Mount Isa Baptist Church

Bringing Your Friends to Jesus

Mark 2:1-12

1st thing we need to notice:

In chapter 2, Jesus returns to Capernaum, which was His base of operations. He must have been very tired because He had been on a long tour preaching and ministering, but word quickly spread throughout the town that the Lord had returned, and the crowds, they returned and filled the home in which He was staying. No doubt they had come for more miracles, but He wasn’t working miracles. He was speaking the Word to them. preaching the gospel of God, the coming of the kingdom, the need of repentance, the need of faith, it was a message of hope, a message of liberty, the message of joy and salvation, something that they weren’t hearing from the Scribes and the Pharisees, preaching to them the gospel of God. Maybe they had come because they were curious to see what Jesus was going to do, what miracle He was going to perform. Maybe they had come because they needed healing, or maybe they just wanted to receive material blessings. Notice also that Jesus didn’t immediately begin to heal the sick; He preached the word unto them. This was His mission, the intent of His ministry. Jesus wanted men to believe on Him as the Messiah, Savior of the world. He wanted them to believe in Him, not the miracles He performed. Jesus is concerned about your physical needs, but He is far more interested in the condition of your soul.

2nd thing we need to take note of: The Paralysed Man

His life could be summed up to “dependency, humiliation, confinement, boredom, loneliness, frustration, & despair.” …until this special day! He had probably heard of this man named Jesus, who was going around and performing many miracles, and he wanted Jesus to heal him so that he could walk again. Jesus – connected the man’s physical need with his spiritual need. The physical fact was that he was a paralytic, but this man was also spiritually dead in his sins. This paralysed man believed that Jesus could heal him physically. Jesus, with compassion, looked past the man’s surface need and met His deeper need. He looked past the man’s immediate need and met His real need! Based on who He is and what He would accomplish on the cross, He extended to a paralysed sinner God’s full and complete pardon of sin. He may have needed healing, but even more, he, like all of us, needed to experience the forgiveness of sins made possible by Jesus. This man got more than he wanted, but He got what He needed.

3rd thing we need to take note of: His Friends

They did not desert him when they realized that, after carrying him so far that there was no possible way to get to Jesus. They weren’t put off by the crowd of people. Determined to get their friend to Jesus, and because they could not get in at the front door, they had to find a creative alternative, so they made an opening in the roof above Jesus. They saw what they had to do. And then they carried their friend up the stairway to the top of the roof, where they proceeded to dig up the thatch and the earth until they had dug a hole of sufficient size to lower the man down into the room below.

Notice that when the Lord saw it, He didn’t see a disturbance. He saw faith. There was nothing these men wouldn’t do that would keep them from getting their friend to the Lord. They looked at what seemed to be an impossible situation, and as they put their mind to it and they thought carefully about it, they knew what they could do, and they did it. The Lord recognized their resourcefulness and the faith that lay behind their action.

But for us this morning:

Which group do you fit into?

1st: Are you crowding out the needy? The people already present can become so preoccupied with their own relationships and agendas that they may not even see those trying to get in. Where Jesus is present, let the faces of the faithful reflect his love, and let their hands extend to greet all people. May we not be like the crowd who stopped the paralysed man getting to the only person who could heal him, spiritually as well as physically.

2nd: Are you like the paralysed person, who was fortunate enough to have friends prepared to take him to Jesus? A person who knew that Jesus was the answer. Have you come to that place where you recognize that Jesus is the answer for your spiritual need? He wants to come into your lives and bring you into a right relationship with himself.

3rd: Are you like the paralytics’ friends, taking your friends to Jesus, whatever the cost to yourself? Where you are right now, are you showing your friends the love of Jesus and bringing them to Jesus? Which group do you fall into?

Pastor Erik Sitati – From Kenya – connected through our YouTube channel.

I received an amazingly encouraging email from Kenya, which I shared parts of at the church meeting, and I encourage you to be in prayer for this church and also our YouTube ministry that we have the privilege through it to reach people across the world. We serve an amazing God.

About my church and the ministry

It is called CHRIST FELLOWSHIP CHURCH. We are located in continent of Africa in a country called Kenya. We have a small ministry, but we thank God it is growing and touching lives of others in a mighty way. We are blessed serving God with my family and brethren here. We have a heart for the ministry, our heart's desire, hunger, and thirsty is dedicated in Christ work, and we are glad being Christ's witness and ambassadors. We don't preach about ourselves, but preaching only the message of Jesus Christ as the author and finisher of our faith.

I'm much blessed being in touch with you and your beautiful church family! I just want to encourage you that we are, and we have been praying for you all as Christ coworkers in His vineyard especially in these dreadful days we are living in.

“But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”

I replied to the email that was sent, and below are some prayer requests that he has asked for:

Pastor Erik Sitati - Christ Fellowship Church prayer requests,

(1) Pray for our ongoing door to door evangelism and outreaches.

(2) Pray for ongoing church construction, pray for open doors we need iron sheets.

(3) About my community pray for thousands who are in devastating situation and starving due to lack of food and water

(4) Pray for God to provide bibles so that we may give to new converts. Below photo show our outreach meeting held recently, and the hunger people have God's Word.