The Change You Didn't Expect | Brad Straarup

Today I'm here to talk to anyone who is in this room and you're feeling stuck in the midst of your current situation.

Anyone ever come to that place in your life where you just feel stuck?

Everyone ever had it, you're just like, Man, I'm just I'm just stuck.

Anyone who's in this place and you're wanting a breakthrough in your life, anyone who is looking for freedom, anyone who's just saying, God, there's just some stuff that I need you to change, I need you to change.

And I think so often in our lives we can look at our lives and there's things that seem to be going good.

On the outside, everything seems to be going well, but you'll know that one time that there's that one thing, there's just that one thing that you'll look, you're like, Lord Jesus, I want you to change that one thing.

Well, I believe today that that's exactly what he wants to do in this place.

We've been in a series entitled The Miracles of Jesus.

Have y'all loved the series, The Miracles of Jesus?

We're talking about the things that Jesus can do, going through the book of John, looking at what John would call signs.

There are these seven signs that are found in the Gospel of John, and what we're doing is we're spending some time talking about all of them.

Week one, I'm sure you guys would remember.

We talked about water into wine.

Jesus' first sign, water into wine.

And it's so funny how sometimes this can attach to his I am statements because Jesus says this, I am the true vine.

I can transform something in your life, I can take something that is broken and I can make it beautiful.

Last week we talked about the healing of the nobleman's son.

Jesus says, This I am the way, the truth, and the life.

He looks at a boy who is so close to death, and he reverses it and brings him life.

And today I want to introduce you to a man who was sick.

A man who was hanging out, not even looking, not even expecting that grace was on the way.

And this man met Jesus, the King of Kings.

And because of that, everything in his life was changed.

I want to know who I'm talking to today.

How many of you say that there's something in your life that you want God to change?

That there's a part in your life, let's see, full participation.

There's a part of you that you're like, man, I just want something in my life to change.

Something's not quite right.

There's some things that are broken.

And if that's you, I really believe that this man is gonna inspire you here today.

So, Jesus, we give you today.

Lord, we give you every single person in this room.

And Jesus, I pray that you will speak, that you will do what only you can do.

In your name we pray.

And everybody said, Come on, everybody said, Amen and amen and amen.

If you have your Bibles, go to John chapter 5, verse 1.

John 5:1

John chapter 5, verse 1 says this.

John 5:1

Sometime later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals.

What you need to know is that in Jerusalem, there would often be these three festivals that happened every year that everyone would come to Jerusalem to be a part of.

It's almost like, you know, coming into town for Christmas or coming into town for Easter.

One of these actually would have been Passover.

Like imagine all of Arizona coming into Phoenix for Easter.

Okay?

That's kind of what it was looking like.

Which, by the way, y'all, Easter is four weeks away.

Man, we are right there.

Let me say this, let me say this.

I want you to be praying about who you're gonna be inviting to Easter.

Easter is one of the only times that you're almost a guaranteed yes.

Like if you invite someone, they're gonna say yes.

I want you to be praying about who's coming to Easter.

But all of these people are coming to Jerusalem, and Jesus is there for one of these festivals.

It doesn't let us know which one, it just says one of it.

And it says, Now, there is in Jerusalem near the sheep gate.

Say the sheep gate.

There is in Jerusalem, near the sheep gate, a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda.

Now there were ten gates around the city of Jerusalem, and one of those gates was called the sheep gate.

And the sheep gate was for sheep.

Imagine that.

I love it.

Oh my god, that's so obvious.

What would happen is they would often bring sheep through the sheep gate, and these were the sheep that they would be getting ready to sacrifice at the temple for something like Passover.

Okay?

So you need to know if this was a festival, everybody, like everybody bringing an animal.

Okay?

This is not where you want to be.

Like every single family in Phoenix coming to one place and they're like, we're bringing an animal, we're gonna slaughter it for our sins.

Like, that's what's happening.

Okay?

That's the context.

You do not want to be near the sheepgate.

Animals, it's gonna stink, it's gonna just be nasty.

Well, at this sheepgate is a place called Bethesda.

Okay?

And this is where the story picks up.

Bethesda would be a place where sick people would be.

Some of them were there for years, some of them unable to go to the bathroom.

Bethesda is not exactly a place that you just want to hang out for a good time.

It's not where you go.

But for some reason, Jesus is in this place, and the Bible details what it looks like.

It says that it was covered with five colonnades, and it says that a great number of disabled people used to lie there.

