Going From Wrestling God To Leaning On Him

Challenges in relationships, finances, physical challenges, pain, sickness, fears, relational, marriage, grandparents, parents, kids, finances. I don't know whatever it is, but there's things that we're all carrying. Raise your hand if you're carrying something today. We all walked in here, but today I want, I want us to make room. I want us to make room for the needs behind the smile. And at the end of the service pastor, Joanna and I are going to offer to pray for anyone who wants prayer. I know you probably noticed we didn't do prayer yet today. It's intentional. And I'm going to give you several verses, but today I want to minister to you something I've not ministered before. But if we're going to do things in our church, I want you to know why we do it. I want you to know why we do it. I want you to know the heart behind it. And I want you to be able to open your Bible and be to explain to somebody biblically why you do it. Amen. So Luke chapter four verse 40. I want you to go ahead and read that for us. When the sun was setting, all those who had any that were sick with various diseases brought them to him and he laid his hands on every one of them and healed them. He laid his hands. This is Jesus on every one of them. Notice everyone. Everybody say everyone. Every one of them and he healed them. I want to talk to you, Pastor Joanna, I want to talk to you for a few minutes on the ministry of laying laying on of hands. Laying on of hands. That Jesus ministered to every one of them. Listen to me. Look at me just for a minute. All of you are not in inconvenience to the Lord. Come on. That's right. You're not bothering God. I have to remind my kids sometimes about that because I find out later they're facing something or doing something. I say, why don't you come to me with this? And as shocked as I am, some of them would say, I didn't want to bother you. Not Lilliana. But some of them would say, I just didn't want to bother you. I said, you're not bothered. Why would you think you're bothering me? I just want to say the same way my kids could think that about me. Sometimes we might think that about God. God is not too busy. You're never an inconvenience to the Lord. Carers about how you feel. He knows you. Some of us came here today carrying heavy things, challenging things, concerning things, fearful things. God is not distant from what you're facing. He cares. Amen. You know, I was thinking about this point and the Lord reminded me, I don't know, like a month ago, he showed me this. But you know how sometimes if you have little kids, they're like, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy. And it's just like, okay, you know,

that's how the Lord wants us to be with him. Father, I need you. Father, I need you. Like, just consistently persist. Let's just be persistent there with him. And he's, although we on earth are annoyed by the mommy, mommy, mommy, God is never annoyed by that. And it really made me think about how I respond to my children when they do that to me now. Because I feel like God was showing me something, right? He's teaching me as, as I'm teaching them. But it's just that persistence and that prayer time, like, "Lord, I need you to do this." Like, where are you? Because I know a lot of times we're going through things, but we don't, we don't know where God is. Let's just continue persistence, persistence. "God, I need you. I need you right now." And just continuous, like, unknowingly being there, right? Until he answers you. It is a lot. Yeah. Yeah. Hebrew 6, 1 and 2, I'm going to give you 11, 11 passages for your prayer life this week, okay? It says, "Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, okay, let us go on to perfection, okay? Not laying again the foundations of repentance from dead work, so we're not going to keep, we're not going to come to the altar every Sunday and get gonna leave the discussion of elementary principles of Christ. Leave him. Yeah, yeah. Jeremy, are you saved? Great. Let's go on to perfection. Victor, are you saved? Yes. Great. Let's go on to perfection. So we don't have to get you saved every Sunday. Which repentance means change? Repentance means change. The only acceptable form of apologies change. I can go here and say I'm sorry. She's like, I don't need you to be sorry. In fact, you can never be sorry again. I just need you to change. Can I just be sorry? Because you can be sorry without God, but you can't change without God. Let's go on to perfection. Everybody say let's go on. All right, we're saved. Come on, let's go. Let's go on. Let's move. Yes. Come on. Grow up. Mature. Okay, let's go on to perfection. Not laying again the foundation of repentance. We're not gonna do that foundation again. We did it. We got saved. Now we're going on. Some people live there. They live in and out, up and down, because they never go on. They never develop the prayer life. They never learn to die daily. They never develop. You got to develop. Yes. If you're 30 years old, 20 years old, you and diapers, we get so much wrong with you. You got to develop. You got to grow. Do you see the word? Okay. Not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works. It's all dead. Everything in your flesh is dead. Come on. Dead works. What's over things are the flesh

