Alrighty, if you have a Bible, we're in the Gospel of Luke.
Really good stuff here.
Luke chapter 5.
And we had left off last time where Jesus had healed this leper.
And it's just always a blessing to know that God can clean us up no matter what the problem is.
I think that every resurrection season, I've got a little tradition where I watch a movie called Risen.
Has anybody seen Risen?
And probably one of the better resurrection movies I've seen.
And I don't watch a lot of movies.
There's not really a lot to watch.
But in the movie, I think it's Nathaniel is there and this Roman soldier is following Jesus during the 40 days after he resurrected.
And he asks, he asks this Nathaniel, he says, why is it that you followed him?
And right as he's speaking, there's this big eruption and this woman is beating this man.
And a guy comes out and hits him and knocks him down.
And he's a leper.
And I mean, his face is all disfigured and his hands are all gnarled up with this gnarly skin disease.
And Jesus grabs a fish and goes over.
And this is in the movie.
This is Hollywood.
But he grabs a fish and he goes over and he gives this guy a fish and he touches him.
Just like we read here in chapter 5 where he touched the leper.
He touches him and he hugs him.
And then turns and he just walks back to his disciples.
And his disciples are watching this guy.
And this guy turns and faces him and he's just as clean as can be.
And he's looking at his hands in awe that he's been healed.
And so Jesus walks back and he sits with his disciples.
And Nathaniel and this Roman soldier are standing there.
And Nathaniel looks at the Roman soldier and he goes, that's why.
Right?
That's why.
That's why we follow.
Folks, listen, we come here and we follow Jesus because of what he's done.
What he's done for us personally.
I don't know, maybe you don't know Jesus.
And maybe today's your day.
Can I just encourage you?
Let today be your day if he's not your Lord and your Savior.
But we follow him.
Why?
Because he's the answer to all of our woes.
Do you got woes?
Anybody got woes?
I got woes, man.
I got woes.
This morning I walked out on my sidewalk and my wife's chickens had pooped all over the sidewalk.
I've got woes.
Whoa, watch out for that one.
Right?
But he's worth it, isn't it?
Is it he?
He's worth following.
And mainly because he conquered death, hell, and the grave and is the remedy for our sin.
And so I remember years ago my daughter had a classmate get killed.
And I remember her being so broken.
And I looked at her and said, honey, that's why we walk with Jesus.
Because this ain't it.
Amen?
Man, that's a good thing.
Couldn't imagine if this was just, this is it.
No, this isn't it.
We got a bright future coming.
And Jesus affords us an incredible hope.
And so we're going to pick up the story here.
I'm, you know, I'm just going to read through this.
I'm going to read from verse 15 to verse 27, excuse me, 26.
If you have a Bible, read along with me.
Verse 15.
And it says, however, the report went around concerning him all the more.
As is after he heals the leper.
And great multitudes came together to hear and to be healed by him of their infirmities.
And so he himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed.
Now, it happened on a certain day as he was teaching that there were Pharisees and teachers
of the law sitting by who had come out of every town of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem.
And the power of the Lord was present to heal them.
Then behold, men brought on a bed a man who was paralyzed, whom they sought to bring in
and lay before him.
And when they could not find how they might bring him in because of the crowd, they went
up on the housetop and let him down with his bed through the tiling on them into the midst
before Jesus.
When he saw their faith, he said to the man, man, your sins are forgiven you.
And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason saying, who is this who speaks blasphemies?
Who can forgive sins but God alone?
But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answered and said to them, why are you reasoning
in your hearts?
Which is easier to say?
Your sins are forgiven you or to say, rise up and walk.
But that you may know that the son of man has power on earth to forgive sin.
He said to the man who was paralyzed, I say to you, rise, arise, take up your bed and go
to your house.
And immediately he rose up before them, took up what he had been lying on and departed to
his own house, glorifying God.
And there they were all amazed and they glorified God and were filled with fear saying, we have
seen strange things today.
Let's pray.
Lord, thank you for your word.
And Lord, may we just glean those precious truths out of this passage of scripture, Lord.
And just thank you, Lord, that you see us all.
You know what we need.
And God, that you can come and you can satisfy our souls.
And I just pray that you would speak to our hearts today, Lord, that we would be able to
apply these things from the truth of your word, Lord, that it's eternal and it's powerful.
And it's that sharp sword that does surgery on each one of us.
