WEBVTT 00:00:00.400 --> 00:00:06.480 I'm going to wrap up our series this weekend titled Destination Addiction. 00:00:06.719 --> 00:00:07.919 Destination Addiction. 00:00:08.240 --> 00:00:10.880 I've been citing the source all throughout the series. 00:00:11.039 --> 00:00:11.279 Dr. 00:00:11.359 --> 00:00:19.280 Robert Holden is the one who coined this term, destination addiction, and he's a psychologist who wrote a book in 2011. 00:00:19.440 --> 00:00:32.799 And he talks about destination addiction is something that he noticed as a tendency in human beings to think that the destination that they are headed toward is going to possess their fulfillment, their joy, their happiness. 00:00:32.960 --> 00:00:47.920 And, you know, if you think, man, if I climb that mountain there that I'm going for, at the top of that mountain, I'll be so much happier, I'll be so much better once I get the relationship goals, once I get uh make six figures, once I get this sort of respect, or I whatever it might be. 00:00:48.079 --> 00:00:54.479 And he said the tendency is to believe that, and you just keep climbing one hill after another, and it just keeps moving. 00:00:54.640 --> 00:01:00.320 Once the new car smell wears off, once the adrenaline rush goes down, now I'm going to another one. 00:01:00.399 --> 00:01:09.439 And the sad thing is, people can live their entire lives always deferring their joy, always thinking, oh yeah, that's the one, that's the ultimate over there. 00:01:09.599 --> 00:01:15.439 And so um uh, you know, he he brought that up, and I think it's worth us noting and talking about and learning about. 00:01:15.519 --> 00:01:16.719 So that's where we've been. 00:01:16.799 --> 00:01:18.079 I'm gonna wrap it up today. 00:01:18.159 --> 00:01:25.439 Uh, if you turn in your Bibles with me to John chapter 5, uh I'm gonna start reading in verse 1. 00:01:27.519 --> 00:01:34.799 John 5, 1 says, afterward, Jesus returned to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish holy days. 00:01:35.280 --> 00:01:41.599 Inside the city, near the sheepgate, was the pool of Bethesda with five covered porches. 00:01:41.920 --> 00:01:47.120 Crowds of sick people, blind, lame, and paralyzed, lay on the porches. 00:01:48.319 --> 00:01:52.400 One of the men lying there had been sick for 38 years. 00:01:52.799 --> 00:01:58.719 When Jesus saw him and knew that he had been ill for a long time, he asked him, Would you like to get well? 00:01:59.439 --> 00:02:04.879 I can't, sir, the sick man said, for I have no one to put me into the pool. 00:02:05.040 --> 00:02:09.759 I have no one to put me into the pool when the water bubbles up. 00:02:10.000 --> 00:02:15.919 Someone else always gets there ahead of me, Jesus told him, Stand up, pick up your mat and walk. 00:02:16.159 --> 00:02:17.680 Instantly the man was healed. 00:02:17.840 --> 00:02:21.439 He rolled up his sleeping mat and began walking. 00:02:22.639 --> 00:02:31.360 Um, depending on the translation that you're reading from, you may have noticed something odd about John 5. 00:02:32.000 --> 00:02:35.759 And that is in many of your translations, there is no verse 4. 00:02:36.400 --> 00:02:37.680 Did you notice that? 00:02:38.159 --> 00:02:39.840 Put it back on the board. 00:02:40.400 --> 00:02:41.280 Verse 3. 00:02:41.680 --> 00:02:45.680 Crowds of sick people, blind, lame, or paralyzed, lay on the porches. 00:02:46.719 --> 00:02:47.759 Verse 5. 00:02:48.159 --> 00:02:51.759 One of the men lying there had been sick for 38 years. 00:02:52.400 --> 00:02:55.280 Well, what in the world happened to verse 4? 00:02:56.960 --> 00:03:03.840 If you're reading a translation that was translated after the 1800s, there is no verse 4. 00:03:04.479 --> 00:03:09.360 If you're reading a translation that was translated before the 1800s, it does have a verse 4. 00:03:09.439 --> 00:03:15.919 In fact, probably the most popular would be the King James, which was translated in the 1600s. 00:03:16.719 --> 00:03:22.000 And in fact, I'll read John 5 and 4 out of the King James. 00:03:22.159 --> 00:03:23.680 Here's what verse 4 says. 00:03:23.919 --> 00:03:31.439 For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool and troubled the water, stirred the water. 00:03:32.080 --> 00:03:39.919 Whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in, was made whole of whatsoever disease he had. 00:03:40.560 --> 00:03:45.360 Well, why would that be omitted in the NIV or the NLT? 00:03:45.439 --> 00:03:48.560 Why is that not in the versions we now have? 00:03:48.800 --> 00:04:00.000 Well, the short answer to that is that in the 1800s there started to be discoveries of newer manuscripts of the Bi of the New Testament. 00:04:00.719 --> 00:04:10.719 So in the 1600s, the oldest dated manuscripts, in other words, the manuscripts closest to the original manuscripts had verse 4. 00:04:11.039 --> 00:04:15.680 That an angel stirred the waters and the first person then got healed. 