Better Ministry: Physical and Mental Healing

You may be seated in the presence of the Lord. So we're going to, we're going to continue Our series today called Better Ministry. We've been in this series for a while now because we've, we've kind of taken some breaks here and there throughout this series and we've had some great services in between last week we had an incredible baptism Sunday last week. How many were able to be here for baptism Sunday last week?

We baptized close to 50 people last week and it was one of the most beautiful services I've ever been a part of. I had a hard time keeping it together the whole time I was baptizing people. I just, I felt such a sweet presence of the Lord. And I had so many people message me this past week and say I couldn't do anything but cry the entire time service. And there was just a sweet presence of God in the house and so thankful for that.

But so we've taken some breaks here and there throughout this series. But we're picking back up in this series today and then hopefully in about two weeks we're going to close this series out next week we're going to have a Father's Day sermon. We got a guest speaker. I'm not going to tell you who that is yet next week, but I'm excited about it. And so, and then the following week I'll speak on anointing in this series and we'll hopefully close it out, but we'll see where the Lord leads us from there.

But this is a series we've been calling Better Ministry. You can see it on the screen there. And so it's a series based on what we're calling the five foundational or the five basic ministries that Jesus says he's come to do in Luke chapter four as he read a prophecy from the book of Isaiah. And so I've said this week in and week out in this series, but this is what happened, right? Jesus went to his hometown in Nazareth.

He goes to the synagogue there. He goes to their gathering place, their church there on the Sabbath day and he preaches in their synagogue. An eight word sermon that got everybody tore up, right? Remember, so tore up they wanted to throw him off a cliff. But this is what happened and this is what he said.

We're just going to, to read the scripture again. This has been our base scripture, our foundational scripture for this series. It's Luke chapter 4 and it's verses 16 through 20. This is what it says, says, so he came to Nazareth, he being Jesus, where he had been brought up, that's where he was raised, right? He's Jesus of Nazareth.

And as his custom Was he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up to read. And he was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when he had opened the book, he found the prophet place where it was written. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, and to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, it says.

Then he closed the book and he gave it back to the attendant and sat. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, this is my favorite part of it is when he says, today, today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. And so through this series, we've covered the three and a half things. I would say we've covered about three and a half things that Jesus says he's come to do.

And I say half because we talked about healing a couple weeks ago and we're going to continue with that today. But we covered where he said, I've come to preach the gospel to the poor, Right? And we said the first ministry that Jesus had come to do was to save, to save the lost, right? How many are glad that he was sent to seek and save the lost? I'm one of those.

That's all of us. And I'm so glad he came and he found me. And then in our second week of this series, we talked about these two lines that Jesus said in verse 18. He said, he sent me to heal the broken, and he sent me to set liberty to those that are oppressed. And we talked about in that week, we talked about inner emotional healing.

And we talked about how every single one of us, in different seasons of our lives, we've had our hearts broken. We've been damaged internally and emotionally. And we needed or we need Jesus to come and heal that. And thank God he come to heal the broken, brokenhearted. Amen.

Then about three weeks ago, we talked about liberty because you said, I've come to proclaim liberty to the captives. And we said in that sermon that when God speaks, things happen. Amen. He spoke the world into existence. God said, let there be light.

Boom, there was light. Let there be water. Let there be dry land. It all appeared. So when God speaks, things happen.

And he said, I've come to proclaim liberty. He's the declaring freedom over your life. And who the Son sets free is free. Indeed, Amen. Amen.

And then two weeks ago, we covered this line and recovery of sight to the blind. And in that week, we started talking about healing. If someone is blind and they received their sight, we would say they got healed. Amen. And so we talked two weeks ago about the most important healing we could ever receive.

And that is spiritual healing. Having our spiritual eyes, ears, hearts, minds healed and opened to see, hear, receive, and understand everything that the Lord has for us spiritually. And so that was part one of us talking about the ministry of healing of Jesus. And I said this two weeks ago, but I'm going to say it again. But how many know that Jesus didn't pay for one part of our healing?

He paid for every part of our healing. He prayed. He paid on the cross. He paid for every part of us to be healed. Okay?

Spiritually, emotionally, mentally, and physically. And I got scripture to back it up. I'll give it to you again. I gave it to you two weeks ago. One of my favorite scriptures, Isaiah 53, 5, right?

Says, he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. That is spiritual healing. The chastisement of our peace was upon him. That is mental and emotional healing.

If you're in turmoil, inner turmoil, with your emotions or in your mind, he came. He's the prince of peace. And he says, you can have a peace that passes understanding. It passes every circumstance, it passes every trial, it passes every tribulation. And you may not understand how you have peace in the middle of what you're going through.

But he says, through me, I can give you peace. Peace. So that is entering. That's. That's mental and emotional healing.

