Sunday 03-10-13

Jesus Heals with shadow-site

 

 And He Healed them all: The Healing Ministry of Jesus VII.mp3 

 

Key Text:

Luke 7:11-23

Luke 7:36-50

Luke 8:1-3

Luke 8:26-40

  

Overview:

At this point we are seeing many reaffirmations of lessons we have learned over the course of the past 2 months.

Among those are..

  • God (through Jesus) sees you and is aware of you and is moved with compassion towards you. YOU ARE NOT INVISIBLE TO GOD!
  • That Jesus reaffirms and strengthens wavering faith.
  • We need to come to Him, not wait for Him to come to us.
  • Even those strong in faith (like John the Baptist) sometimes need strengthening.
  • Jesus never wavered from faith because neither circumstances nor man ever dictated His focus. As He heard…as He saw – He spoke and did!

A great portion of the time we spent this morning was again focused on healing being a kingdom issue.

This was initially demonstrated by the answer Jesus gave to John the Baptist through his disciples.

Let’s read it,

“And John, calling two of his disciples to him, sent them to the Lord, saying, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” And when the men had come to him, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to you, saying, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?'”

In that hour He healed many people of diseases and plagues and evil spirits, and on many who were blind He bestowed sight.

And He answered them, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”  ~

Luke 7:18-23

Remembering that John was a Jew and so therefore his question had a Jewish ontology to it – is Jesus the Coming One? Is He the Messiah who will deliver us from our enemies and establish God’s Kingdom on earth?

Notice Jesus’ response was both verbal and demonstrative. Before answering the question of John’s disciples He…healed many people of diseases and plagues and evil spirits, and on many who were blind He bestowed sight” THEN He said, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”

Don’t miss the significance of this…Jesus answered the question John was asking! “Are you the One through Whom the Kingdom comes?” By healing sicknesses, delivering from demons and raising the dead – THIS DEMONSTRATED THE KINGDOM OF GOD TO JOHN!

It demonstrated the coming liberation from the kingdom of death and darkness and despair into the kingdom of Light and Life and Jesus believed a clear demonstration of His coming rule was deliverance from sickness, disease, demons and even physical death itself!

We also had a very vulnerable question asked tonight, that most people would not care to ask because it takes courage.

The Question:

If people so easily received healing who were not even born again in the ministry of Jesus, why does it seem so hard to receive healing or faith for healing once you are born again?

Answer:

Listen to the recording.

 

Hi my name is Mark and though I am opposed to titles, I am currently the only Pastor (shepherd/elder) serving our assembly right now.

I have been Pastoring in one capacity or another for nearly 30 years now, though never quite like I am today.

Early in 2009 the Lord revealed to me that the way we had structured our assembly (church) was not scriptural in that it was out of sync with what Paul modeled for us in the New Testament. In truth, I (like many pastors I am sure) never even gave this fundamental issue of church structure the first thought. I had always assumed that church structure was largely the same everywhere and had been so from the beginning. While I knew Paul had some very stringent things to say about the local assembly of believers, the point of our gatherings together and who may or may not lead, I never even considered studying these issues but assumed we were all pretty much doing it right...safety in numbers right?! Boy, I couldn't have been more wrong!

So needless to say, my discovery that we had been doing it wrong for nearly two decades was a bit of a shock to me! Now, this "revelation" did not come about all at once but over the course of a few weeks. We were a traditional single pastor led congregation. It was a top-bottom model of ministry which is in part biblical, but not in the form of a monarchy.

The needed change did not come into focus until following 9 very intense months of study and discussions with those who were leaders in our church at the time.

We now understand and believe that the Bible teaches co-leadership with equal authority in each local assembly. Having multiple shepherds with God's heart and equal authority protects both Shepherds and sheep. Equal accountability keeps authority and doctrine in check. Multiple shepherds also provide teaching with various styles and giftings with leadership skills which are both different and complementary.

For a while we had two co-pastors (elders) (myself and one other man) who led the church with equal authority, but different giftings. We both taught in our own ways and styles, and our leadership skills were quite different, but complimentary. We were in complete submission to each other and worked side-by-side in the labor of shepherding the flock.

Our other Pastor has since moved on to other ministry which has left us with just myself. While we currently only have one Pastor/Elder, it is our desire that God, in His faithfulness and timing, may bring us more as we grow in maturity and even in numbers.

As to my home, I have been married since 1995 to my wonderful wife Terissa Woodson who is my closest friend and most trusted ally.

As far as my education goes, I grew up in a Christian home, but questioned everything I was ever taught.

I graduated from Bible college in 1990 and continued to question everything I was ever taught (I do not mention my college in order to avoid being labeled).

Perhaps my greatest preparation for ministry has been life and ministry itself. To quote an author I have come to enjoy namely Fredrick Buechner in his writing entitled, Now and Then, "If God speaks to us at all other than through such official channels as the Bible and the church, then I think that He speaks to us largely through what happens to us...if we keep our hearts open as well as our ears, if we listen with patience and hope, if we remember at all deeply and honestly, then I think we come to recognize beyond all doubt, that, however faintly we may hear Him, He is indeed speaking to us, and that, however little we may understand of it, His word to each of us is both recoverable and precious beyond telling." ~ Fredrick Buechner

Well that is about all there is of interest to tell you about me.

I hope our ministry here is a blessing to you and your family. I also hope that it is only a supplement to a local church where you are committed to other believers in a community of grace.

~God Bless!