Participants: Carlton P. Byrd
Series Code: BOL
Program Code: BOL000506A
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00:03 speaker and director for the Breath of Life television ministry,
00:06 and senior pastor here at the Oakwood University Church, 00:09 in Huntsville, Alabama, for a very special taping of 00:12 the nationally syndicated program. On January 30, 2016, 00:17 right here at Oakwood University Church, Breath of Life 00:20 will be recording an Easter special. It's going to be 00:22 aired on the ABC television network, featuring a message 00:26 from Dr. Byrd, with musical guests, Grammy award-winning 00:30 songbird CeCe Wynans; violinist Jaime Jorge; and the 00:34 internationally renowned Oakwood University Aeolian Concert Choir. 00:39 We'll see you in your Easter finest, right here, 00:42 January 30, 2016, at 11 o'clock in the morning, 00:46 right here at the Oakwood University Church. 00:48 This is your personal invitation to be part of 00:52 this special broadcast. For more information, 00:55 this is our website: www.BreathofLife.TV. 00:59 PB: John chapter 5, verse number 1, the Word of 01:05 God says to us in this passage of Scripture, 01:07 the story that's very familiar to most of us if 01:10 not all of us. "After this there was a feast of 01:14 the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 01:17 Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market 01:20 a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda. 01:24 " Everybody say Bethesda. Aud.: Bethesda. 01:26 PB: Say it like you mean it, say Bethesda. 01:28 Aud.: Bethesda. PB: "Having five porches." 01:30 How many porches, everybody? Aud.: Five. 01:31 PB: "In these lay a great multitude of impotent 01:33 folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the 01:37 moving of the water. For an angel went down at a 01:39 certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: 01:42 whosoever then first after the troubling of the water 01:44 stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had. 01:49 And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity 01:53 thirty and eight years. When Jesus saw him lie, 01:58 and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, 02:00 he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole? 02:05 The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, 02:09 when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: 02:15 but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me. 02:19 Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk. 02:28 And immediately," the Bible says, "the man was made whole, 02:33 and took up his bed, and walked: and on the 02:36 same day was the sabbath." 02:40 Father, bless us now, as we preach Your Word to 02:43 Your people. May Your Holy Spirit move in the aisles 02:45 today and may Your anointing make the difference. 02:49 I am just flesh and blood but Lord, I yield my all 02:54 to You today. By Your Spirit, reach, touch, 03:00 grab and arrest Your people. Forgive us for 03:03 our sins, we pray. In the name of Jesus. 03:05 Let everyone say amen. Aud.: Amen. 03:07 PB: Amen. Today, no more excuses. In the text, 03:13 Jesus has just traveled from Galilee to Jerusalem 03:15 in order to celebrate one of the great religious feasts. 03:18 Now, if you read the Bible carefully - because you've 03:20 read the story over and over and over again - 03:21 the Bible does not tell us which religious feast. 03:26 So we don't know if it's Passover. We don't know 03:28 what it is. It just says a feast. Before He gets to 03:31 Jerusalem, however, Jesus has shown His power by 03:35 turning water into wine. He has shocked people by 03:38 converting Samaritans, and the Bible says He's fed 03:42 5,000 with two fish and five loaves of bread. 03:45 So then, Jesus has been Jehovah Jireh, Jehovah Rapha, 03:49 and Jehovah Nissa, all in one. Word of this has 03:53 reached Jerusalem so His reputation is spreading, 03:57 and you'd have to say that right about now He's at 04:00 the peak of His popularity. Now, when Jesus gets to 04:06 Jerusalem, when He arrives in Jerusalem, the Bible 04:09 says He comes to the pool of Bethesda. Now, if you 04:15 read your Bible carefully - you've read it before - 04:17 this verse makes no mention of any medical equipment. 