Get Up| Pr Julian

You're listening to a message to go from axt church.

We hope this message will light up your tea.

Think about the last time you did something very significant

and great. Okay, I want to ask you to share now,

but have that in mind. And you know, in that situation, right,

very most likely you weren't like chilling or sitting down

or relaxing. Uh. You know if in that situation you

were probably up doing something. You're probably on your feet,

you're probably investing, you're probably uh, you know, putting your

dreams and inspiration into action. Then that sort of translates

into something great, right, Okay? Or think about the last

time you you you yourself grew sign you know, you

grow in maturity, you learned something very new. You you

felt like I learned something very meaningful in my life

in this season, right, think about it, you know, if

you have something in mind, also most likely it will

be would have been a season of stretching, a season

of being challenged. Right in those seasons where like, oh

I feel like I'm stretched, I'm put out of I

mean in under my head too deep. I've got to

learn quick, I've got to learn new skills, and therefore

I grow right before I grow. So that's sort of

like the context of what we want to talk about

today as we're going through God's Word that, for the

most of it, the significant moments in our lives, right,

isn't not when we are very comfortable. It's not when

we are like we are sitting down at night, chilling

on a couch after a long day watching Netflix. Kids

all are in bed. You know, the great things in

life happen when we're up, we're moving, and we're in

line with God's word. Okay, because because we often in

our lives default to things that are comfortable, right, it's normal.

I'm like that. I love being comfortable. I love I

love it when I'm situations where I know what's happening

and I and I I all the outcomes are expected.

But today I want to just bring us to a

verse in the Bible, a bunch of verses in the

Bible about how God is calling us for more. Okay,

so let's go into John chapter five, the Book of John,

one of the Gospels, John chapter five, verses one to eight.

And I think today might seem a little bit different

than how I usually bring the Word, because I mean,

I try to be a bit more structured. So you're

not going to get any like three p's or three

sss or three gs. Today. It's just gonna be going

to this eight verses in the Bible. And I think

partly because it so it might not be very fine.

Disclaimer disclaimer, But this word sort of came to me,

you know, over the last two or three days only,

and I'm sort of still chewing on it and reflecting

on it and meditating on it. But it's okay because

it's not by my not by power, but by my spirit,

says the Lord. So I paid all the spirit just

convict our this morning as we look into this scripture. Okay,

let's read these. We'll read all eight verses now together.

You've got your bibles, you can turn to it. John

chapter five one to it. It's also on the projector

up here. Verse one. Some time later, Jesus went up

to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. So we

don't know what festival it was, but he came to

Jerusalem for a festival. And verse two. Now there is

in Jerusalem near the ship gate a pool, a pull

of water, which in Aramaic is called but testa. Okay,

so that's the name of the pool. Now this story

might sound familiar ready, right, and which is surrounded by

five covered colonnades, So that's basically like a porch. So

imagine like a big pool of water, and then there's

five different tens or porches around it. Okay, So that's

the setting of what this place is like. And verse

three here a great number of disabled people used to lie.

So these kind of people, the blind, the lame, and

the paralyzed. And one who was there had been an

invalid for thirty eight years, right, So imagine with me,

there's a pull of water in this in this next

to the ship gate, and the pull of water is

called ba Testa, and there's five different porches around it,

five different tents around it. And who are there in

this pool of water? People who are sick, people who

are blind, lame, and paralyzed. And out of all that

people there, there's this one person which in this version

the NIV calls him an invalid or he can see

as paralyzed or he couldn't move right, okay, And he's

been there in that situation and condition for thirty eight years.

Some of you are not even thirty eight years old.

Yet Yeah, I'm thirty eight years old, so I know

how it feels to be thirty eight years old. I'm

thirty thirty nine, daies, Yeah, and let's go to the

next verse when Jesus saw him lying there? Okay. So

Jesus noticed 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? Wow? Jesus or him,

do you want to get well? And this is his reply, sir.

Some transitions say sir, I can't. Okay, So he responds

to Jesus, when Jesus, do you want to get well?

He's been an invalid for thirty eight years in that condition,

he obviously wants to get well, right, right, he said, sir.

The invalid replied, I have no one to help me

into the pool. When the water is third. While I'm

trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.

You'll talk about this a bit later. Verse eight. Then

Jesus said to him, get up, pick up your mat,

and walk, and verse nine, the miracle happens. At once

the man was cured. He picked up his mat and walked. Wow.

