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You see, we have been so deceived by this Western ideology

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of individualistic thinking.

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We have been so fooled into thinking

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that we don't need fellowship with other believers,

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that we don't need the church.

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You see, it is the spirit-filled body of believers

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that will rally around you,

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that will have the faith you don't have

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to bring you to the feet of Jesus.

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Hey, today we're gonna be looking at Matthew 9, part one.

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For this episode, I'm going to read verses one through seven,

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and then my goal is to give the historical context

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of what's happening in the scriptures,

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what's happening in the narrative at this time,

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and then from that, bring out the relevancy

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that still holds true for us as Christ followers today.

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Starting in verse one, it says this.

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And getting into a boat, he crossed over

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and came to his own city.

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And behold, some people brought to him a paralytic,

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lying on a bed, and Jesus saw their faith.

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And he said to the paralytic,

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take heart, my son, your sins are forgiven.

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And behold, some of the scribes said to themselves,

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this man is blaspheming.

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But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said,

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why do you think evil in your hearts?

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For which is easier to say your sins are forgiven,

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or to say rise and walk?

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But that you may know that the Son of God

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has authority on the earth to forgive sins.

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He then said to the paralytic,

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rise, pick up your bed, and go home.

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And he rose and he went home.

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Jesus is coming into his hometown,

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after being baptized by John,

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after fasting in the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights,

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after having a spiritual battle with the devil,

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and after calling his first disciples,

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Peter, Andrew, James, and John,

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to preaching one of the most profound sermons

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ever preached on this earth, on the side of a mountain.

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And then going from town to town, performing miracles,

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healing the sick, touching the leper.

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Jesus is now home, back home,

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and everything that we just read up to now,

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all these miracles, all these amazing things,

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all these profound statements,

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is just Matthew one through eight.

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And so now we're here in Matthew nine,

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and Jesus returns home,

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and the first thing that happens when he gets home

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is that some people bring him a man who is paralyzed.

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The crazy thing is this paralyzed man

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shows up two other times in scripture.

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We actually see him mentioned in Mark and in Luke,

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both with the same account on this paralyzed man,

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being lowered through the roof to the feet of Jesus.

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Many historians believe that this is the very same account

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here in Matthew chapter nine.

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So when this paralyzed man is brought to Jesus

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by his friends, let me reread Jesus' response in verse two.

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Jesus actually says this.

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It says, and when Jesus saw their faith,

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he said to the paralytic,

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take heart my son, your sins are forgiven.

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Jesus saw their faith.

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Not when Jesus saw the paralytic's faith,

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not this man's faith.

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No, it says when Jesus saw their faith.

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What we are seeing here is the importance of the believer,

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the importance of the Christian for having community

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and having fellowship with other believers.

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You see, we have been so deceived

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by this Western ideology of individualistic thinking.

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We have been so fooled into thinking

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that we don't need fellowship with other believers,

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that we don't need the church.

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You see, it is the spirit filled body of believers

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that will rally around you,

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that will have the faith you don't have

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to bring you to the feet of Jesus.

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Sometimes there are seasons in our life that are so hard

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and that it causes our faith to be immobile,

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that it causes our faith to be paralyzed.

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And what I got from this, when I was reading it,

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when I was studying it,

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I thought the Lord was telling me,

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Marcus, there are seasons in your life.

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There have been seasons in your life

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when it was a hardship in your family,

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when it was mourning, when it was lost,

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when it was grief, whatever it is, Marcus,

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there have been seasons in your life

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when your faith was unable to move.

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And it's not because you had a lack of faith in me,

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but it's because you had a lack of faith in the moment.

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But God really showed me in this season, in this time,

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it is important to have friends around you who love Jesus,

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who love the Lord and love you,

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to be able to say,

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we're not gonna leave you here paralyzed in your faith.

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We are going to walk with you

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and pick you up if we have to

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and take you to the feet of Jesus.

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We are going to intercede for you.

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We are going to believe,

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even though you don't have the faith right now to believe,

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we will believe for you and we will intercede for you

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until Jesus brings forth healing,

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until Jesus brings forth answer.

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You see, we need to be surrounded by people

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whose first reaction is to bring you to the feet of Jesus.

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And if obstacles are in their way,

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they will be persistent enough to get you

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to be with Jesus face to face, no matter what.

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Just like we see in Luke and Mark,

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these men took this paralytic man to the roof.

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They moved away the roof.

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They moved away the foundation of the roof

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to be able to lower him down to the feet of Jesus.

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We need to be surrounded by people

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who are willing to say,

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no, obstacles aren't gonna get in my way.

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Seasons aren't gonna get in my way.

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Speed bumps and roadblocks are not gonna get in my way.

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way, you are going to Jesus one way or another, and not in the way of a threat, but more in

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the way of a promise.

