Go Forward to be Healed by God

I want to introduce the sermon today by discussing with you a very special family.

This very special family is at the very edge of time where we call the Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord. It's a very special family. It's what we might call an ideal family. For those of you who've got a few gray hairs out there, you might remember Robert Young and the series' father knows best. The father and his family is very much like Robert Young, a loving father, husband, full of wisdom, a tremendous provider, not only physically but emotionally for his family.

The mother is much like Donna Reed. Again, for those who've got a couple of gray hairs, much like Donna Reed from The Donna Reed Show, a loving wife and mother, outstanding homemaker. She doesn't have to work outside the home because the father does so well in his occupation. The kids in this particular ideal family that we see just prior to the Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord, kids are respectful. They're old-fashioned type kids who say, yes, sir, and yes, ma'am. They're bright, well-adjusted, do well in school. Everything looks great for this family. But as I may mention, this family is living at a time just prior to the Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord. As time moves on for this family, they find themselves being thrown into a world situation they couldn't begin to comprehend only months before.

As we march through the Four Horses of the Apocalypse, they see a lot of deception. They see false Christ. They see wars here and there and everywhere. They see famine. Of course, in their case, they're also going to see a famine of the Word of God. They see pestilence, disease epidemics, people dying. And then, of course, the last three and a half years prior to the return of Christ, they see the Great Tribulation, the heavenly signs, and the Day of the Lord.

Tremendous difficulties gripping the planet. And this family, this ideal family we've talked about, is thrown into all this mix. Can you imagine what it must be like for that particular family? At one point, an ideal family, everything looks so good, everything looks so rosy. And then, the next thing you know, a tremendous war taking place. The earth and all the things taking place on the earth. You know, we've read the book of Revelation, especially during the day of the Feast of Trumpets, where we've read about God saying that He's going to destroy all the green grass, one-third of the trees. We read about tremendous, you know, everything, or a third of the things in the sea dying in the leader, everything in the sea dying. Can you imagine what takes place to the face of this planet when that begins to happen? Now, there's a tremendous amount of life in the sea. You know, here in the Midwest, upper Midwest, Midwest, wherever you are living, we've all seen fish and what have you die in the lakes or streams. What do they do? They typically tend to float to the top, don't they? Can you imagine one-third of the life in the seas floating to the top and how many feet thick of dead, bloating animals there would be? The smell? The fact that the earth is having a hard time recycling the air properly because of so much of the greenery being destroyed by warfare.

The prophet Isaiah talks about how the earth is going to reel to and fro like a drunkard.

There's a description about an earthquake where the islands are fled away, the mountains aren't found. And this family is going through that. They're going through and they've thankfully survived, in their case, thankfully survived nuclear war, biological war. There are scriptures, there are prophecies indicating maybe one person in 10 will survive all of that until they get to the millennium. This family is going to survive, survive intact, all four, all four or five of them into the millennium. But what will they be like by the time they get there? I think he mentioned to the folks in back home in Ann Arbor in Detroit about a tremendous earthquake that took place in North America. It wasn't an earthquake that took place on the west coast. It wasn't even an earthquake that took place in our day. It was an earthquake that took place in a little town called New Madrid in Missouri, roughly between St. Louis and Memphis, Tennessee. Now, it took place on December the 16th, 1811.

There weren't scientific instrumentation to tell you how what the Richter scale would have been there, but there were plenty of eyewitnesses that talked about that earthquake. And, of course, the earthquake that's going to take place at the end of the age will be even worse.

But there, on December the 16th, 1811, about three o'clock in the morning, the earthquake began to rattle and shake and convulse the earth. Convulse the earth so violently. The church bells began to ring.

Now, as I may mention, this earthquake took place on the Mississippi River. But when the church bells began to ring, when the land began to convulse, the church bells were ringing as a result of this earthquake where church bells in New York City. Church bells in Savannah, Georgia. Places far off places like Detroit and Montreal, Canada, felt the rumbling of the earth from that earthquake in New Madrid, Missouri. Scientists think that perhaps it was an 8.0 earthquake.

But the first quake that hit that morning wasn't all. There were several more aftershocks that were probably almost as great as the original quake. And then many more aftershocks after that. They think there were maybe a total of several thousand over the course of the next number of months.

You had the earth convulsing. You had the Mississippi River. There was one report where the Mississippi River, a land bridge, was thrust up under the whole of the Mississippi River at one point. And as the Mississippi ran into that land bridge, it actually hit it and then bounced back, causing the Mississippi River to change its course. If you were to take a bowl of water and squish it around, that was much like what happened to the Mississippi River. A new lake was formed as a result of this earthquake. On the other hand, there were eyewitness reports. A couple of fellows standing near a lake. It was as if you had a bathtub and somebody pulled a plug. The water just went down. The lake disappeared. Fishers opened up in the earth, four feet across, 10 miles long. Great sand geysers, sand and water geysers, springing through the earth, causing these sand mounds. Gases coming up from the earth. The people there, a new madrid, thought it was the end of the world.

They were frightened. They had never seen anything like that or ever heard, apart from what's in the Bible, of anything like that. Other things took place that were reported. It almost appeared to some observers that lightning was going through the ground, because that night you would see the ground glowing because of probably electric shock or something happening inside the ground. Now, this family we talked about a few moments ago, they're going to go through the nuclear war, the germ warfare, the biological warfare. They're going to go through all the things we've just made mention of. As God begins to reshape planet earth, He begins to take and reform planet earth, the topography, for two reasons. One, He wants to get mankind's attention. He wants to teach mankind. But a second reason God is going to do this is because He's reshaping the earth for the millennium. He's reshaping the earth for the wonderful world tomorrow, including the last great day. This world is going to need to be able to have billions of people being resurrected on the last great day. And the earth is going to need to be a tremendous breadbasket. When we go back now to that family, the Robert Young, the Donna Reed, you know, the kids who are so wonderful, what do you think they're like by the time they reach the millennium? As they go through that three and a half year period, what do you think has happened to them? They'll have seen some things that just the mind can't comprehend.

