What Do You Want From Me? — Luke 8:26-37

Jesus’ Authority, Our Healing

What do you want from me? — Luke 8:26-37

Thar was a man, or maybe a pair of ’em, who whar so evil and terrifying that no feller or lass dared attempt ter skirt past. These rascals lived in solitary places, slept in graveyards, roamed among tombs and whar so strong that no one could kept ’em bound, even with chains and guards.

Many a time tha worst of the two would shriek and cry out, cut himself with sharp rocks, and scare folks. Run around half-naked, he would, fer he had no clothes and no home.

When the Son strolled among the tombs of the dead, the tormented feller dropped ter his knees and hollered, “What do you want with us, Jesus, Son of the Most Hight God? ‘Ave yo come ter torment us befer our time? I beg you do not send us into the Abyss.”

Jesus replied, “What is your name?”

“Legion,” the head demon replied, ‘fer we be many. If we must be cast out, send us inter that herd of swine.”

Jesus gave the demons permission ter enter the pigs. When the demons come out out the chap and entered the swine, the whole herd, near ’bout 2000 pigs, rushed down the steep bank and inter the lake and drowned.

Think on this a wee little bit:

  • If each demon rushed inter a pig and forced that poor porker ter attempt a lake swim, then thar be near ’bout 2000 demons in the pair of fellers.
  • These whar violent men.
  • No one could control them.
  • In fact the only thing that could control ’em whar the demons.
  • They made the man cut himself, harm himself.
  • They made the man live among the dead.
  • They made the man run about half-naked.
  • They knew the Son, Jesus, whar the Skipper’s boy, the son of Most Hight God.
  • And when they come face-ter-face with Jesus they forced the tormented man, in fear and reverence, ter his knees.

This be the outcome of all who come under control of evil, unclean spirits. One or two spirits might not change a feller or lass ter much, but hundreds ‘ill drive us inter darkness so black that death seems ter be our only hope, when, in fact, the Son be our only real hope.

After the pigs went ter Davy Jones, and took the demons with ’em, the tormented man came ter his senses. Folks came from the town ter see the sight of all ’em bloated pig carcasses floating up on the beach.

  • When they did, they found the feller no longer kneeling at the feet of the Son, but sitting at his feet.
  • He was dressed.
  • He was in his right mind.
  • All whar amazed.
  • Also, all whar afeared.

Befer they whar afeared of the demon-men. Now they whar afeared of the Son and his power over spirits of all kind.

As the Son whar about ter shove off and sail away the healed-man pleaded, “Let me come with you.”

“Return home,” said Jesus, “and tell how much God has done for you.”

Ter day Jesus speaks these words ter us:

“What do you want from me?” Tell the Son what you want him ter do fer ya, be it get cleaned off all unclean spirits, be made well, be in yer right mind, be clothed, be among the living rather than the dead, be home.

Once the Son responds, then, “Go! Tell how much God has done for you.”

Great Faith Healing — Luke 7:1-10

Jesus’ Authority, Our Healing

Great Faith Healing — Luke 7-1-10

A feller who whar highly valued by his captain come down with a deathly disease. When the captain heard the Son whar in the area, he put inter port and sent some religious chaps he knew ter find the Son. Though they did not believe him ter be the Son of Skipper, these chaps approached the Son and earnestly pleaded with him, saying, “This captain deserves you to do this for him, for in the past he helped us build our place of worship.”

Inclined ter help, fer this be the way of the Son, off he trekked ter tha wharf with these religious chaps. As they approached the gangplank, the captain stepped ter the ship’s railing and called, “No need ter come aboard. I not be worthy ter be in yer presence. As a captain, I be accustomed ter giving orders and ‘aving crew obey, so if ya ‘ill jest say the word, my sick crew member, who I prize greatly, ‘ill be healed.”