04:23 No doctors, no nurses, no medical care staff. 04:29 Just five porches called Bethesda, where hundreds 04:34 of blind, crippled, paralyzed and sick people would lie. 04:40 Now, why do they lie around the pool? The pool was 04:44 known to having healing power at certain times, 04:48 which is why the pool is called Bethesda, 04:51 because Bethesda literally means "the house of 04:54 mercy" or "the house of healing." Bethesda is a 04:58 good name for this pool, because the people who 05:01 are waiting around the pool have been told that 05:03 every now and then an angel would come and trouble 05:07 the water of the pool, and the first person to 05:10 enter into the pool after the stirring of the angel 05:13 would be healed. Now, let's be clear. Bethesda 05:18 could not heal while it was still and quiet. 05:22 Bethesda had to be troubled in order to bless and heal. 05:28 The practical application is this. I know it's hard, 05:31 but somebody ought to thank God for their trouble, 05:34 because healing comes out of brokenness. 05:38 Breakthroughs follow breakdowns. Setbacks are just 05:42 setups for comebacks. Salvation is raised out of trouble. 05:47 You have to break a seed before a seed grows; 05:50 you have to crush a rose petal before it gives 05:53 off perfume; you have to irritate an oyster before 05:56 it becomes a pearl. Sometimes God will allow trouble 06:01 to come on us and afflictions to come on us to allow 06:04 the best to come up out of us, because the worse it 06:08 gets the better God works. Unless you shake a bottle 06:13 of orange juice, its concentrate will fall to the bottom 06:17 and you will have nothing to drink but colored water. 06:20 Unless you shake a bottle of medicine, all the healing 06:25 substance will gather at the bottom and what is left will 06:28 take no effect. That's why you're told before you take 06:31 medicine, shake it before you take it. 06:34 And that's the way it is with us. We can come in 06:38 here cool, calm and collected all we want every Sabbath, 06:41 but unless we are stirred up, unless we are shaken up, 06:47 our gifts will fall to the bottom of our lives and we 06:51 will be dead and dry, unmoved and unchallenged, 06:53 unstirred and unchanged. Sometimes it's necessary 06:58 for the waters in our lives to be troubled so 07:02 that we might move higher in the Lord. 07:05 Bethesda is just a construction of five 07:09 porches until the angel of God troubles the water. 07:15 The porches are nothing without the pool. 07:18 The pool is nothing without the water, 07:20 and the water is nothing until God touches 07:24 the water. What is the translation? We are 07:26 nothing without God. The medicine you take is 07:30 nothing unless God blesses the medicine. 07:33 The doctor is nothing unless God uses the doctor. 07:36 The teacher or the professor is nothing unless God 07:39 directs the teacher. The student is nothing unless 07:42 God directs the student. The church is nothing unless 07:48 God visits his church. The preacher, Pastor Byrd, 07:51 is nothing unless God puts words in the mouth of 07:54 the preacher, Holy Ghost in the heart of the preacher, 07:57 life in the soul of the preacher and fire shut up in 08:02 the bones of the preacher. The Bible says the sick 08:06 man had been at Bethesda 38 years. Everybody say 38 years. 08:10 Aud.: 38 years. PB: Now, let's be honest. 08:13 Thirty-eight years is a long time to be sick. 08:16 Thirty-eight years is a long time sitting on your mat. 08:21 Every day is the same, waiting, watching, hoping, 08:25 looking. No change, just sitting on your mat, 08:30 waiting for something to happen in your life. 08:32 But the man's not interested in making something happen; 08:36 he's waiting for somebody to make something happen for him. 08:41 His mat has become his way of life. His life is stagnant; 08:45 his life is dull; his life is dormant; his life is still. 