How Has Jesus Opened Your Ears?

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This is kind of a great thing, and I'll tell you why. Where pop culture, current events, and theology all come together. Speak your mind. And now, here's today's Truth Talk Live host. So how has Jesus opened your ears? How has Jesus opened your ears? That's the question.

We are in Mark chapter 7. I'm Stu Epperson, and I am glad to be sitting here. We have listeners all over the country, all over the world listening to this program, listening to the Truth Network, listening to the many other wonderful networks that are brave enough to carry this show. And I'm just glad to be back home, back behind the mic, and I'm grateful to all our wonderful guest hosts.

I'm grateful to Robbie for hosting, and he's a rock. In fact, he and I had a great conversation about this topic today, just earlier, and he prayed for me. Isn't that cool? Don't you love it when you talk to someone, and you're like, hey, we pray for me, and like, whammo. They just start praying for you, right there, right then. Just like St. Nick just dropped a prayer.

He just dropped one on us, right here, right in the studio. There's some anointing in here, thanks to St. Nick, praying, asking the Lord to bless and to open the ears of people listening right now. Now, something happened in your life where the Master touched your ears and opened them. Something led to the ears of your soul being opened, and you heard his voice, and your life was changed. I want you to tell that story today. This is a no-shame zone, this is a no angry zone, whatever you want to call it, but this is an all-encouragement zone here on Truth Talk Live.

I'm Stu Epperson. I was in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, all day Monday. Fort Worth, Texas, yesterday. At this time, yesterday, I was on a train going from Fort Worth to DFW, which is Dallas-Fort Worth Airport.

Fascinating. All kinds of ministry, all kinds of cool stuff, and my daughter is looking at law schools. My sweet daughter, Joy, shout out to my sweet daughter, Joy, who's listening right now to this program, driving to Lynchburg.

She's probably just gone through the outskirts of Lynchburg and driving, so God bless you, Joy. I had a great time touring law schools with you and learning a lot about law schools and clerking and constitutional law, or some call it con law, but then that sounds like con man. Kind of worried about that abbreviation there. And then criminal law, and all kinds of stuff. There's litigation law, tax law, there's all kinds of different things that go on.

I guess litigation is actually the process of adjudicating the law, so maybe that's a redundancy litigation law. Those are two of the same things. The number is 86634TRUTH. I'm asking you point blank a simple question with very deep and eternal implications. Your story could be a real blessing to someone else listening right now. How did Jesus open your ears? Why am I asking you this question? Because this morning I stood in front of 50 or so men at Wednesday in the Word, which happens all over the place.

If there's a Dario, there's a Wednesday of the Word going on, it's a men's group, and we've got some women that meet Thursday mornings at a couple of the Dario locations. We get in the Bible together, we go through the Scriptures, we read them out loud, and something happened of a supernatural nature. Everything that happens is God is part of His story, capital H-I-S-T-O-R-Y, right? Every trip is a missions trip, and everything that we think is happening in the natural is supernatural.

God's involved, He's working all things out for good to them that love Him and are called according to His purpose, a la 828 of Romans. We're in Tuscaloosa at a cool coffee shop, and we meet a guy named Tony. It's so cool because my daughter's looking at the law school there. Tony's a law grad from going way back.

He's a retired lawyer. I'm like, hey, will you come in to meet my daughter real quick? Tony has a voice like you've never heard before. I said, Tony, will you read this week's Wednesday in the Word Scripture? I'm going to post this on Facebook tonight or tomorrow morning.

Unbelievable. I'm going to play it for you right now. Can I play it for him? I'm just going to play it right in the mic. You might amp my mic up a little bit.

Let me find it. This was an absolute blessing. I had no idea.

My daughter and I went to the best coffee shops, some cool restaurants. I know a whole lot more about Tuscaloosa. Roll Tide. Fort Worth. Go Aggies. We visited Texas A&M.

Shout out to all the Aggie fans out there. We talked about, how has God opened your ears? Listen to this Scripture.

This is the Word of God. Do we have time? This is about a minute and a half. How much time do we have, Saint Nick? He gave me the thumbs up. He's giving me prayers. Joy and I were at Turbo Coffee Roasters.

