This Isn't Working

0:00:01.520 --> 0:00:04.080 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation 0:00:04.320 --> 0:00:06.560 Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank 0:00:06.600 --> 0:00:09.879 you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope 0:00:09.920 --> 0:00:11.959 it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective to 0:00:11.960 --> 0:00:13.560 see God has moving in your life. 0:00:13.840 --> 0:00:17.120 Enjoy the message. 0:00:17.200 --> 0:00:22.520 We're continuing in a series called Savage Jesus. I planned 0:00:22.520 --> 0:00:26.000 the conclusion of this series to align with Easter. Then 0:00:26.040 --> 0:00:28.760 when I found out that we were learning so much 0:00:28.760 --> 0:00:35.440 and having our paradigm of Jesus challenged and really starting 0:00:35.440 --> 0:00:38.519 to see him in a fresh way, I thought we 0:00:38.520 --> 0:00:41.040 would continue for a little while longer. So we're in 0:00:41.080 --> 0:00:45.360 the bonus round today of this series from Mark's Gospel, 0:00:45.720 --> 0:00:47.559 and I'll pick up at Mark chapter three, verse one, 0:00:47.560 --> 0:00:49.519 and now that you've rested for four minutes, stand up 0:00:49.520 --> 0:00:50.680 for the reading of God's Word. 0:00:51.120 --> 0:00:51.920 Thank you so much. 0:00:57.600 --> 0:01:00.000 Another time, Jesus went into the synagogue and a man 0:01:00.440 --> 0:01:03.480 with the shriveled hand was there, and some of them 0:01:03.480 --> 0:01:06.600 were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they 0:01:06.640 --> 0:01:11.080 watched him closely to see if he would heal him. 0:01:11.920 --> 0:01:15.399 On the Sabbath, Jesus said to the man with the 0:01:15.440 --> 0:01:19.720 shriveled hand stand up in front of everyone, and then 0:01:19.800 --> 0:01:24.640 Jesus asked them which is lawful on the sabbath, to 0:01:24.720 --> 0:01:28.520 do good or to do evil, to save life, or 0:01:28.560 --> 0:01:33.400 to kill? But they remained silent, and he looked around 0:01:33.480 --> 0:01:36.280 at them in anger. 0:01:37.360 --> 0:01:41.240 In anger, Come on, be nice, Jesus, She say nice 0:01:41.280 --> 0:01:41.480 for what. 0:01:41.720 --> 0:01:47.440 He looked around in anger and deeply distressed at their 0:01:47.480 --> 0:01:53.120 stubborn hearts, said to the man, stretch out your hand, 0:01:54.400 --> 0:01:58.400 and he stretched it out and his hand was completely restored. 0:01:58.480 --> 0:02:02.080 Then the fear of He's went out and began to 0:02:02.160 --> 0:02:08.160 plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus. Now, 0:02:08.160 --> 0:02:09.760 this is going to be a fun title to tell 0:02:09.800 --> 0:02:11.840 the person next to you. So look at them like 0:02:11.840 --> 0:02:15.040 you're frustrated with them and disappointed in them. If you 0:02:15.080 --> 0:02:16.640 could do that for me, and just look at them 0:02:16.680 --> 0:02:18.960 and say, real slow, real deliberate, this. 0:02:20.280 --> 0:02:24.480 Isn't working. And now shake your head and sit out. 0:02:29.120 --> 0:02:34.519 Have you had anything in your life lately that doesn't 0:02:34.560 --> 0:02:35.920 seem to be working. 0:02:36.560 --> 0:02:38.640 I mean, maybe it worked at once. 0:02:38.680 --> 0:02:41.080 And I'm not talking about a washing machine or something 0:02:41.639 --> 0:02:44.720 like that. I'm talking about real stuff, like a relationship 0:02:48.760 --> 0:02:56.160 that sounded fresh. It really takes courage to admit that 0:02:56.200 --> 0:03:00.280 a relationship isn't working, especially if it feels comfortable to you. 0:03:01.840 --> 0:03:05.400 I preach one message called dysfunctional comfort and how that 0:03:05.520 --> 0:03:09.240 sometimes it's easier to stay in familiar bondage than it 0:03:09.320 --> 0:03:14.840 is to embrace uncomfortable freedom, and so to admit that 0:03:14.919 --> 0:03:18.600 it's not working requires a certain amount of courage to 0:03:18.680 --> 0:03:21.640 say it used to work, or it may appear to 0:03:21.680 --> 0:03:26.480 others to be working, but this isn't working. Just coming 0:03:26.480 --> 0:03:30.160 to that point alone can be difficult from time to time, 0:03:30.240 --> 0:03:34.240 because sometimes we don't really know if it's going to 0:03:34.320 --> 0:03:37.400 work if we keep doing it, if we just need 0:03:37.440 --> 0:03:39.680 to give it more time and it will work, which 0:03:39.720 --> 0:03:42.840 is typically what we preach, you know, just keep trying, 0:03:43.000 --> 0:03:46.600 just keep moving. But I've been to the gym, and 0:03:46.920 --> 0:03:49.320 the way that some of us work out, we can 0:03:49.440 --> 0:03:53.360 keep working out until the rapture and it will not work. 0:03:53.520 --> 0:03:57.280 Not the way we're working. Our form is off. We 0:03:57.360 --> 0:04:01.320 take more breaks than we do reps. Yeah, this, this 0:04:01.400 --> 0:04:04.040 isn't going to work. That's what my twelve year old, 0:04:04.040 --> 0:04:07.160 my man Elijah, the one that I raised and pay for, 0:04:07.560 --> 0:04:10.280 he was saying the other day, like he's starting to 0:04:10.280 --> 0:04:12.280 try to lift weights. So we put him on a 0:04:12.280 --> 0:04:15.440 little program, didn't we bucking. After two days he came 0:04:15.480 --> 0:04:21.520 to me and said, this isn't working. He wants he 0:04:21.600 --> 0:04:27.000 wants PEX real quick. And what he didn't understand is 0:04:27.120 --> 0:04:30.800 process touch. Somebody say no process, no pecks or if 0:04:30.800 --> 0:04:33.839 you don't want to tell him that, that's that's really weird. 0:04:34.760 --> 0:04:38.000 What a cringey touch your neighbor. Now listen to the Bible. 0:04:38.080 --> 0:04:42.240 Bible says another time Jesus went into the synagogue and 0:04:42.279 --> 0:04:45.440 a man with a shriveled hand was there, and there 0:04:45.520 --> 0:04:47.719 were some people there who were looking for a reason 0:04:47.760 --> 0:04:48.760 to accuse Jesus. 0:04:48.839 --> 0:04:50.640 Now I'll stop there, because. 0:04:50.400 --> 0:04:54.680 What we have in this passage is a a let 0:04:54.720 --> 0:04:59.080 me see. I want to say this a failed system 0:04:59.320 --> 0:05:08.279 and a frust savior. And really what bridges the gap 0:05:08.279 --> 0:05:12.080 between the failed system and the frustrated savior is a 0:05:12.279 --> 0:05:14.279 man who is there that day. 0:05:14.360 --> 0:05:16.560 The Bible calls him this, Mark calls him this. He 0:05:16.600 --> 0:05:21.080 says he was a man verse three with a shriveled hand. 0:05:21.880 --> 0:05:25.480 In verse one, they're announcing his presence in the synagogue. 