We are going to work on a new song with you this morning. It’s kind of a new old song. Anybody remember Rich Mullins’s back in the late 80s? Okay. He wrote a famous song called Our God is an Awesome God.

We have a new rendition that Phil Wickham has recently written and we’re going to teach it to you this morning. This is a mover and a shaker. So get ready. God is great. Give him all the praise.

Hallelujah. Name above all names. Fire in his hands. Healing in his hands. Heat.

Oh, heat, heat. Heat. Heat up here. Heat. Heat.

To you. My God, you’re an awesome God. You great in all you do. I’m made to worship you, my God. You’re an awesome God.

How awesome is our God. There is absolutely nothing his power cannot accomplish. He has infinite understanding of everything in every heart. Heat. Amen.

First John 3 says this, “Look with wonder at the depth of the Father’s love.” How often do we lose that wonder of the depth of God’s love for us? Look with wonder at the depth of the Father’s marvelous love that he lavishes on us. I stand in the presence of Jesus the Heat. Heat.

Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat.

Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat.

How wonderful that my song shall ever be. How marvelous, how wonderful is my Savior’s love for me. Heat up here. Heat. Heat.

Hey, Heat up here. Heat up here. Heat. Heat. Yeah.

Heat. Yeah. Heat. Heat up here. Heat up here.

Heat. Paid my debt and raised this life up from the dead. Oh, praise the one who paid the dead and raised this life up from the dead. Jesus Heat. Heat.

Heat up here. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat.

Heat up here. Heat. So I fall on my knees to get back on my feet again. And I cry out for you. Would you please speak to me?

Amen. Go and have a seat. This time I’m going to ask our one of our overseers, Carl Mineer, to come on up. Thank you. And this is a time if you’re visiting with us right now.

This is kind of a a family moment. Importance of the church as a family shared with us by Carl. >> Thank you. >> Good morning. >> Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life.”

>> Amen. >> Whoever believes in me, yet they shall die, though they shall live. Thank you. So anyway, we had a a loss in our church this week and I just wanted to let everyone know this morning on behalf of the church and the overseers that our sister Dena Hecman passed away this week. Karen thanked me for making this message because she said she would cry and I am maybe crying but so it’s always sad to have a member of our church pass away.

She passed away on Wednesday and she passed away from complications from one of her many ailments that were attacking her physical body. But her spirit was strong and we know it’s with the Lord today. And I’m always humbled to find to see how she found a church family here at Grace Point Community Church and how the church. >> Amen. >> Anyway, and love her.

So, she has one sister Diane and so some of the church’s members are helping Diane to settle the estate and to take care of things. So, it’s gratifying that she has a sister to help with that part of her end of life. And the only thing I have to say about Dena is that she had a quick wit and a sense of humor that brought a lot of joy and and fun into this family of God. So there will be a commemoration, a celebration of life at a later date if if you’re wondering. So that will be announced so we can come together and remember her further.

So please join me now with a a prayer for this moment. Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for the grace you give us. We thank you for hope. We thank you for everlasting life to those who believe. And as we saw Dena grow and fellowship in this congregation, we know that she died with joy in her heart knowing you.

And we just pray now that you would help our hearts to be calm. Help us to focus on this great and wonderful gift you’ve given us. And we really pray that you would help her sister Diane to see you through all of this. That she may come to you. That she would have the strength and the grace to persevere through this.

We just pray that you would comfort her heart and give her the hope of your Holy Spirit in many ways. So we thank you again for the great joy we share together at this sorrowful time. Thank you in Jesus name. Amen. >> Amen.

Thank you Carl. We’re reminded on a regular basis, aren’t we? The importance of the hope found in Jesus. Well, today we have the kids joining us. This is a special Sunday.

It’s the it’s one of the months in the year where we have five Sundays. And so we get to have the kids with us this morning. If you do have your Bible, we’re going to be in Luke, the Gospel of Luke, chapter 5. Luke, chapter 5. In our series is Jesus came for you.

And what we’re going to be looking at this morning is the healing power of Jesus. You know, one of the things that you have to think about as you’re reading one of the gospels is how big really is your view of God? How big do you see Jesus? Is he match Does your view match up with what we see here in the Bible? Several years ago, Whitney and I went to the Smithsonian Museum in Washington DC and got to see some pretty cool things there.

