Christine Caine - Do You Want to Be Healed?
Hey, I am so excited to be here today. I'm so glad that you've tuned in today. Wherever you are, I know that God has a word for you. We're gonna speak and jump right into the text today from the book of John, chapter five. I'm speaking from the subject of it's up to you. I want you to turn to your neighbor and say, it's totally up to you. It's totally up to you. Do you know there is more up to you than you even think that there is? In John, chapter five, the Bible says, after this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem by the sheep gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. In these lay a multitude of invalids, blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been an invalid for 38 years.
When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, "Do you want to be healed"? The sick man answered him, "Sir, I have no one to put me in the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I'm going, another steps down before me". Jesus said to him, "Get up, take your bed, and walk". And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked. Now, I love this text on so many levels. Jesus surprises us, like he always does, in the fact that he asks a man a question that just seems highly inappropriate in this context. And then he tells the man to do something that, again, appears to be highly inappropriate in this context. The story is set right here in Jerusalem. The Jewish calendar has three major feast days. The passover, the feast of Pentecost, and of course, tabernacles, and scholars believe that this story is set at the feast of tabernacles.
So Jesus was making the pilgrimage to Jerusalem for this feast day. The man is lying there at the sheep gate, and it's called the sheep's gate because basically, Jesus entered through this gate because the shepherds would drive their sheep into Jerusalem through this gate, and then they would go to, right down to the pool at Bethesda, and basically, they would wash the sheep. And so the pool of Bethesda was divided into two. One part was for the sheep, and the other part was for the people. This place, the pool of Bethesda, in Hebrew, means the house of mercy, and in Aramaic, the house of grace. So Jesus turns up to the house of mercy and the house of grace, two words that are very, very connected to Jesus. He's a God of mercy and he's a God of grace. There were five porches around this pool.
I just want you to get this setting. Here we are, we're at one of the feast days, there's five porches, we're around the house of mercy, the house of grace, the pool of Bethesda. Jesus turns up and he's surrounded by a whole lot of people with infirmities. In fact, the scripture says there were many people here with infirmities, and why were they gathered around here? Why were they gathered around the pool of Bethesda? Because basically, underneath the pool of Bethesda, there were these hot water springs and when they would begin to rumble, the water would stir. Now, legend had it that it was angels' wings that would stir the water, and the sick people were waiting because once that water was stirred, they were hoping whoever got into the water first would be healed. Basically, the people that were sick would be lying there or sitting there for an indefinite amount of time just hoping that one day, the waters would stir and they would be the right people, in the right place, at the right time, and this would be their moment.
Could you imagine that kind of life? Where you just waited for just maybe, perhaps, if, when, somehow in my lifetime, those waters stirred and I would be healed. Well, anyway, this is basically the context that Jesus walked into. Right here in the text, the Bible says they lay a multitude of invalids, a multitude. There wasn't just one, there was a multitude. There was the lame, there was the blind, there were the paralyzed, and they kind of all stayed in their own section. And you'll find that you'll always find people that are like you, and there will always be multitudes of people like you that gather in the same place. Do you find that in church life, often you'll find all the negative people, they just somehow find each other. I don't even know how that happens, but you just wait for long enough, and it's like, yep, there's that section. All the bitter people, all the critical people.
You know, people will turn up and go, everyone. And I've noticed in church life, everyone is, like, two people. But, you know, it's, like, "Everybody". But you'll find all the people, that if they have got a attitude about something, they're all going to find each other. Misery loves company, it really does. There are multitudes, and you know what happens when you hang out with people that are as limited as you are? It creates a culture, and the culture can often be worse than the disease. And within the culture, the disease thrives. And so here it said all the people that were paralyzed, all the people that were lame, all the people that were blind, they all hung out together. I wonder who it is that you're hanging out with, because that's probably gonna tell you something about yourself. What is that gonna tell you about yourself? If you go, you know what, everyone that I'm hanging out around with is negative.
Well, could there be a correlation between the negative people you're hanging around with and your own negativity? Other people are surrounded by people that are full of fear. Well, are you surrounded by fearful people because you're fearful? You know, a lot of people that come into my world, or into my office, and they're like, wow, Christine, you are surrounded by people that are positive, that are full of faith, well, that's because I'm positive, and I'm full of faith, and I'm gonna surround myself with people that are like me, and I want faith-filled people, people that are full of the holy ghost, people that believe God is who he says he is, that God can do what he says he can do.
Do you notice on social media how people live in their own echo chambers? They follow people like them, and they re-tweet people like them, and they quote people like them, and it's, like, everybody's saying. It's, like, no, not everybody's saying. It's just the four people you follow. Just the four people you follow are saying it, and so you think the whole world, or people, the self-professed prophets of the church, and they're like, on behalf of the church, I'm like, who made you the spokesperson? There are two billion Christians in the world. You're not the only one. It is interesting that people just find people like them, so you will always find someone to agree with you. It is amazing, you just look hard enough, you can even make the Bible agree with you. You can make it say what you want it to say. It is amazing how misery loves company.
If you want to change in your life, perhaps you need to change who you're hanging out with. Perhaps you need to not just go, well, this is my lot in life, this is just, you get to choose. You get to choose who your friends are. We don't get to choose our family of origin, but we do get to choose the relationships that we have. And perhaps one of the greatest changes in your life is gonna become you changing who you're hanging out with. If you are surrounded by fearful people, why don't you get some faith-filled people in your life. If you are surrounded by negative people, why don't you get some positive people in your life? You know, sometimes people think, well, Christine, I just don't want sugar-coated, happy-clappy positivity. Listen, I'll take positive over negative every day of the week. I don't want naysayers.
I remember in the book of numbers, chapter 13, Moses said to 12 leaders, go in and spy out the land that God has given us already. Well, 10 of those leaders came back with a negative report. They were full of fear, and doubt, and all they were saying was the giants are so big. There is no way we can take the land, and they just talked about all the reasons why not. You know what? There is enough fear, doubt, and negativity in the world today. We don't need to build our life on all the reasons why not, we need to start looking with the eyes of faith as to all the reasons why it can happen. Joshua and Caleb, they turned around and they said, "Oh, no, we are well able to take the land. If God said it, then we are able to do it".
And we need a generations of Christians that believe if God said it, we are able to do it. We don't want negativity, we want faith-filled, positive confession in our life. That's what we need. God is well able, and so who are you hanging out with? There is such a spirit of fear on the earth today, such a spirit of terror. There is so much doubt, there is so much negativity, there is so much division, and dissension. I mean, I've just decided to stay off social media apart from what I post, and people go, you're always posting positive things. Yes! Very intentionally. Because I want positive things out there. I want scriptures that are full of faith, full of hope. I want quotes that are going to put courage into people.
There's enough discouragement out there. I want to encourage, put courage into people. The Lord said to Joshua, just be strong and very courageous, and you will be able to take the land. More of us would be able to take the land if we stopped listening to the naysayers, if we stopped listening to fear, or doubt, or negativity, and if we start listening to the truth of the word of God, and put faith into us. The Bible said a multitude of people with infirmities were surrounded by the pool of Bethesda. You'll always surround yourself with a multitude of people like you. And so at some point, you've got to make a decision that you're gonna stand out from the crowd.
What happens is when you sit around with people that have got the same limited issues as you do, you do that because at the end of the day, this is what I've discovered, most people would rather be accepted in their brokenness rather than changed into wholeness. They would rather be affirmed in the way that they're, you're justified, I'm gonna affirm you, yes, it's not your fault, it's because of what they did to you. Most of us would rather be affirmed than be changed. That's what it comes down to. We would rather be comforted than changed. A lot of us would just prefer to just be hugged, and that's why you see people that have been Christians for 20 years and nothing has changed. Still talking about the same old issues, still blaming the same old people, and nothing has changed because we just want comfort. We just want comfort.
