Ray Bentley

Pastor Ray Bentley on comprehending God's plan. Hey, guess what? We can know what God says or what God does, but sometimes God's ways, we shake our head and go, I don't know what you're doing, and I don't know why you are doing it. We don't always understand it, and we have to be patient. He was not created. We were. So we gotta have some humility and patience. But if we will, the scriptures will give us hope.

Pastor Ray Bentley says sometimes the difficulties in our lives are a profound way for the Lord to get our attention and remind us he's taking care of us. You know, sometimes the Lord's going to say, here's my will. I have waited for this moment because I'm going to take it away right here, right now. Then there's going to be other times when the Lord's going to say, I'm not going to take this one away. But here's the deal. I'll be with you. Trust me. Jump by faith.

Jesus heals his servant. He says, therefore, I did not even think myself worthy to come to you. But say the word, and my servant will be healed. Wow! When Jesus heard these things, he marveled that I have not found so great a faith, not even in Israel.

Pastor Ray Bentley says Jesus is ready to make us whole, as he did with a lame man. Perhaps tonight you're stricken with some sense of weakness, some area of failure, some habit, some addiction in some way, in some area of your life. You know how this invalid man feels. And the answer is not in doctors. The answer is not in some outward cure. esus is saying, your only hope is actually in me.

Pastor Ray Bentley points out how Jesus was also speaking to us when he asked the lame man, do you want to be made whole? Now that's a strange question to me. I mean, when you see a lame guy and he's been lame 38 years, you think that's a right question asked. Hey, would you like to be able to walk today? We are all broken people, aren't we? Jesus is saying, until you can admit you're helpless and honestly come to me in your great need, I can't heal you. Do you want to be holy tonight?

God certainly has the power to heal the sick, all of them. But pastor Ray Bentley says sometimes there's more at stake than physical well-being. Sometimes God doesn't heal because Jesus is not interested in just healing us physically when we want it. He wants something more than that. He wants our hearts and our lives totally transformed. Believe in who I am. No matter what happens.

When Jesus met the Samaritan woman at the well. Pastor Ray Bentley says his message to her was essentially his message to us. I am the God that is beautiful and holy and beloved, and has made a place called Paradise and will bring you into fulfillment and happiness and joy and love. World without end. I am the vision that you've been searching for. I am what will quench the thirst of your soul.

Some say Christianity is just another religion, distant and impersonal. Pastor Ray Bentley says that's far from the truth. Jesus knows everything about you tonight. Your pains and your weakness and your disappointment and how unfair life is and how hard life is. And where is God in the midst of all this? He sees everything about you. How does that make you feel?

Some people avoid raising any questions about their faith, not wanting to argue with God. Pastor Ray Bentley says, Don't worry about that. Have you read the Bible and seen how many people argue with God, and we go, oh, he's gonna kill. He doesn't kill people who argue with him or ask him questions. He wants to get into a little discussion and into a bit of an argument. Why? Because in the answering and asking of questions,

Pastor Ray Bentley says we can learn a lot about how God uses people by looking at the life of Mary, the mother of Jesus of Nazareth. Every single one of us plays a significant role in God's purpose and plan. God, in his grace, chose a girl from the city that had the worst reputation to be the mother of the Messiah, the promised one.