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Mark 2 "Jesus is in the House"

I have been thinking about what Jesus said to the disciples when he came back from praying. He said "Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also, because for this purpose I have come forth."

What is your purpose for being here in Japan? Do you know? Why does God have you here, now? It is important for us not to get sidetracked. When the ministry started booming in Capernaum, Jesus went to pray because He needed to know what His purpose was. Through prayer He understood that His purpose was to keep preaching the good news. Jesus could of set up shop in Capernaum, built a good church and ministered and built up that church. Many pastors are called to do just that. But the purpose for Jesus was different. He needed to go into the next towns. He needed to keep casting out the net so that more and more people could hear the gospel.

Jesus said to Simon and Andrew, "Follow me and I will make you become fishers of men." Now I am from Oregon and I am used to fishing with a rod and reel. We try to catch the big one, throw them back if they are two small. I used to go to high school with a boy who was crazy for fishing. We sang together in a quartet, and one day he was late for a concert. When he finally showed up he told us an incredible story about the massive fish that he had caught. Simon and Andrew caught fish another way. They were not interested in the big one. They cast their nets into the water and hoped to catch a whole school of fish. Jesus "fished" this way too. He kept moving, making sure that everyone heard the good news of salvation.

"And again He entered Capernaum after some days, and it was heard that He was in the house. Immediately many gathered together, so that there was no longer room to receive them, not even near the door. And He preached the word to them."

By the time Jesus came back to Capernaum His fame had spread. So much so that when the people heard that He was in the house they crowded in and He preached the word to them. The same thing happens today. When people understand that Jesus is in the house. They will crowd into the church. I don't think that we have to sell Jesus to people. We don't need to make excuses for Him, we don't have to put Him on sale, we don't have to mark Him down or use special packaging. What we do have to do is let people know that Jesus is really here. We do that by worshipping with our whole heart. When people see that we worship unashamed because we are standing before God, they will know Jesus is in this place. They will also know that Jesus is really here when they hear your testimony. We are not just studying about Jesus, Jesus is alive, here, and working in my life. And they will know that Jesus is in the house when they feel the love of Jesus through us. Any time that we can love people in practical ways they see Jesus in us, and they will come.

"Then they came to Him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men. And when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was. So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven you." And some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, "Why does this Man speak blasphemies like this? Who can forvige sins but God alone?" But immediatley, when Jesus perceived in His spirit that they reasoned thus within themselves, He said to them, "Why do you reason about these things in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven you, or to say, Arise, take up your bed and walk? But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins -- He said to the paralytic, "I say to you, arise, take up your bed and go to your house." Immediatly he arose, took up the bed, and went out in the presence of them all, so that all were amazed and glorified God, saying, "We never saw anything like this!"

When people see through us that Jesus is real, nothing can hold them back from coming to church. These four men saw the power of Jesus and the need of their friend and decided that nothing was going to keep them from Jesus. They would do whatever it took to bring their friend to Christ. I took a class in seminary about how to build a big church. The first things they taught was to pick a good location. Build it close to where people live, provide lots of parking, make it convenient to come. I thought back to the church where I first became a Christian in Oregon. This church was out in the mountains in a town of around 100 people. Nobody lived out there. But because Jesus was in the house, people came from miles around to hear the gospel. Our church is not easy to get to, not easy to find, but Jesus is in the house and the people will come. My prayer for us is that everyone who comes around us would see plainly that Jesus is in this house.

What was Jesus' purpose for healing the paralyzed man? Why did He heal him? Verse 10, "But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins." You see there is no test for checking if sins are forgiven. It is easy to tell if a paralyzed man is healed. If he picks up his bed and walks out with it, it is a good sign that he is healed. But how can we tell if sins are forgiven or not? So Jesus showed them His power. "If I can heal this I can also forgive sins." Jesus wants to do the same thing today. The core of the gospel, the most important thing, is the forgiveness of sins. Jesus' whole ministry was to bring that forgiveness to us. I believe that we are going to see healings here in this church. Praise the Lord for healing Alice. But the purpose of these healings is to point people to the gospel. What is your purpose here in Tokyo? Take a look at what you are doing and see if it fits with your purpose.

"Then He went out again by the sea; and all the multitude came to Him, and He taught them. As He passed by , He saw Levi the son of Aphaeus sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, " Follow Me." So he arose and followed HIm. Now it happened, as he was dining in Levi's house, that many tax collectors and sinners also sat together with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many, and they followed Him. And when the scribes and Pharisees saw Him eating with the tax collectors, and sinners, they said to His discipes, "How is it that He eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?" When Jesus heard it, He said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners , to repentance."

Again Jesus is talking about why He came, this time not to call the righteous but sinners. Jesus didn't come to sit in the synagogue and persuade the Jews about the good news. He wasn't here to play games, hook and lure, reel in a big fish. His task was more urgent. Jesus was a net fisherman, He wasn't looking for reluctant followers that needed to be persuaded. He came to seek and save the lost, to call sinners to repentance, to give living water to the thirsty! He wasn't about to waste his time with the Pharisees when the sinners and tax collectors knew they needed Him.

Today we have learned some important things about why Jesus came. What was His purpose. We learned that Jesus wasn't interested in building a church, He didn't want to put down roots. When we skip ahead to the end of the book we see that Jesus knew that He was short on time. In just three short years Jesus would be hanging on the cross. But in that time, while not one church had been planted, Jesus had firmly planted the gospel into the hearts of many. I believe that we are called to plant churches, the book of Acts is all about what those people that Jesus planted the gospel in went and did, but just like Jesus, I don't want to be satisfied with a building or a church. We must continue to hear from God, "Let's go into the next town!" Gospel must always be above church, in our thinking.

Jesus also healed and showed himself powerful. I asked some guys in the church to look through the book of Mark and underline every verse that shows Jesus' power. When I did it I got a huge list of all the things that our Lord has power over and not only that but I found that Jesus gave authority to His disciples to use that power as well. But we need to use that authority like Jesus did, we need to have our priorities straight. For Jesus the Gospel was first, power second.

Finally we learned who Jesus was preaching the gospel to. Not the folks who thought they were righteous already but to the sinners who knew their need. While the religious people were pointing the finger from a distance, Jesus sat down and ate with the sinners, shared the gospel and loved them. There are so many people here in Tokyo, who need Jesus Christ. They know their need! You don't have to convince them, you just have to show them that Jesus is really here.