This sermon emphasizes the importance of surrendering our bodies to the Lord, understanding that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit and members of Christ. It addresses the balanced view of healing in the Bible, highlighting that while healing is possible, it is not guaranteed for all believers, and sometimes God's grace is sufficient in sickness. The focus is on glorifying God in our bodies, whether through healing or through enduring sickness for His greater purpose.

I want to begin with a verse in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. We've been trying to understand God's ways. We saw the importance of humility, seeking to understand how Jesus was tempted like us and never sinned, that we can walk the same way, and how God gives us in the measure in which we give to him. If you get less, it's because you give God less. Jesus once used the expression of, in a parable, he spoke about those who are rich towards God. It's a beautiful expression in Luke's Gospel chapter 12, rich towards God. If somebody were to examine your life, every area of your life, in terms of your time, energy, money, etc., would they say that you are rich towards God, or would they say you're rich towards yourself and your family, but stingy towards God? Many believers, even who believe in victory over sin and have overcome many sins, are not rich towards God. There's a stinginess in their attitude towards God, and that's why their lives are spiritually so poverty-stricken. God wants us to be rich spiritually, but if you want to be rich spiritually, you have to learn to be rich towards God. Think of that. 1 Thessalonians 5, we read, verse 23, May the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely, and may your spirit, soul, and body be preserved complete without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he who calls you, he will bring it to pass. God wants our spirit and our soul and our body to be preserved complete without blame till the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is a trinity, three persons and one God. God is in the spirit world, so we can't understand that with our human understanding how three persons can be one, because whenever we speak of three persons, we think of three bodies, but God is a spirit, and in the spirit world, three persons can be one. I often tell people, if you're God, you say you can't understand, some people say we can't understand that. I say if you worship a God whom you can understand, that God must be a human being only. Dogs can understand dogs, dogs cannot understand human beings, and a human being can understand another human being. If you think you can understand all about God, your God is not the true God. The Trinity itself is one of the clearest proofs to me, the fact that I cannot grasp it fully is one of the clearest proofs that that is the true God. If you could explain God fully, that would not be the true God at all. Just like I said, a dog can only explain another dog, not human beings, and so when God made man, he made us not as three persons, but as three parts, but one person, that is spirit, soul, and body. And though when we are born again, he begins the work in our spirit. You know, the Old Testament tabernacle was a picture of the human body, and if you study the Old Testament tabernacle, God began by telling, you know, if you were drawing a plan for a building, explaining a building, you'd first draw the compound wall, and then the outer, you know, periphery of the building, and then the rooms, etc. That's how anybody would go about drawing a diagram of a building, and humanly speaking, if you were giving the pattern of the tabernacle, you would first speak about the dimensions of the outer court, and then the dimensions of the tent, but God did not do that. God's ways are not our ways. You know, he first started with the ark in the most holy place. Imagine, when you're constructing a house, and the first thing you talk about is the sofa in the sitting room. Are you crazy or what? Is that, are you, but that's how God does it, because he was saying that it's that innermost part from where I have to begin the work, and that ark in the most holy place was a picture of Christ dwelling in our spirit, and that is where God's work begins. In these little things in the Old Testament, if you read carefully and you observe, that's why I always tell people, read the Bible slowly. It's better that the Bible goes through you once in your lifetime, than you go through the Bible fifty times in your lifetime. I'm not in any desire to get into the Guinness Book of Records as to how many times I went through the Bible. I want to go make sure every verse in the Bible goes through me once in my life, and for that I have to read slowly. And you would see some of these things that I tell you, you would have discovered yourself if you read a little slowly, and you're not in a rush. So God begins in our spirit, and then from there he wants to, that spirit can affect our mind and the way we think. He wants to renew our way of thinking, that is our soul. He wants to influence our emotions, which are also a part of our soul, so that we can control our anger, and we can control discouragement, and really be overcomers in our emotions, and be full of joy all the time. And then, from there, he wants to affect our body too. Though the full redemption of our body, we'll have to wait until Christ comes again. And for that matter, we will be completely like Christ in our spirit also, only when he comes again. But there's a progression. It says here God wants to sanctify us entirely, our spirit, soul, and body. So I want to say a few words about the body, because we cannot believe that God is not interested in our body. And just like in the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, and in many other doctrines, Christians tend to go to this extreme or that extreme. In the body also, we have extremes of teaching in Christendom. Some, even though they don't say it, say God never heals anybody. You got to go to doctors, that's the only hope for you. God doesn't, is not in the business of healing the sick. And then there are others who are at the other extreme, who say you'll never get sick, God will heal everything. And they're living in a world of delusion, because in their churches there are plenty, as many people sick as in those other churches where they don't believe in healing at all. Anybody who's got his eyes open can see that. So we have extremes of teaching in every area. We have extremes of teaching in the Holy Spirit, we have extremes of teaching in the matter of healing, we have extremes of teaching in every single area. So I want to show you what scripture teaches, to have a balanced understanding of God's will for our physical body. Again, remember we were speaking about how in the Old Covenant they were occupied with the things of earth. All the promises, if you read Deuteronomy 28, there were promises like, your wife will never have a miscarriage. There are promises like that in the Old Testament. And if you see, let me show you some things of the Old Covenant. In the Old Covenant there were promises like this, Exodus and chapter 15 and verse 26. Exodus 15, 26, if you give earnest heed to the voice of the Lord and do what's right in his sight and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I put on the Egyptians for I the Lord am your healer. Very clear word. I will not