The Way Church Podcast

00:00:00
Mark chapter number two, verse one says, a few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. They gathered in such large numbers, and there was no room left, not even outside the door. And he preached to them. Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them, 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 they lowered the mat the man was lying on.

00:00:37
Verse 5 says, When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man's son, your sins are forgiven. And now some of the teachers of the law were sitting there thinking to themselves, why does this fella talk like that? He's blaspheming. Who can forgive sins but God alone? And immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this is what they were thinking in their hearts.

00:01:04
And he said unto him to them, why are you thinking these things? Which is easier? To say this to this paralyzed man, your sins are forgiven. Or to say, get up, take your mat and walk. But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on the earth to forgive sins.

00:01:24
So he said to the man, I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home. And he got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This was. This amazed everyone. And they praised God, saying, we have never seen anything like this.

00:01:50
Family, I want to use for a subject for this time that we have together. Simply, when Jesus pulls up, as you take your seats, just tell your neighbor, happens when he's here. Something happens when he's here, when Jesus pulls up.

00:02:25
Family, today is Palm Sunday. And if you've been walking with God for any amount of time, you know Palm Sunday carries with it a particular tension. On the one hand, it's a celebratory season. Jesus is riding into Jerusalem. Palms are waving.

00:02:49
People are shouting hosanna. In the heights, they are acknowledging him as king. But the same Jesus who enters the city with cheers will exit it with a cross. The same people who shouted hosanna will cry, crucify him. And it raises a question for us today.

00:03:18
What happens when Jesus pulls up? But people really don't know who he is. Because praise with no understanding turns into noise with no transformation. So as we celebrate his entry today, the Spirit sent me to ask, what happens when Jesus enters not just a city, but your situation?
00:03:49
What happens when Jesus enters the house? This is the question that Mark, chapter two helps us to answer. Jesus was stepping into the center of desperation, a city Full of pain and full of politics and pressure. But when Jesus pulls up, everything starts to shift track with me. The same Jesus that entered Jerusalem on a donkey rode into Capernaum in our text, which divine authority, he did not need a throne, but he needed a room.

00:04:28
Brothers and sisters, I say this because we are living in undoubtedly desperate times. We live in a day, in a time where doom and gloom are all that you seem to hear and to see on the news and hear about. You flip on your television or you open your electronic device, all you see to hear about is who killed who and who robbed who. And in the world news, you hear about national conflict and crisis. There's talk of economic disaster and global warming.

00:05:03
And there are people that are losing their jobs and losing their retirement due to the economy. The stock market is down, the government is going through tariff wars with our trading partners, and it's almost too depressed to even talk about in the house of God this morning. The point is that we are living in some desperate times. Somebody say desperate times. And in case you don't believe that, just look around you.

00:05:32
To the naked eye, it might look like you're sitting in a room full of people that are well dressed and that have it all together. Your neighbor on your left and your neighbor on your right. To the naked eye, it might look like everything is. It might look like that. But the truth of the matter is that you're sitting in a room with some people who feel like, or maybe at one point in time have felt like, and ask themselves the question, is there hope for me, hope for my situation, hope for my family, hope for the things that I am looking to do and looking to accomplish.

00:06:11
Hurting people. People in need of hope and reassurance. People, I believe, who are in need of Jesus. Desperate people are the product of desperate times. You really cannot have one without the other.

00:06:31
It's like cause and effect. The times affect the people. Talking to someone who runs a therapy practice and they said, I'm so busy, I can't even maintain it, because people are desperate. They're looking for answers. The generation in which you were raised affects how you were raised.

00:06:53
The circumstances that you have to face affect who you have become and how you see things today. In other words, you are a product of the time that you're living in. Desperate times produce desperate people. But here's the good news, that you don't have to stay desperate. The good news is that you don't have to be desperate.

