SPEAKER_00: Awesome.
SPEAKER_00: Good morning, church.
SPEAKER_00: Who's excited to be in the house of God today?
SPEAKER_00: Come on.
SPEAKER_00: Sundays are the best days.
SPEAKER_00: We love Sundays.
SPEAKER_00: We're glad you guys are here.
SPEAKER_00: Pentecost next week.
SPEAKER_00: You're not going to want to miss that.
SPEAKER_00: That's going to be awesome.
SPEAKER_00: Pastor Wheel was talking about iced coffee.
SPEAKER_00: I hope y'all like that.
SPEAKER_00: Someone uh was upset that I didn't try it, and they literally baptized me with a whole cup of coffee.
SPEAKER_00: I felt like I was a championship coach.
SPEAKER_00: You know how they get the you know, the gator hay dunk.
SPEAKER_00: I literally got a whole iced coffee.
SPEAKER_00: I smell really Carmelo right now.
SPEAKER_00: And so anyway, it's been a good day in the house of God.
SPEAKER_00: Um, three uh sorry, at the beginning of the year in January, God really gave us a focus on three things.
SPEAKER_00: Uh He said, in this 2026 Mid-Cities Neely, I want you to prepare to go deeper in faith, deeper in worship, and deeper in relationships.
SPEAKER_00: And so we've really just kind of continued to pray into that, focus on that.
SPEAKER_00: And today we have a little bit of an open message after our tremendous big question series.
SPEAKER_00: And I'd really like to lock in on the third one and talk a little bit about deeper relationships.
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, one of the greatest dangers really of modern Christianity is uh people think that they can follow God deeply while remaining, um and uh we're gonna kind of picket that a little bit today, a little bit, because no one follows Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: You come to our scripture today, we're gonna talk from Mark 2.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna see one uh one story there, Mark 2, 1 through 5.
SPEAKER_00: Um, you're gonna meet a man who could not get to Jesus by himself.
SPEAKER_00: He was paralyzed, he was unable to move, and unable to carry himself.
SPEAKER_00: And yet, he had four friends that were committed to get him to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Do you have four friends that are committed to get you to Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: When a knucklehead spirit falls on you?
SPEAKER_00: You all know about a knucklehead spirit, don't you?
SPEAKER_00: I need someone to bring me to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: I need someone to remind me.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes I have a little case of gospel amnesia.
SPEAKER_00: I need people like that in my life.
SPEAKER_00: And you're gonna see it in today's scripture.
SPEAKER_00: So uh Mark chapter 2, we have it on your screen.
SPEAKER_00: I'm reading from the NIV today.
SPEAKER_00: It says, a few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home.
SPEAKER_00: They gathered in such large numbers that there was no room left.
SPEAKER_00: Not even outside the door.
SPEAKER_00: And then Jesus preached the word to them.
SPEAKER_00: Don't you love it that preaching the word is Jesus' idea?
SPEAKER_00: Yes?
SPEAKER_00: Come on.
SPEAKER_00: You gotta be ready to talk back today.
SPEAKER_00: We're few but mighty in here today.
SPEAKER_00: Come on.
SPEAKER_00: So it says he preached the word to them.
SPEAKER_00: Some men came bringing to him a paralyzed man carried to Jesus, uh, carried by four of them.
SPEAKER_00: Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening.
SPEAKER_00: They climb up on the roof, they make an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it, and then lowered the mat the man was lying on.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible says, when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, Son, your sins are forgiven.
SPEAKER_00: The truth is, God often uses intentional, Christ-centered relationships to carry people toward him.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna dive into this today.
SPEAKER_00: So, Father, thank you for your word.
SPEAKER_00: Your word that constantly reminds us how much you love us and how much you want to change us.
SPEAKER_00: And God, thank you for your word, God, that convicts us, and thank you that we would respond to your word.
SPEAKER_00: So help us today as we study in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Without a doubt, relationships shape us.
