The Power Gifts | Empowered (Part 3)

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign [00:00:03] Speaker B: you're listening to the Travis Rutland Podcast. Travis Rutland is a spirit filled pastor and ministry leader who has been featured on International Christian Television. He serves as lead pastor of Liberty Square Church in Cartersville, Georgia and as president of Global Servants. His sermons focus on clear biblical teaching, practical truth and encouragement for everyday life. Each message is designed to strengthen your faith and draw you deeper into God's word. This podcast is brought to you you by Global Servants. For more information about Global servants, please visit globalservants.org now here's Travis Rutland. [00:00:42] Speaker A: We're going to get after it this morning, so turn if you will to 1 Corinthians chapter 12. We are continuing this series on the gifts of the Spirit. And I believe God's going to do something. He's already doing something in this place and is going to continue to do something this morning. So 1 Corinthians chapter 12. Now we have talked about what are the gifts to begin? And then we talked, we worked from this list and 1 Corinthians chapter 12 that Paul, I believe, breaks it up into three sets of three. And so last week we talked about the intuitive gifts, that idea of discernment of spirits, that idea of a word of wisdom, a word of knowledge. This morning I want to talk about the power gifts. This morning is the power gift. So 1 Corinthians chapter 12 we're going to begin reading with verse 7. We're going to read this every week. So you're familiar with this list, you're familiar with these passages, but I want to read them again and have them in front of us. So 1 Corinthians chapter 12 we're going to begin reading with verse verse 7. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all. For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit to another the word of knowledge through the same spirit to another faith by the same spirit to another gifts of healings by the same spirit to another the working of miracles to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues to another the interpretation of of tongues. Let's pray. God, ask in the next few moments that you will speak to each of us, to all of us. We want to hear from you this morning, God. We have gathered together. We have worshiped you. Your Holy Spirit is moving and we ask God that you will continue to move in this place. Let your spirit descend, move among us, encounter us, each of us corporately, individually. We need you. We need you. This morning in Jesus name we pray Amen. When I was growing up, there was much more educational television for little kids on tv, Much more even than it is now. I think that they have stuff for little kids, but it's much more cartoon. I don't think of it as being education based like it was when I was a kid. [00:02:48] Speaker C: Right. [00:02:48] Speaker A: Because that's what all old people do. And now that I'm old, you complain about how much better it was back in the day. So having said that, it's so much better back in the day. [00:02:57] Speaker C: So I was. [00:02:58] Speaker A: I was a Mr. Rogers neighborhood fan, super fan. [00:03:02] Speaker C: I loved Mr. Rogers. [00:03:04] Speaker A: I loved everything that happened. He went to make believe Land. You rode the little train. I loved Mr. Rogers. Now, second place and significantly down, but second place was sesame street, which I [00:03:15] Speaker C: think is still on, but I have [00:03:16] Speaker A: no idea, but Sesame Street. And back then, I think it was different. And again, it was all educational. [00:03:22] Speaker C: So you remember today's episode is brought [00:03:25] Speaker A: to you by the letter M and the number four. [00:03:28] Speaker C: And they taught you how to count, [00:03:30] Speaker A: and they taught you your colors and all of those things. [00:03:32] Speaker C: One of the things that they did was a way for. [00:03:34] Speaker A: To help little kids begin to do critical thinking. One of the things that they would do is they'd have a moment where different images would come on the screen. They'd have a banana come on the screen, and then they'd have an orange come on the screen. And then a shoe and then an apple. And then they had the little song. One of these things is not like the other one. One of these things just doesn't belong. One of these things. You remember that? [00:04:01] Speaker C: And you had to. And I remember sitting. [00:04:03] Speaker A: You're three years old and you're staring. [00:04:04] Speaker C: You go, I get it. I get it. [00:04:06] Speaker A: It's the shoe, right? [00:04:08] Speaker C: This. The other three are fruit. And then Kermit comes on and says, it's the shoe. And you go, God, Kermit, I'm so smart. And Kermit goes, yes, you are right. But I remember that one of these [00:04:18] Speaker A: things is not like the other one. One of these things just doesn't belong. [00:04:22] Speaker C: Now, as we talk about the power [00:04:24] Speaker A: gifts this morning, there is going to be a natural response ins to say, oh, this is one of these things just doesn't belong. [00:04:34] Speaker C: Because when we think of the power [00:04:36] Speaker A: gifts, we think of these. The bigness, the enormousness, the outflowing of these huge, very visible manifestations of the movement of God. So we're working through this list. So it's not like it's some kind of a secret. You're going to see this. The three that are the power gifts is healing, miracles and faith. But the thing is, what we think is, yeah, okay, I understand the first two, but what does faith have to do with any of this? What does faith have to do with this thing? [00:05:07] Speaker C: What does faith have to do with the power? Because we think power, we think miracle, we think healing. But I want you to see how [00:05:14] Speaker A: all three of them actually work