Morning church.
How are we doing?
Good to see you.
Second service.
All right.
Before we jump into our study this morning,
I wanted to share an update from Pastor Carl.
He's been sending text here and there.
He sent one this morning.
He was saying they were doing church from, like, midnight to two hour time, 2 a.m..
And so sharing the gospel,
sharing the good news, encouraging the new leaders and churches and pastors.
And so he sent us this as he's finishing up his time, he says,
thank you for your prayers.
It was a great day in the front line church.
I preached and it was so fun.
And I love that that hit me.
I share this with first service.
I just think, and I mean this in the most respectful way.
But Pastor Carl, it's like that giddy
child who's so excited, it's like this expected Christmas morning.
Like, that's how your pastor feels
about sharing the gospel and the good news of Jesus.
Yeah, I think that's called.
I've only known him a
year and a half, but I'm very grateful for his leadership
because he'll get up and he'll boldly proclaim Jesus and teach the gospel
and walk through Scripture in a way that is so informative and helpful.
But then he walks the walk, right?
He's not is not talk with him. It is. It is a lifestyle.
It is.
It is an all in mentality.
But then he went on to say,
he said this one man said, you coming here means so much.
People praying is one thing, but you coming and speaking to the unbelievers
in our community, it shows us that other Christians are here with us, right?
They're not alone.
And he said, we believe that step by step,
Ukraine will become a Christian nation with other Christians.
And then this was Carl's just message to the church you this morning.
Thank you, flip side, for your courage.
Thank you flip side for your prayers.
Thank you.
Flip side for your generosity and your ministry.
Right.
The giving that you will part of those who partner with Excel,
planning these churches, equipping these pastors and just walking alongside,
people in
a really difficult situation and circumstance and bringing hope.
And Carl said, you're changing the world.
People are coming to Jesus and churches are being planted.
And so if you can continue to pray
for Carl, continue to pray for the leaders there as he he also said this.
He says now, even 18 hour train ride to Poland.
So pray for him in his travels.
But keep praying for Ukraine.
Keep praying for the church. Keep praying for. For what God's doing there?
This this revival of sorts.
And we'll just keep checking.
I'm sure Carl will give us updates
when he gets back and pictures and videos, but yeah, he's super encouraged and
it sounds like God has done a really cool work in Ukraine the last two weeks.
All right.
For our study this morning, if you have your Bibles, turn to John five for Isaiah.
I see some high school face in the room.
It's going to be a little bit of review for you, but I'm I modified it a little.
Our high school, our junior high high school students
are going through the Gospel of John this fall.
And I just think,
this, this these first five chapters, we're
only five chapters in as a youth ministry have been impactful to me.
And this morning, we're going to be just in John five.
But I want to put I want to put this on the screen.
This is kind of what I'm titling the Teaching this morning
or or what we're kind of what I wanted to focus on.
It's this do you want to get well?
Do you want to get well?
That's a big question for believers in the room.
That's a big question for the unbelievers in the room. But do you want to get well
know I want to I also want to
frame this morning through the lens that Pastor Carl shared with us.
You know, 2 or 3,
I guess, maybe a month ago now, life, legacy and eternity life legacy.
Eternity.
And so, as you know, right, the New Testament starts
with the four Gospels Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
And I love that there's a breadth and then there's this fullness
as we read all four Gospels, because they're not the same.
They share some similar stories,
but they also share some very unique stories to that particular gospel.
And as we look at, as we look at the gospel, we we get to see Jesus.
I think in four ways.
We get to see Jesus as Messiah and King.
He's the Lord of Lords.
We also get to see him as at times depicted as this lowly servant
come to save the lost,
to die for his creation.
We see him at times, as the Son of Man, right?
We see the humanity side of Jesus as he's fully human.
We also see the divine side.
We see him that he is fully God.
He's the Son of God.
And so I was really convicted this week to, you know, I
sometimes we getting this I read Matthew, I read Mark.
We've had him once we've heard them all and it's like, no, there's so much more.
And what I love about John specifically how God inspired John to write his gospel,
is that he has fewer miracles, but almost
all of them are unique to just this gospel.
And so if you haven't read John, you missed a ton of really impactful
ministry that Jesus is sharing.
And so I guess before
we jump into five, I want to I want to share
the main message John has for this gospel, because we're not going to get there.
It's John 2031 and this is the gospel summed up.
It says this, but these are written that you may believe
that Jesus is the Messiah, Son of God,
and that by believing you may have life in his name.
I love the order of operations here, right?
First, our goal is to believe ourselves and help others to believe
that Jesus is the Messiah.
He is the Lord. He is King.
He is the author, the Omega, the beginning and the end.
