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How to Be Made Whole - Part 11: Get Out of Town!

6/30/2024

REVIEW

So we have been learning for some time how we can be made whole – understanding first that God indeed wants us healed. But He doesn’t just want us healed and made whole partially; He wants us healed & whole completely and wholly.

We’ve learned this from our golden text for this series – First Thessalonians 5:23 – where the Holy Spirit says, “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

You see, so many Christians like to “spiritualize” God’s promises of healing & wholeness by saying, “Well, I know the Bible says that by Jesus’ stripes we are healed, but don’t you know that’s just talking about spiritual healing?” And so what this group of Christians does is they only apply ALL of these verses about healing to our spiritual condition that certainly has need of being made whole too. Yes, they will talk about how Isaiah 53’s prophecies of Jesus bearing our sicknesses and carrying our pains was referring our salvation from sin. But I think it is interesting how in the 8th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew that we are told how Jesus healed all their sick and cast out demons and then it says, “that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet Isaiah, saying, ‘He Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses.’” (See Matthew 8:16-17). So if Isaiah’s prophecies were only talking about our spiritual condition being healed, why would the Gospels refer to Jesus’ healing people’s physical & soulish conditions as being the fulfillment of his prophecy?

No, our verse in First Thessalonians makes it clear that God’s desire to sanctify, preserve, heal, and make whole is not just reserved for our spirit. No, it’s for our complete and whole man, which includes our soul and body. Amen? Church, God does not just want us made whole partially; He wants us whole wholly!

So what we are learning is how this happens, for it’s obvious that it is not automatic. If it was, then we would all be made whole already. Yes, if it were just up to God’s will, every person would be healed & whole.

So what we have been doing is looking at several examples of people who were healed and made whole in the Gospels and learning from those real-life stories what those individuals did to receive their wholeness. We’ve looked at examples like the healing of the man by the Pool of Bethesda, Jesus’ cleansing of the ten lepers, the healing of Blind Bart, the healing of Peter’s mother-in-law, the healing of the woman with the issue of blood, the woman who had a spirit of infirmity, and last week, how Jesus raised up Jairus’ daughter from the dead.

THE BLIND MAN OF BETHSAIDA

This week, I want us to look at another example from the Gospels – the story of the blind man of Bethsaida.

Now have you ever heard the phrase “Get out of town” used? Of course, you have. It is a phrase used to express disbelief at a comment or statement like someone would say, “No way, I can’t believe that, or are you serious?”

Well, that’s an interesting parallel because that is exactly what I want us to tackle today— this example of the blind man of Bethsaida in the Gospels is where the Holy Spirit was teaching us how certain places and groups of people (even towns) can have atmospheres of unbelief and then what to do about it. In fact, getting out of town is one of the big points.

So let’s turn over to Mark chapter 8 and look at this story …

Verse 22 begins with – “Then He came to Bethsaida …”

Now there is a little debate on where this city was actually located, but most have Bethsaida located in the region of Galilee, at the northern tip of the Sea of Galilee. The word “Bethsaida” literally means “House of Fishing” (The Hebrew word “beth” used for a “house” and the word used for fishing is obviously a reference to their coastal location).

Now I’ll get ahead of myself here, but a good question in this story is – Why did Jesus lead this man out of the town? Well, consider the name of the town! Bethsaida was one of the cities that Jesus “woe’d” for rejecting Him in Matthew 11:21 & Luke 10:8-16. So, do you reckon that Jesus took him out of the town because of the unbelief in the town? Absolutely!

You see, apparently even the dust of those towns can have unbelief on it. That might be why Jesus said to even wipe the dust off of their feet. Oftentimes people need to be led out of certain environments and situations in order to receive all that God has for them. And this certainly includes certain relationships …

You see, far too many of us have befriended “Beth Saida” – that is, we have associations in our life that are actually hindering us from receiving everything that God has for us. We need to understand that as First Corinthians 15:33 tells us – “Do not be deceived: ‘Evil company corrupts good habits’.” We can sit there and believe all day that their bad beliefs and behaviors are not affecting us, but the Bible tells us not to be deceived about this exact thing — that surrounding ourselves with evil company will corrupt our good habits. And this also applies to faith versus unbelief. If we encompass ourselves with unbelief, then it will corrupt our faith. Therefore, unless you know that you know that God has put so and so in your life to minister to them for a period of time, quit your friendship with “Beth,” church; she will only drag your faith down!

Then verse 22 goes on to say, “and they brought a blind man to Him, and begged Him to touch him.”

Church, this is another reason it is important to have friends and faith buddies—those who will help take you where you need to be to get your healing when you are not able to get there yourself. I think it is safe to assume that this blind man was somewhat likeable, as evidenced by the fact that this group of people brought him to Jesus and begged Him to touch him.

What if he would have been embittered and mad at the world because of his condition? What if he would have been so self-absorbed about his condition that you couldn’t carry on a conversation with him without him going on and on about his disadvantages in life, etc. etc. etc. Well, I suppose that this would have caused him to run off a lot of these friends who brought him to Jesus. Then where would this guy have been? Not in the Gospel of Mark, I can assure you.

But notice how they brought him and begged Jesus to touch him …

So, here we see the faith involved in this miracle. They obviously believed that if they could get this blind man to Jesus and if Jesus would touch him, he would be healed. But notice how Jesus responded to their pleading …

Verse 23 says, “So He took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the town.”

So Jesus touched him by taking him by the hand, but that didn’t get the guy healed. We are about to see that Jesus ministered healing to him differently than these people had it in their hearts. This shows us as ministers of healing that we do not need to only minister like the people expect us to. We need to be led by the Holy Spirit in how we minister because while they believed that Jesus just needed to lay hands on him for him to be healed, Jesus knew something they didn’t—and that was that He had to get him out of the town in order to effectively minister to him.

Verse 23 goes on to say, “And when He had spit on his eyes …”

Now this is something we saw Jesus do from time to time—using His spit to heal people. We see this here and also in the healing of the deaf and dumb man (Mark 7:33). We also saw Him doing this in the healing of the man born blind (John 9:6).

