WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.000 So, in our evening worship, over the last number of weeks, we've been looking at the gifts of the Spirit. 00:00:06.000 --> 00:00:14.000 And last week we looked at tongue speaking, and this week we're looking at miracles and healing. 00:00:14.000 --> 00:00:22.000 So, I want to read a couple of verses from the passage that Esther read, and then also one or two other verses, just by way of introduction. 00:00:22.000 --> 00:00:38.000 Hebrews chapter 2, and we read from verse 1 to 9, and I just want to read verse 4, which is putting into context part of what we'll be looking at. 00:00:38.000 --> 00:00:45.000 Speaking about the salvation that is declared by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, 00:00:45.000 --> 00:00:50.000 while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit, 00:00:50.000 --> 00:00:56.000 distributed according to His will, important verse for us. 00:00:56.000 --> 00:01:05.000 But also, can you turn to, we just read an account of some of these miracles in Acts chapter 19, 00:01:05.000 --> 00:01:12.000 and it's just a few verses from Acts chapter 19 from verse 8 to verse 12. 00:01:12.000 --> 00:01:18.000 And He entered the synagogue, and this is Paul in Ephesus, and for three months He spoke boldly, 00:01:18.000 --> 00:01:22.000 reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God. 00:01:22.000 --> 00:01:27.000 But when some became stubborn and continued in unbelief, speaking evil of the way before the congregation, 00:01:27.000 --> 00:01:34.000 He withdrew from them and took the disciples with Him, reasoning daily in the hall of Tirenes. 00:01:34.000 --> 00:01:41.000 This continued for two years, so that all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks. 00:01:41.000 --> 00:01:49.000 And God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hand of Paul, so that even the handkerchiefs or aprons 00:01:49.000 --> 00:01:58.000 that had touched His skin were carried away to the sick, and their diseases left them, and the evil spirits came out of them. 00:01:58.000 --> 00:02:06.000 And then the passage in 1 Corinthians that we've been using, much of the time as our base passage, 00:02:06.000 --> 00:02:11.000 in 1 Corinthians chapter 12, which speaks about spiritual gifts in verse 10, it says, 00:02:11.000 --> 00:02:16.000 to another faith by the same spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one spirit, 00:02:16.000 --> 00:02:22.000 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, 00:02:22.000 --> 00:02:27.000 to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues and so on. 00:02:27.000 --> 00:02:30.000 And then again in verse 28, it says, 00:02:30.000 --> 00:02:36.000 appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administering, 00:02:36.000 --> 00:02:41.000 and various kinds of tongues, our all apostles, and so on. 00:02:41.000 --> 00:02:45.000 That passage that we've looked at several times. 00:02:45.000 --> 00:02:53.000 Like today, a slightly different tack this evening, and I say that at the beginning probably because I also need to apologize 00:02:53.000 --> 00:02:58.000 because I think my sermon is all mixed up tonight, so I'm really sorry about that, 00:02:58.000 --> 00:03:06.000 not because I don't, well, I maybe don't know what I'm speaking about, but just because of the way this week panned out, 00:03:06.000 --> 00:03:12.000 I don't feel as ordered as I normally do, so I feel very vulnerable up at the front this evening. 00:03:12.000 --> 00:03:19.000 So I am taking a slightly different tack, so a huge area obviously, and again probably one where there's more of a divergence 00:03:19.000 --> 00:03:25.000 between us and our charismatic brothers and sisters in terms of their theology, generally speaking, 00:03:25.000 --> 00:03:33.000 and obviously in any of these discussions, I can only be making generalities about what I say. 00:03:33.000 --> 00:03:40.000 I would argue that many of the principles that I mentioned last week in the sermon about tongue speaking would hold true today, 00:03:40.000 --> 00:03:46.000 and if you wish to follow up on that, then the sermon's online. 00:03:46.000 --> 00:03:50.000 But this evening we are looking at the gifts of miracles and healing. 00:03:50.000 --> 00:03:56.000 And we recognize that the church in the New Testament, particularly the historic message, 00:03:56.000 --> 00:04:05.000 or the historic references that are given to the church, of the church in Acts, particularly, 00:04:05.000 --> 00:04:16.000 are so amazing and so encouraging, the church in Acts, this prototypical early birth of the church in Acts 00:04:16.000 --> 00:04:24.000 is remarkable as it's recorded for us. And it's absolutely clear and undeniable, and we would never want to deny it in any way, 00:04:24.000 --> 00:04:34.000 that there were amazing, miraculous gifts that accompanied the Word of God in the church as it's recorded for us in Acts. 00:04:34.000 --> 00:04:40.000 And we rejoice in that. We rejoice in the accounts. We rejoice because it's the same church that we are part of, 00:04:40.000 --> 00:04:46.000 the New Testament church, the New Covenant church is the Covenant church that we belong to and recognize. 00:04:46.000 --> 00:04:53.000 And that in these times there was remarkable and amazing miracles and healings recorded, 00:04:53.000 --> 00:05:03.000 and they're recorded for our encouragement and for our praise, to praise the God who allowed these miracles and these healings to happen, 00:05:03.000 --> 00:05:11.000 and to mark the authentication of the message of good news as it went out with the apostles. 