together. Furthermore, I believe, and we're going to talk about this this morning, I believe that faith is actually the key that unlocks the other two. Somebody has to be operating in the gift of the spirit, which is faith, in order to see miracles and healings. Now, we're going to talk about that in just a minute. We've sung Matthew's done a great job with the song selection. We're going to have altar call at the end. We're going to pray for miracles and healing. But I want to lay this out for us before we get there this morning. [00:05:47] Speaker C: So the first one that we talked [00:05:48] Speaker A: about, look again, if you will, in verse nine. This is often not read quite correctly and I just want you to see it. Look at 1 Corinthians 12 and 9. It says to another, gifts of healings. Gifts of healings, plural. Now that is a fascinating idea and concept when we are thinking about how the gifts of the spirit work, that it is not the gift of healing. It is gifts plural of healings, plural. I believe what is happening in that moment is that Paul, through the power of the Holy Spirit, is showing us right off the bat that healing comes in all kinds of forms and needs and issues. What we have done actually is to our detriment. What we have done is reduced healing simply to the physical and healing. [00:06:45] Speaker C: I am. I have pain in my arm and [00:06:48] Speaker A: someone prays for me and the pain is gone. Yes, that is part of it. [00:06:54] Speaker C: But by diminishing healing to only our [00:06:57] Speaker A: physical body, we actually miss a whole [00:07:00] Speaker C: bunch of awesome stuff that God wants to do inside of us. It is not a gift. It is not the gift. It is gifts, plural. There's all kinds of ways that everybody in this room needs to be healed. And not all of them are physical. There's a bunch of people that all of us, myself included, that need levels of emotional healing from our past, that we need spiritual healing ways in which the church previously, maybe not this church, but another church you pastored or another [00:07:32] Speaker A: pastor that you knew there are ways in which you were wounded deeply through spiritual trauma. [00:07:39] Speaker C: God, the power of the Holy Spirit, [00:07:41] Speaker A: the gifts of the spirit is to heal that spiritual trauma. [00:07:44] Speaker C: There are ways in which words were spoken to us, things were said to us as children. There was pain, there was trauma, there was toxicity. When we were growing up, our parents spoke horrible things to us, Our siblings, our extended family, friends, teachers told us [00:07:59] Speaker A: that we were stupid and we couldn't learn. [00:08:01] Speaker C: I don't know what happened in your past, but all of us drag in here to a certain degree, emotional pain. The thing that happened to the little boy when he was seven years old, he still has inside of him when [00:08:15] Speaker A: he is 57 years old. [00:08:18] Speaker C: And God wants to heal that little boy who has now become an old man. He wants to heal him emotionally. Yes. Physical healing. Yes, we want to see blind eyes, to be able to see. Yes, we want to see cancer destroyed. Yes, we want to see the physical manifestations of the healing of God. But the Spirit, the power of the Holy Spirit, wants to do something so much deeper and so much more wonderful and so much more complex and so much all encompassing. What happens is when we talk about healing, there's somebody sitting there and they say, well, I don't have a pain in my arm and I can see and I don't have any physical ailments. And so they tune out when people talk about healing, but they're sitting there with all kinds of unresolved emotional trauma that if they would open their mind, they could find healing for. Do you see that? That's what God wants to do. God doesn't do anything halfway. He doesn't do anything a little bit. He doesn't do anything. [00:09:14] Speaker A: He. [00:09:15] Speaker C: He is a God who is all over all, above all, created all. And that's why it' not the gift. That's why it's gifts, plural. Gifts of healings. No matter what that thing is, you need it. God can provide it. Now, I want you to look at [00:09:33] Speaker A: a verse from Acts. As we've said, we've talked about how these manifested. All of these gifts manifest themselves in the early church. So look, if you will, at Acts chapter three. [00:09:42] Speaker C: You're going to say to yourself, but wait a minute, Travis, this is a physical healing. [00:09:47] Speaker A: But stick with me. I want you to see something. Okay, so look at Acts, chapter three and verse one. This is after the day of Pentecost. Peter and John have been filled with the Holy Spirit. In the upper room, spoken tongues. The day of Pentecost. They are filled with the Holy Spirit. [00:10:02] Speaker C: They're ready to go. [00:10:03] Speaker A: The early church. But remember, while they have seen the miracle that was the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the upper room on the day of Pentecost. They haven't actually seen anything. They haven't. Let me rephrase. They haven't done any healing or miracles without Jesus. Everything that they had previously done had happened while Jesus was still with them. Then Jesus ascends back into heaven. They have the power of the Holy Spirit. You shall receive power. The upper room happens. They preach a sermon, thousands of people get saved. That itself is a miracle. [00:10:42] Speaker C: But they hadn't seen. Okay, but are we going to be [00:10:45] Speaker A: able to do the things that Jesus told us we would be able to do now that he's gone? So they don't know that, right? So look at Acts 3 and 1. Now, Peter and John went up together to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. And a certain man, lame from his mother's womb was carried, whom they had laid daily at the gate of the temple, which is called beautiful, to ask alms from those who entered the