The Power of Letting Go

Well, good evening. Thank you all for coming. It's a joy to be together to speak the Lord and have our ear tuned to what God wants to share with us tonight.

I just so appreciate the children being here. It's a real joy and a blessing. So I would like, again, this evening to just have a short time with the children.

So if I can have a volunteer, say, between age 6 and 8 to come up and help me with this children's lesson. It won't be hard at all. It's pretty easy tonight.

And then tomorrow night, I'm going to have something for every one of the children. All the children will get something tomorrow night. Hello, young man.

What is your name? Matias. Oh, that's nice. Have you ever seen this? Something like that? You haven't? Does anybody want to help Matias figure out what this might be? Oh, they're band-aids.

What do we do with band-aids, Matias? Did you ever have a band-aid? Oh, you put them on cats. Oh, really? When your kitty gets hurt. Yeah.

Well, you know what? When I was just little, I got hurt one day, and I needed a bunch of band-aids. I went over to my neighbor's farm, and they told me, now we're going to go down into the meadow to the creek, and we're going to look for turtles and snakes. You see, whatever we can see.

Do you ever go down to the creek? Yeah? Maybe? Anyway, they said, now, Aaron, there's one thing you need to watch out for. As we go down to the creek, you have to get down on your belly and crawl underneath the electric fence and make sure it doesn't touch your back. So, okay, I got down on my belly to go under the electric fence, and I was going under it, and I looked up, and I thought, oh, that's really close.

I better push it up so it doesn't touch my back. And I pushed up on that electric fence, and it went, and it shocked me, and it had barbed wires. So my hand just went around that barbed wire, and that barbed wire cut into my hand, and I couldn't let go.

Oh, I was screaming and hollering and trying to get away from the fence, and it was just holding on to me. And then the farmer came to life. He heard me screaming.

He ran into the barn, and he unplugged the chopper, and guess what? When I got home, the mom, she had to put some bandage on my hand because those barbs went into my hand. Now, you know what? Since you were such a good boy to come up here, I'm going to give you the bandage. But you know what? When we're hurt sometimes, we want something more than a bandage.

We want something sweet to settle and calm our nerves. So there you go, Matias. Thank you.

Give him a hand. I like to color, too. How many children like to color? I just like to take my notes and just color them all up so it can help me to maybe stay a little better on track with my notes.

Well, you know, we started here Monday evening. It's hard to believe this is already Thursday. It's been a good week.

I've been so blessed to be with you. I'm honored to be here. It's a real privilege and a joy to be with God's people where they want to keep the Lord.

Monday night, well, actually, let me just introduce what the theme is here this week. Our theme has been to know the truth. Because when we know the truth, Jesus said, ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

And we love it when Jesus Christ sets us free. And we are free indeed. Monday night, we talked about what is truth.

And we shared how that truth is embodied in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. And no man comes to the heavenly Father except through Jesus Christ.

Then on Tuesday evening, we talked about thy word is truth. The Bible, the record that God has given us of his son, the holy scriptures are truth. Jesus said in his prayer for his disciples, and all of us here tonight that believe on the Lord, he said, sanctify them through thy truth, thy word is truth.

John 17, 17. Then last night, Wednesday evening, we talked about this matter of truth, that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God. 1 Corinthians 6, 9, Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived.

Now this evening, we want to focus on this truth. For God so loved that he gave. Open your Bibles to John chapter 3 for a very familiar scripture.

John chapter 3. And we'll read a little portion there. And when we get to John 3, 16, I want us to all read it out loud together. So loud that everyone else around you can hear you, all right? I'm going to start in John 3, 14.

And when we get to John 3, 16, I want you all to help me. John 3, 14. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. Tonight, I want us to just be able, by God's grace, to focus in and tune our hearts toward our heavenly Father who loves us so.

Let's pray. Father, we come in the precious name of Jesus, and we're asking, Lord, for the revelation of Jesus Christ, the revelation of the love of God for the world and for each one of us here tonight. Oh, God, I'm asking in the name of Jesus that you would manifest your glory and your beauty of holiness and your love to us here this evening, your care for us, your grace upon us, and your ability, Father, to minister your love to our hearts and bring healing to every hurt, every wound, every disappointment, every sorrow.

