Bible Teaching

Calvary Temple Teaching Library

The Hope of Healing Pt.2

Study on the doctrine of healing and, you know, it's an interesting thing whenever we talk about this doctrine of divine healing. In the last couple of centuries here in America especially, it's been very controversial. Theologians throughout history have debated on whether or not it is, in and of itself, a true doctrine of the church, or whether it's a specific phenomenon based upon the sovereignty of God. To determine that, we have to understand whether it is something that is specific, that it is something that God chooses in His sovereignty to do based upon His own discretion solely, or whether or not His sovereignty is manifested through an eternal promise and an established work in the atonement. That's what we're going to look at this morning, the fact that divine healing is an established doctrine because it is found in the atonement of Jesus. It was purchased for the whole church. Can you say "Praise God" for that? It's an accomplished fact. It's as dependable as our redemption. It's as active in our lives as our ongoing sanctification. We are being sanctified; amen? In actuality, we are being healed.

I look at this body, and I have to face the reality that every seven years an inferior set of cells begin to manifest itself. It's seen in a lot of different ways. We see it in the metabolism, the elasticity of your skin. Your hair turns a strange gray, and we call it aging, but in actuality, I'm being healed. I'm going to decline until I'm made whole, praise God! Amen? Sin's affect on me is still at work, but God's promise of wholeness is real, praise God. One of these days I'm going to take on a new body, and corruption will take on incorruption, and mortality will take on immortality. That's what Jesus bought us on the cross.

Now, what about the temporary interventions to where He touches us and makes us whole as we're just like everybody else, Christians have to deal with sin that's in the world today and the consequence of it. Disease is one of the consequences of man's original sin. "The day that you eat thereof you will surely, (say it) die." Not only spiritually, but man who was created to live forever, sin came and it begins to destroy us in this process called aging and death in the natural. Does God in our lives transcend this law by His grace and through faith? The answer to that is yes.

We want to talk about this as we saw in our last session. Just a moment in review. Remember in your notes, Exodus 15, and we saw in the Scripture in Exodus, Chapter 15, verse 26, where the Lord declares, "... I am the Lord that healeth thee." "I am the Lord that healeth thee." He said in the midst of all of this that He would put upon us none of the diseases which were put upon the Egyptians.

Along with this statement, though, of the Lord being our healer, Jehovah Rapha, we realize that there are some conditions. In verse 26, He said, "...If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight ..." So there's a need to constantly spend time in fellowship with Him, in His presence. Hear what the Lord is saying to us as a people, and then to live in obedience, to be doers of the Word, not hearers only. Faith without works is dead, being alone. There's an action that's required. One of the best ways to make ourselves candidates for God's intervention and for divine healing to manifest is to stay busy about Father's business.

Some of us here take vitamins and work out, and we try to do all of these things in the natural. There's nothing wrong with that, just don't trust in it! Don't trust in your workouts and your supplements any more than you would trust in medical science. There's nothing wrong with it, but the joy of the Lord is our strength. Do you believe that? God's presence makes us strong, the joy of obedience, the being busy about Father's business. What did Jesus say? "I have supplements that you know nothing of." Amen? To do the--what?--will of my Father. Praise God! Jesus could outlast anybody in a day's work. Why? Because He was about Father's business; He was constantly doing the will of God, and He was divinely energized. Amen?

Being about God's business and being given to it, gives you supernatural energy and strength. It's a good thing. I think I live in that sometimes. There's times when you go in it, and you just don't get tired; and you don't need food. You're just about the business of Father. This is something that's here for us, and this is what the Spirit's trying to tell us here. If we're hearkening unto the voice of the Lord, and we're doing what's right, God's going to sustain us. Part of that sustenance is, we can't be about Father's business, we can't be working, if we're in bed sick, can we? So God sustains us. He drives these things out of our lives. This is part of the process of walking in divine health, because I don't know about you, I would rather be in divine health than to be divinely healed; amen? I'd rather it just not come. We're talking about these two subjects in one. Look what He goes on to say. He says, "and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians..." The judgment of sin and sickness, the consequence of living separate from God, and that's what Egypt was experiencing, and Egypt is a type of the what?--world.

