I appreciate you being here again this morning and excited about what God has in store for us. I want us to look at some things this morning. There’s some things that have been on my heart, righteousness exalteth a nation, but sends a reproach to any people. And we need our country, needs revival. How many would agree with that? Needs a spiritual awakening. Now, where are we going to find that? Well, I believe we’re going to see that here in this passage of Scripture, how that goes about how that starts and where that starts. We’re going to look at this morning, the Lord’s great ministry and now that trickles over in our lives too. Look, chapter number five will start in verse number 18 here in a moment. But let’s open up the precinct with the word of prayer, okay? Heavenly Father we pray, Lord that you would bless the preaching of your word. And Lord, that you’d help me to say the things that need to be said. And Lord, I pray to you, god, my thoughts and God our hearts, help us receive what you’d have for us. Lord, thank you for all that’s been said and done already. Lord, we pray that it’s pleasing to you. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. The Lord Jesus Christ. As we look through Scripture and we study the life and ministry of Jesus Christ, we see a number of things. We see the authority that Jesus has his deity. Turn with me before we go to Luke, chapter five. Go to Luke, chapter number four. You see in the first part of Luke, chapter number four, jesus is tempted in the wilderness by the devil. He was tempted, the Bible says, as in all points, yet without sin, jesus never one time succumbed to sin or the devil’s temptation. He was perfect untofiled sinless. And in verse 14 and Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit and the Galilee, and there went out of fame of Him through all the region round about. And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all. When he was in this life, no doubt there were many miracles that were done, but his goal was to teach and to preach, to have men see their need of a Savior. In verse number 16, he goes to Nazareth, where he was brought up in this earthly life, and he taught in the synagogues. They rejected Him, they did not believe Him. So then he goes to component and he is with them there for a number of days. In verse number 32, they were astonished at his doctrine, for His Word was with power. Then verse number 33, there’s a man there with an unclean spirit, and Jesus heals him. He cast the devil out, cast the unclean spirit out. And they were amazed, they wondered within themselves. And then verse number 38, jesus heals Simon Peter’s, mother in law. And Simon Peter was shouting the victory for that thankful for that. I’m sure she made good meatloaf. Amen. What a blessing that was. Verse number four. Look at the summary of verse number 40. Now when the sun was setting, all that he was christ a fellow said this way he had power over the deep. He had power over nature. When he calmed the winds and the waves, he had power over everything in nature for he was the creator of nature. He had power over the devils. There was not a devil that could not overpower him, was not a demon that could not overpower him. He had power over diseases. Every disease he could heal, he had power over death. Heard about that in Sunday school this morning through the prophet Elijah. Wasn’t Elijah one of the other? They raised that widow son that here in our reading in this passage of scripture. I’m not going to read it. But he goes and he raises another widow’s son. He himself, and of course he himself could not be kept in the grave. He arose three days later victorious over the grave and is alive forevermore. Seated at the Father’s right hand. His life showed who he was. He is a very Son of God come down to this earth and it also reveals his purpose. You know John 638, he says, I came down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of Him that sent me. He voluntarily coequal coexistent with God the Father. Voluntarily submitted himself to God the Father to come to this earth to die on the cross for my sins and your sins to do the Father’s will and to seek and to save that which was lost. He came down to call the sinners to repentance. We’re going to look at that. So in chapter four, we see Jesus casting out devils. We see diseases being healed. We see everything coming together. Am I on? Yeah, we’re on. Okay. All right. I see somebody looking back there. We’re on. It’s just not very loud. Let’s turn it that way. How’s that? All right. Here we go. Jesus had power over all that. Then chapter number five. Let’s go. Look with me, if you will. Chapter number five, verse one through eleven. He again gathers around Him a group of people and he teaches the people flock to him and he taught them the word of God. He throws himself out in a boat and makes a natural amphitheater. He taught the people. And then he tells Peter, James and John. He shows them that he is far better serving than being a fisherman than the career they were