Does Jesus Still Heal Today? Mark 6:53-56

Does Jesus Still Heal Today_ Mark 6_53-56 Matt: [00:00:00] Hey guys, welcome to another Facebook Live Sunday service Stream. I'm hoping, uh, that this is all working well. Uh, I'm a little bit behind today, so I've not had a chance to triple check and double check everything. So if you could do me a favor. If you are watching, give me a shout out and a thumbs up if you can hear me as I quickly rearranged it on my screen. Um, that will be wonderful. Let me know if the volume is coming through. Okay. That's my big question mark as things currently stand. Also let us know if you are watching this on Facebook or whether you are not watching this on the website. That would be good to know as well. Uh, and I'm just about getting there. So welcome to Frontline City. It is great to have you. Oh, Abby's, bless you. Hi, Abby. How are you doing? Let me move those. I can move the comments now I think. There we go. That's better. Let's move it to there. There we go. Hi, hubby. How you [00:01:00] doing? Can you hear me all right? I think the smiley face means you probably can, which is brilliant. Great to have you. Thanks for being here. Right. Let's get started, shall we? It is Sunday, the 5th of April. Um, and, uh, we are here streaming live on Facebook. Uh, due to all things COVID-19, it's, it's safer to do it, uh, from inside the shed for, uh, everybody out there. And it's great. If you're joining us, it is great to be with you again. I really, really enjoy our time together, and it's been good fun so far. So, Abby, as just said here, watching on Facebook, everything is working okay. Thanks, Abby. That's a beautiful thing. Uh, it's great to have you. If you, if this is your first time here, let me tell you, we work really well when you comment. So if you, uh, if you would like to comment on the, on the stream, please do so on the Facebook live stream. We love it. We respond to it. Um, as we're doing the notices, the videos, as we're doing, you know, going through God's word and all that sort of [00:02:00] stuff, just go for it. Just write comments. Why not involve, get interactive, interactive. Uh, it's a good thing to do, so it'd be great if, like, Abby, you can also comment, uh, on the feed right. First things first, I'm gonna give, uh, the microphone proverbially over to my beautiful wife, um, who happens to be celebrating her birthday today. So make sure you say happy birthday, uh, to Sharon. I'm sure she'll appreciate it. Anyway, here we go. Uh, babe, can you hear me? Sharon: I can. Hi, you. I've got some special music. Dunno if you can hear it. That's for me. Okay. Um, hi everyone. I hope you're doing okay with the new reality of lockdown, especially those working on the Frontline in some very difficult situations. Um, I saw something on Facebook today. It said, introverts, check on your extroverts, friends. They are not okay. They have no idea how this works. So this is [00:03:00] me checking on my extrovert friends, I hope you're okay. If not, gimme a shout. I can give you some tips. Um, at the moment there seems to be lots of things we can control, but an awful lot that we can't control. And I think it's good to know that there are someone there bigger than ourselves who loves us. And there are some verses I keep coming back to that really encourage me. Uh, so I thought I'd share them with you. They are. Philippians four, verse six and seven. Um, and they say, do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation by Prayer and petition with Thanksgiving, present your request to God and the peace of God will transcend all understanding and it will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Fabulous verses um. Okay, just a couple of notices this week. Uh, we've got community on Wednesday on Zoom for anyone who'd like to join us at seven 30. That's just more for, um, just an informal chat, a catch up to see how [00:04:00] everyone is, and we pray together, maybe do a game. Um, and the other thing is that next week is Easter Sunday. Um, and as Frontline city, we're not gonna meet just together. We can actually join with the rest of Frontline Church at 10 30, um, online again. Um, and there'll be more details to follow on how you can connect with that later in the week. And that's it for me. Matt: Uh, just so you know, um, uh, Matt and a few folks on Facebook are going, happy Birthday. Sharon: Oh, thank you. Matt: They're saying happy birthday to Sharon: you. Thank you. Thank you. Matt: And just so you know, Facebook, if you're listening, we didn't mean to play copyright of music on the Facebook live stream. Sharon: Oh, I didn't think of that. Sorry. I'm new to this. I'm really new to this. No, that's Matt: fine. I, I'm, I'm wondering actually if we're gonna get a notice at the end saying, uh, yes, you're not allowed to play copyrighted music. Um, so as long as we're still broadcasting, then they've not called it with us yet. So we're okay.[00:05:00] Brilliant. Alright, we'll talk to you soon. Thanks sweetie. Bye. Isn't she wonderful? Isn't she beautiful? Yes, she is. Uh, that's my beautiful wife who has now just signed off Skype. It is really odd, I have to be honest with you. It is really odd when I'm sat here knowing Sharon's in the other room talking to AV via Skype so you guys can join in the conversation. Uh, it just, uh, is, is fantastic how technology works, isn't it? So, um, yeah, that was the notice as, uh, as Sharon said, one of the things to, uh, think about is next week is the Easter Sunday service. That's gonna be, um, streamed via Frontline, the main Frontline, uh, church. So if you don't know, Frontline City is a part of Frontline Church. Lemme bring this a little bit closer. There we go. Uh, so Frontline City is a part of Frontline Church and, um. We're a, we're a smaller church plant. We're a new church plant from Frontline. Uh, and our aim is to, uh, be in the city center of Liverpool, [00:06:00] which is, uh, fabulous. Um, and we enjoy being down there. Uh, but obviously we're now streaming. Uh, from the shed, uh, for want of a better expression in the meantime. Uh, but Frontline the main church, the church that we're a part of is doing a big Easter broadcast next Sunday morning, which will