POWER IN BEING REDEEMED

Thank You Father.
For you are a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger ,and of great kindness, and you will not forsake us.

The Lord Jesus said,
It is written in the prophets, and they shall all be taught of God, Every man therefore that has heard, and has learned of The Father, comes to me.

Let me tell you about my LORD who is God.
He is Jesus Christ of Nazareth.
Listen to an example of how He set men free.
There was a man who was sick with a palsy lying in a bed too weak to do anything for himself.

This man suffering with this depression and illness didn't have enough strength to get up on his own, but he had friends and family who loved him enough to bring him to Jesus.

They didn't take him shopping, to sooth sayers or to the synagogue, they took him to Jesus.

Where was the faith of his friends focused?
It was directed at my LORD, The Anointed One, Christ Jesus.

The LORD seeing the faith in the mans friends spoke to the man saying,
Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven.

The man was healed, he got up of his own strength and walked back to his home.
And the people who witnessed all of this began to praise and glorify God who had given such power to men.

They had been taught that no man can forgive sins only God.
Well if that be true and the man stood up healed and walked home, guess who you have in the midst of you?

But the Pharisees don't want to hear that because they didn't do it.
Instead of recognizing what was in their midst, envy rose up in their hearts.
Some of the scribes that were present began to mumble under their breath, saying, this man speaks blasphemy.

But Jesus knowing what they were thinking, asked, why are you thinking evil
about what I just said.

What's easier to say, your sins are forgiven or "Get up and walk!"?

What would you say to the dying man, the man who his hope is not in Christ and he is unemployed, or to the single mother who has believed in Jesus has 5 children and her job is about to be phased out to balance a budget, or the elderly woman whose debt was created not by mismanagement of her funds but through her retirement being sucked up by the company that she worked for for 33 years( a company that told her everything was going to be alright and walked away from it's employees bankrupt giving them no notice), and her own children robbing her of her savings and credit?

Do you say, "Get Up And Walk!"?
She can't get up and walk on her own.

You take her to Jesus.

But the Pharisees didn't do that.
People like the Pharisees don't want your sins forgiven.
They definitely don't want it to be as easy as trusting in Jesus.
Because if you can be made to believe that your blessing and your healing is based in your behaviour and in your deeds , or your lack of blessing is determined by your mistakes, they can manipulate your deeds to their advantage.

You won't ever be doing enough to satisfy a Pharisee's religious list.
The Lord shortened the list of requirements to one.
Believing on His Name.
Acts 2:21
John 3:16-18
John 6:29
John 10:9

I know many want to rush past the importance of this and say, So now you have believed God, what next?
Let's move on to what you have to do after you have believed God.
You don't have to do anything else after you have believed God.

You don't lay down and wait for rainbows and cupcakes to fall out of the sky, you get up and keep going.
Keep seeking, keep living, keep fighting and keep believing Him.
Keep looking to Jesus who is the author and finisher of our faith.

If you can't go and get help pray for help and believe that God is on the way.

Think back to your leper days(pre Christ) and ask your self who it was that got you to Jesus?
And now think about what you are saying to other people.

What's easier to say?
"Don't do this, don't do that..." or "You are in a place that only God can help you and in Christ our sins are forgiven?"

Matthew 9:1-8

Does a man suffering on his death bed need to be asked, "When was the last time you went to church ?"

Does this man need to be reminded of every place that he missed it in life?

Does the dying man need to be lead to believe that since he drank alcohol for 15 years that God is punishing him with the pain that he now has presently in his side?

No!
He needs to know that Jesus Heals and Jesus forgives. How he got to where he is, is not our business.
Our business is to bring the Gospel to the place where this man is at.

Because we don't know why the man had the palsy.

When Jesus healed the man born blind from birth, His own disciples asked Him,
"LORD, who sinned, this man or his parents that he was born blind?"

The Lord answered, Neither this man or his parents have sinned: but this was done that the works of God should be made manifest in him.

It was not the result of sin in the camp.
John 9
Your problem today can be the catalyst to manifest the power of God for yourself and for everyone who sees it.
Think on it.

The Power In Redemption.

Mark 11:22
Trust God.

Take nothing for your journey, neither staves, nor scrip, neither bread, neither money, neither have two coats a piece.

LOVE Y'ALL :)