08:49 The waters in his life have not been troubled. There has 08:53 been no change, just the same ol', same ol'. 08:57 But there comes a time in your life when you 09:01 can't wait for change, but you've got to make 09:04 change happen. Do I have a witness in this place? 09:06 You see, Sir Isaac Newton's First Law of Motion 09:10 states that everything continues in a state of 09:13 rest until it is compelled to change by forces 09:16 impressed upon it. Which means, you have to 09:19 recognize within yourself the need for change. 09:23 I can't make it happen for you; you've got to 09:25 learn to make it happen sometimes for yourself. 09:27 You will never see new oceans unless you have 09:29 the courage to lose sight of the shore. I don't 09:32 know about you, but Carlton Byrd can't wait 30 years. 09:35 I've got to do something now. Tomorrow is not promised. 09:40 I've got to do something now. My hair is getting 09:44 shorter and more gray. I've got to do something now. 09:48 The final movements in earth's history will be rapid ones; 09:51 I've got to do something now. One of my famous 09:54 quotes that I love so much is by Ralph Waldo Emerson. 09:57 He says, "Don't go where the path may lead, 09:59 but go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." 10:03 Jesus comes up to the man. Now, understand when 10:09 you read the text: neither, the Bible says, 10:12 the nature of the man's disease, other than it 10:14 rendered him unable to walk; nor does the Bible 10:17 say why Jesus chose to heal this man when He 10:21 could have healed countless others who were around the pool. 10:25 Why did Jesus choose to heal this man? But the 10:29 one thing we do know is that it was not because 10:32 the man sought Jesus' help that Jesus went to the man. 10:36 In fact, despite Jesus' popularity, the man at 10:40 Bethesda didn't even know who Jesus was. 10:44 Ellen White says in "Desire of Ages," 10:46 "Jesus saw one of supreme wretchedness." 10:52 Jesus comes up to the man, "Wilt thou be 10:57 made whole?" In other words, do you want to 11:01 be made well? Do you want to be changed? 11:05 Now on the surface that seems like a foolish 11:08 question to ask a man who hasn't walked 11:10 in 38 years: do you want to be made well. 11:12 It's like me walking up to somebody and 11:14 asking them, Do you want to be cancer free? 11:17 I mean, doesn't a starving person want food? 11:20 Doesn't a broke person want money? Doesn't a 11:22 drug addict want to be clean? Doesn't a 11:25 condemned person want pardon? Doesn't an 11:27 incarcerated person want freedom? Doesn't 11:29 a person who's making an F want an A? Doesn't' 11:33 a sick person want to be healed? But Jesus 11:42 never asked a foolish question in His life. 11:46 Because whenever God says something that seems 11:48 to be foolish, you know immediately it has to 11:50 be wise because God takes the foolishness of 11:52 this world and confounds the wise, so it must 11:54 be something wise about the question because 11:56 God is too wise to be foolish. 11:59 Wilt thou be made whole? Do you want to be 12:05 made well? But here now come the excuses. 12:11 Sir, I have nobody to put me in the water. 12:16 Every time I try to get in the water, somebody 12:21 gets in my way and I can't get in the pool. 12:25 I could have been healed a long time ago, 12:29 but nobody was there for me. Notice, in this 12:34 man's answer, he doesn't answer Jesus' question. 12:38 He doesn't say if he wants to be made well, 12:41 he dismisses Jesus' question and complains 12:45 about his condition, offering a laundry list 12:47 of excuses. I'm sick. I'm lame. I can't walk. 12:53 I can't move. I'm handicapped. I'm disabled. 12:58 I'm too slow. I'm not fast enough. I have no friends. 13:03 I have no family. I'm too old. I'm too young. 