Levi Lusko - I Can't Handle This

I want to preach today a message, and I want to begin by addressing the fact that there are people in the room today who feel very much like things are out of control in your life. If that’s you, I understand what that feels like. If you feel like you' re just hanging on by a thread because life, trials, and all your responsibilities feel like they’re stacking up like a game of Tetris that you’ve lost control of, and it’s stacking up to the point where it’s over your head, it can feel like you’re swimming with one arm tied behind your back.

If that’s you today, I’m glad you’re here. I believe God is going to bless you, but I’m not preaching for you today. This message is not for you, so hang on to all your issues. There’s going to be a future week where we' ll talk all about that. Today, I want to talk to those who feel like life is going pretty well right now. You’re not bragging when you say that; it’s always a weird thing, right? If I said, «Hey, who’s hurting today?» so many people would raise their hands. I’ve done it for years; I’ve been that person for years.

Let’s be clear: this church is a safe place for people who are hurting. We’re glad you’re here if your life’s on fire today, but you’re still here. You barely showed up, but you’re here. We welcome you at this church; we’re glad you’re here if you barely have any faith to rub together. But oftentimes, in the church, we just talk about the hurting people, and we forget about those who are doing well. It’s funny: if I asked, «Who’s doing really well today?» most of you would not raise your hands because you’d be afraid you’d jinx it or something like that. You don’t even know if you should believe in that, but you feel like maybe you’d be proud if you did, and God would throw a lightning bolt at you, right? It’s that knock-on-wood kind of thing.

So let me throw this out there: what’s the point of all that God’s calling us to, to do, and to get victory in, if there couldn’t be the possibility of brighter horizons? So proof of concept, I’m really grateful today to thank God that I’m in a really good spot in my life right now, and I’m really grateful to see victory in so many areas and blessings in so many ways. I came today to preach specifically to those of you who would say, «You know, emotionally, I’m feeling pretty healthy.» It’s not always been the case; believe me, there have been times where I couldn’t travel with carry-on luggage-I needed room for all my baggage, okay? I understand; I get it.

If you’re at a place where you’re like, «You know what? I’ve done some work, grown, and feel more grounded. I feel more like my true, whole, healed self.» I’m doing pretty well. «My kids, man, praise God, my friendship with my kids is great.» If you’d say today that your marriage isn’t perfect but, man, you' re really, really blessed and grateful for how your marriage is doing right now. Maybe you’d even talk about a bonus at work that you’re proud of getting because you worked hard for it, and you’ve seen the business grow. You’ve paid your dues to some degree and had to swallow some and take some stuff on the chin, but you’ve gotten to a place where you’re proud of the progress you’ve made. There’s room for that.

The Bible talks about ants being so smart because they lay up in summer what they’ll get to enjoy in winter. You know what it feels like to have a super huge need in winter and be like, «Oh my gosh, I’ve got the perfect store of that hidden in my anthill!» It feels good, right? It’s a wonderful thing to get through seven years of famine and be able to say, «You know what’s amazing? We spent the last seven years storing stuff up. Let’s break into that, shall we? Let’s pop a cork and have some grain.» It’s good, right?

So if you’re in a place today where you’re like, «I’m walking in God’s favor " — as one pastor put it-"because I’m following Jesus, I’m not just experiencing a better life, I’m actually getting better at life,» then praise God for it. This sermon I’m preaching is for you. The title of this message is «I Can’t Handle This.» I’m going to make you a promise: by the end of the sermon, I’m going to teach you a prayer that’s probably the most important prayer, but one that you probably wouldn’t think of to pray in times of prosperity and blessing. I want to teach you so that you understand what to do for some of you who may not be in a good season and what you can do when you get to one, in Jesus' name, because our God opens up doors that no one can shut, and He can make a way where there is no way. By God’s grace, you will get to better days. You will move through your valleys. You will get to greater glory and blessing.

I want to teach you so you have it in the tank because you have to train for the trial you’re not yet in. So if you’re like up to your eyeballs in debt, and your marriage isn’t good, and your relationship with your kids is a dumpster fire, and you’re barely hanging on to your job, and you’re emotionally a mess and a child in an adult’s body, I’m going to teach you so that when that comes and you look up and you go, «You know what? Life’s kind of rad right now,» in Jesus' name, here’s what you’re going to do: you’re going to pray the prayer that I’m going to give you by the end of this message.

