October 10, 2022
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Where are those gnats coming from? Not in the studio. I mean every family member - one after another - was asking that around our house. We had this sudden outbreak of pesky little bugs floating around through the air. Have you ever seen them? And you'd see every one of us swatting back and forth. We couldn't imagine where they were coming from. Where do these guys come from? We killed as many as we could.
One day my wife, who was no doubt the smartest member of the family, decided that we had to answer the original question, "Where are these gnats coming from?" One theory was that maybe they were coming from that flower pot in the corner in the living room. See we forgot that we had left a little water in that pot, and sure enough that turned out to be a lovely breeding ground. So, I carried that pot outside, and I felt like we had won the battle because we got to the source.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Beyond Our Symptoms to Our Disease."
Our word for today from the Word of God, Mark 2:4-5, and maybe you remember the story. There's four friends who had a paralyzed friend. When Jesus came to their town of Capernaum, they decided that the best hope for their friend to ever get well was to take him to Jesus. It says, "Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus, and after digging through it, lowered the mat that the paralyzed man was lying on. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, 'Son, your sins are forgiven.'"
Later it says in verse 11, "He said to the paralytic, 'I tell you, get up! Take up your mat and go home.' He got up, took his mat, and walked out in full view of them all." Can you imagine the reaction of these friends when they go to all this trouble literally coming through the roof, dropping their friend in front of Jesus to get his paralysis taken care of, and Jesus says, "Your sins are forgiven"? Sin? Was that even an issue?
It always is, because Jesus knows what our deepest problem is. And He knows that paralysis isn't the ultimate problem this young man has. He goes first to the much more
difficult issue of dealing with the barrier between a man and his God. He's concerned about what cripples us, and He'll deal with that. But He's more concerned about the cancer of sin that's killing us on the inside.
I was meeting with Bill. He was a championship high school football player, but he was in rehab the second time for cocaine addiction. He learned about God's help through the 12-step Narcotics Anonymous Program. I asked him, "Bill, did you learn how Jesus could be your helper with your addiction?" He said, "Yeah." I said, "Did you know that addiction is not your problem?" He said, "It isn't?" I said, "No. Sin is your problem. Addiction is your symptom. You need now to find out how He can be your Savior from your sin."
See, the gnats keep coming out in various ways until you get at the source of the gnats in your life, and that's sin. You say, "Well, my problem is my loneliness, my relationships, my family, this frustrating obstacle." See, the fact is the symptom isn't the problem. At the root we're trying to handle life without the help of a Savior. We're trying to figure out the future without the personal leading of the One who designed us. We're trying every self-improvement plan we can; trying every smart idea. But the gnats keep coming.
We've got to remove the source of the problem, and only the Savior can do that. You can't carry it out. He carried it in His body on a cross. All those problems, and hurts, and frustrations have been trying to bring you to the fact that you need a Savior. You have a Savior if you'll make Him yours.
If you're tired of the struggle, bring all those burdens, all that sin to the cross. You'll be forgiven forever. You'll be changed. Why not begin your relationship with Jesus today? Our website can tell you how. It's ANewStory.com. Jesus being your helper with your hassles just isn't enough. You need Jesus to be the Savior from your sin.