0:05:25.560 --> 0:05:27.520 It says Jesus, who is the most. 0:05:27.320 --> 0:05:31.560 Important person in human history, was in the synagogue and 0:05:31.640 --> 0:05:34.320 a man, and I'm expecting for it to be and 0:05:34.440 --> 0:05:37.800 a man with one hundred million dollar net worth. I'm 0:05:37.839 --> 0:05:39.960 expecting if we're going to take time to call this 0:05:40.000 --> 0:05:43.279 guy out by name, it would be a man with 0:05:43.400 --> 0:05:46.120 a Grammy, or it would be a man, you know 0:05:46.160 --> 0:05:49.240 what I'm saying, with a contract to play in the NBA. 0:05:50.120 --> 0:05:52.560 But yet, when Mark gets ready to call the role 0:05:52.640 --> 0:05:55.279 for who is in attendance that day, he does not 0:05:55.480 --> 0:05:59.200 mention a man with a BMW, a Mercedes, or a Maserati. 0:05:59.760 --> 0:06:02.640 He mentions a man with a situation that could have 0:06:02.800 --> 0:06:05.120 and should have prohibited him from being there in the 0:06:05.120 --> 0:06:08.600 first place. With this kind of deformity, it is likely 0:06:08.680 --> 0:06:12.320 that he would have been excluded from synagogue worship. The 0:06:12.360 --> 0:06:15.719 good thing is he only had a deformity in one hand, 0:06:16.160 --> 0:06:18.479 and when you have a deformity in one hand, that 0:06:18.600 --> 0:06:21.160 means you can shake hands with your good hands while 0:06:21.160 --> 0:06:25.200 you hide your bad one. Yet, much to this man's chagrin, 0:06:25.240 --> 0:06:27.680 it must have felt like a nightmare when Jesus called 0:06:27.760 --> 0:06:30.000 him out in front of anyone, stood him up, and 0:06:30.080 --> 0:06:33.479 used him as an object lesson Really to say that 0:06:33.600 --> 0:06:40.760 sounds cruel, but Jesus will always use your situation to 0:06:40.960 --> 0:06:44.279 fix the system. 0:06:43.760 --> 0:06:44.720 That created it. 0:06:46.160 --> 0:06:49.559 This is the premise of Mark III one through six. 0:06:49.640 --> 0:06:54.440 And we all have situations in the place today. Don't 0:06:54.440 --> 0:06:57.320 make me guess when you look at me smug when 0:06:57.360 --> 0:07:00.760 I say we all have situations, it makes me want 0:07:00.760 --> 0:07:03.360 to ask God to show me what you did last week, 0:07:03.960 --> 0:07:05.880 so I could start, say in your situation. If I 0:07:05.960 --> 0:07:08.839 set every situation in this room, if I started throwing 0:07:08.839 --> 0:07:13.679 your real your not your Sunday situation, that's much different. 0:07:14.160 --> 0:07:16.520 I really didn't come to preach to Sunday, and neither 0:07:16.560 --> 0:07:20.680 did Jesus. Jesus speaks to that place that is not working. 0:07:21.160 --> 0:07:24.200 He speaks to that place that is not functioning. He 0:07:24.280 --> 0:07:26.800 speaks to that place that you have learned to conceal 0:07:26.920 --> 0:07:31.680 and reveals His glory and his strength through your weakness. 0:07:34.760 --> 0:07:37.400 One thing I'm grateful for that I learned from Paul, 0:07:38.320 --> 0:07:40.360 who wrote a lot of the New Testament letters. He 0:07:40.440 --> 0:07:45.080 taught me that it is a theological impossibility for my 0:07:45.200 --> 0:07:51.360 situation to separate me from God. It's a wonderful list 0:07:51.400 --> 0:07:53.560 that he gives us in Romans Hate. If you're ever 0:07:53.640 --> 0:07:56.680 inclined to read it, If you're having one of those 0:07:56.760 --> 0:08:00.240 days where you find yourself in a situation that you 0:08:00.240 --> 0:08:06.440 don't feel God since God, or maybe even believe he's there. 0:08:07.600 --> 0:08:09.880 Go to Romans eight thirty five, where you will find 0:08:09.920 --> 0:08:15.240 a list of situations that cannot, will not, may not, 0:08:15.800 --> 0:08:19.080 do not have the permission or the power to separate 0:08:19.160 --> 0:08:22.760 you from God. So Paul makes a list, and in 0:08:22.800 --> 0:08:24.360 his list he starts with trouble. 0:08:25.200 --> 0:08:26.840 It's almost like he's picking a fight. 0:08:27.680 --> 0:08:31.720 He says, who shall separate us from the love of God? 0:08:32.320 --> 0:08:34.520 And then he starts naming situations. 0:08:35.160 --> 0:08:39.160 In personifying the situations, he wants us to understand the 0:08:39.200 --> 0:08:42.760 power of the person and the work of the Lord 0:08:42.840 --> 0:08:43.760 Jesus Christ. 0:08:44.480 --> 0:08:45.880 It's always greater. 0:08:46.280 --> 0:08:50.280 That's why we say his name is above all other names. 0:08:50.640 --> 0:08:53.760 What that means is, if you can name a situation, 0:08:54.320 --> 0:08:57.800 there is a name that is greater, and a work 0:08:58.160 --> 0:09:02.040 that is greater, and a behavior that is greater, and 0:09:02.120 --> 0:09:06.760 a grace that is greater than your situation. Paul says, 0:09:06.960 --> 0:09:09.920 who somebody say, who come on, get your owl on? 0:09:10.000 --> 0:09:15.880 Say who shall trouble? That's a situation, Shall hardship, that's 0:09:15.920 --> 0:09:18.280 a situation, shall persecution? 0:09:18.600 --> 0:09:19.520 Who doesn't like you? 0:09:19.760 --> 0:09:22.280 Who talks about you, who doesn't think well of you, 0:09:22.480 --> 0:09:26.120 who doesn't speak kindly about you, that's a situation. Shall 0:09:26.360 --> 0:09:30.120 famine what you don't have? Shall nakedness or exposure to 0:09:30.160 --> 0:09:34.959 the elements? Shall danger or trouble? Shall sword? Shall watch 0:09:34.960 --> 0:09:38.240 this We're going to raise the stakes death or life. 0:09:38.280 --> 0:09:42.480 That's a situation. Or angels or demons. That's a situation 0:09:42.559 --> 0:09:45.679 you can't even see, or the present what I'm dealing with, 0:09:46.040 --> 0:09:48.240 or the future, what I'm worried about that I don't 0:09:48.240 --> 0:09:52.360 even know yet, Shall hight nor depth and watch this 0:09:52.520 --> 0:09:56.920 clause or anything else in all creation. See there, Paul 0:09:56.960 --> 0:09:59.760 gets it. He wants to close it all in. He says, 0:10:00.080 --> 0:10:03.120 if you can name a situation, I can point you 0:10:03.200 --> 0:10:07.000 to a grace that is greater than your situation. So 0:10:07.240 --> 0:10:10.160 then I don't care what you did, what they said, 0:10:10.400 --> 0:10:13.560 what you lost, what you don't have, where you've been 0:10:13.880 --> 0:10:17.920 or where you're going. It is impossible for your situation 0:10:18.440 --> 0:10:22.760 to separate you from your source. Now shove somebody and say, 0:10:22.800 --> 0:10:31.600 it's just a situation. It's not my identity, it's just 0:10:32.160 --> 0:10:37.640 my situation. And this man has a situation, but his 0:10:37.720 --> 0:10:42.480 situation is not him. Somebody went through a divorce, but 0:10:42.559 --> 0:10:47.600 a divorce is not you. Somebody is dealing with an addiction, 0:10:47.800 --> 0:10:52.679 but the addiction is not your identity. We know this 0:10:52.800 --> 0:10:55.200 because Mark calls him a man with a shriveled hand, 0:10:57.200 --> 0:11:02.800 not the shrivel handed man. He's a man with an issue, 0:11:02.800 --> 0:11:05.880 but the issue is not the man. Y'all don't want 0:11:05.880 --> 0:11:10.600 to help me appreciate it all today I feel so alone. 