be fantastic. Uh, so make sure you are online for that. And then the week after, um, alpha is gonna start as Shera mentioned. And I just wanna draw your attention to that because Alpha is gonna rock and be cool. Uh, Sharon and I are actually heading it up and we're gonna do it online. Never done alpha before online, but looking forward to it. It should be good, right? It should be fun. So, uh, let's get into that, right? Uh, let me play for you now a little, a little greeting from Lord Langston. Here we go. Martin: Hey guys, how you doing? Have you guys had a good week? I hope you guys have all been. Well, for those of you that don't know [00:07:00] me, I'm Martin. I'm part of the team that, uh, helps. Set up and run the Frontline city, uh, services. And Matt had asked if I would like to share a little bit about our week, this week and what's been going on and, uh, maybe any encouragement from the week. And, uh, we've had a really fun week this week. We've been homeschooling our, our kids are all at home and, uh, we now have some quality evidence to comprehensively show that I'm in fact. Have proper amateur when it comes to teaching and homeschooling. Um, I, yeah, it has been, it has been good fun. The kids have been very gracious with me and, uh, we've in, in, in the mix of our week this week. Like lots of you, some of you may have, uh, made, uh, rainbows to put in the window. Um, and, and we've been doing that and the kids, in fact have actually made a little video. Let me show you this, this is great. Um. To encourage you have a quick, have a quick watch.[00:08:00] Langstons: It is not of secret. It's not a better tale in the ma in the 3 1, 2, 3 wave stretcher in the. Martin: We'll pause that there. And that's true though, isn't It is. God's promises are true and that's the thing that actually we need to not lose sight of. God is the same as he was yesterday and he is the same [00:09:00] as he will be tomorrow. God hasn't changed. The promises haven't changed Our hope, the source of our hope hasn't changed. The source of my provision hasn't changed in lots of ways. Actually, not a lot has changed. If I got sick, you know. A couple of weeks ago. I mean, it's crazy, didn't it? To think that this is a only really been our, in the kind of front of our minds for maybe two or three weeks, and we're, it's such a different place now to where we were. But, you know, my trust and my hope for my health was never really in my circumstance or in the provision or in, in, in those things. It was always in the fact that God was good and that God, um. God would look out for me, and, and nothing in that sense has really changed that much. And so I just, I, I've been thinking a lot about this week and so I'd encourage you dwell on that a little bit this week. That [00:10:00] actually, you know, God's promises are true and they haven't changed any. And, and we can take, we, as we remember those, as we, as we rely on those really it provides us with. There's a comfort in them, but also there's real truth in them because the only thing really that actually has changed is the circumstances which we find ourselves in, you know, the swirling mix of emotions and fear and things are going on around us, which we don't have to engage with in some ways. We have to. We need to be inside. We need to be sensible. We know we need to, we need to, to do sensible things, but actually. We can be in faith, we can, we can be confident that God is who he said he is and that he loves us. And I've found that really comforting this week to think about that. So, yeah. Um, but for now, that's our little, little moment in the week. So we're gonna say [00:11:00] goodbye for now and we'll see you soon. Matt: Well, there you go. Thanks Martin. I appreciate the video. And kids, uh, I hope you're watching 'cause that was just some extraordinary stuff you were doing there. Some great dancing, uh, and I love the rainbow and even Abigail running around, hiding around the back. It was just, it was just awesome. And Martin, I'm sure, I have no doubt that you're a way better homeschool parent than you are laying on, uh, my. My, my wonder is if this humility is because you don't wanna do it anymore, just just saying. Anyway, it's great to have you, uh, as part of the church. Langstons, you're awesome. Thank you for doing the video and again, kids, thanks for the song. That was fantastic. No doubt about it. So, um, I dunno how we top that really. Uh, I think what I can do though is I can just take off the, uh. There we go. Uh, you, you know that I'm the husband to the birthday girl now, [00:12:00] so, uh, there we go. Okay. So, so shall we get into today's topic of conversation? Uh, we are in the book of Mark. We're carrying on our conversations around Mark, and it's a relatively short passage today, but let me tell you, it's a meaty one. A very, very meaty one because, well, we're gonna get into this whole conversation about healing and does Jesus heal today like he did in New Testament times? These are some really interesting questions. Um. If he does heal, will he heal me? Will he heal the person that I'm praying for? Um, and what happens if I don't get healed? Why do I still get sick? And all this sort of stuff, uh, are some really fab questions that I think are really good questions to ask ourselves on this whole topic. And we are gonna get into those right now. So let me bring up, uh, the scriptures. Here we go. So we are in [00:13:00] Mark chapter six, verses 53 to 56, and it says here they made landfall, uh, ra, I hope I'm pronouncing that right, and anchored there. Uh, the moment they got out of the boat, everyone recognized that it was, in fact, Jesus the healer. So they ran throughout the region telling the people, bring all the sick, even those two, uh, sick to walk and bring them on mats. Uh. And wherever he went in the countryside, villages or towns, they placed the sick on mats in the streets or in public places and begged him saying, just let us touch the tsel of your Prayer. Shall and all who touched him were instantly healed. Well, that's quite a fascinating, uh, piece of scripture, isn't it? And it, you know, it's, uh. You can see why we're gonna get into the topic of healing. What's Matt said here? So