Mark 2:1-12 - What should we do with the mat?

Good morning, church family.

My name is Ryan Mata, and I'm the director of youth ministries here at the Village Chapel.

I'm excited to be with you guys this Sunday morning.

We studied through books of the Bible here at the Village Chapel, and I'm so sorry to say that this Sunday it's going to look a little bit different.

We're actually going to be in Mark chapter 2.

Mark 2 · chapter mention

So if you want to go ahead and start flipping there in your Bibles or scrolling your devices, that would be great.

Now, before we jump into the text today, it's come to my attention that on Sunday, June 20th, so about a week ago, it was my official two-year anniversary here working at the Village Chapel.

And I just wanted to start off by saying thank you.

Thank you to all of you who call TVC your home, who have made me and my wife Emily felt so loved in the past two years.

This was my first job out of college, my first time in full-time ministry, and y'all have shown me so much love and patience and kindness and celebrated victories and more and losses with me.

And so I just wanted to start off by saying thank you for making the past two years so enjoyable, and I cannot wait to continue on in ministry alongside of you for the next few years to come.

Now, this is my first time speaking in a setting like this.

I've gotten the opportunity to speak in front of a couple hundred students before, but never in front of a couple hundred adults, let alone over video.

And so, what I wanted to do to start our time is to kind of even the playing field and to make you all feel as awkward as I feel right now.

So, what I want you to do is for all of you, yes, you at home, go ahead and close your eyes for me.

I want you all to close your eyes.

And I want us all to relive a moment today.

I want us all to relive our most embarrassing moment today.

What is that most embarrassing moment for you?

For some of you, there is a moment that immediately pops into your head, and for some of you, you're just trying to rank the moments because there have just been too many embarrassing moments to count.

But I want us to all relive our most embarrassing moment.

And I have a few questions to ask you, once again, eyes still shut, to make sure that we all do revisit and relive this moment.

So, first question: Who was there?

Was there a lot of people around you?

Was there only a few people around you?

Were you alone?

Who was there when this embarrassing thing happened to you?

What made it so embarrassing?

Did something happen to you?

Did you accidentally do something to somebody else?

What made the moment so embarrassing?

What happened right before the event that led to it?

Was this uh an event that was triggered by something, or was it just dumb luck?

What happened right before the embarrassing moment?

Next question: what happened afterwards?

What was the aftermath of it?

Did people talk about it for only a few days?

Did people talk about it for weeks, months, years?

Maybe some people are still talking about this moment, uh, this embarrassing moment with you.

So uh now y'all can go ahead and reopen your eyes.

For some of you, I'm sure you're in your living room laughing right now, and others, I'm sure it just ripped off a wound that you've been trying to avoid for the last 10 to 15 years, and I'm so sorry that I did that.

But to make you all feel better, what I want to do this morning is share with you my most embarrassing story.

So, like I said, you all can feel better, and also I think it will help you get to know me just a little bit better.

So, when I was in eighth grade, which is the most classic time to experience an embarrassing moment, uh, the most important event was coming up in my middle school.

And that event was the winter formal dance.

Now, why the winter formal dance was so important is because this is the moment where the girl you liked went from simply being your crush to being your girlfriend, right?

This was the moment in which we got to make things official.

So there was a girl that I had set my affections toward for the entire year, and I decided that this was going to be the moment, this dance was going to be the thing that moved our relationship to the next level, the beginning of our beautiful love story together.

And I was thinking about all the extravagant ways that I could ask her, right?

Typical ways to ask people to a dance, but I thought I was just gonna keep it simple, keep it light, act like I've been there before.

But sadly, in eighth grade, I didn't talk to that many girls, anyways.

But regardless, I wanted to act like I had been there before.

So the plan was to casually bump into her in between sixth and seventh period and simply ask her in the hallway, will you go to the winter formal dance with me?

It seemed simple, it seemed easy.