0:11:11.640 --> 0:11:15.280 Situation, But the. 0:11:17.320 --> 0:11:23.800 Real situation in this text is not the man's hand. 0:11:24.240 --> 0:11:25.360 It is the people's hearts. 0:11:27.559 --> 0:11:31.400 Did you notice that it's one thing to have a 0:11:31.440 --> 0:11:39.440 bad hand, especially in Vegas, but when you have a 0:11:39.480 --> 0:11:44.640 bad heart. And so, what I saw when I was 0:11:44.679 --> 0:11:48.679 reading this very familiar text that is simple on the surface, 0:11:48.880 --> 0:11:53.160 was a depth of understanding of five things that Jesus 0:11:53.240 --> 0:11:58.319 came to fix. Now he's going to fix this man's situation. 0:11:58.960 --> 0:12:02.000 You saw it. Man left home with two good hands. 0:12:03.679 --> 0:12:08.840 But before he fixes the situation, he is going to challenge. 0:12:08.440 --> 0:12:10.480 The system, because that's what God does. 0:12:11.760 --> 0:12:14.040 The reason he does it that way rather than just 0:12:14.080 --> 0:12:18.199 fix the situation without addressing the system, is because if 0:12:18.200 --> 0:12:22.680 he fixes the situation without addressing the system that created 0:12:22.720 --> 0:12:27.560 the situation, you will stay stuck in the same system 0:12:27.760 --> 0:12:32.960 that created that situation, and then you will have seven 0:12:33.080 --> 0:12:36.079 more baby situations that are worse than the first. 0:12:38.120 --> 0:12:40.520 Now, many of us live our lives going. 0:12:40.400 --> 0:12:46.240 From situation to situation to situation to situation, and we 0:12:46.280 --> 0:12:49.560 can't even find time to pray because when we go 0:12:49.640 --> 0:12:52.359 to pray, we feel like we have to get through every. 0:12:52.120 --> 0:12:53.559 Situation that we're dealing with. 0:12:54.240 --> 0:12:57.040 We gotta pray for our mom and she's sick, and 0:12:57.080 --> 0:12:59.320 we got to pray for the missionaries and we never 0:12:59.360 --> 0:13:01.400 even met him. And by the time we get done 0:13:01.440 --> 0:13:04.319 praying with every situation in our lives, we're asleep. 0:13:05.679 --> 0:13:08.400 If you ever identify this is for leaders. 0:13:08.120 --> 0:13:09.920 Any of you own a business or leader department, I 0:13:09.920 --> 0:13:11.400 want to share something with you real quick. This is 0:13:11.440 --> 0:13:18.120 a free breakout leadership John Maxwell Seminar. When you run 0:13:18.200 --> 0:13:25.200 around fixing situations all day, you actually disempower the decision 0:13:25.240 --> 0:13:30.960 making ability in your organization. Because it's one thing to 0:13:31.080 --> 0:13:35.080 know when something isn't working. A lot of people are 0:13:35.080 --> 0:13:38.719 good at that. How many know that it doesn't take 0:13:38.720 --> 0:13:43.000 a genius to see when something isn't working. All it 0:13:43.040 --> 0:13:47.120 takes is a Facebook account and you can spend your 0:13:47.160 --> 0:13:52.640 whole day telling everybody who doesn't care what's wrong with 0:13:52.760 --> 0:13:56.719 everything that you don't know how to fix either. Good thing. 0:13:56.760 --> 0:13:58.560 I brought my own holy ghost today because you're are 0:13:58.640 --> 0:14:04.000 giving me no love. It's one thing to know when 0:14:04.679 --> 0:14:08.720 this isn't working. I'm pretty good at that. It's another 0:14:08.800 --> 0:14:14.400 thing to know why this isn't working. It's one thing 0:14:14.920 --> 0:14:18.079 to know that this tennis ball isn't going over the net. 0:14:18.880 --> 0:14:22.040 It's another thing to know why it's not going over 0:14:22.040 --> 0:14:24.760 the net. It's one thing to know I want to 0:14:24.840 --> 0:14:29.360 kill my kids. It's another thing to know why our 0:14:29.400 --> 0:14:32.960 communication is breaking down as they are getting older and 0:14:33.000 --> 0:14:36.520 the approach needs to change. It's one thing to know 0:14:36.680 --> 0:14:40.320 I feel lonely. It's another thing to know why do 0:14:40.400 --> 0:14:44.720 I feel lonely? And maybe it's not everybody else's fault. 0:14:45.280 --> 0:14:49.800 Maybe the system that is keeping me lonely is within 0:14:50.360 --> 0:14:55.960 my heart. See, we always want to point fingers at situations, 0:14:56.400 --> 0:15:00.520 but you might just find that the situation you're pointing 0:15:00.560 --> 0:15:03.840 at is trying to alert you to a system within 0:15:03.920 --> 0:15:07.800 yourself that God wants to deal with. Because God is 0:15:07.920 --> 0:15:12.760 not a situational god. God is a god of systems. 0:15:13.000 --> 0:15:15.760 God is a god who gets to root causes. So 0:15:16.160 --> 0:15:21.480 he went to the synagogue, which was their system of worship, 0:15:22.680 --> 0:15:26.040 and he went on the Sabbath, which was their day 0:15:26.080 --> 0:15:30.320 of rest, and he found a situation and he stood 0:15:30.320 --> 0:15:33.680 it up in front of everyone, and he used. 0:15:33.320 --> 0:15:40.080 The situation to fix their system. 0:15:40.400 --> 0:15:43.440 And the first thing that he has to fix is 0:15:43.520 --> 0:15:48.960 their pessimism. There are five of these. When we get 0:15:49.000 --> 0:15:51.200 to all five, who knows. But I'll be here next week, 0:15:53.880 --> 0:16:01.000 she said me too. Pessimism is the result of considering 0:16:01.000 --> 0:16:06.360 your situation before you consider your source. It's what makes 0:16:06.360 --> 0:16:08.520 you look at your life and feel so overwhelmed by 0:16:08.560 --> 0:16:13.120 all your situations. And I'm guilty of it, and be 0:16:13.160 --> 0:16:18.800 honest with you, I'm guilty of I'm guilty of evaluating 0:16:19.240 --> 0:16:23.440 my situation without considering my source, and when I do, 0:16:24.200 --> 0:16:28.640 I always feel overwhelmed. You will notice that there were 0:16:28.720 --> 0:16:33.280 some there that day who were actually Verse two looking 0:16:33.960 --> 0:16:38.680 for a reason to accuse Jesus. They were looking for 0:16:38.840 --> 0:16:42.000 something wrong. Principle of the universe. You don't have to 0:16:42.000 --> 0:16:45.600 be a Christian to believe this. You will always find 0:16:45.720 --> 0:16:49.440 what you're looking for. If you are looking for a 0:16:49.520 --> 0:16:53.280 reason to be offended, you will find it every time. 0:16:54.440 --> 0:16:57.040 If you are looking for a reason to be bitter. 