Review

This fourth volume will continue to build on an important observation we made about receiving healing from Jesus:

• Receiving healing (or anything else) from Jesus requires faith.
• Strong faith requires that the Scripture reside deep within us.
• To benefit us, the Scripture must reside in our hearts (not merely in our heads).

Why People Receive Different Results (when they desire healing—or anything else from Him)

People receive different results from God because they have different relationships to the Word.

Your relationship to the Word is based on how well it settles in your heart.

• The heart contains our deepest levels of thought, emotion, and conviction.
• When something takes root in your heart, it affects your entire life. [Proverbs 4:23 (ESV): 23 Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.]

The Word that Gets Snatched

Matthew 13:18–19 (ESV): 18 “Hear then the parable of the sower: 19 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path.

• • • Acts 8:26–31 (ESV): 26 Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is a desert place. 27 And he rose and went. And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship 28 and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. 29 And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.” 30 So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” 31 And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.

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    • Hebrews 11:6 (ESV): 6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

• • Matthew 13:31–32 (ESV): 31 He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. 32 It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”
  • Matthew 17:19–20 (ESV): 19 Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” 20 He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”

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    • You set the borders of your faith with your mind and your mouth.
    • If you want your faith to move mountains, you must put the Word in your mind and your mouth. [John 15:7 (ESV): 7If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.]
    • Psalm 119: 9 (ESV): 9 How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word.

The Word with No Root

Matthew 13:20 (ESV): 20 As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy,

Matthew 13:21 (ESV): 21 yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away.

• Psalm 1:1–3 (ESV): 1Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; 2 but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. 3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.

The Word with No Fruit

Matthew 13:22 (ESV): 22 As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.

The Word that Bears Fruit

Matthew 13:23 (ESV): 23 As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”

What is Scriptural Mediation?

Reading, Talking, Listening, Pondering, Reflecting Day and Night

Healing Resources

Healing School with Creflo Dollar – April 25, 2019

Wednesday Service – How to Take Possession of Your Healing

What Happens When Fear Becomes Bondage – Sunday Service

My Testimony of Divine Healing from Multiple Sclerosis

Nona Jones: Persistence in Prayer Strengthens Your Faith | FULL EPISODE | Better Together TV

Healing School with Andrew Wommack – April 20, 2017

You’ve Already Got It  | Andrew Wommack | LW

Healing Scriptures with  Dodie Osteen EXTENDED VERSION | April Osteen Simons

Healed of Cancer! The Testimony of Dodie Osteen (1987)

Dodie Osteen & Joel Osteen: Whatever You Need From God, Ask Him | Praise on TBN

Purchase Kenneth Hagin’s Healing Classics in downloadable form or CD form. Discs 3-6 are particularly valuable.

 

© Joshua D. Smith, Ph.D., 2023

Review

This fourth volume is continuing to look at the healings of Jesus in the gospels.

Last week, we looked at the moment when Jesus attempted to heal people in Nazareth, his hometown. He was limited in what He could do because of their unbelief.

• Mark 6:5-6 (ESV): ⁵ And he could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them. ⁶ And he marveled because of their unbelief. . . .

We then looked at the remedy for unbelief.

First, we distinguished unbelief from doubt:

• Doubt means to be double minded.
• Unbelief means to refuse to trust.

Then we looked at the relationship between offense and unbelief:

• Offense is an obstacle to belief.
  • Offense makes the soil of your heart unsuitable for spiritual growth.
  • Offense prevents the Word from taking root in your heart.

Then we looked at the relationship between the Word and faith

• We cultivate faith when the Word abides in our hearts
  • When God’s word abides in us, it is actively penetrating our hearts and shaping our thinking at the deepest level.
  • Your trust in Jesus is only as deep as the Scripture abiding in your heart.
• If you want to develop the faith to be healed, (or the faith to receive anything from God), you need the discipline to mediate on the Word daily.

Jesus Addresses Doubt with the Word

Luke 24:13–16 (ESV): ¹³ That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, ¹⁴ and they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened. ¹⁵ While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. ¹⁶ But their eyes were kept from recognizing him.