And then it says in that last line, by stripes, we are healed. And that is physical healing. And so we talked about the inner emotional healing. We talked about spiritual healing. Today we're going to talk about mental and physical healing.

Okay? And I want. I want to. I want to do that by using a portion of scripture from the Gospel of John again. And so if you got your Bibles, go to John chapter five, John, chapter five.

And I'm going to read the first nine verses in John chapter five. And they'll throw it on the screen for us as well. I think they got it ready for us. Okay, John chapter 5. Starting with verse 1, it says, after this, there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

Now there is in Jerusalem, by the sheep gate, a pool, which is called, in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches. In these lay A great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water. Then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disputes, disease he had. Now, a certain man was there who had an infirmity, 38 years.

When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been in that condition a long time, he said to him, do you want to be made well? The sick man answered him, sir, I have no man to put me well the pool when the water stirred up. But while I am coming, another steps down before me. And Jesus said to him, rise, take up your bed and walk. And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed and walked.

And that day was the Sabbath. Okay, so I want to try to describe to you this scenario. And what I want. I want to ask you a favor this morning. I want you to try and visualize the setting that the Bible is giving us right here in these nine verses, okay?

When I read the Bible, a lot of times, I try to visualize in my head what's happening. I picture it in my head. Does anybody else do that? You ever picture the things in your head? I like to try to picture it.

It just brings more life to it for me. And so what I want you to do is I want you to try to imagine this event that we just read. And I want you to try to imagine as it's taking place, as we talk a little bit more about it in detail. But what I really want you to do is listen to these scenarios or this scenario, and listen to the description of this man, his ailment, and everything he's going through and what we're about to discuss. But as I'm talking about this man, I want you to think about you, Okay?

I want you to make it personal. Personal, right. Could this apply to me in any area of my life? Y' all with me? Okay, So I want you to try to visualize that.

Could this apply to me in any area of my life? What porch is it that I might be sitting on while I'm waiting at Bethesda? Okay. Now, the first verse tells us that Jesus came to Jerusalem. Jerusalem, at the time of a feast of the Jews.

Now, the Bible doesn't directly tell us, but really, given the timeline, if you follow the Gospel of John, given the timeline, many believe that this was the Passover, okay? But Jesus comes to Jerusalem, and then John the apostle begins to describe to us exactly where Jesus is in Jerusalem. He says in Jerusalem there was a sheep millennium, right? There was this sheep market. A sheep market was a place of commerce, it was a place of business.

And it was a place where it was busy, busy and it was teeming with life. And obviously it was a well known place because John is using this as a landmark so people of his time would know exactly where he's talking about. So he's using the sheep market as a landmark. And so that's part of the reason I think he tells me us that. But I also believe he was led by the Holy Spirit to write this and tell us that so we can see the comparison between the two places that are actually mentioned right here.

Because the scripture says that beside the sheep market was a pool. And the pool was called Bethesda. And it had five porches. So again, I want you to visualize this. On one side you have a sheep market that's full of life, it's teeming and business is happening and all kinds of things are happening, right?

And business is being conducted. So you got that on one side, and then on the other side you have the pool of Bethesda, where it seems that people are just barely making it. Two different areas. So one side, cheap market, full of life. Other side, people barely making it.

Let me ask you this. Have you ever felt like you've been sitting around waiting at the pool of Bethesda while everyone else is in the sheep market? Let me reword it so you understand it better. You ever feel like you're just barely making it while everybody else is just living life to its fullest? Anybody ever felt that way?

I know I've been in that season before. Something I want to point out to you is that it says, it says it was called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda. That actually means, in Hebrew, that means house of Mercy. House of Mercy. It's a house of mercy.

And so surrounding the pool of Bethesda, it says, were five covered porches. And the Bible tells us that on all five of these porches laid a great multitude of impotent folk. Okay? So some people were blind. Some people were halt.

Some people were withered. Some people had different abnormalities. Some people had sicknesses and disease. It was a place for the sickly. This is what this was.

There was no hospitals in that time. There were no Piedmont Medical Centers or Gordon County Hospital or Redmond or Atrium Health. No Harbin Clinics or Urgent Cares. None of that existed then, right? So this place at Bethesda, around this pool with these porches it had become sort of a public infirmary.

That's what it was. They all gathered there. And so as I'm reading it, I told you I like to visualize stuff, right? So as I'm reading it and I read this story, I read these scriptures, I start to begin to visualize these five porches around this pool. And I visualize it like I think I know.

People act how we naturally act. We tend to group together, right? And I hate them, but it is what it is. We get in clicks, right? And so I pictured these five porches.

I pictured people getting together with their group. There's an old saying, it's like birds of a feather flock together, so choose who you fly with and how high you get, right? And so I pictured the people coming to together and gathering together like we would by human nature, sharing in our struggles. So I pictured maybe on one porch, all the blind folks over here on one porch, somebody says, I can't see. Other guy says, oh, I can't either.