He is God like.
That's our main focus in life is to
is to believe that with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength.
But then the second part I think is so important and something maybe we
get dropped off
is that we're supposed to find life in only his name.
How often are we looking for a purpose and identity and love and all these things
and all these different spaces when we need to?
Firstly, start with Jesus, that who we find life in and through.
And so I love that that Jesus has finished the work.
And now it's our job through the Holy Spirit, to walk closely with Jesus.
To what? Near to him? To look more like him.
To sound more like him.
To act more like him, to repent often.
And so I just think as we look at John five,
I think this is a good framework to have.
This is the gospel that we would one see Jesus as Messiah and to find life
only in his name,
not through our athletic abilities, not through our knowledge,
not through our marriage, not to anything else.
We find life only in the name of Jesus
and something I share with our students a lot.
Two things I share with them.
I say, hey, we're jumping into a text on a Monday night.
Don't forget what we read prior, right?
So don't forget John one, John two, John three, John four.
Before we get to five and two, find yourself in the text.
Find yourself because God is speaking uniquely to you.
And so my encouragement to you this morning is find yourself in the text.
How is God speaking to you individually?
Now, before we jump into five, I just want to give you a quick,
overview from one, two, three and four because I think it'll help us with five.
And so I love John one one.
This main takeaway, it says in the beginning
was the word, and the word was God, and the word was with God.
Right?
John is connecting.
John one one to Genesis one one.
Right.
He's connecting it because in the beginning
God created the heavens and the earth, right?
So, so John is saying right off the top, as you are introduced to Jesus
and who he is, you need to know he is eternal, that he is God, that he is.
He is divine.
It's just that's the first thing I want you to know about this Jesus person
and character that he is God.
He is Messiah.
And then we get
into John two and it's really a fun story.
Jesus and his mother and his disciples at a wedding in Cana.
And I was thinking to myself, how many people can say Jesus was at their
wedding and with his mother and disciples like Holy Spirit was present?
Not mine, of course, but.
And yours.
But Jesus was physically there.
And it says that Mary comes to Jesus.
And she said, hey, there's a problem.
They run out of wine.
We need you to figure that out.
As a mom talks to a son like, you know, hey, figure it out.
Well, you know, we need some help here.
And Jesus is like, he has this interesting interaction with his mother.
It's like, it's not my time.
And then I love it's just a little side note, but
Mary turns to the servants who were there and says, whatever Jesus says, you do.
And then Jesus.
Eventually he changes this water into wine.
And there's this really cool symbol of of this abundance
that Jesus saved the best for last, that that his blood and wine are these
the symbol of, of of, of us being forgiven our sins much.
Right. And why we celebrate communion.
But I love what I take away from John, too, is Mary's words.
Mary says to the servants, Whatever Jesus says,
you do, it isn't that our charge as believers?
Whatever Jesus says, we do,
if he says go, we go.
If he says stop, we stop.
If he says encourage and serve and give, we do those things.
And so I love that we can just miss that.
But John, to do and go and speak as Jesus does.
And then we get
John three four and five and it's testimony, testimony, testimony.
Right.
And I think it just highlights the power of testimony
and also how personal our God is, because he wasn't going to meet
Nicodemus, the woman at the well, and this paralyzed man where they are.
Right.
Nicodemus was this religious leader, devout Pharisee, Sanhedrin.
He checked every box. He was the teacher of Israel, right?
Big dog had it all right.
But he he saw something in Jesus.
He saw that Jesus was different.
He knew that he was from God.
And so by the cover of night, because he had a lot to lose,
he went and met with Jesus and and he had this really cool interaction
where, where Jesus is trying to communicate to him
and share with him what it means to be born again, what it means to put
your hope and your faith in your trust in Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins.
Ultimately, talking about the cross he's talking about about not finding hope
anywhere else, not in your own standing and not anyone else's.
Not in being the teacher of the law,
not in being in the Sanhedrin, of being a Pharisee. That's not enough.
And I love that
Jesus just meets meets Nicodemus where he is.
And then if you go to the end of John,
Nicodemus is one of the individuals that helps you.
This down from the grass prepares him for burial.
You can see his life is transformed because Jesus met him
in his time of need, saw it, and spoke right into his life.
And that's what Jesus does for us too, right?
He is a very personal God.
And then in John four, Jesus had this interaction with a woman at the well.
Right? And it's this, Jesus is traveling.
He's thirsty, is the well of Jacob, and she's a Samaritan, and he's a Jew.
And he asks his, hey, can you give me some water?
I'm thirsty.
And she's so put off by it.
She's like, we don't associate.
