Getting Off The Ground - At The Movies Special Edition: The Chosen

Well, hey, good morning and welcome to Real Life Church.

We are so excited to worship God with you this morning.

I know he has something for you in store today.

So go ahead and stand to your feet, whether you're with us in

person or you're joining. Us online.

Get those hands going. We're going to worship him.

I'll call you Maker, you give life an eternal spark.

I'll call you Heather 'cause you can mend any broken.

Heart and I. Call you faithful Father, 'cause

you finish everything you start. My soul was made to respond.

I'll respond. I know you'll buy 1000 days and

you deserve every single word. You've given me a million ways

to be amazed at what you've done and I am.

I've lost in one day had all you do know you'll buy 1000 days and

I'll sing. I'm back to you because you

deserve the highest order. Your love is boundless beyond

what I could dream. Your grace is patient and it's

never given up on me. I call you bondage breaker

'cause you're handing out the prison keys and my soul was made

to be free, to be free. Come on, I know you'll buy 1000

days and you deserve every single one.

You've given me a million. Ways to?

Be amazed the way you've done and I am lost in wonder.

Had all you do. I know you'll buy 1000 days and

I'll sing em back to you. Yes.

Sing em all back. Sing em all back.

Sing em all back. Sing em all back.

Sing em all back. Sing em all back.

Sing em all back. Sing em all, You're the great I

am walking forever. The beginning and the end.

You are Lord and servant. You're the sign of man.

You're the lion at Judah. You're the reason Lamb.

You're the second. To.

Lead us whole You are always blurry now revealed in flesh and

bone you are ocean harder you will make a way you are.

Test. Defeated you are.

Prison from the Cray. You are full of mercy.

You are rich and alive. You are Jesus Messiah.

Go on true God, I know you'll buy 1000 days and you deserve

every single one. You've given me a million ways

to be amazed. Do what you die.

I know you buy 1000 days and you deserve every single word you've

given. Me a million ways.

To be amazed the way you've done and I am a lost in wonder.

Had all you do know you buy 1000 days.

Sing them back to you, yes, sing them all back.

Sing them all back, Sing them all back.

Sing them all back. Sing them all back.

Sing em all back. Sing em all back.

I'll sing em all back. Sing em all back.

Sing em all back. Sing em all back.

I'll sing em all back. Sing em all back.

We'll sing em all back. We'll sing em back to you.

We'll sing em back to you. Jesus, I know you buy 1000

names. You deserve every single one.

You've given me a million ways to be amazed where you've done

and I am forced in wonder. Had all you too.

I know you buy 1000 names and I'll say I'm back to you.

Yes, you deserve the highest order.

Say I'm back to you, Jesus, You're worthy, You're worthy.

Jesus give you all the praise today.

Yes, we love to sing out your name, Jesus.

Come on, give it up for God in the house today.

He is worthy of all names. Let's continue to worship Him.

Come on, Rumors are the Son of Man,

Stories of the Savior, Holiness with human hands, treasure for

the traitor. No, we had heard.

No, I had seen the image of the Father to heaven claim to live

with me, who rest you like no other.

Let him here at you. Are worthy you are.

Worthy of your name, you are. Worthy You are the worldly of

your name. My Jesus, you did not speak, you

made no sound. You died for your accusers.

That's your me. And as you Mullard fell to the

ground. You.

To find my future every step and on the day that you.

Arose torn. This ring for cover for the King

of Kings has claimed his throne now until forever.

You. You are.

Worthy. You are worthy of your dream.

You are worthy. You are worthy of your name,

Jesus. We trust you.

We believe who you say you are. You're my author, my maker, my

ransom, my Savior, my refuge, my hiding place.

You're my helper, my healing, my blessing, Redeemer, my answer,

my saving grace. We're not done yet.

You're my hope in the shadows, my strength in the battle, my

anchor for all my days. You are.

And you stand. By my.

Side And you stood in my place. Jesus, no other name, only

Jesus, no other name. You are worthy.

You are worthy of your name. You are worthy.

You. How worthy of your name, Singer.

How worthy? So worthy.

God you are. Worthy of your name.

You are worthy. Oh, you are worthy of your name.

Who is my glory? God Almighty want on water, the

wind and the waves. They know your.

Name. Brought my heart out of the

ground. Let them hear it.

You are worthy. Worthy of your name.

You are worthy. So worthy.

You are worthy of your name. Jesus, you were the Word at the

beginning. Now revealed in you our Christ,

what a beautiful name it is. What a beautiful name it is.

The name of Jesus Christ my King.

What a beautiful name it is. Nothing compares to this.

What a beautiful name it is. The name of Jesus.

Did it want heaven without us? So Jesus I'll bright heaven down

sin was great, your love was creator.

What could I say? Bury us and now what a

wonderful. Name it is.

What a wonderful name it is. The name of Jesus Christ my

King. What a wonderful name it is.

Nothing compacts to his What a wonderful name it is the name of

Jesus. What a wonderful name it is.

The name of Jesus. What a wonderful name.

How sweet is when the moon. How good you are.

Love to sing all you need in the night.

Love to save who you are. Say goodnight, hold a little bit

boy. Silence.

The most I've seen in you Heavens our Roy, the praise of

your new read for you. I raise your life, OK?

You have no arrival. You have no equal.

Now and forever. Choice is the Kingdom, choice is

the Lord. Yours is the name of purple

names. Come on, what a powerful.