temple, who, seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, asked for alms. And fixing his eyes on him with John, Peter said, look at us. So he gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them. Then Peter said, silver and gold I do not have. But what I do have, I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up. And immediately his feet and his ankle bones received strength. So he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. [00:11:41] Speaker C: Now you have that healing, that amazing [00:11:44] Speaker A: thing where Peter grabs his hand, they pick him up, and as he is [00:11:47] Speaker C: picked up, as he rises, his feet are healed. [00:11:50] Speaker A: He'd never walked in his life. And he enters into the temple, walking, leaping, praising God, dancing, which of course he would. [00:11:57] Speaker C: And you have that healing. [00:12:00] Speaker A: But what is also happening there, just weeks earlier, weeks earlier, Peter has denied Jesus with a curse on his lips. In the courtyard of Caiaphas House, he's warming himself by a fire of coals, and he denies Jesus three times. And then Jesus walks out the door and they lock eyes across that fire. And the rooster crows and it says, peter hung his head in shame. Peter has, in that moment, been emotionally wounded by his own cowardice. Not by anything Jesus did to him, but by what Peter did to himself. He was going to be strong. [00:12:46] Speaker C: He was going to stay with Jesus to the end. He was going to. He was going to stick with Jesus when everybody else abandoned him. And then at the first sign of problems, he Denies Jesus. [00:12:57] Speaker A: He denies Jesus's name with a curse, [00:12:59] Speaker C: and he abandons him. [00:13:00] Speaker A: He doesn't go to the cross with Jesus. He doesn't stick with his friend. [00:13:04] Speaker C: He doesn't stick, stand by and pray for his friend. In the worst moment of his best friend's life, he abandons him. And Peter has found huge levels of emotional wounding that he did to himself in that moment. [00:13:19] Speaker A: Then In John chapter 21, Peter and some of the other guys go fishing on the Sea of Galilee. And they fish all night. They don't catch anything. And all of a sudden, a guy shows up on the beach. [00:13:29] Speaker C: He goes, hey, did you catch anything? [00:13:31] Speaker A: Peter goes, man, these guys, right? You understand it if you're a professional. There's nothing worse than talking to somebody who's not in your line of business about what you do. [00:13:40] Speaker C: You know what I'm saying? They go, oh, you know what? [00:13:44] Speaker A: This is a sermon that you should preach. [00:13:49] Speaker C: Or they tell me, you know, I've been. [00:13:53] Speaker A: Well, I don't want to make everybody feel bad. Never mind. I just. I just want to say, I know that you think this looks easy. It is not. It is not easy. Okay, it's not easy. [00:14:07] Speaker C: But everybody got a sermon they have to preach. [00:14:10] Speaker A: Everybody. [00:14:11] Speaker C: So. Right? So anyway, that's beside the point. Peter's a pro. He's been doing this his whole life. He's a professional fisherman. And some yokel walks up the beach and says, hey, did you catch anything? And they're like, no, we didn't catch anything. Thank you very much. He says, man, I think I see some fish on the other side of that boat. [00:14:28] Speaker A: And Peter's like, are you kidding me? [00:14:30] Speaker C: What's this guy talking about? He says, no, no, I see some fish on the other side of the boat. Boys, throw that net out there on the other side of the boat. [00:14:36] Speaker A: Peter goes, oh, all right, fine. Just to get rid of this guy. They start pulling it up, and it's hundreds of fish. And Peter says, that's Jesus. That's Jesus. [00:14:48] Speaker C: He jumps out of the boat. He swims to shore. He runs up the beach. Jesus has made a fire. Peter runs up. It's early morning in the Galilee. He's wet. He's freezing cold. And he puts his hands out to the fire, and it's a fire of coals. [00:15:04] Speaker A: It's recorded the exact same fire that was in Caiaphas. Courtyard. Courtyard. And Jesus. [00:15:09] Speaker C: And Peter puts his hands up and [00:15:10] Speaker A: looks across the fire, and him and Jesus catch eyes. [00:15:14] Speaker C: They lock eyes. [00:15:15] Speaker A: And then what does Peter do? A lot of People will tell you that, you know. He asked Peter, do you love me? [00:15:22] Speaker C: And a lot of people will tell [00:15:23] Speaker A: you, well, Jesus is doing this in that moment. Jesus doing that in this moment. [00:15:27] Speaker C: Can I tell you what Jesus is doing? If nobody's ever said this to you, [00:15:31] Speaker A: we have missed the whole point of John chapter 21. [00:15:35] Speaker C: Jesus is recreating the betrayal that happened in Caiaphas Courtyard so that Peter can be emotionally healed and embrace the call of ministry that is on his life. He denies him three times. What does Jesus ask him three times across a fire of coals, do you love me? See, he's got a chance to be healed in that moment. See, they said, you're with Jesus. And he said, no, I'm not. And they said, you're with Jesus. And he said, no, I'm not. They said, you're with Jesus. And in order to distance himself from Jesus, he wanted to sound like the world. So they said, are you with Jesus? And he says, no. And they say, are you with Jesus? And he says, no. And they say, are you with Jesus? And he says, hell no. You see that he's distancing himself from who Jesus is. Now they look across the same fire and Jesus says, do you love me? And Peter says, I love you. And Jesus says, do you love me? And Peter says, I love you more than anything, Jesus. And Jesus says, do you love me? And Peter says, I love you. And in that moment, the emotional healing that Peter needed from what happened in Caiaphas Courtyard is done. That. That is the reason. It is gifts of healing. Because