SPEAKER_00: So good morning, Central.
SPEAKER_00: I'm just gonna address the the white elephant in the room right away.
SPEAKER_00: So a couple weeks ago, I was in the Grand Canyon um hiking with my good friend Joan and my good friend Brenda, beautiful Brenda back there, and my good friend Tammy, who I don't think is here today.
SPEAKER_00: And I wish I could tell you like I wrestled a cougar or fought a rattlesnake or something like that, and I tripped and fell and broke my foot.
SPEAKER_00: But I really didn't.
SPEAKER_00: I I blame my friend Bob Ruprecht, who's right here also.
SPEAKER_00: And often Joan and I and my friends are it's it's not your you don't have the microphone, Bob.
SPEAKER_00: So often Joan and I and Brenda and Tammy will be hiking and walking, and here's Bob.
SPEAKER_00: You guys need to slow down.
SPEAKER_00: You're walking too fast.
SPEAKER_00: This isn't a power walk.
SPEAKER_00: You need to look them up and look at what God gave you.
SPEAKER_00: And I did, and I tripped and I fell and I broke my foot.
SPEAKER_00: And that is exactly how Bob sounds in my head.
SPEAKER_00: Because you heard him before.
SPEAKER_00: It's not my phone.
SPEAKER_00: But it is.
SPEAKER_00: So anyway, this has not been fun.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not a very good patient.
SPEAKER_00: You know how to pray for my husband.
SPEAKER_00: And I think it's hilarious how God provides m what, right?
unknown: Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: It's hilarious how God always provides material because today I'm talking about the lame man at the pool of Bethesda.
SPEAKER_00: So thank you, Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: So anyway, we are in the sixth week of a 10-week series called Story, Context, and Symbol.
SPEAKER_00: And we hope you've been enjoying it.
SPEAKER_00: So far, we've talked about Jesus being anointed.
SPEAKER_00: We've talked about the strength of Samson, the blind man that is healed at the pool of Saloon, the temptations of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And last week, Ryan talked about uh living water.
SPEAKER_00: And if you've not heard any of those sermons, we would encourage you to go online and take a listen because they are really a blessing.
SPEAKER_00: I really love this whole series.
SPEAKER_00: It talks story, context, symbol.
SPEAKER_00: It's like taking a story out of the Bible, the Word of God, and breaking it down.
SPEAKER_00: So not only are you reading a story, because how many of us are guilty of like reading a story and just kind of clouding over the whole thing and then getting on to the next one.
SPEAKER_00: But you actually then dig into it and you find the context.
SPEAKER_00: So the story itself is like who are the characters, what's happening, and why is it happening?
SPEAKER_00: And then the context is like what's behind the scenes, like why are we in the place where we're at and why is this stuff going on?
SPEAKER_00: And then finally, we encourage you to find a symbol.
SPEAKER_00: So another level of meaning, meaning to the story, or what's something that you can pull out of the story that can actually apply to your life or apply to the story as you read it in the future and apply it to our world.
SPEAKER_00: So we will continue through this series through like the second part of July, I think, and then we're gonna move into a series called a feast first Peter, and that's gonna be a short one.
SPEAKER_00: And then we're gonna end our summer and go into the Fall Fest with the You Pick series, which is very famous around here.
SPEAKER_00: You guys get to pick what we talk about, you get to make requests, and then we will do our best to teach you through those messages.
SPEAKER_00: But if we fail, I would encourage you then to go back to story, context, and symbol and figure it out on your own.
SPEAKER_00: So today, as I shared, I'm going to be talking about the pool of Bethesda, not to be confused with the pool of Siloam that Ryan talked about, where he was healing a man with mud in the water.
SPEAKER_00: There are two different pools, two different stories, both healing with Jesus in different ways.
SPEAKER_00: So before we begin, let's pray together.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, I thank you for this opportunity that I can share your word and we can share about your many healing ways in our lives.
SPEAKER_00: And we recognize, God, that we are all broken in different ways.
SPEAKER_00: And often it's hard for us to ask for help.
SPEAKER_00: Um, and so I pray that if there is anyone in this room today, or if they, as we go home and we go into this mission field and we recognize someone that needs healing, may we have the strength to come alongside them and help them and guide them to you for your powerful healing in our lives.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it doesn't always look like what we want of God, but we know that you are miraculous and you can do all things.
SPEAKER_00: And so I give you these words and um this day, and I thank you for the opportunity to be here.
SPEAKER_00: In your name we pray.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: So, story, context, symbol.
SPEAKER_00: Let's begin with the story that Jamie just shared with us.