Let's stick together, man, I feel you. Right? Someone's got this other element. Hey, me too. So they just gather together and they share in their struggles.

I pictured that's how it worked. Whatever struggle they had in common, that's what they did. So each group gathered together on a porch with those that are like them. Can I stop and ask you again? What porch is it that you might be sitting on?

What kind of people is it that you might be sitting with? Are you at a place in life where you're sitting on a porch with no vision of where to go and no sense of direction? Are you at a place in your life where you're sitting on a porch, so to speak, because your halt or situations beyond your control have left you in a place where you no longer want to move forward? Situations that maybe you've put yourselves in have you no longer wanting to move forward? So now you're just.

You're just stuck in this place, in your walk with the Lord, and you're not moving forward anywhere. Are you at a place where you're sitting on a porch and it seems like life struggles, life's trials, its tribulations, they got you withered, they got you wore down, they got you tired and you're ready to give up? What porch are you sitting at? Are you at a place where you're sitting on a porch waiting? Bethesda I want to tell somebody this morning, it's time to start making your way off the porch, because we cannot surround ourselves with blind people, spiritually speaking.

I'm talking in a spiritual sense. We cannot surround ourselves with blind people, spiritually speaking, and expect to have vision. You cannot surround yourself with people that's given up, they've given up on life and they don't want to go any further. And then you expect to go somewhere. You can't surround yourself with those that are withered and then expect to see growth in your life.

Ladies, you can't surround yourself with a bunch of critical, gossiping, negative Nancy's. And if there's a Nancy in the house, that's not a shot at you, I promise. But you can't surround yourself with a bunch of people that are critical and gossiping and always negative and expect to have a good attitude, have a positive outlook on things and then have a wholesome life giving tongue. Gentlemen, you cannot surround yourself with a bunch of other men who have filthy mouths, they got dirtier minds. And you're sitting there hearing all that all day and then expect that you're going to walk clean, talk clean, think cleaner and be the godly example that God's called you to be for your family and your house.

As I said earlier, birds of a feather flock together. Now let me remind you what verse four says, okay? It says at a certain season an angel would come down and cause movement upon the waters. And the first one who stepped into the pool after the moving of the waters was healed or made whole of whatever infirmity or disease that they had. And many people will look at that, they'll read that portion of scripture and they'll say, well how did that work?

Some angel just showed up. Did they see the angel or was it an invisible angel? The water just stirred and they knew, hey, this is the moment, what was the purpose, how, why? And honestly, I've asked all those questions myself and to be honest with you, I can't really answer those questions. I don't claim to have all the answers and I won't pretend to.

When I don't have them, I won't pretend that I got them right. I'll just give you the best answer I got. And the best answer I got is that the scripture says at a certain time, at a certain season an angel would stir or trouble the waters and the first one in the water after that was healed. That's all I know. That's what we're told.

But this is what I want you to know. I don't think that's supposed to be the focus of what, what we're reading and I don't think how it Worked is supposed to be the focus. But the focus of the story is that Jesus showed up and Jesus healed this man, right? He's our healer. But before Jesus ever showed up, right, there was a miracle that took place every year at a certain season.

They knew it. Year in and year out. The people knew the time of the season they were. That's why they gathered on the porches. They were waiting for that stirring of the water.

I'm gonna be the first one in, right? So they knew the time was coming that someone who was there with them on those five porches would make their way to the pool. And after the stirring of the water, one of them would leave Bethesda made whole. But the key to being made whole, the key to receiving the miracle, was that person had to get off of the porch and be the first one in the to the pool. Then verse five tells us that a certain man was there who had an infirmity 38 years.

And then here comes Jesus. Jesus comes along and he sees this man. And it says that Jesus sees him lying there, and he knew, says he knew that he had been lying there in that state on that same porch for a long time. And Jesus says something to him. He asked him a question that really was so striking to me.

He asked the man, will you be made well, do you want to be healed? Do you want to be made whole? And we're going to talk about that a little bit more in detail. But let me talk about this first. I want to ask you to visualize this, but I want you to.

I want to talk about this, how we see it from Jesus. Jesus perspective in this moment, okay? How he healed this man. Holy. Okay, then I want to talk about.

Also I'll talk about Jesus perspective and what we see from him in him healing this man. And then we'll talk about it from the man's perspective and his position and his mindset in this moment. And then we're going to talk about how Jesus healed both physically and mentally because he had a mental block. Okay, so let's talk about Jesus first. So as I read this, I believe that the Holy Spirit at least wants us to see three things about Jesus right here.

You can write them down if you want. Right here's number one. I'm gonna give you all three, and then I'll break them down. Number one, as Jesus heals this man, I think we are to see that they're showing us Jesus knowledge the Holy Spirit's revealing to us in Scripture. Jesus knows knowledge.

