In this sermon, Brother Denny shares his personal testimony of how he was once bound by fear and depression. He sought help from doctors who prescribed medication, but he knew that he needed the touch of the great physician, Jesus, to truly be delivered. He saw others who had been transformed by God's power and desired the same for himself. Eventually, he surrendered his life to God and was able to overcome his fear and fulfill his calling to preach the gospel. The sermon also references the story of the man at the pool of Bethesda in John chapter 5, highlighting the common need for a miracle and the power of Jesus to bring healing and transformation.

Hello, this is Brother Denny. Welcome to Charity Ministries. Our desire is that your life would be blessed and changed by this message. This message is not copyrighted and is not to be bought or sold. You are welcome to make copies for your friends and neighbors. If you would like additional messages, please go to our website for a complete listing at www.charityministries.org. If you would like a catalog of other sermons, please call 1-800-227-7902 or write to Charity Ministries, 400 West Main Street, Suite 1, EFRA PA 17522. These messages are offered to all without charge by the freewill offerings of God's people. A special thank you to all who support this ministry. Greetings in that precious name of Jesus. Joy to the world, the Lord is come. And all was changed from that time forth. Hallelujah. Open your Bibles with me to John chapter 5. John chapter 5 in verse 1. And after this there was a feast of the Jews. And Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue, basaida, having five porches. And in these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool and troubled the water. Whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had. And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years, when Jesus saw him lie and knew that he had been now a long time in that case. He saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole? The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man. When the water is troubled to put me into the pool, but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me. Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed and walk. And immediately the man was made whole and took up his bed and walked. And on the same day was the seventh. You know, this must have been quite a scene. This pool having five porches. And in these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered. Why were they there? Why did they come to this pool? Oh, they all had one thing in common. They had great need. They needed a miracle. They needed help beyond themselves. They needed help beyond the physician could offer. They needed help from the Almighty God. They needed help from His angel that would come and trouble the water and move the water. And the word spread that whoever gets down into that water after the angel has troubled and moved the water, is healed of whatever disease they have. Whether they're blind, whether they're lame, maimed, crippled, can't walk. Whoever steps in first is healed. So the word went forth and they gathered. It says a great multitude lay there of impotent folk waiting for the moving of the water. I don't know how often the angel stepped down. It doesn't tell us how often it happened, but it must have been a fairly regular occurrence. And the people came because they had need. Oh, as I was meditating and praying and seeking the Lord, and I thought of the people that come in through these doors Sunday by Sunday, and I thought of some who have been here for a long time, and I thought of myself, and thought of our needs, and I thought, why do we come? Why do we come this morning? Why are we here? And I just said, oh Lord, it would be such a blessing if You would step down and just minister by Your Spirit unto the depth of our need. Oh Lord! Where we're blind, where we're lame, where we're halt and we're limping, where we're impotent and we're not whole, and we're withered. Oh Lord! And I thought of the multitudes of humanity seeking for help, seeking for deliverance, seeking for healing. Oh Lord God! Wouldn't You want to step down and show Yourself mighty, not because of charity, Christian fellowship. No, God said, I won't do this because for Your sake to Israel, but oh, I'll do this for My great name's sake, that all the people may know that God is alive in the midst of His people. And I said, oh Lord, is it not time for Thee to work again and stretch forth Thy hand that signs and wonders may be done in the name of Thy holy child Jesus? And that those that are lame and are impotent and blind and halting and bound by sin and lives wrecked and ruined, that when they would come in through the doors of the church houses in Lancaster County, in our communities, not only at charity Christian fellowship, but wherever the name of Jesus Christ is lifted up, wherever He is exalted, oh Lord, that You would step down and show Yourself mighty to deliver, mighty to save. And I thought of my own weakness and failures and shortcomings and sins and said, oh Lord, how many have come and have waited and have left again. Lord God, is it not time for Thee to work? And I thought of us and I said, Lord, oh please, Heavenly Father, there's a reason we're all here this morning. Yes, we come to worship the Lord. We come to give Him praise and adoration. But I also believe that there's needs represented here this morning, deep needs of the heart, maybe so deep and so long standing like this man for 38 years. And we've learned to live with our impotency and our limp and our blindness and we wonder, can it ever change? Is there any hope for me? And when my hope rises up and I see God working, someone else steps down before me and gets the blessing and I just sort of fall back again and say, well, I guess it's not for me. But all my heart is, I want to encourage you this morning. When Jesus stepped on the scene, something else began to happen. There was no longer a need for the man who was lying there weak and bound in his crippledness to wait any longer. He didn't have to wait for the angel because the Son of God has come. Jesus Christ has come and He has all power and all authority. It's given unto Him. And when He says arise, you arise. When He says be healed, you're healed. When He says go and sin no more, there's power to obey. When He sets you free from your sin and He delivers you from your bondage, oh, I thought of the analogy of a hospital and you lie there in your hospital bed, in the recovery room. You have been sorely wounded and you need a hospital and you're lying there in the recovery room on your bed. And the doctors have cut out that ugly tumor, that cancer and have poured in a bomb and you're recovering, you're healing. And then they come and they say, Mr. Hirst, it's