Tear The Roof Off

Speaker 1 (00:02):

Hi, I'm Brian Mosley, our team here at right now. Media loves serving the church. We believe the mission of the church matters and the unity in the church matters. Whether you're watching this message alone or with your leadership team, we hope that it is an encouragement to you in this message. Joby challenges us to do whatever it takes to bring more people to Jesus.

Speaker 2 (00:28):

Hey, have you got your Bibles? And I hope you do. We're just going to do some Bible study. I think that's probably why you're here. That's what I love about right now. Media. I love me some right now media because they just dig into the word. And so I want to study Mark chapter two. So if you got your Bibles, turn to mark chapter two, but I can't just dig in because you already know the Indie. And one of the problems when you get familiar with Bible study is you think it's flannel ground for veggie tails depending on your age group. So I need you to not jump to the end here. I need you to think about this for a second. This is an actual event, okay? I'll start with this question. Have you ever found yourself in a desperate situation, like a really desperate situation?

Speaker 2 (01:10):

Like you got that phone call from the doctor and then all of a sudden everything changes and you think, oh no, what am I going to do? If you're a parent, you know this to be true. There's no pain like kid pain. Amen. There's no pain like kid pain. And part of the reason there's no pain, like kid pain is because there's no love, like kid love. Like when we had our first kid, I have a son named JP Joseph Perry, Martin, the fourth, I'm the third. My dad was junior. I was almost junior, junior. That happens where I grew up. But anyway, happiest moment I hold my life, man. We go to the doctor, I went to all the appointments when we were pregnant, mostly Gretchen, but I was there and we went to find out the sex of the baby. And that lady poised that little goofy stuff on her belly is going, and I'm looking into this TV and I was like, man, I got terrible news. We're having an alien. I don't know what this thing is. And that little doctor lady said, congratulations, Mr. Martin, you're having a boy. And I scooped her up and hugged her, called my daddy. He said, daddy, I made a boy. He said, I knew you had it in you son. That's what he said.

Speaker 2 (02:12):

About four years later back there, same doctor, same goofy situation I'm looking, says, congratulations Mr. Martin. You're having a girl. My wife said, you're going to be okay. I said, I'm going to be okay, but you got to get a little extra to raise a girl these days. You understand, not because of the girl, but because of the sick world we live in. And I don't mind doing our prison ministry from the inside, if you understand what I'm saying. And so, and in fact, when we had jp, when had my son and people say, it's beautiful, they're liars. It was not. But when all that situation was up and they wrap him up in that little burrito of love and they handed me, he looked like Hulk Hogan, he had a skull. You know what a skull is bald on top. Little mullet in the back. As you can tell, I'm from the south and I was like, look at him. That's mine right there, boy.

Speaker 2 (03:04):

But when we were having our second one, I was nervous because I thought you can't say this out loud to people, but I thought Uhoh, I didn't divvy out my love appropriately because I think I've given it all to the first one. Am I going to have any left to give to the second one? But you know what happens? When they handed me my little precious Reagan caprice, she was born, she was seven pounds on the dot, the number of perfection in the Bible talk to me. And they wrapped her up in that burrito of love and they handed her to me and I thought, I would die for you and I might make somebody die for you. You understand?

Speaker 2 (03:40):

Well, a few years ago, my family and I, we were in Athens, Georgia, and then Atlanta, I hate to bring this up, we're Bulldog fans, okay? I know. Well, it's just because Christians, that's all mean. My Bible's written in red and black. I don't know about yours. So that's mine. Anyway, so the bulldogs are smart. What they do is they usually, this year they didn't, they scheduled Clemon, but usually they scheduled some powder puff team. And that's my favorite game to go to. I don't need close games. I don't need stress. I have a church I want to go where it's a hundred to nothing. We sing glory, glory to old Georgia until my vocal chords fall out. You understand? Well then typically the Braves will partner with the Bulldogs. You can go to a Bulldogs game on Saturday. You can go to the Braves game on Sunday.