All right, but before we go any further, say it with me: «I can’t handle this.» You got to shake your wrist. If your wrists aren’t snapping, you’re doing it wrong. «I can’t handle this.» «I can’t handle this.» Mark Chapter 3 is where we find a passage-I love this passage. It says, «And He entered the synagogue again» (if you underline stuff in your Bible, underline the word' again' because it’s significant). «And a man was there who had a withered hand.» So they watched Him closely, whether He would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him. And He, Jesus, said to the man with the withered hand, «Step forward.» Then He said to them, «Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil? To save life or to kill?»

He had the man in the center of their gathering, and with the man standing there, knowing they were watching Him to see what He’d do for this man, He now calls them out on thoughts they’d been silently thinking. «Houston, we got a mind reader.» He said to them, «Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil? To save life or to kill?» You know I would never recommend you play chess with Jesus; He’s thinking 17 moves ahead. They think they have Him in a trap; they think they have Him in this big’aha' moment. He’s going to heal this man, which is work. He’s the Messiah, and He’s going to perform a miracle and then they’re going to be like, «Busted.» Jesus addresses their thinking: «What’s the purpose of the Sabbath? What’s it there for? Is the Sabbath given to take life or to give life?» They kept silent. They were like steam coming out of their ears because if they say it’s to give life and to help and to do good, that means the thing they’re going to bust Him for, they can’t bust Him for. But if they go, «Well, the Sabbath was given for evil,» then they’re insinuating that God is a sinner and that He gave it for an evil purpose and that taking life is preferable to giving it. So they all just look at their feet.

When He had looked around at them with anger, being grieved by the hardness of their hearts, He said to the man, «Stretch out your hand.» And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored as whole as the other. Then the Pharisees went out and immediately plotted with the Herodians against Him, how they might destroy Him.

What do Jimi Hendrix, Albert Einstein, LeBron James, Marie Curie, Benjamin Franklin, and Nikolai Tesla have in common? They’re all ambidextrous; they can equally and effortlessly utilize both the right and left hands. And there’s no diminishment. There’s no «I can work it out; I can muscle it out; I can figure it out.» There’s no sense in the brain of, «This is funny! This is strange!» I’m dominant in my left brain, but I’m using my right hand. I’m dominant in my right brain; I use my left hand. I can do it eventually, but only 1% of the American population studies have found are truly ambidextrous. Some can get by with their non-dominant hand, but to be truly ambidextrous, where it’s exactly the same in your brain and your hand, using your right hand or your left, any truly ambidextrous people in the church today?

Yeah? Not okay. Come on now! Welcome, welcome; we’re glad you’re here! Look at that; that’s pretty good! Right? 1% of the population is truly ambidextrous, but it’s not the only way you can be different than just right-hand dominant or left-hand dominant. There’s also-I came across this in my research this week-this was fascinating to me. There’s a condition that’s the opposite of being ambidextrous, where both hands feel as foreign to your brain as a dominant right-hand person does using their left hand. That’s just sad. I thought I was like, «That’s so mean! That’s terrible! That’s not good!» Last week we talked about how God has a plan for our left hands.

We talked about how all of us have a left hand, right? All of us have an area in our life where we feel left-handed. I’m not just talking about the southpaw among us who say, «Man, I’m a lefty living in a right-handed world!» and «Writing in a notebook is annoying.» Everything’s just kind of built-for example, even the flaps on our jeans are built for a right-handed person; you have to go over the flap with your left hand to zip up your pants in the morning. But similarly, there’s a way in which we all feel like we have our own kind of left-handed issue where we don’t quite fit in. Maybe something is different about us. We’re shorter, we love running, or we’re nerdy. All of us have something we wish we could change about ourselves. What we discovered is that when we look through God’s glasses at our left hand, He sees it as a source of power, while we would deem it a source of weakness. Your left hand, in His estimation, is something that makes you super strong and capable.