00:04:16.160 --> 00:04:21.040 But after the 1800s, they found newer manuscripts that were predated the old ones. 00:04:21.120 --> 00:04:23.759 In other words, they were closer to the originals. 00:04:24.240 --> 00:04:28.240 And none of those manuscripts contained verse four. 00:04:29.439 --> 00:04:32.000 Which then begs the question: well, what's up? 00:04:32.959 --> 00:04:38.800 Did heaven send an angel down to stir the water at the pool of Bethesda, and people were actually going and getting healed? 00:04:38.959 --> 00:04:41.920 First guy or lady in gets healed or not? 00:04:42.240 --> 00:04:44.879 Well, the short answer is I don't know. 00:04:46.720 --> 00:04:48.480 You we can think of it one of two ways. 00:04:48.720 --> 00:04:49.680 There's a couple theories. 00:04:49.759 --> 00:04:51.839 One is, yeah, maybe it was. 00:04:51.920 --> 00:04:54.879 Maybe heaven did send an angel down and that happened. 00:04:54.959 --> 00:05:04.959 But the the second is that uh it's also a plausible explanation that that wasn't actually, in fact, happening, but it was what some people believed was happening. 00:05:05.199 --> 00:05:09.120 It was a legend that there was a stirring of the water. 00:05:09.279 --> 00:05:10.480 Well, what's happening to the water? 00:05:10.639 --> 00:05:19.839 Well, there was a natural spring that ran under the pool of Bethesda that from time to time would cause the pool to bubble up from the natural spring. 00:05:20.160 --> 00:05:33.199 And uh it would inject the water with, you know, nitrogen and magnesium and zinc and different minerals that would certain ailments might help to towards some healing. 00:05:33.600 --> 00:05:55.759 In fact, uh, if you read different historians, we'll talk about that there around the pool of Bethesda, there were stories of people who had had some process or some progress in healing, but over time they went reverted back to how they were before, and that's why some of them think it was maybe some of these natural minerals that were causing people to get a little bit better depending on their ailment. 00:05:55.920 --> 00:05:57.839 Of course, that's not gonna help with being blind. 00:05:58.000 --> 00:06:00.639 Of course, that's not gonna help if you're a paraplegic. 00:06:00.959 --> 00:06:01.920 So, do we know? 00:06:02.079 --> 00:06:03.199 The answer is I don't know. 00:06:03.360 --> 00:06:06.720 I don't know if it was an angel, I don't know if it was a natural spring. 00:06:06.800 --> 00:06:11.199 This is on my long list of questions I'm gonna ask Jesus when I see him, okay? 00:06:11.519 --> 00:06:16.639 The bottom line for this sermon, it doesn't really matter too much because uh I want to look at the text a little bit differently. 00:06:16.800 --> 00:06:37.680 And I want to start with the fact that the reality is whether it was a superstition or whether it was real, there were tons of people who were sick and lame and hurt and had a major need, who had congregated around this pool and had some semblance of hope, like something, maybe this is my solution. 00:06:39.120 --> 00:06:47.519 And imagine what that does, not just to those people, but what it even does culturally and to society and how you might feel if you lived around that. 00:06:47.759 --> 00:06:53.600 Like imagine that people believe that there were healing powers in the Olentanji River. 00:06:53.839 --> 00:06:54.160 Okay? 00:06:54.720 --> 00:06:56.240 And imagine what that would do. 00:06:56.399 --> 00:07:07.199 You would go around the Olentanji, and along the banks of the Olentanji, there would be lots of people who were like lame and sick, and they're hoping that when the water does a thing, I can go in there and get and get healed. 00:07:07.519 --> 00:07:09.279 How would that affect you? 00:07:09.439 --> 00:07:10.160 What would you do? 00:07:10.319 --> 00:07:11.199 Would you go there? 00:07:11.360 --> 00:07:12.240 Would you hang around there? 00:07:12.399 --> 00:07:13.839 Would you avoid that place? 00:07:14.160 --> 00:07:20.160 And that's a tough question because you know, sometimes when you in those types of scenarios, people do it tend to avoid places like that. 00:07:20.399 --> 00:07:29.519 Because if I go there, number one, I'm overwhelmed to just, ooh, here's a lot of need, you know, it's like bodies just strewn about like a war zone and so much need. 00:07:29.680 --> 00:07:31.920 And then the other is sometimes you get asked for stuff. 00:07:32.079 --> 00:07:35.360 People start begging you for things and asking you for things, and you want to avoid it. 00:07:35.439 --> 00:07:44.000 And of course, we notice that Jesus, one of the things probably most often talked about with Jesus, is how often Jesus went to hurting people. 00:07:44.560 --> 00:07:49.120 He would go to hurting people and he would heal them and he would hang out with them and he would minister to them. 00:07:49.279 --> 00:07:55.759 And so, whenever that's brought up, usually it quickly escalates into a sermon about Jesus' heart and how we should have the same heart. 