Text: Mark 1: 29-39<\/p>\n
Have you noticed?\u00a0 Everything is a miracle.\u00a0 At least that’s what people say.\u00a0 Maybe we find ourselves saying it. It’s a miracle. Something unexpected happens.\u00a0 We get through a thorny problem. Things turn out surprisingly well.\u00a0 We’re bound to hear somebody say:\u00a0 It’s a miracle.<\/em>\u00a0 And there are times when that is the case.\u00a0 Ask a doctor about some cures they have witnessed.\u00a0 Ask a person rescued from certain death.\u00a0 I won’t argue against a miracle.\u00a0 But sometimes people set the bar much too low. Everything is a miracle.<\/p>\n But here we meet Jesus where there can be no debate.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a Miracle!<\/strong> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It was the Sabbath in the town of Capernaum, what we might call the base camp of Jesus’ ministry.\u00a0 That morning, he had worshipped in the synagogue.\u00a0 There he preached with an authority not seen in their religious leaders.\u00a0 He preached a message they described as a new teaching, because that message, God’s message of grace and mercy was sadly lacking in their teachers. But in church with Jesus, there was more to that epiphany.\u00a0 A poor soul set free from an evil spirit by just Jesus’ words.<\/p>\n 29 <\/sup>As soon as they left the synagogue, they went with James and John to the home of Simon and Andrew.<\/span> 30 <\/sup>Simon\u2019s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told Jesus about her<\/span>. Simon of course, is Simon Peter. His mother-in law was sick with a fever, which by the way tells us that Peter was married. Luke tells us it was a high fever.\u00a0 And realize, this was before the days of antibiotics.\u00a0 She had some kind of infection that could have taken her life.<\/p>\n So Jesus went to her.\u00a0 Luke tells us he rebuked the fever<\/span>.\u00a0 Then Jesus took her by the hand and the fever was gone. And notice how quickly she recovered. We know how we feel when we’ve been that sick. But she suddenly has the strength to go and make them something to eat. It would have been nice to sit at that table.\u00a0 It’s a miracle. Jesus’ power over sickness.<\/strong><\/p>\n Even without cell phones, word spread. But nothing happened till evening. For then the Sabbath was over when people could do the work of carrying the sick to Peter and Andrew’s door.<\/p>\n What a sight!\u00a0 They looked out and it appeared as if the whole town had come.\u00a0 Picture it.\u00a0 People sick with all kinds of things.\u00a0 Yet looking to that house, hoping for a touch, a word that would make them whole again. And they weren’t disappointed.\u00a0 Jesus healed many.\u00a0 And they would have been right to exclaim, It’s a miracle.\u00a0 Jesus power over sickness<\/strong>.<\/p>\n What about our sickness though?\u00a0 I remember a blind lady in a congregation I served.\u00a0 When the gospel spoke of Jesus healing the blind, I wondered if she wondered: why doesn’t Jesus heal my blindness.<\/em><\/p>\n There are times when we could use a miracle from our Lord. \u00a0Well first let me ask. Do we pray for them?\u00a0 Or do we think it’s too hard or too unreasonable to ask. We should not be afraid to ask our Lord Jesus for big things, even for miracles.<\/p>\n Yet God often answers that prayer in a different way, in a less immediate way, but no less wonderful.\u00a0 Do you think that the medicine or the efforts of your doctor or surgeon would succeed in healing you if not for Jesus’ power and blessing?\u00a0 We can easily overlook that. That those doctors and nurses are really masks behind which stand our Lord Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n Yet sometimes we don’t get better in spite of our prayers.\u00a0 The surgery does not go well. The disease, the pain, becomes chronic, a constant cross to bear.\u00a0 Or even terminal.<\/p>\n Jesus has power over that sickness too. To give you strength in your weakness.\u00a0 Maybe not physical but a strength to persevere. Jesus has power to give you wisdom, the wisdom to accept that God has different plan for you. The wisdom to understand Jesus’ power over sickness and that is this.\u00a0 No matter what afflicts you, cancer heart disease, in Jesus Christ you will be a survivor.<\/p>\n I think of a fellow pastor just 58 years old. This past week he was swimming with his children, suffered a heart attack and died.\u00a0 But he survived, in fact he more than survived through the one who says to us, I am the resurrection and the life, he who believes in me will live, even though he dies.<\/span>\u00a0 Yes, It’s a miracle. Jesus’ power over sickness<\/strong>. So his family will come together to mourn his loss but also to celebrate that miracle of life in the face of death.<\/p>\n But it wasn’t just the sick who were brought to Peter and Andrew’s door.\u00a0 Some of them suffered what I pray none of us ever does. They were afflicted by Satan’s minions, demons. Yet here again we can say:\u00a0 It’s a miracle.\u00a0 Jesus’ power over Satan.<\/strong><\/p>\n Some claim that the people in Jesus’ day were backward.\u00a0 They did not understand things like epilepsy, seizures or mental illness.\u00a0 So they attributed such things to demons.\u00a0 But there are times when science and medicine can provide no answers, no explanation.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Years ago in Milwaukee, there was a rumor that some of our pastors were working with a person who exhibited the signs of demon possession.