DOUG BATCHELOR AT SPICER CHURCH | HIS SHORT TESTIMONY AND SERMON |

good evening friends and happy Sabbath we are very thankful to be here with you this is my third trip to India first time here at Spicer University and it's a joy we want to thank you for the very kind welcome we received we sure appreciate that and glad I can be here with mrs. bachelor this is her first time in the country of India and our faith has grown since we've been here because of your roads I've learned something you've got the spirit of the law and the letter of the law when you're driving in India they use the spirit of the law not the letter we just aren't sure which spirit it is it's been very exciting for us and we're having a lot of fun here in the country as a team and we're meeting so many wonderful people and how many of you have seen some of the amazing facts broadcasts the time or maybe one of our YouTube's or we're continuing to do more and more on online a great deal of Internet ministry and so that's kind of connecting the whole world and we're just very thankful that we could be here with you and see you face to face of course we'll be here again tomorrow morning look forward to seeing you and family friends you may want to bring and just opening the Word of God together our theme during our time together it is going to be living above the crowd and you know if you look there's a verse I'd like to read to you that you find in the book of Exodus chapter 23 and it's in verse 2 Moses said something very simple you shall not follow a crowd to do evil now this is especially important when you're young because where are we trying to figure out how to fit in and there's a temptation to look around and say what is the crowd saying what are the clever were that are being used what what is is the style of clothing what music is the crowd listening to and we're trying to find ourselves and so to calibrate our lives we sort of look around at the crowd and figure out what's accepted but if you're going to be a Christian you can't think like that no I you know you need to figure out that you want to dress with styles where you don't create a spectacle and you want to speak in a language people understand but a Christian shouldn't be controlled by the crowd because crowds often do evil you remember it was a crowd that said Hosanna to the son of David when Jesus went into Jerusalem and a little while later the same crowd said crucify him crucify him she can't follow the crowd jesus said broad as the way that leads to destruction the ones who go to heaven are the ones who are on the narrow path to life and so if you want to get to the kingdom you need to be looking up and don't spend all your time looking around but the problem is we're usually more worried about what the crowd thinks then what God thinks that's a good segue then to get to our story we just read about this in our scripture reading we're gonna look in the book of mark quickly at 3 stories go to mark chapter 2 again mark chapter 2 there's three stories that you find here where it will Peter in Capernaum and word got out that he was in the house while Jesus had a reputation for for healing and doing many miracles that so many people gathered together verse 2 mark 2 to immediately many gathered together so there was no longer room to receive them no not even near the door and he preached the word to them now you know one reason there was a crowd is because Jesus preached the word people are hungry for the word Jesus fed them with miraculous bread from heaven he performed a miracle on several occasions where he multiplied the bread and people are hungry man doesn't live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God and if you feed hungry people they will keep coming especially if the food is good I was doing some meetings in a town one day an evangelistic meeting and a pastor was upset with me he was a pastor of a different denomination and he said pastor Doug my members are going to your church during your meeting and you're stealing my sheep because we were preaching the word and some of them were finding out they were not getting the whole Word of God in this particular church and he said you're a sheep stealer and I said pastor I said they're not my sheep and they are not your sheep they are his sheep and Jesus has told us to feed his sheep and the Sheep are going to go where the grass is if you would feed your sheep they would go to your church people are hungry for the word the simple word of God and even after years of scribes and Pharisees teaching they were jealous of Jesus because the crowds came they would sit all day long and listen to the word because it warmed their hearts when Jesus rose from the dead and he opened the word to the disciples it says their hearts burned within them because Jesus was speaking to the need of their soul people are looking for the purpose of life they want to know where the power is they want to know how they can live forever and Jesus addresses so many gathered together so much so they couldn't get in a door and they couldn't get in a window and when Jesus saw a crowd he preached you know whenever I see a crowd I want to preach and it doesn't matter what it is if I flip through the channels and there's a big football game whether it's American football or your football we call soccer and you see 50 thousand people in a stadium I want to go out on the field and preach to them whenever I see crowd I want to preach even when I get on an airplane and the flight attendant takes the microphone and tells everybody about the safety I always want to raise my hand and say can I say a few words before you're finished if they really want to be safe you don't just know about the seatbelt and the exit if you really want to be safe do you know about Jesus whenever I see a crowd I want to preach because people are lost without Christ people are perishing you've got one brief life and if you don't find Jesus you've wasted eternity what could be worse than that people came because he preached the word and then there were four individuals that had a friend their friend maybe one of the friends from their youth he had left the Lord and he lived a wild prodigal life and he was maybe drinking and using drugs and living him orally and he contracted a terrible disease because of his sin and his disease paralyzed him so he could not even walk and what bothered him more than anything was he knew he was sick and dying because of his sin but he had heard that Jesus had done wonderful miracles so he said to his four friends I would like to go I've heard Jesus is in the house a Peter he's there now and if you could just bring me to Jesus I believe he could heal me at least he'd forgive me and I feel better then well he had some good friends so they said okay we'll bring you they didn't have a car they didn't have a bicycle and to carry him and you know if you've got four men carrying their friend you can carry him a hundred yards and then pretty soon your arm gets sore and you got to switch arms and you carry him half a mile or a kilometer and your arm gets really sore and so they carried their friend maybe four miles we don't know but when they finally got to the house they were late because there were no seats left inside the house and they couldn't even get near a window they couldn't get in the door for yards and yards meters all around the house the people were gathered thick they were straining their ears just to hear some words a couple of days ago we were doing some evangelistic meetings in a village and the first night 400 people trying to be honest and I was wishing there were more but we preached the word second night there were 800 people and they turned up the speakers so the people in the village listening on the outskirts could hear third night I think there are thousand people the people who had been listening they started coming because they were on the outskirts and so in this house where Jesus is preaching they have no PA system they got no generator they're all straining to hear the words coming out of the window and out of the door and it's probably hot inside the house and everybody wants to hear the word of God but these friends had a friend and they brought their friend to Jesus so he could be forgiven and he could be healed well when they got there they can't come in the door now why can't they get in the door it tells you they came to him bringing a paralyzed man who was carried by four men how many men for men and when they could not come near him because of the crowd all right I want to stop right there who was the crowd around Jesus well be apostles were there they were believers and some of the disciples were there no apostles and disciples are different you know you had 120 disciples that were there in the upper room 12 of them were apostles and then there were many others some maybe were skeptical there were some scribes and Pharisees that were there they had questions but they were religious people that were coming to hear Jesus preach and this man wants to be healed by Christ he wants to be forgiven by Christ but he can't get to Christ and why can't he get to Christ because of the crowd around Jesus you know what keeps people away from Christ more than anything it's the crowd around Jesus that's true everywhere I go I hear people they say well I might be a Christian but I've seen so many Christians you know India might be a Christian nation today Ghandi said I was very impressed with Jesus and his teachings but I did not care much for his followers what if the crowd around Jesus had been a better witness to Gandhi what would be happening in India now what if we would be better representatives of Jesus if people who take the name of Christ would not take the name of Christ in vain and we would really try to follow Jesus what a mighty church we would have if we'd really be filled with the Spirit of God and we'd really try to love our enemies instead of fighting and quarreling among each other you know one reason I turned away from Jesus I'll just tell you my story very quickly I was raised in a theist my mother was Jewish but you know you can be Jewish and not even believe in God you can be Jewish by blood but not believe in God my father had been raised the Baptist but during the World War two he couldn't understand if there's a God how could there be so much death and suffering and many of the Nazis in Germany that were killing the Jews claimed to be Lutheran's my father said look at the religion look what they do they kill each other he gave up on God so I got into a lot of trouble because if there's no God there's no purpose in life and I went through the drugs and I went through the drinking and I I was in and out of jail you heard a brief testimony I ran away from home when I was 13 years old got arrested got involved in crime I won't tell you all the nasty details but I was looking for purpose by the time I was 16 years old I was living by myself in Boston Massachusetts and I was a thief and I was stealing cars and stealing televisions and I met a friend who was very religious and he said he knew about my stealing and I should mention I had a job on the side as a security guard while I was doing all of this I was only 16 but I had a false identification that said I was 18 years old and my friend he knew I was stealing he was also a security guard and I thought he was gonna turn me in and he said no no God sees what you're doing and your Karma's gonna get you it's a Karma what's karma so karma means whatever you do it comes back to you I say oh there's no God I stole that television set I sold it nothing happened to me nothing's gonna happen he said you'll see and a few days after he spoke with me I woke