We continue in our series Hope found Here and on this Healing and Wholeness Sunday what I want to do is encourage you to Call out to God in prayer.
Psalm 34:17-20, The LORD hears His people when they call to Him for help. He rescues them from all their troubles. The LORD is close to the brokenhearted; He rescues those whose spirits are crushed. The righteous person faces many troubles, but the LORD comes to the rescue each time. For the LORD protects the bones of the righteous; not one of them is broken!
God listens when you call out to Him in prayer. In whatever circumstance or situation you are in right now you can call out to God and know He will hear you. Often when we pray, we expect God to answer even before we say Amen. God knows the end from the beginning and everything in-between He knows the perfect time for everything that happens in our lives.
Every day our Heavenly Father cares for us and blesses us in so more ways than we notice or imagine. Today God can bring healing and wholeness. Today God can change your circumstance.
Friends, is there an area of your life where you need to trust God more? Is there a circumstance or situation that you need Him to change? Do you need to experience His touch on your life? Today can be a day that can impact you, a day that can change and transform you. Will you allow God to minister to you tonight? To do what only He can do?
In the Bible there are many amazing records of miraculous healing - it’s amazing what God has done in so many peoples lives - miracles and signs and wonders that all bring glory to God. Maybe, we wrongly assume, that was then and this is now. It is so easy for us to ignore the truth that God is the same yesterday, today and forever.
Throughout the Bible, there is evidence of God’s active involvement with His people. Healing is one of the many ways in which God, in His mercy, was active in the lives of His people. God healed then, God heals now, and God will continue to heal till Jesus returns.
The history recorded in the Bible, contains angelic visitations, divine revelations, acts of mercy, acts of judgement, supernatural manifestations and miraculous deliverances. Real evidence of God’s interaction with His people. Miraculous occurrences that provided God’s people with blessing and confidence in their God. Throughout history, as people have called out to God in prayer, He has answered with Miracles and Signs and Wonders. God is God and He is actively involved with His people. God is always at work in the world and God is always working amongst His people, but there are special times when God seems to intensify His activity -- ‘times of refreshing from the Lord.’ as Acts 3:19 describes it.
Perhaps some of us, like the idea of God healing, we read about it, we pray about it, but maybe we have yet to experience healing in our own lives. Our lack of experience can make us sceptical when it comes to healing services or healing prayer. If someone is healed, if someone is changed - rather than praise God - we may even try to rationalise or explain it away. My prayer for us this evening is that all of us will allow ourselves to be healed, inspired, moved and changed by the Holy Spirit - not just today but every day of our lives.
The New Testament contains a wonderful record of the signs, wonders, healings, conversions, and supernatural blessings released through the Holy Spirit to God’s church. It is God’s desire that each of us experience healing and wholeness in our lives. We can call out to God in prayer for physical healing, spiritual healing and emotional healing. We can ask Him to repair our brokenness and make us whole in Him. Whatever circumstance or situation you are in today, God is with you, you can trust Him to care and bless.
The Holy Spirit can work in your life tonight, transforming you from the inside out. Friend, do not quench the power of the Holy Spirit in your life, allow God to change you, shape you, heal you today. Allow the Holy Spirit to make you the person God has called you to be, allow the Holy Spirit space to take control!
Would a fresh touch from the Holy Spirit make a difference in your life? Does your heart and mind and life need to be touched and changed by the Power of God? Do you need Him to Heal you and make you whole?
In this world, so many lives are broken, so many relationships are damaged, so many are in despair, so many prodigals are wandering in the wilderness. Call out to God in prayer tonight and see what God is able to do. Perhaps in your own life, you feel like there is a situation too impossible to fix. In your own strength, it probably is. But in God’s strength, in His might, in His love, in His Grace, all things are possible. He is the God of the impossible. The miracles that occurred in Bible times, can and do still occur today.
Listen to the words of King David in Psalm 103:1-5, Let all that I am praise the Lord; with my whole heart, I will praise His holy name. Let all that I am praise the Lord; may I never forget the good things He does for me. He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases. He redeems me from death and crowns me with love and tender mercies. He fills my life with good things. My youth is renewed like the eagles!
David continues in Psalm 103:10-12, He does not punish us for all our sins; He does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve. For His unfailing love toward those who fear Him is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth. He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west.
Do these words of King David’s prayer speak to your heart? These verses are part of a heartfelt call to God in prayer, a prayer of thanksgiving for God’s faithfulness. This is a personal prayer, a prayer that recognizes God is the source of blessing - the source of healing - the source of salvation. A prayer which reminds David of who God is. Do you need to be reminded of who our God is?
God is the same God that spoke this universe into existence. God is the God that hung the stars in space. God is the God that formed you in your mother's womb.
God is the God that knows you better than you know yourself. God is the God who loves you and cares for you and has promised never to leave or forsake you. God is the God of miracles and God can heal today.
Whatever situation, circumstance, trial, problem, illness, relationship issue, or problem you have, or another member of your family has, or a friend has God can make a difference. He can heal and restore, He can make the broken whole, the sick well, God can heal today.
This evening, you need to call out to Him in prayer, you need to hear God’s voice, to feel Him ministering to your need, to experience the healing and wholeness only He can bring to your life. God can bring change to your life today. The Holy Spirit that can change you today. It is only God that can bring real healing and wholeness.
