Thank you, choir. And Bruce and Murray, if you have your Bibles, would you turn with me to John, chapter five? John, chapter five. Promise I won't keep you standing as long as I did last time. So I'll try to get through it.
How about that? Now, if you're here, would you raise your hand? If you're here, would you raise your hand? And if the person's not here, would you help them raise their hand?
I think God has some things to say for us today. And he does it through John, chapter five. It's amazing to me how much we are blessed, and yet how much it changes our life. And this is a story of man who was blessed exceedingly, and yet it didn't change his life. And if we look through Scripture, we see a lot of people who came in that category of being blessed, but it didn't change your life.
Judas was an opportunity, Peter. Instead of being with Jesus, when he went to the cross, back to what ran away. And he was blessed so much to be in those times with the Lord. And yet when it came to push, came to pressure, he backed away. And it's amazing how we have been so blessed, and yet we've heard God's Word so much.
We've heard music that has just blessed our hearts, and yet we kind of go out and be the same kind of person. And it. All of that is God's trying to speak to us and get our attention and work with us in places that we need to work, have him work on. And yet so often we hear it, but we walk away and it kind of disappears. And so here's a man who was so blessed beyond him himself, and blessed to receive what he had received.
And yet he turned to be one of the greatest critics or one of the critics that we have in God's Word. So in honor of God's Word, would you stand and let me just read a few verses, and I promise I won't keep you here long for reading of God's word. Verse 5, if you have your Bibles. Okay? And a certain man was there who had a paralytic condition for over 38 years.
And he was paralyzed for over 38 years. And when Jesus saw him. That was a beautiful verse. Jesus saw him. He was.
He kind of blended in with all that was going on in that time, but Jesus saw him. And when Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been there for a long time, he said unto him, wilt thou be made well? Do you want to get well?
Do you want to get well.
And that's a good question. Do you want to get well, or do you just want to stay? Do we want to stay where we are or wouldn't like to get well? Well, do you want to get married? Well.
And then the paralyzed man answered and said, sir, I have no man when the waters trouble to put me unto the pool. But while I'm coming, another steps down before me. Jesus said to him, enabling words, rise, take up your bed and walk. And something happened immediately. Immediately.
Anyway, sometimes he answers prayer. Sometimes he answers prayer right away. Sometimes he answers prayer gradually. Sometimes he answers prayer. Ultimately and immediately, the man was made well and took up his bed and walked.
And the same was on the Sabbath. May God bless the reading of his Word. And you may be seated.
Now, somebody that was blessed beyond what they deserved, and yet they didn't change their life is Jonah. I like the story of Jonah. And just hang. Listen to this. Hang in there with me.
It's a well of a story. Amen. Can you handle that? I don't want to go over your head, but it's a well of a story, Lord. And God told Jonah to go to Nineveh and said to work with the Ninevites.
And he didn't like the Ninevites. He didn't want to go Ninevites. He wanted them to become a smoking hole. That's what he wanted for them. So he went in the opposite direction.
But here's a principle that you can run, but you can't hide. You know, trying to hide from God is so ridiculous. But it's amazing how we try to hide from God, but he knows where we're going. He got swallowed by. I think it was a whale.
Some people think it was a big fish. I think it was a whale. And he found himself in the bottom, bottom part. And when he was there in the bottom, he made a prayer, like sometimes we all do. Sometimes it takes God letting us go to the bottom before we start looking up.
And so he asked God to. He prayed, God, help me. And so God brought him out of the wheel and spit him up. I want to use the wrong word there. I know we got lunch coming, so I don't want to say this.
He vomited him. That's a good word. Have you ever been seasick? You know what it means to be out there in that? So he.
But when he got there, he preached hard, But he never let go of his attitude. And the book of Jonah, who is four chapters long, finds Jonah still holding on to his attitude. He wouldn't let his attitude go. Now God is more concerned about our attitude than our performance.
Right, performance. But we give it in the wrong kind of way. And Jonah had what's called a Dra. Do you know what a Dra is? Let me tell you what a Dra is.
A Dra is a dirty, rotten attitude. Are you there? Now look at the person next to you. Do they look like they have a Dra? Just kind of look them down there and see if they have a Dra.
So God changes our attitude, and he wants to change our attitude. Most important for me is not what I do so much as the attitude that I do it in. And what he's concerned about is our attitude. Now let me give you another question. Are you ready for question and answer time?
