Their Faith Sept. 13, 2015
Mark 2:1-12-And again He entered Capernaum after some days, and it was heard that He was in the house.
2 Immediately many gathered together, so that there was no longer room to receive them, not even near the door. And He preached the word to them.
3 Then they came to Him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men.
4 And when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was. So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying.
5 When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven you."
6 And some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts,
7 "Why does this Man speak blasphemies like this? Who can forgive sins but God alone?"
8 But immediately, when Jesus perceived in His spirit that they reasoned thus within themselves, He said to them, "Why do you reason about these things in your hearts?
9 Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Arise, take up your bed and walk'?
10 But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins"--He said to the paralytic,
11 I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house."
12 Immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went out in the presence of them all, so that all were amazed and glorified God, saying, "We never saw anything like this!"
When Jesus Saw Their Faith……Your faith
God is committed to saving of the lost sinner!
Do you know how I know that?
Just look at the cross….He was committed enough to send His Son!
How committed are you to seeing someone saved?
How committed are you to seeing someone healed?
How committed are you to seeing someone delivered from an addiction?
How long are you willing to pray for them?
How long are you willing to visit with them?
How long are you willing to witness to them?
Maybe God is testing you to see how committed you are too what your praying for!!
I wonder if God sometimes is not waiting on us to get serious about our commitment to Him?
What would happen in this church?
If Jesus had 4 men in this church, that would do whatever it took to bring people to Him?
If Jesus had 4 women in this church, that would do whatever it took to bring people to Him?
If Jesus had 4 people in this church, that would do whatever it took to bring people to Him?
Before you can get them to church, you have to get them before the throne!!
Before you can get them out of the hospital, you have to get them before the throne!
These guys were not going to give up on getting this man before Jesus (We assume that they were friends).
They were not going to let an obstacle, or hindrance, stop them from doing what they set out to do!
But how quickly do we quit when things get to hard?
How quickly do we give up when we don’t see no results? (We prayed for them and still they haven’t come to Christ, we invited them but they haven’t come to church!)
Their Faith-They knew Jesus could change this man’s life!
Do you believe that? Do you believe that Jesus can change someone’s life?
If we do believe that, why aren’t we spending more time in prayer for the lost?
Why aren’t we witnessing more?
I don’t know about you but I need people in my life that will not give up on me!
I need people in my life that won’t quit praying for me!
I need people in my life that God sees their faith (Because my faith maybe wavering) and He blesses me or strengthens me, or heals me, because of their faith!!
I need people in my life that is always taking me to Jesus, either in prayer, or in encouragement, or by their actions, by their speech, by their lifestyle, drawing me closer to Christ!
And if I need those kind of people in my life, then I recognize that I need to be that kind of person for others!!
