04-22-20 Kevin Goins - The Church's Ministry of Healing, John 9:6 pt 3

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

John 9:6 (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).
VII Seventh, sickness is a work of the kingdom of darkness; healing is a work of the Kingdom of light (9:5).
VIII Eighth, the how of healing is very important (9:6).

-What do we learn from this verse?

A. First, we see that how Jesus healed was in accordance with God’s will and in accordance with the principles of the Kingdom of Light.
B. Second, we see that how Jesus healed was not by manipulation.
C. Third, we see that how Jesus healed is something we should never ignore.

1. The first thing we need to see about the “how” of this healing is that Jesus did it un___________________.

a. In other words, Jesus did it without the man ever a______________ him.

b. What this means, therefore, is that God was intervening in the blind man’s life in a way he could not have c________________ at that moment.

c. So, how do we explain this? Jesus didn’t give this man the opportunity to ask for help, because the man did not have the k____________ or a___________ to ask for himself.

2. The second thing about the how is that Jesus did it be repeating the work of ____________________.

a. Irenaeus was one of the greatest theologians of the early church and he said that John’s emphasis, as he wrote this account, was not on the ______________, but on the _____________.

b. Why would Jesus use a method of healing on this occasion which recalled what God did when he created life? … What makes this man’s blindness stand out? It is the fact that this man wasn’t simply blind, he had been blind __________ __________. In other words, he had n________ e________ had the ability to see.

c. That means that this healing isn’t a healing of r_______________; this is a gift of ___________________.

3. The third thing about the how is that it involved all _________________ members of the ________________.

a. Since Jesus talks about ___________ as a way of referring to the Spirit, and since ______________ is water, and since Jesus uses the saliva to make a kind of salve out of dirt to apply to the man’s eyes, it appears that the ___________ ____________ is also involved in this healing.

b. The a______________ o__________, used in the church’s healing ministry, symbolizes the work of the Holy Spirit.

c. Furthermore, when the elders anoint and pray for someone, they l________ their h___________ on them, and that also emphasizes the work of the Holy Spirit.

d. Details in Scripture are there for a r________________; details matter because details can change h_____________ and m____________.