Good Morning Family!
It's so good to have all of you back with us today..
Heavenly Father,
Awaken us O Lord, enlighten our understanding, purify our every desire, quicken our wills, and strengthen every right purpose. Direct this time of worship to the magnifying of Your name, and to the enduring good of us Your children. Enliven our devotion that we may serve You in spirit and in truth, and build in us, a solid foundation four our work in the days ahead.
In Jesus' Name
Amen
"And again He entered Capernaum after some days, and it was heard that He was in the house. Immediately many gathered together, so that there was no longer room to receive them, not even near the door. And He preached the word to them. Then they came to Him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men. And
when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered
the roof where He was. So when they had broken through, they let down
the bed on which the paralytic was lying.
When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven you."
Mark 2:1-5
In Creating Your Personal Breakthrough Part One, we talked about Jesus
being in a crowded house in Capernaum with so many people listening to
him that you could not even get in the door.
There was a paralytic man
who could not walk on his own and four of his friends carried him to the
house, they tore off a portion of the roof and they got him in where
Jesus was.
The four men realized that for the man to
get his healing, that he needed to be more than just in the vicinity of
Jesus, so they took him up close. Many are content to just be in the
vicinity, but we must desire to get up close to where the Master does
His work.
Getting up close has its challenges with
so much in our lives pulling for us constantly, but it is possible. Where there is a determination to be close to Jesus, it will become
reality because He honors and takes notice when we get serious about
living for God!
Tearing off the shingles of
self-satisfaction and the tar paper of turmoil and the decking for
deliverance and the attic for accomplishment is all part of the
process. Finally you get down to a sheet rock ceiling: that is with
our modern roof systems. Back then they had thatch roofs. We all must
press through self-preservation, realizing that being internally healthy
is more important than just looking good on the outside. This guy was
far beyond all of that.
“they uncovered the roof where he was: and when they had broken it up, they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay."
Mark 2:4
I want us to notice some interesting things about this: the four
friends who were doing the work for this paralyzed man had their faith
involved. It is impossible to be a blessing without a blessing also
splashing over on you as well. It is impossible to build up somebody’s
faith without it also building up your own!
I can
imagine what the faces of these four men must have looked like when
their eyes met Jesus as they peered down through the roof! It was at
that point that He saw their faith!
Understanding
what was happening, we can say that if this man had just remained out in
the front, far away from Jesus, with Jesus being inside in the crowded
house, that He couldn’t see that man or his need. We must remember that
God purposely limited himself of knowledge and ability when He robed
himself in the flesh. He had to do it to become the spotless Lamb!
This man’s need was out of sight, and unless he got some help from
somebody, he was to remain helpless. Unless God chose to act upon his
all-knowing ability, Jesus wasn’t going to go out in the front yard.
Is it not still true today that the Lord requires some action of us to
get our blessing? Even if that action is as small as requiring us to call upon Him for help. The
Lord honors our effort to please Him! If you need help, ask, beg, seek, and
knock, but by all means, please don’t settle for your situation because
God has something better in store for you!
He has a miracle in store!
Say that with me,
He Has A Miracle in Store!
When these men go to great lengths to drop this man down in front of
Jesus by rope, he says, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.”
This may not seem like the right thing to say because this man needs a
physical healing. If there is a sin issue, you can’t tell just by
looking at him in the natural.
To those present, his need was physical in nature.
Why didn’t Jesus start there as He often did in the past?
We begin to learn the answer in verse six:
"And some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts."
Mark 2:6
The scribes were those who wrote down the scripture. They were
extremely meticulous men who were charged with the task of faithfully
transcribing the word of God. They were so respectful of it that they
wouldn’t even spell, “God.”
They wouldn’t even write
the name of God. They would write YHVH in its Hebrew form.
This later
was translated into JHVH in its Hebrew form and they added vowels
between consonants to make a word you could pronounce which became
Jehovah.
These were religious men but they were dedicated to their task, and there they were in Jesus meeting.