13:07 I have nobody to put me in the pool when the 13:10 water is stirred up. But I have a fundamental 13:14 problem with his answer and his statement, 13:17 because everybody around the pool is sick, 13:20 and how can somebody who's sick get healing 13:22 from somebody else who's sick? Because if 13:24 you're around sick people long enough, 13:27 you'll start getting sick. Somebody's 13:31 still not getting this. If you hang around, 13:34 talk to, roll with depressed people, 13:41 you'll start being depressed. If you 13:45 hang with negative people, you'll start 13:48 being negative. If you run with gossiping people, 13:51 you'll start being a gossip. If you associate 13:55 with godless people, you will start being godless, 13:59 because birds of a feather flock together. 14:04 I don't know about you, but I want to 14:07 surround myself with positive people. 14:09 I can do bad by myself. I want my self 14:14 to be surrounded by godly people, 14:16 Christ-like people, prayerful people, 14:20 faithful people, visionary people, 14:23 smart people. You've got to be around 14:27 people who are talking about stuff you 14:28 don't understand, so you can learn something 14:30 yourself. I told my children, if you're 14:33 always the smartest student in the class, 14:34 then you've outgrown your classroom. 14:36 If you're always the brightest apple 14:38 in the bunch, then your bunch is too small. 14:40 If you're always the teacher in your circle, 14:42 then your circle is too small. If everybody 14:44 in your life is looking to you for help, then 14:46 you need to get some new folk in your life. 14:50 Don't settle for being a big fish in a small pond. 14:57 A fish will only grow to the size of 15:00 the tank it's in. You put a fish in a small tank, 15:04 it will only grow to accommodate the environment 15:06 it's in. You want the fish to be bigger, 15:07 you have to pick the fish up, pull the 15:11 fish out of the tank, put it in a 15:13 bigger tank, because a growing fish 15:15 can't swim in a tight tank. One of the 15:18 reasons that hindered this man from 15:20 receiving his miracle was his company; 15:23 his associations; his boys; his friends. 15:27 You can't get a miracle hanging around 15:29 sick people. But not only that, the man 15:32 whines about life instead of answering 15:34 Jesus' question about whether he really 15:37 wants to be well. Now, what this man is 15:39 doing, in my opinion, is this: he's living 15:41 in "as soon as" life. Everybody say, 15:45 "as soon as." Come on, say it like you mean it. 15:48 Say, as soon as. Aud.: As soon as. 15:50 PB: He's living in as soon as life. 15:53 As soon as I get to the water my life will 15:57 be better. As soon as I get in the water, 16:00 my problems will be fixed. As soon as somebody 16:05 helps me, I'll be healed. As soon as I graduate, 16:10 I'll then apply for grad school. As soon as I 16:14 graduate, I'll then get a job. As soon as the 16:17 new year comes, I'll stop eating sweets. 16:20 As soon as the new year starts, I'll start 16:22 exercising. As soon as midterm exams come, 16:25 that's when I'll start studying. As soon as 16:35 he grows up, then he'll stop cheating on me. 16:40 As soon as he gets by this troubled spot, 16:45 he'll stop hitting me. As soon as she gets what 16:50 she wants, she'll stop nagging me. As soon as 16:56 I propose, she'll start respecting me. 17:00 If she don't respect you now, baby, 17:02 she ain't going to respect you later. 17:05 As soon as I get more money, I'll start 17:09 tithing. As soon as the time of trouble 17:16 comes, I'll start going to church. 17:21 As soon as probation closes, I'll start praying. 17:29 But what are you waiting for? Time waits for no man. 17:35 Do you want to be made whole? Do you want 17:40 to be healed? But there are some folk, 17:43 I'm learning, who don't want to be healed. 17:46 Some folk want to hang on to their ailments, 17:48 sicknesses, illnesses and diseases. 17:49 They like to talk about what they don't have. 17:52 They like making excuses. They'd rather 17:54 wallow in the pits of discouragement, 17:56 discomfort and despair by indulging in 17:58 pity parties. They want to be the victim. 18:02 Some people don't want the responsibility 18:04 of what goes along with being healed. 