Well, you know, I love to comfort my children. I love my children with a passion. And you know, Sophia's my little cuddly one. She loves it and she comes in. But at some point, if Sophia just keeps coming up to me, "Mummy, I love you, mummy, I just want you to snuggle me". Well, what mother doesn't love that? We all love that, and that's all cool. But at some point, if she keeps doing that every night, for, like, six months, I'm gonna be like, "Kid, get up and clean your room, I love you". And I think sometimes, Jesus is saying, would you get up? I want you to do something with your life. I've put you on the planet, yes, come to me for grace and love, and I'm gonna stroke you. But some of us, and especially some of us women, need to get some backbone and some tenacity and say, well, you know what? I've been sitting at the feet of Jesus for 20 years, broken. It's about time I stand up, get my chin up, and I begin to walk into the fullness of the purpose that God has for me.
But many of us would prefer to be comforted than changed. Some of us, we would prefer to be enabled than changed. Sometimes I think even as brothers and sisters in Christ, God wants to bring us to maturity. That's what Ephesians 4 tells us, that God wants to bring us to maturity, and it's time for us in the body of Christ to grow up. It's time for us to take some responsibility and to stop enabling one another in our brokenness. Jesus Christ came from heaven to earth, died on a cross, shed his blood, rose again from the dead, ascended to be seated at the right hand of the father, and we have everything pertaining to life and Godliness in him. We are seated in heavenly places. In Christ Jesus, we are a brand new creation. We do not have to live as victims or enable each other to be victims. We can live as victorious overcomers in Christ Jesus who strengthens us. That is our mandate. We can live a life of victory and we can live a life of promise.
Others of us, we'd rather be pitied than changed because we love to just be self-indulged with pity. And you know what? Pity's a party I don't want to be a part of. That's my bottom line. There was one, I love my spiritual mother, Joyce Meyer. She always says, "You can be pitiful, or you could be powerful, but you can't be both". And you know what? I've heard her saying that in my brain for 20 years, and so anytime I feel sorry for myself, I find myself saying this out loud. Chris Caine, you can be pitiful, or you can be powerful, but you cannot be both. So make a decision to get up and get over it. And someone just got set free today. You've been sitting on your couch, eating those chips, feeling sorry for yourself, and you're freaking out as I'm saying that. You're dropping the chips. It's coming out of your mouth, going, how does she know that that is happening? And because God is saying it's time to stop pitying yourself. He's put his Holy Spirit power on the inside of you, and you can rise up and be the person he's called you to be, and do what he has called you to do. You could be pitiful or powerful, but you cannot be both. Make up your mind today. We don't wanna find our identity in our condition.
You see, these people lying by the pool of Bethesda, that was their identity. I'm lame, I'm blind, I'm sick. They led out with their infirmity. They led out with their condition. And that's what some of us are like too. You know what, this is, you know, that's my label. I'm an ex-abuse victim, or I'm an ex-this, or my label is that, this is my limitation. What we do is we carry our identity through our limitation rather than who we are in Christ. My primary identity is not what happened to me. My primary identity is not my biggest failure. My primary identity is not anything about me other than I'm a daughter of the king of kings and the Lord of Lords. My primary identity is that I am in Christ. I am a Christian, I am a Christ-follower. That's my primary identity. Anytime your identity, your primary identity, is in anything other than who you are in Christ, then you have got it inverted, and that thing is an idol in your life.
What we need to do is get our primary identity from Jesus. Have you ever seen anyone where their condition has become their label? You know, it's amazing where somebody, they might have an anger problem, because everything's a problem. We call things problem, we don't call them sins anymore, we just call them problems. We don't call adultery a sin, it's just a marriage problem. I just think, wow. So people that have got, and you're like, shh, don't set her off. Don't set her off 'cause you know, if you push that button, she's gonna explode. Now, you don't think you've got any problem. But I just need to ask your best friend sitting next to you if there is an issue. You go, I haven't got an issue. It's just like, no, that's not my issue. I don't have an issue. But I just need to ask one of your family members or one of your friends whether you have an issue, and I'm sure they'll be able to give me a list, because none of us think we have any issues.
We think we are the fourth part of the Trinity. But anyway, the thing is that everyone has got an issue. Eventually, if you don't deal with that issue and bring it to the foot of the cross of Jesus to be healed and to be made whole, you'll be known by that issue. It'll be like, shh, don't, here she comes, don't set that off, don't talk to her about that, you know what she's like about that, you know what's, and you'll. You know, the Bible is full of people. We don't know their name, we just know their issue. There's the woman with the issue of blood. We don't know her name, but we know her issue. There's a blind man. We don't know his name, but we know his issue. There's a deaf man, we don't know his name, but we know his issue. You get to a point where you no longer know your name.
All you know is your issue, and you wake up every day and all you're thinking about is your issue rather than who you are in Christ. It's time to replace your primary identity from your issue to who you are in Christ, that you are a son or a daughter of the king of kings, or the Lord of Lords. You are created in the image of God, that you are filled with God-given destiny and God-given potential. God has put his spirit on the inside of you and the same spirit that raised Jesus Christ from the dead lives on the inside of you. You can be anything God's called you to be. You can do anything God's called you to do. You were not put on the planet to just exist until you go to heaven. You were put on the planet to be highly effective for the glory of God. There is more in you than you know. Your identity can be found in and through who you are as a son and daughter of the king of kings and the Lord of Lords.
A multitude were lying by the pool, waiting for something to change. Friend, I wonder if you've just been waiting for something to change, kind of like you just think God's gonna drop it out of the sky. Somehow, tomorrow, you don't have to change anything about your condition, God is going to just somehow miraculously, like fairy dust, drop something out of the sky. That's how a lot of Christians live. If God wants to do it, something would change. God has already done it. Something has changed. God incarnate came from heaven to earth. He paid the penalty for our sin on the cross. He bore all of our iniquity on that cross and he rose again from the dead so that you and I can have an overcoming, victorious Christian life. He's already done everything that he needs to do. It's now time for us to appropriate what Jesus has already done for us and to begin to walk in the fullness of the promise that he's ours, in and through a relationship with Christ Jesus.
You don't have to settle for your lot in life. You don't have to just wait for somehow the planets to align before everything changes. In and through a relationship with Jesus Christ, you can leave your past behind and you can step into a faith-filled, promise-filled, overcoming, victorious Christian life in your future. Your history does not need to define your destiny. Just because there has been a legacy in your family tree. Well, Christine, we've always had alcoholism in our family. We've always had abuse in our family. We've always had addiction in our family. We've always had poverty in our family. That's just the way it is. It doesn't just have to be that way. You can make a decision that with you, everything changes. You're drawing a bloodline in the sand and although you can't change the past, you will change the future in and through a relationship with Jesus Christ. It all changes for you.
You can be sitting, watching this program today, and you've just thought you have to accept your lot. You're gonna lie by this pool, you're gonna hope for those waters to stir, and that maybe, someday before you die, Jesus might just touch you. I want you to know that he is right there, touching you right now, saying, be healed, be whole. That there is a life beyond your past, there is a life that is bigger than your worst mistake that you have ever made. What Jesus has done for you is bigger than what anyone else has done to you. What Jesus has done before you is bigger than what anyone else has said to you. Your waters have already stirred, the pool is moving, Jesus is touching you. He's saying, be healed, be whole, get up, take up your mat.
Walk into the God-given future and destiny that he has for you. Your future is so much better than your past. You don't have to settle where you are right now. God takes us from faith to faith, from grace to grace, from glory to glory. Your greatest days are not behind you, they are still ahead of you. God has a future for you, God has a plan for you, and his word says that his plans for you are, guess what, for good and not for evil. They are plans to prosper and not to harm you. They are plans to give you a hope and a future. You have a great future, you have a great hope. You don't have to lie by the pool any longer. Today is your day to get up and walk in Jesus' name. In Jesus' name, in Jesus' name, amen.
