God of Suddenly: Are You Ready To Say “Yes” When God Says Go?

[00:00:03] Welcome to the Pursuing Faith podcast, where we explore questions of faith, doubt, and life. I am your host, Dominic Done. Hey everyone! In today's podcast, we're going to be diving back into the Gospel of John.

[00:00:25] I'm going to talk about those moments in life when God shows up suddenly. Did you know that the word suddenly is found 87 times in the Bible? I think of the disciples, how they wept after Jesus

[00:00:39] died and suddenly an angel appeared at the tomb. Or how they walked on that dusty road and suddenly he appeared on the way to Emmaus. Or they prayed in Acts 2 and suddenly the Spirit of God came down.

[00:00:55] God is a God of suddenly. And as we're going to see today in your life, in my life too, we need to watch, listen, and prepare because our next open door is closer than we think.

[00:01:10] Well, speaking of open doors, real quick, I just want to let you guys know about some things that I'm really excited for for 2024. The first part of the year I'll be speaking at the Thrive Bible

[00:01:23] Conference January 21-24 in the Sacramento area, Bayside Blue Oaks in February, Maranatha Chapel in San Diego. And then the last week of February and the first week of March, I'm going to be part of an event that's tailor-made for communicators and pastors. The first one is February 26-28

[00:01:48] in Palm Springs, California. I'll be joining a team of leaders to discuss preaching and communication. We're going to be talking about vision casting, sermon prep, delivery, the challenges that communicators face in 2024. And then the next event right after that, it's going

[00:02:05] to be in Palm Springs as well and it's a coaching retreat February 28-March 1st. And there we'll be unpacking key issues in ministry and leadership. Now, both of these events are by invite only,

[00:02:19] but if you're a pastor, a communicator, or a leader, I would encourage you email me personally at dominicatpursuingfaith.org. I'd love to chat with you about it, answer any questions, and get you an application and more information. Well, with that, let's dive into today's message from John chapter 5.

[00:02:48] Are you guys there? If you're there, say amen. Okay, here we go. Sometime later, verse 1, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. Now, there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool which in Aramaic is called Bethesda. Let me hear you say Bethesda,

[00:03:06] which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. And here a great number of disabled people used to lie, the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. And one who was there, he had been an invalid for 38 years.

[00:03:18] And when Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, notice this, we'll come back to it, do you want to get well?

[00:03:27] Sir, the invalid replied, I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred while I'm trying to get there. Someone else goes down ahead of me. And Jesus said to him, get up,

[00:03:36] pick up your mat and walk. And at once the man was cured and he picked up his mat and he walked. And the day on which this took place was a Sabbath. And so the Jewish leader said to the man

[00:03:48] who had been healed, it is the Sabbath, the law forbids you to carry your mat. They're more concerned about their laws and their rules than here's a guy just got healed for 38 years. He'd been

[00:03:59] unable to walk and Jesus heals him. They're like, ah, he broke the law. But he replied, the man who made me well, he said to me, pick up your mat and walk. It's Jesus. He's the one that

[00:04:10] did it. And so they asked him, who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk? And the man who was healed had no idea who it was for Jesus. Notice Jesus had slipped away into the crowd

[00:04:21] that was there, hashtag ninja. And later Jesus found him at the temple and he said to him, see, you are well again, stop sinning or something worse may happen to you. And the man went away

[00:04:33] and he told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had made him well. God, I pray that your spirit would just move in this gathering. I really believe there's something special that you want

[00:04:43] to do here. There's some people that you want to speak to. And I pray God that I would just get out of the way that it would be your heart a hundred percent that is conveyed and that your spirit

[00:04:53] would just break our hearts open to receive whatever it is that you have for us. We love you. Thank you for the power of your word. May pray this in Jesus name and everyone said, amen. So

[00:05:06] it begins by saying that Jesus, he went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish feasts. Now you need to know this in the ancient world and it's true to a certain point today, that the Jewish

