Anointing the Sick

I had a little bit of audience participation to start out today. I'd like you to raise your hand for me here. Raise your hand if you've ever fallen ill before.

Those of you that didn't raise your hand, you weren't listening, because every single one of us...

Perfect. None of us, none of us, can escape the corruptibility of this mortal body. Right? When we think about Scripture and we take a look at Scripture, we see this mortal physical body at this time... is a body that's susceptible to weakness, it's susceptible to illness, it's susceptible to injury, to the aches and the pains of life, it's susceptible to disease.

Each and every one of us at times have succumbed to illness. Frequently, these illnesses are nothing more than an annoyance, and they don't rise beyond that. You know, you might get a runny nose, you might get a light cough, you might get, you know, something along those lines. It doesn't rise beyond that, but frequently, there are times in our life in which we succumb to things that are more significant.

Lengthy illnesses that cause additional challenges to our health, lengthy illnesses that cause fatigue, that make it difficult to get out of bed, that make it difficult to do life...

to be able to go, and as Mr. Miller talked about in the first split, to be able to go out and do good, to be out and go out and do those things. Sometimes those illnesses can cause negative effects that make this life that much more challenging.

You know, these serious effects can be demoralizing, they can be difficult to work with, because it seems sometimes, like no matter what you do, there's no relief.

Maybe there doesn't seem to be light at the end of that tunnel.

You know, it may come as a result of a serious infection. You know, there's been times where people have gone in and they've come out with a worse infection than they went in with, right? We hear about nuscoma infections, you know, hospital-borne infections at times that end up becoming this thing that just keeps happening and happening and happening.

You know, we hear about autoimmune disorders, where the body begins to attack itself, causes all these issues that go in addition to that.

We hear about cancers, you know, and the cancers that end up progressing to the point where at times, you know, it feels like there's no solution.

But what the difference is, between one that's an annoyance and one that's more serious, is where one feels like eventually it's going to run its course in a couple of days, clear up with very little effort beyond the immune system which God has designed us with.

The other ones tend to be a little bit more tenacious, and they tend to hang on a little bit more.

So, brethren, what do we do in these circumstances? What do we do in these circumstances?

When we're experiencing illnesses or injuries that are just beyond the ability of our bodies to deal with.

Well, let's begin today by turning over to the book of James.

There are instructions that have been provided for us in Scripture, provided for the Eclaecia, provided for the Church, for circumstances just like these.

Circumstances just like these.

James 5, we'll go ahead and pick it up in the midst of a section that James is writing about here, dealing with the importance of prayer, and dealing with the importance of prayer to God.

In the various earthly circumstances that we find ourselves in.

James outlines very specific things in someone's life that they may experience, and in each of these circumstances he comes back to the importance of prayer.

James 5 in verse 13.

James 5 in verse 13.

James says, Is anyone among you suffering?

He said, Let him pray.

Anyone among you cheerful?

Let him sing Psalms. Is anyone among you sick?

Verse 14, Let him call for the elders of the church.

Let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.

Verse 15, The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.

James here encourages the believers that are reading his epistle that if they are experiencing suffering of any kind, if they're enduring affliction or hardship or suffering trouble, he says you should pray.

You should definitely pray.

He says, If anyone is cheerful, they should sing praises, which again, is a form of prayer.

Singing praise to God is a form of prayer.

It's a method of communication with our Creator.

And then James makes a statement.

He says, If any of you are sick, obviously, we should also be praying.

He's talking about the importance of prayer, but he says, If you're sick, the Greek word esphineo, which is G770, means to become weak, to be weak, to become sick or to become diseased.

He says that the church was instructed to call upon the elders of the church.

And the same word there is presbyteros, which is the word that Paul uses in Titus and Timothy when he says, Go and appoint elders. Go and ordain elders in these areas to ordain and appoint to serve those churches in Crete and Ephesus.

But he says, Those elders are to do something very specific.

They're to anoint that person with oil in the name of the Lord, and they are to pray over the person who has called for them.

Now, we see that James states the prayer of faith will save the sick, the Lord will raise them up, and not only that, James goes as far as saying that if that person has committed sins, likely, contextually, sins that may have caused that specific affliction, then their sins would be forgiven.