This week, we’re going to see the other side of it as we talk about the right hand. How does God see the right hand? How does God want us to see the right hand, which in Scripture is a picture of power, authority, and blessing? It’s not the seven skinny years; it’s the seven powerful years, seven blessed years, seven years of abundance. Paul said, «I know how to use my left hand; I know how to use my right hand.» In 2021, we made our staff theme here at Fresh Life Church ambidextrous. We talked about coming to a place as a church, coming out of COVID, where we weren’t just going to say, «I’m only going to do online,» or «I’m only going to do in-person.» Could we do both? Could we reach both? Could we minister in such a way that would allow this message to go into all the world and reach countries around the world, prisons around the world, and people around the world with the gospel, while also being a church that prioritizes and cares about what can happen in the gathering?

There’s always going to be some pushing for one or the other, but can we have a kind of spiritual ambidexterity? Well, in the wounds of Jesus, we find healing, not just for our left hands, but for our right hands also. In fact, John’s Gospel tells us that at Skull Hill, they crucified Him, nails through both of His palms. Nails through both of His physical hands-the hands that were in Mary’s womb, the hands that grew up. Those same hands that touched the leper, were stretched out and pierced. And Isaiah the prophet said it was for us; it was for you; it was for me. We can internalize that; it was for me that He was wounded. It was for me that He was punctured, that He was pierced. And there’s healing for us.

Oh yeah, salvation! You don’t have to go to hell; that’s awesome. Just the beginning! Just the beginning. The freedom, the strength, the peace, the rightness, the wholeness; God has wholeness for your life. From His wounds, Isaiah says, «Okay, so insecurities"-this is what we talked about last week-but now I want to talk about the other side of it: the right hand of strength and power. The Bible understandably has a lot to say about God’s right hand. There are no verses I can find in the entire Bible about God’s left hand. You want to know why? He doesn’t have one! He doesn’t have weakness; He has no rival; He has no equal. Psalm 89:13 says, «You have a mighty arm; strong is Your hand and high is Your right hand.» Now, of course, we’re using anthropomorphism here. God the Father is not flesh and blood; He’s not a man; He’s Spirit; He dwells in unapproachable light. But in the person of Jesus, of course, He did come. And in the person of Jesus, He came not as a lion; He came as a lamb. He was born in a Podunk city with no connections.

You might say, «I’m from a small town,» but He’s from a smaller one! «Well, I didn’t come from much,» He was born in a cave! You think you have complications and difficulties from your origin story? His was worse and weirder, so that He could truly relate to us, no matter what we go through. We have a high priest, you hear me, who can sympathize with you in all your weaknesses. «Well, you don’t understand; I lost a loved one.» His cousin was beheaded. You see, there’s nothing you can go through that Jesus doesn’t put His left hand on yours and say, «I get it, and my Father and I have a plan to turn your left hand into a weapon if you let Him.»

But what about your right hand? What about your good days? What about the areas of blessing and strength and progress and growth? What about the fact that you can accomplish something for God? What about the fact that some of you today are on fire for God? That’s a right hand! That’s a right hand! Come on! If you’re not struggling with the same things you used to struggle with-because you’ve put away childish things and you’ve grown up-say it in Jesus' name; you’ve got a right hand, too! We can’t just be people who can only be good in crisis; only good for the battle. What about when we get pulled out of the pit like Joseph and now we’re in the palace? Do we have faith for the palace? Do we have faith for the boardroom? Do you have faith for the six-figure bonus checks, or can you only trust in God when you’re hand-to-mouth?

Can you, like the ant, lead well, steward well, get out of debt, get your finances in order, start giving, start growing, start scaling, be an employer, have a different culture? Can you change the paradigm for your family and generational levels? Do you have faith for righteousness to spill out, or are you just going to struggle until you die? Can we be a people who can handle blessing and not just barren times? We need to figure out how to worship God with our right hand.

Now, interestingly enough, in the culture in which the Scriptures were given and written, it was not only preferable to be right-handed; it was actually viewed as unclean to do anything with your left hand because the right hand was what was used for both eating and greeting, gift-giving, and blessing. In a culture that was all about those things-the Middle Eastern culture focused on hospitality, the power to confer blessing-right hand was in everything. Paul talked about what he did to Timothy in the laying on of hands for him. The book of Galatians describes someone new to the church being given the right hand of fellowship. What is that? It’s someone saying, «Hey, I’ve been here for a while; I’m a right hand in this church, and guess what? We’re glad you’re here!»

