Sermon Central
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Jeremiah -The Healing Power Of God Series
Contributed by John Gullick on Mar 23, 2017 (message contributor)
Summary: A sermon that looks at healing through the scriptures in Jeremiah -
Chapter 17
Jeremiah's Prayer for Deliverance
…13O LORD, the hope of Israel, All who forsake You will be put to shame. Those who turn away on earth will be written down, Because they have forsaken the fountain of living water, even the LORD. 14Heal me, O LORD, and I will be healed; Save me and I will be saved, For You are my praise. 15Look, they keep saying to me, "Where is the word of the LORD? Let it come now!"…
LORD, I KNOW that You will restore my health to me, and You will heal me of any wounds, because this is what You said.
14. (Jeremiah 3:22 NKJV) "Return, you backsliding children, And I will heal your backslidings." "Indeed we do come to You, For You are the LORD our God.
15. (Jeremiah 17:14 NKJV) Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; Save me, and I shall be saved, For You are my praise.
16. (Jeremiah 30:17 NKJV) For I will restore health to you And heal you of your wounds,' says the LORD, 'Because they called you an outcast saying: "This is Zion; No one seeks her."'
36. (James 5:14-16 NKJV) Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. {15} And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. {16} Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.
The theme of healing in the book of Jeremiah goes from cover to cover.
At first you might think it is a sub title or sub theme to the book
But, as I have explored this subject in this book I have come to see that the whole book is about healing.
Often though we are not sure what the real issue is:-
For example One afternoon, a man went to his doctor and told him that he hasn’t been feeling well lately. The doctor examined the man, left the room, and came back with three different bottles of pills. The doctor said, “Take the green pill with a big glass of water when you wake up. Take the blue pill with a big glass of water after you eat lunch. Then just before going to bed, take the red pill with another big glass of water.” Startled to be put on so much medicine, the man stammered, “Doc, exactly what is my problem?” The doctor replied, “You’re not drinking enough water.”
Israel was sick – the nations were attacking her and eventually she would be destroyed but the real problem was she was not drinking enough water – living water. The refreshing water that comes from being in correct relationship with God.
The nation was unhealthy and God sent Jeremiah to diagnose it’s sickness.
I think health is like that. We often think the red green or blue pills will solve our problems. The real answer is much simpler than that.
Sometimes the thing we give value to has no value at all, like the pills. While the thing we thought was irrelevant has the real value
Danny Simpson took an old "hand-me-down" Colt .45, and robbed a bank in Ontario, Canada. He got $6,000. When the Mounties caught-up with Danny they confiscated the gun. When the lab technician processed the weapon for fingerprints, he recognized it as a valuable collector’s item. Danny had owned a gun worth $100,000. He simply never imagined; much the same as believers who have a priceless availability of God’s wisdom. We simply must ask!
Israel in Jeremiah’s time always returned to the wrong methods to correct it’s problems, so that, Jeremiah had a mission the mission was to return to God.
See, I have appointed you this day over the nations and over the kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant (Jeremiah 1:10).
Jeremiah drew the short straw in his day but what Judah could not see was the thing of great value that was in it’s hand - Josiah, in Jeremiah’s time, discovered the way back to God, but in terms of history, it lasted for the blink of an eye before the nation was plunged again into rebellion again.
While all of this was happening the Prophet Jeremiah was prophesying often about healing.
If Judah had understood what Jeremiah was saying about God’s healing it could have been restored and healed – instead it too, like Israel before, was cast into exile.
This morning in 2017 we too find ourselves in a world that is swiftly moving against God and His word and therefore, Jeremiah the weeping Prophet is of great comfort to us.