The blind, the lame, the paralyzed, the broken, the doubting, the sick, the people pleaser, the angry, the worried, the workaholic.

Give me enough time, I'll get yours too.

Because here's what I know we're all struggling with something.

Every single one of us is struggling with something, and this man is no different.

Verse 4, it says this.

Turn to verse 4.

If you got it, say got it.

If you gotta say, got it.

Some of you are like, I don't got it, because it's not in my Bible.

Okay?

Some of you are like, okay, wait, why is verse 4 not in my Bible?

Someone's like, wait, really?

It's not in my yeah, it's not in everyone's Bible.

Let me let me read it to you and then I'm gonna explain why it isn't in your Bible.

Verse 4 says this from time to time, an angel of the Lord would come down and stir up the waters, and the first one into the pool after each such disturbance would be cured of whatever disease they had.

So the reason this isn't in your Bible is because this verse actually wasn't in the earliest manuscripts of the Bible.

Many people believe that it was actually added later.

It was added for context.

It was added to help you understand what is going on.

So it's actually a footnote in most of your Bibles.

Now, some theologians would argue whether or not this actually happened.

Did an angel really come down?

Did it really stir?

The water was kind of like a hot tub.

Like, is that what's going on?

Theologians don't know, and they'll argue about it.

But here's what matters whether or not it was true or not, he believed it was.

Because that's why he was there, this invalid, this paralyzed man that we're going to meet.

And it just goes to show me something.

Sometimes we can be looking for healing in the wrong place.

Like, some some of us were in this place and we're like, man, I really thought my marriage was gonna heal me.

You know what it did?

Messed me up more.

It just showed me all of the places I'm so selfish.

Man, I thought that position was gonna make me feel good because it was gonna affirm who I am, only to find that when I got that position, I'm still as empty as I found.

We're often looking for healing in all the wrong places, and when you put it your hope in something that's false and that thing disappoints you, where is your hope?

Our friend understands this.

Verse 5 says, There was one who was there and he had been an invalid for 38 years, and when Jesus saw him lying there and had learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he said, Man, this guy's been sick a long time, we just need to go home.

That's what he said.

No, it's not what he said.

I think it's just so fascinating.

It says, When he learned this, when he learned y'all, Jesus could learn something.

When he learned that this man was there and was sick for so long.

I don't know about y'all, but I think sometimes when I meet someone and they've been struggling with the same thing, like you know that thing?

Like the same thing.

Like, I don't have grace, I lose patience.

Anyone else?

Can we just be honest in church today?

You're like, man, the same thing, that same guy, really?

Really?

Like, you don't think he's gonna do that?

Really?

And it's like I just get to place I'm like, I don't know if my patience is gonna be.

Really?

We're gonna go around the same mountain again, and you know what's gonna happen?

The same thing again, like that.

That's kind of like what I would be, but I love Jesus because Jesus isn't like that.

He learned that this man had been lying there and he said, Well, you know, that's Brad, he keeps trying and he keeps failing, so we're just gonna move on.

Don't worry about Brad.

No, he doesn't do that.

What he says is he meets him in the worst situation, and I think we need to understand that because sometimes we think we can only bring to church, we can only bring to God the things in our lives that are presentable.

I'm only gonna show you the parts of me that are presentable, but I think what I love about God is sometimes what we can do more often than not is it's true freedom comes when we're able to expose the part of ours that is hidden.

The parts that no one else sees.

This man is in this situation, this thing that may have happened to you that no one knows about.

If you can expose that thing to Jesus, the thing that you did that no one ever knows about, and you think if someone ever found out about that day, they will never look at me the same.

I need you to understand something about our church, is that you don't have to be buttoned up to come here.

We're not a fancy bunch.

You do not have to be buttoned up to come here.

We are a hospital for the sick.

It's almost like, man, if you want to go to the ER, it's like, no, I can't go to the ER, I need to fix myself first before I go to the ER.

That's not how it works.

You're broken and you come to the ER.

You're sick and you come to church.

We do not expect you to be perfect.

We do not.

Here's what I love about Jesus we say this is a place where it's okay to not be okay.

But what I love about Jesus is Jesus loves you the way that you are, but he didn't die to leave you the way that you are.

He said that he wants to take you from glory to glory to glory to glory.

So it's okay that you're struggling with some things.

It's okay that you have some stuff in your life that isn't figured out because he wants to change you.

People say to me, Brad, is this church gonna change me?

Absolutely.

I pray you are changed.

I want you to be changed.

I want Jesus to change me.

