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heavenward TV well it's so good to be
together once again as we are continuing
our chronological study through the
entire New Testament our study today
takes us back to Matthew chapter 8 and
so if you've got your Bible why don't
you open up to Matthew chapter 8 we're
going to start in just a minute in verse
number 14 but this is a really
encouraging chapter at least the first
part of this chapter for anybody who is
in need of healing and my surveys have
shown that that's a lot of people and a
lot of people are discouraged when it
comes to healing they've been plagued
for a long time with chronic problems in
their bodies and so forth seeking
medical help and not finding the answers
they're looking for and they get that
place where unless God heals them you
know they're not going to be healed and
so it's to those kinds of people that I
want to talk to today particularly as we
look at these scriptures that are so
encouraging when it comes to looking to
the Lord for healing now sure some of
these things in some people's minds
anyways are controversial I don't know
how anybody could get upset with someone
who is encouraging Christian people
whose God is the Lord to look to the
Lord as their healer but yet some people
unfortunately find that offensive for
some reason but let's let's not be among
those people okay one-tenth of
everything that's recorded about Jesus
Christ in the four Gospels concerns his
healing ministry and so clearly God
wants us to know Jesus as the healer and
prior to the ministry of christ of
course there's lots of examples of God
divinely healing people in the Old
Testament
in fact God made specific promises to
the people of Israel in their covenant
with them if you'll keep my statutes and
obey my Commandments I'll take sickness
out of the midst of you and I'll fulfill
the number of your days and David wrote
in Psalm 103 bless the Lord O my soul
and let me not forget any of your
benefits who forgives all our iniquities
who heals all our diseases okay and
there's many specific examples of people
whom God healed and so the Lord has
revealed himself over and over again
from the beginning to the end of the
Bible as the healer and if we're God's
people you know well we ought to be
experiencing some healing right sure now
I know that there are roadblocks to
healing I know that you can't just sum
up everything the Bible says about
healing and sickness in you know in five
minutes certainly we know that scripture
teaches that it's possible to open the
door to sickness through something that
we've done it can be sin you know jesus
said to one person whom He healed go and
sin no more that nothing worse may
befall you that makes it very clear
right that if that man had not stopped
sinning as something worse another
sickness even worse than what he had
could have befallen him and so if we
find ourselves ill it's a good thing to
do a spiritual examination of course
it's good to do that at any time right
right but we know that the New Testament
tells us that in Corinth there were
people who are sick because of their
disobedience and they failed to judge
themselves and so Paul said you are
disciplined or judged by the Lord and so
this is something we can talk about as
we work our way through the New
Testament but the first thing I wanted
to point out in Matthew chapter 8 is
that you know Jesus is the healer and if
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday today
and forever come on
and we ought to be looking to him as our
healer he revealed himself one of his
Old Covenant names was Jehovah Rapha the
Lord who heals you and we find an
example at the beginning of chapter 8 we
already covered this where Jesus runs
into a leper who says Lord if you're
willing you can make me clean Jesus I'm
willing be cleanse touched him he's
healed within a short time later he's
entering into Capernaum a Centurion here
comes a Roman soldiers as my servant is
lying very ill at home come and heal him
Jesus says I'll come and heal him and
the guy says I'm not worthy for you to
come under my roof just speak the word
she said be it done to you according to
your faith and you know the servant was
healed ok and so now we come to the next
instance here in Matthew chapter 8 and
verse number 14 Peter must have recorded
this by the inspiration of the Holy
Spirit you know to encourage us to first
of all see that Jesus was indeed the
Messiah the miracle-working healing
Messiah but also that Jesus was the
healer and that we could look to him for
healing as well so let's read it Matthew
8 and verse 14 when Jesus came into
Peter's home he saw his mother-in-law
lying sick in bed with a fever now the
same story is recorded in Luke's Gospel
the fourth chapter of Rita there Luke
the physician recorded that petersburg
law had a high fever and so perhaps this
is more life threatening than even
Matthew you know intimated in in his
record then verse number 15 Jesus he
touched her hand and the fever left her
and she got up and waited on them so
they're just one more healing Peters
mother-in-law suffering from a high
fever instantaneously healed by the Lord
Jesus nothing in this case is said about
her faith Luke does tell us that the
some people entreated Jesus you know on
her behalf and so they obviously had
some faith themselves or they wouldn't
have asked Jesus with expectation at 22
Hyo Peters mother-in-law
and then we come to verse number 16 when
evening came they brought to him many
who were demon-possessed and he cast out
the spirits with a word and get this and
healed all who were ill so Jesus did not
show partiality or favoritism to anybody
who came to the the apparently to the
doors the the door of Peters a home
there in Capernaum all who came he
healed them all I always like to remind
folks that if you would have been there
that evening and if you would have been
sick you would have been healed it would
have been God's will feed have been
healed then well as God's will changed
faith building and inspiring all right
think about these things and I'll see
you next time