And again He entered Capernaum after some days, and it was
heard that He was in the house.
Remember, Capernaum is the fishing village of about
1,500 folks on about 15 acres on the northwest shores of the sea of Galilee in
Northern Israel.
The last time Jesus was in town He astonished them
with His teaching in the synagogue, then amazed them with His authority by
casting out a demon.
Then they went to Peter and Andrew’s house, where
Jesus healed Peter’s mother-in-law from a severe fever.
Well, you know, in small towns, news like that travels fast, and as soon the sun went down, the whole town showed up at the door with all their sick and demonized, looking for help from this astonishing, amazing, Miracle Worker.
Jesus worked long into the night healing the sick and
casting out demons.
So, it was a short night for Him because long before
dawn He slipped out into the night to get away, alone, to pray.
Eventually, Peter and crew woke up and found Him gone.
There were more people already gathering to see Him.
So, Peter and the boys hunted Him down and told
Him the crowd was waiting.
But Jesus said they needed to go to other towns and
villages to preach for that is the purpose of why He came.
As they went from town to town preaching from
synagogue to synagogue, a leper came to Him. Which broke all protocol, because
lepers were ordered to stay out in deserted places, away from people. But
he was desperate, so he came to Jesus, imploring Him, kneeling to Him, saying
to Him, “If You are willing, You can make me clean.”
Jesus moved with compassion, broke all protocol and touched the untouchable and said, “I AM willing be clean.”
Immediately the leper was clean!
Then, Jesus strictly warned him, to not
say a word to anybody but go straight to the priest and offer the offering of
cleansed lepers according to Moses.
Instead of obeying Jesus and telling nobody, the
cleansed leper went and told everybody.
We have no record that he ever went to see the priest.
Because of the lepers’ disobedience Jesus could no
longer openly go into the towns and villages to preach.
Instead, He went to deserted places, and the
crowds came to Him.
This is a beautiful picture of the Great Exchange.
Because of Jesus, the leper was able to openly go into
towns and villages.
Because of the leper, Jesus was unable to openly go
into towns and villages.
So, that tells us that Jesus and His disciples, needed
to sneak back into Capernaum, not openly, but discreetly. They quietly slipped into Peter and Andrew's place, likely, looking forward to sleeping in a house, in a bed, instead of out in deserted
places.
But, somehow, someway, somebody found out Jesus was in the house, and well, you know, in a small towns news like that travels fast.
They took His Presence seriously.
They got excited and told everybody.
They couldn’t wait to gather to see Him, hear Him.
2
Immediately many gathered together, so that there was no longer room to receive them, not even
near the door.
Like you, right?
Right here within walking distance of most of
you. Within a few keystrokes for all of you, every Sunday, every Wednesday, faithfully,
as per His promise, Jesus is in the house.
You take it seriously, right?
You tell everybody, right?
You can’t wait to gather to see Him and hear Him,
right?
No?
Why?
Once, I stood in a small gym in a small Christian school, in a small town in Oklahoma, watching kids at basketball practice.
A few feet away was a man known around the world, a
man that filled stadiums, Garth Brooks. He was watching too.
When practice was over, everyone gathered their kids
and shuffled outside. Garth happened to be parked near us in a pickup with
YEARWOOD on the license plate.
As we walked to our vehicles, there was a little small
talk, “Hi, how ya doin” stuff like that. Nobody gushed over him, no crowds
followed him, they saw him all the time, he was just one of the folks.
Maybe that’s what happened to US.
There are churches in every town and Bibles (dusty
ones) in most every house.
The sin of familiarity breeds contempt.
We no longer take His Presence or His Word seriously.
He knocks, He calls, He invites...
Let’s reason together (Isaiah 1:18).
Let’s gather together (Heb. 10:25).
Let’s study My love letter together. (2 Tim. 2:15).
We ignore His knock, reject His call, refuse to listen
to His voice.
We figure His job is to be there for us.
He needs to fit into our lifestyle.
Not us into His.
In so doing, ears grow deaf, hearts go hard, and many,
most, will miss His day of visitation.
The day when, the trump sounds, the voice calls, and
those who’ve repeatedly ignored and rejected His calls, His invitations, will
do so again, just like they’ve always done, and in the twinkling of an eye...
will be left behind.
But not you.
You are listening.
You are hearing.
You are taking His Word, His Presence, seriously.
Right?
They gathered, they packed the house, until it was
standing room only.
And He preached the Word to them.
They wanted to see the Miracle Man in
action.
Healings, and signs and wonders, and deliverances from
demons.
They needed, the Word.
So, Jesus preached the Word, to them.
Matthew
4:4
Man shall not live by bread alone but by every Word...
John
6:63
The Words I speak to you are spirit and life.
Matthew
24:35
Heaven and earth will pass away but My Words will never pass away.
Hebrews
4:12
For the Word of God is living and
powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division
of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the
thoughts and intents of the heart.
2
Timothy 3:16-17
All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable
for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that
the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.
Psalm
119:105
Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
John
1:1,14
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God... 14 and the Word became flesh and dwelt
among us.
Isaiah
40:8
The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of God endures
forever.”
2 Timothy 4:1-2
I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the
living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: 2 Preach
the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort,
with all longsuffering and teaching.
Preach the Word.
Not your word.
God’s Word.
God speaks through what God has spoken.
His Word.
Theologian, preacher, author, JI Packer said: “The
Bible is God preaching.”