After thirty eight years of being invalid, he receives a miracle. Okay,

So if I have a title for you today, it's this,

and it's what Jesus told the man, Get up, Get up,

Get up? All right, So we're gonna get a bit

uncomfortable today. We're gonna we're gonna get out of our

comfort zones. We're gonna learn about what the Word of

God says about getting up. And I'll just split this

message into two arts, into two questions. Okay. The first

question is the first question is this what's keeping you down?

What's keeping you down? We look at June of the five.

What's keeping you down? So ask your neighbor that what's

keeping you down? And the next question is ask the

other neighbor, how do I get up? If you got

one neighbor, then he gets to answer you twice. What's

keeping you down? And how do I get up? So

let's talk about that pool us, that pool at the

test down near the ship gate. Right. Uh. This was

a bit tricky because if you if you listen, if

you read certain translations, you see that why the people

were gathering around this pool because they perceived they they

are they perceived that this pool had healing, healing powers. Right,

and certain translations say that when an angel would come

and stir up the water and the water would bubble up,

and the first person that gets into the water received

that healing. Wow, is you know word I've got? So

this sort of like caught me a bit, like like

it sounds a bit weird, doesn't really? Why not? We

want I believe and understand from the Bible. So I

want to say, I don't have the answer or what

this thing is. I don't know if the pool of

Potenza is still there in Jerusalem that we can go

there and get into the water and receive our healing

immediately and be the first. But it could be it

could be God's mercy, you know, to heal his people

in that time. It could be it could be just

a perception like a police boating, right, people us believe

that's a myth. The story went around. My neighbor told

me over the fans that does this pool over there,

you've got a saw throat, right, Oh, go to this pool,

get into the pool first, and you'll be healed. So

it could be just that kind of perception. Right, We

don't know. I don't have the answer for you today.

And that's not the point. Okay, So just leave that

there and we'll look at what Jesus did to this man.

So that's about the pull of the testa. Just put

that off the way first. So all we know is

that the people on that day, they had the perception

and they believe that this pool had some healing powers. Okay,

so let's go to the first part, and the question

is this what's keeping you down? What's keeping you down?

This this person that was this man, it wasn't named

in the Bible. He was down and out for thirty

eight years, right, that's a really really long time. You know.

Sometimes when I feel down for like one week, Lado,

I'm like, oh man, God, take me out of this pit.

Imagine being down and out for thirty eight years, right,

Imagine being this person, and you keep hoping for a

healing but never get it. You keep hoping for God

to answer you. You keep hoping for a breakthrough, You

keep hoping for something to happen in your life. You

keep hoping to get out of this mess or this

that or this sickness, but you never get it. You

keep longing for the breakthrough that never happens. So what's

keeping you down? What's keeping you down? If you're up

in this place, praise God, you're walking God. But I

think in many of our lives we do have down seasons,

we do have time to we feel stuck. Right, So

I want to go through the verses today and just

bring us through the different points and things that are

keeping this person down. Right, and again, it will just

be six or seven different points, and let's see whether

we can receive that and reflect on our own life.

So the first thing that's kipping you down from moving,

the first thing that could be keeping you down from

walking in God's will and doing great things for him

and blessing someone could be this number one circumstance. Circumstance.

So the Word of God says, there were crowds of

sick people, blind, lame, or paralyzed and delay on the porches. Right.

You could be down and stuck because of the situations

you fell into, or inherited or ran into because of

bad decisions. Right, And that's true. Sometimes it's our fault.

It's not our fault, but the circumstance around you, the

situation around you, causes you to be stuck in this

invalid season of your life, and you feel down and out.

I want to say first of all that we don't

live in a perfect world, right, We don't live in

a world like where everything everything just goes fine, It's

going to be fine and then deep for the rest

of my life. Sometimes the young people, we have that

very optimistic mindset right right, you know, your your fresh graduates, like, yes,

I'm done with my degree, going to conquer the world.

Every day it's going to be up. I'm going all

the way. We're gonna get a perfect job. I'm gonna

get a perfect wife or a husband, get perfect kids

who won't whine or cry at all for the rest

of my life. They'll grow up with millionaires and I

you know, I'll be taken care well off. But all

of us have different situations in our life and circumstances

that are there because that's life. That's life. And I

know we live in a time where, like social media

is is very a big part of our lives, and

often we see and portray and we see a portrait

or a picture of other people's lives that are perfect.

