Lowered Through the Roof: Forgiveness and New Life

``He looks at this man. He says, I I am your friend because you are forgiven. I want to be your friend. See, that's the promise. That's the invite of Jesus. The invitation is into relationship. The invitation is into friendship with God. That is God's ultimate purpose for us. He wants us to be in relationship with him. To be in relationship with the creator is the greatest thing that we can have because it gives us an eternal hope. It gives us an eternal purpose. It sets us free from the chains and the bondage that fills our heart and our mind. Jesus gives us a new identity. We are now friends with God. [01:20:39] (42 seconds)  #FriendsWithGod

We believe we can get it sorted. We we're strong enough. I'm okay. I'll work it out. I don't need anybody to help me. I can save myself. And we believe the lie that we can work it out, but the truth is we can't, can we? That's the reason why we're stuck no matter how much striving our effort. We need help from the outside to get us unstuck. We need help to step in. We need to raise our arms in surrender and say, help me. [01:01:10] (45 seconds)  #CantDoItAlone

As a sign of the kingdom of God breaking through, Jesus is alive, and he is active, and he moves, and he heals today. Now I don't understand why some people are healed and others are not. But this I do know God has the power to heal, and when he does heal, we see signs of the kingdom, the outbreaking of the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven here on earth now. It's a sign just as it was then. It is today a sign that God is alive. He is at work, and it points us to a future where one day there will be no more tears nor sorrow nor pain, for the old things will be gone away, and the new has come. Every person who has faith in him, who is in relationship with God, will be made whole. [01:25:49] (45 seconds)  #KingdomBreakthrough

He picks up this mat, which keeps coming up throughout the whole story, and he rejoices, and he takes away his mat. We even have that detail. Why in the world did he tell? I'd be throwing it away. I don't need it anymore. Here's the thing. I reckon he takes back his mat because it's his testimony. I don't need this mat anymore. I have been healed. See, Jesus has the authority to heal. He proves it. He shows it. And Jesus healed then, and he heals today as well. [01:25:13] (35 seconds)  #HealedTestimony

You've picked up there a story of of freedom and of life. You know, Cam had a group of people that gathered around him and cheered him on and spoke about Jesus. And the promise and the life and the hope of Jesus is that we can become unstuck in in our deepest places in who we are. See, forgiveness that Jesus offers as he as he looks at this man, as he looks at Cam, and he looks at all of us, forgiveness is, as Jesus understands, is the true way to freedom. It is the way to life. [01:19:48] (43 seconds)  #FreedomThroughForgiveness

Or if I have financial security, then I'll be happy. Or if I have that relationship, then I'll be happy. Or if I have that job, I'll be happy. Or whatever it is, you fill in the blanks. If I just have that, then I'll be fulfilled, then I'll be happy. And Tim Keller rightly says, as he comments on this patchy he says, Jesus understands that our deepest need, like this man, is not our need for salvation from suffering, that our deepest need is salvation from our sin. [01:07:54] (37 seconds)  #NotStuffButSoul

Come on. You think about it. For those of you who placed your faith in Jesus, it took somebody with faith to present you, to invite you to see Jesus. It might have been a parent. It might have been a friend. It might have been a youth leader or a pastor. It might have been something on TV or on YouTube or on social media. It might have been coming to Alpha. But at some point in your life, in your faith journey, somebody with faith had to introduce you to Jesus. Someone who had the boldness and the courage to have a conversation and say, hey. Hey. Do you know Jesus? [01:11:22] (36 seconds)  #IntroducedToJesus

He didn't it doesn't say he saw his faith but their faith. Yes. He saw this this man's faith. That's a huge part of it. He'd he'd shown faith to turn up, be lowered down through a roof in front of Jesus. And faith is the thing that takes hold of the forgiveness that god has for us, and many of us have placed our faith in Jesus. Perhaps you're here on a journey and you're you're exploring faith, and my invitation is to keep exploring faith because faith in Jesus leads to life. It leads to forgiveness. [01:09:46] (42 seconds)  #FaithLeadsToLife