Speaker 2 (04:27):

So we get finished. I think we played Austin p, I don't even know what that is. We beat 'em by a thousand. It was incredible. Then we drive up to Atlanta, we get in this real swanky hotel, not the kind of hotel. When I grew up, if you stayed at a hotel, when you opened the door, you're in the parking lot. You know what I mean? This hotel, all the doors open to the inside to this huge atrium. Honestly, kind of like this church. It's amazing. And so by the way, my church, we planted our church, we renovated an old Walmart. It doesn't look like this at all. I preached from ladies accessories every weekend. But anyway, this is nice here. I like it here. So anyway, so we go to the Braves game, can't stop the chop. We win. We're tired. We go to the little bar and grill at the bottom of the hotel, and my daughter and her friends are on the 10th floor of this 12 story hotel.

Speaker 2 (05:11):

And then the alarm goes off. We had just sat down, I'd ordered some refreshments and some wings and then an alarm goes off. Fire, fire. And I thought like every dad, it's not a fire. It's never a fire it. And I got wings coming, so let's just hang out. My friend walks out into the lobby, walks back in with a panicky look on his face, and he's not a panicky dude. And he's like, bro, it's a fire. I go running out, I look up in the atrium and you cannot see the top floor because it's full of smoke. And all of a sudden my mind goes to that desperate situation. Oh no, my daughter and her friends are on the 10th floor and I'm down here and this is a fire. And so they're trying to evacuate everybody. And I up to this guy that works for the hotel and I go, where are the stairs? And he points to a door, I run to the door, I open it, it's a banquet hall, not it run back out. Where are the stairs? It's over there. I go, look, it's a storage closet. I run to the next guy, where are the adjective stairs?

Speaker 2 (06:17):

And I put my hands on him, a pastor. I laid hands on him, you ain't pointing. He shows me to the stairs. I go running over to the stairs, my wife Gretchen comes running up to me. All my worst nightmares are going through my mind. I got like that mom panic. You know what I'm talking about? Moms'? What makes you a great mom, by the way? And then I got to run and I got on flip flops. Gretchen says, you want me to come with you? I go, no, no, no, you need to stay here. And I got on flip flops and I'm literally thinking, do I kick 'em off so I can run faster? But if John McLean has taught us anything is you might need flip flops.

Speaker 2 (06:55):

And I go huffing it up the stairs. I dunno if you could tell I ain't built for stairs and I'm going up as hard as I can at about every floor, there's a hotel worker saying, sir, you can't go this way. I was like, that's adorable. I can run through you or by you. They were like, Olay. Alright, about the fifth floor, the girls are coming down, I wrap my arms around them. There's crying, there's convulsing. The girls were upset too. You know what I mean? My daughter took her a long time to kind of get it back together. And I was like, listen baby, here's what I need you to know. That night we had to say in another hotel, we took the twin beds and we just jammed together. We were like four wide, like Daytona. We were just all in one bed together. And I was like, Reagan, Capri, listen, I would do anything for you. I would walk through fire for you. Do you understand that? And is there anything, we worked on this all week, man. I wanted that baby to be crying so you could feel the mama pain. You understand? Don't take that baby out of here, okay?

Speaker 2 (07:59):

And is there anything unique about me as a dad? No, no, no, no. Every single one of you, moms, dads, aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, you would do it for the people that you love. You ever been in a desperate situation in Mark chapter two? That's what's going on. It is a desperate situation. This isn't a Bible story, man. This isn't a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, the people we're going to talk about here have first names. They have relationships. These are human beings that encounter the actual living. Jesus Christ. Here's what it says, mark two verse one. And when he Jesus returned to Capernaum, after some days it was reported that Jesus was at home. It's probably Peter's house verse two. And many were gathered together and there was no more room, not even at the door. You see his ministry is blowing up. If you look in Mark chapter one, he's healing people. When you change people's lives, people are going to show up. Nobody could get in. And Jesus was preaching the word to them, verse three. And they came bringing to him, bringing to Jesus a paralytic carried by four men. And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, stop right there.

Speaker 2 (09:17):

If you're a believer in Jesus Christ, there's going to come a day when you're going to find yourself on that mat. Do you have four friends that when you need it that they could carry you to Jesus? And everybody's going to be like, yeah, I do. Okay, cool. Write 'em down right now. Write these names down and I dare you when you get home. Or maybe they're here with you right now, deputize these four friends so that you can let them know, Hey, listen, if I ever need help, I'm trusting you to pick up a corner of my mat and tote me to Jesus, even if it's uncomfortable for me. I want you to love me more than you love what I think about you in that moment. Because if you haven't been there, there is coming a day where you're going to find yourself on the mat.

