WEBVTT 00:01.200 --> 00:09.320 All right, I unlocked my flannel closet. The leaves are falling. Which means it is also officially our. 00:09.320 --> 00:12.960 Annual emergency preparedness reminder. 00:13.600 --> 00:14.400 So real quick. 00:14.480 --> 00:23.120 Oh, someone's. Someone is an HR director. Awesome. This is important. 00:23.360 --> 00:30.500 We love to do this. Just as an opportunity to remind us if, I think, if anything ever happens, any kind of emergency on a Sunday. 00:30.500 --> 00:36.860 Morning while we're here, we'll let you know. But we want to just real quick give you a reminder of this so that we are. 00:37.100 --> 00:38.820 We know we're thinking about it, and. 00:38.820 --> 00:40.260 We also want all of you to think about it. 00:40.260 --> 00:47.260 If you're on a team like which most people are right, to run a church our size, everyone's in. 00:47.420 --> 00:53.420 And so if you're a hospitality or a kids team or helping out in some way, you may have more instructions from your team. 00:53.660 --> 01:06.140 But just generally here at Hope, it's helpful to know some things. So first, if there is an emergency, like a fire alarm went off or we needed to move people or tell people to stay still, the first thing is to stay calm. 01:06.140 --> 01:07.740 And so we will have people in. 01:07.740 --> 01:24.620 The doorways screaming to stay calm and just listen to them. And. No, but I know that seems obvious. Maybe, but maybe. Take a breath. We have thought about this. We do have plans, in fact, taped right on this, this stand and some other stands is a more detailed plan. 01:24.620 --> 01:26.020 Of what to do in different scenarios. 01:26.100 --> 01:27.450 And. And if you just stay calm, we. 01:27.450 --> 01:31.330 Can say, hey, here's the plan. Here's what we're doing. Here's what's coming next. 01:31.890 --> 01:33.170 Secondly, just helpful. 01:34.050 --> 01:45.010 Stay calm. Stay calm, everyone. Oh, might be the end of the life of our laptop here, friends. We might be seeing it wither away these last few weeks. 01:45.650 --> 01:59.550 Secondly, I'll just say them, listen for instructions, because we might lose things like technology or lights might go out. Listen for instructions. We do have instructions for all things. And if you can just stay calm and. And listen, we'll tell you exactly where to go. A lot of things are to leave. 01:59.550 --> 02:04.150 The building and go out to the parking lot or maybe just stay still right here and stay calm. 02:04.630 --> 02:12.790 And lastly, if you see something, say something. And so it does not hurt to do that. And it's always helpful. So if something seems different or off. 02:12.790 --> 02:15.190 Or you go, huh, I wonder what is going on there? 02:15.830 --> 02:18.230 That's wonderful. Sometimes there's other people in the building. 02:18.310 --> 02:19.550 You may notice this. 02:19.550 --> 02:24.210 And many of you say something. And often it's because there's like a volleyball tournament in one of the gyms. 02:24.210 --> 02:29.250 And people wander into here and they go, this Isn't volleyball? You say, nope. 02:29.250 --> 02:32.450 So it's great. And you say, hey, I don't. Just so you know, some people were. 02:32.450 --> 02:36.890 In here, they had a bunch of bags and they look like volleyball players. We're like, oh, great, we'll check it out. 02:36.970 --> 02:39.490 Please always say something. That is one of the best ways. 02:39.490 --> 02:42.490 For us just to stay safe and keep each other safe. 02:42.570 --> 02:44.050 Also, if you just saw something or. 02:44.050 --> 02:47.770 Smelled something or if there was smoke coming out of something, like, always say something. 02:47.770 --> 02:52.250 So that's the best way for us generally to stay safe and handle emergencies. 02:52.250 --> 02:56.110 And we promise we'll let you know what to do and where to go from there. I'm just. 02:56.110 --> 02:57.110 I want to pray this. 02:57.830 --> 03:16.030 Although we're just quick reminder, it still can maybe stir up like, whew, there. There can be emergencies. And so let's just pray that there wouldn't be and that we know God is still in the midst of all this, no matter what. So let me pray for us as we move to our time of getting the word. 03:16.030 --> 03:21.150 Lord, thanks that you have given us this place, these people. We don't know what's coming. 03:21.150 --> 03:42.270 But you do. Always. And you already know and you already have plans. You're with us now, and you'll be with us then. But we do pray protection over our church, our kids, these hallways, all these things as we meet, that you would allow us to continue meeting in a safe place, in a helpful place. 03:42.750 --> 03:46.390 But if something happens, Lord, we pray that you would guide us, that you'd. 03:46.390 --> 04:13.860 Help us, give us wisdom, give us the right voice, keep us calm and all those things. We know that you're in the middle of that, and it also can feel like a lot. And so I just pray that we would cling to you and know that you are safe, you are a rock that we can hide in you always in all situations and even those that are coming that we don't know about. We pray this in Jesus. Good, good name. Amen. All right. I was trying hard to think of a cool segue. There's not one. 04:14.340 --> 04:16.820 But I read this incredible story this. 04:16.820 --> 04:18.190 Week, these last few weeks. 04:18.190 --> 04:48.460 I discovered someone that I want you to meet today. Today you're going to meet kind of a few different people, other people who love Jesus in the world that maybe you didn't know one who is still living. Who's this incredible person named Kevin Chandler? Maybe you've heard of him. Now that I've discovered him and his life, I noticed I ran into him other places and interviews and stories. This is him on the back of his friend here. And they have this incredible journey. 04:48.700 --> 04:53.420 There's this book he wrote and actually just released a kid's book also of this cool journey. 04:53.740 --> 05:09.300 He was born with spinal muscular atrophy, type 2. And so he really struggles and mostly cannot use a lot of his body. And so a lot of the time he finds himself in a wheelchair. He actually needs help like eating and. 05:09.300 --> 05:14.790 Bathing and doing most things, moving around his house or wherever he is. 05:15.110 --> 05:17.590 And he tells his story in a book. 05:17.670 --> 05:19.110 I'm going to quote here in a second. 05:19.430 --> 05:37.680 Tells a story. It actually talks about this importance as believers in the gospel of people being in need. It's actually a good thing. This is what we were made to be. People who are in need and had to help one another. But ultimately, if we're not in need, then we don't need a savior to rescue us. We don't need God. And that is actually the best place. 05:37.680 --> 05:39.560 We can be in is this place of need. 05:39.560 --> 06:03.380 And so he tells this incredible story. Now, this is a picture of him and his friends. They were talking about traveling and he said, oh, I'd love to see China, but how in the world, right? It's not accessible. I want to climb the wall of China, but I can't in my wheelchair. And they said, well, that isn't. That's not going to stop us. And they essentially took a backpacking backpack and they made it work for him and they carried him all over the world. 06:04.100 --> 06:05.620 Being it's the coolest. 