put upon you the diseases I put upon the Egyptians, I the Lord am your healer. In Exodus chapter 23, we read and verse 25, you shall serve the Lord your God. He will bless your food, your bread and your water. I will remove sickness from your midst. No one will miscarry or be barren in your land. No woman will be without children. No woman will have a miscarriage. And I will fulfill the number of your days. These are promises of God. And turn to Deuteronomy and chapter 28. And there we read Deuteronomy chapter 28, verse 4, blessed shall be the offspring of your body. And that refers to God's blessing upon the children. And verse 11, the Lord will make you abound in prosperity and in the offspring of your body and in the offspring of your beast and the produce of your ground and so on. There are many promises like that in the Old Testament, how God would bless, physically bless with healing. We read that when the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness, snake, they were bitten by snakes, they were instantly healed by looking at the brazen serpent. But we must read all of Scripture. If you read the whole Scripture, you'll be balanced. One of the greatest prophets in the Old Testament was Elisha. Elijah was a mighty prophet, but Elisha had double the anointing of Elijah. And if you compare the miracles that Elijah did and Elisha did, you'll find Elisha did double the number of miracles that Elijah did. Elijah raised one person from the dead, Elisha raised two people from the dead. He really got double the anointing. I want you to turn. Elijah went up to heaven perhaps when he was in his 30s, but Elisha lived a long life till he was maybe 90 years old. And then how did he die? 2nd Kings chapter 13. Remember, this is perhaps one of the greatest prophets in the Old Testament who had double the anointing of Elisha. It says in 2nd Kings in chapter 13 and verse 14, when Elisha became sick with the illness of which he was to die. You go to Elisha and say, hey, don't you have faith that the Lord is your healer? Don't you have faith in those promises which said I will take sickness away from your midst? What if God says he was sick and he was not healed? He died. We'll say perhaps he didn't have faith. He didn't have faith. He didn't claim the promises. I'll tell you this, some of you who think you have faith for healing, I'll show you how there was more faith in Elisha than you and I have. Verse 20, Elisha died and they buried him. Now listen to this. This is one of the most fantastic miracles that took place after Elisha died. They buried him in some place. The bands of the Moabites, 2nd Kings 13 20, would invade the land in the spring and they were burying a man and they saw a marauding band and they cast the man into the grave of Elisha, which is probably open, and as soon as this dead man touched the bones of Elisha, remember this is the bones, Elisha's already disintegrated and become bones, as soon as the man touched the bones of Elisha, he was raised from the dead. There was more anointing in Elisha's dead bones than in many living people. Don't say he didn't have faith, but he died of a sickness. What I want to point out to you is, you can be a blind claimer of promises. The Lord said, I am the Lord your healer. You don't understand God's ways. Elisha had a lot of faith, but he was not healed of his sickness and he died and there are many others who are healed in the Old Testament, numerous cases. Then we come to the Gospels and many people think Jesus healed everybody. Let's turn to one example, John's Gospel chapter 5. Now we know that in some cases he did not heal because it says they did not have faith. Matthew 13 last verse says he could not do many miracles because of their unbelief. Turn to John chapter 5 and we read there, verse 2, there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool called Bethesda. In these five particles of Bethesda lay a multitude. What would you call a multitude? Supposing you saw 10 people sitting somewhere, would you call that a multitude? If you have 20 people sitting somewhere, would you call that a multitude? I mean the multitude means something. There could have been a few hundreds of people there because there was some type of miracle taking place there that once in a while an angel would come in certain seasons and stir up the water. It was a sort of an act of mercy there and whoever jumped into the pool first after that would be healed. He doesn't say anything about whether he had faith or not and there was one man who was there for 38 years and the poor man could never jump into the pool because he was lame. The other people who had other sicknesses but were on their feet would jump in first and that's what he says. When Jesus came there and saw that he'd been lying there a long time he said in verse 6, you wish to get well and the sick man said I don't have anybody to put me into the pool when the water is stirred but as soon as I try to get to the pool somebody else steps in before me and I miss it. Is it because the other fellow who stepped in had more faith? No, he had more health in his legs and Jesus said to him get up pick up your wallet and walk and immediately the man became well and picked up his wallet and walked and out of the 300 people there who were sick Jesus healed nobody. He just went away. Jesus did not heal everyone. Let me show you another example in Acts of the Apostles chapter 3. In Acts of the Apostles chapter 3 we read one day Peter and John were going up to the temple and there was a man who had been lame from his mother's womb verse 2 who has been carried along and they used to set him at the gate of the temple every day and we read later on that this man was over 40 years old. From his mother's womb he was lame and he'd been sitting outside that gate of the temple for 40 years and Peter he asked for alms like he asked for everybody going to the temple please give me some money and Peter looked at him and said I don't have any money. That's an amazing statement because in the previous chapter we read a lot of people were giving the Apostles money. The wonderful thing of the Apostles was that when money came into their hand it passed through their hands to other poorer people unlike today's Apostles who hang on to it and he could say I don't possess silver and gold. I mean earlier on in the early years when Peter was 20 years old and he going by and he saw that lame man he'd give him money. He was doing well in his fishing he had money but now he says hey I'm sorry in the old days I could give you money because I was fishing and and I used to make money but now I'm an Apostle I don't have money but it's not like that with today's full-time workers. Today's Christian workers say in the old days I was working I didn't have any money now I'm a full-time worker I have plenty of money. This is the difference between today's deceptive Apostles and full-time workers compared to people those days because they swindled poor people and get money from them but Peter and John were different. He said I don't possess silver and gold but what I have I give you in the name of Jesus of Nazareth rise up and walk and immediately he sprang up. Now when you read that read slowly read the Bible slowly think this man was lying there for 40 years. Did Jesus see him? Jesus went into the temple numerous times. When he was a carpenter he went there as a preacher he went there and this man would be sitting there