Where were they reasoning?
They were reasoning in their hearts, which tells us that it was not
even verbalized, and that people could not hear what they were
thinking.
" 'Why does this Man speak blasphemies like this? Who can forgive sins but God alone?'
But immediately, when Jesus perceived in His spirit that they reasoned thus within themselves, He said to them, 'Why do you reason about these things in your hearts?' "
Mark 2:7-8
A study of the gifts of the Spirit is very interesting. God has
given us the supernatural ability to move in realms that man alone could
never take us.
We can’t know people the way we
really need just simply according to the outward and surface stuff we
see. If that were the case then Actors and musical stars would all be
saved according to their charm and good looks, but we know that is not
the case.
I would rather be temporarily lonely than eternally lost!
We must become discerning people, people who cane discern by the Spirit of the Lord.
If you really want to know what people are reasoning in their hearts, then perceive by the Spirit!
Now Jesus is going to ask the scribes a question as well as make a
statement, along with positive proof all to build their faith in God:
"Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise, take up your bed and walk’?"
Mark 2:9
What is the answer to this question?
Why did Jesus ask the question?
We must understand that on the cross when He paid for our salvation, He
not only paid the price for our soul’s eternal salvation, but also for
our physical healing and spiritual health and wealth on this earth until
we get to Glory!
The crucifixion of Jesus and the ransom He paid
and what you get with your breakthrough is not a situation where you
have to choose between either the well-being of your body or the health
of your soul. Jesus paid the price for the health of both, and we all
can have both! Are you living in the total health that God has
provided?
We must recognize that Jesus did something here that we
cannot do: Jesus forgave this man’s sin. We cannot forgive like God
can. You see, by forgiving sin, Jesus was claiming deity! The scribes
and Pharisees were smart enough to know this.
We cannot forgive sin, but we can forgive on another.
This is vital!
" 'I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.' 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 2:11-12
They weren’t talking about New York fashion, either! They were
talking about the fashion or the way in which the Lord did this! It was
glorious and marvelous.
This is what comes with our breakthrough. Everybody there got to see this guys miracle.
It caused amazement, which needs to translate into a journey of seeking God.
And it also caused the real reason: They glorified God.
They had never seen anything like this before!
God has a miracle for you, and the results of that personal miracle are
going to bless you, your family, and others you want to see come to
God.
They said, “We never saw it on this fashion!
In closing....
One of the things a breakthrough does is that it removes blindness and
allows you to see like you have never seen before!
When we really begin to understand the light of His glory, His
magnificence and knowledge, and wonder it is a humbling experience.
The wrong thing for us to do is to get "puffed up" in ourselves.
We need to understand that God wants to do some things for us and break
us through to a place where our testimony can be,
“I never saw like
this before!”
If it was so dark in here that I could
not see, more than likely I would trip over some things. That would not mean that something is wrong with me, but
that I simply could not see. When God enables us to see as we've never seen before, it's not us, it's a gift from Him!
We all need to see better than we have been seeing in the realm of the supernatural.
We cannot ever decide just who it is that Jesus will save, deliver, and
touch.
We must come to the realization that witnessing is much more
that just something we do.
We must go beyond that. We must be witnesses.
I pray that the Lord will grant a personal breakthrough for every one
of you here today.
When we understand the fact that Jesus Christ, is the
Great I AM, in how He relates to us personally, it makes all the
difference!
Before David became king of Judah and
Israel, he was in a great battle. David cried out to the Lord, and the
Lord answered him. God gave David a breakthrough that blessed him for
the rest of his life, and David even messed up royally, but God’s
mercies and blessings were still with him in many ways.
You can‘t go
wrong pursuing your personal breakthrough!
I want to encourage you
today:
Don’t make the Lord do it all because He is not going to do
it all, and if you wait until God does it all, you will be waiting a
long, long time!
"But He gives more grace. Therefore He says:
But gives grace to the humble.”
Humility Cures Worldliness
Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up."
James 4:6-10
And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen
Brian Monzon Ministries