WEBVTT 00:00:00.239 --> 00:00:06.240 So we are in our third week in a study of the major miracles of Jesus, looking at them in the book of John. 00:00:06.400 --> 00:00:10.640 The first week we talked about all of our issues with miracles. 00:00:10.800 --> 00:00:12.480 I have issues with miracles. 00:00:12.640 --> 00:00:13.839 You probably have issues with miracles. 00:00:14.000 --> 00:00:15.919 That was in the first sermon last week. 00:00:16.239 --> 00:00:27.199 Matt covered and reminded us that miracles are not signs for us to stop and become fascinated by the miracle and the sign of itself. 00:00:27.359 --> 00:00:29.920 A sign actually sends us on to something else. 00:00:30.079 --> 00:00:42.159 The sign sends us on to the validation and the wonder of Jesus, which can be hard to see because I can't always seem to get it all together. 00:00:42.320 --> 00:00:44.000 And sometimes I have doubts. 00:00:44.079 --> 00:00:48.000 And I can't, your horrible brother, or your dad won't cooperate with you. 00:00:48.240 --> 00:00:49.679 That hasn't been helping you out. 00:00:49.840 --> 00:00:57.759 Or your back hurts, or your knee hurts, or you got sick, or you are sick, and the doctor called, and then the boy you wanted to call you, didn't call you. 00:00:58.479 --> 00:01:02.799 Your body feels broken, or your relationships feel broken, or your career feels broken. 00:01:03.039 --> 00:01:04.959 You still don't have enough money. 00:01:05.599 --> 00:01:06.959 None of us do, apparently. 00:01:07.519 --> 00:01:09.359 You don't have enough hair, some of you. 00:01:09.840 --> 00:01:10.879 I don't have enough muscles. 00:01:11.040 --> 00:01:11.680 That's my problem. 00:01:11.840 --> 00:01:12.640 Never have. 00:01:14.079 --> 00:01:16.239 Three kids throw up in your kids' class this week. 00:01:16.319 --> 00:01:18.239 That didn't help your everlasting peace, did it? 00:01:18.319 --> 00:01:20.400 No, that threw you off for a couple days. 00:01:21.359 --> 00:01:25.439 We just we can't get a handle on all of it, and so we can get stuck in that. 00:01:25.599 --> 00:01:27.120 That woe is me. 00:01:27.519 --> 00:01:28.799 Self-pity. 00:01:29.120 --> 00:01:36.239 I will never, this will never, my heart will never be healed. 00:01:38.159 --> 00:01:41.439 So we understand this man in John 5. 00:01:41.920 --> 00:01:44.000 Let's reread the story. 00:01:44.400 --> 00:01:45.519 Verse 1. 00:01:45.760 --> 00:01:49.359 After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 00:01:49.439 --> 00:01:55.120 Now there is in Jerusalem by the sheepgate a pool in Arimae called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. 00:01:55.280 --> 00:01:58.560 In these lay a multitude of invalids, blind, lame, and paralyzed. 00:01:58.640 --> 00:02:02.400 One man who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 00:02:02.799 --> 00:02:10.719 When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, Do you want to be healed? 00:02:11.039 --> 00:02:16.240 That could also say, maybe in your translation, Do you want to be made well? 00:02:17.360 --> 00:02:21.759 The sick mate answered him, Sir, I have no one to put me in the pool when the water is stirred. 00:02:22.000 --> 00:02:25.120 And while I'm going, another steps down before me. 00:02:25.280 --> 00:02:28.800 Jesus said to him, Get up, take your bed and walk. 00:02:29.759 --> 00:02:35.520 These people believe that when the water stirred and moved, the first one in would be healed. 00:02:35.919 --> 00:02:37.199 Here's point number one. 00:02:37.360 --> 00:02:39.919 We are all looking for healing. 00:02:40.639 --> 00:02:42.159 We're all looking for healing. 00:02:42.400 --> 00:02:43.520 Some sort of healing. 