THE POWER TO CHOOSE | Part 3— Choose Life! Choose Healing!

[music] Hello, this is Joseph Kack. Thank you for tuning in today. I pray that you will be equipped and empowered through this message. [music] John Chapter 1. Again, we're talking about the power of our choice. John Chapter 1 and verse 11. So glad you tuned in with us today. We pray that you feel comfortable where you are. And I pray that you're not distracted. Because today is your receiving day. Amen. And it says here about Jesus. It says Jesus, he came to his own. And his own did not receive him. But then it talks about a different group of people who did receive him. But as many as received him to them, different group, he gave the right to become children of God to those who believe in his name. As many as received him to them, he gave the right to become the children of God. And we've been studying this word right that where it says he gave them the right. It could also be translated as authority. He gave them the authority to become the children of God. Or if you dig a little deeper, it can also be translated or interpreted as he gave them the power of choice to become. So this is how powerful our choices are. Our choice is our authority. This is one way that we exercise our authority. This is one of the simplest ways we exercise our authority. And it's through the power of our choice. Amen. When we receive Jesus, he gave us the authority or the power of choice to become a child of God. When we receive his word, whatever his word is and we believe it, we receive the power of choice, what to become, whatever the word says we already are. What's already ours. Amen. This power of choice is so powerful and so much bigger than many have realized. Alleluia. So wherever you are right now, friend, you're not weak. You're not crippled. You're not defenseless. You're not hopeless. No. Alleluia, we have God. We have a covenant. We have his word. We are the children of God. And it's not done yet. Why? I have a choice. You have a choice. We still have a choice and we can choose life. Deuteronomy 30 verse 19 says, "I call heaven and earth as witnesses. Today against you that I set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Therefore, choose life." So notice it's still a choice. Choose life that both you and your descendants may live. So our choices are powerful. Amen. Our choices are more powerful than any adversity we may be facing or that we may see or feel around us. And what makes our choices powerful? Our choices are powerful when they're firmly based upon the authority of God's Word. Amen. So we've been talking a lot about choosing life by choosing to speak the words of life. And our words have so much power. Praise the Lord. We've talked about that. We've talked about how death and life are in the power of the tongue. We've talked about how you shall decree a thing and it'll be established for you and it'll allow light to shine upon your paths and upon your ways. We've talked about how a good man out of the good treasure of his heart, he brings forth or he manifests good things. Hallelujah. It's so important what we say. We talked about how powerful our tongue is that the book of James likens the tongue to a rudder on a ship. That it doesn't matter how big the ship is and it doesn't even matter how fierce the winds are. What's more powerful than the fierce winds is the very small rudder of the ship. And that ship is moved wherever the pilot decides the ship is going to go based upon the rudder. And then the scripture says even so is the tongue. So the tongue is like the rudder on the ship that it doesn't matter how fierce the winds are. There's something greater and it's the rudder that's on the ship. And this is so often what happens when the when the storms of life blow when the fierce winds blow around us is it gets our attention so much so we get so focused on the storm and on the fierce winds and on the symptoms and how we feel you know what happens we forget the rudder. The rudder is the way out of this the tongue is the way out of this and so we choose life by choosing to speak words of life which are words that are based upon the authority of God's word Amen. But I want to go in a little different direction when it comes to choosing life of course there's many different aspects of what we would call life. And you know you cannot choose what you don't have knowledge of and so that's why it's so important for our preachers to preach Amen. We talked about that yesterday the Lord encouraged all the preachers yesterday that we are never afraid to preach what we don't see Amen. We are never afraid to preach what is not yet manifest Amen as long as we see it in the word because the purpose of the preaching is so that people can believe it so that it can be manifest Amen. So all the preachers out there don't stop your preaching Amen preach the word that's what Paul told Timothy preach the word in season and out of season because the word is the incorruptible seed. So there's many different expressions of what we would call life. The Bible says choose life that both you and your descendants may live right so death might be right there right in front of you with the life. Death might be screaming the loudest death might seem the most obvious death might seem stronger it might be louder it's it's might be more threatening but still greater than the death and all the noise it makes. Is the simple choice of life and it doesn't even have to be a noisy choice that's how powerful the choice is you don't have to be louder than the enemy you just have to choose Amen. The choice is ours the power is God's he watches over his word to perform it so this is something the Lord's encouraging us with is not to be moved by all of this outside noise no matter how loud it is no matter how the symptoms are screaming at you. Now we