WEBVTT - The X Factor 0:00:00.960 --> 0:00:06.880 This week. God gave me something just for the stuck ones, 0:00:09.280 --> 0:00:15.240 just for the stuck ones. So if you've been freely 0:00:15.320 --> 0:00:20.360 roaming about with no obstructions, there's nothing in your life 0:00:20.360 --> 0:00:22.240 that's holding you down, chaining you to something that has 0:00:22.360 --> 0:00:25.919 been in your life for the last eight years, you 0:00:25.920 --> 0:00:28.160 can probably more valuably use this time than to listen 0:00:28.200 --> 0:00:31.320 to me preach. But for the people that God gave 0:00:31.360 --> 0:00:34.919 me this message for today, I'm excited to share it 0:00:35.280 --> 0:00:40.479 with you. In John chapter five, there is a story 0:00:40.600 --> 0:00:43.800 about a man who was stuck, and I want you 0:00:43.840 --> 0:00:46.160 to stand on your feet for just a moment. Welcome 0:00:46.200 --> 0:00:48.680 to our evam all over the world. Please let me 0:00:48.720 --> 0:00:51.839 know before before I read my scripture, where are you 0:00:52.000 --> 0:00:55.840 joining from? And if you why don't if you're in 0:00:55.880 --> 0:00:58.640 the room, so that this is less awkward, just tell 0:00:58.680 --> 0:01:01.480 the person next to you what brought you here today? 0:01:01.760 --> 0:01:04.960 Why did you come today? What's the what was the 0:01:05.000 --> 0:01:16.560 reason for your being here? Mom made you. Tiffany gets 0:01:16.600 --> 0:01:20.880 paid to be here. She doesn't want to get fired. 0:01:22.840 --> 0:01:24.880 But look all over the world, y'all, I just want 0:01:24.880 --> 0:01:28.200 to point out to you this ministry is reaching way, 0:01:28.800 --> 0:01:33.000 way beyond what we can see. I mean all the 0:01:33.040 --> 0:01:39.480 way from Fayetteville, North Carolina, right next to India, just 0:01:39.600 --> 0:01:49.400 side by side on my comments California, Mississippi, Kenya, Tampa, Florida. 0:01:50.040 --> 0:01:54.080 Happy anniversary, Orlando as well to your anniversary for Orlando today. 0:01:54.760 --> 0:02:02.480 Make some noise, lake Worth, Florida. Chunks you know that, 0:02:03.320 --> 0:02:21.280 Central Florida, Czech Republic, South Africa, Cosamel, Indonesia, Lebanon, Philippines, London, Brazil, Mexico. 0:02:24.080 --> 0:02:30.680 What I miss, Sheller laughing? What oh, you came from Jersey. 0:02:31.400 --> 0:02:37.840 Good to have you. We hope, we hope, we hope, 0:02:37.960 --> 0:02:40.640 we hope. We're praying that we can be in Jersey 0:02:40.680 --> 0:02:43.800 for our Elevation Night's tour coming up that we're going 0:02:43.840 --> 0:02:46.440 to announce in the next So you didn't even have 0:02:46.520 --> 0:02:49.280 to come. We were coming for you, but you couldn't wait, 0:02:49.320 --> 0:02:51.760 could you. You had to get here to the house. 0:02:53.639 --> 0:02:57.919 All right? Are you visiting somebody or you just came 0:02:58.000 --> 0:03:04.640 for this, Then it doesn't count. We're just like a 0:03:04.639 --> 0:03:07.799 little layover. Okay, Okay, God's gonna bless you anyway. Let's 0:03:07.800 --> 0:03:17.000 give it up for Jersey somebody. I am not stalling. 0:03:17.240 --> 0:03:19.280 I'm just trying to slow my brain down for a 0:03:19.360 --> 0:03:22.280 minute because the Lord has me fired up, and I 0:03:22.320 --> 0:03:24.519 don't want to unload on you too much too soon, 0:03:24.600 --> 0:03:35.080 So I'm just trying to acclimate John chapter five. Sometime later, 0:03:35.200 --> 0:03:38.760 Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. 0:03:38.800 --> 0:03:43.440 Now there is in Jerusalem, near the Sheepgate, a pool 0:03:44.440 --> 0:03:48.760 which in Aramaic is called Bethesda, and which is surrounded 0:03:48.800 --> 0:03:56.800 by five covered colonnades porches. Here a great number of 0:03:56.840 --> 0:04:03.400 disabled people used to lie. Now used to lie? Is 0:04:03.440 --> 0:04:07.440 putting it in past tense that the situation is going 0:04:07.480 --> 0:04:11.680 to change, is putting it in past tense that the 0:04:11.720 --> 0:04:16.440 situation is going to change. Here, a great number of 0:04:16.560 --> 0:04:21.760 disabled people used to lie. The blind, the lame, the paralyzed. 