If you have been with us through the summer months, they you know we have been focusing on the miracles of Jesus, from the raising of Lazarus from the dead, to the feeding of the five thousand, the calming of the storm and numerous times that Jesus reached out and healed the sick, the blind and the lame.
And that brings us to our scripture this morning.
It had been a full day. Jesus had spent the morning teaching the group that followed him to the hill overlooking the sea of Galilee then had healed a leper on his way back to town, then there was the entire incident with the Roman Centurion, that ended with the healing of the centurion’s servant.
And now he has arrived at Peter’s home in Capernaum. If you read through the various gospel accounts, it seems that this was where Jesus hung his hat when he was in town. And he must have been whipped. It had been a full day. To teach all morning and then the emotional energy that would have been expended when he performed the two healings. But his day wasn’t over yet.
When they got to the house, he discovered that Peter’s Mother-in-law was sick in bed with a fever. But at a touch from his hand the fever left her, and she was better.
And then we read in verse 16-17 Matthew 8:16–17 That evening many demon-possessed people were brought to Jesus. He cast out the evil spirits with a simple command, and he healed all the sick. This fulfilled the word of the Lord through the prophet Isaiah, who said, “He took our sicknesses and removed our diseases.”
Did you catch that, he healed all the sick. Throughout the Gospels we watch Jesus as he healed the lame, the blind, the lepers, the epileptic; he even healed one of the soldiers who came to arrest him.
Over and over again in the gospels we read the words, and he healed all the sick. And the thing that we discover is that Jesus really didn’t seem to care who he healed. He wasn’t all that selective over the type of disease, the geographical area, the race of the healee or the technique that he used.
I mentioned before he healed blindness, epilepsy, leprosy, and paralysis. He healed in Galilee, Nazareth and Jerusalem, and he healed Jews, Samaritans and Gentiles. Some people he touched, some he spoke to, some he made mud packs for their eyes. Some he didn’t even see but simply spoke the word from a distance and the healing took place.
The one common denominator that we see though is the element of faith. Time and time again we hear Jesus tell people “You are now well because of your faith.” and sometimes it didn’t even have to be the sick person who had the faith, do you remember the account of the centurion’s servant? The sick person wasn’t anywhere near Jesus it was the faith of the centurion that counted. The bible tells us Matthew 8:10 When Jesus heard this, he was amazed. Turning to those who were following him, he said, “I tell you the truth, I haven’t seen faith like this in all Israel!
But what is faith? The Bible defines faith when it tells us in Hebrews 11:1 Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see.
And so, this morning for a few minutes we are going to look at the healing touch of Jesus
1) There is an Inner Healing Sometimes we view the people of the bible through rose-coloured glasses, never believing that they might have problems or be in the least bit down or depressed.
In the book of 1 Samuel, we read the story of Hannah, maybe you know the story, maybe you don’t. In the first chapter we discover that she was married to Elkanah, and they were childless. It’s so hard for those of us who have children to understand sometime the heartbreak felt by those who are childless.
And it’s not all that uncommon, just off the top of my head I can think of a number of couples within my circle of acquaintances who have been unable to have chlldren, for one reason or another and I’m sure that they all share the feelings that Hannah expressed in 1 Samuel 1:10 Hannah was in deep anguish, crying bitterly as she prayed to the Lord.
But Hannah wasn’t the only person in the Bible that experienced the blues listen to what Moses had to say in Numbers 11:14–15 I can’t carry all these people by myself! The load is far too heavy! If this is how you intend to treat me, just go ahead and kill me. Do me a favor and spare me this misery!”
Sounds like the life of the party doesn’t he. And listen to Elizah in 1 Kings 19:4 Then he went on alone into the wilderness, traveling all day. He sat down under a solitary broom tree and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life, for I am no better than my ancestors who have already died.”
And then there was King David, who wrote most of the Psalms, who penned these words: Psalm 22:6–8 But I am a worm and not a man. I am scorned and despised by all! Everyone who sees me mocks me. They sneer and shake their heads, saying, “Is this the one who relies on the Lord?”
Each of these people needed emotional healing. And each of them eventually received the emotional healing they needed.
Their problems certainly weren’t unique, not to then or even to now.
In 2025 our country and our churches are full of people who have fallen and can’t get up. And here is the good news for the morning, we will all fall.
“If you walk you will fall.” Sometimes we fall because of fear, or inexperience or lack of preparation or over confidence or sometimes we just fall.