I'm going to post pictures of this so you'll see me on social. This is what happened right here. I'm going to play this for you. Listen to this guy's voice. You tell me this is not a God thing. For this radio guy to hear this guy, just listen.

Tuscaloosa, Alabama. This man of God has a gift of a voice. Tell everyone your first name. Tony.

It's my first name. And he was kind enough to give a good word of encouragement to my daughter who's looking at the law school here. And he's going to read our Scripture this week. Mark 7, 31-37. Tony, will you do us the honors, please? I will read that. Thank you so much. Here we go.

Ready? Again, departing from the region of Tyre and Sidon, he came through the midst of the region of Decapolis to the Sea of Galilee. Then they brought to him one who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech. And they begged him to put his hand on him. And he took him aside from the multitude and put his finger in his ears. And he spat and touched his tongue. Then he looked up to heaven.

He sighed and said to him, F up. OK, hold on. Let's pause. We've got a tough word there, but he's getting it. Here we go.

I guess that is the open. Immediately his ears were open and the impediment of his tongue was loose and he spoke plainly. Then he commanded them that they should tell no one. But the more he commanded them, the more widely they proclaimed it. And they were astonished beyond measure, saying he has done all things well. He makes both the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.

The word of the Lord. Praise the Lord. Thank you for blessings for that.

And I need to bottle him up and bring him back to Winston-Salem, North Carolina with me. He's a very kind man is what I've got to say about this young man right here. What a blessing. Hey, a gift of a voice. Use your voice, whatever voice God's given you, to share the word of God. And this will bless a lot of people.

The Wednesday in the word scripture. How cool that God stuck his fingers in his ears in the sky. Touched his tongue. Loosed his tongue. Loosed his tongue.

To speed, remove him. He might have had a voice like you after that. Who knows, right? Well, I'll pray for him. Amen. The voice from a coffee shop in Tuscaloosa to a national radio show just a couple days later. We'll talk about that in the miracles of Jesus.

Hang on. You're listening to the Truth Network and TruthNetwork.com How has Jesus opened your ears? What's your testimony? How has he loosed your tongue to sing his praise? What was your speech like before Christ? What was your mind like before your ears were opened? What was that moment when the light came on?

We're talking about the miracles of Jesus. I'm Stu Everson. We're taking your calls. Toll free 866-348-7884.

86634 Truth. You heard the scripture read by Tony, my new friend from Tuscaloosa, who was gracious enough to let me videotape that clip that I'm going to put at my big Facebook page, my big fan page, where you can watch this whole Bible study. You can watch me stick my finger in one of the ears of one of our men this morning. When's the last time someone stuck their finger in your ear? What about when Jesus spat? Who's the only person to taste the saliva of Jesus Christ in history as recorded in the scripture? Only one person has.

Who is that person? Who can tell me? I'll send you something. I'll find something to send you.

I'll find a book to send you. 866-348-7884. 86634 Truth. What's your favorite miracle of Jesus? This is becoming my favorite miracle. This miracle is so remarkable, what Jesus did to heal this man. He was deaf, and he was mute or dumb. He could not speak. He could not hear. And Jesus Christ opened his ears, loosened his tongue in a miraculous way.

And we're going to go through that today, and I'm asking you this question. How did he open your ears? What was that moment where your ears were opened to the gospel?

866-348-7884. Mark 7, 31-37. Jesus is ministering in the last third of his term of ministry on this earth. He's kind of in the final year.

He's been at it for a couple years. He is outside of Israel. He is south of Galilee.

He's out in this area, east of Galilee in the Tyre-Siden region. The miracle before this, he healed the Syro-Phoenician woman's daughter who was demon-possessed. And in this passage, the last passage of Mark 7, they brought to him one who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech, and they begged him to put his hand on him. I love those two aspects of the friends of this man. They brought this man to Jesus. They begged Jesus.

Pretty cool. You know what true friends do? You know what real friends do? Let's talk about what real friends do. Real friends bring you to Jesus.

So whoever is in your friend group, let me just boil that down. How are they pointing you to Jesus? How are they bringing you to Jesus? If they consider you a friend, are you bringing them to Jesus? Because real friends expose you to Jesus. Real friends bring him up. They may not be friends for long.