0:16:57.720 --> 0:17:01.080 You will find one at any time when you come 0:17:01.120 --> 0:17:03.200 through you know, a church like this. 0:17:03.840 --> 0:17:06.159 I am well aware that in a crowd this size, 0:17:06.760 --> 0:17:07.280 there are. 0:17:07.200 --> 0:17:10.760 Many people here today who are looking for something not 0:17:10.880 --> 0:17:17.080 to like about our church. It's okay, I understand it. 0:17:18.280 --> 0:17:22.480 I understand it because we have almost almost been trained 0:17:22.560 --> 0:17:27.520 for it. We have been trained not to trust our politicians. 0:17:28.560 --> 0:17:31.919 We have been trained, and maybe for good reason. In 0:17:32.080 --> 0:17:37.200 many cases, we have been trained, sometimes by our disappointments, 0:17:37.480 --> 0:17:40.720 not to expect much out of life. We have been 0:17:40.800 --> 0:17:47.679 trained by by our insecurities not to expect people to 0:17:47.920 --> 0:17:50.760 like us. And so guess what happens when we go 0:17:50.840 --> 0:17:56.160 around all day believing secretly that nobody likes us, when 0:17:56.200 --> 0:18:00.200 we're telling ourselves before we even go out into our day, 0:18:00.480 --> 0:18:03.960 nobody really cares about me. Nobody ever checks on me, 0:18:04.480 --> 0:18:09.240 nobody appreciates me, nobody talks to me, nobody notices me, 0:18:09.760 --> 0:18:13.800 nobody texts me, and nobody friends me, and nobody likes me. 0:18:14.359 --> 0:18:18.560 Nobody friends me, nobody likes me. Guess what's gonna happen? 0:18:18.960 --> 0:18:22.359 Your situation is going to reflect your psychology. 0:18:22.880 --> 0:18:26.240 As a man thinketh in his heart, So is he. 0:18:26.760 --> 0:18:30.040 So it's just a matter of time before your situation 0:18:30.520 --> 0:18:33.680 looks like yourself talk and now you said it enough 0:18:33.720 --> 0:18:37.320 to yourself. You are looking for a reason to prove 0:18:37.400 --> 0:18:40.840 to yourself a verdict that you arrived at before you 0:18:40.960 --> 0:18:44.520 even collected evidence. So it causes you to look at 0:18:44.560 --> 0:18:48.159 people and situations and think it can't get any better 0:18:48.359 --> 0:18:52.280 because it's always been this way. But Jesus said, stretch 0:18:52.320 --> 0:18:55.440 out your hand. I can't just speak a better word 0:18:55.720 --> 0:19:09.639 and fix what you say within yourself. Nobody likes me, 0:19:10.560 --> 0:19:15.119 nobody touched me, I mean, mpaned me no money. Then 0:19:15.160 --> 0:19:22.960 why are you surprised when they fulfill your prophecy? Well, 0:19:23.000 --> 0:19:27.119 they always and they never. There's the second thing that 0:19:27.200 --> 0:19:37.560 Jesus came to fix is our prejudice. Yet there's nothing 0:19:37.560 --> 0:19:41.680 in the passage about the man's skin color. There's nothing 0:19:41.720 --> 0:19:46.639 in the passage about gender equality. There's nothing in the 0:19:46.800 --> 0:19:52.159 passage about his sexual orientation, none of that. Yet I 0:19:52.240 --> 0:19:54.679 still see prejudice in the synagogue on the Sabbath in 0:19:54.720 --> 0:19:59.200 Mark III. And this prejudice is not directed at the man. 0:20:01.800 --> 0:20:09.280 They are prejudice towards Jesus. I see you, you look 0:20:09.359 --> 0:20:12.120 like you want to believe me, but you confusing. Let's 0:20:12.160 --> 0:20:18.720 take the word apart prejudice. The definition is in the word. 0:20:20.800 --> 0:20:24.600 Pre judge. That's what prejudice is. 0:20:25.840 --> 0:20:34.199 And it doesn't just happen racially or socioeconomically. Prejudice is 0:20:34.200 --> 0:20:38.639 when you put yourself in the judge's seat or the 0:20:38.760 --> 0:20:45.960 jury box. These men had the opportunity to witness a miracle, 0:20:47.040 --> 0:20:49.919 but rather than be a witness, they wanted to be 0:20:49.960 --> 0:20:56.000 a judge. And every day that you and I wake up, 0:20:56.480 --> 0:21:02.800 we have an opportunity to witness direction power all around us. 0:21:04.440 --> 0:21:06.560 We get to witness it in the lives of others, 0:21:07.160 --> 0:21:09.359 and we get to witness it on our own behalf. 0:21:09.400 --> 0:21:11.080 We get to be a witness. 0:21:11.600 --> 0:21:15.399 But you can't be a witness if you insist on 0:21:15.560 --> 0:21:19.200 being a judge. What I'm trying to say is this, 0:21:19.960 --> 0:21:23.960 have you already made up your mind how God can bless? 0:21:24.240 --> 0:21:27.440 And who God can bless? And when God can bless? 0:21:28.000 --> 0:21:30.879 Have you already made up your mind about how God 0:21:30.960 --> 0:21:34.480 can do it to the extent that you miss that 0:21:34.520 --> 0:21:38.199 the very author of life is right in front of you, 0:21:38.600 --> 0:21:41.840 and they are trying to kill the very thing that 0:21:41.920 --> 0:21:46.040 God sent to save them. Why Because they've already made 0:21:46.160 --> 0:21:52.119 up their minds. We pray for wisdom, and God trist 0:21:52.160 --> 0:21:57.240 to send it through our wives. But we are prejudice. 0:21:57.960 --> 0:22:01.840 We prejudge the people that God sends to help us. 0:22:02.720 --> 0:22:06.199 So rather than accept the wisdom, since we don't like 0:22:06.280 --> 0:22:09.479 the truck that it came in, we'll send back the 0:22:09.520 --> 0:22:13.240 wisdom because well, she's always like that. Well she's the 0:22:13.280 --> 0:22:16.840 one that God might use to show you your system. 0:22:17.200 --> 0:22:22.160 He might. This whole chapter is worth preaching. I wish 0:22:22.200 --> 0:22:23.000 we had all week. 0:22:28.800 --> 0:22:32.280 All right, touch your neighbors, say fix the system. Fix 0:22:32.400 --> 0:22:33.879 the system. They were looking. 0:22:34.520 --> 0:22:37.320 I see it sometimes I see people who look like 0:22:37.320 --> 0:22:42.119 they came to church as a favor or like a 0:22:42.240 --> 0:22:46.040 last resort, or something like will you stop asking me 0:22:46.080 --> 0:22:52.679 if I come once? And man, they are looking for something, 0:22:52.720 --> 0:22:57.760 not to like. I just sometimes you can feel the 0:22:57.880 --> 0:23:04.359 energy of somebody where it's just like mmm. And they 0:23:04.400 --> 0:23:06.879 will miss a revelation because one of the worship leaders 0:23:06.880 --> 0:23:07.960 had to rip in his jeans. 