MARK 4 THRU 6

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=100 BGCOLOR="#CCCCFF" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="04600640egdysm.jpg"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000066" FACE="Arial" ><B>BOOK OF JOB</B></FONT><FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000099" FACE="Arial" ><B> </B></FONT><B>    |     </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="BOOK OF JOB"><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id17.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="My Content"><U>My Content</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id18.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Photo Album"><U>Photo Album</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id19.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Favorite Links"><U>Favorite Links</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id20.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Contact Us"><U>Contact Us</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id36.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="JOHNS GOSPEL"><U>JOHN'S GOSPEL</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id37.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="PSALMS"><U>PSALMS</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id38.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="EASTER"><U>EASTER</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id21.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="SERMONS ON MARK"><U>SERMONS ON MARK</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id22.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="MARK 2"><U>MARK 2</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id23.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="MARK 3"><U>MARK 3</U></A>   |   <B>MARK 4 THRU 6</B>   |   <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="BOOK OF JOB"><U>BOOK OF JOB</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id25.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="MARK 7 THRU 12"><U>MARK 7 THRU 12</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id26.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="MARK 13 THRU 16"><U>MARK 13 THRU 16</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id28.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="BOOK OF REVELATION"><U>BOOK OF REVELATION</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id29.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="SONG OF SOLOMON"><U>SONG OF SOLOMON</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id30.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="TOPICAL SERMONS"><U>TOPICAL SERMONS</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id31.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="GODS NATURE"><U>GOD'S NATURE</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id32.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="JAMES"><U>JAMES</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id33.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="IJOHN"><U>IJOHN</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id34.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="IIJOHN"><U>IIJOHN</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id35.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="IIIJOHN"><U>IIIJOHN</U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=200 BGCOLOR="#0000BF" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" height=380 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <I>MARK 4 THRU 6</I></div> <bR> <div> STILLING THE STORM   Based on Mark 4:35-41</div> <div> By Pastor Glenn Pease</div> <bR> <div>      About 100 years ago an English clergyman named Whiting was sailing in the Mediterranean when a storm broke of unusual fury, and hurricane winds.  The waves were like mountains, and they came crashing against the ship, and all on board felt doomed, for the life boats were useless in such a storm.  Whiting continued in fervent prayer, and by the special providence of God the storm lost it's power,  and they made it to port.  Whiting wrote the hymn, "For Those In Peril On The Sea."  It is also called, "Eternal Father Strong To Save."  It became the most beloved hymn of American Naval men, and at one time every worship service in the Annapolis Naval Academy was concluded with the entire congregation kneeling and singing this hymn.  The second stanza goes like this:  </div> <bR> <div>                 O Savior, whose almighty Word</div> <div>                     The winds and waves submissive heard,</div> <div>                Who walked upon the foaming deep,</div> <div>                      And calm amidst its rage did sleep:</div> <div>                Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee</div> <div>                      For those in peril on the sea!</div> <bR> <div>      The wind and the sea are mighty forces, and they have taken many lives-so many that the Bible says when the dead are raised the sea also shall give up the dead in it.  The sea of Galilee is especially treacherous, for it is low and cliffs around it have valley's going to the sea.  This draws down cold air which can produce a storm in a matter of minutes.  Even today, one can look upon it when it is smooth as glass, and ten minutes later there can be a raging storm.  We want to look at the experience of the disciples as they are caught in one of these sudden storms.  We want to see it in  three pictures which deal with the three persons involved in this event.</div> <bR> <div> I.  THE PICTURE OF JESUS.  </div> <bR> <div>      Verse 35 says the same day, and this means the day that Jesus spoke to the multitudes, and was so concerned that His mother and brothers tried to restrain Him.  This was the day that He debated with the Pharisees and warn them about blasphemy of the Holy Spirit.  This was the day that He taught the parables as recorded in Matt. 13.  It was after a busy day like this that He was exhausted, and verse 36 says He was so tired that He slept.  </div> <bR> <div>      We see the humanity of Jesus.  He lived for men before He died for them.  He filled His days full with service to man.  Sometimes He worked all day, and then prayed all night.  He gave His life in service before He gave it in sacrifice.  Why should He tire Himself to help and teach men?  He was going to the cross in a few years, and He knew it, but it was not enough that He should die for their sin, and make salvation possible.  Jesus said by His life of service that a full and satisfying human life consists in fellowship with God, and compassion for men in their sin, sickness, suffering, and sorrow.  Meeting temporal needs was important to Jesus even though He came primarily to meet eternal needs.</div> <bR> <div>      Jesus lay exhausted in that boat because He could not stand to see the masses in ignorance of God's mercy and love.  While He had breath He had to teach, heal, and preach.  What sweet sleep have they who are exhausted in giving their lives in service.  He was so exhausted that even a storm did not awaken Him.  His very sleep rebukes us, for though He had greater wisdom and compassion, He had the same body as you and I.  It hungered and thirsted and became weary, but He used it to its capacity.  His body was a living sacrifice, and this sleeping Christ is the greatest example anywhere of presenting one's body as such a sacrifice.  </div> <bR> <div>      In this sleep we see also the trust of His humanity.  Jesus did not fear the storm, for He knew His life was in the Father's hands.  I read of a group getting eagles eggs where they had to hang down over the cliff, and someone had to hold the rope.One boy said, "I will go</div> <div>  down if my father holds the rope."  You need to have trust in the one holding the rope when your life depends on it.  </div> <bR> <div>      In verse 39 we see the deity of Christ.  Only God can rebuke the wind and calm the sea.  The only reason Bible writers could put such contrasting pictures of Jesus side by side is because they were true.  He was truly man, and truly God.  When He said to the winds, "Be still," the word He used means to be gagged or muzzled, as if it were a maniac to be bound and gagged.  Some feel this indicates that the storm was an attempt to destroy Jesus.  Whatever the case, it reveals that Jesus is the Lord of nature, and that the destructive forces of it are an evil in the world just as disease and demon possession.  Many other miracles are explained away as mass hypnosis and other such nonsense, but there is no explanation for this one except that Jesus was God.   </div> <bR> <div>      Romans tells us that the whole world is groaning for the day of redemption, for all of nature is cursed by man's fall.  Tornadoes, hurricanes, and earthquakes are God's permissive will, but He no more approves of them, nor is He responsible for the evil in nature anymore than He is for the evil in man.  He who calmed the storm here will calm it forever, but until then we must live in a fallen world where evil has great power.  Nature would not need to be redeemed as Paul says, if it was not fallen and a perverted expression of what God intended.  </div> <bR> <div>      Just as Jesus revealed He was the Lord of nature, for only He can calm its storms, so He revealed that only He can forgive sin and calm the storms that rage within man.  As God, Jesus could do the impossible, and overcome evil power in nature and in man.   </div> <bR> <div> II.  THE PICTURE OF THE DISCIPLES.</div> <bR> <div>      In obedience to Jesus they found themselves in trouble.  They were probably taken by surprise thinking that the Lord is with us, and so we certainly cannot run into danger.  It was by His command that we are here.  But it just is  not true that there is no danger in obedience to Jesus, or no danger when He is present.  There are many who not only risk their lives, but lose their lives in obedience to Christ. </div> <div> A missionary was once asked if he liked what he was doing, and he replied, "No, we do not like to live in filth and with disease all around, but Jesus died for these people, and we dare not let them perish because of danger."  Following Jesus is not always a stroll through the garden.  If obedience was easy the great commission would have been fulfilled long ago.  </div> <bR> <div>      The disciples could not understand when things got out of control.  It had to be  a terrible storm to frighten these old fishermen.  They were filled with fear and unbelief, and they awake Jesus accusing Him of not caring.  It was as if to say, "We have been fighting this storm for our lives, and you just sleep as if you didn't care whether we sink or not."  It is always hard for believers to see why they should suffer.  If the disciples saw a boat full of Pharisees going down in the storm they would not question such a tragedy.  It is when we suffer while living in obedience that we question the love and care of Christ.  Many charge Jesus with not caring when tragedy strikes them.  Fortunately many hold on to their faith and later beg for forgiveness when they see how God works in all things for their good.  </div> <bR> <div>      Fear can do strange things to people.  There are natural and God-given fears such as fear of pain which teaches a child not to touch fire.  Everyone should fear to take foolish and unnecessary chances with their life.  But there are many piers which arise in the mind, and over which we have no control, and they can make life miserable.  Fears tend to produce the very thing feared.  Fear of failure usually causes failure.  The man with one talent was afraid to do something wrong, and so he did nothing, which was the worst thing he could do.  Fear of the future spoils the present so that the future is not pleasant.  Fear begins in the mind, but may effect the body.  Satan delights to whisper in our ear and make us fearful that Jesus does not care.  If we listen we can develop all kinds of problems.  </div> <bR> <div>      In verse 40 Jesus tells us the cause for fear.  It is a lack of faith.  When faith fails fear flourishes.  Fear paralyzes faith so that it cannot work.  Fortunately, the disciples had nowhere else to turn, and so they came to Jesus.  When Jesus reveals Himself as capable of handling even the forces of nature they are amazed.  Here He was sleeping, and now He speaks and nature obeys His voice.</div> <bR> <div>      Verse 41 says they feared greatly.  Did they go from bad to worse?  No, the fear at first was dolos in the Greek, and it means cowardly fear, but this second fear is fobos, and it means great reverence, or filled with awe.  They were awakened to the fact that a greater power than man knows anything about was just demonstrated.  They were not able to grasp the reality that Jesus was in fact, God.  The lesson was learned, and they stood in fear of the Lord, that fear which is the beginning of wisdom.  It is that fear which drives out false fears.  A proper fear of God will eliminate the fear of the world.</div> <bR> <div>      A story is told of two boys, and one is saying to the other, "Go ahead and take the apples off the tree.  Your father will not hurt you."  The other boy responded, "I know, but if I disobey I will hurt him."  It is true faith when we fear, not being hurt, but hurting our heavenly Father.  This is a godly fear which arises out of faith and says, "I would rather perish in the storm with Jesus than be safe on land without Him."  The man who fears God need not fear anything else, for nothing in all creation can separate him from the love of God.  This was an important experience in bringing the disciples to that point.  This picture closes with them asking the question which all must ask and answer:  What manner of man is this? His power demands that the answer be, He was the Son of God.</div> <bR> <div> III.  THE PICTURE OF THE LITTLE SHIPS.</div> <bR> <div>      In verse 36 we see there were other ships in the storm.  They no doubt contained some of the people he had been speaking to on shore.  Jesus could not escape for people followed Him everywhere.  Here they were as a very small part of the picture.  They had nothing to do with what happened.  So why would such a detail be included in the Word of God?  There is a significant teaching here by implication.  They profited by the experience of the disciples.  They also were spared because of the calming of the storm.  They may not have even known what happened, but it was a blessing to them.  There are many blessings that Jesus gives to His church that are a blessing to society all around them, even though they do not recognize the giver of the blessing.  This is typical with the work of Christ.  When He blesses He does not stop with His own, but sends rain on the just and the unjust.  </div> <bR> <div>      In America where we have so many freedoms and rights because of the Christians influence, masses do not even know why they have them, and that many of our blessings are the result of the teaching of Christ.  His blessings overflow, and there is truly a wideness in God's mercy.  When we trust in Christ and allow His power to still the storms in us, there should be an overflowing benefit to all those around us.  </div> <div>                </div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>MADNESS MEETS ITS MASTER Based on Mark 5:1-20</B></div> <div> <B>By Pastor Glenn Pease</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>      The hero in one of Bruce Marshalls novels is a Benedictine Monk who is shocked at the general disbelief in the supernatural. Even the local Anglican priest argued with him against it. He is so disturbed that he is determined that all shall see a miracle, and he prays that a nearby dancing establishment of ill repute be transferred to as rock out in the sea, and it happened. The building, dancing girls, neon lights and all rose into the air leaving a hugh hole in the ground, and was noiselessly deposited on the island rock. The flight lasting exactly 17 minutes. What Christian has not dreamed of possessing such power? The monk is so excited that he cannot sleep all night for wondering how the church is going to cope with the mass conversions that will take place as a result of this marvelous miracle.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     The next day the press gave the story front page publicity, but there was no stampede of people into the church. In fact, the people thought this unusual event only proved that the clergy were not to be trusted.  The policeman on the beat considered  arresting him for wrongful removal of property, and the dance hall owner sued him for damages due to transfer of his business to a location less convenient to his patrons.  The only positive note was that a film producer made him an offer to enter the movies.  Of course, its all fiction, and claims to be no more, but Bible students will recognize it to be based on the facts of the historical experiences of Christ.  Miracles have had surprisingly little effect on the unbelieving world.  If the church had to depend upon miracles for its growth and success, it would have died while it was being born in the ministry of Christ.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     The leaders of Israel saw the power of Christ demonstrated time and time again, yet they did not believe, but sought to kill Him, and called Him an agent of the devil.  When the rich man in hell wanted someone from the dead to warn his brothers Jesus said, "If they will not believe God's Word, they will not believe a man from the dead."  Miracles will not convince an unbeliever, and we are deceived if we think we could convert the world through miracles.  One of the temptations of Jesus was to jump off the temple and use the power of miracle to gain a following.  Jesus refused to display His miracle power to draw crowds and satisfy curiosity.  Jesus performed His miracles as signs of His Lordship to those who followed Him.  They played a major role in His Christian education for His disciples.  They were a part of His teaching technique.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     We want to look at a day in the education of His disciples.  This particular day was really unique for this band of roving seminarians.  Chapter 4 of Mark shows Jesus teaching them and the multitudes for the good portion of the day, and then toward evening verse 35 says that they all got into a ship to head for the other side.  Jesus was so exhausted that He fell asleep.  A day of teaching is an exhaustive day.  The disciples were at their wits end when a storm threatened to sink the ship, and Jesus continued to sleep.  Finally in desperation they wake Him saying, "Master, carest thou not that we parish?"  Jesus arose and said, "Peace be still," and by His power He calmed the angry waves.  They were overwhelmed with awe and fear at such superhuman power.  Verse 41 says they feared exceedingly.  They were in a state of shock.  Dryden's poem describes the situation:</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>          The clouds dispelled, the sky resumed her light,</B></div> <div> <B>          And nature stood recovered of her fright.</B></div> <div> <B>          But fear, the last of ills, remained behind,</B></div> <div> <B>          And horror heavy sat on every mind.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     When they reached the other side, they no doubt felt they had had it, and were glad that day was over.  Little did they realize they had some major learning yet to do before they slept that night.  They stepped out of the ship and immediately must have had the wits scared out of them again, for out of the tomb on the hillside a raving maniac came charging at them, and he was shrieking at them like the madman he was.  He was naked and mutilated with broken chains hanging from his wrists and ankles, for in spite of all the efforts to chain him down he escaped and lived among the tombs.  If ever there was a haunted cemetery, this was it.  Luke tells us that no one dare pass by that way.  Of all the places for Jesus to bring His disciples after what they had been through, this was certainly the worst.  What a test on the nervous system.  By this time it was nearly dark, if not definitely dark, and here they are in a haunted cemetery facing a demon possessed madman.  