00:07:56.000 --> 00:08:00.240 We should be like Jesus, who had a heart for hurting people, and we should have a heart for hurting people. 00:08:00.399 --> 00:08:02.160 And I think that's a good sermon. 00:08:02.319 --> 00:08:10.480 And I think if you're here and you go, honestly, I'm a Christian, I'm a follower of Jesus, but I really don't care about hurting people, I think that's a problem. 00:08:10.639 --> 00:08:12.639 I think you should pray about that, I think you should deal with that. 00:08:12.800 --> 00:08:16.000 I think you should go to the Lord and say, God, would you give me the mind of Christ? 00:08:16.160 --> 00:08:17.360 Would you give me the heart of Jesus? 00:08:17.600 --> 00:08:19.680 Would you break my heart for what breaks yours? 00:08:19.920 --> 00:08:22.079 But I'm not here to preach that sermon today. 00:08:22.240 --> 00:08:23.920 I'm gonna talk a different thing. 00:08:24.160 --> 00:08:35.120 I think there's a lot of people who see when they see brokenness and hurt and pain, and they see a pool of Bethesda with with with blind, lame, hurting people who need help. 00:08:35.200 --> 00:08:37.440 I think there's a lot of people that care a lot. 00:08:38.240 --> 00:08:39.360 They care a lot. 00:08:39.519 --> 00:08:44.000 The problem isn't that they don't care, the problem is that they're not quite sure how to help. 00:08:45.120 --> 00:08:49.440 And when you're not quite sure how to help, sometimes you avoid the problem altogether. 00:08:50.320 --> 00:08:59.200 Um when I first accepted Jesus, really accepted Jesus in my heart as my Lord and Savior, had a transformational renewing of the mind and new in Christ. 00:08:59.360 --> 00:09:01.279 I was a sophomore in college. 00:09:01.759 --> 00:09:07.840 And one of the indicators to me that actually I was different, I had been changed, was I started caring. 00:09:08.240 --> 00:09:10.000 I started caring for stuff I didn't care about. 00:09:10.080 --> 00:09:13.200 I started caring for people I didn't care about, I hadn't cared about before. 00:09:13.279 --> 00:09:14.159 Now all of a sudden I cared. 00:09:14.240 --> 00:09:16.320 And so I started going out on Friday nights. 00:09:16.480 --> 00:09:19.279 I would go, I went to college just south of Dallas, Texas. 00:09:19.360 --> 00:09:24.480 I would go into Dallas and I knew I found out where the homeless people were, and I would go and minister to the homeless. 00:09:24.559 --> 00:09:26.720 I would go out sit and listen to them and talk with them. 00:09:26.799 --> 00:09:32.320 Uh when it was wintertime, we'd sit around a fire, I'd pray with them, I'd listen to their stories, I would take them food. 00:09:32.399 --> 00:09:39.519 Um, and I took uh some of them I would take, sometimes I would take homeless people back and stay with me in my dorm room, which they didn't like that at my dorm. 00:09:39.600 --> 00:09:43.120 I ended up getting in trouble in the dorm because I was bringing homeless people back to the dorm room. 00:09:43.200 --> 00:09:45.440 They weren't as compassionate as me. 00:09:46.559 --> 00:09:50.480 But anyway, I no joke, I would bring in homeless people to the dorm and I got in trouble. 00:09:50.639 --> 00:09:56.240 And um uh it was kind of a learning experience for me because I remember um these people who are living on the street. 00:09:56.320 --> 00:09:57.679 I would say, I can help you. 00:09:57.840 --> 00:09:58.639 I can help you. 00:09:58.799 --> 00:09:59.519 I know people. 00:09:59.600 --> 00:10:02.480 I I know a teen challenge, life challenge program. 00:10:02.559 --> 00:10:06.320 When we get you in these programs, we're gonna get you off the street, we're gonna get you clean, we're gonna get you help. 00:10:06.480 --> 00:10:09.279 One of the guys I was talking to, he had a five-year-old son. 00:10:09.440 --> 00:10:12.799 Stay with me in my dorm, five-year-old son, and I said, Man, we're gonna get you help. 00:10:12.879 --> 00:10:14.559 He goes, I ain't going, I ain't going to that. 00:10:14.799 --> 00:10:15.279 Why? 00:10:15.519 --> 00:10:16.080 Why? 00:10:16.320 --> 00:10:17.840 Oh, they'll wake you up at 5 a.m. 00:10:18.080 --> 00:10:18.720 They this and that. 00:10:18.799 --> 00:10:20.240 I'm like, my man, you're on the street. 00:10:20.320 --> 00:10:21.440 Come on, come on. 00:10:21.600 --> 00:10:24.480 I I I tried to, I tried to talk him into it. 00:10:24.720 --> 00:10:31.279 I tried to use all of the persuasion that I had in my being to go, come on, man, you got a five-year-old son. 00:10:31.440 --> 00:10:35.279 It's time for you to step up, your future's bright, God has a plan for you. 00:10:35.440 --> 00:10:37.840 You don't want to, okay, and he's like, no, I'm good. 00:10:38.720 --> 00:10:45.440 Um, but man, I sure thought God was gonna use me in that way to just, you know, and I'm I had full of faith. 00:10:45.519 --> 00:10:48.720 I was thinking, God can take and shrink the timeline. 