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Trinity Community Church
Trinity Community Church
Encounter - The Gift Of Healing
Join Pastor Derrick Overholt in our “Encounter” series as he delves into the extraordinary realm of the Holy Spirit’s gifts, focusing on the profound gift of healing. Derrick shares gripping personal stories that challenge us to ponder the mysteries of faith and the nature of divine will.
Have you ever witnessed something so miraculous that it left you questioning how God intervenes in our lives? Derrick recounts moments where the impossible became reality—a brain aneurysm disappearing before surgery, sight restored to a blind man in Tanzania, and even a woman revived during a church service. These astonishing testimonies inspire awe and encourage deep reflection on God’s power and sovereignty.
However, Derrick doesn’t shy away from confronting the heartaches when healing doesn’t occur as we desire. He shares the deeply personal experience of losing his son, Eli, despite fervent prayers and unwavering faith. This profound loss invites us to grapple with the complexities of divine timing and the enduring hope that transcends our understanding.
Exploring biblical teachings, Derrick delves into scriptures like Isaiah 53:4-5 and accounts where not every ailment was healed immediately. He emphasizes that God’s promises are eternal, offering hope that may not align with our expectations but remains steadfast in His eternal timeline.
Derrick addresses misconceptions about healing, particularly the harmful notion that a lack of healing indicates insufficient faith. He underscores that healing is a complex interplay of spiritual, mental, and physical dimensions and ultimately rests in God’s hands. Faith, he explains, is about trusting in God’s ability and sovereignty, not relying on our own strength.
He encourages us to consider potential barriers to healing, such as unconfessed sin, the genuine desire for recovery, and the stewardship of our bodies. Derrick highlights the importance of persistent prayer and introduces the PRAY acronym—Praise, Repent, Ask, Yield—as a guide to deepen our connection with God.
Throughout his message, Derrick emphasizes that healing comes from God alone. While we may not always understand His ways, we can trust in His unfaltering promises. He invites us to embrace a faith that withstands trials and to seek God’s guidance in every aspect of our lives.
Join us in this compelling exploration of “The Gift of Healing” as we navigate the mysteries of faith, divine intervention, and the hope that guides us through our spiritual journeys. Derrick’s message is a powerful reminder of God’s enduring love and the profound ways He works in our lives.
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We have been walking through our Encounter series. It's been such a great time. We've been talking about, you know, just how the Holy Spirit moves in our lives. We've been talking about how he speaks to us and how he speaks to us for others. We even went through talking about, you know, the gift of tongues. We've talked about the proper use of the gifts and prophecy and things like that, and today we're going to be talking about the gift of healing and it's so exciting to talk about because I've seen a lot of healings and I wanted to share with some of those with you this morning.
Derrick Overholt:I got to see my first healing when I was 16 years old. Many of you may not know that my mom had a brain aneurysm bust and spent months in the hospital when I was 16 years old. She had two open brain surgeries and a full like cut the skull open the whole nine yards. But before the second one I told the doctor. I said you need to go back and you need to retest because I really believe that my mom is healed. And, of course, how doctors do, it's just a 16-year-old boy, he doesn't know anything. And so they went into the surgery. They cut her skull open. They dug around for four hours and closed her back up and come out to me and said I wish I would have listened to you. There was no aneurysm, we could have not have had that surgery, but God healed her and it was an amazing thing to see. So I already knew it then.
Derrick Overholt:And then, a few years later, I was at Trinity at the old building over here. Our pastor was Steve Fado. We would have seen different miracles, but this was a really cool one. I was up front praying with Pastor Steve and somebody came up to him and said someone just died in the back. There's a nurse that just verified that she's been dead for a few minutes. And he said not in my church, she's not. And we all ran to the back and I remember seeing the little nurse that she was like had the lady's head in her lap and she's, you know, checking her pulse and um, and she was dead. And Steve started praying, for a number of us gathered around, lay hands on her and pray for her healing and within a few moments she took a deep breath and I got to see the nurse's face as her face just went to shock of the pulse came back after like five minutes. So by the time the ambulance got there, they just nonchalantly took her to the hospital to see what was going on, you know. And so God brought her back to life, right there in front of us.
