(Mark 2:1-12) A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. 2 They gathered in such large numbers that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. 3 Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. 4 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 lowered the mat the man was lying on. 5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” 6 Now 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?” 8 Immediately 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? 9 Which is easier: to say to this paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’? 10 But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins. “So he said to the man, 11 “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” 12 He 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!”
We see in this story that Jesus has the power and authority to not only forgive someone’s sin but also to heal them. First, let me mention, these men who took the paralyzed man to Jesus. These men literally took the roof off to get their friend to Jesus. Jesus had such a reputation, because everyone was following him just to hear and be near him. Even the “teachers” knew his reputation. They followed Jesus everywhere hoping to see him mess up or say something that was wrong.
There is always going to be people in your life watching and hoping that you mess up. We need to surround ourselves with people like those guys who took the roof for their friend. When we have people to talk to and to help us get through difficult times in our lives, life will be a lot easier. Also, we need to be friends to other people like these guys in the scripture. Above everything else, we need to have a relationship with Jesus, because without him, this story wouldn’t even be in the bible. We don’t have to wait until we are perfect to come to Him. If we do that, then we will never be ready for Him. Jesus wants us to come as we are and He will begin to perfect us. He is the only one who can wash our sins away and give us life.
A little about Bro. Jacob Hopkins…
Bro. Jacob Hopkins is 26 years old and has lived in Mansfield his whole life. He attends Mansfield Assembly of God and has been preaching for about three years. Bro. Jacob just loves to go preach where ever he might be asked and has spoke at churches around the Mansfield area.
Bro. Jacob is attending University of Arkansas Fort Smith and seeking a degree in Engineering . He currently works at Heartland Pharmacy in Mansfield. He just recently got engaged to his fiancé, Loren Lale. His hobbies are watching movies and of coarse hanging out with his fiancé.
When we asked Bro. Jacob when he felt he was called into the ministry, he told us, “I felt the Lord put in my heart one day that I should preach for my church sometime. If you knew me in school, I wasn’t that out going and would never get up and talk in front of a crowd. In my mind I was telling myself that I don’t need to do that. Then one day my pastor asked if I would preach sometime for him and I knew that was from the Lord.”
