Poolside Miracle

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Poolside Miracle

September 16, 2007

We live in a world, we live in a culture that is always looking for the quick fix, the miraculous, “please send it our way”.  How many of you guys know someone that is always hopping into the latest get rich quick scheme?  They are always looking for a financial miracle. 

Raise your hand if you know somebody like that. 

How many of you guys know someone that is always trying the latest diet pill, the latest diet Atkins North Beach, Southwest Beach, the latest treadmill? 

How many of you guys know somebody that’s looking for a weight loss miracle, Raise your hand.  Exactly.  We all do. 

Why don’t you point at them?  I’m just kidding.  I’m just kidding.  Don’t point at them. 

We live in a culture where we are always looking for the miraculous.  We are always searching for the miraculous.  “God, please send us a miracle.  Fix this for us, and fix it really, really, really, really quick.” 

I want to tell you a story about a guy today who was searching for a miracle.  He was like many of us, but he was searching for a miracle for 38 years.   Man, the guy was persistent, so if you have your Bibles, turn with me to John 5, and I am going to go ahead and begin talking you through today’s story. 

What is your handicap?

“Sometime later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews.  Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate, there is a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesada and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades,”

“Here a great number of disabled people used to lie – the blind were there, the lame, the paralyzed, and there was one who was there who had been an invalid for 38 years.” 

John 5

So, here’s the story.  Jesus is coming back to Jerusalem, and He walks into this area called Bethesada, right?  And so, He’s walking in and He sees these two pools, and He sees these big porticos, these big porches that are covered, and He sees hundreds, maybe even thousands of handicapped people that are laying around these porches, all just staring at the waters of Bethesada. 

People had traveled for miles just to be able to lay around the porches around this pool.  Why?  Well, there was an urban legend back in the day that said that an angel would fly over these pools, then he would begin to stir the waters, and then the waters would become an instrument of miraculous healing, and the first person that was handicapped, that were to get in the waters after the angel stirred them, would be healed instantly. 

And so, that’s why people traveled from all over just to sit at the chance that just maybe, “Just maybe I’m going to get the miracle that I have always dreamed of having”.  And the Bible introduces our star character.  He says there was a guy who had been handicapped for 38 years, who was laying around the pool.  

Every once in a while there would be a bubbling up from the bottom of the pool or a ripple across the surface and it would be instant chaos – people diving in from all over and always this one guy who was too late.

Handicap and Marriage Story

Told by a minister who married a woman who was handicapped

Well, I don’t know what it is like to be handicapped, but many of you guys know my wife’s story.  She’s been handicapped for 19 years.  She was hit by a drunk driver when she was 16 years old and lost the lower part of her right leg, and so, I will never forget. 

When Jodi and I first started dating, we were having a conversation.  She said, “Chris, I’ve just got to be honest with you.  It seems like you are pulling away from this relationship, like it doesn’t mean very much to you.  What’s going on?” 

I just kind of bowed my head in shame.  I was like, “Well, you know, I know this is really bad, Jodi, but I’m just really struggling with what it means to marry someone who is physically handicapped.” 

Yes, I’m a jerk.  Yes, I’m an idiot.  Yes, I’m shallow, and yes, I’m rude.  Please hold off on the emails.  I know all that.  So, I was sitting there, and I was like, “Okay, what’s she going to say?” 

Silence.  She just kind of kicks back and says, “You know what?  I don’t know what makes you think that for the past ten years, when I was dreaming about my knight in shining armor, that he was bald at the age of 22.”  Oh!  Man, she laid me out, told me how it was. 

And then she said, “Here’s what you’ve got to understand, Chris, is that everybody in the world is handicapped.  Everyone should have a blue placard that they hang from the rear view mirror.  The only difference between me and everyone else is that you can see my handicap.  Everyone else has the ability to disguise theirs.” 

If you guys are taking notes, that’s my first question for you is, “What is your handicap?”  What is it?  Is your handicap that you are spiritually blind? 

Are you blinded to the things of God? 

He’s drawing you, but you are just not seeing it?  Maybe you don’t realize that God has created you with massive gifts and purpose, and you are living below the level He has called you to live at. 

There’s others of you here that are just struggling with sin in your lives and you are blinded to the fact that it is not only destroying your life, but it is destroying those people that are around you and love you, and care about you. 

Maybe your handicap is that you are spiritually lame.  Maybe you have been abused sexually, verbally, physically, mentally.  You have been cheated on.  You are hurting.  Your heart is broken.  You are not happy anymore. 

Maybe you are here and you are spiritually paralyzed.  You are looking back on the first half of your life, and you are saying, “Man, isn’t there something more to life?” 

