Healing and the cross.

In a previous post I suggested that the verse, "by his stripes we are healed." should not be used to guarantee present day healing through faith in Christ. Further to that C. Samuel Storms has some very insightful things to say about the role of the cross in healing. He writes.

"May we conclude that there is healing in the atonement. Of course!.. The redemptive suffering of Jesus Christ at Calvary is the foundation and source of every blessing, whether spiritual or physical... Everything we Christians receive from God finds its ultimate source in what Christ did for us on the cross. Therefore, the question is not whether our bodies receive healing because of the atonement, but when. We are forgiven of our sins now because of Christ's atoning death, but we await the consummation of our deliverance from the presence of sin when Christ returns. We experience fellowship with God now because of Christ's atoning death, but we await the consummation of that blessed relationship when Christ returns.... In other words it is a serious mistake for us to think that every blessing Christ secured through his redemptive suffering will be ours now in its consummate form.
Life for the believer in this present age is a life of tension between the "already" and the "not yet." ... Paul tells us in Romans 8:18 - 25 that the consummation of our adoption as God's children, which he defines as the redemption of our bodies, is something we eagerly and anxiously await; it is a future experience for which we in the present groan.

Talking to dad

How is you conversation going with your father this week?

"if you though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him"

Through Jesus we have the ear of the creator and sustainer of the universe? What are you going to ask him today?  Some things for those in need? some things for those hurting? some things for your self?
Remember God is no Father Christmas - his a loving father that opperates out of a loving gracious relationship established through the death of his son. We don't do good to earn favour with our father - we do good because we have the favour of our God.

Spend time with your dad this week!!!

Reformation

Sunday is Reformation Sunday. There is no better way to remember it than to hear the great doctrine of salvation through faith in Christ from the lips of Martin Luther in his commentary to the Galatians.

Faith... embraces and wraps in itself Christ the Son of God, delivered to death for us, as Paul here teaches, who being apprehended by faith, gives unto us righteousness and life. And here he sets out most lively the priesthood and offices of Christ: which are, to pacify God, to make intercession for sinners, to offer himself a sacrifice for their sins, to redeem, to instruct, and to comfort them. Let us learn to give true definition to Christ... that he is the Son of God, who, not for our desert or any righteousness of ours, but of his own free mercy, offered up himself a sacrifice for us sinners, that he might sanctify us forever.

Batton Passing

Is God No 1 in your Family?
How can you make him that  -  what are the false Gods that may be taking his place - TV, $, work, freinds
Do you beilive the promises?  That God rewards obediance - have a read through Duet 6 again!!
Are you doing you faith 24/7?  is your faith story lived out in every part of your family life - when you stand up, sit down, walk, mow the lawn, put the bins out play sport.........
Is our good life distracting you? -  are you forgetting Him - letting family time with Him slip, forgetting personal time with him, busy busy busy with so much good stuff -  BUT what about the God stuff??

Remember don't do this alone?  Don't be driven by guilt - Repent and believe that Jesus has restored you and your family!!  Remember and believe you have been given the Holy Spirit - the power that raised Christ from the dead is in you.  BE STRONG & COURAGEOUS - in his strength.

Pass on the Batton   -  Whole Heartedly keep Him No 1.

When the harvest is big.

As a church we have never had more reason to pray. We have more and more opportunities to serve, but find it hard to get people. Tight finances are also putting stress on our ability to do all we want to. It's times like this that I call you to pray.

Jesus said, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. Luke 10:2

A vital part to the solution for a problem like ours is prayer.
We need you to join us this Sunday night 6:00pm to seek the Lord of the harvest to provide all we need and more.

Hooking Up - Connecting Up

Meal times can be a great way to share life together.  A great place to share God together

Who are you going to share some food and drink with this week??

Maybe its just your family - we are going to sit down and have dinner together - No TV  - no rush  - 
Maybe you can have a meal with your neighbours?
Maybe you can catch up with some one for coffee?
Why not have breaky with your Grow Group?
Why not have dinner as a SG?

There are lots of ways we can 'fellowship' together.

Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another — HEBREWS 10:25

Healing and Rick Warren

Here's a powerful perspective by Rick Warren. author of 'Purpose Driven Life ' and pastor of Saddleback Church in California. His wife has cancer.
In the interview by Paul Bradshaw with Rick Warren , Rick said,

"People ask me, What is the purpose of life?
And I respond: In a nutshell, life is preparation for eternity. We were not made to last forever, and God wants us to be with Him in Heaven. One day my heart is going to stop, and that will be the end of my body-- but not the end of me. I may live 60 to 100 years on earth, but I am going to spend trillions of years in eternity. This is the warm-up act - the dress rehearsal. God wants us to practice on earth what we will do forever in eternity.. We were made by God and for God, and until you figure that out, life isn't going to make sense. Life is a series of problems: Either you are in one now, you're just coming out of one, or you're getting ready to go into another one.
The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character than your comfort; God is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making your life happy. We can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that's not the goal of life. The goal is to grow in character, in Christ likeness...
This past year has been the greatest year of my life but also the toughest, with my wife, Kay , getting cancer. I used to think that life was hills and valleys - you go through a dark time, then you go to the mountaintop, back and forth. I don't believe that anymore. Rather than life being hills and valleys, I believe that it's kind of like two rails on a railroad track, and at all times you have something good and something bad in your life.. No matter how good things are in your life, there is always something bad that needs to be worked on. And no matter how bad things are in your life, there is always something good you can thank God for.
You can focus on your purposes, or you can focus on your problems: If you focus on your problems, you're going into self-centeredness, which is my problem, my issues, my pain.' But one of the easiest ways to get rid of pain is to get your focus off yourself and onto God and others.
We discovered quickly that in spite of the prayers of hundreds of thousands of people, God was not going to heal Kay or make it easy for her- It has been very difficult for her, and yet God has strengthened her character, given her a ministry of helping other people, given her a testimony, drawn her closer to Him and to people. You have to learn to deal with both the good and the bad of life."