18:06 Being sick gives them an excuse to lie on 18:09 their back and wait until somebody does it 18:11 for them. For 38 years, this man has been 18:16 a beggar, pleading for the pity of others. 18:21 But if he's healed, he'll lose all of this. 18:24 If he's healed, he will be venturing out 18:26 into the unknown. If he's healed, he will 18:28 lose all of his present securities, 18:30 he will have to work and be responsible for himself. 18:32 He will be entering a new world if he's healed. 18:36 To be healed meant a completely new life, one 18:39 with wonderful possibilities but also with a 18:41 certain amount of risk. So after 38 years, 18:45 he has accepted his condition. He was now 18:48 content to scratch out his pathetic existence 18:51 by begging. Being paralyzed was a help to him, 18:57 because people felt sorry for him. If he's healed, 19:01 he's going to have to work. If he's healed, he's 19:04 going to have to take on full responsibilities of life. 19:07 Maybe it had become comfortable for him to hang out 19:10 at the pool, and the very idea of being healed and 19:14 making his way made him scared. The fact is, I'm 19:18 learning that some people will go through extraordinary 19:20 lengths to avoid unwelcome changes in their lives. 19:24 Their imprisonment is so great that Jesus asked 19:27 the man, Do you want to be made well? The man 19:31 doesn't even say yes. But the man offers excuses. 19:37 And we are just like the man. We all have our 19:43 excuses of why we can't be blessed. We blame 19:47 it on a bad marriage, a bad husband, a bad wife, 19:50 bad children, bad parents, bad job, bad school, 19:54 bad teacher, bad timing, bad break. And therefore, 19:57 we can't be blessed. But today, come away from 20:01 the complaint counter, and come to the claim window, 20:05 because your health, your blessing, your opportunity, 20:10 your breakthrough, your salvation, your miracle 20:15 is not in the pool. But I read somewhere that 20:19 I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills from 20:24 whence cometh my help. My help comes from the 20:28 Lord who made heaven and earth. Jesus said, 20:31 I am what you need, and I know what you 20:34 need because I have what you need, and I have 20:37 what you need because I am what you need. 20:39 I am the Great Physician. I am the Rock of Ages. 20:44 I am the Lily of the Valley. I am the 20:48 Burden-bearer. I am your Heavy-load Sharer. 20:52 I am your Financial Clearer. I am your Medicine 20:57 in the sickroom, the Lawyer in the courtroom. 20:59 I am that I am. Wilt you be made whole? 21:03 Notice, Jesus after He asked the question, 21:11 Jesus did not help the man get in the water. 21:15 He comes to the man on the man's mat, 21:20 the same mat and the same situation the 21:21 man so wants to escape. But Jesus speaks life. 21:27 "Rise, take up your bed, and walk." 21:35 "Rise, take up your bed, and walk." 21:40 Don't just lie there, don't just feel 21:44 sorry for yourself, don't just wait for 21:47 somebody to do something for you, but rise, 21:52 take up your bed, and walk. Jesus didn't 21:57 lay hands on the man. Jesus didn't put oil 22:01 on the man. Jesus didn't anoint the man. 22:05 Jesus just told the man, "Rise, take up your bed, 22:12 and walk." Jesus told the man what to do 22:15 because He had already given the man the 22:17 power to do it. Rise, take up your bed. 22:21 Somebody's going to get that in a minute. 22:22 And walk. No more excuses. You can make excuses, 22:29 or you can make progress. Excuses are for folk 22:33 who don't want it bad enough. Stop whining, 22:37 stop complaining, stop bellyaching. No more 22:41 quitting, no more wishing, no more waiting, 22:43 no more watching, no more dreaming, no more 22:46 excuses. Sick people have made you sick 22:49 long enough. Just rise, take up your bed, 22:53 and walk. You'll get stronger as you walk. 22:57 You'll get wiser as you walk. You'll get 23:00 smarter as you walk. Your faith will grow 23:03 stronger as you walk. Just rise, pick up 23:07 your bed, and walk. And so the Lord told 23:11 me to tell somebody: This is your year. 23:14 2016 is your year. Stop dreaming about it, 23:22 stop waiting on it, stop wishing on it, 23:26 stop making excuses. The kingdom suffered 23:30 violence, but the violent take it by force. 