00:02:43.680 --> 00:02:45.680 Something in your life. 00:02:46.240 --> 00:02:47.360 Some wound. 00:02:47.520 --> 00:02:48.960 Certainly for our hearts. 00:02:49.120 --> 00:02:50.879 So Jesus is back in Jerusalem. 00:02:50.960 --> 00:02:53.840 He sees this heart-wrenching scene here at the pool of Bethesda. 00:02:54.000 --> 00:02:56.479 People are sick, they're disabled, they're all over the place. 00:02:58.400 --> 00:02:59.759 38 years. 00:03:01.280 --> 00:03:03.120 38 years. 00:03:04.400 --> 00:03:07.039 Do you remember where you were 38 years ago? 00:03:07.439 --> 00:03:09.120 I mean, some of you didn't exist. 00:03:10.960 --> 00:03:13.919 I was in Miss Beatty's kindergarten class. 00:03:14.319 --> 00:03:15.599 I was five. 00:03:16.000 --> 00:03:20.240 My biggest concern was whether or not I was faster than Patrick Gilbride. 00:03:20.400 --> 00:03:20.960 That was it. 00:03:21.199 --> 00:03:23.439 Nothing else really mattered in life. 00:03:24.240 --> 00:03:25.520 38 years. 00:03:25.680 --> 00:03:29.120 I mean, I've had a lot of life since kindergarten Miss Beatty's class. 00:03:29.199 --> 00:03:31.680 A lot has happened in 38 years. 00:03:31.840 --> 00:03:36.240 And this guy, 38 years sitting here. 00:03:36.560 --> 00:03:42.800 And his reflex to Jesus' compassion is self-pity. 00:03:43.680 --> 00:03:50.960 He just goes straight into his long script, his narrative of his life, everything not going right in his life. 00:03:51.039 --> 00:03:52.879 And he has some legit reasoning, doesn't he? 00:03:53.039 --> 00:03:54.240 Because he's sick. 00:03:54.639 --> 00:03:56.080 And he has no one. 00:03:56.639 --> 00:04:02.560 So he has sickness and he has loneliness, and we sense that he has some bitterness. 00:04:02.879 --> 00:04:08.400 See, he doesn't just have pain, he is attached to his pain. 00:04:08.639 --> 00:04:11.439 He'd rather feel hurt and wrong than well. 00:04:11.520 --> 00:04:14.800 And we know that by how he responds to Jesus. 00:04:15.120 --> 00:04:16.720 Do you want to be made well? 00:04:17.279 --> 00:04:23.360 And he just launches into his narrative about his attempts and how he can't make himself well. 00:04:23.519 --> 00:04:29.040 So the very thing he wants to be healed from is the very thing that stops him from being healed. 00:04:29.199 --> 00:04:30.959 Meaning this, point number two. 00:04:31.360 --> 00:04:38.079 Our addiction to make ourselves well on our own is where we need healing. 00:04:39.279 --> 00:04:40.800 It's the beginning. 00:04:41.439 --> 00:04:49.040 A few weekends ago, our family went to North Carolina at the end of that fall break week that some of us had, and we took the girls zip lining. 00:04:49.120 --> 00:04:50.000 And so we went with them. 00:04:50.079 --> 00:04:51.439 The five of us went zip lining. 00:04:51.600 --> 00:04:54.959 The first few zip lines, they're building up your confidence. 00:04:55.120 --> 00:05:03.360 You get the harness on, and you're learning about the cables, and you got this big glove on for your break, and you learn how to do the clips and all that. 00:05:03.680 --> 00:05:05.120 So you're gaining your confidence. 00:05:05.279 --> 00:05:07.839 The first one they just send you out over like 20 feet, right? 00:05:07.920 --> 00:05:09.279 And so you're okay, pretty good. 00:05:09.360 --> 00:05:10.079 You're learning the confidence. 00:05:10.240 --> 00:05:12.240 Then you're like 50 feet, then you're like 100 feet. 00:05:12.319 --> 00:05:26.399 By the fifth zip, we're on a platform looking out of a valley, a quarter mile-long zip over the platform, 210 feet above the ground, 100 feet above the trees. 