And the more we attempt to do the more likely we are to fall. Like it or not that is reality.
Can anyone remember where they were on January 28, 1986? No how about this can anyone remember where they were when Christa McAuliffe died? She was the schoolteacher aboard the space shuttle Challenger when it exploded 73 seconds after takeoff.
There are those who would say that had Christa McAuliffe not gone into space that she would have survived, yes but the question is would she have lived.
Life is going to be full of falls, the farther you reach, the faster you run, the longer you go the percentages begin to pile up. The privilege of success is tempered by the risk of a fall.
The difference between Success and failure is contained in our reaction to our falls. Some people center their entire experiences around one fall, they look at it, replay it, over and over again but they never get on with life. It doesn’t matter how successful they had been and can be all they see is the fall. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, you’re not a failure until you quit. Never be down, either be up or getting up.
And if you are down, and you don’t think you can get up by yourself maybe you’re right. But then again if you are a child of God then you don’t need to get up by yourself cause he’s there to help you up. When Christ started his earthly ministry he began by making an appearance in the synagogue, he read a passage of scripture that would shape his ministry listen to the words of Luke 4:18 NKJV Jesus said, “The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed.”
If you’ve fallen, then God is there. If you can’t get up, if you’re too tired and you’ve called it quits, don’t despair listen again to the words of Jesus He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted. Do you fit in that category? Has your heart been broken, has your spirit been crushed? But you have to be willing to be picked up.
Are you crying out to God today for a emotional healing? If so he’s there. David must have discovered that as well because he wrote in Psalm 34:18 The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed.
And so, Jesus is there to heal your broken spirit, but more than that we read in Jeremiah 3:22 “My wayward children,” says the LORD, “come back to me, and I will heal your wayward hearts.”
2) There is an Eternal Healing
Sometimes we pray for a physical healing and neglect a spiritual healing. As a matter of fact, I marvel when I hear Christians ask for prayer for the physical healing of an unbelieving loved one and yet they’ve never asked for prayer for their salvation.
As much as we place a high premium on physical well-being. Think of weight loss centers, gyms, fitness clubs etc. We need to put an even higher premium on spiritual well-being. Psalm 41:4 I said, “LORD, be merciful to me; Heal my soul, for I have sinned against You.”
Let me paraphrase the words of Jesus from Matthew 10:28 do not be afraid of those diseases which can kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of those diseases which can destroy both soul and body in hell. That disease is sin. And it is a terminal disease. Listen to what the Bible says in Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death.
That’s not physical death, because if you haven’t heard yet we are all going to die. Instead, it’s a spiritual death.
Sin is what separates you from God. It creates a chasm that you cannot cross, and the only part that you have in your spiritual healing is repentance.
Repentance is more than saying you’re sorry. It’s turning from sin and turning back to God — relying on His grace to forgive and change us.”
That’s the message that Peter was teaching in Acts 3:19 Now repent of your sins and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped away.
Did you catch what happens there, your sins will be wiped away, that’s called forgiveness and that’s God’s part. Are you crying out to God today for a spiritual healing? If so, he’s there.
But the healing that Jesus offers is not just for our emotions and our souls.
James 5:14–15 Are any of you sick? You should call for the elders of the church to come and pray over you, anointing you with oil in the name of the Lord. Such a prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make you well. And if you have committed any sins, you will be forgiven.
3) There is a Physical Healing This is the one you were waiting for, isn’t it? You are wondering “Where’s he going with this, does he believe in divine physical healing?” I not only believe that Jesus Christ healed people, I also believe that he still heals people.
But in saying that here a few things to think about: 1) Let’s keep God’s will in mind. Sometimes our prayers for healing are really prayers against letting go. God’s will is not just about extending life here, but about preparing us for eternal life with Him.”
We say that heaven is a wonderful place, but we don’t always act like we believe it. Sometimes we need to use commons sense when we pray for physical healing.
Adam Clarke, a preacher from the late 1700’s wrote that when we pray for healing it ought to be like this: “If it be most for thy glory, and the eternal good of this man’s soul, let him be restored; if otherwise, Lord, pardon, purify him, and take him to thy glory.”
2) Healing isn’t absolute We don’t know why but God doesn’t always heal. Paul spoke about his thorn in the flesh, we don’t know what it was, but most scholars feel that it was some type of physical ailment that Paul wanted removed, listen to what he said in 2 Corinthians 12:7–9 even though I have received such wonderful revelations from God. So to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud. Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.
