Greater Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church

Guest (Male): You are now listening to an inspirational message from Greater Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church, where Dr. Michael W. Wesley Sr. is the pastor. Please join the service in progress.

Dr. Michael W. Wesley Sr.: That's an amazing thought that nobody but Jesus. There are some things that only God can do. That's where my head and heart is this morning, is to lay out one of those processes. We've had a moment of prayer. We're going to open together the word and invite you to join us as we explore a passage of scripture that I think has some level of familiarity to you. Keith, can you give me just a little bit more here? Thank you, sir.

Father, we thank you for loving us, blessing us, and bringing us through another week. We thank you for tempering our emotions. There have been moments when we have felt sorrow, and there have been moments when we have felt joy. We thank you for both. We thank you for the days when our spirits are lifted, and we thank you for those times when our face have been in our hands because through both, you've been right there.

Father, we just can't tell you how much we love you and how much we appreciate the privilege of being included in your name and in this great work. We pray as we come now to this moment of sharing that you would open the hearts of all of us that not only will we hear your word, but we would want to be doers of your word, that we would be carriers of the truth, the kind of people that you want us to be.

Forgive us of our sins and all of our shortcomings. Strengthen, comfort, and bless those who mourn. Bless us all in every way. Now, Lord, we pray that you would bless the words that are in our mouths and the meditation that's on our heart, that it may be acceptable in your sight. Oh, Lord, our strength and our redeemer. We ask it all now in the name of your son, Jesus. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.

I want to invite you to open with me today the Gospel as recorded by Saint Mark, Mark chapter two. The Gospel of Mark, chapter two, is where we want to look this morning in your hearing. I want to read the first twelve verses, and I think there's some level of familiarity in these verses.

And again, he entered into Capernaum after some days, and it was noised that he was in the house. And straightway, many were gathered together, insomuch that there was no room to receive them, no, not so much about the door. And he preached the word unto them. And they come unto him, bringing one sick of the palsy, which was borne of four.

And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof where he was. And when they had broken it up, they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay. When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, "Son, thy sins be forgiven thee." But there were certain of the scribes sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, "Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God only?"

And immediately, when Jesus perceived in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, he said unto them, "Why reason ye these things in your hearts? Whether it is easier to say to the sick of the palsy, 'Thy sins be forgiven thee,' or to say, 'Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk'? But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins," he said to the sick of the palsy, "I say unto thee, arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house."

And immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went forth before them all, insomuch that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, "We never saw it on this fashion." This is the word of God for the people of God. I want to preach this morning from the subject, "Man's Greatest Need."

I've been mulling through the scriptures, in particular the Gospels. Last week, we preached from Matthew, and the week before, the Gospel of Luke. So, I've been looking in the Gospels, looking at the sayings of Jesus. As I look at the sayings of Jesus, I am gripped by the accuracy and the pinpoint insight that he has about what we need. Jesus never said, "I came to give you what you want," but "I came to give you what you need."

Now, I guess for the vast majority of people, they don't even know what that is. What is it that we need? If we sent a group out today on the streets of Birmingham and we did like these reporters, little surveys of people, and we asked people, "What is the Christian message?" or "What is Christianity all about?" I think we would be shocked if we found one person that really knew the right answer.

People would come up with some stuff. Some people think that Christianity is just a way of being moral and maybe even a form of political ideology. Some other people think that Christianity is just to give purpose to your life. If I become a Christian, now I've got purpose. If you don't know what that purpose is, you still don't know. There are some people who would think that being a Christian gives them a goal and a set of objectives that they can now accomplish.

Still, there are others who would think that if I became a Christian, it meant that I'll have love in my heart, and that would help me to counter all the evil that's in this world. Still, there are others who would think that if I became a Christian, it would mean that I'll have peace on earth. The answers can go on and on and on. There are some people who would think that if I became a Christian, then my social responsibility would be to love as a member of the family of God.

We can continue to add to that, but I think that there is one answer that supersedes all of that. I think I know that my number one need and your number one need is to be forgiven. I know you're sitting up here and you're looking dignified and cutified and holified, and you know that hell is on the inside. You know it doesn't take but the right moment, the right circumstance, and you'll find yourself saying, "Lord, help."