[00:05:18] calendar, the Jewish liturgy really revolved around the cycle of feasts and festivals. One example of this would be your favorite book in the Bible, Leviticus in chapter 23. It actually gives us a list of what these feasts and festivals were. So if you're taking notes, you can jot this

[00:05:36] down. The Sabbath, Passover, the feast of unleavened bread, the feast of first fruits, the feast of weeks, the feast of trumpets, a day of atonement, the feast of booths. And if that wasn't enough,

[00:05:48] a few years later, they actually added a couple other feasts. You have the feast of Purim, which is a real fun one. Actually, I was in Israel a couple of years ago during this time,

[00:05:58] people dress up. It's really cool. That's an Esther and then you have the feast of dedication. We'll see that in John chapter 10. Now, if we have time, which we don't, we would actually go through these feasts and talk about what each one represented. And this is just something,

[00:06:11] homework assignment, something for you to look into. It's really, really fascinating. But in a nutshell, each of these feasts and festivals was a time for them to recenter themselves in the story

[00:06:23] of God. They would last for days mostly. Some of them involved a pilgrimage to the city of Jerusalem. It was a time to make sacrifice. It was a time to repent. It was a time to worship. It was a time

[00:06:35] to be with family. And what I love most, it was a time to eat really good food. Food was a huge part of these festivals. So they're celebrating, they're worshiping, the barbecue's on, they're enjoying

[00:06:47] each other's company. And this is what I love about this because a lot of people, they look at the Bible and they're like, man, the Bible has just so many rules and laws and it's super oppressive.

[00:06:58] But when you actually read what the Bible has to say, what you find is just like that song, which we sang, which I love, is actually it's a good father who loves his children, who cares for

[00:07:11] his children. And over and over again in his word, Leviticus 23, one example, he's like, I command you have fun. I command you take some time, be with your family, eat some good food, celebrate, sing,

[00:07:27] dance. You see, God's heart is for his people to flourish. God's heart is for us as his children to enjoy life. Augustine, he talked about this. Augustine, he was a fourth century theologian and

[00:07:42] he said, when you read the Bible, you need to read it through what he called the lens of virtue. In other words, he said, if you're not seeing the love of God on every page, then you're reading

[00:07:53] the Bible wrong. And in these feasts and festivals, you need to know this wasn't a command. Oh, we got to go celebrate and take a few days off work. What a bummer. No, God's saying, I just want

[00:08:04] you to be healthy. I want you to thrive. I want you to enjoy this life that I've given to you. So that's what's going on here. And most Bible scholars believe the feast that John's talking about here

[00:08:16] is the feast of Sabbath, which took place in the city of Jerusalem. So you've got to imagine there's thousands of people from all around and they come to the city of Jerusalem and they're worshiping

[00:08:28] and they're singing and they're celebrating. But notice in verse two, it says there was in Jerusalem near the sheep gate because if you've been to Jerusalem to this day, it's true. It's a walled

[00:08:38] city, one of the only walled cities in the ancient world. And there are different gates, access points into the city. So each gate has a different name. This is a sheep gate. And there, when you go

[00:08:50] through the sheep gate, there's a pool which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. Now, Bethesda, if you're a note taker, grab a pen, grab a piece of paper.

[00:09:01] This hopefully will bring this story to life. In the original language, it means house of mercy or house of flowing. Interesting. Why was it called that? Well, you can go to Jerusalem today

[00:09:14] and you can actually see the spot where Bethesda is. In fact, we should have a picture for it here on the screen. So this is the actual spot of Bethesda. And it was a place where those who were

[00:09:29] sick or struggling with diseases or had some issue in their life that they needed God to redeem and heal them from. They would go to this place and they're sitting by the side of the pool

[00:09:39] and they're waiting because they believed that there was an angel who came and it would stir the waters. And they thought, well, if we could just get into the water first before anyone else,

