Mark 2:3-5

3 Four men arrived carrying a paralyzed man on a mat.
4 They couldn't get to Jesus through the crowd,
      so they dug through the clay roof above his head.
     Then they lowered the sick man on his mat, right down in front of Jesus.
5 Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man,
     "My son, your sins are forgiven." 
(NLT)

Faith is one of the most important parts of the Christian walk. These four men thought nothing of themselves but only of their friend. They believed that Jesus could and would heal their friend. By faith they did whatever was necessary to bring their friend to Christ. Jesus healed this man not because of his faith but because of the faith of his four friends. This is faith! We are not to think of ourselves but of our friends who are unsaved and doing whatever is necessary to bring them to Christ.
Read Hebrews 11 – 12:4. Live by faith.

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Mark 2:1 - 2

1 Several days later Jesus returned to Capernaum,
     and the news of his arrival spread quickly through the town.
2 Soon the house where he was staying was so packed with visitors
     that there wasn't room for one more person, not even outside the door.
     And he preached the word to them.
(NLT)

How did the news that Jesus was in Capernaum spread so quickly? By word of mouth and by believers inviting non-believers. Jesus did not come to save those who were healthy but to save those who were sick, alone, ignored, unlovable (by the world’s standard) in other words - those who were cast away from the world. These same types of people are with us today and they need Jesus, they need the Savior and they need us to invite them to hear Jesus. We to were once cast out, unlovable, sick and in need of Jesus and someone invited us to Jesus. We too need a Savior and Jesus invited us to become a part of His family. The wedding day is coming and the father of the bridegroom has sent us out to invite guests to the feast. Go out to the highways and byways and invite those who are there to the wedding for it has been prepared for them to come. All you need to do is invite them to come as Jesus invited you and those who are called will come.

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Mark 1:45
45 But as the man went on his way, he spread the news,
     telling everyone what had happened to him.
     As a result, such crowds soon surrounded Jesus
     that he couldn't enter a town anywhere publicly.
     He had to stay out in the secluded places,
     and people from everywhere came to him there.
(NLT)

This man told everybody he ran into about what Jesus did for him. He spread the news so much that Jesus could hardly go anywhere in public. Have you done the same? Do we not fall short of what this man did? This should not be. Jesus has provided everything for us; he healed us and forgave us our sins. Shouldn’t that be something we should be telling everyone we run into about what Jesus has done for us? Yes, we should be telling everyone. What is holding you back? Is it fear? Jesus says He casts out fear. So why should we fear, why are we taking fear back? Don’t hold back. Boldly go forward. Jesus is with you so there is nothing to fear. We have been cleansed by His blood, we have been made full therefore let us not hold back but share the message of Jesus Christ boldly.

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Mark 1:40 - 44

40 A man with leprosy came and knelt in front of Jesus, begging to be healed.
     "If you want to, you can make me well again," he said.
41 Moved with pity, Jesus touched him.
     "I want to," he said. "Be healed!" 
42 Instantly the leprosy disappeared — the man was healed.
43 Then Jesus sent him on his way and told him sternly,
44 "Go right over to the priest and let him examine you. Don't talk to anyone along the way.
     Take along the offering required in the law of Moses for those who have been healed of leprosy, so everyone will have proof of your healing."  (NLT)

Jesus is the one who holds in His hand whether to heal or not to heal. Does this mean that if He does not heal that He doesn’t care? No, it means that if He chooses not to heal you that He has a different plan for you. He wants to use you in some special way. Jesus never gives us more than we can handle. If He does not heal we are still to praise Him and bring honor and glory to His name no matter what condition we are in. If He chooses to heal you then you are to still praise, honor and to bring glory to His name.
Notice two things here, first Jesus had pity on him, this means that we serve a Savior that loves us and cares for us and knows what is best for us. Second, Jesus wanted to heal him, Jesus did according to His fathers will. Jesus wanted to heal this man because His father wanted Him to. Jesus followed God’s will.
Jesus told this man not to talk to anyone on his way to the priests and to take his offering required in the law of Moses. Jesus wanted this man to be obedient to the Word of God by following the law so everyone will have proof of his healing.
Regardless of where we are we need to be obedient to the will of God for our lives. Wherever we are and whatever we are doing do all to the glory of God.


