I'm Not Coming Back Here || Pastor Christian Joy

God always makes a way. Can you do me a favor and help me honor our pastors for trusting this platform to sons and daughters? Emphasis on the other part. I think y'all know what I mean. It's a privilege to be in front of you, family. Let's jump right to the word. Let's go to John 5. Now my pastor said, y'all gonna help me. I hope I got help all day. Yatta ma she. John 5 says, 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? Sir, the invalid replied, I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. When I'm trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me. 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. The day on which this took place was a Sabbath. How many know some things happen on your rest day? All right. Jump down to verse 14. It says, later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, see, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you. Now this topic is not for everybody, but if it's for you, can you help me with this subject matter? I want to talk from the topic, I'm not coming back here. Oh my, okay. I'm not coming back here. Over this past sabbatical, the staff has given some time to rest.

Now I already said there's revelation on a Sabbath. So somehow I found myself at this amusement park. I'm thinking it's going to be a good time, right? I hear you with me. So it starts off okay. We get on this Ferris wheel, everything is fine. It's a little high, higher than I remember it. I said, all right, but not too bad. Then we get on this second ride. It's one of those large boats that just kind of swing back and forth. Now I rode this many times, but this time I said... I looked over at my mother, she said, I said, okay. We got off that ride and went and sat down. And I said, maybe it's just that ride. So we keep riding rides, everything seems to be back okay until we get on this one ride. This ride is supposed to be the best one in the park. Supposed to be. We get on the ride, it's a wooden ride. And if you know anything about a wooden ride, they're real like rickety. They shake you a lot. I said... They say it's the best one in the park. So we get on the ride, we're locked in and we take off. Now you know that sound a ride makes when it's ascending. I said, okay, maybe I need to rethink my life decisions. Because I don't like that noise. Click, click, click. I was like, okay. So I'm thinking, you know, Christian, maybe this is the last time you might want to get on one of these wooden rides or any ride.

And as I'm contemplating the safety of my life, I realize we're at the top of the hill. I said, there's no turning back. We rush down this slope. You turn one way, they flip us another way. We go through like this dark tunnel. We can't see anything. You can't prepare your body in the dark, right? That's a word. Okay. You can't prepare. And we're just going and going. I hear my mother behind me. Now mind you, everyone's enjoying their time. We... We... They're enjoying it. We're praying about it. My mother's like, Jesus! She's screaming. I'm just holding my metal bar like, Lord, if you get me through this one, this will be the last time. And I hope you hear the heart behind my humor. I said, you know what, Lord? I don't think I'm aligned with these rides no more. I think this might need to be the last time that I come back here to this park or any other park. And I'm walking out the ride and I'm just contemplating in silence, like, what did I just go through? My back hurts, my neck hurts, everything is hurting. I'm shaking up.

My grandmother would say shaken, not stirred. I said, Jesus, but I don't know if you've ever been in a situation where you realize this might need to be the last time. Now this is a lighter joke, but I think sometimes we need to realize, yeah, I'm no longer aligned. Have you ever been hanging out with someone and you're like, this the last time I'm ever hanging out with you again? Have you ever been to a place and it was so terrible, your spirit was so disrupted that this time is the last time I'm coming back here? Our text today, this man gets this realignment from Jesus where he realizes this time is the last time. But the question is, where is here? See for this man, he finds himself at this place called Bethesda, Bethesda meaning house or pool of mercy. He's at this pool and it's surrounded by these five colonnades, these five walkways. Five is the number of grace. So the pool is surrounded by grace and the pool itself is called mercy. But here's the tension point. All around the pool are disabled people. Can your theology handle that? Surrounded by grace and mercy, yet my situation doesn't match what I'm surrounded by. And near this pool, there's this disabled people. It's the blind, the lame, the paralyzed, or in other words, those who couldn't see. Those who couldn't walk or those who couldn't move. And it's believed that an angel of the Lord would come and stir the water. And the first person in the pool would be healed of their disease. Now what's interesting is that if you look in your Bible, you won't see a verse four. Look in the text. No credible manuscript will include verse four. Why? Because when this was all happening, this was believed that an angel of the Lord would

