In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the importance of bringing people to Christ. He uses the story of four men carrying a paralyzed man to Jesus as an example of the effort and sacrifice required to bring others to salvation. The speaker highlights that it is not easy to lead someone to Christ and that it often involves time, sacrifice, and tears. He also challenges the audience to consider what they are willing to do to bring others to Christ, even if it means breaking societal norms or facing opposition. The sermon concludes with a call for 50 new volunteers to join Teen Challenge in order to expand their outreach and help those in need.

I'm going to turn to the Word of God for a minute just to finish. If you have a Bible, go to Mark's Gospel, Chapter 2. Amen. He's there. He's almost being eyepatched. There was very little rustling of the leaves. Amen. You know, the guys have been over, this has been planned. And by the end of this week, I've asked the Lord for some targets. You know what we want in Teen Challenge by the end of next week? I want 50 new volunteers. Fifty. You heard me right by the way. Fifty. Fifty new volunteers. We have two buses. We have a centre. We have a trailer. But they're no good without bodies. They can't go anywhere without volunteers in them. And I'm saying, Lord, I want 50 new volunteers. What will that open? That will open a massive, massive area for us to go in and reach addicts across our own city. Massive. To go in to areas that we have never, ever been into that are crying out for help. Crying out for help, folks. I'm going to have to use a name. I'm asking for, by the end of this week, 100 financial supporters by direct debit. £5, £10, £20, £30, £40, £50. And if you want to stretch 100, I'll take it. And if you want to write us a cheque, I'll take it too. As I said to you before, if you ask me anything, I'll tell you what I've need of. Because we need, we need help in this ministry to continue to reach out, to win people. Not to line the pockets of team challenge. To win more people like this. That is what we're about. And this passage of scripture that I want to bring to you very, very quickly. I'm not going to preach long, but I want to bring something. And I want to challenge the church of God. I want to challenge the believers tonight. If you're in here and you're not saved, do not worry, we will not miss you either. But I want to go after the people of God tonight. It says this, And again he entered into Capernaum, and after some days it was noised abroad that he was in the house. Jesus Christ. And straightway many gathered together, and so much there was no room to receive him. No, not so much about the door. And he preached the word unto them. And there came, or there come unto him, bringing one sick of the palsy, carried by four. And when they could not come near him because of the press or the people, they uncovered the roof where they had broken it up. And they let down the bed wherein the sick man lay. And when Jesus saw their faith, their faith, catch that, their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven. And there were some sitting there of the scribes and reasoning in their hearts, Why does this man speak blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God? And immediately when Jesus perceived in his spirit that they reasoned within themselves, he said, Why reason ye these things in your heart? Whether it is easier to say, Sick of the palsy, thy sins be forgiven, or arise, take up your bed and walk. But know ye that the Son of Man has the power on earth to forgive sins. He said to the sick of the palsy, I say unto you, arise, take up your bed and go your way unto your own house. Father, we ask you now just to settle our hearts and that the Spirit of God, Lord, would come and speak into people's lives, both saved and unsaved. For the glory of your name. Amen. Before I come to the passage I read, I want to take you very quickly to Mark's Gospel, Chapter 1. Because in Mark's Gospel, Chapter 1, you will read an incredible account of many things that Christ had done. We know that he came, he was baptized. It tells us that. And the Bible says that he was driven of the Spirit into the wilderness where he was tempted. But it also says that Christ came out in the power of the Spirit. And that's what the Bible says. He came out in the power of the Spirit. And as he comes out, the Bible will begin to record in that chapter that Christ begins to perform incredible works. Incredible works were in verse 21. It says that people were astonished at his doctrine. They were astonished at him. They took note of him. They said to themselves, Who is this guy? Who is this man? And they were astonished. In 23-27, it tells us that he casts out an unclean spirit. He deals with it. He casts it out and he sets a person