I'm Tired Of Trying | Pastor Steven Furtick

how many of y'all have had certain patterns of thinking that have been negative for a long time I mean a long time I don't know how old the man was but 38 years trust me I'm 39 is a long time this is the entire span of my natural life and for so long he's been unable to move that now he cannot recognize the help that is standing right in front of him and Jesus asks a question that I have often heard misinterpreted when he says do you want to get well tone is everything that's why you can't text every conversation because tone is everything sometimes you need to pick up the phone and call people because completely depending on the tone is how you see the heart of Jesus I always read it for a long time like Jesus said do you want to get well I almost see him now like he's got something in his back pocket and he's sneaking around the pool looking for somebody they say God helps those who help themselves but I almost see Jesus looking for somebody who can't and he's like I see you caught in the situation you want to get well and the man has every reason to be suspicious can you imagine how many people have taken advantage of him in almost 40 years of suffering how many hustlers have come through the pool at Bethesda trying to sell a magic potion or some bubbling water hey I got some cream man put it on your legs I promise it's blessed hey man I promise you I'll bring you to the pool I'll push you in when the water starts bubbling just give me half now and half after the move I promise you I can carry you in I got you how many times did somebody make him a promise because it seems cruel to Christ the expression of the love of God would stand over a man who couldn't move and ask him such a ridiculous question do you want to lose weight well yea do you do you want to be happy well yeah do you want to be able to live at peace without anxiety well yeah what you selling I heard this spiel before I tried that diet how many of y'all have tried that diet before I put a meditation app on my phone y'all to be honest with you I got four meditation apps on my phone I tried all of them I either fall asleep or my legs starts doing like that I can't do it everybody tells me to meditate the Bible says meditate Russell Brand says meditate Joe Rogan says meditate everybody's telling me to meditate I tried it I really did try it they also taught me about portion control I tried portion control how many of y'all tried somebody told me one time they said here's how you here's how you stay at an ideal weight when you're full stop eating my only problem I never found full that gage got broken somewhere in my childhood I never felt full so I kept eating I tried that oh they say if you don't complain you will feel more connected to God I tried it but I found out sometimes if you don't complain nothing changes I tried so hard not to complain I one time I was gonna go seven days without complaining and I thought if I could do it I could make a sermon out of it I thought I could call it you know seven days a week of worship or something like that I tried so hard not to complain for seven days what happened was and this is so embarrassing to admit to you the more I tried not to complain externally because sometimes you can fix the symptom now I'm in the text you can fix the symptom and stop trying to complain but the root of it what happened to me was I went five good days without complaining but on day six the walls of Jericho came tumbling down a day early everything in my path was oh it was a tornado it was a downpour because when you fix the symptom but don't address the system that created the symptom the end is worse than the beginning you want to get well well yeah I'm trying when you get to heaven you'd be surprised who's there and who's not but one thing you might really be shocked about this dude whoever he is in John 5 is gonna have a long line of preachers waiting to apologize to him for how we misinterpreted his story in John chapter 5 oh I've heard everything I've heard it said that in 38 years the man should have been able to crawl or roll his way to the edge of the pool yeah like that will work cuz now somebody stronger than you is just gonna pull you back at the moment you're still powerless to fall in at the right time and besides when has Jesus ever taunted someone into transformation you really think that's the spirit of the Savior some of us do we really picture God like standing over us in our minds our concept of God like you don't want it bad enough if you would have done it different when they were eight they wouldn't have been in so much trouble when they were 18 see you screwed them up that's what God sounds like to a lot of us so it's no surprise that when we hear Jesus say do you want to get well he says it with a snarl you know do you even want to get well do you even lift are you even serious I mean prove it if you do if you want to get well say I want to get well so why did he ask him why did he ask the man do you want to get well before he helped him get up and walk and as I prayed through that this week I realize that before Jesus could help him walk he had to help him want I don't know who this is for but God is dealing with your desires in this season of your life you have been disappointed over and over and over again and every time you try nobody notices and every time you try you come up short sickness is cyclical it comes around it goes around you're well for a little while and then it's the same thing all over again but this time it's only worse because now not only are you back where you started but you have less hope that it is ever going to be different because you've cycled through it one more time just to realize well I guess I'm just a cynical person well I guess I'm just a negative person I guess nobody in my family was meant to go to college I guess see when you hang around the colonnades with people who are sick sickness becomes normal