0:05 Ladies and gentlemen, it's a great honor to stand before you today, not as someone speaking down from a pedestal, but as someone who has walked through the fire and seen the hand of God turn ashes into healing. I speak to you not only as a scientist trained in neurology, someone who has spent years studying the intricacies of the brain, the nervous system, and the molecular dance of healing, but also as a man who has felt deep in the marrow of his bones the undeniable presence of a higher power. A power that heals, a power that restores, a power that, yes, is available right now. We live in a world where we often draw hard lines between the
0:52 natural and the supernatural. We put God in one box and science in another. We call one faith and the other facts. But anyone who's truly searched the deep waters of life in the lab at the bedside of a sick child or in the quiet hours of prayer will tell you these two realms are not separate. They are partners in a beautiful divine dance. And tonight I want to walk with you through the sacred intersection where neuroscience meets the miracle working power of God. Now, let me take you back. Years ago, I was sitting in my lab staring at a scan of a brain ravaged by Parkinson's
1:38 disease. The deterioration was unmistakable. Cells in the substantia, that little engine of dopamine production, had all but withered away. And yet, the patient, a woman in her 70s, was telling me that after a prayer meeting, she had regained her ability to walk without assistance. Her tremors had ceased. Her speech had normalized. We ran the tests again, not because we doubted her, but because the data had to be cleaned. And I'll never forget the look on the technician's face when he said this. This doesn't make sense. And it didn't.
2:24 Not by the standards of medical science. But that's where we miss it. Healing, true healing, was never about what makes sense. It was never about formulas. It was never about methods. And it was never about what man could do in his limited strength. Healing was and always will be about the power and presence of God moving through the fibers of our being, igniting what science only partially understands and what the spirit knows fully. Now don't misunderstand me. I believe in medicine. I thank God for doctors and surgeons and researchers. But I also know this. Medicine can assist. It can support. It can buy time. But it
3:11 cannot breathe life into dead places. It cannot speak to the soul. It cannot reverse what nature has already declared as final. Only God can do that. And here's the good news. The news that brings me to tears even as I say it. He still does it today, right now in this room, in your body, in your mind, in your heart. Let's talk for a moment about the brain. You see, one of the most powerful discoveries in modern neuroscience is the concept of neuroplasticity.
3:56 The brain's ability to rewire itself, to form new connections, to restore lost functions. For decades, we believed the brain was fixed, that once neurons died, they were gone forever. But we were wrong. The brain, it turns out, was designed with healing in mind. was built with recovery in its very blueprint. But what activates that healing? What triggers that regeneration? Here's where things get exciting. Studies have shown that people who engage in deep spiritual practices, especially prayer and worship, show significant changes in their brain waves, in the density of their gray matter, even in the connectivity of regions associated with peace, memory,
4:42 and self-control. People who spend consistent time in the presence of God show measurable healing effects. Not just in their minds, but in their immune systems, their cardiovascular health, their endocrine systems. Because we were not made to live apart from the presence of our creator. We were not made to carry trauma, bitterness, sickness, fear. And when we step into his presence, not just in theory, not just on Sunday, but in real surrendered faith, something happens. I recall a young man, 25 years old,
5:30 diagnosed with an aggressive form of multiple scerosis. He came to a healing service in a wheelchair. I remember the look in his eyes, not just pain, but weariness. the kind that says, "I've tried everything." And he had steroids, injections, physical therapy. Nothing worked. But in that service, something broke loose. No one shouted. No one pushed him over. It was quiet, Reverend, faithful. He simply lifted his hands, tears streaming down his face, and said, "God, if you still heal, I believe you can heal me."
6:18 And I kid you not, he stood up. Not with effort, not with assistance. He stood like a man rising from sleep and he walked. Now listen to me carefully. I'm not telling you these stories to entertain you. I'm not here to whip up emotionalism. I'm here to declare what I know to be true, both by science and by spirit. That the healing power of God is not a myth. It's not a thing of the past. It's not limited to the pages of scripture. It is here. It is now. But here's where many stumble. They say, "If healing is real, why am I still sick?
