Read: Luke 5:17-39

By: Pastor Brent Roll

“God never said that the journey would be easy, but He did say that the arrival would be worthwhile.” – Max Lucado

Just a couple of weeks ago the Patriots and the Rams competed for the ultimate prize in their sport: the Lombardi Trophy and the honor of being called Super Bowl Champions. If you were to ask any of these players what they would do to be able to achieve this goal, chances are their responses would all be pretty similar. They would be willing to do whatever it took to gain the prize

In Bible passage today, we find a group of friends that were willing to do whatever it took to help their friend.

One day Jesus was teaching, and Pharisees and teachers of the law, were sitting there. They had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with Jesus to heal the sick. Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus.

We find in this passage that the paralyzed man was blessed with a great group of friends. They could have very easily said to the paralyzed man, “I am sorry! We tried but there is just simply no way in!”

But they did not. Instead, they looked for another way in and found it. They went to the roof and lowered their friend down to Jesus.

They were willing to do whatever it took to get their friend to Jesus because they knew what Jesus could do.

I am sure that many of us today are faced with what seems to impossible situations and we are just not sure how we are going to make it through. Let me remind you today that, just like the paralyzed man, we have a friend who willing to do whatever it takes to help us through anything.

That friend’s name is Jesus. Jesus has already paid the ultimate price for us and is always willing to fight for us. He is constantly beside us. He is ready to offer strength, encouragement, comfort, joy, and peace. Jesus is willing to lower us down through the roof into the safety of His Spirit.

We also, as a church, have each other to lean on. We must join each other in prayer, lifting one another up.

This way, no matter what difficult situation you are facing, you can have hope in knowing that you are not alone!