00:05:11.000 --> 00:05:20.000 And these were outrageous miracles and healings that we see recorded in the New Testament, raising the dead, 00:05:20.000 --> 00:05:31.000 healing people's blindness, making people blind, aprons that had been touched by Paul's skin and taken to the sick, 00:05:31.000 --> 00:05:41.000 and they touched them and they were made whole. Remarkable healings and remarkable miracles that are on a different level to anything, 00:05:41.000 --> 00:05:52.000 really, that we are aware of today. And they're very similar in many ways to the miracles that Jesus Himself gave 00:05:52.000 --> 00:06:03.000 when He was ministering for the three years in His public ministry to testify to who He was, to seal the fact that He was the Son of God, 00:06:03.000 --> 00:06:12.000 and to be a sign to them of who He was. It says that in the... doesn't it after the first miracle He created 00:06:12.000 --> 00:06:23.000 when He turned the water into wine in that remarkable miracle which was a huge and dramatic miracle, 00:06:23.000 --> 00:06:34.000 it was to be a sign to the disciples that He was who He said He was, turning water into wine, walking on water, 00:06:34.000 --> 00:06:45.000 stilling the water, healing the dead, raising the dead, healing the sick. Many remarkable and outstanding miracles that we believe 00:06:45.000 --> 00:06:52.000 in their historicity and the significance and the importance and the centrality of them. 00:06:52.000 --> 00:07:03.000 And we recognize that whatever the interpretation is that is given to them today from different theological strands, 00:07:03.000 --> 00:07:10.000 we recognize that they are undeniably linked to the foundational ministry of the apostles. 00:07:10.000 --> 00:07:20.000 We read that and we'll read that again later. They were really significant gifts of healings and miracles that were appropriate 00:07:20.000 --> 00:07:34.000 to the time that they were given, appropriate to sealing and testifying to the centrality and the genuine uniqueness and supernatural message 00:07:34.000 --> 00:07:41.000 of the gospel that was going to change, was going to turn the world upside down. 00:07:41.000 --> 00:07:47.000 And that's the gospel that we believe in and that we share today. 00:07:47.000 --> 00:07:52.000 Now we remember and also recognize the gifts, all the gifts of the Holy Spirit that we've been looking at. 00:07:52.000 --> 00:07:57.000 They are all fused into and related to and surrounded by the truth. 00:07:57.000 --> 00:08:06.000 They're all related to the truth of God's Word as it's revealed, whether it's an outworking of Jesus' love and Jesus' grace, 00:08:06.000 --> 00:08:12.000 whether it's focusing on the Word and on the teaching and revelation of His truth, 00:08:12.000 --> 00:08:16.000 which we now have in its completed form in the Bible. 00:08:16.000 --> 00:08:21.000 They're all given for the common good, these gifts, that we can serve one another with them. 00:08:21.000 --> 00:08:28.000 We glorify God with them, that we are using them to equip the saints and to bring us all to maturity. 00:08:28.000 --> 00:08:35.000 So the spiritual gifts that you are given and the spiritual gifts that you have are to be used for the common good, 00:08:35.000 --> 00:08:39.000 to be used for the blessing and benefit of the church of Christ. 00:08:39.000 --> 00:08:46.000 We're all given the gift of the Holy Spirit as believers, every one of us, and we all have other gifts 00:08:46.000 --> 00:08:50.000 from the Holy Spirit that we are to use for His glory. 00:08:50.000 --> 00:08:53.000 And there's diversity in these gifts, we've seen that. 00:08:53.000 --> 00:08:56.000 And we'll repeat some of these things. 00:08:56.000 --> 00:09:00.000 And God is sovereign in His distribution of these gifts. 00:09:00.000 --> 00:09:05.000 We recognize that from the passage we read and from many other passages. 00:09:05.000 --> 00:09:09.000 So can I go back briefly to the gifts of healing and miracles? 00:09:09.000 --> 00:09:15.000 We recognize, as I said, that in Acts they were outstandingly powerful miracles. 00:09:15.000 --> 00:09:20.000 Even then they were rare and out of the ordinary. 00:09:20.000 --> 00:09:26.000 And they were clearly given at that point, and it's spoken of in Scripture, 00:09:26.000 --> 00:09:32.000 to authenticate the verbal message of the gospel of the apostles, 00:09:32.000 --> 00:09:35.000 the foundation that was being laid by the apostles and the prophets, 00:09:35.000 --> 00:09:42.000 was authenticated and testified to by these amazing miracles that were happening, 00:09:42.000 --> 00:09:45.000 that were primarily foundational. 00:09:45.000 --> 00:09:52.000 We read that in Hebrews in the passage that we read together in Hebrews chapter 2. 00:09:52.000 --> 00:10:01.000 God bore witness to this great salvation by signs and wonders and various miracles. 00:10:01.000 --> 00:10:05.000 And by gifts of the Holy Spirit, they were there as a witness to what was happening. 