Good News TV - Part 3 - John Lomacang

Devotional

Day 1: Thirty-Eight Years on a Mat

Jesus found a man lying by Bethesda’s pool—crippled, alone, rehearsing excuses. Thirty-eight years of watching others step into stirred waters first. No friend to help him. No strength to try. Jesus bypassed the superstition of angels and tides. He asked one question: “Do you want to be made well?” The man defended his stagnation. Jesus interrupted his script. [01:02:21]

This story reveals how excuses become prisons. The man fixated on water-movements and competitors, blind to God standing before him. Jesus didn’t debate folklore. He bypassed secondary causes to address the heart’s true condition: passive resignation.

You’ve carried excuses longer than necessary. “If only I had better connections…resources…circumstances.” Jesus cuts through your rehearsed reasons. His power requires no intermediaries. What mat have you been lying on, waiting for life to stir? When will you let His voice override your excuses?

“When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, ‘Do you want to be healed?’”
(John 5:6, ESV)

Prayer: Ask Jesus to expose one excuse you’ve normalized. Confess it aloud.
Challenge: Write down three “if only” statements you’ve repeated. Burn or tear the paper today.

Day 2: Rise Before the Water Stirred

The man’s muscles had atrophied. His mat reeked of decades-old sweat and defeat. Jesus didn’t wait for angelic water or ideal conditions. He commanded action incompatible with paralysis: “Rise. Take up your bed. Walk.” The man’s will aligned with Christ’s word. Atrophied limbs surged with strength. He stood—not by feeling, but obedience. [01:12:03]

Jesus prioritizes responsive faith over perfect circumstances. The pool’s superstition required perfect timing and human help. Christ’s method demands immediate trust. Healing came not through favorable conditions, but through raw obedience to an impossible command.

Your breakthrough won’t wait for ideal timing. Jesus speaks to your paralysis now. What impossible command have you resisted because it defies logic? Where is He saying “rise” while you’re still calculating risks? Will you let His voice override your assessment of what’s possible?

“Jesus said to him, ‘Get up, take up your bed, and walk.’ And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked.”
(John 5:8-9, ESV)

Prayer: Thank Jesus for His power to act BEFORE circumstances improve.
Challenge: Do one thing today you’ve postponed as “impossible”—call that person, begin that project, confront that fear.

Day 3: The Trophy of Your Success

The healed man carried his filthy mat through Jerusalem. People gasped—not just at his walking, but at the stinking evidence of his past. Jesus made the mat a testimony. What once symbolized defeat became proof of deliverance. The man didn’t hide his history; he paraded it as a trophy of Christ’s power. [01:12:46]

God redeems stories we’re ashamed to tell. That mat proved the man’s identity had shifted from victim to victor. Jesus didn’t erase his past—He repurposed it. Our scars become platforms for His glory when we stop hiding them.

What shameful “mat” do you try to bury? Jesus wants to transform it into a banner declaring His work. Your past failures, when surrendered, become launchpads for others’ healing. Will you let Him display what you’ve wanted to discard?

“The man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn…Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, ‘See, you are well! Sin no more.’”
(John 5:13-14, ESV)

Prayer: Ask Jesus to redeem one specific regret into a testimony.
Challenge: Share a brief victory story with someone today—include a past struggle now overcome.

Day 4: The Risk of Staying Whole

Religious leaders confronted the healed man: “It’s the Sabbath! Carrying mats is illegal!” They preferred his paralysis over his violation of tradition. But the man kept walking. Later, Jesus warned him: “Sin no more.” Continued freedom required daily choices to stay surrendered. [01:18:35]

Healing begins with a miracle but continues through obedience. The man faced two threats: external critics and internal regression. Jesus linked physical healing to spiritual vigilance. True transformation isn’t a one-time event—it’s sustained alignment with Christ’s commands.

You’ve experienced breakthroughs. Now what? Old habits and critics will pressure you to return to the mat. How will you guard your healing? What daily choice reinforces your new identity in Christ?

“Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was…Jesus found him and said, ‘See, you are well! Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.’”
(John 5:13-14, ESV)

Prayer: Confess one area where you’ve tolerated “harmless” compromises.
Challenge: Delete/throw away one item that tempts you to revisit old habits.

Day 5: From Spectator to Witness

For decades, the man watched others get healed. After his miracle, he became the spectacle. Jesus later found him testifying in the temple—no longer by the pool, but in God’s house. His identity shifted from observer to ambassador. The once-passive man now proclaimed, “He who healed me said…” [01:23:47]

Jesus redirects our focus from getting to giving. The man’s healing wasn’t complete until he moved from consuming miracles to declaring them. True freedom turns receivers into messengers—paralyzed spectators become mobile witnesses.

Are you still camped at your personal “pool,” focused on your needs? Jesus heals you to send you. What step have you avoided taking because you’re still auditing your own transformation? When will your story become someone else’s lifeline?

“The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him.”
(John 5:15, ESV)

Prayer: Ask Jesus to highlight one person needing to hear your story.
Challenge: Message/Call that person today. Share how Christ interrupted your stagnation.

Sermon Summary

John chapter 5 unfolds as a sharp confrontation with spiritual complacency and the difference between a partial gospel and the gospel that transforms. The scene at the Pool of Bethesda presents Jerusalem as the corporate body of believers, populated by the sick, blind, lame, and paralyzed who wait for the moving of the water. That waiting becomes a portrait of a comfortable predicament: people who expect change to arrive from circumstance, ritual, or folklore rather than from a decisive yes to Christ. The teaching insists that Jesus came not only to save but to change, trading his sinless life for human flesh so that people might become the righteousness of God in him.

