Dharius Daniels - Stop Using GRACE as an EXCUSE Not to Grow

Because some people try to use grace as an excuse not to grow, when grace is an opportunity to grow. Grace is not permission; grace is an extension. Grace is God saying, «I’m going to give you time.» When you look at the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, you’ll see they just name places but don’t describe them. They say Jesus went to the Mount of Olives—that’s it—he went to Capernaum—that’s it—he went to Nazareth—that’s it. But here in Bethesda, John says there was a place called Bethesda. He states that at Bethesda, there was a sheep gate, which was a gate that sheep went through. On the other side of that gate was a pool, and that pool was surrounded by five pillars or porches. I’m thinking that’s a lot of detail! It’s Bethesda. To enter Bethesda, you had to go through a sheep gate, and on the other side of the sheep gate was a pool surrounded by five porches or pillars. I started doing some digging because of that detail, and I knew that the Hebrew word «Beth» means house or place, right? Beth means «house of God» or «place of God.» So, I looked up the second part of the word, and I saw it meant «of grace.» I said, «Wait a minute, John! This place is called the house or the place of grace, and to enter the house or the place of grace, if you’re a sheep, you had to go through one gate—there was only one way.» Jesus said this about himself: «I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.» I said, «Now wait a minute! You can only access the place of grace if you’re a sheep, and if you’re a sheep, you must go through the gate. But once you get through a gate called Jesus, you gain access to a pool.» I’m thinking, now what does the pool represent? We’re in John 5, but I backtrack to John 4. In John 4, Jesus has a conversation in Samaria with a woman at a well. She’s going to the well because she’s thirsty physically, but she also doesn’t realize she’s thirsty spiritually. Her spiritual thirst was trying to be quenched relationally. My God, come on here! So, Jesus says to her, «Listen, I want to give you a different kind of water that will quench your thirst in a way that will satisfy you long-term and not short-term.» He says, «When you drink from this well, you’ll never thirst again spiritually.» He adds, «This well, watch this, is not going to be something outside of you. I’m going to put it in you, so that, out of your belly—wait a minute—out of your belly shall flow rivers of living water! He said, 'I’m going to put the well in you so that every time you need to draw from it, you don’t have to wait on anyone else. You don’t have to depend on anyone else. I’m going to put within you a well of living water springing up into eternal life.'» I said, «Oh my! That’s the Holy Spirit!» So, the place of grace exists, and I only get access to the place of grace when I go through the sheep gate. If I’m a sheep and I go through a gate called Jesus, I gain access to living water, which represents the Spirit of God, but it is also surrounded by five pillars or porches. I thought, «Wait a minute! Why did he refer to them as pillars or porches? Why five and not three? Why five and not seven?» Then I remembered what the Apostle Paul said in Ephesians chapter 4. Are you all alright? Are you bored? Good! In Ephesians chapter 4, he says, «He who ascended led captivity captive,» and he says this: «And he gave gifts unto men,» so he gave gifts to men and then gave those men as gifts to the body. He mentions that he gave some to be apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers—a fivefold ministry for the perfecting of the saints for the work of the ministry. I said, «Oh my gosh! So, it’s the place of grace that you can only access when you go through the sheep gate, which gives you access to the pool representing the Holy Spirit, and which is surrounded by five porches, representing the fivefold ministry.» I said, «Oh, this is a metaphor for the Church! Listen! When you get better spiritually, everything gets better. Spiritual life is not the only important part of your life; it is the most important part of your life because it affects every other aspect that’s important. However, you don’t get stronger spiritually by accident; it takes intentionality. You need to get fed, and you must learn how to interpret, apply, and explain the Bible. The Bible is the blueprint to your best life, and I’m telling you, Sunday alone is not enough to give you the tools you need to improve with the Bible. I want you to join my community called Bible U, where I help you elevate your understanding, application, and explanation of the Bible to another level. Come on here! So, this is what the text says. Are you all ready for this? I don’t want to lose…