Peter is not able to look at the guy at the gate, beautiful. And be able to manifest a physical healing through the power of the Holy Spirit. If he is not healed on the beach by the Sea of Galilee, what does Peter say to him? [00:17:07] Speaker A: Look at me. Look at me. [00:17:10] Speaker C: He says, you think you're crippled. I was so crippled that I denied [00:17:14] Speaker A: my best friend with a curse on the day that he was killed. [00:17:18] Speaker C: And yet I have been healed. And as I have been healed, so also you can be healed. It is gifts of healings. Gifts of healings. Did you have. You walked in here with the word that was spoken over to you by a parent or a teacher or a step parent that has haunted you for 40 years. The same Jesus who healed Peter on a beach can heal that emotional trauma. This morning. This morning. You don't have to walk out of here pulling those emotional chains and the baggage and the. And the hurt and the toxicity and the trauma. Those that the sun sets free are free Indeed they are free. Indeed it is. It is gifts of healings. [00:18:08] Speaker A: Everybody in here needs to be healed from something. [00:18:13] Speaker C: Everybody in here has got something. [00:18:14] Speaker A: They walked in with things that you've done this week that you're ashamed of, [00:18:20] Speaker C: words that were spoken over you 30 [00:18:22] Speaker A: years ago that still torture you, physical [00:18:25] Speaker C: ailments in your body that are keeping [00:18:28] Speaker A: you from the full life and ministry and calling that God has for you. [00:18:32] Speaker C: Every person in here walked in with [00:18:34] Speaker A: something and God says, one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. One of the things that the Holy Spirit does is gifts of healings. You can be healed this morning. Now, the second thing in the power gifts is the working of miracles. The working of miracles. [00:18:59] Speaker C: Now, these are all the other stuff. [00:19:01] Speaker A: This is all the other stuff that's not healing. [00:19:04] Speaker C: These are the power gifts. [00:19:05] Speaker A: So this is all the other stuff that's not healing. I want you to look at two again in Acts because we want to see these. Look at Acts chapter 8, Acts chapter 8 and verse 39. Philip the Evangelist is walking through the desert. He meets an Ethiopian eunuch in a chariot. Philip jumps up in the chariot, explains the gospel to the man, reads a scripture to him, explains to him who [00:19:28] Speaker C: Jesus is, does all of this stuff. [00:19:30] Speaker A: The man is saved. There's a pool of water. The man is baptized. [00:19:34] Speaker C: The Ethiopian comes up out of the [00:19:36] Speaker A: water praising God, and look what happens. Acts 8 and 39. [00:19:40] Speaker C: Now, when they came up out of [00:19:42] Speaker A: the water, the spirit of the Lord caught Philip away so that the eunuch saw him no more and he went [00:19:48] Speaker C: on his way, rejoicing. [00:19:49] Speaker A: But Philip was found at Azotus and passing through. He preached in all the cities till he came to Caesarea. That is a miracle. Not a healing, but a miracle. [00:19:59] Speaker C: He baptizes the guy and then he's just transfigured, transformed, trans, moved. I don't know what you want to [00:20:06] Speaker A: call it, but he is just like Star Trek. [00:20:10] Speaker C: He's there and then they find him in Azotus. Every time I have to go through [00:20:14] Speaker A: airport security to fly to Thailand, I just think, God, anytime you want to pour this gift of the Spirit out on me, right where I can just [00:20:23] Speaker C: snap my fingers and be in Thailand, I'm like, that'd be okay with me. [00:20:27] Speaker A: I'd be fine to receive that blessing from Philip the evangelist. So working of miracles, other stuff. Look at Acts chapter 12, Acts chapter 12 and verse 7. Simon Peter has been arrested by Herod the king, and he's in jail in Jerusalem. He's in chains, in jail in Jerusalem. Acts 12 and 7. Now behold, an angel of the Lord stood by him. That's Peter. And a light shone in the prison. And he struck Peter on the side and raised him up, saying, arise quickly. And his chains fell off his hands. Then the angel said to him, gird yourself and tie on your sandals. And he did. And he said to him, put on your garment and follow me. So he went out and followed him and did not know that what was done by the angel was real. But he thought he was seeing a vision. When they were past the first and second guard posts, they came to the iron gate that leads to the city, which opened to them of its own accord. And they went out and went down one street. And immediately the angel departed from him. That is a working of miracles. [00:21:27] Speaker C: That's an. [00:21:27] Speaker A: It's not a healing that's happening there. It's just the working of miracles. [00:21:31] Speaker C: These things are still happening. [00:21:34] Speaker A: These things are still accessible to us. [00:21:37] Speaker C: This kind of life, this kind of stuff that God wants to do in us and through us. [00:21:43] Speaker A: These things have not abandoned us. [00:21:45] Speaker C: This stuff did not end with the early church. Just as. [00:21:49] Speaker A: Just as there are gifts of healings, there are also working of miracles. [00:21:55] Speaker C: Working of miracles are still for us today. [00:21:58] Speaker A: They're still accessible to us. [00:22:00] Speaker C: We can. We should be praying for stuff much more frequently than we do, much more regularly than we do. What happens is we just decide that [00:22:10] Speaker A: stuff is not important to God or it's. [00:22:12] Speaker C: It's too trivial to be prayed for or any of the rest of it. It's. [00:22:16] Speaker A: It's. [00:22:16] Speaker C: That's foolishness. There's working of miracles. There's one. Simon Peter is released from prison so [00:22:23] Speaker A: that he can