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[Music] [MUSIC] Stay by him with us, lead us with your love. My poor little dear, he lives now far too late.

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♪ We've got a job to do ♪ ♪ We've got kids to feed ♪ ♪ But we can't be ♪ ♪ We can't be ♪

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♪ We hold this spirit ♪ ♪ We hold it low ♪ ♪ We are His people ♪ ♪ Filling us with Your love ♪

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♪ God for His blessing ♪ ♪ Is good, how awesome is it ♪ ♪ God, we know that we have every heart ♪ ♪ And we shall be His children ♪

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Amen, amen. Our message today, let us focus on this passage of scripture and mark the second chapter, verses three to five and verses 11 and 12. They come unto him bringing one sick of the palsy,

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which was born of four. And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof where he was, and when he had broken it up,

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they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay. When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, "Son, thy sins be forgiven thee. Arise and take up thy bed and go thy way into thine house."

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immediately he arose took up his bed and went before them all in so much that they were all amazed and glorified God saying we never saw it on this fashion. They come to him bringing one sick of the palsy which was born of four. The subject of the message, he ain't heavy. He ain't heavy.

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A chronic sickness plagues the human family. This sickness pervades every dimension of human existence. The patient is confined to bed and unable to fulfill the divine purpose.

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This sickness is serious. It's diagnosed as paralysis. It has rendered vital organs useless. It has wrecked the brain and the central nervous system. The victim of this deadly paralysis is unable to stand up to life, unable to walk as a pilgrim in the heavenly way. In fact, he has suffered a major stroke.

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He has fallen from grace. Therefore he is unable to accept life's challenges, unable to be the person he is made to be, unable to work in the vineyard of the master. First of all, we note that this man is in bondage.

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He spends his days and nights in bed. He's on a pallet. His paralysis keeps him down and out. He's a victim of despair.

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He's in bondage. the situation of our world. We suffer from a serious sickness. We suffer from paralysis. Basic organs are present but they fail to function in an orderly and harmonious manner. In fact, In fact, Ryan Honeberg expresses it rather succinctly when he says that we suffer from

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the paralysis of analysis, the paralysis of analysis. We can analyze our problems, but it seems that we are unable to do very much about solving them in the right way. This man has legs but he can't walk.

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He has arms but he can't use them effectively. He's disjointed and in a state of disharmony and dis-ease. We see this condition in the political arena. We suffer from paralysis.

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We have a passion for peace. We have armies, navies, planes, missiles. Those are the things that are supposed to guarantee us peace, but we suffer from paralysis. We see this situation in the economic arena.

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We have the technology, but people are starving from hunger and malnutrition. While farmers have no market for their products, we are suffering from paralysis. We see this situation in the moral arena. We have models from the past, the principles of sages and the teachings of scripture, but

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we suffer from paralysis. We see it in our personal living. What we ought to do, we fail to do. What we ought not do, we do.

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We are paralyzed. confined to bed when it comes to living according to the divine expectation. A descriptive analysis of the human situation is personified by this man described in Mark's gospel as one sick of the palsy who is trying to get to Jesus.

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See this man is in bondage. He's unable to carry his burden. He's unable to shoulder the responsibilities that are expected of him

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because he is paralyzed. He's in bondage. He's confined to his bed. In fact, rather than to carry someone else,

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he has to be carried wherever he goes. Not only is he a burden to himself, he's a burden to other people. He's in bondage.

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Mark tells us that this man, sick of the palsy, is born of four. There are four people, four men who carry him. They carry this man, this burden,

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that constitutes their load. Four of them, each taking his share. Each has a corner of the pallet, if you please. Each putting his shoulder to the load.

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They work together, and their aim is to get this man to Jesus. And this somehow illustrates, I think, beautifully what we are concerned about in our doctrinal interest,

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or our doctrinal emphasis in church training during this month, on the doctrine of the laity. This is where these men who constitute the laity accept their responsibility.

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They carry their part of the load. They work together. Their object is somehow, some way, to get this man into the presence of Jesus.

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Now they were not just busybodies. They were not just passing the time of day. What we see here is faith in action. This man, this paralytic, was down,

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but he had not given up. He believed that help was available. He was willing to search until he found it. And these four men work with him.

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All of them somehow are cooperating. They are working together because they believe that there is hope. And although he is paralyzed, he continues to hope.