You know, this divine healing that we see here in the book of James is an incredible promise that God has given to the church.

And it's not just a promise that was given to the church at the time of the first century, it's not just a time that was given to the church, or a promise that was given during the time of the apostles, this gift of divine healing, which is carried down from them to us in the modern church today.

Today in this split, what I'd like to do is take the remainder of the time that we have to explore this concept of anointing in more detail. The anointing of the sick in particular, but we're going to talk a little bit about anointing, too, to get some of the backdrop.

And we want to be able to understand what it is that God has promised to us, and what God has not promised to us through this important and very incredible gift.

So the title of this second split today is Anointing the Sick. Anointing the Sick. Now anointing is a principle that we see in Scripture. It has been around for a very long time. Okay, anointing has been around for a very long time. Interestingly, it has a wide variety of usages in Scripture. It has a general application usage, so it has something that is an everyday thing that people in Judea would be doing. It's just part of their regular life. But it also has a usage that's related to religious purposes. Now the Hebrew word for anoint is meshach, lots of ch at the end. Meshach, right, with the H. But it means to rub with oil or to paint. It means to rub with oil or to paint.

And it particularly references the action that is done to daub or smear oil onto something. In fact, some of the translations go as far as saying that anointing means to rub with oil, essentially. Now there's an example of this in the general sense. So Isaiah 21 and verse 5. We won't turn there. You can look it up later if you would like. But Isaiah 21.5, Isaiah says the following.

He says, prepare the table, set a watchman in the tower, eat and drink, arise you princes, anoint the shield. Is the shield sick? Is the shield about to become a prophet? Why are we anointing the shield? Because what we're doing is we're rubbing oil on it. That's what the word means. It means to anoint the shield. Now why did they do that?

Because in much of Israel, their shields had leather covering the wooden frame that was inside of it. It gave the shield extra durability. And for those of you that have worked in construction fields or maybe have worked with leather before, how important is it for you to care for your leather goods? If you don't oil them with any kind of regularity, what happens to them? They dry out, they crack, they go bad. And so by oiling these shields, ultimately, what they were doing was they were providing additional protection to the wood that was protecting their life and giving them the ability to deflect a blow from a spear, a sling, or an arrow that much more effectively.

But what that required was to anoint the shields, to rub oil on that leather so that it would soak in and be a much more pliable material, ultimately, in that scenario. So anointing their shields was something that was done in preparation of battle to make the leather less apt to crack and fail in a battle. The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia also talks about how anointing with oil was a necessary thing in Israel for a person's personal care, given the hot, dry climate that was in that area.

They talked about how it was a very common thing in Eastern and Near Eastern cultures. They had records of it in Egypt, in Asia, and in the Mediterranean. Oil was used in those locations as a protective layer for the skin, and frequently, after someone washed themselves, they anointed themselves with oil. They rubbed oil on themselves to help protect and moisturize their skin as a result of the dryness and the harshness of that sun and the elements. The Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge states, Anointing in the East came into use as a means to better health.

The entire body or head was covered in aromatic oil. Guests and strangers were anointed upon the head as a token of honor. And so it came in as a part of hospitality as well, which we'll look at in a moment. Sometimes we see then this oil was combined with fragrances, rather. It was aromatic. But not always. Sometimes it was just olive oil. We can see a few examples of this in Scripture. If you'd like to turn over to Ruth 3, we'll see one of these examples, where we see someone who's washed themselves, then is followed up by anointing.

Ruth 3. Go ahead and turn over to the book of Ruth. The book of Ruth describes the life of a young Moabite woman named Ruth, ultimately the experiences that she went through after the death of her husband. It talks about her loyalty to her mother-in-law, Naomi, and her God, and the incredible blessings that God poured out upon her, a foreigner, for her faithfulness to him. Ruth 3. We'll go ahead and pick it up in verse 1. Ruth 3 and verse 1. It says, Then Naomi, her mother-in-law, said to her, My daughter, shall I not seek security for you, that it may be well with you?