0:04:23.120 --> 0:04:26.400 One was there who had been an invalid for thirty 0:04:26.640 --> 0:04:31.080 eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned 0:04:31.560 --> 0:04:33.920 that he had been in this condition for a long time, 0:04:34.760 --> 0:04:39.479 he asked him, do you want to get well? Hey? Man? 0:04:40.240 --> 0:04:45.840 You want some of this? Hey? You want to get well? Sir? 0:04:46.600 --> 0:04:48.880 The invalid replied, I have no one to help me 0:04:49.120 --> 0:04:53.200 into the pool. When the water is stirred. While I'm 0:04:53.200 --> 0:04:56.720 trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me. 0:04:57.600 --> 0:05:04.240 Then Jesus said to him, get up, pick up your mat, 0:05:04.640 --> 0:05:13.360 and walk. At once, thirty eight years of paralysis was reversed. 0:05:14.200 --> 0:05:21.960 At once the man was secured, he picked up his 0:05:22.120 --> 0:05:26.680 mat and walked. The day on which this took place 0:05:26.880 --> 0:05:30.159 was a sabbath, and so the Jewish leader said to 0:05:30.240 --> 0:05:33.080 the man who had been healed, it is the sabbath. 0:05:33.839 --> 0:05:39.040 The law forbids you to carry your mat. But he replied, 0:05:44.400 --> 0:05:47.200 the man who made me well told me pick up 0:05:47.200 --> 0:05:50.000 your mat and walk. I hear what you're telling me. 0:05:50.120 --> 0:05:53.039 But I've been hanging out here thirty eight years and 0:05:53.080 --> 0:05:58.040 you never made me walk. He fixed me in one sentence. 0:05:59.200 --> 0:06:03.320 I'm gonna do what he said. Do. I appreciate the advice. 0:06:03.680 --> 0:06:08.600 I appreciate your regulation. I appreciate your custom. But the 0:06:08.640 --> 0:06:12.600 man who made me well said to me, pick up 0:06:12.640 --> 0:06:16.440 your mat and walk. So they asked him, who is 0:06:16.480 --> 0:06:19.120 this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk. 0:06:20.000 --> 0:06:22.920 The man who was healed had no idea who it was, 0:06:25.080 --> 0:06:29.440 for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there. Later, 0:06:30.640 --> 0:06:33.200 Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, 0:06:33.880 --> 0:06:40.839 see you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse. 0:06:40.880 --> 0:06:47.160 May happen to you. Now. The man went away and 0:06:47.240 --> 0:06:53.000 told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus. I'm gonna 0:06:53.000 --> 0:06:56.760 need you to say that out loud. It was Jesus 0:06:56.800 --> 0:06:59.080 put that in the chat. Say it out loud. It 0:06:59.800 --> 0:07:03.800 was Jesus who had made him well. Today. The Lord 0:07:03.839 --> 0:07:06.480 told me to talk to you about the X factor, 0:07:08.800 --> 0:07:14.280 the X factor. Bless your word, Father in Jesus' name, Amen, 0:07:15.400 --> 0:07:17.480 touch somebody on your way down and say you got 0:07:17.520 --> 0:07:24.400 it the X factor. You know what I mean, X factor. 0:07:26.720 --> 0:07:33.760 Simon Cowell is in here. Don't worry a noteworthy special 0:07:33.800 --> 0:07:38.480 talent or quality. That's what the X factor means. They 0:07:38.560 --> 0:07:43.400 just got it. They just got something or a variable 0:07:44.120 --> 0:07:48.640 in a given situation that could have the most significant 0:07:49.000 --> 0:07:52.960 impact on the outcome. That's what I talked about today, 0:07:53.480 --> 0:08:01.320 the X factor. It's what Holly saw in me. They 0:08:04.640 --> 0:08:11.360 standing across that college cafeteria with a triple X Superman shirt. 