Read Matthew 11:28-30 & 12:20.

The Gospel message is a healing message, for the humble, the broken, the hurting - healing the broken relationship between people and God, so that they might experience His forgiveness and love. ‘By His wounds we are healed’.
Salvation is more than just eternity with God when you die, it’s salvation from sin, death, satan, and more. It’s salvation to life, peace, hope, love, joy, healing, and so on.
The Kingdom of God is about God’s ruler-ship, His rule in a person’s life or in a situation. Healing demonstrates that rule, God’s power and authority.

When approaching this subject it’s vital that we’re Biblical – and in a balanced way, not just taking one or two scriptures out of the context of the whole and building a doctrine around them. Anyone who starts talking in absolutes like : ‘God always heals’, or ‘a lack of healing is always because of a lack of faith’, isn’t in touch with reality and doesn’t know their Bible, or chooses to ignore some parts.

God does heal. Healing is actually the norm Biblically, when we pray and ask God to heal. It’s something in the Western world that we need to lay hold of in faith.

But remember the practice of healing should be ‘healing’…..right, ….not harming.

Healing is a sign of God’s Kingdom, His authority and rule, and if it has something to do with authority, then it raises the question for those who would ask for it, are we submitted to Him ?
Are we putting ourselves under God’s authority…..or do we just want to be healed so that we can get on with our lives.
It’s not just about submitting our illness to God, He wants our whole being. So if God wants you ill, you are content that His grace is sufficient for you.

Principles of healing :
Righteousness and sin.
Faith.
The Father’s will and work.
Humility and God’s glory.

What about when God doesn’t heal – yes, no, wait, not like that. (e.g. Mud in the eyes and washing).
God’s priorities – He sees everything. (e.g. Paralytic and his friends).

In this nation we seem to have an obsession with the physical, and absence of pain.
Healing, it is not always what God’s will is at a particular time.

Think of what Jesus went through….and yes through His stripes we are healed…..but we are also called to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Him.

We are to share in Christ’s sufferings.

Read Philippians 2:25-30 & 3:10. 2 Corinthians 12:7-10.

Healing in Bible is usually in context of outreach/evangelism – a sign of God’s Kingdom power and ruler-ship. A confirmation of His Word and the Gospel message.

Wholeness. A majority of physical illness doctors now acknowledge, has a psychological, emotional, or spiritual element.
Jesus sometimes healed straight off, sometimes He talked or instructed, sometimes He delivered from evil spirits.
This is important – There are no formulas - There is no one reason why someone is ill, and no one way to heal them. We have to listen to God and do what we see the Father doing.

God is concerned for our wholeness, completeness – unhindered by sin and stuff.
Free in God. At peace with Him and with others.
You will find that you are a lot healthier, if you harbour no sin in your heart – envy, jealousy, bitterness, lust, greed, and has the potential to make us ill, especially if you’re someone who doesn’t express you emotions outwardly. Not convinced ? Listen to the Word.

‘Because of your wrath there is no health in my body; my bones have no soundness because of my sin. My guilt has overwhelmed me like a burden to heavy to bear’
– Psalm 38:3,4.

‘A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones’ – Proverbs 14:30.

‘Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil. This will bring health to your body, and nourishment to your bones’ – Proverbs 3:7,8.

‘A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones’
– Proverbs 17:22.

There is no doubt whatsoever, that your spiritual, psychological, and emotional state, affect your physical health. Get yourself right spiritually before God, that’s His priority….and physical healing often follows.

Conversion – so much would be dealt with if people were soundly converted. Acknowledgement of sin, repentance, forgiveness.

Hanging on or letting go. Staying in prison or choosing to go free.
If you’re a true committed Christian, you are free, a child of God, saved, forgiven, redeemed. God has done it all for you. But you have to receive these gifts from God by faith.
You then, have the power to choose whether to live in that truth or not.
If you’re not a true, committed Christian yet, you may well be trapped by sin, by others, by circumstances, and have no power at all over it. I was. You may feel lost and helpless, but there is an answer…..Jesus. Jesus has the power and will set you free, if you want Him to.

Forgiveness – little it seems is more important in living a free and fruitful life in Christ, and it is the area many struggle with. To believe that you’re forgiven yourself, or more often, to forgive others who have hurt or abused us. But your very salvation is at stake. If you do not forgive others their sins, God will not forgive your sins – Matthew 6:15.

Transformation – God wants to change you, not into a different person so that you lose your identity, but into all that you were intended to be, to reach your full potential, to become in your character like Jesus. But you have to be willing to change. If you don’t want it, God won’t do it. We have to recognise that we need to change, and then be willing to cooperate with God as He does it.