00:07:18
Webster defines desperate as having no hope. I came this morning to Let somebody know that there's hope for you today. If you don't get anything else out of this message, if nothing else speaks to you in this message, please write it down in your notebooks and put it on the tablet of your heart and let yourself know. There is hope for me. Yeah.

00:07:38
There's hope for my situation. There's hope for my family. There's hope for the things that I am going through. Look at somebody and tell them, prophetically, there is hope for you. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:07:49
Not declare it over your own situation and say, there is hope for me. Yeah. When we come into this house, we are coming into this house to meet Jesus. At least that's why I hope that we come is that if Jesus isn't here, we shouldn't even show up. In the text that we read, I see the greatest strategy for the church to make it through these desperate times.

00:08:14
The Bible says in verse one that Jesus had come back to Capernaum. And the word of the Lord says that it had been noised abroad. That word noised abroad in the Greek is the Greek word akuo, where we get our English word acoustics. In other words, it was spreading. In today's language, we would have said Jesus has gone viral.

00:08:36
The people had heard that Jesus was in the house. When the people heard that Jesus was in the house, the house became filled. So much so it was overflowing at a short period of time. Somebody say straightway, say immediately. In other words, when they heard that Jesus was in the house, they made room for Jesus.

00:09:00
Point number one, you got to make room for Jesus. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The Bible says that when Jesus returned to compare Capernaum, there was noise that he was in the house. It was because it was noise abroad. It was spreading like wildfire.

00:09:16
Watch this. Jesus didn't post a flyer. Jesus did not run a targeted Facebook ad. Jesus did not hire a promo team. He did not put a graphic on Instagram.

00:09:29
It was word of mouth. It was was testimonies, it was movement. The people had heard that Jesus was in the house. And that's a whole word right there. Because we have been producing and publicizing our productions.

00:09:46
We have been pushing our preachers and we have been pushing our denominations. But what the world needs is a church who is bold enough to say, we are not perfect, but Jesus is in the house. Yeah. I don't know about everybody else, but Jesus is in this house because when he shows up, broken things get fixed. When he shows up, hopeless people find purpose.

00:10:11
Sinners start singing songs of freedom. When Jesus is in the house.

00:10:19
In other words, you won't need a fog machine to manufacture presence. When the glory real really feels the house, you'll know that it's the glory. Jesus isn't impressed by our stage lighting. We, we love it, it's all right. But he's looking for a space to pull up in.

00:10:38
A space where shifts can happen. A space where miracles can manifest. A space where something can happen that would not happen if he didn't show up. Look at two people and tell them, make room for Jesus. Tell them, make room for Jesus.

00:10:58
Because when Jesus is in the house, the house fills up. People don't come because of lights and logos. People become come because their life has been changed, their life has been touched. There is a difference in a house of God and a house with God in it. There's a lot of houses of God that's out here in the world, but very few have a house with God in it.

00:11:26
And I want to have a house where God is in it. I want a house where Jesus shows up. Let me be clear. Let me be clear. Because the noise that they were spreading was not about a building.

00:11:41
It was about a presence. And so maybe what the church needs, maybe what your business needs, maybe what, what your family needs right now is not another strategy. But maybe your need is that you need more of his presence.

00:12:01
Watch it, because you can have lights but not have a life. You can have the best branding in the world, but miss out on the breakthroughs. You can have state of the art platforms but still miss his presence. Can I push on it a little bit? Jesus is not looking for an invitation to be on the program.

00:12:29
Jesus wants to be the point of the program. Yeah, yeah. Our program doesn't exist if he is not here. In other words, he doesn't want to be your Sunday service supplement. He wants to be your daily source.

00:12:47
I am of the persuasion. If we really want revival, like Aw Toer said, it's not being weird, it's just the church getting back to normal. What is normal? Jesus being in the house. If we want to see revival, let's let the church get back to normal of Jesus being in the house.