0:23:08.600 --> 0:23:09.720 I just don't know if. 0:23:15.520 --> 0:23:18.040 And God was trying to show you how holy he is, 0:23:19.320 --> 0:23:21.880 and God, you missed it. 0:23:30.040 --> 0:23:33.000 Looking for a reason, looking for reason. 0:23:33.119 --> 0:23:35.440 He was a threat to them, so they already made 0:23:35.480 --> 0:23:37.239 up their mind, they already had their verdict and now 0:23:37.240 --> 0:23:38.719 they just needed to collect the evidence. 0:23:38.800 --> 0:23:40.280 It's called confirmation bias. 0:23:41.800 --> 0:23:43.679 When you wake up believing God is for me, you 0:23:43.720 --> 0:23:48.240 look for evidence to support that verdict. When you wake 0:23:48.320 --> 0:23:50.640 up believing that all things work together for my good 0:23:50.680 --> 0:23:52.760 and that nothing can separate me from the love of God. 0:23:53.240 --> 0:23:54.160 Here's how good it is. 0:23:57.119 --> 0:24:00.320 When you believe that. When you are looking for a 0:24:00.359 --> 0:24:04.240 reason to rejoice rather than a reason to accuse, it 0:24:04.320 --> 0:24:07.159 causes you to weigh things differently. So you say, like 0:24:07.160 --> 0:24:10.160 Paul said in Corinthians, he said, on one hand, we're pressed, 0:24:10.680 --> 0:24:13.760 but on the other hand, we're not crushed. On one hand, 0:24:13.760 --> 0:24:17.000 we're persecuted, but on the other hand, we're not abandoned. 0:24:17.480 --> 0:24:20.480 On one hand, we're struck down, but on the other hand, 0:24:20.520 --> 0:24:23.840 we're not destroyed. In other words, what I'm trying to 0:24:23.920 --> 0:24:26.280 say is that if you would get out of the 0:24:26.400 --> 0:24:31.560 judges seat and get a get a witness mentality God. 0:24:31.600 --> 0:24:34.120 I want to see the good in people. I want 0:24:34.119 --> 0:24:36.800 to see the best in people. I want to believe 0:24:36.840 --> 0:24:38.119 the best about people. 0:24:38.440 --> 0:24:38.879 I want to. 0:24:38.880 --> 0:24:40.959 See the opportunity and opposition. 0:24:41.440 --> 0:24:43.119 Somebody shot I'm looking for it. 0:24:44.040 --> 0:24:46.359 I'm not looking for a reason to be offended. 0:24:46.640 --> 0:24:47.360 I'm looking for. 0:24:47.359 --> 0:24:51.160 A way to forgive. How many are glad that God 0:24:51.320 --> 0:24:55.640 look beyond your faults and saw your knees. He could 0:24:55.640 --> 0:24:59.080 have accused you, He could have condemned you, He could 0:24:59.080 --> 0:25:02.560 have cast you to but he didn't. How many are 0:25:02.640 --> 0:25:08.360 grateful for what he didn't do, for what he overlooked. 0:25:13.000 --> 0:25:15.240 But they got it twisted. We get it twisted. 0:25:16.560 --> 0:25:19.560 Instead of looking for an opportunity to meet a need, 0:25:19.600 --> 0:25:23.600 they were looking for a reason to accuse. Sometimes God 0:25:23.640 --> 0:25:26.480 puts you in difficult situations and you get it twisted. 0:25:27.600 --> 0:25:29.600 He puts you there to change it, not to complain 0:25:29.640 --> 0:25:35.840 about it, and you're out of order. You're out of order. 0:25:37.520 --> 0:25:46.280 I wish I had a gabble. This isn't working. The 0:25:46.359 --> 0:25:50.199 man can't work because his right hand. Luke tells us 0:25:50.200 --> 0:25:55.120 it's his right hand. It must mean it's his dominant hand. 0:25:56.680 --> 0:25:59.520 It must mean it's the hand of blessing. And Jewish 0:25:59.560 --> 0:26:04.160 culture use the right hand to bless so he needs 0:26:04.160 --> 0:26:08.240 a blessing to be a blessing. Sometimes we try to 0:26:08.280 --> 0:26:11.159 be something that we have not received from God, and 0:26:11.200 --> 0:26:15.840 it never works. Jesus stands the man up and he 0:26:15.920 --> 0:26:16.520 picks a fight. 0:26:18.960 --> 0:26:24.359 I'm sorry to disrupt your you're mister Rogers. Jesus' relationship 0:26:24.400 --> 0:26:26.880 with the Lord, you know, the one where Jesus wondering. 0:26:26.960 --> 0:26:29.159 Come on, guys, stop that. 0:26:32.040 --> 0:26:34.320 We're not finding that Jesus so far in Mark. Maybe 0:26:34.320 --> 0:26:39.960 he'll come later, you know, the exasperated mom. Guys, be nice. 0:26:40.760 --> 0:26:42.320 He hasn't made an appearance so far, and we're in 0:26:42.320 --> 0:26:47.479 Mark chapter three, and he's he's still he's challenging their 0:26:47.760 --> 0:26:50.399 whole system because number one two things I noticed. 0:26:52.000 --> 0:26:55.080 He could have taken the man to the side. He didn't. 0:26:59.560 --> 0:27:03.879 He could have easily been like Peter. Peter was always 0:27:03.960 --> 0:27:09.880 ready to do something. Grab that guy with the bad hand. 0:27:10.280 --> 0:27:11.160 You gonna throw him out? 0:27:11.200 --> 0:27:15.200 No, No, Peter, see distracted, you know, Peter. I want 0:27:15.240 --> 0:27:15.800 to talk to him after. 0:27:15.800 --> 0:27:17.919 I'm gon fix his hand, But it's the Sabbath and 0:27:17.960 --> 0:27:19.720 we're not supposed to work on the Sabbath, and I 0:27:19.760 --> 0:27:22.720 don't want to offend anybody to side. I talked to 0:27:22.760 --> 0:27:24.879 him later. I'll when I wrap it up, just make 0:27:24.920 --> 0:27:27.960 sure he doesn't leave. I want to see him because 0:27:28.000 --> 0:27:30.320 on the Sabbath, remember it's the day of rest. Six 0:27:30.400 --> 0:27:32.800 days God created, one day, God rested it was the 0:27:32.880 --> 0:27:34.960 order of creation. The sabbath is the only one of 0:27:34.960 --> 0:27:38.680 the ten commandments that reflects the order of creation. It's 0:27:38.760 --> 0:27:41.640 like a chance for us to be like God. How 0:27:41.760 --> 0:27:45.800 he rested. Okay, But but not this work work work, work, 0:27:46.119 --> 0:27:47.159 work work. 0:27:48.280 --> 0:27:51.000 Why am I sounded like Rihanna on this stage. 0:27:52.000 --> 0:27:53.680 I didn't mean to rest. 0:27:53.720 --> 0:27:56.920 Work work, work, work, work work rest work work, work, work, work, 0:27:56.920 --> 0:27:57.399 work rest. 0:27:57.520 --> 0:27:57.840 Okay. 0:27:57.920 --> 0:28:02.600 So for everybody who wants to just pray, not rest, rest, rest, rest, rest, rest. 0:28:02.400 --> 0:28:03.680 Work, that's out of order. 0:28:07.720 --> 0:28:11.440 But after you have worked, rest, like God rested from 0:28:11.440 --> 0:28:14.560 his labor. It's a shadow, though it's not the substance, 0:28:14.560 --> 0:28:17.560 because the real sabbath. 0:28:19.080 --> 0:28:24.800 Is Jesus himself. It's his work that enables us to 0:28:24.880 --> 0:28:28.200 rest from ours love the Gospel. 0:28:29.840 --> 0:28:35.160 So they are so consumed with their sabbath that they 0:28:35.200 --> 0:28:37.400 are missing God's sabbath. 