Maybe you feel like you are stuck.  Some of you may feel like you are in reverse. 

There’s others of you that are just going through spiritual apathy.  You haven’t felt a fresh touch from God months, after month, after month, after month. 

Maybe you are struggling with an addiction, and it has paralyzed you.  Everything revolves around that. 

The people who were sitting around the pool of Bethesada that day, they not only were physically handicapped, but there were many of them just like you and I that were spiritually handicapped, and they were struggling, and they were just waiting for healing in their life.  

So, Jesus walks in, okay?  And He sees the pool, and He sees the handicapped people, and He walks straight over to this guy who had struggled with his handicap for 38 years.  What does He say to him? 

Do you want to be well?

When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”

John 5:6

John 5:6, It says when Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him,” say it with me.  “Do you want to be well?”  Say it again, “Do you want to be well?” 

That’s the question.  Do you want to be well?  Thirty-eight years the guy’s been struggling with this.  He hasn’t been able to have a regular job.  He hasn’t been able to take care of himself.  He’s had people waiting on him hand and foot.”  Then it hit me, that’s why Jesus is asking him, because he’s grown comfortable with his handicap. 

So, just like Jesus approached this guy, He is approaching you today, wherever it is that you are sitting, and He’s asking you the same question: “Do you want to get well?”  Or, have you grown comfortable with your handicap?  Have you grown comfortable with being spiritually apathetic?  Have you grown comfortable with the control in your life?  With the negativity?  Have you grown comfortable with a sub-par marriage?  Have the things that once broke your heart and broke the heart of God no longer bothers you – or maybe you have come to enjoy the sympathy and pity you get? 

Maybe there’s some of you that are sitting out there that would be honest enough to say the answer to your question, ‘Do you want to be well?’ is no.  I know what God requires.  I know He requires 100%, but right now in the place that I’m living, I’m willing to give Him about 50%.”  And some of you that you are terrified that you will never, ever be able to change, you have struggled with this thing for so long. 

I want to tell you a story about a man in whom God has moved so miraculously, I’ve just got to walk you through it. 

Mel Pellinen was a big strapping guy.  I met him when I lived in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.  Mel lived in Ishpeming and for years as a butcher he had carried whole sides of beef on his shoulders.  Then one day he threw a 250 side onto his back and heard it crack.  He went down and for the next 10 years he suffered incredible pain. 

Mel had several surgeries but nothing helped so he started drinking.  Eventually he was on the edge of suicide, his wife was ready to leave him and his family was coming apart at the seams. 

That’s when a friend of his started coming to the Lake Superior Christian Church where I pastured in Marquette, MI.  He invited Mel to come with him.  Mel wouldn’t come but he if I would go to talk with him.  I went over and Mel told me that about a month before he had been in the hospital for yet another surgery and was ready to quit everything when he decided to pray.  It was during this prayer that he suddenly heard a voice which said, “You are going to be all right.  I am with you.” And then he felt an incredible sense of peace.

Mel told me that since that day he had been sober.  The pain wasn’t gone but his attitude had changed and it was bearable.  He asked me to teach him about Jesus.  A couple of weeks later I baptized Mel into Jesus. 

Today in my office you can see, carved on wood, the face of Jesus.  On the back it is signed by Mel Pellinen who carved it for me.

Exodus 15:26, it says, “For I am the Lord, who heals you.”  This word “heal” is Jehovah Rapha, which means, the Lord our healer.  I means that Jesus is the spiritual surgeon of the soul with grace and mercy, and love and compassion, He looks down into your handicap, and He can bring healing like nothing else can bring healing. 

Doctor Phil can’t heal you.  Oprah can’t heal you.  Money can’t heal you.  Relationships can’t heal you.  Your addictions can’t heal you.  The only one that can heal you is the Spiritual Surgeon of the Soul.  Will you turn everything over to Him? 

And He can do the miraculous.  Powerful story.  It’s dark, but it shows what happens when God’s love and mercy starts to shine on your situation. 

How big is God?

One fifth grade kid said,  “He’s like 300 meters round.” 

Another kid – third grade, said, “she doesn’t know what she’s talking about.  He’s like 300 times 500 kilocentiliters.” 

Then a five year old kid said, “They’re all wrong. God is as big as ophenity.” 

When asked, “What is ophinity?”  He’s said, “It’s like Buzz Light Year, ophenity and beyond.” 

So Jesus walks up to the guy, right?  Says, “Do you want to be well?” 

Do you want to be well?

“Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”

What does the guy say?  You’ve got the Creator of the universe standing in front of you. This is your chance to experience healing.  John 5:7, “Sir, the invalid replied, I have nobody to help me into the pool when the water is stirred.  While I am trying to get in, someone else always goes down ahead of me.”  You can just hear the crackling and whining in his voice as he is saying it.  Life is all about him.  He had struggled with his handicap for so long, everything revolves around him.  Reminds me of a song that I love.  I want to talk about me. 

Toby Keith - I Wanna Talk About Me ! lyrics

I wanna talk about me
Wanna talk about i
Wanna talk about number one
Oh my me my
What I think, what I like, what I know, what I want, what I see
I like talking about you you you you, usually, but occasionally
I wanna talk about me (me,me,me,-background singers)
I wanna talk about me (me,me,me,-background singers)

Did you hear all the personal pronouns in the guy’s response?  It’s my sickness.  It’s my healing.  I need to get well.  Nobody’s going to help me.  Nobody will help me get down into the water.  What had happened was, this guy’s handicap had gotten so big that he couldn’t see that Jesus was standing right in front of him. 

I’m like an interactive movie watcher when it comes to horror movies – I yell things at the screen the screen, “Don’t go in there!  Look behind you – and that’s about the time I have to turn it off.  I can’t stand stupidity! 

So, when it’s hard to read this passage and not be yelling at my Bible… “Jesus is standing in front of you!  You’re an idiot!  Open your eyes!” 

How big is your God?

By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth. He gathers the waters of the sea into jars; he puts the deep into storehouses.

Psalms 33:6

I cannot do a very good job explaining how big God is.  There’s no words that really describe it, but if you look at this, it says that He simply used His breath and spoke things into existence.  He didn’t need a “How To Create The Universe” manual that you order off of the internet.  He didn’t need a template. 

He just spoke and it was.  He spoke and the heavens were made, and the earth was made.  And the animals, and the exotic animals, and sea life, and He created weird animals like the puffer fish and the sea squirt.  That’s actually a name.  Go online, and you can see it. 

God is in control.  He owns everything.  He is the star of the show.  He is CEO, and you and I don’t own anything at all.  It is all His.  The Bible even tells us that He knows exactly how many hairs we have on our head, or that you used to have on your head, or on our chin. 

He doesn’t worry.  He is self-existent.  He is all-powerful.  There’s nothing that He cannot do.  He is the creator of everything, and the sustainer of everything, and it is that God that lives deep inside of who we are, and can help us overcome our problems. 

“I want to talk about me.  I want to talk about I.  I want to talk about number one.  Oh me, oh my, but Rick, you don’t know how bad my pain is.  You don’t know how bad my divorce was.” 

How big is your God? 

“You don’t know about my past, Rick.” 

How big is your God? 

“You don’t know how long I have been struggling with this addiction.” 

How big is your God? 

God is bigger than all of your problems.  God is bigger than anything that you can throw at Him. 

What is God telling you to do?

Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.

John 5:8-9

“What is God telling you to do?”  Jesus looks at this guy after he whines off a bunch of excuses, then Jesus said to him, say it with me, “Get up!” 

Say it again, “Get up!” 

There is an exclamation point there.  It says, “Pick up your mat and walk.  At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and he walked.” 

Jesus didn’t ask him, probably because He was tired of his excuses.  He told him.  He said, “Get up!” and because he obeyed what God was asking him to do, he experienced the miraculous.  He was able to walk.  He was able to run.  He was able to swim.  He was able to climb, all because he obeyed what God was asking him to do. 

Obedience precedes the miraculous, but so many of us aren’t interested in the obedience thing.  We are just interested in the obedience of God. 

“Just take this thing away from me.  God, I have this party coming up in two months, I need you to take six inches off right here. 

God, would you put $2,000 in my account?  God, would you just take this addiction away from me?” 

But, the common theme that we see spread throughout scripture is that obedience precedes the miraculous.  God told Moses, take off your sandals.  Because he took off his sandals, he led the children of Israel out of slavery. 

God told Noah, “Go build yourself an ark,” and he did it, even though everybody was making fun of him, said “This is the craziest thing you have done.”  Because he obeyed, we are sitting in this room. 

He told Naaman, “Go dip seven times.”  He was a leper.  His skin was falling off.  He obeyed; he was healed. 

Jesus told Peter, “Come to me on the water.”  Peter obeyed.  The miraculous happened.  He walked on the water. 

He told the blind man, “Go wash the mud off.”  Because he obeyed, he was able to see. 

Our obedience precedes the miraculous.  What is God telling you to do? 

