Miracles Are Windows (Loritts)

Sometimes, our concept of God is tainted and restricted by where we are. We are complicating creatures as human beings; duplicitous and easily conflicted. We say "Lord I believe, but help my unbelief. We may not be able to believe what God has to say about the following scripture, says Crawford Loritts, @ http://www.fbconline.org/VisitorCenter/sermon_series.asp, until we accept that where we are is no reflection of God's ability and power in who he is. The struggles that we have, what people have done to us, the dreams delayed, the finances etc IN NO WAY MARS GOD. We have to believe that. We're no greater than our heart's theology. Continuing an ongoing series; "Jesus, the passionate servant", Crawford reviews the fact that Jesus is in a hurry to get things done in Mark. In fact, the word "immediately" is used in the Book of Mark 43 times. Jesus set the tone in his life by impressing upon us the sense of urgency. There are 3 audiences in Mark; the disciples, the crowd and the religious leaders. He had the strongest, harshest, most direct language towards the religious leaders. Jesus uses the attacks by religious leaders on Him to put the spotlight on who He really is. In Mark 2:1-12, there are 3 scenes: Scene 1) A Crowded House, Scene 2) A Conflict and Scene 3) A Dramatic Conclusion. In the first few verses, we see the "crowded house". Typically, in a Palestinian home, it could hold no more than 40 people or so and these people were probably not followers yet, but they were intrigued by His miracles, His messages and His charisma. Jesus was preaching the Word to them. He wasn't there doing magic tricks, he was there with a Purpose. As Christians, we can't separate who we are and what we do. We're here to proclaim the Truth. We have to think strategically to spread the faith. In the middle of Jesus' message, several men uncovered a piece of the roof to lower their sick friend to be healed. They were on a mission. FAITH IS ALWAYS LINKED TO DETERMINATION. Go look in Hebrews 11. You'll continually see determination. What are we willing to go after? Do not be defined by crisis, opposition or hurdles. People of great faith do not go through less than other people. In fact, they usually go through more!! Biblical faith requires determination. Many of us have been broken down by our circumstances and feel defeated. We decide to settle, as a result, with a C-. Crawford gets very frustrated with Christians who say it is not God's will because things are not happening smoothly. Don't settle for the negative! God is still at work. Are we sure that God can't work out our marriage, finances, career and dreams? Faith is paired with Determination. When the men lower their friend, they say basically three things that are implied: 1) You've got to meet Jesus. 2) He can help you. 3) We'll do whatever it takes to get you to Him. Imagine that these guys got a late start and show up with the house surrounded. They go to the stairs to get as close as they can. There were often stairs to the roofs of the Palestinian houses because residents would go up top to cool off at night. So, these guys looked at their buddy and they looked at the obstacle between Jesus and him; the roof. What are we willing to do for the Kingdom or for our friends? It must have been a wonderful scene seeing them lower their friend. But, then there is a conflict. Jesus says, "Your sins are forgiven." What? Isn't it interesting that Jesus addresses the spiritual need first? He didn't always do this, but he was probably setting the priority for the scribes. Suppose this guy can walk around, but what if he still goes to Hell? In the house, there was a VIP section occupied by the scribes. A scribe was generally referred to religious leaders or experts of the Law. They were probably there for disingenuious reasons. But they were questioning Jesus in their hearts. "Who does this man think he is to forgive sins?" Jesus IMMEDIATELY turns to them and says, "Which is it easier to say, 'Your sins are forgiven' or 'Rise up and Walk.'"? They couldn't answer, because either way, He would prove He was God. In Summer of 1997, Crawford was in the Bull Ring in England. Many people would come to hear anyone who would speak in the Ring. Crawford was part of an evangelistic outreach and "there was this dood who was saying nasty things to me." But more and more people stopped to see the conflict. Crawford responded by telling the crowd that Jesus loved the guy and died for him. The conflict became a segway to the message! In verse 10, Jesus performs the miracle to authenticate the fact that He is the Son of God. He commands the man to walk and the man IMMEDIATELY rose and walked out to the crowd, who had "never seen anything like this". What did the crowd think about this? What did they believe? We get so accustomed to God working that we forget He's working. There are miracles everywhere. "I've seen miracles after miracles in the lives of people of this church...We should celebrate this more often...It's a dangerous thing to make Jesus too much like us...It's a dangerous thing." The scribes came to discredit Jesus. Here is what He said back to them. He demonstrates three attributes of God; His holiness, His omniscence (He knew what they were thinking) and His power. Yet there is a tenderness in this story. In verse 5, He says to the sick man, "My son". Jesus wants to demonstrate for us His holiness, His omniscence, His power, but mostly His Love!

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