Desperate Faith Displayed!

Desperate Faith Displayed!

Desperation

You: What if you were desperately ill and the only cure was in another country?

Lengths: Would you be willing to sell your house, your car, everything you own to go get that cure?

Loved One: What if the someone who was ill was a loved one? What would you do for them?

Caregiver: Have you ever had to be a caregiver? Have you ever had to take care of someone and felt totally helpless and desperate and wish you could do something for that person?

Knowledge: What if you heard that there was some miracle cure that could help that someone?

Aaron Ralston - 127 hours

What about this one - You are on a 13 day hike through a remote canyon. I know for some of you that this is going to be very difficult to imagine. Some of us find it hard enough getting up and walking to turn off the TV, let alone a 13 mile hike. Anyway – you are on a 13 day hike and are squeezing past a boulder in a narrow canyon when it moves and pins your arm. No matter what you do, the rock won’t budge and has firmly locked your arm into place. For five days you lie trapped knowing that it is likely that you will die because no one is going to find you. You are in a desperate way – what are you prepared to do? Some of you may recognise this story. It’s a true story of Aron Ralston. After 6 days of being trapped and knowing that his hand was already dead from lack of blood and he would soon be joining it if he didn’t do something. Aron cut off his own arm and walked 5 miles till he found help. It was a desperate situation that required desperate measures. Would you have been up to doing this?

Luke 5:17-26

17 One day Jesus was teaching, and Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there. They had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with Jesus to heal the sick. 18 Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. 19 When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus. 20 When Jesus saw their faith, he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.” 21 The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, “Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” 22 Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? 23 Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? 24 But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the paralyzed man, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” 25 Immediately he stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God. 26 Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God. They were filled with awe and said, “We have seen remarkable things today.”

Who had faith?

We know he was paralyzed but we don’t know if the sick man was also mentally incapacitated or not. So surely out of the 5 men, at least 4 had faith that Jesus could heal him to do what they did.

What do you think the Pharisees thought?

What do you think Jesus thought?

Jesus is the great Physician!!!!

The friends risked ridicule for what they did, BUT THEY DID IT ANYWAY!

Stuck on Doctrine

Sometimes we get so caught up in the doctrine of it all like the Pharisees and try to find a loophole in religion or find some way to mock it or test it or poke our finger at it or find a hypocrite in it that we lose sight of what is important.

Pharisees being critics - ignore

There are critics everywhere! The pharisees were there to critique every word of Jesus!

Could they be critical of this healing? Yes even of healing a paralytic they were critical.

Ignore the critics! Ignore those voices, they only are negative and are not realistic! They are not reasonable!

Kinds of Faith

Faith that can move mountains (Miraculous Faith)

Saving Faith

Faith as a Denomination or Doctrine

Faith is the substance of things hoped for

Faith (belief)

Joni Earickson Tada

Other people do things like Joni Earickson Tada. She dove into Chesapeake Bay and broke her neck. She then became a quadriplegic. She then went through many emotions including depression. She then decided to learn to paint. But being a quadriplegic she had to put a paintbrush in her mouth and then paint with her mouth. She has become very famous and inspirational.