Matt Crew come up breaking the rules game, playing a copyrighted song. Yeah. Martin and the kids, you know what? We'll see if we get [00:14:00] away with it with Facebook. I hope we do. Uh, let's find out. So, um, uh, let's go back to the first verse in this passage and get into this because there's something that I just wanna bring your attention to. Uh, if I can click it. There we go. So they made landfall at nesser at and anchored there. And I just wanna highlight something here, which I found absolutely fascinating. Um, before we get into the topic of healing, because. As I was reading this, I was kind of thinking, well, these guys, if you remember from last week when we're going through this, these guys had been through this insane storm where they had spent all night rowing and, and fighting with yours and not really getting anywhere, and it was dark and it was stormy, it was horrific, and they were not in a good place. And then after several hours, Jesus turns up by walking on the water freaks everybody out. Peter gets out, um, and sinks and gets back in the boat. Although we didn't look at that. Portion of scripture last week, [00:15:00] but that's in effect what happens, right? And so now they finally get to land right after that whole night. And I want, I just wanna put this into some kind of context, Mims here. Hey Mim. Hello. How are we doing? It's great to have you. Uh, so I just wanna put this into some kind of context, right? That, um, that indeed, uh. You know, land appears and safety appears after the storm, and it's, and I'm just wondering how those, uh, disciples got off that boat right. Just, were they just exhausted and weary and bruised and battered after they got off there? And the word that sticks out in me here is this word anchored. Where they anchored there. And I just wonder if sometimes the most vulnerable times for us, uh, are actually. Those, those moments where the fight has ended, where the storm of whatever we've been [00:16:00] through seems to have passed and we've just about got through to the other side. Um. I kind of think if they'd have got out of the boat and not anchored, then the boat would've just drifted away. Right. And so my question is, um, how are you anchored? Um, and as we're going through COVID-19 and the, the storms that we face, you know, with economic uncertainties and all that sort of stuff, which we look at each and every day, and I have to tell myself this each and every day as we go through it. Who are you anchored towards? Because, um. After the storm, I just, I need to put that down, if that makes sense. There's a wonderful verse if I can bring it up here. In Hebrews, Hebrews six 19, uh, says we have this certain hope, like a strong, unbreakable anchor holding our souls to God himself. Our anchor of hope is fastened to the mercy seat, which sits in the heavenly realm beyond the sacred threshold and where [00:17:00] Jesus, our for forerunner, has gone before us. That's where I am anchored. In the heavenly realm on God's mercy seat. And that's where I remind myself day after day with what we're going on and with the storms that we're going through. And let me tell you, we're facing them. We're all facing them, you know, uh, we're facing them here as a family. We're facing them in work. You guys are facing them. We're facing them as a church. We're facing them as friends and colleagues, and it's just. It's just very strange times. But you know what? In the midst of it, our hope is in God anchored in, uh, the heavenly realms to the mercy seat of God, to his mercy and his grace. It is a great place just to begin this story, and I just wanna draw that out, that after that storm, after the battering and the bruising, take time to make sure you are anchored well. Okay, now let's look at this whole, uh, episode here where he [00:18:00] talks about, uh, we can read in these verses. The moment they got outta the boat, everyone recognized that it was Jesus, the healer. That was his reputation, right? Everybody knew that where Jesus went, there would be miracles and there would be healings. And so because they knew that they went and grabbed everybody who was sick. And brought them to Jesus. Um, and it says here that, uh, right at the bottom, all who touched him were in instru, instantly healed, and everybody got healed. Which leads me to a really fascinating question, and that question, which I raised right at the start, is, does Jesus still heal today? If in fact. He is who he says he is. Right? If he really is the risen son of God, if he really is, um, sat in the heavens with God and the spirit of God, the trinity, the, the wonderful mystery that that is, and they're all together in heaven, surely. He will still be doing miracles. He just, he's got the power [00:19:00] right? He's got the ability to do that, but is he actually doing it on Earth today? So does Jesus still heal today is such a great question. Now, if you were to ask me personally, I would say apps a positively lly. Um, I don't even know if that's an English word, but it is a, a mat word apps, a positively lly. I think God does heal today and there's two reasons I guess why I would say that. Because one, I could look at my experiences in life, um, and say that yes, God heals today. I've seen it. I've seen some of the most extraordinary miracles, if I'm honest with you, uh, which are just, just, you know, blow my mind. Um, and I've seen people actually get healed without the extraordinary miracles, if I'm honest with you. I have examples of it in my own life, um, where sometimes I've been healed. As soon as I've prayed or someone's prayed for me, I've got instantly healed. I remember one time. I tore a muscle in my [00:20:00] arm and, um, it was so painful and, uh, I remember praying and I remember, uh, feeling my muscle knit back together, which was fantastic. Now, does that mean every time my muscles get injured, I get instantly healed? Not at all, as we're gonna get into in a little bit, but I remember that one very well. It was one of the most extraordinary things I've ever felt, um, this kind of heat in my arm. But there are times when, uh, I've seen people healed over a period of time. But that's my experience and it's great when we think