I'm trying everything in my power that Jesus can change you.

Can I get a good amen?

That's what we're here for.

We don't have to be buttoned up.

But Jesus comes to that place, that situation, and he asked him a question.

He says, Do you want to get well?

Sir, Dimila replied, I have no one to help me get into the pool when the water is stirred.

When I try to get in, someone else always goes ahead of me.

And Jesus said, Get up, pick up your mat and walk.

And at once, say at once.

The man was cured.

He picked up his mat and walked.

I want to talk about this subject today.

The change that you didn't see coming.

The change that you didn't see coming.

Do me a favor, turn to your neighbor and say, hey neighbor.

Come on, full participation.

Turn to your neighbor and say, hey neighbor.

There is a change that you didn't see coming.

Turn to your other option.

I don't know why you picked them second, you did that, but say, hey neighbor.

Change is coming.

Change is coming, change is coming.

Often it doesn't look like the way that we want it to, but change is coming.

Yesterday I was on an airplane.

I was coming back from preaching a youth event, and I need y'all to know something about me.

I hate traveling.

Okay?

Anyone love traveling?

Y'all are my people.

Who of you hate traveling?

Okay, that's me.

Okay, I do not like traveling.

Okay, none about it.

I don't like any of it.

Part of it is I just like being in Phoenix.

I like y'all.

Y'all are my people.

I want to hang out with my people.

I want to be here in the greatest city that God has ever created.

Amen.

Jesus, that's where I want to be.

Okay, I love this place.

I love this city.

More than anything else.

I don't want to be anywhere else.

It's one of the reasons.

Second reason I hate traveling.

I'm tall.

Don't know if y'all notice this, but I'm tall.

Okay?

And here's the thing: you get people that are like different heights, and there's different reasons for their heights.

Like some people, they just got really long backs.

They just seem like their back is like really long.

Okay, that's my brother.

My brother's toy's got a long back.

I don't have long backs.

I'm old legs.

I got really, really, really long legs.

I got a short back.

I look weird, and I got long legs.

Okay?

My hip bone is up here.

That's weird.

Okay?

That's weird.

And that makes an issue for traveling.

I remember when I first watched Monsters Inc.

and I met Mike Wazowski.

Show me Mike.

I was like, I feel understood.

Because sometimes I feel like Mike, he is all legs, and I'm like, I am all legs.

So because of that, I don't like traveling.

Yesterday I was traveling and I do this thing, I don't know if y'all do this, but I take my legs and I put them under the seat in front of me.

Crushed up in this airplane, right in front of me.

And I had no idea.

If you're short, you maybe not gonna understand this.

If you're tall, we people, okay?

We boys.

Okay, I I was tall and unbeknownst to me, I started playing footsie with the old man in front of me.

Okay.

Now I don't know why his feet were under the thing, but they were, and for some reason, and I didn't know that I was doing it.

Okay, I had no idea.

And I don't know if it was the first time, the second time, the third time, the fourth time, but I came to a place where all of a sudden he turned around and he said, Sir, stop kicking my feet.

Y'all, I felt like I was in the principal's office.

I was like, sir, I am so sorry.

Nothing in my life wanted to do that to you.

Please forgive me.

Like I was so, I felt so bad.

I'm like, I didn't want to do it.

There's a bunch of stuff under my chair.

I was kicking this stuff.

This stuff was kicking you.

That wasn't my feet.

That would be weird.

I had my shoes on.

This isn't weird.

But for some reason, he was really mad.

Now I was wrong, but I started thinking about it.

And I was like, at what point did he decide?

Man, I'm just gonna roast this guy.

You know, because I don't know if I kicked him once, twice, three, four times, five.

But the first time, if this is so irritating, now I know I was in the wrong, but I just thought about it.

If if this was so irritating, could you not have turned and said, hey sir, I know you didn't wake up this morning with the intention of irritating the fire out of me.

I know you didn't plan to torment my feet all day.

But if possible, it would be amazing if you could stop kicking my feet.

And I would say, sir, I'm so sorry.

You're right.

I didn't wake up that way.

That's not how it happened.

And I just wondered at what point he had the ability to change the situation that his anger wouldn't get to him.

He was so frustrated with the situation around him, but at no point did he take control of the thing that he could have taken control of.

What am I saying?

Sometimes we have the resources to change something, but we let the thing get irritating instead of changing us.

I want to talk about change.

Okay, I want to talk about change today, about that thing in your life that you want to be different, that thing in your life that you want to change, that thing in your life that you're like, God, can you just remove this from my situation?

