This Changes Everything [PART 14] | Mike de Vetter |Sunday 9th August

[00:00:03] We're jumping back into John. We're working our way through John. And we are at John chapter 5. If we haven't met, my name's Mike. I'm part of the team here. And, yeah, really excited just to bring this word to us this morning. [00:00:17] So, John chapter five, we're going to read from verses one through to 15. [00:00:21] Feel free to follow along in your own Bible or on the screen behind 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 was surrounded by five covered colonnades. Not colored, covered colonnades. Here a great number of disabled people used to lie. The blind, the lame, the paralyzed one who was there had been an invalid for 38 years. [00:00:54] 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, sir? The invalid replied, I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I'm trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me. Then Jesus said to him, get up, pick up your mat and walk at once. The man was cured. He picked up his mat and walked. The day on which this took place was the Sabbath. And so the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, it is the Sabbath. The law forbids you to carry your mat. But he replied, the man who made me well said to him, pick up your mat and walk. So they asked him, who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk? The man who was healed had no idea who he was, for Jesus had slipped away and into the crowd that was there. Later, Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, see you are well again. Stop sinning, or something worse may happen to you. The man went away and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who made him well. [00:02:00] We pray together as we open God's word. Father, thank you. [00:02:05] Thank you, Lord. When we read the Word of God, we are reading you, Lord Jesus. You are the Word. You existed from the very beginning. [00:02:13] And so when we read the Word, we are encountering you and Jesus. Would we encounter you today? Would you reveal your truth, your wisdom? Would you reveal to us what we need to know so that we would be able to glorify you in the way we live our lives? [00:02:29] Be honored in Jesus name. Amen. [00:02:34] Anybody enjoying summer so far? Yes. [00:02:37] Anyone complaining about the heat? [00:02:41] So it rained 50 days, January, February, and we complained about that. And now it's too hot. [00:02:48] Cancel. [00:02:50] Gotta have something to complain about, right? [00:02:54] Well, today in this passage, we arrive at the pool of Bethesda, where a man who could not walk meets Jesus and leaves walking. [00:03:07] The third physical miracle that Jesus has performed in this book of John so far. The first was turning the water into wine, the second, healing the official son. And now this is the next miracle that we see. [00:03:21] But when you read John's teaching and his accounts of the Gospel, John doesn't always focus on the miracles being the important part. In fact, he often doesn't even use the word miracle. He speaks of signs because signs point towards something. When you are looking at a sign, there's one, I don't know if anyone's noticed. When you drive down, I think it's the M5, there's a sign on the left hand side that says sign is not in use. [00:03:49] Has anyone seen that one? And just kind of chuckled a little bit. Sign is not in use. Well, actually it is in use because you're telling me something about that sign. The very fact that you telling me it's not in use, you're communicating something. [00:04:04] But each of these miracles that Jesus performed, they were signs pointing to something greater, to someone greater. [00:04:13] You know, John, at the very end of his Gospel, in John 20:31, he says, these are written, all of these stories, all of these encounters with Jesus, these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. This whole series is all about that. Jesus changes everything. An encounter with Jesus changes everything. [00:04:38] When we encounter the living Word, when we encounter Jesus, our lives will never be the same again. [00:04:46] That means that the story that we're reading is not about paralysis, it's about life. [00:04:52] It's engaging in the human condition, the grace of God interacting with the human condition, and the kind of response that Jesus invites each one of us to take. [00:05:05] And right at the center of this passage, as is so often the case, Jesus asks a question, another question, another question. [00:05:15] And he asks a question of this man that I think we need to wrestle with today. [00:05:21] I think these questions are so important for us to wrestle with because if we don't, we will stay in the condition we are. And every question really matters. And every question that Jesus asks is for a reason. And he asked the question of this man, do you want to get well? [00:05:39] Do you want to be healed? Other translations say, do you want to be whole? [00:05:45] Now, we've heard Jesus say similar things before. [00:05:48] What do you want me to do for you? [00:05:51] Good question. What do you want me to do for you? [00:05:54] Well, I