up in my apartment in Boston and my door was open I thought that was strange and then I looked on the dresser and my TV was gone someone broke in and they stole my TV and my radio and I was very upset I called the police right away even though I was a thief and I started to notice that whenever I did something something bad happened I don't believe in karma but I do believe what Jesus said with what measure you meet it will be measured back to you there is a law in life do unto others as you would have them do unto you and what you do unto others will be done to you if you give good measure you'll receive good measure and so you will reap what you sow as are there's no God but I started watching and I would steal something my friends were all themes also they'd steal it for me or I would steal something and I was using drugs and I would hide it and when I woke up in the morning I forgot where I hid it because I'd been drinking or I would steal something and nearly died stealing a stereo or something and then I find out it was a broken stereo it didn't even work and I started thinking there must be a god too many things happen so I began to search for God and I'll tell you the first thing I thought about is I am NOT interested in Christianity the last thing I wanted to do is be a Christian because while my mother being Jewish she says the Christians are the ones who have always killed the Jews my mother have a very low opinion of Christianity or I would turn on the news and it would say the Catholics in Ireland are blowing up the Protestants and the Protestants are fighting against the Catholics and they're killing each other both supposed to follow Jesus and they're killing each other jesus said love your enemies I thought it Christians are all hypocrites so I turned away from the idea of being a Christian and for several years I got involved in all kinds of other really Eastern girls Hinduism Buddhism meditation yoga and I mixed it all together Shakti the spiritual science of DNA I mean I was trying everything I could think of looking for God but I wasn't interested in Christianity because I was looking at Christians let me tell you something don't forget this a Christian is not a follower of Christians Christians will let you down Jesus will never let you never a Christian is a follower of Christ there are always going to be counterfeits there are always going to be hypocrites some people say I'm not going to church because they're hypocrites you should go anyway there's always room for one more right of course there's going to be hypocrites in the church did Jesus have a Judas in his group where Peter James and John arguing about which of them was better so even Jesus had problems with hypocrisy among the whistles you're gonna see faults and problems in the church do not let that keep you away from Christ thank the Lord years later I was living in a cave up in the desert mountains and somebody had left a Bible there at first I ignored it I lived there for a year and a half by myself like a hermit up in the cave and I'll tell you something I usually don't tell people when I share my testimony wait I won't tell you that yet I'll tell you that in a minute you can tell I have no script so while I was up there I kept running into Christians when I go to town and buy my groceries I used to beg I'd play the flute and I bag or play the guitar and I'd beg and and I can't handle and and are you buy my groceries but I meet these Christians and they'd see this young hippie and they'd try to talk to me about Jesus and they say are you sanctified are you washed in the blood like what are they talking about I know what they talking about I thought well I'm gonna read the Bible because I felt ignorant I thought at least I should understand what it is they believed so I started reading the Bible never intended to believe it I thought it was a fairy tale I thought it was all fables I believe in an evolution and I got stuck in the Old Testament I read the Old Testament was really interesting until I got to building the sanctuary it seemed like a lot of detail and then they started getting into all the numbers in the chronology and I thought and so someone said go to the New Testament and I read the four Gospels how many Gospels Matthew Mark Luke and John and it shook my world because I knew nothing about Jesus and I thought I knew about Jesus I even went to two Catholic schools I knew nothing about Jesus I went to 14 different schools to Catholic schools to Jewish schools public schools to military schools I even went to a military school the same military school Donald Trump went to but I didn't know him he's older than me I just want you to know that but I didn't know about Jesus in military school that used to make me go to religious services every Sunday I had to go to Protestant Catholic or Jewish services I didn't know what I was but I had to go to service and so one week I'd go to Catholic one week I'd go to Jewish one weekend go - Protestant but I still didn't know anything about Jesus I started reading it for myself some of you are in a Christian school and you have never read Matthew Mark Luke and John and you wonder about Christianity you need to read it for yourself there's power in the word well I've heard about Jesus and one thing that surprised me I had heard the quotes of Jesus all my life and I didn't know Jesus was the one who said it like you know the expression turn the other cheek I read that and I said oh Jesus have been and when it says in the Bible going the Second Mile I thought oh I've heard that I didn't know Jesus said that I read in the Bible where it says he that is without sin cast the first stone I thought oh I didn't know Jesus said that I've been hearing and even quoting Jesus and I didn't know Jesus was the author so one thing that amazed me was Wow Jesus is the most quoted person in