00:10:05.000 --> 00:10:07.000 And we still have that. 00:10:07.000 --> 00:10:10.000 And that's so significant for us that when we think about the gospel, 00:10:10.000 --> 00:10:17.000 we also have the testimony of these great miracles that remind us of the authenticity of what was being said. 00:10:17.000 --> 00:10:21.000 So we have that in Hebrews chapter 2 where we read. 00:10:21.000 --> 00:10:26.000 We also have it in Romans chapter 15 where he goes on to say, 00:10:26.000 --> 00:10:30.000 when Paul is speaking about his own gospel and his own ministry, 00:10:30.000 --> 00:10:31.000 he said that, 00:10:31.000 --> 00:10:35.000 I will venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me 00:10:35.000 --> 00:10:38.000 by bringing the Gentiles to obedience, by word indeed, 00:10:38.000 --> 00:10:42.000 by the power of signs and miracles, by the power of the Spirit of God, 00:10:42.000 --> 00:10:45.000 so that from Jerusalem all the way around to Ilaricum, 00:10:45.000 --> 00:10:47.000 I have fulfilled the ministry of the gospel of Christ. 00:10:47.000 --> 00:10:53.000 And he had that great ministry that was testified to by these signs and miracles, 00:10:53.000 --> 00:10:56.000 which he also speaks about in 2 Corinthians. 00:10:56.000 --> 00:11:00.000 The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with utmost patience, 00:11:00.000 --> 00:11:04.000 with signs and wonders and mighty works. 00:11:04.000 --> 00:11:09.000 So we recognize that before the Scriptures were completed, 00:11:09.000 --> 00:11:16.000 these particular and amazing and remarkable gifts of verification and testifying 00:11:16.000 --> 00:11:25.000 were given to partner the ministry of the apostles, primarily. 00:11:25.000 --> 00:11:34.000 But we also recognize then and now that these gifts could be counterfeited. 00:11:34.000 --> 00:11:39.000 For false Christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders 00:11:39.000 --> 00:11:43.000 so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. 00:11:43.000 --> 00:11:49.000 So there's a remarkable statement there that signs and wonders can be done, 00:11:49.000 --> 00:11:53.000 remarkable miracles and remarkable healings can be done, 00:11:53.000 --> 00:11:59.000 but they can be done with a supernatural power that does not belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:11:59.000 --> 00:12:07.000 We recognize that, that the New Testament clearly teaches a world of light and a world of darkness. 00:12:07.000 --> 00:12:14.000 And a world of darkness that sometimes reveals itself as an angel of light. 00:12:14.000 --> 00:12:18.000 And so there's always a need for us to be discerning 00:12:18.000 --> 00:12:24.000 and to seek verification of anything that we might regard as supernatural 00:12:24.000 --> 00:12:29.000 in the remarkable evidence that they might present. 00:12:29.000 --> 00:12:39.000 I think today, possibly, there is just too little objective verification and discernment 00:12:39.000 --> 00:12:42.000 within the current signs and wonders movement. 00:12:42.000 --> 00:12:48.000 And often it can be, not exclusively of course, 00:12:48.000 --> 00:12:56.000 but often it can be linked to a prosperity gospel that does tend toward sensationalism 00:12:56.000 --> 00:13:02.000 and materialism that is not of the essence of the gospel. 00:13:02.000 --> 00:13:09.000 Test the spirits we are asked to do and recognize and seek God's guidance and these things. 00:13:09.000 --> 00:13:14.000 Primarily, and the focus is seeing these things, 00:13:14.000 --> 00:13:20.000 authenticating the New Testament message of the gospel. 00:13:20.000 --> 00:13:24.000 So I ask the question, are there miracles and healings today? 00:13:24.000 --> 00:13:32.000 And this is where it's all a bit higgled to big, I've just put various points in and they're not in a great order, 00:13:32.000 --> 00:13:34.000 so please forgive me for that. 00:13:34.000 --> 00:13:38.000 I would say absolutely, of course, of course there's miracles and healings today. 00:13:38.000 --> 00:13:42.000 I want to nuance that and I want to put some caveats within that 00:13:42.000 --> 00:13:50.000 and hopefully explain where we come from in our understanding. 00:13:50.000 --> 00:13:54.000 There is miracles, there are miracles and there is healing. 00:13:54.000 --> 00:14:03.000 We recognize that in the supernatural faith that we believe in and in the Christ that we trust in. 00:14:03.000 --> 00:14:11.000 But we do have to be aware and I'm going to explain some things, what I've said here, some caveats. 00:14:11.000 --> 00:14:18.000 The pursuit of signs and miracles as a central pillar of faith, 00:14:18.000 --> 00:14:21.000 these so-called supernatural gifts of the Spirit, 00:14:21.000 --> 00:14:27.000 can be very dangerous because it can become a distraction from the power and centrality of God's Word, 00:14:27.000 --> 00:14:30.000 which is given to us, the sufficiency of Scripture, 00:14:30.000 --> 00:14:33.000 the completed canon of Scripture where God reveals Himself to us 00:14:33.000 --> 00:14:37.000 and as all that we need for our life and for our faith and for our witness, 00:14:37.000 --> 00:14:44.000 as it is the sealed and signed and delivered message of God's Word, the centrality of God's Word. 00:14:44.000 --> 00:14:46.000 Why do I say that? 00:14:46.000 --> 00:14:54.000 Well, because there's always a danger of thinking that signs and miracles are what people need to believe. 00:14:54.000 --> 00:15:00.000 But the Bible says that evidence is not the problem of people. 00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:03.000 It's not they need more evidence, more signs and more miracles. 00:15:03.000 --> 00:15:05.000 It is unbelief that's the problem. 00:15:05.000 --> 00:15:08.000 In other words, it's a spiritual problem people had. 00:15:08.000 --> 00:15:10.000 Remember the Pharisees? 