Are any among you sick? They should call the priests of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up; and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven. (James 5:14,15)
I want to talk about the oil that we use every Sunday, so closely connected to the Lord's healing activity in his ministry.
Anointing is such a holy mystery that we lock the oil up in the Tabernacle along with the Holy Bread and Wine of Jesus.
1. I am glad that we offer anointing every week. It has baptismal importance for us! We were anointed with oil at Baptism and received the Holy Spirit!
2. Anointing is an add-on at the end of Service when everyone is restless and ready to go. I'm putting it at the end of our prayers. This is allowed by the BCP.
3. I want to encourage you as fellow pray-ers to stay standing when I anoint, and add your heartfelt prayers to mine, because St. James also says, "the prayers of the righteous are strong and effective."
Now to the preaching. When Jesus healed, did he mean only to be a "faith healer?" Was he a first century predecessor to Benny Hinn, the fake TV evangelist? (pray for his repentance) No.
There was reason for his wonderful miracles. He loves people, he has compassion on the poor and those who are so very sick and those possessed by the Evil One. So he reaches out his God-hand and makes folks whole.
Of course, these folks probably got sick again, and I know 100% of them died. But they died knowing the love of God!
"Look, world. The Father says: "During his ministry, Jesus healed the physical, mental and emotional body. He even emptied the tombs of the dead, Lazarus by way of example."
"But his healing is an Advertisement, a Preview of what he is doing for the whole human race. By his cross Jesus will heal you into eternal life!" ("Heal" and "save" are the same Greek word.)
Peter ran after Jesus to catch him as if he were a Leprechaun for the village to see and get healed. But Jesus didn't hang around to be a sideshow freak. He went on to other villages to be the living sign of God's will.
Is it a good enough reason to go after Jesus only because he heals? Well, no. St. Peter was wrong. Like the other followers, he didn't get it, yet.
Many people are angry at God because he didn't do what they wanted. We all know people who have divorced God because, "what good does He do?"
My guess is more than half of this congregation are in that sump pit. Pray that they get lifted out and saved.
On Thursday night, after Jesus was arrested, Peter fled the High Priest's palace because he had totally misread Jesus. All that year, Peter thought Jesus was coming to be the strong man from God. Then he discovered the real meaning of healing and its dreadful cost...the life of God Jesus!
You and I have also been pulled to the foot of the cross to see the ultimate reason Jesus heals. We repent for trying to make him a supernatural coke machine, a no buck no luck Benny Hinn miracle worker.
Peter knew and we know what it took to heal us, to save us, his own passion and death. And resurrection. Can't forget that!
Sherwin-Williams had a paint advertisement, showing a gallon of their product covering the whole globe.
That's what Jesus did when he died. He covered the whold world, the whole cosmos with his blood to change us into healed/saved people.
As God trusters we will follow Jesus through any joy, happiness, wealth, health; or pain, suffering, privation and even death itself because we have the Big Healing.
Is it right to hope Jesus will heal us with prayers and oil applied from hand to pate by a priest? Well, yes. In this little vial is our hope for healing, it contains Jesus' loving promise to us.
But first, we pray, "Thy will be done." We submit to, bow to, defer to, yield to, surrender to god's will.
Did you know that submission is what Baptism does? Did you know that Confirmation is a solemn vow of submission?
The "Our Father" is a prayer of submissdion: "Thy will be done."
If God decides to answer a prayer in his way but not ours, we say, "Father, I am in your hands. You have anointed me today with salvation. Thank you so very much. Your loving Godchild, Jim. PS. I'll be back for more of the same!
I want to talk about the oil that we use every Sunday, so closely connected to the Lord's healing activity in his ministry.
Anointing is such a holy mystery that we lock the oil up in the Tabernacle along with the Holy Bread and Wine of Jesus.
1. I am glad that we offer anointing every week. It has baptismal importance for us! We were anointed with oil at Baptism and received the Holy Spirit!
2. Anointing is an add-on at the end of Service when everyone is restless and ready to go. I'm putting it at the end of our prayers. This is allowed by the BCP.
3. I want to encourage you as fellow pray-ers to stay standing when I anoint, and add your heartfelt prayers to mine, because St. James also says, "the prayers of the righteous are strong and effective."
Now to the preaching. When Jesus healed, did he mean only to be a "faith healer?" Was he a first century predecessor to Benny Hinn, the fake TV evangelist? (pray for his repentance) No.
There was reason for his wonderful miracles. He loves people, he has compassion on the poor and those who are so very sick and those possessed by the Evil One. So he reaches out his God-hand and makes folks whole.
Of course, these folks probably got sick again, and I know 100% of them died. But they died knowing the love of God!
"Look, world. The Father says: "During his ministry, Jesus healed the physical, mental and emotional body. He even emptied the tombs of the dead, Lazarus by way of example."
"But his healing is an Advertisement, a Preview of what he is doing for the whole human race. By his cross Jesus will heal you into eternal life!" ("Heal" and "save" are the same Greek word.)
Peter ran after Jesus to catch him as if he were a Leprechaun for the village to see and get healed. But Jesus didn't hang around to be a sideshow freak. He went on to other villages to be the living sign of God's will.
Is it a good enough reason to go after Jesus only because he heals? Well, no. St. Peter was wrong. Like the other followers, he didn't get it, yet.
Many people are angry at God because he didn't do what they wanted. We all know people who have divorced God because, "what good does He do?"
My guess is more than half of this congregation are in that sump pit. Pray that they get lifted out and saved.
On Thursday night, after Jesus was arrested, Peter fled the High Priest's palace because he had totally misread Jesus. All that year, Peter thought Jesus was coming to be the strong man from God. Then he discovered the real meaning of healing and its dreadful cost...the life of God Jesus!
You and I have also been pulled to the foot of the cross to see the ultimate reason Jesus heals. We repent for trying to make him a supernatural coke machine, a no buck no luck Benny Hinn miracle worker.
Peter knew and we know what it took to heal us, to save us, his own passion and death. And resurrection. Can't forget that!
Sherwin-Williams had a paint advertisement, showing a gallon of their product covering the whole globe.
That's what Jesus did when he died. He covered the whold world, the whole cosmos with his blood to change us into healed/saved people.
As God trusters we will follow Jesus through any joy, happiness, wealth, health; or pain, suffering, privation and even death itself because we have the Big Healing.
Is it right to hope Jesus will heal us with prayers and oil applied from hand to pate by a priest? Well, yes. In this little vial is our hope for healing, it contains Jesus' loving promise to us.
But first, we pray, "Thy will be done." We submit to, bow to, defer to, yield to, surrender to god's will.
Did you know that submission is what Baptism does? Did you know that Confirmation is a solemn vow of submission?
The "Our Father" is a prayer of submissdion: "Thy will be done."
If God decides to answer a prayer in his way but not ours, we say, "Father, I am in your hands. You have anointed me today with salvation. Thank you so very much. Your loving Godchild, Jim. PS. I'll be back for more of the same!
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