Number two, he's showing us Jesus compassion. And number three, he's showing us Jesus power. So knowledge, compassion and power. And I'm going to break them down. First, let's look at Jesus knowledge.

Verse 6 says when Jesus saw him lying there and knew he had knowledge, he knew that he had already been there a long time time. He said to him, do you want to be made? Well now, Jesus knew this man's situation without having to be told. And for 38 years this man had been in the same state and the same position. And perhaps all that time he had been right here at this pool waiting.

And he was lying there and he was hoping and he was praying for some kind of miracle. And Jesus knew his situation. He knew everything about this man already. Listen, when you know Jesus, this is the kind of God you know. You know a God who knows you already perfectly.

He knows everything about you, inside and out. All that you've ever felt, all that you've ever gone through, all that you've ever done, all that you've ever seen. Said he knows it inside and out. He knows it all. David said in Psalm 139:1 4.

O Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and you know my rising up. You know when I'm sitting down. You know when I'm standing. You understand my fault afar off before I even really concentrate on it.

You understand my thought aforementioned far off. You comprehend my path and my lying down. You are acquainted with all my ways. All my ways, for there is not a word on my tongue. But behold, O Lord, you know it all together.

The more you get to know Jesus, the more you understand this revelation. He knows everything, every single detail about me, and yet he still loves me more than anybody else ever could. Man, that's enough to make somebody want to shout. Because he knows everything about you. The good, the bad, the ugly.

And he still loves you more than anybody ever would. Does that mean he approves of everything in our lives? Absolutely not. It just means that he intends for his love, his power, his grace, his mercy to so overtake us in our lives that it brings change to the way we think and then that brings change to the way we live. And that, my friends, is the goodness of God drawing men to repentance.

He knows all. He knows all. He's not misinformed about you. He sees you and he knows every one of your situations. And he's not distant.

He's not turned off by it. He knows it all together. And despite where you find yourself this morning, he Sees where you're at, whatever position you're in. He can turn it for good and for his glory. He knows you.

He has knowledge. He's omniscient, all knowing. Secondly, I said the compassion of Jesus, that's what we see. This is one of the things that we know about Jesus that makes his knowledge, I think, a little more precious to us. If we know this Jesus chooses to go to this pool, he didn't have to go, right?

The pool didn't sneak up on him. He knew the pool of Bethesda, right? He didn't stumble on the pool by chance. He knew what he was doing. He was going to the pool of Bethesda the same way he went to some Maria to find the woman at the well.

He had an appointment, right? He went to the pool of Bethesda the same way he went to Galilee to find an official sick son because he had an appointment for healing. This is what we need to see is that, and understand is that Jesus moves toward need, not comfort. Now I want us to get that because there's a lot of people that get comfortable, uncomfortable, but those that are hungry and say, God, I need you. I need more.

I know you've been good and I've had this and I had that, but I ain't had enough. I need more of you. I need more of you. God moves towards need, not comfort. He moves towards the broken and contrite heart.

He does not despise.

He moves towards the humble, not the self righteous. That's why James chapter 4, verse 6 says, God resists the proud, but he gives grace to the humble. Proud people a lot of times don't feel the need to repent. Humble people live a life of repentance. Oh God, I need you.

I'm ever before you. I just need you. Help me, lead me and guide me. See, repentance isn't just saying, God forgive me, but it's a change in the way you think which changes the way you, you live. It's a turning.

That's what true repentance is. So, so humble people live a life of repentance. Notice that when Jesus asked this sick man in verse six, do you want to be healed? How the man replied was not. Yes.

Instead, this man begins to explain his tragic situation. And it was a tragic situation. But he says, sir, he didn't know who he was talking to. He didn't know he was talking to Jesus. You read the rest of the chapter, you find that out.

He didn't know he was talking to Jesus. He Just says, sir, I have no one to put me in the pool when the water is stirred. And while I'm going, another steps down before me. Notice after that statement, Jesus doesn't ask any more questions. He doesn't do anything really in response to what the man says.

Jesus just acts right there. Verse 8. Jesus says, all right, get up, take up your bed and walk.

So it. I'm about to step on some religious toes. So it looks like this healing is not a response to anything religious or faithful about this man. Now, religious people don't like to hear that because they want to feel like they had something to do with a healing when it takes place. They want to feel like they had something to do with a miracle and a move of God when it takes place.

But how many know it's not about a man or a woman. It's all about Jesus.

This man, as you know, as I just said, he didn't even know he was talking to Jesus. He didn't know who Jesus was at that moment. But Jesus knew him. Jesus knew him. And it looks like Jesus healed this man, since simply out of compassion towards him.

