Does God Still Heal Miraculously Today?

Does God Still Heal Miraculously Today?

(click for audio)

As we read the story of Aeneas and Dorcas in Acts 9 there's a hunger awakened in us to experience God's healing power in our own weakness and grief. In attempting to answer the question of whether God miraculously heals today we need to take an honest look at some of what does go on in His name and to be reminded that our desperation for relief from suffering can make us susceptible to exploitation and also to self-deception. We take a look at some modern examples as we heed the Biblical warning to "test everything, hold on to the good". In this message we also remind ourselves of the goodness of God in the midst of suffering, not just in what we long for which is to end our suffering. We are reminded of the certainty of ultimate relief which is found when Christ makes all things new - a future event which includes judgement of evil for which we must all be prepared. We also look at the exhortation of James 5 for those are sick, discovering there a means of experiencing God's grace in those times when we are struggling - whether that's spiritually, morally, emotionally, mentally or physically. This is the first of a two-part series dealing with the question of whether God miraculously heals today.

Leaving the Old Life Behind: Simon the Sorcerer

Simon the Sorcerer

(click for audio)

In Acts 8 we read about Simon the Sorcerer, a man who was somebody great in the eyes of many people and liked it that way!  Then Phillip arrived, demonstrating greater power as he testified about Jesus Christ and the eternal life that He offers.  Phillip believed, impressed by the wonders Phillip performed as a sign that God really was at work.  He was even baptised to show that he'd left his old life behind and wanted to now live for God as His child.  However old habits die hard, and when he saw the power Peter and John exercised in giving the Holy Spirit he offered them money if they would just give him that ability.  He wanted to be someone great again, someone people followed as a power in his own right.  Peter made it very clear that this kind of attitude and desire does not fit with God's people, urging Simon to turn away from his sin. 
It's this willingness to leave our old life behind that demonstrates true conversion.  We cannot claim to follow Christ if we are also determined to keep going on our own path.  Sure, we'll mess up - a lot!  But each time we do God by His Spirit helps us to see the sin that is still part of who we are, confess it and leave it at the cross where it has been dealt with by Jesus.  The divine transaction is then completed when we accept from Christ a purity of heart that helps us to move forward as people who are like Him, living by His Spirit instead of controlled by our own sinful tendencies.  Then God will produce all kinds of great stuff in us and through us for His glory, our joy and the blessing of those we touch.

Lives to Learn From: Phillip

 
Lives to Learn From: Phillip

(click for audio)

The spread of the Gospel crossed cultural boundaries which the early Jewish believers wouldn’t have expected. But the story of how Phillip spoke to Samaritans & to the Ethiopian on the road remind us of the all-inclusive nature of God’s grace to all people. We are all one in Christ – “One for all”.

Lives To Learn From: Stephen

Lives to Learn From: Stephen

(click for audio)

Stephen was a man whose life and death made a profound impact on all those who witnessed them.

Lives To Learn From: Gamaliel

Lives to Learn From: Gamaliel 
(click for audio)

There are many ways that we can lead or influence people – Seniority, title, friendship etc. But the true test to know if influence is from God is to test if it is in line with what we already know of God, and if it endures to fulfill His purposes. Gamaliel was a man who knew a “God thing” when he saw it.

Lives to Learn From pt 6 - Barnabas, Ananias & Sapphira

Lives to Learn From in the Book of Acts

Pt 6: Barnabas, Ananias & Sapphira
(click for audio)

What is the 'normal' level of sacrifice for a Christian to make in serving God? We sometimes read about people who leave everything to go serve in far away places, or who give everything away to support people in need, and we think 'I could never be like that'. That kind of devotion and self-sacrifice is surely beyond normal - it's freakish! The funny thing is that when you read Acts 4 and 5, that kind of devotion actually sounds pretty common. People really got the Romans 12:1 principle - it's only reasonable in the light of what God has done for us to give ourselves completely to Him. 

Barnabas was one of a bunch of people who sold their possessions in order to give to the poor. We read later in Acts about how he traveled and served God wherever God called him to. A great example! The weird, freakish thing was when a couple of people - Ananias and Sapphira - tried to look like people who were giving it all but were actually holding back for themselves. What got them in trouble wasn't that they held back some of the money they'd got for selling some land, it was that they lied about it. They wanted the credit for something that wasn't true. 

God did not want to see hypocrisy and deceit becoming the new normal in His Church, so He made it pretty clear that this kind of behaviour was not OK and not safe. It's still not safe today. Sure, God might not cause people to die so dramatically very often, but those kinds of attitudes still produce stunted disciples and turn others away from Jesus. God showed his love for the early church and for Ananias and Sapphira by disciplining them and stopping the poison before it spread. He still shows His love for us today by disciplining us when we need it so that we learn not to hold on so tightly to the stuff of this world - so our lives can be purified for His service. If God did nothing, Ananias and Sapphira's legacy could have been that they started a corrupting trend in the church. Because He did something, their legacy is that many people grew in respect and reverence for God and the church continued to grow.  If we assume that Ananias and Sapphira were genuine believers in Jesus who made a poor decision together, we can say that in eternity they will be glad that God intervened the way He did, even though they must be sad that their behaviour made it necessary for Him to do so.