hope you can fix my problem, maybe, or make life a little bit more comfortable or easy, or what would you like me to do? Jesus asked the question, would you like to be well, now you would look at it and say, well, Obviously he's been 38 years unable to walk. Of course he wants to be well, right? [00:06:16] Jesus wouldn't ask unnecessary questions. [00:06:19] In fact, Martin Copenhaver, in his research of the Gospel, he says that Jesus asks 307 questions. [00:06:29] Jesus has asked 183 questions, and there's a prize for anyone who can guess how many questions he actually answered. [00:06:39] Someone said it. Actually three. Only three questions he directly answered. Normally, he just followed it up with another question, right? [00:06:47] Another question. [00:06:49] But every question that he asks exposes something inside of that person's life. And also the reader of the Gospel. [00:06:58] And here's another deep, searching question. Jesus isn't just asking this man if he wants functioning legs again. He's asking, do you want to truly be whole? [00:07:07] Do you truly want to be well? [00:07:10] He's asking whether he truly desires the kind of life that John speaks about right at the end, that we may have life in his name. [00:07:18] I wonder if that question echoes today. [00:07:21] Not do you want your life to be easier or that God might change your circumstances, but do you want to be whole? Do you want to be made well, as I read through this passage, there were three observations that I saw that I want to share this morning. [00:07:38] The first one is pretty damning on humanity. [00:07:41] We are more helpless than we think. [00:07:44] It's a good start, isn't it? [00:07:46] The good news normally starts with bad news. We are more helpless than we think. I know we tried to sort it out and make it all work and come up with our own strength to solve the problem. But this is the reality. As humans, we are more helpless than we think. [00:08:03] And John paints a fascinating picture before he even shares what Jesus speaks. He tells us that Jesus enters Jerusalem during one of the Jewish festivals. Near the Sheep Gate is this pool of Bethesda surrounded by five covered colonnades. [00:08:21] Now, around the pool lies a whole lot of different people. Blind, lame, paralyzed. [00:08:27] It's a heartbreaking image. [00:08:30] Hundreds of people gathered around a place that had a promise of hope. [00:08:37] The waiting, the watching. [00:08:40] Is this my day? Is this my moment where I might get my healing, hoping that perhaps today would be the day that the waters are moved? Now, John doesn't share the details in this, but in one of the Other gospels, it says that an angel, or the story was that an angel would come and stir the water, and when the water was stirred, whoever got in would get healed. [00:09:01] Now, was that actually the reality? [00:09:05] Was it a fable? Was it the truth? [00:09:08] What we see, though, is that these people were believing in that moment to be their freedom. [00:09:14] If I can just get to this place, I will find myself in this place of healing and restoration. [00:09:21] John's observation is that entire community was putting all their hope in a pool that might give them the answer. [00:09:31] And I wonder if the pool could be considered like the law, you know, in the society of that day. If I fulfill the law, if I do all of these things, if I tick all of these boxes, then surely God will answer me and break through in my life, for which we all know that. Romans 3:10 says, There is no one righteous, not even one, not one. [00:09:55] None of us could fulfill the law in our own ability. Jesus fulfilled the law, and so therefore our righteousness is found in him alone, not in my strength, not in my doing. [00:10:07] But is it possible that this pool can become a picture of humanity itself? [00:10:13] Is it possible that we can gather around our own pools of Bethesda? [00:10:19] Maybe it's a pool of success, of significance, purpose, relationship. [00:10:28] We think if we can just get a little bit more money, a little bit more influence, meet the right person, gain enough influence with our peers and in the world, if we can get enough approval, then that thing that is hurting and so desperately needed in our life, we will find the answer. [00:10:50] And, you know, every generation, we build new pools. [00:10:54] We find new ways to try and scratch that itch to try and sort that out. [00:10:59] Incredible technology that's given to us, you know, the access to the Bible and the Word and interpretations of the Word far greater than any generation before. You can listen to a thousand podcasts, but a thousand podcasts don't change you. [00:11:16] An encounter with Jesus does. [00:11:20] None of these things can deal with humanity's deepest problem. [00:11:24] Now, John tells us this particular man had been suffering for 38 years. [00:11:30] Now, 38 is not a number that features too often in the Bible. And some commentators have said that maybe that 38 years is referring to a passage in Deuteronomy, chapter two. It says it was 38 years from the time we left Kadesh Barnea until the