INTRODUCTION
Larry Miley grew up in the northeast corner of the Ivory Coast, where his father was a missionary physician. When he was 14, he was laid low by a bout of malaria, and his father gave him an injection. All seemed well at first, and Dr. Miley returned to his hospital, not knowing the injection would produce a severe reaction that would take Larry to the edge of the grave.
Mrs. Miley was preparing for her sewing and Bible class on the verandah when a blood-curdling scream filled the house. Rushing through the door, she saw her daughter Lynette standing in near hysteria before Larry, who seemed disoriented, confused, his twitching eyes recessing deeply into their sockets.
“There’s something wrong with my eyes,” Larry gasped. “Help me!”
As Lynette ran for her father, Mrs. Miley ushered Larry to the bed and covered his eyes with a washcloth. Just as the doctor arrived, Larry’s body arched in a violent spasm. Like a woman in the throes of birth pains, regular contractions wracked him, sending him convulsing this way and that, threatening to cut off his respiration. Larry’s heart grew fainter. Hours passed. The spasms grew stronger, and Larry became weaker. Dr. Miley knew well that Larry’s survival in that remote outpost was unlikely.
Suddenly he remembered that James 5:14 says, “Call for the elders of the church.” The only “elders” were fellow missionaries living nearby, and they were summoned at once. Eddie and Sandra Payne, Howard and Willie Gage, Lynette and her brother Lynn. As they knelt by the bed and prayed, Dr. Miley anointed Larry with the anointing oil.
Mrs. Miley recalls: Slowly, like oil being poured over troubled waters, a deep calm replaced the suffocating fear. We sensed before we even raised our eyes that the crisis had passed. Larry was asleep and slept peacefully through the night.
Next day as I prepared the noon meal, Larry came bouncing into the kitchen. “I’m all well now,” he announced brightly, “so I think I’ll go hunting! God is good!”
God be praised. He is still in the healing business and His door is open to you.
Welcome back to our 10th week of our biblical foundation series today we're talking specifically about divine healing and how we serve a healing God.
WE BELIEVE that the work of Christ on the Cross provides healing of the human body (Isaiah 53:4–5; James 5:14–16; 1 Peter 2:24).
BODY
Sickness and its inevitable consequence of death is a clear consequence of sin on humanity. And so, when Jesus came into the world he came to bring an end to death and therefore sickness as well but we're living in the in-between in which sickness and death still prevails and yet Christ has that victory.
In the gospel there are 51 individual accounts of healings aside from the times when it said that Jesus healed the multitudes. These stories take the time to zoom in to the individual accounts of these people so that we can learn from their healings. And what in such case there was a man who was born blind the disciples ask a very important question turn with me to
John 9:1-7
Jesus made it clear that Sickness and disease is not a direct result of a person’s personal sin but rather the result of the curse of sin on mankind. And if you keep reading on this story you would see that the neighbors and people around this young man that was healed that could now see recognize that Christ must be acting on behalf of God if not be God himself because the healing happened. In the Old Testament one of the names of God is ‘Hani Yahweh Roph’eka—I am the Lord who heals you.
Exodus 15:2 He said, “If you will listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in his sight, obeying his commands and keeping all his decrees, then I will not make you suffer any of the diseases I sent on the Egyptians; for I am the LORD who heals you.”
You may have heard his name as Jehovah Roph’e—just A quick side note, the name Jehovah is synonymous with the name Yahweh it's just the Latin variant of what scholars believe the Hebrew YHWH would have been pronounced and since YHWH was so holy that the priests would not read the word but instead substitute Adonai--the Hebrew word for Lord the Latin variant became a popular substance for Yahweh but Yahweh is what most scholars agree is the most appropriate pronunciation for the Hebrew word. So, whether you say Jehovah Roph’e or Yahweh Roph’e, it doesn't really matter as we are pointing to God regardless.
The Old Testament refers to God as both Yahweh Roph’eka and Yahweh Roph’e, Which could both be translated as I am the Lord your physician but in the Hebrew the suffix KA delineates a singular action drawing the attention to the individual in a personal relationship. We see throughout scripture that he is the Lord who heals and not just in general, but he heals you.
Psalm 103:3 He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases.
There is no disease he cannot heal it is in his nature to move against the afflictions and torments of those who come to believe in him. In the same way that 1 John 4:8 says that God is love and it is God's nature to love, And because he is the great physician, the God who heals it is also in his nature to heal us.