or of the flesh? What's over things are the spirit or of the spirit? Okay. We're not gonna live a life of dead works and faith toward God. This scripture is placing, placing before something very powerful. The foundation of repentance from dead works. Let's go on. Of the doctrine of baptism. Everybody say the doctrine of baptism? How many of you believe in baptizing people? Amen. All right. Good. We're doing that next Sunday. Baptism. Of the lane on of hands. And of the resurrection of the dead. Anybody believe in Jesus is coming again? Anybody believe that this life is not dead? Anybody believe in the resurrection of the dead? All right. And of eternal judgment. Anybody believe in the wife or in judgment? Anybody believe in heaven and hell? Two of you. Some of you. I don't know. Anybody believe in heaven and hell. These are foundational truths. Notice with the foundational truths of salvation and moving forward of baptism, of heaven and of hell, is another foundational truth called the lane on of hands. Come on. That lane on of hands is with baptism. It's right there dealing with heaven and hell and salvation and water baptism. Right in the middle of it is our doctrine of the lane on of hands. That the lane on of hands is a foundational biblical Christian truth to our faith. Amen. Amen. So I'm going to give you a few things to write down. We've got three points. Hopefully we get to it. It's not a pointless sermon. We'll see if we get to three. Go ahead. God uses surrendered hands to express his heart. The one who formed you, you can make work through you. Genesis 2, 7, "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the earth and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. This is a picture of God's care and intention. The one who formed humanity from dust is not intimidated by the broken places in your life. You may wonder whether God can use someone with your past, but your history does not have to become the boundary of your availability." Read that last part again. Your history does not have to become the boundary of your availability. Yeah. He can use you. I think we were here ministering on Friday night to the young adults, and I really felt a heaviness in the room of some of them not feeling like God can use them because they've made mistakes, and that's not the case. Which is a word that I gave a few of the people that I prayed over, because they haven't heard that. He loves me even though.

Because the enemy tries to put the shame and the doubt in your mind of what God, he doesn't see you like that. You can't be used like that. Yes, you can. And instead of saying, I'll pray for you, just pray for somebody right then and there. I guess this is what we're trying to teach, right? Just lay hands on someone and pray for them as they have a need, you can do it. It's in you. Yeah. Everything God created, he spoke to except man. Man is the only thing God touched to create. Which is why we all have this need to be touched. Something very powerful about the laying on of hands. That's right. Something that's not quite finished until there is the laying on of hands. When God touches your heart, come if you need God to touch you again. Yeah, touch me. Amen. And everything else he spoke to, but man's the only thing he touched to create. And look at your hands for a minute. Just look at them. I mean, look at, I was just watching a video this week by Elon talking about the robots they're trying to make. And he was saying that 90% of all the computer power is going to work the hands.

Everything to putting in the robot, all the, I don't know, all the technical stuff. I'm messing up, I'm getting trying to get into it, but all the computer power in the robot, 90% of it is just to work the hands. That your hands are a miracle. I mean, just look at them for a minute. I know you don't ever look at them, but look at them for a minute. I know you bit the nails and all the stuff on them, but just look at them for a minute. They cook, they clean, they work, they hold babies, they wipe tears, but they're also vessels for God to do miracles through. - Yes. - Come on, amen. They are miracles for God. They are vessels for God to do miracles through. First Corinthians 12, 11. But one, and of the same spirit works all these things distributing to each one individually as he wills. Now look at this, I want you to know this because what Paul is telling us here in First Corinthians is that no one person can own the gifts. - That's right, come on. - So it's not just when pastor lays hands on me, I can get healed and if pastor doesn't lay hands on me, then I can't be healed. Or I need this person or this Christian celebrity, first of all, there are no celebrities in the body of Christ.

The only position that's available is servant. If you're not willing to be a servant, there's no openings for you in the kingdom of heaven. - That's right. - Jesus, he said even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, okay? So when it comes to this, he was saying, it's not about any, there is no certificate of divine healing. There is no class to pass and if you pass it, now you can operate in the gifts. I don't know, God gives the gift to whom he chooses. Which means any one of us could have the relationship with God pay the price in our prayer closets for God to do miracles through your hands. - Hello, preach. - Any of you, any of you, you can be as close to Jesus as you want. - That's right, that's right. - We all love the Lord, but we all don't have the same relationship with God in here. - Come on. - Mm-hmm. - That's right. - I'm just telling you, we all don't have the same relationship. And when we get to heaven, you're gonna be shocked who is as close to Jesus and they were never on TV. You never knew their name. They had no followers. You never paid them any attention. But the first shall be last and the last shall be first.