There's probably people that don't want to be my friend because I constantly want to introduce them to my best friend. His name is Jesus. And not only do real friends bring people to Jesus and bring Jesus to people, but they beg. They intervene. It's called intercession. They intercede. They ask Jesus on behalf of their friends. This happened in chapter 2 of St. Mark, verse 3.

Four friends brought their paralytic friend on a stretcher. I mean, imagine the conniptions they had to go through to get him on that roof, to cut a hole in that roof, to vandalize that house, to drop him right in the middle of Jesus, in the middle of the chaos, the clamor, the crowd. They were so passionate that they went through all that to get one man. Four guys did all this to get one man to Jesus. And everything changed in that man's life, and everything changed in this man's life in Mark 7. They only wanted him to put his hand on him, and Jesus did seven things in two verses. This is so profound.

Chapter 7 of Mark, verse 33 and 34. I want to tell you, there are seven S-words that happened here. The seven S-words. The first S-word—none of these are S as in swear words.

They're good S-words. First, it says he took him aside from the multitude. He separated the man from the multitude. Took him aside.

Isn't that cool? One-on-one with Jesus. This man could not hear, could not speak, but he could look Jesus in the eye. Imagine gazing into the eyes of the All-Seeing One, of the Lord of Glory, the Omniscient One, the Creator of the universe.

Here he is looking him in the eye. Jesus took him aside. Very important to get alone with Jesus, to be separated with Jesus. Jesus separated him. He took him out of the chaos, the clamor. I don't know how he did it, because he is enthralled and completely encompassed about with all these people, this multitude. But he takes this guy aside.

He goes one-on-one with him. He cares about you individually, wherever you are, whatever you're doing. Jesus Christ loves you deeply. You don't believe in him, he believes in you.

You may be mad at him, he's mad about you. He took this guy aside. Number two, second S. After he separated him, he stuck, S as in stuck, his fingers in his ears. Ever had someone stick their fingers in your ears? I did this this morning. I fell on the front row of Bible study.

It's at my Facebook page, just watch it. Everyone laughed. I stuck my...how does that happen? Remember the thing called the wet willy? You know we used to do that growing up? Maybe that's not allowable today. We were younger, we were crazy. But he stuck a finger in someone's ear, kind of as a joke, as a ploy.

You don't know what you're going to get in there nowadays. But Jesus stuck his finger in this man's ear. It says it right here, put his fingers in his ears.

Right there. Second thing he did, stuck. Third thing he did, he spat.

Jesus spat. I'm from tobacco country. Winston-Salem, North Carolina. We're the world headquarters of tobacco. And a lot of chewing tobacco manufactured here. We don't know that Jesus chewed.

We can't prove that, or advocate that, necessarily. But we know he spat, because it says it right here. That's the third S, he spat. And then, the fourth S. He touched his tongue. He stroked his tongue. Most scholars believe he spat in his hand, his fingers, and he touched the man's tongue with his saliva.

Wow, imagine that. Talk about a different kind of look at that verse in Psalm 34, taste and see the Lord is good. Like, he literally tasted the Lord's saliva. Not making this up. Look at verse 33 of Mark 7.

That's the fourth S. I'll do the other three real quick. After he spat and stroked with his saliva in the man's tongue and mouth, what did he do next? He saw. It says he looked up into heaven, just like he looked up before he, you know, blessed the bread. He saw, looked up into heaven, and then he sighed, a deep compassion in the Lord, and then he spoke. Be opened.

Ephaphatha. Powerful word. We've got a caller from Ohio. Big B's on the line. Jump in here real quick, sir, before the break. The miracles of Christ. How did he open your ears is a big question today.

What say you, sir? Well, Stu, it was—I gotta say this, brother—it was through discipline. I was a religious guy. I taught in churches, was paid by churches, and then God broke me of my religion, Stu, and he entered my spirit, just like he says in Ezekiel and also in Acts. He entered me, and now I've been completely changed. I praise God for the heart no longer from just my mind. I love that.

Ezekiel, the heart of—he replaced that heart of stone with a heart of flesh. He does that, doesn't he? Isn't that a great God who can do that? He sure does, Stu.

He sure does. And now I'm compassionate beyond my ever recollection. I mean, I just love everybody. It's the weirdest thing, Stu.

