The Power to Heal

There are so many questions surrounding the gifts of the spirit today. Just as there was in days of Jesus. Remember “Context is King.” When Jesus began his public ministry theLord had been silent for the past 400 years. It wasn’t until the preaching of John theBaptist that the silence was broken. This would mean that it had been several generations since people had seen any kind ofmiracle from God. The Jews had become a superstitious people just as many are todaywho long to see and experience the true power of God.

In Luke 5:17 we read, “And the power of the Lord was with him to heal.”(ESV) You would think this to be a given because we are talking about Jesus after all.Could it be when Christ took on the form of a man that he limited even his abilities asGod and lived like any other man that would be filled with the gifts of the Spirit. Weknow and believe that Jesus was 100% God and 100% Man at the same time for this isone of the seven mysteries of the faith. Another passage to consider is Philippians 2:5-8where it is said of Jesus that He “emptied himself” when he took on the form of a man.The word “emptied” in the Greek is “kenoo” meaning: cause to lose power; emptyoneself. With this understanding it is a lot easier to understand the life of Jesus as heprays to the Father and so forth. He is our example of faith according to Hebrews 12:1-3, which is hard to grasp if He is acting as simply God with skin on. But, it carries a tonmore weight if Jesus had to rely on the Father just as we do today. Therefore the only reason to add this phrase: “And the power of the Lord was with himto heal” would be to illustrate that at that moment he had the ability to heal, and thathe didn’t always have that ability. A careful read of the gospels will show that Jesuswasn’t always healing the sick, but there were times of healing in which he healed themall.

In 1 Corinthians 12:1-11 we read a list of the gifts of Spirit and in that list we find the giftof healing. We are also told in verse 11 that the Spirit gives these gifts “individually asHe wills.” The same Spirit that was empowering Jesus for his earthly ministry is thesame Spirit that empowers you for your earthly ministry. When you have a need for agift God is faithful to provide those gifts, but an individual doesn’t necessarily have thatgift all the time. This was true of Jesus’ earthly ministry as it was for the Apostle’sministry as it is for our ministry today. God gifts us as we need to profit the Body andthe Kingdom of God.

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Understanding Fasting and Prayer

We are about to enter into a time of 21 days of prayer and fasting.  I have been reading on Facebook that some of you have never fasted before, so I wanted to take a moment and try and explain the simplicity of fasting and why a person would do such a thing.  I think it is most important that you understand why a person would fast and then understand how you fast.  

Fasting is all about humbling your soul before The Lord.  Prayer in itself is an act of humility as we read in 2 Chronicles 7:14, "If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land."  God is looking for those that humble and he answers the prayer of the humble.  Let me give you an example.  When I got up this morning my dog was ready to go outside. So we did.  As I was making coffee and watching the news and doing what I do, Zach (my dog) was freaking out because I had not fed him yet.  He didn't care about me or what I needed to do he was just concerned with filling his stomach.  This is the way we are with God sometimes.  We get so self-consumed with our own needs that we forget there are more important things going on around us.  When a person fasts he or she is humbled by caring more about the topic of the fast than filling his or her own belly.  Notice the humility in this Psalm of David, "But as for me, when they were sick, My clothing was sackcloth; I humbled myself with fasting..." (Psalm 35:13).  

Fasting in the scripture is always about one thing: food.  I hear today of people fasting from all kinds of things (social media, chocolate, gaming, etc.), but the most effective fast is to remove a basic need of life which is food.  There is no set time for the fast.  People fast every night as they sleep which is the reason we "BREAK-FAST" in the morning.  People fast for one day, three day, seven day, or two week fasts.  There are some references of forty day fasts in the bible but this is not common practice.  

Jesus warned about fasting for the wrong reasons in Mathew 6:1-18.  The Pharisees were fasting in front of others to show how "spiritual" they were which is very arrogant and the complete opposite of humble.  Remember, the goal of fasting is humility before The Lord.  We are commanded not be be like the Pharisees.  

When we call for 21 days of Fasting and Prayer, we are not expecting anyone to fast for the entire 21 days but that you pick some days throughout the time frame in which you are fasting.  We want someone fasting the entire time before The Lord.  May God grant you the requests that you seek as you humble yourself before The Lord through the fast.

The Best Day at New Season Church

Last week as we were preparing for the service on Sunday, I received a copy of Pastor Steve's sermon notes.  I get a sneak peak along with the rest of the staff so that we can prepare all of our pieces that fit into the Sunday morning experience.  I knew after I read it that this was going to be one for the history books. We started a new series entitled "Dark Horse Rises" which is a sequel to last year's series on I Samuel.

On Friday night we had a special vision night for the volunteers at New Season and there was such a sweet spirit in the room I could tell the people were preparing there hearts for the message and service on Sunday. There has been tons of spiritual warfare around NSC over the summer, but you wouldn't have none it this weekend.  I woke up this morning and hit my knees in preparation for what God was going to bring us.  I prayed for Pastor Steve that the Lord would just fill him up with all the words and thoughts that I saw on the paper notes.  I felt in complete agreement that God was going to show up in the Worship experience and knock our socks off.   All the staff had been at the church on Saturday cleaning up from the volunteer night and putting the last touches on the stage and classrooms for the kids, so all was ready.

The 8:50 service went a bit long because we had an issue with Steve's count down clock, and at the end of the service I walked out into the hall and there was a sea of people waiting to come into the 10:00 Worship experience.  I was overwhelmed.  They were everywhere.  The kids classes were full.  The auditorium was full.  The parking lot was full.  And I was full up!!

The worship band began the worship set and it was amazing.  I was singing in the midst of God's people with tears in my eyes and a song in my heart.  We sang together, we cried together, we worshiped together.  It was beautiful.  Then Pastor Steve preached the message I had been meditating on.  and it touched everyone in the room.  As he gave the invitation for people to respond to the message, I knew we were going to have a big response.  And sure enough, we had 12 people come forward and receive Christ as their Lord and Savior.  They passed from death to live right before my eyes.  I can't get over it.  I don't want to get over it.  I love it.  If you are dealing with strongholds in your life make sure you listen to the sermon online: www.newseasonchurch.com.

After church I came home rejoicing as I took my normal 20 minute cat nap in my chair and then went to the pool with the family.  We had a great time socking in the sun and talking about God's grace. I met one of the worship leaders at Burnt Hickory Baptist in the pool and we swapped stories of God grace and call on our lives.

It is amazing the way God has the ability to turn something that seems so dark around in a few days or even a few hours.  It makes me know that he has not left us or forsaken us.  He is very much at the helm of the lives of his dear children.  I hope your Sunday was as good as mine.