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Sunday Morning Healing Seminar - Part 1 Introduction (presented July 10, 2005)
Introduction: Have you ever experienced a divine healing? Have you ever prayed for someone else and seen them healed? Tell us about it (email: miracles@vineyardgainesville.org)
 The Bible is filled with stories of healing. Some are dramatic (blind eyes seeing, lame walking, leprosy, etc.) some are not quite as dramatic (fever, swelling in the joints, dysentery, etc.). 
We have been looking at miracles in the book of Acts. It was not my intent to embark on a study of Acts. Beginning with Pentecost Sunday I wanted to look at miracles that began occurring in the New Testament Church, and lift the faith level in our church for God to do the same. In the book of Acts we have seen supernatural manifestations of the Holy Spirit like tongues, prophecy, divine appointments, Philip being transported…
But my intent is not to fill our heads with stories of miracles long past. My intent is to stir our faith regarding what God wants to do right now. Healing is a part of the Church's toolbox. God has always healed people, and continues to do so today. Not just through apostles and prophets, not just through historical figures, not even through a few select leaders in the church, but through all of us.
HEALING IN THE SCRIPTURES
Healing has always been an expression of the character of God.
He revealed Himself to the Hebrew people as, "The LORD who heals you", linking His covenant name YHWH with a Hebrew word for healing – rapha .
26 He said, "If you listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, who heals you ." – Exodus 15:26
In Psalm 103 it says, 2 “Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits-- 3 who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases…
Several of the Old Testament prophets exercised healing power…
- In Genesis 20:17 and 18 Abraham prays for Abimelech, and his wife and slave girls are healed of barrenness.
- In Numbers 21:4-9 God has Moses hold up a staff and heal the people of venomous snakebites.
- In 1 Kings 17:20-22 Elijah raised a boy from the dead.
- In 2 Kings 4:20-35 Elisha did the same.
- And in 2 Kings 5:1-14 Elisha healed a leper.
When the Messianic prophecies were fulfilled and God came to earth as a man (Jesus Christ) healing was a vital part of His ministry. In order to understand the place of healing in the heart and plan of God we should begin by looking at the healing ministry of Jesus Christ.
1. Healing was vitally linked to the earthly ministry of Jesus. When John the Baptist questioned Jesus' identity Jesus answered;
"Go back and report to John what you hear and see:
The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me." (Matt. 11:4-6)
2. The Gospel narratives record dozens of miracles performed by Jesus. Most of them are healing miracles.
3. Jesus identified the demonstration of the power of the Holy Spirit (in this case over the demonic – which we shall see may be understood in the light of healing) as evidence of the presence of the Kingdom of God (“… if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come to you.” – Luke 11:20). In other words, Jesus assumed that the presence of the Kingdom of God would be accompanied by miracles, such as healing.
4. When Jesus read from the scroll of the Prophet Isaiah (Is. 61:1-2) in the synagogue in Nazareth , He said that the Messianic age had come. He connected it to ministry, and the passage in fact gave definition to the nature of His ministry .
He read…
18 "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." (Luke 4:18-19)
In this passage we find the best biblical model for healing ministry...
I. Anointing – God enables us to do miracles by the Spirit's power.
Jesus was aware of His anointing, and prophesied the anointing of the Church. The prophecy was fulfilled at Pentecost, and the Church began performing the same works as Jesus (John 14:12 ).
II. Good news to the poor – those in need can have their needs met, 31 Jesus answered them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor , but the sick. 32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” – Luke 5:31,32
III. Freedom for the prisoners – release from demonic powers.
John wrote in 1 John 3, “ 8 The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work.”
IV. Recovery of sight for the blind – this is physical healing, not just a metaphor. Before the chapter is over Jesus is already casting out demons and healing the sick
V. Release the oppressed – healing of inner hurts, those whose wounding comes from life, their own actions and the actions of others. Immediately Jesus heals lepers, who were outcasts and socially wounded as well as physically sick. A few chapters later Jesus forgave the sins of an immoral woman who washed His feet with tears.
VI. Proclaim the year of the Lord's favor – the ultimate miracle of Jesus. He came to announce that all sins could be forgiven and all moral debts wiped away. Slaves could go free and everything restored to God's intention (see the year of Jubilee in Leviticus 25 and 27, and Numbers 36:4)
This is still the ministry of Jesus. It is the ministry the early disciples inherited and began to carry out. In Matthew 10 we read that Jesus gave His disciples authority to cast out evil spirits and heal every kind of disease and sickness. When He sent the twelve out on their first ministry trip he told them,
7 “As you go, preach this message: `The kingdom of heaven is near.' 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.” (Matthew 10:7,8)
When He sent out the larger ministry team of seventy two disciples he told them,
8 “ When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is set before you. 9 Heal the sick who are there and tell them, `The kingdom of God is near you.'” (Luke 10:8,9).
The New Testament has numerous accounts of the early disciples healing the sick, as well as performing other miracles. Church history too is filed with stories of healing and other miracles. Such famous leaders as Augustine, Francis of Assisi, Martin Luther, C.H. Spurgeon, and others prayed for the sick and saw them recover. This is the ministry that has been entrusted to the Church through the ages, and has now been entrusted to us.
Over the next few weeks I am going to share with you a model for healing prayer developed by John Wimber. John's intent in developing this model was not for it to be the end all for healing. In fact, it was intended to be a beginning…a beginning for people who were not engaged in praying for the sick, or not praying effectively, to begin to “do the stuff” Jesus did.
The purpose of this prayer model is to multiply the ministry of Jesus by encouraging and equipping the whole Church to not only say the words of Jesus but perform the works of Jesus.
We are going to be learning how to “see what the Father is doing”, and invite the presence of God to come and heal the sick, set the captives free and restore wounded hearts.
This morning we are going to practice with just four very important aspects of the model that I will cover in detail later:
1. Slow down and ask questions – ask people what they want and ask God what they need.
2. Keep your eyes open and look for evidence that God is moving.
3. Invite God to come and minister to the person. He is the healer, not us.
4. Keep praying. Don't be discouraged if you don't see immediate results. John Wimber taught the Anaheim Vineyard about healing for ten months before they saw their first healing miracle.
(The service was ended with a ‘Lab' of-sort where people practiced healing prayer by gathering throughout the sanctuary to pray for those in need of God's divine healing touch.)
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