Download
1 / 30
300 likes | 436 Views
CHRIST. BASICS. ChristHealer Making Us Whole! Matthew 12. It was one of the toughest questions I have ever been asked as a pastor!. The eleven year old boy looked at me with great passion and emotion, tears running down his cheeks, and said to me….
E N D
CHRIST BASICS ChristHealer Making Us Whole! Matthew 12
It was one of the toughest questions I have ever been asked as a pastor!
The eleven year old boy looked at me with great passion and emotion, tears running down his cheeks, and said to me…
“I prayed to God that He would heal my Nana and He didn’t. She died! Pastor Bill, Why didn’t God answer my prayer?”
Against the background of many scriptures like our text this morning an answer, any answer, to this young lads questions seems to come up lacking!
“But when Jesus knew it, He withdrew from there. And great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them all.”Matthew 12:15
“God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain, it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain
If Lewis is right, then what is God ‘shouting’ about to us? Scripture suggests three things…
Finding Your Purpose in Your Illness or Suffering God desires to do more than simply heal our physical bodies!
“...and said, ‘If you diligently heed the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes…
…I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the Lord who heals you.’” Exodus 15:26
“Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.”
Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” 2 Corinthians 12:8-9
God can use physical suffering to produce spiritual growth in us... A higher purpose for our existence!
God can use physical suffering to produce spiritual growth in us... A disconnect from the things of this life!
God can use physical suffering to produce spiritual growth in us... An incredibly powerful dependence on Him!
Broken World, Broken People We live in a fallen world and often fail to see we are healed everyday!
“Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, saying, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’
Jesus answered, ‘Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him. I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day;
…the night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.’ When He had said these things, He spat on the ground and made clay…
…with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. And He said to him, ‘Go, wash in the pool of Siloam’ (which is translated, Sent). So he went and washed…
Heavens Great Promise Someday, the promise of Matthew 12:15 will be fulfilled for us all!
Not a cop-out, but an expression of the Sovereignty of God!
“And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, ‘Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be…
…their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed…
…away.’ Then He who sat on the throne said, ‘Behold, I make all things new.’” Revelation 21:3-5
The Great Healing! Embracing our Infirmity or Suffering as a Channel of God’s Immense Presence!