It says, Now Boaz, whose young women you were with, is he not our relative? In other words, could he not fulfill the obligation of this marriage? In fact, she says, he's winnowing barley tonight at the threshing floor. Notice what she says in verse 3. Therefore, wash yourself, anoint yourself, put on your best garment, and go down to the threshing floor, but do not make yourself known to the man until he is finished eating and drinking.

So on that evening, Ruth was to go and present herself to Boaz in accordance with Naomi's instructions. She was instructed to wash herself. She was instructed to anoint herself as well. Now, in Ruth's circumstance, this actually had a two-fold purpose. It showed that she was no longer mourning the death of her husband.

If you go to 2 Samuel 14, we'll see an example of this. 2 Samuel 14, you want to turn there. The lack of anointing oneself in those cultures was a sign of mourning. Joab, in this case, in his efforts to influence David—might say manipulate, maybe it's perhaps a stronger word—but in his efforts to influence David brought this wise woman from Toccoa before the king. His instructions to her was to act as though she was mourning. He says, wear your mourning garb.

Let's see what it says here in 14 verse 1. 2 Samuel 14 verse 1. Joab, the son of Zoriah, perceived that the king's heart was concerned about Absalom. Joab sent to Toccoa and brought from there a wise woman, and he said to her, what? He said, please pretend to be a mourner. In other words, she wasn't really in mourning. He wanted her to pretend she was. So, kind of make up this story. Be a paid actor here. Make up this story. Put on mourning apparel. Not like AM, but mourning, as in I'm sad. Put on mourning behavior—or mourning apparel. And it says, do not anoint yourself with oil. But act like a woman who has been mourning a long time for the dead.

Go to the king and speak to him in this manner. So Joab put the words into her mouth. So how would David know that she was mourning? Well, she was wearing mourning apparel, which is certainly a dead giveaway.

But she also had not anointed herself. How would you know? Maybe there was a fragrance. I used to use beard oil when I had my beard. I used to use beard oil. And occasionally what would happen is you'd get it on your skin, and it's shiny. Your skin would shine when it hit the light from those areas. If you're anointing your whole entire body with oil, you're going to shimmer a little bit when you catch the light. You're going to have a certain degree of kind of a glow about you, so to speak.

Maybe this woman didn't have that. And he could tell that she had not anointed herself with oil in this circumstance. In fact, Psalm 104 and verse 5, if you want to jot that down, we won't turn there. But Psalm 104 verse 5 talks about the shine on the face.

Talks about the shine on the face when a person used oil on their skin. So perhaps that's how he was able to tell that she was in mourning based on that. Of course she wasn't. Again, Joab was manipulating David, telling her to do these things anyway. But Ruth, anointing herself before going to present herself to Boaz, was normal self-care at this point in time in history. Similar to how we might apply lotion or moisturizer of some variety today in a drier climate.

But it also would have been a very clear indication to Boaz that she was no longer in mourning over the death of her husband. That she was prepared to take the next step forward. And so we see that sort of situation there. In fact, just a couple pages over here, if you want to go to 2 Samuel 12, just a couple pages back from 2 Samuel 14.

If you want to go to 2 Samuel 12, we see a similar example actually after David was made aware of his sin with Bathsheba and the consequences that was going to come from that. 2 Samuel 12, and we'll go ahead and pick it up in verse 13. 2 Samuel 12 and verse 13 says, So David said to Nathan, again, after Nathan presents this information, David says to Nathan, I've sinned against the Lord. David came to the conclusion that what he had done was wrong.

Nathan said to David, The Lord has also put away your sin. You shall not die. However, because by this deed you have given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also who is born to you shall surely die. So David wasn't getting out of this without consequences. Nathan departed to his house. He says, The Lord struck the child that Uriah's wife bore to David, and it became ill.

David therefore pleaded with God for the child, and David fasted, and he went in, and he lay all night on the ground. So the elders of his house arose and went to him to raise him up from the ground, but he would not.

