The Power of Healing

Welcome

Good morning and welcome! Wow! That’s some exciting news. What you may not know is how hard Brother Gerald has been working to get to this point and how hard he continues to work to see all areas of ministry in our church blossom and thrive.

We are really excited to see this life center building go up because it signals a readiness in our church’s move toward serving our community and the families and the families around us in a way that is important.

It is our hope and our goal for this building to be used regularly and to signal a level of active involvement that our church has in our community.

But as Brother Gerald shared, it’s going to take funds to get us where we need to be. It’s going to take your active involvement in this church and our ministries to get us where we need to be.

I hope you’re praying about that and how you can be doing your part in this, because we can only do this together.

Moving on to our Bible study this morning. We’ve been working our way through the Book of Acts in our series titled, The Church: Then & Now. We finished up last week looking at the Day of Pentecost and Peter’s sermon where more than 3,000 were added to the church.

This week we pick up with Chapter 3, in which Peter and John encounter a paralyzed man at the gates of the temple and a unique opportunity presents itself. These disciples/apostles now had the opportunity to heal just as Jesus promised them that they would do. Let’s read the biblical account…

Acts 3:1–11 CSB

1 Now Peter and John were going up to the temple for the time of prayer at three in the afternoon. 2 A man who was lame from birth was being carried there. He was placed each day at the temple gate called Beautiful, so that he could beg from those entering the temple. 3 When he saw Peter and John about to enter the temple, he asked for money. 4 Peter, along with John, looked straight at him and said, “Look at us.” 5 So he turned to them, expecting to get something from them. 6 But Peter said, “I don’t have silver or gold, but what I do have, I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, get up and walk!” 7 Then, taking him by the right hand he raised him up, and at once his feet and ankles became strong. 8 So he jumped up and started to walk, and he entered the temple with them—walking, leaping, and praising God. 9 All the people saw him walking and praising God, 10 and they recognized that he was the one who used to sit and beg at the Beautiful Gate of the temple. So they were filled with awe and astonishment at what had happened to him. 11 While he was holding on to Peter and John, all the people, utterly astonished, ran toward them in what is called Solomon’s Colonnade.

[pray]

I. The Habit of Prayer

I told you a couple of weeks ago that 9am was the hour of prayer. The devout Jews made a habit of gathering in the temple at that time. Today, we see that they gathered again at 3pm for prayer.

Acts 3:1 CSB

1 Now Peter and John were going up to the temple for the time of prayer at three in the afternoon.

I used to have a mechanic friend in Fort Worth who helped us with our car repairs. He was a devout Catholic and recovering alcoholic. He told me on one occasion that he attended mass daily. He did not like to miss daily mass because he felt that he got out of sorts and had trouble keeping his cool when the stress got to be too much for him when he wasn’t in his regular routine of daily mass.

The apostles of Jesus’ day had this habit of going to the temple twice a day for prayer.

When I read this I think to myself, “Wow, twice a day at the temple to pray? How did they get anything done?” and then the Lord reminds me that “Those who wish to have a relationship with me and speak to me or listen to my voice will find a time. They will make the time to be with me.” And that’s precisely what my Catholic mechanic friend did. He made himself take the time to be at the temple for prayer.

In addition to public prayer opportunities, Jesus had also taught the disciples to pray privately...

Matthew 6:6 CSB

6 But when you pray, go into your private room, shut your door, and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Prayer is to be done without ceasing, as it says in 1 Thess 5:17. I have the habit of praying as I go about my daily routine. I certainly have times of dedicated prayer, but normally my prayer tends to be in the private room that is my car or at my desk or wherever I am as the need presents itself.

This idea of praying constantly is a habit that Jesus put into his disciples as he trained them and formed their faith. He told them in Luke 18 “to pray always and not give up.”

II. The Pray-er Encounters the Need

As Peter and John were entering the church, they saw an opportunity to comfort the discouraged and help the weak, just like they had seen Jesus do countless times as they walked with him...

Acts 3:2–5 CSB

2 A man who was lame from birth was being carried there. He was placed each day at the temple gate called Beautiful, so that he could beg from those entering the temple. 3 When he saw Peter and John about to enter the temple, he asked for money. 4 Peter, along with John, looked straight at him and said, “Look at us.” 5 So he turned to them, expecting to get something from them.

This was a man that Peter and John had passed several times a day, probably for years. But something about this day was different. On this day Peter and John had the Spirit to prompt them when they encountered a need as they went about their day.

