Their Faith

Their Faith

Study Text: Mark 2:1-12 (NIV)

     ¹A few days later, when Jesus
again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. ²So
many gathered that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he
preached the word to them. ³Some men came, bringing to him a
paralytic, carried by four of them. ⁴Since they could not get
him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus
and, after digging through it, lowered the mat that paralyzed man was lying on.
⁵When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Son
your sins are forgiven"
     ⁶Now some teachers of the law were
sitting there, thinking to themselves, ⁷"Why does this
fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God
alone?"
     ⁸Immediately Jesus knew in his
spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to
them, "Why are you thinking these things? ⁹Which is
easier: to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up,
take your mat and walk’? ¹⁰But that you may know that the Son
of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins…" He said to the
paralytic, ¹¹"I tell you, get up, take your mat and go
home." ¹²He got up, took his mat and walked out in full
view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, "We
have never seen anything like this!"

This weekend, one of my closest friends and I had an opportunity to talk
about friendship. We talked about the power of friends—- how they can
"get your back" when you need them but how they can hinder your
dreams with only a few words. We also talked about "letting old friends
go" (Even for men, this is a hard subject because old friends can
sometimes seem irreplaceable). But perhaps the most important part of our
discussion came when we talked about how friends can be vital to your health by
speaking divine healing into your life.

In our text, we are given what should be the status quo for friends. Here we
see friends who wanted very badly for their paralyzed friend to be healed. They
had heard that Jesus was in town and they knew that He had the power to heal.
So they made it their mission to get their friend to the Anointed One and His
Anointing.

Now upon their arrival, they might have been dismayed when they saw the
people gathered at the house where Jesus was. They could have said, "Man,
it’s tight up in ‘dere; we ain’t gonna ever get in." They could have said,
"Man, let’s wait until tomorrow or come back later." They could have
said those things, but they didn’t. This paralyzed man had some "to the
end" friends. Instead of giving up, they decided to climb on the roof and
lower him down to Jesus. However, what really amazes me is that they basically
tore part of the roof off to get their friend blessed. Praise God, Praise
God!!!! I’m trying to keep from shouting because it’s about to get real good
right now.

After they broke through the roof, they lowered the friend to Jesus. Follow
me here!! "When Jesus saw THEIR FAITH." Let me repeat. "When
Jesus saw THEIR FAITH, he said to the paralytic, ‘Son, your sins are
forgiven’" (5th). Now, Jesus didn’t wait until the man was down on the
floor to begin to bless him. He didn’t wait until He saw the man face to face
to lay hands on him. Jesus began the miracle when He saw the faith of this
man’s friends. Later in the 11th verse we see Jesus tell the man, "I tell
you, get up, take your mat and go home." All of this occurred because of
the faith of one man’s friends.

Now I ask you, "Which type of friends do you want?" I don’t know
about you, but I wouldn’t want back-biting, going nowhere, having no dream,
drunk on Saturday, hung over on Sunday, full of excuses, negative talking, not
knowing God friends. What can these types of friends do for you? When your
mother is sick, what can they do for you – offer you a beer!? Tell you it’s all
good? As a matter of fact – "Yes, Holy Spirit I will testify!" I’m
going to go there – so excuse this digression:

When my mother was sick and dying of cancer, I didn’t know how to fight the
spiritual battle. I was given a whole bunch of mis-taught garbage about how
sometimes we just have to accept the things of God, and that’s the way it is. I
was even visited by an old traditional preacher who said, "Sometimes we
just have to let go." Shortly after this, I went to the chapel and just
cried. I had taken what the preacher had said as "the word from God."
A little later, my cousin happened to come to the chapel and asked me what was
wrong. All I remember telling her was, "If the man of God has given up,
what am I to do!" A few days later my mother died.

Trust me, the people around you definitely affect your outcome. Negative
people, negative outcomes – No faith people, No faith outcomes – Godly people,
Godly Outcomes.

If you or a loved one is under attack regarding your health, get all the
scriptures on healing and stand on them. If you’re under financial attack, get
all the scriptures on prosperity and financial covenants. If you’re trying to
have children and the doctor has told you that you never will, find the
scriptures on birth and conception – and definitely don’t forget the impossible
immaculate conception of "Jesus."

Then once you get yourself grounded in the Word, get some friends with some
"THEIR FAITH." Friends who will "tear the roof off the
sucker" to make sure that Jesus knows your situation. Friends that will
pray without ceasing, in their native tongues and in the Holy Ghost until the
power of God comes down. Friends that will confess the word of God over your
life and stand on the promises that will bring you to the "Expected
End" as stated in Jeremiah 29:11. Friends that know God’s word and will
remind you that He will bring you to "A Wealthy Place" after all the
trials are over (Psalm 66).

I can only tell you what I know — I have had NO FAITH friends and have been
a no faith friend. Also, I have had THEIR FAITH friends and have been a
"their faith" friend. It was "THEIR FAITH" that got my
father healed from colon cancer just last month. Believe me, I’ve seen no faith
in action and I’ve seen their faith in action — "THEIR FAITH" IS
MUCH BETTER!!!