Healing and the Word - 2 Pet 1:4

Healing and the Word

March 6, 2011

2 Peter 1:4

Introduction

• I grew up in a church that believed in healing
• The odd thing was that we were not spirit-filled
• As a kid I remember being bitten by a spider, being prayed for, and the bite did not swell up or cause problems
• I remember stepping on a rusty nail and getting blood poisoning, being prayed for, and my life was spared
• I once had blood poisoning in a finger, and the red line was racing to my heart and it stopped halfway up my forearm
• One time my first wife had an abcess and was in excruciating pain. After praying for God's intervention the infection was totally healed
• A woman in our small group had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, and after prayer, she was healed and got her driver's license back
• Someone had x-rays taken and there was a spot on the x-ray, the size of a quarter, right around the appendix. We prayed, and after tests and surgery it was determined that there was nothing there
• The same person went to Renown and was told his aorta, the main artery into the heart, was 75% blocked. After prayer he went back and the doctor said the blockage had mysteriously gone.
• Another person was in the agonies of methodone withdrawal. Our home group prayed for him and he slept peacefully and the withdrawal symptoms had left, overnight
• I know the Lord heals from personal experience
• But God's Word is more real than my experiences
• There is power in God's Word to heal
• Tonight we will look at some of God's promises to heal, and hopefully they will help to bolster your faith

Is sickness normal?

• Many believe that God sometimes heal the sick, but they don't believe God wants to heal them personally
• They feel they need a special revelation of His will for them personally
• If it is not God's will for you to be healed, then it would be wrong for you to seek healing through natural means
• If it is God's will to heal you, it would seem the best way to go about this is through divine healing
• God is as concerned about your physical as your spiritual problems
• Psa 103:2-5
• He wants our sins to be forgiven and our diseases to be healed
• Sin is unnatural and a result of the fall of Adam
• Sickness also is a result of the fall - man was created "very good" Gen 1:31
• It is only after man was evicted from the Garden, that the curse went into effect
• If sin is unnatural and needs a divine remedy, then sickness also requires a divine intervention
• So the answer to the two problems of sin and sickness, is to be found in the single remedy, Jesus our savior

The bronze serpent

• The Israelites were complaining about God, and as a result, punishment came in the form of poisonous snakes
• Num 21:4-9
• They cried to God, and he told Moses to raise up a bronze serpent on a pole
• This serpent was a type of Christ
• John3:14-15
• As the Israelites fixed their eyes on the serpent, they were healed
• As we today fix our eyes on Jesus, we too are healed of our sins and sicknesses
• We are not to be looking at the symptoms
• Instead, we are to look to Jesus, our Savior
• When they were healed they received both forgiveness of their sin (complaining about God), and physical healing from the snakebite
• They were a physical people inheriting physical blessings
• We are a spiritual people, inheriting eternal blessings
• John 3:16
• They as a physical people, looking to a physical forerunner of the Savior, received physical healing
• When we look to the reality of Jesus for healing we should reap at least as much blessing as they did
• If they were healed, we should be healed
• The condition is that we must believe

We must believe

• If we believe that Jesus died to save our sins, personally, whenever we turn to Him, we can also believe that he will heal us, personally
• The removal of our sins and the removal of our sicknesses are both included in what Jesus did on the cross
• Isa 53:4-5
• It takes faith to believe in Jesus' sacrifice for us personally
• Some may say, that the healing referred to here is our spiritual healing from sin
• But Jesus shows it refers to actual physical healing
• Matt 8:16-17
• God's will for us is that we be protected by Him and kept healthy even in the midst of pestilence
• Psalm 91 (whole psalm)
• When we believe in Jesus, healing is promised for us

Conclusion

• If we believe that Jesus died for us, so that our spiritual condition is healed, and our sins are forgiven
• In the same way, in Jesus' atoning sacrifice, his stripes were for our healing
• God's will for us is that we be healthy in every part of us, body soul and spirit.
• But that discussion will have to wait till a further sermon

