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Get up to 35% off select major appliances. Plus members get free delivery, install and more when you spend $2,500 on select major appliances. Lowe's we help you Save valid through 225 while supplies last election varies by location. Excludes Massachusetts, Maryland, Wisconsin, New Jersey, Florida. Loyalty programs subject to terms and conditions. Visit lowe's.com terms for details. Subject to change. Visit your nearby Lowe's on Colorado street in Kennewick. Hey, this is Steven Furtick. I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope it gives you perspective to see God is moving in your life. Life. Enjoy the message. Welcome everybody. This is the day that the Lord has made. And not only is it a new day, y', all, this is the first Sunday of our next decade of ministry together. Let's give the Lord a praise for a new day and a new decade. I promise you one thing, everybody who's in on this right now, you're about to see God do some great things. Sometimes I look in the mirror, I see all these gray hairs coming up in my beard, and I feel like grayer and greater go together. I feel like the grayer I get, the greater. Anyway, I'll work on that. Before I make a T shirt, I want you to hug somebody, especially if they look like they almost didn't come to church, but they found that wrinkled shirt and put it on and got here. Anyway. Hug for me. 21 people. For our 21st year of ministry. You'll have to move around a little bit, but get it done. Welcome to all of our campuses. Welcome to our EFAM all around the world. I'm sending you a Hug across the Internet, a worldwide hug. Let us know where you're joining from. Would you just put your city and your state and your name, Maybe your favorite candy, I don't know. Put on the list if you had a good Valentine's weekend, if you celebrate that kind of pagan holiday. I was playing, you know, as we move into this time of worship, I want to make sure that everybody has the opportunity to join us for Elevation Nights 2026. Coming up on February 24th through Thursday, March 5th. Here's where we're going to be headed. If you know somebody, if you're part of our local church and you know somebody in one of these cities, let them know. But maybe you live close enough to get there. Hershey, Pennsylvania, Brooklyn, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Grand Rapids, Knoxville, Columbus, and Chic. So help me get the word out. We're going to be taking our team Elevation Worship. Elevation Rhythm, Me, Holly, the whole family going out on the road to bring the good news of the resurrection of Jesus Christ to a city near you. Tickets are limited. Go to elevationnights.com Also Friday, when you wake up, you're going to feel a little tired. You're going to have gone through a whole week. You know, people getting on your nerves, things that happen during a normal week. But if you'll go over to Apple Music or Spotify or Amazon Music or Pandora and you'll put in Elevation Worship, you'll find a brand new album waiting for you on Friday, February 20, and you'll be singing I Call God on the Mountain. All these songs that we've been singing for months. And you've been watching the bootleg YouTube videos that these online pirates put out before we're ready to release it. Well, the wait. Tell somebody. The wait is over. The worship is here Friday. Get it? So be it. I think it's our best album yet. Yeah, yeah, yeah. How many came for a word from God today? Make some noise. I want to draw your attention while you're standing to John Chapter nine, please. I have a brand new Bible. Chunks of Amy gave me a brand new Bible for our 20th birthday. So let's take it for a spin and see how it preaches. I was insulted they gave me a large print Bible. I'm like, what is that supposed to mean? So since it was a large print Bible, I thought I'd preach about the blind man in John chapter nine. I'm so thankful that you're here. John Chapter 9 is a great chapter and you may do well to read the whole thing when you get home. I'm going to deal with the first half of this story. The Scriptures are coming on the screen. As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. Can we preach a whole message about that? As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. The man didn't see Jesus, but Jesus saw the man. We could preach a whole sermon on that. About how when you weren't even looking for him, he found you. His disciples asked him, rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents that he was born blind? Neither. Jesus sums up an entire theological library in one word. Neither. Both options are stupid. Neither this man nor his parents sinned, said Jesus, but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming when no one can work. While I'm in the world, I am the light of the world. After saying this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva and put it on the man's eyes. Go, he told him, wash in the pool of Siloam. This word means sent. So the man went and washed and came home seeing. He went and washed and came home seeing his neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging, asked, isn't this the same man who used to sit and beg? Some claimed he was. Others said, no, he only looks like him. But he himself insisted, I'm the man. It's me. How then were your eyes open? They asked. He replied, the man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. Yeah, I know it wasn't pretty. I know I didn't see it coming. Literally. He made some mud and put it on my eyes, and he told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed and then I could see. I want to talk to you today about when waiting isn't working. When waiting isn't working. Put that in the chat, please, or the comments if you're watching later. When waiting isn't working, not getting better, not healing the wound. When waiting isn't working, Nothing's changing, no doors are opening. I want to talk about that today. When waiting isn't working. I gave the message