[00:09:49] we would be healed from whatever that we're struggling with. Now, why would they think that? Well, what's the backstory to that idea that they had about the waters being stirred? Now, this is where it gets really interesting. If you're a student and you're into anthropology

[00:10:06] or Greek mythology, this may ring a bell. But in the mythology of the ancient Greeks, one of the gods that they worshipped was Asclepius. Asclepius, of course, was the god of healing. We talked about this not too long ago actually, how he had this staff, they believed,

[00:10:21] with a snake that was wrapped around it. And so as part of their worship of Asclepius is they made what they called these places of healing or centers of healing all throughout the city. They called

[00:10:35] them Asclepions. And this was all throughout the Roman Empire. And what you would find at the Asclepion is typically there would be a temple, there'd be a place of worship, that's where you'd

[00:10:45] sacrifice to Asclepius. And then in the center of the Asclepion was a pool. And they believed in this Greek mythology that every now and then the water would ripple or maybe some bubbles would

[00:10:59] come up to the surface. And they thought when that happened, that's when the god Asclepius has come. He stirred the waters or maybe it's one of his helpers, a healing spirit. And so they taught

[00:11:11] that if you could get into these waters, if you were the first one there, you could be healed from whatever it was that you were struggling with. So the ill, the disabled, they would congregate

[00:11:22] there. Now, most historians, most Bible scholars believe that this place here in John chapter 5 was in fact an Asclepion because the Greeks really had Hellenized, their culture had Hellenized the Roman world as well. That is the Romans, they were known for military, they were known for their

[00:11:43] Caesars or whatever. But the Greek mythology and the Greek culture was so powerful and pervasive that they really blended it into the Roman world. And so this spot of Bethesda, most Bible scholars think, yeah, this used to be an Asclepius. Did my mic...there we go.

[00:12:04] Maybe the Lord wants me to shut up. I'm good with that. Like, that's cool. Okay. So all these people would come because they think this is the spot. Now, here's another interesting thing you need

[00:12:14] to know. Is that in that culture, if you had a disease, if you had some kind of infirmity, if you were disabled, if your body had some kind of imperfection, in that culture, and it's so tragic,

[00:12:28] they believed that you were judged by the gods and they would push you to the margins of society. Most of the time you were forced to live in poverty. The only way you could survive really was

[00:12:41] by begging. And those who were good looking, those who were wealthy, those were the people that were kind of pushed to the front. Because you guys know this, there was a high emphasis.

[00:12:51] If you look at their art or you look at their sculptures, the Greeks believed that the perfection of the human body was the highest ideal. And so if you were good looking and you

[00:13:01] were close to that ideal, then they taught, well, you've been blessed by the gods, hence we're gonna revere you and we're gonna give you opportunities. But if you're not good looking, or if you have these issues, then we're going to reject you. Now it's interesting because here we

[00:13:15] are a couple thousand years removed, but I think in so many ways we have a very similar ethos and ideology where we live in a culture where it's all about who's in, who's out. And typically the people

[00:13:27] we revere and idolize are the good looking or the uber successful or the very, very wealthy. So the last month I've been doing this kind of mini book tour. It's been a ton of fun,

[00:13:37] but I've spent a lot of time on airplanes. And when you go on an airplane, isn't it, it's kind of a microcosm of the divisions that you see in culture? So you go on these planes and in the back

[00:13:53] economy class where I always sit are all the peasants, right? You hang out back there and then you have another class, right? If you have a little more money, you get to sit in business class,

[00:14:05] right? And their seats are a little bigger and a little more cushy, maybe get your own screen or whatever. But then there's one more, there's one more class which I've never been, but I wonder about it behind this veil of champagne somewhere towards the front is first

[00:14:22] class. And you just wonder like what's happening there, it just seems so magical, right? And does their part of the plane land before we do? It's just incredible. So I've never gone first class,