time to get out of bed. But I just had an operation. But it's time for you to get out of your bed and to exercise. Oh, but it hurts. But you need to exercise. You need to get up out of your bed because if you stay lying in your bed too long, you will actually impede or slow the healing process. It's time to get up out of your bed and begin to walk. We'll hold you. We'll support you. But you need to get up and walk lest you develop a blood clot that would threaten your life and threaten your recovery of this evil disease. It's time to get up and walk. And then I thought of us and I thought of our needs and I thought of God's operation by His Spirit in our hearts. You know, sometimes we just want to stay in bed. We just want to rest and be comforted. But the doctors have learned in their wisdom over the years, there's a time to get up out of bed. And there's a time to rise up and walk. And then I thought of our spiritual diseases and sins and sicknesses and sorrows and griefs and pains. And yes, there's a time for the hospital. There's a time for the surgeon's knife. There's a time to be in that bed. And there's a time to be under the anaphasia and let the Master Doctor do His operation. But then there's a time to get up and get up out of the bed and walk. But I wonder this morning, why am I here? Why are you here? Has your life been made every whit hole as you have reached out to Jesus? You know, sometimes we just learn to walk with the limp. We just learn to walk with the blindness. We just learn to live with modern psychology that says you need to learn how to cope. You just learn how to cope. Oh, there's the cross of Jesus for sin and uncleanness and troubled hearts and consciences to be cleansed and to be washed and to be set free. I just thought of this great multitude lying there. And then Jesus steps into the scene. And we could turn to many other Gospels where the scene looked very similar. They brought the sick and the blind and the whole and the maimed to Jesus. And the Bible says, and He healed everyone. Praise God! Are you lying in your bed this morning? What is the debilitating disease? Jesus wants to heal you. He wants to set you free. And He has the power to do it. Do you need a miracle? What a question to ask the impotent man. Wilt thou be made whole? But he didn't know who it was that asked the question. Not yet. May I, in Christ's dead, beseech you and ask the question? Wilt thou be made whole? The impotent man said, Sir, I have no man. When the water is troubled, to put me in the pool. But while I am coming, another steppeth down before me. I tried many times, but somehow it just doesn't work for me. Have you ever heard that? Yeah, I tried. I tried to bring my burdens to Jesus. I tried to find rest for my soul, but somehow it just doesn't work for me. So I've learned to live with it. I just stuff it. I just put it under. But Jesus can set you free. Jesus is the Savior. He's mighty to save, strong to deliver. You know, I don't know what you are facing. I don't know what your need is. But I know one who does. And his name is Jesus. And he cares for you. Yes, he really cares for you. He loves you. He paid the price on Calvary's cross. And by his stripes we are healed. My dear friend, my brother, my sister, wilt thou be made whole? Jesus saith unto him, rise, take up thy bed and walk. I believe the Lord Jesus is wanting to take us on into a life, a life that is abundant and full and free. That we should arise up out of our bed, hear him speak, reach out and lay hold upon the hem of his garment as it were. O Lord, grant unto me wisdom and utterance that no one would be discouraged. I just felt very clearly to just share this word. You know, maybe sometimes we like the attention we get when we're in the hospital and on our sick bed. Oh, the people coming and blessing us with cards and prayers and oh, I feel sorry for you. I hope you're soon better. And we sort of learn to like the bed. Because if I am healed, I'm going to have to get up and walk. I'm going to have to get out and work. Right now all my needs are provided. I'm showered with everything that I need. And there's a place for that. There's a place for the hospital. There's a place for the recovery room. But it's the goal of the doctor and of the nurse to get us out of that recovery room and onto our feet just as quickly as possible. Oh, that's the heart of our Jesus. Yes, He is full of compassion. And He ministers grace to us upon the bed. But then He says, My child, now it's time to rise up and walk. And I just wonder this morning, Oh, Lord, how many of us are lying on that bed. Or we're walking half blind and limping. And we've just learned to live with it. And the Lord Jesus would say to us this morning, Rise and walk! Rise and be healed! You know, we get used to it. And we're lying there in our bed and we think this is all the better it gets. Oh, but then we see another one who was lying there also, but now they're up and they're walking. And our hope rises and we say, Maybe that's for me. They had a similar condition that I did. Look at them. I wonder if I could have that too. Oh, but then all that self-pity rolls back in and we just sort of settle back in our comfort zone there and pull the blanket a little tighter around us and we just live with it until another one rises up out of his bed. And this one not only walks, but this one is leaping and praising God. And we say, Lord, that's what I need. That's what I want. Could I have that? Oh, I think of my own testimony. Bound up in myself. A shell around me. Full of fear. People would have said I was very timid. Very introverted. Afraid of people. Afraid of life. Sat in the corner of the front room down on the farmhouse and wept in depression. Yes, that was me. Went to the doctor. He said, you need these pills. And he gave me some medications at your nerves. I took a few of those pills, but I knew better. It wasn't my nerves. It was that I needed the great physician to touch my life and to change me and deliver me from myself. I every now and then would look around and I'd see one walking and leaping and praising God. I said, oh Lord, could that be for me too? Oh, the Lord said, yes, it's for you too. But are you willing? Are you willing to get real and just lay down all of your life? Are you willing to cry out for help? And I'd make a few feeble attempts. Didn't work. Didn't work. Even went to a few pretty hot religious meetings where here, they've got it. If they'll pray for you, you'll rise up and walk. Your life will be changed. Didn't work. God had me in the corner. He said, Aaron, it's everything on the altar. Everything on the altar. Your whole life. Give me your fears. But Lord, I'm afraid. Give them to me. Trust me. Let me do the surgery. Trust me. Give me your life completely. Hard. Oh. Crawl back in my shell. Pull my blanket