Jesus bore it on Calvary's cross. And, Father, I pray that tonight your Holy Spirit presence would be among us, Lord, and upon us, Father, to bring deliverance to those who are captive, to the enemy of our souls, that old devil. And, Father, I ask in the name of Jesus that you would minister comfort to your people and pour out your Spirit of comfort and blessing and grace.

And, Father, I ask that tonight you would visit us in your love and in your faithfulness and in your goodness and give us ears to hear what Jesus Christ, what the Spirit of God is saying to me. Amen. God is love.

I was sharing with a dear sinner friend one day, and he was nigh unto death. He was actually a relative of mine. And I felt like in years past I had sought to try to bring him to the truth through pointing out his sins.

He was an alcoholic in his younger days. He was a chain smoker in his younger days. And his lungs were so deteriorated that he was really in bad shape in his older years.

He could hardly breathe anymore. He would not be able to lie down at night. He would sit up on the edge of a chair, like a recliner chair, and lean over it on the back so that he could stay upright because if he would have laid down, he probably would have suffocated on the fluid that was on his lungs.

Well, this individual over the years, I knew him quite well and had shared with him the gospel different times, but I found a real strong resistance. But as this man was nearing the end of his life, the Lord began to work in my heart and break my heart and said, Aaron, we need to show him the compassion and the incredible love of Jesus Christ. And so I asked for prayer support, and my wife and I, we went to see this dear soul one more time.

And that day, the Lord met us in that room. As we shared about the love of Jesus, the incredible love of Jesus Christ, the matchless love of Jesus, the amazing love of Jesus, that he died on the cross and my sins were laid upon Jesus. And all my sins, all my years of alcoholism, all my years of pornography and all the filth and whatever all it was, was all laid on Jesus.

Oh, the incredible love of God. And as we shared about that incredible love of God, the Lord came and met us in that room. I am just so grateful tonight for the love of God.

The love of God. This person passed on. There was a little bit of a question whether he was saved or not, but he did not resist the gospel that day.

He was very receptive and open. And I heard testimony that at night when he couldn't sleep, he would be crying out to God at times, Oh, Lord, have mercy on me! Oh, Lord, have mercy on me! And then after he passed a number of months, his wife had a dream that she saw her husband in heaven, robed in white, smiling and beaming in the glorious light of Christ. And she started to want to go towards him.

And then he said, You can't come and touch me now, but you shall later. And then she woke up. And this dear sister shared that dream with me.

Oh, praise God for the immense love of Jesus! A man just wasted years, and the love of Christ is so incredible. That thief on the cross wasted years, but he cried out, Oh, Jesus, have mercy on me. Remember me when you come into your kingdom.

And what were the words of the Lord Jesus? Today you shall be with me in paradise. Oh, the incredible, matchless love of Jesus! Should we the ocean with ink fill, and were the skies a parchment, and every stalk on earth a quill, and every man a scribe by trade, to write the love of God above would drain the ocean dry, nor could this scroll contain the whole, though stretched from sky to sky. The man who wrote that had a revelation of God's love, a deep revelation.

Jesus sat at meat in the house, and many publicans and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said, Why, eat of your master with publicans and sinners. But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, May that be whole meat not a physician, but be that are sick.

But go and learn what it means. I will have mercy and not sacrifice. For I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

Oh, brothers, sisters here tonight, the matchless, incredible love of God, Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ, the sinless Lamb of God, being made sin for me, taking my sins upon himself. Jesus, the compassion of God, Jesus, the love of God revealed to mankind. In Luke 4, 16, as Jesus came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, as was his custom, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up to read.

And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it is written, The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor, and has sent me to heal the brokenhearted and to preach deliverance to the captive and the recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. This is the mission of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Spirit of God was mighty upon him and anointed him to preach the gospel to the poor. In Isaiah 61, it adds a little bit there that wasn't mentioned here in Luke 4. It says that he came to bind up the brokenhearted. He came to preach deliverance to the captive, to proclaim liberty to the captive.

Hallelujah. Liberty to those who are in captivity, to the bondages of sin, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound. In Isaiah 61, this is the ministry of Jesus.

Still tonight, his ministry is to open up the prison house, praise God, and the recovering of sight to the blind, and to set at liberty them that are bruised. You know, there's many bruised in our world this evening. There's many bruised and bleeding and hurting and wounded.

