Faith of a Friend

Welcome to this week's message from the Church of Chelsea Westover.

Our core values are vibrant worship, intimate fellowship, fulfilling service, and clear biblical truth.

We pray that this message changes your life.

Let's tune in to today's message and see what God has in store for you.

This month is what we call the series of the messages bringing our friends to Jesus.

And uh, I don't think we realize as individuals how important we can be in bringing our friends, our family, and hey, those that we work with to Jesus.

And so today I want you to turn with me in your Bibles to Mark chapter 2.

Mark 2 · chapter mention

Mark chapter 2.

Mark 2 · chapter mention

Now, uh, is everything working, Jeremy?

Are we on?

Good.

Okay.

If you do not have an outline, would you please raise your hand so Carrie and Bob and them can get you an outline.

In fact, I need one, uh, Carrie, if you don't mind.

There we go.

Got one right here.

Thank you, Rachel.

All right, all right.

One of the, I think one of the most exciting stories in the Word of God is found in Mark chapter 2.

Mark 2 · chapter mention

I think one of the most illustrative stories for each of us as friends is found in Mark chapter 2.

Mark 2 · chapter mention

In fact, the Bible says that we are to be friends to our family members, to our, hey, not, hey, friends to our friends, friends to those that we come in contact with.

And today and this whole month, we're going to be looking at how you and I can be friends so that we can be what?

Tools and instruments used to bring people to Jesus.

And hopefully this whole month you'll get excited and you'll get fired up about how many of you right now, let me just give you, I want you to see this.

It's always true when I ask this question.

How many of us right now have family, friends, or people we work with, or people we go to school with that we know are not in church, or we also know are lost, they don't have a relationship with Jesus Christ.

Raise your hand.

Look, look, see, that's what I'm talking about.

So this month's messages could literally be one of the greatest tools you could take and use what?

So that you can ask God to equip you to bring people to Jesus.

So let's look at Mark chapter 2.

Mark 2 · chapter mention

I love this chapter.

I love it, I love it.

Beginning at verse 1.

And again, he, Jesus, Jesus had been out in the region preaching and healing and doing his ministry, but now he was coming home, and we'll see where he lived.

And again, he entered into Capernaum after some days, and it was a noise that he was in the house.

Now I like the King James rendering there because it uses the word noise, because there was a noise that Jesus is in the house.

And I hope that that's gonna be our motto when everybody in Westover and Chelsea and Wilson and Starrett and this whole region of about 15 miles, Children'sburg, Siliconga, I'm talking about everywhere.

When they talk about the church at Chelsea, Westover, there's gonna be a rumor, and that's another word that can be used there.

There's a rumor, there's a noise that Jesus is in the house.

Amen.

That Jesus is in the house.

And so Jesus was in Peter's house, and straight away many were gathered together.

Woo! Ha ha! When Jesus is in the house, the people are gonna come.

Can I get an amen?

And the Bible says they gathered together in as much that there was no room to receive them.

No, not so much as about the door.

That's my goal, and God's beginning to do it.

I want to fill this thing up that there's no room.

And then we want to fill up the overflow where there's no room.

And then we want to build a multi-purpose building and fill it up where there's no room.

Amen.

Why?

Because there's a rumor that Jesus is in the house.

That Jesus is in the house.

And then we see, he says, and I love this.

Notice what happened.

They were standing in the doors, they were hanging out the windows.

And then notice what happens when people come to Jesus.

When Jesus is in the house, Jesus has one top priority.

And notice what it is.

When he gets the crowd together, what did he do?

He preached the word of God unto them.

That's one of our key core values here.

Biblical, clear biblical truth.

And they came unto him.

Now, they underline that little word, they they come unto him, they came unto him, bringing one sick of the palsy, which was brought by four.

And when they could not come in, for they pressed in, they uncovered the roof.

They couldn't get in the house, so they uncovered the roof.

Man, what about that?

Where he was, and when they had broken it up, they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay.

When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee.

Wow.

Now notice the order here.

Very important.

And we'll look at that as we go through this passage.

He saved the, hey, the guy, the guy that was sick of palsy, which means he was paralyzed.

He had a physical problem.

But he had more than a physical problem, he had a spiritual problem.

And notice that Jesus took care of the spiritual problem before he took care of the physical problem.

Teach that word.

Amen.

That's important.

Because we live in a society today.

Well, I'm got let me get on through them, then we'll start.

I'm so fired up, ready to preach.

But then there, notice verse 6.

But there were certain of the scribes sitting there and reasoning in their hearts.

Woo! Yep, yep.

You always got the critics sitting on the front row.

Hello.

Oh yeah.

Look at not here.

Not at the church at Chelsea Westover.

Randy and David and Toby.

No, no, no, no, no.

The critics are in the back row, Randy said.

But you always have the critics show up when God's doing something.

Amen?

Always, always.

You can prepare for it.

They're coming.

But if God be for us, who can be against us?

Amen?

Romans 8 31.

If God be for us, who can be against us?

So they're on the front row.

The master teachers like the high positions.

Amen.

In fact, they're more interested in their position than they are the power of God.

And so we see, why does this man thus speak blasphemies?

Who can forgive sin by but God only?

That's right.

And in this passage, that's what exactly God, well, hey, Jesus was telling them, hey, Jesus was saying, hey, I'm God.

I'm God.

You're right.

Only God, hey, can hey, heal.

Only God can forgive sins.

By the way, I'm Him.

Whoo! They were jealous.

They were upset of all the commotion.

They were upset of the noise.

There's a noise going on.

There's a rumor that Jesus is in the house.

There's a rumor that Jesus is in the whole region.

People were talking about Jesus instead of the scribes and Pharisees.

They were talking about Jesus instead of their religion.

They were talking about Jesus instead of their church.

They were talking about Jesus instead of themselves.

And what a rumor it was.

And immediately when Jesus perceived in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, he said unto them, Why reason ye these things in your hearts?

Go ahead and be critical if you want to.

Jesus is gonna nail you.

Uh-huh.

Oh yeah, he's gonna get you.

Hey, you don't mess with God's, hey, you don't mess with God's work, folks.

Amen.

You don't be critical of God's work.

I have, and and God, by the way, preachers can be the worst of that.