I'm telling you, God could do miracles through you in your family, through the laying on of hands. And this is not something, 'cause sometimes in our world, we tend to think like, well, I'm not a pastor, I'm not a preacher, or I'm not, I'm not, I didn't go to seminary, so God won't work through my hands. God can use you in your home, in your family, when your children, I'm telling you, Buy the oil now. Don't wait for crisis to come. And then go try and develop a relationship with God. There are some people, all of you right now, have relationships in your life that if you got a text message right now from them, and they said, I need you, you would get up. Old church, you'd put your finger up like this and walk out. You would get up and walk out and get your car and go help them. Right in the middle of me talking. You just get up and go. And there's other people that could be texting right now that you're like, I'll get back to them in a week or two. And the only difference between those two people is relationship, relationship. What kind of relationship do you have with God? You can be as close to him as you want. No one can own the gifts. That's what they tried to do because the disciples started seeing, the Jewish disciples started seeing the Holy Spirit fall on Gentiles. And they didn't like it.

And they were like, Holy Spirit's falling on these people. And then Peter said, we can't stop it. The Holy Spirit falls on who he wants to fall on. How are we going to control who God heals and delivers and saves and baptizes? How are you going to control it? You can't box God in. See, because you think God likes the people you like and you think God hates the people you hate. They're all still his kids. You don't get to heaven and be like, what? I can't believe. God's really close to some people you don't like. That's right. You see, if God only likes the people that you like and hates the people you hate, that's not the God that made you, that's the God you made. You have to get to this place in your life where you have a heart of surrender to God because you cannot control who God loves, who God saves, who God heals, who God delivers, who God frees, who God baptizes with the Holy Spirit, who God chooses to heal, who God chooses to baptize. It ain't up to you. He didn't ask you. He's not, he don't want your vote. He don't need your opinion. You don't elect him. You don't fire him. You don't impeach him.

Do you understand what I'm saying? He's not broke and he don't need a loan from you. He is God. And besides him, there is no other. That's right. I alone him God. That's right. He said, I look for someone greater than myself and finding no one greater than myself. I swore by myself that my word was true, that surely blessings I will bless the and multiply. I will multiply the out I'm sovereign. I am absolute. I am Yahweh. I am sick and new. Row he and man. I'm God all by myself. Whether you praise me or not, I'm still God. Whether you love me or not, I'm still God. Whether you obey me or not, I'm still God. [CHEERING] I'm still God. And the sooner you get your head around that, the better you'll be. Because he is sovereign in your life. And this is what Paul is telling us, that God chooses who he wants to work through. And you may not have all the answers to whatever it is that you're praying for. That's just the simple prayers.

Simple prayers. It could just be like, Jesus, help my child. Father, strengthen my husband, lay hands on your spouse. Strengthen them, be with them, give them wisdom today. Holy Spirit, bring peace to our home. Help us to have peace in this home, Jesus. This is a simple prayer, because you may not know all the scriptures, and it's OK. Just pray. Let the hands that guide your family also bless your family. Mark 10, 16, and he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them. Jesus made room for children. Yeah. Parents, let your children experience that tenderness. Place a gentle hand on their shoulder and pray. Father, help my child know your voice. Give them a love for truth. Surround them with wise friends. Lead them in your purpose. Let your children hear their names spoken with love in the presence of God. Husbands and wives take each other's hands and pray over your marriage. That should be done daily. Just saying. And when your children are far away, keep praying. God's reach extends beyond yours. It is so important for your children to see you laying your hands on each other and praying for each other,

praying for them. Our kids pray for us, and we're not feeling good, or something's going on. They pray for us, because we're teaching them at a young age, hey, something's wrong. God has to work. Like, he has got to move. And they have to see. - Give us number two. Number two. - God uses the laying on of hands to bring us together in faith. - Yeah, the laying on of hands. Galatians 6-2, bear one another's burdens. Bear one another's burdens. Who else in the church are you carrying their burden? Can you name one other person in this church that you are helping carry their burden? This is scripture, this is New Testament. This is how we become a family of God. Care one for another. Bear one another's burdens, and so you fulfill the law of Christ, which is love. Christ didn't come to destroy the law, came to fulfill the law, and the fulfillment of the law is love, right? Love, okay? Everything in the New Testament, giving, tithing, serving, bearing each other's burdens is all under the law of, put the verse back up please, all under the law of Christ.