have light we have revelation from the word of God we have Bible understanding now of the truth that says I don't care what I see I don't care what I feel I choose life I choose the word it is written it is written it is written. We talked about that yesterday about Abraham as our example the father of our faith and the Bible says he considered not his own body don't you know that body was screaming at him old man old man old man old man but he discounted it he discounted it he considered not he's the example of faith. Neither did they consider the deadness of Sarah's womb I mean a dead Baron womb for how long I don't know long time she was an old woman already but they considered not they staggered not at the promise of God but they became strong in faith giving glory to God. You know it's so important what we set our attention on the father I go in this the more I understand that it's clear to me there's no problem with God and there's no problem with his word working. The father I go in this the more I begin to see and understand that the problem is really with our attention and where we give our attention and where we choose to focus. And that's the trickiness and the the the sneakiness of the enemy through the winds and what we see and what we feel all of it is for our attention so that we will speak we will speak what I would call wind words in other words we will speak words that are lined up with the wind instead of speaking the word of God. So the battle is really for our attention of what we give our focus to because the father our father is the father of lights and we his children are the sons of light and the Bible says the entrance of his word gives us light and it gives us understanding and we've received an inheritance of the saints in the light. We are the sons of light our father is the father of lights his word comes into our heart and it gives us light and you know what the Bible says John chapter one in verse five it says and the light shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot comprehend it. Greater is he who's in us than he who is in the world the light shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot comprehend it cannot extinguish it it cannot understand it it cannot snuff it out it can't put it down it cannot stop it right. So we who are we by nature we are the sons of light we walk with the father of lights we fellowship with him through his word and when we do and here's the point when we give our attention to this and not everything else when we give our attention to this the word works the entrance of it in our heart gives us light it gives us understanding and then we move in that light we talk based on that light. We walk based on that light and that's called faith Amen and the light shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot comprehend it so when it comes to light versus darkness there is no contest it's never even a close call Amen. Amen. I want you to get that picture in your heart and in your mind that when you have the word whatever you're facing whatever the battle is whatever the test is so long as you have the word and you allow to have entrance in your heart it's never a close call. It's never like I barely made that no if you had the word and the word gave you the victory I mean you you you you obliterated that thing Amen. The Bible says the thing that war against us shall be a non-existent thing so friend fear not because greater is he who's in you than he who's in the world the light that's in you is greater. But the key is what our focus and our attention if I'm going to diagnose and even self diagnose I recognize the problem is with the attention and where our focus is. And of course we live in such a noisy world with so many bells and whistles and notifications and billboards and signs and everything you know it's so much going for our attention and the problem is if we're attending to all of that then we're not attending to the word. And so the word doesn't really have entrance if we'll be honest and because it doesn't have entrance yet we might have heard it we might know some of these truths but it hasn't really been allowed to bring light because the entrance of the word does bring light and that light in us when we move in it it shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot comprehend it. It's got to move. It's not even a close call. Amen. I'm just saying all this not to condemn us because you know we've been paying attention to the wrong things but to bring a confidence and a surety in your heart that you would know just how sure this word of God Kingdom of God's system is the Jew for seed. It works every time and it works for everybody who puts it to work. Amen. Let's go over and look at a verse here and then we'll try to get into the direction that I was planning to go this morning. Proverbs chapter 4 verse 20. We all know it here but Proverbs 4 20. So what's the issue here? The issue is our attention, our focus. What are we making time for? Proverbs chapter 4, let me pull it up here. Praise the Lord. The Lord is ministering to us. Hey, he wants us to know the surety of our covenant. He wants us to know the surety of spiritual law and how things work in the Kingdom of God. Amen. When he said greater is he who's in you than he who's in the world. The Bible did not lie. Greater is the life of God in you than any curse, any sickness. But the key is where is our attention? Where is our focus? Right? Because the Word will do what God sent it to do. Amen. He watches his Word to perform it. The Bible says in Isaiah 55 that it will prosper in the very thing for which he sent it. It won't return to envoy. God sent his Word to us to get in our hearts to accomplish a certain purpose. And the Word of God will work. And friend, through these broadcasts, I just want you to have a greater