WEBVTT - Lame Excuses (Robert Madu) 0:00:05.040 --> 0:00:06.280 Hey, this is Stephen Fernick. 0:00:06.280 --> 0:00:09.360 I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast. 0:00:09.520 --> 0:00:11.639 Be sure to subscribe so we can get you these 0:00:11.680 --> 0:00:17.239 new sermons every week. I hope you're blessed today. 0:00:20.600 --> 0:00:23.400 It's good to be in church on a Sunday. Are 0:00:23.400 --> 0:00:27.040 you glad to be in the house of God Elevation 0:00:30.200 --> 0:00:33.120 Amen across every location, even at home. I know you 0:00:33.280 --> 0:00:35.479 just tore up your bathroom, your living room, praise and 0:00:35.520 --> 0:00:40.600 you can sit down. I am elated and excited to 0:00:40.720 --> 0:00:47.040 be back at Elevation Church. My name is Robert Madou 0:00:47.120 --> 0:00:49.080 and I am not a guest here. I am for 0:00:49.159 --> 0:00:51.720 real a part of the fam. I hope you know 0:00:51.800 --> 0:00:55.080 that I have the privilege with my wife, a pastor 0:00:55.120 --> 0:00:57.560 and a church in the great country of Texas called 0:00:57.600 --> 0:01:01.120 Social Dallas. And I love my I love my church. 0:01:01.280 --> 0:01:05.800 But if they ever start tripping, they have a get 0:01:05.800 --> 0:01:07.320 sick of me. I know why I'm moving. I'm coming 0:01:07.360 --> 0:01:11.000 straight to Charlotte and I'm just gonna get on staff 0:01:11.000 --> 0:01:14.400 here at Elevation So Social Tallas fam, Y'll better treat 0:01:14.400 --> 0:01:17.000 me right, treat my wife Taylor right. But it is 0:01:17.040 --> 0:01:20.000 such an honor to be here. I love this house. 0:01:20.040 --> 0:01:23.280 And I love your pastors. I love Pastor Stephen, I 0:01:23.280 --> 0:01:25.880 love Pastor Holly. They are dear friends to my wife. 0:01:25.880 --> 0:01:28.399 And I a you know, I said that about my 0:01:28.480 --> 0:01:30.960 church treating me right. I hope y'all treat your pastors right. 0:01:31.800 --> 0:01:34.440 So I mean, they're filling up arenas, and there's a 0:01:34.440 --> 0:01:37.080 lot of cities, a lot of countries that would love 0:01:37.080 --> 0:01:40.360 to have them. And I'm just in this season, especially now, 0:01:40.400 --> 0:01:44.040 where I don't want familiarity to rob me of appreciation. 0:01:46.120 --> 0:01:49.200 Sometimes often the greater the gift God has given you, 0:01:49.640 --> 0:01:52.080 it's easy to take it for granted. And I pray 0:01:52.120 --> 0:01:53.880 that is not the story of this church. I pray 0:01:53.920 --> 0:01:57.240 you always honor, salute, and celebrate and church the gift 0:01:57.240 --> 0:01:59.680 God has given you in the life of Pastor Stephen. 0:01:59.680 --> 0:02:02.840 And how so can we just give them just some honor? 0:02:03.920 --> 0:02:06.320 Come on, let them know we're covering you, We're playing 0:02:06.360 --> 0:02:09.880 for you. Elevation nights, come on on, packing out of 0:02:09.919 --> 0:02:13.400 readers all over the nation, and we got your coming 0:02:13.480 --> 0:02:17.880 here at home. And it's good to have an elevation morning. 0:02:18.800 --> 0:02:20.840 I'm excited to preach the word of God. I hope 0:02:20.880 --> 0:02:22.720 you're ready to hear it. Are you ready to hear it. 0:02:24.560 --> 0:02:27.200 I want to jump straight into it today. I want 0:02:27.200 --> 0:02:29.360 you to go with me to the Gospel of John today, 0:02:29.400 --> 0:02:32.200 the Gospel of John. If you don't mind, can we 0:02:32.240 --> 0:02:34.280 stand to honor the reading of God's word? Is this cool? 0:02:34.600 --> 0:02:34.840 I don't know. 0:02:34.919 --> 0:02:36.560 You just sat down and got comfortable, But come on, 0:02:36.600 --> 0:02:40.880 you war those shoes trying to be cute should put 0:02:40.919 --> 0:02:44.080 some comfortable shoes on the elevation church. I want you 0:02:44.120 --> 0:02:47.200 to go with me to the Gospel of John chapter 0:02:47.280 --> 0:02:49.200 number five, and I want to look