I mean, the church gets to growing, they start criticizing.

Yeah, you know why they're growing, though, don't you?

Yeah, they're they're not doing it.

They're not doing it the traditional way.

Well, guess what?

They didn't do it the traditional way.

They cut a hole in the roof.

Hello! In fact, verse 12 said, Woo! We've never seen it this way before.

No.

But it didn't matter.

And then Jesus says, now he nails them.

He says, Is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, thy sins be forgiven thee?

Or to say, Arise and take up thy bed and walk.

Wow.

I mean, he just put it right to them.

He nailed them.

But that ye may know that the Son of Man used eighty times.

In other words, he's saying the Son of God, in other words, and the Son of God stood for, Hey, I am God.

Eighty times Jesus uses this.

Have power on earth to forgive sins.

He said to the sick of the palsy.

And I say unto thee, Arise and take up thy bed and go into the way, into thy house.

And immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went forth before them all, insomuch that they were, whoo, watch this, all amazed, and glorify God, saying, We've never saw it like this before.

I hope that's what they're gonna say about this church.

I hey, we've never seen it done that way before.

And we're kind of out of the box.

We're kind of being very creative.

But I want us to look first of all at the place of this miracle before I get to just preach.

See what happens.

I had my wife taught me to be a teacher, so I have to give this outline.

But now in my camp meeting preaching, I study just like this, and then I just go.

I just forget the outline, start preaching every verse.

Boom, boom, boom.

But I'm gonna teach you a little bit too.

So, but now notice the place of the miracle.

The Bible says he came into his own city, Matthew 9 1.

And then right here in Mark 2, 1, he entered into Capernaum in the house.

Now, in the house means, kind of the Greek phrase there means that he was comfortable at this place.

In other words, even though we know Jesus did not have a house, he did not have a place to lay his head, Matthew 18.

I meant Matthew 8, 20, but he stayed in Capernaum, and that's where he did most of his uh, should I say, his a lot of ministry.

In fact, he did 11 out of the 17 miracles right here in Capernaum.

Uh so we see he, this was his headquarters.

This is where he would launch out to do his ministry in the Judean region.

And we're we're almost for certain it was at Peter's house.

So we see that the city of Capernaum, too, though, was very important because we see in Matthew chapter 4, verses 13 through 15 that, hey, as he was moving to Capernaum, he when he moved from Nazareth, he spent 30 years in Nazareth, where he was raised by his father, Joseph a carpenter.

Matthew 4:13–15

And then he moves on into Campernium at the age of 30 when he starts his ministry.

And not only did he move there because that was going to be the central place for his launching of his ministry, but it also fulfilled the prophecy that the Bible says, and as he's moving to Capernaum, he fulfilled the prophecy.

Christ's presence in Capernaum, though, was you would think would just be unbelievable that everyone would believe and see the great miracles that he was doing, but unfortunately, most of them didn't believe.

Matthew 11, 23.

So we've got the place, Campernium.

It was a place where he launched his ministry.

It was a place that, hey, he went to fulfill what?

His purpose.

Now watch this.

And I wrote this to myself.

When you open up your home to Christ, you will see his blessings all over you.

Can I get an amen?

Peter opened his home to Jesus, and because he opened his home to Jesus, when Peter had a need, when his mother-in-law was sick, Jesus healed his mother-in-law.

I've got news for you.

When you open up your home and you let Jesus in, he's going to bless you and he's going to meet every need you got.

Can I get an amen?

My God shall supply all your needs according to his riches and glory through Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4.19.

Except the Lord build a house.

They labor in vain that build it.

Psalms 127, verse 1.

Psalms 127:1

Choose you this day whom you're going to serve for me and my house.

We are going to serve God.

Joshua 24, 15.

Amen.

What's wrong with America today?

In America today, we need to open our homes and bring Jesus back in.

Amen.

We need to open our covenant and bring Jesus back in.

Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.

Amen.

When the righteous aren't in authority, the people rejoice.

But when the wicked bear through, the people mourn.

Man, we see.

There were people from everywhere.

And that brings me to my second point.

Let's look at the people.

And there was a noise, verse 1 and 2, that he was in the house.

We notice two things about this.

First of all, the noise.

The noise.

There's always a noise when Jesus is in the house.

And the question today is, what kind of noise is in your house?

Hello.

What kind of noise is in your house?

Do you have a noise of righteousness?

Are you, hey, in your house, are the television programs exalting Jesus?

In your house, hey, are your magazines and your books that you have in your home exalting Jesus?

Are your videos exalting Jesus?

Is your conversation exalting Jesus?

That's the question.

What kind of noise is in your house?

What kind of an example is in your house?

Deuteronomy chapter 6 literally says that we are to love the Lord thy God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our strength, with all our mind, and then we are to teach that same truth to our children diligently.

Deuteronomy 6 · chapter mention

When we walk by the way, when we lie down, when we rise up, we're to be speaking about Jesus.

There ought to be a noise in our house about Jesus.

Amen.

Amen.

Come on, church.

Amen.

There ought to be a noise in your house.

Hey, in your neighborhood, there ought to be a rumor that, hey, in your house, that's where Jesus is.

You want help, you want love, you want comfort?

You go to your neighbor's house.

You go to Ivo Gibson's house.

You go to the Wilson's house.

You go to the Green's house.

You go to Sylvester and Kelly's house.

You go to Randy's house.

And hopefully, for sure, you go to the preacher's house.

Amen.

And that's so, so true.

Now, notice the character of this crowd.

It's kind of interesting.

I was thinking about it.

You know, in every crowd, you got characteristics.

And we see this crowd had their own characteristics.

First of all, we see we have the curious.

The curious crowd.

They were following Jesus, not for his message, but they were following Jesus for his signs and wonders.

Yeah.

Miracles.

They wanted to see something.

What's he going to do next?

Oh, he's healed this one.

He's healed this one.

He's made the blind to see.

He's made the lame to walk.

Hey, we heard he even raised the dead.

What's he going to do today?

Yeah, they're curious.

Then, secondly, guess what?

You have the critics.

They're going to be there.

We already talked a little bit about that.

But then you got the third group.

You got the carnal.

You know what a carnal is?