around me a little more. Lie there on my sickbed and feel sorry for myself. To another and wait. Leaping by. Praising God. Lord. Yes. I am impotent and I am weak and I am withering away and piling away in myself. Lord, have mercy on me. Give me your life. Lay it all on the altar. Everything. Lord, I'll give you everything. With God, there's no buts. It's everything. But Lord, I can't speak. And God was laying on my heart the call to preach the gospel. My dad even said to me one day, well, Aaron, when you're a preacher. I said, don't say that. Why do you say that? I was just maybe 17 at the time. Oh. I wanted to run and hide. Me? Afraid of people? Can't talk to even three? Let alone a congregation? I said, Lord, I'll give you everything but I can't preach. I won't do it, Lord. I won't. He said, okay, you'll wait. So I curl up in my blanket, on my sickbed as it were. Oh, then I'd see another one leaping and praising God going by. And I'd go ask them, what happened to you? Oh. I got saved. Really? Yeah, I got saved. I got delivered. Oh, I knew it. Their life was different. It was like that blind man in John 9. Is this he? Sort of looks like him. Couldn't be. No, it's not him. Well, it acts like him. But no. Well, call his parents once. Let's find out. Is this him or isn't it? Yes, this is him. But their lives were so radically changed when they met Christ that they were hardly even recognized as the same person. Because their lives were so radically changed. Yeah, this is he. Oh yes, you can still tell. It's still Brother Jerry. But hallelujah! He got saved. Now when you go over to his house, better be careful. If you aren't saved, you'll get saved. He'll preach to you because of the goodness of what God has done in his own heart. You know, fear hath torment. I was tormented in my fear. Crippled. Maybe you're crippled this morning. Maybe you're crippled with fear. God is saying, give me your life. Lay it all on the altar. But I'm afraid, Lord. What will you ask me to do? Everything, Lord. I'll give you everything, Lord. But... Yeah, I tried that a few times too and it didn't work. So I'm here to tell you this morning, ahead of time, it doesn't work. But when you get serious and real with God and you lay your life down, you'll be amazed at what God can do. We have a few other Scriptures we can look to. Let's do that. Let's look at Mark 8.22. Mark 8.22. Speaking of our Lord Jesus, He cometh to Bethsaida, and they bring a blind man unto Him and besought Him to touch him. And He took the blind man by the hind and led him out of town. And when he had spit on his eyes, He put His hands upon him and He asked him if he saw aught. And he looked up and said, I see men as trees walking. After that, He put His hands again upon his eyes and He made him look up and he was restored and saw every man clearly. Hallelujah! He was restored. And as I thought of that, you know, here this morning, maybe you were blind from birth. Yeah, we all were blind in our sins from birth, indeed. But you know, here was a man that I don't believe was blind from birth. Because it says He was restored. And restored means that He was brought back again into a wholeness. He was restored. He was restored back into 20-20 vision. And I thought of us and I thought of myself and I thought of things that God has done in my heart and life. You know, maybe there was a time you were leaping and walking and praising God. And you were seeing clearly. But today, something happened and there's a fog settled down over your heart and you're not seeing clearly anymore. And maybe you see men as trees walking and things are confusing. Oh, the Lord Jesus not only heals those that are born from birth blind, but He restores. He's able to restore. Able to recover. I think of the man with the withered hand that Brother Denny mentioned the other Sunday. He was restored also. That hand wasn't always like that, I don't believe. Because it says it was restored. It was restored whole, just like His other hand. Oh, but He had to do something. He had to stretch it forth. Oh, I pray to God this morning. I think of the woman with the issue of blood. The Bible says there, she being a daughter of Abraham bound alone these 18 years, whom Satan hath bound, should she not be loosed? And then I think of us, you know, in our Christian lives and we're bound by this or we're hindered by that and we're just not quite willing to go all the way and give it all to the Lord and it hinders us and it binds us up. Oh, she being a daughter of Abraham, she being in the lineage of the Jews, she being a Jew, shouldn't she be loosed? You being a Christian, shouldn't we give the Lord everything and total surrender to God and let Him moose us and moose our tongue and set us free in a way of a measure of the fullness of Christ in our hearts like we have not yet experienced? Oh, my brothers and my sisters, wilt thou be made whole? You know, a half Christian life isn't very exciting, is it? You know, half. What's that? No wonder the world mocks the Christians. They say, where is the power? Where is your God? You're no different than us. Oh, Lord, that You would step down and touch our hearts and our lives and that we by faith would reach out and touch the hem of His garment and be made whole, be restored, be healed. Rise. Take up Thy bed and walk. Matthew 8. Turn over to Matthew 8. We'll look at a Scripture there. Oh, Lord Jesus, have mercy upon us. Matthew 8. When Jesus came down from the mount, when He was come down from the mount, great multitudes followed Him and behold, there came a leper and worshiped Him saying, Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean. And Jesus put forth His hand and touched him saying, I will be Thou clean. And immediately, his leprosy was cleansed. Hallelujah. You know what? Jesus is saying the same thing today. I will. I will cleanse you of your leprosy. It's not God's fault. You know, it wasn't God's fault I sat there in my depression. Went back to the doctor the second time and he being a Christian, oh, praise God, he examined me a little bit and then he said, Aaron, are you living in sin? And hey, didn't expect that of the doctor. But hallelujah, he was a doctor who also knew the doctor. And he saw into my heart and he knew, yeah, sure, lots of people are on drugs to try to drown out reality so they can cope. Oh, but there's a better answer. His name is Jesus. And when you come to Him in repentance and faith toward God, He can change your life. It's the cross of Christ. Yes. Wilt thou be made whole? Oh, this leper, he came. He heard about Jesus. He came and he said, Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean. I have heard of You. I know who You are. And I know You have the power to change my life. No medicine will do. Ah, but Jesus, if You'll make me clean, I'll be clean. And that's exactly how it is. When