WILL YOU BE MADE WHOLE?

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WILL YOU BE MADE WHOLE?
SEPTEMBER 2024

“Will You Be Made Whole?” is the title of my message, and we’re starting in John 5:1–9:

“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, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had. Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity of thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, ‘Do you want to be made well?’ The sick man answered Him, ‘Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Rise, take up your bed and walk.’ And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked. And that day was the Sabbath.”

God, I thank you for the people hearing this message who are just like this man in scripture: sick, blind, and without a way forward. Thank you for those who don’t have the strength to keep going. I know you will give them the power to move into what you have for them. If you are paralyzed by fear, waiting for your divine moment like the water stirring in this passage, God’s got you.

Imagine what the man by the pool felt like after decades of lying there. He somehow knew only God could make a difference. Maybe people told him, “Hey, we'll do this together. We're going to get you through.” Perhaps, eventually, everybody gave up. All the encouragement and faith for this man are long gone. Don't you love that Jesus is still there when everybody leaves? He is the one who sticks closer than a brother. He does not walk away from us in our struggles.

We held a prayer meeting several years ago on Tuesday nights at Times Square Church. Requests came in from all over the world. One kept coming in from Newfoundland in Canada, from a lady called Heather. She’d say, “Pray for my husband, Gary. He’s a drug addict. Everyone has given up on him.” In line with our scripture tonight, Gary had been a drug addict for 38 years. He had gone to every conceivable program known to humanity, and nobody could help him. He had a chair in the house that he used to sit on to do some pretty hard drugs.

One night, when Heather was watching our worldwide prayer meeting, the Spirit of God came upon her, and she went downstairs and got an ax. She went to the living room and chopped Gary’s chair to pieces. When she was done, she said, “Satan, no more drugs in this house! No more debauchery or captivity in this house because I'm hearing something online. I'm hearing a message that I can be free. My marriage can be restored. My husband can be delivered.”

On Tuesday night, I saw Heather submit another prayer request. At that moment, the Holy Spirit came upon me. As students in this Bible school, we need to learn the importance of cooperating with the Holy Spirit. We live a supernatural life! The Spirit of God is within us, and if we listen, miracles start happening. I looked into the screen that night, pointed my finger, and said, “Gary, listen to me. You are not a drug addict. God has called you to be an evangelist.”

At that moment, Gary walked into Heather’s house to get clothes to take to his girlfriend’s house. On the screen is this man from New York pointing his finger at him, saying, “Gary, listen to me.” God knows how and when to reach somebody. Gary left the house, angry. Who is this man? How dare he speak about me that way! Does he not know I am in bondage? How does he know about me? Gary got in his car furious, shaking, gripping the steering wheel. He drove to his girlfriend's house, got out of the car, went up the stairs, and had a massive asthma attack. He doesn't have asthma, but he couldn’t breathe. It terrified him. He ran out of the house, got back in his car with his heart pounding, and thought, this can’t be real. He gets out of his car again, goes into Heather’s house, and has a second attack. Gary began to realize God was speaking to him. He surrendered his life to Jesus Christ and was set entirely free without withdrawal!

I flew Gary and Heather to New York City, where He could share his testimony at Times Square Church. On the way, Gary won over somebody on the street to Christ. The last I heard of him, he was studying to be an evangelist. God transformed Gary’s life. God set him free and gave him every opportunity to do what he had been called to do by the Holy Spirit. Jesus doesn't call us what we are; He calls us what we will be. Your name is Simon, but you're going to be called Peter. Upon this rock, I'm going to build my church.

For too long, we've lived a natural Christianity. We've lived by what we think, feel, and know we can do. We've fallen far short of God’s possibilities for our lives. When I spoke to Gary through the screen, I had a word of knowledge. It's a gift of the Holy Spirit. I feel I've lived much of my life just riding the edges of what God wants to do. My prayer lately is, “God, take me deeper and farther; give me more sensitivity to the Holy Spirit. God, I feel that there's so much I have not laid hold of.” What can God do? I think of all the daily opportunities to speak into somebody's life in a bank, store, or supermarket. I remember the number of times I'd draw back or not do what God's calling me to do when He knows that person was crying the night before.

The Lord knows the needs of everyone’s heart. I want to encourage the young people and those from the campus church to seek God for everything He has. Ask for the giftings of the Holy Spirit. Say, “God, give me the fullness of what I need to glorify your name on the earth. It's not about me being aggrandized; it's about you and your work being done throughout my life.”

Jesus knew the man by the pool had long been in that condition, but He still asked him if he wanted to be made well. Some people embrace their pain or addiction to the point where they have no sense of what they would be without it. They've had that cloak around them for so long they don't dare to throw it away and come to Jesus and be made new. That sorrow is the one thing that seemingly has brought them comfort.

There has to be willingness. Jesus asks about wholeness because there has to be something in your heart and mind that says, “Oh God, I want that with all my heart. Where you lead me, I will follow. What you ask me to walk away from, I will walk away from. Where you call me, I will go. I will possess what you give me, God, with great gratitude. What you ask me to say, I will say. Where you ask me to go, I'll go. What you ask me to do, I will do. Jesus Christ, I want your life to be lived out inside of mine. I want to live for the sake of others. I want my life to express the reality of the living Christ within me. God, I want to know your power.”

Do you want to be made whole? Yes, yes, yes—however God defines that wholeness. It’s not my definition that binds God. I might have an aspect of character that I think is quite nice, but God says, “That's got to go.” When Jesus asked the man if he wanted to be made whole, he said he didn’t have a man to put him in the pool. Like looking to self-help books written by some of the spiritual gurus of our time, he'd been looking for voices to counsel him. I don't know if you've ever been there when you think it's the worst place to be, but it's the best because there's only one voice left when all the other voices are gone.

Jesus told the man to get up. If you've been in bondage or suffering for years, Jesus says, “It's time to rise in the power of God. I will strengthen you. All I ask you to do is get up from where you are and prepare to go where I'm taking you.” That's your part—you must get up and say, “God, I don't want to live like this anymore.” Jesus told the sick man: “Take up your bed and walk.” Imagine laying on some stinky old mattress for 38 years; you'd be inclined to leave it there. Jesus says, no, roll it up and stick it under your arm because that will be your testimony. People will say, “Why do you carry that old thing around?” That’s your time to say, “Well, let me tell you about Jesus…”

The scripture says the man was made well “immediately.” When Gary left his girlfriend's house and drove back to where this pastor from New York had pointed his finger in his face, he got on his knees. He was immediately healed from 38 years of addiction without withdrawal. A miracle of God touched Gary’s life. Then, he walked and talked: “Let me tell you what Jesus Christ has done for me; it's amazing.” When you simply let God do a work in your life and begin to tell people about it, you're not theologically debating with anybody anymore. You're telling them about an experience you've had with God. The real living Son of God told me to get up from where I was, take up my bed, and walk—and here I am. Praise be to God! People worldwide are looking for your testimony to be set free.