And I am so sorry to have to say this, but it's true. There are those that have been abused, verbally abused by an abusive father or mother, and there was unkind and harsh words in their home, and they were told they're no good from little children on up, and they were pushed down, and they were abused. Oh, how sad.

Can you hear the cry of the children? My heart breaks when I go to visit some of these families in the city, and there they are in a single-parent home, and there's a stepfather or mother present, and there is no love in the home. But there is abusive language and a hateful, harsh language, and these little ears need to hear that. Oh, how sad.

The breaking of the physical abuse as well. Some get beaten physically, and they get misused physically. It's so grievous.

And I hate to have to even mention it tonight, but it's true. Some get abused sexually, and they are so wounded and so broken and so bruised. But tonight the Lord Jesus Christ has a compassionate heart full of love and compassion for the wounded and the broken and the contrite in heart, those that have been bound and have been broken and have been shattered and crushed by the harshness and the unkindness of those around them.

Jesus came to set at liberty those that are bruised. He came to heal the brokenhearted and to bind up the brokenhearted and their wounds. This is illustrated so beautifully in Luke 10.30. A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment and wounded him and departed, leaving him half dead.

You see, that's the work of the devil. He came to kill and to steal and to destroy, and he's seeking whom he may devour tonight. That's an illustration of the devil.

Those thieves stripped him of his raiment. They wounded him and left him half dead. And then a certain Samaritan came.

There was a few others that came first, some religious men, and they just passed him by. They didn't want anything to do with this poor soul. But a certain Samaritan came as he journeyed where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, and he went to him and he bound up his wounds.

Remember the children's lesson. He bound up his wounds. He took those band-aids and he put them on those bleeding wounds.

He bound up his wounds. He poured in oil and wine, and he set it on his own beast and brought him to an inn, and he took care of him. Oh, this is our Lord Jesus Christ tonight.

He's just ready, full of compassion, like this Samaritan to come and bind up the brokenhearted and the wounded and to pour in the oil and the wine and to take care of him. Isaiah 62, he came to comfort all that mourn, to appoint unto them that morning Zion, and to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. Yes, tonight there is healing.

There's a healing balm in Christ Jesus for the wounded heart tonight. Maybe you're here this evening and your heart has been wounded and broken and you so long to be healed. Come to the Lord Jesus tonight and give him your cares, your burdens, your wounds, and lay them at the feet of Jesus, at the cross of Jesus, and he will pour in the oil and the wine, and he'll comfort the mourning, and he'll give unto them that morning Zion, beauty for ashes.

Oh, what a beautiful thing, the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. You know, I've met some people that have gone through incredible things. They have suffered incredibly at the hand of an abusive situation, or they have suffered incredibly under persecution, or whatever it may be.

But today their hearts are overflowing with joy and the beauty of the Lord Jesus Christ, and they have beauty for ashes, a garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. This is our Lord tonight. Jesus went forth, and he saw a great multitude, and he was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick.

Oh, tonight whether you're sick in your soul, and you're sick because of broken relationships, broken promises, stabbed in the back, betrayed, whatever the case may be tonight, oh, Jesus said, those that are sick is who he came for, and just as he healed the sick, and he looked out upon that crowd that day, and his heart was moved with compassion. Oh, tonight his heart is moved with compassion toward you. My dear friend, tonight if you're a broken and wounded heart, Isaiah 42, Behold my servant whom I behold, mine elect in whom my soul delighteth, I put my spirit upon him.

He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not cry nor lift up nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed shall he not break, and a smoking flax shall he not quench.

He shall bring forth judgment unto truth. He shall not fail nor be discouraged through he has said judgment in the earth. Maybe tonight you're one of those bruised reeds, and you walk with a woundedness, a bruised reed.

You wonder, can I ever be whole? Can I ever be whole? Can I ever be healed? I don't know probably of anything much greater than the scar and the wounding and the long-term effect of the wounding of sexual abuse and physical and verbal abuse from a parent to a child. That poor innocent child is so wounded. Some are 50 years old, 60 years old, still carrying the woundedness.

Oh, tonight Jesus wants to heal you. He wants to pour in that oil and the wine. A bruised reed shall he not break.

And maybe tonight you feel like you're that smoking flax. Your hope is almost gone. You're holding on, and you're wondering.

