WEBVTT - There's Another Door 0:00:01.520 --> 0:00:02.800 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. 0:00:02.800 --> 0:00:05.800 I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast. 0:00:05.880 --> 0:00:08.320 I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope 0:00:08.320 --> 0:00:11.040 this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope it 0:00:11.039 --> 0:00:13.560 gives your perspective to see God is moving in your life. 0:00:13.840 --> 0:00:14.760 Enjoy the message. 0:00:16.880 --> 0:00:17.920 We have a little fun today. 0:00:18.000 --> 0:00:20.799 I'm gonna take you to a Bible passage that. 0:00:22.280 --> 0:00:23.119 We can all relate to. 0:00:23.400 --> 0:00:30.240 Turn in your Bible or just watch the screen, whatever 0:00:30.280 --> 0:00:32.640 you need to do. Let's go together to Mark chapter two, 0:00:33.440 --> 0:00:40.440 verses one through twelve. And this passage practically preaches itself. 0:00:40.520 --> 0:00:43.400 So God, get me out of the way. Say what 0:00:43.440 --> 0:00:45.159 you need to say to your people. Help them hear it, 0:00:45.159 --> 0:00:47.959 even if they're hard headed in Jesus name. Amen, that's 0:00:48.000 --> 0:00:51.160 an honest preacher's a Two days later, when Jesus again 0:00:51.280 --> 0:00:53.920 entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. 0:00:54.320 --> 0:00:57.240 So many gathered that there was no room left, not 0:00:57.600 --> 0:01:01.800 even outside the door. And the word to them. Some 0:01:01.920 --> 0:01:06.880 men came bringing to him a paralytic carried by four 0:01:06.959 --> 0:01:10.399 of them. All right, and since they could not get 0:01:10.480 --> 0:01:13.160 him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an 0:01:13.200 --> 0:01:16.959 opening in the roof above Jesus, and after digging through 0:01:17.000 --> 0:01:20.920 it lowered the mat. So we've got four men and 0:01:20.959 --> 0:01:25.000 we've got a matt. This is March madness. It's the 0:01:25.120 --> 0:01:29.960 final four. Whoa, you're so hateful, You are so hateful. 0:01:30.040 --> 0:01:32.360 I worked on that joke for about three hours this week, 0:01:32.360 --> 0:01:33.360 and look how you treated me. 0:01:34.640 --> 0:01:37.160 I'll find me another church where they appreciate advanced humor. 0:01:37.200 --> 0:01:38.800 I am one of these days, you're gonna look up here. 0:01:38.800 --> 0:01:41.360 It's gonna be somebody not as funny as me, taking 0:01:41.360 --> 0:01:45.399 my wit for granted. Kidding, I'm kidding. I see some 0:01:45.440 --> 0:01:49.720 of the guests look at me. Now, let's get back 0:01:49.760 --> 0:01:54.000 to the text. When Jesus saw their faith, he said 0:01:54.800 --> 0:02:01.440 to the paralytic son, your sins are forgiven. 0:02:02.440 --> 0:02:04.560 What did their faith have to do with his sins? 0:02:06.240 --> 0:02:13.240 Is it possible that your life affects more than your life? 0:02:13.520 --> 0:02:18.000 Is it possible that your example affects more than your existence? 0:02:19.120 --> 0:02:24.000 When he saw their faith, he said, your sins are forgiven. Now, 0:02:24.400 --> 0:02:27.359 some teachers of the law were sitting there thinking to themselves, 0:02:27.560 --> 0:02:31.959 why does this fellow talk like that. He's blaspheming who 0:02:31.960 --> 0:02:38.480 can forgive sins? But God alone? Immediately, Jesus knew in 0:02:38.560 --> 0:02:42.600 his spirit that this is what they were thinking in 0:02:42.720 --> 0:02:46.040 their hearts. And he said to them, because he is 0:02:46.120 --> 0:02:49.560 such a savage that he wins an imaginary argument. 0:02:49.919 --> 0:02:51.320 He responds not to what. 0:02:51.280 --> 0:02:53.560 They said, but to what they thought that they didn't 0:02:53.600 --> 0:02:55.280 get the chance to say. 0:02:56.480 --> 0:02:57.640 So, he knows your intentions. 