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Mark 1:36 - 39

36 Later Simon and the others went out to find him.
37 They said, "Everyone is asking for you."
38 But he replied, "We must go on to other towns as well,
     and I will preach to them, too, because that is why I came." 
39 So he traveled throughout the region of Galilee,
     preaching in the synagogues and expelling demons from many people.
(NLT)

Have you gone out looking for Jesus? Sometimes it seems that He can not be found but keep looking for He is there. Sometimes Jesus wants to know we care or that He sees that we are distracted and He goes and wants for us to look for Him. He will always let you find Him because we are never out of His sight. When distractions are gone then it is time to move on and begin a new task. Jesus does not want us to be sitting around doing nothing He wants us to be preaching the gospel to others and loving them. Yes there are times that Jesus wants us to rest, even He took time to rest and then it is time to move forward. Seek you first the kingdom of God.

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Mark 1:35
35 The next morning Jesus awoke long before daybreak and went out alone into the wilderness to pray.
(NLT)

Jesus went out alone to pray. Jesus sent a lot of time in prayer and in prayer alone. It was extremely important to Him to spend time with His father and so it is with us as well. We need to go and find a quiet place were we can spend time alone with our father. Satan wants us to be so busy in life that we can not spend the needed time with Jesus. We may think that it is up to the pastor but it is up to each one of us. God is to take first place and top priority in our daily life. Not only are we to be in prayer alone,  but also with our churches, our spouses, our children and our friends. God is moved by prayer, faith and obedience. We must believe by faith that God is going to answer our prayers through our obedience to Him according to His will. Prayer needs to be the first thing you do in the morning, during your day and before you go to sleep at night. But that’s a lot of prayer. Just as your relationship with your spouse takes time to know him/her so it is the same with God. God wants that relationship with you and He deserves that relationship with you. Start today and make it your daily habit to spend the time God wants you to spend with Him. Do whatever it takes to spend the time with the one who loves you so much that His Son died for that relationship.

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Mark 1:32 - 34

32 That evening at sunset, many sick and demon-possessed people were brought to Jesus.
33 And a huge crowd of people from all over Capernaum gathered outside the door to watch.
34 So Jesus healed great numbers of sick people who had many different kinds of diseases,
     and he ordered many demons to come out of their victims.
     But because they knew who he was, he refused to allow the demons to speak.
(NLT)

The people in this verse came to hear Jesus’ words, to see Him perform and to watch Him heal sick people in great numbers. There are many types of sickness. Scripture does not tell us of every kind but Jesus healed all of them, those who were a little sick and those who were terminal. Jesus was in complete control of His surroundings to the point that the demons obeyed His every word.
Do you run to see and hear Jesus? Do you go to hear and obey the word of Jesus? Are you just there to see the show or just to show off? Is Jesus your all in all? It is so easy for us to answer yes without ever looking deep inside ourselves for the true answer. Jesus looked at people from the inside out. We tend to be shallow and only look to the outside appearance. Jesus healed because He saw their greatest need and that was a savior. Time sometimes makes us forget where we came from, that as a sinner full of sin and filth we were in need of a savior. Jesus says to go and do the same as Him. We are to take Jesus to the lost, the sinful, the filthy and let Jesus use us to reach out to them. Jesus requires a broken and contrite heart not a heart full of self. Pick up your cross, the cross that you should have died on and follow Jesus because your cross is light compared to the one Jesus carried and died on for you. He asks so little of us yet we take great advantage of Him. This should not be so. Begin first by this “ Jesus replied, "The most important commandment is this: 'Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord.  And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.'   The second is equally important: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' No other commandment is greater than these."  Mark 12:29-31 (NLT). All means All!
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Mark 1:29 - 31

29 After Jesus and his disciples left the synagogue,
     they went over to Simon and Andrew's home,
     and James and John were with them.
30 Simon's mother-in-law was sick in bed with a high fever.
     They told Jesus about her right away.
31 He went to her bedside, and as he took her by the hand and helped her to sit up,
     the fever suddenly left, and she got up and prepared a meal for them.
(NLT)

