If this doesn’t move your heart to cry out to God what will?

Thank You choir orchestra thank you so

much and we welcome all of our visitors

to Time Square church this morning and

we would like to let you know that after

the service we have an afterglow service

which is just friendship and we have

some New Yorkers that will greet you and

talk to you any question or try to

answer any question about New York or

the church you don’t sign anything we we

don’t try to get you on our mailing list

you can do that if you want to but

they’ll have some refreshments and a

gift either sermon tape or music tape or

one of our books and for the main

auditorium and the balcony you come down

the stairs and go through 8 9 isn’t this

exit 8 9 on this side the ancillary

building and in the annex and overflow

rooms you go to room 204 and you’ll find

these New Yorkers waiting to greet you

and you can meet people from all over

the world that visit here a lot of

people come from all of Europe and

Africa and they’re going to visit other

parts of the country and many are

stopping here to visit and we welcome

you and thank you god bless if you hear

for the first time I can’t see just

raise your hand please and let us say

Amen god bless y’all balcony and in the

annex delighted to have you

I want to speak to you this morning

about the healing power of afflictions

the healing power of afflictions I have

two verses I want you to see some 119 if

you have your Bible would like to turn

and you can leave it there open once you

get to 119 leave it open on your lap if

you would please verse 67 of psalm 119

before I was afflicted I went astray but

now have I kept thy word 71 it is good

for me that I’ve been afflicted that I

might learn those statues now can you

can you swallow that are you willing to

take God at His Word verse 71 especially

is good for me that I have been

afflicted that I might learn his

statutes Oh hallelujah

verse 75 I know Lord that the judgments

are right and that you have in

faithfulness you have afflicted me now

that’s even harder to swallow but that’s

God’s Word Heavenly Father we have a

world in a fiction we have a church in

affliction we have people everywhere

suffering is there’s never been

suffering in history as far as we can

see in determine and Lord we bring a

word from heaven we bring a word from

your heart

Lord Jesus change our our attitudes

change our thinking change our heart

Lord concerning those things that we go

through that we may see Christ we may

see God in every circumstance in our

life Lord let the word go forth with

your unction your anointing give us ears

to hear what you say spirit spirit the

Living God use my vessel use my voice

use my heart and just speak the words to

those people have you spoken them to me

you’ve spoken comfort to me through

these words may we be comforted by the

Holy Spirit

as you move thank you for your presence

in this house thank you for being with

us

now Lord I yield my body my spirit my

mind my voice to you to be a vessel to

deliver this word we pray in Christ’s

name Amen I don’t need to explain to you

what afflictions are those are the

circumstances and the troubles that keep

you awake at night cause you to lose

sleep trying to figure out how to make

your way through it how to figure out

what’s happening to you

and many are the afflictions of the

Wrights as the Bible says but I’m

convinced more than ever that God uses

afflictions to heal both saint and

sinner let’s take the sinner first and

I’ll give you for example Manasseh

one of the worst kings in the history of

Israel he was a worshiper of bail he

established altars he built altars right

in the temple court to bail he was he

sinned about said worst of the heathen

he offered his own children in a

sacrifice casting them into the red hot

belly of bells Idol in devil worship he

was a he was into sooth saying he was

into fortune telling he he would not

listen to any prophet he turned against

God he was one of the most vile tyrants

in the history of Israel’s kingdoms and

he shed blood the Bible said needlessly

of a bloody tyrant and God comes God

raises up an enemy God raises up the

Assyrians and they come they capture

Israel they are the Jerusalem and they

take King Manasseh as prisoner and the

captives of Jerusalem and folks when you

read history and Josephus history and

learn how they tortured them on their

force marches and being marched hundreds

of miles through desert and and hardly

any food or drink and the Bible says of

this

this man this evil wicked man and when

he was an affliction he sought his God

and humbled himself greatly before God

in his affliction he turned to God he

began to pray he began to intercede and

the Bible said he humbled himself

greatly and as a result of that he was

restored to his throne and became a

fighter for God tearing down the very

idols that he had built and established

and you may know of sinners – that it

there are those who who seem to be the

most wicked the most vile and folks you

can’t give up on them God has ways God

has ways through affliction to bring

your loved ones and sometimes you have

to stand back in pain you see a special

loved one somebody near you you see them

going through to affliction and pain and

you stand back you can’t do anything

about it

but folks if you’re praying and seeking

God God could use that affliction to

bring conviction and bring them to

Christ King David said his affliction

came from the hand of God the Lord in

faithfulness has afflicted me folks

listen to it let those words sink in I

can’t go any further unless you deal

with this one scripture in faithfulness

God God God has afflicted me before I

was afflicted I went astray but now I

keep his word it’s a good thing for me

that I was afflicted that I might learn

his statues how did the Word of God

become a lamp to David’s feet how is it

he can tell the whole world I delight in

his word how is it that he’s come to

this sweetness and to this prayer Lifan

and to have a heart after God how has he

come to this he’s had a revelation from

the Word of God that God was working his

life through his afflictions unless the

law that’s the Word of God I’m reading

from psalm 119 92 unless the law the

word had been my delight I would have

perished