Mike Freeman, an Elder here at MCC, shared this with me this past week.   When he was finishing up his college he had an opportunity to do his internship at a really swanky resort in Missouri or to do it a children’s camp called Spring Hill in upper Michigan. 

The resort was one of these all inclusive places – kind of like a cruise ship on land.  The parking lot was full of beamers and caddies.  It seemed like a great opportunity to move up in many ways but the staff was heavy into parties and drinking. 

On the way home Mike turned on his radio and the first words he heard from a late night radio show of some preacher that he had never heard of was “You know what you need to do – now do it.”  So Mike went home, called Spring Hill camp and took the job there. 

He was obedient and do you know what God gave him?  Well that next summer he met Sheila.  Now that’s a miracle.  Also a couple of years later in California he got a great job at another place because the manager personally knew the man who he worked with at Spring Hill.  He never would have gotten the job if he taken the position in Missouri.  He never would have met Sheila and who knows what would have happened in his life – but God poured our his blessings because Mike was obedient.

What is God telling you to do?  Not asking, what is He telling you to do?  Is He telling you to get rid of the porn in your life?  Is He telling you to go to someone and ask for forgiveness, or to give  forgiveness?  Is He telling some of you guys to push the plate away, because enough is enough, is enough.  Is He telling you to tithe?  Is He telling you to tear up your credit cards?  Is He telling you to walk away from your addiction?  To walk in and to ask your boss for a promotion?  Is He telling you to get up early in the morning and finally spend some time with Him?  Is He telling you to get involved in ministry?  Is He telling you to spend more time with your kid?  Is He telling you to invest in your marriage and be authentic and real and absolutely truthful? 

If you will begin to do what God is telling you to do, you are going to see the miraculous absolutely explode in your life. 

So, in a series called “Miracles,” some of you came expecting to hear some cool miracle stories.  Others of you came because you are in desperate need of a miracle.  You are struggling with a handicap in your life.  You have been struggling for years.  You are ready to walk away from it. 

I want you to know that Jesus can change you.  Jesus can change you.  Jesus can change you.  You have to remind yourself, in the midst of your struggle that your God is bigger than your problem.  He’s the creator.  He’s big.  He loves you, and He cares about you, and you have to be obedient and do what He’s telling you to do.  No more choices; no more options.

In the Truth Project the leader asks a question… It’s a haunting question.  It haunted him.  He gave it to me and it’s been haunting me all week.  And guess what, if its bugging me, I’m going to pass it on to you… Here it is…

Do you really believe that what you believe is really real?

If you do it will change the way you live – today.  You’ll say, “Yes, God, no matter what it is, I will follow You.  Wherever it is, I will be obedient,” and it is then that you are going to see the miraculous begin to explode in your life.  Do you really, do your really want to get well?  Because, Jesus can heal you, no matter what you are dealing with. 

Let’s pray.  “Father, I just pray that You would just change us, and just walk with us through this time, Father.” 

We have people here today that are believers and Christ followers, but they are struggling right now.  Some are struggling with intimacy with Him.  Some are struggling with being a good parent.  Some are struggling with addictions.  Some are struggling with control.  Some are struggling with lust.  Some are struggling with honesty.  Some are struggling with good self-esteem, and you desperately need a fresh touch from God. 

I want to pray for you.  You know Jesus, but you desperately need a miracle, and you need Him to move in your life.  I want to pray for you. 

Keep your heads down and close your eyes and let me do something here today I don’t normally do.  If you want prayer this morning would you raise your hand.  Just slip it up quietly – no one else is looking.  I want you to raise your hand.  I want you to raise it, “I say Rick, I know Christ, but I need a miracle.”  Raise it so I can see your hand. 

“Father, I just come to You right now, and I just pray for a miracle, a miracle in the lives of these people, Father.  We have people that are hurting and people that are struggling, and people that are not living for You, God, and I just ask that You would bring healing and the miraculous into their lives.” 

Ok.  Now when your miracle happens tell me about it!

Now let’s stand and let me ask you again, do you really believe that what you believe is really real? 

Maybe this is all new to you and you aren’t sure of what you are getting into but you need to do this obedience thing.

Repentance, Baptism, Following after Jesus – maybe it’s time to take the plunge and to make a decision to finally get up and follow Jesus.  Say it with me – Say it with all of us…

I believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God and I will follow him all the days of my life as my savior and Lord.

Now, let’s get serious…  I’ve got a baptistery that we can put into use most any time…  let me know and we’ll fire it up and get it ready!   Mark it on your card.  Call me, email me.  Come up front for prayer…  It’s time to get up and walk!

Let’s worship our Lord.