So the moment finally came and I saw her and I made my move towards her and I strided alongside of her and went to say hi, but something weird happened.

When I went to say hi, my mouth moved, but nothing audibly came out.

And maybe you can relate to me, maybe you've experienced this before, because I was so nervous.

My hands were shaking, my awkward little eighth-grade hands were clammy, and so I was uh not off to a great start, right?

So I'm walking awkwardly close to her, and yet we're not having a conversation, right?

I tried uh but I failed, and so what I did was I took a second to regroup myself.

She's still looking ahead, she doesn't even know I'm there.

And so um I take a second to regroup, regain some regain some of the confidence that I had left, and then I went back in and I said hi, and I actually said something this time, and she says hi back.

And great, the conversation has started, and then I went in for the question.

I went in to ask, will you go to the winter formal dance with me?

But at the beginning of the question, something happened that changed the trajectory of our love story forever.

You see, in the midst of trying to build up all of the confidence to ask her this question, I had completely forgotten and lost where I was in the school.

And so before I could get the first syllable of the question and the invitation out, I had barreled down 10 to 12 steps in front of me that I did not see.

Like it, like I said, this is not just two to three steps awkwardly trip down them.

This is 10 to 12, I'm pretty sure my head hit every single step on the way down.

And there I was at the bottom of the steps with a bloody nose, literally laying in a pool of my own blood.

But TVC, this is not even the worst part yet.

You see, when the girl is walking down the steps, she barely breaks stride, steps over me, and continues to walk to seventh period.

Doesn't ask me if I'm okay, doesn't ask me if she needs to call a nurse, doesn't do any of that.

She just pretends as if I don't exist, and all I was was a short little stumbling block on the way to seventh period.

Right?

And that for me is by far the most embarrassing story of my life.

So, why tell you this?

Why am I talking about my most embarrassing story here on this Sunday morning?

When I tell you, when I tell this story now in my life, I often do it laughing, right?

Because when I look back, it's a super funny story.

However, if I could go back in time and interview young eighth grade Ryan, I think the last word that he would use to describe that moment in his life would be the word funny.

Because in fact, it would take three and a half years for me to share that story with friends and family.

Because though it's funny now, that story caused a lot of insecurity in my life.

Because here is something interesting that I think we all tend to do from time to time.

Um when there is distance between us and a major event in our life, we tend to forget how we actually felt in the moment.

You see, distance from a moment or story often creates an inability to feel what we or the storyteller must have been feeling in the actual moment.

And my fear for us as a church is when we read an actual historical event that took place over 2,000 years ago, that the distance between us and them would create an inability to experience, to empathize, to comprehend with what the characters in the story are feeling.

That because we're reading a 2,000-year-old text and a 2,000-year-old story, that the distance between us and them would cause us the inability to feel what they must have been experiencing.

And I believe that if we lose the ability to feel, empathize, understand, and comprehend what the people in the Bible would have been feeling in the stories that we're gonna be reading, that we will lose power in what the story is meant to show us.

So, my goal for us today is that when we read this text out of Mark chapter 2, we would all feel the weight and we would all understand all that is going on in the story and what the characters would have been feeling when these things happen.

Mark 2 · chapter mention

But before we jump into the text, y'all allow me to pray really quickly for our time.

Dear Jesus, I thank you for this day, and God, I thank you for the opportunity you've given me this Sunday morning, God, to teach the word.

Um, Lord, I pray that as we read a story that happened over 2,000 years ago, that God, the distance between us and them would not cause us an inability to feel what they are feeling, but that we that we may fully understand all that's going on.

Spirit, I pray that you would help me.

God, help me to teach clearly and effectively, make the word clear and plain to us.

But God, we need you, and I pray that you're with us in this time.

In Jesus' name I pray.

Amen.

Now, before we jump into the text, I always think I always think it's important to talk about the context of the story.

So, um, in Mark chapter one, here is all that happened.