So what was it about Jesus’ spit that healed people?

Well, first of all, it’s important to understand that spitting is regarded as an insult. People spit on others to show their contempt and disdain for them. So do you reckon Jesus hates infirmity? He spits in the face of sickness, disease, and infirmity like the Roman soldiers spat on Him. Also, if you compare the Scriptures in the Law regarding “spit” you will find some interesting things …

First, in Leviticus chapter 15, when addressing bodily discharges, the Lord said, “If he who has a discharge spits on him who is clean, then he shall wash his clothes and bathe in water, and be unclean until evening” (vs.8). So what we see here is that when someone who has a particular uncleanness spits on someone else, they are also considered unclean for a certain period of time.

So do you reckon it might work the other way around – that if someone is absolutely clean (like Jesus) were to spit on them, that they could be considered clean too? Yes, and amen!

Then in Numbers 12:14, regarding Moses’ intercession for his sister Miriam who was struck with leprosy, the Lord said, “If her father had but spit in her face, would she not be shamed for seven days? Let her be shut out of the camp seven days, and afterward she may be received.” What the Lord was saying in response of Moses’ plea for mercy for her was that she must follow the prescribed seven days outside of the camp for those inspected and found to have leprosy—because simply being spit on by her father would have required a similar duration of shame. So the effects of being spit on in their days was that of shame and required a certain duration of being ostracized. Therefore, if Jesus spit on the curse, wouldn’t it also be ostracized from the person as well? Amen!

We also see something similar in Deuteronomy 25:9 when it comes to the duties of a surviving brother and his widowed sister-in-law. If he did not fulfill his duty in marrying her, then she was able to spit in his face in the presence of the elders—putting him to an open shame and condemning him before the people. Likewise, Jesus spits in the face of sickness & disease, making a public spectacle of it openly, triumphing over it through the Cross (Colossians 2:15).

So what we are seeing here is that under the Law, spitting on someone was considered a negative thing—an insult, an action of contempt, a cursing if you would. So when Jesus would use His spit to touch their infirmity, what He was doing was essentially cursing their curse: He was showing disdain and contempt for it! He was telling it that it must go from that person—that it was considered unclean and must leave their tent. Amen!

But Jesus didn’t just spit on this man’s infirmity; Verse 23 also says, “… and put His hands on him.”

So Jesus wound up meeting these guys where they were by ministering to him where their faith was (i.e. “and begged Him to touch him”- See verse 22). Plus, He ministered to him how the Holy Spirit led Him (i.e. “spit on his eyes”). This is a very good model for ministry: Meet the people where their faith is and honor their requests, but also listen to the Holy Spirit and minister according to how He leads you.

So after Jesus then asked him if he saw anything, verse 24 tells us that the man “looked up” (Greek anablepo). This man was not looking up, like into the heavens. His head was evidently down. Jesus had to make him “look up.” We know this because when he told Jesus what he saw after looking “up” was men like trees walking. So if you had to look up to see that, then your head was obviously down.

This is very important to understand because this inferiority complex and insecurity will keep one from entering into their God-given inheritance. We need to be a people whose heads are lifted up and who walk around confidently with our shoulders back — confident in who we are in Christ.

We need to become far sighted Christians – just like this man came to the place where he saw men like trees walking (who were the men that looked like trees? The unbelieving city folk. Make unbelief blurry), you have to make certain things blurry and focus in on the place you want to go. It’s called being far-sighted where we are focused on things in the distance and cannot see the resistance right in front of us! (Compare Second Peter 1:9)

Verse 24 goes on to tell us what this blind man responded with – “I see men like trees, walking.”

So I envision that he was seeing the people around him walking around but his semi-restored vision was seeing them stretched out to be tall like trees. This reveals to us that this man was not always blind because how would he know what men or trees looked like to compare what he was seeing to? Plus, verse 25 tells us that his sight was “restored.” You can only restore something that you had at one point.

Verse 25 then tell us – “Then He put His hands on his eyes again …”

This shows us that there are times where we need to pray again for certain things. The key is being led by the Spirit. But persistence is the key. Some people will pray once for someone or for themselves and if they do not get healed within a certain frame of time, they will quit. We need to keep hitting disease with the hammer of the Holy Spirit and not grow faint. Sure, sometimes faith will pray once, believe and receive. But there are other times where you keep hitting that thing until it breaks. Again, the key is in being led by Him in every situation.

But did you know that this was the only instance we have recorded where Jesus had to pray for someone more than once and do you think it was a coincidence that this man came out of a town full of unbelief. Unbelief must be shaved off in layers. Yes, He got the man out of the town, but He obviously hadn’t gotten the town completely out of the man.

Notice that Jesus did not say, “Well, it’s better than what you had.” No, Jesus prayed again because it was God’s will for his sight to be FULLY restored. Again, we need to keep tackling the sickness & disease, not settling for “good enough.” Let’s press in until we get “more than enough.”

So after Jesus made him look up again, the man’s sight was completely restored, seeing everyone clearly. But I want you to notice what Jesus then said to him in verse 26 – “Neither go into the town, not tell anyone in the town.”

So, again, the first thing Jesus did was He took the man by the hand and “led him out of the town” (vs.23). Now we see here that He told the man to not even go back into “the town” nor tell anyone in “the town.” There sure are a lot of references to “the town” here in these five short verses, aren’t there? This clearly shows us that the “town” was the problem here!

Notice that Jesus not only told this man to not tell anyone in the town what had happened to him, but Jesus told this guy not to even go back in the town itself. Now one of the obvious reasons Jesus would tell certain people not to go tell the world about their healing or miracle was because the unbelieving are proficient in spilling their unbelief over on someone who has received a touch from the Lord. In other words, they will say things like – “Well, that’s just mind over matter. Don’t think that was a divine intervention. It’s just a coincidence.” If we give an audience to that spirit of unbelief, it can certainly talk us out of our healing. But evidently there is a detrimental effect of even being in the atmosphere of unbelief. That’s why Jesus told the man not even to go back into the town.