I think you are. What is the most often asked question on Google? I mean, we're into Google. In fact, I look up things in Google. But turn to somebody next to you and ask them, what is the most question asked question in Google?
Okay, just give me. Let me give you a second. And you can handle that. What is the most asked question on Google? Why do you know the answer?
They're shaking their heads. It looks like a deacons meeting over there where you're shaking your head.
What time is it? That is the most important question that is asked Google. What time is it? And there are two Greek words for time. One is Chronos, which talks about chronological time.
And chronological time is moving on and on and on. It's what time you are is how old you are and where you are in your place in life. And it's the most. It's a question that is asked so often. Where am I, how old I am?
And time keeps moving on. You can't stop time. It keeps moving on. It gives you an age. And all of us have an age.
Last run that I ran in was a half marathon. And I want you to know that I got second place and it was in my age group. But here's the problem. There were only two people in my age group.
So the older you get, the more your chance of winning. Hang in there. Just keep going. Let them all die off and you find your place in there and you can win first place sooner or later. But another word is kairos.
And the Greeks have a way of putting it. What time is it for? What's the right time? I want to do the right thing at the right time, and I don't want to do the wrong thing at the right time. Now, if you have your Bibles, look back and let's see what's in this scripture verse today.
We've already seen two signs that John gives. And one was at the wedding at Cana where Jesus turned water and wine. Then we saw last week where there was a political person's son that was passing away. And Jesus answered that question. But there was a time frame between when he asked the question and.
And he experienced the answer. And so often we make that prayer from God and we have to go on our walk until that prayer is answered. And all we have to hold on to is that kind of promise of God. Jesus said, you son as well. So he turned around and walked away without walk towards his answer.
And first time Jesus dealt with death and his son was healed. And both of these are positive things about prayer. And prayer does a great kind of thing. And here's one that is not a positive thing because Jesus has what's left probably another year in his ministry. And he has traveled around the country with his disciples, giving them the good news of Jesus Christ.
And he's seen some things happen, but he's seen some other things. The critics are beginning to rise.
In fact, after this incident, they chose to get rid of Jesus. So from now on out in the Gospel of John, he's going to run into his critics. And critics kind of show up in different kind of places. Now if you have your Bibles, look in verse one and let me kind of walk you through this so we can see what happens to this particular person. We don't know his name.
We know that he was paralyzed. And he had been paralyzed for 38 years. That's a long time. His condition was permanent and he had no solution to his condition. His condition was permanent.
And so he had no hope for anything. So he found his way to a pool and it's called the Pool of Bethesda. And the word Bethesda means house of mercy. Beth is a Hebrew word that has beth. Bethlehem is a house of grain.
The word Beth, but here is translated kind of Bethesda. It's a poo. Some people translate that as tupu. It's an overflowing well that's only water, fresh water. That's in Jerusalem.
It's at. By the temple. And by the temple was a place where they would take the sheep that would go through that kind of gate and go for the sacrifices. But here's a. Here's a pool of Bethesda.
If you ever been in emergency room, then you know what it's like to be in the pool of Bethesda. It was originally built by Herod. Herod built it originally for rich people to come and sit by that pool and just enjoy the mineral springs that would come from that pool. But the more it was gotten out of word that somehow God brought healing. And in the middle of that, an angel stirred that poo.
And. And you were healed if you could get to the poo. But here's the thing that held upon it was you had to be the first one there. And so most of the people just couldn't get there.
It had five porches, and all those porches were the lame, the blind, the sick folks, and nobody wanted to go there. After a while, all the rich people quit coming. When all the sick people began to take their place. It would have been a place that everybody avoided. Nobody wanted to go there.
Like sometimes going to a nursing home and those things smell and. And it's just not a good feeling.
And so they were there at the pool. And here this man introduced there. It was a great multitude, just not a few people. They feel that play, by the way, I do that every now and then. Wake you up.
So there you go. Verse 4 says that an angel came down in a certain season and he'd stir the poo.
And the idea was, first one in got to be made. Well, so there's this rush. It was this rush. They watched that poo. They watch that poo till it be stirred.
And if they stirred, there was this huge kind of rush to get down there to the poo.
So here's a man that's in a place of grace. That's what Bethesda. And it's a disappointing place.
