1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:15,860 Welcome to Walk in the Truth podcast. How do we know where to find answers to the toughest 2 00:00:15,860 --> 00:00:21,080 questions in life? While the simplest answer is the Bible, where do we start this search 3 00:00:21,080 --> 00:00:27,300 and how do we discover this truth? Today, in this teaching podcast, John Meador, lead 4 00:00:27,300 --> 00:00:32,440 pastor of Cross City Church, takes a specific text of the Bible and helps us find truth 5 00:00:32,440 --> 00:00:39,920 for the life we're searching for. So glad that you're with us this morning. If you 6 00:00:39,920 --> 00:00:44,640 have your Bibles, please take them and turn to the second chapter of the gospel of Mark. 7 00:00:44,640 --> 00:00:50,840 Mark chapter two today, as we continue in our real church series, we're going to be 8 00:00:50,840 --> 00:00:55,880 talking about a real church is engaging. A real church is engaging. That means that we 9 00:00:55,880 --> 00:01:03,000 are engaging people, conversing with people, reaching out to people all over the area. 10 00:01:03,000 --> 00:01:07,240 The real church is engaging. As you turn to Mark two, beginning in verse one, in preparing 11 00:01:07,240 --> 00:01:11,340 for that message, let me share something that's happening in just three weeks. You're hearing 12 00:01:11,340 --> 00:01:16,640 all about Healthy Home and we have lots of information for you today. Please take this 13 00:01:16,640 --> 00:01:21,360 brochure. It's a list of the breakouts that will be taking place on that particular day. 14 00:01:21,360 --> 00:01:25,240 Now keep in mind, Healthy Home is a conference that takes place on Sunday morning, so we 15 00:01:25,240 --> 00:01:31,200 don't have our normal services, but built into our overall schedule that day, our Healthy 16 00:01:31,200 --> 00:01:36,560 Home sessions. Ken Ham is going to be here live. He and part of his team from Answers 17 00:01:36,560 --> 00:01:41,520 in Genesis will be leading the breakouts, but Ken Ham will be leading the main sessions. 18 00:01:41,520 --> 00:01:45,800 That means he'll be speaking at 8.30. He'll also be speaking at 11 and then again at two 19 00:01:45,800 --> 00:01:50,320 o'clock in the afternoon. We have lunch that will be served. You have to reserve your lunch 20 00:01:50,320 --> 00:01:55,320 for that, but all the information is right here in terms of the breakouts and the messages 21 00:01:55,320 --> 00:01:59,240 that we'll be sharing at different places. There's a QR code that you can get onto on 22 00:01:59,240 --> 00:02:03,240 our website. It's on the screen as well, and you can simply just lift your phone up and 23 00:02:03,240 --> 00:02:07,320 capture that image. It's okay to do that in church, by the way. Just lift it up. If you 24 00:02:07,320 --> 00:02:11,400 don't know how to do that, just think about this. Take a picture and when it comes into 25 00:02:11,400 --> 00:02:16,000 focus, push the button and you'll end up on that website. You can register and you can 26 00:02:16,000 --> 00:02:21,360 let us know that you want lunch or don't want lunch, but what sessions that you may want 27 00:02:21,360 --> 00:02:25,200 to attend. We need to know that so we can schedule everything. Now I'd like to say this 28 00:02:25,200 --> 00:02:31,600 about Ken Ham. He's only one of two men who have ever built an ark before and the only 29 00:02:31,600 --> 00:02:36,840 one that's available for us on February the 5th. I hope you get that. I mean the reality 30 00:02:36,840 --> 00:02:41,920 is Noah built an ark and then this guy built an ark. Actually, literally his organization 31 00:02:41,920 --> 00:02:48,920 built the Ark Museum that's in Northern Kentucky. It's just an amazing, amazing replica of the 32 00:02:48,920 --> 00:02:55,800 original ark, but behind all that insight and wisdom is a man that loves God's Word, 33 00:02:55,800 --> 00:03:00,360 majors and focuses on Genesis 1 through 11. He's going to come answer questions like who 34 00:03:00,360 --> 00:03:07,840 is God, what is truth, and what does the first 11 chapters in Genesis tell us about life? 35 00:03:07,840 --> 00:03:11,800 It's going to be really amazing and I hope every single one of us will plan to be here 36 00:03:11,800 --> 00:03:16,960 on that day. So as you have that information, take some time to think through it three weeks 37 00:03:16,960 --> 00:03:22,200 away. It'll be open for everybody in the community as well, so we'll have a full house that day 38 00:03:22,200 --> 00:03:29,080 and you want to reserve your breakout sessions as soon as you can. Well, what's a real church? 39 00:03:29,080 --> 00:03:34,480 Our series called Not Perfect Church, but Real Church is a look at what the church ought 40 00:03:34,480 --> 00:03:39,680 to be. We looked last week at the fact that the real church ought to be relating well 41 00:03:39,680 --> 00:03:44,680 to God and to others. The fact is we need to know how to love one another and know how 42 00:03:44,680 --> 00:03:50,640 to love one another unconditionally because God has loved us. But a real church is also 43 00:03:50,640 --> 00:03:55,760 engaging. We not only love God and others, but we know how to converse with them, how 44 00:03:55,760 --> 00:04:01,640 to interact with them, hoping that they can come to know the same Jesus that we do. In 45 00:04:01,640 --> 00:04:05,360 Mark chapter two, we have a perfect example of that. I want you to stand as I read God's 46 00:04:05,360 --> 00:04:12,920 word together today. Mark chapter two, and as we stand, I'll begin in verse one. These 47 00:04:12,920 --> 00:04:18,360 days are the days of Jesus' ministry in the Capernaum region. It says, when he had come 48 00:04:18,360 --> 00:04:23,720 back to Capernaum several days afterwards, it was heard that he was at home and many 49 00:04:23,720 --> 00:04:30,160 were gathered together so that there was no longer any room, not even near the door. And 50 00:04:30,160 --> 00:04:35,600 he was speaking the word to them. And they came, bring to him a paralytic carried by 51 00:04:35,600 --> 00:04:42,540 four men, being unable to get to him because of the crowd that removed the roof above him. 52 00:04:42,540 --> 00:04:47,720 And when they dug an opening, they let down the pallet on which the paralytic was lying. 