| THE HEALING PRESENCE OF THE LORD LESSON FOUR HEALING MINISTRY OF THE DISCIPLES The ministry Jesus had includes training His disciples to continue the ministry after He goes to the Father after His ascension. First Jesus teaches them by the words He spoke. Then He shows them how and when He heals the sick. Jesus shows them many ways to do this and I believe He never did any ministry until the presence of the Lord was there in power. Luke 5:17b� and the power of the Lord was present for Him to perform healing. NASU Jesus took many months to train the disciples before He releases them to do the work of the ministry and this was what I call and activation of that they have learned from the teachings of Jesus and seeing Him minister to the people. (One thing we must remember that the disciples have not as yet been baptized in the Holy Spirit, for Jesus has not left to go to the Father so that Holy Spirit would come to be with us.) Jesus is now going to send the twelve on their first mission; He sends them two by two. Matthew 10:1-16 tells who the teams of two were and the instructions of what to do. Also see Mark 3:13-19; Luke 9:1-6. In Luke it reads like this: Ministry of the Twelve Luke 9:1And He called the twelve together, and gave them power and authority over all the demons and to heal diseases. 2 And He sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to perform healing. 3 And He said to them, "Take nothing for your journey, neither a staff, nor a bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not even have two tunics apiece. 4 "Whatever house you enter, stay there until you leave that city. 5 "And as for those who do not receive you, as you go out from that city, shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them." 6 Departing, they began going throughout the villages, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere. NASU After they returned to Jesus to tell of the mission trip he took them to Bethsaida to have a time of rest, prayer and assessment of the mission, Luke 9:10. The disciples were ministering with delegated authority Luke 9:1 �And He called the twelve together, and gave them power and authority�� After Pentecost when they were baptize in the Holy Spirit; the anointing had come upon them to minister as Jesus in the authority and power given in the name of Jesus and through Holy Spirit work in and through them. We see here before Pentecost there were times when they had trouble in ministering healing deliverance, see verse 40 of this passage: Luke 9:37-43 37 The next day, when they came down from the mountain, a large crowd met him. 38 A man in the crowd called out, "Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child. 39 A spirit seizes him and he suddenly screams; it throws him into convulsions so that he foams at the mouth. It scarcely ever leaves him and is destroying him. 40 I begged your disciples to drive it out, but they could not." 41 "O unbelieving and perverse generation," Jesus replied, "how long shall I stay with you and put up with you? Bring your son here." 42 Even while the boy was coming, the demon threw him to the ground in a convulsion. But Jesus rebuked the evil spirit, healed the boy and gave him back to his father. 43 And they were all amazed at the greatness of God. NIV Some time later Jesus send out 70 others to enlarge the ministry, see Luke 10:1-20 Jesus after His resurrection instructed the disciples in what to do; we read in these passages: Luke 24:49 49 Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high." Acts 1:4-5 4 And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, "which," He said, "you have heard from Me; 5 for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now." Acts 1:8 8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." NKJV There are amazing changes in the ministry of the disciples after the day of Pentecost. Before we look at some of the ministry of the disciples after Pentecost let us look at some observations from the Gospels: 1. Jesus sent them. 2. Jesus gave them authority in His name. 3. Jesus sent them in teams of two. 4. Jesus gave them instructions on what to do. 5. Upon return they assessed the ministry that had transpired. Now let us look at the ministry after Pentecost. First, Jesus gave a commission before He left to go to the Father. Mark 16:17-20 17 "These signs will accompany those who have believed: in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues; 18 they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover." 19 So then, when the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. 20 And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them, and confirmed the word by the signs that followed. NASU Jesus in Matthew28:18 told them to go to all nations. In Acts 1:8 He said: �but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth." NASU After their baptism in the Holy Spirit They begin to walk in a powerful anointing. In the following examples of the ministry of the disciples we see the healing ministry unfolding in a great way. 1. The lame man; Acts 3:1-10 2. Many sick healed; Acts 5:12-16 3. Blind Saul; Acts 3-19 4. Peter heals Aeneas Acts 9:33-35 5. Dorcas restored to life Acts 9:36-43 6. Cripple healed at Lystra Acts 14:8-10 7. Special miracles by Paul Acts 19:11-12 8. Eutychus restored to life Acts 20:7-12 9. Viper�s bite harmless Acts 28:3-6 10. Publius� Father healed Acts 28:8-9 The disciples closely followed the general guideline that Jesus taught them and those of the OT prophets. We need to look at, whom, what, and where. WHOM did they serve? The disciples ministered to beggars, social outsider, friends, and adversaries of the gospel. WHAT conditions do they minister to? People with social and disabling illnesses such as: blindness, dysentery, paralysis, all kinds of sicknesses, and even death. WHERE do they minister? They ministered at the gate of the temple, homes, outside meetings, in a field, at church. Ministry is initiated by the leading of Holy Spirit. Which may come as the voice of the Spirit speaks within them, or a vision given by God. The disciples minister in this manner; they laid hands on them Acts 9:17; commanded healing Acts 3:6. They spoke to the condition and the person they were ministering to. They ask what do you want just as Jesus did (Matthew 20:32). Ministering in healing evangelism, the church did grow in most cases. There are some, where it did not. But over all it brings people in to the church as new babes in Christ. The healing of the lame man at the temple gate by Peter (Acts 3:6-7 caused 5,000 to believe in one day, Acts 4:4. By Ananias ministering to Saul we see Paul the great minister of the Gospel came in to being. When Peter heals Aeneas � all who dwelt at Lydda and Sharon saw him and turn to the Lord.� All of Joppa heard about Dorcas being restored to life �and many believed on the Lord.� Praise God for the healing power that brings many to see Jesus as savior. In some cases people are encouraged greatly but the word does not tell us of salvations of people after the healing power came forth. I was ministering in Trinidad, I was preaching one night after ministering the Word of God we were praying for the sick and people were being healed. The presence of the Lord was there in power to heal. During the meeting two drunks were making a lot of noise, calling and making fun of what we Christians believe. The devil was using them to try to disrupt the meeting. I bound the spirits that were using them, called one of them to come up to the front. I commanded him to be sober and the effects of the alcohol to be gone. He became sober I told him he need Jesus. He said I do I want Him he got saved. Then I laid hands on him to pray for him, he went flying backwards land on the ground under the power of the Spirit of God. I called out to the other drunk who had been watching all this. I ask him to come up for prayer, he call our no. So I said I will come to you. He was in the back by the door. I talk to him for a moment about his need for Jesus. Fear came on him, the spirit in him said your not going to knot me down and he took of running and did not come back. The demons cannot stand to be in presence of the Lord. Many people came to the Lord that night because the presence of the Lord was there in power to heal and save. Next Lesson Faith and Confession |