Name it is. What a powerful name it is the

name of Jesus Christ. My, what a powerful name it is.

Nothing can stand the kids. What a powerful name it is.

The name of Jesus. You have no rival.

You. Have no equal.

Now. And for the time you read.

What a. Powerful name it is what a

powerful name it is the good name of Jesus Christ.

My King, what a powerful name it is.

Nothing can't stand against What a.

Powerful name it is. Coming up, Jesus, what?

A powerful means coming up Jesus.

What a powerful name is coming up, Jesus.

Come on, give me some praise this way.

That's right. So, so good, so good worshipping

with all of you today. What a powerful name.

It is the name of Jesus. We're so thankful for him.

We're thankful for you too. So glad that you're spending

your morning with us right here at REAL Life Church.

Welcome, welcome, welcome. Well, hey, before you guys take

a seat, take about 30 seconds, say hey to somebody around you

and then you can take a seat. Thanks again for being with us

this morning here at Real Life church.

I just want to take a second and say welcome to all of those of

you who are here for the first time or maybe the first time in

a long time. We're so glad that you chose to

spend your morning right here with us.

We really don't want anything from you this morning, but just

to let you know that we've been praying for you. all right,

well, you can take a seat. The We've been planning for you.

We believe you're not here on accident and that God has

something for you today. So thank you so much.

The only thing that we would ask is just that you would let us

know. We'd love just to introduce

ourselves to you, to get to know you, to answer any questions.

If you would grab that card that's on your seat, just fill

out the top part of that card and we'll talk about what to do

with that later. But we would love just to

welcome you here at Real Life Church.

And here in Real Life, we have a mission.

And that mission is to see people far from God discover

their real life and purpose in Jesus.

And in each and every week we see people come and commit their

lives to him. And that's why we do it, to see

soul saved, to take the gospel further and just here to take it

out to our community, to our county, to our state and around

the world so that people can know the freedom that is only

found in Jesus. And hey, I am so excited for

this morning. We are continuing our At the

Movies series. If this is your first time or

the first time in a long time, church might look a little bit

different. Smells like popcorn out in the

hub. You see all the lighted up

signs, the red carpet just for you guys.

But that is because we're doing an exciting series.

We're in the second week of it. It's called At the Movies.

And here in a minute, once we get started here, you're going

to see people come down the aisles with popcorn and soda and

water. It's all free, all on the House

just for you as we dive into this week's series about the

movie. So help me welcome Barry Hardy

to the stage. He's going to bring us to word

today. What's up real life you guys

ready for at the movies? Man, did you guys love last

week, man? Yeah, it was so cool just to see

just in picture and film just to just the presentation of of

story. We've all known woman at the

well and today we're going to do hit another story that you may

or may not know. So if you have your Bibles in a

bit, we're going to be in John chapter 5.

John 5 · chapter mention

But if you want to start turning there, we're going to be looking

at a story of Jesus healing a man at the pool of Bethesda.

So today's theme is is getting off the ground.

You guys ever been stuck? You guys ever get pinned to the

ground? Yes.

No, maybe. I remember, you know, so I

wasn't always this, this size growing up.

I think I graduated 6 foot and about 150 lbs.

Christie's fed me well since then, right?

I remember being in gym class and my sports were like

baseball, football, the basketball.

I never did anything else and I never ever wrestled.

But I grew up doing construction.

So for my size, I was really, really strong.

And so I remember we had gym class one time and we had we had

wrestling and they did it by weight classes.

So I wasn't wrestling any heavyweights, but for the guys

that I was wrestling and going against that were my weight.

I just ragged all these guys because I was used to throwing

concrete around. And so I was having fun in the

middle of this gym class. I was just launching guys I'd

never had the opportunity to do and I was throwing them left and

right all over. I didn't know what I was doing,

but I was just hammering them right until I met a wrestler.

And if you guys don't know this, there's two people you don't

mess with, and that's preachers and wrestlers, because they're

going to get you in the end, right?

Man, I ragged all this guy for the first couple minutes, and

then something happened. He got me on the ground and no

matter my strength, no matter what I had, there was nothing I

could do. He put me in moves that I had

never heard of. I think I got crucifixed and I

don't know what else happened to me, but I was stuck.

And we've all get there sometimes and, and and and

that's physically, but but in in real life, what happens to us as

the world beats us down? Sometimes we get stuck to the

ground emotionally, spiritually. You know, I know I'm talking to

somebody today that is, is going through a situation where they

don't know what to do. And they thought they had all

the answers. They thought they were strong

enough, they thought they were smart enough, they thought they

could had it all figured out. But right now you're pinned to

the ground. And can I let you know you don't

have to stay there. So Our Calling today is to get

off the ground. And so I want you guys to keep

this in mind as we watch this clip.

Jesus isn't only talking to a character in the gospels.

Jesus has a question for you. So welcome to at the movies.

Shalom me. Yes, Shalom, I have a question

for you. For me, I don't have many

answers, but I'm listening. Do you want to be healed?

Who are you? We'll get to that later.

But my question remains, will you take me to the water?

Look, I'm having a really bad day.

You've been having a bad day for a long time.

So, Sir, I have no one to help me into the water when it's

stared up, and when I do get close, the others stepped down

in front of me. And so look at me.

Look at me. That's not what I asked.

I'm not asking you about who's helping you, who's not helping,

who's getting in your way. I'm asking about you.

I've tried for a long time, I know, and you don't want false

hope. Again, I understand.

But this pool, it has nothing for you.