It's been so many years. You know, like that woman with the issue of blood, for so many years, gone to many physicians, but only to not get any better until she met Jesus. Maybe tonight you've gone to so many counselors.

You've gone to so many people. Or maybe tonight you're hiding it deep in your heart, deep inside, and you would never dare speak about it because it's just way too painful. I pray in the name of Jesus.

Oh, that the Holy Ghost of God, the breath of God would blow upon your smoking flax tonight. If you're here tonight in your smoking flax, and you're just about to go out, the Heavenly Father sees that. The Lord Jesus Christ sees that.

And His heart is moved with compassion towards you. And He longs to breathe upon you that you might be healed and cleansed. Blow upon that smoking flax.

Fan it up into a flame and heal your brokenness. In Matthew it tells us of this same prophecy of the Lord Jesus. It says that He shall send forth judgment unto victory! Oh, glory, hallelujah! Once I was lost.

Once I was bound in chains and sin of fetters. Then I was bound, but Jesus came and He brought me glorious freedom unto victory! And now He's given me a garment of praise for the Spirit of heaviness, the oil of joy for mourning, and it no longer pains me like it once did. You know, you can't maybe really ever forget, but the stinger can be taken away.

That deep sting of that deep woundedness can be healed in Christ Jesus. A bruised reed shall He not break. A smoking flax shall He not quench till He send forth judgment unto victory.

Oh, how lovely the love of God. Oh, how matchless the love of God. Psalm 147, verse 2, the Lord does build up Jerusalem.

He gathers together the outcasts of Israel. You know, tonight you might feel like I'm just an outcast. I was always the black sheep of the family.

Nobody really cared for me. I was always the one that was really killed and put down, and I was cast out. They don't want me in the game.

They don't want me in their group. They don't want me around. Oh, the outcasts.

The Lord says He will gather together the outcasts. He heals the broken in heart and binds up their wounds, Psalm 147. Ezekiel 34, 15, I will feed my flock.

And this is speaking of the Lord, concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. He said the shepherds of Israel have fed themselves, and they have not fed and nurtured the flock. And He says, I will raise up a shepherd that will fulfill all my heart and will for my people.

And He says in Ezekiel 34, 15, I will feed my flock. I will cause them to lie down, says the Lord. Oh, when the flock lies down, that means they're at rest.

They feel secure in their father's love. They feel secure in the shepherd watching over them, his rod and his staff. They bring comfort to the sheep, and they're secure there.

He goes on to say, I will seek that which was lost and bring again that which was driven away, that which the false shepherds drove away and didn't want nothing to do with them. He says, I'm going to go bring them again. I'm going to go gather them.

You know, He gave that parable one day of a man having a hundred sheep. And He said, if one is lost, does he not leave the ninety and nine and go seek out that one lost sheep? Oh, the incredible matchless love of Jesus! He's seeking you out tonight, my friend. The wounded, the broken, the downtrodden, the outcast, the rejected.

Yeah, because He feels for you. He was rejected. He was a man of sorrows.

He was acquainted with grief. Oh, the Lord Jesus is looking out for you tonight. He is seeking out His sheep tonight.

He will seek that which is lost and bring that again that was driven away. And I will bind up that which is broken. Yes, I'll bind up that which is broken.

Sonny boy, those Band-Aids, He's going to take those Band-Aids and put them on His sheep just like you put them on your kitty cat. Praise God! Yes, He's going to bind up the brokenhearted. Thank you, Jesus.

I will strengthen that which was thick. When the Lord shall build Zion, He shall appear in His glory. He will regard the prayer of the destitute and not despise their prayer.

This shall be written for the generation to come, and the people which shall be created shall praise the Lord. We're in Psalm 102, verse 16 and following. For He looketh down from the height of His sanctuary.

From heaven did the Lord behold the earth. To hear the groaning of the prisoner. You know, sometimes we wonder, does anybody care? Does anybody even really want to hear? Is there anyone that we can be open before and pour out our heart? But all tonight, the God of heaven is listening from His sanctuary.

The Lord Jesus Christ hears the groaning of the prisoner. You know, sometimes it's such a deep thing in our heart that we just don't know how to put it into words. And not very many people would understand.

But tonight, there is one who understands. And His name is Jesus. And there's one who has compassion.