a subtitle too. The subtitle is Muddy Moves, Muddy Moves. Tell somebody I make muddy moves. Yeah. Father, bless your word in Jesus name, Amen. You may. How long would you sit there if I just came up here, made you wait? Now we need to have an altar call for lying for all of you who said all day? I mean, they don't even Stay until I do my invitation. Half the time tripping over people in the back of the parking lot, talking about all day. No, really, how long would you sit there waiting? Sometimes it's worth the wait. Sometimes it's not. When I first met Holly, she was on a dating probation, a probationary period. The thing was, she just wanted to take some time to really be anchored in her values. When she went to college, before she got entangled with somebody who may or may not share those values. I think that's great because I can attest to the fact that she is absolutely worth the wait. But I was in line, I cut in line, and I put her on my ministry team. So whenever the Lord spoke to her that the probation had been lifted and the wait is over, I wanted to be the one. Here we are, 27 years of being Valentine's. 27 years. You learn a lot about love in 27 years. You learn a lot about Valentine's Day. You learn to go out two days before Valentine's Day to the restaurant and be at the restaurant when they're not overbooking the place, putting you at a little table somewhere in the bathroom and charging you full price. On Valentine's Day, we go out on February 12th. Yet what amazes me is that as long as this woman has known me, there are certain things that she still does not understand about the difference in our dynamic. When we were going out on our Valentine's Day date two days early a few days ago, I came upstairs after my workout, and I'm sweating and I'm not ready. We have to leave for the reservation in just a few minutes. She's finishing getting ready, and she looks at me, and nicely, she's trying to do a nice thing. She's like, do you want me to push the reservation back? I'm like, you don't need to push the reservation back. How do you not know after all these years of being married to me, that it doesn't take me long? I mean, Holly, I love you. Thank you for asking, but we both know that you finishing getting ready and me getting ready all the way from the starting. Point of readiness. In the beginning, I can take a shower, get dressed, write a song, support a missionary in the time you can put on this lip gloss. I don't know how that works out, but it doesn't take me long. When I get ready, I do it quick. It amazes me in the Scripture how much Jesus did with so little time on earth. You hear in John, chapter nine, he makes this statement, as long As I am in the world. I'm the light of the world. But I have to do the work God called me to do in the window. God gave me to do it. That might be a word for you too. I've got to do the work that God called me to do in the window. God gave me to do it. That will help you put off procrastination and that will help you sometimes stop thinking you've always got more time than you really do. But when Jesus said I must work the works of him who sent me while it's day, I think he was also reminding his disciples, it doesn't take me long. I want to remind somebody today. And maybe this will be the whole reason you came, for the message that it doesn't take God long. It doesn't. The one who created the world in six days and said, well, we could chill on the seventh because I'm done. It doesn't take God long to work. It doesn't take God long to work. The one who can make the walls fall, a project that would have taken a demolition crew, perhaps weeks of permitting alone, and he can do it with the blow of a trumpet. It doesn't take God. God chooses when he wants to move, but when he moves, it doesn't take him long. So don't be discouraged if you think it's taking too long. God can do something in a moment that will make up for a month of what you thought was wasted time. It doesn't take God long. Reach around and tell three people. It doesn't take him long. It doesn't take him long. That's what I was telling Holly. Go ahead and finish doing. By the time you get done curling your eyelashes, I will be in the jeep waiting for you impatiently because it doesn't take me as long as it takes you. God wants you to know. I know you feel behind. I know it feels like forever. Who am I preaching to? But this is the word of the Lord. When he gets ready to do what he's going to do, it will not take him long to do it. God can turn things around so quick. God can turn things around so completely. God can do a reversal so suddenly that the last will be first and the first will be last. God can move you right to the front of the cafeteria lot. God can put you right in the door many people shut on you. And God kicks it open. When God kicks it open, back up everybody else. It doesn't take God long. Now Jesus said I have to do the work of him who sent me While it's day, for those of you who think I'm just up here trying to give people encouragement for sudden breakthroughs and aha moments and complete reversals overnight, I am not that kind of preacher. If you've experienced my ministry for any length of time, I am a process oriented preacher. So one time early in my ministry I was experiencing this differential between patience and passive. I sat down to explain to our team how we were going to go to two services because we were full in our first service. The whole team started arguing about whether or not we should go to two services. Not two campuses, two services. Some thought it would be too taxing, some thought it would be too consuming, and some thought it would be too much. As a matter of fact, I even had a meeting with another person to ask about should we go to two services? The person said back to me, well, maybe you should wait on God. Then he said something really profound. Write this down. The only thing harder than waiting on God is wishing you had. Ain't that a whole bird word? I mean, that is so