about experience. Um. But there's, there's more to it than that. And I think we have to also look at what scripture actually tells us. And the Bible says this very simple statement about Jesus, Jesus doesn't change yesterday, today, tomorrow, he's always totally himself. So if he was a healer, uh, uh, yesterday, if he's a healer today, he'll be a healer tomorrow, if that makes sense. He is about healing and making us [00:21:00] well, as we're gonna get into a little bit into, uh, when we look at. You know, what the Bible actually has to say about this topic. Um, so if he does actually heal today. If I think he's gonna heal today, both, both based on scripture and my experience, um, and remembering he is the same. He's the most faithful and the most consistent being that has ever lived. And he doesn't change. And, you know, we, we re, we just read the story in mark of all these people that got healed. So if he's consistent, then I think the healing will consistently flow through. Okay. But why? Does he do this? Why does God heal? Why is God about healing? What does he even care about? Stuff like that. And so for that, uh, we are gonna go to this wonderful verse in Matthew chapter eight. Now, I appreciate I've gone from one gospel to the next. I've gone from Mark to Matthew. Uh, but Matthew here is talking about Jesus. And he said that the evening, [00:22:00] um, that evening. The people brought to him many who were demonized, and by Jesus only speaking a word of healing over them. They were totally set free from their torment, and everyone who was sick, notice that word everyone. Everyone who was sick received their healing. In doing this, Jesus fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah. He put upon himself our weaknesses, and he carried our diseases and made as well. Now. This can be a little bit, um, a little bit, uh, intense, I suppose in some respects, but it's, it's worth getting your head around this, right? There's Matthew here. When he sees all these healings that Jesus is doing, looks at him and goes, you know what? This guy, this Jesus, he is fulfilling one of the many prophecies in the Old Testament. About Jesus. So hundreds of years beforehand, as Isaiah wrote this statement and he was talking about the Messiah and he said he would carry, um, our weaknesses and our sicknesses, right? And he would take those upon himself [00:23:00] and give a make as well. So let me explain maybe how this works, um, because this is, this is quite a, quite an interesting sort of thing to get your head around. Okay? Uh, and it, I, I. I didn't really understand it until, um, I'm guessing 20 some years ago. Right. I was stood at my dad's house and um, my dad was changing the nappy of my half sister, Amy, um, or, uh, diaper if you are in America. Right? Um, and dad was changing, uh, the nappy of Amy, but Amy was very, very young, few months old, and she was super, super sick, right. She was not well. Um, and just when a baby's not well, it's not good, and she was just. Floppy and hearts and distraught and so on and so on. I mean, if you've seen sick kids, you'll know what I'm talking about. And my dad made this statement, which I've never forgotten. He said to me, he said, you know what Matt? He said, I wish I could take out of Amy the sickness and put it on [00:24:00] me. Give her my health. He just, what he wanted to do is he wanted to change his entire being with Amy. Does that make sense? He wanted to switch places with her from, and give his health to her and take upon himself his sickness. This switch here and the Bible, um, or theologians have a very, very fancy word for this. It is called substitution. Oh, yes. This is where we substitute one place. From another. And Isaiah 53, this prophecy that Matthew is talking about is all about that, that, um, Jesus will become our sin. He takes upon himself our sin and gives us his righteousness. Um, just like Amy was, you know, she did not have the ability to do this. My dad didn't have the power to do this, but Jesus did. He saw us and we were sick and we, you know, had this issue with sin. So he took his sin, gave us his righteousness. Just like that even made that sound. Z. And then you had, uh, the same thing [00:25:00] happen with sickness, right? So he took upon himself as sickness and gave us his health. He made us well by this whole substitution thing, I hope my hand moving is helping you. So when we read this in Matthew that he put upon himself our weaknesses and carried our diseases and made as well. That's what it's talking about. He took that upon him and gave us his. Wellness. Now, when you look at that scripture in Isaiah, it talks about two things. I've mentioned 'em already. It talks about sin and it talks about sickness. It talks about a few other things, but I wanna focus on sin and sickness at the moment. Where, where this, where this change of place actually happens, right? And so, um. When we look at sickness, I also wanna look at sin, which just means, um, it's an old fashioned word, isn't it? Sin it, it just means missing the mark. It means, um, you know what, there is, uh. It used to be that what they used to have years ago was, um, you [00:26:00] know, the, the, the arrow targets where you'd have a bow and arrow and you'd shoot down the field and the arrow fly down the field and you'd hit the target. And if you absolutely missed the target completely, if the arrow missed the target, the guy who had the unfortunate job of sitting near the target, um, was. One, praying he didn't get hit, but two, he would hold up a white flag. And on that flag would be the word sin. In other words, you've just missed it, right? So when we talk about sin, we're talking about missing it. We've missed God's standard, we've missed his target for humankind, for humanity, for ourselves, for our own lives. We've just missed it, right? And we can see that all over the place. We know sin exists, we know we've missed it. Um, and we know we've. Well, you know, mostly screwed up humanity in some respects, but that's what sin is, right? It's just the missing the mark. And so this passage talks specifically about sin and sickness. Now, I hope you're still following along with me so far. I appreciate this. Again, a bit