The Danger of Self-Healing: A Critique of ‘Do You Want to Be Healed?’

• The Purpose of Signs [00:35:58 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor argues that miracles (signs) are not the end goal but point to the Messiah, urging the congregation not to get caught up in the miracle and miss the Messiah.
• The Identity of Jesus [00:43:47 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor asserts that Jesus explicitly claimed to be God by calling God his own father and making himself equal with God, refuting claims that he never made such a claim.
• Lent and Easter Preparation [00:32:41 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor contextualizes the sermon within the Lenten season, describing it as a time for reflection and repentance leading up to the crucifixion and resurrection.
• Spiritual Comfort and Apathy [00:49:25 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor challenges the congregation to examine if they have become comfortable or apathetic in their spiritual walk after long periods of waiting for answers to prayer.
• Identity and Victimhood [00:53:20 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor discusses how hurt and offense can become an identity, contrasting cultural victimization with the biblical truth that believers are God's sons and daughters, dignified by Christ.
• Community and Truth [00:56:06 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor emphasizes the need for community and friends who can speak truth in love, positioning the church as a place for healing and connection against isolation.
• Healing vs. Being Heard [00:56:34 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor contrasts the cultural desire to simply be heard or vent with the biblical call to actual healing, asserting that Jesus desires to heal, not just listen.
• Church Community and Membership [00:56:45 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor argues that God wired humans for community, not isolation, and uses the church's membership drive as a practical application of being part of the 'body of Christ' where truth is spoken in love.
• Faith and Belief in Jesus [01:01:55 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor connects physical healing to spiritual belief, asking the congregation if they have truly believed in Jesus and inviting them to commit their lives to Him.
• Communion and Worship [01:18:32 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor connects the act of taking communion with the broader concept of worship, stating that prayer, song, and giving are all forms of worship because Christ provides everything needed.
• Sacrifice and Remembrance [01:19:00 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor recounts the biblical narrative of Jesus breaking bread and pouring out blood, instructing the congregation to do this in remembrance of him and to avoid complacency.
• Dependence on God [01:08:40 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a personal testimony about giving up caffeine and painkillers as a reminder to depend on God rather than external substances.

• Sermon Illustration [00:36:05 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses the analogy of road signs to explain that signs point to a destination but are not the destination itself. He illustrates this with a personal story about driving through Atlanta and Birmingham, and specifically about following signs for 'Buc-ee's' (a gas station/convenience store) with his son, where he bought food and merchandise, demonstrating that the sign accurately pointed to a substantial experience.
• Sermon Illustration [00:47:02 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares personal anecdotes about his wife asking 'are you hungry?' to illustrate loaded questions, and being pulled over by police asking 'do you know how fast you were going?' to demonstrate how questions reveal heart conditions and expectations.
• Sermon Illustration [00:51:54 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor references his own 38 years of ministry and Christianity to empathize with the paralytic's 38-year wait, highlighting the danger of getting into a rut or 'automatic pilot' in spiritual life.
• Sermon Illustration [01:00:03 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a personal story of his depression from 2012-2015. He describes how his Christian counselor challenged him, asking not just if he wanted to get better, but if he was ready to put the counseling advice into practice, warning against becoming a source of income for the counselor rather than seeking true healing.
• Sermon Illustration [01:08:21 ▶️ 📄]
  > The second speaker shares a personal anecdote about giving up caffeine for Lent and painkillers 15 years ago, using these sacrifices as reminders of dependence on God rather than created things, referencing Deuteronomy 2:14 regarding the Israelites' 38-year journey.
• Sermon Illustration [01:08:21 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a personal anecdote about giving up caffeine for Lent and painkillers 15 years ago, using these sacrifices as reminders to depend on God rather than created things.
• Sermon Illustration [01:09:03 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor references Deuteronomy 2:14, noting the 38-year journey from Kadesh Barnea to crossing the brook Zered, illustrating God's long-term faithfulness in bringing people into the promised land.

• Pastoral Charge [00:57:45 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor encourages the congregation to participate in the church membership process to combat isolation and find community.
• Pastoral Charge [01:04:09 ▶️ 📄]
  > Invite those needing physical or emotional healing to come to the altars for prayer and laying on of hands.
• Pastoral Charge [01:07:12 ▶️ 📄]
  > Invite new believers who prayed the prayer of faith to go to the cross at the front to meet with a ministry team member for next steps.
• Pastoral Charge [01:09:21 ▶️ 📄]
  > Encourage the congregation to step out of their comfort zones and come to the front to pray with others before taking communion.
• Pastoral Charge [01:09:35 ▶️ 📄]
  > The congregation is instructed to spend 5-10 minutes praying together.
• Pastoral Charge [01:18:55 ▶️ 📄]
  > The congregation is invited to physically take out the communion elements.

[00:06:17] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_10]
[00:06:17] Here's the best news. Closer today than we were yesterday, than we were the day before, to seeing the Lord face to face, to watching Him come back.
[00:06:28] If that is not good news, I don't know what it is. So I'm inviting you, come on, let's worship this morning like Jesus is in the room because He is. So sing this with me, come on.

[00:06:58] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]
[00:06:58] sound it's the sound of the savior's robe as he walks into the room where people pray where we hear praise is he here it's the sound of the savior's robe as he walks

[00:07:35] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]
[00:07:35] into the room where people pray where we hear worship he hears sing his prayer yes heavenly