come. So they didn't want to leave out the town gossip that, yeah, an angel comes and they stir the water. So they included it as a footnote. So we don't know for sure if that actually happened, if an angel of the Lord came and stirred the water. But let's say it's true. That means healing at this pool is possible. But it's only dependent on the right timing and the appropriate speed. You had to be the first one in the pool. Now I'm going to insert my philosophy. I don't think this actually happened. Because my God does not only allow one person to have a breakthrough. Only one person gets healed. This was a large pool, hundreds could fit in it. Think of a resort style pool, but only one. And it had to be the fastest one. So it had to be the right timing and the appropriate speed. And there's this man there who's been there for 38 years. He's had this condition. Now we're not told specifically what it is. It says that he is an invalid. And the word here, invalid, means a person lacking strength, a person who's lacking capacity, or a person who's simply weak. Now I don't think we would call ourselves invalids. However, have you ever lacked strength? Have you ever just lacked the capacity? I can't do it today. I can't do it this year. I can't.

I just can't. Or someone who is weak. For us, that can mean weak spiritually, weak emotionally, anything sets you off. He hasn't been like this for 38 days. He's been like this for 38 years. For 38 years, he's needed strength. For 38 years, he's needed capacity. For 38 years, he's been weak. Until one day, he doesn't just meet someone, he meets the one. He encounters Jesus. In church, we should have got a little... happier about that, he encountered Jesus. Now what I love about this text, some scholars say it doesn't even make sense for Jesus to actually be there, to encounter the man. When you track his route, he's going from Samaria to Galilee and here and there, it doesn't make sense for him to be at this pool. And mind you, hundreds were there. But he goes up to that one man. I said, no, that's just like my Jesus. He goes after the one. He'll come after you. He'll step over people to get to you. You can be in the back and he'll find you. And he encounters Jesus. Jesus sees him lying there and he says, do you wanna get well? I'm asking, do you want to get well? And we might say he's been like this for 38 years.

Of course, why wouldn't he? But actually two things could have been going on. The first thing is a beggar in this time could lose an easy and profitable income if they were cured. Those who have been in this condition for a long time could have learned to live with it and even make it work for them. Meaning, I'm no longer a beggar out of need. I'm a beggar out of greed. I'm a professional beggar. Yeah, I know how to get it. And that could be anyone in our context who takes advantage of the system. Now, I'm gonna close my eyes. I think you know what I mean. Anyone who takes advantage, they don't actually need it. They don't actually have that many kids in their household. So when he's asking him, do you wanna get well? He's like, do you really wanna get well? Because well means you go get a job. Well means you have to go get it. Do you wanna get well? The second thing that could have been happening while he said, do you wanna get well? This man, after 38 years, could have simply lost his want to. I don't even want it no more. This is just who I am. What happened to me is me now.

When you lose your want to family, you lose the hope and the possibility for a different tomorrow. You start saying things like, this is my anxiety. You know I got anxiety. This is mine. This is my anxiety. This is my illness. This is my thing. So when he says, do you wanna get well? Do you really want it? Or have you adapted? Have you stopped believing in me? Have you stopped believing that I really can work a miracle in your life? Pastor called it functional atheism. It's when you say you believe God, but you operate like you don't. Who still believes God in 2026? He can still make your legs work after years and decades. He can still heal that family member in the hospital. Do you still believe God? So God is trying to soul check this man. Where are you? Do you want to get well? And this man doesn't say yes, I wanna get well. He doesn't say no, I'm good. He says, I have no one to help me. For him it's not about want. It's about the reality of the situation.

I don't have help. What that takes, I need help for it. I wanna get in that pool, but I need help and I don't have it. And we need to humanize this man. He's in this condition for 38 years, but the text doesn't say he's 38 years old. We don't know how old he is. We just know he had this for 38 years. And the question is, did he have family? Did he have a wife? Did he have a kid? Did he have a church? Did he have his prayer warriors? He says, I don't have no one. See, in this day and time, the sick, they were outcasts, get over there, on the outskirts. And he's telling Jesus the reality, I could've been further along, but I don't have help. And I think some of us may identify with that. Yeah, I could've started the business, but I didn't have help. I could've went to school, but I didn't have help. I could've done all these things, but I didn't have help. And what I love about Jesus, he's about to show this man and us, you don't need who you think you need. See, he thought his healing was about to come by way of the pool, but it's about to come through living water.

