"I Can't" It's The First Step In Getting Well

Nahum 1; Nahum 2; Nahum 3; John 5
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Would You Like To Get Well?

Scripture

Jesus Heals a Lame Man

1 Afterward Jesus returned to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish holy days. 2 Inside the city, near the Sheep Gate, was the pool of Bethesda, with five covered porches.

3 Crowds of sick people—blind, lame, or paralyzed—lay on the porches. 5 One of the men lying there had been sick for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him and knew he had been ill for a long time, he asked him, “Would you like to get well?”

7 “I can’t, sir,” the sick man said, “for I have no one to put me into the pool when the water bubbles up. Someone else always gets there ahead of me.”

8 Jesus told him, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk!”

9 Instantly, the man was healed! He rolled up his sleeping mat and began walking! But this miracle happened on the Sabbath, 10 so the Jewish leaders objected. They said to the man who was cured, “You can’t work on the Sabbath! The law doesn’t allow you to carry that sleeping mat!”

11 But he replied, “The man who healed me told me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’”

12 “Who said such a thing as that?” they demanded.

13 The man didn’t know, for Jesus had disappeared into the crowd. 14 But afterward Jesus found him in the Temple and told him, “Now you are well; so stop sinning, or something even worse may happen to you.” 15 Then the man went and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had healed him.

Observation

This man had been sick for 38 years! I don’t know if someone had to carry him down to this pool every day for 38 years, but it was obvious that he stayed at the pool most of the time.

Jesus asked him, “Do you want to get well?” You would have thought that the man would have responded “yes!” but instead he responded, “I can’t”.

It is true … you and I can’t get well on our own. We need a relationship with Jesus. Jesus told this man to stop sinning or something worse was going to happen to him! I wonder what kind of sin had control over this man’s life.

What sin dominates you?

Do you want to get well? You can’t get well on your own. You need to repent. You need to turn from your life of sin and turn from your life of selfish living and turn to God. You need to ask Jesus to forgive you of your sins and you need to ask Jesus to save you. You need to ask Him to heal you. You might have a serious physical problem or illness, but the more serious problem is the problem of living a godless life. You need Jesus.

Application

I want God to break my heart with the things that break His heart.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, help me talk to people at their level so that they can hear You through me. Give me Your heart for the people around me. I pray for the ability to communicate with people like Jesus did. I pray for the people that are hurting and that are broken that are trying to live life without a relationship with You. Give me the ability to help them see their need for a relationship with You. You are a Mighty God. Nothing is too hard for You.

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