Never had Jesus led His disciples into such a spooky, gloomy, errie, weird, and frightening situation.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     There can be doubt that Jesus deliberately planned this whole day.  What an impact it is to see the day as a whole.  In the morning he demonstrates His Lordship over Satan by His wisdom as He casts out ignorance by His teaching.  In the late afternoon He demonstrates His Lordship over Satan and nature by calming the storm.  Now, in the evening He is about to demonstrate His Lordship over the forces of Satan by casting out the legion of demons.  He is Lord of the unseen realm as well as the seen.  He is Lord over the supernatural as well as the natural.  All of this Jesus taught by actions in one day to leave an impact on His disciples that could never be forgotten.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     There are a number of important things we can learn from this unique closing lesson of that unique day.  We learn that no case is too hopeless for Jesus.  If ever a man was hell-bound and Godforsaken, and a total menace to society, it was this demoniac that Jesus restored to his right mind.  Not only that, Jesus made him a missionary to his people, and being this was Gentile territory, this one time slave of Satan became the first missionary of Christ to the Gentiles.  He was preparing the way for the Gospel which would soon be coming to them after the cross and resurrection.  This madman turned missionary was an equivalent of a John the Baptist to the Gentiles preparing the way of the Lord.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     When Jesus finished with this man, the people requested he leave.  He did not hesitate, for He had fulfilled His mission.   This demoniac is what brought Him over the sea, teaching us, not only that none are hopeless, but also that all are precious.   If Jesus cared so much for such a man who was a curse to himself and society, and humanly hopeless, then who dares to point to any human creature however hellish and horrible, and say that Jesus does not care for such a person?</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     There are many other implications that grow out of this unique demonstration of Christ's Lordship, but the primary lesson concerns that Lordship itself.  Jesus makes it as clear as possible that He has come to destroy the works of the devil.  Here was one of the most Satan bound men of history set free to become a servant of Christ.  When the disciples are taught to pray, "Deliver us from the evil one, " they will know this will be no problem for their Lord.  Not only did madness meet its master in Christ, but the author of madness, Satan himself, met his master in Christ, and suffered one defeat after another.  Every time Jesus confronted one of Satan's victims He set them free.  The sovereignty of Christ over all principalities and powers is the primary lesson of this strange and fearful experience.  It is one of the primary themes of this whole Gospel.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>      The second major lesson this event teaches us concerns a subject of great mystery.  This setting of the madman freed from his legion of demons commits Bible believers to the belief of the reality of demons.  Men can rationalize other cases of demon possession, and say it is only what we call mental illness, epilepsy, or insanity today.  This argument fails here, however, for the demons are actually sent into a herd of swine.  They have to be objectively real, for a subjective illness cannot be transferred to such a herd.  Belief in the objective world of spiritual creatures is not superstition, but  a matter of revelation.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     G. Campbell Morgan said, "Christians make a terrible mistake when they laugh at spiritism, and treat it as a fancy.  It is a reality."  When we call spiritism a false cult we do not mean that all they do and teach is false and nonsense, but that it is a false way to God, and a false way to be pleasing to God.  Much of what is experienced by cults is true, but it leads to damnation rather than salvation.  Drugs can give one an experience that is real, but it is not a reality that leads to God.  No man is saved by how he feels, but by the death of Christ, and faith in Christ as one's Savior.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     What I am saying is paradoxical.  The false cults are not to be laughed at, because they are true.  We say it is utter nonsense to worship the devil, and be a medium for demons.  If we mean by nonsense that it is all a hoax, and that demons are nonexistent, then we are denying an aspect of reality clearly revealed in the Bible.  This is what the non-Christians means by calling spiritism and demon possession nonsense, but a Christian is compelled to believer in the reality of demons.  This is a subject rarely thought of because it is embarrassing to the modern mind.  It seems to be too directly connected with superstition and blind paganism.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     There are pagan peoples who believe there are evil spirit in every bush and tree, and they live in constant fear of them.  They devise all kinds of rituals to drive them away and keep them from causing them harm.  The Christian does not want to be in the same category with these victims of ignorance, and so, for all practical purposes, he dismisses the whole idea of demons as irrelevant.  Its the same old story of one extreme leading to a reaction to the opposite extreme.  </B></div> <div> <B>They over-believe in demons, and so we under-believe.  We unconsciously follow the reasoning of the skeptic.  Demonism is connected with fanatical ignorant unscientific paganism, therefore, as an educated enlightened man I cannot believe in demons.  This is false reasoning.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     If a man has extremely abnormal fear of germs so that he becomes a fanatic for washing and sterilizing everything continuously, would his unfounded fears prove that germs were really nonexistent, and, therefore, nothing to worry about?  It proves no such thing, nor does extreme fear and preoccupation with demons prove that such creatures are imaginary.  Other skeptics object that if demons are real we would see today the same things we see the New Testament.</B></div> <div> <B>The same objection could be made concerning the great plagues that swept Europe killing thousands of people.  If that was true, why do we not see the same thing today?  The answer is obvious.  We have learned how to conquer this enemy.  The same is true concerning demon possession.  We do see it because where people are enlightened with the Gospel Satan cannot operate as effectively.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     Demon possession is common on the mission field, and the records of it are extensive.  Many are just like legion.  They go naked and cut themselves, and shriek, and in the name of Christ they are cast out.  This phenomenon of exorcism has a long history which goes back even before the time of Christ.  Josephus traces it back to Solomon and writes, "God also enabled him (i.e. Solomon) to learn the skill which expels demons, which is a service useful and sanitive to man.  He composed such incantations also by which distempers are alleviated, and he left behind him the manner of using exorcisms, by which they drive away demons, so that they never return; and this method of cure is of great force unto this day."  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     The truth of this is confirmed by Jesus Himself when He responded to the accusation that He was casting out demons by the power of the devil himself, by saying, "By whom do your sons cast them out?"  Even the unsaved can cast out demons, for Jesus said many will come before Him at judgment saying, "Did we not cast out demons in thy name, and do many mighty works in thy name?"  Jesus will reply that He never knew them.  In other words, though the reality of exorcism is Biblical, performing it is no proof that one is a child of God.  There are many marvelous and mysterious things that take place in this world, but because they are true, it is no reason for Christians to pursue them.  Our only interest in the mysterious realm of demons is to be an interest in keeping them, by the power of Christ, as close to nonexistence as possible.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>      The exorcism of Jesus was not indirect and accomplished by means of ritual or incantation.  He spoke directly with authority, and the demons fled.  In Mark 1:27, after his first exorcism, the people were amazed and said, "For with authority commanded he even the unclean spirits, and they do obey him."  Jesus gave the same power to His disciples.  In Mark 3:14-15 we read, "And He appointed 12 to be with Him, and to be sent out to preach, and have authority to cast out demons."  Again in Mark 6:7 we read, "And He called to Him the 12, and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits."  In verses 12 and 13 we read, "So they went out and preached that men should repent, and they cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many that were sick and healed them.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     When the 70 that Jesus sent out came back they were amazed at their power in His name.  In Luke 10:17-19 we read the strongest passage in the New Testament of Christ's Lordship over the forces of Satan.  "The 70 returned with joy saying, 'Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!"  And He said to them, 'I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.  Behold, I have given  you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you.'"  Resist the devil and he will flee from you is the advice of James.  In Christ we have the power to escape, and even to defeat the demons of hell.  The gates of hell cannot prevail against the church of Christ.  We can say, "Get thee behind me Satan," and when said in the name of Christ it forces him to back off.  The Lordship of Christ needs to be practiced as well as believed.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     This first exorcism of an evil spirit was the beginning of a long history of the power of Christ through His church to cast out demons.  Back in 150 A.D. Justin Martyr in his Apology wrote that large numbers of possessed people, who could not be helped by the magicians or herbalist, were being healed in the name of Christ.  Tertullian a little later called the demons gods, and he said that when they were cast out they confessed that they were demon-gods.  Cyprian in the third century said that all Christians had the power to cast our demons.  Even women were equal to men in this way.  It was a sign that the church represented the kingdom of God.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     Through the middle ages there was a constant battle to distinguish between the demoniacal and the diseased.  This was made harder by the fact that so many people tried to fake demonization.  In 692 the Trullan Synod ordered that, "Those who pretend to be demonics shall have to undergo the same hardships and deprivation as those who are truly possessed."  Confusion led the Catholic church to make exorcism an official duty limited to the priest.  In 1614 The Rituale Romanum was formed which only the priests could use as a method of exorcism, and ever since the casting out of demons has been institutionalized in the Catholic church. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     During the middle ages possessed Christians were a regular part of the Christian community.  They were permitted to participate in all the services, and prayers were said for them.  Debate was strong as to whether they should be permitted to be baptized.  These possessed Christians would have periods of being  completely normal, and then suddenly they would be attacked.  When they were normal they were just like all the rest of the Christians.  In 441 A.D. the Council of Orange made this rule: "Possessed who have been baptized and are under clerical care should be admitted to communion, so that they might be strengthened in their resistance to wicked enemies, or cleansed after such attacks."  There were no clear distinctions between the mentally ill and the demonized at this point.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     There was great debate over whether a possessed person should be ordained or not.  Some said if he was delivered, it would be okay.  Others were of the strong opinion that even the delivered should not be ordained because of the danger of relapse.  Demonized Christians in leadership was a big issue just as divorced Christians in leadership is today.  St. Benedict made this his ruling:  "Anyone who, after receiving holy ordination, suffers from possession, but is certain that he has overcome it, should be permitted by his superior to exercise the tasks for which he has been qualified by the previously received ordination."  Clearly, if the clergy can become possessed, the church recognized that any Christian could become a demonized Christian.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     As the centuries passed, however, exorcism became less and less of a priority.  In the early centuries it was as significant in the life of the church as it was in the life of Christ.  At the beginning of the third century Tertullian claimed that only Christians could expel demons, and he wrote to his pagan critics who wanted to surpress the Christian community, "Who would deliver you from these secret foes, ever busy both destroying your souls and ruining your health?  Who would save you, I mean, from the attacks of these spirits of evil, which without reward or hire we exercise?"  We do not have the time to pursue the whole history, but let it suffice to say there has been exorcism of demons all through history.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     Charles Spurgeon wrote, "He that knows what human nature is will be astonished at nothing evil that it produces.  I do not mean human nature unrenewed by grace, but I mean that carnal nature which remains even in the disciple of Christ."  Spurgeon is saying that the Christian is capable of any evil, and can still be a tool of Satan.  We would like to believe that when godly men fall they were not really godly at all, but the fact is, true people of God can be deceived and come under the power of the demonic.  Spiritual warfare is real, and even the good guys get hurt and killed in this war.  It is time for us to take the conflict of the Savior and Satan seriously.  We need to recognize that we live in a world of madness for which there is only one cure, and that it Christ.  Ignorance, deception, and madness are just as real today as they were in the day of Christ.  It is our responsibility to see that the victory over evil is just as real today as it was then.  We need to be casting out the demonic in our lives and our culture in the name of Jesus, the Master over all madness. </B></div> <div> <B>     </B></div> <div> <B>     </B></div> <div> <B>MEDICAL MISSIONS  Based on Mark 5:1-20</B></div> <div> <B>By Pastor Glenn Pease</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     Everyone of us lives with a doctor, and to make it even better the doctor we live with can write prescriptions and get the medicine delivered immediately.  It you think you don't take drugs, it is only because you do not know what your doctor is doing.  Your doctor is your brain.  I have had a lot of doctors in my life, but my most personal and faithful doctor is a real brain.  He is my brain and yours is your brain.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     Richard Bergland of the Harvard University School of Medicine has presented evidence that the brain of man is a literal pharmacy.  It is more than the center of consciousness.  It is a gland which secretes a prolific number of drugs which keep the body healthy, or help if fight to get health back.  The brain has the capacity to write out prescriptions in an almost infinite number of combinations to meet the body's varied needs.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     Dr. Carmine Clemente of the UCLA Brain Research Institute has confirmed these studies, and says the number of the secretions the brain can produce are almost beyond calculation.  The number of them he says can be activated by mere thought or emotion.  If we just imagine a challenge or a danger the brain will produce a chemical that prepares the body for defense.  The brain produces a whole family of substances called endorphins.  The word means, "The morphine within."  In other words, our brain has the power to produce its own narcotics to relieve the body of pain.  We are all walking drug stores because of the marvelous medical organ God created for us in the brain.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     But like all wonderful things it can be misused and lead to harmful rather than helpful effects.  The brain was used by Satan to destroy the people of New Guinea.  About 40 years ago a dreaded disease called KURU threatened to wipe out the Foie people there.  43% of the women and a lesser percent of the men all died of this mysterious illness.  Dr. Carleton Gajdusek went as a medical missionary to these people.  He discovered the disease was spread through the black art of soccer.  The brains of dead people were mixed into the food of unsuspecting victims, and this lead to the disease.  It was a dormant virus, however, and may not show up for several years, so nobody could see any connection.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     There is no cure for the disease, but it can be easily prevented by avoiding sorcery.  Missionaries began to teach the people the cause of the disease, and in those villages where people listened there were no more cases.  They used their brain and stopped eating dead brains, and so they eliminated that disease that almost eliminated them.  This true story from Wycliff Bible Translators illustrates how essential medical missions are to the task of fulfilling the Great Commission.  People cannot hear the Gospel and read the Word of God if their bodies are being destroyed by demon designed diseases which rob them of life.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>      People have to be saved before they can be saved.  That is, they have to be delivered from temporal death in order to be delivered from eternal death.  One of Satan's most effective ways of insuring the doom of masses is to kill them by their own ignorance, and keep them in bondage to evil practices.  We have no idea what caused the madman in our text to be mad, but one thing is for sure, he was not a likely prospect for the 4 spiritual laws, or the Romans road, or any other presentation of the Gospel.  The man was in bondage to demon power, and the only way he could be of any value to himself, others, or the kingdom of God was to be released from that bondage.  That is the essence of what medical missions is all about.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     Under the heavy oppression of starving to death, or dying of a disease, people are not open to the Gospel.  But if you can set them free from these temporal tyrants, they may be open to hear about what else they can receive in the name of Jesus.  That is why medical missions have been a key factor in winning people from all cultures to Christ.  What we want to focus on in this complex text is a couple of simple facts.  The first thing this text reveals is that-</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>I.  JESUS WAS A MEDICAL MISSIONARY.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     Jesus did not heal Jews only.  He was open to healing any Gentile that came to Him.   The Roman Centurian came to Him and He gladly healed his servant.  The Syrophonecian woman came to Him and He healed her daughter.  The feeding of the 4000 was in a Gentile area, but the feeding of the 5000 was in a Jewish area.  Jesus healed any who came to Him, but this is the first text where Jesus went into Gentile territory to heal a person.  Jesus is going across the Sea of Galilee to the Gentile territory of the Gerasenes, or Gaderenes, as some manuscripts have it.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     Jesus was an oversea missionary.  