“ONE MAN CAME TO JESUS”
Allan H. Kircher
www.planttheseedministries.org
Sept 2007
And because of that A REVIVAL HAS HAPPENED
Today we will be looking at the 2nd chapter of Mark, verses 1-12.
The house was filled; it was filled with anticipation of hearing the good news of the gospel.
Almost 2000 years ago Jesus filled the house, a house in Capernaum.
Today we fill the house with a revival of the Holy Spirit. A spirit that is alive. The same spirit Jesus shared in Capernaum.
This all began when a man with Leprosy came to Jesus and begged him on his knees and ask “If you are willing”.
“If you are willing” “If you are willing”
I pray today that it doesn’t take a life threatening disease to say “If you are willing”.
Jesus is always willing. AMEN
You see----the man with Leprosy probably thought he was too despicable to get clean…..
Jesus said “I am willing” “be clean”
Can you imagine the euphoria that came over this man.
Then Jesus said “see that you don’t tell anyone of this”
PAUSE REPEAT PAUSE
When you accepted Jesus into your heart, could you hold that to yourself.
Weren’t you just exploding with the Holy Spirit, so much so that you had to run and tell everyone?
You were walking around with a glow of the spirit.
Hebrew 2:14 tells us “For we have shared in Christ, if we hold our first confidence firm to the end.
So this man whom Jesus saved went out spreading the news-- and as a result-- Jesus could no longer openly enter a town but stayed outside in lonely places.
PRAY PRAY PRAY PRAY PRAY
Mark 2:1-2 A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. 2 So many gathered that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them.
Note what Jesus did, He preached the Word to them.
He peaked their curiosity first with healings of the spirit of God.
Then they came. They came and filled the house.
Some may have come for a cure, such as palsy or Leprosy…..
Some may have come out of curiosity……
Some may have come to catch sight of Him…….
But when they came together He preached to them…..
To proclaim the word of God to men who were lost eternally.
We are here today…together in the house of the Lord…..AMEN….
In the twenty first century……in the house of the Lord there is no difference today then 2000 years ago.
Some of you come here today for a cure, just as they did 2000 years ago.
Leprosy today is alcohol, anger, nicotine, drugs, and promiscuous sexual activity etc.,
So you come today to look and find that cure….
Well, brother Allan, I don’t have those issues……..OK
Leprosy today is gossip, enabling, co-dependency, bitterness, strife, overeating, anxiety
You need to come clean from these…..
So you come today to look and find that cure….
Well, brother Allan, I don’t have those issues…..OK
Leprosy today is covetousness, and being idle as a Christian.
You didn’t think you were going to get out of this that easy and be the one that has no problems and does not need a cure……
Let me tell you my friends, we all have Leprosy of some kind, and we all need a cure…..
Some of them back then filled the house out of curiosity.
Some of us come every week peaked by our curiosity….
Your curiosity may be that you are still driving in your own will and you are seeking the willing physician to fish you out of your indecision.
Your curiosity may be that you look through the scriptures searching for the answers to satisfy your curiosity of the savior.
You may have come for some guiding light spoken through the words today to make sense of your curiosity.
But you have come into the house, the same as they did 2000 years ago.
You have come to seek righteousness in your life.
Step out in faith and trust in the Lord your God. He and He alone can and will satisfy your longings of curiosity.
Jesus is the only one to satisfy your curiosity. AMEN He is our Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer.
And some came back then to the house to catch site of Him.
Nothing has changed, some of us come today to catch site of Him.
IF you are not in the spirit of God, you cannot see Him. 1 Cor 2:14.
IF you are of the spirit of God you can see right now.
You can catch site of Him right now. There are 100 or so Jesus’ sitting here today in this congregation.
AND YOU CAN DO GREAT THINGS….AMEN
John 14:12 says “anyone who has faith in me will do what I am doing, he will do even greater things cause I will go to the Father.
Can you believe that? Is that not the most awesome thing you have heard? That is a PROMISE OF GOD…..
Each and everyone of you in here today that has accepted Jesus in their lives can and will do mighty things.
He is here today, He is willing today, and HE is here to proclaim the word of God to men who are lost eternally. AMEN
May the glory of God be lifted high….. AMEN
Life verse 2 Cor 5:17 “ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, you are a new creation, the old is gone, the new has come.
I CALL IT THE DOOR VERSE, In order for the door to open in your walk in sanctification and grow in salvation, you need a hinge to pivot the door.
And the hinge verse that is connected to the door is the previous two verses.
2 Cor 5:15-16 and He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died for them and was raised again. 16 so from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view, though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer.
