Scripture – NIV
Mark 2:1-12 –
A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. They gathered in such large numbers that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”
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?”
Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, “Why are you thinking these things? Which is easier: to say to this paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’? But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the man, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” 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!”
Bob’s thoughts:
I met a woman in a local store. We talked for five minutes and she seemed to know me well, including some of my children, but I was drawing a blank. I thought she might have been part of the day care center here. When we saw it has been five years since our last visit, and a need to pick up a few things from our daughter nearby, it was an easy decision where to worship. The fun part was, I thought it was my choice.
There is a beautiful large round stained glass window with smaller panels to the side, above, and below to form a cross.
We received a friendly welcome from a number of people. We were pleased to be here for the commissioning of a mission team headed to Russia and appreciated the chance to talk to one of the young men after the service.
When the pastor started his message, I knew Whose choice it was for us to worship here today. God has used me in some miraculous healings, but it isn’t always the case. Twice He has let me know why there was no healing – once it was my son and once it was me. Christ answered my question through this message: sometimes the power to heal comes and goes, as the pastor referred to Luke 5:17: “And the power of the Lord was with Jesus to heal the sick.” The requirements are that God is willing and someone believes.
Jan’s thoughts:
We needed to be in the area this morning, so we decided to attend the 11:00 contemporary service here. I was relieved when the music we heard as we approached the building turned out to be rehearsal. Our grandtwins attended preschool here several years ago, so we already knew our way around from attending Christmas programs.
Several people welcomed us and one gentleman took time to share with us at length and introduce us to some other folks.
I enjoyed the sound of the praise team which consisted of three guitarists/vocalists, a keyboardist, and a drummer. The bulletin included offers of large print hymnals for the visually impaired, amplification units or a sign language interpreter to aid the hearing impaired, as well as who to see for earplugs if the music was too loud.
There is much going on here, including a mission trip to Russia this week and a men’s event in a couple of weeks with Pastor Ed Glover of Urban Impact as the keynote speaker. I was delighted to be there for the commissioning of the missionaries departing for Russia this Thursday.
The current sermon series is entitled Journey to the Cross…and Beyond and today’s installment was Part 4: The Healing of the Paralytic. The message began with a clip from the movie Son of God depicting this event and the pastor taught through each portion of the Scripture.
He stated that in verse 2, where it says that Jesus preached the word, as the Word, Jesus was preaching Himself. He then reminded the congregation, “When preachers talk too much about themselves (instead of Christ), their listeners should run.”
As he focused on healing, he said two things must be true for healing to happen: God must be willing and someone must be believing, pointing out that healing can sometimes come through the faith of others. Even when prayers are offered in faith, healing is not always granted, and this remains one of God’s mysteries.
At this point I thought it marvelous when the pastor invited questions from the congregation.
The pastor pointed out that Scripture states Jesus first forgave the man’s sins and then gave physical healing because “spiritual healing is way more important than physical healing.”
Stating he did not wish to “over-spiritualize,” he asked everyone to consider what might have become paralyzed in us that we would ask Jesus to heal. He focused on the areas of prayer, vocation, relationships, and witness for Christ, and prayer was offered for freedom from paralysis in any of these areas. I thought this was some good stuff.
This idea of paralysis is a new consideration for me, so I was pleased God had brought us here today.
Our prayer for this church:
Lord, we pray You will continue to bless Your church. Guide their mission endeavors that You be glorified. Amen.