Luke 24:17 (ESV): ¹⁷ And he said to them, “What is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk?” And they stood still, looking sad.

Luke 24:18-24 (ESV): ¹⁸ Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?” ¹⁹ And he said to them, “What things?” And they said to him, “Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, ²⁰ and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. ²¹ But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened. ²² Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning, ²³ and when they did not find his body, they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive. ²⁴ Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see.”

Luke 24:25 (ESV): ²⁵ And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!

Luke 24:26-27 (ESV): ²⁶ Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” ²⁷ And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.

Luke 24:28-31 (ESV): ²⁸ So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He acted as if he were going farther, ²⁹ but they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent.” So he went in to stay with them. ³⁰ When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. ³¹ And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight.

Luke 24:32 (ESV): ³² They said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?”

Luke 24:33-35 (ESV): ³³ And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem. And they found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, ³⁴ saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!” ³⁵ Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread.

Luke 24:36-38 (ESV): ³⁶ As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, “Peace to you!” ³⁷ But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit. ³⁸ And he said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts?

Luke 24:39-40 (ESV): ³⁹ See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” ⁴⁰ And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet.

Luke 24:41-43 (ESV): ⁴¹ And while they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” ⁴² They gave him a piece of broiled fish, ⁴³ and he took it and ate before them.

Luke 24:41-43 (ESV): ⁴⁴ Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” ⁴⁵ Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, ⁴⁶ and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, ⁴⁷ and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.

Jesus’ expectations for them were reasonable based upon what God commanded His people to do when He founded the Jewish nation:

• Deuteronomy 6:4–9 (ESV): ⁴ “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. ⁵ You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. ⁶ And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. ⁷ You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. ⁸ You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. ⁹ You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.  

• Joshua 1:8 (ESV): ⁸ This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

• Psalm 1:1–3 (ESV): ¹Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; ² but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. ³ He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.

• Psalm 119:15–16 (ESV): ¹⁵ I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. ¹⁶ I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word.

• Romans 10:13–17 (ESV): ¹³ For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” ¹⁴ How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? ¹⁵ And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” ¹⁶ But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” ¹⁷ So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

 

What is Scriptural Mediation?

Reading, Talking, Listening, Pondering, Reflecting Day and Night

 

Healing Resources

Healing School with Creflo Dollar – April 25, 2019

Wednesday Service – How to Take Possession of Your Healing

What Happens When Fear Becomes Bondage – Sunday Service

My Testimony of Divine Healing from Multiple Sclerosis

Nona Jones: Persistence in Prayer Strengthens Your Faith | FULL EPISODE | Better Together TV

Healing School with Andrew Wommack – April 20, 2017

You’ve Already Got It | Andrew Wommack | LW

Healing Scriptures with Dodie Osteen EXTENDED VERSION | April Osteen Simons

Healed of Cancer! The Testimony of Dodie Osteen (1987)

Dodie Osteen & Joel Osteen: Whatever You Need From God, Ask Him | Praise on TBN

Purchase Kenneth Hagin’s Healing Classics in downloadable form or CD form. Discs 3-6 are particularly valuable.

 

© Joshua D. Smith, Ph.D., 2023

Review

• Most healings require personal faith.
• Some healings hinge on the faith of someone closely associated with the sick person.
• Jesus meets us at the borders of our faith.
• God will raise the dead to heal the sick.
• Raising the dead usually requires overcoming significant unbelief.

The Difference Between Doubt and Unbelief

Doubt:

Doubt means to be double minded.

Unbelief:

Unbelief means to refuse to trust.

The Unbelief of Jesus’ Hometown

Mark 6:1–2 (ESV): ¹He went away from there and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. ² And on the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished, saying, “Where did this man get these things? What is the wisdom given to him? How are such mighty works done by his hands?

Mark 6:3 (ESV): ³ Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him.

• • Offense makes the soil of your heart unsuitable for spiritual growth.
  • Offense prevents the Word from taking root in your heart.
  • Offense is an obstacle to belief.