[00:11:35] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:11:35] Father, God, we come together for one purpose, and that is to glorify and honor and make much of who you are. We don't have any other agenda this morning, Lord, but to lift up your name,
[00:11:50] to submit ourselves, because God, we know that as a good father, you have what is best for us.
[00:11:56] And so we do praise you. We do say thank you for that reality, God. And I pray that you would just give us a more keen understanding of what that is, God, that you have what's best for us in mind.
[00:12:10] In Christ's name we pray. Amen. Amen. Good morning, everybody. Hey, you guys can take a seat.
[00:12:16] So glad you're here. Welcome to everybody. And listen, every Sunday, I know we've got people stepping in for the first time. And so whether you're a student at AU who's stepping in for the first time because a friend invited you or you're on the post ice new year getting back into church
[00:12:33] routine whatever that is I'm glad you're here so welcome if you're here for the first time and if you're a part of what we do every Sunday I'm glad you're here as well my name is Alan I'm the campus
[00:12:43] pastor here at the Anderson campus and I'm glad that you're with us and I wanted to share a little bit of good news for almost everybody and some of you may lament at this but it's going to be good
[00:12:54] news. Just wait till I get there. The gauntlet list in Anderson has moved to the wait list and everybody's like, wow, because it is February. But listen, if you still want to go, I still need you to sign up because we on Thursday, Aaron Reed or Justin on Thursday
[00:13:15] are going through the list to try to put the puzzle pieces together to see who we can get in.
[00:13:21] So if you still wanna go, I want you to sign up.
[00:13:24] If you still need financial aid, I want you to put that request in.
[00:13:28] We are part of a generous church that wants to give students the opportunity to go and get away from their phone and commune with God for a week.
[00:13:37] And this is the good news about that.
[00:13:40] Students are leading the way for the hunger that our church has for God right now.
[00:13:47] And it is an amazing thing to just sit back and watch and be a part of is that young people have this desire and this hunger to see what God can do and is willing to do in their lives.
[00:13:59] And it is trickling in to who we are as a church.
[00:14:03] And like, I'm the beneficiary of it.
[00:14:06] You're the beneficiary of it.
[00:14:08] And so this morning, we're gonna hear Clayton and he's gonna talk about the passage in which Jesus tells the man to take up his mat and walk.
[00:14:17] And I'm thinking about how many times I'm sitting right back there and somebody's standing up here, presenting me an opportunity to step into what God has for me. And I just put my hand out and walked the other way.
[00:14:32] Like for years, I'm sitting right there where Tyler Goodman's sitting and God is inviting me into a better life. And I'm just like, no, I have a better way. And this morning, God has something
[00:14:44] on offer for you. And I want the reminder of what the young people hunger for and the reminder of why we came to church initially to bubble up in us so that each of us recognizes that God has
[00:14:56] something on offer for us today. This isn't just a rote performance in which we step into church because we live in South Carolina and it's what we're supposed to do. It is an offer from the
[00:15:08] Almighty to you. The creator of the universe wants to give you something today. And so I want you to open your hands and your mind up to that. And so normally during this time, we say a corporate
[00:15:23] prayer together, but right now I'm going to invite our ushers to go ahead and get into place and you guys can stand up. And here's what I want you thinking about as we give. If God has something
[00:15:35] on offer specifically for you, what might he have on offer for Anderson in this state through the work of a room like this? If we were truly to place our resources at the feet of God and invite
[00:15:49] him to do with them what only he can do that we can't do on our own, what might Anderson in the state of South Carolina look like? And so this is a time for us to reflect on God's generosity and
[00:16:00] favor towards us, and then to open our hands up, recognizing he's going to do immeasurably more for us than we could ever do on our own. And so as we enter into this time of giving of our tithes and
[00:16:12] offerings, the first 10% of what we have, I want you to see it as a blessing and not a requirement.
[00:16:18] So I'm gonna pray for us and ask God to unite us in our vision.
[00:16:23] So if you would just bow your heads, I'm gonna read this over you today instead of us saying it together.
[00:16:28] God, we remember and thank you for the gift of life and salvation you gave us in Jesus.
[00:16:33] Thank you for your abundant generosity towards us.
[00:16:36] We worship and respond, Lord.
[00:16:42] We bring our tithes and our offerings.
[00:16:44] May you use them to bless others.
[00:16:47] Lord, we wish for you to carry your gospel to the ends of the earth, that all may know the saving grace of Christ Jesus.
[00:16:55] It's in his name we pray, amen.

[00:16:57] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:16:57] Let's continue worshiping together.
[00:17:11] We come into his presence with singing.
[00:17:15] Let our praise be your welcome.
[00:17:20] Let our song be a sign.
[00:17:25] Tell him this, we are here for you.
[00:17:32] We are here for you.
[00:17:38] Let your breath come from heaven.
[00:17:42] fill our hearts with your life we are here for you come on everybody tell them that sing it we are here for you

[00:17:57] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:17:57] you are hearts are open nothing here is hidden you are undesired you alone

[00:18:12] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]
[00:18:12] therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name

[00:21:53] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_09]
[00:21:53] so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father is this not
[00:22:12] a reality that we should be making true here right now today in preparation of seeing it when we make it to heaven one day we're about to sing a song that's all about the name of Jesus
[00:22:27] and if this scripture is true even though it's a new song we should be singing it with full fervor because it's his name at his name every knee will bow every tongue confess that Jesus
[00:22:46] is the Lord so let's not wait until we know the song or until the day we see him face to face let's sing it now with joy and with honor so we're going to teach you a really simple chorus
[00:22:59] before we get into this song and then we'll start it goes like this there's just something about your name there's just something about your name there's just something about your name it makes

[00:23:19] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]
[00:23:19] me cry there is no other there is no other there is no other Jesus singing again come on there's

[00:23:39] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]
[00:23:39] just something about your name there's just something about your name there's just something about your name makes me cry. There is no other name. There is no other name. Jesus yours. There's just something about your name. There's just something about your name. There's just something

[00:25:58] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:25:58] to do something where you're standing. You know, if you're going to invite someone over to your

