Participants: Carlton P. Byrd
Series Code: BOL
Program Code: BOL000550A
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00:02 Breath of Life Television Ministries will engage
00:05 in its 2017 Spring Revival. 00:07 We're looking forward to seeing you, as yours truly, 00:09 Dr. Carlton P. Byrd, preaches the gospel of Jesus Christ 00:12 every evening at 7 p.m., except Monday and Thursday evenings. 00:16 All seats are free. Free transportation is provided. 00:19 Visit us at www.BreathofLife.tv. 00:29 PB: John 5, verse 1, the Word of God says, and 00:32 "there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up"- 00:37 -to what city, everybody? Aud.: Jerusalem. 00:40 PB: Come on, talk to me. He went to what city? Jerusalem. 00:42 "Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, 00:46 which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda." 00:49 Everybody say "Bethesda." Aud.: Bethesda. 00:50 PB: "Having"--how many porches? Aud.: Five. 00:52 PB: "In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, 00:55 of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving 00:57 of the water. For an angel went down at a certain 01:00 season into the pool, and troubled the water: 01:04 whosoever then first after the troubling of the water 01:06 stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had. 01:09 And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity 01:12 thirty and eight"--what? Aud.: Years. 01:15 PB: "When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had 01:17 been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, 01:20 Wilt thou be made whole? The impotent man answered him, 01:26 Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put 01:31 me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth 01:34 down before me. Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, 01:39 and walk. And immediately the man was made whole, 01:44 and took up his bed, and walked: and on the 01:48 same day was the Sabbath." 01:52 I want to challenge you briefly this morning on the subject, 01:54 "Do something." Do something. Father, we thank You for the Sabbath. 01:59 We thank You for the blessings it gives. We thank You for 02:02 what we've already experienced in worship. Now speak through 02:04 me as I speak to Your people. Forgive me of my sins, 02:06 and at the appeal time move by Your power, by Your Spirit. 02:09 God, we need Your Holy Ghost. So come now in copious fashion. 02:14 In the name of Jesus we pray. Let everyone say amen. Amen. 02:19 Do something. Everybody say "do something. 02:21 Aud.: Do something. PB: All right now, quickly, 02:23 laziness is defined as being unwilling to work 02:28 or use energy. Laziness is idleness, inertia, inactivity, 02:36 and in our world of hustle and bustle, in our world 02:41 of survival of the fittest, in our world of get yours, 02:47 in our world of if you don't work, you don't eat, 02:49 there is little to no room for laziness. Now, 02:54 in my high school senior class yearbook, some 27 years ago, 02:59 if you were to look at it and see my picture with my name, 03:02 you'd see that my pet peeve was stagnation, inactivity, 03:08 inertia, lethargy, not going anywhere, not doing anything. 03:16 You see, no one ever climbed a hill by just looking at it, 03:20 because if you don't climb the mountain, you won't see the view. 03:23 So, today the cry from this preacher is do something. 03:30 In the text, Jesus has just traveled from Galilee to 03:35 Jerusalem in order to celebrate one of the great religious feasts, 03:39 but when He arrived in Jerusalem the Bible says He comes 03:42 to the pool of Bethesda. Bethesda means the house of mercy. 03:48 Bethesda means the house of healing. Everybody say "mercy." 03:52 Aud.: Mercy. PB: Everybody say "healing." 03:55 Aud.: Healing. PB: Now, while Bethesda bears that name, 03:59 there were no doctors, no nurses, no medical equipment 04:05 at Bethesda. Bethesda is just five porches, the Bible says, 04:09 where hundreds of blind, crippled, paralyzed and sick 04:11 people lay. Now, the people who were lying around the 04:15 pool of Bethesda had been told that every now and then 04:20 an angel of the Lord would come and trouble the waters 04:25 of Bethesda, and we know the story, that the first person 04:28 who jumped in the water after the troubling of the 04:31 water was healed. Now, it's important to understand 04:35 that at Bethesda, the water could not heal while it was 04:38 still and quiet. The water had to be troubled in order to be healed. 04:46 I could preach all right there. The lesson, number one, 04:50 for us today is sometimes the waters in your life have 04:56 to be troubled, because healing comes out of brokenness. 