the world I thought he must be really smart and then I read a part where it says that Jesus claimed to be God in human form that God came to earth in the form of a man so wow that's pretty serious and then jesus said I came to show you what the father is like if you've seen me you've seen God so wow that's I mean what if I told you I have like God you'd say what's wrong with Pastor Doug but jesus said if you want to know what God is like look at me that's a pretty bold statement and then jesus said I'm gonna die for your sins the sins of the whole world including mine that's like he died for my sins and I tried all these different religions but I wasn't happy so finally I thought maybe instead of looking at the crowd around Jesus I had a look at Jesus I went to the library and I said did Jesus really live they said yeah he really lived he's a real historical character history is dated from his birth this is 2018 why do we call it 2018 it's supposed to be 2018 years after the Christian era it's dated from his living so I had three choices those of you taking theology you've heard of CS Lewis CS Lewis said Jesus is either Lord or lunatic or liar he has to be one of the three either he was crazy or he was a liar or he's telling the truth you have to make one of those choices he lived but what was he was he a crazy person who claimed to be God well when I read Jesus nobody made more sense than Jesus so many times they tried to trap Jesus in a few words he would send the greatest minds of the world back then in confusion just a few words they couldn't answer because it was so profound no he wasn't crazy he wasn't a liar he said I am the truth and everything he said resonated with truth in my soul it made so much sense the words of Jesus with a very definition of truth so that only leaves me one option only leaves you one option Jesus was the Lord God became a man God the Son came to earth in Christ to show us what the father's like to show us how to live and love each other and then to die for our sins so finally I decided I'm not gonna look at Christians anymore I'm gonna look at Christ and I accepted Jesus and everything began to change now back to our story they couldn't get to Jesus because the crowd was in the way so they gave up and they took your friend home that's not what it says the friend said to them thank you guys so much for trying I sure appreciated your real buddies but we can't get in it's too crowded we didn't get a ticket we better go home and they look down and they said to their paralyzed friend we carried you here you're walking home they would not give up they kept pushing for the door nobody would let them in they'd push for the window nobody would let them in and then they decided maybe we are looking in the wrong direction they had been thinking horizontally now they began to think vertically you know why so many people have problems with the Christian life horizontal thinking they're looking around at other Christians who are you supposed to look at remember two great Commandments love of the Lord with all your heart love your neighbour first you look at Jesus you must first come to Christ if you know Jesus is coming soon he says lift up your heads turn your eyes upon Jesus you know the song fix your eyes on Jesus how can you lay aside the sin and the weight that so easily besets as Hebrews chapter 12 looking unto Jesus the author and the finisher of our faith you think it's hard to live the Christian life it's cuz you're looking horizontally you need to look up and they looked up and they said hey maybe we should try to come in through the roof they went behind the house the crowd was not so thick there was a ladder leaving up on the roof now in the Hebrew I've been to Israel several time Karen and I are going to Israel a couple months and it's not uncommon you may have some of this in India where some of the house is so hot in the summer they got a hole in the ceiling you can remove the tiles so when there's a little cooking fire in the house it lets the conviction this air comes in the windows in the door and the smoke goes out the top and so they didn't take an axe and start chopping a hole in the roof of Peter they climbed up on the roof they already had a ladder there some people sat on the roof and they pulled away some of the tiles that were already there for an opening and Jesus is in the house and he's teaching and all of a sudden the sunlight begins to stream in they hear a clutter and a commotion up on the roof and some of the people look up and the scribes and the Pharisees are going how rude these undignified people are interrupting the sermon and the dust came down through the rays of sunlight and Jesus smiled Jesus was not upset Jesus was pleased because he already knew the story behind what was happening the Bible says that Jesus when he saw their faith now notice he's not saying it's just one person's faith by the way I'm in verse 5 when Jesus saw their faith that man was not going to be saved and forgiven because of just his faith but it was the faith of others that brought him to Jesus how many of you have someone that you would like to see saved and they're not saved now you know somebody family member a friend they're not following Jesus and you know that they're gonna be lost unless they turn to Christ you know somebody like that you're a very dignified people you don't respond much they just I only saw like one hand go up and I know of it a lot of you know lost people don't you know anyone lost out there don't you want to see them saved do you know that over half the people in the Bible that jesus healed and forgave were brought by somebody else there's a lot of people that are gonna only get to heaven if you help bring them to Jesus you can bring them by your prayers I'm not saying that you all tie up your friends and bring them to church tomorrow but that'll