I say to you, the hour is coming, and now
is when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who
hear will live. For the Father has life in himself, and he has granted
the Son to have life in himself, and has given him authority to execute
judgment also because he is the Son of Man.

Do not marvel at this, for the hour is coming in which all who are in
the graves will hear his voice. All, A-L-L, who are in the graves will
hear his voice. Not dead, just sleeping, just set apart, just waiting
for the moment.

The voice of the Son of God will call them back into life again. And
come forth, and those who have done good to the resurrection of life,
and those who have done evil to the resurrection of condemnation. And
John the Beloved in the book of Revelation chapter 20 and verse 12 says,
I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and the books were
opened.

And another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead
were judged according to their works, by the things which were written
in the books. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, and death and
Hades delivered up the dead who were in them, and they were judged each
one according to their works.

And so when Jesus walks into the room, he says this, you know, because
there's a sense in the hearts of these people that the death is final,
that this is it, it's over, there's no future, there's nothing else. And
Jesus said, no, she's just reserved to the day that she hears my voice.
She's not dead, she's just sleeping.

We are eternal, whether you like it or not tonight, you're an eternal
being, everyone here. You will be raised up by the voice of God one day,
and you'll stand before God to be ushered into the kingdom of heaven for
eternity, or the alternative is you'll be cast away from God if you've
not received Christ as your Savior for all of eternity. And so he was
showing the people in the room that I have the power of life, in me is
life, and nothing is lost when I'm at the center of the situation.

Now what did the people do when they heard these words? Verse 40 says
they ridiculed him, they laughed, they scorned. How many of us are like
that? When God comes to us, or as he did with Sarah, she could have
laughed, she could have ridiculed, and say, oh God, Jesus, don't be
ridiculous. You know I can't walk, the doctors have said I can't walk,
you know my legs are atrophied, you know that they're seized at a 90
degree angle, you know that I don't have the power to get out of this
chair.

She could have laughed, she could have ridiculed, but instead she made
the choice to trust that the voice she was hearing was the voice of the
Son of God, and grabbed hold of the kitchen counter and pulled herself
up out of a wheelchair. And just as the scripture says, immediately her
legs and ankle bones were given strength. It's amazing when God does a
miracle how he chooses to do it.

And Sarah chose not to ridicule him, but to believe him. But they
ridiculed him, so what did he do? He put them all outside, isn't that
amazing? You know, people who ridicule God, and laugh at his power, find
themselves outside of the miracle working power of God. It's really that
simple.

Relegated to arguments, relegated to sorrow, relegated to weeping,
relegated to all the reasons and excuses, why things can't happen, and
how everything has changed, and well that was for then, but this is for
now, and God did that then, but God doesn't do that now, and they end up
outside of the miracle working power of God. When he had put them all
outside, he took the father and mother of the child, and those who were
with him, and entered where the child was lying. And he took the child
by the hand and said to her, Talithikumi, which is translated, little
girl, I say to you, arise.

And immediately the girl arose and walked. She didn't just rise up and
kind of, you know, get propped up in a 90 degree angle in the bed, or a
45 degree angle. She got up.

She obviously had been very sick before she died. She obviously probably
not had anything to eat, or couldn't drink, or whatever the situation
was, and died. Now, immediately she arose and walked, for she was 12
years of age, and they were overcome with great amazement.

But he commanded them strictly that no one should know it. I want you to
just think about that for a moment. Jesus just raised the girl from the
dead.

She's up out of bed, or deathbed, and she's walking, and he says, now I
command you, don't tell the people outside what you just saw. I want you
to think about that. I want you to think about the power, or the
penalty, may I put it that way, of those who choose to ridicule the
power of God.

They ridicule the presence of God. They ridicule, if God chooses to act
outside their thinking, they can't receive it, and all they can do is
ridicule it, and so they end up outside. So you can just see, I could
just, I wasn't there obviously, but in my mind always works this way, I
can just see everybody's outside the house, and out comes the mom and
the dad, and the disciples, and this little girl, and she's walking, and
they say, how did that happen? What happened? And they go, can't tell
you.

