The Gospel
of Matthew
chapter 8
The Authority to Heal 2
So He touched her hand and the fever left her... Matthew 8:15
During our last session, we witnessed the power and authority to heal as young people and even children prayed for the sick who then got healed on the spot! This understanding of the AUTHORITY OF THE BELIEVER is something every Christian needs to have. It is not enough in this fallen world to have the Word of God without the Power of God. We need to have a renewed BOLDNESS and rejuvenated FAITH to lay hands on the sick and pray for people to receive their healing.
Joy and Nissi are two ladies who are not church leaders, pastors or vicars yet they have witnessed time and time again the power of the Spirit in healing. During the healing session last week, a gentleman (Fergus) who records films and documentaries for the BBC attended the service. He was there to observe what City Chapel was about. He had a chronic bad knee which he couldn’t bend backwards without excruciating pain. He was prayed for and he could instantly
bend his knee without pain! 
And He...healed all who were sick... Jesus’ ministry was infused with compassion for all sick people. If Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever as the Bible says; then He will do now what He did way back then during His earthly life. Wherever Christians are gathered together in His Name, then He is there (Matthew 18:20). Whatever we say and declare about Him and His Gospel, He is duty bound to confirm with miracles, signs and wonders to help unbelievers to really believe;
20And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord kept working with them and confirming the message by the attesting signs and miracles that closely accompanied [it]. Mark 16:20 Amplified
20Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it. NIV
The Lord taught His disciples to go ahead and do more than He did:
tell you for certain that if you have faith in me, you will do the same things that I am doing. You will do even greater things, now that I am going back to the Father. John 14:12
The reason why they could do these greater things was because of the empowerment by the HOLY SPIRIT:
Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem[a] until you are endued with power from on high.” Luke 24:49
What power is Jesus talking about here? Why must they wait in Jerusalem for this power? This
is then explained by the Book of Acts:
But you shall receive power (ability, efficiency, and might) when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and to the
ends (the very bounds) of the earth. Acts 1:8
The early believers waited in Jerusalem until the day of Pentecost which was a regular Jewish feast with international delegates from all over the world. Jews went on pilgrimage to ‘the centre of the world’ Jerusalem in their hundreds of thousands. Just like Catholics go to Rome and Muslims go to Mecca. It was a set up because the Holy Spirit fell on the believers right in the middle of the festival and subsequently 3000 delegates got saved (read the whole of Acts chapter 2). And where did these new believers go after becoming new believers...back to the far flung countries they came from taking the Gospel with them!! 
This POWER and AUTHORITY to heal comes via the finished work of the CROSS and the presence of the Holy Spirit.
AUTHORITY: has its root meaning in the Greek word EXOUSIA and implies having the RIGHT to do something.
POWER: has its root meaning in the Greek word DUNAMIS and implies having the ABILITY to enforce a right.
John Coles said, Authority without power is degrading while power without authority is dangerous. Jesus Christ gives every child of God both the authority and power to exercise His will over sicknesses and disease and oppression
All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations...Matthew 28:18
But to as many as did receive and welcome Him, He gave the authority (power, privilege, right) to become the children of God...John 1:12
And when He had called His twelve disciples to Him, He gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease. Matthew 10:1
It is the right and privilege of every Christian to walk in the reality of these truths and spiritual facts. I want to encourage you today to continue or begin this journey of faith by DOING these simple things;
- Pray for the sick by laying your hands upon them (in an
appropriate manner) - Ask the Lord to help you by getting around believers and a
church which will nudge you to walk in the supernatural without being a
weirdo or social freak.
You can do all things through Christ....
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