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Lesson 17: The Laying On Of Hands





Building Your Spiritual House
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Jesus is the pattern son and our goal in this life is to be conformed into his image.  Jesus as the prototype of our journey was baptized into water as the lamb of God in the Jordan river then He was baptized by the Spirit, and we are to follow in the footsteps of our master.  

In this school of discipleship, we have been covering in the last few lessons the foundational doctrines of our faith as laid out in Hebrews chapter 6 verse 1 thru 2 and the cruciform life of following Christ.  We have covered repentance from dead works, faith towards God and the doctrine of baptisms.  Let’s now look at the subject of laying on of hands.  A lot of people don’t realize it, but laying on of hands is a foundational doctrine and something Jesus practiced, his disciples practiced and something we should be practicing.  

God created man in His image which means He created man not necessarily to look like Him, but to function like Him. In the last few lessons, we saw that we are the body of Christ in the earth and His representatives as a royal priesthood.  We saw that God is Spirit and through the resurrection of Christ we have been given the very same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead. 

As representatives of Christ, we are called to display his nature of love, forgiveness and impart blessings to others. The Holy Spirit working through our lives gives us power to perform works of service and wisdom to implement the will of God.  It’s the grace of God connecting us to the throne of the lamb in holistic worship dedicating our whole lives to Christ living through us.  It’s the joining together of God’s space and man’s space - the intersection of the heavenly realm and the earthly realm.   It’s the only way we can fulfill the original mandate given to man and fulfill our individual calling.  

Adam was filled with the Spirit.  The nation of Israel was empowered from on high with the Spirit.  John the Baptist the preparer of the way for the Messiah and Jesus as our prototype was filled with the Spirit.  In like manner we are to be priests who walk with God, bear his image, his nature of love being clothed in his Spirit and glory.  It is through the empowering of his Spirit that we are to demonstrate servant leadership.  Baptism into the Holy Spirit is about being clothed in the Spirit and empowered with gifts so that we can do that which he has called us to do.  

In looking at the foundational doctrines of Christ laying on of hands seems almost out of place in this list of subjects to be covered.  It seems out of place until you begin to understand the great importance that touch plays in human existence and how as carriers of God’s nature: the hand is a conduit by which the essence of life can be transmitted.  As a part of the priesthood of Christ we are earthen vessels made of the dust of the ground, but through Christ resurrection and our identification with Him we have been given His power.  The life-giving power of the Spirit lives within us.  The cruciform life is to be no longer us living, but us living by faith working through love. 

It is out of a life centered on the cross that we release the love, power and wisdom of the Spirit when we practice the laying on of hands.  

Perhaps our greatest need in an unstable world is to feel a sense of grounding, to know we are loved and it is through human touch that this happens. Human touch plants our feet on God’s created earth and bonds us together through the dust of the earth from which we are all formed.  A great study was done and a book written on how humans express and receive love.   We all give and receive love in five main ways: Number one words of affirmation.  Number two acts of service.  Number three receiving gifts.  Number four quality time and number five physical touch.  

Human touch is very important in showing love, care, support and affection. Touch is an avenue of communal bonding.

Numerous scientific studies have shown the importance of touch in the development of a child’s life.  A baby’s first experience occurs through touch. The positive touch a child receives is essential to their growth of physical abilities, language, cognitive skills, along with their social and emotional wellbeing.

Touch not only impacts short-term development during infancy and early childhood, but also has long-term effects, suggesting the power of positive, gentle touch from birth.  It is the result of simple human touch that newborns are able to learn about their world, bond with their caregiver, and communicate their needs and wants. It is estimated that 80% of a baby’s communication is expressed through bodily movement.  When parents engage in appropriate touch, young children have improved chances to successfully develop socially, emotionally, and intellectually. 

As we look at the subject of laying on of hands, I want to share with you a scientific study that was done in the late 1960’s.  In the late 1960’s, a biochemist and enzymologist, M. Justa Smith, did extensive research on the biochemical effects of energy imparted through the laying on of hands. Tests were arranged in which enzyme trypsin solution in several flasks had hands laid upon them for 75 minutes a day. Another flask was exposed to a high magnetic energy field, and a fourth flask was kept untouched in its natural state. The results showed that the two flasks that had hands applied to them demonstrated similar effects to the flask exposed to the high magnetic energy field. 