Several months ago, I was visiting a member of the Detroit congregation, and he happened to be going through some photographs. And he's in his early 90s as a World War II veteran. I said, Mr. Huskin, what you got there? I said, oh, I've got some photos, some black and white. You want to take a look? He handed them over to me, and very shortly after looking at the first couple, I said, who's are these? I said, these are mine. See, these are your photos. And they were mint-conditioned black and whites from World War II. I said, who took them? He said, I took them. Where were you when you took these? Mr. De Los Andros, I was in Dachau.

It was my unit that was one of the first units to liberate Dachau. And there, as I began to look after black and white, after black and white, I saw the kinds of pictures that we see all the time when we see pictures of the Holocaust. Only this individual, this man, a church member in Detroit, was actually there taking those pictures. What does it do to a person's psyche to see that, to go through that? What is it going to do to those individuals that, you know, father knows best, Donna Reed type family that comes through all that three and a half years, and they make it through when they come to the very beginning of the millennium? Well, those people are going to be battered. They're going to be broken. They're going to be smashed. They very much need God the Father and Jesus Christ. They very much need something else, and that is you, the Bride of Christ.

You, who have gone through your share of difficulties and trials. Now, nothing like the last three and a half years before Christ returns. We're hoping very much that God spares us from all of that, in whatever way God wants to do that. But you have also gone through tremendous trials. You know, back home in Ann Arbor in Detroit, we've gone through tremendous trials. This last year, my family has gone through tremendous trials and is going through tremendous trials. You have as well. But the wonderful thing is, as we take a look at this scenario that I've just painted for us, is that when the millennium starts, you are now the Bride of Christ. You are now spirit beings. You are there to help affect a healing. And you can affect a healing because, in this age now, as you've gone through your trials, as you've gone through your difficulties, as you've gone through the very hard times of life, God has been there for you. And you've gone to God, and you've asked Him to help heal you. And so, when people come to you in the world tomorrow, when you're giving your group to rule over, to care for, you're not going to be giving pat answers, company lines. You're going to be giving answers. You're going to be giving help that you've understood by personal experience with God the Father and Jesus Christ. Sometimes we wonder, why is it we go through what we go through? Rather than there are millions upon millions of people who are depending upon you and I going through our trials successfully, learning from our trials, drawing closer to our great Father and our elder brother, Jesus Christ, as a result of our trials, going to them and allowing them to enter our lives and heal us. There are millions of people waiting for you and I to help heal them. What is it you're going through right now? What is it your family or your friends are going through right now?

Don't you know that perhaps multiple millions of people have gone through the very same thing, and they're waiting for you, they're waiting for me, to be there at the beginning of the millennium to help them with that healing. Let's turn to Exodus 14.

Exodus 14.

Here we've got a scripture that really deals with the Days of Unleavened Bread, but as you may mention, on opening night, God's holy days, they interlock. The meanings are very, they add one to another, build one upon another. Exodus 14. And Moses said to the people, do not be afraid. Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, which we'll accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians, who you see today, you shall see again no more forever.

Yes, there's coming a time when we're not going to see the trials of life will be spirit beings. We won't see them in our life, but we'll be able to help others as they have experienced them. The Lord will fight for you and you shall hold your peace. And the Lord said to Moses, why do you cry to me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward.

Brethren, my theme for today, if you want to take some notes and write something across the top of your paper, is very simple. My theme today is, go forward to be healed by God. Go forward to be healed by God. Now, today, I'm not going to be talking too much about physical healing. That's very important. Many of the trials we've experienced in this room are as a result of a need for physical healing. I understand that. But today, my emphasis is going to be upon other types of healing, spiritual healing, emotional healing, mental healing, the healing of the inner man. Over in Matthew 8. Matthew 8 and verse 16.

And when evening had come, Matthew 8, 16, and when evening had come, they brought to many who were demon possessed, and he cast out the spirits with the word. Christ healed those who were having problems spiritually, brought on by demons. Not every spiritual problem is one brought on by demons. We understand that. We understand that not every emotional difficulty or mental difficulty is brought on by demons.

But here we have a little bit of a snapshot of the type of healing that Christ affected in his ministry. End of verse 16. And he healed all who were sick, that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, he himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses. Christ healed us physically. He healed them physically. He healed them emotionally and spiritually, mentally, at every level of human experience.

That was Christ's job. In the wonderful world of tomorrow, that's going to be our job as well. To heal at multiple levels. But I like to read to you the words of Victor Kubik, one of our council members from United Church of God. He was talking about and articulating the goals for United Church of God. This was a number of years ago, during a conference there, as it was in Cincinnati. But I thought it would be good for us to kind of revisit some of the thoughts that he had here on his Feast of Tabernacles.

This was reported by Clyde Kilo. Of course, Mr. Kilo was now the president of UCG. But back then, he was a reporter for the council. And I quote, Mr. Kubik recalled the spirit of teamwork that marked the beginning of United Church of God and urged everyone to recapture the same attitude to go forward in the work of the church. In short, he said, we are doing a work.