0:28:39.480 --> 0:28:40.360 It's a perversion. 0:28:41.640 --> 0:28:46.160 I know we usually use the word prejudice for racial reasons, 0:28:46.200 --> 0:28:48.640 and we use the word perversion for sexual reasons. But 0:28:48.960 --> 0:28:52.360 this is a perversion. A perversion is anytime that a 0:28:52.400 --> 0:28:54.520 gift is used against its intention. 0:28:56.200 --> 0:28:57.280 That's the perversion. 0:28:58.560 --> 0:29:01.760 And Jesus heels him, not only does he stand him out, 0:29:01.800 --> 0:29:06.680 publicly and call him out publicly. But he does it 0:29:07.600 --> 0:29:11.440 on the Sabbath, which is understandable if the guy has 0:29:11.480 --> 0:29:15.640 a gunshot wound because the Sabbath had Okay, here's what 0:29:15.680 --> 0:29:17.800 the teachers of the law did. God gave them this 0:29:17.880 --> 0:29:19.600 gift called the Sabbath. He said, I want you to 0:29:19.680 --> 0:29:22.840 rest one day. When you rest like that, it is 0:29:22.880 --> 0:29:24.800 a picture of how I rested. 0:29:25.040 --> 0:29:27.360 It is a gift to you, and it is a. 0:29:27.360 --> 0:29:29.960 Shadow of a rest that is to come for the 0:29:30.000 --> 0:29:32.800 people of God, where you can cease from your works 0:29:33.000 --> 0:29:36.200 and receive by grace what you could not attain by labor. 0:29:36.600 --> 0:29:38.640 So I want you to rest, to get into the 0:29:38.840 --> 0:29:42.640 rhythm of resting from your works. But they did what 0:29:42.680 --> 0:29:45.920 we tend to do with the gifts that God gives us. 0:29:46.080 --> 0:29:48.760 When we don't understand the intention of the gift, we 0:29:49.160 --> 0:29:54.360 get it twisted. We get it twisted. So Jesus shows 0:29:54.400 --> 0:29:56.280 up on the day where they're not supposed to work. 0:29:57.040 --> 0:29:58.280 Little rules like this they made. 0:29:58.280 --> 0:30:01.600 They had over six hundred of them. There was one 0:30:01.600 --> 0:30:04.800 command and they made six hundred rules around it. They 0:30:04.840 --> 0:30:10.040 had like a system for every possible situation that could 0:30:10.080 --> 0:30:12.320 come up. Okay, so if you need to take a journey. 0:30:12.480 --> 0:30:17.520 You can go ninety nine paces, but if you take 0:30:17.520 --> 0:30:21.320 a two thousandth step, then that's technically work. 0:30:22.800 --> 0:30:24.200 So you had to counter steps. 0:30:25.400 --> 0:30:30.760 Okay, if somebody has a dislocated foot or a dislocated hand, 0:30:32.240 --> 0:30:35.000 you can't set it back into place on the Sabbath. 0:30:35.120 --> 0:30:39.800 That's from Friday sundown to Saturday sundown. Observant juice cill 0:30:39.880 --> 0:30:43.200 celebrate the Sabbath in the same way today Sabbat, and 0:30:43.720 --> 0:30:46.440 you can't set the bones back in place on the Sabbath. 0:30:46.480 --> 0:30:47.440 But there's an exception. 0:30:48.680 --> 0:30:51.600 If the person's about to die, you. 0:30:51.560 --> 0:30:52.000 Can do it. 0:30:53.080 --> 0:30:56.600 Well, that's awfully nice of the pastors to make that exception. 0:30:56.960 --> 0:30:59.040 If you see someone about to die and you can 0:30:59.080 --> 0:31:01.720 save their life, you can do it on Sabbath. It 0:31:01.800 --> 0:31:03.200 sounds crazy to us. 0:31:03.880 --> 0:31:06.640 That they would that they would take a gift that 0:31:06.680 --> 0:31:11.320 God gave like a day off, like a day to 0:31:11.480 --> 0:31:16.640 rest from their labor, and twisted to the point where 0:31:16.640 --> 0:31:21.560 they forgot what Jesus said in Mark two twenty seven. 0:31:21.600 --> 0:31:24.440 When his disciples were working one day on the Sabbath, 0:31:24.560 --> 0:31:27.800 they were actually walking and they did something that was 0:31:27.840 --> 0:31:30.840 considered work. They took some heads of grain and they 0:31:30.840 --> 0:31:33.920 were hungry, so they rubbed the what do you call 0:31:33.960 --> 0:31:36.040 it on the grain that membran. 0:31:36.160 --> 0:31:37.520 I'm gonna call it. It's not called that, but i'm 0:31:37.520 --> 0:31:38.120 gonna call it that. 0:31:38.240 --> 0:31:40.720 They rubbed that hard part off and ate the stuff 0:31:40.720 --> 0:31:44.560 they could eat. And the Pharisee said, ah, they're working 0:31:44.600 --> 0:31:49.800 on the Sabbath. Jesus said, you missed the entire point 0:31:50.080 --> 0:31:53.520 of the Sabbath, which was a gift, because you were 0:31:53.520 --> 0:31:57.120 so caught up in your system that you perverted and 0:31:57.160 --> 0:31:58.600 twisted the gift. 0:31:59.000 --> 0:32:03.800 Watch what he says. This is very, very strategic. 0:32:04.400 --> 0:32:07.720 That the son of God would say to the people 0:32:07.760 --> 0:32:08.640 that he came to save. 0:32:09.840 --> 0:32:11.160 The Sabbath. 0:32:12.600 --> 0:32:22.800 Is made for man, not man for the Sabbath. I 0:32:22.840 --> 0:32:24.640 know it's a little difficult for us to get much 0:32:24.720 --> 0:32:27.760 meaning out of that because we don't celebrate the Sabbath 0:32:27.800 --> 0:32:31.719 in the same way. So let me try this. Stuff 0:32:33.440 --> 0:32:42.320 was made for man, not man for stuff. The essence 0:32:42.400 --> 0:32:47.040 of the lesson is this, when you take a good 0:32:47.120 --> 0:32:52.920 gift and turn it into a god, it becomes destructive. 0:32:54.520 --> 0:32:58.960 Let me try another one. Sex was made for man, 0:33:00.160 --> 0:33:05.080 not man for sex. And what the enemy loves to 0:33:05.120 --> 0:33:09.040 do is to take a good gift that God gave 0:33:09.080 --> 0:33:14.959 you and twisted and disfigure it like this man's hand 0:33:15.560 --> 0:33:19.800 was disfigured. That's what had happened to the people's hearts, 0:33:20.360 --> 0:33:23.600 so that they had taken a gift and turned it 0:33:23.640 --> 0:33:29.040 into a prison. They were serving something that was supposed 0:33:29.080 --> 0:33:35.320 to be serving them. When God sees you chasing material possessions, 0:33:35.800 --> 0:33:40.160 he says, that stuff is meant to serve you. Why 0:33:40.200 --> 0:33:48.880 are you serving what I gave to serve you is 0:33:48.920 --> 0:33:53.800 out of order. We've got one man who can't work 0:33:54.040 --> 0:33:57.840 because he has a condition a situation. We've got a 0:33:57.920 --> 0:34:02.240 system of religion that will work. Why it's the Sabbath. 0:34:02.440 --> 0:34:04.920 We can't do it on the sapath. Jesus said, the 0:34:04.920 --> 0:34:07.760 sap of this for you, not you for the Sappath. 