the Lord Jesus makes you clean, you're clean. Every way whole. And the words of Jesus, just hear them ringing down through eternity. Oh, what a beautiful message. I will be Thou clean. I will. I will. And immediately, his leprosy was cleansed. But you know, just like in my own life, it didn't happen overnight. I had to stay in that place of seeking and bowing my heart before the Lord. And the Lord just kept backing me into the corner till I was so tired. Oh, I was so tired of my bed. You know, at first, it might look pretty nice, you know. We'll just have this bed and people will send me cards and you know, they'll say how sorry they are for me. I'll just be there on my bed, you know. And we'll just lie there and we'll just wait for the moving of the waters. Once God does His part, you know. But you know, oftentimes, the Lord is waiting for us. In fact, this very morning, I am convinced God is waiting for you and I. The Lord Jesus Christ has paid the way. He has opened up the way. There I was, introverted, loathing myself even. Didn't really like it, you know. I mean, I wish I could be free, but I thought, well, you know, it's for that person over there. Yeah, they can have it, but not me. But see, that's a lie. God is no respecter of persons. His message of salvation and deliverance is for you. So you lie there on your sickbed while Jesus paid it all. And He's patiently waiting. He is so long-suffering. He is so gracious and kind. While I was trying to find my way, running to other physicians and stuff, and going to this religious meeting, oh, there's a prayer meeting over here, and so-and-so is there, and he's full of the Holy Ghost. If you go there... You know, and God had mercy on me through all those times of my seeking and my wanderings around, until finally all else failed and everything else was dried up and there was no balm in Gilead except in the Lord Jesus Christ. And God got me down in that corner to where in my own bedroom, all by myself, I got down on my knees and it was like the weight of this whole thing just came upon me. And I realized, I'm like a drowning man in the ocean. And unless God rescues me, I will be possibly in a mental institute for the rest of my life. In fact, there was some of it in our history of the family. And they said, you could be like that. Tell me now, that was frightening. You could be like that great uncle over there. Or that so-and-so. I said, Lord, unless You deliver me. And of course, it was, give me your life. And so, in desperation, I cried out to the Lord there in my bed and I said, Lord, change me if You can! But I surrender. And at that moment, He stepped down and He moved the waters of my heart and my life and He so drastically delivered me that I was amazed. I went bounding down the stairs two at a time. I was walking and leaping and praising God and nobody had to tell me to do it. Nobody had to teach me how. You know, because God had changed my life. And I said, honey, I'm changed! I went up to my dad just as fast as I could and I slid in there and I said, Pop, it's different, I'm changed! He looked at his son, introverted, taking him to the doctor even as a little boy. Didn't want to go to school and face the people, you know. He's just such an inverted person. And he said, what happened? And I told him my whole testimony of how the Lord changed my life. He rejoiced with me a bit cautiously. But He rejoiced with me. My, what has happened to my son? Yes, it is Him! I know Him! But He acts different now. Hallelujah! Things are different now since Jesus came and made me whole. And like that impotent, sick man, hallelujah, waiting for the moving of the waters, Jesus had come into my life and I took up that bed and I walked. And life has never been the same since. Praise God! And the Lord is no respecter of persons. Every now and then I pick up this bed to just remember how great my God is and what He's done for me. And how that He can save to the uttermost and how He can change and set us free from the deepest bondage imaginable. And I didn't tell you but a small part. I just want to encourage you this morning. The Lord Jesus Christ says, rise, take up thy bed and walk. And there's nothing too hard for God. One hymn writer said it this way, there's nothing on earth that the God of heaven can't cure. You know, Jesus was never stumped. Not once. Not one time. The disciples were, oh, but not the Lord Jesus. What is your need this morning? What is your wound and your hurt? You know, and sometimes, I fear we're trying to find our way and we enter into a lot of counseling and I'm not saying counseling is all bad or anything, but I just think, oh, Lord Jesus. You know, people tried to counsel me, this and that. You know, and I thank God for that, but when Jesus came, that is when I was set free. And do you know when He came? Ah! He came when I surrendered all to Him. That's when He came. So I wonder sometimes, you know, we try to show people how to walk. You know, well, give them some crutches, you know. Just start walking once, you know. And you'll get better. Well, is it just a crutch? Is it just a band-aid? Do you need the doctor? Do you need the deliverer? Do you need the healer to set you free and change your life? You know, it can happen to you. Any one of us here this morning, all the vilest of sinners, whoever they be, that moment when they believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, their lives are changed. Impotent folk, maimed, halt, blind. So I just encourage our hearts this morning. I don't want to drag you off the hospital bed if that's where you belong. Because it could be damaging. The doctor is very wise. He doesn't get you off of that hospital bed before you're ready. But He's also very wise and He doesn't let you just stay there. Because He knows if you'd wait until you're ready, you might have bed sores. Ooh, it hurts. You know, and I need more ministering too. And yes, there's a time for that. We need ministering too. Amen. Please, no one be offended. We need that. But maybe we need a ministering too to come along inside and say, my brother, my friend, my sister, let me help you. Rise. Look. Look unto Jesus. Rise. Be healed of thy infirmity and thy sickness and thy disease. Rise. Take up thy bed and walk. Let's kneel together in prayer. Lord God, please have mercy upon us, Lord. Oh, Father, don't let that which is lain be turned out of the way. And we just put a little band-aid on it one more time. Oh, Father, but rather let it be healed. Father, I just do pray in Jesus' name, Lord, for the congregation here at Charity and for anyone who is listening to this word. Any visitors here today? Friends, Lord? Oh, God, why have we come this morning? Is there a deep need in my heart? And I know it's there. Maybe not a lot of other people do, but I do. I know how it hinders me. I know how it