In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the power of God's word to enlighten and transform our understanding. She shares a personal experience of suddenly realizing the truth and wonders why she didn't understand it before. The preacher highlights that when God sends forth his word, whether through the Bible, preachers, or other means, he will enlighten that word and help us understand. It is then our responsibility to obey the word of God. The sermon concludes with an invitation to trust and obey God, as only he has the power to meet the needs in our lives and bring joy and blessings.

Psalm 107.20. And while you're turning, may I just make note that Pastor Sternemann, Mrs. Sternemann, are ministering at the request of the district office, the extension department in the Alliance Church in Harrisonburg, Virginia. We'll be praying for them and for the ministry there even at this time. Next Lord's Day, I've been requested to minister at the Alliance Church in Charlottesville, and we'll be there for that service. And the following Sunday will mark the beginning of our missionary convention. I'm so delighted that you're here. I trust that God has special blessing for you. You know, each one of us have a need in our lives so enormous that only someone who had power enough to make the world and control it, love enough to come into the world to die for us, majesty and power enough to conquer death, only such a one is able to meet the needs in the lives of our friends and neighbors and family. Let's ask him. Father in heaven, we thank you for the text of the morning. He sent his word and healed them. And it's this word, thy word, of which our Lord Jesus spoke when he said, my word is spirit and it is life. And as we listen, and as we think, might it be our father that we bear in mind some of these near to us and dear to us or known to us who have such great need. And father, that thy name might be glorified, that thy son might be exalted and that they might be blessed with healing and deliverance, that their joy might be full. To that end, Lord, we ask you to direct our thinking now as we give ourselves to thy word in Jesus name. Amen. I think it would be well for me to read verses 17 and 18, 19 as well. Fools, in verse 17 of Psalm 107, fools because of their transgression and because of their iniquities are afflicted. Their soul abhors all manner of meat and they draw near under the gates of death. Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble and he saveth them out of their distresses. He sent his word and healed them and delivered them from their destruction. He sent his word and healed them. But literally the text says he sends his word and heals them and delivered them from their grave pits. That word is only used, we call here destruction, that's only used one place else in the Old Testament and it's translated pit. He delivered them from their grave pit. He sent his word, whether it's by the laying on of hands and many have been experienced the delivering healing power of Christ by the laying on of hands or the anointing with oil by the elders. Many indeed have taken life from the Lord thus or by earnest prayer or group prayer or spoken word, however it is. Whatever the means might be, it's always because of the word of God. He sent his word, his word. My word shall not pass away. Let me illustrate it. You had it from Matthew as the scripture was read for us, but in Luke the seventh chapter verses six to ten, you have what may be another occasion or at least a little different rendering of the event when the centurion whom we are told had been a friend of Israel called the elders of the Jews and said, please go to Jesus in my behalf and ask him to speak that my servant, my slave may be healed. And this centurion had given the Jews a synagogue at his own expense. He'd built it and he had love for the people, the Jews, and therefore these elders came to Christ and they said, here is one of our friends and his servant, he's been kind to his slave and he treats him as though he were a member of the family. He's a good man. Oh, that you do something for him. And he, his message is this. He doesn't even ask you to come to his home. He says, but say a word, but say a word and my servant shall be healed. And the Lord Jesus said, I haven't seen such faith anywhere else in Israel. Came to me saying, but say a word. Oh, I know I have authority. I say to one go and he goes. I say to another come and he comes. I give the order for one to be slain and he's slain, one to be released and he's released. Now, if you'll but speak, my servant, I recognize who you are. I see you as a sovereign. I recognize that you are not man alone. You are God and all you need to do is say a word. Send your word and you'll be healed. But that's in the New Testament. What about that event in the life of Elisha? You remember? The king of Syria had sent his forces out and they'd come to one of the villages just about the same way they're doing today. And they had taken captive some that were in the village, a little girl with them. And she ended up as a house servant in the home of Naaman, who was the king's close friend and his stalwart lieutenant. And he was a great man in Syria, a wealthy man, influential man. Everything was splendid about him, save for one mere small problem. He had leprosy. Now, you wouldn't think it mere or small or problem. You'd think it enormous. I rather think Naaman did too. But the little girl didn't see it as such a great problem because she was acquainted with the prophet back in Israel. And she said to the mistress of the home, would God that my master