Daily Devotional

A Ministry of the Kerwin Baptist Church

June 28, 2018

by Pastor Hawtree

I AM PERSUADED THAT HE IS ABLE:

TO MAKE US WHOLE (part 1)

John 5:8 Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk. 9 And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked: and on the same day was the sabbath.

This is the famous story of the lame man at the pool of Bethesda. It was named that because there were five porches, or areas on the sides of the pool where people could sit. This particular place is where many people with different infirmities would come to lay and wait beside the pool. We are told in God’s word that an Angel would periodically come down and touch the waters of this pool. When that happened, the first person to get in the pool after that would be healed. Now I admit it sounds strange and a bit unbelievable, but I have learned that most things involved with the miracles of God are. This story is about one particular man, so let’s take a closer look.

The first thing we see about this man is that he was DISABLED. We don’t know all that was wrong with this man, but he had been what the Bible calls “impotent” for thirty-eight years. This simply means that this man could not do for himself. He had to be carried everywhere, beg for everything that he had, was helpless, and useless to everyone around him. He was what you could call ‘crippled’. This is such a picture of a sinner without Christ, and it is a picture of what you and I were before we met Christ. A lost individual cannot get to God on their own. They need someone to help them just like this man did. They are helpless in a spiritual sense. We were helpless, and in a sense, spiritually dead before we met Christ. This is how God’s Word describes it:

* Ephesians 2:1 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;

We were disabled, and we were “impotent” before we met Christ. I want to remind each of you that there are countless others around you every day that need somebody to help them. They need someone to help them get to the healing power of God. they have had this condition since the day they were born, just like you and I did. We are around them every day, and each of us have some in our family, and they need our help. I encourage you today to be mindful of the people that need your help to be truly healed. They need your help to get to the “pool”. They need you to lift them, and carry them, and help them, and show them Christ. Christ made us whole, and he can make them whole, but “how shall they hear without a preacher”?