John 4:35
35 Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!
“ The Times Are Different But The Harvest Is Ripe”
Mark 2:1-4
Mark 2:1 A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home.
Mark 2:2 They gathered in such large numbers that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them.
Mark 2:3 Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them.
Mark 2:4 Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on.
Mark 2:5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”
There are a few things that I would like to point out from this passage of scripture.
- The Paralytic man had a need.
The man who was lying on the mat was paralyzed and he was not saved.
He had a need for a healing, and he had a need for salvation.
Jesus met both of his needs.
In verse 5 we see that Jesus told him – Your sins are forgiven
In verse 9 Jesus told him take up they bed and walk.
Just like this man lying on the mat had a need, so it is in our world today.
Just because we are in a time of pandemic does not mean that the needs in the world today have gone away.
There are still young people who are dying.
There is still gang violence taking place in the inner cities.
There is still prostitution taking place in the streets.
There is still drug addiction affecting the lives of many people.
Just because we are in a time of pandemic does not mean that the needs in the inner cities have stopped.
How many know even though we are in a time of pandemic there are still families that are hurting, young people that are dying from gang violence, prostitution is real and drug addiction is still happening.
- The four men wanted to meet the need
Even though we are living in a time of pandemic, it does not change the fact that people are still hurting and looking for answers.
Now here is the amazing part. God has anointed us as a ministry to meet the needs of the inner cities.
God has given us a specific anointing to meet the needs of the inner cities.
Now are we the only church that is meeting needs? No, but God has given us to meet a specific need.
He has given us a specific mission and that mission is to reach the inner cities of the world.
He has anointed us to reach the gang member, He has anointed us to reach the twilight treasure, He has anointed us to reach the drug addict and He has anointed to reach hurting families.
That should get you excited.
Why because that means you are anointed.
Do me a favor if you are sitting next to someone tell them you are anointed.
That reminds me of the scripture where Jesus said in Luke 4:18-19
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.”
The was a reason that the spirit of the Lord was upon Jesus. He had a mission.
Proclaim good news.
Proclaim freedom for the prisoners.
Recovery of sight for the blind.
Set the oppressed free.
To proclaim the year of the Lords favor.
The was a reason that Jesus was anointed.
Tell your neighbor again, you are anointed.
See God has anointed you and I for a reason. Just like Jesus said why the Spirit of the Lord was upon Him, so it is with you and I.
God has anointed you and I for a reason and the reason is to bring good news to hurting people, recovery of sight to the blind, hope to the hopeless and freedom for those that are captive.
We haven’t been anointed just so we can say – Hey look I am anointed.
We are not anointed just so we can play church.
We are not anointed just so we can say we are anointed.
We are not anointed by God just to be normal and live an average life.
No, God has anointed us so we can make an impact in the inner cities of the world.
Illustration: Man who had a lot of muscles.
This reminds me of a body builder who was on a talk show one time and the host ask the body builder, so what do you do with all those muscles?
The body builder walked forward and showed his biceps and triceps and the people in the audience were amazed and applauded.
Then the host asked the man again, so what do you do with all those muscles?
The body builder walked forward again and showed his leg muscles and his back muscles. The audience was amazed and applauded.
Then the talk show host said, but what do you do with all those muscles.
The body builder had no answer, so he walked forward and flexed his muscles again.
I guess the moral of the illustration is that we as the church haven’t been giving an anointing so we can show off our abilities or what I do better then so and so, but we have been given this anointing so we can make an impact on a hurting and dying world.
God has anointed our ministry so we can bring good news into the inner cities of the world.
Just like the like the paralytic man had a need and the four men were used to get him to Jesus so he could be healed, and his sins be forgiven.
So it is with you and I. The world is in need and God has anointed us and wants to use you and me to get people to Jesus.
- The door they planned on going through to get the paralyzed man to Jesus was closed.
Here is another thing that stood out to me from this passage of scripture and it kind of ties in to the times that you and I are living in.