He says, I am the way, the truth and the life. I love Jesus because in this time and in this culture, he's debunking what people think. See, in the pool, you have to have right timing, right speed, you have to be fast, you have to be first, but Jesus, he's outside of time. He never ran, he always walked. Some of us need to take the limits off of Jesus. You don't need who you think you need. You don't need what you think you need. Jesus can still get it done. Thank you, God. There is no person in the Bible, not one, who ever encountered Jesus and stayed the same. Something had to change. So with three commands, Jesus changes this man's life. And I believe there's some implications he wants to change us to. The first thing he tells this man is get up. Woo! The text tells us that the disabled people, they would lie down at the pool. There are no wheelchairs. The only two options were laying down or what? Standing up. So they're laying down, not because they're necessarily sleepy, but because they're sick. Watch it, his condition decided for him, you're gonna be down. I hope you hear me.

There are some things we're dealing with. We haven't decided it, that fear in you decided it. That anxiety in you decided it, you're gonna be down. That depression decided, you're going to be down. Jesus tells him, get up. The sentence ends in an exclamation point, meaning he's not asking. He didn't say, do you feel like getting up, my son? Can you get up? He's telling him, he's commanding him, get up. And what I love about Jesus, you can see his patterns. And there's a pattern in John 11, he tells Lazarus, come out. He didn't ask him, he said, come out. And what you see in John 11 is Lazarus mummified, linen cloths around his face, and he still had to come out. So when Jesus tells this man, get up, he's not asking, he's speaking to what's keeping him down. When he said, get up, every ligament, every bone in his body, every tendon in his muscle had to obey the command of Jesus and get up. And I don't know about you, but there are some things you need to speak to and tell it to get up. There are some things you have the authority over to tell to get up. In the name of Jesus, you're going to get up. In the name of Jesus, this depression will no longer have you. In the name of Jesus, get up. Text says, at once, the man was cured.

He didn't need that pool at all. He says, get up, pick up your mat. The mat, it was light, it was made of straw, it could easily be rolled up and carried on a healthy person's back. A healthy person, a healthy person. The mat could easily be rolled up, carried on a healthy person's back. A healthy person, a healthy person. So when he picked up his mat, it was evidence. You saw me laying down just a couple minutes ago, but. I'm picking up this mat today, huh? You saw me down, but I'm picking up my mat, it's evidence. I'm no longer a beggar, I'm no longer disabled, I'm no longer down, he's healed me. And some of us, we need to start acting like it. We need to show the evidence of the change. I don't know what's going on in media, where we don't want to tell anyone about the bad, we only want to tell them about the good, but we need to show some evidence, God healed me. I'm no longer the same, pick up your mat. Now I'm not gonna spend too much time here, but this was controversial, because it's the Sabbath and these Jewish leaders, they're like, hey, that's against the law. You can't pick up your mat on the Sabbath. According to the Old Testament law, they misinterpreted the law. Jesus is working miracles and they're being messy.

They're more concerned about the mode than the miracle. And mind you, these are Jewish leaders. Leaders, leaders, church people, being messy, being messy, being messy. God is working miracles and they're being messy. And we have to be careful, because we can look at a text and say that was them, and never turn the mirror. I'm gonna leave it alone. Uh-huh, my time's almost up. He says, pick up your mat. And what's interesting is if he didn't tell him to pick up the mat, he would have had to come back to that place on a non-Sabbath day to get it. Y'all got it. Jesus tells him, pick up your mat. If he didn't tell him, he would have had to come back to the pool. Who hangs at this pool? Disabled people. Jesus said, you're not coming back here no more. Get your stuff, come on. Get your stuff. You're not coming back. You're not coming back. Get your stuff, let's go. And what I love about this is the last part, he says, get up, pick up your mat, and walk. It was a specific instruction to leave. And this is so important because a lot of times,