0:08:13.680 --> 0:08:17.080 She saw beneath that Superman shirt, she saw the super 0:08:17.680 --> 0:08:25.080 She saw super Steve. Yo. Really are tough to talk 0:08:25.120 --> 0:08:29.400 to sometimes and trying to introduce the topic of the 0:08:29.640 --> 0:08:33.000 X factor. You know what I'm talking about, like, and 0:08:33.120 --> 0:08:38.040 there's just something that they have and you've been around 0:08:38.040 --> 0:08:42.720 someone like that. If the first person you think of 0:08:42.960 --> 0:08:45.360 when I say someone who's just got it like that 0:08:45.640 --> 0:08:53.679 is you. Most of people that I know that really 0:08:53.679 --> 0:08:57.320 have something special, it is the most difficult for them 0:08:57.360 --> 0:09:04.040 to see the distinctives that make them uniquely powerful. I 0:09:04.160 --> 0:09:06.679 was coaching Tim the other day. He did a sermon 0:09:06.720 --> 0:09:09.679 for our youth and it was really good. And I 0:09:09.720 --> 0:09:12.360 gave him this thing. I said, you did this, and 0:09:12.400 --> 0:09:15.080 you did that and you did that and that was good. 0:09:15.720 --> 0:09:20.160 And that's stuff I can't even teach. So what you 0:09:20.280 --> 0:09:23.720 were so good at is stuff that I couldn't teach 0:09:23.760 --> 0:09:27.439 you if I tried. So that's not what I want 0:09:27.440 --> 0:09:29.520 to talk to you about because you already got that. 0:09:30.520 --> 0:09:33.040 So I want to talk to you about what I 0:09:33.160 --> 0:09:38.040 saw where there is potential. Tim is this growth. He's 0:09:38.280 --> 0:09:44.320 a growth minded individual. He is he's driven. So he 0:09:44.480 --> 0:09:46.280 was like, yeah, yeah, yeah, I hear what you're saying. 0:09:46.280 --> 0:09:49.880 I did good? What can I do better? And I 0:09:49.960 --> 0:09:55.360 was like that that right there, that thing in you 0:09:55.440 --> 0:09:58.040 that makes you want to know what did you see 0:09:58.720 --> 0:10:01.680 that I could do better? And not just keep telling 0:10:01.720 --> 0:10:05.080 me the stuff that I did really good? That right 0:10:05.120 --> 0:10:10.640 there makes me think that you have only just begun 0:10:10.760 --> 0:10:14.880 to see what God is going to do through you, 0:10:15.400 --> 0:10:19.840 because you've got it. You got it, You got it, 0:10:21.760 --> 0:10:24.920 you got it, you got it. Especially how God looks 0:10:25.400 --> 0:10:30.439 for people to bless, he looks for need, He looks 0:10:30.480 --> 0:10:34.520 for need. It's proven in the scripture that I just 0:10:34.600 --> 0:10:38.080 read you. But you may not have noticed because the 0:10:38.160 --> 0:10:41.120 exciting part of the text is where the man gets 0:10:41.200 --> 0:10:44.680 up and is cured. The part of the text that's 0:10:44.720 --> 0:10:48.040 really explicit about what made this man a candidate for 0:10:48.080 --> 0:10:51.640 a miracle is the part that, to be honest with you, 0:10:52.400 --> 0:10:56.400 it's it's a list that the writer starts where he 0:10:56.480 --> 0:11:00.199 says that Jesus was at the pool where the blind, 0:11:00.559 --> 0:11:04.880 the lane, and the paralyzed used to lie. The blind, 0:11:05.200 --> 0:11:08.240 the lane, the paralyzed. Now the list could go on 0:11:08.320 --> 0:11:10.760 and on, because we're going to push the scripture today 0:11:10.800 --> 0:11:13.199 not just to talk about physical conditions that God can heal, 0:11:13.480 --> 0:11:16.040 although God has the ability to do that. I want 0:11:16.080 --> 0:11:19.880 to extend this list to say that Jesus is on 0:11:19.920 --> 0:11:24.280 the porch for any problem that you have that is 0:11:24.400 --> 0:11:28.520 paralyzing you in this season of your life. I set 0:11:28.520 --> 0:11:31.240 it five minutes ago, and I'll say it five minutes 0:11:31.280 --> 0:11:35.200 from now. This is for the stuck ones, the lane, 0:11:35.600 --> 0:11:38.920 the blind. You're stuck without your side, You're dependent on 0:11:39.000 --> 0:11:42.120 somebody else without your sight. You're stuck without the function 0:11:42.200 --> 0:11:45.600 of your limbs. You're dependent on where someone can carry you. 0:11:45.600 --> 0:11:50.280 You are stuck without your emotional capacity, where