March 25, 2025 • 45 mins
What does it mean when God doesn't heal? In this powerful exploration of John 5, we encounter a man who had been disabled for 38 years—waiting hopelessly by a pool rumored to have healing properties. Out of thousands gathered there, Jesus singles out this one man, asks a seemingly cruel question, and then performs an instantaneous miracle.
But the story doesn't end with physical healing. When religious leaders criticize the healed man for carrying his mat on the Sabbath, we see how legalism blinds people to God's work. Later, when Jesus finds the man in the temple, He reveals that physical healing was never the ultimate goal—spiritual salvation was.
Through personal stories, including the pastor's journey with his daughter Brooklyn who has cerebral palsy, we discover that God's purpose in healing goes far beyond physical comfort. Sometimes the most powerful testimony isn't "God healed me" but "God hasn't removed this difficulty, and I still trust Him completely."
The truth is that our healing isn't based on the power of our prayers or the size of our faith, but on God's sovereign purpose. Whatever limitation He leaves in our lives becomes an amplification of His love in the lives of others. As the Apostle Paul discovered with his own "thorn in the flesh," God's grace is sufficient when He chooses not to heal.
Whether you're facing physical illness, emotional trauma, or mental health challenges, this message offers hope that transcends circumstances. God sees you, knows your pain, and is working—even when you can't see it. The question isn't if you have enough faith to be healed, but if you have enough faith to remain faithful even if healing doesn't come.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:08):
We're excited to be in church this morning and to
see you and all of your smilingfaces.
I know we missed many of youlast week because of the whole
storm Sunday, tornado Sunday.
We've got a lot going on in2025.
We've had snow around here,we've had tornadoes.
We've had power issues in here.
We've had heat around here,we've had tornadoes.
We've had power issues in here.
We've had heat issues over inthe sanctuary.
It's like you know, on anygiven Sunday, which chapter of
(00:30):
Revelation are we living today?
Right, and so you just younever know, but it is so good to
see all of your smiling facesas we continue in our series
together.
I need a miracle.
Look at somebody right now.
Yes, I need a miracle.
We've been going through thisseries together, as you see, and
(00:53):
, guys, this is not advancing,so I'll let you do that for me,
but you can see the schedulethat we've been going through
the month of March with I need amiracle.
We've been talking about whenyour storm won't stop.
We talked about when your sinwon't stop Last week, when
you're waiting on your miracle,today, when you need to be
healed, and next Sunday, whenyou need renewing in your life.
(01:16):
I just want to thank you forall of the stories that you have
been submitting so I can tellthe stories throughout my sermon
and we can hear what God isdoing in one another's lives.
I've got some other storiesthis morning from you that I
cannot wait to tell.
I want you to know that as areminder, right outside is our.
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I Need a Miracle wall the.
I Need a Miracle wall, and thatis your.
I Need a Miracle wall wall the.
I Need a Miracle wall, and thatis your.
I Need a Miracle wall so thatwe can be the correct people,
walk by, stop by and pray overevery miracle.
In fact, next Sunday night, asyou'll see on the screen, we're
going to have our Worship andPrayer Night on March the 30th,
(02:02):
5pm in here.
We're inviting the sanctuaryservice to come.
We want you to come.
We want you to come.
We want you to come.
We want you to come.
We want you to come.
We want you to come.
We want you to come.
We want you to come.
We want you to come.
We want you to come.
We want you to come.
We want you to come.
We want is gonna be here.
Pastor Allen Davis is gonna behere with us and for anybody, as
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James chapter five tells us todo anoint them with oil and pray
over them.
Now, that isn't in any special.
The power's not in the oil.
(02:45):
Now that isn't in any specialsauce, the power's not in the
oil.
To be honest with you, I'veheard it said before and I
believe it's true.
To be honest with you, there'sno power.
The prayer is in the God thatyou pray to.
You believe that, and God dothe work.
(03:09):
Now I have seen a part ofplanting people with oil and
I've seen them healed.
The other view as well.
Also, I've had my little girl agirl, little girl, a girl.
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Our last church we had anunbelievable prayer over her.
I would have thought, but shedidn't do it.
Why?
Because that wasn't God's planand purpose for her life.
So all of that to say,scripture tells us to do this
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and we leave the results to God.
This morning we wanna talk aboutwe're in this series and on
miracles.
I need a miracle and maybeyou're feeling that in your life
that you need a miracle, or youknow someone that needs a
miracle in their life.
I know my family.
We need a miracle.
(04:13):
We pray every single day forour baby girl, for God just to
miraculously, instantaneouslyheal her.
We remember, back at six monthsold, that she wasn't reaching
those physical milestones.
I've told you a little bitabout all.
The other little six-month-oldswere rolling over.
She wasn't rolling over.
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Gets to nine months, all thelittle nine-month-olds were
sitting up.
She wasn't sitting upOne-year-old, all the other
one-year-olds were up, walking,running around and she again,
even at that time, could notroll, could not sit, could not
walk.
We remember taking her to aneurologist where they did an
(04:54):
MRI and the report came back.
Clear Neurologist said we don'tknow what it is, but we need to
figure this out.
And so finally she saidsomething just doesn't seem
right.
The neurologist went back andpersonally read the MRI report
and she found a tiny littlewhite spot on the right side of
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Brooklyn's brain that affectedthe left side of her body.
And the neurologist said webelieve that it is, we believe
that it's cerebral palsy.
And we can just remember.
We can remember beingdevastated on that day.
We can remember on that day wewere just weeping, and not for
ourselves but for our littlegirl.
And even on that day we justbegan praying for a miracle.
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So let me ask you what miracleis it that you need God to do in
your life.
What healing is it that youneed God to do in your life or
someone else's?
Typically, there are threeareas of healing that we all
need.
Number one it could bephysically.
It could be a diagnosis, itcould be a disease, it could be
a disability, it could be adisorder in your life, it could
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just be a difficulty.
Or maybe it's emotional healingthat you need.
Maybe you're dealing, you'restruggling with grief, fear,
anxiety, guilt or shame.
Or maybe it's mentally mentallythat you are struggling, going
through difficulty that Godneeds to heal you of stress,
depression, trauma, maybe evenPTSD.
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Maybe even you're strugglingwith suicidal thoughts or
tendency.
This morning I want to talk toyou about how I titled this
sermon the Healing that you Need, or maybe better titled, the
Healing that we All Really Need.
Open up with me to John chapterfive.
John chapter five is one of themost unique, strangest healing
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stories of the Bible.
Last week, when we talked aboutJesus feeding the 5,000, it was
a miracle story that was foundin all four gospels.
This was actually a story thatis only found in John chapter
five In all the Bible, just thisone place.
The healing that you need.
Number one that I want you tosee here is the desire for
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healing.
Typically, those who needhealing have a deep, desperate
desire for healing.
Everyone say desire.
John, chapter five, verse five,says this.
It says one man was there.
One man was there who had beenan invalid for 38 years.
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Now where was this man?
This man was at this place.
It was a pool.
You'll see it on the screen.
It was actually two pools.
They were both pools werelarger than an Olympic-sized
swimming pool today, had fivecovered porches around it,
including the middle, and whatpeople would do is they would
bring the blind, they wouldbring the deaf, they would bring
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the lame, they would bring theparalyzed, they would bring the
disabled to these pools.
And typically, on a daily basiswas about 300 disabled people
around these pools.
But in this case it was aspecial day, it was a Jewish
feast.
It was a Jewish feast, it was aholiday, and so probably around
these pools could be as many as3,000 disabled people, and the
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legend goes that when the poolwould start to bubble up, then
they would all dive in the pool,believing that the first one to
dive in would be healed.
The legend said that it wasprobably an angel that would be
stirring it up.
But also we know that that poolwas fed by a spring and so it
was probably a spring that wasbubbling it up and they were
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probably just believing that itwould heal them and they would
jump in for healing.
We don't exactly know, becausethe Bible doesn't exactly tell
us what was happening, buthonestly it doesn't matter,
because the point of the passageis healing doesn't come from a
pool, it comes from a person andhis name is Jesus.
If you believe that, say yeah.
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So here's what's interesting is,we don't know much about this
man.
