The Church of Eleven22 - Wk 9: Do You Want to be Healed?

Episode Date: June 6, 2021

Do you want to be healed? Your past does not have to define your future. In Christ, your past pain can be a platform for God’s glory. Visit coe22.com/john to download the journal, find series resources and more.

Amen and amen. Church, grab your Bibles. We're going to be towards the end of John chapter 4. We're going to leak into John chapter 5. And the title of the sermon is this, do you want to be healed? And that is the question that I'm going to be asking you. Jesus is going to ask a guy this.

I think he's going to ask us the same thing. Do you want to be healed? And just if you're new here, if this is your first time, you pick the doozy, okay? But if you're new here and you ever see this little anointing oil up here on the podium, then we're about to get after it today. That's what's going to happen, okay? And so the way we're going to end our service, I'm going to go ahead and tell you so you can

start getting warmed up for is we're going to end with prayer and anointing, and we're going to ask God to heal some folks, okay? And we mean that's holistically, heart, soul, mind, and strength. That's where we're going. And in fact, I wore some sneakers because the Bible says we're supposed to stand against the schemes of the enemy, and I think I'm going to be on my feet fighting this thing out for a long time today, okay? So you with me?

Are you ready? You're not. That's why I got to preach for an hour because I can tell you ain't ready. So grab your Bibles. We're going to be John chapter 4, verse 46, it says this. And so he, that's Jesus, came again to Cana and Galilee where he had made water to wine.

Remember that one? And at Copernum, there was an official whose son was ill. Now this official probably came from King Herod's Palace. He's a really big deal. He's really important. He's got political power, he's got lots of money. Everybody would bow down to this official. He's a really, really, really big deal.

And he's from King's Herod's staff. That's a big deal too. And when this man heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went to him and he asked him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. Now this journey would have been about 20 miles. Take about a half a day to get there on. foot. And so Jesus says to him, unless you see signs and wonders, you will not believe.

So this guy comes, his son is sick, Jesus rebukes him. But let me tell you what Jesus doesn't say. Jesus doesn't say, why in the world would I hear your prayer request? I mean, you work for the guy that tried to kill me when I was two years old. You want to talk about that for a little while? He doesn't talk about any of King Harage Pass and the things that he is associated with. He just looks at him and he's focused on the most important. He's focused on the eternal. But this man is focused on the immediate. He's focused on what's most urgent.

He's focused on what's right now. And so the way he replies, the official said, sir, come down before my son dies. I've talked about this a lot. But there's no pain like kid pain, is there? I mean, there's just no pain like kid pain. And what's going on here is this father is an official. He's got money.

he's got power, he's got prestige, and all of a sudden, when his son is at the verge of death, none of those things matter. Because his money can't heal him, his position can't heal him, his power can't heal him, his prestige can't heal him. So he humbles himself and he travels for a half a day just in case this man that he has heard can do miracles, can do something about it. This dad is in a desperate situation. He doesn't even really reply to Jesus' rebuke.

He's just basically saying, okay, rabbi, this isn't about me, this is about my son. Can you please, can you just please, can you come with me and see him? He's at the point of death. And if you've ever dealt with kid pain, I'm going to tell you what. One of the things that happens when something's wrong with your kid

is you begin to ask, is this on me? I mean, you ask the parent of any prodigal son or daughter, and guess what every one of them deal with? They deal with this shame. They deal with this doubt. Like, did I do this wrong? Did I not pray over them enough? Did I not bring them to church enough? Is this my fault?

You let a kid struggle with an addiction or doubt or any kind of mental health issue, and you let every parent, I don't care how good your theology is, you begin to be grinned with, is this my fault? Did I do something wrong? If your child deals with a physical ailment, there's some place in our brain that just goes here. God, are you punishing me via my kid? What is going on here? There's no pain like kid pain. And I don't care how much money you make. I don't care how nice your house is.

I don't care what your position at work is. There's not a parent among us that wouldn't trade it all in in an instant just to heal a kid that's sick. Amen? This is where this dad is. Let me ask you, have you ever cried out to God like this? You ever had a son or a daughter, a mom or a dad, a spouse, a loved one? And from your perspective, they are at the point of death. And you're just saying, Jesus, please come down before my child dies. I've been there.

I've been at that place where you're crying out to God. God, Jesus, please fix them. I know you can. I know you can. God, please, please, please. This is what this dad's doing. That's different than going to your disciple group and during prayer time, do we have any prayer requests?

I just have an unspoken. That ain't what we're talking about here. We're talking about a dad on his face before Jesus just in case Jesus is who he says he is and he always keeps his promises. He's saying, please, please, please heal my boy. And look what Jesus does. Verse 50, Jesus said to him, go, your son will live.

That's not all that information, is it? I mean, he just gets right to it. One of the things that I think is incredible here is that geography doesn't bother Jesus. He's not bothered at all that the son is not right there. Why? Because he is God in the flesh. And so a little geography doesn't hinder him at all. And then look, look what happens.

