YOU’RE MISSING WHAT’S RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU | John 5:1–9 | Chris Durso

Come on, if you have your Bibles, can you open up with me to the book of John? The book of John chapter 5, the book of John chapter 5. Now, the story I'm about to read to you is one of the most famous passages in the Bible, along with that one of the most famous miracles noted in our Bible. And I just want to stay off the jump that I absolutely 100% believe in miracles. I believe that miracles are necessary. I believe that miracles are needed. I believe that miracles serve as an arrow to Jesus. And I say that because I think in culture today, especially within Christian culture, we have different types of people focused on different things. I think that there are people that are in desperate need of a miracle, but they're so overwhelmed by their misery that they can't even imagine a miracle happening in their life. Then I think there's another group of believers that are so fascinated with miracles or signs and wonders that they make their whole existence about just that. So much so that they're not focused on evangelism, they're not focused on developing their own fruits of the Spirit. They just want to see an angel, they want to see a miracle, they want to see something happen. And I think that both are in equal distraction. I think that the misery that some of you are dealing with is distracting you from seeing the goodness of God. I also believe that there are many of you that are chasing the supernatural so much so that you're doing it and as a result you're missing Jesus. What I love about this story is that it points out clearly where our attention should be because here's what I know. I believe with all my heart that if you just chase Jesus you'll run into a miracle. If you keep your eyes fixated on Jesus even if you're dealing with misery you're going to run into a miracle. If you keep your eyes fixated on Jesus you don't have to run around looking for something supernatural because the fact that he allows us to be in relationship with one another is

supernatural enough. When you follow Jesus, miracles follow. John chapter 5 verse 1 says this, "Some time later Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. Now there is in Jerusalem near the sheep gate a pool which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonies. Here a great number of disabled people used to lie, the blinds, the lame and the paralyzed. One who was there had been invalid for 38 years. 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." "While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me. Then Jesus said to him, 'Get up, pick up your mat and walk and at once, at once the man was cured, he picked up his mat and he walked. The day on which this took place was a step." I want to take next few moments, I want to preach to you from this thought. You're missing what's right in front of you. If you're taking notes, write that down. You're missing what's right in front of you. If you decided you weren't going to take notes, write it down anyway. You are missing what's right in front of you. Let's pray one more time. Holy Spirit, speak, open up our eyes to see what it is that you're doing. In Jesus' name, amen. Come on, can you shout amen? I was reading this text and the more I read it, the more bothered I became with this man. John introduces us to this man who's been in the same condition for 38 years, 38 years is a long time to be in the same position.

When you read the story, the problem is obvious. The man can't walk. His inability to walk is his diagnosis and it seems to be one of his biggest issues. As a result, he's lying there. As he's lying there, he can't get himself into the pool. As he can't get himself into the pool, he's seeing everyone else that can't get into the pool ahead of him. That's why when the water moves, somebody always gets there before him, so it's obvious that his legs don't work. But the more I read it, I realized it wasn't only his legs that were a problem. before him obviously he could see people getting a miracle he could see the people getting the miracle ahead of him while he's been in that position for 38 years praying for God to show up so it is obvious that he's able to see it and yet when he sees Jesus he doesn't see a Savior standing there when he sees Jesus he doesn't see Jesus for who he is who is Jesus he's our help he's our son he's our salvation he is our Savior he is our friend when we are in issues and yet this man is looking at Jesus and not seeing Jesus he's prayed for a miracle he's prayed for a future where he'd be able to stand and yet as he is in the presence of Jesus he's seeing Jesus but he's not seeing Jesus which speaks to this idea just because you can see doesn't mean you could see just because you could see something doesn't mean that you could see what you need to see which brings up the point that sight and perception are not the same thing sight is not the same as perception what is sight sight tells you what you're looking at but perception tells you what you believe what you're looking at means perception allows me to interpret what it is that I'm looking at if we were gonna make it plain two people can be looking at the exact same thing and see him very differently you could offer someone help and somebody can respond to that help as support but someone else can get offended and think that you're trying to control them it's the same conversation it's the same dialogue it's the same opportunity but depending on your perspective you're gonna look at