[00:30:01] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:30:01] house, you want to prepare your home for their arrival. So you might clean, you might prepare a meal. He might cut the grass to make everything look inviting and warm. And I was thinking about
[00:30:15] this standing over on the side of the stage where we worship. We are inviting the Holy Spirit. We're asking him to come and we're telling him we want you here. We're telling him we want your presence
[00:30:28] and we're willing to do what we need to do to prepare the environment.
[00:30:33] So can I just ask you across every campus to do this right now? Would you close your eyes?
[00:30:38] and even if this is a little uncomfortable for you, I'm gonna ask you to push through that discomfort and I'm gonna ask you to lift up your hands.
[00:30:49] Even if it's the first time you have ever done it, prepare an environment for God to speak to you in your heart right now just by surrendering.
[00:31:00] As an act of worship now, Jesus, we lift up our hands to you to show you that we're surrendered.
[00:31:08] We lift up our hands to you to show you that we're empty handed and that without you, we have nothing.
[00:31:14] We need you to fill us up today.
[00:31:16] We need you to heal us today.
[00:31:18] We need you to encourage us today.
[00:31:21] We need your love to give us an identity today.
[00:31:24] We have no identity apart from your love.
[00:31:27] And so in our small human way, as best as we know how, we want to tell you you're welcome here.
[00:31:36] You're welcome.
[00:31:37] We want you here.
[00:31:39] We want your presence, your manifest presence.
[00:31:43] We're desperate for it.
[00:31:45] We don't wanna be comfortable and apathetic.
[00:31:48] So we wanna prepare an environment for you now through our worship, through our giving.
[00:31:55] And now through this prayer, we're collectively thousands of us across South Carolina, lift up our hands and open up our hearts to you.
[00:32:04] We tell you that we want you.
[00:32:06] I want you, Holy Spirit.
[00:32:08] it. Would you please now speak to us through your word, through this amazing sign in John 5.
[00:32:15] Help us see that you are the Christ. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Well, have a seat. Thank you for being here today, folks. Welcome everybody across all of our campuses. My name's Clayton.
[00:32:30] I'm one of the pastors here. And man, I get the chance to preach for the next two and a half to three hours from John chapter five. I'm so excited about this. If you're new to our church or if
[00:32:41] you've missed the last two weeks, we're in a series that's leading us up to Easter and we're in the Lent season of the church calendar now where we are approaching the crucifixion and the resurrection of Christ and Lent, which just simply means springtime, new life is a time for us to
[00:33:00] reflect and repent to see Jesus beautiful, high, lifted up, glorified. And as we prepare our hearts to celebrate the resurrection, we're looking in this series through the gospel of John at seven signs to prove that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah. And that's the name of this series,
[00:33:24] signs of the Christ. And a sign in John's gospel is just another word for miracle.
[00:33:29] So all four of the gospels tell us about miracles that Jesus performed. But John is unique because in John's gospel, John gives these miracles another name. John calls them signs, signs that exist for a purpose.
[00:33:51] And we have been looking in the first two weeks, Pastor Dan and Pastor Brad took us to John chapter 20.
[00:33:58] This is the end of John's gospel.
[00:34:01] So he is about to finish his recollection, his eyewitness account of the life of not only his Lord, Master, and Savior Jesus, but his close friend.
[00:34:10] We know that John was Jesus' closest friend among the disciples.
[00:34:16] And John, who is the oldest of the living disciples, the last disciple to die.
[00:34:21] Church tradition says he lived to be almost 100 years old.
[00:34:25] As he wraps up his gospel, he tells us the very reason why he wrote it.
[00:34:31] And that's why we're in this series right now.
[00:34:33] John chapter 20, verses 30 and 31.
[00:34:36] John writes this.
[00:34:38] Now Jesus did many other signs.
[00:34:42] These are miracles, but John calls them signs.
[00:34:45] Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book, but these are written, the seven signs that we're preaching through. These are written so that you may believe
[00:35:04] that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
[00:35:13] So the purpose of John's gospel, the purpose of this series is that you and I might uncover and discover who Jesus is through these signs, not so that we have head knowledge, but so that we have
[00:35:30] heart belief. And there's a difference in knowing something with your head and knowing something with your heart. And we want our entire church to be stirred up in our faith and our belief that Christ is the Messiah, that Jesus is the promised one of God. And so we unpack these signs. And
[00:35:47] today I actually get to preach the third of the seven signs, but it's a sign. So let me make sure I can establish something from the very beginning today. When we look at these signs, the signs are
[00:35:58] not the thing. The signs point to the thing. This is important. This makes sense in all of life.
[00:36:05] Think about how many signs you see every day.
[00:36:09] The sign is not the thing.
[00:36:10] The sign is important because it points to the thing.
[00:36:14] We have signs all the time.
[00:36:16] A couple of weeks ago, I had to drive through Atlanta and back twice in one week, and I'm still in therapy for that.
[00:36:22] I had to go to Birmingham to preach and back, and then I had to go to Atlanta for a vehicle and back, and there are signs everywhere.
[00:36:30] Think about all the signs you encounter every single day.
[00:36:32] A sign tells you how far it is, right?
[00:36:36] How far it is to Columbia or how far it is to Charleston or how far it is to Greenville.
[00:36:43] A sign tells you that you cannot park here unless you belong here.
[00:36:47] A sign tells you that if you go through this door, you're gonna get this bathroom.
[00:36:52] And if you go through this door, you're gonna get to gate AB.
[00:36:55] I fly a lot, so I'm constantly looking at signs in the airports and the signs are pointing us somewhere The signs are not the destination.
[00:37:04] They just help get us there.
[00:37:07] That's what this series is about.
[00:37:08] Please understand this.
[00:37:10] Don't get caught up in the miracle and miss the Messiah.
[00:37:15] The signs are pointing us to Jesus.
[00:37:18] The signs are saying, don't look at the miracle, look at Christ.
[00:37:23] And here's an example of what I'm talking about now.
[00:37:25] If you're from the low country or the Midlands, you're one of our low country campuses or Midland campuses, and you're my age or older, you remember some signs that used to exist. These signs were everywhere. They are now all gone.
[00:37:38] They've been replaced. But these signs existed on I-77, I-26, I-95. Anybody remember south of the border? Anybody remember that? South of the border? Well, south of the border has been replaced, everybody, by this sign right here. I took that picture from my Ford pickup truck with
[00:38:03] my phone because that sign is not just one sign. There are signs. There are, there are beaver nuggets. There is beef brisket. There is a jerky section that will rival any Walmart in America.
[00:38:20] And I kept thinking to myself, I need to go to Buc-ee's. I see all these signs. I need to go to Buc-ee's. My son, Jacob and I back in May, we're at our Myrtle beach campus, shout out Myrtle
[00:38:29] Beach. And we were doing a speaking at a men's conference and on our way back, shout out Florence campus. My son, Jacob, and I actually decided to follow the signs to where they took us.
[00:38:39] And my son, Jacob, and I decided that we were actually going to go and experience Mecca, the Shekinah glory of God. We went to Bucky's and I don't know what it was about this place,
[00:38:50] but when I finished, I had a grocery cart. And in that grocery cart, I had a brisket sandwich, the size of my head. I had 14 kinds of ostrich jerky. And I think I may have even had a hoodie
[00:39:06] and a candle that was flavored American freedom and liberty. And now every time I see a Bucky sign, I know what it's pointing to. And it did not under deliver. Let me tell you, the sign is not the thing. The sign points to the thing. And in this case, it's not a thing,
[00:39:29] it's a person. It's the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. So let's get to that sign today.
[00:39:36] I want to take you to John chapter five, verses one through 18. And in this third sign, we see Jesus performing a miracle, but the miracle is more than just a random, powerful, unexplainable act. This is one of the signs that the Pharisees, that the religious leaders would have been looking