It says that there was one manthere.
We don't know him, we don'teven know his name.
We only know him by his problem.
But here's what's beautifulthat, out of maybe 3,000 people,
jesus didn't just see the crowd, he saw the man.
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He walked up to this one personin the same way that Jesus sees
you.
If you ever feel unseen, if youever feel forgotten, if you ever
feel overlooked, when you comeacross passages like these, it's
a reminder in your life thatJesus sees you.
He knows you, he knows whatyou're going through, he knows
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the difficulty that you'redealing with, he knows the
healing you need.
He knows the struggle you haveand Jesus sees you and he loves
you and he cares about you.
And it's interesting here thathe was probably.
Theologians tell us that he wasprobably the man in the worst
condition out of all of thesethousands of people, and Jesus
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walks up to the one in the worstcondition, showing the
compassion of Jesus, no matterwhat it is that you are dealing
with in your life.
And it says there was one man.
He was there.
He was an invalid for 38 yearsinvalid.
I just want you to see thatthat is not a word that God uses
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for people.
That was the word that theworld called people with a
disability back then invalid or,think about it culturally
invalid to society.
I want you to know that I havea nephew.
His name is Josh.
I want you to know that I havea nephew.
His name is Josh.
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Over 20 years ago, my sister andbrother-in-law adopted him from
the Ukraine At just two yearsold.
When they went over to theUkraine, josh had a congenital
condition that left him withonly one functional hand.
Even as a toddler he wasself-conscious, pulling his
sleeve over his arm to hide whatthe world might see as a
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limitation, but what Josh didn'tknow was that God already had a
better written story for hislife.
My sister and brother-in-lawwent to the Ukraine specifically
wanting to adopt a child with alimb difference, believing that
God had a purpose for whateverchild that was going to be for
their life.
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Fast forward now, after theyadopted him.
Now we're 20 years later.
Josh Yowie has graduated highschool.
He has graduated college, hehas earned his master's degree,
he has authored three books,he's contributed to history
textbooks, he's now a collegeprofessor and he's preparing to
become a pastor, and doing itall with one functional hand.
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In other words, don't let theworld label you according to
your limitation.
You are not invalid to God.
You're valid, you're valuableand you are made for his purpose
in your life.
Put your hands together for howGod loves to use people.
In verse six, the Bible sayswhen Jesus saw the man, remember
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Jesus sees him out of the crowdand Jesus sees you.
Jesus saw him lying there andhe knew that he had already been
there for a long time.
Jesus knows where you are, heknows what you're going through,
he knows the way you feel, hehears your prayers, he loves you
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.
And Jesus asked the man do youwant to be healed?
Now, at first glance it seemsand it sounds like such a cold
question for this man.
Of course he wants to be healed.
Jesus, he's at the pool to behealed.
He's been an invalid for 38years.
What kind of a cruel questionis that?
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But maybe Jesus is asking theman.
Maybe he's saying this wholepool thing, man, this whole pool
thing is a sham.
This whole pool thing is a scam.
This whole pool thing is fake.
Maybe Jesus is asking the mando you want what's real in life,
in other words, everything thatthe world is offering us, that
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is, according to healing, it'sall really just fake, because
only God is the one who cantruly fully heal in life.
God is the one who gets all ofthe glory.
So maybe a better way thatJesus was asking the question
was, instead of do you want tobe healed?
Maybe Jesus is really gettingat why do you wanna be healed?
Do you wanna be healed?
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Maybe Jesus is asking for yourgood only, or Jesus is asking do
you wanna be healed for myglory too?
Do you want me to be able touse you?
John, chapter five, verse seven,says the sick man answered him.
Sir, I have no one to put me inthe pool when the water is
stirred up.
While I am going into the pool,someone else steps down before
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me.
He said, sir Jesus.
Someone else steps down beforeme.
He said, sir Jesus, I don'teven have anybody to put me in
the pool.
Now we know from what it seemsthis man could not have gotten
there by himself.
Someone had to take him thereto the pool.
But then they probably justwhat it looks like is they just
left him.
This is home for me.
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Maybe it does for you.
Had we lived in this time, hadwe lived in this area, you
better believe I would have hadBrooklyn at this pool.
I would have taken her to thepool, I would have taken her to
the edge of the pool, I wouldmake sure that she would be the
first one in.
Why?
Because there's no hurt likekid hurt.
When your kid hurts, you woulddo anything to take it away from
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them and you do everything inyour power.
That's why we take her to allof her therapy appointments.
That's why we take her to allof her doctor's visits.
That's why we do everything wepossibly can for God to do a
work in her life.
And isn't it amazing that Jesusis the only one who can take
the hurt from us, because he isthe only one that gives us hope
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for healing.
Jesus is your only hope forhealing.
Everyone say hope.
Jesus is your only hope forhealing.
Here's what is fascinating to meIsaiah chapter 35, you ever
thought about this?
Isaiah chapter 35 sayspronounces the blind will see,
the deaf will hear, the lamewill leap and the desert sand
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will become a pool of refreshingwater.
It looks like John 5 is thisprophetic fulfillment of Isaiah
35, not about a pool, but aboutJesus, who's coming on the scene
to heal people of theirdiseases, to heal people of
their infirmities.
In other words, jesus sees you,he knows what you're dealing
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with, he knows what you'repraying for, he knows the help
you need.
But let me say to you todaymaybe you're at the point where
you don't even pray for yourhealing anymore, or the person
you know, maybe you've given upand maybe God has brought you
here today to remind you thatJesus hasn't given up, that he
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still sees you, or he still seesthat person, that he's still
working.
I love that song.
We're going to sing it nextweek the song that says even
when you don't see it, he'sworking.
Even when you don't feel it,he's working.
He never stops.
He never stops working.
So number one is the desire forhealing.
Number two is the God ofhealing.
Everyone say God, the God ofhealing.
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Verse eight, john 5, eight, saysthis Jesus said to him get up,
take your bed and walk.
Now.
Here's what's interesting.
So Jesus is speaking in thesame authoritative voice as when
he was creating all of theuniverse.
So the same voice that callsthe planets into existence and
the sun into existence and thestars into existence and you and
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I into existence is the sameauthoritative voice that Jesus
looks at the man with compassionand he says get up.
In other words, his body had torespond to what Jesus was
commanding him to do and afterand after 38 years of a
disability, this man stood upbecause Jesus healed him in an
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instant.
I wanna remind you this morningthat God can heal you
instantaneously, or God can healyou over time.
God has all the power in theworld.
God can do anything he wants todo.
He is omnipotent.
There is nothing that Godcannot do outside of sin,
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outside of his will.
The question is, what is hisplan, what is his timing and
what is his purpose?
I heard a pastor say this pastweek that what we call modern
marvels of medicine or pills andsurgeries and therapies they
would have called divinemiracles a thousand years ago.
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Because we see people recovermore.
We see people healed more todayfrom sicknesses, diseases and
all these type things thanpeople ever have before in human
history.
Someone wrote their story and itsaid in the fall of 1979, my
parents were in seminary when mymom, pregnant with twins, went
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into unexpected premature laborin their apartment.
With no time to get to thehospital, my dad had to deliver
both babies at home with thehelp of 911.
When the paramedics arrived, myparents were devastated to
learn that my sister, melissa,was stillborn.
He said I was barely clingingto life at just four pounds two
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ounces.
They rushed me to the NICU.
I was placed on life support.
The doctors told my parentsthat my survival would take a
miracle.
For six weeks my mom visitedand prayed over me daily,
believing God for healing, but Iwasn't gaining weight until
doctors tried an unconventionalfeeding method, inserting tubes
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into my ears and my neck tonourish my body, and this person
said miraculously, it worked.
I grew strong enough to go home, though I still wonder what
life would have been like ifMelissa had survived.
I'm grateful for the gift oflife that God gave me and the
promise that I will see Melissaagain in heaven One day.
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They said God still doesmiracles.
I'm living proof.
Put your hands together rightnow for the miracles that God
continues to do.
I just find it interesting thatJesus said get up, take your
bed and walk.
In other words, I think whatJesus is saying this when I heal
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you, when I do a work in yourlife, when I help you, he's
saying the whole purpose isultimately not just for you.