You don't have to go overseas to be a missionary, but the fact is, you do have to cross some boundary for the idea to have any meaning.  C. Everett Koop, the Surgeon General of the United States for many years, has been a leader in medical missions for decades, and he has provided us with this definition:  "A missionary is a believer who penetrates a new area of life with the Christian Gospel by crossing a boundary which may be geographic, social, cultural, or a boundary in belief."  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     The key idea is the crossing  of a boundary, for that is what makes you a missionary.  As long as you stay in the comfort zone where everyone is just like you basically, you are a witness or evangelist, but when you cross over a boundary where people are different, then you become a missionary to them.  Jesus was obviously in non-Jewish territory in our text, for there were 2000 pigs being cared for, and this would never be seen on the other side where the Jews live.  Jesus was in foreign territory.  He crossed the boundary to make it clear He cared about the Gentiles who were in bondage to Satan.  Some were so enslaved they were like this mad man.  Jesus came to heal this man and set him free, and this has been the motive of medical missions all through history.  The motive is to set men free so that can be well and in their right mind give their lives to the kingdom of light.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     The modern missionary movement began with medical missions.  Dr. John Thomas was born in 1757.  He grew up to become a ship's surgeon in the British Navy.  At age 27 he became a Christian, and he wanted to become a preacher.  A small Baptist church called him to be their pastor, but his friends discouraged it.  Instead, he sailed for the second time to India, and near Calcutta he became a missionary.  He learned the Bengali language and began to preach.  In 1792 he went back to England to raise support.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>      William Carey, the father of modern missions, was just facing the Baptists Missionary Society.  When they met John Thomas they were sold on him as the first missionary they wanted to support.  So a doctor became the first Baptist missionary from England.   Carey went with him to India and reported on the many lives he saved by his medical knowledge.  His most famous patient was Krishna Pal, who became their first convert.  This Hindu came to him for healing, and while Dr. Thomas set his dislocated shoulder Krishna Pal repented and asked Jesus to be his Savior.  Like people all over the world, when he was healed he wanted to respond to the love that made that healing possible, and that was the love of Christ.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     That one healed arm was the beginning of a whole arm of the church being formed in the land of India.  A physical healing led to a multitude of spiritual healings.  Don't ever discount the powerful effect that healing can have as the forerunner of evangelism.  Most of the growth of the church on the mission field that has been radical had its origin in healing.  Healing is the number one phenomenon for breaking down walls in all cultures, and making it easy for people to come to Christ. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     William Carey had to carry on the medical work when Dr. Thomas died, and even though he was not trained he learned plenty from watching the doctor.  He went on practicing medicine for healing was a key factor in opening people up to listen to the Gospel.  If you study the origin of missions all over the world, you will discover that most of the fields were opened up by medical missions.  There is almost no nation on earth that will say  no to somebody who says I want to heal your body.  Bodily healing is universal need, and everybody loves those who have answers for healing.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     Jesus gave dignity to the body, for not only did He take on a body as the Son of God, but He healed the body and thereby said it is worthy of divine energy.  It is worth a great price to restore the body to health.  That is why Christian missions has always been promoters of healing.  Christian brains have been the key to healing through most of history.  Nestorius was the Patriarch of Constantinople, but he could not go along with the church doctrine of Theotokos which means declaring Mary to be the mother of God.  In 431 A.D. the Council of Ephesus denounced the Nestorians as heretics, and they were compelled to flee.  They went to Mesopotamia and took up the study of medicine in the town of Edessa.  They established a school of medicine and two hospitals, and became the center of medical knowledge in the world.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     Keep in mind it was the dark ages, and all the medical wisdom of man from the ancient world had been rejected by the church.  Superstition had replaced the science of Hippocrits and Gallen.  Intolerance of this revival of Greek learning and medicine forced the Nestorians to get out of Christian territory altogether, and seek refuge in Persia where the Shaw was opened to medical learning.  He became fanatical and ordered Plato and Aristotle and all the Greek works to be translated into Arabic.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     The paradox is  that the Moslem world became the center of International medicine because of the Christian Nestorians.  They not only established hospitals, they gave the Moslem world all of the wisdom of the Greeks.  There were no scientific books in Arabic.  The Moslem world became so hungry for this knowledge that the world was ransacked for ancient manuscripts, and they were taken by caravan to the Nestorians who translated all of the Greek wisdom into Arabic.  The brains of Christians led to a revival of learning in the Moslem world.  That led to hospitals being built all over the Islamic world so that Moslem capitals like Baghdad, Damascus, Cairo, and Cordova all became medical centers.  The Khalifs began a new tradition by building a school and hospital attached to every mosque.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     This Arab revival of learning did finally touch Europe and became a foundation for their revival called the Renaissance.  The point of this amazing history is that it was Christian brains that kept medical knowledge alive, and preserved it for the modern world.  This pattern has continued so that medical knowledge all over the pagan world, which has healed millions, has come largely through Christian minds and their medical missions.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     Medical historians recognize that if someone had not preserved the Greek wisdom, modern medicine would not have existed.  It was Christian minds which established that the scientific method of the ancient Greeks was of God.  Thomas Sydenham, the prince of practical physics, who laid the foundation of modern clinical medicine by reinstatuting the Hippocratic method, was a dedicated Christian.  In his first book in the 17th century he wrote, "Whatever skill or knowledge he (the physician) may, by divine favor, become possessed of, should be devoted above all things to the glory of God and the welfare of the human race.  Moreover, let him remember that it is not any base or despicable creature of which he has undertaken the care.  For the only begotten Son of God, by becoming man, recognized the value of the human race, and ennobled by His own dignity the nature He assumed."  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     The second simple fact that we want to see from this amazing and complex healing miracle is that it reveals-</B></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>II.  THE MOTIVE OF MEDICAL MISSIONS.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     You will notice that when the healed demoniac begged to go with Jesus and be with Him, Jesus refused.  It seems cruel in a way, but Jesus did not go the Gentile land to get another disciple to follow Him.  He said to Him that he should go home and tell his family how much the Lord has done for him.  The motive of Jesus in healing him and restoring him to his right mind is that he might have a witness in that land to share the good news of God's mercy.  The man obeyed and became one of, if not the very first, Gentile missionary to his own people.  People were amazed at his story, and that is what Jesus wanted.  He wanted people to be aware that the kingdom of God had come into the world, and now there is a power on earth greater than the power of evil.  That is the motive behind this miracle and the history of the church reveals just why this is so important to the fulfillment of the great commission.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     In Acts 3 Peter healed the lame man, and the people in Jerusalem were amazed.  </B></div> <div> <B>     In Acts 8 when Philip healed many and cripples began to walk, the people of Samaria were overwhelmed with joy.</B></div> <div> <B>     In Acts 28 Paul had the same response when he healed the father of Publius on Malta, and all the sick on the island flocked to him.</B></div> <div> <B>     It is all very simple:  When people see that the power which accompanies the Gospel is more powerful than the evil which oppresses them, they gladly respond to the Gospel.  This is called power evangelism, and is the most effective type of evangelism.  The motive for all healing, be it medical or faith healing, is to bring people to Christ, and lead them to trust Him as Savior.  Healing is a means to evangelism, and a very effective one because it appeals to all people of all classes in all cultures.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     In 1954 two missionaries came to Round Lake, Ontario, Canada.  The natives there had the Bible, and they asked them how do we know you are not the wolves who are to come in the last days to deceive us?  The missionaries said, "By our fruits you will know us."  The natives responded, "Our Bible says you will be able to  put oil on people and they will be healed."  The missionaries had never done this and they had no oil, but it was either try or be rejected as false prophets.  They had some shell aviation oil, and since the Bible was not specific as to what was kosher, they used it and anointed two children who had been sick for a long time.  They then went to bed and the next morning woke up to a village full of excitement.  The two children were well and eating breakfast.  The people were convinced and turned to Christ.  The church there became the largest in that whole area.  Healing was the key to open their skeptical minds to see that the Gospel was authentic.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     John Wimber in his course on Signs And Wonders at Fuller Theological Seminary has compiled a record of how the healing ministry has been the key to church growth all around the world.  William Harris was a Liberian who received the gift of healing and went to the Ivory Coast in the 1920's.  He learned that the wife of the chief was sick and dying.  He went to her and said, "Touch this cross and get up and walk."  She did just that, and the entire village was converted to Christ.  This story has been repeated over and over.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     Donald McGaveran, a leading authority on church growth in the world, tells of an Indian community in South Africa that was opposed to Christian missions.  The only way that tribe was penetrated was by a series of healing campaigns.  This led to tens of thousands of people coming to Christ.  In Chile, the largest Protestant denomination grew from 0% to 35%  of the 12 million population in 80 years by the power of signs and wonders.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     Medical or miraculous healing have one primary purpose, and that is to convince people that the power of Christ is greater than the power they now serve.  When people see the love that heals their bodies they develop a rapid faith and hope, and are ready to revolt against the kingdom that has enslaved them and blinded them, and surrender to a new Master-the Lord Jesus.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     That is why Mission Aviation Fellowship is flying doctors and medicine all over the world to reach people in remote places.  The only way these people will respond to the Gospel is to see the power of Christian love demonstrated in their bodies.  Healing is the great persuader, for it crosses all boundaries.  People of every tribe, tongue, and language, with all the cultural differences, know when they have been healed.  It may take years to get the Bible into their language, and years more to help them grasp Christian theology, but healing can happen in a moment, and when it does they are open to listen and respond.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     One of the paradoxes of history is that the reason there are so many non-Christians in the world is due  in great measure to Christian medical missions.  Epidemics wiped out pagans by the millions until Christian missionaries came to them with medicine to save them.  The pagan religions of the world were basically indifferent to the care of the body.  It was Christian missionaries who brought modern Western medicine to the rest of the world.  In most parts of the world the first hospital, the first school, the first asylum for the blind and mentally ill, the first medical book, and the first organization concerned for healing of any kind, was brought by the missionaries.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     Dr. William Wanless opened the first hospital in Bombay, India in the 19th century.  It was nothing but a glorified chicken coop, but today is the beautiful modern Miraj Hospital covering 12 areas.  In the late 1800's a medical missionary James Fanstone accepted the challenge to leave England to go to Brazil.  Today the son of this pioneer heads a hospital which has its own airport because people come from all over Brazil to receive its healing ministry. They started the first school of nursing in Brazil, and today there are graduates are snapped up as fast as they can produce them.  The three largest hospitals in Brazil have their graduates as their head nurse.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     The point is, you can go around the world and discover that the healing ministry of the church has been one of the key means of fulfilling the great commission.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>      </B></div> <div> <B>THE STOLEN MIRACLE   Based on Mark 5:21-34</B></div> <div> <B>By Pastor Glenn Pease</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     Art Linkletter, some years back, told about the 4 year old son of a Florida woman who got up one morning dragging his leg.  The mother could not find anything wrong with it.  This went on for two days, but he did not complain of any pain.  On the third day the worried mother took him to her pediatrician.  The doctor checked him carefully and could find nothing amiss, and so he sent him to the children's hospital for x-rays.  Again, nothing was found to cause his problem.  Meanwhile little Geoffrey still walked dragging one leg.  Finally after two days of testing one of the doctors asked him, "Geoffrey, why do you have to drag one leg when  you walk?"  The little guy replied, "I'm Chester.  I work for Mr Dillion."  Such is the power of TV.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     X-rays could penetrate his body and enable the doctors to see his insides, but nothing can penetrate the mind to enable anyone to see the workings of imagination.  This is the unseen realm of the human mind where pictures are developed that can radically altar the world of the seen.  In his imagination this little guy could see himself as something and someone nobody else could see, and that image was determining his behavior.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     I saw this power of imagination at work in my oldest granddaughter many years back.  We had just listened to the story of Little Red Riding Hood on a record, and I felt it was well done.  It taught the danger of speaking to strangers.  Little Red Riding Hood should not have spoken to the wolf and told him of her plan to go to grandma's house.  From my perspective is was a good lesson for Sarah to hear.  As I turned the record player off, Sarah responded with her evaluation.  "Parents should never let little girls go to grandma's house all by themselves."  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     Not there was an insight I never thought of.  She saw it from a different perspective, and sure enough she was right too.  You don't just send little girls out into wolf infested woods by themselves.  So by the power of her imagination she saw a lesson for adults as well as children in that story.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     The point is, there is no end to the possibilities of seeing more and more in everything as let our imagination grapple with issues.  It was by the use of his imagination that Leonardo da Vinci visualized so many of life's modern inventions centuries before they became a reality.  He pictured even things like the submarine and the helicopter.  Everything that is began first in the mind.  George Bernard Shaw said, "Imagination is the beginning of creation."  We know that everything that God made was in His mind first, and even the plan of salvation with the cross and resurrection were in God's mind in eternity before they became a part of history.  All art, buildings, and bridges, and all that man creates also begins with an image in the mind.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     The mind has the ability to see the unseen.  It can see something as being real even before it is real, and this seeing of it is the first step in the process of making it real.  Faith gets into the picture here by believing what the mind can imagine or visualize can, in fact, be made to become a part of reality.  Faith, therefore, starts in the mind and its power to imagine or to visualize.  Faith sees the mental image and says, that can become an actual physical image.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>       This has tremendous implications for healing, because the body does not have the ability to distinguish between a vivid mental image and an actual physical experience.  In other words, the mind can fool the body.  It can, by a powerful image, make the body respond, just as if that image was an objective physical reality.  The image is only pre-reality.  It exists in the mind only, but it can become reality by its impact on the body.  It is the age old idea of mind over matter.  It is now a major factor in the world of scientific healing, and it is a major factor in the world of spiritual healing.  Science and faith are becoming more and more one when it comes to the recognition of the power of visualization for healing.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     Elmer and Alyce Green of the Menninger Clinic tell in the book, Beyond Biofeedback, how people can be trained to control their body by visualizing.</B></div> <div> <B>They can even cut off the blood supply to a tumor in their body and deny it life. </B></div> <div> <B>They can also increase the flow of blood to other parts of their body and heal themselves of all sorts of problems.  I know a pastor who controls serious pain by his training in biofeedback.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     Dr. Nicholas Hall of the George Washington Medical Center in Washington D.C. has reported that people can, by imaging, cause their body to increase the white blood cells and the T helper cells that make their immune system more effective.  Patients who are good at visualization have, by their imagination, caused cancer to vanish, and have cured many other diseases.   The literature on this is so vast, and as I became exposed to it my question was, I wonder if there is an example of this kind of healing in the ministry of Jesus?  It seemed like there should be, for it ties in with faith so perfectly, and it is universal in its potential. All men can by this means have access to healing. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>      Such a law or principle of healing should be seen somewhere in the healing of the Great Physician.  So I began to search for it.  I found it in the experience of this woman who had a flow of blood for 12 years.  She became an ideal Biblical example of the millions who have been victims of man's medical ignorance.  She is also an example of the millions who have been victors through mental imaging.  She was both victim and victor, and, therefore, one with whom a large percentage of mankind can identify.  Let's look at her first as-</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>I.  A VICTIM.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     After 12 long years of trying every remedy the doctors of her day could dream up she was not relieved of anything but her wealth.  She still had her bad health, and the text tells us she was even worse.  It would be hard to get excited about your next appointment after 12 years of fruitless treatment.  There is no way to know how much torture she had to endure, and how many gallons of nauseous drugs she had to swallow, but we do know she had to have shed many tears of disappointment as one after another of the prescriptions proved worthless to stem the flow of her life blood.  We can picture an anemic and anxious woman who left no stone unturned to find a cure, and all she had to show for it was many a turned stone.  She was in the category of the incurable.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     She was a guinea pig, and they tried everything that could be thought of, but nothing worked.  You can't really blame the doctors though many use this text to do so.  The fact is, doctors did not have any really powerful medicine until the 19th century.  For centuries the only reason any of the concoctions they prescribed had any positive effect was because of the placebo effect.  People believed it was good for them and so they got better.  The Jewish Talmud, for example, recommends that a woman with a flow of blood drink a goblet of wine with a powder of rubber, alum and garden crocuses or Persian onions cooked in wine.  Some tried sudden shock, or the carrying of an ostrich egg in a special cloth.</B></div> <div> <B>Ridiculous remedies, but sometimes they worked for psychosomatic reasons.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     For some reason this poor woman had no faith in anything she was given, and the result was she was worse rather than better.  She was not only physically ill, but she was unclean and a social outcast.  She was not much better off than the leper.  One of the reasons she acted so secretly was because she was ashamed to be known publicly, and embarrassed to have her problem exposed to everyone.  She didn't  even want Jesus to know.  She just wanted to steal a miracle from Him, and then slip quietly away, and never have a soul know what happened.  She was not looking to be on the front page, she didn't even want back page coverage.  She just wanted  a hit and run healing known only to her.  She had been victim enough because of her problem, and she wanted nothing more but obscurity.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     It was good to see this humanly hopeless case of the chronically ill victim, for her healing is hope to all who feel their case is hopeless.  Spurgeon pointed out that the church of Laodicea was so sick that Jesus said, "I will spew thee out of  my mouth."  That is really bad when the Lord of the church is ready to spit you out.  But it was to this church that Jesus said, "Behold I stand at the door and knock.  If any man hears my voice and opens the door I will come in and eat with him and he with me."  Jesus gave that sick church a visual image of Himself at the door ready to come in and heal their relationship.  If they get this image in their minds and believe it, as sick as they are, they can be made whole again.  This woman was a pathetic victim of her disease, but we want to look at the good news of how she too became a powerful victor.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>II.  A VICTOR.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     This woman is to healing what Roger Bannister is to the world of sports-a marvelous example of the power of belief.  Bannister lived in a world where it was believed that the four minute mile was impossible.  It was beyond the physical capacity of the human body.  Athletes could come close, but nobody could break this barrier. Bannister, in spite of the history of failure, believed he could break that barrier and he visualized himself doing it, and the result is that he became the first person to ever do it. Once he shattered that image of its impossibility it became possible for other to follow. Six weeks later John Landy of Australia broke it, and soon athletes all over the world were doing it until it became a commonplace event with hundreds of runners doing it. Once the mental barrier was broken it became possible.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     It became a vital part of athletic training that the event be first won in the mind before done in the body. Visualization is now a universal method of training. You would have a hard time finding a great athlete in the world who does not practice visualization. They relax and perform their event over and over in their mind until it is perfected.  Research shows that those who spend three fourths of their time in mental training do better than those who spend all their time in actually doing their event.  It is not practice that makes perfect, but visualizing makes perfect.  If you expect to be a victor, you need to be a visualizer.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     This same principle has been discovered to apply in the realm of healing as well.  Those who are most likely to win  in the battle for health over all the foes that would defeat them are the visualizers.  This discovery here revolutionized the world of healing just as it has the world of sports.  Visualization is now a therapy that does wonders in the world of healing.  It uses the mind as the most potent medicine for destroying intruders.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     A young boy was taken to the Mayo Clinic because he had a tumor on his brain.  The doctor said all treatment was futile, but they heard of this new imaging technique, and they wanted to give it a try.  The boy was told to imagine rocket ships flying around in his head shooting at his tumor.  The tumor was the bad guys, and the rocket ships were the good guys blasting these invaders out of the universe.  He was playing video games in his mind.  After a couple of months of this game he told his father one day that he took a trip through his head, and his rocket ships could not find his tumor anymore.  When they gave him another cat scan they found his cancer was completely eradicated.  He had won the battle with a mind game.  He had terminal cancer, but he had terminated the terminator by the power of visualization.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     If this was only an isolated incident, we could categorize itas an item for Ripley's Believe It Or Not, or The National Enquirer, and call it a freak event with no relevance for the masses.  But it is not a freak event, for this type of healing is going on all the time, and this woman in our text is an example of how visualization was working even in the New Testament.  It is simply faith at work.        </B></div> <div> <B>Note carefully verse 28 where it says, "She thought in her mind, if I can just touch His clothes I will be healed."  Here is a clear case of visualization.  She had an image in her mind of her body being made whole.  She did not come to Jesus saying that she had tried everything else, so I just as well give this a shot too.  Not at all!  She came with a solid conviction that this was finally her answer.  If I can just touch His clothes, the battle of 12 years will be over, and I will be a normal well woman again.  She had the victory in her mind before it became a reality in her body, and that is what visualization is all about.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     The image she had in her mind was only pre-reality, but it was potent enough to become reality.  Had she touched Jesus without her vision she would have just been another bump in the crowd, and no power would have gone out of Jesus to heal her.  Technically Jesus did not heal this woman.  He did not see her and say I have compassion on you, nor did He take any willful action to help her.  This is a very unusual miracle.  It is one of a kind, and that is why I have called it the stolen miracle.  It was not given by Jesus, but was taken from Him.  Jesus felt the flow of power out of Him.  He did not send it forth voluntarily.  It was drawn out of Him involuntarily.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     This opens up the whole fascinating world of healing based on obedience to the laws of healing.  Which can be independent of the healer.  Visualization is a method of healing that is used by secular science, the world of the occult, the new age movement, and by pagan religions and witch doctors.  In other words, there is nothing exclusively Christian about this principle of healing.  It is popular everywhere, and this has lead many Christians to be very anti-visualization.  It is a basic tool for healing that is often anti-Christian.  This is where the Christian needs to be wise as a serpent and harmless as a dove.  We need to be discerning so as not to be caught up in superstition and occult practices.  On the other hand, we need to make sure Satan does not rob us of what God wants us to have.  He robbed Adam and Eve of paradise, and he could rob us of precious gifts God desires us to possess.  We need to pay attention so we do not lose a victory God wants to give us.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     The Bible is the sole authority for our faith and practice.  If something is not Biblical, it has no authority in the Christian life, even if the whole world raves about it.  If it is Biblical, then it is legitimate for the Christian, even if the whole world rejects it.  Visualization is a unique concept.  It is a Biblical concept, however, and we see it in practice here, but it is so effective and so universal that non-Christians also use it.  This confuses Christians, for they wonder how we can practice the same things as they do.  It seems like we are falling for their ideas if we promote the things they promote.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>      All though history this has been the problem of orthodox Christians.  The cults pick up a truth that the orthodox Christians have ignored, and they make it central to their theology.  In order to distance themselves from the heretics the Christians reject the truth they highlight.  This gives the cults all the more power for growth because they can show that the truth is Biblical that the orthodox Christians reject.  This becomes a big tool for their opposition to Christians.  The wise way of dealing with this sort of thing is to admit the truth has been neglected, and then start giving it its rightful place in orthodox theology.  This is the way the issue of visualization needs to be handled.  Don't give up this powerful tool to the anti-Christian forces, but recognize that the laws which make it powerful are God given, and will work for all who will obey them.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     If you follow the foolish route of rejecting all that is made a central part of the cults, you will have to be consistent and reject prayer itself.  There is not a false religion or cult in all the world that does not use prayer.  If your philosophy is to find out what the bad guys are doing and stop doing it, you will soon be anti-Christian yourself.  The devil even uses the Bible, and so if you refuse to use a tool because the devil uses it, you will have to even reject the Bible.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     My point is, visualization is a powerful tool for healing, and everybody under the sun has seen this.  Do not reject it or refuse to use it because it works for non-Christian forces as well.  Electricity also works for them, but I have never heard anyone giving it up because satanic forces use it.  Printing presses also work for evil forces, but we ought not to stop printing Bibles and Christian literature because of it.  Most Christians who study visualization in depth see it as a powerful tool God has given to men, and we are to use this tool for healing just like all other tools God has given.  Jesus did not rebuke this woman for her visualization, but linked it with faith, and said her faith made her well.  Faith is a  visualization of what could be real, and a trust that Christ will make it real.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     After 12 years of failure this woman had the faith to believe that success was only a touch away.  Many preachers are convinced that this was superstition.  The great Spurgeon even called it superstition, and a great blunder in thinking that there was any healing power in the garment of Christ.  But he said in one of his 6 sermons on this, which he considered one of the most fascinating miracles in the New Testament, "She truly believed in Him, and if you believe in Christ, though you are in dark about a thousand things, your faith will save you."  If your mind is open to an image of what Christ can do, that image can become true, even if the means of getting there is strange, and not necessarily an approved method.  Stealing a miracle is nowhere recommended, but this woman did it successfully.  But is was her faith and her ability to visualize that is the value for the rest of the world.  As far as we know, no one else ever stole a miracle from Jesus, but millions have by faith visualized His healing power and have been made whole.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     Jesus was not like the arch of the covenant.  Anyone who reached out and touched it would receive a flow of power that would electrocute them.  Jesus was far more sacred then that sacred object, for He was the very Son of God, but He was touchable.  Those who see this have developed a whole new concept of healing we can only mention.  People are taught to visualize Jesus coming into their lives at various points in their experience when they have sinned.  And they ask Jesus to forgive them and heal them.  The more real the visualization, the more powerful the healing.  Others come before the throne of grace and visualize Jesus reaching out to touch and heal them.  The point is, Jesus is still in the healing business.  Nobody is always healed, but everybody may be, and visualization is a key tool for helping it to happen.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     How can anybody see beyond 12 years of complete failure and worthless treatment?  The only way is by faith; a faith that is able to visualize in the mind what can be.  This is the only healing miracle in the New Testament where all three Gospels record it with a focus on faith.  It is the greatest faith healing in all the Bible.  Such faith can even steal a miracle, but that is not necessary.  Jesus gladly wants to give miracles of healing with such faith.  There is no telling how many miracles we might experience if we could practice this art of visualizing Jesus at work in our lives-forgiving, healing, and making real that which we have been able to imagine.  Let us pray that we will be motivated to use our minds more effectively for the purpose of healing in the body. </B></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>FEAR OR FAITH   Based on Mark 5:21-24, 35-43</B></div> <div> <B>By Pastor Glenn Pease</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     The Golden Gate Bridge in California got way behind schedule when it was being built.  There were so many causalities, and the men were afraid of falling off.  A huge safety net was placed beneath the area of operations, but for a time this made no difference.  Then a riveter fell off into the net.  When he came up smiling the men knew they were safe, and from that moment the project leaped ahead.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     When fear rules men are cowards.  When faith reigns men are courageous.  Carlyle said that the ultimate question every man has to face and answer for himself is this:  "Wilt thou be a hero or a coward?"  This was the decision Jairus, the ruler of the synagogue, had to make in the crisis he faced when his daughter was dying, and even pronounced dead.  He was caught in a bind, for the facts seem to support fear, and yet Jesus in verse 36 said, "Be not afraid, only believe."  Jesus was saying that faith is the only soil in which the seed of hope will grow.  If you forsake faith, the plant will wither, and you will be a victim of fear.  Don't do it Jesus said.  Don't give in to fear even when all the evidence supports it, for faith is not limited by the evidence.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     Faith not only can change the future, it can altar the past.  Faith not only rises above the knowledge of man, it sometimes must choose to go even contrary to knowledge.  The unknown can stimulate either fear or faith, courage or cowardice.  By the authority of Jesus the Christian is to choose faith, even in the face of negative evidence.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>          Faith, mighty faith, promise sees, </B></div> <div> <B>               And looks to God alone;</B></div> <div> <B>          Laughs at impossibilities</B></div> <div> <B>               And cries, it shall be done!</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>But sometimes it doesn't get done.  Sometimes the impossibilities laugh back.  The fearful forces of evil win the battle.  The storm does sink the ship.  The sick child does die.  The maniac is not cured and the disease is not healed.  There is much evidence to support those who chose the way of fear rather than faith.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>      If Jesus meant to teach by His series of miracles in Mark 4 and 5, in which He conquered danger, demons, disease, and death, that the Christian need never worry about these, since he would be miraculously spared from them all, then we have great reason to be disappointed.  The fact is that Christians do suffer from all of these afflictions, and none yet have escaped death.  The purpose of Jesus in all of these miracles is to convey to us that we need not fear any evil when it strikes, and succeeds in doing its worst, for as Lord of all He is superior to all the forces that produce fear. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>      The demons had succeeded in making the man a slave.  The sickness of the woman in verses 25-34 had succeeded in making her life miserable for 12 years.  Death had succeeded in taking the life of this 12 year old child.  Jesus does not pretend that all of these evils are just fictions.  They are real, but He makes it clear that they are only temporal.  Therefore, fear ought not to be our motivation in life, but faith ought to be, for faith leads to the ultimate, and is assured of eternal victory over all fearful foes.  All of this show of miraculous power, however, would not have been necessary if fear was not a powerful foe, so let's consider for a while-</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>I.  THE POWER OF FEAR.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     In January of 1966 a federal court jury decided that fear, and fear alone,  is an injury is sufficient to cause death.  This was in connection with the death of 47 year old Ralph Thompson.  He was a third mate on a vessel driven into the center of Valdez, Alaska by the title wave in 1964.  He suffered no visible injury, but fear caused such a psychic injury that he died.  It is a fact that fear can kill you.  You can be scared to death.  It can also make living extremely miserable.  Lloyd C. Douglas said, "If a man harbors any sort of fear, it percolates through all his thinking, damages his personality, makes him landlord to a ghost."  