I am so grateful that you joined us today. I'm so glad that you've joined us today, and it's not an accident that you've tuned in. We are in a series. Do you wanna be healed and it's totally up to you. And we're reading from John chapter five, and I'm gonna dive right in and read this text again, and we're gonna continue and pick right up in this series again. The Bible says after there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now, there is in Jerusalem by the sheep gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. In these lay a multitude of invalids, blind, lame, and paralyzed.
Now we talked about this last week. We talked about the fact that Jesus had come into Jerusalem, and this was one of great feast days in Jerusalem and that there was a multitude of people with infirmities that were lying by the pool. And so we go on and it says, one man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there he knew he'd already been there a long time and he said to him do you want to be healed? The sick man answered him, sir, I have no one to put me in the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I'm going another steps down before me. Jesus said to him, get up, take your bed and walk. And once the man was healed and he took up his bed and walked. How powerful?
And so we've already ascertained that there was a multitude that was sitting by the pool of Bethesda, which is the house of mercy and the house of grace, and they were just waiting for their opportunity to be made healed and to be made whole. And today you might have tuned in, and you're waiting for your opportunity. You've been carrying your emotional burdens or physical infirmities. And I believe that today that the word of God is going to touch your body, touch your heart, touch your mind, and bring healing and wholeness into your life, because that's what the word of God does. But the Bible says there was one man. There was multitudes it said in the text, and then there was one man. You always have to know that within the multitudes there is always one. Jesus is always looking for the one.
You know, every time I go and I have the opportunity to speak in maybe arenas or right now even in this television program that's going out to countries all over the earth, touching potentially the lives of millions of people, there's always one. There's one person that's tuned in right now. And I want you to know that God always sees the one. He sees, he knows, he cares. He knows you're on the other side of that screen. And he actually orchestrated everything. For you to tune in right now and to be positioned where you are right now, because God's always looking for the one. Jesus himself went into the temple and he found the one. You know we, at a21, helped to rescue the victims of human trafficking, and statistics say that there are over 40 million people that are trapped in slavery in the world today.
Well, I could easily get overwhelmed by that kind of statistic. I could easily just think it is too hard. The enormity, the magnitude of trying to rescue 40 million people. Well, it's just way too many. There is no way that we're going to do that in our lifetime. And I would give up if I saw the 40 million. But I always only ever see the one. When we started a21 over a decade ago I remember then going we have done this for the one. It's about one girl being rescued, one child being rescued, one man being rescued, and that's why we always celebrate the one. I always post the one on my Instagram or on Twitter, because I want people to rejoice over the one. The Bible says that when one person is born again, the whole of heaven has a party and rejoices.
So the one actually matters to God. You matter to God. You actually matter to God. I don't know if you really believe that but I want you to know that you matter to God. Your life matters to God. Your pain matters to God. Your sorrow matters to God. Your joy matters to God. Your hopes matter to God. Your aspirations matter to God. You matter to God. He created you on purpose for a purpose. You are not an accident. You know, for a long time the devil wanted me to believe that I was an accident. Because I don't know who my biological mother is or who my biological father is because I don't know the circumstances surrounding my conception. It would be easy for me to go well I was just a mistake. I don't really matter.
And maybe that's your story on the other side of the screen. Some parents said I wish you were never born. You, like me, do not even know who your biological parents are, but I'm here to testify and I'm here to tell you today that there are no accidents in the kingdom of God, that God has created us before we were even formed in our mother's womb, that God knew us, and he knitted us together in our mother's womb. We are fearfully and wonderfully made. You know what, maybe the circumstances surrounding your conception aren't what you would hope that they would be. But let me tell you that God is bigger than all of that. There is more intentionality in your life than all of that. I don't know how my biological parents came to be together. I don't know if it was... I don't know if it was a rape, I don't know if it was an ongoing adulterous affair, but there's one thing I do know, before I ever got in that womb God knew me. God knitted me together in my mother's womb. It was God that orchestrated for me to be on the planet. It is God that orchestrated for you to be on the planet.
Sometimes in the world in which we live, the social media world in which we live, the world of statistics, the world of numbers, we can just feel like a number. We can just feel like we don't matter. But I'm here to tell you you do matter. God does love you. God does have a plan for you. You are created on purpose. There are no accidents or mistakes in the kingdom of God. God loves you. The Bible says there was one. There was one. I love that. There was one man in the midst of that room. And today I've come looking for the one. I've come looking for the one that wants to be healed. I've come looking for the one that wants to be made whole. I've come looking for the one that says today this is gonna be my opportunity today. And you know what, if not you then who? And if not now then when?
There was this one day, I remember I was sitting in the back of a huge crowd at a conference, and I remember the preacher was preaching and talking about God having a plan and purpose, very much like I'm doing right now. And I remember thinking consciously, well, you know what, I'd like to believe what that preacher's saying. But if they just knew my story. If they just knew that I was abused. If they just knew that I was unnamed or I was unwanted. If they just knew all the sins that I've committed of my own volition. If they just knew how bad I really was, then they wouldn't be able to preach that. They'd say well, God could do it for everyone except Christine Caine, because she really is worse than we thought.
And I think sometimes deep down we think that sort of stuff. If you only knew, it's different, everyone of us think, well yes, I kinda believe it, but there's an exception in my case. You don't know what I've done. You don't know what mistakes I've made. You don't know what was done to me. You don't know what was said about me. You don't know about... And we disqualify ourselves and God has never disqualified us, and so I'm speaking to the one today that thinks that you are disqualified, the one that thinks that God can't use you because of what you've done or what's been done to you. I'm living proof that you can start bad and finish good in and through a relationship with Jesus Christ. I am living proof that God uses anybody.
And I remember when I just decided in that meeting, okay God, if what that preacher's saying is true I'm putting my hand up, and someone needs to put their hand up today. Someone in the spirit needs to decide, okay, I'm no longer gonna be defined by what I've done. I'm no longer gonna be defined by what's been done to me. And then I remember reading in the Bible that God once used a donkey to talk to somebody, and I thought, you know what? If God could use a donkey, maybe I'm just like one step up, but that's okay. I can neigh. I can whip, whip, neigh, no, okay. My team's going don't go there. If my daughter's watching this program right now, she's cringing, she's disowning me. I got to whip, neigh, okay, no, no, no. I'm gonna stick to the text. I'm here to teach the Bible, not to whip and neigh neigh. But I do like a whip and neigh neigh.
See a lot of people are lying by the pool, not because they can't get up but because they won't get up. A lot of people are lying by the pool because they're not willing to be made whole because there comes a lot of responsibility with wholeness. When you remain a victim and you remain lying by the pool, well, then you can blame everyone else. It's the government's fault, it's my parent's fault, it's the neighbor's fault, it's the dog's fault, it's always somebody's fault. What about assuming personal responsibility? We have a crisis of people in the world assuming personal responsibility right at this moment. Right now you get onto social media and everybody is blaming everybody for everything. Everything is somebody else's fault, it's just not my fault. It's the economic system's fault. It's not my fault because I spend more than I earn. It's the economy's fault. It's not my fault because I don't expend as much energy as I partake.
So a lot of people are going God, God, I really need help, I need to lose weight. No, you need to stop eating the Krispy Kreme Doughnuts and get on the treadmill. Some things are just a management issue Lord I need a financial miracle. No stop spending more than you earn. Now I'm not saying there are people that really do need financial miracles or health issues or have great challenges with their weight. That's not what I'm saying. But I am saying a lot of things that we do actually we could just assume more personal responsibility for. You know what, when I wanted to be fit in my 50s I just had to make a decision that I just had to wake up earlier and go to the gym. And did I want to?