We're enemies. We're not friends. Like, why are you asking me for water?
She's just like, she's unsure about this whole interaction.
And it leads to this again, deeper connection between Jesus
and this woman of of.
Because he cuts right to the core.
He says, hey, I know what you're going through.
I know you've you've had many husbands,
and the one you're with now is not your husband.
I know you're looking for love. You're looking for acceptance.
You're looking for connection in all these wrong places.
Let me give you living water that will quench that thirst
of the things you're looking for in all the wrong places.
Right?
And the power is to just say, you know what,
Jesus, you're enough for me, right?
The power that that is to
to not just say it, but to live it out, to proclaim it, to believe it.
And then she goes and shares her testimony with her people in her village.
And they believe, and they invite Jesus to come and speak and many more believe.
But I think it shows
the power of testimony, but it also shows how incredibly personal our God is
that he meets the very high ranking religious leader, and then this lowly
woman who's just struggling and sin and lost and a little bit broken.
And so wherever we are on that spectrum of people
that God is going to meet us individually, that's who he is.
And we see that here in John five, Jesus is going to beeline for this individual.
He's going to he's going to meet him.
He's going to process life with him, and he's going to he's going to challenge him.
And so I want to
I want to roll through.
We're going to look at the first nine scriptures in John five this morning.
They'll be on the screen behind me.
But let's let's start with verse one.
It says sometime later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem
for one of the Jewish festivals.
Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate, a pool
which in Aramaic is called Bethesda,
and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades.
Here a great number of disabled peoples used to lie
the blind, the lame, and the paralyzed.
One who was
there had been an invalid for 38 years.
When Jesus saw him lying there, and learned that he had been
in this condition for a long time, he asked him, do you want to get well?
Which seems like a silly question of like,
of course, I've been paralyzed for 38 years, but
I think there's there's layers to this. Do you want to get well
for seven, sir?
The invalid replied.
I have no one to help me when the water is stirred.
So something's going on, right?
We need a little more contact,
but something's going on in this water,
so I have no one to help me get in the water when it's stirred.
When I try to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.
Verse eight says, Then Jesus said to him, get up with a sword.
Get up, pick up your mat and walk.
And at once the man was cured.
He picked up his mat and he walked right.
So just so that we're we have the same kind of visual picture
of what's going on here.
There's a festival, a feast, there's this something's going on in Jerusalem.
And so if you were of age, you had to bring your sacrifice.
And in the in the story tells us right
there, there's this sheep gate where you would go give your offering.
You'd go give your sacrifice. Right.
And then near that was a pool.
And it's called the Pool of Bethesda, which can be translated as House of mercy.
And so what I love is
there's those who are blind, who are lame, who are paralyzed, who are struggling
with physical disabilities, all hanging out at this pool.
And Jesus, I just get to see the House of mercy.
We get to see the mercy of God on full display.
I'm sure.
Jesus looked out and his heart was just broken.
But what I love is how intentional God is in Scripture, right?
As we know, Jesus was our offering at that sheep gate
near this house of mercy,
where Jesus is saying, I'm going to help heal this world of whatever
disability you have, whatever whatever's plaguing you, I'm going to heal you.
And so just in this little spot in Jerusalem,
you have the sheep gate where Jesus says, our sheep are offering unblemished lamb,
going to slaughter for us for our sins in this house of mercy.
And so even in these little minor details,
we see God talking about the gospel and talking about truth.
Right?
Just always I don't know, it just hit me this week of how intentional
our God is in Scripture.
But what I was reading was
some scholars believe that this was actually it wasn't a true story.
Because if you
if you look if you feel a physical Bible, my Bible jumps from verse 3 to 5.
There's no verse four.
And so what I learned is that scribes went in and and wrote that in.
It wasn't in early manuscripts.
It was, it was, it was written for context.
So there was that.
And then they couldn't find this pool.
And so there was some doubt with Israel, is it not?
Is this gospel valid? Is it not?
And so they end up actually finding the pool.
And what they found was a massive pool.
I was reading that maybe I think it was an Olympic size pool.
Just imagine a huge pool
and remember there's a festival and there's a feast going on.
And so Jerusalem would have swollen up.
There would have been just so many people in the city.
And so maybe even more than normal around this pool at this time.
And so you could think maybe hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people
at this pool
waiting for the House of mercy to be redeemed, for them to receive
this blessing, of being cured of whatever ailment they have.
And I want to read you verse four.
It says
in mind, just a footnote I don't have on the screen, I apologize.
It says from time to time an angel of the Lord would come down
and he would stir up the waters,
the first one into the pool.
After each such disturbance would be cured of whatever disease they had.
And so I
was thinking of my own walk, my own faith.