Derrick Overholt:There was another time where I was on a mission trip and we were standing up front, we were praying for people and this person came up in a wheelchair. And we were standing up front, we were praying for people and this person came up in a wheelchair and they couldn't walk their whole life because one leg was shorter than the other, and not a little bit, but enough to where you couldn't walk. And I got to be in the presence noticing this happen as others are praying for him. His leg grew and he got up and walked. That day A couple of years ago, you guys may have remembered when I told you about my story in Tanzania.
Derrick Overholt:I'm praying for an old, blind man with seven wives, but he got saved. He got saved and it was such a beautiful thing as he got saved and he called all his family over and he says all you need to know about this, jesus. And they all came and prayed and then they took him back to his room like, guided him back because he's blind, and all of a sudden I start hearing commotion, because I had started walking back to the van and I turned around and here's this older gentleman running straight at me, the blind man, running straight at me, and I'm like what is going on? And they said he says he sees, straight at me. And there's I'm like what is going on. They said he says he sees, he can see now, and so God saved his soul. You know, once was blind, but now I see, literally. He was once blind but now he sees such a beautiful thing, beautiful thing and uh, and so it's just amazing to see what God has done.
Derrick Overholt:I got another one when I was I bet this is about 13 years ago my first little guy was born. His name was Eli. We knew at a very like, we thought that the pregnancy was perfect, there was nothing there, but then he was born. He had some issues and so we spent two or three days every single week at the hospital and it came known that we were going to have to have a brain or a heart surgery and it was going to be one of many heart surgeries. So we took him to Vanderbilt and in the middle of this surgery he had a heart attack and they had to put him on life support, and so we prayed all throughout that night and that next morning I held my son as he took his last breath. Now I bring that up because I've seen God do miraculous healings. But then I've been in the very room as he didn't.
Derrick Overholt:And the question is is why. And that's the question that most of us have when something like this happens, because some of us have been taught certain ways and we believe it's supposed to be this way or believe that way. You know, we prayed with everything we had. I couldn't have mustered up another ounce of faith that God was going to heal. I just told you every story that I'd saw before that it was no question. Could my God heal my son? There was no question. Heal my son? There was no question. But to me that day God decided not to. And that's a hard thing to come to and there's a lot of directions that I could take the sermon today. But you know, I really started.
Derrick Overholt:We were talking about what we'd be talking about here, like six, eight weeks ago, and and Tyler told me that this was going to be my sermon, and talking about here, like six, eight weeks ago, and Tyler told me that this was going to be my sermon and I started right then studying. It was over six weeks ago, because this has been something to me that I have personally dealt with on the amazing, just incredible miracle side, but also in the he didn't answer as I wanted side, and something that I honestly wouldn't wish on the devil himself losing your child. My little boy was 10 months old, so when I think about what we were going to talk about today, I thought about something that is what most of us, like, have in our head most of the time. Listen, I was raised in a number of different denominations of churches. Listen, I was raised in a number of different denominations of churches, so I had so many forms of what I'm supposed to believe, how it's supposed to happen, what it's supposed to look like, and it wasn't until I walked through a lot of stuff that I came to what I believe today.
Derrick Overholt:And when I mention this next scripture, the scripture that we're going to focus on today, it's probably the scripture that's on most of our hearts and our minds. When we think about, when we talk about healing. You think about this scripture. Most of the time I actually wanted to see if that was true. So I asked a bunch of people over the last week when I said, healing, what do you think about? And they quoted this scripture. So I was like, all right, this is the one that we're going to talk about Now, just as a little bit of you know context here.
Derrick Overholt:This scripture I'm going to read is from the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah was a prophet given by God to his people. Every single one of the prophecies that this man wrote, all of them, came true. Every single one of them, to their deepest detail, like it was absolutely true. It wasn't a well, it might be like this. No, all of the prophecies that God gave to Isaiah in the vision that he wrote in Isaiah, all of them came true. And the one that we're going to read about here was five to 600 years before Jesus was born.
Derrick Overholt:And so we'll move on to Isaiah 53, 4, which is where this is at Isaiah 53, 4 and 5. Surely, he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we have seen him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions and he was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace. And with his wounds we are healed. So let's pray about that. Lord, we just thank you so much that you give us the opportunity to be here. God, I just pray that you would use me as your puppet today. God, all I want to do is speak the words that you have, god, and I just pray that you'd touch each and every one of our hearts, lord, and prepare us, lord, for what you want to do in Jesus' name.
