Follow Along with the Message

I Believe in God, but Don't Think I Can Change

Pastom Tom Lundeen

This all-church spiritual journey is all about understanding what it looks like to be a Christian Atheist, which sounds like a complete contradiction until you  its meaning and realize it's a real issue in the lives of millions of people today...

A Christian Atheist is someone who claims some kind of belief in , but lives their life as if God doesn't exist.

Note Titus 1:16a

The question Jesus asks this person, at first glance, seems to be at best thoughtless, and at worst, . 

But we will see it's a question Jesus asks all of us when we feel  and unable to change. 

1. A Profound  

Note John 5:1-9a

So surrounded by a sea of hurting people all competing with each other for their one occasional shot at health and normal life, Jesus goes to probably one of the worst and longest suffering cases and asks a question that seems totally .

Is Jesus just being , sarcastic, or unfeeling? 

Interestingly, he  directly answer Jesus' question. 

He explains why he hasn't been .

As an act of  grace, Jesus heals him. 

2. A  Question

His  could always be shifted to something else or someone else. 

Do you want Jesus to heal the parts of your life that  you emotionally, spiritually, and relationally, or is it easier to hold on to that pain?

It's easier to let bitterness  and wallow in the hurts and perceived wrongs, while finding some sort of odd enjoyment in licking our wounds and  everything and everyone else for our problems and pain. 

Too often we refuse to let go of the very things that emotionally, spiritually, and relationally  us. 

Do we really want to be well if it meant we could no longer blame someone else...for our choices and ? 

Do we really want to be well if it meant we now had to take full responsibility for our decisions and for the direction of our life? 

It seems this person may have been more comfortable with his disability and would rather keep the pain he knew than  into the unknown world of wholeness with its new responsibilities and accountability. 

Note John 5:9b-14; 9:1-3

Jesus tells this man that there's something worse than being paralyzed physically for 38 years...it's to be paralyzed spiritually by our own sin and experiencing the  in this life and in eternity. 

As tough as Jesus seems to be with this person, this encounter is filled with . 

So are you sure?:

• What about today? When Jesus asks, Do you want to get well?, what is  response?
• When Jesus asks, Do you want to get well, do you reply, You don't know how bad they  me...?
• When Jesus asks, Do you want to find freedom from the chains of your secret sin?, do you object, I just can't  myself? 
• When Jesus offers to help you overcome your addiction, is the answer, I have an addiction. It's a . I'm not responsible for my choices...?
• When Jesus offers you forgiveness, a second chance, and a new life by saying 'YES!' to Him as Lord, do you excuse yourself by claiming, I'm not nearly as  as other people I know...?
• Will you continue to hold onto the things that hold you back?
• Or will you get up and walk by dealing with the sin(s), the hurt, the blaming, the disappointments that every one of us have to  throughout or lives?

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