He says the whole purpose isfor me, that you go and do
ministry, for me, that you goand help others in the same way
that I have helped you.
So what do you do?
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As we're talking about allmonth long, when you need a
miracle, you'll see it on thescreen.
Number one I want to encourageyou, as your pastor believe God
can do the miracle.
That's your faith.
Believe that there is nomiracle that he can't do.
Believe that God can do themiracle.
Number two pray that God willdo the miracle.
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We don't pray that God.
We don't pray that he can.
We know that he can.
We pray that he would, but wedon't know what his will is, so
we believe that he can.
We pray that he will.
Number three we praise God ifhe does the miracle.
Number four we worship God ifhe won't do the miracle.
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Why?
You'll see it on the screen.
God doing the miracle displayshis power.
God not doing the miracledisplays his wisdom.
So I wanna encourage you thismorning Maybe God has brought
you here to hear this I wouldencourage you to never lose
faith that God can heal you orsomeone else in an instant.
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Never stop praying that God canheal miraculously,
instantaneously.
Whenever you're praying for,either yourself or someone else,
I would encourage you to alwaysmake that a part of your prayer
, because even when you arepraying for the sick, pray that
God would heal them fully, rightthen, right there, in that
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instant.
Why?
Because we don't believe in anage of healing.
We believe in a God of healing.
We don't believe in an age ofmiracles.
We believe in a God of miracles, and God always calls us to
pray for the impossible thatonly he can do.
God is calling us to be peopleof faith.
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We pray that God would do themiracle.
We pray that God would do theimpossible and we leave the
results to God.
Number three not only do we seethe desire for healing or the
God of healing, but, numberthree, we see the enemy of
healing.
Everybody say enemy.
This is crazy.
You won't believe what justhappened.
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John 5, verse 10.
So the Jews said to the man whohad been healed it is the
Sabbath and it is not lawful foryou to take up your bed and
walk.
Can you believe it?
I mean, what is wrong withthese people?
That this man has been aninvalid, he's been paralyzed,
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he's been lame, he's beenimmobile for 38 years and
finally Jesus comes on the scene, looks at him and says get up,
take your bed and walk.
And the man walks away andeveryone is praising God, right,
except for these Pharisees whorun up to the man and they don't
celebrate.
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What do they do?
They complain and they complain.
You should not have taken upyour bed.
Do you know why they did that?
See, the Pharisees came up withan additional 39 laws outside
the Bible.
So these are man-made laws,man-made rules, and basically
the Pharisees said if you justobey these 39 rules, then you
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won't even get close todisobeying the Bible.
The problem is that's legalism.
Everybody say legalism.
That is religion, that is notfaith.
See, the Bible says we're notsupposed to add to the Bible,
that we are supposed to obey theBible, believe the Bible and
live the Bible out, but we'renot supposed to add to it.
They were adding to it.
And do you realize that thevery last man-made law they
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wrote was you're not to carryanything on the Sabbath.
So they ran up to this man, notthat he broke the word of God,
but that he broke the law of manbecause he was carrying his bed
on the Sabbath that Jesus toldhim to carry.
You realize that there arechurches today where God is
working and where people arecelebrating, but there's a
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pocket of people that arecomplaining.
They're complaining becausethey're not getting church the
way that they want it or they'renot getting church the style
that they prefer, and so,instead of celebrating all that
God is doing, they startcomplaining.
In other words, they are notall happy about the miracles
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that God is doing, not all happyabout the miracles that God is
doing.
They're all mad about the humanrules that are being broken and
I pray that God continues toprotect us and I pray that God
continues to preserve us frombeing that kind of church.
In fact, I want to encourageyou that if you ever have a
concern about our church not acomplaint, complaining what do
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you do?
You go to people.
They can't fix it.
But if you have a concern, whatdo you do?
You come up to one of ourpastors.
If you're not sure who to comeup to, come up to me.
Your pastors love you.
We wanna hear every singleconcern and all I ask you is, if
you have a concern that youhave a verse to back your
concern up, can I get an amenthat you don't have a man-made
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rule or man-made tradition toback your verse up?
Why?
Because this church is notgonna be what I want and this
church is not gonna be what youwant.
This church is gonna be whatJesus wants.
Can I get an amen?
And so we want to bring.
I want you to feel the freedombring, so we want to bring.
I want you to feel the freedombring your concerns that you
have, as long as you have averse of scripture and as long
as you have prayed about it for24 hours.
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This is not my church, it's notyour church, it's Jesus' church
.
Verse 11, it says.
But Jesus answered.
I'm sorry, the sick man, theman that was just healed,
answered them saying verse 11,the man who healed me.
That man said to me take upyour bed and walk.
They asked him well, who is theman who said it to you?
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Take up your bed and walk.
Now, the man who had beenhealed.
He did not even know who it was.
He didn't know who Jesus was.
He didn't know that Jesus, theson of God, had just healed him,
for Jesus had withdrawn asthere was a crowd in the place.
Now, notice here's what's sointeresting to me is that Jesus
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healed and Satan, the enemy, wasable to take their eyes off of
the healing that Jesus had done.
But you know, what oftenhappens in our lives Is that
Satan often takes your eyes andmy eyes off of Jesus.
When Jesus chooses not to dothe healing, satan will start to
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lie to you and lie to me, likeGod doesn't really love you, or
else he would have healed.
You don't really believe in God, or else God would have really
healed.
Satan will lie to you and sayif you really had enough faith,
god would have really healed.
Satan will lie to you and sayif you really had enough faith,
god would have really healed.
Or Satan will say in fact, thewhole reason you need healing is
because of the sin that you'vedone in your past.
So my question is what if Goddoesn't heal?
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What if God doesn't do themiracle?
Does that mean you don't haveenough faith?
Does that mean that God is nothearing or answering your
prayers?
Does that mean you're not saved?
Because people will questionyour salvation, people will
question your devotion, peoplewill question your faith if
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God's not answering your prayers.
And then what will happen isyou will start to question God.
But I want you to see whathappened in the Apostle Paul's
life 2 Corinthians 12, verseeight.
The Apostle Paul said threetimes, which means continuously
I pleaded with the Lord aboutthis, that it the thorn in his
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flesh, the difficulty in hislife, whatever infirmity it was,
we don't even know.
Three times I pleaded with theLord about this, that it should
leave me.
So Paul is begging God, he'spraying for a miracle, whatever
it is.
God, would you take this thingfrom me?
In verse nine.
But Paul said but God said to me, jesus said to me my grace is
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sufficient for you, for my poweris made perfect in weakness.
Therefore Jesus said.
Paul said I will boast all themore gladly of my weaknesses so
that the power of Christ mayrest upon me.
In other words, jesus willleave limitations in my life and
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Jesus will leave limitations inyour life because it is the
weaknesses within us that we getto see the power and the
strength of God on display andbe manifested through you.
In other words, if God did notleave any weakness in you, then
we would have no reason to trustin Jesus.
But when he leaves thoseweaknesses in you, there is
would have no reason to trust inJesus.
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But when he leaves thoseweaknesses in you, then it is
those weaknesses that keep usdependent upon our relationship
with Jesus.
Because verse 10 says versehardships the persecutions, the
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calamities.
Because when I am weak in methen I am strong in Jesus.
Jesus loves to leave things inour life that we may even
disagree with.
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And the whole reason is Jesusis saying because that's the
area of your life that I want touse the most, that I wanna put
my power on display the most.
John, chapter nine, verse one.
It says as Jesus passed by, hesaw a blind man from birth and
his disciples asked him rabbi,this guy's blind.
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So who sinned?
Somebody sinned, was it the man, the blind man, or was it his
parents that he was born blind?
Jesus answered it was not thisman that sinned and it was not
his parents that sinned, butthat the works of God might be
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displayed in him.
Difficult things to happen tooccur, to be brought into your
life, because God wants toreveal his work, often through
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the weak things, through thedifficult things, through the
limitations in our lives.
I want to remind you God'shealing is not based on the
power of your prayer, but on thepurpose of his plan.
God's healing is not based onyour godliness.
If you were just more godly,god wouldn't answer you.
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No, god's healing is not basedon your godliness.