And the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and went on his way. With just such minuscule amount of information, he doesn't ask how, he doesn't ask for verification, he doesn't get a receipt, nothing.

Wives, by the way, when your husband comes home and he doesn't have all the information, he's being biblical. Do you understand? So that's it, man. He comes to Jesus, will you please,

come with me to heal my son before he dies, and Jesus says, you can go back home, he is already healed. And then he just believes. Let me ask you this. Do you believe? Because in 42 minutes, I'm going to invite anybody that needs to be healed.

Physically, emotionally, relationally, spiritually, anybody that's broken that needs God to do something in your life, to put something back together, I'm going to invite you to come and be prayed over. and an anointed with oil, and we're going, we ain't going to pray like Presbyterians and be like, if it be your will. That's not what we're going to pray. We're going to pray like Pentecostals in this place, okay? We're going to ask that the fire fall down on some people. I'm serious, okay? So let me ask you, do you believe? Do you believe? Now, maybe even a better question for those

that don't, do you want to believe? Do you want to believe? Because God wants you to just want to believe. I got some really good news about how much your belief impacts what God does. That it is not the amount of faith that you have, but it is the object of your faith that matters like crazy. That's the difference. And we know this because in Mark chapter 9, there's another dad with another son who is possessed by a demon. And Jesus rolls up on him and the disciples are arguing because the dad brought the boy to the disciples to be healed. in some denominational dispute, and then the dad is just desperate, and he says, Jesus, I brought my son to be healed by you, and these can't cast out the demon.

And so he says to Jesus in Mark chapter 9, he says this, after Jesus says, anything is possible for one who believes. And the dad answers this way. Actually, the Bible says the dad cries out, like not thinks about it and replies, but his immediate response is this. I believe help me overcome my unbelief. Maybe the most honest prayer in all of the scriptures, especially when you're dealing with something that doesn't make sense to you. Like, why is my son sick? Why is my daughter sick? Why won't God answer my prayer? Why won't God heal my marriage? When you're praying for that thing over and over and over and God's not answering it

the way that you hoped he would answer it. And this man in Mark chapter 9 says this, I believe, help me overcome my unbelief. And here's what, here's what God, here's what Jesus does in Mark chapter 9. Jesus takes that man's tiny little itty bit of faith, even though his unbelief seems to be way bigger than his belief. And it's not the, it's not the size of his faith that matters. It's the object of his faith that matters. This is why Jesus says, if you just have the faith, the size of a mustard seed, it's so small you can't even see it. If you just head that little itty-bitty, tiny bit of faith in the almighty eternal God, then that is eternally more powerful than having a whole bunch of faith in the impotent things of this world.

That kind of faith can make mountains move. And so this dad shows up, will you heal my son? And Jesus says, Jesus says, go, your son will live. and the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and he went on his way, do you believe? Even if it's just a tiny little bit, and even right now, if you've got a whole bunch of, I'm not sure about this,

just pray that God will give you enough faith to walk in obedience to what he has called you to do. And so as he was going down, that means like down to his house, his servants met him and told him that his son was recovering. And so he asked them the hour when he began to get better. and they said to him, check this out, yesterday, yesterday. Yesterday at the seventh hour, that'd be like one o'clock.

The fever left him, and the father knew that was the hour when Jesus had said to him, your son will live. Now, think about this. He meets Jesus. Will you please, in desperation, will you please heal my son? And Jesus says, your son will be healed. And so this guy takes a half a day off before he travels back. How could you do that?

And I could tell you why, because he believed, because he trusted, because he had faith. And let me tell you what faith is. Faith is acting as if you actually believe that God is who he says he is and he always keeps his promises. Faith is the kind of thing. The only way I know how to explain it is is, Paul says, be anxious for nothing, but in prayer and supplication make your request known to God. and the peace of God that transcends understanding will guard your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus. That when God says to you, you will be healed.

From that moment to the moment you experience that healing, that you begin to walk in the kind of fate that transcends understanding. And here's what that means. That means when the doctor's report comes back again and it's still not exactly what you were hoping for and what you were praying for, and then people look at you and go, Hold on, hold on.

It's still there. How come you're not freaking out? And you go, here's what you're actually saying. When you go, I don't know. What you're saying is, I have this peace that transcends understanding. Because my heart and my mind are being guarded in Christ Jesus. And so that's what this man does. And then look what happens.