anxiety wrestles 0:11:50.320 --> 0:11:53.200 you into a ball and pins you to the mat 0:11:53.360 --> 0:11:56.680 and dares you to move. I've had seasons of my 0:11:56.760 --> 0:12:01.160 life where resent me resentment put me in a rear 0:12:01.280 --> 0:12:04.520 naked choke. Do you ever watch Mma? Sometimes I watch 0:12:04.600 --> 0:12:06.800 this violent stuff just get it out of my system 0:12:06.840 --> 0:12:09.520 so I don't swing on anybody in real life. And 0:12:09.600 --> 0:12:12.160 I'll watch him choke somebody out, and I'm like, I've 0:12:12.160 --> 0:12:15.000 been in that position before, not with somebody else choking me, 0:12:15.320 --> 0:12:21.360 choking myself, cutting off my own air supply, cutting off 0:12:21.400 --> 0:12:25.600 my own ability to receive the oxygen of the word 0:12:25.679 --> 0:12:38.000 that God is speaking. Jesus looks for need, even in 0:12:38.080 --> 0:12:41.640 picking his disciples. He did it in a really weird way, 0:12:42.880 --> 0:12:46.000 because to change the world you need somebody. You need 0:12:46.040 --> 0:12:50.280 to pick somebody who's got it. Because Jesus had it, 0:12:51.280 --> 0:12:53.800 but he wasn't going to be here to finish it. 0:12:54.640 --> 0:12:57.880 So when he was recruiting his disciples, he probably should 0:12:57.880 --> 0:13:05.800 have picked somebody better than ex fisherman, an ex tax collector. 0:13:08.200 --> 0:13:12.800 You're with me now, he started walking around to pick 0:13:12.840 --> 0:13:18.160 people and his ex factor, Heaven's X factor is not 0:13:18.280 --> 0:13:27.360 dependent on talent, height, ability, charisma. That's not how that's 0:13:27.520 --> 0:13:31.760 not how God chooses who to use. I'll prove it 0:13:31.800 --> 0:13:35.440 to you. There is a very small chance that anybody 0:13:35.480 --> 0:13:38.840 by the pool that day was in worse shape for 0:13:38.960 --> 0:13:44.520 longer than this man. Jesus said that one. So you're 0:13:44.520 --> 0:13:48.000 advising Jesus, right, you tell him something like this, we 0:13:48.080 --> 0:13:50.199 probably should start if you want to heal people out 0:13:50.240 --> 0:13:53.960 here with somebody who's only been this way a little while. 0:13:54.920 --> 0:13:57.880 And Jesus is like, the problem with that is if 0:13:57.920 --> 0:14:00.880 they've only been that way a little while, they will 0:14:00.880 --> 0:14:06.840 think that they got over it. Okay, Jesus, let's pick 0:14:06.880 --> 0:14:09.000 somebody to heal if you want to heal somebody. Because 0:14:09.080 --> 0:14:12.120 John's gospel is not really about healing, It's about belief. 0:14:13.559 --> 0:14:15.920 That's what he said at the end of his gospel. 0:14:16.120 --> 0:14:18.920 Matthew Mark Luke and John John tells you why he 0:14:18.960 --> 0:14:22.120 wrote his gospel. In John twenty thirty, he said these 0:14:22.160 --> 0:14:26.400 things were written that you may believe that Jesus is 0:14:26.440 --> 0:14:30.600 the Messiah, and by believing, have life in his name. 0:14:31.360 --> 0:14:35.040 So the healing in this chapter is not the meaning 0:14:35.560 --> 0:14:39.600 of this chapter. The healing is a means to an 0:14:39.720 --> 0:14:45.240 end so that Jesus can confront unbelief. In fact that 0:14:45.480 --> 0:14:48.080 it even says in the passage that it was one 0:14:48.120 --> 0:14:51.120 of the festivals for Jesus, and in the original language, 0:14:51.160 --> 0:14:54.720 all it says the festival, the definite article, the festival. 0:14:54.960 --> 0:14:57.440 That makes me think it was passover, which makes me 0:14:57.520 --> 0:15:00.840 think it was a year after Jesus heals the royal 0:15:01.200 --> 0:15:05.400 centurion Son in John chapter four, which is amazing because 0:15:05.480 --> 0:15:08.440 John is skipping a whole year because he's not trying 0:15:08.480 --> 0:15:12.360 to show us chronologically what Jesus did. There's a theme 0:15:12.400 --> 0:15:15.800 that he's taking, and the theme is this, anywhere there 0:15:15.880 --> 0:15:22.400 is unbelief, Jesus stands to confront it. That is true 0:15:22.440 --> 0:15:25.440 in your life. So where will God show up the 0:15:25.480 --> 0:15:28.240 most in your life? The area where you have the 0:15:28.280 --> 0:15:37.720 hardest time believing? That place, that place, the porch, the 0:15:37.800 --> 0:15:43.160 porch by the sheep gate with the people who are paralyzed. 