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You see, it is the spirit-filled body of believers that will have the faith you don't have to

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bring you to the feet of Jesus.

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These believers around you are there to encourage you, they're there to lift you up, and they're

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there to intercede for you.

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Can I be real for one second?

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If you are not an encouragement to a fellow believer, then you are what verse 3 calls

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a scribe, or a Pharisee in some translations.

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You are of no benefit to the body if you are not an encouragement to the body.

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And I know that sounds really harsh, and I know that sounds really mean.

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You might be like, Marcus, you're saying I don't have a worth, and I'm not a benefit

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to this body?

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Well, I'm not saying those words.

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That's actually what the entire gospel is about.

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It's about rallying together, coming together one to another.

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In Hebrews, it actually talks about the importance of coming together as a body.

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I heard a pastor recently say this.

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He says, I hear people say that they love Jesus with their mouths, yet they hate his

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body.

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How can you love Jesus but hate his body?

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You see, neglect is a form of hate.

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We as disciples are called into community with other believers.

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There is no such thing as a lone wolf in the kingdom of God.

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They say ignorance is bliss.

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That cannot be further from the truth.

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Ignorance is a fool's map that leads to dangerous waters.

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You see, I challenge you to look around and see if you have a group of believers who will

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move past the crowd and move past the obstacles to get you in front of Christ.

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Look around and see if you are being that for someone else.

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And if you don't know where to start, find a church.

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Find a small group.

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Ask around.

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Find a group of friends and say, hey, can we pray together?

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Can we get together and lift one another up?

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Hebrews 10, 24-25 says this, and let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good

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works, not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some, but encouraging one

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another in all the more as you see in the day drawing near.

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The second thing we see as we're reading this is we actually see Jesus and the way

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he works miracles.

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You see, a lot of times in a lot of places when we pray for God to heal us, when we pray

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for God to move in our lives, we're expecting God to do it right then and there instantaneously.

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But as I've read this book, as I've read this Bible, the one thing I see that Jesus does

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before he heals is he gives a command.

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What he says here to the paralytic man is he says this.

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He says, rise, pick up your bed and go home.

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See, he didn't tell the man, hey, right now you're healed.

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No, he says, hey, rise, stand up, stand up where you're at right now and pick up your

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bed and then go home.

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And then it says, and he rose and went home.

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Look, so whatever you're praying for, for healing right now, whatever you're praying

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for for breakthrough right now, the only way to get that is to be able to listen to God

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and to be able to see what the command he's giving you is.

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Is it rise, pick up your bed and go?

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Is it keep praying, keep pressing in, keep confessing?

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The more you read through the gospels, the more you'll understand and the more you'll

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see that Jesus at the answer of every single prayer, at the answer of every single cry,

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when he says yes, it's yes with a command.

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See, I think it was really cool.

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We were at a prayer meeting at our church here just a few nights ago.

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It was a healing service.

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And the thing I saw with that, that Jesus actually talks about here, the scribe said

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to Jesus, this man is blaspheming.

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But Jesus, knowing their thoughts said, what do you think evil in your, or why do you think

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evil in your hearts?

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For which is easier to say your sins are forgiven or to say, rise and walk, but that you may

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not know that the son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins.

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He said to the paralytic, rise, pick up your bed and go home.

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So what I found really interesting and really amazing at this, at this healing prayer night

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that we had here at our church was we were up there and we were able to pray for people's

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ailments.

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We were able to pray for their broken hearts, we were able to pray for whatever prayer requests

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that they brought.

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But the one thing we could not do as a kingdom ministry team was to be able to look at them

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and to be able to look at the unbelievers and say, Hey, your sins are forgiven.

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So here's the amazing thing with Jesus.

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Jesus is calling us in to pray for the sick.

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He's calling, calling us in to pray for, for the brokenhearted.

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He's calling us in to pray for healing and pray for freedom for the captives.

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But it is only Jesus who can heal, uh, who can heal the wounds of sin.

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It is only Jesus who can forgive sin.

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And it is only Jesus who can make the sinner saved.

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And so whatever person you're talking to, maybe whatever family or friends you're preaching

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the gospel to.

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And if you're getting frustrated, like, man, I am preaching time and time again, and they

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just don't seem to get it.

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The weight is lifted off that there is no pressure on you because Jesus says, Hey, I

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am the one who can forgive sins.

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I'm asking you just to be that friend, to bring them to me.

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I'm asking you to be that friend, to continue interceding for their, for their life and

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for their soul.

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I'm asking you to be that friend, to be able to intercede.

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and lift them up and bring them to my feet and I will heal them not only of

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their ailments or their sickness or their heartache but I will also forgive

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them of their sins well my heart and my prayer is that you were blessed by this

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thank you so much for joining us and we'll see you next time for Matthew

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chapter 9 part 2