God’s Heart for Healing the Sick #1: Wake Up and Labor Together With God

Healing the sick is not only something God does; it is something He does together with His people. In this first message of the series God’s Heart for Healing the Sick, the pastor teaches that faith comes by hearing the Word, that the alarm clock is ringing over the church in these last days, and that believers are called to labor with God by preaching the good news and laying hands on the sick so that He can confirm His Word with signs and wonders.

He grounds the series in God’s heart for healing: Jesus went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, because the Father was with Him. Below you will find the full video, a structured summary, every Scripture he uses (linked to the New King James Version on Bible Gateway), a timestamped outline and practical steps you can take this week.

Sermon at a Glance

This message was posted on July 2, 2024, and opens a five-part series at NTC Ministries. The pastor says the series could be subtitled “our part” in healing the sick, because we are supposed to be working together with God. It runs about 73 minutes and ends with a prayer for everyone who wants to receive healing.

The flow moves from the foundation of faith, through the urgency of the end times, to the believer’s assignment, and finally to the finished work of the cross: healing is something Jesus has already provided, so we receive it and then give it away.

Faith Comes by Hearing, Not by Pity

The pastor starts with Romans 10:17: faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Many people act as though faith is produced by sympathy, or by discussing weaknesses, sicknesses and problems with one another. He calls that anti-faith. Faith is never born through pity; pity only weakens the soul. That is why he calls himself a word man.

The Word reveals God’s will, and when we know His will, faith rises to take hold of it. Jesus said you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free (John 8:32): free from the corruption of this world, from doubt and unbelief, and from the religious trenches and traditions we dig and try to build on. A life built on tradition never really changes, and in a fallen world, he says, anything other than the Word leads to delusion and decay.

He adds that Jesus did not come to fix the old but to make all things new. He did not patch the old covenant; He gave a new one. He does not repair the old person; He makes a new creation. Revelation 21:5 says He makes all things new, and every person needs the fire of the Holy Spirit to burn away what they have been holding on to so that a brand new life can come.

The Alarm Clock Is Ringing

The pastor calls himself an early morning person, but he notes that whether you like mornings or not, when the alarm clock rings you get up and get ready for the work of the day. Yet much of the body of Christ seems to be asleep, believing there is nothing to do but wait for Jesus to come. Today, he says, the alarm clock is going off all around the world, and we cannot hit the snooze button.

He reads Luke 21:22–27: days of vengeance, great distress in the land, Jerusalem trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled, signs in the sun, moon and stars, distress of nations with perplexity, and men’s hearts failing them for fear. He explains perplexity as being without a way out, mentally strained beyond what a person can handle.

We are living in the time of the Gentiles, he says. Israel’s leaders held the Word to themselves and rejected Jesus, so He turned and taught in parables, and the two people He praised for the greatest faith were both Gentiles: a Syro-Phoenician woman and a Roman centurion. They got that faith by hearing Jesus and watching Him heal everyone without partiality. That, he says, is God’s heart for healing the sick.

He teaches that believers will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:16–17), which he distinguishes from the Second Coming after seven years of tribulation. Like rust that shows only a little of the corruption behind a car’s paint, what we see is a small part of the world’s condition. He is not saying it to scare anyone: the church has hope, because only Jesus makes things new.

Laborers Together With God

The good news is that where sin abounds, grace abounds much more (Romans 5:20–21). The pastor describes grace as the unearned favor of God, and says it is given to us as equipment, so that the gospel is not only heard but seen, with signs following.

This is no day to be a spectator, and healing the sick is part of the work. 1 Corinthians 3:9 says we are God’s fellow workers; the King James says we labor together with God. Jesus said the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give His life a ransom for many (Matthew 20:28). People think that only means the cross, but He served by healing the sick, casting out devils, opening blind eyes and deaf ears, and raising the dead. Believers are called to that same service.

That does not mean dropping jobs, finances or vacations. It means serving God in all of it. The pastor says we cannot be melancholy; we need to be sanguine, alert and active, like a puppy or a cheerleader ready to go.