The Son, stunned at the captain’s faith, turned to those following him and said, “This is incredible. Here is a man who knows little of me or my Father and yet he believes.” Pivoting back towards the ship, the Son said, “Sir, you have great faith. Your friend is healed.”

At that moment the chap on his death-bed-bunk whar made whole and healed.

  • Be thar someone you highly value who be sick?
  • ‘Ave ya heard of the Son?
  • ‘Ave they heard of the Son?
  • ‘Ave ya send folks ter tell ’em ’bout the Son? Will ya go and tell ’em?
  • Be thar some religious folks close ter ya who know of the Son but refuse ter believe in him? Might be they even call themselves followers of the Son, but deny his power and righteous authority. Will ya go and tell ’em of all the Son done fer ya and them ya love?
  • Will ya plead earnestly with the Son fer them ya love ter be healed? 
  • Because of yer sins do ya count yerself unworthy ter be in the presence of the Son. No need ter feel shamed. We all be scoundrels and reprobates in need of saving and healing. Simply fess up and do yer best to be more like the Son. Whatever ya lack, when ever ya slip up, he ‘ill cover ya with his grace and mercy.
  • If ya truly believe the Son ter be Skipper’s only boy, the one on whom all heavenly power and authority rest, will ya ask him ter day, right now, ter say the word, “Be healed name of them who need healing” so that them ya love ‘ill be made whole?

This captain displayed GREAT FAITH in the Son. Do ya? Will ya? The very lives of them ya love may be depending upon ya ter step up and BELIEVE!

May You Prosper and Be In Good Health — 3 John 2

Jesus’ Authority, Our Healing

May You Prosper and Be In Good Health

Thar be times when we know not what ter pray fer those we love, especially folks who be getting up in years. Saul Paul offers this good word as an example of how we can bring them we love ter the feet of Jesus.

I wish above all things that you may prosper and be in good health, even as your soul is getting along well.  (3 John 2)

Name aloud fellers and lasses who need a wee bit of health prosperity, wealth prosperity, relationship prosperity. If we kin wish it, we kin pray it. If we kin pray it with sincere faith, we kin be sure Skipper hears. And if Skip hears, he may very well move on our behalf.

Our praying with expectancy be an act of faith, a witness ter our spirit that we believe the Son remains in the healing business. Be ya a feller or lass of little faith? Take a risk. Ask Skipper ter heal them ya love.

“Above all …” be Saul Paul’s heart. If that also be yer heart’s desire fer them ya love , take ’em ter Skip and his Son who be above all things. Then watch with expectancy as they act in a mighty way on yer behalf.

Are We Rushing Ter Take Hold of This Son — Luke 6:17-20

Jesus’ Authority, Our Healing

Are We Rushing Ter Take Hold of This Son

Jesus went down with them and stood on a level place. A large crowd of his disciples was there and a great number of people from all over Judea, from Jerusalem, and from the coastal region around Tyre and Sidon, who had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. Those troubled by evil, unclean spirits were cured. All the people tried to touch him because power was coming from him and healing everyone. (Luke 6:17-20)

Thar be many encouraging circumstances in this story ’bout the way the Son draws us ter himself.