53 00:04:47,720 --> 00:04:52,880 And Jesus seeing their faith, this is a key phrase, Jesus saying their faith said to the 54 00:04:52,880 --> 00:04:58,240 paralytic, son, your sins are forgiven. But some of the scribes were sitting there and 55 00:04:58,240 --> 00:05:03,280 reasoning in their heart, why does this man speak this way? He's blaspheming. Who could 56 00:05:03,280 --> 00:05:08,160 forgive sins but God alone? Immediately Jesus, aware in his spirit that they were reasoning 57 00:05:08,160 --> 00:05:12,800 that way within themselves, said to them, why are you reasoning about these things in 58 00:05:12,800 --> 00:05:18,560 your heart? Which is easier to say to the paralytic, your sins are forgiven, or to say, 59 00:05:18,560 --> 00:05:24,140 get up and pick up your pallet and walk. But so that you may know that the son of man has 60 00:05:24,140 --> 00:05:29,440 authority on earth to forgive sin, he said to the paralytic, I say to you, get up, pick 61 00:05:29,440 --> 00:05:35,600 up your pallet and go home. And he, that is the paralytic, got up and immediately picked 62 00:05:35,600 --> 00:05:40,360 up the pallet and went out of the sight of everyone so that they were all amazed and 63 00:05:40,360 --> 00:05:46,600 were glorifying God saying, we have never seen anything like this before. That's a great 64 00:05:46,600 --> 00:05:50,680 passage of scripture. It really starts with a problem and ends with a solution. And the 65 00:05:50,680 --> 00:05:54,840 solution in the middle is Jesus Christ. That's a great passage of scripture. It's also a 66 00:05:54,840 --> 00:05:59,200 prescription of your life and my life and a picture of the church as I'll show you in 67 00:05:59,200 --> 00:06:05,120 just a moment. Father in Jesus name, by the power of your Holy Spirit, teach us what we 68 00:06:05,120 --> 00:06:12,200 need to know about being Christ's followers in this world at this time from this text. 69 00:06:12,200 --> 00:06:19,880 And we ask this in Jesus name and everybody said, Amen. Amen. Be seated if you would. 70 00:06:19,880 --> 00:06:24,480 Now typically when you hear a story about somebody tearing off a roof or breaking through 71 00:06:24,480 --> 00:06:29,320 a roof and descending down into the building, you're going to be talking about a great robbery 72 00:06:29,320 --> 00:06:35,360 or a heist because something's locked up inside that habitation, that house, and you have 73 00:06:35,360 --> 00:06:40,560 to break open the roof to get down into the building to get it. And there is treasure 74 00:06:40,560 --> 00:06:45,640 in this house, in this narrative, in this story, except it's not treasure that needs 75 00:06:45,640 --> 00:06:51,640 to be stolen. It's not treasure that needs to be taken out to the exclusion of everybody 76 00:06:51,640 --> 00:06:55,960 else. What we're going to talk about today is not really about robbery. It's not really 77 00:06:55,960 --> 00:07:00,400 about a heist. It's not a movie theme. It's really about people trying to get to Jesus 78 00:07:00,400 --> 00:07:05,920 and what happens when people get to Jesus. Now most of us in this room have some strong 79 00:07:05,920 --> 00:07:10,880 feelings about that subject. What happens to people who get to Jesus and what happens 80 00:07:10,880 --> 00:07:15,880 when Jesus encounters us? I have strong feelings about that. And I have strong feelings about 81 00:07:15,880 --> 00:07:21,760 that because I have strong evidence that when I encounter Jesus Christ, lots of things change 82 00:07:21,760 --> 00:07:25,720 in my life. Is that not true of you? How many of you would say the same thing? When you 83 00:07:25,720 --> 00:07:31,720 encounter Jesus, things change in your life. That's always going to be true. And that's 84 00:07:31,720 --> 00:07:36,000 what we have in this text. Now we've been walking through this series because we want 85 00:07:36,000 --> 00:07:39,880 to remind ourselves of why we're here on the planet in terms of Christians and in terms 86 00:07:39,880 --> 00:07:47,600 of our vision as a church and being real is part of that. I love our theme that we use 87 00:07:47,600 --> 00:07:52,720 often real people finding real hope and real life in Jesus Christ. And I think we all resonate 88 00:07:52,720 --> 00:07:58,220 with that because we are wanting to be real, authentic people, not pretentious, not hypocritical. 89 00:07:58,220 --> 00:08:02,920 We just want to be real, but we really want to find real hope. And we really want to experience 90 00:08:02,920 --> 00:08:08,240 the real life that we can find only in Jesus Christ. And we know the church is not going 91 00:08:08,240 --> 00:08:12,600 to be perfect until Jesus Christ comes back. And you know the reason why the church is 92 00:08:12,600 --> 00:08:17,080 not going to be perfect. It's not going to be perfect because we're in the church. I'm 93 00:08:17,080 --> 00:08:21,040 not perfect. So the church can't be perfect. You're not perfect. So the church can't be 94 00:08:21,040 --> 00:08:27,120 perfect. But when Jesus Christ comes back, he will complete his work in us and on us. 95 00:08:27,120 --> 00:08:31,360 And the church will be made perfect. And he is coming back. So one day the church will 96 00:08:31,360 --> 00:08:37,560 be perfect. But until that time, we can certainly be real. Now being real simply means that 97 00:08:37,560 --> 00:08:43,760 we are authentic and perfect people who find hope and help in a perfect, loving God. And 98 00:08:43,760 --> 00:08:50,440 he wants to help others find him also. It's one of the most important things that we can 99 00:08:50,440 --> 00:08:55,840 be thinking about. We use a graph to kind of describe the R-E-A-L process in our church 100 00:08:55,840 --> 00:09:02,440 and the first word, starting with the letter R is the word real. We relate well with God 101 00:09:02,440 --> 00:09:07,520 and we relate well with each other as a result of this relationship that we have with God. 102 00:09:07,520 --> 00:09:11,480 Relationship is the most important word in the English language we've said. So relate 103 00:09:11,480 --> 00:09:18,560 is important. Secondly, the E is standing for engage. We need to engage laterally, horizontally 104 00:09:18,560 --> 00:09:23,920 with other people with the hope of helping them find this real relationship that we have 105 00:09:23,920 --> 00:09:28,600 with God. So we're going to focus on that word engage for just a few moments. And that 106 00:09:28,600 --> 00:09:33,320 word engage is important and it's based on the ministry of Jesus. If you read the gospels, 107 00:09:33,320 --> 00:09:38,880 Jesus is always engaging with people. He came to interact with them. He came to be among 108 00:09:38,880 --> 00:09:44,920 them. He came to love them. So to engage is really to be about the ministry of Jesus. 109 00:09:44,920 --> 00:09:49,880 He came for the hurting. He came for the ones that are unhealthy, the poor, as well as the 110 00:09:49,880 --> 00:09:54,740 wealthy and the religious. He came to reach everybody. And when you look at how Jesus 111 00:09:54,740 --> 00:09:58,840 engaged people, you'll see what he didn't do. He didn't shun them. He didn't ignore 112 00:09:58,840 --> 00:10:04,280 them. He didn't push them away. He didn't dismiss them, but he engaged them in conversation. 