continue his ministry. That's pretty significant. But Philip the evangelist is just taken in the Spirit from one place to the next. That's good and great, but that seems a little trivial compared to. They're about to kill Simon Peter if the angel doesn't lead him out of prison. [00:22:40] Speaker C: Do you see that? [00:22:41] Speaker A: Do you see the compare and contrast? And yet the gift of the Spirit works in both the working of miracles. Very quickly, let me tell you a quick story. I serve as the president of Global Servants. It's a missions organization that my dad started almost 50 years ago. Now we're going to celebrate our 50th anniversary at Global. So 50 years. And my dad started the ministry. He was the president for a long time. I serve as the president now. In the early 80s, my dad had, for lack of a better word, a vision in his living room. I was a little Boy, five or six years old, he had a vision in his living room of these different countries. All of this as the vision ended, he felt he heard. He knew the word of God said to him, go to Ghana. Now, this is 1980 at the time, no Internet, no cell phones, no anything. My dad went to the set of Encyclopedia Britannica that we found and had to go to the G's and look up Ghana to even find where it was or what it was or what it was about. My dad began to try and figure out how to go to Ghana, but he didn't know anybody there. He didn't. He'd never met anybody. He didn't anything. And so he just began to pray. God opened a door, and he just felt like God continued to tell him, go to Ghana. Go to Ghana. That was the only response he would get from God. He went to a. At the time, he was in the Methodist Church. He went to a United Methodist conference, and there was a president of a small Methodist college was there speaking at the conference. And the college was in Ghana. This guy was the president of Wesleyan College in Kumasi, Ghana. His name was Brew Riverson. And my dad met Brew Riverson after the conference. [00:24:23] Speaker C: And he said, God has spoken to [00:24:25] Speaker A: me and told me to come to Ghana. [00:24:28] Speaker C: How can. How can I do this? [00:24:29] Speaker A: Can you help me go to Ghana? And Brew Riverson said to him, absolutely not. Do not come to Ghana. [00:24:36] Speaker C: He said, it's dangerous. We've had several coups recently. They're killing people. We're under a curfew. Do not come to Ghana. [00:24:44] Speaker A: My dad was destroyed. He thought this was going to be the thing. He continued to pray. He couldn't get any peace. He didn't know what to do. So he went and bought a ticket to Ghana. Now, before he bought that ticket to Ghana, a month or so after he had met Brew Riverson at that conference, he wrote a letter to Brew Riverson, mailed it to him at the college in Kumasi. And he said, look, he said, Dr. Riverson, I know you told me not to come, but God has spoken to me. I'm supposed to come to Ghana. And you please respond and tell me what I'm supposed to do. He mailed the letter and waited. Months and months and months passed again. You can't get an inter. You couldn't at the time get an international call to Ghana. There was no cell phones. There was no Internet. There was no email. There was nothing. And my dad wrote that letter and waited and waited and waited. He wrote that in the summer, six months after he wrote that letter, in early December, he bought a ticket to Ghana and flew to Ghana. He landed in the airport in Accra. They were under a curfew at the time because of coups and counter coups. He went out the airport, got in a taxi and he had about 30 minutes to get to the airport or get to the hotel before the curfew started. He goes to that hotel and just sits in his room. He doesn't know anybody, nobody knows he's in Ghana. He's done nothing. He's tried everything he can. And he goes to a hotel, sits on the edge of the bed and just begins to pray. Unknown to him, the same evening, the same evening that my dad lands in Ghana, Brew Riverson is going to a prayer meeting at his college in Kumasi. On his way, he goes by the school's P.O. box and checks the mail. In the P.O. box is a letter from an American evangelist named Mark Rutland asking to come to Ghana. The same day he takes that letter to the prayer meeting, he opens it up and he says, guys, I got a letter today from an American that says God has told him to come to Ghana. I don't think this is a good time, but I've spoken to him before, he won't let it go. I think we need to pray and see if we should invite him. [00:27:07] Speaker C: They pray. [00:27:08] Speaker A: They pray about five minutes and one [00:27:10] Speaker C: of the professors stops all of a sudden he says, stop the prayer meeting. God told me this guy's in the country. He said, stop the prayer meeting. This guy's in the country. He's in a hotel in Accra and we've got to get somebody down there and get this guy. He's in the country. [00:27:26] Speaker A: So they stopped the prayer meeting. [00:27:27] Speaker C: Now here's the problem. None of them have telephones. None of them have telephones except one guy that they know and he's got a phone, it's a landline. And they're hoping that he can get a call to somebody that they know [00:27:39] Speaker A: in Accra that also has a telephone. [00:27:41] Speaker C: So they go to the house of a guy named Sammy o'. Donnell. [00:27:49] Speaker A: I love this story because it is the working of miracles. [00:27:54] Speaker C: Sammy o' Donnell has been the National [00:27:56] Speaker A: Director for Global Servants for more than 40 years. [00:28:00] Speaker C: But at that time, the only reason that he's important to the story is because he's the only guy that's got a phone that works. They go to Sammy's house in the middle of the night, wake him up and they say, hey, do you know anybody in Accra and know anybody in Accra that's got a phone? And Sammy o' Donnell says, I know one guy in Accra with a phone. His name is