0:02:57.680 --> 0:03:01.840 Touch somebody say, you can't fool You might be able 0:03:01.919 --> 0:03:03.839 to fool me, but you can't fool God. He knows 0:03:03.880 --> 0:03:08.400 your motivations, and he knows your thoughts too, So he 0:03:08.480 --> 0:03:12.839 said to them. He responded to their thoughts, why are 0:03:12.880 --> 0:03:16.400 you thinking these things? Which is easier to say to 0:03:16.440 --> 0:03:21.520 the paralytic, your sins are forgiven, or to say, get up, 0:03:22.160 --> 0:03:25.400 take your mat, and walk, but that you may know 0:03:25.520 --> 0:03:27.920 that the son of Man has authority on earth to 0:03:28.000 --> 0:03:28.840 forgive sins. 0:03:29.800 --> 0:03:30.560 Dot dot dot. 0:03:31.560 --> 0:03:34.720 He said to the paralytic, I tell you, get up, 0:03:35.480 --> 0:03:38.400 take your mat, go home. And he got up, took 0:03:38.400 --> 0:03:42.000 his mat, and walked out in full view of them. All. 0:03:42.520 --> 0:03:46.520 This amazed everyone, and they praised God, saying, we've never 0:03:46.520 --> 0:03:51.960 seen anything like this. This is remarkable, this is miraculous. 0:03:52.200 --> 0:03:56.800 But verse two is really where my sermon hinges. So 0:03:57.000 --> 0:04:02.280 many gathered that there was no room left, not even 0:04:02.840 --> 0:04:06.040 outside the door. Touch your neighbor, give them my title. 0:04:06.080 --> 0:04:10.280 Say I got good news. I know your heart was broken, 0:04:12.200 --> 0:04:16.280 I know you lost some things, but I got good news. 0:04:17.600 --> 0:04:20.640 There's another door. Turn to your next neighbor, the one 0:04:20.680 --> 0:04:22.360 you really wanted to talk to, and tell them there's 0:04:22.400 --> 0:04:33.720 another door. So let's lay a principle here, overlay it 0:04:33.760 --> 0:04:39.200 on this narrative from Mark chapter four. Here's the principle. 0:04:39.920 --> 0:04:47.040 Life's biggest opportunities aren't always obvious. Life's biggest opportunities aren't 0:04:47.120 --> 0:04:53.120 always obvious. After the fact, they seem obvious. You know 0:04:53.240 --> 0:04:56.640 that it was an idiot that cut Michael Jordan from 0:04:56.680 --> 0:05:01.800 the team, But life's greatest opportunities are and always obvious. 0:05:02.720 --> 0:05:05.640 Holly paid me a compliment Friday. I think it was 0:05:05.640 --> 0:05:09.159 a compliment. She said, I didn't know what I was 0:05:09.160 --> 0:05:13.200 getting when I married you. What I took that to 0:05:13.279 --> 0:05:16.240 mean is is so much better. What I took that 0:05:16.320 --> 0:05:19.280 to mean is it's an Ephesians three twenty kind of thing, 0:05:19.600 --> 0:05:24.920 exceeding abundantly above all that she asked or imagined. I 0:05:24.960 --> 0:05:28.719 think that's what she meant. I did not clarify. Sometimes 0:05:28.800 --> 0:05:32.400 assumption is a beautiful marriage tool. But I just took 0:05:32.440 --> 0:05:35.080 it like that anyway. She said, I didn't know what 0:05:35.160 --> 0:05:38.200 I was getting when I looked across the North Greenville 0:05:38.320 --> 0:05:42.880 University cafeteria and saw that silly boy with a buzz 0:05:42.920 --> 0:05:47.240 cut and an extra large Superman T shirt that I 0:05:47.279 --> 0:05:50.200 bought for a dollar twenty five at Goodwill. She didn't 0:05:50.240 --> 0:05:53.800 know that there was a Superman inside that silly shirt. 0:05:54.720 --> 0:05:55.960 I'm just talking a little bit. 0:05:58.560 --> 0:05:59.520 This is what she said. 0:05:59.560 --> 0:06:03.440 She said, I didn't know what I was getting when 0:06:03.480 --> 0:06:09.480 I married you. Because life's greatest opportunities. I'm having fun 0:06:09.920 --> 0:06:16.680 to enjoy my life. This is scriptural. This is scriptural. 0:06:16.760 --> 0:06:24.000 This is thoroughly scriptural. Life's greatest opportunity. Moses deliver a nation. 0:06:25.320 --> 0:06:31.880 I am calling you to deliver an entire people group. 