No, no more than the... I wanted to stay in bed. I love to intercede for the nations with my eyes closed on my bed. It's awesome. But I can't be fit and healthy and strong and sleep in every morning as well and not go to the gym. I cannot just eat anything I want. I'm postmenopausal. That might be more information than some of you wanna know. But that means, you know what, I cannot eat every donut that I see, every piece of baklava that I love, every piece of moussaka that would just bring me great joy. Well, I can't do that and remain fit. I have to eat lean protein like everybody else, eat a lot more salads if I wanna be strong. Cut down my carbs a little bit. And I love carbs, I'm Greek, my middle name is carbohydrate. So there comes responsibility. I can't keep up the travel schedule that I keep up across so many different nations if I'm not fit, if I'm not healthy. So to do what God has called me to do then I have to assume personal responsibility for my life.
Now it's easier to not have personal responsibility, but I wouldn't get done what I need to get done. Some of us, you're not doing what God has called you to do simply because you're not assuming personal responsibility for your life. You need to get some order and you need to get some discipline for your life. I tweeted the other day, and I mean this, when prayer is really an excuse for procrastination, then truly it's sin. You're not really praying. You're just procrastinating and you're using prayer as the word. And that's what a lot of us are doing. We don't want the responsibility that comes with actually doing something, and so what we do is we go I'm just praying. I'm just gonna keep praying about it.
And you're gonna pray until the second coming or until you go home, and you're not gonna do the thing that God has put in your heart to do, because you're not willing to take the responsibility that comes with doing it. It takes responsibility to budget your checkbook. It takes responsibility to stay fit. It takes responsibility to do the things and produce the work that you're called to produce. But you see, if you're a victim then you don't have to be responsible, because it's not your fault. And what we have is a culture of victimhood. That's the spirit I'm speaking to at this moment. And I'm saying you don't have to remain a victim. You are more than a conqueror through Christ Jesus who strengthened you. Through Christ we already have the victory, and I want to see that victim spirit overturned with a victorious overcoming, faith-filled Christian spirit where we who are Christ followers can hold our head up and say we can take personal responsibility for our lives.
It takes maturity to be responsible. I don't expect my 12-year-old to be responsible for adult things because she's 12. But when she's an adult I expect her to do that. And so what happens is some of us, yes we are sons and daughters of the king of kings, and we are children of God, but we're not two-year-old children. We've been walking with the Lord for 20 and 30 and 40 years and we need to start acting responsible like we have. When you have a woman who is in her 50s that's still acting like she's a five-year-old dependent child, there's something wrong with that in the spirit. We need mothers in the faith. I am no longer a daughter in zion, I'm a mother in Israel. We need mothers to rise up and act like mothers and stop acting like daughters so that we can be who God has called us to be on the earth.
So we need responsibility, but you must be willing. That's what Jesus said, do you want to be made whole? Do you wanna be healed? And he's asking us that today. Do you want to be? Because you get to choose. It's up to you. Do you want to be? Do you want to stop being a victim and start walking in victory? And that means you've gotta be willing. You've gotta be willing. Are you prepared to do something? Are you willing to lose the label of being a victim? That's the big one. Are you willing to lose that label? And then are you willing to do the work of finding out who you are when you're not a victim because some of you have worn that label and that cloak for so long, if that cloak comes off you don't know who you're gonna be without that cloak.
And sometimes we prefer the cloak we know than the nakedness and exposure that we don't know. But you are never gonna walk in the fullness of who you were created to be in Christ, if you don't shed the cloak of victimhood and begin to walk in the new creation that you are in Christ Jesus. Are you willing to stop getting your identity from your past failures or your past mistakes? Because some of us, we've been walking with the Lord for a decade, and we still define ourselves by the worst thing we ever did. Now Jesus, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness, and the Bible says he takes our sins and he casts them as far as the east is from the west and guess what? He remembers them no more. So every time you come back to the Lord and say, Jesus you know when I did that? It's like, no. No. Because God's got a really good forgetery.
And some of us need a better forgetery. Some of us need to forget some things because we keep coming back. Your primary identity is not that I'm a sinner. You are a new creation in Christ Jesus. My soteriology, my doctrine of salvation means that that sinner part of me died and I am alive now in Christ. I am a new creation. So stop referring to yourself constantly by the worst thing you ever did. That's who you were, that's not who you are. Don't define yourself by what you did and who you were, define yourself by who you are becoming in Christ. Every day you're going from glory to glory. Every day you're becoming more like Jesus. Every day you're being conformed and transformed into the image of God.
Someone watching this right now needs to stop constantly talking about the worst thing you ever did, the biggest mistake you ever made, the greatest failure you ever had. If you've confessed it, if you've repented of it, leave it right there at the foot of the cross. Let Jesus take it. He's flung it as far as the east is from the west. He remembers it no more. It's time for you to remember that no more and to start thinking about who you are in Christ Jesus. You've gotta be willing to, are you willing to give up your current way of life? That's a big challenge.
You know, I find people, just recently, I had someone that applied for a job, and you know, we've got 12 offices around the world, and they, because they look at our life on social media, and they're like, oh wow, look Christine's involved, they're rescuing slaves through A21, and they're getting a Mother Teresa award, and she's holding big events with propel women and doing television and writing books, and it sounds all wonderful, and they were working in another part of the country and they came for an interview in our offices over here in, our head office in California, and they started to meet the team and started to hear stories about just how much work it takes to do that, how many hours of work.
I always say that, this is how you spell revival, W-O-R-K. That's how you spell revival. There is so much work. There is such a high level of commitment involved, and all of a sudden this person who God had spoken to them and this was going to be their next move, when they saw the amount of work that was involved and they would have to give up their comfortable, nice, safe, little life, suddenly the so a lot of us we don't step into the fullness of God simply because we're not willing to just change our life. I wonder what God might be calling you to do, which might require a higher level of commitment, a higher level of effort. You can't do what I do or you can't have the results that I have if you don't prepare to do what I do. That's what it takes to produce that.
And so are you willing to change? Are you willing to move on, perhaps, from a particular group of people? See some of us, we don't, that's why Jesus says, do you want to be made whole? Because people come to me and say, I wan to fulfill my destiny. I'm like, well, are you willing to pay the commitment? Christina, I want to get free from this habit. Well, are you willing to leave this group of people so that you can get free from this habit? And some of us, we are willing to forsake our destiny because we won't leave people. We would rather be man pleasers than God pleasers.
Can you imagine standing before God on judgment day when we give an account for what God's called us to do on this earth? I'm not talking about salvation. I'm talking about all of us. The Bible says it has been destined for every man to die once and then the judgment, we will all give an account for the life we lived here on earth and what we did with the gifts and talents and time that God gave us. Can you imagine saying, well God, I just wasn't willing to leave my friends. I just wasn't willing. So Jesus says are you willing to be made whole?
Do you want to be because it's gonna change your life. It's gonna change your identity. It's gonna change how you refer to yourself, how you see yourself, it's gonna change the people that you hang out with. It's gonna change the kind of commitment level in your life. Are you willing to deal with the unforgiveness and the bitterness and the anger and the jealousy and the lust and the greed and the envy in your heart? Because you can't carry that into your future. That is the stuff that's keeping you on the mat.
So Jesus says are you willing to be made well? Are you willing to be made well? And my question to you today is are you willing to be made well? Do you want to be healed? Jesus can heal you every place you hurt. Jesus can give you a life beyond your past, but you have to be willing. At the cross of calvary he paid the price. He healed all of our sicknesses, all of our infirmities. Jesus paid the price to give you a hope and a future and a destiny. But you have to be willing to leave what you know to embrace the future that he has for you. I'm leaving you with this question today, do you want to be made well in Jesus' name? In Jesus' name.
Hey everyone, I'm so excited to be with you today. You have tuned into an awesome week. I know that God has an amazing word for you. We're in a series, do you want to be healed. It's up to you. Who doesn't want to be healed? And Jesus Christ came to heal us everywhere that we hurt. We're in the book of John, chapter five. I just want to set the text. The Bible says in verse one, after this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem by the sheep gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. In these lay a multitude of invalids, blind, lame, and paralyzed.