And I think the challenge is so often we're praying for God to change our situation.

When God isn't trying to change our situation, God is trying to change us.

Jesus help me remove them, their irritation.

Fix you! Like so often, that's so we want to start everywhere else.

And in our text, we meet a man who has a condition.

Say a condition.

He has a condition.

I want to talk about that.

I want to talk about the conditions that we face in our lives.

This man has a condition.

Let me tell you something about the person in your row, they got a condition to.

Let me tell you something about the person on the stage.

I got a condition too.

Every single one of us, we have conditions that exist in our lives, and the challenge is we don't often see it.

If it was physical, you could see it.

If I had a physical ailment, you could see it.

But so often we don't.

We're coming into church, and it's not physical, it's mental, it's emotional, it's spiritual.

Like you're fighting with your wife in the car.

Just freaking out.

You come into church, the greeters like, hey, welcome to spirit, and you're like, Hi! Like, how are you?

You're like, blessed and highly favored of the Lord.

I'm anointed, appointed, chosen.

I'm too blessed to be stressed, too anointed to be disappointed, too cold to be stalled, too chosen to be frozen.

Okay, that's enough, bro.

That's enough.

Okay.

That's what we do.

We come and how's everything?

Fine, fine, fine, fine, fine, fine, fine, fine, fine, fine.

Emotionally, not fine, but uh I'm mask fine.

Mental struggle.

Well, if I just don't talk to someone, no one's gonna know.

Spiritual struggle, well, if I just act the part, if I just lift up my hands, if I sing the song, if I do the Bible thing, if I act the part, then no one's gonna know, and we're forever acting, but never free.

Jesus wants to help you so that you can be free.

I wonder if today we can be honest about that thing that is going on in your world.

I don't know what that thing is.

The thing on the inside, not the thing on the outside, the thing on the inside.

I noticed this pattern as a pastor.

I would often talk to people and they would say, Hey, I would love if we can meet.

I need some counseling, I need some help.

And I'm like, Praise God, Jesus.

Yeah, I love this.

So I meet with them.

I notice something.

There's often people will come and they want to talk, and they will always describe a situation.

Brad, I really want my marriage to change.

My wife's crazy.

Don't poke anyone, okay?

Just lock eyes.

I want her to change, she's crazy.

Okay?

And sometimes the things are real.

Like, I do want my marriage to change because he doesn't love the Lord.

Right?

You're praying for a mom or a dad or a spouse to actually love God.

Sometimes you're like, man, Brad, I really want my job to change.

Sometimes you're like, man, I really want my finances to change.

All those things are real, and I would love to be able to pray with pray for with you for those things.

I think those things are important.

But I'm amazed at how little times someone comes and they're like, Brad, I need help.

I'm like, what do you need help with?

And they're like, I'm selfish.

Brad, I'm insecure.

Brad, I'm doubting.

Brad, I don't trust God.

It's never that.

It's always them.

Fix the situation.

When sometimes the reason we're facing stuff is because of us.

Brad, please, please pray for me.

I lost my job.

I'll absolutely pray.

Tell me about it.

What happened?

I was four hours late.

Okay, tell me more.

Every day this week.

I'm like, bro, I would have fired you too.

I'm like, we're like, please change the situation.

Sometimes God is trying to change something in us.

What is it in?

Can we get honest about that thing?

What's that thing in you that actually needs to get changed?

That thing inside of you, the unforgiveness, the pride, the selfishness, the greed, the insecurity, the doubt.

You see, because Jesus wants to say you free from that thing, it's the change that you didn't see coming.

Because sometimes we want to change it, but God isn't trying to change it.

God is trying to change you.

God's trying to change me.

Remember when I first got married to Paige?

Paige is perfect.

I love Paige.

Paige is amazing.

She's perfect.

But when we got married, when we got married, there was like one or two things.

That I was like, God, if you could change this, that'd be awesome.

I love it.

That'd be awesome.

God didn't change those things at first.

Then I realized maybe it's not Paige.

Maybe she's fine.

Maybe it's me.

So I said, God, can you change my heart?

Lord, can you teach me what it is to lay my life down for my wife?

Lord, can you teach me what it is to pursue?

God, can you teach me what it is to prefer?

God, can you teach me what and it was crazy.

When God started working on me, it started changing it.

So often we want to start with it, but Jesus isn't asking about it.

He is asking about you.

What's the condition?

What's the thing inside that you're in a place and Jesus is trying to change that thing around you?