0:06:32.800 --> 0:06:35.880 So what will you give me as a sign? Your stick, 0:06:37.279 --> 0:06:40.400 the stick in your hand that you are using to 0:06:40.520 --> 0:06:43.880 shepherd sheep is the sign that I'm going to give you. 0:06:44.440 --> 0:06:47.640 But I am going to point to your calling through 0:06:47.640 --> 0:06:52.919 something that to you seems common. So God disguises calling 0:06:53.040 --> 0:06:59.560 as common. God wraps calling in diapers and allows the 0:06:59.600 --> 0:07:02.359 Savior of the world to be born in a barn. 0:07:02.480 --> 0:07:05.920 So much so that the people he came for missed him. 0:07:05.960 --> 0:07:12.240 Because life's greatest opportunities aren't always obvious. It was interesting 0:07:12.280 --> 0:07:15.960 to me that callings can appear common on the surface, 0:07:16.320 --> 0:07:19.640 to the point that Gideon was called a mighty warrior 0:07:19.680 --> 0:07:22.200 while he was hiding in a wine press. Why would 0:07:22.280 --> 0:07:25.920 God hide such a mighty calling in such a wimpy man. 0:07:26.040 --> 0:07:30.720 Because sometimes Superman wears a baggy shirt. Sometimes God uses 0:07:30.800 --> 0:07:34.720 earthen vessels to release something that has precious value. I 0:07:34.800 --> 0:07:38.960 preaching to somebody today who has been deceived about your destiny. 0:07:39.400 --> 0:07:41.080 You thought God was going to show up in your 0:07:41.120 --> 0:07:44.600 situation looking like Superman. Instead, God shows up in your 0:07:44.640 --> 0:07:48.120 situation looking like a mustard seed. The seed doesn't look 0:07:48.200 --> 0:07:51.080 like the tree. It shares the genetic code of the tree, 0:07:51.400 --> 0:07:54.280 but according to the exterior, there is nothing to associate 0:07:54.360 --> 0:07:56.640 the seed with the tree. And might it be that 0:07:56.680 --> 0:07:58.880 what God is doing in your life right now is 0:07:58.920 --> 0:08:01.640 not obvious. But that does not mean that there is 0:08:01.640 --> 0:08:05.160 no opportunity for He says, when I open a door. 0:08:05.240 --> 0:08:06.400 No man can shut it. 0:08:06.640 --> 0:08:09.240 And when I decide to do something through your life, 0:08:09.360 --> 0:08:16.120 no season, no person, and no human limitation can stop me. 0:08:20.040 --> 0:08:23.360 I was always interested to learn that. After David made 0:08:23.400 --> 0:08:26.680 his biggest mistake by sleeping with Bethsheba and having her 0:08:26.760 --> 0:08:29.400 husband Uriah killed on the front lines of battles, he 0:08:29.480 --> 0:08:31.560 went in and had another baby because the one that 0:08:31.640 --> 0:08:34.000 was born from his mistake died. But the next one 0:08:34.000 --> 0:08:36.600 he had was named Solomon, who was the wisest man 0:08:36.640 --> 0:08:39.360 who ever lived at that point in time. And David's 0:08:39.360 --> 0:08:46.320 greatest wisdom was born after his biggest mistake. Now, it's 0:08:46.320 --> 0:08:50.679 not always obvious. It's not always obvious that you are 0:08:50.679 --> 0:08:56.960 becoming wiser. Usually wisdom feels like dumb decisions. While you 0:08:57.000 --> 0:09:00.720 are gaining wisdom, often you have to gain will at 0:09:00.760 --> 0:09:05.000 the expense of today for tomorrow. It's very powerful. It's 0:09:05.040 --> 0:09:07.800 the principle I preach a lot, and I forgive you 0:09:07.840 --> 0:09:09.760 if you're a little bored right now, because this is 0:09:09.800 --> 0:09:12.319 pretty much what I try to say every single week. 0:09:12.960 --> 0:09:16.720 I try to show you how reward dresses as responsibility. 0:09:17.840 --> 0:09:20.280 God is not going to put the reward right in 0:09:20.280 --> 0:09:23.440 front of you. He is going to wrap it in responsibility. 0:09:23.520 --> 0:09:26.200 David had no clue that Goliath was waiting for him. 0:09:26.240 --> 0:09:28.360 He just knew he had bread to take to his brothers. 