be ok too I'm saying that you need to pray you need to encourage them you need to spend your time trying to bring them to Jesus this man could never get to Jesus alone so Jesus was pleased with their faith sometimes the Lord will save other people because of your faith that God's gonna save them I know some ladies they've prayed for their husbands 20 years and then one day they got saved takes patience takes persistence when Jesus saw their faith and they took their friend they they tied some chords on the edge of his bed there's probably like a hammock with some bamboo poles they lowered him down some of the people moved aside and there the man was plopped down right in front of Jesus and Jesus was pleased he saw their faith and when he saw their faith he turns to the paralyzed man and he says be healed that's not what he said what was the first thing Jesus said son your sins are forgiven you that man wanted so much for his sin to be given forgiven now if you saw this man that had just been carried miles to Jesus and he's all paralyzed and he can't walk you would think his problem was paralysis we always look at the problem on the outside Jesus looked at the problem on the inside that caused the problem on the outside and I should pause right here and mention a lot of people are sick because of sin a lot of people out there are sick because of sin jesus healed some people and then he said go and sin no more lest a worse thing come upon you you'd be surprised how many people are sick because of sin and they're not all sick because of sin in the body some are sick because of their diet some are sick because of their thinking a lot of sickness begins right here some people are sick not because of what they're eating they're sick because of what's eating them they're mad and they're bitter they can't forgive and it's making them sick their stomachs and knots and they can't sleep because of what's happening in their mind what your sins are that is the most important thing to Jesus I've got a sad announcement for you jesus healed a lot of people in the Bible and they're all dead today jesus healed a lot of people and they eventually got old and died all of the physical healing that Jesus did was temporary isn't that right the most important healing is what he does on the inside that will last forever are you with me so Jesus dealt with the most important healing first said son your sins are forgiven everybody else saw the sickness and the paralysis on the outside Jesus saw the biggest desire of his heart was that he might be forgiven and you note something else Jesus did not say sinner your sins are forgiven he said son son Jesus forgave that man as soon as he came to Christ for forgiveness and he adopted him you are welcomed into the family of God when you come to Jesus in humility now that man he couldn't have got just to the door of where Christ was you know this is called the house of the Lord and people come to hear the word of God it's not me it's the Word of God that people are hearing it's not the pastor it's the Word of God that man it wasn't enough that he came to the house where Jesus was he wasn't going to be saved by being by the building the building does not save anyone then there were people surrounding the building that man was not going to be saved by being around religious people sometimes we think if I could just get them in the church building and get them around religious people that will save them that man was not forgiven until he was brought to the presence of Christ he had a personal encounter with Jesus he personally heard Jesus speak to him some people have come to church all their lives and they've never really listened to the voice of the Lord speaking to them God wants to talk to you personally have you ever heard someone say do you have a personal relationship with Jesus oh I've been into church all my life yeah it doesn't matter Jesus has no grandchildren you can't say well my my father's a pastor my mother's been in church for years we've our family's been in this church for four generations as though you get special credit in heaven that doesn't matter to God do you have a personal relationship with Jesus if you haven't talked to him today you probably do not have a personal relationship with Jesus if he's your friend he walks with you and he talks with you they would not give up until they brought this man into the presence of Christ now you know it doesn't tell us the name of the four men but I know what their names were you might think pastor Doug how do you know that their names were Matthew Mark Luke and John you know there are four creatures around the throne of God in heaven you've read Revelation I know at least some of you theology majors you read about the creatures in Ezekiel talks about the creatures around God do you remember what they are I've got one like a lion you've got one like a calf I've got one like an eagle one like a man most scholars believe that the Gospel of Mark it was like the eagle it's fast there it's a shortest gospel everything is it's a flyover why in Matthew tells Jesus as the Lion of the tribe of Judah Luke the physician he shows Jesus the humanity of Jesus and John shows Jesus is the great sacrifice the calf what is it that brought this man into the presence of Christ it's the Word of God it's the same thing that brought pastor Doug into the presence of Christ I read Matthew Mark Luke and John I read about Jesus and I had an encounter a personal encounter where I saw him as my savior and I heard him say son your sins are forgiven that man was so happy his sins were forgiven now that's where we all start when you first come to the cross and you kneel at the cross you ask God to forgive you and then a lot of other things may change afterward well they will change when the religious leaders that we're listening to Jesus say son your sins