0:15:44.120 --> 0:15:48.000 Why wouldn't you hurry to the temple to the pulpit 0:15:48.560 --> 0:15:52.040 to preach the word of God and redeem the world. 0:15:52.080 --> 0:15:57.520 But Jesus is on the porch. Jesus is on your 0:15:57.600 --> 0:16:03.120 porch today. Jesus doesn't stand in this pulpit waiting for 0:16:03.160 --> 0:16:06.160 you to get to church. You think God is waiting 0:16:06.200 --> 0:16:08.520 for you to get here to speak to you. He's 0:16:08.560 --> 0:16:12.800 been talking to you all week through your trouble. He's 0:16:12.880 --> 0:16:17.880 been talking to you all week through traffic. And y'all, 0:16:18.480 --> 0:16:22.440 Holly preach so good last week. I got to brag 0:16:22.480 --> 0:16:26.960 on my wife for a minute. She has got it, 0:16:27.720 --> 0:16:30.600 you got it. She told me I'm not a preacher. 0:16:30.640 --> 0:16:32.480 Don't put me out there. I'll support you. She told 0:16:32.520 --> 0:16:37.480 me that years and years ago. Ha ha ha ha. 0:16:41.240 --> 0:16:46.120 But I learned how to tricker into preacher. I really 0:16:46.120 --> 0:16:48.040 think the reason she preached so good last week was 0:16:48.040 --> 0:16:52.640 because of me. I do not only did I see 0:16:52.680 --> 0:16:56.320 that gift in her long ago and nurtured it in her, 0:16:56.640 --> 0:16:58.360 which I want to take the credit right now. Okay, 0:16:58.360 --> 0:17:00.600 so y'all let me do this. I have this, can 0:17:00.640 --> 0:17:02.880 I have this one? But before she came up to 0:17:02.920 --> 0:17:05.679 preach jail last week, she was so nervous and I 0:17:05.680 --> 0:17:08.520 could sense it. She said, I need you to pray 0:17:08.560 --> 0:17:11.879 for me, and I said okay, and I prayed for it. 0:17:11.920 --> 0:17:17.040 And she was still nervous, and I thought of an idea. 0:17:17.320 --> 0:17:23.879 I started criticizing myself to her. I start saying bad 0:17:23.920 --> 0:17:27.040 stuff about myself, not crazy bad stuff, just a little bad. 0:17:28.840 --> 0:17:34.320 And this woman defends me. So she went into a 0:17:34.359 --> 0:17:42.119 different gear. That wasn't nervous, little Holly she went into. 0:17:45.320 --> 0:17:50.440 She went into another mode. Oh no, if you ever 0:17:50.480 --> 0:17:54.639 saw Spider Man, I don't know if you ever saw Clark. 0:17:54.680 --> 0:17:57.520 Can't go into a phone book. But when Holly heard 0:17:57.560 --> 0:18:02.040 me saying bad things about myself, she grew seven inches taller. 0:18:02.359 --> 0:18:04.920 I watched it happen right before me, and she looked 0:18:04.960 --> 0:18:07.760 in my eyes and she said, don't you say that 0:18:07.920 --> 0:18:10.600 about yourself. I will not. I said, let's go. You're 0:18:10.640 --> 0:18:17.800 ready to preach now, true story, true story. I say, 0:18:17.920 --> 0:18:22.760 you're ready, Now, you're ready. Now. I needed to switch 0:18:22.840 --> 0:18:25.960 her energy. I said, you need to be a little 0:18:26.119 --> 0:18:28.000 you need to be a little feisty when you go 0:18:28.080 --> 0:18:30.360 out there to preach faith to the people. You need 0:18:30.400 --> 0:18:32.159 to have a little bit of Don't you let the 0:18:32.240 --> 0:18:35.040 devil tell you that stuff. Don't you let the enemy 0:18:35.080 --> 0:18:37.680 talk you out of what God gave you. You need 0:18:38.160 --> 0:18:40.880 a little bit of that to do what you've got 0:18:40.920 --> 0:18:47.679 to do. So I awakened her inner preacher, and I 0:18:47.720 --> 0:18:55.920 think the results speak for themselves good. It's a principle 0:18:55.960 --> 0:19:02.800 of provocation. I had to provoke what was inside of 0:19:02.840 --> 0:19:07.000 her so she wouldn't be so focused on what was 0:19:07.040 --> 0:19:14.240 around her X factor. I had to get her to 0:19:14.320 --> 0:19:18.439 start accessing what she had on the inside so she 0:19:18.680 --> 0:19:21.640 wasn't thinking about what she was going to be facing 0:19:22.040 --> 0:19:26.200 on the outside. If you still think I'm talking about 0:19:26.240 --> 0:19:30.760 Holly preaching, you are not paying attention. I am talking 0:19:31.080 --> 0:19:35.240 about you. And when I said the blind lame, the paralyzed. 