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     Poor King Herod did not want to kill John the Baptist at the request of a dancing girl, but fear of ridicule drove him to an evil shocking to his own mind. Fear of being mocked and laughed at, or rejected, leads millions of people into doing acts of folly or evil they despise.  They are victims of the power of fear.  They are landlords to a ghost.  Most of the foolish things teenagers do, they do out of fear of being laughed at or rejected by their peers.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     Modern psychiatry has demonstrated that fear has been able to draft a large army of slaves by its power.  It can produce every illness from the common cold to crippling arthritis.  Masses of people are nervous, depressed, irritable, sleepless, and just generally tired all because they are victims of fear.  Fear is a power to be reckoned with.  It challenges faith by performing wonders.  It can take a normal healthy person, and light magic turn them into an invalid.  We think faith is marvelous when it turns the invalid into a normal healthy person.  Why not give fear credit for its power to do the negative and opposite wonder?  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     F. D. Roosevelt knew what he was talking about when he said in 1933, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."  It was not original with him, however, for men have known this all along.  Thoreau wrote, "Nothing is so much to be feared as fear."  The Duke of Wellington said, "The only thing I am afraid of is fear."  Montaigne said, "The thing of which I have most fear is fear."  It is the power that keeps the world in turmoil continuously.  Centuries ago Epictetus said, "It is not death or hardship that is a fearful thing, but the fear of hardship and death."   Once a person is captured by fear there does not have to be any real danger to make him a slave.  The person obsessed with fear soon finds all of life a threat. </B></div> <div> <B>Wordsworth wrote, </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>          My apprehensions came in crowds;</B></div> <div> <B>          I dread the rustling of the grass;</B></div> <div> <B>          The very shadows of the clouds</B></div> <div> <B>          Have power to shake me as they pass;</B></div> <div> <B>          I question things and do not find</B></div> <div> <B>          One that will answer to my mind,</B></div> <div> <B>          And all the world appears unkind.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     This is the kind of fear that evil forces delight in.  Natural fear is a benefit to people, and is a God given instinct for self-protection and preservation, but this neurotic fear makes us slaves rather than free men.  The natural fear of snakes while walking through the jungle is able to keep a man cautious and alive.  The neurotic fear of snakes keeps a man dead to life while he lives.  Dictators make good use of this power of neurotic fear.  Hitler said he could achieve everything with systematic terror.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     Otto Dibelius, bishop of the Evangelical Church of Berlin/ Brandenburg, suffered under the tyranny of Nazism and Communism, and he wrote, "Every totalitarian state proclaims night and day:  "Enemies all around!  If we don't employ our ultimate strength in our defense, we shall be lost the day after tomorrow."  The state must use this fear, in their cowardice people will do everything the state demands.  They will make every sacrifice, intensify their labors-everything for the deity of the state whose power they regard as their only protection."  Fear the means by which the majority of the world are made slaves and puppets by a powerful minority.  None can doubt the great power of fear in our world.  Even the so called free people of the world are slaves of a thousand and one fears.  The evidence is strong that fear is sovereign in our day just as it was in the day of Christ, but Jesus says, "Be not afraid, only believe."  Jesus recognizes the power of fear, but He recognizes faith to be more powerful, and urges us to forsake fear and fly to faith.  Now let us consider-</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>II.  THE POWER OF FAITH.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     Many of the great men of history were cowards until God persuaded them to chose faith over fear.  Moses wanted to be counted out in the great plan of God to deliver the Jews from the Egyptians.  He said he was not eloquent and just could not do it.  Gideon took the same line when God wanted him to lead his people to victory.  His excuse was that he was from such a poor home, and was just a nobody.  So many of God's chosen men were like Saul hiding behind the luggage like fearful cowards when God was looking for faithful heroes.  But when these men chose faith rather than fear they became the very heroes they were sure they could never be.  What fear says is impossible faith brings to pass.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>      A woman who was no longer young, and who was yet unmarried was fearful that she might miss out on this sublime human experience.  So she went to her pastor for advice.  The pastor hid behind a pious platitude and said, "Well the Lord has a plan, one woman for every man, and one man for every woman.  You can't improve on that."  She said, "I don't want to improve on it, I just want to get in on it."  Most of us feel this way about the power of faith over fear.  It is wonderful, and we don't want to improve on it, we just want to get in on it.   Who of us does not long to bid our fears to flee before the power of faith?  Who of us does not want to respond in obedience to Jesus when He says to believe and not be afraid?  Who of us does not desire to say with David, "The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?  The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?"  Certainly the greatest security in life would be in a faith powerful enough to conquer all fears.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     Faith is a risk.  Jesus says, dare to trust me.  He does not give you proof, but like the airlines He says, trust me and try me.  The airlines depend upon faith for their existence.  They cannot prove to you that their mechanics made no mistakes, and that their pilots are beyond error.  Dare to trust us is all they can say.  Faith is a choice you must make before the evidence is all in.  Afterward, there is no need for faith.  When the girl is well you don't need any faith for it is a fact, and you need only to acknowledge it then.  The restaurant says, dare to trust us, our food will not hurt you.  The doctor says, dare to trust me, I will not fail you.  The druggist says, dare to trust me, I will give you only what will help and harm.  Life would come to a screeching halt if we did not live by faith.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>      Helen Keller in her book, Let Us Have Faith, makes it clear that faith is the source of her amazing life of victories in spite of blindness.  "In my doubly shadowed world faith gives me reason for trying to draw harmony out of a marred instrument.  Faith is not a cushion for me to fall back upon, it is my working energy."  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     In 1809 Dr. Ephraim McDowell had to make an agonizing decision.  Mr. Thomas Crawford had traveled 60 miles to see if he could save his life.  The only hope was an abdominal operation that had never been performed.  This backwards doctor knew the chances were slim, and so did everyone else.  A mob gathered and threw a rope over a tree.  They were ready to hang the doctor for murder if the patient died.  He took the risk and the patient lived.  Every operation for appendicitis since goes back to that act of faith over fear.  It happened on a Christmas morning.  By faith he gave life where death was certain, without this act of faith.  Edna St. Vincent Millay wrote,</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>          Not truth, but faith, it is</B></div> <div> <B>          That keeps the world alive.  If all at once </B></div> <div> <B>          Faith were to slacken-that unconscious faith</B></div> <div> <B>          Which must, I know, yet be the cornerstone</B></div> <div> <B>          Of all believing-birds now flying fearless</B></div> <div> <B>          Across would drop in terror to the earth;</B></div> <div> <B>          Fishes would drown; and the all-governing reins</B></div> <div> <B>          Would tangle in the frantic hands of God</B></div> <div> <B>          And the world's gallop headlong to destruction.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     Catherine Marshall said she had this foolish concept of faith for years, that faith was a matter of feeling.  She knew it would be silly to go to the train station and board the first car she saw, and then sit down and try to feel whether or not that was the right train to get her where she wanted to go.  But in the spiritual realm she practiced that, and tried to feel forgiven, for example, instead of trusting God at His word, that if she confessed it, He would forgive.  Faith is so surprisingly simple that it took her a while to realize it was just a matter of trusting God enough to act on His word.  She said, "Were we to use the muscles of our legs as little as we do the muscles of our faith, most of us would be unable to stand."  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     The first thing we need to do is to recognize that faith is a matter of the inner man.  You cannot change the world and all of its real dangers.  They are here and here to stay as long as time shall be.  How one responds to what is, is determined by his inner nature.  Sometimes a herd of cattle can be stampeded by the snap of a finger, while other times a rifle shot will not send them on a rampage.  The difference depends upon their inner condition.  Modern psychology tells us that man is the same.  There is an implosion before and explosion.  That is, he goes to pieces within, and is shattered inside before he explodes on the outside.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     It is faith that keeps the inner man unified and secure so that externals do not fill him with fear and anxiety.  When Jesus said to Jairus, "Do not be afraid, only believe," He was urging him to maintain his trust in Him, and let eternals overthrow it.  What was he to believe?  Was it the doctrine of the trinity, the virgin birth, the atonement?  No, there is no content to basic faith other than simple trust in the person of Christ.  A few weeks ago, with my fear of heights, I found myself looking down on Pittsburgh from thousands of feet above.  I never once thought of all the papers I wrote on theology.  I never once considered any theological position for assurance.  My faith consisted solely in a trust in the person of Christ.  This is faith reduced to its essence-a personal trust in one who is Lord, and who alone gives ultimate meaning to life.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     Every conceivable danger can happen to a Christian, but a Christian knows that with his personal trust in Christ, as ultimate victory over all evil, he cannot lose whatever the externals bring, for even death will usher him into the presence of Christ.  Our faith in Christ is not based on fantasy, but on fact.  This was the purpose of His miracles, that each of us in fearful circumstances might be able to hear and heed His counsel, "be not afraid, only believe."  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     </B></div> <div> <B>THE POWER OF TOUCH  Based on Mark 5:25-34</B></div> <div> <B>By Pastor Glenn Pease</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     One of the great stories of Greek Mythology is that of antaeus and Hercules.  Antaeus, like Hercules, was of gigantic stature and marvelous strength.  His parents were Neptune and Terra-ocean and earth.  When he and Hercules engaged in mortal combat, Hercules proved to be the strongest, but every time he had Antaeus exhausted and point of defeat his flesh would touch Mother Earth, and his strength was mysteriously renewed, and he resumed the conflict with fresh vigor.  Hercules finally slew the mighty Antaeus by performing the titanic feet of lifting him into the air where he was out of touch with the earth.  The Greeks were saying by this legend that there is great power in touch.  The earth was the source of life for Antaeus, and when he could not keep in touch with his source of life he lost his power, and, therefore, lost his life.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     Though it is a myth, the truth it teaches is a fact.  Direct contact with the source of life, with the palpitating heart of things, revitalizes you and rejuvenates the flow of energy.  The people who are really enthused and alive on any issue are those who are in touch with the heart of the issue.  On the other hand, if you are out of touch and have no contact, but are on the fringe of things, you are like a branch cut off the vine, and you will wither and waste away.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     All of nature is a witness to the power of touch.  If the plant world is not kept in touch with mother earth, no life can exist.  It is the tree whose hungry mouth is pressed against the earth's sweet flowing breast that cause the poet to say, "Poems are made by fools like me, but only God can make a tree."  God makes a tree and all the fruits of trees through the power of touch.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>      Jesus used this fact of nature to illustrate the necessity for contact in the Christian life.  In John 15:4-5 he said, "Abide in me and I in you.  As the branch cannot bare fruit of itself except it abide in the vine; no more can you, except you abide in me.  I am the vine, you are the branches.  He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringth forth much fruit, for without me you can do nothing."  Jesus is clearly saying, out of touch is out of power.  The power of life is found only by maintaining contact with the source of power.  Get out of touch with Christ, and you are like Antaeus up in the air cut off from mother earth; weak and helpless and doomed to defeat.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     The truth we are dealing with here is not an isolated incidental fact of life.  It is a universal truth with infinite significance.  The power of touch must be taken seriously in all realms of life.  Scientific is all based on the principle of the necessity of touch. How many times have you wondered why your tape recorder, or some other electrical appliance, has stopped working, only to discover that the problem was a loose connection somewhere? Something was not touching and there was no contact being made, and all electric power depends upon contact. Break the current of contact and you lose your power.  It is just a fact of life in the realm of science as well as in nature.  No touch means no power.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     History also bears witness to the power of touch.  When the church began it was in constant contact with the common people.  The common people heard Jesus gladly, and when the Apostles took over the leadership they were always among the masses.  For several centuries the church was active in the market place.  It kept its finger on the heart post of people's lives where they were living, and the result of this keeping in touch with people was power and growth.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     Then came the age of the monastery.  The church withdrew from the world.  It isolated itself behind walls, and broke contact with the masses.  The result was a thousand years of sitting in the dark.  It is called the dark ages because the power of the light house was gone.  It was gone for the same reason your house goes dark if you take you fuses out and pack them away in a box in the attic.  They must be put in contact with the flow of energy to bring light to your house.  So the church had to be in touch with the world if it was going to be the light of the world.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     The circuit must be complete.  Jesus could only reconcile God and man, and be the mediator between God and man, because He was equally in touch with both God and man.  The church cannot be an agent of reconciliation unless it is in touch with both God and man.  History proves that being out of touch is being out of power.  In our individual lives we will degenerate, vegetate, and stagnate if we lose touch with people.  Lukewarm leftovers are dishes in which the devil delights, and they will be the menu we offer a starving world if we do not keep in touch with our Lord, the source of our life and power, and the world who desperately needs the fruit that His power can provide. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>      Our text is just one of many Biblical examples of the power of touch.  I chose it because it is recorded in all three of the synoptic Gospels, and the word touched is used in this account more than anywhere in the New Testament.  11 out of the 32 uses of in the New Testament are found in the three recordings of this healing miracle.  As we examine the power of touch in the life of this one woman we will see how essential it is for all of our lives.  The first thing we see is-</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>I.  A TOUCH REVIVED HER HOPE.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     The context shows that this woman interrupted Jesus as He was on His way to restore to life the daughter of Jairus.  Verse 42 tells us the girl was 12 years old.  </B></div> <div> <B>From the time of that girls birth to the moment Jesus headed to restore her this woman had been plagued with a flow of blood.  For 12 long years she had endured the shame of her problem.  For the same 12 years that Jairus enjoyed the sunshine of a healthy little girl, she endured the gloom of her illness.  Such a flow of blood would exclude her from the women's court in the temple, and from the synagogue.</B></div> <div> <B>She was not much better off than a leper, for she would be ostracized, and if she was married she would likely have been divorced and sent away on her own.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     Persons in such predicaments as her are willing to try anything for a cure, and so according to Mark she spent everything she had on the doctors of her day.  Dr. Luke does not tell us this interesting detail, and I suppose for good reason, for it would have been unethical for him to write of his fellow physicians in this negative way.  It is understandable, and so no one can complain if doctors do not have a cure for your problem, but when they make your problem worse by using you as a guinea pig, there is room for complaint.  That is what happened to this woman.  Christian tradition calls her Bernice.  In verse 26 Mark calls her broke.  If she was broke but better she would be a happy woman, but she was broke and worse than she was before she went to the doctors.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     In the Catholic Bible there is book of Tobit, and in 2:10 we read of a similar problem he had with the doctors of Biblical days.  He writes, "I use to go to the physicians to be healed, and the more they anointed me with their medicines, the more my eyes were blinded by the films, until they were totally blinded."  I don't know if Bernice had the same doctor as Tobit, but their treatment had the same effect, for it made the patient worse instead of better.  With her health gone, and now her wealth, she was at the end of her rope.  Where could she turn now for she had  nothing to pay even if she found someone with a cure.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     She must have been in a pit of hopelessness, but then all is changed, for verse 27 says she heard the reports about Jesus.  What reports?  Why the reports that He could heal with a touch.  He didn't use any medicine or costly herbs.  A touch from the Great Physician is all it took to heal.  She had heard that His touch even healed the hopeless, and He would bid them to come to Him.