heavy, but it's really important to get your head around this, to understand [00:27:00] these questions. Does Jesus heal today? And why would he heal me? Right? Um, and I would answer that question, not only is the same yesterday, today, and forever, but have you been forgiven of your sin? Um. Yes, you have, and Christians are great at talking about forgiveness and the forgiveness of sin, but alongside that, the very same breath when the Old Testament talks about it and when Matthew was talking about it, is this idea of sickness that not only can we be forgiven, we can be made well. Um. So just as I am sure that Jesus has forgiven me and forgiven you, I am also sure that he has made me well, and he has made you well. Doesn't necessarily mean I experience it all the time, like, um, I still sin, uh, unfortunately. Um, but I know that sin has been dealt with. We're gonna get into that in a little bit more. Um, so if I think fully that Jesus has made you well and has made me well, how do [00:28:00] we get that wellness? How do we get healed? How do we get better? How do we physically get better? How do our minds get better? How does he heal and restore us? And the answer to that question is the same for all of those things. How you physically get healed, how you get your, uh. Mind, you know, renewed by him and all this sort of stuff. Uh, what can you do? The answer is a very short, sharp answer. There is absolutely nothing that you can do. Uh, that is, and what I mean by that is. Uh, let me pull this scripture up here. Ephesians two, eight, right? A wonderful portion of scripture which says, for it is only through this wonderful grace that we believed in him, nothing that we did could ever earn this salvation for it is a gracious gift from God that was brought to us by Christ. So no one will ever be able to boast for salvation, is never a reward for good works or human striving. And I read that and I go, you know what? How do I get forgiven, uh, for my [00:29:00] sins? Uh, through Grace. That's it. And, and this whole passage makes it clear that it doesn't matter what I do, I can't earn it, I can't get it, I can't buy it. I can't go on a course and figure it out. Do you know what I mean? It's just, it is God's grace and God's grace is his undeserved favor. That's God's desires to do it, whether you deserved it or whether you don't. Right. It's just that's what he does. Um, he is a gracious God and by grace we have been given these wonderful things. Um. Just so we're clear, there's, you can't do anything. So at the end of all of this, you can't boast and say, I did this for, Do you know what I mean? I got healed because I did X, Y, and Z. Um, and God healed me. That's not the case at all. You've gotta remember fundamentally healing and forgiveness or all start both start in this idea of grace. There's nothing you can do to earn it, and that is just the way it is. [00:30:00] And unfortunately. Uh, well, I say unfortunate. Is it unfortunate? It's a, it's actually, it's a really marvelous thing because if I had to do something to earn it, I guarantee you I would mess it up. I would, I would do something really stupid along the way, but because it is based on grace, that's a wonderful, wonderful thing because that's all on God then, isn't it? Um. It's his part, right? Grace is this amazing thing. He just forgives you and he makes you well all through his grace and you can't earn it. Now there is a movement of Christianity. Um. Which we have come across in the past. Um, and uh, there are some good things that have come out of the faith movement and there are not so good things that have come out, the faith movement. And one of the things that I've heard people say to people who are sick is, you are not getting healed because you don't have enough faith. Um, and I think it's a very hard thing to say to people, um, very harsh as well. They're already going through enough [00:31:00] time to say You don't actually have enough faith. Now it may be. That in that particular instance, somebody just does need to expand their faith and start trusting God and believing God. Um, but it is not something at all that I've ever felt God say to me, apart from to one person that actually faith is a reason. Uh, they're not getting healed. Right? Because it, for me, it's not about conjuring up faith. It's not about, you know, I'm believing, I'm believing, I'm believing, and trying to get myself into this mental state where I've believed it's about trusting. In God's wonderful grace, right? It's because of his wonderful grace and knowing his wonderful grace that I can trust and believe him, and it's grace through faith, right? So yes, faith is involved, but it fundamentally starts with grace. So if we trust him. Because of his wonderful grace that gr and understand that that grace has already been extended to us. When you read that scripture in Matthew, let me see if I can bring [00:32:00] it up again here. Um, right at the bottom, he put upon himself eye weaknesses and he carried away our diseases and made as well. When you read that language, that's all past tense, right? That's, that's what happened at the cross. Um, that's what Christians believe that, um, Isaiah, when he talks about it. Talks about it in a future tense, that this is what's going to happen. And he was looking toward the cross when Matthew saw this. It's like, this has happened. This has been fulfilled in Jesus. This is what happened at the cross. Right? So from our point of view, this grace has been extended to us. The grace of forgiveness and the grace of healing and wholeness has been extended to us. And that's just part of the grace. But if that is true, okay, and I'm not being. Blind about this, if that is true, why do I and why do Christians still get sick or even die from sickness, right? Why? Why does that happen? And I think this is a great [00:33:00] question because, um. I think as Christians, we don't really have a problem knowing that we are in fact forgiven. Right? We can get our heads around that. We can understand that, and we will shout to everybody, you know? Yes, we are forgiven of our sins. Come to Jesus and he will forgive you of all your sins. It's a beautiful thing to know that that's happened, right? That