were in Israel? For if he were but there, and there is a prophet there in Israel, and he would speak the word, just speak the word, and my master would be clean. And this word came to the king, came to Naaman. He went to the king, and the king sent him with gold and silver and jewels, as would befit one king's seeking from another. And the entourage came to the king of Israel, and he said, what are they trying to do? Do I have power of life and death? Am I going to be able to heal a man to give one that's under the sentence of death? Because in Israel, a leper was sent out. They were the living dead. They went to the place of the tombs. What can I do? And then they were told the word came to Elisha, and he said, send the man to me. And so Naaman came with the chariot and the horses and the riders on horseback and the foot soldiers and the whole company to the house of Elisha. And they said, the great man from Syria is here. You know what Elisha said? Tell him to go down to the Jordan River and wash in the Jordan seven times, and he'll be clean. He said, he sent his word. Go, wash, and you'll be clean. Now, Billy Sunday, in his inimitable style and approach, had a sermon he preached on this subject. He called it Seven Ducks and a Muddy River. Well, there was a facetious element to that, but Naaman didn't think it was funny. He felt insulted. And he thought, at least he could have gone and raised his hands over me, and then I would have certainly have been healed. But instead of that, we've got better rivers than that. The far part, Syria is better than the Jordan muddy stream it is. One of his servants said, if he'd asked of you some great thing, wouldn't you have done it? He's asked such a simple little thing. Why don't you obey the word of the prophet? Obey the word. Believe the word, was what his servant said. Do what he told you. Just do what he told you. And so Naaman goes to the Jordan banks and leaves it, and takes off some of his costly princely garments and puts them on the curving of the chariot, and he walks out thinking, this is ridiculous, but I'm going to do it anyway. And he walks down into the water to his shoulder high, and he begins to wash, and then he ducks into the water, then he comes up and he does it again. He looks at his hands, nothing yet. And again, and still again, and the fourth time, not a change yet, and the fifth, and the sixth time. And he looks at it and says, it's just the same as it was. I'm going back. And the servant, I can hear him say once more, master, he said seven times. Well, I've done it six and it hasn't anything. Obey. Trust and obey. And so he goes down and up, and he looks at his hands, and he's healed. He sent his word. He sent his word. The word of a servant sent to Syria, and the word of a prophet sent to Naaman, and he's healed. Because you see, Elisha had the mind of the Lord. He understood what God wanted. Now, it didn't just happen in the Old Testament and the New Testament. God sends his word and heals. He's continuing to do it. You remember we read in Matthew 28, 20, that great commission. Go and teach all nations, baptizing them, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. Go and teach. He sent his word. And where that word is received and where that word is believed, God honors it. Case in point, years ago in Nigeria, a dear godly woman, one of the first converts in the tribe, in the Ur of a tribe, was very, very ill. Extremely ill. A high fever. And they didn't have anything to keep her fever down, no. And the missionaries said, oh, I, to the people around, oh, I wish that I had some ice. And some of the believers that were gathered there said, what is ice? He said it's water, but water gets very cold. And then one of them says, does ice ever come from the sky? Because they knew the Lord was in the sky. Does ice ever come from the sky? Yes. So we'll get ice. And so they went to prayer and said, what do you have as a promise? Well, we have the promise that whatsoever you shall ask of the Father in my name. And we're just going to ask the Father in the name of the Lord Jesus that he sends us ice. And within the half hour, the storm broke out. And the first occasion in living memory, they had a hail storm in that part of Nigeria. And they came in juggling it, saying, is this ice? It came from heaven. Is this what you mean? They said, yes. They go out and gather it and put it into dishes. Well, they might have asked for her healing, but they took the next step. They asked for the ice to get her fever down because that was what the missionary had wanted. He sent his word. And he healed. The word was, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, I'll do it. Teaching them to observe all things. They'd not heard that till Tommy Titcombe came to Yoruba land. They hadn't been told that whatever they'd ask of the Father in the name of the Lord Jesus, he'd do. But they heard it and they believed it. God honored it. In John 14, in verse 26, we are told that when the Holy Spirit comes, he will teach you all things and he will bring all things to your remembrance. The Holy Spirit will cause you to have the word of God quickened in your heart for your need. So it's so important when you have a need that you should ask the Spirit of God to speak to your heart. And you see, faith comes by hearing, hearing the word. And from all the words you've learned and known and memorized, the Spirit of God will very frequently pick up one verse and just sort of etch it in neon. And it flashes on as do the signs advertising the mundane on our streets. And in your mind, that verse will begin to throb until you say, ah, God's