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>          When other helpers fail and comforts flee,</B></div> <div> <B>          Help of the helpless, O abide with me.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>This was the cry of her heart as she heard these reports, and the possibility of being healed by a touch revived her hope.  She was so convinced of the power of touch that she says to herself in verse 28, "If I can touch even the hem of His garment I shall be made well."  What a powerful conviction for a woman who has spent 12 years fighting a losing battle.  Now she has the hope of being made well by a mere touch.   As we read on we see that, not only did a touch revive her hope, but secondly, </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>II.  A TOUCH RESTORED HER HEALTH.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     Verse 29 says, " An immediately the hemorrhage ceased and she felt healed."  12 years of futile treatment, and now it is all over by the power of a touch.  Touching Christ, or being touched by Christ, is like making contact with a live wire.  There is an immediate effect.  It is like hitting a switch and having immediate light in place of darkness.  In Matt. 8 we read of a leper who came to Jesus for help, and  verse 3 says, "And He stretched out His hand and touched him."  Then does it go on to say how 5 months later he got well, or 5 weeks, or 5 days, or 5 minutes?  No!  It was not even 5 seconds.  It says, "Immediately his leprosy was cleansed."  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     In this same chapter the mother-in-law of Peter is sick with a fever, and verse 15 says, "He touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she rose and served Him."  She didn't recover the next morning and fixed them breakfast, she got up immediately and fixed them lunch.  In Matt. 20 there were two blind men who cried out to Jesus as He passed through Jericho.  Verse 34 says, "And Jesus in pity touched their eyes, and immediately they received their sight and followed Him."</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     There are more examples of how Jesus touched and healed, and how He touched children, and how He touched His disciples to calm them when they were fearful.  Over and over again we see the power of touch to restore to health and to balance.  The fascinating thing to notice as you study the passages on touch is how it doesn't make any difference if Jesus reaches out to the person, or if the person reaches out to Jesus.  As long as touch takes place and contact is made in faith there is healing power in touch.  Bernice was not basing her hope on her own imagination.  The reports she heard about Jesus told of how many were healed by touching Him.  Back in Mark 3 a great crowd pressed around Jesus, and verse 10 says, "for He had healed many, so that all who had diseases pressed upon Him to touch Him."  Bernice was not alone in wanting to touch the hem of His garment.  In Matt. 14:35-36 we read of many who did the same thing.  "And when the men of that place recognized Him, they sent round to all that region and besought Him that they might only touch the fringe of His garment, and as many as touched it were made well."</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     On the monument of Oliver Goldsmith these words are inscribed:  "He touched nothing that he did not adorn."  This was certainly true of Jesus.  He touched water and the water became wine.  He touched the lepers ugly form, or the darkened eyes of the blind, and there came forth beauty and the light of sight.  Everything that sin had deformed Jesus could reform or transform by the power of His touch.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>                 The healing of His seamless dress</B></div> <div> <B>                    Is by our beds of pain.</B></div> <div> <B>               We touch Him in life's throng and press,</B></div> <div> <B>                    And we are whole again.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     The healing power of touch has a fascinating history.  English kings for centuries healed people by the kings touch.  It was sought to be a gift God gave to kings, and many practiced it.  Edward I in the 13th century touched over a 1000 sufferers a year.  In the 17th century over a period of 19 years Charles II touched almost 91 thousand people for healing.  Even King James, after whom the Bible is named, practiced it, but he did not like it.  In 1686 on Easter day king Louis XIV of France laid his hand on 1600 people repeating each time, "The king touches thee, may God cure thee."  Many did experience healing, and theologians debated the issue, as we debate about faith healing today.  The point is, healing has, every since Jesus entered history, been connected with touch.  There is just no escaping the power of touch.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     Modern studies are revealing that touching is essential to both physical and mental health.  Many babies have died in their first year due to marasmus.  This is a wasting away caused by a lack of loving touch.  Life will not survive without the touch of love.  The same is true for animals.  They must be licked when they are new born in order to survive.  Mother animals do not lick their young just to keep them clean, but to keep them alive and healthy.  The very power of life is in the touch.  Experiments on rats have revealed that when they are gently handled and cuddled they can survive operations that kill those who are not calmed by loving touch.  Rats that are touched and petted learn faster and develop a higher antibody rate.  Touch restores to health and maintains health.  It is a principle God has built into His creation.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     It applies to people as well as rats.  Dr. Smiley Blanton wrote, "As a psychiatrist I have good reason to know how often human problems are caused by the simple failure of people to make contact with other people."  Not keeping in touch as a family can ruin the health of the family.  Touching always restores health.  When the father of the prodigal saw his son returning, he did not prepare a quick lecture, or wait and greet him with a stiff and reluctant handshake.  Instead, he ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.  There was more power for reconciliation in that act of touching love than in an encyclopedia of words.  Dr. Paul Tournier said, "I'm convinced that 9 out of 10 people seeing a psychiatrist don't need one.  They need somebody who will love them with God's love, and take time with them and believe for them, and they will get well."</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     In so many ways we all possess the power of healing in our hands.  Dr. Blanton said, "I have great faith in "touchingness" as a remedy for sick souls because I know what it can do.  Love is the climate in which all living things flourish, and sometimes a single touch can evoke the atmosphere.  A father ruffles his son's hair lightly and in that casual gesture expresses infinite pride and joy.  A husband, helping his wife on with her coat, rest his hands for a moment on her shoulders, and thus says "I love you" as clearly as if he had written the words in letters of fire."  The power of love is linked directly to the power of touch.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     Bernice had her long lost health restored to her through a touch, and millions of others have experienced the health giving power of the touch.  As the body of Christ we as Christians are to be sensitive to this power we possess.  He wants us to continue to do what He did in the flesh, and give the world a hand.  The poet spoke wisdom:</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>          Tis the human touch in this world that counts.</B></div> <div> <B>          The touch of your hand and mine,</B></div> <div> <B>          Mean far more to the fainting soul,</B></div> <div> <B>                                Than shelter or bread or wine.</B></div> <div> <B>          For shelter is gone when the night is o'er,</B></div> <div> <B>           And bread lasts only a day,</B></div> <div> <B>          But the touch of a hand and the sound of a voice </B></div> <div> <B>          Sing in the soul always.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     This was certainly the case with this woman who touched Jesus.  We cannot know until eternity what other lasting results came of that touch.  We know she would have loved to sing the popular song, He Touched Me.  We want to look briefly at a third point, for a touch not only revived her hope, and restored her health, but-</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>III.  A TOUCH RENEWED HER HISTORY.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     After Jesus found her and heard her story He says in verse 34, "Go in peace and be healed of your disease."  For 12 years she had known no peace, but now her life begins anew.  History is filled with new potential now, for as a healed woman she is free again to enter the temple and synagogue, and to associate with people everywhere.  Her whole history is radically renewed by this touch.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     Helen Keller was blind, deaf, and dumb from her 19th month, but when she was 7 her teacher opened up to her the power of touch, and a new history began for her. It was almost like a conversion experience.  She writes of it in her book My Key Of Life.  "This was an adventure full of enchantment.  From the darkness to light, from silence to language and harmony...., from dumbness to speech....O wondrous the change!  I loved everything my fingers touched.  The world seemed to me to overflow with goodness, justice and love."  With all her handicaps she might have been a tragic vegetable of a person of little value to herself or the world, but the power of touch changed her whole history, and made her one of the great flowers of all time with a powerful impact on numerous lives.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>       Anyone of us yielded to the Spirit of Christ can by our touch give hope and help toward a new history to those who present history leads only to darkness.  Frederick Buechner compared humanity to a spider web and said, "As we move around this world and as we act with kindness, perhaps, or with indifference or with hostility toward the people we meet, we are setting the great spider web atremble.  The life that I touch for good or ill will touch another life, and that in turn another, until who knows where the trembling stops or in what far place my touch will be felt."  Bernice only touched the hem of Christ's garment, but that touch has set the whole spider web of history atremble.  Here we are 19 centuries from that touch, and still being affected by it.  Her touch gave her a place in history from which she has touched the lives of millions.  Jesus wants to do this very thing in all of our lives.   He wants to touch us that through us He might touch others.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>          She only touched the hem of His garment</B></div> <div> <B>               As to His side she stole,</B></div> <div> <B>          Amid the crowd that gathered around Him,</B></div> <div> <B>               And straightway she was whole.</B></div> <div> <B>          Oh, touch the hem of His garment,</B></div> <div> <B>               And thou, too, shalt be free!</B></div> <div> <B>          His saving power this very hour</B></div> <div> <B>               Shall give new life to thee.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>By faith we need to reach out to Jesus recognizing that He is reaching out to us to heal and renew by the power of touch.  </B></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>        </B></div> <div> <B>THE HANDS OF THE HEAD Based on Mark 6:1-6</B></div> <div> <B>By Pastor Glenn Pease</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>      Albrecht Durer was the son of a Hungarian goldsmith who wanted to study art.  He could not do so, however, because his father had a large family and had the well known problem of too much month left at the end of the money.  Finally, however, his father let him go to try and struggle through on his own.  He found an older man who was also trying to become an artist, but was poor like himself.  They became friends and lived together, and studied together.  It was a discouraging business, and they were getting nowhere.  The older friend said to Durer, "One of us should make a living for both of us while the other studies.  After a while this process can be reversed."  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     Durer agreed to the plan and volunteered to be the first to work, but the friend insisted since he had a chance to work in a restaurant he would begin.  This older friend washed dishes, scrubbed floors, and spent many hours at menial labor to help Durer.  At last Durer sold one of his wood cravings and came home with the money.  He told his friend it was his turn.  The older man tried to paint, but his muscles were stiff, and his joints were enlarged.  He just didn't have the touch.  His hands were working hands, and not artist hands.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     One day Durer saw his friends hands folded reverently and said, "I will paint your hands as they are now, folded in prayer, so the world will know my appreciation for your noble, unselfish character."  Those hands became the famous praying hands so popular as modern symbols.  Few people realize, however, that the hands symbolize more than prayer.  They stand also for dignified labor and dedicated love.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     These hands could very well represent the hands of Jesus, the Head of the church, for no hands have ever more worthily expressed the dignity of labor and the dedication of love.  We could look at each of these separately, but it would be an artificial division, for labor or love went hand in hand in the life of Christ.  One of the big questions of Bible students has always been, what did Jesus do from age 12 to 30?  There are 18 years of silence where nothing is recorded of His life.  We have one statement in our text, however, that shatters that silence with a loud revelation, and gives us an answer to the question-</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>               What was He doing all the time?</B></div> <div> <B>               From boyhood then to early prime?</B></div> <div> <B>               </B></div> <div> <B>     The answer is, He was working with His hands.  He was a carpenter.  When Jesus came back to His hometown of Nazareth where He spent those silent years, the people were amazed at His wisdom and power.  They could not believe it, and said, "Is not this the carpenter whose whole family is still with us?"  In other words, they were saying, here is one of us, a common laborer in the community who has come back.  How is it He has all this education and leadership ability when we know He has only been a carpenter?  We have here then a clear witness to the fact that Jesus labored with His hands.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     It is not surprising since all Jewish boys were taught a trade by their fathers, and though Joseph was not the literal father of Jesus, he was His father in every other way.  He taught Jesus all he knew.  Tradition says that Joseph died at the age of 111 when Jesus was 18 years old.  This meant that Jesus as the oldest boy in the family would have to work to support Mary in raising the other children.  Some feel the other children were by a previous marriage of Joseph.  Some feel they were only cousins.  Others simply accept those children as ones that Mary bore to Joseph after Jesus was born.  This last view is the simplest, and can hardly be a bad conclusion, for they are called the brothers and sisters of Christ.  If the Biblical writers feared anyone would draw the conclusion that Mary had other children they certainly did not do anything to prevent such a conclusion.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     It really doesn't matter, however, for the fact is, Jesus had a family to care for.  For all practical purposes Jesus knew what it was to be a father.   With Joseph dead He had to be the bread winner.  He could not go off preaching until He had fulfilled His responsibility as the oldest son to His family.  When the Bible makes it clear that he who does not provide for his own is worse than an infidel, we certainly do not expect the Son of God in human flesh to go off on a spiritual mission and leave his family to starve.  Before He could begin the job of building the temple not made with hands, He had a job to do with His hands, and that is what Jesus did during those years of silence.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     They are silent, for they were years of just commonplace normal living.  Most of His life was like that of the average person, and not filled with crowds, miracles, and perpetual excitement.  Jesus did nothing unusual in those years, for here are His home town people saying what has happened?  This is our community carpenter.  How is it He is so wise and powerful all of the sudden?  He had not done anything before this to draw their attention to His uniqueness.  That is why they are silent years, for there was nothing unusual to record.  Jesus lived the common life of a laboring man.  He dignified labor as no one else ever could.  The poet wrote, </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>               If Jesus was a carpenter,</B></div> <div> <B>                    On plane and bradowl leaning,</B></div> <div> <B>               Then workman's tools of every kind</B></div> <div> <B>                    Glitter with heavenly meaning.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     Jesus would seek the best way to do a job.  He would use tools to make His work more effective.  Man's love for tools and gadgets to build and create with are a legitimate aspect of life, for even the Son of God used tools as a carpenter.  This aspect of His life colored His ministry of teaching.  Jesus spoke often of wise builders.  Jesus built houses before He built His church, and He used the principles of one for the other.  He said that wise builders choose a good foundation first.  He builds on the rock and not on the sand.   </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     Jesus practiced this in building the church.  He laid a solid foundation, and then selected men like Peter, the rock, to build on, with himself as the chief cornerstone.  Jesus also talked of men who foolishly began to build before counting the cost.  They had to stop before they finished and let the project go to ruin.  Jesus was a master builder.  He made sure of adequate supply to build His church.  He paid the price for all sin, that any person of any age in history might become a living stone in His church.  None will be left out due to lack of funds, for Jesus paid it all.  Every man is a potential stone in the church begin built by the Carpenter of Nazareth.  As a carpenter Jesus made many doors, but the door He made of Himself is the most marvelous.  All of those years He made doors out of wood, and His last big project was also made out of wood, the wood of the cross.   Never did any carpenter do with wood what Jesus did upon the cross.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     In this project His hands played a major role.  They were not shaping the wood, for they were nailed to the wood. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>          Those heavenly hands that on the tree</B></div> <div> <B>          Were nail'd, and torn, and bled for me.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Here was His greatest labor of love.  He used those hands to work for years to provide for His family, but on the cross in unmeasurable love He sacrificed His hands, and His whole self to provide atonement for the sin of all men.  Here He laid the foundation that nothing can destroy.  His hands became a primary symbol of this great act of love because they bore the imprint of the nails.  It was the nail pierced hands that Jesus showed to doubting Thomas to convince him He was the crucified but risen Christ.   