SPEAKER_00: And Jamie read out of the standard version, which is the black Bible that you have in your pews.
SPEAKER_00: I love reading different versions.
SPEAKER_00: Some of my favorite is like the NLV or the NIV, but also I really enjoy the message version of the Bible, which is, if you've not heard of it before, it's just a story version of the Word of God.
SPEAKER_00: And I wanted to share that version with you today, and the words will be up on the screen.
SPEAKER_00: Soon another feast came around, and Jesus was back in Jerusalem, near the sheep gate in Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: There was a pool in Hebrew called Bethesda, with five alcoves.
SPEAKER_00: Hundreds of sick people, blind, crippled, paralyzed, were in the alcoves.
SPEAKER_00: One man had been invalid for 38 years when Jesus saw him stretched out by the pool and knew how long he had been there.
SPEAKER_00: He said, Do you want to get well?
SPEAKER_00: The sick man said, Sir, when the water is stirred, I don't have anybody to put me in the pool.
SPEAKER_00: By the time I get there, somebody else is already in.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus said, Well, get up, take your bedroll, start walking.
SPEAKER_00: Man was healed on the spot.
SPEAKER_00: He picked up his bedroll and he walked off.
SPEAKER_00: That day happened to be the Sabbath.
SPEAKER_00: The Jews stopped and healed the man and said, It's the Sabbath.
SPEAKER_00: You can't carry your bedroll around, it's against the rules.
SPEAKER_00: But he told them, the man who made me well told me.
SPEAKER_00: He said, Get up, take your bedroll, and start walking.
SPEAKER_00: They asked, Who gave you this order to take up and start walking?
SPEAKER_00: But he but the healed man didn't know, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd.
SPEAKER_00: A little later, Jesus found him in the temple and said, You look wonderful, you're well.
SPEAKER_00: Don't return to a sinning life, or something worse might happen.
SPEAKER_00: The man went back and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.
SPEAKER_00: That is why the Jews were out to get Jesus, because he did this kind of thing on the Sabbath.
SPEAKER_00: Now there are a lot of similarities in this message compared to what Jamie read us.
SPEAKER_00: This is probably a little bit easier version, but in summary, what happened is Jesus visits this healing pool called Bethesda.
SPEAKER_00: He heals a man that has been waiting there for 38 years.
SPEAKER_00: He does it on the Sabbath, which is a big no-no, and he tells the man, go and sin no more.
SPEAKER_00: The characters in our story are Jesus, the lame man, hundreds of other sick people that are sitting around the pool, and of course a few people, Jewish people.
SPEAKER_00: The story is only found in the book of John, which I find interesting because most of Jesus' miracles are shared throughout the Gospels and throughout the New Testament.
SPEAKER_00: So because it's only in the book of John, what we hear is what we get, right?
SPEAKER_00: It's our interpretation of it.
SPEAKER_00: And so if we're missing any small details or we have questions, it's a little bit hard to figure out how to answer those questions, which then forces us to go into the context.
SPEAKER_00: What's going on behind the scenes?
SPEAKER_00: If we don't know the answers, then we have this opportunity to dig a little deeper and find out what it is.
SPEAKER_00: So, Jesus is in Jerusalem for these three festivals.
SPEAKER_00: They're also called the Holy Days, which required all men to be in the city.
SPEAKER_00: Sorry, women were not invited to these parties.
SPEAKER_00: The three parties are the festival of Passover and unleavened bread, the festival of the harvest, and the festival of shelters.
SPEAKER_00: Now, does that sound to to anyone else like rush week on a college campus?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, right?
SPEAKER_00: Any reason to throw a party, right?
SPEAKER_00: My bread didn't raise, let's throw a party.
SPEAKER_00: But it's a big deal in those days.
SPEAKER_00: And either way, Jesus is in town and he goes to visit this pool of Bethesda, which is derived from the Hebrew language meaning house of mercy or house of grace.
SPEAKER_00: We don't know why he goes there, but this place that is known to provide healing waters, supposedly created by an angel that would descend in seasons throughout the year to stir up the water, and then those who are sitting around the pool would race to the stirred water to be healed.
SPEAKER_00: The first one in the pool wins, right?
SPEAKER_00: The first one in the pool is the one that is healed.
SPEAKER_00: So you can imagine the clusters of people that needed healing sitting around the edges of the pool.
SPEAKER_00: They were physically, mentally, emotionally wounded, and if they believed this story to be true, then when the water was stirred, they would be the first to get in.
SPEAKER_00: So they would wait, day after day, month after month, possibly year after year.
SPEAKER_00: And then they would race to this false hope to be the first in the pool.