0:34:07.960 --> 0:34:10.600 I gave it as a gift. Why would you twist 0:34:10.640 --> 0:34:16.560 the gift? And it causes me to wonder how many 0:34:16.560 --> 0:34:20.359 gifts has God given me in my life that I 0:34:20.360 --> 0:34:25.920 have twisted. God gives you people in your life so 0:34:25.960 --> 0:34:29.200 you can encourage them, and then you become so needy 0:34:29.480 --> 0:34:34.799 you twist the gift and ruin the friend chef. Now 0:34:34.880 --> 0:34:39.000 y'all are quiet, How many gifts has God given us? 0:34:39.040 --> 0:34:45.280 How many how many people will you sleep with before 0:34:45.320 --> 0:34:48.000 you realize that sex is a gift. It's a wonderful gift, 0:34:48.000 --> 0:34:55.839 but it's a terrible master. Within a certain context, it's 0:34:55.840 --> 0:34:58.680 a wonderful gift, but if you get it twisted, it 0:34:58.760 --> 0:35:02.839 begins to take over your life. You're out of order. 0:35:04.120 --> 0:35:07.840 You put the Sabbath before people. God puts people before 0:35:07.840 --> 0:35:17.640 the Sabbath. Religion always gets it twisted, though, and we 0:35:17.680 --> 0:35:19.480 always tell you ten things you got to do to 0:35:19.520 --> 0:35:23.120 be a good Christian. But God taught me that I 0:35:23.200 --> 0:35:27.280 don't change, so he will love me. I change because 0:35:27.640 --> 0:35:32.680 He has loved me. This is the revelation of the Cross. 0:35:32.719 --> 0:35:36.759 We love him because he first loved us. And when 0:35:36.800 --> 0:35:41.080 you get that out of order, you will twist great 0:35:41.080 --> 0:35:44.600 gifts that God gives you in your life. And Jesus 0:35:44.640 --> 0:35:47.160 looked around and said this isn't working. So he calls 0:35:47.200 --> 0:35:49.120 the man as an object lesson. Are you ready for this? 0:35:49.360 --> 0:35:52.400 He doesn't give us speech. He gives a lesson. He 0:35:52.400 --> 0:35:56.480 gives a demonstration. Faith is a demonstration, not an explanation. 0:35:58.560 --> 0:36:01.880 So stand up. He could have called him back tomorrow. 0:36:01.960 --> 0:36:06.279 By the way, I mean, the guy's not dying. He 0:36:06.360 --> 0:36:08.040 lived this long with a bad hand, he could live 0:36:08.080 --> 0:36:08.640 with another one. 0:36:08.800 --> 0:36:08.960 Oh. 0:36:08.960 --> 0:36:13.600 By the way, when life deals you a bad hand, let. 0:36:13.520 --> 0:36:15.160 Me tell you what to do. Don't fold. 0:36:19.080 --> 0:36:21.040 I know some of you are holding a bad hand 0:36:21.040 --> 0:36:25.120 today and it's a terrible situation you're in. And I 0:36:25.200 --> 0:36:27.120 understand all of that, and Christ has. 0:36:26.960 --> 0:36:27.920 Compassion for you. 0:36:28.280 --> 0:36:32.160 But whatever you do, touch somebody say, don't fold. Because 0:36:32.200 --> 0:36:36.200 God is about to change the entire system through the 0:36:36.239 --> 0:36:40.280 most desperate situations. This is how hope works, he says, 0:36:40.320 --> 0:36:47.160 stand up and stretch out. Stand up and stretch out, 0:36:48.360 --> 0:36:52.120 because if you keep procrastinating, this is the fourth Procrastination 0:36:52.320 --> 0:36:55.160 will always keep you from experiencing the power of God, 0:36:56.640 --> 0:37:02.319 always when you wait, until when you put it off. 0:37:02.440 --> 0:37:04.560 I did it the other day. I'm almost forty now, 0:37:05.920 --> 0:37:08.800 I got some gray coming in. I'm not worried about that. 0:37:08.800 --> 0:37:10.800 That makes me feel like I've been a good pastor. 0:37:12.320 --> 0:37:14.480 If I could pastor this church twelve years, it's not 0:37:14.520 --> 0:37:18.239 a little gray on the beard. Jerry, I'm sleeping. But 0:37:18.680 --> 0:37:20.640 I said the other day, there are about three things 0:37:20.640 --> 0:37:21.879 in my life I really want to change. 0:37:21.880 --> 0:37:22.200 You got it. 0:37:22.239 --> 0:37:23.600 You got at least three things you want to change. 0:37:23.640 --> 0:37:25.319 Let me see if you've arrived and I'm just up 0:37:25.320 --> 0:37:26.560 here by myself trying to improve. 0:37:27.640 --> 0:37:30.840 I was like, yeah, So by the time I'm forty, 0:37:31.360 --> 0:37:32.839 it was the first thing. I thought, it's a nice 0:37:32.920 --> 0:37:33.480 round number. 0:37:34.239 --> 0:37:35.080 By the time I'm. 0:37:34.960 --> 0:37:43.640 Forty, God said, why not now, because it would require action, 0:37:44.200 --> 0:37:48.040 not theory, you know. 0:37:48.000 --> 0:37:50.920 So they do it all the time the way I 0:37:50.960 --> 0:37:55.840 want the verse to work. The moment that the miracle happens, 0:37:56.800 --> 0:37:59.759 I wanted to work like this. It looked around at 0:37:59.760 --> 0:38:04.880 them in anger, deeply distress, their stubborn hearts. Remember what 0:38:05.040 --> 0:38:09.360 this man's heart looks like externally, or his hand looks 0:38:09.440 --> 0:38:11.640 like externally, their hearts look like inwardly. 0:38:12.000 --> 0:38:16.160 He's using the visible the situation. That's what he does. 0:38:16.400 --> 0:38:21.080 Trouble, hardship, persecution, sword, the things that come against you. 0:38:21.320 --> 0:38:27.799 He uses those situations to show you a system to 0:38:27.880 --> 0:38:33.680 fix the system. And he looked around in frustration at 0:38:33.719 --> 0:38:38.000 the field system. And he had asked them a question 0:38:38.080 --> 0:38:40.640 because he's so savage. He answered a question that they 0:38:40.640 --> 0:38:42.640 didn't ask, with a question they couldn't answer. 0:38:44.760 --> 0:38:48.560 He's such a savage, such a savage. 0:38:48.320 --> 0:38:50.960 And deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, 0:38:52.719 --> 0:38:54.480 stretch out your hand. The way I want the verse 0:38:54.520 --> 0:38:58.839 to work is it up on the screens. I wanted 0:38:58.920 --> 0:39:03.640 to say his hand was completely restored, and he stretched 0:39:03.640 --> 0:39:08.920 it out. In my mind, that's the way it should work. 0:39:09.320 --> 0:39:14.160 When God changes my situation, is that he fixed the 0:39:14.200 --> 0:39:18.520 man's hand. It was restored and there, because the man's hand. 0:39:18.360 --> 0:39:20.719 Was restored, he stretched it out. 0:39:21.200 --> 0:39:24.839 What we find instead in the syntax is this, in 0:39:24.880 --> 0:39:27.960 the order it happens, there is a revelation of the 0:39:27.960 --> 0:39:35.920 way God works. The man stretched his hand and then 0:39:35.960 --> 0:39:43.960 it was restored. He did what he couldn't do. And 0:39:44.080 --> 0:39:48.200 in doing what he could not do, and in loving 0:39:48.640 --> 0:39:52.719 who you cannot love and who in forgiving who you 0:39:52.760 --> 0:39:57.640 can't forgive, and in trusting and believing what your eyes 0:39:57.719 --> 0:40:01.000 cannot see, he did not st wretch out his hand 0:40:01.080 --> 0:40:05.920 because it was healed. His hand was healed because he 0:40:06.120 --> 0:40:16.600 stretched it out. And we keep waiting for feelings, but 0:40:16.840 --> 0:40:22.719 feelings follow faith. You don't have to feel it to 0:40:22.880 --> 0:40:26.680 believe it. If you believe it, you will see it 0:40:27.239 --> 0:40:30.880 the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. 