Speaker 2 (10:01):

And if you don't have four friends that carry you to Jesus, listen folks, you ain't doing this Christian thing, right? We were called to be a family. We were called to be a band of brothers and sisters together. You know that the Bible says that we have an enemy and he p prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. You ever watch the animal planet? Who does the lion take out that one little Impala all by itself? If you're flipping through and there's one little three-legged Impala by itself, he gone, you better get in the herd. Do you have these kinds of people that can help tote you to Jesus? I sure hope you do. When they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him and when they had made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay. Listen, oftentimes man, oftentimes at church we can get comfortable. We get so comfortable with full rooms, we get so comfortable when everything's going right, but we can get So do you know who was comfortable in this house that was full? The people that already had a seat? Do you know who the people that were most disrupted were by the tiles being torn apart by the hole being ripped in the roof? First of all, the guy that owned the house, you ever replaced the roof? It's very, very expensive.

Speaker 2 (11:28):

All the stuff starts falling on the people. The people that got there early that got there on time that are taking notes in the front row, they're fine. The problem is there's a dude on the outside and he needs Jesus. And I just want to ask you, are you the kind of person, do you lead the kind of church that is willing to do whatever it takes that's willing to tear off the roof so that more person can get to Jesus? Listen, the church of 1122, the church that I get to pastor happens to be a very, very large church. We've never tried to be a big church. All we've tried to do is just make room for one more person. Are you the kind of follower or are you leading the kind of church that is willing to do whatever it takes to lead that one more person to Jesus?

Speaker 2 (12:17):

And so they start to tear off the roof to make a hole, to do whatever it takes to overcome the obstacles and it gets Jesus's attention in verse five. And when Jesus saw their faith, I love this so much that Jesus doesn't even see the faith of the man on the mat. He sees the faith of the four friends and somehow in this moment, he's going to credit their faith to the man. Indeed. Is that the kind of faith you have? Maybe you've got some friends that are in a desperate situation and maybe what Jesus is looking for is for those people to be able to borrow a little bit of your faith as you do whatever it takes to bring these men and women to Jesus. Listen man, you can make excuses or you can make a difference. You'll never make both. You can make excuses or you can make a difference. You'll never make both. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, son, your sins are forgiven.

Speaker 2 (13:18):

Imagine the names this man has been called in his life. We understand from John chapter nine that there was a theology of that day that if you were physically disabled, then people thought that it was a curse from God, that it was either your fault or your parents' fault. Remember John chapter nine, who sinned this man or his parents that he would be born blind and Jesus is like, Nope, that is not how it works. And so he has been called outcast. He has been called invalid, which if you break down the word means you are invalid, but yet to Jesus, Jesus calls him Son, man, listen to me church, only Jesus gets to tell you who you are. This world tries to define us. This world tries to slap a label on us because if it can slap a label on us, then it doesn't have to deal with us. It can just deal with the label. And the enemy is the worst. And the labels that he tries to slap on you are based on your scars. He's always trying to define you by your scars. And Jesus says, no, no, no, you're not defined by your scars. How about you be defined by my scars? Only Jesus gets to tell you who you are. And he looks at this man and he says, son, your sins are forgiven. And I think that the friends are sweet, but that's not why we came.

Speaker 2 (14:31):

We came from my man's legs. Now some scribes were sitting there questioning in their hearts, boy, you ever met some religious people? They always get bothered when Jesus starts changing people's lives, doesn't it? They're like, Hey, what's here? This wasn't in the brochure. I can tell you man, people, here's how I know God will do a work at our church and we live on the Atlantic Ocean. It's awesome. So we do a beach baptism service every year. And this past year we baptized 1,614 people to the glory God, praise God, praise God. And every time we do that and we celebrate it, the only reason we celebrate it is because the Bible says heaven celebrates it. And I want to do heaven stuff. And I'll always have somebody kind of sounds like a scribe. They're like, pastor, how do you know all of those people actually got saved? And I'm like, well, you want 'em to be saved, don't you? It sounds like you don't.