And one of the things that stands out to me was this little leather Bible that was that’s called the Thomas Jefferson Bible. And some of you may maybe know this already, but he Thomas Jefferson literally took scissors to his copy of the Gospels and cut out all the passages that had miracles. So apparently Thomas Jefferson, you know, great guy in terms of writing the Declaration of Independence and all, but he he decided he wanted a nons supernatural Jesus. No miracles, no supernatural elements at all, just the teaching. That’s what Thomas Jefferson wanted.

And many people, I think, seem to want a Jesus like that today. You know they will say things like we know now thanks to the advancements of science or whatever the more we’ve discovered we now know that miracles are impossible and therefore the gospels got it wrong when they talk about these miraculous things that Jesus did and of course we want to respond to that but this is a widespread belief many people in our country would say it’s because of the advances of science it’s basically like this long march and slowly but surely This faith in miracles has been receding and eventually it’s going to be completely stamped out. That’s that’s the narrative anyway. German physicist Max Plank said this in 1937. Faith in miracles must yield ground step by step.

The steady and firm advance of science will destroy it. Its defeat is indubitably a mere matter of time. He sounds pretty convincing, doesn’t he? You know, he used the word indubitably. So, I can’t really argue with that.

>> Indubitably, but like it or not, we all come to the question of miracles with assumptions. Whether we realize it or not, we all have these philosophical biases, these kind of built-in prejudices about how we’re going to evaluate miracles. And so the assumption that miracles can’t happen basically for many people tells them that this Bible we have is full of fairy tales because it has miracles. No one can deny that it is in here. Thomas Jefferson tried to but it’s in here.

There is supernatural things happening. Not long ago I was talking with a woman who found out I was a pastor. And so naturally we started talking about faith and Jesus. And so I asked her, “Tell me, do you believe in miracles?” And she said, “You know, I don’t think I do.”

But she said, “But I’ve always wondered if there’s something more because it doesn’t seem like it can just be like you die and that’s it. That just doesn’t seem right.” And so I agreed with her on that point. And I I said because I could tell she was curious even though she was a skeptic. I said, you know, if it’s even possible that this universe has been created by an all powerful God, then it’s at least possible that miracles could happen because if God can create an entire universe, then surely he can do things in that universe.

And she stopped and kind of paused and thought about that a little bit. And I explained to her, you know, a lot of us, we come to assess miracles based on what we’ve seen, what we’ve known, what we’ve read, but we haven’t really stopped and thought about it. If there is a God, if he has acted in history at specific points in time, he could do literally anything. Anything. And so, what we should be asking is, how much evidence is there for this particular miraculous claim?

Does it fit with what we know? And not does it deny science, but does it even fit with what science has told us? Because science isn’t the enemy of Christianity, but it’s good to have that as part of our understanding. Well, this morning, let me encourage you if you’ve struggled to believe in the miraculous. I want you to consider the possibility that there really was a man named Jesus who walked this earth and he really did the powerful things that the Bible talks about.

And then ask yourself, what would it mean for me if there really was a Jesus with miraculous power? What would that mean for me personally? If he could heal me the way he healed people. So in Luke chapter 5, if you would please stand for the reading of God’s holy and perfect word, the big idea this morning is the bigger your view of Jesus, the more you’ll see your need of his healing power. Luke 5 beginning in verse 12.

Luke says, “While he was in one of the cities, there came a man full of leprosy. And when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and begged him, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will be clean.” And immediately the leprosy left him. And he charged him to tell no one, but go and show yourself to the priest and make an offering for your cleansing as Moses commanded for a proof to them.

But now even more, the report about him went abroad, and great crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed of their infirmities. But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray. On one of those days, as he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with him to heal. And behold, some men were bringing on a bed a man who was paralyzed, and they were seeking to bring him in and lay him before Jesus.

But finding no way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down with his bed through the tiles into the midst before Jesus. And when he saw their faith, he said, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.” And the scribes and the Pharisees began to question, saying, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” When Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answered them, “Why do you question in your hearts?

Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you, or to say, rise and walk?” But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins. He said to the man who was paralyzed, I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home.” And immediately he rose up before them and picked up what he had been lying on and went home glorifying God. And amazement seized them all, and they glorified God and were filled with awe, saying, “We have seen extraordinary things today.”

Thank you. You may be seated. And Father God, I just ask that you would give me the words and fill our hearts with your Holy Spirit, with your love. Grant us the vision that only you can give by your supernatural power. It’s in Jesus mighty name we pray.

Amen. Leprosy is a neurological disease that damages all sensitivity, numbs you to feeling. And it was very common or more common I should say in the first century but it resulted in a disfigured body. The historian Josephus called it a living death because everywhere you went you would see these people on the outskirts. These these people who couldn’t live in cities because they were forbidden.

They would be living in in leper colonies and they would be ostracized and they were the ultimate social outcasts. They had these these problems all over their body. Today, it’s far less common to have leprosy. Still happens, but maybe you’ve seen pictures of someone with leprosy. They’ve they often will have disfigured faces and and sometimes there will be stumps where there used to be fingers or toes, but at this time it was one of the worst diseases you could contract.

And one of the on top of all the horrendous evils of having such a disease, you you had no human contact. That it was something that they said basically you were untouchable. Your family could bring you food and leave it at outside the colony because you couldn’t support yourself, but you were not allowed to touch non- lepers. You were completely outside the community. In addition, many believe that if you had leprosy, it was because you were cursed by God.

They looked at some examples, kind of cherrypicked some examples from the Old Testament and they said, “Look, see if if you have got leprosy, it’s because of what you did in the past. You are paying for your past sins.” And whenever lepers did have to pass near people, they would always have to cover the top of their upper lip and shout out, “Unclean, unclean.” to drive people away, to let people know I’m unclean, and if you’re clean and you don’t want to become unclean, you better stay away from me. Just imagine the shame of living in that way day after day.

You long for relationship. You long for affection, for community. You’re cut off from all of it. So with that as the background, just think about how shocked everyone must have been when here in a city it says the man with leprosy comes forward. He he knows about Jesus.

Somehow he just knows Jesus can heal him and the crowd parted. Everybody’s appalled at what this man is doing. And he runs forward and he just throws himself at the feet of Jesus and says, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” All eyes are on Jesus. Social convention has been completely thrown out the window.

People are upset, angered by this man. Who does he think he is? All eyes on Jesus. And he reaches out and he touches this man. And he says, “I am willing.

Be clean.” So, first in your notes, Jesus’s compassion led him to touch the untouchable. And his power allowed him to cleanse the unclean. Even Jesus’s disciples like Simon Peter, who probably would have been with him at this point, would have been stunned by what Jesus did. This was completely breaking all protocol.

Even the law of the Lord required people to call themselves unclean. But here he is, he’s touching the untouchable. And this isn’t just a quick pat on the head. The Greek actually gives a sense that Jesus took hold of him. Maybe he even embraced him.

This man who had disfigured face and felt horrible. Luke is a doctor. He says his body was full of leprosy, which means it had run its full course all through his body. He looked like someone who had no chance of ever coming back, no chance of restoration. And because of this disease, he had been without real human contact for a very long time.

You had to leave your family. You had to leave all your relationships and go out and live only among others with leprosy. There have been studies done on the deadly impact of loneliness. Loneliness is in many ways more deadly than many things that you might think of. People who are lonely suffer from more psychological issues.

They suffer from more physical health issues, more more breathing issues, more immune system issues. Loneliness is deadly. At the beginning, God said, “It’s not good for humans to be alone.” That’s how he designed us. So that we would be in community with one another.

We’d be in relationship. We would know what it is to have affection from someone, to have love, to know others. But for this man, everywhere he went, he would announce his arrival. And it wasn’t warmly embraced. It drove people away from him.

But somehow he knew Jesus Jesus could heal him. And the only question stirring in his mind as he’s running up to Jesus is, is he gonna want to touch me? Is he going to be willing to do what nobody else wants to do? I’m a despised leper. Why would he want anything to do with me?

