Lots to cover this week, and it’s some challenging concepts.  Listen to the messages again if you need a refresher, sermons page.

1. Can you remember a time when you or someone you know has been healed? If so, share it with us.
2. Are there people you know of who have been seeking healing for a long time?
3. What is a kingdom? (answer: the realm over which a king exercises his authority)
4. What is the Kingdom of God? (the realm over which God exercises his authority)
5. Read Mark 1:15, Matthew 12:28, Matthew 16:28, and Luke 17:20-21. How is the Kingdom of God here, almost here and future at the same time? (see the chart)
6. What is happening when someone is healed?
7. What does it mean when we pray, “Lord, let your Kingdom come.”?
8. How are we “already/not-yet people”
9. read 2 Cor. 6:4-10, discuss how it reveals the tension of the “already/not-yet” nature of being a Christian.
10. read John 12:31-32, what did Jesus mean when he said, “now is the judgment of this world?”
11. What is the difference between “faith healing” and “divine healing”?
12. Is it God’s will for you to be healed? (see quotes below, if you need help with this one)
13. What’s our role to play in healing?
14. Pray for each other!

Derek Morphew:
“In the final consummation of the kingdom all sickness will be banished.  This was the promise of Isaiah.  God will wipe away every tear and there will be no more death or mourning, crying or pain (Revelation 21:3-4).  Nothing impure or shameful will be allowed in his kingdom.  God will rule supreme and unchallenged, and the devil will be cast into the lake of fire.  This settles the question that sick people often agonize over: Is it God’s will to heal me?  The answer is that when God reigns supreme, there will be no sickness.  Sickness can never be a part of his will.  To suggest that it is dishonors the character of God.  The devil comes to steal, kill and destroy.  God comes to give life.

In Jesus the future rule of God broke into the present.  The presence of Jesus brought the presence of God’s perfect will.  When people said to Jesus: ‘If you are willing, you can make me clean,’ Jesus replied: ‘I am willing; be cleansed’ (Mark 1:41).  Wherever Jesus went, healing followed, because wherever Jesus went, God’s will broke through.  Jesus is what God has to say about himself.  Watch the deeds of Jesus and see the will of God!”

Pastor Aaron:
Let there be no doubt, it is God’s will for you to be healed…and let there be no doubt, if you are a believer in Jesus, you will be healed!  It’s not “IF” it’s “WHEN”.  The only question that remains is, will it be in the here and now, or will it be when we see him face to face?

People are often healed, because the Kingdom of God has already come.
And people are often not healed, because the Kingdom of God has not yet fully come.