confidence in that. Right? We're not living the kind of Christianity. But you know, we just throw up some prayers and just kind of hope and pray and no, no, no, no. We, the Bible says Jesus is the mediator and he is the surety, the guarantee of a better covenant with better promises. All the promises of God in him are yes and amen. But we have to allow the Word to have entrance in us. Amen. It's not enough just to have heard somebody else say it. At some point, you have to go find the scripture for yourself. Amen. I pray, you know, that you're being ministered to through these broadcasts. I believe faith is coming to you. Faith is coming alive in you. But I believe also you're being inspired through what you hear to go look and search for yourself. Because I'm telling you, it's only when you look for yourself and you see it for yourself in the Word and you read this book like you would read a legal document that reveals your rights and your privileges and you read it carefully. And when you see something, you say, aha. Amen. The same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon him for whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Well, I've called on the name of the Lord. This same God is rich toward me. Amen. Whoever calls on the name of Lord shall be saved. The same word saved means healed. I looked it up. Anybody can look up a Greek word these days with all the technology we have. So the same God who saved me has also healed me. So just as much as I am saved, I am healed. And then you go there and you go there not once, but you go there day after day after day after day. Amen. Till it builds in your heart. Amen. The entrance of His Word gives light. It gives understanding. And then you move in that light and that light begins to come out of you. And what happens? The light shines in the darkness. You want to look at it. John chapter 1 verse 5, John 1, 5, the light shines in the darkness. Again, what happens? The darkness did not comprehend it. Amen. I want you to have a greater confidence. Praise God. That's why we make these radical statements like you are unstoppable in Christ. Not in yourself, but in Christ through new birth. He's delivered us from the dominion and authority of darkness delivered. He transferred us into the kingdom of his dear son. In him, we have our redemption. Amen. We're not trying to get our redemption. We have our redemption. It's ours now. We have we have we have. Those are powerful two words in the New Testament. Amen. We have we have we have we have. I have. I have. I have. I have. I have. Those are two of the most powerful words you can have. But what's really important there is the words that come after I have. So we don't say, you know, I have coughs and colds. You know, I have a terrible headache. Be careful with I have. Make sure you know what you're saying on the other side of I have. The same is true with I am. Right. So I have my redemption. That's what Colossian says in him. I have my deliverance. I have my redemption through his blood. The forgiveness of sins. Right. You got to be careful with I am. I am what could be more powerful than to say I am something. Even abbreviated. I'm saying, you know, well, I'm sick. I'm so tired. You know, I'm so fed up with this. I'm tired of this. I don't think I can do this anymore. I am. Be careful with I am. Why? Death and life are in the power of the tongue. Right. This is how the Bible says give no place to the devil. This is how the devil gets a place. What you shall decree a thing. Good or bad? I said before you life and that blessing and cursing choose life. This is how the enemy gets in. It's through the words of our mouth. So but it all begins with our attention. Amen. So that's where we are. Proverbs chapter four. Let's look at it. Verse 20. Praise the Lord. The Lord is helping us. Amen. He's helping us. I trust you're gaining confidence in what you have in Christ and what you have through the word of God. Amen. But you're going to have to put it to work. Amen. We have a great salvation. Proverbs 4 20. It says my son give attention. Give attention. Or I like the King James version. It just says attend. Attend to my words. Give attention to my words. And climb your ear to my sayings. Turn your ear towards what I'm saying. Don't let them depart from your eyes. Look at them. I've talked about this before, but it's so powerful. I believe faith rises to a whole new level when you open the scripture and actually look at it with your eyes. It's amazing. You know, sometimes you can try to claim a promise because you've heard it and you know it. And that's a good thing to do. But everything goes to a higher level. If you'll take about two minutes and look it up and let your eyes see it and just read it over a few times and then say it again. These are God's spiritual laws. This is what makes it work. My son, give attention. Attend to my words. Keep them. Guard them. Keep them in the midst of your heart. For they are life to those who find them and they are health. The Bible says this can also be translated medicine or a cure. His words are health. They're medicine. They're a cure to all their flesh. Verse 23 says, "Keep your heart with all diligence for out of it spring the issues of life." So our focus and our attention are so important. Okay, but one aspect of choosing life, we choose life by choosing healing. And I just want to give you a few healing verses before we end our broadcast today because faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. We choose life by choosing. Did you know you can choose health? You can choose healing. Amen. Right in the midst of pain, right in the midst of a bad doctor's report, you can say, "Ah, no. On the basis of the Word of God, I choose health and healing. Surely he bore my sicknesses. Surely he carried my pains with his stripes I was