true. Sometimes when we are waiting for God to do something, it feels so hard that the temptation to step outside of God's will and God's way to get it done. The temptation to get us a hagar since Sarah can't have a baby. The temptation for us to do the sacrifice since the priests aren't coming. The temptation for us to reach for a bottle because we're sick and tired of waiting for breakthrough. The temptation to step outside of who you are to get what you want and you need so badly. It can be so great. But the only thing harder than waiting on God is wishing you had and waking up to decisions you made because you didn't wait. So then the next day I had another meeting with another mentor. I said, hey, I've decided not to go to two services. I don't think I should right now. I think I shall wait on the Lord. He said, wait on the Lord. The room is full. I was there. I couldn't get a seat. He said, it was terrible. It was a terrible experience. I mean, I know it was good for you as a preacher. It's a full room, but for somebody trying to get a seat, it was a problem. Then you got up there and told us to invite our friends next week. Invite them to come to what? Sit them? Where? Put them. Where, where are you going to put them? I said, but I don't want to get ahead of God. He said, well, here's how God works. If you get ahead of God in an effort to obey him, he can close a door and slow you down. If you get behind God because you won't obey him, he'll choose somebody else to use. So we went to two services. I realized something about God. I realized something about waiting. I realized something about myself. I realized something about Jesus. And it is. Sometimes we think we're waiting when we are really waiting. Disobeying. Oh, I'm going to say it again. That's my whole message. Are you calling it waiting when it's really disobeying? I mean. Notice the disciples here. They see a man who's blind from birth and their first instinct is to ask Jesus a theological question. Whose fault was it? Was it his fault or was it his parents fault that he was born blind? Now this man has been born his whole life. We find out later in John chapter 9 that he is of legal age. So he is at least a grown man. And he may be an older grown man. We do not know his exact age, but we know that he has been in this condition his whole life. One encounter with Jesus, it doesn't take God long, opens up his eyes to see a world he has previously only experienced through other senses. However, had it been up to Jesus disciples, what happened to this dude, all that would have happened that day was a good debate. The disciples saw a debate, but Jesus saw a display. They said, let's talk about this man's condition. Let's talk about whose fault it was. Let's talk about what landed him in this place. Let's check his Internet search history and see if he's looking at the right websites. Let's check his doctrine and see if he believes in substitutionary atonement. Let's look and see if he has memorized an adequate number of scriptures to get him healed and stuff. Jesus circumventing all of that and Jesus walking by all of that and Jesus ignoring all of that. Reaches down in the dirt, something they are walking on top of and puts it on the eyes of somebody they are walking past. They had no intention of stopping for the man. They just wanted to talk about him. They had no power to heal the man. They just wanted to debate about it. They had no power to do anything about it. Watch out for people who are always debating and never displaying. Watch out for people who are always trying to qualify, who should and should not be called by God. Especially if they are unwilling to go through that same qualification process themselves. Jesus says, you see him as a debate, I see him as a display. You See him as someone who is crippled by blindness. I see him as a canvas for glory. You see him as somebody to walk past. I see him as somebody to work through. You see him as a blind man. I see him as a vessel. You see his lack of vision. I see his value. The only one not blind in this passage is Jesus. The man is blind. The disciples are blind. The Pharisees are blind. The truth about it is I'm blind too. That's why I need him to lead me and. And guide me and show me what's important so I don't walk past stuff he's trying to do. It doesn't take God long when he gets ready to move. In all of the ways I thought about to break down this scripture, I want to use the most unusual one. I pray that you will give me this privilege today. I want us to reimagine what happens in John, chapter nine. If the man who Jesus wants to heal had done what most of us do. When Jesus is trying to bring about a change in our life. I want you to get that thing in your life that you are waiting on God about. Waiting on God about. And if you can't think of it right now because it's too painful, that's okay. Stay right there at the surface for a moment. I'm coming for you. I want that thing to surface while I preach. Today. I am waiting for the Lord and skipping past the obvious things we wait on God about. Sometimes we are waiting for God just for something generic like, I just want to be happy again. I just want winter to be over. What are you going to do with all those coats you bought when winter is over? You can't change the weather. You just have to change what you wear. Isn't that a word? Complaining about the environment of the world. You better bundle up. The world is always going to be broken. You have to go in with your armor of God on. So write that down so I'll remember to preach it later. Georgia, you can't change the weather. Change your wardrobe. Instead of waiting on something to change, sometimes we have to embrace it. Notice what Jesus did when he healed this man. He said, I've only got a short window to do it. And I have to work the works of him who sent me. The ultimate work of Jesus Christ was the cross. The ultimate work of Jesus Christ was to pay for your sin. That's what he came to do. Above healing blind