at verses one 0:02:49.320 --> 0:02:53.320 through fifteen. John chapter five start at verse number one, 0:02:54.120 --> 0:02:58.440 and we'll land at verse number fifteen. When you're ready 0:02:58.480 --> 0:03:03.040 to read it, say yeah. If you need some time 0:03:03.080 --> 0:03:06.400 to find John, say hold up. I heard one hold 0:03:06.480 --> 0:03:09.320 up right here in this section, and I'm gonna wait 0:03:09.360 --> 0:03:11.280 for you. I'mna wait for you across every location. E 0:03:11.400 --> 0:03:15.280 family love you. John Chapter five will start at verse 0:03:15.360 --> 0:03:22.320 number one and it declares afterward, Jesus returned to Jerusalem 0:03:22.680 --> 0:03:26.280 for one of the Jewish holy Days, and inside the city, 0:03:26.400 --> 0:03:30.080 near the sheep Gate was the pull of Bethesda with 0:03:30.360 --> 0:03:36.040 five covered porches, crowds of sick people, blind, lame, or paralyzed, 0:03:36.640 --> 0:03:39.720 lay on the porches and one of the men lying 0:03:39.720 --> 0:03:44.760 there had been sick for thirty eight years. When Jesus 0:03:44.800 --> 0:03:47.720 saw him and knew he had been ill for a 0:03:47.760 --> 0:03:54.400 long time, he asked him who the answer is? Asking 0:03:54.440 --> 0:03:57.600 a question. I want to fall before I even ask 0:03:57.680 --> 0:04:01.680 where Jesus asked. And this is what I wish the 0:04:01.680 --> 0:04:09.480 Bible could give us, facial expression and vocal intonation. Don't 0:04:09.520 --> 0:04:10.960 you just we're just like just on the Bible app 0:04:11.000 --> 0:04:13.240 If you could just pop up, we could actually see Jesus' 0:04:13.400 --> 0:04:16.200 face and maybe hear his vocal intonation how he asked this, 0:04:16.240 --> 0:04:19.080 Because there's really two different ways to ask this question. 0:04:19.160 --> 0:04:22.680 You know, you could he could have said, do you 0:04:22.760 --> 0:04:26.719 want to get well? That's an option. That's an option. 0:04:26.839 --> 0:04:28.159 And I don't know if you ever felt like that, 0:04:28.240 --> 0:04:30.560 he ever felt like God, he just just annoyed with you, 0:04:30.760 --> 0:04:32.520 just a little bit, like how long is it going 0:04:32.560 --> 0:04:36.320 to take you to get yourself together? So do you 0:04:36.360 --> 0:04:39.520 want to get well? That's an option. Then again, I 0:04:39.560 --> 0:04:42.200 can't imagine the creator of the universe being annoyed with 0:04:42.240 --> 0:04:47.320 what he created. So maybe he had a different facial expression, 0:04:47.360 --> 0:04:49.720 a different vocal intonation. Maybe the facial expression of a 0:04:49.800 --> 0:04:56.920 chick fil a worker, just like, do you want to 0:04:56.960 --> 0:04:59.960 get well? Because you know I can do that, right 0:05:00.160 --> 0:05:02.040 my pleasure, I can do it. I can do it. 0:05:03.400 --> 0:05:07.320 Maybe that's the way he asked it. But look at 0:05:07.320 --> 0:05:14.159 this man's reply. I can't, sir, I can, for I 0:05:14.240 --> 0:05:16.240 have no one to put me in the pool. When 0:05:16.240 --> 0:05:19.960 the water bubbles up, someone else always gets there ahead 0:05:19.960 --> 0:05:25.039 of me. Jesus told him, stand up, pick up your man, 0:05:25.120 --> 0:05:30.800 and walk. Instantly, the man was healed, rolled up his 0:05:31.000 --> 0:05:37.360 sleeping mat and began walking. This miracle happened on the Sabbath. 