chasing. And look at verse number eleven. When they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all and followed Him. Then in verse twelve he heals a man of leprosy. In verse number 15, so much the more went. There a fame abroad of him. I want you to notice something in verse number twelve, though and 13. He came to pass when he was in a certain city, behold, a man full of leprosy who see Jesus fell on his face and beside him saying, lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. He had faith to be healed, and he put forth his hand and touched him, saying, I will be thou clean. And immediately the leprosy departed from him, and he charged him to tell who no man interesting that Jesus would heal man of his leprosy and said, I want you don’t tell anybody about this, but instead go and show thyself to the priest and offer for thy cleansing. According to Moses commanded for a testimony unto them. This man had a great physical need. Jesus met that great physical need. And I’m glad that Jesus meets our material needs. Our physical needs. Well, I’ll tell you something we’re going to find out this morning. There was a far greater need that you and I have as men and women on this earth than our material things, our physical things. And I believe that’s why he was telling this leperice, I know you’ve been healed your leprosy, but I want you to go about it this way. Look with me. Verse number 16. He withdrew himself into wilderness and prayed. And it came to pass on a certain day, as he was teaching, that there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by, which would come out of every town in Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem, and the power of the Lord was present to heal them. Now, we don’t read in this passage at least of any of those scribes or Pharisees being healed necessarily, other than the power to heal. Power. The Lord to heal was present, but we do read of one being healed. Who is that? Verse number 18. And behold, men brought in a bed a man which was taken with a palsy. And they sought means to bring him in and to lay him before him. And when they could not find by what way they might bring him in because of the multitude, they went up upon the house stop. And laid him down through the tiling with his couch into the midst before Jesus was an unusual situation, especially with today’s housing in mind. The way we think of it, I would not want anybody tearing my roof apart. But the outcome was good. And I hope they just stuck around to patch the hole back up, don’t you? Roof was a little bit different back then. They had tiling they could remove. And what’s what they did. There were so many people there in the house listening to Jesus. This man had friends that cared about him. That’s a wonderful thing. Or these friends knew where to go to get help. Do you know where to go to get help? Jesus Christ. Amen. They knew the Great Physician, and they were taking this man to Jesus to be healed of this physical infirmity. He was sick of the palsy. He was motionless. He wasn’t able to move and do like he wanted to do. And they had great faith because when they came now, they could not get to Jesus where he was. They found another way to get to Jesus. They climbed up on the roof. They made a hole in the roof and they lowered him down, the Bible says, on his couch in the parallel passage, and Matthew Mark says on his bed. So they were able to lower him down with ropes right in front of Jesus. I could imagine the people on looking and seeing what a sight is this. Never seen anything like this before. I don’t know what the owner of the house was seeking or the housewife, what a mess they’re making in my living room. Those of you that are married to understand that and look around, verse 21 he, Jesus, saw their faith. He said unto him, man, thy sins are forgiven thee. Now, wait a minute. It doesn’t seem like this man came for that need, does it? His apparent need was physical, was on the outside. He needed use of his legs, use of his arms. He needed that physical need touched. And yet Jesus took care of the greater need first. He said, man, thy sins are forgiven thee. He looked past the outside and went right to the heart. We can put on a good front, can’t we? We can put on a good show. We can dress up and put on a facade of what we want people to see us as. But God sees right through all of that and looks directly into our heart and sees our greater need. That’s our spiritual need. First of all, you’ve got a need of a savior. If you’ve never been saved, then you are on your way to a place that’s been prepared for the devil and his angels. The Bible calls hell and it will be cast in the lake of fire. There’ll be torments day and night, forever and ever. But Jesus has made a way for you to be saved and be forgiven of your sins. And that is the greater need. Here we are praying for many things in our church. We’ve got a prayer list. It’s updated. We try to update it weekly. Sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn’t happen. And you’ll see if you