trying to get my attention. That's his word. Hold it. Rest on it. Believe it. And then, of course, he sends his word by ministers. Those of us who minister and you who minister to your family and your friends because to them, do you know to someone you're the best Christian they've ever met, the best Christian they know? And if they ever come to Christ, they're going to come to Christ because they know you and have met you. Tremendous responsibility is. And you can be to them a minister of life, a minister of the word, an ever-increasing faith in account of messages given by Smith Wigglesworth toward the early part of the 19th century. He told of an occasion when he was traveling and he was to go through London and to spend a bit of time there not to have meetings. But one of the leaders of the Pentecostal movement in London learned over the Mr. Munsford and made arrangements for Smith Wigglesworth to meet at a certain place the son of believing parents. This boy had at one time given himself to go into the Lord's work, but he'd been overtaken in a fault, many of them in fact. And he now had a very serious disease and he was under the sentence of death by the doctors who had treated him. He couldn't live. And they asked Smith Wigglesworth to come. And the dear man that had made the appointment and brought Smith Wigglesworth to him said, let us go to prayer. Wigglesworth said, no, we won't go to prayer. God has impressed upon me that something is needed more than prayer. This is the word to you, young man, from God. Fools, because of their transgression and because of their iniquities, are afflicted. Their soul abhors all manner of meat and they draw near unto the gates of death. And the young man was smitten through as with a sword, dividing soul and spirit. And he cried out and said, I am that fool. And then he began to openly confess all of the sins that had been lying in his heart like a great compost of evil, infecting his mind as well as the regasion for the infecting of his body. And as he was confessing, a large abscess burst. And before they left that time of together, the young man had been wonderfully healed. God sent his word through Smith Wigglesworth. And the young man repented. That was the message that he needed. Wasn't a time of fasting and prayer, wasn't anointing, was the word of God that was the means of his healing. You recall in Acts, the fifth chapter, that account of Ananias and Sapphira, they'd gotten into a pattern there, selling their property and giving it so that they could live together in a wonderful extravaganza of social fellowship. And God never commanded it, never repeated it. And there was one man who didn't enter into it. And when all of they'd eaten up everything that all the rest of them had given and there wasn't any food and there was a famine in Jerusalem, then Barnabas became the son of consolation. He's the only one in the group that hadn't sold his property. Now he could take the income from it and support the rest of the group. But this is then Ananias and Sapphira want to get into the stream. And so they sell their property, but they come and say, we sold for so much. How much? We'll agree when we go, we'll keep back part of it because pretty soon this thing is going to be over and then we got to have a little to lean back on. Now Peter said, you didn't have to sell your property. And if you sold it, you didn't have to bring the money here. We are in trouble because you lied to the Holy Ghost. He didn't ask you to sell it. He told you not to lie. You lied to him. Now the men that carried out your husband are here for you, Sapphira. They're going to carry you out next. And she laid, he just died. And so we are told, fear came upon the church and upon as many as heard these things. And by the hands of the apostles, many signs and wonders were wrought among the people. And the Sadducees hearing of all these things that were taking place had the apostles put in prison. All of them, as far as we know, it says the apostles. Now that night, the angel of the Lord came and delivered them. You see, the angel of the Lord is always available, but he isn't always participating. He's handy, he's ready, he's there. But there are times when God's purpose is better served by people staying in jail, as Paul stayed in jail in the Momartine prison for so long. But now because of the newness of the church and what God is doing, without prayer, maybe prayer was being offered by the believers. But the angel of the Lord came down and he opened the prison and let them out and locked it again. And they went. And as they were coming, as his command to come, he said to them, go, stand and speak all the words of this life. Go and stand and speak. Why? Because how can they believe unless they hear? And how can they hear without a preacher? It's necessary to go. It's necessary to stand courageously in the face of the opposition. And it's necessary to preach, to push forth the truth. It's by these same words. Go, stand, speak. God has something for us to understand by this. He sent his word and healed them. He didn't give it to us to send. He gave it to us to speak. We speak the word. But God is the one who quickens the word to the heart. Smith Wigglesworth gave to the young man, Psalm 117 verses 17 and 18, God the Holy Ghost smote him with it. That's Smith Wigglesworth. All you're asked to do for your friends and your neighbors and your family is give them God's word. You can't heal them. You haven't been authorized to heal them. You've been commanded to give them the word. His word. He's saying to me, he's saying to you, go, stand, speak, all the words of