Practical teachings from the Bible for everyday living are represented in the Light on Life podcast.
In this episode, we look at the way Jesus ministered healing to one man at the Pool of Bethesda. By a manifestation of gifts of the Spirit, Jesus gave both hope and healing to a man who had been sick thirty-eight years. What Jesus did for this one man, He will do for you.
[Tweet “If you can get people to believe the Word, you can get them healed one hundred times out of hundred.”]
In this episode, we look at Jesus healing on the Sabbath Day. Since Jesus operated under the Old Covenant, the question invariably arises, why did He minister this way?
In April 2000, a boy named Nathan was in a near-fatal car accident while trying to avoid a deer. When he arrived at the hospital, he had a broken leg, spinal cord damage, numerous lacerations, and a collapsed lung. To stabilize him, doctors put him into a drug-induced coma. Nathan was in a coma for four days, but when the drugs were discontinued, he didn’t come out of the coma. That night Nathan’s father prayed and read the Bible to him, repeating the words Jesus said to Lazarus: “Come forth.” You’ve got to fight. You’ve got to wake up.” The next morning he came out of the coma. The parents were beside ourselves with joy. But the spinal cord damage was a major concern. Nathan had a fracture in his neck, the same vertebra that actor Christopher Reeve had injured several years ago. The doctors gave Nathan a protective neck collar to prevent further separation of the vertebrae. He was in danger of full or partial paralysis.
For two weeks Nathan prayed earnestly for healing. One night as he was falling asleep, he heard and felt a popping in his neck. The next morning physicians performed three sets of X-rays to see if the vertebrae were continuing to separate. Instead, the tests showed that the vertebrae had fused back together. The doctors were stunned; there was no medical explanation for the healing. Three months after the accident, doctors cleared Nathan to resume his participation in athletics, including football, wrestling, and track and field. 1 Our God is a healing God. He is a miracle worker and He will do a miracle for you.
In the USA, at the declaration of independence, only 5% were Christians. By the Civil War, the figure rose to 12%. At the turn of the century, 1/4 of the people included Christians. Billy Graham told reporters in 1977 that 40% of Americans claim they have been born again, and 95% of young people believe in a personal God.1 The number of people who claim to be religious is staggering. But there’s a difference between being religious and being divinely, supernaturally spiritual. Jesus was never religious. He didn’t act religious. He didn’t talk religious. He didn’t have a bumper sticker on His camel. He didn’t have rosary beads hanging from His donkey’s neck. He was not a pious prophet. He was uniquely spiritual and highly effective in His ministry to the sick. And here’s the marvelous truth. You can be just like Him.
It’s important to shut down certain voices like sinful thoughts. You don’t argue with those thoughts. You don’t examine those thoughts, you just cut them off in Jesus name. It is scriptural to talk to your soul. David, if you remember, told his soul to bless the Lord (Psalm 103:1). In last week’s podcast, we also talked about the multitude of arrows hitting the soul. The point being, we often live overloaded lives. How many irons in the fire can you have before it affects your ability to divide spirit and soul? How much mental angst can we have before our heads are roaring so much we can’t hear our hearts? For this series finale, let’s go down two separate tracks as we look at the important idea of slowing ourselves down so we can better hear our hearts.
Finagle’s Laws of Information state the following: One, the information you have is not what you want. Two, the information you want is not what you need. 1 In this information glutted age, how does one discern between the two?How can you tell what you want from what you need? Knowing the answer is a key to keep your soul from going tilt.
One gentleman said he met a young man not long ago who dove for exotic fish for aquariums. He said that one of the most popular aquarium fish is the shark. He explained that if you catch a small shark and confine it, it will stay a size proportionate to the aquarium you put it in. Sharks can be six inches long yet fully matured. But if you turn them loose in the ocean, they grow to their normal length of eight feet. 1 You can be a six inch Christian or you can become a six foot tall fully matured full grown believer. To expand, to grow, to develop you have to go bigger in your thinking. Get out of the small tank of worldly thinking and jump into the great ocean of the knowledge of God found in His Word.
