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Join us as we eat breakfast, sing to the King, have a short devotion, and then go to our community and LOVE LOUD! We will cook food for 1st responders, clean yards, visit nursing homes, pray for folks, and share the love of Jesus. Then we come back for lunch at Fellowship and share how the day impacted us and others.

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Check our website for upcoming events and over lots of past teachings on many different topics.

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What if your greatest need isn’t the one you’ve been asking God to meet? Join us this Sunday for “The Greatest Miracle of All” and discover why four words from Jesus—“Your sins are forgiven”—matter more than we may realize.

If Jesus - God in skin - needed to PRAY, maybe I need to follow His example.

• BEFORE going to serve others, Time with the Father was His First Pursuit

The disciples were concerned when they woke up and Jesus was gone. They searched for Him. This Greek term means to diligently follow after or track down or hunt for.

Several different untreatable skin diseases were called leprosy. Leviticus 13-14 gives the command to quarantine the person with a skin disease to see if it would heal or spread. If it continued to get worse, in order not to infect others, the person was kicked out of the community. 

So this disfigured man with open sores & dirty clothes entered the town crying ‘unclean, unclean’. He approached Jesus humbly on his knees, begging Jesus for help. His one wish was to be made clean. 

He had no other options. He was desperate & needy. He trusted that Jesus COULD heal but didn’t know if Jesus WOULD heal.›

• This man’s approach illustrates how sinners like US should approach Jesus. - humble, needy, desperate, & asking for something that we cannot do ourselves, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”

Lepers were used to people moving AWAY from them, not moving TOWARD them. But check out what Jesus did.

Can you imagine what that would mean? Fathers & mothers, sons & daughters forced to leave their families.

Beyond the physical struggles, this disease caused them to become social & spiritual outcasts. Leprosy left him with nowhere else to turn. 

Did Jesus NEED to touch him to heal him? No. Unlike others, Jesus wasn’t concerned about being infected. 

• NT Wright says: “It worked the other way round. His [Jesus’] cleanness, his healing power, ‘infected’ the man.” 

Imagine the isolation. Imagine how long it might have been since someone willingly reached out to touch him. Now Jesus reaches out His hand.And after Jesus touches him, everyone could see that the leprosy was suddenly GONE - immediately clean!

Jesus wanted this man to obey the Old Testament command for the priest to examine the person and declare him clean. After a week of sacrifices & physicals this man would be able to rejoin his family & his community never to cry ‘Unclean’ again! 

But this man didn’t obey Jesus’ command to keep quiet, telling everybody he could about what Jesus had done for him. 

• His excitement was understandable, but even our enthusiasm needs to submit to Jesus.

As a result of telling everyone, Jesus and his disciples couldn’t quietly enter these towns surrounding the lake. Instead, His celebrity status meant Jesus would have to meet people way outside the towns.

These men are ‘whatever it takes’ kind of friends. When there were too many people to get inside, they changed tactics, got him up to the roof, and then made a mess out of Peter & Andrew’s roof!

Based on archaeological findings, these homes could not support much more than a thatch roof which consisted of wooden cross beams overlaid with reeds, branches, & dried mud. These faithful friends did all this difficult work because they expected Jesus to heal him. Jesus saw their faith. They really BELIEVED that Jesus could heal this man!

These 4 friends wanted their paralyzed friend to WALK again. All this effort to hear, “Your sins are forgiven.”?

The scribes thought Jesus was blaspheming. A priest could pronounce that a person was forgiven on behalf of God after repentance, restitution, & sacrifice (Lev. 4; 5; 16; 17:11), but Jesus was bypassing the temple, the priests, and the sacrificial system altogether - as if HE was forgiving sins. No wonder they thought Jesus was blaspheming - a word that means “to speak harm.” Blasphemy is an attitude of disrespect…directed against the character of God. Sometimes people would 1) speak evil about God or even 2) claim to be God.

• WE can forgive others for their sins against US. 
• But we CAN’T forgive their sin against God. 
• THIS is what Jesus claimed, to have authority to forgive sins on behalf of God.

If only God can forgive sin, and Jesus claims to forgive sin, then He is claiming to have the authority of God..and in their eyes, this is blasphemy - a most serious accusation, since the Scriptural punishment for blaspheming was death by stoning. 

Leviticus 24:15–16 (LSB)

And you shall speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘If anyone curses his God, then he will bear his sin. ‘Moreover, the one who blasphemes the name of Yahweh shall surely be put to death; all the congregation shall certainly stone him. The sojourner as well as the native, when he blasphemes the Name, shall be put to death.

This isn’t the only time Jesus is accused of blasphemy. The people picked up stones to kill Jesus several times after this (Jn 8:58-59; 10:31-33). In fact, the accusation of blaspheming is what condemned Him to the cross (Mt 26:65).

It’s easier to SAY ‘Your sins are forgiven.’ because no one can SEE it. But if you were to SAY ‘Get up and walk’ then the audience WOULD see whether it happened or not. 

What if Jesus really COULD forgive sin? Wouldn’t THAT be The Greatest Miracle of All? Think about it. Let’s say Jesus heals this man - a great miracle, but the guy dies 20 years later. He walked for 20 years but what is 20 years of health compared to eternity in hell? From THAT perspective, The Greatest Miracle of All would NOT be physical healing.

The Greatest Miracle of All is 4 words: Your Sins Are Forgiven!

We might be focused on what we consider an immediate need: health, wealth, successful relationships, successful business, popularity, & authority. But what if we have ALL THAT…and die without seeking the Greatest Miracle of All - our ULTIMATE need…hearing those 4 precious words: ’Your sins are forgiven”

Of course, saying this is one thing, but how could anyone know that it actually happened - that his sins were really forgiven, since that would be something that happens on the INSIDE of the man?

These people have not only seen Jesus heal all kinds of diseases, cast out demons, and teach unlike anyone they ever heard. Now he stands toe to toe with the religious leaders - the scribes - CLAIMING and then PROVING that He can do more than heal the body. JESUS can heal the SOUL!

Ask Jesus to make you CLEAN.

Your deepest need is something you cannot fix yourself. Come to Jesus humbly and ask for His forgiveness.

Schedule time with God this week.

Pull out your calendar and schedule time to get alone with Him to pray & open the Scriptures.

Meet the IMMEDIATE need and open a door to the ULTIMATE NEED.

Sunday, October 18 we will meet together at the Fellowship Campus for Love LOUD - breakfast @ 8:30am, worship,

& short devotion. Then we will launch into our community to meet IMMEDIATE needs & address their ULTIMATE needs.

Let’s be ‘whatever it takes’ kind of friends who want our friends to hear the 4 precious words: ‘Your sins are forgiven.’ Pray for their salvation. Serve their IMMEDIATE NEEDS. Share Jesus - their ULTIMATE NEED.