Latest / The Woman at the Well Ministries Podcast / 654 | Wilt Thou Be Made Whole

Transcript

654 | Wilt Thou Be Made Whole · The Woman at the Well Ministries Podcast

0:06
Hello, friends, and welcome back to the Woman at the Well Ministries podcast.
0:10
With Kimberly Miller, where we believe that every man, woman,
0:14
boy, and girl must come to Jesus, just like the woman at the well in John chapter 4.
0:20
Our highest priority is helping you experience the reality of God in your everyday life.
0:26
Whether you're listening in our app, on your favorite podcast platform,
0:30
or on our website at watwm.org,
0:34
we invite you to sit down with us as we open the scriptures to learn more about
0:39
who God is and to strengthen your daily walk.
1:03
Too often, we get stuck in our ways and even in negative situations.
1:08
Instead of moving forward or dealing with our problems, we begin to normalize
1:13
them and become paralyzed like the crippled man by the pool of Bethesda.
1:18
Join us in this podcast of Woman at the Well Ministries as Kim takes us on a
1:22
journey through the Scriptures, revealing God's desire for us to make a change in our lives,
1:27
to transition from negative living to abundant living by allowing our faith
1:33
in Jesus to transform us.
1:36
Hello, and thank you for joining us in this podcast of Women at the Well Ministries. Let's pray.
1:42
Our kind and most gracious, dear Heavenly Father, Lord, we pray for your presence.
1:46
We pray, Lord, that you would be real and active and involved in every moment of this podcast.
1:53
Lord, that you would make yourself known in our hearts and our minds,
1:57
that we would hear and know exactly what it is you would have us to get from this message.
2:02
And Lord, we thank you that we know that every time we come into your word,
2:07
Lord, we are given an opportunity to learn more of you and to become more of
2:11
what you would have us to be.
2:13
Lord, teach us what you would have us to know. And in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
2:19
Wilt thou be made whole? It's a question that we read in John chapter 5 as we're
2:26
talking about the man who is crippled that has lived by the pool of Bethesda
2:32
for many years, multiple decades.
2:35
And we hear that and we say to ourselves, of course, he wants to be healed.
2:42
And we must, at some point in our lives, as we look at this account in John
2:47
5, verses 2 through 9, we must ask ourselves, why would Jesus.
2:55
Ask the crippled man who had been lying by the pool of Bethesda for greater than 30 years,
3:05
why would he ask him if he wanted to be healed?
3:10
First of all, he's all-knowing, so he knew the answer.
3:15
Second of all, it would seem very normal,
3:20
for a person to want to be healed of the condition of being crippled and blind
3:26
and sitting by the pool of Bethesda and all these years never being able to get himself,
3:34
to the pool in time to receive the healing that came from the first that would
3:39
come after the angel did the stirring.
3:42
But yet Jesus, when he's face to face with this man, asks him this question, wilt thou be made whole?
3:54
Let's read. After there was a feast of the Jews and Jesus went up to Jerusalem,
4:00
now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the
4:05
Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches.
4:09
In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt,
4:13
withered, waiting for the moving of the water.
4:16
For an angel went down at certain season into the pool and troubled the water,
4:20
whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole
4:25
of whatsoever disease he had.
4:28
And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years.
4:33
When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case,
4:39
he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole?
4:44
The impotent man answered him,
4:45
Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled to put me into the pool.
4:51
But while I am coming, another steppeth down before me.
4:54
Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.
5:02
And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked.
5:07
And on the same day was the Sabbath.
5:12
Wilt thou be made whole?
5:17
As we continue to look at this passage of Scripture and delve into what I believe
5:22
the Holy Spirit has given me about what God is saying in this passage,
5:27
I want each of us to take the time to ask ourselves, Wilt thou be made whole?
5:33
Because there is something in each of our lives that is holding us back.
5:39
And there are no strongholds in Jesus Christ. He is greater than all,
5:44
and when we bring them to him, when we submit to his will, when we allow him
5:49
to have his way in our life, the strongholds break,
5:53
because there's absolutely no way,
5:56
that anything or anyone,
5:59
especially not the devil, is more powerful than Jesus Christ himself.
