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Celebrating Christ
Brad Thompson
October 7, 2007
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Celebrating Christ
This is hard for me to do. By nature, I procrastinate so writing an article about the sermon I'm going to preach three days from now means that I have to know what I'm going preach about at least two days before I normally would!!
I've had many conversations over the years with people about the idea of celebration. It strikes me as odd that we shy away from that word when it comes to our faith, as if we don't have a story to tell.
Matthew, Mark, and Luke all record the well-known story of a group of men lowering their paralyzed friend through the roof of a house in order to get him before Jesus. If you know the story, you know that it ends with the man walking out of the house with his mat rolled up in his arms.
My question is this - if Jesus had not healed him, would he have had a story to tell? I believe the answer to that is YES!! The greater miracle in this story is the forgiveness of this man's sin, not his ability to walk. Jesus makes that point clear.
My experience in the gospels is that every time someone encounters the glory and power of Jesus Christ, they have a story to tell, and they can't wait to share it. We - like them - have experienced the glory and power of Jesus Christ - the forgiveness of our sins! No matter what else happens in this life, we have already received the greatest miracle of all time. It's time we started celebrating that.