As I process this out, how much I think I robbed God of His glory.
Sometimes you read these and you're like, oh really?
That happened.
An angel actually descended,
and then you read in other parts of Scripture where we're an Isaiah 38.
God used figs to help with infected boils, like why figs?
And the number 21 venomous snakes were attacks neutralized to him
that gazed upon this bronze snake that would be saved.
And then you have you have,
Naaman. Right. He had leprosy.
And God said, go dip yourself in the water bunch of times and you'll be healed.
It'll go away.
And so I was really convicted.
I want to put on the screen for you
to think about in your own faith and own walk that because he's God,
he has the power to
heal what is broken, to correct what is wrong, and to help us in our need
and ultimately accomplish whatever he wills.
And so I was just convicted the last couple of weeks.
Our students went through this two weeks ago
that I need to not put a ceiling or a cap on God.
Not not not expect him to show up when I want, how I want,
and the way that I want, and that way I think
we rob God of glory because he's like, Michael, I can show up however I want.
People just grab my cloak and they were healed.
I laid my hand, I spit in the dirt, put it on their eyes, and he was.
He could see for the first time ever.
Like God can work in ways that we cannot even fathom.
I heard one pastor say, if you can get behind Genesis one one
where God literally created
everything out of nothing but just his words,
you can believe anything and everything else in scripture.
It's all believable.
If you can get behind Genesis one one that God created with his words.
And what I love is that
we get to see this gentleman who hadn't walked in 38 years.
His body still responded to its creator voice.
He said, get up and walk.
And he could.
After 38 years, I joked, the first service I played soccer last night,
I was like cramping.
This morning I could barely get up and this guy hadn't walk for 38 years
and he just got up and walked.
It's amazing what our God can do.
But back to the gentleman, right?
So paralyzed for 38 years,
he can't get into the water.
He said, Jesus, I want to be healed.
Of course I do.
But people are rushing around me.
I can't get to the water first.
And so I got to think, imagine.
Can you imagine for a second? Sit.
Sit in his position?
Can you imagine his pain?
Can you imagine his frustration?
I'm like, I'm trying to get there.
I'm trying to get there.
Or maybe the helplessness.
Now I think I'm praying for something for six months.
Oh my God, where are you? What are you doing?
This gentleman, 38 years, 38 years of waiting.
38 years of maybe tomorrow, 38 years of maybe next year
being trampled over.
But I also think there had to be a little hope.
Why would you stick around for 38 years
if not for some sliver of hope?
And it got me thinking.
I hope this week
I want to put this on screen for you to process in your faith, in your walk.
I think hope can be a powerful gift from God,
but only when it's aimed in the way, in the direction of God.
Hope can be a powerful gift when aimed in the way, in the direction of God.
It can help us get up when we don't want to,
not throw in the white flag to continue on day after day after day,
even though there's a struggle or there's a there's an ailment
or there's a frustration or there's a sin that we can't get past.
Hope is that gift that says Michael, keep going,
keep going, keep going, don't give up.
And so process out that out in your own faith.
What does hope look like for you?
How is it an action for you?
And I think it leads to this inevitable question.
And I
and it's a tough one to vulnerable one.
And it's this what do we do with what we hope for?
Doesn't happen.
What are we doing? What we hope for doesn't happen.
We're earnestly seeking God and His face, and we're submitting to him.
And we're in Scripture and in prayer, in community.
We're serving, we're giving our tithing.
We're doing all the things we're checking every box.
And it's like, but God, why are you not answering my prayer?
Why are you not showing up for me in this way?
Like, how do you and I respond
when God saying, Michael, no, we're not yet.
No to whatever you're asking me or not yet?
How do we respond?
How do you respond? How do you sit in that reality?
And for myself,
humbly, I say this as I'm trying to figure this thing out,
I think the challenge is to not get a hard heart
towards God, to not say, God, why not?
This is not fair. How could you?
I mean, just think of think of Genesis and Joseph's story.
Never once in Joseph's account is it recorded.
God, I don't deserve this.
He was sold into slavery by his brothers, made his way to pawn for his home,
accused of being inappropriate with his wife, which was false.
Found himself in prison.
There are two.
There's a prisoner that got upset. I'll remember you.
That dude forgot Joseph sat in prison even longer.
Right?
Then he finds himself
second in command of all of Egypt, and in that way able to save his family.
Who are who are back right where he's from.
When there's a severe famine that hits like,
we don't know how God's going to work and how he's going to show up
and how he's going to perform, but we know he will.
Amen.
Yes, sir.
But that that challenge us to not get a hard heart,
to not lose that vulnerability with God because he's not showing up
how you want him to show up.