00:05:26.560 --> 00:05:30.879 Here's a picture of one of my daughters when she, here's a video of it sending off. 00:05:31.040 --> 00:05:31.920 Here she goes. 00:05:32.079 --> 00:05:37.279 And then here's where it gets above 210 feet. 00:05:37.759 --> 00:05:43.120 Now, if you want some pressure, you watch your nine-year-old go. 00:05:44.800 --> 00:05:46.079 I mean, you're gonna go. 00:05:46.240 --> 00:05:47.839 Your nine-year-old just went, right? 00:05:47.920 --> 00:05:50.639 Like, I mean, there's no debate, you're not backing out at that point. 00:05:50.720 --> 00:05:52.240 You're you're in, you're in. 00:05:52.319 --> 00:05:54.959 And I so I'm in a sitting down in that harness. 00:05:55.120 --> 00:06:00.079 She clips all that, and sit down in that harness, and I go flying out over those trees. 00:06:00.160 --> 00:06:05.680 You're going a lot faster, that little video there doesn't feel like the you know, the fear that's going through you because I have questions. 00:06:06.639 --> 00:06:07.360 I have questions. 00:06:07.519 --> 00:06:10.399 Is there an organization that checks these cables? 00:06:10.639 --> 00:06:12.480 They didn't fill me in on that. 00:06:12.720 --> 00:06:19.360 You know, I didn't know if granola Joe and granola Jill were the only ones here checking the cables. 00:06:19.680 --> 00:06:22.720 Is there an organization that didn't fill me in on that when we signed up? 00:06:23.600 --> 00:06:26.480 And it's real clear that if I fell, I would die. 00:06:26.639 --> 00:06:28.800 I mean, you're 210 feet up. 00:06:29.439 --> 00:06:29.759 Right? 00:06:29.839 --> 00:06:33.680 If the cable snaps or the harness breaks or something happens, you're gonna die. 00:06:33.920 --> 00:06:36.720 And so I have that right hand back on my brake. 00:06:36.959 --> 00:06:42.000 I'm following my technique like I learned, and I'm doing the craziest thing with my left hand. 00:06:42.480 --> 00:06:48.240 I am tight gripping with all my life this part of my harness right in front of me. 00:06:49.040 --> 00:06:52.160 Like, like that's gonna do anything. 00:06:54.639 --> 00:06:58.240 And that's the human dilemma right there. 00:06:59.279 --> 00:07:00.319 It really is. 00:07:01.680 --> 00:07:02.720 The human dilemma. 00:07:02.959 --> 00:07:10.639 Clutching to a harness of self-effort to get ourselves changed or right with God or better. 00:07:11.279 --> 00:07:15.600 When in reality, the only thing holding me up the entire time is everything outside of me. 00:07:16.560 --> 00:07:20.000 See, Jesus asked the man, that sentence, do you want to be healed? 00:07:20.240 --> 00:07:22.560 Do you want to be made well? 00:07:24.160 --> 00:07:26.000 That's interesting language there. 00:07:28.399 --> 00:07:40.000 The good news is, this is really good news, that there was no faith by the man to cause Jesus to have compassion on him. 00:07:41.120 --> 00:07:49.759 He had implemented nothing except helplessness, even sort of like a passive rejection of Jesus. 00:07:51.519 --> 00:07:53.600 He's just oblivious to Jesus. 00:07:53.759 --> 00:07:57.600 And yet Jesus is pursuing him, compassionate toward him. 00:07:58.000 --> 00:08:02.319 And that's amazing if you've ever felt weak or broken or at the end of yourself. 00:08:03.199 --> 00:08:07.519 See, our faith does not cause Jesus to pursue us or forgive us or love us. 00:08:07.600 --> 00:08:08.959 That's why our faith is so freeing. 00:08:09.040 --> 00:08:14.480 Our faith exists because Jesus does pursue us and forgive us and love us. 00:08:14.720 --> 00:08:20.879 And see, this is the difference between what we could say to be made well and meriting wellness. 00:08:22.720 --> 00:08:25.040 Meriting wellness or to be made well. 00:08:25.199 --> 00:08:28.000 So meriting wellness, that's me holding on to the harness. 