Jesus has just begun his public earthly ministry, and he has called a few of the disciples, not all of them, but a few of the disciples, to follow him.

And then he begins to perform miracles all throughout the land, and he's and he begins to gain notoriety because of it.

So far, he has driven out an evil spirit who yells at him in the temple, he has healed an entire village of people, casual, and he has healed a man with leprosy simply by touching him, and the disease immediately left his body.

So, because of this notoriety, there are crowds of people following Jesus wherever he goes, because all they can think about is what is he going to do and say next.

Where Jesus is, there is a curiosity amongst the crowds because they want to know what he's going to do next.

And it's there that we're going to pick up the story.

So join me in reading Mark chapter 2, and we're going to read verses 1 through 4 together and pause there.

Mark 2 · chapter mention

Few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home.

So many gathered that there was no room left, not even outside the door.

And he preached the word to them.

Some men came bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four of them.

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.

Okay, so Jesus has just entered Capernaum again, and this is the town in which he has just healed a lot of people from diseases.

And so naturally, where he is, there is a large crowd of people.

And the key detail that the text lets us in on is that the place is so packed that there is no room for anybody to get in.

It's that full.

Not even one person can fit in.

And so the first two ver verses focus on the magnitude of the crowd, but then the camera lens shifts to five people.

Specifically, four friends on a mission to get their paralyzed friend to the feet of Jesus.

Um, clearly, these guys have heard about the healing power of Jesus.

They have heard about the ways in which Jesus has been healing people all throughout the land.

And so they believe, these four friends believe that if they get their paralytic friend to the feet of Jesus, like the leper, like those with diseases, that he too can be healed of his affliction.

And so they are on a mission to get their friend to Jesus.

Now, for this man to have been healed, the paralytic, it would have changed his entire life.

And I don't just mean physical, though, though that is a huge part of it.

Because for this man, he has most likely been told his whole life that the reason he is paralyzed is because God hates him.

Either he sinned or somebody in his family sinned, and God is cursing him because of the sins of either himself or his family.

And so, first and foremost, he would have been told, God does not love you.

Secondly, he would have been a social outcast and never had an opportunity to make a living.

So, therefore, if he needed to make money, which we all need to live, he would have had to have been a beggar, right?

Laying on the side of the street asking people to give their hard-earned money to him.

And so, to be healed would not just give him his body back, it would give him his entire livelihood back.

And so he gets this, and the four friends understand that there is a lot on the line.

However, they quickly run into a problem with their plan, do they not?

Because the place is completely packed with people.

In fact, there's not enough room for one person to get in the building, let alone four friends carrying their one paralyzed friend on the mat.

And so here's my question to you who is watching this today.

If you were one of the four friends carrying a corner of the mat, and you were you were on a mission to get your friend, your paralyzed friend, to the feet of Jesus, what would you have done the moment that you that you realized that you could not get him into the same building as Jesus?

I know for me, a few options come to my head of what I would have said.

I probably would have voted to just wait a couple hours for the crowds to leave.

Hey guys, let's just go, we'll set him over here, we'll all hang out.

Because at some point, these people need to leave, they need to go home and eat dinner, they need to go home and sleep.

And so I probably would have just waited out the crowd.

Another alternative is maybe they could have just started asking some people in the back to make room because it's awesome listening to Jesus, but man, don't you want to see Jesus perform a miracle?

And so maybe trying to ask some members of the crowd to let us in, or maybe even deciding that you know what, Jesus is probably gonna come back on another day.

And so that would probably be a better and more opportune time to do it.

So let's just wait a few days and we'll get him the next time he comes into town.

That's probably what I would have said.

But these four friends, they don't say that.

In fact, these four friends decide as a group to go up to the roof, break a hole in it, right over where Jesus is standing, and then lower their friend through the hole in the roof.

To be a fly on the wall of that conversation when one friend says, Hey, you know what we could do?

We could go to the roof, break a hole in it, lower our friend through.