Do you see, then, another good reason to come out from among the world and be separate? This is a judgment upon the world. The world is a system. It's the kingdom of darkness. The more we play with the world, and the more we follow the world's laws and philosophies, the more we're going to be affected by the curse that's upon it. Though when we come out and begin to live lives of faith, and we're living solely for the kingdom of God and seeking first the kingdom of God, you will not experience to the degree that the majority do, the affects of disease and sickness because "I am the Lord that (say it) healeth thee. Come and hang out with Me! Separate yourself from the world! Don't live by its laws! Don't seek its treasures! Don't move in its philosophies!" And you are bringing to yourself Jehovah Rapha, divine health, the Lord our Healer. You see, it's a spiritual force, and we're living separate from it, as we're seeking the kingdom, living by faith. So getting healed and living in health is a lot more than just praying a prayer; it's a lifestyle. It's a lifestyle of being separated to God, being one of God's messengers, and He keeps us strong and healthy to be about His business.

"Well, I've known guys that were sold out for the kingdom of God, and they were sick and had body ailments all their lives." Yes, me too, and I've known people that were the most wicked that I've ever seen that never got sick. That's not what we're talking about. We're talking about a basic principle. Yes, there are exceptions on both sides. God's sovereign, He can do whatever He wants. It doesn't bother me. What I do know is, what I want to find out is, how can I walk in the promise to stay healthy and strong and have this provision made, and this is one of the ways that He's telling us.

Then we went over to Exodus 23, remember? We'll take just a couple more minutes in review. In Exodus 23, verse 25, the Lord talking about bringing the children into the land of promise, and that the angel of the Lord was going to go before them and drive the enemies out. He said make sure that you don't provoke Him, for He will not pardon transgression; we're up in verse 21. "But if thou shalt indeed obey his voice, and do all that I speak; then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies..." Now, that's a promise that we can embrace for the natural, thank God for that, those people in the natural that are opposing us. How many of you know that there are people out there that are trying to oppose the church? There are people out there that are opposing you specifically. There are people that don't like us because of who we are as the light of the world and the salt of the earth. Jesus said it this way. He said, "They're going to hate you because they what?--hated Me first."

I talked about this in Men's Breakfast. The world is becoming more wicked. Iniquity is abounding, and you and I are supposedly being renewed day by day. We should be becoming more like Jesus, more separate from the world; so let me ask you the question: are you more hated today on the job than you used to be? Are you less offensive or more offensive than you used to be? I'm not talking about your personality. I'm not talking about being harsh or critical. I'm not talking about being stupid and jumping up on the table and yelling, "Repent!" at work. I'm talking about living a life that's separate and holy.

I was sharing with the people the other day, I've had two occasions now in the last month and a half where people have looked at me, and I'll paraphrase statements that they've made in just sharing with them, and people responding to me, and two people in the last period of a couple of months, and in essence here's what they said. "You don't know about God." Their responses were different. One said, "Man, just listening to you causes goose bumps." The other guy said, "I'm afraid of you, man." They both basically were saying, "You don't know about God, you know God, don't you? You hang out with God, don't you?" Yes, I do, and I'm not part of you guys; totally separate. Don't do things the way you want, don't want your treasure, don't believe in your laws; don't believe in your philosophy. I'm an ambassador from another planet; amen? I'll tell you what. I feel more like an alien every day I live here now. I hardly even recognize this place anymore. It sure doesn't resemble my home, and I'm here to share with you truth that will make you free. The fact is the world will hate you for it.

Sometimes there will be a momentary respect. "Oh, man, I admire your commitment. I admire..." Then they'll turn and hate you and want to rend you when opportunity presents itself. Are you embracing that? Living in that realm is part of what causes God to supernaturally sustain us and keep us strong and give us length of days; long life will I give unto you. It's what causes us to prosper in the material realm. It causes us to prosper in the physical realm. Are you living in the supernatural, separate totally to the methods of God and the purposes and glory of God? That's how you live in it.

He goes on and He says that. He says, "If you will indeed obey the voice, and do that that I've spoken, I'll be an enemy to your enemies. Those that love you, I'll love them. Those that bless you, I'll bless. Those that hate you, I'll curse."

Now, you see, Satan hates us, and He wants to destroy us with sickness and disease. He is the number one enemy of our souls. As we're living in obedience to God, God is resisting our enemy, the devil. He's raising that hedge up against him on a basis to where we're not even aware of the things that God is keeping off of us.