In this case secular science proves the Biblical truth of what God’s word has proclaimed for several thousand years that there is an actual impartation and transference of life which occurs in the laying on of hands. 

I want to give you a brief teaching on what many have termed Restoration Theology.  Understanding this subject will give us a broader view of church history therefore helping us to better understand the times in which we live.  Restoration Theology varies greatly depending on who is teaching it so it can be taken to extremes and I’ve seen it create some heretical doctrines.  It doesn’t mean there is no truth to it, but it does mean it’s not the river of the cross and one of the main things we should keep our focus upon.  I’m ok studying it as a tributary, exploring some aspects of it to get a better understanding of God’s purpose within time, but it should never be our main focus.  I’ve seen a lot of good people get into some crazy ideas due to over emphasizing Restoration Theology and just creating divisions, strife and confusion among believers.  

On the day of Pentecost when the new temple, the body of Christ was anointed with oil from heaven, Peter stood up and preached. Peter as with all of the apostolic writers received their understanding from the ancient faith of their fathers through the Law, Psalms and Prophets.  Our faith grew from the roots of the Hebrew Scriptures because the New Testament is simply a revelation and unveiling of all the Law, Psalms and Prophets said about the Messiah.

In a nutshell Restoration Theology is built on a text from the book of Joel that Peter partly quoted from on the day of Pentecost. 

Joel chapter 2 verses 23 thru 25 says: Be glad, O children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God, for he has given the early rain for your vindication, he has poured down for you abundant rain, the early and the latter rain.  Restoration Theology is focused on what they call the early rain and latter rain.   

The early rain is said to be the early church and the initial outpouring of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost and then the church went into captivity much in the same way that Israel went into Babylonian captivity.  In 312 AD once Constantine declared Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire, the church, like the nation of Israel, was taken into captivity. 

It is interesting to note that once they began to put church bishops into places of power in the Roman government: from that point forward the Roman Empire truly crumbled.  

Now out of the remnants of the Roman Empire arose the Holy Roman Empire where the Catholic Church was established and ruled in what history calls the Dark Ages. A long story short in 1515 a German monk who liked to drink beer wrote his 95 Theses debating the corruption of the Catholic indulgences nailed it to the door of the Whittenburg church.  I fully cover this subject in Lesson 7: The Cycle of Dead Works.  At that point the Protestant Reformation was kicked into high gear. So, for over 1,000 years we had what historians call the Dark Ages.  It was a time where religion and politics were merged resulting in the masses being kept in darkness so that they could easily be controlled. We do have some historical accounts which show that there was a persecuted remnant that still understood the message of the cross during this period of time.  However, the religious and political leaders persecuted and killed those who stepped outside of the accepted speech that they authorized.  

Restoration Theology
In a nutshell Restoration Theology is built on a text from the book of Joel that Peter partly quoted from on the day of Pentecost. 

As I’ve already said, Restoration Theology emphasizes two things which is the former rain and the latter rain.  Israel has two rainy seasons. The early rains are in the Fall from October to November when farmers begin plowing and planting seeds. The latter rains are in the Spring from March to April when the crops become mature for harvesting.  The prophet Joel, Hosea, Zechariah and Jeremiah spoke of the former and latter rains.  We know that on the day of Pentecost when the church was birthed it was the opening of the 'day of the Lord', it was an outpouring of the Spirit in Jerusalem and we see Peter quoting from the book of Joel concerning this outpouring.  It was the birth of the church age and symbolized the former rain when the ground was plowed with the seeds of the gospel being planted.  The seeds of the gospel have been being planted for the last 2,000 years. 

We know that Jesus talked about the end of the age being a great harvest.  The redemptive story is going to be wrapped up in this age.  Restoration Theology teaches that when Joel says I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten: that since the days of the Protestant Reformation, God has been restoring the church back to its original form, as the book of Acts described.  It’s a restoration back to a church governed by the Spirit displayed in the book of Acts which was the former rain, yet the latter rain of the Spirit on the church is going to be even greater. 

I agree with certain aspects of Restoration Theology and I do see the re-establishing of the nation of Israel in 1948 some 2,000 years after its destruction as a sign and acceleration of all that the prophets predicted concerning the consumption of the 'day of the Lord'.  The church age began in Israel with Christ first coming and it will end in Israel.  