And he himself believed in all his household. that God often uses our pain as a platform for His glory. The Romans 828 says, for God is at work in all things for the good of those that love Him and are called according to His purposes. Man, we can stand here all day and share with you time after time after time after time where God would take what at one point looked like an unanswered prayer and then worked in that situation for His glory to be shown. I can't tell you the number of times I've prayed dear God would you please do it this way and he doesn't

and it makes no sense to me whatsoever and then in retrospect when I look back I could see how God was using the pain that we were walking in for a much bigger thing than I had any idea that he had in store why because God can use the worst mess the worst mess the worst mess the worst mess own message. It goes on to say, now this was the second sign that Jesus did when he had come from Judea to Galilee. Now again, remember, in the Gospel of John, he doesn't call these things miracles. He calls them signs because a sign is not the point. A sign does not point to itself. A sign points to something greater. And the sign here is this. There will come a day. There will come a day that every single person that we have ever loved and been sick, that one day, for all of those

who are in Christ Jesus, there will be a day where there is no sickness. And there will be a day when we step from this experience here on earth into his very presence, and you will see face to face the Son of God, and you will hear these words, well done, good and faithful servant, and we find out in the book of Revelation that he will wipe away every tear from your eye. And so you think about this. When Jesus reaches out to wipe that tear, you know what you see? On the palm of his hand, you see that scar. You see that scar.

and I'm sure if we were all there and we were witnessing the son of God being crucified on the cross we may be thinking God have you completely lost control what are you doing here and God would say no I don't think you understand I am at work in all things for the good of those that love me and are called according to his purpose this is a sign chapter 5 verse 1 it says this after this there was a feast of the Jews and Jesus went up to Jerusalem And remember every time no matter where Jesus is, he's got to go up because this is Mount Moriah, this is Zion, this is Mount Calvary, it's the highest Jerusalem, it's the highest place in Israel. Now there is in Jerusalem by the sheep gate a pool.

Now, if you ever go to Israel with me, I'll take you to the sheep gate. We'll take you to the pool of Bethesda here. And what you need to know, this is not the VIP entrance. When you walk in, it's kind of close to the temple, and this is where the shepherds would bring the sheep on their way to be slaughtered. And there were actually two pools, one on each side of the road, and one was to kind of clean up the sheep before they went to the temple, and the other was people would go there and take baths. So they go in the sheep gate, and then their Aramaic is called Bethesda, which has five roof colonnades, and in these lay a multitude of invalids, blind, lame, paralyzed.

Now notice real quick, notice real quick. Part of the reason I wanted to look at these two events side by side is because I just want you to pay attention in the gospel of John how Jesus has no problem at all. It throws him off none to bounce back and forth between the VIP and the elites and like the least of these in that society. I mean, one minute he's with Nicodemus, a religious leader. The next minute he's sitting down at the well in Samaria talking to a girl he's not supposed to be talking to. One minute he's hanging out with an official from King Herod's palace and now he's going to walk

with a multitude of invalids. This is why, by the way, the Church of 1122 is a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ because Jesus doesn't just hang out with the clean, that Jesus came for the dirty, that Jesus isn't just running around with the healthy,

that Jesus came for the sick. And I'm telling you, Our church is way more like the pool of Bethesda with a multitude of influence. I mean, look around. I mean, I know everybody looks okay right now. This is the best they've looked all week long. Just look.

This is it, man. We're kind of like the island of misfit toys for churches in our city. And so if you're busted up and bruise, if you walk with a limp or can't walk at all, whatever it is, man, you've got some issues. Welcome, welcome, welcome. Because this thing's like an emergency room.

So if you feel like you've got to wait for the bleeding to stop to go to the emergency room, you got some issues, but it ain't bleeding. You got a different issue, I promise, all right? And if you think you got it all together, I just want to graciously invite you to never come back. Because you're going to screw it up for the rest of us, okay? Because at 1122, it's a whole bunch of people that need the Lord to do for us what we have been unable to do for ourselves. and when Jesus walks into Jerusalem that day, this is what he sees. A multitude of invalids.

Now, if you pay close attention to your Bible, which I hope you do, you'll notice that after verse three, there's no verse four, and it just skips to verse five, all right? This is why we use the ESV. I'm not sure, verse four and some later editions of the Bible was kind of thrown in there, and so basically what it says is, and I'm not sure this is legend or if it actually happened, but an angel of the Lord would come to this water that they're laying by and stir it up, and everybody believed whoever got in first, that one person would be healed. That's why everybody's hanging out here at this pool.

Verse 5 says this. One man was there who had been an invalid for 38 years. This guy's been waiting for a long time. Now, 38 years, for some of you, it sounds like, old. It's not. It's not at all. It's not. Amen? Hear that gravely amen. Amen. Okay, well, in the first century, that's about a lifespan, okay? And here's the thing. This guy, it says he's an invalid for 38 years, and I just want you to see that word invalid. This is how people would see him, especially in the first century. I mean, look at

the two words, invalid. That's how this culture would see him. You were not producing. You you were not worth it. You were an invalid human being. And I just want you to know, that's not how Jesus sees it. Jesus sees every single human being as valid. No matter what your physical state is, no matter what your mental state is, no matter what your condition is,

you are not invalid. Then when Christ died on the cross for you, he validated you. This is why 1st Corinthians 6 is going to say, do you not know? you were not your own, you were bought at a price. Do you know how valuable and valid you are to the Almighty God? He sent his one and only son to pay the price of his blood to purchase you and adopt you into his family.