So we pray for that to complete us today in Jesus name.
Amen.
So here he is and he heals this leper.
The news travels fast, you know, when he told himself to go, told that guy to go show himself
to the priests.
And then it says that he, so he himself often withdrew in the wilderness and prayed that Jesus
would get alone.
He would get secluded with his father and seek his face.
I just think this is an incredible model.
And he did it quite often throughout his ministry.
And I don't know about you, but do you ever wonder those times when Jesus was just alone
with the father?
What did he pray for?
You know, what did he pray?
Now we have instruction of how Jesus prayed the model prayer when the disciples ask him,
Lord, teach us to pray, right?
Most, most, most Calvary Chapel circles say this is a model prayer that, that we call the
Lord's prayer.
But I think the true Lord's prayer would probably be in John 17.
And there Jesus is actually praying for you and I.
And, and those words are powerful.
That prayer there in John 17.
And then we, we see his prayer there in the garden.
Father, if it's, if it's possible, let this cup pass from me.
And so Jesus shows his humanness when he prays.
Because people always say, well, if Jesus is God, is he praying to himself?
Well, yes and no, right?
But he's, he's also fully man, right?
We, we talked about that earlier, that Jesus was fully man and fully God.
The humanness of Jesus did what every human should do and sought God.
Every human should pray.
In fact, Jesus says that later in chapter 18.
He says, all men ought to pray and not lose heart.
Everyone should pray.
Unless you don't want eternal life, then go about your business.
But everyone should pray.
But I'm wondering sometimes what, like right here, what, what did he pray for?
Maybe he prayed for, for that man, that man that was healed of the leprosy.
That, that God would fulfill his will in that man's life, right?
Philippians tells us that he who has begun a good work in us will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ, right?
Maybe that's what Jesus was, was praying for.
Or maybe he was praying for the priest to actually do their job.
Because when we read through that in Leviticus, it was, it was some, uh, pretty laborious duty to, uh, meet the needs of somebody who had been cleansed from leprosy.
Maybe he was praying for the priest.
Maybe he was just praying for his, his freshly called disciples that needed prayer.
Do you need prayer?
If Jesus ever lives to make intercession or he prays for you and me.
We got us a good God, folks.
Uh, and so reciprocating that and praying and seeking our God, I think is, is a very good thing for us to do.
Uh, maybe he was, this is where he prayed for, uh, for Peter.
You remember when he, when he told Peter, he said, hey, Peter, Satan's asking for you.
Didn't that kind of just make you go like that?
It's kind of like seeing a snake.
Really?
Yeah, Satan, Satan's asked for you, Peter.
By name.
Everyone in this room right here, Satan's asked for you.
Right?
Satan's asked for me by name.
Lord, please, just stay between us.
Right?
To sift you as wheat, he says.
Satan's going to sift you as wheat.
And we know Peter's history.
Right?
It wasn't always glorious.
And, um, but he says, but I have prayed for you.
Jesus had prayed for Peter.
Right?
That, that he wouldn't fail, but that he would, he would continue.
Later, he tells him, when you're converted, strengthen your brothers.
Feed my sheep, Peter.
And so, Jesus, I'm thinking, is getting his cup full.
Maybe he simply just went in to, for a time of prayer, because he's seen what's coming,
what we're reading about right now.
And he's just getting prayed up.
All prayed up.
I think there's a song about that.
Right?
Just being prayed up.
It's a good thing to be prayed up.
Why?
Because it increases your confidence.
It bolsters your faith when you get prayed up.
Not, not, not in yourself.
Not a self-confidence, but a God confidence.
Right?
That you're, you're, you're in communion with the Lord.
You've come and you've confessed your sin, I hope.
Right?
Because if you don't confess your sin and get that right with God, then he doesn't hear you,
the Bible tells us, if we're regarding iniquity in our heart.
And so Jesus is all prayed up here.
He's ready.
Dukes are up.
All right, let's go.
Right?
Because the fight's on.
That's a true story.
And so, first of all, first point today is be prayed up.
Seek the Lord.
You say, well, I don't know how.
Well, join a group.
Right?
We meet, I don't know how many times we meet at the office to pray.
I know I'm usually involved in two.
And I know there's another one on Fridays that's pretty big.
I learned how to pray by praying with other believers.
That's how I learned how to pray.
And it's just good.
It's just good, good fellowship.