were forgiven that really bothered them because the Bible says God and God only can forgive sin was Jesus God is Jesus God Jesus is God the Son he said before Abraham was I am Jesus was God and he could forgive sin there is no Savior besides of Jehovah and Jesus is Jehovah the Son and they said why does this man speak blasphemies like this who can forgive sin but God alone you know one of the definitions for God the Bible says God and God only knows the thoughts of your heart 2nd Kings chapter 8 I believe verse 32 only God knows the thoughts of your heart the devil might look at your expression when you're praying and he can kind of guess what you're thinking when he tempts you but the devil cannot read your mind sometimes Karen can look at me she knows what I'm thinking where she's close sometimes she thinks she knows what I'm thinking she's wrong sometimes she's right I've never understood what she's thinking I just let you know that right now I'm not sure there's a man out there that understands what a woman is thinking but Jesus knows what you thinking he can read your heart he know what he knew that they were thinking who is this man that speaks blasphemies who can forgive sin but God alone and Jesus knowing what he was thinking he says which would be greater to say to this man's son your sins are forgiven or to say to him rise up take your bed and walk now Jesus is Skeen which is greater actually they thought the greater thing was physical healing that wasn't the greater thing the greater thing was the spiritual healing but he wanted to give them proof now you know what Jesus could have said to that man son your mistakes are forgiven you he didn't say mistakes he could have son the son your your faults are forgiven you your misinterpretations are forgiven you your your being a victim is forgiven you you know what Jesus called it sin you know what sin is transgression of the law Jesus called it what it was we're living in a culture today where we're afraid to call sin sin if someone is a drunk we say he's struggling with alcohol abuse we blame the alcohol if somebody beats their wife we say they've got a family dysfunction if someone is living immorally we call it an alternate lifestyle we've got all these delicate words for sin but the Bible says the penalty for sin is death Jesus got right to the heart of what the problem was if you go to the doctor and you say what is this red mark on my skin and the doctor doesn't want to hurt your feelings and so he says it's just a little rash I'll give you some ointment the doctor is thinking they got deadly skin cancer unless I operate you want the doctor to call it a rash and you want the doctor to tell you that's deadly it must be removed don't you want the doctor to be honest with you don't you want the pastor's to be honest with you are you sure you have IR that man we are paralyzed by sin we need to come into the presence of Jesus and we've got to get our friends to carry us who are our friends I told you what their names are Matthew Mark Luke and John are you reading your Bible you know I know there's you're in a Christian school some of you are required to take Bible I suppose all of you required to take Bible right I know we have visitors from the community but I'm especially talking to the students now if you are not required would you still talk to Matthew Mark Luke and John because they're gonna bring you into the presence of Jesus where your sins are gonna be forgiven and your life is gonna be changed well let's read on and find out what happened he knew what they were thinking he said what he thinks greater to say your sins are forgiven or to say arise take up your bed and walk but that you might know that the Son of man has power on earth to heal from paralysis that what he said that you might know that the Son of man has power on earth to straighten out the government may call the police honest may call the politicians honest to heal you from all your physical problems no he said that you might know that the Son of man has power to forgive sin what is it he wants us to know that you can be forgiven some of you think and I've seen so much I hope you know what's amazing to me is when I was a teenager I thought how could God forgive me because my record of sin is so big I was only a teenager and I thought I was a bigger sinner than God was a savior isn't that silly I used to sell firewood and I would split firewood all day long I used to swing a splitting maul that weighs 16 pounds the end of the axe was 16 pounds we called it the bruiser and I was strong I know I'm little but I was strong okay and I remember one day I took out my son Micah he was about five years old he wanted to help cut firewood and I gave him a little hand axe you know little little chopping axe he came out and it would be like my son Micah saying when I go to pick up his axe Oh daddy you can't pick that up my little axe is too heavy with little accents this big he says too heavy I'll carry it for you three it's too heavy I'm carrying a 16 pound splitting maul you're telling me I can't pick up your little bitty axe some of us do that to Jesus the Bible says Jesus died for the sins of the whole world and you think your sin is too heavy for him that's silly you are not a better sinner than Jesus is a savior God wants you to know that the Son of man has power to forgive sin and when he forgives your sin he gives you power to live a new life what do you think the power is about the power is not just a wipe away sin the power is to save you from sin you will call his name Jesus for he will save people from their sins I struggled with drinking God saved me from drinking I don't drink anymore I struggled with smoking God saved me from smoking I don't smoke anymore I struggle with immorality praise God he saved me from that I am a faithful husband whatever your sins are he can save you