Father, we ask that you would gently but deeply and powerfully pour out your Holy Spirit upon us now as we open your word.
Father, we confess before you that we hide from you, that we run from you, that we judge you, that we turn our backs on you.
And we give you thanks and praise, Father, that you seek us, you seek to bring life to people like us, that we might be worshipers in spirit and in truth, who trust you and honor you and welcome you and obey you.
And Father, we need your help. So, Father, may your Holy Spirit be poured out deep within us and may the words, your word written, Father, may it be written in the very command center of our lives.
And we ask this in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. In Jesus' name, amen. Let's be seated, please.
Amen.
So, I don't know, how many of you remember or have heard of Catherine Kuhlman? Okay, you've all aged yourself because I think she's been dead for 30 years or something like that, maybe even longer.
But Catherine Kuhlman was a sort of a fascinating woman and she had an evangelistic ministry and she was a little bit like a female Benny Hinn.
She went around doing miracles, like miracle services and I had only been a Christian for about a year or two and she came to Ottawa and at the time I had a summer job.
The only time I actually have worked for any level of government and it was for the city of Ottawa, I worked in the section of the government where we processed your parking tickets.
So, back then, if you had had a parking ticket that year, my hands were on it at one point in time.
I moved it from one pile to another. I can't remember what I did.
But anyway, so Catherine Kuhlman was coming and I'll be honest, I wanted to go and see a miracle.
I'll be honest, that's what I wanted to do.
I mean, that's how it was advertised, she was famous, I wanted to go see a miracle.
I know, yeah, anyway, so I did.
So, I went, there was a huge lineup and she filled like 10,000 people, 12,000 people, the Scotiabank place or whatever it's called now, wasn't built.
And so, it was the old, you know, the underneath the Lansdowne Park, whatever that used to be called.
And she filled that place and she's very dramatic and very flowery.
And, you know, she had people coming up saying that miracles happened, but I didn't see anything happened.
And I have to confess, I was very disappointed.
This is just me sharing it with you. I was disappointed.
When I got to work, during the, over the course of the May and June, the people in the office had discovered that I was a Christian.
There were about 10 of us in the office. I was the only Christian.
In fact, the others, none of them, I think most of them were sort of some type of Roman Catholic, but the type of Roman Catholic, they just basically went to Mass on Christmas and Easter.
Or I guess when they'd maybe done something really bad and they felt guilty.
But they basically, they didn't say they were Christians.
They said they might have been Catholic.
But anyway, so it came up that they knew that I was a Christian and somehow or another it had come up and they'd asked me different questions.
And about a week or so after the Catherine Kuhlman event, it came up that one of the guys had gone to the Catherine Kuhlman event.
And I said, oh, what did you think of it?
He said, well, it was the weirdest thing, he said.
I was sitting beside a woman and the woman had a disfigured arm.
And as Catherine Kuhlman prayed, the arm went straight and I saw it.
And I said, inwardly, I'm going, wow, I wish that was me.
And he said, it was the darndest thing.
And I said, well, what do you think it meant?
I don't know.
It's the darndest thing.
Did you go to, like, are you interested in Jesus?
No.
It was the darndest thing.
That's all he kept saying.
It was the darndest thing.
He was a, you know, one of those proper people of the old school who would never have said the DA, you know, the rest of it.
He'd said darndest all the way.
And the rest of the summer, he had no interest in talking to me about Christianity.
To my knowledge, he never went to church once afterwards, but he saw what I want.
He saw a miracle.
Didn't do a difference to him at all.
Now, I never saw him again afterwards.
Who knows?
Maybe he became a Christian later.
But it made no impact on him other than that was the darndest thing.
And I have had, over the years, I have had many, many people say to me, George, if God wanted me to believe in him, all he'd have to do is just do a miracle in front of me and I'd believe him.
Like, if God wanted, like, if God either doesn't exist or he doesn't want me to believe in him because he doesn't do a miracle in front of me.
I've had many people say that.