asking Jesus for money. You know what Jesus would give? Money. Hey Judas give me some money let me give it to him. Before that when he was a carpenter he'd put his hand to his own pocket and give him some money and during his three and a half years of ministry where he was raising the dead and healing numerous sick people here was one lame man. He never healed him. Why was that? Is it because he had more faith when Peter and John came next year? Read slowly and then you will not go to this extreme and the other extreme in the matter of healing. Jesus did not heal everybody. He would listen to the prompting of the Holy Spirit a habit which most Christians don't have. Christians live by laws thou shalt heal everybody thou shalt heal nobody. Jesus did not live like that he lived by the prompting of the Holy Spirit and as he came to this person the Spirit said no healing here. Okay I'll give him money and for three and a half years Jesus gave him money just like he gave him in the previous years when he was a carpenter. Why? Because the Holy Spirit had a plan that that man if he is healed now there will be no miracle later on which will bring 5,000 people to Christ. It says in Acts chapter 4 when they saw this man and many believed because of what happened Acts chapter 4 verse 4 the number of men came to be about 5,000 and they are still talking about this man who was healed you know in verse by what power have you healed this man? So as a result of the healing of that person 5,000 people came to Christ. So if Jesus had healed that person before Peter and John healed him those 5,000 people would not have seen that miracle. You see the importance of listening to the Holy Spirit and not living by rules heal everybody pray for everybody you see and heal them even if you have the gift of healing Jesus had the gift of healing he'd go to the pool of Bethesda and heal one person because he didn't live by the law he lived by the prompting of the Holy Spirit which I said most believers know nothing about he he would go past the temple and he would not heal that person this is how it was even if he had faith I don't think he had any more faith when Peter and John met him later then when Jesus met him earlier there were people who had faith and were not healed do you think out of the 300 people in Bethesda there was only one man with faith no there were many people whom Jesus did not heal I want you to see that I mean these things are written in Scripture but people who don't read carefully don't see it and they have an unrealistic view of healing which leads them to deception and then to frustration and they think they don't have faith so what shall we do when we are sick the Bible says in James chapter 5 verse 13 is anyone among you suffering let him pray is anyone cheerful let him sing praises James 5 13 is anyone sick let him call for the elders of the church and they are to pray for him anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord and the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who's sick and the Lord will raise him up if he has committed sins this is New Testament remember in the New Testament the Holy Spirit says if anyone is sick let him call for the elders of the church and let him pray and the Lord will raise him up and this indicates that the man is so sick that even can't even come to the meeting it's not that we go to the elder for every cough and cold so pray for me I got a cold I got a fever I got a cough you got enough faith to ask the Lord to heal you from that you don't have to bother the elders for things like that every little thing that is superstition this man is so sick he has to call for the elders of the church read slowly he can't come to the meeting he's a pretty guy I'm too sick brother can you please come here and pray for me he's talking about that type of sickness otherwise you can trust the Lord yourself and then the elders anoint him with oil there's no magic in the oil just like in water baptism there's no magic in the water the water is a symbol of a burial and the oil is a symbol of the Holy Spirit we anoint the person with oil this is a believer this body is the temple of the Holy Spirit so who is praying here it's not the sick person who's praying very important to understand that is the elder who is praying and when the elder prays in faith the person will be healed now if an elder prays and the person is not healed it's no use telling that guy you don't have faith I would tell the elder you don't have faith he's not praying you're praying the elder offers a prayer in faith there are very few elders I have met who have the humility to say brother I don't have faith for that that's why you're not healed I mean everybody has got a certain measure of faith we must remember there is a fruit of faith and a gift of faith the two different things there is a faith which all believers must have which is based on God's Word that is Romans 10 and verse 17 faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of Christ what of Christ means New Testament if you read and hear what God is saying in the New Testament faith comes into your heart for the promises in the New Covenant sin shall not have dominion over you you cannot every believer can have faith for that he who is says he abides in him must walk as Jesus walked every believer can have faith for that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of Christ but then we read in 1 Corinthians chapter 12 that there are varieties of effects in verse 6 and there are different gifts given to people by the Holy Spirit to each one verse 1 Corinthians 12 7 is the given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good good now listen to one person is given the word of wisdom to another the word of knowledge which I believe is the gift of teaching and another faith you mean everybody doesn't have faith that's right just like everybody doesn't have the gift of teaching everybody does not have that word of wisdom to another prophecy to another miracles to another healing to another discerning spirits to another speaking in tongues not everybody speaks in tongues to another interpretation of tongues not everybody can interpret tongues what I want to point out here is somebody has the gift of healing not everybody somebody has a gift of miracles miracles is different from healing healing is healing from sickness miracle is like creation of something which is not there like opening blind eyes or something which is not just a sickness but some non-existent thing coming into being like an eye or a something like that but the point I want you to notice here to another faith verse 9 so here is a gift of faith which is different from the faith we read in Romans 10 17 which is based on reading God's Word the promises in scripture in the New Testament the word of Christ is for all believers every promise in the New Testament you can claim by faith but just like God gives somebody the gift of teaching somebody the gift of healing somebody the word of wisdom he gives some people faith to do things which other people can't do people like George Muller who had faith to take care of 2,000 orphans for many many years till the end of his life not everybody can do that that doesn't that's a specific gift for a specific calling and so and each of us have a certain proportion of faith we read in Romans and chapter 12 verse 6 Romans 12 6 we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us