from that God was not done saving me I mean this things I still need to work on but I believe that the same God that brought me that far can bring me all the way he has power on earth to forgive your sins whatever the sins are that you struggle with he wants to forgive you that means he wants to save you from sin you want to know what sin is selfishness anything that is not love anything that is not a faith breaking the Ten Commandments lying stealing committing adultery Sabbath breaking all of it that's sin he saves you from yours and he gives you a new heart a new mind and he wants you to know he has power to do that so he then does a miracle to prove that he says but that you might know that the Son of man has power on earth to forgive sin he turns from the religious leaders he looks into the face of the paralyzed man he says I say to you arise take up your bed and go to your house and at the word of Christ that man who had been all twisted up and paralyzed because of his sin all of a sudden his muscles relaxed the new circulation floated to his limbs and his hands became supple and open and his muscles began to flex and he gained control and he unfolded his arms and then he moved his legs and everybody's looking at this man on the stretcher on this bed and there go and they say what a miraculous thing and he sits up and his face is already beaming because his sins are forgiven that's the main thing he wanted and he obeys the word of God and he's not believing it's real it's almost surreal to him he stands up and his body is tingling with vitality and his toes and his feet all are working and he gets up and why they're all watching he still thinks it's a dream he rolls up his bed and he throws it over his shoulder and he can't wait to go home and tell his family that they don't have to care for him anymore because he's paralyzed he can work for himself and his friends are up on the roof and they're jumping up and down on the whole roof is shaking and the dust is falling down and then either people are rejoicing but the scribes they're mad think about that they're mad that Jesus had healed this man because he claimed that he could forgive sin the Bible says immediately he rose up and he took his bed and he went out in the presence of them all so they were all amazed you know we call our ministry amazing facts the main amazing fact is the amazing fact of salvation all the other amazing facts we point back to the amazing facts of salvation and they were all amazed and they glorified God saying we never saw anything like this before it was a miracle but it's a miracle that Jesus does all the time have you been paralyzed by sin and I want you to notice something all of us are a combination of two things you've got a spiritual nature been made in the image of God and we are not like animals we are spiritual creatures and we are also physical we've got a carnal side we've all got animal desires you get hungry and you eat you get thirsty you need a drink Jesus had both Jesus was a human he got tired he went to sleep in the boat that was the physical side he got thirsty on the cross he said I thirst he got lonely he told his friends pray with me Jesus had all the same feelings you have the Bible says he was tempted in all points like you are yet without sin the Bible says Elisha who's in heaven now he was a man subject to the same passions as you and yet he overcame and he has eternal life so you can overcome the physical now we've got the spirit in the flesh Jesus when the disciples fell asleep praying he said the Spirit is willing but the flesh is weak the Bible says the flesh wars against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh we got these two things this man before he came to Jesus was carried by his bed that bed is a symbol of the carnal nature it was a dirty bed he got this poor crippled paralyzed man laying on this bed all the time and it's carrying him around he can't go anywhere without the bed carrying him before you are saved you are carried by the lower nature you're carried by the flesh it's not much different than the way you train animals you're always worried what my friends think I'm gonna do I want to I wonder what they're gonna think of me or you know you train an animal you train an animal by you rewarded with food or something at once physically you punish it with pain or you praise it you provide or food or water you punish it with pain or you praise it that's how an animal operates Jesus never made a decision based on the lower nature he made a decision based on the will of God even though he didn't want to go to the cross he said father if there's any other way the flesh recoils at this but not my will your will be done I will be controlled by the spirit when you choose to follow Jesus you are set free from the carnal nature now you still got it but it doesn't control you when this man was forgiven by Jesus no longer did the bed carry him he picked up the bed and he carried it now I'm a Christian but I still have a carnal nature Paul had it all so I got this wrestling match going on inside how do I get the victory he said praise the lord romans chapter 8 through jesus christ i will not walk after the flesh but after the spirit after this man came to Jesus after he discovered that Jesus has power to forgive and save from sin now the bed no longer carried him he got up completely healed he wrapped and tied up that bed and he carried it when you're a Christian you'll still have temptation you still have the carnal nature but it doesn't rule you anymore the Bible says you may still have battles you may fall but what is on the throne of your life the Spirit does not reign in your flesh anymore it's the Lord that reigns in your flesh am i making sense we're talking about the simple gospel friends I've got just a couple of presentations here I want to make sure you understand