For those of you who are old enough to remember the Oral Roberts ministry on television, this morning’s text sounds  like a similar event.  The sick and ailing gathered in a room waiting for Jesus to make them better. 

As I opened this morning I made mention of Oral Roberts and his faith healing ministry of the 1950’s and in doing so I certainly do not intend to make light of the power and presence of God to heal but sometimes the show became the ministry and the message gets lost in the response.

If we think about this period of time in history, medical practices were very limited and many people suffered as the result so the one way that Jesus could quickly gain an ear to His message was to reach out and touch those who hurt.  Trust me, you pray over someone who is incapacitated and if they get up and walk away you will have everyone’s attention.  That is exactly what happened here in our text for this morning.  When Jesus healed Peter’s mother in law look at what happened in verse 42, “That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon possessed.  The whole town gathered at the door.”

When someone is struck with an over whelming illness it puts them in an out of control situation and they suddenly open their ears and eyes to any and all options which offer some sense of control.  If you don’t believe me just spend a little time watching the periphery cable TV stations and listen to the medical claims that are being offered by distributors.  Listen long enough and someone has come up with a curative for every illness known to mankind and every one of them carries a money back guarantee of which you will never see a penny of what you sent in.  But just the same people who have no hope will seek any option which might offer something.

In Jesus’ day the streets were no different than they are today for they were filled with all sorts of options to cure all sorts of problems but when someone arrived who could do what He said He could do, the text says, everyone came.

But the problem with this was that while Jesus could heal their physical illnesses this wasn’t the focus of His message.  Please note what He says to the demon possessed in verse 34, “do not let anyone know who I am”.

If the word got out that Jesus was the Son of God everyone would have walked away not because he couldn’t heal them but because of the turmoil that would be brought about by those from the local officials and if this happened the real message that He sought to bring would never be heard.

Sometimes we need to be very careful about how we approach things because our message can get lost in the midst of all the other stuff that is going on around us.  Right now I struggle with the current cutting edge ministry approaches which seem to want to encourage a change in how the message of salvation is presented.   I will admit that I wrestle hard with the rock music ministry which many use to present the gospel.  Some years ago I took our senior high youth over to Northwestern College to a rock concert.  We spent three hours in this large auditorium and I don’t think I heard two words that were presented.  I don’t doubt that the intent was well meant but the message was drowned out by the manner in which it was being conveyed.   I also wrestle with the fact that traditional Sunday morning worship can be boring and that much of what is said is often lost in the midst of wandering minds but then when we come to worship what do we expect?

As I read this text it appears that those who brought their sick to be healed were not interested in a verbal message they were interested in getting their bodies fixed so that they could get on with life and I think that is part of what is wrong with worship today. 

When we gather in God’s house what do we expect and how have we prepared ourselves before we arrive?  When we come to sing and participate is it with glory and honor or is it filled with repetitive behavior?  I must admit that I’m a creature of habit and I don’t really like change much because change causes me to do things differently and it also causes me to have to put forth effort.  But to tell you the truth when I put for effort it makes a difference and that is when I learn something.

With all of this said let’s move to verse 38 as we hear Jesus assessment of the whole situation, “Let us go somewhere else, to the nearby villages so I can preach there also.  That is why I have come.”  The point that Jesus is making here is that He didn’t come to heal the physically ill He came to redeem the lost, which brings me to the point of prayer.

Every morning I send out an email with a short devotion and a list of prayer needs and as I do it is my intent that the most important part of the message lie within the devotion not the prayer list.  Healing begins with salvation not medication.  Please understand that I commend our medical workers and understand that without them we would be in a world of hurt but to heal one’s physical wounds while allowing the spiritual wound to remain festering is just wrong.  This is the whole point of our text this morning and the concern of Jesus as He saw the entire city turn out to be healed of their physical ailments rather than their spiritual ailments.

Turn in your bibles to verse 39, “So he traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons.”  While we attach miracles to physical healing we find that Jesus moved away from the physical and focused on spiritual cleansing for what does driving out demons mean other than leading someone to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.

The church is called to perform many tasks, among those tasks is that of coming along side of those who suffer from physical ailments, and those who lack necessary provisions but the greatest task is presenting the gospel message of salvation for it is only by the saving grace of God that anyone of us can enter into the kingdom.

If I come and pray with you during a time of special need you feel comforted but when the need is fulfilled and we part company what happens then?  Worship is not about praying for special needs and concerns, it is about praying for the presence of God within our lives so that when those needs and concerns arise we will be able to manage them.  While I certainly believe that we need to remember illnesses and concerns in our prayers we need to remember the spiritual condition of the one being prayed for!

Everyone of us are spiritual targets for Satan to attack and when things become complicated in our lives we need to take special care to the nature of our prayers so that spiritually we might be able to manage.

As we gather to worship we come to rejoice and give thanks for our own salvation, seeking strength and guidance that we might lead others to a saving knowledge of Christ in their lives.  As we leave worship it is to go forth with a sense of urgency that the message be shared and that lives be brought into the kingdom.  As we go about our work a day world it is with the joy of salvation in our own hearts which then translates into an open testimony to all whom we meet.

This was Jesus’ message and I pray that it is our message also as we leave this place today.