Nick Ferreiro - Get Up

All right, what's going on church by the glaze what it is for you, but what I do know it's good to see you It's good to see you for those that don't know. My name is change I'm one of the pastors here at John chapter five and allow me to welcome you to week number one of a brand new series We just started titled breaking bad. We're over the next few weeks We're gonna be walking through practically how you can break those bad habits position cycles Most of us would not have been upheld in your life Bible the word of God Descriptions not just as a resource growth But as the source of truth for the topic of conversation over the next few weeks Because we hold fast to this belief your church by the glades so that God wants you to grow behavior for ourselves That's why we're ready for the word of God every time we gather Come on I said are you ready for the word of God 630 fly it to our lives because we don't think or believe that God wants to Limit your human experience We don't believe that God wants to hold you back or hold you down in any way shape or form It's actually opposite. We believe God wants you to maximize your human experience through the free will and autonomy He has given you so that you may experience life and life to the full Is that good news to anybody here at church by the glades today? This is the crux Our conversations Do you want to be he wants you to grow in every way possible wants you to grow spiritually, of course but he wants you to grow relationally and and mentally and emotionally and financially and Habitually God wants you to grow in hope to grow in peace to grow in patience to grow in perseverance God wants your mindset to grow. God wants your perspective to shift Together right there for the word of God. Come on. God wants you to grow So let's break this down because but here's the Jesus who was in Jerusalem for growth never happens on accidents one of the Jewish feasts He's always in tension coupled with strategic action that proceeds growth in any area of your life So so for some of us gross looks like starting years thing new that we are not 38 years Stuck in the same situation for you for 38 years He was stuck around the same we are starting this series

Years, he was growth actually looks like the termination and a multitude of other things that you can't gather Are selling that are limiting you and holding you back of Bethesda life freedom and victory that only come by way of Jesus Christ in other words properties Commitments to growth every so often must result in a commitment to change and what I've learned is that Everybody wants to grow that's when the healing but nobody wants to change But here's the catch the pool would only be all of the first Person that would make their way into the water every how to play baseball of the stirring I love my boy Avery and I'm not gonna lie Like it's been super fun for me because I play baseball for 15 years So I felt comfortable coaching him and I know the rules of the game I know the form of the mechanics what I'm trying to say is your boy can ball you feel me? I really feel comfortable Dude the kid is a prodigy like he really is At home like he's hitting the ball head-on right in the sweet spot I don't mind drives like he's hitting home runs over the house. I watch this right here. Wow. Are you kidding me? That's insane. Well done. Oh, come on church. Well done. We're proud of you You're brilliant for joining us and and we thank you for for being here My prayers that God would would reveal himself to you and meet you like the odds are so low And I'm like, it's just ridiculous to come to his house and pursue your child from Parkland or Coral Springs, Florida Which was incredible Church by the glaze so make sure you come back for you, but my kids going to the MLB, right? Regarding a suggestion I've become In bad science In your dream while you were sleeping get super frustrated because when I was studying He always our time together today I found like his dad at one point in time the Dedicated Here's what that tells me swing form it is very likely downwards that the people that had gathered around this pool We're not waiting on divine intervention from the God of the Bible just take his eyes They were waiting on intervention from a cheap and impotent alternative miss altogether. So I remember this one person

I'm starting to understand the really Frustrated because he just kept swinging down understand it was all of its legend and He got of the remote possibility of miraculous and divine healing I went over to my it was at best an idle pipe dream Remember what I always say the good 38 years Well if you keep swinging the bat the same way, you're going to keep hitting the ball the same way. So if you want to hit the ball better, and before you're quick to judge this man for his impotent belief, just know you've got a pool too. Here's what we have to grow into as a people. Something that you have been doing isn't working. Something that you have been hoping will change the reality of your circumstance, but something that has no power to do so. Sometimes, sometimes that looks like you putting the phone down with all the distractions and all the comparison and all the negative voices out there and opening up your Bible to see what God has to say about it. Sometimes that looks like cutting up the credit card, hello, and making your way to Financial Peace University to get yourself out of debt. Sometimes it looks like distancing yourself from that friend group because you know they're no good for you and finding yourself some new friends. I don't know what it is for you, but what I do know is that what you've been doing hasn't been working. It's time to change what you've been doing. In John chapter 5, which we're going to get ourselves into, Jesus confronts this man in a situation that he was in for a very long time, and I believe this confrontation reveals this man's hidden disposition, a disposition that most of us would not admit to carrying, but sadly that many of us do. This man has been sick for a very long time, stunted, his growth, and one of the Bible's weirdest questions is that we can spot how to pull out this behavior in the man in the scriptures so that we do not fall into this behavior for ourselves.