It means nothing and you know it.

But you're still here. Why?

I don't know. I don't need this pool.

You only need me. So do you want will be healed?

So let's go get up, pick up your mat and walk.

I'm. Free to walk.

Like he said, don't forget your bed.

Why does this matter? Because you're not coming back

here. That life is over.

Everything changes now. Man, it's so good, isn't it?

You know, we're going to we're going to dive into this passage

that that that this this clip is based off of.

Here's what I love about the chosen in shows like this in in

the creators of this series have have made this statement.

Watching a show like the Chosen is meant to do one thing.

It's meant to drive you to the word of God.

And they take some liberties and they acknowledge that.

So like later on it talks about the name of the guy that Jesus

healed. We don't know.

That doesn't come from church tradition, definitely doesn't

come from the Bible. But the point here is this is

the goal for the chosen and for why we do at the movies is to

drive. So you too search the scriptures

for what God has you in it. And so as we talk about getting

off the ground, I want to start with going to John chapter 5,

John 5 · chapter mention

which is what this clip's based off.

And I want you guys just to read this with me and we're going to

get the context of what John chapter 5 says.

John 5 · chapter mention

So here we are. It says some time later, Jesus

went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals.

Now there is in Jerusalem near the sheep Gate, a pool which is

an Aramaic called Bethesda, which is surrounded by 5 covered

colonnades. And here a great number of

people of disabled people used to lie, the blind, the lame, the

paralyzed, one of whom had been an invalid for 38 years.

And when Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had

been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, do you

want to get well? You guys saw that, Sir, the

invalid replied, I have no one to help me into the pool.

And when the water stirred, when while I'm trying to get in,

someone else goes down and ahead of me.

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

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

And the day which this took place was a Sabbath.

And so the Jewish leaders said to the man that who had been

healed, it is the Sabbath, the law forbids you to carry your

mat. But he replied, the man who made

me well said, pick up your mat and walk.

And so they asked him, who is this fellow who told you to pick

up and walk? And the man who, who was healed,

had no idea who it was. For Jesus had slipped away into

the crowd that was there. And later Jesus found him at the

temple and said to him, see, you are well again, stop sinning or

something worse may happen to you.

And the man went away and told the Jewish leaders that it was

Jesus who made him well. So we read, we read through

this, this, this passage of Scripture, the clip and the

video that we just saw. And what I love about the video,

it just brings to life that the words that we read, you know,

sometimes our imaginations are, are are very good at filling in

some of the gaps. But sometimes, you know, having

it shown to us is just a great way.

Like even even seen the Pharisees in the background,

right? You know, that's something I

hadn't even really thought about.

You know, the obviously there was probably Pharisees.

So what we're going to talk about today is getting off the

ground. So I don't care if you've been

stuck for 38 days or maybe you're like this invalid, you've

been stuck for 38 years and it seems like forever, right?

I'm going to give you 5 different ways to get off the

ground. And these are going to kind of

mirror the five columns or the column aids that were here at

this pool of Bethesda. And so number one, the first way

to get off the ground is this is to identify false assumptions.

Identify false assumptions. What was this invalid false

assumption? What what was he putting hope in

that he shouldn't have the pool, right?

The water. You guys know the story of what

was, was going on here. So what what happened is, is

that the superstition or the reality, whatever it was, is

that the angels would come down periodically and they would stir

the water and then the first person that would come in and

get into the water would be healed.

And so the man was lame. He was an invalid.

He had a hope in the water, right?

That was why he was there. But what happened?

Everybody else got in front of him, right?

So he was looking to the pool for his redemption.

He was looking to the pool for his salvation.

And so when he asked Jesus in this clip, are you going to take

me to the water? What was Jesus's answer?

It wasn't. He's like, no, that's not what

I'm here for. And for us, we may not be

sitting like the invalid at the edge of a pool waiting for the

Angel to destroy the water, but we've all got a pool in our life

that we're looking for salvation from, right?

And that could be a lot of different things.

Our pool might be a relationship we're waiting for because if we

have that relationship, man, everything's going to be good.

Maybe it's a dollar amount that we, that if our salary attains

to, then we've got security. Maybe, maybe our pool is, is, is

a position. Maybe if you're in social media,

maybe it's your, your, your influence, your, your, your

account on Instagram or, or Facebook or TikTok or whatever.

There are a lot of things that we all look to for security for,

for status, things that we think are going to bring us hope,

satisfaction, security, freedom, right?

But what was Jesus's answer? His answer to the invalid was

no, I'm not going to take you to the water.

There is no hope in that pool. Last week when we we were

looking at the the woman with the wealth, what did Jesus

identify himself as? What kind of water was he?

He was the living water, right? And I love you go from John

John 4 · chapter mention

chapter 4 to John chapter 5. He tells you if you ask of me in

John 5 · chapter mention

John chapter 4, if you knew who I was, you would ask me of the

John 4 · chapter mention

water that I'll give you the living water and you'll never be

thirsty again. And here in John chapter 5, we

John 5 · chapter mention

have a guy staring into a pool that he thinks is going to solve

all his problems, but it just won't.

And the pools that we look to will never solve our problems.

It will never bring us the satisfaction, the hope that

we're longing for because Jesus is the answer.

Jesus is the living water. And that's what he wanted him to

lean into. That was the hope that he was

bringing this invalid. And the, the, the, the very fact

that Jesus is the answer. It kind of Harkins back to when

I, when I was, was, was talking to you guys a few weeks ago.