0:19:35.280 --> 0:19:38.120 I could have kept going listing things that exist in 0:19:38.160 --> 0:19:40.960 this room and all around the world through our ethm. 0:19:41.160 --> 0:19:45.480 I could have started listing mental conditions. I could have 0:19:45.520 --> 0:19:50.439 started listing emotional conditions, financial, relational I could have started 0:19:50.440 --> 0:19:55.240 listing tensions that you didn't even know that were mentionable 0:19:55.440 --> 0:19:59.840 in church, but they are. And the prerequisite that Jesus 0:19:59.880 --> 0:20:03.600 had for who he wanted to heal was who had 0:20:03.600 --> 0:20:11.520 given up on ever getting better. So I'm thinking he's 0:20:11.560 --> 0:20:15.880 walking around this room right now and he's looking for 0:20:17.720 --> 0:20:22.720 who has the X factor, Who is the one who 0:20:22.760 --> 0:20:30.800 knows that I need God in this place, on the porch, 0:20:32.280 --> 0:20:38.639 on the porch where the disabled used to lie. We 0:20:38.680 --> 0:20:40.760 don't have time to stop by the porch, Jesus. We've 0:20:40.800 --> 0:20:43.840 got to get to the Passover feast. No, no, no, 0:20:44.920 --> 0:20:47.280 Jesus wasn't going to pass over the porch to get 0:20:47.280 --> 0:20:49.960 to the Passover festival. And he listen to me, Listen 0:20:49.960 --> 0:20:52.320 to me. He is not going to walk past you 0:20:52.800 --> 0:20:56.240 to bless somebody who is better than you today either. 0:20:59.440 --> 0:21:02.040 He is not going to pass by you to bless 0:21:02.080 --> 0:21:05.760 somebody who said their prayers every day this week. He 0:21:05.840 --> 0:21:09.160 is not going to pass by you to bless somebody 0:21:09.240 --> 0:21:11.679 who never did what you did. He is not gonna 0:21:12.200 --> 0:21:16.440 walk by you to bless somebody who has Philippians memorized. 0:21:16.760 --> 0:21:19.320 He is not going to walk by you to pass 0:21:19.400 --> 0:21:22.720 somebody that wore a Christian T shirt to church. He 0:21:22.840 --> 0:21:25.440 is not going to pass by you. He is not 0:21:25.600 --> 0:21:31.240 going to pass by you. Bye. This is where you 0:21:31.280 --> 0:21:35.040 know the sermon is going to take a turn. The 0:21:35.160 --> 0:21:38.960 devil will do everything in his power to keep you 0:21:39.000 --> 0:21:41.879 from realizing the resource that is right in front of you. 0:21:45.680 --> 0:21:48.560 We talked at the beginning of the year about this 0:21:48.680 --> 0:21:55.800 popular phrase my truth, your truth, my truth, and your truth. 0:21:56.520 --> 0:22:01.920 Because we live in a world that worshiped personal experience. 0:22:03.680 --> 0:22:08.080 Y'all like to take notes, put down experience in your notes. 0:22:08.119 --> 0:22:13.200 While we're talking about the X factor, I was laughing 0:22:13.200 --> 0:22:16.840 how Jesus gave this man a true or false question 0:22:18.440 --> 0:22:24.959 and the man answered with an essay. Jesus said, do 0:22:25.040 --> 0:22:27.199 you want to get well? That's just yes or no. 0:22:28.560 --> 0:22:31.919 Just check the box. Want to get well, yes or no, 0:22:32.320 --> 0:22:35.240 that's all he asked. The man starts doing a fill 0:22:35.240 --> 0:22:38.359 in the blank exercise. Sir, I have no one to 0:22:38.400 --> 0:22:40.960 help me into the pool. When the water is stirred. 