And I love that the other three friends went, okay, let's do it, right?

And so this is the plan that they go with.

But here's something that I want us to understand and I want us to see.

Can you sense the urgency amongst these four friends?

Can you sense the urgency amongst these four friends?

Can you sense the determination amongst these four friends?

Because they all understand together that their friend can wait no longer.

It is time for him to get to the feet of Jesus right now, and they're not gonna take no for an answer.

Let us all feel the urgency of the four friends.

And so now what I want to do is read verses five through twelve and see how Jesus and the crowds respond to what the friends have just done.

So, starting in verse five, I'm gonna read all the way through verse twelve.

When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, Son, your sins are forgiven.

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?

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?

Which is easier to say to the paralytic, Your sins are forgiven, or to say, Get up, take your mat, and walk, but that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.

He said to the paralytic, 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.

And so, seven verses, but a lot to unpack.

And here is the first thing I want us all to notice together.

I want to point out that in this text, Jesus notices the faith of the friends, and it never makes any mention of Jesus noticing the faith of the paralytic.

So Jesus notices the faith of the friends, not the paralytic.

And I don't know about you, but this reminds me of when Abraham was pleading on behalf of Lot, right?

We just read that story a few weeks ago.

It is God who recognizes and answers the prayer of Abraham, and it is in an it has nothing to do with Lot.

That God rescues Lot, not because of Lot's faith, but because of Abraham's faith, but because of Abraham's prayers.

And so Jesus looks at the faith of the friends, and then he fixes his attention to the friend, the paralyzed friend, lying on the mat.

And y'all, what Jesus does next is absolutely shocking.

Because Jesus looks at the man lying on the mat and he says, Son, your sins are forgiven.

What he says next is shocking, and it's shocking for two reasons.

One, the order in which Jesus does things is shocking.

Jesus addresses this man's most urgent need, but it's most likely not the need, his friend's thought was most urgent.

I want you to think about the perspective of the four friends who are now looking through the hole in the roof, seeing how Jesus is going to respond to their friend lying in front of him.

And when Jesus looks at the friend, he says, Son, your sins are forgiven.

And I just imagine being one of the friends, kind of maybe whispering through the roof, No, no, no, Jesus, that's great, but it's his legs, right?

No, no, no, Jesus, we didn't bring him here because of his sin.

We brought him here because we wanted you to heal his body.

Right?

Imagine this.

So in high school, um, there was one day where I was riding a dune buggy with my brother, and um I was going pretty fast down the driveway, and I went to make a really sharp turn.

And once I made the sharp turn, we hit a divot, and the Dune buggy began to bear a roll.

Now, in that time frame, my brother's arm had slipped out of the dune buggy and it had broke.

So my brother is now at the end of us rolling.

He has a broken arm.

He knows it.

I know it, I know it.

So he gets out of the Dune buggy and he runs down back home, and my parents pick him up and they quickly take him to the hospital, right?

And they take him to the hospital, to the ER, because they need they need to know does he need surgery?

Because it looked pretty bad.

And so let's say they bring him in front of the doctor, right?

And he's clearly there because his arm is broken.

And the doctor looks at my brother and he says, Dylan, your sins are forgiven.

While his arm is just kind of dangling in front of him.

My parents would say, Okay, Doc, that's great, but we didn't bring him here for that.

We brought him here because of his arm, right?

And so what Jesus does is he addresses a need that maybe even the paralytic doesn't even know he has.

You see, Jesus addressing this man's spiritual paralysis before his physical paralysis shows us that sin is far more serious and urgent than we thought.

When Jesus looks at him, he addresses his eternal condition before ever addressing his physical condition.

And let this be a wake-up call to us as a church to just how serious and urgently Jesus takes our sin.

Because when Jesus looks at the man, he doesn't see his biggest problem being that he's paralyzed, he sees his biggest problem as his sin.

Let us understand just how serious our sin is.

So it's shocking because of the order in which Jesus does things.