what's being offered you from the position that you find yourself in somebody corrects you there are some of us that look at that as look then there are others of us that look at it is disrespect who are you to talk to me like that you don't know me two people same opportunity but depending on your position you're gonna respond how you respond why we don't see life only through our eyes we see life through what we live through we do not see life only through our eyes we see life through what it is that we live through in other words life will give you a lens your life will give you a lens and depending on what you lived through and how you've experienced life whether it was good or bad those experiences will give you a lens let's break it down abandonment will give you a lens success will give you a lens disrespect will give you a lens abuse will give you a lens betrayal will give you a lens heartbreak will give you a lens love will give you a lens disappointment will give you a lens a victory will give you a lens now here's what it is though what makes a lens dangerous is that if you wear for too long you'll forget you're wearing it when you wear a lens for too long you will forget what it is that you put on you'll go from saying this is how I see it to this is how it is now there is no open conversation now we can't make room to discuss something and talk about the possibilities that could be there because I see it how I see it and regardless of what you tell me and regardless of what you're offering me from my position I only see what I see because eventually the way that you see determines everything else that you do let me say it this way depending on how you see will cause you to walk how you walk if I can't see correctly I can't walk properly if I cannot see correctly I won't be able to walk properly so there may be for this man that we meet his legs aren't the only thing paralyzed and if we're being honest 38 years we'll do that to you let's not just look at this man and judge this man as if we're not been that man 38 years being stuck in the same place 38 years watching other people go ahead of you 38 years seeing other people get ahead 38 years of seeing other people getting the blessing that you've been praying for and you've

been hoping for 38 years we'll teach you how to see and eventually what you've seen for so long can become the only thing you are capable of seeing and this is what I would call a paralyzed perception a paralyzed perception when what you've seen for so long I'm saying because you've been stuck, you now see things through the lens of the position that you found yourself in. And this is why when someone wants to help you, when someone wants to encourage you, when somebody wants to stand with you, when somebody wants to offer you help, you cannot see it because you find yourself in a position only seeing it through the lens of your previous experiences. I remember my therapist saying to me that everyone approaches life due the lens of their trauma. Everyone approaches life due the lens of their trauma. Therefore, if I've experienced something difficult, everything I see beyond that, I'm going to look at it through those lens regardless of how good it is. So the truth is your eyes can work and your mind can work, but you won't see the good works of God if your perception is fractured. And it is my prayer today. It is my hope today that God would give you the healing that you need, but on top of it, if he needs to heal your legs, he would first heal your perspective. He would heal the way that you think. He would heal the way that you believe he would heal the way that you behave because without realizing it, it is affecting the very relationships that he's blessed you with. Some of you have prayed for a man, you prayed for a woman, you prayed for a family, you prayed for a job, but because you haven't healed your perspective, you are mistreating the husband that he gave you. You are mistreating the wife that he gave you. You are mistreating the fiance that he gave you. You are mistreating the children that he gave you. He finally gave you the children. He finally gave you the job, but because you have not healed your perspective, it is causing you to mistreat the blessings that he's put in your life, which speaks to this idea. You could be in the middle of a miracle and miss it, not because you can't see it, but because you can't perceive it. Why would I ask for God to give you something new if you keep mishandling all the other blessings he already gave you? When I think of this man and the position that he finds himself in, I find it so interesting that God says to him, "Do you want to get healed?" We read that and we laugh to ourselves. Of course, he wants to get healed. But if you notice what he does first, he says, "Do you want to get healed?" What does he want? He wants speaks to desire. Desire speaks to perspective. Perspective speaks to perception. So what he's saying to him is,

