First Baptist Church of Highland Park

Rev. Dr. Henry P. Davis III: Hi, I'm Henry Davis, Pastor of the First Baptist Church of Highland Park in Landover, Maryland. A Bible believing, Christ centered, and spirit led congregation. I want to welcome you to our radio broadcast. And remember, there's power at the park.

Come on, let's clap those hands together. Hallelujah. We stand if we can as we turn our attention to the Gospel according to Saint Matthew chapter eight. We pick up the reading at verse 14. Matthew 8:14. New Living Translation says, when Jesus arrived at Peter's house, Peter's mother-in-law was sick in bed with a high fever. But when Jesus touched her hand, the fever left her. Then she got up and prepared a meal for him.

That evening, many demon possessed people were brought to Jesus. He cast out the evil spirits with a simple command, and he healed all the sick. This fulfilled the word of the Lord through the prophet Isaiah who said, he took our sicknesses and removed our diseases. Thus far the words of God. You may go to your seats. That 14th verse, when Jesus arrived at Peter's house, Peter's mother-in-law was sick in bed with a high fever. But that 15th verse, A clause says, but when Jesus touched her hand, the fever left her.

We want to look in this service from the same thought I shared in the earlier service. Jesus makes house calls. Jesus makes house calls. Ask Mary and Martha whose brother Lazarus had died and of course Jesus made a house call. It was not his first house call because he'd come before, but again he comes again and even as he comes we realize that miracles can happen. One incident he makes a house call for them and one sister is spending time worshipping while the other sister is making the meal.

House calls. There is a Bible story about Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus was vertically challenged, so therefore he had climbed in a tree so he could see Jesus. But even later, Jesus makes a house call. When Jesus really impacts your house and your life, it ought to affect your house. I said something and somebody didn't get it. If you say Jesus has impacted you, it should affect your house. When Jesus, you say you've given your life to Christ, it should affect your house.

Folk in your house should know you've had an encounter. They should not be surprised, stunned, or near the moment of needing some health assistance because they see that you say you're a Christian. Jesus comes into our house and comes into our heart. Earlier service I shared that it's one thing for you to be a member of the church, but it's another thing for you to have a relationship. Every member does not have a relationship with Jesus. Your name is on our roll, but not on his roll. Because your name is on our roll you'll have certain privileges because of church membership.

But reality of it is, no matter what benefits or perks you have, nothing compares to the relationship with the Lord. Nothing. There's not a flower we could give, there's not an honor we could bestow that would match what Jesus can do in your life. As a matter of fact, I've had persons to come to me and they said, "Reverend, I don't need my name called on Sunday." And the reason why they don't need their name called here is because they really want their name called there. I'm thanking God for my name being called there as opposed to here.

Jesus makes house calls. And when his house calls make a difference, people get healed in his house calls. Blind can see, lame can walk. You remember the gentleman who couldn't get to Jesus, but they said we got try a side door, but then we're going to take it to the roof, the roof. And we're going to lower him. And they said it's harder to pull him back up, but they said no, if we can just get him to the feet of Jesus.

Somebody feels like shouting right there. If I can just get to the feet of Jesus, oh what a difference that will make. Three things we're going to look at in this service. Number one, Jesus doesn't just look, but he acts. A whole lot of folk are looking at you. As a matter of fact they seem so, "who's zooming who?" You're looking around and a whole lot of folk looking at us, looking at us. You know everybody who comes to church is not looking for Jesus. Just look at me, look at the cross, but thank God, you need to come looking for Jesus.

Some are coming looking for a business hookup. Some are looking, they don't want to deal with the dating apps, but they want to come and survey who's in the atmosphere. And typically when they'll survey it typically they might lay their eyes on a person and then they'll see perhaps if they've made any visible commitment of relationship. Looking at that fourth finger on the left hand, just a little quick gaze. But realize, Jesus doesn't just look, but he acts.

Mother-in-law sick, high fever, Jesus identifies her. I'm going to come back to that. The second thing is in this message that Jesus can make an immediate difference with one simple touch. One touch from Jesus. Game changer, life changer. Everything is shifting because of the touch of Jesus on my heart, my life, on my mind. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. Thank God for the touch. Saturday night show used to be Touched by an Angel, but I'm thanking God I want to be touched by Jesus.