He tried. He tried and he offered that. And Jesus asked him. And by the way, Jesus has the best way of asking questions. It's not for his information.
It's to bring out those things inside of our soul. Thirty times he asked a question. In fact, we were talking about the Good Samaritan. They asked him, man, he said, you know, there's a question here. What would you like?
How do you do eternal life? Here's a question. Would you like to be made? Well, his answer was that he had tried. He had tried over and over again, and he'd tried over and over again.
And somebody always beat him to the pooh.
And he asked some people if they would help him to get down to the pool. And nobody would help him. Everything was stacked against him. He couldn't get down to the pool himself, and nobody would take him down. Somebody always beat him in front and he had Been maybe he had built up hope for a while and hoped that that will happen.
But after a while, after several tries, he just stopped trying and he quit.
So Jesus brought a question, not to bring him up, but just to help him understand where he was. Because he'll do that.
He said, would you like be madewell? And he just said he. He listed these excuses that he had built up. And we get so good at listing rehearsed excuses that we have used time and time again that we can know them by heart. And so he said, you know what?
I tried. Tried no good. So I think it's important here in verse 5, verse 6, that Jesus saw him and he knew his situation. Maybe he was picked out because he was the worst person in the group. Worst situation in the group.
It doesn't tell us why, sir. I have no one to help me. But while I'm coming, somebody steps down and na na na na na na na. You ever get an excuse? We get used to our excuses.
I don't read my Bible at night because I'm tired.
I don't come to church sometimes because I'm at the beach. Remember the Sabbath day and go to the beach. Have you ever heard that one in Scripture?
But we get very good at our excuses.
I know I'll get things right.
But so he had his excuses. Jesus said unto him, which is kind of an enabling kind of thing. It's a command that he gave him to enable him. Rise immediately. Rise.
It's like God spoke in creation. When he spoke in creation, he took nothing that was there and made beauty out of it.
Jesus gave him that command.
Take up your bed. That is, don't lay on your bed. Put your bed on top of your head. I made that up. I just thought that was good.
It rhymes. So I thought I'd give you a picture of this guy, pick up your bed, because he would lay back in it and walk.
Wow. You would think he experienced something he hadn't been able to do for 38 years.
I want you to see what is not there. What is not there is joy.
What is not there is praising the Lord.
It was the lepers that said, have mercy on us. They went to the priests, and as they were going to the priests, they were healed. And then they went their way. Only one came back. And Jesus says, where are the nine other nine?
God does some things that are amazing to us. And it's amazing how we just keep going our way.
So the pool at Bethesda became a disappointing place. But it was also a place that was an amazing place of grace. Jesus spoke as Jesus was speaking at the creation. God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit was speaking at the creation. Something happened that could never have happened otherwise.
And the man just goes his way. So Bethesda becomes a place, is a place of grace, but sometimes it's a disappointing place. But if Bethesda is a Jesus place, then you find some things only Jesus could do.
But then it became a critical place because he did on the Sabbath.
It's amazing how pettiness can replace godliness.
The fourth commandment was that you shall the Sabbath day should be a holy thing. Man's not. Man's not made for the Sabbath. Sabbath's made for man. And Jesus would continually struggle with the critics, the Jewish critics who talked about that Sabbath place.
It was their identity marker. If Jews went to different parts of the world in Czechoslovakia or different places, you would know they were Jews. Because the seventh Sabbath day was. Was when they did nothing. If you go to Israel, there would be the Sabbath day.
And that's Saturday, by the way. When Jesus came, he changed it to Sunday.
Because Sunday is a day of the week that we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord.
The Sabbath day became a sticking point to the critics. And they found ways to criticize him because of the Sabbath day. And it says that when they really got to it, then they found a way to get rid of him because he had said something about the Sabbath day. It's amazing to me how little things begin to stick into our lives and become major points.
He must have lost his attitude because he doesn't even go to try to find Jesus. Doesn't even know who healed him. He goes to the temple. And he's there at the temple because he. They had to declare him to be healed by the priest.
And Jesus found him there. Look in verse 14, if you have your Bibles. Afterward, Jesus found him there in the temple and said, man, you're going in the wrong direction.
But I got stuck on this word, verse 15. The man departed. Now the word departed means that he walked away. He walked away from the very person who had just blessed his life. And he just walked away.