Church, the “town” we live in – whether that be a specific geographic location or simply certain relationships we have – can drastically affect things.

We see this even in Jesus’ hometown: In Mark 6:1-6, we read – “Then He went out from there and came to His own country, and His disciples followed Him. And when the Sabbath had come, He began to teach in the synagogue. And many hearing Him were astonished, saying, ‘Where did this Man get these things? And what wisdom is this which is given to Him, that such mighty works are performed by His hands! Is this not the carpenter, the Son of Mary, and brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And are not His sisters here with us?’ So they were offended at Him. But Jesus said to them, ‘A prophet is not without honor except in his own country, among his own relatives, and in his own house.’ Now He could do no mighty work there, except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them. And He marveled because of their unbelief. Then He went about the villages in a circuit, teaching.”

This is why it is important to reverse the process… You see, if an atmosphere of unbelief can prevent the mighty works of God from being performed, then wouldn’t an atmosphere of faith promote the mighty works of God being performed? Absolutely! Therefore, it is imperative that we surround ourselves with faith filled friends, faith filled groups, etc. Yes, it is vital for us to create an atmosphere that is conducive for the miracles we desire. And according to this example of Jesus’ hometown, it all begins with honor.

You see, because of their familiarity with Jesus and His family, they had a difficult time receiving from Him – which is a big problem because the old saying is true, familiarity does indeed bring contempt. And this creates offense, a stumbling.

So what did Jesus do – Mark 6:6 says that He went about the villages in a circuit, teaching. The language here indicates that Jesus went into the villages all around Bethsaida, but didn’t go back there. Why? Because Jesus lived by His own words of not giving what is holy to the dogs or casting His pearls before swine. If people were bent on rejecting Him, not giving Him the honor or respect, He would go somewhere else. Lord, don’t let that be us! Let us be a people who honor You to the full degree that we can, so that we can see more mighty works in our midst.

So, my point today is clear—we need to “get out of town” and “get the town” out of us. Be careful what we are watching and what we are listening to. It comes through prayer and fasting—drawing near to God and moving away from Bethsaida.

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How to Be Made Whole - Part 10: Making Room for the Healer

6/16/2024

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REVIEW

What a blessing it is to know that our God wants us whole! No, He doesn’t just want us partially healed or somewhat well; He wants our whole man completely whole – which includes our entire spirit, soul, and body.

We’ve learned this from our golden text for this series – First Thessalonians 5:23 – where the apostle Paul says, “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

But I want you to notice a little, relatively obscure word that’s mentioned twice in this verse – the word “may.” Again Paul said, “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely” and “may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless.”

The word “may” expresses both possibility and permission: It means that it can happen; but there’s no guarantee of it happening. And one of the obvious things that makes it possible is someone giving it permission to happen.

Now most Christians would obviously think the one giving permission for this to occur in our lives is God. Yes, most believers think that one will be made whole if God allows it, He wills it, etc. But I don’t think that’s the case here. I believe the one that ultimately makes this possible in our lives is US. Sure, God has to be the initiator. Yes, God has to make it a possibility and invite us to enter into it. But the truth is – He’s done that! By penning these words from First Thessalonians 5:23 in our Bible, God has made it perfectly clear that He wants this for all of us! Therefore, you and I are now the ones who “may” let it happen. Might I say that we are the ones who “make room” for it to happen, a point that we will make in today’s message.

So how do we do this? Well, we do the same things that we see in these examples of Scripture where individuals are made whole by the Lord. Yes, we follow their faith and invite the Lord to do the same healing work in our lives that He did in theirs. Amen?

So we’ve looked at several examples so far, such as the healing of the man by the Pool of Bethesda, Jesus’ cleansing of the ten lepers, the healing of Blind Bart, the healing of Peter’s mother-in-law, the healing of the woman with the issue of blood, and most recently, the woman who had a spirit of infirmity. So I’d encourage you that if you have missed any of these teachings to go back and listen to / watch them, as they contained vital, Scriptural keys to being made whole.

So now, let’s move into another example in the Gospels of someone who was made whole by the Master, and see what we can take away from this story …
JARIUS & HIS DAUGHTER – CHAPTER ONE

Now if you recall, we covered the story of the woman with the issue of blood a few weeks back, which as we made the point of, was an interruption to another story. Well, today, I’d like to talk about that other story – the story of Jairus and his daughter, the story of a father’s great love for his daughter.

Now this story is included in three of the four Gospels, so it’s important to read all three accounts in order to get the full picture of what transpired on that day. Today, however, we are mainly going to look at Mark chapter 5 …

We see in verse 21 that when Jesus had crossed over again by boat to the other side, that a great multitude gathered to Him by the sea. That is when verse 22 says, “And behold, one of the rulers of the synagogue came, Jairus by name …”

Now by throwing in the phrase “by name,” Mark was indicating that Jairus was well known. And why? Because he was one of the rulers of the synagogue there. So this man had clout. The Jews in that region knew him. If the name Jairus was mentioned there, everyone would know – “Oh yeah, that’s one of the rulers of the synagogue.”

But I want you to notice that he did not come to Jesus giving Him all his credentials and all the reasons why Jesus should come and help his daughter. No, verses 22-23 tell us that “he fell at His feet and begged Him earnestly.”

You see, this is so significant because of who this man was: Even though he was a man of status, he still begged him, even falling at His feet. Now begging is not believing and begging does not get you healed. But humility does! The humble get more grace according to James. You show me a person who is in faith; I’ll show you someone who is truly humble. This is why they get more grace!

On top of that, this also shows us the heart of the ones who receive. It is those who get serious! It is those who are willing to mess their hair up! It is those who get ugly for Jesus! Amen!

You see, some people just can’t do this. They simply cannot bring themselves to the place of laying aside their pride & dignity. And I’ll tell you, saints, that keeps more people from their miracle than most people realize.

And no, it’s not simply the physical actions that get the results; it’s the heart behind the actions. So when someone’s heart is impacted by the awareness that Jesus is ALL that matters, and that person gets to the point where they realize in their heart that how they look, what people will think, etc. means nothing, this is when these humble actions get results. So again, don’t think that if I just do what someone else did, I’ll get what they got. God looks at the heart, and the heart is where one believes.

