It's Time to Get Up!

Happy Sunday!

Reverend Elton Ford preached, "It's Time to Get Up!" He used St. John 5:1-9.

"Some time later came one of the Jewish feast-days and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. There is in Jerusalem near the sheep-gate a pool surrounded by five arches, which has the Hebrew name of Bethzatha (the Pool of Bethesda). Under these arches a great many sick people were in the habit of lying; some of them were blind, some lame, and some had withered limbs. (They used to wait there for the “moving of the water”, for at certain times an angel used to come down into the pool and disturb the water, and then the first person who stepped into the water after the disturbance would be healed of whatever he was suffering from.) One particular man had been there ill for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there on his back—knowing that he had been like that for a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to get well again?”

“Sir,” replied the sick man, “I just haven’t got anybody to put me into the pool when the water is all stirred up. While I’m trying to get there somebody else gets down into it first.”

“Get up,” said Jesus, “pick up your bed and walk!” At once the man recovered, picked up his bed and walked. (Phillips Translation)

This Bible story is one of my favorites! Each time I hear it read, or preached, I get more out of it.

Time Management is big business. We have watches, alarm clocks, cell phones, day timers, and much more to help us stay on track and be on time. But even with all these things we are still late! Oh, maybe we aren't late for work, or late for that important business meeting, but we are sometimes late spiritually. Jesus asked the lame man if he wanted to be well again. What a strange question. But think about it, Jesus never asked a question because he didn't know the answer. Jesus asked the question for the man's benefit. What did the man say? He made excuses just like we do. He said, "I just haven’t got anybody to put me into the pool..."

The man wanted a helper not a healer. We do it too. We want God to help us out of our situation, but we don't realize he wants to heal us so we never have to deal with that situation again.

The scripture doesn't say what caused the man's illness. Whatever the reason, someone else brought him to the pool and laid him there. They brought him to the brink of healing and left him to fend for himself. Maybe you can understand. No one could, or would help him. The Psalmist wrote, "I look up toward the mountains. Where can I find help? My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth." Psalm 121:1-2 (God's Word Translation)

Maybe you have been abandoned, abused, and afflicted and you’re laying by the pool of life waiting for a miracle. Your Miracle has already come! Jesus has arrived and he wants to know if you really want to be well? Do you really want to be whole? Do you really want to be delivered? Or will you continue to hold on to the past with its unforgiveness, regret, sadness, and poverty just because you don't have a human being to put you in the pool. It's Time to Get Up! You were designed by God to be the head and not the tail. Don't believe the enemy! You are a child of the King! He sent his son to die for you so that you could live the Good Life. You read it, "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.” 1 Corinthians 2:8 (New Living Translation)

Let's get up this week! No excuses! One step at a time, one task at a time, and one day at a time.

Love and prayers, Cynthia