keeps me back. Oh, Father, I pray. Please, Lord, today let faith arise and look full into the face of Jesus and say, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean. Oh, Lord, I pray let us be done with running to physicians. Let us be done with trying to cope with it. Let us be done with putting on band-aids or medications, Lord, and come to the great physician, the Lord Jesus Christ, and be healed and be delivered and be changed. Our whole life's so radically changed, Lord, that they might even have to come and ask the parents, is this for sure He? Yes, it's Him. Oh, Lord. Lord, I know You don't owe it to us for our namesake, but Lord, for Thy great namesake. Oh, Father, for Thy great namesake, not only here at Charity Christian Fellowship, Lord, but Father, the Christian churches across the nation, especially here in the United States, Lord, where there is such a low ebb. Oh, Father, be merciful unto us. And Lord, we are not excluded from that low ebb. Father, would You stretch forth Your hand upon us here at Charity Christian Fellowship, Lord, and that which is lame, let it be healed. Oh, Father, Lord, I think of even our physical needs amongst us, Lord. And I think of those who are in need of a physical healing, Lord. They're in need of an operation. Oh, God, wouldn't it bring glory to Your name? Wouldn't You be pleased to stretch forth Your hand and heal? Oh, Father, and save that $40,000 for that operation and that hospital bill? Oh, Lord, we just lay these things before You, God. No condemnation toward anyone. But oh, Father, that our hearts would rise in faith and we would lay hold on the Lord Jesus Christ and believe Him and be healed. Yes, Lord, physical things, but oh, far more, Lord, those deep spiritual needs of our heart, those deep emotional hurts that we are carrying, Lord. And they're hindering us. They're impeding our progress with You, Lord. Oh, please, Father, in Thy loving, tender mercies, Lord, lay Your finger upon those things. God, our own selfishness, our wanting to go our own way. Oh, Father, have mercy upon us, Lord. Please come, Lord, in the presence and power of Your Spirit to convict of sin and of righteousness and of judgment and of comfort of the Holy Ghost. This we ask in Jesus' name. Amen. They are healthy in their physical body, but they're sick in their spirit. They are not saved. They are lost. They're sick. They need a touch of Jesus. And there are some who are well in their spiritual bodies, but they're sick physically. And they also need a touch of Jesus. I read a little further here in Matthew 8. It says, When Jesus was come to Peter's house, He saw his wife's mother laid sick of a fever, and He touched her hand, and the fever left her. She rose and ministered unto them. When the evening was come, they brought unto Him many that were possessed with devils, and He cast out the spirits with His word and healed all that were sick, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah, the prophet saying, Himself took our infirmities and bare our sicknesses. Those are specific promises for the physical. There are some who are sick in spirit, sick because of sin, and that also affects their physical bodies. Those two are very, very close to connecting. As Aaron shared, he was physically sick, mentally a wreck, because he was spiritually void, empty. But when Jesus came and filled that empty spot in his heart, He also took care of his physical infirmities. That's the promise of the Word of God. He healed them with His word. Again, I'd like to just give some opportunity here for you a little bit to share a testimony of what God has been doing in your heart, or maybe you're here today and you're still sick, either spiritually, mentally, emotionally, or physically. God is able. The Lord Jesus Christ took upon Himself our infirmities, our sicknesses, our diseases. He bore them for us. Now, I thought about that woman that came in the crowd in the press and she was ashamed of her sickness. She was unclean. She was ashamed of it. She didn't want anyone to know, but yet she was desperate. Sometimes when we're... some specific sickness that we have, we're ashamed of them. And we're afraid to open up our mouth and let someone else know that we're sick. We're afraid to let it be known that we're sick. I do believe that if we were open and willing to acknowledge our sickness, whether it's a spiritual sickness, whether it's a mental sickness, mental stress, or a physical thing, I believe God is able. I know He's able. And I do believe He's a healer. So, I want to... If someone wants to share, please raise your hand. We'll get a mic to you. Open this up here. There's some family sharing here. There's some who want to share. A sister here and a brother here. And let's just be free. Let's just be a family. Open up our hearts. If I have a need, let me be like that woman. I'm going to go for it. No matter what it costs. Even if it costs me to be ashamed. So... Okay, sister. God bless you, Brother Aaron, for that message today. Friday, a week ago, there were some things that were touched in my heart through the meetings with Brother Gerard. And I went over to Brother Manuel and Sister Marianne to see about working through some of those things. And when we knelt to pray, God took over. And some other things, something else came to the surface that I hadn't even gone over to deal with that day. I know that Brother Manuel, Sister Marianne, they couldn't see the inner workings of my heart, but God could. And He brought something up that because of a series of events when I was just very young, that I had carried a pain in my heart that it went with me all through my growing years. And I never... I felt ashamed and embarrassed to let somebody see how much it hurt. It seemed childish. It seemed... It was just hard. But it seemed that God took over when we knelt to pray. And God was the great counselor that day. And I couldn't go on until I was willing to share about it. And like I said, they couldn't see into my heart, but God gave them a wisdom that day to minister to me in a way that met the need of my heart, spoke to my heart. And for the first time, I was able to let go of that pain and to let God's healing come in. And for the first time in my life, I was emotionally made whole. For 30-some years, there had been a little girl crying inside of me. That Friday, it stopped. And I didn't know that God could do that. I didn't know that... It has done something in my heart to see God be able to do that. It has taken away all the fear in my heart of what God might ask from me. I just know if God can do that, if He loves me that much, then there's nothing in the world that I have to be afraid to give Him and to let Him have. And it encourages me that I don't ever need to be afraid to just be honest with God because God is able to do much more abundantly