WEBVTT 00:00:17.839 --> 00:00:22.339 So picture this. A man 38 years old, paralyzed, 00:00:22.579 --> 00:00:26.039 locked in routine, lying beside a pool of superstition 00:00:26.039 --> 00:00:28.440 and stale hope. Then a carpenter turned rabbi 00:00:28.440 --> 00:00:31.539 walks up, not with a chant, not with oil, not 00:00:31.539 --> 00:00:33.719 with ritual, but with a question that slices 00:00:33.719 --> 00:00:37.719 to the soul. Do you want to be healed? You think 00:00:37.719 --> 00:00:40.619 this is a sweet miracle story? Think again. This 00:00:40.619 --> 00:00:43.960 is holy provocation, a seismic disruption of 00:00:43.960 --> 00:00:46.320 dead religion and a full body collision between 00:00:46.320 --> 00:00:49.219 law and mercy in the middle of festival fireworks. 00:00:50.140 --> 00:00:52.960 Jesus walks right past the altar show to the 00:00:52.960 --> 00:00:55.740 blood -stained margins, and he's not here to 00:00:55.740 --> 00:00:59.140 play nice. If your faith has grown stale, if 00:00:59.140 --> 00:01:01.200 your theology has gotten a little too safe, this 00:01:01.200 --> 00:01:03.219 text will punch the breath back into your lungs. 00:01:04.099 --> 00:01:06.239 It's about first fruits, but not the ones you 00:01:06.239 --> 00:01:09.219 wave in baskets. It's about resurrection breaking 00:01:09.219 --> 00:01:12.019 out in real time. Get ready. If you're tired 00:01:12.019 --> 00:01:14.000 of sermons that say nothing and spirituality 00:01:14.000 --> 00:01:17.319 that costs nothing, this is your sign. This is 00:01:17.319 --> 00:01:21.010 your stir. Hit like hit share hit subscribe that 00:01:21.010 --> 00:01:24.549 most of all open your ears Something deeper than 00:01:24.549 --> 00:01:27.769 the water is about to move. I'll see you on the 00:01:27.769 --> 00:01:38.049 other side Church last week if you recall we 00:01:38.049 --> 00:01:42.090 were in Cana You might remember it a wedding 00:01:42.090 --> 00:01:46.290 feast It's about to end in shame stone jars standing 00:01:46.290 --> 00:01:49.670 empty the joy running out the family's honor 00:01:49.670 --> 00:01:54.750 on the line. And in that quiet, tucked away corner 00:01:54.750 --> 00:01:58.510 of celebration and tension, Jesus turned water 00:01:58.510 --> 00:02:02.489 into wine. That was the first sign in John's 00:02:02.489 --> 00:02:04.950 gospel, these book of signs that proves Jesus 00:02:04.950 --> 00:02:07.989 is who Jesus says he was. That was the first 00:02:07.989 --> 00:02:14.889 one. Not an announcement, not a spectacle, just 00:02:14.889 --> 00:02:21.599 quiet abundance. Glory! Red and rich poured into 00:02:21.599 --> 00:02:25.939 clay cups. Now, what happened next in the book 00:02:25.939 --> 00:02:29.479 of signs, the part of Gospel of John we're in, 00:02:29.939 --> 00:02:35.300 we see Jesus healing an official's son in Capernaum. 00:02:35.860 --> 00:02:38.039 A fever was burning through the child's body, 00:02:38.159 --> 00:02:41.580 his breath shallow, his mother hovering helpless 00:02:41.580 --> 00:02:45.539 over him with a single word by Jesus spoken from 00:02:45.539 --> 00:02:52.780 a distance. Jesus healed him. Second sign. Distance, 00:02:53.020 --> 00:02:58.039 geography, even time. None of it. Restraints 00:02:58.039 --> 00:03:05.419 for the Word. And now, today, we're not in Cana. 00:03:05.879 --> 00:03:09.620 We're not in Capernaum. We've actually followed 00:03:09.620 --> 00:03:12.460 with him from the Galilee down to Jerusalem. 00:03:13.770 --> 00:03:18.490 And it's not just any day in Jerusalem. It's 00:03:18.490 --> 00:03:24.009 Pentecost. The city is swelling with pilgrims. 