I'm in right standing, right fellowship with God. Awesome. Beautiful. No problem believing that. But when it comes to sickness, it's a very different um. It's a different area, isn't it? And here things I think get a bit misty. They're not as clear cut, uh, in our, in our thinking because, well, let's face it, we've all got sick. Just about all Christians I know have one time been ill, prayed for healing and not got instantly healed. And so there's some real questions that we need to look at here when we're thinking about this, um, because I don't want it to be a barrier between you and God and your faith with God or me and [00:34:00] God. And so if I bring back this slide right here, sin sickness. Remember we talked about these? Um, because the Bible talks about these in the same breath in Isaiah sin, sickness. And I, I asked the question earlier, you know, I have God's grace for forgiveness. Um, and I believe that God has forgiven me and that the punishment for my sin was taken upon Christ at the cross, right? That's what I believe. He might not believe the same thing, but that's what I believe. This is, you know, the story of the gospel, that Jesus took all this upon him and gave me his right standing, gave me his healing and health. If that's the case, and sin has been dealt with, why do I still sin? Sin has been dealt with, but I still sin. And this is an interesting point, and one getting your head around because sin and sickness are the same sort of thing, so. I can believe as a Christian, I, I still sin even though [00:35:00] sin, uh, forgiveness has been given and consequently, I can still get sick even though healing has been given. If that makes sense to you. Um, if you think about what is gonna happen at some future point in time. Uh, one day you and I will no longer be here. Um, and we will be, uh, I would, you know, my faith is I will be in heaven with the good Lord. Uh, we were talking about this earlier. At lunchtime, I'll be in heaven with the good Lord sliding down the streets of gold in my socks. P. And, uh, we're gonna use Kat Bramleys mansion to store all our crocs. This was the conversation at lunchtime, right? It was a good conversation. Made me smile. Anyway, when I'm in heaven sliding down the streets in my socks, those streets of gold and storing all my Crocs at Kat's place, there will be no sin. Right? Sin will have been dealt with. It will have been put away. Uh, and so whilst. I have been forgiven and you know, [00:36:00] Jesus has dealt with my sin here on earth. I'm still in the presence of sin, but there's gonna come a point where I won't be, and that's heaven. Um, and I think it's the same when it comes to sickness, right? That actually, um, even though. Jesus has made me well at the cross because I live in what we call a fallen world, right? And again, you, you don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure that out, right? You just look around you. We live in a fallen world or a world that is suffering the consequences of its own selfishness and greed, and lust for power and all this. Stuff which is going on, um, because that is happening. Uh, I live in the presence of sickness, but there's gonna come a point, uh, and the Bible talks about this, where there's no more tears. There's no more pain, there's no more sickness, and that's heaven. And actually, that's one of the hopes that a lot of people have had with their loved ones that have died from illness or sickness, especially if it's horrific, you know, like cancer or something like that, that actually you, you want to believe and [00:37:00] hope that on the streets of heaven, they're walking pain free and sickness free because there's no more sickness in heaven. In other words, if I can put it to you like this. Penalty power and presence. Three P's. Nick Harding, if he's watching, will be very pleased with my laceration, as I'm sure John Harding will be as well. Uh, but the three P's, the penalty, the power, and the presence. So what happened at the cross is Jesus took the penalty for my sin. When he rose from the dead, he gave me the power to overcome sin. In other words, he broke the power of sin, is what, how Paul puts it in the book of Romans. He broke the power of that sin, right? Um, so the penalty has been dealt with. The power of it has been broken, but I'm still in the presence of it. 'cause I live in a fallen world. But one day, uh, I won't be. And it's the same with sickness. The penalty for sickness has been broken. The power of sickness has been broken, which is why I believe when we pray and when we. Pray for the sick, uh, which we do on a regular basis, you know, Jesus virus, highly spirit [00:38:00] will move and bring healing and wholeness to our human bodies and to our minds and to our hearts, right? I don't, there's nothing off limits to God. There's no, like Joy Joyce mind said, I think there's no place where you hurt that God can't heal. Just, it just is the way it is. But I also think there's a day coming, uh, when I'm sliding down the streets in my socks and there is no sickness, there is no more pain and there is no more sorrow. And I am genuinely looking forward to that day. Let me tell you. So what happens though if I pray for you or you pray for me or I pray for me, or you pray for you, um, or you're praying for a family member that doesn't actually get healed? And this is the struggle that I think we've had, um, along the way. And it's a hard question because if healing is part of God's plans for us, if it is part of his grace, if by grace he has extended this to us, why don't we automatically get well? Why do people not get well when we still pray for them? And I think in part it's because, [00:39:00] I mean, there's a lot of answer to this question, but I, I think the big part of this is we live in a fallen world and we're in the presence of sin, and we're in the presence of sickness. Um, but that doesn't mean we don't have the power to deal with them. I was listening to a chap called, uh, Bob Morris. Robert Morris, talk about this. Um, he's a pastor of Gateway Church, which is a church that I've been to, uh, visited when I was in Dallas, Texas, visiting some friends over there. And he talked about this whole thing of healing