Monday, February 8, 2016

Lesson 03 - Healing - Where is God When It Hurts?

Healing – what does it mean?

Healing means to cure something that is painful or to fix something that is broken. A major part of Christ’s life had to do with healing, which is why our Gospels contain many of His miracles.

e.g.        Jesus healed the sick and cured the lame.
                The leper came to Jesus and asked to be healed.
                Christ went from town to town preaching, teaching, and healing the sick.

At Erin church, we say prayers for health and healing in our worship services.
Why do you think we do this?


Who did Jesus heal?

The Gospels mainly give us stories and reports of Christ’s three year ministry in and around the towns of Galilee. As well as teaching His people new ideas about God and preaching the Gospel, Jesus also healed people with different diseases, sicknesses, and illnesses. Sometimes He healed them immediately; at other times He asked questions first. Sometimes Jesus touched sick people and healed them; on one occasion a woman touched Him and was healed.
How many healing stories of Jesus can you remember?

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Let’s read a healing story from Matthew’s Gospel: Matthew 9:1-8
Who comes to Jesus for healing? What does Jesus do at first? Who is offended at this?  What does Jesus do next? What does this story tell us about Jesus and His power?
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Jesus healed people because He wanted to make people feel better, in the hope that their healing would also restore them to God’s love.

Let’s a watch a video of Christ healing a leper
Jesus Heals the Leper – The Bible – the Series   

If the video is not available, here is the Gospel story:

Matthew 8:1-4
When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”
Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy. Then Jesus said to him, “See that you don’t tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”

What do you think of this story?                                             
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What was leprosy?                                                        
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Why did Jesus touch the leper?
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What do you think happened next?
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Based on the Gospel stories, why do we pray for healing in Church?________________________________________________________________________

Do our prayers work? What happens when healing doesn’t occur?
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Why do people get sick? Why do we feel pain? What things hurt our feelings? What things make us sad?
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How does having faith help us? Where is God when bad things happen or disasters occur?
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Have there been any painful times in our lives when we’ve asked God to help, but we didn’t get it?
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Part of the Statement of Faith in the  PCUSA

In 1983 when the PCUSA was formed, our denomination created a Statement of Faith for the whole church. It expresses our beliefs in Jesus and includes a description about His ministry of healing, as well as His identification with our pain. Here is what it states:

We trust in Jesus Christ,
Fully human, fully God.
Jesus proclaimed the reign of God:
preaching good news to the poor
and release to the captives,
teaching by word and deed
and blessing the children,
healing the sick
and binding up the brokenhearted,
eating with outcasts,
forgiving sinners,
and calling all to repent and believe the gospel.
Unjustly condemned for blasphemy and sedition,
Jesus was crucified,
suffering the depths of human pain
and giving his life for the sins of the world.
God raised this Jesus from the dead,
vindicating his sinless life,
breaking the power of sin and evil,
delivering us from death to life eternal.

What does this tell us about Jesus? Why did He suffer on the Cross? How does this help us with our own suffering, illnesses, and pain?
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­­­­­­­­­­­­­Any other questions?

Your Bible assignment for this week is to read the chapters 5 & 6 of the Gospel of Mark, as well as completing the question sheet. Bring it back to our next meeting. Our next meeting takes place on 
Sunday February 21 at 4:45PM.


Finish with prayer.

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