[00:14:32] but I can imagine it's wonderful. But if that's not good enough, you guys have heard this probably, some airlines now are rolling out what they call super first class. Now I was reading about super

[00:14:46] first class because I had a conversation with someone recently who just took one of these flights and I'm like, what's it like? He said, oh, it's the best thing ever. He says, that's all I'm

[00:14:54] going to do from here on out. And it's not just you get your nice seat, you get your own basically apartment. It's like has these three different rooms in it. You get your own chef, you get your

[00:15:05] own butler, you can take a shower. It's like absolutely incredible. And it's all for the low, low price of starting at $30,000. So I'm like, wait a minute, I'm talking to this guy like, okay,

[00:15:17] you just spent 30 grand just on one flight, one way. Seriously? He's like, oh yeah, it's the best thing ever. Like really? Like what you could do with $30,000? You could buy a car, down payment

[00:15:29] for a house. You could even shop at Whole Foods. I mean, it's like, wow, amazing. So in this culture that we live, you know, we like to think of ourselves as yeah, we're so progressive and we're

[00:15:41] so much better than they used to be in the intro. I don't really think so. We're still about idolizing people and really marginalizing those who we don't think are very important. But Jesus,

[00:15:52] you know what I love about Jesus? He didn't play by the rules. He shows up and he didn't care if you were rich or poor. He didn't care if you were whatever race you were from or whatever it was

[00:16:04] you were struggling with. He just was an equal opportunity lover of people. And in fact, I would argue the people who are most broken and most hurting and most persecuted, those were the people

[00:16:14] that Jesus wanted to spend time with. You know, Mother Teresa, truth bomb here. Mother Teresa, she's like, we can be really good talking about the poor, but we don't actually talk to the poor.

[00:16:27] And Jesus, he talked to the poor. He not only did that, he went to the very places where they were hurting the most. Jesus runs to the people that we run from. And here's a guy that for 38 years,

[00:16:42] he's in the same spot. He's hanging out by the pool. That's a long time. 38 years of dashed hopes. 38 years of how long God are you gonna let this happen? 38 years, I just want to walk. 38 years

[00:16:55] begging for his food. And Jesus shows up and everything changed. He said, get up, take up your mat and walk. Notice Jesus is asking him to do something that was technically impossible. That's

[00:17:07] the problem, Jesus. I can't get up and walk. But then it says, verse nine, check this out. Oh, this is huge. Immediately, immediately the man was cured. So you got to grab a pen and piece of

[00:17:18] paper or hopefully your phone on airplane mode and jot this down on your notes app. The word immediately in the Greek language, which is the language of the New Testament is the word,

[00:17:27] eutheos. Let me hear you say eutheos. It means suddenly or at once. 36 times we see this word being used. It's one of Jesus' favorite things actually. All throughout his ministry, we see God showing up and in a moment, in an instant, suddenly at once things are turned around.

[00:17:53] Here's a few examples in Matthew chapter eight, verse eight. Is that your alarm clock? That's awesome. Time to wake up. This is it. We're in church. That's so rad. Oh man. Matthew eight, verse eight. Jesus met a leopard. Now you guys know this in that culture. If you

[00:18:12] have leprosy, you were considered unclean. Like think llama movie, no touchy. You don't get near a leper. But what does Jesus do? He touched the leper. He touched the leper. And it says immediately

[00:18:24] at once the man's leprosy was cleansed. Or you have Matthew chapter 14. Jesus walks on water. Peter's like, I want to do that too. And so Peter gets out of the boat and he starts to walk on water. And

[00:18:34] then he gets freaked out because he sees all the waves and the wind that's blowing, the rain that's coming down. And Peter, you know, he starts to sink. And it says immediately Jesus reached out

[00:18:44] with his hand, grabbed Peter, this one arm curl sets him in the boat. He's like, bro, do you even lift? Right? That's what it says in the Greek. Puts him in the boat. And immediately everything

