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The Gifts of Healing
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results. People should be getting excited and be filled with faith to be healed from hearing what
we preach.
Now, if you say that sometimes it’s His will, and sometimes it’s not, and sometimes He says wait
a while, there isn’t any way they’re going to get faith from hearing that. Paul must have preached
it is God’s will for all to be healed. This man became convinced while he heard Paul preaching
that it was God’s will for him to be healed right now. He had to. He’s sitting there still crippled,
but he has faith to be healed, and Paul just helped him act on it. Paul perceived that the man had
faith from hearing the Word, and so he called on him. He said with a loud voice, “Stand upright
on your feet,” and he leaped and walked. These are the same results as Acts 3, but a completely
different way of getting there.
I get so excited from Acts 14 because everyone can be healed the way this man was healed. This
is for everyone. God does special things, but if you wait on a special thing, you’re like all those
people sitting around the pools waiting for the troubling of the water, and only the first person in
got it. You’re waiting and waiting for something special. But you can get in the Word for
yourself, get faith for yourself, and get healed every time. You can get healed right now and not
have to wait.
Let me give you a scenario. This lame man at the Gate called Beautiful got healed through what
we might call “special faith” manifested though Peter and John, and God still does it today. But,
let’s say he gets saved, goes on with the Lord, and five years later he gets attacked in his body.
He goes to Peter and says, “Peter, I want you to agree with me that I’ll be healed.”
What if Peter said, “Well, it may not be God’s will to heal you.”
What might the man say? “That’s how I got in this thing. God healed me and raised me up and
you told me this is Who God is. Now you’re telling me it might not be His will?”
It’s like walking through the mall, and you smell a wonderful smell. They’re making fudge
somewhere. You go over there, and they ask you if you’d like a free sample. You say, “Yes, I
think I will.” You take some and, “Whoa! This stuff is great!” So you buy two pounds and you
get it home and it’s junk. It’s dried up and unfit to eat. What would you say? False advertising.
Do you know where I’m going? What is a sign? A sign is something that indicates or reveals
something. It says, “This way! Look at this! This is available! Come see this! Come do this!”
God does signs and He does miracles. Why was He doing those miracles at the pool there?
Because His people had gotten away from Him. They were acting like they didn’t have a Healer.
Nobody was believing for healing, and nobody was preaching healing, so He did something
special. He sent an angel down, and the first one in was healed. It was a sign—a sign that healing
is still available, that God is still in the healing business. What is a sign? A sign is a revelation, a
special thing for one or a few, of what is and has always been and will always be available to
everyone by faith in the Word.
I remember a man right now, a big, rough-looking guy. You could tell he had lived a hard, rough
life, and he was in a meeting and God healed him. He came up to me afterwards, crying. He said,