Speaker 2 (15:35):

So I say, all right, I'll tell you what, I'll make a deal if you make it to heaven, which I'm about 50 50 on you making it right now. If you make it to heaven, I'll introduce you to 'em. That's what I say. All right, so they're so critical, man. Be very, very careful of a critical heart. Now, some of the scribes are sitting, then they're questioning in their heart, why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming who can forgive sin, but God alone, they are a hundred percent right except this is God. Because every sin is against God. Therefore God is the only one that can forgive sin. And immediately Jesus perceiving in his spirit that they thus question within themselves said to them, why do you question all these things in your heart? I hope you know this man. God knows our hearts and they're saying, who do you think you are?

Speaker 2 (16:31):

And his answer is, I am who I claim to be. I am God. Verse nine, he says, which is easier to say to the paralytic, your sins are forgiven or to say, rise up and take your bed and walk. Well, it's easier to say Your sins are forgiven. Why? Because who knows if it works. You don't know until the great white throne judgment if it actually worked or not. You kind of look the same from the outside. But however, if you say get up and walk, you're about to find out in 3, 2, 1, does it happen?

Speaker 2 (17:08):

However, if you are actually the son of God and you spoke all things into existence and all things are held together by your power and you came up with the idea of legs, how easy is it for you to go? Legs go. But how hard is it to forgive sin? Here's how hard it is that the second person of the Trinity, God the son, sat up off of his royal throne disrobed, his royal reg gala, took off of his crown, laid down his scepter, swan dives down here into earth, humbles himself and dresses himself in humanity, lives a perfect life that we could not live, dies a sinner's death that we deserve, pushes up on his nail pierce feet and says It is finished. He is doorknob dead, buried in a borrowed tomb because he only needed it for the weekend. And then on Sunday, he rolls away the stone and he comes out of the grave and since then has ascended to the right hand of God. The Father in is in the father's ear right now interceding for you until he blows the trumpet and comes back to take us home. That's what it takes to forgive sin.

Speaker 2 (18:17):

That's what he did. He says, but that you may know that the son of man has authority on earth to forgive sin. See, he's not just flexing his raw power. By the way, every miracle in the book of John is called a sign because a sign points to something greater to himself to itself. So he's not just flexing his raw power, he's always pointing to his redemptive purpose. So he's about to prove who he is. And he said to the paralytic, I say to you, rise up. Pick up your bed and go home. And by the way, the brother's going to get in trouble because he did it on the wrong day and he's carrying his mat. Hey, if you want a quick little if heart, check on what team you're playing for. When God changes somebody's life, do you see the mat or do you see the miracle?

Speaker 2 (19:08):

Because Jesus saw a miracle in the Pharisees. He could only see the mat and he rose and immediately picked up his bed and he went out before them all so that they were all amazed and they glorified God. That's worship. And they said, we never saw anything like this. Man. That's the testimony of the church that I get to be a part of. I see God move in miraculous ways. I see people get saved. I see marriages get restored. I see addictions get broken. And when people, I meet with church leaders and they ask me, how do you do it? We never saw anything like this. All I know to tell you is you make much Jesus. You preach the gospel, you do whatever it takes when somebody's on that mat and they need help, you pick up a corner of that mat and you tote them to Jesus.

Speaker 2 (19:49):

And if your place is full, if there's not enough seats, if there's not enough money, then you do whatever it takes, then let that one more person get to Jesus. You see, I hope, and I pray that you're the kind of believer and you're part of the kind of church that's willing to tear off the roof to get somebody to Jesus. We get so comfortable in us forward no more because our Bible study is going so good. And in our church, we're a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ. And the number one way to help you deepen your walk with Jesus is you get real serious about helping some other people discover theirs. Every single time the disciples got in trouble in the New Testament, in the gospels, it's because they got really self-focused. Hey, can we sit it your right and left?