What's the law of Christ? Love, everybody say love. Love, when they ask Jesus, what is the greatest law? He says, love the Lord your God, with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. On this law hangs all the laws in the prophets. What's the law, the law of love? - That's right. - Love, you have to love. You have to love, this is Christ. Bear one another's burdens, and so you fulfill the law of Christ. This is very important. The lane on of hands gives a visible expression to care. How many of you have gone through a crisis, and somebody just comes up to you and puts their hand on your shoulder? How many of you know all of a sudden you don't feel alone? - Yeah, it's good. - Isn't it something without them saying anything? Don't say anything. Just putting the hand on the shoulder says I'm with you, I'm bearing this with you, I'm caring for you. This is powerful just by the lane on of hands. There's something powerful about the lane on of hands. How many of you know, even when you hurt yourself, what is the first thing you do? Put your hand on it. There's healing that happens when we lay our hands

on it, Matthew 18, 19, and 20. And again, I say to you that if any two of you shall touch and agree concerning anything that you ask it shall be done for them by my father, which is the heaven forth, two or three of you're gathered named there I am in the midst. I lost my scripture people on the screens. Matthew 18, 19, through 20. There I am in the midst of them. So Jesus is speaking in context with a relationship with believers, okay? So Ephesians 4.32 says be kind one to another. What does that somebody say? You're just so kind. Tender hearted. What's the last time you heard that compliment? You know, they're just so tender-hearted. I think some people think they can't be tender-hearted. Tender-hearted. Be tender-hearted. Yes. Be kind. Forgiving one another. Forgiving one another. That's a big one. Forgiving one another. If you're going to have to forgive one another, means people are going to have to do something for you to forgive. Quit thinking that the body of Christ ain't never going to do nothing wrong.

That's so good. What you got to forgive the body of Christ for if there ain't nothing to forgive? Say that again. Yeah. Yeah. This Ephesians, this New Testament? I don't see stonum. (congregation laughing) Forgive. Forgive. Come on, say it. Forgive one another, even as God in Christ forgave you. Do you know that you can't touch people you mad at? You don't touch people you mad at. Imagine if we did pray for them. Imagine if we did, but just in your home. You notice whenever you get mad at your spouse, the first thing that stops is touch. That's right. Because the enemy knows the power of touching and agreeing. Come on, preach your bastards. Amen. Any time you lose agreement, you lose the ability to touch. That's right. That's right. Come on. Come on.

And when you lose the ability to touch, you've lost foundational doctrine in your home. Now we can't touch and agree. Agreement brings touch. If watch this. Look how touch symbolizes to the family agreement. Just by touch. Do you have anything? Her and I can show and model agreement by touch. That's the power of touch. You can do a study on it yourself. But the teams that touch, win more. I'm telling you, when you get angry, you lose the ability to touch. There's healing that happens in touch. You know what little kids want is to be touched. They just, Winston will come up to her and just, we'll be walking. They'll just come up and hold her arm and he'll smell her. Winston, and she loves it. She loves it. He's six. Just so y'all know, I'm going, "Oh, it's Winston." Yeah, it's not alligator. He's six. Be kind one to another. Okay. He's one another. Ten are hard. You have to ask, when people act a certain way, you go, "Is this kind? Is this ten are hard? Is this forgiving?"

No. It's not like Christ. Then it's not Christ. Or ask yourself, "Am I acting like this?" Am I acting like that? And if I am, then walk away and do what Jesus would do. Because pain can harden the very places God wants to heal. We receive prayer, we receive surrender, we surrender the offense, the anger, all of that. I'm just going to apologize, but I kept putting it off, the bitterness, all of that goes away. That's right. Okay. Number three. Last point. You get it, honey. God uses the laying on of hands to strengthen and equip his people. Laying on of hands. Yes. Okay. I'm telling you what. They're all through Scripture. I'm just giving you eleven verses, this is all through Scripture. He that have clean hands and of pure heart may ascendeth under the hill of the Lord. Okay. Like God watches how we live affects the cleanliness of our hands. Okay. It's powerful. It's so powerful. Second Timothy. Oh, did we do Romans?

No. Give Romans. Romans one eleven. I long to see you that I may impart to you some spiritual gift so that you may be established that is that I may be encouraged together with you by my mutual faith, both of you and me. So Paul wanted to see them. So he's like, I need to come to you. I can't wait to be with you in person. There's certain, there's certain blessings that come. You have to be in certain places. Amen. Does anybody know what I'm talking about? So this passage speaks to personal ministry and that's what Joanna and I will do here in a moment before we end, is we're going to offer the opportunity for Pastor Joanna to lay our hands on everyone who wants it. We're just going to pray. We're just going to anoint you with oil, a quick prayer at the end of the service. And this is what Paul was saying, he goes, I long to be with you because I realize the power of personal ministry. Okay. In Deuteronomy 34 and 9, now Joshua the son of nine was full of the spirit of wisdom. And Moses laid his hands on him, okay. Full of the spirit of wisdom for Moses had laid his hands on. How did he get the spirit of wisdom? Who wants the spirit of wisdom? Yeah. How did he get it? Was it a class? Was it a book?