Derrick Overholt:So this scripture I found in a couple of other places in the New Testament, of course, the part there that everybody kept saying when I would come to them and say, hey, what scripture comes to mind? They say by his wounds we're healed. And so that was you know. Then I'm like, all right, which one are you talking about? You know, because in second Peter he said it, and in Matthew he mentioned it too. So which one are they talking about? And it brings up two schools of thought in this scripture. Now, I was taught both of them by at different points in my life. All right, in the first school of thought is in first, uh or 24.
Derrick Overholt:He said he himself bore our sins in his body on the tree that we might die to sin. Remember that word and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. So I had to look at the context of this, because this is one that even just this week, when I was talking to somebody, they said by his wounds you have been healed. And so I looked at the context of what Peter was saying and in the entire writing here Peter is clear. He's talking about sin.
Derrick Overholt:The whole entire section is on us being separated from God, needing a savior, and Peter is clearly in every way in this letter talking about how, by his wounds we have been healed, we've been given the opportunity for salvation. He has healed our eternal souls. Have it's done so concerning that section. So it led me down this whole long road and you can some of you in this room, I talked to you this. I actually had lunch with a couple of people. Multiple times. I talked to Neil and Tyler and Mark, because just there you know this was six weeks ago that I like studying this context. I'm like, wait, what is going on? Everything I thought and had I've been taught all these years, and then I just had to continue my study through it because right after that, like we.
Derrick Overholt:I start talking to somebody and he mentions in Matthew, chapter eight, and now in Matthew, matthew's fixing to write this. He says, uh, this was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah, that he took our illness and bore our disease. Now in Matthew, matthew is clearly speaking of healing, because he's talking about all the healings that Jesus has been doing, and he said that all of this was done to fulfill the scripture in Isaiah. So now Peter and Matthew are both going back to Isaiah's scripture. So here we are. We see this. Yes, the scripture that in the New Testament is talking about healing.
Derrick Overholt:So the two schools of thought that I have personally like wrestled with through the years is one is I was taught that by his stripes we have been healed, and so today, if I'm sick which I have been this weekend, thank God I'm actually talking to you because I've had a sinus infection, but I have already been healed. So what I'm feeling is nonsense. I'm not actually sick at all and I just need to claim my healing because I have been healed. Okay, well, that didn't work, for my son did it, because he has been healed, but I prayed and prayed and prayed and he didn't. So then whose fault is it? It must have been mine, because he was an innocent child. So if he's not healed, it was my own fault that I didn't pray enough. So see how dangerous that form of thinking can be. So then there's the other side that says that we are healed, but it's in God's timing, and so today I want to lead us in that direction, because that's what I feel like God has revealed to me.
Derrick Overholt:Years ago, there was when I lost my little boy. I was really mad at God. I was screaming and yelling at him, as you could expect, and I remember like when, at this moment, I was like crying out my wife's crying all the time, like I just didn't know what to do. We couldn't even go home because we couldn't be in the house. We sold our car even because I couldn't look in the back seat and not see him. So here we are and I'm like just mad all the time. Like God, you said that we have the ability to have healing here, you know, and I was in the thought process of have been healed, like it was a guarantee, like I have the right to have it. And so, god, why didn't you? And I felt like the Lord said, and like one of those moments in your life where you really hear a voice. I heard a whisper in my ear it was my right ear and he said I did heal him. That's the four words that helped carry me along to where I'm at today, 13 years later, and I remember I shared that with my wife, that word with my wife, and it was at that moment that we started to understand the peace that surpasses all understanding. It was that word that I got from the Lord that really helped us to start putting things back together and trying to live again without our little boy. Amen. So the scriptures that we read and that we're looking at, both Matthew and Peter are both quoting back to Isaiah. So that's where we're going back to. All right, we're moving back to that place.
Derrick Overholt:There's a number of times, if we are talking about the New Testament, not everyone in the New Testament got healed. I heard a couple of people talk to me about that. Not everybody did, and we see one written down by Paul when he's writing to Timothy in his second letter in chapter 4, verse 20. And he says that he left Trophimus in Miletus ill. He left him ill there, and do I think for a moment that Peter didn't pray for him to get healing. No, he absolutely got healed, like I mean that he did go pray for them. I'm sorry, he absolutely would pray for them to get healed, but for some reason Trophimus didn't get healed. And so he's telling Timothy hey, trophimus is still sick, he's there in Miletus, continue to pray for him.