00:10:48.960 --> 00:10:53.200 So if you had a rough marriage, I would give you a scripture and pray, God, heal that marriage right now. 00:10:53.279 --> 00:10:55.600 And I believe God was gonna expedite the miracle. 00:10:55.759 --> 00:11:00.399 And then if somebody was sick, oh boy, I'd pray down fire from heaven. 00:11:00.720 --> 00:11:04.799 You had an ant with cancer, oh boy, you bring it, don't bring that cancer around me. 00:11:04.879 --> 00:11:05.679 I'll pray it out. 00:11:05.759 --> 00:11:07.120 I'd start praying hard. 00:11:07.279 --> 00:11:10.480 I mean, I'll I'm gonna put you on the, I'm gonna pray till something happens. 00:11:10.559 --> 00:11:13.279 You know, I had a wristband push, pray until something happens. 00:11:13.440 --> 00:11:14.000 P-U-S. 00:11:14.320 --> 00:11:15.120 Pray until something happened. 00:11:15.200 --> 00:11:15.840 That was me. 00:11:16.000 --> 00:11:17.279 Pray until something happens. 00:11:17.360 --> 00:11:19.200 And I'd believe that you know what? 00:11:19.440 --> 00:11:24.159 God's gonna use me to pick up your mat and walk. 00:11:24.480 --> 00:11:26.720 And to have an immediate miracle. 00:11:27.279 --> 00:11:29.519 And here's what I'm gonna say. 00:11:30.080 --> 00:11:36.639 I believe theologically, I believe God can do what he wants, whenever he wants, however he wants, with whomever he wants, anytime he wants. 00:11:36.799 --> 00:11:38.159 So I believe God does heal. 00:11:38.240 --> 00:11:39.679 And I believe God uses people to heal. 00:11:39.759 --> 00:11:43.919 If you read in Corinthians, uh, 1 Corinthians, it talks about the gifts of healing, right? 00:11:44.080 --> 00:11:44.799 Gifts of the Spirit. 00:11:44.960 --> 00:11:51.360 So you have not only gifts of doing things well, natural talents, but sometimes God will give a gift to people to be able to do certain things at certain times. 00:11:51.440 --> 00:11:58.480 But it's also clear in the 1 Corinthians that God alone decides who gets what gift where and how. 00:11:58.639 --> 00:12:11.440 And it's not necessarily, you know, for me, I was never given that gift to pray for, you know, to touch a tumor and it dry up, or to go to somebody who was crippled and say, stand up and walk. 00:12:11.600 --> 00:12:14.639 I tried it, I prayed it, I have more faith than you can have. 00:12:14.720 --> 00:12:17.679 I mean, it's all the faith in the world, and yet it didn't happen. 00:12:17.759 --> 00:12:19.360 So God didn't tend to use me in that way. 00:12:19.440 --> 00:12:21.200 And so here's what happened to me. 00:12:21.440 --> 00:12:28.559 I started finding it wasn't that I had less of a heart for Bethesda, the pool of Bethesda, and the folk who were hurting. 00:12:28.720 --> 00:12:30.000 I had a big heart for that. 00:12:30.159 --> 00:12:33.120 I was confused by my lack of ability to help. 00:12:33.360 --> 00:12:36.320 So I started avoiding pools of Bethesda. 00:12:37.759 --> 00:12:41.919 Because I wasn't sure what I could do, and I was tired of swinging and missing. 00:12:43.519 --> 00:12:49.360 It's interesting because when Jesus says to this man, and we're gonna get it, we're gonna dig into his question, do you want to be well? 00:12:49.440 --> 00:12:52.879 And we're gonna dig into the man's response, but I want to just take a first crack at it. 00:12:53.120 --> 00:12:54.720 He says to him, Do you want to be well? 00:12:54.879 --> 00:13:02.320 And the man says, To a yes or no question, he says, Um, I can't, sir. 00:13:02.879 --> 00:13:04.000 I can't. 00:13:04.320 --> 00:13:09.679 Of course, we would say, I can't should never be in a person's vocabulary. 00:13:10.399 --> 00:13:11.759 And I I feel you. 00:13:12.000 --> 00:13:14.639 I think you should be resilient, I think you should be tenacious. 00:13:14.799 --> 00:13:16.399 We'll get into that in a second. 00:13:17.200 --> 00:13:22.320 But every single person throughout your life will come up against something you can't. 00:13:23.039 --> 00:13:23.919 You can't. 00:13:24.639 --> 00:13:28.000 I can't get autism out of my son's. 00:13:29.759 --> 00:13:32.000 You can't make her stay. 00:13:33.279 --> 00:13:35.519 You can't make him stay. 00:13:36.559 --> 00:13:41.120 You can't make yourself walk when you're a paraplegic. 00:13:42.000 --> 00:13:51.519 And we all have at some point, and it's a terrible place to be, and it's a horrible feeling, to get to something that you can't. 00:13:51.840 --> 00:14:09.759 And when it hits close to home, if it's an I can't with my kids, it's an I can't somebody I care about, I love, a best friend, something I can't, something in myself that I've tried over and over and over and over, and I can't. 00:14:10.000 --> 00:14:11.360 So that's what this man's dealing with. 00:14:11.519 --> 00:14:11.919 I can't. 00:14:12.080 --> 00:14:17.279 Second thing though, he immediately went to not only I can't, he goes, I have no one. 00:14:18.000 --> 00:14:20.080 I have no one to put me in the pool. 00:14:20.240 --> 00:14:35.360 And this last reading of this, and when I was really meditating on this, I thought about the fact that I at times, because God doesn't tend to use me in the instantaneous dramatic miracles, that sometimes I might avoid the pools of Bethesda, and maybe others feel the same way. 00:14:35.519 --> 00:14:44.960 Not because I don't care, not because you don't care, but because maybe you undervalue the way God may want to use you in a different kind of divine healing. 