Look, I Google this. The most expensive animal on the planet right now is, I don't know how to say the first name. It's a horse, and the last name is Pegasus. I think if I say the first name, I'll say a bad word, okay? few satchi Pegasus. It's worth $72 million. Okay, now, as expensive as that racehorse is, that price on that horse

as compared to any human being, any human being, that any human being on the planet, regardless of where they're from or what they look like or what condition they're born with or whatever, any human being is infinitely more valuable than this racehorse right here. And we live in a world that says the opposite. We live in the world that says, no, no, no, no, no.

Some people are just inconvenient. Some people are, they don't, they're not worth being born. And God says, no, no, no, no. There are no invalid people on this planet. Every single person on this planet is an image bearer of the most high God, including this man here who's been suffering for 30. eight years. Now, part of the reason that the people in the first century looked at this man and looked down on him was this theology that came about. We'll see it very specifically in

John chapter 9. In John chapter 9, we're going to bump into a guy who is blind from birth. And some of the disciples are going to ask this question. Rabbi, who sinned? Was it this man or was it his parents that he was born blind? You see, people began to think in the first century, and honestly people think this today too, that if something is wrong with you, it's because you did something wrong, which leads to the question that I'll get sometimes. All right, if God is almighty and God is all loving, then why sickness? Why pain? Why tragedy? Why bad things? Now, one way this question is asked is this, why do bad things happen to good people? I'm just going to tell you, that's a bad question. And there are no dumb questions, just dumb people, okay? And that's a

dumb question, okay? Here's why I say that. There was only one good person, and the worst thing happened to him, but it was for the glory of God. But I get the question about why suffering, why pain? Sometimes people will be going through a hardship and they'll ask me, is the enemy attacking me? Well, there are four categories of pain, and you understanding that there are these four reasons for pain can help you deal with it. Number one, one of the reasons is sometimes you just live in a fallen world. That when sin entered the world, that the whole thing was fractured.

That's how big a deal sin was. Again, 1, Corinthians 15 says that death is an enemy of God. That in God's initial creation, we weren't going to dig holes and put people in it. There weren't going to be no funerals. Nobody was going to be sick. None of those things. But when sin entered the world, the whole thing was fractured.

So it could be a result of, whether it's a car crash or, cancer, we live in this broken and chaotic world. It's why Jesus is going to come and make all things new. So sometimes the pain that you were walking through is, it's like collateral damage from the enemy when sin entered the world. And then sometimes it's demonic attack. That our battle is not against flesh and blood. This is what Paul says in Ephesians chapter 6. Sometimes it is a sniper attack from the enemy against you. When he says that our battle is not against flesh and blood,

you see, you thought your problem was your ex, or you thought your problem was your boss, or you thought your problem was your teacher. And what the enemy, and what Paul says is that the enemy is often behind all of those battles. Now, sometimes people say to me, you actually believe in demons? I do.

For sure. Let me tell you two of Satan's primary tricks when it comes to the demonic. He either wants us to not pay any attention to it whatsoever and think it's not there or think everything going on on the planet is the result of a demon. Sometimes you just have a bad hair day. Your bangs are not being possessed, okay? But if you have ever struggled with an addiction or love someone who is, what do you call that?

there's this thing that you know you don't want to do you know it's going to harm you you know it's going to kill you and yet in a way that you can't explain you you can begin to go down on a path that you promise you'd never go down again and you don't want to go down it's as if something has a hold of you that's not you that wants to kill you what you want to call that I'm just telling you man or somebody that struggles with depression I'm not saying everybody that struggles with depression is being oppressed by a demon I will tell you this, no believer in Christ can be possessed by a demon because you are possessed by Jesus. He purchased you at the cross.

But he can oppress you, and sometimes, sometimes it's demonic attack. And sometimes the reason that you're going through pain is because of your sin. Listen, I love you. This is going to sting a little, but it's just true. Sometimes people come to me, pastor, I think Satan's attacking me. You go, yeah, tell me what's going on. And they tell me what's going on. I'm like, no, darling, all he's got to do is leave you alone.

The self-inflicted wounds are just fine. God, but you don't understand. My finances. Well, listen, you keep buying stuff with money you don't have. The enemy doesn't have to do anything. You're just dumb. I'm telling you. Or sometimes, sometimes you be like, I got, the enemy's attacking me.

I got fired from my job. You got fired from your job because you don't work. You didn't show up on time and do your job. That ain't the enemy. That's just you. So sometimes it is the fallen world. Sometimes it is specific demonic attack. Sometimes it's your sin, and sometimes it's others' sin against you.

