Church in the Peak Podcast

21st March 2010 - Graham Webb - Gospel And Healing Meeting

This morning, Graham Webb from Liverpool’s Jubilee Church came and preached at our “Healing In The Hyrdo” service.

Do we have an excuse about why we are not giving ourselves fully to God? Perhaps we think we’ll become a Christian just before we die? Perhaps we think the church is full of hypocrites? Perhaps we’re worried about what others will think? Whatever our excuse, God draws us to him. We can respond by stretching out our hand to God as he’s reaching out to us.

Matthew 12:6 – “One greater than the temple is here”. A lot of religions approve of Jesus as a teacher, but loads of His teaching relates to himself and his power. Jesus points to himself. We don’t have to go to Jerusalem for healing – we can come directly to Jesus

Matthew 12:9-14 – Jesus heals a man with a shrivelled hand on the Sabbath and the Pharisees plotted about how to kill Jesus. Fortunately for the whole world, their earthly plot succeeded! The man with the withered hand had to reach out his withered hand before it was healed. Peter was only able to walk on water because he stepped out of the boat. In each case, Jesus asked someone to do something and they responded in faith. If we don’t act in faith, we are in danger of acting in fear. Satan loves to keep us fearful. God wants to break through the lies/excuses that are keeping us fearful. The man’s hand was healed as he reached out.

With us, the speaker needs to step out with a faith response when praying for someone and the responder needs to step out with a faith response when receiving prayer. Things change when we respond with faith. But, even though the miracle happened in front of their eyes, the Pharisees plotted to kill Jesus. Just seeing a miracle won’t be enough to convince some people of Jesus’s love for them.

Peter and John and the man at the Beautiful Gate – Peter helped the man up, and as the man was pulled up his legs became strong. When the people saw him praising God, they did too. Peter commanded the sickness in Jesus’s name. Jesus is alive and he works today. He heals people through our actions. Peter and John were commanded, by the Sanhedrin, not to preach the name of Jesus but they refused. Not all roads lead to heaven, only Jesus does.

We quite like being in charge of our own life but we need to submit to God’s will. Usually when we’re in charge, we end up messing things up. Things on the outside may appear to be good, but inside we can be in turmoil. God asks that we give him the reins of our life and let him take control. He may take us places that we wouldn’t expect to be taken, but it’s all part of God’s plan for our lives.

If we are worried about stepping towards God and reaching out to him, we should remember that he’s been stepping towards us and reaching out to us for a whole lot longer. He’s been beckoning us from before eternity.

During the meeting this morning, Abby shared her healing testimony. Use the YouTube link below to hear Abby explain what happened. [NB: The video was recorded by NewDay and shown in one of the main meetings at NewDay 2010.]

Questions:

1. Graham covered a number of excuses people make for not giving the reigns of their life to Jesus. What were the excuses he covered and which one(s) are relevant to the friend or family member you are praying for?

2. What did Graham mean by a ‘faith action’ when pursing healing? Who has to have a faith action, the one who is sick and /or the one who is praying? What faith action do you need to press into at the moment?

Listen now! (0:44min / 11MB)