Nor did he eat food with them. Verse 18, On the seventh day it came to pass that the child died. The servants of David were afraid to tell him that the child was dead. For they said, Indeed, while the child was alive we spoke to him, and he would not hear a voice. How can we tell him that the child is dead? He may do some harm. Verse 19, When David saw that his servants were whispering, he perceived that the child was dead. And therefore David said to his servants, Is the child dead? And they said, He is dead. So David arose from the ground, he washed and anointed himself, changed his clothes, and he went into the house of the Lord and worshipped. We see ultimately he goes into his own house, they set food before him, and he eats. So when David's period of mourning was over, when the answer from God in this case was no, he arose, he washed, and he anointed himself, changing his clothes and going into the house of God to worship. So this is something that followed a washing of one's body. It signified the ending of a period of mourning, and in a sense it was used to make someone presentable. We actually have some examples in Scripture as well of oil being used medicinally in the parable of a good Samaritan. When the Samaritan stops to bind the wounds of the man who was set upon by robbers, he bandages his wounds and he poured on oil and wine.

It's actually interesting, there's a Greek physician named Galen that wrote historically in about the second or third century, and he talked about how all of oil was the best medicine. It was the best possible medicine out there for so many different things and whatever else. It actually makes me wonder whether he witnessed any anointings and laying on of hands that resulted in miraculous healings, and whether he drew that conclusion from that. It certainly has its purposes, it certainly does a number of good things as well.

While not for humans, while for livestock use here, ancient shepherds in Judea used to anoint the heads of their sheep with oil. They would dump the oil over the top of the sheep and it would help with biting flies, it would get into the nose, into the eyes, etc. In fact, we still kind of do this today when you dip the sheep in sheep dip. You know, it's kind of the process that is done today to help kind of keep them from getting super sick. This big old trough and you just run each sheep through it, dunk them once, make sure they get all the way underneath and go on. So we see that there was some medicinal aspects to some of this. But we also see that this anointing custom was part of the ancient hospitality that was shown to honored guests. 23rd Psalm is one of the locations that illustrates this, if you want to turn over there, Psalm 23. David acknowledges God as a shepherd. He talks to God as a shepherd, he has a number of wonderful, wonderful analogies as to God as a shepherd and us as his sheep. But not only that, there's a section where he discusses the incredible benefits of God, and David pictures himself as a guest at the Lord's table. In fact, he says in verse 5 of Psalm 23, he says, "...you prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies." He says, "...you anoint my head with oil, honoring him." You know, honoring him. And he says, "...my cup runneth over." So we see that this is a situation that David understood that this was a sign of honor. And in those days, in that culture, you know, to have someone come in, you would anoint their head with oil as they came in to your home. In fact, this carries from the Old Testament into the New Testament. Let's turn to Luke 7. I'm going to show you an example of this in Luke 7. In Luke 7, we pick up the account of Christ dining in the home of Simon the leper. And so we see multiple accounts that help us piece this all together. Simon invited Jesus into his home for a meal, ultimately. See, there were a number of individuals there that were present. And in Luke 7, we see this oil of hospitality, so to speak, this oil used in hospitality, going into the New Testament. There was a woman in the city who was known sinner. This woman brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil and washed Christ's feet with her tears, wiped his feet with the hair of her head, kissed and anointed his feet. One of the other accounts talks about how she anointed his head as well with this oil, because that's when Judas Iscariot got upset that it wasn't being sold for money. But in this situation, Simon takes a jab. Simon takes his opportunity to take a jab at Christ and states that if Christ were the prophet that everyone says he is, he'd be able to know what kind of woman it was that was attending to him at this time. So we'll pick it up in verse 40 with Christ's response. Luke 7 and verse 40. Jesus answered and said to him, Simon, I have something to say to you. And so he said, teacher, say it. He said there was a certain creditor who had two debtors. One owned 500 denarii, so as Mr. Miller was talking about today, that's 500 days wages.

That's a little over a year and a half worth of wages. That's a long, long time. The other only 50. A little over a month's wages. And when they had nothing with which to repay, he freely forgave them both. So Christ tells Simon, tell me therefore which of them will love him more? Simon answers and says, I suppose the one whom he forgave more. He said to him, you've rightly judged. And then he turned to the woman and he said to Simon, do you see this woman?

He says, I entered your house, you gave me no water for my feet, but she has washed my feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head. He said, you gave me no kiss, but this woman has not ceased to kiss my feet since the time I came in.