Third thing we're going to look at, what Jesus can do for one can be done for many. It starts with you. But thanks be to God that you are the living testimony. If God can do it for you, he can do it for others. My God, we got some ex-all-everything in this house. But thanks be to God, we got touched by the Lord. Some of us used to be able to cuss like a sailor. You can drink folk under the table, smoke all the weed you want, but you can get touched by Jesus. And he can clean you up.

Oh, I believe somebody can praise God. He's cleaning us up. As a matter of fact, as a matter of fact, we might not have been totally delivered yet, but we are a whole lot further down the road than we once were. I'm striving. And so what Jesus can do for one can be done for many. My God, one sick woman with a high fever leads the masses with a change coming. Demon possessed, all kind of folk coming just because of one person. And this was not a flash mob. This was pre-social media.

They couldn't post this. But there's something about the power of God that is stronger than a post. We got a whole lot of folk you're looking at all your little friends on they're not your friends anyway. Person called me sent me a message he said, "Do you want to get more followers?" I want some folk to follow Jesus. I don't need to pay for fake friends. I get that already. I don't need to pay for them. Somebody ought to say amen right there. You know you got some folk they got some fake friends. What a friend we have in Jesus. I think we'll sing that one next week.

So Jesus, Jesus doesn't just look, but he acts. Now, understand he's going to Peter's house. Now Peter's going to have an interesting journey. I mean you know, this is the same Peter who cut the soldier's ear off. And you need to know, he wasn't aiming for the ear. He just caught the ear. He was trying to... my wife was watching something the other day and the man got his head cut off. That's what he was shooting for. But he got the ear. But even with that, Jesus said, "I can put it back on. I can have surgery right there. And I can have surgery without having any surgical instruments."

I don't need an instrument because I'm God. And all I need are my hands. The same hands that got nailed to the cross, the same hands that touched the lives of others. He's making a house call. Peter's house. Peter, same Peter who down the road denied Jesus. And he did it three times. One time, two times, three times. But Jesus still is coming to his house. Now you need to know something, he knew what was ahead for Peter, but he was still in his house. He knows what's ahead for you, but he's in your house.

But the great thing is that not only do I want him in my house, I want him in my heart. Some folk can look like a Christian, walk like a Christian, talk like a Christian. You got all the Christian lingo and language. Come on somebody. I was in the bathroom one time, fellow was talking about how he had been delivered and he couldn't see me. He couldn't see me and then next thing I knew I popped out and he looked like he saw a ghost. But when you are truly delivered this is not something you fake. This is who I am.

This is who I am whether I got a suit on or warm up. I'm still a lover of Jesus. I'm still sold out for the cause of Christ. And whatever energy I used for other stuff I got to be willing to use that same energy for the cause of Jesus. So Jesus comes into the house and he notices her there. He doesn't just look but he acts because he sees this mother-in-law sick. He sees her sick. Scripture says she was sick in bed with a high fever. And Jesus just goes by and touches her hand. And when he touched her hand, the fever left her.

Thank you God for just... thank you for coming by. Thank you for stopping by. He doesn't just look. See some folk that's all they going to do. They going to look. They looking now. They looking at you, looking at what you got on, "Who'd you come in here with?" Looking, looking, looking. I thank God that Jesus doesn't just look but he acts. We don't need you to look at me. No, no. At the airport they say if you see something, say something. If you see something that's dangerous, say something.

And so Jesus comes the mother-in-law is sick. Now I'm picturing that the mother-in-law must have been in a room where he could walk through the front door and see her. Because it says she was sick, had a high fever. And it's the mother-in-law, it's Peter's house, but the mother-in-law is in Peter's house. All right, so that means you have to figure Peter had to be married. We don't ever hear about Mrs. Peter. We never nothing biblically is going to tell you about Mrs. Peter, but there must be a Mrs. Peter because there's a mother-in-law.

Come on somebody. I know we got some Bible experts like Ed Harrison, he's probably dug into that in the Sunday Biblical Institute class. But we don't hear anything about Mrs. Peter. But we do hear about his mother-in-law. Now a whole lot of us have heard some mother-in-law stories. And matter of fact some of them say it's not a story Reverend, it's the real thing. But obviously there is a sense of love and they have come together as two families and the mother-in-law is in his house. And she's sick. And Jesus comes. It's a wonderful thing that when you're sick, Jesus knows when to come.

