Hello there everybody. Welcome back to another edition of the Focus of Freedom, as I say every time because I mean it from the depths of my heart. Thanks for watching. Get on the phone or text or message or help us spread the word that this is relatively a brand new ministry here on WVLR, the Focus of Freedom.
They are kind to let you know as we come on the air what our Facebook page is, our website. It's all right here for you. You can download our app, Freedom Tabernacle app from any app store absolutely free. We have a daily podcast there that we're talking about signs of the coming of Christ in the end of the world.
We've been from Daniel to Ezekiel to the Temple Discourse in Luke 21, the Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24, going into the book of the Revelation every day, 10 minutes a day, the podcast there and other information as well on all the different outreaches of the ministry. So you can get to know us better by visiting at your convenience, our website, our Facebook page, Freedom Tabernacle Ministries, download the app. Just stay in touch. We'd love to stay in touch with you and partner with you, laboring together in the ongoing work of our Lord and His Gospel.
Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound. Grace that saves and grace that strengthens us and sustains us. Listen to it again, will you walk the choir sings and I just trust you. Just feel free to sing right along.
Amazing Grace. Bless the beat of your goodness. How sweet that saved a wretched act. Bye.
Always bless us, my soul there in 2 Corinthians where Paul said I've assaulted God three times the heal me in all three times. God said, Paul, my grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is perfected in your weakness. Storms, metaphors in the Bible that just means our times of upheaval and challenge and heartbreak, there can be some devastating storms in this world. God said in the very beginning, to Adam and Eve in Genesis 2 17, when you partake of that tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you will surely die.
Here came the devil along in chapter three and said, no, you won't die. And so even Adam were beguiled. They were baited by the devil. Just like a legion was here in our chapter that we've been talking about here this month on the program, the spirits, these evil spirits of hatred and jealousy and the fact that the natural mind of a human being can be so manipulated by the God of this world.
And our lust can be kicked up, our desires for the lust of flesh, lust the eyes, pride of life. That's why the Bible says what it does in 1 John 2, verse 15, love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If you man love the world, the love of the Father is not any for all that's in the world. The lust of flesh, lust the eyes, pride of life is not in the Father but is of the world.
And the world passes the way of the lust thereof, but he that does the will of God abides forever. Don't let the devil bait you dear friend. That word beguiled is similar to being deceived and being destroyed just like a legion here in Luke chapter eight where he was naked in the graveyard. He couldn't be controlled.
He was uncontrollable, unmanageable. His life simply enshambles. Are you in a similar state? The devil will play you.
He'll just like a fisherman out here fishing with bait and luring, luring you in. And that's not a tasty little treat there, bass. That's something that will drag you in and end you up in a frying pan. I know that's a crude analogy.
That it's exactly what the devil does every single solitary day. This world down here is cursed by sin. And so storms are raging. We can't handle them.
Now if we can handle maybe the small ones or this or that, but just like the disciples on Stormy Galilee that night, it got so far beyond them. But you remember the old gospel song when the waves are over my head, they're under his feet? He's able to calm those storms and not only that, but conquer these spirits out here that are ravaging people's lives and now taking toll even on our way of life as Christian people. Laws have been changed.
Congress even has been circumvented and ran around. We've left the politicians, getting themselves easily elected, Hollywood, with their subliminal and covert messaging, education to our children, the news media printed in telecast news. Everywhere you turn, our society is being seduced by the doctrines of devils and seducing spirits. We see this every day.
Christian brothers and sisters, we cannot continue on the path that we've been on. We need to wake up, get on an ease and repent and believe God, he can calm storms till today. He can conquer spirits. Now, Jesus had left Capernaum across the Sea of Galilee over to the peels of Gedara.
Have that encounter with Legion and what a mighty work of God now, he was doing. And we can all, once we get saved, but God's grace, we can all have, he gives gifts to people. When he ascended up on high, he enabled you as a Christian. He enables me as a Christian to go into the lanes, highways and hedges of life, compel people to come in and be saved.
