The Great PhysicianYou do not want to miss service next Sunday! It’s our first Young Communicators service. Story of Larry Miller led the Jordan shoe brand department at Nike. In 1965, when he was 16, he shot another young man in a gang rivalry.  Thrity-four years later, he landed as the president of the Jordan brand at Nike. But he was always afraid his past would catch up with him. He suffered with migraines and nightmares of getting arrested again… He finally told his daughter and Nike.  As soon as he told them, the headaches and nightmares stopped.   Luke 5:17-26Matthew 9:32-33As long as we are alive, we consist of body and spirit. Spiritual experiences can impact people so deeply that they transform them physically.  And I’ve seen physical trauma change the spirit of a person so deeply that they become bound and imprisoned by invisible bars. I’ve seen the spirit of infirmity convince people they will never be well. The Jewish people saw their sin and sickness as synonymous. Let me clear, not all sickness is because we sinned, but I have seen sin cause sickness. It’s been said we are not our sin, but I would push back on that because I’ve seen people become their sin.  I have seen it reduce them to a shell of who they used to be. We can see their view of sin and sickness in John 9 where Jesus heals a blind man.  The disciples asked who sinned, this man or his parents. It was prophesied that when the Messiah came, he would take away the sins of the world.   This means he was going to make right the wrongs that sin incurred on the world. Sin was the reason for the breakdown of men and families, or health, our nations, even the land we walk on.  Sin made the world sick.  Luke, who was a physician, implied that Jesus was the great physician. He records Jesus’ words  in Luke 5:31: “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” We see that Jesus connects the need for a physician to helping those who are sinners.  Psalm 103:3: “ He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases.”Sickness is  spiritual. Jesus once healed a man that was demon-possessed and mute. Matthew 9:32 says Jesus cast out the demon, and then the man began to speak. Jesus was addressing the spiritual to get to the physical.  We have been conditioned to address the symptoms of people but not the cause.   Jesus heals the paralyzed man in Luke 5 to show he has the power to forgive sins.  Christ’s healing in our lives isn’t just to give us comfort or convenience but wholeness.Jesus is able to bring this wholeness to our lives because he took the prescription meant for us. The unbelievers said in Matthew 27:42: “ He saved others,” they scoffed, “but he can’t save himself! So he is the King of Israel, is he? Let him come down from the cross right now, and we will believe in him!”They thought his condition was because of his own sin. They didn’t realize it was our disease and sin that put him on the cross.   Isaiah 53:4Our sin affected his body. But the wounds of his body are now the prescription for our sin. How do I get this healing? Like sin, we have to admit we are sick.  Healing and repentance are connected through confession. The admittance of sickness and sin. Jesus asked those who wanted healing what they wanted.  The admittance that you are sick is the beginning of faith. James 5:16 tells us to confess, pray, and there will be healed. Joanne’s story of freedom that brought healing.2 Chron. 7:14: Seek His face and pray. He will hear from heaven and forgive their sins and heal their land.