0:09:29.000 --> 0:09:32.720 It was his responsibility that unlocked his reward. If he 0:09:32.760 --> 0:09:36.080 had waited for the possibility of an opportunity to demonstrate 0:09:36.400 --> 0:09:42.000 his warriorness, if he had waited for Goliath to show up, 0:09:42.200 --> 0:09:44.920 he never would have had the opportunity to see what 0:09:44.960 --> 0:09:47.200 God could do through him. But it was in his 0:09:47.280 --> 0:09:57.800 assignment that his giant was waiting. Now, if this is true, 0:09:58.720 --> 0:10:02.199 it gives a whole new meaning to what John chapter 0:10:02.280 --> 0:10:06.400 eleven says that when Jesus heard Lazarus was sick, he 0:10:06.480 --> 0:10:11.520 stayed where he was a little while longer, because Jesus 0:10:12.920 --> 0:10:16.560 is about to show all of those in Bethany that 0:10:17.440 --> 0:10:20.920 resurrection is not an event but a person. I am 0:10:21.240 --> 0:10:25.720 the resurrection. But if Jesus shows up and heals Lazarus 0:10:25.800 --> 0:10:28.120 when they want him to, he will not have the 0:10:28.160 --> 0:10:31.840 opportunity to reveal who he is that they don't yet 0:10:32.000 --> 0:10:35.560 perceive him to be. And so, in his waiting, which 0:10:35.600 --> 0:10:39.120 seems cruel to Mary and Martha, he is actually staging 0:10:39.200 --> 0:10:42.319 a miracle so that when he gets there and Lazarus 0:10:42.360 --> 0:10:46.480 has been dead, it's a good thing, because resurrection dresses 0:10:46.640 --> 0:10:50.800 like death. Sometimes God lets something in your life die, 0:10:50.920 --> 0:10:52.520 but don't worry when it dies. 0:10:52.920 --> 0:10:54.280 Resurrection is who. 0:10:54.120 --> 0:10:57.000 He is and what he does. And if you can 0:10:57.000 --> 0:10:59.320 get the stone rolled away long enough to believe for 0:10:59.360 --> 0:11:02.480 a little while, I hear a voice calling Lazarus out 0:11:02.520 --> 0:11:05.080 of the grave. See the grave clothes wrapped up the 0:11:05.120 --> 0:11:07.800 revelation of who Jesus was. When he got on the 0:11:07.800 --> 0:11:11.280 scene and said, Lazarus, come forth, the grave clothes had 0:11:11.320 --> 0:11:14.000 no choice but to fall off, because the voice of 0:11:14.040 --> 0:11:18.040 the Lord unwraps death to present resurrection. Who he's a 0:11:18.120 --> 0:11:29.920 miracle today. I came to priest to you. And the 0:11:29.920 --> 0:11:37.160 greatest opportunities are not always obvious. The greatest opportunities are 0:11:37.200 --> 0:11:41.800 often hidden. Jesus even taught in parables to hide the 0:11:41.840 --> 0:11:44.280 wisdom of God from the people who wanted to understand 0:11:44.320 --> 0:11:48.520 it with their human minds. He didn't want the elite 0:11:48.600 --> 0:11:50.800 to get it, and so he put. 0:11:50.640 --> 0:11:51.560 It in parables. 0:11:52.280 --> 0:11:58.240 He hid it hid, He hid the kingdom. The kingdom 0:11:58.280 --> 0:12:05.200 didn't come announcing itself with trumpets and red carpet. It 0:12:05.240 --> 0:12:08.760 wasn't obvious. It came looking like conflict now. Mark Chapter 0:12:08.800 --> 0:12:15.520 two is the first of five conflict dialogues where we 0:12:15.559 --> 0:12:23.480 see this carpenter from Nazareth doing ministry in Galilee. Having 0:12:23.520 --> 0:12:27.320 to confront the wisdom of this world to reveal the 0:12:27.360 --> 0:12:32.080 wisdom of God. He's teaching one day, and so many 0:12:32.120 --> 0:12:33.560 people have come to see him. 0:12:33.840 --> 0:12:35.120 The crowd has gathered. 0:12:35.760 --> 0:12:39.480 In Mark's gospel, the crowd is not necessarily a positive thing. 