Some of us go, "Well, you know, how come I have this cold or this flu that's been going around?" Thank God you don't have cancer; amen? What's He keeping off of you? As we rejoice in all the goodness of God, and that He's gone before us to make a way, so then He goes on, and He says, verse 25, "And ye shall serve the Lord your God, and he shall bless thy bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee." That's one of the promises that we have, beloved, as we're entering this land.

Now, remember the land that we're going in. This will help you a little bit in this study. I will put none of these diseases on you that I put upon who? What is Egypt a type of? The world. They're going in to possess a new land, a land that flows with milk and honey. We're going to live in homes we didn't build, drink from wells we didn't dig. He says, "As you go in to possess this land, I will bless your bread and your water, and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee." What is this land that we're going into? We left Egypt, and we're going into a land of promise, which is typical or symbolic of what?--sanctified, victorious living. It's not heaven; it's a life of victorious living. The Promised Land still has giants; there are no giants in heaven. It's a land of victory. It's a land of sanctification, this land of victorious living where He says, "I will take sickness away from you in this life as you progress in your pursuit of sanctification, victorious lifestyle; and I will take sickness away from the midst of you."

I don't know if you're hearing what I'm hearing, but what I'm hearing is, "The more you're setting out against the enemy, the more you're working to destroy principalities and powers, the more you're resisting the devil, the more you're proclaiming the gospel, the more separate you're becoming from the world's system, the more you're out witnessing and speaking of those things that you've seen and heard, I will take sickness from the midst of you." The more we just lie around and live for ourselves, the more we are susceptible to what everybody else is. But the more we begin to be in tune upon being about Father's business and being at war and diligently pursuing and going and possessing the land, He says, "I will keep you healthy; I will keep you strong. Not so you can run and play; so you can be about My business." That's what supernaturally makes us candidates to live above what's normative in the world.

There're exceptions, I know. There are people that have different physical constitutions. Some of us are stronger than others. Some of us have better immune systems. I think us old people have better immune systems. I do. Today people get--you know what most of you need to do? You need to do what we did. You need to eat lead, play with mercury. You know, they'll shut a store down today. I heard of a store that got closed because a thermometer broke. People come in, in suits and everything. We used to break thermometers and rub the mercury all over coins. Huh? Yes! Look at all the old guys over there, "Yes!" you know! Now, he did have seven fingers on one hand but... People do have different natural immune systems; I understand that. We're talking again about biblical principles, and the principle that I see here is, as we're going to possess the land and being used of God and being blessed in this sanctification process, He's going to take sickness out of the midst of us, because we're busy about His business. It's a good thing to know and to begin to move in those ways.

Then we saw, of course, in the 103 Psalms, "Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: Who forgiveth all of thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases;" Praise God! I see health coming in direct correlation to blessing God, to thanking God. You want to know who's healthy? People that are thankful. Are you thankful for what you have, or are you feeling sorry for yourself? "Oh, they have that, and I don't have this. Everybody else gets a break, and I never get anything. God likes you best, and woe is me; gloom, despair, and agony on me."--Hee Haw. How many of you remember Hee Haw? That was a stupid show. How about the joy of the Lord? How about thankfulness, in everything giving thanks, the Scripture says! "Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name." I am absolutely, totally thankful for God's mercy to me, that He's forgiven my sins, that He's made me a son of God, an heir and a joint-heir with Christ Jesus, an heir of all of His benefits which includes the forgiveness of my sin, and healing of, (how many?) all my diseases, praise God! That anointing that's there in thanksgiving, that anointing that's there in serving.

So many of the diseases that are communicable, never once--now, when I'm in some of these nations, I don't know about you, but I use Purell. Does anybody else? You may not be where I am. I shake hundreds of hands of people, and I know where those hands have been in some of these countries. It's like, "Hey brother. Hey..." Yes, and--putttttt! But, never once did it cross my mind to get Purell, when whether it's in Haiti, Korea, India, Africa, I've put hands on thousands and thousands of people with every disease you could imagine, and never once thought about, "What am I touching, who am I touching, what do they have?" You want to know why? Because greater is He that is in me than he that's in the world. Amen? Because that anointing that's come out of these hands will kill anything that's trying to come back! Never crossed my mind! What I'm talking about is living in that anointing, living in that realm of faith, knowing the greater One that's in us, and thankful to be about the business, and blessing the Lord with all of our hearts and souls, mind, body, strength. He'll put none of these diseases upon us, and heals us of all of our diseases. That brings us to where we're going to be this morning as we're talking about being about His business, and the healing that's in the atonement.