Each and everyone of us in the house are new creations through His love and mercy, and compassion and grace.
May God be glorified in all we do.
Mark 2:3-4 “Some men came bringing to Him a paralytic, carried by four of them 4 Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they make an opening in the roof above Jesus and, after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on.
These four men weren’t worried about themselves. They were caring for their friend. And they were determined.
They went to the roof and cut a hole and lowered him down.
That’s what we need to do as Christians. Spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Heb 10:24
We need to place each other up on that mat and lower ourselves down to Jesus. HUMBLE OURSELVES
This man had Palsy. He could not walk himself. He was crippled. He was at rock bottom.
HE was at rock bottom. You know what rock bottom is…..Jesus….AMEN
The only thing you can do when your at rock bottom is look up.
And when your looking up, the only thing you see is Jesus…Hallelujah. Praise God.
You don’t know God is all you need until God is all you got.
For some of us it takes getting palsy to find Jesus…to hit rock bottom.
For some of us it’s a simple act of faith….
Rom 10:9 says “if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and know in your heart God raised Him from the dead you will be saved”
And all of God’s children said…..
For some of us that’s as simple as it gets, yet some of us need to be stricken down to rock bottom to be delivered into glory.
Those four men represented faith in Jesus. Today it represents how Christians pray for each other when our brothers and sisters are in need.
We lower our brothers and sisters to the Lord through that clay roof in prayer.
James 5:16 “ Confess your sins to each other, pray for each other so that you may be healed, the prayer of the righteous man is powerful and effective”.
When Jesus
READ OUT OF JAMES FIRST 3 VERSES AND LAST IN 5TH CHAPTER
Reemphasize the prayer of faith…………
Mark 2:5 “when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “son, your sins are forgiven”
We need to have true saving faith. True saving faith. True saving faith.
Jesus didn’t say anything of the faith of the paralytic, but of the four who brought him to Jesus.
He forgave the sins of the paralytic because He is a forgiving God and of the faith of the others.
Jesus heals people through your faithful prayers for them.
Jesus protects people through your faithful prayers for them.
Jesus restores people through your faithful prayers for them.
Jesus brings back your children through the faithful prayers for them.
Jesus brings your husband back to life through your faithful prayers for him.
Jesus brings your family together through your faithful roof dropping prayers.
Cut a hole in that roof and lower people down to the Lord in prayer.
The same faith those four men had 2000 years ago.
May God be glorified in our presence today.
Sin is the procuring cause of all our pains and sicknesses.
You see, forgiving the mans sins was far more important than healing him….AMEN….REPEAT….
The most important thing is to seek forgiveness.
Now listen to this….
The word of Christ was to take his thoughts off the disease, which was the effect, and lead them to the sin, the cause, that he might be more concerned about that, to get that pardoned.
God takes away the sting of our sicknesses when he forgives sin.
Jesus wishes for a man to live eternally, not just for a few short years.
But before we can live eternally, we must willingly come to Jesus for forgiveness of sins.
The way to remove the effect is, to take away the cause.
The way to remove the effects of alcohol Is to believe in the promises of God.
The way to remove the effects of bitterness Is to believe in the promises of God.
The way to remove the effects of idleness Is to believe in the promises of God.
The way to remove the effects of gossip Is to believe in the promises of God.
If we believe in the promises of God, “Love your neighbor, as you love yourself”.
We wouldn’t have the effect of gossip.
If we believe in the promises of God, “quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to become angry because man’s anger does not bring into the righteous life God desires.
We would not have the effect of anger/bitterness.
If we believe in the promises of God, “do not be anxious about anything, but everything in prayer and petition with thanksgiving present your request to God and the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and mind in Christ Jesus.
We would not have the effect of worrying, anxiety
Pardon of sin strikes at the root of all diseases and either cures them, or alter their property…..AMEN.
If you look at verse 6-10 is says “some teachers of the law were sitting there thinking to themselves, 7why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone? 8 Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them. “Why are you thinking these things? 9 Which is easier to say to the paralytic “your sins are forgiven or to say ‘get up take your mat and walk?’10 But that you may know the Son of Man has authority on Earth to forgive sins.
In his spirit, he knew what they were thinking.
Jesus knows your true heart. Jesus knows what you’re thinking.
Jesus knows what you’re going to be doing tomorrow.
Jesus knows what you’re going to be doing in 3 months.
You cannot hide from Jesus.
Now that you are a child of God, God loves you and is in you.
