Welcome to the Lansdale Life Church Podcast.
If you're seeking a closer relationship with Jesus Christ, this podcast is for you.
Thank you for joining us today.
We're going to look at Philippians today, Philippians chapter 3, but actually I'm going to have all the
all of this verses up top on the PowerPoint so you don't have to turn unless you want to.
But as I was watching that, I came across it actually before Easter and I was watching that.
I mean, I don't think we've ever done kind of a post Easter message. And as I was watching,
I'm saying that is so appropriate, because that is our future. Now that the stone has
been rolled away, it's time to seize the day. Amen. I don't know if you're like,
I'm into early mornings. I get up early every morning and kind of not by choice. I don't set
the alarm. It's just me now, you know, I used to be a night person. When marriage and children
came, I became a morning person. Right. And so when I get, I like getting up early in the
morning, sometimes four, between four and five, but and just going out in the beginning
of the day, you know, I pop on the coffee. I'll admit I'm a user. Okay. Praise God.
Those of you don't, you know, you're tremendous people. Let me just tell you. But, you know,
and then I just lay, usually lay on my face and just like ask the Lord, you know, like,
what would you have me do today for you? Like, can you speak to me? Can I just,
and it really to just to get centered, you know, centered in the Lord, because you're the day,
you know, flies by, doesn't it? Before you know it, you're just involved in all kinds of
discussion, conversations, situations. And if you aren't centered in the beginning of the morning,
really, it's difficult because the day can get away from you. And before you know it,
you're just not where you want to be. But when you get centered in Christ,
you really have the proper perspective. You know, you're like plugged in to God. Right.
You're plugged into him. And guess what? He's plugged in to you. And you can really just
take on that day, knowing that, you know, whatever happens, I'm right with God. Gail and I were talking
to prayer room before the service today. And really, we're talking about just even the little
things, just like praying God guide me in that little decision. And we can just be assured
that he has us and he's going to guide us, you know. And so, but anyway, this message is really
about, you know, now that we no longer have an obstruction to living his life, we really don't.
We may have situations that aren't resolved yet, this side of heaven. But the Lord says,
look, I'll walk you over them. I'll walk you around them. I'm going to get you through this
because I know the plans I have, like we're singing, you know. You know, he's always working
for our good and for his glory, you know. So Jesus has a vested interest in you succeeding.
Did you ever think about that? Yeah, we're not failures on earth. We're always
victorious. To the world, they might look at us and say, well, that's thanks for them. No, it
doesn't. No, I'm fine because in whatever situation I am victorious because I'm living
Christ's life through any situation I'm in. And so that's, that's what's important is getting our
minds and our hearts around this. So as we, we're not going to study through the book of
Philippians. We're just touching on it today. Still praying about that. We're to go next. But
Philippians, just a little intro. We've been reading, we went through all of Romans,
okay. And that was Paul. He wrote that somewhere late fifties, around fifties, six, seven.
This Philippians was written much later after he actually was imprisoned in Rome. So he finally
made it to Rome, not the way he thought he would, but he made it there, right? And he's in prison
writing to the church of Philippi and he's encouraging them and he's really stirring them
up. Now by this time, Paul had been through a lot of stuff. You know, I mean, he had been tortured
again and again. In fact, he writes in 2 Corinthians chapter 11. We don't have it, but you can, if
you ever get a chance, read his resume of suffering. It's not a resume I would prefer. Okay. Second
Corinthians 11, 23 to 28. But you know, he was, he says that he went through deaths. Now
that could be almost death, but possibly he was raised from back to life at times because the Lord
said, no, no, I'm not done with you yet. Just like we sang. I'm not finished with you yet. You
know, the Lord said, you're not getting off that easy, Paul. No, you're getting back up, right?
And so he said, I've been through so much, you know, five times I was scourged by my own
countrymen 39 times. They believed 40 times would actually kill them, but I was scourged 39 strikes
five different times in my journeys, right? Three times I was beaten with rods. I mean,
I mean, that's heavy duty or vice versa. I forget the time, the man of times, but yeah,
five times stripes, three times beaten with rods, three times he was shipwrecked. And you
wrote that before he was actually shipwrecked in Malta. So we can count at least four times
he was shipwrecked, right? A day and a half floating out in sea. I mean, can you imagine,
maybe holding on to a little board floating, you know, I mean, you know, this man went through
everything, right? Stoned, stoned in Lystra. Remember that? You know, he was doing really
well. They were actually about to worship he and Barnabas. Suddenly, no, I'd rather
stone them. Like, what happened? You know, people got in there and corrupted the minds of Lystra,
and they actually stoned him probably to death. Because if you read that in Acts, you know,
they're all surrounding him, suddenly he just pops up and walks back into town. I mean,
imagine that. Like, you're the one who just threw the boulder and you're seeing them walk in,
you're like, all right, I think I'm out of here at this point, you know, because the Lord
really, he learned a lot about suffering, you know, but he realized it was all worth it.