23:33 No weapon formed against you is going to prosper. 23:36 No more "I can't." No more "I don't have time." 23:40 No more "I can't afford it." No more "I'm fat." 23:44 No more "I'm skinny." No more "I'm old." 23:46 No more "I'm young." No more excuses; 23:49 just rise, take up your bed, and walk. You see, 23:56 I've been depressed too long. I've been feeling 23:59 sorry for myself too long. I've been worried too long. 24:03 Somebody, you've been scared too long. You've 24:07 been weak too long. You've been worried about 24:11 people and what they're going to say too long. 24:13 Just pick up your bed and walk. Pick up your 24:18 faith and believe; your job and work. 24:22 Pick up that book and read; pick up your battle 24:25 and fight; pick up your cross and climb; 24:29 pick up your past and proceed; pick up your 24:32 life and live. Just pick up your bed and walk! 24:37 Jesus does not ask the man to exercise faith 24:43 in Him. Jesus simply says, pick up your bed 24:49 and walk. But the man's faith, Ellen White says, 24:55 takes hold on that word. Jesus had given him no 24:59 assurance of divine help. Listen to that now. 25:04 Jesus did not give the man assurance of 25:08 divine help. Give the man some credit. 25:10 The man might have stopped to doubt, 25:13 and he would have lost his one chance 25:15 of healing. But the man believed in 25:18 Jesus' word and he acted on the word of Jesus, 25:21 and he received strength. Don't get it twisted - 25:24 I'm about to sit down - but don't get it twisted. 25:26 The man was healed, but the man was not healed 25:30 by the water. The man was healed by Jesus. 25:35 Pick up your bed and walk. Obviously, 25:42 the man had a choice. He could have listened 25:44 and ignored, or he could have listened and hoped, 25:46 or he could have listened and obeyed. 25:47 The man listened and obeyed. 25:51 But this is the final point I want to make. 25:55 When Jesus told the man to pick up his 25:58 bed and walk, the man does not leave his 26:02 bed behind. The bed goes with him. 26:11 His circumstances are real. The difference now is, 26:18 he carries them. They no longer carry him. 26:22 I wish I had a witness in this place. [Aud. reaction] 26:25 PB: Jesus - listen to me good. I'm about ready - Jesus. 26:31 Young people, listen, He does not change our outer 26:36 circumstances, He changes us. He calls us into a 26:44 new way of being, a new way of seeing, a new way 26:46 of acting, thinking, speaking. When we stand and 26:50 rise to discover new life, we discover our 26:53 circumstances when he changes us. Somehow our 26:57 circumstances change. Now, this does not 27:00 mean that life is going to be easy. 27:03 This does not mean that we will no longer 27:05 have to deal with circumstances of life, 27:06 it just makes our circumstances more manageable 27:10 and we deal with them from a different place 27:11 and position. Which means, every day with 27:14 Jesus is sweeter than the day before. 27:16 The man I was 26 years ago when I came to 27:18 Oakwood is not the person I am now. 27:20 Jesus changed me, and so now my circumstances 27:23 have been changed. The pool at Bethesda is 27:29 drained of its power over us. There is freedom 27:36 now where there once was imprisonment. 27:40 Inertia gives way to creativity. Inactivity 27:45 yields to activity. Apathy moves over to vitality; 27:50 stagnant waters now move with new life. 27:54 Dead church becomes live church. 27:58 Stiff people become spirited people. 28:03 Legalistic saints become loving Christians. 28:08 Finger pointing becomes hand holding. 28:13 j>: Thank you for joining us for another exciting Breath of 28:16 Life television broadcast. Tune in next week at the same time, 28:20 as Dr. Byrd will deliver another dynamic message from the Lord, 28:24 just for you. Until next time, may God bless you. |
Revised 2016-01-15