each of us must exercise it accordingly if prophecy according to the proportion of his faith there's a proportion of faith so when we prophecy is preaching God's Word according to the proportion of your faith that means the proportion of your life God may give one brother the grace to speak for 60 minutes and he may give you the grace only speak for 15 minutes the great tragedy is people who have the grace to speak for 15 minutes sometimes speak for 60 minutes and that's like having 500 rupees in your bank account 500 rupees in your bank account and writing a check for 10,000 rupees because you saw somebody else write a check for 10,000 rupees that is the height of stupidity how can you write a check for 10,000 rupees when you only 500 rupees in your bank account you say but he did it but that's because he's got a hundred thousand rupees in his bank account I mean little children understand this there's so many preachers who don't understand it when you preach preach according to the proportion of your faith if every preacher would follow that simple rule we'd have wonderful powerful anointed meetings instead of boring meetings like it is in many churches around the world including a lot of CFC churches it's very difficult for us we all have a much higher opinion about ourselves than we really are that's why it says in verse 3 through the grace given to me I say to everyone you know because people would say to Paul hey Paul how is it you can speak for one hour and you tell us to speak only for 10 minutes he says according to the grace given to me it's not because I'm better than you he says according to the grace given to me I say to each of you don't think of yourself more highly than you ought to think but have a sound judgment of how much faith God has given you God has given each of you a measure of faith prophesy according to the proportion of your faith pray according to the proportion of your faith and if you don't have faith be honest and say brother I can pray for you but my faith doesn't rise up to this level I remember once going to the home of one of our brothers in another place and he said can you come home and pray for my daughter I said sure I'll come to your home and see what I can do and I saw this poor little girl maybe 15 16 years old due to some brain damage or injury like a vegetable from birth could not do anything could not eat could not get up could not walk could not talk my mother had to do everything for it and he said brother please pray for my child to be healed what do you think I said did I like some foolish pastor saying the name of Jesus get up no I have a sober estimate of myself as to what faith I have and I don't want to deceive people the preacher should never be a deceiver I said brother I'd be honest with you I don't have faith to raise this person up who's been 16 years like a vegetable if Jesus were here he'd have done it immediately I'm not Jesus I don't have the measure of faith Jesus had let me be honest about it I can't do everything Jesus did his measure of faith was so much I am person 1% of that I want to have a sound opinion about myself I know where I have a gift I mean if you ask me to teach God's Word I can do something but here I want I can do something but it's very little and I say I don't have faith that this person will get up and walking which is never done for 16 years but I do believe that she'll go to heaven that's for sure and I tell you and she gets to heaven she'll rejoice more over a new body running around in heaven than you and I and I told the parents you make sure you meet her in heaven that's the important thing I'll pray that God will give you grace to look after this child now maybe somebody else has faith to raise that person I'd like to meet that person I haven't met anybody like that yet but but there are a lot of deceivers in Christendom who just you know frustrate these poor simple believers by telling them you don't have faith that's why your child is not healed it's a lot of rubbish I say brother it's your faith it's the elder who prays and if he he can only pray according to the measure of his faith and somebody else has got more faith than me then he can do it I know there are times when I have fulfilled my function as an elder I remember a brother from our church itself who once was in another part of India had gone on duty and he was so severely sick there and he went to the doctors the doctor said you need emergency surgery you got it and here he was far away from his family in another place and he remembered the word which said call for the elders and pray where could he call for the elders he's out there in North India and I'm in Bangalore thank God for telephones he rang me up and said brothers I can you please pray for me I have this serious things the doctors say require immediate surgery there was no oil there was no physical touch I prayed for him over the phone he was instantly healed and he continued working there for many days that has not always happened to me it's not always happened I prayed for others were not healed I have to do according to the measure of my faith and I've heard of other places in other countries that I've been to where people have later on testified they asked me I remember I was in one place this year in one country and one brother got up and testified I didn't even know his name I still don't know his name he said last year when brother Zack came here I was having cancer and he asked him to pray for me and he prayed for me and I want to testify today I'm healed and then he said about another case of someone who he said was just reading one of my books I think purpose of failure or something and he was in a wheelchair and after a serious accident and he got faith and he was healed but there's a rare maybe one in a hundred you say why not everybody I don't know I don't know God's ways I believe that there is healing with God but I also believe that not everyone is healed if you ask me why it's very simple I don't know so I want to try and present to you a balanced understanding of the subject so that we don't become fanatics or unbelievers who don't believe God will ever do anything let me show you my own understanding of what God can do for my body which I experienced myself I found great comfort in this word 1 Corinthians chapter 6 to me this has been one of the great words of scripture concerning my body and I believe since it's in scripture you can apply to yourself too 1 Corinthians chapter 6 verse 13 food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food but God will do away with both of them that the body is not for immorality let me just stop there food and immorality our body is not created just to eat and eat and eat and eat and eat it's not created for sexual immorality I must be careful with my body to keep it pure by keeping my mind pure by not indulging in sexual sin in my body and I must be careful that I keep my body eat food that's necessary to live I must eat to live not live to eat what do you do do you eat to live or live to eat and if you live to eat you can get sick I really believe that many believers are too fat now some people I don't want to judge everybody some people have genes there's which because of their genes they just get fat no matter you know they eat very little they get fat and others can eat like a hog and still remain thin I don't understand how that is that's another of those things which I say I don't know