No. It came through what, the laying on of hands. Wow, the spirit of wisdom can be imparted by the laying on of hands. Who in here needs wisdom? Who in here has reached the age where God came to you and said, what do you want me to do? You've reached the age now where you go. I don't know what ought to be done. Is anybody ever God answered your prayers and you went back and go, I don't even know what to pray for. Anybody's got to that place in scripture where you can obey the scriptures now where it says, for we know not what we should pray for as we are, but the spirit that's And you begin to say, God, I just want your will for my life. Because I had asked you for things, and then I got it, and I had to say, you've got to get it away from me. I don't even know what ought-- anybody said teenagers yet? And you go, I don't even know what ought to be done. She'd come to me and say, what do you think we should do? I don't even know what ought to be done about it. If somebody said, we'll do whatever you want. I don't even know what I want. Anybody's reached the age where you don't trust you. Come on. You thought-- see, it's funny, because when you're young, I was so sure of myself. I was. I was like, I am God's best option. Anybody know what I'm talking about? And the older you get, you're like,

I am the least qualified. I don't know what ought to be done. I would fire me from being their dad, her husband, their pastor, their-- you know what I'm saying? You're just kind of like, you thought you'd get more confident, but it actually changes. And you become more dependent. See, come here, Andrew. Come here, Pastor Andrew, real quick. It's like Jacob. When Jacob wrestled with God, Jacob wrestled with God. Any time-- this is out of the sermon. But any time Christ shows up in the Old Testament, it's called a Christophany, is what the theologist called it. The angel of the Lord, you'll see it. You'll see it throughout the Old Testament. It's Christ appearing in the Old Testament. So when Joshua wrestles with the angel of the Lord, it's called a Christophany. And he's wrestling with him. Put your hands on me. So he's wrestling with him. And he tells the angel, I won't let you go until you bless me. Come on. He goes, I want-- see, when you're young, you wrestle. You're wrestling with God. You're not in the place you ought to be. And what happens is the angel hits Jacob's thigh and knocks it out of joint.

When the Lord hits his joint out of place, Jacob goes from wrestling to leaning. And this is where the miracle happens. This is what age teaches you. This is what time teaches you. This is what marriage teaches you. This is what going through seasons of life teach you, where when you're young, you're wrestling. I don't know if I'm a surrender, and I don't know, and I'm going for me, and I got it, and I can do it. And at some point, you-- God, God goes, OK, come on strong. Come on. Come on, I'm going to teach you. Come on, I'm going to show you how strong you are. And you go from wrestling to leaning. And when you go to leaning now, you're teachable. Now you're coachable. Now your ear is open. Now your heart is where it ought to be. God, take us from wrestling to leaning. Thank you, Pastor. This is what God does in all of our hearts and our lives. See, God got his hands on him. This is the ministry that God wants to take all of us through. And I don't care how old you are at some point in your life, you're going to go from wrestling to leaning. That's right. Come on. ♪ Leaning on the everlasting arms ♪ ♪ There's old song, I'm leaning, leaning ♪

Anybody know the old, everybody, I grew up one of the most songs. And the reason those old songs were so powerful is because they were lived. They were lived. Am I helping anybody? Yeah. That was so good. And so this is, this is the heart of God. So Joshua now is full of the spirit of wisdom because Moses, the older statesman, the older man of God has laid his hands on him. And imparted the spirit of wisdom. You got strength, but you ain't got no wisdom. You got youth, but you don't have wisdom. Come on, man. This is why we need the young and the old in church. Come on, somebody. You know what I'm saying? Like, we need the youth, but we need the wisdom. The wisdom. I appreciate the excitement. I love the youth. I love the young adults. I love the teenagers. I love all of it. But I love the wisdom that comes with age. And we need it all in the body of Christ. And so Pastor Gerand and I. Come on, give the Lord a praise. (congregation applauding) And this is our heart for our church. You know, Jesus laid hands on the sick.

He blessed the children. I don't know about all of you, but I got saved with someone laid their hands on me. I got filled with a holy ghost by somebody laying their hands on me. I got called in the ministry. When someone laid their hands on me. Pastor Andrew and the elders just came up here and what did Pastor Andrew say? He said, let's place our hands on them and pray for Pastor Jonathan and Joanna. I've been healed by somebody laying their hands on me. This is the ministry of the laying on of hands. It's not weird. It's not, well, that's just how they do it at creative. No, this is the work of the Lord. And if we're gonna do things weekly in our church, we want you to know why we do it, that this is holy before the Lord.