So often not healed because we’re not where God wants us to be, emotionally or spiritually.
Jesus’ likeness in you – holiness, faith, love – these are God’s priorities. ‘Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness’. ‘Fix your eyes on Jesus’.
If healing brings about Christ likeness, holiness, faith, love - so be it. If suffering and sickness, or persecution, bring it about, so be it. We need the humility to say ‘Lord, your will be done’, and to mean it.

We need to make sure that whatever experience of God we may have had in the past, whatever prayers we have prayed……have we been honest before God about our sin ?
Do you believe without a doubt, that without Jesus, you deserve to go into the lake of fire at judgement day ? If not, you haven’t faced your sin and your sinfulness honestly before God.
God is a holy and righteous and just God. The wages of sin is death. Any sin, all sin…..and Jesus has paid the penalty for you, He has died in your place….so that you might be forgiven and your sin washed away.

Is that what you believe ? Without any ifs or buts ? Without trying to justify yourself, ….without saying that some sins are just too serious for Him to forgive ?
Jesus died for your sin, so that you might be free.

Let go of your sin. Let go of bitterness towards others. Forgive.
Receive the Holy Spirit. Let Him minister to you now.

Read Ephesians 5:15-18 & Colossians 4:2-6.

Are you ‘seizing the day’ ? Forcefully laying hold of the Kingdom of God ? Making the most of every opportunity ?
- To love others, to share the Gospel, to grow in your faith and holiness.
Are you positively moving forward in the purposes of God ?
Now is the time. This is what God wants from us as a church, as we approach this coming year.

There will be outreach opportunities, both for you as an individual, and corporately. The rest is up to you, your willingness to obey God and step our of your comfort zone.

This is life out of the box.

Sometimes we put God, or put ourselves in a box – we put restriction on what God can do through us.

We use words like : Can’t. Never. Won’t. No. Not me. Not now.
But when we see God as infinitely bigger and greater, when we see that all things are possible with Him to those who believe……the words become : Can. Anything. Here I am. Yes Lord. Your will be done. Send me.

Which we tend to use will depend on the state of our hearts and minds. Are they fixed on the Lord or ourselves ? Do we see God as limited in any way ? Do we see ourselves through His eyes ? Do we believe His word and trust Him ?

Living inside the box is boring, living outside the box is exciting, an adventure because you never know what God is going to do next. Look at Jesus ministry years, look at Acts and the early church.
Think about Gideon, ordinary bloke who God uses to defeat a huge army. Through strength and power, no ! A small group holding torches and smashing jars.
Think about Joshua and Jericho, a city with vast walls. Did God give Joshua huge ballistas and siege towers. No ! They marched round the city for seven days, in faith, that God knew what He was doing.
Think about David, defeating the giant Goliath with a sling stone, because He trusted in God.

And don’t you think, ‘ah yes but they were different from us’. The culture and times in which they lived were different….but they were ordinary human beings like us, Gideon and David both considered the least in their families…ordinary people who said yes to God and stepped out in faith.

God does things we can expect from Him, but He does them in unexpected ways and in His timing. All we have to do is co-operate and trust Him.
God will make you more like Jesus in your character and produce the fruit of the Spirit in you….because He’s said He will…..but He may do it through suffering and hard times.
How can you develop patience if every problem is solved immediately ?
How can you develop love if everyone you know is easy to love ?
How can you develop self control without temptation ?
How can you develop faith without it being stretched and tested ?

If God had said to Gideon, here’s a million well armed and well trained troops, now go out against the enemy….there would be no faith or trust in God involved.
If God had given Joshua sophisticated siege weapons, where would faith be ?
If God had made David bigger than Goliath, what would He have been trusting in ? His own strength.

It’s not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit says the Lord – Zechariah 4:6.
Unless the Lord builds the house, it’s builders labour in vain – Psalm 127:1.
What is impossible with men, is possible for God – Luke 18:27.

Some people seem to think that means we sit back and do nothing. Did Gideon, Joshua, and David ? No, they acted as God directed them !

What it means is that we listen to God, …..we do what God tells us, …..and we do it trusting in God and His resources, and not in ourselves and our resources.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding – Proverbs 3:5.
Blessed are those who hear the word of God and obey it – Luke 11;28.

God will do expected things, things which are consistent with His character and what He has said in His word. We can believe the Bible.
For example, God will heal, deliver from evil spirits, do miracles…..but how, when, and where, are things that He determines.
He will do it through us, His people, but only as we listen, trust and obey Him.