[00:39:57] for, because if a man were to prove himself to be the Messiah, he would have to be able to perform seven signs. And they would send investigators to make sure that these signs were real. That's
[00:40:10] actually what the story of Jesus and Nicodemus is all about in John chapter three. They wanted to verify, is this man just another one of the prophets who says he's the Messiah, or is this
[00:40:21] the real savior that we've been waiting for? So in John chapter five, we pick up the story here.
[00:40:26] Verse one, after this, there was a feast of the Jews and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
[00:40:32] Now there is in Jerusalem by the sheet gate, a pool.
[00:40:37] In Aramaic, it's called Bethesda.
[00:40:39] By the way, Bethesda means house of grace, which had five roofed colonnades.
[00:40:46] In these lay a multitude of invalids, blind, lame, and paralyzed.
[00:40:54] One man was there who had been an invalid for 38 years. When Jesus saw him lying there, he knew he'd already been there a long time. And he said to him, do you want to be healed? I need to pause there for a second. This seems like a
[00:41:18] rhetorical question, but what Jesus is doing here with one question in true rabbinical style is he is probing the heart. He's digging into the emotion, the hurt, the pain, the disappointment, the confusion, the decades of waiting and hoping and losing hope. Do you want to be healed? The
[00:41:40] sick man answered him, sir, I have no one to put me in the pool when the water is stirred up.
[00:41:46] And while I'm going, another steps down before me. So Jesus said to him, get up, take up your bed and walk. This would have been a mat, a small little thin mat. Get up, take up your bed and
[00:41:59] walk. And at once the man was healed and he took up his bed and walked. Now that day was the Sabbath.
[00:42:08] So the Jews said to the man who had been healed, it's the Sabbath and it's not lawful for you to take up your bed. Pause. Do you see what John is drawing our attention to here? The fact that when
[00:42:23] Jesus performs a miracle, oftentimes it's the most religious among us that have the biggest problem with his miraculous love and power. Do you see the fact that after 38 years, the religious crowd could not do one single thing to help this man, but they were quick to criticize this man
[00:42:41] once he had been healed. But he answered them, verse 11, the man who healed me, that man said to me, take up your bed and walk. They asked him, who is the man who said to you, take up your bed
[00:42:52] walk. Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was for Jesus had withdrawn as there was a crowd in that place. Afterward, Jesus found him in the temple and said to the man, see, you
[00:43:06] are well, sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you. The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. And this is why the Jews were persecuting Jesus because
[00:43:20] he was doing these things on the Sabbath. And don't miss verses 17 and 18. But Jesus answered them, my father is working until now and I am working. And John adds this in verse 18. This
[00:43:33] was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Jesus. Not only because he was breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own father, making himself equal with God. Do not
[00:43:47] let anyone tell you in real life or on the internet where everything is true, obviously.
[00:43:52] Don't let anybody tell you that Jesus never claimed to be God. Yes, he did. He did. They didn't miss it and we can't miss it. When Jesus says that he and his father are one, he is claiming
[00:44:04] to be God. This is a sign that Jesus was the Christ, is the Christ, and will always be the Christ. And this sign is shown to us in a place called Bethesda. I've got some video footage I
[00:44:18] want to show you geographically where this took place. This is the pool of Bethesda. Now I want you to look right down here at this dome. This is St. Anne's church. This is important. This will
[00:44:29] loop around and then we'll pause it. St. Anne's church is built on a spot where tradition tells us the Virgin Mary was born and raised. Her mother was from that area. Now, if that was the case,
[00:44:41] there is reason to believe that if Jesus was a little boy and he was going back to visit Mary's family, they would have gone to this area where her family would have lived. And these pools,
[00:44:52] we see the remains right here. These are the pools of Bethesda. There's no water in them now, but Jesus as a little boy would have gone to visit his mother's family. And I can even imagine
[00:45:04] maybe that Jesus walked past that pool and he sees all of the sick and lame people lying there.
[00:45:11] And maybe he had seen this guy before. And maybe just maybe Jesus said, you know, someday I'm going to do something about that. Now look right here. These are the pools. They have no water in them
[00:45:23] now. These Northern pools have not been excavated yet, but imagine this whole entire area filled with people. There was a superstitious belief that when the pools were stirred, by the way, it was an artesian spring. So at different times throughout the day, the water would bubble up.
[00:45:41] And the belief was the superstitious belief that an angel was stirring the water. And if you could get someone to pick you up and carry you into the pool, then you could be healed. And you can
[00:45:51] imagine it, these pools being filled with water, five covered colonnade areas, dozens, if not hundreds of people waiting on a miracle right there. I've been there, I think a dozen times, 12 times to be specific. But this one day Jesus shows up and this one day, a man who had waited
[00:46:10] for 38 years gets a question from Jesus. Do you want to be healed? Well, obviously he wanted to be healed or he wouldn't have been there. Obviously he wanted to be healed or he wouldn't have had
[00:46:24] someone carry him to the pool every single day for 38 years. But what I want to point out to us today in this particular sign of the Christ is the question that Jesus asked, because oftentimes
[00:46:37] one question can reveal more than a thousand explanations. One question can reveal a lot.
[00:46:45] I'll prove it to you. If you're married, well, let me just use me as an example. And your wife asks you this question, are you hungry? That reveals a lot. That means I'm hungry. I hope
[00:47:02] you're hungry because we need food. And when my wife asks me, are you hungry? She already has in mind what she's going to do. She's going to talk to me and we're going to make a decision about food.
[00:47:15] All right. That's a loaded question. If your spouse says, are you hungry? That means we're going to get something to eat really quick. Here's another one. I hope that you'll find this a little more humorous. This is a real testimony in my life. This is a question that
[00:47:29] I've been asked roughly 30 times in my career as a professional driver. Sir, do you know how fast you were going? Raise your hand at every campus if you have ever been asked that question by
[00:47:46] someone in uniform? That's a loaded question. That officer already knows how fast you were going.
[00:47:55] And based on your actions, reactions, response, and the level of kindness and honesty with which you answer that question, you'll know exactly what the, what the, you know, long-term effects of that question is. I've, by the way, I've learned that when an officer asks you, do you
[00:48:11] know how fast you were going. Just tell the truth. Yes, I do. I was speeding. I'm very sorry. I beg for your mercy. And by the way, can I tell you the good news of the love of Jesus Christ?
[00:48:23] Yeah. So these questions that we sometimes ask each other in marriage or in relationships or in friendships, they reveal a lot about the heart. And, and this of all the signs, the seven signs that we're going to discover in this series is the one where I believe the focal point is simply
[00:48:41] Jesus asking a man a question, a man who had given up hope in many ways. So I'm gonna ask you some questions today as we hope to have belief stirred up in us, because that's the whole point
[00:48:54] of these signs that we might believe. I'm gonna ask you some questions that I hope will be the way the Holy Spirit will shine a spotlight into your heart and mind. I want us to be introspective.
[00:49:04] I want us to do some soul searching and some seeking today, because I think we can find so much in common with this paralytic that's waiting at the pool of Bethesda for a miracle. Let's just
[00:49:17] dive into some questions. First of all, have you become comfortable with where you are spiritually?
[00:49:25] I'll ask it again. Have you, have I become comfortable with where you are spiritually?
[00:49:33] I think it's pretty obvious after 38 years of waiting on healing, he had become very comfortable with his surroundings and who could blame him? I mean, for 38 years, he's waited and the miracle hasn't happened. Some of you can relate to that. You prayed for a miracle and you're still waiting.