He said, you did not anoint my head with oil, but this woman has anointed my feet with fragrant oil. Therefore I say to her, her sin, or say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much, but to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little. Verse 48, he said to her, your sins are forgiven. Simon hadn't provided even the basic level of hospitality that was to be expected in this culture at this time. Hadn't even given him the honor due any ordinary visitor to come into his home, let alone the Messiah.

You know, this woman showed him a much greater honor than Simon had.

Washing of one's feet, the oil to anoint one's head, it was a custom of honoring a guest. It was expected, and quite frankly, to not provide it, was a snub to the guest. So we see it used in this manner as well. Most frequently, though, what we see in Scripture, in the Old Testament in particular, is examples of anointing that were part of a special ceremony to consecrate the kings, the prophets, and the high priests of Israel.

You want to turn to Judges 9. Judges 9 records an interesting parable, actually, spoken by Jotham, in the midst of Gideon's grandson, Bimalak's reign over the people of that area. At that time, Gideon's grandson, Bimalak, was made king over his people, and at that time he slew 70 of his half-brothers to ensure he could keep the throne. The remaining half-brother, Jotham, escaped, went to the top of Mount Gerizim, the mountain upon which the Samaritans would later worship, and he gave this parable in Judges 9, verses 7 to 15. And what it really gets at, the parable itself, is the dangers of elevating unfruitful men to the position as king. But in it, he talks about the olive tree, and he talks about the purpose of the olive tree and the importance of the olive tree's oil. Judges 9 and verse 8 says, The trees once went forth to anoint a king over them, and they said to the olive tree, Rain over us! The other tree said to the olive tree, Rain over us! But the olive tree said to them, Should I cease giving my oil, with which they honor God and men, and go to sway over trees? You know, the rest of the parable is like this. They go to the fig tree, and the fig tree says no. The grapevine says no. Eventually they go to the bramble, who says, Yeah, no problem. I'm not fruitful anyway, so why not? Right? So the bramble ends up being king over them, and he, you know, is the epitome, the bramble in that case, of the Bimalax rule. But in it, we see this example of the oil of the olive tree, and how that oil is used to honor God and to honor men. This oil is special. We see in Scripture that oil, particularly that of the olive, is utilized to represent God's spirit. We see that throughout Scripture, that it's representative of the Spirit of God. You can jot this down if you'd like. 2 Samuel 5 and verse 3. When the tribes of Israel come to David at Hebron to make covenant with him as king, the elders came to him, they make this covenant, they smear him with oil, they anoint him with oil. You know, they go through and they provide oil to become king over Israel. Frequently, when we see this happen in Scripture, the next thing we see written in Scripture is that this person then went and prophesied. You know, that it would ultimately provide this. It would go and prophesy ultimately at times after that was done. We see in Scripture that the prophets are referred to by men as God's anointed and by God himself, too, as his anointed. When Elijah was to appoint Elisha to serve in his place, he anointed him to become one of God's anointed, one of his prophets. Christ is the Messiah. That word Messiah comes from the Hebrew word, Messiah, which literally means anointed. So this concept of anointing is important. This concept of anointing, this idea of anointing in a consecration form is important. But this word has a ton of meaning, a ton of meaning throughout the totality of Scripture. It's used generally in daily self-care. It identifies the end of a period of mourning. It's used medicinally. It's used to show hospitality to an honored guest. It identifies those whom God has set apart for a very specific purpose, whether that person is a king, whether that person is a prophet, a high priest, or even the Messiah. So, which of these usages is being utilized when an elder anoints a person for healing? So when a person is anointed for healing, which of these usages is being utilized? Are we ending a period of mourning? Are we going through hospitality, general self-care?

Is the person who is anointed now a prophet? No. No. To some degree, there's aspects of these in each circumstance, but really, it's being used to consecrate the person who has expressed their faith in requesting healing from God, and it sets them apart in God's eyes, just as it would set apart a king or a prophet or, you know, a high priest.

So the question you sometimes get, and I've gotten this question before, is how is that any different than just praying for someone? Isn't that same thing? At the end of the day, why is it any different? Why does someone need to be anointed anyway? Because doesn't God hear their prayers regardless? It's a good question.