He also corrects a common mindset that hinders healing the sick. People say God made someone sick or God took someone. Not our God, he says. 2 Corinthians 4:4 says the god of this age has blinded the minds of those who do not believe. Only God can change a person, but He wants us working with Him: we do the physical act of telling the good news, and He performs the signs and wonders.

Miracles Are the Dinner Bell

In healing the sick, the pastor quotes his mentor T. L. Osborn, who always said, “Miracles are the dinner bell for the world.” He illustrates with Moses at the burning bush (Exodus 3:2–4). After forty years hiding in the desert, Moses saw a bush burning but not consumed and turned aside to look. Only then did God speak. God did something physical so Moses would press in and receive something spiritual.

That, he says, is why the church is here and why healing the sick matters: we do the physical so that God can begin speaking to people’s hearts. Healing the sick and deliverance open blinded minds to the Lord Jesus Christ.

He shares his own testimony of an 84-year-old woman in hospice who was not a believer. She had been given no more than two weeks to live. He laid hands on her, commanded the cancer to leave and commanded life into her body. She opened her eyes and said she felt great. He reports that her doctor later found no cancer, and she missed the next meeting because she was packing to go home.

Hebrews 10:23–25 adds what believers are appointed to do: hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, stir one another up to love and good works, and do not forsake assembling together, especially as the Day approaches. Testimonies do this. When people hear that someone prayed and the sick were healed, it provokes them to do the same. He tells of preaching on the street from a soapbox, enduring thrown cans and cigarette butts, and seeing many saved, healed and delivered.

The Father’s Heart for Healing the Sick

Before healing the sick, believers first need to be confident of the Father’s heart for healing. Faith begins where the will of God is known. The pastor uses the parable of the ten virgins (Matthew 25:1–13) and a simple picture: someone hired years ago who never showed up for work cannot walk in and collect a paycheck. We renew our minds (Romans 12:2) so we can know the good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

His central text is Acts 10:38: God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. It was not God oppressing people; it was the devil. Jesus only did what He saw the Father doing, and He healed everyone, so the Father’s heart is that everyone be healed.

Jesus was the burning bush in the wilderness, and people turned aside to see. The pastor says believers must become burning bushes too. After his own deliverance, co-workers came to his house asking what happened. He simply told them what Jesus had done, and within about two years nearly all of them were going to church. He also tells of a dentist who asked for help for his son, gave his life to the Lord, and later saw his son saved and set free from drugs.

The rest of Scripture agrees. God said, “I am the Lord who heals you” (Exodus 15:26), and when Israel left Egypt there was none feeble among His tribes (Psalm 105:37). The pastor says it would be strange for the New Covenant to have less healing than the Old; it is more open now. Every promise expresses God’s sovereignty and His heart for healing: He heals, He delivers, He provides.

One of the people he prayed for was Anna, a newlywed from Russia who had been told surgery for cancer would leave her unable to have children. He commanded the cancer out at a camp meeting. A year later she was there again, he reports, free of cancer and pregnant.

Accept What He Has Already Done

1 Peter 2:24 says He bore our sins in His own body on the tree, by whose stripes you were healed. The pastor stresses the past tense. It is not me trying to get God to do something; it is me accepting what He has already done, and then it activates in my life. Isaiah 53:4–5 says He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, and by His stripes we are healed. If He bore it, healing is perfected.

He compares healing with forgiveness. We do not put up with sin because Jesus bore it; we believe we are forgiven. In the same way, Romans 8:2 says the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made us free from the law of sin and death. Healing became yours the moment you became a child of God, and that is the ground for healing the sick around you. You do not beg, plead or bargain. You thank the Father for what is already yours, and then living water flows from you to others (John 7:38). Freely you have received, freely give (Matthew 10:8).

His final text is the mandate in Mark 16:15–18: go into all the world and preach the gospel, and these signs will follow those who believe, including laying hands on the sick so that they recover. The good news is not that people are sinners; it is that they are forgiven. He tells of praying for a woman in a coma by simply telling her she was forgiven, and life came. He clarifies that the serpents verse is not about snake handling or tempting God, and points to Paul on Malta (Acts 28:1–9), who shook off a viper, prayed for the governor’s father, and saw the whole island healed.