I'm low-key a little offended. Are you ready for the Word of God today? Do I want to be healed? What do you mean, bro? Of course! I'm sitting by the pool, aren't I? I've got my swim trunks. I'm waiting. I'm ready. Like, what do you mean? John chapter 5. Of course! I want to be healed. What an insensitive question, G. Like, how could you ask me that? I would love nothing more than to be healed, but, verse number 7, I have no one to help me in the pool when the water is stirred, and even when I can, someone always beats me to the punch. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to this man, do you want to be healed? And the sick man answered him, stirred, you know what I mean? He's like, I have no one to put me in the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I'm going, another one steps down before me. Jesus said to him, verse number 8, get up, take up your bed, and walk. And at once, the man was healed, and he took up his bed, and he walked. So that's a good place to put your hands together right there for the word of God. I asked you if you wanted to be healed, not if you wanted to be helped. So, let's break this down, because Jesus, who was in Jerusalem for all the Jewish festivals, if you had someone to help you in the pool, I asked you if you wanted to be healed of your sickness.

You said, I think this man's response revealed his rationale. I don't have any help, so I'm stuck. I don't have any help, so I can't change. I don't have any help, so this is the reality I've been in. I don't have any help, so I just keep finding myself in the same cycles and the same patterns. And listen, because help finds its source in relying on other people, when help inevitably doesn't come your way, there's only one logical response. Blame. Well, I'm not healed because they didn't help me. The belief was this, that every so often, an angel of the Lord would come down and stir up the waters of that pool, which when the waters were stirred, that's when the healing could occur. But here's the catch. The pool would only heal the first person that would make their way into the water at immediate strength to me. And unfortunately for those that had gathered themselves around this pool with the hope and belief that it had healing properties, their belief in the pool was unfortunately nothing more, or at best, a superstition. If you want to be healed, you've got to stop blaming other people for the situations that you find yourself in, because healing requires accountability. To drop the mentality that you are a victim and that you are simply subject to the things that have happened to you in this lifetime, because there is freedom and victory to be found when you stop blaming other people for why your life looks the way it does, and you start walking in the healing power that only King Jesus Christ has to offer. And listen, please hear my heart. I am not preaching at you today. I'm just trying to preach from my own experience. But last week, Pastor David, in his sermon, which was incredible, by the way, and he'll be back next week to preach here at Church By The Glades, so make sure you come back. In his sermon, he mentioned a detail in the scriptures regarding a suggestion that the

disciples made that found its root in bad science. And this bad science found its root in a mythological Junior Varsity small g god of the Greeks named Asclepius. Now, Asclepius was considered to be a healing god that would reveal the remedy to your illness in your dream while you were sleeping. Here's what's crazy. When I was studying for our time together today, I found that at one point in time, the pool of Bethesda was dedicated to the healing God of sleepiness. We love you. We're grateful for you. We see you. And as the product of a single parent household, thank you. Thank you for what you're doing. But that they were waiting on intervention from a cheap and impotent alternative. Now I'm starting to understand the pool of Bethesda. I'm starting to understand it with all of its legend, and superstition, and pagan associations. I'm starting to understand that while it spoke of the remote possibility of miraculous and divine healing, it was at best an idle pipe dream for 38 years. This man had placed his hope of healing in a pool that really had no power to heal him in the first place. And before you're quick to judge this man, I am not a statistic. By the grace of God, the cycle doesn't continue through me. Because at one point in my life, I was sat by the pool of Bethesda, encountered Jesus with a very similar question. Hey, do you want to continue to excuse your life for why it looks the way that it does? Or do you want to be healed? Oh, at some point, I've got to stop blaming my dad for why I don't know how to use tools and open up YouTube. At some point, I've got to stop blaming my dad for why I keep seeking validation in all the wrong sources.