"Do you really want it or do you just enjoy complaining about it?" We get so comfortable complaining about what happened to us that we become the eternal victim. If you are the eternal victim, you have no use for eternal Savior. He says, "I don't only want to save your soul, I want to free your mind. I don't only want to save your soul, I want to liberate you from behaving how you continue to behave because I can give you blessing after blessing after blessing." But what would be the point of healing your legs if you're going to walk into a new season with an old lens? If you walk into a new season with an old lens, you're going to get more of the same of everything you got from the last season. You keep saying, "God, give me a new season." He's saying, "I'm trying to give you a new mind. I'm trying to shift the way that you think. I'm trying to shift the way that you see." Because the reason why you have burdens in your life is because you've misinterpreted the burden that was really a blessing. I wanted to bless you, but because you haven't allowed your mind to be renewed, even the blessings are being missed from your perspective because your perspective is still broken. Do you want to be healed? Now, if we're being honest, who doesn't want to be healed? I want to be healed. It is my prayer for each and every one of you that you would find your healing in Jesus. In fact, I would declare in this moment that each and every one of you that needs a breakthrough, each and every one of you that needs a healing, every each and every one of you that needs God's favor on your life and is blessing on your marriage and is blessing on your finances and is blessing on your job. I pray for each and every one of you that you would experience it in the name of Jesus. I pray that today would be the day. On August 16 of 2026, you would document this day. You would write down this day. This was the day that you came to church. You showed up to church and you found Jesus. He met you. You didn't just feel good about it, but there was a shift in your spirit. You went from lifting up your hands like this to raising your hands as high as possible. You went from feeling downcast to feeling joyful. You went from feeling sad to feeling happy, but it is my prayer that the happiness would not just be a moment, but it would be a shift in your thinking and that the joy of the Lord would carry over why. It is the joy of the Lord that is my strength. If the joy of the Lord is my strength, then you have to be careful how honest you are about life when it hits you. Here's what I mean. So many of us, so many of us love to play devil's advocate.

I mean, we don't say that cause we're in church and we don't want to say the word devil, my bad. But we just say things. I was raised like that. Or we just say, well, you know me, I just, I keep it real. I'm just, I'm an honest person. And because you're so honest, you have no room for faith. Because you were already made up your minds about the season that you're in. God is trying to bless you in this season, but you cannot see it because you've appointed yourself as a better God than God. God's saying, I want you to live in now and you're saying, God, I don't trust it yet. God is saying, I want you to laugh right now. And you say, I'm not ready to laugh yet. God is saying, I want you to trust him right now. I want you to join right now. I want you to get it right now. I want you to step out and start the, start the business right now. I want you to accept the position right now and you keep giving God all these other prerequisites for him to do in order for you to smile again and be joyful again. And what he's trying to tell you is that if this does not change, then it doesn't matter how much I change this. Do you want to be healed? Because I'm not just trying to heal your legs. I'm trying to heal your soul. Which by the way, how good is God that he heals this man without this man even asking? You ever noticed that? The man doesn't pray and say, Jesus, can you heal me? Jesus just rolls up on him. You want to be healed? And the man responds with excuses. For God is so good that he will heal you when you don't ask. And he will heal you even when you don't accept it. Does the man ever say yes? But that mess with your theology. Some of you that think that you have to pray hard enough. Some of you that think that you have to fast hard enough. Some of you that believe that you have to worship loud enough or you have to post a certain amount of verses on your Instagram feed to show everyone else that you're really saved. And you think of all these things that you have to do. And you think the more hardcore you have to be about your doctrine, about your beliefs that you think that it's your own merit that's allowed when God's blessing in your life. He says, I bless who I want to bless. I heal who I want to heal. Whether you call out to me, you will be saved. I believe with all my heart, ask, and he shall receive. I also believe that even when you don't ask it, you still will receive it. Because he's so good that he does what he wants to do whenever he wants to do it. But I've also learned, because I've been around church long enough,