SPEAKER_00: Now, a lot of you have had this talk with your preteen or your teenager, or maybe your preschooler, I don't know.
SPEAKER_00: But today we're gonna allow the word to talk to us and remind us.
SPEAKER_00: The man did not get to Jesus alone, he was carried, and I believe many of us in here uh are where we are spiritually today because someone was committed to carry us.
SPEAKER_00: Can you think about your own spiritual life?
SPEAKER_00: Now, thank you, God, for Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for his blood, thank you for the cross, thank you for the resurrection, thank you for his church.
SPEAKER_00: But man, I think a lot of us, if we think about our journey to Jesus, we can think about the people that God strategically placed in our lives.
SPEAKER_00: A parent that prayed for you, a friend that challenged you, maybe a pastor that encouraged you.
SPEAKER_00: Someone in your life refused to let you stay far from Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And the key is relationships are never neutral.
SPEAKER_00: We see that they moved the paralytic towards Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: That our relationships and our lives are never neutral, they are always moving us somewhere spiritually.
SPEAKER_00: So today we're going to evaluate who is it in our lives that God has called us to move towards Jesus, or we can praise God and be thankful for uh they're moving us, you know, they're moving us towards Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: My mama, God bless her, she gave me some good old country wisdom, and she used to say to me all the time, son, you are the five people you spend the most time with.
SPEAKER_00: Choose wisely.
SPEAKER_00: How many of you know that's true today?
SPEAKER_00: Like, if you wouldn't bring your friend home to your mama, then you probably don't need to be spending that much time with that print.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, the Bible clearly tells us in uh um I'll jump down to the scripture, but it clearly tells us in Proverbs 13, 20 that if we walk with the wise, we become wise, and a companion of fools suffer harm.
SPEAKER_00: And then Paul doubled down and said, 1 Corinthians 15, he says, Do not be misled.
SPEAKER_00: Bad company corrupts good character.
SPEAKER_00: Like I said, you've probably used that on your kids.
SPEAKER_00: If you're in here and have kids, today let's apply it to our own lives.
SPEAKER_00: Let's think about mama's wisdom.
SPEAKER_00: Let's think about our relationships and our friendships.
SPEAKER_00: You know, today we actually have a label for it.
SPEAKER_00: We call people who shape the way others think, we call them influencers.
SPEAKER_00: You know why?
SPEAKER_00: Because influencers influence us.
SPEAKER_00: But oftentimes we don't even have to think about it digitally, we could just think about it relationally.
SPEAKER_00: How are the people in our lives shaping and influencing the way we view things?
SPEAKER_00: The people influencing your life shape your thinking.
SPEAKER_00: The people influencing your life shape your convictions, the people influencing your life shape your priorities, they shape your habits, and they ultimately shape the direction of your life.
SPEAKER_00: Would you guys agree with me?
SPEAKER_00: You look a little scared.
SPEAKER_00: Are you scared today, Christopher?
SPEAKER_00: Are y'all scared?
SPEAKER_00: I ain't scared.
SPEAKER_00: Tell me, I ain't scared.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, thank you.
SPEAKER_00: Some relationships carry us towards Jesus, but other relationships slowly pull us away from Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And if we're honest, this church, so we have to be honest, we already know the difference.
SPEAKER_00: We know the people in our life who strengthen our faith.
SPEAKER_00: We know the people in our lives who sharpen our character.
SPEAKER_00: We know the people in our lives who make us a better person.
SPEAKER_00: Mamas, you know the the friends that help you be a better mama.
SPEAKER_00: Men, you know the people you need in your life that strengthen your resolve to serve Jesus even when it's tough.
SPEAKER_00: At the same time, we also know the voices in our life that normalize compromise.
SPEAKER_00: We know the voices in our lives that press on us uh to be spiritually passive or distant from God.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, didn't you go to you're good, you went to church like last month.
SPEAKER_00: Man, you don't need to go to that life group.
