This recording has a tesitmony of a knee that was healed after corporate prayer based on a word of knowledge a few services ago! It also contains a short teaching on operating in words of knowledge and the prophetic. The rest of the sermon did not record successfully, but we already planned to revist that same content next week (1/6/19) so please plan to listen to that recording once it is available!
Brad Ettore
For the past thirty years, Pastor Brad has been an avid student and teacher of The Word of God. He has taught in multiple churches around the nation, numerous home bible study groups, in prisons, and to a large group of pastors in the Philippines.
Brad grew up with some knowledge of God, but no personal relationship with his Creator. After a tragic loss of his brother occurred right before his eyes, Brad found himself angry with and completely resistant to God. That all began to change a few years later, when one of the employees of his business was such a wonderful witness that he had to ask her, “what is different about you?” Her response: “Jesus!” He later accepted her invitation to a church service where Brad was radically saved and soon after baptized in the Holy Spirit!
After this powerful encounter with God, Brad immediately had an insatiable hunger for the Word of God, reading the New Testament 52 times, and the Old Testament 6 times in his first year as a believer! This download ignited a fire in Brad to want to share the truths of the Kingdom with all who did not yet know the Lord. Today, he has been blessed with well over 1,000 opportunities to lead people on a one-on-one basis into a personal relationship with our Precious Lord Jesus!
Brad spent the early part of his Christian life ministering primarily within the context of the business world wherein he had a variety of successful companies and ventures. In the Fall of 2011, it became clear to several other church leaders and to Brad that the Lord was leading him to serve as the senior pastor of a church. He named the church “Agathos,” a Greek word from the New Testament which means “pure goodness”, identifying and honoring what Brad has come to know and love most about the Lord: “Oh taste and see that the Lord is Good” (Ps. 34:8). Since that time, Brad has been blessed to witness exceptional spiritual growth in this wonderful body of believers through the transforming power of the Word of God!
Jesus Perfectly Demonstrated God's Will for Healing
8/21/16
- Brad Ettore Jesus demonstrated the will of God perfectly. Jesus’ works are the Father’s works. He came to show us the Father. So, let’s look at how Jesus revealed the will of the Father as it relates to healing. In Mathew 9:35. we read that Jesus healed every sickness and every disease among the people. Does that say to you that the Father might heal some people and not heal others? Of course not! The reason Jesus healed every single person in all the cities that He went to was because it must clearly be the will of the Father to heal every sickness and every disease! Sickness is a curse. God is not using sickness to teach you anything. God is not doing anything other than healing sickness!
Sickness can be demonic in its source, but not always of course. In Mathew 12:22 we read “Then one was brought to Him who was demon-possessed, blind and mute; and He healed him, so that the blind and mute man both spoke and saw.” Jesus healed this man of blindness and muteness by casting the devil out. Likewise, God has given believers the authority over all the power of the enemy!
Healing wasn’t just for Jesus to minister. In Matthew 10, Jesus sends out the twelve apostles to heal the sick, cleanse lepers, raise the dead, and cast out demons. And it wasn’t just the apostles! In Luke 10 Jesus sends out 70 others to heal the sick. Likewise in John 14:12 Jesus says those who believes in Him will do what He did and beyond. Finally in Mark 16:14-18 Jesus said “And these signs will follow those who believe.” He said those signs will follow those who believe!
Some believers say “doesn’t the Word teach that we are to suffer for the sake of the gospel?” It sure does! But if you look at it and allow Scripture to interpret itself, the Greek word for suffering is used 65 times to mean “suffering” and only one time does it refer to sickness and in that case Jesus said it is a demon causing the suffering not God, and He cast him out. Sickness is not of God. The bible is very clear in the New Testament: when it is talking about suffering it is referring to trials, tribulation and persecution - never sickness, not even poverty. Those are considered a curse and God doesn’t put curses on His children. Difficulty, however, is not a curse. God will use situations to develop character in us.
Some will ask about Paul’s “thorn in the flesh.” When we read these Old Testament verses we see that Paul was using Old Testament language in describing his “thorn in the flesh”. In Joshua 23:12-13, Numbers 33:55, and Judges 2:1-3 “thorns in sides” refers to people who harass you. Paul mentioned his thorn in the flesh in 2 Corinthians 12:7. Paul was describing people who were harassing him in every town he went into. (2 Cor. 11) What Paul is saying is that satan was stirring up people to attack him everywhere he went. This was not a matter of God trying to keep him from being prideful; it was the devil keeping him from being exalted by buffeting him, and he called it a thorn in his side.