And we kind of never hear from him again how much he was blessed and how little that ever changed his life. And my heart hurts for him.
I think sometimes God has placed people on my heart that are kind of walking away. The Lord after the Lord has blessed them. And they've made these kind of decisions they thought were the right decisions for the Lord. And they got disappointed somewhere down the line And. And then they just wanted to walk away.
And I like finding those and trying to encourage them to say, hey, man, come back. Don't walk away from this.
But here's the right thing. And I think Google kind of helps us do this. What's the right thing to do at the right time?
And what's the wrong thing to do at the right time? I think one of the things that we do and is we really fail to trust.
And I think one of the things that helps us do the right thing at the right time is to trust the Lord even when our feelings are going in a different direction. And it's a hard thing to do. When I grew up on 3rd Avenue, I think it was the greatest place. You go to 3rd Avenue now and you find Coca Cola machines in the front yard. The neighborhood has changed.
But every house on Third Avenue would have a clothesline in the backyard, because housing houses back then came with clothesline. Now, how many of you know what a clothesline is? Would you raise your hand and you're old people if you know what a clothesline is? But Grandma, that was her habit of hanging the clothes on the clothesline. That was her habit.
Her grandmother had done that. Her mother had done that. And now she was doing that, hanging those clothes, because you just can't get that kind of freshness that the clothesline can give. So the grandchildren decided to buy Grandma a dryer and a washer and a dryer. Well, the washer looked okay, but she wasn't sure about that dryer.
And so she put her clothes on the clothesline, still put her clothes on the clothesline, and she kept her bread in the dryer. I like that. Whether you like it or not, I'm enjoying that kind of deal.
So she had this dryer, but she kept keeping her clothes on the clothesline. And this is why they asked her, grandma, why don't you use your Rocher? She said, I don't trust that thing.
Now, let that sit for a moment, and let me tell you what I think about that.
So often when our feelings tell us one thing and trusting Lord tells us another thing, we don't trust Him.
And what he would like to do is take us to places only he could take us. But sometimes they're so awkward, we don't try to trust Him. And we still keep that dryer. It's there. And we still keep our Bible, and it's there.
But trusting God in places that I feel awkward and going is a hard thing for me to do.
I think also not Only getting the right thing at the right time is also taking it to a higher level.
There are some things that come in our lives. We didn't ask for them, we didn't want them. But we find them coming our way, and we want to. That lower level begins to kind of creep inside of our feelings, and we struggle with taking it a highway. Clovis Chapel was a great pastor and Presbyterian pastor in bygone days.
And he talked about. Talked about a pilot who took off from North Carolina and was headed across the ocean, going to Europe. And he got out across about halfway, so he couldn't turn back or he couldn't go forward at the same distance. And so as he got out there, all of a sudden he heard this gnawing.
And the gnawing got louder and louder and louder.
And so he figured out that it was a rat that had gotten in the cockpit, and he was gnawing on the controls. And he heard that knowing and knowing. So he didn't know what to do. Either turn back to North Carolina or go ahead. What was his decision to make?
And I want you to grasp it.
This is what he did. He took that nose and put it up, and he took that knowing to a higher level.
And when he took that knowing to a higher level, it went away.
Can you hear what I'm trying to say to this church and to this congregation and to your lives and your relationship?
We can let the knowing take over, but it's going to be problems.
We can take that and put it on a higher level where only the Lord can do that, and he can give you solutions you could not find anywhere else. I got this from Norman McCrummon. I think the world of Norman. He just got married in his middle 70s, so he's. He.
He's learning how to control his heart, I think.
I may not preach like Peter, I may not pray like Paul, but I can share the love of Jesus who died to save us all. My prayer for First Baptist Church, that it will be a place of grace where Jesus is shared and the love of Christ can bless us all. Would you bow your heads with me?
Dear Father, I thank you for a Lord who loves us so much and cares about us. And I thank you for a Lord who loves this church. The history of those down through the years, many of them are heaven cheering us on.
I remember when this church was such a great church, and it can be the same thing.
Help us to take this church under your leadership, to the higher level that only you have for us.
In Jesus name, I pray. Amen. Now, our hymn of invitation is one I like to is 5:30. I think it's 5:30 in the verse. 5:30.
I've heard George Beverly Shea sing that song so many times, and it just reaches down in my heart so.