Mark 6:5(ESV): ⁵ And he could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them.

Mark 6:6 (ESV): ⁶ And he marveled because of their unbelief. And he went about among the villages teaching.

Belief is the Result of Confidence in the Scripture

John 5:37 (ESV): ³⁷ And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen,

John 5:38 (ESV): ³⁸ and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent.

John 5:39-40 (ESV): ³⁹ You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, ⁴⁰ yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.

• • How much you trust Jesus is the proof for how much you trust the word.

Your relationship with Jesus is only as deep as the Scripture abiding in your heart.

The Word Is Your Judge

John 5:45 (ESV): ⁴⁵ Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom you have set your hope.

John 5:46-47 (ESV): ⁴⁶ For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. ⁴⁷ But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?”

• What is Scriptural Mediation?
  • Reading, Talking, Listening, Pondering, Reflecting Day and Night

Healing Resources

Healing School with Creflo Dollar – April 25, 2019

Wednesday Service – How to Take Possession of Your Healing

What Happens When Fear Becomes Bondage – Sunday Service

My Testimony of Divine Healing from Multiple Sclerosis

Nona Jones: Persistence in Prayer Strengthens Your Faith | FULL EPISODE | Better Together TV

Healing School with Andrew Wommack – April 20, 2017

You’ve Already Got It | Andrew Wommack | LW

Healing Scriptures with Dodie Osteen EXTENDED VERSION | April Osteen Simons

Healed of Cancer! The Testimony of Dodie Osteen (1987)

Dodie Osteen & Joel Osteen: Whatever You Need From God, Ask Him | Praise on TBN

Purchase Kenneth Hagin’s Healing Classics in downloadable form or CD form. Discs 3-6 are particularly valuable.

 

© Joshua D. Smith, Ph.D., 2023

Review

Mark 5:23 (ESV) ²³ and implored him earnestly, saying, “My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well and live.”

• Jesus meets us at the border of our faith.
• Jesus follows the faith.

Mark 5:28 (ESV) ²⁸ For she said, “If I touch even his garments, I will be made well.”

Mark 5:29-30 (ESV) ²⁹ And immediately the flow of blood dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease.

Mark 5:34 (ESV) ³⁴ And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”

Mark 5:35-36 (ESV) ³⁵ While he was still speaking, there came from the ruler’s house some who said, “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?” ³⁶ But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, “Do not fear, only believe.”

• The spirit of fear challenges God’s credibility.

Mark 5:37 (ESV) ³⁷ And he allowed no one to follow him except Peter and James and John the brother of James.

Mark 5:38 (ESV) ³⁸ They came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and Jesus saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly.

Mark 5:39-40 (ESV) ³⁹ And when he had entered, he said to them, “Why are you making a commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but sleeping.” ⁴⁰ And they laughed at him. But he put them all outside and took the child’s father and mother and those who were with him and went in where the child was.

Mark 5:41-43 (ESV) ⁴¹ Taking her by the hand he said to her, “Talitha cumi,” which means, “Little girl, I say to you, arise.” ⁴² And immediately the girl got up and began walking (for she was twelve years of age), and they were immediately overcome with amazement. ⁴³ And he strictly charged them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat.

Healing Resources

Healing School with Creflo Dollar – April 25, 2019

Wednesday Service – How to Take Possession of Your Healing

What Happens When Fear Becomes Bondage – Sunday Service

My Testimony of Divine Healing from Multiple Sclerosis

Nona Jones: Persistence in Prayer Strengthens Your Faith | FULL EPISODE | Better Together TV

Healing School with Andrew Wommack – April 20, 2017

You’ve Already Got It | Andrew Wommack | LW

Healing Scriptures with Dodie Osteen EXTENDED VERSION | April Osteen Simons

Healed of Cancer! The Testimony of Dodie Osteen (1987)

Dodie Osteen & Joel Osteen: Whatever You Need From God, Ask Him | Praise on TBN

Purchase Kenneth Hagin’s Healing Classics in downloadable form or CD form. Discs 3-6 are particularly valuable.