Godfrey Bamfo. If you're gonna name a kid something, Godfrey Bamfo's at the top of the list in the entire story. My favorite thing about the story is I love the name Godfrey Bamfo. That is such a great name. So Sammy o' Donnell picks up the phone and makes a call to Godfrey Bamfo in the middle of the night. And the call goes through. Listen to me. That's the biggest miracle of the whole story. The call goes through. Godfrey Bamfo picks up the phone. It's almost midnight. Sammy o' Donnell's on the other end. And Sammy says, hey, Godfrey, I got something I need you to help me with. He says, what's up? He says, well, they were having a prayer meeting tonight, and they think there's an American named Mark Rutland somewhere in Accra and we need you to find him. Godfrey Ben Bo was like, what? He said, there's an American. He said, where's he staying? They said, we don't know. I said, are you sure that he's in the country? They said, we think so. This guy at the prayer meeting said that he's somewhere in Accra and we need you to get him. Godfrey Bamfo hung the phone up on him. He went back to sleep. An hour later, God wakes Godfrey Bamfo up in the middle of the night and says, this guy is in Accra and I want you to go find him. Go find this American named Mark Rutland. So Godfrey Bamboo gets up, gets dressed, and sits in his living room waiting for curfew to end. [00:29:36] Speaker A: Curfew is from dusk till dawn. [00:29:38] Speaker C: As soon as the sun rises, the curfew sirens go off. Godfrey Bamfo leaves his house. He starts 2 million people at that time living in Accra. He's going to find one American in a city of 2 million people. Godfrey Bamfo goes to a hotel, a second hotel, the third hotel that Godfrey Bamfo goes to. He asked the clerk, do you have an American staying here named Mark Rutland? [00:30:04] Speaker A: He says, yes, I do. [00:30:06] Speaker C: Godfrey Bampo goes up to the room and knocks on the door. My dad has been awake all night praying, having no knowledge of any of this that is going on. He's sitting on his bed in a hotel room all night in Accra. No one knows he's there. [00:30:18] Speaker A: As far as he knows, no one [00:30:20] Speaker C: knows anything that's happening. And he waits and waits and prays. And prays and prays. And about 6:30 in the morning, the alarm bell goes off. Curfew's over. Godfrey Manful goes around, finds it, knocks on the door. My dad opens the door, he says, [00:30:33] Speaker A: my name is Godfrey Bamfo. [00:30:35] Speaker C: Welcome to Ghana. [00:30:36] Speaker A: And the whole thing starts from there. [00:30:41] Speaker C: The whole thing. We've got thousands of girls who have graduated from House of Grace who were saved from a life of human trafficking and forced sex slavery. We've got a girls home in Ghana. We've got 70 churches in five countries. We've got schools, we've got feeding programs. There's stuff happening all over the world. And that all the stuff that happens at Global Servants is because our God is still in the miracle working business. He still is working miracles. He is doing stuff. Our God is not just confined to physical healing. Hits gifts of healing. Our God is not just confined to gifts of healing. He does working of miracles. There is nothing that is too complicated, that is too difficult, that is too hard for him. He is a God who is all in all. He is all encompassing. There is no issue that you have that he cannot speak into your life about it. He's there, the. The power gifts, right? Working of miracles, gifts of healings. And then there's a little knock at the door. [00:31:58] Speaker A: Hey, it's me, Faith. You guys got any room in there? [00:32:01] Speaker C: We're like, no power gifts only, right? One of these things is not like the other one. One of these things just doesn't belong because we got miracles and we got healings. [00:32:14] Speaker A: But the key to the power gifts, faith. [00:32:21] Speaker C: Faith is the key to the power gifts. Faith is the thing that makes the engine run. Faith is the thing that makes the power gifts go. But I want you to look at it for a second turn, if you will, again to acts. [00:32:38] Speaker A: Acts chapter 14 now and verse 8, Acts 14:8. And in Lystra, a certain man without strength in his feet was sitting a cripple from his mother's womb who had never walked. [00:32:54] Speaker C: This man heard Paul speaking. [00:32:57] Speaker A: Paul, observing him intently and seeing that he had faith to be healed, said with a loud voice, stand up straight on your feet. And he leaped and walked. Now look again at verse nine. Seeing that he had faith to be healed. Now here's the problem. How we understand faith, how we think about faith. This is, this is the issue with faith. What we think is, if I, if I have enough faith, I will be healed. I just want to challenge us about how we think about faith for a second. Faith is if we believe that the people with the most faith get healed and we don't get healed or someone that we love doesn't get healed. That can be discouraging, right? That can be hurtful. Well, if I had just. If I had just had more faith, they would have gotten healed. But it is not. Faith is not this thing where you hit a certain threshold and then your miracles start getting answered. Faith is not a thing where if you fill it up, it's not like a tank in your car. And if, well, if you can get above 80% full, then all everybody starts getting healed. [00:34:25] Speaker C: That is not what faith is. [00:34:27] Speaker A: So what is faith? Here's what I believe. Faith is the willingness to continue to ask. [00:34:36] Speaker C: Faith is the willingness to continue to ask and ask and ask and ask. I have faith. You haven't seen the miracle that you were looking for for 10 years, for 11 years, for 12 years. You haven't seen the healing in the person that you love so much for a long time. But faith continues to ask. Faith continues to ask. Faith continues to ask. Furthermore, faith