And I've got to open up my Bible and see that God is my Heavenly Father who loves me, and chose me, and accepted me, and called me, and put me on purpose, and redeemed me, and forgave me, and saved me, and set me up to Heaven's course, and He loved me, not because of anything that I did, not because of who I am, but because of whose I am, and who I belong to. I belong to Jesus Christ that makes me a child of God. What you are longing for will not be found in some pool. Maybe this is why I want you to hear me very, very clearly today. When Jesus finds this man who had been sick for a very long time sitting by the pool of Bethesda, he asks him one of the Bible's weirdest questions. Do you want to be healed? If I'm this man sitting by the pool, I'm low-key a little offended. Do I want to be healed? What do you mean? Of course! I'm sitting by the pool, aren't I? I've got my swim trunks. I'm waiting. I'm ready. What do you mean? Of course I want to be healed. What an insensitive question. How could you ask me that? I would love nothing more than to be healed, but verse number seven, I have no one to help me in the pool when the water is stirred. And even when I can, someone always beats me to the punch. After the miracle occurred, Jesus found this man in the temple and said to him, see you are well. Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you. So after this miracle occurred, after the initial encounter with Jesus where the grace

of God was dispensed and applied to his life, this man was then found in the temple and received instruction to go and sin no more. How can we better understand what is taking place here? I want to remind you that for 38 years, this man was stuck in the same situation. For 38 years, he was stuck in the same environment with the same mindset and surrounded by the same people and pranks that proved to be fruitless and powerless. Then Jesus rolls up onto the scene and he has no help for this man where he was wrapped up. I don't have any help so I can't change. I don't have any help so this is the reality I've been in. I don't have any help so I just keep finding myself in the same cycles and the same patterns. And listen, because help finds its source in relying on other people when help inevitably doesn't come your way. There is only one logical response. Blame. I'm not healed because they didn't help me. It was to serve as a testimony to the grace and power and goodness of God and I still believe that to be true. I still believe that God can take what once carried you and turn it into something that you now carry to testify to the power of God in your life. God can take your pain and make it a platform. God can take your mess and make it a message. God can take your rejection and prove that all along it was always just divine protection. God can even take what the enemy meant for evil and turn it and work it and use it not just for your good but for his glory because when people see you navigating with grace what was meant to crush you, there is no choice but to admit there must be a God and this God must be on their side. Come on. God can still use your map. If you want to be healed you've got to stop blaming other people for the situations that

you find yourself in because healing requires accountability. To drop the mentality that you are a victim and that you are simply subject to the things that have happened to you in this lifetime. freedom and victory to be found when you stop blaming other people for why your life looks the way that it does and you start walking in the healing power that only King Jesus Christ has to offer. And listen, please hear my heart, I am not preaching at you today. I'm just trying to preach from my own experience. This is my story. My dad was never around when I grew up, and I've got a good relationship with him now, thank God, but it does not negate any of the pain that I experienced as a young boy trying to understand and differentiate when my father was never in the home. And just so we're on the same page contextually, it sounds like he was once around and he wasn't, not like he was never around. If you were to look at my birth certificate even today, you would see that under the name of Father it says, not applicable because he didn't show up that day. Oh, my earliest memory of my dad was the moment I met him until I was 13 years old. So he was never around, I was only in my mom for as long as I can remember. Shout out to all the single parents in the building today, we love you, we're grateful for you, we see you, and as the product of a single parent household, thank you. Thank you for what you're doing, you matter so much more than you know. All this to say, I never had a father to teach me what I should be doing as a son. A man never taught me how to shave, this is why. There are so many good, God-loving, saved by grace Christians who have inherited eternal life through their faith in King Jesus that are still missing out on the abundant life he also died for them to have. The grace of God is not just for your eternity, the grace of God is also for your journey here on earth. Oh, God, he didn't die on the cross, Jesus did not die on the cross just so you could have life in heaven one day.