notice, if you take that list and see there are people that go into the hospital and come out of the hospital and move into the hospital again. And come out of the hospital again. There are other names added, other names taken off. We are praying for many physical things in our midst, aren’t we? But let’s not forget that the greater need is spiritual. The greater need is inside. And though whether God heals or doesn’t heal, whether God meets the material needs as we want him to meet, whether God gives us a fourwheel drive truck, an extended cab. And that’s an absolute need for the preacher. Amen. Whether or not God does anything. I’m just kidding. God has a greater purpose that he’s working out. He’s looking to meet a greater need in us than our physical needs, our physical ability. And as a matter of fact I would not want the gas right now that the bill to put in that four wheel drive truck. And God knows that they had an apparent need, but his actual need was his sins to be forgiven. And look at verse 21. And the scribes and the Pharisees began the reason saying who is this which speak of the blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone? Look, they said who can forgive sins but God alone? They were correct. Nobody but God can forgive sins, right? They were absolutely 100% correct. They just did not realize who was standing in front of them. The very Son of God. 100% God while being 100% man. The Godman who could forgive sins. What did Jesus do? Verse 22 but when Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answering sent unto them what reason he in your heart? Whether it’s easier to say thy sins be forgiven the or to say rise up and walk, but that you may know that the Son of man has powerful on earth to forgive sins. He said unto the sign of palsy I say unto thee, arise and take up thy couch and go into thine house. And immediately he rose up before just stop right here for a minute. Timeout aside, aren’t you glad when Jesus heals or Jesus saves? It’s immediate right away. It’s not a process, not a twelve stop process of becoming a Christian. It’s just simply repenting and by faith putting your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. And immediately Jesus saves your soul. And he starts a work from the inside out. And I want you to notice something. This is great. And immediately he rose up before them and took up that where on Elay and departed to his own house glorifying God and what happened to those around Him. They were all amazed and they glorified God. And we’re filled with fear. Scene we have seen strange things today. They have seen strange things that they saw a man that had been healed. They could not see the inside, but they saw what happened on the outside. There’s a gentleman I was reading after this week and studying for this and some of you may know who it is. August, man. Ryan. He’s got a good commentary writer. He said it cost Christ nothing to heal the body. There’s nothing for him. He’s god created the universe, nothing to him. But it cost him everything to be able to forgive this man’s sin. Think about this. Christ can heal bodies entirely apart from the cross. But the salvation of a soul required the awful suffering and death under the judgment of God. For other sins. It costs Jesus everything to save you and me. That’s the greatest need, that’s the greatest need that our country has is for them to realize, hey, I need Jesus Christ. It’s a wonderful thing. I thank the Lord for the ministry that Brother Cranson’s involved in and connecting us with our state governments and even the national on a national scale, praying for them and trying to encourage them and help them. But listen, our hope is not in the political office. Our hope is in Jesus Christ. And the only hope for America is that they would turn to Jesus Christ. I want you to leave this passage of Scripture and go to Luke, chapter number eight. And we’re going to go over this real quick. You’re familiar with the pastor of Scripture, verse number 26. And they arrived at the country of the Gadirenes, which is over against Galilee. And when he went forth the land, they met him of the city, a certain man which had devils a long time and wear no clothes, neither abode in any house but in the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him, and with a loud voice said, what am I to do with thee, Jesus, I’ve, Son of God, most High, I beseech thee, torment me not. For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man for alltimes it had caught him. And he was kept bound with chains in fetters, and he breaks the bands and was driven of the devil into the wilderness. Once you notice his condition before he was saved, he was unclothed. And a lot of the world are that way. There’s no moral sense. The clothes are not just that covering, but they’re also protection from the elements. He’s in shame, he’s dwelling in the tubes, he’s restless. You remember, I know for many of us it was a long time ago before we came to the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior. Some