SPEAKER_00: I think it's safe to say that all Viking fans can relate to this story.
SPEAKER_00: Waiting, season after season, day after day, game after game, sitting on the edges of our seats, hoping for the Super Bowl God to descend upon us, and the Vince Lombardi trophy would be handed to us to heal our committed hearts.
SPEAKER_00: And then we have another 14 in two years, and the New York Giants come in and take it away from us.
SPEAKER_00: Feel my pain?
SPEAKER_00: So we get it.
SPEAKER_00: We understand the pool of hope.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus comes to the pool to heal the one man, not two, not the many that were sitting around, just the one.
SPEAKER_00: Or did he?
SPEAKER_00: Then he slips away into the crowds in the streets of Jerusalem, and the man gets up and walks away with his mat.
SPEAKER_00: And all of this happens on the Sabbath, which is supposed to be the day of rest, the day of worship.
SPEAKER_00: He is then approached by some Jews who are concerned when they see him walking and carrying his mat on this day, on the day of Sabbath.
SPEAKER_00: And they're living and abiding in their rules, and they don't see that what just happened was mercy at the house of mercy.
SPEAKER_00: Should they be surprised when they find out that it's Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: No, not at all.
SPEAKER_00: By this time, they have heard of Jesus, this teacher that calls himself the Messiah.
SPEAKER_00: They've heard of his miracles and his anti-establishmentarism.
SPEAKER_00: And they, along with the Romans, are out to get him because he is a threat to them.
SPEAKER_00: Which then explains, right, why Jesus sneaks away after he heals this man.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't need to be acknowledged for what he does.
SPEAKER_00: Later, Jesus sees the man in the temple and he tells him simply, go and sin no more, which kind of makes me as the reader, and I'm guessing some of you wonder, did the man commit a sin and that's why he's lame?
SPEAKER_00: Or was Jesus just simply saying to him, I healed you, you're welcome.
SPEAKER_00: Now you may go off and live your life and sin no more.
SPEAKER_00: The story and the pools are all fascinating to me, especially after seeing them in March when a team from Central went to Israel and Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: The pool and the alcoves that can be seen today are significantly below the level of the city.
SPEAKER_00: That's because Jerusalem really is a tell site, which is a mound that has been built over several centuries of occupation.
SPEAKER_00: Since the time of Christ, the city has been destroyed and rebuilt time and time again.
SPEAKER_00: So the pools and the alcoves of Bethesda were unearthed by a German archaeologist in 1956, are actually below the surface of the city and close to the church of St.
SPEAKER_00: Anne, near the shape gate, and are true to the location that is described in this story, which is super cool to me, and I'm thinking the whole team that went to Israel, because we were like right there where this actually happened.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, several pools were found, some as deep as 40 feet, that would have been used in the time for rituals or mikvas at the time of Jesus when he healed this man, or even before his time.
SPEAKER_00: It's an amazing sight to see, and the story really came to life for me as we were a part of the context.
SPEAKER_00: We were a part of the land.
SPEAKER_00: But also through the context, I found many symbols that jumped out to me.
SPEAKER_00: Now, for you as the reader, maybe you're hearing for this for the first time, some of the symbols for you might might have been the water.
SPEAKER_00: The people thought that the water was healing, but really Jesus was the living water.
SPEAKER_00: He was the healing water.
SPEAKER_00: Or maybe when you heard the story, you thought the symbol was the Sabbath.
SPEAKER_00: John 5, 9 through 10 says, At once the man was cured.
SPEAKER_00: He picked up his mat and he walked.
SPEAKER_00: The day on which this took place was the Sabbath.
SPEAKER_00: And so the Jewish leader said to the man, who has been healed, it is the Sabbath.
SPEAKER_00: The law forbids you to carry your mat.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus scandalously healed a man on the Sabbath.
SPEAKER_00: And it wasn't the first time.
SPEAKER_00: He healed Peter's mother-in-law, a man with a withered hand, a blind man, a crippled woman, a man with droopsy.
SPEAKER_00: He even was so scandalous that he ate wheat with his disciples on the Sabbath.
SPEAKER_00: I know that sounds crazy.
SPEAKER_00: He was just eating, but that's actually work considered.
SPEAKER_00: So his new MO was becoming scandalous for the religious leaders.
SPEAKER_00: He was bringing the way, the kingdom of heaven to earth by disrupting the laws of the land.
SPEAKER_00: So the symbol of the Sabbath could be for you the power of Jesus in your life over the powers of the world.
SPEAKER_00: To me, the symbol was the bed, the bed mat.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Well, for many reasons.