is not our belief that we can be healed. Faith is the belief in who Jesus is. That is what we have faith in. We don't have faith in ourselves. We don't have faith that if we believe hard enough, somebody else gets healed or we get healed. Faith is a faith in who Jesus is. And who Jesus is is that he is one part of a triune God, the Trinity and God the Father is sovereign over everything that happens. So I can operate in the highest levels of faith because I know that it's God's will for that healing or that miracle to happen. All I have to do is in who Jesus is. And keep asking, keep asking, keep asking. Don't give up, don't quit, don't surrender. Don't allow the world to tell you that the miracle's never going to happen. Don't allow people to tell you that they can't get healed. Faith says, I will not quit. I will not stop. I will continue to pray. I'll continue to believe. I know who Jesus is. I know that Jesus does all things well. [00:36:03] Speaker A: And even if he doesn't do what I desperately want done, I know that his will will still be accomplished because [00:36:09] Speaker C: he is sovereign over this situation. Do you see that if somebody that you love is not getting healed, you may have the tendency to put the blame on yourself. Don't do that. That's not what faith is. Not. Faith is. A healing is not a measurement of how much faith you have. A healing happens when somebody has the faith to keep Asking tank. It's not that God looks at it and goes, well, Travis's faith tank is [00:36:36] Speaker A: only at 40%, so he's not getting one. [00:36:39] Speaker C: Right? But Matthew's faith tank, Matthew's faith tank is at 85%. [00:36:45] Speaker A: So Matthew gets that healing that he was praying for, and Travis gets nothing. That is a cruel, cruel God who puts the responsibility of the healing on the created, who cannot heal anything. [00:37:02] Speaker C: Do you see that? If we allow our thinking about faith [00:37:05] Speaker A: to go there, we put the responsibility [00:37:08] Speaker C: for the miracle on us. We are the created. He is the creator. All I'm supposed to do is intercede and ask and keep asking and believing that a miracle can happen, no matter how improbable, impossible it seems, no matter how far it seems, nobody, no matter if everybody says, this cannot be done, I know who Jesus is, and I am going to keep asking. That is what we are called to be about when it comes to faith. Paul's in. [00:37:39] Speaker A: In Lystra. He says he sees this guy observing him intently and seeing that he had the faith to be healed. I believe that Paul could tell that he was about to start asking. It was the faith. What do we say to ask, to be persistent, to keep asking, to keep asking, to keep asking. I believe that Paul observed that and just went ahead and asked God to heal the man. We see a similar incident happen in the life of Jesus. [00:38:10] Speaker C: And I want to see. [00:38:11] Speaker A: I want you to see this real quick. Look, if you will, at Luke chapter 18. Luke chapter 18 and verse 35. [00:38:23] Speaker C: Then it happened that as Jesus was [00:38:25] Speaker A: coming near Jericho, that a certain blind man sat by the road, begging and hearing a multitude passing by, he asked what it meant. [00:38:33] Speaker C: And they told him that Jesus of [00:38:34] Speaker A: Nazareth was passing by. [00:38:36] Speaker C: And he cried out, saying, jesus, son [00:38:38] Speaker A: of David, have mercy on me. [00:38:39] Speaker C: Then those who went before warned him that he should be quiet. But he cried out all the more, son of David, have mercy on me. So Jesus stood still and commanded him to be brought to him. And when he came near, Jesus asked him, saying, what do you want from me? And he said, lord, that I may receive my sight. Sight. Then Jesus said to him, receive your sight, your faith. What? The faith to keep asking. The faith to cry out, the faith to refuse to be quiet. The faith to refuse to be silenced. When everybody said, he can't heal you. He won't heal you. You've been blind all your life. Jesus can't do this. He cries out over and over again with a loud voice, jesus, son of David, I need your help. And Jesus said, You, your faith. The faith to ask, the faith to persist. The faith to believe that Jesus is who he says he is. The faith to know that Jesus can do what he says he can do. Your faith has made you well. [00:39:36] Speaker A: And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus, glorifying God. Don't quit, don't stop. Don't give up. It is the faith to persist. Faith, Hebrews tells us, is the the [00:39:52] Speaker C: evidence of things not seen. If you know, if you knew how it was going to work out, you [00:39:59] Speaker A: wouldn't be operating in faith. [00:40:02] Speaker C: Faith says, I don't know if this miracle will happen or not, but I know that God can do the miracle. And I know that I've been called to ask for it. And that's all I'm going to do. It's the evidence of things not seen. So faith demands that we work towards a conclusion that we do not know how the story will end. Do you see that? But that's what faith is. That's why faith is the key. Do you want to see gifts of healing? Somebody's got to be asking and asking and asking. Do you want to see the working of miracles? Somebody's got to believe that Jesus can do the miracle. That is why the thing that makes [00:40:41] Speaker A: the power gifts turn is faith. Lowly, quiet, unappreciated faith. All the rest of these are big. And we as Pentecostals, we like big, right? [00:41:00] Speaker C: We like tongues. [00:41:02] Speaker A: Prophecy, interpretation of tongues. Word of wisdom, word of knowledge. But listen to me, you want to pray for something? Pray for the gift of faith. [00:41:13] Speaker C: Faith. [00:41:15] Speaker A: Faith. In Mark, chapter six, Jesus returns to his hometown of Nazareth. And they say, who does this guy think he is? He's the son of the carpenter. We