I hope if you’re new that you don’t just find this church cold and everyone’s telling inside jokes and laughing about how good their small group is: «Well, is there a room?» «No, we’ve been closed for a while.» We should be a church that says, «Hey! You’re new here? Let me tell you who I am. Let me tell you you’re welcome here. Let me tell you some old jokes. Let me scoot over on the bench and make room for you. Hey, here’s where we keep the jerseys. There’s room for you on this team. This is a brand new season; we’ve never been here before!»

Oh, you’ve been here for so long? Are you all crotchety and salty and territorial and small-minded? Move over! Let’s make room for some new people to start serving! Let’s make room for some new people to get in on this! We’ve got to be people offering that right hand! But you got to have a right hand to offer it-the right hand of fellowship, both eating meals, hospitality around the table, and greeting in the name of our Lord Jesus. We greet you; we have our right hand to offer to you! We got something a little extra we saved that we can bless you too! We don’t just need for ourselves; we can bless you as well.

We want to be a church that says to the cities we’re in, «We got our right hand, and we’re not afraid to use it! We’re going to bless these cities; we’re going to give money to nonprofits; we’re going to do good in Jesus' name. We got a right hand!»

I want to lead the church, not just of the left hand but of the right hand. This man in Mark 3? He ain’t got no right hand. Now, you’re looking at your Bible confused and saying, «I don’t see that detail anywhere!» That’s because you’re in the wrong place. You got to move over to Luke Chapter 6. Do it now! If you don’t trust me, Luke 6:6 tells us that this hand that was healed, that was withered but then wasn’t because he stretched it out when Jesus told him to-look at it on the screen! His right hand was the one afflicted!

Why would Mark not tell us that and Luke did? Mark’s writing based on Peter’s account-Peter didn’t care about right hand, left hand. Luke was a doctor; they’re trained to take detailed notes of the patient’s symptoms. I don’t think he included it because he thought it was pertinent spiritually speaking; I think he was just really used to it because maybe one time he accidentally amputated the wrong limb and had to figure that out for the malpractice suits coming, you know what I’m saying? Like, «Got to write that all right. Right hand had a bad experience… yeah, accidentally cut the wrong hand off; that guy was terrible, right? Once bitten, twice shy.»

So he writes down it was this man’s right hand. Now that changes the game because it’s bad enough to lose a hand. I’ve never had to deal with that, but I can imagine. If I lost one, I’d want to lose my left hand. Anyone with me on that? Some of you healers are like, «No! I’d want to lose my non-dominant hand,» is that better? In that culture, that was the hand used for the bathroom! There were no antibacterial wipes! You ate with your hands, ripping pita bread from the table, dipping it in the hummus-getting a little lamb meat to put on top of it. So the unclean hand that was used for hygiene was always kept below the table-it was deep dishonor to use your left hand to shake someone’s hand, to offer it in peace.

This man had no right hand. I have a brother-in-law who was on stage a moment ago; his name is Brandon. He was born without a right hand. Jenny was the one who caught him when bringing him into this world; it was a home birth, and she was the first to discover what the ultrasound had missed — that he didn’t have a right hand.

Now, people, as I’ve traveled the country with him and spent a lot of life with him, always ask, «I’m so sorry, what happened?» Well -intentioned Christians are like, «In Jesus' name, that hand’s going to grow!"-like, the weirdest moments with him — as though he was defective, and not how God built him. That’s the assumption, «Oh, something’s wrong!» It’s been so fun for me to watch what could be described as a handicap be the exact opposite in every way possible, as he’s never known life with or about a right hand. So all he’s ever done is become capable and able and skilled with his left.

He’s literally a finish carpenter! Imagine that! He plays guitar and drums and can do anything you can do with two -not with one; he can do it better, okay? I’m sick of it! But he was born; he literally doesn’t know life with a right hand. But to have a right hand taken away would be different, which is this man’s plight.