I am not a statistic. By the grace of God, the cycle doesn't continue through me, because at one point in my life, I was sat by the pool of Bethesda and countered Jesus with a very similar question, hey, do you want to continue to excuse your life for why it looks the way that it does, or do you want to be healed? Oh, at some point, I've got to stop blaming my dad for why I don't know how to use tools and open up YouTube. At some point, I've got to stop blaming my dad for why I keep seeking validation in all the wrong sources, and I've got to open up my Bible and see that God is my heavenly Father who loves me, and chose me, and accepted me, and called me, and put me on purpose, and redeemed me, and forgave me, and saved me, and set me up to heaven's course, and he loved me not because of anything that I did, not because of who I am, but because of whose I am, and who I belong to, I belong to Jesus Christ, that makes me a child of God. Get up, that's grace, but take up and go and sin no more, that's truth. I want you to hear me very, very clearly today, what happens to you is how you stay out. Here's the word, stop returning to your place of dysfunction after you've been delivered from it, and find yourself a new environment. Get up, take up your mat, and walk. Let's make it plain, get up, take up your mat, and bring it to a life group. Get up, take up your mat, young adult, and bring it to rally. Get up, take up your mat, teenager, and bring it to the best thing you could be doing all summer long anyways, encountering God, and making friends, and having fun, and hearing great sermons, and worshiping your brain. Get up, take up your mat, and bring it to United Knights. Jesus found this man in the temple, and said to him, see your well, sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you. So after this miracle occurred, after the initial encounter with Jesus, when the grace of God was dispensed and applied to his life, this man was then found in the temple, and received instruction to go and sin no more. How can we better understand, move yourself from the front group, that for 38 years, this

man was stuck in the same situation. For 38 years, he was stuck in the same environment, with the same mindset, and surrounded by the same people, in a place that proved to be fruitless and powerless. When Jesus rolls up onto the scene, and he has an encounter with this man, where he miraculously healed his body, simply by saying the words, get up, take up your mat, and walk, I always understood the reason that Jesus asked this man to take up his mat, was because when people would see him walking around freely afterwards, with the mat in his hand, they would have recognized him as the person who was once powerless and helpless. to get up from that mat. It was to serve as a testimony to the grace and power and goodness of God. And I still believe that to be true. I still believe that God can take what once carried you and turn it into something that you now carry to testify to the power of God in your life. Oh come on. God can take your pain and make it a platform. God can take your mess and make it a message. God can take your rejection and prove that all along it was always just divine protection. God can even take what the enemy meant for evil and turn it and work it and use it. Not just for your good but for his glory because when people see you navigating with grace what was meant to crush you they have no choice but to admit there must be a God and this God must be on their side. Come on. God can still use your mat. But the more I read the passage, the more I realized maybe he wasn't making an appeal to his desire to be healed. Maybe he was making an appeal to his will to be healed. Because after all, you see this sickness for 38 years had paralyzed his body. But for 38 years this man had allowed disappointment to paralyze his hope. Because his hope had been paralyzed he had likely lost all willingness to find another way to be healed. So could it be possible that the reason Jesus confronted this man again underneath the shade of the new instructions to go and sin no more was because Jesus was acutely aware of the human propensity for us to turn back to the system of disciples they found themselves in similar situations themselves. And when you understand it this way can you blame him? Can you blame him? I mean do you know how disheartening it must be to see the possibility of healing for 38 years only to realize it will always be just out of reach? Do you know how crushing it must be to see the potential of freedom only to understand you have no ability to acquire it? When you can see the possibility of what your marriage could be. When you can see the potential your kids have if they were to just get themselves around the right people. When you can see that having kids is possible because everyone else is getting pregnant around you but you can't seem to get pregnant for yourself. When you can see what a life with financial freedom looks like but you just can't seem to make your way out of debt. I mean it's no wonder he had lost his hope. It's no wonder he was disappointed. It's no wonder he had been so discouraged for so long. But here comes Jesus. Here comes Jesus in the darkest moment of this man's life with a question that I believe he asks you and I tonight. He wants you to have life both eternal and abundant. And there's nothing you can do to earn eternal life. It's by the grace of God for your faith for you to be devoted to Jesus Christ alone. There's nothing that you can do to earn it. I don't know about you but that really speaks to me because it proves to me it tells me that even when I'm not looking for Jesus he's still looking for me. That even when I've given up on myself even when I've lost hope in my situation even when I've given up on my dream of being whole or healed that God has not given up on me. Maybe the reason Jesus chose this particular man out of the multitude of people that were there that day was to communicate a timeless truth that the power and grace of God can touch even the most hopeless of situations. Just because you've given up on your circumstance does not mean that Jesus has given up on your circumstance. He's still looking for you because there's life beyond your mats. He's still looking for you because he doesn't want you to relinquish yourself to the mat you're lying on. He's still looking for you because he doesn't want you to just accept your current reality as your forever reality and he wants you to trust that he can still do something with your mat. This is the grace of God that even when we're not looking for him he's still looking for us. Get up, take up your mat young adult and bring it to rally. Get up, take up your mat teenager and bring it to the best thing you could be doing all summer long anyways encountering God and making friends and having fun and hearing great sermons and worshiping your brain. Get up, take up your mat and bring it to United Knights. Get up, take up your bed and walk. And at once the man was healed and he took up his bed and he walked. That doesn't sound like grace. That sounds kind of harsh. Jesus didn't coddle the man. He didn't pat him on the back and get down and say your life's been hard. He didn't allow him to buy a house.