I love this thing and I repeat it off often.

Jesus plus what do you guys remember?

Nothing. It's Jesus plus nothing.

It's not Jesus plus my job that's going to bring me

happiness. Happiness.

It's not Jesus plus my position. It's not Jesus plus this stage.

It's not Jesus plus money. It's just Jesus in the moment

that I add anything else, whether it's a pool physically

that I think is going to heal me or anything else that I'm going

to put along with Jesus to make me happy.

We've lost the point and we've lost the solution.

We've lost the claim that Jesus has on our lives.

So identifying those false assumptions, the things that we

think are going to bring us happiness, that's step one of

getting off the ground. So Step 2 is this is, is asking

a hard question. You guys ever had somebody ask

you a hard question that they're, they can be hard for a

lot of different reasons, right? They're hard sometimes because

we don't want to consider it, but sometimes they're

insensitive. If, if if I'm sitting there and

you see it in this guy's face. So you see the other guys.

Did you notice the other people's faces that that were

that were there waiting for the pool?

And Jesus goes up to this guy and you ask him a question.

What was it? Do you want to be?

Well, that's kind of an insensitive question, isn't it?

If I'm that guy and you can see in those other people's faces

are like, why are you asking him this question?

Of course he wants to be well, that's why he's here.

But Jesus asked that for a reason, and I think it's this

simple reason. Whenever we get down and we're

stuck to the ground and Jesus comes in our life and asks us

this question, do you want to be well?

Everybody thinks the answer is always yes, but is that the

truth? Sometimes we don't want to be

well, right? Sometimes we get comfortable in

our affliction. And I like this idea.

You guys ever have this idea that sometimes you can get

addicted to your affliction? Man, that's harsh, right?

I'm sorry, but I've been there. Maybe you've been there because

the thing that I, that I find security in is the thing that's

held me down to the ground for so long.

And at that moment that Jesus comes into my life and says, do

you want to be well? I want to say yes, but sometimes

I say no, right? And so I think it's a legitimate

question when he comes to the invalid and says, do you want to

be well? And what does he do

automatically? He starts coming up, well,

nobody wants to help me. You know, everybody goes in

front of me and Jesus says, that's not what I'm asking you.

I'm not asking about about what other people are or aren't doing

in your life. I asked you, do you want to be

well? So if we want to get off the

ground, we have to ask ourselves some hard questions.

Do I really want to get up off this ground or am I good

struggling in in just living in the situation that I'm in?

I had conversations with people all the time and they'll say,

hey, here's what's going on, here's what I'm dealing with.

And I see this Sean. Sean does this so much better

than me, Sean. Sean is.

And if you ever have an issue, I'm more than willing to talk to

you. But Sean is a great resource

because he has an ability to look into somebody's life.

And I tease him. I call him the Prophet.

So if you want to call him the Prophet, you go ahead.

When a prophet isn't look into a crystal ball, a prophet is

looking into somebody's life. And that's what that's what

that's how God gifts so many lead pastors and head pastors.

And he's done that with our pastor.

But I see situations where Pastor Sean or me have have

walked into a situation and they brought all the problems.

And then you start walking them through the scriptures or maybe

a principle from God that that would be very, very applicable

to their life. What happens, man, sometimes

there's so much pushback and I don't get it.

I don't understand until I think about the things that I've

pushed back in my life Because even though I recognize the

problem, I'm not ready to make that next step.

I'm not ready. I'm not ready to ask that hard

question of myself. I'm not, I'm not ready for God

to ask that hard question of me. Do I want to be well?

And so it's a great question. We have to allow God to speak

that truth into our life and, and, and ask those hard

questions because then the third step happens.

So we get, we, we get rid of the false assumptions.

We ask the hard questions and sometimes hard questions lead to

scary things. And so the third way to get off

the ground is to be ready to do something scary for God, right?

You're like, Barry, what are you talking about?

What do you mean by scary? Can you imagine being stuck on

the ground for 38 years and we don't know how this guy got

here. If you watch the, if you watch

the, the episode, he fell out of a tree, but the Bible doesn't

tell us what happened to him. But I've, he's anybody ever been

hurt and haven't been able to get out of bed for a week,

right? It's not good, right?

You get depressed. If you get anxious, you're like,

am I ever going to get better? Can I get up and walk?

I remember several years ago, I, I thought I sprained my ankle.

I had some of the nurses here and then a doctor later told me

that I shattered my ankle. I'm a little slow.

I'm a little stupid, but I wasn't going to let that hold me

down. But I was hurting for a couple

days and I just, you know, I, I couldn't move forward, but I

can't imagine being stuck on the ground for 38 years.

And then the moment that Jesus heals this man, what do you

think he felt? He felt joy, but what else did

he feel? He felt something physically

because God, this wasn't just a spiritual healing.

This was a physical feeling. And if he's lame, he has no

feeling in his leg. Did you see what he did?

He hid himself. That's something I had never

thought of. When you when you're around

somebody that's a paraplegic or quadriplegic, they have no

feeling and in the moment that God healed his body, healed his

legs. He had feeling in his in his

extremities. He had he had feeling in his

legs, but but Jesus was asking him to do something scary.

What was it and get up and walk. He hadn't walked in 38 years, 38

years. I'm 48 years old.

I can't imagine having. The last every 38 years, it

might just from when I was 10 years old and just being stuck

and not remembering how to do that.

If I, if I put my weight on my leg, am I going to collapse?