Here it is. Some of us are sick and we don't even know it. You don't know how sick you are. Because if you're unsaved, you're really sick and you don't know it. You really don't know it. You think you got it going on, you think it's your degrees, your accomplishments. I need to tell you right now, those degrees and accomplishments will not give you peace. Because Jesus is the prince of peace. Here's my point. Jesus sees and he acts. She's sick and some folk are sick and they don't know it.

Some of you because you don't go to the doctor, and we have medical professionals in this room, you could have an illness and you're not aware of it. You have not been diagnosed and you feel all right. And then sometimes you'll come back in and you'll find out that you had a sickness that was much further than you ever could have thought. And then they say if we could have caught this sooner we would have been in a better position. That's why you got to get regular checkups, all that kind of stuff.

I don't know anything about the background of Peter's mother-in-law, only thing I do know she's sick with a high fever. Verse 15 says Jesus touched her hand. When he touches her hand the fever leaves. Then she gets up, prepares a meal for him. All after a touch. She gets up and she wants now to serve. Here's your message. When God raises you up, the first thing you need to want to do is serve. When you're sick and you're laying down, a whole lot of folk have gotten sick and they made a whole lot of promises while sick.

"I get up from here Lord, I'm going pay my tithes, I'm going be in church every week, just raise me up." And then they get up and they doing a whole lot of other stuff. They might start off a Sunday or two, but then they drift into a different place. The first thing this mother-in-law does is she gets up and heads straight to the kitchen. She doesn't go brush her teeth. She does not take a shower. I'm not suggesting that that's the way you need to come. I'm just trying to paint a picture for you.

But what I am saying is that this woman is not trying to impress Jesus. A whole lot of us we spend time trying to impress others instead of spending time trying to please Jesus. She says, "I was sick and now the first thing I'm going to do is go straight to the kitchen." And one simple touch I'm up. He didn't have a long dialogue. He didn't preach 45 minutes and sweat and hollering and didn't pour any oil on me. He didn't even speak in any tongue. All he did was touch me.

And I got up. And when I got up I wanted to do something. I wanted to do something for the someone who had just done something for me. Do I have a witness in here? When you think about what God has already done for you, when you get up you say I ought to want to do something for him. He woke me up this morning. He started me on my way. He brought me through another week. I got to get up and do something. That's why the Bible says everything that hath breath ought to praise the Lord.

Everything. I don't need a rock crying out for me, I can cry out for myself. I know you're a difference maker. I know you're a healer. I know you can open doors. I know you can answer prayers. I know it. I'm not talking about what I heard. I've seen what you've done in my life. I've seen my life turn around. I've seen doors open that I didn't deserve to walk through. You didn't get there because of your resume. You got there because of the power and the grace of God.

He's coming to your house. And since he's coming to your house, you ought to want to come to his house. Come on somebody. If somebody is already doing you a favor and coming to your house, you ought to want to come to their house. It's not drudgery for me to get to the house of God. When I just think of the goodness of Jesus and all that he's done for me, it's a joy coming in here. Oh, it's a joy. As a matter of fact I can already start dancing and shouting and humming and singing before I get in the worship space because I'm already thinking about the goodness of the Lord and how far he has brought me. Hallelujah.

Jesus makes a house call. Thank you for stopping by Lord. Thank you for stopping by even when I was in a sick condition. Thank you for stopping by when I wasn't even looking for you. Thank you for seeing my way through. Seeing my way but this woman gets up and she's now ready to serve. Ready to put her apron on. I'm ready to get my best dish out now. I'm ready to put my foot in it. I thought I was going to die. She got up, prepared a meal for him.

But then the next thing is and I'm through. Next thing about this dynamic is after she gets up prepares a meal and a whole lot happened that day. You know she was sick, she gets healed, prepares a meal. Next verse says that evening, many demon possessed people were brought to Jesus. Okay. She gets up prepares a meal, is that lunch? Perhaps lunch. Or is it breakfast? We just had a wonderful breakfast downstairs. We had catfish and homemade biscuits and grits and oatmeal. We had turkey bacon, regular bacon, hush puppies, orange and cranberry juice.