Is there anybody here who would just tell the truth? I'm talking about the greatest need. Yes, you have done a lot of good. You can do a lot of good. You may even do some wonderful things. But that still doesn't trump the need to be forgiven. Jesus put it like this: "What will it profit a man if he would gain the whole world and in the end lose his soul?" How does one lose their soul? Someone would say to have sin. No, to have unforgiven sin.

Do you understand? It's unforgiven sin that sends a person to hell. It's not sin because all have sinned and come short. But the question is, have your sins been forgiven? Because that is man's greatest need. But at the same time, it's also God's greatest gift. And I'm so thankful. I am so thankful because I found out that no matter how I try, no matter what I do, I can't seem to do it by myself.

I can't help myself. I can't forgive myself. I can't pick myself up. I can't make myself do it. But I thank God for Jesus. That's why we come to church, y'all. I don't know what you come for, but I come to thank him and praise him for what he alone can do. Here we have an account that I know that you know of early in the ministry of Jesus. Here was Jesus back at home again in his hometown of Capernaum.

That's what lets me know this is the early ministry of Jesus because in the early ministry of Jesus, he ministered in the northern part of Galilee, and he had adopted Capernaum as his home base. Now, he was born in Bethlehem, but when he grew up, he grew up in Nazareth. But he could not do any mighty works in Nazareth because the people all thought they knew him.

When he went in Nazareth and he stood up in the synagogue and he opened the book and he said, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord, to set at liberty them that are bruised." And he said, "This day is this scripture fulfilled in your hearing." And they picked up stones to kill him. They said, "Who you think you are? We know who you are. We know your mama and them."

So he had to leave Nazareth and continue on up the coast a little further. He went to Capernaum, and there he adopted Capernaum as his hometown. Now, you've got to understand with me that the ministry of Jesus was an outstanding public phenomenon. No one had been able to do what Jesus did. The Gospel of Mark opens up, and it's one of the shortest Gospels. Mark doesn't give us a whole lot of information, but he comes right to the ministry of Jesus.

He helps us to see that one day Jesus was at church in the synagogue, and there was a man there who had a demon in him. And Jesus cast the devil out of that man. He rebuked him. He wouldn't even let him give testimony. The devil start talking, "We know who you are, Jesus." And Jesus said, "Shut up. I ain't going to let you speak. I'm not going to get testimony from you." Y'all need to hear me this morning. God does not receive testimony from devils.

I was laughing with somebody the other day because I hear people sometimes say, "Oh Lord," and all those things. I just said to the lady, "Listen, call on somebody you know." We just use phrases as just words, and they have no real meaning or connection to who we are. So don't take the Lord's name in vain. The ministry of Jesus was phenomenal in his outbreak. People had never seen nothing like that.

Another day, he was going, and he met a man who had leprosy. Leprosy was a death sentence. When a person had leprosy, they had to leave home, they were put out of the city, they were put into a leper's camp, and they could do nothing but just wait on their extremities to draw up, their fingers would draw up and eventually rot off, their toes and feet would eventually draw up and rot off. It was a slow, miserable death.

There was no known cure. Jesus saw this man, and Jesus told the man, "Go your way and show yourself to the priest." Why he tell him that? Because the priest was the one who diagnosed him with the case of leprosy. So the priest would have to be the one to admit the man back into society. So Jesus told him, "Go show yourself to the priest and don't tell nobody where this healing came from."

But Lord, you know that man went everywhere. He could not keep that to himself. "I had leprosy and Jesus healed me." Listen, what's wrong with us? We got and have had all kinds of stuff in our life. We've had high blood, no blood, and the Lord has healed us, and we still don't want to tell nobody. We've had trouble of every kind. Our children have acted a fool. Our husbands, our wives have gone. Our bank accounts have been crazy, and the Lord has picked us up, and we still won't say nothing.