00:08:28.240 --> 00:08:29.360 That's what that is. 00:08:29.680 --> 00:08:35.120 It's us using idols of the world, money or beauty or influence or status or sex or comfort, any of these. 00:08:35.279 --> 00:08:41.840 Bad things that never go well, or good things that we overuse to try to heal ourselves or make ourselves better or cope in some way. 00:08:42.080 --> 00:08:43.039 This is our sin. 00:08:43.279 --> 00:08:49.200 If I only have enough, if I only get that, then I'll be whole. 00:08:50.960 --> 00:08:52.799 It's even in religion. 00:08:53.919 --> 00:08:58.480 In this story, it's believed that most of the people around this pool they believed in a false god. 00:08:58.639 --> 00:09:03.200 They believed in the God Ecclepius, the god of the healing waters. 00:09:03.360 --> 00:09:04.799 That's why they were there. 00:09:06.399 --> 00:09:10.159 Now, I think it's likely that nobody was actually being healed around this pool. 00:09:10.240 --> 00:09:11.840 I'm a cynic by nature. 00:09:12.000 --> 00:09:13.120 I don't know what you believe. 00:09:13.519 --> 00:09:15.759 I don't think anybody was really being healed. 00:09:16.159 --> 00:09:19.360 I mean, the pool itself was fed by an underground spring. 00:09:19.519 --> 00:09:21.039 That's why the water moved. 00:09:21.279 --> 00:09:26.320 An angel didn't really move the water, the underground spring did, but these people had this false belief. 00:09:26.879 --> 00:09:32.080 That all the false gods work the same, just like our false gods work the same. 00:09:32.639 --> 00:09:34.080 They put us to work. 00:09:36.080 --> 00:09:38.960 And they actually hold no power for our hearts. 00:09:39.200 --> 00:09:43.679 But Jesus says, Do you want to be made well? 00:09:43.919 --> 00:09:44.799 To be made well. 00:09:44.879 --> 00:09:49.519 Isn't it interesting that the man responds to this question as if Jesus asked a different question? 00:09:49.759 --> 00:09:54.159 The man responds as if Jesus asked, Why haven't you made yourself well? 00:09:54.799 --> 00:09:55.120 Right? 00:09:55.279 --> 00:09:57.440 He starts defending his technique. 00:09:57.759 --> 00:09:58.399 I can't get down there. 00:09:58.480 --> 00:09:59.440 I can't, nobody's there. 00:09:59.919 --> 00:10:01.440 He defends himself. 00:10:03.039 --> 00:10:05.120 We love our self-salvation. 00:10:05.679 --> 00:10:09.679 And yet it's the very thing keeping us sick. 00:10:10.639 --> 00:10:14.480 And Jesus asks us just an entirely different question. 00:10:14.720 --> 00:10:17.919 He does not ask us, why haven't you made yourself well? 00:10:18.080 --> 00:10:21.039 He asks, Do you want to be made well? 00:10:21.919 --> 00:10:25.440 To be made well, it's a healing that comes from outside of you. 00:10:25.519 --> 00:10:28.000 It's given to you while you're hurting. 00:10:28.799 --> 00:10:30.480 Or while you don't have your act together. 00:10:30.639 --> 00:10:32.559 We would say, while you're a sinner. 00:10:33.600 --> 00:10:39.840 And Jesus pursues this man in his condition, outside of the man even asking. 00:10:40.639 --> 00:10:48.639 Point number three is this the disruption of our helplessness by Jesus' pursuit is our heart's healing. 00:10:50.080 --> 00:10:55.360 So the only reason any of us have salvation or relationship with God is because Jesus disrupted us. 00:10:55.600 --> 00:11:00.720 The grace of God disrupted all of our attempts to merit our own wellness. 00:11:01.679 --> 00:11:15.200 When we talk about healing, we're talking about a restoration of the heart to God in full relationship with Christ because of Christ's work, not ours, so we are forever secure by his word. 00:11:15.679 --> 00:11:22.799 Your inner self absolved of any guilt or shame, being counted fully righteous, fully his because of his work for you? 00:11:23.039 --> 00:11:25.039 That's a wholeness of heart. 