That's what we are to do. Now, there in Capernaum, the great crowd had gathered because the word had gotten around that Jesus was coming back. And they're waiting on him. If you have your bibles, it's in Luke 8 there from verse 40, all the way down actually, we're just gonna, there's two more things everyone talk about one next week, but this one here this week, in verse 40, they were all waiting for him.
He had already, the fame of Jesus had been set a fire. That was a crossroads there in Capernaum. It was one loop route of the old Mesopotamian trade route between Alexander, Egypt, all the way over to Babylon. So that area right in there, Capernaum, down along that valley, Jordan Valley, from the Sea of Galilee all the way down, was a major trade route.
So there were 100, Jay thousands of people that often used that area there. And after being introduced by John the Baptist, the fame of Jesus spread like wildfire. And a lot of folks were coming out to see him. And the miracles that he was doing, first one was changing the water into wine at the marriage of Cain of Galilee.
Then he began to do other things amazingly that only God could do more than just a prophet. There was something about this man. There's still something about this man, who's not this man, that man, a man, but the man, Christ Jesus. So there were crowds there waiting for him to get back.
He had calmed the storms, he had conquered the spirits. And now he comes back to Capernaum, and there's a little sick lady there. 12 years, she had wasted all of her money. Spent everything she had on physicians and remedies and various things.
And nothing could change her condition. You might have been trying to get off of drugs or get break free from gambling, or some other type of addiction, whether it's eating, overeating, gossip, all of this stuff. More than just alcohol and gambling, there are many other addictions, sicknesses, if you will. But let me give you a scripture that you can look at.
The opening verses of Psalms 103, Jesus has eeled all of our diseases, and he has forgiven all of our iniquities. When he was dying on the cross, right before he died, he cried, finished, settled it all. He took our sin, our transgression by his stripes, Isaiah, and through the pin of Isaiah and Peter, we were and are healed. Whatever sickness it is, and I'm not talking to cancer, it's terrible.
But he'll just get the body. Whether whatever heart disease or whatever physical ailment we may encounter in life can only affect the body. But this spiritual sickness, that can get us backslidden, anemic weak as God's people, the sickness of sin. If you've never been saved, that sickness, the greatest sickness of all is Christ's rejection.
Sin, when it's finished, bring a fourth death. Abraham told the rich man in hell, your brothers won't hear those one rose from the dead. The message of the resurrection in the book of Acts, some not most of them procrastinated, albeit some unbelieved. So fellow pastors, fellow preachers, fellow brothers and sisters, we need to get busy preaching the healing of the grace of Almighty God that can heal the soul that is lost, can heal the heart that is dark, and can heal the mind that is either natural or carnal.
Got back there, and that dear woman was in that crowd, but there, get this, there was another fellow in that crowd, his name was Jarius. He had a little 12 year old girl who was almost dead with a severe sickness. We'll get back to this next week. And he said, my little girl is about to die.
Could you please come with me? Urgent, so Jesus starts to Jarius's house with Jarius. Now here comes this older woman that's been sick, as long as this little girl has been alive. Can you dads and grandparents out there tell me that you don't love that little granddaughter, that little precious 12 year old daughter of yours more far more than you love yourself?
Can you imagine the stress level? Can you imagine the depth of concern in this daddy's heart for his little girl? Now his expression of faith and belief is, Jesus, you can help my little girl. I need you to come home with me.
And en route to take care of that dire situation. Here comes the press of the crowd. Let me tell you something, people don't care about you. This world doesn't care about me.
The masses of this world, what did Paul say telling at Philippi? He said, I would like to send you a pastor, I would love to send you a preacher, but I can't find anybody like minded as me. Because everybody seeks their own thing, their own agenda. That is very, very human like.