SPEAKER_00: Why are you hanging out with those holy rollers anyway?
SPEAKER_00: Maybe that's just my friends.
SPEAKER_00: Might be my wife, I don't know.
SPEAKER_00: Uh she said, you better watch it.
SPEAKER_00: She ain't wrong.
SPEAKER_00: Uh the truth is, very few people, very few people intentionally walk away from God.
SPEAKER_00: They tend to drift more than walk away.
SPEAKER_00: More often, people slowly drift there because they have unexamined influences, unhealthy relationships, and are spiritually passive.
SPEAKER_00: So let me ask you, since I'm already in front street of your life right now, let me ask you who is influencing you spiritually?
SPEAKER_00: Have you considered that in a while?
SPEAKER_00: Have you thought about the relationships?
SPEAKER_00: The people you gossip, I mean, talk to around the water cooler.
SPEAKER_00: And before I even let's just sit here just a second.
SPEAKER_00: Let's think about it even deeper.
SPEAKER_00: Who has influence over your thinking?
SPEAKER_00: Who has influence over your priorities?
SPEAKER_00: Who has influence over your character?
SPEAKER_00: And who influences your passion and hunger and pursuit for Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: That's what we're doing today.
SPEAKER_00: Relationships are never neutral, they're always carrying us somewhere.
SPEAKER_00: And I have to add this just as a little caveat: that this is not the call to isolate yourself from people who don't know Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, Jesus was known as a friend of sinners.
SPEAKER_00: So I don't want you to think of I just got to cut all the people who don't know Jesus out of my life because that would make you ineffective doing the very thing God called us to do, go win the loss and make disciples.
SPEAKER_00: We are certainly called to love people.
SPEAKER_00: We're certainly called to serve people and carry people towards Christ.
SPEAKER_00: But there's a difference between loving people missionally and allowing the defense, the the deepest uh influences in our life to consent consistently pull us away from Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Are you with me?
SPEAKER_00: So the question is the relationship's okay as long as you're discipling them.
SPEAKER_00: As soon as they start discipling you, then I better evaluate that relationship.
SPEAKER_00: As soon as that relationship starts pulling me away from Jesus, and their influence is greater than my influence, then I better evaluate that one.
SPEAKER_00: These men intentionally carried their friend towards Jesus because they believed if they could only get to the feet of Jesus, Jesus would change the man's life.
SPEAKER_00: And they were right.
SPEAKER_00: We see in the story.
SPEAKER_00: You know, this type of love that these four friends demonstrated is a love that refuses passivity.
SPEAKER_00: Honestly, most of us probably try to go through life and we're just trying not to bother anybody.
SPEAKER_00: Like you do you, we talked about that a month or two ago, and I'll do me, and we'll just be friends.
SPEAKER_00: But I need some friends in my life who love me enough to refuse to be passive.
SPEAKER_00: Christy and I planted a church, and we were having babies, and we had three when we planted the church, and ended up with five amazing kiddos.
SPEAKER_00: And I told my best friends, I realized, you know, there's something inside of us all.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, the Bible tells us essentially we have a self-destruct button called descend nature.
SPEAKER_00: And I told my friends, I told them, I said, look, if I ever lose my mind, I want you to come to my house and argue with me until you're tired of arguing with me, and then take me out in the yard and beat me until I say yes to Jesus again.
SPEAKER_00: Well, thank you for that.
SPEAKER_00: But that's the kind of friends I needed in my life that would love me and tell me the truth when I wasn't loving my wife less Christ loved the church.
SPEAKER_00: When I was drifting from my one passion of serving Jesus, and the whole reason I was planting a church.
SPEAKER_00: You know, we're all tempted to drift from God, and we need friends like we see in today's story that will carry us to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Think about how radical of a moment this was.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 4 says they could not get to Jesus because of the crowd.
SPEAKER_00: They made an opening in the roof by digging around it.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, could you imagine?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I just get upset when the doors open and we're trying to like have church in here.