excuse. He didn't even allow him to resign himself to hopelessness. He simply spoke a word of command. Get up. Take up your mat and walk. And the response to this command? He got up no more. Did you hear what I just said? He got up. The man got up. He had no reason to believe that he could get up because for 38 years he couldn't get up. For 38 years he couldn't feel his legs. For 38 years he was lying on a mat. For 38 years he had to be carried to this pool every single day. For 38 years he was begging for people to help him. But just because you have been stuck in the same situation for 38 years does not mean that God cannot change your situation. Because when God spoke a word, he acted on that word in faith. And because he did, he got up. You may not be able to get up on your own, but when God speaks a word, his grace will give you the ability to get up. Grace will get you up off your mat. Grace will get you up when your efforts can't. Grace will get you up even when the pool's not working. Grace will get you up when things seem hopeless. Grace will get you up even in the darkest moments of your life, because it's never been about your power. It's always been about the power that lives inside of you. It's the same power that rose Jesus from the grave. So if he got up, then you can get up too. Somebody ought to say, get up! Get up! No command from God will ever come without the divine power to walk it out. You just have to trust God at his word, and trust that what he asked you to do, he will also empower you to accomplish. And I'm closing, I promise, but this is something I've been trying to teach my daughter. She's two, and we're trying to teach her how to swim, and she hasn't quite gotten it down yet, but we've been practicing, and she's getting the hang of it, but every time she gets a little further along, we test her boundaries. So lately what we've been doing is we've been having her jump into the pool, and I catch her, and she loves that, it's so much fun, but I remember the first time we did it, I put her on the stairs and I asked her to jump in, and she was so scared, she was like, no! Every once in a while, hanging around people that understood his situation, I'm right here, you don't have to swim by yourself, you don't have to do this all on your own, I'm not going to let you sink, I'm not going to let you fall, I'm not going to let you drown, I'm going to catch you. And she was like, I don't think I can do it, I'm scared, I just want to sit on the stairs, I was like, Everly, do you trust me? And she looked at me and she said, no. But as her father, I knew she was just speaking out of fear, so I asked

her again, do you trust me? And if an earthly father can ask his earthly daughter that question, I believe it's the same question your heavenly father is asking you today. I know all you've ever known is your map. I know that this is hard and I know that what I'm asking you to do you've never done before, but do you trust me? I know that you've placed your hope in some pool, but I need you to know I'm not some pool, I'm living water, and you don't need to get in the water, you just need the water to get into you, do you trust me? I know you don't have the strength to do it, but it's not about your strength, it's about mine, do you trust me? I know you had to be the first one in the pool, and there's so many things that went wrong, you could never get yourself in, but trust me, where I'm bringing you, you can't get yourself in anyways, that's why I made a way for you to get in, and you don't have to be the first to get in, for all who call on my name will be saved, do you trust me? There is freedom, victory, and life beyond the map you may find yourself on today, but will you trust God enough to move, that the power and grace of God can touch even the most hopeless of situations in Jesus' name, Father we come before you and we thank you, thank you for the power that is found in your word, when you speak things can't remain the same, when you speak things come back to life, when you speak things must start to happen, so we're waiting on a word today, God we believe that when that word comes, everything will change in our lives, so Lord give us the strength to obey you, help us to walk out, not just in grace, but walk out of sin. Walk out in obedience to the truth, that even when we're not looking for Him, He's still looking for us. And Jesus, we're going to glorify you all the way. We're going to testify to your goodness. We're going to testify to your power. We're going to testify to your grace, because you are worthy of our praise. We love you, Lord. It's in the mighty name of Jesus Christ we pray, as the church said loudly together. And in verse number eight, we see the grace of God applied to this man's life through a command. In verse number eight, Jesus said, ready, one, two, three. Get up, take up your bed, and walk. And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed, and he walked. That doesn't sound like grace. That sounds kind of harsh. Like, Jesus didn't coddle the man. He didn't pat him on the back and get down and say, your life's been hard, I know. He didn't allow him to buy the excuse. He didn't even allow him to resign himself to hopelessness.