above all that I ever ask or think. It has given such an overflowing adoration in my heart to God that I didn't even know I could feel toward God. And I think it was because I was never emotionally whole before. And now it seems that there's just been a fountain of love and adoration opened up in my heart toward God. Alright, next testimony here. Praise God. I just want to share a testimony. As a young boy, I lived in a home with a cripple. My dad has been in a wheelchair for 38 years. So that 38 means something to me. I remember gathering around as a family and we were going to pray for dad to walk. In my little heart, I thought he would. I thought he'd get up out of that wheelchair and walk. But he never walked. But something happened in my heart, a longing to see and know the power of God. I'd read the book of Acts, just as a small boy, and I would just think, Oh, Lord, where is it? Where is it? Are you the same? And then we'd hear certain things from certain people that, oh, that was transition. That was the time of then. And in my heart there was a cry that said, No, no, no. God's the same. He's the same today. And you know, even back there, there was a porch full of impotent folk. There was only one healed. God doesn't always heal physically everybody. But there was still a longing in my heart. And over the years, I began to pray and began to seek and I began to long. And just this past week, I had my family sitting down and I just began to count the many times that I have seen the power of God. The power of God's physical healing and spiritual healings and deliverances and things that fit so nicely right into the book of Acts. And I testify today that God's still the same. And I believe that one of the tremendous blessings here this morning in hearing Brother Aaron's testimony is that those that know more of the story know that today, 2006, we have a living testimony of the mighty power of God. And we don't just have to pick up the book of Acts and look back there with some deep, fond longing, but we have clear demonstrations that God is still the same today as He was back then. And He's a deliverer. And He's a healer. And let faith rise up in your heart and look to Him. I just praise God here this morning. I just thank Him for all that He has allowed me to hear in my generation, in my lifetime, how I have heard of so many of the mighty acts of God. I thank Him. And I believe that He wants to do even more. The power of the Lord to heal our hearts, to bring us into fullness and into blessing and into everything that has been bought and purchased at the cross. He wants to do it. He wants to fill us with His Holy Spirit. He wants to pour out upon us spiritual gifts. The Lord has much in store for us. Praise God. Amen. I say amen, I agree. He has bought, He has paid for those things. They've been paid for. We need to appropriate all. And He wants us to do that. Others have a share here. Somebody else have a testimony? Or someone else have a deep longing in your heart? Maybe a need that you'd like to make known? We can pray for each other. Anyone else? Brother Clare? Praise the Lord. It's still kind of scary to share this part of my life for me as well, but I was also touched deeply with what Brother Aaron was sharing. Years of depression. Years of not knowing if I could ever be free. Years of seeking physicians. Seeking different counselors. Seeking different medications. I was just sharing with a brother that this weekend, we're just sitting down and reminiscing through, just reminiscing through with him. And so often people ask me, Clare, how was it for you? What was the answer? And for me, I don't know how to explain it. I don't know exactly what all it was, but I know that I had thought it through from every angle, from underneath, from left to right, north to south, and I had thought myself into a box. It just can't be for me. But I shared with a brother this week that the thing that's still so amazing to me was in the midst of that all, people praying for me. God lifted me up. And it's nothing short of a miracle. As I look back, I say how could it be? There are so many verses in the Bible that say that somebody that was thinking like I was thinking and the gridlock I was in. But it seemed that God took me right out of the middle of that and God was saying, I'm so much more powerful than you're thinking. He just lifted me out. And I say that I believe there is no situation that someone is in that there's no hope for. It seemed that I didn't have the strength and I didn't have the knowledge how to take up my bed and walk. But yet, there was times so often I quit seeking and I said it has to be. No, it can't be in that way. It can't be in this way. It can't be in that way. But when I started seeking again, and it was in times like that that it happened in so many different ways that I would have never thought in the past that it could have happened. So I say that to say that there are still times today that I find myself on that bed in different ways. And I don't know how to say this, but I want to always remember that back to those days how it was because I need to remember how real God was then to know how He can take me on when I find myself on the bed today. When I find myself to need courage and faith to rise and realize there's still more. There's still more. There's never a time that I'm up against that I can't go farther, that I can't be freer, that I can't walk in a deeper faith. So often I place limitations on myself. I think I'm looking too much to one person or putting people on a pedestal. But God is wanting me to step out much farther than that. And it's scary for me to walk in the path that I've never trod before. So I don't know how to say this exactly, that it makes sense, but I'm in a time like that right now. I know God is calling me to go farther. And I need that strength and courage to just know to keep trusting God to go farther. It's always good to remember how God did bring me through. Just remember what God has done. He'll take you on. I just want to bless the Lord that He's a healer and a deliverer. It seems like so few days ago, it's been a few years, that I was just a young, lonely, hurting, confused little girl and growing up in an emotionally and verbally abusive home and having so many hurts and so many... just being so lonely and confused. And I just am amazed at what God has done. I'm amazed at the way that He led me to a meeting to hear the preaching of the Word of God just five years ago when I was 16. How He just opened my eyes and I saw for the first time that it's Jesus that I need and He's the one that's going to fill that void in my soul. It was just like a light flashed on. And at that time, I experienced much healing and yet it's been a continual healing over the years. And I can just say that it has... I can testify