00:14:45.679 --> 00:14:49.519 The divine healing isn't always pick up your mat and walk. 00:14:49.679 --> 00:14:53.440 Sometimes the divine healing, they're dimensional healings. 00:14:53.600 --> 00:15:06.159 Outside of just whether or not my legs work or whether or not I can see with my eyes, there's actually emotional healing and there's relational healing and things that happen when the man at the pool of Bethesda has someone. 00:15:06.879 --> 00:15:12.879 Now, I'm talking to somebody today who you do care, but you've been avoiding. 00:15:13.120 --> 00:15:16.799 And I want to encourage you today to not undervalue your presence. 00:15:17.039 --> 00:15:25.279 The fact that God may not give you the ability to tell somebody, stand up with your legs, but you can be there that the person who says, I have no one, has someone. 00:15:25.440 --> 00:15:37.200 The man at the pool of Bethesda looked around and saw blind people and lame people and paralyzed people that had a loved one and a brother that was willing to try to throw them into the water that bubbled up, whether it was a superstition or not. 00:15:38.000 --> 00:15:42.320 There was a healing that happened in the presence of a brother or sister. 00:15:42.799 --> 00:15:44.159 Don't undervalue that. 00:15:44.240 --> 00:15:49.840 And for some of you, you feel the the limitations of what you can do. 00:15:50.080 --> 00:15:54.960 If if you're with somebody going through something, you we've we've all had this feeling. 00:15:55.279 --> 00:15:56.879 I just wish I could do more. 00:15:57.679 --> 00:15:59.039 It just feels like it's not enough. 00:15:59.279 --> 00:16:00.559 Ah, I just wish I could do more. 00:16:00.720 --> 00:16:08.080 Hey, don't let I wish I could do more keep you from doing what you can do, which is to be there and to be present and be part of the miracle. 00:16:08.720 --> 00:16:11.039 The miracle isn't always this instantaneous thing. 00:16:11.120 --> 00:16:13.360 Like, oh, let me give you some more food for thought. 00:16:13.600 --> 00:16:16.480 James chapter 5 has a famous scripture. 00:16:16.559 --> 00:16:20.960 It says in verse 13, anybody, are any of you suffering hardships, you should pray. 00:16:21.200 --> 00:16:22.399 Are any of you happy? 00:16:22.559 --> 00:16:23.519 You should sing praises. 00:16:23.679 --> 00:16:24.639 Look at verse 14. 00:16:24.799 --> 00:16:26.320 Are any of you sick? 00:16:26.559 --> 00:16:32.159 You should call for the elders of the church to come and pray over you, anointing you with oil in the name of the Lord. 00:16:32.320 --> 00:16:36.559 Well, if you've been around church before, you know how we usually execute this. 00:16:36.799 --> 00:16:38.320 Somebody sick, come forward. 00:16:38.480 --> 00:16:46.000 The leaders in the church come together, take out the oil, okay, paint a cross on their forehead and pray for them. 00:16:46.159 --> 00:16:47.679 Well, is that what that's saying? 00:16:48.000 --> 00:16:48.480 Kinda. 00:16:48.960 --> 00:16:49.840 What is the oil? 00:16:50.000 --> 00:16:51.360 What is anointing them with oil? 00:16:51.519 --> 00:16:52.080 What is that? 00:16:52.240 --> 00:16:53.759 Well, it really has two meanings. 00:16:53.919 --> 00:17:02.399 First, oil does represent the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, the one who is able to heal instantaneously and dramatically if he would so choose. 00:17:02.639 --> 00:17:08.079 But in that context, anointing with oil was more than just a symbol of the Holy Spirit. 00:17:08.160 --> 00:17:10.720 It was actually medicinal treatment. 00:17:10.960 --> 00:17:13.839 Oil was used all the time to help people to heal. 00:17:14.000 --> 00:17:16.960 Think back in Luke chapter 10, the story of the Good Samaritan. 00:17:17.200 --> 00:17:17.839 Remember that story? 00:17:18.000 --> 00:17:18.799 Jesus makes it up. 00:17:18.880 --> 00:17:23.839 Hey, this guy got beat up so bad he had open wounds, and a Samaritan showed up, the Good Samaritan, and what did it say? 00:17:24.000 --> 00:17:24.720 How did he help him? 00:17:24.880 --> 00:17:28.000 It said he poured in, everybody remember, the oil and the wine. 00:17:28.160 --> 00:17:29.279 He poured in oil and wine. 00:17:29.440 --> 00:17:30.319 Well, what did wine do? 00:17:30.480 --> 00:17:37.359 Wine, the alcohol in the wine would clean the wound, and the oil would help heal the wound. 00:17:37.599 --> 00:17:39.119 Oil didn't heal you like that. 00:17:39.200 --> 00:17:39.759 It takes time. 00:17:39.839 --> 00:17:43.839 Some of you have been putting your toe in essential oils for a long time trying to get your headache out. 00:17:43.920 --> 00:17:44.960 You know what I'm talking about. 