Malachi 3:6a I am the Lord and I do not change.
And because he is the God who heals then he is still the God who heals you today! Because sin is a cause of sick this in this world when he completed his work on the cross he healed us through atonement. You're probably saying well that's fine pastor he headed by taking away my sin and that is just the very tip of the iceberg and how he heals us. We are created in the image of God, and many believe that as such we are three in one Body soul and spirit. And so, in the same way he heals all three parts of who we are. He heals the spirits which was wounded and separated from him when we sinned. He heals the soul that has become corrupt through this world and helps us to change our thinking and thought patterns and who we are, and he heals our physical body!
As I was researching and reading other messages on healing this weekend I saw several messages on why you're not healed and often it came back down to not having enough faith of the individual but here's the thing Jesus never turns away those who had little or weak faith but instead he meets them where they're at and brings the miracle to strengthen their faith.
Those who are sick often find it hard to express faith and Jesus did a variety of things to help them out sometimes like the story you read earlier he uses culturally accepted practices with divine results. I know today when we read the story in John 9 and we see that Jesus made mud and smear on some guy’s eyes this is shocking to us because we know that saliva is dirty we know that mud is not something you want in your eyes and that's not the way to heal somebody but there were many travelling physicians around during Jesus time that would claim to have healing for the right price and do the very same thing period so this didn't shock those that were watching but the results did.
Benjamin Franklin said, “God heals but the physician takes the fee.”
But he didn't just follow one set method of healing he met people where they were at and gave them what they needed some, such as the leper who hadn't been touched in years he reached out and touched him in the healing making himself unclean.
Matthew 8:1-4
And even in the midst of meeting a need at the physical body he often reached out to acknowledge the need for the atonement in the spiritual. Jump over with me to
Matthew 9:1-8
He responded to the needy no matter the position that they had listened to this next story jump down to verse 18
Matthew 9:18-33
In these stories we have a father with great faith but the daughter is unconscious she doesn't have any faith and yet Jesus heals. We have the woman so desperate that she reaches out and just touches the hem of his garment and she is healed. We have the daughter dying on the way Jesus on the way and Jesus still raises her from the dead. We have the two blind men crying out have mercy on us and their faith is what heals them. And then we have the demon possessed man whose soul is possessed and Jesus cast out the demon. Jesus heals because God is the God who heals.
And even after Jesus ascends into heaven the healings continue in some pretty unusual ways.
Acts 5:15-16
15 As a result of the apostles’ work, sick people were brought out into the streets on beds and mats so that Peter’s shadow might fall across some of them as he went by.16 Crowds came from the villages around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those possessed by evil spirits, and they were all healed.
Acts 19:11-12
11 God did extraordinary miracles through Paul12 so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.
God is in the business of healing and each church should have the presence of God's gift to the church as we see written about in first Corinthians chapter 12. I think this morning we can all agree God heals.
When I was in high school I struggled with very bad seasonal allergies where I was basically congested for most of the year due to allergies. And no allergy medications seemed to take the congestion away at the same time I also struggled with airborne allergies of perfumes that would give me asthma like symptoms. And I remember listening to a message on healing and just thinking God enough is enough I want to be healed. So, I went to the elders of the church and the church I grew up at in Connecticut, had what they called the upper room for those that wanted further prayer after service. And I remember going in there and saying I want to be healed from these allergies, and I didn't feel any different that day, but I left there believing and it's been 20 plus years since I've struggled with seasonal allergies or had an asthma-like symptoms due to any type of perfume. I've seen people get healed couple years ago in Tanacross grandma Agnes came up to me and asked for prayer for her left eye and the physicians had told her that there was no more hope that she was going to go blind appeared and I follow what the Bible said I laid hands on the sick and she was healed. I saw her later on at Thanksgiving and asked her how her eye was doing, and she started looking around saying I can see this, and I can see that, and she was so excited to testify about what God did.
So, what is the purpose of divine healing in the church today?
