05-26-20 Kevin Goins - The Church's Ministry of Healing, John 9:10-12, part 2

“Anatomy of an Illness: The Church’s Ministry of Healing”
John 9:10-12 (Part 2)

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).
IX Ninth, sickness can be overcome by divine healing, but healing does not happen without some action on our part (9:7).
X Tenth, divine healing will always arouse doubt (9:8-9).
XI Eleventh, the response to the healing of sickness is often questions (9:10-12)

A. When the neighbors of the man born blind saw that he could now see, they immediately began to a________ q______________.

1. First, they ask, “H______ then were your eyes opened?”

a. In general, when people use questions to express their doubt, they often ask about b_________ things.

b. In our text, however, we see that people can also use questions about g_____________ things to express doubt.

2. Why did they ask the question, “How, then, were your eyes opened?”

a. First, they wanted a r_________________ explanation for what had happened to the man.

b. Second, they were looking for a s_____________________ explanation.

i. When a supernatural power is involved, the question that must be asked is, “Is it the r__________ kind of supernatural power or is it the w___________ kind of supernatural power?

ii. Today people are not concerned about the source of supernatural power because typically our culture d______________ all supernatural power.
iii. It seems that the more people turn away from God and the Bible, the more they are driven to f________________ supernatural powers.

iv. Why do people express doubt about divine healing today? People realize that if there is a God who can and does heal, then that God must have a______________ power. If there is a God with awesome power then I would be the worst kind of f____________ to ignore him.

B. That is the first question his neighbors asked the formerly blind man, and to the neighbor’s question the man gives an a___________.

1. There are _____________ things about this man’s answer that I believe are significant:

a. First, his answer is very f________________.

i. All the formerly blind man gives are the b_________, b___________ facts.

ii. When we want to tell people how Jesus healed us, we do not need to first prove to them that God e__________, and we do not need to give them e_______________ that miracles happen.

b. Second, his answer is non-t___________________.

i. This man, at this point in time, has ________ idea who Jesus is.

ii. There may actually be more meaningful theology in just the bare facts we share than there is in our attempts to e________________ on what happened.

c. Third, his answer is __________-focused.

i. The first thing the man does is to n_________ the one who healed him.

ii. People may feel uncomfortable when we give credit to Jesus, but people need to hear that name being used to identify a ___________, rather than as an o________ or as p_____________.

2. Being ready for God’s healing power to work in our life not only requires faith, it also means being ready to be a w____________ afterward.