113 00:10:04,280 --> 00:10:09,400 He reached out to them. He touched them. He drew them close and hugged them. And today, 114 00:10:09,400 --> 00:10:13,600 if you're a lonely person and you're in this building today, Jesus is here to engage with 115 00:10:13,600 --> 00:10:19,520 you and to draw you close and hug you and hold you and help you in every way. No matter 116 00:10:19,520 --> 00:10:25,760 what your need, Jesus is here to engage with you. He demonstrated that in his life while 117 00:10:25,760 --> 00:10:31,320 on planet earth. In fact, he characterizes what he came to do in Luke chapter 19 verse 118 00:10:31,320 --> 00:10:35,920 10. Most of us know that verse really well for the son of man has come to seek and save 119 00:10:35,920 --> 00:10:41,720 that which was lost. He's come to seek and save that which was lost. He's always looking 120 00:10:41,720 --> 00:10:48,720 around for those who need his help. Now this story is so interesting and I love it in so 121 00:10:48,720 --> 00:10:53,680 many ways for so many reasons. First of all, I love it because it's a gathering place. 122 00:10:53,680 --> 00:10:57,920 I love it because people are there to listen to the truth. I love it because Jesus is there 123 00:10:57,920 --> 00:11:02,080 in the middle of it. It almost sounds like church to me. Now I know this. I know this 124 00:11:02,080 --> 00:11:08,760 is pre-church era. The church has not been instituted and kicked off yet. The Holy Spirit 125 00:11:08,760 --> 00:11:14,800 has not come down at Pentecost yet as it will in the book of Acts after Jesus has ascended. 126 00:11:14,800 --> 00:11:20,680 But Jesus is giving these disciples, these apostles, and giving us today a picture of 127 00:11:20,680 --> 00:11:25,760 what he wants to happen and what he honors and the kind of faith we need to have when 128 00:11:25,760 --> 00:11:31,520 it comes to engaging people. So many lessons to learn here. Let's begin first of all by 129 00:11:31,520 --> 00:11:36,480 simply looking at the presence of Jesus. Look at verse 2 and you can't help but notice that 130 00:11:36,480 --> 00:11:40,680 the story opens up with the fact that Jesus is in the middle of the room. It says he was 131 00:11:40,680 --> 00:11:47,680 speaking the word to them. Now when you read the gospels, you're going to find this common 132 00:11:47,680 --> 00:11:55,160 terminology that people are always seeking Jesus. In fact, Jesus and crowds are synonymous. 133 00:11:55,160 --> 00:12:00,400 Where Jesus was, the crowd was. Jesus actually had to intentionally get away from them at 134 00:12:00,400 --> 00:12:05,520 night or early in the morning in order to escape the attention of the crowds because 135 00:12:05,520 --> 00:12:10,120 they were coming around wherever he was. And the reason was is because they knew Jesus 136 00:12:10,120 --> 00:12:15,760 would love them, speak the truth to them, and that Jesus had power to help them. They 137 00:12:15,760 --> 00:12:21,520 showed up when Jesus showed up because of the presence of Jesus and the power of Jesus 138 00:12:21,520 --> 00:12:27,840 that was indisputable and they could find no other place on the planet. In fact, in 139 00:12:27,840 --> 00:12:33,960 Mark chapter 1 verse 37, as I got ready to look at chapter 2, I see this line and you 140 00:12:33,960 --> 00:12:41,120 read it as well where the disciples say to Jesus, everyone is looking for you. Everyone 141 00:12:41,120 --> 00:12:45,840 is looking for you, Jesus. I mean, you've been offering to the Father, but everybody 142 00:12:45,840 --> 00:12:50,080 is wanting to see you. They want to touch you. They want to be around you. And that's 143 00:12:50,080 --> 00:12:56,400 just the way the gospels unfold. And Jesus was around those that were filled with unclean 144 00:12:56,400 --> 00:13:01,840 spirits. He was around those that had a fever. If you read chapter 1, you'll see he was around 145 00:13:01,840 --> 00:13:06,400 those with other diseases, those that were demon possessed, those with leprosy. Can you 146 00:13:06,400 --> 00:13:12,320 imagine today how people would flock around Jesus if he were to walk on this planet today? 147 00:13:12,320 --> 00:13:15,680 Can you imagine what it would be like if Jesus walked down the streets and everybody knew 148 00:13:15,680 --> 00:13:20,640 about his power and everybody knew he was able to heal and able to forgive and to do 149 00:13:20,640 --> 00:13:25,200 all the things that we've learned about Jesus? Can you imagine people coming out of the schools 150 00:13:25,200 --> 00:13:30,520 and coming out of the buildings and coming out of the business to flock around and plong 151 00:13:30,520 --> 00:13:39,800 around Jesus? The reality is, Jesus is a powerful figure and his presence is life changing. And 152 00:13:39,800 --> 00:13:46,120 when you look at this little story here in Mark chapter 2, that becomes very, very evident. 153 00:13:46,120 --> 00:13:51,240 I would love to see Jesus walk in the room today and don't put it past him. You know, 154 00:13:51,240 --> 00:13:56,040 the reality is Jesus is coming back someday and it'll surprise a lot of us when he comes. 155 00:13:56,040 --> 00:13:59,800 And I don't know when he's going to come. I'm not going to give you a day and a time 156 00:13:59,800 --> 00:14:03,320 if I gave you a date and a time that would guarantee he wouldn't come at that date and 157 00:14:03,320 --> 00:14:08,840 at that time. Nobody knows today, but when Jesus Christ comes back, every eye will see 158 00:14:08,840 --> 00:14:14,280 him. It's not a secret coming. He's coming back in full glory. I can't wait for that 159 00:14:14,280 --> 00:14:21,640 moment, but his presence has not left the earth. Jesus is not here physically, but he's here 160 00:14:21,640 --> 00:14:27,880 through the presence of the church and the Holy Spirit and the lives of every born again 161 00:14:27,880 --> 00:14:33,640 believer. The presence of Jesus is here. Somebody say that with me. The presence of Jesus is 162 00:14:33,640 --> 00:14:38,440 here. One more time. The presence of Jesus is here. He's here because you're here. And 163 00:14:38,440 --> 00:14:44,280 if you're a born again believer, the presence of the Holy Spirit is in your life. One of 164 00:14:44,280 --> 00:14:48,760 the great chapters of the Bible is John 14, where Jesus is preparing his disciples for 165 00:14:48,760 --> 00:14:55,000 his crucifixion and later on his resurrection and ascension. And he's preparing them by 166 00:14:55,000 --> 00:15:01,160 talking to them about the Holy Spirit. And the essence of his message is, all right, 167 00:15:01,160 --> 00:15:06,120 I'm going to be leaving soon, but I'm going to leave behind another one like myself. He's 168 00:15:06,120 --> 00:15:11,320 with you right now, but he will be in you. And you know him because he's here right now. 169 00:15:12,040 --> 00:15:16,040 I mean, Jesus spoke in that way for those disciples. And if they were thinking about 170 00:15:16,040 --> 00:15:20,200 this very well, then they would understand by the time Pentecost came that, wow, Jesus 171 00:15:20,200 --> 00:15:25,000 was right. He's leaving, but he's leaving the Holy Spirit with us. But Jesus