Reflecting on the earliest days of forming UCG, he said that nine regional pastors and a few others met in Indianapolis in early 1995 to try and figure out what to do. To try to figure out what to do. But they realized they had been a team and they wanted to continue that. We were homeless, he said. In one sense, isn't that one of the themes of the Feast of Tabernacles? We are tense. We have temporary dwellings. He said, we were homeless. We wanted to, first of all, do the work of God. That's what we had been trained for.

That's why we were ordained. And that's what our life's work, he said. We started with absolutely nothing. No literature, new newsletters, no policies, no form letters, no magazine, with nothing definite in mind. But there was a lot of hearts, hearts to do the work of God. We had our share of problems and made mistakes along the way. And it's been a learning process, he said. But from the bottom of my heart, I believe God wants us to succeed with the right heart, with the right spirit and prayer.

Let Mr. Kewbez went on to say, I see a real healing taking place. Of course, he was talking in large measure about what had happened in 95 and our need for healing there. But if I could be so bold, we've moved largely past that. There's a need for other types of healing in our lives now, as you have gone through what you've been going through recently. But he goes on, I see a real need, a real healing taking place, he continued.

That healing comes as we do the work of God, as we produce, as we publish, as we proclaim. Then he turned attention to the future, urging everyone to remember how important it is to share our common mission and hold that above everything else ahead of anything personal. He continued, God calls people from many walks of life, races, temperaments, and languages, and they respond for many different reasons. Letting me at a very interesting, I thought, a very insightful comment. He said, are we ready to bring them to the same goal? Can we make a home for them?

Brother Net family I talked about at the beginning of the sermon, they need a home. They're going to find a home in the millennium. There are going to be many, multiple thousands of people who are going to want to find a home in the millennium, what we're celebrating here at the Feast of Tabernacles. And we need to be able to make a home for them. And of course, home is not home unless a healing has been taking place.

You can't enjoy your home unless the healing is taking place. Can we make a home for them? Then he concluded his comments, where we have failed, help each other succeed. Where we have fought the worst of those closest to us, let's think the best. Where we have failed one another, let's help each other up.

Where we've been suspicious, let's show trust. Where there has been pride, let there be humility. This is the team spirit that was in the beginning. Let's prepare ourselves individually in these ways so we can do our part for whatever God has in mind for his church. End quote.

But in God's people, you, the bride of Christ, you are going through trials like I personally have never seen. I will discuss all the things that are happening back in our area. Probably every area is very much the same. Young people finding they've got an incurable disease or cancer. Older folks with strokes and heart attacks. People, women who are pregnant and are having a hard time with the child who's growing in their bodies. These are all some of the things we've been facing in our area back home in Ann Arbor in Detroit. Probably much the same way in your areas. A need for healing because of all the trials that we're going through. But again, healing more than just physically. Healing on other levels. And that's what we want to talk about today. Let's take a look at 2 Corinthians chapter 1. 2 Corinthians chapter 1. 1 Verse 3. 2 Corinthians 1, 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all of our tribulation. And notice why. That we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. God wants, you know, God allows us to go through our difficulties, our trials, our challenges. He wants us to come to Him. He wants us to allow a healing to take place in our life. And as we see and experience firsthand that healing, He wants us to remember. Remember what you've gone through. Be able to teach that to others. It's going to be so valuable in the world tomorrow. It's valuable right now in today's age.

Years ago, I was pastoring in West Virginia in Ohio, right on the border. Church is on either side of the border there. And one of the ladies in Ohio had been going through tremendous trials. And one day I met her in a restaurant just to have a cup of coffee and wanted to encourage her and made mention to her how special I thought she was for the way she was responding through seemingly one trial after another. It seemed like one would end and another would begin. But through it all, she kept a tremendous attitude. Close to God, a tremendous light to all who knew what she was going through and how she was responding. And in that conversation, she made a statement that I'll never forget. She said, you know, Mr. De Losandro, I can go through life as a victim or I can go through life as an overcomer. I can go through life as a victim or I can go through life as an overcomer. The choice is mine. I don't choose to go through life as a victim. I choose to go through life as an overcomer. And I know the hardened minds of those of you in this room. That is also your thinking. That's what you want. You want to be there for those in the world tomorrow. You want to be there for those in the world today. It's one of the reasons why Christ loves his bride so, as we talked about on opening night, why he's coming with his holy righteous angels. And he's coming to deliver and rescue his beautiful bride. He loves her so because of the way you love others.

So, brethren, I've got a number of keys here I want to discuss with you in terms of healing.

I'm going to use a little bit of a running analogy as we go through these keys. I'm going to be referring to our Father God as our healer, the doctor. Let's take a look at these keys that God would not want us to understand so that you and I can be properly preparing for the world tomorrow. You know, here we are at the Feast of Wisconsin Dells. You know, I'm sure the ones I've talked to, my personal feeling, this has been one of the best feasts I've ever had. I've really enjoyed each speaker. I've enjoyed the special music. I've enjoyed very much your fellowship. It's been a wonderful feast. But this Feast of Tabernacles represents something. It represents the millennium. It represents us preparing for that millennium. And we're going to leave in just a few days and go back to our various homes and various states throughout the country, maybe other foreign lands. And God wants us to make diligent preparation for what we are now picturing, to make diligent preparation for the Feast of Tabernacles, for the millennium. So point number one. Point number one is we're looking at some keys here, some printing keys here, some principles for healing. Number one, allow God to attend to your wounds.