 

© Joshua D. Smith, Ph.D., 2023

Review

Jairus’s Daughter and the Woman with the Issue of Blood

Mark 5:21(ESV) ²¹ And when Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered about him, and he was beside the sea.

Mark 5:22 (ESV) ²² Then came one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name, and seeing him, he fell at his feet

Mark 5:23 (ESV) ²³ and implored him earnestly, saying, “My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well and live.”

• Jesus meets you at the borders of your faith.

Mark 5:24 (ESV) ²⁴ And he went with him. And a great crowd followed him and thronged about him.

• Jesus follows your faith.
  • Hebrews 11:6 (ESV): ⁶ And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

Mark 5:25 (ESV) ²⁵ And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, ²⁶ and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse.

Mark 5:27 (ESV) ²⁷ She had heard the reports about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment.

• Hebrews 10:1 (ESV): ¹For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near.
  • Leviticus 15:19–33 (ESV): ¹⁹ “When a woman has a discharge, and the discharge in her body is blood, she shall be in her menstrual impurity for seven days, and whoever touches her shall be unclean until the evening. ²⁰ And everything on which she lies during her menstrual impurity shall be unclean. Everything also on which she sits shall be unclean. ²¹ And whoever touches her bed shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening. ²² And whoever touches anything on which she sits shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening. ²³ Whether it is the bed or anything on which she sits, when he touches it he shall be unclean until the evening. ²⁴ And if any man lies with her and her menstrual impurity comes upon him, he shall be unclean seven days, and every bed on which he lies shall be unclean. ²⁵ “If a woman has a discharge of blood for many days, not at the time of her menstrual impurity, or if she has a discharge beyond the time of her impurity, all the days of the discharge she shall continue in uncleanness. As in the days of her impurity, she shall be unclean. ²⁶ Every bed on which she lies, all the days of her discharge, shall be to her as the bed of her impurity. And everything on which she sits shall be unclean, as in the uncleanness of her menstrual impurity. ²⁷ And whoever touches these things shall be unclean, and shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening. ²⁸ But if she is cleansed of her discharge, she shall count for herself seven days, and after that she shall be clean. ²⁹ And on the eighth day she shall take two turtledoves or two pigeons and bring them to the priest, to the entrance of the tent of meeting. ³⁰ And the priest shall use one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering. And the priest shall make atonement for her before the Lord for her unclean discharge. ³¹ “Thus you shall keep the people of Israel separate from their uncleanness, lest they die in their uncleanness by defiling my tabernacle that is in their midst.” ³² This is the law for him who has a discharge and for him who has an emission of semen, becoming unclean thereby; ³³ also for her who is unwell with her menstrual impurity, that is, for anyone, male or female, who has a discharge, and for the man who lies with a woman who is unclean.

Mark 5:28 (ESV) ²⁸ For she said, “If I touch even his garments, I will be made well.”

Mark 5:29-30 (ESV) ²⁹ And immediately the flow of blood dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. ³⁰ And Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone out from him, immediately turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my garments?”

Mark 5:31-34 (ESV) ³¹ And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you say, ‘Who touched me?’ ” ³² And he looked around to see who had done it. ³³ But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling and fell down before him and told him the whole truth. ³⁴ And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”

Mark 5:35-36 (ESV) ³⁵ While he was still speaking, there came from the ruler’s house some who said, “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?” ³⁶ But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, “Do not fear, only believe.”

Mark 5:37-40 (ESV) ³⁷ And he allowed no one to follow him except Peter and James and John the brother of James. ³⁸ They came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and Jesus saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. ³⁹ And when he had entered, he said to them, “Why are you making a commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but sleeping.” ⁴⁰ And they laughed at him. But he put them all outside and took the child’s father and mother and those who were with him and went in where the child was.

Mark 5:41-43 (ESV) ⁴¹ Taking her by the hand he said to her, “Talitha cumi,” which means, “Little girl, I say to you, arise.” ⁴² And immediately the girl got up and began walking (for she was twelve years of age), and they were immediately overcome with amazement. ⁴³ And he strictly charged them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat.