00:17:45.599 --> 00:17:50.240 But you're convinced, you're like, if I if I put this in my toe in the essential oil for a while, I'm gonna get back. 00:17:50.559 --> 00:17:53.200 Okay, you know it's a slow, it works slowly. 00:17:53.359 --> 00:17:59.920 And we tend to want God to use us at the pool of Bethesda with a right now dramatic wham type miracle. 00:18:00.160 --> 00:18:02.400 And if we can't have that, we don't go around. 00:18:02.559 --> 00:18:04.720 Allow God to use you like oil. 00:18:05.119 --> 00:18:08.559 Sometimes it might take some time, some treatment. 00:18:09.200 --> 00:18:13.440 It may not happen overnight, but God could use you as part of that. 00:18:14.319 --> 00:18:16.880 Let's uh let's go back to this question. 00:18:16.960 --> 00:18:21.119 Jesus asks him, Do you really would you like to get well? 00:18:21.279 --> 00:18:22.000 He asks him. 00:18:22.720 --> 00:18:24.160 Well, here's what we know about the man. 00:18:24.240 --> 00:18:26.160 We first of all, we don't know his name. 00:18:26.319 --> 00:18:29.680 We don't know much about him, so we're gonna have to speculate a little bit. 00:18:30.079 --> 00:18:35.119 But we know he was sick and paralyzed for 38 years. 00:18:35.920 --> 00:18:39.759 That's a long time, 38 years to deal with something. 00:18:40.000 --> 00:18:47.200 And so you would think the question, do you want to be well after 38 years of not using your legs? 00:18:47.440 --> 00:18:50.640 You would think that's a no-brainer question. 00:18:50.880 --> 00:18:52.160 But it's really not. 00:18:52.880 --> 00:18:55.440 Jesus asked the man, do you want to be well? 00:18:55.759 --> 00:19:03.200 in hopes that the man will dig deep enough to search his soul to actually really wrestle with that question, do you want to be well? 00:19:03.359 --> 00:19:14.160 I think Jesus knew about human nature, and human nature is that sometimes people have a tendency to develop an odd relationship with their infirmities. 00:19:15.519 --> 00:19:42.559 It can often happen that the infirmity that you curse and you're tempted to fall into destination addiction, like if I just could get off of this mat, if I just didn't have this thing to deal with, it would be so much happier and brighter that people actually, when you deal with an infirmity long enough, you can actually develop a weird relationship with it, an odd relationship. 00:19:43.039 --> 00:19:48.000 We see it in the in the extremes with parents who keep their kids sick. 00:19:48.720 --> 00:19:50.079 They keep the kids sick. 00:19:50.160 --> 00:19:50.559 Why? 00:19:50.720 --> 00:20:02.240 Because there's something about the bond of a caretaker, or there's something about the sympathy and the attention from the outside world that you get from being a part of uh something like that. 00:20:02.480 --> 00:20:09.920 Um we we we see it actually if you talk to clinical psychologists who um talk to you about uh things like codependent relationships. 00:20:10.079 --> 00:20:12.559 This type of scenario is happens frequently. 00:20:12.720 --> 00:20:17.680 You'll have a family that the whole family bonds around one of the family members' dysfunction. 00:20:17.920 --> 00:20:22.240 So let's say you have a a father who is an abusive alcoholic. 00:20:22.400 --> 00:20:28.240 He's an abusive alcoholic and and he when he's drunk, he comes in violent. 00:20:28.400 --> 00:20:33.440 And maybe mom, the mom will provoke dad so that he'll beat on her and leave the kids alone. 00:20:33.599 --> 00:20:34.799 Or maybe you have a sibling. 00:20:34.960 --> 00:20:39.839 Once they as they get a little bit older, they want to protect their siblings, and so they'll provoke them to protect the kids. 00:20:39.920 --> 00:20:49.519 And then once he's swung all he wants to swing and he's passed out drunk, then everybody huddles together and hugs each other and bonds over the pain and the dysfunction. 00:20:49.680 --> 00:21:08.799 And the wildest thing happens sometimes is maybe something happens where that alcoholic father, abusive man, goes and gets help, and he gets clean and sober and is no longer abusive, and you wouldn't believe what happens all the time. 00:21:10.000 --> 00:21:12.160 The family falls apart. 00:21:13.519 --> 00:21:20.640 They were crystallized in the abuse, and they fall apart in sobriety. 00:21:21.759 --> 00:21:22.400 Why? 00:21:22.799 --> 00:21:27.200 Because often people develop funny relationships with their dysfunction. 00:21:27.359 --> 00:21:30.240 When Jesus says, Do you want to be well? 00:21:30.400 --> 00:21:32.079 It's a sincere question. 00:21:32.240 --> 00:21:33.759 It is not a no-brainer. 