You know, because the more he went through the closer he got with Christ. You know,
many of you have been through some things, you know, some, some health issues,
some, some situations in work, relationships, marriages that, you know, things just went
awry and the enemy got in there and all kinds of things. And you're like, wow, this isn't, you know,
Lord, I didn't, I didn't sign up for this. Right? But then all of a sudden you realize that the Lord
is walking through this with you. He feels everything you're feeling. And suddenly you
sent him in you, and you get closer than you've ever been to him. Have you ever been there?
Like through tough times, you're suddenly like, no, no, I don't have this. The Lord has this.
I can get through this, you know, through this suffer. Paul knew this. In fact, right when he
got saved, the Lord said, I'm going to show him how much he must suffer for my namesake.
How's that for an appointment in life? But he went through it and got closer
and closer to the Lord. You know, that proves the gospel is true. Do you realize that?
That's one of the tests really. They say if this wasn't true, people would not be willing to be
tortured, burnt on the stake, running into the lion's den and suffering and singing all the way.
Literally, some of them, they said, ran into the lion's den. Like, yes, I get to die for the Lord.
I mean, can you imagine that? I mean, I can't put my mind around it,
but I think of the time ever comes, the Lord will empower all of us to have that kind of testimony.
Now, today isn't about suffering. Don't say, oh, what did I step into? You know, it's not.
It really isn't. It's really about living God's fulfilled life in you. It's about like, say, look,
the stone's out of the way. I'm going to seize this day. I'm going to take it on in a victorious
mindset because I know God's going to do something great here. And so we're looking at Philippians
and the reason I came up with that, I don't know about you. I'm sure you do the same thing.
You're suddenly thinking about something. Like, what's that verse that kind of says this or that?
You know, do you do that too? It's like, there's a verse. What's that verse? And all of a sudden,
you go on Blue Letter Bible or you look up the back of your Bible and you find you're like,
yeah, that suits this situation perfectly. And so I came across Philippians and as I was reading this,
I'm thinking, this really speaks to where we're at. So let's look at Philippians 3, 10 and 11.
And we have it up on the screen. And he says that I may know him and the power of the resurrection.
That's what we're talking about, right? Living the resurrected life and the fellowship of his
sufferings. He knew that very well, like we just talked about being conformed to his death,
if by any means I may attain the resurrection from the dead. And then we go to verse 12.
And then he says,
now that I have, not that I have already attained it, or I'm already perfect, you know,
none of us have a ride. He's not finished with us yet, right? I'm so glad of that,
because every day I think, wish I didn't say that, wish I didn't do that,
wish I didn't act like that, I wish I, you know, and none of us have arrived,
but that's a good thing, isn't it? Like you're going to get better and better with each moment
and day you live. I mean, you can know that. Like he's not finished with us.
We're just going to get better and better and better. It's like, it's an exciting thing to
know that we are going to be purified more and more like him. Not that I have already
attained it, but I press on that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold
of me. You know, I use that verse a lot because I just love the idea of like,
you have to let go to lay hold, don't you? Like you've ever been on the monkey bars? I use this
analogy a lot, but it always reminds me like when I was a little kid, you'd go in the monkey bars
and the first time you went on, I'm like, all right, I'm here. How do I go? Like I'm stuck.
You know, you're stuck between rungs, right? You're like, I don't know what to do next.
You finally realize there's a rhythm to this. You know, you got to like swing, swing, swing,
but you're not getting to the other side. If you're not reaching out, laying hold, letting go,
and reaching it, you have to keep the rhythm going, you know? And life, a lot of that is
like this. You have to realize, wait a minute, this is holding me back to where the Lord is
leading me. You know, I have to lay hold for that which Christ Jesus has laid hold of me.