6:07
Wilt thou be made whole of the results of unforgiveness in your life?
6:14
Wilt thou be made whole of the anger you can't manage?
6:20
Wilt thou be made whole of your sinful, wicked desires?
6:26
Wilt thou be made whole? As we begin to look at this,
6:32
I think what we need to understand is that this man who had been by the pool
6:37
of Bethesda for 38 years had made a permanent home in a place he was supposed to pass through.
6:47
Don't let that pass you by. There are obstacles in our lives that prove to be training grounds.
6:56
There are issues that happen that proved to be training grounds.
7:00
There are places in our lives where we rest and we are regenerated and we are renewed.
7:08
These are all places that we need to spend the apportioned, appropriate,
7:14
amounted, appointed time at.
7:17
But when that time is over, we're to move through.
7:22
The pool of Bethesda was never meant to be a permanent place.
7:29
Why did Jesus ask the man if he wanted to be healed?
7:32
I believe in part it is because he wanted him to answer whether or not he was
7:39
willing to get inconvenienced and uncomfortable,
7:45
in order to get through this place of transition and move to his place of transformation.
7:54
This man was never going to be the same.
7:58
And I believe over 38 years in that span of time, he had normalized his situation.
8:05
This is what he knew.
8:08
He knew that he would be taken care of by people who would give him things as they went by.
8:15
He understood what it was like to live a life that was dependent upon others.
8:20
He understood what it was like to live a life that was not mobile.
8:27
What he was living, he had lived so long that he had determined this was normal for him.
8:36
And even though it was uncomfortable, it was more comfortable to him,
8:40
perhaps, than what the unknown of being able to walk and move and have to take
8:46
care of himself was going to be.
8:49
So I think when Jesus comes to him and says, wilt thou be made whole,
8:54
he's asking him, are you willing to go through what it takes in order to get what you're asking for?
9:01
A question that each of us need to spend much time reflecting in our own lives.
9:07
We ask God for certain things in our prayers.
9:10
We are hoping for certain things, but when we pray in faith,
9:14
believing, we're going to put legs on those prayers.
9:17
We're going to follow what he says, and we're going to live as if the answer
9:21
has come because we believe he's taking us through it.
9:25
But it is clear to me that this man sitting by the pool of Bethesda,
9:31
instead of thinking that this was a time in his life that he was going to spend
9:37
a little bit of time and then move through it, he decided when he got to this
9:42
place in his life, when God began to,
9:46
teach him the things that this place and this position was going to teach him,
9:52
he decided to take camp there forever.
9:57
And how do I know that? Because when Jesus says to him,
10:03
Wilt thou be made whole? The first thing he does is he spews out a bunch of excuses.
10:11
Tonight, today, this morning, this afternoon, whenever you're hearing these words,
10:17
I want you to ask yourself, have you normalized a life that isn't the abundant
10:23
life that God has promised each of us in John 10.10?
10:28
See, he explains to us that the devil's come to kill and to destroy,
10:34
but that he's come that we might have life and have it more abundantly.
10:38
He says it like this, the thief cometh not but for to steal and to kill and to destroy.
10:44
I am come that they might have life and that they may have it more abundantly.
10:48
Do you believe the man who took up residence by the pool of Bethesda,
10:56
living less than what he could,
11:01
truly was living the abundant life that God came for him to have.
11:06
God had made a way, because when the angel comes at certain times into the pool,
11:12
and troubles or stirs the water, then whoever's first to get in that pool after
11:18
that happens receives healing.
11:21
Think about it for a minute.
11:25
The Lord has provided a way.
11:29
He has given the man by the pool of Bethesda the instructions that will result,
11:36
in what he's asking for, what he wants for his life, or so he says, but he refuses.
11:44
To take hold of those instructions, to embrace a change or transition, and he does not,
11:53
make any movement forward to respond positively to the directions,
12:01
that he's been given that will produce a change in his life.