It's not your fault. That you are the object of someone else's sin. And so, Jesus sees this man. He's been here for 38 years. Look at this. And when Jesus saw him lying there, and he knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, this is the million dollar question of the day, do you want to be healed? Now, when I first read that, I thought, Jesus, why are you asking? Of course he was

to be healed. The man's laying here, can't walk 38 years on him. We think he wants a sandwich. Think he's waiting in line at ticket master to get it? No, he's laying at this pool because this is where the healing happens. But Jesus asks, do you want to be healed? And when Jesus uses the word healed, he means it in like a wholeness kind of way. So we studied, we studied the Shama for two years, right? Shemah, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And when we see God for who he really is, our natural normative response is to love God with all, with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. So when you see the word healed in the New Testament, he's not simply saying, do you want me to fix one little broken part of your life? He is ultimately saying, do you want me

to put your whole life back together so that you can love God with all. That's what he's talking about here. And so, here's what's important. If the man does not want to be healed, we've got a problem. Because the want to comes before the how to.

I can't tell you the number of, I used to do a lot more marriage counseling. Don't even ask to come for me for marriage counseling. I'll just tell you, act like Jesus. That's it. That's all my counseling. People would come to me and their marriage is busted up and they say, how do we fix our marriage? And I would tell them, here's how you do it, man.

Here, just Ephesians 5, there it is. Wife, submit, husband, serve, ready, break, go. Nothing would change. What's wrong with y'all? Well, ultimately, what was wrong is they didn't want to fix their marriage. It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter if you got the how-to, if you ain't got to want to. If you came to me today and said, Pastor, we have signed you up for break dancing lessons. We got you a coach.

we got you. You can wear them shoes, but you got, we got you. Guess who ain't going to learn how to break dance? Because I don't want to. And there are, as crazy as it is, there's a whole bunch of people that don't want to be healed. How many of you know there's some people that are going to show up at church this weekend? They don't want to change. They don't want to change. Sometimes the reason is you begin to identify so much with the pain that to take it away, you feel like it would take your identity away. Some people just don't like change, like a baby in a diaper.

They be like, I know it's gross and it's stinky, but it's warm in its mind. I'll just sit in it for a while, okay? Sometimes you don't want to be healed because then it will take away your excuse for your bad behavior. Yeah, if I'm healed, God makes me whole, then who do I blame my drinking on? If God heals me, then I've actually got to work at this marriage again, and I can't just continue to sit up late at night looking at porn and blame her for it. Or, for some of you, if God heals you, it'll take away your excuse for your rotten attitude all the time. How dare you to ask yourself this question, do you want to be healed?

Look what the man does. And the sick man answered him, sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up. And while I'm going, another one steps down before me. Look, there are some people good at making excuses and some people good at making it happen. Never both. Nothing frustrates me more than excuses. Nothing frustrates me more than excuses. And this guy, bro, this...

I can't believe this guy doesn't live today. He sounds like a 21st century college student. That's what he sounds like. Well, it's not my fault. You trigger... I need a safe space. Oh, Lord, pray about it for a second. And what you were going to see here

is the patience and mercy of God. That's what Bethesda means, though, by the way, the mercy of God. Because I'm just going to tell you, man, Good thing I ain't the Savior. I would have screwed it up for everybody. Because if I walked up in there, knowing the man has been there for 38 years, and I said, hey, man, got one question for you, do you want to be healed? That is a yes, no answer.

That is it. He was like, well, it's not my fault. I try and I can't. I'd be like, all right, okay. How about you? Do you want to be healed? Nope, no, too late, too late. Do you?

Come on. You get up. You want, get up. I'd be like Oprah giving out cars and you get a healing and you get a healing, you get a healing. You, I'm not, you had your chance. That's what I would do. That's not what Jesus does, though. Praise God.

Praise God. Because if I only had one chance with Jesus, I'd have missed it. And so even while the guy is giving his excuses, Jesus is going to heal him anyway. Maybe this is what's happening. Maybe, come on, you've got to use your spirit-inspired imagination here, all right? Maybe Jesus just gets right down on his level. I says, look here, man.

You're looking for healing in the wrong. places. Whether an actual angel comes to stir this thing up or it's a legend that this world has created around here, you are looking for this physical pool to do something for you that it just can't do for you. The only way you're going to be healed is for you to look at me and do what I tell you to do. Church of 1122, so many of you are looking for healing in the wrong places. Now, let me be very, very clear here. That God heals in all kind of ways, every good and perfect gift is from above. And so he calls himself the great physician. And then God gives us this common grace like doctors and nurses and medicine and technology and counselors and all of the above. And oftentimes

he works through those instruments of his grace so that we can receive healing. So sometimes healing comes to just the power of prayer and sometimes through pills and sometimes through people, but it all comes from the great physician himself. And so he's saying, look, man, this pool's got nothing for you. I'm the one that can heal him. Jesus says to him, get up, take up your bed. It means like bed roll, like mat, like a yoga mat. Get up, take up your mat and walk.

And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and he walked. Now, one of the questions I would have is this. Jesus, why tell the man to take up his mat? Think about this, man. Think. See, you've read by this too quickly in the past. Think about the condition of this mat. How long has he's been there? Thirty-eight years, man. That's a nasty mat. I mean, some of you bring your little yoga mat to the workout place and you ain't scrubbed it down lately and it smells invalid. It does. It ain't good. This man's been here for 38 years. Where's it going to the

bathroom? On the mat, 38 years. You would think Jesus says, all right, hop up off the mat. You can go ahead and donate that to Coats Closet, and then you can just start over. New life. Maybe a shower. That's not what he says. He says, I want you to take up that nasty mat, that gross and nasty mat, and I want you to start toting it around. Why, Jesus?

