I Need A Miracle, Will You Help Me?

Summary

Summary prepared by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon's captions — published in summary form; watch the full sermon at the source.

The man who had no man

He opens in thanksgiving for the Sunday night just past — "If I've ever seen the Holy Ghost move in waves, Sunday night was waves, wave after wave that happened in this house. And I'm so thankful I got to be here to be a part of it" — and owns his own need: "I did not come just because there was nothing else to do on a Tuesday night. I got needs. I got situations. And thank God we're in a place where they can be met." He gives honor to Brother Robinson ("Praying for him — there's a lot of sickness going around. I love and appreciate him"), Sister Robinson, Brother Parks, and the saints who have received him and his wife "the last several months that we've been here," then reads John 5 from verse 5: "'And a certain man was there which had an infirmity for 38 years.' That's a long time, ain't it? That's a long time to be dealing with something. Verse number six says, 'When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, He saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole?' Ain't it so simple when you get Jesus involved? Try everything you want, but the moment you get Jesus involved, it's as simple as, 'Wilt thou be made whole?' The impotent man answered Him — listen to this answer, this is so interesting to me — 'Sir, I have no man.' If you didn't understand that he was paralyzed, and you didn't understand the way that the pool worked, it seems so odd that when Jesus is saying, 'Will you be made whole?' the first thing he talks about is somebody else. Said, 'I ain't got a man. I don't have nobody that will help me get to the place that I need to get.' He said, 'I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool. But while I am coming, another steppeth down before me.' Jesus saith unto him, 'Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.' And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked. And on the same day was the Sabbath. This man needed a miracle. And the problem was simply this: couldn't get no help. Couldn't get nobody to step in and intervene and make a difference in his life." The subject: "I need a miracle. Will you help me?"

Scriptures: John 5:5-9

A selfish age, and a real church

The diagnosis is the age itself: "We are living in a society that is only concerned about themselves... I was reading an article [that said] there's at least a very good chance that the group of people that are alive and that occupy the earth today are the most narcissistic, selfish group of people that has ever lived. I don't know if that's true or not. I've just been here the last 27 years. But I've seen quite a bit of it... You parents can testify that one word you probably never had to teach your toddler was the word 'mine.' Our flesh is not interested in putting other people first." And the mentality has pushed its way into church: "A real Christian is not a selfish person. A real Christian is not one that comes to church and only cares about what they can get... Every time I come to the house of God, it's not just about me." Where you assemble matters as much as assembling: "There's been times that I come to church and I was struggling getting connected in the Holy Ghost, but there would be somebody that would lift up their voice, and there would be somebody that would get their arms around me. And what I could not feel on my own — because I had somebody get their arms around me, all of a sudden I started feeling something." The honest confession follows: "I've been there myself. When I needed God to work in my life... I had no problem showing up to prayer. I had no problem lifting up my voice. I had no problem even if I didn't like the music — I would still respond. I had no problem getting with the preacher and going down to the altar. But as soon as my need got met, what happened? I started slipping back into what I was doing before. I'm telling you, it takes a real saint of God to come to church on a Tuesday night, and maybe you don't have a need pressing you tonight, but you're still willing to lift up your hands and you're still willing to open up your mouth. Why? Because it's not just about me... I might be spiritually selfish if I come to this house and my eyes are so filled with my own issues that I forget there's people around me that are struggling worse than I am."