She last time I was trying to ask the Internet

about what what's the percentage of people actually posting their

real life on social media. We can do it. We

can do a quick slurvedia. How many of you would

post about a great day this this morning, or like

this week? How do you post that? No? Okay, oh,

very few? Seawood? How many of you would post a

down day like you had a bad day, you stepped

on dog poop, like you had a car accident, or

you know. We often see people's lives in the lands

where like, oh man, everyone's so perfect. They got a nice,

big house, things are going well. I don't know why

their kids always look so beautiful. And the breakfast aussy

breakfast is there. They always go on holidays, you know, right,

that's not true. It's not true. And life often have

circumstances and situations where it's just not going great. I

just want to say that right now, it's okay. There

was a crowd of sick people. And my point is

this that first of all, God still reigns even in

circumstances and situations that are challenging, and we do not understand.

God still reigns. Okay. And the second thing is this,

there was a crowd that gathered around this pool, right,

can I encourage us as a crowd of people that

may have different circumstances to also gather in this community,

this church, right, and it's okay for us to bring

up our challenges in this atmosphere or this environment because

it's safe. It's safe for us to share about our struggles.

It's safe for us to share about our sickness. It's

safe for us to share about our challenges in our

lives and ask for prayer and ask for someone to

encourage us in our faith. Because imagine this place is

like the pool of Btesda, and I want to say

that it's a safe place for you to bring your

struggles and we are here not to judge you, but

to help you along this journey in your struggles and

to help you along with this challenges to rise up

in faith. So I'll say that first. So the first point,

if you know why they were down, why he was stuck,

is maybe because of his circumstance was an invalid right.

But come come to church. Don't just post on ig

that's all going great. We are here to spott each other. Amen. Okay.

Second point is also a sea, but that's where the

seas ends. Is what kept him down, what's skipping you down?

And the second thing is comfort. Comfort. The verse say

is that when Jesus saw him lying there, okay, find

like he was an invalid. Maybe maybe yeah, maybe he

can only lie there. That's that's all so very were

joking about. He was just lying there, this invalid, this

person was lying there. It's like when you when you

wake up in the morning and you're just lying there

and you're asking God, I just want to lie here

forever and be in the comfort or my bit forever. Comfort. Comfort,

the place of comfort is just a place where you're

very familiar with the situations. You're very very familiar with

what's happening. It's very comfortable. There's no pain, it's chill,

and you want you would rather stay there. You rather

stay there. You know, we as humans, we often default

to what is most comfortable in our life. As humans,

we often default is our natural decision making. Whatever I do,

I want to just flow to the most comfortable thing

for me, right, And the thing is it may not

always be the best place for you. That comfort zone

may not always be the best place for you to

be in. Right. What is a comfort zone? A comfort

zone is where you're in control of what outcomes. You know,

what to expect you can relax. The thing about a

comfort zone is this, you likely don't need God. Being

in a comfort zone is a situation where you don't

need God and likely you don't need faith, right because

everything is in its place. I don't need anything. I

don't need God, I don't need to act out in faith.

And that's the reason why it may not be the

best place to be. Right. So, if you're there right now,

if you're there right now, I think you know. There's

different seasons in our lives. Right there are times where

God has call us to rest and be still and

know that He's got But even in those times, we

need to be relying on Him, to be connected, to

be abiding in him right, to be listening to his word. Okay,

And I've noticed in my life whenever I sort of

fall back into the comfort zone, God seems to like

shake shake me up, shake me up, shake my foundations up,

where I need to come back to rely on Him again. Right. So, sure,

this invalid man was lying there, He was probably lying

in comfort because he imagine being uncomfortable for thirty eight years.

I hope you had a proper mat with some on it,

you know, And this could be the reason why he

didn't get up for all the years. So this comfort

zone again could be a point where it keeps you stuck. Right,

let's just reflect on that. The next possible thing that

can keep us stuck or keep us down is this

and it's perspective. So again the question is what's keeping

you down? What's keeping you down? It could be a circumstance,

could be a situations. It could be that you love

comfort so much. God, don't take this away from me.

This is comfortable. God, don't leave me to the next season.