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And so the wonderful thing is that there four comrades in the faith who give hands and feet to this paralyzed man's prayers. Oh I'm sure he had not only hoped but he had prayed that his condition might be healed. There were those who had no time for this man. They

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say he's too heavy. Can't be bothered with this fella carrying him around on his palate, you know, hour after hour, day after day, the responsibility of working with this man is too great. And there are many people who look about and they see certain conditions and certain problems, certain human needs in the community or

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in the neighborhood in which they live, on the job in which they work, and they say I can't be bothered with this. It's too heavy, it's too heavy. I don't have time for this. It's too much. There are those who were content to leave this man alone in his misery, but the record says that there were four who joined with this

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man, their faith supported each other, and here they are, the paralytic and four brothers, and they carry him on his pallet, but they cannot get to the door because of the crowd. So many people were there, the crowd around Jesus, so great was the crowd that they could not even get to the door. They went around, no

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doubt, they went around to the windows, they couldn't get in that way. They no doubt went around the house trying to get to Jesus, but so great was the crowd. Jesus is inside the house, they can't get in, but they don't give up. The crowd is there. And you know so often there's a situation where people are around Jesus

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and one would think that here this man on his palate that people ought to be so willing to help this man that everybody ought to just get a step aside and let this man be brought in. No, but that isn't the case. So many people are around Jesus, spectators wanting to see what's happening and they are really keeping

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people from Jesus. That's what they were doing. They were around him. And there are many who are around and yet somehow not really involved and really deeply concerned about human needs, about helping people. We may wonder about this crowd. The problem is they're there but they really don't care. They really don't care. That there is not really what D. Elton Trueblood calls the fellowship of the concerned as far as the crowd is

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concerned. The crowd is rather indifferent, impersonal, indifferent. But here the four they are not only concerned and caring they represent that caring community they represent that kind of fellowship that is really concerned about helping this fellow who's down and out. You know a lot of people are with

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you when you're up. Prodigal son had a whole lot of friends when he had plenty of money and he could take them all to a party and say set them up for the whole group. But when his money ran out and he found himself in a far country without any acquaintances he had to go and hire himself to a farmer there and was

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reduced to feeding swine. The down and out. Here these four are concerned about this man who's down and out and not only do they carry him to the house where Jesus is, when they find it difficult to get inside the house, what they do, they devise a plan. There's some ingenuity here. They say, "Well, we can't

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get in the door. We can't get around inside through the windows or anywhere around the house, we got to find a way." And they were persistent. They didn't say, "Well, we'll go home. We'll give up on this. It's too difficult. The man's too heavy anyway." They didn't say that. But they said, "Well, let's try another way." And they decided that they would get on top of the house and open up the roof.

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My my, what a great deal of trouble they went to to get this man to Jesus and they opened that rough. You know if we're going to lead people to Jesus it takes a great deal of effort and a great deal of sacrifice. People who take the attitude well don't let them come just like I did. I'm not really that concerned. They

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didn't have that, but they somehow went to this man where he was on his pallet in his home, carried him from his home to the house where Jesus was, couldn't get in and go to great efforts, opened up the roof and those that were there no doubt wondered what was happening as they looked up and they found these four men letting down this man from the roof on his pallet into the presence of Jesus. My

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my. And that action you see was a steadfast response to this whole matter of the fact that even though this is this is considered by everybody around around as a burden. They say he ain't heavy. He ain't really heavy for us because we love this fellow, we're concerned about him, we want to see healing take place and we believe

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that if we can get him into the presence of Jesus that he'll be a new creature, he'll have a new humanity. No, no, when we think about what blessing there is ahead, He ain't had it. And so this man who's in bondage,

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this man who was a burden, this man is blessed because they carry him into the presence of the master. They bring him to Jesus.

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It's always some work and effort to do that. They tell us one thing and then another many times when we try to work, but we've got to be persistent. They were persistent and so they bring him into the presence of the master. And the scripture says that when Jesus saw their

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faith, yeah, yeah, when Jesus saw their faith, when Jesus saw their commitment, When Jesus saw how they were willing to give of themselves, when Jesus saw how they were willing to empty themselves for the sake of this brother and for the sake of getting this brother into the presence of Jesus Christ, when he saw

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their faith, when he saw their commitment, he said, "Son, thy sins be forgiven thee." when he saw their faith. That kind of faith. They had a kind of faith that accepted this tremendous challenge, this burden, and responded to it by saying, "He ain't heavy. He's our brother. He's our brother." You know, things we really love, they're not, they may be heavy

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in a sense, but it's a burden that is light. There's a man who was very short and very small. And there was a lady who was rather pleasingly plump. And she said, honey, can I sit on your lap?

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And so he said yes. And she sat there. And others wondered about, is she heavy? He said, oh, no.

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When you really care, when you really love, the responsibilities, the burdens become light because you love the challenge. He ain't heavy. What I always know is you don't have to look far to find him.