God's healing is based on hisgrace.
Your healing is not based onthe size of your faith, but on
the size of your God.
And the question is what doesGod want?
While Jesus did tell people thattheir faith would make them
well, that does not mean that alack of faith means a lack of
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healing.
It's not that you, if you getenough faith, or even if you get
the words right, that you'll behealed or God will do the
miracle.
Rather, you ask God and youtrust him with his plan.
While some may ask if you haveenough faith to be well, a
better question may be do youhave enough faith in God to
(31:59):
remain sick?
Even Jesus prayed.
Father, if it is your will, letthis cup pass from me.
Not my will, but your will bedone.
God will always keep somethingin your life to keep you on your
knees, so you'll see it on thescreen.
Never let the enemy distractyou from what Jesus is doing.
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God is too perfect not to havea purpose in your life.
Listen to this story.
I never thought I would turnaway from God, but I found
myself in the worst storm of mylife.
My marriage was struggling.
I felt lost.
On October 10, 2013, I had aheart attack.
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Not long after, I made a choicethat would bring even more pain
and destruction than I couldhave ever imagined.
I walked away from God and,before I even realized it, satan
had taken a hold of my life.
For months I battled alone,ashamed and broken, struggling
to believe that God could everforgive me.
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But in my lowest moment I criedout to him.
He met me with grace and mercyand love, and it has taken 11
years of daily surrender, prayerand seeking his restoration.
But God has been faithful everystep of the way.
Through the prayers of friends,the healing of my marriage and
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the power of God's forgiveness,I now know his grace is final
and forever.
If you feel lost, you're notalone.
Don't let go of God's hand ever.
He is still writing your story.
Put your hands together forthis church member who wrote
that for you.
Lastly, and I'm done, numberfour the purpose of healing.
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Everyone say purpose.
What is God's purpose inhealing?
Verse 14.
Afterward Jesus found the man ofthe temple.
This is crazy, because the manwas paralyzed.
He was not even allowed intothe temple by the Jews.
They would not allow the blind,the deaf, the lame, the
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paralyzed, the disabled to evengo into the temple because they
would be seen by the Jews as notgood enough for God.
And so this man gets healed.
And where's the first place hegoes?
I don't think he walked, Ithink he ran.
I think he ran straight to thetemple because he finally got to
go into the temple of God, thepresence of God around the
people of God, and I justbelieve that he just shouted in
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worship, in glory, in praise forwhat Jesus had done in his life
.
Afterward Jesus found him inthe temple and said to him see,
you're well.
And the man didn't know thatJesus had healed him until this
moment.
And then Jesus said something soprofound, the entire point of
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the passage.
Jesus said go and sin no more,that nothing worse may happen to
you.
See, at the pool Jesus healedhim physically, but in the
temple Jesus healed him, savedhim spiritually.
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When Jesus said go, sin no more, jesus is not calling this man
to be spiritually perfect.
It's not a sinless perfection.
Rather, it is a new spiritualdirection on his life.
Jesus said go and sin no more.
In other words, live for me sothat nothing worse may happen to
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you.
What could possibly be worsethan being the worst off
disabled man in the entirecountry, going to hell?
When we found out aboutBrooklyn's diagnosis, I started
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praying.
Michelle started to pray andjust prayed every single day,
many times a day, that God wouldheal her.
And then it hit me, because Godconvicted me.
I am praying for her physicalhealing more so than her
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spiritual salvation.
Why do I care about thephysical things, which we should
, but why do I care about themmore than the spiritual things
You've heard me say before,brooklyn may never walk on this
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earth, but she walks with Jesusbecause she's given her life to
him.
And I wanna encourage youwhatever there is in your life
or the life of someone else, theenemy wants to use it in you to
distract you, to keep you fromJesus.
So maybe you have a hard hearttowards him, or maybe you're
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dealing with doubt and you'redealing with fear.
If Jesus isn't answering thisprayer, then is Jesus answering
any of my prayers?
If Jesus isn't listening to mein this way, is Jesus listening
to me at all?
And I just want to remind youthat the purpose of healing,
that Jesus is saying yes, I'mlistening to you, but it all
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must be from the purpose of God.
John 5, 17, the last verseJesus answered them.
My father is working and I amworking.
In other words, just becauseJesus doesn't answer that prayer
doesn't mean that Jesus isn'tanswering any prayer.
Doesn't mean that Jesus isn'tlistening, doesn't mean that
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Jesus doesn't love you, doesn'tmean that Jesus doesn't care.
It just means that Jesus has agreater plan and that he loves
to use the weak and thepowerless areas of our life to
put his glory and his power andhis love on display.
So life isn't about us, butlife is all about him.
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So what do we do when God heals?
What is our response?
You'll see it on the screen.
We go and worship Jesus likethe man went to the temple.
We live in repentance likeJesus called him to go and sin
no more.
We share the gospel like theman went and told the Jews it
was Jesus, and we reveal thework of God.
Jesus and his father are stillworking.
But then my question is whatshould our response be?
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Even when God doesn't healYou'll see it on the screen we
still worship Jesus.
We live in repentance.
We still on the screen.
We still worship Jesus.
We live in repentance.
We still share the gospel.
We still reveal the work of God.
Here's the deal.
If God chooses to heal Brooklyn, her healing will be a
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testimony.
If God doesn't heal Brooklyn,she will still be a testimony.
If God doesn't heal Brooklyn,she will still be a testimony.
If God chooses to heal you, hegets the glory.
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Why?
You'll see it on the screen.
Whatever limitation God leavesin your life is to be an
amplification of his love in thelives of others.
I think there's something evenmore powerful than telling a
miracle story.
I think there's something evenmore powerful than telling a
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miracle story.
I think there's something evenmore powerful than you saying
look at what happened in my lifeand God came in and God healed
me, or God did a miracle andboom, here I am.
Here's the only thing.
I think that is more powerful.
Here's the difficulty in mylife, here's what I'm struggling
with, here's what I have tolive with, here's what I'm
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struggling with, here's what Ihave to live with.
And God has chosen not to healor do the miracle, but I still
trust him, I still worship him,I will still live for him
(40:32):
because he is good and he isworthy of our lives, no matter
what he chooses to do.
I'm gonna ask you all to bowyour heads and close your eyes.
Maybe God brought you here thismorning, today to restore your
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faith in a God of miracles whocan do any miracle, and to
remind you you need to continueto pray for God to do the
miracle.
And maybe God brought you heretoday to also remind you you
need to continue to pray for Godto do the miracle.
And maybe God brought you heretoday to also remind you that
his will and his plan and hispurpose is always best, and if
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he chooses not to, he's stilltrustworthy and he's still good.
And maybe you came today andGod is working in you and God is
speaking to you, and God iscalling you by name, and God is
revealing to you that today isthe day of your salvation, and
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today is the day that youfinally give yourself and you
just trust him with your lifeand he forgives you of your sin
and he puts a spirit in you andyou live your life for him.
I can't pray this prayer for youand I can't save you, but I can
walk you through it and you canpray it, and it's the one
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prayer that Jesus promised thathe will always say yes, as long
as you mean it.
Right here, right now, you canpray and you can say dear Jesus,
I believe in you, I need you,and you can say, jesus, I
believe that you died on thecross for my sins and I pray
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that you would forgive me of allmy sin.
And you can say, jesus, Ibelieve that you rose from the
dead, I believe that you'realive, I believe that you're
real and, jesus, I give my lifeto you.
The Bible says that if you callon the name of Jesus as the
Lord of your life, you will besaved.
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Call on him right now and sayJesus, be my Lord, be my God, be
my God, be my Savior, and hepromises to save you
instantaneously, to do theultimate miracle in you forever.
Jesus, we believe that we loveyou and we pray these things in
Jesus' name.
And all God's people said wouldyou put your hands together for
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anybody that made that decision,that prayed that prayer?
We just wanna say welcome tothe family.
We're so thankful you made thebest decision of your life.
Our worship team's going tocome out.
I want to ask us all to standat this moment and I want to
encourage you that.