  • The Son stood on level ground. He placed no barriers be fer folks. He did not ask ’em ter “come up” ter his level. No, he made thar steps level so all could get ter him. (Proverbs 4:26)
  • Jesus put in a full day’s work. The crowd was large, a goodly number from far away. And he turned back narry a one.
  • Folks came from all over. Healing from the Son not be reserved for one group, a special class, but fer all, no matter whar ya be from.
  • The folks who come caught a vision of the Son healing ’em. A good many times we come ter the Son without any expectations, without any vision, without any real hope that things ‘ill change fer us. But the fellers and lasses who come ter the Son in this story knowed that a little bit of the Son would bring a heaping big load of healing fer ’em.
  • Diseases and evil spirits skedaddled. Sickness don’ scare the Son. Sickness kin not abide in his presence. Same with evil spirits. While demons might frighten fearful folks, when the Son shows up, it be the demons who tremble. Think on the power of the Son’s presence the next time someone ya love be sick or harassed by a wicked spirit. Bring them ya love by name ter the Son so they kin be healed. Introduce the sickness or spirit ter the Son. Once you make the introduction, sickness and spirits ‘ill leave, fer darkness kin not abide in the presence of light.
  • Folks tried ter touch the Son and with good reason. Jest a wee bit of his cloak be enough fer power ter flow out of him. This be active faith, the sort that be born in our hearts. Because a little touch from the Son be enough ter change a life, make it yer task ter press through crowds and take hold of the Son.
  • Power flowed from the Son inter folks. Ne’er think that the Son had an easy life. Most all his days whar hard, laborious, tiresome work. Most nights he put his head down exhausted. Thing be, we kin ‘ave that power in us if only we ‘ill believe that the righteousness of the Son be in us through his saving mercy. Tap inter his power and touch others with his love and fergiving mercy!
  • The Son healed ’em all. He don’ say, “Time’s up. I gotta go. Sorry.” No, sir. He stays and goes about his father’s business ’til all get healed.

This be the Son who saves us, who heals us, who helps us in our times of need. This be the Son who came that we might have life and have it ter the full. Question be, are we rushing ter take hold of this Son? And if not, what be our excuse?

The Power of Skipper Be Present in You Ter Heal — Luke 5:17

Jesus’ Authority, Our Healing

The Power of Skipper Be Present in You Ter Heal

The power of the Lord was present to heal them. (Luke 5:17)

One time four fellers brought a paralyzed chap ter the place whar the Son be teaching. Lowering the chap down through a hole in the roof, the four placed thar friend at the feet of the Son. When the Son seen thar faith, he said ter tha feller on the mat, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.” (Luke 5:20-21)

The Son’s declaration caused a ruckus, fer only Skipper kin fergive sins. But think on this a wee little bit:

All our sickness be the result of sin — if not ours then from the curse that comes from original sin. When Skip created Adam and Eve he made ’em perfect. They whar not meant ter suffer sickness. But when sin took root in thar bodies, it bore sickness as its fruit.

Only the thing is, sin cannot abide in the presence of righteousness. Fer this reason when the Son says, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.” he be declaring that the root of the chap’s affliction, sin, and its fruit, sickness, be cast out.

Doctor Luke makes a profound statement when he says, “The power of the Lord was present to heal them.” If the Son be present and he be the righteousness of his father, Skipper, then indeed the Lord’s power whar present in that home ter heal, fergive sins, and make folks whole.

Anytime righteousness be present, sins ‘ill be fergiven and healing ‘ill flow.

Saul Paul wrote ter folks in Corinth that, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21) Therefer, if we be in the Son and the Son be in us, then the righteousness of Skipper also be in us. And because we be fully righteous through the blood of the Son, when we walk inter a place, the power of Skipper be present ter heal.

We ‘ill ne’er be righteous on our own account, but in the Son we be holy and blameless. Therefer, make it yer task ter go about healing all and fergving all of thar sins in the mighty name of the Son.

Key ter Proactive Faith — 1 Corinthians 2:4-5

Jesus’ Authority, Our Healing

Key ter Proactive Faith

May our message and preaching be not with wise words or persuasive speech but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power. In this way your faith will not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power. (1 Corinthians 2:4-5)

In the Kingdom of God thar be three types of faith:

  • Inactive Faith
  • Reactive Faith
  • Proactive Faith

Inactive Faith be the heart of a feller or lass who believes the Son died fer thar sins and confessed such with thar lips. Beyond that they live mostly like the rest of folks. Ter be sure, they may go ter chapel once in a while, read some of thar Bible, and pray a little. They be what the Son called “ye of little faith.” The seed of great faith be in ’em but they do little ter make it grow. Worse, they hardly sow any seeds of faith fer others.