One man was there who had been an invalid for 38 years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, "Do you want to be healed"? The sick man answered him, "Sir, I have no one to put me in the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I'm going, another steps down before me". Jesus said to him, "Get up, take your bed, and walk". And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked. I love this text. We've been talking over the last couple of weeks that here we are in the pool of Bethesda where there was a bunch of people that had a whole lot of infirmities that were waiting for their chance to be healed.
Jesus came walking past and he found one man, because he's always looking for the one, and asks him a question which doesn't get him a lot of points for pastoral care. You know, do you want to be healed. That can sound really mean. Sometimes Jesus asks questions and we think, aren't you supposed to be a loving, good shepherd? And how can you ask me? That's very insensitive. Sometimes Jesus can seem insensitive because he cares more about our healing than our feelings, and sometimes we care more about our feeling than our healing, and we stop the healing of God based on what we are feeling, and we sometimes we could stop the healing in other people because we're so empathetic that we get right down with them in the pain and suffering that we forget that Jesus actually wants to heal them.
Don't so over-identify with someone's suffering that you don't have the strength to pull them out of their suffering into the healing that Jesus had for them. Remember that we put healing above feelings so that we can actually lift people out of the pit into the promise. You can get down in the pit with people, just don't stay there with them. We've got to lift them out of the pit and propel them into the promise that God has for them. But we're here and this week, we're picking up from the fact that Jesus said to him, "Do you want to be made whole"?
So just imagine, go with me. Can you imagine? The man is lying here, and so if I go to sleep, this is your fault. He is lying here. Now, I don't want to wreck my hair. I don't think he cared about his hair, but I do. Okay, so this is it. And he's just lying 38 years. Now, this is a long time to be lying here. You don't really see much. You see the sky, I can see there. Do you know how frustrating it would be to be looking at that water for 38 years? Do you know how frustrating it is to look at something you can't touch? To be able to see it stirring, but you can't have the healing? But the man's perspective was totally determined by where he was lying.
Some of you, God has so much more for you, but you can't see it because all you can see is the view from the pit. All you can see is the view from lying on your mat. You like your mat because it's got your little body shape in it. Now, you would think 38 years, the Bible says that Jesus said, he'd seen he'd been lying there for a long time. That's a really subtle way of saying, seriously, you're still there? Okay, so 38 years he'd been lying there, and Jesus comes up to him and says, "Do you want to be healed"? Now, you would think, if I was lying here for 38 years, and the God of the universe came to say, Christine, do you want to be healed? I would be going, yes! I don't care how I would sound. I don't care how I would look. I would want to be healed.
But this man, because this is what victim mentality does, this man doesn't answer Jesus, he doesn't say yes. He says, "I've got nobody to put me in the pool". Why didn't he say yes? Because he was so used to blaming. It was somebody else's fault that I'm on the mat, because nobody put me in the pool. So Jesus is offering him healing, but he can't even accept the healing because he's still blaming. I wonder who you're still blaming so you're not accepting the healing that Jesus has for you now. I'm not talking about what got you on the mat. I'm not talking about even what has kept you on the mat. But I am saying that there's Jesus ready to get you off the mat, but you could be missing Jesus getting you off the mat because you're too busy blaming who's not putting you in the water.
How about you stop looking at the water and start looking at Jesus. The healing's not in the water, the healing's in Jesus. Stop blaming who's not putting you in the water and start looking at who Jesus is. Not only does he say it's somebody else's fault because they didn't, it's what someone didn't do for me. What the system didn't do for me. He also says, "And somebody always gets in before me". So not only is it what someone didn't do for me, it's what somebody else has done instead of me. And it's an interesting thing. You will lie on this mat, metaphorically speaking, for your entire life if you don't look to Jesus and you keep blaming what someone else hasn't done for you or what someone else is getting in before you.
Jesus is saying, "I can transcend what they've done to you. I can transcend what they haven't done to you. But you've got to stop looking at them and start looking at me because my healing is in me". You would think after 38 years, I mean, seriously. Don't you think the dude could've just, like, wiggled? Like, I mean, if you wiggled an inch. After 38 years, you'd think you'd fall in. Some of us, we're too lazy to wiggle. We just keep lying there. And what does Jesus say? Jesus tells him to do something that he could never do. He told him to get up because Jesus will always ask you to do something you can never do in the natural.
A lot of us, we're waiting for something that we can do and Jesus says, "Hey, I'm gonna declare and I'm gonna make you do something that you can't do". He says, "I want you to get up and I want you to take your mat". He wanted him to roll up this mat. He wanted him to take the very thing that had been carrying him for 38 years. He wanted him to carry it. Some of you, Jesus is saying, "I want you to get off that thing that's been carrying you. I want you to put it under your arm and I want you to start carrying the thing that's been carrying you".
Some of us need to begin to carry the mat that's been carrying us, and to bring healing and wholeness into other people's lives. Jesus said to him, "Get up, take up your mat, and walk". Jesus is gonna ask you to do something you don't think you can do. And a lot of times, we don't lay a hold of our healing 'cause we start saying it's impossible, and Jesus goes, "I know, I know it's impossible". I'm gonna make you do something you never thought you could do. I'm going to put gifts and talents on the inside of you that are latent".
When they're on the mat, you don't even know you've got them. But when you get up off that mat and you start walking, you're gonna start to discover the treasury of gift, and talent, and ability that God's put on the inside of you. So many of the gifts and talents that we have in Christ are lying dormant on a mat because we're too busy lying on the mat blaming what everyone else has done to us, blaming what anyone else hasn't done for us. And Jesus says, "Stop blaming. Start looking at me for healing. Get up, pick up your mat, and start walking into the fullness of what I have for you". It's time to walk into our healing.
Your greatest days are not behind you, they are ahead of you and the devil is a liar. It's just that he's very loud. And what you have to do is make the voice of God and the promise of God, through the word of God, more powerful than the lies and the negativity of the enemy. So what happens is many of us, we often just make peace with our brokenness. We just go, I'm just gonna keep lying on that mat because what is the point. God didn't come through then, so he's not gonna come through now. I'm telling you, that's the point where the enemy wins. When he takes our faith. You don't have to give up your faith. You keep believing God. Find something positive, find something that is gonna keep you go, I'm telling you, if something's not happening for me in one area of the ministry, I'm gonna start believing God in another area. It's just that I am always, every day, looking for what it is that God, one good thing.
Christine, you know, my husband and i, we just haven't had. You know what? You liked his eyes once, look at his eyes. Just look at his eyes and forget everything else for a minute. Sometimes you've just gotta, sometimes, when your kids, you're wondering who birthed them because they did not come from your body. You are, who are these aliens living in my house? Find one good thing. I was doing that, you know, the other day, my oldest daughter, she just has this gift of Messiness. I haven't found it in the Bible, but it's there in her bedroom, I'm telling you. And I was getting so frustrated with just, and then I just stopped and went, you know what, Christine?
There are so many women on this earth right now that would do anything to have a child, to pick up all of this for. And I started going in her room and just actually thanking God, going, you know what, God, thank you so much that I have a healthy and a whole 15-year-old that I can clean up her mess. I was thanking, it just turned, now, I still disciplined her when she came home, don't you worry. But my point is that even in the midst of any, find something. If it's not happening in this area, go, let's find where God is, it is moving, and it is happening, and stay in that vein, and then suddenly, you'll turn around and go, wow, look what the Lord has done. The thing that I know is he who promised is faithful, is faithful. What we have to do is we must allow the promises of God to resurrect those places in our heart that have gone hard, where our faith has basically died in that area.
If you're wondering what I'm doing on the air today, I'm here to speak faith into your heart. I'm here to speak faith into those promises. I'm here to remind you that all the promises of God are in Christ Jesus, yes, and amen. What is that one thing that you've put on the back burner because you think God has forgotten? God has brought me here onto your TV screen this day to tell you that he has not forgotten that promise. It's not on his back burner, it's just gone from there to the front burner right now. So remember that that fire is turned on, and what you have to do is stoke that fire with a faith of prayer. Begin to pray again, begin to believe God again, begin to speak and confess the promises of God over that situation, over that child, over that marriage, over that relationship, over that business, over those finances. Begin to believe God, begin to confess, and declare, and decree the word of God, and for healing for your body.
