Do You Want to Get Well?
Key Scriptures: John 5:1-9
Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. 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. Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 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?”
“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.” 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.
Summary: We cannot change what we are willing to tolerate. Our willingness and natural effort to change, partnered with God’s supernatural power will produce real, lasting change in our lives.
John 5:5, One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years.
Lesson One: Something happens within us as problems persist.
a. The more discouraged you become.
b. The more disbelief you adopt.
c. The more you begin to compensate.
John 5:6-7, 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?” “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.”
Lesson Two: The longer problems and sin persist, the enemy will convince us to believe certain lies.
a. Sickness comes with perks.
b. Blaming comes with benefits.
Lesson Three: Spiritual change is a matter of simple obedience.
a. Change requires a “yes” answer.
b. Change requires action.