And I have to confess, there's been times in my life I've wanted God to do some type of a miracle because I thought it would help my faith.
So what's going on with all of this type of story?
Like, many of us have this thing.
Many of you could relate to it.
Many of you might say you wish you could see a miracle.
Maybe some of you have seen a miracle.
I've actually had, maybe I'll tell you later on about it, I actually have more than once, but one very dramatic time that there was a miracle.
But what's going on with our desire for miracles?
Why is it that sometimes it just seems as if God doesn't do anything?
Well, the story that happens in John's gospel is very helpful for us to understand what goes on with God, what he does, what he does, and why he doesn't do what he doesn't do.
So if you turn to John chapter 4, we're going to read this story.
And it goes like this.
So remember what I just said a little bit earlier, in the beginning of John chapter 4, God leads Jesus into a place where the people are semi-pagan, semi-Jewish, half-Jewish, half-Jewish, half-Pagan.
And they've been at enmity with the Jewish people, and the Jewish people have been at enmity with them for 800 years.
There's an 800-year-long argument, and God sends Jesus into Samaria.
He ends up initiating a conversation with a woman at the well.
She ends up coming to believe in him, and she witnesses to the crowd, the village, many in the village come.
And after two days of talking with Jesus, in verse 42, they say to the woman, John chapter 4, verse 42, they say to the woman,
It is no longer because what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.
And after two days, the two days, he'd spent two days with them, he departed for Galilee.
For Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in his own hometown.
So when he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, having seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the feast, for they too had gone to the feast.
Now just sort of pause there.
Some of you are probably a little bit puzzled.
Why does it say that he's not having any honor, and why does it say they welcome him?
And is that a bit of a contradiction or what's going on?
Well, it's a very, very important part of the story, which is going to be developed as we go on.
But here's the first thing.
If you could put the first point up, Andrew, that would be very helpful.
The very important thing is that Jesus goes to where he is not honored.
It's actually a really significant thing.
We Canadians tend to think that, in fact, actually, we don't honor, I mean, you know, we just sort of, we want to go where we're honored.
We don't like going where we're not honored.
But Jesus intentionally goes to where he knows he is not being honored.
And he doesn't go with a big stick.
He doesn't go to sort of say, I'm going to beat these people up.
I'm going to overwhelm them.
I'm going to do things to force them to honor me.
But it's just very significant that he goes where he's not honored.
And it's an important thing for us to understand about the gospel, that what the gospel is all about,
it is not about the human race crying out to God and saying, God, why are you abandoning us?
Why are you leaving us all alone?
Father, why are you doing this?
Please come to us.
We desperately need you to come to us.
The gospel is not all about human beings crying out to God and saying, God, you know, please stop doing whatever you're doing.
Stop just spending all your time with the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Please come down to us.
It's not like that at all.
The heart of the gospel is that human beings do not honor God.
And because we don't honor him, we don't really want God to come as God.
But he comes anyway.
And in the previous story, if you go back earlier, one of the things which we talked about this a little bit last week,
is that it's not the case that human beings are really seeking after God,
but human beings, we hide amongst our idols.
We turn our back on God.
We walk away from God.
We run away from God.
And God seeks us.
The question never is for us to say to God, God, why is it that you have no interest in us?
The question always should be, Father, why is it that I'm hiding from you amongst my idols?
Because you are seeking me.
And here we see this lesson continue to be taught, that Jesus willingly is going to where he is not honored, but he is welcomed.
He's welcomed, but he's not honored.
That's an important part of the dynamic of the story.
But Jesus comes to us even when he is not initially honored.
So, now some of you, you know, might say, okay, George, that's, well, that's sort of a very curious thing.
I'm going to be interested to see how this all sort of, you know, all sort of develops out.
But, like, I don't know, George, you'd sort of think that if they're welcoming Jesus and they're pretty excited to see him, that that's a good thing.
You know, in fact, I like going places where I'm welcomed.
And, but, you know, if you think about it for a second, and the word here, honor, doesn't mean that it's not like when Charlie comes here and we all go, oh, oh, oh.