Well, you know, they're probably saved, but they're so far from Jesus that they look like they're lost.

Hello.

No words, they're here because it's supposed to be here.

You know, you go to church on Sunday.

But that's beginning to be far and few between, too, because a lot of people don't go anymore.

They don't care.

But yeah, but they're all Christians.

I know God.

Oh, yeah, yeah.

Well, when's the last time you've been in church?

Oh, oh, oh.

How do I go to church?

Be a Christian?

No, you don't.

He said, if you love me, you keep my commandments.

John 14, 15.

And then he said in Hebrews 10, 25, not forsaking the assembly of ourselves together as man or some are, but exhorting one another so much more as you see the day approaching.

That's why we want to go get our friends and bring them to the house of God.

And hopefully, the house of God you're going to, you get something.

Hey, God told me, He said, Well, my church is dead.

I said, Well, move.

Yeah, but grandma and granddad's buried out here in the cemetery.

Well, bless God, dig them up, take them with you.

They wouldn't want to be in a dead place.

Amen.

Jesus is not dead, church.

Behold, I'm he that liveth and is dead.

Behold, I'm alive forevermore.

And behold, I hold the keys of death.

Revelations 1.18.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank God for a church.

When you come here, I promise you, it won't be born.

If it's born, we'll all leave.

Amen.

Amen.

It will not be born.

I told the other day, I told everywhere I go, I'm inviting people.

I say, listen, you gotta come.

I said, I will not put you to sleep, and the food's out of this world.

And they always say, food?

I said, yeah, we feed everybody every Sunday.

Every Sunday?

Yeah.

He said, well, I just come for to eat.

I said, come on.

I said, but you'll like the preaching too.

You'll love the service too.

Why?

Because we get fed spiritually as well as physically.

And then you got the last group.

Not only do you, hey, you have the curious, in fact, I thought to myself, hey, the curious are more interested and involved in the entertainment, the miracles of Christ, instead of the edification of the messages of Christ.

Amen.

Hey, but let me tell you, you can't, hey, you can't get built up in that, hey, in that encouragement and that steadfastness stay if you don't have the word of God in you.

I'm telling you.

Hey, the by the way, now I know y'all think I'm not very emotional.

I understand.

If you saw my wife, we're totally opposite.

She sits right there and cries, and I jump up and holler.

That's okay.

In fact, at CCW, you can be who you are in your personality, and nobody's gonna look at you funny.

You know, some churches, you I've been there, I've preached in them.

I mean, even preaching in them.

I go and start preaching, and they look at me like, what are you in the world?

What planet did you step off of?

We've, you know, why are you so exuberant and passionate and excited?

I that's who I am.

That's my personality.

But I've also got a Holy Spirit in me that gets me excited about the things of God.

Amen.

I'm kind of drunk on the new wine.

Hello.

Uh-oh, the preacher said he drinks wine.

New wine.

Where's that new wine?

I'll tell you where it is, right here.

Hey, H S, the Holy Spirit of the Living God.

Amen.

And you won't have a hangover in the morning on this new wine.

Amen?

I promise.

In fact, you'll get up excited as you were when you went to bed instead of saying, oh, but anyway, no, don't you need to get me on that trail.

But we see, we see that they, hey, the last group is the converted, the ones that are excited, the ones that want to, hey, the ones that are making the noise that Jesus is in the house.

In fact, we see in Luke 5, 17, the old Pharisees, you know, the critics, they were sitting there criticizing.

And what were they criticizing?

They were criticizing what Jesus said.

Now notice the third thing.

We see the place, the people.

Now watch, look at the preaching.

Verse 2.

Before the miracles occurred, Christ preached the word unto them.

Wow.

Now what was his message?

The B-I-B-L-E.

That's the book for me.

Can I get an amen?

Let's say that together.

The B-I-B-L-E.

That's the book for me.

That's what he was preaching.

In fact, throughout the centuries, the Word of God is the key to every foundation of what God does in a church and in your home and in your life.

1 Corinthians 3 11.

There's no other foundation laid that can be laid than Jesus Christ.

Amen.

So we see He is He is the Word.

In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Amen.

I meant He is the book.

B I B L E.

That's the book for Me.

Letter B, it brightens my life.

I'm getting going.

All right.

It brightens my life.

That word is a lamp unto my feet and a light into my path.

Psalms 119, 105.

Letter I, he instructs my life.

Oh, establish my footsteps in thy word and do not let any iniquity have dominion over me.

Psalm 119, verse 133.

Psalms 119:133

Letter's a second letter B, he builds my life.

Acts 20, 32.

And now, brethren, I commune you to the God and to the word of grace, which is able to build you up.

Letter L in the word Bible.

He liberates my life.

He liberates me from sin.

Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee.

Psalms 119, verse 11.

Psalms 119:11

And hey, not only that, he liberates me from Satan.

He says, and they overcame him, Satan, by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony, Revelation 12, 11.

And letter E, it's everlasting.

All heaven and earth shall pass away.

But my words shall never, never, never, never pass away.

Before anything was, his word was, and after everything will be, his word still will be.

Oh, but forever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven.

Psalms 119, verse 89.

Psalms 119:89

Are you with me, church?

The P-I-B-L-E.

That's the book for me.

And that's what he preached, beginning at Moses.

Woo! And all the scriptures he expounded unto them.

And all the scriptures, the thing concerning himself.

Luke 24, 27.

And then after he did, those disciples on the road to a man said, Did not our hearts burn within us?

For he spoke unto us the word of God.

Somebody say amen.

The preaching before the miracle.

Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Hey, the reason those men had the faith to bring their friends to Jesus was because the word of God was so prevalent in their lives.

They were not going to do anything.

Hey, I'll let anything keep them from bringing their friends to Jesus because they had the faith to believe that God and Jesus would change their friend.

Can I get an amen?

Is that good?

Is that good?

That is good.

We need preaching and teaching of the Word of God more than we need miracles.

Because guess what?

Now listen to me.

Not that I'm belittling the miracles.

It's the message of God that changes you for an eternity.

The miracle just changes you temporarily.

Hello.

Hello.

You with me?

Lazarus was raised from the dead.

That was an unbelievable miracle.

But he died again.