00:21:34.079 --> 00:21:42.160 Because although you've been sitting there for 38 years, you know, there's something about 38 years of sitting there that you start to kind of make friends with it. 00:21:42.240 --> 00:21:46.079 You start to actually, you start to be comforted by it. 00:21:46.160 --> 00:21:47.920 There's a few reasons you might kind of like it. 00:21:48.079 --> 00:21:54.799 First of all, I know this man was alone, but a lot of other people who were there who had an infirmity had people around them to help them. 00:21:55.039 --> 00:21:59.440 And if you're not careful, you might start to think you know, if I got well, I might be alone. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:04.480 If I got well, see, these people are here because I'm sick, because I have drama. 00:22:04.960 --> 00:22:07.759 Because some there there's something that's keeping them here. 00:22:07.839 --> 00:22:13.519 And if I was well and I could walk on my own two feet, they may not be around me. 00:22:13.680 --> 00:22:17.440 So it's actually the fact that I'm staying sick that keeps people around me. 00:22:17.599 --> 00:22:19.920 Sometimes people's identity is linked to this. 00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:21.839 If I'm not the guy for, I mean, think about it. 00:22:22.000 --> 00:22:23.440 John doesn't even name the guy. 00:22:23.759 --> 00:22:26.240 He just calls him, you know, the man who was sick. 00:22:26.400 --> 00:22:27.599 The paralytic man. 00:22:27.759 --> 00:22:31.359 Sometimes not only that's how the world sees you, but that's how you see you. 00:22:31.440 --> 00:22:36.799 And if I'm not the paralytic guy with the dramatic story, but I can actually walk on my own two feet. 00:22:36.880 --> 00:22:37.440 Who am I? 00:22:37.599 --> 00:22:42.559 By the way, this paralysis gives me a pretty good reason to stay exactly where I am. 00:22:42.799 --> 00:22:44.640 I don't have to go out there and do anything. 00:22:44.799 --> 00:22:50.880 And I kind of have a familiar conversation arc with uh the other invalid people around me. 00:22:50.960 --> 00:22:53.200 We go, you know, it must be nice to be out there on two feet. 00:22:53.279 --> 00:22:56.400 Yeah, these guys out here, they have no idea what it's like to be us. 00:22:56.559 --> 00:22:59.759 And and so so many of these things, you you just have to go explore. 00:23:00.000 --> 00:23:05.279 Jesus said, Hey, do you really want to get well? 00:23:05.839 --> 00:23:07.359 Do you really want to get well? 00:23:07.440 --> 00:23:12.880 And and I want to encourage you to receive that question for yourself and to do some digging. 00:23:13.039 --> 00:23:24.640 Because again, with all due respect, and I don't say this today, I'm not trying to make fun or make light, but but to this man to sit there and go, yeah, I you know, I have I have nobody, and I can't. 00:23:25.519 --> 00:23:25.839 Okay. 00:23:26.640 --> 00:23:31.200 Um I can't. 00:23:32.640 --> 00:23:33.200 You're right. 00:23:33.279 --> 00:23:36.240 You you you can't make your legs work. 00:23:37.200 --> 00:23:43.839 But if you think that the pool of Bethesda is the solution, is the miracle you need. 00:23:44.240 --> 00:23:47.359 If that's what you think, you're telling me you can't get in that water? 00:23:47.920 --> 00:23:49.039 What have you tried? 00:23:51.279 --> 00:23:53.680 Have you tried making a deal with a blind guy? 00:23:55.119 --> 00:23:57.200 Hey man, I see you blind, right? 00:23:57.279 --> 00:23:57.440 Yeah. 00:23:57.680 --> 00:23:59.440 Hey, I have eyes and you have legs. 00:23:59.680 --> 00:24:00.559 Let's make a deal. 00:24:03.279 --> 00:24:04.319 Have you tried that? 00:24:05.119 --> 00:24:06.960 You throw me in, I'll throw you in. 00:24:08.000 --> 00:24:10.720 If you'll pick me up, because if you carry me over, I'll tell you where to go. 00:24:10.880 --> 00:24:12.640 And once the water bubbles, you throw me in. 00:24:12.720 --> 00:24:16.160 I promise you, dude, I will not bail on you. 00:24:16.960 --> 00:24:18.799 Once I walk out of here, I will stay. 00:24:18.880 --> 00:24:21.200 And next time I'm throwing you in, we're gonna get out together. 00:24:21.279 --> 00:24:27.759 Now you go, well, Greg, that may not have even been worth doing because maybe it wasn't even an angel stirring the water, maybe it was just a natural spring. 00:24:27.920 --> 00:24:30.400 Yeah, I know, but you at least get to cross this one off the list. 00:24:30.640 --> 00:24:31.680 I have no one. 00:24:34.079 --> 00:24:35.359 Now you have someone. 00:24:35.839 --> 00:24:37.119 Jesus said, Do you want to be well? 00:24:37.200 --> 00:24:39.119 And you said, I can't, and I have no one. 00:24:40.079 --> 00:24:42.480 So we'll get to your legs later. 00:24:42.640 --> 00:24:44.799 Uh we could deal, you could deal with the loneliness. 00:24:44.960 --> 00:24:50.000 You can deal with this by actually, what have you, what, what have you tried, what have you done? 00:24:50.160 --> 00:24:57.200 And I think at a certain point in your life it's very easy to go, hey, if I could just get this, if I just had that, things would be so better. 00:24:57.359 --> 00:25:00.559 How how well do how bad do you want to be well? 00:25:01.359 --> 00:25:06.640 I I think there's certain things that sort of indicate, like, of course, if I could press a button and have it, yeah, I probably would. 