this life. But it's the spirit of God that quickens that word to the heart. All we can do is say it. We can't quicken it. I remember with the missionary in Niger, I'd been at a place, visiting it there. We had to drive clear out to Zinder. And as we were driving, senior missionary said, we'll stop here at the Bible school. And he pulled up alongside the fence. The gate was closed and stopped. And the people in the house, the missionary couple, heard the car and came out. And George said, just going to be here for a few minutes. I want to stop and see how you were and have you meet Paris Redead, who's with me here. And we're on our way to Zinder. And they started to run. And they ran with their arms outstretched. And they said, come here. And I went to the fence. Both of them put their arms around me. And I said, well, tears in their eyes. And they said, we're here because of you. I said, what? I don't remember ever seeing you or meeting you. Oh, you never met us. You never met us. But we're here because of you. Well, how? Tell me about it. You spoke at Bob University. And I was home peeling potatoes and getting the meal ready. And my husband was at the chapel. And as I was listening on the little 200 watt station over the campus. And she said, God spoke to my heart. And he came home and he had the meal and we sat there. He said, I got something to tell you. He said, I got something to tell you when you finish telling me that God spoke to my heart today. And I believe he's leading us, wants us to go to Africa. And she said, well, God spoke to my heart. And I believe he's leading us to go to Africa. I just said whatever I believe God wanted me to say. You understand? It was God who spoke to their hearts. I didn't. There were a lot of people there to whom they heard nothing. But those two were out in Niger serving the Lord in the Bible school. They heard God speak to them. I can't guarantee that if I give the word, who it'll touch. But he said, you go, you go stand, you go stand and speak all the words of this life. He sends his word and he heals them. So God speaks to you his word and you must receive it. He that heareth my words and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life. And the evidence that we have everlasting life is this. If a man love me, he will keep my words. If you abide in me and my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will and it shall be done unto you. He sent his word. Listen to God speak the word to your heart, your mind. Well, I was still pastor at the tabernacle in New York City. One Saturday afternoon, I was there preparing for Sunday, just having a quiet time in the study with no one to no telephone ringing. And I got a telephone call and lady gave her name. She said, I'm calling you because Vicki and she said told me Vicki and her husband were both chiropractors, had a real witness for Christ in Long Island. Vicki suggested that I call you. Well, I said, I'd be happy to hear from you whether Vicki recommended you call me or not, but I'm glad she has. I respect them very much. Well, she said she knows and I want you to know that I've been diagnosed as having inoperable cancer and I only have, according to the doctors, the most, a few months to live. And while she's talking, I'm praying. Oh God, I don't know what to say. I don't know what word to give. Guide me. And when she finished, she said, will you pray with me? And my first words were no. She said, what? No, I won't pray with you. She said, why? Because you have a root of bitterness in your heart. You have anger against your family. You have been eaten up with a desire for vengeance on those who hurt you. And there is no need or purpose for me to pray. You get before God, confess the sin of bitterness and anger, ask God to forgive you and ask those you hurt to forgive you. And if it's necessary, then after that, we'll pray. But not before. She said, how did you know? I said, I didn't. While you were telling me your condition, I was asking God to guide what I said. I've been frightened by every word I've spoken. But I believe that it's God's word to you. I'll do it. She never called again. I was three years later, four years later, I had flown from Washington to New York to meet Dan and Mary Swanson and their children as they'd come back from Uganda. And on furlough, we were waiting there, a group of people who knew the Swansons but didn't know each other. I was standing by the window in this waiting room. And a woman came over and stood beside me. And she said, you don't remember me, do you? I said, I don't think I've ever seen you before. She said, you haven't. Do you remember the woman that called you on a Saturday afternoon who was dying of inoperable cancer? I said, I remember that woman. She said, you were right. God sent his word through you to me. I did as you instructed. And when I went back, the doctor said the cancer had all but disappeared. And in another two months, there was no evidence of it ever having been there. He said his word and healed him. I didn't know what I was saying. I only knew I was saying what God told me to say. And if I'd said anything else, I'd have been dishonest. I take no credit. I only say that this verse of scripture means exactly what it says. God sends his word and you hear it as the word of God. You respond to it because that's how God works. He sent his word. No wonder it says faith cometh by hearing, hearing the word. I began by saying we all have tragedies and needs and heartaches, enormous, enormous needs. God sends his word, whatever that need may be. And when you hear it as the word of God, you stand on it. You believe