I just want to encourage youright now, as all of your life
has been working up to thispoint, to this day, to this
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moment, that this would be themoment that you pour all of
yourself out in worship to him,that you just recognize that
nothing else matters, that Jesussees you, that Jesus is
listening, his eyes are on youand Jesus is receiving your
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personal worship right now.
I wanna encourage you just toworship him from the depth of
your soul.
In this song that we're singingabout the miracles that God
continues to do in our lives.
Let's worship Jesus right now.
We're excited to be in church this morning and to
see you and all of your smilingfaces.
I know we missed many of youlast week because of the whole
storm Sunday, tornado Sunday.
We've got a lot going on in2025.
We've had snow around here,we've had tornadoes.
We've had power issues in here.
We've had heat around here,we've had tornadoes.
We've had power issues in here.
We've had heat issues over inthe sanctuary.
It's like you know, on anygiven Sunday, which chapter of
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Revelation are we living today?
Right, and so you just younever know, but it is so good to
see all of your smiling facesas we continue in our series
together.
I need a miracle.
Look at somebody right now.
Yes, I need a miracle.
We've been going through thisseries together, as you see, and
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, guys, this is not advancing,so I'll let you do that for me,
but you can see the schedulethat we've been going through
the month of March with I need amiracle.
We've been talking about whenyour storm won't stop.
We talked about when your sinwon't stop Last week, when
you're waiting on your miracle,today, when you need to be
healed, and next Sunday, whenyou need renewing in your life.
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I just want to thank you forall of the stories that you have
been submitting so I can tellthe stories throughout my sermon
and we can hear what God isdoing in one another's lives.
I've got some other storiesthis morning from you that I
cannot wait to tell.
I want you to know that as areminder, right outside is our.
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I Need a Miracle wall the.
I Need a Miracle wall, and thatis your.
I Need a Miracle wall wall the.
I Need a Miracle wall, and thatis your.
I Need a Miracle wall so thatwe can be the correct people,
walk by, stop by and pray overevery miracle.
In fact, next Sunday night, asyou'll see on the screen, we're
going to have our Worship andPrayer Night on March the 30th,
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5pm in here.
We're inviting the sanctuaryservice to come.
We want you to come.
We want you to come.
We want you to come.
We want you to come.
We want you to come.
We want you to come.
We want you to come.
We want you to come.
We want you to come.
We want you to come.
We want you to come.
We want you to come.
We want is gonna be here.
Pastor Allen Davis is gonna behere with us and for anybody, as
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James chapter five tells us todo anoint them with oil and pray
over them.
Now, that isn't in any special.
The power's not in the oil.
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Now that isn't in any specialsauce, the power's not in the
oil.
To be honest with you, I'veheard it said before and I
believe it's true.
To be honest with you, there'sno power.
The prayer is in the God thatyou pray to.
You believe that, and God dothe work.
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Now I have seen a part ofplanting people with oil and
I've seen them healed.
The other view as well.
Also, I've had my little girl agirl, little girl, a girl.
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Our last church we had anunbelievable prayer over her.
I would have thought, but shedidn't do it.
Why?
Because that wasn't God's planand purpose for her life.
So all of that to say,scripture tells us to do this
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and we leave the results to God.
This morning we wanna talk aboutwe're in this series and on
miracles.
I need a miracle and maybeyou're feeling that in your life
that you need a miracle, or youknow someone that needs a
miracle in their life.
I know my family.
We need a miracle.
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We pray every single day forour baby girl, for God just to
miraculously, instantaneouslyheal her.
We remember, back at six monthsold, that she wasn't reaching
those physical milestones.
I've told you a little bitabout all.
The other little six-month-oldswere rolling over.
She wasn't rolling over.
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Gets to nine months, all thelittle nine-month-olds were
sitting up.
She wasn't sitting upOne-year-old, all the other
one-year-olds were up, walking,running around and she again,
even at that time, could notroll, could not sit, could not
walk.
We remember taking her to aneurologist where they did an
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MRI and the report came back.
Clear Neurologist said we don'tknow what it is, but we need to
figure this out.
And so finally she saidsomething just doesn't seem
right.
The neurologist went back andpersonally read the MRI report
and she found a tiny littlewhite spot on the right side of
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Brooklyn's brain that affectedthe left side of her body.
And the neurologist said webelieve that it is, we believe
that it's cerebral palsy.
And we can just remember.
We can remember beingdevastated on that day.
We can remember on that day wewere just weeping, and not for
ourselves but for our littlegirl.
And even on that day we justbegan praying for a miracle.
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So let me ask you what miracleis it that you need God to do in
your life.
What healing is it that youneed God to do in your life or
someone else's?
Typically, there are threeareas of healing that we all
need.
Number one it could bephysically.
It could be a diagnosis, itcould be a disease, it could be
a disability, it could be adisorder in your life, it could
(06:03):
just be a difficulty.
Or maybe it's emotional healingthat you need.
Maybe you're dealing, you'restruggling with grief, fear,
anxiety, guilt or shame.
Or maybe it's mentally mentallythat you are struggling, going
through difficulty that Godneeds to heal you of stress,
depression, trauma, maybe evenPTSD.
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Maybe even you're strugglingwith suicidal thoughts or
tendency.
This morning I want to talk toyou about how I titled this
sermon the Healing that you Need, or maybe better titled, the
Healing that we All Really Need.
Open up with me to John chapterfive.
John chapter five is one of themost unique, strangest healing
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stories of the Bible.
Last week, when we talked aboutJesus feeding the 5,000, it was
a miracle story that was foundin all four gospels.
This was actually a story thatis only found in John chapter
five In all the Bible, just thisone place.
The healing that you need.
Number one that I want you tosee here is the desire for
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healing.
Typically, those who needhealing have a deep, desperate
desire for healing.
Everyone say desire.
John, chapter five, verse five,says this.
It says one man was there.
One man was there who had beenan invalid for 38 years.
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Now where was this man?
This man was at this place.
It was a pool.
You'll see it on the screen.
It was actually two pools.
They were both pools werelarger than an Olympic-sized
swimming pool today, had fivecovered porches around it,
including the middle, and whatpeople would do is they would
bring the blind, they wouldbring the deaf, they would bring
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the lame, they would bring theparalyzed, they would bring the
disabled to these pools.
And typically, on a daily basiswas about 300 disabled people
around these pools.
But in this case it was aspecial day, it was a Jewish
feast.
It was a Jewish feast, it was aholiday, and so probably around
these pools could be as many as3,000 disabled people, and the
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legend goes that when the poolwould start to bubble up, then
they would all dive in the pool,believing that the first one to
dive in would be healed.
The legend said that it wasprobably an angel that would be
stirring it up.
But also we know that that poolwas fed by a spring and so it
was probably a spring that wasbubbling it up and they were
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probably just believing that itwould heal them and they would
jump in for healing.
We don't exactly know, becausethe Bible doesn't exactly tell
us what was happening, buthonestly it doesn't matter,
because the point of the passageis healing doesn't come from a
pool, it comes from a person andhis name is Jesus.
If you believe that, say yeah.
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So here's what's interesting is,we don't know much about this
man.
It says that there was one manthere.
We don't know him, we don'teven know his name.
We only know him by his problem.
But here's what's beautifulthat, out of maybe 3,000 people,
jesus didn't just see the crowd, he saw the man.
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He walked up to this one personin the same way that Jesus sees
you.
If you ever feel unseen, if youever feel forgotten, if you ever
feel overlooked, when you comeacross passages like these, it's
a reminder in your life thatJesus sees you.
He knows you, he knows whatyou're going through, he knows
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the difficulty that you'redealing with, he knows the
healing you need.
He knows the struggle you haveand Jesus sees you and he loves
you and he cares about you.
And it's interesting here thathe was probably.
Theologians tell us that he wasprobably the man in the worst
condition out of all of thesethousands of people, and Jesus
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walks up to the one in the worstcondition, showing the
compassion of Jesus, no matterwhat it is that you are dealing
with in your life.
And it says there was one man.
He was there.
He was an invalid for 38 yearsinvalid.
I just want you to see thatthat is not a word that God uses
(10:27):
for people.
That was the word that theworld called people with a
disability back then invalid or,think about it culturally
invalid to society.
I want you to know that I havea nephew.
His name is Josh.
I want you to know that I havea nephew.