It looks like it came from Jesus. Compassion. I can tell you this. You can go and count at least nine times in the Gospels. There may be more, but I know there's at least nine where it says Jesus was moved with compassion or pity, which is a form of compassion, to do something.

So not only does Jesus know you perfect perfectly, but he is also moving towards you with compassion, even when his ways are not our ways. Because let me tell you this. Jesus actually heals in three different ways. Okay, I'm going to explain these to you. He heals miraculously.

He also heals medically. And he heals now naturally, right? Miraculously, medically and naturally. I've seen him do all three. And a lot of times people get disappointed because they only look for it in one category, and they miss that the other two actually fall under that one category, miraculously.

This is what I want you to know. I go to the hospital all the time and I pray for people. Look, Ms. Vicki, you didn't know I was gonna do this, but Ms. Vicki was in the hospital this week, and I went and prayed for her. She had some. Some things going on internally.

And we went. I went. Was I there Friday? Yeah, Friday, Friday. Went and prayed with Ms. Vicki.

They were saying, hey, we might have to do surgery. We're gonna do this, we're gonna do that. And so I went and prayed with her. We just grabbed hands, we prayed with together. And so I had a. I had a Celebration of Life service to do yesterday, but they were going to be doing another test to determine if they had surgery yesterday morning.

And by the time I got out of the Celebration of Life Service and got home, I looked at my phone, I had a text from Ms. Vicki, said, Call me. I got great news. And so they did her test, and they said, hey, everything's looking a lot better. We don't have to do any of that. Right?

When they adjust the day before, said, hey, we got to put you in here. This is what's going on. It's bad. And so God turned that situation around. When I go and I'm praying for people, the hospitals, or if I'm praying for you in this house, or I'm praying for you on the street, wherever, I'm praying for you or with you, even if I'm not with you, if you send me a text and say, pray for healing, I'm telling you I'm praying and I'm believing, believing with all my faith for a miraculous thing from God.

Okay? I'm always praying and believing that. But I have, and I've seen him do that, but I've also seen him heal medically and naturally. And we discredit those things as being miraculous. But I can tell you it is miraculous to me, the way God designed our bodies to heal naturally, how they.

How if you get a cut, it begins to come plot, and then it begins to grow new skin and heal. How when we rest, when we go to sleep at night, you know, we go into. People still can't explain sleep. We go into this coma every night, literally. Some of us a deeper one than others.

Me, too, Clarence.

Amanda's is more like this.

And I'm thinking, did we get a baby pig?

I'll pay for that one on the road.

But we go into this coma, and scientifically, medically, it's proven that our bodies begin to heal themselves, rejuvenate. And that's just miraculous to me. But I've seen him heal. That's naturally. But I've seen him heal medically, and people undermine that.

When I pray, a lot of times I'll go and someone's having surgery, and one of the prayers, I pray. It's a staple in my prayer life. I'm like, God, I thank you for every doctor, every nurse, every anesthesiologist, and the wisdom that you've given them to be able to help us and treat us and make us whole. Luke, who wrote the Gospel of Luke? Was a physician, and God gave him wisdom to help.

Luke saw people healed miraculously, but he also treated people, too. And we discredit that. I've been in the hospital, Tim. You know this. We all know this.

I've been in the hospital with Ms. Cassidy, our youth, Justin's wife, our youth pastors. And I was there when they wheeled a heart in a cooler through the hospital. I saw it go by, and a couple hours later it was inside her chest and she was alive and well and doing great.

If that's not miraculous to you, we got different standards. That's incredible to me. So he heals miraculously, medically and naturally. God may not always heal the way you want him to, but that doesn't mean he didn't heal. All right, I'm going to move on.

That brings us to Jesus power. So his knowledge of us is completely complete. His compassion toward us is great. And now let me just tell you, his power is immediate. It's sovereign.

Verses 8 and 9 says, Jesus said to him, get up, take up your bed and walk. And immediately, immediately the man was healed and he took up his bed and walked. The word immediately signifies the instantaneous power of Jesus. Word, right. As we said a couple weeks ago, when God speaks, things happen.

When he speaks, creation obeys. All right, so that shows us the sovereign power of Jesus. That's everything. From that we can gather right there from Jesus perspective and why he did this for this man. But let's go to the man's perspective real quick.

I won't be much longer. But here is a man who's been dealing with this complication for 38 years. And he's lying there. And Jesus, who he does not know, he walks up and he asks this question, hey, man, do you want to be well? Do you want to be healed?

And I couldn't help but think, why in the world would Jesus ask him that question? Question why? The guy has been down and lying there for 38 years, who would not want to be healed and made whole? Why would you even need or have to ask that question? But Jesus doesn't do anything by accident.