that it is true like Brother Aaron said how as we surrender, there is just a healing. And it's been a... as I've continued to surrender, as God gives me the grace to just give everything to Him and surrender to Him, it's brought a deeper healing and a deeper confidence in God and God is my Father. And I just thank Him for all that He's done and I just want to continue. I know there's going to be many things. There's a continual process of healing and things that He brings up, but I want to respond with surrender and I know that my answer is in Him and in Him alone. Thank you. Praise God. Thank you for sharing. God has done wonderful things. Anyone here? Okay. I just want to thank you, Brother Aaron, for the message today and to thank the Lord that He's been showing me mostly in this last week, the reason why I seem to stumble and fall back so often and showing me that I've been trying to walk with Him in my own strength and by the law and the spirit of law. I've been viewing other people the same way with that same spirit and I'm sorry for that, for that wrong example, for being hard on everyone because I was being hard on myself and trying to do things because they're right to do and not by the grace of God, and not through trusting Him. And I just want to say if I've hurt or offended anyone by living that way, please come and tell me. But I just want to thank the Lord that He's working a trust and a brokenness in my heart. He's showing me, just stripping me of all my expectations and how I think that things should go. He's showing me that it's in His strength and His wisdom that I need to walk. Please pray for me that I would continue to trust the Lord and let Him do the work and not try to do it myself, not try to get in His way, but to work with Him and through Him. Thank you. God is looking for you to hearts continually as we yield to Him. As you yield to Him, He'll pour His grace into your life. Okay, Daniel. Aaron, I want to thank you for that message and encourage me to seek the Lord for our pains and our body problems as we grow older. I see that I need the proper balance in this, especially me and my wife as we grow older. We feel these here pains coming and these body limitations of what we can do. I don't want to just try and cope with them where the Lord would have us seek healing in them, but where it is the normal process of getting older, I want to see that and accept that I see it or that the Lord has need for in me to get me less detached to the things of this world and seek heaven. We've got to seek that new body. I see a need for that. And I also see a need that in my life when these limitations come upon me that I do what I can and don't give up on everything. And I don't become discouraged. I don't become complaining. There's a response the Lord wants to bring in me. So, to a degree, I want to accept what is needed in my life. And on the same hand, I want to seek the Lord for a full and complete life and deliverance until the end. Amen. Yes. Yes, I'd just like to thank the Lord that He's alive in my life. And I'd like to thank the Lord that the brothers and sisters I talk to each day, that He's alive in their life. They give me wisdom. They give me counsel. It can just be one word, but God can just touch our hearts. And I don't know how to say this, but I'm so thankful to have a Jesus Christ that I can be with all the time and everywhere and anywhere. And He listens. And just like Brother Aaron said, He's waiting for us. He's always there with open arms. And I just feel that I know there's nowhere else to go. And I just want to grow closer to Jesus. I want to shine for Jesus. There isn't anything else. So don't be afraid to speak out. Don't be afraid to ask for help. Don't be afraid because there's no fear when you have Jesus Christ. All it is is having faith, having faith, and being loved by someone that we're going to see someday. And when we see Him someday, tears will come to our eyes because He loved us. And He's our Teacher. He's our Shepherd. He's our Father. He's our everything. And it doesn't matter what age we are. Because if it wasn't for brothers here, I wouldn't be born again. If it wasn't for Merle, and if it wasn't for Claire, and if it wasn't for... And it doesn't matter about the name. It was where their soul was, where they used to be. They helped me become what I am today. And what I am today is only because of Jesus Christ. For each and every one that gets up in the pulpit is because of Jesus Christ. The strength He gives them. The wisdom He gives them. The power that God has. So don't ever give up on Jesus Christ. He'll never give up on us. Just be thankful. But don't be into our ego and don't think we're arrogant and better than anybody else because we're not. We're hurting souls. But we have a provider that will heal us. Has for 2,000 years. He'll never stop. So don't ever stop trying to get closer to knowing Jesus Christ. And I want to thank you for loving me and accepting me for who I am. But I have a long way to go. And we all do. So let's never stop praying for each other. Never stop picking up the phone and calling each other and saying, How you doing? And have an open heart. Not being afraid to say, I have a problem. Can you help me? Because we're all in the same boat. But we're all going to see Jesus if we have to stick together. God wants us to stick together and pray for each other and love each other. Forgive each other and move on. Hug each other. Caress each other. Think about each other. Pray for each other. We have so much. God gives us this. It's not on our own. It's through Jesus Christ. So don't waste your time. Because every time we waste, we can be with the Lord. And being with the Lord is everything. Everything. He fills all those voids that we think we can fill ourselves. No, Jesus Christ can do everything. Don't ever underestimate Jesus Christ. Because if you do, in my heart, I think we're hurting God. And I think we've hurt God enough. Let's just try to glorify God. So I thank you very much in Jesus' name. Thank you, Brother Robert. I feel like the Lord is answering the cry of my heart. There's not very many Sundays that I don't have the responsibilities to preach. So I found my heart this morning praying, Lord, meet my need this morning. Just like all the other people who stand and say, I came to church saying, Lord, I need something from You. Meet my need. So I prayed that this morning. A rare prayer for me. And I believe the Lord answered my prayer. And I just want to put my withered hand out and bear testimony that the Lord is not done with me. I thank God for the work that He's doing in my heart. But He's not done. And I'm not satisfied. And God needs to do a deep work in my heart. And I'm not going to quit until God does it. I don't care what I have to pay. I want to be to the bottom. I want