“God’s Health Plan”
Opening Thought: In modern medicine today we have heard of people choosing to be frozen in hope of one day being thawed out at some unknown future day when medicine has conquered disease and dying. The mindset here is people want to be resurrected so as to live forever in this utopian state. We Christians believe in immortality and that there is s utopian state of being coming. Even the Word of God promises us that a day is coming when disease, death and sin will be done away with. We are promised by God’s Word that we all will live in this utopian state forever:
1 Thess. 5: 1-2, 23:
1Now, brothers, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, 2for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.
23May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.
2 Thess. 2:1-4:
1Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers, 2not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by some prophecy, report or letter supposed to have come from us, saying that the day of the Lord has already come. 3Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. 4He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.
T.S. - Let’s watch this video clip and remember, “There is Coming a Day!”
Video Illustration: “There is Coming a Day”
We all long for this day – I know that I do! As I sit and watch this video clip again my mind yearns for that awesome day. But then the song ends and reality strikes me across my face. I receive a call from a parishioner, “Pastor my good friend’s son just shot himself and committed suicide? What do I do?” And then later that day another phone call from a weeping mother, “Pastor my daughter has been diagnosed with Cancer! What do I do?” Then later on, “Pastor my husband cheated on me! What do I do?” These reality checks hit us hard they can even stun us right in our tracks. Yes, right in the middle of all the other pressures of living life in a fallen world we experience even more tragedies. But my Spirit tells me, “There is Coming a Day Mike!” Stand firm, stay on course, don’t quit and believe!
Reality checks wake us up to the present, to here and now. These checks come from all angles and they remind us that we live in a fallen world. Yes, we need to remember there is Coming a Day -- but what about today? I am told by the Word of God that we have work to do. Today the church has a designated task to complete and that is to bring health and wholeness to this sick fallen world. This task will be accomplished with the love of the Father, the giving of the gift of Jesus and through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Thesis: God has a divine health plan that will bring healing and wholeness to every part of an individual’s life and it’s called the church, “The Body of Christ.” This health plan originated in the loving heart of my God and you’re God “Abba” Father. His assigned Great Physician over the health plan is Jesus Christ. His instrument of healing is the power of the Holy Spirit.
Hands on: The stethoscope – Doctors use this to listen to a person’s heart – share story of your brother- we also need to pick our spiritual stethoscopes as the Body of Christ and listen to the heart beat of others so that we help them heal and recover from the hardships of life.
My challenge: We must be willing as the “Body of Christ” to create a place for the unhealthy to come to get healthy. We can only do this with the help of the Holy Spirit and a commitment to call.
When I prayed for God’s guidance and vision for this message and for this church. He directed me to this text that I would like to read to you today:
Scripture Text:
Mark 6: 53-56:
53When they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret and anchored there. 54As soon as they got out of the boat, people recognized Jesus. 55They ran throughout that whole region and carried the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. 56And wherever he went—into villages, towns or countryside—they placed the sick in the marketplaces. They begged him to let them touch even the edge of his cloak, and all who touched him were healed.
Can you imagine this scene in your minds? This sounds astonishing and too good to be true-but it is true and it did happen. God had a health plan for these people and it’s great physician was Jesus. God had a plan and it was carried out in this historical scene.
Introduction:
We hear today that America is experiencing a health crisis – people cannot afford health care and many die prematurely for lack of medical care or because of unhealthy lifestyles. I agree we have a health care crisis today in America and something needs to be done. Maybe we need a health plan like the Gennesaret’s had and a Great Physician who still does house calls?
Christian Counseling Today Magazine Vol. 12 states this about the current crisis in health care, “Modern medicine is stretching beyond its limited vision as a disease treatment-even disease prevention- profession in the 21st Century. Increasingly it is concerned with wellness, even optimal or maximum living” (Page 12).
Why is that? Because they see that health care is outrageously expensive and getting out of reach for many. They themselves want a solution to the problem so they have started focusing on preventative measures to disease and to poor health. My own Health Insurance assigned me to an Rn Nurse to assist me in living a healthier lifestyle. She gave me advice about diet, exercise, and other important health information. She talked with me about my medicines and my path to good health. It was beneficial to me and to my physical health but even in the midst of our monthly chats it occurred to me that this health plan needed to address all three dimensions of my being. The three dimensions I had in mind where my body, mind and soul. She did a good job getting me to deal with my body but she neglected my mind and my soul realm.