time we crossed Zered Valley, as the Lord had promised. All the fighting men in our camp from that generation had died. [00:11:55] Was it just like an intentional echo of the past of Israel? [00:12:01] Why did they not enter the Promised Land? [00:12:04] We had a Great sermon from Mark. Earlier on in the year, that camp at the edge of the Promise, why did they not make it in? [00:12:14] They sent the spies in. The spies went and had a look, and they saw the fruit, they saw the land. They said, this is. This is a good land. [00:12:22] But the giants, they're huge. We look like grasshoppers in our own eyes. [00:12:27] It's good, but. [00:12:30] So they camped on the edge of the promise. And for 38 years they went round and round and round. [00:12:36] And God says, I'm not going to let you go in if you think you can do it in your own strength. [00:12:41] There was unbelief within their hearts. [00:12:46] And I wonder whether this man represents that becomes a living picture of Israel. [00:12:55] I wonder if it's a picture of every single one of us dead in sin, wrestling constantly with unbelief. [00:13:05] Your scripture teaches us that sin is not something we occasionally do, and some more than others, myself included. [00:13:13] Sin is the state of our human condition. [00:13:15] We're born into sin. [00:13:17] We're not born into righteousness. We are born again into righteousness. [00:13:22] But we are in a state of sin. That is humanity's problem. [00:13:27] Paul says in Ephesians 2:1, in the past, you were spiritually dead because of your sins and the things you did against God. We were dead in our transgressions, we are dead in our sins. And only Jesus can heal us. Only Jesus can set us free. Only Jesus can forgive us. [00:13:46] And the Bible's diagnosis of humanity is far more serious than we often imagine. [00:13:51] We don't need simply better behavior. [00:13:55] We need resurrection. [00:13:57] We need to go from dead to life, from death to life, only found in Jesus. [00:14:05] So the human state, the condition of humanity, is not in a good way. [00:14:12] Second thing I see as I read this passage is that Jesus addresses the heart before he heals the body. [00:14:20] We can get a physical healing. [00:14:22] God can do a miracle in our lives. But if our heart doesn't change, we'll probably find ourselves back at the pool, probably find ourselves back when that blessing runs out or when we're no longer reminded of the blessing of God. We find ourselves going back to that place we were, because we'll camp in that place. [00:14:41] But Jesus addresses the heart before he heals the body. [00:14:46] So this man is in the depth of depravity, disappointment, year after year, month after month, week after week, day after day, waiting for that moment where he might get in and get his healing and notice what happens. Jesus walks into the scene. [00:15:05] The man doesn't call for him. [00:15:07] The man doesn't Even ask to be healed by him. In fact, this man didn't even really know who Jesus was. [00:15:14] Only at the very end of the story, we read that he knew who Jesus was once. [00:15:21] The teachers of the law, they had had that encounter because he says, sir, the invalid replied, I have no one to help me get into the pool. When the water is stirred, while I'm trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me. [00:15:34] See, if he'd known who Jesus was, he would have responded, rabbi, teacher, Lord. [00:15:40] But he replies, sir, this is just some guy coming up and saying, do you want to be whole? [00:15:46] Now notice his response. His response wasn't, yes, I want to be whole. [00:15:52] What does he do? [00:15:53] He gives excuses. [00:15:55] Anyone ever give an excuse to God? When he asks you to do something or he invites you into something, it's like, come on this adventure with me. No. Well, you know what? There's a few things that I just need to run by you. First. I have some concerns with your plan because it doesn't line up with mine. [00:16:14] Where are the 17 steps that I need to confirm that this is what you want me to do? [00:16:19] God doesn't give that to us, but he invites us. Do you want to be well? Do you want to be whole? Do you want to walk in freedom? What is our response going to be? [00:16:32] Grace always begins with God's initiative. [00:16:36] The five covered colonnades, the number five, the number of grace. Grace met that man at the pool. At the edge of the pool. [00:16:47] See, long before we sought Christ, long before we thought it was a good idea to need to be saved. Jesus came for us. [00:16:56] We can't love except that God loved us first. [00:17:01] We need to understand that we don't love God out of a human love. [00:17:06] We don't have that capability. We love because he first loved us. He showed a model love when he died on the cross. When he gave everything, when Jesus gave everything, he modeled the love that we then receive. [00:17:25] Jesus walks towards this man and asks, do you want to get well? [00:17:30] He never answers the question, this man, but he responds with his excuses, sir, I have no one to help me. [00:17:38] I've come up with lots of excuses