but so I'm not judging anybody I whenever I see a fat person I say that must be in the genes it's not because they are not eating too much because I want to avoid judging the Bible on system that must be because of the genes they are so fat but you ask yourself is it because of your genes or because you're not disciplined in your eating or you don't do a little exercise to keep yourself fit God wants you to be healthy I mean if if somebody kills you because you preach the gospel when you have 30 years old and you stand before the Lord and say Lord my life was shortened because I preached the gospel he'd say well done good and faithful servant but if your life is shortened you stand before the Lord and I say Lord my life was shortened because I ate too much what do you say to him or I ate the wrong type of fast food junk food and so my life was shortened on earth you know food is for the stomach and stomach is for food but God's gonna destroy both of them and it's not for immorality be careful in these two areas food and immorality we need to be disciplined in our eating it says also in Philippians in chapter 3 I mean these are verses that we need to understand God is not going to give us health and healing if we violate the laws of our physical body we must understand the laws of the physical body so that we eat what is good for us and keep fit Philippians 3 there are some people it says in verse 19 whose end is destruction 319 whose God is their belly their appetite and the message Bible says it in a very interesting way their praise comes out in belches they belch and that is their praise they worship their stomachs their minds always on earthly things don't make your stomach your God and the only praise you can give is the way you belch after you eating too much now coming back to 1 Corinthians 6 food is for stomach and stomach is for food it's not for immorality now listen to this this is the part I want you to see the last part of verse 13 my body is to be for the Lord 100% then the Lord will be for my body 100% not for my spirit that's another subject that'll come to later that we mentioned in verse 17 he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit that's also true but now he's talking about the Lord for my body I want the Lord for my body I certainly see the need for that because I travel so much I have to go to so many different places different time zones and I need to sleep I need to be fresh I need to speak four or five times a day I need to I eat I'm given all types of food in different places to eat you know down in the villages of Tamil Nadu where things may not be cooked very hygienically or all types of things I need the Lord for my body sure you need the Lord for your body too will the Lord be for my body that is the question I say yes if my body is for the Lord you see the thing like I said earlier Lord father all that I have is yours father all that I have is yours too the body for the Lord the Lord for the body it's a wonderful thing Lord I never want to use my eyes to look at television programs movies which are dirty I'm not saying never have a television I don't say that I'm not saying all movies are filthy I never want to use my eyes to look at anything which will pollute me which will dishonor God which where I can't have Jesus sitting next to me watching it whether on the internet or anything that's what it means for the body for the Lord I don't want to read a book with Jesus can't sit next to me and see me reading my tongue Lord I've used it for so many things in past years but it is for the Lord now this is the meaning of the body for the Lord I don't want to snap back at people the way they talk to me no my tongue is for the Lord his tongue may be his or the devil's I'm not interested my tongue is for the Lord my body is for the Lord I'd be careful I don't want to say Lord use my tongue when I'm in the pulpit the rest of the time I'll use it myself he will not use the tongue then if your butt if your body is for the Lord means your tongue is for the Lord your ears you don't want to spend your time listening to gossip let other people waste their time like that I don't have time for that I don't have my feet are not to take me to places the Lord doesn't want me to go you know what it means for the body for the Lord my stomach is for the Lord I must keep myself healthy to serve the Lord I must keep myself fit to the best of my ability the body is for the Lord Lord take this body and take it wherever you like to serve you I'm willing to go through any inconvenience the body is for you and the Lord says really then I am for your body do you want it you don't have to be a full-time worker you may be going to work some of us work from you to leave your home at 730 in the morning and come back home 730 at night because you got to work you got to earn your living you got to support your family good the Lord will be for your body if your body is for the Lord say Lord I want my body to be totally for you that's the first thing that the Lord spoken to me for myself I've claimed that for many many years and further another thing verse 15 the second thing my body is a member of Jesus Christ my spirit is one with Christ verse 17 yeah that I know this is amazing Lord even my body is a member of Jesus Christ I didn't know that my body is a member of Jesus Christ then he says can you sin with this body can imagine Jesus doing some sin with his hand it's a member of Christ do you recognize your body is a member of Christ one of the arms of Christ one of the eyes of Christ your body it's wonderful to recognize Lord my body is a member of Jesus Christ then I will not make it a member of a prostitute and thirdly my body verse 19 is a temple of the Holy Spirit so I say Lord I take care of church buildings so carefully don't want you take care of your temple look at the heathen who take care of that temples beautifying it preserving it without any damage they don't allow it to leak this is the temple of the Holy Spirit so I see three things in these three verses if my body is for the Lord the Lord is for my body my body is a member of Jesus Christ and my body is the temple of the Holy Spirit therefore I want to glorify God in my body verse 20 I want to glorify God in my body with every part of my body I want to glorify him take your time to meditate on those verses 13 to 20 and you will experience some amazing things in your body that you have not experienced so far having said that I want to clarify two verses that are often quoted by people who preach healing from Isaiah 53 Isaiah 53 it says this is the great psalm of the cross verse 5 he was pierced for our transgressions he was crushed for our iniquities verse the chastening for our well-being fell upon him and by his stripes by his scourging we are healed that's the verse frequently quoted by many people by his stripes you're healed and people say claim it brother whatever your sickness is claim it by his stripes you're healed and the other verse they quote is verse 4 our griefs or as the margin says our sicknesses he bore he bore our sicknesses and was by his stripes we are healed now whenever you read a verse in the Old Testament to understand it see if it is quoted in the New Testament and if it's quoted in the New Testament by the Holy Spirit then you have the correct understanding of it if you just listen to what some preacher writes about in a book about it and you believe that more than the