Derrick Overholt:So just so you guys hear me today because I know that it can go back and forth here that I'm not in any way saying that healing does not come from the blood of Jesus on the cross, because I fully believe that the ability to have healing through the Holy Spirit is done only through Jesus when he died and rose from the grave. That's the only way it happens. Now, if I say something today that might get you a little off, and well, derek, I don't agree with that. Let's do this in a really mature way. Don't leave the church, come talk to me, send a letter to Tyler at TCCKnoxcom. He'll rebuke me or he'll stand up. But no, it's true. So it brought me to this revelation that I had years ago. When I heard those four words, I did heal him. I really, when I was praying into this over the last number of weeks, I felt like the Lord expanded the revelation that I got way back then, and that's what I want to share with you today.
Derrick Overholt:It's super simple, but we really need to hear it, and it's this when we interpret the word of God, we have to look at it through the person's eyes who wrote it. Okay, it's the perspective. That's what matters when we're reading any scripture and when you're interpreting the word of God and you're reading it, you have to look at, like if we're looking at Matthew, we have to look at what Matthew's going through, what the world around him might've looked like. Was he, you know? Did he just go through something that really put him in a bad fog in his head? Did he go through something? Is he in a really happy time? What's it look like around him? Is there real war around him? Is it really messed up? All these things add to. Okay, this is what he said. This is probably what he was feeling. Now, how do I apply that to my life? We all agree with that, right? Well, it's the same thing we do throughout the entire scripture.
Derrick Overholt:And again now we're talking back to Isaiah 53. Isaiah 53 is written down words from God himself, from a vision. So now we have to look at this scripture, the perspective of who is saying it. God said it. So when Matthew said something, he's in time. When Peter said something, all of his perspectives are in time. When Paul said something, everything is in time. Guys, time was only made for us in this universe. God doesn't. He doesn't live in that and, honestly, if we truly believe that we are sons and daughters of the most high God, who adopted us through the salvation given through Jesus Christ, we are eternal beings. So all of these answers and promises in the Word of God are eternal promises. So when we look at this, we can't take this Word that God gave and try to put that into our timing.
Derrick Overholt:And then what God gave me was this picture Isaiah and Malachi both heard God. When God said I'm going to send Jesus and he's going to look like this and he's going to be wearing these clothes. He's going to be over here in this building. He's going to be found over there. I mean literally detailed instructions of where he was going to be found. Okay, when he did that. God's perspective, we're reading it in his perspective. All right, isaiah, malachi, jesus is coming like this. It's going to look like this Boom, jesus was born, died, risen and he's back on his right hand. That's God's perspective. Now back to our perspective. Hey, isaiah Malachi, he's going to be born like this this bam wait 600 years. And we miss that today. But God said it.
Derrick Overholt:God promised yes, we're eternal beings. We're not in this timeframe. He doesn't speak in this timeframe. He speaks in an eternal timeframe. It would be great if he spoken within a lifetime. Jesus came, but it wasn't. It was 600 years. And what about the fact that Jesus, when he said I'm coming back, like, well, that'd have been great to be one lifetime. We're here at 2000 years, but we live eternally. Right, we're just here for a short time. So that's how we have to put all of this.
Derrick Overholt:And that was for me for many years. I struggled with that before, even before I lost my son, like when I'd, you know, be praying for somebody and they wouldn't be healed. But why? Why wouldn't you be healed? Like this is a, this is a promise, you know in this. Why, why wouldn't you be healed? Like this is a, this is a promise, you know in this. But then it. That was the incredible thing for me. I did heal him because I know that all of God's promises are true. They're yes and they're amen.
Derrick Overholt:So the question today is why we haven't been healed yet, because we're going to be. Every single person in this room is going to be healed. If you're going through something today, there is power in the name of Jesus Christ and you're just not healed yet. Now we don't know when. That yet is right. That yet could be here in 20 minutes when we have you guys come up and pray for healing. It could be next week, it could be next year, it could be next year. It could be like my son when he continued his eternal life and he was completely healed. There's the promise Healing is possible and we believe that.