And when you want him to show up.
And here's the second challenge, I think, and this one can be easily hidden,
easily disguised is don't spiritually just start going through the motions.
Don't spiritually keep showing up
tithing and offering and going to church and serving.
But there's no real intimacy with God.
There's no real expectancy that God's going to show up.
There's no real personal connection with God.
You're just going through the motions.
I think that's also a dangerous place to be as a believer
who can be jaded and frustrated and and we can just again throw our hands up.
And this guy's testimony is so challenging.
I mean, he has hope after 38 years
that God will show up for him.
I'm going to keep waiting on the Lord.
I'm going to keep on the Lord. I'm going to keep waiting on the Lord.
And so in that way, I think this about this story,
that this story is a story of hope,
but it's also a story of waiting.
And it's a story of seeking God and not losing our heart
to be expectant, to say yes, father,
you are going to show up,
right?
You're going to show up.
And so process that out.
What does hope look like for you in the name of Jesus?
What is waiting look like for you in the name of Jesus?
What is what is seeking God?
When you've been waiting for a long time, look like in the name of Jesus,
there's our big, very
vulnerable, challenging, don't have healthy answer
questions.
The story
is a story of hope and I love that.
Sometimes it God saying, no, Michael, I know you're praying for
and it makes sense to you, but no or not yet.
I need you to wait on me.
I need you to trust me.
I need you to to to submit to me and know that I am God
and I am in control, and I am good, and I'm going to work it out.
And that's where that faith just comes in to say, all right, Lord, I'll wait.
As difficult as it is, I will wait.
And I know there's a lot of waiting in this room
on all kinds of things, whether it be marital,
kids, job, home,
there's so much waiting and so much frustration and so much,
Defeat at times I it exists,
but thankfully the cross is complete.
And like we go we go back to the verse off the top.
We gotta find life in Jesus.
Only in Jesus.
And so when the no.
One, not yet, we get to really display our faith.
But I want to go back to verse six, and I want to put it on the screen
for you this morning,
and I want you to ask yourself this believer, nonbeliever,
do you want to be made well,
right. Again, I said, it seems silly.
I wrote it in my Bible.
It's a silly question, but it's profound because.
I don't think she's asked dumb questions.
I don't think he asked redundant question.
I don't think he asked questions that don't matter.
And so I think as I'm processing, because what I do in one way in
which I prepare is
I read and ask questions or even ask questions, read
and ask questions, and then go learn from other pastors
who've been teaching and preaching and doing it for longer than I have.
But I think that this is the reality.
I know it has been for parts of my life that there are
some people who don't want to be made well.
They're just like, no, I want to hold that grudge, I do.
I want to hold that grudge. I don't want to.
They don't deserve my forgiveness.
They don't deserve it. Right?
We hold grudges. We do.
I do want to gossip.
It makes me feel good,
right?
I want to be bitter. I want to be angry.
I want to be hurt because it protects me.
It drives me.
It keeps me, sane, like I want.
I want these things. I don't want to be made. Well,
I sometimes we lean in and we give in to sin and temptation, and we
and we allow ourselves to live in these ways where we justify it.
And again, I'm not. This is my story.
I live here all the time.
Oh my goodness.
To be made well, we have to humble ourselves.
We have to say sorry to our spouses
even if we're not wrong or especially when we are wrong.
Like we have to stop living intentionally in sin.
To take up our cross
daily like that is so challenging.
We have to submit to God.
I mean, pastor crosses all the time, right?
We're slaves to Christ. We're slaves.
We were bought at an incredibly high price,
no higher
price than the Son of God than Jesus going to the cross for you and for me.
There's no takes vaccine.
So we were purchased.
We are his,
you know, whether you submit to that or not.
We're his.
And if we're if we're saying yes, I want to be healed, we got to say yes
to Jesus and no to so many other things, so many other things.
We often think as we process this out
for the no are not yet.
When you feel like God maybe is taking something
or is challenging us or is teaching us, maybe it's Michael.
Do you love that thing? I took more than you love me.
You love that experience more than I took than me.
Do you love that opportunity more than you love me?
And it's it's really challenging conviction of my heart's saying, well,
maybe I did or maybe I do.
There's an opportunity for me to repent of that.
I don't want to love those things outside about, you know, my my love for Jesus.
Because again, life is found in him, in him.
And so that's a challenge for all of us to say,
no, Lord, I'm going to submit to you and I'm going to be okay if you take
and if you move and if you do challenge and if you
make things a little uncomfortable.
So I'll throw on screen again,
it's a question that I ask myself all week.
Do you want to be made well?
So the answer is yes.