Allow God to attend to your wounds. Allow our heavenly doctor, if you will, to attend to our wounds. Sometimes we go through life and we think, why us? Why now? Why are these things happening in our lives? And yet, if you and I go through, and as we've done on many occasions, you know, sometimes the emotion just kicks in and sometimes the emotion overwhelms us because of what we're going through, or somebody we love or others we love, numbers of people we love. The emotion kicks in, but when we take a look at things with God's spirit and God's mind, we understand, we take a look at the Apostle Paul. We see all the things he went through. We see all the original apostles, all they went through. We see Jesus Christ, all he went through. What does it say there in Hebrews? I'm not going to turn there, but if you want to reference it in your notes, Hebrews 5.8. Talking about Christ is that he learned by the things which he suffered.

You and I are learning things in aces and spades because of what we're suffering, the challenges we're going through. Now, I'm not saying that's all that life's about. There are times that God has given us tremendous blessing. Blessing upon blessing. Being here is a blessing. But the point here is we must allow God to attend to our wounds.

Almost every year, probably in most so many of our churches, we'll have somebody who will stop coming. They'll get offended at something. Normally, it's a people issue. Normally, it's not a doctrinal issue. It's a people issue. They get offended and they stop coming. They get offended and they stop coming. They stop coming because they didn't allow the doctor to attend to their wounds. Their wounds at first were fresh. They could have been doctored. But they allow those wounds to fester. Things become toxic. And out of the church they go.

We must allow God to attend to each individual wound. Not deny we've got them. Not walk away. Denial doesn't help anything. But we need to go into each little wound and take care of it. Each little cut, so to speak, emotionally, each little wound and make sure each area is taken care of. As an illustration, years ago when I was in college, you know, we were going through, when I was going through Ambassador College, it seemed like everybody was poor. But if you had a friend with a car, then all of a sudden that friend with a car, he was friends with everybody. My friend couldn't afford a car. I couldn't afford anything. I could afford good shoes to walk with. But my friend thought, well, I'm going to get myself a motorcycle. And then, Randy, you and I can kind of trade it off from time to time. I'll buy it. It'll be mine. But, you know, you can have it from time to time. And maybe we can go on some really nice dates. You know, young ladies will see us and we can go and do some really wonderful things. Well, he bought his calico, and he bought his Kawasaki 500. It wasn't a terribly big bike, but he wanted to have me jump on the back. He said, let's go take this thing for a test drive, see what it will do. So we were kind of running around Southern California, and he took a shortcut through an industrial park. We rounded a curve, and as we rounded this curve, I saw at the same time some fellow was there washing off his truck.

And again, at about the same time, we noticed that there was this pool of liquid forming right in front of where we were driving. Sure enough, thankfully, he began my friend who was driving the bike. I was just in the back. He began to brake, but not quick enough. Next thing we knew, we were sliding with a bike on top of us. And I was thinking to myself, I'm so glad the co-eds weren't seeing this. Because, you know, you're thinking, boy, girls, you know, this would be cool. You know, wouldn't you want to do this? You know, you would never have to shave your legs the rest of your life. You know, when we were done, and we don't want to exaggerate, we weren't going that fast when we got into that slick and fell and slid. You know, we might have been going less than five miles an hour, but still the same. Those Levi's hiked up some, and you know, our legs got chewed up some. And I needed to make sure I took care of each and every little wound that was there on my leg. If not, trouble would come. The same thing is true for all of us spiritually. We need to make sure we take care of each and every little wound. Don't let it just gnaw at you. Don't let it just obsess. Don't let it grow toxic. Take care of it. Over here in Leviticus 16, Scripture we read all the time during atonement. Again, we're looking at some Scriptures that sometimes we use on other days, especially here in Leviticus 16 for the Day of Atonement. We see the high priest coming and doing some work. Now, the section we're going to read specifically talks about the work he does in relation to himself, but then goes on to the work he does for the rest of the children of Israel.

Leviticus 16, verse 12, Then he shall take a censer full of burning coals of fire from the altar before the Lord, with his hands full of sweet incense beaten fine, and shall bring it inside the veil, and shall put the incense on the fire before the Lord, that the cloud of incense may cover the mercy seat that is on the testimony lest he die. This cloud of incense beaten fine, as we're aware of, read in other scriptures, especially in Revelation, this incense represents our prayers, our individual prayers, our very specific prayers about detailed matters. Those specific prayers about detailed matters go up to the mercy seat of God, where we ask for God to intervene in our life. On each specific individual little's point.

Brethren, allow God to work in your life. Allow God to affect a healing. Where is it that you have some situations in your life that you know are there that need being taken care of? What is it?

Where are they? Doesn't this feast of tabernacles represent a time? When we picture the total rule of God on earth, is God totally ruling in my life and in yours? Are there things in my life that need to go? Are there attitudes in my life or in yours that need to go? Are the things that we need to repent of toward our fellow man? We've been hurt. We've been injured. We've been wounded. Just like that family going through the Great Tribulation, they have tremendous hurt done to their psyches. Perhaps you also have had tremendous hurt done to you.

We have to open the door to God to allow God to affect a healing. 1 Peter 2. 1 Peter 2. 1 Peter 2.

Scripture we use all the time on Passover.

1 Peter 2 and verse 21. For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow His steps. 3haus How we are to respond when we're going through some challenges, when people are not treating us properly. You know, you and I may have a legitimate beef, a legitimate grievance, because somebody is, you know, it's nothing in our minds actually happening. You've really been hurt. Christ was really hurt. And yet, notice what it says here, verse 23. It says, He committed Himself. He committed Himself to do what? It says in verse 24, to live for righteousness. He committed Himself to live for righteousness.