Again, you’re like, «I don’t know how you can be telling me that none of the text tells us!» Was it Matthew? Was it Matthew’s account? Matthew Chapter 12, which the story is also in, as opposed to Luke Chapter 6, or Mark Chapter 3? No, it’s in the Greek, which is a unique phrase in Greek when describing the injury. It describes something that occurred to him and not something that was congenital from birth-so either disease or injury. We don’t know, but using our imagination, let’s just play it out: he was born with two hands, lived with two hands, used his right hand to greet someone, to eat with someone, and to give a gift to someone, or to bless the Lord by raising a hand to God.

That is intrinsic to how God created us to worship Him! By the way, some of you are confused and at best uncomfortable, perhaps with sometimes the display of emotion you’ll see in a gathering-especially if you come from a church tradition that thinks God desires to be honored with your hands in your pockets and a dull expression on your face. I can’t find that Psalm; I’m looking for it; I can’t find it anywhere! Where does it say, «Come to church late, and then have some fun shouting to God?!» Clap your hands, all ye people-not one, but two!

There are Hebrew words for praise that indicate praising God with hands being thrown up! So I throw up my praise! You see, God intends for us to understand that there’s something you need more than He does in raising your hands to Him. If you ever find yourself in a court of law about to give testimony, you’re told to raise your right hand. Interesting! For most of the history of the United States, it was also place your left hand on a Bible. Why? Because your left hand is closest to your heart, while your right hand is a symbol of your authority, your integrity, your power.

«Right hand in the air!» Now, «swear» comes from Genesis 14, when Abraham, who had been worshiping the gods his pagan people worshiped-sex, money, drunkenness, and whatever else-was called out by God. God revealed Himself to Abraham as the God who created heaven and earth. And Abraham raised his hand to the Lord who created him, switching allegiances. There’s something within that craves the raising up of hands!

So this man had all that-he would raise his hands in synagogue as a little boy with his family; he would raise his hands to the God who made him. And then it was taken from him; whether through an infection; I mean, something so small as a little cut without the right treatment can become a serious infection that can claim your life and could no doubt take a hand! Perhaps it was crushed-stonework was by far more common than wood, which is why when we go cruising in Israel, people will point out the IKEA shelf that was located; where? Oh attached to the MDF, prefabricated built from sawdust? Is there any wood in that wood?

Right? But things built from stone last into the ages. That’s why you get to walk around Israel and Greece and Rome, and see what was there. Working with stone, as maybe this man did, was part of the vocational hazards of working with your hands; you could lose your fingers. And as luck would have it, he lost not his left but his right hand.

So, instinctively, he would go to reach with his left and find people horrified. No longer able to work to supply for or take care of a family if he had one, or if he didn’t, to attract a spouse, offering only his shriveled, atrophied right hand.

And here’s the mind-blowing part: I believe that from this day forward, this man would look back on that injury as one of the sweetest gifts of God’s mercy he was ever given. His claw of a hand, with bones that can’t be set with titanium pins and rods, will eventually become a useless claw. That season with that heavy burden was a delightful gift of God’s providence and an unexpected measure of grace. It’s funny how that can happen, isn’t it?

I have a friend named Fritz; his name stands out because he’s the only one I know named Fritz. He has a son who’s a prolific tennis player. I met him in Myrtle Beach when Daisy and I were preaching at a conference and had some rec time. One day, we rented a jet ski for an hour. He said, «How long do you want it?» Just an hour! Yeah, we can give you a bargain on three hours! But I said there’s not fun you can have on a jet ski after an hour!

I said that tongue -in- cheek, but it’s been my experience so far. So usually, I’m good for about a year once I’ve had an hour on a jet ski. So we did that, and then we saw there was a tennis facility near our hotel. We walked over and found out they had a pro there who could do tennis lessons. At the time, the pro had left the area, so we couldn’t get a tennis lesson.

We were excited; let’s get a tennis lesson for you, Daisy! So we book her with this nice old man named Hans, who’s Fritz’s uncle, who was teaching her. It was great! While I was chitchatting with Fritz a bit, he showed me a picture of one of his sons and said, «In fact, he’s one of the best junior tennis players in the entire country!» My little guy — he was about seven years old at the time. I said, «How’d that happen?» I assumed what would follow was going to be that story you hear about Andre Agassi and how his dad was, you know, duct taping a tennis racket to his hand and not letting him come in until he hit like 9,000 balls or whatever — those stories.

