Do you believe that God is a God of healing?  Today, Pastor Bill refers to a passage about a woman who was considered unclean, but her faith in Jesus made her whole.  It’s a beautiful picture of how you transition from a sinner who has a disease from within, but once that sin is washed away - through faith in the Son of God, you don’t have to be held back by that sin and that discomforting disease anymore.  You can go forward, having been claimed as pure and new by the One who created you.

I can’t help but hear what Pastor Bill just said, and connect it to the idea of sin.  When we as people choose to live in a sinful lifestyle, it can affect the people around us, like an infectious disease.  Sin has a deadly effect, and the bigger picture that Pastor Bill will touch on today is that sin separates us from God.  In these older times of living, God’s heart was to look out for His people by warning or protecting them from the spread of disease.  His heart is also to prevent you from falling into the epidemic of sin.

How often do you ask God for something, and even plead with Him for answers or for healing?  There are times God doesn’t answer right away, or it feels painfully silent.  But today, Pastor Bill gives an example of physical healing and how one out of ten people came back to thank Jesus for healing him.  Are you going to be the one out of ten that comes back and offers gratitude to Jesus for His answer or healing?  Or will you go along your merry way, almost immediately forgetting the One who brought about the result you had prayed for?

Asking God to fill you with His Spirit doesn’t mean that you’re rubbing a magic genie lamp, and out comes some mystical steam that you breathe in.  No, all Pastor Bill is saying today is that when you humbly ask God to help guide and lead you in your thinking and in your behaving, He’s more than happy to assist you in this way.  God’s Spirit working and moving in you is far better than any treasure that Aladdin could have found.  This supernatural influence in your life is straight from God!

Imagine being an outcast of society, having to separate yourself from the rest of the group, because of a disease that’s extremely contagious.  You feel unworthy and “less than.”  But if you’re healed of that disease, you’re brought into the fold, and you’re clean!  Today, Pastor Bill teaches about some of the practices done in the Old Testament times.  But don’t forget that the things learned here point to New Testament promises, where Jesus was willing to wash you clean of your sins, so you can be in relationship with Him!

Wouldn’t it be so much easier if you could see something with your own eyes, rather than having to rely on faith?  Today, Pastor Bill is covering several passages in the Bible related to leprosy and the desire to be healed from such a disease.  As he gets further into this topic, you realize that sin is like a disease, and there’s only One who has the cure.  But it’s not a quick fix that you can see with your eyes.  No, this type of remedy requires faith and trusting in something you can’t see.

When you think about leprosy relating to sin, then all of mankind’s existence would experience being outcasts.  That’s because every person is a sinner, and on your own, you have a disease that’s spreading within yourself and to others around you.  Today, Pastor Bill discusses the rules and regulations for those with skin diseases in the Old Testament, but thanks be to God, who rid you of your sin by having His Son die on a cross, rescuing you from the eternal state of a spiritually diseased heart.  

All the patterns and behaviors that you’re instilling in your children will be reaped at a later time.  So if you’ve taught your kids how to be really skilled video game players, they’ll likely be some of the best they know.  If they show self-control and discipline in what they eat and what they put in front of their eyes, that will probably stick with them down the road.  In a similar fashion, Pastor Bill mentions today that the spiritual seeds you sow into your children will be evident as well. 

A chameleon has an innate quality of blending in with its surroundings.  God created that for its protection from various types of prey.  But God didn’t intend for Christians to blend in with their surroundings, and the practices that are done in the world.  Today, Pastor Bill teaches about how too often, those who claim Jesus as their Savior are not different than anyone else.  They’re talking and behaving just as those who are lost.  When it comes to your faith, be the furthest thing from a chameleon.  

It’s a dog-eat-dog world, right?  Many times in Christian circles, it might feel that way, as there are petty differences and convictions that can divide and tear apart the community of believers.  But this isn’t what Jesus wants for us.  Today, Pastor Bill talks about the importance of staying unified and going in a similar direction as a group of people who are following after God.  Don’t allow small and minor differences of opinion to be what causes a separation among fellow followers of Christ!