eyes, above opening deaf ears, above even alleviating the physical suffering of people. He came to make us right With God. He came to make a way for us to access God. He came to tear the veil so that heaven and earth were no longer separated by your sin, but joined together by his body and his blood shed on the cross. He came to do that work. But there are many works. One work, salvation, and many works of sanctification that Jesus will do along the way. I love that. As he's going along the way, he sees a blind man. The blind man doesn't see him. The blind man is not praying for a miracle. He's been this way his whole life. Chances are he has never even thought about the fact that he might be able to see because he has never heard of it. Done. As this man is sitting passively begging, Jesus actively starts a miracle. He reaches down on the ground and he begins to grab some dirt. Put up verse five, please. While I'm in the world, I'm the light of the world. And then verse six, he spits. The Bible says the man couldn't see. It doesn't say he couldn't hear. So I'm wondering, what are you doing? Who are you? And why are you spitting so close to me when he spits? Now watch this. He made some mud with the spit. And you're like, is Jesus is sanctified spit? It's still spit. He spits on the ground. Now I'm going to preach every part of this in just a moment. Go with me. He spit on the ground, made some mud with the. Spit it and put it on the man's eyes. Now go to verse seven. Go. He told him, wash in the pool of Siloam. This word means sent. So he sent him to a pool. That means sent back up. Jesus was sent from heaven. He spit in the mud and he sent a man to a pool. That represents that he was sent from heaven to get down in the mud to send a man to a pool, to show him that he was sent from above to reach down in the dirt to send a man to a pool. He told him, wash in the pool, Siloam. Here's where I'm going to take a little liberty. The man waited. The man waited. Now, this is the part where many of us have fallen in love with the concept of waiting on God. I want to underscore again that when God has called you to wait, the only thing worse than waiting on God is wishing you had. The only thing more difficult than waiting on God to bring a desire to pass is doing it in your own strength, doing it in your own knowledge, doing it in your Own sight, God doing it in your own. And then wishing. If I had just listened to that check in my spirit, I would not still be paying this off. If I had just listened and not tried to impress people, I wouldn't have this mountain of debt. If I had just waited until I got my house in order. If I wouldn't have gotten ahead of myself. The only thing worse than waiting on God is wishing you had. But when God has given you a word, waiting will not change your situation. Only washing will. Because if this man had received the sanctified spit of the Savior of the world on his eyes, imagine it. He's standing. He's blind. He's listening. He's willing. And Jesus spits in the ground and rubs mud on his eyes. So he decides, you know what? I know he told me to go to the pool. But I'm going to sit here for a minute because it will be easier for me to get to the pool if I can see my way there. So I'm going to wait for what he did to set in, and then I'll set out for where he told me to go. I have a picture of a lot of us who have claimed we are waiting for God. We even write songs about it in the church. We even have a song about waiting on God. I love it. The song is called I'm Going to Wait on youn. Do you know that song? Do you know the song I'm Going to Wait on youn? Yeah. You can't sing that all the time. You can't sing I'm Going To Wait on youn at a green light, they are going to honk at you and they should listen to me. I'm going to. What is the blind man? Just imagine with me. Just imagine with me. What if the blind man would have said, okay, this is great, man. Whoever this guy is, I've heard things about him. I've heard that he has unique ways of working. I heard they're ripping off roofs to come and see him. I heard he has a word that's not like the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Maybe he could do it. I heard that he does great miracles. So I'm going to. I'm going to wait on you. How long would you wait? I'm going to wait on you. Did you hear me, Lord? I'm going to wait on you. I wonder if the Lord ever sings back to us. I'm going to wait on you. Imagine this. Jesus said, go to the pool and wash. The man is like, yeah, I'm going to do that right after I get this mud off my eyes. Right after this mud disappears. I'm not going through these streets muddy like this. It's embarrassing. Well, I'm supposed to go through the streets. You have to realize the pool he sent him to was at the southernmost part of the city, so it wasn't a short distance. The moment Jesus touched his eyes, the healing began. But it did not unfold until he got to the place of obedience. Imagine it with me. I know it's corny, but he goes, I'm going to wait on you. Jesus goes, I told you what to do. This is the remix. How many will download this if I put it online? I told you to do it. You better get moving. Huh? Huh? That's the remix for all of us who are claiming that we're waiting. When you know God already gave you a word, you just didn't like what he told you to do. You didn't want to forgive. So you're waiting for God to heal a heart you have so clogged up with bitterness because you don't want to wash. You want to wait. You don't want to wash off the residue of what they did to you. You would rather rehearse it and nurse it and curse it and rehearse it and nurse it and curse it. But waiting will not fix what only washing can remove. Where are my Amens? Are we going into a decade of y' all looking at me like Episcopalians? I mean, God bless every denomination, but I thought this was Elevation Church. I found out that when God says move. When God says watch. When God says go. When God says step, When God says change, when God says, let