and not getting healed. And he told us, he's told two stories. The first story he's told was the story of his daughter and his daughter. Um, was a few months pregnant and she called him up and said, dad, it's not good. I've started to bleed. Now this, um, is, is just, is just not a great sign under any circumstances when you are a few months pregnant and you're believe, uh, bleeding, it is not fantastic news, lemme tell [00:40:00] you. So he said to his daughter, well, let's pray and let's trust God no matter what happens. Let's trust God. Um, and so they agreed and they prayed together. And that baby, um, survived. That baby is still around and kicking and, um, I believe his daughter has four children all under four. God bless them. Um, but then he told the story about his son. A few minutes later after this episode with his daughter, his son calls him and said, dad, it's not great. His wife, um, Bob Morris's daughter-in-law had also started to bleed a few months pregnant. And same thing. So he prayed and said, let's trust God no matter what. Um, but they lost the baby and they lost the next baby. And when you hear him talk about his heartbreaking story, because when you hear him talk about it, he talks about his son and how for all eternity, his son has now got five children. Three of them are [00:41:00] alive on earth, two of them are up in heaven. But for all eternity he will have these five kids and they will be one day reunited together and it's heartbreaking. Really, really heartbreaking. Why did, um, his daughter's baby survive and why did his son's baby not. And what do you do in that situation? Because it's hard sometimes to understand, and Bob Morris simply said this. This was his answer. Here's a simple answer. I'm gonna trust God no matter what. And as hard as that is, he just said, you know what? In all of this, I have to believe in the goodness and faithfulness of God. I have to believe his plan extends far and above. The present time that I'm in and I have to trust him. Whether the answer is good or whether the answer is bad, I still trust. Him. Um, Paul talks about it this way in Philippians one 20. He said, no matter what, I will continue to hope and passionately clinging to Christ so that [00:42:00] he will be openly revealed through me before everyone's eyes, that I will not be ashamed in my life or in my death. Christ will be magnified in me. In other words, if I'm alive, I'm gonna magnify Christ if, if I die through the. Horrific stuff that Paul actually went through. Christ will be magnified in me and like Bob Murray said, no matter what, we trust God and believe that Christ will be magnified in us no matter what we face. Because God ultimately is trustworthy and he's faithful and we can just believe and trust in him. And so I just wanna, I, I just wanna pause there for a second and just take this time just to say, listen guys. I don't know where you are at. I dunno if you walk with Christ or whether you don't. I don't know whether you have prayed for healing or not been healed. I dunno if you've prayed for healing or have been healed. I don't know what you've seen or what you haven't seen, but in all of this, we can trust God no matter what, and I just want to take [00:43:00] this moment, say, I appreciate that pain is real. Confusion is real and not understanding everything is very, very real. But ultimately, in all of that, my experience when I've not understood it, when all hell is breaking loose around me. My, my firm foundation, my firm belief is I trust God no matter what. And ultimately, as I come through the storm, as I anchor myself in him, he proves himself faithful time and time again, even though I don't understand everything. Always. Um, and that is the downside of living in the presence of sin and sickness. It's the downside of living in this fallen world. But one day, one day, you and I will be sliding down the street in our socks because that is just fantastic and awesome. And so, so that's the, the sort of thinking behind this. [00:44:00] Behind this and just, I just felt like as we're looking at these stories of healing, I wanted to bring this idea to you that Jesus still heals today. Um, oh, here's Dave. Dave, Hey. How you doing Mr. Connolly? Amen. And, um, I just wanted to take some time, normally we do questions and I didn't really wanna do questions today because I'm not quite sure what questions I'd ask at this point other than are you sick? Um, so what I wanted to do. Was just put it out there and say, listen, if you're watching, um, and you've got questions, put them in the Facebook comments and we'll try and answer them, uh, about healing. Um, if you are sick or if you need healing, uh, I would really like to pray for you, if that's okay. Um, and we will do that, um, because. After this kind of topic conversation, why would you not? And let's just see what God does, right? Um, but if you've got any questions, let us know. If you've got any Prayer requests, let us know in the comments. If you have got any testimonies. Um. Share them. Just give [00:45:00] us one or two sentences in the Facebook comments. We'd love to hear a time when God has healed you or where you have seen God. Uh, do some healing through you, uh, or through family members or whatever. Just everyone loves the great stories, right? Um, just share them. Encourage one another. Uh, as we're talking, as I'm about to pray, to share them in the comments, we would love to see 'em. And then I'll put them up on the screen. Uh, if you do that, that will be super fantastic. So. Let's pray, shall we? Lord, I just wanna thank you for everybody watching, uh, and everybody involved, uh, in, in this Facebook Live. Everybody who's watching it on the website, everybody who's gonna watch it after on, say YouTube or even Lord, just if they're watching it on Facebook after the recording, whoever is watching this, wherever they are, if they are sick, if they are in pain, if they. If they are anxious or just have that tightness of chest. Lord, I pray right now you would bring your peace and [00:46:00] your healing upon them and upon their bodies. In Jesus' name I pray. Um, for those who, uh, have trouble with their legs, Lord, that you would help them, uh, deal with that. I'm thinking somebody right thigh at the moment. Um, if that's you, I just believe. God's putting his healing hands on your right thigh. Uh, and I just, Lord, I would love for you to. To, to do some good works, um, as people watch this video, and if God has healed you, um, as, as you've been watching this, I would just love for you to let me know, even if it's post live. That's fine. Just write some comments or get in touch with us. We'd love to hear your stories, um, because we just think God does heal. And so whether you've got headaches, eye ache, any kind of ache, um, Lord, would you bring your healing presence right now? Lord, I wanna pray for those, especially those with tripled minds. Um, that have mental health issues, uh, big anxiety lot, just flying around a million miles an hour in their head, just.