WEBVTT 00:00:05.639 --> 00:00:07.559 Hey friend, welcome back here to the Seminary 00:00:07.559 --> 00:00:12.699 Inn. We are continuing our look at the portion 00:00:12.699 --> 00:00:15.099 of the Gospel account according to John called 00:00:15.099 --> 00:00:18.199 the Book of Signs. There's these seven moments 00:00:18.199 --> 00:00:23.480 that John lays out as John's proof of Jesus' 00:00:23.679 --> 00:00:27.320 divinity. And we're looking at those miracles. 00:00:27.399 --> 00:00:30.199 We're also looking at the conversation that Jesus 00:00:30.199 --> 00:00:34.299 had with the spectators, either before or after. 00:00:34.829 --> 00:00:37.070 Those events take place tonight. We're going 00:00:37.070 --> 00:00:40.229 to be looking at the healing of the paralyzed 00:00:40.229 --> 00:00:43.429 man at Bethsaida, and I'll see you on the other 00:00:43.429 --> 00:00:51.210 side. And so beginning tonight, we're in week 00:00:51.210 --> 00:00:53.210 three of our series that we've been calling the 00:00:53.210 --> 00:00:56.009 storms of life. Our discussion this evening is 00:00:56.009 --> 00:01:00.070 called start walking. And what we're doing with 00:01:00.070 --> 00:01:02.390 these little segments is we're looking at the 00:01:02.390 --> 00:01:06.870 sum of the seven miracles that are recorded in 00:01:06.870 --> 00:01:09.010 the gospel account according to John. And what 00:01:09.010 --> 00:01:13.450 we're examining is the way in which Jesus encountered 00:01:13.450 --> 00:01:18.650 and helped people in need. And what we find is 00:01:18.650 --> 00:01:22.069 that when regular people encounter Christ, they 00:01:22.069 --> 00:01:27.019 encounter a miracle. Now, in this series, we've 00:01:27.019 --> 00:01:28.819 been talking about not only talking about the 00:01:28.819 --> 00:01:30.739 miracle, but talking about the conversations 00:01:30.739 --> 00:01:35.959 that Jesus had with people in need. There are 00:01:35.959 --> 00:01:40.379 conversations of Jesus recorded in other gospels, 00:01:40.379 --> 00:01:42.700 not saying that, but we're looking specifically 00:01:42.700 --> 00:01:45.739 at those that precede the miracles that we've 00:01:45.739 --> 00:01:48.659 been talking about these few weeks. And in each 00:01:48.659 --> 00:01:51.819 case we've talked about, Jesus could have just 00:01:51.819 --> 00:01:56.469 performed the miracle. But he always talked about 00:01:56.469 --> 00:02:00.269 it so that maybe we, when we read those words, 00:02:00.390 --> 00:02:03.489 could learn how to manage and deal with difficulties 00:02:03.489 --> 00:02:07.569 as he did. So we'll pick up our reading this 00:02:07.569 --> 00:02:10.349 evening in John chapter 5, beginning with verse 00:02:10.349 --> 00:02:13.569 1. After Jesus returned to Jerusalem for one 00:02:13.569 --> 00:02:16.930 of the Jewish holy days, inside the city near 00:02:16.930 --> 00:02:20.469 the Sheep Gate was the pool of Bethsaida with 00:02:20.469 --> 00:02:23.750 five covered porches. Crowds of sick people, 00:02:23.889 --> 00:02:27.370 blind, lame, or paralyzed, lay on the porches. 00:02:27.969 --> 00:02:34.090 One of the men lying there had been sick or paralyzed 00:02:34.090 --> 00:02:39.250 for 38 years. I think it's very, very difficult 00:02:39.250 --> 00:02:42.430 for us to even imagine not being able to get 00:02:42.430 --> 00:02:46.669 around normally for 38 years. This man's mobility 00:02:46.669 --> 00:02:53.479 was severely limited. before the Americans with 00:02:53.479 --> 00:02:56.860 Disabilities Act. No mechanized wheelchairs, 00:02:56.879 --> 00:03:01.500 no ramps, no accessible bathrooms. The loss of 00:03:01.500 --> 00:03:04.560 health and of, well, just personal freedom that 00:03:04.560 --> 00:03:07.300 he must have suffered would have been humongous. 