0:12:40.559 --> 0:12:42.680 We would think that if Jesus was trying to build 0:12:42.720 --> 0:12:46.560 a ministry, he would need a crowd. Jesus is so 0:12:46.679 --> 0:12:48.920 savage sometimes if the crowd got too big, he would 0:12:48.960 --> 0:12:51.120 start running people off by saying stuff they didn't want 0:12:51.120 --> 0:12:53.920 to hear. He really would, and you'll have to read 0:12:54.000 --> 0:12:57.320 how he fed people and they were happy. But after 0:12:57.320 --> 0:12:59.720 they ate their happy meal, he turned around and said, 0:12:59.720 --> 0:13:01.920 I'm not burger king. I know I'm mixing restaurants, but 0:13:02.040 --> 0:13:02.880 go with the illustration. 0:13:03.400 --> 0:13:04.040 He said, if you. 0:13:03.960 --> 0:13:05.760 Eat my flesh and drink my blood, then you can 0:13:05.800 --> 0:13:10.000 have this kingdom. And they say, WHOA. I was into 0:13:10.040 --> 0:13:13.400 the miracles, but this, uh, this took a dark turn, 0:13:14.960 --> 0:13:18.040 this cannibalism thing, and even the disciples couldn't understand that. 0:13:18.080 --> 0:13:20.959 But Peter did. After and when he was recounting to. 0:13:20.960 --> 0:13:24.480 Mark so Mark could write this gospel account, he talked 0:13:24.520 --> 0:13:27.880 about the crowd. The crowd had gathered and they were 0:13:27.920 --> 0:13:31.920 listening to Jesus preaching, and the Bible tells us about 0:13:32.840 --> 0:13:37.080 four men who brought their friend and they could not 0:13:37.240 --> 0:13:41.880 get in because of the crowd. They had high hopes, 0:13:41.960 --> 0:13:44.559 you could say that their hopes were through the roof 0:13:45.000 --> 0:13:52.760 ah great expectations. But then they were met at the door. 0:13:52.800 --> 0:13:54.520 There are, by the way, there are four. 0:13:54.320 --> 0:13:58.400 Doors in this passage that are not obvious, four doors 0:13:58.400 --> 0:14:01.880 in this passage, this passage, and in our lives that 0:14:01.960 --> 0:14:06.600 are not obvious, because life's greatest opportunities are not always obvious. 0:14:07.160 --> 0:14:09.160 So they come to the front door and they can't 0:14:09.160 --> 0:14:09.520 get in. 0:14:10.360 --> 0:14:12.400 This represents the door of disappointment. 0:14:13.600 --> 0:14:15.960 How disappointing it must have been that after you have 0:14:16.040 --> 0:14:18.679 carried your friend all this way only to find out 0:14:18.720 --> 0:14:21.760 at church that not only is there no room in 0:14:21.800 --> 0:14:25.560 the main auditorium, but they're not even seating in overflow. 0:14:25.720 --> 0:14:29.880 Thank you very much, you can watch live stream. 0:14:30.040 --> 0:14:35.880 These men were met at the door with disappointment. And 0:14:35.960 --> 0:14:41.440 so if they had subscribed to the theology that many 0:14:41.520 --> 0:14:44.640 of us live our lives according to, they would have 0:14:44.680 --> 0:14:49.720 turned around and gone home because obviously everybody say, obviously 0:14:50.600 --> 0:14:55.720 it's not God's will for our friend to get healed today. 0:14:57.000 --> 0:14:59.720 If it were God's will for our friend to be 0:14:59.760 --> 0:15:04.360 healed today, we would have gotten in the door. But 0:15:04.520 --> 0:15:08.680 these boys, these boys, I wonder, do I have four 0:15:08.760 --> 0:15:14.120 crazy ones? Just four? These boys said, we did not 0:15:14.400 --> 0:15:19.040 carry you all this way with your heavy self to 0:15:19.160 --> 0:15:23.120 turn around and go home. Now, now I think these 0:15:23.160 --> 0:15:26.720 boys had a little bit of a well maybe this 0:15:26.800 --> 0:15:29.760 is the Monk's corner in me. But I picture their conversation. 0:15:30.200 --> 0:15:33.120 I picture these boys. These boys didn't drive a priest. 0:15:33.200 --> 0:15:38.400 That's what I'm trying to say. These boys, they're mad 0:15:38.440 --> 0:15:42.359 at the door with disappointment. Not to mention the man's disappointment. 