00:11:25.200 --> 00:11:30.159 That's a gift to us, and at the same time it's something we have to learn to grow in. 00:11:30.799 --> 00:11:34.080 So we would say we're both healed and healing. 00:11:34.559 --> 00:11:38.639 Mockingbird editor Will McDavid says this about John chapter 5. 00:11:38.799 --> 00:11:39.600 A bit of a read here. 00:11:39.679 --> 00:11:40.879 I think you can hang with me. 00:11:41.120 --> 00:11:49.039 There is a crucial difference between wanting to be well, which we all do, and wanting to be made well, which almost none of us do. 00:11:49.200 --> 00:11:51.919 Being made well suggests passivity on our parts. 00:11:52.080 --> 00:11:59.679 It suggests an improvement in our situation, which is received as a gift rather than earned with cunning and strength of will. 00:12:00.000 --> 00:12:09.440 This points to the truth that our attraction to self-salvation is actually what kills us, because it places the responsibility for self-healing directly upon our shoulders. 00:12:09.600 --> 00:12:13.120 Parents want the full responsibility for raising perfect children. 00:12:13.279 --> 00:12:17.360 Drinking alcoholics are convinced that they have the power to manage their own lives. 00:12:17.440 --> 00:12:22.240 And most religious people want to claim full agency in living in a moral way. 00:12:22.320 --> 00:12:27.039 And yet the tragedy is that we are hardwired to fail at some point. 00:12:27.200 --> 00:12:29.440 Perhaps not in all these arenas. 00:12:29.600 --> 00:12:34.159 But certainly in some, people want the responsibility because of pride. 00:12:34.960 --> 00:12:41.759 But they are crushed by guilt when they fail, and even consumed by anxiety when they succeed. 00:12:42.080 --> 00:12:46.240 Succeed or fail, when the burden is on us, it is consuming. 00:12:47.440 --> 00:12:49.039 But there's good news. 00:12:50.159 --> 00:12:54.480 And that's that Jesus comes to us and says, Do you want to be made well? 00:12:56.000 --> 00:13:01.519 The story continues, verse 9, John 5, 9, and at once the man was healed. 00:13:02.720 --> 00:13:04.720 And he took up his bed and he walked. 00:13:04.879 --> 00:13:06.960 Now that day was the Sabbath. 00:13:07.200 --> 00:13:13.200 So the Jews said to the man who had been healed, It is the Sabbath, is not lawful for you to take up your bed. 00:13:13.279 --> 00:13:17.600 But he answered to them, The man who healed me, the man said to me, Take up your bed and walk. 00:13:17.759 --> 00:13:19.759 They asked him, Who is this man who said this to you? 00:13:19.919 --> 00:13:20.960 Take up your bed and walk. 00:13:21.120 --> 00:13:27.600 Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place. 00:13:27.759 --> 00:13:31.600 Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, See you are well. 00:13:31.840 --> 00:13:34.720 Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you. 00:13:34.960 --> 00:13:39.679 The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. 00:13:39.919 --> 00:13:40.799 So the man's healed. 00:13:42.080 --> 00:13:42.720 He believed this. 00:13:42.879 --> 00:13:43.440 Oh my gosh. 00:13:43.519 --> 00:13:46.799 I mean, the last thing he's concerned is there's a bunch of rules on the Sabbath. 00:13:47.039 --> 00:13:49.840 I mean, so he's the guy who heals you says, Take up your mat and walk. 00:13:50.000 --> 00:13:52.000 He said, I'm taking up my mat, I'm walking. 00:13:52.080 --> 00:13:52.639 That's what's going on. 00:13:52.799 --> 00:13:53.840 So these Jews see this. 00:13:54.000 --> 00:13:55.200 That's a break of the rules. 