Well, we're going to get more into compassion. What a story. What's your story? How do you open your ears? 866-34-TRUTH, 866-348-7884. The compassion of Jesus and why he stuck his fingers in this guy's ears. More on that coming right back on Truth Talk Live.

You're listening to the Truth Network and truthnetwork.com. How has Jesus Christ opened your ears? How about our last caller? He just went right to Ezekiel. Something happened through discipline, through some pain, through some hard stuff in life where God broke through and he changed the heart of stone, Ezekiel, to the heart of flesh. How did God open your ears? Jesus literally stuck his fingers in this man's ears in Mark chapter 7. He literally spit on his hand and put his saliva in this man's mouth. Can you imagine that? It happened this morning and it's interesting. St. Nick, our producer, the guys laughed.

It was just an easy prop, but who does that? You don't stick your fingers in people's ears. Not something we do. We talk about this little hygiene thing. Like, what about COVID?

Where's that? Well, the masks don't cover the ears. You just got to get your finger right in there.

Well, you don't want to be doing that by a habit. Just don't go around sticking your fingers in people's ears, right? Sometimes people see me coming and they stick their fingers in their ears like, oh boy, here he comes. That Jesus nut and that guy, that crazy man, he's going to talk my ear off. Well, so I did that and the guys laughed. I said, now when it got to the part where Jesus spat and touched the man's tongue, I said, I'm not going that.

I'm not crossing that Rubicon today at Wednesday in the Word. And we're on the radio here talking about this today on this special Wednesday in the Word edition of Truth Talk Live. This is made available, by the way, a couple hours after showtime.

Nick always does a good job of throwing the podcast up. Go to yesterday's show with Joey Hudson, he talked about why some campuses are rioting, screaming, death to Israel, death to America. That's right, schools, you're paying to train your students. Yeah, getting that good education. Oh my God, my kid got into there. Well, that's good. Well, they're training your kid to say death to America, death to Israel.

You know, isn't that nice? And Columbia University, where they wouldn't even let a Jewish professor on a part of the campus yesterday because they're so afraid of offending Hamas and all those people who are protesting and burning flags and all that stuff. Crazy. Well, that's American education today. Well, there's some other campuses that Joey Hudson talked about yesterday on this show.

Go listen to this podcast, share it with everybody. We talked about, they're baptizing people at these campuses. Kids are coming to Christ, and the news media's not promoting that.

They're not talking about that. Isn't that interesting? So, there's a whole bunch of podcasts up there. The show I did last week with Pastor John, who goes to school board meetings and reads pornography.

Whoa, wait a second, what do you mean? Well, he goes and reads the textbooks that they're reading to our children. Our third and fourth, fifth graders in class, he reads them in the school board meetings, they get mad, they want to kick them out, and he says, this is what you're reading to our children. I'm reading it to you. What's so wrong with that? So, God bless him and what he's doing.

We're going to hope to have him back on the show. Today we're talking about how Jesus opened your ears. What happened? It was that moment where your ears were opened, and we're talking about the man in Mark 7 whose ears were opened by Jesus. He put his fingers in his ear. I went through those seven S's that Jesus did to this man to perform this remarkable miracle.

It's just neat to see. I've never done a show with this question. I'll ask it, and then if you all want to call in about this, you can. I want to hear how he opened your ears. I want to hear about that moment where Jesus opened your ears. Was it at a camp?

Was it just at a quiet moment? Were you, like me, interning for Athletic Director Hayes, sitting there in his office? I'm striping fields for him.

I'm cleaning off the volleyball net, picking it up, wrapping it up. I'm mopping floors, doing whatever he tells me to do, going and getting him coffee. But I had time in his office when he wasn't around, and he didn't have me doing something, to read the little New Testament someone gave me. I was in my teen years, and man, God started opening my ears. In his Word, you read the Bible, it starts reading you. What was the moment for you when the light came on, and he opened your ears? 86634 Truth is our phone-in number for Truth Talk Live nationwide.

866348 7884. We'd love to hear your testimony. There's another question I've been wanting to ask.

I may just do a whole other show on this, but humor me and let me ask this question. What is your favorite miracle that Jesus performed? I want to hear from some of you, because the more I look at these miracles... This miracle is so unique. It's only found, by the way, the miracle of the deaf and dumb man who could not speak and he could not hear is only found in Mark 7. It's only found in this Gospel.