[00:49:51] You've prayed for a restored marriage and you're still waiting. You've prayed for physical healing and you're still waiting. You have prayed for a restored relationship and you're still waiting.
[00:50:00] You have prayed for a financial breakthrough and you are still waiting. You have prayed for deliverance from that addiction and you are still waiting. And I want to tell you today, There is no condemnation if you have grown comfortable or apathetic as you have waited
[00:50:18] for something. But there is a challenge today that I believe Jesus wants us to see to increase our belief in God's ability to do something in us that we can't do in ourselves.
[00:50:30] I did the math. This is real easy. If you just take the time he had been there, 38 years, and you multiply that times 365 days, this man had gone to the pool 13,870 days.
[00:50:46] 13,870 days.
[00:50:50] I've been to that pool 12 times.
[00:50:52] He had been there, I'll say it a third time, 13,870 days.
[00:50:58] I want us to feel the emotion of this man in his heart.
[00:51:04] Had he given up on God?
[00:51:05] Was he still going to the pool every day because that's just the only thing he knew. Had he gotten so comfortable with his surroundings that there was really no other alternative? I know that in my life, sometimes it's so easy.
[00:51:17] I'm sure you feel this way. To get apathetic and lazy and comfortable in our spiritual life.
[00:51:23] And what God will do for me in many cases is he will surprise me with his presence.
[00:51:29] He'll break my heart with something that happens in my life that I can't control.
[00:51:32] or I'll realize I've grown weary. I've grown tired of waiting and praying and seeking God.
[00:51:38] And God will, will come and remind me through the, through a sermon or through the conversation with my wife or through something in my life that I can't control that he is there and he is powerful
[00:51:48] and he is strong. And 38 years is significant for me. I've been a Christian 38 years.
[00:51:54] I've been in ministry 38 years. Next month I'll celebrate 39 years in ministry. So when I think about 38 years of doing something. It's so easy to just get in the rut. It's so easy to go through
[00:52:07] the motions. It's so easy to just hit automatic pilot and keep doing the same thing over and over and over again until one day the King of heaven shows up. Until one day the presence of God
[00:52:23] overwhelms you. And I want to encourage you as you answer this question, let the Holy Spirit touch you in your heart, if there is a place in your life that you become comfortable, if there's
[00:52:34] somewhere in my life I've become apathetic, if I've gotten lazy in tithing, if you've become comfortable in showing up to church once or twice a month, if we've gotten a little comfortable in reading the Bible or praying and we become too familiar with God, just allow the Holy Spirit to
[00:52:52] stir your heart one more time and remind you of how powerful, strong, and beautiful our Lord and Jesus Christ really is. I want to be familiar with Jesus, but I don't want to become complacent
[00:53:05] with Jesus. And may our church, may New Spring Church never become a church that gets complacent with the status quo. Next question. Have you allowed hurt or offense to become your identity?
[00:53:20] This man was hurt. Maybe he was offended at all the people that had passed him by while he waited on a miracle. Can you imagine how many days he said to himself, I'll always be this way. I'll
[00:53:32] never walk again. That had probably become his identity. And there's a lot to be said for this in our culture right now. We're a culture that I believe in many ways has become addicted to
[00:53:44] victimization. Now I want to make sure that I say this very, very clearly. If everybody is a victim, then that diminishes what it really means for people who have been victimized.
[00:53:58] And what we've done today is we have elevated this identity of victim so that everybody is waiting to be affirmed in their victimization. And when you've been hurt, when you've been wounded, when you've been offended, when you have been abused, when there has been a real true
[00:54:11] victimization happened in your life, I want you to know that Jesus sees you and Jesus cares about you. And our church wants to be a part of helping you find healing and helping you find a way
[00:54:23] through that. But I also want you to know that what Jesus does for us is he calls out our true identity. He lets us know that even though you have been wounded and hurt, that doesn't have
[00:54:33] to become who you are. You are my son. You are my daughter. I just thought about this recently.
[00:54:38] If that guy had been there for 38 years, he basically became scenery to everybody who went to the pools. But then Jesus shows up and notices him. Jesus stops to talk to him. Jesus makes eye
[00:54:51] contact with him. Jesus noticed the humanity in the paralytic. Jesus dignified him by paying attention to him. And that's what Jesus does for you and I. He dignifies us because he made us in his image, but he continues to dignify us because he looks at us, he sees us, he hears us, he knows
[00:55:13] what we're going through. He feels the pain that we carry. Waiting can drain you of your hope.
[00:55:20] It can confuse your identity, but I want you to hear the gentle whisper of our Savior, King Jesus, today tell you, regardless of the victimization you've been through or the pain that you have experienced,
[00:55:32] you are my son made in my image.
[00:55:34] You are my daughter made in my image.
[00:55:36] And at the end of the day, can I put it simply?
[00:55:38] The blood of Jesus Christ was not shed and spilled for losers and nobodies.
[00:55:43] The blood of Jesus was shed on the cross for you and I to know who God made us to be originally and to step into that destiny so that we can not only know Jesus,
[00:55:53] but we can make him known in a broken world that is so confused about their identity every single day.
[00:56:00] That's who you are.
[00:56:02] I gotta move on.
[00:56:03] I've got some other questions here, but let me ask you this one.
[00:56:06] Who in your life cares enough to tell you the truth in love?
[00:56:12] Now we're really gonna dig down to a truth here.
[00:56:16] Jesus, by asking the paralytic the question, do you want to be healed?
[00:56:21] I don't think he was harshly rebuking him.
[00:56:24] I think he was waking him up to say, I love you.
[00:56:28] And I wanna kinda, I wanna wake you up to this reality.
[00:56:32] Do you really wanna be healed?
[00:56:34] Because if you do, there is a way.
[00:56:37] Let me do it for you.
[00:56:39] I'm here with my power, I can heal you.
[00:56:42] And it's so easy for us to isolate ourselves.
[00:56:45] It's so easy to just watch another episode of your favorite show, to just listen to another podcast, to eat lunch in your car by yourself.
[00:56:52] It's so easy to just go through the drive-through and grab something on the way.
[00:56:56] But in reality, God wired us for community.
[00:56:59] God created us to live together.
[00:57:01] And in this story, here is a man that needed a miracle and Jesus comes and asks him a difficult question in love that probably shocked him.
[00:57:11] Who do you have in your life that knows you well enough, loves you good enough, is close enough to you that they can speak the truth to you in love and say to you, hey, brother, I love you,
[00:57:23] but there's something I need to ask you about.
[00:57:25] And I want you to see that that's what we do at this church.
[00:57:28] That's why our entire mission for existence is we wanna see everyone everywhere in an everyday relationship with Jesus because as our culture continues to experience the disease of isolation, the church of Jesus Christ is the hospital
[00:57:45] for sinners to come and find healing.
[00:57:47] The body of Christ is the place for us to find friends and community. It's why we're doing membership right now. If you've missed it, let me say it very clearly. The reason why we're asking
[00:57:58] everyone to become a member at New Spring, whether you were an original member back in 2001, or whether you went through connect classes, or whether you went through ownership classes, the reason why we're asking everyone to become a member, including me, I had to become a member.
[00:58:14] I did. Our entire leadership team did. We're starting not over from scratch, but we're starting fresh with membership. Why? Because to be a member of the body of Christ is the same thing as my arm
[00:58:25] being a member of my physical body. My physical body cannot function well when one member is missing. And so if you have people in your life that can tell you the truth and love, the chances
[00:58:39] are they're part of the body of Christ. And if you don't have those people, you'll find them here in the body of Christ. Now I'm asking this question straight from the mouth of Jesus.
