00:00You know, I come in here every day and I sit down and on the wall right in front of
00:07me
00:07it says, if you want to change your life, you've got to change your life.
00:15Think about that for a minute.
00:18Do different things.
00:21Get different results.
00:24Have you ever thought that maybe where you are right now in life, good or bad, is 100%
00:29the result of your actions and it's not anybody else's fault?
00:34Maybe it's time more of us become adults, look at our lives and realize that actions have consequences.
00:42But there's a positive side of that as well.
00:46Actions have consequences.
00:49If you don't like the results you're getting today, do different things.
00:56Get different results.
01:00You know, there's a story in John chapter 5 that does not get talked about enough.
01:06But I think about it.
01:08Jesus walks into Jerusalem and comes near a pool called Bethesda.
01:14Now, around that pool are sick people, blind people, disabled people, hurting people,
01:22waiting people, and among them is one man who's been stuck for 38 years.
01:32Thirty-eight years.
01:36That's longer than some people's entire adult life.
01:40Thirty-eight years of watching other people move.
01:44Thirty-eight years of hoping today might be different.
01:49Thirty-eight years of disappointment.
01:53Thirty-eight years of being close to hell but never quite receiving it.
01:59Now, here's the part that gets me.
02:04Jesus sees him.
02:05Now, that sounds simple, but it's not.
02:09Because a crowd can look at you and still not see you.
02:13People can step around you every day and never really notice your pain.
02:19You can be surrounded by people and still feel invisible.
02:25But Jesus, well, Jesus sees the man.
02:30He sees the years.
02:32He sees the disappointment, the excuses, the loneliness, the life that has been sitting still for too long.
02:43Then Jesus asks him a strange question.
02:46He says, do you want to be made well?
02:50Now, at first, that sounds almost unnecessary.
02:55It sounds obvious to you and me, right?
02:58Of course he wants to be made well.
03:00He's been lying there for 38 years.
03:03But you see, Jesus, in his wisdom, he never wasted words.
03:09And I think Jesus is asking something deeper.
03:12Do you want change or have you become comfortable with survival?
03:21Do you still want to rise or have you built your identity around being stuck like many others?
03:31Do you still believe life can be different?
03:34Or have you made peace with lying beside the pool?
03:38Now, that's an uncommon lesson about Jesus.
03:43Jesus does not only comfort people in their pain, but sometimes he confronts the part of us that has gotten
03:51used to staying there.
03:53The man answers, I have no one to help me.
04:00That's a common answer we hear in our society today, isn't it?
04:04And that answer is just, it's heartbreaking.
04:09But it's so familiar because so many people live there.
04:15I have no one.
04:17No one opened the door.
04:19No one gave me a chance.
04:22No one understood me.
04:25No one supported me.
04:27No one stood up for me.
04:28And sometimes all of those are true.
04:32Because people fail us.
04:35Systems fail us.
04:38Families fail us.
04:39And you know what?
04:41Sometimes our friends fail us.
04:44But Jesus does not let the man's history become his prison.
04:49He does not argue with him.
04:51He does not shame him.
04:53He does not give him a long speech.
04:56He simply says,
04:59Get up.
05:01Pick up your mat.
05:03And walk.
05:05Well, Jesus just told this man,
05:08If you want to change your life,
05:12you've got to change your life.
05:15You've got to do different things if you want to get different results.
05:21So, get up.
05:22After 38 years,
05:25Get up.
05:27After disappointment,
05:30Get up.
05:31After being overlooked,
05:34Get up.
05:35After everyone else is moving ahead but you,
05:40Get up.
05:41And that is the lesson.
05:43Sometimes the miracle begins when Jesus calls you to
05:47participate in the very thing you thought you could not do.
05:52He did not tell the man to feel ready.
05:56He didn't tell him to wait until his confidence came back.
06:00He did not tell him to make sure everyone approved.
06:04Jesus said,
06:06Get up.
06:08And the man had a choice.
06:11He could stay there and explain why it was impossible.
06:15Or he could move.
06:17Now you see,
06:19That's where many people are right now,
06:21I think.
06:22You have reason to be tired.
06:24You have reason to be discouraged.
06:26You have reasons to feel forgotten.
06:30You may even have real reasons why life has been unfair.
06:34But Jesus,
06:36Jesus still comes near.
06:38And he still asks,
06:41Do you want to be made well?
06:44Not,
06:45Do you want sympathy?
06:47Or,
06:48Do you want a handout?
06:49Or,
06:50Do you want attention?
06:51Not,
06:52Do you want to rehearse this pain forever and just keep living every day?
06:56And in the same suffering you put yourself through,
07:02Do you want to rise?
07:05Because,
07:06At some point,
07:08Faith has to move from explanation to action.
07:12At some point,
07:14You have to stop pointing at everybody else and all your excuses,
07:18And start listening to Jesus.
07:21At some point,
07:22You have to stop waiting for perfect conditions and take the next obedient step.
07:29Because,
07:30Friends,
07:30I'm going to tell you,
07:31As a successful businessman,
07:33There is no such thing as perfect conditions.
07:37So,
07:38Get up.
07:40The man's mat,
07:42It had carried him for years.
07:44But after Jesus spoke,
07:47The man carried the mat.
07:50Did you hear that?
07:51That's powerful.
07:54You see,
07:55The thing that used to define his limitation became evidence of his freedom.
08:02And maybe that's what God wants to do with you.
08:06The pain that's tried to label you may become part of your testimony.
08:12The struggle that's tried to stop you may become proof that Jesus still heals.
08:19The season that looked wasted may become the very place.
08:24Where people see God's power.
08:28So,
08:29So,
08:29No matter how you feel.
08:31No matter how you feel.
08:35Dress up.
08:36Get up.
08:37Show up.
08:39And never,
08:41Ever,
08:42Ever,
08:44Quit.
08:44Not because life is easy.
08:48Not because people have always helped you.
08:51Not because you'll never get hurt.
08:55But because Jesus still sees people beside the pool.
08:59He still speaks to stuck places.
09:03He still calls tired souls to rise.
09:08And when Jesus says,
09:10Get up.
09:11You don't have to stay where life has left you.
09:15Do different things.
09:18Get different results.
09:20If you want to change your life,
09:22Well,
09:24Then you're going to have to
09:26Change your life.
09:29My name is Douglas Vandergraaf.
09:32And I believe in Jesus Christ.
09:35God bless every single one of you.
09:40Every single one.
09:43Bye bye.
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