06:05.620 --> 07:05.830 This group of friends traveled all over the place. And they didn't just like take a bus and look at the wall. There's actually part of his story is they actually. There's like these barriers that are like, hey, past here. We haven't fixed and it's really dangerous. And his friends were like, we gotta go. And so they carried him really far on the wall of China together, which is this beautiful, beautiful picture of these friends who together are doing all these things. It makes me when you think like, oh, do I have a need? Do I need help? I want to fight that. Sometimes I want to maybe hide that because I feel this pressure or maybe culturally dislike. That's the opposite of what we want everyone to think we're sufficient and we can do it. And we got this and we want to be the maximize everything and be excellent everything. And then you see a picture of this. These are just a group of friends who are trying to figure out how to help all of them, including their friend who needs to be carried there and not Only on this trip do they just carry him. Like they have to carry him. 07:05.990 --> 07:07.550 They have to help bathe him, feed. 07:07.550 --> 07:09.710 Him, and then figure out if you just think, if you've been to any. 07:09.710 --> 07:13.950 Other culture, it's hard enough to adjust and they're helping him adjust all that well. 07:13.950 --> 07:22.110 He also wrote this book with his friend Tommy called the Hospitality of Need. And the book is anchored. It starts in the story of Mark. 07:22.110 --> 07:23.430 2, which is where we're at today. 07:23.510 --> 07:25.350 The story of the man being lowered. 07:26.190 --> 07:28.190 Into a house and healed by Jesus. 07:28.750 --> 07:31.510 But Kevin says this about it, like generally about his friends. 07:31.510 --> 07:34.190 I think this is really helpful. As we move into this time, the. 07:34.190 --> 07:43.070 Experience turned my understanding of need. This experience of having to be helped all the time turned my understanding of need and care upside down. 07:43.230 --> 07:46.110 To be intentional with a peer to peer caregiving approach. 07:46.430 --> 07:54.920 I now invite friends into my needs for them to take care of me and me to take care of them. We each have unique needs and gifts and we bring them all with us. 07:54.920 --> 07:58.640 Into this space of healing and growth. It's the Holy Spirit living in these. 07:58.640 --> 08:00.480 Friends and in me who escorts us. 08:00.480 --> 08:14.280 Into deeper fellowship through the doors called need. It's really powerful and really cool. I also, when I hear this, I go, that's really cool. There's no way, like I, I want. 08:14.280 --> 08:15.240 To be in a place where I. 08:15.240 --> 08:18.240 Go, yeah, I would like to be. 08:18.240 --> 08:21.600 Really uncomfortable and probably interrupted a lot. 08:21.600 --> 08:24.560 And maybe not get to do all the things I want to do to help someone. 08:24.560 --> 08:30.320 But that, like, it feels like one of those, like church stories where you go, that's incredible. They did that. 08:30.560 --> 08:32.640 But there's no way today I want. 08:32.640 --> 08:34.680 To encourage us sit for a little. 08:34.680 --> 08:37.040 Bit here in the story of the. 08:37.040 --> 08:38.520 Man being lowered into the house in. 08:38.520 --> 08:41.040 Mark 2, the beginning of Mark 2, sit in the story. 08:41.920 --> 08:52.150 It's going to hopefully encourage us. This isn't actually that far off. It actually is this beautiful thing that we're given. And I think it's going to hopefully highlight a few people in the story. 08:52.150 --> 08:53.550 Are going to help us understand maybe. 08:53.550 --> 08:55.310 Where we're at and help us continue. 08:55.310 --> 08:58.310 To move towards Jesus, which is what changes us into these things. 08:58.310 --> 09:07.030 So today we're in Mark 2 and my hope is maybe we could, if we don't feel this, maybe we do feel this, we could better understand what. 09:07.030 --> 09:09.590 Leads you to a place where this. 09:09.590 --> 09:13.280 Happens, like with Kevin and his friends who live together. 09:13.280 --> 09:26.600 Eventually he, on one of his trips to China meets lady and they get married and even that life, what that marriage looks like. But this mutual need and caring for each other and moving towards Jesus. 09:26.600 --> 09:34.160 Taylor So we are in Mark. We're going to read through this story. It's not real long together first, and then we're just take some time to unpack it and then hopefully at the. 09:34.160 --> 09:41.110 End here, get some time to apply a little bit of what we're looking at. Okay. When Steve was here, I listened to the. 09:41.110 --> 09:41.630 I listened. 09:41.630 --> 09:44.150 When I was gone on sabbatical, he had you stand. 09:44.150 --> 09:51.230 And I got to visit some churches this summer on sabbatical, and a few of them had people stand when they read the Word and they, like, prayed as they started. 09:51.230 --> 09:52.510 And it was really a sweet thing. 09:52.510 --> 09:53.430 So I don't know if I'll always. 09:53.430 --> 09:57.070 Do this or remember to, but I want to. I want to do it. I was like, I want to try that. 09:57.310 --> 10:14.260 It seems like a moment to say, like, we believe this is important and true. And it's a little story time for a moment. So if you'd stand with me, I'm just going to read you quick the story of the Paralytic man and his friends and some Pharisees and Jesus and. 10:14.260 --> 10:16.060 Others from Mark 2. 10:16.060 --> 10:17.260 So let me read this to you. 10:18.780 --> 10:20.860 And pray for us as we start our time here. 10:22.140 --> 10:35.670 And when he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he. He was at home. And many were gathered together, so there was no room, not even at the door. And he was preaching the word to them. And they came bringing to him a. 10:35.670 --> 10:50.830 Paralytic carried by four men. And they could not get near him because of the crowd. They removed the roof from above him. And when they had made an opening, they let him down on the bed which the paralytic lay. I don't want to miss here the slides. 10:51.150 --> 11:00.190 And then Jesus saw in their faith, he said to the paralytic son, your sins are forgiven. Now some of the scribes were sitting there questioning in their hearts, why does this man speak like this? 11:01.080 --> 11:05.320 He's blaspheming. Who can forgive sins but God alone? 11:06.680 --> 11:12.400 And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said. 11:12.400 --> 11:14.920 To them, why do you question these things in your hearts? 11:15.080 --> 11:22.800 Which is easier to say to the paralytic, your sins are forgiven? Or to say, rise, take up your bed and walk. But you may know the Lord, the. 11:22.800 --> 11:25.800 Son of man, has authority on earth to forgive sins. 11:26.370 --> 11:34.730 He said to the paralytic, I say to you, rise, pick up your bed and go home. And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before all of them. So that they all were amazed and. 11:34.730 --> 11:46.290 Glorified God saying, we never saw anything like this. We pray, Lord, thank you for your word. I pray you'd use it now to encourage us and convict us, to comfort. 11:46.290 --> 11:48.330 Us, to draw us near to you. 11:48.330 --> 11:59.940 That we would again see this beautiful person of Jesus. And that would change us. We love you, Lord. Thank you that we need you and that you meet that need. 12:00.580 --> 12:01.140 Amen. 12:01.460 --> 12:08.420 All right, you guys can have a seat. Thanks for standing with me. I'll keep standing. Here we go. 12:08.580 --> 12:17.300 But take some time just to walk through our passage here and unpack it a little bit so we understand what's really happening. There's a really, really cool, really dense. 12:17.620 --> 12:19.540 Story in these just few verses. 