7:07 Why did my loved one die? Why hasn't the pain left my body?" And those are real questions, painful questions. I've buried friends. I've prayed for people who didn't recover. And I've wrestled with God about it. But let me tell you what I've learned in the trenches of those questions. God's healing power doesn't operate by our clock. It operates by his word. See, healing isn't always instant. Sometimes it is. I've seen tumors vanish in seconds, but often it's a process. It begins the moment faith is released. It begins when the word is spoken. It begins when your heart says, "I
7:53 believe." Even if your mind still doubts, even if your body still aches. Faith is not pretending you're healed. It is knowing that healing has already been made available through the finished work of Christ. Let me take you to a deeper truth. Now, in the Gospel of Luke, there's a story of a woman with an issue of blood. You know the story, 12 years of suffering, spent all she had on physicians. And yet one touch, one intentional, faithfilled touch and she was made whole. But here's the part we often overlooked. Jesus didn't say, "My power healed you." He said, "Daughter,
8:40 your faith has made you whole." Wait a minute. Her faith. Yes. Because power is always present. The question is, will it be activated? Think of electricity. It's always running through the wires in this room, but unless someone flips the switch, the lights don't come on. Healing is the same way. God's power is present, available right now. But faith is the switch that turns it on. And faith is an emotion. It's not about how loudly you shout or
9:26 how many tears you cry. It's trust. Deep rooted trust. Trust that God is who he says he is. That he does what he says he does. That he keeps his promises. Even when everything around you screams otherwise. There was a man I treated who had stage 4 pancreatic cancer. No one expected him to live. He wasn't a religious man, but his wife was. She prayed over him every night, spoke scripture aloud in his hospital room, laid hands on him when he slept, and something began to happen. Slowly, quietly, but undeniably, his numbers changed. The tumor markers dropped. The scans began to clear and after months of what
10:13 should have been deterioration, he was declared cancer. I asked him, "What do you think happened?" And he said, "My wife believed when I couldn't." Maybe God listened to her until I could believe for myself. And that, my friends, is the beauty of grace. God doesn't demand perfect faith. He just asks for real faith. Even faith the size of a mustard seed can move mountains. And some of you in this room, you have that seed. You've been carrying it for years, buried under pain, disappointment,
10:58 skepticism, but it's still there. It's still alive. And I came here to water it cuz now is the time. Now's the moment. The God who formed your body knows how to restore it. The God who wired your mind knows how to untangle your trauma. The God who breathed life into you once can breathe life into you again. So don't wait for a sign. Don't wait for the perfect conditions. Healing isn't a reward for good behavior. It's a gift already paid for, already offered. All that's left is to receive it.
11:45 And from out of that is, and I'm not talking about hype. I'm talking about you wherever you are right now opening your heart even just a crack and saying God I believe you don't need a crowd you don't need a preacher to lay hands on you just need the touch of faith and that can happen right now right there because the healing power of God is not something we reach up to attain it's something that's been reaching ing down to us all along is something that's been reaching down to us all along. But how do we receive it? That's the question most people
12:31 stumble over. We've been conditioned to think we must earn God's favor. That healing is only for the especially righteous or the deeply spiritual. But I'm here to tell you healing is not a merit badge. It is a covenant promise. And that covenant was sealed in blood. The blood of a savior who took our infirmities, bore our diseases, and declared with finality, "It is finished." Not, "It will be. Not someday. If you're good enough, it is finished." You see, when Jesus walked this earth, healing wasn't just something he did. It was something he was. He never turned anyone away. Not once. The blind man,
13:18 the leper, the paralytic lowered through the roof. They all came with their own levels of faith, doubt, and desperation. But they all received not because they had all the right words or perfect theology, but because they came and because he is good. If healing was just a bonus, a rare exception, Jesus wouldn't have spent so much of his ministry doing it. No, healing is a manifestation of his very nature. He doesn't just save our souls. He touches our bodies, our minds, our trauma, our deepest wounds. And sometimes the deepest wound is not
14:05 the cancer, not the back pain, not the diagnosis. Sometimes the wound is the hopelessness, the resignation, the belief that nothing can change. But I want to tell you something tonight and I pray it penetrates deep. God is not intimidated by your diagnosis. He is not overwhelmed by your medical history or your emotional history or your family tree. He is not limited by genetics, statistics or prognosis. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And he still heals. We've come to a place in our culture where we know how to manage sickness,
14:51 but we've forgotten how to expect healing. We build hospitals and thank God for them, but we've stopped building altars. We know how to cope, but we've forgotten how to believe. But there is something in you right now. Even if it's been buried by years of disappointment, there is something in you that still knows this is not how it's supposed to be. That knowledge is not rebellion. That's truth. Truth that your spirit recognizes even when your brain can't comprehend it. I've sat across from people who've suffered for decades chronic pain, autoimmune diseases,
15:38 PTSD, and they tell me, "I've learned to live with it." And I understand that coping is a skill. But healing is a promise. And when the presence of God enters a room, we don't have to settle for survival. We can step into restoration. Let me tell you the story of a woman named Miriam. She came to one of our meetings in Texas. She had rheumatoid arthritis so advanced her hands were twisted, her knees locked. She used a walker and could barely lift her arms. But as worship began, no one laid hands on her. No one even knew her story. But she told me later,
16:24 "I felt heat flow through my joints like oil being poured over dry bones." She dropped the walker, raised her hands for the first time in 15 years, and danced. Not because of a man, not because of music, but because God showed up and she believed. Now don't get the wrong idea. This isn't about emotionalism. This is about positive thinking. This is about a supernatural transaction. Your faith no matter how small meeting his power which is infinite. And when that connection is made, healing flow. Can almost hear someone
17:11 thinking but what if I don't feel anything? What if I believe and nothing happens? That's a valid question. But here's what I've learned in both scripture and science. Change begins before we see the evidence. Neurons begin rewiring long before we feel the shift. Stem cells begin activating before the pain goes away. In the spiritual realm, healing is often imparted before it is fully manifested. The mistake we make is looking at our symptoms to verify God's work. But symptoms don't prove or disprove
17:57 healing. The word does. The finished work of Christ is our proof. That's why we walk by faith, not by sight. You remember the 10 lepers Jesus healed? He said, "Go show yourselves to the priest." And the Bible says, "As they went, they were cleansed." Not before, not during the conversation. As they went, their healing was in their movement of faith, their obedience in motion. Some of you are sitting still waiting for proof. But God is waiting for you to move.
