Have you gone to the
doctor lately?
I went to the emergency room to wait to see how my father in law was
after a spell with his heart. While
my wife and I were waiting for the news, we saw many different kinds of people
coming in and out of the emergency room.
After a while a man who was severely
ill came into the room and was asked to sit down to fill out his application
for entrance into the hospital. While he was sitting down filling out the form
he fell out of his chair on to the floor.
He was out cold. I thought
that he was dying. I started to
jump up, but there were the nurses and the assistants standing all around.
No one went to his aid. He
just lay there on the floor while everyone went on with business as usual. People were stepping over him while he was lying dead on the
floor. I couldn't believe what I
was seeing. Why wouldn't anyone
help him? Finally I saw the nurse
talking to the security guard and I finally decided that the man who was on
the floor was not dead but passed out from the effects of alcohol.
This event has stuck out in my mind as a reminder of what the Lord's
experience with the man at the pool of Bethesda.
The purpose of this
message is to show that sin is an illness that Christ can cure.
He is the great physician. Do
you want to get well?
Scripture
Text:
John 5:1 (NIV) Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for a feast
of the Jews. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in
Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades.
3 Here a great number of disabled people used to lie--the blind, the lame, the
paralyzed--and they waited for the moving of the waters. 4 From time to time
an angel of the Lord would come down and stir up the waters. The first one
into the pool after each such disturbance would be cured of whatever disease
he had. 5 One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 When
Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a
long time, he asked him, "Do you want to get well?" 7
"Sir," the invalid replied, "I have no one to help me into the
pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes
down ahead of me." 8 Then Jesus said to him, "Get up! Pick up your
mat and walk." 9 At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and
walked. The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, 10 and so the Jews
said to the man who had been healed, "It is the Sabbath; the law forbids
you to carry your mat." 11 But he replied, "The man who made me well
said to me, `Pick up your mat and walk.'" 12 So they asked him, "Who
is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?" 13 The man who was
healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that
was there. 14 Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, "See,
you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you."
15 The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him
well.
Is the church a place for
people who are sick and need help? Is
the church a place where people who are in need can get help or are they just
passed over like the man in the emergency room?
Do people find that this is a place where they can find the doctor who
can heal? Could the church be
called a hospital for the walking wounded?
1.
The pool was a place for the sick to gather for healing:
A place for Sick people. v.3 People are
invited in and people are accepted, allowed in, and invited in.
They want to be helped and healed.
Looking for a miracle that God is there and can and will help them. Is the church a place for those who are in need in their
lives? Why the pain?
Many have wounds that are Self-inflicted, enemy attacks,
persecution of the faithful, or incidental causalities.
Sickness is a result of sin. The
original sin and our sin will generate unwanted health problems.
Sin is the disease and Jesus is the cure.
2.
The pool was a place where people can get what they need in
this life and the life to come: A place where people can find help and
healing. Are you looking for
miracles? There are
physical and spiritual. What is
your need for healing in your life? Are
you lonely, need a friend? Worried
about life? Do you have a nervous
stomach? Stressed out? How are
you holding out? How are you
handling it? Can you do it on
your own? How long has it been
for you? How long have you been
holding on trying to survive with this problem that you have had?
You can't make it on your own. You
need the great physician to give you help. You have been hurt. You have been let down.
You have needed to lean on someone else.
But no one has been there for you, until NOW!!
Healing
is available now! a.
Physical healing b.
Spiritual healing c. Relational
healing all three types of
healing are related to one another. One affects the other part in your life.
Jesus is the great physician. Let
Him be your healer.
A recent Sports Illustrated article painted a vivid picture: A stress
fracture begins when the shocks and strains of playing game after game create
microscopic cracks in the outer layers of bone usually in the legs and feet. If the pounding continues and those tiny crevices, which
often go undetected, aren't allowed to heal, they can enlarge. When the cracks become large enough to cause pain, they are
stress fractures. So it is with
our lives. Let us be careful to
let our little hurts and disappointments heal so that the tiny cracks do not
become debilitating stress fractures.
3.
The pool was a place where Jesus passed by:
The church should be a place where Jesus passed by.
Does He pass by you or does he come to see you?
Jesus has come here today to see you.
He makes house calls. Rev.
3:20. Jesus wants to ask you a
question:
A.
" Do you want to get well?
" Do
you want a new life? Do you want
to be healed of the things that are bringing you down in this life?
What is your answer? Do
you think Jesus should have asked this man this question? Why did he?
B.
How will you answer?
Will you make excuses?
Will you allow Jesus to help you today? Do you recognize your need of
healing in your life? Will you accept healing in your life? Will you accept help from someone else in your life?
Will you ask for help in your life? Those who are whole don't need a
doctor.
C.
God wants you to be well in your life.
He has come so that you and I may be able to enjoy life to the fullest.
Do you? Will you?
He is the great doctor who knows exactly what you need in your life,
family, and church to be made whole..
Admit your need?
Humble yourself before the great physician? Accept His healing and help.
Take His medicine. Let Him
come into your life and follow Him!
He is the cure.
The following is a wonderful prayer by Norwegian Theologian Ole
Hallesby:
"Lord, if it will be to Your
glory, heal suddenly. If it will
glorify You more, heal gradually; if it will glorify You even more, may your
servant remain sick awhile; and if it will glorify Your name still more, take
him to Yourself in heaven."
Be
careful about reading health books. You might die of a misprint. Mark Twain
We are living in a time in
which millions of people are exploring alternatives to traditional Western
Medicine. An "holistic
health explosion," it has been called.
We realize, of course, that traditional Western Medicine is very
valuable and, for most of us, when we get sick, it is the first place we turn
to. It is a gift from God, and we
thank God for the dedicated persons who serve their fellow human beings
through the practice of traditional Western Medicine. But, today, millions and
millions of people are exploring a growing list of alternative healing
methods: Bio Feedback, Autogenics
Training, Kenesiology, Acupuncture, Guided Imagery, Bio Energetics,
Reflexology, Stress Management, Gestalt Therapy, Therapeutic Touch,
Homeopathy, Naturopathy, Macrobiotics (and that's just a partial list.). Many
people are finding help in some of these alternative healing methods.
But the remarkable thing about them is that people are discerning, more
and more, that the actual healing is in none of them.
They can remove some of the obstacles to healing.
They can help to evoke it, but the healing itself is in the power of
God. From Bible Illustrator.