0:05:38.000 --> 0:05:41.120 So the Jewish leaders objected. Of course they did, and 0:05:41.200 --> 0:05:42.880 they said to the man who was cured, you can't 0:05:42.880 --> 0:05:44.800 work on the sabbath. The law doesn't allow you to 0:05:44.839 --> 0:05:48.720 carry that sleeping mat. But he replied, the man who 0:05:49.000 --> 0:05:51.760 healed me told me pick up your man. 0:05:51.800 --> 0:05:52.440 And all. 0:05:56.240 --> 0:06:00.440 Who said such a thing as that they demanded the 0:06:00.480 --> 0:06:02.919 man didn't know. In the funny, you can be shouting 0:06:02.920 --> 0:06:07.120 about stuff you don't even know. But Jesus disappeared into 0:06:07.200 --> 0:06:11.159 the crowd. But afterward Jesus found him at the temple 0:06:11.200 --> 0:06:14.000 and told him, now you are well, so stop sinning, 0:06:14.080 --> 0:06:17.400 or something even worse may happen to you. Then the 0:06:17.440 --> 0:06:20.240 man went and told the Jewish leaders that it was 0:06:20.440 --> 0:06:25.000 Jesus who had healed him. Can you say, amen, oh 0:06:25.080 --> 0:06:28.560 that's good stuff. Elevation fam. I want to appreciate to 0:06:28.640 --> 0:06:31.200 you today as always, not long, probably about four and 0:06:31.240 --> 0:06:35.160 a half hours just using this as a title today. 0:06:36.080 --> 0:06:43.640 Lame excuses, lame excuses. Look at your neighbor for the 0:06:43.720 --> 0:06:48.000 last time, right in their face, and say, neighbor, it's 0:06:48.000 --> 0:06:53.360 time for you to stop with the lame excuses. Come 0:06:53.400 --> 0:06:56.000 on across every location. If you believe God's gonna speak, 0:06:56.000 --> 0:06:59.280 would you give him some praise and advance. Come on, 0:06:59.320 --> 0:07:02.200 I meet him for real. Get up and take your 0:07:02.320 --> 0:07:08.320 mat and walk. Praise Father, have your way, speak to 0:07:08.400 --> 0:07:12.560 our hearts today in Jesus' name. Amen, you may be 0:07:12.640 --> 0:07:22.880 seated in the presence of the Lord. Lame excuses, elevation Fam. 0:07:22.960 --> 0:07:26.760 It's crazy how much I can personally relate to this 0:07:26.840 --> 0:07:30.560 man who is in our techs today. Not because I've 0:07:30.600 --> 0:07:34.800 been lame for thirty eight years, but I have been 0:07:34.840 --> 0:07:38.600 alive for thirty eight years. Matter of fact, this June 0:07:38.840 --> 0:07:42.480 I turned thirty nine. Turn thirty nine. Oh yes, forty 0:07:42.600 --> 0:07:46.280 is coming, y'all. Forty, it is coming on you board. 0:07:46.480 --> 0:07:48.680 You know they say that in your twenties you are 0:07:48.840 --> 0:07:52.480 obsessed with what other people think about you. In your forties, 0:07:52.480 --> 0:07:56.040 you stop caring what other people think about you, and 0:07:56.040 --> 0:07:58.400 then in your sixties you realize wasn't nobody thinking about 0:07:58.440 --> 0:08:03.280 you anyway. So so I'm about to enter the stage 0:08:03.360 --> 0:08:05.680 of my forties world. I just I don't care what 0:08:05.760 --> 0:08:07.760 you think about me. That's what I'm entered in. And 0:08:07.800 --> 0:08:09.320 don't don't get me wrong. I want to grow. I 0:08:09.320 --> 0:08:10.920 don't want to be rude. I want to get better. 0:08:10.960 --> 0:08:13.160 But I'm just in the season of life where I 0:08:13.200 --> 0:08:16.160 know my strengths, I know my weaknesses, I know what 0:08:16.200 --> 0:08:19.239 I'm good at, I know my deficiencies, I know my idiosyncrasies. 0:08:19.240 --> 0:08:20.960 I mean, I know what I can do and I 0:08:21.040 --> 0:08:24.119 know what I can't do. Like I can't do math, 0:08:25.240 --> 0:08:27.640 I don't do numbers. My eight year old daughar, beautiful 0:08:27.640 --> 0:08:29.280 baby girl, Evy, she asked me to help me with 0:08:29.320 --> 0:08:31.720 her basic math homework the other day. I said no. 0:08:32.720 --> 0:08:35.200 I said no, said, sweetheart, Daddy is a communicator, not 0:08:35.240 --> 0:08:38.560 a calculator. You're gonna have to do this through this 0:08:38.679 --> 0:08:40.560 on your own. I don't do math. I don't do numbers. 0:08:40.720 --> 0:08:40.840 Yo. 0:08:40.960 --> 0:08:44.160 I don't cook. I don't cook. I cannot cook anything. 