Last week, we saw Simon Peter in his boat falling at the feet of Jesus when he was overwhelmed by his sinfulness and recognized he was in the presence of God Almighty. And here there’s something very similar. He’s in desperation. It says he falls on his face. You can’t get lower than that.

This guy is at his complete end. His only hope is if Jesus is willing to heal him. Think about what it means that the son of God incarnate, when he comes to this earth, he’s willing to reach out and touch those who are broken and disfigured. This is a picture of Christ’s love, his compassion for every person broken by sin. He’s willing to reach out and touch us right where we’re at.

Even though we don’t deserve it, even though we ourselves might think, who would want to be connected to me? Who would want to reach out and touch me? Jesus is willing. What leprosy did to the outside of this man, sin has done to the inside of us. Sin has ravaged our souls.

Rendered us unhealthy spiritually. Just as this man had a disease that numbed his skin, we have because of sin, we’ve been numbed in our soul to the love of God. We desperately need the healing touch of Jesus. We need him to reach out and heal us. And Jesus is willing.

This is the great assurance of this passage. He’s willing to make us clean. The leper came right up to Jesus. And we too have to come to Jesus. We have to throw ourselves at his feet.

We have to surrender to him. Humbly admit we are in need desperately. And Jesus will respond with compassion, with grace. He’s willing to make us new, to make us whole. He’s willing to revive our numb souls.

He’s willing, but we need to come. Sometimes we numb ourselves by stuffing our feelings because we assume this is what a good Christian does. He He doesn’t let his feelings operate. He He stuffs it. And we forget that God intentionally crafted us to feel emotions.

It’s part of what it means to be made in the image of God. He doesn’t want us to go through life numb. So yes, we don’t want to rely on our feelings. People will often point that out. We don’t want to root our identity in our feelings only.

We want to root our identity in the truth of the gospel. But our feelings still matter. God could have made us without emotions and just be like Spock from Star Trek. He made us to be emotional, to feel our feelings, to know where we need his touch. But we have to open ourselves up to him.

This is part of what it means to come to Jesus. Because what happens is when you stuff all your feelings, you keep stuffing those feelings and and you keep grinding through life, you end up cutting yourself off from the joy of the Lord. And all the while, he wants to meet us and touch those innermost parts of our soul and heal us. But when we stuff our feelings, we’re saying, “God, you can’t have this part of me. I don’t want to express any emotion in front of you.”

It’s why many Christians end up turning to harmful addictions or they flare up an angry outbursts and then they wonder later where did that come from? Why? Why am I acting like this? Or someone says something that offends them and and they’re triggered and they cut that person out of their lives completely instead of asking the question, why was I triggered? Why was that so problematic for me?

It’s often because we haven’t first dealt with our emotions in the presence of God. See, we need to bear our souls quite literally. We need to come before Jesus and let him apply the balm of the gospel. Let him know, let him let him hear our expressions of where we’re at. Tell him where we’re feeling the pain because he has the only medicine that can reach the deepest parts of our soul.

Jesus said, “Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give rest to your souls.” He didn’t just come to heal the physical part of us. He came to heal the immaterial, the soul that is within. And we’ve titled this series Jesus came for you. Because Jesus came for all types, all kinds of people, everybody.

Both the rebel and the religious. Both the people who think they have it all together and the people who feel like they’ve always been out of place. Jesus came for you. And he showed compassion to those who had never experienced it before. This is the amazing thing about Jesus.

He loved this man who in the eyes of most was unlovable. He He looked disgusting. He looked wretched. He looked helpless. And Jesus said,”I willing to touch you, to heal you, to restore you.”

Jesus says the same thing to all of us. We have to be willing to come to him. Now, many people don’t want a miraculous Jesus. They they want a nons supernatural Jesus like Thomas Jefferson. And the question is, why?

Wouldn’t we want a Jesus who can heal our bodies and and write every wrong? Well, the reason is that if Jesus is that powerful, then in the eyes of many, he’s too big. See, if if Jesus can do miracles like this, then that means he deserves my worship. That means that I have to surrender everything to follow him. Luke says in verse 15, “But now even more the report about him went abroad, and great crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed of their infirmities.