If God healed every physical problem, then people would never die, and people do die.
John Wimber one of the founders of the Vineyard Church and the Signs and Wonders movement in the seventies. He wrote “Power Healing” and yet he died of a brain hemorrhage on November 17, 1997.
When you say “Faith Healing” a whole generation of people think of Kathryn Kuhlman who traveled the world doing Healing Crusades from the late 1940s to the mid 1970s and she died of heart problems on February 20th, 1976.
I saw a sign in a doctor’s office once that said, “Don’t take life too serious you’ll never get out of it alive.” Ain’t that the truth.
When I was in High School in English we had to take poetry, remember? And as a 17-year-old one of John Donne’s Holy Sonnets struck a chord with me, perhaps you remember it as well, it is called Death be Not Proud and it ends with these words. One short sleep past, we wake eternally, And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.
The ultimate healing for the Christian is heaven, and that’s not a cop out. Death may be the enemy but it’s a defeated enemy, the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 15:54–55 Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, this Scripture will be fulfilled: “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”
3) Let’s recognize that we don’t pray enough for divine healing.
I love the quote from John Wimber, who said “When we prayed for no one, no one was healed. Now we pray for lots of people and some people are healed.”
People have died because they had not been prayed over. Do you believe that? God does heal and he expects us to pray for healing. Does that mean we should neglect proper medical care? No, being a believer doesn’t mean that you are stupid, or at least it shouldn’t. God can and does heal though doctors and hospitals.
4) Divine Healing is an act of faith. Divine healing doesn’t happen without faith. How much is enough faith I don’t know, obviously enough to heal. And faith will never ask less than that you believe.
But let’s never forget that faith is not a measurable currency. You can’t say, you need X amount of faith to be healed. Then we fall in the trap of healing being something that we do, through our faith. Healing isn’t something we do. It’s something God does.
Healing is always God’s sovereign gift, not the result of someone being able to muster up the right amount of faith.
5) The Bible gives us clear direction for healing and that’s laid down in the scripture in James 5:14–15 Are any of you sick? You should call for the elders of the church to come and pray over you, anointing you with oil in the name of the Lord. Such a prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make you well. And if you have committed any sins, you will be forgiven.
1) They should call the leaders of the church. Who does the calling? The person who is sick.
You can’t force a person to be prayed over, and we can’t force our desire for someone to be healed on them.
2) The leaders should pray over the person who needs to be healed for healing.
Specifically, they are to pray for healing. Let’s not beat around the bush on that one. We’re not asking that God will bless them, or make them feel a little better or relive their symptoms we are praying for a healing.
3) There is an anointing with oil. There is all kinds of symbolism here. Some see it as symbolic of the Holy Spirit. Others would point to the healing power of oil. Still others, would remind us that oil was used as a sacrifice and as an ointment and medicine. And there was a cost to it, oil was a valuable commodity two thousand years ago.
We may not know for sure why we are told to anoint with oil, but we are told to do it.
4) It should be done in the name of the Lord. Throughout the New Testament we are reminded of the power that resides in the name of Jesus
5) It must be a prayer of faith. We are called to believe and sometimes we are like the man who brought his son to Jesus for healing and when Jesus began talking about faith the man said Mark 9:24 The father instantly cried out, “I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!”
When we were planning this series on the miracles of Jesus, we noticed how many revolved around healing. And it’s still true today: Jesus heals.
He heals the broken hearted. He heals the soul enslaved by sin. He heals the body according to his will.
The question isn’t whether Christ can heal. The question is: will you bring your hurt, your sin, your pain, your life — to Him?
So, just a little direction as we move into this time: You may not be comfortable with this part of the service, or perhaps you have plans and need to leave early. That’s fine — if you need to leave, please do so quietly and respectfully.
Our children’s workers know we may go a little longer this morning.
The worship team is coming to lead us, and as we sing, if you would like prayer for healing — whether emotional, spiritual, or physical — we invite you to come to the front. One of our pastoral team will anoint you with oil, as James 5 teaches, and we will pray for your healing in the name of the Lord.
If you have a child, you would like prayer for, you’re welcome to go and bring them in; the workers are aware this may happen.
You may also want to stand with a friend or family member at the front. The Bible reminds us that prayer is an act of the whole church community.
Our pastoral staff will remain here as long as needed. You are welcome to stay, to come for prayer, or to leave quietly whenever you need to.