This is comfortable. The third thing is perspective. So you

gotta track me for a while. As I sort of

explain this the in John chapter five, it says that

there was a multitude of sick people. Right, So multitude

could mean, like, you know, maybe there's one hundred people

in this room, and there's a multitude of people, a

crowd of people, and all of them had one thing

in common. They all had a need. They all had

a need for because of their sickness. They were blind,

they were lame, they were paralyzed, They had different illments

in their body that required and divine intervention. Right. But

the funny thing is right. When Jesus walked amongst them,

and when Jesus was in that pool, none of them

recognized him as this person that can bring healing to me. Right, See,

none of them look to Jesus for healing. This is

the Savior of the world who can bring healing instantly

to people. He speaks into their lives and calls demons

out and prays for the blind and they get hell.

And none of them recognized him, right, So why why

they didn't know who he was? Right? They didn't know

who he was. It's just another face in the crowd.

My thoughts is this. They were just looking at the pool.

They were looking at the pool of water, waiting for

it to bubble up, right, waiting for the angel to

come and stir it up. Their perspective in that season

when they were down, it's on the wrong thing, right,

they were focused on the wrong thing. If they were

all focused on Jesus, if they were all focused on

the Savior who was in their midst, I don't know.

It could have been a healing crusade that that morning.

Man Jesus just healing each and every one of them,

one by one, right after the other. So many people

getting their breakthrough. But all of them were just looking

at the pool, looking at this pool of water, waiting

for it to bubble up. But thank god, this guy,

the invalid, who was lying down for thirty eight years,

when Jesus asked him, do you want to get well?

He listened to Jesus, right, thank god he didn't tell Actually,

if you read further down in the chapter, we know

that this man didn't know Jesus as well, because after

he was healed, the Pharisees asked him, hey, what you

lift or met up is the Sabbath? Right? You're breaking

our rules or rituals. And then this man who was

invalid previously in valid, said that I don't know the

man that healed me told me to leave my mat up,

but I don't know who that man is. So it

shows that this person who was hell didn't know Jesus. Okay, fine,

but it was good that he actually responded to Jesus.

He didn't say like when Jesus asked him, do you

want to get here? Say keep quiet, don't talk to me.

I'm looking at the pool. I'm focusing on the pool.

I need to be the first to get in. Why

are you're asking me these kind of questions. We want

to get here, you know, but he responded to Jesus.

So this could be something that could keep us down

in our down seasons when we have the perspective of

looking at everything else but Jesus, like, for example, our

own experiences could be the pool of protesta. I'm waiting

for this breakthrough to happen because I've done it before

in the past, and it's going to happen again, right,

Or you're looking to another person to provide for you,

or we're looking to we are looking to to a

guru on YouTube to give me the answer. Right. Can

I encourage us this morning to not stay down. We

need to focus our eyes on Jesus and not at

the pool. Okay, all right, it's getting quiet here. Next

next thing that can keep us down, and this next

one is that perhaps you have given up. You've given up.

So you know, we covered in the first point circumstances

and situations we all know everyone goes through that some

of us really go to very heavy stuff. Even in

next claim, I think many of us go to very

difficult situations in our life, very very difficult seasons of

sickness or seasons where you just feel like, you know,

why is God doing this to me? You know, why

am I in the situation? And this person that invalid

said this. You know when Jesus asked, would you like

to get well? And he said in response, I can't, sir.

He's like he's just given up on his situation. His

sperit is just down. I would have answered yes immediately, right,

I mean there was, That's a very obvious answer. If

you want to get out of it, you want to

get a breakthrough, and someone's giving you a way out,

you say yes, yes, But he seems to be very down.

He seems to have given up on the situation. So

you could be in a situation that you didn't ask

to be in. You don't understand why. Maybe right, everything,

but the outcome still remains the same, and you've just

given up. You think there is no hope. You think

there is no hope. You keep asking where is God?

Why isn't my prayers being answered? Why am I in

this situation perpetually? When is my turn for the breakthrough?

And to the point where like, Okay, I've had enough.

I think I'm in this situation for the last thirty

eight years. I'm going to be here for the next

thirty eight years, and this is who it's or how

it's supposed to be, and that can keep us down

when you've given up hope. So you got there like that.

I I I want to encourage you, and I probably

don't have the specific answer in those situations, but all

I can say is from John chapter five, is this

that Jesus sees you. Jesus sees you just like he

saw this man. So in the challenging situations that you

are in, in that place where you feel like I'm

going to just give up, there is no hope. First

of all, I want to say, Jesus sees you. He

sees your situation. He knows what you're going through. He

knows the challenging times that our hit. He knows the

days where has passed over the many years that just

hasn't gotten better. That he sees you, and therefore you're

not alone. You're not alone. So take encouragement that you know.