it go. When God says, take it up. When God says, throw your rod. Imagine David waiting on God in the face of Goliath, talking about, well, if the Lord wants to take him down, the Lord will take him down. The Lord already showed you he wanted to take him down. That's why the lion went down and the bear went down. Because God was incrementally revealing to you the capacity of his power in a way you would not doubt him when you face this challenge. You've already seen enough. I thought about Moses standing at the Red Sea saying, stand still and you will see the salvation of the Lord. No. Stand still and you will be slaughtered by the Egyptian armies because they're coming. I'm going to wait on you. The Lord wants you to know today that you cannot replace obeying with waiting. That's a walk off statement, right? There. That is a walk off statement right there. The truth is I already preached enough words from this pulpit that went somewhere in a notebook or a phone and God told you to do it. But you tried to microwave that miracle and you tried to think that hearing would change you. But hearing the word of God does not change you. The value of is in the application. It's like mud on your eyes. God has to get it on you and then you have to get it off you. Whatever it is. In this season of your life, who am I preaching to? Guilty as charged, your Honor. I have been waiting for God to show up and not going to the place I know he sent me. I know God didn't send you into that addictive behavior. I know God didn't send you into that messed up relationship. For the fourth time. You're going back to him for the fourth time because you don't want to be lonely and you're waiting on him to change. We're going to talk about this today because I am not having you leave this church and be the subject of a debate. When God wants to display his glory in your life, I present for your professional and personal consideration in those areas of your life three times where waiting won't work. I've seen it in my own life. I've seen it in my own hypocrisy. I've seen the times where the devil knew I wouldn't disobey God if I labeled it as disobeying. I almost see Satan having a strategy meeting. Let's tell them they're not disobeying. They're waiting. Tell them they're waiting. That sounds spiritual. Tell them they're waiting. Meanwhile, keep them from calling their friends and admitting that they're struggling. The friends that could actually help them and give them some companionship. No, Tell them they're waiting on the Lord. I jotted down three things to give you that you can pray about and see if you might be waiting instead of washing. Have you ever waited instead of Washington? Prayer doesn't take away bad breath. Colgate does. You didn't pray in that away. So I want to take from this miracle briefly and succinctly. Now, listen, I told you it doesn't take God long. I didn't say it doesn't take me long. It takes me a little while to preach how I want to preach. Are y' all here for it? I want to talk about what Jesus used and then I want to talk about where he sent the man. Then I want to talk about when he did it. I want to talk about three things you might be waiting on, and it won't work. Then you wonder, is Jesus real? Because he did this thing, but it didn't work. Well, you waited instead of washing. Here are three things we wait on. I'll give them all to you upfront. We wait on perfect. We wait on people, and we wait on pain free. Put all of those in the comments you're watching online. Are you waiting when God said wash? Are you waiting on perfect? Are you waiting on people? Are you waiting on pain free? Are you waiting on perfect? A lot of times I do. The Bible says in Ecclesiastes, he who regardeth the wind will never sow. It means if you wait for conditions to be right, you'll never get it done. If you wait for the perfect time to do it, you'll never do it. If you wait until you feel ready to step into it, you'll never step into it. Isn't that the truth? The fact that Jesus made a miracle out of the mud reminds me that I'm made of what the miracle came from. This very act mirrors Genesis 2. Seven, when God made you from the dirt. Here's what I can't understand. We wait for perfect. Not only in our lives, not only in ourselves, but in others. We wait for perfect. Now let me ask you a question. When God started to make you, he started with dirt. Now you're expecting God to send you something that starts with perfect when you started with dirt? I had a unique experience the other day in a restaurant. I was trying to listen to what Holly was telling me, but I was very distracted by the conversation at the table behind us because they said our name. They said elevation. I couldn't tell if it was being said positively or negatively, so I just. I said, baby, just wait a minute. I leaned back in the booth a little bit. All I heard was the lady said, are you still going to Elevation? The other lady said, yeah. Then the friend started telling her, well, you may want to check out some other churches. Well, now I thought, she may. This is not the only church, so that may be a good idea. But what got me, the more I. Yeah, I listened to the whole thing, the parts I could pick up. The mature Christian who was talking to the other lady who had been going to Elevation, starts going down this list of how you can find the perfect church. Now, if that's what the lady was looking for, she should never come back to this one again. But when she went through all of the things I heard her say, you Might want to go to one church, go there a couple months, go to another church, go there a couple months, go to another church, go there a couple of months. I realized you're confused because you think you should pick a church. Like you pick off this menu when you want salmon or steak. You want to find out is it medium well, is it well done, is it seasoned? Just like I like. I saw one the other day. This was crazy. This wasn't the lady behind me, but I saw one the other day that I