12:07
If you think about it for a moment, he could have crawled to the pool.
12:11
He could have sat on the edge of the pool and stayed there.
12:16
Right where as soon as the angel came stirred the waters he could plop himself
12:20
in there and wouldn't even need anyone else and if he needed help getting to
12:25
the pool he could do that before the angel came,
12:30
if he was contemplating doing what god had instructed through this process of
12:37
being the first one in the pool after the angel has stirred the waters then
12:41
he would have been making some progress in that direction.
12:45
I liken this to people who say they want to grow closer to the Lord,
12:50
yet they don't read their Bible, they don't go to church, and they don't pray.
12:55
He tells us to pray without ceasing. He tells us that we're not to forsake the
13:00
assembling ourselves together.
13:02
And he tells us that we're to study to show ourself approved unto God,
13:05
a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth in 2 Timothy 2.15.
13:14
This is preparation. for God to use us.
13:19
The praying, the meditating, the discussing the Word of God,
13:25
the studying, the learning it, the hiding it in our heart,
13:28
that is preparation for God to use us in His service, which many of us are praying He will do.
13:35
The studying, the witnessing, that's preparation and actual service for winning
13:43
souls to the kingdom of God.
13:46
Which many of us are praying for God to save the souls of our loved ones.
13:50
But I'm afraid that some of us are like the man by the pool of Bethesda,
13:55
and we habitually pray, and we've just normalized the condition that we're going
14:01
to have lost loved ones in our life,
14:04
and we're thinking it's someone else's job.
14:07
It's too awkward. I might hurt them. I might offend them. I might lose them out of my life.
14:14
Hey, people, they might go to hell.
14:17
In fact, they will go to hell if they don't receive Jesus as Savior.
14:22
So I think when Jesus is talking to the man sitting by the pool of Bethesda
14:27
too far away to get in, he's asking him, will thou be made whole?
14:31
Because he wants to know, are you willing to do what it takes to get what you're asking?
14:38
Sometimes we want the blessing, but we're not willing to do what it takes to receive it.
14:43
To whom much is given, of much is required.
14:49
This pool was never meant to be permanent. It was a place to pass through.
14:54
I want to bring to your attention a very soothing, very comforting passage of
15:01
Scripture that's familiar to many.
15:04
It's Psalm 23. And this is also a place that we are to visit,
15:12
perhaps often, but we are not to live there.
15:15
We are to be about our Father's business. He said, the fields are ready for
15:21
harvest, but where are those that will reap the harvest?
15:26
I think when he's asking him, will thou be made whole? He's asking them,
15:30
are you willing to do what it takes?
15:33
Or do you just want me to give it to you?
15:37
And then are you willing to take what I give you and do something productive with it?
15:44
Psalm 23 says, The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
15:48
He maketh me to lie down in green
15:50
pastures. He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul.
15:55
He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
15:59
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
16:02
I will fear no evil, for thou art with me.
16:05
Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in
16:10
the presence of mine enemies.
16:12
Thou anointest my head with oil, my cup runneth over.
16:16
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.
16:22
God has a plan for you. Jeremiah 29, 11 tells us it's a good one.
16:27
And it's to give us an expected end and a hope.
16:30
And there are places of rest and there are places of learning and there's places
16:35
of training, and there's places of proving.
16:38
But the pool of Bethesda for this man became a permanent place,
16:42
and he made it a permanent place because its intent was never to be one.
16:48
It's a place to pass through.
16:51
I believe that your pool of Bethesda might be a place of rest,
16:55
just like we read about in Psalm 23.
16:58
It might be a place where you need to just go away from the rest of the busyness
17:06
of this world, the distractions.
17:09
You might need to just crawl up in the arms of the Lord like he tells us to
17:14
do in psalm 91 and you might just need to just rest in the shadow of the almighty,
17:20
your place might be a place of renewal your pool of bethesda,
17:26
a place where you are strengthened and healed that's what it was supposed to be
17:32
for this man that we read about in john chapter 5 verses 2 through 9 it was
17:36
a place where he was going to get renewed strength he was going to get renewed
17:41
hope he was going to get renewed abilities.