[00:58:51] I really believe. Do you want to be heard or do you want to be healed? Do you want to be heard or do you want to be healed? And the good news about Jesus is he'll do both. He'll do both.
[00:59:04] Jesus will hear you. He hears me when I complain. He hears me when I have a bad day. He hears you when you're mad at your neighbor. He hears you when you're upset about some comment you read
[00:59:15] on Facebook. He hears you. He does. He hears you when you've gone through a divorce. He hears you when you were doing good, but you fell off the wagon. He hears you. He hears you when you're
[00:59:27] confused and when the Bible doesn't make sense to you. But at the end of the day, what Jesus wants to do is he wants to go beyond just hearing us and he wants to heal us. And I don't want you,
[00:59:36] we don't want you to settle for only being heard. We're a culture that likes to post and we like to pontificate. But what Jesus wants for us is he wants us to actually find healing. Let me give
[00:59:51] you an example from my own life. When I went through the darkest season of depression from about 2012 to 2015, give or take, I could not get better. I just could not, the dark clouds would
[01:00:03] not go away. And so I went to see a Christian counselor and he was a very, very good pastor to me, a good shepherd. But after a couple of months, I don't know, maybe six months or so of me meeting
[01:00:15] with this counselor, he asked me a very pointed question. And I mean, I couldn't sleep and I was sad. I'd lost my family members. My mom died. And then a year and a half later, my dad died. And I
[01:00:27] preached my dad's funeral on Father's Day. And I had some family members that were going through some very difficult things. It was just a hard time in life. And after a long season of time,
[01:00:37] the counselor says, all right, Clayton, I have a question for you. Are you ready to get healed now?
[01:00:42] Are you ready to get better? I'm like, well, of course, that's why I keep coming to you. He goes, no, actually what I want to ask you is, are you going to actually put into practice the things
[01:00:50] I'm telling you to do? Because I'm not interested in continuing to take your money and having a 60 minute conversation once a month. I've told you everything I can tell you. Now it's time for you
[01:01:03] to be healed. Praise God. He didn't want me to just become a source of his annuity. He really wanted me to be healed. And that was the wake up call for me. I don't just get over hard things,
[01:01:17] but I get through hard things so that I can be better prepared and equipped to help other people who are going through the hard things I'm going through. So this is the question that Jesus asked
[01:01:29] the man at the pool that day. Do you want to be healed? Know this today. You can be healed because we can have as much of Jesus as we want. We can have as much of Jesus as we desire.
[01:01:39] There's plenty of his presence and spirit to go around. There's plenty of healing power to go around. We just have to let the spirit probe us into our heart. Is this really what I want?
[01:01:49] Which brings me to the overarching question of not just this sign, but all the signs.
[01:01:55] Have you believed in Jesus? Because that's the point of these signs that we might see them and believe, put our faith in Jesus, that we believe, trust, have a faith that we are convinced Christ
[01:02:09] is Lord and he alone can save us. So in your life, at what point did you believe in Jesus?
[01:02:17] Were you a little kid? Were you an adult? Were you in college? Was it a summer camp experience?
[01:02:22] Have you believed in Jesus? Because believing in Jesus one time leads to a constant belief, a daily belief. Even when we struggle in our belief, we can pray, Lord, help my unbelief.
[01:02:33] Have you believed in Jesus? And here's how I know that I believed in Jesus. Because when my life feels like it's falling apart, Jesus is my first thought. When things are going bad, Jesus is my
[01:02:44] first call. When the world seems like it's going crazy and nobody can do what Jesus can do, I know that Jesus is there. And when I sin, Jesus won't let me get away with it or walk away from it.
[01:02:56] He will convict me immediately and tell me I'm better than that. And his spirit will give me the power to change. Have you believed in Jesus? And really the question is simply this, do you
[01:03:09] want to? Do you want to believe in Jesus? That's what Jesus asked the paralytic that day. Do you want to be healed? So let me ask you that question today. Do you want to believe in Jesus? As a
[01:03:23] Christian, do you still want to believe in Jesus? I know you do because you're here today. I know you do because you got up and you got dressed and you came to church today. So I want to encourage
[01:03:33] you, continue to believe in Jesus. But if you've never been healed by Jesus, if you've never let him take away your sin, if you've never opened your heart to him, if you've never invited him
[01:03:44] into your life to become your Lord, the Messiah, the Christ, then see the power of him to heal you today and open your heart to him and allow him to heal you. So in a moment at every campus, when we
[01:03:57] have our time of response. It'll be very familiar because we do this on Sundays, on the Lord's day at our time of response, when you can come for communion, you can sing and worship, you can come
[01:04:09] for prayer. But today I really want to extend a very special invitation. If you need healing today, physical healing for a disease, for a sickness, for some kind of unanswered problem, we're going to have our prayer teams at the altars up front and around the sides at every campus. So would
[01:04:30] you have the courage and the faith to believe? And would you come and let someone lay hands on you and pray for you? That's part of what we do as the body of Christ. We pray for each other.
[01:04:37] Let someone pray for you. Ask a friend to come with you. Hey, would you come with me? I want to pray. I want to pray for healing. If you need emotional healing, if you struggle with anxiety,
[01:04:47] if you struggle with fear, depression, if sometimes you don't even know how you're feeling and you just need someone to pray with you and for you, this is a place where you can believe God for healing. But also I want to invite you, if you have never believed in Jesus ever,
[01:05:04] there's no better time than right now to let Jesus heal your heart. Just close your eyes with me as we prepare ourselves to respond. Right where you sit in your seat, if you felt the spirit of God
[01:05:20] stir your heart to believe today.
[01:05:23] And you wanna put your faith in Christ and you want to be saved.
[01:05:27] You wanna begin a relationship with Jesus.
[01:05:30] It starts with a simple prayer of faith and belief.
[01:05:35] Just ask him to come into your heart right now.
[01:05:38] Just pray this prayer to him.
[01:05:40] And I wanna be clear, the prayer does not save you, but Jesus will meet your belief with his grace.
[01:05:49] So pray this to him in your heart right now if you're ready to believe.
[01:05:55] Jesus, I believe in you.
[01:05:58] I believe you can heal me.
[01:06:01] I believe you can save me.
[01:06:05] Help me trust you with my whole heart.
[01:06:10] I give you my life.
[01:06:13] I repent of my sin.
[01:06:17] I confess you are Lord and Christ.
[01:06:22] And so I give you everything.
[01:06:25] I wanna follow you, Jesus.
[01:06:28] Help me be your disciple.
[01:06:34] So I'm gonna ask everyone right now, if you would, right where you are, would you stand to your feet across all of our campuses?
[01:06:39] We're gonna prepare to respond.
[01:06:41] we're going to prepare to take communion. But the question I really want to drill down on is have you believed today? If you need to believe for healing, come and let someone pray for you.
[01:06:54] As soon as I say amen, you can begin to move. And most of all, if you prayed to receive Christ today, if you prayed that prayer to Jesus and you meant it, you believed it. In your room,
[01:07:04] there is a cross here at this campus. It's right over here to your left. At every one of our campuses, there's an actual cross. And I'm going to invite you while everybody else is moving,
[01:07:12] after I say amen, if you prayed to receive Christ and you believed in him, would you go to the cross?
[01:07:17] And one of our ministry team members will be there.
[01:07:19] They'll help you take your next step in following Jesus.
[01:07:22] So Lord, we honor you for the miracle you performed in John chapter five, the sign that points to your identity as the Christ.
[01:07:31] And Lord, I pray that today you would be honored by the faith and the belief that has been stirred up in your people, especially those who have believed today for the very first time.
[01:07:41] Help them to respond with faith and to move, to take action, to go pray with someone right now and believe you for a miracle. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