when God asks me to do things. [00:17:45] And then sometimes he just says, just obey, just step. [00:17:51] I'm going to give you a little quarter of the plan, and you're going to have to step. [00:17:57] And then there will be an outcome. There will be an answer that comes following that. [00:18:02] But Jesus asks about the desire to be well. And the man talks about his circumstances. [00:18:07] Come on, let's not be those people. [00:18:10] When God calls us into freedom and then we take all of the. The time that we should be spending on the yes, saying, but God, what about, are you aware of my circumstance, my situation? [00:18:24] Are you aware of all the reasons why this isn't going to work? He goes, yeah, that bit doesn't bother me. [00:18:31] You know, our circumstances don't really bother God when it comes to his plan and our working, of his plan, our comfort. God's not too worried about our comfort and whether we feel good about that decision. He actually just wants us to walk in obedience. Because in that place of obedience, that's where the blessing lies. And I'm not talking about a financial blessing. I'm talking about being in the middle of God's perfect will. [00:18:56] Where else would I want to be except right in the middle of where God has asked me to be? [00:19:04] I wonder if it's true of us. Do we ever give God our excuses? [00:19:09] Jesus asks us to trust him and we explain why it's too difficult. [00:19:14] Jesus calls us to forgive and we give them all the reasons why it's too hard. And because of all that they have done, Jesus invites us to surrender and we explain all the obstacles in the way. And we say, I will hold onto this if that's okay. [00:19:28] The issue isn't that the obstacles aren't real. The issue is that Jesus is asking a different question. [00:19:34] He's asking whether we truly want the freedom that he's offering. [00:19:39] You know, there's a strange comfort in familiar bondage. [00:19:45] Now, I'm not assuming that about this man. [00:19:49] Many of us might see it in our own hearts that even though slavery is painful, there's a comfort in its predictability. Sometimes not necessarily enjoyable, but familiar. [00:20:03] Our identity quietly becomes wrapped up in the thing that's happened to us. [00:20:11] Our anger becomes a part of who we are. [00:20:16] I remember someone saying to me, I just tell it as it is. That's who I am. [00:20:22] And I responded, I had a good relationship with this person. I said, yeah, but you're rude. [00:20:29] Look, you're just rude. [00:20:32] I said, you can be nice and tell it as it is, but you're just rude. [00:20:37] People don't want to enter into that conversation with you because you don't treat them right. [00:20:42] I don't see that in the fruit of the spirit. When we truly loving and peaceful, we can tell somebody the truth, but we don't have to be angry and mean and rude about it. [00:20:53] But we can take that on. This is who I am. I just call it as it is. [00:20:57] Yeah, don't be rude. There you go. If you take that home, don't be rude. [00:21:05] What about our anxiety? [00:21:07] It can lock us up. [00:21:11] It can stop us stepping into relationships because of fear, stepping into new spaces and new opportunities. [00:21:19] If you are here for the very first time, this is like your first time in church. [00:21:23] I'll just say, well done. [00:21:26] It's a little bit daunting to walk into a place where you might have some preconceived ideas as to who God is and what church will look like. [00:21:33] I hope what you're finding is a group of people who are pretty normal, who serve a supernatural God who loves them so much. I want to say you're so welcome. If this is your first time or you're just entering the journey of faith and asking questions. The questions are good. [00:21:49] Come on. We have to ask better questions and not be afraid of the questions that someone might ask us. Let's engage in those questions together because the answers are there to be found. [00:22:02] I wonder also if our resentment can become a constant companion and then it becomes the topic of every conversation. [00:22:09] If you speak long enough with somebody, that resentment will come up. That'll come out that festering wound that just needs a scalpel of love and truth. [00:22:20] It just keeps bubbling to the surface. [00:22:24] Even our sin can be something we end up trying to defend rather than saying, jesus, I surrender it to you. [00:22:30] Jesus is asking you and I today, do you want to be well? [00:22:35] Come on. Who wants to be well today? Who wants the wholeness, the fullness, the freedom of Christ? [00:22:44] I don't know what the rest of you want, because about a quarter of you want to be whole and free, but the rest of you want to stay in bondage or it's just too hot to raise your hands. I get that. [00:22:55] But, you know, freedom requires trust. Freedom requires us letting go. [00:23:02] How would we answer Jesus today? [00:23:06] Because he's asking the question, if he's asking the question of this man, but he's asking the question of me today. [00:23:12] Mike, do you want to be whole? [00:23:14] Do you want to be