SPEAKER_00: I connect with the bed because the bed is safe, it's comfortable, it's a hiding place, it can be an excuse for me.
SPEAKER_00: And I can't help but wonder if the lame man felt the same.
SPEAKER_00: When I was a child, the bed was my safety net.
SPEAKER_00: Who remembers playing the game?
SPEAKER_00: Toxic water, snakes, and monsters?
SPEAKER_00: No one?
SPEAKER_00: Well, you guys have such sad childhoods.
SPEAKER_00: For my sister and I, this was like a no-brainer game every night.
SPEAKER_00: So our bedroom was up in the top level of the house, which really was an attic, but you know, my parents called it a bedroom.
SPEAKER_00: And the light switch was on one side of the room, and our bed was on the other side of the room.
SPEAKER_00: So the obstacle was to get to the bed without the toxic water, which was the floor, or the snakes, which were any of the weird things that we left on our bedroom floor, or the monsters that were under a bed could attack us, right?
SPEAKER_00: When we finally jumped into the bed, the sense of relief was so overwhelming to my pumping heart and exaggerated mindset.
SPEAKER_00: It was finally safe and it was comfortable, and it was the perfect hiding place from those monsters.
SPEAKER_00: And at times it was an excuse for things that ailed us.
SPEAKER_00: Not only did it save me from the fictitious monsters, but also the emotional and physical monsters in my young life that had a hold on me and I couldn't escape from at the time.
SPEAKER_00: So I would retreat to my bed and my bedroom often in my life.
SPEAKER_00: So I see this bed as a symbol for so many of us in our hurts, in this world, and in our relationship with Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And the enchanted question that Jesus asked the man then becomes a challenge for all of us.
SPEAKER_00: Do you want to be healed?
SPEAKER_00: Now, the first many times that I've read this story and I've read that question, I kind of framed it in my mind as more of like Jesus is this magic man or this charismatic man.
SPEAKER_00: It's like, hey, do you want to be healed?
SPEAKER_00: Like, I'm the guy, right?
SPEAKER_00: But when we were in Israel, Kent, our guide, phrased it in a different way, or at least I was in a place that I heard it in a different way.
SPEAKER_00: He phrased it as, do you want to be healed?
SPEAKER_00: Are you ready to get off of your bed?
SPEAKER_00: Sounds quite different, doesn't it?
SPEAKER_00: Do you want to be healed?
SPEAKER_00: How long do we live in distress and pain, physical, mental, spiritual, personal, before we are on our knees asking for God to heal us?
SPEAKER_00: This paralyzed man, friends, lived for 38 years on his bed mat.
SPEAKER_00: 38 years?
SPEAKER_00: That's half of your lifetime.
SPEAKER_00: I can only imagine the defeat he must have felt.
SPEAKER_00: And really had no one walked by to help him?
SPEAKER_00: No one in 38 years?
SPEAKER_00: Or was he not in a place to receive it?
SPEAKER_00: Did he not see them?
SPEAKER_00: I would think if I were in his position and I was sitting so close to the pool that as soon as that water would start to stir, even if it was a bug landing like on the surface of the water, I would have been falling into that pool, right?
SPEAKER_00: You think that?
SPEAKER_00: But his entire focus was on himself and the false hope of the water.
SPEAKER_00: He didn't even recognize Jesus when he asked the question, do you want to be healed?
SPEAKER_00: And he made excuses.
SPEAKER_00: He literally said, I can't.
SPEAKER_00: No one will help me.
SPEAKER_00: Do you know anyone like that?
SPEAKER_00: Someone who lives in pain?
SPEAKER_00: Someone who chooses to stay on the bed rather than finding a cure?
SPEAKER_00: Most likely you do.
SPEAKER_00: I've been there, not happy about it.
SPEAKER_00: But I've sat dangling my feet in the pool right on the edge, complaining, feeling sorry for myself, listing lots of reasons not to seek help.
SPEAKER_00: I'm too busy, I don't have time, I'm too tired, I need to walk the dog, I can do it myself, I don't need help.
SPEAKER_00: And I curl up in my bed, self-defeated.
SPEAKER_00: Can you relate?
SPEAKER_00: And when we relate and we live there, we look like this.
SPEAKER_00: We are like the man and hundreds of others sitting on the pool of false hope.
SPEAKER_00: And why do we do it?
SPEAKER_00: Because we feel safe.
SPEAKER_00: No one can hurt us there, right?
SPEAKER_00: And it's feel comfortable, it's what we know.
SPEAKER_00: How many people do you know sit in abusive relationships because it's what they know?
SPEAKER_00: And you're like, get out of it.