[00:18:54] changed around. Changed. In one moment he's drowning. The next he's back safe in a boat. Or Matthew chapter 20, verse 34. Jesus met a blind man. And it says he's filled with compassion and he touched him. And immediately at once, he received his sight. In Mark 7, Jesus does the

[00:19:13] same thing with the deaf man. And immediately the man's ears were opened. Now we could do a whole study on the theology of healing, but you guys know this. Sometimes when the Lord heals

[00:19:23] someone or a marriage or a situation or a crisis, he's like, I'm going to heal you. And he's like, sometimes the healing is incremental. Sometimes it's step-by-step. Sometimes in the words of Eugene Peterson, it's a long obedience in the same direction. But there are other times when God

[00:19:40] shows up in a relationship at work and your own financial situation and ministry where it's immediate. God just does something immediate. It's sudden. I'm in this ministry called Happy Home for the Handicapped. And the stories there are just absolutely breathtaking. Some are tragic.

[00:19:58] Some are beautiful. But we have some slides to show you of what you guys are doing in India. I just heard a few days ago this incredible story of a young girl there who her name's Moana.

[00:20:10] Beautiful name. And Moana literally means in India, silent one. And her family, she's very young. Her family abandoned her. So she had nowhere to go. She's living on the streets. She's traumatized, just going through horrific things. One day, someone is driving through these

[00:20:32] streets and they see Moana wandering around, just confused in a daze, wandering in and out of traffic. The Lord speaks to their heart like you need to stop and go see what's happening. They

[00:20:43] pull over. They have a conversation. They find out what's happening, that she didn't have a family, that she had been abandoned. Brought her to the house that you guys are supporting. And the house

[00:20:53] was able to adopt her. This is all recent. This is so cool. Was able to adopt her. And as we sit here right now, they're giving her an education. They brought in a speech therapist because of

[00:21:03] her trauma, things that she's gone through. She was the silent one, just like her name. She was very, very quiet. But they brought in a speech therapist and she's getting all this training

[00:21:12] again because of what you guys are doing and her giving. And I just heard Tom told me this couple of days ago. This is so cool. Is that Moana, silent one, is now the life of the party.

[00:21:22] And she's just full of joy and hope and dancing and singing. And it's just, to me, it's a beautiful story of redemption. How in a moment someone sees her. In a moment God says, go talk to her.

[00:21:35] In a moment, hey let's give you a chance. Let's give you an opportunity. God can turn things around. And I'm not just talking about what's happening in India or the video that we saw earlier of

[00:21:48] Innocent. I'm talking about your life too. God can turn things around in those areas in your life, the 38 years of hanging out at Bethesda, the long season of wondering how long, oh Lord, the unanswered prayers, the thing that you hoped would happen but it hasn't happened. Listen,

[00:22:07] in a moment it can all change. He is the God of the suddenly. Maybe you're here right now and you're battling discouragement. You're stuck in this place year after year. Or you're facing unemployment or you went through a breakup. You're married to someone who doesn't believe in Jesus.

[00:22:27] Or you're languishing in the same job. Or you're struggling with an addiction that you can't seem to kick. Or you're lonely. You're single and you're like, man I just I'd do anything to mingle right now.

[00:22:37] And you're in this spot. It's the 38 years. It's the time at Bethesda. And you're praying, you're hoping, and you've been praying and hoping for a long time. And you know what can so often

[00:22:48] happen in our life? And it's happened to me too. Where you get discouraged. We had this hope and you had this dream and then this is the worst part. The enemy gets in and he starts to whisper lies.

