Special 9/11
Special 9/11
Psalm 147:3
Today is 9/11, twenty years later. And it seems like there is as much, if not more, disillusionment and discouragement in our country as there was in the very first months following the attack of 9/11. What we’ve just witnessed in these past weeks in Afghanistan, is so hard to see. And it’s even harder to try to make sense of.
After twenty years of war, and after thousands, and thousands of brave servicemen and servicewomen have made the ultimate sacrifice, on top of the thousands of lives both lost and forever changed by the initial attack of 9/11, after all of that, to watch how it all ended in just a few days – it just leaves me almost speechless.
Our son, David, did two tours in Afghanistan as a Navy FMF Corpsman, that’s a medic on the frontlines patrolling daily, outside the wire as part of the Marine Corps squad. And he saved lives there. And he honorably did his job there. He knew that each day could be his last day while he was there. And he did it with almost a million other servicemen and servicewomen over that twenty-year span, who all gave some significant portion of their life on that battlefield.
And today, we remember and we pray for the families of those lost in both the initial attack and the following wars. And we remember and pray for all those who have served in this longest of all wars. And today, maybe with all of this, (like me) you feel brokenhearted. Maybe for yourself. Maybe for someone you love. Maybe for our country. Maybe all three.
What I want you to know today, is that Jesus Christ came to heal the brokenhearted. Jesus Christ came as God In The Flesh to heal your broken heart. Jesus came to this earth to heal the wounds of your heart, both in this life and for eternity.
We’re going to Luke 4.
Luke 4:16-21 (NKJV)
16 So He (Jesus) came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read.
17 And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:
18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
Because He has anointed Me
To preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”
20 Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him.
21 And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
Jesus Christ is quoting Isaiah 61:1. And he’s saying, I have come to bring you salvation. I have come to heal the brokenhearted. I’ve come to proclaim freedom to the captives, to give sight to the blind, and I have come to set free those who are oppressed.
Flowing from, flowing out of our salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, comes the healing that Jesus came to bring.
There are those among us, close to us, maybe we are one of those who suffer from the wounds of the heart. The wounds that are hidden from all but God. These are the brokenhearted. And Jesus Christ has come to bring you healing.
And there are those who are oppressed today. They’re oppressed from some event or series of events in their lives. These are the captives, the captives that Jesus Christ has come to set free from that oppression. Jesus Christ has come to heal the brokenhearted, and to set the oppressed free.
Jesus Christ came to bring you healing because our God is Jehovah Rapha. The Great I AM is Jehovah. The Lord God. And this name I AM – it means The Existing One. It’s I EXIST AS. It’s the personal covenant name that God spoke to Moses from the burning bush – I AM THAT I AM. I Exist As.
In Exodus 15, the Children of Israel come upon their first real trial after the Exodus from Egypt, their first real testing. And in that very first real trial, the Lord revealed himself to the Children of Israel. In verse 26 the Lord says, …for I Am Jehovah Rapha, The Lord Who Heals You. Rapha means, literally, I AM HEALING. I Exist As Healing. I AM The Lord Who Heals You.
And this same Jehovah Rapha is here today. And if you have made him your personal Savior, then he is with you, and he is in you. And he has come to bring healing for your broken heart, and he has come to set you free from your oppression.
Psalm 147:2-3 (NKJV)
2 The Lord builds up Jerusalem; He gathers together the outcasts of Israel.
3 He heals (Rapha) the brokenhearted And binds up their wounds.
Jehovah Rapha. I AM The Lord Who Heals You.
Have you ever wondered why it was necessary for Jesus – the I AM in The Flesh – God in Expression to us – to suffer so tremendously, not just on the cross, but on the way to the cross? Please hear me right here. The tremendous suffering that Jesus went through, every stripe that was laid across his back, every wound he received was for you and me. And it was for a very specific purpose.
Isaiah 53:5 (NKJV)
5 But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised (or crushed) for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.