Life verse Phil 2:13 “for it is God who lives in you to will and act according to His own will”
That was the door verse, now lets look at the hinge verse that opens that verse, it is 14-16 “do everything without complaining or arguing so that you may become blameless and pure children of God in a crooked and depraved generation in which you shine like stars in the universe in order that you may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing.
Jesus knows exactly what man thinks, his motives, his reasoning.
Jesus revealed His God like wisdom and fearlessness.
He knows the sinfulness of your sins and the particulars of them, and yet is ready to pardon them. AMEN
Jesus proclaimed and stated His purpose to prove that He is the Son of Man.
Praise God, can you imagine sitting in that house in the presence of the living God and Jesus stating He is the Son of God!
WOW, this is all free…….
Then Jesus said in verse 11-12 “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home. 12 He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they Praised God, saying “we have never seen anything like this!”
The man walked before all as a living testimony to the power of Jesus to forgive and heal a man’s whole being.
A long time ago, I was on his knees begging Jesus, “I have leprosy, I have alcohol, bitterness, rage, nicotine, unbelief, Jesus “If you are willing”
Jesus looked at me and said, “I am willing be clean”.
Jesus has said to me “I tell you, get up, take your mat of alcohol and go home. And they all stood amazed the changed life and said we have never seen anything like this!
A long time ago, Joy was on her hands and knees begging Jesus, “I have leprosy, I have an alcoholic husband, I have a son that is not living with me, I have anger, and she said Jesus If you are willing”.
Jesus looked at her and said, “I am willing be clean”.
Jesus has said to Joy “I tell you, get up, take your mat of anger and go home.
And they all stood amazed at her changed life and said we have never seen anything like this!
Jesus says to each and every one of us “I tell you, get up, take your mat of idleness and go home. And they all stood amazed.
And this will happen because every one will stand amazed at the light that shines through you.
It is the very light that parted the red sea,
It is the very light that soaked in Job’s soul through the test he endured,
It is the very light that persevered in Joseph when he was sold into slavery,
It is the very light that shined in Elijah as he faced 450 of Baal’s prophets,
It is the very light that slain the lion, the bear, and the giant.
It is the very light that was in the Lion’s den.
It is the very light that was in the darkness of the belly of the whale.
It is the very light that strummed the harp for Samuel to calm his evil spirit.
It is the very same light that shines through each and every one of us.
Jesus is the light, the guiding light. Do not douse the light that shines in you.
Jesus forgives the sin of any man, no matter how terrible the sin.
He replaces that sin with an endless light that shines through you.
When a man’s sins are forgiven, it should dramatically affect both him and those who know him.
However, the great tragedy is that few pay attention to the claim that sins are forgiven.
They ignore the fact and go on their merry way, continuing to walk in the selfishness of this world.
No one who lives in Him keeps on sinning, no one who continues to sin has either seen Him or known Him.
You are being rather bold in here Allan.
This is the word of God; don’t take my word for it. 1 John 3:6.
Repeat …no one who lives in him keeps on sinning, no one who continues to sin has either seen Him or known Him.
This passage is not asserting sinless perfection, but explaining that a sinner’s life is characterized not by sin but by doing what is right.
You see the rest of the passage says, dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray, he who does what is right is righteous just as he is righteous, he who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s works. No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in him, he cannot go on sinning, because he is born of God. This is how we know who are the children of God are and the children of the devil, anyone who does not know what is right is not a child of God nor anyone who does not love his neighbor.
You see, we will sin today, multiple times, but as Christians and having Christ living in me, I know and can recognize sin and should do what is right.
If not, we need to reevaluate our commitment in Christ Jesus. And there’s nothing wrong with that, but you need to do it today.
Do it today before it’s too late…..
The last life verse I want to use and most of us know is
Jer 29:11 “for I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and to give you a hope and a future”.
What a great life verse. But let’s look at the hinge that opens the verse (door).
Then you will call upon me and pray and I will listen, and you will seek me and find me when you seek me with all of your heart.
In all that you do, seek Jesus. When your eating, driving, talking, walking, speaking.
Jesus says when you seek me with all of your heart. Not with some of your heart,
Not just when you need something, but in all things, all ways, with all of your heart.
Will you give all of your heart today?
Will you be that one today that comes to Jesus, just as that man with Leprosy came to Jesus 2000 years ago?
Will you be that one today to say “If you are willing, Jesus”?
You can find that cure for your Leprosy today. You can have an answer to that curiosity today. You can see Him today.
You just need to reach out and let the Savior take hold of your hand.
Let Him take hold of your hand and He will carry all those burdens for you.