Hello.

Amen?

That's good.

But see, when you get saved, it's for an eternity.

Actually, when you get saved, then you don't never die, Randy.

He that believeth on me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.

Whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.

Amen.

That's good.

That's what the book says.

So notice the third thing, the fourth thing, though.

The paralyzed friend needed the miracle.

Hey, he needed the miracle.

But what's the greatest miracle?

Salvation.

Can I get an amen?

Salvation.

Say this with me.

The greatest miracle is salvation.

The greatest miracle is salvation.

Amen.

Notice he said in verse 3, we see.

And they they come unto him, bringing one sick of the palsy.

Matthew 9, 2 says, and behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy.

Now the word translated palsy here means to be paralyzed.

That's what it means.

The miracle involved a man who was paralyzed.

Now, why was he paralyzed is the quiz, excuse me, the qu question that everybody would be asking back in that day.

Because back in that day, many believed that people were sick because of their sin.

By the way, a lot of people were sick because of their sin.

And that probably is the case of this gentleman because of John 5.14.

But not always, look at John 9, chapter 2.

And the disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin?

This man or his parents, that he was born blind.

So even the disciples knew that sin brought on disease.

Okay?

And then notice what Jesus said.

Jesus answered, Neither had this man sinned nor his parents, but that the works of God should be manifest in him.

Same way with Lazarus, when he, hey, let Lazarus die.

You know, the whole commotion when he came to the scene of where Lazarus had been dead for four days and buried.

You know, everybody said, Oh, Jesus, if you had only been here, if you had only been here, he said, wait a minute.

He said, I've always been here.

He said, and I didn't come here early for a reason.

One, I wanted to make, hey, he said, the reason is I want to make sure that God gets all the glory.

And he says, I want to make sure that everybody knows that this man was dead.

And then he raised him.

So he wants to have all the glory.

Now, in this case, though, let's go to John 5.14.

I think we see.

And after Jesus finded him in the temple and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole, sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.

This is uh the episode that I'm teaching you is found in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, not in John.

So in Matthew, he says, Sin no more lest a worse thing come unto thee.

So there's a good chance, and a lot of theologians, as I was studying this passage, breaking it, believed that it was some kind of disease that affected the nervous system, which probably brought on a stroke, which probably paralyzed him.

But not always.

But in this case, we're pretty sure it probably was a sin.

And you know what I learned from that?

When you live in sin, it will destroy you physically as well as spiritually.

Amen.

You can't live in sin and get away with it, folks, for the wages of sin is death.

Amen.

We see crack babies all the time.

Women birthing babies and they've been in drugs or alcohol, and those poor little babies have no con they have nothing to do with it, but they're really born in bad physical condition because of the sins of the parents.

Let me tell you something.

You can't sin and just hurt yourself, it hurts others.

Don't ever forget that.

Don't you swallow the lie that when you sin, it's only gonna hurt you, and you're just gonna take care of it and get out, get away from this world.

No, and and one of the worst things we can do is allow the listen to the lies of Satan like that.

And then we've had people listen to those lies and then go commit suicide, thinking that they're you know nobody cares, and they can kill themselves, and everybody be, they won't even remember they're they were here, or they'll be glad they're gone.

That is a lie right out of the pits of hell.

You are love, folks.

You say, Well, nobody loves me.

Yes, God loves you.

Amen.

God loves you.

Don't you don't you listen to those lies from the devil who's the father of lies?

Don't you do it?

So, and we see the picture here in this man's too.

That what will sin do?

Let me show you.

Romans 5.6 tells us what sin will do.

It will, hey, listen to what Romans 5.6.

When we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.

You know what?

Sin will keep us from walking with God.

This man couldn't walk.

But there's a picture there.

Hey, sin in our lives will keep us from walking for God.

Hey, this guy couldn't stand, could he?

Absolutely not.

Hey, sin will keep us from standing up for God.

But when sin gets eradicated, when sin gets, hey, hey, abolished, when hey, when you get saved, bless God, you can stand for Christ, you can walk with Christ, and you can be a living testimony for Christ.

Amen.

Man, this is good.

Well, notice the second thing.

Man, this is good.

Number one, we see the place.

Number two, we see the friends.

Title of the message this morning is The Faith of a Friend, or you can put an S on that, the faith of friends.

There's four here.

Now we don't know if this gentleman that was paralyzed, we don't know if he was a friend.

Was he a family member?

Somebody they just knew?

Was he a neighbor?

We really don't know.

But it doesn't matter.

Why?

The church at Chelsea Westover.

We're building a church at the intersection of loving God, loving people, serving at home and abroad.

But here's the key: it doesn't matter.

If we love people, we want to help people in need.

Can I get an amen?

We want to bring our friends, our families, our neighbors, our students, the people we work with, we want to bring them to Jesus.

Why?

He's the only one that can help them.

Amen.

He's the only one that can help them.

Now, watch this.

First thing about these guys.

Let me show you characteristics of a true friend.

These seven things are powerful.

Number one, compassion.

Look at Luke 5, 18.

Behold, men brought in abed a man which was taken with a palsy.

The very first thing we observe about the carriers, the friends of this, hey, is their compassion.

They had compassion for their friend, their family, whoever he was, friend, family, neighbor.

It doesn't matter.

They had compassion for him.

And now, how do you know that?

They took the time, the effort, and the expense to find a stretcher, build a stretcher, put the man on the stretcher.

The man couldn't do anything for himself.

They did everything for their friend.

That's compassion.

In fact, the Bible says in Psalms 142, verse 4, has anyone ever cared for my soul?

Psalms 142:4

Do you care about your neighbor?

Do you really care?

You say, Yes, I care.

All right, let me ask you.

Have you invited him to church?

Have you invited her to church?

I look at a lot of you visitors here.

And I can't help but going back to Adrian and Dustin.

Adrian got saved and he's been bringing.

I don't know if there's a Sunday since he got saved and been in this church.

Somebody hadn't come to church because of Adrian.

Todd got saved.

Todd's got his friends here today.

Mother-in-law and husband.

He's been bringing friends to Jesus, bringing people to Christ, bringing people to church.

By the way, isn't it exciting to know when you bring somebody to the church of Chelsea West over, they're going to hear the gospel.