As we know the, Word of God, we know the, God of the Word.
If you leave a church service with five helpful hints
to a happier life, but don’t hear a Scriptural foundation, the preacher has
failed you.
If you leave being all hyped up and encouraged to live
your best life now, but haven’t been fed the Word of God, the preacher has
failed you.
If you leave tickled by humor, entertained by music,
captivated by stories, but have not heard the Bible, the preacher has failed
you.
All too often that is what happens today.
God knew it would happen.
And as He always does, He warned us ahead of time.
Amos
8:11
“Behold, the days are coming,” says the
Lord God,
“That I will send a famine on the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for
water, but of hearing the words of the Lord.”
Behold, the days, have come.
Not that there’s any lack of the Word. It’s available
now more than it ever was. People have multiple Bibles and countless Bible
teaching at the tip of their fingers in their phone.
But they’ve largely ignored, rejected, refused, for so
long, that God has turned them over to a reprobate, corrupt, debased, strongly
deluded mind. Romans 1:28, 2 Thessalonians 2:11.
2
Timothy 4:3-5
For the time will come when they will not
endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they
have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; 4
and they will turn their ears away from the Truth, and be turned aside to
fables.
5
But you be watchful in all things, endure
afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
The days of itching ears and fables (fake news) are
here.
Most who claim Christianity, are
Biblically illiterate. Which, for a time, is fine.
What’s not fine is having no desire, nor making any
effort to learn His Word.
God commands discipleship.
The Great Commission says, “Go therefore and make disciples...”
Matt. 28:19.
That takes discipline.
Not lukewarm, non-committal laziness.
Many so called Christians treat Jesus like sleezy men
treat girls. They come and go as they please and only show up all nice and
flattery when they want something.
That is disgusting, shameful.
2
Timothy 2:15
Study to show yourself approved to God, a workman that need not
be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of Truth.
3 Then they
came to Him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men.
The man was paralyzed. He needed to see Jesus. Needed
to hear Jesus. But couldn’t do it on his own.
But he had friends. Good friends. Faithful friends.
A friend in need is a friend indeed.
These guys are the poster child for that saying.
There are people in your life that need to see
Jesus. Need to hear Jesus.
Will you show them?
Tell them?
Carry them?
Don’t worry, you don’t have to do it alone. There were
four of them.
Will you do your part? Carry your share? Be a faithful
steward with what, and who, God has given you? Plant and water, when and where,
you are able.
When you do, you can be sure, God takes notice.
4 And when they
could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He
was. So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the
paralytic was lying.
The word for bed is krabbatos: a mat or cot a poor
person would lie on.
So, these men were faithful friends, not servants, not
hired hands.
They had guts... or they were nuts.
Or, they were simply doing their part to bring someone
to Jesus, and they hit a brick wall, of people.
Which will often happen whenever you do anything for Jesus—if
it’s of God—you’ll have opposition. You’ll always have some reason to abort the
mission.
Almost every single time someone says, “That’s it I
commit to living right. I’m gonna start going to Church—”
BOOM! Everything in the world goes sideways on Church
Day. Work calls. The plumbing leaks. The car breaks. The stomach aches...
So, these faithful friends are carrying their friend
to Jesus, and perhaps God saw their labor of love, their selfless act, and when
they hit the wall, He gave them a Gift of Faith, a Holy Ghost Boldness, a
Divine Redneck Anointing.
So, perhaps instead of saying, “Sorry, buddy, we
tried, but we’re too late, the place is jammed up packed ain’t no way we’re
getting in...” Instead, they got a wild-eyed grin and said,
“Hey ya’ll watch this! We’re gonna rip off the roof!”
This was no small task. It was a heavy, messy, dirty
job. Inside and out.
Once they started cutting and digging and pulling the
roof apart, the folks below got dust, dirt, debris, sticks, thatch, and all
kinds of mess raining down on their heads.
Probably a little distracting for Jesus’s teaching.
They didn’t care about what people would think. They
didn’t consider the cost. They didn’t worry about getting a blackeye from Peter
for ripping up his roof.
Now that is some audacious, tenacious
faith.
They just knew their friend needed Jesus and it
couldn’t wait.
Remember the last time Jesus was in town? He worked late into the night, but the next morning before dawn, He was gone. (Mark 1:37-38).
They’re not taking any chances.
Neither should we.
Come hell or high water, we’re getting our
friend to Jesus.
True intercessory faith is like that. Bulldog
determined, messy, costly, sweaty... Love with skin in the game. That’s Jesus
kind of Love.
God notices that kind of faith.
That measure of Love.
Let’s pray.
Lord Jesus, help us to love like that.
Like You. Give us that redneck anointing, willing to get dirty, and ugly, and
messy and sweaty, but come hell or high water, with You as our Strength, our
Guide and our Goal, with dogged determination we won’t stop interceding, Seed
planting, digging, dragging, carrying, until we break through to You, with all
those You’ve given us, so together, we bow before You, and hear You say, “Well
done.”
Thank You.
We love You, forever.
Amen.
Prayer Requests:
Call or text: 612-554-2522
Email: pray4measap@aol.com
Facebook: Church at WPV
Books: amazon.com/author/dougspurling
Watch online:
Facebook: More Than a Miracle, Mark
2:1-4
You Tube: More Than a Miracle,
Mark 2:1-4
This was feed for you to read. Now it’s
Seed for you to sow.