We come to church and we look at folk, and somebody else say, "Amen," and we turn and look at them like, "What's wrong with you?" Man, he healed me. He blessed me. He picked me up. He turned me around. He has brushed me off. God has blessed me exceedingly, abundantly, above anything that I have been able to ask for or even think about. Anybody here been blessed? Then tell the Lord, "Thank you." Give him a praise in the house.

Man went everywhere, telling everybody about what the Lord had done. So much so that Jesus could no longer show up in regular cities. He had to go into distant and abandoned places of isolation because of the publicizing of the miracle of the man who had been healed with leprosy. And so now Mark tells us that he came back home, he came to Capernaum. As soon as he hit town, word got out that Jesus was in town.

And you know what happened. The folk showed up. They said, "We know where you live. We know you live over there with Peter and them." Because that's where Jesus lived. He lived with Peter and Peter's wife and their family. That was his adopted home. So he went to Peter's house, and people heard that he was there. It's amazing. They wouldn't let him rest. And immediately they start bringing folk, and people start coming to the house.

Before you know it, the little house was packed. I mean, folk were everywhere. The Bible said there wasn't even no room. They had blocked the door. But there was another person in that town that had heard that Jesus was in town, too. And they come bringing him, four friends bringing this man to Jesus. Can I help you? We all need important relationships in our life. We all need teachers who can instruct us.

We all need mentors who can provide guidance for us. We all need families that we can be a part of and experience mutual love. But we also need friends, and sometimes we need friends who will carry us to Jesus when we can't go ourselves. Oh man, that's a friend. Most friends would carry, "Oh, we're going to go out. I'm going to take you over here to the club." They'll take you to the devil's places. They'll take you somewhere where you can get messed up.

They'll take you somewhere where they can give you a hookup. But it takes a friend to want to take you to Jesus. Everybody won't take you to Jesus. Everybody won't take you to church. But these boys knew Jesus was there. And they said, "Man, you messed up. We need to take you to him because he can help you." And these boys came bearing this paraplegic man. I'm talking about messed up in all four areas: both arms, both legs.

Couldn't wave his hand if he wanted to, couldn't wiggle his toe, couldn't walk, couldn't do nothing. So they brought him on a pallet. They got to the door, they couldn't get in. Wasn't no backdoor. So these little flat houses in Palestine at that time had an outside staircase that led up to the roof. The roof served as a patio. People would go up in the afternoon and take a siesta, get a little breeze.

Wasn't many places to find any shade. So they went up on the roof, and they calculatingly figured out just exactly where Jesus was. And these boys began to dig into the roof, the nerve of them. You know that couldn't happen here. You know that wouldn't have happened in the hood. You talk about fire power. Some of the boys I know would be out there, "If you don't get off of my roof, you're going to tear up my house. What's wrong with you?"

But these boys felt the desperation to get their friend to Jesus. And they found exactly where Jesus was, and they dug a hole in the roof, and they let that boy down right in front of Jesus. Now, that's a friend. Now, I think all of us know that. I think we've all heard that story. I think we all are familiar with that account. But what you don't and may not have been as sensitive to is the teaching of Jesus that follows that event.

Because what was there was the picture of his entire ministry. There was always a crowd, all three years of Jesus' ministry, there was always a crowd. There was always somebody who had a need. And there was always some haters. Can I talk about the crowd first? Because crowds don't necessarily denote ministry success. So don't get lost sometimes, and I think church people get lost when you come into the building, and if every seat ain't packed, "Lord, something must be wrong."

No, it ain't something wrong, it's somebody wrong. Somebody don't know why they need to be there. Not that God has a problem. God's going to be God. That's why Jesus said where two or three are gathered together in my name, touching and agreeing, "I will be in the midst." I'll show up. I don't need a crowd to have church. Because a crowd does not necessarily mean that there is ministry success.

What a crowd indicates is that there is miracle success. Because people come where they wanted to see a miracle. It wasn't that they wanted Jesus. It wasn't that they were interested in his teaching. They just wanted a miracle. Come on, John's Gospel. Jesus broke it down, man. Open the bakery, fish market on the side of the mount, fed five thousand men, not counting the women and the children. More than fifteen thousand people he fed.

