Weekend Message Takeaway: The Miracle of Healing

This past weekend, we had an amazing online experience with you! We shared a wonderful time of worship, enjoyed a powerful and timely teaching, and experienced a refreshing time of community while having conversations, praying together, building one another up, and sharing in the Word of God through online groups.

Continuing our “Miracles” series, Pastor Chris Baselice from our Plantation campus shared a powerful and timely word. In this message, we explored Jesus' power to heal as we looked at John 5:1–15.

Dive deeper into this teaching on your own, with your family, or in your online group! Watch the video below to see a recap of this weekend’s teaching. You can also scroll down to check out expanded notes and summaries from the teaching, reflect on some great questions, and get informed on some of the great resources available to you.

 

To watch the message in its entirety, click here.


FOR THE NOTE TAKERS
Let’s recap some of the key talking points from Pastor Chris' message this weekend:

Jehovah Rapha: The God who heals. Our God IS a healer! Did you know that of the 37 miracles performed by Jesus recorded in the Gospels, 26 of them were healings?

Suffering and Sorrow Are Inevitable, Not Optional (John 5:1–4): The man is brought to Bethesda, which means “pool of mercy.” Sick people would wait for the stirring of the water, so they could be the first to jump in and receive healing.

In spite of the uniqueness of this season as it pertains to our lives, and the manner in which everything is happening and the way the management of the spread of the virus is being handled in our country and around the world, sickness IS NOT NEW. Romans 8:20 (NLT) tells us, “Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse.” Since the fall of mankind in the Garden, decay, disease, and death have been part of the world and part of our human life. And there is no way around it. As long as we live in this fallen world, we will be subject to these things.

In John 16:33 (NLT), Jesus promised we would experience sorrow and suffering in this world, but that we can “take heart, because [He has] overcome the world." The truth is, though we follow Jesus, we still suffer. We still experience job loss, marriage problems, anxiety, and depression. We still get sick. We still see friends and family die. We will all still physically die. But as John 11:25 (NLT, emphasis added) says, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying.”

Miracles Are Gifts of Grace (John 5:5–9): Even though we all must go through suffering, we must remember we serve the God of miracles. What Jesus says, goes!  When Jesus speaks, sickness must go. Each miracle is a gift of grace and a work of power.

Miracles are not; however, proof of God’s love. God loves us even when we’re persecuted or sick, when we fall short, when we fail, when we give in to temptation, and when we fall into sin. God displayed His love for us fully, completely, wholly, and for all eternity by the cross alone. He showed us how much He loves us by giving His life for us. So, when we doubt His love for us, all we need to do is look to the cross.

There’s a Deeper Message Than the Miracle (John 5:10–15): Jesus now tracks the man He healed down in the temple. He said to Him, “See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.” This miracle was more than just, “Be made well . . .”

The truth is that as much as we need to know God heals, we need to understand that God is doing a work in us through our suffering. Miracle or no miracle, there is a purpose in all of it.

Through suffering, God wants to show us who He is and cause us to grow more in love with Him, more into who He has called us to be. One of the most enduring realities of the Christian life is that it is most often in the hard seasons that God chips away at the things He needs to remove and draw us deeper into relationship, reliance, and devotion to Him. In this hard season, we need to not miss what God is doing.

Quote to Remember:  Our savior is intimately involved in our story.—Pastor Chris Baselice


QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION
As you think about this weekend’s teaching, here are a few questions to reflect on and consider on your own, with your family, or in your group. 

Icebreaker: Have you ever waited in line for something you really wanted? What’s the longest you ever waited?

1. Why do we as believers still suffer even though we are in Christ? What is the purpose of suffering?

2. Why does God choose to reveal Himself so often through suffering?

3. Why did Jesus ask the man if he wanted to be made well?

4. In what ways have you experienced a gift of grace?

5. What is God showing you during this hard season?


EASTER BIBLE PLAN

We have several exciting Bible plans available for you to subscribe to! From a reading plan to follow along with our “Miracles” series to a plan on experiencing peace, to a few great plans that explore the basics of Christianity, we have a variety of awesome resources for you to grow in your faith and study the Word of God.

To view our reading plans, click here.


A LOOK AHEAD

As we continue to track the news and information about COVID-19 and its effects both worldwide and right here in our surrounding cities, this week we will continue to hold services ONLINE ONLY.

Join us online this Wednesday as we continue our slate of online spring classes! Classes began last week, but there’s still time for you to register. These class experiences are designed to help you get to know Jesus on a deeper level and learn valuable and practical ways to experience the life God created you for. Check out our classes page today to sign up.

Then on the weekend, we’ll continue our “Miracles” series with a message from Pastor Doug. In this message, we’ll explore the miracle of transformation as we look at Mark 5:1–20.

We look forward to spending another awesome week with you!


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About the Author

Danny Saavedra

Danny Saavedra is a licensed minister who has served on staff at Calvary since 2012, managing the Calvary Devotional and digital discipleship resources. He has a Master of Arts in Pastoral Counseling and Master of Divinity in Pastoral Ministry from Liberty Theological Seminary. His wife Stephanie, son Jude, and daughter Zoe share a love of Star Wars, good food, having friends over for dinner, and studying the Word together as a family.