00:15:10.000 --> 00:15:15.000 The Pharisees were aware of and they saw Jesus raising people from the dead. 00:15:15.000 --> 00:15:18.000 The Pharisees saw the miracles of healing. 00:15:18.000 --> 00:15:22.000 They didn't deny the miracles but they were not willing to believe. 00:15:22.000 --> 00:15:26.000 It wasn't the miracles that were significant. 00:15:26.000 --> 00:15:29.000 It was their hard heart of unbelief. 00:15:29.000 --> 00:15:34.000 As it was, I think I mentioned this last week, the parable of the rich man in Lazarus, 00:15:34.000 --> 00:15:36.000 where the rich man is in hell and he says, 00:15:36.000 --> 00:15:38.000 please send Lazarus back to my brothers, 00:15:38.000 --> 00:15:42.000 because if they know of someone raised from the dead, then they will believe. 00:15:42.000 --> 00:15:48.000 God says to them, if they do not believe the Word of the Moses and the prophets, they will not turn. 00:15:48.000 --> 00:15:52.000 Now we have that message and we have that good news 00:15:52.000 --> 00:15:57.000 and that is the significant and hugely important reality that we are to share with others. 00:15:57.000 --> 00:16:00.000 People need, what do your friends and my friends need? 00:16:00.000 --> 00:16:04.000 Do they need signs and miracles and healings? 00:16:04.000 --> 00:16:09.000 Primarily no, they need the miracle of a new birth if they're not Christians. 00:16:09.000 --> 00:16:11.000 They need a new heart. 00:16:11.000 --> 00:16:13.000 They need a new understanding. 00:16:13.000 --> 00:16:15.000 They need to be born anew. 00:16:15.000 --> 00:16:17.000 They need to have their eyes opened by God. 00:16:17.000 --> 00:16:19.000 And only God can do that. 00:16:19.000 --> 00:16:24.000 That's God's great work, because it is the heart that needs changed. 00:16:24.000 --> 00:16:26.000 What's our role in that? 00:16:26.000 --> 00:16:31.000 Our role is prayer, pleading, as we do our 70s of prayer, is holy living, 00:16:31.000 --> 00:16:36.000 so that we're an example to people and it's testifying to Jesus, 00:16:36.000 --> 00:16:40.000 pointing people to His Word, telling them this great good news 00:16:40.000 --> 00:16:48.000 and we leave God to do the impossible work of new birth in our lives. 00:16:48.000 --> 00:16:54.000 So the temptation might be that we're not content with the breath of God, 00:16:54.000 --> 00:16:56.000 because that's what the Bible is. 00:16:56.000 --> 00:16:58.000 The Bible is the breath of God. 00:16:58.000 --> 00:17:01.000 It's the living Word of God. 00:17:01.000 --> 00:17:03.000 It's His living Word. 00:17:03.000 --> 00:17:05.000 He's breathed His life into it. 00:17:05.000 --> 00:17:12.000 A dry, dull history, simple history of the Christian church or of God's working. 00:17:12.000 --> 00:17:19.000 It is His living Word which He breathes life into and His Holy Spirit speaks to us through it. 00:17:19.000 --> 00:17:21.000 That's where our weakness is. 00:17:21.000 --> 00:17:26.000 That's where our folly is as believers, is that we underestimate the Word. 00:17:26.000 --> 00:17:28.000 We underestimate its power. 00:17:28.000 --> 00:17:31.000 We think it's powerless and weak and insignificant, 00:17:31.000 --> 00:17:35.000 but it is the living Word of God, the breath of God. 00:17:35.000 --> 00:17:42.000 We must testify to the supernatural effectiveness of the Bible. 00:17:42.000 --> 00:17:48.000 It's unsearchably rich and powerful and beautiful and insightful and life-changing. 00:17:48.000 --> 00:17:54.000 So we recognize and see how important that is. 00:17:54.000 --> 00:18:00.000 But we recognize and know that miracles and healing still happen through prayer, 00:18:00.000 --> 00:18:02.000 through the answer to prayer, all the time. 00:18:02.000 --> 00:18:04.000 All the time these things happen. 00:18:04.000 --> 00:18:07.000 And we mustn't and shouldn't and never try to deny that. 00:18:07.000 --> 00:18:09.000 In any shape or form. 00:18:09.000 --> 00:18:14.000 Miracles that we see, miracles that we don't see, people who come to Christ. 00:18:14.000 --> 00:18:17.000 That's a great miracle, the greatest miracle of all. 00:18:17.000 --> 00:18:21.000 Healings that are clearly an answer to prayer and out of the ordinary. 00:18:21.000 --> 00:18:23.000 We have experienced it in our own family. 00:18:23.000 --> 00:18:29.000 You've experienced it in your own lives where God answers prayer and heals people and does miracles. 00:18:29.000 --> 00:18:32.000 Absolutely, of course. 00:18:32.000 --> 00:18:41.000 Now I don't think, I think that's different from having a specific Holy Spirit gift to heal or do miracles. 00:18:41.000 --> 00:18:45.000 But nonetheless, we recognize that and that is very important. 00:18:45.000 --> 00:18:49.000 And also we recognize, and again this is slightly different from healing, 00:18:49.000 --> 00:18:51.000 from the gift of the Holy Spirit. 00:18:51.000 --> 00:18:56.000 But God does give gifts of healing in a medical context to Christians. 00:18:56.000 --> 00:18:59.000 I don't think it's a miraculous gifting at that level. 00:18:59.000 --> 00:19:02.000 But it's a gifting that can be used to God's glory. 00:19:02.000 --> 00:19:09.000 And it's a vital ministry where people in medical professions have great gifts of healing. 00:19:09.000 --> 00:19:14.000 And they can use that to the glory of God, whether at home, in hospitals here, 00:19:14.000 --> 00:19:18.000 or on medical mission work, or whatever context. 