The same Holy Spirit of God is given to us, as anointed the men and women of God in the Old Testament, the same resources are available to us. The same Holy Spirit who filled Jesus and the disciples, enabling miracles, healing, and conversions to take place. The same power which raised Jesus from the dead, is at work in those who believe – Ephesians 1:19.
Belief not just as head knowledge but a trusting from the heart, a trust in God which acts, faith with deeds to match.

It’s the Holy Spirit who’s power does the healing and miracles, but we still have to speak the word trusting in God. It’s the Holy Spirit who convicts a person of sin, righteousness, and judgement, it’s the Holy Spirit who give new life and make someone born again, but we still have to speak the word and proclaim the good news of the Gospel. It’s a relationship, a partnership. As we’re obedient to Him, He moves in power.
And He even gives us the wisdom, love, and courage we need to do it, if we ask Him, such is His grace.

Read Luke 11:9-13.

We need to be listening to God, and therefore close to Him – seeking Him in prayer and His word.
We need to be obedient to God and step out in faith, sometimes to do unusual things outside of what we are comfortable with. New things.
And we need the Holy Spirit, without whom our efforts are pointless.

As we all know the beginning of a new year is a time to look back and remember, ideally with thanksgiving for what God has done….and for looking forward with hope to the future. It’s also a time to take stock.

“Search me O God and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” Psalm 139:23,24.

Last week God challenged us to remove any rubble that’s getting in the way of what God wants to build in us and through us. Have you done, or are you doing that ?
Is there anything that you’re still holding onto ? Let it go.

For the sake of the Kingdom, we can’t afford to be always introspective.
God expects repentance.
He expects to be Lord of your life, once you have declared Him to be that.
If you chose to follow Jesus it is a total commitment, all of who you are, for life.
Because you recognise that He is the God who made you and gave you life. He is the God who saved you through His suffering and death on the cross. You owe Him everything.

I don’t want anyone to miss out on what God is going to do. I want to see everyone in this church reach their full potential in Christ and become the best that we can be.
Evangelism and outreach, combined with prayer, is probably the best way to do that.
Some of my greatest times of growth have been doing evangelism….because you have to trust God,…..you have to overcome fear…..any sin in your life will become glaringly obvious and get in the way….especially any disunity or bad feeling towards others.
With evangelism and earnest prayer, we come closer to the heartbeat of God and what’s important to Him, ……and it changes us, it refines us.

There are many paradox’s in the Christian life. We die to self in order to live and so on.
One of those paradox’s is that although God is interested in every detail of our life because He loves us…..He doesn’t want us to be focussed on those things…..He’ll take care of us, we don’t need to worry. What He wants us to focus on is things unseen, things of eternal importance, Jesus, the Kingdom of God, His righteousness…..where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
“The world and it’s desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives for ever” – 1 John 2:17.
“Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness” – Matthew 6:33.

So what’s important to you ? Is it the things of God ? His Kingdom, His rulership ?

Three things God looks for in us, that are vital in our Christian walk :

Holiness – ‘Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no-one will see the Lord’ – Hebrews 12:14.

Love – ‘Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love’ – 1 John 4:8.

Faith – ‘Without faith it is impossible to please God’ – Hebrews 11:6.

These all mean obedience, and sacrifice.
Following Jesus will mean persecution and suffering…..just look at Paul’s life. But it also means love, joy, and peace in our hearts…even in the midst of suffering. God gives us all we need, every spiritual blessing in Christ.
The Christian norm, Biblically, is a life that is outwardly challenging, but inwardly at peace.
Have you got it that way round ?
So often though in the developed world, we seem to be trying to achieve the opposite – to make our lives as outwardly materialistic, comfortable, and pain free as possible, whilst getting totally stressed out internally, in the process.
Get God’s perspective, God’s priorities, God’s passion.

God’s desire for you, is of course to make you more like Jesus, by His Spirit’s work within you, but sometimes it’s good to think a little more specifically - He wants to develop, holiness, love, and faith. That’s what He will build in you as you repent, and He clears the rubble out of the way.
These are the things to co-operate with God in developing and growing, especially as we seek to reach out with the Gospel.

God wants people to come together under Him – it’s a gathering.
Non to perish but all to come to repentance and a knowledge of the truth.

This year we believe is to be a year of prayer and evangelism – to looking up and out. That will involve everyone who loves the Lord. It may be a bit scarey, certainly challenging, definitely life-changing, also hopefully rewarding. And we’re moving in this together – praying for, loving, forgiving, encouraging, and supporting each other. Unity is vital in evangelism. So lots of grace needed !

We’re going to start the year using a tool, a course called ‘The Way of the Master’ – to help us focus, grow in confidence, and do it.