It's unique to Mark. And three things happened as a result of Christ doing these seven S's. When Christ separated him, when Christ stuck his fingers in his ears, when he spat into his hand, when he touched his tongue with his own saliva, when he saw and looked up into heaven, when he spoke and when he sighed, this deep sigh of compassion, and he spoke, be opened.

Those are the seven S's. Three things happened immediately. Mark's favorite word.

The Gospel of Mark written to the Romans, a very active Gospel, very action-packed, shortest Gospel. Immediately, three things happened. His ears were opened, number one. The impediment of his tongue was loosed, number two.

Number three, he spoke plainly. Here a man who had to speak couldn't put two sentences together, couldn't speak. He couldn't be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger, because he couldn't talk.

Jesus says, let him who has ears, let him hear when he gave the parables earlier in Mark. He couldn't hear. His eardrums were blocked. They were broken, deformed, who knows what.

It could have been adult onset. It could have been he was born this way. He could not hear. He could not speak. And it says, immediately, Jesus Christ stuck his fingers in his ears, he spat on his, and he prayed, he sighed, with a heart broken, and he spoke, be opened. And suddenly, immediately, his ears were opened. His tongue was loosed, and he spoke plainly.

Just a miracle right there. The one who spoke light into this dark world in Genesis 1-3 spoke sound into this man's ears, and he heard, and he spoke just like that. I wonder what his first words were.

I'd love to have been there to hear what this man said. We know what the first words, or word he heard, was in Aramaic. This word, ephaphatha, which I probably mispronounced. All you Aramaic, Greek, and Hebrew scholars can call and rebuke me. But we know that means, even the scripture says it, it means be opened.

It's just a strong, forceful word for be opened, open up. And this man was healed. And there's more to this, by the way. There's some cool stuff about the saliva, going back to Greek mythology, where Christ, in his senses, in off-hand rebuke to all their mythological views of the medicinal value of their dojos and their big spiritual leaders and exorcists and priests and false prophets of Baal and whatnot, thinking that their saliva had a medicinal, curative value, which it didn't. But here Jesus is rebuking all that, and here the Master.

Wow. And by the way, doesn't it sound a lot better to say, you know, the touch of the Master's hand, than it sounds to say the taste of the Master's spit on the Master's hand? I mean, one man tasted the spit of Jesus Christ to ever live that's ever recorded in scripture, and it's this man, we don't even know his name. But I can't wait to see him in heaven and talk to him about this. And right now I'm talking to you about how Jesus Christ opened your ears. 86634 Truth. We're going to go to Mike, Dayton, Ohio, 106.5 FM, because he's alive on 106.5. Mike, welcome to Truth Talk Live. Jump on in here. Well, thank you, Stu. Appreciate you taking my call.

First of all, let's see, how can I pronounce this? I was always a Christian all my life. Not all my life. I was born again around 12 years old and followed my parents and I think I was going towards God all my life. I even felt like I'm still going towards God all my life.

And you said something, do things for him, instead of for him, with him. Yes. And that really opened my ears. I mean, it just really said, why am I trying to do things for Christ on my own power and letting the Spirit of God do things with God instead of for God? Wow. And you, I'm sorry, but I'm trying not to cry, but this is the reason I'm listening to your show every day and why I'm calling in. And because I'm understanding that we've got to do things with Christ and not for Christ.

Wow. And I really appreciate that, what you said. Those words hit me real hard because everybody wants to do good.

Everybody wants to do the right thing. I mean, I don't want to speak the S word. My dad had the famous S word of all S words, you know what I mean?

And your S words are just awesome. And it's interesting to grow up in a Christian home or a Christian home that's trying to get closer to God. Our Christian home wasn't perfect. We were the loudest family in the neighborhood. But we all went to church on Sunday, you know what I mean?

I love it. And we tried, you know, we were always going towards God, but this has really made me go with God and not just towards God. Now God's side by side, but with me right now. And he's telling me, and I'm listening and saying, okay, God, call into his radio station and give him what you have to say.