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You say, "Oh, I'm not going to do this. I'm not going to do that." You'll whine and recline from the responsibilities. Jesus talks about that crowd. He gives us a picture of those in the

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last judgment. He says that in that day that there'll be the sheep and the goats. And how will you know the sheep and the goats? The goats are those who somehow say, "Well, that's just too much. I can't be bothered with going to the jail. I've had people to say that and I said you know we ought to visit the jail. Reverend must

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be losing his mind. Visiting the jail? I ain't going to no jail. Dealing somehow with the down and out for many people. They said no, no, I don't have time for all of that. Giving clothes to the needy. Being concerned about getting them on their feet. Uh-uh, not me. Bread for the hungry? No, no, not me. Let them make it like I did. I had a hard time letting them get up like I did.

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That's the crowd that Jesus said, "Depart from me." But the others were those who accepted responsibility. And they would they enjoyed doing it that they hadn't even kept any record of it. It wasn't a real burden in other words You know into the kingdom that's been prepared for you since the foundation of the earth

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So what did we do? Well when I was sick You visited me I was in prison you you you were concerned about me when you when I was hungry you fattened me and when I was naked you gave me clothes and say in as much as

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you have done it to the least of these my brethren my brethren my brethren you have done it unto me. They did it but they had the attitude when they did it that he ain't really heavy. Well when Jesus saw their faith and he speaks to this man saying your sins be forgiven. And the people who were there said, "Well what kind

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of doctor is this? Why did he get his medical training? What gives him the right to give this kind of prescription to this man's situation? What kind of medicine is this that he's prescribing. But Jesus, you see, goes to the cause. He said, "Your sins be forgiven you." There are many physical disorders that are due to spiritual causes. So he

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goes to the root of the matter. And until we get right with God, we cannot get right with ourselves. Somehow getting right with ourselves means getting right with God. We can't have order and harmony in our homes until we get right with God. We can't be rightly related to each other until we are right with God.

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Father, I have sinned against heaven and against thee, and I'm no more worthy to be called thy son. He gets right with the Father. He gets right with the Father. So Jesus says your sins are forgiven, arise, get up from that bed, arise, take up your bed, go your way to your house, arise. You know what that is? That's resurrection. One who speaks that word is the resurrected Lord.

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He is the resurrection, he himself is resurrection. He speaks saying arise, I am the resurrection. I know you've been down now, but you can trust me. You can get up. I know you've been paralyzed, but arise. Get up. You've been down, but I say get up and carry your bed. When Jesus comes into our lives, somehow he gets in there with

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us and he enables us to carry our load. Carry that which has had you down that somehow you can get underneath it and put it on your shoulder and walk with newness of life. carry your bed, carry your bed. And he speaks to us today saying arise. Maybe you've made a mess of things in the past, maybe you blundered and maybe you've

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lost a lot of opportunities, they're wasted opportunities, but he says arise. Arise! Arise from the ruins around you of castles you've built it in vain, someday you can weld them together with a song of beginning again. Arise! Arise and carry your bed, carry it with you, for that's the one who speaks saying, "My yoke is easy and

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my burden is light." And so he goes forth with the Spirit of Jesus Christ, he goes forth with the burden of the Lord in his heart, but he says in his heart of hearts he ain't heavy. Somehow I've got a song in my heart for he has lifted me up, he's lifted me up from the horrible pit. He's lifted me up from a bed of defeat and despair enabled me to walk with new hope and new life. Well it all happened because he

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was brought to Jesus by four of his comrades and because all of them had faith in the Master. Miracle? Why ask God what's a miracle in our lives when we all to have faith in him. It really pays, it pays. It pays to serve Jesus, it pays every day, it pays every step of the way. Though the pathway to glory may sometimes

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smitheree, you'll be happy each step of the way. We invite you now to come. This is an invitation to accept Jesus Christ, to unite with this church, his family here at Ebenezer. If you really believe this word, if you believe in him, if you're living in Austin without a church home, if you've never accepted him as Lord of

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your life, now is the chance. We invite you to come. This is the invitation that he extends to all. He's there, he's waiting. He only bids us come. Come now. ♪ Gladness of Jesus, true pleasure of God ♪

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♪ In Him there is joy, with love and love alone ♪ ♪ His heaven's due, trust Him, undress all His words ♪ ♪ Unrest on his word ♪ ♪ It pays to search his house each day ♪

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♪ It pays to search his house each day ♪ ♪ It takes every step of the way ♪ ♪ For that way to glory ♪ ♪ May sometimes be drear ♪

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♪ You'll be happy ♪ ♪ Each step of the way ♪ ♪ It pays to serve Jesus ♪ ♪ Whatever may be done ♪

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♪ It pays to be true ♪ ♪ Whatever you may do ♪ His presence of mercy is into all life. His praise to serve Jesus he's heard.

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His praise to serve Jesus, his praise every day. ♪ It pays every step ♪ ♪ A job well done today ♪ ♪ Though the pathway to glory ♪

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♪ May sometimes be great ♪ ♪ Beauty and peace ♪ ♪ Is jet from the plane ♪ [MUSIC PLAYING]

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