Everyone who came to worship at the Central Church tonight had an excellent opportunity to praise and worship God. God never ceases to work miracles in the lives of His people. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever more (Hebrews 13:8). The testimonies of his deeds in our lives strengthen our faith.
Pastor Elena Dzyavulko came to church with a terrible incurable disease. She had persistent pain in the left side of her body and could not feel the left side of her body, like she feels her right side. 10 years ago, Elena made a covenant with God. She said to him: “I do not want to be poor, I do not want to be sick, I’ll do everything just change my circumstances.” Despite the pain, Elena worked and served God and two weeks later she felt that the pain wasn’t bothering her any longer. She could feel the left side of her body. Elena came to church to die, but God through her infirmity, through her illness, manifested His glory. Today Elena is a successful pastor, she leads a home group and is a member of Pastor Bose’s Spiritual Council.
Today pastor Elena Dzyavulko preaches: “It is wonderful to know the Word of God deeply! The passage from the Holy Scriptures, which we will study, is very relevant today. “
“When He had come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed Him. And behold, a leper came and worshiped Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” Then Jesus put out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” Immediately his leprosy was cleansed. And Jesus said to him, “See that you tell no one; but go your way, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.” (Matthew 8:1-4).
Everyone sometimes faces terrible diseases, or endures difficult life circumstances, and we pray to the point where it is just empty religion.
What should we do in order to experience God in our lives? What should a person do to see His power and glory come to one’s life? In these verses of the Bible, we see that the man who came to Jesus, was sick with a deadly disease, leprosy. These people lived in the countryside. (Leviticus chapters 13and 14 talk about this disease and about the purification rites a priest would have to perform on one afflicted by the disease. This procedure allows the patient to get a legal certificate of his purification and gives him access to the society of healthy people. )
But this man refused to die. The first thing he did was that he dared to get out of the place where he was. He did not know what to expect. He violated the law of Moses, but he took a chance. This man saw God in Jesus, he was so desperate for a change that he refused just to be praying about his situation, but took action. Jesus had compassion and healed the man, and in order not to break the law of Moses, He told him to go and show himself to the priests.
Let’s see another passage from the Scripture:
“And it happened after this that Ben-Hadad king of Syria gathered all his army, and went up and besieged Samaria. And there was a great famine in Samaria; and indeed they besieged it until a donkey’s head was sold for eighty shekels of silver, and one-fourth of a kab of dove droppings for five shekels of silver.” (2 Kings 6:24-25).
When Syria besieged Samaria, a terrible famine developed in Israel. The suffering of the people was incredible, they were so hungry that they ate anything and everything.
And here’s another story.
“Now there were four leprous men at the entrance of the gate; and they said to one another, “Why are we sitting here until we die? 4If we say, ‘We will enter the city,’ the famine is in the city, and we shall die there. And if we sit here, we die also. Now therefore, come, let us surrender to the army of the Syrians. If they keep us alive, we shall live; and if they kill us, we shall only die.” And they rose at twilight to go to the camp of the Syrians; and when they had come to the outskirts of the Syrian camp, to their surprise no one was there. For the Lord had caused the army of the Syrians to hear the noise of chariots and the noise of horses—the noise of a great army; so they said to one another, “Look, the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites and the kings of the Egyptians to attack us!” Therefore they arose and fled at twilight, and left the camp intact—their tents, their horses, and their donkeys—and they fled for their lives. And when these lepers came to the outskirts of the camp, they went into one tent and ate and drank, and carried from it silver and gold and clothing, and went and hid them; then they came back and entered another tent, and carried some from there also, and went and hid it. Then they said to one another, “We are not doing right. This day is a day of good news, and we remain silent. If we wait until morning light, some punishment will come upon us. Now therefore, come, let us go and tell the king’s household.” (2 Kings 7:3-9).
This is a similar case to the ones above where people faced disease and extreme hunger. Four people sitting at the gate, sick of leprosy and dying of starvation. Then hope appeared, they decided to take a chance, they decided to go to the enemy’s camp. And God saw their boldness and gave them a great victory.
From these two stunning stories, we can make certain important conclusions for ourselves. What unites the stories? God’s use of terminally ill people. These people by their actions, sincere faith and boldness created a great miracle. They did not just pray, they did not just believe. They did incredible things. Remember when they broke the law of Moses?
Why did God use such people? Because these people by their actions and behavior brought God closer to themselves.
God does not want us to just pray and then do nothing. God wants a living relationship; He wants us to pay a price.
In these stories, we see how people took the little they had, i.e. their sick life. They did not want to die, they wanted to see the glory of God, and they did their best to pursue Him. And God came into their lives.
Pastor Elena said: “Let’s do extraordinary deeds! If it’s time to start a home group – start it. And God seeing your boldness, will come to your aid! “. She then led us to another example, to the third story.
“Now Jabez was more honorable than his brothers, and his mother called his name Jabez,[a] saying, “Because I bore him in pain.” And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, “Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!” So God granted him what he requested.” (1 Chron. 4:9-10).
It says here that his mother gave him a name that carried a curse and he had to carry the curse his whole life. But Jabez did not want to live this way. He did not humble himself to his fate. It is evident that he had a living relationship with God, “And God granted him what he requested.”
God could not pass by those who zealously fought for their life. He removed the curse from Jabez and healed the lepers. These people were looking for a local change in their lives, they just wanted a healing. But in all three cases, God catapulted them to their destiny!
“Now a leper came to Him, imploring Him, kneeling down to Him and saying to Him, “If You are willing, You can make me clean.”
(Mark 1:40).
After being healed the man “began to proclaim and tell of what happened” (verse 45). In fact, he became an evangelist. He came for healing, fought for his life, and the destiny of God overtook him. The same thing happened to the four lepers, God used them to bring victory to the whole nation.
“I think these people became heroes – continued Pastor Elena. – Jabez also asked God to lift the curse off him, but the glory of God did not just stop there in his life. He became “the greatest of his brothers.”
All the heroes of our stories today received the destiny of God. That’s the way God works in life. God responds strongly to boldness and desperate faith, God would never go past a man with such faith. “
Dear brothers and sisters, God wants us to start doing something that was never done before today. If you have not had a personal retreat with God – start having it! If you do not have a home group – start inviting people to your group! Be faithful in the ministry, when you do the work of God! God loves desperate people. Go for it, and God will give you a destiny!
Bless you!
From the Central Church Service
June 26, 2014, Kiev
Press-center of “Embassy of God Church”