Have you ever done that? Have you ever been going about your day and maybe you’ve asked the Lord, “Lord, show me who you want me to bless today.” Has God ever put someone in your path like this?

If you’ve never done that, try praying that prayer some time and see what happens. We all have opportunities to be a blessing to others in our path most every day. How will you bless someone today after you leave church? And I don’t just mean money. There are many ways to bless people without having to give them money, though sometimes money is the solution.

One thing I don’t want you to miss here is that Peter and John did not overlook the opportunity for ministry here. Peter broke the primary rule here with beggars. He looked straight at the beggar and spoke to him. I know you all know what I mean. You drive up to the street light and there’s someone begging. Do you make eye contact or not?

In this case, I believe that Peter and John were influenced by the Spirit to connect with this beggar. So the man asked Peter and John for money, but was money a real solution to his problem? This man was crippled and could not walk. He was carried to the gates of the temple every day so that he could beg for money. But money was a short-term solution for the man’s problem, not a long-term solution. Healing was a much better option to solve the man’s problems.

What is healing?

Let’s look at healing for a moment.

Lexham Theological Wordbook Healing

Healing is the restoration of body, mind, or spirit to a state of wholeness and well-being. This restoration may be physical, as in the recovery from an illness or injury, or spiritual, as in the forgiveness of sins and justification before God. Ultimately, healing is embodied by Jesus, as he healed the sicknesses of many in his earthly ministry and secured ultimate healing for all in his death on the cross and subsequent resurrection.

What kind of needs to we have for healing?

Need for restoration to wholeness and well-being.

1. Body - physical healing from illness or injury

2. Mind - mental healing from emotional hurt or trauma

3. Spirit - spiritual healing through the forgiveness of sin

Often when the Bible is speaking of healing, it is referring to spiritual healing. There’s not always a link between spiritual healing and physical healing in the Bible. But we know that sometimes we have to meet people’s physical needs and emotional needs before we can begin to address the spiritual.

My wife, who is a counselor, practices a form of counseling that connects body, mind and spirit, saying that we need to be willing to treat the whole person for healing rather than just focus on one part of the person, ignoring the rest.

Healing was an important part of Jesus’ ministry. He used healing as a signal to the Jewish people that their Messiah had come into their community.

Matthew 4:23–24 CSB

23 Now Jesus began to go all over Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. 24 Then the news about him spread throughout Syria. So they brought to him all those who were afflicted, those suffering from various diseases and intense pains, the demon-possessed, the epileptics, and the paralytics. And he healed them.

While healing may be a little less prevalent in our church today than it was while Jesus and the apostles walked the earth, the Bible never teaches us to stop healing. In fact it teaches us the opposite...

James 5:14–15 CSB

14 Is anyone among you sick? He should call for the elders of the church, and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 The prayer of faith will save the sick person, and the Lord will raise him up; if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.

We can see a definite link between prayer and healing, whether it is healing of body, mind or spirit, we can always see that there is a connection with prayer...

James 5:16 CSB

16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is very powerful in its effect.

If God wants to heal us, why doesn’t everyone who needs healing receive healing? Doesn’t the Bible say “If we ask anything according to his will, he hears us” (1 John 5:14)?

That’s just it, don’t you see? It’s not always God’s will to heal us. Even if we have a great deal of faith in God’s ability to heal, there are times that he wants to do something more through the illness than he can accomplish in the healing.

I know that this was the case in my father’s illness that led to his death. The closer my Dad got to his death, the more bold he got in his faith to tell others where he was going soon.

Joni Eareckson Tada, who became famous for her message of hope after she was paralyzed as a young woman said this”God may remove your suffering, and that will be great cause for praise. But if not, He will use it, He will use anything and everything that stands in the way of His fellowship with you. So let God mold you and make you, transform you from glory to glory. That’s the deeper healing” (quoted on Grace to You, October 16, 2013).

III. God’s Power Heals the Person

In this case, God chose to use the apostles to heal the man they met at the gates to the temple. It’s important to remember that the power of healing is not by our power, but by the power of God through us...

Acts 3:6–7 CSB

6 But Peter said, “I don’t have silver or gold, but what I do have, I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, get up and walk!” 7 Then, taking him by the right hand he raised him up, and at once his feet and ankles became strong.

Peter offered the paralytic man something way better than silver or gold. He offered him healing. But healing not in his own power, but in the power of Jesus Christ.