But the good news was in Philippi, just like the good news is now, to Mothius. Paul said, I'm sending Timothy. Thank God for ever 10,000 selfish people. God's got one that'll be a serving and sacrificial, just like Christ himself.
Now, who's me to be more like Timothy and less like the general population of this world? We want to be led by the Holy Spirit. That means we are the children of God, Romans 8. But if we're led by the human spirit, even if we are saved, that means we're carnal.
And those in this world who are so vulnerable and susceptible to even the evil spirits of this world, and they only hope they have from being moved from the natural end of the spiritual is a new birth. But there's sickness out here. Now get this, Jesus calmed the stones, he conquered the spirits, and yes, he's able to cure sickness, even the sickness of sin. And whatever disease or sickness may rise from that old Adam nature or that old human spirit, Jesus has made ample provision, he is the great physician, he leads and guides his people through the indwelling person of the Holy Spirit.
And we are led by the Holy Spirit in the true, scripturally based spirituality. Now we want to see that next week in this man, Jarius. But right now, here comes this little woman. She's frustrated, aggravated, scared today.
The whole crowd around, she's hearing all kinds of stuff from the people. Man, that we're pushing her back. Do you know that the world and the devil and even sometimes our own human spirit will tell us to stay away from Jesus? We're going to be a bother to him.
What in the world did the disciples, the entourage of grace, the disciples of Jesus, they kind of in the crowd controlled ill. They had gotten real popular down in Jericho. As Jesus was going up to Jerusalem to die, the last time he would go to Jericho, there was a blessed old precious blind bagged in Bartimaeus over there crying real loud to the side of the road, Jesus, our son of David have mercy on me. He believed in the lineage of Jesus.
He believed that Jesus is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. But everybody else can you imagine the crowd noise? You couldn't even hear anything. But Jesus heard, not the accolades of the religious, not the applauding of the self-righteous, but the feeble plea of an old blind bagger that didn't have anything to offer but poverty and blindness.
And old part of me said, Jesus, our son of God have mercy on me. The people went over and told him to be quiet. And you imagine when Jesus said, somebody's calling for me. I can imagine old Peter saying, uh-huh, probably sweating, trying to keep from people from pressing in on Jesus.
He looked around Jesus and said, there's thousands of people hollering at you. Yes, but they're not hollering at me with true faith, believing I hear of the cry of somebody. And he made his way over there, not to be given the key of the city by the mayor. But to ask old blind bagger and Bartimaeus, what do you want me to do for you?
And old Bartimaeus with absolute bold faith said, Lord, I want to see. And Jesus touched him and Bartimaeus was made to see. And then he becomes a living, breathing, walking, running, shouting, leaping testimony of the grace of God, running all over Jericho, saying this man, Jesus has changed my life and even was able to influence little Zacchaeus, who climbed up the Zickamortree, probably because he talked to Bartimaeus. You can be having impact in somebody else's life.
And so can I with the gospel. The most powerful version of the Word of God is you and me as Christians being living epistles of the gospel of Christ, just like Paul told them there at the church of Corinth. Let's go back up to Capernaum now. People are telling this little woman, just stay away from him, you can't get to him.
I wouldn't have the press of that crowd didn't knock her plumb to the ground because she reached out not to him of his garment. And Jesus now turns around a similar situation that would happen later on in Jericho, happens then in this story in Capernaum, who touched me? Can't you imagine the disciples say, what a question. How do we know who touched you?
Well, you know what I mean by me, like everybody here in town around the docks down here touched you today. Jesus, yeah, yeah, yeah, but the church just was a release of virtue. Glory to God. You taught, have you got victory?
You got victory if you've been saved. If you've touched him by faith in his grace, has flowed into you, then not only do you know him, but he knows you. That's the problem with the judgment. When all that crowd will say, well, we preach, we did many wonderful things, case, not devil.
I never knew you, you work, or been equally, we did part from him. So the question is, does he know you? He knew this woman. Now with all the goings on around her, she was still uncomfortable.