00:03:08.599 --> 00:03:12.439 But, you know, in some ways, though, maybe not 00:03:12.439 --> 00:03:15.180 necessarily physically, but in other ways, maybe 00:03:15.180 --> 00:03:19.680 we're not that different, you and I, from this 00:03:19.680 --> 00:03:26.599 man. You see, loss touches every one of our lives 00:03:26.599 --> 00:03:31.139 at one point or another. So this man's story 00:03:31.139 --> 00:03:35.199 and the way that Jesus interacted with him should 00:03:35.199 --> 00:03:39.759 be important to us. So what we're going to talk 00:03:39.759 --> 00:03:42.919 about tonight is what do we do when we're facing 00:03:42.919 --> 00:03:47.699 severe loss? And let us let Christ's words encourage 00:03:47.699 --> 00:03:52.180 us this evening. Let's examine some actions that 00:03:52.180 --> 00:03:56.680 we can take to keep loss from paralyzing us. 00:03:57.639 --> 00:04:00.400 The first thing I think we can do to think about 00:04:00.400 --> 00:04:03.919 is this. Number one, we need to evaluate our 00:04:03.919 --> 00:04:06.960 level of hope. We've already learned in this 00:04:06.960 --> 00:04:09.939 series that Jesus loved to stimulate conversation 00:04:09.939 --> 00:04:14.819 with a question. And his question to the suffering 00:04:14.819 --> 00:04:18.850 man. We find in the very next verse, verse 6, 00:04:19.029 --> 00:04:24.129 John 5, when Jesus saw him and knew he had been 00:04:24.129 --> 00:04:27.410 ill for a long time, he asked him, would you 00:04:27.410 --> 00:04:31.310 like to get well? Now, when we first read that, 00:04:31.370 --> 00:04:34.410 we would think as adults, what a silly question. 00:04:34.930 --> 00:04:37.550 You've already asked me to think about what it 00:04:37.550 --> 00:04:40.029 might be like to be a paralyzed person for 38 00:04:40.029 --> 00:04:43.759 years. And then you ask me, do I just read right 00:04:43.759 --> 00:04:47.420 by, do I want to be made well? Of course he wants 00:04:47.420 --> 00:04:53.319 to be made well, doesn't he? And when you think 00:04:53.319 --> 00:04:55.540 about it this way, what Jesus is essentially 00:04:55.540 --> 00:04:59.220 saying to this man is, do you still have hope? 00:05:00.720 --> 00:05:05.500 Do you think that you can be healed? Is there 00:05:05.500 --> 00:05:10.379 any hope left? One of the main lessons that we 00:05:10.379 --> 00:05:13.000 can take away from this particular realization 00:05:13.000 --> 00:05:16.899 is that often our greatest obstacle in overcoming 00:05:16.899 --> 00:05:22.980 loss in life is our loss of hope. Jesus was asking 00:05:22.980 --> 00:05:26.420 this man if he had any hope left. He was asking 00:05:26.420 --> 00:05:30.699 him to evaluate his inner circumstances, not 00:05:30.699 --> 00:05:34.899 just his outward loss. The loss of his health 00:05:34.899 --> 00:05:37.480 and the loss of his ability to get around was 00:05:37.480 --> 00:05:40.319 indeed terrible, but it was something that God 00:05:40.319 --> 00:05:46.519 could work with, could help if he had not lost 00:05:46.519 --> 00:05:50.839 hope. See, I think one of the keys to realization, 00:05:50.959 --> 00:05:53.579 to figuring out how to do this is, I think one 00:05:53.579 --> 00:05:57.540 of the ways that we access the power of a victorious 00:05:57.540 --> 00:06:01.230 Christian life does not lie in our outward experiences, 00:06:01.230 --> 00:06:04.230 but with an inward spiritual grace, a grace that 00:06:04.230 --> 00:06:08.930 is expressed in our faith and in our hope. We 00:06:08.930 --> 00:06:11.730 know we can't make it through life with just 00:06:11.730 --> 00:06:15.250 stuff. We have to have hope. When we allow ourselves 00:06:15.250 --> 00:06:19.410 to lose hope, we