He simply spoke a word of command, get up, take up your mat, and walk. And the response to this command? He got up. Did you hear what I just said? He got up. The man got up. He had no reason to believe that he could get up, because for 38 years, he couldn't get up. For 38 years, he couldn't feel his legs. For 38 years, he was lying on a mat. For 38 years, he had to be carried to this pool every single day. For 38 years, he was begging for people to help him. But just because you have been stuck in the same situation for 38 years, does not mean that God cannot change your situation. Because when God spoke a word, he acted on that word in faith. And because he did, he got up. You may not be able to get up on your own, but when God speaks a word, his grace will give you the ability to get up. Grace will get you up off your mat. Grace will get you up when your efforts can't. Grace will get you up even when the pool's not working. Grace will get you up when things seem hopeless. Grace will get you up even in the darkest moments of your life, because it's never been about your power. It's always been about the power that lives inside of you. It's the same power that rose Jesus from the grave. So if he got up, then you can get up too. Somebody ought to say, get up! Get up! No command from God will ever come without the divine power to walk it out. You just have to trust God at his word and trust that what he asked you to do, he will also empower you to accomplish. And I'm closing, I promise, but it's just this is something I've been trying to teach my daughter. She's two and we're trying to teach her how to swim and she hasn't quite gotten it down yet. But we've been we've been practicing and she's getting the hang of it. But every time she gets a little further along, we test her boundaries. So lately, what we've been doing is we've been having her jump into the pool and I catch her. And she loves that so much fun. But I remember the first time we did it. I put her on the stairs and I asked her to jump in to me and she was so scared. She was like, no, daddy, I don't want to do that. I'm scared. Can I sit down? I was like, girl, relax. Like, I'm a catch you. I got you. Like, I'm right here. You don't have to swim by yourself. You don't have to do this all on your own. I'm not going to let you sink. I'm not going to let you fall. I'm not going to let you drown. I'm going to catch you. And she was like, Dad, I don't think I can do it. I'm scared. I just want to sit on the stairs. I was like, Everly, do you trust me? She looked at me and she said, no. But as her father, I knew she was just speaking out of fear.

So I asked her again, do you trust me? And if an earthly father can ask his earthly daughter that question, I believe it's the same question your heavenly father is asking you today. I know all you've ever known is your map. I know that this is hard and I know that what I'm asking you to do, you've never done before. But do you trust me? I know that you've placed your hope in some pool, but I need you to know I'm not some pool. I'm living water and you don't need to get in the water. You just need the water to get into you. Do you trust me? I know you don't have the strength to do it, but it's not about your strength. It's about mine. Do you trust me? I know you had to be the first one in the pool and there's so many things that went wrong. You could never get yourself in. But trust me, where I'm bringing you, you can't get yourself in anyways. That's why I made a way for you to get. And you don't have to be the first to get in for all who call on my name will be saved. Do you trust me? There is freedom victory and life Beyond the mat you may find yourself on today, but will you trust God enough to move? When he says move Get up Take up your mats and walk in Jesus name father. We come before you we thank you Thank you for the power that is found in your word when you speak things can't remain the same When you speak things come back to life when you speak things must start to happen. So we're waiting on a word today And God we believe that when that word comes everything will change in our life So Lord give us the strength to obey it Help us to walk out not just in grace But walk out in obedience to the truth that is found in your word that we might find victory and freedom in our life in Jesus we're gonna glorify you all the way. We're gonna testify to your goodness. We're gonna testify to your power We're gonna testify to your grace because you are worthy of our praise. We love you Lord is in the mighty name of Jesus Christ. We pray as the church said loudly together