SPEAKER_00: From the outside looking in, we can have a million reasons of why they should be out of that relationship.
SPEAKER_00: But it's what they know.
SPEAKER_00: It's comfortable.
SPEAKER_00: Or it makes a perfect hiding place, doesn't it?
SPEAKER_00: For those who have dealt with addiction for years and brokenness.
SPEAKER_00: I can hide in my addiction, I can hide on my bed mat.
SPEAKER_00: I don't have to answer to anybody, nor do I have to face my issues in the past or my brokenness.
SPEAKER_00: Or perhaps you like to just live on the bed mat because it's a good excuse and I can get attention from it, negative or positive, and I can get sympathy from people.
SPEAKER_00: And what does Jesus do in that?
SPEAKER_00: He says, get up and start walking.
SPEAKER_00: In our story, Jesus brushed off the excuses.
SPEAKER_00: He entered into the situation of misery and he healed him.
SPEAKER_00: And that man got up, he picked up his bed mat and he walked.
SPEAKER_00: His healing wasn't in the false hope of the pool.
SPEAKER_00: It was in the stranger that gave him renewed life and renewed faith.
SPEAKER_00: And that was Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And I have to believe that he also gave renewed hope for all of those sitting and watching and waiting to be healed on the side of the pool.
SPEAKER_00: How many on-watchers do you think became believers and followers that day?
SPEAKER_00: They were healed.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus does the same for you and for me.
SPEAKER_00: Is it easy to live in our pain and in our suffering?
SPEAKER_00: No, absolutely not.
SPEAKER_00: And Ryan and Ben and I and this team and this staff would never want to be saying to you, get up and just start walking, because that feels cold and hard.
SPEAKER_00: But I would hope we would say to you, we're going to walk alongside you, we're going to introduce you to Jesus, and we're going to let you know of the promises and the hopes that he has in your relationship with him.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus does just that.
SPEAKER_00: Have hope and promises, even in the worst scenario.
SPEAKER_00: When there is no earthly cure to our wounds, Jesus will be your hope and your healing water.
SPEAKER_00: Our family friend walked this journey 18 years ago this month when his seven-year-old son Tucker went home to be with Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Tucker fought liver cancer for nine months.
SPEAKER_00: Is that fair?
SPEAKER_00: Nope.
SPEAKER_00: No child, and no parent should ever have to walk that path.
SPEAKER_00: But I believe Jesus healed him on his mat, on this bed, as Tucker and his family heard the news that there would be no cure and this little boy prepared to die.
SPEAKER_00: Prior to his cancer, Tucker and his dad rarely talked about Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: They did the social thing of going to church on Sunday and went to Sunday school and things like that, but it was not a daily conversation for them.
SPEAKER_00: But through the nine-month journey, Tucker started asking the faith questions.
SPEAKER_00: Who is Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: What does heaven look like?
SPEAKER_00: And will you be there with me, Daddy?
SPEAKER_00: And the day Tucker died in his daddy's arms, he confirmed his healing in his last words when he asked his dad, Am I going to heaven?
SPEAKER_00: And his daddy said confidently, absolutely, buddy.
SPEAKER_00: Because he knew and trusted in his faith.
SPEAKER_00: Tucker experienced the grace of God and healing in that confidence, and fear did not have a hold on him because he believed in the healing waters of Jesus and he opened his heart to his eternity.
SPEAKER_00: Matthew's gospel says, Ask and it will be given to you.
SPEAKER_00: Seek and you will find.
SPEAKER_00: Knock the door at the door and it will be opened for you.
SPEAKER_00: And that is what Tuck experienced.
SPEAKER_00: And as the scripture says, seize the moment, that is what that family did.
SPEAKER_00: Friends, our God is excited to bless his children that pray and have a relationship with him.
SPEAKER_00: It may not be what we pray for, but he is always, always a giving God who will love and who will heal us well.
SPEAKER_00: Central, as we move into the worship song and the ushers come forward to receive your gifts, ask yourself this.
SPEAKER_00: What is your bed?
SPEAKER_00: What is the place where you are stuck?
SPEAKER_00: The thing on which you are fixated, the false hope that takes your eyes off of Jesus, and then ask yourself, what will get you up and remind you to start walking?
SPEAKER_00: Because that is where Jesus desires for you to be.
SPEAKER_00: He desires for us to take our eyes off of our own pools of Bethesda, the pools of false hope.
SPEAKER_00: And he wants us to move into a place that is a part of his plan and where we can be fully healed.
SPEAKER_00: And in and through that, friends, the false hopes of this world will go away because we will be living in the healing and the hopes of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.