You want to talk about the condition, but not only that, I want to talk about the comfort.

I'm talking about the comfort because in order to change, you're like, okay, Brad, I know what that thing is.

Great.

In order to change, you have to want to change.

Novel concept.

Jesus is like, do you want to get well?

Do you want to get well?

Not do you want it to get well.

Do you want you to get well?

I'm not talking about the situation.

I'm talking about you.

Do you actually want to get well?

We read this and we're like, Jesus, why are you asking this question?

He's an invalid.

Of course he wants to get well.

But I actually don't think this is a callous response.

I actually think Jesus is being strategic in this place.

He is being sincere because so many of us want to change, or we want change, we just don't want to change.

Oh Jesus, I want change.

I just don't want to change.

And Jesus is saying, Do you want to get well?

Because sometimes if he heals you from that thing, you can't have the same excuse you used to have.

When he actually heals me of that relationship, it means that maybe I'm not going to gossip about that thing anymore.

And sometimes what we do is we don't want to be healed of that thing is because we like telling that story.

I like rehearsing that thing in my mind.

We have all of these excuses.

He had it too.

Jesus comes up to him.

Do you want to get well?

And what I know is this man was comfortable on his mat.

What condition have you grown comfortable with because it feels normal?

He comes on this condition, and I know he's comfortable because he had a rehearsed answer.

Jesus says, Do you want to get well?

That's a yes or no question.

And he says, Sir, I have no one to help me in the pool when the water is stirred.

Why I'm trying to get in, someone goes ahead of me.

Jesus didn't ask, Why are you not well?

He asked.

Do you want to get well?

You see, because if you're well, you're not gonna be able to be at this pool anymore.

If you're well, you're gonna have to change some stuff about your life.

If you're well, you're gonna have to find a job.

If you're well, you can't keep hanging out with everyone else around you who is as broken as you are.

Something's gonna change if you're truly gonna be well.

So I'm actually asking, sincerely, do you want to be well?

Are you ready to change?

Are you ready to do the work?

Because you need to know this.

The one-to always precedes the how-to.

Okay?

I know how to wake up early.

Go to bed early, set an alarm.

I know how to.

It's not that I don't know how to.

It's just that I don't want to.

I don't want to.

We know how to have good marriages.

Read the Bible.

Lay down your life.

Prefer your spouse.

Serve them.

Lay down your life as Christ.

Lay down his life as the church.

We get it.

It's not that I don't know how to.

It's just that sometimes, if I'm honest with myself, I just don't want to lay down my life.

I don't always want to serve.

Just me.

Really?

Really?

Y'all looking at me like you've never had that thought before?

Really?

I don't want to serve.

I don't know how.

I just want to watch TV.

I just want thank you.

I just want to watch sports.

I don't watch sports, but I thought maybe they'd get a bit of a response.

Oh my god, they're like, yes, me, got it.

And like we were watching the Olympics, or it was on TV.

I didn't actually watch it, but there was figure skating going on the other day.

And I just thought about this.

You know, if someone came up to me and they were like, Brad, you got long legs, you should be a figure skater.

And they're like, We're gonna give you the outfit, we're gonna give you all the things, I'm gonna teach you how to do the landing, I'm gonna teach you all the things.

Okay, it's gonna be amazing.

It doesn't matter how much you tell me how because I don't want to be a figure skater.

Okay?

The want-to always has to actually precede the how-to.

Do you want to get well?

Do you want to get well?

Do you want it?

You can emphasize different things.

Do you want to get well?

Or do you want to get well?

Do you actually want to get well?

Do you want it to change or do you want you to change?

Because there comes a point that we have to be uncomfortable with the things that we were comfortable with.

See, I used to be comfortable with the way that I spoke, but then I had to become uncomfortable with it.

I used to be comfortable with the way that I wasn't following God's word, but then I had to become uncomfortable with it.

I used to be comfortable with the people that I was hanging out with, but then I had to become uncomfortable with it.

I used to be comfortable with the way that I responded, but then I had to become uncomfortable with it.

Do you want to change?

Or are we comfortable in the change that we have?

And when the chains get taken off, that is our pain has become so part of our identity that when our chains get taken from us, we do not know who we are.

We're like, I like my mat.

He had a condition, he had comfort.

I also want to talk about the change.

John 5 verse 8 says this.

John 5:8

Jesus said to him, get up, pick up your mat and walk.

Pick up your mat and walk.

It's not only a one-to, it's not only a how-to.

There comes a point where you actually have to do it.