I was thinking about the 10,000 hours that someone got! He said, «Nothing could have prepared me for what he said.» So how did his son become one of the best junior tennis players? «It all started the day he broke his right hand!» Do tell more, and he did!

Apparently, there was a tournament, and he was killing time between matches. They had a van loaded up with their bicycles and stuff so that during the tournament they could play and, you know, explore and go eat or whatever, and his son said, «There’s a skate park you can bike in right across the street from the tennis facility; can I go ride my bike around the rim?» «Absolutely! Go for it!»

So the son did, and he went off a jump, fell off, and broke his right hand. Here’s a photo they took in the hospital that shows the broken bones. Here he is in incredible agony, and the next morning after surgery gets this all set, gets this all sorted out. It’s dawning on them that he’s a right-hand tennis player who is traveling around playing tennis at a high level at seven years old, and his dad said, «Well, what are we going to do now?» Hudson’s like, «I’m going to go play tennis!»

He goes, «You can’t play tennis; your arm’s in a sling!» He goes, «I got two hands, Dad! I got two hands!» His dad said, «That’s not your dominant hand!» «I don’t know if you know how that works; you don’t just randomly do that.» And he says, «I’ll figure it out!» So his dad takes him outside and starts feeding him ball after ball after ball. You can see in the video clip he sent me literally day after surgery. Come on; let’s cheer for Hudson, this little legend!

In tennis, you have a forehand, which is almost always with one hand, and then you have a backhand, which is almost always with two. But the reality is that a backhand is just a left-handed forehand. The other hand is just for guidance. All the actual power and strength come from the left hand. Most tennis players have a weaker backhand than a forehand, so the strategy is usually to send the ball to the backhand, raising the probability that they’ll miss. But because he now had to learn how to hit a forehand with his non-dominant hand, once he was able to add the right hand to it, hitting his normal backhand, it had become a dominant shot for him!

So today, Hudson is one of the best nine -year-old tennis players in the United States of America. Why? Because of something terrible that happened to his right hand. Come on, somebody! I came to encourage someone who today feels like, «Because of this injury, this loss, this pain, this grief, I could never. Life’s over. There’s no more hope.» And what I came to tell you is it ain’t over till He says it’s over, so just keep showing up! That’s the first of three things you got to do if you need your right hand healed. You got to show up, you got to step forward, and you got to stretch out! Come on, say it with me! You got to show up; you got to step forward; and you need to stretch out!

You got to show up; you got to step forward; and you need to stretch out! Anybody with me? Okay, show it to me in the text! Levi, happy to show you the text. It says, «Jesus, being in the synagogue on the Sabbath day, again.» You hear it? Jesus, being in the synagogue on the Sabbath day, again! One text tells us that Jesus, when He went to church, He was doing what He had been doing since early days. What you do when you’re young matters. People talk bad about the ruts you can get stuck in, stuck in going through the motions.

Hey, it ain’t all terrible if they’re the right motions! Savings is a motion just as spending is. Tithing is a motion just as not tithing is. Reading your scripture and Bible in the morning, hiding it in your heart, is as routine as mindlessly scrolling TikTok. Jesus, raised by Mary and Joseph, didn’t ask the question, «Are we going to church today?» It was habit; He was a creature of habit. It could be counted!

It’s funny! So many people when you read the Scriptures- it’s crazy! Jesus keeps healing people in the synagogue on Sabbath days. I think they figured it out. «God, I wish I could get a miracle! Where is Jesus at?» Well, you know, I’m not the brightest tool in the box, but we can figure out that this is what He keeps doing! We can show up where He’s going to be! But we get no indication that that was the case for this man.

There’s no detail in the story that tells us this man seemed to think he was the most confused of anybody. This is all happening! Why was this guy in the synagogue on the Sabbath day? Because he knew, or knew what you and I need to know: there’s power simply in showing up.