00:13:08
So the question is not how do we get more people. The question becomes how do we get more of him? Because I don't want to build something for people that Jesus does not show up to. Somebody say it again. Make room, make room.

00:13:28
Make room, make room. So in order to make room, I have to be number two. I gotta be honest about my imperfections. I gotta Be honest about my imperfections. Notice the house is filling up.

00:13:45
People are leaning in, but watch it. I tell you all the time, you cannot just read the Bible. You have to do what you gotta read the Bible. So you cannot pass over things that seem insignificant. People are leaning in, but look who's in the house.

00:14:04
Let's not romanticize this moment. The house is full. Yes, everybody wants a house that's full, but it's full of people who have a past. Mark does not name them. But if you cross reference to chapter number one, you'll see that these folks are not random bystanders that didn't have a place to go but just wanted to show up.

00:14:28
But these are the people that were healed in Mark, chapter number one. These are the delivered. These are those that have been touched by his presence. In other words, the house was full of receipts. The house was full of people that had been some things.

00:14:44
Some people who have been with him and watched him work. Some people that did not come to be seen, but they said, I gotta go see him. Know what that tells me? That nobody in the house could flex. Nobody could say, I'm here because I'm flawless.

00:15:02
I'm here because I got it all together. Everybody in the house had a backstory. Everybody in the house had a limp. Everybody in the house had a reason to worship. Nobody could act like they were all that and a bag of chips.

00:15:20
Everybody came and they threw their hands up because they understood. I want to talk to some people this morning that no, you didn't earn the seat that you're sitting in today. That you didn't qualify for his grace, that you didn't have it all together, but mercy met you anyway. You know that your life was not where it should have been. But mercy came, and I need somebody to testify and say, I've been touched by Jesus.

00:15:49
Yeah, I've been touched by Jesus. Can I tell you. Can I tell you when Jesus is in the house? You don't have to pretend. This is not the place for filters and facades.

00:16:04
This is the place where honest people meet a holy God. When you can say, God, I know you know all about me, so I'm not going to sit in your presence and pretend and act like I don't know that you know all about me. I'm wondering if we could bring that kind of honesty back into the house of God where we don't just show up pretending perfection, disguising our dysfunction, but we confess our need for Jesus. Yeah, I may look like I got it all together, but don't get it twisted. Every day of my life, I need Jesus going in and coming out.

00:16:48
I need Jesus where I don't have to impress religious people, but I can come in raw and real. Because listen to me, grace only flows where there's truth. You can only get the grace of God when you be honest with a God that already knows everything about you. And I came to tell somebody today, God can't heal who you pretend to be. But if you be real, God will be righteous.

00:17:28
If you throw your hands up and say, jesus, I need you, I'm broken, depressed, I'm feeling some kind of way, I'm downright mad. But I need you.

00:17:43
Tell somebody, if you'll be honest, he'll bring healing. I love it. I love it. Thank you. You can be seated.

00:17:51
I love it that the house was full of people, people he had already healed. Which means pay attention. Which means they didn't just show up for another miracle. They showed up because they remembered what he did for them. See, when Jesus is in the house, it's not just the put together people that show up.

00:18:20
It's not the highfalutin, not the bougie people that show up. There's a few of us that remember what he did for us. It's folks that remembered how they were delivered. This is what keeps us from judging each other. This is what keeps us in compassion instead of comparison.

00:18:45
That when I remember what Jesus did for me, I don't have no heirs. I don't have no right to talk about anybody else. Because here it is. You don't have to be perfect. You just have to have the ability to remember.

00:18:59
And some of us have a working memory that reminds us. You can't sit in this house and act like you've been saved all your life. You didn't live to earn your seat right here. It was because Jesus had mercy on you. And I just wonder if there's just five people that know that you're here because of grace and Jesus had mercy on you.

00:19:25
Let me make it plain. Let me make it plain. If you knew who I used to be, you would understand why I worship the way that I do. If you knew what he brought me out of, you would wonder and wouldn't wonder why I lift my hands, why I say hallelujah. Nobody has to tell me to praise Him.