And this is the idea of laying hold and letting go. It's kind of like rock climbing. If you've
ever seen anybody used to bring the kids rock climbing, you know? Of course, thank God for the
ropes, right? But like you're climbing, you know, you can't keep scaling the wall if you're
not letting go or stepping off the previous plastic rock, right? To climb. And that's
the same idea. You have to let go and lay hold. You know, I came across this Netflix series. I
know I don't like them either, but I'll confess, you won't tell anybody. I'm in front of a great
cloud of witnesses, but you know, occasionally I'll watch some stuff on Netflix. And but anyway,
I like the documentary. So I saw this documentary called Sky, what is it called? Sky,
Skywalker, Skywalker, right? And I have a picture of them climbing this, this scaffolding, right?
I mean, like, I don't, I didn't like heights a lot when I was a kid, but I can handle them.
The older I get, I'm afraid of everything. You know, if I just climb up a ladder, I'm like,
I don't know, is this thing steady? You know, it's kind of wiggling a little bit.
You know, these, so this woman, Angela, her name is, she started the shoes in ballerina. She started
climbing up these mountains and these, I mean, not mountains, these buildings. And she would get on
the top and she would do these ballerina moves, like on the ledge of a skyscraper, right? And then
she would get pictures taken of her up there. And then she came across this other guy named
Ivan, who climbed even higher, indeed even crazier things. So they started like an internet
romance of like, Hey, you do this too. You know, I don't know anybody else that does this, neither
do I. So all of a sudden, they started doing it together. That's a picture of them climbing
somewhere. They're from Russia. And of course, they're breaking the law. So don't do this at
home. I'm not endorsing skyscraper climbing. But anyway, this is what they're into. And so
they're climbing up and I just start a picture like, I'm so afraid of heights, like I would
just be like, I'm just frozen. But they have to just keep no, no, I got to keep climbing, right?
And the pictures are just mind boggling. We have another one. There they are relaxing.
Just chilling in China on the top of these letters, like, you know, just like, yeah,
this is good. You know, I mean, I have another one. It's just, it's just mind blowing. Yes.
Yes. They're literally on the top of this little sphere. And like, like that,
you know, I mean, it's, it's unbelievable. There's no, there's no lines. There's no,
they're not tethered to anything. If they drop, it's over, right? And then one more.
There they are again, climbing up one thing or another. And these, by the way, I couldn't
find the height of the highest building they climbed. It was in, I forget what country,
but it was even way taller than any of them you just looked at. It was insane, right? But,
you know, the thing is, is he was getting concerned because she was starting to get fearful.
You can't get afraid. I mean, that's what holds us back in life a lot of times is,
is freezing up. I'm already used to mountain bike a lot and, and, you know,
they, you go through these dry river beds and like, and I'm coming up, then I'm thinking,
that's kind of deep and then, you know, I don't know if I should do this, you know.
And the worst thing you could do is start applying the brakes just as you go over the
lip because you are going to get seriously hurt, right? You just have to roll with it. It's too
late to chicken out, right? Well, you know, in life, a lot of times when the Lord says,
it's time, let's go. I'm leading you. Don't second guess this. Don't get fearful.
You could trust me. Sometimes we get like Peter walking on the water like, I don't,
I don't know. You know, look at me, not the water, not the waves. Look at me. Sometimes
I think that's a big problem. Sometimes we just get fearful, you know, but, but, but Paul is saying,
no, press on, lay hold. Verse 13, forgetting, that's forgetting. Brother, I do not know, sorry,
12, sorry about that.
Not that I've already attained or I'm already perfect that I press on, actually the next verse then.
Sorry about that. Brethren, did I count myself? I've apprehended it. There we go.
But one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things
which are ahead, you know, a lot of times we just keep replaying that videotape from the past.
Last time I did this, you know, what happened, you know, and, and we think like somehow it's
going to mean that's what's going to happen this time. You know, we can learn from our mistakes.