The church age is going to end with a latter rain outpouring of the Spirit not just upon Jerusalem, but all the nations of the earth will be saturated with an outpouring of the latter rain of the Spirit before Christ returns to the Mount of Olives.  

I do think it’s important to understand church history and history itself because if we don’t learn from history, we are doomed to repeat the same mistakes.  In studying history, we can see that Europe was transformed by the Protestant Reformation which spurred the Enlightenment period. Then you had certain groups of believers due to their newfound faith and interpretations of scripture, being persecuted by the established religious order.  Europeans began to get on ships to take the dangerous voyage to the new land.  One of the most famous groups were the Puritans, who are known as the Pilgrims, who have been credited with the first established European settlement in North America in 1619.  

America was founded as a place for religious refugees and one of its primary tenets from the beginning was the freedom to practice your faith as you wanted.  The American government in 1789 under the American constitution was not establishing a religious government, but a secular government granting freedom of speech and freedom of religion as its two main tenets.   The church in America with the freedoms granted under the US Constitution has resulted in America being a beachhead for global revival and spurred the world’s greatest mission movement over the last 100 years. 

America has been used much in the same way as the Roman Empire and the Romans roads which provided an avenue for the spread of the gospel during the first century church.  

The American experiment has been greatly impacted over the years through the moving of the Holy Spirit. The first being the Great Awakening led by English missionary leaders in the American colonies such as George Whitfield and Jonathan Edwards.  As these men preached, they saw outpourings of the Spirit mainly in the New England states from around the 1730’s till about 1750’s and there were very well documented occurrences of people getting filled with the Spirit displaying manifestations similar to the book of Acts.  As these men preached, people were experiencing trances, prophesying, crying out in repentance under the power of the Spirit and getting slain or knocked down by the power of the Spirit.  

The Second Great Awakening was from the late 1750’s to the early 1840’s.  The main leaders were Charles Finney a Presbyterian minister, then the English missionary brothers John and Charles Wesley.  Charles Finney became credited for starting the mass crusade evangelism model that Billy Graham and Oral Roberts popularized in the 1950’s. 

The John and Charles Wesley brothers were probably the most prolific church planting missionaries in America and their Movement founded what is today known as the Methodist Church.   It is well documented that through the outpouring of the Second Great Awakening manifestations of the Spirit like trances, prophesying, crying out in repentance under the power of the Spirit and getting slain or knocked down by the power of the Spirit and there is documentation of speaking in tongues although it was not popularized at during the Second Great Awakening.  

That brings us to the 1901 Azusa Street revival in downtown Los Angeles. The Azusa Street revival was not the first moving of the Spirit in America, but it probably brought the greatest divisions which we still see to this day.  One of its main leaders was a black man named William J. Seymour and out of this revival we have several Pentecostal denominations that were started. 

Restorationists point to Azusa Street as the beginning of what is termed the latter rain move of the Spirit spoken of by the prophet Joel and Peter in the book of Acts.

The church age was opened with an outpouring of the Spirit called the former rain on the day of Pentecost and the church age is going to end with the latter rain at the end of the age: consummated with a great ingathering of souls spiritually fulfilling the Feast of Tabernacles. In looking at history and the text from the prophet Joel, Restorationist see a progressive restoration of the church from the days of Martin Luther to our present time, restoring the church to its apostolic roots. 

The defining issue that arose out of the Azusa Street revival was the issue of speaking in tongues because it was the first time since the book of Acts in nearly 2,000 years of church history that tongues were emphasized on a large scale.  

It was in 1950’s America after the Pentecostal revival of Azusa Street that America experienced what was called the Healing Revival.  It was the day when evangelists were going all over America in big tents holding meetings and it had a great emphasis on laying on of hands.  One of the most well-known figures during this time was Oral Roberts who eventually founded Oral Roberts University in Tulsa Oklahoma.  Gordon Lindsey created a magazine called the Voice of Healing, that brought together this movement and he eventually founded Christ for The Nations Bible School in Dallas, Texas.  A parallel movement was spun off during this time called the Latter Rain Movement and many of the figures in the movement were interrelated.  The Latter Rain Movement was not just focused on healing and evangelism, but like the Healing Revival it did have a focus on laying on of hands.  