I'm sorry, we can't tell you. We were commanded not to tell you. So they
never know.

They never knew. And then the last thing Jesus did, is he commanded them
strictly, no one should know it, and said that something should be given
her to eat. I just love the practicality of the Son of God.

Kids are always hungry. Now obviously, on her deathbed, she couldn't
probably eat or drink in the last part of her life. But you see, when
somebody's hungry, what's the first sign that you're well? Is your
hunger returns.

And so the very first thing that happens to this girl, is she's hungry,
because she's not just been raised up, she's been made completely whole,
by the words of God. And she has a, she's just hungry. And he says, give
her something to eat.

I thank God for, with all of my heart, that I don't think, we didn't
have to be put outside the house tonight, to hear about a miracle. That
we actually got to hear this. We actually got to hear that today, Jesus
Christ is still speaking to people in their pain, giving them the
strength to rise up, and praise him, and still telling people that they
can still walk.

And so tonight, no matter what anybody has said about you, and if he has
to put them all out, if he has to put every voice that ridicules you out
of wherever you are at present, God will do that. Because only one voice
matters. The ridiculing voices don't matter.

All they can do is take away your heart of faith. But he'll put all
those voices away from you. And if you will let him tonight, he will
push those other voices to the side, actually outside of your room,
outside of your heart, outside of your house.

And only his voice now matters. If he tells you you can walk, you can
walk. If he tells you you can be free, you can be free.

If he tells you that you're going to have a new life, you're going to
have a new life. If he tells you your marriage is going to be healed,
it's going to be healed. If he says I'm going to give you a new mind,
that's exactly what you're going to get.

A new heart, you're going to get a new heart. A new spirit, you're going
to have a new spirit. A new pathway, God's going to give you a new
pathway.

If he says I'm going to heal the wounds that are in your heart, that
have left you feeling like you're never going to be able to love, or
trust, or live again, he will heal you just the way he said he's going
to heal you. He'll give you a new heart, a new mind, a new spirit, a new
soul, a new future. That is the promise of God for you tonight.

And so I'm challenging those that are listening to this prayer service
tonight all over the world, in over 200 countries. Whatever your
situation, I want you to hear the words of the Lord Jesus Christ to you
tonight. My son, my daughter, I want you to get up and walk.

I want you to walk out of your captivity. I want you to walk away from
your despair. I want you to walk out of everything that would try to
haunt you, or hold you back, or cause you to believe that you don't have
a future.

And I want you to walk towards my voice. I have the power to give you
life. I have the power to give you strength.

I have the power to give you a new journey. I have the power to triumph
over your enemies. I have the power to bring down the walls of every
enemy that has entrenched itself in that place of promise that I've
given to you.

All I ask you to do is trust me. And when I speak, move towards what I
speak to your heart. Praise be to God.

The kingdom of God has always been a supernatural kingdom. The real
kingdom of God is a supernatural kingdom. Jesus Christ calls the weak,
and the addicted, and the foolish, and the despised, and the
marginalized.

And he gives us strength. He gives us wisdom. He cleanses us.

He calls us his own, and sets us in a place where our lives bear witness
to his glory. This is the kingdom of God. This is what God's going to do
in this generation.

I happen to believe in my heart that one last time, one last generation,
the Lord Jesus is going to take the least of us, the ones that nobody
ever thought could be used for his glory, and by his grace, like he did
with Sarah, he's going to suddenly say, stand up and start praising me.
Stand up and start giving me glory. Stand up and start, stop singing the
blues and start singing the songs of Zion, the songs of victory.

And you watch what I will do for you in your life in the days ahead.
Hallelujah. Hallelujah.

When the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will raise
up a standard against it, a wall, a fighting force, a testimony, a
light, living water, a city set upon a hill that cannot be hidden. You
and me, walking together, the lame, the addicted, the afflicted, the
blind, the struggling, the ones who the enemy tried to tell you don't
have a future, we are the ones. There'll be others, yes, as well, but
many of us, we are the ones that God will choose to use in this
generation.

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Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/mgGcJwB-lhw.mp4
Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/carter-conlon/does-god-have-to-hide-his-miracles-from-you/
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