People were saying, why'd you do this? Get away. I don't know what she was hearing everybody else say. But when she heard and saw Jesus say to Peter in the disciples, virtue was flown out for me.
Somebody's faith just touched my grace. And I'm glad one morning, when my little feeble faith reached up to his almighty grace, there was a miracle of a new birth and peace that passes understanding, flitted my heart. If you're saved, you know exactly what I'm talking about. She realized she could not be hid.
And Jesus said, be a good cheer, daughter. Your faith has saved you. Faith, for by grace, we all know the verse in Ephesians 2. For by grace are you saved through faith, that not of your sales.
It's the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. The most horrible sickness in America today is not heart, disease, and cancer. The most horrible disease in sickness in America today is sin. Sin is a reproach to any people.
It's what the book says in the book of Proverbs 1434, righteousness exalt of the nation. But sin is a reproach to any people. You won't find the word hail in the book of Romans. But you will find the book of Romans dealing with sin, from chapter one to chapter 16.
And the only way in the world we can be saved from sin is to put our faith in the saving grace of God. That if thou shall confess with thy mouth, the Lord Jesus, leave in thy heart, the God of thracings from the dead, thou shalt be saved. And we've got to share that remedy. We've got to share this news.
This woman was frustrated. Twelve years she learned that nothing in this world could help her. But I'm telling you, there's help. Not in this whole world, but in this blessed word right here.
There is help, there is hope, and there is healing for you. The same Christ who calmed the storms, conquered the spirits, cured the sickness, right in this story that we've been talking about this month, is right there to calm the storms in your life, to conquer those spirits and drive them out of your life, and to cure that sickness that may be plaguing your heart, your mind, stress, especially the hatred and the unforgiveness, the pride, the swift feet running to mischief, the sowing discord, all these things that we as God's people need to be forgiven for. There is forgiveness. Again, as we quoted earlier, Psalms 103, he has forgiven all of our inequities, healed all of our diseases.
Christ took our sin and our sickness. He became victim of the most horrendous stone. He was surrounded by all of the satanic spirits that exist. His precious soul as an offering for our sin was dragged down into the depths of the pits of death, hell and the grave.
But on the third day with healing in his wings, he came walking by the way out of that grave and he lives forever. Revelation 1, he said, I am he who lives, was dead, and I'm alive forevermore, and because I live, ye shall live also. John 10, 10, I am the thief coming up, but for the kill, still in destroy, but I am come that you may have life and that you may have it more abundantly. May God give you, if you're lost, ears to hear the gospel, believe, turn from your sin, 180 degrees.
Put your faith in God's grace, accept the gift of God's love, and follow him. That's what he said to Matthew, the public, and follow me. That's what he said to his disciples. Follow me.
I'll make you fishers of men. Bless his name. He's still pure in sickness, and he will cure your sickness of sin, your sickness of selfishness, your sickness of stress, strain, worry, whatever it is. Oh, he is the healer.
He is Jehovah Raffa. Heavenly Father, thank you for the victory that we have in Christ. Stir us as your people wake us up, oh, God, to the duty that is ours, to preach deliverance to the captives, and show the very distinct difference that deliverance makes. Amen.
Well, till next time, may God bless you richly, then may he use you for his glory, and to be a real blessing to someone else. I have the privilege of pastoring and being the director of Freedom Tabernacle Baptist Church and Freedom Tabernacle Ministries in Atkins, Virginia. And we are going to get to know one another a lot better through the weeks and months to come. It's my prayer.
But right now, you can join us on our Facebook page, Freedom Tabernacle Ministries, Atkins, Virginia, or our YouTube channel, Focus of Freedom, Atkins, Virginia, our website, FTE Ministries.org. Or you can download our app, the Freedom Tabernacle App, download it for free from any app store. And we can stay in contact that way as we labor together with our Lord for his glory and for the advancement of his glorious gospel of grace.