Am I going to crash to the ground?

Am I going to fall on my face? That had to be a scary first

step. So for us is, is God walks into

our lives. What is the scary thing that

God's asking you to do? And I don't know what that is.

It's different for everybody in here, right?

I love this. I love this verse.

In Ephesians chapter 4, verse 7, it says this, But to each one of

Ephesians 4:7

us, grace has been given as Christ has apportioned it.

May God has given you some grace in your life to do the scary

thing that only he's called you to do.

And the scary thing, maybe taking that first step and maybe

getting up, getting out of that situation that you don't think

that you can get out of. Getting out, getting out of

debt, getting back into church, leading your family in a way

that you've never let them, serving when you've never served

before. Going back to church when you've

been burned. Maybe that's a scary first step.

Going back into a church when the last time you were with

people that claim to love God and they threw you out, they

rolled you down that hill. That is a scary first step.

But the scary first step that so many of us ignore is the calling

on our life. We talk about it all the time

here in real life is to connect God or connect people far from

God back to their real life and purpose, right?

Maybe that scary thing is knowing that you have a purpose,

knowing that you have something that God wants for you in your

life, and knowing that you're not just a throwaway piece of,

of human garbage that the whole world has passed by and walked

over and ignored and like the invalid.

Can you imagine all the important people week in and

week out walked by this guy, didn't ever acknowledge him.

You saw the five guys, the five Pharisees in the background.

How many of them knew his name, do you think?

How many of you think prayed for him?

How many of those guys asked how he was doing, took him home,

helps him out? It doesn't look like anyone

because he was still at the pool.

Why didn't those Pharisees help him go into the water?

So a scary first step sometime is doing the thing that God's

called us to do and walking back into a home, even if it is

scary, walking back into a place where you can be in community,

in a life group with a group of people that care about you and

love you and want better for you.

And I get it, it's a scary thing.

But man, God has called us to do scary hard things.

Because in the midst of the hard thing is where God's grace shows

up. So that's the third thing.

Do scary things #4 and we're almost there.

So hold on with me #4 listen to the right voices.

Listen to the right voices, right?

So this is the part of the sermon that I was heard growing

up. When you get saved, when you

commit your life to God, what are you supposed to do with all

your friends and family? Walk away, right?

Get rid of them, abandoned them because yeah, hey, that's not

the church that I went to, John. That's not where I grew up

because I grew up in a church where they were allowed, but

they weren't welcome, right. And we had a, we had a bus

ministry and, and, and Christy and I, we got to serve on this

bus ministry and in the hearts of the leaders in that, in that

ministry, men, they bled for those kids.

We were a cloverleaf. We were at the Blue Ridge

Apartments. We were over on on Duck Rd. in

Grandview, but when we showed up at church, they were the others.

They were the second class citizens.

They were the ones that are like, I don't want the bus kids

sitting with my kids in Sunday school.

And that's what I heard a lot of ways.

And a lot of the teachers struggled because man, they love

those kids so much. But there was other people in

the church. They're like, I don't know why

we do this, why we do we allow them in.

So we have to listen to the right voices and here's what I'm

going to lean into you guys, and here's what I'm going to

challenge you with. What are the voices in this

invalids life that were holding him back?

We read it here in John chapter 5.

John 5 · chapter mention

When he gets up and he's walking and he's carrying his mat, what

were the voices of religion of his day doing?

They were accusing him. They were accosting him.

They were judging him. They're like, what are you

doing? You were breaking the Sabbath.

You were doing the thing that you're not allowed to do.

You were working because they forgot what Jesus knew.

And you'll see Jesus in the Gospel so many times challenged

the the leaders and the religious leaders of that day by

doing healings on the Sabbath because he knew for a fact,

because he was there in the beginning that man, it wasn't

made for the Sabbath. Sabbath was made for men.

It was a time of rest. It was a time of restoration.

It was a time of healing. And that's what Jesus was doing

on the Sabbath. And so when he healed the

invalid and told him to get up and walk, and Jesus was the

right voice, but the Pharisees and the people who are around

him, they were the wrong voices. So what does that mean for you?

What does that mean for me? And sometimes it does mean that

we need a new tribe. Sometimes we need, we need some

new influences in our life. We need some new people speaking

truth in our life. And here's how I look at it.

Is that because I get this question and people get saved

and they commit their lives to Christ and they walk in these

doors and, and they start becoming family with you.

But here's their question for me, like what do I do with this

group of people that I've just done life with for the last X

number of years? Do I kick them to the curb?

Or do I do what John says, invite him to church even though

they're not going to come? I mean, here's here's here would

be my advice for you. I think it's a both end.

You can be a witness to the people that you've done life

with forever. But what you can't do is allow

them to influence you in a way that they don't understand what

God's called for you in your life.

Right? Because here's the thing,

they're still stuck around the pool.

They're still looking into the pool for their salvation, for

their identity, for their meaning, for their purpose.

And when you get up and walk, they don't understand it.

When you change your habits, your lifestyle, what you live

for, what you bleed for, what you give to, what you serve, a

lot of them don't understand. They don't know.

Why do you get up on a Sunday morning, Come set up?

Why do you come to a life group? Why do you lead a life group?

Why do you open your home to people that you're not related

to? They don't understand that.

Now, does that mean we kick them out of our lives?

Absolutely not, because you are the light in their lives that

maybe God's going to use to bring them people that are far

from God back to him. But you have to realize that the

right voices in your life are the ones that are going to

challenge you, going to push you, going to help you find some

wisdom. And it's probably not the old

crew. It's not the people that you've

sat for the last 38 years with around the pool.