that he could do it and you could still miss it. I want you to write this down. You're missing what's in front of you. Because you're too focused on who wasn't there. You're missing what's in front of you because you're too focused on who wasn't there. When Jesus says to him, do you want to get healed? Notice the man's response. Everyone else keeps going in front of me. Now, if you've ever been betrayed, if you've ever been abandoned, if your heart has ever been broken, if somebody promised to be there for you and they weren't, I get that. And when you live that way and when you have those experiences, you could believe that no one's ever going to show up. The Bible says that Jesus saw him. The man's disposition is, I have no one. Jesus notices him, but the man believes that no one's looking for him. How is it that he's in the presence of Jesus and still believes that no one sees him? He feels unseen while being seen. Some of you are in relationships and you are taking out on your future or present husband or your present wife because of what your ex did to you. And because you're so scared that it's going to happen again, you're so scared that it's going to be repeated again, that you are literally in the presence of somebody that loves you, but you're missing it because you keep replaying of who it is that you thought was supposed to stay. And those are two very different things you could feel alone while someone is standing right in front of you. Think about it. He's describing absence in the presence of God. The God that will will never leave you, nor forsake you. This is the God that is with this man, and this man is looking at Jesus and not seeing Jesus, which side note, we have to not only pray for the presence of Jesus, but we have to pray for the awareness of Jesus, because I've learned growing up in church that you can get so used to the presence of God that you can still operate under your own will. Proximity means nothing. The disciples teach us that Peter,

who is walking amongst Jesus, thought he had the ability to tell Jesus that he wasn't gonna die, and he wasn't gonna be tormented. And then Jesus, right after saying to him that he was gonna use him to build the church, then as a turn and say, get thee behind me, sayin' or what about Thomas? When did the disciples come to Thomas and say, "Our Jesus is alive, what does he do?" He doubts why, because proximity doesn't mean what we think it mean, or let's go with the easiest example. Judas spent his life around Jesus, seeing the miracles of Jesus and still betrayed Jesus. Why? Because proximity does not mean what you think it means. If you're gonna pray for his presence, you need to start praying for your awareness. God, would you make me aware of your spirit? Would you make me aware of what you're doing here? Would you make me aware of how you wanna move and what you're doing so that I do not speak against you, or I do not rebuke what it is that you're trying to do in my life. Now, prolonged disappointment is a very real thing. And prolonged disappointment will create an abandonment narrative. They weren't there for me, will become nobody is ever there for me.

You see how that works? You start using your life as the data to make conclusions about everything else going forward. And now when Jesus is literally showing up present in your life, you are missing it because of the last thing that happens. But the truth is we cannot, we cannot blame God for what man did. We cannot hold against God what it is that he's trying to do in our life, abandonment will make you hyper aware of absence, who didn't call, who didn't check in, who didn't help, who didn't show up. Why? Because absence can become so dominant in your story that you become blind to presence. I'm so sorry for your heartbreak. I'm so sorry for everything it is that you've dealt with. And what you've dealt with is lying to you. I'm not telling you that you didn't experience what you've experienced, but what I am telling you is that your experiences are trying to dictate your future. Your past has no authority over your future. Your past has no authority over your future. In other words, your past failures have no authority to tell you who will fail you in the future. God is saying, I'm calling you forward. I have something beautiful for you. And here's what I want you to know. It is time to heal. Write this down. Healing doesn't require you to rewrite your history.

But healing may require you to stop allowing who wasn't there then to keep you from recognizing who is here now. Healing doesn't require you to rewrite your history. But healing may require you to stop allowing who wasn't there to keep you from recognizing who is here now. In other words, do you want to get well? If you want to get well, stop telling me who got you sick. You want to get well? Stop telling me who jumped in front of you to get in the pool first. How well do you want to get? Because if you really want to get well, I'm not telling you to forget your past, but I am telling you to heal from your past. Those are two different things. I am not telling you to forget what happened to you, but I am saying it is time to heal from what happened to you. Because when you heal, you don't find every opportunity to bring up someone's name that was not there for you. Jesus is talking to the man about to heal from him, do for him what it is that he's been waiting for and the man cannot see it because he's too fixated on the lens of disappointment that he's been living through. Do you want to get well? But God, every time I try to get well, they get in front of me and I'm trying to get in the pool and think about it, the man is fixated on the pool, but he's in the presence of Jesus.