Believe me, this is not easy to do. Well, hey, you blessed a whole bunch of us just now. That's a whole lot. I'm going to listen to this over and over again. What a blessing, Mike. He's not calling us to a competition. He's calling us to a communion. Just like this man who was deaf and dumb and couldn't speak, couldn't talk. He took him and he looked him in the eye. See, he said, come be with me, and everything will change.

Just like it changed in Mike's life. In my life. We want to hear your testimony.

We've got Stephen, Bill, Julie on the line. 866-34-TRUTH. How's he opened your ears?

More coming up after this. You're listening to the Truth Network and truthnetwork.com. How has Jesus Christ opened your ears? Man, Mike, you've got us all tearing up here.

God bless you. Mike just called about that. We've got other callers on the line. The number is 866-34-TRUTH.

Shorthand, that's 866-348-7884. I'm Stu Everson. Thank you, Jesus, for opening my ears, for sticking those fingers in my ears, for spitting on your hand and loosening this tongue so I could sing your praises. I love what Guzik said. This pastor said this. He said, many people cared about this man. Many people prayed for his healing, possibly. But no one ever stuck their fingers in his ears and spit on his tongue like this. Jesus did something completely new to catch this man's attention. This miracle in Mark 7, by the way, is remarkable because, in a sense, this is before sign language, this is for those cochlear implants, this is before any of the modern-day remedies, even hearing aids.

This is antiquity, my friends. Someone was deaf and dumb, couldn't speak, couldn't talk. They thought that that person was ignorant, had some serious problems mentally and whatnot, and maybe was demon-possessed or this and that.

And so think about the rejection, the shame. His friends begged Jesus to touch him. They brought him to Jesus, and Jesus did. But think about it. Jesus took him aside separately. I gave you the seven S's earlier.

Go back and listen to those. I thought it was kind of cool, a cool little outline. If you're going to preach a sermon, call me and I'll set you up nicely.

But this is kind of cool. The sign language Jesus used. The King of Creator, he's looking him in the eye, he's pulled him aside separately, and he's using his hands. He's reaching into his ear because Jesus has a way of putting his fingers on our problems, doesn't he?

Isn't that cool? Jesus has a way of touching where our pain is. Then he's spitting and touching his tongue. He has a way of touching where the pain is. A guy couldn't speak, a guy couldn't hear, and immediately he's healed, and it's remarkable.

We're asking the question all along, how has he opened your ears? Thank you to our friends at Mighty Muscatine. I'm drinking my vine-tastic right now. No sugar, no carbs, no calorie. They've made a drink that's getting me through the show, and I've already had my Mighty Muscatine capsules.

If you're not that big into health, don't worry about it, but if you want to take care of your body and replenish and hydrate with some real natural stuff from some friends who've... Over $20 million has been spent at a major medical institution to study this stuff, and the results, they don't sell sizzle and any of that stuff. They sell science. MightyMuscatine.com is the website. Check it out, and anything that you get there, they send support to this ministry to help us stay on the air. If you use this little promo code, promo code TRUTH. All the information is available at MightyMuscatine.com. Promo code TRUTH, and thank you, Mighty Muscatine. Le Blue Ultra Pure Bottled Water is the parent company.

They're all the same company. Thank you for helping us with our health and for supporting our spiritual health in shows like Truth Talk Live. God bless you. We've got a line open. We've got someone on line right. Now we're going to talk to you. How has God opened your ears? How has he loosened your tongue to sing his praises?

86634. Truth is our number. Talking about this remarkable miracle. What's been your favorite miracle of the Bible?

What's your testimony on this? We've already had some great folks, great testimonies of folks calling in to share today on Truth Talk Live. In Colfax, North Carolina, listen to us on 97.7 FM. You're on Truth Talk Live with Stu. Welcome. Welcome. Thank you.

I appreciate it. I think my favorite miracle in the Bible is one that a lot of people overlook, is the one where the guy was sitting at the pool of shalom, and every year the angel stirred the water, and the first one in the pool was healed. Now, the crazy thing about this healing was, is you've got a couple different types of healing. There's two different types of miracles. There's a miracle that takes time to develop, and you standing on the Word, and it develops as time goes on. But then you've got what's just called an instantaneous miracle, which is not based off your faith, which is based off soul mercy of God. And that was what he experienced. And not only did he experience that, he got healed, the water was troubled, and he got healed by the one that designed the miracle to begin with, all at one time, and he got to experience him in real life. So I think that was one of the most powerful... It's a great miracle, yeah.