well? [00:23:16] Do you want to live in freedom? Do you want to live in the wholeness of what I have for you? [00:23:22] The answer is yes, but there's a bit of a cost that comes with it. [00:23:29] The third and last observation this morning is maybe the keys can come and join me. [00:23:35] Is that a word from Jesus gives life that we can't create. [00:23:40] A word from Jesus gives life that we can't create. [00:23:46] It's interesting. Jesus doesn't explain himself. [00:23:50] It doesn't explain a detailed process. He doesn't even debate with this guy. He doesn't even invite him. Well, tell me about your faith. How much do you believe in me? Before I speak, speak this miracle over your life. Jesus just says, get up. [00:24:05] Thank you, Matt. Walk. [00:24:09] I wonder if Jesus has actually asked that of some of us. [00:24:14] Get up, take the thing you have, whatever it is, and walk. [00:24:21] Doesn't ask him to run, just walk. A walk of faith. I'll take one step. I don't know what the second step will be, but I'll take the first step. [00:24:30] I believe there's some people here today that Jesus has said even recently, get up, pick up your mat and walk. [00:24:43] Come on, get up. [00:24:46] Pick up your mat and walk. [00:24:50] I'm scared. Get up, pick up your mat and walk. [00:24:57] I don't know if these legs will hold me because for 38 years they haven't been used. [00:25:05] Atrophy is a big thing. [00:25:08] When I did my Achilles, so it'll be going back maybe 12 years ago. [00:25:16] I think I've shared the story before, but humour me one more time. [00:25:24] We were about to move to take on a new church. Amy said when I said I was going to go out and play my last game of indoor football, she said, is that a good idea? [00:25:36] What if you get injured? [00:25:38] To which the man says, that will never happen to me. [00:25:42] I am a prime specimen of muscular strength and about 10 minutes into the game I just felt this excruciating pain and I turned around trying to work out who just jumped on the back of my leg. [00:25:59] It is true. It's like a bullet just in the back of your leg. And my Achilles had ruptured and it was pain. It was like tendons and ligaments and so it's that nauseous feeling. [00:26:13] So I went to A and e. I actually FaceTimed my father and said because he's physio, I think I might have done something to my Achilles. And so we did a little video squeeze test. He goes, yeah, that's gone. So I went to ae, got the cast on. We're in the process of moving. So Amy was staying with her parents. I was packing up the house. I didn't tell her that night. [00:26:38] So I went to bed. [00:26:41] I went to bed with this new cast on my leg and kind of hobbled in the next day. She's like, what is this? [00:26:49] And I went through the process of rehab and what they do is they move the joint so that gradually more and more, you've got that stretch through the tendons. And through the ligament. [00:27:02] And I remember the day they took the cast off and they said, go on, have a walk. [00:27:07] I'm like, you have a walk. [00:27:09] Like, it was terrifying. It was really, really scary. [00:27:13] It's like, I don't know if I could do that. [00:27:17] Can you imagine what this man would have experienced 38 years? [00:27:23] The atrophy in his muscles and the ligaments and the joints. Like his body had not carried his weight. Like his legs, his knees, his ankles had not carried that. [00:27:35] Now I always like to go, I wonder what was he feeling? [00:27:38] Can we record what he was feeling then? [00:27:42] But there was something he heard in the Word of Jesus. [00:27:47] And this is it. This is where I want to land it today. [00:27:50] When Jesus says walk, he knows we're capable of it. [00:27:56] And if we're not able to yet, the moment we take that step, he will. [00:28:01] Come on. It was the same for Peter, wasn't it? Hop out of the boat, Jesus. If it's you, call me. Jesus says, okay, come. [00:28:08] So step, step. [00:28:12] The moment Peter hits the water, it's got to change the molecular structure of the water. I don't know what happened there, but the miracle was there. [00:28:23] Come on, friends, some of us have to get up, take up your mat and walk. [00:28:34] His Word possesses life giving power. See, Jesus doesn't need the pool. [00:28:40] He doesn't need someone to stir the water. [00:28:42] He doesn't need religious ritual. [00:28:45] He just asks us to be obedient. [00:28:48] He doesn't even need visible faith. He doesn't even ask us, man. Let me just ask a couple of questions. Do you have enough faith to believe this miracle will take place? [00:28:56] It doesn't even say that. [00:28:58] He just says, get up, take up your mat and walk. [00:29:02] See, his word possesses power. [00:29:07] John 1. In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God. And the Word was God. Jesus is the Word. He is the embodiment of the Word. [00:29:16] So when Jesus speaks, there is an authority that no demon in hell can stop, no power, no principality can come against the word of Jesus. [00:29:28] And so when Jesus says, get up, that's enough. [00:29:31] That is enough. [00:29:34] And