Who cares about a pool when the living water is standing in front of you? A pool would represent stagnant waters, repeated waters, but the living water is fresh. Now, you might be wondering, what about the pool? We'll get to the pool in a little bit. We'll get to what that pool represented in the text and what some to believe had healing properties. But the truth is, who cares? Jesus was present. I know that man left you. I know that woman left you. I know your parents did you dirty. I know your business partner did you dirty. I get all of that. But if you have Jesus, you have everything you need. I'm not saying that they should have left you. But I am saying the mindset that you needed them to survive needed to break. I'm sorry they shouldn't have did you like that. But the fact is, you did not need them the way you thought you needed them. And the reason why you keep believing holding on to your past is because somewhere along the way, you thought that they had more jurisdiction or authority over your future. And God is saying, I'm about to bless you in ways that you would have never imagined. I'm about to bless you in ways. If they would have did it, they would have gave you a job.

But I'm about to bless you and I'm going to give you a business. If they would have blessed you, they would have gave you a raise. I'm about to bless you. And you're about to start taking care of other people's salaries. I have good things for you. I have blessing for you. Stop being fixated on who left because I am present. To go with the Bible says, while I'm trying to get in, someone goes on down ahead of me. Someone goes down ahead of me. What is he talking about? He's talking from memory. You're missing what's in front of you because you're still looking through what's behind you. You're looking at your past. You're looking at the people. You're comparing yourself to what someone else was able to do. Can I tell you something about comparison? It's crippling. Comparison will cripple you. This is why some of us probably need to jump off a social media. Myself included. It's so easy to look at someone else and their success and their life and think to yourself, how come I don't have that yet? Realistically, we know, like I know, all they're really doing is posting something that they wanted you to see. They're not posting all the other things that they went through. We all know that. We've heard that preach before. But the issue is that we keep on comparing.

And when you compare, not only does it cripple you, it blinds you to what's in front of you. Some of you are more blessed than you realize. This past week, I had to fly my son Dylan to Florida to drop him off to go back to school. And I don't know what's up lately, but it seemed like every flight is delayed. Anyone else experiences it? Every flight is delayed. And I remember we landed. We actually landed early. And yet, we still got to the gate later than we were supposed to. Now, if you work for Delta, shout out to you. But it's been an issue. When we landed, they set off the ring. You know the ping that allows us to stand. Is that a ping? Yeah, that's a ping. I stand ready to get off this plane. Got to get my son to school. We got a whole plan in place. As we're standing, they announce we could continue to stand, but it's going to be a while before the jet bridge connects. As I'm standing, there's a woman with her son to my right. The woman doesn't realize that her headphones are not connected to the Bluetooth on her phone. So we hear everything she's hearing. She has the phone out, volume on the thousand. She's laughing and watching videos. She's laughing and watching videos of little boys dancing.

It's like soldier boy and other things like that. While this is happening, her son is dancing to the right of her. He is having a party. He is supermanning and all of that. He's dancing to the very song that she's watching on her phone. And while she's watching other kids dancing, her own son is dancing to the right of her. Now, the son, God bless his heart, was turning all the way up. He was so turned up that the rest of the plane is watching this mom and this child waiting for the parent to notice. She never notices because she's caught up on her phone and as she's caught up and she's chuckling and laughing to the little boy dancing on her phone, her own little boy is dancing to the right of her, focused on what some other little boy is doing that she doesn't even know. Take it a step further. I can't make this up. The next video came up and it was a video about parents watching their children get older. It's one of those sad videos. Any parent ever watched one of those videos? I hate those videos, man. They get me every time. I'm telling you. If a dog pops up on my feed or one of those parent videos, I'm locked in. If I know you, I'm sharing it with you. I want you to watch it and cry with me. She's watching this video about how children grow up so fast and how we have to be present for them.