00:19:53
Yeah. Yes. See, some people remember. Some people remember. Some people got a remembrance.

00:20:02
Somebody shout, I remember. Yeah. I remember how he healed me. I remember how he brought my family out. I remember how he brought me Back to life.

00:20:14
I remember how he blessed my business. Say it again. I remember.

00:20:24
Watch it. Watch it and see. This is what the. This is what the enemy wants to do. The enemy wants to make you have spiritual amnesia.

00:20:37
To make you cause. To cause you to forget what Jesus has done for you.

00:20:45
Watch it.

00:20:48
But you have to. Point number three. You have to not just want a touch, but you have to desire transformation.

00:21:04
I don't just want to touch. I got a desire transformation. Watch the shift in the text. Jesus is in the house, and what is he doing? He's not handing out fish sandwiches.

00:21:20
He's not multiplying bread. He's not healing everybody. But the Bible says in verse two, he preached the word. Wait a minute. Wait a minute.

00:21:35
We can't skip past that. He preaches the word. He's teaching. The text says that the house is packed. Minister Jonathan.

00:21:45
Now I'm intrigued. The house is packed because people who came for the miracle the first time are coming back for the message the second time.

00:22:01
It's one thing to get a touch, but it's another thing to get transformation. Yeah. Yeah. There's a difference with people who want a moment and people that say, you know what? I'm ready to move out of this place.

00:22:18
I'm ready to get out of my current situation, and I want to move out of his place. Some people touch, but others want transformation. Some people only want God's hand. Bless me. Bless me, bless me.

00:22:33
But I don't want his heart. So we show up for the gifts. We show up for the prophecy, but we don't want his governance. Give me a touch. Because a touch is fast.

00:22:49
It's easy. But transformation is costly. It will cost you your pride. It will cost you your preferences. It might cost you a relationship that you know you're supposed.

00:23:06
You're not supposed to be in. It might cost you the identity that you've built around your trauma. But a few of us can testify in this place, transformation is worth the cost.

00:23:26
Real transformation doesn't just happen at the altar. Real transformation is in the alignment of every day of your life. When I align myself with God, something begins to happen. Somebody lift your hands and say, God, don't just touch me. Say, transform me.

00:23:55
Transform me. Transform me. Watch it. Here is why I believe some people never grow. Because they want the high.

00:24:06
But I don't want his holiness.

00:24:10
I want the breakthrough. But I want to live with no boundaries.

00:24:17
Give me goosebumps. Make me feel good. But don't you start challenging me to grow. But listen, the word will do what your emotions will never do. The Word will restructure your thinking.

00:24:35
The Word will renew your mind. The Word will rebuild your identity. And that's why the devil wants to distract you from getting the Word. He will put all kinds of things on your mind because he knows that if you ever get the Word of God deep down in your heart and you start operating in the Word, you will never settle again. You will never settle.

00:25:01
Settle for the cycles that you settled for before. You will never settle for toxicity again. You'll never settle for small. When God called you to stretch and God called you to leap and God called you to soar, God isn't just trying to bless you, God's trying to build you.

00:25:28
God's not just trying or in the business of handing out miracles. I say it all the time. He's shaping our maturity in him. Not opinions, not vibes and trends, not what the culture said. But the Word is the only thing that this happens by.

00:25:53
So I can't just want to touch. I gotta desire transformation. I'm almost done. Point number four, you gotta learn how to carry people, not criticize them. Carry people, don't criticize them.

00:26:12
Watch it now. Here comes this man, paralyzed, carried by four friends. These friends are not perfect, but they've got one thing over the modern day Christian. The thing that they have over the modern day Christian is they have compassion with conviction.

00:26:36
But that's what the church is supposed to be like, right? Not gossip groups, not, not judgment clubs, but stretchers that we carry other people. Because if you carry gossip more than people, you've missed the point of the gospel.