Now notice what Jairus said from his position of humility because there is a lot to learn from this …

In verse 23, he said, “My little daughter lies at the point of death. Come and lay Your hands on her, that she may be healed, and she will live.”

Notice that here in Mark’s account, he calls her his “little daughter” In Luke 8:42, he calls her his only daughter. So all of this points to how extra special she was to her daddy. She was obviously very young, and she was his one & only.

Now where do you suppose Jairus got this great love for his daughter? It’s not the devil, I can tell you that. No, this inherent nature in parents to love their children and do anything for them like Jarius did here is a God-instilled trait. Yes, we get our nature to love our children from God’s nature to love His.

You know, it’s always been amazing to me how a person who has either fathered or mothered children and experienced that special love for their kids, struggles with grasping how our Heavenly Father could love them like that. But the fact that Jairus was willing to do everything in his power to get the Healer to come touch his daughter shows us that our Heavenly Father will do the same. In fact, He already has done it by sending His “only son” to make us whole.

So know on this Father’s Day that you have a good, good Heavenly Father who desires to give good gifts to His children – and one of those good gifts is the children’s bread of healing & wholeness. Amen?

Now Jairus obviously knew that his daughter was lying at the point of death by her condition. So the situation was extremely serious and time was of the essence. So we see that his first request was for Jesus to “Come …” Come and what? “Come and lay Your hands on her …”

A good question here is – Why would Jairus specifically request that Jesus come to his home and lay His hands on her? Well, I think the answer is obvious. Faith comes by hearing, right? (See Romans 10:17). So evidently, Jairus had heard something in regard to Jesus laying His hands on people and then being healed. So what he was really saying to Jesus was this: “Come do that hand thing that I’ve heard you do”

You see, what you hear is important. And the more you hear of what Jesus has done, is doing, and will do for people, the more faith you will have in Him doing it for you! Amen? So never underestimate what you are exposing yourself to. Whatever you allow to be sown in your heart is what you will develop faith in. It works both positively and negatively.

And it is rather obvious how what Jairus was hearing about Jesus had impacted his heart – because notice what he said, “… that she may be healed, and she will live.” Apparently, this man had become so persuaded by what he was hearing about Jesus that he “just knew” that if Jesus would come lay His hands on his daughter that she would live.

Boy, this really teaches us about a strong characteristic of faith – Faith will tell you what WILL happen before it happens. Again, it doesn’t just simply say words hoping that it’s the magic formula to getting what we desire. No, true faith says these things because it’s confident that something will or will not happen.

Then in verse 24, we see Jesus’ response to this man’s faith. Mark says that Jesus went with Him, but I like how Matthew puts it – It says, “So Jesus arose and followed him” (See Matthew 9:19).

You know, we always think of us following Jesus, but in this case, Jesus followed Jairus! The Lord will follow our faith! When faith leads the way, the Healer will show up on the scene!

JARIUS & HIS DAUGHTER – CHAPTER TWO

So it was at this point that the woman with the issue of blood interrupted our story and took her miracle. So when Jesus was speaking to this woman, telling her how her faith had made her well, this is when we revisit Jairus’ situation. We will call this half of Jairus’ story, “chapter two” …

Verse 35 says, “While He was still speaking, some came from the ruler of the synagogue’s house who said, ‘Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?’”

Now can you imagine the temptation Jarius might have experienced here? I mean, hearing that your young and only daughter is now dead will bring all kinds of terrible emotions, I’m sure. Then he could have also had all kinds of bitter emotions come up toward this woman or even towards Jesus. He could have thought things like — “Jesus, why did You stop? Didn’t you know that time was of the essence?” or “Why did this lady get Jesus to stop? My situation was important!”

Then comes the unbelief: Again, Mark 5:35 shows us how those from Jairus’ house said, “Why trouble the Teacher any further?” In other words, “You might as well quit now, Jairus. It’s all over now.” Well, the obvious answer to their question is – the reason you “trouble the Teacher any further” is because He is not just “the Teacher” or even just “the Healer” for that matter; He is the Resurrection and the Life! Amen!

Church, don’t ever stop believing “further!” Even if the manifestation doesn’t come when you want it or how you expected it … Even if things seem too far gone or lost … Even if your situation seems impossible … Always, “Faith further!”

So when all of these things rise up in you like the impatience of why is it taking so long, the offense of why are these delays happening, or the unbelief that tempts you to let go of what you are believing for, know this – This is when it is important to hear from the Lord – because the devil loves to capitalize on opportunities like this to sow flesh, offense, or unbelief into our hearts, which will take us even further away from our wholeness. Amen?

Verse 36 tells us – “As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, He said …”

Oftentimes, when there is a bad report or word spoken that would tempt us to be discouraged or quit, the Lord will come back with a “rhema” word that encourages you to stand. This is why when we get the bad report, it is imperative that we get in the Word of God and commune with the Spirit of God.

So what was the Word that Jairus received? Jesus said, “Do not be afraid; only believe.” The language literally says, “Stop fearing, Be Believing!” And the Message Bible translates it like so – “Don’t listen to them; just trust me.”

This is significant because what we must establish our heart in is even when we get a bad report like this, not to listen or take heed to them. I will trust the Lord!

So why would Jesus have told him to not be afraid unless fear would have had a negative impact on the desired miracle? Why would Jesus have said, “Do not be afraid” when the news was that she was dead? What did He mean by “only believe”?

Well, evidently, you can believe and do something else. Do you remember the story of the demon possessed boy when the father said, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief.” You can evidently have faith and unbelief at the same time. One of the greatest hindrances to seeing healings and miracles is not just a lack of faith but the presence of unbelief that will counterbalance the faith’s production.

And I love one thing that Luke’s Gospel adds on to what Jesus said here. Jesus said in Luke 8:50 – “she will be made well.” In other words, if you don’t fear and only believe, she is gonna live, buddy!