So that when people look at you, they will realize that your past pain is actually a platform for the glory of God. And so the brother rolls it up, nasty mat, and all. He's just toting it around town. Why? Because he's not ashamed of it. Why? Because Jesus isn't ashamed of him. How is that possible?

Therefore now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Let me just tell you, your mat does not tell you who you are. Your past does not get to tell you what your future is going to be. Only Jesus gets to tell you who you are, and he says you take up that mess, and I want you to walk around town with it, and I'm going to declare my message through your mess. And so anytime the enemy tries to whisper some shame about how stinky your mat is, I tell you, what I do is, man, when the enemy points at my mat, I just point him at the cross. When he begins to whisper that trash and condemnation, who were you to preach all these people?

If they knew what you have done, and I'm like, you don't even know all that I have done. Because all you can do is see the stuff I did. You don't even know what a crazy going on in here. And yet, when Jesus said, to tell us that, it is finished, it counted for all of that nasty mat. That's what he says. The God is not ashamed of your past. he's going to use it as a platform for his glory. But notice what he says.

He says, take up your mat and walk. Here's what he doesn't say. He doesn't say, take up your mat. And when you get tired, just lay back down on it. That'd be dumb, wasn't it? Can you imagine seeing this man 38 years, gets his mat up, starts walking around? And then the next weekend he's laying back down into filth. What would you say to him?

You're like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, bro, what are you doing? People that can walk don't lay on a cripple man's mat. It's nasty down on that mat. What are you doing? Do you realize when you're a believer in Jesus Christ, that's what it looks like to continuously go back to those old sins, to those old habits, to those old things that were killing you? It just doesn't make any sense in light of the gospel.

You see, you don't have to do the stuff you used to do. You're not the person you used to be. Of course, when you couldn't walk, you had no choice. You had to lay in it. But now you can walk, get up, and walk, and quit laying back down in the filth. It just makes no sense for you. Walk in a manner worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now that day was the Sabbath.

And so the Jews, this word Jews, it means specifically the religious leaders. It's like the Pharisees, the Sadducees, those kind of folks. So they said to the man who had been healed, it is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to take up your bed. This is called church people. This is. This is church people, man. You ever met some really religious people and they can't see the miracle because of the map? That's these people.

These people that watch a testimony video and instead of celebrating the life change and celebrating the miracle, you scratch your hearing me like, I don't think they did it right. What was the day of the week of that? Those kind of things. You see, there's a lot of people, these religious folks, they couldn't see past the law in order to see the lavish love of God. They couldn't see past the rules to understand that Jesus did not come to give us more rules. He came that we might have a relationship with him. And when we're walking in that right relationship with him, we don't even need those rules

because our love for him determines how we walk in a manner worthy of the gospel. But not these folks, man. They just see the mat. And he answered them, the man that healed me, that man said to me, take up your bed and walk. Here's what he's saying. Yeah, I appreciate the inquisitizabeth. here, but he healed me. I think I'll listen to him and not your Sunday school rules here. You see? Because his life had been changed by the Almighty God. And so he was no longer just trying

to please some religious people because he's going to have this newfound relationship with Jesus. And then they ask him, who is the man who said to you, take up your bed and walk? And he says, I have no idea. I love this so much. Can I just give you some good news when somebody at work next week, ask you to explain what we're going to experience at this church this week, and you're going to go, I don't know, man, it was crazy. That's it. That's what this brother says. I don't even know.

There's no problem, and I don't know. He just says, they say, who is this man? And he says, well, he doesn't know because it says, now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, and there was a crowd in the place. This is like Jedi Jesus. He heals the God, then he's just like, and somehow nobody can find him, all right? And afterwards, Jesus found this man in the temple.

This is a big deal. He had never been to the temple before. Because if you were crippled, you were not allowed to go into the temple. For this man's entire life, they labeled him as invalid and not welcome. And now Jesus heals him, and his healing leads him to the presence of God.

And so he's in the temple. He's freaking out. He's probably worshiping by himself. you know, because he's got a stinky mat, and he's loving it. But Jesus found him in the temple, and he said, him, see, you are well. That word well is shalom or whole. Sin no more that nothing worse may happen to you. Now, this can be one of two things.

Either is, I think, a right understanding. One is that it could have been his own sin that led to that condition. And basically what Jesus could be saying is, don't lay back down on that mat. if you continue to make the dumb choices that you used to make, it's going to lead to the same places you were. Maybe. Or sin no more than nothing worse may happen to you, and he'd be like, what could be worse than that?