It is a good question. What is so critical about being anointed? You know, we absolutely do believe that God does hear those prayers. There's only certain circumstances in which God says He does not. But requesting to be anointed is taking something that's a significant concern in our life, and it's elevating it to God in a different way. It's similar to how we might pray for something, and then we might fast, in addition to that prayer, to understand what God's will is. It's very similar in that sense. You know, you remember the story about the disciples trying to cast out the demoniac and the young boy, and he talked about, well, this one only comes out with prayer and fasting.

You know, it wasn't enough for him to pray about it. There was this next step that needed to be done. They needed to acknowledge God's sovereignty in the process, that it wasn't them. It was God's sovereignty.

They needed to acknowledge our desperate need for Him, that His anointings used to acknowledge our need for Him very specifically, and acknowledges in some ways, too, the structures that God has placed in the church. Now, it's frequently used when we're ill or we're injured with something that's beyond our body's capability to deal with. So it's usually used when it's something more significant, ultimately, that really needs to be taken care of. But it explicitly sets us apart before God.

And it really is a very tangible outward expression of our faith in Him, and really a recognition that we can't do it without Him, and that apart from His will, we're lost. So it is an acknowledgement of His will. What it really is, is telling God, I desire this. I would love to be healed. I would love to be healed of this particular scenario.

But ultimately, I'm placing my life in your hands. I'm accepting your will, because you know better for me than I know for me. And so we're giving our life in that sense to God in that way. We're recognizing His sovereignty in our life. Now, God does not guarantee healing. God does not guarantee healing through the instruction for anointing. What He affirms is the importance of prayer. The importance of prayer in that process. And in the case of the sick, anointing. Now, there's nothing magical in the oil.

There's nothing magical in the anointing oil. You know, it's not anything special. It's the purest olive oil that you can find at the store that's been prayed over. That's it. It's just olive oil. You know, we find the purest stuff that you can find to pray over. Anything, no adulterants in it or anything like that. There's nothing magic in me.

As Mr. Miller talked about rocks, he could raise up a rock to do what I do. You know, realistically, there's nothing special in me either. What it is dependent upon is our faith. Now, it's dependent upon our faith. It's dependent on our trust in Him, and it's dependent on His will in our lives.

Even in those circumstances, though, there are times in which the answer is no. There are times in which God's answer is no. You know, I've anointed people and I've seen miraculous healings. I'll be honest, frankly, there are some I cannot explain. There are some that the only possible conclusion that I have is that God has healed this person. In fact, that's quite frankly often the doctor's response as well. This makes no sense whatsoever. I've also anointed people and they've not gotten better. I've anointed people and they've died. And so sometimes God's answer is no, regardless of the faith of those individuals.

Regardless, at times, of the faith of those individuals. Now, I want to show you an example of that. The Apostle Paul, you want to turn over to 2 Timothy 4. Apostle Paul was someone through whom God worked incredible miracles. I mean, we would look at Paul as the example. In fact, it's where we get the example of anointed cloths, this is from Paul. Acts 19 is recorded, when he was unable to anoint someone in person, they would bring pieces of cloth that were anointed from that person to him, and the people were made well.

Now, from the looks of it, you know, these were pieces, actually, the wording is handkerchiefs and aprons. I kind of get the picture that Paul's doing his work as a tent maker. Somebody comes running up and says, Oh no, oh no, someone's so sick, Paul, we need to be anointed.

And he says, here! Rips a chunk off of the apron or whatever and dumps oil on it real quick, because he's working on tents and there would have been oil. You know, as they kind of waterproof him a little bit. He says, quick, take this to him! Go, go, go! You know, it has a runner go and take care of it and get it to him there.

But ultimately, that's kind of where we get some of the ideas for anointed cloths today. Verse 19, though, I want to draw your attention to 2 Timothy 4 and verse 19.