But the second reason why this would have been shocking is because forgiving someone of their sins is only something God can do.

And so when Jesus makes this claim, what he is really saying is that he is God in the flesh.

Allow me to read verses 6 and 7 again for you, really quickly.

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?

And so this is why the Pharisees respond the way they do.

Because can you imagine a first century Jewish man born in a local town near you claiming that he has the power to forgive sins because he is both fully God and fully man?

This would have been shocking to the crowd.

This would have been shocking to the audience, right?

Jesus claiming that he can forgive sins is him saying publicly, he is God, because only God alone can forgive sins.

And then it says that Jesus can feel in his spirit what the Pharisees are thinking, and he call and he confronts them and calls them out in front of the whole crowd, and he says this question to them What is easier to say?

Your sins are forgiven, or to say you get up, pick up your mat and walk.

So he leaves them with a question, which is what Jesus often does in his confrontations with the Pharisees, stumping them through the form of question.

But Jesus says, What is harder to say?

Your sins are forgiven, or to get up, take your mat, and go home.

Now, this is kind of a trick question because when you are a God and you have authority over all power and all creation, nothing is too hard for you.

Right?

If you created it by speaking, then surely you can fix it and manipulate it however you want to by speaking.

And so, and so Jesus asks this question, but then he looks at the paralytic and he says, I want you to get up, take your mat.

And go home.

And what does the paralytic do?

It says he gets up, takes his mat, and he goes home.

Yo, we have never seen power like this.

This is unlike anything we've ever seen before.

The only person that could do this is the one who spoke creation into existence by merely speaking.

And because God can create all of creation by speaking, surely he can fix it by speaking as well.

This is power like we have never seen before.

And imagine the atmosphere of the room when Jesus does this.

How shocked and in awe everybody must have been when they saw this man who was clearly paralyzed begin to understand that he had feeling, that he had function back in his body.

Imagine the atmosphere and the tension in the room.

But there's something really important that I want to note here.

I want to note the reasons as to why Jesus heals this man.

Because there's three things I want to point out as to why Jesus heals this man, and those three things will be up on the screen.

The first reason why he heals this man is because of the faith of his friends.

Remember, Jesus never says anything about the faith of the paralytic.

But what Jesus does notice is the faith of the friends.

And so Jesus is first and foremost responding to the faith and prayers of the friends.

But the second reason why Jesus heals this man is because he cares about the whole person.

Right?

Jesus has compassion for this man.

We do not serve some dualistic God that only cares about the spiritual and hates the material, but he created the material.

Right?

God has created all of creation and he has made it good.

So not only does God care about your spiritual condition, but your Heavenly Father also cares about your physical being.

He cares about the whole person.

And lastly, the third thing I want to point out is the reason why Jesus heals this man, this is really important.

Catch this, don't miss it.

He heals this man to validate his message about the kingdom of God and his identity.

Listen, y'all, miracles are not meant to be the main point of the ministry of Jesus.

They are to point and to validate the good news of his message about the kingdom of God and his identity as Messiah.

It cannot be the other way around, or else it quickly turns into a form of the prosperity gospel, which listen to me is pure evil.

When we make the miracle, the main point and the message of Jesus secondary, we quickly disrupt the entire message of the gospel in the ministry of Jesus.

The point of miracles were to validate the message.

It was not meant to focus on the miracle itself, but to point to the message of the kingdom of God is near and to affirm that Jesus really is the Son of God.

That the Son of God who can forgive sins can also heal paralytics by merely speaking to them.

And then the story ends by the man picking up his mat and walking out of the room, and it says in full view of everyone, and they all begin to praise and worship God.

What a beautiful scene this is.

But I also want you to imagine, too, the walk home with the five friends.

All of them exciting, probably a lot of dancing, I imagine, a lot of just pure excitement stories about how crazy that was, about how they were able to break a hole in the roof and lower their friend, and this guy just spoke to him and he was able to regain function back in his body.