Not only does He have compassion, but Jesus has all authority. And He has power to deliver and to set the captives free. Look at this here.

He says He hears the groaning of the prisoner and to loose those that are appointed unto death. Yeah, the devil thought he had them. He thought this is it.

This is the last mile of the way. And I'm going to devour this soul. I'm going to bring him into the depths.

But God says, I'm going to loose those that are appointed unto death. Tonight, if you have been playing into the hands of the devil and he's got a grip on you, I want to encourage you tonight. The Lord Jesus Christ can loose you from the bands of that death, from the plans of the devil to destroy your life if you will cry out to Jesus and you will open your heart to the Lord.

He hears your groaning. It's just so sad. You know, some of these abusive cases.

These poor children and young adults cry themselves to sleep night after night. That sounds like this Scripture. They're groaning.

But God hears and He sees. He hears the groaning of the prisoner. Isaiah 49, 24 Shall the prey be taken from the mighty or the lawful captive delivered? But thus saith the Lord, even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered.

For I will contend with him that contended with thee and I will save thy children. The devil's a liar. He's defeated in the name and the power of the Lord Jesus Christ.

He wants you to think you have no way out. There's no escape. You're too far gone.

You went too far. You've committed the unpardonable sin. You're down in the gutter and he's got his foot on your neck and he says it's all over.

You may as well give up. But I'll tell you what, no matter how strong the bondage and the captivity is or how mighty the enemy seems in your life, he says the captives of the mighty shall be taken away and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered because the Almighty God shall contend with your captor. Oh, bless God tonight.

I will save thy children. There are some moms and dads here tonight who have a burden and a longing desire and they know that some of their children need to be saved. I urge you, lay hold on the Scripture.

Hold fast to these verses. Isaiah 49, 24 down through 25 and believe God and pray the promises of God and believe God to save your children. He says I will contend with him that contendeth with your children, with thee.

And he's out to destroy and to devour and to kill. He says I will contend with him and I, even the captives of the mighty and the prey of the terrible, they shall be delivered. Oh, the love of Jesus.

Oh, the matchless love of God. It reaches higher. It reaches deeper than we can ever tell.

For God, for God so loved the world that he gave his Son, his only begotten Son, that whosoever would believe in him shall not perish. The devil shall not have his way with him, but he shall have eternal life. You know, tonight I do want to say this to any here this evening that are abused or hurting and wounded.

I want to share the testimony of Corrie Ten Boom. Corrie Ten Boom was in a prison in World War II with her sister Betsy and they were tormented and tortured in that prison. They were made to go with very little food.

They were at times made to stand out in the cold with very little clothing or none at all and they were humiliated and abused by the guards and Corrie's sister Betsy was treated so harshly by a certain guard that she died. Corrie was miraculously delivered. They later said they believed it was a mistake according to mankind's reasoning, but hallelujah, it was no mistake because God is in control and she was delivered from the prison.

Well, after the war was over, Corrie was sharing a testimony a number of years later in a church and as she was up there sharing her testimony, she saw a man sitting toward the back of the auditorium and she thought there seems to be a recognition, but she couldn't put the two together. After she was done with her sharing of her experiences in prison and how the Lord delivered her out of the mouth of the lion, brought her through and preserved her, people were coming forward to want to talk to her and all at once she saw this man coming toward her and he was close now and she recognized it's the guard. It's the guard that was responsible for my sister Betsy's death and within her wound up feelings of hatred and bitterness and then the Lord spoke to her.

Her ear was tuned to the Lord. The Lord spoke to her and said, you need to forgive him and she said, Lord, I can't. I can't forgive him and Jesus whispered, I know you can't, but I in you can and she realized, yes, the battle is the Lord's.

I am his child and Christ in me can. The guard was now in front of her and he stuck out his hand. She couldn't put her hand out right away.

She said, are you who I think you are? And he with a trembling broken heart said, yes, I am and I am here to ask for your forgiveness. The Lord Jesus met with me and saved my soul and I'm here to ask for your forgiveness. I'm so sorry.

Can you forgive me? And then she told the guard. She said, you know what? I can't, but as you were coming here, Jesus spoke to me and he said, I can through you and you can through me. So she said, in the name of Jesus, I forgive you.

Hallelujah. So I want to say here this evening, Cory went on to minister to a lot of people who were persecuted, abused, wounded, deeply hurt, broken, bruised, shattered. Years of their life stolen from them.