00:26:58
You miss the point of church if that's all that you do. Let me make it plain for you. If you cannot carry me, don't comment on me.

00:27:11
If you can't pray for me, don't ask to hang out with me. If you can't encourage me, don't DM me. Because I need people that can carry me. And the problem that we have in the church is we have professional Christians that know how to correct people but don't know how to carry people.

00:27:42
But verse three says they carry him. If most of us in church would carry people instead of carrying mess. If most of us knew how to lovingly and healthily handle people even while they're in their mess, the church would be in a better place. I know I wouldn't get many amens if we spend more time praying for them and carrying them and covering them and letting people know. I'm praying for you, not praying on you.

00:28:23
But more often than not, what happens is what happens somebody called you to tell you something about somebody else. And you start calling somebody else and start talking about it like you knew about it and you was there and you heard it firsthand. And they say, well, how do you know? Cause so and so told me. We are living in a time where people celebrate the downfall of other people.

00:29:03
They flock to the downfall of other people. So you can come watch this in church and you'll speak to folk you've been talking about. During fellowship. You will hug people that perhaps you lied on. But when Jesus is in the house, you'll learn to carry people that can't walk themselves.

00:29:28
When Jesus is really in the house, they don't talk about this guy, they carry him. They don't critique his situation. They do something about it.

00:29:43
A paralyzed man could not get there by himself. And there will be some people in your life that will not be able to get to Jesus by themselves. God has commissioned us and called us to carry other people. They don't need your commentary. They need your compassion.

00:30:06
They don't need your testimony of how you went through and what God said. Just carry them, get them to me.

00:30:15
My question this morning is, will you be the one that prays? Will you be the one that picks up the phone? Will you be the one that won't give up on people? Say, I'm gonna carry somebody to Jesus. Because when Jesus pulls up, everything changes.

00:30:36
And watch it. Watch it will know that Jesus is in the house. Not by how loud we shout, but how well we carry each other.

00:30:51
Look at somebody and tell them, I'm a carrier. Yeah, I carry people. I carry people. The text said they could not get through the door, so they went up on the roof. God is looking for some rooftop friends.

00:31:07
The kind of people that say, even if we can't get there through the door, we gonna use some unconventional ways. But one thing we are gonna do is we gonna get you to Jesus. Yeah, you won't come out of this. The devil thinks he got you. No, I'm standing 10 toes down and we getting ready to get you to Jesus.

00:31:31
We need a generation of people that will say, even if I have to tear up some tradition, I'm getting you to Jesus. Yeah, come like you are. Come dress like you are. Don't say nothing. Let them get to Jesus.

00:31:52
Because that is radical love. Looks like that's what a kingdom community looks like. When you say, if you walk, I'll carry you. If you can't believe, I'll Believe for you. If you too broken to pray, I'm going pray until you rise up.

00:32:15
We are our brother and our sister's keeper. We need churches that will tear off the roof to bring people to Jesus. In other words, churches that will break the barriers instead of building the barriers. Not making it harder for people, but making it easier for them to get to Jesus. Are y'all hearing me?

00:32:43
Not just come together or come when you get it together, but even like you are right now. Come on. Cause I'm gonna love on you. I'm gonna love you. I'm gonna help you.

00:32:57
I'm gonna carry you until you see a change in your own life.

00:33:06
Yeah, that's a good place to clap. Watch it. I gotta go. My time is gone. Watch it.

00:33:14
The fifth thing and final thing that we see in the text, if we want Jesus to pull up number five, you got to refuse to be denied. Somebody say, refuse to be denied. The place is packed, the doorway is blocked. But they did not give up because they refused to be denied. No seeds, no problem.

00:33:42
They said, we gonna go up top and we tearing off the roof because. Watch it. Desperation always finds a way. One of my mentors said to me, you know why people do anything? And I said, I don't know why?