to you and it starts to be easier for you to just accept the condition than to challenge it because to challenge the condition means to risk disappointment and some of us have tried got blocked tried got blocked tried got blocked and now people see you and they assume that you don't care no I care I cared and I cared so much but they didn't care back and I tried so hard and I still got looked over and don't you know it's hard when your expectation has been damaged by disappointment it's a slow damage it's a slow tearing of the muscle fibers it's a slow deterioration of your hope by disappointment it is not one event that creates it it's over and over I tried and I tried and I smiled and I stayed and I cooked and I parented and I disciplined and I showed up and I didn't - and the man has finally gotten to a place I believe where he is tired of trying are you it's supposed to be the Sabbath it's supposed to be a day of rest why did Jesus stop by the pool on the day of rest to perform a miracle you're not supposed to work on the Sabbath this may offend you but it won't be the first time if this offends you your metal detector is turned up to level 10 anyway and you need to just turn it down y'all notice we live in a gotcha culture an outrage culture just nobody can say anything you can't say anything anymore and the more that people try to help us the more we crucify them if they say the wrong thing have you noticed that this is how they treat Jesus he heals the man on the Sabbath and all that anyone can talk about is that he did it on the wrong day so this is what I wanted to say that was gonna offend you you thought that was what was gonna offend you no no no Jesus walks up on the Sabbath and when he tells the man in verse 8 get up pick up your mat and walk he is he is trying to get the man to break Sabbath so Jesus walks up to the pool looks around and asks the man what's going on in your heart right now because before I can help you walk I have to heal your will so here's what Jesus does that we don't like he calls BS he calls watch this he calls BS and I don't know what you're thinking about right now but I'm talking about broken system see now there's one thing in the verse there's one thing in the verse that doesn't make sense unless you understand the historical context when the man says I keep trying I keep trying to get down there but I can never be first I'm not fast enough in fact I can't move at all I keep trying but every time I try something blocks me and Jesus says that's because the system is broken if you'll notice give me verse 4 of the scripture I forgot to read it John 5:4 Jared it's been a long week you know Staff Advance Jared where's Jared can you get him yeah I need him verse 4 unlocks the whole thing we can wait this man waited 38 years we can wait three minutes it's not in the manuscript oh they added that verse later it's not even in the original manuscript they added a scripture later they added a verse to explain the situation it didn't make sense so they had to add you can go back to your job now they had but come here real quick real quick real quick real quick so a lot of times when a situation in my life doesn't make sense to me I add a verse I add a verse you know how we do it's like okay rather than deal with it I would rather explain it in a way that excuses me from having to deal with it there's a reason verse 4 isn't in there because it's not in there there's some stuff that you're putting in your story that doesn't belong there cause God didn't speak it and it's not true anymore you can go back see what the man said reflects a broken system and it reflects a bad story that's another BS the devil has got some of us telling ourselves some really bad stories and this man has been telling himself a story 38 years no one wants to help me everybody's out to get me every time I try no one wants to help me everybody's out to get me every time I try so here comes Jesus he doesn't know Jesus he's never met Jesus Jesus is new to the scene Jesus hasn't even done the Captain D's miracle yet that's in John chapter 6 he hasn't even gotten familiar with this guy yet he hasn't even had an opportunity to unpack the whole historicity of his situation so he's standing in front of Jesus and he's rightfully skeptical because he's in a broken system where the religious leaders are trying to let the first ones in and keep the rest back and unless you keep the law this good you can't be healed of course he's stuck he's stuck in a broken system so are some of us he's stuck in a bad story and so are some of us we've inserted verses that aren't even there to explain why we are the way we are we think it's our job to suffer you know suffering for Christ and for the good of others is one thing in sacrifices but to suffer the shame that he already took away from you is to snatch back what he nailed to the cross it is not your job to suffer like that that's a broken system I'm telling you men and women of the Most High God religion is a broken system that's why Jesus went for one to show you this is a relationship I want to deal with you one-on-one I want to speak to you like a person not like you're some kind of project not like there's some kind of defect hey thank you for watching make sure you subscribe to this channel so you don't miss a single video or livestream and share this video with a friend and don't forget you can join me live every Sunday thanks again for watching

Channel: Official Steven Furtick

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Keywords: pastor steven furtick, steven furtick, furtick steven, stephen furtick, elevation church steven furtick, steven furtick im tired of trying, im tired of trying, steven furtick sermons 2019, steven furtick 2019, elevation steven furtick, trust, trusting God, steven furtick trusting God, elevation church trusting God

Id: 4itmrMQjYp4

Length: 15min 42sec (942 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 10 2019