He who pounded many a nail had nail scarred hands, not because He was a carpenter, but because He was a Savior.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     Many feel that the two men on the road to Emmaus recognized Jesus at last because when He broke break they saw His nail pierced hands.  The hands of the crucified but risen carpenter are the hands of security.  We can have no security in our riches, or in the fact that we have a great and powerful country.  These are but tools in the hands of men.  Disease and death can easily snatch us from the hands of men, but Jesus said of His own, "Nothing shall pluck them out of my hands."</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>          The hands of Christ seem very frail,</B></div> <div> <B>          For they were broken by a nail,</B></div> <div> <B>          But only they reach heaven at last</B></div> <div> <B>          Whom these frail, broken hands hold fast. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     These hands that flung the worlds in space, and fashioned nature's beauty in every place, and formed the whole of the human race, also fulfilled the plan of grace.  It was the hands of Christ that reached out to save Peter from sinking into the sea.  Only His hands can lift us and keep us from sinking.  The hands of Christ symbolize, not only security, but service.  Jesus used His hands for the service of others, both in the carpenter shop, and in His ministry.  Notice how often Jesus takes a sick person by the hand and lifts them up well.  How often Jesus lays His hands on the sick, and with a touch restores them to health.  His hands were healing hands.  Jesus as the head of the church is now in heaven, but His hands are still on earth, for the church is His body.  This means that we as believers are to continue to be the hands of Christ in a world that needs hands of service, and hands with a healing touch.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>    It has been proven that everyone of us has the power of healing in our hands, but we so seldom use it because we are so seldom conscious that our hands are to be tools in the hands of Christ.  Many children have problems because they lack the security that comes with the touch of their father's hands.  We need to put our hands on our children's heads, and put our arms around them, and by touch communicate our love.  We cannot do it with words alone.  Hands play a major role in communicating love.  Reuben K. Youngdahl wrote, "In East Africa a group of natives, having made a long journey seeking medical care, walked right past a government hospital to reach a mission hospital.  When asked why they had walked the extra distance, when the government hospital had exactly the same medicine, they replied, "The medicine may be the same, but the hands are different."  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     The hands of Christians should express the touch of Christ.  Jesus specialized in the personal touch, and those who would be instruments in His hands will pray, </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>          Give strength to lift the wounded up,</B></div> <div> <B>               And warm our hearts so much</B></div> <div> <B>          That through our hands each one may feel</B></div> <div> <B>               The healing of Thy touch.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     When Phillips Brooks died his people hired a sculptor to fashion a memorial.  He took his hammer and began to work, but three times he had to start over.  He just couldn't get it to come out right.  Finally, it came to him what to do.  He first fashioned a figure of Jesus, and then made the figure of Brooks with the hand of Jesus on his shoulder.  Those who knew Brooks were very satisfied, for they said, "That's how it was.  Jesus was always first with Phillips Brooks, and His hand, it seemed, was always on his shoulder."  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     During the closing months of World War II a group of American soldiers helped rebuild a partially bombed Cathedral in Southern Europe.  One GI was assigned the task of repairing a marble statue of Christ.  It had been knocked over, and the hands were broken off.  He was not able to find the broken pieces in the rubble.  He concluded that the statue would have to be discarded, but then he got an idea.  He made a plague and hung it on the statue which said, "I have no hands but yours."  Jesus wants to lay His hands on us that we might be moved to use our hands to do His will in the world. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>               Yours are the hands of God.</B></div> <div> <B>               How did you use them today?</B></div> <div> <B>               Did they crush or caress?</B></div> <div> <B>               Did they ruin or bless?</B></div> <div> <B>               How did you use them today?</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>               Yours are the hands of God.</B></div> <div> <B>               The hands that He lent you to use.</B></div> <div> <B>               Did they reach out in greed,</B></div> <div> <B>               Or to meet someone's need?</B></div> <div> <B>               Did you use them to heal or abuse?</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>               Yours are the hands of God.</B></div> <div> <B>               Use them well as you travel life's way.</B></div> <div> <B>               Turn with love to each task,</B></div> <div> <B>               For one day God will ask:</B></div> <div> <B>               What did you do with My hands today?         </B></div> <div> <B>                         Levent Surleau</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     </B></div> <div> <B>THE GREAT PHYSICIAN PRESCRIBES  Based on Mark 6:7-13, 30-32</B></div> <div> <B>By Pastor Glenn Pease</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     The hospital supervisor sent for a young surgeon and lauded his efforts in the operating room the previous day.  "Marvelous bit of work," he said.  "You operated just in time.  One more day and the patient would have recovered without it."  Whether or not this was good timing depends on the perspective from which it is seen, but all agree that timing itself is important.   God built His whole universe to operate like clock work.  Timing is essential for beauty, power, and harmony.  Take a photograph at the wrong time and you will ruin it, and fail to capture the beauty you intended to get because of too much or too little light.  Poor timing lets the precious smile pass, and you catch the smirk or frown instead.  Poor timing in your motor leads to loss of smoothness and power.  Illustrations could be multiplied  to show that timing is an important factor in all that is good and pleasant. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     Jesus is the author of all beauty and harmony, and the author of time itself.  He was a master of good timing.  His life from the very start was perfectly timed.  He was not born just any old time.  It was in the fullness of time that He was born of a woman.  The time was just right.  We cannot examine the whole life of Jesus, but even a glimpse of a few major events show it to be a life of precise timing.  His entry into Jerusalem; the Last Supper; and His crucifixion, were all precisely timed in proximity to the Passover so as to fill these events with symbolic significance and prophetic fulfillment.  When His hour was not come, they could not take Him.  But when His hour had come He submitted to the cross.  His timing of His resurrection on Sunday morning; the sending of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, are further examples of the importance of timing in the life and plan of Jesus. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     All of the Gospels show that Jesus believed and practiced the wisdom of Eccles. 3:1.  "For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven."   Jesus had His time of preparation; His time of testing in the wilderness, His time for baptism and public ministry, and His time for withdrawal to rest and pray.  Jesus had the perfect life because it was a balanced life.  He knew how to use time fully and wisely. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>      Mark gives us an example of the wisdom of Christ in this connection that none of the other Gospels portray.  It is of unique value because it is a picture, not just of good timing of Christ in His own life, but in relationship to His disciples.  In other words,  there is valuable teaching here for all who love and follow Christ.  The disciples have been sent on a mission of preaching, casting out demons, and healing.  John the Baptist was killed while they were on this mission.  Verse 30 brings us to the point where the disciples have returned to report to Jesus all they have done and taught.  Verse 31 tells us they had such a response that they were mobbed, and so busy they didn't even have time to eat.  They were tired, and no doubt saddened and discouraged by the tragic news of John's death.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>      It was time for something to happen:  But what?  Jesus, the Master of timing and the Great Physician, prescribes rest.  He says to them, "Stop what you are doing and come away by yourselves and rest awhile."  This is the same Jesus who said, "Work for the night is coming," and who stressed the urgency of getting laborers into the harvest.  Here were masses of people eager to be ministered to, but Jesus says to His disciples that they should come away from it all, and go to a deserted place.  Jesus is saying there is even a time to let go and leave off of doing the good and the best things of life.  Jesus hallowed holidays, and magnified the value of  vacations.  He authorized periods of time off from service.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     G.Campbell Morgan says of this passage, "If the story is a revelation of His understandingness, of His care, I could go further and say it is a stupendous revelation of His wisdom.  It is a rebuking revelation to some of us."  There are Christians who think they are wiser than Christ.  They think they can neglect the law of timing and rest that He has built into the very fiber of reality.  They give themselves to activity all out of proportion to time spent in restful mediation.  They ruin their health and spoil their fruit, and then wonder why God did not honor their dedication and protect them from poor health.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     The answer is obvious.  When you break a law of God, it breaks you.  No one ever has a right to break a law that God has built into the frame work of life, and expect to escape the consequences.  The law of rest is universal, and if we had the time, we could see how it applies in all realms.   Metals need rest or they will break.  Certain woods will shatter on a lathe if not given resting periods when you work with them.   God demanded that the Israelites not only give their servants a rest, and their animals, but even their land, for land that gets a rest will be more productive.  Rest is a universal law, and the great physician always prescribes that we obey such laws for health and holiness.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     The context makes it clear that we are out of order if we expect God to work miracles to save us from the consequences of neglecting the law of rest.  The disciples had just been performing miracles, and while they were in seclusion in a remote place, Jesus performed the marvelous miracle of feeding the five thousand.  They were in the very midst of miracles, and yet Jesus did not restore them to new strength and vigor by a miracle.  He calls them to obedience to the natural law:  Come apart and rest.  The implications of this prescription by Christ are far reaching, and should have a profound influence on each of us.  The Christians wise enough to listen to the doctor's orders will have a solution to one of the major problems of our age, which is the problem of meaningful use of time.  Karl Jaspers says our world, "has completely lost the faculty of creative repose."   </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     Books galore are written on the subject of rest and leisure.  There is a desperate search for answers as to how to rest and make leisure meaningful.  Charlotte Buhler concludes, "A meaningful use of time is only possible within the total framework of a meaningful life."  This being so, Christians should be shining examples of success in the balance life.  Unfortunately, in this realm as in others the children of darkness are often wiser than the children of light.  We let humanists get the credit and the honor for leading the way when Christ should get that honor through us.  We want to look in more detail at the problem and the prescription of Christ in hopes that we can learn something that will aid us in developing a pattern of life that leads to greater health, holiness, and happiness in our relationship to God and man.  First consider-</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>I.  THE PROBLEM.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     The problem is simply that we are finite and have limitations.  Our psychology professor at Bethel, Swan Engwall, emphasized that Christians must learn to accept their limitations.  He said that every person has a breaking point, but many have a devil may care attitude expressed in these lines:</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>               I burn my candle at both ends.</B></div> <div> <B>               I know it will not last the night,</B></div> <div> <B>               But Oh, my foes, and Oh, my friends,</B></div> <div> <B>               It gives forth such a lovely light.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Such an attitude leads to irresponsible living with total disregard to the laws of health ordained of God.  Charles Aked writes, "We live faster than men ever lived before.  We burn the candle at both ends, and then for fear our neighbor shall get ahead of us, we light it in the middle too.  We are consumed by the fever of living."  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     One little boy who had seen his parents so seldom because of their running to this event and that, heard them debating if they should go out again.  He conveyed to them his feelings with the reversal of a well known statement.  He said, "Don't just do something-stand there."  The problem is that many have been on the treadmill so long they don't know how to stop and be still.  William Davies wrote, "A poor life this, if, full of care, We have no time to stand and stare."  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     A restlessness characterizes most people today.  In spite of all the wealth available people are not content because money cannot buy the values that can be gained only through a wise use of leisure.  Bertrand Russell the atheist even saw this and wrote, "To be able to fill leisure intelligently is the last product of civilization."  The result is, men try and kill time, and instead it kills them.  Ralph Barton, the illustrator for Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, left this suicide note:  "I have run from wife to wife and from home to home in a ridiculous effort to escape from time.  I'm fed up with the effort of living 24 hours a day."  Here was a man who did not know how to use time meaningfully.  He had no concept of rest and repose.  There was no balance in his life.  He lived for the body only, and let his soul shrivel.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     You may say, but he was not a Christian.  But is it necessarily different with a Christian?  Many have a Martha spirit, and they are compelled to be ever on the go with no ability to buy up the treasures of rest and repose.  They develop a perpetual  motion complex that makes them feel guilty if they stop long enough to let the dust settle.  They have a million things to do and cannot stop a second.  It is possible to be a Christian and be shallow all your life if you do not learn the art of stillness that leads to depth.  We can be just like the superficial secular sightseer described by Matthew Arnold.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>               See all sights from pole to pole,</B></div> <div> <B>               And glance, and nod, and bustle by,</B></div> <div> <B>               And never once possess their soul</B></div> <div> <B>               Before they die.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>The problem then is that it is possible for any of us to get in a rut of restless activity which may be for good or evil ends.  Even if it is for a good end, it can lead to the loss of the ability to be still and commune with God, and grow in the values that come from solitude.  All of us suffer from this problem to some degree.  Let us, therefore, look away from the problem and look at-</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>II.  THE PRESCRIPTION.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     Remember that Christ as the Great Physician is not prescribing here for a group of old men.  Some of them were very young men, and He was only in His early thirties.  He was in the prime of life and in perfect health, but yet He felt the need for rest, quietness, and solitude.  We are talking about a medicine that is for those in good health, and who are young and full of energy.  The law of rest does not apply just to the aged.  It is a preventative prescription that keeps a man in good health, as well as a curative medicine that restores one to good health.  It is good for all of us.  All of us need an Alabama.  An Indian tribe after a long toilsome march pitched their tents on the banks of a river and called it Alabama.  It means, "Here we rest."  Even Christians must show their confidence in Christ by learning to retreat from the battle believing that the kingdom will not be defeated because of their absence.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>               Knowing that whate'er befalls us,</B></div> <div> <B>               He will order for the best.</B></div> <div> <B>               We can say with hearts confiding,</B></div> <div> <B>               Alabama!  Here we rest.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     Jesus said to come apart by yourselves to a lonely place.  You have to get away, for a change of scenery is vital to good health.  You know from experience in a monotonous routine is restful.  Variety is the spice of life is a proverb Jesus could recommend.  He recommends getting out of the rut and getting away by yourself.  The wise person will not wait for vacation to do this, but will everyday get away for a few minutes of solitude.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     Charles Lamb always complained that he was never just Charles Lamb, but Charles Lamb and company.  If  you find you are never alone, and never with just yourself and God, you are in trouble.  To never be alone is to be in an environment  not good for spiritual and mental health.  We need to beware, however, less we jump to the conclusion of getting alone and resting means doing nothing.  This leads to boredom, and boredom can be as bad as being busy beyond your capacity.  </B></div> <div> <B>Pascal said, "Nothing is so insupportable to man as to be completely idle, for he then feels all his nothingness, all his loneliness, all his insufficiency, all his weakness, all his emptiness."  Solitude in order to be a healing power for body, mind, and spirit, must find a balance between boredom and business.  Cowper said, "Absence of occupation is not rest.  A mind quite vacant is a mind distressed." </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     Our minds must be active along new and fresh channels to gain a rest.  We must aim to fill our solitude with the presence of Christ.  Jesus did not say to go apart for a while, but to come apart.  He invites us to be with Him in our rest.  "Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest."  Christ is to be our Lord in leisure as well as our Sovereign in service.  It is He who gives rest, and so fellowship with Him is the essence of rest.  