Sermon Cloud

Sermon Outline:

Matthew 9:1-8 “Jesus stepped into a boat, crossed over and came to his own town. Some men brought to him a paralytic, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven." At this, some of the teachers of the law said to themselves, "This fellow is blaspheming!" Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, "Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts? Which is easier: to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up and walk'? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins..." Then he said to the paralytic, "Get up, take your mat and go home." And the man got up and went home. When the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe; and they praised God, who had given such authority to men. As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector's booth. "Follow me," he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.”

·      In Matthew 1-4 we see the Person of Jesus Christ.

·      In Matthew 5-7 we are shown the Principles of Jesus Christ.

·      In Matthew 8 and 9 we are shown the Power of Jesus Christ, and we see a series of 10 miracles He performed.

·      Jesus had power over Demons, Disaster, Disease, and even Death!

1. The Pardon

·      We don’t know these four men’s names, so I’d like to name them today.

·      The first guy is Faith.

·      We’ll never grow as a church until we firmly believe that Jesus can help people.

·      We must be absolutely convinced that He is the only answer.

·               The second guy is named Love.

·      To grow as a church we must fall in love with people’s lives.

·               The third guy is named Determination.

·  If we’re going to go anywhere as a church, then each of us needs to take personal responsibility to see things through!

·           The fourth guy is Cooperation.

·  Many people in our lives will never COME to Jesus unless they are BROUGHT to Jesus!

·      This context indicates that this man was sick because of personal sin in his life.

·      Certainly most physical problems aren’t rooted in sin, but sometimes they are!

   Jesus went straight to the heart of the matter, directly to the root of the problem.

2. The Power

·      Only God can read our minds.

·      You cannot be a Christian simply by believing in God…you must make a decision about Jesus Christ…there is no middle ground.

·      We all come here today carrying burdens of sin, but will we admit it to the One Who already knows?

·      The greatest of all miracles are sitting all around this place right now: joy-filled lives transformed by the power of Christ!

·      We may not all be all that we ought to be, but praise God, we’re not what we used to be!

3. The Praise

·      When you look at what the pardon of Jesus and the power of Jesus have miraculously accomplished in the lives of just those in this room, it ought to lead us all to Praise the Lord!

·      Don’t allow the problems that arise to obscure your vision from what God is truly doing right here!

What are Miracles for?

·      To bring the glory of God

·      To give glory to God

·      To stimulate and invite faith and hope

·      To believe in the unbelievable

·      To partner with family and friends

·      To know God’s love, goodness and power

·      To see Divine mercy and compassion

·      To see something made real out of the unreal

SERMON NOTES:

Matthew 9:1-8 “Jesus stepped into a boat, crossed over and came to his own town. Some men brought to him a paralytic, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven." At this, some of the teachers of the law said to themselves, "This fellow is blaspheming!" Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, "Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts? Which is easier: to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up and walk'? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins..." Then he said to the paralytic, "Get up, take your mat and go home." And the man got up and went home. When the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe; and they praised God, who had given such authority to men. As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector's booth. "Follow me," he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.”

The word Miracle in Latin means something wonderful

·      In Matthew 1-4 we see the Person of Jesus Christ.

He knows our pains, our trials…

·      In Matthew 5-7 we are shown the Principles of Jesus Christ.

He taught life-changing principles; He changed the whole structure of the laws and put life to them

·      In Matthew 8 and 9 we are shown the Power of Jesus Christ, and we see a series of 10 miracles He performed.

Cleansed the leper

Calmed the storm

Cast out demons

Power over the physical, natural and spiritual

·      Jesus had power over Demons, Disaster, Disease, and even Death!

The same Savior that created the universe has the power to save our souls and heal our hurts

There are miracles all over the place, all the time – some that we see and some that we do not see

1. The Pardon

The greatest of all gifts – forgiveness

vs 1 “your sins are forgiven”

In Mark 4, there was more detail – the men had to put their friend through the roof.

·      We don’t know these four men’s names, so I’d like to name them today.

Which one are you or which one can you be?

·      The first guy is Faith.

·      We’ll never grow as a church until we firmly believe that Jesus can help people.

We must believe that Jesus is the one that can help protect and heal people

·      We must be absolutely convinced that He is the only answer.

·               The second guy is named Love.

He loved his friend so much that he would not accept anything less than to bring him to Jesus

·      To grow as a church we must fall in love with people’s lives.

We can get off site in our love for people that God puts in our life

·               The third guy is named Determination.

Stop talking about it and let’s just do it!  When they saw the crowd of people that did not deter him

The true essence of any church family is about servanthood

·  If we’re going to go anywhere as a church, then each of us needs to take personal responsibility to see things through!

·           The fourth guy is Cooperation.

We may not succeed, but if we team up together, we can get the job done

·  Many people in our lives will never COME to Jesus unless they are BROUGHT to Jesus!

We need to all do it together as a group

·      This context indicates that this man was sick because of personal sin in his life.

Jesus usually deals with the physical before the spiritual, but this time, Jesus dealt with the spiritual first

·      Certainly most physical problems aren’t rooted in sin, but sometimes they are!

What did Job do?  Nothing.

Ÿ    Jesus went straight to the heart of the matter, directly to the root of the problem.

The greatest miracle of all was Jesus’ forgiveness of the man’s sin!

2. The Power

·      Only God can read our minds.

The Pharisees could not see the forgiveness of sin, so Jesus gave them something that they could see

Satan cannot read our minds; he is a fallen angel, not God

·      You cannot be a Christian simply by believing in God…you must make a decision about Jesus Christ…there is no middle ground.

There is no gray with Jesus.  If we are luke-warm, He will spit us out

He cares for us and has gifts, assignments for us…

·      We all come here today carrying burdens of sin, but will we admit it to the One Who already knows?

When we admit our sins to Him and ask for a miracle touch in our life, it brings an incredible amount of hope

·      The greatest of all miracles are sitting all around this place right now: joy-filled lives transformed by the power of Christ!

Jesus has changed many of our lives, and He is not done!!!

·      We may not all be all that we ought to be, but praise God, we’re not what we used to be!

I am different, I am changed.  That is because of a miracle of God

3. The Praise

The man had a double miracle – he was healed of his sin and he was physically healed

Christi had a double miracle – she was healed of cancer and now she has a daughter

·      When you look at what the pardon of Jesus and the power of Jesus have miraculously accomplished in the lives of just those in this room, it ought to lead us all to Praise the Lord!

·      Don’t allow the problems that arise to obscure your vision from what God is truly doing right here!

God is always in the business of doing miracles in our lives.

What are Miracles for?

·      To bring the glory of God

He gets all the glory and all of the attention.  It was not just about the friends that brought the man to Jesus, it was about Jesus.  It is not just about technology, it is about God

·      To give glory to God

·      To stimulate and invite faith and hope

Heb 11:1

·      To believe in the unbelievable

That man that came and his friends believed in the unbelievable, they believed that something could change.

·      To partner with family and friends

He had four friends that came in and partnered with him.

·      To know God’s love, goodness and power

ALL miracles are an act of God’s love

·      To see Divine mercy and compassion

·      To see something made real out of the unreal

He forgives us because of His great love for us!