I one sort of quick testimony and illustration of this

is a few months ago I heard the news about

Pastor Philip Linn So Paterflin is a of our friends,

of one of our friends of X and he leads

the founded and leads the church in in Kotak called

sib Skyline. Right. So if you know past the Phillip

is a it is a real uh maverick of the

faith in Malaysia. And this year he was diagnosed with cancer, right,

And it was quite shocking because like you know, this

is a pastor you know of a big mega church

in in Kotaka Badoo, and suddenly this news came to him.

Dinos to cancer very much in this kind of situation,

a circumstance that is so dire. But I had an

interview that he did and and one part of the

interview is a one hour long right, but one part

of the interview really stuck to me up to now. Okay,

So the interview asked Pasta Philip Lynne, who was just

diagnosed with cancer, this question, and the question is what

if you don't get healed, what if you don't get

out of this cancer situation? What if you don't receive

your breakthrough? And he answered very quickly in such an

impactful statement. He quoted from the book of Daniel. Okay,

this he quoted this. Remember Daniel had three friends shared

drag Mischak and Bandigo. Right, and the three friends were

asked by the King Nebukasa to bow and worship a

golden statue. Right, so whenever music plays, everyone in the

city must bow. But the three friends did not want

to worship an idol and they wanted to keep to

their faith. So Kingba gave them this last chance. You

either bow and worship this golden statue, deny your God,

or be thrown into the flames, be burned alive, lose

your life. Right. And the three friends said, this a

better read because I get it wrong. He said this,

our God is able to save us from the fiery furnace.

They have that conviction. My God is able to save

me from this fiery a furnace. I won't bow down

to your statue. I won't bow onto the other gods.

I wouldn't deny my faith because I believe and I

stand firm on the word that my God is able

to save me. But it goes on. But even if

he doesn't, we will not serve your gods or worship

the image. Even if he doesn't, we will not serve

your God or worship this image. Even if the breakthrough

doesn't come, I will not bow down to this idol.

I believe my God can bring me out of this cancer.

That's what Possiphilin said. I believe in all my heart

that I will be healed, but I may not understand everything.

And in the situation where I do not receive my breakthrough,

I will still serve God. I will still hold my faith.

And to me, that was so impactful because for someone

that has received such bad news about there are days ahead,

to still hold that faith, that that level of trusting God,

knowing that in any outcomes that may come in the

days to come, he will still stand firm and trust

in Jesus. So I want to bring encouragement to you today,

Like if you're in a situation where you just feel

like giving up, you just feel like giving up the

I want to say that Jesus sees you, he knows

your situation. You are not alone. He's walking with you.

And if we have the courage to continue to believe

in Him, the courage to say God, no matter the outcome,

no matter the days ahead, I want to still believe

in you. I want to still hold onto your still

want to abide in you and love you. Okay, let's

move on to the next the next thing that's keeping

me down, and this is excuses. So the invalids say this,

for I have no one to put me into the

pool when the water bubbles up. Jesus asks him, do

you want to? Well, he says I can't, and he

says this, no one put me in the pool when

the water bubbles up, because you know the condition is this,

The first person that goes into the pool when the

pull bubbles up gets the healing. Right, So he gave

an excuse. He gave an excuse that probably kept him down,

or in his perception, kept him down. You know, excuses

could also be a hindrance for us to move forward, right,

I'm just thinking about the other paralyzed man in the Bible.

You know, there's another story in a Bible about another

paralyzed man who had his four friends or a bunch

of friends who wanted to get into this house where

Jesus was in that mythst and preaching and healing people.

But they couldn't get it in across the house was

fool right, and they found a way. They went up

to the roof. They probably made a hole in the roof,

and then they lowered the man down. And when Jesus

saw their faith, it says in the Word of God,

he says that your sins are forgiven and he's made well.

And he's pretty much the same Storyla. He took up

his mat and walked right. So, I'm looking at this guy.

He's been there for thirty eight years, right, like me.

Gotta be a bit creative. Make some friends around you.

Maybe you make a deal back with the first person

that goes into the water and says that, Okay, if

you get here now the next time, I'll help you.

