Where is the greater Power? | Lessons from Matthew and Acts (Part 2)

Jesus’ first message is “Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand” – repentance and the Kingdom! Repent – because the Kingdom of God is coming! Jesus calls the first of His disciples – now miracles yet – and they follow Him. And He goes all about Galilee, teaching, preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom, healing all manner of sickness and disease among the people! 4:23!  He’s preaching in a country overrun by foreign empires for hundreds of years – they’re used to being ruled by the Greeks, they’re used to being ruled by the Romans – but Jesus is preaching a totally different kind of kingdom! Seeing the multitudes, Jesus goes up the mountain and begins to teach them, Chs 5,6 &7. He’s on that mountain a long time! It’s not until Ch 8 that He comes down – still followed by great multitudes, and from here on, Matthew records a whole series of miracles, including the miracle of the sinking ship in 8:23 where Jesus calms the storm and the disciples marvel, “What kind of a man is this that even the winds and the sea obey Him?” John the Baptist saw many come for repentance but never saw this kind of miracle – this is what he prophesied when he said, after him there will come someone more powerful than him! And here He is! Jesus! We now come to Matt 9:1ff, where they bring a man to Jesus, paralysed and lying on a bed. You know the story: Jesus says to the sick man, “Your sins are forgiven you.” John the Baptist never could say that, because, as the religious leaders knew, no man can forgive sin, only God. So now, to prove that He, the Son of man, has POWER ON EARTH TO FORGIVE SIN – Jesus healed the man, saying, “Get up and go home!” The paralysed man did exactly that, picked up his bed and went – and the crowds that saw it marvelled and glorified God that He had given such POWER unto men!!! To watch the YouTube version: https://youtu.be/3EdSiKNqOyg  For more information on the Ministry of David Hathaway https://www.eurovision.org.uk