I know that the doctor's report might be negative, the doctor's report may have said this disease is terminal, but I'm here to speak wholeness, and healing, and health, and vitality over your body in Jesus' name. Open this word, confess this word, declare this word, decree this word. All the promises of God in this word are yes and amen in Christ Jesus to the glory of God. Every single one of them. We've got to come to a place where we say, I'm not staying down on this mat any longer. I'm gonna make what Jesus Christ did for me at calvary bigger than what they did to me in that bedroom, in that school, in that boardroom. Some of you have made what people have done to you bigger than what Jesus did for you.
Some of us have made what people have said to us bigger than what Jesus did for us. There is a point where you have to choose. What they did was wrong. What they said was wrong. But I'm gonna make what Jesus did for me at calvary that made everything right. I'm gonna make what he did that made it right bigger than what they did that was wrong. Make the rightness of God bigger than the wrongness of people, and you will step into the fullness of the promise of all that God has for you. That's what you're going to do. You know, I could've spent my life as a victim. I could've. I could've blamed the abusers and what they did for me. Abuse is never right, ever. Abuse is never okay. But I could've spent, I'm 51 years old, I could have spent my whole life living in bitterness and unforgiveness, and I could've remained a victim forever.
And you know what's worse than being abused for 12 years like I was? What is much worse is carrying those abusers into my future every single day through bitterness and unforgiveness. You see, when God asks us to forgive, it's for us. It's so that I could be set free from the prison that I had put myself in through unforgiveness. It never makes what they did right, but it sets me free from the stronghold that I was in because of them. They kept me chained through shame, and anger, and bitterness, and unforgiveness. And when through the grace of God I was able to forgive, it broke the chains and it put me out of that prison. And although I cannot change those 12 years, the fact is, I am now 51, I have not been being abused for 38 years.
As long as that man was lying by the pool, I have not been being abused. But I could have lived lying by the pool for those whole 38 years as if I was being abused if I hadn't learned to let it go. That's why you need to let it go. Some of you are lying on the mat when you don't need to be on the mat anymore. I have not been being abused for a lot longer than I was being abused, but I could've made the whole situation a whole lot longer, like the man lying by the pool of Bethesda, through bitterness and unforgiveness. But what I did was I laid those things at the foot of the cross, and then that means I've had 38 years of life instead of 38 years of laying on the mat. That man laid on the mat for 38 years.
So what we need to ensure that we do is stop blaming and go, okay, I can't change what happened to me, but I can take responsibility now for my future. I could've blamed all the kids at school because they mocked me and they ridiculed me because I was Greek, and I was an ethnic migrant, and my mother made feta cheese and garlic sandwiches, and the Australian kids made Vegemite Sandwiches. They used to laugh at me because of the way I smelled and the food that I ate. You know, that affected me majorly. In my book, unashamed, I talked about that in the first chapter. It majorly affected me because my ethnicity was used against me. But at some point, again, I had to let it go, and now, God uses me around the nations of the world.
This broadcast is going into homes all over the earth because I didn't allow what they said to me to define me for the rest of my life. I had to stop blaming, at some point, my adopted parents for lying to me for 33 years. For not telling me that I was adopted, for 33 years. And do you know, a lot of people have so much anger and bitterness because of things that have happened in family situations. We've all got our stuff. I know your family's perfect, but you know, but we've all got our stuff. But the thing is, my mother went home to be with the Lord a year ago. You know what it would've been like had I lived in unforgiveness and bitterness for the last 18 years of my life and not talked to her, and held it against her because she was too broken at that time to, and she made the best choice that she knew in that moment, in all her pain.
So I got 18 of the best years I ever had with her instead of lying on the mat, broken, because of it. I wonder who you need to forgive today. I wonder who you might need to stop blaming today. Because you're lying on a mat that you don't need to lie on, but it's your unforgiveness that's keeping you on the mat, not what they did to you. And you keep thinking it's what they did to you or didn't do for you, but it's actually your unforgiveness, your bitterness that's keeping you on that mat. If I did that, there would be no a21 today. There would be no propel today. There would be no tv show today. There would not be books that help people all around the world today. I don't know what area you're sitting on that mat, lying on that mat. But imagine what isn't coming through your life because you're lying on that mat.
Remember, I haven't been being abused for 38 years. That man laid on the mat for 38 years. I could still be lying on that lat, sort of functioning, going through life, but never fulfilling my destiny. There'd be no propel, there'd be no a21, there would be no ministry around the world. None of that would happen and I'd be on the mat still blaming people. So imagine the potential that's on the inside of you. Imagine the purpose that's on the inside of you. But where are you lying on a mat instead of using your gifts and talents because you're blaming what they did to you or didn't do for you? And at some point, Jesus says, "Do you want to be made well? Do you wanna be made well"?
And so, if I didn't walk, you know, just a few weeks ago at a21, we had our annual global walk for freedom. It was held in over 50 countries and there were over 50.000 people that walked in over 400 walks. I just think, imagine if 31 years ago, when Jesus said to me, "Christine, get up, pick up your mat, and walk". If I didn't do that, there wouldn't have been 50.000 people walking for freedom around the world. How many people are on the other side of your obedience? How many are on the other side? You know, just recently, nick and I were in India, and it was so powerful. We went there to receive, and it was the highest honor of our lives, on behalf of A21, the Mother Teresa memorial award for social justice, which was just so profound.
I was given the award by Gandhi's great-grandson, which was, again, another surreal feeling. Then just to be in a place where Mother Teresa, obviously in Calcutta is where she ran her sisters of charity, and to see the work that they've done that continues to this day, and to see how one small beautiful nun changed the world for so many, and so it was so humbling to actually just kind of be standing there, and to receive this award. But as we were receiving this award and thinking about all the faithful work of all of our team and our staff that have worked tirelessly on the front lines for this last decade, I just was thinking, as I was standing on that stage, gandhI's great-grandson was giving me this award.
And for a moment, it was between me and God, just in the spirit there, I just went, Jesus, thank you. Thank you for challenging me to get up beyond my past and step into the future that you have for me. Imagine if I stayed on that mat. Imagine if I just went, it's too hard to get up. Now the fact is, there's nothing special about me. Why am I telling you that story? Why am I telling you all of this to say that there is nothing special about me. I'm not only just ordinary, I'm below ordinary. I'm the unnamed, unwanted, abused, adopted. I'm like the below ordinary.
But what I'm trying to say, it's not about who we are. The same Spirit that raised Jesus Christ from the dead lives on the inside of me and you. That same Spirit is the one that empowers us to be who Jesus has called us to be. And you don't have to ever get up off that mat in your own strength. Jesus' Holy Spirit is what gets us up off that mat. And in the power of the Spirit, greater things, greater works than even Jesus himself, he says, you will do. So don't lie on the mat when Jesus has given you a way off the mat. Make the decision, you do want to be made whole. So when Jesus says, "Do you want to be made well," say, yes, sir, so get up, pick up your mat, and walk in Jesus' name. In Jesus' name. Hallelujah.
Hey, hey everyone! I am so pumped that you are here. I have so enjoyed this whole series with you, do you wanna be healed, it's totally up to you, I'm so glad that you've joined us today. I know that God has got a powerful word for you, and we're concluding our series, and you've tuned in to the best one of all, because Jesus always saves the best 'til last, that's what he does. And we're wrapping up our whole series on do you want to be made whole? Do you want to be healed? It's totally up to you. And I think it's been awesome that Jesus has been showing us through this series that a lot of times we have blamed other people for our lot in life instead of looking to Jesus to pick us up out of our lot, and to give us a whole lot more.