Derrick Overholt:So today I did look and I'm studying a lot in the scripture here and I found some reasons in the New Testament of why we might not be healed yet. As I said, it's always a yet, okay, and now I'm not saying again this is a big disclaimer here out of these seven things I'm talking about, you're not guaranteed, if you're sick today that one of the things that you're dealing with is in here. Okay, it might just be as I'm going to talk about on the seventh one, it's God's sovereignty. But there are some things in the Word of God that does point out why we may have not yet got our healing or why we're fixing to have our healing. So we're going to start out with number one, which is faith.
Derrick Overholt:Now, again, you've got to be really careful with faith, because we don't want to say that we can have enough of it to get you healed. What that's doing is putting faith in faith instead of faith in the one who gives it. So we have to be really careful at how much we put on faith. But faith is very important because faith glorifies God. Faith points us away from ourself and from all that we think we can do. To him, faith turns us away from our own power. To him, faith says, lord, I'm nothing, but you are everything. Says I entrust in you everything and I cling to you alone. It's saying that I have confidence in you alone. As you see, it's constant pointing toward God and it has nothing to do with me. I only believe in the God who can. So we can't put too much on faith.
Derrick Overholt:And as well, they just and Tyler talked about it a while back where he was at a church and the lady died. And next week the dude got up and said yeah, if sister so-and-so would have just had more faith, I'm surprised you didn't punch him. Oh, oh, he was like eight or nine years old, five years old, wow. And so if you come to me at any time and say you just didn't have enough faith for your son, I'm going to have to repent to the elders because I'm going to punch you. Maybe you'll punch me first. Sam Storm said a really good thing and I'm going to put it up here. He says so. Sam Storms said a really good thing and I'm going to put it up here.
Derrick Overholt:He says Faith is not a weapon by which we demand things from God or put Him in subjection to us. Faith is an act of self-denial. Faith is a renunciation of one's ability to do anything in a confession that God can do everything. Faith derives its power not from the spiritual energy of the person who believes, but from the supernatural efficiency of the person who is believed. God. It is not faith's act but the object that accounts for the miraculous. It is God and God alone. Healing can only come from God and God alone.
Derrick Overholt:If you get a healing today, it's not going to be because you had a lot of faith. Now we must have faith that God can heal. And so if you come and pray doubting in your heart yes, that's what the scripture is talking about we can't come and ask for a healing to happen but then have doubt in our heart, like I'm going to come up and pray for you. You know God, yeah, yeah, I know that sometimes maybe you can heal to. You know we have to come. God, I know that you have the power to heal. I pray that you heal right now and we pray in faith until something happens. The whole word. I don't know if you've heard the acronym push. The whole word. I don't know if you've heard the acronym push pray until something happens, and that something might happen today and it might happen in eternity, but you don't stop praying until something happens.
Derrick Overholt:The next thing that can stand in the way of your healing, of why you're not healed yet, of your healing, of why you're not healed yet Sin. Sometimes healing doesn't come because of a presence of sin in our life where we've not had confession and repentance, and we see this in James, chapter 5, which we'll be reading again here in a few moments, but it clearly instructs us to confess our sins one to another that we might be healed. Confess our sins one to another that we might be healed. Now, remember I'm not saying that one of these is absolutely landing on you that's not always the case but if right now and I was praying about this just a few moments ago if right now something popped in your head and you're needing healing, but you just remembered something that may be the Holy Spirit revealing to you, deal with this, get this dealt with.
Derrick Overholt:If you've not made something right with somebody, you're holding a grudge towards somebody, you're upset, you're not forgiving Right now, as I'm saying that, you've got a thought in your head. If you do deal with it Because I have personally found that when I'm thinking about this and something pops in my brain, it didn't pop in there for nothing it's because I haven't dealt with it and I need to go repent, and sometimes that means that you're going to have to go to someone and repent. You know something that I realized with a certain sin that I'd been dealing with for many years. I had been asking God to forgive me many, many times, but I never went back to the first time and dealt with it Like that sin that began it all. I never went there, and so that might mean, yeah, you've asked God to forgive you a bunch of times for doing that to somebody, but you haven't went to the person, the one that you offended, the one that you hurt. You need to go and talk to them and it might happen today. Maybe they're in this room and you can deal with that, and we're going to give a time for that in just a little bit. But sin can hold us back. That might be a reason why we're not healed yet.
