Brown's Daily Word 7-30-08

Good Morning,
Praise the Lord for the long days of summer. Praise the Lord for all the seasons the Lord does give us. He gives us everything we need for life and for righteousness. We live in a culture where we are always looking for the miraculous. We are always searching for the miraculous. “God, please send us a miracle. Fix this for us, and fix it really, really, really, really quick.” It is recorded in the Word of the Lord, a story about a man who was searching for a miracle. He was like many of us, he was searching for a miracle for 38 years. The guy was persistent, “Sometime later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews. Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate, a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda, which is surrounded by five covered colonnades, “The miracle by the pool.” It has again a summer motif. “Here a great number of disabled people used to lie – the blind were there, the lame, the paralyzed, and there was one who was there who had been an invalid for 38 years.” We read up this amazing story in John 5. Jesus is coming back to Jerusalem, and He walks into this area called Bethesda. He’s walking in , and He sees these big porticos, these big porches that are covered, and He sees hundreds, of handicapped people that are laying around these porches, all just staring at the waters of Bethesda. People had traveled for miles just to be able to lay around the porches around this pool. Why? Well, there was an urban legend back in the day that said that an angel would fly over these pools, then he would begin to stir the waters, and then the waters would become an instrument of miraculous healing, and the first person that was handicapped, that were to get in the waters after the angel stirred them, would be healed instantly. And so, that’s why people traveled from all over just to sit at the chance that just maybe, “Just maybe I’m going to get the miracle that I have always dreamed of having”. And the Bible introduces our star character. He says there was a guy who had been handicapped for 38 years, who was lying around the pool. Every once in a while there would be a bubbling up from the bottom of the pool or a ripple across the surface and it would be instant chaos – people diving in from all over and always this one guy who was too late. The people who were sitting around the pool of Bethesda that day, they were not only physically handicapped, but were many of them just like you and I that were spiritually handicapped, and they were struggling, and they were just waiting for healing in their life. Jesus walks in, and He sees the pool, and He sees the handicapped people, and He walks straight over to this guy who had struggled with his handicap for 38 years. What does He say to him? Do you want to be well? 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?” John 5:6, It says 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 be well?” That’s the question. Do you want to be well? Thirty-eight years the guy’s been struggling with this. He hasn’t been able to have a regular job. He hasn’t been able to take care of himself. He’s had people waiting on him hand and foot.” Jesus approached the guy, He is approaching you today, wherever it is that you are sitting, and He’s asking you the same question: “Do you want to get well?” Exodus 15:26, it says, “For I am the Lord, who heals you.” This word “heal” is Jehovah Rapha, which means, the Lord our healer. It means that Jesus is the spiritual surgeon of the soul with grace and mercy, and love and compassion, He looks down into your handicap, and He can bring healing like nothing else can bring healing. Do you want to be well? “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.” What does the guy say? You’ve got the Creator of the universe standing in front of you. This is your chance to experience healing. John 5:7, “Sir, the invalid replied, I have nobody to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else always goes down ahead of me.” God is bigger than all of your problems. God is bigger than anything that we can throw at Him. Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. John 5:8-9. Jesus looks at this guy after he whines off a bunch of excuses, then Jesus said to him, “Get up!” There is an exclamation point there. It says, “Pick up your mat and walk. At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and he walked.” Jesus didn’t ask him, . He told him. He said, “Get up!” and because he obeyed what God was asking him to do, he experienced the miraculous. He was able to walk. He was able to run. He was able to swim. He was able to climb, all because he obeyed what God was asking him to do. Obedience precedes the miraculous, but so many of us aren’t interested in the obedience thing. But, the common theme that we see spread throughout Scripture is that obedience precedes the miraculous. God told Moses, take off your sandals. Because he took off his sandals, he led the children of Israel out of slavery. God told Noah, “Go build yourself an ark,” and he did it, even though everybody was making fun of him. He told Naaman, “Go dip seven times.” He was a leper. His skin was falling off. He obeyed; he was healed. Jesus told Peter, “Come to me on the water.” Peter obeyed. The miraculous happened. He walked on the water. He told the blind man, “Go wash the mud off.” Because he obeyed, he was able to see. Our obedience precedes the miraculous.

Trust and Obey,
Brown


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnUZUkxkeXY