The Place Of Healing

Prayer

Introduction-

I want to tell you of a book I read several years ago. It was called “Who moved my cheese?” yea, funny name for a book, by Dr. Spencer Johnson.

Some of his quotes from the book;

Life moves on, and so should we.

What would you do if you were not afraid?

When you stop being afraid, do you feel good?

The quicker you let go of old cheese, the sooner you find new cheese.

The book is about 4 mice in a rat race called life.

2 mice- Sniff and Scurry run in their own direction, not worrying about anything or anyone but themselves.

2 mice- Hem and Haw- they see others, but don’t really care about them enough to slow down.

“The Cheese”- is anything that nourishes you. Your job, money, relationships, processions, health.

“The Maze”- where we live. It is us trying to get all the pieces together and living life.

Have a Question for you this morning.

If you are unhappy with the way things are going, are you willing to change?

Are you willing to get yourself in a possession for God to help you?

Scripture- John 5:1-5:15

This morning I want you to pay close attention to the details of this passage of scripture. It is a familiar verse and as we hear it, we sometimes miss the new that the Lord wants because we think of the familiar.

Details

A crippled man was placed at the pool of healing alongside a lot of others in the same condition as he is.

He had been there for 38 years. EVERYDAY HE WENT THERE.

Someone else put him there. He himself could not get there without help.

They were there because they believed that if they were the first one in the pool as the waters were stirred by an angel of God, the beggar would receive a healing from the waters.

Jesus showed up, but this man did not know or recognize Jesus for who He was.

Jesus went to him- no one told Jesus about him and asked him to come to the man.

Jesus asked a bizarre question to the man that needed a miracle- Do you want to be well?

Does that about cover it? Of course not! One important detail left out is the fact that this man was healed by Jesus and sent back into society.

Happens in Jerusalem- could happen right here!

Piers or porches around the water where men and women laid loved ones to receive a healing or at least gave them a good spot to beg from the passerby.

Question I ask you this morning is…you begging or do you want to get well?

You doing the same old thing everyday or is today going to be different because Jesus showed up?

Today different because you recognize who Jesus is and what Jesus can do for you?

Do you want to get well? (Write down)

That is a simple question with a complicated answer. By all appearance, you would think this man wanted to be healed.

Been there 38 years trying to get into the water to receive his healing. (1982)

I think he started out with good intentions- at first, I believe he went with the idea of healing, get me to the water and I will get myself in the pool of healing and I got this!

I believe as time went on and he was not the first to get in the pool, he became more discouraged.

38 years later, he is going through the motion, but never really believing he will be healed.

What could he do different?

Put yourself in a position to receive healing from the Lord.

I don’t know about you, but I would have built or had someone build me a way to drop in the water at the right time. I would have watched others get in and figured out a way that I was in before them.

I would have found those guys that dropped their friend through the roof.

I would have used MacGyver Tape

Whatever it took- I would have found a way! That is my story and I’m sticking to it!

That is the way that we want our story written. But truth is, we each have something in our lives that we need to, should, or have been too scared to present to God that we need from Him.

For some it might be an addiction, some it is relational, financial, some we have fought with God for obedience issues and that has not gone well.

We keep thinking we can out last Him or He will change His mind.

It takes determination to receive from the Lord. He gives instructions and I would have made sure I understood them and was on the cutting edge of receiving.