And there's a whole big line up to kneel and kiss his ring, and he just walks down the aisle slowly with his ring out, everybody rushing forward to kneel and kiss his ring.
And if that's not going to happen, he's not coming, you know.
And it's not like that at all.
But it's a matter of recognizing you for who you are.
That's, you see, that's sort of what is at the heart of this particular story.
So, like, for instance, in one of the things which is complicated in relationships is, you know, when I first asked my wife out on a date,
what happens in dates is you start to try to get to know the other person, yet you have an impression about the other person.
And maybe you try to make, obviously, you try to make a good impression on your date.
But as you're going on, it's not, what you really want in a marriage is you're looking for somebody who you believe that you can start to reveal who you are to them
and that they will respect and honor who it is that you are.
And in a marriage, we want somebody that we can reveal ourselves to, at least begin to reveal ourselves to,
and they can begin to reveal themselves to us, and that we know them as they are.
But if, in my relationship with Louise, I always relate to her in terms of thinking that she's like a different type of person,
that's not going to build the relationship at all whatsoever.
And so the dynamic that's going on in the text isn't that Jesus is sort of forcing himself to be honored,
but he recognizes that they welcome him, but they welcome him in the same way that we might be very excited to find out
that a really good magician was going to be able to be here and do all sorts of works of wonder.
And Jesus just, he knows that they are trying to get something out of him, they just want to be dazzled,
they just want to be amazed, that there's other deeper heart things going on,
but fundamentally, they haven't caught on as to what the miracles mean and what his teaching means.
But he goes there anyway.
So what happens?
Well, that goes on in verse 46.
So he came to Cana in Galilee where he had made the water wine,
and at Capernaum, there was an official whose son was ill.
So Capernaum is about 35 kilometers downhill from Cana.
And verse 47,
When this man heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee,
the man went to him and asked him to come down and heal his son,
for he was at the point of death.
The son was at the point of death.
So Jesus said to him,
And it's really important that you notice that what Jesus says here now is a plural you.
Jesus makes a general comment about the people in Galilee.
And it's a surprising comment, and it's a bit of an offense to the man and to the people who are listening.
Or it's a very, they would probably take it as an offense.
It's not meant as a compliment.
It's meant as a description of what's going on in their lives, and it isn't good.
And he says this,
Unless you, or unless all you all, if you're from South Carolina or Georgia,
or unless yous, if you're from Northern Ireland,
unless yous see signs and wonders,
yous will not believe.
It's not a good thing.
And the official responds to this by saying,
Sir, come down before my child dies.
Now, first of all, why is it that Jesus says,
here is on one level, Jesus is performing miracles,
but he says to them,
unless you see signs and wonders,
you will not believe.
Well, first of all, if you think about it,
the story that I began with, the fellow who worked in the office,
he saw, from my point of view, quite a dramatic miracle,
and it appeared to make no difference to him whatsoever.
But there's sort of a different heart issue which is going on here,
and if you could put up the next slide, Andrew,
it would be very helpful.
And the deeper issue that's going on,
even the issue of seeing signs and wonders,
is I think I have the criteria to judge and evaluate God,
but God always ignores my criteria.
I think I have the criteria to judge and evaluate God,
but God always ignores my criteria.
So this is a very, very common problem for many people today in our culture.
Unless God, like if it really is God,
God will bless the gay movement,
or he'll bless the transsexual movement,
or just in general, he'll bless the sexual revolution.
Like the real God wouldn't do something
that's going to interfere with how I want to express myself
or identify myself sexually.
For many people, if you read academic commentaries,
at the heart of academic commentaries is this idea
that if it's going to really be God,
it's going to have to be some type of event
that has multiple sources in non-biblical materials
that allow it to be shown to actually have been happening in history,
or that if it really is God,
it's just going to be something private in my heart.
And for many of us,
we might have to say that if it's going to be something that's coming from God,
it has to have not sort of a certain type of shape of the wisdom of the world,
but it has to be some type of overwhelming thing.