But not only did he regain function, he was forgiven of his sins.

Imagine what the walk home would have been like.

Okay, so now we're at the end of the verses, and what I have for you are three points.

Three points of application that I think no matter where you are at watching this, not just geographically, but emotionally, there is a place for you in this story that I want us all to relate to.

So the first point that I want to call out is for some of us, it is time to get on the mat and admit that we need help.

Let me say that again.

First point of application.

For some of us, it's time to get on the mat and admit we need help.

Here is the reality of the paralytic man.

He could not get to the feet of Jesus even if he wanted to.

It did not matter if he created the greatest plan on earth to get him and Jesus alone in a room together.

If he doesn't have four friends who are willing to pick him up and take him to Jesus, his plan will not work.

And here is the reality of some of you who are watching this message today.

You came, or maybe you're physically fine, right?

You're watching this and you're not paralyzed like the man in the story.

But maybe, just maybe, you're feeling emotionally and spiritually paralyzed.

Because it has been an unbelievably hard year.

And maybe this year has just felt like hit after hit after hit, and you just feel like your soul is dragging behind you.

And though it seems like the world is going back to normal, your life feels far from normal because it has completely it has been completely flipped upside down because what you have lost over this last year.

Um I just want to share a personal story with you.

So for some of you, you know, I just went to summer camp with 15 students and it was the best week ever.

And the Saturday before we left, uh, so we left last Monday, but this is the Saturday before, um, I was getting ready and prepping to go to camp.

So I was getting all the paperwork done, I was making sure I had everything on the packing list, I was making sure I was emailing people in a timely manner, and I felt really, really, really good about where I was.

I'm a very type B personality, so the fact that I was getting things done and organized and on time was a big thing for me.

And so I felt really excited because I love summer camp, and I was excited to go full steam ahead into it.

And then on Saturday, that night, I received a call.

My mom had shared with me that my grandmother was not doing too well, and in fact, her health was declining at a rather rapid pace.

And so rather than being at church on Sunday morning and resting before I got in the vans to go to camp on Monday, uh at Sunday at 4 a.m.

I had to hop on a flight to Pittsburgh.

And I got to go and I got to see my grandma, and I love my grandma dearly, and I got to be with her, pray over her, and say goodbye.

And I kissed her and I said goodbye, and then that night at 6 p.m.

I hopped on a plane back to Nashville, had a connecting flight.

So I got in around 11 p.m.

Sunday night, and then I went to bed and I got up at 7 a.m.

the next morning and got in a van and went on my way to summer camp with students.

And y'all, I was expecting to sprint into camp, and it turns out that I came in crawling.

Right?

My soul was dragging behind me at the loss of my grandmother.

And it turns out uh that Monday, so the first night of camp, I received the news that she had passed away.

And I came into camp emotionally and spiritually paralyzed.

I felt like I couldn't move.

And by the grace of God, my wife Emily and one of my best friends named Chase was there with me, and I just got to admit to them that I was struggling.

And I got to admit to them where I was at.

And I said, guys, I need you both to pick me up this week.

I need you to help me get to the feet of Jesus because I feel stuck and I feel paralyzed, and thankfully, by the grace of God, they were amazing.

And they they were consistently throughout the week checking in on me, helping me out, making sure that I was getting to the feet of Jesus.

Now, I tell you this story because I know some of you who are watching this right now are struggling deeply with something, and you are trying to get to the feet of Jesus on your own.

And can I just plead with you that no matter how good your plan is and how good your intentions are, if you are trying to get there alone, it's not gonna work out.

In fact, in James chapter 5, verse 16, it says this therefore, confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.

James 5:16

The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

Y'all, do you hear what this verse is saying?

If you want to be healed, you need to confess to your brothers and your sisters what is going on in your life.

There is no way around it.

You want to be healed, you must confess what's going on.

There is no such thing as the Christian Lone Ranger.