00:19:18.000 --> 00:19:24.000 We also see, and these are some of my caveats and nuances, 00:19:24.000 --> 00:19:28.000 that spiritual healing is, and I mentioned this briefly, 00:19:28.000 --> 00:19:37.000 spiritual healing is miraculous and is far greater than anything physical 00:19:37.000 --> 00:19:39.000 in terms of physical healing. 00:19:39.000 --> 00:19:43.000 And we know it happens at every conversion that there is new life. 00:19:43.000 --> 00:19:52.000 But sanctification, which is what we must recognize as our calling and discipleship as believers, 00:19:52.000 --> 00:19:56.000 is the healing work of the Holy Spirit. 00:19:56.000 --> 00:19:58.000 Powerful healing. 00:19:58.000 --> 00:20:04.000 If you don't think as a Christian, and if I don't think that we are constantly in need for the power 00:20:04.000 --> 00:20:08.000 and healing of the Lord Jesus Christ in an ongoing way in our lives, 00:20:08.000 --> 00:20:10.000 and I think we've misunderstood the gospel, 00:20:10.000 --> 00:20:17.000 that is where we focus our energies and partnership in the Holy Spirit. 00:20:17.000 --> 00:20:24.000 A deeper healing in our hearts, spiritual health, both for ourselves and others, 00:20:24.000 --> 00:20:27.000 that is a great challenge. 00:20:27.000 --> 00:20:32.000 You know, we can have physical healing, and God can give physical healing, 00:20:32.000 --> 00:20:38.000 but that doesn't necessarily bring spiritual healing to our hearts. 00:20:38.000 --> 00:20:45.000 We hope it would point people towards the one who does a much greater work of spiritual healing. 00:20:45.000 --> 00:20:53.000 And as a further caveat here, we mustn't and can't deny the theology of suffering. 00:20:53.000 --> 00:20:55.000 Jesus said, 00:20:55.000 --> 00:21:02.000 If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. 00:21:02.000 --> 00:21:04.000 Count it all joy, James says. 00:21:04.000 --> 00:21:06.000 My brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 00:21:06.000 --> 00:21:10.000 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness, 00:21:10.000 --> 00:21:15.000 steadfastness, how it's full effect, that may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing, 00:21:15.000 --> 00:21:21.000 because there's this huge and significant reality of spiritual suffering 00:21:21.000 --> 00:21:30.000 that sometimes an emphasis on miracles and healing would deny. 00:21:30.000 --> 00:21:33.000 I'm not saying that that is always the case far from it. 00:21:33.000 --> 00:21:38.000 But we are in a spiritual battle, we are in a struggle, 00:21:38.000 --> 00:21:40.000 we are children of the Lord Jesus Christ, 00:21:40.000 --> 00:21:43.000 we are followers of the one who has taken up his cross, 00:21:43.000 --> 00:21:45.000 and we also take up our cross. 00:21:45.000 --> 00:21:51.000 We are to mortify and to root out sin in our lives, 00:21:51.000 --> 00:21:54.000 and that is part of what we are, 00:21:54.000 --> 00:21:59.000 and that spiritual reality involves, of course, as I said, spiritual healing. 00:21:59.000 --> 00:22:01.000 There is a future. 00:22:01.000 --> 00:22:06.000 There is a future without tears. 00:22:06.000 --> 00:22:08.000 But it's not yet. 00:22:08.000 --> 00:22:10.000 There is a future. 00:22:10.000 --> 00:22:16.000 There will be a day where God and Christ will wipe away every tear. 00:22:16.000 --> 00:22:18.000 But we do lose friends. 00:22:18.000 --> 00:22:20.000 We lose husbands. 00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:22.000 We lose wives and children. 00:22:22.000 --> 00:22:24.000 We do suffer from cancer. 00:22:24.000 --> 00:22:26.000 We bear pain. 00:22:26.000 --> 00:22:29.000 We are opposed. 00:22:29.000 --> 00:22:33.000 We do live by faith and not by sight. 00:22:33.000 --> 00:22:37.000 And suffering for us isn't random. 00:22:37.000 --> 00:22:41.000 He is with us through it, and he still loves us. 00:22:41.000 --> 00:22:45.000 Even though we may cry for healing and for miracles, 00:22:45.000 --> 00:22:51.000 it may be that that is not his purpose for us. 00:22:51.000 --> 00:22:56.000 I think there are many ways in which we have spiritually damaged people 00:22:56.000 --> 00:23:00.000 sometimes by our thinking and by our attitudes, 00:23:00.000 --> 00:23:03.000 and by not putting into practice faith, 00:23:03.000 --> 00:23:07.000 by minimizing the significance and power of the word, 00:23:07.000 --> 00:23:10.000 by being graceless or not being generous. 00:23:10.000 --> 00:23:16.000 But I also do feel that tremendous spiritual damage has sometimes been done 00:23:16.000 --> 00:23:25.000 when people link miracles and promises of healing to levels of faith. 00:23:25.000 --> 00:23:29.000 So the challenges sometimes, people say, well, you don't believe enough. 00:23:29.000 --> 00:23:31.000 You don't have a strong enough faith. 00:23:31.000 --> 00:23:38.000 And rather than encouraging someone who is ill or feels the need for healing or a miracle, 00:23:38.000 --> 00:23:40.000 it discourages them. 00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:44.000 It makes them look at themselves and think, oh, I wish I had more faith 00:23:44.000 --> 00:23:51.000 and can almost destroy them because they feel that they are simply not up to scratch 00:23:51.000 --> 00:23:54.000 and it's their fault that they're not being healed. 00:23:54.000 --> 00:24:02.000 I would encourage you, if you want to read more detail, or more depth into that whole issue, 00:24:02.000 --> 00:24:07.000 read a great book called A Place of Healing by Joni Erickson. 