(John 5:9b-17) – Deception, Strongholds, and the Sabbath

In some shape or form we are all deceived somehow right now. We may not want to admit it, but it’s true. There is something at this moment that we think to be true that really isn’t. Or there’s something we think is not true, that really is. There is area of our thinking that has been conditioned to think in a way that is wrong. This is often referred to as a mental stronghold. A mental stronghold is basically a deception that’s working.

The Bible is clear that when we come to faith in Christ we begin a journey with God that is ever freeing us from these wrong ways of thinking. Romans 12:2 says that God desires to renew or change our minds so that we can know what His will is, His good, pleasing, and perfect will. The Bible also teaches us that “we shall know the truth and the truth will set us free.” What we need is for God to reveal His truth to us, to show us where we have wrong thinking, and to set us free so we can know Him more and experience greater blessing in our walk with Him.

How To Be Blessed – With Your Finances

Proverbs 3:9-10 – “Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your produce; then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine.

One of the most tangible ways to see if someone is trusting God is in their finances. The promise in this verse is straight from God and it claims that if we’re faithful to give our offerings to God, then we will be blessed. The Old Testament standard was a tithe, or ten percent. The New Testament doesn’t set forth a specific percentage as the standard. I’ve heard it said this way though, if the standard under the law (Old Testament) is a tenth, how much more then should we give under grace (New Testament).

If we’re not giving our offering to God like we know He desires us to, then we’re not trusting God and we’re being disobedient. One reason God asks us to give our offerings to Him is to state that we know it all has come from Him, He is our provider. If we’re unwilling to give it, then we’re trusting more in that money than we are God, and we’ve lost site of the fact that God has given it to us in the first place.

The Bible teaches that we are to treat our finances and all that we have as belonging to God. If this is truly understood by the believer, whenever God ask us to give in whatever form it may be from money, furniture, clothes, food, or cars, then it will be much easier because we know it belongs to Him to be used as He desires.

So what if tithing puts you over your monthly budget?

Trusting God

Proverbs 3:5 – “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.”

Life often brings the unexpected. Sometimes the unexpected brings joy, and we find ourselves in better places than we had planned. Sometime it brings fear, pain, and heartbreak. At these times we wonder why God has allowed such things to happen to us, and we wonder if maybe He forgot to pay attention one day causing us to have to pay a great price.

It’s easy to trust God through the good times. It’s in incredibly hard to trust Him during the hard times. We’re called, not to just trust Him, but to trust Him with all of our heart. The only way we learn to do this is with practice–and, unfortunately, practice for us means hard times.

I’m convinced that one of God’s major missions in the life of each believer is

Immovable Love

Proverbs 3:3-4 – “Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you; bind them around your neck; write them on the tablet of your heart. So you will find favor and good success in the sight of God and man.”

The Bible says that when we come to Christ old things are past away and all things become new. We become something much different from what we were before. One of the most significant focuses of that change is to be in our love for people. In the common world’s way of thinking, love is something that can come and go depending on how we feel or changes in circumstances. If fact, we are conditioned in the world to be short-term lovers. Instead of focusing on all the reasons why we should remain loving and faithful, we tend to focus on finding any reason we can to stop showing love. God has called us to steadfast love and faithfulness. Steadfast actually means immovable and unchanging, a kind of love different from what is common in the world.

No where in this verse does He mention circumstances or even an object for that love and faithfulness. So two things must be assumed: First, that circumstances should not change our commitment to love and faithfulness. Second, that it should be for all whom God places in our life.

God’s Got Your Back

Proverbs 2:7b-8 – “He is a shield to those who walk in integrity, guarding the paths of justice and watching over the way of his saints.”

What a great promise! Basically, if you do what you know God wants you to do, He’ll get your back. Does that mean you won’t suffer difficult things? That’s not what it means. It does mean God protects us and gives us favor. He is involved–”watching over” us. We’ve not been thrown into the deep end and left to fin for ourselves. We have the God of the universe looking over all that is going on with us and being a shield for us.