I want to suggest to you today that there are too many people dying today prematurely and eternally because they have not signed up for God’s health plan. We see the need to treat people with preventative physical plans but yet we fail to address the other dimensions of a person. We today need to create preventative health care clinics that address the mind and the soul realm of the patient. We are hearing more talk of wholeness clinics. Our Counselor at Clayton school who is battling Cancer told me at Clayton’s Baccalaureate service that she is no longer ignoring her spiritual side in her treatment. So the idea of wholeness is catching on today in the treatment of diseases.
Maybe - I could have called today’s sermon – “God’s HMO” – God’s Health Maintenance Organization?
What is a HMO – it’s a health maintenance organization (HMO) it is a type of managed care organization (MCO) that provides a form of health care coverage in the United States that is fulfilled through hospitals, doctors, and other providers with which the HMO has a contract.
So are there God’s Health Maintenance Organizations operating today? The answer is “Yes” they are called “Churches.”
In Christian Counseling Today Magazine I discovered another article talking about “Spirituality Theology and Health.” It highlighted the center for the study of Religion/Spirituality and Health at Duke University. After twenty years of study and 25 research studies they discovered the following:
a. Many people when they become sick either mentally or physically turn to religious beliefs and practices to help them cope.
b. These beliefs and practices are usually associated with better mental, and even better physical, health (lower blood pressure, better immune functioning, longer life span, etc. (page 39).
c. These studies show that people who are actively involved in a religious community, who pray regularly and who report that religion is an instrumental part of their lives, often experience less depression, less anxiety, greater hope, more purpose and meaning, and recover more quickly from health-damaging emotions such as depression.
d. They also discovered a fascinating link between devout religious practice and good physical health.
After reading this article I thought God’s HMO’s are functioning and helping people to heal in America. They are churches! God is still in the healing business and He is still active in this realm of medicine. I then thought Lord – Can you help me create a “Healing Church?” So I decided to research, “How to Create a Healing church.” I learned that they do exist and God is willing to help us staff and empower Christian Wholeness Centers. I found out that the world is starting to pay attention to the spiritual dimension of a person when it comes to heath and wholeness. Listen to this:
Time magazine did a spread on the power of prayer in health and happiness. They concluded: That the prayed for patients did better, had better spirits, and recovered quicker (Time.com , Leon Jaraff, “Investigating the power of prayer.”)
Newsweek, Nov. 10, 2003 edition also researched God and Health and concluded “Religion is good Science and Science is starting to believe this!” In one of their surveys 84% of people believed that praying for the sick improved their chances of recovery. In another study they showed that there is evidence through brain scans that prayer impacts the brain waves and functions of the brain.
All this research plus many other sources support the fact that we need to tap into God’s HMO’s for a healthier life today.
You may be thinking but Pastor Mike that is why we have medical centers and hospitals – are you saying that we should forget them and only bring the unhealthy to church – NO – I am saying that the church needs to work side by side with the medical field.
Studies have shown that when people pray they get better quicker and have a better ability to overcome severe illnesses.
T.S. - All this plus many other sources support the fact that we need to tap into God’s Heath plan.
I. God the Father’s Health Plan
a. God wants us to be Spirit led and to tap the power of His love for health and wholeness.
i. The Healing power of the Father – Papa - Reference the scene from the movie Yentl when she cries out to her heavenly Father and her earthly father.
1. We need to have this type of relationship like Yentl had with her earthly father and parallel it with the type of relationship we need to have with our Heavenly Father.
b. Let’s take a moment to remember what I said earlier about us being three dimensional! When I look at our makeup it’s a tricotomy or a triangle.
i. We have 3 dimensions to our being:Spirit,Body and Soul - see chart.
ii. Let’s define these 3 dimensions of mankind to better understand “God’s Health Plan.”
