Pick Up Your Mat and Walk; Free Bible Study

Mark 2:1-12

It says many people came to Jesus. These people came to Jesus for many reasons. Some where skeptics and critics like the Pharisees, others wanted to see miracles and entertainment and then there was the Paralytic who just wanted Jesus to heal his physical condition.

We come to Jesus for many reasons too. Sometimes our reasons are righteous and noble and yet other times we have ulterior motives. Jesus accepted all of them and it says that he "preached the word".

Vs. 5 – Jesus noticed their faith!

What did the Paralytic do that was so faithful?

The faith of the Paralytic and his friends were relentless in their pursuit for healing. They would stop at nothing to get to Jesus. No crowds, no obstacle or any other thing would keep them from trying to reach Jesus.

Notice it was the Paralytics friends that were with him and not his family! Sometimes spiritually we need these type of friends in our lives to have faith for us and help us get closer to God. Friends like these are only found in the church.

Which is more important? Spiritual Health or our physical health?

Jesus healed this man spiritually and said "your sins are forgiven". The paralytic did not come to Jesus for forgiveness of sins, he came to him to have Jesus heal his physical disability and yet Jesus new what this man needed the most.

Sometimes we can loose sight of what is really important in life and that is having a relationship with God. Satan wants to distract us with worldly things and he wants us to put more value in our physical condition than our spiritual condition.

Vs. 6 – Why were the Pharisees so upset? They were the authority of the day and repentance and forgiveness of sins came in the form of sacrifices that were brought to the temple and the religious leaders. There was a lot of penance that came with forgiveness and Jesus challenged this by forgiving sins immediately. Jesus forgives freely and we do not have to earn his forgiveness!

Vs. 11 – Jesus commanded the paralytic to "get up and take your mat and go home".

What would have happened if the paralytic decided not to obey Jesus and refused to get up. He had every excuse why to do it. He could have been faithless that Jesus could save him. There were a lot of people around and if he could not get up the would ridicule him....etc! When Jesus commands us to do something we need to obey. Faith without deeds is dead the bible says in Hebrews. The paralytic had to believe with faith and then act with his own will to be healed.

What spiritual disability do you have that needs to be healed? What would Jesus heal you from and say, "get up take your mat and walk"!

Just like the paralytic we have to make a decision to pick up our mat and walk!

Remember the Lord

As an early Christian I thought life would become easier as a disciple. Things in my life were changing I had repented from several character sins and I was a new being in god!

Do you remember how you felt as an early Christian? What was your outlook on life.

Some times we loose the zeal and fervor for God we had at baptism. The worries of this world, the temptations and our sinful nature creep back in and we in essence forget our first love which is our relationship with god.

All of us go through situation that challenge our faith.


The book of kings was written while the Israelite were in captivity to Babylon. The Israelite were subject to the the Babylonian culture. Everyday the Israelite were subject to the Babylonians and to there idol worship and paganism.

Babylonians worship several gods. Baal and Mot. Baal was the storm god and Mot was the god of death. They believed that when it rained it was from Baal and when there was a drought Baal was away fighting Mot.

1 kings 17:1-24

Elijah takes a stand against Baal and the Babylonia authority. Baal was the god of rain and of fertility. Elijah was not just challenging their idolatry but the existence of their gods as a whole.

Vs 22 this is the first time someone was rising from the dead in the bible and  God challenges there god Mot in this. He shows that he is the God that gives life and controls death not Mot

Kings 18:21-46

For the years that lead up to this confrontation between the almighty God and the idolatry of Babylon, the Israelite felt abandoned by God! God had never left. God was always there.

When we hit these points in our lives where we feel defeated and as though God is not with us, we have to remember our lord and the power he has too overcome any situation.

This Earth Is Not My Home

Heaven is our final destination! This earth is not our home and therefore we should not treat it as such.

When you focus on heaven you want to do more here on earth! Heaven and the thought being in paradise with our lord should motivate us to honor him and do all we can here on earth!


John 12:23

Jesus understood and taught this concept. If you want to save your life in the next world, you have to loose your life ( or sacrifice your worldly desires) in this world.

When your thoughts go to heaven then you will have impact here on earth. This world is not our home and we need to remember where our true home is.

As Christians we don't think of heaven as much as we should. We think about our spiritual trials on this earth and our lives as Christians in this world. We need to focus on heaven!


Genesis 25-28

Jacob was give a name that meant deceiver. At his birth they basically named him liar.

Jacob lives up to his name and lies to his brother and father. He continued to lie and this mam that was named deceiver becomes a liar.

Jacob was on the run and trying to escape from the consequences of his lying actions when he finds and comes in contact with God.

God showed Jacob a glimpse of heaven and it changed his life! Jacobs heart changed from that point on in his life.


Genesis 29:13-29

Jacob was fleeing and Laban excepted him because of what Jacob shared with him about his trip. Maybe because of the experience Jacob had with God and the way Jacob shared that with Laban.

In his past Jacob deceived for what? Mostly for financial gain and power (I.e. Birth right). It safe to assume that Jacob struggles with greed and cheating. He was willing to steal from his brother and deceive his farther for money. Yet because of Gods intervention and Jacob seeing a glimpse of heaven, Jacob was asked to work for seven years for Rachel and he did it through honesty and hard work.

Ironically Jacob was lied to by laban and told to work another seven years for Rachel. Jacob could have demanded that labin honor their previous agreement but he didn't. Jacob choose to honor laban's request and work another seven years. Jacob was not the same man that he was before he saw a glimpse of heaven!

When we see what the true wealth is in heaven. We no longer care about worldly things. Satan wants us to focus on the here and now and not focus on the things to come?

Where is your focus at? Heaven or earth?

What does it mean to focus on heaven?

We need to recognize our urges for heavenly longings. Our desire for more is a desire from God, yet far to often we try to satisfy that desire with wordly things. The longings that we have for more and a restless contented spirit should be directed towards Heaven and our reward that is waiting for us. If we fill those longings with worldly objects we miss the opportunity to long for heaven.

As Christians we tell our selves to stop wanting. We want to reject our worldly desires and we concede to just give up on our desires. This is the time to not stop our desires of wanting but to realign our desires with heavenly things.

God planted desires in us that cannot be filled with earthly things. If we fill our lives with worldly things in the hopes of reaching happiness, we will become completely frustrated! We were not made for this earth or earthly things. We were created for heaven.

Heaven is were our focus needs to be. We need to think about what heaven is really like. The bible gives us glimpses of what it will be like but part of the intrigue that god has created is that we don't know what it will be like for sure. What we do know is heaven will give us rest for our souls and be completely the opposite of the world.


Revelations 4:1-11

Heaven is so far beyond our imagination and will be more than we could ever expect!

The biggest thing our farther says about heaven is that we will be with god!