How can we just know for certain that healing is the will of God? If you just need a couple of scriptures, look at Isaiah 53:4-6, where you can see very clearly that sin and sickness were paid for on the Cross. And then if you think that healing for sickness referred to in Isaiah 53 wasn’t real physical healing (that perhaps it was just spiritual healing), thank God we've got Mathew 8:17-18. In Matthew 8, Jesus casts out demons and He heals all the sick that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah in Isaiah 53. There is also 1Peter 2:24 which says, “Who bore our sins on his own body on the tree that we having died the sin might live for righteousness by whose stripes you were healed.” God paid the price for you and I to be physically healed and walking in health our whole life.
Finally, someone might say well then how are you supposed to die? Psalms tells you how. He takes away your breath. That’s how we’re supposed to go. When it’s time to go, He takes away your breath. Nowhere in Scripture can you find that you are supposed to die of cancer or diabetes or some other sickness. You are supposed to die well, healthy, and strong! And then you say “Lord, my work is done, I am out of here.” And He will say “OK, come be with Me!” And you check out nice and peacefully in the middle of your sleep.
Understanding the Relationship between Sin and Sickness
8/7/16
- Brad Ettore It is God’s will to heal everyone without exception and immediately. If you or I pray for someone and healing does not take place, the issue is always on the part of man – without exception. Healing is real. It is for today and we are seeing it happen at Agathos right now. Each believer is as capable of healing as any other, and God has commissioned all believers to pray for the sick.
It is imperative to know that God's will is to heal everyone all of the time or you will not reach any successful level in the area of healing. Jesus bore on the cross the things that God doesn’t want on you! According to Isaiah 53, Jesus “has borne our sicknesses and carried our diseases!” God doesn’t want sickness and disease on people because Jesus already bore it! When Jesus took care of the sin, He took care of the sickness. Sickness is the result of sin. In Luke 5:23-24, Jesus even demonstrates that he could forgive sin by healing sickness! Jesus instructively connected sin and sickness for us in that story. Sin is the source of all sickness - all of it!
Not only is it God’s will to forgive you,He already has! And as a result, not only is it His will to heal you, He already has! Your healing is already done, that’s why 1 Pe. 2:24 says, “by His stripes you were healed.” Were – past tense. It is finished. Your healing is already done! This is why it is not even a question about God’s will to heal -- any more than it’s a question about God’s will to forgive! He’s already done it. Faith is what activates what God has already done. What does it take to get saved? Faith is what appropriates what Jesus did. Faith in His forgiveness causes the new birth. Faith in the fact that He’s already healed you causes the healing to take place. Amen!
Introduction
7/17/16
- Brad Ettore
When we look in the Bible, we see Jesus healing the sick. We read that and it gives us hope. Hope that God still desires to heal today. But, what we see around us doesn’t seem to support that idea. So the questions begin in our minds. “Am I misunderstanding what I’m reading or seeing in the Bible regarding healing?” In this teaching, the intent is to address and cover these issues. Here are two statements that will serve as the border for the rest of the teaching:
- It is God's will today (and will be forever) to heal spirit, soul, and bodily and to heal every single person without exception. In other words, it is God’s will to heal ALL who are sick WITHOUT EXCEPTION.
- Whenever someone is not healed, the issue (roadblock, hindrance) is ALWAYS on the part of man—never on the part of God.
Divine healing is real, it for God’s people, it’s alive and well today, and it is up to us to understand it, receive it, and then walk in it. It is not up to God. He’s already made up His mind. He gave it to us, and it is not only for us. It is also a ministry to minister to other people. We just need to understand it, receive it, and then walk in it. Amen!
Dealing with Unforgiveness and Offense
6/5/16
- Brad Ettore As believers, we all know that we are supposed to walk in love, but are we loving others like Jesus loves us? We may think that the love walk is hard. But when you start believing correctly the love walk is really, really easy. In fact, you will actually find that not walking in love is infinitely times harder than walking in love.
The first reason to walk in love is because your Father wants you to! The second benefit to walking in love is that it is how we experience God’s fullness. Jn. 15:9-12 says that if you obey God’s commandment—to love one another as I have loved you—your joy will be FULL!
Loving people is not about feelings. God says “Overcome evil with good!” Every part of Christianity is about whether we are going to be moved by our feelings or by the Word of God.That is our choice at all times. When I fail in my Christian walk, I always fail for the same reason—I was moved by my feelings instead of the Word. When I am successful is when I make a decision to be moved by the Word irregardless of my feelings. The whole reason our feelings even get involved is because we are still way too alive! God says we are to die to self! Someone has said “you will never be greatly used by God until you get your ‘I’ punched out.”