We were meant to be in community with one another, sharing each other's burdens.

And so please, TBC, I urge you, do not let pride and self-image get in the way of the practice of admitting that you need help.

If you are struggling and you feel like you are emotionally or spiritually paralyzed, my prayer for you as you hear this message is that you would understand that maybe it's time to get on the mat and admit that you need the help of friends around you.

Second point that I want to bring up, for some of us, it's time to pick up our mats and walk in the power Jesus has on offer for us.

Let me say that again.

For some of us, it's time to pick up our mats and walk in the power Jesus has on offer.

I'm gonna read you a quote by a guy named Paul Tripp out of his devotional New Morning Mercies, and then I will explain a little bit more about what I mean in this point.

There are many people who wait for God to do for them what he has clearly called and empowered them to do.

I've heard many people who were dealing with fractured relationships say to me, I'm just waiting for the Lord to reconcile our relationship.

It sounds spiritual, but it is simply wrong.

If you have something against your brother, if there is conflict between you, the Bible tells you to get up, go, and be reconciled to him.

When it came time for Israel to enter the promised land, God was going to part the waters of the Jordan River, but he commanded the priest to step into it.

God was going to defeat Jericho, but he called his children to walk around it.

God promises to provide, but he calls us to labor, pray, and give.

God alone has the power to save, but he calls us to witness, testify, proclaim, teach, live, and preach.

You see, God not only determines outcomes, but he rules over the means by which those outcomes are realized.

So, there are some of us watching this morning that have been struggling with the same sin in their life for a long time and believe that there is no hope of healing.

That it has been such a struggle for such a long time that maybe you just believe, you know what, this is gonna be the new normal, and I'm just gonna have to get used to it.

But I think we often forget as a church, emphasis on the word often, I think we often forget as a church what is on offer to those who believe in Jesus.

Because in Romans 8, verse 11, it says, The Spirit of God who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you.

Romans 8:11

And just as God raised Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your moral bodies by the same spirit living within you.

Y'all, can we understand what this verse means for us?

The implications?

We have the same power that rose Jesus from the dead living inside of us.

And it is Jesus who gives us the power to overcome sin, but we must learn how to walk and live in that power.

Healing is on offer to you today, right now, as you watch this message.

Now, what I can't promise you is that God will physically heal you.

Though sometimes he will choose to heal physically.

Right?

Part of my dad's testimony is being miraculously healed from cancer.

Right?

That that happens sometimes.

God will act in that way.

But here's what I can promise.

What I can promise is that there is healing on offer for your most urgent need, which is the sin in your life.

Let me repeat that.

What I can promise is that there is healing on offer for your most urgent need, which is sin in your life.

Listen to the good news found in 1 John chapter 1, verse 9.

1 John 1:9

It says this if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

What an offer from God.

Why would we wait to enter into this healing?

Why would we wait to live in the power that Jesus has on offer?

So for some of us, maybe today it is time to get up and start walking in the power, forgiveness, and grace Jesus has on offer for our sin.

So two things so far.

One, for some of us, maybe it's time to lay on the mat and admit we need help.

For some of us, it's time to start living in the power of Jesus and pick up our mat and begin to walk.

But thirdly, for some of us, it's time to pick up a corner of the mat and get our friends to the feet of Jesus.

You see, we teach this all the time in TVC Youth that the gospel is so much bigger than you.

That yes, Jesus came to have a personal relationship with you, but he has also invited you to participate in his restoration of a broken world.

In other words, TVC, God has called you off the bench and told you to get into the game.

The point of the Christian life is not to sit back in our spiritual lazy boy chairs and say, well, Jesus has got this one.

It's true that Jesus will do the work, but he's going to do that work through you.

And so we don't just hang back and sit on the sidelines.

God has invited you to participate in the game.

And I want the culture of TVC to be one where we are committed to bringing our friends and those who have experienced the brokenness of this world constantly back to the feet of Jesus and expecting Jesus to do big things when he encounters them.