They're going to hear the good news.

Somebody said, You always preach the gospel and give me an invitation.

Absolutely.

Everywhere Jesus was, when he preached the word, he gave an invitation.

I'm just going to be like Jesus.

Amen.

Churches don't give invitations anymore.

Oh, that's a personal thing.

Personal.

Yeah, it's personal, all right, between you and Jesus, but your family, you want to tell the world once you get saved.

Do you see what this guy did?

He got saved and got healed.

He went running through the streets.

I was, hey, I couldn't walk.

Hey, I was lost, but now I'm saved and I can walk.

In fact, they said, What in the world happened to you?

He couldn't even remember who Jesus was almost.

He just said, This man named Jesus, the Messiah, I don't only understand it, but I know this.

For all these years, I was sinful and wretched and just on my way to hell and couldn't walk.

My sin had caused to debilitate me, but I've met the master and my friends' faith.

Friends' faith, they kept telling me about this Jesus.

If I could get you to Jesus, he can save you and he can make you whole.

And I saw Jesus, and through their faith, they got me to believe, and I believed in that.

Whoa, look at me.

That's exactly what happened.

Amen.

Exactly what happened.

Let me tell you, your faith can make a difference in your friends.

Your faith can make a difference in your wife.

Husbands.

Wives, your faith can make a difference in your husband.

Listen, hey, moms and dads, your faith can make a difference in your children.

Teenagers?

Children?

Well, children's would team.

Teenagers?

Your faith can make a difference in your parents.

In your family.

We see it right here.

You can bring them to Jesus.

And they did.

They did.

Notice the compassion.

There's two things I want you to write down.

It's not any notes, but God taught me this after I'd done the outline.

It was selfless.

We don't even know their names.

It wasn't about them.

Can I get an amen?

It wasn't about them.

It was about him, Jesus.

We don't even know their names.

They didn't, they hey, they weren't interested being up here on the platform under the lights.

In fact, they couldn't even get to the platform.

The crowd kept them from getting there.

They went through the roof.

Weren't interested about them.

Look not every man on his own things, but every man on things of others.

Philippians 2, 4.

Romans 15, 1.

Well, no, well, yeah, whoa, whoa, whoa.

Don't go there.

Psalms 126, 5 and 6.

Yeah, thank you, Jeremy.

Go there.

He says, They that sow in tears, listen to this, shall reap with joy.

He that goeth forth weeping, bearing precious seeds, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing.

Watch, bringing his sheaves with me.

I was worried about you.

I was fixed to ask where you were.

That's okay.

But hey, he that goeth forth bearing seeds.

Hey, weeping, weeping, that's the compassion, that's the caring.

Look, bearing precious seed, that's the word.

Now watch, shall doubtless come again with rejoice.

Bringing his sheeds with him.

God says you're gonna bring them.

God's gonna speak to the heart so they'll get saved, or so they at least come to church so they can get saved.

Can I get an amen?

That's why every one of us, every day out here in the community of Chelsea, Westover, uh, wherever we are, Children'sburg, Harpersville, where in our we ought to be inviting people to Jesus.

Inviting people to church.

That's what they that's what these guys did.

And then, secondly, guess what?

It was sacrificial.

It was sacrificial.

They gave her their time, their talents, and their treasures.

And we'll talk more about that.

Hey, it took time, effort.

It cost them.

It cost them.

We don't know how far they came.

We don't know if, hey, remember we said they came from Galilee, they came from Jerusalem, they came from Judea, and they came from Capernaum.

We don't know where they came out of those four places where they came.

But regardless, even if they were in Capernaum, it was a minimum of a nine-mile walk around the other side to get to Capernaum if they were on the other side.

Amen.

So it did.

Notice the second thing about their service.

It was compassionate.

They had a cause.

Look at verse 3.

They had a cause.

And what was the cause?

Here it is.

Verse 3 says, and they came unto him, underline the word him.

They had a cause.

Their cause was Jesus.

They knew if they could get their friend or family member to Jesus that he could make him whole.

Can I get an amen?

Everything we do, our cause ought to be about Jesus.

Whether we eat or drink or whatsoever we do, we do all to the glory of God.

Amen.

1 Corinthians 10 31.

They had a cause.

I mean, they had a cause.

They knew their belief was in Christ.

Here it is.

Christ motivated their service.

Christ motivated their service.

Now, faith in Christ, watch this, motivates our service.

Lack of faith in Christ diminishes our service.

The reason a lot of people aren't serving is because they don't have faith.

Let me prove that.

Go to James chapter 2.

James 2 · chapter mention

This is good.

James chapter 2, verses 14 through 18.

James 2:14–18

What does it profit, my brethren, though a man say that he hath faith and have not works?

Can faith save him?

If a brother or sister be naked and destitute of daily food, of needs, go on.

And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled.

Notwithstanding you give them not those things which are needful to the body, what doth it profit?

Now let me give you a good example of this.

Somebody comes to you and they're in need.

They're hurting.

And they ask you to pray for them.

Okay?

Sure, here's what we do.

95% of the time, I'll pray for you.

Yeah.

First of all, you usually don't pray for them then.

So you say you're gonna pray for them, and if you don't pray for them after they leave, and you don't go home and pray for them, you just lied to them.

That's why, how many of several of you in here, when you ask me to pray, what do I usually do right then?

I say, let's pray right now.

Let's pray for it right now.

Right now.

So I'm I'm forgiveful.

Amen.

Let's pray right now.

Oh, I'll pray that God will meet your need.

And 95% of the time, you don't, you just, it just went right over your head.

God put them in your pathway to meet their need.

Amen.

Oh, yeah.

I knew I'd get them instead of an amen.

Huh?

God, and here's what's really funny.

You go woke up that morning and you said, Oh Lord, make me a blessing to people.

And five people come by and you ain't done squat.

Hello, oh me.

Oh me.

Right, preacher?

Huh?

Huh?

Oh, but I'll pray for you, sister.

My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth.

1 John 3 18.

Amen.

Then he says, even so faith if it has not worked, verse 17.

What does it say?

If it has not worked, it's what?

Say it, church, it's what?

Being alone.

Look at verse 18.

Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works.