made a 172 00:15:25,000 --> 00:15:30,280 statement in John chapter 14, verse 11 and 12 that most of us struggle with. But I want 173 00:15:30,280 --> 00:15:35,000 you to see what it says. He said, believe me that I am in the father and the father is 174 00:15:35,000 --> 00:15:41,560 in me. Otherwise believe because of the works themselves. Truly, truly I say to you, he who 175 00:15:41,560 --> 00:15:47,480 believes in me, the works that I do, he will do also and greater works than these he will do 176 00:15:47,480 --> 00:15:55,000 because I go to my father. That's kind of hard to believe. All the great miracles of Jesus, 177 00:15:55,000 --> 00:16:00,600 all the great works he did, he said, you'll do greater works than these because I go to the 178 00:16:00,600 --> 00:16:06,840 father. And what he's meaning is that every person endowed by the Holy Spirit has the 179 00:16:06,840 --> 00:16:12,040 presence of Jesus in their lives. I was able to bring the hope that Jesus has and the power of 180 00:16:12,040 --> 00:16:17,640 Jesus to other people. And when we gather as a church, we are gathering as a group of people 181 00:16:17,640 --> 00:16:22,680 full of the Holy Spirit. The presence of Jesus is in the room, whether you know it or not. 182 00:16:23,720 --> 00:16:30,280 He's here today. He's always going to be here with us until that day when he calls us to be 183 00:16:30,280 --> 00:16:35,480 home with him. And then we will be with him forever. We represent the presence of Jesus 184 00:16:35,480 --> 00:16:41,640 on this planet. What an important role we have. Now I know this, I know that the presence of 185 00:16:41,640 --> 00:16:47,240 Jesus is true and it's very real in the sense of his omnipresence. Theologically we know that God 186 00:16:47,240 --> 00:16:53,240 is everywhere or he can't be God. God is everywhere at all times. You can never go to a place where 187 00:16:53,240 --> 00:16:59,560 God is not there. There's a second sense of his presence in that he is with you in the indwelling 188 00:16:59,560 --> 00:17:06,120 power of the Holy Spirit. So he's there with you individually as well as corporately everywhere, 189 00:17:06,120 --> 00:17:11,960 all at once. Then thirdly, sometimes the presence of Jesus manifests himself in such a way 190 00:17:12,600 --> 00:17:16,600 where it's not just that he's everywhere. And it's not just that he's within us, but we can actually 191 00:17:16,600 --> 00:17:24,120 feel him and sense him and see his work in the room around us. You ever had that kind of experience? 192 00:17:24,920 --> 00:17:28,680 It might've been when you were all by yourself and you were praying and you experienced 193 00:17:29,240 --> 00:17:34,040 what I call the manifest presence of God in the room. You just knew that he was with you in a more 194 00:17:34,040 --> 00:17:39,480 powerful way than you normally think of. Or at a worship service when we're worshiping him and 195 00:17:39,480 --> 00:17:45,880 we're praising him and we sense his presence in the room in a powerful way. Or in a group prayer 196 00:17:45,880 --> 00:17:50,520 time where you're praying with four or five other people and they're asking God together with one 197 00:17:50,520 --> 00:17:56,200 heart and one accord. I've sensed the presence of God in a hospital room where we're praying for 198 00:17:56,200 --> 00:18:01,720 someone to be healed. And all of a sudden it'll just seem like Jesus has walked in the room. 199 00:18:01,720 --> 00:18:08,280 And I've seen at invitation times when we've had services and invited people to come to Christ, 200 00:18:08,280 --> 00:18:13,320 I've seen people moved by the presence of God. They're weeping, they're crying, they're repenting. 201 00:18:13,320 --> 00:18:16,840 They're knowing what the right thing is to do for the first time in a long time. 202 00:18:16,840 --> 00:18:22,840 Folks, that's the presence of Jesus Christ. It's him. It's him. 203 00:18:22,840 --> 00:18:29,640 Now I say all that to you today because I want you to know that as the church of Jesus Christ, 204 00:18:31,000 --> 00:18:37,800 we represent his presence on this planet. The same way that men brought their friend to Jesus 205 00:18:37,800 --> 00:18:43,320 in that day in Mark chapter two, it's always appropriate to bring people to the gathered 206 00:18:43,320 --> 00:18:50,760 body of Christ as we come to worship to sense the presence of Jesus. It's very, very important that 207 00:18:50,760 --> 00:18:56,280 we understand that his presence changes the game in so many different ways. Secondly, I want you to 208 00:18:56,280 --> 00:19:02,360 notice the diversity of the crowd. The Bible says in verse two that many were gathered together so 209 00:19:02,360 --> 00:19:08,920 that there was no longer any room, not even near the door. Now this is a smaller house, likely maybe 210 00:19:08,920 --> 00:19:13,880 50 to 100 people in the house and no more than that. And they were all gathering in there to 211 00:19:13,880 --> 00:19:19,880 hear about Jesus and they had various, various motivations for being there. That's why I say 212 00:19:19,880 --> 00:19:24,600 that. That's what I'm talking about when I speak about diversity. They were all there for different 213 00:19:24,600 --> 00:19:30,600 reasons, but the house itself was packed together. And I've been in small houses or small buildings 214 00:19:30,600 --> 00:19:35,880 like that before, especially in India, where I would go to a meeting and the people would just 215 00:19:35,880 --> 00:19:40,280 pack in. If you got there late, you weren't getting in. I mean, people were everywhere. They were 216 00:19:40,280 --> 00:19:44,520 sitting on the floor because there was no room to set up chairs. There was no way that you could 217 00:19:44,520 --> 00:19:50,200 wedge yourself in that room. They were so eager to sense God and to see how God was working. So I can 218 00:19:50,200 --> 00:19:55,560 visualize in my mind what that looks like because I've seen it before, but notice the diversity. 