17:44
He was going to be healed so that when he left that place, he would never be the same.
17:50
He would be moving forward in the will and the love and the grace and the mercy of Jesus Christ.
17:57
I believe that your pool of Bethesda, and I think all of us have them, is an appointment.
18:03
I believe it is a place in your journey that he's planned for you that,
18:09
gives you what you need to bring about, what needs to change,
18:14
what you need to modify, what you need to put on, what you need to put off.
18:20
I believe that your pool of Bethesda is a place that when you step out of the
18:24
pool of Bethesda, you are armed and ready and equipped for the current task.
18:31
Believe your pool of Bethesda isn't a one-time dip.
18:35
I believe each time that God chooses to move you through a transition to transform
18:41
you into something else, I think you're sitting at the pool of Bethesda.
18:45
And I believe that Jesus is asking you, will thou be made whole?
18:50
Are you willing to go further for me? Are you willing to be stronger for me?
18:55
Are you willing to be more dedicated? Are you willing to love me more?
18:59
Are you willing to be all in and all sold out to me?
19:04
And I think as we move closer to the Lord and further down our journey of service
19:10
and our relationship with him, I believe a pool of Bethesda shows up,
19:15
so that we can be rested and renewed and learn and trained.
19:20
But it's a place of healing.
19:23
I want to bring to your attention in Romans 12, verses 1 and 2, these words.
19:30
And I want you to think of your pool of Bethesda.
19:34
In Romans 12, verses 1 and 2, he says, I beseech you, therefore,
19:39
brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice,
19:44
holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
19:49
Be ready. Give him your all. Be all in.
19:55
That's just your reasonable. That's just the average. That's just what's expected.
20:00
And be not conformed to this world. Here's where we're looking at the pool of Bethesda.
20:08
When we are in the pool of Bethesda, there's a renewing taking place.
20:11
There's a transformation taking place.
20:14
There's a place where our faith is being renewed, that we are resting in the full world.
20:21
Power of God, that we're allowing him to be our all in all. We are trusting.
20:28
We're not leaning into our own understandings. We're acknowledging him for every
20:33
moment, every breath, every decision, and we're laying every thought and crucifying it at his feet.
20:40
The grace and mercy of Jesus Christ, who has got us by the pool,
20:45
is ready to dip us and lift us up so that we were more for him than we will ever be.
20:50
We're more equipped to do what he's asked us to do, and we've drawn just a little closer.
20:56
We've raised the bar for how we're going to serve the Lord.
21:00
He says, and be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing
21:05
of your mind that you may prove that is good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
21:09
I believe as each of us reach our pool of Bethesda, I believe it's a transition place.
21:18
I believe that we transition from being normalized, from being tolerable and okay with
21:27
our current walk, to that we're being transformed to be more like him,
21:32
so that we're being transformed into a new person.
21:37
Yeah, that happened in our conversion to Christ, according to 2 Corinthians 5.17.
21:42
But it's a lifelong process to be sanctified and to be more like Jesus Christ.
21:50
And this pool of Bethesda that we all face, it's a place where our faith is put on full display.
21:58
We are demonstrating that I am following what the Lord says.
22:03
I'm accepting and embracing this task that I've been appointed to do.
22:08
I'm transitioning from who I am now to who he wants me to be tomorrow.
22:13
And I am moving through this world looking for a builder and a maker who's in heaven.
22:22
My citizenship has been replaced. I'm a pilgrim and a stranger here.
22:28
My home is in a place whose builder and maker is God.
22:32
And I believe as we get into the pool of Bethesda,
22:36
that place where he's going to burn off the world, that place where he's going
22:42
to renew your mind and the things that you used to love are going to grow strangely dim.
22:49
The desires of your heart will...
22:52
It's going to be transformed. You're no longer going to be held back with your strongholds.
22:59
You're no longer going to be a resemblance of a failure of something that sin
23:06
has beaten down and sin has destroyed.