There's no doubt about it. It's great to learn from our mistakes, isn't it? To realize, yeah,
next time I do that, this is what I can do differently. That's what all the sports teams do,
right? Before every game, they're like watching the videotape. Now he's going to do this,
that, you know, and you're, you're planning, you're, you're strategizing. It's okay to do
that, right? To replay things, but to grow from them, right? But sometimes we watch those tapes
with guilt and condemnation. I do it myself. I mean, I really need deliverance from that. Let me
just tell you, because a lot of times I just keep replaying what I did wrong. And I don't let the
Lord say, yeah, but we're going to do it right next time, right? I've got you. Come on, learn
from it. You know, I was thinking about Moses. You know, when the Lord said, come up to the top of
Mount Sinai and he went up, he left, he left Arid and the 70 elders midway up on the mountain,
and he kept climbing. He got to the top, right? He pressed on, right? And the Lord revealed all
kinds of things to him. And he gave him the blueprints of the nation of Israel, what is
going to happen in the future. I mean, just imagine that inside little meeting he had with
God, right? And so as he's there, suddenly God says, oh, something bad's happening down there on the base
of the mountain, right? And Moses is like, all right, it sounds like, it sounds like a party
going on down there. What's happening? So in the meantime, while they were up at the top for 40
days and 40 nights, Aaron and the elders said, yeah, I don't know what happened to this
dude. Let's go back down with the people. And they went back down to the bottom.
And you know what happened? They're like, what happened to Moses? Yeah, I don't know. Well,
we need a God that we can tangibly see and follow. So Aaron starts sculpting a golden
calf with their earrings and jewelry they took out of Egypt. And suddenly Moses comes down
with arms like, what? And guess what he does? He throws down the very tablets,
the blueprint of the 10 commandments the Lord carved into with his own finger.
Moses was a just man, very humble, but occasionally he had a short fuse. And that was one of them,
right? And he just was so angry. He slammed down the tablets. And we don't have time to get into
everything what happened there. But then the Lord said, all right, come back up. Now imagine
being Moses, the last time I went up there, it didn't work out so well. But he climbed.
And guess what? He came back down with the tablets. And this time he didn't break them.
And this time the Lord led them on from Mount Sinai. You know, sometimes we have to just trust.
Sometimes we mess up for a reason. Because the Lord is teaching us through something.
So that next time we don't have to mess up again. We can learn so much from it.
And so let's look at verse 14.
I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
I love that the upward call. Do you know the Lord has assigned eternal
purpose in our lives, right? He made man with purpose on purpose. We have a purpose. And
it's an eternal purpose. We are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which
God prepared in advance that we would walk in them. I mean, we have purpose just imputed into us.
We are significant to creation. And we're significant to God, not on our own, but because of
Him. He's been imputed into us, right? So the Lord has significant purpose for all of our lives.
And it's an upward calling. And we need to be so intently aware that the Lord
wants me to lay hold of this and live it out for His purpose, you know?
So we're going to talk a little bit about what holds us back. What steals
our destiny, in a sense? We can't let the past dictate our destiny or our future, right?
Our mistakes, failures, we just have to push on. Why don't we press on and lay hold?
Why don't we forget what's behind and reach ahead? Why don't we press toward the upward call?
All those things that Paul just said, what's holding us back from doing that? Now,
maybe you could say, no, I'm not right now. That's super. And I'm great. And, you know,
at times I'm in that zone too. But then all of a sudden I just start to drift away into things
that are of lesser significance that God is calling me to. So let's talk about what actually
holds us back. I think one is fear of failure, isn't it? And that's probably the hugest thing.
I don't want to slip. Now, when you're on top of a skyscraper, okay, without any type of ropes,
I'd be afraid of failure there too, okay? Because you slip, you die, right? But like in life,
what do we really have to be afraid of failure? The disciples failed constantly, right? And what
did he rebuke them for? Their lack of faith, not for failing, right? They messed up a lot.
And so will we. We don't have to be afraid of failure. We don't have to be fearful.
We can know that he has us. I remember this dad joke I haven't told one in a little while,
so here it is, okay? But anyway, so this guy, he's walking along the cliff,
and suddenly the ground gives way and he's sliding. He grabs one of this little branch
on the edge and he's hanging. He's, God, help me! Help me! And he's screaming out, right?
And suddenly God answers, says, I'm here. Yeah, I'm here for you. Do you believe
me? Do you trust me? Yes. Yes, I trust you. I trust you. Okay, let go of the branch.
Is there anybody else up there I can talk to? Right? I mean, that's what we're
liking. Lord, help us, but we're afraid of letting go, right? We're afraid of actually trusting
that God has us, so we keep holding on to things from the past. We're afraid
of failing sometimes, aren't we? We have to just trust God. You know, perfect love
casts out fear, right? So when we love the Lord and know he loves us, we don't have to be afraid.