screenshotted to tell you. A lady was on a forum talking about wanting to find a church, search for a new church. Don't laugh at me making this font bigger. If y' all laugh at me making this font bigger, I will prophesy about your secret sin. Yeah, she said this is what's important to us. Bible based Jesus the Savior. Okay, great. Robust kids program. Awesome. Small to medium size, maybe around 100 members. Now you can kind of, you know what? If the Lord wants you to be a part of a big church, what you going to do when you get to heaven? And it's kind of big, by the way. You want just a little church? You going to leave? You going to check out the other place? You gonna shop around now you want to see what's behind door number two when you walk in. And it's every tribe and tongue and nation and it's white people and black people and short people and tall people and skinny people and Hispanic people and it's all kind of people raising the lamb of God. She's not done yet. We need members in the same walk of life as us. Why? You need some people older than you that aren't as dumb as you and all the people you've been running with. We're looking for a community. We want other 30 somethings. That's fine too. I get it. But then the next thing is progressive, diverse and inclusive. I want everybody to be just like me diversely. Do you see what I'm saying? I want everybody 30 and different than me so they're just like me but different. Then she wanted also decent worship. Yeah, she'll give you a little grace on the worship. You say this is mean. Reading this list. I'm not saying her name. I don't know this person. I just thought how could it make it on your list in the same category as worship and Jesus as Lord as gluten free communion. To make a preacher want to retire? I want the people to be holy but real. Not judgmental but spiritual. I want Them to be advanced in their discipleship, but still very tender to my developing blossoming spirituality. I kind of wanted to turn around in the restaurant and ask the lady, the other lady that I was telling you about. It's cool if you want to search for a church, but can we put you through the same test you want to put us through? When you come, Can we try you for three months and try another one for three months and try another one for. Oh, this is my third decade. I'm going to say it like I want to say it now. I'm not a fly by night furniture no more. I'm old and grave. I've never seen the righteous forsaken and I've never seen a perfect church. If you ever find the perfect church, don't join it because you'll ruin it. And bring your own gluten free communion. You can do that for yourself. Are you serious? Ever heard of whole foods? Are you waiting on perfect when the Savior specializes in mud? Jesus healed the man with mud. Not magic. But we want magic. Abracadabra glory, hallelujah. Rub a dub dub. I'm going to wait on you. Not without dirty work, you're not. That's why I drive a Jeep, because the jeep looks good with dirt on it. That's why I love Jesus, because Jesus looks good with dirt on it. And I want you to know he'll touch your life today. I want you to know he'll walk right up to you today. Oh, you little dirty self. You better come into the presence of God. You better listen to this man from Galilee who turns water into wine and dirt into diamonds. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Stop waiting for perfect and praise him for progress. Stop waiting for perfect and praise him for proximity. Just to be in his presence is a blessing. You know how many times I've been so fixated on one area of my life that wasn't working that I would not even worship God for the 99 that were. You are waiting on God. No, you're not. You're focused so tightly on what you don't have that you're blind to what you do. When will it be enough for you to praise God? I mean, seriously, when will it be enough? Does it have to be perfect? How can you wait for perfect when you have a God who started with dirt? I'm saying that about your spouse too. Man, you really are going to fuss about that in your marriage, your little picky perfectionist self? Somebody else would give anything to have what you're about. To throw away because it's not perfect. You aren't perfect. I will interview everybody in your family to prove this point if I have to. It's an amazing thing when you stop searching for perfect and start accepting presence. There are no perfect people. One reason Jesus opened this man's eyes and sent him to the pool is because he had to get him away from all the people who knew him before. Think about it. If he opens his eyes and all he sees is the people around him, they don't even recognize him and they definitely don't respect him. I don't know where it is. I think it's around verse 33 or something. But when they finally catch up with the man and see what he does, the religious officials are mad at Jesus. Watch this. Because he healed the man on the wrong day. Because the communion wasn't gluten free, they didn't want to take it. God bless you, man. But this is too picky. That man has never seen before. And all you can see is what day Jesus did it on. God moves when he wants to, and it doesn't take him long. If he made a rule, he can transcend the rule for a person that he loves. But you have to be careful waiting on people. The first thing you're waiting on is perfect. But the second thing you're sometimes waiting on is people notice the exchange in the text is kind of funny, but you can miss the richness if you laugh at it because they can't figure out, could it be him. When you first start living for God, people are around, you are like, is this for real? You're like, oh, yeah, they're not going to change. This is just. They're just. They get on a kick about everybody. About every time in the first of the year. They'll be done with this by March. They start doubting what God has done. No one can blame them because no one has ever heard of the healing of one blind from birth. There are others healed of