So if we look a little closer through the eyes of the Spirit, that's why we need our spiritual eyes open. See, if we look through the eyes of the Spirit, we might see something we don't see at first, right? This man's been lying there for 38 years, and year after year, he has been seeing someone else fall into the pool after the troubling of the waters and then watch them walk away. Healed. And yet he was still laying in the same place, it said the same place.

He'd been in the same place. Here's what the problem was. He had become comfortable and complacent with where he was at. There was a mindset that was there and a heart set that Jesus wasn't trying to condemn this man. He was trying to reveal to this man.

He was trying to expose this mindset and this heart set so that he looked could come mentally and physically. A lot of us, we too become comfortable with the porch that we're sitting on. We become comfortable with the things we've just been involved with. So that's just what it's going to be. So Jesus looks at this man and he says, hey, will you be made whole?

Basically what he's saying, he's like, look, look, you've become comfortable where you're at and I don't want to do anything that you don't want me to do just because you've become comfortable with where you're at. There's a scripture in James, chapter 2, verse 17 that says faith without works is dead. And y' all stay with me. Cause I know how people hear things on the Internet and they'll take a clip and say, oh, Pastor Andrew was preaching salvation by works. No, I'm not.

But the scripture's clear. We're saved by grace through faith, right? It's perfectly clear on that. But it's also clear on this. Faith without works is dead.

There is a corresponding action to our proclamation of faith when we are saved, right? Y' all hear me quote this all the time? Romans 10:9, right? If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and you believe in your heart that God's raised him from the dead, you shall be saved. We believe in our heart, we confess with our mouth.

That's a corresponding action to what we believe. So basically what it's saying is what I say, I believe there'll be fruit of it in my life. There's a corresponding action to that because people can say things all day long. I could stand up here and say, I'm a good looking man. Half of y' all wouldn't believe that.

At least Manda would, right? We can say all what we want all the time. That doesn't put any substance to it, right? But whatever we say, there has to be a corresponding action to show that that's real in our life. And so basically it's saying, hey, James 2:17 is saying faith without a corresponding action is dead.

And this man had been lying there for 38 years. And he had been lying there watching others move toward the water, watching others dive or fall into the water, and then watching others walk away. Brand new, but he still laid in the same place. Now, does that sound like a lot of us? I told you to visualize it as I'm talking about him.

I want you to think about you. I think it sounds like a lot of us. And even in seasons in my life where service after service, year after year, altar call after altar call, we watch others go and get the blessing that we're longing for. We watch others go and get the healing that we want and need. We watch others go and get the deliverance and the freedom that we want and need.

But we never move.

We stay in the same place week in, week out, lying on the same porch. I want you to turn to your neighbor and say, it's time to get off the porch. Turn to your other neighbor and say, it's time to get off the porch. Think about this. 38 years.

Every year, after the troubling of the water, this man had 364 days. Hebrew calendar, 360 days to get a little closer to the water. But year after year, he was in the same place. I can't help but visualize it. If that's me on that porch and I'm this far from that pool, the edge of the sage is the pool.

I'm thinking, oh, they got it. I may not can move far, but I'm going to get a little bit closer. By next year, I'm going to be a little bit closer. I'm not staying where I'm at. Well, another troubling of the water.

I'm going to get a little bit closer, closer. I'm not there yet, but I'm moving forward. I'm going to be in that water before all these other jokers. A little bit closer. And if I get too tired and weary, if I gotta crawl, I'm getting a little bit closer.

Because I'm not gonna let anybody else get the healing or the blessing that I need. But one day, when the stirring of the waters come, come, I'm going to be right there, and I'm going to be waiting. And you ain't going to beat me, but I'm going right in.

I'm not going to stay in the same place, sitting on the same porch and watch everybody else get the healing that I want.

But listen to this man's response. After Jesus asked this question, this is what he said. He said, sir, I have no man to put me in the waters. I have no man. And when I've tried, somebody always gets down there in front of me first.

I got two. Amanda, you can come. I got two points with that real quick. First of all, he said, I got no man. I have no man.

Too often in our times of need, in our times of want, we look to some man, or we look to some woman or we look to some person to do and help us with something only God can do and help us with. You don't need another man. You need God. You don't need another woman. What you need is God.

No man can do what he can do for you. No woman can do what he can do for you. No substance, no relationship, nobody on this earth can do for you what your creator can do for you. You don't need a man. I don't have a man.

Well, you don't need one.

Secondly, he says, someone always steps down in front of me. Listen, do you want what you need bad enough to say, I don't know about y', all, but God's got something for me? I ain't saying y' all can sit on this porch if you want to. Do you want what you need bad enough to leave a crowd behind and be the first into the pool? Do you want what you need bad enough just to get off the porch, to move, to do something about it?

Faith without works is dead. I'm going to have a corresponding action to what I say other believe. We know the story. We know what happens. We know that this man is not talking to just some other man, but he is talking to the very Son of God.