And he actually has a whole lot more for us than where we are right now. But we've got to get to a place where we begin to accept personal responsibility for our life, where we start blaming everybody else for what they did to us or what they didn't do for us, and we go, you know what? In and through Christ, I'm a brand new creation, I can take personal responsibility for my life, he has given me everything I need in and through his word, that pertains to life and Godliness, so that I can lead a victorious, overcoming life in Christ Jesus. Just to set the text, to set the whole mood for our final session on this, I'm gonna read our text and read the part after it that I'm gonna focus on today, so we're gonna go to John chapter five, we're gonna read a lot of scripture, so if you've fallen behind in your Bible reading plan for the year, I'm about to catch you up right now, so you can feel great. It says in John chapter five, verse one, after this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
Now there is in Jerusalem by the sheep gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. In these lay a multitude of invalids, blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been an invalid for 38 years. When Jesus saw him lying there, he knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, do you want to be healed? That's the question of this series. Do you wanna be healed? The man was lying by the pool of Bethesda, there was a multitude of invalids the Bible says, because we know that misery loves company. And why would you lie in your own pity party by yourself when you're gonna have a whole lot of other people in your pity party with you, and we already talked about how the fact that sometimes we're gonna have to break out of some of the groups that we're in to step into the fullness of the promise that God has for us.
And he says to him, do you want to be healed? Which seems like a very insensitive question. You would think, why would Jesus Christ himself ask that kind of question? But he does, he just goes straight for the jugular, Jesus, you know, people go, he's soft and sensitive, I'm like, I don't know what Bible you're reading, but Jesus is like, do you wanna be healed? It's up to you. And then he goes on. And the sick man answered him. Sir, I have no one to put me in the pool. Which is hilarious, he doesn't say yes. I mean, I'm like, if I've been lying by a pool for 38 years, I'd be like yes, me! But I wonder if he never got in the pool first because he really didn't want to be healed, because he didn't answer yes to Jesus, he gives him an excuse, 'cause that's what a lot of us do. Sir, I have no one to put me in the pool. Someone didn't do this for me. And we live in a whole society where we want everyone to do something else for us. And he goes on, when the water is stirred up, and while I'm going another steps down before me.
So it's either someone gets in first, and a lot of us we go to our graves never fulfilling the purpose that God has for us because we think, you know, someone else got in first, and I always miss out, and I'm never the lucky one. As if some how destiny has got to do with luck. Destiny does not have to do with luck. Destiny has to do with Jesus, and Jesus has a plan, purpose, and destiny for every single one of us, and he makes a way for all of us. And you gotta stop depending on luck and start looking to Jesus, that's where it works out. And Jesus said to him, get up, take your bed, and walk. 'cause Jesus is always gonna ask you to do something you can't do. Because he wants to empower us to do it through his Holy Spirit. And a lot of times we think I've gotta stay on the mat because the thing that Jesus is asking me to do, I can't do.
Well you know what, I couldn't do A21 in my natural ability. I couldn't do propel in my natural ability, I couldn't even do daily television in I need the spirit of God. If I can do what only I can do, then I don't need God, then it's not supernatural, it's just Christine's ability, and I promise you, you don't just need my ability. I've got nothing going for me, and you've got nothing you can get from me. But Christ in me, that's the hope of glory. Christ in me, we can do all things through Christ Jesus, who strengthens us, I can do all things, through Christ Jesus who strengthens me. So Christ in you, unstoppable, you're an unstoppable force. I wrote a really good book about that, you should get that. And so the scripture says then, at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked.
Now that day was the sabbath, so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, it is the sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to take up your bed. Just pause with me. The dude had been lying there for 38 years, but this is what legalism and religion will do. Legalism and religion will not rejoice in the miracle that God does, it'll tell you why the miracle shouldn't have happened. Oh no, it shouldn't have happened. I mean that's what happens to people that can no longer see Jesus. I mean, these religious people had Jesus walking in their midst and they didn't even recognize them. He didn't even recognize him. Can you imagine having Jesus standing right in front of you, God incarnate, and you do not even see him? So let me tell you this, if you can't even see Jesus himself, you will not recognize the miracles of God.
And so now this man could finally walk, you would think this would be the talk of the town. You would think they would be doing a holy dance, but legalism will actually just bring bondage back into people, that's exactly what happened in this case. So the Jews said to the man, it's not lawful for you to take up your bed, just wrap your head around that. What you're doing is not lawful, Christine you're a woman, I'm like oh God, she's so shocked. Gee God, surprise, it's not lawful for a woman to do that. It's amazing to me, how many moves of God legalism stops. How many moves of God a religious spirit will stop. So right here, this man is a walking breathing miracle, you'd think you'd be rolling out the red carpet, throwing a party, you would think everybody would fall on their face before Jesus, and proclaim him as Messiah, proclaim him as God, but they're offended by the miracle.
Isn't it amazing how Jesus will offend religious people? He will offend religious people. They don't like what he does, they don't like when he does it, and they don't like how he does it, because they want to be their own God, they're not really looking for God. And so the fact is if you're really looking for Jesus, he's often gonna come packaged in a way you're not expecting he's gonna do a miracle on a day that you wish it didn't happen, it's always gonna be inconvenient, and it's always gonna interrupt you, and he's gonna heal people you don't even like. That's what he's gonna do, just to bug you. It's awesome, Jesus will always deal with our carnality, he will always deal with our flesh, he will always deal with the pharisee on the inside of us by doing something we don't like, and that doesn't fit in our theological box.
But who do we think we are trying to box Jesus? Some of you God is trying to do an awesome miracle in your midst but the truth is you have God you have gotten God so much put in a box that if he does something outside of your box, you're not even gonna recognize it. Not only that, you're gonna be offended by the fact that he does it. And so what you've gotta do is take the limitations off God, you've gotta take the restrictions off God, and you've gotta say do what you wanna do, do it in whichever way you wanna do it, and change me in the process so that I can be the kind of person that can see the miracle of God, recognize the miracle of God, rejoice in the miracle of God, and believe God for even more miracles, that's what God wants you to do. That's what he wants you to do.
So he goes on, and that man, I love this, I love his answer. But he answered them, the man who healed me, this point he doesn't even know, the dude, that dude, who is he? I don't know! The man who healed me, that man, said to me, take up your bed and walk. They asked him, who is the man who said to you take up your bed and walk? Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was for Jesus had withdrawn as there was a crowd in that place. Afterward, Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, see, you are well. Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you. The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. I want you to know that we're always to give glory to Jesus the healing comes from Jesus, the breakthrough comes from Jesus, it's all about Jesus, no one person, no man, no woman, has the power in and of themselves to bring any change, to bring any transformation, it's always Jesus. And it goes on, and this is why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the sabbath.
It's just, it defies logic, this is why they were persecuting him, because he was doing these things on the sabbath. Oh sorry, that he healed someone that had been lying by a pool for 38 years on a day that wasn't convenient for you. But I don't really care about what's convenient for you, it's about what is going to help him get up and walk, and what we need to do is stop paying homage to our religious systems and our religious traditions, and we gotta get out into the highways and the byways, and that means we gotta help real people in their mess and that means we're gonna offend some religious peoples because God is gonna do things in ways we don't expect him to do it. He's gonna use people that we don't expect him to use, and it's gonna mess up our religious paradigms that's when you're gonna know it's God. That's when you're gonna know it's God. He's always done it throughout history.
My Bible says that if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. The grace of God is what sets us free. It is by grace that we've been saved, not works, lest any man should be boast. I'm telling you, legalism will keep you in bondage. Legalism will not celebrate what God has done in your life, but Jesus is grace, the Gospel is a Gospel of grace. It is grace that sets us free, it is grace that takes us to our destiny, you can't do anything to earn the love of God, you can't do anything to earn the approval of God, God already loves you while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. God could not love you anymore than he loves you right at this moment, all you have to do is open your heart and receive the grace and the love and the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's all you have to do, it is the grace of God, he loves you.