1. Spirit – Breath of life – the life principle in man as infused by a deity (God) (Webster’s Dictionary).
2. Soul – The moral, emotional, thinking dimension of man (Webster’s Dictionary).
3. Body – The whole physical structure and substance of a man (Webster’s Dictionary).
c. I want to show you another chart explaining the structure of the Godhead - The Trinity:God the Father – Spiritual realm, Jesus – Physical realm, and the Holy Spirit – Soul realm (see diagram)
i. As we look at our triangles symbols we see the Spirit at the top. We know that Jesus always did what God the Father told Him to do – He followed the lead of the Spirit of God and followed His divine plan for the redemption of mankind. We also know that Jesus came in bodily form according to John 1 “The spirit became flesh and dwelt among us.” Jesus primarily came down in the physical form and challenged the ordinary way of life in the physical realm, the spiritual realm and yes even in the psychological (soul) realm. But here is what I want you to see, Jesus came and did his part and then the Holy Spirit came and does His part. Each one of these two are subject to the Father’s Spiritual will. They are all one but yet they follow the leading and the direction of God the Father.
1. God has a health plan for each one of us – it’s a divine health plan that treats the spiritual sicknesses of many, the physical sicknesses of many and the soul sicknesses of many.
2. His divine health plan is a wholeness plan to bring a life that is filled with hope for the future – hope and healing for the unhealthy dimensions of living life in a fallen world.
i. His plan is laid out for us in Jesus life and ministry and teachings. His Holy Spirit is the teacher, equipper, empower and enabler to see to it that the plan is carried out until Jesus returns or until we pass on from this dimension to the next.
d. Here is what I see in Scripture – If the Spirit is healed first then everything else will align itself in proper order. But this is the problem in America today we cut out the Spiritual dimension of people and focus on the other two dimensions of man – but it is the Spirit which is to lead the way through the journey of life not the body, not the soul.
i. The book of Hebrews speaks of a great divide in Hebrews 4:12, 13: "For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account."
1. Christians need to realize whether they are being led by their soul or by their spirit. The Word of God is the energy force that shows Christians whether they are living by their spirit or their soul.
2. Hebrews 4:12 reveals to us that the Word of God is a living energy that penetrates to the dividing of the soul and spirit. It is the energy force that shows Christians whether they are living, or motivated by their soul realm or by their spiritual realm. God’s Word does the dividing and even the healing – that’s why the Word of God is said to be living and breathing!
ii. The spirit is to be the highest part of man. It is the spirit that makes man God-conscious. It is the part of man that trusts God and steps out in faith. It is not natural but spiritual (John 3:6) .
1. The Word does not look upon the outward appearances but is skilled in judging the thoughts and intentions of the inside. The Word knows what is on the inside. God knows why you do what you do. The natural man and some Born-again Christians are soul controlled and soul ruled. But they should be spirit controlled and ruled (Illustration with hands.)
iii. How many times have you heard of people who talk about the battle within?
1. Here is the reality check we need to grasp today – We are to be led by the Spirit! Not by our soul realm or the physical realm.
2. Spirit led individuals – God’s Health Plan:
Spirit led individual has the Body following the Spirit’s lead and therefore is in God’s Health Plan and the Soul also follows the Spirit’s lead and therfore is in God’s Health Plan.
iv. Result Health and Wholeness within the life of an individual! Notice no ripping apart of the heart of the person! No heart attacks!
1. The church needs to be following God’s Health Plan if they want to be fulfilling their purpose and if they want to see people get healed in all three dimensions ---but the Spirit is to lead the way.
2. Seek first the Kingdom of God and all other things will follow! Jesus gave us this promise!
e. Jesus promoted God’s Plan for all to follow – If we follow the leading of the Holy Spirit into truth then we can live a long life – an eternal life that will last forever.
i. The church needs to be using this model to become a health clinic for the sick!
ii. To become a healing church we must tap the power of the Spirit and follow the path of the Spirit.
f. In America many scientists have sought to distance themselves from the element of the Spirit in a person’s life.
i. But we are spiritual beings created in the image of God who is Spirit-I believe our spiritual realm impacts our health more than any other dimension of our lives.
1. Exodus 15:26: 26He 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.”
g. The truth is we cannot experience healing in our lives without the touch of God’s Spirit.
i. I have often found it amazing how people can endure the hardships of torture and imprisonment in times of war. In the stories I have read I discovered that the majority learned to rely on God to get them through the horrible ordeal.