[01:07:55] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[01:07:55] Thank you, Clayton. So as you were coming in, you would have received the elements and we're going to take these together after response time. But what I want to do first is just invite anyone who had a prompting to respond in prayer, to come down and spend some time with somebody.
[01:08:21] I looked at, okay, so I gave up caffeine for Lent and I'm dying. I'm dying. But it has been, that's silly, I know. It has been this beautiful reminder of, I don't want to be dependent on
[01:08:40] anything other than God for what he has for me. Like 15 years ago, I gave up painkillers, a very different thing, but both are this reminder that, hey, I have more for you. And I looked at one of
[01:08:56] the footnotes. This is in Deuteronomy 2 from the passage in John that Clayton preached on.
[01:09:03] Deuteronomy 2 verse 14, and I'm going to mispronounce the names. And the time from our leaving Kadesh Barnea until we crossed the brook Zered was 38 years. This is when the Israelites entered the promised land out of the wilderness. For 4,000 years, God has been walking people into
[01:09:21] the promised land, and he wants that for you today. So my encouragement to you before we take communion is just to step out of your comfort zone, come to the front, and invite somebody to pray towards
[01:09:35] what God is prompting you towards now. So take five or 10 minutes right now, and let's pray together.

[01:09:40] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[01:09:40] Miracle worker, promise keeper, light in the darkness. My God, that is who you are.