Lives to Learn From pt 5: The Cripple at the Temple Gates

The Cripple at the Temple Gates 

(click for audio)

The story of the healing of the cripple at the temple gates is one of the most memorable in the book of Acts. We love to imagine the joy of being able to walk after 40 years and the life transformation that it would bring in that society. We love to witness the overflowing joy of a former cripple who is "walking and leaping and praising God" as a favourite song describes. 

 

However that's just the beginning of the miracle. The point of the healing was not a better quality of life for one individual for the remainder of his earthly existence - it was part of God's plan to bring Jesus into focus so that many people would have the opportunity to experience eternal life. The rest of Acts 3 and 4 describe the incredible way that the healing event provided an opportunity for Peter & John to boldly testify about the risen Jesus and to see many people place their faith in Him. 

 

Are we so excited about the miracle of new life that God has worked in us that our overflowing praise brings Jesus into the view of all around us so they may also be saved? We're reminded in Romans 12 that offering all our lives to God as living sacrifices is our reasonable response of worship to the One who gave it all for our salvation. What will that look like for you? Will you be one like the cripple whose transformed life captures peoples' attention? Will you be like the Apostles who testified about Jesus despite the threats and hostility of those who opposed them? Will you be like the believers who prayed for the Holy Spirit to empower their witness? All are needed in order to see salvation brought to the lost.

Lives to Learn from Pt 4: Judas

Lives to Learn From in the Book of Acts

Part 4: Judas

(click for audio)

The story of Judas Iscariot is one of the saddest and most confronting in the Bible. It raises all kinds of issues for people, from the simple historical accuracy of two accounts that at first glance don't add up (Matthew & Acts), to more complex issues like the question of whether Judas was merely a pawn in the battle between God and Satan - a victim of a much larger battle than he was aware of. Ultimately though, Judas stands as someone who in many ways represents the person we all can be and the fate we all can share, so it's important to learn from his story. In grappling with the hopelessness of his situation, we learn why there is always hope for us... unless we reject the Saviour King we all need.

Lives to Learn From pt 3: Matthias & Joseph

Lives to Learn from in the Book of Acts

Part 3: Matthias & Joseph

(click for audio)

The story of the two men who were candidates to replace Judas has some great challenges for us to apply to our own lives, such as: 
1) Why did Joseph have 3 names? If we needed to choose another name to identify you, what kind of name would that be? What kind of name should we be known by? 
2) What do we do when a choice needs to be made and there's no clear winner? Even after prayer, reflection upon Scripture and consultation with believers it was not obvious which way to go so a mechanism was found where God's sovereignty could prevail. How does that inform our own decision making? 
3) How would you have responded in Matthias' position or in Joseph's? Would you have become proud? Resentful? Our response to recognition or the lack of it can tell us a lot about the condition of our hearts and our true motivation for service.

Lives to Learn From pt 2: The Holy Spirit

 
Lives to Learn from in the Book of Acts

Part 2: The Holy Spirit

(Click for Audio)

What does it mean to receive power from the Holy Spirit? In the first chapter of Acts we see Jesus preparing His followers for the arrival of the Holy Spirit, then in chapter 2 He arrives with a bang! How similar should our experience of the Spirit be to what the first followers of Christ experienced on the day of Pentecost? We see through Acts 2 a pattern of the Spirit's work which is repeated throughout the book of Acts. To understand it, we need to remember what Jesus said in Acts 1:4 - that the Spirit would come just as Jesus taught. To understand the work of the Spirit we must remember all that Jesus said about Him.  A great place to start is to look at John 14 to 17 which records the instructions Jesus gives His disciples and His prayer to His Father - all of which give great guidance about the work of the Spirit.

We discover that this work can be summarised like this: The Spirit works to draw people closer to God in Christ and to all those who are in Christ.  He works through us to help others in that same direction also.

Sometimes we get too distracted on the means the Spirit uses rather than the purpose of His work.  We need to diligently apply 1 Thessalonians 5:19-22 which urges us to not quench the Spirit but to test everything and hold on to the good.  We must not become overly prescriptive about what God does and does not do beyond what He clearly says in His Word.

Lives to Learn From pt 1: Jesus

Lives to Learn from Pt 1: Jesus
(click for audio)

Over the next few months we are going to be looking at some of the people who feature in the story of the early church as recorded in the book of Acts.  There are so many great lessons to learn from what God did in and through many of these people and many parallels with our own lives as we look at how different people responded to God.
The book of Acts begins by talking about Jesus, so it's natural to start our journey with Him.  In this message we look at the way Acts 1 describes Jesus as the One who sends His followers into the world to be His witnesses.  We do not go alone, however.  He gives us power through His Spirit within; and we know that God is always at work around us.  Where is God at work around you and how is His Spirit preparing and calling you to be involved in that work of bringing people to fullness of life in Jesus?