00:24:07.000 --> 00:24:12.000 And Joni Erickson has always been significant because in my life, 00:24:12.000 --> 00:24:18.000 because right from when I was young, she was writing books that were really powerful 00:24:18.000 --> 00:24:23.000 and she was, I think, a 17-year-old who had a diving accident and became a paraplegic. 00:24:23.000 --> 00:24:32.000 And has a wonderful testimony of faith and of God's goodness to her. 00:24:32.000 --> 00:24:36.000 And it's called wrestling with the mysteries of suffering, pain and God's sovereignty. 00:24:36.000 --> 00:24:39.000 She doesn't underestimate it. She doesn't cheapen it. 00:24:39.000 --> 00:24:43.000 She doesn't dismiss anything. 00:24:43.000 --> 00:24:49.000 But she wrestles with the theology of suffering and the reality of a God who loves her. 00:24:49.000 --> 00:24:54.000 Even though there was times she felt almost destroyed by people coming up to her in car parks 00:24:54.000 --> 00:25:01.000 and saying, you don't have the faith, it's your fault that you're not being healed. 00:25:01.000 --> 00:25:05.000 And there was times that almost destroyed her. 00:25:05.000 --> 00:25:11.000 So just in conclusion, I've only been able to dip into this evening, 00:25:11.000 --> 00:25:17.000 what should be our emphasis in this area of gifts and healing? 00:25:17.000 --> 00:25:25.000 Well, as with all the other gifts, the centrality should always be the most excellent way. 00:25:25.000 --> 00:25:30.000 Remember Corinthians 12 and 14, the passages that speak about gifts 00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:36.000 and maybe particular tongues and prophecy, is the sandwich of 1 Corinthians 13, 00:25:36.000 --> 00:25:39.000 which is the most excellent way. 00:25:39.000 --> 00:25:43.000 If I speak in the tongues of men of angels but have not love, 00:25:43.000 --> 00:25:47.000 if I can move mountains but have not love. 00:25:47.000 --> 00:25:54.000 So we simply cannot get away from the significance and the importance 00:25:54.000 --> 00:25:58.000 and the centrality of God's grace in our lives the most excellent way 00:25:58.000 --> 00:26:04.000 and how that is unfolded in Scripture through the fruit of the Spirit in our lives. 00:26:04.000 --> 00:26:09.000 That is what you are challenged with tonight and I am. 00:26:09.000 --> 00:26:15.000 How are we living? Are we living this most excellent of ways? 00:26:15.000 --> 00:26:18.000 Because everything else will be subsumed into that. 00:26:18.000 --> 00:26:23.000 Our understanding of gifts, our use of gifts, the tradition that we come from, 00:26:23.000 --> 00:26:28.000 all of these things will be subsumed into the centrality of the most excellent way. 00:26:28.000 --> 00:26:35.000 You have no excuse and I have no excuse from living in a loveless, graceless way. 00:26:35.000 --> 00:26:44.000 I think it is very important for us in our tradition to have a much higher view of the Bible. 00:26:44.000 --> 00:26:49.000 In theory we have it, in our theology maybe we have it, 00:26:49.000 --> 00:26:56.000 but I think in our practice we cast the Bible aside like it is a comic so often. 00:26:56.000 --> 00:27:01.000 Like it is irrelevant, insignificant, unimportant. 00:27:01.000 --> 00:27:08.000 It is the living breath of God, not just in theory but absolutely in practice. 00:27:08.000 --> 00:27:13.000 If we believe that then we need to be students of that word. 00:27:13.000 --> 00:27:18.000 Because it is the living word of God, God speaks miraculously through that. 00:27:18.000 --> 00:27:21.000 It is His only infallible revelation for us. 00:27:21.000 --> 00:27:24.000 It gives us all we need to know for our lives. 00:27:24.000 --> 00:27:25.000 It is sufficient for us. 00:27:25.000 --> 00:27:28.000 I think we need to take it far more seriously. 00:27:28.000 --> 00:27:31.000 Obviously we skim through it. 00:27:31.000 --> 00:27:35.000 We reject it, we maybe do not reject it, but we treat it lightly. 00:27:35.000 --> 00:27:40.000 We do not give it that huge place in our lives. 00:27:40.000 --> 00:27:45.000 We fail to recognize it so often as the revelation of Jesus, 00:27:45.000 --> 00:27:49.000 the unsearchable riches of Christ that He gives to us. 00:27:49.000 --> 00:27:54.000 Where He speaks to us, where He reveals to us, where He guides us, where He rebukes us, 00:27:54.000 --> 00:27:59.000 where He challenges us, where He encourages us, where we know and understand 00:27:59.000 --> 00:28:04.000 what He wants us to know and understand. 00:28:04.000 --> 00:28:06.000 What else should we emphasize? 00:28:06.000 --> 00:28:09.000 The importance of generosity. 00:28:09.000 --> 00:28:13.000 Generosity towards others who have a different understanding 00:28:13.000 --> 00:28:18.000 and experience of the gifts of the Spirit. 00:28:18.000 --> 00:28:28.000 But also to be discerning and biblical in what we do and think. 00:28:28.000 --> 00:28:33.000 And we should also emphasize using the gifts that God has given us. 00:28:33.000 --> 00:28:39.000 Not the gifts He hasn't, but the gifts He has given us. 00:28:39.000 --> 00:28:40.000 Use them to glorify. 00:28:40.000 --> 00:28:44.000 Remember the most important gift you have as a Christian 00:28:44.000 --> 00:28:48.000 is the living breath of God in the presence of His Holy Spirit. 00:28:48.000 --> 00:28:54.000 Wherever you are, whatever you do, we have that remarkable gift of God's presence 00:28:54.000 --> 00:28:57.000 in us through the person of His Holy Spirit. 