0:22:41.080 --> 0:22:43.800 While I'm trying to get in, someone else goes down 0:22:44.000 --> 0:22:49.040 ahead of me. He's practiced this crap, y'all. He's practiced this. 0:22:49.400 --> 0:22:56.199 To explain, write that down, explain, to explain, and what 0:22:56.320 --> 0:22:59.040 I want you to realize about your life and where 0:22:59.080 --> 0:23:01.160 you're at and that you're stuck in and what you're 0:23:01.160 --> 0:23:07.760 stuck with and who you're stuck with. Okay, it would 0:23:07.800 --> 0:23:09.840 be a horrible time to look at the person you 0:23:09.920 --> 0:23:12.600 came to church with that time. He don't do it. 0:23:12.640 --> 0:23:13.800 Don't do it. Don't do it, don't do it, don't 0:23:13.840 --> 0:23:16.879 do what I want you to realize about that is 0:23:16.960 --> 0:23:20.479 one of the most important things about your life is 0:23:20.520 --> 0:23:27.160 not what you experience, but how you explain what you experience, 0:23:30.400 --> 0:23:39.400 not to others but to your self. How many optimists 0:23:39.480 --> 0:23:43.080 do we have in the room? Optimist, raise your hand, Optimist, 0:23:43.160 --> 0:23:45.960 raise your hand. I want to raise my hand with you, 0:23:46.840 --> 0:23:50.280 but I fall into a different category. I'm not a pessimist. 0:23:50.320 --> 0:23:52.840 I'm not a pessimist. I'm not a pessimist because I 0:23:52.880 --> 0:23:57.400 refuse to label myself as a pessimist. I refuse to 0:23:57.440 --> 0:24:01.159 stand up here and identify myself with people who know 0:24:01.400 --> 0:24:04.639 nothing more than to say how Tom Brady could play better, 0:24:04.800 --> 0:24:07.159 but they can't throw a football. I will not be 0:24:07.320 --> 0:24:11.000 that fat guy eating popcorn talking to somebody in good 0:24:11.040 --> 0:24:13.240 shape about you should have caught that. I will not 0:24:13.720 --> 0:24:17.320 be Pessimism is easy, that's easy, that's natural. I used 0:24:17.359 --> 0:24:20.520 to say, Oh, I'm a pessimist. I'm hard on myself. No, actually, 0:24:20.560 --> 0:24:23.359 I was easy on myself because it was natural for 0:24:23.400 --> 0:24:26.160 me to be negative. So when I was hard on myself, 0:24:26.359 --> 0:24:29.080 beating up on myself, that was just me obeying the 0:24:29.160 --> 0:24:32.439 law of the south, vound gravitational pull of my sticking 0:24:32.520 --> 0:24:35.720 rotten flesh, and not being renewed by the pattern of 0:24:35.760 --> 0:24:48.840 my mind. All the ex pessimists make some noise, y'all 0:24:48.840 --> 0:24:52.520 feel me. I'm an ex pest I am a recovering pessimist. 0:24:56.320 --> 0:25:02.960 I'm I'm a recovering fessimist. I'm an ex pessimist. That's 0:25:02.960 --> 0:25:07.080 what I am. I found out. They even wrote a 0:25:07.119 --> 0:25:13.040 book about it, called Learned Optimism. I'm like, I didn't 0:25:13.040 --> 0:25:19.639 know that was a skill. I thought that was a personality. Well, 0:25:21.520 --> 0:25:26.919 I found out that the way I explain my life 0:25:28.040 --> 0:25:34.919 to myself is the X factor that determines whether I 0:25:35.040 --> 0:25:44.320 stay stuck or move forward. Jesus, in our terms, is 0:25:44.359 --> 0:25:49.320 called a wonderful counselor mighty God, everlasting father. Yet he 0:25:49.400 --> 0:25:53.320 breaks every rule of counseling that I've ever heard in 0:25:53.359 --> 0:25:57.600 my life. He asked a man who can't move, do 0:25:57.640 --> 0:26:01.040 you want to get well? Which, at the very least, 0:26:02.119 --> 0:26:06.359 at the very least is awkward. At the worst, it's cruel. 0:26:08.200 --> 0:26:09.520 You think I'm down here because I want to be 0:26:09.560 --> 0:26:13.359 down here. You think I wanted to grow up in 0:26:13.359 --> 0:26:15.680 that home environment. You think I'm here because I want 0:26:15.680 --> 0:26:20.520 to be here. You think I chose this role. And 0:26:20.600 --> 0:26:27.080 immediately he begins to explain, sir, the reason I'm here 0:26:28.920 --> 0:26:32.719 is because somebody gets in the way. Every time I 0:26:32.840 --> 0:26:35.400 try to get to the water where the healing is, 0:26:37.359 --> 0:26:40.920 somebody gets in the way. That's why I can't get there. 