We even put some orders in for our pancake event coming up. I don't know whether it's breakfast or lunch. I don't know what meal she went to make. See my specialty is breakfast. My children they kind of get me because I make my eggs kind of fast. But I know how to get them out the house so they could be on time for school when they were in that age bracket. But the scripture says that evening. This is where I'm going with it. That evening many demon possessed people were brought to Jesus.

How long does it take for the word to get out that Jesus is in town? He only went to one house. He only healed one person. Peter took him in. Mother-in-law gets up. How does the news spread? Scripture says many demon possessed people were brought to Jesus. How did they know Jesus was there? No social media, no news, but the word is out. Scripture says many demon possessed people. Now let me paint the picture. They bring to Jesus the worst.

This is not folk with spring allergies. Demon possessed. When folk are demon possessed, can you really tolerate them in your house? Do you want to give a demon possessed person a ride? You're riding by, they got a big sign, "I'm demon possessed." You're looking straight ahead. If you get on the subway and a person is coming through with a t-shirt says, "I'm demon possessed," and they sit next to you. They bring the worst to Jesus. Here's the message.

No matter how bad you think you've been, no matter how bad you are, this word says just come to Jesus. I want the worst of you to come. Because if I could do it with the worst of you, then I can do it with anybody. Somebody ought to have been shouting right there. You just don't want anybody to know how bad you once were. They come, many demon possessed people were brought to Jesus. And first thing Jesus has to do before he deals with them, he has to cast out the evil spirits.

I'm praying for the spirit. I'm praying out the spirit in you. Some of us have the wrong spirit. You look okay but you got a bad spirit. And before Jesus said I can do anything for you, I've got to cast out bad spirits. Let's be honest, some of you come to this church because you were somewhere else and there was a bad spirit. And that's what brought you in here. So the prayer is that Jesus says, "I'm going to cast out the evil spirits." I'm casting them out. And then I cast them out with a simple word.

He doesn't yell, he doesn't scream, he doesn't roll on the floor, he doesn't holler, he just casts them out. Be gone. Bye-bye. Go. No long speech. But with the word of Jesus they move. It's not the first time that Jesus does that. When Jesus comes, going back to Mary, Martha and Lazarus, when he comes and Lazarus is dead, all Jesus had to do was come to the tomb and call his name. And then he told him, "Come on, come on out."

And Lazarus got up, took off his grave clothes, and comes on out because Jesus called him. Jesus is calling somebody in this house right now. I'm casting out that spirit with a simple command. And the Bible says that after he deals with the demon possessed then it said they brought all the sick. Because if he could deal with the worst of them, that means he can deal with all of us. That's everybody. Lottie dottie and everybody. Bring my burdens to the Lord and leave them there.

The Bible said cast your cares upon him because he cares for you. That's my word, Highland Park. May the Lord bless you real good. But when I think of the goodness of Jesus I'm grateful today that he will still make a house call. Your house might not be clean, but I'm thanking God that he can come into my heart. He can shake me out. Thank you God. Clean me up. Clean up my mind. Clean up my spirit. Put clapping in my hands. Joy in my heart. Thanksgiving on my lips.

Is there anybody here on a Sunday morning and it's almost afternoon? But I will bless the name of the Lord. I will lift up my hands. Thank you God for waking me up this morning. Starting me on my way. I'm in the house today. And I will praise his name. His name is wonderful, counselor, prince of peace, mighty God. Can't nobody do me like the Lord. Let go! Let go! Bless his name today! Yes! Yes! Because every time I turn around he keeps on blessing me! Yeah! Yeah!

Jesus makes house calls. You come to this house today not by accident. Because you did not get up this morning on your own. Jesus got you up. Jesus got you up and you made your way here and you have the reminder that Jesus makes house calls. I was preaching yesterday and I was talking about motivated to make a difference. And that's what worship does. Worship can motivate you. And you say I'm going out of here stronger because of the word that came and was spoken to me while I came in this house.

I'm thanking God that Jesus can still come into your house. Still make a difference in your life. He's knocking at the door. But you brother, you sister, you young man, you young lady have to say yes to him. And I guarantee you it's the best yes you could ever say.

You've been listening to the radio broadcast of the First Baptist Church of Highland Park in Landover, Maryland. If you want to receive a CD or DVD of what you have just heard, please call 301-773-6655. Or visit us on the worldwide web, FBHP.org. And remember, there's power at the park.