of you, it was just recent. But there is with no peace within our souls, no peace for the sinner, for the world that doesn’t know Jesus Christ, our Savior. He was restless. He had great supernatural strength because of the demon possession, but he had no peace, no help, no comfort. And Jesus asked him, saying, what is thy name? And he said, lead to Because many devils were entered into Him and they besought him, that he would not command them to go out into the deep. The devils were praying unto Jesus, look at that. They besought him. They besought Jesus that he would not command them to go out into the deep. One of these days, Jesus is going to bind all the demons of hell and cast them into outer darkness. That’s going to happen one of these days. They knew that they are subjected unto Jesus Christ and they knew that. They said, we don’t want to go right now. Would you let us stay. Not just let us stay. Look at what else they prayed. Verse 32 and there was a herd of many swine feeding on the mountain. And they besought him, that he would suffer them to enter into them. And look. And he suffered them. There are things that happen in this world that we don’t understand, supernatural things. We can’t see the devil is working in his power and he’s the Princeton and ruler of the heir. But God is ultimately allowing things to happen in his master plan. We can’t explain all that, but the devils I do know this are subject unto Jesus Christ. And there were a herd of many swine feeding on the mountain. That red devil. Verse 33 and then went the devil was out of the man and entered into the swan. And the herd ran violently down a seat place into the lake and were choked. And they that fed them saw what was done. They fled and went and told it in the city and in the country. Then they went out to see what was done and came to Jesus and found the man out of whom the devils were departed. Look at this. Sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. Never in his life had he had peace like he had when Jesus touched him. Jesus cast out the devils. He was sitting where he needed to be, sitting at the feet of Jesus. Gone was the restlessness. In came the peace that only Jesus can give. Clothed, he had clothing and covering. Now he was in his right mind. And the men, they were afraid. They also, which saw told him by what means he that was possessed of the devils was healed. Look at the third prayer that prayed to Jesus in this pastor Scripture. And then the whole monster of the country, the gallery and roundabout, besaught him to depart from them. They were talking to Jesus. They were praying they besought him to depart. Listen, jesus doesn’t force himself upon anyone, I believe, whosoever maine and departed of the swine. He departed. He did what the multitude asked him. I want you to notice the fourth prayer. And this is where we’re going. Then the whole multitude of verse 38. Now, the man out of whom the devils were departed besought him that he might be with him. But Jesus sent him away. And it seems almost contradictory. This man just got saved. He wants to be with Jesus. And Jesus said, no, don’t do that. I’ve got a better and a greater plan for you. He answered his prayer in the negative. Sometimes we go to God, we pray, say, Lord, will you touch this need of mine, help this need of mine? Would you provide this or would you heal this body or this person? And God says, I’ve got a better plan. I’ve got a greater design. We’ve got to trust him. Look at what his plan is here. Return to thine own house and show how great things God had done unto thee. And he went his way and published throughout the whole city how great things Jesus had done unto him. Go back to Matthew, chapter number five. Where did Jesus tell this man to go? Arise, take up that couch and go into dying house. There’s so much here. I don’t want to keep you a long time. Let me say that I’d like to keep you a long time, but you won’t say if I keep you a long time. This is the Lord’s great ministry, not just healing on the outside, because, listen, this man sick of the palsy. As great a miracle as that was, one day he died and he went to the grave, this widowed son that we didn’t read about. But in this passage of Scripture, jesus was coming up on a funeral procession. He raised the young man up from the grave. But one day he died again. But Jesus came to seek and to save that which was lost, to reach your soul that will never die. It’ll be alive either in heaven or in hell. That was his whole purpose in coming. Then he says, when he heals these two individuals, he said, Go into thine house. You know what God has for us to do? He’s got a ministry that he’s left for us here, and it’s to go where we are and teach and preach Jesus Christ. The great ministry that we have, that the Lord has, is continued through his church, is in our home, in our area. And it starts at the house with your spouse, with your children, with your family. Then it goes to the extended family, your coworkers, your neighbors, whoever it is that you see on a daily