blindness in the scripture, but not from birth. Nobody expects it to happen. Jesus sends him to the pool. One reason I believe he put mud on his eyes was to keep the man from being comfortable where he was. If Jesus had sent him to the pool with no mud on his eyes, he may not have gone because he had nothing to wash off. Sometimes God uses messy situations to move you and send you where you're supposed to be. That man went to the pool. I almost could see it in my mind. I almost could see the movie of the man going all the way to the pool. And he's moving, but it's muddy moves. The more I saw the man, the more I saw you. You're making moves right now, but they're muddy moves. They're muddy moves. These are not calculated times in your life. These are not sure steps you're taking. These are not clear paths that you're trotting. These are not obvious decisions you're making. It is difficult for you to know if you're doing the right thing. But if you are moving in the direction of what God has told you to do, if you get ahead of him, he can close the door if you disobey him and call it waiting. If you disobey him and wait another year for things to change. People say time heals all things. Time doesn't heal all things. Time hardens all things. If you stay with the mud on your eyes, waiting to see the change, waiting to move until you can see, waiting to know the outcome. By the way, Jesus didn't even tell the man, you're going to get healed. Find it in the text. He didn't even promise him an outcome. He just gave him an instruction. But something about the way his voice spoke resonated with the man. I have to move. It's muddy, but I have to move. I have to start this Bible study. I have to move. I can't wait for an invitation. I have to move. I don't know if this is the right counselor, but it's a counselor. I have to move. I don't know if it's the right egroup, but it's a E group. I have to move. I don't know if it's going to work in this program, but it's a step. I'm making muddy moves. In this season of my life, I'm obligated, obeying the best I know how. And if I get it wrong, he'll speak again. And if I get off track, he knew that too. But I'm making muddy moves. These are not pretty steps. These are not dance moves. These are not fancy moves. These are not step team competition moves. These are muddy moves, but I am making them. I saw the man who got to the pool, and he would have known when he was there because he would have heard the sound of the water. Jesus has healed this man and he said, I have to do it while it's day, because night is coming when no one can work. So this man, bending down to the water because he had no other option but to obey, begins to wash the mud from his eyes. You're asking why Jesus spit in the mud, but that's not what I'm asking. I get that because Jesus wanted to touch that man and let him know. I am not ashamed to be identified with you. What I wanted to know is why did he send him all the way to the pool? Why not just wash it off on the spot? I realized something about pools of water in the daytime as the light shimmers off of the pool is that this man has never seen before. Jesus wanted to give him a pool not only to remove the mud, but to reflect a face. The first thing that the man saw after a whole life of being stepped on when he got the mud off of his eyes. Jesus said, the first person I want you to see is yourself. So he didn't send him to people. He sent him to a pool so that the dirt could be removed, so that his true self could be revealed. You haven't even seen yourself yet. Before you can see Jesus, you have to see yourself. Long enough. Other people defining you by what you did. Long enough. Long enough beating the hell out of yourself because of what you did six years ago. Long enough. Long enough of you taking earthly measurements to try to qualify heavenly dimensions. Long enough. Guilt will not wash it away. Shame will not wash it away. The water of the Word will wash it away. God is washing some things away and I can't. Came with an instruction. You have to wash it off you. Now, I know it's been a long time. I know you've never seen yourself clearly. But the man called Jesus told me to wash. I went and I washed and I came home seeing. I went and I washed. I saw myself for the first time. I saw myself for the first time. I saw what I could be for the first time. God brought you here today to give you a mirror to wash away the mud so you could see yourself, not to go to other people. Who do you think I am? Who do you think I can be? If you wait in this season for other people to confirm your obedience, you will stay blind. You will stay broken. You will stay isolated. But Jesus said, I'm sending you to a spot so you can see yourself. And you cannot wait. You must wash. Which means you can't wait until it's pain free. I hear a lot of people talk about their testimonies, how God delivered them out of depression. I praise the Lord that he does that. I hear a lot of people share their testimonies, how the Lord delivered them from anxiety. And I praise the Lord that he does that. I pray that if you struggle from depression or anxiety or any other blindness in your life, any other thing that keeps you from being where you should be and who you should be, and seeing and thinking and feeling your way clearly. I pray for that deliverance in your life. But I wanted to remind you not to wait for perfect, not to wait for a person. You have it so narrow. You think unless this specific person thinks you're valuable, you're not. Unless this specific person loves you, you are not lovable. Unless the pain goes away, you can't move forward. But remember, the man did not see until he washed. And he couldn't wash until he went. Which means I have to make muddy moves. Even Jesus did not perform miracles in a pain free environment. Just before Jesus healed the man, he had been proclaiming to the Jewish authorities, I am the light of the world. John 8:12. They were so outraged by his claim to be equal with God, which