She starts crying. Well, her child is to her right turning all the way up. He didn't know the song changed, so he was still doing the Superman. And she's missing it because she's too fixated. Comparison will cause you to miss out on every blessing that's in front of you. It is one thing to look at what someone else has and rejoice. It is another thing to be so distracted by what someone else has. You miss out on the blessing that's in front of you. God is saying, do you want to get well? Do you want to be healed? Kiss me with all. Yeah, but so and so got it before me. But yes, somebody else got the raise, somebody else got the opportunity, somebody else sang the song, somebody else started the business, somebody else went out and fill in the blank. And God is saying, I didn't ask you about all that. I am asking you to fixate your eyes on me because without realizing that the comparison is crippling you. Because it's crippling you. You're missing out on the goodness that I'm calling you to. I believe, I believe that the promises of God are yes and amen. I believe that God's promises are true for each and every one of us. I also believe we could prolong a promise when we're too fixated on what somebody else has going for them. He says, son daughter, I am calling you out. It is time to get up and to be healed. I'll close with this. I've learned that we will miss out on what God has for us because you already decided what it should look like. You are missing out on what God wants to bless you with and wants to do for you because it's not the way you wanted it to be done.

What does the man say, every time the water is stirred, every time the water is stirred. Can you put that scripture back up there from me? Put up John 5 verse 4, John 5 verse 4, John 5 verse 4, anyone see that? Can you see verse 4? Yeah, there's no verse 4. If you study the text, you'll learn that verse 4 was omitted from the Bible. It was omitted from the Bible because theologians have argued whether the piece of information that was put there was necessary or not. Here's what it says. Here's what it originally said, but they said, we don't want that to be in the Bible because we don't actually know if it's true. Here's what it said. It said that an angel would come down from time to time and would stir the waters and whoever got in the water first would be healed. So the Bible said, well, we don't know if it said or not. That's why I was omitted. You know what's amazing about verse 4 is that you could go online. You could look it up. In fact, I'd encourage you to go look it up. Go look up John 5 verse 4 and what you will find are arguments about this verse. There are people protesting. You need to include verse 4 in the Bible. The angel was real. The angel would come down and would stir the waters, which is kind of funny because we don't know if the angel came down. We weren't there. And there are other people like no, it's a distraction, but we don't know if the angel came, therefore we're not going to put it in. And what's funny is that people are literally arguing. They are arguing around whether or not the verse should be included or shouldn't be included.

And can I tell you might be a logical disposition? Who cares? Why would I make this about an angel stirring the water when I have Jesus in front of me? Jesus is saying, I'm going to do it. How I want to do it and I will heal you. How I want to heal you. But so many of you are missing the living water because you're fixated on a pool. You want to get in the pool. Let's break it down. You want them to apologize. You want them to rehire you. You want your redemption to come through the way that you want it to come. And God's saying, I don't need a pool to bless you. I will bless you. You're going to get up because I told you to get up. I designed you. Your futures in my hands. Your body is in my hands. If I want your legs to work, your legs will work. If I want your eyes to work, your eyes will work. If I want your life to be blessed, your life will be blessed. And I could bless you through pool or I could bless you by myself. Because who I am is enough. The same way people have argued on whether or not an angel came down and a pool was stirred. To be honest, distracts us from the point of the conversation. Because if Jesus was there with all due respect who needs an angel. Bless the crucible. What kind of church are we? Are we going to have a deliberate service? I mean, we could or or we could just ask Jesus to show up and if people get delivered, they get delivered. Well, are we going to be the kind of church that seeks for signs and wonders? Yeah, I mean, sure. Yeah, absolutely. I want to see signs and wonders. But I also think I don't have to label a service in order for God to do what He wants to do. I think that too many people are trying to make their churches into pools. And I think I don't need a pool. I just need Jesus. If I could just get in the presence of Jesus and see Jesus for who He is and what He does. If I could see Him as Savior. If I could see Him as

