THEIR MIND MAY BE GONE DON’T GIVE UP ON THEM. THEY MIGHT BE TAKEN CAPTIVE BY DRUGS, ALCOHOL AND ADDICTIONS BUT DON’T GIVE UP ON THEM.
THEY MIGHT BE YOUR BROTHER, SISTER, MOTHER, NEIGHBOR, FATHER AND EVERYBODY SAYS THEY ARE A WASTED CASE, DON’T GIVE UP ON THEM
-Pastor Mensah Otabil at International Gospel Christian Centre, Christ Temple Accra ,Ghana Sunday Service.
Last week I said I am going to focus my teachings on rising for the next couple of weeks. Last week, we looked at let God arise. God does not just arise but He also empowers us to rise.
Today I am speaking on the topic – RISE UP AND WALK.
If you have read the gospels, you must have come across this phrase ‘Rise up and walk’ a few times, Jesus issued that command a few times. Today we will be looking at three people in scripture who couldn’t rise and walk and each one of those people was told “Rise up and walk”. Church Gist. Each one of them was stuck in a condition of weakness, but each one of them ended up walking.
- Today somebody here will rise and walk.
When God rises, His people also rise.
The first person we will look at who received that command is the man who had no one to help him.
John 5:5-9
The first thing we notice about the man is that he had being afflicted for a very long time, the passage says that he has had his affliction for 38 years. For 38 years he had being at Bethesda waiting for his healing. He came to Bethesda because it was a place of hope and healing. The Bible does not tell us exactly the name of his infirmity but people who were in Bethesda were either lame, blind or paralyzed. We can conclude from the passage that the man was paralyzed because the Greek word translated infirmity in that passage means feebleness.
I believe that the first year he got to Bethesda he was expecting to be healed and then the next year and the next year and the next year. By the time Jesus met him hope had dried up. There was no enthusiasm in this man, the second thing you will notice about this man is that he had no one to lift him into the waters. It’s not that opportunity didn’t show itself, the years he had been there the waters have been stirred many times, and he would try to get into the water but couldn’t because he had nobody to lift him up. Church Gist. The people who brought him to the pool left him. Sometimes there are people who help you halfway. The reality is that it is not just about been at the pool, you have to be ready when the waters are stirred.
There are certain times in your life when you just can’t seem to get it right. The man made a complain that anytime he tried to get into the water people got there before him. It was almost as if he had become a stepping stone to other people’s breakthrough. He can’t compete with people around him.
It is easy to lose hope when you have been in a situation for a long time with healing and it is most painful when you see other people just bypass you. It could be in marriage, you are waiting to get married especially when you are a believer and all of a sudden somebody who used to be an unbeliever, a bad boy or bad girl just comes and get married before you. Or when you are married with no child after some years and somebody who just got married start having children immediately.
I don’t know how you relate to this story, maybe you are stuck in one place. Never taking opportunities, people jumping over you. But Jesus came to this man who felt hopeless and said “Rise up and walk”. Church Gist. An angel missed you but Jesus would never miss you. Nobody is going to help you, nobody is there for you but God is there for you. You don’t have what it takes but God is all it takes.
Second person who was told to rise up and walk was the man who had some people to help him
Mark 2:3-4, 9-12
What really amazed me when I was studying the portion of scripture is the number of times the word “they” is used. In verses 3 and 4, ‘they’ is used five times. It’s not him, it’s they. The story is not focused on the man who is paralyzed but his helpers, the story focuses on people who don’t give up on others. Church Gist. Jesus saw their faith not the man’s faith.
The first thing you will notice about this man is that he was totally incapable of doing anything by himself. He had a palsy. The first guy Jesus engaged him in conversation, this man you can’t engage him in a conversation. He is totally paralyzed. Everything that is happening is not happening because of him but because people believe in him.
Sometimes people get to stages like this through sickness, addictions, mental illness, or demonic possession where a person cant help themselves. They are totally incapable of acting. He couldn’t help himself, but he had people who carried him physically and spiritually. They believed in him even though he couldn’t believe himself. He didn’t know about Jesus but there were people who believed for him.
Some times in life there are people who need you not to give up on them, their mind may be gone don’t give up on them. They might be taken captive by drugs, alcohol and whatever but don’t give up on them. Church Gist. They might be your brother, sister, mother, neighbor, father and everybody says they are a wasted case, don’t give up on them. Be one of the four who says I will stand by him, I will pray for him, I will carry him, I will look for help for him because they can’t help themselves. You are the only one who your sister needs, who your brother needs and if you give up on him he will die in that state.
The Bible says Jesus saw their faith, is it possible to have faith for somebody? Yes. Is it possible to pray for somebody who doesn’t even believe in prayer? Yes. Is it possible to believe for somebody who has lost hope? Yes. Can you have hope for the hopeless? Yes because Jesus saw their faith and responded to their faith.
For someone of you God is looking up to you for your family, don’t give up on that sister, don’t give up on that brother because your faith is what God is looking up to. Don’t give up on that alcoholic, don’t give up on that mentally challenged person. The doctors may give up but you must never give up. “It can not be done”, God can do all things.
That was one of the few times Jesus forgave a person’s sins before healing them, why? Because it is his bad deeds that have put there. He is the kind of person we will say God had repaid him in his own coins but Jesus forgave him.
Jesus told the man who was not conscious of where he was to rise up and walk. It is so interesting how Jesus will speak to hopelessly dead situations. Jesus didn’t speak to the friends, Jesus spoke to the man. Just as Jesus spoke to Lazarus in the tomb not to Mary and Martha.
The third person was the man who needed a little help.
Acts 3:6-9
He sat daily begging for a living. He had the ability to do something but a condition was limiting him. When Peter said to the man “rise up and walk”, he didn’t walk. This one that could do something unlike the other two couldn’t respond to the word. So Peter lifted him up by the right hand to rise up and walk. This man needed a little help, a little push, a little encouragement.
First guy, no one to help him, the second guy had people to help him and the third guy needed a little help, I don’t know which category you may belong. The instruction is the same “RISE UP AND WALK”.
- Wherever you are in every situation of life, I speak to you Rise up and Walk.
- You will walk into victory and breakthroughs. You will leave this house to your own house with a testimony.
- God will cause you to rise up and you will walk again.
- The thing that used to carry you, you will carry it.
Just as Jesus Christ was raised from the dead, this morning there will be many rises. God is arising on your behalf, he will show you favour, he will show you His power. As we take Holy Communion may the Lord arise over you and cause you to rise up and walk.
#PastorMensahOtabil
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