And God loves them. And I'm not telling you not to

love them. You have to ask yourself who is

influencing you? Who is has your ear?

If you've got a problem, who do you go to?

Who has your best in mind? Because in the times where I'm

going to tell you the Christian life, it's not always on the

mountaintop. It's a roller coaster.

Sometimes it's up and down. Ask anybody that has walked with

Jesus for years and years and years and they'll tell you the

same thing, that they they love Jesus more than they did when

they first met him. But life hasn't always been

easy. And what happens in a community

like this is that when you are in the in in the times of of

hard and you've gotten kicked. And I know so many people that I

can go to and talk to in this church right now when I get in

that spot. But the people that even some of

my own family, people that I work with, people that I've been

friends with for years, I can't ask him those same questions

because they don't have the same values that I have.

They don't have the same perspective that I have is

because because they haven't found and met Jesus yet.

It doesn't mean that God doesn't love them, like I said, but

they're not going to believe for the same things that I care

about. So you have to have the right

voices #5 #5 you have to make different choices.

You have to make different choices.

Proverbs 2611. Man, I love the Bible.

If anybody ever says the Bible is boring, it's not real, man.

They just haven't read it. I love this verse.

I've always loved it. And maybe you've heard it and

you don't realize what it was talking about, but here's what

it is. Proverbs 2611.

As a dog returns to its vomit, so fools repeat their folly.

Anybody got dogs? It was so good the first time

that I wanted the second time, right?

What a picture. And when you're in the midst of

it and you see your dog do it, it's not just a picture.

You get the whole gambit, right? The sights, the smells, and I

love, well, I don't know if my wife's in here.

I just love listening to her gag.

She's like, what does that have to do with us?

Jesus? Jesus comes and this is this is

this is the, this, this is the thing that comes after the

miracle, right? And we didn't see it in this

clip, but Jesus comes and finds the guy in the temple after the

healing, after the Pharisees are like, who did this?

Who, who, who told you to get up and carry your mat?

Jesus finds this guy in the temple and says, Hey, I want to

tell you one more thing. Don't sin anymore or something

worse could happen to you. Now, I don't know what Jesus

meant by that in the sense of like what particularly meant for

this guy. Maybe there's something this guy

had done. Maybe there's, there's a,

there's, there's a sin that this guy had committed that, you

know, he became an envelope that I don't know.

And here's the thing in church, oftentimes we look to the things

and we preach about the things that are done to us and we don't

have any control over. And man, God redeems all of

those things as well. But let's just be honest, a lot

of the situations that we find ourselves in, we put ourselves

there right in a moment of honesty.

We could all think of something that is going on in our lives or

has happened to us in the past where we did that.

That was our sin, and we have to own it.

And so when Jesus comes and confronts him, a lot of people

see that confrontation as an act of like, you know, putting his

finger in his chest. You know, that warning is just

like, don't do this, don't screw up.

But here's what I see it as. I see it as an act of

compassion. I think Jesus was doing an act

of love, saying, hey, man, don't sin anymore.

Change, choose a different way and God's not calling us to not

sin because that makes us perfect before God.

I'm not standing up. I'm the last person up here that

is perfect. That's why I love the

opportunity to get up here because in, in in the reality I

see what God does in my life and how I screw up every day.

And the grace that God shows is, is so powerful that I know that

it's there for every person. And so when God calls us not to

sin, it's not to establish a relationship as being a perfect

person and having it all figured out.

And now I'm acceptable to God. But it's the same thing as is,

is, is is any great relationship, whether it's a

parent, child, or whether it's a husband and wife.

Those relationships aren't perfect, are they?

But can I tell you, like when I see my kids willfully

disobedient and do the wrong thing, then it hurts.

And I think that's what happens with us and God.

It's not that God stops loving us, but God wants something

better for us. And so when when Jesus is asking

this invalid in warning him and saying, hey, don't sin anymore

and it's an act of love, it's an act of compassion.

And that same warning applies to each one of us.

We can't go run back to the pool because for us it's sin.

And we can all think of situations where a man, God

redeemed us, but we could have been lost so easy.

Maybe you were in a maybe you were in the streets.

Maybe you were in drugs. Maybe you were running the

running a life that was going to destroy you.

And then God found you while you were an enemy, while you were a

blasphemer, while you had nothing to do for God.

And now that you've come back to God and you're not far anymore,

why would you be the dog that runs back to the vomit?

Why do we run back as human beings, even as Christians to

the things that we know don't bring peace, security, love,

hope, freedom or identity or meaning, but we do Jesus

warnings don't do that because there's nothing in that for you.

You are a new creature of creation, man.

I've created you to do something bigger, better.

And that's is the first step of getting off the ground.

And I want to wrap this up with with one last thought.

Here's where I want to put AI want to put a package on this, a

bow on that package. And there's there's a verse from

from Revelation. It's it's Revelation 12, verse

Revelation 12:11

11. And I think this is going to sum

up everything for us is we have the idea of getting off the

ground because we're not meant to live and stay stuck.

And this verse is this, and this is talking about the enemy.

It's talking about Satan. It's talking about a war in

heaven in in verse 11, it says this is talking about the

Saints. They triumphed over him talking

about you talking about me trying triumphing over our

enemy. And how do we do that?

We triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the

word of their testimony. I was talking about social media

and and some of you guys are savvy.

