Sunday Worship at 11AM | 4967 Fincher Rd., Canton, GA 30114

For the past few months we’ve been in a series called: The Gospel. Throughout this series we’ve been studying the Gospel of Luke, taking a look at each moment with a verse-by-verse, chapter-by-chapter review. If you would like to catch up in this series, you can visit our video repository on Facebook now.

Each week as I’ve studied and prepared for the message, I continue to be overwhelmed by the grace, compassion, authority, and power of Jesus. In fact, I’ve found it difficult to put into words the incredible beauty of our Lord and Savior as I see it revealed in the Scriptures.

Over the past few weeks we’ve been looking at the truth that Jesus has power over the demonic, over sickness and disease, power of nature and the created order, and this week we will look at the truth that Jesus even has the power to forgive sins! Not only does Jesus have all power and all authority, He has compassion and grace for sinners.

Throughout chapter four and five of the Gospel of Luke, we see Jesus interacting with those the world has rejected. He not only sits and eats with sinners, He invites sinful men to enter into His redemptive work for mankind. When we see Jesus eating with sinners, we see the God of creation inviting those He created in to get to know Him. Why? Because once you know Jesus for who He truly is, everything about you will change.

For some of you, you can relate to the outcasts and rejects that Jesus ministered to quite easily. Although you don’t have the disease known as leprosy, your sin has infected every part of your life. Though you try to hide it or ignore it, your sin is slowly corrupting more and more of you. Your shame and guilt seem like they will overwhelm you and destroy you. You wonder… is there any hope left for you? Just like the leper in this week’s focal Scripture, you need to know: Jesus not only has the power to heal you, He has compassion to reach out and touch your life.

For others, your sin hasn’t just corrupted your life in deep dark places no one can see; your sin has ravaged your body and life with painful reminders you deal with every day. Your life is more like the paralytic that Jesus heals in this week’s focal Scripture. Your sin has distorted, twisted, and left you paralyzed in a mess of shame, lies, and guilt that is eating you alive. Jesus has the power to heal you too.

Whether you are more like the leper or the paralytic, you should know that the first step is to come to Jesus. Both of these men (the paralytic with a little help from his friends) came to Jesus. They humbled themselves and realized that apart from Jesus they didn’t have any hope. They came and threw themselves before the God of impossible and asked Him to do something that they (and no one else) could do for them. In both cases, we see that Jesus heals both these men.

With every fiber of my being, I wish I could help you understand: when we come to Jesus in faith, our lives are radically changed. When Jesus speaks, everything changes. When the Lord reaches out to touch our lives, our lives forever bear the mark of His amazing grace. No matter how deep and dark your sin, no matter how trapped and hopeless you feel, no matter how sick you are, no matter how much you are hurting, Jesus Christ still makes all things new. So… are you coming to Jesus?

Please consider this your personal invite to join us this Sunday at 11AM. I can’t wait to see you and your family!

Categories: Devotion