You see, we have been so deceived by this Western ideology
of individualistic thinking.
We have been so fooled into thinking
that we don't need fellowship with other believers,
that we don't need the church.
You see, it is the spirit-filled body of believers
that will rally around you,
that will have the faith you don't have
to bring you to the feet of Jesus.
Hey, today we're gonna be looking at Matthew 9, part one.
For this episode, I'm going to read verses one through seven,
and then my goal is to give the historical context
of what's happening in the scriptures,
what's happening in the narrative at this time,
and then from that, bring out the relevancy
that still holds true for us as Christ followers today.
Starting in verse one, it says this.
And getting into a boat, he crossed over
and came to his own city.
And behold, some people brought to him a paralytic,
lying on a bed, and Jesus saw their faith.
And he said to the paralytic,
take heart, my son, your sins are forgiven.
And behold, some of the scribes said to themselves,
this man is blaspheming.
But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said,
why do you think evil in your hearts?
For which is easier to say your sins are forgiven,
or to say rise and walk?
But that you may know that the Son of God
has authority on the earth to forgive sins.
He then said to the paralytic,
rise, pick up your bed, and go home.
And he rose and he went home.
Jesus is coming into his hometown,
after being baptized by John,
after fasting in the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights,
after having a spiritual battle with the devil,
and after calling his first disciples,
Peter, Andrew, James, and John,
to preaching one of the most profound sermons
ever preached on this earth, on the side of a mountain.
And then going from town to town, performing miracles,
healing the sick, touching the leper.
Jesus is now home, back home,
and everything that we just read up to now,
all these miracles, all these amazing things,
all these profound statements,
is just Matthew one through eight.
And so now we're here in Matthew nine,
and Jesus returns home,
and the first thing that happens when he gets home
is that some people bring him a man who is paralyzed.
The crazy thing is this paralyzed man
shows up two other times in scripture.
We actually see him mentioned in Mark and in Luke,
both with the same account on this paralyzed man,
being lowered through the roof to the feet of Jesus.
Many historians believe that this is the very same account
here in Matthew chapter nine.
So when this paralyzed man is brought to Jesus
by his friends, let me reread Jesus' response in verse two.
Jesus actually says this.
It says, and when Jesus saw their faith,
he said to the paralytic,
take heart my son, your sins are forgiven.
Jesus saw their faith.
Not when Jesus saw the paralytic's faith,
not this man's faith.
No, it says when Jesus saw their faith.
What we are seeing here is the importance of the believer,
the importance of the Christian for having community
and having fellowship with other believers.
You see, we have been so deceived
by this Western ideology of individualistic thinking.
We have been so fooled into thinking
that we don't need fellowship with other believers,
that we don't need the church.
You see, it is the spirit filled body of believers
that will rally around you,
that will have the faith you don't have
to bring you to the feet of Jesus.
Sometimes there are seasons in our life that are so hard
and that it causes our faith to be immobile,
that it causes our faith to be paralyzed.
And what I got from this, when I was reading it,
when I was studying it,
I thought the Lord was telling me,
Marcus, there are seasons in your life.
There have been seasons in your life
when it was a hardship in your family,
when it was mourning, when it was lost,
when it was grief, whatever it is, Marcus,
there have been seasons in your life
when your faith was unable to move.
And it's not because you had a lack of faith in me,
but it's because you had a lack of faith in the moment.
But God really showed me in this season, in this time,
it is important to have friends around you who love Jesus,
who love the Lord and love you,
to be able to say,
we're not gonna leave you here paralyzed in your faith.
We are going to walk with you
and pick you up if we have to
and take you to the feet of Jesus.
We are going to intercede for you.
We are going to believe,
even though you don't have the faith right now to believe,
we will believe for you and we will intercede for you
until Jesus brings forth healing,
until Jesus brings forth answer.
You see, we need to be surrounded by people
whose first reaction is to bring you to the feet of Jesus.
And if obstacles are in their way,
they will be persistent enough to get you
to be with Jesus face to face, no matter what.
Just like we see in Luke and Mark,
these men took this paralytic man to the roof.
They moved away the roof.
They moved away the foundation of the roof
to be able to lower him down to the feet of Jesus.
We need to be surrounded by people
who are willing to say,
no, obstacles aren't gonna get in my way.
Seasons aren't gonna get in my way.
Speed bumps and roadblocks are not gonna get in my way.
way, you are going to Jesus one way or another, and not in the way of a threat, but more in
the way of a promise.
