Hindrance to Healing 1

Hindrances to Healing

Theme: Unbelief prevents miracles

Step 1 – Jesus Begins in Nazareth – pattern of

Nazareth – after 40 days in wilderness

Luke 4:16 NLT

16 When he came to the village of Nazareth, his boyhood home, he went as usual to the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read the Scriptures.

God’s PRESENCE must be welcomed

· Jesus alone – apostles not called yet until Luke chapter 5…

Luke 4:17–19 NLT

17 The scroll of Isaiah the prophet was handed to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where this was written: 18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, 19 and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.”

God’s POWER must be welcomed

· Jesus is announcing His miracle ministry, that would save, heal, and deliver multitudes all over Jerusalem!

· His hometown community were the first to hear of it actually coming to pass!

Luke 4:20 NLT

20 He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the attendant, and sat down. All eyes in the synagogue looked at him intently.

They started out good – so far

Luke 4:21 NLT

21 Then he began to speak to them. “The Scripture you’ve just heard has been fulfilled this very day!”

God’s WORD must be welcomed

· How privileged they were to see the very beginning of the fulfillment of all the messianic prophecies predicted for almost 2,000 years!

Jesus immediately rejected at Nazareth

Luke 4:22 NLT

22 Everyone spoke well of him and was amazed by the gracious words that came from his lips. “How can this be?” they asked. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?”

why?

· crowd was still suspect of Joseph and Mary’s relationship – she was pregnant before marriage

· humility – the Lord came from such humble beginnings, that He was not recognized by even His own hometown!

Luke 4:23 NLT

23 Then he said, “You will undoubtedly quote me this proverb: ‘Physician, heal yourself’—meaning, ‘Do miracles here in your hometown like those you did in Capernaum.’

God’s PROPHET must be welcomed

Luke 4:24 NLT

24 But I tell you the truth, no prophet is accepted in his own hometown.

· This proclamation is Jesus” first revelation of His identity to the community

· prophet – one who speaks by divine inspiration the oracles of God

· 4396 προφήτης [prophetes/prof·ay·tace/][1]

Luke 4:25–27 NLT

25 “Certainly there were many needy widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the heavens were closed for three and a half years, and a severe famine devastated the land. 26 Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them. He was sent instead to a foreigner—a widow of Zarephath in the land of Sidon. 27 And many in Israel had leprosy in the time of the prophet Elisha, but the only one healed was Naaman, a Syrian.”

· whoever receives a prophet – reward

Matthew 10:40–41 NLT

40 “Anyone who receives you receives me, and anyone who receives me receives the Father who sent me. 41 If you receive a prophet as one who speaks for God, you will be given the same reward as a prophet. And if you receive righteous people because of their righteousness, you will be given a reward like theirs.

God’s PRIVILEGE must be welcomed

God does not owe anyone anything

hearing the Gospel is a privilege! not a right, a need and not a nuisance, a blessing and not a burden

Luke 4:28–30 NLT

28 When they heard this, the people in the synagogue were furious. 29 Jumping up, they mobbed him and forced him to the edge of the hill on which the town was built. They intended to push him over the cliff, 30 but he passed right through the crowd and went on his way.

God’s Word is HINDERED where UNWELCOMED

Luke 4:31–32 NLT

31 Then Jesus went to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and taught there in the synagogue every Sabbath day. 32 There, too, the people were amazed at his teaching, for he spoke with authority.

God’s Word WORKS where WELCOMED

1849 ἐξουσία [exousia /ex·oo·see·ah/][2] = power, authority, jurisdiction, strength

If healing does not happen, it is not God’s FAULT, for it is His WILL

many blame God’s ABILITY – claim He CAN not heal

others blame God’s INTEGRITY – claim He WILL not heal

God CAN and WANTS to heal all, but we must let Him!

· He came to His own – and His own received Him not – John 1:11

John 1:10–12 (NLT)

10 He came into the very world he created, but the world didn’t recognize him.

11 He came to his own people, and even they rejected him.

12 But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God.