But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray. In your notes, Luke teaches us to honor our human limitations and prioritize prayer. Part of the wonder of the incarnation is that you have the almighty, all powerful, glorious God, infinite one, wrapped up in frail human flesh. And he comes into this world and he lives a fully human life. Here he is.

Jesus, the first human being ever to be born completely sinless. Your your pastor unfortunately was born in sin and will be flawed until the day he dies. But with Jesus, for the first time in history, you have a teacher who never eroded, never even made the slightest mistake, never spoke out of turn, never said something that was even remotely false. Everything Jesus taught was perfectly true. His teaching is from heaven because he actually came from heaven.

Jesus would tell the other teachers of his day, you are from below. I am from above. I am not of this world. He was saying, I’m in a category completely distinct from everybody else. He alone is the sinless son of God.

And yet at the same time, he lived a fully human life. Just like we get tired and hungry and thirsty, Jesus experienced all of that. The emotions we we experience, Jesus went through that as well. He can relate to us. And so we can look at his life as a model for what humanity was always meant to be.

So think of it this way. Jesus was the healthiest human being ever. I don’t just mean Jesus ate his veggies. I’m saying that because of the decisions he made and his lifestyle, he was emotionally, spiritually, mentally the healthiest human being. He had no unclean or impure thoughts.

He had never harbored envy or bitterness toward anyone. He wasn’t controlled by anger. He wasn’t dominated by stress. He didn’t overextend himself. He made wise and perfectly wise decisions.

And he honored his limitations as a man. See, if Jesus was evaluated, he would score perfectly on the psychiatric scorecard, except for when it comes to the fact that he claimed to be God. Secular psychiatrists wouldn’t know what to do with that. But in all the areas of personal wellness and balance and and right decision-making, Jesus scored perfectly because he lived life perfectly. And notice it was Jesus’s habit to get away for time alone with the father.

And he’s doing this even when ministry demands are at an all-time high. There’s all these people flocking to him saying, “We want to be healed by Jesus.” But Luke surprises us. And he says at that point, everybody’s coming to him. And he says Jesus would often slip away.

He got alone. He got with the father and he spent time in prayer because as a man he knew to take care of his human soul he had to have times alone with the father. I used to think of Jesus as someone who always was on the go with ministry. He just was non-stop constantly healing teaching never stopping like he was a machine but he was a man not a machine and he took care of his human soul. He needed times of refreshment.

It’s worth considering that there were many people that Jesus didn’t heal while he was on earth. Many people. And we know this because in the book of Acts, there’s still a whole boatload of people in Israel that need to be healed. And so that tells us that Jesus didn’t see his role primarily as to be everywhere all the time in his earthly existence while he was here. He didn’t travel all the way to Rome to, you know, do miracles in front of the emperor.

He didn’t travel all the way to China to do miracles over there. He had a specific calling, a specific role, and he lived within his human limitations. If the son of God had to do this, if he had to be filled up by spending time with the father, how much more do you and I need to spend time alone with the father? There’s a story of a foreign president who was traveling to visit a South Korean pastor. And the the president was offended because the pastor’s assistant told him that he had to wait outside the office until the pastor finished his hour of uninterrupted midday prayer.

The president said, “Do you know who I am?” And the assistant calmly replied, “Do you know who he’s talking to?” I think that’s the right perspective. And honestly, it’s pretty convicting to me because nothing should take precedence over spending time with the King of Kings. To think that we can live this life and be doing all that God has called us to do but not spend time in prayer, not be filled by time of nourishment with our Lord.

The underlying issue is exactly what the assistant said. We forget who we’re talking to in prayer. We forget. And so we assume we don’t need to make prayer a priority. We assume that we’re we’re going to have lots on our plate.

We’re going to be too busy. Things are going to be mounting up. If we take time out of our day to pray for an hour, that sounds crazy to us because we live in a world that’s very fast-paced. And time is money. Time is of the essence.

It’s all about time. And so we neglect to spend time with our creator. We think, “I have more stuff to do.” And even though we wouldn’t say it out loud, I have more important things to take care of. And so, we set aside prayer time.

It’s very easy for believers, including ministry leaders like myself, to fall into this trap of thinking, “I’ve got to do enough for God to be productive on earth.” And forget that it can’t happen. It simply cannot happen unless we are relying on heavenly resources. Unless we’re going to our father and meeting with him. Because remember that is why we’re here.