05:00 Breakthroughs follow breakdowns, salvation is raise dup 05:06 out of trouble, setbacks are just setups that come back. 05:09 You have to break a seed before it will grow. You have 05:12 to crush a rose petal before it gives off the sweet 05:15 fragrance of perfume. You have to irritate an oyster 05:17 before it becomes a pearl. God will allow afflictions 05:20 to come on us in order for the best to come out of us, 05:23 because the worse it gets, the better God works. 05:26 Do I have a witness in this place? [Aud. reaction] 05:28 PB: Sometimes the waters in our lives have to be 05:30 troubled in order for them to be made into healing forces. 05:34 Youi know what I'm talking about, because unless you 05:37 shake a bottle of orange juice, its concentrate will 05:41 fall to the bottom and all you will drink is colored water. 05:43 Unless you shake a bottle of medicine, all of the healing 05:47 substance will gather at the bottom and what is left will 05:50 take no effect. That's why any doctor will tell you shake 05:53 it before you take it. That's the way it is with us. 05:57 Unless we're stirred up; unless we're shaken up; 06:03 our gifts will fall to the bottom of the pools of 06:08 our lives and we will be dead and dry, unmoved and 06:12 unchallenged, unstirred and unchanged. Sometimes 06:17 it's necessary to trouble the waters in your life. 06:21 Sometimes you have to do something. 06:24 In this text, the sick man has been lying at the pool 06:28 of Bethesda for 38 years. Everybody say "38 years." 06:31 Aud.: Thirty-eight years. 06:32 PB: Thirty-eight years sitting on his bed. 06:34 Thirty-eight years sitting on his mat. 06:36 Thirty-eight years watching others get healed. 06:39 Thirty-eight years looking at other people's victories. 06:42 Thirty-eight years feeling sorry for himself. 06:45 Thirty-eight years watching, waiting, hoping, looking, 06:48 but the man is not interested in doing anything. 06:52 The man wants somebody to do something for him. 06:56 Jesus comes up to the man. Jesus says, Man, 07:00 do you want to be made whole? Man, do you 07:04 want to be well? Man, do you want to walk? 07:08 But notice in the text, the man doesn't go up to Jesus. 07:12 The Bible says Jesus goes up to him. In fact, 07:16 Jesus' popularity, despite it, the man didn't even 07:20 know who Jesus was. I like what Ellen White says in 07:22 "Desire of Ages," 202, she says, that Jesus saw a man, 07:26 however, of supreme wretchedness. Which means whether 07:30 you see yourself, Jesus sees you. Jesus wants to 07:33 help the man. He says, Do you want to be made whole? 07:37 Now, on the surface that seems like a foolish question 07:44 to ask a man who can't walk, do you want to be made well? 07:49 It's like walking up to somebody with cancer and you ask them, 07:52 do you want to be cancer free? Doesn't a broke person want money? 07:58 Doesn't a drug addict want to be clean? Doesn't an 08:03 incarcerated person want freedom? Young people, 08:07 doesn't a person making an F want an A? Doesn't a sick 08:12 person want healing? But Jesus couldn't have asked this 08:17 as a foolish question, because Jesus never asked a 08:20 foolish question in His life, because whenever God says 08:22 something that seems to be foolish you know immediately 08:25 it has to be wise, because God is too wise to be foolish. 08:28 Do I have a witness in this place? 08:29 Do you want to be whole? Do you want to be well? 08:33 Are you tired of sitting on your mat? Are you tired 08:37 of seeing other people get their healing? Are you tired 08:40 of witnessing others experiencing their deliverance? 08:43 Are you tired of seeing other people get their breakthrough? 08:47 Do you want to be made whole? 08:49 Sir, I have no one to help put me in the water. 08:55 Every time I try to get in the water, somebody gets in my way. 09:00 I have nobody to help put me in the water when I come and 09:07 the water is stirred up in the pool. 09:10 But friends, I have two fundamental problems with 09:13 his response. I have more but I'll just share two for 09:16 the sake of time. First of all, Jesus asked the man, 09:20 Do you want to be made whole? Do you want to be made well? 09:23 But the man doesn't answer Jesus' question. Jesus never 09:28 asked him about his problems or excuses for being healed. 09:32 Jesus asked him, Do you want to be made whole? 09:35 Secondly, I have a problem with his response because he says, 09:40 I have nobody to help me get in the water or put me in the water. 09:43 But think about it. Everybody around the pool is sick. 09:46 So how can somebody who's sick get healing from somebody 09:52 else who's sick? Because if you're around sick people long enough, 09:58 you'll start getting sick. I wish I had a witness in this place. 10:01 Dr. Ferdinand said, They were sick, and because some were sick, 10:05 others started getting sick. If somebody else has a cold, 10:08 you'll get a cold. If somebody else is coughing, 10:11 you'll start coughing. If you hang around depressed people, 10:15 you'll start being depressed. If you hang around negative people, 10:19 you'll start being negative. If you hang around gossiping people, 10:22 you'll start being a gossip. If you hang around godless people, 10:26 you'll start being godless, because birds of a feather flock together. 