His father, praying for others with dementia

The witness is his own father, in the years the disease took his mind: "I remember at times — I've shared this here before — my dad, he was getting dementia, and he knew that he was getting dementia. He understood the first year or so that he was losing his ability to think and to process and to remember things. And I remember times in that time frame, and even when it got worse and worse and worse, when so many times he could not even put two sentences together, that he would come to church and there would be a brother that would be in the front, or there would be somebody that would need the Holy Ghost. And I'm telling you, there was not a man that had a need that was greater than my daddy's. There was not a man that had a need that was more urgent and more serious for God to get involved than my daddy's was. But I'm telling you, I'd watch him come and lay hands on the sick. And sometimes I'd watch him get healed. And I'd watch him lay hands on people that needed the Holy Ghost, and they'd get the Holy Ghost. Why? Because even though he was in a trial, his eyes were not so full of himself that he forgot about everybody else." The principle is quoted twice over: "He said in Galatians, 'Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.' Said in Acts, 'I have showed you all things, how that so laboring you ought to support the poor, and to remember the words of our Lord Jesus, how He said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.'" And his own key: "If you're here today and you barely made it to church, and you're here today and you're struggling and you're hanging on just by the skin of your teeth, I'm telling you, I have found a key. And that is this: if I will get my hands on my brother and I will pray that God will touch him, all of a sudden, as God is ministering to him, there's something that will come over me. As they start shouting, I start shouting... I found sometimes I don't have the faith and the strength and the ability on my own to do and to get what I need. And sometimes I need a brother to step in in that moment and say, 'Hey, I know you're struggling. I know you're fighting it right now. But maybe if we put our faith together, maybe if we join our faith together, maybe somehow we'll have enough for you to get your need met.'"

Their faith, and Job's friends

He circles back to the pool: "Jesus came to that man and said, 'Do you want to be made whole? Do you want a miracle?' The man said, 'I do. I want something to be changed in my life. But the reason that I have not got my miracle — it's not because I'm going to the wrong church. It's not because I don't know where to go to get my need met. But the problem is that I don't have anybody that will step into that moment and that will help me... No doubt, being lame for 38 years, he had somebody to bring him food. He had somebody to at least take care of some of the basic necessities of life. But the one thing he did not have was a friend that would help him get a miracle. I don't want to just be a friend to somebody that's a good guy or somebody that's helpful. I want to be somebody that will help you get something that you cannot get on your own." The four friends are the contrast: "We read of a lame man that had four friends. The Bible says that these four friends desperately wanted their friend to receive a miracle. In fact, it seems that they wanted him to receive a miracle near about as bad as he wanted to receive the miracle. Now, that's some good friends right there... You better bring your praise. You better bring your worship. You better bring your offering. You better bring your song. But let me tell you, you better also bring your brother. You better also bring somebody that's got a need... They come to the house where Jesus was teaching, and it was full. The building was absolutely jam-packed full." He mocks his own old excuses — the choir's "one more time" he kept waiting on before he would run the aisles — then the roof comes off: "They start going up on the roof, and they're tearing the roof off of that place, shingle by shingle. And here is the moment where this man got what he needed. Mark chapter 2 and verse number five would say it like this: 'When Jesus saw their faith.' I know you've heard it preached a thousand times. But I'm telling you, it really does matter to the church. It really does matter to your kids. It really does matter to your wife, what you do when you are in church... They may not have enough faith by themselves. But I'm preaching to you that if you would lift up your voice — He's not just looking at my faith. He's looking at our faith." Job closes the argument: "I want to very quickly show you a revelation. It happened in Job. He's just lost his kids. He's lost his money. He's lost his houses. He's lost his livestock. Everything that he owned had been taken from him. But when you get to the end of the book, here's what it says: and God turned the captivity of Job when Job prayed for his friends. If anybody had a right to be selfish, it was Job. If anybody had a right to whine and complain, it was Job. But God said, 'No, I'm not going to turn it around until you pray for somebody else.'" The altar call is corporate to the end: "Don't come by yourself. I want you to grab the hand of the one you're standing next to and say, 'I'm bringing you to the altar.'... Don't just bring your praise — bring your sister. Don't just bring your worship — bring your brother... I wish you'd pray for them like you want them to pray for you... This is what happens when you go to a real church. I'm not in the fight by myself. I'm not in the mess by myself. I've got my brother with me. Sometimes that's all the difference in the world: I've got somebody praying for me." His last words over the music: "Come on, we got people getting breakthrough. Breakthrough in Jesus' name. There's breakthrough in this house. I said there's breakthrough in this house. Lift up your voice."

Scriptures: Mark 2:5