Reactive Faith be the heart of a feller or lass who responds ter an event with earnest belief. Circumstances prompt ’em ter put all thar trust in the Son. If the Son don’ come through, they be doomed.

And when the Son does come through, their faith be strengthened fer a bit. No amount of explaining from others kin remove thar conviction that only the Son could ‘ave done such a miraculous thing.

During the days when the Son walked on land and water this be the sort of faith them who flocked ter the Son showed. They liked his preaching and teaching well enough, fer he spake with authority. But what most like best of all was when he done ’em a good turn — when he healed, helped, and fed ’em. Fer this they praised him all the more. In return some demonstrated a larger measure of faith, a faith that grew inter Proactive Faith.

Proactive Faith be faith that relies on spiritual eyes and ears. The circumstances we see with our eyes matters only as a means of framing the mighty acts which take place after our lips ‘ave declared ter be what is not yet.

Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1)

Proactive Faith be the sort of faith Elisha had when he prayed:

“’Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.'” the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. (2 Kings 6:17-20)

Proactive Faith comes by witnessing the powerful hand of Skipper moving in yer life, or the life of another. Proactive Faith begins ter grow when the Holy Spirit comes upon us in power. Saul Paul went about preaching in the demonstration of the Spirit’s power. Though he spoke Skipper’s words, Skip’s actions carried the day. Folks whar healed, demons cast out, lives changed. Such power kin only flow from a feller or lass who be fully righteous in the Lord — someone so convinced thar sins be fergiven that they kin stand befer Skipper without guilt and befer the devil without fear.

Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. (James 5:14-16)

Any among you sick? In need of healing and help? Got an evil, unclean,  spirit in you? Call some righteous folks ter pray over you. The prayers of Proactive Faith ‘ill heal the sick. The prayers of Proactive Faith ‘ill fergive the sins of the lost.

The key ter Proactive Faith be getting up, getting out, and getting fully doused with Skipper’s Holy Spirit and knowing with all conviction that you ‘ave the righteousness of the Son in you. When you know that you be fully righteous, holy, and pure because of the blood of Jesus, you will do even greater things than the Christ did. (John 14:12-14)

Binding the Brokenhearted

Jesus’ Authority, Our Healing

Binding the Brokenhearted

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord has anointed me and sent me to bind up the brokenhearted. (Isaiah 61:1) (Luke 4:18)

The Son is close to the brokenhearted. He saves those who are crushed in spirit. (Psalm 34:18)

Those who be brokenhearted ‘ave come ter the end of themselves. Thar spirit be shattered, thar will crushed. Though they once dreamed dreams and treasured prized visions, now all hope be gone. The flame of thar spirit be but a fading flicker.

Such folks be the ones the Son leans close ter, be right beside. Because such folks be empty, the Son kin move inter ’em and do a great work through ’em.

Fer us ter be of any use ter the Son he must crush our will and spirit so the true seeds of his harvest kin be sown.

“Truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. (John 12:24)

Our hearts be the field. Our heart’s hard ground must be plowed and broken so the Son’s seeds kin take root.

Like a farmer tilling soil and sowing seed, the Son carves, pauses, bends down and presses his seed inter our now tender heart. Then with his thumb, he buries that seed under good soil and waits fer his light and his Father’s rain ter make it grow.

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord has anointed the Son. The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord sent the Son ter bind up the brokenhearted — not ter fix ’em back they way they was. No, them old days and old ways be done fer. Instead, he binds up the harvest of sheaves from the broken field of our heart.

Going forth with weeping, sowing for the Master,
Though the loss sustained our spirit often grieves;
When our weeping’s over, He will bid us welcome,
We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves.

May it be so with us. May it be so with ’em we love.

Lord, anoint us ter bind the brokenhearted. Anoint us ter be yer field hands that sow good seed inter hearts that be broken, tilled, and ready fer yer words. We ask this in the mighty name of the Son, Jesus. Amen.