10:30 You're taking sickness to sickness, and I don't know about you, 10:34 but I don't want to surround myself with sick people. 10:38 I want to surround myself with positive people. I can do bad by myself. 10:45 I want to surround myself with godly people, Christ-like people, 10:49 prayerful people, thankful people, visionary people, smart people. 10:54 If you're the smartest person in your class, your class is too small. 10:57 Man, do you want to be whole? Do you want to be made well? But sir, 11:04 I don't have anyone to put me in the water. I didn't ask you all that. 11:08 Do you want to be made whole? You see, I've learned in my life, 11:11 even when I go visit in the hospital, there are some folk who don't 11:14 want to be healed. There are some folk who want to hang on to their 11:18 sicknesses and their diseases and illnesses. They like to talk 11:20 about what they don't have instead of using what they do have. 11:23 They'd rather wallow in discouragement, despair, and distress 11:26 by indulging in pity parties. Some people don't want the 11:30 responsibility of what goes along with being healed. Being sick 11:33 gives them an excuse to lie on their back and wait for somebody 11:35 else to do it for them. For thirty-eight years, this man lived 11:40 off the pity of others. For thirty-eight years, this man played 11:44 on the sympathy of others. For thirty-eight years, he relied on 11:47 the concern of others. If he's healed, he's going to lose all of this. 11:51 If he's healed, he will have to be responsible for himself. 11:55 If he's healed, he's going to have to work. 11:57 Man, do you want to be made whole? Because 12:03 if you want to be healed, you've got to do something. 12:06 You want to do nothing but lie there, but you've got 12:11 to do something. But the fact of the matter, friends, 12:15 is some of us will go through extraordinary lengths to 12:17 avoid doing something in our lives. We live in the twilight 12:22 zone of existence thinking doing nothing will get us something. 12:26 For them and people like this, nothing is neither right nor wrong. 12:32 Nothing is neither good nor bad. Nothing is either pure or defiled. 12:38 Nothing is either friend or foe. Nothing harbors no hate 12:43 and shows no love. Nothing holds no treasures and reveals 12:46 no secrets. Nothing neither helps nor hinders. 12:49 Nothing neither brings sorrow nor joy. Nothing 12:53 neither sings nor sighs. Nothing neither laughs 12:56 nor cries. Nothing neither comes nor goes. 12:59 Nothing is nothing because it is nothing, 13:01 and nothing will be nothing but nothing, 13:03 for there is nothing to be but nothing. 13:05 To this man, nothing is nothing because it is nothing, 13:11 so he does not know what to do with nothing. 13:13 He cannot do anything with nothing, 13:15 for nothing has nothing to do anything with. 13:17 The man can't discuss nothing, for nothing has 13:20 nothing to discuss. The man can't argue nothing, 13:22 for nothing has nothing to argue about. 13:24 The man can't trace nothing, for nothing has 13:26 no vein or source to be traced. He can't use nothing, 13:28 for nothing has nothing to use. He can't lose nothing, 13:31 for nothing has nothing to lose. He can't own nothing, 13:33 for nothing has nothing to own. He can't feel nothing, 13:36 for nothing has nothing to feel. He can't hear nothing, 13:38 for nothing makes no sound to be heard. 13:40 Nothing gives nothing, for nothing has nothing to give. 13:43 Nothing has nothing, for nothing has nothing to have. 13:46 Nothing wants nothing, for nothing has nothing to want. 13:49 Nothing wants nothing, for nothing has nothing to do. 13:52 Nothing says nothing, for nothing has nothing to say. 13:55 [Aud. reaction] 13:57 PB: Nothing does not fit into any equation, 14:01 because you can't add, subtract, divide, or multiply nothing. 14:10 If you do, you'll get nothing. For it is true that 14:15 nothing from nothing leaves what? Nothing. 14:18 So because nothing is nothing, for heaven's sake, 14:23 do something! Man, do you want to be made whole? 14:33 Man never answers Jesus' question. He just gives 14:37 Jesus a laundry list of excuses of why he hasn't been blessed. 14:42 Some of us are just like the man. We all have our excuses 14:47 for not being blessed. A bad husband, a bad wife, 14:54 bad parents, bad school, bad teachers, bad boss, 14:59 bad job, bad timing, bad break. But man, 15:04 do you want to be made whole? Because if you do, 15:09 you've got to do something. You see, activity is 15:15 important to the maintenance of anything, be it a building, 15:20 be it a business, be it an organization, be it you, 15:23 activity is important to the maintenance of anything. 