His name is Josh.
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Over 20 years ago, my sister andbrother-in-law adopted him from
the Ukraine At just two yearsold.
When they went over to theUkraine, josh had a congenital
condition that left him withonly one functional hand.
Even as a toddler he wasself-conscious, pulling his
sleeve over his arm to hide whatthe world might see as a
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limitation, but what Josh didn'tknow was that God already had a
better written story for hislife.
My sister and brother-in-lawwent to the Ukraine specifically
wanting to adopt a child with alimb difference, believing that
God had a purpose for whateverchild that was going to be for
their life.
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Fast forward now, after theyadopted him.
Now we're 20 years later.
Josh Yowie has graduated highschool.
He has graduated college, hehas earned his master's degree,
he has authored three books,he's contributed to history
textbooks, he's now a collegeprofessor and he's preparing to
become a pastor, and doing itall with one functional hand.
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In other words, don't let theworld label you according to
your limitation.
You are not invalid to God.
You're valid, you're valuableand you are made for his purpose
in your life.
Put your hands together for howGod loves to use people.
In verse six, the Bible sayswhen Jesus saw the man, remember
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Jesus sees him out of the crowdand Jesus sees you.
Jesus saw him lying there andhe knew that he had already been
there for a long time.
Jesus knows where you are, heknows what you're going through,
he knows the way you feel, hehears your prayers, he loves you
(12:36):
.
And Jesus asked the man do youwant to be healed?
Now, at first glance it seemsand it sounds like such a cold
question for this man.
Of course he wants to be healed.
Jesus, he's at the pool to behealed.
He's been an invalid for 38years.
What kind of a cruel questionis that?
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But maybe Jesus is asking theman.
Maybe he's saying this wholepool thing, man, this whole pool
thing is a sham.
This whole pool thing is a scam.
This whole pool thing is fake.
Maybe Jesus is asking the mando you want what's real in life,
in other words, everything thatthe world is offering us, that
(13:19):
is, according to healing, it'sall really just fake, because
only God is the one who cantruly fully heal in life.
God is the one who gets all ofthe glory.
So maybe a better way thatJesus was asking the question
was, instead of do you want tobe healed?
Maybe Jesus is really gettingat why do you wanna be healed?
Do you wanna be healed?
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Maybe Jesus is asking for yourgood only, or Jesus is asking do
you wanna be healed for myglory too?
Do you want me to be able touse you?
John, chapter five, verse seven,says the sick man answered him.
Sir, I have no one to put me inthe pool when the water is
stirred up.
While I am going into the pool,someone else steps down before
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me.
He said, sir Jesus.
Someone else steps down beforeme.
He said, sir Jesus, I don'teven have anybody to put me in
the pool.
Now we know from what it seemsthis man could not have gotten
there by himself.
Someone had to take him thereto the pool.
But then they probably justwhat it looks like is they just
left him.
This is home for me.
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Maybe it does for you.
Had we lived in this time, hadwe lived in this area, you
better believe I would have hadBrooklyn at this pool.
I would have taken her to thepool, I would have taken her to
the edge of the pool, I wouldmake sure that she would be the
first one in.
Why?
Because there's no hurt likekid hurt.
When your kid hurts, you woulddo anything to take it away from
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them and you do everything inyour power.
That's why we take her to allof her therapy appointments.
That's why we take her to allof her doctor's visits.
That's why we do everything wepossibly can for God to do a
work in her life.
And isn't it amazing that Jesusis the only one who can take
the hurt from us, because he isthe only one that gives us hope
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for healing.
Jesus is your only hope forhealing.
Everyone say hope.
Jesus is your only hope forhealing.
Here's what is fascinating to meIsaiah chapter 35, you ever
thought about this?
Isaiah chapter 35 sayspronounces the blind will see,
the deaf will hear, the lamewill leap and the desert sand
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will become a pool of refreshingwater.
It looks like John 5 is thisprophetic fulfillment of Isaiah
35, not about a pool, but aboutJesus, who's coming on the scene
to heal people of theirdiseases, to heal people of
their infirmities.
In other words, jesus sees you,he knows what you're dealing
(15:54):
with, he knows what you'repraying for, he knows the help
you need.
But let me say to you todaymaybe you're at the point where
you don't even pray for yourhealing anymore, or the person
you know, maybe you've given upand maybe God has brought you
here today to remind you thatJesus hasn't given up, that he
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still sees you, or he still seesthat person, that he's still
working.
I love that song.
We're going to sing it nextweek the song that says even
when you don't see it, he'sworking.
Even when you don't feel it,he's working.
He never stops.
He never stops working.
So number one is the desire forhealing.
Number two is the God ofhealing.
Everyone say God, the God ofhealing.
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Verse eight, john 5, eight, saysthis Jesus said to him get up,
take your bed and walk.
Now.
Here's what's interesting.
So Jesus is speaking in thesame authoritative voice as when
he was creating all of theuniverse.
So the same voice that callsthe planets into existence and
the sun into existence and thestars into existence and you and
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I into existence is the sameauthoritative voice that Jesus
looks at the man with compassionand he says get up.
In other words, his body had torespond to what Jesus was
commanding him to do and afterand after 38 years of a
disability, this man stood upbecause Jesus healed him in an
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instant.
I wanna remind you this morningthat God can heal you
instantaneously, or God can healyou over time.
God has all the power in theworld.
God can do anything he wants todo.
He is omnipotent.
There is nothing that Godcannot do outside of sin,
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outside of his will.
The question is, what is hisplan, what is his timing and
what is his purpose?
I heard a pastor say this pastweek that what we call modern
marvels of medicine or pills andsurgeries and therapies they
would have called divinemiracles a thousand years ago.
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Because we see people recovermore.
We see people healed more todayfrom sicknesses, diseases and
all these type things thanpeople ever have before in human
history.
Someone wrote their story and itsaid in the fall of 1979, my
parents were in seminary when mymom, pregnant with twins, went
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into unexpected premature laborin their apartment.
With no time to get to thehospital, my dad had to deliver
both babies at home with thehelp of 911.
When the paramedics arrived, myparents were devastated to
learn that my sister, melissa,was stillborn.
He said I was barely clingingto life at just four pounds two
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ounces.
They rushed me to the NICU.
I was placed on life support.
The doctors told my parentsthat my survival would take a
miracle.
For six weeks my mom visitedand prayed over me daily,
believing God for healing, but Iwasn't gaining weight until
doctors tried an unconventionalfeeding method, inserting tubes
(19:20):
into my ears and my neck tonourish my body, and this person
said miraculously, it worked.
I grew strong enough to go home, though I still wonder what
life would have been like ifMelissa had survived.
I'm grateful for the gift oflife that God gave me and the
promise that I will see Melissaagain in heaven One day.
(19:45):
They said God still doesmiracles.
I'm living proof.
Put your hands together rightnow for the miracles that God
continues to do.
I just find it interesting thatJesus said get up, take your
bed and walk.
In other words, I think whatJesus is saying this when I heal
(20:08):
you, when I do a work in yourlife, when I help you, he's
saying the whole purpose isultimately not just for you.
He says the whole purpose isfor me, that you go and do
ministry, for me, that you goand help others in the same way
that I have helped you.
So what do you do?
(20:29):
As we're talking about allmonth long, when you need a
miracle, you'll see it on thescreen.
Number one I want to encourageyou, as your pastor believe God
can do the miracle.
That's your faith.
Believe that there is nomiracle that he can't do.
Believe that God can do themiracle.
Number two pray that God willdo the miracle.
(20:52):
We don't pray that God.
We don't pray that he can.
We know that he can.
We pray that he would, but wedon't know what his will is, so
we believe that he can.
We pray that he will.
Number three we praise God ifhe does the miracle.
Number four we worship God ifhe won't do the miracle.
(21:13):
Why?
You'll see it on the screen.
God doing the miracle displayshis power.
God not doing the miracledisplays his wisdom.
So I wanna encourage you thismorning Maybe God has brought
you here to hear this I wouldencourage you to never lose
faith that God can heal you orsomeone else in an instant.
(21:34):
Never stop praying that God canheal miraculously,
instantaneously.