Jesus never hesitates to do anything right and to glorify God the Father. Even when He delayed going to see Lazarus His purpose was to glorify God. We can also see that Simon (Peter) and most likely his wife told Jesus about his mother-in-law being sick with a high fever. Even though we hear sermons on how rough and tough Peter was and how often he would stick his foot in his mouth he cared for people. He cared enough not to hesitate and by faith to tell Jesus about how sick his mother-in-law was. Jesus always reacts to those who have faith. Faith moves Jesus to action. Jesus loves to see His children live by faith in Him. And because of their faith He healed Simon’s mother-in-law. Obviously Peter cared a great deal for his mother-in-law, loved his wife and was willing by faith to ask Jesus to heal her. We are not to hesitate to ask Jesus anything, we are to ask in faith and we are to believe by faith that we will receive our request. If we do not ask in faith or we ask with little faith then we will receive little to nothing. We are to live by faith. Without faith you can do nothing. Without Christ you can do nothing. Therefore you must put your faith in Christ in order to accomplish His will. Live by faith in the only one you can put your faith and trust into, Jesus Christ.

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Mark 1:25 - 28

25 Jesus cut him short. "Be silent! Come out of the man." 
26 At that, the evil spirit screamed and threw the man into a convulsion,
     but then he left him.
27 Amazement gripped the audience, and they began to discuss what had happened.
     "What sort of new teaching is this?" they asked excitedly. "It has such authority!
     Even evil spirits obey his orders!"
28 The news of what he had done spread quickly through that entire area of Galilee.
(NLT)

Even the evil spirits obey His orders! Jesus is the authority! Then why is it that we know Jesus but yet we do not immediately obey His orders? Peter, Andrew, James and John left their boats and followed Jesus immediately. Why do we not follow Jesus immediately? Have we become so self-absorbed that we have fallen deaf to the voice of Christ? He has given us everything but we still drag our feet and refuse to move. We refuse to participate in the things Christ has for us that will build us stronger for the Lord. We choose selfish pleasures rather than choosing Christ. We choose selfish pleasure that destroys our life for Christ. Christ has so much for us, are we willing to give it up for self? Jesus said to deny yourself and pick up your cross and follow Him. What part do we not understand? You must put Christ first if you are ever going to have a real and fulfilling life. A life lived for Christ is better than any life that you can imagine for yourself. When we don’t live for Christ then Satan has us right where he wants us, doing nothing. But that is not the life Christ has for you. The life Christ has for you is the abundant life, a life of joy, peace, mercy and grace through the difficulties of this life. But when we do nothing life is hard, frustrating, cruel and lonely. Christ does not want us to be alone that is why He gave us many brothers and sisters to join Him in helping you to live for Him. We are not meant to do this life alone we are meant to do this life together because together we are stronger. Deny yourself, pick up your cross and follow Christ through the abundant life.

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Mark 1:23-24

23 A man possessed by an evil spirit was in the synagogue,
24 and he began shouting, "Why are you bothering us, Jesus of Nazareth?
    Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are
     — the Holy One sent from God!"
(NLT)

We can take encouragement from the fact the even the demons know Jesus and are afraid of Him. The Jesus we follow is all powerful and He has adopted us into His family. We are under His household and His inheritance and His power. We truly have nothing to fear for Christ is for us; He has redeemed us and has covered our debt. For when you receive Jesus as your Savior He places His mark upon you as His. So even the demons know that we belong to Jesus and are afraid of us because we are the possession of Christ – the Holy one sent from God! Shout for Joy in the Lord for He is our powerful God.

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Mark 1:21-22

21 Jesus and his companions went to the town of Capernaum,
     and every Sabbath day he went into the synagogue and taught the people.
22 They were amazed at his teaching, for he taught as one who had real authority —
     quite unlike the teachers of religious law.
(NLT)

Jesus taught in the synagogue every Sabbath day. This is where we need to be every week, in church, to be taught the Word by Jesus. Only Jesus has the real authority to teach us His Word. He has chosen and called pastors to go and teach His Word so that we will go out to this lost and dying world and share His message of His death, burial and resurrection. It is not for us to sit in the pews and do nothing but hear the Word. It is meant for us not only to hear the Word but to do the Word. We are to hear what we are supposed to do and then we are to go out and do it, to live it, to let it shine forth from us, to share it, to give it away and to let it live through us. We were created to be doers, not sitters, not quitters, not complainers, not whiners but doers of the Word of God. This is a privilege that has been given to us and it is a privilege to be performed for the glory and honor of our Savior Jesus Christ. Therefore be a doer of the Word.