allow ourselves to become paralyzed 00:06:19.410 --> 00:06:25.449 by loss. But the good news is, with God, no situation 00:06:25.449 --> 00:06:30.540 is beyond hope. It may be a tragic loss that 00:06:30.540 --> 00:06:34.019 would seem overwhelming, both physically and 00:06:34.019 --> 00:06:37.939 spiritually, but by trusting God, it's never, 00:06:38.000 --> 00:06:42.439 ever hopeless. So the first thing that we need 00:06:42.439 --> 00:06:45.420 to do when we find ourselves facing a loss is 00:06:45.420 --> 00:06:49.660 evaluate the level of hope in our spirit. So 00:06:49.660 --> 00:06:53.959 if having hope is important, if it's the key 00:06:53.959 --> 00:06:58.939 to combating paralysis, How can we bolster our 00:06:58.939 --> 00:07:02.540 hope? Well, let me point to a few suggestions. 00:07:03.399 --> 00:07:07.600 The first one is this. Seek God through his word. 00:07:08.360 --> 00:07:11.639 Romans chapter 15 and 4 says the scriptures were 00:07:11.639 --> 00:07:16.519 written to teach and encourage us. How? By giving 00:07:16.519 --> 00:07:23.370 us hope. Knowledge is power, right? If a business 00:07:23.370 --> 00:07:25.649 wants to turn itself around, one of the things 00:07:25.649 --> 00:07:29.269 it often does is they obtain up -to -date, reliable 00:07:29.269 --> 00:07:33.009 information that they can work with. And in life, 00:07:33.110 --> 00:07:36.769 that's what's available in God's Word. That's 00:07:36.769 --> 00:07:40.550 in God's Word and turning our lives around. As 00:07:40.550 --> 00:07:43.509 we turn the pages of the Bible, we can see all 00:07:43.509 --> 00:07:46.970 kinds of promises and encouragements, examples 00:07:46.970 --> 00:07:52.160 of people overcoming overwhelming odds. and explanations 00:07:52.160 --> 00:07:56.639 of human nature and world conditions. And when 00:07:56.639 --> 00:07:59.660 we neglect the word of God, we miss out on one 00:07:59.660 --> 00:08:04.579 of life's greatest tools for hope. The next thing 00:08:04.579 --> 00:08:07.259 that we can do to bolster our hope, and this 00:08:07.259 --> 00:08:11.740 is a hard one sometimes, but be encouraged, we 00:08:11.740 --> 00:08:14.399 must do the right thing even when it's hard to 00:08:14.399 --> 00:08:17.959 do. Paul's letter to the Romans in chapter... 00:08:18.319 --> 00:08:20.959 5 and 4 of Romans says endurance builds character, 00:08:21.240 --> 00:08:26.399 which gives us hope. And in today's confused 00:08:26.399 --> 00:08:29.959 world of blurred lines between right and wrong 00:08:29.959 --> 00:08:33.759 and the proliferation of shades of gray where 00:08:33.759 --> 00:08:36.519 things used to be more plainly black and white, 00:08:36.600 --> 00:08:40.580 the definition of character has also become very 00:08:40.580 --> 00:08:47.190 muddied. In a world of everybody does it. Or 00:08:47.190 --> 00:08:51.049 it's only cheating if you get caught. What does 00:08:51.049 --> 00:08:55.669 character even mean anymore? Well, I believe 00:08:55.669 --> 00:09:00.009 that character can be defined very simply, very 00:09:00.009 --> 00:09:03.289 succinctly, for we followers of Jesus, we are 00:09:03.289 --> 00:09:07.169 commanded to govern ourselves in this world with 00:09:07.169 --> 00:09:12.029 love. Character is doing the right thing, even 00:09:12.029 --> 00:09:16.049 if we think we could get away. with doing the 00:09:16.049 --> 00:09:19.690 wrong thing. Doing the right thing is what character 00:09:19.690 --> 00:09:22.950 is all about, and character builds hope. And 00:09:22.950 --> 00:09:26.169 what builds character? Well, ironically, going 00:09:26.169 --> 00:09:30.950 through tough times. Suffering loss builds character. 