The Bible is written in kind of a terse language and sometimes we kind of miss the drama of the moment in these miracles. The phrase here is literally like this man’s bones were popped out of socket and where it says “at once his feet and ankles became strong” it was like bones popping back into perfect alignment. We’ll pick up verse 8 in a minute, but it says that he “immediately jumped up and was able to walk.” That’s some real power there.

The Tyndale Bible Dictionary defines power as this, “ability to do things, by virtue of strength, skill, resources, or authorization.”

God is our source of power and we get that by the Holy Spirit...

1 Chronicles 29:11–12 CSB

11 Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the splendor and the majesty, for everything in the heavens and on earth belongs to you. Yours, Lord, is the kingdom, and you are exalted as head over all. 12 Riches and honor come from you, and you are the ruler of everything. Power and might are in your hand, and it is in your hand to make great and to give strength to all.

This was Spirit power in Peter and John, not man power. This was the very same power that we have in us. Not man power, but Spirit power...

Romans 8:11 CSB

11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, then he who raised Christ from the dead will also bring your mortal bodies to life through his Spirit who lives in you.

IV. The Power Yields the Praise

And the word continues showing that the power of the Holy Spirit brought out the praise for God in people.

Acts 3:8–11 CSB

8 So he jumped up and started to walk, and he entered the temple with them—walking, leaping, and praising God. 9 All the people saw him walking and praising God, 10 and they recognized that he was the one who used to sit and beg at the Beautiful Gate of the temple. So they were filled with awe and astonishment at what had happened to him. 11 While he was holding on to Peter and John, all the people, utterly astonished, ran toward them in what is called Solomon’s Colonnade.

God wanted to get all the credit from this healing, and he used his apostles to help make sure that happened.

In addition to physical healing, this miracle brought out a lot of joy. All the people there in the temple knew this man. This was not some unknown person in the crowd that was suddenly healed, but a man that they had all seen at the temple gates for many years.

Does God still heal today? I believe that he does. While it may seem that there are no miracles today, I think they still happen. Here in our Western world, we don’t often believe in miracles. Yet when tragedy or physical illness strikes, we often turn to prayer for the hope that we can find healing.

Jesus needed miracles to authenticate his claim to be Messiah and God.

Acts 2:22 CSB

22 “Fellow Israelites, listen to these words: This Jesus of Nazareth was a man attested to you by God with miracles, wonders, and signs that God did among you through him, just as you yourselves know.

The apostles also had a similar form of authentication...

2 Corinthians 12:12 CSB

12 The signs of an apostle were performed with unfailing endurance among you, including signs and wonders and miracles.

And here in the early church, signs and wonders signalled the arrival of the Holy Spirit.

Hebrews 2:4 CSB

4 At the same time, God also testified by signs and wonders, various miracles, and distributions of gifts from the Holy Spirit according to his will.

We can still occasionally see people healed, though it may not always appear exactly when we think it should or at our command.

We should always be willing to pray for God to grant healing or some other thing that we need or desire. But we always want to submit to God’s authority in these cases and allow him exercise his own judgment in these cases to give us what is best and what fits into his plan.

It was Jesus himself that taught us how to pray this at the hour when he most desired a different outcome than death on the cross...

Luke 22:42 CSB

42 “Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me—nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”

Conclusion

Next Week: The Truth Proclaimed Acts 3:12-26 we’ll look at Peter’s sermon that he gave at the gate of the temple in response to this healing.

You might be here today needing healing:

Perhaps you are facing a physical ailment that you hope will be healed by the same power that we’ve discussed today.

Perhaps you are hoping for healing from some emotional trauma.

Or maybe you need the spiritual healing that only Jesus can provide.

If this is you, if you need prayer—I’m going to offer a time of prayer here. I’m going to ask Pastor Joe to join me and we’re going to make ourselves available to pray for you. I’m not going to embarrass you or pray loudly. I’ll turn my mic off and pray for you quietly, just between you and me.

The Bible says to call the elders and ask for prayer and they will pray for you and anoint you with oil. I’ve got a little bit of oil here for anointing. There’s nothing special about this oil, it’s the same food grade oil that you probably have in your own kitchen. I’ll just put a little dab on your forehead as I pray for you. It’s not the oil that has some magic properties. It is the prayer of faith as we follow the word of the Lord in asking for healing. And then we leave it up to the power of God to provide as he sees fit.

We’re here to serve you for as long as there are people asking for prayer, then we’ll close and Brother Joe will give the announcements.