00:03:24.229 --> 00:03:27.409 Roads are packed shoulder to shoulder with travelers. 00:03:29.110 --> 00:03:32.469 Songs from the Psalms of Ascent echo off stone 00:03:32.469 --> 00:03:37.650 walls. Families carry lambs on ropes. Fathers 00:03:37.650 --> 00:03:41.830 carry their children on shoulders. Women lift 00:03:41.830 --> 00:03:45.129 baskets of bread wrapped in linen. Now, time, 00:03:45.169 --> 00:03:46.990 real quick. I just said something that might 00:03:46.990 --> 00:03:49.729 sound confusing. Pentecost, that's a Christian 00:03:49.729 --> 00:03:51.710 tradition. That's a Christian holiday. It's when 00:03:51.710 --> 00:03:55.930 the Holy Spirit descended upon them, right? Right. 00:03:56.409 --> 00:04:00.669 But it happened on a festival called Pentecost, 00:04:00.770 --> 00:04:04.509 which is a Jewish celebration. It's also called 00:04:04.509 --> 00:04:08.090 Shaviyot. Shaviyot, it means the festival of 00:04:08.090 --> 00:04:12.250 first fruits. Okay, and the word Pentecost is 00:04:12.250 --> 00:04:17.490 the Greek way to say Shavuot. 50 days, Pentecost, 00:04:17.649 --> 00:04:22.050 50 days after Passover, they come back to Jerusalem, 00:04:22.290 --> 00:04:25.209 the pilgrims come back, they offer first fruits 00:04:25.209 --> 00:04:28.550 as a sacrifice of the early returns of the harvest, 00:04:28.629 --> 00:04:32.970 right? And the point of that is when we tithe, 00:04:33.550 --> 00:04:36.050 we're supposed to give the first 10%, not what's 00:04:36.050 --> 00:04:38.980 left at the end. Because that shows and demonstrates 00:04:38.980 --> 00:04:41.560 real faith, right? So that's why they did this. 00:04:42.019 --> 00:04:45.920 Now, also were they giving their offerings? But 00:04:45.920 --> 00:04:48.720 when they came back for Shaviyot, when they came 00:04:48.720 --> 00:04:52.620 back for the Pentecost festival, what they were 00:04:52.620 --> 00:04:56.980 remembering in their history was when God gave 00:04:56.980 --> 00:05:02.240 the law, the Torah, to Moses on Mount Sinai. 00:05:02.660 --> 00:05:07.360 So in the cosmology of the Jewish tradition, 00:05:07.439 --> 00:05:11.100 what's happening at Pentecost is people are coming 00:05:11.100 --> 00:05:14.959 back to Jerusalem to celebrate the giving of 00:05:14.959 --> 00:05:18.699 the law, the Torah, to Moses. And the way that 00:05:18.699 --> 00:05:21.259 they celebrate it is offering the first fruits 00:05:21.259 --> 00:05:25.920 of their harvest. Okay? That's what they're doing 00:05:25.920 --> 00:05:29.100 and why they're doing it. And that's where we 00:05:29.100 --> 00:05:34.290 are. Okay? Pentecost shall be owed. 50 days after 00:05:34.290 --> 00:05:37.930 Passover, the day the law was given on Sinai, 00:05:38.029 --> 00:05:40.930 the day the wheat harvest was dedicated to the 00:05:40.930 --> 00:05:45.850 Lord, first fruits waved before heaven. The Torah 00:05:45.850 --> 00:05:50.329 remembered, the covenant recited, and you, disciple, 00:05:51.129 --> 00:05:56.310 follower, new to this, you've never seen anything 00:05:56.310 --> 00:06:01.639 like this. You walk beside Jesus through a river 00:06:01.639 --> 00:06:06.180 of humanity. Your eyes dart between the spectacle 00:06:06.180 --> 00:06:11.000 of the temple and the lamb walking right next 00:06:11.000 --> 00:06:14.500 to you. And he doesn't join the celebration. 00:06:14.600 --> 00:06:17.699 He doesn't go into the inner courts of the temple. 00:06:17.759 --> 00:06:23.399 He turns and goes a different way. And you follow. 