familiarity can make it hard to go. Even if this place wasn't in your plan, it can become your preference. Because I'm comfortable here. They get me here. I don't really like the relationship, but they get me. We get each other. I know it's toxic, but I don't really like the job, but I'm too scared to do anything else. I'm comfortable here. He says, leave, walk, go, move. And it's a specific instruction to leave from the place and never come back. Never. So the man, he follows every instruction. He leaves, and we could end the sermon right here and it could be over, and God would have been praised. But there's one thing in the text that makes me spin the block. Jesus, every time you read about his encounters with people, it's a one and done, usually. He changes their life, hallelujah. They're blessed, they're healed, whatever the thing is, and it's over. But this man encounters Jesus for a second time. And if it's that important to Jesus to spin the block, I think we need to spend just a couple minutes looking at what was so important that Jesus had to find this man a second time. Verse 14 says, later Jesus found him at the temple.

After his miracle, he goes to church. Okay, clock it. Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, see, you are well again. Wait a minute. See, you are well again, meaning he wasn't always this way. Something happened along the course of. is life, and he became an invalid. He says, see, you are well again. Stop sinning. We don't want to hear that. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you. What could be worse than losing 38 years of your life? How about an eternity without God? How about no grace or mercy from God? Grace, it's what I get that I didn't deserve. Mercy, it's what I didn't get that I did deserve. 38 years without God is a long time, but an eternity? He says, stop sinning. Stop hurting yourself. Sin, it's a self-imposed nuisance. What do you do when it's not life that's lifing? It's not the devil that's deviling. It's me that's being. I'm in this condition because of me. I played a part in my own self-destruction. And what I love about Jesus, he's so loving. He gives us time to self-correct and start on a new path. He says, stop sinning or something worse may happen to you. Now, we know all bad things don't happen

as a result of sin. We know that, right? John 9, they say, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born this way? He was born blind. Jesus says, neither. But sometimes, I believe God shows us what life could be like without him. So that we don't choose that. And life without God is truly hell. I'm done, I'm wrapping up. This isn't just a miracle, family. It's an urge not to return back to what brought this man here in the first place. See, at first look, you can think, oh, he's just sick. But there's more going on. There was something about what he was doing. We don't know the sin, but Jesus knew it. And for him to have called it out, it was probably so personal, so private, that only Jesus could identify. The man didn't even know who Jesus was. Read the text. When the Jewish leaders asked him, who told you to pick up his mat, he didn't know. So he didn't know Jesus until Jesus started talking to him about his sin. And then he told him it was Jesus. Why? Because there are some parts about us

that only Jesus can reveal to us. He's God enough to cover the sin sometimes. And may all of our prayer be, Lord, show me me. If I'm hurting myself, if I'm on the road to self-destruction, show me me. Show me the places that you never want me to come back to. Can I pray for you, family? I wanna pray for a few people in the room. When I was talking about that man being an invalid, not having strength, not having capacity, I feel like there's someone here who's burdened, like, yeah, that's me right now. I really don't have any want to. I'm going through the motions. And then maybe there's someone here who's like, I know I'm hurting me, but I feel like I can't stop. What I love about Jesus, he told him to stop sinning because he knew there was an ability to. We have help. We have the advocate. That's why Jesus came, to help those who have been tempted. So Father, we thank you today for exposing us to what you want us to know, which is that there are some places we never need to come back to. Would you help us? Show us us. Show us the things that only you can identify. This man didn't know the root of his infirmity.

And there are some people who are angry and they don't know why. They're mean and they don't know why. They have some trauma that is preventing them from being who you call them to be, and they don't know. Why? Will you expose us to us? And God, for that person who's lacking strength, for whoever is weak, for whoever doesn't have the capacity, will you tell them and show them that it's never too late for you to turn the corner and come see about them? To wait on the Lord. He will renew your strength. So wait, wait on the Lord. God, this man was like this for 38 years. And on one day, you changed his life forever. Will you do that for us? Do it for the person who needs it the most. In Jesus' name. Amen. Well, can you clap your hands, family, if you received that word?