[00:23:01] It's never going to change. Things are never going to get better. There's never going to be a breakthrough. You may as well just give up on God. You may as well just walk away from that

[00:23:11] marriage that you have no hope in. You may as well just give up that dream that was on your heart. And the enemy gets in with this subtle lies. And our heart just it's this downward spiral like

[00:23:25] air that's let out of a tire. We feel that our hope and joy is deflated. And I know for a fact that some of you are in that space here today. And I just want you to know this. I think one

[00:23:36] word for you that you can get from this text is that God can turn it around. And it could happen today. It could happen tomorrow. It may be next year. It may be five years from now. But God is a God of

[00:23:49] power. He is a God of joy. He is a God of hope. And he is a God who can take our broken situation, the dream that you've let go of, the situation you've given up on, in an instant he can intervene.

[00:24:02] He can flip the script. And I want to encourage you, don't give up hope. He will never abandon what he has begun. This is why the apostle Paul in Galatians 6 verse 9, he says,

[00:24:13] let us not grow weary. We have the verse hopefully on the screen. Let us not grow weary in well-doing for the proper time. The proper time. Okay, come on. Let's do this.

[00:24:27] Or not. I'll read it to you. We will reap a harvest if we do not lose heart. So sorry it's not up there. Write down though Galatians 6 verse 9. It's a game changer. And here's the question

[00:24:38] that we have to grapple with today. And this is huge. If God decided to show up, if God decided to answer the prayer, if God decided today to flip the script, let me ask you this.

[00:24:57] Are you ready for that moment? Are you ready? Are you ready to respond? Are you ready to go? Are you ready to put yourself in the situation where when God says, let's go, take up your mat

[00:25:12] and follow me, you're like, yep, I'm going to do it. I mean, you look at this guy. This is why I love about this story. Jesus shows up. It's been 38 years. He wants to be healed. And Jesus says,

[00:25:21] okay, take up your mat and walk. The guy didn't argue with him. He didn't say, oh, that's impossible. Are you joking? No. He said, I'm ready. In fact, I'm more than ready. And I've been ready for a long

[00:25:32] time. Immediately he jumps to his feet. He didn't resist. He didn't argue. He said, let's do this. And this is what I love about the story because God may not be answering your prayer right now.

[00:25:46] But you can put yourself in a position that when he does answer your prayer, you can be ready to respond. And I know that some of you are in that place. In fact, a good chunk of you, you're doing

[00:25:59] well with the Lord and you're right now, spiritually speaking, just where you're at in life. You're on the edge of your seat. You're like, okay, the moment God says go, I'm going. The moment

[00:26:09] he says, now's the time, I'm going to run the race. I'm not giving up hope. I'm sitting here in expectation because I believe that God's going to work in my marriage or in my singleness or in

[00:26:19] this job that I'm in or this financial situation or this physical thing that I'm going through. And God, the moment you say go, I'm ready to go. You're on the edge of your seat. But I also know

[00:26:30] that some of you are in a place, and this is where we just have to be so honest. This is where we have to kind of strip past the fake Christian-y stuff and just ask ourself the real question.

[00:26:43] Some of us are in a place that if we were brutally honest, even if the prayer were answered right now, even if the suddenly moment took place, we wouldn't take up our mat and walk. Why?

[00:27:02] Because you're not ready to change yet. You're not ready to go yet. Oh, you might be acting like you are. And we might come to a place like this and, oh, I'm following you, Jesus. I'm giving it

[00:27:15] all to you. But if we're honest with ourself and with God, you've kind of gotten stuck. You're in this place of just mediocre Christianity. And I just wonder if some of us, the Lord is

[00:27:30] saying, now's the time, take up your mat and walk. But you would rather be in this place of mediocre, comfortable Christianity, because you've been there for so long that even if He says go, you're like,

[00:27:44] ah, I like the pool. I'm getting a tan. It's kind of nice here. So recently, I had coffee with a guy who...it's an interesting conversation. I can share this story with you because he doesn't go here

[00:27:57] anymore, and you'll see why. We went and had coffee, and he's in his later 20s, and he just was in a place where he just really, really wants to get married and date a number of people. And we're driving

[00:28:12] back, and I asked him the question. I'm saying, like, what are you looking for in a woman? Like, when you get married, what kind of girl would you want? And it totally caught me off guard because