Jesus is going to come in and get rid of all the crap, all the muck, all the junk.
But that's when the real war happens, right?
For the unbeliever comes to repentance and faith.
Now that you have the flesh and you have the spirit, and they're at
they're at war with each other, that's real.
Because we want to please the spirit.
We also want to please the flesh.
And it's this whole dependance
on God, every moment of every day
that Jesus is more important than anything and everything else.
And I love my wife and kids dearly,
but I have to put Jesus first so that I am better for my life.
I am better for my kids, right?
So Jesus
challenges this gentleman, do you want to be made well?
And Jesus is talking physically, but he's also talking spiritually.
Do you want to be made well?
And then I love verse seven.
This is his response, sir.
I have no one to help me get into the pool when the water is stirred.
I says it says while I'm trying to get in, someone else gets down ahead of me.
And Jesus, I think he's he's he's standing there front of this guy,
knowing his way, knowing his authority, knowing his glory.
And he's like, I have another way, man.
Like, don't get so fixed on the external.
I'll get so fixed on this pool.
I know you put your hope and trust in the angel of the Lord who's coming down.
Who is still of God, is still good.
But I think, can that be you and me?
Sometimes we're so hyper focused
and fix it on something else that we miss Jesus right in front of us,
whether it be through a Sunday morning or whether it be through
a conversation with a spouse or a coworker, or a friend or a neighbor,
or an interaction at the grocery store or whatever.
But Jesus, as we've seen, shows up with figs and heals.
Water heals. Just his words.
Heals like Jesus can show up in any and every way he wants to.
So why not through a casual conversation like why not through
talking to a buddy at the gym or on the soccer field?
You can show up in any and every way he wants possible.
So this it just unlocks this infinite possibility that we can find
God in every interaction we have all day long.
For the rest of our lives.
And so it's that idea to be expectant and to not say, I don't see you,
God is to say, I'm going to look for you, God, I'm going to find you today.
God, I want to submit today to you, God.
That Jesus was right in front of this guy's face.
And you still looking at the pool past him
now, just like, no, like, just be present with me right here.
Let me take care of you. Let me heal you.
Let me provide for you.
And I think that I've been processing
this out to in terms of ministry.
And one pastor I, I listened to from time to time,
he says walking this walk as believers is just one beggar helping another beggar.
Just one person to pin on yourself in another person depend on Jesus.
And I think I've been really convicted this week
to to see the one in front of me, Jesus on Nicodemus.
He saw the woman at the well and he sees this gentleman around.
There's hundreds and hundreds of other people that he could have,
he could have gone to, but he went to this guy.
Jesus sees the needs of one.
He sees the individual right in front of you.
And so that's a challenge for you and for me.
Who's the one that you need to serve the one that you need to provide for,
the one that you need to you need to walk alongside?
Who is that one in your life?
Start with your family, with your neighbors, with your community.
Who is that one here at church?
Who is the one when you hear Trisha get up like, hey, join us.
Like we're going to three services.
We need some support, we need some help.
And maybe that's for you. Maybe it's not,
but pray about it.
What does God have for you? Who is the one?
What is the ministry?
What is it up to you right in front of you.
This is one bigger helping, another bigger.
I told Jamie for us this to have a Bible study Monday
nights and bleeds into the youth group a little bit,
and she was talking about getting up on stage and getting a little nervous.
And I joke with I was like, I get I get nervous every single time
I get up here with you guys, like I get with youth. And it's easy.
I get up in front of you and I'm super nervous for some reason.
I don't know what it is, but God said, do it, so I'm gonna do it.
And so
if it's nervousness or if it's frustration or if it's lack of qualifications,
like Carl says, say yes on the front and then we'll figure out the rest.
Like jump into a ministry here, serve somewhere.
I liken serving to working out right.
You have a really long night.
Kids are up all night.
You're exhausted. But, you know, you need to go work out.
You're like, dang, I know the energy. I can't get there.
And then you go work out and you sweat and you feel so much better after.
I think that serving,
you're like, man, I got to take away time from my wife and my kids.
I it's that's difficult.
But then when I leave YouTube, I'm like, it was the freaking best.
Like, I love this. It's amazing.
I think that serving right you do have to sacrifice.
You do have to say no to other things.
But then you leave and you're like, this is awesome.
I love this and so shameless plug there if you want to serve, join us.
But I want to ask another question.
I don't know the answer, but I want to ask you.
I want you to process.
Have you ever felt stepped over?
Right. Only one person got healed and they got in that water.
The first person in.
I think that we asked that question of God a lot.
I God, what did I lose this or why did I not experience it?
Why is my son struggling with bullying?