2 Timothy 4 and verse 19, what we see is Paul discussing with Timothy the impending end of his life. So we know Paul is reaching the end of his life. In fact, he told Timothy earlier that it wouldn't be much longer. And he leaves some instructions for him in this letter. He encouraged Timothy to come to him quickly because he was practically alone at that point. He said, the only remaining one with me is Luke, that he stayed there in Rome. And what he described was a number of individuals who forsook him at his defense. And what that means is, when they brought Paul before the magistrates, and they said, this guy here has been doing this and this and this and this, what should we do with him? The rest of everybody else went, time to go! You know, I'm out of here. And they went in different directions. They went back to various places. So what Paul writes is he writes this letter to Timothy and says, hey, bring my cloak, bring these parchments, bring these things, bring people to me. Bring me Mark. I actually need Mark. Bring Mark to me. You know, and goes through this process of these things. But in verse 19, he writes to Timothy, great person Aquila, you know, them in Ephesus, he says, the household of Onesiphorus. Erastus stayed in Corinth, but notice what he says. Trophimus, I've left in Miletus sick. He said, I left Trophimus sick in Miletus. In that case, the answer was no. You know, would we argue that Paul didn't have great faith?

Would we make an argument that perhaps Trophimus didn't have great faith? This is the man that they thought the Jews or the Jews thought Paul brought into the temple, you know, ultimately. Sometimes the answer is no. A person's godliness is not the determiner of these things. Sometimes there's things that we need to learn in the challenges that we face. Sometimes there are times in which God has other plans for us. In fact, I want to show you another example. Let's go to Hebrews 11. Hebrews 11.

Yeah, Hebrews 11 provides a list of faithful individuals throughout the years, these heroes of faith that we look to in Scripture as an example of how to live our lives. Hebrews 11 and verse 32 will pick it up. We go through the story of Abraham and the story of Moses and all these people of just these heroes of faith. And we get down to verse 32, and what we see is it says, What more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, Also of David and Samuel and the prophets, who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Notice 35. Women received their dead, raised to life again. Can you even imagine losing somebody to death and then suddenly having that? I mean, the sheer miracle to then have that person back. You know, these incredible stories that we see in Scripture of this faith that subdued kingdoms and got promises and escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness, out of illness, out of injury, made strong, receiving their dead to life. There's so many of these stories contained in Scripture. And right here in Hebrews 11 we see these faithful. What's it say in 35b, the second half of verse 35? Hebrews 11 verse 35. Others, who others? The same faithful people that are mentioned in Hebrews 11. These same people of faith. Others, it says, were tortured, not accepting deliverance that they might obtain a better resurrection. Still others had trials of mockings and scourgings, yes, of chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented, says of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains and dens and caves of the earth. And all these, speaking of the whole crew from 32 to 37, 8 there, all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise. God, having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us. Note all of these listed in Hebrews 11, they did not all receive miraculous healing. They did not all receive miraculous deliverance. Some of them died. Some of them were injured. Some of these things we see, these faithful individuals, suffered extremely challenging situations. Anointing is not a magic bullet. It's not a magic bullet. It's not a guarantee. But God, through the inspiration that He provided James, tells us that when we are experiencing something that is beyond our ability of our body to heal expediently, in faith we come before Him and we place ourselves in the palm of His hand, according to His will, calling upon the elders of the church to anoint our head with oil and lay hands upon us. Anointing the head with oil sets a person apart from God, or before God, rather. It consecrates them, similar to consecrating a king or a high priest or a prophet in God's eyes. That oil that's used as symbolic of God's Spirit in that process enables us to claim a promise of healing for our mind, our body, and our spirit that is made possible by the stripes of Jesus Christ, but in accordance with God's will.

Anointing doesn't necessarily mean that you won't seek medical attention. It simply acknowledges that God is the ultimate healer, that we are in His loving hands and nothing happens apart from His perfect will. Doing what we reasonably can for ourselves is a biblical principle. We see scriptural precedent for in-person anointing. We see precedent in Scripture for anointing via a scent cloth.

As we understand the principle, it's the expression of that person's faith in requesting to be anointed that begins the process. I've had some scenarios where a person has requested anointed cloth, and by the time the male got it to them, they were healed. And they're like, what do I do now? Apply the cloth. Please follow through with the remainder of what was going on.

So there are scenarios that take place where God honors that request before they even get the cloth in the male. But, brethren, the important aspect of this is the stepping out in faith that we do when we have these scenarios. Faith is not a feeling or an intuition of some kind. Sometimes faith is simply a matter of submitting ourselves to God in how He has provided in Scripture wherever that may lead.