Holy Spirit in the New Testament then you deserve to be deceived you deserve to go astray I don't and I'll tell you honestly I don't believe all that these American healers write in their books like all many Indian pastors do I'm sorry I don't I believe the New Testament so I told you what I believe about the body it's not that I don't believe in healing I've seen it in my body I've seen it in others but I want to have a balanced understanding of it and that's what I'm trying to give you in the New Testament we read these words quoted so in Matthew Matthew is the great gospel writer who quotes Old Testament verses frequently let me give you one example you know Jesus was born in Bethlehem so that the prophecy was might be fulfilled Matthew chapter 2 where would Jesus be born verse 5 and they said in Bethlehem because so that it might be fulfilled which says in Bethlehem verse Matthew 2 verse 6 the ruler will come forth then we go to chapter 3 John the Baptist when he came up he said that it might be fulfilled with the Prophet said in Matthew 3 3 the voice of one crying in the wilderness or another verse Matthew 2 23 Jesus came and lived in Nazareth so that it might be fulfilled the Old Testament prophets that he shall be called a Nazarene so Matthew is always as soon as it's fulfilled he says see this is the Old Testament being fulfilled here it's not something in the future right there just fulfill right there Jesus went and lived in Nazareth yeah that's the fulfillment of that or take another example Matthew 4 Jesus went from Nazareth verse 13 4 13 to Capernaum which is by the sea in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali so that what was fulfilled by the Prophet the land of Zebulun where was 15 and Naphtali the people sitting in darkness will see a great light as soon as something happened Matthew would say there that's fulfilled right there now see one more example of that Matthew chapter 8 and verse 16 when evening came they brought to him many who were demon-possessed and he cast out the spirits with the word and healed all who were sick he healed all who were sick 100% why so that it might be fulfilled which Isaiah said in chapter 53 verse 4 he took our infirmities and carried our diseases now the question is do you believe what the Holy Spirit says that it was fulfilled right there or do you believe what the Pentecostal say that it was fulfilled three years later when he died on the cross that's up to you what you believe I believe what the Holy Spirit says right there it was fulfilled when he healed the sick all who were ill it was fulfilled he took our infirmities and carried our sicknesses he had not gone to the cross yet nowhere does it say before he went to the cross it was fulfilled that he carried our he was bruised for our iniquities but it does say here he took our infirmities and sicknesses so the meaning of that verse now we train to understand the meaning of that verse and you got to reorient your thinking all your traditions that you've got from the Pentecostals you may have to get rid of the Holy Spirit tries to teach you what God's Word says there when Jesus healed all those who were sick he was saying he took our infirmities and sicknesses away it was fulfilled then the other verse is by his stripes we are here that's by the way that's the only place in the New Testament where that verse is interpreted the other verse is 1 Peter and in chapter 2 the other verse from Isaiah which is the favorite quotation of many people who talk about healing 1 Peter chapter 2 here it says Christ suffered for you verse 21 and so that you should follow in his steps and the steps are what verse 22 who committed no sin you follow in his steps who committed no sin and who had no deceit in his mouth when he was reviled he did not revile when suffered he did not utter threats he kept entrusting this is the Christ we have to follow is speaking about holiness holiness holiness loving others forgiving others not threatening them and he bore our sins in his body on the cross why why did he bear our sins in his body on the cross verse 24 that we might die to sin and live to righteousness because it says by his wounds you are healed what's it talking about healing from sin try and get any other interpretation out of that verse he bore our sins so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness because it says by his wounds you're healed by his wounds I'm healed from sin then I might live to righteousness it's all one sentence if you accept scripture you won't live in a fantasy world imagining that Christians will be healed completely of all sicknesses the people who preach it are propagating a lie and as I told you I've seen people healed in the name of Jesus so it's not that I don't believe in it I'm not at this extreme or the other extreme but I believe the Word of God I've got rid of all the traditions I've read in different books and I found that because I take God's Word in a balanced way I don't live in a world of delusion neither at this extreme or the other extreme and I want to encourage you to be there so we see here that does did Jesus die to redeem my body yes but this redemption of the body will take place when he comes Philippians chapter 3 says when he comes where's 20 Philippians 3 20 21 we eagerly wait for our Savior Jesus Christ who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of his glory when will that be when he comes again then why do we have sickness on this earth I'll tell you why turn to Genesis chapter 3 when Adam sinned God did not curse him God cursed the ground and since he was made from the dust of the ground listen carefully God did not curse him God said to Adam in verse 17 middle of that verse curse it is the ground now you won't get food from it so easily you'll have to struggle in toil by the sweat of your brow you will earn your bread thorns and thistles will come up from here the plants of the fields by the sweat of your face one of the results of the curse is sweating when Jesus comes again I'll stop sweating and you will return to the ground because you're also made of this dust our body is made of this dust and the curse that is upon this dust is still there in our body proof that's why you perspire that's why you need to switch on the fan you won't need fans in heaven because the curse would be gone that's why there are mosquitoes and no matter how much you believe in Jesus mosquitoes will still come into your room and thorns will poke your feet it's the curse and the greatest proof of it is you will die dust you are to dust you will return you know there are three stages in death let me turn you to 1 Corinthians chapter 11 1 Corinthians chapter 11 it says speaking about those who take part in the Lord's table unworthily 1 Corinthians 11 because they take part unworthily what happens verse 30 you but some of you are weak some of you are sick some die these are the three stages weakness sickness death which is which of these three can the believer escape sickness holy why not death that's also part of the curse did Jesus die to overcome death yes why do believers die then why are believers weak we must be realistic the redemption of our body awaits the coming of the Lord but meanwhile we can get a taste of that world to come Hebrews in chapter 6 in Hebrews chapter 6 we read that here's a description of people who are born again Hebrews 6 4 they are enlightened they have tasted the heavenly gifts they've