Derrick Overholt:Another one is do you want it? Do you want it? Now, this one sounds weird. Right, of course I want my healing. Yeah, but not everybody does. See, jesus asked the paralyzed man in John 5, 6, do you want to be healed? What might look really weird is that, honestly, some people either might be paralyzed by the fact that they've just not been healed and so they've just given up completely. I heard somebody praying about that this morning. Sometimes it's just the fact that they've prayed and then they like just given up completely and it's been years since they've really prayed about it.
Derrick Overholt:I'll tell you a little bit of my own testimony here. I've actually been praying for people in the past for long periods of time and realized that they don't want to be healed, and what I mean by that is they're scared of healing. If they get healed really healed they'll have to go back to work. I'm not meaning that in a bad way. That's scary. Think about this If you've lived 10, 15 years in some big sickness and it took you years to get where you're at right now, if you were to be completely healed right now, your whole life would change again. That's abrupt. That's not any condemnation toward anybody. That's scary, but that's real faith that we'd have to have. So if you got healed so that does happen Some people and again I've seen this in a few cases they really enjoy the dependency on other people and they love the special attention, and so they've come to me and asked me to pray for them. But yeah, you can see they really don't want it because they really enjoy what they receive from it. So that might be a reason why we're not healed yet.
Derrick Overholt:Now remember, I'm not saying that if you're sick, any of these seven are absolutely going to line up with you. They might not, but if I'm speaking one and it hits you today, we want to pray for those so that you can receive your healing. Along with that one is are we asking? You know, as I said just a minute ago, you get so tired of asking that you stop. Maybe you prayed for healing a few times and then you've just kind of given up on it completely. But we have to continue asking. Some people are not healed because they have a lack of asking and asking God. But a lot of times healing comes from continual prayer, long time of prayer, fasting prayer, much of it. That's why I said pray until something happens. Never stop praying, Fast over it. Ask others to pray with you. Never stop asking because you're just not healed yet. You're going to be, you're going to be healed and we pray that it's right now.
Derrick Overholt:Another one, number five is there an unclean spirit? Some people are not healed because of demonic oppression. We see that in Luke 13 with the woman with the disabling spirit. She had that for 18 years and Jesus said Satan had bound her and he set her free and she stood up for the first time in 18 years. So it could be that someone has the spirit of infirmity. It is a real thing and we do have that. So when you're praying for somebody for healing. You have to constantly ask God and really be discerning in these God. Is there something here that we need to cast off, because they've allowed that to be on them or they don't even know it's there and they've not told it to go away through the power of the name of Jesus?
Derrick Overholt:Number six this is one that's really hit me hard over the last little bit, and it is are we stewarding our temple properly? This is the temple of the Holy Spirit, right? And I'm only here on earth because God gave me this body to dwell in until this time's over with, and it is my responsibility to steward it. Well, you know, most of you know I'm all about stewarding all of God's possessions that he gave us, all the way down to a toothpick in your closet, I don't know Like. Your lawnmower belongs to God. Your car belongs to God. All of it belongs to God. If you have it, he gave it to you. So steward it right. It's a 50-year-old lawnmower, I don't care. Make sure it's still working, because it's what God gave you. Use it right. How many times I've said that? But when's the last time you heard Derek say I've got to steward this and I've not been doing a great with is anxiety, and I just wanted to share with you just a moment what anxiety does to your body.
Derrick Overholt:Anxiety causes damage to your nervous system. It causes damage to your heart. It causes damage to your digestive system. It causes damage to your heart, it causes damage to your digestive system, your immune system, your respiratory system. That's just anxiety. That's worrying about things that you can't control. Just that alone. If we just stop there, we're destroying our body because we're worried about those things that we can't control. We're tearing it up and it is throughout like all kinds of medical books. There's all kinds of things that we do to our body that leave lasting term bad effects to our body and can cause disease.
Derrick Overholt:So in that, like onto that, what if we're not eating things that are good for us? So when I say that, uh, maybe you're praying for god to heal high cholesterol, but you won't stop eating bacon, I'm just saying like the god. Like if you go to the doctor and the doctor says, hey, this, this, this and this is bad. I need you to stop eating this, and you're like, okay, what was bad, see you later and you don't listen to the fix, stop it.