12:20.680 --> 12:49.040 And when he returned to Capernaum after some days was reported that he was at home. Now this story, maybe you know, this story if you've been around church or as a kid. This is a pretty classic story. This is one that you'd make with like popsicle sticks. He'd lower someone into a little house you made out of construction paper. It starts though. First, I think it's helpful to understand we are in Capernaum. And we believe this is probably at this point. Most likely this is where Jesus kind of made his home or home base. And probably it's Peter. Most likely it's Peter's house, like Peter. 12:49.040 --> 12:50.000 And his mom and his family. 12:50.080 --> 13:13.950 And they maybe kind of share it now with Jesus. And maybe even other of disciples is kind of become maybe a little bit of the headquarters, a little home base. Right before this, Jesus was out in the wilderness. Remember, he got pushed into desolate places. He healed the leper. And then there was just so many crowds and people that he had to get out of those. Of those towns and those cities. And now there's moments now he moves back into Capernaum to the home, right? 13:13.950 --> 13:15.150 He can't just always be out there. 13:15.150 --> 13:17.470 So he moves back in here. And we have this moment now he's. 13:17.470 --> 13:20.470 Back in kind of his home, which. 13:20.470 --> 13:53.120 Is important, I think, to this. You see, he's at home. And these people have now are going to crowd into his home. You see here where Capernaum is up on the Sea of Galilee. That's the area that he's been doing ministry. He'll do a lot of ministry in. In that area up there. You see, Nazareth is kind of, you know, was home. And now he's moved up to this other area here. I wasn't sure what a home like at that point would have looked at. So I looked at my real estate source. And Zillow says this is what a home at that time would probably look like. This is like what I think AI is cool. Other AI stuff scares me to death. 13:53.120 --> 13:55.360 But this is like awesome. 13:56.080 --> 14:11.560 This is kind of is what it would. It would look like a little house with a roof. There would have been steps up on top of it. They actually would have taken this kind of a home. There would have been a place on top to actually like another living area kind of. You could have hung out up there. Even when it like a hot days. 14:11.560 --> 14:12.320 You could go up there. 14:12.320 --> 14:21.160 You might spread out food or things up there. So it's like another living space. It's like their deck is up on top of their house. But they would have been in this sweet little house. 14:23.159 --> 14:23.520 In. 14:23.520 --> 14:55.760 In Capernaum. And so that's the place we see now. They're gathered and then it tells us what's happening there. He's at this house. What's happening? Many were gathered together. How many? Well, there was so many. There's no room. It's. They're jammed into this little space. How jammed in? So jammed in. Even the doors are full. It's not like he had a bunch of friends over. They are crammed into this place. Even to the door. The door is full. Probably outside the door, outside all around. Because people want to see Jesus. It hasn't changed. His. His kind of viral moment is continuing in the sense of people heard he's healing people. 14:56.000 --> 14:58.400 People heard of his miracles. We want to see this guy. 14:58.960 --> 15:00.880 You can imagine probably people who are. 15:00.880 --> 15:07.230 Also hurt or maybe bringing their kids or their loved ones. And maybe there's people who are bandaged up. 15:07.230 --> 15:13.710 People are limping in there saying, we want to come and see you and be healed. And he's doing what he's been telling. 15:13.710 --> 15:14.790 Us he was going to do. 15:14.790 --> 15:21.470 He's going to come and preach, share this good news, proclaim this good news that the kingdom of God is here. 15:21.950 --> 15:24.670 And so now they're actually. This is a cool picture we don't want to miss. 15:24.750 --> 15:26.590 They're kind of in the king's home. 15:26.590 --> 15:35.880 Now, hearing him declare the kingdom of God is here as he shares his word with them. It's this really cool, cool space. 15:36.280 --> 15:46.880 This is probably more like less AI and more real. It's important because we're about to see something happen in this home as people are crammed in here. We're about to see something happen specifically. 15:46.880 --> 15:48.120 On the roof of this place. 15:48.120 --> 16:15.310 But this gives you a little picture. Maybe what the roof would look like there would have been boards across, and then there would have been, like, straw or. Or, you know, smaller, like, things on top. And then they would have actually put, like, most likely clay on there that would have dried and hardened. So it's kind of these layers of, like, clay to straw to these bigger planks, which is what held the roof strong enough. People could go up there and hang out. It is essentially like a deck. But this is kind of what it looked like. So you can imagine then if they. 16:15.310 --> 16:18.270 Tore through it, what would have kind of it looked like. 16:18.270 --> 16:21.790 So this is essentially what we would have seen this, except a bunch of. 16:21.790 --> 16:22.510 People in it, right? 16:22.760 --> 16:32.880 Would have all been there together. Drove from this desolate place now to literally walled in with a bunch of people around him as he gets to. 16:32.880 --> 16:37.880 Share about this good news. And then we hear about the people involved. 16:38.519 --> 16:49.120 Not just the crowds, kind of the anonymous crowd, but we hear about this story of specifically five friends. Says they bring in their paralytic friend. 16:49.120 --> 16:51.800 This word just meaning a friend who could move, can walk. 16:51.800 --> 17:06.220 We don't know to what extent. Most likely culturally. Also a friend who would have been seen as kind of an outsider, maybe even viewed as, like, there's something wrong, sinful about him. Culturally, that would have been very normal. Like, oh, he can't walk. He did something. 17:06.220 --> 17:16.460 Or maybe his parents did something. You remember, there's a story in the Gospels where someone comes up and says, what sins have his family committed to as they see a boy in a similar situation? 17:17.820 --> 17:18.900 There's this belief, right? 17:18.900 --> 17:22.390 Those are kind of connected. The physical, the spiritual are connected and that. 17:22.390 --> 17:24.190 So he's this man who has friends. 17:24.270 --> 17:27.430 Who have to carry him, and they. 17:27.430 --> 18:08.840 Carry him to the place. And it's so crowded, they can't get in the door with him. So they go up those steps onto the top roof, the deck, right? And they go, we still got to get him. We have to get him to Jesus. But we don't know exactly what happened here. If he asked them, if he said, hey, did you hear about this Jesus guy? Could you take me to him? If they asked him, if they all came, said, hey, we've been talking. We gotta get you this guy. This could be our chance. We don't know how they heard about Jesus. We don't know how far they came. We don't know their names. We know their relationship to each other. We don't know if three of them are buddies. And they had to, like, convince the other one. If they texted him. And we're like, hey, we're Hanging out. And then he showed up and they're moving. You know that move? 18:09.000 --> 18:13.880 Have you done that? I know some of you have done that. I've gotten that text. 18:14.950 --> 18:28.430 Want to come over? Right? And then there's. There's pizza. We don't know. We have no idea. It's just this cool moment. We get thrown this story. What we do know, and Mark wants us to know, is that there's these friends who