00:09:31.970 --> 00:09:37.549 Being tested builds character. If you recall, 00:09:37.690 --> 00:09:40.809 we said in week one of this series, storms often 00:09:40.809 --> 00:09:45.230 can strengthen us. But when we live our lives 00:09:45.230 --> 00:09:48.710 without character, it proves that we don't have 00:09:48.710 --> 00:09:52.330 hope. Think about this. Because if we don't have 00:09:52.330 --> 00:09:57.549 hope, we don't believe that we can or even need 00:09:57.549 --> 00:09:59.830 to do the right thing and make it through life 00:09:59.830 --> 00:10:03.850 successfully. We think we have to bend the rules 00:10:03.850 --> 00:10:08.919 and cut corners on right living. But when you 00:10:08.919 --> 00:10:11.820 have hope, you know you don't have to do the 00:10:11.820 --> 00:10:15.759 wrong things in order to succeed. And the more 00:10:15.759 --> 00:10:19.240 you do the right things, the more you begin to 00:10:19.240 --> 00:10:21.840 see the blessings of God in your life. And as 00:10:21.840 --> 00:10:26.700 a result, the more hope you have. One other way 00:10:26.700 --> 00:10:28.799 that we can build our hope, number three, is 00:10:28.799 --> 00:10:34.289 this. Be glad about God's plans for you. The 00:10:34.289 --> 00:10:37.450 Apostle Paul says very simply in Romans 12 and 00:10:37.450 --> 00:10:43.789 12, rejoice in hope. In the New Living Translation, 00:10:43.789 --> 00:10:46.730 that verse reads, be glad for all God is planning 00:10:46.730 --> 00:10:50.629 for you. In the Contemporary English Version, 00:10:50.730 --> 00:10:54.490 that scripture says, let your hope make you glad. 00:10:55.529 --> 00:10:58.190 As followers of Christ, no matter our outward 00:10:58.190 --> 00:11:00.769 circumstance, if we follow these suggestions, 00:11:00.950 --> 00:11:04.409 we can say, I know my future as a child of God, 00:11:04.549 --> 00:11:09.190 and it is a bright and promising future. And 00:11:09.190 --> 00:11:13.309 yes, there will be detours and losses, but the 00:11:13.309 --> 00:11:17.929 destination is sure, because I know that God 00:11:17.929 --> 00:11:22.909 has great plans for my life. When you face a 00:11:22.909 --> 00:11:26.549 loss that might paralyze you, Remember to evaluate 00:11:26.549 --> 00:11:30.370 your hope. A second action step that we can take 00:11:30.370 --> 00:11:35.789 to keep from paralyzing loss is eliminate our 00:11:35.789 --> 00:11:41.110 excuses. When Jesus inquired if this man wanted 00:11:41.110 --> 00:11:43.409 to be healed, you might have thought his answer 00:11:43.409 --> 00:11:47.529 would have been an immediate and enthusiastic, 00:11:47.809 --> 00:11:50.889 yes, please, I want to be healed. But instead, 00:11:51.090 --> 00:11:57.399 he replies with an excuse. Verse 7 says, I can't, 00:11:57.399 --> 00:12:03.519 sir, the sick man said, for I have no one. His 00:12:03.519 --> 00:12:07.580 excuse was he was friendless. For some reason, 00:12:07.679 --> 00:12:13.299 perhaps it was a sinful reason, this man was 00:12:13.299 --> 00:12:19.580 somewhat reluctant to be healed. He was paralyzed, 00:12:19.659 --> 00:12:25.919 both spiritually as well as physically. Because 00:12:25.919 --> 00:12:28.980 verse 14, a little bit further down says, but 00:12:28.980 --> 00:12:30.799 afterward, Jesus found him in the temple and 00:12:30.799 --> 00:12:34.360 told him, now you're well, so stop sinning or 00:12:34.360 --> 00:12:39.860 something even worse might happen to you. See, 00:12:39.940 --> 00:12:43.080 Christ isn't just interested in our health and 00:12:43.080 --> 00:12:46.360 happiness. He is interested in our following 00:12:46.360 --> 00:12:51.740 his example. And you know what? Sin may have 00:12:51.740 --> 00:12:54.159 been this man's biggest hindrance from getting 00:12:54.159 --> 00:12:57.659 well. Although I'm not, we can't say that for 00:12:57.659 --> 00:13:01.379 sure. I'm just saying perhaps. I don't know. 00:13:01.480 --> 00:13:05.080 But what I do know is that sometimes the reason 00:13:05.080 --> 00:13:09.980 that we don't find hope and the hope that we 00:13:09.980 --> 00:13:13.200 need is because we don't want to give up sinful 00:13:13.200 --> 00:13:18.379 thought patterns or actions or sinful habits. 