So my question to you, whoever's watching this message right now, is what corner of the mat are you picking up?

Let me ask that question again.

What corner of the mat are you picking up?

Because here's the thing is we have tons of ministries in this church that need your help.

Following Jesus is not a spectator sport.

We all have our part to play in some form of ministry, whether that's here in the church or a ministry outside the church.

My question to you is where are you plugging in and getting broken people to the feet of Jesus?

The Great Commission is not just for pastors and ministry leaders.

The Great Commission is an expectation set for all who call themselves followers of Jesus.

We all have a part to play in God restoring his kingdom on this earth.

And so my question to you is what corner of the mat are you picking up this morning?

Now here's the thing, though, I feel they need to warn you.

If you commit to a lifestyle of picking up the corner of the mat and bringing broken people to Jesus, there are some things that I want you to know in advance that you can prepare for and be ready for.

So, first thing that you should expect when you begin to commit to the lifestyle of bringing people to Jesus, one, expect inconveniences along the way and prepare in advance for how you will respond to them.

In the same way that the friends had a mission to get their paralyzed friend to Jesus and there was a bump in the road, we should equally expect bumps in the road.

There will be inconveniences when we bring broken people to Jesus.

Two, ministry is messy.

Be ready to break a hole in a few roofs if it means getting your friends to the feet of Jesus.

In the same way that there is an urgency amongst the four friends, there must be an urgency amongst us as the people of God to get broken people to his feet.

And lastly, the last thing that we should expect when we commit to this lifestyle is we need to be ready to see Jesus do the miraculous.

Because when Jesus interacts with broken people, we should expect miraculous things to happen.

And so, three points.

Where do you find yourself today?

Do you find yourself feeling like you need to get on the mat and admit that you need help?

What is stopping you from confessing?

What is stopping you from reaching out to a friend, maybe a family member, maybe a mentor, even getting counseling, whatever you need.

If you want healing, confession is necessary.

Two, for some of us, it's time to pick up our mats and begin to walk in the power Jesus has on offer.

Y'all, we have a resurrection life inside of us.

He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

There is no sin that Jesus cannot conquer in your life.

And lastly, for some of us, it is time to begin to pick up a corner of the mat and bring broken people to the feet of Jesus.

Now, as I conclude this message, here's the cool thing about all three of these places.

Whether today you need to get on the mat, get up and walk, or pick up a corner of the mat.

What I love is that it's all leading to the same location.

You want to be healed, you need Jesus.

You want power, you need Jesus.

You want to see your friends healed, you need Jesus.

It is all pointing back to him.

TVC, thank you for letting me have this opportunity to teach you this morning.

I'm gonna pray and then I'm gonna hand it over to the band.

Dear Jesus, I thank you so much for this day, and God, I thank you so much for the word.

God, I thank you that you have revealed yourself to us through through the Bible, God, which is something that we can understand.

God, I pray for everybody who is watching this message this morning, God.

That Lord, if they are feeling emotionally and spiritually paralyzed, that they may encounter you.

God, that they may confess their sins, and that they may confess what is going on in their life to those around them so that they may be healed.

But God, I also pray for somebody who is watching this that may be struggling with the same sin for the last five, ten, fifteen years, whatever it may be, God, that maybe they feel like it's hopeless.

Maybe they feel like they're just always going to be weaker than the sin in their life.

But God, what you promise us is we have resurrection power inside of us.

So Lord, I pray today that as you supply the power to overcome sin, that we may walk in that reality.

And Father, I pray for just the overall culture of TVC as a community that God, we may be a people who are committed to picking up a corner of the mat and getting our friends, getting those who have encountered brokenness in this world to the feet of Jesus.

That we may realize that, God, you have a role for us to play in redemption and just how exciting it is to be um asked to play a part in the game.

Father, I love you.

I praise you.

Be with us for the rest of this day, and it's in Jesus' name I pray.

Amen.