\u00a0 Everything else had been ruled out by professionals.<\/p>\n Demons and demon possession are real. And I’m not just talking about people who are steeped in evil, like what we saw last week with that captured pilot. There are times when people are physically possessed, under the control of a demon that hates us and wants to destroy us. It’s frightening to consider.<\/p>\n But look here. It’s a miracle. Jesus’ power over Satan.<\/strong>\u00a0 The demons which possessed these poor people were powerless against God’s Son.\u00a0 Jesus cast them out and those people were set free.<\/p>\n And did you notice that Jesus would not let the demons speak of him.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Remember David Duke, a member of the Khu Klux Klan.\u00a0 Over the years, he’s wanted to endorse certain people for public office.\u00a0 Any candidate with the slightest smarts wanted none of that them from David Duke, a known racist.\u00a0 So too here.\u00a0 The demons knew that Jesus is the Son of God.\u00a0 But Jesus wanted the people to hear nothing of that kind from a servant of Satan.\u00a0 So think about it. Demons cast out of so many, even silenced. It’s a miracle. Jesus power over Satan.<\/strong><\/p>\n A few years after I heard that rumor about an exorcism, I got talking to a woman visiting one of our churches.\u00a0 What an amazing meeting!\u00a0 In the course of our conversation I realized, this was the person those pastors had ministered to. She too had been set free by Jesus’ power from something too terrible to consider.\u00a0 Yes frightening. And yet what does our God promise us who cling to Christ. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, …nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus, our Lord.<\/span>\u00a0 (Rom 8:38,39)<\/p>\n But back to the miracles.\u00a0 Without a doubt Jesus’ miracles testified to our Lord’s compassion.\u00a0 His heart went out to people in their distress as it goes out to you.\u00a0 But Jesus’ miracles were more than acts of supernatural kindness.\u00a0 They were signs, signs that pointed people to Jesus, that pointed them to his message.\u00a0 And here you and I can say, It’s a miracle.\u00a0 Jesus’ message of forgiveness and life.<\/strong><\/p>\n 35 <\/sup>Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed<\/span>. He got up early enough to be alone, away from the crowd that would come to his door again.\u00a0 Jesus had not told his four disciples where he was going.\u00a0 They went looking and when they found him, our Bible says it well, they exclaimed, everyone is looking for you!<\/span><\/p>\n But to their surprise, Jesus told them, he was ready to move on.\u00a0 To go to another town, and then another. And he tells them why. So I can preach there too.\u00a0 For this is why I came<\/span>.\u00a0 This was why came.\u00a0 To share a message the Jewish people had not heard from their religious teachers.\u00a0 The forgiveness of sins and life with God.\u00a0 And the miracles pointed to him as the one who could do more than speak of God’s forgiveness.\u00a0 He would make forgiveness and eternal life possible for us dying sinners.<\/p>\n And think of what a miracle that message is.\u00a0 It’s so undeserved.<\/strong>\u00a0 The psalmist says:\u00a0 if you O Lord kept a record of sin, who could stand<\/span>.\u00a0 None of us could.\u00a0 There is no one righteous, not even one.<\/span> \u00a0\u00a0Yet we hear Jesus say, your sins are forgiven.\u00a0 And one day we will hear him say, Come, you who are blessed.<\/span>\u00a0 What a miracle that message is. If we are honest with ourselves, we can’t help but see, it’s so undeserved<\/strong>.<\/p>\n And it’s so costly<\/strong>.\u00a0 That message cost Jesus an awful price.\u00a0 On him was put all our guilt, all our shame, the punishment we deserved.\u00a0 That message of forgiveness to you cost our God dearly.\u00a0 He did not spare his own Son but gave him for us all<\/span>. So when you heart your sins are forgiven.\u00a0 When we sing, Heaven is my home, never forget the cost.\u00a0 It’s a miracle.<\/strong><\/p>\n And here is the amazing thing.\u00a0 It’s so free<\/strong>.\u00a0 God puts into your empty hands the gift of forgiveness and life in his Son.\u00a0 We can’t earn it.\u00a0 We sure can’t deserve it.\u00a0 It’s free. And it’s a miracle.\u00a0 It’s a miracle that comes to our ears and our hearts in gospel of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 Let that sink in, friend, and praise God.\u00a0 Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Text: Mark 1: 29-39 Have you noticed?\u00a0 Everything is a miracle.\u00a0 At least that’s what people say.\u00a0 Maybe we find ourselves saying it. It’s a miracle. Something unexpected happens.\u00a0 We get through a thorny problem. Things turn out surprisingly well.\u00a0 We’re bound to hear somebody say:\u00a0 It’s a miracle.\u00a0 And there are times when that is the case.\u00a0 Ask a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-587","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermon"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=587"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":588,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587\/revisions\/588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nI.\u00a0 Jesus’ power over sickness
\nII.\u00a0 Jesus’ power over Satan
\nIII. Jesus’ message of forgiveness and life.<\/p>\n