Show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works.

Woo! Yeah, if you're walking in faith and you're really real, folks, you're gonna be serving God and bringing people to Jesus.

Helping people to come to Christ.

That's what you're gonna be doing.

Amen.

That's what you're gonna be doing.

That's why, that's why I have my little.

And we've got them out there.

If we're not out, I think I got them.

I've already given them out.

My little cards.

There they are.

Wages of sin is death.

But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

For the wage of sin is death.

But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ.

Romans rose on the death.

It's just that simple.

Here's how simple it is.

I've talked to David and whatever.

We've broken ice.

I said, let me show you something, David.

Read this for me.

For the wages.

Let me ask something, David.

Do you have that eternal life?

If you were to die today, stand before Jesus, and he would say, David Wilson, why should I let you into my kingdom?

What would you tell?

You got it.

It's that easy.

Folks, it's that easy.

If you don't want to say anything, let me show you what you do.

David, I got a card I want to give you.

Look at this.

For the wages of sin.

Again, he's hey, I've got that.

That tells you how you have it here.

God bless you.

Then run.

They won't bite, I promise.

Amen.

Now let me tell you what's catching on.

And we're going to order more.

These right here.

Jesus is awesome.

Everybody, I'm so.

We had uh Devon and I had lunch the other day, and we uh when he walked in, he had his bracelet on.

I said, Yep.

You and the hey, you and the family.

It's amazing how many people ask you, that bracelet, Jesus is awesome.

Where'd you get that?

And then immediately I say, Well, yeah, we got to go to church.

But let me ask you something.

So once they say something, you got him.

Let me ask you, Ival, is Jesus awesome in your life?

Awesome.

Absolutely.

Now for me, you know what I do.

I say, Jesus is awesome.

Let me tell you why he's awesome.

Letter A, he's also fishing.

Letter W, he's a word.

Letter E, he's a.

I preached the cross tip.

I've been doing that 30 years.

It works.

It works.

And that's what they did.

They had a cause.

Amen.

Notice the other thing.

Look at their capabilities.

Verses 3 and 4.

Capabilities.

Each of them used what God had given them.

Each of them had capabilities.

Now, how many of you would think holding one corner of a stretcher is very important?

Woo! I mean, that's not the bright lights.

That's not the speaking gifts.

How many of you think that washing dishes is important?

A few of you.

I knew I wouldn't get a whole lot of hands.

But let me tell you, we feed 130, 140 people every Sunday.

Washing dishes is pretty important around here.

Hello.

Setting up chairs, setting up tables, how important can that be?

I got news for you.

We minister to 130 to 140, and it's going to grow and grow and grow.

It's very important around here.

Very important.

Very.

What about keeping the nursery, changing dirty diapers?

That's one time I'm glad God did call me to preach.

That's very important.

If we're going to bring these young couples and these young families like we have, our nursery's growing, we need help.

We need help.

It's very important.

Two things are important to people that come here.

Let me tell you.

One, that they can park, and we got a pretty good, pretty nice parking place, and we got ways we, if it's not raining and the grass, we got, and then secondly, that the children are taken care of.

So that's very important.

And I'll tell you what else is very important.

And people ask me, I've already had three or four people.

Why are you out there?

It's very important that the first contact that you make with anybody at the church at Chelsea Westover is a loving contact, and people care about you.

And we show that compassion and that caring right then.

And we do.

I promise you we do.

I was in a home this past week and they said, next thing we know, that's all over Facebook.

We just went to the nicest church.

Pastors out there and greeted me.

Well, it wasn't just me, it was several other ones.

And the time you walk in the door.

It ought to be when somebody walks in this door, four or five people from this church ought to be loving on them.

Not, hey, not talking to each other.

Now you got your friends, and we all like that, but when you get to church, you want to start looking for other family members and other friends, and you want to make people feel welcome.

Do I get an amen?

How important is that?

Very important.

Intimate fellowship.

That's a core value.

That's good.

They were cooperated.

Hey, can I tell you something?

If David, me, Sylvester, and Randy, if we had not held one corner of that stretcher, their friend would have never made it to Jesus.

You in there, you in there helping in the kitchen, Kenneth and them cooking.

My wife, she's watching.

She's gonna get mad.

That's okay.

She can get glad.

All right.

My wife's got a PhD in education.

You'll see my wife back here washing dishes, cooking, whatever it takes, she gets it done.

And you know, she never thinks of herself any other way except I'm here to serve.

Whatever needs to be done, we do it.

She convicts me all the time.

Because every once in a while, yeah, let's go.

But I I just walk right by him.

Because I'm so excited, I'm going to preach.

Yeah?

Somebody say, Pastor, that's good preaching.

That's truth preaching.

How many times we've walked right by the blessing God had given us.

Now notice their commitment.

Quick.

They're commitment.

They were a determined bunch.

Now let me say something here.

And please take this in the right spirit.

Sometimes crowd can be a hindrance, not a help.

Hello.

Can I say that again?

Crowds sometimes can be a hindrance instead of a help.

Here, the crowd was a major hindrance in bringing this gentleman to Jesus.

Can I also say something else about crowds?

Most of the time when the crowds left Jesus, put it this way, the crowds came to see Jesus, but after Jesus told them the commitment that he asked them to do to follow him, they diminished pretty quickly.

When they saw that there was more than just the miracles, that there had to be some commitment, they're no longer a crowd.

Let me remind you, it was twelve disciples that turned the world upside down.

Amen.

Now I'm not against crowds, I like crowds because crowd represents people that need Jesus and we want to get them to Jesus.

Amen?

And I like crowds like Jesus like crowds because what did the first thing he did?

He preached to them the truth, the kingdom of God.

Amen.

So I'm all for it.

But here the crowd hindered this gentleman coming to the Lord.

Now let me give you an example.

Young people, listen to me.

Adults, listen to me.

The wrong crowd is very dangerous to your walk with Jesus.

The wrong fellowship with the wrong crowd is very dangerous to your growth in Christ's likeness.

That's why you come to church and you meet friends in your church and family or other churches.

You want to hang around with people that love Jesus, but at the same time, then that group wants to go befriend people that need Jesus.

I said befriend them, not fellowship with them.

There's a difference.