23:10
But no, the thief does that. You're in the pool of Bethesda with all your might
23:16
and all your heart and with all your trust and with all your faith.
23:20
But without faith it's impossible to please him.
23:23
And you must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
23:28
And you're believing that he is, and he's going to raise you up out of that
23:32
pool more than you've ever been.
23:36
The things that were holding you back, they're useless against you anymore.
23:43
Not because of who you are, but because of whose you are, and the transformation
23:49
that takes place when you shift in your mind that you're going to believe all in.
23:55
And you're going to follow with absolutely no hesitation.
24:00
And you're asking the Lord to strengthen your faith and you're holding on by
24:05
your faith to the hem of his garment in full confidence that he who hath begun
24:11
a good work in me will complete it until the day of judgment.
24:15
It. Jesus loves me, this I know,
24:18
and my pool of Bethesda is for me to go through just like it was his.
24:23
Don't spend 38 years in a place you're not supposed to be.
24:29
Sometimes you're doing what you think is the work of the Lord,
24:33
but you forgot the Lord of the work.
24:37
It looks good on paper. It sounds good to all your friends and peers.
24:41
You can find verses that say what you're doing is what he wants.
24:46
But if it's not in the will of God for you to be in that place at that time,
24:50
at that moment, then I promise you, you're in your pool of Bethesda,
24:54
and it's not a permanent place.
24:56
It's a place that he's taking you to. for your good and his glory,
25:02
and so he can bring you through.
25:06
If the pool of Bethesda had been meant to be a permanent place,
25:11
Jesus wouldn't have met the man and asked him, wilt thou be made whole?
25:18
He'd been there 38 years.
25:21
What are you holding on? You won't let go.
25:26
Past hurts, present hurts, being treated unfairly, unforgiveness,
25:34
hatred, anger, laziness, pouting because you didn't get your way.
25:41
When you signed up to be a Christian, you thought you got to pick what you got
25:44
to do and you didn't get the one he asked. It's not how it works.
25:49
The pool of Bethesda is a place of healing. See, there's something interesting about healing.
25:55
Healing isn't something that is a long drawn out process for 38 years nope all
26:04
he had to do was be in the water right after it stirred and be the first one
26:08
in and immediately he would have been healed,
26:11
but he spent 38 years decorating the pit,
26:16
of negativity he'd gotten so used to not being able to take care of himself,
26:21
so used to other people doing things for him,
26:25
I imagine the notion of that changing was quite frightening.
26:30
Watch your pool of Bethesda. Regardless of what it is, it was never meant to be a permanent place.
26:37
It's a place where transition takes place, producing transformation,
26:45
and demonstrating your faith.
26:47
There's a blessing in transition. But you got to be willing to take on the suffering of change.
26:53
He had to be willing to learn a new way of life.
26:58
He had to be willing to face the unknown with the same faith he was going to face Jesus Christ with.
27:05
When Jesus said, will thou be made whole? His answer is incredibly sad.
27:12
He spews out a bunch of excuses. Well, I don't have anybody here to take me
27:17
down. And I don't have this.
27:19
It's always someone else's fault in his little dissertation.
27:24
But I don't think Jesus was buying it. But he was making him think about it.
27:31
Also want you to see something. When you have change, there's a transition and
27:38
then there's a transformation.
27:40
You can't be the same person after the change that you were before the change
27:47
because that person is different.
27:51
Change brings about a transformation of your thoughts, your actions, your deeds,
27:59
and it puts legs, prayers, and demonstrates tremendous faith.
28:07
He knew that life he lived was making it for him, but if he changes,
28:13
if he's different, what's that life look like? How hard will that be?
28:19
I'm afraid that we get ourselves in a rut, and at first we don't like it but
28:25
then we just get accustomed to it,
28:27
kind of like the oyster and the pearl little piece of sand gets in there and
28:31
if they can't get that sand out they just learn to live with it only for the
28:36
oyster they make something good out of it,
28:39
for you you're living in a permanent place,
28:43
that was never meant to be permanent you're missing the change and the transition
28:48
that God has for you to reach the next assignment, the next level of your relationship with him.