0:15:42.600 --> 0:15:45.840 He's learned to deal with disappointment. His entire life is 0:15:45.880 --> 0:15:49.360 a disappointment. He can't walk, he can't dance, he can't 0:15:49.360 --> 0:15:52.120 do what other people do. But they've come this far. 0:15:53.400 --> 0:15:57.200 I said, they've come this far, and they didn't come 0:15:57.240 --> 0:16:02.320 this far to go home. So Bubba says the Tommy, Hey. 0:16:02.200 --> 0:16:11.360 Man, I was uh, I was looking around. I didn't 0:16:11.360 --> 0:16:14.480 see no security cameras right back right around the south entrance. 0:16:14.520 --> 0:16:15.880 Man, I reckon, wonder if you could. 0:16:15.760 --> 0:16:28.360 Uh Bubba and Tommy and who else? Uh ah rufus. 0:16:29.840 --> 0:16:34.880 Ruf rufous, that's the last one, I promise. 0:16:37.040 --> 0:16:41.480 He said, what what do you reckon? If we uh? 0:16:41.920 --> 0:16:45.920 If we get around there and they they're they're whispering 0:16:46.680 --> 0:16:49.000 because they don't They don't want the man on the 0:16:49.040 --> 0:16:54.680 mat to know what they're about to do. 0:16:54.680 --> 0:16:56.440 Don't tell everybody all your plans. 0:16:56.480 --> 0:17:04.800 Just sometimes sometimes you just got to do stuff. You 0:17:04.840 --> 0:17:08.080 don't always ask permission. Sometimes it's better to ask forgiveness. 0:17:11.200 --> 0:17:14.679 What if we what if we went up? I know 0:17:14.720 --> 0:17:17.800 we can't get in, so what if we went up? 0:17:19.560 --> 0:17:23.800 Sometimes you gotta change levels. You let me get behind 0:17:23.800 --> 0:17:29.360 my pulpit. Sometimes the reason you can't get in that 0:17:29.480 --> 0:17:33.480 door is because it wasn't your door. God is calling 0:17:33.560 --> 0:17:34.119 you higher. 0:17:34.480 --> 0:17:35.520 Who am I preaching to? 0:17:36.160 --> 0:17:40.560 Sometimes the reason you got rejected is because it was 0:17:40.640 --> 0:17:44.680 the wrong level of relationship. And if those people would 0:17:44.680 --> 0:17:49.880 have liked you, it would have actually limited. I'm caffeinated today. 0:17:50.760 --> 0:17:54.520 High five. Somebody say go higher. Come on, when they 0:17:54.600 --> 0:18:06.720 go low, we go high. He's calling me higher. So 0:18:07.960 --> 0:18:11.919 they go up and they do not find a door. 0:18:12.000 --> 0:18:15.280 They make a door. Have you ever had to make 0:18:15.320 --> 0:18:19.200 your own door? Nobody gave me money to start this church. 0:18:20.160 --> 0:18:24.399 Nobody sponsored me officially, I wish they would have, but 0:18:24.520 --> 0:18:26.280 you know, I'm kind of glad they didn't because I 0:18:26.320 --> 0:18:29.480 had to learn how to dig. And sometimes one of 0:18:29.480 --> 0:18:31.719 the greatest things that can happen to you in your 0:18:31.760 --> 0:18:34.680 life is to be turned away at the front door 0:18:35.359 --> 0:18:39.359 because you discover another door. Somebody shot there's another door. 0:18:40.080 --> 0:18:42.720 This is not the normal door. This is not for 0:18:42.800 --> 0:18:45.480 normal people. This is not for people who want to 0:18:45.560 --> 0:18:48.280 quit because the Wi fi was a little slow, or 0:18:48.359 --> 0:18:51.960 skip church because it was forty three degrees. No, this 0:18:52.160 --> 0:18:59.960 is for the people who have determined. Somebody shot up determined. 0:19:02.080 --> 0:19:06.840 Now we have a fruit through view of faith. We 0:19:06.880 --> 0:19:09.160 think of faith as being something to fall back on. 0:19:09.320 --> 0:19:09.800 Not Mark. 0:19:12.960 --> 0:19:16.560 Mark mentions faith four times in his Gospel, and none 0:19:16.640 --> 0:19:18.320 of them represent an attitude. 0:19:18.359 --> 0:19:19.920 They always represent actions. 