Let's turn over to Matthew for just a moment and take a look at Jesus' life. A couple of things we have to be aware of right up front--how many of you know you're not Jesus? That would be a good place to start, okay? Yet, we need to understand, though we are not Jesus, Jesus' ministry was performed solely as a man, and totally as God--I don't know; can't answer it. The incarnation we do know. We do know that Jesus was subject to like passions. We do know that He was tempted in every way that we are, and yet, without sin. We do know that the life that He lived was not based upon His divinity, but in His humanity, He lived by faith; and the Spirit of God came upon Him, and He lived by every word that proceeded from the mouth of God. When Jesus was healing, He was not healing out of His divine being; He was healing based upon the covenant that we just read of the Lord who is our healer. He was the fulfillment of the prophet's statement that the One that would bring atonement would also--and this is where it follows the ministry and the life of Jesus and affects you and me--that then in His death, in His atonement, He bore sin and sickness on His body so we don't have to bear it any longer; and by His stripes we are, say it--healed!

Jesus' ministry of healing--and this is what I want to encourage you--we have the better covenant. By His stripes we are healed. We have the better covenant, but under the old covenant of Jehovah Rapha, the Lord that heals us, Jesus healed them, say it--all! It's not inferior. When we begin to go to the covenant in the Old Testament, and we realize who God, Jehovah Rapha is, and God's promise to His covenant people, it is inclusive. God wants us healed. Amen? That's what we have to get across. God wants you healed!

"Well, man, I don't always seem to get healed. The manifestation doesn't always come." Put it all away! God wants you healed. Can you say "Amen" to that? See, once we begin to understand that--don't wrestle with, "Why I'm not right now" "How come it doesn't always manifest." "Why do sometimes I have greater faith,"--Put all that away and embrace this one thing: God wants you healed, because by the stripes of Jesus we are. Amen? Good starting place.

Now, let's go back to Jesus, who was the expression of God's will in the flesh. Jesus was the expression of what God intended for man in redemption; He was the prototype. We can be like that. We can live in that realm of the promises that He lived in. It wasn't because of His divinity. Acts 10, "How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him" (Acts 10:38). It wasn't because of who He was; it was because of what God was doing through Him; and it's available to us. "And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; ...they shall lay hands upon the sick, and they shall recover" (Mark 16: 17-18). Amen?

Then why are we so beat down when we don't always see it? It doesn't always work the way we want, the way I imagined and the timing? It's because we're not living by faith; we're living by what we've experienced. We're living by what we've seen. We need to begin to rise up above that and begin to say what God says, and not to live by our experience; but just to be about the business of Father, speak His Word, lay hands upon the sick, and leave it at that, praise God! I don't have to make anything. I can't make anything happen, but I believe He wants me healed. I believe the provision's been paid. I know what the commandments are to me, to be about His business. They shall pray the prayer of faith, and the Lord shall raise them up; praise God. It's His business.

So, let's see what Jesus did in His ministry. Turn to Chapter 8 of Matthew, and let's just follow the Lord here for a minute and watch His life. See if we can determine what the will of God is in what Father declares, and also in what Jesus demonstrated, because that's how we learn so much. We just learn so much by just watching Jesus live. Do you hang out with Him? How much time do you spend in the red ink, the words of Jesus? How does He respond to people? What does He say in these circumstances? What does He do when He's weary?

The narrative then in Chapter 8--I don't know for sure, but I'm kind of leaning toward the next teaching being on the greatest sermon ever preached, and to spend time in Chapters 5, 6, and 7 of Matthew, the Sermon on the Mount; and not just the beatitudes, but the whole sermon. It's so practical in how we're to conduct ourselves in the world today. But just following Jesus' greatest teaching--now visualize where we are. Jesus is there on the hillside overlooking the Sea of Galilee just above Capernaum--how many of you know where I am right now that's been there with us? There we are seated on the mountainside, and we're hearing the teachings of the Master, and now He begins to come down on off of the mountain. It's not a--we're not talking Mount Everest; this is a hill. You know, it's like people here in Virginia. We talk about the Shenandoah Mountains; when you grow up where I grew up, these are the foothills, you know, anything less than eight thousand feet is not a mountain. This is a hill. Just trying to get you guys who haven't been there to see it, kind of smooth, rolling hills, the little village of Capernaum down below. Jesus is making His way back down after this great teaching to the masses. Chapter 7 ends with these words, "And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine: For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes." Now, that's an important statement for where we're going in this teaching on healing.