You know, I think, I forget, was Mr. Hanesco or Mr. McConaughey, but one of the gentlemen today made mention, this feast is going so fast. Before you know it, we will be home. We will be home. And we have to commit ourselves to a way of life, a way of thinking that allows us to be healed. Christ, who was abused by others, didn't become an abuser Himself. He didn't wall Himself off because He had been hurt. He continued to work with His fellow man, with mankind, I should say, to help them in their healing. Brethren, do any of us have a need of repenting of our responses to the actions that have happened to us? Again, these days are days that represent a time of God ruling. We certainly want to set the example of God as ruling in our hearts and minds right now. We want to allow the healing power of God to enter those wounds of ours, like a powerful cleaning agent. Many times when you put a cleaning agent or a disinfectant on a wound, it stings. When you and I, we're going through trials of life and we've got wounds and we're applying repentance, that's a cleansing agent. Many times it stings. It kind of hurts to admit, well, you know, this person did me wrong. But, you know, there were certain parts of that that I had a part to play myself. It wasn't all him or all her. There's some of me in there, too. Maybe had I done things a little differently, the whole situation would be quite different.

If we don't allow God to attend to our wounds, the problems only go underground. They get worse. They become toxic. So point number one, allow God to attend to your wounds. Allow God to attend to your wounds. Point number two. Point number two. Allow God, our heavenly doctor, to help you drain the poisons.

Allow God to help you drain the poisons. Unresolved anger, bitterness are dangerous for us to be aware of when we've been hurt. They're like deadly poisons that are going to poison our life. We must drain these poisons by using a tool called forgiveness. If not, the poison will build up, will become toxic, will eventually leave God's church. We've got to allow God to help us drain the poisons. But then why is it we forgive somebody? Do we forgive the other guy, the other lady, because it's going to help them? Is that why we forgive people? Because it's a service to them. We forgive because it helps us. It helps us. The other party may not care whether you've been hurt or not. They may go through life oblivious to the fact they've hurt you, or they may know they've hurt you, and they just don't care.

You don't forgive them for their sake. You forgive them because this is something that we as Christians, we need to do. We need to drain those poisons. We need to get those out of our life.

And God, with His powerful spirit, will help us do just that.

Now, when I say forgiveness, some might think I'm talking about reconciliation. Reconciliation is beautiful, if we can do that. But over the years, as a church pastor, I've known plenty of people who are never able to reconcile themselves to those who had hurt them. People who have experienced deep, personal, emotional, mental, spiritual pain by the hand of others.

And they couldn't be reconciled. In many cases, the people that had hurt them had died. It was impossible to be reconciled. But it's not impossible to forgive. Along those same lines, over the years, I've had people come to me, men and women, who had been hurt in various ways very deeply. They knew they could not be reconciled to those that had hurt them and done these horrible things to them. But they came to me and said, Mr. Delisandro, I need to talk with somebody. I need to get this out of my system. I need to go to God for healing. I need to forgive these people.

I need to get it away from me. Otherwise, it will destroy me.

And we've sat down on many occasions with many a person to let them know how that's done. I want that as we continue through the sermon today. Over in Ephesians 4, verse 31, Ephesians 4, 31. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice. Much like the days of unleavened bread, let's get away from these sinful things. But again, like the days of unleavened bread, let's put something else in its place. Verse 32. And be kind to one another. What does it mean to be kind? To be kind means that you give something good to somebody who may have given you ill. To be kind to one another. To be tender hearted. Tender hearted. Not hard hearted. Not toxic, but tender hearted. Forgiving one another even as God and Christ forgave you. God wants us to remember our heritage. He wants us to remember the sacrifice that Christ gave. He wants us to also sacrifice. He wants us also to have the attitude, Father forgive them, they don't know what they're doing. That takes a lot of courage. It takes a lot of courage to live like that. But you know something? You're the Bride of Christ. You're the one, as we talked about in opening night, that Christ is coming with a, you know, who knows how many holy righteous angels and his saints, all dressed in beautiful white, bright white, coming to rescue the bride he loves so. God has given you his spirit to do these very things. 1 John 2.

1 John 2.

If we don't do these things, John tells us what will happen to us. And we don't want this to happen to us. 1 John 2 and verse 9. He who says he's in the light and hates his brother.

Hates his brother. Hates his brother. Might be we hate when we just simply turn our back and deny and allow wounds to fester. And we avoid somebody as opposed to trying to work with the situation. He who says he is in the light and hates his brother is in darkness until now. He who loves his brother abides in the light and there's no cause for stumbling in him. But he who hates his brother is in darkness. That's where he or she is at. Is in darkness and walks in darkness. This is the kind of lifestyle they're now leading. And walks in darkness and does not know where he's going.

Their personal compass, their spiritual compass is awry. They don't know where they're going because the darkness has blinded his or her eyes. Ultimately, if we don't drain the poisons, we're going to find ourselves spiritually blinded. We're going to find ourselves stumbling through life because the toxins are going to build up and we're going to be the kind of people we don't want to be. The kind of people Christ doesn't want us to be. So, brethren, let's remember that. Let's allow God to drain the poisons that are in us. Allow him to affect that healing. Let's move on to point number three. Point number three. Don't blame God. Don't blame the doctor.