We were made for him. That’s what life is all about. Meeting with our creator and we need him. It’s one reason I think the Bible describes our relationship with God as a walk. It’s not a run.

You’re not called to to run and hurry through life. You’re called to walk with God. And that’s a picture of spending time. There’s on a walk, you can talk with someone. You can you’re still moving forward, but you’re you’re doing it at a pace where you can understand one another.

You know, if you’ve ever tried to sprint and talk with somebody at the same time, it’s probably not going to go so well. But we tell ourselves, “I don’t have time for that yet.” But prayer is not an optional extra. It is the lifeblood of the Christian. It’s our power source.

And God wants to remind us through showing Jesus, even Jesus, the almighty son of God, he slipped away. He had times alone with the father because he knew as a man, I am not going to do the ministry that I’m called to do. I’m not going to be filled with the Holy Spirit as I’m called to be unless I’m spending time with my father. And we need to follow his example. He leads, we follow.

And I know that in your heart of hearts, you want your life to make a difference. You want to experience the beauty and wonder and awe of God. You want that. You don’t want to just skip through life. You don’t want to hurry through life and miss things, the most important things.

And God is calling us. He’s inviting us to have this special kind of relationship with him where we can get alone with him so that then we can go back into the world reaching others with his love filled up, fueled up with him and we can’t do it without him. Beginning in verse 17, we read about another miracle of Jesus. In this scene, Jesus is teaching in a crowded house. Many of the religious leaders from Jerusalem have now come.

They’ve heard reports about this Jesus of Nazareth who’s apparently been healing people and teaching people. And so they want to check them out for themselves, even scribes and Pharisees from Jerusalem. These guys are there. They’ve got their notepads and pens and they’re there to take notes on Jesus. And then they’re going to report back to this religious governing body called the Sanhedrin.

Who is this Jesus anyway? Who does he claiming to be? And what does he think he’s about? And does he measure up to our standards? Is he following the Phariseaic law as he should?

This is the first time we’re introduced to the Pharisees in Luke. They’re the highly educated religious elite. They would have had the respect of the people. They would have been honored in special ways, given special seating at banquetss. If you’re having a cra a group over and there’s a Pharisee among them, you make sure to give the Pharisee the best spot because he’s the honored one.

He’s the one who’s been set apart as especially faithful to the Lord. And as it turns out, there’s a paralyzed man with four friends who are desperate to get their friend to Jesus. They will stop at nothing. And these guys are are an encouragement to me to think about their motivation. But they had a problem because here they have a paralyzed friend.

And this crowd surrounding the house that Jesus is at is so thick they can’t get a stretcher through there. And so they decide, okay, well, if we can’t get in from the side, let’s try another way. And probably one of them, the innovator in the group, said, you know, I’ve got it. What if we like go up on the roof and dig a hole through the roof and go in that way? The aerial assault.

Right in your notes, we need to remember Jesus is the only hope for our lost and hurting friends. These guys were undeterred. They believed, they were absolutely convinced, just like the leper, that only Jesus can help their friend. They knew that Jesus can heal people. They had seen it happen.

They had a friend who knows how long had been in this condition. Maybe he used to as a kid run around and play with them. Maybe they’ve known each other for a very long time. But all we know is they loved their friend and they would stop at nothing to get him to Jesus. They go up on the roof.

Roofs at this time were two foot thick and they were made of hardened baked clay and often there would be like grass and branches in there. So, you had to dig through this this very thick and hard material. I would have loved to see the expression on Jesus’s face as he’s standing there and as he’s teaching suddenly dirt starts falling from the ceiling and suddenly there’s this hole opening up and and sunlight coming through and and who are these crazy guys peeking their heads through that hole? They were determined. And just imagine the shock of the Pharisees as they then lower this paralyzed man on a mat with four ropes down right in front of Jesus.

I want you to see that these four friends were men of conviction. They were convinced Jesus is the hope. They they weren’t going to let a big crowd or a two-foot thick roof get in the way. They were saying to themselves, “It’s now or never. We need to get our buddy to Jesus.”