The greatest hindrance to loving people is unforgiveness. Unforgiveness is always triggered by offense. Our Father doesn’t want us to harbor unforgiveness. We need to know that unforgiveness is a toxic poison in the heart. It will literally cause you to physically decay. It will cause you to mentally bog down. It is emotionally destructive. We need to realize that ALL unforgiveness in the heart is demonic in nature. Unforgiveness is NOT of God. Unforgiveness is you and I drinking poison—hoping that they will die. So, let’s find a better way to deal with it!
So, how do we walk in love and constant forgiveness towards everyone?
- By possessing correct theology (or in other words, thinking like God thinks).
- We must have faith in our God-likeness.
- We often have a hard time forgiving someone because we mix the concepts of forgiveness and reconciliation, but God does not say “be reconciled to everyone.” NO. He says “forgive everyone.” Reconciliation takes both parties, forgiveness only requires you. “With everything that is within YOU, be at peace with all men.”
- You and I are not the judge of the earth. Your Father asks you to give to them what He already gave to you in a much bigger way. God is saying “I forgave you of a massive debt. I am asking you to do the same for them.” God is actually going to balance all the books at the end perfectly! We can release them to the only lawgiver that there is and no that He is perfect in His ways!
Loving Unbelivers
5/1/16
- Brad Ettore “For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.”(Rom. 5:10) When were we reconciled according to that verse? Was it when we accepted Christ into our lives? No! It was when we were still enemies that we were reconciled - before we accepted Christ! But how could reconciliation for the whole world have already occurred? It was Jesus’ death that paid the price! It has nothing to do with us. It was an agreement between the Father and the Son. Jesus came and paid the price for our sins and the Father said “accepted.” The whole world, literally, has been forgiven of their sins. However, that is not salvation.His death brought reconciliation, His life brings salvation (eternal life). If you believe God is angry and hating sinful people, it will affect your actions towards others! This is an era of reconciliation. God imputed everyone’s sins to Christ. He is not holding any of them against anyone! Yes, there will be a Judgment Day - but it’s not today! Prior to The Judgment Day, the world has the opportunity to come to the Lord now with no animosity between them and God - so that they might receive His Son. God is already at peace with all people! And since there is no animosity between the God and the world, neither should we have ANY animosity between us and them! Just love for them.
4/17/16
- Brad Ettore Jesus gave us one commandment: that we would love one another in the same way that He has loved us.Our love is the signpost for the world to know Jesus! Loving people is being like God. Consider this: what is the one thing we can know that the Father is doing with everyone on the planet at all times? He is loving them! Why does God not hate sinners? Isn’t He just in His judgment of sin? Of course God is completely just in the judgment of sin; God has already punished their sin!God has already forgiven the sin debt of all people, but they have to CHOOSE to receive that gift. The world is just one step away from all the blessings of God in their life - and that is to receive salvation. This is the New Covenant and it is based on one single commandment and that is to love! You cannot love parents and hate their children. If you want to have the greatest relationship with God, the greatest joy, the fullness of God in your life, you can do it by loving other people! Throw off judgment - it is none of our business! It’s taken care of - God’s got it! All we have to do is love!
Trust in God, not Money (part 2)
4/3/16
- Brad Ettore In order to understand God’s perspective about money we need to be spiritually minded and not carnally minded. So, here is the Biblical view about money in one statement: Money isn’t the issue; trust is. “Children, how hard it is for those who trust in riches to enter the kingdom of God!” (Mk. 10:24) Money doesn’t give you significance. There is only ONE PLACE that TRUE significance comes from - it’s from service. God will give you more and more as long as we prove to be good stewards with what He has given us. “Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things.” (Mt. 25:21) Remember that "finances" is not the big thing. It is actually the training wheels that God uses to teach His children to trust in Him.The tithe is the first rung on the latter. Giving is the second rung on the latter, but God has so much more for His children! He uses money to teach us. God has true riches for us that are far better than money! (Lk. 16:11)
Trust in God, not Money
1/17/16
- Brad Ettore We see in Mark 10:17-27 that the issue isn’t money. It’s trust; WHERE is your and my trust? We think our trust is in God but sometimes we need to pull aside, get off the highway of life and consider our heart. God is there, at the deepest depths of our hearts, ready to undo and straighten out anything that needs undone or straightened out! We make adjustments in our hearts by meditating in God’s Word. Ask yourself the hard questions. “What do I actually think about money? Really.” There is NO problem AT ALL in having money. The problem is in letting money have you. If there is a problem about money in your heart, don’t be afraid of it, but instead take it to God and let God work the solution in your heart. He is faithful to do it!