And the next day, them folk were right back, crowd. And Jesus said, "You came not because you want me, but you came because you had them fish sandwiches yesterday." And they wanted what? Some more free fish. So don't misunderstand crowds. Crowds just show up. But in that crowd were these five friends. And they brought this boy to Jesus. And he was messed up. And they dropped him down, tore up the roof, dropped him down.

And when they dropped him down, Jesus went to work. Jesus, the Bible said, saw their faith. Now, don't miss that. He saw their faith. How you see faith? Faith is invisible. Nobody has faith written on their face. Nobody has a sign in here that says, "I'm faithful," or "I'm a good person." But God reads the heart. God reads the intent. God not only read the friends' intent, but he also read the paraplegic's intent.

He knew that this was more than somebody who just wanted a free meal. He knew that this man probably had cried, he had suffered, he had gone through. I mean, what else was he to do? He couldn't throw up his hands. He couldn't say, "Father, I stretch my hand to thee." He couldn't even lift them. He was just in a wretched, miserable condition. But in his heart, he knew that if somebody could just help me get to Jesus.

What did the woman say who had an issue of blood for twelve years? Listen at her desperation. She said, "I don't have to touch him, but if I could just touch the hem of his garment, I know that I will be made well." Listen, anybody ever just felt within yourself, whether anybody knew it or not, "If I could just get there. If I could just be in the presence." Man, sometimes you don't know that until you get sick.

You don't know that until you're isolated. You don't know that for real until you can't come. You don't know that until you can't help yourself. You don't know that until you're put in a situation where you're locked up or locked out or put down in some kind of way. You don't know how desperate you can get just to be in the presence of God, just to hear the song sung, just to hear somebody pray, just to feel the vibes of being in a holy environment.

And maybe it was the man, maybe it was the quadriplegic, who said to his friends, "Next time Jesus come to town, I need y'all to get me there. And I don't care what you got to go through, I need you to get me to Jesus." So these boys were on a mission, and it was a mission of mercy. Get their friend to Jesus. And Jesus, Bible says, saw their faith. He saw the vehemence, he saw the desperation, he saw the consistency, he saw the fact that they would not be denied.

Man, how many folk drive up to the church and if they don't find a parking place right out front, "I ain't going in there. Keep going." Not even find a seat on the inside, but if I can't find a close parking place, that's enough to turn me off, so I'm gone. I ain't got to worry about Jesus today. I'll check him out next week. And Lord knows that if we come into a place and it look like there's no immediate seat, "Nah, not me. Too many folk in there. I'll try another time."

And you just never know when that might be your last time. But these men would not be outdone, and because they would not be outdone and they would not give up because there looked like there were obstacles. How many times have we given up because something seemed to be blocking our way? But they pushed, man. They went up top. And they, "Look, if we have to, if you have to send us a bill, if we have to come back later and put this roof together, whatever we have to do, that's secondary to our primary mission."

Primary mission is to get this boy to Jesus. And they were successful. And Jesus saw their faith. I'm glad he can see my faith. And he can see it when it's much, and he can see it when it's weak. And he can see your faith, too. And he said to the young man and to the man who had been laid down, he says, "Son," look at him, already endearing to the boy, already making him family.

"Son," you don't call everybody son, not somebody you just met. But he meant that he was already included in his family because Jesus saw his faith and knew the connection was already there. And he said, "Son, thy sins are forgiven you." Now, because he knew what his need was. He knew that the greatest need that this man had was not new arms and legs, even though that would have been nice, but his greatest need was for forgiveness.

And I'm telling you, it doesn't matter how much money you have, it doesn't matter how healthy or unhealthy you are, Jesus even understood that maybe the man's condition had been caused by some sin that he had been engaged in. You're going to get me now. You're going to make me come at you because you want to be quiet. I have to stir you up. Say, you got to know that in those days, they didn't have the clinics.