00:13:55.360 --> 00:13:56.320 Hey, what's going on? 00:13:56.399 --> 00:13:57.279 Why are you doing this? 00:13:57.360 --> 00:13:58.480 You're breaking the rules. 00:13:58.639 --> 00:14:00.240 You can't work on the Sabbath. 00:14:00.480 --> 00:14:03.360 You can't even carry your mat on the Sabbath. 00:14:03.840 --> 00:14:05.600 They loved rules. 00:14:05.919 --> 00:14:12.159 Lists and lists of rules of what it meant to be reverent, what it meant to be pure. 00:14:12.320 --> 00:14:17.759 And if you can fulfill all the rules, then just maybe you could be pure also. 00:14:18.480 --> 00:14:22.639 They were living in meriting wellness. 00:14:23.600 --> 00:14:24.720 Works righteousness. 00:14:24.879 --> 00:14:27.440 The very thing Jesus is rescuing all of us from. 00:14:27.600 --> 00:14:35.039 So Jesus is both healing us in a secure sense that we're healed. 00:14:35.679 --> 00:14:40.159 And yet we're all still learning what it means to grow in our healing. 00:14:40.480 --> 00:14:43.759 Our position with God is freely given in Jesus on the cross. 00:14:43.919 --> 00:14:47.360 Our sin put upon him, his righteousness is given to us. 00:14:48.080 --> 00:14:51.360 There's a healing there, a permanence for us. 00:14:51.840 --> 00:14:52.639 Healed. 00:14:52.879 --> 00:14:56.480 And yet we're still imperfect and need to grow in it. 00:14:56.720 --> 00:14:59.360 As for growth and our grace, let's just ponder a few questions. 00:14:59.600 --> 00:15:01.840 Three questions that hit me this week. 00:15:02.720 --> 00:15:07.279 Thinking about growth and grace, growth and our healing. 00:15:08.080 --> 00:15:15.840 On a day-to-day basis, do I find myself defined by insecurity and burden or stability and gratitude? 00:15:18.960 --> 00:15:26.480 In what ways do I self-save rather than live in God's limitless love and pursuit of my heart? 00:15:30.480 --> 00:15:41.200 What would it mean for my heart to grow more deeply in the gift of forgiveness, righteousness, and wholeness that Christ gives me? 00:15:42.799 --> 00:15:43.919 We're healed. 00:15:44.240 --> 00:15:51.919 And we are learning what it means in that great wealth of healing that we have to our hearts, that Jesus is sufficient for it. 00:15:52.080 --> 00:15:54.559 That's what this miracle is showing us. 00:15:54.799 --> 00:15:57.120 It's a physical healing, but it's much more than that. 00:15:57.279 --> 00:16:00.879 By the end of the story, he's talking to the man about his heart. 00:16:00.960 --> 00:16:06.799 He's talking about his inner parts of his life, not just his physicality. 00:16:08.080 --> 00:16:10.960 And that's where Christ heals us in the heart. 00:16:11.360 --> 00:16:15.039 Now I'm sure you know it's that time of the year, it's October. 00:16:15.440 --> 00:16:17.360 We have liturgy in our church. 00:16:17.600 --> 00:16:22.080 Certain things that we practice over and over again in spring, we celebrate Easter. 00:16:22.320 --> 00:16:23.759 December, we celebrate Christmas. 00:16:23.840 --> 00:16:25.440 In October, we celebrate. 00:16:26.159 --> 00:16:27.360 Do you remember? 00:16:28.399 --> 00:16:29.360 Fat Bear Week. 00:16:29.440 --> 00:16:30.159 Did somebody say it? 00:16:30.240 --> 00:16:31.279 You were thinking. 00:16:32.559 --> 00:16:39.120 I mean, have y'all been paying attention for like the last five years that we know in October we celebrate Fat Bear Week? 00:16:40.559 --> 00:16:45.600 I mean, what am I doing up here if we cannot get this? 00:16:46.720 --> 00:16:47.519 We're a bit late. 00:16:47.679 --> 00:16:50.320 Fat Bear Week ended October 11th. 00:16:50.480 --> 00:16:51.360 So we're a little late. 00:16:51.519 --> 00:16:52.080 Sorry about that. 00:16:52.159 --> 00:16:53.039 But the results are in. 00:16:53.200 --> 00:16:54.080 Some of you are aware. 