 

Healing Resources

Healing School with Creflo Dollar – April 25, 2019

Wednesday Service – How to Take Possession of Your Healing

What Happens When Fear Becomes Bondage – Sunday Service

My Testimony of Divine Healing from Multiple Sclerosis

Nona Jones: Persistence in Prayer Strengthens Your Faith | FULL EPISODE | Better Together TV

Healing School with Andrew Wommack – April 20, 2017

You’ve Already Got It | Andrew Wommack | LW

Healing Scriptures with Dodie Osteen EXTENDED VERSION | April Osteen Simons

Healed of Cancer! The Testimony of Dodie Osteen (1987)

Dodie Osteen & Joel Osteen: Whatever You Need From God, Ask Him | Praise on TBN

Purchase Kenneth Hagin’s Healing Classics in downloadable form or CD form. Discs 3-6 are particularly valuable.

 

© Joshua D. Smith, Ph.D., 2023

 

Review

Matthew 10:28 (ESV): ²⁸ And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.)

The Gravity of Sexual Sin

1 Corinthians 5:1–5 (ESV): ¹ It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father’s wife. ² And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you. ³ For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing. ⁴ When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, ⁵ you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.

Grieving over sin fosters spiritual growth

• 2 Corinthians 7:8–10 (ESV): ⁸ For even if I made you grieve with my letter, I do not regret it—though I did regret it, for I see that that letter grieved you, though only for a while. [Sorry, not sorry] ⁹ As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us. ¹⁰ For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.
• Jeremiah 6:15 (ESV): ¹⁵ Were they ashamed when they committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed; they did not know how to blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; at the time that I punish them, they shall be overthrown,” says the Lord.

The Perpetual Practice of Sin is a Sign That You Are Unhealthy

1 John 3:6–9 (ESV): ⁶ No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. ⁷ Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. ⁸ Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. ⁹ No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God.

People who grieve sin confess it and seek forgiveness

• 1 John 1:8–10 (ESV): ⁸ If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. ⁹ If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. ¹⁰ If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

Healing and the confession of sin are interrelated

James 5:14–16 (ESV): ¹⁴ Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. ¹⁵ And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. ¹⁶ Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

Healing Resources

Healing School with Creflo Dollar – April 25, 2019

Wednesday Service – How to Take Possession of Your Healing

What Happens When Fear Becomes Bondage – Sunday Service

My Testimony of Divine Healing from Multiple Sclerosis

Nona Jones: Persistence in Prayer Strengthens Your Faith | FULL EPISODE | Better Together TV

Healing School with Andrew Wommack – April 20, 2017

You’ve Already Got It | Andrew Wommack | LW

Healing Scriptures with Dodie Osteen EXTENDED VERSION | April Osteen Simons

Healed of Cancer! The Testimony of Dodie Osteen (1987)

Dodie Osteen & Joel Osteen: Whatever You Need From God, Ask Him | Praise on TBN

Purchase Kenneth Hagin’s Healing Classics in downloadable form or CD form. Discs 3-6 are particularly valuable.

 

© Joshua D. Smith, Ph.D., 2023

Israel and Bible Prophecy

Ezekiel 38:4 (ESV): ⁴ And I will turn you about and put hooks into your jaws, and I will bring you out, and all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed in full armor, a great host, all of them with buckler and shield, wielding swords.

Ezekiel 38:16 (ESV): ¹⁶ You will come up against my people Israel, like a cloud covering the land. In the latter days I will bring you against my land, that the nations may know me, when through you, O Gog, I vindicate my holiness before their eyes.

Ezekiel 39:2 (ESV): ² And I will turn you about and drive you forward, and bring you up from the uttermost parts of the north, and lead you against the mountains of Israel.

Zechariah 12:2 (ESV): ² “Behold, I am about to make Jerusalem a cup of staggering to all the surrounding peoples. The siege of Jerusalem will also be against Judah.