00:13:20.220 --> 00:13:24.029 We don't want to be made well. Because we want 00:13:24.029 --> 00:13:29.950 to hang on to some pet sin. So we come up with 00:13:29.950 --> 00:13:33.070 an excuse instead of telling the truth about 00:13:33.070 --> 00:13:39.649 the matter. Far too few people come out and are 00:13:39.649 --> 00:13:43.309 honest with God, themselves and others, saying, 00:13:43.429 --> 00:13:46.149 well, I would like to quit having an unhappy 00:13:46.149 --> 00:13:49.649 life, but I don't want to give up this sinful 00:13:49.649 --> 00:13:53.899 attitude or habit. Even though it's causing me 00:13:53.899 --> 00:13:58.419 to be miserable, most wouldn't say it, but we 00:13:58.419 --> 00:14:05.399 live it. I love sin too much to give it up. With 00:14:05.399 --> 00:14:09.360 Jesus there, this man didn't need an excuse because 00:14:09.360 --> 00:14:14.179 he did have someone. And so do we. In Matthew 00:14:14.179 --> 00:14:17.639 11 and 28, Jesus says, if you are tired from 00:14:17.639 --> 00:14:20.179 carrying heavy burdens, come to me and I'll give 00:14:20.179 --> 00:14:24.340 you rest. Christ proved this scripture in the 00:14:24.340 --> 00:14:30.000 life of this man. We have someone. Jesus is on 00:14:30.000 --> 00:14:33.600 our side. And he wants us to come to him and 00:14:33.600 --> 00:14:36.200 rely upon him. He wants to be our best friend 00:14:36.200 --> 00:14:40.960 so that we won't have an excuse. If we're going 00:14:40.960 --> 00:14:43.840 to keep from being paralyzed by the losses of 00:14:43.840 --> 00:14:46.120 our lives, we're going to have to give up our 00:14:46.120 --> 00:14:50.929 excuses. The third action I think that we have 00:14:50.929 --> 00:14:53.970 to take, number three, is exercise our faith. 00:14:54.730 --> 00:14:57.929 This is the most important part. This is why 00:14:57.929 --> 00:15:00.870 we have entitled this evening's talk together, 00:15:01.070 --> 00:15:06.009 Start Walking. The power of faith is not in just 00:15:06.009 --> 00:15:11.549 the thinking. It's in the doing. Faith in action 00:15:11.549 --> 00:15:17.210 is faith. So verse 8, we're in John 5. Verse 00:15:17.210 --> 00:15:20.190 8 of our story says, these are the words of Jesus, 00:15:20.450 --> 00:15:29.629 get up, take your bedroll, start walking. Okay. 00:15:30.909 --> 00:15:34.789 I also sometimes feel like I can hear people 00:15:34.789 --> 00:15:38.889 saying, all right, Jim, sometimes when I'm paralyzed 00:15:38.889 --> 00:15:45.320 by fear or loss, it's just not that simple. What 00:15:45.320 --> 00:15:50.139 does this mean? How do we do this? How do we 00:15:50.139 --> 00:15:53.899 just move on? How do we put this faith in action? 00:15:55.000 --> 00:15:57.179 Okay, this is the part we need to pay attention 00:15:57.179 --> 00:16:04.759 to tonight. Here we go. First, get up. To do 00:16:04.759 --> 00:16:07.980 this would require faith on this man's part. 00:16:08.159 --> 00:16:11.980 Why? Why would he have the faith to do this? 00:16:13.200 --> 00:16:15.100 Because there was clearly something different 00:16:15.100 --> 00:16:18.840 about Jesus. And he's worthy of our trust. Later, 00:16:18.879 --> 00:16:21.639 the Jewish leaders at the temple would send guards 00:16:21.639 --> 00:16:24.379 to try to arrest Jesus, but they came back empty 00:16:24.379 --> 