that Jesus has power on earth to forgive your sins that you cannot be controlled by the crowd that you need to think Berta Klee not horizontal you need to lift up your eyes to the Lord in our kind introduction our leader here told us I used to be a pilot well I am a pilot I recently sold my airplane we had an airplane for over 20 years and we're building a church in Sacramento and we asked our members to make a sacrifice and so we thought we should make a sacrifice so it was painful but we sold the plane and I remember hearing about a pilot one time that he was in the last guy and there was a wolf that had been killing this farmers animals and so he went out in the snow one day with his plane he landed the plane has skis on it he landed he found out where the wolf was he tracked it he shot this great big male alpha wolf 150 pound wolf shot it in the head killed it he thought it's got a very nice hide I want to show the rancher so he threw it in the back of his plane wrapped the head up with a blanket so it wouldn't bleed through it in the back of the plane he took off flying and after he took off flying he's way up in the air all of a sudden he heard something in the back of the plane well it turns out he didn't kill the wolf that the bullet hit the wolf's skull and skipped off his skull and the wolf just got knocked out now he's up in this airplane up in the flying up there all by himself and he got a wolf in the plane what do you do the thing is growling in the back of the plane and he's afraid it's gonna leap on him you can have this terrible battle it's trying to get out and he had to find his revolver in the plane and there's this terrible battle that ensued because he knew that only one of them it could be the pilot of that plane I heard another story about a pilot that was flying and he heard this noise and it was and then he looked on the floorboard of his plane and he saw little droppings from a rat oh no while my plane was parked a rat moved into the instrument panel of my plane now if a rat begins to chew the wires and the plane instruments short out or the shoe through the Magneto you can lose power and crash and he didn't know what to do he was out in the middle of nowhere he couldn't land the plane and so then he realized rats do not breathe well at high altitude humans will survive better at high altitude than a rat so he gave the plane power and he began to fly higher and soon he heard the chewing stop and then it was quiet and then a rat fell out from underneath the instrument panel on by his feet you got the devil is trying to chew away at your life and he will make the plane crash the secret is you got to go higher you need to fly higher you need to come to Jesus and it means you may need to come through the roof because you're looking up and if you are find yourself at the feet of Jesus you need to spend some time with Matthew Mark Luke and John those four friends will bring you into the presence of Jesus and He will say son daughter your sins are forgiven you rise up and walk take up your bed and walk you will walk in a new walk you will live a new life where you are not carried by the bed anymore Christ will rule in your life would you like to have that experience friends knowing your sins are forgiven having peace in your heart God's got a special plan for you especially you young people you're thinking what is God's plan for my life he will do for you what he did for me I was a young person I gave my heart to Jesus and it has been a wonderful adventure some young people think all I don't want to be a Christian they can't drink and they can't use drugs and do all the wild things and how how they can have any fun that's a lie I have more fun than any of my old friends many of them are dead now some of them are in jail I have free I travel the world my life is exciting we laugh you can talk to the amazing facts team as we've been hearing we've had so much fun being a Christian is an abundant life so you got to come to Jesus Hill sin forgive your sins and then you'll really begin to live would you like to have that experience can I ask you we're gonna have a closing song in just a moment would you bow your heads for a moment just close your eyes and bow your heads please I don't know where you are in your relationship with Jesus I don't know if you've been spending time with him I don't know if you have a personal relationship with him but he wants to say to you tonight son daughter I want you to have power to live a new life and forgive your sins you just come to him the way you are paralyzed with sin we're all paralyzed but he can set you free and heal you you just come and ask him would you like to accept that healing and that forgiveness tonight if that's your desire would you lift your hand in his presence now say Lord I want that new life I want that deliverance thank you thank you Father in Heaven we've talked about the simple gospel of how we can live above the crowd and I pray that each person who is coming to you now will experience that freedom and that power that joy of knowing all of their sins their paralysis is healed their sin is forgiven and they can have peace that they can begin a new life for the new walk with you and they may stumble and fall off along the way but they don't need to be ruled anymore by that lower nature they can now be ruled by Jesus that will give them a new heart and live in their life help them to experience that conversion pour out your spirit on us for this Sabbath day as we meet together and I pray wonderful things will happen because of the power of your word we give you the glory we praise you and thank you in Jesus name

Channel: Newman Kamei

Views: 7,744

Rating: 4.908257 out of 5

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Id: vHtSKe-506Q

Length: 56min 52sec (3412 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 16 2018