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Mark 1:16 - 20


16 One day as Jesus was walking along the shores of the Sea of Galilee,
     he saw Simon and his brother, Andrew, fishing with a net,
     for they were commercial fishermen.
17 Jesus called out to them, "Come, be my disciples,
     and I will show you how to fish for people!" 
18 And they left their nets at once and went with him.
19 A little farther up the shore Jesus saw Zebedee's sons,
     James and John, in a boat mending their nets.
20 He called them, too, and immediately they left their father,
     Zebedee, in the boat with the hired men and went with him.
(NLT)

It is a great privilege to be called by Jesus to go and learn how to fish for people. You too have been called by Jesus. You too have been called to learn how to fish for people. It is a great privilege to share the gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus never makes a mistake, He called you, He wants you to go, and He wants you to share your story of salvation and His story of providing that salvation for you. 1 Corinthians 1:21 says, “Since God in his wisdom saw to it that the world would never find him through human wisdom, he has used our foolish preaching to save all who believe.”(NLT) So you see it does not matter how good your speech is or that you think you can not talk well because it does not matter. Why? Because God says that He will give you the words to speak so you don’t have to worry about how or what to say. God will use you to glorify Himself through your obedience. Yield to the Lord as Peter, Andrew, James and John did and learn to be a fisher of men. They immediately left what they knew and followed Jesus therefore go and do the same.

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Mark 1:14-15 14 Later on, after John was arrested by Herod Antipas, Jesus went to Galilee to preach God's Good News. 15 "At last the time has come!" he announced. "The Kingdom of God is near! Turn from your sins and believe this Good News!"  NLT 14 Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, 15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel. KJV 14 And after John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, 15 and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel."  NASB When Jesus made this statement “The time is fulfilled” He was referring to that everything that had been preached and taught to the children of Israel was now complete. For Jesus was the fulfillment of the Old Testament. The kingdom of God is a lot closer than we think therefore we need to repent of our sins, to turn away from our sins and turn to Jesus Christ and believe the gospel. This is our message to the lost. Be ready in season and out of season to share the gospel with whoever God sends your way. It is each of our responsibility to share the good news of the gospel. 1 Corinthian 15:1-4 says, 1 Now let me remind you, dear brothers and sisters, of the Good News I preached to you before. You welcomed it then and still do now, for your faith is built on this wonderful message. 2 And it is this Good News that saves you if you firmly believe it — unless, of course, you believed something that was never true in the first place. 3 I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me — that Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. 4 He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, as the Scriptures said. NLT Praise the Lord that we serve a risen and living Savior. Sponsored by Men’s Ministry Our Mission is to Lead Men into a Growing Relationship with Jesus Christ

Mark 1:9-11 9 One day Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee,      and he was baptized by John in the Jordan River. 10 And when Jesus came up out of the water,      he saw the heavens split open and the Holy Spirit descending like a dove on him. 11 And a voice came from heaven saying,      "You are my beloved Son, and I am fully pleased with you." (NLT) Jesus was the beloved Son of God the Father. God was fully pleased with all that Jesus had done up to this point and what He was going to do. Do you know what it means to be a “beloved son”? Some of us had fathers who saw us as a beloved son, some of us had fathers who were there physically but not mentally, some of us had fathers who were abusive and some of us had no father at all. But God is your true and real Father. He created you but sin separated that relationship. But God through Jesus Christ has made a way that you can now have that relationship. God did not damage the relationship, we damaged it. Through Christ God now sees you as His beloved son too. He wants to father you, to take you on a journey and an adventure and to mold you into the man He has always wanted you to be from before the foundation of the world. If you did not have an earthly father who was there to father you then seek the Lord with all your heart for He wants to pick up the broken pieces and father you, to teach you, to guide you, to show you how to love as He loves. God is ready to go, are you? God is not like your earthly father He is totally and completely different, better. Seek Him, trust Him, let Him guide you and enjoy Him for He cares deeply for you. Let go and let Him father you. Sponsored by Men’s Ministry Our Mission is to Lead Men into a Growing Relationship with Jesus Christ