1. A few examples of this is Corrie Ten Boom, Russ Stendahl, and Grace Burham.
h. The truth is we need to open our hearts up to the Father’s Spirit of love then we will start to heal and then we can pass this healing on to others!
i. We need to re-discover the power of inner healing as the Spirit of Love is reloaded into our wounded hearts, minds and souls.
ii. The Spirit of the Father which is Love will heal the body itself from within. Through these means:
1. Power of prayer
2. Power of forgiveness
3. Power of hope
4. Power of inner healing
5. Power of love
6. Power of grace
7. Power of peace
i. I believe in healing – I believe God heals It’s His nature!
i. As I read through the Bible especially the New Testament I see a whole lot of healing going on.
ii. The other day I was sitting in my office looking out the window and this thought crossed my mind. God loves to heal people! He actually designed healing into our DNA. Our bodies are created to heal themselves.
iii. Stephen Arterburn states in his book “Healing is a Choice” this, “Surely God must love healing since He allows so much of it to occur every day. He created us with healing properties within us. A cut finger, in most cases, heals itself. There has to be something severely wrong with a person for a cut not to heal on its own. A broken limb has the ability to fuse back together. The cold virus is defeated and destroyed by the healing ability within our own bodies. Healing goes on all around us and within us. It is a miraculous ability that every person possesses to some degree or another. Although God has given us healing abilities, we can impair that process. Sadly, the ability to heal emotionally, spiritually, or physically has been destroyed or weakened for some. A physical wound must be cleaned and medicated rather than ignored. Emotional and spiritual wounds also need attention. They don’t just simply fade away” (page viii, Healing is a Choice.)
iv. Steve Arterburn also states, “The properties of healing are not found just within our bodies. They are also present in our minds and souls. God provided us with the ability to heal from emotional trauma and tragedy. When we lose someone we love, we are devastated; we mourn and grieve while wondering if our days will ever be full of light again. Our souls are sick from the loss of the love and from the pain that at times seems too much to endure. As our grieving progresses, we start to have a portion of a good day, and then a whole day or two good days come together. We start to sense a change from our constant agony and know that at some level, healing is taking place. God built that emotional and spiritual healing ability into most of us. If the ability to heal were not there, loss after loss, piling pain on top of pain, would cause us to lose our minds and we could not go on. Almost everyone is fortunate to have the ability within to heal from hurts, rather than to be destroyed by them” (page x).
1. A case could be made as we look at the history of the church that God loves to heal people and we can name people who were gifted with the power from God to bring healing to others. We can trace faith healers all the way back to Jesus himself! He birthed the notion that faith could heal the sick.
2. Do you remember the story of the women with the issue of blood? She believed that if she just touched Jesus she would be healed. When she did he stopped turned to her and said, “Your faith has healed you.” She just reached out and touched His robe as He was passing by and she was healed because she believed this would happen!
a. We need to believe in healing and we have to be willing to push through the crowd of this world to let he healing flow!
T.S. – God the Father designed healing into our DNA and He loves to bring healing to those who need it and want it. He sent Jesus to us literally to bring the gift of healing and salvation to each of us and He did it because of the power of love.
II. The Great Physician of God’s Health Plan - Jesus
a. The healing power of Jesus is real and is still moving across the world today bringing healing and wholeness to sick people.
i. Jesus came in the flesh according to the Apostle John. Have you ever wondered why John 1 is so adamant about the physical dimension of Jesus?
1. I was taught in Bible College that Jesus was 100% human and 100% divine and the two world’s teams meshed together to fulfill the plan of “Abba” Father.
a. Illustration: This story is told of Daniel Webster when he was in the prime of his manhood. He was dining with a company of literary men in Boston. During the dinner the conversation turned upon the subject of Christianity. Mr. Webster frankly stated his belief in the divinity of Christ and his dependence upon the atonement of the Savior. One man said to him, “Mr. Webster, can you comprehend how Christ could be both God and man? Mr. Webster promptly replied, “No, sir, I cannot comprehend it. If I could comprehend him, he would be no greater than myself. I feel that I need a superhuman Savior.” We need to be committed to Christ who is our Superhuman Savior (From Steve Shepherd, sermoncentral.com).
