Power Over Sickness:

Introduction:

Good morning Message of Peace!

Next Sunday is Friend’s Day. It is a day that we encourage you to bring a friend to church. Think of a friend that you can invite to church next Sunday.

• The message will be a message of hope.
• We will also praying that God will touch and bless your friend.
• So, let’s all try to bring a friend to church next Sunday.

We come today to the last message on the series Power to Witness:

• We have seen in Acts 1:8 that Jesus said: But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
• What kind of power is this that Jesus promised we would receive in order for us to be effective witness of Jesus?
  • We have seen that is a power over the enemy: Luke 10: 19 – I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.
  • Last week we saw that it is Power to Live For Him – To live a life of honesty, integrity, a life that will truly make us a light and salt to the world.
  • Today I want to talk about the power he gives us over sickness and diseases.

Matthew 10
7As you go, preach this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven is near.’ 8Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.

Mark 6
12They went out and preached that people should repent. 13They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them.

Luke 9
1When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, 2and he sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.
8″When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is set before you. 9Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God is near you.’

Sickness is such a terrible thing. From flu to cancer, there is no such thing as a good sickness. No one wants to be sick, and when we get sick, we will do anything, spend money and do everything within our power to get well.

1. What is the cause of sickness?
2. Is divine healing part of Biblical teaching?
3. Why then is not everybody healed?

What is the cause of sickness?

• It was never God’s intent that we should be sick.
• The Bible declares that God made everything beautiful in his time. After every act of creation, God said: It is good, and after he created man he said: It is very good.
• The Bible says that sickness came into the world because of sin:

“Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned.” Romans 5:12

• Sickness is a precursor of death, thus sickness came through sin.
• Not that everyone who is sick is because he or she sinned.
  • There are sicknesses that were caused by individual sin
  • Jesus healed once a man and said, go and don’t sin any more so something worse does not happen to you.
• But ultimately, sickness came because of sin
• In the passages we saw that healing the sick and casting out demons happened simultaneously.
  • Why casting out demons is associated with divine healing? Acts 10: 38 says that “… God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.”
• It was never God’s desire that we experienced diseases

Is divine healing part of Biblical teaching?

• The passages, we clear find that the commandment of Christ to his followers to preach the Kingdom of God included the command to heal the sick and to cast out demons.
• There are two important passages in the Old Testament that establishes that Healing of the Sick is part of God’s plan of redemption.
  • If sin is the cause of sickness, than Jesus’ work of redemption also applies to our healing.
  • Psalm 103: 1 – 2

1 Praise the LORD, my soul;
all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
2 Praise the LORD, my soul,
and forget not all his benefits—
3 who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,

• Isaiah 53: 5 –

5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.

Years later Jesus came and the Bible says that:

14 When Jesus came into Peter’s house, he saw Peter’s mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever. 15 He touched her hand and the fever left her, and she got up and began to wait on him.

16 When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick. 17 This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah:

“He took up our infirmities
and bore our diseases.”
Healing is thus part of the work of Christ. The same Jesus, who forgives sins, heals sicknesses and diseases.

• It is not only part of the Biblical teaching but it is part of the preaching of the Gospel.
• Jesus is the same.
• He is the healer.

Why then is not everybody healed?

• That is a good question and the answer is  “I don’t know”.
• God is sovereign and in the end he does what he wants for he knows best.
• One day we all will have a glorified body and the Bible says there will be no more sickness.

But I do know there is a clear mandate to pray for the sick:

James 5: 13 – 16
13Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. 14Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. 16Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.

I want to make two statements in closing:

1. Every healing within the Christian community belongs to the entire body, including those who are not healed. The healed one is a sign to all that the resurrection of our bodies, the ultimate act of God’s healing ministry, is on the way. Healing is a sacramental event for the entire church. It witnesses to the reality that Christ has come and is coming again. It is a glimpse of the New Heaven and the New Earth.

1. The basic attitude of restricting hope for fear of disappointment is not realism but pessimism. When we affirm God’s will and power to heal, we are not offering false hope to anyone. Our offer is one of reasonable hope. No one approaches anything in Christian ministry with guarantees. There is no certainty that everyone we witness to will believe in Christ, yet we continue to witness. So likewise, where there is no certainty that everyone we pray for will be healed, we continue to pray.

Mark 16