00:33:58
Because they want to. I said, yeah, I guess that's true. We do what we want to do. And when we want to find a way, we'll find a way. When we want to go somewhere, we'll find a way to get there.

00:34:15
When we want to buy something, we'll find a way. Even if we got to take pop bottles back, we don't find a way to get what we want to get.

00:34:27
Do I have a real church this morning? Guess what? That's the same way we gotta be when it comes to getting people to Jesus.

00:34:39
Whatever it takes, I'm going to get you to Jesus. In other words, what they were saying is this man needs a miracle too much for us to turn around and go back now. And I came to find some roof rippers this morning, the ones who are so desperate, desperate to see God move in the lives of people in your life, in your family's life, that you don't mind disturbing the program, you don't mind disrupting the normal. You don't mind climbing whenever there's a blockage. But you say, I'm gonna get to Jesus no matter what.

00:35:19
I'm gonna make sure. Because desperation is desperate, breeding ground for miracles.

00:35:31
Look at somebody and tell them, we gonna get to Jesus. Yeah, we gonna get to Jesus. Look down your row and tell the people on your row, we gonna get to Jesus. Yeah, you messed up cause you sat next to me. You sat on my row, but we getting ready to get to Jesus.

00:35:56
Here it is. Here it is. Here's what I love. Here's what I love. Because Jesus saw something that made him move.

00:36:08
He saw something that made him move. The text says that when he saw saw their faith, it wasn't this man's strength. The text says Jesus saw their faith. Not just the man on the mat, but the friends that carried them. Can I speak prophetically over you?

00:36:32
In this next season, your miracle is not going to just be by your faith alone. But God told me to tell you it might be the faith. Faith in the ones that you are connected to. And God is getting ready to surround you with people who will believe for you and in you. Even when you can't believe for yourself.

00:36:55
You are going to see the hand of God move in your life. Even when you cannot see it and believe it. God says, I'm putting some people around you that's going to push you into the next season of your life. If you believe that, I dare you to open your mouth, lift your hands and give God a praise.

00:37:19
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Some people that's gonna push you. Some people that's gonna lock arms with you. Some people that's gonna connect.

00:37:35
Not people that just say, I'm going to another level. They gonna say, we going to another level.

00:37:44
People that's gonna tell you you are better than this. God has more in store for you. God going to do something with you that's going to blow your mind.

00:37:58
The enemy likes to to beat us down. Hear me? The enemy likes to beat us down and make us think that we're by ourselves. But I came to let you know if I gotta pull 1500 of them, I'm gonna pull them because I'm gonna help everybody. I can get to the place that God told you that you are going.

00:38:25
That's my belief for what God has in store for you. Now watch the tension of the text. I'm almost done. Watch the tension of the text because the religious leaders are in the room and the text says that they are thinking to themselves. They weren't bold enough to say it out loud.

00:38:49
They're thinking to themselves, who does he think he is? They're in the house, but they don't recognize who's in the house. They're so consumed with the protocol that they're missing out on the power that's available to them.

00:39:17
They're thinking to themselves, Jesus is breaking the Judaic law because he doesn't have the power or the authority to do what he is doing. They're so obsessed with the law that they missing the point that this is the Lord standing in front of them. And I love what Jesus does because Jesus says, I'm going to make a public demonstration out of your demonic thoughts. I'm going to show you. And he doesn't just preach theology.

00:39:58
He demonstrates power. In other words, he said, to show you that I have authority. He says two things. He says, your sins are forgiven, take up your bed and go home. Why?

00:40:16
Because that's the kind of God that we serve. The kind of God that we serve is he knows how to answer the questions that we don't have courage enough to ask. He silences the critics with demonstration and turns the doubters into witnesses. I'm going to make you sit here and watch that I have the power to forgive sin and to heal this man's body. In other words, the very thing that controlled him by the power of Christ, he is now controlled.