00:06:25.459 --> 00:06:30.740 So. Open your ears like the gates of the city. 00:06:31.199 --> 00:06:34.459 Tune your spirit like an instrument waiting for 00:06:34.459 --> 00:06:37.939 the hands of the master. The gospel according 00:06:37.939 --> 00:06:41.540 to the apostle John chapter 5 verses 1 through 00:06:41.540 --> 00:06:46.079 15. After this there was a feast of the Jews. 00:06:46.639 --> 00:06:50.800 Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there in Jerusalem 00:06:50.800 --> 00:06:55.220 by the sheep gate is a pool in Aramaic called 00:06:55.220 --> 00:07:00.110 Bethsaida. which has five roofed collidates. 00:07:00.730 --> 00:07:04.449 In these lay a multitude of invalids, blind, 00:07:04.689 --> 00:07:08.470 lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had 00:07:08.470 --> 00:07:12.629 been an invalid for 38 years. When Jesus saw 00:07:12.629 --> 00:07:16.209 him lying there and knew that he had already 00:07:16.209 --> 00:07:20.189 been there a long time, he said to them, do you 00:07:20.189 --> 00:07:24.149 want to be healed? The sick man answered him, 00:07:24.149 --> 00:07:28.490 sir. I have no one to put me into the pool when 00:07:28.490 --> 00:07:33.290 the water is stirred up. While I am going, another 00:07:33.290 --> 00:07:37.069 steps down before me. Jesus said to him, get 00:07:37.069 --> 00:07:41.629 up, take up your bed and walk. And at once the 00:07:41.629 --> 00:07:45.269 man was healed. And he took up his bed and he 00:07:45.269 --> 00:07:48.850 walked. Now, this is a hinge to the story, that 00:07:48.850 --> 00:07:53.529 day was the Sabbath. So the Jews said to the 00:07:53.529 --> 00:07:57.420 man who had been healed, It's the Sabbath and 00:07:57.420 --> 00:08:00.220 it is not lawful for you to take up your bed. 00:08:01.160 --> 00:08:04.360 But he answered them, the man who healed me, 00:08:04.360 --> 00:08:07.740 that man said to me, take up your bed and walk. 00:08:08.920 --> 00:08:11.800 They asked him, who's the man who said it to 00:08:11.800 --> 00:08:16.259 you? Take up your bed and walk. Now the man who 00:08:16.259 --> 00:08:19.899 had been healed did not know who it was for Jesus 00:08:19.899 --> 00:08:23.519 had withdrawn and there was a crowd in his place. 00:08:25.229 --> 00:08:27.689 Afterward, Jesus found him in the temple and 00:08:27.689 --> 00:08:32.710 said to him, See, you are well. Sin no more that 00:08:32.710 --> 00:08:36.590 nothing worse may happen to you. Man went away 00:08:36.590 --> 00:08:40.029 and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed 00:08:40.029 --> 00:08:45.529 him. The word of God, spoken, preserved and still 00:08:45.529 --> 00:08:50.409 alive, still healing, still confronting, still 00:08:50.409 --> 00:08:55.960 calling us to rise. You walk with the dust of 00:08:55.960 --> 00:09:00.059 the Galilee on your ankles. You're not from the 00:09:00.059 --> 00:09:03.360 city. You actually come from the northern hills, 00:09:03.940 --> 00:09:06.360 where fig trees grow wild and soil clings to 00:09:06.360 --> 00:09:10.480 your sandals. Your village is tiny. Your synagogue, 00:09:11.399 --> 00:09:14.519 barely large enough to hold the elders. And the 00:09:14.519 --> 00:09:17.559 scrolls are kept locked in a wooden box behind 00:09:17.559 --> 00:09:21.639 a cloth curtain. You know the rhythms. Sabbath 00:09:21.639 --> 00:09:24.460 there, the lighting of the lamps, smelling of 00:09:24.460 --> 00:09:27.720 lentils, the voices rising in familiar chants. 