Thought for the Week

  • by: Senior Pastor Barry Yates 05/16/2012

thought for the week-slide
Friends

 

How is your week going?  Are you making a difference?  Several weeks ago I challenged you to do three things that can “rock this world.” 

 

1. Pay attention to each other.

●Look around and notice that there are a lot people working hard to live a Christian life (nobody is perfect) and they are using their gifts to point people to Jesus Christ.

●Look around and say “thank you” to them. Most people do not even know who unlocks the church or who cuts the grass.

 

2. Speak well of each other.

●If you can’t say something good don’t say anything at all.

●An encouraging word can go a long way. Sometimes a word can be easily written off as kindness rather than gratitude, as flattery rather than sincerity.

●Encourage not discourage!

 

3. Pursue godliness.

●God wants us to grow in grace and wisdom.

●We are to become like Jesus.

●Remember nobody is perfect. So when people make mistakes, and they will, your gift to them is to pick them up, and not put your foot on their back.

●God is most pleased when HIS people (you and I) show grace and not talk about each other.

 

Look around, somebody needs an encouraging word!  Will you be the first to speak up?

 

This past week someone asked me, “Why do you do what you do?”  I think it is a great question.  My answer is simple; I want everyone to go to heaven!  How can this happen?  If everyone would just remember Romans 10:14 NLT, “But how can they call on Him to save them unless they believe in Him?  And how can they believe in Him if they have never heard about Him?  And how can they hear about Him unless someone tells them?”

 

If you had the opportunity, could you lead someone to Christ?

 

Many of us don’t know how to share our faith, one on one, with someone else.  I want to share with you quickly the ABCD’s of doing just that.

 

A—There’s something to admit.  Romans 3:23 says that, “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”  Romans 6:23 tell us, “The wages of sin is death.”  Before someone can be saved, they have to recognize that they’re lost.  They have to understand their condition without God.

B—Something to believe.  What people need to believe if they are going to be saved is that Jesus is Lord.  Acts 16:31 Paul made it clear: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved.”  To believe in Jesus means to trust Him, to really give your life to Him.

 

C—Something to consider.  You need to consider what it means to give your life to Christ.  Paul says in Ephesians 4:21-24, “You… were taught… to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires… and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.”  This means a new way of living, it also means repenting and turning from those things that bury you spiritually.

 

D—Something to do.  That something is to receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior. John 1:12, “To all who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God.”

 

Admit, Believe, Consider, and Do.  You can share that little message, as I have, in just a few minutes.

 

Our message this coming Sunday is called “How can I not believe?”  The fifth chapter of John presents us with a pitiful scene.  It is the Sabbath day and in Jerusalem, gathered around a pool by the Sheep Gate, is a great multitude of men and women.  Some of them are lying on the ground, stricken with sores.  Others are paralyzed or have shriveled limbs.  Still others are blind or lame.  All of these people are waiting by the edge of this little pool, for they believe that every now and again an angel stirs the water and immediately afterward the first person to step into the pool receives instant healing.  History does not tell us if there is some foundation to this practice or if it is mere rumor.  Either way, many wretched souls wait day after day by the edge of this pool, desperate for healing.

 

Jesus enters the city on this day and assesses the scene before Him.  Moved with compassion, He approaches a certain man—just one man in a sea of faces—a man who has been an invalid for thirty-eight long years.  We do not know why He chooses this one person out of the crowd.  What we do know, is that Jesus asks him a simple question; an obvious question and one which is answered by the man’s mere presence. Jesus asks “Do you want to be made well?”  The man, who is sick and nearly immobile, answers that of course he wants to be made well!  

 

He would not be spending his days waiting by the edge of this pool if he were not holding out hope that he could be made well.  The problem, of course, is that he is helpless, and whenever the waters stir and he has the opportunity to be healed, another person with greater mobility beats him in.  He is unable to help himself; he must be bitter, and depressed.  While others are claiming their healing, this man lays helpless, missing chance after chance.

 

 

John 5:1-9 in  The Message quotes it this way:

“Soon another Feast came around and Jesus was back in Jerusalem.  Near the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem there was a pool, in Hebrew called Bethesda, with five alcoves.   Hundreds of sick people - blind, crippled, paralyzed - were in these alcoves.  One man had been an invalid there for thirty-eight years.  When Jesus saw him stretched out by the pool and knew how long he had been there, He said, "Do you want to get well?"  The sick man said, "Sir, when the water is stirred, I don't have anybody to put me in the pool. By the time I get there, somebody else is already in."  Jesus said, "Get up, take your bedroll, start walking."  The man was healed on the spot. He picked up his bedroll and walked off.”

 

It is fascinating to note how Jesus dealt with different people.  He never dealt with any two individuals in precisely the same way.  He would look beyond the outward veneer and see their hearts.

 

When a person was really seeking and a miracle was in order, Jesus did one.  There are numerous miracles He did for hurting and searching people like this man, who could not walk or even help himself.

 

Jesus shows mercy on him.  To this one man He says “Rise, take up your bed and walk.”  Bam!  In that very instant the man is healed.  His legs, useless for thirty-eight years, are suddenly and completely strengthened and healed.  He rises up, takes his bed with him and walks away.  In this brief instant, Jesus performs one of the many miracles designed to prove that He is the very Son of God.

 

Is Jesus unjust to heal this man?  Is it wrong for Him to do so?  Of course not!  It is an act of great mercy and grace.  Jesus has pity on a poor, helpless man and takes away his illness.  He turns to a man who has no hope and gives him exactly what he needed.  He gives him a new chance at life!

 

Make Every Day Count!

 

Barry

 

Please come this coming Sunday!  We need you!  Come and see what God is doing!