During the 1960’s America experienced revolutionary change in so many ways which altered the cultural foundations of America.  During the ending of the Latter Rain Movement the Jesus Movement emerged primarily starting on the West coast spreading through the Hippie communities of the 1960’s and 1970’s documented in the recent movie 'Jesus Revolution'.  The movement was very counterculture and like the Hippie Movement of the time, the Jesus Movement challenged traditional Western cultural thought.  The Jesus Movement challenged traditional Christianity in the way that Mainline Denominations practiced their faith.  

The Jesus Movement had a very dramatic effect on the church in America, but it had a lot of problems mainly due to extreme ideas and it produced at times some very unsound doctrine.  It put too much of an emphasis on unrealistic ideas of communal living and spiritual experience over soundness of truth. Like the Hippie Movement the Jesus Movement was very mystical in the way that it viewed scripture and church life.

One thing to understand is that any genuine outpouring of the Spirit will have some level of disruption. 

I’ve had the privilege of being involved with some outpourings of the Spirit in the mid 1990’s from the Toronto Blessing, to the England and South African outpourings during this same period of time.  Like the First Great Awakening, the Second Great Awakening, the Azusa Street revival and 1950’s along with the 1970’s renewal movements there were excesses. 

One lasting change that resulted from the moving of the Spirit over the last 50 years has been the transformation of music and worship which has affected almost all evangelical churches.  

Some of the fastest growing US denominations of the late 20th century, such as Calvary Chapel, Hope Chapel Churches, and the Vineyard Churches, trace their roots directly back to the Jesus movement as do influential worship music such as Jesus Culture and Hillsong.  I would be so bold to say that it has literally transformed the vast majority of Evangelical church services which are conducted with a contemporary style of worship music and atmosphere.  The lifting of hands during worship services and the laying on of hands has become a common practice today.  

The latter rain is an outpouring of the Spirit not just in Jerusalem, but it will be a worldwide outpouring of the Spirit proceeding the second coming of Christ wrapping up this age.  The church was birthed with an apostolic outpouring of the Spirit and it will only be able to finish its mission with an apostolic outpouring of the Spirit. To dismiss the fact that we are seeing a great restoration of the church since the dark ages: when a monolithic ecclesiastical religious order ruled most of the world, would be completely ignorant.  Now I’ve given you a brief discussion on this topic because it gives us a broader view of the church along with understanding the journey of faith that we are on.  Laying on of hands is to be very much a part of our daily walk with Christ and is foundational to our faith.

Laying on of hands is important because touch connects us with our emotions, our loves and our fears.

Touch is not only pivotal for how we sense and experience the world, but also for our emotional engagement with it. Many times, in the Bible, we see images of God as holding, carrying or embracing us and we naturally feel this as a comfort. We react emotionally to images such as the father of the prodigal son, who ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.  Both real and imagined touch connect our sensory experiences with our emotions.

As small children, we clung instinctively to our parents when we felt afraid. We often close our eyes to enhance our sense of touch, and we close our eyes to pray or worship. Closing our eyes and turning up our hands is demonstrative of our desire to reach out to touch the Divine, like the blind, homeless beggars that Jesus often healed through his touch. It moves us to consider that God has our name inscribed into the palm of his hand as Isaiah chapter 49 verse 16 tells us.  

The first mention in the Bible of laying on of hands is when Jacob blesses the twin sons of Joseph Mannaseah and Emphraim in Egypt soon before his death in Genesis chapter 48 verse 14. It was a very emotional moment for the beginning of the Hebrew nation and a demonstration that laying on of hands played an important role in the forming of the nation. 

Touch is one of the primary ways we show and transfer love to others.  It’s the first mention in the Bible of the practice of laying on of hands, but it seems like it must have been a common practice because it was something Joseph expected his father to perform.  The purpose in this instance for the laying on of hands was to impose a blessing from one generation to the next generation with the hands being the point of contact releasing the blessing of life from the inward part of man.  

It was in the Law and life of Moses that we see the practice of laying on of hands take on ceremonial significance in the nation of Israel. 