Or why was my daughter having to go through that?
My spouse?
Why have your health stepped over,
not provided for your prayers, not answered
right?
A little bit of frustration
and I kept coming back to this same song this week.
It's called refiner and it's one of those either love or hate.
It's like a 12 minutes sign.
So sometimes I love that song knowing like, jeez, Louise,
I've heard the same lyric for like 14 minutes.
I need to turn it off. But it's a great song
in terms of processing, waiting when we get a no or not Yet.
I'm not going to
sing it for you, but I'll tell you the lyrics.
It says you're a refiner.
I'm sorry, you're a fire.
The refiner. I want to be consumed.
It says I want to be tried by fire.
I want to be purified.
You take whatever you desire.
Lord, here's my life, right?
And we think right to be refined.
There's fire and heat involved.
It may feel uncomfortable to be refined, but that's our charge.
Not to be refined and made more into the image
and likeness of Christ.
You're a fire Lord, the refiner.
But I still want to be consumed because I have lots of rough edges
and I want to look more like you. Jesus.
I want to talk more. I'll let you. Jesus.
And so I need to be in the fire a little bit.
I do,
and so maybe it's not running from the fire and saying,
all right, God, what do you have for me in this fiery season?
What am I supposed to learn here?
I don't like it. It's uncomfortable.
But if the outcome is I look more like you, Jesus, than not.
I'll gladly sit in this because here's my life, right?
That's the posture we're supposed to have.
Easier said than done, of course, but that's the posture to look more like
Jesus.
And so here's kind of my takeaway as I process that out is this,
that you and I,
when we don't understand what God is doing or why we're in the season we're in,
we have to cling to the reality that God is good all of the time.
If we can cling to that reality, that, all right, God, this season's tough,
but I know and remember when you showed up here
and when you provided there and when you were helping me through this.
If we can cling to that, that God is good.
Same as Joseph, same as Daniel, that God is good amongst our circumstances.
Yeah, life is tough, but God is good.
It's going to help us to have that hope.
And that gift of hope is going to keep us going.
It's going to keep us going. It's going to keep us going.
This is the reality that God is good all the time.
Can we hold on to that long enough for God to work and move
and allow us to mature in Christ likeness?
And then verse eight and nine, if we jump back into the text,
Jesus with authority says, get up,
pick up your mat and walk.
And at once his body was healed.
Just in those few words again.
Can you imagine?
From the brain
to the spine to the legs, that he could physically just do that, right?
Just get up and walk and then to have the muscle ability to physically do it.
And this dude just walks off.
I don't know, I've read this a lot and it's just like,
just gloss over like, oh god, use it on the miracles.
Like what?
Don't rob garbage glory.
Sit in this reality that God is amazing. Again.
Like I said,
this body still remembers its creators voice,
and it still remembers like the authority that God has in its life,
whether it's sinful and broken and knows yes or not.
Our our body, you know it's creator's voice.
Get up and walk.
This guy's restored.
And then just to kind of finish the story,
the Pharisees are frustrated because it's a Sabbath
and they're annoyed, but they don't want to give God the glory.
And there's this whole back and forth and
and then verse 14, I want to share that with you.
I don't have it on the screen, but it says,
This is Jesus talking to this gentleman.
See, you are well again, like you're physically well again,
but stop sinning or something worse may happen to you again.
It's speaking to your your physical health. But where are you at spiritually?
Where are you putting your hope and your faith in your trust spiritually?
Again, it's that same question do you want to be made well?
Do you want to be made well?
I just I'm kind of blown away
by by God's sovereignty here, his authority, his graciousness to heal.
And I want to put this on the screen and kind of circle back
to what Carl threw out maybe three weeks ago or four weeks ago.
Life, legacy and eternity
and process that through this story,
life, legacy and eternity.
Because as I process this story out,
the story isn't just about a man being healed.
It's about a bigger picture of Jesus bringing abundant lives.
He's calling us to live a faithful legacy.
He's preparing us for eternity with him.
That's the story
of life, legacy and eternity.
I mean, think live for a second.
Jesus meets us in our brokenness
and he speaks life into us.
He speaks life into you, and he speaks life into me.
And here's this kind of application.
I process it out that Jesus wants to breathe new life into us.
He wants to heal our hearts.
You know, it's a store of hope, and he wants to give us purpose right now.
What does that purpose look like for you and him in union together?
What does that purpose look like?
He wants to bring you abundant life
about legacy.
Jesus calls you to live in a way that points others back to himself.
That's the legacy.
The work is finished. Jesus did it.
We're just called to to share the good news and share the gospel.
And so our
application, our kind of our processing is,
is what legacy are we leaving behind in the name of Jesus?