found it so important to. 18:28.430 --> 18:36.230 Take their friend who couldn't get there and make sure he got there. It's really beautiful that they were willing to pick him up and carry him. 18:36.790 --> 18:38.550 And not get there and go, sorry, bud. 18:38.870 --> 18:42.230 Too many people want to try again. They go, we got. We're going to find a way. 18:42.670 --> 18:43.910 We're going to find a way so. 18:43.910 --> 18:48.430 You can get close to Jesus because he's the one who can heal you. 18:48.510 --> 19:31.820 They were willing to do anything, so they did not have to stop. They wanted their friend healed and Jesus was the hope. Enough hope that they're willing to go to someone's house and tear open their roof, dig through the clay and dig through the straw and maybe push apart a beam and then make a way to lower him down. They even had ropes. I don't know if they found them or they brought them, knowing, like, maybe we got to figure this out. They had enough to say. We got to climb the steps and dig the hole and lower our friend and then interrupt what was going on. They even thought, this guy is teaching to a bunch of people in a room. I don't know if he wants. Someone just lowered in on him. They said, this. This guy is our hope. Enough. 19:31.820 --> 19:46.370 We're going to interrupt everything and lower him right in front of Jesus so that we can hopefully see him healed. Right? This is. There's this, like. I just love the commitment to it, the love for it. 19:46.370 --> 20:05.370 There's a love for their friend in this. There's a hope in this other person. None of us, the four of us can't heal him, but maybe this person can. Makes me think. I was at a. In line after a concert, waiting to, like, meet musicians once, and they said, hey, we can only take a few more. And a guy, like, sprinted from back. 20:05.370 --> 20:07.090 Of the line and pushed people away. 20:08.770 --> 20:16.930 And he, you know, he was like, sorry, they've changed my life forever. I have to meet them. And we were so angry because this guy just, like, pushed us out of. 20:16.930 --> 20:18.290 The way and butted in line, right? 20:19.250 --> 20:45.650 Yeah, because, I mean, because the Counting Crows saved his life. It makes me. I can Understand that feeling, right? You're like, these are my people. This is my thing. I have to get there at all costs. And then what happens? They lower him in there. I think the expectation would be he can heal him just like he's healed everyone else. Hey, please. Our friend, we brought him all the way here. We dug the hole, we lowered him in. Can you heal him? And you think he'd go like we. They had been seeing and heal him? 20:45.650 --> 20:58.030 And he actually shows them the kingdom of God. Like, what is actually the kingdom of God? It's. It's incredible. He doesn't just say, you're healed. 20:58.110 --> 21:19.550 Jesus doesn't, like, brush off the dirt and the straw that just came on us. He doesn't say, hey, you're interrupting. You should stand in line. He gives them this man something no one could give him. He heals them in a way that is so beyond him just being able to stand up. Jesus saw their faith. 21:19.550 --> 21:20.910 This is really important, that word there. 21:21.790 --> 21:39.790 Most scholars, as we're reading about this, think this means all the four of them, or maybe all five of them, though this is really important here. This word means that group. They saw this. These people's faith, the hope, right, that they have that Jesus could be the one who would heal their friend. 21:41.310 --> 21:57.730 And he says, sons, or this means, like, my child, your sins are forgiven. I don't think that's what they were looking. I don't think they went there, gone. Hey, let's see if this key can, like, change the soul of our friend and forever reconcile him to God. 21:57.730 --> 21:58.690 I think it was like, I just. 21:58.690 --> 22:02.730 Would love to see him walk. And Jesus does something different, son, like a. 22:02.730 --> 22:03.130 Like a. 22:03.130 --> 22:09.210 How a parent would address a child. He says, son, your sins are forgiven. You've been released. 22:10.970 --> 22:28.830 From guilt and shame. The weight in your soul, this disconnectedness with God, this thing that there is a whole ritual and series of things that normally you have to do. We're not even sure if that's something they would do, but in a sense, he's saying, son, welcome home. 22:29.710 --> 22:33.150 You've been made right? It's incredible. 22:33.150 --> 22:35.710 This forgiveness of sins is a big, big deal. 22:35.950 --> 22:39.150 We hear it a lot, right? At church, we hear this phrase and we kind of go, oh, that's cool. 22:39.230 --> 22:50.610 This is like the hurt that's in you from the guilt of things. The shame that's been laid on you from others or that you put on yourself. Those things that's, like, made you paralyzed. 22:52.130 --> 22:56.530 I want to release you. I want to heal you from that. It's beautiful. 22:56.770 --> 22:58.370 Another Person I wanted to introduce you. 22:58.370 --> 23:02.090 To this week or let you know about is Corrie Tenbu. I quoted her before. 23:02.090 --> 23:11.410 She's incredible story of helping hide and liberate people during the Holocaust and then continuing to do that work throughout her life. 23:11.970 --> 23:13.370 It's really incredible. 23:13.370 --> 23:20.280 I encourage you to read the Hiding Place. Uh, she talks a lot about forgiveness in that, even her story of being. 23:20.280 --> 23:23.600 Able to forgive people who put her in concentration camps. 23:24.000 --> 23:30.080 But this is how she describes it as she's talking about Micah 7, which says, you'll cast all of our sins. 23:30.080 --> 23:31.280 In the depths of the sea. 23:32.000 --> 23:34.760 She says, when God forgives, he buries. 23:34.760 --> 23:46.070 Our sins in the deepest sea and puts up a sign that says, no fishing allowed. She love that in this moment, Jesus says to this man, your sins are forgiven. 23:46.070 --> 23:48.630 That doesn't mean, hey, bud, I forgive. 23:48.630 --> 23:52.990 You for getting dirt on my face. He's not just saying like, you shouldn't. 23:52.990 --> 23:54.030 Have dropped in on me. 23:54.510 --> 23:55.470 I forgive you. 23:56.110 --> 24:03.590 No worries. He's saying, your sins have been put into the deepest parts of the sea, and you and no one else gets. 24:03.590 --> 24:16.000 To fish them back out and lay them back on you again. As far as from the east, as from the west, does God remove our transgressions from us? We hear in Isaiah, I, I am. 24:16.000 --> 24:45.530 He who blots out your transgressions. For my own sake, I will not remember your sins. From Matthew 6:12. Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. We hear in the Lord's Prayer in Luke, if your brother sins, rebuke him. And if he repents, forgive him. It's this real foundational part of what it means to be a follower of Jesus, a Christian, is that forgiveness is a essential part of who we are. Because it's essential part of what Jesus does. It's the first thing he does to. 24:45.530 --> 24:46.930 This man when he meets him. 24:47.090 --> 24:58.890 He releases him. This forgiveness is costly. Jesus knows, and we know in the story when he says, I forgive you, he knows that not long from now, he's going to actually pay the price. 24:58.890 --> 25:02.620 For that sin when he says it. To say, this man has no idea. 25:02.620 --> 25:03.940 But he knows he's going to be. 25:03.940 --> 25:05.100 Lowered into a grave. 25:05.900 --> 25:10.100 He's going to be hurt, paralyzed, so. 25:10.100 --> 25:11.180 That he could be free. 25:11.900 --> 25:18.660 Forgiveness is transformative. We're not just going to see it in this man, in his soul, but we're actually going to see, like a moment. He's going to give us a picture. 