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Good morning my “Walking with Jesus” friends;
I wonder as you open this link today… what are you thinking about, what is the condition of your heart on this day? Most of us are living in some variation of ‘seclusion’. We’re learning new vocabulary like “social distancing” and “COVID-19” and “PPE” (Personal Protective Equipment).
We’ve grown accustomed to watching the news channels and looking for the most recent statistics of # of infections and # of deaths. We’re in an era of global news focused essentially on ONE topic, 24 hours per day. As you look around I’m sure you see much has changed, in what used to be normal life for you, right?
So may I offer you somethings that have NOT changed? Rock solid, unchanging reality upon which you can build our life for today! Listen to Psalm 57, because God’s Word will never change and is a solid foundation for your life and mine EVERYDAY:
“Have mercy on me, O God, for in YOU my soul takes refuge.
I will take refuge in the shadow of Your wings, until the disaster has passed.”
We understand that when David uses such language he is not saying that he believes God is a bird with wings, but rather that God is almighty, comforting, protecting and provides safety in the disaster. Are you finding comfort in that truth my friends, where-ever you are in the world today?
“I cry out to God, Most High, to God who fulfills HIS purpose for me...
Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let Your glory be over all the earth…” (Ps. 57:2,5)
And what do you believe is God’s purpose for you today my friends? I assure you that you have a unique role in God’s global purpose for there is no one in the world exactly like you! And we together share in the purpose that God would be exalted in and through our lives as His people! Do I hear Amen?
“My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast…
I will praise You, O Lord, among the nations; I will sing of You among the peoples.
For great is Your love, reaching to the heavens, Your faithfulness reaches to the skies.
For great is Your love, reaching to the heavens, Your faithfulness reaches to the skies.
Be exalted O God, above the heavens, let Your glory be over all the earth.” (Ps.57:7-11)
Is your heart steadfast today my friends, in the flurry of persistent bad news? And have you found the reliability, the Omnipotence, the Omniscience and the Omnipresence of God, empowers you to be steadfast in this global pandemic? Are you confident you are continually receiving both God’s love and God’s faithfulness, and thus you can say…“Today my purpose is that God will be exalted in my life, and His glory will be spread over my part of the earth, through my life!” Oh my friends, take just a moment and pray right now, worshiping Almighty God who has created you and loves you today.
Now let’s rejoin Jesus and some men who are beginning to be His followers, on our journey toward Easter. We’re in Mark chapter 2 today and there I’d like us to see a remarkable double miracle, as we ‘walk with Jesus’ today.
We’re again in the town of Capernaum, on the shore of Lake Galilee. By now, whenever Jesus shows up, a crowd gathers expecting to hear remarkable things from His words, and perhaps see another amazing miracle. May I ask this question: When is the last time you awakened in the morning, EXPECTING the day before you would bring something amazing, even miraculous?
May I be so bold as to say I believe Jesus invites us to step into each new day EXPECTING. . . expecting that God will be doing His great “God work” all around the world in millions of ways, TODAY, and that God will INCLUDE you and me in His great, global purposes! It may not be spectacular, it may only be that your peace will calm someone else who is panicked today. Or your confidence in God today will encourage someone who is near despair. Or as you share Biblical truth with someone, they will find God’s strength in their confusion.
Ok, so Mark tells us Jesus is in a particular Capernaum home which is packed full of people, even outside people are straining their necks to look in the doors and windows, to try and get a glimpse of Jesus, and straining their ears to hear His voice.
Do you remember from yesterday we learned “Needs bring people to Jesus“? A cripple man had four friends who carried him to this house hoping Jesus would take just a moment to help him. They had obviously heard about the many who’d been helped just a few days ago in this same town (Mark 1:33,34). But these friends had not anticipated the crowd! It was time to improvise, innovate, step into problem solving mode. “Since they could not get him (their crippled friend) to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus and, after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on.” (Mark 2:4)
So let’s squeeze ourselves into that overcrowded house. We’re fixated on Jesus as He talks about God and how God wants to change our lives. And suddenly we hear digging on the roof, then dust and clumps of dirt are falling on us from the roof as a hole is being ripped open in the roof! What?? What is happening? Who are these guys and what are they doing?. . . The hole gets bigger and bigger, Jesus moves aside so the dirt doesn’t keep falling on Him as He talks, but He just keeps talking, and then pretty soon here comes a mat being lowered through the roof hole, with a crippled man on it! I’ve never seen anything quite like this, have you?
