July 24th

Who's Being Held?

When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, Son, your sins are forgiven you.' ...Immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went out in the presence of them all, so that all were amazed and glorified God, saying, We never saw anything like this!' Mark 2:5,12

Imeet with so many people who feel spiritually paralyzed. It's like, they say they want to keep growing in their relationship with Christ, but something is holding them back, and it has to do with two things-their past, or the sin of their past still invading their lives today.

To set us all free from this paralysis today, let's see what happened that set a truly paralyzed man free. This paralyzed guy is doing what paralyzed guys do-he was lying around. But his friends came and hijacked him because Jesus was in town. I don't get any sense in this story that they even asked the guy's permission. They knew what he needed; they just picked him up and went for it. And that's our first lesson for freedom from being paralyzed: Stop waiting around. Is something keeping you from Jesus? Get over it!

Or is something keeping you from bringing others to Jesus? Oh, Bob, I don't want to offend anybody. You're being held back by your insecurities. The Gospel's offensive; get over it. And you know that it's not just you, but all the people around you who need Jesus.

See what these four guys do? They grab their paralyzed buddy and when they get to the house, the door is blocked. You know, at that point, it's easy to start making excuses or start giving up. Oh, I knew we should have left earlier; the parking is always crowded here. We'll never get in there. Let's go home.

But then one of them said, Who cares if the door is blocked? Let's go up on the roof. Now, there's no mention in the story of asking permission of the homeowner. All the traditional routes were blocked, so they got creative. What is it going to take for you to get yourself and your neighbors, friends, and coworkers to Jesus? And as this guy gets lowered down, Jesus sees the faith of the friends and says to the paralyzed man, Son, your sins are forgiven you.

Whose faith did Jesus see? He saw the faith of those four guys who were willing to risk their reputations, could not care less what anybody's thinking about them. They hijacked their friend because they knew what he needed. They let go of their past and brought their friend into a future with Jesus. When Jesus sees that kind of faith, this guy gets healed. He looks at him and goes, Man, your sins are forgiven.

Get free from anything holding you back and go forward today.

Prayer Lord Jesus,

I need to let go of my past and really let You hijack my life. I give control of my life over to You. Come fill me afresh today with Your Spirit and give me the boldness to live out the new life You have for me!

Amen