love. If I could see Him as the friend that sticks close to then a brother. If I could see Him as the one that never leaves me nor forsakes me, then I don't have to make it about anything else. And that's the crazy thing. Forgive me for being on this soapbox just for a second. The church is literally divided around people who are too focused on evangelism and then other people that see more spiritual because they're focused on the supernatural. And what I'm saying is miss me with all the categories. Who am I? I'm a person that wants Jesus. And I believe that if I get Jesus, I'll get everything else that I need. I don't have to quantify it or make it something else. I just need to get to Jesus. And here is my prayer. If you need deliverance, then be delivered in the name of Jesus. If you need to grow up and mature, then you grow up and mature in the name of Jesus. If your legs need healing, I pray that Jesus would heal your legs. But on top of it, I am praying that even if He doesn't heal your legs, that He would heal your vision. And the fact that He would be able to see Jesus for who He is would allow you the freedom to worship Him in the way that you were designed to. Because here's the truth. Whether He heals your legs or not, He's still worthy of all the praise, the glory, and the honor. Do you want to be healed? Jesus says, "Come to me, all you who are weary, all you who are heavy-laden, all you that are broken, all you who are confused, all you that are heartbroken." Hey, can we just take a second? Anyone in the room heartbroken? Come on, lift up your hand. I'm a lift up mind. I'm broken hearted. I've dealt with some things and had things happen in my life, breaks my heart. Your broken heart still does not give you the permission to be unfaithful to Jesus. In fact, you want your heart to heal? Be faithful to Jesus. Seek after Him. And if you seek Him, you will find Him. I'm sorry for what happened. I'm sorry for who wasn't there. I'm sorry that the Holy Spirit did not consult with you and your vision board. I know that you imagined your life to look differently at this point. Anyone else would say, "Hey, I thought my life was going to look differently, but I'm going to turn 43 tomorrow." If you would have told me that I'd be pastoring good company church at 43, 25 years old. Five years ago, I would have told you you were nuts. But the truth is, God has His ways and we have our ways. And we will miss God when we put our way in front of His. Do you want to get well? Then you accept His ways over yours.

Now, we're gonna sing a little bit. But before we do, I wanna give the opportunity to anyone in the room that's never given their life to Jesus. I'm gonna ask that you close your eyes and bow your hands. I wanna make sure that when I pray for healing and I pray for commitment in a little bit, I wanna make sure that each and every person feels included in that moment. If you've never given your life to Jesus or you need to recommit your life to Jesus, I want you to know that this is your moment. And if that's you, I'm counting to three. And when I say three, if that's you, you just shoot up your hand. One, Jesus loves you and he dies specifically for you. Two, tomorrow's not promised any man or any woman, but the Bible says today is the day of salvation. If that's you, lift up your hand now, three, lift it up. Yeah, keep it up, keep it up, keep it up. All of you that are lifting up your hands, our team is looking out for you. So that they can pay attention to who you are. They're gonna hand you a card. Go on ahead, team, hand them a card. But those hands lift it up. It's just our way to get you a next step. Keep your hand up until you get a card, yeah. I've already counted 15 down here. Yeah, keep your hand up, yeah. It's okay, keep it up.

We've got people over here, we'll be here, guys. All of you that lifted up your hand, would you mind standing for me? Come on, just stand, it's okay, just stand. Yeah, thank you, thank you, the rest of us stand. It's okay, yeah, go for it, go for it. Yeah, go for it, come on. Yup, yup, over here, come on. Up there, come on, stand up. I want all of you to repeat this with me. Say, Jesus, come on, loud and proud, Jesus. You are King, you are Lord. Forgive me for all my sins and all my wrongdoing. I love you, I give my life to you in Jesus' name, amen. Now, for the rest of you, this word was for you, stand to your feet, you needed this word, stand. You needed the reminder, stand. You need to see Jesus for who he is, stand. And all of you that are standing, lift up your hands. I love the picture of our hands lifted up as surrender. Can we allow that our hands lifted up right now represents letting go, letting go of the past, letting go of who wasn't there, letting go of offense, letting go of anger so that you can see everything that God's doing in your life right now, what he's doing in your family, what he's doing in your relationships, what he's doing in your business, what he's doing in your life, what he's doing in your house,

come on, lift up your hands all over the room, worship team, meet us however you want to lead us. Well, come on, we're gonna fixate on Jesus in this room. [MUSIC PLAYING]