Like the people who said,
if God really wanted me to believe in him,
the criteria is that if God really is God,
that he has to perform the miracle in front of me.
We have some type of criteria
by which we think we can judge and evaluate
whether God is really God,
or whether he is in fact up to our standards.
Because that's what's at heart of it,
that we have certain standards to keep,
and God has to meet them.
And one of the things that the Bible reveals about God
is that God is completely and utterly untameable.
He's good, but he's untameable.
And God isn't like,
if you come to my house,
Louise has trained our German shepherd
to close the door
when Rocky comes in.
She'll say,
so Rocky comes in the house,
the door is open,
and she says,
Rocky, close the door.
And it's really funny
because Rocky has also trained Louise.
In the sense that Rocky then goes
and sits down
and puts his butt against the door.
And he never closes the door
all the way the first time.
He closes it,
but there's still about this much.
And he looks at Louise,
and Louise has to say a second time,
Rocky, close the door
all the way.
And then Rocky closes the door
all the way,
and then he trots over
to where he knows
he's going to get a cookie from Louise.
As a bit of an aside,
sometimes when I'm there on my day off,
Rocky keeps wanting to go out,
and I say,
Louise, he's only going out
to get cookies.
He keeps wanting to go out
because he knows if he comes in,
he closes the door,
he gets a cookie.
And when it's minus 30,
and I'm grumpy,
and I don't,
I have dogs,
not because I like dogs,
but because I love Louise,
and Louise loves dogs,
so that's why we have dogs.
That's why I have dogs.
I'm not a dog person,
but I married a dog person,
and I love my wife,
so I have dogs.
Anyway,
so I get a bit grumpy about it,
but the dog is trained,
Louise,
but God's not like that.
That's why God just ignores
our criteria.
And in fact,
he is not going to allow
us to continue
to have the attitude
that somehow or another
we deign,
we say,
well, God,
I guess you're worthy
of hanging out with me
because of all the miracles
you've done
or because you have
my views on politics
because I can now tell
you don't like Trump
or you do like Trump
or you do miracles
or you like the gay movement
or you don't like
the gay movement
or whatever it is.
He ignores our criteria.
If you could put up
the next point, Andrew,
I am not God's superior
or is equal
that I can judge him.
I am a creature
in need of health
and salvation
from my creator.
That's who I am.
I am not God's superior
or is equal
that I can judge him
or evaluate him.
I am a creature
in need of health
and salvation
from my creator.
And if you could put up
the next point, Andrew,
saving faith
does not set up
conditions for God
to meet.
It responds to God
as he chooses
to make himself known
by word and action.
Right?
Saving faith
does not set up
conditions for God
to meet.
It responds to God
as he chooses
to make himself known.
And by the way,
see, God is no different.
This is just how it works
for us as human beings.
I can tell you
if I had met Louise
the first time
and I began the date
by saying,
well, Louise,
I have certain criteria.
You have to reach
my standards
before I'm going to ask you
out on a second date.
That first date
would have ended
right then
if I communicate to her
that, you know,
I have these very high standards
and I have a checklist
to see if you're going
to meet them.
End of the thing.
So why is it
that we can't do that
with human beings
on a date
but we somehow
unconsciously think
we can do it
with God?
Even if the criteria
are very noble
or spiritual criteria
like the ability
of him to perform
signs and wonders.
It doesn't work
with Louise.
It definitely
doesn't work
with God.
He says,
I ignore your criteria.
So what's happening
in this story
is that Jesus
makes this general comment
and that people
only seem to want
to see him
perform signs
and wonders.
They only welcome him
so that they
can see signs
and wonders.
And so the Roman official
who's come to have
his son healed
and really at this point
in time
the man doesn't
have any faith.
I had an uncle.
His name is Uncle Joe.
My favorite uncle.
He died of cancer
about 20 years ago.
My Uncle Joe
was a meat
and potatoes
type of guy.
And it was meat
and potatoes.
type of guy.
And preferably
with gravy
and all sorts
of butter
or something
on the vegetables
and gravy.