Your fellowship after they get saved.

Amen.

But you befriend them.

I got a lot of lost friends.

When I pull up with my motorcycle, where the motorcycle bunches are, I go in there and I just start being friends.

They always come look at my bike because it's Superman.

They always ask me, where's your cape?

They ask.

Where's your cape?

Right here.

Where's your power?

Right here.

Jesus is awesome.

Let me tell you why it's awesome.

Letter A, he's awesome.

Letter W.

I preach to the whole bunch.

I do, I do, I do.

But C, the commitment.

Now notice.

Their commitment, their determination, their steadfastness, their dedication.

Now, the homes were built with flat roofs.

Okay?

In fact, there's several scriptures that you can study about these roofs because they were used for several things.

But first of all, they were made of, they'd take the wood, whether it was lumber or however they, you know, did it back then, or tree limbs, strong tree, I don't know.

But then they would put pieces of tile over that.

Then they would take clay and do the clay and put that in, kind of like you'd lay tile, Troy, Bruce.

Very similar to that on top of the roof, so it would be sturdy enough for them to walk on it.

And then they also built about a three-foot, and Deuteronomy says about a three-foot rail around the top.

So they used their roofs for porches, like we do.

Okay?

I mean, in Acts, Peter was on top of the roof preaching.

It was a good platform to preach from.

They went up there and they enjoyed themselves in the cool breeze and, you know, fellowship, talked.

In fact, it was up on the roof where Bathsheba was even taking a bath when David saw her.

So the roofs were very important back in these times.

And they always had some stairs going up to the side to the roof, okay?

Because it was kind of their porch.

Well, I don't know who the leader was of the four.

Isn't that great?

They don't even, they don't even position the four guys bringing them Jesus.

Oh, he's the leader.

They were following him.

No, there was no leader.

See, when hey, when you fill with Christ and then know who you are in Christ, even if you're a leader, you don't have to tell everybody.

Amen.

Now that's teaching.

Amen.

But we're all guilty of that.

Hey, I got my doctor.

I'm the leader.

Well, I hope somebody's following.

You know, you can be a leader and nobody's following.

Who are you leading?

Hello.

You know who people follow?

Servant leaders.

Servant leaders.

Amen.

Amen.

Servant leaders.

Somebody had the idea we can't get in the windows, we can't get in the door.

We can get in the roof.

So they can you imagine it took something taking the man up to the roof.

It took coordination.

It took working together.

Then they got him up to the roof.

And somewhere in between taking him up roof, they had to find something to break in the roof to break a hole in the roof.

Or maybe they came prepared.

They may have had a hammer or something.

I don't know.

If they had just built the the things, they might have had a hammer, you know, back.

Anyway, they got up there and they started breaking a hole in the roof.

Now, can I tell you something?

It wasn't a little hole.

See that?

That's a little hole.

We're talking about a six-foot what?

Three foot wide at least.

Stretcher, at least, if not wide.

So we're talking about a hole, probably.

Right here, this whole section.

I can't wait to get to heaven because I believe, I just believe in it.

Those old scribes and Pharisees here sitting on the front row with their garments and their pewter tassels and sitting there and all their looking good.

And all this debris starts falling on them.

Hey, what is going on?

What is this?

It'd be like a fireman with a hatchet when they're trying to vent the house of some fire.

Can you imagine?

How'd you like to be in the summer for some of the sun?

Chairman of the Deacon.

We pay thousands of dollars for that roof, that steeple.

I don't care.

We're getting them to Jesus.

Not about you building.

Woo! It's not about you building.

It's about the person.

Amen.

Well, they got him to Jesus.

All of a sudden, I tell you, it was such a traumatic experience that Jesus stopped preaching and just looked up.

He got excited.

He hadn't seen face like that.

He hadn't seen face like that.

Let me tell you something, folks.

When we start exhibiting faith like that and bringing people to Jesus like that, Katie barred the door.

We're gonna have to start building quick.

Yes, there'll be some coming to see what's going on.

Yes, there'll be critics.

But there'll be these four that are hungry to bring their friends and families and students and people they work with to Jesus and their families to Jesus because they know that Jesus will change their life and make something beautiful out of their lives.

The creativeness.

I don't have to say anymore.

They broke the door, I mean, they broke the roof open.

The creativeness.

Hey, the ice cream truck.

People, look, y'all, some of y'all laughed at me when I came and told you we're gonna get an ice cream truck.

And I laughed at myself too.

I said, that's really kind of stupid.

But I said, I think it's gonna work.

It's already the talk of the town.

And here's what's the talk.

Free! You give us free ice cream?

Yeah, we give you free ice cream, but subliminally we got that big thing that says Jesus is awesome.

And we got the church building the church at the intersection, loving God, loving people.

And you know what?

We're learning people that we give free ice cream to.

Hey, we give free ice cream to, and we're affiliated with the church.

They get excited because they said, you know, that's what we all ought to be doing.

Going out in the community helping people.

I think Mark.

Wave at me.

Yeah, Mark.

And Donna.

There's Sue, right here.

I got not trying to embarrass you, please.

Here's the result of the ice cream truck.

Right there.

Right there.

Let's give them a hand.

Amen.

We were knocking on doors, and I was, and I pulled up on my Superman motorcycle.

Mark rides a motorcycle, so we already had something there in coming.

And and he said, Hey, preacher, come here.

Can I talk to you?

I want to talk to you about this church.

He said, but what got that conversation going was the ice cream truck.

And then we went back and visited with them a time or two.

It works, folks.

Creative.

Verse 12 said, they'd never seen it this way before.

That's okay.

Methodology has to change, but the message never changes.

Amen.

And then the cost, the cost of the service.

Hmm.

David said, 2 Samuel 24, 24, I will not offer up anything unto the Lord that does not cost me something.

Can I say something?

Your service is going to cost you.

Hello.

Come on.

Come on.

Your service is going to cost you.

It's going to cost your time.

You know what's wrong with the church today?

You know why we're not being effective anymore?

We don't have time for our friends and our neighbors.

Hey, in our community that's lost, and 85% of them aren't even in church.

And we're too busy doing what we want to do when we want to do it instead of just take time to go over and say, I love you, give them some cookies, do something, and say, Hey, if you're not going to church, would you go to church with me?