Speaker 2 (20:39):

And when they got high fived by Jesus is when they were a conduit of the grace of God and not a cul-de-sac. Listen, I'm just here to remind you of some stuff that you already know in your own life. Are you tearing off roofs and picking up mats to get those people to Jesus? I dare you to write down one person's name that you know that God has put in your life, that God might use you to carry that person to Jesus. Write that person's name down and I want you to begin to commit to pray for that person. And listen, you don't have to tell 'em. You don't have to post it up in your cubicle. Tammy's like, Hey, why's my name on your, because you're going to hell and I don't want's not what I'm saying, man.

Speaker 2 (21:27):

But that you would begin to pray and pray and pray for just that one more person. Acts 1124 says, this is the verse talking about Barnabas. It says, and he was a good man full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord. You know what? A great number in the kingdom of God is just one more man because we serve the kind of shepherd that would leave the 99 and just go after the one more. Who's that one more person in your life that you could commit to pray for, pray for, pray for, and that you would be radically generous in your local context at your local church. I know all the pastors that brought you here want to say amen so loud right now, but you would quit wasting money on a bunch of junk that's not going to matter.

Speaker 2 (22:11):

And you would leverage all the treasure that God has given you to treasure him. And the only way you can sort treasures for heaven, the only thing that we can take to heaven his other people. I hope you realize that we would leverage everything for the advancement of the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and that you would get real serious about sharing your faith, just sharing an invitation, Hey, will you come with me at 11 o'clock this Sunday to hear the good news of the gospel with me, that we would do whatever it takes. Let me tell you who loves a growing church. Lemme tell you who loves a church that's willing to rip off the roof to get that one more person to Jesus, the person that has somebody that's on the mat in their life, that grandparent with the prodigal grandson, you love the church that is making a way for that prodigal to come home, that person that loves somebody that has an addiction and knows if they show up to that gospel Bible preaching church, they're not going to be condemned.

Speaker 2 (23:09):

They're going to get run over by the grace train, that person, that kind of church that's on the lookout for that one more. And I don't know if you've ever been on the map before. About three years ago, my elders made me go on a sabbatical. And so I did. You could probably tell by my accident, I like to hunt a lot. So I just basically strung together about a million hunting trips is what I did. I went to Scotland on a red stag hunt, and while I was there, a guy that I led to Christ, he was a general contractor, he built all of our campuses, I led him to Christ, I baptized him. He went on the hunt with me. And while we were in the of Scotland, he died of a massive heart attack. It's tragic, dude, tragic. And I had all kind of emotion, all kind of emotion.

Speaker 2 (23:54):

Holy moly. It was weird. I had to get all his stuff home. It's a weird thing to be in Atlanta and there's your buddy's bag, you got to pick it up, get it all home. And the whole time, all I could think I was, praise God, I was on sabbatical. So my buddies were preaching. A friend of mine named Leon Crump, he does a bunch of stuff with the right now media too. He was preaching for me that weekend. And all I could think about is I got to get to church. I have no idea what he said. I know he preached the Bible. I have no idea the songs that we summit. All I wanted to do is get into the presence of God and sing the songs and pray the prayers and hear the sermon and just get on my face before God. And as I got up that weekend, everything changed for me as a pastor. I realized, oh my goodness, there are hundreds of people just like that in every one of our cities, every single weekend. And wouldn't it be ashamed if what they need is to enter into the presence of God and they can't because there's no more room. Or maybe they can't because you quit inviting them or maybe they can't because you never invited them to begin with.

Speaker 2 (25:01):

I hope, and I pray that you would be the kind of believer that you would be a part of the kind of church that does whatever it takes to get that person on the mat to Jesus. About two years ago, my son was a junior in high school. He was a freshman in college. He was 17 years old. He was on his way to school. It's only about two miles from our house. He was driving. My daughter was with him. They go to school together. At the time, I think she was 13, he was 17. So he pulls out, turns right, gets to this kind of major intersection. He's in the pole position at the light, he's about to turn left, and they're just doing whatever teenagers do. I promise you they weren't listening to worship music and sharing prayer requests. I can guarantee it.