You know the step.

Do it.

James teaches us this.

James 1, verse 22.

James 1:22

Do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves.

Do what it says.

Can you imagine if he was like, Jesus was like, man, get up your mat, take up your mat, walk, get up.

And he's like, Wow, Jesus, that's good preaching.

Man, that's awesome.

Word.

Amazing.

Wow, praise God.

Yes.

You actually have to do it.

Man, that's so great.

That whole thing about forgiveness, somebody should do that.

Novel idea, Jesus.

So great.

So helpful.

Lay down my life.

Mmm.

Awesome.

What a good idea.

I'm sure people do it, have great marriages.

I don't want to.

You actually have to do the thing.

That's what James says.

Do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves.

Do what it says, because anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in the mirror and after looking at himself goes away and forgets what he looks like.

What is it saying?

It's saying if you look in the mirror and you've got some spinach in your teeth, you make a change.

When you look at the mirror, it shows you your condition.

When I look at the Bible, it shows me my condition.

I'm not going to look at the mirror and not get the spinach out of my teeth.

You're not going to look at the Bible and not get the spinach out of your soul.

That doesn't even make sense, but it makes sense.

It makes sense.

That's what he's saying.

Don't deceive yourself.

Actually, do what it says, or else it's like forgetting what you look like.

But the one who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom and continues in it, not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it, say do.

They will be blessed in the Greek.

That is happy, fortunate, privileged, favored.

They will be blessed in what they do.

That does not mean that your situation will change, that means you will change.

The disciples in the storm.

The situation is crazy.

But Jesus said that they didn't have enough faith, which means that they could have stood in that place secure.

They could have.

Man, there's times in my life where everything is going wrong.

And I'm like, God, if I can just follow your word, I can't control that.

I can control this.

And if I'm standing on the word of God and I'm doing what he tells me to do, even if that looks crazy, I have faith and I have peace.

Because I'm like, God, I can't control that.

That's yours.

But I can control my response and I'll make sure that my response lines up with your word and I have peace.

If I live, great.

If I die, great.

It doesn't matter.

As long as I know I'm following your word, I'll leave the result up to you.

I'll leave the result up to you.

Jesus says, get up, pick up your mat and walk.

And at once the man was cured, and he picked up his mat and walked.

We talked about our condition, we talked about our comfort, we talked about the change.

The final thing I just want to let you know is when you make the change, you're going to have a conflict.

When you do the thing that Jesus told you to do, there are going to be some people, there are going to be some things.

It says this, verse 9, at once the man was cured, he picked up his man and walked.

The day on which this took place was the Sabbath.

Dom, dump, dump.

Jesus always causing stuff on the Sabbath, man.

He's just always making stuff, making people angry.

And it says, so the Jewish leader said to the man who had been healed, it is the Sabbath.

The Lord forbids you to carry your mat.

I want you to get this.

The Jewish leaders, they see the mat, not the miracle.

Sometimes God is going to do something significant in your life, and there's going to be people that are going to love to remind you of your mat.

Remind you of your mat, not your miracle.

You give your life to Christ, everything inside you starts changing, and they're going to say, Yeah, but I remember when.

The enemy's going to come and he's going to say, Yeah, but I remember when.

What is that?

It's reminding you of your mat.

Jesus says, carry your mat, not to condemn you, but as a testimony of what God has brought you through.

You don't have to hide that thing.

You don't have to worry about that thing.

Some of you are coming in here and you're like, man, if anyone knew, no, no, no, no, no.

Show your mat.

And we'll say, Man, I'm so thankful for what Jesus is doing in your life.

I'm so thankful the way that you're following him.

And it will inspire other people.

And they're like, Man, wasn't he the guy that wants, look what Jesus has done in his life.

But religious people, they do not want you carrying your mat.

Oh, they want you to remind you of your mat.

They say, be fake, or I'm just gonna talk about it.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

There's gonna be conflict that's gonna come.

That's why we always talk about get in a group.

It's okay to have people that you're reaching, but your crew, you need to have a good crew that is following Jesus.

The enemy is gonna come.

1 Peter 5, verse 9 says this, be alert and of sober mind, the enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.

1 Peter 5:9

Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout this world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.

What's your condition?

Where are you comfortable?

Where are you frustrated with the situation around you?

And in that moment, could you say, man, I wonder if it's actually not it?

I wonder in this moment if God is trying to do something here.

Practically, there's a few things I want you to do real quick.

The first thing I need you to do, I just need you to recognize what that thing is.