You don't get anything by studying the doctrine. You can quote all the verses on healing you want; the scribes were very capable, they had the letter. We need the authority, amen? He spoke as one that had authority. Somebody that knew who they were--No questions, He knew who He was. He knew what His rights were. He spoke knowing, and they were amazed at this, how He represented God. As He comes down off the mountain, the Scripture says in Chapter 8, "When he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him. And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, [say it with me] I will." There's the will of God. If you will, but you say, "Maybe it was just for that leper that it was His will." Well, we'll find out as we go on into the study. But as He's approached, and the question being asked, "If you will, Lord; you can make me whole." And Jesus said, "I will," and He touched him. "...be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. And Jesus saith unto him,...offer the gift." [Now, why was this? Jesus was still operating under the Old Covenant. Go offer the gift. Go honor God. Go recognize that your healing was part of the covenant promise of Jehovah Rapha, and worship God. Give God the glory.]

"And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him, And saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented. [Grievously] And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him." [Hmmm--this guy just made his need known. He didn't even ask Jesus this time to heal him. He just notified Him of a need, and Jesus said what?--I will come and heal him.] "The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: ..." [How many of you feel that way? You know, many of us think we deserve what we have. "We're not worthy. There're people that have greater needs than us. Why should I be worried about this little situation when others around me are enduring a lot more?" He's touched with all our feelings of infirmity; amen? Every one of these is in conflict with the price that He paid by His blood for us to be whole. Every one of these is an assault on the promises of God, and we need to be at war, and hate them all, and drive them all out.] "The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed." Jesus is taken aback by this. What a great statement this is. As we meditate on it, we begin to find some great truths in this. For the Scripture says, He sent His word and what?--healed them (Psalm 107:20).

Now, we know that that's prophetic, speaking about Jesus, the Word, the living Word. John says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men." (John 1:1-4) We realize then, that Jesus is that living Word that was sent to heal us, but what about the prayer of faith? What about sending the Word of God spoken in faith? Can we just declare a thing and it happen? Does it all have to be the laying on of hands? No, we can decree these things; amen? It can happen so many ways! It's all about faith. It's all about believing God.

I was teaching these exact same Scriptures the first week we were on the radio back in whenever that was, 1974. I was teaching this teaching right here that I'm teaching you. It wasn't the first--I think it was the second letter that we ever received on the Sword of the Spirit broadcast. The Sword of the Spirit--boy, that's been a long time, hasn't it? "Well, Praise the Lord, friends, this is Pastor Star Scott coming to you on the Sword of the Spirit broadcast. We're here to proclaim to you that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God, our Father!" Whew! I haven't said that for a long time. It's still there. As we were teaching this doctrine, and I'll never forget it. I think it was the second letter we received. This lady was listening to this teaching, and I was sharing about the transference of power, and laying on of hands, and the anointing that's in the Word of God, and the anointing that's in our lives. I don't remember how the whole story goes exactly, but this is kind of the punch line of it. This lady was listening to the teaching, and she was getting more filled with faith in believing, and she was in her home; and the little room behind her house was her brother, and he had been chronically sick, was lying in bed. She said she was so excited hearing this teaching that she grabbed the radio, ran out the back door, ran in there and said, "You've got to hear this, by the stripes of Jesus you're healed!" She put the radio on him, and he was healed, praise God, and it wasn't even plugged in anymore. According to our faith it's unto us. Believing this, she somehow figured those words were in that radio, and the anointing was still in there, praise God! Strange things like that, I could share a lot of testimonies, but what are you believing God for?

We have to come back to that rest in the goodness of God and the power of His promises. Speak the word only, and my servant will be healed. It's been spoken. Beloved, listen to me this morning! It's been spoken, "I will. I am the Lord that healeth thee." Amen? As we trust God, and we look to Him for all of His promises.