• A cup of staggering “Describes a cup of wine that causes the person drinking it to stagger. The surrounding nations will become like a stumbling, drunken man.”[John D. Barry et al., Faithlife Study Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012, 2016), Zec 12:2.]

Zechariah 12:3 (ESV): ³ On that day I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples. All who lift it will surely hurt themselves. And all the nations of the earth will gather against it.

• a stone weight Describes a stone that injures those who try to lift it. Those nations who attempt to attack Jerusalem will find the task too difficult and will end up injured. [ John D. Barry et al., Faithlife Study Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012, 2016), Zec 12:3.]

Matthew 24:6 (ESV): ⁶ And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet.

Matthew 24:13 (ESV): ¹³ But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

Matthew 24:37-39 (ESV): ³⁶ “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. ³⁷ For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. ³⁸ For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, ³⁹ and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.

Matthew 24:42-44 (ESV): ⁴² Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. ⁴³ But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. ⁴⁴ Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

Matthew 24:48-51 (ESV):⁴⁸ But if that wicked servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed,’ ⁴⁹ and begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks with drunkards, ⁵⁰ the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know ⁵¹ and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Review

• The God who wants to heal your body wants to heal your life
• Healing requires us to draw close to God 
• Drawing close to God requires us to draw away from sin

Sexual Sins Are Worse Than Others

Sexual sin requires that we address it with a particular kind of urgency:

1 Corinthians 6:18 (ESV): ¹⁸ Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.

• 2 Timothy 4:3–4 (ESV): ³ For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, ⁴ and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.

• Hebrews 10:24–25 (ESV): ²⁴ And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, ²⁵ not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

Healing Resources

Healing School with Creflo Dollar – April 25, 2019

Wednesday Service – How to Take Possession of Your Healing

What Happens When Fear Becomes Bondage – Sunday Service

My Testimony of Divine Healing from Multiple Sclerosis

Nona Jones: Persistence in Prayer Strengthens Your Faith | FULL EPISODE | Better Together TV

Healing School with Andrew Wommack – April 20, 2017

You’ve Already Got It | Andrew Wommack | LW

Healing Scriptures with Dodie Osteen EXTENDED VERSION | April Osteen Simons

Healed of Cancer! The Testimony of Dodie Osteen (1987)

Dodie Osteen & Joel Osteen: Whatever You Need From God, Ask Him | Praise on TBN

Purchase Kenneth Hagin’s Healing Classics in downloadable form or CD form. Discs 3-6 are particularly valuable.

 

© Joshua D. Smith, Ph.D., 2023

Introduction

I am presenting a collection of sermons and series focused on Rediscovering God as a healer of our bodies.

These sermons have two goals:

• My first goal is for you to see God as someone who heals readily and not reluctantly.
• My second goal is for you to receive healing from God readily and not reluctantly.

Review

Draw Near to God (Don’t Wait for Him to Draw Near to You)

• Hebrews 4:14–16 (ESV): ¹⁴ Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. ¹⁵ For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. ¹⁶ Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

We draw near to God with our agenda, but He draws near to us with His agenda.

God uses our desire for things to draw us close to His desire for us.

The God who wants to heal your body wants to heal your life

While addressing the sin in our lives is not necessarily a prerequisite for healing, it must be addressed eventually for long-term and holistic health.

Drawing close to God requires us to draw away from sin

(James 4:8–10 (ESV): ⁸ Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. ⁹ Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. ¹⁰ Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.)

Protecting your safety is more important than protecting your feelings

• • 1. 1 Corinthians 5:1–5 (ESV): ¹ It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father’s wife. ² And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you. ³ For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing. ⁴ When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, ⁵ you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.

Grieving over sin fosters spiritual growth

• 2 Corinthians 7:8–10 (ESV): ⁸ For even if I made you grieve with my letter, I do not regret it—though I did regret it, for I see that that letter grieved you, though only for a while. ⁹ As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us. ¹⁰ For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.
• Jeremiah 6:15 (ESV): ¹⁵ Were they ashamed when they committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed; they did not know how to blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; at the time that I punish them, they shall be overthrown,” says the Lord.