An unknown writer said, “This Book is the mind of God, the state of man, the way of salvation, the doom of sinners, and the happiness of believers. Its doctrines are holy, its precepts are binding; its histories are true, and its decisions are immutable. Read it to be wise, believe it to be safe, practice it to be holy. It contains light to direct you, food to support you, and comfort to cheer you. It is the traveler’s map, the pilgrim’s staff, the pilot’s compass, the soldier’s sword, and the Christian’s character. Here paradise is restored, heaven opened, and the gates of hell disclosed. Christ is its grand subject, our good its design, and the glory of God its end. It should fill the memory, rule the heart, and guide the feet. Read it slowly, frequently, prayerfully. It is a mine of wealth, a paradise of glory, and a river of pleasure. Follow its precepts and it will lead you to Calvary, to the empty tomb, to a resurrected life in Christ; yes, to glory itself, for eternity.1 Romans 12:2 details for us the importance of renewing the mind with God’s Word. Why renewing the mind is important for soul development is what we’re looking at in this week’s Light on Life.
A Swedish doctor in a new book says he discovered the human soul weighs 21 grams. He placed beds of terminal patients on sensitive scales and saw the needle drop when the patients died, he says. 1 Twenty-one grams is roughly three-quarters of an ounce. Is this all the soul is, less than an ounce of your human make-up? In this week’s Light on Life Podcast, we are going to jump into this are of the human soul as we strive to understand it’s serious power.
A college Sophomore was in need of a car and had a series of dreams one night and everything was in yellow, everything! Early the next morning he began to hit the used car lots, looking at one car after another. Finally he found God’s will for him: a yellow car, yellow inside and out. He didn’t even ask to drive it. He just bought it. Turned out to be a lemon. 1 Yellow in your dreams is hardly the way to acquire God’s will. Jesus knew what the Father’s will was for His life. One day Jesus began to share with His disciples some of that plan. He met with some resistance. What lessons can we learn from Matthews account of this encounter?
In some of the outlying areas of British Columbia, Canada, farmers have been plagued with wolves killing their livestock. Meetings have been held with farmers, environmentalists and concerned citizens in a move to solve the problem. The majority of the local people favored shooting or poisoning the marauding wolves. At one meeting a woman strode to the microphone, listed her impressive credentials and explained her solution. “Vasectomy is the answer,” she thundered. “Simply trap the wolves humanely, neuter the males and release them.” One grizzled old sheep farmer rose to his feet. “Ma’am,” he said in a gruff voice, “no disrespect meant, you bein’ an expert, but them wolves is killin’ my sheep, not makin’ love to ‘em.” 1 As funny as this story is, two-legged wolves in the church are a serious problem. Jesus addressed this problem and gave us some clues in how to recognize their potentially damaging threats.
The Lord has given to every man his work. It is his business to do it, and the devil’s business to hinder him—if he can. So, sure as God gives a man a work to do, Satan will try to hinder him. He may present other things more promising; he may allure you by worldly prospect; he may assault you with slander, torment you with false accusations, set you to work defending your character, employ pious persons to lie about you, editors to assail you, and excellent men to slander you. You may have Pilate and Herod, Ananias and Caiaphas all combined against you, and Judas standing by to sell you for 30 pieces of silver. And you may wonder why all these things have come to pass. Can you not see that the whole thing is brought about through the craft of the devil, to draw you off from your work and hinder your obedience to Christ? Keep about your work. Do not flinch because the lion roars. Do not stop to stone the devil’s dogs. Do not fool around your time chasing the devil’s rabbits. Do your work; let liars lie; let sectarians quarrel; let editors publish; let the devil do his worst. But see to it that nothing hinders you from fulfilling the work God has given you. He had not sent you to make money; He has not commanded you to get rich. He has never bidden you to defend your character nor has He bidden you to contradict falsehoods about yourself which Satan and his servants may start to peddle. If you do these things you will do nothing else; you will be at work for yourself and not for the Lord. Keep about your work. Let your aim be as steady as a star. Let the world brawl and bubble. You may be assaulted, wrangled, insulted, slandered, wounded, and rejected. You may be chased by foes, abused by them, forsaken by friend, despised and rejected of men, but see to it that with steadfast determination and with unfaltering zeal you pursue that great purpose of your life and the object of your being until at last you can say; “I have finished the work which you, dear God, have given me to do?” [ 1. Galaxie Software, 10,000 Sermon Illustrations (Biblical Studies Press, 2002)] There are some things we can learn about handling the hindering effects of Satan’s opposition to the gospel by looking at Satan’s most widely known tool, temptation.