It is only the Holy Spirit that can bring real change, God is interested in change. He’s interested in changing you. There are certain things about you that God wants to change. God wants us to experience the power & purpose that we as Pentecostal People can experience. God wants to bring healing and wholeness to our lives as He changes us into the people He wants us to be.
The first disciples believed in Jesus as their Saviour, but they were still confused about many things. They didn’t fully understand Jesus’ mission, they didn’t fully grasp why he had come to earth. They were confused, they were timid. They weren’t confident about sharing the Gospel with others. How could they, if they didn’t fully understand it?
Then at Pentecost, the Holy Spirit Changed them. The disciples were together when the sound of a blowing wind came down from heaven. What seemed to be tongues of fire settled on their heads. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and a crowd gathered, people from all over the world, and that crowd listened as the disciples preached the Gospel. Then Peter stood up and addressed the crowd – he delivered a sermon that God the Holy Spirit inspired him to preach, a sermon that God used to convert 3000 people in one day.
Do you see the changes that took place as the Holy Spirit worked in their lives? The disciples' confusion had gone. They understood. They were bold. They were confident. They were changed. The Holy Spirit took fisherman, ex-religious leaders, tax collectors, and various family members of Jesus and the other disciples and formed them into a united group…we call the church. It was God’s Spirit that changed them, are you willing to be changed by the power of the Spirit? Are you willing to experience healing and wholeness?
Who needs change and healing?
Our world needs change. Our world needs healing. Call out to God in Prayer for our world
Our community needs change.Our community needs healing. Call out to God in Prayer for our community
Our families need change. Our families need healing. Call out to God in Prayer for our families
We need change. We need healing. Call out to God in Prayer for God to work in your life.
We need a fresh touch from God on our lives. We need to be transformed by the Holy Spirit. We need the power of God to energise us. We need the power of the Holy Spirit to enable us.
Everywhere we look in the world today there is hurt, suffering, and tragedy. Sometimes its physical affliction, mental turmoil or spiritual barrenness, but it is all around. God has called us, God has called this Church to pray and to make a difference!
How many people do we come into contact with every day who are crippled by situations, they don’t know what to do with their children; their marriage is falling apart
or their job is hanging by a thread or they struggle with low self-esteem, guilt or depression? Behind every door there is human need. Every person has a story to tell.
People listen to the truth! We’ve all been hurt, we’ve all been used, we’ve all failed, and we all need healing. All of us need Jesus to work in our lives — and that’s the biggest need that every one of us. We need the healing and wholeness that only a relationship with Jesus can bring.
The early Church was birthed in the power of the Holy Spirit, the community around us, our families, our friends won’t be transformed until we as a Church are transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit. We are the church of Jesus Christ, we are a Pentecostal Church. We were born of the Spirit, we identify with the Spirit
and we are to seek after the fullness of the Spirit.
As His church, we must seek to be filled with His power.
As His church, we must seek to be transformed.
As His church, we need the power of the Holy Spirit to change us, to heal us, to empower us.
When it comes to our outward appearance - the superficial stuff - the stuff that people see when they look at us - we want change. When it comes to the inside - the spiritual - the person we are when we think nobody is looking. The bit on the inside is often what we try to convince ourselves that does not need changing. We don’t think we need to change inside. We don’t think we need healing. “I’m alright the way I am,” we say to ourselves. “What do I need to change about myself?” The answer is, a lot.
Yes, it’s true, we may be Christians, but we are not perfect. We still have sinful habits that we don’t want to get rid of - because we enjoy them. We still have moments when we are selfish. We still have moments when we completely misunderstand what God is telling us in the Bible. We still have moments when we fail to share our faith because we’re too timid.
We are Christians, we are going to heaven, but we still need to change. We need to become more and more the people that God wants us to be. At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came directly to the disciples. He can do that to you. He could come with the sound of a wind, or with tongues of fire, or through preaching of the Word or during worship. The Spirit can come in the spectacular or in the simple.
On the inside, all kinds of change can happen. The Holy Spirit changes us daily. Do you want to be more confident? Do you want to be at peace with God and yourself?
Do you want to be less confused about the Bible? Do you want to understand God more? Do you want to be able to share your faith more naturally, more confidently?Do you want to be able to live the way God tells you to live in the Bible? Do you want to change?
Do you REALLY want to change? Then let the Holy Spirit do what He does best! Let Him do the miraculous! Allow Him to fill you afresh. Allow Him to change you. Allow Him to turn you into the person God has called you to be.
In a moment we will pray for individuals - if you want prayer there will be an opportunity for you to come forward. But right now where you are I want everybody to stand. Sometimes we are too proud to come forward, sometimes we are too worried about what will happen - sometimes in our pride, we don’t want anyone to know we are hurting.
Is everybody standing...
Ok now if there is nothing wrong in your life right now, nothing wrong in the life of someone dear to you, nothing wrong in the life of a neighbour, friend or family. Nothing that needs one touch from the king. If there is nothing that needs healing in your life, if there is nothing that needs to be changed, if there is nothing that can be made whole, if there is nothing you want Jesus to do you can sit.
Thought so, every one of us needs to be healed from something, every one of us wants Jesus to make something whole, every one of us needs the touch of the king on our lives. Right now with everyone standing, will you close your eyes and reach out your hands. What I want us to do together is take a few minutes to call out to God in prayer. I want us to pray together out loud, Pray for yourself, pray for others, pray for God to bring healing and wholeness.
God is listening - call out to Him in prayer.