Jesus would say, hell. Jesus is offering him not just physical healing, but he wants him to repent of his sins, turn to Jesus as Lord so that he will be healed and whole forever and ever. One of the things that's very important when we talk about miracles is there's only one eternal miracle. and that is salvation. There's also one miracle that happens for sure every single time a person cries out and says,

Lord, I want that miracle. And the one that God answers 100% of the time is when the man or woman says, I want to be healed of my sin, would you save me? And 100% of the time God answers that prayer for that individual and wipes away your sin and you walk in his presence forever and ever and ever. And so the man went away and he told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. And this is why the Jews were persecuting Jesus because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. Again, they were so hung up on the rules, they were so hung up on the status quo, they were so hung up on the law,

that they couldn't understand a relationship with Jesus. They couldn't understand salvation. They couldn't understand that here was God in the flesh offering life. But Jesus answered them, my father is working until now. and I am working. This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own father,

making himself equal with God. And because he is God, he can change your life. Here's the point. I want to ask you this for the 50th time. Do you want to be healed? Do you want to be healed? Your past does not have to define your future.

you're in Christ, your past pain can be a platform for God's glory. It's the way we're going to close our service is we are going to have a healing service. And here's why. I am not a faith healer. I am a Bible obeyer. That's it. So I'm just go ahead and out myself. I got saved at a Southern Baptist camp.

Never been to a healing service there. This is anointing oil from Israel, but I don't think it matters if it's a woman. west and oil out of my kitchen, okay? And again, the way I grew up, man, Southern Baptist, we didn't anoint, we anointed biscuits with gravy, that's what we did, all right? But the reason is because in James chapter 5, James is the brother of Jesus, and he just gets right to it. In James chapter 5, James says this, is anyone among you suffering? I know there's some people listening right now, and you're going through it, man. It could be kid pain, it could be physical.

Is anyone among you suffering? Then he says, let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Thank God for this. Hopefully we don't just show up every single week and everybody's just suffering. But there are many among us right now and the blessings of God are just overflowing.

The goodness of God, he's just blessing you, man. Praise God. Never apologize for the blessings of God. All right? If everything is going your way right now, glory to God. It says this, let him sing praise. So that's what we're going to do. We get two instructions, pray and sing. So in just a minute, that's what we're going to do. We're going to pray and we're going to sing. And if you're suffering, we're going to invite you to come

and pray. And listen, man, if God's blessing you and you don't have that immediate kind of prayer request right now, then you better sing praise. Because guess what, if you ain't going through it right now, at the end of this service, one hour closer to the next one you walk through. And then, he gets even more specific. Is anyone among you sick? And he doesn't just mean physically sick. Literally, that word means broken. Anyone among you broken.

Like brokenhearted. Like not just sick physically. It for sure includes physical sickness. But again, remember in the Shama, when we studied Shama, and Moses says to the people, and you shall love the Lord of your God with all your heart, and all your soul and all your mind and all your strength. That that's what it means to be the whole self.

Is there anything in your life physically, mentally, relational, spiritually that is broken, that is sick, that is out of line from the way God would desire and design you? He says, is anybody like that? Anybody physically sick? In just a minute, we're going to invite you to come. And we're going to pray that you were healed. We're going to pray that you were healed.

And I'm telling you, man, healing comes in all kind of different ways. And what we're going to confess to the Lord is, Lord, we don't care how you heal. It could be a miraculous touch like we saw in the video, and maybe there'll be some sick people walk out of here with a different diagnosis tomorrow. Glory to God. Maybe it would be through a slow process of physical therapy and medicines. Glory to God. Praise God that we live when we live and where we live, that God has given us so much healing power

by granting to humankind this common grace of medicines and doctors and technology and all of that. So if you're physically sick, we're going to ask you to come so we can pray for you. Some of you feel mentally broken, like depression, like depression, like anxiety, like suicidal thoughts. And I'm just telling you, man, the spiritual element of that is big too. Listen, the season that we just walked through, every time in the scriptures when the enemy really wanted to stop a move of God, you know what he tried to do? He would move in and try to wipe out a generation. Do you know who's been most affected by this pandemic? It's our kids' generation.

The depression, anxiety, suicide, attempts, thoughts, and actual suicides have skyrocketed in that generation. Again, man, maybe it's broken mentally and you're struggling. with this depression and you just don't, you can't explain it, you can't explain it. Your circumstances should tell you that everything should be all right, but you just can't turn the all right on. That you had this anxiety, which is just like a depression that you got nowhere to place, so you place it on yourself. Like you had these thoughts in your mind, these suicidal thoughts in your mind, and if that's you,

I'm just going to tell you, don't, don't, don't. God loves you too much. He's not done with you. He loves you. He's got a purpose and a plan for you. The alarm clock and the empty tomb are empirical evidence to me that God loves you, and he wants you around here and today and tomorrow. Amen.