00:40:53
Can I drop this on you? Not everyone in the house is happy that Jesus is in the house. Yeah, there's some people that they not they not happy. They just ain't got nowhere to go. So they just come to the house.

00:41:07
Because real power always reveals fake positions. What do I mean by that? When people always got to announce that they're in position and they're the leader and this is fake power that is always shown up by real or fake positions, that's shown up by real power. Real power does not have to announce that they have power. They just walk in the power.

00:41:35
Real power don't have to shout. They bless and post everything that they bless. They just walk in the blessing that God has for them.

00:41:47
Don't get it twisted. Everybody in the house won't always agree. There are Pharisees there too. They did not come to worship. They came to critique.

00:42:05
They came to watch you worship. But notice this, notice this. Please don't miss this. Because Jesus didn't argue with them. In essence, what he was saying is, I can show you better than I can tell you.

00:42:24
And so what he did is he healed the man to show them. Guess what? I do have the power. Here's the lesson. Here's the lesson.

00:42:40
You can argue theology, you can argue tradition, but you can't argue with a testimony. We may have different opinions about what the verse says and what it means, but one thing you Cannot argue with, I know I've been healed. I know I've been delivered. I was broke and now I'm not broke. I was despondent, and guess what?

00:43:06
I got peace. Now. You cannot argue with the testimony.

00:43:18
This is why. This is why. Whenever God is moving in your life, whenever God is getting ready to do something in your life, you will always have people who will try to discredit the power and authenticity of your breakthrough. But you have to remember, accusation and criticism is the last stage before the breakthrough gets ready to come. And some of you are wasting time arguing with people and clapping back with people and responding to every post.

00:43:56
You got to tell your haters, thank you. Because I'm getting ready to walk into my breakthrough. I'm getting ready to walk into what God has for me. I am getting ready to be and do and have all that God wants me to have. Somebody shout, yes, shout yes.

00:44:19
So let them talk. Let them look you up and down. You just stand up and say, I once was lost, but now I'm found. Testify and tell them I was metaphorically blind, but now I see. Tell them I was blessed.

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Once paralyzed, I was held back, but now I'm walking. In divine prosperity, in divine health, in divine wisdom, in divine authority.

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Jesus says, I know how to use your doubt as a stage for me to bring breakthrough to my people.

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When Jesus pulls up, he will do whatever he has to do to let whoever he needs to let know I'm the man.

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He says to them, which is easier me to say, your sins be forgiven or take up your bed and walk. He said, I just tell the man, your sins are forgiven. Take up your bed, go home, get up, walk.

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And just like that, somebody say, just like that. Just like that. The man who came in carried walked out carrying the bed that carried him.

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Because when Jesus is in the house, what carried you, you start carrying it. The thing that used to limit you, you can now lead it.

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God has great plans. So as we wave our symbolic palms as we remember Jesus entering Jerusalem, let me ask you this question.
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Have we made room for him in our house? Stand with me everywhere.

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Have we made room for him in our lives?

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Because when Jesus is in the house, broken people get healed, sick people get delivered, crowds become communities, sinners turned into saints, and religion gives way to revelation. I don't know about you, but I just. I don't want just the hype. I want him. I want more than mere moments of feeling good.

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I want to see the shift that he has for me. It's great to shout. Nothing wrong with shout. Nothing wrong with dancing. But at some point you got to say, you know what I want better than this.

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Somebody lift your hands and declare this with me all over this building. Say it out loud. Jesus, take over the house? My house? The house of my thoughts?

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The house of my relationships? The house of my discipline appointments? The house of my sorrow and shame? The house of my plans and priorities? The house of my temptation and triggers?

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The house of my identities.

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Jesus, take over the house? The house of my talents and the assignments that you have given me?

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When Jesus pulls up, he takes over the house? Because whenever Jesus is there, hope is there? Whenever Jesus is there, there's healing there, Change is there.