Pastor Barry's  "Chapter & Verse"  Day 65

March 6, 2018;      Matthew 15:30;       15/260(IV);        ‘Great Multitudes’

Matthew 15:30 Then great multitudes came to Him, having with them the lame, blind, mute, maimed, and many others; and they laid them down at Jesus' feet, and He healed them.

In reading different commentaries and the parallel account in Mark 7, the Lord Jesus, His ‘fame’ now preceding Him, was found by multitudes in the primarily Gentile area of Decapolis.  The Lord Jesus says several times in the gospels that His ministry was primarily to the Jews.  However, His love and compassion compelled Him to minister to those hurting regardless of who they were.  Once people knew that the Lord Jesus could heal, the multitudes thronged Him wherever He went, once they found out where He was.   What is vital for us to know is that the Lord Jesus healed everyone.  Regardless of their condition, if they seriously sought Jesus for their healing, Jew or Gentile, the power of the Holy Spirit flowed through Jesus and healed them all.  Only in Jesus’ home town were there people who were not healed.  They knew Jesus as the Carpenter and refused to believe on Him or put their faith in who He was.  It was their lack of faith and not the Lord’s anointing to heal that prevented them from being made well.  This verse is incredibly impactful to me.  Since the Lord commanded us to continue His ministry (John 17:18), and has anointed us with the same power of the Holy Spirit, once we are baptized in the Holy Spirit, we can expect the same results.  Regardless of who the person is, regardless of what they are facing physically, we can duplicate the ministry of Jesus.  Our part is to see that this is true in the Word of God, stand on the scriptures that teach us that the healing power of the Holy Spirit is upon us and by faith step out and lay hands on the sick.  Doing now what Jesus did then.