Sermon: Healing

From beginning to end, the Bible teaches that God is both able and willing to work supernaturally in the lives of His people. Miraculous or supernatural healing is a legitimate part of God’s activity. This does not exclude proper consultation with doctors & therapist, nor does it overlook our responsibility to treat our bodies as temples of the Holy Spirit and thus keep healthy in the process. Nevertheless, there are times when we must and should call out to the Lord for help no doctor can give. Healing is a significant part of our inheritance as Christians. It has often been misunderstood. It has been discarded where the church has lost touch with the desire of God to heal. It has been abused by unscrupulous individuals preying upon the sick for financial or ministry gain. “He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases” (Psalm 103:3). 3 Big Ideas Process of wholeness Healing vs cured Grace for your race Process Naaman washing 7x in the Jordan River Women who was bent by an evil spirit for Healing vs cured The concept of healing is not the issue. God does heal. However, God does not always cure, and there may not need to be a cure.Scholar and Methodist minister Kathy Black makes the distinction between healing and cure. She contends that cure has to do with eliminating the symptoms or removing the disability altogether. Healing, however, does not always imply a cure. Healing is finding “a sense of well-being into a person’s life, a sense of comfort, support, and peace.”[2] Healing can happen amid having a disability.- The Rev. Kyle Stevenson “Healing doesn’t mean the damage never existed. It means the damage no longer controls your life.” Disability theologian Nancy Eiesland highlights that the Resurrected Lord rises with the wounds in his hands and side. His body has been raised in a non-normative body that had lived under the disabling force of the Roman empire that would ultimately execute him. He is raised up with a disability intact, Eiesland argues.[6] In the risen Christ, we can meet Jesus, who is victorious over death and is powerful while still having a non-normative, disabled, and vulnerable body. Encountering a risen Jesus who is not cured and resurrected with a scared body is healing for me. Grace for your race 2 Corinthians 12:8-9, where the Apostle Paul stated: Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time he said, "My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness." So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. (NLT) “Although God can heal us, we must never presume that he must.” C.S. Lewis wrote in his book, The Problem of Pain: "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." Illness is not something that we should embrace for its own sake, but we can celebrate the fact that it makes us long for our heavenly home and resurrected bodies. I wish I would have recorded my wife and friend Natalie Post Sermon Recap which was just as good or better than my sermon. If this sermon was a blessing and you want to buy me a big cup of coffee or a book https://www.buymeacoffee.com/BGpy6TM This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit edcastro.substack.com