The Perpetual Practice of Sin is a Sign That You Are Unhealthy

1 John 3:6–9 (ESV): ⁶ No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. ⁷ Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. ⁸ Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. ⁹ No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God.

People who grieve sin confess it and seek forgiveness

• 1 John 1:8–10 (ESV): ⁸ If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. ⁹ If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. ¹⁰ If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

Healing and the confession of sin are interrelated

James 5:14–16 (ESV): ¹⁴ Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. ¹⁵ And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. ¹⁶ Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

Healing Resources

Healing School with Creflo Dollar – April 25, 2019

Wednesday Service – How to Take Possession of Your Healing

What Happens When Fear Becomes Bondage – Sunday Service

My Testimony of Divine Healing from Multiple Sclerosis

Nona Jones: Persistence in Prayer Strengthens Your Faith | FULL EPISODE | Better Together TV

Healing School with Andrew Wommack – April 20, 2017

You’ve Already Got It | Andrew Wommack | LW

Healing Scriptures with Dodie Osteen EXTENDED VERSION | April Osteen Simons

Healed of Cancer! The Testimony of Dodie Osteen (1987)

Dodie Osteen & Joel Osteen: Whatever You Need From God, Ask Him | Praise on TBN

Purchase Kenneth Hagin’s Healing Classics in downloadable form or CD form. Discs 3-6 are particularly valuable.

 

© Joshua D. Smith, Ph.D., 2023

Introduction

I am presenting a collection of sermons and series focused on Rediscovering God as a healer of our bodies.

These sermons have two goals:

• My first goal is for you to see God as someone who heals readily and not reluctantly.
• My second goal is for you to receive healing from God readily and not reluctantly.

Tale of Two Healings

Man by the Pool	Man on the Roof
John 5:1–15 (ESV): 1After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. 3 In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed.	Mark 2:1–5 (ESV): 1 And when he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. 2 And many were gathered together, so that there was no more room, not even at the door. And he was preaching the word to them.
John 5:5–7 (ESV): 5 One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” 7 The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.”	Mark 2:3-4 (ESV): 3 And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. 4 And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him, and when they had made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay.
John 5:8-9 (ESV): 8 Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” 9 And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked. Now that day was the Sabbath.	Mark 2:5 (ESV): 5 And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”
John 5:10-13 (ESV): 10 So the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to take up your bed.” 11 But he answered them, “The man who healed me, that man said to me, ‘Take up your bed, and walk.’ ” 12 They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk’?” 13 Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place.	Mark 2:6–9 (ESV): 6 Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, 7 “Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” 8 And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, “Why do you question these things in your hearts? 9 Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, take up your bed and walk’?
John 5:14-15 (ESV): 14 Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.” 15 The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him.	Luke 5:24–26 (ESV): 24 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the man who was paralyzed—“I say to you, rise, pick up your bed and go home.” 25 And immediately he rose up before them and picked up what he had been lying on and went home, glorifying God. 26 And amazement seized them all, and they glorified God and were filled with awe, saying, “We have seen extraordinary things today.”

Draw Near to God (Don’t Wait for Him to Draw Near to You)

Hebrews 4:14–16 (ESV): ¹⁴ Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. ¹⁵ For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. ¹⁶ Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Healing is an Invitation to Draw Close to Jesus (and Away from Sin)

James 4:8–10 (ESV): ⁸ Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. ⁹ Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. ¹⁰ Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

Beware of the Temptation and Deception of Sexual Sin

1 Corinthians 6:13 (ESV): ¹³ “Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food”—and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.

1 Corinthians 6:18 (ESV): ¹⁸ Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.

1 Timothy 4:1–2 (ESV): ¹ Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, ² through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared,

2 Corinthians 7:8–10 (ESV): ⁸ For even if I made you grieve with my letter, I do not regret it—though I did regret it, for I see that that letter grieved you, though only for a while. ⁹ As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us. ¹⁰ For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.

Romans 2:3–4 (ESV): ³ Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God? ⁴ Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance [tolerance] and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?