the same Word who spoke creation into being, spoke a creative miracle into this man's life. [00:29:42] The healing itself points before beyond physical restoration. [00:29:46] It points to the gospel, humanity. We cannot save ourselves. [00:29:52] No amount of striving will ever get us into the water. [00:29:56] No amount of religious effort will ever take care of sin. [00:30:04] No amount of moral improvement can conquer death. [00:30:07] So Christ comes to us. [00:30:10] This miracle is a foreshadow of the cross. [00:30:15] God demonstrated his own Love for us in this, that while we're still sinners, while we're still broken in desperate need of a miracle, Christ died for us. [00:30:30] Grace entered humanity. [00:30:33] Grace enters this man's world and says, get up. [00:30:38] Get up. [00:30:40] See on the cross. Jesus enters our helplessness on the cross. Jesus takes us in the burden that we can no longer bear. He takes our shame and our death, and he bears the curse so that we might receive life. The paralyzed man needed new legs. We need new hearts. [00:31:01] The greater miracle is not that this man walks. [00:31:04] The greatest miracle is that spiritually dead people can come alive in Christ because our mortal bodies, even if they get a healing, we go to dust again. [00:31:17] We can't extend our lives beyond the time that we're given. [00:31:21] But there is a spirituality that's found in Christ that is eternal. [00:31:28] As I've sat with this passage this week, I've become convinced that Jesus Question isn't just for the paralyzed man. It's for me, it's for you, it's for every one of us. Do you want to be healed? [00:31:41] Do you want to be healed? [00:31:44] And I believe God wants to heal some people today. [00:31:47] Yeah, but it's been 38 years. [00:31:51] I'm waiting. [00:31:52] I've got a miracle I'm praying for. What about you? [00:31:56] What if it's today? [00:31:58] Well, I don't know. I'm not sure if it is. Who said, what if it is? [00:32:05] What if this is the day that God has determined that you will receive your healing? [00:32:10] Come on, get up. [00:32:13] Get up. [00:32:14] Take up your mat and walk. [00:32:19] Come on. If you need that miracle that only Jesus can give, whether it be in your relationship, whether it be in your finance, your physical condition, why don't you right now, get up and lift your hands to the one who can heal you and set you free? [00:32:38] That's it. That's. [00:32:41] Yeah, I'm up. I'm standing. [00:32:55] Come on. [00:32:56] Would you talk to Jesus right now? [00:32:59] Would you talk to him right now? [00:33:03] He knows what it is, but go on. He's asking you, do you want to be whole? Say, yes, I do. [00:33:08] You tell him what it is that you want to be whole from? [00:33:11] Come on. These people here with addictions that they have held you for many, many years, Jesus is saying, I want to set you free. [00:33:21] I want to give you a power through my spirit that will set you free from the bondage of that addiction. There are relationships, husbands and wives. You're not right with one another. [00:33:34] Jesus is saying, I want to bring that relationship back to those vows that you made to one Another. On that wedding day, in Jesus name, relationships be restored. [00:33:48] Come on. Some of us have to step out into the most dangerous place, that scary place where we don't know what the future looks like. Jesus is saying, get up, take up your mat and walk. [00:34:05] Jesus, we thank you. Come on. Why don't we just take a moment? Why don't you just talk to Jesus? [00:34:10] Talk to the Word who is, was and is and is to come. From the very beginning, Jesus has spoken life over creation. And today he speaks life over your life. [00:34:23] Come on. Would you talk to him right now? [00:34:26] And if this is all new to you, what is prayer? Prayer is simply talking to Jesus and then listening, inviting him to speak into our hearts. [00:34:40] Jesus, please heal me. [00:34:44] Jesus, please restore what was lost. [00:34:48] Jesus, please give me courage to step into the places that I'm too timid to step into. [00:34:59] Jesus, restore what was lost. [00:35:02] Restore the things that were taken away from me. [00:35:09] Jesus, may you be glorified in this. [00:35:17] See, we need to understand that this isn't for our glory. [00:35:24] This isn't for our story. This is for his story. This is for his glory. [00:35:29] When God does a miracle in our lives, it's so he gets the glory. Our vision is to reveal the glory of God to the southwest and beyond. [00:35:42] That's by living a life that honors God, stepping out in obedience, and then telling the story. [00:35:48] This is what Jesus did. [00:35:51] God, I pray there will be miracles that have happened today. [00:35:55] There will be testimonies of tomorrow. [00:35:58] I prayed, I sought the Lord. [00:36:00] I asked him to heal me and he did. By his grace and his mercy. [00:36:08] Will we remain beside our pools, hoping that one more attempt at self salvation or life improvement will make things better? [00:36:20] Or do we entrust ourselves as we are today into the hands of the One who saves and heals?