00:16:28.879 -handed. John chapter 7, 45 and 46 in the narrative 00:16:28.879 --> 00:16:30.980 tells us this part of the story. When the temple 00:16:30.980 --> 00:16:33.919 police returned to the chief priests and Pharisees, 00:16:34.000 --> 00:16:36.460 they asked, why didn't you bring Jesus here? 00:16:37.360 --> 00:16:41.360 They answered, no one has ever spoken like that 00:16:41.360 --> 00:16:46.080 man. The sick man beside the pool of Bethsaida 00:16:46.080 --> 00:16:49.299 could say the same thing. He knew there was something 00:16:49.299 --> 00:16:53.279 different about Jesus. And for me, it's great. 00:16:53.460 --> 00:16:55.279 That's why I told you this is one of my favorite 00:16:55.279 --> 00:16:57.919 stories. It's great to study the evidence for 00:16:57.919 --> 00:17:01.059 faith in Christ. But one evidence that is the 00:17:01.059 --> 00:17:03.340 most personal is the fact that God's voice can 00:17:03.340 --> 00:17:07.200 be heard by each and every one of us as individuals 00:17:07.200 --> 00:17:11.460 in our hearts. God speaks directly with us. He 00:17:11.460 --> 00:17:15.859 draws ourselves to him. Jesus inspired faith 00:17:15.859 --> 00:17:20.279 in this man's heart just as he does ours. So 00:17:20.279 --> 00:17:27.099 get up. Have faith and hope in Jesus. He's different 00:17:27.099 --> 00:17:30.420 than anything you have ever experienced. Okay, 00:17:30.599 --> 00:17:34.299 we get up. What do we do next? Take your bedroll. 00:17:35.460 --> 00:17:39.539 This actually teaches us. To make no provision 00:17:39.539 --> 00:17:46.240 for relapse. Burn the bridges behind us. Remember 00:17:46.240 --> 00:17:50.200 once again what Jesus said in verse 14. Don't 00:17:50.200 --> 00:17:55.440 return to a sinning life. Sometimes, sometimes 00:17:55.440 --> 00:18:01.000 it takes a loss to teach us what really matters. 00:18:01.619 --> 00:18:08.109 Who we are and why the way that we live. What 00:18:08.109 --> 00:18:12.990 is most important to us in our lives? So the 00:18:12.990 --> 00:18:19.670 point of all of this is, start walking. This, 00:18:19.690 --> 00:18:23.009 of course, start walking, was the part of the 00:18:23.009 --> 00:18:28.150 authentication of the miracle. There's also spiritual 00:18:28.150 --> 00:18:31.970 truth in it as well. Don't just stand around 00:18:31.970 --> 00:18:35.980 doing nothing after God has set you free. This 00:18:35.980 --> 00:18:39.099 is the part of the conversation here with Jesus 00:18:39.099 --> 00:18:43.559 that is as much for us as it was the man. Remember, 00:18:43.720 --> 00:18:46.299 the miracles that we encounter in this series, 00:18:46.400 --> 00:18:50.000 of course, affect the people that we read about 00:18:50.000 --> 00:18:52.079 most, right? Okay, they're the ones experienced 00:18:52.079 --> 00:18:55.740 the miracle. But it's the conversations where 00:18:55.740 --> 00:18:59.299 we find power for ourselves today. And this story 00:18:59.299 --> 00:19:03.339 is no different. Let's think here. I'm coming 00:19:03.339 --> 00:19:08.559 to a close. Let's think about this miracle. Why? 00:19:09.880 --> 00:19:15.339 What was the point of Jesus providing this supernatural 00:19:15.339 --> 00:19:21.460 act? Was it for this man? Of course it was. Jesus 00:19:21.460 --> 00:19:25.799 had compassion for this man. But if this miracle 00:19:25.799 --> 00:19:29.779 was just for this man alone and nobody else, 00:19:30.920 --> 00:19:34.140 If Jesus was just speaking to this man alone, 00:19:34.460 --> 00:19:37.640 he could have easily just have said, now, sit 00:19:37.640 --> 00:19:42.240 back down, relax. Pretty neat trick, huh? But 00:19:42.240 --> 00:19:46.279 he didn't say that. Because the miracle wasn't 00:19:46.279 --> 00:19:50.559 just for that man. The miracle, this is one of 00:19:50.559 --> 00:19:53.740 the signs of John. All these things we're talking 00:19:53.740 --> 00:19:57.400 about in this series are signs of John. What 00:19:57.400 --> 00:19:59.720 does that mean? It means these are things that 00:19:59.720 --> 00:20:03.339 are specifically thought of as things Jesus did 00:20:03.339 --> 00:20:09.039 or said that proved he was the son of God. It's 00:20:09.039 --> 00:20:12.420 John's evidence in a court of trial, so to speak. 