Dear Father in Heaven: I love You. Please, Lord, forgive me of my sins, and help me keep walking with You in all I do. Thanks for saving me, dear Lord. Please be with Maura and Noah. Also be with Dan and keep him away from booze. Lord, please open the heart blockage in Barb Paules. Lord, be with Pastor Larry and Luella in the home-going of her earthly father. Thank You for his time here on earth. Please be with Elaine T. and help her through her upcoming back surgery, and also, Lord, please heal her of MS. Thank You, dear Lord, for all You do watching over this line and all our family members and friends and those who belong to our assigned flock. Please, now, Lord, help me with the message and then help me to get it dispatched. In Jesus' Name, I pray. Amen.
Happy Sunday, brothers and sisters. For a long time, I did not write on Sunday, I was preaching and teaching. Well, I am still a pastor, and I need to be working for our Lord and I must get back to doing that more regularly and stop giving in to pain. So brothers and sisters, please, along with the others we are praying for, please pray for Dolores and also for me. I want to get back to a few more messages on Building Our Faith. So let me get started.
Sunday: October 5, 2014: Building Our Faith (Day Two)
Mark 2:1 - A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that He had come home. 2 So many gathered that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and He preached the Word to them. 3 Some men came, bringing to Him a paralytic carried by four of them. 4 Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus and, after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on. 5 When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven." 6 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?" 8 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? 9 Which is easier; to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up, take your mat and walk?' 10 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sin ..." He said to the paralytic, 11 "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!" (NIV)
Our Lord pointed me to this scripture today, and I can see why. I am thinking, would I have enough faith to go up on a roof (I am afraid of heights) and then dig through the roof, and lower someone down at the feet of Jesus to be saved? In the scripture we see the paralytic being brought in by at least four men who were carrying his mat, there might have been even more. So the four and the paralytic means at least five had great faith in our Lord Jesus to heal the one who could not walk.
Now when we talk about being healed, what is that we want to be healed from? Might it be pain like Dolores and I have, or might it be the back of Dolores, straightened, or my knees healed? (I wish I could say that I wore out my knees by praying, but I can't say that!) I was healed of cancer, what is it that you would want healed first? Healed before anything else? Let's go back up in the scripture and see what Jesus healed first.
Jesus said: "Son, your sins are forgiven." The very first thing Jesus did was forgive the man of his sins, and then He told him to pick up his mat and leave. I still have faith Jesus will heal my knees or at least take away enough pain that I do not need to go to the doctors to have my knees replaced. When Jesus decides to heal my knees, they will be healed, and until then I will keep praying about it and for Him to give me more strength to carry the pain. I am sure of this, He has forgiven me of my sins, and if I would just not sin again, maybe Jesus would then have the faith in me and heal me. Yes, I think Jesus needs to see my faith in Him so that He might build up His faith in me. I cannot read the mind of Jesus, but how often have we here on earth been friends with someone only to then do them dirt? You don't need to say anything, but I know it happens. Jesus died for me, and you also, and I know that I walked away from Him before, yes, as you all know I was a lost son, but I am back, and I am not going to let pain make me ever walk away again (it was not the cause the first time). But I confess I might do a better job at walking that line without sinning.
So today I ask myself, do I have the faith needed to be healed? Would I have the faith of the paralytic? I am for sure going to be working more on my faith. I pray as I write on Building Our Faith that you would all take a look at your faith in Jesus and maybe increase it a tad or two.
Now go forth and share your blessings and maybe a tad of your faith. Love ya. Please pass on my love.
Pastor Dan
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