The next time you get here. He helped me to

pull me into the water, right, or he can. I

don't ask his family or you know, this is just

an excuse to me, an excuse to not get well,

an excuse to be in his current situation, and excuse

us in life can keep us down, excuse us and

luck and keep us down. I was sharing this with

the with the leaders previously. We had a we had

a leader's meeting, and and how I think I've been

preaching for about one one or two years, that kind

of the kind of time. And the thing is before that,

right pace, Andra was asking me constantly if I'm ready

to preach in church. So if you know me, like

I've always been a person on the worship team, like

I'll just I'll just lead worship. They come my guitar

leading four songs. Honestly, it was my comfort zone. It

was my comfort zone and like just just to just

to be very transparent. Being on a worship team, right,

is so much my comfort zone that if I'm familiar

with the four songs that it is so bad. If

I'm familiar with the four songs and I know and

I know how the set will be, I can just

wake up in the morning at at seven, get ready,

come and do the four songs and like, oh man,

it's done. Like there's no preparation needed. There's no there's

no stretch needed because it's so comfortable, right, so bad,

don't don't do that. Preparation is very important. But I

was in that that season of my life. And guess

how long pasta Sandra asked me to to start preaching.

She did it for one whole year. She's like almost

every month, like, so are you ready to to start?

You know, preaching in exclang you can't start very easy,

you know, just just do one one one service a

month or one service every two months, let me know

all you know, And she said, she said, like, no,

pussy Kenneth, you know, suggest that your name to to

try try and take up this preaching thing. And and

I had a lot of excuses, like pasta, I'm already

like waship leading four times a week. There's no there's

no more slots unless it's the fifth week of the month.

And I want to just chill and rest right, or

I'm not ready, you know, don't communicate very well, like

I get nervous, people don't understand what I'm saying. All

kinds of excuses for one year, and uh, I finally said, yes,

that's why I'm here today. But but you're the thing

I the last one and a half yeas to two years,

right of preparing for messages. And I think often we

say that in acts, the preacher doesn't prepare for messages,

but the message prepares the preacher. Right. I've just seen

God working in my life in so many different ways,

just from being able to dive really deep into God's word,

I mean not just for the purpose of preaching, but

really falling in love again with the word of God.

Brought me into this new season of my relationship even

with Christ, and it would not have been possible if

I just kept on giving excuses. We sh to be fair, like,

no one's going to force me. I think the older

we get in our journey with Christ and the more

mature we are, the more the responsibility lies on earth

as Christians to make the right decisions to move forward

and not give excuses. So what's keeping you down? It

could be excuses. We've got one more and this is

what's keeping you down. Could be previous failure. So it's

very similar to what we said earlier. But the invalid

men again said that someone else always gets ahead of me.

So it seems like every time he tries right, he

tries to get up of the situation, he tries to

to you know, move on, He tries to get that healing,

tries to bring that breakthrough. Something always happens and it

always causes him to fail right. So previous failure can

also keep us down from moving forward. But the thing

is we shouldn't stay at the point of failure. We

shouldn't stay at the point of failure. Last week we

got another pickle ball illustration. Now, so you play pickle

you don't know. Pickleball is is a is a spot

where I don't know, like tennis but smaller, and I

sort of just started playing or so, so last week

I decided to join a group of random strangers to

go and play. It was very different because it was singles, right,

So normally you play doubles means two on two, but

singles means you're you're on your own, so it's like

one on one, right, And I don't know why I

decided to just join that particular game. I think course

of the timing worked out nine pm on a weekday,

kids are asleep, and then I just went there. But

I went in with like I was. I was like

I was probably I was the worst player there. Definitely

there's only four four four players. There's only four players,

so so I am the fourth BESTLA I want fourth place, yay,

but this this is the thing. It was. It was

quite funny because I was probably like one year behind

whoever that was there. They were all guys, and they

were like really competitive, and I'm quite competitive in spots,

so I wanna I wanna do well. I don't win.

The first indicator that I was going to feel that

night was this. I went into the place, and then

they had to explain to me the rules because it's

a different set of rules for singles. So they say, okay,

we're gonna play zero zero two. I'm like, what is

yours RU two? Is it court number two? Should I

go to court number two? But it's it card number eight?

What is yours U two? Then I didn't want to

look dumb, so I didn't you see anything? And it's

all strangers, you know. So imagine like this grown man,

you know, all only my gear and my like expensive pedal,

and you know, my shoes, my socks all ready to

you know, just went to the gym. So I'm a

bit more like buffed up getting ready to play. Then

I'm like, this guy cames come to me and say, so,

you know the rules are too. I'm like, no two.

