Churches That Heal - Part 1

Churches That Heal - Part 1

Thesis: We need to commit here at New Life Community Church to create an environment that fosters spiritual healing for those who are wounded and in need of God’s touch.

Scripture Text:

John 5:1-17:

1Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews. 2Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 3Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. 5One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”

7“Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”

8Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” 9At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.

The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, 10and so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.”

11But he replied, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’”

12So they asked him, “Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?”

13The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.

14Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” 15The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.

16So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jews persecuted him. 17Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working.” 18For this reason the Jews tried all the harder to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

Psalm 147:1-3(NIV)

1 Praise the LORD.

How good it is to sing praises to our God,

how pleasant and fitting to praise him!

2 The LORD builds up Jerusalem;

he gathers the exiles of Israel.

3 He heals the brokenhearted

and binds up their wounds.

Psalm 147:1-3 (The Message)

Hallelujah!

It’s a good thing to sing praise to our God;

praise is beautiful, praise is fitting.

GOD’s the one who rebuilds Jerusalem,

who regathers Israel’s scattered exiles.

He heals the heartbroken

and bandages their wounds.

Introduction:

Doug Murren wrote the book Churches That Heal and this book has impacted me in a deep and spiritual way. It revealed to me the necessity and the importance here at New Life Community Church that we be a church that heals and restores people’s lives. Murren states, “Churches should heal because people need healing” (2). Such a simple statement but so filled with deep spiritual truth. The church needs to get to work and focus on its divine purpose which is to assist in helping people to heal by the power of the Word.

Doug shared his vision in why he wanted to write a book about this subject. He opens his book in the introduction with this thought:

Why should churches be places of healing? That’s the question I got from several doctors when I mentioned the title of this book to them. We have modern medicine. We have great scientific understanding. We have new breakthroughs occurring nearly every day. Why in the world would churches want to get into the act (1)?

Have you ever thought about this question? Why would churches want to heal? Why not just go through the traditions of religion and never let it impact you or someone else. Do you know how hard it is to help people go through the healing process? Do you know how much work it is to help people through the healing process? They will scream in pain and you will have to listen to it and comfort them. They will moan and groan and complain about the pain and you will have to listen to it with compassion! They will get mad and angry because they are tired of the suffering through the pain and then they will take it out on you. They will lose proper body functions and wet themselves and create a mess that you will have to clean up. They will continue to do bad things to their bodies and expect you to fix them with a power pill. You will have to learn to deal with death because not everyone will be healed. You will have to deal with the loss of ones you learned to love. People will die in your arms and you will be able to do nothing but pray for them. Why in the world would the church want to get involved in this difficult heart wrenching process?