00:09:28.120 --> 00:09:34.279 This, this is overwhelming. Now, how did you 00:09:34.279 --> 00:09:39.159 get to Jerusalem? You were there that day on 00:09:39.159 --> 00:09:43.840 the shore of the Galilee when he turned to his 00:09:43.840 --> 00:09:46.240 disciples and to the crowd and asked them, will 00:09:46.240 --> 00:09:50.769 you stay? You didn't understand it all at the 00:09:50.769 --> 00:09:54.710 time, but when you heard Peter's response, to 00:09:54.710 --> 00:09:59.870 whom should we go, Lord? You couldn't quite explain 00:09:59.870 --> 00:10:04.009 it, but somehow you felt in your heart those 00:10:04.009 --> 00:10:08.330 words were spoken by you yourself. And you decided 00:10:08.330 --> 00:10:10.629 in that moment your life could never be the same 00:10:10.629 --> 00:10:15.049 again. And you just started walking with Jesus. 00:10:16.399 --> 00:10:22.340 And now you find yourself in Jerusalem. You don't 00:10:22.340 --> 00:10:25.580 understand it, you still don't. There was something 00:10:25.580 --> 00:10:29.820 in his voice that held you. Something in his 00:10:29.820 --> 00:10:34.440 eyes would not let you walk away from him. So 00:10:34.440 --> 00:10:38.779 now here you are, wide -eyed in a city that doesn't 00:10:38.779 --> 00:10:43.919 know your name. Jerusalem at Pentecost is a storm 00:10:43.919 --> 00:10:48.820 of memory and movement, a wave of holy history 00:10:48.820 --> 00:10:53.019 crashing into the present moment. Smoke from 00:10:53.019 --> 00:10:56.100 burnt offerings climbs like living pillars in 00:10:56.100 --> 00:11:01.220 the air, mixing with the scent of bread, sweat, 00:11:01.559 --> 00:11:06.149 animals, and incense. Psalms are chanted in a 00:11:06.149 --> 00:11:09.110 dozen different languages. Some you recognize, 00:11:09.210 --> 00:11:13.570 some you don't. Priests shout, vendors yell, 00:11:14.169 --> 00:11:18.309 pilgrims sing, and it's loud. It is so loud. 00:11:19.629 --> 00:11:23.330 And you're caught up in it, and yet somehow not 00:11:23.330 --> 00:11:28.529 a part of it. You walk beside Jesus through the 00:11:28.529 --> 00:11:33.299 press of people. feeling the heat of bodies, 00:11:33.700 --> 00:11:39.159 the weight of holiness, watching him walk with 00:11:39.159 --> 00:11:44.279 a deliberate pace. Not towards the center of 00:11:44.279 --> 00:11:50.759 the temple, but towards the edge of town. Not 00:11:50.759 --> 00:11:54.740 towards the spectacle, but toward something quiet, 00:11:55.000 --> 00:12:00.930 toward something wounded, and you follow. Because 00:12:00.930 --> 00:12:05.730 Jesus isn't stopping. He's weaving through the 00:12:05.730 --> 00:12:09.049 city, not towards the center, towards the edge. 00:12:10.769 --> 00:12:13.470 Toward the place where the pilgrims don't go. 00:12:14.730 --> 00:12:18.110 Past the shops, past the singers, past the trumpet 00:12:18.110 --> 00:12:24.470 calls, toward the sheep gate. The air changes. 00:12:25.799 --> 00:12:30.320 It thickens with a scent of iron and blood and 00:12:30.320 --> 00:12:37.320 wool and smoke. This is the gate where the lambs, 00:12:37.700 --> 00:12:42.600 the sheep are brought in. This is the gate where 00:12:42.600 --> 00:12:48.399 death makes life possible. You watch a young 00:12:48.399 --> 00:12:52.019 boy try to tug a stubborn lamb through the gate. 00:12:52.240 --> 00:12:56.500 The animal resists, it bleats, confused, while 00:12:56.500 --> 00:12:59.240 the father gently places his hand on the boy's 00:12:59.240 --> 00:13:03.899 shoulder and urges them both forward. And you 00:13:03.899 --> 00:13:08.559 realize something. Jesus has chosen to bring 00:13:08.559 --> 00:13:14.360 you here first. Not to the spectacle, but to 00:13:14.360 --> 00:13:20.600 blood. Not to the priests waving woes, but to 00:13:20.600 --> 00:13:25.559 the slaughter path. of the lambs. You walk with 00:13:25.559 --> 00:13:33.039 him past the flow of sacrifice, past stones darkened 00:13:33.039 --> 00:13:37.860 