The How and Why of Tithing
12/6/15
- Brad Ettore When we understand the heart of tithing, we see that it is literally beautiful and exciting! Grace makes tithing work! “Grace is God’s willingness to use His power and His ability on our behalf.” Luke 6:38 speaks to God giving grace to the giver! Tithing WORKS because God gets involved with it! Without God, tithing is impossible, “but with God ALL things are possible!” In Deut. 26 we see what God told Moses to write down about “how” to tithe. There is a specific celebration (or ceremony) around the tithe that God wants you and I to get involved in every time we tithe - similar to how there is a ceremony around communion. In summary, this is how we tithe: (1) We remember our deliverance. (2) We worship God and not Mammon. (3) We rejoice in all that He’s given us. (4) We call upon the blessing. That’s how we tithe!
11/29/15
- Brad Ettore, Kenton Kauffman, Brenda Stevens, Louis Stabile Our walk with God is a relationship. His relational invitation is always there. We can press in and choose to come before Him and into His presence! The presence of God is the source of everything – THE foundation to build on top of! Solomon asked for wisdom from God, but David asked for God Himself. God speaks to us through dreams. When we have a dream from the Lord we should stop, write it down, ponder it, and ask “Father, what are you trying to say to me?” We have the ability to receive and interpret dreams if we pay attention to them! In Acts 3:18-21 we see that God is restoring ALL things in Christ in this time. Looking at the prophetic declarations in the Old Testament about the Final Restoration of all things in Christ helps us see what God is doing in this hour!
What is the Tithe and Where Do We Tithe? Part 2
11/15/15
- Brad Ettore God is not opposed to us possessing things - at any level; He is opposed to the things possessing us. Knowing God’s mindset about money is the bedrock to our financial house. The foundation of our financial house is the tithe. Tithing is in fact NOT from the Law; the tithe is a principle of God that has existed from the beginning. Tithe literally means 1/10 or 10% and it actually belongs to God. (Lev. 27:30) God directs us to bring our tithe to the temple (church). Tithing is not just God's practical plan for His church but it is also an act of faithful obedience that invites God's blessing and protection over our finances. Tithing keeps us in a place of gratitude, delivers us from the spirit of Mammon and is another beautiful way to worship the Lord!
What is the Tithe and Where Do We Tithe? Part 1
10/4/15
- Brad Ettore The question of amount as it relates to tithing is self-evident from the original Hebrew word. According to the Hebrew, the tithe is quite simply “a tenth.” Prov. 3:9-10 shows us that the tithe is a 10th of all your increase. The tithe is an INVITATION from the Lord to enter into a dynamic relationship with Him as it relates to Him blessing our finances. The tithe actually belongs to God! Mal. 3:8-9 says we “have robbed Him in tithes and offerings.” That means that the tithes are God's because you cannot rob someone of something they did not own! Our tithes are to be given where God has chosen them to be given. And He has directed them to be given to the local church.
The Tithe: Not From the Law
9/20/15
- Brad Ettore If we approach finances with the mindset that God wants us to have, His blessing in our life will be a pure joy. God takes pleasure in the prosperity of His servants. (Ps. 35:27) We should NEVER allow money to become our source! Once we realize that God is our source, we can move into the promised land where God will promote us because He knows the riches won’t then destroy us. With that mindset, we can begin to build our house of blessing according to the financial principles of the kingdom. The foundational kingdom principle about finances is the tithe. Many believers have no objection to the tithe, but there are some believers that do object to it. The number one objection to the tithe that some have is that they believe that it is “from the Law.” So, is tithing, in fact, from the LAW? The scriptural answer to that is NO! Tithing is in fact, not from the Law! Gen. 4:2-5, Gen 14:18-20, and Gen 28:20-22 give three examples of tithing hundreds and even thousands of years before the law. Additionally, Heb. 7:4-9 speaks clearly about tithing after Christ fulfilled the Law.The tithe is a gift from the Lord to set His people free and in return He gives them blessing. Tithing was taking place before the Law, through the Law, and after the Law - the tithe is not from the Law!
God is Our Source!
8/30/15
- Brad Ettore The Bible has a lot to say about money and possessions! First, we learn that money is not the principal thing. Second, we see that it is good to have money, but it is not good for money to have us. Third, we learn that God is our source. Knowing that God is our source keeps us from being haughty or proud about the success we experience. If God knows finances will not "get hold of you" then He can safely get finances to you! The mindset of a steward says "it's all God's; what I have is a blessing from the Lord." As long as we possess pride saying "this is my doing" we are never going to get to that place where God wants to promote us. When we realize "God you're my provider," we can then move into promotion and He will take us into the promised land!