Yes, he's all-powerful. Yes, he controls our lives. Yes, it could be easy for us to say, well, he could have prevented this. Why is this happening to me? Brethren, there's a couple of things we need to remember about God. Always center our thinking on these two very important principles. You know, God's Word, Paul writing to young Timothy, he made mention that God, the Holy Scriptures make us wise for salvation. The Holy Scriptures, the Word of God, that book we've got, you've got in your lap, I've got in front of me here. It is a holy book, sacred scriptures, information that comes right from God himself. They're not just any old writings. They're not just any old thoughts. They're the actual thoughts of God the Father and Jesus Christ. They're the holy scriptures. They're able to make us wise for salvation. And in our wisdom that God gives us through his Spirit and his Word, let's remember two very important principles. Number one, we want to remember that God is love. No matter what you or I are going through, let's center our thinking on this. God is love. I'm not going to turn there. You can reference 1 John 4-8. 1 John 4-8. God is love. We can also appreciate this second principle, and that is that God won't do anything that isn't ultimately in our best interest. God won't do anything that isn't ultimately in our best interest. I'll read this for you. It's in Romans 8-28. And we know that all things work together for good to those, not to everybody, but to those who love God, to those who are the called according to his purpose. So we remember a couple of things. We don't want to blame God for the trials we go through. We remember that God is love. We remember that whatever is happening is ultimately in our best interest. And then we realize something else. And let's turn to a scripture we read so many times. This is over here in 1 Corinthians 13.

1 Corinthians 13. 1 Corinthians 10, verse 13. 1 Corinthians 10, verse 13.

Where it says, No temptation is overtaken you except as is common to man. You know, whatever we're going through, others have gone through it too. We're in no special category. Perhaps multiple millions of people have gone through the very similar things that we're going through. No temptation is overtaken you except as such as is common to man. But God is faithful. God is faithful. Who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation also make the way of escape that you may be able to bear it. In there have been times when people have come to me as a pastor, I've thought some of the same thoughts myself from time to time. Being a flesh-leaving being, being weak at times. God, where is that escape hatch? What door do I go to where I get to escape? You've promised me that you're not going to give me something I can't handle. You're going to make a way of escape. I don't see a way of escape. I feel like I'm blocked in.

There's a companion scripture that we might want to read over here in Psalm 62 that sheds light on 1 Corinthians 10. Let's go to Psalm 62.

Remember, the scriptures are to help us become wise. It's not just this scripture or that scripture, but the whole of God's Word. We want to take a look at something at another section of the scriptures that will help us understand 1 Corinthians 10. 13.

Psalm 62.

And verse 8. Trust in Him at all times, you people. Pour out your heart before Him, for God is a refuge for us. Where do we find our escape? We find our escape in God. God is our refuge. Too many times when I was looking for that escape door, others have been looking for that escape door. It was because we haven't been properly looking to God, thoroughly looking to God, for Him to help us. We've been trying to take a lot of this on our own shoulders. Put our problems on our own back. As opposed to going to God and saying, Father, I need Your help. I need Your help. And as we go before God, as we trust in Him, as He is our refuge, notice something very special that takes place here in Isaiah chapter 60. Isaiah chapter 60.

As we escape to God, as we trust in Him, as we find ourselves not allowing us to blame God, which was something Satan would want us to do, notice the result. You know, we go through trials in this life. We are in a very unique group. We are in a group that the Bible calls the Bride of Christ. The Bride has got to pay some very high and dear dues. But let's take a look at the result that the Bride reaps here. Isaiah chapter 60 and verse 1, talking about our resurrection. Arise and shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. Here in verse 2, we have a time stamp. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and deep darkness the people. Yes, when Christ returns, the world will be full of darkness. But it's also the time of the seventh Trump and the resurrection, your resurrection to glory. For the Lord will rise over you, and His glory will be seen upon you. Then Gentiles shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. Because of us being filled with that tremendous glory. Over in Daniel chapter 12. What is glory? We're going to talk about that in just a moment. Let's turn to Daniel chapter 12. Look at Daniel chapter 12 and verse 1.

At that time, Michael shall stand up, the great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people. And there should be a time of trouble, such as never was seen since there was a nation, even to that time. Again, another time stamp. Talking about the end of the age. And at that time, your people shall be delivered. Everyone who is found written in the book, your name is in that book, the book of life. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake. Some to everlasting life, in the first resurrection, another time stamp. And some to shame and everlasting contempt. Again, a general time stamp, third resurrection. Notice verse 3. Those who are wise, who listen to God in the Scriptures, the beautiful Word of God, and allow the Holy Spirit to course through their hearts and minds. But those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament, and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever.

At the time of our resurrection, we will be glorified. To be glorified means to possess and be full of brilliance. We talked about this on opening night. To be full of brilliance, splendor, brightness, magnificence, dignity, majesty. That's what awaits the bride of Christ. Because we go to God, our doctor, to affect the healing.

Brethren, please keep in mind this next statement. As a church pastor, I feel it's so very important. Our wounds should draw us closer to the healer. It should also give us greater desire to come to the hospital, the church, as a center of healing where God works.

You and I pray so hard, so diligently. We feel such a sense of loss when we see a brother or a sister turn their back on the great healer. Turn their back on the hospital where healings take place. They decide to go it alone. They decide to stay at home. Perhaps there were those that were with us last year that aren't with us this year, because they're not allowing the healer to help them. Let's not let you or I be in that number. We want to be at God's feast next year. We want to allow the healer to help us through our hurt. We want to be in God's hospital, the church, because that's where we need to be. And all of us have our hurts. Each and every one of us have a need of healing. There's nobody here that's totally whole and well. Everyone needs to be healed by the great God.