basis. But it begins at home. Think about this. What kind of testimony did either one of them have when he came back home? I was thinking about this when Jesus said unto him, returned to thy own house. They could be this man had a wife. And then how he treated that wife, you can just speculate. You can just imagine. It could be that he had a family. He may have had children. We know he had a mother and a father. He had some family there, some by. And how it must have broken their hearts to see their son in that condition. But what rejoicing when he came back and say, hey, let me tell you what Jesus did for me. I’m in my right mind. That crazy, man. That was me before Jesus got a hold of me. But that’s me no longer. I’ve got my sins forgiven. I’m thinking clearly. I’m thinking straight. I don’t need those chains. I don’t need those feathers. I don’t need that alcohol anymore, amen. I don’t need those drugs anymore, amen. I don’t need the pornography on the website. I don’t need any of those other things. Jesus has set me free. Let me tell you what Jesus has done for me. He goes down to the local walmart that they have, because everybody’s got to have a walmart and the precursor walmart. And he tells they say, hey, wasn’t that guy that was in the no, that can’t be him. He’s wearing clothes. He’s acting in his right mind. No, that’s him. That’s him. That was the one in the tombs. And then he gets earshot out and he says, hey, let me tell you what Jesus did for me. Jesus did great. You know what happens the next time Jesus comes to that area? Jesus is received in that area. The word spread what God could do, and he was received. He was run out this time. Next time he comes, he’s received. And the word of God is open and more are saved. More come to save and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. What a testimony. What an opportunity. See, we often think the ministry or the mission field, africa is where we send our money, where we support it. Since. Tell somebody about Jesus Christ. In reality, home is where we begin to tell people about Jesus Christ. I believe Brother Cranston could agree with this. The breakdown of the home is what has hurt America. We have gotten away from the values of the word of God. We’ve got to begin at home. Lift up Jesus Christ to your children, to your spouse. Pray together, worship God together. Have the same goals, same desire to serve God together. He said, begin at your house. That’s the best opportunity. You realize you spend the majority of your time traveling to Brother Bill to Work Day, man Jeremy. But tell Brother Bill how good God’s been. Maybe keep him awake on the road next time he’s not veering off. We spend the majority of our time when we’re not at work. We’re either at work or at home. We spend a good part of our time. I think of my wife, and I’m thankful that she doesn’t have to work. She’s a stayathome mom, which should say doesn’t have to work. She’s got more of a workload than what I do. But she said how’s that phrase ago? A woman’s work is never done. She’ll get the laundry all caught up, and then I’ll walk in, and she loves me for it. How many of you agree with that? I’m your housewives. Agree. But she spends more time with the children than I do. Think about this, ladies. You may never preach a sermon. I believe that’s biblical. Amen. But you are preaching a message to your children. You’re preaching a message to those that you come in contact with at the grocery store or those that you may work with. The opportunity that God has given us is right here. See, the Bible also said, right? It’s sandwiched between there. In Luke chapter number seven, I believe it is. Luke, chapter number seven, number eight. No. Chapter number eight, verse number 16. He said, no, man, when he hath lighted a candle, cover it with a vessel or putth it under a bed, but Setth it on a candlestick, that they which enter may see the light. He said, I’ve given you a light that this world needs, this world’s dark. Listen, I don’t know if you’ve seen faces in the marketplace lately, if you’ve seen faces at Walmart. People are needing hope. They’re needing help. They’re needing Jesus. You and I have that answer. We have that hope. You look at the news and how depressing it is. People are looking for a hope for help. I just saw where the other day was a pop star that’s around the same age as I am. Woke up dead or that didn’t sound right, did it? How you do that? If you do that, let me know. But he died at home. And speculation, whatever it may be, that he’s had issues with drugs and things before. But you just wondered, did he know the Lord as his savior? He needed somebody to tell him. Think about those that are around us, how many hurting people are around us that need to know that Jesus cares. Jesus loves them. You and I have been given a great witness, a great opportunity to share. Hey. There is hope in Jesus Christ. So regardless of what happens, we are praying for our state capital. We’re praying for our nation’s capital. Regardless of what happens. Hey, you