We're too busy.

And I'm not going to go down the list of all the stuff we're too busy doing.

Because a lot of it's good things, but the only problem is God, Satan uses good things to keep us Christians from the best thing.

Now here's the cost time, talents.

They had talents, they had capabilities.

And thirdly, treasures.

They had to pay to fix that roof.

Can I tell you something?

Christians that did that, they would have paid the bill to fix it.

It was Peter's house.

They knew Peter, or they came to know Peter very quick.

They paid to fix that roof.

Can I tell you that was a pretty expensive repair job, Todd?

Back then.

If we cut a big hole the size to bring uh a stretcher down into here, right here, that cost you a little, it cost us a little something for you to fix it, wouldn't it?

So here's hey, sacrifice.

Remember?

Selfless, sacrificial.

It costs something.

It costs something.

But then look at the hey, the last thing, and I'm through.

The third thing.

The cure.

The cure and the miracle.

What was the cause of the cure?

Christ was the one who caused the healing and the miracle.

The paralyzed friend or family member was not taken to the, hey, wasn't taken to the preacher.

Wasn't taken to the priest.

Wasn't even taken to the physical doctor.

Not that doctors can't be used, and we know they can.

But hey, doctors can heal us physically.

Doctors cannot heal us spiritually.

Didn't take him to the doctor.

Didn't take him to the philosopher.

Didn't take him to the government agency.

See, the government wants to tell you, hey, they want to help us.

Okay?

But you know what?

As I was studying this, you know what I realized?

Hey, they helped the people, these four guys helped their friend.

It cost them their time, their talents, their treasure.

It cost them the effort and the politicians want to help us, but they didn't want to turn around and use our own money to help us.

They don't give anything.

I just thought about that and I almost got in the flesh.

They want to help, oh, I'm going to help you, preacher.

Yeah, they help me with my own money.

I got to pay the taxes, then take my taxes.

Oh, then they do all these programs and half of them don't work.

And then they say they're helping me.

Next time I have, I'm going to say, Well, how much have you given lately to your church or to help somebody?

I shouldn't go there.

That's been too good of a message to quench the spirit.

The cause was Christ.

And then look at the condition of the cure.

Here it is.

They saw their faith.

Luke 5.20.

When he, Jesus, saw their faith.

In Matthew 13, 58, we see in Nazareth, Jesus said, I can no longer minister here because of your unbelief.

Faith.

Ladies and gentlemen, if you don't see anything else as I close this message, your faith, my faith can make a difference in our friends, our families, and our neighbors, and our people that we work with, we go to school with.

We can make a difference in their life.

We can make a difference.

James 5, 20 says we can snatch them out of the pits of hell.

We can make a difference.

Can I get an amen?

You can make a difference.

That's why on Friend Day, we want to have the, we want every one of us not, hey, make a commitment now to bring a friend.

A friend, yeah, you can bring friends that are going to church, but but try to find somebody's not involved in a church.

And bring a friend.

Bring a friend.

Because that day I'm going to be preaching on a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.

Proverbs 18, 24.

Jesus.

I'm going to introduce them to the friend.

Amen?

The friend.

The friend.

Well, their faith was unbelievable.

It was believing faith.

It was persistence faith.

Hey, it was sacrificial faith.

And here's what I love it was public faith.

They weren't ashamed.

Hey, can you now I know it doesn't say this, but this guy went jumping up, shouting in the temple.

Well, what do you think his friends?

Don't you think they got a little excited with it?

I bet those four or five guys, those five guys might have been running through the streets hollering, Jesus is a mess! They weren't ashamed of the gospel.

Can I get an amen?

They weren't ashamed of the gospel.

Amen.

Romans 1.16.

And you know what it brought?

And I'm through.

It brought cheer.

It brought cheer.

Look at them.

Verse 12.

But then in I like the other passage says, Matthew 9.8 says, be of good cheer.

I mean, Matthew 9.2, be of good cheer.

Thy sins be forgiven thee.

Look at Psalms 32, 1 and 2.

Blessed is he whose transgressions is forgiven, whose sin is covered.

Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputes not iniquity.

Is that not good?

Is that not good?

The faith of the faith of friends.

How to preach.

Let me ask you.

Here's the invitation.

Are you a friend?

Are you a true friend?

Do you have that compassion?

Are you willing to?

By the way, now you see the importance of a church.

Notice one man could not have done it.

Somebody say that's good.

One man.

Oh, I can have church at home by myself.

I don't need to go to church.

Oh, okay.

You're not going to do flip for Jesus.

Or my grandma says you won't do squat.

Nothing.

Amen.

You come together.

Can you imagine what 150 people can do together?

Just really sold out.

Committed to bringing their friends to Jesus.

You won't see church growth?

You know, you can do all these gimmicks.

By the way, we can do gimmicks and bring a crowd.

Dun them, done them.

Get a singing group, get an athlete, something like that.

And I'm not belittling that, but we can do all kinds of gimmicks and get a crowd.

But we want a crowd for the right reason.

And you know what the right reason is?

There's a rumor.

I said, Sylvester, there's a rumor.

Amen.

That Jesus is in the house.

Somebody raising the roof.

There's a rumor that Jesus is in the house.

I pray this morning that there'll be a rumor that Jesus is in your house.

Is he in your house?

I pray this morning there'll be a rumor that Jesus is in your work arena.

What I love about this man, he's been one of the most successful Surpro owners in the country.

And he's not ashamed of Jesus.

There's a rumor that Jesus is at Surpro of Birmingham.

I mean, they do devotions.

We have once a month, we do a big Christmas party.

Hey, we're going to have a church service at Christmas for SEPRO.

And we won't worry about not having a manger scene or somebody saying something's going to offend somebody.

If it's going to offend you, don't come.

Because we're not going to change for you.

We hope God speaks to your heart and you change for Him.

Amen.

Amen.

I hope there's a rumor that Jesus is in your church.

Thanks again for tuning into this week's message.

We pray that your life has been changed.

If you would like to find out more about us, visit us on our webpage at thechurch at CW.com.

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Send us an email at office at the church at CW.com.

We hope you have a wonderful day, and again, God bless you.