He was a meat
and potatoes guy.
But when he got cancer
and it was some
very bad prognosis,
he and his,
he and my
Aunt Lillian,
they scoured
the internet
and stuff like that
and for a brief while
he was on all sorts
of very kooky
and extreme diets.
Anything to try
to make himself
better.
But they didn't work
and now he's in glory.
He's a very devout
Christian.
He's now with Jesus.
But what this man is,
he's not really
seeking signs
and wonders.
He's just doing
what any of us
would do
if we had something
like an operable cancer
or a kid had
an operable cancer
and if we heard
that there was
a treatment in Mexico
or there was
a treatment in California
or there was
a special diet
that worked.
We just want our kid
to live
and we're willing
to try it.
And Jesus makes
this other comment
and the man responds
in verse 46.
We'll read it again.
The official said
to him,
Sir,
come down
before my child dies.
In verse 50,
Jesus says to him,
Go,
your son will live.
Go,
your son will live.
And in other words,
it's a command.
The implication
is not to go away
but to go home.
That's sort of implied.
Go,
your son will live.
And the man
believed the word
that Jesus spoke to him
and went on his way.
We'll just sort of
pause here.
One of the interesting
things about the Bible
is it doesn't describe
what goes on
in the man's heart.
And I don't know
if he just sort of
stands there
and looks at Jesus
for quite a while
or if he just
immediately goes.
But Jesus says
this surprising thing
to him.
Go,
your son will live.
And then the man
believes what Jesus
says.
I don't know if he just
somehow senses
that there's some
power or authority
there.
He himself has never
seen Jesus
perform a miracle.
But there's something
in Jesus' speech
and we don't know
if he immediately
goes or spends
some time
but he does it.
He begins the
35 kilometer trek
downhill
to go back
to where his son is.
And verse 51,
as he was going down
his servants
met him
and told him
that his son
was recovering.
So the man
asked them the hour
when he began
to get better.
So the man
hasn't kissed
his brains goodbye.
He's really curious.
So he said,
well,
when did this happen?
And they said
to him,
yesterday,
so he would have
had to sort of
probably slept
over somewhere,
begun the journey,
slept over somewhere,
continued on the next day.
They say,
yesterday at the
seventh hour,
one o'clock
in the afternoon,
the fever left him.
The father knew
that was the hour
when Jesus had said
to him,
your son will live.
And he himself
believed
in all his household.
This was now
the second sign
that Jesus did
when he had come
from Judea
to Galilee.
And the implication
of the text here
is that what this man
does is he now
has saving faith.
Now,
by the way,
this is a very,
very encouraging thing
for each one of us.
This man does not
know very much theology.
And Jesus hasn't
died on the cross
for him yet.
And he has no idea
about theories
of propitiation.
He has no ideas
about theories
of atonement.
He just,
he doesn't know
all of these things.
But what he's,
what he's done
is he's honored,
trusted,
and obeyed Jesus
for who he is
to the extent
that he understands
him at that time.
He,
he has this basic sense
that Jesus
has the authority
and the ability
that he is,
he's not just ordinary,
he believes
in a saving way.
In fact,
see,
one of the things
which is remarkable
about this,
so I'll tell you
my most dramatic
miracle story.
Not that,
and my faith
isn't based on it.
I was in my country parish
and I was in a,
Eganville,
and I was on call
for the minister
in Renfrew.
And Renfrew
was a half hour drive.
The hospital
was a half hour drive.
And I got a call
at about 7.30
in the morning
on a Sunday
because I was on call
for the minister
on holidays
and they said,
there's a man,
he's going to die.
We almost didn't even
call you
because he's about
to die,
but the family
have asked
that I call you
and that you could
come down
and give him
the last rites.
And I said,
I'm really sorry,
I have a service
in 15 minutes
and after that
I have another service
at 9,
another service
at 11.
The earliest
I can possibly
come down
is about 1 or 1.30
this afternoon.
And they said to me,
well,
we really insist,
the family really wants you.