from years of splattered offerings, and you arrive 00:13:37.860 --> 00:13:44.740 at the pool of Bethsaida. Five cauldates, five 00:13:44.740 --> 00:13:51.279 porches, each one brimming with brokenness. This 00:13:51.279 --> 00:13:56.139 is the house of mercy, but mercy here feels delayed, 00:13:56.559 --> 00:14:00.799 like it's been rationed, like it only drips wood 00:14:00.799 --> 00:14:05.240 -stirred. Under the arches lie the forgotten, 00:14:06.679 --> 00:14:11.779 the blind whose eyes have turned gray, the lame 00:14:11.779 --> 00:14:16.840 with legs curled underneath them, the paralyzed 00:14:16.840 --> 00:14:22.139 who just stare at the ceiling all day. You can 00:14:22.139 --> 00:14:26.820 smell the mixture of sweat and mildew. You hear 00:14:26.820 --> 00:14:32.539 the groans and the coughs. Hope flickers in some 00:14:32.539 --> 00:14:38.059 eyes, but in many, it's gone. They're waiting. 00:14:39.299 --> 00:14:42.679 They're waiting for the ripple in the stillness. 00:14:43.679 --> 00:14:48.279 Waiting for the myth. The old tale passed down 00:14:48.279 --> 00:14:51.659 like scripture without a scroll that an angel 00:14:51.659 --> 00:14:55.639 of the Lord would descend invisible and holy 00:14:55.639 --> 00:15:01.100 and stir the waters Some say that it only happened 00:15:01.100 --> 00:15:05.679 once long ago during the festival season Others 00:15:05.679 --> 00:15:08.320 claim they knew a cousin or a neighbor who had 00:15:08.320 --> 00:15:13.000 seen it Maybe it was just a story that was started 00:15:13.000 --> 00:15:16.649 to give hope to the hopeless A way to tell the 00:15:16.649 --> 00:15:19.190 suffering that they hadn't somehow been forgotten. 00:15:20.610 --> 00:15:24.309 Maybe there was a healing once. Maybe something 00:15:24.309 --> 00:15:27.049 did move the waters and people turned it into 00:15:27.049 --> 00:15:31.789 a liturgy, into legend, into law. And now they 00:15:31.789 --> 00:15:38.090 wait for a breeze, a wind, a flicker, for some 00:15:38.090 --> 00:15:42.070 holy disturbance in the pool, waiting for someone 00:15:42.070 --> 00:15:47.240 stronger not to get there first. waiting for 00:15:47.240 --> 00:15:49.759 something that seems like it always happens to 00:15:49.759 --> 00:15:55.279 somebody else. Jesus stops. You don't know why 00:15:55.279 --> 00:15:58.620 at first, but then you do. A man, older than 00:15:58.620 --> 00:16:03.639 most, eyes sunken, body thin, skin dry. He's 00:16:03.639 --> 00:16:09.799 not new here. He's not even hoping anymore. He's 00:16:09.799 --> 00:16:15.240 just part of the scenery now. 38 years he's been 00:16:15.240 --> 00:16:20.179 here. He's part of the stone and the shadow. 00:16:21.220 --> 00:16:29.919 And Jesus kneels. Do you want to be healed? The 00:16:29.919 --> 00:16:34.779 question slices through the silence. And the 00:16:34.779 --> 00:16:43.679 man's answer is not a yes, not no. It's a list, 00:16:44.539 --> 00:16:50.899 a defense, a wound on repeat. I have no one. 00:16:51.799 --> 00:16:56.440 Every time I try, someone else gets there first. 00:16:58.159 --> 00:17:03.039 You've heard that voice before. Maybe even in 00:17:03.039 --> 00:17:06.880 yourself. Maybe in someone you love. It's the 00:17:06.880 --> 00:17:12.640 voice of despair dressed up as reality. It's 00:17:12.640 --> 00:17:16.140 the sound of someone who has stopped believing 00:17:16.140 --> 00:17:22.900 that change is really possible. Jesus doesn't 00:17:22.900 --> 00:17:29.259 argue. He doesn't say, you have me now. He just 00:17:29.259 --> 00:17:37.059 speaks. Get up. Pick up your mat. Walk. That's 00:17:37.059 --> 00:17:42.710 it. Just a word. And the word does what it says. 00:17:43.289 --> 00:17:48.990 Muscles twitch. Joints stretch. The mat, once 00:17:48.990 --> 00:17:53.329 his world, now becomes a rolled up witness in 00:17:53.329 --> 00:18:00.130 his hands. And he walks. Gasps ripple through 00:18:00.130 --> 00:18:04.869 the porches. Heads turn. For a moment, silence. 