25:18.660 --> 25:29.810 Of what this looks like. It's beautiful. And so as he says this, Jesus also becomes aware of others who are in the room. 25:29.810 --> 25:30.890 Now we get to meet another group. 25:30.890 --> 25:31.650 Of people in the room. 25:31.650 --> 26:20.850 Not just the friends, not just the paralyzed man, but we also get to meet some other people in the room, the scribes. These are religious leaders who really know scripture well and have developed this thing they call the oral law of what it looks like to live out this. This God's words and God's plans. This is a group of people that for the next part of Mark, we're going to see about five encounters with them where Jesus, each time, is going to push up against and have conflict with this oral law they've created. Hey, if this is true about who God is, and this is how life has to be lived out, and they've created these laws that you have to live by. In fact, to this point, if Jesus is claiming that he can forgive sin, they have a problem with that. And he can sense that in the room. So some of the scribes are sitting there questioning in their hearts, not out loud, but in their hearts, why does. 26:20.850 --> 26:23.530 This man speak like that? He's blaspheming. 26:23.530 --> 26:35.050 He's saying he's God and he's not. He's saying things that are ungodly. Who can forgive sins but God alone? And they're right. They know their scripture. They know if he's claiming to forgive. 26:35.130 --> 26:36.490 Only God can forgive. 26:38.090 --> 27:03.160 And so as they've been people who have this law, in that law, if you claim to be God and you're not, then you can be killed. So they're saying, why would he say this? Like, the penalty for this could be death. We could take him outside and stone him and it'll be okay. It's really important they have this. How this works is that they believe. 27:03.240 --> 27:13.560 Moses was given the written Torah and then also, like an oral Torah, like, he also has this tradition that was passed down of what it looks like. 27:13.990 --> 27:15.510 So when we talk about, like, Pharisees. 27:15.510 --> 27:19.110 In the Gospels, we're not just saying, like, they misinterpret scripture. 27:19.110 --> 27:39.350 They know scripture really well. And they have created this other set of laws of what life looks like. And that's where when Jesus pushes against. We're gonna see Sabbath and other things. He's pushing against this other kind of set that they're saying. This is what it looked like. That's the same laws that they're putting on. They're laying on the people. You have to follow these rules and these laws in order to actually be close to God. 27:40.770 --> 27:41.730 They're explaining this. 27:41.890 --> 27:49.290 It's this. This is also a Phrase we use sometimes in church called orthodoxy, which is like, the what. Like the actual. What does Scripture say? 27:49.290 --> 27:51.570 What do we believe foundationally? The the what? 27:52.050 --> 27:58.890 The matter of it, like, the content. And then there's orthopraxy, which is the actual practical playing out of it. 27:58.890 --> 27:59.170 Right. 27:59.490 --> 28:08.030 The like who and the manner of it. Like, what does that look like? So that's true. We know God is. Let's say we say the word sovereign. Like, God knows everything. 28:08.110 --> 28:08.510 He. 28:08.590 --> 28:12.990 He knows what's going on. He's in the midst of it. So what does that look like actually. 28:13.150 --> 28:20.670 Played out in our life? And so they say, rightly, I think if he's. He's. 28:20.670 --> 28:21.630 He's saying he's God. 28:23.790 --> 28:24.550 Yeah, I think. 28:24.550 --> 28:29.950 And I love that he senses it. I. This. Sometimes. This passage sometimes is shown as, like. 28:31.240 --> 28:32.880 How crazy that he could sense it. 28:32.880 --> 28:35.720 Now, I think it's incredible. Jesus knows hearts, and no one else. 28:35.720 --> 28:36.640 In the room knows hearts. 28:36.640 --> 28:38.160 But I would guess other people in. 28:38.160 --> 28:39.680 The room could sense it. 28:39.680 --> 29:03.530 It's. If you've been to, like, a holiday where someone starts talking about politics and everyone knows that, like, your uncle is not cool with what they're talking about. They're talking as if, like, oh, everyone believes this is true. And then you can feel in the room, you're like, uncle Jeff's about to blow up. I think they're adding some sense of that. Like, people know, holy cow, this guy's saying he's God by saying he can forgive sins. 29:04.250 --> 29:16.490 These people are feeling it. And so what happens? Does Jesus then explain to them that he's God or not God? Does Jesus say, hey, I healed you of your. I forgave you of your sins. 29:17.130 --> 29:39.610 That's a pretty big deal. Can we move on to the next person? Just go back to teaching. We actually addressed this all in this moment, right? Guy falls from the ceiling. Jesus says, son, your sins are forgiven. In the same moment, these people over here are thinking, he can't say that. That's what God says. And so in that same swirl of moment of things. 29:42.570 --> 29:46.890 Jesus actually addresses them. Now, in the actual passage, it says. 29:46.890 --> 29:49.850 Immediately Jesus perceiving his spirit, that they question them. 29:50.570 --> 30:17.520 He said to them, why do you question these things in your heart? That would be intense if you're one of these people. He knows what we're questioning in our hearts. He knows your hearts. And then he says this. What is easier to say to the paralytic, your sins are forgiven, or to say, rise, take up your bed and walk? Now, a lot of scholars, as I was Reading this, this is new to me this time, reading through. 30:17.940 --> 30:21.540 Think that verse 10 here, at least this first part, might actually be Mark. 30:21.620 --> 30:23.380 Just commentating to us. 30:23.700 --> 30:25.940 Because, remember, Mark is writing this so. 30:25.940 --> 30:27.180 That people would know who Jesus is. 30:27.180 --> 30:42.180 He wants to know the good news so he knows that, like, we're not. It's not just an exact moment that's happening. But they think he might have just added this, like, to say, hey, because we know that Jesus, like, there's parts of it they'll say. He'll talk about, like, Judas, and he'll. 30:42.180 --> 30:43.380 Say, the one who betrayed him. 30:43.380 --> 31:04.240 Now, I'm guessing in the room, people didn't introduce Judas. Hey, this is Judas, the one who will betray Jesus. It's a comment to go, hey, we want to be clear. Mark wants to be clear. You know, what's going on here. So Jesus says, do you think it's easier to forgive sins or tell them to rise up and walk? And Mark tells us, but that you may know that the Son of Man. 31:04.240 --> 31:08.960 Has authority on earth to forgive sins. He's reminding us of something that's really important. 31:09.040 --> 31:11.080 Also, Jesus might have just said that. 31:11.080 --> 31:12.430 Out loud to them. 31:13.390 --> 31:18.430 The pushback on that is that if he said he was the Son of Man, then they would have known he. 31:18.430 --> 31:21.310 Was saying he was God and that they might have just killed him right then. 31:21.550 --> 31:25.230 And so people are wondering, did Mark add this in so that Jesus could. 31:25.230 --> 31:29.870 Keep, you know, is he just. Just clarifying that to us? Here's what's really important here. 31:29.870 --> 31:33.230 Before we get to the Son of Man part, which is really important, this. 31:33.230 --> 31:34.270 Question is really important. 