Some of you guys are are just like experts in it.

And I'm a partaker. You know, I don't have a TikTok.

You don't see me influencing. You won't see me put posting

anything on Facebook. So if you're looking for that,

don't. But as I peruse and I find

stuff, there's a pastor that I've come across.

Maybe you've heard of, maybe you haven't.

He's a, he's a, he's a pastor, a preacher out of a landing named

Philip Anthony Mitchell. And I see some of these clips

that I listen to his sermons and I'm going to steal, I'm not

going to borrow, I'm going to steal one of his clips here in a

second. But man, he challenges his

church man to live for the holiness of God, to be people

that, that, that are living for, for a passion and a power of the

Holy Spirit in their lives. And there's a clip that that I

came across and, and when I was preparing for this, this message

and this verse came to mind. I mean, it is so powerful and it

ties into it and it has the idea of getting off the ground,

right? Because what holds us on the

ground so many times are the things that that not only have

been done to us, but more importantly, what we've done.

And so we, we look back at our past and you're like, Sean, you

don't know what happened. You don't know what I did,

Barry. You didn't see how I reacted in

that situation, how I treated somebody, how I've lived, how

I've wasted, how I've thrown things away.

You look back at your past, you don't think you're worthy.

And that's what this guy's testimony is.

But I love what he said in this, in this idea is this.

And it's simply if it's under the blood, it's a weapon for

God. You guys feel me.

Your past, no matter what you've done, if you've come to God, is

no longer your past. It is a weapon formed underneath

the blood of the Christ. Because what it shows is, is no

matter what you've done, what you've been through, where

you've gone, who you've been, the blood covers it.

And man, when the grace of God shows up and the blood covers

it, then it's the power of the blood.

It's the power of the cross. And if it's under the blood,

it's, it's, it's the power of the Great Commission.

It's the power of the Christ. So our battle is this.

The reason that we stay stuck on the ground is we look at our

past. We look at our brokenness and we

don't see it through the blood. We don't see how Jesus sees our

lives because we see the pain and the hurt that we've done to

other people. And that's all we see it for.

But we don't see it as a testimony like in Revelations

Revelation 12 · chapter mention

chapter 12. That weapon has taken our past

and turned it into a testimony that God uses as a weapon to

break down the gates of hell. But what does our enemy do?

He takes it and he throws it and he puts it in your face and says

get back on the ground. But that's not what God's called

us to. That's not what God's called us

from. So today, if you're stuck on the

ground, I want you to think of it in this, in this context,

what is the last thing that you just told this guy to do?

Pick up what? Pick up that mat, right?

What did that Matt symbolize? It symbolized several different

things. If he would have stayed there,

it would have symbolized his space to stay around the pool.

But in this context, his Matt was his past.

When he picked up that Matt, Jesus says you take that because

this is your testimony of the grace, the love, the power of

Jesus in your life. So today God is calling you to

pick up your get off the ground, pick up your mat and walk out of

here because your testimony to your friends, to your family, to

this church isn't forgetting about everything that's

happened. It's about the redemption of

your past man. It is the power, it is the love,

it is the security, it's the freedom, it's the identity of

Jesus in your life. When you walk out of here today

with your mat, walk with your head high.

You're like, I'm not perfect, but I can point you to the one

that told me to get up off the ground and that's why I'm

carrying my mat today and I'm going to point to him.

Would you guys pray with me? God, we come before you.

God, what a reminder as we as we look at the man that you healed

in John chapter 5 and as the picture of every last one of us

John 5 · chapter mention

in this room. God, we came before you and met

you in a spot where we couldn't do anything different.

We were broken, we were we were lame, we had no hope, and then

we were stuck and we were pinned to the ground until you showed

up. So I want to pray for two

different groups of people today and we do this all the time.

But today, first group, I want to pray for Christians, man,

maybe you've been you've, you've gone back to the vomit.

You've picked up that sin that you thought you were done with,

an attitude, an addiction, an identity, one that God doesn't

have for you anymore, and got something called you out of

something bigger. But man, you ran back to it.

Man, you don't have to be stuck to the ground anymore.

And if you're a Christian today, in this moment, in this silence,

and God's called you to something awesome, but it's

going to cost you something. It's going to it's going to

require you to do something scary because he's not going to

force you. He's not going to do anything

against your will. And if you want to be well, God

asks you that question, Do you want to be well?

It will never be against your will.

So if if you're here as a Christian day man, take this

moment and pray to God and just give him back your heart because

he never left. He's been waiting here this

whole time. God, you see your people, God

you see the people that that serve, that give that love you.

God I pray as they pray that you align their hearts with what you

call them to do and what they know.

God, I pray you give them the strength to take that next step,

to do that scary thing, to ask that hard question, to look at

that pool that they've looked at for hope and security and man

get up and walk away from that and walk to Jesus plus nothing.

I want to pray for one last group.

Maybe you're online, maybe you're in person, maybe you've

never met God. You don't know the hope and the

power of the gospel. You don't have anything under

the blood and you're stuck hoping that somebody drags you

to that pool because that's your salvation.

That's your hope. But maybe in this moment you've

come to a realization that you were created for something

bigger than that. That you know that that

temporary water isn't your hope, it's not your security, whether

that's a relationship, a job and influence, a car, whatever that

might be, that security never lasts.

And today you're ready to come home to the family of God the

Father, the creator of the universe.

And Jesus is calling me, asking you a question.