free. In verse 28, listen to what it says. His fame went throughout all of the regions right above Galilee. His fame. Christ. In 29-31, it says that he healed Simon Peter's mother-in-law. And then you get to verse 32-34. And when it says, it says an entire city came out. An entire city. I don't know what the number was, guys. I would have loved to have seen that. Could you imagine an entire city coming out just that they may see Christ? Could you imagine an entire community coming in and filling this church? Amen. Could you imagine them standing outside the doors? Could you imagine them standing, queuing up just to get in the church? The Bible says a city came out. And the Bible says that Christ healed many. He set many free. He cleansed them. In verse 36-39, it says that he went about preaching the gospel. And casting out demons. And unclean spirits. And devils. And then you get to verse 40-44. And it says he cleansed a leper. Folks, he didn't touch lepers. He didn't go near them. He didn't go anywhere near them. And this leper comes there. Christ touches him. Folks, drug addicts, alcoholics and prostitutes are known as the lepers of our day. Society doesn't want them. Society doesn't want to touch them. But guess who does? Come on. Christ. Christ has an interest in them. And Christ touches this man. And listen to what Christ says to him. And after he cleanses him, Christ turns around and says to him, Friend, go and tell nobody. Now can you imagine that? Could you imagine Christ doing something incredible in your personal life? In your life? Guys, can you imagine when Christ set you free? And he turned around and he said to you, Tell nobody. You'd be saying, Lord. That would be a struggle. Because I tell you what guys, do you see if I was bound for years? Do you see if I was ill for years? Do you see if I had leprosy for years? Do you see if I was in addiction for years? Do you see the person that would set me free? I would tell everybody. Everybody. And if you read verse 45 of chapter 1, do you know what it says? It says that he went out. And the Bible says this, He blazed it much abroad. He told everybody. He told everybody. What this man called Christ had done. He's not doing any different than I would have done. Because I would have told everybody. And then we come to our reading. He's in the house. He's preaching the word. There's all sorts of people there. All sorts of people there for many different reasons. Some wanted to see this Christ. Some had heard of His fame because the Bible says they heard that He was in the house. They had heard that Christ was there. And for whatever reason people went to hear this Christ, they went. Some were there for genuine reasons. Some were there to criticize. Some maybe just heard about Him and wanted to see Him. For whatever reason, people were there to see Christ. But the Bible records four men carrying a crippled man. And folks, this is where I want to come to the church. This is where I want to come to the people of God. You heard it tonight from these guys themselves. They had no faith. They didn't know who they were crying out to. They didn't know. They just knew within their hearts, someone help me. And I believe in this passage, and this is my thinking, that here was a man lying crippled, and four men said to themselves, if He ever comes back, we're going to take Him to this man called Jesus Christ. And when they heard that it was a noise to broad that He was in the house, my mind goes to these men when maybe they run to each other. And they say, have you heard? He's in that house. And I can imagine them running and saying to this crippled man, do you remember that man Jesus Christ we told you about? He's here. And we're going to get you to Him. Folks, when was the last time you had a passion to get someone to Christ? Because I believe these men set off with this one thought. I don't care what it takes. We're getting you to this man called Christ. Because we have heard of the miracles. We have heard of the transformation. We have heard how He heals the crippled. We have heard how He casts out devils. We have heard of Christ. And church, we're no different. We know Him. We know who He is. We know what He can do. We should be like the four men. Carry them! Carry them! Carry them! To Christ! That He might set them free. Because I see four men carrying a man who is looking up at them saying, where are we going? Guys, you were like that. Why are you taking my challenge? You'll be alright. Where are we going? We're going to someone's house. And folks, carrying a man is never easy. And although there was four of them, dusty roads, terrain that we don't know much about, on a bed, these four men would have had to carry this man in unison. They couldn't decide, let's go this way. Let's go this way. They had to say, we've got to have one