[01:10:39] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[01:10:39] Come on, we believe that.

[01:11:16] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[01:11:16] That is who You are Even when I don't see it, You're working Even when I don't feel it, You're working You never stop, You never stop working even when i don't see it you're working even when i don't feel that you're working
[01:12:00] you never stop you never stop working and i don't see it you're working even when i don't feel that you're working you never stop you never stop working you never stop you never stop working
[01:12:21] even when i don't see it you're working even when i don't feel it you're working you never stop you never stop working you never stop way maker miracle worker promise keeper light in the darkness my god that is who you are way maker miracle worker promise keeper
[01:12:54] Light in the darkness, my God That is who you are One more time, Waymaker Waymaker, miracle worker Promise keeper Light in the darkness, my God, that is who you are.
[01:13:46] They make a miracle work, promise keeper.
[01:13:51] Light in the darkness, my God, that is who you are.
[01:14:09] That's who you are.

[01:14:25] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[01:14:25] The signs point us to you.
[01:14:29] Everything's about you.
[01:14:31] Jesus at the center.

[01:14:42] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[01:14:42] Jesus at the center of it all.
[01:14:53] From beginning to the end It's always been, it's always been you, Jesus Jesus, sing that again.
[01:15:11] Jesus at the center of it all From beginning to the end it will always be it's always been you jesus jesus nothing else matters nothing in this world jesus you're at the center everything revolves around this you sing from my heart to the head
[01:16:09] Jesus, be the center. It's all about you. Yes, it's all about you. From my heart to the head.
[01:16:23] Jesus, be the center. It's all about you. Yes, it's all about you.
[01:16:36] Jesus be the center, it's all, yes it's all about, Jesus be the center, it's all, yes it's all about, oh it's all, yes it's all about.
[01:17:08] Sing Jesus at the center.
[01:17:14] Jesus at the center of it all.
[01:17:25] From beginning to the end, it's always been you, Jesus.
[01:17:39] Jesus.
[01:17:41] Sing his name.
[01:17:42] Jesus.
[01:17:47] Just one more time.
[01:17:49] Jesus.

[01:18:01] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[01:18:01] Heavenly Father, Lord, we are so, so thankful.
[01:18:10] God, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
[01:18:15] Lord, we beg for that.
[01:18:18] And God, thank you for the moments you give us a glimpse of it.
[01:18:24] Say thank you.
[01:18:25] In Christ's name we pray.
[01:18:26] Amen.
[01:18:29] So we're going to take communion together as we still have people down here praying.
[01:18:32] And what I want that to illuminate for us is like this is all worship.
[01:18:37] moments of prayer alone moments of prayer with one another song giving the taking of the elements this is all worship because Christ on the day that he was betrayed said I have everything you need
[01:18:55] like everything I have I give to you and so if you have the elements you can take those out right now and on that night Jesus took the bread and he broke it and he said this is my body broken for
[01:19:11] you. Take and eat it. Do this in remembrance of me. The same way he took the cup and he said to them, this is my blood poured out for you. Do this in remembrance of me. Heavenly Father, let us not
[01:19:52] grow complacent as we take the elements. Lord, let this be a reminder of the sacrifice that you made for us. Lord, the way that we're called to lay our lives down for others, that we might be
[01:20:09] more like Christ. Heavenly Father, we ask these things in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. And today has been just such a beautiful day. And if you're down front and you're praying, man, stay down here and
[01:20:26] continue to pray with us. It's a gift to us. I want to make you aware of just a couple of things.
[01:20:32] On Thursday, I had a conversation at 10 o'clock with a guy that's been a part of our church since 2011, he had some questions about membership. And then at three o'clock, I had a talk with a guy
[01:20:44] that's been a part of our church for 25 years. And he has some questions about membership.
[01:20:49] If you have questions about membership, come talk to us. Don't sit on them because some of y'all just want to take that stuff and talk to each other. And I can't give you no answers. So if
[01:21:01] you'll just come see somebody with a green name tag or walk right back here at the guest services desk, our desire is to know who's in the boat so that we can know who we're doing it with.
[01:21:10] that's what we want. And so I want you in the boat because I want things like what happened this morning to keep happening. The other thing I got for you is tonight, we're going to follow
[01:21:19] in our brother church. What's Powdersville to us? I don't know. We're going to follow in our Powdersville campuses, footsteps, and we're going to have an encounter night of worship.
[01:21:29] Now, listen to this. Listen, this wouldn't normally be my thing. I'm being honest here.
[01:21:34] This wouldn't normally be the thing I would like get down with. I went to Powdersville the last time they did this. It's amazing. You ought to come back. We're going to be over in the east
[01:21:42] from five to seven. If you're a part of our recovery group that meets right up here, we'll just walk over at six and do that group. So we would love to have you. It's an amazing, amazing
[01:21:51] night. You should come hang out with us, experience it. It's something different. So thankful for that.
[01:21:56] Finally, I'd love to bless you church. It's been a great morning. I'm so thankful for that. So if you'll just take whatever posture you're comfortable to receive God's blessing in Christ, salvation healing and freedom and new identity are possible and promised may you go in your belief
[01:22:12] and trust in jesus and step into new healing through the power and presence of him go now and carry the same hope of the gospel into your family and our world love you guys very much have
[01:22:25] a great afternoon we'll see you back here fuse wednesday next sunday for church and tonight for encounter night