Make a Move

Intro

The Secular - How many of you remember playing these games when you were a kid and you watch a movie or read a book and then you go play with your friends and pretend to be different characters in the movie?

So, you watch the Avengers and you’re like - I’m Ironman or I’m the Hulk.

When we read a story or watch a movie, we often find a character that we identify with. That we feel like we could be.

Biblical Background - Tonight I want to look at a story in the book of John and I want to talk about the characters in the story and how we identify with them. How, in a certain sense, we are the people in the story.

Biblical Content - (Show Video) Let’s Look at John 5:1-9

John 5:1–9 NLT

1 Afterward Jesus returned to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish holy days. 2 Inside the city, near the Sheep Gate, was the pool of Bethesda, with five covered porches. 3 Crowds of sick people—blind, lame, or paralyzed—lay on the porches. 5 One of the men lying there had been sick for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him and knew he had been ill for a long time, he asked him, “Would you like to get well?” 7 “I can’t, sir,” the sick man said, “for I have no one to put me into the pool when the water bubbles up. Someone else always gets there ahead of me.” 8 Jesus told him, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk!” 9 Instantly, the man was healed! He rolled up his sleeping mat and began walking! But this miracle happened on the Sabbath,

Bridge - Let’s look at the characters in this story tonight

Points

A Crippled Man

This man had been crippled for 38 years

Maybe he was dropped as a kid

Maybe there was an accident

Maybe he became sick

Whatever the reason - He can’t walk

He would gather everyday with all the other broken and sick people at this pool

The belief was that the water in the pool would stir

When the water stirred, if you could be the first on in the pool, you could be healed.

This man felt alone and had no one - He couldn’t get better because there was no one to help him (vs 7 - “I have no one”)

Where was his family?

What about his friends?

He was broken, overlooked, avoided, and left alone - he felt invisible

We are often like this crippled man

Something in life has beaten us down and caused us to feel broken

Maybe your parents got a divorce

Maybe you had a relative that just died

Maybe you were bullied at school

Maybe you had friends that turned on you

LIFE OFTEN LEAVES US BROKEN

When life breaks us, we begin to feel like this man - Like we have no one.

We are all alone Nobody sees us Nobody cares about us No one is going to help us C.The truth is that we are all broken on some level

Sometimes the people that were supposed to love us the most did things to us that hurt us and brought pain and made us feel broken and alone. Illustration - There is a story in the Bible about a guy named Mephibosheth. He was a prince. His grandfather was a great king. One day his grandfather and his father were out in battle and it didn’t go so well - His father and grandfather both died. He was only 5yrs old. When the king and His son died, they needed do get Mephibosheth into hiding because he should be the next one they come to kill. So His babysitter picks him up and begins to move him to safety and in the process she drops him. She breaks both his legs and for the rest of his life he is broken and lame.

Many of you in this room feel this way

Things in life have happened to you that have left you feeling broken, alone, and hurting.

Not one of us in this room is exempt from feeling this way at some point.

We are all around the pool.

We all at some point in life feel invisible, like no one cares and we have no one to help us.

Jesus

Jesus didn’t have to go by this pool As a matter of fact, normal people would try to avoid it.

Who wants to walk through an area where a bunch of broken, sick people are sitting?

Imagine the whining and complaining that went on at this pool - who wants to be there?

Jesus, for whatever reason decides to walk through this area

He looks and sees this man -

the man that everyone else overlooks, the man that no one else is coming to help.

The man that feels alone The man that has no family, no friends, no one to help him

Jesus knew he had been there a long time - and moves towards him to bring healing to his life.

Jesus makes a move towards the man who feels invisible and alone.

Jesus makes a move towards the man who is broken

We are called to be like Jesus

Jesus made a move towards us - But tonight I want to remind you that you are to be like Jesus

Just as Jesus moves towards people who are broken and hurting and alone, you and and I need to move to people who are broken and hurting and alone.

Who, in your life can you move towards?

Who needs to be reminded that they are not alone?

Who needs to know that they can be healed? Who needs to know that they can be whole?

Many of you have friends that feel alone and broken - If you want to make a difference in their lives, you have to make a move towards them.

You have to get involved in their lives and in their situation.

Closing Illustration - What does it look like? What does it look like for us to move towards those who are broken? Maybe it looks something like this: (show video)

Isn’t this video what Jesus did for us?

He said - Join Me

We said - We are broken

He said - It’s ok, I will help you

And isn’t this what we are called to do for people?

We say - Join Me

They Say - But we are broken

And We say - It’s ok, we will help you

Conclusion

Here’s what I want us to do tonight - Who do you need to make a move towards? What in your life is broken?

Jesus made a move towards you - and as you get ready to go back to school in the next couple of weeks - Who do you need to make a move towards?

You’ve got 3 pieces of paper in front of you - Don’t write your name on it or anything. On two of them I want you to write the name a friend or someone you know that you. Someone that you want to make a difference in their life. I want you to write their name down and write down how you intend to this week make a move towards them so that you can make a difference in them. Keep one of them and the other I want you to put in the pool. The 3rd piece of paper, I want you write on it an area of your life where you feel broken. Put it in the pool. I’m gonna collect all the paper from the pool and we are going to pray for these over the next few months.