00:16:54.240 --> 00:16:56.000 You've joined the subculture. 00:16:56.639 --> 00:16:58.720 We do have a Fat Bear Week champion. 00:16:58.799 --> 00:17:04.319 Now, let me just remind you, some of you are new to our church, Fat Bear Week's very important to us. 00:17:04.640 --> 00:17:13.440 It is a competition up in Katma National Park in Alaska, where all the grizzly bears, from the beginning of June to October, they come to Brooks Falls. 00:17:13.519 --> 00:17:18.559 That's Brooks Falls, and the salmon are there and they feast on the salmon through the summer. 00:17:18.720 --> 00:17:29.680 And then Fat Bear Week is in the end of October, mid-October, and it's headed toward their hibernation, and it's all about what bear got the fattest during the summer. 00:17:29.920 --> 00:17:35.519 And so all the rangers, they post pictures of the bears, the beginning of the summer to the end of the summer. 00:17:35.759 --> 00:17:40.880 And you know, like when you walk into Golden Corral and when you walk out of Golden Corral. 00:17:41.119 --> 00:17:42.079 That's what this is. 00:17:42.400 --> 00:17:44.079 Somebody took your picture. 00:17:44.559 --> 00:17:46.160 And then people vote. 00:17:46.480 --> 00:17:47.680 Bear nerds vote. 00:17:47.839 --> 00:17:51.839 Maybe you vote, you haven't told anybody because you're too ashamed of your bear nerdiness. 00:17:51.920 --> 00:17:53.039 It's possible. 00:17:53.279 --> 00:17:54.799 Last year's a thrilling battle. 00:17:54.960 --> 00:17:55.759 Otis won. 00:17:55.920 --> 00:17:56.799 Don't know if you remember. 00:17:56.960 --> 00:17:57.759 That's Otis. 00:17:59.279 --> 00:18:00.720 Noble champion. 00:18:00.880 --> 00:18:01.599 Very noble. 00:18:01.759 --> 00:18:02.799 Very regal. 00:18:02.960 --> 00:18:04.000 Very regal. 00:18:04.319 --> 00:18:06.960 Now, this year the championship was between Holly. 00:18:07.200 --> 00:18:11.519 Now, if you remember, because we've been doing this for years, Holly won back in 2019. 00:18:12.799 --> 00:18:20.720 And so this championship this year is between Holly and Bear 747, also known as Bear Force One. 00:18:22.559 --> 00:18:23.599 I didn't make it up, Mr. 00:18:25.599 --> 00:18:27.039 And a scandal broke out. 00:18:27.200 --> 00:18:28.319 Did y'all read about this? 00:18:28.400 --> 00:18:29.200 It was all over. 00:18:29.359 --> 00:18:30.160 It was all over. 00:18:31.440 --> 00:18:33.519 Tens of people read about this. 00:18:35.359 --> 00:18:42.400 And some people tried to manufacture thousands of votes for Holly right at the end. 00:18:42.960 --> 00:18:47.519 It wasn't a big scandal, it was just barely a scandal. 00:18:50.319 --> 00:18:52.160 And yet it was settled. 00:18:52.240 --> 00:18:53.519 They figured it out. 00:18:53.920 --> 00:18:54.880 Figured it out. 00:18:55.119 --> 00:18:59.200 And Bear Force One was victorious. 00:18:59.440 --> 00:19:02.960 So here's a picture of Bear Force One in June. 00:19:03.119 --> 00:19:06.400 And then here's Bear Force One September. 00:19:08.160 --> 00:19:12.319 And this is why we celebrate Fat Bear Week every year. 00:19:14.240 --> 00:19:20.640 So the Rangers said that Bear Force One likes to sit in a spot at the back of the falls called the jacuzzi. 00:19:21.279 --> 00:19:23.279 And he just sits back there. 00:19:23.680 --> 00:19:25.039 He expends no energy. 00:19:25.119 --> 00:19:26.000 He's passive. 00:19:26.240 --> 00:19:27.839 There he is in the jacuzzi. 00:19:28.799 --> 00:19:33.759 And he feasts on the fish that the current brings to him. 00:19:34.400 --> 00:19:37.680 So it's an active passivism, we would call it. 00:19:37.920 --> 00:19:42.079 It's what faith walk is: active passivism. 