What legacy are we leaving behind?
And I love this.
Do we carry bitterness?
Do we carry frustration? Do we?
Do we carry the hurt?
Or do we carry our mat as a witness of God's glory and power in our lives?
You can carry bitterness and be justified.
There's a lot of letdowns in life. You can carry frustration.
You can carry the pain.
It exists, and it's not a constant like we all experience all of these things.
It's real.
Or we can say, all right, God, I'm going to leave.
You're good all the time.
I'm going to carry this man as a witness of your power
and your authority and your might and your faithfulness
and your goodness and your love and your whatever.
Right.
Like we can just sit in the power of God and carry that mat.
And then eternity.
Jesus secured your faith beyond this world,
life with him forever.
And it's
this idea that I know we all want physical healing,
but that's temporary.
Physical healing is temporary eternity.
That's what we look forward to, and that's what
we have to have our hearts broken towards this world.
Eternity. Who can we help save?
Not because we're doing the work, or just because we're walking in lockstep
with Jesus and sharing his goodness.
He did the work.
Physical healing is temporary.
Salvation is eternal.
Jesus didn't come to fix bodies.
He came to save souls, came to save souls.
And he says, Michael, I want to use you.
I want, I want, I want you to go and I want you to do.
I heard one song, it, you know, it highlights.
Like God, there's so much brokenness in this world.
I don't know, the lyrics just came to my head.
And so there's so much brokenness is so much hurt, there's so much pain.
And he said, yeah, I know I'm sending you. I've given you my spirit.
Go and heal in my name. Go and live in my name.
Go and provide in my name.
Going and bring encouragement in my name.
I know there's brokenness and hurt, but go.
I've given you the same spirit that Rose used from the dead.
It lives in you, the same authority, same power.
Go and do.
And so it's cool that Pascale on our behalf and excel
and what God's doing has gone and he's going and doing
and I know many of you do here locally and on missions,
but that's our encouragement
this morning to is to not lose hope,
to not go through the motions, to not to not have a hard heart towards God.
That when the enters, no
or not yet to be to to sit in the reality that God is good all the time,
to not give in to the temptation to say, you know what?
This isn't fair.
I'm done.
Live a life like Joseph.
Live a life like Daniel.
Ultimately, live a life like Jesus.
And I want to do a little bit of you.
See stuff with you this morning as we wrap up every week, we come together.
So we'll be together tomorrow night.
Dinner games, worship, teaching.
And then we go to small groups in the night. Right.
And I always give leaders small group questions.
And so I want to put this question on the screen for you this morning.
This is what our, what our leaders and kids do every week.
Because how many times you go home and you have lunch and you take a nap
and you wake up, be like, what did we talk about at church?
I already forgot, I we're in John five, but what the heck do we talk about?
And so I have these put it out for you
there in the back of the room there in the welcome center.
Take it if you want it as a bookmark
in your in your Bible, or just take a picture of it.
These are five questions for you to answer this week.
How for you to process the text?
And the first one is this.
The man at the pool waited 38 years.
How do you think his hope and expectations change over time?
And what does that teach us about waiting on God?
Question two Jesus asked, do you want to be healed?
Why do you think he asked that?
And what might that question look like in your own life right now?
Question three the man was focused on the pool
instead of Jesus sitting right in front of him.
What are some pools or distractions or false hopes
that we tend to focus on instead of Jesus?
Question for
have you ever felt like God showed up for someone else, but not for you?
How do you wrestle with those moments while still trusting God's goodness?
And the last one is, as the story showed, Jesus noticing the one person
in the crowd,
how can we live like Jesus
and see the one that golfing right in front of us?
So challenging questions and good, honest I think processing questions.
And so if you want one, take one please.
Pascal will be back with us.
We're going to get to hear fun stories and celebrate with him next week.
So come on back. But let's pray.
And we're going to do one more song together. This morning
okay?
God, you are good.
We thank you for your faithfulness.
We thank you that.
You are patient with us.
We thank you that you are personal.
We thank you that you are loving and kind God.
And we thank you that you have sought us out and you have redeemed us.
You have made us a new creation.
Lord, help us to be bold in that newness and to live for you
and to process what you have for us.
When the answer is
no, we're not yet to live in the reality that we don't have all the answers.
But God, you are good.
Help us, Lord, to encourage each other and to see the one
that you have called us to serve,
and to see you right in front of our face.
Lord God, we want to give you glory
and we want to repent for the sins of our lives.
Lord,
please continue to inspire us to lean in as a community,
to be in your word
and to be in service of others.
We thank you for this morning, for this space.
We pray this all in your name, Jesus. Amen.