People don't wanna be confronted with your healing. See a lot of people, you've gotta understand, there are people that they're whole life is dependent on you being broken. They're whole life is, they don't know how to function when you're whole, when you know how to set boundaries, when you know hot to take responsibility for your life. Expect mayhem to happen. You see this man God healed, you thought he would have thought he would have walked into a nice beautiful environment. When I got saved, and when I got set free, that's when all my problems started. It was okay when I was in bondage, it was okay because you know, people knew how to relate to me. But when all of the sudden I wasn't gonna play that game anymore, because Jesus set me free, when my freedom intimidated a lot of people.
A lot of people, and some of you, that's exactly what your story is, you're gonna have to change some of the people that you hang out with because your old crowd, they preferred you in bondage. Because you know what? When you're on a mat with the multitude, that's where they want you to stay. They don't want you to get off that mat, because if you do, they have to confront the fact of why they're still on the mat. See that's what happens with a lot of people, well Christine, Christine, you know, it's okay, I was abused, and I know you were abused too Christine, but you're just stronger personality than me. As if somehow freedom is a personality type. Freedom is not a personality type, freedom is a blood type, it's the blood of Jesus Christ of Nazareth that sets us free. It's the blood of Jesus. It's not because I'm a stronger personality.
And so what happened was the religious people they were like, could you still stay bound where we can control you? So don't expect everyone to be throwing a party when you get off your mat. Don't expect that, because people will not do that. You know they're gonna have to change and they just like you on the mat and some people when you start going, there's some boundaries here, and I wanna take responsibility for my life, and I wanna begin to flourish. I've seen that throughout my life. There were some people, they just couldn't cope with me going to the next stage in what God had for me, and they could be friends with me at this level, but they just couldn't do it at this level. It was just like, you know what? Why should you do that, and people don't like it. You're gonna have to be ready for it, that is the reality of life.
So what happened was he just had to learn to keep standing he said look, this man set me free, I didn't do this myself, Jesus did it. I don't think I'm great, Jesus is great. And so that's what I try to tell people, I'm not, I'm sorry that my freedom intimidates you, but it's not that I've suddenly become great, it's that I've discovered the one that is great, and his name is Jesus. And the Bible says that the pharisees, no, no, no, this is why they were persecuting him, because he was doing these things on the sabbath. That's how nonsensical it is. Because the enemy, he just does not want you free. He wants you to stay on that mat forevermore. And it says, the Bible says that Jesus went and found him in the temple. I love that Jesus saw the one in Bethesda that was him, so there was a multitude lying by the pool, but Jesus saw him, and then Jesus proactively went and found him in the temple.
And so I love all of that because can you imagine this man that was lying on the mat? He would never have been in the temple before, ever. But your healing and your wholeness gives you access to rooms you never had access to before. So some people say, well Christine, you know, you stood on that platform at the mother theresa memorial award, well if I was still lying on the mat, a victim, then I wouldn't have had access to those kind of rooms. Some of the rooms that God has given us with a21 around the world, or some of the arenas that we stand in with propel, well my wholeness is what gives us access to those rooms. So some of you are waiting to get into rooms that you're not healed and whole enough to walk into, and so a lot of times God keeps us in anonymity, he keeps in obscurity, he keeps us in other places, but he's preparing us for the thing that he has prepared for us.
So if you try to get ahead of God, you're gonna end up in a room that you're not ready for, so you're gonna be out of that room instead of remaining in that room. The testimony isn't that I've just gone to where I've gone, it's that 31 years later I'm still going. 31 years later, doors of opportunity are continuing to open. 31 years later, I'm still moving into the fullness of all that God has for me. Your wholeness will take you into places that your brokenness will never ever take you to. And so God wants you healed, God wants you whole, because part of your destiny and your future is connected to your healing and your wholeness. You can't walk into rooms you're not ready for yet, you've gotta get whole to get ready to walk into the rooms that God has for you in Jesus' name. And you know, it's interesting to me that Jesus says to him, sin no more. Sin no more. He also says that in John eight, chapter 11, he says to the woman caught in adultery, she said no one, Lord Jesus said neither do I condemn you, go and from now on, sin no more.
And so how we live is very important to God. How we live does have consequences. And it is important to God that we live holy lives, and if you want access into rooms and you want to fulfill the destiny that God has for you, how you live your life is important, and God has called us, we are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, so let's live righteously. Let's live holy lives, 'cause we can be holy, for he is holy, it is the call of a Christian, to live that way. And so, I want you to know that legalism will keep you on the mat, but so will sin. So will sin. License to sin will keep you on the mat out of your destiny every bit as much as legalism will. They are two sides of the same coin. That grace does not mean you just go and do whatever you wanna do, Paul tells us that in Romans. It doesn't mean that I can just go do whatever I wanna do. We're to live blameless, upright, holy lives before the Lord.
You know you get up and walk not just for you, but we get up and walk for the generations that are to come up after us. We're all to get up off that mat and walk, because the generations depend on it. You and I cannot change the past. There is nothing we can do to change what has happened to us, that's what's happened in the past, you know, a while ago I was speaking in a conference in Bedworth, England, which is next to a place called Stratford-upon-Avon, which is where William Shakespeare lived and wrote all his poetry and all his plays, and you know, I'm an English literature graduate, and so I was speaking at the conference, I thought I'm gonna go to Stratford-upon-Avon, because William Shakespeare's house is there, and I wanna visit Willy!
And Willy might be home, but I went there, but Willy was not home, because he's like dead, and so anyway, I went to Willy's house, but across from Willy's house, there was a place where they have like genealogies, you know, and my husband is from a British heritage, and I thought, you know what? Nick is British, and this was years ago, this was when Prince Charles was gonna marry Camilla, and I'm thinking, maybe I might get an invitation to the royal wedding, I mean, you know, there's Downton Abbey, and there's the crown, and maybe we've got Lords and barrens, and estates, and maybe there's a big castle in my background and this is gonna be awesome, and I'm gonna get in the wedding, and it's fantastic, so.
Anyway, I was thinking that, so I put in the name Caine. And I'm waiting for this great English history, I'm thinkin' they're gonna make a Downton Abbey on me, this is it, this is it, but anyway, when it came in it spat out all of the names. And it was so funny because it was anything but Lords and barrens, it was like, you know, it was pirates and convicts and criminals, and you know, thieves, and I was like, laughing going, well that's good stock there, great bloodline there. And I was walking down the streets of Stratford-upon-Avon, and I was thinking about our family tree. And there's nothing we can do to change it. I was holding nick's chart here, and it's got convicts and criminals and thieves, and I was thinking about my family tree. Which I can never change, and you know, there's adultery, and there's fornication, and there's addiction, and there's lust, and there's abuse, and there's all, I can't change of that!
And I was thinking about my kids, and I thought one day they're gonna go in and type in a genealogy and it's gonna spit out a chart and you can do nothing to change the past, it'll all be the same. But they're gonna be reading convicts, criminals, and thieves, and abuse and addictions, and divorce, and brokenness, and then all of the sudden, they're gonna see this strange change in the family tree. They're gonna see the 30th of March, 1996, nicholas Joseph Caine marries, holy ghost terrorist, Christine Caine.
And from that moment they're gonna see that everything changes, nothing from the past has changed, but they're gonna see from the 30th of March, 1996, when nick and I came together that we drew a bloodline in the sand, and we said, you know what, with us addiction stops, with us abuse stops, with us divorce stops, with us crime stops, with us it stops, so I'm asking you to pick up your mat and walk, not just for you but for the generations that are to come after you. We can't change what put us on the mat, we can't change what people did for us or did not do to us, but we can change the future. You can't change the past, but you can change the future, get up, pick up your mat, and walk into your healing, in Jesus' name, in Jesus' name. Amen, amen, amen.