0:08:44.240 --> 0:08:46.839 You know how some men think that, like masculinity is 0:08:46.880 --> 0:08:50.000 synonymous with grilling. I am not that dude. Okay, I 0:08:50.040 --> 0:08:54.280 don't cook. I don't grill. Okay, I make reservations. That's 0:08:54.280 --> 0:08:56.440 what I do, and I'm cool with that. It is 0:08:57.280 --> 0:09:00.600 what it is. I know my strains, and he says, yo, 0:09:00.679 --> 0:09:05.080 I also know that I'm not good at texting people back. 0:09:06.120 --> 0:09:09.640 I know, I know. I know that's the cardinal unforgivable 0:09:09.720 --> 0:09:12.040 sin in this day and age in which we live. 0:09:12.160 --> 0:09:14.560 I am so sorry. I have a phone full of 0:09:14.600 --> 0:09:18.280 text messages that I have responded to in my head, 0:09:18.400 --> 0:09:20.680 but it just hadn't got to my fingertips yet. Okay, 0:09:20.840 --> 0:09:23.079 give me some grace. Okay, don't even ask me, I 0:09:23.120 --> 0:09:24.760 did you get the text? Of course I got it, 0:09:24.800 --> 0:09:26.760 you know I got it. Just give me some time 0:09:26.840 --> 0:09:30.000 to respond. Okay. I got a wife, I got three kids, 0:09:30.040 --> 0:09:31.959 I got a church. We got a pet dog in 0:09:32.040 --> 0:09:34.439 these delivering a squirrel, and give me pis. I got 0:09:34.520 --> 0:09:37.200 stuff going on. I get to it when I get 0:09:37.240 --> 0:09:38.960 to it. It's just hard. And I'm telling I've learned 0:09:38.960 --> 0:09:40.599 that people don't like it when you don't respond to 0:09:40.679 --> 0:09:43.559 they tecks. They don't care what excuse you have. Matter 0:09:43.600 --> 0:09:45.360 of fact, you ever tax somebody, If you ever tax somebody, 0:09:45.440 --> 0:09:47.240 and all of a sudden you saw them start to reply, 0:09:47.280 --> 0:09:51.320 and you see the little bubbles and then it just disappears. Oh, 0:09:51.400 --> 0:09:53.760 your mind just starts jumping to all these stories about 0:09:53.800 --> 0:09:56.480 what they could have done, what they could have said. Oh, 0:09:56.520 --> 0:09:58.600 I'm telling you, I have all kinds of excuses for 0:09:58.640 --> 0:10:01.760 why I didn't get back to your text message. But 0:10:01.840 --> 0:10:04.720 no matter what I give, it always feels like a 0:10:04.840 --> 0:10:09.959 lame excuse. You ever given a lame excuse? Lame excuse? 0:10:10.000 --> 0:10:13.400 Why you were late for work? Really is traffic every day? 0:10:13.480 --> 0:10:18.679 You ever given just a lame excuse? Lame excuses are 0:10:18.880 --> 0:10:25.160 interesting because lame excuses, we think, exonerate us from our responsibility. 0:10:26.360 --> 0:10:28.560 If we didn't, we wouldn't give the lame excuse. We 0:10:28.880 --> 0:10:33.200 in our minds think that that lame excuse actually exonerates 0:10:33.280 --> 0:10:35.960 us from the responsibility or the thing that we were 0:10:36.000 --> 0:10:37.880 supposed to do. And I came to tell you that 0:10:38.080 --> 0:10:42.679 it doesn't. You still have a responsibility. As a matter 0:10:42.679 --> 0:10:44.480 of fact, I think the greatest gift God has ever 0:10:44.520 --> 0:10:51.640 given humanity is responsibility. Response, response ability, the ability to 0:10:51.720 --> 0:10:56.960 respond that God is looking for your ability to respond 0:10:57.120 --> 0:11:00.080 to the call to the purpose, to the mandate he 0:11:00.160 --> 0:11:02.640 is put on your life, and He is not interested 0:11:02.679 --> 0:11:06.320 in your lame excuse. But isn't it crazy the lame 0:11:06.480 --> 0:11:09.560 excuses that we give God. As a matter of fact, 0:11:09.559 --> 0:11:12.840 your Bible is full. It is a repleat of examples 0:11:13.120 --> 0:11:17.000 of people giving lame excuses, especially when God tells them 0:11:17.000 --> 0:11:23.760 their purpose. Moses, go tell Pharoh, let my people go. 0:11:23.760 --> 0:11:23.960 God. 0:11:24.040 --> 0:11:30.120 You know what, I can't talk. Lame excuse, Kitty, You 0:11:30.240 --> 0:11:34.079 are a mighty voy you no, you understand God. I'm 0:11:34.120 --> 0:11:36.720 the least in my family. I can't really those things 0:11:36.800 --> 0:11:43.000 like that. Lame excuse. Mary, the Holy Spirit's gonna overshadow you. 0:11:43.000 --> 0:11:44.839 You're gonna give birth to the son of the Living 0:11:44.880 --> 0:11:47.720 God where I don't even know, Joseph like that, how 0:11:47.840 --> 0:11:56.800 is that going? Lame? Lame excuse? You laughing? But I'm wondering, 0:11:56.840 --> 0:12:00.760 what lame excuse are you giving God, God right now 0:12:01.559 --> 0:12:04.280 for why you haven't stepped into the fullness of your purpose? 