Laying on of hands was used to commission the priest into their service for God and the priest practiced the laying on of hands as representatives of the community in offering up sacrifices.  Numbers chapter 8 verse 10 thru 11 says when you bring the Levites before the Lord, the people of Israel shall lay their hands on the Levites, and Aaron shall offer the Levites before the Lord as a wave offering from the people of Israel, that they may do the service of the Lord.  

The power of identification was how sin was absorbed through the sacrifice.
Laying on of hands imparted or transmitted the transgressions of the people to the sacrifice

The book of Leviticus was the main book of ceremony and sacrifice giving detailed descriptions instructing the priest on how to make acceptable sacrifices under the Mosaic Law.  One such instruction in Leviticus chapter 3 verse 1 thru 2 says if his offering is a sacrifice of peace offering, if he offers an animal from the herd, male or female, he shall offer it without blemish before the Lord. And he shall lay his hand on the head of his offering and kill it at the entrance of the tent of meeting, and Aaron’s sons the priests shall throw the blood against the sides of the altar. 

The people laid their hands on the priest showing their identification with the priesthood and the priest laid their hands on the sacrifice showing a total identification with the sacrifice offering.  Laying on of hands imparted or transmitted the transgressions of the people to the sacrifice.  The priest served as a mediator between God and man while the sacrifice consumed, pardoned and atoned for the people’s sins as a substitutionary sacrifice.  

We also see Moses laying his hands on Joshua, his predecessor transferring leadership from one generation to the next.  In Numbers chapter 27 verse 18 thru 19 it says the Lord said to Moses, take Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hand on him. Make him stand before Eleazar the priest and all the congregation, and you shall commission him in their sight.  

So prior to the coming of the Messiah we see three main purposes of the laying on of hands with a spiritual connection.  Number one the laying on of hands was used to impart a blessing.  Number two the laying on of hands was used by the priest as a mediator as he identified with a sinless sacrifice and absorbed the transgressors' offenses through the touch of his hands.  Number three the laying on of hands was used to transfer leadership from one generation to the next and was a recognition of that leadership before all the people.  

Jesus was God in human flesh.  He was 100% God while at the same time 100% man and we see that he used human touch a lot during his lifetime.  As I said before, touch is one of the 5 love languages and Jesus used touch to demonstrate the love of God.  Jesus was filled with the Spirit in all of its fullness and one of the ways that he released the Spirit to help people was through his touch and the laying on of hands.  Like Jacob in the book of Genesis we see Jesus used laying on of hands to impart a blessing.  In Mark chapter 10 verse 16 Jesus took the little children in His arms and began blessing them, laying His hands upon them. Jesus also practiced laying on of hands for healing the sick. 

In Luke’s gospel chapter 4 verse 40 he records that people throughout the village brought sick family members to Jesus. No matter what their diseases were, the touch of his hand healed everyone. Christ's life was about changing those he came into contact with as he walked through this world.  Touching and laying on of hands was a primary way He released that life.  The very reason God became man was to deliver us from sin's power, domination and cruelty of the curse. Acts chapter 10 verse 38 tells us that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. Jesus as the mediator between God and man used the laying on of hands as a point of contact to release the kingdom of heaven into this earth to destroy the works of the devil. 

Adam was God’s representative in the earth and he relinquished that right through one act of disobedience.  The result of that one act of disobedience gave access to evil, destruction and chaos.  The Bible is not about the history of the world or the history of religion or the history of the Jewish people, but it’s a history story of redemption.  It’s designed to give us a glimpse into the redemptive story of the unseen God that stepped into time to restore us to our original design of being made in His image.  It really is a simple love story about our Creator wooing us, persuading us, compelling us to come to Him.  If we want to be changed by that love story, then we have to allow Him to put His arms of love around us, making us whole through the lamb who was slain before the foundations of the world.  

Jesus practiced the laying on of hands and he commissioned his body to follow in his footsteps. As a member of the royal priesthood, we have been called to proclaim the excellencies of him who called us out of darkness and one way we do that is through the laying on of hands. 

As we look through the book of Acts, we will see that it was a common practice for believers to practice the laying on of hands. 

In Acts chapter 20 verse 37 it says: they embraced one another which is a form of laying on of hands releasing the blessing and love of God to one another. 

Acts chapter 5 verse 12 says: by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people. 