But it's another proof of this. You go sit by that same water and never get healed, because Jesus—here's a great little statement for you— Jesus heals exactly as Jesus wills. You understand that? We don't want everybody. It's God's will to heal every person.

Well, yes and no. A lot of people didn't get healed. Joni Eareckson-Tada has more faith than you and me combined, and she's been to every faith healer around, and she's been in a wheelchair for 50 years, and she's led millions of people to Jesus Christ. Okay, so I don't think you have more faith in her, do you? I'm not saying that. I'm not either.

So here's the deal. She's going to be healed in heaven, and she can't wait. But Jesus Christ has not healed her for that affliction of being in that wheelchair. But it doesn't mean she doesn't have the faith, even though people have told her she's in sin.

She's not. And it doesn't mean—but other people, like the paralytic in Mark 2, Jesus healed instantly. He got up, he carried his mat out. You can't—so he heals, not as Stephen or Stu will. He heals exactly how he wills.

And let me tell you why that is. Because he did not come to heal, my friend, the body. He came to heal the soul, to take away sin. Because your body can be completely healed of your malady, your deformity, your deafness, your muteness, your blindness, and spend eternity burning in hell if your sin isn't taken away, if you're not healed by those stripes by the blood of Jesus. Amen? So that's why he did not come primarily to do that, but that was a way to confirm his ministry and to show his power. You know?

Right? That is true. I will say that is right. He didn't come solely to heal.

But here's the thing. If you've got 100,000 people lined up, and this is why I say healing is for everybody, and everybody gets a paper cut, what is your body designed to do? Oh, that's right. He's built that. Yeah, he's built immune systems in us. So if healing was not for everybody, he would not have designed it.

Well, that's fine. That's right. But there's people that have died of something as mild as a paper cut, because they're a free bleeder, or this and that. But the ultimate healing is what Big Stu has experienced, who's in heaven right now. That's the ultimate healing. That's the ultimate healing.

I agree. And so what you need to do, Stephen, and what I need to do, is spread the gospel, the power of God, to salvation, to everyone who believes. So we need to spread faith comes by...

Listen to this. It doesn't say faith comes by healing, and healing by the Word of God. It says faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. So this is why, by the way, at the end of this passage, Jesus commanded them not to tell anybody. And the more they commanded him, the more they proclaimed it.

Why? Because he doesn't want the world getting out. Hey, there's this guy healing everybody. He wants the word of the gospel spread.

And of course, he also doesn't want the Gentiles. You know, he's going right back to Jerusalem to die, and then he's going to send, of course, the disciples out, and that's all part of this beautiful narrative. But, you know, I love that miracle, too. How did you open your ears, Stephen? Well, he opened my ears because he sent two evangelists, which a lot of people don't see no more.

One from South Africa named Jill Howard Brown, and another one from Fort Worth, Texas, named Larry Joe Wright. I was blessed to sit under the two ministries that was the most... The power of God was so strong, it stuck with me forever. And I was actually able to, you know, come in contact and stay in contact with these guys for years. And it was the pillars of these different people that God sent in my life, which I think a lot of people overlook that, that God sends people to us to help us along the way on different chapters of our lives.

And I feel like if you go to some of these... If it's a crusade, if it's a... Look, I'm all about the crusades. If Jesus Christ and the cross is preached, if there's so much emphasis on all the healing and all the bodily stuff and all the felt needs, but not the heart which needs to be transformed. The most powerful miracle, my friend, is the resurrection of a dead heart to life, the opening of deaf ears to hear the gospel, the loosing of a tongue that was once singing his curses to turn to sing his praises.

That's the greatest miracle. So all these folks that are putting all this emphasis and all this bodily anointing and get your deliverance and blah, blah, blah, blah. Let's proclaim the Word of God. Let's teach the Word of God, the power of God to salvation, the gospel. And so I'm right there with you as long as that is the centrifugal focus.

Well, absolutely. I'm sitting under the ministry and hearing the Word of God, an anointed man, a real anointed man of God. And when, you know... Let me describe that anointed man of God.