219 00:19:55,560 --> 00:20:01,880 Some are there because they are hungry for truth. They're there to listen to Jesus speak the word. 220 00:20:03,160 --> 00:20:09,640 Some are there to argue with Jesus and debate and to create a ruckus and problem. And as we read the 221 00:20:09,640 --> 00:20:14,600 text, you'll realize some of them are questioning Jesus. What kind of authority does he have to 222 00:20:14,600 --> 00:20:20,040 forgive sins? Can't God alone could forgive sins? And so they're doubters. But there's a third group 223 00:20:20,040 --> 00:20:26,440 of people that this text really calls attention to. Now this third group of people were the four 224 00:20:26,440 --> 00:20:31,880 friends that brought their friend. They were there not just for themselves. They were there for their 225 00:20:31,880 --> 00:20:39,320 friend. They came because they wanted to bring their friend, the paralytic, in order to bring 226 00:20:39,320 --> 00:20:46,840 him to the presence of Jesus. I love this example that we have here because these guys are going to 227 00:20:46,840 --> 00:20:51,160 experience some great things. They're going to hear the truth. They're going to be able to worship 228 00:20:51,160 --> 00:20:56,440 and celebrate at the end of the story. But they're there not just for themselves. They're there 229 00:20:56,440 --> 00:21:04,440 recognizing that they need to bring their friend to meet Jesus. I want us to pause and I want you 230 00:21:04,440 --> 00:21:11,240 to pause to think of all the friends that we know who we need to be concerned about that they meet 231 00:21:11,240 --> 00:21:16,760 Jesus. And I want you to think with me for a moment what it means to bring others into the presence of 232 00:21:16,760 --> 00:21:23,800 Jesus, into the prayers of people praying to Jesus, into the power where Jesus is at work changing 233 00:21:23,800 --> 00:21:28,360 lives, hearing the gospel message or being prayed for for whatever burden they have. Just think 234 00:21:28,360 --> 00:21:33,560 about that with me for just a moment and you'll be where those four guys were. So there's a diversity 235 00:21:33,560 --> 00:21:40,520 in the crowd. Thirdly, we're going to really zero in on the friends or the faith of the friends, 236 00:21:40,520 --> 00:21:45,800 the faith that these four guys had in bringing their friend. Look at verse three because it says, 237 00:21:45,800 --> 00:21:53,000 and they came and they came bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. That's a big part 238 00:21:53,000 --> 00:21:58,680 of the story right here. Can't read this story without seeing these four guys. They came bringing 239 00:21:58,680 --> 00:22:05,160 their friend who was paralyzed and on a pallet. And a big part of the story is that Jesus honors 240 00:22:05,160 --> 00:22:10,120 the faith of these four friends. In fact, that's what the scripture says in this text that he 241 00:22:10,120 --> 00:22:16,600 honored their faith. He began to interact face to face with this man who was paralyzed. 242 00:22:17,480 --> 00:22:22,040 I think it's interesting that none of the four friends talk in this story. In fact, there's no 243 00:22:22,040 --> 00:22:27,240 evidence that the man who's paralyzed can even talk. Nobody says a word. That's very brief story. 244 00:22:27,240 --> 00:22:32,280 And of course, Mark could have left much of that out, but the reality is the emphasis is not on 245 00:22:32,280 --> 00:22:37,800 what these friends said to this paralyzed man or what the paralyzed man said in response. 246 00:22:38,680 --> 00:22:44,280 I just need you to know this. As we look at this, sometimes God uses us when we don't say a word, 247 00:22:45,160 --> 00:22:49,160 but our faith has an action behind it in helping people come to Christ. 248 00:22:50,120 --> 00:22:55,000 I hear this all the time. I'm not very good with words. They say, or I don't know how to share my 249 00:22:55,000 --> 00:22:59,720 faith with somebody else. They say, or I try and I get tripped up and it's difficult for me to share 250 00:22:59,720 --> 00:23:04,200 my faith with some people. And what I want you to notice right here is that these four men didn't 251 00:23:04,200 --> 00:23:08,520 say anything. All they did was bring their friend and Jesus is going to do the rest. 252 00:23:09,240 --> 00:23:13,720 Jesus is able to do the rest, no matter what you are able to do or not able to do. 253 00:23:13,720 --> 00:23:20,680 Jesus can do the rest. Somebody say that with me. Jesus can do the rest. You do what you can. 254 00:23:20,680 --> 00:23:30,440 Jesus can do the rest. So these four friends bring their friend to meet Jesus. And Jesus, 255 00:23:30,440 --> 00:23:38,520 the Bible says, honors their faith. In other words, it's not just attending a great meeting 256 00:23:38,520 --> 00:23:43,320 like this. It's important, but it's important also to be thinking about those who also need to be 257 00:23:43,320 --> 00:23:49,480 there. And you see that theme going all the way through the gospels. I think it's amazing. Jesus 258 00:23:49,480 --> 00:23:56,200 doesn't need any of us in order to reach another person, but it seems like every time he uses 259 00:23:56,200 --> 00:24:03,000 somebody else to reach that third person. Let me ask you this question, a little poll, a little 260 00:24:03,000 --> 00:24:09,480 survey. How many of you in your life and in your encounter with Jesus were helped by somebody who 261 00:24:09,480 --> 00:24:14,040 told you about Jesus or who brought you to a place where you heard about Jesus? Would you raise your 262 00:24:14,040 --> 00:24:20,840 hand if somebody helped you get there? Wow. Look at these hands, lots of hands. Somebody helped you 263 00:24:21,640 --> 00:24:28,920 get to Jesus. God used somebody else's faith, somebody else's invite, somebody else's conversation 264 00:24:28,920 --> 00:24:34,040 for you to come to Jesus. Now we know God's all powerful. He doesn't have to use you, but 265 00:24:34,040 --> 00:24:39,000 isn't it great that he does? Isn't it wonderful that he uses you as a parent or you as a friend 266 00:24:39,000 --> 00:24:44,760 or you as a coworker or whoever it might be that you are to that person in bringing others to Christ? 267 00:24:45,560 --> 00:24:50,760 And here there's a question answered in this little story that I want to answer today. How is 268 00:24:50,760 --> 00:24:55,480 their faith expressed? Jesus committed their faith, so how did they express their faith? 269 00:24:56,120 --> 00:25:00,440 Let me give you some things that you can see in the story that I point out. First of all, 270 00:25:00,440 --> 00:25:07,000 they believed Jesus could heal. That's the only reason they were there that day. They didn't bring 271 00:25:07,000 --> 00:25:12,280 their paralytic friend because they didn't think Jesus could heal. They knew Jesus could do the 272 00:25:12,280 --> 00:25:18,120 job. They knew Jesus could change his life. They knew whatever Jesus said, whatever Jesus did, 273 00:25:18,120 --> 00:25:24,840 it would be enough to change their friend's life. And it was about their friend that motivated them 274 00:25:24,840 --> 00:25:30,440 to come. They believed that Jesus could do and would do something, but the most important thing 275 00:25:30,440 --> 00:25:37,320 is they just believed. Listen, we bring people because we believe Jesus can change their lives. 276 00:25:38,120 --> 00:25:43,480 We reach out to people because we believe Jesus can touch their lives and revolutionize their 277 00:25:43,480 --> 00:25:49,720 lives because he's revolutionized our lives. So they believed Jesus could heal. Secondly, 278 00:25:49,720 --> 00:25:55,240 they brought their friend. This is the action, their efforts to time and energy, 279 00:25:55,240 --> 00:26:00,600 and they were making arrangements and that's why they arrived late. The house was packed. 