In Acts 4, Peter said, “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name given among men by which we must be saved.” Many of our friends will never hear the truth about Jesus or the forgiveness of sins unless we make that effort to tell them, to introduce them. And the question is, do we have the same kind of love as these guys? Are we willing to tear open roofs to get our friends to Jesus? Jesus alone has the power to save.

I don’t know about you, but I’m motivated by their example. Something about their zeal to get their buddy in front of Jesus tells me, you know what? Sometimes I’m lacking that zeal big time. I need to have that kind of love where I am looking not for the ways not the obstacles not seeing what’s in the way but looking for ways through the obstacles to tell people about Jesus to introduce them to his love to extend compassion the way Jesus did to give them just a glimpse even of who Jesus is. These guys were not deterred and they did something a bit socially unacceptable.

I hope they offered to pay for the damaged roof later. But it shows they were loving their friend. And notice Jesus’s response. I have to think that at this point Jesus is just smiling at them as he sees this guy dropped in in front of him. How could you not be amused?

But he tells the man that his sins are forgiven. Now, the man is probably thinking, “My sins are forgiven. Great. How about my legs? It’s kind of why I’m here.

His immediate concern had to be that he wanted to walk again. But Jesus knew what was going on in the hearts of those Pharisees that were standing there. They’re just going to keep showing up in Luke. We’ll get to know these Pharisees really well. And basically, these are the guys that are always complaining, grumbling, and criticizing Jesus and his followers.

The Pharisees obeyed the letter of the law, but they had no joy in the Lord. They’re always looking down on others, pointing out where other people fall short. And if I had to guess, I would say most secular people today fear that churches today are full of Pharisees, modern-day Pharisees, people who will look at them and criticize them and look down on them and and maybe give that superior air of, “Oh, you’re not living this way. This these guys show zero concern for this man. All they can do is grumble.

They criticize Jesus. They know that in the Old Testament, it says that only God only God can erase a man’s record of sins. Only God can wipe the sinner’s slate clean. And here is a man claiming to do just that. They’re appalled.

They’re thinking, “This guy is a blasphemer.” And because Jesus is God, that’s the irony. They’re they’re angry because they think this man can’t possibly be doing what God does. And then as God, he’s reading their thoughts and says, “Do you want to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins? Do you want to know that I really do have this power and ability?”

And he shows it by saying to the man who’s paralyzed, “Get up. Take your mat.” And to the astonishment of everyone, the paralyzed man stands up. Just imagine the electricity in the room as that happens. Everybody is dumbfounded.

They start praising God and worshiping. And I imagine them starting to to clap to a beat as that man dances around for the first time in possibly years. But you know who wasn’t happy about the healing? The Pharisees. Notice it’s the religious guys, the guys who are supposed to be closest to God, who knew what God was like and could teach other people.

They’re the ones that are not praising God even as God has come to earth and healed somebody right in front of them. And this reminds us that religion, religion can blind our eyes spiritually. It can blind us from seeing what’s right in front of us. Can blind us from seeing the heart of God. Jesus showed his authority and greatness by healing this man.

But what he first said was that his sins are forgiven. Because he knew that is the number one issue before anything else. This is what matters. That your soul is healed. That you are made right with God.

Jesus could do something the religious guys never could. In your notes lastly, religion can change your behavior. Jesus can transform your heart. So if you have sins you know that need to be forgiven, know that this is what Jesus is offering to you. He says over you just like he said to the paralyzed man, your sins are forgiven you.

No matter what you might be guilty of, it doesn’t matter how heinous your sin might be. You might think of it as this is in a category of itself. Jesus says your sins are forgiven. Whether it’s murder, theft, infidelity, perversion, betrayal, embezzlement, lying, or whatever you want to add to that list, Jesus can forgive all of it and make you whole. That is the gospel.

And this is why we love Jesus because he loved us first. He came to this earth. He pursued us. And in grace, he did everything necessary to wipe away our sins. 1 Peter 2:24 says, “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.

For by his wounds, we have been healed.” I wanted us to personalize what Jesus has done for us. So, I have 1 Peter 2:24 written out on your notes. And I want you to put your name in the blank there. Because the gospel can’t transform your heart if it’s always something out there.