vision. And we've got to get there. No arguing. No fighting. We've just one thing in mind. Getting him to Christ. Getting him to Christ. I can imagine their legs getting sore. I can imagine their arms getting sore. I can imagine them saying, let's take a rest for a minute. Let's get a drink. I can imagine the heat beating down on them. But there's this one thing I imagine. We're getting there. We're getting there. I see the resolve in four men. Folks, sometimes, in fact I'll say most times, there's a cost of getting someone to Christ. Never ever tell me it's easy. I have never ever had the experience that it is easy getting someone to Christ. It takes time. It takes sacrifice. It sometimes hits your pocket. It sometimes costs you petrol to get someone to church. You might have to go out of the road 15 minutes. So what? If it means them getting saved, it's worth it. If it means digging your hand in that wee bit deeper to send someone to residential, look at what you're investing in. If it means investing. Costs are time. You know what else it costs? Tears. Sometimes we've got to weep for people. Sometimes we've got to walk the streets and ask God to save people who are lost. Who seem hopeless. Who seem there is no hope. Sometimes we've got to get on our face and cry. We've got to burn. And say, Lord Jesus Christ, give me the burden for the broken and the lost. It costs. And these four men get somewhere. And they get to the house. And I can imagine as they get in, they look and they say, Friend, we're nearly there. We're nearly there. And then they get there and they can't get in. And here's what I love. And this is again the greatest challenge to us. What will you do to get someone to Christ? What will I do? These guys thought it worth breaking someone's roof apart. These guys thought this man was worth breaking someone's roof apart and lowering him down into it. I'm sure the owner of the house wasn't happy. Would you be happy? Some Joe Bloggs decides to rip up your roof. Would you? You all must be happy about it. I'm saying I wouldn't be happy about it. They rip up a roof and they lower him down. Why? Because they believe that this man in a bed was worth it. Folks, do you believe people are worth it? Do you believe it is worth the cost? Do you believe that doing whatever it takes is worth it? Teen Challenge does. I personally do. And I know many of you don't know me, but believe me when I say I believe it's worth it. And I believe looking over at these guys. I believe the man and the woman that sent in the Teen Challenge would say it was worth it. It was worth it. I believe the man that invested in me would stand today and say, Lee, it was worth it. Because you get saved. And I believe the man and the woman that invested in you before you got saved, you know what I believe they would say? It was worth it. Worth it. Because you get saved. What is Teen Challenge? We're just a group of people that believe others are worth it because of Christ. And we believe that if we get a man to Christ, we believe this, that as they're lowered down through the roof, that they will see not their faith. Because they said they didn't have any. You know whose faith they'll see? Whose faith will they see? Won't someone tell me? I'll see ours. We're the ones with the faith, guys. We're the ones with the faith in God that He can do the miracles. We're the ones with the faith. And as we lower them down to where Jesus is, He might just turn around and say, Never have I seen such great faith in Belfast. And He'll say to the addict that is crippled by addiction, He'll say to the alcoholic that is crippled, He'll say to the prostitute that is crippled, He'll say to those that are depressed and crippled, Rise up. Get up on your bed and walk. Your sins are forgiven. And here's the incredible thing about the Christ. He is the only one that can turn around and say, Your sins are forgiven. Folks, that's our God. And I'm challenging you tonight. I'm going to have a session, one for believers. I'm challenging you. If you want to come to Teen Challenge, fantastic. But can I also say this? Not everybody in here is going to come to Teen Challenge. I know that. What about doing it for church? What about doing it for the kingdom of God? What about saying, Lord Jesus, use me in this life. Whether it's Teen Challenge, whether it's church, whatever it may be, use my life that others will come to Christ. That's the challenge for us. Every one of us. And I'm asking you, will you take up the challenge? Will you do something with your life? Will you do something worthwhile and serve God? You may say, Lee, I couldn't go onto the streets. Listen, you could do something that results in people getting to Christ. You can be a help in getting people to Christ. You know what? You're worth it. Folks, you're worth it. You're worth it.