280 00:26:00,600 --> 00:26:05,640 They couldn't get in. Everybody else was there. They were late. Now there are those that are 281 00:26:05,640 --> 00:26:09,640 perpetually late to church. I get that. Sometimes it's complicated, but these guys had a really 282 00:26:09,640 --> 00:26:14,920 good reason. They had a really good note to offer Jesus. Listen, we're late today, Lord, because 283 00:26:15,480 --> 00:26:21,480 we're trying to get our paralyzed friend to church and he can't walk. We had to rig up a pallet. 284 00:26:21,480 --> 00:26:25,880 We had to be able to lift it with four men in order to get him here, and then we had to 285 00:26:25,880 --> 00:26:31,560 break through the roof. I mean, we're arranging to get there as soon as we can. That's what was 286 00:26:31,560 --> 00:26:38,920 going on here. So they brought their friend and they persisted in getting him to Jesus. 287 00:26:39,880 --> 00:26:45,400 They persisted in getting him to Jesus. So their faith was expressed in action, but it was 288 00:26:45,400 --> 00:26:50,680 complicated because they were late and there was a roof that kept them from getting to Jesus. 289 00:26:50,680 --> 00:26:55,480 Their question must have been something like, so how do we get him in? I mean, the room is full. 290 00:26:55,480 --> 00:26:59,880 People are not willing to part ways. They're not willing to get out. I mean, it's Jesus in the room. 291 00:26:59,880 --> 00:27:04,040 He's in high demand. He's teaching them the word. And I mean, nobody's wanting to leave right now. 292 00:27:04,040 --> 00:27:09,400 So how do we get our friend in there? So they climb up on the roof and they create a hole in 293 00:27:09,400 --> 00:27:15,080 the roof and let their friend down. Now, if you want to think about what that looks like, 294 00:27:15,080 --> 00:27:19,240 the typical Syrian roof was constructed of timbers and laid parallel with each other 295 00:27:19,240 --> 00:27:24,840 about two or three feet apart, all running in one direction after the walls were raised. 296 00:27:25,400 --> 00:27:32,600 And then they would take branches of trees and vines and all kinds of things to weave through 297 00:27:32,600 --> 00:27:38,760 those timbers that stretched across the roof. They would use reeds. They would use pistols, 298 00:27:38,760 --> 00:27:44,760 whatever they needed to use until it was almost impenetrable. Then they would pack on top of that 299 00:27:44,760 --> 00:27:50,760 dirt. About a foot of dirt was on every roof and grass would grow on top of that in the appropriate 300 00:27:50,760 --> 00:27:56,920 season so that you literally had a really well packed dirt roof resting on those timbers. And 301 00:27:56,920 --> 00:28:01,160 that's what these guys were dealing with. So when they took their friends up to the roof, 302 00:28:01,160 --> 00:28:05,560 they had to really, really work hard to get through that foot of dirt, through all those 303 00:28:05,560 --> 00:28:09,800 timbers, through the pistols and reeds and everything else in order to break a hole in 304 00:28:09,800 --> 00:28:15,320 the ceiling and get their friend to Jesus. And listen to that. I'm sure they heard a few people 305 00:28:15,320 --> 00:28:21,080 responding to them like, what are you doing? As the hole opened up in the roof and the dirt began to 306 00:28:21,080 --> 00:28:25,400 fall on the people that were in the room. And finally, the hole was big enough to drop their 307 00:28:25,400 --> 00:28:31,800 friend down. I bet they created quite a disturbance in that room that day. Just imagine somebody 308 00:28:31,800 --> 00:28:36,360 doing this on this roof right here. And you can imagine what a disturbance that would be. But 309 00:28:36,360 --> 00:28:42,280 these guys did not care because the only thing they were concerned about was their paralyzed 310 00:28:42,280 --> 00:28:49,880 friend and his need to come to the presence of Jesus. Man, this is a great story about persistence, 311 00:28:50,600 --> 00:28:56,520 about dedication, about being willing to do whatever it takes to get somebody to Jesus. 312 00:28:57,240 --> 00:29:04,120 Let me just say this to you today. I believe that we need to learn from this passage when it comes 313 00:29:04,120 --> 00:29:11,320 to making the effort to help other people get to the presence of Jesus. I also believe that when 314 00:29:11,320 --> 00:29:16,280 we look at this passage and when we learn from their example, we're going to see the same kind of 315 00:29:16,840 --> 00:29:22,200 wonderful things that they saw when their friend was healed and his sins were forgiven. I mean, 316 00:29:22,200 --> 00:29:26,760 this is a pretty big deal. His whole life was changed because of the faith of these friends 317 00:29:26,760 --> 00:29:32,200 who persisted in getting him to Jesus. You know, you can't put a price on souls. 318 00:29:32,200 --> 00:29:38,200 Every person is valuable in the eyes of God. And you have friends that you love that you care about 319 00:29:38,200 --> 00:29:43,080 that are far from Christ. You have neighbors that you love who are far from Christ. I mean, 320 00:29:43,080 --> 00:29:47,080 we should all be convicted. I'm convicted. We should all be convicted that we do everything we 321 00:29:47,080 --> 00:29:52,840 can to bring people into the presence of Jesus Christ. Now they did this and then look what 322 00:29:52,840 --> 00:29:58,120 happened. They were blessed to see him forgiven and healed. If you jump to the end of the story, 323 00:29:58,120 --> 00:30:01,560 you're going to see all kinds of wonderful things taking place. And you're going to see 324 00:30:01,560 --> 00:30:06,760 things taking place. But the bottom line is that people went out saying, we've never seen anything 325 00:30:06,760 --> 00:30:13,160 like this in our entire lives. God has done amazing things. So let's think about the paralytic for 326 00:30:13,160 --> 00:30:18,520 just a minute. What happened to him? Well, he was transformed. And that's really the heart of this 327 00:30:18,520 --> 00:30:24,120 story as well. The transformation of the paralytic. You notice what Jesus says to him in verse five, 328 00:30:24,120 --> 00:30:31,480 son, your sins are forgiven. Now for most of us, that might not be the first thing that we would 329 00:30:31,480 --> 00:30:37,480 expect Jesus to say. A hole is opened in the roof. The four men let down this paralytic on a pallet. 330 00:30:38,040 --> 00:30:44,440 So they had four straps of some kind, four ropes of some kind, four things tied together to let 331 00:30:44,440 --> 00:30:49,000 him in. And they let him down right in the middle, right in front of Jesus. And the very first thing 332 00:30:49,000 --> 00:30:56,120 Jesus says is son, your sins are forgiven. Now I want you to think about that with me. 333 00:30:57,000 --> 00:31:01,720 I mean, when we read about the paralytic, the friends don't think of him as the sinful paralytic 334 00:31:01,720 --> 00:31:07,320 or the depraved paralytic. He's just paralyzed. But when Jesus looks at someone, he wants to take 335 00:31:07,320 --> 00:31:12,760 care of the biggest problem first. And the biggest problem is that we're separated from God by our 336 00:31:12,760 --> 00:31:18,360 sins. Don't you just love it that Jesus with his compassion is going to heal him later on. But the 337 00:31:18,360 --> 00:31:25,960 first thing he's going to do is set him free from sin. He says, son, your sins are forgiven. 