So he explained to me that, okay, I got it,

you know. Then then then came I attended to to

go into the court one on one. Right, the first

match you play to eleven the first match. Guess what?

Guess guess what's the outcome of that match? Eleven zero? Yes,

eleven zero. On the first match the first time, the flowbody,

I'm like, I think, I think I just completely missed

the ball. It's hilarious. It was very humbling. It was

an epic failure that night, right and and you play

for two hours, right paper for two hours. So within

the first ten minutes, I'm like, hmm, maybe I'll sneak

to the toilet and then I'll just I'll just go off,

just get my car and drive as far as I can,

then do plastic surgery and change so they don't see

me again. Yeah, so eleven year old the first match,

and thank god, it got better the night. You got

better in the sense where I didn't lose as much

in terms of the points. So some of them were like,

you know, eleven three tree being me, eleven being the

other guy, then eleven seven. Then there was one match

it's like I gain point, you know it's gonna win.

It was like, you know, ten eight or something, and

then you could win one more, but I still lost

the mess. It was eleven ten ten being me and

eleven being the other guy. So how was it a failure?

I lost every single game that night for two hours.

Imagine being in a Imagine being in like two hours

of just knowing that every time you go into the court, right,

surely lose, surely lose, surely you fail. Yeah. So it

was very humbling. But after that night I came out

of it feeling just feeling a bit more energized because

I know that the first, the first game is out

of the way, like the first bad failure is out

of the way. It's like, you know, how your first

the first time you do something, surely feel on right

the yeah ro But it just gets better after that, right,

Like like the first the first kick you bake, likely

it will be a failure. So don't don't bake it

for guests on the first. Try to do it a

couple of times before you bag for a guest. And

I knew that was the starting point, hopefully of my

pickup journey, my pickup journey of getting better. Right, But

if it was the other way around, and I came

back home like, oh man, I'm done. How can a

grown man lose like all their games and lose eleven

zero to another person that's younger than me? Right, then

it's just left like that and you're stuck being down right,

So you may not be pickupball players, although if you

want to, we can, we can learn together. But if

you're learning something new, or if you're on a journey

where God is leading you to the next season, the

first st that may not be the easiest, The first

day may not be the best. You may not perform

as well as you want or expect to perform. But

it's okay. It's okay because failure is only failure when

you stay there right, if not just a stepping stone

to the next level. Some encouragement problems with twenty four

or sixteen. For though the righteous fall seven times, I

love this law. So if you're a Christian, if you are,

if you're called to be righteous, and even even fallen

seven times, you can rise again. You can get up again.

Rights seven the Lord makes firm the steps of the

one who delights in him. Though he may stumble, he

will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with his hand.

Failure is okay, don't stay down and we'll And in

this next part, which is the second question, how do

I then get up? How do I get up? How

do I get up? It's going to be very simple,

just from John chapter five and what the invalid heard

from Jesus. And the first point is this, we need

to risk to God's word. How do we get up

our situations? How do we get up from our circumstance?

How do we get up in places where we have

so many excuses or comfort? We need to respond to

God's word, God's realma word for us. Jesus said to him,

get up, pick up your mat and walk. God's redma

word for you today really will make a difference. He

will make a difference. And do you know that God

still speaks, He still speaks to us, and he wants

to speak to us more than sometimes we think we

want to speak to him. He really loves us that much.

And we need to start there knowing that Jesus is

not out to get you, He's not out to put

you into bad situations. He loves us so much and

he wants to speak to us. The question is are

we listening to Jesus? Are we listening to Jesus? Or

are we keeping our eyes again on the bubbling water

waiting for it to bubble? Are we listening to him?

How do we know what God is saying to us?

How do we know what God is saying to us?

