Roger Sapp in Singapore, Malaysia and even Batam!

Those who’ve followed this blog will know how much Curry Blake has influenced my thinking on healing in the past year. The other person whose teachings on healing have impacted me is Roger Sapp – I wrote a post about his teachings here. Both are similar in desiring to “train” people to heal the sick, rather than be seen as a great man of God who moves in healing that you and I probably can’t move in. Both also have a firm belief that it’s God’s desire to heal everyone all the time. And both also would disagree with the typical “list of hindrances to healing” that most charismatic churches would teach that tends to result in disqualifying ourselves for healing – rather than in what we should be doing which is looking to Christ and seeing how we’re 100% qualified in Christ to be healed. And from what I know, both seem to be very successful in healing the sick.

The main difference would probably be in emphasis: Roger focuses more on the finished work of Christ (and resting on that) while Curry tends to stress the authority believers have over sickness – and the resulting aggressiveness we need to have. Roger’s teachings focuses slightly more on the faith of the sick to receive healing while Curry focuses slightly more on the faith of the person praying for the sick – and how we should be able to heal the sick on our own faith.

I’ve learned from both and will continue to do so. One thing I really like about Roger’s ministry is his relaxing style which is really in keeping with his focus on the finished work and resting in that. Just watch this:

For where you can get more resources (some free and downloadable) from Roger, check out the “Roger Sapp” section of my Healing Resources page.

Roger will be teaching his Christ-centered Healing Seminar (and of course also demonstrating healing) in Malaysia, Batam and Singapore from 15th to 24th April 2011. For those interested to attend his seminars, here’s the information:

1) 15th to 17th April in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia at The New Covenant Church.
2) 20th April in Batam, Indonesia. Singaporeans who wish to go to Batam can contact me – we’ll be in Batam the whole day for a teaching for pastors and leaders there.
3) 22nd to 24th April at Christian Gospel Mission in Singapore.

I’ll be there for all his meetings so anyone can contact me for more information if you’re interested to attend.

I’ll end with a testimony on Roger Sapp’s healing journey:

Testimony from Roger Sapp

In the winter months of 1972, I received Christ as my Savior, Lord and Baptizer in the Holy Spirit. I can honestly say that I believed in divine healing from the beginning of my walk with Christ, and even had a number of personal healings and a few creative miracles of my own in my developing relationship with Christ in the two decades leading up to 1992. Reflecting back, I can see now that my theology of healing was very complex and impractical. I also occasionally suffered from sickness, and healing did not always seem available. My experience of healing during those two decades seemed mysterious, generally unreliable and unpredictable. This was true of my own experience as well as my prayer for others.

In 1992, I had a breakthrough in healing that transformed my thinking on this matter. In the summer of 1992, while praying about another matter, the Spirit of Christ unexpectedly said this to me:

Why don’t you receive Me as your Healer in the same way that you received Me as your Savior?

By asking me this simple question, Christ initiated in me a series of events and a renewed interest in what Scripture said on this matter. I began to meditate on Scripture and came to new conclusions on healing. I began to discover that my healing theology of twenty years was not really based on Scripture, but on my erratic healing experiences and what others had taught from their erratic experiences. Because my experiences had matched theirs, I accepted what I heard as being the truth, without serious examination and comparison with Scripture.

Because my experience of healing was unpredictable, unreliable and often seemed mysterious, I had adopted popular modern healing theology that reflected that experience. However, I was unaware that I had accepted many aspects of unbelieving philosophy on these matters that are common in western culture. I had socially acceptable, but scripturally wrong explanations for why healing did not occur. Inwardly, I knew there was something wrong with my experience. However, my intellectual explanations of healing, or why God did not heal, certainly matched my experience.

As I began to examine my beliefs in 1992, I could not reconcile what I then believed with Scripture. It was apparent that my beliefs were not in harmony with what Christ demonstrated and said about healing. I realized that my theology didn’t focus on Christ’s example and teaching, but somehow had set Him aside as a special example, one that could not instruct me. Because of this, my theology of healing relied heavily upon the Old Testament and a few New Testament verses regarding the lives of the followers of Christ. Subsequently, I knew more about Paul’s thorn in the flesh and Job’s sufferings than I knew about the many detailed Gospel accounts of healings and miracles in Christ’s ministry. I knew more of the cultural explanations for the value of sickness than I knew of Christ’s words to the suffering people He encountered.

However, Christ did not allow me to continue in that mindset. In a matter of a few months, not only was my theology of healing transformed, but my experience as well. First, I was completely healed of a thirty-year problem with chronic sinus infections and the blinding headaches they caused. Secondly, my wife Ann experienced healing of frequent migraine headaches that would last two or three days. She was also healed of severe asthma that required serious daily medication. My family’s overall health improved dramatically. All of us experienced a reduction of suffering from illness and pain.

Within a short time, I began to see healing and creative miracles on a much greater scale in my public ministry. In some situations in my traveling ministry to local churches today as many as 85% of the people attending are healed of some sort of condition. Many of the healings are visible to the congregations. Normally, in these kinds of meetings, I begin by showing Christ’s willingness to heal by praying for people with injured and painful bad backs. Most often, all are visibly healed and are then able to bend without pain for the first time in a long time. When others there see this, this normally releases faith for healing of physical conditions that are not necessarily visible. Some healings are minor conditions simply causing discomfort. Some healings are very serious conditions which are extremely painful and often life threatening.

While the Lord grants healings as I travel today, the main focus of our service to Christ today is not healing the sick, but is rather equipping others to heal the sick. Every equipped servant of Christ ought to be teaching, discipling and leading others into the experience of ministry rather than just demonstrating their gifts. If a minister knows how to heal the sick, then that minister ought to be teaching the people of God how to do this. If he knows how to cast out demons, then he should be teaching others how to do this rather than just doing it himself. If a prophet knows how to accurately prophesy, he should be teaching the people of God how to accurately prophesy. Likewise, the evangelist should be teaching others how to evangelize rather than just doing the work of evangelism himself. Therefore, I am focused on releasing believers into the Christ-like ministries of healing the sick and performing miracles. My hope is that those that we train will excel in helping the suffering find healing and therefore glorify Christ by doing the greater works that He speaks of in John 14:11-14.

The end of the age draws near. The Church must come to maturity and complete the harvest of souls. Christ-like power in healing and miracles must accompany the Gospel to bring the masses to Christ.