to be undone. I want to be broken continually. And I'm not going to stop until God has me back at that place again. Please pray for me. Thank you, Brother. May the Lord grant you His heart's desire. I have an empty cup today. I have a withered hand. I appreciate that message, Brother Aaron, this morning. My heart is hurting this morning. I'm not sure exactly how to express it. Because I am in need. I am so thankful for the examples, for the testimonies of men that I can follow and stand up and just break my heart without fear, criticisms, ridicule. I do not have anything to offer the Lord this morning. I have a withered hand of fear. I am a fearful person. I'm afraid of making mistakes. I'm really afraid of what people think about me. I'm really afraid of being hurt. To block that, I do crawl into a shell. I live in a shell quite a bit. I need the grace of God in my life to get past that fear of making a mistake, saying the wrong thing. I want to be a friend. I do want to be a friend. I want to be a person that can be trusted. I want to be a person that can be relied upon. I'm afraid of making mistakes. I'm also afraid of hurting people. But y'all pray for me. I do want to be whole. I do want to be a man of God. I want to be a lovable person. Thank you for sharing. It's not easy to open up our hearts when we're hurting. May God bless you. Maybe someone can minister to you. Is there anyone else that wants to share here? Yes, I just want to give God the glory today for all that He's done in our lives here and in my family. As a family, I think we need your prayers today. We're heading out to visit with my family, my parents, who we've seen a couple of times in the past few years. The meetings haven't been all that well, so to speak. My siblings, my sisters we haven't seen probably in three or four years. Just pray for us that God's grace would be upon us as we go over there today. That His light could shine forth from us. That if the opportunity comes to share a testimony or something that God's done in our life since we've been gone from them, that it would be done with grace and humility. And that pride on my part wouldn't get in the way. I tremble, but I pray for courage from the Lord that He would just open the door up clearly for this gathering today. And that the hearts of my wife and mine would be in unity. I have failed my family much in the past when we were getting together for family get-togethers down there. But God has changed our life. He's made us whole. My entire family, I'm thankful for that. I'm thankful for this body. I'm thankful for being part of it. I'm thankful for the ministry and how each one has spoken into our lives. I'm thankful for the brotherhood and the sisters who have spoken into our lives. So I just ask, keep us in our prayers today. We've gone down for a few hours. It's a real trial for us as a family. For my wife and I. There has been hurt brought to her much in the past down there. And God has done a work in her heart. He's strengthened her in this area. I have failed her much in the past down there. Kind of gone along with my family. I just told her to take it easy. Just deal with it. And she's dealt with much in the last 18 years down there. And I'm thankful she's still around. But I've got to say, it's only by God's grace that we are where we are. Because if the flesh had had its way, we wouldn't be here. God bless you all. May God be with you today. Please keep us in your prayers. Thank you for sharing the feed. A verse here to encourage you. For today as you go, I thought of you sharing how you're trembling in light of all that. I remember what Brother Gerard shared about the Spirit helpeth our infirmities. Do you remember that illustration of picking up that tree and carrying it? The Spirit does it for us. We're just willing to pick up that end. Likewise, the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities. For we know not what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. The Spirit is praying for you. Make intercession for you. Okay, I think our time is gone. Is there anyone else that the Lord is specifically speaking to about sharing here yet? I don't want to cut it short, but our time is gone. Is there someone else who the Lord is wanting to share here this morning? Someone up front. I was really blessed with the message this morning. And I really thank Brother Aaron for what he shared. In many ways, I could relate to his testimony. I was in many, many, many deep fears for years. And I just want to praise the Lord for delivering me from so many of them. But I just request your prayers because many times when I have a temptation, it comes in the way of fear. Maybe something I did or something I said. Years ago, it was more like not stealing or stealing somebody's grass at the yard so if it was on my shoe. And those things are long gone. But sometimes I still feel like when the enemy wants to get me down and make me ineffective, he comes to me with fear. And I just wanted to request your prayers. And even this morning I was attacked and I believe that it was a direct attack from the enemy. I could feel it because of the way it came. And I know that he's subtle. And sometimes I need discernment to know is this of the devil? Or is it actually need? And many times I would run in fear because I hated confession so much because I did it so way out of proportion for so many years. And then I have to find that balance where sometimes I just need to be real and say, okay, this is what I did and this is how it was and be just out with it. But other times to know that this is of the devil and this is accusation and I'm not going to listen to this. So I really need wisdom. And I often feel like in the past it has so immobilized me that I knew it, that I wasn't effective for God. And many times I can sense that maybe it's just when I'm needed for counseling or just when there's something that I was really needed. It's at those times sometimes that it happens and it immobilizes me and then I don't feel like talking to anybody or try to find the shortest way out of church. And so it's real in my life and I know that God will give me the wisdom to know when it's something that He's actually speaking to me about or if it's of the enemy that I can walk by faith at that moment and not give in because it's so real. I often say to Mal that if it wouldn't be this area of my life I don't think I'd have any problems. So please pray for me. Lest you think my battles are our fault and one, I want to stretch forth my hand too. I have needs and I'm not satisfied where I'm at. I want God to do a deeper work of utter dependency upon Him and not just look back to something years ago but to be fresh with God every day. If they were all four there I'd like to have the secret. Thank God. Thank you all for sharing and opening up your hearts.