00:19:42.319 --> 00:19:46.640 Fighting to trust, fighting to rest, fighting to receive. 00:19:46.880 --> 00:19:56.000 We are in that pursuit, and yet we are in that pursuit because he pursues us and the things we're pursuing, we're actually fighting to receive. 00:19:56.160 --> 00:20:02.480 So he doesn't fight the current, he doesn't waste energy, he doesn't stand at the falls and just hope a fish will jump. 00:20:02.640 --> 00:20:08.160 Like many of the other bears, Bear Force One has conquered what it means to feast. 00:20:08.240 --> 00:20:11.680 And he sits in the jacuzzi and lets the current bring the fish to him. 00:20:11.920 --> 00:20:15.680 It's a beautiful picture for us of what gospel faith is. 00:20:16.720 --> 00:20:20.240 Because it's not based in what we do for him, but what he has done for us. 00:20:20.400 --> 00:20:22.400 We say that every week during communion. 00:20:24.319 --> 00:20:31.359 Because the current of grace, the power of the gospel, by the work of the Holy Spirit, our hearts are healed and healing. 00:20:31.759 --> 00:20:36.720 We're active, but it's within a passivity of surrender, of trust, of rest. 00:20:37.920 --> 00:20:40.720 And it's there that we actually are changed. 00:20:40.960 --> 00:20:43.920 But it's not just behavioral, it's actually in our hearts. 00:20:44.319 --> 00:20:48.480 Because we're so endeared to him, because he is so endeared to our weakness. 00:20:50.240 --> 00:20:51.440 And we are changed. 00:20:51.680 --> 00:20:58.400 And it's usually not quickly, which is quite frustrating for ourselves and for people around us. 00:20:59.119 --> 00:21:03.200 But over time we are endeared to him. 00:21:04.000 --> 00:21:16.480 And we're drawn to learn of an identity that's beyond our merit, beyond our wounds, beyond our inability, our shame, our guilt. 00:21:17.119 --> 00:21:20.160 And an identity rich empathy in him. 00:21:20.960 --> 00:21:25.599 That he has proclaimed us righteous, proclaimed us worthy. 00:21:26.079 --> 00:21:38.160 So my brothers and sisters, our helplessness is met with sufficiency by his sheer grace, his perfect love, and a power that really is enough to enter our hearts. 00:21:38.559 --> 00:21:39.519 Let's pray together. 00:21:40.400 --> 00:21:42.319 God, thank you for your grace. 00:21:42.720 --> 00:21:55.920 That in our weakness, you are endeared to us, you move toward us, you find us in our helplessness where we feel stuck, and that you heal us. 00:21:56.480 --> 00:22:10.240 Not because of what we do, but because of what you did for us, and we know it on the cross, where all the forgiveness we ever needed is accomplished, and all the righteousness we ever need is full for us. 00:22:11.440 --> 00:22:38.880 May we grow in gospel faith of what it means to be active, but what it means to be active within our surrender to you, so that the power of the gospel, the proclamation that the good news of Jesus is enough for our hearts, and that we might be healed from all the ways that we try to self-save, cope, self-justify in the world and even in religion. 00:22:39.519 --> 00:22:48.960 And that we would see you to be even greater and more sufficient, even more worthy of our lives and more worthy of our hearts. 00:22:50.079 --> 00:22:54.799 In a room this size, and this many people, there's a lot of exhaustion and brokenness. 00:22:55.039 --> 00:22:57.599 And I pray that you find us where we're at. 00:22:58.079 --> 00:23:02.480 Love us, speak truth to our hearts, and draw us close. 00:23:02.640 --> 00:23:03.920 In Jesus' name we pray. 00:23:04.160 --> 00:23:04.799 Amen.