Guys, Jesus Christ suffered horrendously so that you and I could be healed. And that word “healed” there at the end of Isaiah 53:5 – that word is RAPHA. As in – Jehovah Rapha. I AM, I Exist As The Lord Who Heals You. Jesus Christ has come into your life, not only to save you for eternity but to heal you for today. To heal you from your broken heart, and to set you free from your oppression.
So, let’s just pray right now.
Heavenly Father, we thank you for this nation that was built as One Nation Under God, this nation that has you sewn in its very fabric, and laid in its very foundation. And we thank you, Lord, for every person who has suffered and given the ultimate sacrifice for the cause of this country, Lord. We thank you for every single one, and we pray for them right now. We pray still, twenty years later, for the families of those who were lost in the original 9/11 attack.
And we pray for the families of every single serviceman and servicewoman who has laid their life down on the battlefield for the cause of our freedom and in service to you, God, and this country. We pray for their families. And Lord, we pray for the nearly one million servicemen and servicewomen who all left something on the battlefield. They all gave something significant of their life, Lord. And we pray for them today, and for their families, and we pray for comfort. We pray for peace and strength. We pray that you would heal their broken hearts. And we pray, Lord, that you would set them free from their oppression, Lord. And we pray, God, that you would bless their families with peace and with security, and with comfort.
And Lord, we lift up this great nation to you. Still great because it is still One Nation Under God. And we pray for our country. And we pray that the hearts of our country would be turned back to you. Even on this twentieth anniversary, God, may we see the spiritual revival that occurred twenty years ago after this day. May we see that and ten times more. Revive and save this great nation.
Thank you, God, for being our God. For being over this nation. And for bringing healing to our broken hearts, and liberty, Lord, to those of us who are oppressed. Set us free and heal us, we pray, in your mighty name, Jesus, Jehovah Rapha, amen.
This is just really heavy on my heart on this day. And I pray that you and those you know who have been personally impacted by the last twenty years, and especially by the events of this last week, I pray that you would be encouraged. I pray that you would be comforted. And I pray that you would experience healing and freedom from oppression. I pray that God would do that for you today.
You can get all the information you need about this ministry, including how to contact us and how to support this ministry, online at MyDailyChurch.com.
After twenty years of war, and after thousands, and thousands of brave servicemen and servicewomen have made the ultimate sacrifice, on top of the thousands of lives both lost and forever changed by the initial attack of 9/11, after all of that, to watch how it all ended in just a few days – it just leaves me almost speechless.
Our son, David, did two tours in Afghanistan as a Navy FMF Corpsman, that’s a medic on the frontlines patrolling daily, outside the wire as part of the Marine Corps squad. And he saved lives there. And he honorably did his job there. He knew that each day could be his last day while he was there. And he did it with almost a million other servicemen and servicewomen over that twenty-year span, who all gave some significant portion of their life on that battlefield.
And today, we remember and we pray for the families of those lost in both the initial attack and the following wars. And we remember and pray for all those who have served in this longest of all wars. And today, maybe with all of this, (like me) you feel brokenhearted. Maybe for yourself. Maybe for someone you love. Maybe for our country. Maybe all three.
What I want you to know today, is that Jesus Christ came to heal the brokenhearted. Jesus Christ came as God In The Flesh to heal your broken heart. Jesus came to this earth to heal the wounds of your heart, both in this life and for eternity.
We’re going to Luke 4.
Luke 4:16-21 (NKJV)
16 So He (Jesus) came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read.
17 And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:
18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
Because He has anointed Me
To preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”
20 Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him.
21 And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
Jesus Christ is quoting Isaiah 61:1. And he’s saying, I have come to bring you salvation. I have come to heal the brokenhearted. I’ve come to proclaim freedom to the captives, to give sight to the blind, and I have come to set free those who are oppressed.
Flowing from, flowing out of our salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, comes the healing that Jesus came to bring.
There are those among us, close to us, maybe we are one of those who suffer from the wounds of the heart. The wounds that are hidden from all but God. These are the brokenhearted. And Jesus Christ has come to bring you healing.