I believe there are two main reasons in which we see divine healing occurring in the church today:
1. Divine healing demonstrates the power of God to a lost and desperate world.
My brother was visiting last week, and he kept telling me that he felt like we hadn't really talked but at the same time he didn't ever really want to hear what God was doing in my life because ultimately he is really angry at God, and it really breaks my heart to say that. But one of the things he said that he really wanted to know at least he claimed he wanted to know was what miracles had I seen. You see the world is desperate for the supernatural. Look at all the paranormal activity shows or the shows investigating aliens or the shows that leap into the unknown or the supernatural the world wants to see what is real because so much of it out there is fake or it's dark in Jesus is the light.
Jesus healed as a way to authenticate his message. We read earlier in the beginning of Matthew 9 about the time when Jesus healed the paralyzed man. And one of the reasons why he healed the man was to prove that he had the power to forgive sins. He asked the Pharisees when they said that it was blasphemy that only God forgive sins what is easier to say your sins are forgiven or get off your mat and walk and so he did both!
Healing the church does the same for our own testimony period people want to know they're desperate to know is the God that you talk about real and how can I know it. I was talking with a young man this week that was struggling with demons and I told him that I've seen demons too. My brother told me that he had seen a spirit that was scaring others around him I would call that a demon and he was fascinated by it. When I was living in moose Creek apartments I had a demon appear on my dresser and I tell you what church I was not fascinated by this demon I was furious, and I started yelling at this thing and I told it to get out of my house in the name of Jesus. And when I was talking with this young man this week who had been struggling with nightmares and demons and other things because he started to explore the occult I said hey we can pray right now if you want and he said he did and so we prayed and the next day he said that prayer really helped me for the first time in a while I'm doing better.
Healing, no matter the sort, changes the story for the individual because they see what God has done And in the same way it authenticates our message. We need to be willing to step out in faith and follow what the Bible says and watch people get healed.
Hebrews 2:3-4 3 So what makes us think we can escape if we ignore this great salvation that was first announced by the Lord Jesus himself and then delivered to us by those who heard him speak?4 And God confirmed the message by giving signs and wonders and various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit whenever he chose.
2. Divine healing demonstrates the love of God.
Christ healed to authenticate his message, but he also healed out of great compassion on the suffering for humanity.
Matthew 9:35-36
Healing is a breakthrough of love in a world that is bound by the curse of sin. On the one hand Jesus won a victory over death through his resurrection but on the other hand it's effect will not bring an end to death for believers until the time of our resurrection or the time when we're caught up for the meaning of the Lord in the air. In this way the victory over death has been assured and the chains of sickness can now be broken. God's love was exhibited in his provision of healing within the church for divine deliverance from physical and mental suffering.
CONCLUSION
How can I be healed?
3 words prayer, obedience and faith.
I think obedience is just as key as the other two are here. When Jesus healed the man who was blind with the mud he told him to go bathe in the pool of Shalom now if he didn't I don't think the healing would have happened. There are multiple times when Jesus gives clear instructions afterwards and with the exception of don't tell anybody he meant for those instructions to be followed out to the letter for the healing to happen. In the book of James, the apostle asks: are any of you suffering? Are any of you sick?
Listen to what's written in James chapter 5 starting in verse 13:
James 5:13-15
The passage here says that the prayer offered in faith will heal the sick. Doesn't say it might it says it will. He says for us to make it a practice to call on the elders of the church to come and pray anointing with oil in the name of the Lord. The oil I have up here I've been asked about before and it's not just some religious thing it's because the Bible tells us to do it so I'm going to do it and I'm going to trust and believe in the healing now I could go into a lot of other reasons why some people don't get healed or what may be the reason why and the biggest reason might just be that God's answer to the prayer is not yet.
What I do know is that faith is the key that unlocks the door of divine blessing. When we have done our part we must leave the rest to God. Someone wisely said, “where there is greater atmosphere of faith, there will be more healings.” We need to cultivate an atmosphere of faith and trust in the biblical truth that God is the God who will heal you and he is the God who heals today!
Altar:
Now is the time when we put faith to action…
The altar calls straight from the book of James here are any of you suffering hardships you should pray and that's what the altar is for.
The Bible says in Matthew 18:20: For where two or three gather together as my followers, I am there among them.”
By my count we have more than three which tells me God is here, and he is ready to move. Are any of you sick? Could I have the elders of the church Chuck, Annette, Alvin and Connie Join me at the front and if you're sick and you're wanting healing today we have the oil and we have faith and we will pray.
May the Lord bless you and keep you.
25 May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you.
26 May the Lord show you his favor and give you his peace.’