00:20:13.200 --> 00:20:17.480 You see, when Jesus told this man to start walking, 00:20:17.619 --> 00:20:19.980 he wasn't just telling the man to get lost, to 00:20:19.980 --> 00:20:22.119 go home, to take a shower. He was telling the 00:20:22.119 --> 00:20:26.950 man to go and show the world. Show the world 00:20:26.950 --> 00:20:31.750 all around him the power of God. And he and we 00:20:31.750 --> 00:20:39.650 can't do that unless we start walking. When we 00:20:39.650 --> 00:20:42.410 evaluate our hope and realize that we are with 00:20:42.410 --> 00:20:45.609 God, it's never hopeless. When we have faith 00:20:45.609 --> 00:20:49.549 and hope to seek God to do the right thing, to 00:20:49.549 --> 00:20:52.130 act in faith that God is ever faithful to us. 00:20:53.000 --> 00:20:55.380 When those things happen, we will find ourselves 00:20:55.380 --> 00:21:00.240 weathering the storms of life. And as we come 00:21:00.240 --> 00:21:03.740 through the storms, and as the clouds break and 00:21:03.740 --> 00:21:07.920 the crises subside, we'll know that it was God 00:21:07.920 --> 00:21:10.240 that carried us through that loss and that pain. 00:21:11.200 --> 00:21:14.880 And that's what we'll hear Jesus say to us. Now, 00:21:14.880 --> 00:21:19.940 start walking and share the good news. So for 00:21:19.940 --> 00:21:21.660 those of us that might be paralyzed right now, 00:21:21.660 --> 00:21:24.579 have hope. and know that you are not nor are 00:21:24.579 --> 00:21:27.700 you ever alone. For those that have made their 00:21:27.700 --> 00:21:31.480 way through a storm in your life, start walking. 00:21:32.319 --> 00:21:42.299 Amen? Amen. Thank you, guys. You know, I'll tell 00:21:42.299 --> 00:21:47.039 you, there is a lot to be said. That question, 00:21:47.140 --> 00:21:52.390 do you want to be made well? We always... We 00:21:52.390 --> 00:21:55.930 just assume that our answer will be a resounding 00:21:55.930 --> 00:22:01.490 yes, we do. And yet we cling to those things 00:22:01.490 --> 00:22:08.710 that keep us from being well. And we can listen 00:22:08.710 --> 00:22:10.950 to podcasts like this. We can go to church. We 00:22:10.950 --> 00:22:14.029 can go to a Bible study. We can believe this. 00:22:14.089 --> 00:22:16.569 We can know this to be true up and down. And 00:22:16.569 --> 00:22:22.660 it is a daily struggle. It's why these reminders 00:22:22.660 --> 00:22:28.660 of these situations are so important. That we 00:22:28.660 --> 00:22:31.160 can remember that this whole Christianity thing 00:22:31.160 --> 00:22:33.599 is not a one and done situation. It's something 00:22:33.599 --> 00:22:36.599 that we have to deal with every single day of 00:22:36.599 --> 00:22:43.220 our lives. There are things that come into our 00:22:43.220 --> 00:22:46.240 lives every single day that want to make us sick, 00:22:46.359 --> 00:22:50.720 that want to paralyze us. To keep us from being 00:22:50.720 --> 00:22:55.339 who we want to be. So it's a daily question that 00:22:55.339 --> 00:22:59.759 we must confront ourselves with. Do we want to 00:22:59.759 --> 00:23:04.740 be made well? Anyway, that's something to think 00:23:04.740 --> 00:23:08.440 about. Until next week, friend, be well.