been made partakers of the Holy Spirit these are all descriptions of born-again people enlightened tasted the heavenly gift of Christ made partakers of the Holy Spirit tasted the good word of God and tasted some of the powers of the age to come in the age to come I'll have a perfect body resurrected I can't get the full thing today but I can get a taste of it Lord give me a drop of resurrection power that's healing can I ask for it yes I can I ask for it frequently if I have a pain in my heart I quote Psalm 73 God is the strength of my heart but I pray for sensible things I don't pray Lord give me hair on my head I don't pray Lord let me get rid of my glasses do you know that these are all sicknesses also you think you're gonna see me without hair in heaven I'm sorry you'll see me with a full head of hair and it'll all be black hair and by the way you will not see me wearing my glasses in heaven that sickness will go this is also a sickness weakness sickness our bodies are not redeemed but I praise God that in this earth I can taste a little bit of the powers of the age to come praise God for that and I've tasted it numerous times what shall we do if our children are sick and I mean I've had children brought my home they have had sickness surgery etc I believe thank God for medicines doctors what is a medicine it's like food which God has created on the earth if you can eat oranges you can eat a vitamin C tablet it's the same thing and if you could discover where those minerals and herbs and things are which cure your body you can eat it but somebody has conveniently put it into a tablet I eat it so there's no tablets and medicine are just like food you can't say I can eat food but I can't take medicine it's the same thing God has created both for our health and healing God has given wisdom to doctors to treat our bodies just like some guy can repair my scooter I go to him I don't find out whether he's a born-again Christian if he knows how to fix the scooter I go to him so when I want my body fixed I don't find out if the doctor is a believer I know I want to know what he knows how to fix this machine called my human body I go to him we got to be sensible about these earthly things yeah so God has given us the privilege of tasting the good powers of the age to come I must do it I mustn't go to this extreme saying I've got a new body here on earth I'll never die there are some stupid believers who even said that it's death is just the extended form of sickness and if God can heal all sicknesses then you'll never die but at the same time I don't go to the other extreme and say no I'll never have it my Lord my body is for the Lord the Lord is for my body and so we say what about all these healings in the Acts of the Apostles notice one thing every place where there's healing in the Acts of the Apostles it's where the gospel was going for the first time it was the outreach it was a fulfillment of Mark 16 go and preach the gospel to all creation they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover shall cast out demons but when it comes to believers you don't see so much healing let me show you examples of that in 1 Timothy chapter 5 Paul tells Timothy verse 23 take a little wine for your stomachs frequent sicknesses Timothy was Paul's most wholehearted co-worker I'm sure Paul laid hands on him numerous times but he was not healed he says Timothy I prayed for you you're not healed I want you to now take some medicine we prayed for you numerous times you're still having a stomach infirmity God allowed Timothy to have it you read in 2nd Corinthians 12 Paul had a thorn in the flesh which is from the devil by the way but God gave it to him he says God gave me verse 7 12 7 2nd Corinthians 12 7 a thorn in the flesh a messenger of Satan that kept on troubling me but it was to keep me from exalting myself in other words there was a purpose in that sickness and he prayed three times Lord heal me heal me heal me but he never got healed the Lord said to him my grace is sufficient for you so what I want to say is when you are sick pray that God will heal you or say Lord give me something better than healing when Paul realized that grace was going to come he said then I'm okay then I'm alright it doesn't matter if I'm not healed grace is enough for me I'll rejoice God will in my weakness I will rejoice that Christ's power will be manifested that's what I've always prayed whenever you know if it's a fever or any sickness I have I say Lord heal me in Jesus name or give me something better than healing a grace that's what we should do that we should we should pray for our children if they're sick be an overcomer here that's what I always do and I always found it works many times the Lord gives me healing many times or sometimes he says I'll give you grace I say great but never be satisfied with nothing don't go away from the Lord I got nothing from him I see that with Paul here my grace is sufficient for you you will not get that healing I think for Timothy also his stomach's infirmities frequent stomach aches he prayed prayed prayed and God said no you need that many people who are outstanding servants of God sometimes God has to give them something to keep them humble to keep them broken before him because we all have such a tendency to be proud and then God gives us doesn't take away a sickness but gives us something better than that which is grace and I've often looked at it like this supposing a child of mine is sick I would say okay it's because we live under I won't say it's all from the devil I know there is sickness from the devil we read that in the book of Job the devil made people sick made Job sick so there are sicknesses from the devil I'll tell you what I believe about Jesus healed the sick and cast out demons there's a difference if a person is demon possessed and first of all a true born-again believer can never be demon possessed but if a person is demon possessed I believe in 100% of cases the person can be delivered if he comes for deliverance without exception I've cast out many demons in my life in different places in India in America but I've found in a hundred percent of cases the demons go I can't think of one case where it did not go and the second thing I want to say is I never had to shout at the demon because the demons have got very good hearing much better than you and me you can whisper I remember casting out a demon once with a whisper because I didn't want to make it too much noise there and the other thing you don't have to repeat it get out get out get out get out once is enough so don't believe all these people I've seen numerous people particularly in Pentecostal circles casting out demons pulling a woman's hair and throwing them around and I was once called to pray for somebody like that somebody called me some brethren person called me to say there's a demon possessed woman and when I went there I saw somebody pulling her hair and I said I don't know who's demon possesses this one so I said you first get this man out of here then I'll pray for this woman and then the demon was cast out immediately and the woman was perfectly okay so don't follow these don't be disturbed by all these things that you see this fanaticism that there is in Christianity there was a dignity about Jesus it says he cast out the demons with a word we read that in Matthew 8 one word and if a demon does not go out with one word of mine I say Lord I need to go and pray