Whenever you're praying for,either yourself or someone else,
I would encourage you to alwaysmake that a part of your prayer
, because even when you arepraying for the sick, pray that
God would heal them fully, rightthen, right there, in that
(21:56):
instant.
Why?
Because we don't believe in anage of healing.
We believe in a God of healing.
We don't believe in an age ofmiracles.
We believe in a God of miracles, and God always calls us to
pray for the impossible thatonly he can do.
God is calling us to be peopleof faith.
(22:17):
We pray that God would do themiracle.
We pray that God would do theimpossible and we leave the
results to God.
Number three not only do we seethe desire for healing or the
God of healing, but, numberthree, we see the enemy of
healing.
Everybody say enemy.
This is crazy.
You won't believe what justhappened.
(22:37):
John 5, verse 10.
So the Jews said to the man whohad been healed it is the
Sabbath and it is not lawful foryou to take up your bed and
walk.
Can you believe it?
I mean, what is wrong withthese people?
That this man has been aninvalid, he's been paralyzed,
(22:58):
he's been lame, he's beenimmobile for 38 years and
finally Jesus comes on the scene, looks at him and says get up,
take your bed and walk.
And the man walks away andeveryone is praising God, right,
except for these Pharisees whorun up to the man and they don't
celebrate.
(23:19):
What do they do?
They complain and they complain.
You should not have taken upyour bed.
Do you know why they did that?
See, the Pharisees came up withan additional 39 laws outside
the Bible.
So these are man-made laws,man-made rules, and basically
the Pharisees said if you justobey these 39 rules, then you
(23:40):
won't even get close todisobeying the Bible.
The problem is that's legalism.
Everybody say legalism.
That is religion, that is notfaith.
See, the Bible says we're notsupposed to add to the Bible,
that we are supposed to obey theBible, believe the Bible and
live the Bible out, but we'renot supposed to add to it.
They were adding to it.
And do you realize that thevery last man-made law they
(24:03):
wrote was you're not to carryanything on the Sabbath.
So they ran up to this man, notthat he broke the word of God,
but that he broke the law of manbecause he was carrying his bed
on the Sabbath that Jesus toldhim to carry.
You realize that there arechurches today where God is
working and where people arecelebrating, but there's a
(24:26):
pocket of people that arecomplaining.
They're complaining becausethey're not getting church the
way that they want it or they'renot getting church the style
that they prefer, and so,instead of celebrating all that
God is doing, they startcomplaining.
In other words, they are notall happy about the miracles
(24:46):
that God is doing, not all happyabout the miracles that God is
doing.
They're all mad about the humanrules that are being broken and
I pray that God continues toprotect us and I pray that God
continues to preserve us frombeing that kind of church.
In fact, I want to encourageyou that if you ever have a
concern about our church not acomplaint, complaining what do
(25:09):
you do?
You go to people.
They can't fix it.
But if you have a concern, whatdo you do?
You come up to one of ourpastors.
If you're not sure who to comeup to, come up to me.
Your pastors love you.
We wanna hear every singleconcern and all I ask you is, if
you have a concern that youhave a verse to back your
concern up, can I get an amenthat you don't have a man-made
(25:33):
rule or man-made tradition toback your verse up?
Why?
Because this church is notgonna be what I want and this
church is not gonna be what youwant.
This church is gonna be whatJesus wants.
Can I get an amen?
And so we want to bring.
I want you to feel the freedombring, so we want to bring.
I want you to feel the freedombring your concerns that you
have, as long as you have averse of scripture and as long
as you have prayed about it for24 hours.
(25:54):
This is not my church, it's notyour church, it's Jesus' church
.
Verse 11, it says.
But Jesus answered.
I'm sorry, the sick man, theman that was just healed,
answered them saying verse 11,the man who healed me.
That man said to me take upyour bed and walk.
They asked him well, who is theman who said it to you?
(26:15):
Take up your bed and walk.
Now, the man who had beenhealed.
He did not even know who it was.
He didn't know who Jesus was.
He didn't know that Jesus, theson of God, had just healed him,
for Jesus had withdrawn asthere was a crowd in the place.
Now, notice here's what's sointeresting to me is that Jesus
(26:35):
healed and Satan, the enemy, wasable to take their eyes off of
the healing that Jesus had done.
But you know, what oftenhappens in our lives Is that
Satan often takes your eyes andmy eyes off of Jesus.
When Jesus chooses not to dothe healing, satan will start to
(26:56):
lie to you and lie to me, likeGod doesn't really love you, or
else he would have healed.
You don't really believe in God, or else God would have really
healed.
Satan will lie to you and sayif you really had enough faith,
god would have really healed.
Satan will lie to you and sayif you really had enough faith,
god would have really healed.
Or Satan will say in fact, thewhole reason you need healing is
because of the sin that you'vedone in your past.
So my question is what if Goddoesn't heal?
(27:21):
What if God doesn't do themiracle?
Does that mean you don't haveenough faith?
Does that mean that God is nothearing or answering your
prayers?
Does that mean you're not saved?
Because people will questionyour salvation, people will
question your devotion, peoplewill question your faith if
(27:41):
God's not answering your prayers.
And then what will happen isyou will start to question God.
But I want you to see whathappened in the Apostle Paul's
life 2 Corinthians 12, verseeight.
The Apostle Paul said threetimes, which means continuously
I pleaded with the Lord aboutthis, that it the thorn in his
(28:05):
flesh, the difficulty in hislife, whatever infirmity it was,
we don't even know.
Three times I pleaded with theLord about this, that it should
leave me.
So Paul is begging God, he'spraying for a miracle, whatever
it is.
God, would you take this thingfrom me?
In verse nine.
But Paul said but God said to me, jesus said to me my grace is
(28:29):
sufficient for you, for my poweris made perfect in weakness.
Therefore Jesus said.
Paul said I will boast all themore gladly of my weaknesses so
that the power of Christ mayrest upon me.
In other words, jesus willleave limitations in my life and
(28:49):
Jesus will leave limitations inyour life because it is the
weaknesses within us that we getto see the power and the
strength of God on display andbe manifested through you.
In other words, if God did notleave any weakness in you, then
we would have no reason to trustin Jesus.
But when he leaves thoseweaknesses in you, there is
would have no reason to trust inJesus.
(29:09):
But when he leaves thoseweaknesses in you, then it is
those weaknesses that keep usdependent upon our relationship
with Jesus.
Because verse 10 says versehardships the persecutions, the
(29:30):
calamities.
Because when I am weak in methen I am strong in Jesus.
Jesus loves to leave things inour life that we may even
disagree with.
(29:51):
And the whole reason is Jesusis saying because that's the
area of your life that I want touse the most, that I wanna put
my power on display the most.
John, chapter nine, verse one.
It says as Jesus passed by, hesaw a blind man from birth and
his disciples asked him rabbi,this guy's blind.
(30:14):
So who sinned?
Somebody sinned, was it the man, the blind man, or was it his
parents that he was born blind?
Jesus answered it was not thisman that sinned and it was not
his parents that sinned, butthat the works of God might be
(30:37):
displayed in him.
Difficult things to happen tooccur, to be brought into your
life, because God wants toreveal his work, often through
(30:57):
the weak things, through thedifficult things, through the
limitations in our lives.
I want to remind you God'shealing is not based on the
power of your prayer, but on thepurpose of his plan.
God's healing is not based onyour godliness.
If you were just more godly,god wouldn't answer you.
(31:18):
No, god's healing is not basedon your godliness.
God's healing is based on hisgrace.
Your healing is not based onthe size of your faith, but on
the size of your God.
And the question is what doesGod want?
While Jesus did tell people thattheir faith would make them
well, that does not mean that alack of faith means a lack of
(31:38):
healing.
It's not that you, if you getenough faith, or even if you get
the words right, that you'll behealed or God will do the
miracle.
Rather, you ask God and youtrust him with his plan.
While some may ask if you haveenough faith to be well, a
better question may be do youhave enough faith in God to
(31:59):
remain sick?
Even Jesus prayed.
Father, if it is your will, letthis cup pass from me.
Not my will, but your will bedone.
God will always keep somethingin your life to keep you on your
knees, so you'll see it on thescreen.
