The Bible is candid and truthful over the realities of ministry, yet as preacher/pastors we are often not as forthright. The popular, yet warped contemporary version of our faith, has become a magnet for the sick and sullen, longing for survival without healing.

By healing, I do not refer to the physical maladies that frequently plague aging frames, but the spiritual illnesses often manifested in the weariness of the mind (James 5:15), as well as the emotional dysfunction that gravitates to cathartic environments. These things do not qualify as healing, they are mere survival techniques. As pastors, many of us are struggling survivors, pretending to be healed so that the sick amongst us will not lose confidence in us. As a result, no healing takes place at all!

The only place of authentic healing is in the cross of Jesus Christ! Many of us preach about a cross or crosses, when these crosses offer no healing. Rape, domestic violence, poverty, divorce etc., do not represent the cross. These crosses are indigenous to a sick culture, both the saved and the unsaved fall victim to these crosses. The cross of Jesus Christ is represented by these three pinions. 1) It is a vehicle of redemption, 2) it is voluntarily received and 3) there are always voices of recall (saying come down)" says, Dr. A.L. Patterson. Nobody chooses to be raped. That disqualifies it as a rape. No one is redeemed because of another person's unemployment. These do not represent the cross, they are simply consequences of our fallen culture!

As preachers of the gospel, we must preach a message whose core rests in the cross of Jesus Christ. This is where he bears the scars resulting from our fallen condition and imputes his healing to us. We live focused on our imputed status, knowing that the scars of our past do not define us.

As a graduating Senior in college years ago, I worked for a restaurant that announced it's closing in a few months. It didn't bother me much because I knew that it was just a temporary job for me. I nonchalantly embraced the announcement until I remembered that I was employed with some parents whose livelihood was from that job. Some cried, others angrily protested. The air was thick with fear. It occurred to me, that when one places everything in something that fails, panic is inevitable.

As believers, the cross says, yes we suffer, but our healing rests in our placing everything in the eternal promises of our God. Jesus Christ is our everything. The cross of Jesus Christ has redeemed us from the stains of our sick society. We hurt, but it's temporary! The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory that shall be revealed in us!

Our healing is in the cross of Jesus Christ. We must leave our self help motivational speeches for others to do that. We must declare that there is "power, power, wonder working power, in the blood of the Lamb!"

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Praise the Lord Brother,
I like how you separated what the cross means. I am in total agreement with you on that issue. Many have confused our struggles in the flesh and earthly troubles as signs of going to the cross. With the cross comes death and that death is to ourselves and our sins. When we deny ourselves, take up the cross and follow Jesus we may find ourselves over in Africa ministering to a groups of villagers in need of the word of God. Or we may find ourselves selling all and giving to the poor.

Now these are not the only two examples of Going to the cross but you can certainly get my point. Self must be denied and crucified and Christ must be glorified (in our bodies)

God Bless
"Self must be denied and crucified and Christ must be glorified (in our bodies)"
I couldn't have said it better my self. Christ MUST be glorified in all...body...mind and spirit.
SELAH AND SAY ON!
Today's Christians do not desire to go to the cross. As a matter of fact most consider wearing a Jesus t-shirt as making a stand for Christ. Preachers are not teaching how important it is to go to the cross because many of them have not gone to the cross. We must first understand what going to the cross is then we can properly lead God's flock.
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Thanks for your response. I hope the conversation will evolve into the dynamics of going to the cross. What does that really mea?. I believe I stated it in my discussion, but I hope that the readers will not overlook that. Who I am is imputed to me according to God's grace. My sin debt is paid in full. I do not need law to inform my behavior, but grace to inform my character. I am a disciplined follower of Christ learning who he is, that I might grow in my self-understanding, so that I might behave as grace has made me to become!
The cross of Christ is a beautiful love story: "For God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3:16). Simply put, the Cross of Christ is God's way to reconcile man to Himself, so we can have a true relationship with Him. God's love and grace expressed through the blood of His Son cleanses us from all sin and the guilt of our pasts. There's joy and freedom in having a relationship with a God who continues to love us in spite of our weaknesses and mistakes. Many are suffering today because they carry the burden of their past mistakes or feel they have to earn love and acceptance.

The message of the cross is simple and very powerful to destroy every deep spiritual ailment that lies in each of us. As Paul stated, this gospel is nothing to be ashamed of, because it "for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth...(Rom. 1:16). It is this simple gospel draws people to Christ.

Yes, healing is in the cross of Jesus Christ! No self help book or speech can do that, only the blood of Jesus. It is at the cross where we lay our burdens and allow God to heal and make us complete and whole.

"But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed." (Isaiah 53:5)
Beautiful Ms. Kristi! I grieve the rarity at which this message is proclaimed. The gospels beauty is often lost and implied as insufficient. I rejoice in your sharing it!!!

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