Now compare this statement to how Jairus said that she will live: Jesus basically said here what Jairus originally said. You see, the Great High Priest of our confession will help us to hold fast to our profession without wavering. This falls in line with the saying that “if you say what God said, He will do what you say.”

Then Mark 5:37 tells us – “And He permitted no one to follow Him except Peter, James and John …”

A good question here is, why? Why would Jesus not permit anyone other than these three to follow Him to Jairus’ house? I think this shows us how Jesus was very specific about who He “let in” when it came to the more notable miracles. The reason is because some people can actually hurt the atmosphere and make it less conducive for a miracle. It doesn’t mean that they are evil people or that they don’t have other good qualities, but when it comes to some healings, we only need people who know how to believe God at our side.

So be careful who you travel with. As the Bible says, evil communication corrupts good manners. Now we always apply that to not hanging around sinful people, but it goes with unbelief too. Find you some good faith buddies who will follow you into your wholeness!

But this wasn’t all Jesus did to prepare the environment: When they came to Jairus’ home, they found a lot of commotion going on, people weeping & wailing. So Jesus enters the house asking why all the commotion, for the girl is not dead but she’s only sleeping.

Now this is not the first time Jesus said something like this. We see something similar in the resurrection of Lazarus (John 11:11). So I believe Jesus was practicing speaking life and not death. He did not want to say that his friend Lazarus was dead, but in this case, His disciples forced Him to be blunt.

Then verse 40 tells us that when Jesus told the crowd that the girl was not dead but only sleeping – “… they ridiculed Him …” Why do you suppose they did this? I believe it was because they were thinking Jesus was being ignorant & insensitive – ignorant in that they thought He didn’t understand the facts and insensitive in that they didn’t think this was doing right by the family to make statements like that when they just lost their daughter. So I believe a good lesson here is that we need to be prepared that when you start calling things that be not as though they were, you will be ridiculed by the unbelievers around you.

So how did Jesus respond to all of this unbelief? He put them outside! Church, sometimes you just have to kick all the doubt and unbelief out! The more serious it gets, the less tolerant and sensitive you need to be of people’s feelings and the more selective you need to be of who you invite in and talk to. Yes, there is a time to kick out Aunt Afraid & Uncle Unbelief.

Now in Matthew’s Gospel, we see where, in cleaning out the house, Jesus said, “Make room” (Matthew 9:24). I like to look at this phrase as a strong admonition for us.

You see, we need to make room for Jesus in our “house” by removing all the unbelief out of our hearts. This is what the apostle Paul prayed in Ephesians chapter 3 when he prayed that they would let Christ dwell in their hearts through faith (Ephesians 3:17).

You see, Jesus isn’t able to make Himself at home in most Christians because they have too much unbelief crowding their hearts. This is when simply opening up the door to our hearts and letting Jesus enter in becomes important – because He can “make room” better than you and I can. Yes, He can clean out our temple and make us whole!

But back to Mark’s Gospel … Mark 5:40 shows us then how “He took the father and the mother of the child …”

So why would Jesus take the girl’s parents in and kick everyone else out? It’s because the parents are the ones with the delegated authority over their children. Jairus and his wife needed to be there standing together with Jesus to see this miracle take place because of the girl’s age.

So how did Jesus then minister to this little girl? The first thing we saw was that He took her by the hand. Now this was what Jairus requested in the beginning, right? He wanted Jesus to come lay His hands on her, right? So we see Jesus honoring Jairus’ faith here.

But one thing that is very interesting here is that the word “took” comes from the Greek word kratos which describes an authoritative, powerful grabbing of something. This reminds me of the blind man at the gate called beautiful where Peter “took” him by the hand too! This denotes confidence and one understanding his or her authority!

But Jesus didn’t just do something; He also said something … He said, “Talitha, cumi” which when translated said, “Little girl, I say to you, arise.” This is a good example of how you minister healing… He addressed the lifeless body of the girl (the mountain, in this case) then he made the simple command for her to “arise.” And guess what happened? Verses 42 says, “Immediately the girl arose and walked for she was twelve years of age. And they were overcome with great amazement.” Praise the Lord!

Finally, verse 43 shows us one last thing that is very important: It says, “But He commanded them strictly that no one should know it, and said that something should be given her to eat.”

What this teaches me is that healing is not just a spiritual thing. In other words, receiving our healing & wholeness doesn’t only have to do with the spiritual side of things like believing God, etc. No, there is a natural side to healing as well. And evidently, this little girl’s nourishment was a vital part to her continuing to get better after being raised from the dead.

I’ll tell you, saints, while we certainly need to apply the spiritual principles of healing to our lives, we need to also hear from the Holy Spirit and be led by the wisdom of God as it pertains to the natural side of things.

You see, sometimes our issues can be totally related to some dietary change, an exercise adjustment, or simply taking a nap from time to time. The possibilities are endless. But this I know – the Holy Spirit is willing to show us if there is in fact an adjustment we need to make in the natural that will lead us to being made whole. Like I said, it might be cutting out sugar, it could be simply drinking more water, or it might even be adding a regular walk to our schedule. Again, it’s just important to inquire of the Lord regarding these things and being led by Him in both the spiritual and natural side of things.

So in conclusion, we see how a father’s faith yielded a tremendous miracle on this day. No, it was not a Jesus instigated miracle; this man did what was necessary to make his home a place conducive for a notable miracle. And you and I can do the same too! Yes, we can make room in our house for the Healer, the Miracle Worker, to do His thing! Let’s do it!

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How to Be Made Whole - Part 9: The Seed of Abraham

6/2/2024

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REVIEW

God wants you whole! No, He doesn’t just want you partially healed, only being concerned with the spiritual things. He wants your whole man completely whole – which includes your spirit, soul, and body.

And in our current series entitled “How To Be Made Whole,” we have been learning how the Scriptures teach you and I to receive God’s will to make us whole. Yes, the Lord is so good to give us example after example in the Bible of those who did indeed line themselves up with God’s will and obtained their healing & wholeness.

