From the Pulpit...

We read Genesis 36. Then, we examined the blessings of salvation. We saw that Jesus is not a savior in theory, but in actual practice. He saves primarily from the wages of sin, which is eternal death. But while He was on the earth, He also rescued many people from the temporal effects of sin.

Such effects that Jesus miraculously healed included diseases like leprosy and dropsy; demon possession; hunger; mental illness; hemorrhaging; fever; crippling handicaps of the feet, legs, and hands; blindness; muteness; deafness; severe scoliosis; seizures/epilepsy; paralysis; and death. Take another careful look at this list. The intrusion of sin and death in the world is the ultimate cause of all of those afflictions. Christ has the power and authority to fix them all. And what He did was truly fix those issues. This was not hocus-pocus or sleight of hand. Rather, the creator of the universe (John 1:3) reactivated his creative powers and fixed or made new again body parts that were non-functional. He created food with the same power. He used His authority as Son of God to recall spirits from the dead and to command demonic spirits, whom He had initially created before they fell into sin, to obey His will.

The bulk of the message focused on 11 blessings that the believer receives from God at the time of salvation. These include forgiveness, justification, indwelling, union with Christ and His church, new life, transformation, adoption, reconciliation, redemption, and being made complete in Christ.