healed." Amen. I choose life. I choose health. I choose victory. Let's look at some verses here. Choose life. Choose healing. Isaiah 53 and verse 4. Oh boy, these are some of my favorites. Isaiah 53 verse 4. It says, "Surely, he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows." And if you study these verses or have a decent marginal reference Bible, any good Bible reference Bible for the Word griefs, it's in the margin. It says sicknesses because most everywhere else through the Scripture, this Word is translated sicknesses and carried our sorrows. And the Word sorrows there is often translated as pains. So we could read it this way. Surely he has Jesus. This is his work on the cross for us. Surely he has borne our griefs and sicknesses and carried our sorrows and pains. That's what he did for us on the cross. He on the cross bore our griefs and our sicknesses. So what Jesus bore, I need not bear. Why did he bear it? He bore it as my substitute so that I don't need to bear griefs and sicknesses. Amen. He's my substitute. We know he bore our sins for us so that we in exchange might be made the righteousness of God in him, the free gift of righteousness comes when we put our faith in him. We'll likewise when we put our faith in this aspect of redemption and the work of the cross, then what health and healing are administered to us. Surely, surely, surely, surely he has borne our griefs and sicknesses and carried, surely he carried our sorrows and pains. So pain cannot stay in my body. I don't allow it in my body. No, no, pain. You can't stay. I discount you because surely Jesus bore my griefs and sicknesses, surely Jesus carried by sorrows and pains. If he bore it, if he carried it, then I refuse to bear it. I refuse to carry it. Let's read on. Yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted, but he was wounded. Why did he do all this? He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement, he was chastised for our peace. The chastisement for our peace, for our peace was upon him, our peace, the word peace is from the Hebrew word Shalom, the chastisement to give us Shalom, wholeness, total well-being. The word peace there, Shalom, often translated peace, often translated health, often translated prosperity. The chastisement for my peace, for my health, for my prosperity. The chastisement for my peace was on him. He took it for me, amen? And by his stripes, we are healed. Thank you, Jesus. By his stripes, we are healed. Amen? I am healed. That's what we say. I am healed. And it's good to have that declaration, but it's even more powerful when you find it in the Word for yourself. And you circle it, and you underline it, and you go there. Hallelujah, because the Word is our confidence. Thank you, Lord. So let's go to Matthew chapter 8 and verse 16, because this is scriptural commentary on the verses in Isaiah 53 that we just read, so you can see from these verses that this is a direct reference, not just to not just to griefs or sorrows, but also to sicknesses and diseases. Matthew chapter 8 verse 16, it says, "When evening had come, they brought to him many who were demon-possessed, and he cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick." How many did he heal? He healed all who were sick. The Bible says, "He is the same yesterday. He's the same today, and he's the same forever." The Bible says, "I am the Lord, and I do not change." He healed all who were sick. Why? Verse 17, "That it might be fulfilled," which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, "And now he's going to quote the verse we just read from Isaiah 53, saying, "He Himself took our infirmities and what bore our sicknesses." So it's not just griefs and sorrows only. Thank God he bore our griefs. Thank God he bore our sorrows, but he also bore our sicknesses, and he also carried away our pains. Amen. He Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses. He carried it away for us. Hallelujah. And then, first Peter, chapter 2, in verse 24, "Praise the Lord, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God, His Word is life, and it's medicine, it's a cure for all of us who receive it." In chapter 2, 24, it says, "Who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness by whose stripes you were healed." So the book of Isaiah, the prophet Isaiah is looking forward to the cross, and he says, "By His stripes you are healed," but then here Peter looking backward to the cross, he says, "By His stripes you were healed." Amen. So we are healed. Praise God, we choose life, we choose health, we choose to believe that, we choose to say that, we choose to say that in nothing else. Amen. Hallelujah. You might need to tell somebody, "Yeah, I received a bad report from the doctor." All right. You might need to tell somebody, but that's different than saying, "I'm sick." Right. These things matter. These things matter. How we talk matters. Right. It's okay. You can tell somebody, "Yeah, I have been dealing with such and such, but that's not what I am." Amen. According to the Word of God, I am healed. According to the Word of God in Christ, I have my deliverance through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. The Bible says, "As far as the east is, which weighs east, far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed my transgressions from me." Well, the good news is the same work on the cross that removed our transgressions and our sins also healed us of our diseases. So as far as the east is from the west, He's removed transgression from us. Well, as far as the east is from the west, He's removed sickness and disease from us. It has no place in us. Amen. The Bible says that, "For those who serve the Lord, He'll bless their bread and their water, He'll bless their food and their water, and He'll take sickness and disease far from the midst of them, far from