338 00:31:26,680 --> 00:31:31,480 I love the fact that Jesus talks about sin first. We're afraid to talk about sin. We almost 339 00:31:31,480 --> 00:31:39,160 apologize for calling sin, sin, but we shouldn't do that. Jesus says, son, your sins are forgiven. 340 00:31:39,160 --> 00:31:44,440 He meets the spiritual needs first. Notice the message of Jesus is not, I'm okay, you're okay. 341 00:31:44,440 --> 00:31:49,080 And it's not, I accept your sin. Whatever you're doing doesn't matter. That's not the message. 342 00:31:49,640 --> 00:31:54,680 The message is I can forgive you and I can change you. That's the message of Jesus. 343 00:31:55,800 --> 00:32:00,360 Dealing with sin is the only solution and he's the only one that's able to do it. 344 00:32:01,880 --> 00:32:07,560 Even those protractors that they knew that only God could forgive sin, even though they weren't 345 00:32:07,560 --> 00:32:12,360 ready to accept that that was Jesus. In Mark chapter 10, verse 45, Jesus says, for even the 346 00:32:12,360 --> 00:32:17,640 sin of man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life. What a ransom for many. 347 00:32:17,640 --> 00:32:24,600 I've come to pay for the price of the sin of mankind. Never apologizing for calling out sin, 348 00:32:25,160 --> 00:32:31,400 never apologizing for saying that people need to be saved from sin. We all need to be saved from sin. 349 00:32:33,080 --> 00:32:38,760 But the scribe's question was important. God alone can forgive sin. Who is this man for doing this? 350 00:32:38,760 --> 00:32:44,520 God alone can forgive sins. And they made an accurate statement. They just weren't willing 351 00:32:44,520 --> 00:32:51,160 to accept that Jesus is God in the flesh. But let me just pause here for just a moment. It reminds 352 00:32:51,160 --> 00:32:57,240 you the church cannot forgive people of sin. The person you're offended cannot forgive people of 353 00:32:57,240 --> 00:33:03,320 sin or you have sin. You cannot forgive yourself of sin by making up for it somewhere down the road. 354 00:33:03,320 --> 00:33:11,320 Sin is only dealt with when a perfect God says, I forgive you of sin. No representative of God can 355 00:33:11,320 --> 00:33:16,280 forgive you of sin. No priest, no preacher can do that. Only God can do that through the person of 356 00:33:16,280 --> 00:33:23,080 Jesus Christ. So when Jesus said, son, your sins are forgiven, it was done. And I love the fact 357 00:33:23,080 --> 00:33:34,680 that it was. Wow. A declaration by the son of God, your sin has been taken care of. This is the prize 358 00:33:34,680 --> 00:33:43,640 you hold in your hand when you invite people to gather with us, to come to a service, to hear the 359 00:33:43,640 --> 00:33:49,480 presentation of the gospel at an event that we do, or to sit down with you and listen to you, 360 00:33:49,480 --> 00:33:55,320 tell them how your sins forgiven. What an incredible prize. What an incredible freedom 361 00:33:55,320 --> 00:34:02,760 to have been given by Jesus himself. And then Jesus doesn't just do that. He does everything else. 362 00:34:02,760 --> 00:34:07,720 I love that Jesus does everything else. He says in verse 11, I say to you, get up, pick up your 363 00:34:07,720 --> 00:34:15,240 palette and go home. Not only does Jesus forgive him, and I love what else he does also. He not 364 00:34:15,240 --> 00:34:21,960 only saves him, not only pardons him, but he pardons him plus he heals him. And in doing that, 365 00:34:21,960 --> 00:34:29,400 he says, I have the authority to do whatever is necessary in your life. Jesus alone has that 366 00:34:29,400 --> 00:34:34,680 authority. Somebody give Jesus a hand for having the authority to do whatever it takes in your life. 367 00:34:38,120 --> 00:34:44,120 Now, Jesus didn't only do this here and now he did it over and over and over. 368 00:34:44,120 --> 00:34:50,760 I want to remind you today that Jesus can do and supply everything that any man or any woman needs 369 00:34:50,760 --> 00:34:57,400 to be healthy, whole, saved, and on a path for life. He's what everyone needs more than anything 370 00:34:57,400 --> 00:35:06,360 else. And in doing this, this man walked away whole. He went away free from sin and separation, 371 00:35:06,360 --> 00:35:11,640 completely forgiven by God. He went away leaping and jumping for joy while everyone else was 372 00:35:11,640 --> 00:35:17,640 watching in amazement. He went away on his own, having been carried in with four friends because 373 00:35:17,640 --> 00:35:22,680 he was not able to do that going in. But he went away telling other people about his encounter with 374 00:35:22,680 --> 00:35:27,480 Christ, showing others what they'd never seen before. And everybody, the Bible says all of a 375 00:35:27,480 --> 00:35:33,080 sudden, everybody is saying we've never seen anything like this in our lives. And this is what 376 00:35:33,080 --> 00:35:42,920 happens when we bring people to meet Jesus. Jesus can do above and beyond what we even can imagine. 377 00:35:44,120 --> 00:35:51,960 So if we believe Jesus has power in his presence, and if we believe Jesus can change lives, 378 00:35:52,760 --> 00:35:57,880 and if we believe that Jesus can change the lives of those around us who need him so badly, 379 00:35:57,880 --> 00:36:02,440 then we need to have the kind of prayer life and the kind of faith life that these four friends have 380 00:36:02,440 --> 00:36:12,520 that leads to action, that brings people with us to worship Jesus. That's why a few moments ago I 381 00:36:12,520 --> 00:36:18,360 ask you to think through and imagine in your mind's eye who is it around your life, who is it around 382 00:36:18,360 --> 00:36:25,000 you geographically, relationally, vocationally, educationally, if you're in school, if you're in 383 00:36:25,000 --> 00:36:31,800 school, whatever it is, who around you needs to encounter the presence of Jesus, and how can you 384 00:36:31,800 --> 00:36:38,360 help them come? You don't have to put a hole in the roof to get them here into this building. We 385 00:36:38,360 --> 00:36:44,120 have doors, lots of doors that you can bring them in. We have lots of ways that we can connect you 386 00:36:44,120 --> 00:36:49,880 and them with the presence of Jesus. But think about the lives that have changed as a result of 387 00:36:49,880 --> 00:36:56,040 people who come into the presence of Jesus. I've never forgotten