And many problems, many diseases and many illnesses were caused because of the sins. Blindness was caused by syphilis, other sexually transmitted diseases. Even people who had birth defects and impartial formation of body parts were all contributable to what had happened in the realm of sin. Now, although the Bible is not interested in narrating this man's life, nor and I thank God, and you better thank him, too, that he's not always interested in putting your stuff on the billboard and saying exactly what it was that caused his problem.

But Jesus knew what it was. Aren't you glad about it? Touch somebody and say, "I'm so glad." So Jesus looked right through the circumstances and went right to the need. "Son, your sins are forgiven you." Your greatest need is being addressed by the only one in this whole assembly that have any idea of what you've been through. And then the Pharisees see that miracle. See, the miracle was already taking place because the miracle was the forgiveness.

And forgiveness is invisible, and nobody could see what had transpired on the inside of the man's heart. Nobody could see the dynamic that had taken place between the man and Jesus. But Jesus knew. Now, one of the things that's very hard is to read somebody else's mind. But if he could read their faith and if he could read the circumstance through which this man had come through, he could read the haters' mind, too.

And the miracle of forgiveness triggered the thoughts in the haters. And I don't care what you say, I don't care how Holy Ghost filled, fire baptized the assembly may be, it's going to always be some haters. And the haters didn't say nothing, not out loud. They never do. But they said it in their hearts, "Why does this man talk like that?" In other words, "Who does he think he is? He's speaking blasphemies. Only God can forgive sins, and he's telling this boy, 'Your sins are forgiven you.'"

Now, let me take a brief pause because I need to help you. I'm still where I was several weeks ago. I'm still in this church. I'm still inundated with recent occurrences. And I don't have to say it, but a whole lot of folk have a misunderstanding. The Bible teaches that there's only one sin that's unforgivable, and that's the sin of blasphemy. Everything else can be forgiven. Blasphemy is what Jim Jones did. Blasphemy is what Donald Trump does.

Blasphemy is when individual makes themselves equal to God, and they are not. And so these men were sitting there in their conversations with within themselves. These were Pharisees. That's what Luke's Gospel said, Matthew's Gospel said it, too, said they were Pharisees, and they had come from every village. And John said they had come as far as from Jerusalem. Who are the Pharisees?

Not only were they the haters, but they were the architects of the social system of work salvation during this period of time. And these men were so hung up on their own self-righteousness that they didn't think it was possible that someone else could be forgiven of their sins that they didn't approve of. Oh, y'all hearing me? And so they're sitting there in their hearts talking about, "Who is this guy? What's wrong with him?" They were there because they were trying to hang him up.

They were there looking for some fault in him. They were not there because they wanted to be healed. They were not there because they wanted to hear the word. They were not there because they wanted a life change. They were there only to see what he would say that they could find a reason to accuse him. And so here was their moment, and the hatred comes out. "What's wrong with him? Who he think he is? Only God can forgive sins."

Boy, what a moment for Jesus. So Jesus speaks up and he says, "So what's easier to say? 'Son, thy sins are forgiven you' or 'Take up your bed, your pallet, and walk'?" Now, of course you and I know it would have been easier to say your sins are forgiven you. Why would that been easier? Because no one would be able to see that, because the forgiveness of one's sin is an invisible transaction that takes place in the heart because God does it, and it takes place in the realm of heaven because God then erases that from the book.

Man, listen, I don't know how it makes you feel, but I am so glad that God forgives sin. And you don't have to see it when God chooses to look beyond my faults and see my need, and when God chooses to forgive me and to say, "You're free." It does not matter what you think. You don't have to see it. God sees it. It's already done in the realm of heaven. And I thank God for forgiveness.

But Jesus said, but Jesus said, because you're sitting here and to demonstrate that I am who you don't think I am, that I am God, then I want you to know that I am God. And so I'm going to say to the paraplegic, "Son, get up from there and take your bed with you." And look, I want you all to see. Not two days later, not three days later, not several hours later, not the next day, but immediately.

The one who could not walk, who could not wave, who could not move, who had to be brought in and dropped down through the roof, got up, picked up his bed and sped down the aisle of the house. And I'm sure, and I'm sure that as he was taking off down through the crowd, he was looking at folk and saying, "What you think about that? What you say about that? Who you think did that?"