Would it be easy for him to go, «How could-first of all, why would I even show up?» Remember what Job’s friends told him? «Bro, you must have done something real bad to deserve all this.» Remember his wife? «Bro, you should just curse God and die!» What did Job do? His kids having just been killed, lost every penny he had to his name, his health afflicted, drops to his knees and says, «You give and you take away. You have left-hand days for me, and you have right-hand days for me, but I’m going to take them both and raise them to you. Blessed be the name of the Lord!»

And this man with a withered hand, who it would be so much easier for him just to stay home-he’s showing up to worship. He’s not drawing attention to himself; you don’t see him doing what Blind Bartimaeus did: «Jesus! Jesus! Come heal me! I need You! I need You!» I’m not saying it’s bad for Bartimaeus, I’m saying this guy’s just in the back; he’s there to worship. He’s just there to bless God.

On a good day or a bad day, he’s saying, «I’m a child of God; I’m here to give God glory.» And this encounter happened, I believe not just because of what happened on this day but what happened on the days where this didn’t happen too. He’d been developing the muscles of faith; he was training for trials he wasn’t yet in.

The first step in receiving whatever God has for your right hand is that you just got to show up! One of the problems with missing church is eventually you stop missing church. And a symptom of not being in the presence of God is not missing and longing for the presence of God. The more you experience His presence, the more you long to experience His presence, and the more there is to see in His presence! But pull yourself away from it, and it puts you into a dim environment, and you always look better in a dim environment.

That’s why we scatter like cockroaches when the lights come on in the movie theater, because we realize what we’ve been luxuriating in, like, «Oh my God! It’s filthy in here! Get me out of here!» The longer you’re out of Scripture, the longer you’re out of church, the more the lights get dim.

You start to look pretty good, feel pretty good. «I’m doing pretty good! Life’s pretty good!» It ain’t nothing without the presence of God. Without His glory, without Him shining His life and heart on you, without Him manifesting His presence in the midst of His people as we exalt His name, which is how He has appointed for us to praise Him together.

This man showed up! Secondly, when Jesus called him to what did he do? He stepped forward. Oh boy! He had perhaps kept this out of sight for so long because no one wanted to look at it. He got sick of explaining. Now, with every eye on him, he has to expose his claw. John Ortberg said you can take your shame and either experience healing or keep it hidden, but never both.

The power comes not when we just have gone to God for forgiveness, but to each other for healing. The body of Christ cannot love and heal who you wish you were; just who you really are. So the boldness it takes to say, «I got a broken right hand. I got a withered hand.» And then the courage to be a church community that will see someone struggling — not point the fingers but circle up with a hug and say, «We’re going to pray you to health. I got my own withered hand! Here’s what God has done for me; He’s going to work in your life! I’m not scared of your withered hand! I’m not embarrassed by your withered hand! I’m not insulted or disgusted, because I’m no better than you; but He’s better than all of us, and He still loves us!»

So the man did the three things: he showed up, stepped forward, and then when Jesus called him to, he stretched out his hand. None of those things are my sermon because this message is not about this man; it’s about the Pharisees who, looking on, were so sick that they could watch a man be given his right hand back! Prospects for marriage just opened up! Ability to provide for his family-everything is now changed! He can now have meals and eat his own food and not get insulting, gross looks from people. He was just given his right hand back! And they’re mad because it happened on a Sunday-a Saturday!

The order in which it took place — I would suggest that this is not the story of a man with a withered hand; it’s a story of the men with withered hands. And maybe that’s why it’s one of the few details in Scripture that are included in three of the four gospels. There are multiple withered hands here-not just this guy, but the other men and individuals that day who had some right hands that had withered up on their own!

How does this happen? Well, let me tell you about the Pharisees in particular. This is a sect of Judaism that developed during the Babylonian captivity when Israel, through their sin and disobedience to God concerning the Sabbath, concerning divorce, concerning tithing, concerning lots of different idols they were worshiping- money, sex, usually time-these are all kind of the usual suspects. Why doesn’t the devil get more creative? Well, when you go fishing, do you change bait while the fish are biting? The devil would move on if you’d quit eating it!

During this time, there was a spiritual renewal as people were like, «Gosh, we’ve got to quit it! We’ve got to stop! Let’s long for revival! Let’s pray for revival!» And guess what? It happened! You’re welcome; God said the Pharisees were born!

