{"id":32,"date":"2018-11-06T16:11:39","date_gmt":"2018-11-07T00:11:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/migrate.bettersermons.org\/?p=32"},"modified":"2020-06-01T11:41:33","modified_gmt":"2020-06-01T18:41:33","slug":"i-dont-think-jesus-can-help-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/i-dont-think-jesus-can-help-me\/","title":{"rendered":"“I Don’t Think Jesus Can Help Me”"},"content":{"rendered":"
“I Don’t Think Jesus Can Help Me”<\/span><\/div>\n

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\nBy David B. Smith<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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Photo: David B. Smith<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n

In\u00a0Expect a Miracle, But Trust in Jesus<\/em>, Adrian Rogers puts a nice spin on the story in Mark 2 where four strong men chop a hole in the roof to get their sick friend in to see Jesus.\u00a0Partway into the trip to Peter\u2019s house, though, the paralytic man moans in despair, \u201cLet\u2019s forget this.\u00a0Turn around.\u00a0It\u2019ll never work.\u00a0No way can Jesus heal me.\u201d<\/p>\n

The guy carrying the first corner says to him, \u201cOf course He can!\u00a0Look at me.\u00a0The grace and power of Jesus is amazing, because I once was blind, but now I see. Jesus is a great healer.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI know,\u201d the sick man says, \u201cbut that was just your eyes.\u00a0My whole body is out of whack.\u201d\u00a0Well, the four guys override his vote and they go a bit further, but then he hits the brakes again.\u00a0\u201cWe\u2019re wasting our time,\u201d he sighs.\u00a0\u201cGo home.\u00a0Just let me die. This is a fool\u2019s errand.\u201d<\/p>\n

The second man tries to perk him up. \u201cCome on,\u201d he says.\u00a0\u201cI used to have a withered arm. It was useless, man. And now look at it. I can carry you clear through Capernaum, uphill, both ways, and not break a sweat. Jesus did that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s true,\u201d grumps the paralytic, \u201cbut that was just one arm.\u00a0I\u2019ve got two bad arms, two bad legs, two bad eyes, two bad everythings. My entire body is fritzed out. Why go on? There\u2019s no hope.\u201d<\/p>\n

But they go another half a kilometer before the sighing and crying starts up again.\u00a0\u201cTurn around. Hang it up.\u00a0Do a U-turn.\u00a0Jesus can\u2019t help me. I\u2019m hopeless; I\u2019m pathetic.\u201d\u00a0And now the third man takes a crack at it:\u00a0\u201cDon\u2019t talk that way,\u201d he scolds.\u00a0\u201cI was stone deaf.\u00a0I couldn\u2019t hear a 747 taking off.\u00a0But Jesus touched my ears and now I have 20-20 hearing.\u201d<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s still no good. \u201cNo, no,\u201d the sad little man says.\u00a0\u201cI don\u2019t think Jesus did heal your ears, \u2018cause you\u2019re not hearing me.\u00a0You just had two bad ears.\u00a0I\u2019m wiped out from head to toe. I\u2019m just one big collective sore. Even my hair hurts.\u00a0There\u2019s no way Jesus can make me well.\u201d<\/p>\n

And finally, the fourth man, who\u2019s been listening to this dribble for just about long enough, drops the bed down in the dust of Capernaum and shouts at his friend: \u201cHEY! Guess what, bud? My name is Lazarus, and I used to be DEAD! I was a corpse wrapped up in a sheet. Trust me, Jesus can make you well! No problem! Now hush up and let\u2019s get going!\u201d And we say: \u201cEnd of discussion.\u201d<\/p>\n

We need to keep this powerful Bible truth in mind at all times. Do you think that Jesus can\u2019t take care of your problems, that He simply cannot help you cope with the pressures at work, or the problems that you face in your marriage, or the parenting difficulties? Don\u2019t lose sight of the fact that a man who had been in the grave for four days, who was decomposing, who had registered zero on the EKG machine for 96 hours, just came walking out of his own grave and said, \u201cHey, everybody, how\u2019re you doing?\u201d to the astonished crowd.\u00a0That\u2019s what Jesus could do 2000 years ago, and that\u2019s what He can do for you right now.<\/p>\n

If you have a problem today, and you give it to Jesus, He can answer that prayer and fix that problem in any way that He wants to. In any way that He knows is good. I John 5:14:\u00a0This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.
\n______________________________<\/em><\/p>\n

David B. Smith wrote this while pastoring the Upper Room Fellowship in Temple City, CA.\u00a0<\/span>Better Sermons \u00a9 2005-2008. Click here for\u00a0<\/span>usage guidelines<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“I Don’t Think Jesus Can Help Me” By David B. Smith Photo: David B. Smith   In\u00a0Expect a Miracle, But Trust in Jesus, Adrian Rogers puts a nice spin on …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34,"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32\/revisions\/34"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}