18:42 Not because he needs your effort, but because faith without works, without response is dead. You say, "But I'm afraid." But what if I'm disappointed again? I know that feeling. I know what it's like to pray for someone with everything in you and still see them die. I've been at the bedside. I've watched people slip away. And I've cried out, "Why not this one, Lord? Why didn't you heal this time?" And in those moments, the Holy Spirit has whispered back to me, "I always heal. Sometimes it's immediate,
19:28 sometimes it's progressive, sometimes it's eternal, but I never stop healing." That doesn't make loss easy, but it does anchor us in hope because our God is not one who teases us with promises he doesn't intend to keep. He is a healer by nature, not just by profession. And when he declares something like by his stripes you were healed, he means it. past tense, accomplished, paid in full. But now comes your part. Will you receive it? Not by striving, not by begging, not by earning, but by
20:14 simply saying, "Lord, I take you at your word." It sounds almost too simple, doesn't it? That's why so many miss it. They're looking for formulas for steps for something they can control. But healing doesn't come through control. It comes through surrender. There was a man in our church years ago who had been addicted to opioids after a spinal injury. Every day was agony. He had prayed, cried, fasted, and nothing seemed to change. Then one night during a quiet worship service, he stopped praying for healing and simply said, "Jesus, I trust you." That night, he slept for
21:01 the first time in weeks. The next day, no pain. He was off painkillers within 3 days. That was 6 years ago. He's never looked back. What changed? He let go. He stopped striving. He stopped measuring God's faithfulness by his feelings. And he simply believed. And that's what God is inviting you to do tonight. You don't have to understand how. You just have to know who. And I want to tell you as a man of science and a man of the spirit. There are things in your body right now, things in your DNA, things in your memory cells, things in your gut biome
21:47 that are already responding to faith. The presence of God is not an abstract concept. It is real. It is measurable. In the lab, we've studied how worship affects brain chemistry, how meditative prayer alters cortisol levels, how forgiveness boosts immune response. Science is just now catching up to what scripture has declared for thousands of years, that God's presence is life to those who find it and health to all their flesh. And so I ask you now as simply as I can, will you receive what he has already given? Not just for
22:34 your body, but for your heart, your mind, your relationships, your story. You are not too far gone. You are not too broken. You are not the exception to his love. The same power that raised Christ from the dead lives in you. The same power that opened blind eyes and made the lame walk is available right now. Not later, not someday. Now. And all of heaven is leaning over the balcony, watching, waiting. Not because they doubt, but because they
23:21 rejoice. Every time someone dares to believe again, every time someone says, "Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief." The kingdom rejoices because faith is never wasted. And healing is always possible. Even now, especially now. Even now, especially now, I want to take a moment and speak to the ones who feel like they've missed it. Maybe you've known about God's healing power for years. You've seen it in others. You've heard the stories. Maybe you even believed once. But something happened. A loss, a setback, a disappointment. And
24:07 little by little, your faith got quieter. smaller, hidden behind grown-up logic and theological coping mechanism. You still love God, but you stopped expecting anything new from him. Let me remind you of something that Jesus said to Martha outside the the tomb of uh her brother Lazarus. He said, "Did I not tell you that if you would believe, you would see the glory of God? You would see it. Not just hear about it, not just read about it in ancient texts, not just watch it in someone else's testimony.