What’s amazing is that Jesus is acting like it’s no big deal! He’s not irritated or upset, He’s not shouting at the men for disturbing His audience. It’s almost as though Jesus anticipated something like this was going to happen, in this overcrowded house this morning!! Jesus looks up at the four men on the roof, smiled as though He knew them and then turned to the crippled man on the mat and said “Son, your sins are forgiven.” (Mark 2:5).
Please notice friends, that Mark tells us it was “When Jesus saw their faith” that He spoke to the crippled man! What do you think about that? Obviously the crippled man had great faith too, entrusting his life to four guys lowering him through the roof. But do you see what moved Jesus to action? It was the determination of these four friends, to do whatever it required of them to bring their paralyzed friend to Jesus!
Now ponder that a moment as you consider everyone you know who today does NOT know Jesus. Are they nearly paralyzed in fear about COVID-19 or the financial melt-down which has taken place in world markets? What difference could it make in their lives, if they knew Jesus, like YOU know Jesus? When Jesus looks at your faith and mine, with regard to what we believe He could do in the lives of our friends who don’t yet know Jesus, …what does Jesus see in us?
Mark 2:6 says “Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, ‘Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
You know what I’m going to say don’t you my friends? We are standing at another ‘defining moment’! Up to this time Jesus had done a few amazing things like turn water into wine, and heal a boy from many miles away. Jesus had been run out of Nazareth, His hometown, when He read Isaiah 61 and claimed He was the fulfillment of that Messianic prophecy. But this is another first. Jesus has just told a man his sins were forgiven. What could it possibly mean about who Jesus was and what His mission was? Do you see what Mark tells us happened next?
“Immediately Jesus knew in His spirit that this was what they were thinking…and He said to them ‘Why are you thinking these things? Which is easier to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven, or to say ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins. . .” He said to the paralyzed man, ‘I tell you get up, take your mat and go home.” (Mark 2:8-10)
Once again time stood still for a few seconds. Everyone held their breath…the crowd, the crippled man, and four guys peering through the hole in the roof. And then the unthinkable happened: “He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all! This amazed everyone and they praised God saying, ‘We have never seen anything like this!” (Mark 2:12)
Jaws dropped open, eyes widened, people stared, slapping one another’s back, ‘Did you see that’, they asked each other? What would you have said or done my friends? And can you imagine being the crippled man, now walking through the crowd with his mat rolled up under his arm? Do you suppose he kept that mat, for many years, rolled up in the corner, just as a reminder to him, his family and friends and anyone who would listen to his story? Do you suppose just the sight of that mat brought a smile to his face and awakened great courage and thankfulness in his heart, for the rest of his life?
So what about you and me? What is the ‘miracle debris’ you have in your home? Something tangible… a photograph, a medical report, a bank statement… something that invites you to tell a story about God’s miraculous work in your life? Oh I have so many of them, I hope you do also.
But here’s the bigger question… Jesus not only had healed this man physically, Jesus healed Him spiritually! This man walked out of that overcrowded house a totally different man! He was walking, no more lying on a mat being carried by friends! But more importantly, He was walking FREE! Free from his sin condemnation. Oh like all of us he knew he was a sinner, and there was nothing he could do about it. No amount of money he could pay, no penance he could do, no promises he could make or keep. He owed to God a debt he could not pay…as we all do! But Jesus was there, and Jesus is “Immanuel”, God with us. And when Jesus forgives a man’s sin, he is forgiven for sure and forever!
Are you like the crippled man my friends? Has Jesus done some miraculous things in your life? Most importantly, are you walking FREE from your sin guilt and sin condemnation? Has God forgiven your sin because you trusted in Jesus’ full payment of your sin debt when He died in your place? You see Jesus paid a debt He did not owe, so you and I could be forgiven of a debt we could not pay! Do you get that? Are you living it?
Between now and Easter we’ll dig into that phrase often… it’s essential for living life FREE from sin bondage, sin burden and sin condemnation, anywhere in the world! And it’s the only way to live life confident that whenever, however, and where-ever, you breathe your last breath, you’ll instantly be in heaven with Jesus, and all others who have trusted in Him! Now that my friends is GREAT news… do you agree?
Oh Lord Jesus, we hold tightly to the truth of this double miracle!!
Click to read today’s chapter: Psalm 56; Mark 2 (At the top you can choose a different translation.)
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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