You know, John, the apostle John, the disciple John who followed Jesus, he was the only one
really that knew he was truly love. Everybody else was trying to kind of like prove themselves,
especially Peter. And what happened when Jesus got arrested and when he was getting
crucified, other than the women, you know, which says something for them, all the guys took off,
scattered. But John was at the foot of the cross. Why? He was even known by the high priest, John was.
You know, John had to get Peter into the courtyard because he knew the high priest.
They knew who John was. They knew John hung out with Jesus all the time.
Jesus was, John wasn't afraid. He was at the foot of the cross. Why?
Because he knew he was love. Love casts out fear, right? Perfect love. And so we can trust that,
yeah, I might fail here, but you know what? God's got me. And somehow even in my failure,
he's going to be glorified. We could just trust that. Even if you come out, we highly recommend
coming out on first Friday. We have a great time interacting with the town. And you might
say, well, I'm not much of a, you know, a street witnessing kind of person. What will I do when I
get there? I'm going to be so nervous. I'm like, just trust God, just show up. You know, serving
God, they say is half the battle is just showing up. He does the rest, right? Just say, Lord,
who do you want me to talk to? If anyone, I'll pass out water. Anybody can do that, right?
But it's like, we can just, we don't have to be afraid of failure, amen?
Let's just look at a couple other verses about this idea of what holds us back from really living
his life. Hebrews 12, 1. Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses,
and you realize these witnesses really are people, I believe, primarily in heaven saying,
go, go, Luke, go, God's got you. Look, I see it from up here. He's got you. You're tethered in
heaven. You don't have to worry about anything. Do the thing, go. You know, and they're watching
and they're praising the Lord. The angels are there supporting us and camping themselves around us,
assisting us, ministering to us. God has you. Do you realize that? There's nothing you have
to worry about. He's got you. We can just trust him. Therefore, since we are surrounded by a great
cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles,
and let us run with perseverance, the race marked out for us. So there's a thing right there.
What can prevent us from running the race?
Being entangled, right? Throw off everything that entangles us.
Everything that is getting in the way. Even good things can entangle you. Too many hobbies.
Too many hobbies. Sorry, DJ. Inside joke. He's a fisherman and a hunterman and a lot of other things,
but just kidding around. But hobbies can really, they could steal God's purpose for our life sometimes.
If we let things entangle us, right? And ensnare us. And of course, sin, that really can bog us down.
Did you ever have to untangle something? I'm not sure all of you have. I used to bring the kids
fishing. And so imagine you're taking four kids fishing in the river, or the pond,
or the jetty, or something. And you know what dad's job is to do? You guessed it.
Untangle fishing. That's all I do. I'm the untangler in chief. I'm just like,
and it's like, oh, let me get that. So you're just basically walking back and forth
untangling. And then you get hooked by a hook in your ears. Yeah, stop. But that's what you do.
You are always untangling. And because they're not going to fish if the line is not untangled.
Things are just like that. If it's not untangled, it doesn't work, right? If your life is tangled
up with stuff, with things, with idols, with sin, whatever it might be, if it's tangled up,
you're not going to live that life, right? Just like if you ever pull out a hose and how come
all my hoses are always tangled? No matter what kind of reel I buy or whatever it is,
it's always tangled. But when that thing gets pinched, there's no water coming out of it, right?
And you're always unpinching it, right? That's just the way it is.
Things that are tangled don't operate properly. And that's the same thing with us.
When we're tangled up, we can't actually run the race. Imagine like tying your shoes together.
All right, I'm ready to run the race now. I mean, you'll last a foot before you hit your
face on the ground, right? I mean, that's what it's like when we try to take on more and
more. I could do this. I could do that. There's so many things that the Lord just
like, what are you doing? Get rid of that. Get rid of that. And you know what, when you take on too
much, nothing's really fun anyway. Did you ever notice that? You have a lot of anxiety,
trying to keep it all going. But we need to live an untangled life. I love Peter what he says.