it. You obey it. Father in heaven, we believe thy word. We know it is true. Yea, and amen in Christ. Thy word shall not pass away, though heaven and earth disappear. Grant to us, Father, the courage to go, to stand, to speak that the spirit of God may use that word to quicken faith and bring deliverance. Lord, we know we don't have a hold on thee. Thou hast never given to us in this marvelous relationship that you've made possible our being filled with the fullness of Christ. Any way of getting a hammerlock on thee. But oh, Father of Jesus, how long we long to have thee get a hammerlock on us. Utter and total and complete control of what we think and what we feel and what we say. We might be able to speak thy word, even though we don't really understand it, but that we're being true to thee. Oh, teach us, Father of Jesus, how to absolve and glorify thy name and honor thy son as this verse that is our text today becomes quick to us. He sends his word and heals them and delivers them from the grave. Might it be, Father, that thy word is made alive in our hearts and our minds and in our spirits today. We ask for Jesus' sake. Amen. Our brother Paris has been talking about being available to speak the word of God when he speaks it to us. He's been talking about obeying the word of God when it comes to us from whatever source. He's not talking a magic formula. He's not talking hocus pocus. He's talking something that's hard. He's talking life-changing. He's talking obedience. And that's not easy, but it's a requirement. When we walk with the Lord in the light of that word that we receive, then there is an enlightenment. What a glory he sheds on our way. I don't understand. I don't understand. And all of a sudden we do understand. Why? What made the difference? The light of the Holy Spirit. Chris, the bookkeeper in my office for several years, we talked about the Lord for months just in passing. Gave her a Bible. She'd been raised in a church. One day she came in, I had told her about praying and certain things to look for in her time of prayer. One morning she came in the office and she said, last night I was reading and I was prevailed upon to bow my head. And in a moment I lifted my head and almost came off the chair. She said, suddenly I saw. She said, I don't know why I didn't know before. I don't understand why I didn't understand before. God had enlightened her understanding. And when he sends forth his word, whether it comes through the Bible, through the preacher, through the witnessing Christian, through the radio, the television, the track, he will enlighten that word and we will understand and then it is ours to obey or to lose the opportunity to obey. Perhaps God has been speaking to you this morning. He has sent forth his word to your heart for something special. Are you ready to obey? Let's remain seated and sing the first verse of number 546. And listen, will you? Listen to what God has to say. When we walk with the Lord in the light of his word, what a glory he sheds on our way. While we do his good will, he abides with us still, and with all who will trust and obey. Trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey. Look at the third verse. Is there any joy in your Christian life? Is there any joy in your life if you're not a Christian? We never can understand the delights of his love until all on the altar we lay obedience. For the favor he shows and the joy he bestows are for them who will trust and obey. There's a price tag. It's giving up the kingdom of your heart to the lordship of Christ. But we never can prove the delights of his love until all on the altar we lay obedience. For the favor he shows and the joy he bestows are for them who will trust and obey. Trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey. Can we bow and pray? God is above time and space, but we are not. And there comes a time and a place when we must make our commitments. Has God enlightened your understanding as he sent forth his word this morning? Has he told you something that's especially and uniquely for you? Do you want to deal with that in this moment before him? The surrender of the kingdom of whatever it is he's touching. Trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy anywhere but to trust and obey. Would it help you by the lifting of your hand quietly now to signify? He sent forth his word to my heart in this hour. He's enlightened my understanding. Please pray for me that I may trust and obey. Is there anyone who wants to slip up your hand, acknowledging that God has spoken in his word to you in this moment? And we'll pray with you and for you throughout this next week. With heads bowed and eyes continue to close, let's sing trust and obey. And if during the singing of that you want to slip your hand up, I'll see it, and we'll pray with you and for you throughout this week. Trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey. God saw your hands and he's looking now at your will. And he's energizing it to obedience, giving you both the willing and the doing of his goodwill. You must take it from there. Thank you, Father, for your mercy to us, for your seemingly infinite patience with us. We're so glad that you understand us and need not that anyone should explain to you who we are, for you know what is in us. And in your mercy and patience you have waited, and now again you have sent forth your word. And for those who have heard with new understanding, we pray for the energizing of their wills to obedience. Father, we would see you glorified by the obedience of your children. We would see you glorified by the sensitizing of our hearts to you. Amen.