05-19-20 Kevin Goins - Church’s Ministry of Healing, John 9:8-9, part 3

“Anatomy of an Illness: The Church’s Ministry of Healing”
John 9:8-9 (Part 3)

I First, sickness gets our attention and it gets the attention of Jesus (9:1).
II Second, sickness makes us uncomfortable (9:2).
III Third, sickness is caused by alienation (9:2).
IV Fourth, oftentimes our best theological or commonsense explanations for sickness are not good enough (9:3a).
V Fifth, sometimes sickness happens for a good reason, so that God can be glorified in our life (9:3b).
VI Sixth, all believers in Jesus are called to help sick people find health (9:4).
VII Seventh, sickness is a work of the kingdom of darkness; healing is a work of the Kingdom of light (9:5).
VIII Eighth, the how of healing is very important (9:6).
IX Ninth, sickness can be overcome by divine healing, but healing does not happen without some action on our part (9:7).

X Tenth, divine healing will always arouse doubt (9:8-9).

A. The first thing this text teaches us is that miracles that transform people’s lives get noticed and these miracles arouse either faith or doubt.

B. The second thing this text teaches us is that when a miracle arouses doubt, Jesus can seem to be far away.

C. The third thing this text teaches us is that when a miracle occurs, some will believe.

D. The fourth thing this text teaches us is that when a miracle occurs some will ___________ believe.

1. The neighbors said, “This man who can see _____________ be the man who was blind from birth.”

2. Why did they make the statement, “It only looks like him,” without even bothering to ___________ the man ___________ he was?

3. The people who are giving the most critical assessments of the Bible today are most often the people who have the _____________ knowledge of the Bible.

4. If you want to witness creative thinking in the extreme, show someone the evidence for a miracle and watch how their mind works to e___________ it all a________.

5. What is true for c________________ is also true for m_______________, there will always be people who will not believe.

E. Lastly, this text teaches us that despite the fact that some believe and some do not, the one who experiences a miracle of healing has the opportunity to be an i_______________ w_____________ for Jesus.

1. If a miracle had not occurred, no one would have been saying that the man born blind was _______ the man born blind. They only said that because if this man who can now see was the man born blind, then they would have to a_____________ that a miracle had actually occurred.

2. The blind man was, on this occasion, the only one who could speak as an e______________.

3. This man offered proof that a miracle had taken place, and he did not have to be a s_______________ or a p_______________ or a religious expert to do that.

4. We do not have to ____________ scientifically that God does miraculous things in our world today. We do not need to ___________ that there is philosophical justification for believing that God does miracles. We do not have to q____________ Bible verses to support the fact that God does today what people would call miracles. All we have to do is to _______ our story of what Jesus did for us.

5. John says that when this man acted as a witness to the miracle-working power of Jesus, it was as if he was s________________ in the s_________ of Jesus.

6. When the “I am” saves us or heals us or delivers us in some way, we should do as the Psalmist says: We should proclaim his salvation from __________ to __________.