Speaker 2 (25:45):

Out of nowhere, there's a little four door sedan making its way to the Mayo Clinic, which is in Jacksonville. And the car contained four nurses and a big F two 50 dually runs the red light T-bones the car, it flips the car over the car, slides about 30 yards into a gas station parking lot. JP looks at Reagan, his sister, and says, stay right here. Shifts it into the park, gets out of the car and sprints to the accident. As that later that night, he's telling me about it. The car's upside down. It's got that weird wreck smell. It's like brake fluid and transmission fluid. And you know how it smells and there's people screaming in the car, the people in the front two seats can get out, the people in the back two seats, they're hanging upside down by their seatbelt. JP pulls out his knife, he has a knife, he's a martin, and he cuts the seatbelt one in, the nurse is in the back.

Speaker 2 (26:34):

She's got a huge gash on her head and her left foot looks like a candy cane. And he puts his arms under her armpits and he begins to drag her out. And she's looking up at him just going, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. And I'm hearing this and I'm like, well, buddy, was anybody else helping you? And then his story began to shift. He's like, dad. There was one other man that came over and he helped me rinse the door open. And then he went around the other side to help the other lady out. And then I'm by myself helping this lady, and when I pull her out, I can hear a crowd beginning together and I'm fully expecting for the adults to take over. And he said, then I looked around and when I looked up, a crowd was there and everybody was just there with their phone out, just videoing the wreck for their YouTube page.

Speaker 2 (27:23):

And he's got a little bit of me in him. So he gets kind of emotional. He's a little passionate. And then his story got a little, he kind of started getting that a little. You ever get that angry cry? You know what I'm saying? You ain't sad, crying. And some of you old heads in here, you cry, awesome. You cry like the Terminator, like one tear bing. When I cry, it's like a seventh grade girl just watched the notebook. I'm like, oh, I can't, can't talk. And he's getting that kind of angry. It's like John 11, when Jesus, when the Bible says Jesus, we actually in Greek, that word is snorts. That's an angry like a bull because he's angry at death because this ain't the way it's supposed to go. And jps getting angry and she's like, dad, did you stand around with her phones? And I'm 17 and they're grown and I don't know what I'm doing. And this lady's screaming and crying and I'm looking around. And then he's like, you know what? They're just a bunch of, and I can see the wheels turning. And he's like, what word do I use with pastor dad?

Speaker 2 (28:28):

And I say, buddy, just say it. And he said it. He said, dad, there are a bunch of, I'm not going to say it. I'll never get invited back. There were a bunch of, is the Greek word for wimp? Okay, we have a bunch of, and I'm like, buddy, you're exactly right man. That's exactly what they were. And bro, I'm so proud of you. I'm so proud of you that in that moment when it really mattered, especially for those nurses that you played, the man while they were playing the sheep, way to go, dude, later that night, I go to Reagan, she's 13, I go, Hey babe, what happened today? She puts her stuff down. And by the way, I don't know how it goes in your house, but in my house, the 13-year-old does not often give the 17-year-old superlatives. You understand? And she goes, daddy, JP is a hero.

Speaker 2 (29:19):

And I go, honey, you're absolutely right. And as I thought about that, I thought the sad thing about that story is that story describes the modern church. Every single day in every one of our cities represented, there are men and women who have been T-boned by sin. Their life has been wrecked, and they're screaming out and they're crying me, help me, help me. And so many churches are on the sideline because the room's full and everybody's comfortable and they're making budget. And there's people upside down in the car and they need help. And I'll tell you what, not on my watch, not at the church that I get to pastor, we are going to relentlessly pursue. We are going to run towards the crash, towards the mess, towards the blood, towards the thing that make us all uncomfortable. And the reason is not because we're the hero.

Speaker 2 (30:07):

We're not the hero. The reason that we make room for one more, the reason that we tear off the roof, the reason that we run towards the crash is because every single one of us that know Jesus crashes our Lord and Savior. We were the ones that our life was a car wreck. We were the ones hanging upside down in the car. We were the ones bleeding out. And Jesus came on a rescue mission for me. And you. And the moment you get rescued, you become a part of the rescue team. So right now, media congregation, man, when you go home, may you be filled with the spirit of courage to go and do whatever it takes to reach that one more on the map. Amen.

Speaker 1 (30:49):

Joby's call that we give our all to introducing people to Jesus is a needed word for us today. Take a moment and consider what more you can do to bring people to our savior.

‍