You're just kind of rubbing off on each other in a good way.
Right?
A good habit.
So find somebody to pray with.
But also, go into your closet.
Just get along with the Lord.
Open the Bible.
Let God speak to you.
And then when he overwhelms you with the truth of his word, seek his face.
Lord, what do you want me to do?
And be ready.
Because God does not, like I shared last week or a couple weeks ago, where Tim was here.
How many enjoyed Tim Barton?
Right?
It was good.
It was really good.
I really appreciated it.
But God did not save your wretched hide for you to just sit around.
He saved your wretched hide to go out and be a light in this world.
Right?
It was like the song we sang.
The first song we sang.
All of our hides is wretched.
And he rescues us and he saves us for a reason and for a purpose.
Not to just, you know, take up his space and breathe his air.
But to actually be a voice for the Lord.
And so he moves on.
And he says, now it happened on a certain day.
As he was teaching that there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by.
Listen to this.
Who had come out of every town in Galilee, Judea and Jerusalem.
Jerusalem is 85 miles from Capernaum.
85 miles.
That's a trek back in the day.
Right?
That would be even a trek horseback.
And so these people were coming.
The popularity of Jesus was spreading like crazy.
And they came.
These Pharisees and these teachers.
And a long way.
Jesus had created such a stir.
And the Pharisees were required to examine and expose false teachers.
And because of what Jesus was doing, right?
It was creating so much interest for the people.
Just the common people.
They thought, we better check this guy out.
He might just be lying under the people.
And that's according to Deuteronomy 13 and Deuteronomy 18.
That was their job.
But notice the last sentence there.
In verse 17.
It kind of jumps out.
And the power of the Lord was present to heal them.
Who?
The teachers.
The Pharisees.
They needed healed.
Right?
Not just the guy that's a paralytic.
Or not just the leper.
But they needed healed too.
They needed healed of their hypocrisy.
That they had been stuck in for some time.
And the power was there and available.
To heal them.
Warren Wearsby says this about him.
He says,
The great desire of the scribes and Pharisees was to understand and magnify God's law and apply it to their daily lives.
However, the movement soon became quite legalistic.
And its leaders laid so many burdens on the people that it was impossible to serve the Lord with gladness.
Like it says in Psalm 100.
Furthermore, many of the Pharisees were hypocrites and did not practice what they preached.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5-7, Jesus exposed the shallowness of their Pharisaical religion.
And he explained that true righteousness is a matter of the heart and not external religious practices alone.
That's when Jesus said,
Hey, he didn't come to call the righteous.
Do you know why he said that?
Because there are none.
I didn't come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
That's what Jesus came to call, right?
He didn't, he didn't, he didn't.
Those who are sick need a physician.
But if they're not sick, they don't need a physician.
The Pharisees didn't recognize their sickness.
Do you?
Are you sick?
I'm sick.
Right?
I'm sick of me.
I'm sick of trying to, trying to be a goody goody.
I'm not a goody goody.
Okay?
I'm the, I'm the cheese of sinners here at Out West.
And that's why God put me up here.
So you all could have something to identify with.
Oh yeah, Pastor Scotty.
Good old Pastor Scotty.
Wicked to the core.
Wicked to the bone.
But I don't want to be that way.
I don't like being that way, but I am that way.
And Jesus comes along and he starts checking me.
And that Holy Spirit, that still small voice, it just, it checks you, right?
It whispers in your ear, what are you doing?
Don't do that.
Like the night I was going to road rage, right after I had my, I don't call it a horse accident.
It was my horse blunder, right?
And I'm so angry that this, this, it had to be a young guy.
I mean, cause he had one of them horns that sound like a train.
Choo, choo.
And I mean, it was loud.
And he pulled in behind me and I'm like, I'm going to kill this guy.
I'm going to kill him.
And the Lord kind of started with, how?
You can't even stand up.
Yes, you're right.
Maybe I could sit back against the car like this where I don't have to move and get one in, you know?
Such a wicked dude, you know?
And the Lord was just revealing.
For a mile, I was following this guy.
And he slowed down, you know, right in front of me.
And then sped up and pooped on his horn.
Then turned and did it again.
And I was turning and going to my house.
And that last half mile to my house.
And the Lord just reminded me.
See?
Told you.
You're wicked.
Desperately wicked.
The heart of man is so desperately wicked.
