Jesus healed Bartimaeus so he could see, and instead of going off to celebrate after years of blindness and begging, he followed Jesus! That's a bit weird, isn't it? But Bartimaeus had now seen who Jesus was with his heart and his head. He wanted to follow his Saviour wherever he was going!
Jesus healed a man who couldn't hear OR speak so that he was better, and so he understood about Jesus in his heart! He was AMAZED because he knew Jesus was God’s son and he had power and authority from God.
Death can be a scary thing to think about, but the truth is that we all die one day. But Jesus had power and compassion to bring other people back from the dead - and he didn't stay dead after he died on the cross for us either!
Jesus had power and compassion to totally transform the man who was trapped by a scary evil spirit, so the man could be happy, free and follow Jesus! This is a picture of how Jesus frees us from our sin to follow him!
The Pharisees were the goody two shoes of their day. But Jesus shows us that God’s law is about loving others and God, not obeying rules. We don't keep the rules perfectly or love God and others perfectly. But Jesus died for proud law-breakers like you and me so that we can be forgiven.
Come and hear today's story about a paralysed man who came through a roof! But although the man was sick, what he needed more than anything else was to be forgiven and to have his insides or his soul fixed by Jesus.
Jesus wasn't just powerful - he really cared about people. Jesus didn't just care about their broken bodies and sicknesses, he also cared about their insides or their souls, which were broken because of sin. That's why Jesus came to preach about forgiveness, as well as heal people!
Jesus SHOCKED everyone when he chose to go and preach to different people, rather than stay and heal sick people. There's nothing wrong with wanting to be made better. But it's important we see that the most important thing to God is that we know and love him, not our own health, wealth or happiness.
Come and meet Doctor Wright, Nurse Left and Consultant Klutz who work at JC Hospital - and Jesus, who has authority over everything! Jesus has power over every situation, could heal all sorts of people of all sorts of illnesses and he even has authority over the Devil and evil spirits because he is the Son of God.
Levi was a traitor with a big S.I.N. problem. He needed Jesus to change his heart. The Pharisees thought they were healthy, and didn't need Jesus. Just like Levi, when we trust that Jesus has saved us through his death on the cross, we can be forgiven.
One day, Jesus will throw the greatest party ever in heaven and it will be full of surprising guests, just like his parable. Jesus invites us, 'come on in to my party!' Will you say yes to Jesus' invitation?