It has to be in here. It has to be something you receive yourself. He himself bore Jason’s sins in his body on the tree that Jason might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds, Jason has been healed. Jesus has the power to heal any disease you have if he chooses.

But the most important miracle, the most powerful miracle is to experience forgiveness of sins. To know that you stand before God completely pure and spotless, all guilt removed, all shame taken away at the cross, and that because of his resurrection, he offers us wholeness and new life. Jesus says to each one of us, when you come to me, your sins are forgiven you. And then when Jesus gets hold of your life, his love transforms you from the inside out so that you want to tell others about him. You want to reach others.

You have this love that’s willing to tear open roofs to get your friends to Jesus. I’ll leave you with this question. Where do you need the healing power of Jesus? Where is it in your soul? If you were to be very honest with yourself before the Lord, where is it?

And as we take communion together, this is what you want to be thinking about. Where am I holding back a part of myself from Jesus’s healing grace? Where am I trying to stuff feelings and pretend there’s not a problem when there is a problem? Jesus is reaching out in love to each one of us. And he meets us right where we’re at.

Father God, I thank you that you sent Jesus to bring his healing power to rescue us from our sins and from everything that afflicts us. We know, Lord, ultimately all will be healed. All will be restored in your kingdom. But we long for a taste of that healing power today, Lord. We long to be made new in our spirits.

We want our souls to be opened up to who you are, to your loving embrace because you are willing, Jesus. You are willing and you reached out and touched us with your grace. We thank you for that. And as we take the Lord’s supper together, Lord, I pray that we would be in awe of who you are and what you’ve accomplished for us. It’s in your name, Jesus, we pray.

Amen. At this time, I’ll ask the servers to come forward to help pass out the elements and we’ll take those together. Heat. Heat. We take the Lord’s supper as a memorial, as a remembrance of what Jesus accomplished for us.

This is Romans 5. It says, “For while we were still weak, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person, though perhaps for a good person, one would dare even to die. But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. And so we take the bread together, a symbol of Christ’s body broken for us.

We take the cup just as he did on that last supper. A symbol of his blood shed for us. Lord Jesus, we once again come before you like the leper saying, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.” And Lord, we know you are willing and you can make us clean. Thank you for your grace.

Apply the truth of the gospel to our souls this morning. Help us to live it out all for your glory as we await your soon return. We pray in your mighty name. Amen. Would you stand with us as we close?

Hope has a name. His name is Jesus. There is a song, I know it well. A meloy that’s never failed. On mountains high, in valleyies low, my soul will rest by confidence in you alone.

Oh pas, his name is Jesus. My savior’s cross has set the soul as his name is Jesus. Oh Christ be praised. I have victory. There is salvation Christ.

Heat. Yeah. Heat. Jesus Christ I have victory there’ll be a day my hope complete now home in gloryy Your face I’ll see my pain no more. My fear will cease.

I bow my life. I fix my eyes on Christ my king. I bow my life I fix my eyes on Christ. Yeah. Heat.

Oh my praise. I have victory. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Well, as we close, I have a couple of quick announcements.

First of all, we are trying to get together a little Easter choir. So, if you have any experience singing hymns or choruses, we would love to have you be part of the choir. It’s not a solo opportunity or anything like that. So, don’t feel like all worried. You’ll be up here with a big group just shouting the name of Jesus with us on Easter Sunday.

So, we want to get anybody interested, meet us at the piano as soon as this service is finished. And then also we want to make sure everyone’s aware today is the last day to get your photo taken for the directory. So make sure you stop in room and see Amy Frier to confirm all of your contact info. Make sure we have all that correct. So we don’t want it to go to print until we have all the right details.

Then the last thing, March 15th, this is going to be a big day y’all. We have the bake sale coming. So all the proceeds this year will benefit the Mexico missions trip that will be happening in June. So there are signups happening in the breezeway today. So get your sign yourself signed up because we need baked goods.

Okay? We have lots of hungry people. So we’ll see you either next door or somewhere in between. Heat up here. Heat.

Heat. Yeah, >> good songs. Okay, I heard so.

Transcript machine-generated from the sermon audio, so it may contain errors. 8,050 words.