And that's why I need Jesus in my heart.
Every day.
Every minute of every day.
Because when I try to go it alone, folks.
It's so ugly.
And so it is with you.
Let me come be a little mouse in a corner at your house for a week or so.
Right?
We all know, you know, you got that big neon sign on your forehead.
Hypocrite.
You feel that way sometimes, right?
But that's what, that's the constant, right?
That is the constant that should drive us to Jesus.
And especially the more you read his word.
Because the Bible tells us that the law of God is like this schoolmaster that drives us to Christ.
Right?
The law exposes how wicked I am.
It can't do anything about it.
But then it drives me to Christ who can do something about it.
That he can actually give me a righteousness that is not mine.
Right?
He loans it to me.
And it's always good.
His rightness, his righteousness is always good.
So Jesus is here.
He's teaching.
The Pharisees come from miles around, right?
To see him.
And so he orchestrates a living, breathing illustration of how to be healed.
So power was there to heal the Pharisees and the teachers, the scribes, right?
And then all of a sudden, he's talking and debris starts falling down into the room.
Because these friends of this guy who was paralyzed, right?
Began to take apart the roof.
Because they wanted their friend to be healed.
You got friends that want to be healed?
You got friends that you pray for?
That they'll just come to know Jesus?
I think that's the mark of a true, really good friend.
That you'll bring people to Jesus.
You'll either physically bring them to Jesus or gather them up and take them to church with you.
Or you'll bring them to Jesus in prayer.
And be that intercessor.
These guys are intercessors for this guy.
Laying on this bed.
They know that if they bring him to Jesus, that there's a good chance that he could be healed with all the things that they're hearing about this Jesus.
And so as he's talking and this debris starts falling.
And this man comes down and he's paralyzed.
Can't walk.
And notice.
They came to him.
And he saw their faith.
Not the man's faith.
He saw their faith.
Maybe this guy was just at the end of his rope.
And he didn't have nothing.
And
these people who
lifted him up and took him to Jesus.
Jesus saw their faith.
I think sometimes that we need to do that for each other.
When I moved to Idaho Falls
20 some odd years ago,
I cried for four months
because I was leaving my church family in twin.
And I remember one guy telling me,
a guy I used to hunt with,
and I was a blubber and idiot.
He used to go,
Scotty, we're only two and a half hours away.
What's up, dude?
But what,
you know what it was?
It was that I,
I thought that by moving here,
I was leaving all the people
who that if my life fell apart,
they would be like this.
They would carry me.
Right?
You got friends like that?
I got a few friends like that.
And I'm just like,
man,
I love you guys.
I don't want to,
I didn't want to leave.
Little did I know
that I've met people like that here too.
Right?
And I've got friends like that here too.
That I,
because I know me.
And that I can make a mess.
And I need those people around me
that I know that if I crash and burn,
they're going to pick me up.
And they're going to take me to Jesus
in one way,
shape,
or form.
And whether it's through prayer
or just gathering me up
because I'm a puddle.
And that's a powerful thing.
We need each other.
That's why when COVID separated us,
that's why it affected so many people
is because we need this koinonia,
this fellowship that we have.
And these guys were that to this man.
Now,
so many people believe
that if you're sick,
if you're debilitated,
it's because you're in sin.
That's not true,
but it is true.
Let me explain.
That's not true necessarily.
We live in a fallen world.
People die every day
from no fault of their own.
They die when they didn't sin.
Somebody else sinned
and they died.
So their death is,
in a sense,
a result of sin,
but not necessarily their own.
And so it is with sickness.
It's just,
like Solomon said,
time and chance happen to all of us.
So it's not a question
of whether you're going to get sick
or whether you're going to die.
Those things are going to happen
because we live in a fallen world.
Correct?
But not all of it's always a direct result
of our personal sin.
Now,
some scholars,
when they talk about
this particular fella,
they believe he had syphilis,
which
people in the Western culture
know how most people
got syphilis back in the day.
And it's pretty gross.
But it's a sexually transmitted disease
that attacks the central nervous system,
right?
That can cause paralysis,
also causes mental debilities
and stuff like that.
And so they think that this guy
possibly was affected
or infected
with syphilis.
And I think that the reason
that some of them
have been that way
is because of what Jesus says
to the guy
right off the bat.
He doesn't say,
rise up and take your bed and walk.
What does he say?
Your sins are forgiven.