You know, we we As I was preparing for this,

it's quite funny because I said earlier, like it might

not be so structured, right, because it was a struggle

to prepare this message. To be honest, h I felt

God give me this verse last Sunday, right, But I

I didn't want to study because I think the pool

of the testa sort of threw me off sack, like

what's this angel stirring water and like it doesn't even

like doesn't even you know, I don't know how to

comprehend this. So so then then the week when and as

I think as speakers, you know, all of us who preach,

we really want to bring God's word on a Sunday

with fear and trembling, giving to the church and speaking

God's word. That is what he wants to say, right,

So so for me that's very important. And and the

next couple of days after Sunday, last Sunday, it was

like radio silence to me with God. I don't know why,

I just I'm like, are you speaking to me? This

is your church, right, what do you want to say

to your people and exclaim on the twentieth of July

on Sunday? You know, honestly, I forgought a bit lack

because because usually I have too a tribute to to

sort of you know, munch and and and meditate and

chew on the word of God. It was like radio

silence la and then and then I saw it, relented

and went back on Thursday night to read John chapter five,

and then it just sort of flew like flow suddenly

that the Holy spirits gave me what He wants to

say this morning. And I hope that it sort of

convicts our hearts today as well in my own life,

in my own life, and also what He wants to

say to the church today. So, first of all, God

still speaks. He does, and we know as Christians that

we hear the shepherd's voice. He still speaks to us.

He speaks to us through the world of God, his Bible,

to other leaders of friends or family members. We know

and he speaks. The thing is, are we listening right?

Are we listening? And if you're in a season where like, oh, man,

I don't knower God speaking to me, maybe just go

back to the last time He said something to you

and act on it first and look into it first.

Right then we can start progressing in getting up. Okay,

how do we know when God speaks? God often speaks

for us to act out in faith. Right. So that's

my last point. How do we get up? We need

to put faith to work James two fourteen. What good

is it, my brothers and sisters? If someone claims to

have faith but has no deeds, can such faith save them? Right?

So we're learning homes this week about how we need

to put action to our faith, put action to our belief.

As Christians, we need to work out our faith right

responding to God's word. Listening to God's word and responding

to God's God's word requires faith. It requires putting to

action God's words. So it's not just listening. You know,

a book of James won't say right if you if

you listen to the word of God and you go

away being the same, then you're like a man that

looks at the mirror and then forgets how he looks

like with no change. Right. So it's very important for

us not just to hear the word of God, but

to act on it. So the invalid man he was,

he was on the bed, lying down on the mat,

and Jesus spoke that word to him, right, get up,

pick up your mat and walk, and he had in that.

You know, I don't know whether seconds or minutes to

decide whether he wanted to respond to the word of

God or just stay down right. And thank God, he

did respond. He responded by putting into action that faith,

putting that faith to word, someone called the band up.

As we close this morning, and know that God really

loves us, He sees us, he knows our situations, and

he wants the best for us. This final verse that

we have before we close is from John chapter thirteen,

and the context of this scripture is this Jesus on

the night before he was betrayed. Right, so it says

here on the evening meal was in progress, and the

devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon, is

carried to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had

put all things under his power, and that he had

come from God and was returning to God. So imagine

Jesus already knew, this is the night before I will

be betrayed. This is the night before I will be

He sacrificed on the cross and be tortured and ridiculed

both emotionally and physically, go through so much pain, take

the stin of the world upon his shoulders, and they

are the cross suffer the next day in such great

intensity that no human can even comprehend. Right, He's about

to go through that situation, and what he did was

just so amazing. In verse four junt to thirteenth, he

got up again, get up, Come on, He's our example.

Christ is our example. He got up from the meal,

took off his outer clothing and wrapped a towel around

his waist. After that he water into a basin and

begin to wash his disciples feet. So today I want

to say that Christ is the example for earth to follow,

and that we what he did in that moment was

like so, I mean, he could have just said I

wanna chill tonight goes tomorrow and the all across. I'm

gonna go for a marathon for a two cam tomorrow today,

I'm gonna just relax and cupload. Right, But he chose

in the night before the Great sacrifice to get up

and to do something that's so servant. When you wash

the feet of someone, right in this culture is what

the lowers of lower servants would do. Right, So, when

you walk into a house and your feet is dirty,

and a servant who's of the lowest rank would then

wash the feet before you partic of the meal. And

Jesus did this for them right in the same way

he will do it for us, and he has done

it for us. So as we stand up today in

response to God's word and pray, I want to say

that he's our example of getting up. He got up

when he could have just sat down. He's an example

of how what it means to have courage and faith

to rise up in our situations in response to God's

word in an act of servanthood. That's just focus eyes

on Jesus this morning. Don't look at the pool, don't

look at your experiences or the person besides you. Don't

look think about the circumstance. But this morning, let us

focus our eyes on Jesus. Let us look to him today.

We hope you've been blessed by this message. For more

information on our church, please visit as Church RG. We

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this week is going to be a good week, a

hit for you. God bless