And I said,
I'm really,
really sorry,
I can't leave
all of my services
to go down.
I'll say a prayer
for him
and I'll call you
after my last service
and if he's still
hanging on
I'll come right down
to be with him.
And so I prayed
for the man
and then I did
my services
and we mentioned him
in all of the prayers.
12.30 or whatever it was
when my 11 o'clock
service was finished
I called him up
and he said,
he's still hanging on,
we can't believe
that he's still hanging on,
the family's exhausted,
could you still come down?
I said,
sure,
I'll come down.
They said,
he might be dead
by the,
we don't even like calling now,
we're amazed he's still alive,
you might very well
come down for nothing.
They said,
I'll come down.
I come down,
the family's still there,
I say a few words to them
and I always pray
what I always pray,
I pray over the man,
I said,
Father,
this man is close to death
but I ask that
if it still is your will
that you would bring him healing
and if you don't bring him healing
of his body,
Father,
he's unconscious,
he can't hear me
but I know that Jesus can be
underneath this coma
and Jesus can meet him
in his coma
so Father,
even if you do not heal his body,
may your son Jesus
be present with him
where he is,
where we can't reach him
and may Jesus,
may you bring,
may you minister to him
at this time,
may he be prepared
to see you face to face
but if it is your will
may you heal him
and I say amen
and the man said,
thank you very much
and his wife and daughter
started crying
and I can tell you right then
they weren't interested
in me anymore
because they hugged
their husband and their dad
and they hugged their husband
and their dad
and he lived another three years
so that's my miracle story
but here's the thing
I pray to God
to heal the man
I acknowledge
that only God can heal
and I acknowledge
that only Jesus can be
with this guy where he is
I'm nothing
I have no power
all I can do
is call out
to my heavenly father
this story
Jesus just wills
the healing
of the nobleman's son
35 kilometers away
and he's healed
only God can do that
Jesus doesn't pray
he just wills it
and I'm guessing
that's partially
what struck this man
why
maybe in heaven
we'll find
we'll get to meet this guy
and we'll ask him
what went on in his mind
the story doesn't tell us
but there's just something
about the word of command
and the promise
that Jesus makes
and the man responds
with obedience
obedience
and trust
and goes
and when he goes
he finds out
that Jesus
has healed the guy
and now he has
a saving belief
in the man
see here's one of the things
about signs and wonders
you can't obey a miracle
but you can obey Jesus
when he says
go
your son will live
if Jesus
only died on the cross
and rose from the dead
and there was no message
about it
you know all we could say
in the room
that's the darndest thing
Louise
there's a guy who died
and three days later
he came back to life
that's the darndest thing
but what Jesus does
and John's gospel
is it's Jesus's
it's John's writing
an intimate biography
of Jesus
and John has chosen
certain key miracles
of Jesus
he understands
that Jesus has come
to introduce God
to make God
truly known
and his first miracle
shows that God
is not like religion
expects
that God is going
to be a God
where we have to be ascetic
and we have to purify
our lives
and we have to sort of
take all of the joy
and happiness
out of our life
and if we've really
purified ourselves
and really denied ourselves
then maybe God
will know us
and maybe he will
make himself known
and Jesus introduces God
as the God
who makes wine
for a wedding party
and unlike all
of the other gospels
almost immediately
after the very
John chapter 2
for the first time
Jesus says
if you kill me
I will rise
and he doesn't just say
that I will rise
he describes himself
as the temple
as the place
that people go
to meet God