SPEAKER_00: You guys aren't like breaking through the stained glass.
SPEAKER_00: And then they lower the mad down.
SPEAKER_00: I need some friends like that.
SPEAKER_00: I need some friends that'll climb the roof for me.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, if these guys were like me, they they would have just made excuses.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: I know what I would have done.
SPEAKER_00: I would have said, man, bro, we wanted to get you to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: It's just too crowded today.
SPEAKER_00: I don't like long lines.
SPEAKER_00: It's just inconvenient.
SPEAKER_00: Let's wait for another more convenient time to bring you to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Man, we tried.
SPEAKER_00: I tried.
SPEAKER_00: I don't want friends like that.
SPEAKER_00: I want friends that'll climb the roof.
SPEAKER_00: These men refuse to stay passive.
SPEAKER_00: They climbed the roof, they made a hole, they lured them to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible literally says he saw their faith.
SPEAKER_00: See, your faith, if you believe that the one thing your friend needs more than anything is Jesus, because Jesus is the one that'll change your life, you won't just take them to the gym.
SPEAKER_00: You won't just take them to far west, you'll take them to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: He saw their faith because their faith was in action.
SPEAKER_00: And what I love about this is, you know, sometimes I found that sometimes I need my friends to carry me to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And then sometimes my friends need me to do the carrying.
SPEAKER_00: And I want to build intentional relationships in my life that whichever side of the story I might be on today, it's going to happen.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to get to the feet of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: These friends love their friend enough to carry him to Jesus because they believe Jesus could change his life.
SPEAKER_00: And truly, this is where the story confronts us a little bit.
SPEAKER_00: It confronts me, right?
SPEAKER_00: If I think about this, I mean, I'm busy.
SPEAKER_00: We're distracted.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes we're just too consumed with ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: We desire deep relationships, like when it's on the screen, or we say, man, that's obvious.
SPEAKER_00: Like God wants us to go deeper in our faith, deeper in our worship, deeper in our relationship.
SPEAKER_00: We sort of desire deeper relationships without deep intentionality.
SPEAKER_00: We want strong community with leftover time and leftover energy.
SPEAKER_00: You have to prioritize the relationships you want in your life.
SPEAKER_00: Deep spiritual relationships do not happen accidentally, they happen through priority, through sacrifice, through intentionality.
SPEAKER_00: These type of relationships that we see in Mark II took sacrifice, took priority, took intentionality.
SPEAKER_00: You don't accidentally build a healthy marriage.
SPEAKER_00: You don't accidentally uh disciple your children.
SPEAKER_00: You don't accidentally develop the type of Christ-centered uh friendships that you need on a rough day to bring you to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: All of these come through intentionality and investment.
SPEAKER_00: And so what I'm giving you is sort of like the parental talk today that a lot of you guys have probably spoken to your kids.
SPEAKER_00: But the truth really doesn't have a shelf life on it.
SPEAKER_00: It's not just good for your kids, but it isn't good for your adult life.
SPEAKER_00: You can't think that you're just gonna hang out with people who don't really love Jesus most of the time, and you love Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: We have to refuse to be passive about our relationships, and we have to choose to do this.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, really, when we talk about, hey, these friends carry them to Jesus, that's what discipleship is.
SPEAKER_00: We get like way too confused about the big D word, discipleship.
SPEAKER_00: Like, I just don't know about that.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe I need another class, or maybe I know.
SPEAKER_00: All you have to do is be a friend and consistently carry people to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Now, here in Mid-Cities and a lot of these amazing churches in our community, they have some sort of like life group emphasis, right?
SPEAKER_00: We want you.
SPEAKER_00: We say when you come through our one-on-one class, we the things we we love for you to do is we love for you to show up, we love for you to serve, uh, we love for you to give, and and we want you, please join a life group.
SPEAKER_00: The reason we do that is we understand this truth that God changes us through intentional discipleship, Christ centered relationships.