The Centurion said, "For I am a man under authority, [now, watch] having soldiers under me: ... [I like the way he puts himself in this. He didn't put himself as the final authority. He said, "I'm a man under authority. When the word comes down, I do what I'm told, and I have men under me. When I speak, I expect them to do what I say; and You're the ultimate authority. When You speak, devils depart, sickness is overcome. I know what authority is, and I recognize who You are. Speak the word only."] When Jesus heard it [verse 10 says], he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. [But those who have been raised up under this teaching, those who have lost sight of who I am and the power of my Word, strangers are going to inherit the promises and the benefits; and those that have been raised in it lose it, and, tragically, be cast out.] And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; [Say it with me] and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee." [What are you believing God for this morning? As thou hast believed, so be it done.] "And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour."

Now, watch! Probably from where Jesus taught the sermon to Peter's house, it's not as far as from here to the cinemas over here. On the way down off of the mountain, He's now healed a leper. The centurion's servant's healed, and now He comes to Peter's house. Okay. When He comes into the house, He saw Peter's wife's mother [mother-in-law]. She was sick of a fever. He touched her. The fever left. She went to the mall. Wait a minute, no. And she rose up and what?--ministered. Why do we get healed?--to minister, to take care of others, to be about Father's business.

Is it the will of God to heal? He hasn't gone two hundred yards, and He's already healed three people. Every need that was represented to Him after He preached a great sermon on seeking the kingdom of God first, and everything else being added unto us, He brings this message to the people; and then He begins to show the benefits of seeking the kingdom. People are being healed and delivered as He's walking just on His natural course.

It is the will of God, amen? It's manifested. After this great sermon, the first thing He manifests is delivering us from sin and sickness, disease, pain, torment. What a great gift He's given us. You know, there're ways that take less pursuit and less character and less faith that most of us can take care of the minor things. I want to encourage us to stir ourselves back up in believing God, and looking to Him for every area of our lives. I just want you to be aware of where we are and who we are. The next time you drop a couple of those Advil out of a bottle, don't just pop them and go on your way; but the next time those things fall out of that bottle into your hand, look at them, and say, "Father, I just want You to know, I'm asking You for grace to trust in You. I'm going to take these things right now, because to function adequately at this time, to function at my best, this is going to help me; but I want You to know, I'm not trusting this. I want to be free, and I want to glorify Your name." Amen?--to where we're conscious of His presence.

See, there's nothing wrong with the Advil. What's wrong is not being aware of the presence of God. What's wrong is not pursuing the best, the healing atonement in the blood of Jesus. That's what's wrong if it doesn't even cross our minds. If this teaching doesn't do anything else but just bring you back thinking about it, then we've made a great step back into what God's having for us. Encouraging ourselves seeing this is His will, He wants to minister to us at every turn.

Now mama's healed, and she's ministering to everybody, and now the evening begins to fall on the town. Verse 16, "When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and [say it with me} healed all that were sick." Remember what the Sermon on the Mount was. This was the introduction to the church of the kingdom of God, and following this great sermon, Jesus exhibits life in the kingdom; and we're seeing healing, healing, healing, healing. Why? Because it's the visible example of the destruction of Satan's power in our lives! It's the tangible victory over Satan! How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost who went about doing good and healing how many?--all that were oppressed of the devil for God was with Him. It's the indication God's with us. It's the breaking of the oppression of the evil one.

Now, evening is come, and they bring all of these people, and Jesus is casting out these devils, these demonic forces; Satan blinding the eyes of humanity lest they should believe. And He's breaking Satan's power, and He's casting out demons of lunacy, blindness, deafness, dumbness. Many physical ailments are spiritually induced. We'll see through the Scriptures many times that Jesus dealt with demonic powers. Not all blindness is a demon. Not all deafness is demonic, but it can be. Provision is there for both, physical and spiritual, and we'll see that in just a moment. As the Scripture speaks, there's different words for healing, one being therapeuo, the other being iaomai, and iaomai is talking about "total spiritual and physical healing." Therapeuo, of course, is "therapeutic"; it's the "physical." You'll find out that most of the time these things are spoken toward especially as it refers in general to the atonement, its iaomai. It's a "total wholeness" to us.