31:36.350 --> 31:43.920 Are forgiving sins easier or. Or asking him to rise up and walk? This is actually a lot more debated than I thought it would. 31:44.000 --> 31:44.560 It was. 31:45.280 --> 31:58.000 Some people say, yes, it's very hard to say one and not hard to say the other. It would be kind of easy to say your sins are forgiven because we couldn't measure that. I could walk around target and be. 31:58.000 --> 32:00.480 Like, your sins are forgiven, your sins are forgiven, your sins are forgiven. 32:00.640 --> 32:03.280 And just be like, I forgave everyone sins. 32:03.440 --> 32:06.480 And you go, I don't know. We didn't see anything happen. 32:06.480 --> 32:09.220 We don't have, like a. We can't, like, take a test and. 32:09.220 --> 32:11.380 It shows if your sins are forgiven. 32:11.380 --> 32:52.780 So maybe that's easier because you can't measure it. But also, like, forgiving someone's sins is very hard because only one person can do it. I can't forgive your sins in that sense, in, like, a cosmic God forgiving our sin sense. So it would be easier to pick up. It'd be easier for me to say, pick up your bed and walk. Because forgiving someone only God can do, but also I can't just say, pick up your mat and walk. That's also really hard to just heal someone. That isn't just possible. So it's this question that makes it really hard. What is Jesus trying to say? I think what's really cool about this story is Jesus doesn't just do one of these. 32:53.420 --> 32:59.340 He doesn't just say, your sins are forgiven, move on. He doesn't just say, stand up, walk. 32:59.340 --> 33:00.540 This is a moment where he actually. 33:01.020 --> 33:06.350 Shows off the kingdom of God being there in person, live. He actually does both of these. 33:08.270 --> 33:20.469 And who can forgive your sins, who can read your heart, and who could actually heal a paralytic man right there on the spot so he could stand up and walk out. There seems to only be one. And that is what Mark is indicating. 33:20.469 --> 33:23.310 Here to us with this word son of man. 33:23.310 --> 33:26.470 Son of man is actually a phrase. It's one of Jesus favorite ways to. 33:26.470 --> 33:28.870 Refer to himself is son of man. 33:28.870 --> 33:31.480 And son of man has a real meaning to it. 33:31.800 --> 33:34.920 It's a meaning that maybe doesn't hit us because we don't hear this phrase. 33:34.920 --> 33:40.640 But would have been very real to a Jewish person. It would have been from Daniel 7. 33:40.640 --> 33:42.800 It is from Daniel 7 and it's. 33:42.800 --> 33:45.440 Describing this person who will come and. 33:45.440 --> 33:46.520 Usher in a kingdom. 33:46.520 --> 33:50.480 In my vision at night, I looked and there before me was one, like. 33:50.480 --> 33:59.030 A Son of man coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the ancient of days, God, God the Father. 33:59.190 --> 34:12.630 This is a moment of like the Trinity hanging out and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power. All nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away. 34:12.630 --> 34:30.570 And his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed. There's this one, the Son of Man, we call him, who will come, given the authority by God to usher in his kingdom that will take over all things and be all things and will be everlasting. 34:31.130 --> 34:32.690 This is a person that everyone was. 34:32.690 --> 34:38.410 Looking for, this one who would come, this Messiah, this Christ, right, the Savior, who would come and rescue them. 34:38.889 --> 34:40.490 And in that Moment, in Mark 2. 34:40.490 --> 34:44.090 Jesus says, I'm the Son of Man. 34:44.970 --> 34:45.850 Not Son of man. 34:45.850 --> 34:59.540 Like he's not saying I'm a human. He's saying I'm capital S O N, capital M A N. I'm the one come to usher in my dominion, under usher in my kingdom and you're actually. 34:59.540 --> 35:21.860 Right now in my house witnessing what's better? Forgiving your sins, reading hearts, healing you? How about all of it? How about only the Son of Man? Only the true king could come and do all of it? And so then he turns to him, right after he asks this question, he says, well, I'm not done yet. And he says to the paralytic, I say to you, rise, pick up your. 35:21.860 --> 35:22.700 Bed and go home. 35:22.700 --> 35:25.420 And he rose and immediately picked up his bed. 35:25.420 --> 35:28.460 This immediate word we hear all the time in Mark, right? 35:28.460 --> 35:29.940 Then picks up his bed and went. 35:29.940 --> 35:31.020 Out before all of them. 35:31.740 --> 35:36.540 So they all were amazed and glorified God saying, we never saw anything like this. 35:38.380 --> 35:44.890 Which is easier, both. If you're the Son of Man, you. 35:44.890 --> 35:57.330 Want to see the kingdom of God. You want a place where not only are people healed from not being able to walk, but also healed from the weight of guilt and shame and sin in their life. It's right here. It's in my house. You just entered my house. 35:58.210 --> 36:06.530 And my kingdom is here. And it's. And it's moving. It's this beautiful picture where people get to see the cleansing of guilt and sin. 36:06.690 --> 36:08.770 A person made whole, not just their. 36:08.770 --> 36:10.530 Body healed, but their heart and their. 36:10.530 --> 36:23.240 Mind, all healed, reconciled to God. You have to imagine he didn't just walk. He had a little jump, little leap in his step as he walked out. Another person. 36:23.240 --> 36:26.040 We get to see this moment, life changed forever. 36:26.040 --> 36:34.080 And what was the result of that? The result is that they were amazed or astonished and they glorified God. 36:35.120 --> 36:44.550 And they said, very understandably, we never saw anything like this. I like this phrase because it's very true. 36:44.550 --> 36:46.470 You have never stood in a house. 36:47.030 --> 36:59.510 With God himself and watched him make someone whole, like, whole. And you won't with anyone except this one. You're in for the rest of their lives. They tell this story, right? 36:59.670 --> 37:29.200 There's some grandkids and they go, tell us the story about the guy in the roof again. We want to hear the roof man story. And they tell their grandkids the story. We've never seen anything like it. And we always and never will except through him. And so who can forgive sins, knows hearts, heals brokenness? There's one, the Son of Man, who we call the Christ. It's a big moment. He shows us in this moment in this house as people are lowered down. 37:29.200 --> 37:39.800 To him, who he is and what he can do. As we wrap up here, I want to just real quick pop through each of the people in this story and. 37:39.800 --> 37:52.480 Just kind of Maybe remind us and maybe consider. Where do you feel like this person? I think we're all these people. All the four people. I'm going to show us. The scribes, the friends, the paralytic, and Jesus. I would say we all connect to. 37:52.480 --> 37:59.590 All of them, except maybe one. We're not one of them. Spoiler. It's Jesus. Uh, but let. Let's just real quick. 37:59.590 --> 38:03.310 I just want to take a moment to. To get it, like, really start thinking, what is. 38:03.310 --> 38:08.390 What does this look like in your own life? In this story, as we witness the kingdom of God in this house, the. 38:08.390 --> 38:14.550 Scribes first are people who created the oral law. They created from. From something really good. 38:14.550 --> 38:14.750 Actually. 