0:19:21.840 --> 0:19:28.840 Faith to Mark is something you can see. Actually, it's 0:19:29.040 --> 0:19:33.040 something that you can see in response to something that 0:19:33.080 --> 0:19:39.840 you cannot see. Faith is the substance of things hoped 0:19:39.880 --> 0:19:45.600 for and the evidence of things not seen. So it 0:19:45.760 --> 0:19:49.119 is something that you can see in response to a 0:19:49.200 --> 0:19:53.159 hope that you can't see. That's a series right there, 0:19:54.160 --> 0:19:55.040 there's another door. 0:19:56.200 --> 0:19:57.080 There's another door. 0:19:58.240 --> 0:20:04.280 And when Jesus verse five saw saw their faith not 0:20:04.359 --> 0:20:08.280 heard their faith. It wasn't that they talked about how 0:20:08.359 --> 0:20:12.679 much they trusted God, it's that they refuse to go 0:20:12.720 --> 0:20:18.960 home that easy. Yeah, I'll tell you this real quick, 0:20:19.240 --> 0:20:20.160 just a little side thing. 0:20:20.200 --> 0:20:21.359 Me and Chris were turning to write a song. 0:20:21.280 --> 0:20:24.199 The other day, and I said, I know this is 0:20:24.240 --> 0:20:26.800 the fifty first revision on this song, but I want 0:20:26.840 --> 0:20:29.159 the devil to know I'm gonna keep coming because I 0:20:29.160 --> 0:20:32.240 feel like we're supposed to finish this song. Chris Brown 0:20:32.240 --> 0:20:34.680 looked back at me and said, if that joker doesn't 0:20:34.720 --> 0:20:37.880 know that by now about us, he hadn't been paying attention. 0:20:38.760 --> 0:20:42.640 Because I'm gonna tell you something. I'm not always the smartest, 0:20:43.359 --> 0:20:45.680 but I don't turn around the first time somebody tells 0:20:45.720 --> 0:20:48.280 me you can't come in this story. That's just not 0:20:48.359 --> 0:20:49.160 how I'm wired. 0:20:49.600 --> 0:20:49.800 Now. 0:20:49.800 --> 0:20:53.040 It's fine, it's fine. If you don't like me, you 0:20:53.080 --> 0:20:57.159 don't have to, but I'll find somebody who does. It's fine. 0:20:57.359 --> 0:20:59.800 Some people when I started Elevation didn't want to come 0:21:00.000 --> 0:21:02.119 because they said it was a cult. And that's fine, 0:21:02.359 --> 0:21:05.720 but I'll find another way. See if you just got 0:21:05.760 --> 0:21:11.680 four good friends, just four good friends, and sometimes if 0:21:11.680 --> 0:21:15.720 you don't have four, father son Holy Spirit and me. 0:21:16.200 --> 0:21:30.080 That's four. We're gonna do this. Those boys, those boys 0:21:30.320 --> 0:21:34.920 were like, we ain't going home. He's heavy. No, no, 0:21:34.920 --> 0:21:36.720 no sermon. We will put him up on that roof 0:21:37.040 --> 0:21:39.600 and we're gonna dig through that mud and we're gonna 0:21:39.600 --> 0:21:40.120 make a door. 0:21:41.040 --> 0:21:42.119 We're gonna make a door. 0:21:42.840 --> 0:21:44.840 I'm gonna get through to my kid, one way or another. 0:21:46.000 --> 0:21:48.080 I'm not just gonna give up on him. Not that easy. 0:21:48.440 --> 0:21:50.840 I'm gonna find a way to get through. I might 0:21:50.880 --> 0:21:52.359 have to shut up. I might have to speak up. 0:21:52.359 --> 0:21:54.360 If that doesn't work, I'll do the other. I might 0:21:54.400 --> 0:21:56.000 have to hug him. I might have to hit I 0:21:56.080 --> 0:22:02.639 might have to try some different ways. But now we 0:22:02.720 --> 0:22:06.240 come to the to the door on the ceiling. There's 0:22:06.240 --> 0:22:07.560 another door. If you can't get in the front door, 0:22:07.560 --> 0:22:09.439 go up, it says another door. You gotta make it. 0:22:09.440 --> 0:22:10.840 It's to look like a door. You got to dig 0:22:10.880 --> 0:22:13.320 through it. There's a door, but you can't see it. 0:22:13.320 --> 0:22:15.760 It's not visible, it's not something you can see. It 0:22:16.359 --> 0:22:18.520 takes faith. If faith is something you can see in 0:22:18.560 --> 0:22:20.920 response to something that you can't see. So make a door, 0:22:20.920 --> 0:22:22.159 make a door, Make a door. Tet so much, say, 0:22:22.200 --> 0:22:23.520 make a door and make a door, make a door, 0:22:23.560 --> 0:22:28.080 and make a door, and Jesus respected their carpentry. Jesus 0:22:28.280 --> 0:22:34.640 liked their work. He actually in verse five, he's preaching 0:22:35.600 --> 0:22:41.520 and there's a distraction overhead. Now he's not even healing 0:22:41.880 --> 0:22:46.520 this day. It's not even on his agenda to see 0:22:46.560 --> 0:22:53.719 sick people. Some of life's greatest opportunities are not always obvious, 0:22:54.359 --> 0:22:56.919 and some of God's greatest invitations will. 0:22:56.760 --> 0:22:58.320 Show up in the form of interruptions. 