2. Yes, Flesh and Spirit working together in Jesus to bring the redemption of mankind - to bring hope to the hopeless - to open the door for a personal intimate relationship with God the Father.
a. That was Jesus – that was my Lord, my Savior, and my Healer!
b. Jesus is highlighted throughout the New Testament as a physical healer actually He is called the Great Physician.
i. Leonard Sweet stated in his book The Jesus Prescription for a Healthy Life said this, “The promise of God is health and wellness. Faith in God is physically good for you. Denying God is bad for your health. The first undisputed mention of disease in the Bible includes the words ‘I am the Lord who heals you’ (Exod. 15:26). There is healing for you today. God’s eye is not hazy that it cannot see. God’s ear is not heavy that it cannot hear. God’s hand is not hampered that it cannot save. God’s heart is not hardened that it cannot heal. The healing dimensions to the gospel are neglected at our peril. Indeed, from a biblical perspective, health and salvation are the same phenomenon; they are different ways of talking about the same thing. The Greek word soter means both ‘savior’ and ‘healer’” (Page 12).
ii. Jesus was the most amazing doctor of health I ever heard of and read about. Sweet says, “It is Jesus the Great Physician who makes sick people well” (page 10). It says in our text from Matthew that I read earlier that all who touched Jesus were healed of their sickness. Picture this for a moment, Jesus walks into a village and the hospitals are emptied out because they are all healed by His touch! Notice the word all!
iii. Just to highlight this point a little deeper listen to a few other verses from other authors in the Bible describing Jesus’ healing ministry.
1. Matthew 4:24: “News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed, and he healed them.”
2. Matthew 14:14: “When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.”
3. Matthew 15:30: “Great crowds came to him, bringing the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute and many others, and laid them at his feet; and he healed them. The people were amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled made well, the lame walking and the blind seeing. And they praised the God of Israel.”
4. Luke 4:40: ‘When the sun was setting, the people brought to Jesus all who had various kinds of sickness, and laying his hands on each one, he healed them. 41Moreover, demons came out of many people, shouting, “You are the Son of God!” But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew he was the Christ.”
iv. Wow – I only picked a hand full of Scriptures and we see from these few that Jesus was a Great Physician – even Luke a doctor himself acknowledged the healing power of the touch of Jesus. We also discovered that the disciples of Jesus healed others through the power of the Holy Spirit. Then it hits home – Jesus wants us to carry on this tradition in the church! He wants the church to be known as a place of healing!
1. When I read about the structure of the New Testament church I discover that Jesus is the head of the church – the body of Christ. Therefore if I study the life of Jesus and see his divine purpose and plan it becomes clear that he came to heal the unhealthy. He even told that to the religious people of the day. So if Jesus our leader came to create a refuge for the unhealthy then His church should also be a refuge for the unhealthy and a place of healing. The church is to be a place where people from the world come to find healing for their health problems.
c. It many of the scenarios highlighted in the Gospels we see Jesus touching people and getting them healed.
i. Notice He “touched them” – people desire to be touched by Jesus even today. Yes, Jesus at times commanded people to be healed from a distance and they were. But it seems like to me His favorite way of healing was by touching them in some way!
1. Oh ---the power of the touch of Jesus. Do you as a believer remember what that feels like?
2. I certainly do! It seems as if it happened yesterday it’s so vivid in my heart and mind! It was so powerful that it changed my life!
ii. Jesus wants us also to go out and touch people!
1. Share the story about the lepers in India and all the people wanting me to shake their hand and have their pictures taken with me.
d. We also discover in Scripture that Jesus even raises the dead back to life.
i. I once heard a person say that Jesus loved to break up funerals!
ii. He certainly did raise people from the dead! Now that is healing power!
e. Jesus not only did physical healings but spiritual ones as well. In many instances He did this by casting out evil spirits from people’s lives.
i. We heard that from some of the texts I read earlier.
f. He also performed spiritual healings in the hearts and minds of the religious people Nicodemus and even the lost like Mary Magdalene.
g. Jesus life is an example of the physical and spiritual realm working in tandem to bring healing to a hurting fallen world riddled with sin.
i. Remember what Jesus said in Matthew 9: 10-13: 10While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and “sinners” came and ate with him and his disciples. 11When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?” 12On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 13But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
ii. He told the religious that he came to bring healing to those who were sick and this is what His church needs to be doing as well –Today!