00:18:05.569 --> 00:18:10.190 Then shouts a rush. No one saw the water move, 00:18:10.190 --> 00:18:19.289 but they all saw the man move and that day Was 00:18:19.289 --> 00:18:25.210 the Sabbath He's walking the street now still 00:18:25.210 --> 00:18:27.910 holding his mat not dragging it not hiding it 00:18:27.910 --> 00:18:31.829 holding it like a banner Like a sign that says 00:18:31.829 --> 00:18:37.690 something in my life has changed But not everyone 00:18:37.819 --> 00:18:44.599 sees that. Temple leaders see him and they don't 00:18:44.599 --> 00:18:47.559 see legs moving. They don't see the new life. 00:18:47.599 --> 00:18:52.519 They don't see restoration. They see a breach 00:18:52.519 --> 00:18:57.920 of protocol, a violation, the letter of the law. 00:18:59.279 --> 00:19:06.430 It is the Sabbath. It is not lawful. for you 00:19:06.430 --> 00:19:15.190 to carry your bed. The irony echoes. On the very 00:19:15.190 --> 00:19:21.950 day they celebrate the giving of the law, they 00:19:21.950 --> 00:19:27.750 weaponize it to deny its fulfillment. Shavuot 00:19:27.750 --> 00:19:31.089 commemorates the moment God spoke from the mountain. 00:19:31.750 --> 00:19:36.250 Thunder and fire and tablets of stone. And now, 00:19:36.769 --> 00:19:41.089 standing in the shadow of that memory, they reject 00:19:41.089 --> 00:19:46.230 the living word walking in the streets. The law 00:19:46.230 --> 00:19:49.930 was meant to point towards God's heart, towards 00:19:49.930 --> 00:19:54.029 life, towards justice, towards mercy. But here, 00:19:54.369 --> 00:20:01.329 the law has become a lid, a lock, a leash. And 00:20:01.329 --> 00:20:05.250 he tells them the truth. The man who healed me 00:20:05.250 --> 00:20:10.390 told me to do it. He doesn't know the name yet, 00:20:10.609 --> 00:20:17.369 but he knows the authority. There was something 00:20:17.369 --> 00:20:22.049 about that voice that made the impossible possible. 00:20:23.430 --> 00:20:26.990 Something about that command that didn't just 00:20:26.990 --> 00:20:33.750 suggest, it created. Like that very same voice 00:20:33.750 --> 00:20:39.069 that once said, let there be light. But Jesus 00:20:39.069 --> 00:20:44.390 had already slipped away. He's not there to argue 00:20:44.390 --> 00:20:49.150 over definitions. He's here to fulfill what the 00:20:49.150 --> 00:20:53.029 definitions could never deliver. The word that 00:20:53.029 --> 00:20:58.809 heals doesn't need to debate. It transforms and 00:20:58.809 --> 00:21:05.089 it moves on. Later, though, Jesus finds him again 00:21:05.089 --> 00:21:09.750 in the temple now. He's standing, not lying. 00:21:11.589 --> 00:21:15.990 He's no longer a man of porches. He's a man of 00:21:15.990 --> 00:21:23.589 worship. And Jesus looks at him. You're well 00:21:23.589 --> 00:21:30.089 now. Don't go back. Don't return to what broke 00:21:30.089 --> 00:21:36.480 you. Something worse waits in the shadows of 00:21:36.480 --> 00:21:41.880 old sin. And now the man knows and he tells. 00:21:41.980 --> 00:21:47.700 It was Jesus, Jesus who healed him. Up in the 00:21:47.700 --> 00:21:52.240 temple, the priests wave bread. Down here, Jesus 00:21:52.240 --> 00:21:57.420 raises the broken. Up in the temple, the law 00:21:57.420 --> 00:22:01.980 is recited. Down here the law is rewritten in 00:22:01.980 --> 00:22:06.460 flesh. The Word of God walks through the city 00:22:06.460 --> 00:22:12.160 not as thunder, but as healing. Not as stone, 00:22:12.900 --> 00:22:20.940 but as spirit. Not as judgment, but as new creation. 