Wednesday 02-06-13 - Living Grace Fellowship

And He Healed them all: Obstacles and Assets to Faith.mp3

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:04:28 — 24.5MB)

Key Text:

Matt. 14:13-36

Overview:

There are many obstacles to faith concerning the healing of our bodies but all of them in one way or another fall into one general category – consideration of self.

In this lesson we spent time examining several healings and miracles in the ministry of Jesus and worked through some of the most common pitfalls to receiving healing by faith. These pitfalls always turn our thoughts inward and focus on ourselves instead of maintaining our confidence in Him by looking to Him.

It is my hope that this lesson might help those who have struggled with coming to Christ for their healing. Many, many Christians have needlessly walked away from their times of petitioning God for their healing with uncertainty, doubt or down right fear. This should be such a foreign experience for the child of God!

Paul commands the believers in Ephesus to walk as children of light which required that they “know what they will of the Lord is.” In reality the Greek words this a little more forcefully – “constantly know God’s will in your every moment” is the thought Paul was conveying to them.

Now this would be a strange and harsh requirement of God through Paul if such moment-by-moment knowledge was not available to us. God will is known by viewing the life and ministry of Jesus Christ.

Jesus Himself said the following statements…

“If you have seen Me you have seen the Father.”

“I only do what I see my Father doing”

“I only say, what I here Him speak.”

“I always do those things which please my Father.”

These words tell us that if we look at the life and ministry of Christ we can know the heart of the Father. So, what is the heart of God the Father concerning healing those who are in bodily need of health? In every case, “Jesus healed them all.”

So if that if God heart concerning me, why is belief so difficult?

The first and most obvious reason for many is that they have not looked to the scriptures themselves to witness with their own eyes God’s revelation of His own character concerning healing through the ministry of His Son. We often accept the words of a preacher, or the experiences of sickness and death in those we believe to be “godly” people and then we reason in our own minds and reach a conclusion completely apart from God. This is something NOBODY did who came to Christ for healing. If they wondered if He would – they asked HIM – not their priest, not the Pharisees not a scribe – but Jesus Christ Himself. This is the first and most obvious obstacle to faith for healing.

Second is the consideration of other things. For this we used the example of Peter walking on the water. He did really well, until he considered the wind and the waves! This “consideration” has nothing to do with logic and every child of God has done it many times in their journey. It was not as if Peter actually thought that if it had been a calm day on the water and the wind was perfectly still it would in any way increase his personal buoyancy! Never the less, wind and waves were all that were necessary to cause him to sink. The difference between Peter and myself is that Peter had the good sense to turn his gaze back to Christ and cry out in relational trust – and Jesus was immediately present with a helping hand.

We addressed several other obstacles as well as assets to faith in this teaching. I hope that it will be an answer to those hearts who are saying to God, “I know you can if you are willing” and an encouragement to those of you who are struggling to wholly rely upon His answer of “I will, be made whole”.

Pastor Mark

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Hi my name is Mark and though I am opposed to titles, I am currently the only Pastor (shepherd/elder) serving our assembly right now.

I have been Pastoring in one capacity or another for nearly 30 years now, though never quite like I am today.

Early in 2009 the Lord revealed to me that the way we had structured our assembly (church) was not scriptural in that it was out of sync with what Paul modeled for us in the New Testament. In truth, I (like many pastors I am sure) never even gave this fundamental issue of church structure the first thought. I had always assumed that church structure was largely the same everywhere and had been so from the beginning. While I knew Paul had some very stringent things to say about the local assembly of believers, the point of our gatherings together and who may or may not lead, I never even considered studying these issues but assumed we were all pretty much doing it right...safety in numbers right?! Boy, I couldn't have been more wrong!

So needless to say, my discovery that we had been doing it wrong for nearly two decades was a bit of a shock to me! Now, this "revelation" did not come about all at once but over the course of a few weeks. We were a traditional single pastor led congregation. It was a top-bottom model of ministry which is in part biblical, but not in the form of a monarchy.

The needed change did not come into focus until following 9 very intense months of study and discussions with those who were leaders in our church at the time.

We now understand and believe that the Bible teaches co-leadership with equal authority in each local assembly. Having multiple shepherds with God's heart and equal authority protects both Shepherds and sheep. Equal accountability keeps authority and doctrine in check. Multiple shepherds also provide teaching with various styles and giftings with leadership skills which are both different and complementary.

For a while we had two co-pastors (elders) (myself and one other man) who led the church with equal authority, but different giftings. We both taught in our own ways and styles, and our leadership skills were quite different, but complimentary. We were in complete submission to each other and worked side-by-side in the labor of shepherding the flock.

Our other Pastor has since moved on to other ministry which has left us with just myself. While we currently only have one Pastor/Elder, it is our desire that God, in His faithfulness and timing, may bring us more as we grow in maturity and even in numbers.

As to my home, I have been married since 1995 to my wonderful wife Terissa Woodson who is my closest friend and most trusted ally.

As far as my education goes, I grew up in a Christian home, but questioned everything I was ever taught.

I graduated from Bible college in 1990 and continued to question everything I was ever taught (I do not mention my college in order to avoid being labeled).

Perhaps my greatest preparation for ministry has been life and ministry itself. To quote an author I have come to enjoy namely Fredrick Buechner in his writing entitled, Now and Then, "If God speaks to us at all other than through such official channels as the Bible and the church, then I think that He speaks to us largely through what happens to us...if we keep our hearts open as well as our ears, if we listen with patience and hope, if we remember at all deeply and honestly, then I think we come to recognize beyond all doubt, that, however faintly we may hear Him, He is indeed speaking to us, and that, however little we may understand of it, His word to each of us is both recoverable and precious beyond telling." ~ Fredrick Buechner

Well that is about all there is of interest to tell you about me.

I hope our ministry here is a blessing to you and your family. I also hope that it is only a supplement to a local church where you are committed to other believers in a community of grace.

~God Bless!