15:27 Anyone will tell you that if a building is empty, 15:31 if there is left no activity in the building, 15:34 the building will go down. Activity helps maintain the building. 15:40 So it is with us as human beings. You have to remain active. 15:45 If you don't keep moving, you go down. You've got to keep moving, 15:50 I don't care how bad you feel. I don't care how bad it hurts, 15:54 you've got to move. So if you can't run, walk. If you can't walk, 15:59 shake your leg. If you can't shake your leg, wiggle your toe. 16:04 You've got to keep moving, because I've learned, 16:06 if you don't keep moving, life will take you down. 16:10 You've got to do something. To do nothing is destructive by itself. 16:15 Arthritis sets in. Rheumatism sets in. When you do nothing, 16:22 all types of diseases take over your body. 16:25 Talk to anybody who's ever been sick. Sometimes, 16:28 lying in the bed is worse than the sickness itself. 16:31 It saps your strength, it takes your energy, 16:35 it robs your appetite, it gives you bedsores. 16:39 And sooner than later, I don't care if you 16:44 have to get up on a walker, if you don't do 16:45 anything but walk around your room in a circle 16:47 --people will think you're crazy, but you've got 16:49 to do something. Are you hearing what I'm saying? 16:50 But you know, we say amen. We clap our hands, 16:55 and yet sometimes people of faith, we are inclined 16:59 to do nothing. We wait. We watch. We look to see 17:06 if anybody will do it for us. But you have to do something. 17:09 Can I be practical today? If you want a job, do something. 17:15 You can't sit around the house saying I want a job, 17:17 but you don't want to get up and fill out any applications. 17:19 You don't want to send out any resumes. If you want a job, 17:22 you've got to do something. If you want to lose weight, 17:26 you've got to do something. There ain't no abracadabra, 17:29 let me lose 10 pounds. No, you've got to do something. 17:32 If you want to make an A, you've got to do something. 17:37 If you want to buy a car, you've got to do something. 17:40 If you want to buy a house, do something. If you want 17:44 a new school, do something. If you want a new family 17:48 life center, do something. If you want to grow spiritually, 17:51 do something. If you want the church to have baptisms, 17:55 do something. If you want your salvation, do something. 17:58 The kingdom suffereth violence, but the violent take 18:01 it by force. Do something! Time waits for nobody. 18:07 Seconds turn to minutes. Minutes turn to hours, 18:12 hours to days, days to weeks, weeks to months, 18:14 months to years. You've got to do something! 18:17 Church of the living God, you can't continue to 18:21 live and do the same routine. Up and out of your 18:24 bed every morning at the same time, eating the same 18:26 thing for breakfast, take the same road to work, 18:28 make the same amount of money every month. 18:31 Come home and cook the same four or five different 18:36 meals each night. You've got to do something. 18:39 Man, do you want to be whole? Don't just lie there, 18:45 don't just wait for somebody to do something for you. 18:49 Don't feel sorry for yourself. But you've got to rise, 18:54 pick up your bed, and walk, because your help is 19:03 not in the water. Your help is not in the pool. 19:07 You help is not in Bethesda. But your help is in Jesus. 19:14 I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills from whence 19:18 cometh my help. My help comes from the Lord who 19:22 made heaven and earth. Notice in the text, 19:24 Jesus doesn't lay hands on the man. Jesus doesn't 19:27 put oil on the man. Jesus doesn't anoint the man, 19:31 but Jesus just challenged the man. Rise! Pick up your bed, 19:36 and walk. Jesus told the man what to do because 19:39 Jesus had already given him the power to do it. 19:41 Rise! Pick up your bed and walk. Do something. 19:45 Stop whining. Stop complaining. Stop bellyaching. 19:52 Stop criticizing. Stop finger pointing. 19:57 Stop fault-finding. Stop watching, stop waiting, 20:02 stop looking, but do something. Rise! 20:06 Pick up your bed and walk. You will get 20:09 stronger as you walk. You will get wiser as you walk. 20:13 You will get smarter as you walk. Your faith 20:16 will grow as you walk. Just rise, pick up your bed and walk. 20:20 Who am I talking to today? Stop whining about it. 20:25 Complaining about it. Waiting on it, wishing on it. 20:30 You've been depressed too long. You've felt sorry 20:33 for yourself too long. You've been worried too long. 20:37 You've been scared too long. You've been weak too long. 20:42 It's time to do something about it. Rise, pick up your bed, 20:49 and walk. Because you've got to pick up your faith and believe. 