and he said
if you kill me
on three days
the place
where people
will go
to meet God
will rise
in three days
and then the very
next miracle
that he does
the next conversation
is he says
to Nicodemus
he says to Nicodemus
you have to be born
in a way
that only God
can give you life
human beings
can only produce
what human beings
can produce
but God
can give a life
that human beings
cannot have
and then in John
chapter 4
the very very next thing
what is it
he describes
to the woman
he says to the woman
at the well
he says to the woman
well if you knew
who was asking you
for water
you would ask him
and he would give you
a stream
of eternal life
living waters
like a stream
of waters
that will flow
in you
into eternity
and now
we see that God
it's a continuing
this message
that God
is pro-life
that God
is the source
of health
and life
other gospels
talk about Jesus
and they use
other images
of salvation
they use images
of being redeemed
freed from slavery
they use images
of being taken
our debts away
they use images
from the courts
they use military images
of victory
and in John's
fundamental image
is that apart
from God
we are dying
and death
is our doom
and apart
from God
not only
is death
our doom
but that
which causes
death
which is our
separation
and alienation
from God
there is no
fixing of that
and in John's
gospel
the image
of being sick
and being healed
is the image
of what the gospel
will do for us
if you could put up
the next slide
oh sorry
I got something out of it
here's the thing
about this
I can have obedience
without intimacy
or trust
in fact
that's what
Islam is
Islam is the first
half of that statement
no intimacy
with God
and not even
trusting God
inshallah
maybe I'm going to
die a gruesome death
inshallah
maybe I'm going to hell
inshallah
it's obedience
but no intimacy
and trust
but I cannot
have intimacy
without trust
and obedience
and God
is not only
calling us
to life
but to intimacy
with him
which is why
mere signs
and wonders
isn't enough
you see
if I
am to have
intimacy
with Louise
and I never
trust her
she's going to
draw back
there's not going
to be any
intimacy
and if I want
to have intimacy
with Louise
and I never
trust her
and she never
asks me
and every time
she asks me
to do something
I don't do it
she's going to
draw back
there'll be no
intimacy
and God
wants us
to be intimate
with him
he's going to
give us life
he is a source
of health
and here's
if you put
on the next
one
Andrew
that would
be great
what the gospel
is going to
show
I can't remember
now if it's
Ephesians
or Colossians
but it
describes how
apart from
God's grace
we are
cadavers
we are
corpses
in the
funeral home
and a corpse
can do
nothing to
make itself
alive
and it's
a very
very glaring
image of
God
has to do
everything
to bring us
life
it's like
Ezekiel
can these
dry bones
live
it's like
Isaiah 43
verses 4
and 5
where it
talks about
by his
wounds
we are
healed
that he
himself
bore
our sins
our
iniquity
our
sickness
to give
us
life
and the
Bible
is going
to describe
and John
is going
to describe
that Jesus
bore my
sickness
unto death
so that I
might receive
his health
unto eternal
life
that Jesus
on the cross
and in his
whole ministry
he's bearing
the sickness
and all
sickness is a
sign of our
coming death
it's a sign
of our separation
from God
it's a
wonderful image
that things
just aren't
right
we desire
health
we long
for health
and Jesus
will bear
my
sickness
unto death
when he
dies upon
the cross
so that I
might receive
his
health
unto eternal
life
could you put up
the final
point
so here's
what the text
is teaching
us
saving
faith
see
what's
going on
in this
gospel
is that
John
is not
only
helping
us
Jesus
is revealing
who God
is
God
is
not
the
God
in the
earlier
thing
God
is not
the
God
of
lies
he's
the
God
of
truth
if you
know a lie
it's
not
God
is
the
God
of
truth
God
is
the
God
of
joy
