Work Out Series

There is the gift of divine healing. Do I believe in divine healing? You come back tonight and hear me pray over the prayerlist, and you will have your answer to that question.

I heard Calvin Miller, the popular Christian author and speaker, tell of being called to the hospital because a woman who was a member at the church where he was interim (Council Road Baptist Church, OKC) was expected to die of heart failure. The doctors said she was soon to die. With the family present, he prayed for this woman to be healed. As he and a staff member of that church left the hospital, the other minister rebuked him for his prayer. Why would he pray such a prayer? Obviously, she was about to die.

That night a young man died in a motorcycle accident in Tulsa. They took his heart and performed an emergency heart transplant on the woman Calvin Miller prayed over. Several weeks later she stepped through a huge decorated heart on the stage at Council Road Baptist Church as a testimony of healing. Yes, I believe in divine healing.

I do not believe in divine healers. My understanding is that many years ago the American Medical Association offered Oral Roberts a million dollars tax free if he could produce one case of a verifiable miracle. Oral Roberts has yet to collect his million dollars. Hank Hannegraft met with Benny Hinn and asked about his healing ministry. Benny Hinn assured him that he had seen many miracles of healing. Hannegraft, who is the radio personality of the Bible Answer Man, asked for Hinn to give him the top three examples. After pestering Benny Hinn for several months, Hannigraft was finally given the three best examples of miraculous healing. After thoroughly researching those examples, it could not be sustained that God miraculously healed those people. Honestly, these divine healers that you see on TV or in the convention centers of our land cannot stand up under investigation. That is just the opposite of Jesus and the apostle’s miracles. Blind people actually did see, lame people actually did walk, and leprous people were actually cured.

The gift of miracles actually means “powers.” It may have to do with the power of exorcism, the power to cast out demons. George McDowell told me that before he went over seas as a missionary he tended to downplay the issue of demon possession. Then he went overseas to the mission field. Many of our missionaries have encountered demon possessed people and participated in exorcisms.

On the whole it is possible that these gifts are in operation today. But when they are used they serve the church, contribute to its oneness, bring glory to God, and advance the gospel of Jesus Christ.

There are the spectacular gifts. There are the service gifts.

II. SERVICE GIFTS

The spectacular gifts have all the glitter and glamour, but it is the service gifts that are so very important to God’s work. The service gifts include such spiritual gifts as faith, wisdom, knowledge, discernment, administration, benevolence, and mercy. The church can go a long time without the gift of tongues or miracles or healing, but the church will have trouble just existing without service gifts.