So where have we come through at this point? So far, I've given you three points. Number one, allow God to attend to your wounds. Number two, allow God to help you drain the poisons. And number three, don't blame God. Don't blame the doctor. Last point, point number four. Point number four, obey God's orders.

Obey God's orders in order to be healed.

One of the first things that God, our doctor, would say to us, as we're in the process of being healed, He would say to us, give it time.

Give it time.

You know, if you had a physical burn, it would take a certain length of time for your body to respond to that burn. Brethren, isn't it also true spiritually that if you've been spiritually burned, if you've been emotionally or mentally hurt, it's going to take some time?

You know, sometimes there are those around us who would say, well, can't you just get over it? Just buck up! Come on! What's wrong with you? Put it behind you. Get over it! What's wrong with you? But you know, each of us is different. What two things has God created? What two things do we see in God's creation that are identical? Not even identical. Twins are identical. They would have certain things within their chemistry that would be different.

No two snowflakes are alike. No two people handle and process hurt the same way. Allow time to take place. Don't pretend that nothing has happened. We need time to learn to trust people again. We need time to allow God to help us. We don't want to isolate ourselves. Mostly, we need the time for God to work through the pain we've experienced. Now, when I say trust people, I know what some of you may be thinking. Mr. Del Sandra, if you'd gone through what I've gone through, you wouldn't hardly trust anybody. I understand that. I understand that kind of thinking. But does God want us to wall ourselves off? Think of the hurts that Christ experienced. Did He wall Himself off for mankind because of all the hurt He went through? The Apostle Paul, who gave Himself to the people He pastored just to see them leave one after another. Did He wall Himself off? Is that appropriate? Now, I'm not saying here that we shouldn't be soft-headed. There's a balance. We don't want to be soft-headed, but we don't want to be hard-hearted either. We've got to go before God and ask Him for the balance. But, brethren, as you go through your period of healing, or a brother or a sister you love very much, as going through their period of healing, give it time. Give it time. We're all on a different timetable. We all process the challenges of life differently.

There are many things we go through as we're in the process of healing that we will touch base with. We'll touch base with anger, real, severe anger. We'll touch base with grief. We'll touch base with either melancholy or depression. We'll touch base with the feelings of betrayal. And we may find ourselves moving toward healing and then go back to some of those other feelings.

That can be very... that's the way human beings are wired. That's the way we are. Give it time. Ask God to get more and more involved in your life, or the person you love who is needing that time. But pray for the people as you do that. Let's take a look at Colossians chapter 3.

Colossians chapter 3. Colossians chapter 3 and verse 12.

Now here we see in chapter 3 verse 12 of Colossians some attitudes, some mental attitudes that we need. We see it in verse 12.

Something we discussed before. Tender mercies. Put on kindness. Again, we've talked about that earlier. Put on humility. Realizing who we are, what we are, that the other guy who hurt us, or hurt our friend, you know, Father forgive them. They didn't know what they really were doing at the time. Put on humility. Put on meekness. Allow God to teach us. Have the feeling of long suffering. Not having a short fuse. A hair trigger. Those are some of the attitudes to put on. And then we see here in verse 13 an action list. Bearing with one another. You know, putting up with the fact we've been hurt. We understand it. We understand what God wants from us. We understand this is a challenge. Bearing with one another and forgiving one another. If anyone has a complaint against another, even as Christ forgave you, so you must also do.

Very short, but very profound action list. Verse 14. Above all these things, put on love, which is the bond of perfection. Here's what we need to wrap ourselves around. Wrap ourselves in. Love. So we can conquer the negative that's assailing us. And the peace of God will rule in your hearts, to which you were called in one body, and be thankful. The peace of God will rule if we follow God's prescription here. Again, this is God's sacred word. This is sacred writings. These come right from God. This is the being who knows how human life is to work. And he says, you know, if you do these things, then the peace of God will rule your hearts. And we want that. We don't want betrayal to rule our heart. We don't want anger or grief or melancholy or depression to rule our heart. We want the peace of God to rule our heart. And God gives us here a prescription as to how that's to be done.

So give it time. Remember, it took some time for the trials to have their impact on your life. To have done to you what they've done to you. It took time. It's going to take time to work your way with God's help out of that. Give it time. Second thing, the doctor wants you to follow another part of the doctor's prescription for you. There comes a time, after you've given it time, where you need to take off the bandage. You need to take off the bandage. You know, we wear bandages to make sure that the wounds don't get dirt or germs or infection. We wear a cast to support the injured area. We walk with crutches because we need that. But there comes a time where the crutches, the cast, the bandages, they need to go. They need to go. We can't go through life on crutches because of our wounds. Just as no one keeps a bandage on forever, it's essential for us to be vulnerable. Now, there's a word for us to allow ourselves to be vulnerable again, to allow the heir of Christian fellowship to continue the healing process. Remember what the woman said years ago back in Ohio? She chose not to be a victim. She chose to be an overcomer. We don't want to go through life hobbled and crippled, full of bandages. There comes a time, and we'll have to ask God to help us when that time is. There is a time for us to take off those bandages. Again, we don't want to check our brain at the door. We want to strike a balance, not being hard-hearted or soft-headed. But there comes a point where we need to be able to trust again. Trust again. Relying upon God to help us understand how to do that, looking to His word. Let's take a look at one scripture here, John 17. I gave this at a theme for a sermon I think it was back in Louisville, late 90s, John 17.

The scripture we're referring to was the theme for that particular sermon.

Something we read every year at Passover. In my Bible, this chapter is almost entirely in red ink, showing the words of Christ. John 17, verse 11. Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world. And I come to you, Christ, as I come to you, Holy Father, keep through your name those whom you have given me, that, main point here, that they may be one as we are.