28:56
Just a closer walk with thee. Grant it, Lord, let it be.
29:02
That beautiful old hymn is an invitation for transition, transformation,
29:10
and the proving of your faith.
29:13
What are you not willing to throw into the pool?
29:20
Want you to see as we look closely at this message, that this transition,
29:26
this healing, this transformation requires action.
29:32
The first thing he says, as we look at this passage of scripture in John chapter
29:38
5, verses 2 through 9, he asks him, will thou be made whole?
29:45
The man gives him a bunch of excuses.
29:47
And then Jesus, who's not bound by logistics or any constraints,
29:55
says this to him, rise, take up thy bed and walk.
30:03
He tells him to rise because he's going to move above the problem.
30:08
He tells him to take up his bed because he's not going to need it there anymore. He's not coming back.
30:15
He's going through the healing, through the problem.
30:20
He tells him to walk, meaning move on.
30:24
I submit to you that he gave Lot's wife that same opportunity.
30:33
Only Lot's wife, she may have risen, and she was leaving what she had.
30:43
But she couldn't leave it behind. She couldn't continue to move forward.
30:47
She turned back to her old way of living, longingly looking when she had been told not to.
30:56
I'm afraid some of us have gotten to the pool.
31:01
Our faith is strong enough to jump in, but we've left the bed right there just
31:10
in case we need to come back.
31:12
My friend Jesus immediately heals a man who had needed healing for 38 years because he changed him.
31:22
There was a shift in this man's mindset.
31:27
The man who was making excuses would have never stood up, picked up his bed, and walked.
31:35
But when Jesus and him came face to face, when the man could see Jesus in all
31:41
of his glory, when the man understood who he was talking to,
31:45
what he could do, and what God wanted for him, he stood up, he picked up his
31:50
bed, and he moved forward.
31:52
And nowhere in the account of all of scripture does it ever say that that man
31:57
ever came back and camped by the pool of Bethesda.
32:01
He was changed forever. He was transformed.
32:04
He don't heal you for a second. He heals you completely. My God is a complete God. He lacks nothing.
32:12
And what he gives us is perfect for us and gives him honor. He says,
32:18
let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify
32:22
your father which is in heaven. Jesus loves me.
32:25
This I know, for the Bible tells me so.
32:28
And when I look at this man sitting by the pool of Bethesda.
32:33
I am convicted in my own heart and mind.
32:36
What is it that I'm not willing to put all my faith and all my trust in God,
32:46
to take and to make me better because he's removed it.
32:51
Maybe it's you've got to move from the place you're serving and nobody understands.
32:58
Anyway. Maybe it's you need to give up a habit.
33:05
Oh, let him have it. Whatever pleasure you're getting in that will not compare to what God gives.
33:11
Maybe it's a relationship you need to repair or one you need to let go.
33:18
I don't know what your pool of Bethesda is. I don't know the ones you've come
33:23
through or the one you're going to come to next.
33:26
But I know the one who's bringing you to the pool to transition you from who
33:32
you are to who he means you to be and to transform you from someone lacking what they need,
33:40
before they can do the next great thing he has for them.
33:44
I know that the Pool of Bethesda is a place for you to demonstrate your faith. Remember you are loved.
33:53
Jesus loves you.
33:56
Thank you for joining us for today's podcast. You can find quotes and scripture
34:00
references from this episode in the show notes.
34:03
We pray today's message has been a blessing. If it has, please consider leaving
34:08
a rating or review on your podcast platform.
34:11
Your feedback helps others discover the truth of God's Word.
34:16
You can connect with Women at the Well Ministries through our app at watwm.org
34:22
and on Facebook and Instagram.
34:24
While you're there, learn more about Bible Bits, Kim's daily devotional delivered
34:28
Monday through Friday by text message and the Bible Bit Podcast.
34:33
Thank you for your prayers and support. Remember, Jesus loves you. You are loved.