0:40:31.680 --> 0:40:35.960 So God says to everybody with a bad hand, because 0:40:36.040 --> 0:40:39.000 I know you come to church sometimes with your good 0:40:39.040 --> 0:40:42.520 hand out and I know you go through life sometimes 0:40:42.840 --> 0:40:45.760 with your good hand out. And we have all these 0:40:45.840 --> 0:40:50.480 profiles and all these images and all these fursonas and 0:40:50.560 --> 0:40:54.000 all these one sentence bios on our social media accounts. 0:40:54.480 --> 0:40:58.640 But God doesn't bless your bio. He blesses your brokenness 0:40:59.200 --> 0:41:01.880 and in his own when you lay down, here's the 0:41:01.880 --> 0:41:02.399 fifth one. 0:41:02.680 --> 0:41:03.440 Your pride. 0:41:03.920 --> 0:41:07.400 To stand up in the middle of controversy, to stand 0:41:07.480 --> 0:41:11.600 up in the middle of a hopeless, desperate, naked situation, 0:41:12.080 --> 0:41:14.720 to stand up in the middle of famine, to stand 0:41:14.800 --> 0:41:17.000 up in the middle of lack, to stand up in 0:41:17.040 --> 0:41:19.520 the middle of weakness, to stand up in the middle 0:41:19.560 --> 0:41:22.600 of discouragement, to stand up in the middle of failure, 0:41:22.880 --> 0:41:26.400 and stretch out your hand, and stretch out your faith 0:41:26.680 --> 0:41:29.840 and open your heart and believe that He is here 0:41:30.239 --> 0:41:37.960 and all things are possible. You're not gonna get this 0:41:38.120 --> 0:41:42.959 blessing with your arms crossed, waiting to see if God 0:41:43.040 --> 0:41:46.960 will do it, and pretending like you don't need it. 0:41:48.239 --> 0:41:52.960 He stretched his hand. 0:41:53.040 --> 0:42:02.200 Jesus healed him in an unusual way, at an unusual time, 0:42:04.320 --> 0:42:08.200 on an unusual day, on the day they weren't supposed 0:42:08.239 --> 0:42:09.439 to do any work. 0:42:11.000 --> 0:42:14.200 The men's hands started working again. You know when God's 0:42:14.200 --> 0:42:16.279 gonna do it when you least expect it. 0:42:17.960 --> 0:42:20.480 You know who God's gonna do it through the ones 0:42:20.520 --> 0:42:24.279 who least deserve it. You know who's not gonna get it, 0:42:24.520 --> 0:42:26.080 the one who's just sit there waiting. 0:42:26.280 --> 0:42:27.239 Man, I don't know. 0:42:28.640 --> 0:42:32.160 But if you don't mind praising him right now, I 0:42:32.160 --> 0:42:36.440 would love to see you stretch your hands, clap your hands. 0:42:37.000 --> 0:42:41.400 Come on, Blakeney, come on rock Hill, and lift your voice. 0:42:41.880 --> 0:42:46.040 Don't praise him because you've got the blessing, praise him 0:42:46.080 --> 0:43:02.759 because he is the blessing. Jesus did what he shouldn't do, 0:43:04.640 --> 0:43:10.200 so the man could do what he couldn't do right there, 0:43:10.239 --> 0:43:12.480 with all the critics watching, and all the people who 0:43:12.520 --> 0:43:14.520 didn't like it didn't matter. 0:43:15.960 --> 0:43:18.640 Because they were out of order. You keep going to 0:43:18.680 --> 0:43:23.400 people you're out of order. But if you do what 0:43:23.480 --> 0:43:26.080 he told you to do, I promise you this. Look, 0:43:26.200 --> 0:43:26.760 it's simple. 0:43:27.800 --> 0:43:31.840 Stretch your hand, don't you know he was tempted to 0:43:31.880 --> 0:43:40.000 show him the good one. So then it's on the 0:43:40.040 --> 0:43:44.480 other hand, right hand, the hand that you need to 0:43:44.520 --> 0:43:46.080 be a good husband, the hand that you need to 0:43:46.080 --> 0:43:48.719 be a good father, the hand that you need to 0:43:48.760 --> 0:43:52.120 get the disciplines working in your life because you got 0:43:52.120 --> 0:43:53.919 some things that aren't working. 0:43:53.960 --> 0:43:57.120 But you didn't know why. You keep running from. 0:43:56.960 --> 0:43:59.400 Situation and you're so stressed out from situation a situation, 0:43:59.480 --> 0:44:04.279 situation to relationship to relationship to relationship, to think to 0:44:04.360 --> 0:44:07.640 thing to job, to drop the job, from. 0:44:07.520 --> 0:44:11.600 High to high to high. It's the system. So he said, 0:44:13.640 --> 0:44:15.920 he said, I'm gonna do this. Jesus found a loophole 0:44:15.920 --> 0:44:17.000 because he's a savage. 0:44:20.640 --> 0:44:25.200 He said, I can't set the man's hand back in 0:44:25.280 --> 0:44:28.160 place today because it's the Sabbath, and I didn't come 0:44:28.200 --> 0:44:31.200 to break the law, but to fulfill it. 0:44:31.280 --> 0:44:35.480 So watch what he does. Jesus tells the man stretch. 0:44:36.960 --> 0:44:42.880 Everybody says stretch, and he doesn't touch him. 0:44:43.000 --> 0:44:47.960 The Pharisees are watching. You can do that. It's the sabbath. 0:44:49.000 --> 0:44:50.360 No working on the sabbath. 0:44:51.320 --> 0:44:57.600 Jesus said, oh this, this isn't working. 0:45:00.080 --> 0:45:00.440 A word. 0:45:04.640 --> 0:45:11.200 I didn't stretch my hand. He stretched his. So that's why. 0:45:11.239 --> 0:45:14.600 Now I know why he went to the cross, so 0:45:14.760 --> 0:45:18.120 it wouldn't be from my words. Now I know why 0:45:18.160 --> 0:45:21.799 he stretched his arms. Now I know why he did 0:45:21.800 --> 0:45:26.280 it cause I couldn't. Now I know it's my grace, 0:45:26.719 --> 0:45:29.000 thorough fame, not of works. 0:45:29.560 --> 0:45:30.719 So I did both. 0:45:31.400 --> 0:45:35.560 They all they think I can do is live by 0:45:36.239 --> 0:45:40.279 see Thank you for joining us. Special thanks to those 0:45:40.320 --> 0:45:43.320 of you who give generously to this ministry. Is because 0:45:43.320 --> 0:45:46.279 of you that this ministry is possible. You can click 0:45:46.320 --> 0:45:49.280 the link in the description to give now, or visit 0:45:49.320 --> 0:45:53.319 Elevation Church dot org slash podcast for more information and 0:45:53.360 --> 0:45:56.560 if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe. You can 0:45:56.600 --> 0:45:59.040 share it with your friends. You can click the share button, 0:45:59.080 --> 0:46:01.520 take a screenshot and share it on your social stories 0:46:01.520 --> 0:46:03.200 and tag us at Elevation Church. 0:46:03.280 --> 0:46:04.280 Thanks again for listening. 0:46:04.320 --> 0:46:04.920 God bless you.