Never let the enemy distractyou from what Jesus is doing.
(32:24):
God is too perfect not to havea purpose in your life.
Listen to this story.
I never thought I would turnaway from God, but I found
myself in the worst storm of mylife.
My marriage was struggling.
I felt lost.
On October 10, 2013, I had aheart attack.
(32:46):
Not long after, I made a choicethat would bring even more pain
and destruction than I couldhave ever imagined.
I walked away from God and,before I even realized it, satan
had taken a hold of my life.
For months I battled alone,ashamed and broken, struggling
to believe that God could everforgive me.
(33:09):
But in my lowest moment I criedout to him.
He met me with grace and mercyand love, and it has taken 11
years of daily surrender, prayerand seeking his restoration.
But God has been faithful everystep of the way.
Through the prayers of friends,the healing of my marriage and
(33:31):
the power of God's forgiveness,I now know his grace is final
and forever.
If you feel lost, you're notalone.
Don't let go of God's hand ever.
He is still writing your story.
Put your hands together forthis church member who wrote
that for you.
Lastly, and I'm done, numberfour the purpose of healing.
(33:54):
Everyone say purpose.
What is God's purpose inhealing?
Verse 14.
Afterward Jesus found the man ofthe temple.
This is crazy, because the manwas paralyzed.
He was not even allowed intothe temple by the Jews.
They would not allow the blind,the deaf, the lame, the
(34:15):
paralyzed, the disabled to evengo into the temple because they
would be seen by the Jews as notgood enough for God.
And so this man gets healed.
And where's the first place hegoes?
I don't think he walked, Ithink he ran.
I think he ran straight to thetemple because he finally got to
go into the temple of God, thepresence of God around the
people of God, and I justbelieve that he just shouted in
(34:37):
worship, in glory, in praise forwhat Jesus had done in his life
.
Afterward Jesus found him inthe temple and said to him see,
you're well.
And the man didn't know thatJesus had healed him until this
moment.
And then Jesus said something soprofound, the entire point of
(35:00):
the passage.
Jesus said go and sin no more,that nothing worse may happen to
you.
See, at the pool Jesus healedhim physically, but in the
temple Jesus healed him, savedhim spiritually.
(35:24):
When Jesus said go, sin no more, jesus is not calling this man
to be spiritually perfect.
It's not a sinless perfection.
Rather, it is a new spiritualdirection on his life.
Jesus said go and sin no more.
In other words, live for me sothat nothing worse may happen to
(35:45):
you.
What could possibly be worsethan being the worst off
disabled man in the entirecountry, going to hell?
When we found out aboutBrooklyn's diagnosis, I started
(36:06):
praying.
Michelle started to pray andjust prayed every single day,
many times a day, that God wouldheal her.
And then it hit me, because Godconvicted me.
I am praying for her physicalhealing more so than her
(36:28):
spiritual salvation.
Why do I care about thephysical things, which we should
, but why do I care about themmore than the spiritual things
You've heard me say before,brooklyn may never walk on this
(36:50):
earth, but she walks with Jesusbecause she's given her life to
him.
And I wanna encourage youwhatever there is in your life
or the life of someone else, theenemy wants to use it in you to
distract you, to keep you fromJesus.
So maybe you have a hard hearttowards him, or maybe you're
(37:13):
dealing with doubt and you'redealing with fear.
If Jesus isn't answering thisprayer, then is Jesus answering
any of my prayers?
If Jesus isn't listening to mein this way, is Jesus listening
to me at all?
And I just want to remind youthat the purpose of healing,
that Jesus is saying yes, I'mlistening to you, but it all
(37:34):
must be from the purpose of God.
John 5, 17, the last verseJesus answered them.
My father is working and I amworking.
In other words, just becauseJesus doesn't answer that prayer
doesn't mean that Jesus isn'tanswering any prayer.
Doesn't mean that Jesus isn'tlistening, doesn't mean that
(37:56):
Jesus doesn't love you, doesn'tmean that Jesus doesn't care.
It just means that Jesus has agreater plan and that he loves
to use the weak and thepowerless areas of our life to
put his glory and his power andhis love on display.
So life isn't about us, butlife is all about him.
(38:19):
So what do we do when God heals?
What is our response?
You'll see it on the screen.
We go and worship Jesus likethe man went to the temple.
We live in repentance likeJesus called him to go and sin
no more.
We share the gospel like theman went and told the Jews it
was Jesus, and we reveal thework of God.
Jesus and his father are stillworking.
But then my question is whatshould our response be?
(38:42):
Even when God doesn't healYou'll see it on the screen we
still worship Jesus.
We live in repentance.
We still on the screen.
We still worship Jesus.
We live in repentance.
We still share the gospel.
We still reveal the work of God.
Here's the deal.
If God chooses to heal Brooklyn, her healing will be a
(39:04):
testimony.
If God doesn't heal Brooklyn,she will still be a testimony.
If God doesn't heal Brooklyn,she will still be a testimony.
If God chooses to heal you, hegets the glory.
(39:28):
Why?
You'll see it on the screen.
Whatever limitation God leavesin your life is to be an
amplification of his love in thelives of others.
I think there's something evenmore powerful than telling a
miracle story.
I think there's something evenmore powerful than telling a
(39:49):
miracle story.
I think there's something evenmore powerful than you saying
look at what happened in my lifeand God came in and God healed
me, or God did a miracle andboom, here I am.
Here's the only thing.
I think that is more powerful.
Here's the difficulty in mylife, here's what I'm struggling
with, here's what I have tolive with, here's what I'm
(40:09):
struggling with, here's what Ihave to live with.
And God has chosen not to healor do the miracle, but I still
trust him, I still worship him,I will still live for him
(40:32):
because he is good and he isworthy of our lives, no matter
what he chooses to do.
I'm gonna ask you all to bowyour heads and close your eyes.
Maybe God brought you here thismorning, today to restore your
(40:55):
faith in a God of miracles whocan do any miracle, and to
remind you you need to continueto pray for God to do the
miracle.
And maybe God brought you heretoday to also remind you you
need to continue to pray for Godto do the miracle.
And maybe God brought you heretoday to also remind you that
his will and his plan and hispurpose is always best, and if
(41:20):
he chooses not to, he's stilltrustworthy and he's still good.
And maybe you came today andGod is working in you and God is
speaking to you, and God iscalling you by name, and God is
revealing to you that today isthe day of your salvation, and
(41:41):
today is the day that youfinally give yourself and you
just trust him with your lifeand he forgives you of your sin
and he puts a spirit in you andyou live your life for him.
I can't pray this prayer for youand I can't save you, but I can
walk you through it and you canpray it, and it's the one
(42:03):
prayer that Jesus promised thathe will always say yes, as long
as you mean it.
Right here, right now, you canpray and you can say dear Jesus,
I believe in you, I need you,and you can say, jesus, I
believe that you died on thecross for my sins and I pray
(42:24):
that you would forgive me of allmy sin.
And you can say, jesus, Ibelieve that you rose from the
dead, I believe that you'realive, I believe that you're
real and, jesus, I give my lifeto you.
The Bible says that if you callon the name of Jesus as the
Lord of your life, you will besaved.
(42:45):
Call on him right now and sayJesus, be my Lord, be my God, be
my God, be my Savior, and hepromises to save you
instantaneously, to do theultimate miracle in you forever.
Jesus, we believe that we loveyou and we pray these things in
Jesus' name.
And all God's people said wouldyou put your hands together for
(43:06):
anybody that made that decision,that prayed that prayer?
We just wanna say welcome tothe family.
We're so thankful you made thebest decision of your life.
Our worship team's going tocome out.
I want to ask us all to standat this moment and I want to
encourage you that.
I just want to encourage youright now, as all of your life
has been working up to thispoint, to this day, to this
(43:28):
moment, that this would be themoment that you pour all of
yourself out in worship to him,that you just recognize that
nothing else matters, that Jesussees you, that Jesus is
listening, his eyes are on youand Jesus is receiving your
(43:49):
personal worship right now.
I wanna encourage you just toworship him from the depth of
your soul.
In this song that we're singingabout the miracles that God
continues to do in our lives.
Let's worship Jesus right now.
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