38:14.750 --> 38:23.790 Jesus would agree with them this. The word of God is so important and so good, and it is God's word. And then they would. They would disagree. And how does that actually play out? 38:23.790 --> 38:26.140 What does it actually look like in life? 38:27.500 --> 38:52.300 I think I feel like a scribe in my life when I realize I've created laws or rules, especially ones I go like, well, this is Scripture. And so I say, well, then I get to do this, or I get to judge people for this, or I get to think this way about these people. I like to make up a rule for living. And then it's nice even to be able to take scripture and, like, apply. I don't like this thing in my life. 38:52.380 --> 38:52.640 And. 38:52.710 --> 39:06.710 And so I'm gonna apply some scripture to say, like, yeah, yeah, that's not good. I'll share one very specific one. I think I have a rule. There's a Druze rule that if you make me uncomfortable, it must not be from God. So if that thing makes me, or. 39:06.710 --> 39:11.630 The thing you said or the thing maybe I read in Scripture, if it. 39:11.630 --> 39:13.230 Makes me feel uncomfortable, that must not. 39:13.230 --> 39:13.910 Be what it means. 39:15.030 --> 39:18.190 Because in my mind, I think the ultimate Drew's rule is there has to. 39:18.190 --> 39:22.920 Always be peace and comfort. And so if it's uncomfortable, that it must not be from God. 39:22.920 --> 39:23.640 So if I see. 39:23.640 --> 39:27.160 If someone makes me uncomfortable, you're an enemy. If. 39:27.160 --> 39:31.160 If a thing makes me uncomfortable, if a thought, I go like, oh, I don't know about that. 39:31.160 --> 39:34.320 It kind of sits different with me. Oh, that must be the enemy. 39:34.320 --> 39:43.720 That must be a thing I have to fight now, right? So I've created this Druze rule, and I definitely become a scribe, and I definitely find myself in that moment. I'm not going to ever say that out loud. 39:44.040 --> 39:46.120 This is the one time I'll ever share that out loud. 39:47.890 --> 39:48.850 It's just going to be in my heart. 39:48.850 --> 39:54.610 I'm going to go, oh, I need to find comfort and you're interrupting that. Scripture doesn't say that. 39:54.610 --> 40:00.210 It tells me that we're going to be uncomfortable and that God is my comfort in the midst of very uncomfortable things. 40:00.690 --> 40:02.530 But you create your own lie. 40:02.530 --> 40:12.650 I find myself a scribe some days, watching, even witnessing miracles of Jesus around me. And my first instinct is judgment and skepticism. And I go, eh, they're not doing. 40:12.650 --> 40:15.860 It the way I think you probably should do it. 40:16.180 --> 40:44.970 Secondly, we have friends, these wonderful friends who bring them to the source of healing, who show faith in that source, understanding that Jesus is willing and wants to heal their friend. These people remind me of that part of me that is willing to be interrupted. They're willing to set aside comfort, efficiency, safety so I can bring people to. 40:44.970 --> 40:51.250 The real king into his kingdom. People who don't know him, people who need whole healing. 40:51.730 --> 40:54.770 People who are just weighted by paralyzed. 40:54.770 --> 41:04.370 By guilt and sin. It feels like that Kevin shares about this from his friends. I got a couple of long Kevin quotes as we end here from his book. 41:04.610 --> 41:07.010 He also had friends Kevin talks about. 41:08.730 --> 41:09.530 Yeah, I'll just read it. 41:09.530 --> 41:11.290 He also had friends like I have. 41:11.610 --> 41:13.530 This is talking about this story. 41:14.010 --> 41:26.170 It was his friends who carried him on his mat across town to meet Jesus. And when they got to the packed out house, they pulled him up into the roof, they tore open a hole and lowered him into the middle of the room, plopped him like that, plopped him right down in front of Jesus. 41:26.250 --> 41:59.890 I have friends like this, good friends who bring me to the feet of Jesus time and time again with every action they take to care for me and make my life not just possible, but abundant. My friends cut holes and roofs every day in the word, deed, laughter and song. And together we get to experience Jesus. Like how he describes friends who are willing to cut holes in roofs so that we could experience abundant life with Jesus. When it's opportunity for us to consider what does it look like to be a friend who's willing to cut holes so that people could know the true source? 42:00.050 --> 42:01.770 Sometimes I just like people come to. 42:01.770 --> 42:06.670 Me as the source, forgetting that actually there's one who could wholly heal our friends. 42:06.750 --> 42:08.790 And then the last person other than. 42:08.790 --> 42:10.670 Jesus is this man who was healed. 42:11.150 --> 42:20.230 Forgiven and healed, made whole. This is us. This story might be easy to read. 42:20.230 --> 42:37.340 And go, oh, I could be a friend like that. Oh, I gotta be careful to not be skeptical or cynical or prideful. Well, thankfully I'm not a paralyzed man. This is so much us in this story, needing this Healing, I think we find ourselves. 42:37.420 --> 42:42.500 Kevin in his book, refers to, like, two ways we find ourselves moving that. 42:42.500 --> 42:46.060 Aren'T in a place of just sitting in front of Jesus and saying, I have need. 42:46.140 --> 42:47.780 Or just sitting even with friends and. 42:47.780 --> 42:50.540 Saying, I have need. It's okay, I'm broken. I have need. 42:50.700 --> 42:52.620 Can you help lower me to Jesus? 42:52.940 --> 42:53.900 Can you help me? 42:54.380 --> 42:58.580 We find ourselves in two places. He calls one of them being a burden narrative. 42:58.740 --> 43:05.460 I'm too much of a burden. I don't want to be that person. So I lean away from being lowered. 43:05.460 --> 43:17.420 Being even allowed to be carried to Jesus. Or a person who has an idle narrative where my whole existence, my identity, becomes that I have a need, and everything revolves around solving the need and. 43:17.420 --> 43:20.340 Not the person who actually can solve it. So he shares this. 43:20.900 --> 43:41.090 It doesn't take much to convince myself I'm a burden. When I feel the quiver of my friend's arms as he picks up my dead weight in a matter of seconds, my mind jumps from I weigh too much to I am too much. And it's a pretty arguable point, especially if I leave it to my mind to bounce around for a while by itself. But if I bring it into the. 43:41.090 --> 43:53.020 Light in a conversation, for example, I might just find that my friend has a better argument against it than I do. As Dr. Thompson, who wrote this book the Soul of Shame, Kurt Thompson, says. 43:53.020 --> 43:57.340 The only way to counter shame is with vulnerability. It's the very thing our shame tells. 43:57.340 --> 44:01.540 Us we absolutely shouldn't pursue. But that's because vulnerability kills the shame. 44:01.540 --> 44:04.780 So shame screams, stay away from that. It's terrible. 44:05.260 --> 44:33.030 And we demolish the burden narrative, warping our heads and hearts by inviting others into our need. This doesn't just happen in friendship. This very much happens in my relationship with God. I say, I'm too much, too much, I'm too much. You don't. You don't need this. Which is not true. That's not just the voice of shame. That's the voice of Satan saying, you should be alone and hide. We want you now. 44:33.030 --> 44:54.780 The other way of that is actually making it all you are and like an entitlement of, like, now all my needs and my hurts are all anything's about, because then you don't have the opportunity actually even care for others. So we find these, like, two sides. He says, it's kind of like going on a road and you fall down one of the cliffs if we're not careful in. As a person with need, my needs are numerous and ongoing. I've been blessed With a lot of. 44:54.780 --> 44:56.660 Amazing folks willing to meet these needs. 