24:54 You would see it with your own eyes in your own life." And then to a man four days dead, Jesus called, "Lazarus, come forth." And he did. Now, let me ask you something. If God can resurrect a decomposing body with a word, what can he not do for you? Some of you tonight are not battling disease. You're battling despair. You're whole on the outside but crippled on the inside. The diagnosis isn't cancer or MS or fibromyalgia.
25:40 It's grief, anxiety, trauma. Invisible wounds that never quite healed. Pain you'd learn to live with because the world said you had to. But the healer is not limited by what man can measure. He is the God who binds up the brokenhearted. He is the one who gives beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. I've watched trauma melt off of people like wax before a flame. Not because someone gave them the right therapy session, though I believe in therapy, but because the spirit of God wrapped
26:26 his arms around them and said, "I still see you. I've always seen you and I never left." I think of a young woman I met at a seminar once. She had been abused as a child and carried shame like a second skin. On the outside, she was functional, successful even. But inside, she was still that little girl locked in fear. He'd been prayed for before. She'd been counseledled, but still she couldn't shake it. One day during worship, she told me she felt something warm wrap around her like a blanket, a feeling she hadn't known since her grandmother used to rock her as a child. In that moment,
27:11 the memories didn't just get erased, they got redeemed. And for the first time in 30 years, she laughed. Real unguarded, unfiltered joy. You know, you can't manufacture that. Only God can do that. And friend, if he did it for her, if he did it for Miriam, for the young man with MS, for the cancer patient, for the woman with the issue of blood, if he did it for me, he will do it for you. The only question is, will you let him? I'm not talking about religion. I'm not talking about joining a church or checking a box or even being able to explain your
27:57 theology. I'm talking about a relationship. about trust, about laying your burden down. Yes, that one you've carried for so long. You forgot what it's like to be free and letting him pick it up. He already carried the cross. You don't have to carry the sickness, too. And I feel so strongly right now. Some of you are on the edge. You're right there. You're this close to a breakthrough. But something is holding you back. Maybe pride and it has maybe disappointment, maybe just sheer exhaustion. Let me encourage you. Don't stop here. Don't
28:43 settle just short of your miracle. Healing is not about feeling worthy. It's about knowing that he is. And he's already said yes. The cross was heaven's loudest yes. It was God's declaration to all of creation. You are worth healing. Oh, you hear it from Ashley. You are worth restoring. You are worth loving again and again. You are worth breathing new life into. You are not forgotten. You are not disqualified and you are not too late. I want to
29:29 speak to the men in the room for a moment. Especially the strong ones, the providers, the ones who don't cry, the ones who carry everyone else's burden but never let anyone see their own. Healing is for you, too. God's power is not just for the desperate, the broken, the visibly in need. It's for the silent sufferers. The ones who smile on the outside but bleed on the inside. The ones who don't know how to rest. The ones who think they have to earn every good thing. You don't. You never did. God's healing is a gift.
30:16 And gifts are not earned. They are received. And to every mother, every caregiver, every person who's poured out and feels empty, God sees you. He sees the tears you cry behind closed doors. He sees the prayers you whisper over sleeping children. And he says to you tonight, "Come to me and I will give you rest." Rest is healing. Peace is healing. Joy is healing. Healing isn't just about removing disease. It's about restoring wholeness. And wholeness comes from intimacy with
31:03 the one who made you. So come come with your questions. Come with your pain. Come with your doubts and your bruises and your I'm not sure if this is for me. Come just as you are. And watch what happens when he comes too. Because that's the secret he already has. He's already here right now in this very moment. The same spirit that hovered over the waters in Genesis, the same spirit that raised Jesus from the grave, the same spirit that healed the sick, delivered the oppressed, and restored the broken, is hovering over this room, hovering over your home. your body, your story, and all he needs is one.
31:50 Yes. One moment of surrender, one breath of faith. So lift your eyes, lift your heart, lift field expectation because your healer is not on the way. He is here. And if you dare to believe, truly believe, you will see your his glory. Now you'll feel life return to your bone. You will see light pierce your darkness. You'll hear the whisper of love louder than the screams of your past. You will stand like the woman in the crowd, healed. You'll rise like the man at the
32:36 pool of Bethesda. Oh, you'll walk like the lame man leaping at the temple gate free. Because God's healing power is available right now, not tomorrow, not when you figure it all out, not when someone lays hands on you. So receive it. Breathe it in. Let it flood your soul like morning light and walk out of here not just improved, not just encouraged, but healed because the healer is here and he still does miracles.