Do you want to be well? And if your answer is yes, man,

it is so easy, man. It's going to cost you

everything, but it's the easiest thing that you can do because

you can't earn it. You can only accept it.

Do you want to be? Well, if you do, and I'm going

to give you a prayer, this prayer doesn't save you.

It's not magic, it's not a ritual.

There's nothing special about it.

But what it does is going to reveal your heart that you have

before God. So if you're ready to say yes to

God today and you're ready to be accepted into God's family and

pray something along these lines.

God, man, I'm tired of being broken.

God tired. I'm tired of being pinned down

to the ground. God, I want the power of Christ

in my life. God, come in, heal me.

Take this lameness away. God, take this insecurity of the

things that I've been looking to.

God, help me to walk away from my sin.

God, help me to give my life to you.

God, I call you Father. I call you ABBA.

God, I want to be in the family. God, I give you my today.

I give you my forever God. I pray this in Jesus name, Amen.

Can we give it a round of applause for everybody that

prayed that prayer? Man, I love hanging without with

you guys at the movie. Man, get off the ground today.

And what a powerful reminder to get up off the ground and put

our faith in Jesus. And maybe today, today is the

day you decided to put your faith in Jesus for the very

first time. I just want to say

congratulations on behalf of Real Life Church.

We're so excited for you. This is a big step and we want

to make sure that you're not going to do it alone.

We want to be there with you every step of the way.

That's why we have some resources for you.

So please make sure you guys mark that connection card that

you made a decision for Jesus. Drop it in the box.

We want to make sure that we can mail a book to you.

It's just a really short read. If you're not a reader, it's

about 100 your pages. It's called begin, but it's just

a really good book to help you to get started on your

relationship with God. We also have a Bible for you and

some other resources back in the back.

So make sure as you're walking out, grab a red by a red bag.

I'm sorry, that has a Bible in it for you just from us and so

we can be just be there for you. If you are new here today, we

want to say welcome. Would you guys join me in

welcoming everybody who's brand new in the building?

We are so glad that you chose to spend your Sunday here with us

at Real Life Church. We are honored.

We are our guest. We hope that you felt welcomed.

We hope that you feel encouraged.

We also hope you stop by our new here booth on the way out.

If you haven't yet grabbed your free gift from us, it should be

right on the way outside the door.

And we also just hope that you come back next week, bring

somebody with you, come back and visit us.

We would love an opportunity to love on you a little bit more

and to get to know you and your family.

So make sure to come back and join us next week.

But I want to talk to those of you that are here each and every

week at Real Life Church about why we give here at Real Life

and and what your money does here.

We today are taking 35 teenagers and leaders to youth camp.

Isn't that exciting? So be praying for our leaders,

be praying for the campers that go.

But I also specifically want to talk to you about your

generosity and how it makes a difference in ministries just

like this. When you give here at real Life

Church, it's not just for Sunday morning.

It's for all of the ministries specifically for ministries like

real life youth that are impacting teenagers.

And I can tell you for me personally, this makes such a

huge difference. I have two of my very own girls

that are going to this youth camp that are invested in this

ministry. And it's so important for us to

be able to give back and best in our kids here.

Amen. And for us to be able to be a

part of helping to impact that next generation.

So when you guys give here at real life church or giving to

things like camp and we have a ton of teenagers that are

leaving and they're they're leaving all of the world behind

here, their technology, all of the things so they can go get

impacted by God, right? We have some teens that are

gonna go they're gonna, they're gonna start a relationship with

Jesus for the very first time. We have teens that are gonna go

that maybe are gonna let go of some stuff, that maybe have some

addictions, maybe have some attitudes and things that are

really, really hard for them that they're gonna be able to

let go. Maybe this camp is going to be

the first opportunity for them to really go all in for God.

Maybe they've been holding back. And when you guys give here at

Real Life Church, you're giving to ministries like this.

And when the kids from camp come back and they're celebrating

with their families, they're not just celebrating with mom and

dad. You guys get to celebrate with

them as well because you took a part in investing in them.

So if you're not yet giving to our church, I just want to

encourage you. This is a great opportunity for

you to start. There's going to be plenty of

opportunities and ways on the screen for you to give.

So today's the day for you to go all in.

If you guys are more like a check, writing a check person or

cash, we have a box in the back if you guys want to drop

something back there. We also have some buckets

they're going to pass by in just a second.

You guys can drop money in there.

And I just want to say if you guys are here and you're going

through some tough stuff, real life churches for you and we

want to make sure that we're supporting your family.

If you're going through a time of need, maybe you need food or

clothing or shelter. Please reach in those buckets as

they pass by and grab any loose cash that you see in there so we

can bless your family in this time.

Need. All right, one quick thing

before you go on your seat. There is a little invite card.

We call those bring invitations around here, but grab those

cards and take them with you this week.

I know if you're like me, you're leaving encouraged, maybe a

little bit challenged in a good way to get up and take your mat

and live differently. But we can't have Jesus be the

best kept secret in town. So grab those cards, take them

with you, invite somebody who's maybe close to you but far from

God, maybe their neighbor, family, a friend, but invite.

We'd love to see you guys back here next week at 9:15 and

10:45. If you or your family need

prayer this morning, we would love to pray with you for you

over you and your family today. You can head on up to the front

of the stage at the end of the gathering.

We would love to do that with you.

And remember, whoever finds Jesus discovers real life and

purpose. Love.

You guys have a great week. This is the end of this podcast.

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