SPEAKER_00: And so.
SPEAKER_00: we try to like like like help you walk into that but how much more how much more better how much better come on how much more better pastor daniel is it they're used to bat my bat my bad grammar around here anyway that we would just do it organically you've got friends you don't need a new group of friends well but maybe you need a new group of friends but likely you got let's just make it let's put Jesus in the middle of it let's just put Jesus in the middle of it and I guarantee if you raise the standard your friends around you will appreciate it and rise to it that's all we're talking about here's why because when Jesus is at the center whatever he's in the center of he changes Jesus changes everything.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 5.
SPEAKER_00: It says when Jesus saw their faith he said to the paralyzed man your sins are forgiven see this true story is really not about the paralytic and the reason Jesus is telling it and the reason Mark wrote it here in Mark chapter 2 is because it's not really about the paralytic it's not really about the friends it's really about Jesus and who he was and that's why I'm talking about this today because when you're intentional about it and you're truly bringing your friends to Jesus Jesus changes everything.
SPEAKER_00: I mean what your friend needs is not necessarily another seminar or self-help book.
SPEAKER_00: Your friend needs Jesus and who do you think is going to give your friend Jesus you are that's why they're your friend they're not my friend they're your friend why do you think God has strategically put you in their life to be passive?
SPEAKER_00: To be wallpaper to be weak to be more worried about what they say than what Jesus says he's going to naturally give you ways to start a conversation ask questions listen to what they say and tell them about Jesus He's going to strategically do that because Jesus changes everything.
SPEAKER_00: Think about the tension in this room the roof opens the man's lower down everyone expects Jesus to do what?
SPEAKER_00: Heal the paralytic I mean the emphasis in the story is that he was paralyzed he couldn't get to Jesus so of course what is Jesus going to do he's going to heal him physically but how many know oftentimes we come to Jesus what we think we need and he gives us what we really need he gives us what we really need and he literally says son your sin is forgiven because Jesus is after something deeper.
SPEAKER_00: He's not out to just change your circumstances he's out to change your heart he's really after your heart and when he touches his heart I love this they're like wait who can say his sins like the religious people you know they'd be like some of us what is Jesus saying what is he saying he says son who can forgive sins but God and Jesus says that's right this story really about who Jesus is and why I'm emphasizing putting Jesus at the center of your relationship is because Jesus is God and when God is at the center of your relationships everything changes who is this Jesus they're saying I love this in verse 7 they say this like a like a country boy would why does this fella talk like that look well I wouldn't say fellow why would this fellow if you want to know where I'm really from he would be a feller why does this feller talk like that I'll tell you why he's God and so what does Jesus proceed to do he proceeds to heal him physically right to back up or to demonstrate that his authority spiritually he's like if you really want to do it like if you're really worried about it what I'm saying look rise up off that mat and walk and the paralytic gets up off the mat and walks Jesus proves who he is so the Son of man said I tell you get up take your mat and go home he got up took his mat and walked out in full view of them allgive sin.
SPEAKER_00: Only Jesus can restore what is broken.
SPEAKER_00: Only Jesus can transform a human heart and what I love about this I was actually reminded last service is man doesn't that take pressure off of our discipleship that we don't have to change the people in our lives all we have to do is carry them to Jesus because when they get to the feet of Jesus Jesus changes everything man that takes the pressure off all I have to do is carry my friends to Jesus all I have to do is love them and refuse passivity.
SPEAKER_00: All I have to do is bring them into the presence of Jesus and Jesus changes everything.
SPEAKER_00: And this whole message has really been about relationships the truth is the most important relationship in your life is with Jesus when Jesus becomes the center of our lives everything around us changes families change marriages change business partnerships change friendships change because Jesus changes people you know often the transformation we long for in our lives never fully develops because we try to we try to build relationships around convenience or around common interests or comfort instead of building our relationships around Jesus these men believed if we can get just get him to Jesus Jesus will change his life and they were right because the paralytic encountered Jesus and everything changed.