Your sins
are forgiven.
Oh, man,
could you imagine
his buddies going,
oh, man,
that's not what we came here for.
Your sins are forgiven you?
We thought there would be
some kind of fireworks,
right?
But Jesus forgives him first.
Isn't that how it's supposed to be?
What if the Lord
would have just healed him?
But he wasn't forgiven of his sin.
He's still going to die.
Don't you know?
Whatever you get,
the very last thing
you get sick with,
that's what you're going to die of.
Just saying.
I mean,
the Lord can
and sometimes will heal you,
but just know
it's coming.
So the last thing
you get sick with
is the thing
that you're going to die of.
So it's basically
when Jesus heals,
it was a temporary fix.
Right?
It was temporary.
But listen,
when your sins are forgiven,
that's eternal.
that's our greatest need,
you guys.
That is our greatest need.
I don't need to be healed.
I need to be forgiven.
And so it is with you.
Right?
You don't need to be healed
necessarily,
though God may.
And to his glory,
he does that.
But we need to be forgiven.
God is more concerned
with the healing
of your eternal soul
than with the temporary healing
of your body.
Because obviously,
it's going to die eventually.
This greatest need
is forgiveness.
In the Latin,
it is
te absolvo.
It means,
I forgive you.
And
it's the only cure
for guilt,
by the way.
Are you guilty?
Have you been feeling guilty?
The old saying is true.
If you feel guilty,
it's usually because you are.
Right?
It's usually because you are guilty.
And how do you get rid
of that guilt?
Because guilt
is like bricks.
Right?
They just stack up.
It just stacks up
and it gets weighty.
And why is it
that when we repent,
we come to Jesus
and say,
oh God,
forgive me of my sin.
And it feels like a weight
because a weight
has been lifted off of you.
Right?
A weight has been lifted
off of you
and you're forgiven
and you're free.
Ah!
Hot dog.
Feels good to be forgiven.
Amen?
It really does.
And so,
so Jesus
goes right to the heart
of the issue.
You know,
over the years
I've had people come up
and they've wanted healing
and they want anointing
with oil.
And a question
I often ask,
wait a minute,
do you know Jesus?
Is he your savior?
Is he your Lord?
Because if he's not,
why do you want to be healed?
He's not going to be healed.
Eventually,
something else
is going to come
and take your life from you.
But he promises you
eternal life.
So ultimately,
that's what you need.
You need him
to come
and to forgive you.
And so,
in verse 21,
the Pharisees,
they're on the right track here
where they say,
and the scribes
and Pharisees
began to reason
saying,
who is this
who speaks blasphemies?
Who can forgive sins
but God alone?
That's true.
Nobody can absolvo,
as the Latin word says,
or take away
your sin.
No human can do that.
And so,
when we sin,
we ultimately sin
against God,
even if you sin
against people.
That is an ultimate
sin against God
and needs to be
forgiven by God.
Yeah,
that person can let
that go
and actually smile
at you when they see
you in the grocery store
and be kind,
sinned.
But it doesn't
wipe it away.
David,
when he did
his dirty deed
with Bathsheba,
says in Psalm 51,
against you,
you only have I sinned
and done this evil
in your sight
that you may be found
just when you speak
and blameless
when you judge.
David knew
he had sinned
against God.
Yeah,
but what about Bathsheba
and what about Uriah?
He kills Uriah,
right?
He commits adultery
with Uriah's wife,
but he realized
the only way
I'm going to be forgiven
is if God forgives me.
And again,
that's our greatest need.
You know,
I mean,
you think about
the people in the Bible
that were raised
from the dead.
Jesus raised three people
from the dead.
In the Old Testament,
we see three people
raised from the dead.
You know what?
they all died.
They all died.
So that just is
kind of an explanation,
exclamation point there
on the,
on the we need
our sins forgiven.
Because
if anyone stands
in the place of God
and absolves people
of their sins,
they are doing something
that only God can do
and it is blasphemous.
So in that,
these guys were right.
Unless
it's God doing
the one
that's forgiving.
Unless it's God
that's doing
the forgiving.
Now,
we can come along
and we can help.
I think I shared
this story
a couple weeks ago
about the girl
at the cowboy church
that asked me
about her sin.
I said,
honey,
they're gone.
They're forgiven.
They're wiped away.
we can confirm
that to people
but we don't have
the authority
to forgive
somebody's sin
and give them
a clean slate.