You see, it is the spirit-filled body of believers that will have the faith you don't have to
bring you to the feet of Jesus.
These believers around you are there to encourage you, they're there to lift you up, and they're
there to intercede for you.
Can I be real for one second?
If you are not an encouragement to a fellow believer, then you are what verse 3 calls
a scribe, or a Pharisee in some translations.
You are of no benefit to the body if you are not an encouragement to the body.
And I know that sounds really harsh, and I know that sounds really mean.
You might be like, Marcus, you're saying I don't have a worth, and I'm not a benefit
to this body?
Well, I'm not saying those words.
That's actually what the entire gospel is about.
It's about rallying together, coming together one to another.
In Hebrews, it actually talks about the importance of coming together as a body.
I heard a pastor recently say this.
He says, I hear people say that they love Jesus with their mouths, yet they hate his
body.
How can you love Jesus but hate his body?
You see, neglect is a form of hate.
We as disciples are called into community with other believers.
There is no such thing as a lone wolf in the kingdom of God.
They say ignorance is bliss.
That cannot be further from the truth.
Ignorance is a fool's map that leads to dangerous waters.
You see, I challenge you to look around and see if you have a group of believers who will
move past the crowd and move past the obstacles to get you in front of Christ.
Look around and see if you are being that for someone else.
And if you don't know where to start, find a church.
Find a small group.
Ask around.
Find a group of friends and say, hey, can we pray together?
Can we get together and lift one another up?
Hebrews 10, 24-25 says this, and let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good
works, not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some, but encouraging one
another in all the more as you see in the day drawing near.
The second thing we see as we're reading this is we actually see Jesus and the way
he works miracles.
You see, a lot of times in a lot of places when we pray for God to heal us, when we pray
for God to move in our lives, we're expecting God to do it right then and there instantaneously.
But as I've read this book, as I've read this Bible, the one thing I see that Jesus does
before he heals is he gives a command.
What he says here to the paralytic man is he says this.
He says, rise, pick up your bed and go home.
See, he didn't tell the man, hey, right now you're healed.
No, he says, hey, rise, stand up, stand up where you're at right now and pick up your
bed and then go home.
And then it says, and he rose and went home.
Look, so whatever you're praying for, for healing right now, whatever you're praying
for for breakthrough right now, the only way to get that is to be able to listen to God
and to be able to see what the command he's giving you is.
Is it rise, pick up your bed and go?
Is it keep praying, keep pressing in, keep confessing?
The more you read through the gospels, the more you'll understand and the more you'll
see that Jesus at the answer of every single prayer, at the answer of every single cry,
when he says yes, it's yes with a command.
See, I think it was really cool.
We were at a prayer meeting at our church here just a few nights ago.
It was a healing service.
And the thing I saw with that, that Jesus actually talks about here, the scribe said
to Jesus, this man is blaspheming.
But Jesus, knowing their thoughts said, what do you think evil in your, or why do you think
evil in your hearts?
For which is easier to say your sins are forgiven or to say, rise and walk, but that you may
not know that the son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins.
He said to the paralytic, rise, pick up your bed and go home.
So what I found really interesting and really amazing at this, at this healing prayer night
that we had here at our church was we were up there and we were able to pray for people's
ailments.
We were able to pray for their broken hearts, we were able to pray for whatever prayer requests
that they brought.
But the one thing we could not do as a kingdom ministry team was to be able to look at them
and to be able to look at the unbelievers and say, Hey, your sins are forgiven.
So here's the amazing thing with Jesus.
Jesus is calling us in to pray for the sick.
He's calling, calling us in to pray for, for the brokenhearted.
He's calling us in to pray for healing and pray for freedom for the captives.
But it is only Jesus who can heal, uh, who can heal the wounds of sin.
It is only Jesus who can forgive sin.
And it is only Jesus who can make the sinner saved.
And so whatever person you're talking to, maybe whatever family or friends you're preaching
the gospel to.
And if you're getting frustrated, like, man, I am preaching time and time again, and they
just don't seem to get it.
The weight is lifted off that there is no pressure on you because Jesus says, Hey, I
am the one who can forgive sins.
I'm asking you just to be that friend, to bring them to me.
I'm asking you to be that friend, to continue interceding for their, for their life and
for their soul.
I'm asking you to be that friend, to be able to intercede.
and lift them up and bring them to my feet and I will heal them not only of
their ailments or their sickness or their heartache but I will also forgive
them of their sins well my heart and my prayer is that you were blessed by this
thank you so much for joining us and we'll see you next time for Matthew
chapter 9 part 2