he was, that they took him to the edge of the city. In John chapter 8, verse 50, it says when he proclaimed before, Abraham was I am. They picked up stones to stone him. But Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple guards. That was the context of Jesus situation when John chapter 9, verse 1 happened. As he went along, he saw a man blind. He did not let the fact that he almost got stoned keep him from seeing a man who needed to be healed. I came to say, don't let it stop you. Do not let it stop you. Don't let the fear stop you. Don't let the feelings stop you. Don't let the shaking stop you. Don't let the sleep apnea stop you. Don't let the bankruptcy stop you. Don't let the credit problem stop you. Don't let the lawsuit stop you. Don't let it stop you. Because he who began a good work in you will be faithful to performance. But you gotta go. And so while you've been waiting for God to take the pain away, how many have been praying in this season of your life? God, take it away. He may take it away, but sometimes he doesn't. Paul had a thorn in his flesh, a messenger of Satan, sent to buffet me, sent to beat me, sent to pummel me, sent to punish me, sent to get me off course. Paul said three times I prayed to the Lord to take it away from me. When people used to say they were delivered from anxiety, delivered from depression, delivered from poverty, delivered from, delivered from. I thought that always meant the Lord would take it away. I found out that sometimes he does, sometimes he makes a way. Sometimes he takes a way, sometimes he makes a way. He says to you what he said to Paul in verse nine. My grace, My grace, that's what you're going to get. My grace is going to be enough and it's going to be sufficient. It's going to be enough for tomorrow, and it's going to be enough for Tuesday. It's going to be enough for next year and it's going to be enough for the battle, and it's going to be enough for the storm. And it's going to be enough. It's going to be enough. Reach around and encourage five people, tell them it's going to be enough. It's going to be enough. It's going to be enough. My grace is sufficient. So I'm not going to take away, I'm going to make a way. You don't have to wait for the pain to go away, but I'm looking for 1600 people who will praise him right up in the middle of it. Who will praise praise him with mud on my eyes, with questions in my heart, with pain in my soul. I praise him. Father, I thank you in Jesus name for the mud on my eyes. I thank you for the healing that is happening from the this pulpit today, all the way from this room to a hospital room, all the way from a hospital room to an apartment, to a college dorm room, to a prison cell right here to the third row to our Riverwalk campus, to our uptown campus. Your word is flowing. It doesn't take you long when you speak, you heal. When you instruct, you interrupt. When you do a thing, you do it swiftly in its time. Thank you for the pool you've given us to wash in today, the water of your word. How I thank you for the times in my life you opened my eyes. How I thank you for the eyes you're opening right now. God, today I pray for the person whose eyes are closed spiritually and they need to see Jesus. They don't need to see me, they need to see Jesus. You can see him today. The Bible says we walk by faith, not by sight. You can see him today, but in order to see him, you must surrender who you thought you were, who you thought he was. Right now with your heads bowed and your eyes closed, I want to offer you this gift of eternal life. The Savior of the world did the work so you could be saved. Right now, in this moment, if you're saying, man, I don't know what's next in my life, I'm not perfect, I'm muddy I'm dirty. That's great. God loves to start with dirt. He loves to do miracles with mud. The Lord brought you here. You know, this is your opportunity to receive him. That's all you got to do. All you have to do is wash. He already provided the blood. All you have to do is wash right now with your heads bowed and your eyes closed. If today is your day and you know you're coming back to God or coming to him for the first time through Jesus, I want you to repeat this prayer after me. We're going to pray it out loud for the benefit of those who are coming to God or coming back to God as a church family. Repeat after me. Heavenly Father, I am a sinner in need of a savior. I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the Savior of the world. Today I make Jesus the Lord of my life. I believe he died that I would be forgiven and rose again to give me life. I receive this new life. This is my new beginning. I am a child of God. On the count of three, shoot your hand up in the air if you prayed that. 1, 2, 3. I want to celebrate with you personally. God bless you, sir. God bless you, ma'. Am. That's a beautiful thing. Come on, it's your birthday today. It's a new day today. Let's celebrate all these who just made the greatest decision. Come on, we got a Bible coming around to you. Let's give it up for all of our Bible toters. They're gonna give you that word. Hey, that Bible that they just gave you, that's your new pool of siloam. You go to that and you look in that Bible every day and you see yourself for who God says you are. And you begin to see, I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. I am more than a conqueror through him who loves me. I am who God says I am. And you keep coming back because God is not finished working on you. Thank you for joining us. Special thanks to those of you who give generously to this ministry. It's because of you that this ministry is possible. You can click the link in the description to give now or visit elevationchurch.orgpodcast for more information and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe. You can share it with your friends. You can click the share button, take a screenshot and share it on your social stories and tag us evationchurch. Thanks again for listening. God bless you.