That anointed man is God's nose is in the Word of God, studying deeply the Word of God, and the man is proclaiming God's Word to the people of God, and he is by the power of the Holy Spirit of God, and it's exalting the Son of God. Thank you, Stephen. God bless you, man.

Wow. What a testimony from Stephen and all of you about the amazing work of Jesus and the amazing miracles of Christ. He healed this man. I would love to have heard what this man said.

Here's a couple questions for you as we wrap up. How has Jesus Christ opened your ears and changed your speech? Now, this is a great... Look at the last verse of this passage, Mark 737. They were all astonished beyond measure. Who has been astonished beyond measure at your life? Who looks at Stephen's life, we just called, and Mike's life?

You guys, Stephen, you and Mike both, in our earlier callers. You astonished all the people listening beyond measure because of what Jesus Christ has done in your life. Who sees you talk and hears you and watches you and is astonished beyond measure because of what Christ has done in your life? When is the last time you were astonished beyond measure at seeing Jesus Christ working mightily? Wow. We need to be a church that's astonished beyond measure at the work of Jesus.

And then this is what they said. He has done all things well. He makes both the deaf to hear and the mute to speak. Now, when was the last time you saw God open someone's ear or lose someone's tongue? Well, Pastor Dwayne Miller was preaching, and it was hard to listen to because he had a major voice affliction, and a lot of people were praying for him, and he had been praying and fasting for some time for God to heal him. But he trusted God in God's timing, and he also trusted God for the ultimate healing that comes with heaven. But while he was preaching in the middle of his sermon, God miraculously gave him his voice back.

And you're about to hear that right here, right now. We pulled it off of this YouTube, Pastor Dwayne Miller, in his testimony, and he gives a very good biblical view, by the way, of how God heals. And the whole theme of the day show, and listen to this beautiful encounter in Mark 7 of Jesus Christ and this man who could not speak and could not hear, and how he stuck his fingers in his ear.

We went through all that, and you can listen to it in the earlier segments. But how Christ healed this man. And the theme of the whole show is Jesus Christ heals exactly as Jesus Christ wills.

And it's remarkable. And this is the testimony, real quick, we're going to play it for you. Thanks to our producers for putting this in here, of Pastor Dwayne Miller. Be sure to share this with you, this podcast, with other folks that need a little bit of encouragement.

God bless you. So when the psalmist writes, and he heals all of my diseases, let me say to you that I believe God still heals. That hasn't ended. That is not over.

Now you have to be careful on how you do this because there are folks who carry things to an excess and it becomes a show. And God has never intended that that be what it is. God heals in his sovereign will. I don't know why God does things that he does, but I know that he does.

And the only thing he requires of me is to allow him to be God and me to be me and let it be. To say that every single person will always be healed because Jesus died on the cross is a misinterpretation of scripture. Not true.

Won't work. Isaiah 53 doesn't talk about physical healing. I'm sorry. That's just not the context. And to impress that there causes a misinterpretation of scripture.

That's wrong. On the other hand, to say that since we don't have anything after the book of Acts, that miracles ended at the book of Acts and they never happen again is equally as wrong because you have put God in a box both ways and he doesn't want to be in the box. So the psalmist says, I'm excited. Bless the Lord, O my soul. One of his benefits is he heals all of my diseases. And in verse 4 he says, And he redeems my life from the pit.

Now I like that verse just a whole lot. I have had and you have had in times past pit experiences. We've both had, we've all had times when our life seemed to be in a pit, in a grave.

And we didn't have an answer for the pit we find ourselves in. I don't understand this right now. I'm a bit overwhelmed at the moment. I'm not quite sure what to say or do.

I'm funny to say I lost for words. Thank you, Lord. He redeems my life from the pit and crowns me with love and compassion. He satisfies my desires with good things so that my youth is renewed like the eagles. The Lord works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed. The Lord is compassionate and gracious. The Lord is slow to anger. The Lord is abounding in love. The Lord will not accuse, nor will He harbor His anger forever. He does not treat us as our sins deserve. That's mercy. Or repay us according to our iniquities. That's mercy. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His love for those who fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, so far as He removed our transgressions from us. God bless you, and may God open your ears and open others' ears through the word through you.