Acts chapter 19 verse 11 says: that God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul. 

Acts chapter 28 verse 8 says: the father of Publius lay sick of a fever and of a bloody flux, to whom Paul entered in, and prayed and laid his hands on him, and healed him.  

In the previous lesson we talked about Baptism into the Holy Spirit.  Laying on of hands can be used to release the Spirit transferring it through the believer into the lives of others.

Acts chapter 8 verse 18 records that through laying on of the apostle’s hands the Holy Spirit was given.

In Acts chapter 9 verse 18 Ananias laid his hands on Saul and he was filled with the Holy Spirit. 

The Holy Spirit is imparted through the laying on of hands.
Acts chapter 8 verse 18 records that through laying on of the apostle’s hands the Holy Spirit was given.

I had a similar experience at the age of 19 when I got delivered from addiction. I walked into a church service one day.  It was a big building with about 2,000 members and I went up to the balcony to sit as far away from people as I could.  I had never been in a service like that before with lively music and people raising their hands during worship service.  It was like God literally sat down and spoke directly to me during that service.  At the end of the service, I raised my hand to dedicate my life to Christ.  I got up to leave service and did not take a step when an older woman came to stand right in front of me.  She asked me. Can I pray for you?  Kind of taken aback I said sure, and she laid her hands on my head. When she laid her hand on my head, I felt a surge of power go throughout my body from the top of my head to the soles of my feet.  I was completely set free and filled with the Holy Spirit.

As Paul said the power is not in and of ourselves, we are simply a conduit by which the Spirit flows through us.  In 2 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 5 thru 7 Paul says, what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, Let light shine out of darkness, has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.  He then says in 2 Corinthians chapter 3 verses 4 thru 6 that such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.  

We are Christ's body on this earth and he wants to extend His life giving Spirit through our lives.  

One way we do this is through the practice of the laying on of hands by faith and allowing the Spirit to work through us.  Paul in Galatians chapter 3 verse 2 thru 5 says let me ask you only this question.  Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? The answer is obvious that we didn’t receive the Spirit through our own ability, and you can’t release the Spirit to others through your own ability.  Paul goes on to say, does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith.  Again, the answer is obvious. It’s by faith that we lay hands on others, but it’s the Spirit that does the rest since we are just mediators and conduits of God’s Spirit.  

In I Timothy chapter 4 verse 14 we see that spiritual gifts can be imparted through the laying on of hands.  In this passage of scripture Paul was reminding Timothy of the spiritual gift that was given to him through prophetic utterance combined with the laying on of hands.  We also see that laying on of hands was a common practice when recognizing, releasing and commissioning people into ministry.   In Acts chapter 6 verse 6 we see this in the apostles choosing 7 men to help them.  Once they picked them, they then were set before the apostles when they prayed and laid their hands on them.  We also see in Acts chapter 13 verse 3 that Paul and Barnabas were set apart by the Holy Spirit as an apostolic team.  It says when they had fasted and prayed then they laid their hands on them and sent them into the mission field.  

The laying on of hands with the presbytery is for the purpose of recognizing, releasing and an extension of the sending group.  It’s an identification and means you become partners together in ministry. 

It’s for this reason that Paul said I Timothy chapter 5 verse 22 that do not lay hands upon anyone too hastily and thus share responsibility for the sins of others. This verse does not mean that we should be afraid to lay our hands on people when we pray for them. Rather, this warning is given because when we lay hands on someone to commission and send forth into ministry then we are identifying ourselves with them. In context, this scripture is warning leaders to be responsible for whom they release into ministry through the laying on of hands. 

As we end this lesson, I want to remind you that the cruciform life is about us no longer living, but Christ living through us.  The very same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead lives in us and when we lay our hands on others it is His power touching them.  Laying on of hands plays an important part in our ministering for God. The hand is a point of contact so that the very life of the Spirit of God within us can be imparted to others. The ministry of the laying on of hands may be looked upon as an extension of the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, through His church. When we lay hands on others for healing, deliverance, blessing or for ministry purposes, we should expect God’s Spirit to touch others through us. Each time you lay hands on others see Jesus’s touch others through you, because that is what is happening. The treasure of Christ is in our earthen vessel and when we open up our hands to lay them on others, we must trust God to meet every need. 

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