0:26:43.000 --> 0:26:47.399 So the Lord said to tell you your why is 0:26:47.440 --> 0:26:56.360 getting in your way every time I try. Every time 0:26:56.359 --> 0:27:00.719 I try, I do it for a little while and 0:27:00.760 --> 0:27:04.280 someone stops me. I do it for a little while, 0:27:04.720 --> 0:27:07.919 I get triggered. I do it for a little while, 0:27:08.520 --> 0:27:12.120 life happens. I do it for any progress you make 0:27:12.160 --> 0:27:15.200 can feel like this right, And so then they call 0:27:15.240 --> 0:27:19.600 it learned helplessness. That's a psychological term. It means that 0:27:19.640 --> 0:27:22.280 you come to this point where you're like, why even try? 0:27:23.680 --> 0:27:26.639 Why even try? If every time I'm going to try, 0:27:27.680 --> 0:27:30.959 I'm gonna end up just getting blocked. I believe I'm 0:27:30.960 --> 0:27:35.320 preaching somebody today who got blocked so many times, got 0:27:35.359 --> 0:27:39.639 blocked so many times, got blocked by people, got blocked 0:27:39.680 --> 0:27:43.680 by problems, got blocked by diagnosises, got blocked by things 0:27:43.680 --> 0:27:45.720 that were beyond your control. And the thing about the 0:27:45.760 --> 0:27:49.040 time we're living in we all have a universal snow 0:27:49.119 --> 0:27:52.959 day that we keep referring to called the pandemic, that 0:27:53.080 --> 0:27:56.080 has become a blanket excuse for why none of us 0:27:56.080 --> 0:28:05.080 are ever going to accomplish anything. Again, y'all don't like 0:28:05.160 --> 0:28:09.959 me today. The Lord likes this message. He told me 0:28:10.000 --> 0:28:12.560 to tell you that he thought this was a good one, 0:28:12.680 --> 0:28:17.000 and that you're wrong if you don't, because now I know. 0:28:17.119 --> 0:28:21.320 I know it's a reason, it's an experience, but I 0:28:21.440 --> 0:28:25.040 have learned that at the same time that I am 0:28:25.119 --> 0:28:29.680 explaining my situation as a reason why I can't, somebody 0:28:29.680 --> 0:28:32.320 else is explaining that situation as a gift from God. 0:28:36.720 --> 0:28:40.440 Somebody else is taking the very same situation that I'm 0:28:40.560 --> 0:28:44.440 using to say, well, I can't do it because and 0:28:44.520 --> 0:28:47.920 someone else is using the very same situation. I can 0:28:47.960 --> 0:28:52.200 do it because and I watched it happen, not only 0:28:52.240 --> 0:28:54.600 through the pandemic, but I've watched it happen as people 0:28:54.640 --> 0:28:57.320 have gone through difficult seasons. You know, I'm coming up 0:28:57.360 --> 0:29:00.240 on sixteen years of being a pastor, so I'm I'm 0:29:00.240 --> 0:29:03.200 not some little traveling preacher anymore who just goes around 0:29:03.240 --> 0:29:06.480 and tells you you can do it. That's not this message. 0:29:06.600 --> 0:29:09.320 You can done. You can get on, Just get On'm 0:29:09.640 --> 0:29:12.600 just walk was gone, just trying. I'm not talking about 0:29:12.640 --> 0:29:15.880 that stupid little stuff anymore that I mighty used to 0:29:15.880 --> 0:29:18.080 preach when I didn't know what the Bible said. Now 0:29:18.120 --> 0:29:20.520 I know what the Bible said. Now I know what 0:29:20.640 --> 0:29:23.280 the Word of God said. Now I've seen it made 0:29:23.280 --> 0:29:28.080 flesh in the lives of thousands of people. And the 0:29:28.160 --> 0:29:31.959 way that you explain your life and the way that 0:29:32.040 --> 0:29:35.600 you explain this pain and the way that you explain 0:29:35.720 --> 0:29:39.800 what's going on inside of yourself will either leave you 0:29:40.000 --> 0:29:45.520 stuck or move you forward. Will either leave you on 0:29:45.560 --> 0:29:49.920 your mat or move you. And the best thing about 0:29:49.920 --> 0:29:55.000 the passage all is his mat became his message. His 0:29:55.200 --> 0:29:59.200 mat became his message. His mat became his message. And 0:29:59.240 --> 0:30:01.600