Derrick Overholt:I can't tell you how many times I have seen people in my own family deal with diabetes and not stop eating cake at every 30 minutes and their blood sugar is going nuts. And they're sitting there like checking their blood sugar while they're eating the cake. And I can eat three more bites and you know, no, no, we know it's killing us. How many people who are dealing with asthmatic issues but you refuse to stop smoking? How many people are dealing with things in their gut?
Derrick Overholt:And it's because of overindulgence in different foods. Not all foods are bad. You know. We talk about alcohol. People talk about that one all the time, right? And overindulgence in alcohol can kill you. It'll take everything away from you, let alone kill your body. It will take everything from you. But a drink every now and then is not going to hurt your body. But it's overindulgence in these things. So it's okay to eat some chocolate. Just stop eating it every 30 minutes, right? So we're not taking care of our body. Some of us refuse to exercise. I'm right here. I'm right here, okay, I'm not. So I'm not pointing at anybody, but we refuse to exercise. What we know is bad for our body is to leave our body setting steel and vegging out on TV while eating Cheetos. It's bad for our body, which brings up my next point Cheetos are terrible, it really is the next one. So, which brings up my next point Cheetos are terrible, it really is the next one.
Derrick Overholt:So are we eating unknown poisons? This one's the one that's kind of got me recently. You've heard a lot of it come up in the news. Kennedy's been talking about it and talking about all the things. In America that we eat every single day, that's totally legal, but in the rest of the world is completely illegal. It's considered poison in the rest of the world and yet it's in 50% of our foods.
Derrick Overholt:And so, like praying God, is it something I'm eating Like, is there something that I'm consuming on a daily basis that's causing me to get sick? I didn't know for years. You know, I've always been told I had ADHD and when I look back of all the things I ate when I was growing up, what was in most of those foods were red 40, yellow 6, yellow 5, blue, whatever these crazy numbers. And I realized that when I looked at my meals that I would normally eat on a daily basis because when I grew up I didn't eat good. My mom tried, but I didn't. She tried so hard, but when I saw what I was eating, red 40 is known for causing ADD in children and I had it in probably 50% of my daily food. It was in 50% of everything I ate.
Derrick Overholt:And yet I'm like God, help me right now to focus, you know. And so then I was even thinking about what if today you're asking God to heal you and God's like I want to heal you right now but tonight when you get home you're going to eat this and it's going to cause the disease again, and so that's where we have to pray and ask God is there something I'm not saying? You got to take this overboard. I will tell you, my wife's tried to keep me wrangled in, because we did clean out half of my pantry over the last few weeks and got different foods, and there are people in our body that really do care about this and they're educated in this, and so they're more than willing to help you in this. If you feel like God's leading and saying, you might have some things in your house that you're eating that's causing these issues. You know, catherine Jeffries is great at this. We got Doc Hagerman. We got John back in the bag. You got people in the body that know and care about getting these things out of our life and know how to find out what might be. So there are people here. We want to help you with that. So there's six reasons so far that we're not healed yet. All right, the last one is this one. This is the one I don't like. I don't like this one. You guys see it up there, right? This one hurts.
Derrick Overholt:Oftentimes God might be working on something else, like spiritual growth, moral development, an increase in the knowledge of God. God desires our spiritual health way more than our physical health. Sometimes, what we're going through, that might be the only way, in his wisdom, that God has determined that you'll learn what he's wanting you for, for your spiritual self. This is the hardest thing for me, because I know God loves me and I'm not saying here today that that God is putting it on you. We know that we live in a falling and dying world. You know the moment you're born, you're counting down your days to death. You're born to die. You know we were talking earlier about the fact that, like well, we pray for healing, we pray for healing, it's given in the atonement and blah, blah, blah. Well, so is death, but all of us are dying, we're all going to, and God uses things, and he says that in Romans 8, 28. He says that I'm going to work all things together for the good of those who are called according to my purpose. So we see, even in 2 Corinthians 4, verse 6 through 18, he says so. We do not lose heart, though, that our outer self is wasting away. Our inner self is being renewed day by day, for this light momentary affliction is preparing us for eternal weight of glory, beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but the things that are unseen, for the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. Our bodies are breaking down. They are Again.