00:22:23.000 --> 00:22:29.329 This is Pentecost fulfilled. not with stone tablets, 00:22:30.289 --> 00:22:35.829 but with transformation, not with ritual, but 00:22:35.829 --> 00:22:41.769 with resurrection. The man is the first fruits, 00:22:43.029 --> 00:22:48.730 not of wheat, but of restoration, a taste of 00:22:48.730 --> 00:22:54.490 what is to come. So here's the big question as 00:22:54.490 --> 00:23:01.380 we round third base. Do you want to be healed? 00:23:02.980 --> 00:23:08.500 Not do you want for things to feel better? Not 00:23:08.500 --> 00:23:13.359 do you want people to stop judging you? Not that 00:23:13.359 --> 00:23:17.720 you want to somehow get out of trouble Do you 00:23:17.720 --> 00:23:27.680 want to walk again? If so Faith starts when excuses 00:23:27.680 --> 00:23:33.799 stop. Faith begins where the story shifts from 00:23:33.799 --> 00:23:38.819 the pool to the word. Faith begins when we stop 00:23:38.819 --> 00:23:44.079 rehearsing all of the reasons why and just respond 00:23:44.079 --> 00:23:52.279 with yes. So here's the truth, church. You don't 00:23:52.279 --> 00:23:55.440 need another helper to drag you into the pool. 00:23:56.269 --> 00:23:59.809 You don't need a stronger friend to shove others 00:23:59.809 --> 00:24:04.089 out of the way. You don't need one more chance. 00:24:04.210 --> 00:24:08.910 You just need the word. You need the one who 00:24:08.910 --> 00:24:13.470 walks through the very gates of sacrifice, who 00:24:13.470 --> 00:24:17.410 sees what the world steps over, who asks what 00:24:17.410 --> 00:24:22.109 no one else dares to ask, and who speaks what 00:24:22.109 --> 00:24:27.960 no one else can speak. You need the one who turns 00:24:27.960 --> 00:24:34.519 mats into testimonies. You need Jesus. So listen 00:24:34.519 --> 00:24:40.440 right now in this place. Do you want to be healed? 00:24:41.900 --> 00:24:47.380 Then get up, pick up your mat and walk. Amen? 00:24:48.619 --> 00:24:57.869 Amen. Listen, if you ever thought the gospel 00:24:57.869 --> 00:25:00.210 was just good advice with soft music behind it, 00:25:00.230 --> 00:25:03.329 I hope today you've dismantled that. This isn't 00:25:03.329 --> 00:25:05.809 hallmark theology. This is a Jesus who steps 00:25:05.809 --> 00:25:08.430 over institutional barriers and dead traditions 00:25:08.430 --> 00:25:11.309 and stares into the eyes of a man who's given 00:25:11.309 --> 00:25:16.309 up and says, move. If he did it for him, he can 00:25:16.309 --> 00:25:19.950 do it for you. But don't sit there. Don't wait 00:25:19.950 --> 00:25:22.980 for the perfect ripple. Don't excuse your paralysis. 00:25:23.019 --> 00:25:25.740 He's not asking for your resume just your response 00:25:25.740 --> 00:25:29.640 So if this stirred you moved you or smacked you 00:25:29.640 --> 00:25:31.980 upside the spiritual head. Don't keep it to yourself 00:25:31.980 --> 00:25:34.859 Like it share it send it to someone else who's 00:25:34.859 --> 00:25:37.759 stuck Subscribe so you never miss the word again, 00:25:37.779 --> 00:25:41.339 but more than that believe it Let the word move 00:25:41.339 --> 00:25:44.440 in you like it moved in Bethsa that Let this 00:25:44.440 --> 00:25:47.480 be the Sabbath where we finally stood up and 00:25:47.480 --> 00:25:52.359 if you do you won't just walk You'll walk differently 00:25:52.359 --> 00:26:00.599 grace and grit until next time friends be blessed