Active, persistent, and determined faith in Jesus leads to a complete healing.

Sunday, July 23, 2017

Introduction and offering:

Welcome to our Summer Bible Series; we’re working our way through the gospel of Luke, “the gospel for everyone.” Last weekend, Pastor David walked us through the story of Jesus touching the leper and healing him—Jesus touched a man who was untouchable, loved a man who was unlovable and forgave a man who was unforgivable. Jesus took all the “uns” away. Don’t you love Jesus? He’s awesome—in the truest and deepest sense of that word.

Last Sunday, I was in my home town, Sweet Home, Oregon, for our extended family reunion. My mom is one of 12 kids. Ten of them are going strong; the oldest is 98 and we celebrated the youngest’s 80th birthday while we were there. And I brought my Momma home to stay a couple weeks with me—wave Mom! I’m blessed to be part of a great family!

The next best thing to great family is great friends, and today we read a story about a man who had some great friends. He was paralyzed, and these friends carried him on a stretcher to Jesus to be healed. When they couldn’t get to Jesus because of the crowd, these friends refused to give up and creatively made a way to get to Jesus. When my kids were little, we would act out Bible stories together, and since the kids are with us today, I’m going to read the story and some friends are going to help act it out.

Luke 5:17–26

17 One day Jesus was teaching, and Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there. They had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with Jesus to heal the sick. 18 Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. 19 When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus.

20 When Jesus saw their faith, he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.”

21 The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, “Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

22 Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? 23 Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? 24 But I want you to know th