Family members killed in the war. Awful times. And this is what Cory said.

He said, in my ministering to these people who went through similar experiences as myself, the ones who were willing to forgive, I saw them become healed and whole and full of the grace and mercy of God. But the ones who refused to forgive, it was like they were drinking the poison of bitterness and unforgiveness that they were hoping would kill the one who persecuted them, who abused them and mistreated them. Somehow in our human rationale we think, boy, if I forgive them, then they're just going to go scot-free.

And that's not right. That's not justice. They need to pay for their crime.

I'm not going to forgive them. I'm going to hold their feet to the fire and I'm not going to forgive them to my grave. And you know, that's how some of them were.

They did not forgive and the bitterness just ate them up. Cory said it was so sad to see shriveled up human beings who were just a shadow of a person because they were so consumed with their bitterness. You know, I've seen that too.

Not in those same circumstances, but I've seen it where a child is now a youth or a young adult and their parents abuse them, verbally abuse them, sometimes even physically abuse them, sometimes even sexually abuse them. And all the while they were going to church looking like a godly man on the outside of church and no one else knew. Such hypocrisy.

Such wickedness. Some of those men are now sitting behind bars and their children, some are married, still dealing with the trauma, with the shatteredness and the brokenness, wondering, can I ever be whole? Well, tonight we're going to give an invitation out of Isaiah 52. Awake! Awake! Put on thy strength, O Zion! Put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city! For henceforth there shall no more come unto thee the uncircumcised and the unclean.

Awake! Awake! Shake thyself from the dust! Arise! Sit down, O Jerusalem! Loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion! Tonight I want to say awake! Awake! Jesus Christ is right here! He's right ready to cleanse you! He's right ready to heal you! He's right ready to bind up your wounds and put those band-aids on those wounds, to bind you up, and to pour in the oil and the wine, and to bring wholeness to your heart, and bring healing and deliverance from that bitterness that defiles a person. O tonight, awake! Awake! Shake thyself from the dust! The devil cannot hold you down! There's liberty in Christ Jesus! You can be free tonight in Christ Jesus! For thus saith the Lord, Ye have sold yourselves for an audit, ye shall be redeemed without money. O ye shall be redeemed without money, without price, but the price of the precious blood of Jesus Christ! Aye, tonight, awake! Awake! Then defeat the devil! The violent take the kingdom by force and by storm.

You know, don't sit in wallowing self-pity and look inward and have the victim mentality and say it's just way too bad. I can never be healed! Yes, you can! Jesus Christ can make you whole! He can cleanse the leper! He can raise the dead! Yes, Jesus Christ has all authority and power tonight! Awake! Awake! Take thyself from the dust of that lies of the devil that want to hold you captive and say, you can't quit that pornography, you can't quit that drinking, you can't quit that sin, whatever it is, you're addicted and you're mine and I'm holding you fast. No, you're not his! You belong to God! God is not willing that any should perish! You're created in the image of God! You're to bear God's image! And tonight, Jesus Christ has paid the price on Calvary for you to be delivered from every sin and bondage! Even those who are mighty and strong and the devil loses not his prisoners, but Jesus Christ comes and rattles the gates of hell and he loses the prisoners out of hell! Tonight you can be saved! Awake! Awake! Shake thyself from the dust, loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion! Come! Come unto me! O hear the tender shepherd, the compassionate shepherd who has all authority and power! Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden! Weigh down! Come unto Jesus and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly at heart. And ye shall find rest, ye shall find rest for your soul. Yes, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

Tonight I just want to give you an invitation to come to Jesus. And when I say that, Jerry, we're not meaning that if you come front here or you stand and acknowledge that, yes, I need healing. We're not asking you to join the church here or something like that.

This is between you and God. However, we would be so happy to pray with you if you need someone to help you through to the Lord. But tonight I ask us to be honest before God and to hear His voice and bring our cares to Jesus, for He cares and He has authority and power to bring healing to the brokenhearted.

Shall we sing a verse of song? And if you have heard the voice of the Lord tonight, please do not harden your heart, but respond to the Lord Jesus. Respond to the gentle shepherd. Respond to the lion of the tribe of Judah who has authority and power to deliver and set free.

What's our song tonight?