What is that thing?

Man, for me, I don't know when it happened.

But I've been in this church game for a long time.

And I always was like, man, I'm a leader and leaders take accountability and leaders take responsibility and I'm fully responsible and everything's my fault.

Everything, everything's my fault.

I take ownership of everything.

And I don't know when it happened.

But a couple months ago, I just got to this place where I started feeling like a victim.

And I was like, man, if only.

And God started putting his finger on that thing and saying, hey, hey, hey, hey, what's that?

And I realized that I was mad at others for my uncommunicated expectations.

Ever done that?

Uncommunicated expectations is predetermined resentment.

I never told him, but I was mad at him.

Now you would have never seen that.

I'm happy.

Can I be honest?

Man, there's some stuff in my heart that, man, that doesn't look like Jesus.

I had to recognize what that is.

And I need you to know that Jesus can heal that thing.

He can heal that thing.

Now sometimes people are like, well, Brad, if Jesus can't heal, then why am I stuck in this place?

Why am I suffering?

Why am I in pain?

If Jesus can, why doesn't he?

And that is such an important question.

And it is so hard to answer.

Why do we have evil in this world?

Why do we have suffering in this world?

There's a number of reasons.

One of them is we just live in a broken world.

The world was perfect, Satan was here, and we messed it up.

We sinned, our great, great, great, great grandfather Adam sinned.

And because of that, sin came, evil reigned.

And our bodies don't do the things they're supposed to do, they degenerate.

Why does that happen?

It happened because we live in a broken world, because of sin.

That's why they're suffering.

Another reason why they're suffering is sometimes it's my own sin.

Like I said about the guy who was like, I got fired.

What happened?

Man, I just didn't show up for work.

Like you did that.

Like God didn't do that, you did that.

There's times in my life that I just want to blame God and other people, but I'm like, no, no, no, I need to admit that I did that.

This scripture actually shows that this could have been this guy because Jesus comes up to him and he says, verse 14, later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, See, you're all well again.

Stop sinning, or something worse may happen to you.

So I don't know what it was, but for some reason this guy's condition was attached to his sin.

Now that's not always the case.

Couple chapters later, the disciples are like, Oh, maybe sin has to do with sickness, and they see a guy, John 9 verse 1, it says, As they went along, they saw a blind man from birth, and his disciples said, Rabbi, what sin did this guy do?

John 9:1

What did his parents do?

What did he do that caused them to be blind?

And Jesus said, He's not blind because of his sin, he's blind so that the work of God may be may be on full display.

So it's not always the case, but sometimes it is.

Why is there sin?

Why is there why is there evil?

Why is there pain?

Sometimes it's our action, sometimes it's other people's actions.

And sometimes it's not even that.

Sometimes it's just Satan, evil, and demons.

I feel like one of the best lies that the enemy has told the American church is that he doesn't exist.

We just go around pretending like he doesn't exist.

Ephesians 6 says we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, the rulers of the darkness of this world.

Hear me, everything is spiritual.

Everything is spiritual.

Everything is spiritual.

And the hardest thing for us to accept at times is this that yes, there's sin, yes, we make mistakes, yes, others make mistakes, yes, there's Satan, evil, and demons.

But God sometimes allows hardships to test and refine his people.

And I know that's not great, but it's true.

Peter in the Bible, Luke 22, verse 31, Jesus is talking to Peter and he says, Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat.

Luke 22:31

And he says, But I have prayed for you.

I'm like, Wow, Jesus, really?

Satan's asked to tempt me, and you prayed for me.

Why don't you stop him?

You prayed for me?

Like anyone ever felt like God, you can what do you mean you prayed for me?

Job, man, what a righteous man.

Satan's like, I want to test him, I want to tempt him.

And God's like, Okay, what?

Why does that happen?

Why does God allow that?

I don't know, but here's what I do know.

Here's what the Bible says.

Sometimes God does test us.

Genesis 22, verse 1.

Genesis 22:1

Sometime later, God tested Abraham, God tested the people of God.

Deuteronomy 8, verse 2.

Deuteronomy 8:2

Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness for 40 years to humble and test you in order to know what is in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands.

Why does this happen?

James 1 says this.

It says, consider it pure joy when you face trials of many kinds, because the testing of your faith produces perseverance.

Let perseverance finish its work, that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

First Peter talks about us going through trials.

These have come so that the proven genuous genuineness of your faith may be of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by the fire, which may result in praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

There is something about Christians that we persevere through the heart.

We persevere when we're persecuted.