and fast a little more that's why I didn't go it's not going to make any difference if I yell and scream another 10 times I need to be strong in faith I need to have a clean heart Lord can't do it now I let it go and pray and fast and come back so demon possession is different from healing and a hundred percent of cases demons have been cast out we have seen demons cast out right inside our CFC building I can think of two people who are demon possessed right in that CFC building when in the old days when you were in our house demons were cast out right inside our house so that's different from healing where God doesn't always heal let me give you another show you another example Philippians chapter 2 if Aphrodite is if Aphrodite is Philippians 2 25 was one of the most wholehearted of Paul's workers and he was sick and he was sick verse 27 to the point of death but God had mercy on him not on him only but on me also God healed him but his sickness became worse and worse and worse and worse and Paul kept on praying for him praying for him praying for him finally he was healed but there was another case in 2nd Timothy chapter 4 he says in verse 920 Erastus remained at Corinth, Trophimus I left sick at Miletus, Trophimus was one of his co-workers, Paul prayed prayed prayed prayed not healed, Trophimus I think you better take some medicine I prayed for you and may the Lord have mercy on you I don't know whether Trophimus died or what Elisha died of the sickness which he had I hope we understand these I hope you've got a balanced understanding of this truth in the Old Testament and New Testament that we don't go to this extreme or that extreme when we tell a person all your sins can be forgiven right now if you believe it's true and it applies to a hundred percent of cases you've got a hundred sinners who come forward and say I want my sins forgiven I believe Jesus died for my sins and he rose up from the dead I want to turn from my sins all hundred can have their sins forgiven because forgiveness of sins is universal supposing there are hundred believers who say I want sin not to have dominion over me to all hundred I will say sin shall not have dominion over you if you are under grace every one of you can overcome sin if you come under grace but there is not a single promise in the New Testament that I can give to a hundred sick people who come before me to tell them all hundred of you will be healed and every preacher who preaches that is only deceiving you he cannot find a promise in the New Testament but I will pray for them and say I can pray according to the measure of my faith and you trust the Lord maybe the Lord will heal you I can't guarantee it but I can tell you something if your body is for the Lord the Lord will be for your body that's for sure I remember once I was asked to go and pray for an unbeliever somewhere in one place nothing wrong in praying for sick unbelievers Jesus healed numerous sick unbelievers even without faith without faith in Christ so I wanted him to understand that God's healing is that we might glorify him glorify God in your body so I said what shall I pray shall I pray Lord this chap is not strong enough to stand in the cinema queue now to buy cinema tickets please heal him so that he can be strong enough to stand in the cinema queue and Lord his voice has become so weak he can't shout at his wife like he used to in the olden days so let heal him Lord so that he can be strong and shout at his wife I was trying to highlight what do you want healing for do you want healing to go back and live your life of sin Lord he's so weak he can't sit at the internet and watch pornography now so please heal him or do you want God to heal you because you want him you to glorify your name I want to ask you in Jesus name why do you want God to heal you to go and make more money to go and live for yourself or do you want to glorify God if you say Lord from today my body is for the Lord I can tell you in Jesus name the Lord will be for your body the vast majority of Christians have not given their body to the Lord and that's why they have numerous sicknesses from which they could have been healed and of course some God doesn't take away the sickness because he wants to fulfill some other better purpose through them I hope you understood something of the balanced teaching of scripture on this I wanted labor on this so that we don't live in a world of delusion and deception God is interested in your body and he wants to heal you otherwise he wants to glorify you with something greater than healing glorify his name by something greater than healing let's pray as we go to prayer now I want to invite you my dear brothers and sisters to examine your heart and see whether you can honestly say my body is for the Lord I have no plans or ambitions for myself or my body outside of God's will I don't want to go any place where God doesn't want me to go my aim in life is to do the will of God not to make money or to get a name for myself I want to earn my living sure I want to take care of my family God also wants you to do that but it says whatever you do do for the glory of God even if you eat or drink say Lord I want my eyes to be yours I want my tongue to be yours I want my hands and every part of my body to be yours I want my mind to be yours so that I begin to think like God thinks I don't want to live like other believers I want God to be glorified in my body through healing if it is through healing if it is through a thorn in the flesh amen through a thorn in the flesh but whichever way it is I want God to be glorified in my body Lord to the best of my knowledge I yield myself to you I'm sorry for the years past where I have lived for myself and used my body for myself I want to use it for you not just to get healed that would be very selfish I don't want to repent for the sake of healing that would be a self-centered prayer I want to repent because I've dishonored you with my body even if you don't heal me Lord I want to glorify God in my body I'm not looking for healing first I'm looking for the glory of God in my body I want my body for the Lord hundred percent because Jesus gave his body for me hundred percent I want to give my body to him and once you said that say Lord I believe my body is a member of Jesus Christ it's a temple of the Holy Spirit I want to glorify you in this body and right now Lord I want to take you Jesus as Lord for my body for every need in my body I take you Lord just like years ago you gave your heart to Jesus in a simple act of faith and in a moment you who are a child of the devil became a child of God it didn't take 10 years it took a moment you can just like you gave your heart to the Lord that day you can give your body to Jesus today in a simple act and like you received Jesus into your heart you can receive the Lord for your body and you will see some miracles in your life receive the Lord for the bodies of your children your family yes Lord I thank you that you're a loving father every hair on our head is numbered you care for us more than you do for the birds of the air we believe we are precious in your eyes I pray that our faith will rise up and our surrender and our yieldedness to you will also rise up to the level where you want it we have missed much because we have used our bodies for ourselves we want it all to be yours Lord deliver us from a self-centered life that we might live a life centered in God we pray in Jesus