03-29-20 Kevin Goins - The Church's Ministry of Healing, Part 3

“Anatomy of an Illness: The Church’s Ministry of Healing”

John 9:4 (Part 3)

I First, sickness gets our attention and it gets the attention of Jesus (9:1).
II Second, sickness makes us uncomfortable (9:2).
III Third, sickness is caused by alienation (9:2).
IV Fourth, oftentimes our best theological or commonsense explanations for sickness are not good enough (9:3a).
V Fifth, sometimes sickness happens for a good reason, so that God can be glorified in our life (9:3b).
VI Sixth, all believers in Jesus are called to help sick people find health (9:4).
A. The first thing this verse tells us is that we are living in the day.
B. Second, this verse says that we are workers with Jesus.

C. Third, ministering healing to the sick is a responsibility of the ______________.

1. Many see the church’s calling as solely and totally the work of _______________ proclamation.

2. The church is called, not just to tell people about Jesus, but to _______ what Jesus did, and here we see him ______________.

a. I say that for two reasons – the first reason is _______________.

1. Jesus didn’t only say that we would repeat his m_______________, but he said that we would repeat his a_______________.

2. In fact, Jesus said we would do _________ than he did.

3. We also know that the ministry of healing did not stop when Jesus _______ the earth – It continued after he returned to heaven.

4. Then, in 1 Corinthians 12, Paul describes the gifts of the Spirit and he identifies one of those gifts in verse 9 as “gifts of _____________.”

b. The second reason I say healing belongs to the ministry of the church is ________________.

1. There was a time in history when the only place to find health care for the body was the _____________.

2. Many Christians, without realizing it, are better defenders of __________ than we are defenders of the __________.

3. We believe that the ___________ is what is crucial to life and the __________ is only a throw-away item.

4. Why did Jesus spend as much time healing people as he did preaching the Gospel? Because Jesus knew the creation account, and he knew God saw the physical body as something “_______ _________.”

5. It is amazing how so many Christians have completely d_______________ the care of our physical bodies from the care of our soul.

-This accounts for two things:

a. First, it explains why many “conservative Christians” seem to have so little interest in the issue of __________ _________.

b. Second, this explains why “liberal Christians” seem to have so little interest in _____________ healing.

D. Fourth, this verse teaches us that the ministry of healing is _________________.

1. There are two indications of urgency in this verse:

a. First, Jesus says “we _________ do the work.”

b. Second, Jesus says n________ is coming and when this happens all work will s___________.

2. Sick people need for the church to be ___________ as they face the darkness of disease and disability.