Sitting At The Feet Of Jesus, We Find Healing Series

Sitting at the Feet of Jesus: We find Healing

Matthew 15:29 – 31

As we enter into September we enter into a new series of messages titled, “Sitting at the Feet of Jesus”. Over the course of the next several Sunday mornings and evenings we will investigate what folks found at the feet of Jesus. My hope and desire for each of us as we enter into this series is that each of us will spend both quality and quantity of time at the feet of Jesus.

The late Bruce Thielemann, pastor of Pittsburgh’s First Presbyterian Church tells, the story of a clergy friend Southern California who knew a woman who had been in a mental hospital many years suffering from extreme depression. She used to just sit on a bench every day staring at the earth—no conversation, no response. One day a new doctor who’d never seen her came down the hall and greeted her. He said, “Good morning!” She made no reply. “What is your name?” he said. No answer. “Well, my name is Doctor Heven, H-E-V-E-N, and I’ll be by to see you again tomorrow.” Then he started away.

“But she lifted her head and said to him—and because he did not know the patient, he did not know how remarkable it was that she was saying anything at all—‘What did you say your name was?’

“He said, ‘Heven, H-E-V-E-N.’”

“Now, somehow in the confused process of that wounded mind, the woman confused the word Heven with the word Heaven, and she thought of God’s love made know to us in Christ. The next day she said to everyone she met in the hospital, ‘This is the day which the Lord has made.’ And the day after that, ‘Yea, I walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Evil, but I fear no evil.’ Within six days she was saying, ‘I can do all things through Christ Who strengthens me.’ Within five weeks she had been released from the hospital, and for the last fourteen years she has been carrying out her responsibilities as a leading teacher in Southern California”

It seems that the number of diseases we are subject to as human beings is endless. There are so many kinds of diseases, disorders, and dysfunctions that doctors can barely keep track of them all. And new ones are being added all the time [AIDS - now the leading cause of death worldwide among people age 25-44, according to the World Health Organization] [CDC journal - "Emerging Infectious Diseases"].

Does God care about that? Is he moved by sickness and disease? And if so, what can we expect Him to do about it? What promises has He made concerning our physical health and well-being?

This morning we are going to consider the compassion of Christ as He minister’s to those who are sick and hurting. I believe the awesome, healing power of Jesus is the same, “Yesterday, today, and forever.” What we see Jesus doing some 2,000 years ago, He can do today. Do you believe this morning???

Matthew 15:29 – 31

29Jesus left there and went along the Sea of Galilee. Then he went up on a mountainside and sat down. 30Great crowds came to him, bringing the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute and many others, and laid them at his feet; and he healed them. 31The people were amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled made well, the lame walking and the blind seeing. And they praised the God of Israel.

1. Coming to Jesus

a. Where ever Jesus went He drew a crowd.

i. Folks were naturally drawn to Jesus.

ii. For wherever Jesus was amazing things transpired.

1. Whether they were present when Jesus was teaching, and how He spoke as one with authority.

2. Whether they were present when Jesus was healing folks of various diseases.

3. Whether He was confronting the religious leaders of His day.

b. Some may have been drawn to Jesus, wondering if He is the promised Messiah spoken of in Isaiah 35:5 & 6

5 Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. 6Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy. Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert.

i. Having heard of the miracles of Jesus folks wanted to see for themselves the miracles of Christ.

ii. Having heard of the miracles of Jesus folks wanted to experience for themselves the healing touch of Christ.

iii. Only the promised Messiah could do what Jesus was doing, the miracles themselves testify to who Jesus was.

c. Matthew tells us that great crowds came to Jesus on this occasion.

i. We can tell by what is said that folks were coming to Jesus to experience healing.