Mark 1:5-8 5 People from Jerusalem and from all over Judea traveled out into the      wilderness to see and hear John. And when they confessed their sins,      he baptized them in the Jordan River. 6 His clothes were woven from camel hair, and he wore a leather belt;      his food was locusts and wild honey. 7 He announced: "Someone is coming soon who is far greater than I am —      so much greater that I am not even worthy to be his slave.   8 I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit!" (NLT) People came from all over to hear John the Baptist, to hear his message of repentance and the coming Messiah. Confessing of sin is not a one time act and you never need to do it again. We need to examine ourselves daily, maybe every hourly, maybe even minute by minute (for some of us, well most of us). We have sinned against the Lord and we need to confess our sin to Him. Not a general confession but the specific sin(s) and we committed. Our goal is to sin less and less but confession is only a part, we also need to repent. Repenting is turning 180 degrees from that sin and to move toward what God wants us to be doing. God wants our obedience not lip service. When Jesus began His ministry His message was “The time is fulfilled, the kingdomof God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” As the people came and heard the word of John and confessed their sins they were baptized in accordance with their confession. In other words they showed through baptism an outward sign of an inward change. They did not do this privately but publicly and openly. We do not need to keep being baptized ever time we confess our sins but baptism is our starting point in making us recognize that we in front of God said “I turn from my sins and I turn to you in obedience.” John announced: "Someone is coming soon who is far greater than I am — so much greater that I am not even worthy to be his slave.” Even we are not worthy to be Christ’s slave. But Christ sees us as worth dying for, worth baptizing us with the Holy Spirit and marking us His possession. We should be in daily praise to Jesus as loving us so much, being willing to put up with us, caring for us, disciplining us for our own good and blessing us so greatly. Take some time and praise Jesus, thank Jesus and worship Jesus for wanting you so much. Sponsored by Men’s Ministry Our Mission is to Lead Men into a Growing Relationship with Jesus Christ

Mark 1:1-4 1 Here begins the Good News about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God.   2 In the book of the prophet Isaiah, God said, "Look, I am sending my messenger before you, and he will prepare your way.   3 He is a voice shouting in the wilderness: 'Prepare a pathway for the Lord's coming! Make a straight road for him!'   "  4 This messenger was John the Baptist. He lived in the wilderness and was      preaching that people should be baptized to show that they had turned      from their sins and turned to God to be forgiven. (NLT) The Gospel, the Good News is all about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God. All of Scripture leads to one place, one person and that is Jesus Christ. The entire Old Testament is leading up to the coming of Jesus Christ the Messiah. The four gospels tell us of Jesus’ life and ministry, Acts through Jude tell us of the transforming life in Christ and Revelation is the coming back of Jesus. Jesus is the rightful King. He paid the price. It is all about Jesus. From the beginning to the time of His return and after is all about Jesus. John the Baptist was the voice crying out in the wilderness of the coming of the Messiah. He was to prepare the people by baptism for repentance of their sins. Through baptism we show an outward sign of an inward change. Have you let Jesus change you from the inside out? Are you letting Jesus have His way or are you still fighting for your rights? In Christ you have no rights. Does this statement stun you? You had no rights when you were in your sins. Sin controlled your life. You were a slave to sin. In Christ we have the freedom to do God’s will. We have the freedom to obey Christ our King. In sin you have no freedom, you are a slave and you could not service the one who created you. God’s love is so great that that He sent Jesus to die so that you could be set free to return to Him and to live for Him. Therefore where is your voice? Should not our voice be one crying out to the lost that the Lord Jesus is coming back and time is running out? Yes! Each one of us has a voice and it is Jesus who has chosen each one of us to speak out to the lost that He loves them and is coming back soon. Be like John -- obedient to Christ to be that voice shouting out that the Messiah has come, died, rose from the died and is coming back again. Sponsored by Men’s Ministry Our Mission is to Lead Men into a Growing Relationship with Jesus Christ