So we’ve looked at several examples so far, such as the healing of the man by the Pool of Bethesda, Jesus’ cleansing of the ten lepers, the healing of Blind Bartimaeus, the healing of Peter’s mother-in-law, and most recently, the healing of the woman with the issue of blood. I’d encourage you that if you have missed any of these teachings to go back and listen to / watch them, as they contained vital, Scriptural keys to being made whole.

So let’s again go back over to our golden text for this series – First Thessalonians 5:23. Again, this verse reads – “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Notice how our God of peace is resolved to “sanctify” us completely: What does that mean? What does it mean to be “sanctified”? Well, this means to set apart or make holy. Therefore, God wants us to be completely set apart and made holy.

You see, when Solomon dedicated the Temple in Second Chronicles chapter 7, the Lord appeared to him, telling him that He had chosen and “sanctified” the temple, that His name would be there forever and that His eyes & heart would be there perpetually (Second Chronicles 7:16).

And the good news is, the New Testament reveals to us that we are the temples of God today. Yes, our bodies are the Temples of the Holy Spirit (See First Corinthians 6:19). So what does that mean? It means that you have been chosen and sanctified like the original Temple was! Yes, God’s name is on us forever, and that His eyes & heart are unto us perpetually! Glory!

You see, just as the Temple of God had the outer courts, the inner courts, and the Holy of holies, you likewise are made up of the same --- You have an “outer courts,” which is your outward man. This is your body – the part of you that houses the House of God. So God wants your outward man sanctified, set apart, and holy unto God! You also have an “inner court,” which is your soul, the part of you that makes you “you.” It’s where your mind is. It’s where your emotions are. It’s where your personality is. And God wants that part of you sanctified, set apart, and holy unto God as well! Finally, you also have a Holy of holies contained within those inner courts. This is the place where God dwells. This is where His presence is contained. It’s where His holiness, righteousness, etc. are at. Of course, I’m talking about our born again, recreated spirit. So this part of us is likewise sanctified, set apart, and the holiest of all!

So it ought to be readily embraced that the Lord wants our outer courts, our inner courts, and our holy of holies completely sanctified – that is, our spirit, soul, and body set apart and holy unto the Lord! This is what the apostle Paul was speaking of in First Thessalonians 5:23! Amen!

So now, let’s move into another example in the Gospels of someone who was made whole by the Master, and see what we can take away from this story …

THE WOMAN WITH THE SPIRIT OF INFIRMITY

This next example I want us to look at is with the woman who had a spirit of infirmity. This story is told in Luke 13:10-17, and our story begins with the following phrase – “Now He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath.”

Somebody say, “Uh oh!” How many of you know that Jesus sure got in a lot of trouble both ministering in the synagogues and doing things on the Sabbath! But while religion tries to bind us up and keep us in bondage, Jesus likes to barge into these synagogues on the Sabbath and show what is true, righteous, and God’s will. Amen!

And notice what Jesus was doing here? He was “teaching!”

You know, according to the Gospels, Jesus did a lot more teaching than He did preaching and healing. Therefore, the teaching of God’s Word is evidently super important – for faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God (Romans 10:17).

So one thing that is important to take away from this is how Jesus constantly went to the synagogues to teach (i.e. “one of the Synagogues”)—even when He had all of these negative experiences, even when they were only trying to find fault in Him, even when He was highly unlikely to get through to any of them. Yes, He kept going in to them – showing us how the Lord does not react to rejection, unbelief, and religion like we would. He still reaches out. He still gives opportunities to hear Him. He keeps coming. (Say, “He keeps coming!”) The Lord is far more gracious and merciful than we can imagine! (Story of Trinity in Madurai)

Then in verse 11, we are told – “And behold …” Today, some of us who are young and hip might say, “And check this out!”

Then we see how there was a woman in this synagogue who had “a spirit of infirmity.” This is not an uncommon thing in the ministry of Jesus, for Him to identify a seemingly physical problem as a spirit. For example, He referred to a “dumb and deaf spirit” (Mark 9:25) and a “blind spirit” (Matt. 12:22). So, one thing worthy of noting here is that we see, in some of the physical healings that Jesus performed, the person’s physical affliction was a result of the person being “demonized.” We also see this in the healing of the mute man in Matthew chapter 9. In fact, we see in the ministry of Jesus that He dealt with demonic issues a lot—and, like in this instance, sometimes those demonic issues were the source of the physical infirmities. I bring this to our attention because if this is what we see a lot of in the four Gospels, then we can conclude that a lot of what we see afflicting people today is also likely demonic in nature.

I believe that this is one of the reasons that we do not see the results in praying for the physically sick and mentally ill like we should: it is because we judge everything according to our own understanding and experiences. In other words, we put everything in our own little box—thinking that every time someone is diagnosed with some kind of illness that they need to be physically healed or thinking that every time someone has emotional issues that they need to be emotionally healed. This is not always the case when you look in the Word of God. The fact is, sometimes these things are demonic in nature, so we need to be spiritually in tune enough to be able to sense what the root of the infirmity is. This is an important part in order to get the results we desire.

But here, Jesus knew that this woman had a spirit of infirmity, not just a physical problem, and He loosed her from that spirit. Amen.

So we need to understand that this can certainly be a factor with us as well, when it comes to being made whole: Sometimes we are trying to medicate a spiritual problem. Sometimes we are trying to manage a mental or emotional condition when it goes deeper than simply the physical.

Church, this is when we need the Holy Spirit’s help of discerning the spirits that afflict us and others so we can target that spiritual issue rather than just putting a band aid on an amputated arm (so to speak).

On the flipside of this, we don’t need to go into the other ditch of looking for the devil and demons in every negative situation either. Sometimes people do this in themselves, thinking that every impure thought and feeling is “the devil.” Friends, you cannot crucify demons and you cannot cast out the flesh; you must crucify the flesh and cast out demons. Likewise, I believe sometimes we are trying to heal the demonic problem when we should be casting it out.

Then we are told in verse 11 that this woman had this spirit of infirmity for “eighteen years.”

