Last week Ron brought us the message of: God brings us through problems so that we can be Jesus to others

Before we dive to far into our message hear this:

1. God has a message for you not the person that is not here.

2. Let God speak to you not me.

3. If God asks you to live differently today do something about it. Remember that little changes are what creates growth in Jesus

Have you ever felt trapped in your own weakness?

For the first 3 years of my marriage with Natalie I only ordered off of the dollar menu.

Jesus is the Healer and giver of Life

John 5:1-6 After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?”

Do you want to be healed?

Reasons for not wanting to be healed:

1. We love our excuses

2. We have new responsibilities

3. Change is difficult

John 5:7 The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.”

We make excuses why things won’t work even to Jesus

What do you know right now is your crutch that you aren’t giving up?

8-9 Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked.

Jesus is bigger than our excuses.

Jesus can heal us of all ailments.

If your looking for a reason to not be healed you will find it.

9-13 Now that day was the Sabbath. So the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to take up your bed.” But he answered them, “The man who healed me, that man said to me, ‘Take up your bed, and walk.’” They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk’?” Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place.

Not everyone wants to see you healed.

Their reasoning for not wanting to see you healed:

1. They felt superior to you

2. It messes with their belief system

3. They may have to change now too

:14-17 Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.” The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.”

After being healed 3 things happen:

1. We believe we did it ourselves

2. People doubt the Healer and what he did for you

3. We work together with Jesus and move forward together

Do we know when we are unhealthy?

To best understand this we must continue to watch what Jesus teaches:

John 5:18-24,29 This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God. So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel. For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. Those who have done good to the resurrection of life, those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.

How is Jesus showing us his authority?

1. Jesus is calling himself the Son of God in this moment

2. Jesus does the will of the Father

3. Through Jesus we will have eternal life

Jesus is King over life and Judgement

John 5:30-40 “I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me. If I alone bear witness about myself, my testimony is not true. There is another who bears witness about me, and I know that the testimony that he bears about me is true. You sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth. Not that the testimony that I receive is from man, but I say these things so that you may be saved. He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. But the testimony that I have is greater than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing, bear witness about me that the Father has sent me. And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen, and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent. You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.

Jesus is speaking to religious power houses. He makes some really powerful statements here that should challenge many of us.

How to grow spiritually with Jesus:

1.Stop trying to heal on your own!

----I can do nothing on my own.

2.Stop looking for something else to give you answers.

----His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen, and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent.

3.Stop making the Bible into a self help book

----You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life;

4.Live and Love like Jesus by turning only to Jesus.

----It is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.