He's talking to God in the flesh. He's talking to the Alpha, the Omega, the beginning and the end, the one who spoke things into existence, the one that holds all things together.

And Jesus says to him, rise. Take up that bed.

The bed you made in this place. Take it up. Get off this porch.

Let me ask you how long you've been sitting, waiting at Bethesda. Can I remind you that Bethesda means house of mercy?

Can I tell you that this place, this gathering place, this church, remnant church, it is a place. It's a house of mercy. It's a house of the grace of God. And if you're just barely making it by, and if you're ready just to get off whatever porch it is you've been sitting on, I don't know what it is. Every one of us has got a Porsche.

Every one of us has got a clique in a crowd that probably we don't need to be hanging around.

But if you're ready to get off the porch, if you need a healing, if you need a breakthrough, if you need deliverance, if you need freedom and liberty, if you need salvation, what I'm going to ask you to do in just a couple moments is move from where you're at and meet me in this altar. Because Jesus said in Luke 4, verse 18, one of those lines, the line we're talking about today, he said, I come to give recovery of sight to the blind. I've come to bring healing to people. This is what you got to know. Though he knows you, he knows everything about you and doesn't change his mind about you.

He has compassion for you and he alone has the power you need to get you through and to rise above every you face in this life. He's the one that can heal you. I want you to stand to your feet, Jesus, thank you. Thank you, Jesus. If you would just bow your heads, close your eyes.

God, I thank you. I thank you that this is a house of grace. I thank you. This is a house. House of mercy.

I thank you. This is a. This is a place where the rivers of living water flow, that this is incense, a pool of Bethesda. But God, there's not a certain season, there's not a certain time, but the waters are always teeming with life here, God, because you. You come and you dwell among us and you're in this place and this is a habitation place for your power and your presence.

You are our healer and you know us all well and you have compassion for us and you have the power we need to overcome.

So I pray, God, that we would align our faith with your word and that we would get off whatever porch it is we've been sitting on, just every head bowed, every eye closed. If you don't mind, if you're here this morning, you say, pastor Andrew, listen, I need the ultimate healing. I need spiritual, spiritual healing. I need Jesus to spiritually heal me. I need the salvation of my soul.

I don't know 100% that I'm ready to meet the Lord, that I'm saved, that he is the Lord of my life. I don't know that I've ever really confessed that I've been around it. And maybe you never been around it, but you just don't know.

Maybe you've gone through religious routines, but today he's calling out to you and he's saying, I want to be the Lord of your life.

You say, I don't know 100%, but I want to know before I leave. If that's you, just throw your hand up, put it right back down. Yeah, see him.

Maybe you're here this morning. You say, pastor Andrew, I know the Lord, but I'm just not as close as I used to, to be with him. And I just need to get back on the right track. I just need to get back on the right track. If that's you, just throw your hand up, put it right back down.

Yeah, maybe you hear? And you say, pastor Andrew, as you were preaching there, as I was thinking about me, as we talked about this man, there were certain porches. I saw my cell phone. Whether that be addiction, whether that be a physical ailment, whether that be an emotional distress, whatever it is you find yourself, you know, the Holy Spirit was speaking to you. I leave that up to him.

Whatever he was speaking to you in that moment, you say, there was something that was brought to my heart. There was something brought to my mind that the spirit of God was dealing with men. And I'm ready, ready to get off that porch. I'm ready to believe God and get off that porch. That's you.

Throw your hand up, put it right back down. I'm ready to get off the porch. I'm tired of being stuck in the same place. If that's you, throw your hand up.

Y' all look at me.

I really feel led to reiterate this again in this moment. It's certainly in my heart. He has compassion for you.

A lot of people do not realize the love and compassion that God has for them, but he is moving with compassion towards you in every area of your life. I used to think that when I messed up, right, that the Lord would just turn a nose up to me. I think it was a religious mindset. Like, oh, Lord, I can't believe Andrew did that. How could you?

He doesn't want us in sin, but when, when, when we mess up in our faultiness, what he says is, I still love you. My compassion is still great for you, and I got better for you. Dust yourself off. Let's keep moving forward.

I've given this analogy before, but I feel impressed because I feel like the Lord's dealing with somebody today, someone who has walked with the Lord, And you've kind of strayed from walking with. With him, and you messed up and you beat yourself up over it. And I heard a guy named Jeremy Austell, he pastors Cornerstone Church in Nashville. Just. I heard him one time give this analogy, and it's always stuck with me.

He said, a lot of times we treat our relationship with God the way we treat our relationship or how people treat us. And he said, imagine you had a beach ball and it's got. It's full of air and you're hitting it. Say me and Will right here, we got this beach ball and we're hitting it back and forth to each other in the air. Like anybody ever played, can't touch the ground with a balloon with a partner.