He closes with his own testimony. He says he had cancer twice and did not fight the disease; he fought the fight of faith (1 Timothy 6:12) by hearing the promise over and over. The first time he reports the tumor left in a month; the second took five years, often in pain. He says he has nothing against doctors, but during that season he kept praying for others and saw miracles increase.

Living It Out This Week

The pastor ends by inviting everyone who wants healing to stand, lift their hands and receive what Jesus has already done. Practical steps from the message:

• Feed on the Word, not on sympathy. Replace conversations about sickness and problems with hearing what God has promised.
• Get out of bed spiritually. Treat the times as an alarm, not a snooze button, and ask where God wants you serving.
• Thank God instead of begging. Pray, “Father, I accept what You’ve done,” and thank Him that by His stripes you were healed.
• Be a burning bush. Tell co-workers and family simply what Jesus has done in your life.
• Make healing the sick your part. Lay hands on the sick; you do the praying, and God does the healing and confirms His Word.
• Share testimonies and gather. Do not neglect meeting together; stir one another up to love and good works.

Timestamped Outline

• 0:00 Introducing the series and opening prayer
• 1:13 Romans 10:17: faith is never born of pity
• 2:32 John 8:32: the truth makes you free
• 3:42 When the alarm clock rings
• 7:10 Jesus makes all things new
• 8:24 Luke 21: the times of the Gentiles
• 10:33 Two Gentiles with great faith
• 14:15 Caught up to meet the Lord
• 18:18 Where sin abounds, grace abounds more
• 19:44 Laborers together with God
• 22:22 2 Corinthians 4:4: the god of this world
• 24:47 Miracles are the dinner bell; the burning bush
• 30:06 The woman in hospice
• 32:38 Hebrews 10:23–25: hold fast and stir one another
• 39:58 Be confident of the Father’s heart
• 42:33 Acts 10:38: healing all who were oppressed
• 44:04 Anna’s testimony
• 47:42 Becoming a burning bush
• 50:51 Exodus 15:26: I am the Lord who heals you
• 52:24 1 Peter 2:24 and Isaiah 53
• 1:00:20 Do not beg; accept what is yours
• 1:01:33 Mark 16: the mandate and the signs
• 1:05:16 Paul on Malta
• 1:10:11 Prayer to receive healing

God’s Heart for Healing the Sick Series

This is the opening message of a five-part series at NTC Ministries:

• You are here: God’s Heart for Healing the Sick #1: Wake Up and Labor Together With God
• Next: God’s Heart for Healing the Sick #2: Greater Works and the Power of the Name of Jesus

Frequently Asked Questions

If God has a heart for healing, why does He need believers at all?

The pastor teaches that God has chosen to work together with His people. Satan has blinded the minds of unbelievers, and only God can change a heart, but He tells the church to do the physical part: go, preach the good news, and lay hands on the sick. When believers do that, He performs the signs and wonders, and the miracles become the dinner bell that draws people to Jesus.

Is it wrong to see a doctor while believing for healing?

The pastor says directly that he has nothing against doctors and tells people to go to them. In his own case he chose to stand on God’s Word, and he describes that as his personal decision during a long season. His emphasis is not on rejecting medical help but on fighting the fight of faith by continually hearing God’s promises and receiving what Jesus already provided.

Why does he say the good news is not that people are sinners?

He points out that people already know they are sinners, so telling them that is not good news. The gospel announces that they are forgiven and that Jesus has borne their sins and sicknesses. He describes praying for a woman in a coma by simply telling her she was forgiven, and says life came into her.

Scripture References

All passages open in the New King James Version on Bible Gateway:

• Romans 10:17 — faith comes by hearing
• Luke 21:22–27 — distress of nations
• Romans 5:20–21 — grace abounds much more
• 1 Corinthians 3:9 — God’s fellow workers
• Acts 10:38 — healing all who were oppressed
• Exodus 15:26 — the Lord who heals you
• Isaiah 53:4–5 and 1 Peter 2:24 — by His stripes
• Mark 16:15–18 — these signs will follow

How this summary was made: written with AI assistance from the sermon’s own transcript and checked against the Scriptures listed above.

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