0:12:04.800 --> 0:12:08.480 What lame excuse are you telling him? Thinking that that 0:12:08.600 --> 0:12:13.600 excuse exonerates you from the responsibility. In my text today, 0:12:13.600 --> 0:12:16.160 we don't just run into a lame man. We run 0:12:16.160 --> 0:12:20.400 into a man who has a lame excuse. And for 0:12:20.720 --> 0:12:26.360 thirty eight years, y'all, thirty eight years, as long as 0:12:26.400 --> 0:12:32.160 your boy has been living, this man has been lame. 0:12:33.840 --> 0:12:37.440 Before you start judging people's lame excuse, maybe check the 0:12:37.600 --> 0:12:42.280 environment from which the excuse came, because I think lame 0:12:42.360 --> 0:12:48.640 excuses are birth from lame environments. Think about this man 0:12:49.480 --> 0:12:53.160 for thirty eight years. We don't even know when this 0:12:53.360 --> 0:12:56.240 lameness occurred, whether he's just been by the pool for 0:12:56.280 --> 0:12:58.600 thirty eight years, but either way you put it, for 0:12:58.679 --> 0:13:03.520 a long time, this man has been stuck in one position, 0:13:05.520 --> 0:13:09.199 not being able to move. You understand, during this time period, 0:13:09.240 --> 0:13:14.040 there are no home rounds, there are no wheelchairs. You 0:13:14.080 --> 0:13:17.880 would stay in one position. Anytime you wanted to move somewhere, 0:13:19.600 --> 0:13:22.880 you had to do it yourself. And if you didn't 0:13:22.880 --> 0:13:27.200 do it yourself, you were dependent on other people around 0:13:27.240 --> 0:13:30.480 you to say, hey, could you help me? Hey, I 0:13:30.480 --> 0:13:32.640 actually want to move over there, could you help me 0:13:32.840 --> 0:13:35.719 get up? No wonder When he responds to Jesus, the 0:13:35.760 --> 0:13:39.080 first words out of his mouth were I can't. I 0:13:39.120 --> 0:13:42.600 don't have anybody to help me. There's nobody that can 0:13:42.679 --> 0:13:45.640 put me in. It's easy to judge people's excuses if 0:13:45.640 --> 0:13:48.520 you don't know their environment. What else does he have 0:13:48.600 --> 0:13:52.560 to rely on? There's nobody else to pick him up 0:13:53.440 --> 0:13:57.960 because his entire life he's learned to be dependent upon 0:13:58.040 --> 0:14:02.320 other people. And how sometimes even your physicality will affect 0:14:02.320 --> 0:14:07.080 your psychology. When you're lame, all you have to talk 0:14:07.120 --> 0:14:10.319 to is other lame people. What you're gonna do today? 0:14:10.520 --> 0:14:12.680 Man probably lay here. I'll stake of the same thought. 0:14:16.520 --> 0:14:21.160 It affects your conversations, or you have his lame conversations. 0:14:21.280 --> 0:14:23.160 You don't talk to people who are up, you talk 0:14:23.200 --> 0:14:25.880 to people who are down. This is the challenge of 0:14:25.960 --> 0:14:29.800 being lame. It affects your ability to work. This man 0:14:29.840 --> 0:14:33.160 couldn't find a job. What do you do? What a 0:14:33.240 --> 0:14:36.400 job do you apply for? He's even having to beg 0:14:36.560 --> 0:14:39.280 probably just to get something, and he's laying there. And 0:14:39.320 --> 0:14:43.680 I think so often we judge people's lameness, and we 0:14:43.800 --> 0:14:48.400 judge their excuses without even taking the time to at 0:14:48.520 --> 0:14:52.360 least see the environment from which the lame excuse came. 0:14:53.040 --> 0:14:57.440 At least check the environment. This man was lame for 0:14:57.520 --> 0:15:01.000 thirty eight years. Not only is he in his environment, 0:15:01.160 --> 0:15:04.320 but let's look at the environment and which he is surrounding. 