And you just hit it back and forth. You can't let it touch the ground. He said, a relationship with people, we would do that. We hit it back and forth. We see how many times we.

We can hit it. One, two, three. We count it up, we get to eight. And then, oh, Andrew messes up, I drop it. Well, we pick it up, we start over again.

1, 2, 3, 4. He said that that's human relationship. He said, what's, what's beautiful about our relationship with God, if we're willing, because he doesn't turn his back on us. When the prodigal son left, the Father stood there waiting, watching. And then when he saw him a far way off, he went running to him.

He doesn't turn his back on us. So in the relationship with God, maybe we're doing that same thing with a beach ball. Back and forth, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Oh, we're doing good. My walk with God's going good.

8, 9, 10, 11, 12. Oh, well, I got to 12. And we'll pick it up and we'll say, okay, God, one, one, one. And he'll catch it and say, no, 12, 13, 14. Pick up where you left off and keep moving forward.

I say that to say I feel like the Lord is dealing with someone. You have, you've walked with them, but you feel like you've messed up big time.

And you feel like you would have to start all over. But the Lord would have me tell you today, Just pick up where you left off. His mind hasn't changed and his heart hasn't changed about you. That's what we're going to do. Just receive that.

She's going to sing. You raised your hand for any reason maybe you should have but didn't Align your faith with his word. Come down here, get in the pool so to speak the water stirring would you come?

Cause I know who you are.

The cross of salvation was only the star Now I am chosen, free and forgiven and I have a future and it's worth living.

Cause I was made to be sent in a Grave I was called by name Born and raised back to life again I was made for more.

Why would I make a bed in my shame When a fountain of grace is running my way I know I am yours I was made no more.

Cuz I was made to be sitting a grave I was called by name Born and raised back to life again I was made for more.

So why would I make a bed in my shadow Shame When a fountain of grace is running my way I know I am yours I was made for more.

We're getting ready to pray. I want to take care of the most important thing first because I saw hands go up for this question and I quoted it in the sermon. But Romans, Romans, chapter 10, verse 9 says, if you confess the Lord Jesus with your mouth and you believe in your heart God raised him from the dead, you shall be saved. This is what I want you to know. You could just say that.

And if you don't really mean it or believe it, it doesn't really mean anything. It takes a corresponding action to faith, right? You believe in your heart. So you know, a lot of people will just pray a prayer and think, oh, I'm good, But they never really purposed in their heart to believe it. I'm telling you because I love you enough.

It's not just. It's not just a simple repeat of prayer, it's I believe this. And when you truly believe it, you truly confess it and then it truly changes your life because you've truly invited him in. Don't offer him just lip service. Offer him your life.

Offer him your life. So we're going to pray a prayer and then after that, this is what I feel led to do. If you need healing in the house, whatever it is, physical, spiritual, emotional, relational. If you need healing in the house. This was talking about the ministry of healing, the last two sermons in this series.

And I'm just going to come into agreement with you. The Bible says if two agree upon a thing, it shall be established. And I'm going to believe for a healing in your life, whatever it is you stand in need of. That's what I'm going to believe for how God chooses to do it, I'm leaving up to him. I'm not the healer, I'm just the vessel that's saying, God, I'm willing, use me.

But I'm going to come into agreement. So if you need healing of any kind, after we pray this prayer, I want you to come forward. I'm going to grab the anointing oil. James, chapter five I think it's first 14 says, if anyone's sick among you, let them call the elders of the church, let them anoint them with oil and pray the prayer of faith. So I'm going to grab anointing oil, I'm going to come by and I'm going to connect your faith with my faith, and we're going to go to the throne room of God and present it to him.

So if you need healing of any kind, after we pray this prayer, I want you to come forward and we're going to pray for you. I'm going to anoint you at oil and I'm going to pray for you. But let's pray. I want everybody as a Kingdom family to say this prayer with me. And if you say it and you believe it, you gotta really mean it in your heart.

Then the scripture is clear. You shall be saved. Say this. Say, father God, I confess I'm a sinner. Romans chapter 3, verse 23 says, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

I stand here before you confessing. I'm a part of that. And I need you. I need you as the Lord and the Savior of my life. I believe that Jesus is the son of God, that he died on a cross for my sins and the spirit sins of the world.

I believe that he rose again with healing, freedom and salvation in his hands. And now I freely receive the gift of salvation. Jesus, you are my Lord. And now because I confess and because I believe I am a child of. Of God, somebody rejoice.

Now if you need healing in your life in any area, I want you to come. If you. If you want prayer, I want you to come. We're going to pray. I'm getting ready to get the anointing oil and we're going to pray.

And if you're out there, I want you to pray with us. Put your hands this way and say, God, you. You do it. We got this saying around here, right since 2020, 2024. The Lord did it.

The Lord did it. You're gonna walk out of this place today declaring, the Lord did it. Amen.