Many times when Jesus brings healing into people's lives, they actually are encountering God and able to receive the forgiveness of sins as well as the wholeness of their body. It gives us a vehicle. When you're able to reach in there and touch people's lives, there's a vehicle for reaching people with the gospel. I told you about that Jewish guy's mother that I prayed for. How many times are you going to get to share that directly, the lordship of Jesus with Orthodox Jews, and look at them and say, "Hey, you want to know why your mother's whole? She was sick and going to die yesterday; right?" "Yeah." "They gave her no hope to live; right?" "Yeah." "She's alive today and home, well, right?" "Yeah." "Why? Because Jesus of Nazareth whom God has raised from the dead, His name and faith in His name, made her whole. Now, what are you going to do? Are you going to argue with that one? You can deny it. You can say, ‘Well, you know,' but you're lying to yourself." We need to pray in that name that's above every name, amen? When people are healed, you let them know. It's that name and faith in that name's that made them whole.

That's why we're out praying for people, especially those. Does God want to heal people that aren't Christians? Sure He does. Why? That we can tell them, it's that name and faith in that name that's made them whole. All of those times that God healed my father. My goodness, this ornery guy that was a God-hater--I shared with you the last time God healed him, the last time I prayed for him. I came into that room after that miraculous flight where the fuel was multiplied, and we should have crashed in that single engine plane, and everything that God did to get us there. I walked into that room, and I can still remember it. Late that night, I can't remember what time we arrived; it was late--one o'clock in the morning, and I can still remember walking into that hospital room, and walking up to his bed. I didn't greet him, didn't say, "Hello." I just walked up to the bed, and I said, "I'm not here as your son, I'm here as a prophet of God, and I'm going to lay hands on you, and God's going to heal you." I laid hands on him, and I prayed, and God healed him. At that particular moment, his heart that the whole side of that muscle that had died--it doesn't regenerate--came back to life, and the tissues were regenerated. They did a quadruple bypass on him. His heart was made back alive. The doctor showed me the two different x-rays. He had two major heart attacks following that, and the last he was living, the doctor showed me again, said, "The live heart tissue that he has is smaller than the size of a walnut." God gave him opportunity after opportunity.

After I had prayed for him, and I came back in, he laid there in that bed, and he had tears in his eyes. He said, "Bob, I can't deny the power of God, but I don't have the guts to serve Him. I don't have what it takes to serve Him." I said, "It doesn't take strength to serve Him, it takes weakness. It takes recognizing how weak we are and trusting in Him to do the work." But they can't deny that a notable work has been done; a notable miracle has been done, it can't be denied. That's why we're out about Father's business and ministering the Word of God.

And they brought many to Him, the Scripture says, and He cast out devils and healed all that were sick, and we'll pick up here tonight. "That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses." (Matthew 8:17)

Jesus, we thank You that You were made sick with our sickness. You weren't just made sin with our sin. The pain in our bodies right now, the arthritis, the cancer, the organ diseases, the tumors, the blood disorders, You bore on Your body with our sins on that tree, and they don't have to stay here on us. We give them over to You, Jesus, for by Your stripes we are healed. Be glorified. Lord, take that from us that You bought, that You paid the price for, that we might proclaim Your greatness and shout from the housetops what You've done in our lives. Help us, Father, to be thankful. Help us bless You and to boast. Help us to be out about Your business, and strengthen us to bring this message for freely we have received. We choose now freely to give, in Jesus' name, amen. Amen.

Let's stand before the Lord this morning. We'll take a moment as Gary plays for us, and many of us have been removed a long time from this being paramount in our thinking. Oh, it's been in our doctrine, but it's not been in the forefront of our kingdom living. What a great testimony! Oh, it's not greater than or lesser than the miracle of salvation, the miracle of sanctification, the miracle of a healed life, a healed marriage, or a healed body. It's all Your grace and Your power. It's all kingdom rights. It's all part of the covenant as the children of God. Help us, Lord, not to live short of anything that belongs to us. Help us to embrace the healing. Help us to embrace the joy, the peace, the strength. Help us to embrace the anointing, the infilling of the Holy Spirit, the boldness to be witnesses, the humility to serve. Make us whole. Let's sing it together. Oh, thank You, Jesus. Hallelujah! Sing it one more time. Turn your eyes on Him. Oh, Hallelujah! Hallelujah! We do thank You, Lord. We ask you to give us the rest now. Help us not to be distracted and think it's some type of a works. It's not; it's a rest. You finished the work, Lord, and we declare the victory won by the stripes of Jesus. For that we give You all the praise, Father, in Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Turn to somebody next to you, say, "He healed them all!" Amen. Go in peace. God's love go with you.

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