He goes, you know what kerning the loins means? I know it sounds a little weird, but
it means like you tie up your loose clothing. In fact, it was funny yesterday at the
wedding, Danielle had her beautiful gown. It was a beautiful gown, but it was very, very,
because it's a cowboy wedding. So it had a lot of mud on the bottom. I'm just saying,
you were aware when you were going to wear the gown that it would be and all the bridesmaids
were too. And it's just, imagine you're going into a war with a long gown like, because
you're going to fight for your life and your country. And you have a long gown on,
dragging on the ground, you're tripping over it. So they would literally pull it up
and tied into it or not. That's girding the loins, right? So that you can run. So instead
of having to dress on, you have shorts now, right? Girding your loins. Well, Peter says,
gird up the loins of your mind. What a cool picture that. It's like, you know,
gird up the loins of your mind. In other words, your distractions, okay? Your idols,
your sinful thoughts, you know, those, you just tie them up and get rid of them, get them out of
your life. It's bogging you down. You're not able to be transformed by the renewing of your mind
and proving a good, acceptable and perfect will of God. If your whole mind is just tangled up
with things of this world, right? And we all like recreation. We all like things. But you know,
when you're getting tangled up and in Hebrews, the author probably Barnabas or says, you know,
he says, you know, untangle your life so you can run your race. And then Hebrews 12-2
is beautiful because it's really a picture fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter.
Another version has an author and finisher of your faith. For the joy set before him,
he endured the cross, squirming his, its shame and has sat down at the right hand of the throne
of God. You know, we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, not ourselves. And that's hard to do
sometimes. But not really. The way I look at it this, whatever situation you're going in,
who are you representing? Like, you're representing Christ, right? Like, if you keep that, it's a
very simple motivation in life. It's a very simple agenda, you know? Oh, that person just
insulted me. But I'm still here. I'm still healthy. I'm still okay. What does Jesus
want to say to this person? Like, what does Christ want to do for this person right now?
Like, it's really all about him, isn't it? We're keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, who went through
it all, you know, endured the cross, despising the shame of it all and is seated at the right
hand of the Father. James says, don't look in the mirror at yourself because as soon as you
walk away, you're going to stumble and fall. Look at the liberty of law. That's Jesus Christ. Look at
him. Then you will be blessed in everything you do. So we really got to keep our eyes on Jesus. But
you know, when the author of Hebrews says, take off everything that entails, like, get rid of the
dead things, right? Like, we're coming into spring and you know, what if all those dead leaves were
still on the trees right now? Would any new ones be popping out? Right? There would be no room for
it. They'd all be stuck on the trees still, right? And as I was worshiping and kneeling there,
I suddenly saw literally right in front of me this little dead leaf and I'm like,
I can't find any tree that would go to around here. I'm thinking, this is pretty cool. Like,
this is a little message, right? Because you know, dead things are meant to be removed, right?
For something new to come. In fact, in John chapter 15, Jesus said, anyone who bides in me,
I will prune, I will cleanse, I'll snip off the dead stuff so new things can sprout out. We
really need to just let the things that are of our old life die and be clipped off, literally
removed so something new can grow in the same very spot. But when we try to hold on, again,
laying hold of the old life and don't let go, we can't, we can't proceed further, amen?
So, so Lord, thank you for this little prop that he just gave me while I was up here.
But we really do need to think in terms of letting old things die. So as the worship team begins to come up,
God is calling us to trust that he has us, not to be fearful, to untangle our lives,
and to assume, to assume what he says about us, or to us, are going to come true. When Jesus was
walking along, and he was near the pools of Bethesda, and the pool of Bethesda had five
portagos there, and all these sick, lame, diseased people would lay there around this pool,
and one time around the feast, Passover, it says, we won't get into all that because it's kind of
strange and theological, you know, twister, but whenever the pool would suddenly stir,
everyone would roll, die, or lean, lunge for the pool because the first one in gets healed.
I don't know, it's peculiar, it's very peculiar. Was it God? Anyway, you'll get a whole lot of
different commentary on that, but anyway, this guy who was lame for 38 years, okay, laying there,
wanting just to be the first one in the pool, but like, if you're lame, you're not a fast
runner, and you might be a slow roller, right? So someone's probably going to hurtle you and
get in the pool first, and so Jesus is coming along, and he sees this guy, and he says to him,
do you want to be made well? Now imagine that question, 38 years laying near a pool that's
supposed to heal you, right? And somebody asks you that, okay? You're there for a reason,
duh, but Jesus always asks questions that he already knew the answer to, to have you confess
what your mindset is so that he can actually tell you the truth. He has to must get the lie out of you
before he can give you the truth. He always did that. He's always, why this, why that, why do you
call me good? Why the, you know, because he already knew the answer, but he wanted you to confess
the lie so he can tell you the truth, right? It's just, you know, do you want to be made
well? Well, I try, but every time I try to get in this pool, someone jumps over me and gets in first,
no one will lift me down into the water. And we read in John chapter five, verse eight and nine,
he says, rise. He just says, yeah, while he's probably almost finished talking, rise, take up
your bed and walk. And immediately the man was made well and he took up his bed and walked.