Healing Resources

Healing School with Creflo Dollar – April 25, 2019

Wednesday Service – How to Take Possession of Your Healing

What Happens When Fear Becomes Bondage – Sunday Service

My Testimony of Divine Healing from Multiple Sclerosis

Nona Jones: Persistence in Prayer Strengthens Your Faith | FULL EPISODE | Better Together TV

Healing School with Andrew Wommack – April 20, 2017

You’ve Already Got It | Andrew Wommack | LW

Healing Scriptures with Dodie Osteen EXTENDED VERSION | April Osteen Simons

Healed of Cancer! The Testimony of Dodie Osteen (1987)

Dodie Osteen & Joel Osteen: Whatever You Need From God, Ask Him | Praise on TBN

Purchase Kenneth Hagin’s Healing Classics in downloadable form or CD form. Discs 3-6 are particularly valuable.

 

© Joshua D. Smith, Ph.D., 2023

 

Introduction

I am presenting a collection of sermons and series focused on Rediscovering God as a healer of our bodies.

These sermons have two goals:

• My first goal is for you to see God as someone who heals readily and not reluctantly.
• My second goal is for you to receive healing from God readily and not reluctantly.

A Tale of Two Healings

The Man Jesus Found by the Pool of Bethesda

John 5:1–3 (ESV): After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. ² Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. ³ In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed.

John 5:4 (NKJV): ⁴ For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had.

John 5:5–9 (ESV): ⁵ One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. ⁶ When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” ⁷ The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.” ⁸ Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” ⁹ And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked. Now that day was the Sabbath.

John 5:13-14 (ESV): ¹³ Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place. ¹⁴ Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.”

• • • • • 1 Corinthians 6:13 (ESV): ¹³ “Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food”—and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.
        • 1 Corinthians 6:18 (ESV): ¹⁸ Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.
      • 1 Timothy 4:1–2 (ESV): ¹ Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, ² through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared,
      • Romans 2:3–4 (ESV): ³ Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God? ⁴ Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance [tolerance] and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?

1 Corinthians 12:4–11 (ESV): ⁴ Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; ⁵ and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; ⁶ and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. ⁷ To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. ⁸ For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, ⁹ to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, ¹⁰ to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. ¹¹ All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.

The Man Who Pursued Jesus Through a Roof

Mark 2:1–5 (ESV): ¹ And when he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. ² And many were gathered together, so that there was no more room, not even at the door. And he was preaching the word to them.

Mark 2:3 (ESV): ³ And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men.

Mark 2:4 (ESV): ⁴ And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him, and when they had made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay.

Mark 2:5 (ESV): ⁵ And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

Luke 5:24–25 (ESV): ²⁴ But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the man who was paralyzed—“I say to you, rise, pick up your bed and go home.” ²⁵ And immediately he rose up before them and picked up what he had been lying on and went home, glorifying God.

Luke 5:26 (ESV): ²⁶ And amazement seized them all, and they glorified God and were filled with awe, saying, “We have seen extraordinary things today.”

Hebrews 4:14–16 (ESV): ¹⁴ Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. ¹⁵ For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. ¹⁶ Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need

Healing Resources

Healing School with Creflo Dollar – April 25, 2019

Wednesday Service – How to Take Possession of Your Healing

What Happens When Fear Becomes Bondage – Sunday Service

My Testimony of Divine Healing from Multiple Sclerosis

Nona Jones: Persistence in Prayer Strengthens Your Faith | FULL EPISODE | Better Together TV

Healing School with Andrew Wommack – April 20, 2017

You’ve Already Got It | Andrew Wommack | LW

Healing Scriptures with Dodie Osteen EXTENDED VERSION | April Osteen Simons

Healed of Cancer! The Testimony of Dodie Osteen (1987)

Dodie Osteen & Joel Osteen: Whatever You Need From God, Ask Him | Praise on TBN

Purchase Kenneth Hagin’s Healing Classics in downloadable form or CD form. Discs 3-6 are particularly valuable.

 

© Joshua D. Smith, Ph.D., 2023