[00:47:00] Total, Lord, would you just bring calm, uh, like you did on those waters that we read last week? Would you bring that calm to their minds and their thinking? Uh, in Jesus' name. And Lord, I pray for anybody, uh, that is watching this and. Who doesn't know you yet, Lord, would you reveal yourself to them in a way that is undeniable, because you're such an amazing God, and thank you for, for being who you are. So, um, so yes, there you go. I, I hope you, uh, you got some, some stuff out of that. I hope, I hope you found it interesting. I just find this whole topic of healing just really, really fascinating. I mean, really, genuinely fascinating, um, because I. I appreciate. It's one of those things that we'll continually sort of go back and forth with and struggle as we go through our Christian walk because you do see some amazing things, but you don't see it all the times that you would expect to in all the places you expect to, but you can trust him no matter what. That's the bottom [00:48:00] line, and that's a good place. Let me bring that slide back up actually. Mr. Bob Morris, where are you at? I'm gonna trust God no matter what. That is a good place, uh, for us to end it. I'm just checking. I don't know if my comment feeds working. Actually. Um, I. Okay. I don't know if it is or it isn't. Um, but, uh, rather than keep everybody hanging on, uh, on the belief that somebody might, if you're gonna add comments, add them because people will read them later. Uh, that will be fantastic. It's been great to be with you. Thanks for joining us. Now. Don't forget, like I said, next week is the Easter Sunday service. We will also be back next Sunday afternoon to do a quick, uh. Easter service. We're gonna deviate slightly from our study of Mark. We're gonna put the study of mark on pause, uh, right here. And we are gonna look at the Easter story. What does it mean? What does it really mean? When Jesus died was buried and rose again, these three [00:49:00] statements that happened. To Jesus over Easter and why this is so critical to the Christian faith and why it's so, so important to what we believe. I just love Easter. I love the resurrection story. I love, love, love it because why would you not, right? Easter's amazing. Um, it's, you know, yes there's chocolate chocolate's a good thing, but it is way more than the chocolate, let me tell you. So. We're gonna look at that next Sunday. Um, and then we will carry on with Mark two weeks time. Two weeks a day. Um, but also, don't forget, we're gonna be doing the Alphas on Friday night, starting on the seven. Lemme just double check the date. Uh, so I give you all the right date, the 17th, Friday, the 17th of April. So if you are new to the Christian faith, if you would like to know more about the Christian faith or if you know somebody who would like to know more about the Christian faith, then um. Why not invite 'em along to Alpha? I mean, one of the things that I, you [00:50:00] know, and that we've not got to in the story that we read today is when the villagers saw Jesus, they went and grabbed everybody and said, listen, this guy's gonna help you. Right? Because they understood they had the revelation that Jesus was in fact the healer and that they would help them. So they did everything they could to get people to come to him. So, um. We as Christians have that same sort of feeling, don't we? We understand the life changing works of Christ and what he does, and so we're always inviting people to come along to church, to the stuff that we do, because that's just, why would you not? Because we know Jesus is gonna heal them, make them better, forgive them their sins, make them whole, all these amazing things that scripture talks about. Have at it. Right. Um, so if you know anybody, uh, that would like to come along to the alpha, uh, we, uh, Wednesday, Friday, the 17th of April, uh, we are gonna be starting those. Do watch out for information on the Facebook page because we'll put out invites. So you can come along to that. It won't be broadcast on Facebook Live, I don't think. When we do the Alpha, we're gonna do it through Zoom, which gives us a bit more interaction. [00:51:00] But yeah, that's gonna be fun. Really, really, really looking forward to Alpha. I actually really am. I can't wait for it to be fair. It's gonna be amazing. Um, so that's on the 17th, so, oh, let's have this here. Circumstances may change, but God doesn't change. Things don't always make sense. But God is still good. Great truth. Thank you. Sarah was that Martin that wrote that? Somebody from the Langston house, uh, that was, uh, very kind of you. It's very true too. Uh, circumstances may change, but God does not change. As we read earlier, where's that script gone? Um, here's the same. Yesterday, today and forever. So yes, he doesn't change. Doesn't always make sense, but he's still good. Great truth. Amen. Thank you very much for that. Um, right, as I said, probably about five minutes ago, Les, I need to get better at this, uh, this Facebook Live thing. Anyway, thank you so much for watching. It's been really great to have you, [00:52:00] and I pray that you do experience God's healing and his miraculous power and his goodness. In your life. It'd be great if you can carry on joining us on these Facebook Lives. Invite your friends, bring them along, and I will see you next week. God bless you. Have a great week wherever you are.