A Christian vacation is to be one in which he does not seek to escape from God, but seeks to escape from all else in order to draw nearer to God.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     A rest that really lasts must have some relationship to eternal rest.  Eternal rest will be a state of full and final fulfillment when we see Christ as He is, and become like Him.  Our vacation then should lead us to a clearer vision of Christ.  We must look at the beauty of God's creation as we travel, not just for the aesthetic value, but for the spiritual value.  We can expand our soul's capacity for fellowship with God by letting the grandeur and majesty of God's handiwork fill us with awe.  We must steep our souls in the beauty of the mysterious.  Emerson said, "There is one means of procuring solitude which to me, and I apprehend to all men, is effectual, and that is to go to the window and look at the stars."  With practice you can look at a flower or body of water, or any aspect of nature, and enter into solitude in which you rest in the presence of God.  This is a mystical experience open for all Christians, and is a key to soul expansion and rest.  The poet wrote, </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>               Ah, once more, I cried "Ye stars, ye waters,</B></div> <div> <B>               On my heart your mighty charm renew;</B></div> <div> <B>               Still, still let me, as I gaze upon you,</B></div> <div> <B>               Feel my soul becoming vast like you!</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     We need to let nature expand our souls so we can have deeper fellowship with its Creator.  The purpose of a vacation, rest, and solitude ought to be to increase our efficiency in fellowship and service.  Rest and success said W. G. Benham are fellows.  Men of wisdom have always recognized that knowing how to rest is the key to effective work.  There is an old story about two farmers who had to get their grain in before the rain came.  It was back in the days when they had to cut the grain with a scythe.  One began immediately, for he decided he had no time to do any sharpening.  The other took time to carefully sharpen his tool.  The first got a head start, but when the rain came the second had finished his field, and the first had  not.  His dull scythe made his work go slower, and the quality of it was poorer, and he was more tired.  It is the wise man who recognizes that time is not wasted which is spent in sharpening his tools. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     Rest, solitude, prayer and meditation, are for the sharpening of the tools for effective living.  St. Augustine said centuries ago in his book The City Of God,  "In leisure a man ought not to revel in the luxury of having nothing to do, he should be occupied with either the investigation or the discovery of truth."  Jesus is the truth, and He urges us to come to Him and rest.  There is no greater rest for the total man than to come apart with Christ, and grow in the knowledge of truth through quietness and meditation.  It is always difficult to follow good advise, however, when it is radically different from the pattern of life we are use to following.  Following doctor's orders is a task that often calls for a rigid discipline.  May God help each of us this summer to give heed to the Great Physician, and enter into the rest He prescribes.  </B></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>THE MIRACLE THAT NEVER HAPPENED  Based on Mark 6:14-29</B></div> <div> <B>By Pastor Glenn Pease</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>    The story is told of a group of mice who got together to plan how to prevent the cat from catching so many of them.  One spoke up and said, "I have a great idea.  If we put a bell on the cat so we can always hear him coming, we can escape."  The mice were so delighted with the idea they began to celebrate.  But then one of the older and wiser mice asked the question:  "Who is going to bell the cat?"  That was definitely a wet blanket on the flame of their enthusiasm.  But somebody has to face reality and deal with the way it is, and not just with the way we want it to be.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     Reality is often hard and disillusioning, and those who pointed out will be accused of being killjoys, and lackers of faith.  But there is no escaping it, for the Bible forces the believer to be balanced by demanding that they look at the whole picture of reality.  Right in the midst of one miracle account after another Mark records and equally spectacular account of the miracle that never happened.  It is a case of dramatic non-deliverence and non-healing.  Peter was in prison and he was set free by the miraculous intervention of an angel.  But not John the Baptist.  Not the man of whom Jesus said he was the greatest born of woman.  Jesus looked this man of God, and John obeyed God as faithfully as any man who has ever lived.  We have no record of any sin in his life.  He was ideal servant of the kingdom of God.  If anybody ever deserved a miracle of deliverance, it was John the Baptist.  But he did not get it, and he died at the hands of an evil man for a trivial reason.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     This bad news is not hidden in some obscure corner like back page news.  It is given front page coverage by Mark.  It is a monkey wrench thrown into the machinery of miracles everywhere for everybody.  This is the realism the Bible forces us to deal with.  If you like the fairy tale fantasizing of how the Christian who walks in the will of God will always be healed, or always be delivered at the last minute, then you will have to avoid the Bible.  The Bible will not support the superficial optimism of those who say it is always God's will to heal, or the child of God will always win over the child of the devil.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     The Bible hits us in the face with the reality that even the best of God's people may never be healed or delivered.  We may hate to read this realism, for it sounds like the Bummersville Gazette, but God knows it is the only way we can be balanced in a world that has fallen, and where even God's people tend toward extremes.  The Bible reveals side by side, miracles and non-miracles, healing and non-healing, answers to prayer, and non-answers to prayer, and the thrill of victory, but also the agony of defeat. Developing an awareness  of, and acceptance of, the total picture is the basis for a balanced life spiritually and emotionally. Christians who do not develop this balance tend to go to extremes, and do not exhibit faith but presumption.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     Presumption is what Jesus would have displayed had he listened to Satan's use of Scripture and jumped off the pinnacle of the temple. This would have been tempting God. Many Christians do this and get themselves so worked up to a fever pitch of presumed faith that they do things that are contrary to common sense. They claim miracles that are not there and demand the fulfillment of promises that are never given. Then they collapse in disillusionment and despair because they feel God has let them down. Many have emotional breakdowns and become mentally ill because they refuse to face the reality of the Bible, and instead, build their castles in the air out of nothing but fantasy.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     Are we to suppose that John the Baptist did not have enough faith, and that is why he got not miracle? That is not the revelation at all. On the contrary, what we have here is the revelation that no matter who you are, and no matter how great your faith in God, you may just have to endure sickness and suffering and death with no deliverance in this life.  All believers will be delivered from all evil forever, but in this life there is no promise anywhere in the Bible that  God's people will be delivered.  So we have the paradox on non-Christians who do get healed and very Godly believers who do not.  You have some of the leaders in the world of healing who are channels of healing to others, but who cannot heal themselves, or some of those closest to them.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     Paul could not heal this own thorn in the flesh.  He could heal pagans by the score, but his dear friend Epaphroditus, who was so sick he almost died, he could not heal.  In II Tim. 4:20 he writes of another friend in Christ, "I left Trophimus sick in Miletus."  Paul, the man with the gift of healing, did not seem anxious to hide his failures.  He states openly without embarrassment that he could not heal his fellow servants in Christ.  It is obvious that Paul understood that all healing is up the sovereign will of God, and that there is no promise that all of God's people will be healed and set free from their illnesses.  Paul did not go around preaching that it was God's will for all to be healed.  Paul was a man of balanced perspective, and the result was, he could experience miracles, and take non-miracles in stride.   He was not shaken or surprised by either, for they were both a part of life.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     Dr. David Allen Hubbard, President of Fuller Theological Seminary, began a new class in 1982 called The Miraculous And Church Growth.  The course broke all enrollment records as students going to the mission field especially flocked to learn how miraculous healing could be a tool to open up cultures to the Gospel.  Now here is the paradox:  Dr. Hubbard, a leader in this field, has a record of more sickness than the average pagan he is training his students to reach.  </B></div> <div> <B>1.  His father died of a sudden heart attack.</B></div> <div> <B>2.  His brother got the mumps and serious complications.</B></div> <div> <B>3.  His foster sister died of Tuberculosis. </B></div> <div> <B>4.  His mother was severely scarred by pressure cooker explosion.</B></div> <div> <B>5.  His sister had to drop out of college because of a serious eye problem.</B></div> <div> <B>     With many prayers behind them, hands were laid on her, and she was</B></div> <div> <B>      anointed with oil.  Satan was rebuked, but her eyes remained crossed.</B></div> <div> <B>6.  His eight week old son died.  </B></div> <div> <B>7.  His wife Ruth has chronic bouts with ill health.</B></div> <div> <B>8.  He has severe allergy reactions and other problems.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     For a man like this to be promoting the healing power of Christ, looks at first like a bald man promoting hair growing tonic.  It seems inconsistent and contradictory, but it is not so.  It is the Biblical perspective where some of obscure 12 year old girl who hasn't touched anybody for God is raised from the dead, and the greatest man ever born of woman, who has altered the course of history for God, is aloud to die a violent death with no attempt to spare him, or to raise him up afterward.  Did John has less faith than this 12 year old girl?  Did her father have more faith in Jesus than did the thousands of followers of John?  Nothing is more offensive than to say, if a person had more faith they would have been healed.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     Such words as that are unbalanced fanaticism that rejects the clear revelation of the New Testament.  Dr. Hubbard and his wife have seen people with little faith healed, while others, including themselves, with great faith are not healed.  Fortunately, he had a wise father who carried olive oil in his pocket because he was ready at all times to anoint for healing.  But he taught his son to love and serve God in the working of miracles, or the withholding of miracles, for God is sovereign and no man and no method, and no means can control God, or manipulate him to do the will of man.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     Malcolm H. Miner, an a Episcopalian priest, who has seen many miracles as a result of his laying on of hands, saw his own wife stricken with a fast growing cancer.  It was already beyond surgery when it was discovered.  They went for radiation, and she attended his healing services and was anointed.  She was on a prayer list throughout the world.  People all around her were being healed, but in three years she died.  Did Malcolm throw in the towel, and say all this healing business is a sham?  Not at all!  He had the Biblical view which goes on seeking and experiencing healing, even while he had to endure the reality of non-healing, and a miracle which never happened.  If you cannot accept both sides, you don't want reality.  You want fantasy, and this will lead to fanaticism, abuse, and eventually disillusionment.  The man who expects heaven in a fallen world will find reality to be hell.  The man who expects a fallen world to be somewhat hellish will still be able to taste of the things to come, and experience something of heaven on earth.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     Jesus could have done a lot of things He did not do, and He could do a lot of things today that He does not do.  The point is, all that could be is not reality.  Reality is what is, and what is is that Christians of great faith get sick and never get well.  They get into accidents and die, and they suffer most all of the ills of a fallen world, and do not escape.  That is reality, and that is the Biblical picture.  To teach or believe otherwise is to impose man made fantasy on Biblical reality.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     The point of all this is not to hinder our faith in healing and deliverance, for we are to pursue them with diligence, and never cease to call upon God for healing and health.  We are to be bold in seeking miracles, but we need to have the balance so we do not lose faith when all we hope for is not granted.  The lopsided Christian is the one who loses his faith because he thinks it is all or nothing, and is not ready to accept both miracles and non-miracles.  His false view of God's promises leads him to expect what God has never said he should expect, and the result is the reality of the non-miracle crushes his unrealistic faith.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     Realism demands that we face the facts, and the facts are that John the Baptist died at the hands of evil people.  Everyone of the Apostles died likewise, and every Christian who has ever lived died of some disease or accident.  The point is, we need to recognize that healing, though a vital part of the ministry of Christ, and a valued ministry in the church all through the ages, is not the ultimate goal of Christ or the church.  If you put all your eggs in this one basket, you are setting yourself up to be crushed.  This is the basic criticism of the evangelical Christian concerning the Pentecostal stress on healing.  The evangelical has backed off healing because the Pentecostal had carried it too far.  Both need to strive for balance.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     Those who have taught that it is always God's will to heal have made the body of Christ sicker. They say that is you have enough faith you will be healed, and so if you are not healed it is because you do not have enough faith. Blame falls on the Christian who is not healed, and the result is many Christians who are guilt ridden with feelings of depression. This unbalanced view of healing leads many Christians to be sicker than ever. Many got their strong view of healing from A. J. Gordon's book, The Ministry Of Healing, published in 1882.  He was the first to propose the idea that healing was in the atonement.  Just as Jesus died for our sins, so He also died for our sicknesses, based on Isa. 53:4-5.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     This poetic prophecy was taken as an absolute, and the teaching became popular among faith healers.  Kenneth Hagin in Healing Belongs To Us writes,  "It is equally true that Jesus has borne our sicknesses and carried our pains.  When Jesus bore our sin, our sicknesses and our pains, He bore them away.  That is the reason divine healing belongs to every child of God.  There is no need to question God's will in the matter when you know this."  Ken and Gloria Copeland are his followers, and in her book God's Will For Your Healing she writes, "When Jesus bore away our sins, He also bore away our diseases....The church of Jesus Christ has been made just as free from sickness as it has been made free from sin."  She says that sickness could never be the will of God, and so if you are sick you are to blame for not being healed.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>      Charles and Francis Hunter stressed that Jesus took on Himself every disease, every cancer, and every debility of the human race.  That is why He looks so terrible on the cross.  All the brain damage, all the diabetes, all the crippling diseases of the world were placed on Jesus.  He carried it all as He did all sin, and, therefore, to carry it yourself is a rejection of what Christ did for you.</B></div> <div> <B>This teaching sounds very Christ honoring, and it exalts the cross as the cure-all of all sin and sickness.  There is nobody who would not want this to be true, for if we can be healed of all of sins consequences as easily as we can be forgiven of sin, who would not want it to be so?  It would mean heaven on earth.  We would be able to live in a fallen world free from the fall with all sickness carried away with our sin.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     The problem is that this seems to be a premature paradise not authorized by Scripture.  It sounds too good, but we have to look at the whole picture of what Scripture reveals.  When we come to Paul's writings we discover that he must have missed the implication that modern healers read into the Isaiah passage. Paul was as great a healer as there ever was.  He saw miracles galore in his ministry, and so nobody could say he was not optimistic about the healing power of faith.  Nevertheless, Paul was a realist, and he never claimed all Christians could be healed and escape all sickness.  Instead, he said just the opposite.  He said we have bodies subject to the laws of a fallen world, and that we suffer like everyone else until our bodies are redeemed.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     In Romans 8 he says that Christians suffer along with the whole creation, and we live in hope for the day when Jesus will deliver us from this fallen world.  But until then we live in hope and wait in patience.  Paul did not promote a premature paradise, but helped Christians to face the reality of a world of non-healing and non-miracle for people of faith.  Nobody gloried in the cross more than Paul, but he made it clear that what Jesus did for us there will not be completed until the resurrection.   Healing is in the atonement, but we only get a taste of what is to come in eternal life.  The Evangelicals followed Paul in his realism, but they went too far to practically eliminate healing as a legitimate ministry.  They promised nothing because of others who promised too much.  The church is ever in the battle for balance, and that is especially true in the area of faith healing.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     My goal in this message has been to try and get a picture of the whole.  To see the great variety and the many means that can be used by Jesus to open the door for healing power to flow, and to recognize that sometimes the power does not flow even when the right means are used.  Paul used faith, prayer, and repetitious pleading, yet he could not be healed of this thorn in the flesh.  This illustrates it may not be God's will to heal, and so faith and the right means even is no guarantee of healing.  The bottom line in healing is that it is real, and it is for today, and Christians should use every means possible to be in on what God may do for them in Christ, but they should not lose faith and feel they are inadequate in faith if the healing does not come.  Our text clearly reveals that John the Baptist was the best of believers, but he had to accept the realistic experience of the miracle that never happened. </B></div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>