I know when we talk about the Pharisees, we hear the Darth Vader theme song in our head, right? Hold on! It started as full-on revival! We don’t want to be treacherous with our wives; let’s honor our marriage-a good thing, a bad thing, right? God, we want to honor You with the tithe-a good thing, a bad thing? God, we want to influence our culture! We want to tell them we can stay pure in Babylon! When we come back to the Holy Land, we want to listen to what Nehemiah said and that is to honor the Sabbath.

But it became twisted! The right hand can become twisted! How? When it goes to your head, and you’re not focusing attention back on Jesus, who is the head of the church. The moment a blessing doesn’t get turned to praise, it becomes an idol in the heart and a twisting of the hand! How do we fight against this? Constantly with these four things: honesty, humility, vulnerability, and authority! If you got a right hand today, you need to foster honesty with yourself and with others and with God!

Humility about how the right hand came to you! Vulnerability with each other about what the struggle is and the temptation! And then lastly, authority-meaning we keep doing the things that God calls us to do, and we never think we’re above it because we’re in a different season. We graduated past that!

The moment your right hand stops being lifted in praise, humility, vulnerability, and honesty under God’s authority, you have a hand that’s beginning to twist and wither and pollute. Woe to those, Isaiah said (Isaiah 5:21), who are wise in their own eyes. Jeremiah 9:23 says, «Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom! Let not the mighty man glory in his might! Let not the rich man let not the right-handed man glory in his right hand!» You see, «But let him who glories glory in this: that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth; for in these I delight,» says the Lord.

You got a God who took your left hand when no one else would; He held you with His mighty right arm when no one else would. He died on the cross for you. He gives you your life back, gives you your soul back, gives you a future, and then you go out and start doing good with your right hand! Now, because He healed it! But the moment you take your eyes off Him and think your soccer or your business or your social media empire-with your clout that’s now coming-all the doors are opening for you. The moment you think that’s for you and it’s gone to your head and your eyes are not on the head of the church, Jesus, your hands wither and you end up like the Pharisees.

So perverted that they rush out of this gathering, huddle up with their enemies, the Herodians, and plan out how they can kill Jesus! «He’s awful! Why heal that guy?» Remember Jesus’s question: «Is it right to take life or save it on the Sabbath?» Who worked harder on that Sabbath day?

Jesus-who just went, «Put your hand out!» Poof! What do you need healed? Did He work? Did He work up a sweat? Now they’re in a business meeting at the Sheraton Hotel in the conference room planning the crucifixion of Jesus, which is far more a violation of their own principles.

So my right-handed people, what’s the prayer? You promised a prayer, didn’t you? You promised a prayer. I did! Here it is! Put my title back up on the screen. Your prayer when you got a right hand is, «I can’t handle this!» You see what I did there? Because you’ve had it the whole time! Come on! I can’t handle it!

So Father, we say what this man should have said. The enemy who was mocking you and trying to bait you into a trap-he was at a place at some point along the way of strength and he should have said, «I can’t handle this!» So I give it to You! But instead, it went to his head! And we don’t want that to happen, God!

We want to give the glory to You, to You, Jesus, unto the Lamb, the head of the church! So instead of going to our head, we bring that praise and bring it to You, who are the head! If you would say today, «I needed this message because I needed to remember to give God my capabilities to not just my insecurities,» could I ask that across the church, church online, every location, you would raise up your right hand to God? Raise up your right hand to God!

Thank you, God! Thank you, God! Thank you, God! Don’t take your heavy hand from us, God! We wouldn’t make it without You; we would mess it up without You! Now come on, someone struggling today with insecurities, go ahead and raise up that left hand! If you’re hanging by a thread today, I promise there will be something for you today!

If you’re at a place where you’re like, «My bandwidth has succeeded!» Get that left hand in the air! We’re safer here with our hands raised! We’re safer here. Thank you, God! Thank you that You put Your hand, Your right hand, not just on the firstborn Manasseh but You put Your hands on Ephraim! You put Your hands on us today! We’re not that firstborn; we don’t have it all together, but thank you for putting Your right hand on us, God, and blessing us! Thank you, Lord! Thank you, Lord! Thank you!