If we walk in obedience, we can press on in full assurance that we are not alone and that God is looking out for us. Even if the situation seems to become dire, He’s still there and He’s still being our shield. Sometimes, allowing difficult things to happen to us is a means of protecting us. A simple illustration for this: think back to relationships you had before you met “the one”. I’m sure it didn’t feel good when those relationships came to an end. Breakups aren’t fun, and some can be very painful. If God would have kept that breakup from happening just to protect you from pain, then you’d have missed meeting and marrying “the one” and you’d have suffered the pain of marrying the wrong person.

Sometimes God has to allow us to go through pain in order to protect us from far greater pain and to lead us down a new road towards blessing.

You can trust this promise, if you’re being obedient to God, then He is looking out for You and leading You down the best road, a road that will bring Him glory and you eternal blessing.

1. (John 5:1-9) – The Surprising Places You Find Jesus

John 5:2-3 – “Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. In these lay a multitude of invalids-blind, lame, and paralyzed.”

Some people in the world would never believe that God would want to have a relationship with them. When they here about God, they think in their mind that they are not the type of person God would have anything to do with. They think they are either too bad, too insignificant, and too ordinary. For many, these thoughts have held them captive for years, keeping them from experiencing the truth of God’s love and grace. They live their life deceived by the enemy.

2. (John 5:1-9) – Waiting for a Miracle

John 5:5 – “One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years.”

One of the hardest difficulties I’ve ever faced in my life was suffering from a chronic daily headache for about twelve years. The intensity of the pain would go back and forth from unbearable to livable. My battles with headaches all together have lasted about seventeen years.

I prayed hundreds of prayers for healing throughout my bought with chronic daily headaches, and needless to say, I suffered great disappointment wondering why God was allowing the pain and why He wasn’t healing me. The fight was not only with the pain but with depression and lack of motivation and joy in life. It is not a fun place to be, waiting and waiting for God to show up and bring healing, and wondering day after day after day why He’s not showing up for you.

3. (John 5:1-9) – Do You Want to be Healed?

John 5:6 – “When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, ‘Do you want to be healed?’”

Does it bother you that Jesus asked him this question? What sense does it make to ask a crippled man if he’d like not to be crippled? It doesn’t really seem to make much sense at all. Of course he wants to be healed……………or does he?

Think for a moment what is actually going to happen if he is healed. The life he has known for thirty-eight years will change completely. He’ll have no need to sit at this pool any more. He’ll have to find something else to do with his time. And what about the relationships with the people at the pool. He won’t be hanging out with them anymore. He will lose all of what he is familiar with, and he will no longer have the comfortable life he has known.

4. (John 5:1-9) – It’s Easy to Give Up

John 5:7 – “The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.”

Why do you think this man gave such an answer? Why didn’t he just say “yes”? I believe it’s because there was more to the story, and much of what I said concerning Jesus question in the first place, was probably true.

His answer could be read as putting the blame somewhere else. “Sure I want to be healed, but the reason I’m not healed is not my fault.” If this was a blame passing answer, then there was a humility missing from this man. We all should learn something from this. When God asks you if you want to be healed, just say “yes”. What point is there to say anything else? There’s not one. When you’re desperate, you’re desperate. When you are broken, you’re broken. There’s no hiding it and there’s no need to place blame. You need what only God can give, so just receive it. Humble yourself and receive it. Don’t try to give an excuse for why you’re not a better person, or why you couldn’t be healed on your own. When it all comes down, healing only comes from God, whether the water is stirred or not.

5. (John 5:1-9) – One Word = New Life

John 5:8-9 – “Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked. Now that day was the Sabbath.”

Jesus spoke one sentence and the man’s life was changed forever. Thirty-eight years of being crippled, depressed, lonely, outcast, and desperate, yet one second of God’s word coming forth and it was all washed away.

Those things which are most severe and impossible to us are conquered with one word from God. That which steals years from our life and robs us of our joy and hope is shattered with one word from the Holy One.

All you need is for God to speak a word and all you are hoping for can become reality. All you need is God to speak and that which has been impossible