Derrick Overholt:I'm going to quote Sam Storms again. Sam Storms has got some really great things on healing and the spiritual gifts, and I found another great thing that he said when it came to the sovereignty of God. He said let me personalize the God sovereignty principle. So let me personalize this principle. If I believe that Romans 8, 28, that God sovereignly orchestrates all events in my life for my ultimate and spiritual good and, preeminently, his ultimate glory, I can only conclude that, all things being equal, I'm not healed. If I'm not healed, it is because God values something in me greater than my physical comfort and health that he, in his ultimate or intimate wisdom and kindness, knows can only be attained by means of my physical affliction and the lessons of submission, dependency and trust in God. So sometimes you might be in it because God's guiding you through and he's going to make you stronger.
Derrick Overholt:Now I believe that, no matter what, even in all seven of these, god's making us stronger, because if it is sin in our life that we need to ask God to forgive us for, he's making us stronger. If our bodies are decaying because of something we're eating and we find out what that is, god's making us stronger. He's revealed that to us. All the things faith. He's making me stronger. By having and believing that God can do it, he's making me stronger. So, all seven of these, it's all about making us stronger.
Derrick Overholt:And, again, might not be that all of us will have one of these seven, but if today I've mentioned one of these and you're going through something and you need healing, today I've mentioned one of these and you're going through something and you need healing If it's hit you in your heart. Maybe one of those might be it. I just want you to start praying to God and asking him Lord, like is that? It? Is that something I need, and even if that sin is always going to be one that holds us back, it's always. It's never going to be a bad thing to repent. It's always going to be a good thing. But I want to leave you today with this that you are not healed yet, and we've been praying for the last couple of weeks that today, some of you will be healed. So whoever's coming up to lead us in worship, come on up.
Derrick Overholt:What we must do is pray in faith. That's all we can do. God heals. It's not how much I can muster up faith, it's not how much I can do. Anything that goes back to pointing at me is not going to work. Oh, he didn't have enough faith because it's not about him, it's about God. Oh, I didn't have enough faith because it's not about him, it's about God. Oh, I didn't have enough faith, it's not about me, it's about God. He's the only one that can heal. He's it. It's all for him and his glory. And so I want you to just start praying and having faith and knowing that he can do it.
Derrick Overholt:James 5, you guys can start playing anytime you want. James 5, we talked about a moment ago that we're just going to read James 5, 13. Is anyone among you suffering, let him pray. Is anyone among you cheerful, let him sing praise. Is anyone among you sick, let him call for the elders of the church and let him pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins one to another and pray for one another that you may be healed.
Derrick Overholt:The prayer of a righteous person has great power, as it's working. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it didn't rain. Then he prayed again and the heavens gave rain and the earth bore its fruit. There's power in the name of Jesus. We read it earlier there's power. Or we sung it earlier there's power in the name of Jesus.
Derrick Overholt:And so today I felt like the Lord wanted us to use the PRAY acronym. I'm into my acronyms today Praise, repent, ask and yield. We need to come to God always before we ask for anything and giving him glory and honor and praise his name Because he's worthy God, if we're here and sick for the next 60 years, we praise God because he's so good to us that he allowed us to know him by name, the fact that he knows us. I can live here and be sick if he knows my name, so let's praise him. Then we're going to ask or we're going to repent. We're going to repent for anything in our lives that we haven't let go of yet. We're going to ask God to show us God. Is there anything else that I need to repent of? Majority of us are going to have something I know I will, because we all need to repent. And then we're going to ask God to heal. I've got us loaded up with a bunch of anointing oil. It's all in our pockets.
Derrick Overholt:We're ready to pray that God does some miraculous today, because we believe that Jesus heals. I think Tyler said it earlier God is the God of healing. I think it's Jehovah Rapha, is that correct? He is and he does, and he does and he can, and it might be today, and we're going to pray that it is. We pray that we can get that healing right now, because he can, absolutely In every way. But if it doesn't happen today, it's just not yet. We don't stop praying, don't stop praying. Don't stop praying. You pray until something happens. I've been sick for 20 years. Don't stop praying, keep praying. Your healing's on the way. It's not here yet, but it's on the way.