God
is
in this
story
we're
seeing
God
is
not
like
Rocky
who can
be
trained
to
close
a
door
God
is
untamable
and
good
who
else
is
God
is
where
health
is
God
is
where
life
is
and
saving
faith
and so
Jesus
is
revealing
who
he
is
and
he's
also
revealing
how
we're
to
respond
and
saving
faith
welcomes
Jesus
it
honors
Jesus
it
trusts
Jesus
it
obeys
Jesus
for
who
he
is
and
what
he
has
done
and
is
doing
and
will
do
now
we
don't
do
it
perfectly
welcoming
grows
honoring
grows
trusting
grows
obedience
grows
but
it's
possible
to
think
like
many
people
in
our
culture
Jesus
is
a
good
guy
he's
a
teacher
he's
a
wonderful
guy
I'm
fine
with
him
I
just
don't
like
Christians
in
church
but
Jesus
doesn't
want
to
be
welcomed
like
that
that's
not
saving
faith
saving
faith
welcomes
honors
trusts
and obeys
Jesus
for
who
he
is
what
he
has
accomplished
or
done
is
doing
and
will
do
he
is
the
one
who
can
give
me
eternal
life
he
is
the
one
who
can
come
and
give
my
dying
body
eternal
life
just
one
final
thing
some
of us
maybe
even
are
struggling
with
cancer
when
a
Christian
prays
to
God
for
healing
there's
three
different
ways
that
he
responds
he
can
heal
us
slow
with
medicine
and
doctors
he
can
heal
us
quickly
through
a
miracle
like
that
story
that
I
shared
or
he
can
heal
us
perfectly
in
our
death
and
seeing
him
face
to
face
and
the
ultimate
destiny
of
everyone
who
puts
their
faith
and
trust
in
Jesus
is
perfect
healing
and
more
than
perfect
healing
it
is
a
life
that
will
not
end
in
the
new
heaven
and
the
new
earth
that
is
what
putting
our
faith
and
trust
in
Jesus
does
that
is
what
he
accomplishes
in
this
mighty
resurrection
please
stand
it
might
be
very
distressing
to
hear
that
apart
from
God
we are
like
a
corpse
in
a
funeral
home
but
it's
only
distressing
news
if that's
all the
news
if the
news
is
that
God
can
make
you
alive
than
for
me
to
first
tell
you
the
bad
news
and
then
tell
you
the
good
news
that's
only
great
and
if
you
have
not
yet
put
your
faith
and
trust
in
Jesus
there
is
no
better
time
than
right
now
to
do
it
and
you
know
I
don't
like
telling
you
the
sinner's
prayer
because
I
know
I
for
so
many
years
in
my
Christian
life
I
was
confused
by
it
because
I
didn't
get the
words
right
it
wasn't
working
and
that's
just
the devil
confusing
me
I
want
that
to
be
me
I
want
that
to
be
me
Jesus
have
mercy
on
me
I
want
that
to
be
me
and
there's
no
better
time
than
right
now
to
do
it
and
for
all
of
us
the
cry
of
our
heart
can
be
father
help
me
to
welcome
Jesus
more
help
me
to
honor
him
more
help
me
to
trust
him
more
help
me
to
obey
him
more
help
me
father
to
be
more
gripped
by
who
he
is
and
what
he's
done
and
what
he
promises
he
will
do
and
what
he's
promised
he's
done
with
putting
a
stream
of
living
water
in
the
center
of
me
father
help
me
to
honor
him
and
trust
him
more
and
more
in
everything
I
do
a
cry
of
our
hearts
let's
bow
our
heads
in
prayer
father
pour
out
your
holy
spirit
upon
us
thank
you
for
Jesus
thank
you
father
that
he
alone
bore
our
sickness
on
to
death
on
the
cross
he
alone
dealt
with
it
on
the
cross
that
he
alone
tasted
all
there
is
to
taste
of
death
with
nothing
left
out
that
he
alone
has
conquered
death
and
conquered
that
which
causes
death
which
is
our
rebellion
and
sin
against
you
that
he
has
conquered
that
defeated
death
defeated
the
devil
defeated
all
sin
in his
mighty
resurrection
father
we
thank
you
for
Jesus
and
what
he
has
accomplished
and
we
thank
you
father
that
when
we
put
our
faith
and
trust
in
him
when
we
honor
and
welcome
him
and
put
our
trust
in
him
that
he
that
you
make
us
alive
that
you
make
us
alive
in
a
way
that
will
go
on
into
all
eternity
so
father
make
us
disciples
of
Jesus
who
are
gripped
by
the
gospel
who
love
life
and
want
to
lift
Jesus
high
father
make
us
disciples
of
Jesus
gripped
by
the
gospel
welcoming
him
honoring
him
trusting
him
obeying
him
and
this
we
ask
in
Jesus
name
amen