Undertaking good work

If only Nehemiah had this when he needed it!
The task of rebuilding the wall was Herculean, resources minimal, opposition great and chance of success slim. Yet he didn't undertake it looking at all the problems. He had three things that compelled him forward. It was God's plan ('what my God had put in my heart to do' 2:12). It would bless God's people and was the right thing to do ('we will no longer be in disgrace' 2:17). God was providing the means ('the gracious hand of my God upon me and what the king had said to me' 2:18).

In these three ways we can consider what God is calling us to do in his kingdom. If you were to think of them in your life how would they translate to what you are doing?

Risky Faith Living

Have you been reflecting on the story of Esther this week?
I keep thinking about her risky faith living?  She was willing to obey - to put her life on the line?
I have to keep asking myself, where am I willing to die to myself for the sake of God and others?
Am I willing to say sorry? Ask for forgiveness? serve?
Am I willing to say something about Jesus? Ask for others opinions on faith? Witness?
Am I willing to help someone in need? Even when I don't want to? or I'm too busy?

I remember that God has prepared in advance the good works He wants us to do - Now he asks for us to step up with some Risky Faith Living and Trust Him 

He did not give us a Spirit of timidity -  but of Power, Love & Self Discipline 2Tim 1:7

I like the last one on the list - the Holy Spirit even helps us to be self disciplined!!  I need to partner with him to make sure this risky living is part of my priorites in life, and even have some plan to do it!!!   
mmmmm   food for thought!!!

Esther - A good looking, orphan Jew - placed by God for such a time as this!!!

The story of Esther is quite remarakable - the saving of a Jewish remanant by an orphan, teenager who was willing to put her life on the line for her God and her people. It is a story of victory over enemies, it is the story of faith, it is the story of salvation. Why not give it a read this weekend !!

The bible is full of stories of  ordinary people from all walks of life, in all sorts of situations being used by God for his plan to to save his people.

Where has he placed you as part of this plan? 
Who around you is God wanting to save either physically, emotionally or spiritually?

Esther was an ordinary person of probably ordinary faith - remember it only takes a mustard seed of faith to do impossible things.

Stand up in faith and see what God will do!!

Healing 3. Healing and the cross

At this point we are considering the Biblical and theological issues around healing. It may seem cold logic to those who are sick, but it's essential to think correctly and to have expectations that are Biblical. If we do not think Biblically we can be thrown into additional confusion and turmoil when confronted with the already difficult struggle of suffering and sickness.

Much has been made of the passage in Isaiah 53:5 "by his wounds we are healed." We are told that the cross guarantees healing . As one person put it, "Jesus bore our sickness and carried your diseases at the same time and in the same manner that he bore your sins. You are just as free from sickness and disease as you are free from sin" (Gloria Copeland.)

Is 53:5 goes like this.
... he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.

The passage is a poem that uses a poetic devise called 'synonymous parallelism.' Simply, the expression of the first line is repeated by the second, but in different words. 'Transgressions' is the same as 'iniquities;' 'Peace' is repeated by 'healing.' In other words, Isaiah's theme is restoration from sin; healing is the peace of sins removed. As one person put it, "we were sick unto death because of our sins; but he... became the source of our healing" (Delitzsch.) (See also Is.1:4 - 6 and Jer. 30:12-17 where sickness is used metaphorically to describe sin and healing is a picture of restoration.)

Some point to the fact that the word peace (shalom) can mean complete restoration, including physical healing and health. True. Mostly, though, it has some particular dimension of peace in mind, for example, peace between waring parties. The context determines what the meaning and focus is. Peter clearly understood the meaning here as freedom from sin and spiritual restoration of God's people, for he quotes Isaiah saying,

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. 1Pet. 2:24

The healing Isaiah speaks of is not physical healing but the removal of sin, reconciliation with God and the freedom to live a life unto God.

There are other reasons why it seems wrong to suggest that we receive physical healing equally, in the same manner and to the same degree that we receive forgiveness of sin through faith in the cross of Christ. To begin with, people are not healed completely the minute they believe in Christ, even though they have faith in the cross. Then, christians still get sick, even though we say forgiveness is complete and full (we are justified though faith.) Even more seriously and dangerously, if the two are so connected, should we now say that a lack of healing, ipso facto, indicates a lack of forgiveness, since one is as much guaranteed by the cross as the other? There are few willing to suggest such a thing. Wisely so. But we would not say this because we do not believe the two are so related. However, the danger is that if we connect them too strongly, the lack of healing can subtly become a crisis of faith regarding my salvation. I believe some have suffered from such unnecessary soul searching as a result of faulty teaching regarding healing through the atonement.

What then is the connection between the cross and healing? We'll look at that next time.