How many of you know that this is far too long for one in covenant with God to be bound by Satan? But the fact is, she was bound by the devil for these eighteen years and should not have been—for they had a covenant with God where He promised to be their “rapha!” Therefore, it is possible for one to be bound by some infirmity – whether spiritually influenced or simply physical – for a long period of time and that does not make it nor prove it to be God’s will. Nor does it prove that it is just who we are either …

You see, there are a lot of people who, because they have been a certain way or had a certain condition for so long, accept it as just being who they are or just the way it is. But based on this example from the Scriptures, we can clearly see that just because it’s been there for so long doesn’t make it right.

Some people even like to say that if someone stays sick that God must have some redemptive purpose in it. Not necessarily. That wasn’t so with this woman, was it? So no, just because something has been a certain way for multiple decades doesn’t prove that it ought to be that way.

And so, what this woman’s infirmity resulted in was the following – “and was bent over and could in no way raise herself up.”

Now in this verse, Dr. Luke gives us details of what this woman’s specific infirmity was. This condition might be what we would call today “scoliosis” or “curvature of the spine.” However, as we’ve already seen, this condition is called a spirit of infirmity, and we see in verse 12 how Jesus told her, “Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity.” So, the fact that she was bent over and could in no way raise herself up is specifically because of a “weakness” that she had (Lit. an infirmity). So, it stands to reason that this had some kind of evil spirit that kept her weak—a spirit of weakness, if you would.

Then in verse 12, we read – “But when Jesus saw her, He called her to Him …”

Here is a glorious example of the heart of ministry. This Scripture does not say, “And the Holy Ghost led Him to minister to her.” No, the Scriptures just tell us that when Jesus saw her, He began the process of ministering to her.

To me, this illustrates how our only trigger to begin ministering to people is simply seeing them. Amen? Now, of course, this does not mean that we don’t include the Holy Spirit, but it simply means that we need to have the foundation set in our heart that the Holy Spirit always wants to minister to people. So, yes, we need to be Spirit-led, but if we are consistently being led not to minister to people who need it then we are not being led by the Spirit.

Then notice what Jesus said to her in verse 12 – “Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity.”

Now notice that Jesus did not say here – “Woman, get ready, because I am about to loose you from your infirmity!” No, the language here says that He told her that she was, at that moment, loosed from her infirmity. Now, it sure didn’t look like it yet, did it? Nope, because when he said this, she was still bowed over and couldn’t raise herself up.

So what was Jesus doing here – He was doing the same thing we see Him doing a number of times, Jesus was calling those things that be not as though they were. But I want you to understand that He wasn’t just doing this as some magic formula that by saying something it makes it magically appear. No, Jesus only did what He saw His Father doing and said what He saw His Father saying. So Jesus said this to this woman because this is what His Father showed Him. In other words, because He saw it, He said it.

And church, this is how one becomes whole. The Jesus on the inside of us has to rise up and say what God says. Yes, we have to call those things that be not as though they were and not continue to call the things that be as though they still are.

There are countless testimonies out there of people who got the results they desired when they did this. This is how I received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. It is how many people have been healed, delivered, and set free from things that they did everything else they knew to do to receive.

But because we see Jesus ministering to people this way time and time again, this is obviously one of God’s preferred ways to ministering. So it’s time we get on board with how God says things get done instead of trying to get results some other way. As Psalm 18:30 says, “As for the Lord, His way is perfect!”

Then, in verse 13, we see the results – “and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God.”

Notice that there is nothing said in this story of this woman glorifying God when she was bent over. No, she glorified God when she was made straight (i.e. things were made “right”)!

You see, things that are crooked and twisted are not “right.” Sure, a lot of us have had things happen to us that have perverted God’s design for our lives. Yes, there are some things that we need to have Jesus “make straight” in our lives. Jesus will straighten you out! Amen!

And then in verse 14, we see – “But the ruler of the synagogue … lifted up his hands and praised God for healing someone in his congregation!” Well, at least this is what he should have done. But no, this verse says, “(he) answered with indignation … and he said to the crowd, ‘There are six days on which men ought to work; therefore come and be healed on them, and not on the Sabbath day.’”

So, what we see happening here is this Rabbi (i.e. pastor) did not like the fact that sick and infirmed people were coming to his synagogue to get Jesus to heal them and messing up his Sabbath meeting.

You see, this is something that any ministry leader needs to guard against – the temptation to get in our routine of how things need to go in our service. We need to allow the Holy Spirit room to save, heal, and deliver in the midst of it. In other words, we ought to be okay and sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s plan interrupting our plan.

Then we see in verse 15 how Jesus responded to this man’s point: He calls him a “Hypocrite!”

Why did Jesus call this ruler of the synagogue a hypocrite? It was because in saying that there were six days in which man ought to work—particularly referring to the healing of people—he wasn’t healing anybody those six days, was he? So, by saying that people ought to be healing people on those six days, and him not doing it, this made him a hypocrite.

Then Jesus goes into a great example in this verse of their hypocrisy by saying that all of these religious zealots, in their desire to protect the Sabbath, did not understand how hypocritical they really were—for they would loose their ox or donkey from the stall and lead it to water it, but they were indignant about loosing this woman from her bondage. And do you know why? Because their animals were valuable to them, and this woman wasn’t. If this would have been this ruler of the synagogue’s wife or mother, he probably would not have been opposed to her being healed quite so much.

Notice the terminology that Jesus used in this verse – “loose … from the stall, and lead it away to water it.”

Here, Jesus is comparing being bound by an infirmity to an animal being bound to a stall and being loosed from an infirmity to an animal being loosed from a stall, being led away from that place of bondage, and giving it a drink.

You see, when an animal is locked up in its stall, it can’t just go and do whatever it wants to do. It is imprisoned—not free to go where it wants to go and to do what it wants to do. This is what Jesus is likening our physical infirmities to: They keep us bound. They take away our freedom. We are at the whim of another. But being free from physical afflictions is just that—being free! Jesus likened it to being loosed from the stall and led away to be watered. This picture of being led away to be watered is the picture that the New Testament paints when it refers to “forgiveness.” So, saints, our Good Shepherd leads us beside still waters (Psalm 23:2)! That’s what healing is, my friends!