SPEAKER_00: Think about this the mat that once carried him became evidence of his transformation he came in and the mat was carrying him he went out and he was carrying the mat because Jesus changed his life what once represented weakness now testified to the power of Jesus and that's the picture Mark leaves us with a man could not get himself to Jesus he was carried by intentional friends he has a defining moment with Jesus and walks away changed because when Jesus becomes the center everything changes in church this is still true today some of you here because somebody carried you towards Jesus a praying friend a parent a coach a pastor a grandmama thank god for the grandmamas amen somebody refused to let you drift away from God and now the question becomes what direction are your relationships carrying you who is influencing your faith who is influencing your priorities here's one who is influencing your your view of marriage and family who is stoking the fire of your passion and pursuit for Jesus we've got to pause and we have to think who is it who's placed this who are the people that Jesus who are my four friends who are the people that Jesus is placing in my life relationships are never neutral they're carrying us somewhere and deep relationships are not optional in the Christian life Proverbs 181 says the person that isolates himself rages against all wise judgment we fight this isolation sociologists call it crowded loneliness that you can be in the midst of a crowd be lonelier than ever we have to embrace this Mark II message that if God is calling us to deeper relationships we got to know who is it that God has called us to carry and who is it that carrying us to Jesus let me just ask you that put that on the screen who are you carrying towards Jesus right now who in your life needs encouragement who is someone you could call and pray for who you know have sort of bought the lie of culture and just needs a good dose of truth you know what I mean like truth and love who is it in your life that needs an invitation into deeper spiritual family deeper community I believe God is speaking to us right now you guys up in the balcony God is speaking to us and we're realizing you know what it's been a while since we even really evaluated our relationships or maybe we've had some conversations like oof maybe I don't need to spend so much time in that relationship.
SPEAKER_00: Today's a day of decision today's a day for you to make a understanding commitment like man I need to evaluate my relationships and I might need to make some changes think about the people in your life who need somebody willing to climb on the roof for them make a decision I'm going to be that friend you know before we close we truly want to be that kind of friend I need some friends in my life like I said that will go the extra mile that will love me when I'm unlovable and I need to be that kind of friend but maybe today you came in here and you identify a little bit more with the paralytic and you're like I can't even get to Jesus can I tell you that you're in the right place today Jesus is here and Jesus still helps people up off the mat I thank God for second third fourth chances if that's you today and you're like man I know I'm tired of this mat I'm tired of being paralyzed by my own stinking thinking and some stupid choices and I know today I've been lowered down in the presence of Jesus and today all you have to do is call on the name Jesus is here to forgive you of your sin to rescue you to save your life that's what he does you just call on so I want to pray for you and as I do you just put your faith in Jesus amen we bow our heads Father we thank you we thank you for your grace Jesus help us we don't want to be the man woman on the mat anymore so Jesus we call on you we confess you as Lord we thank you that you're savior we stop trusting in ourselves God just tell him right where you're at I stop trusting in myself and I start trusting in you for salvation God we turn from our sin we ask you to forgive us to cleanse us to make us new we thank you that your word to us is rise pick up that mat walk we thank you for your grace you know with your heads bowed if you just I'd just love to know if you prayed that prayer today would you just raise your hand and just show me that hand thank you thank you thank you man if you sincerely prayed that prayer your life has changed you're not the same four five six hands up today we're rejoicing with you father now for all of us would you guys just kind of change your posture just kind of maybe open your hands up God help us to evaluate our friendships today who is it in our lives that we're supposed to carry to Jesus and who is it in our lives are those friends that will carry us on our worst day God let us not play around with this when the Bible says that bad company corrupts good character God I don't want to test you in that God help us to make a decision today to be the kind of friends that the paralytic had and love people and carry them to Jesus in Jesus' name amen.
SPEAKER_00: Bless you guys