Date of message: 23 June 2002

Shalom, Boker-Tov ( good morning ),
Some of you were wondering whether you had been missing the sharing message last week and a couple of you wonderful people had actually called and asked for the message in case I had omitted their names. Thanks for the encouragement. No, you did not miss any issues because my wife and I were at our annual church camp up at Sunway Lagoon for the whole week and we got back late on Saturday evening and being exhausted, I felt I deserved that one break.

This week I was impressed to share on the story of the four friends that this paralytic had, who went beyond their normal call of friendship. This account can be found in Mark 2: 1 - 12;
1. And again He entered Capernaum after some days, and it was heard that He was in the house.
2. Immediately many gathered together, so that there were no longer room to receive them, not even near the door. And He preached the word to them.
3. Then they came to Him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men.
4. 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.
5. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven you."
6. And some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts,
7. "Why does this Man speak blasphemies like this? Who can forgive sins but God alone?"
8. But immediately, 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?"
9. "Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Arise, take up your bed and walk'?"
10. "But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins" - He said to the paralytic,
11. "I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house."
12. Immediately 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!"

Jesus spent a lot of time in Capernaum when He started out in His ministry. In particular He stayed with Simon Peter the fisherman whose house happened to be very near the synagogue. So when the story started we read of Him being in the house, we can take it that He was in Simon Peter's house which you may also say His own home. Everywhere that He went, Jesus loved to teach the people, who came to hear His teaching, all about the love of God the Father. So when the story started, it was just another day that Jesus was teaching at home.

So many people came to hear Him that there was an overflow of people and it must have been an extremely packed house. So when the four friends heard that Jesus the Teacher and Healer was in town and was having another of His teaching sessions, they decided that it was about time that they did something for their friend who was paralyzed in his body. Not being able to find a way into the house, they must have surveyed the structure of the building, found a staircase that led them up to the flat roof of the house ( very common phenomenon in the Middle East ) and carried their friend up those narrow steps. When they reached the top, it was not difficult to locate the airwell of the house, dug around the sides of the opening to expand it big enough for the whole bed to go through.

Now imagine the four friends slowly lowering the bed with the paralytic strapped tightly to it. It must have caught Jesus' eyes because we read that He stopped His teaching and started to address the paralytic and his four friends. Jesus commended the friends for their faith that motivated them to action and in the end the paralytic could walk again.
In life, each of us will go through different experiences. Although each one of us is created in the image of God, we are all different, unique. There will not be a second Andrew Lee floating around somewhere in this universe. Someone else may have similar traits like mine but we will never be the same. However, you might say that we do have identical needs - one of which is to feel lonely and in need of friendship. "No man is an island," it has been said. Indeed, if we were to go through life in isolation, we will slowly but surely starve ourselves emotionally and die miserably. We are not meant to live life alone. So, surround ourselves with friends, friends whom you have learnt to trust and who would be there for us when we need them the most.

The paralytic in Jesus' time was blessed with his four friends and they reacted out of concern and love for him. Had they not done what they did, the poor paralytic would have remained and probably would have died in his state of paralysis. But praise the Lord, they acted as they did and life took a very blessed turn. The man was healed and restored to good health - besides healing, Jesus also pronounced the forgiven of his sins. What a wonderful start!
Do you have friends whom you trust and who would care enough to come across for you when the need arises? Do not be troubled because Jesus is the best Friend that anyone can have. He is not only our Savior and Lord; He also wants to be our Friend so start building that friendship with Him. Jesus said in John 15: 14 - 15 that He no longer considered us as servants but as friends and we are commanded to love one another as He has loved us. Have you found your friend? Let me introduce to you the best Friend anyone can have and this Friend is always around you whenever you need Him. He is just a prayer away. That is right, I am referring to our Lord Jesus Christ. Why not tell Him your need for His friendship. Take time and pray this prayer and see Him coming into your life and giving more meaning to your life.
Our Father, our Heavenly Father, thank you that You love us so much that You gave us Your Son Jesus Christ who came, took upon Himself our sins and died in our place so that we can now have eternal fellowship with You. Because He died and bore our curses, we are no longer condemned and we now enjoy the benefits of being Your children.

Come into my life, Lord Jesus, and make my heart Your residence. Thank you Jesus that You are forever near us and will answer us when we call upon You in prayer. Thank you that I am now forever forgiven, greatly blessed, highly favored, deeply loved and completely protected.
Thank you and I pray all these things through the Name of our Lord, Savior and Friend Jesus Christ. Amen.

Welcome to the Lord's family. As children of the Heavenly Father, you will need to know the other members of the big family - the church. I urge you to find a few friends and start developing the friendship like the four friends in the story above. They were a great blessing to the paralytic and soon he was no longer paralyzed but was able to jump for joy, walk and run along with his friends.

The Lord blesses you and keeps you,
The Lord makes His face shine upon you and be gracious to you and all your loved ones,
The Lord lifts up His countenance upon you and gives you His shalom peace.
Numbers 6: 24 - 26

Have a blessed week ahead, shavrou-tov
Shalom,
Andrew L W Lee