the midst of them, and the number of their days they shall fulfill." Nor shall any be barren or suffer miscarriage in the land. Amen. So it's God's will that this stuff has no place in us that it be far from us. Amen. And I would encourage you, the symptoms might be there, but your choice is greater. Hallelujah. It may seem like the symptoms have been parked there for a long time. But remember what's greater than the symptom is the rudder, the power of the tongue. So what do you need to do? You need to set the rudder in line with the word of God and turn that thing. Sure, get in the word for yourself, read it for yourself, attend to the word, "Surely He bore my sicknesses, and He carried my pains, surely He did, and the chastisement from my wholeness was on Him, and with His stripes I am healed, and turn that." But then the Bible says, "Hold fast to your confession." Right. Why the winds are blowing, right? The winds are fierce. They're trying to tell you, "Yeah, but you're sick. You're not going to make it." Why? It's trying to get you to let go of the wheel. Let go of the rudder and say, "Well, Lord, your will be done." No, we know His will. His word is His will. So you got to do. You got to grab that rudder again and turn that thing. Surely He bore my sicknesses, and He carried my pains. What are we doing? We're exercising our choice. We're choosing life right now. The choice is ours, and here's the good news, the power is God's. We don't have to come up with the power. We just have to provide the choice. And the good news is He teaches us what to choose. He said, "I've set before you life and death, blessing and cursing, choose life." Who is the man who fears the Lord? Psalm 25, right? Who is the man who fears the Lord? Him shall He teach in the way He shall choose. Hallelujah, but we still have to choose. So sickness is not the will of God for us. As we serve Him, we can claim this. You know what? You can claim this. What I notice is, I think people don't take these promises seriously enough. How bad do you want to be healed? You know, that's really what it comes down to. It's a matter of focus. It's a matter of attention. You could pull your Bible out at dinner and read that verse in Exodus that I quoted to you. You have to look it up for yourself. The Bible says, "Those who serve Him, for those who serve Him, He'll bless your food and water, your bread and water. He will take sickness and disease far from your midst, and you will fulfill. You'll live and not die. You will fulfill the number of your days for what long life will satisfy you." But a lot of times, we just don't make the effort. Where's the remote control? We're going to watch the TV or whatever. What are we talking about here? A little bit of self-diagnosis. What are we saying here? You and I, we are much more powerful through new birth than we realize. The light in us is greater. The light through the word shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot comprehend it. It cannot stop it. It overcomes every time, not even a close call. Not even a close call. Not even, I barely made it. No, not when it's light versus darkness. It may seem like a close call, but it wasn't even, it wasn't even a match. Can you say amen out there? Praise the Lord. First Peter 2, 24, who himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree, that we having died to sins might live for righteousness by whose stripes you were healed. And as I like to say, if I was healed, well, then I am healed. If I was healed, then I must be healed. And I am healed, amen. And I hold fast to my confession, right? Turn the rudder and what? Hold it there. Even when the winds blow, if the winds are fierce all the more, you can't just turn it once. You got to turn it, you got to hold it. Amen? Hold fast. Count it all joy when you encounter various trials. Count it all joy. The joy of the Lord is your strength. Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. In everything, give thanks. This is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus. Praise the Lord. I trust you're being helped there today. Romans chapter 10, verse 9, let's look at these verses because I quoted them, but they're so powerful. Romans chapter 10, verse 9, it says that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Now, don't you know that when you believe in your heart and you confess with your mouth? Don't you know it wasn't even a close call? Don't you know all the demons of darkness? You know they could try everything they wanted to do. They could scream and the Nash with their teeth, but there's nothing they could do. Why the light shines in the darkness, the darkness cannot comprehend it. If you confess with your mouth, the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you'll be saved. Next verse for with the heart, with the heart one believes and with the mouth confession, confession with the mouth confession is made unto what that salvation, that deliverance, that healing for the Scripture says whoever believes on him will not be put to shame. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek. Here it is for the same Lord. Overall is rich. To how many? To all who call upon him. Amen. He has no respecter of persons. What he's done for anybody he will do for you. And then look at this verse 13 for whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. The word saved there is the Greek word Sozo, S-O-Z-O. It can also be translated healed. It's often translated in the New Testament healed, saved or healed. Praise the Lord. So just as much as we are saved by grace through faith, by grace through faith, we are also healed. Amen. Hallelujah. Don't you love to say it? Just say it. I'm healed. I'm healed. I'm healthy. I'm whole. I'm strong. Praise the Lord. His word is life for us who find it and it's a medicine for all our flesh. But that's a key. You got to find the word. What do I mean? Find it. I mean, you got to make it your own. You got to find the Scriptures for yourself. You have to spend time in the word until the word talks to you. You find it. And then it's yours. Amen. It won't work just because you try it or because you heard somebody else say it only, you got to go find it for yourself. Just take a little bit of time. Amen. But it's worth it. Your victory is at stake. So we're choosing a life. We're choosing healing. Amen. Look at Psalm 103 verse one. Psalm 103 in verse one. It says, "Bless the Lord, O my soul." "And all that is within me, bless his holy name, bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits." Verse three. What are his benefits? Who forgives? All your iniquities. Who heals? All your diseases. So these two are right there together. Remember, as far as the east is from the west, so far as he remove your transgressions from you. But I want you to get this image. As far as the east is from the west, when he took care of the sin, he took care of the sickness. As far as the east is from the west, he's removed sickness and disease from you. Why? Bless the Lord, O my soul. Don't forget his benefits. He forgives all your iniquities. And with that same work on the cross, he heals all your diseases. Amen. Healing is easy. Healing always comes. This is the mindset that we are to have, right? It's not any harder to be healed than it is to be saved. Praise the Lord. Thank you, Lord. Let's look at another one. Galatians chapter three. Everybody doing well out there. You healed ones. Praise the Lord. I trust you're being empowered today through the Word. I trust you're being strengthened today through the Word. Hallelujah. Darkness is no match. No match. Never a close call. No, those who war against you, shall be a not as a non-existent thing as nothing that ever existed. Keep going with the Word. But the battle is for your focus and your attention, right? My son attend to my words. Verse 13. Hallelujah. I think we should say, Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. Thank you, Lord. Everybody say I receive the Word. I receive the message. I am a world overcomer. I am unstoppable in Christ. Surely he bore my sicknesses and carried my pains with his stripes. I am healed. The chastisement for my wholeness was upon him. Amen. I won't forget his benefits. He's forgiven all my iniquities. I am forgiven. He has healed all my diseases. I am healed. Amen. I choose life today. I choose health today. I choose victory today. Greater as he who's in me than he who's in the world. The light in me shines in the darkness and the darkness has to roll back. Cannot comprehend it. Amen. Hallelujah. We talked about it yesterday. Three victory keys. Number one, what? Feed more on the victory of Christ. That's what we're doing. We're feeding on the victory of Christ. Feed on it. Give attention to it. Number two, what? Rejoice more even in the face of opposing circumstances. How can you rejoice on the basis of the victory of Christ? Knowing that what? Greater is the light in you. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness can't comprehend it. The faith in you is the victory that overcomes the whole world. Amen. We'll close up with this one. Galatians chapter three and verse 13. It says, Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law. Having become a curse for us for it is written cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree. That's him on the cross. So Christ has read has not going to has already redeemed us delivered us from the curse of the law when when he was made a curse for us on the tree. For it's written cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree that the blessing of Abraham should come upon us in Christ. So Christ redeemed us. He delivered us from the curse of the law. He set us free from the curse of the law. And then if you go to Deuteronomy 28, we learn in Deuteronomy 28, second half of the chapter, it talks about all these curses and it begins to identify sicknesses and diseases and all kinds of calamities and it calls them curses. So here we learn from the Bible that sickness and disease is a curse. It's not our friend. It's not something we tolerate. It's something evil that is to be resisted. We never make sickness our friend. Just as an excuse to get out of something or get out of work. You don't want to be in the habit of making sickness your friend because there could come a time when it becomes so serious that you really do need to resist that sickness. No sickness is a curse and thank God Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law. And so in Deuteronomy 28, it lists all these nasty curses, a variety of different maladies and sicknesses and diseases and all kinds of different things. And then verse 61 says this, Deuteronomy 28, 61 says this also it's mentioning the curses here also every sickness. How many every sickness and what every plague, which is not written in this book of the law. So he mentions all kinds of different sicknesses and diseases. But in case yours was not mentioned there, he says every sickness and every plague. So anything you could name. Amen. Even sicknesses and diseases that weren't known of at this time. Jesus bore it. He carried it. He took it all. He became a curse for us. Hallelujah. And with his stripes, we are healed. Praise the Lord. So friend, I want to encourage you. The way to choose life is to to get in the word and find out what the scripture says for yourself. Put the word of God in your mouth and turn that rudder and then don't let it go. Don't give the devil your mouth. Just hold it right there. Count it all, joy. Knowing this, that what you've got the helmet of salvation on and you know that what I'm headed for victory. Thanks be to God who always causes me to triumph in Christ.