a story of one of our own church 388 00:36:56,040 --> 00:37:02,520 members came up to me, an older woman, and it was some months after a cross service that she and her 389 00:37:02,520 --> 00:37:08,200 family had attended. Under that cross service we gave an invitation, and as some of you are familiar 390 00:37:08,200 --> 00:37:13,160 with, I walked through the building and I asked people to follow me to the cross, and she had an 391 00:37:13,160 --> 00:37:20,280 adult son with her that had lots of trouble in life, and he said to her that night and later on, 392 00:37:20,280 --> 00:37:25,320 months later, which is she's relaying this story to me, he did not get up and he did not follow me. 393 00:37:25,320 --> 00:37:30,680 He did not come to the cross physically, but he said to his mom, when I saw that happen, I knew I 394 00:37:30,680 --> 00:37:35,640 needed to give my life to Jesus. That night I gave my heart to Jesus. I just didn't tell anybody, 395 00:37:35,640 --> 00:37:42,440 and then my life began to change. It had changed so much over the next few months. He said I knew it 396 00:37:42,440 --> 00:37:47,080 was tied to that moment where I realized the presence of Jesus in that place, and I saw the 397 00:37:47,080 --> 00:37:53,560 cross and realized what Jesus did on the cross for me, and his mom looked at me and said his life was 398 00:37:53,560 --> 00:37:59,080 irrevocably, undebatably changed that moment where he had an encounter with Jesus Christ. 399 00:37:59,800 --> 00:38:05,320 She said I'm so thankful that the presence of Jesus was there. I'm so thankful that the 400 00:38:05,320 --> 00:38:07,320 presence of Jesus was in the room. That was her words. 401 00:38:10,360 --> 00:38:18,120 For that mom invited that son because she was desperate for his life, and Jesus understood, 402 00:38:18,120 --> 00:38:24,280 answered to prayer, showed up with his presence and power, and changed that man's life. 403 00:38:25,160 --> 00:38:29,480 You know, this church has seen a lot of that happen over the years. What I want us to never 404 00:38:29,480 --> 00:38:37,160 touch with is that the presence of Jesus has great power, that you have an incredible opportunity 405 00:38:37,160 --> 00:38:43,000 to invite people, exercising your faith in his presence by inviting people and praying for people 406 00:38:43,000 --> 00:38:49,320 to come to faith in Jesus. So being real, it's not that we're the perfect church. It simply means 407 00:38:49,320 --> 00:38:55,160 we're authentic. We're imperfect people who find hope and help in a perfect, loving God, 408 00:38:55,160 --> 00:39:02,520 and who want to help others find him also. Don't create a hole in the roof. Just invite people 409 00:39:02,520 --> 00:39:09,720 to meet Jesus. He can use your invite to do that. I wonder today how many are in the room 410 00:39:11,320 --> 00:39:14,680 who have never made that decision to put their trust and faith in Jesus. 411 00:39:15,880 --> 00:39:19,480 Maybe today you have a sense of conviction that you're like this paralytic, 412 00:39:19,480 --> 00:39:25,000 even though you may not look like a paralyzed person. Maybe your life is going nowhere. Maybe 413 00:39:25,000 --> 00:39:29,560 you feel impotent to move forward in every way. You don't know what direction to take. You don't 414 00:39:29,560 --> 00:39:35,000 know what you need to do next. Maybe you're like this guy who was on the cot. You've never had your 415 00:39:35,000 --> 00:39:39,960 sins forgiven. You've always carried them with you. And I want you to know today, the presence of 416 00:39:39,960 --> 00:39:46,600 Jesus is still powerful enough to do what he did in that day and time. Jesus' power has not diminished 417 00:39:46,600 --> 00:39:53,560 and his presence has not diminished. He's just as available today as he was for that man on that day. 418 00:39:54,680 --> 00:40:02,200 But it's important that you make the step of saying, I want that Jesus to touch my life the way 419 00:40:02,200 --> 00:40:07,880 he touched this man's life. At the end of our service, we have decision stations and I want to 420 00:40:07,880 --> 00:40:13,240 encourage you to stop by. Just stop by. You talk to one of those behind the station. They'll pray 421 00:40:13,240 --> 00:40:18,360 with you. They'll answer questions that you may have about putting your faith and trust in Jesus 422 00:40:18,360 --> 00:40:23,800 Christ. We really want to help you with that. That's one of the invitations I give you this morning. 423 00:40:23,800 --> 00:40:30,200 Stop at the decision station on the way out and make a decision to follow Christ, to be touched by 424 00:40:30,200 --> 00:40:36,520 him. I have a second decision I want to invite you to do and that is I invite you to come to our 425 00:40:36,520 --> 00:40:41,480 guest reception center right outside the center exit doors across the hallway there. It's a glass 426 00:40:41,480 --> 00:40:46,440 dead room and I'll tell you more about what God is doing here in our church. I'd love to meet you 427 00:40:46,440 --> 00:40:52,040 personally and invite you to some other things. Thirdly, I want to invite you to pick up an invite 428 00:40:52,040 --> 00:40:58,520 card. We have invite cards at every door because we want you to be able to do what these men did, 429 00:40:59,560 --> 00:41:06,600 to have a way to invite others to come worship with us. You might be amazed at how opportune the 430 00:41:06,600 --> 00:41:11,240 moment is that you invite someone to come. I've heard many times people say, you know, I don't 431 00:41:11,240 --> 00:41:16,600 know what possessed you to do that, but the timing was perfect. I needed to find answers to my 432 00:41:16,600 --> 00:41:21,080 problems and so I came because you invited. It's really amazing what God can do through the 433 00:41:21,080 --> 00:41:26,120 witnesses that go out for him. Today consider those three things. Would you stand with me as we have 434 00:41:26,120 --> 00:41:33,000 a closing word of prayer? Father, I'm so grateful today for all in the room, so grateful for the 435 00:41:33,000 --> 00:41:41,160 decisions already made this weekend. Father, thank you so much for the baptisms that have taken place 436 00:41:41,160 --> 00:41:48,600 at our other venues this morning. Thank you so much for people continually making decisions to 437 00:41:48,600 --> 00:41:55,000 come to you, Lord. I pray today for those in the room that need to choose you today, give them the 438 00:41:55,000 --> 00:41:59,720 courage and the boldness to do that. And then father, as we go out from this place, I pray that 439 00:41:59,720 --> 00:42:04,520 you will put on our hearts, the names, the faces of people who need to have an encounter with you 440 00:42:04,520 --> 00:42:12,120 and believe you enough to act on that faith. Lord uses this church to impact our world with the 441 00:42:12,120 --> 00:42:30,040 gospel. We ask all this in Jesus name we pray, amen.