0:15:04.840 --> 0:15:06.600 The Bible says that there was a pool. There was 0:15:06.600 --> 0:15:11.280 a pool that the bethesda means house of mercy, but 0:15:11.320 --> 0:15:14.120 it may as well be a house of misery, because 0:15:14.160 --> 0:15:19.440 if you see this scene, there are broken people everywhere. 0:15:19.560 --> 0:15:21.360 In fact, the Bible says a crowd. Another version of 0:15:21.360 --> 0:15:23.520 says a multitude. The only place we see multitude and 0:15:23.560 --> 0:15:25.600 others in the Gospels is really the feeding of the 0:15:25.600 --> 0:15:27.520 fish in the Five blows. This is not a few people. 0:15:27.600 --> 0:15:30.640 There's a lot of people. This is a multitude of 0:15:30.760 --> 0:15:34.600 sick people. And some are blind, and some are lame, 0:15:34.840 --> 0:15:38.800 and some are missing arms, and some are missing eyes. 0:15:38.960 --> 0:15:41.720 Here's one thing about this whole environment of the people 0:15:41.720 --> 0:15:45.040 a by the pool. They're all broken. It's not a 0:15:45.080 --> 0:15:47.360 single person by the pool that has it going on. 0:15:48.000 --> 0:15:50.240 It's not a single person by the pool that has 0:15:50.280 --> 0:15:54.720 it all put together. Everybody at the pool is broken 0:15:54.840 --> 0:15:57.440 in some area. There's some people that had some legs, 0:15:57.440 --> 0:15:59.200 and some people that didn't have arms, and some people 0:15:59.200 --> 0:16:01.360 that had eyes, people that could hear. But no matter 0:16:01.400 --> 0:16:05.200 where they were, everybody had some area of brokenness by 0:16:05.320 --> 0:16:07.440 the pool. I'm going the paus right here since we 0:16:07.520 --> 0:16:13.320 had the pool, and let you know that every single 0:16:13.760 --> 0:16:17.320 person has some area of brokenness. I know you can't 0:16:17.320 --> 0:16:19.400 see it because it's Sunday and they got their good 0:16:19.400 --> 0:16:21.440 shirt on and all that Mary Kay and Mac makeup. 0:16:21.600 --> 0:16:24.920 But I'm telling you they are not showing it well. 0:16:25.160 --> 0:16:28.400 They are hiding their brokenness. All of us have some 0:16:28.600 --> 0:16:31.360 area of brokenness. And I wish, just for once, if 0:16:31.360 --> 0:16:33.240 we could have some people that would put away the 0:16:33.280 --> 0:16:36.080 pretense and be honest and say, I don't have it 0:16:36.200 --> 0:16:39.280 all together. I'm not really living how I'm posting. There 0:16:39.280 --> 0:16:42.440 are still some areas of brokenness in my life. As 0:16:42.480 --> 0:16:44.360 a matter of fact, you ought to thank God for 0:16:44.520 --> 0:16:46.760 some of those areas of brokenness, because some of us 0:16:46.760 --> 0:16:49.120 wouldn't pray if we didn't have brokenness. Some of us 0:16:49.120 --> 0:16:51.320 wouldn't cry out to God if we didn't have brokenness. 0:16:51.320 --> 0:16:54.960 But there's something about being broken. There's something that knowing 0:16:55.040 --> 0:16:59.960 that you're afrail that actually makes you cry out to God. 0:17:00.080 --> 0:17:02.560 I need you in this area. Everybody at the pool, 0:17:03.200 --> 0:17:07.840 who ever, the whole spot full of broken people. I 0:17:07.920 --> 0:17:11.320 wish I could see their Instagram and they TikTok because 0:17:11.359 --> 0:17:15.240 you know, they didn't post what was broken, they posted 0:17:15.280 --> 0:17:18.800 what was whole. The lame person just posting his arms 0:17:18.840 --> 0:17:22.920 like yeah, I do up a body, no lower body, man, 0:17:23.080 --> 0:17:26.399 just up a body. Person that's blind, got sunglasses on 0:17:26.480 --> 0:17:28.760 so you don't see it. They just yeah, man, I'm cold. 0:17:29.000 --> 0:17:31.320 Can't see the comments of the likes, but they just posted. 