00:28:57.000 --> 00:29:01.000 And we are to use that gift powerfully. 00:29:01.000 --> 00:29:05.000 I'll say a little bit more about that just as we close. 00:29:05.000 --> 00:29:08.000 We should also emphasize the reality of the supernatural 00:29:08.000 --> 00:29:13.000 rather than dismiss it or think it insignificant. 00:29:13.000 --> 00:29:17.000 If you're a Christian here this evening, 00:29:17.000 --> 00:29:21.000 your conversion is and has been supernatural. 00:29:21.000 --> 00:29:25.000 It needed the work of God in a remarkable way. 00:29:25.000 --> 00:29:29.000 It needed the miracle of new birth that nobody human could give you 00:29:29.000 --> 00:29:31.000 that isn't simply just your choice or decision. 00:29:31.000 --> 00:29:34.000 You're spiritually dead and God brought you to life. 00:29:34.000 --> 00:29:36.000 It might not have been dramatic or outward, 00:29:36.000 --> 00:29:39.000 but nonetheless that's what He says. 00:29:39.000 --> 00:29:42.000 And there's that desperate need of the Holy Spirit. 00:29:42.000 --> 00:29:46.000 And for the supernatural power of God in your life daily 00:29:46.000 --> 00:29:49.000 for renewal and transformation. 00:29:49.000 --> 00:29:52.000 It's not a moralistic to-do religion. 00:29:52.000 --> 00:29:56.000 It's not if I do this and try that, then I will be able to move forward. 00:29:56.000 --> 00:30:00.000 We need God's presence in our lives. We need His Holy Spirit. 00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:02.000 It's a supernatural work of God's grace. 00:30:02.000 --> 00:30:05.000 We can't sit still. 00:30:05.000 --> 00:30:09.000 We can't be Christian and think we can please God in our own strength 00:30:09.000 --> 00:30:11.000 or in our own knowledge or our own understanding. 00:30:11.000 --> 00:30:15.000 We are lost sinners that have been saved by grace. 00:30:15.000 --> 00:30:20.000 We have no excuses to live for ourselves anymore. 00:30:20.000 --> 00:30:25.000 We need to live for the one who gives us life and who gives us grace. 00:30:25.000 --> 00:30:31.000 And therefore we need to be people who keep in step with the Spirit. 00:30:31.000 --> 00:30:34.000 That's what we need to do. Keep in step with the Spirit. 00:30:34.000 --> 00:30:40.000 That's what we need to emphasize because we are sealed with this Holy Spirit of God 00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:45.000 and there's two particular passages, one in Ephesians and one in Thessalonians 00:30:45.000 --> 00:30:47.000 that tell us what we are not to do. 00:30:47.000 --> 00:30:50.000 Ephesians says, don't grieve Him. 00:30:50.000 --> 00:30:53.000 The Holy Spirit is not an it. 00:30:53.000 --> 00:30:59.000 It's not a force, it's the person of the Godhead, the Spirit of the living God 00:30:59.000 --> 00:31:01.000 and we're not to grieve Him. 00:31:01.000 --> 00:31:08.000 And what is that command surrounded by in Ephesians? 00:31:08.000 --> 00:31:16.000 By remembering He's our friend that we are not to be careless in what we say. 00:31:16.000 --> 00:31:20.000 We're not to live in the darkness. 00:31:20.000 --> 00:31:24.000 We're to be kind and compassionate. 00:31:24.000 --> 00:31:29.000 We're to live in His goodness and His righteousness and in truth. 00:31:29.000 --> 00:31:33.000 That is how we don't grieve the Holy Spirit. 00:31:33.000 --> 00:31:37.000 These are everyday things we can all do. 00:31:37.000 --> 00:31:42.000 In our lives by His strength, living in His goodness, His righteousness and truth 00:31:42.000 --> 00:31:46.000 in our kindness and compassion in the way we speak. 00:31:46.000 --> 00:31:49.000 You will go tomorrow and you will speak many words 00:31:49.000 --> 00:31:53.000 and you'll have opportunities to be kind and compassionate 00:31:53.000 --> 00:31:56.000 and to live in His goodness, righteousness and truth. 00:31:56.000 --> 00:32:02.000 That is how we don't grieve the Holy Spirit. 00:32:02.000 --> 00:32:05.000 In your daily lives and in mind. 00:32:05.000 --> 00:32:09.000 We have made it all too ordinary 00:32:09.000 --> 00:32:12.000 by thinking we can do it without Him. 00:32:12.000 --> 00:32:15.000 So we need to keep in step with the Spirit 00:32:15.000 --> 00:32:18.000 and in Thessalonians we are not to quench the Spirit. 00:32:18.000 --> 00:32:23.000 We're not to put out the Spirit's fire. 00:32:23.000 --> 00:32:25.000 We're not to... 00:32:25.000 --> 00:32:27.000 It's not a great verse. 00:32:27.000 --> 00:32:33.000 We are not to put out the Spirit's fire by being prayerless, disobedient or careless. 00:32:33.000 --> 00:32:35.000 That's how we quench the Spirit. 00:32:35.000 --> 00:32:38.000 We dampen Him in our lives. 00:32:38.000 --> 00:32:40.000 We just pour water. 00:32:40.000 --> 00:32:42.000 Well, that's not a very good illustration 00:32:42.000 --> 00:32:44.000 because He's the water of life in many ways. 00:32:44.000 --> 00:32:49.000 But we just put out the Spirit's fire by that kind of living. 00:32:49.000 --> 00:32:51.000 We are not to quench the Spirit. 00:32:51.000 --> 00:32:55.000 We are to stay close to the source of heat, 00:32:55.000 --> 00:32:57.000 which is God in His presence. 00:32:57.000 --> 00:33:00.000 We are not to neglect the spiritual gifts He's given us. 00:33:00.000 --> 00:33:04.000 We are to serve God by serving one another. 00:33:04.000 --> 00:33:06.000 We are not to be selfish and self-centered. 