Only God
can do that.
Psalm 103 verse 12
says,
he has removed
our sins
as far
from us
as the east
is from the west.
That's the,
that's the
New Living Translation.
The,
the New King James
says,
as far as the east
is from the west,
so far has he removed
our transgressions
from us.
That's what God does.
He chucks them.
Right?
And Greg Laurie says
and he posts a sign there
that says,
no fishing.
In the sea of forgetfulness.
I hope you're forgiven today
or at least you,
if you don't know that,
if you've received Jesus,
just know that you're forgiven.
verse 22,
he says,
but when Jesus
perceived their thoughts,
he answered and said to them,
he knows what they're thinking,
why are you reasoning
in your hearts,
which is easier to say,
your sins are forgiven you,
or to say,
rise up and walk?
Think about that.
Which one would be easier to say?
In a sense,
it would be easier to say,
hey,
your sins are forgiven you,
right?
because there's no tangible evidence
whether
yes or no.
But,
you would think it would be harder
to say,
rise up and walk.
Because if you don't rise up and walk,
you're an idiot.
Right?
And so,
I love it when Jesus asks people questions,
because he's actually the only one
that knows the answer.
Right?
To the question.
But that you may know,
verse 24,
that the Son of Man
has power on earth
to forgive sin.
He said to the man
who was paralyzed,
they say to you,
rise up,
take up your bed,
go to your house.
Jesus had the power
to forgive sin.
And so,
that's why he said it first.
No doubt to get these guys
to thinking,
oh yeah,
he's a false teacher.
but he,
he doesn't leave it there.
Right?
He says,
I'm going to prove it to you.
It would have been harder
to say your sins are forgiven you,
because nobody has the right
to do that.
Later,
we see the disciples,
they tell people
to rise up and walk.
Remember at the gate,
beautiful.
Right?
And Peter walks up
and he says that,
silver and gold have I none,
but that which I have
I give to you
in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,
rise up and walk.
And he did.
We don't see any
of the disciples saying,
your sins are forgiven.
I've forgiven you.
God
has forgiven you.
because one
is temporary.
That which you can see,
you can see the physical,
the physical healing,
but it's only temporary.
When your sins are forgiven,
it's eternal.
It goes along with what it says
in 2 Corinthians chapter 4.
I'm actually going to teach
on this passage this,
this Wednesday.
It says this
in 2 Corinthians chapter 4,
verses 16 through 18.
It says,
Listen to this.
This is some powerful stuff.
But at the things
which are not seen.
For the things
which are seen
are temporary,
but the things
which are not seen
are eternal.
Get it?
This,
which we can see,
is temporary.
This is a temporary life
that you and I live,
but there's an eternal element
if we're in Christ.
Right?
Eternal life
that we can't see.
And so the healing
would be temporary.
The forgiveness of sin
is eternal.
That's what God's concerned with.
He's not nearly as concerned
with our physical body
as we are.
Right?
It's like Jesus says here,
okay,
I'm going to do both.
Which is easier to say.
Rise up and walk
or your sins are forgiven you.
Jesus says,
I'm going to do both.
And I'm going to prove to you
the power of God.
And he does.
The power of God
sets this man free
from his physical ailments
and it sets him free
from the bondage
of sin,
death,
and judgment.
I think the Bible says
it's free indeed.
Free indeed.
We are set free.
The truth comes
and he sets us free.
And so,
verse 25,
I'll kind of wrap this up now.
Verse 25,
it says,
immediately he rose up
before them,
took up
what he had been lying on
and departed
to his own house,
glorifying God.
And they were all amazed
and they glorified God
and were filled with fear,
saying,
we have seen
strange things today.
Right?
We have seen
strange things today.
This poor guy
had been totally
dependent on others.
Doesn't that just
gall you?
I hate it
when I have to
depend on people.
It just kind of
galls you,
you know?
I just,
you know,
good cowboy,
he pulls on his boots,
you know,
with his own strength
and gets after it.
But there are just times
when we have to
depend on somebody.
And,
and this poor guy
had to depend on others.
Lord knows what he had
to depend on him for.
If he was that paralyzed,
everything from
putting on his socks
to going to the bathroom.
But now,
he knows what it's like
to depend on God
and he leaves,
glorifying the Lord,
praising him,
praising God,
praising God
that his sins
are forgiven
and his,
his bodies restored.