T.S. – Jesus was both 100% human and 100% divine and the two natures teamed up to bring healing and deliverance to mankind. Then Jesus departed upon the completion of his ministry but He promised that He would send the Holy Spirit to keep the Spirit of healing flowing into this world. Just read the book of Acts! It’s not about what man can do but what the Holy Spirit does through men and women who are sold out to Jesus and filled with the Holy Spirit.
III. The Holy Spirit’s role today in God’s Health Plan
a. The healing power of the Holy Spirit is revealed throughout the book of Acts –If you have ever read this amazing History of the early church you discover that many amazing miracles took place. Why? Because the Holy Spirit shows up in Acts 2 and transforms the lives of the men and women in the upper room.
i. The cowards become bold as lions. They step out in faith and proclaim the great message then back it up with miracles – what happened to these normal fearful people? Answer the Holy Spirit came upon them and filled them!
ii. Acts is not about Jesus ministry because He has departed to go be with the Father and also to prepare the way for the church --but it’s about the ministry of the Holy Spirit sent to empower the church to carry on the job of healing to this sick and broken world.
1. Acts 5:12-16: 12The apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders among the people. And all the believers used to meet together in Solomon’s Colonnade. 13No one else dared join them, even though they were highly regarded by the people. 14Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number. 15As a result, people brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and mats so that at least Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by. 16Crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those tormented by evil spirits, and all of them were healed.
iii. The Holy Spirit heals physically spiritually and He also brings healing to the mind, the brain, the heart and even the emotions.
iv. He teaches, comforts, rebukes and even corrects. He is the one who shows us the condition of our hearts and shows how to get rid of our sicknesses.
1. He enters the Christian like he did the ones found in the book of Acts and then enables them to heal, to deliver, to set free and to carry on the work of Jesus.
a. Scripture tells us that He is the one who teaches us what to say when someone is hurting and shows us how to deal with a health crisis.
2. He is the one who leads the believer into truth and this truth is what sets us free to be healthy and whole.
v. He helps us to see when we where blind!
1. He takes the scales and the blindness off of our eyes so we can see clearly.
b. Jesus told us why He had to leave so that the Holy Spirit could come and be our internal guide, teacher and empower for the fulfillment of God’s Health Plan.
i. We must tap the Holy Spirit today to be what God has called us to be.
ii. Romans 8:11: “And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.”
1. This chapter and verse tell me that the Holy Spirit lives in me as a believer and that the power – the same power that raised Jesus from the dead resides in my heart – that means if I tap the power of the Holy Spirit the power is there to even raise the dead.
a. I believe that there walking dead people out there in this society and we need to go out into this sick fallen world and raise them from the dead!
b. We need to unleash the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives to rise up a healing center for the sick!
c. Have you wondered why so many churches are dead and lifeless today? The answer there is no Holy Spirit in them!
i. Quote by Bono: “Religion is what you are left with when the Spirit leaves the building!”
ii. We need to re-tap the power of the Holy Spirit or else all we have is dry religion with no life!
Conclusion:
As I was sharing my thoughts about this message with Dr. Nichols he drew my attention to another Scripture in 3 John. Listen to this one!
3 John 2: “Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well.”
It is important for the Church to see itself as a healing community. The church is the main part of God’s health plan for the world and the church must understand that we are designed to heal -- it is the makeup of our DNA as a church. God sent His Spirit into us to bring healing to this sick world. We need to design a church that is focused on health and wholeness. We need to let the Spirit use us to set people free and bring healing and wholeness to broken lives.
Our current health care system in America is organized around the treatment of illness and is only now looking at designing preventive measures to wholeness and health. God already has a health plan laid out for us in Scripture and we need to use that plan and design in the church. When the Body of Christ steps forward to work together as a team and as a community healing will start to flow to each other and to the sick in the world. The sick will be drawn to a place where health and wholeness is manifested. The Church is God’s HMO!
Remember the Words states in1Corinthians 4:20: “For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.”
I believe God has called us “The Body of Christ” to unite together –to join together to bring spiritual, physical and emotional healing to the hurting. The first step in creating a health center for this community is to hear the Spirit’s leading and then 100% commit to following His Health Plan for health and wholeness.
Closing Illustration: God has a plan!
Will you join me in this great plan for the Kingdom of God?