Listen, I don't know what it makes you feel or how it makes you feel, but I am glad that God does forgive sin. Now, whether he want me to pick up my bed and walk, whether he want me to change my tune, whether he want me to live a different way, that's a physical manifestation. But it all takes place first in the heart. Somebody ought to be glad this morning. And man's greatest need is forgiveness.

See, you got stuff going on in your mind. You got stuff that's been going on in your life that nobody knows but you and God. And God gets into that individual space, and there he scrubs you, and he cleans you, and he wipes the slate clean, and he says, "You're free to go." You're free. You're free. You're free. Can I tell somebody you're free? You don't have to go back out the way you came in. Listen, he came in through the roof, but he went out through the door.

You don't have to go out the way you came in. You may have been drug in here. Somebody else may have had to carry you. But now you're free, and you can walk out of here with your head high. Lift up your head, oh ye gates, and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in. Who is the King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty. He is the King of glory. Praise him today. Thank you, Jesus.

What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is that flow that makes me white as snow. No other fount I know. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. And whom the son set free is free indeed. And he proved it that day. Not only was he able to heal, but he's able to forgive. And I'm thankful that he's able to look beyond my faults, see my needs.

So I just want to encourage you today, hold on. Hold out. Hold out, somebody. Sun's going to shine, but you got to hold out. You know, weeping may endure for a night. Can't tell you how long that man had cried. But joy will come in the morning. Can't tell you how many nights that man thought that "I'll never be able to walk, never be able to move." But Jesus changed it all around in just a moment. So you just got to hold out.

Today just may be that day. This may be the beginning of that new season. Just hold on. Sun's going to shine. Anybody believe the sun's going to shine? Anybody been in a dark space? Anybody been going through it? But it's not over because Jesus is not done yet. Sun's going to shine. Just hold out. Doors are going to bless somebody this morning. Somebody might want to come today. Anytime during the song, this can be your moment. Just like that man.

(Chorus: So many nights I cried...)

(Chorus: For better days I prayed for...)

(Chorus: But through it all I know the sun is going to shine if I hold out...)

That's what you've got to be willing to tell your haters. The sun is going to shine if I hold out. Sometimes I may feel alone, no one around to call on. But let's tell them, I must endure for I know that the sun is going to shine if I hold out. Come on, let's tell them what you know that the sun is going to shine if I hold out. Come on, let's tell them one more time. Weeping may endure for a night, but let them know trouble don't last always.

Joy comes in the morning. Now all you got to do is wait till the morning. Just wait till the morning. It is right here. I won't let go of my faith. Y'all just get me there. That's what he was saying. Here's why the sun is going to shine if I hold out. Come on, tell them again. The sun is going to shine if I hold out. Come on, let's tell them one more time. Weeping may endure for a night. But let them know trouble don't last always. Joy comes in the morning.

Just wait till the morning. Just wait till the morning. I won't let go of my faith. You know I ain't got no arms. The sun is going to shine. No matter how much rain, the sun is going to shine. No matter how dark it may seem, the sun is going to shine. The sun is going to shine. Oh, the sun is going to shine. Weeping may endure for a night. The sun is going to shine. Oh, the sun is going to shine. Yes it is. Yes it is.

The sun is going to shine. No matter what I'm going through, the sun is going to shine. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. The sun is going to shine if I hold out. The sun is going to shine if I hold out. Oh, yes. I want somebody in here to know that the sun is going to shine in your life. You're going to have to hold out. And I want you to go out of here different than how you came. Somebody may have brought me here, but I'm going out marching because I'm going out forgiven. Stand with me, please. Our service is done. God be with you until we meet again.

Guest (Male): Hope you enjoyed the broadcast. You have been listening to a message from the Greater Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church, where we are reaching the world for Christ. Located at 2135 Jefferson Avenue Southwest, Birmingham, Alabama, 35211. For a copy of this message, you can reach us at 205-925-9750 or 9751, or visit us on the web at www.greatershiloh.org. For another uplifting message, we invite you to join us for our next broadcast.