Verse 26,
they were all amazed.
Everybody,
at least for a brief time,
even the scribes
and the Pharisees
were just like,
oh, wow.
I guess he showed us.
For a brief moment,
they,
they all had to do
a double take.
Did he really just
say and do
what we think
he did and said?
finishing with that
right at the end there,
we have seen
strange things today.
It would be,
wouldn't it?
We've seen
strange things today.
God is so good.
And I just want to share
three takeaways with you
as we close here
this,
this afternoon.
And,
really simple.
First is,
is Jesus prayed.
So get prayed up.
Follow his example.
Have that.
If you don't have
a specific prayer time,
make one.
Right?
it can be when you're,
when you're quiet in the
morning,
maybe reading the word
or in the evening.
Some,
you know,
some people have,
have their time.
But,
but get away.
Be quiet.
Be still,
the Bible says,
and know that I'm God.
Get prayed up.
I promise you,
there's a fight coming.
Whether you're prayed up
or not.
Right?
So being prayed up
might determine
whether you get your
spiritual tail kicked
or whether you're victorious.
So get prayed up,
number one.
Number two,
real friends bring
their friends to Jesus.
Real friends bring
their friends to Jesus.
Or at least point people
to Jesus.
Right?
You say,
well,
I don't really know
how to bring people
to Jesus.
Well,
bring them to church
and I'll bring them
to Jesus.
Right?
Be a friend
to somebody.
The ultimate friend
will bring
his friends to Jesus.
And thirdly,
Jesus remedies
our greatest need.
That truly is forgiveness.
To know that you're forgiven.
That your slate is clean.
That he,
he wipes it clean.
And our sins
are forgiven.
I hope that yours are
that,
that you've heard
the Lord say,
Te absolvo.
Or,
I forgive you.
Because,
that's really
what sets you free
to do what God's
called you to do.
I remember
being in that place
and for years
being overwhelmed.
Lord,
you've really
forgiven me
for that stuff?
Really?
Seriously?
Because it's a,
it's a tough pill
to swallow.
I,
some of you
are really bad.
Like me.
And,
and you look back
and you think,
I don't know how
you could forgive me
for that.
And Lord,
I'm just by faith,
just like the faith
of this man's friends,
just like faith.
I'm,
I'm just coming to you
believing that
I'm forgiven.
And,
his mercies
are new
every morning.
The joy of the Lord,
the joy of that forgiveness
is truly
my strength.
That I just realized,
Lord,
if you can forgive me
for that,
okay,
you can forgive me
for wanting to beat up
a kid,
even though I
couldn't have anyway.
Right?
let's pray.
Father,
we thank you
for
this day.
And Lord,
that you love us
and
that you're willing
to speak to us
and
as we come to you
by faith,
Lord,
and even as we bring
our friends to you
by faith,
even maybe even right now,
there's people
that have
a friend on their heart
that they're praying for,
that they're praying
that they would come to you,
praying that their spirits
would be healed,
Lord,
maybe even their bodies,
but that ultimately,
Lord,
that their sin
would be forgiven
and that they would
walk in this
newness,
Lord,
and this freedom
from guilt
and from shame,
Lord,
of the things we've done
in this life
that truly would
have brought shame
to you
and yet you took it
upon yourself.
You paid in full,
Lord,
our greatest debt.
So,
Lord,
I just pray that
this day
people would
be willing
to reach out
and maybe those
who need prayer
could just come forward
and be prayed for
and be encouraged,
Lord,
that tomorrow's
a new day,
that truly your mercy
is new
and that we have
a God
who has plans
for us,
Lord,
that our minds
can't even conceive
as we yield to you.
So,
may we do that
this week,
Lord.
May the name of Jesus
be on our lips
that we would
proclaim him,
not be ashamed of him,
but in doing so,
Lord,
that we would desire
that righteousness
that only you can give,
that we can't muster
it ourself.
Lord,
you have to
extend it to us.
So,
Jesus,
we just love you.
We praise you.
We give you this week
in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Let's all stand,
shall we?
I'm going to sing
a little verse
from a song
I heard
right after I got saved
and it's called
I Keep Falling
in Love with Him.
Some of you may remember it.
If you know it,
sing it with me.
I keep falling in love with Him over and over and over and over again.
God bless you guys.
Have a great week in Jesus.
Thank you.