Or maybe what's broken is relational. Maybe it's your marriage, and you think it's beyond repair. Or maybe you're divorced and the lies of condemnation consistently gets whispered in your ear. Or maybe it's this feeling of loneliness or hopelessness. or again maybe it's an addiction is anyone among you sick the Bible says hope deferred makes the heart sick and some of you walked in here today

and you feel hopeless and I'm just going to tell you that that feeling of hopelessness does not come from your heavenly father because hope is not found in a new set of circumstances hope is found in the resurrected Christ and so James says is anyone among you sick Let him call for the elders of the church. Now, this word elder and pastor are the same word in the New Testament.

And so we have elders and pastors and ministers and directors and deacons. We have a whole bunch of prayer warriors at all of our campuses in just a minute that are going to be down front to do what the word says. Let him call for the elders of the church and let him pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick. and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.

Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed. So we're going to pray for healing. Now, there is a difference between a cure and a healing. And what we know is that every single person who is in Christ Jesus, you will be healed. He just doesn't specify exactly when. Some people are healed this side of eternity

and everybody who is in Christ when they step into God. with him, you will be healed for all eternity. Because the Bible says, by his stripes, we are healed. Now, Paul prays three times for the thorn in his flesh, and God says, no, my grace is sufficient for you. But the way we're going to pray, we're going to pray the way Shadarak, Meshach, and Abedigo pray. Nebuchadnezzar built this idol, and he told the boys, if you don't bow down to my idol, I'm going to throw you in the fiery furnace.

And their prayer was this. They said, look here, man. We know that God can save us. And in this instance, we are believing that God will save us. And even if he doesn't, we ain't bowing down to your idol. There's a sovereign God kind of prayer right there. God, I'm coming before you because you said you have not because I asked not. You told me to ask and to seek and to knock.

So I'm coming before you, God, because I got a sickness and I'm just going to do what the word says. And I'm going to ask you to move supernaturally and mightily in this area because I know, I know, I know, I know you can. and I'm believing, I'm believing in this moment that you will. And even if you decide not to like you did with Paul in the thorn in his flesh, I'm not going to bow down to fear and doubt of this world. Because I know if the tomb is empty, anything is possible. So is there anyone among you sick? Anybody need prayer?

Anybody need to be healed? And then one little caveat here is that notice, remember that the official, the dad, he asked for healing for his son. The son wasn't even there. So maybe the prayer of healing you need ain't even for you. Maybe you just need to come on behalf of your prodigal. Maybe you need to come on behalf

of your spouse who won't come with you. Maybe you need to come on behalf of that friend or that family member who's in the hospital that needs healing. And just like the official says, I just need you to do something they ain't even here. Because apparently geography doesn't matter to Jesus. And then here's the promise. And the prayer of a righteous

person has great power as it is working. And I can promise you, every single person that we have praying over you is righteous. Not because of their right activity, but because of their right standing before God. That's what this means. And then he gives an example. Elijah.

Elijah was an Old Testament prophet. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours. Here's what my translation. Elijah, he's just a dude. He's just a dude that knew the Lord. And he prayed fervently that it might not rain. And for three years and six months, it did not rain on the earth.

and then he prayed again and heaven gave rain and the earth bore its fruit. He's saying this. He's saying, anyone among you sick, let them come. And some people that know Jesus are going to put their hands on you, they're going to anoint with oil as a symbol of the spirit of God on you, of the shed blood of Jesus for you, as a symbol to remind you it's by his stripes, you are healed. And it does not matter who up here prays for you.

It matters in whose name we are praying for you. you. And we're going to pray that you're healed. Heart, soul, mind, and strength. So in about three seconds, I'm going to start praying. And if you are an anointer at all of our campuses, you come on down. If you're watching online, you click the prayer button and people will pray with you and for you online. And don't even wait till I get done. If you need to be prayed for, it, don't even wait until I get done. The band's going to come and we're going to do what the word says. We're going to pray and we're going to sing. And we're going to claim healing in the name of Jesus. Would everybody please stand? Let me pray for us. Go ahead and start coming.

Our good and gracious Heavenly Father, God, we love you more than anything. And Lord, we thank you that you that you are a healer. We thank you that healing is found in the name of Jesus. And God, we worship you the healer. We do not worship the healing. And so, Lord, I pray that for those that are cheerful, Lord, I pray that they would sing praise. And I pray for the man, the woman, the student, that is struggling, that is sick, whether it's a physical, sickness. For the man or woman that has a broken relationship that you need to put back together. God, I pray for those that are struggling with their mind. God, whether it's depression or anxiety or an addiction.

God, I pray for those that the enemy has a grip and they're struggling with self-harm. Lord, I pray that because you suffered and died on the cross, that we don't have to. and so Lord I pray for an outpouring of the spirit of God Lord I pray that we would be healed in Jesus' name and for your glory that's Lord I pray against the enemy Lord I pray against the spirit of fear right now that fear is not a feeling

fear is a spirit and he does not come from you and so Lord I pray for a spirit of power and of love and a sound mind and I pray that men and women and students on this day would be healed I prayed in Jesus name amen so we're going to sing we're going to bring, we're going to respond. Won't you come?