Now when this ruler of the synagogue got indignant about Jesus setting the lady free on the Sabbath and Jesus showed him here that it was hypocritical because he would set his animals free, I can’t help be reminded of all these people in the world that would move heaven and earth to save a dolphin, a whale or a tree and care nothing about saving all those unborn babies that are being aborted.

Listen saints—God has created man in His own image and likeness, not animals. So, while I’m certainly not against helping these certain animals that are in danger of going extinct, it is a totally wrong thing to esteem the life of animals more than the life of mankind. Amen?

Now verse 16 holds some powerful truths that we need to consider: It begins with – “So ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham …”

This indicates that healing “ought” to happen—on the Sabbath as well as the other six days of the week. In other words, healing is a “right” of God’s people. And why? Because, as Jesus said of her, this woman was “a daughter of Abraham.” In other words, because it was her covenant right as a child of Abraham!

Healing was a part of their covenant, saints! It was promised! Therefore, her freedom from that infirmity was hers! Thus, the reason Jesus said in verse 12 – “Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity!” while she was still bowed over in her condition. Saints, if it is ours under our covenant, then it’s as good as done!

Then Jesus made the point that this woman was “whom Satan has bound.”

You do realize that the vast majority of Christians have zero revelation of this one statement, right? Most would even dare to say that God was the one who had her bound to teach her something. Nope! It was Satan who had bound this woman up in this physical weakness that caused her to be bent over and not to be able to raise herself up! Never forget: God never binds and locks people up with anything! God liberates and makes free! Amen!

Then Jesus said, “think of it – for eighteen years …”

I see the phrase “think of it” as a little, back-handed slap in the face to that statement by that ruler of the synagogue that there are six days in which folks ought to work, so come and be healed on those days. Why? Because Jesus was saying here that if this guy was saying that there are six days that one ought to work, then shouldn’t this woman have been loosed by now, seeing that she has been in this condition for this long?

And finally, we get to the end of the story in verse 17 – “And when He said these things, all His adversaries were put to shame.”

You know, the devil is called the “adversary” (First Peter 5:8). So, this ruler of the synagogue and all the other hypocrites like him are simply imitating the nature of the wicked one here. Church, it is a perverted thing for those who claim to be children of God to act like children of the devil. Amen?

When He said what things? Well, literally this would have been when Jesus exposed these religious leaders’ hypocrisy by giving the example of how they loosed and watered their animals on the Sabbath, thus violating the very thing they condemned Him for.

But I see a spiritual lesson in this as well:

You see, when we declare what Jesus declared in verse 16 regarding this woman’s right to be loosed from her infirmity because she was a daughter of Abraham, we put our adversary to shame. In other words, when the adversary himself is attempting to criticize us, telling us how we don’t deserve healing because we brought it on ourselves – maybe by not doing some natural things right or by making some mistakes spiritually, then we just rise up and boldly declare that we might have made some mistakes, but because we are of the seed of Abraham, we have a covenant with God and we “ought” to be loosed from our infirmity! Again, not because we deserve it, but because it is our covenant right! Hallelujah!

You see, church, just as we have rights as being U.S. citizens, we have rights as citizens of the kingdom of heaven. Philippians 3:20 tells us – “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Notice that Paul is saying, “our citizenship is in heaven”. He’s not saying that one day off in the future sometime that our citizenship will be in heaven when we are living there. No. He’s saying that our citizenship is in heaven right now! The word “is” literally means “it has its existence”. The Word of God tells us that our citizenship does not begin in heaven when we die and move there. It happens the moment we are born into God’s family, and when we enter God’s family, we become His nationality. The phrase “born again” that Jesus used could be translated “born from
above.” That is why our citizenship is in heaven because we were born from heaven.

You see, the Philippians, whom Paul was writing to, were Roman citizens and were quite proud of it. Paul was explaining to them that when they entered the kingdom of God, they changed citizenships and, as great as the rights they had as Romans were, there is no comparison to the rights and privileges they have as citizens of the kingdom of heaven.

Paul knew this well because he too was a Roman citizen: In Acts 22:25-29 he exercised his rights as a Roman citizen, which is symbolic of our rights as citizens of heaven. Paul and some men went into the temple in Jerusalem where a riot began, and the Jews tried to kill him. After being rescued by soldiers and centurions and making a speech to the Jews, Paul was taken into the barracks to be beaten and questioned. As they bound him Paul said, “Is it lawful for you to scourge a man who is a Roman, and uncondemned?” That applies to us as citizens of heaven too, because when we were born from above, we were made righteous, and now stand “uncondemned.” Romans 8:1 says, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus…” A result of this lack of condemnation is what Paul said about it not being “lawful to scourge him”. The enemy has no right to pronounce any sentence or judgment on us because God has justified us and removed all traces of guilt from us. After Paul told the centurion that, the centurion went and told his commander to “take care what you do, for this man is a Roman.” So the commander came to Paul and asked him if he was a Roman and Paul replied “yes.” So “The commander answered, ‘With a large sum I obtained this citizenship’. And Paul said, “But I was born a citizen.”

You see, a lot of people try to buy their way into the kingdom of God and its privileges, but inheritances only come one way, and that’s to be born into it. Verse 29 then says, “Then (when Paul said that) immediately those who were about to examine him withdrew from him; and the commander was also afraid after he found out that he was a Roman, and because they had bound
him.” That’s the way the devil will react when you say that you are born of God and declare your rights as the righteousness of God. He knows that he has no right to bind you, but he wants to know if you realize it.

Saints, our citizenship is in heaven, but we are currently living here. We must learn to work down here while we’re living up there. And that’s the reason we have been left here; to see His kingdom come and grow. Amen!

So in Christ Jesus, we are today the seed of Abraham. We ought to be loosed from our infirmities. These spirits that try to bind us and keep us tied up don’t have any right to do so. We are free indeed!

So enforce your rights today! You gotta fight for your rights – for what? For freedom!

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How to Be Made Whole - Part 11: Get Out of Town!

How to Be Made Whole - Part 10: Making Room for the Healer

How to Be Made Whole - Part 9: The Seed of Abraham

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