00:25:06.799 --> 00:25:16.640 No, how what length if you're not well and you need help and you need to get healthy, what are you willing to do to get it? 00:25:18.079 --> 00:25:24.160 I see people sometimes they they they they they want help if it comes in a very specific package. 00:25:25.039 --> 00:25:27.519 I'll take help if it comes like this. 00:25:27.759 --> 00:25:30.240 You know, well that people reach out from time to time to the church. 00:25:30.319 --> 00:25:32.960 I'm always grateful they do because our church is here to help. 00:25:33.039 --> 00:25:34.000 We're a safe place. 00:25:34.240 --> 00:25:40.960 In fact, Paul says about the body of Christ take joy in covering each other's weaknesses, take joy in honoring each other. 00:25:41.119 --> 00:25:45.680 He talks about the body, and sometimes parts of the body need to be protected and covered up and helped. 00:25:45.759 --> 00:25:48.240 And so this is that place, and we need to be able to help. 00:25:48.480 --> 00:25:53.359 But uh, you need to ask yourself how bad you actually want to get healthy and want to get help. 00:25:53.519 --> 00:25:58.000 Well, people that will come say, hey, uh, you know, we'd like counseling. 00:25:58.160 --> 00:26:00.000 Well, our church is not a counseling center. 00:26:00.160 --> 00:26:10.799 We have a place where we can help people to a certain degree, but if you have been on the map for 38 years, there may be some professional help that you need beyond what we can provide as a church. 00:26:10.960 --> 00:26:17.599 And so we might say, hey, we'll have some conversations, or we'll we have some connect group leaders, we have some marriage coaches that are able to help in this way. 00:26:17.680 --> 00:26:22.720 But if you got a 38-year issue, you can't use your leg, hey, that may be more than what we can do. 00:26:22.799 --> 00:26:23.759 So here's what we have. 00:26:24.000 --> 00:26:26.640 We've networked with counselors that can help you. 00:26:26.720 --> 00:26:32.160 These are people who went to school a long time, they got a lot of experience, they're professionals at doing this, and they can help you out. 00:26:32.240 --> 00:26:35.119 And people go, oh no, I don't want to do that because it's not free. 00:26:37.039 --> 00:26:37.839 It costs money. 00:26:38.000 --> 00:26:40.160 Oh, so you only want help if it's free? 00:26:41.279 --> 00:26:41.839 Yeah. 00:26:42.960 --> 00:26:44.480 Yeah, I can't afford that. 00:26:46.960 --> 00:26:47.920 Hear me good. 00:26:48.880 --> 00:26:53.759 If you're broke, broke, broke. 00:27:01.039 --> 00:27:01.839 Look at me. 00:27:02.079 --> 00:27:08.559 If you're broke, broke, broke right now, go to one dot church slash care. 00:27:09.680 --> 00:27:10.799 We will help you. 00:27:11.119 --> 00:27:12.720 If you're broke, broke, broke. 00:27:14.799 --> 00:27:36.880 But if you have ESPN Plus, Disney Plus, Paramount Plus, Peacock Plus, Discovery Plus, Hulu, Prime, and Prime's ugly cousin, and you're paying$7.99. 00:27:37.200 --> 00:27:39.440 Well, it's only$7.99 a month, times what? 00:27:40.480 --> 00:27:41.680 It adds up fast. 00:27:41.839 --> 00:27:47.279 If you're getting triple pump lattes, you you're paying for three gym memberships. 00:27:47.359 --> 00:27:49.680 I'm talking to you, three gym memberships. 00:27:49.759 --> 00:27:51.039 Don't tell me you ain't got the money. 00:27:51.119 --> 00:27:52.640 You bought concert tickets. 00:27:54.799 --> 00:27:58.000 Sell your 2022 and get a 2014, go get some help. 00:27:59.119 --> 00:28:04.559 The winning attitude is I will do whatever it takes to get help. 00:28:04.640 --> 00:28:11.039 So when you come in a very specific package, well, I'll only meet with this person and I'll only do it for free. 00:28:11.200 --> 00:28:12.079 What are you talking about? 00:28:12.160 --> 00:28:13.279 You don't want to get help? 00:28:13.920 --> 00:28:14.720 You don't want it? 00:28:14.880 --> 00:28:17.200 If you're still picky, you ain't ready. 00:28:20.880 --> 00:28:23.680 If I come on, put the shoe on the other foot. 00:28:23.759 --> 00:28:25.759 If I come to you, I'm like, I'm starving. 00:28:26.400 --> 00:28:28.400 And you're like, oh, cool, I got a protein bar. 00:28:28.480 --> 00:28:30.000 I'm like, I want steak and eggs. 00:28:33.039 --> 00:28:34.079 Scrambled. 00:28:34.240 --> 00:28:35.359 Thank you very much. 00:28:35.680 --> 00:28:37.279 Bro, you ain't that hungry? 00:28:37.920 --> 00:28:38.880 You ain't that hungry. 00:28:39.039 --> 00:28:40.400 Do you want to be well? 00:28:41.200 --> 00:28:42.720 Do you want to be well? 00:28:45.200 --> 00:28:47.680 I started thinking about this because my heart goes out. 00:28:47.839 --> 00:28:54.720 My heart truly goes out to somebody who has not had use of their legs for 38 years and is sat there and is alone. 00:28:56.000 --> 00:28:57.039 I start thinking about this. 00:28:57.200 --> 00:29:02.079