0:17:31.560 --> 0:17:34.360 Isn't it funny how we like to show the good 0:17:34.359 --> 0:17:39.080 parts we hide our brokenness. But everybody at the pool 0:17:39.760 --> 0:17:43.080 was broken, and everybody at the pool had a belief system, 0:17:43.600 --> 0:17:48.199 and the belief system was that whenever the water would bubble, 0:17:48.280 --> 0:17:51.119 they believed that an angel would stir the waters, that 0:17:51.240 --> 0:17:53.399 every time the water would bubble, the first person to 0:17:53.520 --> 0:17:55.919 get in would get the healing. This is the belief 0:17:55.960 --> 0:17:58.320 system of the broken people that you gotta be first, 0:17:59.000 --> 0:18:01.040 that the first person is the one that's going to 0:18:01.080 --> 0:18:02.919 get the blessing. And so I gotta fight and I 0:18:02.920 --> 0:18:05.719 gotta do whatever I can to be first. This is 0:18:05.800 --> 0:18:09.000 our generation. No wonder. All of us are fighting for attention, 0:18:09.200 --> 0:18:11.199 No wonder. All of us are fighting for people to 0:18:11.280 --> 0:18:13.360 validate us and look at us. Because we all think 0:18:13.359 --> 0:18:15.320 if I could just be the first one to get in. 0:18:16.280 --> 0:18:19.040 Now'll be the one that gets the breakthrough. I'll be 0:18:19.119 --> 0:18:22.960 the one that gets the blessing. It's a generation of lame. 0:18:23.040 --> 0:18:24.760 As a matter of fact, to me, that's what lame 0:18:24.840 --> 0:18:28.800 stands for. Lame la m e who look at me? Everybody. 0:18:31.040 --> 0:18:33.560 You want to see a lame life. Look at a 0:18:33.560 --> 0:18:36.480 person who has put themselves in the center of their world, 0:18:36.880 --> 0:18:39.679 and they're saying, look at me, everybody, as long as 0:18:39.720 --> 0:18:42.760 I can be first to get in. And I can 0:18:42.800 --> 0:18:45.560 see this man. I don't know who dropped him off 0:18:45.600 --> 0:18:49.200 at the pool that day, but I wholeheartedly and earnestly 0:18:49.240 --> 0:18:52.920 believe that the day he was first dropped at the pool, 0:18:53.080 --> 0:18:56.120 he actually had excitement that he was gonna get healed. 0:18:56.680 --> 0:18:58.560 Oh I can see him. I can see the first 0:18:58.640 --> 0:19:00.520 day he was dropped by the pool. He's like, Oh, 0:19:00.520 --> 0:19:03.200 I'm gonna get my breakthrough today. I'll see you over there. 0:19:03.320 --> 0:19:05.439 Don't think you're gonna beat me. As soon as that 0:19:05.520 --> 0:19:08.280 water bubbles up, I'm gonna be the first one in there. 0:19:08.400 --> 0:19:10.520 And he was going with all the night and the 0:19:10.600 --> 0:19:12.800 tenacity he could find. Come on. You know how it 0:19:12.920 --> 0:19:14.879 is when you first start coming to church and you 0:19:14.920 --> 0:19:16.639 start praising you how it used to be when you 0:19:16.680 --> 0:19:19.640 first came to elevation. So you'd be like, oh, when 0:19:19.680 --> 0:19:22.359 they're gonna start, man, I tell you what, go out, 0:19:22.600 --> 0:19:26.720 Thank God, let's go. You don't see them people, It's like, 0:19:26.760 --> 0:19:29.040 oh heaven, you can tell you just started coming, didn't you? 0:19:29.040 --> 0:19:31.639 You knew you knew to this set? Howe right? You 0:19:31.640 --> 0:19:34.280 need to get it together and don't take all that Oh. 0:19:34.359 --> 0:19:36.080 I think when he first got to the pool, he 0:19:36.160 --> 0:19:38.399 was excited. He couldn't wait. He's like, I'm gonna be 0:19:38.680 --> 0:19:40.440 I'm gonna be the first one in that water. I'm 0:19:40.480 --> 0:19:42.200 gonna get my heel and I'm gonna get my breakthrough 0:19:42.200 --> 0:19:46.160 im and get everything I need. But year after year 0:19:47.200 --> 0:19:53.440 of disappointment, year after year of not getting to the water, 0:19:53.520 --> 0:19:57.280 year after year of people stepping over you and getting 0:19:57.320 --> 0:20:01.040 in front of you. How mean you know, after a while, 0:20:02.640 --> 0:20:07.880 thirty eight years, you start saying, maybe I'll never get 0:20:07.920 --> 0:20:13.560 the healing. Maybe maybe I'll stop trying to even