[00:28:23] his response was, well, he reached into his wallet, he opened it up, and he pulled down a piece of paper, and he had written a list. So he carries this list with him. And I thought it would be three or four

[00:28:34] things. It was 30 or 40. And so right around number 20, 22, I'm like, now I know why you're still single because he's just like, I'm looking for this. I'm looking for this. And it's like these

[00:28:44] way...these expectations are way, way, way too high. I'm like, you're describing my wife. I've already married her. So when he was done reading this thing, I asked him the question. I said, that list is really interesting, man. Thanks for sharing. But what if instead

[00:29:08] focusing on what kind of woman you want, you instead focused on being the kind of man that a woman like that would want to marry? And that's when it got a little awkward because it hit me, like

[00:29:25] he had spent all this time trying to craft what he thought the perfect girl would be like. But I knew for a fact in his life and in his walk with the Lord, and we had a conversation

[00:29:36] about this too, there was stuff that he was doing that just wasn't good. Looking at porn and making some bad financial decisions, and just there's some addiction issues and things he hadn't

[00:29:45] really cleared up. And so he's all fixated on, okay, I want this girl to be like this. But even if she came into his life, even if he met her at church or whatever, she wouldn't want to date a guy like that.

[00:29:57] He wasn't ready that even if this suddenly happened, even if that moment of like, okay, the Lord's like, this is your time. Here she is. Here's the opportunity. Take up your mat and walk. He's like, I'm not ready.

[00:30:12] I haven't prepared myself for this moment. And I just wonder if some of us are in that same space. Isn't it interesting that before Jesus healed the guy, what did he say? Check this out. Hopefully we'll

[00:30:24] put this on the screen. In verse 9, he says, yes, thank you. Give it up for the slide guy. Awesome. He asked a question. And I want you to ask your neighbor this question. Do you want to be,

[00:30:35] do you want to get well? So ask your neighbor that question right now. Now I have a question, I have a question for you. Because when I first read that, my initial response and maybe your

[00:30:51] initial response too is, that's kind of insensitive, Jesus. I mean, here's a guy, he wanted to walk. Here's a guy, he's sick. Here's a guy who's desperately wanted a normal life. And Jesus asked

[00:31:04] him, do you want to get well? Of course. Of course he wants to get well. Why would you ask him that? I think the reason that verse is in this story is really, I think it's for us. Because there are times

[00:31:17] in our life when Jesus is calling us to take up our mat and walk. There are times when he has a new path and a new opportunity and new doors to step through and new things he's calling you to, but

[00:31:30] you don't really want to go. You've been saying you want to, you've maybe even been praying for it, acting like it, but you know deep down you're not ready to change. I like my spot by the pool.

[00:31:48] I kind of like where I'm at right now in life. Oh, I know God has more, but I'm so used to the predictable that I'm really not ready to step into the unpredictable. And you lose God in the

[00:32:00] mediocre Christian life when instead he's calling you to step through the threshold of change and opportunity and growth and new things and mountains to climb and vistas to look upon and challenges

[00:32:15] and growth and opportunity and being stretched. Do you want to get well? Really, do you want to get well? I was reading a few days ago the story of Pharaoh, and I invite the worship team up right now.

[00:32:31] Pharaoh, as you know, he held the children of Israel bondage as slaves. Moses, he shows up and he's like, hey, I want you to let these people go free. And Pharaoh was like, no way,

[00:32:46] they're staying here. And so Moses says, okay, there's going to be some plagues. And you guys know the story. There are all these plagues. Some of them were really bizarre. There's blood and

[00:32:54] lice and there's fire and locusts. But I think one of the weirdest plagues was a plague of frogs. Can you imagine? The entire land of Egypt is covered, blanketed, carpeted with frogs. Everywhere

[00:33:08] you go, you're stepping on these things. And Pharaoh, of course, hated that. So Moses, he goes up to Pharaoh and he's like, hey man, do you want me to ask God to get rid of the frogs? And Pharaoh

[00:33:20] was like, yeah, obviously, get rid of these frogs. I don't like them. And then Moses asked the question. It really struck me. It's so interesting. He said, when would you like the frogs to go? And do you know what Pharaoh said? Does anyone know? Yeah. He said, tomorrow.