know his brothers and his sisters. And the most amazing verse follows after. And it says, and Jesus could do no mighty works there. And Jesus could do no mighty works there. [00:41:39] Speaker C: Now wait a minute. [00:41:40] Speaker A: What does that mean? [00:41:42] Speaker C: Does that mean that unbelief is Jesus kryptonite? No, it does not. No, it does not. The reason he could do no mighty works there is because nobody asked him in faith to do any mighty works. Do you see that? He's waiting. He's waiting to pour out his healing. He's waiting to pour out his miracle miracles. He's waiting to pour out his power and his life. And he is. He is amazed by the unbelief in Nazareth. And he could do no mighty works there because no one had enough faith to ask him. We cannot become Nazareth. We dare not become Nazareth. [00:42:24] Speaker A: We. It's Faith. Ask and ask and ask. No matter how crazy, impossible it seems, he is the creator of the universe. We have sold short who God is and the power of God because we see him through our own prism of inadequacy. So what happens if it seems impossible to us? We think that's impossible to God. Nothing could be further from the truth. Nothing could be further from the truth. [00:43:02] Speaker C: Faith. [00:43:05] Speaker A: Faith. So let me close with this. We sang those wonderful songs about I Believe and miracles. Matthew. And the band is going to return in a minute. We're going to sing that again. We're going to have an altar time. I wanted to move straight in to this sermon from that worship because I felt like God was doing something and I didn't want to lose the momentum of the Holy Spirit. Not that announcements are bad, they're not. But I just felt like God wanted me to go right into this so I could sit up here and tell you about miracles and healings that I've seen both here and overseas. But that doesn't help the miracle that you need in your life. You say, yeah, but I'm glad that that person got healed. But what about my healing now? I could also stand up here and tell you about the people that I loved, prayed for, that I lost. I've done funerals for more people that I love than I can even count. I did the funeral for my own grandmother in this building. And you say, yeah, but what about that? That doesn't shake my faith one bit. I know who Jesus is, and my only responsibility is to keep asking. [00:44:47] Speaker C: They say it's stage four cancer. I say, he is the great physician and I will not stop asking. I will not stop asking. The only way he cannot do a mighty work is if I don't ask him to do a mighty work. They say inoperable. I say, by his stripes, we are healed. They say, whatever it is, whatever miracle you need, remove the healing, whatever miracle you need. They say, you're going to lose the house. If you don't have a financial miracle, you're going to lose the house. I say [00:45:36] Speaker A: that he owns the cattle [00:45:37] Speaker C: on a thousand hills, and he does all things well. And we operate by faith. We operate by faith. Faith is the key. Now, just a minute. I'm going to pray and Pastor Chris, prayer team staff is going to come to the front here, and they're going to be here. I don't believe. I don't believe that any person signs [00:46:00] Speaker A: up for the prayer team that does not at least have the gift of faith being operational in their life. [00:46:05] Speaker C: I could be wrong, but I believe that people that have faith are naturally [00:46:09] Speaker A: drawn to being on the prayer team [00:46:11] Speaker C: because they want to pray with people. [00:46:19] Speaker A: It's here, it's available, it's accessible. [00:46:26] Speaker C: We have made. [00:46:28] Speaker A: We have made healing and miracles. [00:46:32] Speaker C: We've done it to ourselves as Pentecostals. [00:46:34] Speaker A: We've made it weird or odd or [00:46:39] Speaker C: we've tried to make it formulaic. Well, you got to say the right thing. You got to say the right words. You've got to do the right thing. [00:46:50] Speaker A: Jesus said to the man, do you have faith? [00:46:54] Speaker C: And the man said, God, I believe. Help my unbelief. [00:47:02] Speaker A: I believe. That's the greatest verse about faith in the entire New Testament. [00:47:06] Speaker C: That's where all of us are. That person that you love, you want to see them healed, you say, God, I believe they can be healed. But help my unbelief. You, in that moment, are operating in the gift of faith like no one ever has. You say, I don't see how it's possible. I don't know how it can be done. But I believe. Help my unbelief. And you hold on to the hem of his garment and you pray and you pray and you pray and you refuse to let go and you refuse to quit and you refuse to stop. I've shared it before. My favorite poem ever written. I will not go gentle into that good night. I will rage. Rage against the dying of the light. Rage against the dying of the light. I'm saying it to people that are watching. Tammy, I'm praying over you this morning. Vicki Lehman, I'm praying over you this morning. Ben Addison, I'm praying for you in that hotel hospital room. I am praying over you. I am praying over you. Faith. We ask and we ask and we ask and we ask and we ask. And the world says it's impossible. And the world says, you're beaten. And the world says, they'll never be healed and they'll never be made whole. And the world says you'll never be healed. And the emotional trauma that you've carried, you'll carry your entire life. And I am telling you, those that the sun sets forth free are free indeed. They are free indeed. They are free indeed. [00:48:41] Speaker B: Thank you for listening to the Travis Rutland Podcast. If you enjoyed this message and you're in the Cartersville, Georgia, area, we invite you to join us at Liberty Square Church. You can also watch online and connect with us on Facebook and YouTube. We'll see you next week for another message from Travis Rutland.