Jesus didn't promise it would be easy, he actually promised the opposite.

In this life, you will have trouble.

But take heart.

I have overcome the world.

And there's something about when you're facing something, you're struggling with something, and you persevere and say, I'm gonna trust Jesus regardless.

There's a time that when we die, when Jesus comes back, people will see the perseverance of the state.

We prove that our faith is true.

Not because it's easy, but because I stand when it's hard.

Because I stand when I'm tempted, because I stand when I'm tested.

I need you to recognize what that thing is in your life, and then I need you to repent of that thing.

Repent of that thing and release it to God.

I need you to relay it to someone else.

Don't just repent, tell someone.

I just told all y'all.

The counseling session.

This is the thing that I need to work on right now in my heart.

You have to relay that thing, and then you have to resist the enemy.

Can I show you one more sign, real quick?

Every week we've ended with one of the signs.

What was the sign?

What was the point?

Why the man at Bethesda?

Why the healing?

Why?

This is awesome.

Bethesda stands for house of grace.

Say grace.

House of grace.

The number for grace in the Bible is five.

Bethesda, house of grace, five.

It's in John chapter five.

Bethesda has five colonnades.

Five.

He was sitting in grace and he didn't even realize it.

And the thing is, he tried to do something in his own power to get well.

He was in grace.

He couldn't see it.

And so often we try to do something to get ourselves well, and it doesn't work.

I'm unable to get myself well.

That's the point.

But when we don't have the grace, grace comes to us.

Jesus comes to us.

He is grace.

And he says, I know you're in that place.

I know you're trying to do it by yourself.

And you can't.

So today, grace is coming to you.

Grace is coming to you.

The Lamb of God.

Talk about that sheep gate.

That sheep gate where everyone's going, all the sheep are going to get sacrificed.

But when I die on the cross, I am the Lamb of God who will be sacrificed.

And that sheep can die for one family sin, but when I die, I'm gonna die for everybody's sin.

I am the Lamb of God.

But not only am I the Lamb of God, I am the living water.

I am the living water.

He calls himself that Bethesda.

Two pools, one still, one had living water, rain water.

And the ritual went back in those days with ritual cleaning.

If a drop of living water touches stale water, that water is now considered living.

And if you clean yourself, you can be clean.

So often the world there's all these kinds of things that we're trying to get well.

There's all these kinds of things that are broken.

My sin is so broken.

And the living water, which is Jesus, he touches that one thing and he can make all things clean.

Don't you love the Bible?

Don't you love the Bible?

Man, I'm more in love with the book of John than I ever have been.

Why?

It shows me who my savior is, it shows me who my Jesus is.

I don't know what it is that you're going through.

I don't know the condition that you have in your soul, in your heart, in your spirit.

But in a second, I know grace can touch that.

And my prayer today, with whatever that thing is, that we're not saying, God, can you change it?

Today we're getting really serious and we're saying, God, can you change me?

So, God, I want to pray for every single person that's here.

Lord, I know the situation, but Holy Spirit, I pray that you'll put your hand on that thing that we'll walk out of this place and say, Man, instead of complaining about my marriage or my job or that person or about that thing, Jesus, can you work on me?

Can you work on my heart?

Can you work on the thing in my life that needs to change?

Lord, I thank you that you will.

I thank you that you can.

While you continue praying, I know there might be some people here and you may not know this Jesus, this grace man that we just talked about.

The Bible says every single one of us is separated from God.

And one day when we go into eternity, if you do not know God, you will not spend eternity with him.

But the beautiful thing is there is a savior that has come who died for your sins so that you don't have to.

And he says, if you just believe in me, if you believe that I died, that I raised from the dead, if you make me your Lord, you will be saved.

And if you're here and you've never done that before, no one's looking around.

I'm just gonna count to three.

And I just want you to flag me and say, Hey Brad, that's me.

I want to know who I'm praying with.

Here we go.

One, two, three.

If that's you, thank you.

Boldly, I love that, thank you.

I love that, thank you.

I love that, I love that, I love that.

I want you to pray this prayer off to me, just say, Dear Jesus, I know that you're the Son of God and the Savior of the world.

Jesus, I know you came to this earth, you died on a cross, and you were raised, that I may have life.

I make you my Lord.

I'm going all in with you.

I'm gonna follow you, change me, renew me, make me new in Jesus' name.

In Jesus' name.

Hey church, can you do me a favor?

Can you put your hands together?

Come on, for everyone who just said that for the first time, come put your hands together.