[00:33:38] What? If they were me, I'd be like, now? Yesterday? He said, ah, tomorrow. I'm not... Ready? Give me one more night with the frogs. It is crazy, but how many times do we do that in our own life where we know there's more

[00:34:02] we know there's doors to step through. We know there's opportunity to seize. We know he's calling us to take up our mat and walk. But give me one more night with the frogs.

[00:34:14] You're dating someone. You know that person is not good for you. You know they're leading you down this path that's just destructive. And the Spirit's been warning you. Your friends have been texting you.

[00:34:27] And you're like, ah, but I'm not ready. It's too hard. Just give me one more night with the frog. Right? Maybe it's an addiction. Maybe it's a sin. Maybe it's pornography. And you know, it's destroying you. It's ruining you. It's just sabotaging you and your walk with God.

[00:34:48] You've been there. You've been there long enough. Five years, 10 years, maybe some 38 years. The same addictions. The same way of living. The same bad decisions. And you pray, oh Lord,

[00:35:06] set me free from this. Lord, I want to live a different kind of life. But to be honest, you're not ready. You're not ready. One more night with the frogs, man. I kind of like it here. Maybe it's your

[00:35:20] health and you've been seeing a doctor and he's like, you got to make some changes because if you don't, your life's going to be a lot shorter. You got to change things up. You got to exercise more.

[00:35:29] You got to eat better. And you're like, ah, yeah, sounds great. Spirit's willing, man, but the donuts are sweet. Right? Give me one more night with the frogs. Maybe it's just life and you're in this job

[00:35:45] right now. You're in this career and it's okay. But you know you could do more. And people who are close to you, they're telling you the same thing. And maybe there's some opportunities that

[00:35:58] have presented themselves and it's going to take risk. It's going to take boldness. It's going to take courage. And you're like, ah, I kind of like the predictable. And sure, it's not ideal, but man,

[00:36:08] it's by the pool. I'm used to it and I can do it with my hands closed. That's fine. But there's more that God has. Do you want to be made well? Do you want to be made well? Some of you,

[00:36:21] it's time for you to get up, take up your mat and follow Jesus. It's time for you to stop kicking the tires and being on the outskirts of your life with him and not really going all in. And Jesus is

[00:36:37] saying, now is the time to follow after me. Whatever that is and whatever that looks like, it's time to say goodbye to the normal and the predictable and the mediocre and just stuck in

[00:36:48] the rut and get up now. Take up your mat. Let's go. Let's do this. In the book of Hebrews, it says, today, if you hear my voice, do not harden your heart. So I just want to ask you,

[00:37:09] do you hear the voice of the spirit speaking to you today? And you've been hearing it for a long time and he's been speaking to you about that issue for a long time. For some, it's been 38 years.

[00:37:22] And hear my heart here. I think God brought you to this place to encourage you on one hand, but also kind of as a warning because the opportunity and the invitation that God gives

[00:37:34] you to now take up your mat and follow me, it doesn't happen every day. And you keep saying no and you keep resisting and you keep putting it off. I'll clean up my act next week. I'll get rid

[00:37:45] of that addiction next year. Then I'll do it. I'll fix that relationship tomorrow. No, I think that God is warning some of us saying, no, this is it. This is the time. This is the window of

[00:38:00] opportunity. What are you going to do? Take up your mat and follow me. Would you consider leaving a review on iTunes or your favorite podcasting platform? That would help

[00:38:27] a ton in getting the word out. Also, if you want to partner with us or see what we're up to, check out our website, pursuingfaith.org.