44:56.820 --> 45:00.820 And it could be easy to take advantage of this. If not checked, what is a gift. 45:00.820 --> 45:02.660 Could be mistaken for entitlement. 45:03.380 --> 45:08.220 Meeting that need will consume us. We'll do anything to meet it. And at some point expect others to. 45:08.220 --> 45:36.940 Do anything to meet it too. It will be the center of our universe and we'll operate as if we should be the center of everyone else's universe. Those around us or in our path will be no more than players in our game, tools or obstacles. Their needs will fade and will either wither or leave or we'll meanwhile waste away. That becomes our goal is just to deal with my need rather than to actually move towards the person. Excuse me. Both of these I resonate with so much. 45:37.260 --> 45:44.620 Oh, I know certain needs. I fall into each one of those things. And now the deeper need that we have is. 45:44.620 --> 45:50.340 Forgiveness is Described by corrie10 Boone. I'm going to combine our Kevin and Corey moments here. 45:50.660 --> 45:54.260 She describes what forgiveness looks like. Forgiveness is an act of the will. 45:54.340 --> 45:57.700 And will be functioned regardless of the of the temperament of the heart. 45:57.780 --> 46:09.010 She's explaining how we become these people that are like the friends and like the paralytic that we are changed in our forgiveness. And there were people who it's not just like I feel like forgiving, but. 46:09.010 --> 46:12.810 I actually do it because it's doesn't. 46:12.810 --> 46:22.450 Matter where my heart's at right now. This is the thing that we do. Forgiveness is the key that unlocks the door of resentment and handcuffs of hatred. It breaks the chains of bitterness and shackles of selfishness. 46:22.450 --> 46:24.170 I like those words all together. 46:24.170 --> 46:40.570 So how do we get to that? How do we get to be a person who forgives ourselves and others so that we're no longer handcuffed with hatred or shackled with selfishness? If we're not careful in this story, we go. So go home and don't be a scribe. Go home and be a good friend. 46:40.650 --> 46:46.090 Who rips open roofs. Go home and let people help you. Right? 46:46.890 --> 47:02.110 That's not what's changed Kevin. That's not what changed Corey. What changed them is meeting this person, the forgiver, the healer, the knower of hearts, our God, the son of man, the one who changes lives, who will turn us from living lives of the. 47:02.110 --> 47:06.590 Law to lives within him in the Gospel. 47:06.910 --> 47:18.350 What a picture, right, of this. This is like a picture of what our small groups are, what your friends are, what your family is, right? You're crammed in a house together and you're encouraging each other towards the thing that heals us. 47:20.430 --> 47:34.140 We're declaring this ultimately to ourselves and reminding that Jesus has said to each one of you, child, your sins are forgiven. Get up and walk. Go home. It's every day. 47:34.460 --> 47:41.740 And so we get to be people like Kevin and his friends, not because we carried our friend through China, but because we get to gather and point. 47:41.740 --> 47:44.060 Our friend to the one who heals us. 47:44.620 --> 48:01.840 Okay, I want to welcome our worship team up. I want to just end with this story from Corey. Corey has, in her book the Hiding Place shares the story of her family rescuing hiding Jewish people and then eventually being caught and actually put in concentration camps. 48:01.840 --> 48:03.160 Some of her family were killed. 48:03.320 --> 48:06.960 Later in her life, though, she has the opportunity to actually meet one of. 48:06.960 --> 48:09.160 The guards from the concentration camp. 48:10.680 --> 48:13.120 And in that moment, she shares how. 48:13.120 --> 48:20.360 The gospel, how Jesus has changed her, how she has been forgiven. And she stood up and walked. And what does that look like? 48:21.000 --> 48:23.800 I think that looks like a person who says, I have a need. 48:24.040 --> 48:26.770 I've been changed. And this is what she says. 48:26.770 --> 48:29.530 I stood there with the coldness clutching. 48:29.530 --> 48:30.050 My heart. 48:31.890 --> 48:38.890 But I knew that forgiveness was not an emotion. Jesus, help me. I prayed silently. I can lift my hand. 48:38.890 --> 48:39.970 I can do that much. 48:40.370 --> 48:48.050 You supply the feeling. And so woodenly and mechanically, I thrust my hand into the outstretched. 48:48.770 --> 48:50.530 Into one outstretched to me. 48:51.180 --> 48:54.060 She's standing in front of. Of one of the men who was. 48:54.060 --> 49:56.800 In the concentration camp, one of the guards there. And as I did, an incredible thing took place. As I prayed, Jesus, help me, a current started in my shoulder and raced down my arm and sprang into our joined hands. And then this healing warmth seemed to flood my whole being, bringing tears to my eyes. I forgive you, brother. I cried with all my heart. How in the world that doesn't happen without something changing, transforming you, you being released from shame and guilt and hatred and hurt. That comes from a prayer. Jesus, help me. To the moment of someone standing in front of an enemy, calling them brother. That's my prayer for us as we become people who look like the people in this moment, in this house. And we'd see more people even know Jesus and forgiveness. 49:56.800 --> 49:57.879 We're going to move to a time. 49:57.879 --> 49:59.280 To respond to that good news. 49:59.440 --> 50:03.320 A couple questions to consider. As you get a time to sing and take communion. 50:03.320 --> 50:08.560 Will you look to Jesus to make you whole? Whose house are you going to to try to get healing? 50:09.780 --> 50:11.300 Are you amazed by Jesus or looking. 50:11.300 --> 50:24.540 For something else to amaze you? He'll be the best thing ever. So it's not even. There's nothing else but what else are we looking to? To amaze us who brings you to Jesus and who could you maybe even bring to Jesus? 50:24.540 --> 50:38.460 We're going to respond in our room here by singing together. The band will lead us in that we have. People want to pray for you in the back of the room. They have a yellow lanyard. They'd love to pray for anything. You can share anything with them. They just want to pray for you, essentially. They want to lower you down in. 50:38.460 --> 50:42.100 Front of Jesus with them and pray and ask Jesus for anything. 50:42.820 --> 50:53.860 They'd love to do that. We also take communion, which reminds us of this moment which changed history, when Jesus was crucified, when his body was broken, his blood was shed, he was lowered into a grave. 50:54.260 --> 50:57.940 And thankfully, we know the good news that he too, stood up and walked. 50:58.020 --> 51:02.100 And so we celebrate that. We have grape juice and crackers. Everyone is welcome to do that. 51:02.100 --> 51:04.410 If you're a follower of Jesus, you don't need to be a member of. 51:04.410 --> 51:05.410 Hope and just do that as an. 51:05.410 --> 51:29.450 Opportunity to celebrate this really good news that Christ has died and risen. And you also always can give as a way to just be generous in helping the ministry of Hope and continuing to join us in helping more people know Jesus. Let me pray quick as we continue. Lord, thank you for your kindness and goodness that you have to. Each of us said your sins are. 51:29.450 --> 51:31.370 Forgiven, offered us something none of us. 51:31.370 --> 51:51.180 Can do, and have asked us and told us we can stand and walk. I pray you would heal us, minister to us, warm us, so that we too could be people who could move towards you and maybe even bring others with. Thank you, Lord, for this time and these people. Amen.