Christ prayed for unity in His church. We drop down to verse 21. That they may all be one, as you, Father, and me, and I in you, that they may be one in us, that the world may believe that you've sent me, and the glory with which you gave me I've given them, that they may be one just as we are one. I in them, you in me, that they may be perfect and one, that the world may know that you have sent me, and have loved them as you've loved me. We get on our knees on a very regular basis, and we pray to God, and we ask for various things. We discuss various things with God, and we want very much for God to answer our prayers. Brethren, here's a situation where you and I answer God's prayer. We answer Christ's prayer right here. He's prayed that we would be unified. He would pray that we would do something with our hurts, with the alienations that we've encountered.

Am I, are you, going to work to answer Christ's prayer? Are we going to work as diligently in answering Christ's prayer as we want Christ to answer our prayers? It's a question for us to ask and answer. Last area I want to discuss with you in terms of taking the doctor's orders, looking at his prescription. We've talked about giving it time. We've talked about taking off the bandage. Last thing, don't reopen the wound. As the healing is taking place, don't reopen the wound. Negative, anger, anger-filled talk, anger-filled emotions do just that.

Even though it might feel real good to have a session where we're doing nothing but spewing out all of our anger, all of our negative emotions, for the most part it does no good. Most of the time all we do is just deepen our anger, reopen the wound, make us more vulnerable to infection, to the toxins. We don't want to do that. Now, again, in balance, there is a time, a proper time, and a proper way for venting. There is a proper way and time for debriefing. There are times we simply have to go to the proper person or people and discuss the harm that has been done us. I'm not saying we shouldn't do that. We shouldn't just keep it in. But we've got to do it in a proper way. And again, we go to God. We ask Him for His wisdom. We ask Him for His understanding. We ask Him to inspire our mind to see how we should do this. But I think each of us knows that. I think, as Christians, we know there's a right time and a right place with right people to go and discuss things and let it all hang out. And there's also a wrong time to do that. A time where it's damaging and hurtful to everybody who hears our words. We don't want to do that. We don't want to reopen the wound. We want to make sure that the wounds that have been being healed stay healed. And we move forward.

A couple more scriptures will be done for today. I may mention I wanted to get you out early and hear that time is fleeting. Over here in Proverbs chapter 26.

Proverbs 26.

Here's what happens when we pick at the scam. When we pick at our wounds. Proverbs chapter 26 and verse 20.

Now, we use words the wrong way and harm comes our way.

And they go down into the innermost body. But we want to cut off that food source. We want to cut off all that negative. We don't want to reopen the wound. We want to go before God. We want to vent. We want to debrief before God. Maybe some very strong, mature, faithful members of the church. Perhaps your pastor, who you feel comfortable with. But we do things in a proper way at the proper time. And not just blur it out all of the invective to anybody who wants to hear. But we do things with them.

Over here in Isaiah chapter 38. What do we do? You know, people often talk about how we need to forgive and forget. I doubt that anybody who experienced that camp that Mr. Huskin was showing me in Dachau. I doubt that anybody, should they ever have been called, I doubt they would forget being in Dachau.

If you can find a scripture for me that says what we need to forget, let me know. I know plenty of scriptures that talk about how we need to forgive.

There have been plenty of things that have happened in my life, tremendous, and yours as well, where... I'm not... it's not that I want to keep on remembering, but they just don't go away. Let's be honest about it. They just don't go away. So when they don't go away, and say he wants to bring them front and center, what do we do? What do we do? Isaiah chapter 38 verse 17. Indeed, it was for my own peace that I had great bitterness. Yes, we had trial, we had tribulation, we had hurt. But that hurt worked out something good. It worked so that I could have peace. But you have lovingly delivered my soul from the pit of corruption. We've gone to the great healer, and he's affecting healing in our life. Now notice the end of verse 17. For you have cast all of my sins behind your back.

Very poetic way of looking at what we need to be doing. Maybe I'm wired different, but there's so many things in my life I can't forget. But when they come to the forefront of my mind, I know that if I keep them there, it's going to hurt me. And I'll end up hurting other people. So when they come to the forefront of my mind, I do what it says here at the very last verse 17. I cast that in the background. And every time it wants to push to the front, I cast it back. I won't allow it. I don't want to allow it to stay in the front. Because I've learned, probably as you have as well, that when that stays in the front, I hurt myself and those around me. I become more of a tool for Satan than a tool for God. And I don't want to do that. I don't want to do that.

Brethren, healing is a choice. Healing is a choice. We can go through life full of toxins, or we can be in the process of being healed. We can go through life being an anchor, or we can be a sail. We can go through life as a victim, or we can go through life as an overcomer. The choice is ours. The choice is ours. The people who enter the millennium, each and every one of them need you. They need Jesus Christ. They need spirit beings that will help affect a healing in their life. And for us, our training is starting, and it has already started. It will continue to go on until a time when we're made immortal, at the time of the resurrection.

So very briefly, I made mention today that we want to go forward to be healed by God. I made mention that we need to allow God to attend to our wounds. That we need to go to Him and go to His hospital. I made mention, secondly, that we need to allow God to help us drain the poisons, the anger, the bitterness. Number three, I made mention how we don't want to blame the doctor. We don't want to blame God, but go to God to allow Him to heal us. And lastly, we talked about obeying God's orders for us to affect that healing. To give it time, to take off the bandages when it's the right time, and don't reopen the wounds. Brethren, let us go forward to be healed by God.