Friendly Determination

Jesus Forgives and Heals a Paralytic Man

1- A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. 2- They gathered in such large numbers that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. 3- Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. 4- Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on. 5- When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” 6- Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, 7- “Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” 8- Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, “Why are you thinking these things? 9- Which is easier: to say to this paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’? 10- But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the man, 11- “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” 12- He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”

FRIENDLY DETERMINATION

I am sure we have all read all the different miraculous stories of those who took that extra step in Faith and by doing so, received a wonderful blessing in their life. There are many of these stories throughout the Word of God.

This is the story of how a handful of friends and their Faith & Determination to help another made a difference in their friends life and possibly their own. Wouldn’t it be awesome to know that you had a friend with so much Godly love, determination and faith that they were willing to do anything or whatever it took for you to be whole again? Whether it be physical or spiritual. Wouldn’t we all like a friend like this?

So often in this present time, I know that we wish we had someone in our lives that had such faith that they knew anything is possible with them on our side. When our Faith gets low it is good to know that there are others who will be there to lift us up and encourage us. This is what can happen to those who have faith along with determination.

Our text begins in a city called Capernum, where word had spread far and wide that Jesus was in this house. How many of you know right off that the mere fact that Jesus is in the house makes all the difference. But I am sure that we all have been somewhere or have gone to some event where the crowds were so large that you could barely move around. {I wonder whose church you was in?} So picture if you will the many people who came just to be able to get close to Jesus. There were so many in fact that no one could get through and there was no room to receive all who had come.

But Jesus preached the word unto them. Now remember that Faith comes by hearing the word. Jesus was preaching the word when along came four friends carrying their friend that was sick with palsy {paralysis}. When they got there they saw how large the crowds were and they knew they couldn’t get through by normal means. How many of you know getting to Jesus sometimes takes drastic measures? Isn’t that the way things usually go? How the devil {our enemy} will try and stop great things from happening. But here is the interesting part, where most would turn around and go back home they did not, they were determined. They knew there was no turning back. Praise God! This is the kind of Faith ALL of us need. Now they could have probably waited and hoped there might be a chance to see this man named Jesus. But instead they took action and made it happen. They had such a determination that they were going to get their friend to Jesus one way or another.

They knew it was going to take some drastic measures that Jesus would notice right away. Now keep in mind the large crowd around them, so what did they do? I know one friend said, "We will go through the roof." Now climbing the roof is hard enough to do when it is just yourself, but when there are four of you carrying another it is very difficult. But they carried him up on the rooftop. Once they got to the rooftop they cut through and tore off the roof and lowered their friend down. The scripture doesn’t say, but I can just imagine it was someone's home that they did not know. They were not concerned for themselves. Now that would surely get my attention if someone came down through the roof of the home/church I was visiting, just to get in and to get to someone. But this just wasn’t anyone, it was Jesus.