And there are those who are oppressed today. They’re oppressed from some event or series of events in their lives. These are the captives, the captives that Jesus Christ has come to set free from that oppression. Jesus Christ has come to heal the brokenhearted, and to set the oppressed free.
Jesus Christ came to bring you healing because our God is Jehovah Rapha. The Great I AM is Jehovah. The Lord God. And this name I AM – it means The Existing One. It’s I EXIST AS. It’s the personal covenant name that God spoke to Moses from the burning bush – I AM THAT I AM. I Exist As.
In Exodus 15, the Children of Israel come upon their first real trial after the Exodus from Egypt, their first real testing. And in that very first real trial, the Lord revealed himself to the Children of Israel. In verse 26 the Lord says, …for I Am Jehovah Rapha, The Lord Who Heals You. Rapha means, literally, I AM HEALING. I Exist As Healing. I AM The Lord Who Heals You.
And this same Jehovah Rapha is here today. And if you have made him your personal Savior, then he is with you, and he is in you. And he has come to bring healing for your broken heart, and he has come to set you free from your oppression.
Psalm 147:2-3 (NKJV)
2 The Lord builds up Jerusalem; He gathers together the outcasts of Israel.
3 He heals (Rapha) the brokenhearted And binds up their wounds.
Jehovah Rapha. I AM The Lord Who Heals You.
Have you ever wondered why it was necessary for Jesus – the I AM in The Flesh – God in Expression to us – to suffer so tremendously, not just on the cross, but on the way to the cross? Please hear me right here. The tremendous suffering that Jesus went through, every stripe that was laid across his back, every wound he received was for you and me. And it was for a very specific purpose.
Isaiah 53:5 (NKJV)
5 But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised (or crushed) for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.
Guys, Jesus Christ suffered horrendously so that you and I could be healed. And that word “healed” there at the end of Isaiah 53:5 – that word is RAPHA. As in – Jehovah Rapha. I AM, I Exist As The Lord Who Heals You. Jesus Christ has come into your life, not only to save you for eternity but to heal you for today. To heal you from your broken heart, and to set you free from your oppression.
So, let’s just pray right now.
Heavenly Father, we thank you for this nation that was built as One Nation Under God, this nation that has you sewn in its very fabric, and laid in its very foundation. And we thank you, Lord, for every person who has suffered and given the ultimate sacrifice for the cause of this country, Lord. We thank you for every single one, and we pray for them right now. We pray still, twenty years later, for the families of those who were lost in the original 9/11 attack.
And we pray for the families of every single serviceman and servicewoman who has laid their life down on the battlefield for the cause of our freedom and in service to you, God, and this country. We pray for their families. And Lord, we pray for the nearly one million servicemen and servicewomen who all left something on the battlefield. They all gave something significant of their life, Lord. And we pray for them today, and for their families, and we pray for comfort. We pray for peace and strength. We pray that you would heal their broken hearts. And we pray, Lord, that you would set them free from their oppression, Lord. And we pray, God, that you would bless their families with peace and with security, and with comfort.
And Lord, we lift up this great nation to you. Still great because it is still One Nation Under God. And we pray for our country. And we pray that the hearts of our country would be turned back to you. Even on this twentieth anniversary, God, may we see the spiritual revival that occurred twenty years ago after this day. May we see that and ten times more. Revive and save this great nation.
Thank you, God, for being our God. For being over this nation. And for bringing healing to our broken hearts, and liberty, Lord, to those of us who are oppressed. Set us free and heal us, we pray, in your mighty name, Jesus, Jehovah Rapha, amen.
This is just really heavy on my heart on this day. And I pray that you and those you know who have been personally impacted by the last twenty years, and especially by the events of this last week, I pray that you would be encouraged. I pray that you would be comforted. And I pray that you would experience healing and freedom from oppression. I pray that God would do that for you today.
You can get all the information you need about this ministry, including how to contact us and how to support this ministry, online at MyDailyChurch.com.