Let Down & Lifted Up Series

Everywhere Jesus went there was always a crowd and in the scripture today we find Jesus teaching in a house and it is packed. We read that a paralyzed man is

of the crowd, right in front of Jesus. These guys went out of their way to help a friend because they knew that an audience with Jesus was all that their friend needed, these guys had faith.

It’s very clear in the scripture that the power of God was upon Jesus this day, the scripture says “the Lords healing power was strongly on Jesus!”

Now here’s the deal, we aren’t told whether this paralyzed man said anything to Jesus or not but we are told that his healing wasn’t based on anything that he said or did for Jesus. This man’s healing came because of the faith of his friends. Whether we realize it or not our faith matters, now we can’t make another person become a Christian but we can do a lot by praying, loving and setting an example, we can certainly do a lot toward putting them before Jesus. These friends did everything in their power to make sure their friend had an opportunity to be at the feet of Jesus. We must have that kind of faith and we can’t ever give up on someone, because our faith matters.

So the first thing Jesus says is “Your sins are forgiven.” Why did He say this? Well, maybe for a few reasons; Common belief at the time was that these kinds of afflictions were due to a person’s sin or even their parents or grandparents sins, It also went along with Messianic prophecy, and well, He was God and had that authority whether the religious leaders of the day accepted that fact or not, and we see in the next verse that they didn’t accept the fact at all.

Who does He think he is? They thought or maybe whispered to each other, only God can forgive sin. Well Jesus knew what they were thinking and He commenced to giving them a little tongue lashing and basically said what difference it makes what I say, “your sins are forgiven or get up and walk?” Ya’ll just hang tight right there a minute and I’ll give you some proof of who I am and what authority I have. Just a minute and I’ll give you my I.D. Then He said to the man get up, take your mat and go home” and the man left rejoicing. You see it didn’t matter what Jesus said it resulted in the same outcome, because He was God. Whether these religious leaders accepted the fact that Jesus was the Messiah or not was irrelevant, because the truth of the matter was Jesus was exactly who He said He was. We are told that everybody left that day saying “we have seen some amazing things.” I want you to know we can still see amazing things because Jesus is still doing amazing things, He still has the power to forgive sins and heal the sick but it seems that sometimes we just don’t get it or see it.

If we want to see amazing things we got to get back on track and get with the program. Here’s what we have got to do:

? We gotta have faith, not a fly by night faith but an unwavering faith in the power of Jesus Christ

? We need to stop acting like the Pharisees and quit standing on the man-made rules in our churches and start standing on the promises.

? We have got to let Jesus out of the Box, because when we put Jesus in a box we limit our expectations.

? We need to let ourselves be laid down at the feet of Jesus so we can be lifted up.

So don’t worry if you think you have been let down by your friends, don’t worry if you think you have been let down by the Government, don’t worry if you think you have been let down by your family and friends. Sometimes we have to be let down in order to be lifted up.