00:33:06.000 --> 00:33:12.000 And we are to do so with joy and with commitment. 00:33:12.000 --> 00:33:17.000 And lastly, as the last emphasis, 00:33:17.000 --> 00:33:20.000 can I just say that God is sovereign. 00:33:20.000 --> 00:33:23.000 God remains sovereign. 00:33:23.000 --> 00:33:29.000 So God gives gifts, as He determines. 00:33:29.000 --> 00:33:33.000 Always remember, all the gifts are His. 00:33:33.000 --> 00:33:38.000 He gives them in His time and in His way. 00:33:38.000 --> 00:33:42.000 We need to be open to our need of reformation 00:33:42.000 --> 00:33:46.000 and a humble acknowledgement of His work 00:33:46.000 --> 00:33:49.000 in different ways, in different traditions, 00:33:49.000 --> 00:33:53.000 in different cultures and with different needs. 00:33:53.000 --> 00:33:56.000 We need to be aware of these things 00:33:56.000 --> 00:34:00.000 and not seek to be sovereign ourselves. 00:34:00.000 --> 00:34:02.000 He is very big. 00:34:02.000 --> 00:34:04.000 We are very small. 00:34:04.000 --> 00:34:06.000 He is sovereign. 00:34:06.000 --> 00:34:12.000 And we recognize and admit and confess that this evening. 00:34:12.000 --> 00:34:16.000 So may we seek to use the gifts we've been given 00:34:16.000 --> 00:34:21.000 and remind ourselves the supernatural nature of our faith. 00:34:21.000 --> 00:34:24.000 And if you're not a Christian, 00:34:24.000 --> 00:34:29.000 recognize that it's not simply a moralistic way of living. 00:34:29.000 --> 00:34:32.000 Trying to live in a certain way. 00:34:32.000 --> 00:34:37.000 This remarkable need to be born anew from within 00:34:37.000 --> 00:34:41.000 as we seek salvation because we are sinners 00:34:41.000 --> 00:34:44.000 who are separated from a holy God 00:34:44.000 --> 00:34:48.000 and only recognizing what Jesus has done for us. 00:34:48.000 --> 00:34:50.000 And coming to trust in Him 00:34:50.000 --> 00:34:54.000 is where we will find this remarkable miracle happening 00:34:54.000 --> 00:34:58.000 that allows us peace and joy and hope. 00:34:58.000 --> 00:35:02.000 Amen. Let's bow our heads in prayer. 00:35:02.000 --> 00:35:07.000 Father God, we ask and pray that You would help us to understand You. 00:35:07.000 --> 00:35:11.000 We thank You for the gospel. 00:35:11.000 --> 00:35:13.000 We thank You for its diversity. 00:35:13.000 --> 00:35:18.000 We thank You for what we strive to understand from Scripture. 00:35:18.000 --> 00:35:22.000 We recognize there's many times we get it wrong. 00:35:22.000 --> 00:35:27.000 And we also admit and recognize that we are foolish 00:35:27.000 --> 00:35:34.000 and proud and separatist so often from our fellow brothers and sisters. 00:35:34.000 --> 00:35:37.000 Remind us, Lord God, of Your sovereignty. 00:35:37.000 --> 00:35:40.000 Remind us of the importance of generosity. 00:35:40.000 --> 00:35:47.000 Help us to see and know and understand that You give gifts as You choose. 00:35:47.000 --> 00:35:52.000 And yet help us to humbly seek to understand 00:35:52.000 --> 00:35:56.000 the way You have chosen to distribute these gifts 00:35:56.000 --> 00:35:58.000 and the people that have them. 00:35:58.000 --> 00:36:03.000 We thank You for those who, from different traditions, 00:36:03.000 --> 00:36:08.000 show such holiness and godliness and passion and desire 00:36:08.000 --> 00:36:10.000 that often puts us to shame. 00:36:10.000 --> 00:36:13.000 We thank You for them and we pray and ask 00:36:13.000 --> 00:36:15.000 that we would learn from each other 00:36:15.000 --> 00:36:19.000 and that we would grow in unity and in grace together as people 00:36:19.000 --> 00:36:27.000 and that we would love one another as indeed Christ as love does. 00:36:27.000 --> 00:36:34.000 Help us to live with passion, with zeal, with truth 00:36:34.000 --> 00:36:39.000 and with integrity and with commitment. 00:36:39.000 --> 00:36:42.000 And may we rejoice that we can keep coming 00:36:42.000 --> 00:36:46.000 to the source of all power and energy and strength 00:36:46.000 --> 00:36:52.000 and never find that our God has his power as dried up 00:36:52.000 --> 00:36:55.000 or he is disinterested in us. 00:36:55.000 --> 00:36:58.000 You are our Father, Lord, and You love to hear our cries 00:36:58.000 --> 00:37:00.000 and You love to hear our voice. 00:37:00.000 --> 00:37:03.000 And we ask for forgiveness for the number of times 00:37:03.000 --> 00:37:05.000 that we are silent before You, 00:37:05.000 --> 00:37:09.000 that we choose our own way, that we rubbish Your Word 00:37:09.000 --> 00:37:13.000 and that we keep our Bibles closed and we are not listening 00:37:13.000 --> 00:37:15.000 to Your guidance and to Your voice 00:37:15.000 --> 00:37:18.000 and to the challenge of conviction 00:37:18.000 --> 00:37:21.000 and of the call to repentance and to faith. 00:37:21.000 --> 00:37:25.000 Give us that vibrancy that is from Your Spirit, we ask, 00:37:25.000 --> 00:37:29.000 and fill us with that most excellent way of living, 00:37:29.000 --> 00:37:33.000 which is the way of Your great love. 00:37:33.000 --> 00:37:38.000 Not in a sentimental or in a soft and sappy way, 00:37:38.000 --> 00:37:43.000 but in a courageous, strong and life-changing way 00:37:43.000 --> 00:37:46.000 for young and old men and women 00:37:46.000 --> 00:37:48.000 and for all who are part of this community. 00:37:48.000 --> 00:37:52.000 May that be what marks us and sets us apart, we ask, 00:37:52.000 --> 00:37:54.000 in these days. 00:37:54.000 --> 00:38:09.000 We pray that in Jesus' name, Amen.