You know, everything God does in your life requires your obedience. You're actually
you to follow through what, what, in what he's already done. What if the man said,
I don't trust you. I'm going to stay here. I want to stay on my side or back and I'm waiting for the
water. It requires us to do something throughout scripture. He says, I've done this. Now go do it
to the 10 lepers. You know, you look lepers, go show yourselves to the high priest. Oh,
they're not going to see us. Look at us. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. This is awesome. I'm healed.
Right? He told them to just go expecting you are already healed. Of course, the one who was a
Samaritan ran back to him and was worshiping him and he was made whole. But you know,
everything the Lord has done for you, you need to walk it out. He's not going to usually pick
you up and throw you in the pool. He's going to say, you're made. Well, now get up, take up your mat
and walk. And I think some things that have already been done in our lives, we have yet to
claim or at least walk it out. You know, we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus
for good works, which God prepared in advance for us to what walk in. There's things he's already done.
He's already planned. He's already fixed it in your life. He's already, and what you need to do is
just say, all right, I'm going to assume when I get there, it's going to be exactly the way he
says it is. I'm going, I'm going to trust them. Maybe those relationships that are still messed
up in your life. If you just said, no, Lord, you said, if I just show up, you fixed it.
And guess what? You get there and suddenly words come out of your mouth that are unlike what you
would have normally said and words come out of their mouths that are unlike what they would
have normally said. And so they're, oh, he's actually doing it right now. He's doing the thing.
This is awesome. Jim, I hope you don't mind me giving a little testimony for you, Jim.
But Jim was working at an employer and he said, I won't be able to come anymore on Sundays.
Do you remember that? And he said, I won't be able to come anymore on Sundays because
my boss is requiring that I work. And we said, well, let's just pray about it.
Let's pray about it and see what God does because you don't want to work on Sundays
and you don't want to leave that job. It's a great job. So he goes in the next day and talk to his boss
and I'm paraphrasing. I hope you forgive me. But he says, yeah, so about Sundays, because Sundays,
oh no, no, you don't have to work on Sundays. Like what? Like, how did that? Like, how?
Because we need to assume he's already done it, right? But we have to show up to find out,
right? We have to go through the process to discover, wow, he actually already did it.
You know, it's amazing, isn't it? You know, if we trust him, he's already fulfilling,
like we saw in that video, you know, he who began a good work in you will complete it
in Jesus Christ. He's already done the thing. All we need to do is walk it out. Amen.
Let's all stand up. I believe this year is going to be a prosperous year. I'm not talking about money,
maybe I am. But perhaps a prosperous year in a turnaround in our health,
a turnaround in our relationships, a turnaround in our overall attitude because that's the
battle right there in the mind in the end, isn't it? If we can win that battle,
probably all the rest will really start to unravel, right? But I think if we just trust
he's already done it, what if the path has already been cleared and we can just assume
now we're going to walk out what he's already promised. All his promises in Christ are yes,
and all of his promises in Christ are amen. It's not a maybe, it's not a not, it's not a no,
it's a yes, and amen. Amen. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord.
At the end of this service, if you'd like some prayer, please come up.
And by the way, Toria and Mariah and their beautiful children are here today. So if you
know them, give a little wave, guys. They're a part of our family. They moved out west in PA.
And so make sure you say hello to them. They're out visiting. And so thanks for coming
out, guys. And it's just great to have family, isn't it? If you don't have what I hope you will
make us part of your family because you're never going to meet any
lovely or wonderful siblings than in this house. I'm just saying maybe I'm biased,
but that's what I believe. Amen. Father God, thank you for giving us each other.
Lord, thank you for giving us you. Thank you, Lord God, that you have already prepared the thing.
All we need to do is go and discover that it's already been accomplished, Lord God.
We thank you that your promises are yes, and amen. And Lord God, we thank you that today we can
assume that we have seized the day and claim it in victory. We thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.
Let's give the Lord a round of applause.
Thanks for joining us at Lansdale Life Church as we praise God and discuss his word.
Don't forget to join us for worship live Sunday mornings at 10 a.m. Eastern on YouTube.
Be blessed and have a great day.