0:23:00.119 --> 0:23:03.920 And he's preaching, and he's probably doing a really good job, 0:23:05.359 --> 0:23:08.919 just going off context cluse. He is the word, so 0:23:08.960 --> 0:23:11.400 if he preaches what he is, it's probably pretty good. 0:23:12.400 --> 0:23:13.040 Got a big. 0:23:12.880 --> 0:23:18.959 Crowd, and all of a sudden, Peter says something Matthew 0:23:18.960 --> 0:23:19.440 doesn't say. 0:23:19.480 --> 0:23:21.200 Matthew describes the incident. 0:23:22.600 --> 0:23:27.800 Heh he simplifies in Matthew nine, verse two, Matthew says, 0:23:27.840 --> 0:23:29.960 some men brought to him a paralytic lying on the mat. 0:23:30.320 --> 0:23:32.400 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, 0:23:32.480 --> 0:23:36.280 what did Matthew leave out the fact that they ripped 0:23:36.280 --> 0:23:40.359 off this dude's roof. It sounds so nice when Matthew 0:23:40.400 --> 0:23:42.560 says it, It just looks so easy. And they brought 0:23:42.600 --> 0:23:44.240 their friend, and Jesus healed them. 0:23:44.240 --> 0:23:48.440 Now something, did you hear that. 0:23:50.359 --> 0:23:52.280 Jesus is preaching? You know? 0:23:52.400 --> 0:23:54.120 Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and puts 0:23:54.119 --> 0:23:55.399 them in PHPs like a wise man to builds house 0:23:55.400 --> 0:23:55.600 on the rock. 0:23:55.640 --> 0:23:57.359 Ranking down streams rows when blue begets that house, he 0:23:57.400 --> 0:24:00.639 didn'tvolvek that foundation on the rock. And right about the 0:24:00.680 --> 0:24:04.119 time he's right about the time he's making his point, 0:24:05.119 --> 0:24:08.600 here comes a sound. Remember that Mark is writing what 0:24:08.680 --> 0:24:12.000 Peter told him to write. And consider that most scholars 0:24:12.080 --> 0:24:15.000 believe that it was Peter's house that Jesus was preaching at. 0:24:16.040 --> 0:24:22.600 So Matthew remembered the healing, Peter remembered the roof. It's 0:24:22.640 --> 0:24:29.320 funny to me, it's perspective. Did you hear that? Keep preaching, 0:24:29.359 --> 0:24:31.399 keep preaching, keep preaching. We're gonna check it out. But 0:24:31.520 --> 0:24:35.080 about the time that the dirt starts falling from the 0:24:35.080 --> 0:24:37.679 from the mud on the ceiling, are you willing to 0:24:37.680 --> 0:24:42.159 get your hands dirty, by the way, or are you 0:24:42.320 --> 0:24:45.240 too afraid to mess up your manicure to go after 0:24:45.320 --> 0:24:50.040 your miracle? I could preach manicures or miracles. The choices yours, 0:24:55.520 --> 0:24:57.280 and they had to drop him. You can't get him 0:24:57.280 --> 0:25:02.320 all the way down, and here comes the dirt, and 0:25:02.359 --> 0:25:03.200 here comes the man. 0:25:03.840 --> 0:25:07.520 We'll call him Matt. We don't know his thing. 0:25:11.000 --> 0:25:16.720 Jesus says, I like your style, boys. That's what I 0:25:16.800 --> 0:25:24.080 did when I came down, through your dirt, through your shame, 0:25:24.800 --> 0:25:27.480 through your sin. I like it boys. 0:25:29.320 --> 0:25:29.920 And now. 0:25:34.960 --> 0:25:39.480 Rufus and Bubba, Willie and Jimmy all looking in. Now 0:25:40.080 --> 0:25:45.359 what's going to happen next? And Jesus leans down and 0:25:45.440 --> 0:25:54.719 says to the man, son, your sins are forgiven. And 0:25:54.800 --> 0:26:01.760 Willie says, what did he say? And Jimmy says, sounded 0:26:01.800 --> 0:26:06.960 like he says something about sins. And Willie says, did 0:26:07.000 --> 0:26:13.040 he say anything about healing? And Jimmy says, no, just 0:26:13.080 --> 0:26:18.840