can still have a home in heaven, forgiveness of sins. And you can have a relationship with the One who not only created you, but bought you with his precious blood. There’s hope in Jesus. Our ministry, let’s not forget it, begins at home. You say, well, my kids are already growing their poop and we’re enjoying life as an empty nest. And I know some people say that, enjoy that God’s still giving you a ministry at home. What could you do in your local church? As we go out and try to reach Mount Hole, PAX Beckle, all points in between. Tell people, hey, jesus loves them. Jesus cares. Jesus says, there’s a savior in heaven. There is a remedy. Amen. And his name is Jesus Christ. So our ministry begins at home. Our service should be a thank you. But also God said, I want you to return and show it’s a command. It should be a thank you, but it’s also a command. Go and show to your own house how good God’s been. It’s our own house. Our own home, own family who sees us the closest. They know how to push buttons, don’t they? They know we know how to push buttons. They see whether we’re genuine or not, whether we’re real or not, whether we put on a face at church or for the same when we go home. They see when God’s working. Listen. Let me tell you something. Let your light shine at the household. It’s important, not just for America, but for your home sake. I want to stand and let’s do that now. Let’s stand. Let’s have our head bound and eyes closed. Let’s do our very best to try to keep it as quiet as we can during this time of imitation. Have our Headbound and eyes closed. God has given us a great opportunity to be a witness for him, a testimony for him. But I ask you this do you know for sure that heaven is your home? Are you saved? See, Jesus did not come just to heal people physically. He came to die on the cross for the sins of mankind. He paid for your sin, for the sins of the whole world. If you know that you’re saved, you want a shot of a doubt? Just slip up your hands and testimony of the Lord. Good. You can put your hands down so you might hear. Say, Preacher, I’m not sure that if I died right now that heaven would be my home. Just slip up your hand. I’ll pray for you. Anybody like that, I’m not going to call your name. Just anybody so I can pray for you. Listen, god loves you. It would be an awful, awful thing to die in America, the land of religious liberty, to die without Jesus Christ, where you had opportunity to hear the Gospel and respond and trust Jesus Christ as your Savior. If that’s you this morning, won’t you just come this altar? I’ll come down and I’ll pray with you. I’ll turn the microphone off. We’ll pray together. I can show you from the Bible how to be saved. If you’ve recently been saved and like to come down and testify to the church that you’ve been saved, I’ll do all the talking. Just come and sit on the front row. Let the whole church know that you just trusted Jesus Christ as you’re saved. You’ve been saved. It’d be a wonderful thing to do. Let’s talk to the church now. Those that are born again, those that have been saved for any length of time. We’ve got a ministry. We’ve got an opportunity to witness for Jesus Christ. How many? You know somebody that’s unsafe? Look up your hand. What are we doing to wind them to the Lord? Are we different around our closest friends than we are at the church house or out in public? How many of you would be willing to come to the altar? Say, Lord, save so and so. Save this one in my family. Save that one, save my coworkers. Help me to be a witness to them, be a testimony to them. Will you come and pray for them? Say, Lord, help me. Be the light that you want me to be in this dark world. You come and pray. Listen, prayer changes things while these are coming, if you need to come for any reason you come. You’re not coming to me. You’re just coming and kneeling before God. You’re humbling your spirit to say, lord, I surrender. I’m submitting to you Heavenly Father. Lord, we love you. Lord, we thank you for loving us first. We thank you for coming to where I was, saving my soul, giving me a home in heaven. Forgiven me of my sins. Lord, help me not just to coast through life, enjoy the blessings that You’ve given, but Lord, take the light that You’ve given and shine it in a dark world so that those around can see that Jesus still saves. Jesus cares for every single individual that’s ever lived. Lord, they have the opportunity to have that walk with you. I pray, Lord, if for someone here this morning they would just disregard all the other voices in the auditorium, the devil that’s telling not to trust you. What? Help them. Give them the courage and the faith to trust you this morning and to be saved. Help them to give their life to you. Father. Help us to be the lights we ought to be realize we’ve got a great ministry in our own circle. Help us not to let that down. We love you, Lord. We want to be faithful until Jesus returns on our. Pray that you take this simple message and use it to touch our hearts. Do more for you. In Jesus name we pray.