go 0:20:13.680 --> 0:20:19.159 to the water. I think after thirty eight years, you 0:20:19.200 --> 0:20:23.200 stop chasing to the pool and you just start relaxing 0:20:23.240 --> 0:20:28.480 on the porch. You ever been on the porch? The 0:20:28.520 --> 0:20:32.280 porch is when you have gotten to the place where 0:20:32.280 --> 0:20:36.919 you say it hurts to hope again, it hurts to 0:20:37.000 --> 0:20:40.800 believe it. It is what it is. I guess I'll 0:20:40.840 --> 0:20:44.679 never have a good marriage. It is what it is. 0:20:46.040 --> 0:20:49.040 I guess I'll never get out of dead. It is 0:20:50.160 --> 0:20:53.680 what it is. I guess my kids will never never 0:20:54.280 --> 0:20:58.399 be set free. It is what it is. After a while, 0:20:58.760 --> 0:21:01.679 when you've been hoping and believing for so long and 0:21:01.720 --> 0:21:05.160 you've had so many disappointments, it is easy to relax 0:21:05.320 --> 0:21:08.080 on the porch and not even fight to get in 0:21:08.160 --> 0:21:11.399 the stirring of the water again. It is easy to 0:21:11.480 --> 0:21:13.760 chill on the porch because at least the porch has 0:21:13.800 --> 0:21:19.440 shade and I'm covered. You haven't seen people just sitting 0:21:19.480 --> 0:21:22.280 on the porch and some houses they giving up on 0:21:22.320 --> 0:21:23.800 life and they just sitting on the porch. Just watch 0:21:28.000 --> 0:21:32.080 knock her down, Miss Johnson. Get some new grass. Yeah, 0:21:32.119 --> 0:21:37.800 they s some new ground. Okay, just watching everybody else. 0:21:38.160 --> 0:21:40.240 Guess how some people come to church. They're in the room, 0:21:40.280 --> 0:21:45.399 they're just on the porch. We look at him, Yeah 0:21:45.720 --> 0:21:46.200 he'll learn. 0:21:48.040 --> 0:21:49.760 Yeah he's shouting the past the thieves message. 0:21:49.840 --> 0:21:50.000 Yeah. 0:21:50.000 --> 0:21:51.879 I used to shout like that too, But now my 0:21:51.960 --> 0:21:54.920 right toe hurts. Now I just sit down. Now they 0:21:54.960 --> 0:21:56.760 know my heart, they know my heart. I just say 0:21:56.760 --> 0:21:59.919 a man on my heart. I just that this is 0:22:00.119 --> 0:22:02.800 what it is. This says what it is. 0:22:02.880 --> 0:22:07.760 And he resolves to the porch, and he's given up, 0:22:08.760 --> 0:22:10.680 and he probably stopped looking at the pool, and he 0:22:10.760 --> 0:22:14.000 probably just kept looking up in the air, not even 0:22:14.080 --> 0:22:17.440 looking for a miracle anymore. But here's what I love 0:22:17.760 --> 0:22:20.160 about the story of this man. This man has proved 0:22:20.200 --> 0:22:22.679 positive that even in life, when you've gotten to the 0:22:22.720 --> 0:22:25.240 porch and you don't even want to fight for the pool, 0:22:25.480 --> 0:22:27.680 and you feel like giving up and thrown in the towel, 0:22:27.840 --> 0:22:30.160 and you can't even believe again, and you can't even 0:22:30.200 --> 0:22:33.120 hope again, even when you're not even looking for a miracle, 0:22:33.320 --> 0:22:35.520 I'm so glad that a miracle will look for you. 0:22:36.960 --> 0:22:40.160 I'm so glad that even when we have laid on 0:22:40.160 --> 0:22:42.560 the porch of life and we don't have any more 0:22:42.760 --> 0:22:45.240 fight in us and we don't want to hope again, 0:22:45.440 --> 0:22:48.880 I'm so thankful for a savior that will come after us, 0:22:49.119 --> 0:22:52.800 that will seek after us. Look at Jesus coming after 0:22:52.920 --> 0:22:55.679 this man. He didn't even know he was on the radar. 0:22:55.880 --> 0:22:58.040 He didn't even know he was on the schedule of 0:22:58.160 --> 0:23:00.840 the Kingdom, Kings and the Lord, the Lord. I don't 0:23:00.880 --> 0:23:03.480 know who this message is for. Maybe you're at home, 0:23:03.600 --> 0:23:05.800 but I came to tell you. Even when you've given 0:23:05.880 --> 0:23:08.359 up and you've lost a hope, God has not given 0:23:08.440 --> 0:23:11.600