These four men are all excited about getting this man who is paralyzed and in need of healing to Jesus.
They mush have heard that Jesus was in town and knew if they could just get their friend to Jesus he could be healed.
So they loaded up the paralytic man who was lying on the mat and they headed off to where Jesus was.
Now when they get to the place where Jesus was, they ran into a challenge.
The place where Jesus was, was packed out. There was no way of getting the man through the door because of the crowd.
Now here they are with this man lying on the mat. They have walked all the way to the place Jesus was and the place is full.
They are probably tired and hungry from carrying this man.
The way they had planned on getting this man to Jesus was shut down.
It was Overcrowded.
Now what I like about these four men is even though the original plan did not work, they thought of another plan.
They could have said to each other I am tired; I am hungry, and we walked all this way, and the place is full, I am going back home.
Nope and I like what these men did next.
The way they thought they were going to get this man to Jesus didn’t work, but they thought of another plan.
They thought of another strategy to get him to Jesus.
They had a burden to see this man healed and saved.
This kind of reminds me of the day and time that you and I are living in today.
There are ways that you and I are used to getting the gospel out that have been affected because of the situation that the world is in, but that should challenge you and I to think of creative ways to get the gospel out.
Just because we are on lock down and we can’t really do big events, or have outreaches and crusades like we are used to, that shouldn’t stop us from witnessing, telling someone about Jesus or even spreading the good news.
What this should do for you and I is challenge us to think of creative ways to spread the Gospel.
Just like it caused the four men who were carrying the paralytic to think outside the box, it should do the same thing for you and me.
Yes, we have rules and regulations, but our burden to reach the lost should cause us to be creative in getting people to Jesus.
With churches being limited to a certain number of people, you can look at it as the place being packed.
When the place was packed and the traditional way didn’t work, they could have given up, but they made a plan.
They had to think of a different way of getting this man to Jesus.
That kind of sounds like the day and age that we are living in today.
Maybe we are not able to do the traditional way of spreading the gospel like we are used to.
There are more avenues that you and I should tap into to get the gospel out and be a witness for the Lord.
Do we still have a burden for the lost?
Does it burden our hearts when we hear about the need?
There are more people online than ever before.
If we don’t keep up then we can miss out on so many witnessing opportunities.
I guess no church had a radio ministry before the radio came out.
I guess no church had a tv ministry before tv came out.
Well now we are in the online age and we as the church should take advantage of all the witnessing opportunities that are online.
Yes, the traditional way of getting people to hear about Jesus may be affected because of the state of the world, but are willing to think outside the box to get people who are hurting to Jesus?
Now I know when we hear the word online age we think of social media, but that is just one avenue.
There are so many more avenues and opportunities to spread the gospel online than just using social media.
Yes social media is a big part, but let me just name a few more things that you and I can do as the church to spread the good news.
Notice I said you and I as the church.
- YouTube – Did you know that you can start your own tv program on YouTube. Imagine the endless possibilities of what can be done to spread the gospel. (Talk show, testimonies, concerts, prayer meeting)
- eBook – did you know you can write a book and make it available online.
- Whatsapp status – did you know you can post church flyers on your whatsapp status
- Website – Imagine you can build your own website for free.
- Social Media Page
- Webinar
- Blog – You can use a blog to share your testimony
- Tutorials –
- Digital Flyer
- Video Testimonial – you can testify and preach as long as you want on YouTube.
- Online radio station – You can start your own online radio station
- Podcast – You can start a podcast where you interview people and have testimonies.
- Online rally – you can do an online rally or concert and promote it on your social media.
The list goes on and on .
I guess the question is, when the traditional way of getting people to Jesus is packed out, are we going to be creative in getting the gospel out to people who are dying and looking for a way out.
The online age is an opportunity for everyone and of we can’t forget the good old school one on one evangelism.
God has anointed us to bring good news to the hurting and right now is the perfect time to think of new ways of getting that good news to hurting people.
The anointing upon the Lord is upon us for a reason, not to show off our skills but to carry the burden.