Attention centers on one man who had lain by the pool for thirty eight years. His story exposes how rehearsed excuses and fabricated beliefs trap hope. The man blames the lack of someone to carry him into the water, never recognizing that freedom sometimes requires personal response. Jesus asks the radical question that cuts through excuses: do you want to be made well? That question shifts responsibility back to the individual and ignites faith that obeys. On hearing the command rise, take up your bed, and walk, the man moves from paralysis to immediate action; muscles and will respond to the Word.

Transformation appears both sudden and costly. The new life emerges instantly when the healed man obeys, yet he carries his mat—an artifact of failure that becomes a trophy of victory. The mat functions as a testimony that the past shaped his present testimony without defining future identity. The narrative insists that divine power meets human willingness; God provides strength, but the decisive change requires a will to change. The exposition closes with an invitation to examine which pools, excuses, or comforts keep believers from saying yes to lasting change. The promise stands: where a person truly wants to be made well, Christ equips and empowers immediate, lasting change so that scars become reminders of redemption rather than chains of confinement.

Key Takeaways

1. Salvation requires real life change Jesus did not arrive merely to declare forgiveness; he entered human life so that sinners could become righteous through union with him. True conversion issues in altered desires, actions, and character formed by ongoing cooperation with Christ. A faith that stops at assent without transformation remains partial and vulnerable to relapse. [43:32]
2. Waiting replaces decisive action Many linger at false gates, expecting circumstances to change them instead of choosing a new path now. Waiting breeds rehearsed excuses that calcify into identity and prevent responsiveness to God’s invitation. God often calls people out of waiting into willing obedience rather than into further delay. [51:19]
3. Do you want to be made well The pivotal question places responsibility squarely on the heart and will of the one who seeks healing. Desire aligned with divine command activates faith that moves paralyzed limbs and reshapes life. Transformation begins where a person answers yes with humble readiness to obey. [62:21]
4. Carrying the mat as testimony Deliverance does not erase memory, and the healed one carries an artifact that marks past bondage and present victory. Scars and trophies both inform humility and gratitude, reminding that redemption rewrites but does not deny history. What once enslaved becomes proof of God’s power and a call to perseverance. [72:22]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[34:26] - Opening remarks and humor
[37:03] - ThreeABN background
[40:19] - Invitation: Egypt trip
[41:07] - Introducing a comfortable predicament
[43:32] - The partial gospel and great exchange
[50:07] - Bethesda: symbolism of the church
[60:17] - The man who waited thirty eight years
[62:21] - The question: do you want to?
[71:37] - Rise, take up your bed, and walk
[72:22] - The mat becomes a trophy
[82:51] - Closing prayer and invitation

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading
- John 5:1-9 (ESV): The healing of the paralyzed man at the Pool of Bethesda.
- 2 Corinthians 5:21 (ESV): "For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."

Observation Questions

In John 5:6, Jesus asks the paralyzed man, "Do you want to be healed?" How does the man respond, and what does his answer reveal about his mindset? [01:02:21]
What specific command does Jesus give the man after healing him, and what is significant about him carrying his mat? [01:12:22]
According to 2 Corinthians 5:21, what exchange takes place between Jesus and believers? How does this connect to the sermon’s emphasis on transformation?

Interpretation Questions

Why might Jesus have asked the man, "Do you want to be healed?" instead of immediately healing him? What does this question reveal about the role of human will in experiencing God’s power? [01:02:21]
The man carried his mat—a symbol of his former paralysis—after being healed. How does this act illustrate the relationship between our past struggles and our present identity in Christ? [01:12:22]
The sermon describes the Pool of Bethesda as a symbol of waiting for circumstances to change us. How does this story challenge the idea that external conditions (like rituals or luck) are the source of true transformation?

Application Questions

What "pool" are you waiting by in your life—a situation, habit, or excuse you’ve grown comfortable with—that keeps you from fully trusting Christ’s power to change you? [01:18:58]
Jesus’ question, "Do you want to be healed?" requires honesty about our desire for change. What area of your life do you say you want God to transform, but your actions or excuses suggest otherwise?
The healed man’s mat became a testimony of his past and God’s power. What "mat" (a struggle, failure, or scar) in your life could you reframe as a reminder of God’s faithfulness? [01:12:22]
The sermon warns against a "partial gospel" that stops at forgiveness without pursuing holiness. How can you actively cooperate with Christ’s work to "become the righteousness of God" in your daily choices?
What step of obedience—even a small one—could you take this week to move from waiting for change to acting in faith?

Sermon Clips

He gets up, but I always wondered why the Lord says take up your bed and walk. I mean, after thirty eight years, wouldn't you want to leave that stinking mat? Wouldn't you want to just wants to carry that thing around? And I learned something very valuable, the Lord gave this to me. The Lord said to me, sometimes I deliver you, but I give you I give you something of your past to remind you of your victory. I want you to get this. The artifact of his failure became the trophy of his success. [01:12:22] (36 seconds) #FromFailureToVictory

The bible says when Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been in that condition, what's the next three words? A long time. He said to him, do you wanna be made well? And the four words that have just transformed my life as a pastor are the first four words. Say it with me, do you want to? Do you realize the difference between failure and success is that question? Do you want to? [01:01:56] (46 seconds) #DoYouWant

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