A Man for All Seasons - Heb 12:2

A Man for All Seasons

March 6, 2011

Heb 12:2

Introduction

• In the 1970's there was a movie about Sir Thomas More
• He was the lord Chancellor under Henry VIII, in the 1500's, and he was responsible for the judiciary in England
• The plot of the movie is based on the true story of Sir Thomas Moore, the 16th-century Lord Chancellor of England, who refused to endorse King Henry VIII's wish to divorce his aging wife Catharine of Aragon, who could not bear him a son, so that he could marry Anne Boleyn, the sister of his former mistress. The play portrays More as a man of principle, envied by rivals such as Thomas Cromwell and loved by the common people and by his family
• Thomas More lived as a man of principle, and did not veer either to the right or the left in his responsibilities as the Chancellor of the English judiciary
• More represents "a man for all seasons", because he remains true to himself and his beliefs under all circumstances and at all times, despite external pressure or influence
• This character trait is something we all need to develop
• Today we will look at how Jesus was truly a man for all seasons, and how he lives his life through people who are similarly true to their beliefs

Jesus had a clear understanding of his mission

• Jesus was very clear about his mission
• Isa 61:1-3
• Jesus came to bring healing to a broken world
• This is a foundation stone of our beliefs
• This is why people come to Jesus, they want change in their lives, change back to the way things should have been all along
• Jesus invites us to be a part of this
• He tells us, as the Father sent me, I am sending you
• We go out with the same mission statement as Jesus
• What was that mission?
• Luke 4:18
• This means that we are ready at a moment's notice to be an instrument of Jesus' intervention in someone's life
• When we speak to a neighbor and find out her marriage is falling apart, we point her to Jesus and pray with her
• When a colleague at work is broken up because someone has passed away, we tell that Jesus is ready to comfort through this difficult time
• When our own life seems to fall apart, we turn to Jesus
• Why do we turn to Jesus?
• Because he is the same yesterday today and forever
• With him there is no inconsistency or ambivalence
• He is there for us, if we turn to him

Jesus did not allow pressures to distract him

• Sometimes when the waves of doubt and pain wash over us, we lose sight of Jesus
• The world around us seems so real, and yet it is only such a small part of the whole spectrum of existence
• When we see light, it seems so simple - just white light
• But when we pass that light through a glass prism, it is broken up into its seven constituents - red, orange, yellow, green, blue indigo and violet
• But this is only a small portion of the electromagnetic spectrum
• There are radio waves, sound waves, x-rays, all of which we cannot see
• It is the same with the creation
• There is a spirit world out there which is every bit as real as what we see with our eyes
• there are angels in this room right now
• The Holy Spirit is here at this moment, blowing through this church like an invisible wind
• Sometimes he becomes visible as the shekinah glory of God
• Don't allow the cares of this world to crowd out the place where our focus wants to be, on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith
• Don't be distracted by the pressures of life, allow Jesus to carry your burden

Jesus was a man of principle

• Jesus said in the OT, I am the LORD I change not
• The principles Jesus stands for were the same in the OT as in the new, and they still have not changed
• He inspired David to write Psalm 15
• He inspired it because this is how God is
• These are the principles he lives by
• A man who swears to his own hurt
• God himself will keep his promises
• This evening we will be talking about some of God's promises about healing, part of our Foursquare heritage
• we stand firm on the mission on which God has sent us
• Jesus has not changed, he still has the same mission, to bring healing to a hurting world, and draw all men unto himself
• We too want to be consistent in our walk with God, not on again off again
• God desires people who walk together with him in spirit and in truth and sincerity
• Be a man or woman of principle
• People know us for who we are, because the fruits of our life will be evident

Conclusion

• Thomas More was known for being a man of principle who would not weaken under pressure
• Jesus set us an example as one who does not change, who promised to always be with us
• The mission he started continues in us, he has invited us to partner with him
• The principles of that mission have not changed
• We too have been called to be men and women of God, standing as lights in the world
• We too have been called to be men and women for all seasons, never changing, always standing for what we believe