20:52 Pick up your job, and you'd better work. Pick up your book and read. 20:56 Pick up your problem and think. Pick up your grief and grow. 20:59 Pick up your battle and fight. Pick up your cross and climb. 21:02 Pick up your pain and progress. Pick up your past and proceed. 21:05 Pick up your life and live. 21:07 Just rise, pick up your bed and walk. Church, 21:11 you've got to do something. Stop sitting waiting 21:15 back for something to happen. Do something! 21:17 This is your time. This is your moment. If not now, when? 21:23 If not you, who? Do something. 21:27 I tell you what. I couldn't come to this church and 21:29 just ride on time. I'm just going to ride it out at Oakwood 21:33 until I get to the NAD, get to the GC. The NAD/GC may never come. 21:38 That may not be God's plan for my life, but where I am, 21:41 I'm going to do something! If it's wrong and it has to 21:46 be corrected, do something. If you mess up and we've got 21:50 to straighten it out, do something. Because if you sit here, 21:53 you're going to die. If you do something, you're going to live. 21:57 It's time for this church, it's time for the Adventist church, 22:01 it's time for the Christian church to be stirred up. 22:05 It's time to be shaken up. It's time to be revved up. 22:10 It's time to be amped up. It's time for the church to wake up! 22:15 [Aud. reaction] PB: Ellen White says in "Prophets and Kings," 22:19 "If the leaders and the callers of truth show no zeal, 22:22 if they are indifferent," she says, "and purposeless, 22:27 the church will be careless, indolent and pleasure living." 22:31 She says, "But if the church is filled with a holy purpose 22:36 to serve God and God alone, the people will be united, 22:41 hopeful and eager." Church, it's time to move. I said, 22:49 it's time to move. Stop waiting on people to do something 22:55 for you and do something. Stop waiting on folk to have 22:59 mercy on you. Do something. Stop waiting on folk to have 23:03 sympathy for you. Do something. Go get the promises of God. 23:07 God says, I'll bless you in the city, 23:12 I'll bless you in the fields, I'll bless your going out, 23:14 I'll bless your coming in. God says, I'll bless your family, 23:18 I'll bless your friends, I'll bless your ministry, 23:22 I'll bless your church, I'll bless you. But you've got to do something. 23:29 The days for laziness are over. The days for apathy are over. 23:38 The days for the status quo are over. 23:44 This is the day that the Lord hath made, 23:50 let us rejoice and be glad in it. Do something. 23:55 Make a move. If you make one step, God will take two steps. 24:04 The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. 24:11 Somebody needs to take some steps today. Somebody 24:15 needs to let the devil know, Devil, I'm going to move. 24:19 I'm not going to stay in the same spot. I've got to 24:22 grow in my Bible study. I've got to grow in my Christian walk. 24:28 I've got to grow in my doctrinal understanding. 24:31 I've got to grow in my relationship with Jesus Christ. 24:34 I've got to grow in my ministry. I've got to move. 24:37 If I can't walk, I'm going to shake. If I can't shake, 24:41 I'm going to shiver. And if I can't shiver, I'm going to roll. 24:44 But I've got to move. Are you hearing what I'm saying? 24:47 It's time to tell a dying world that Jesus saves. 24:54 I said it's time to tell a dying world that Jesus saves. 25:00 It's time to get fired up. It's time to get shaken up. 25:06 It's time to get stirred up. Go ye therefore, teach all nations, 25:11 baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. 25:14 Do something! And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached 25:18 in all the world for a witness unto all nations, and then shall 25:21 the end come. Do something! The Lord is my light and my salvation. 25:26 Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life, 25:31 of whom shall I be afraid? Do something. Bless the Lord O my soul, 25:36 and all that is within me bless His holy name. Make a joyful 25:42 noise unto the Lord all ye lands. Serve the Lord with gladness. 25:46 Come before His presence with singing. You've got to do something. 25:50 [Aud. reaction] 25:52 PB: I'm so glad that 2,000 years ago Jesus did something. 26:00 God had to do something. You see, Adam and Eve messed up. 26:11 Cain messed up. Samson messed up. David messed up. 26:23 Solomon messed up. You messed up. I messed up. We've 26:38 messed up. But God did something. God sent His Son, Jesus, 26:47 that through His shed blood you and I, we can have life everlasting. 26:53 And because God did something, it's time for us to do something. 26:59 It's time for somebody to move today. 27:02 Now, I'm about to make an appeal, 27:05 and the enemy will tell you to sit there and do nothing. 27:10 But you've got to do something for Jesus. 27:15 It's time for you to make a move. Do nothing, 27:22 and hell is waiting for you. Do something, 27:29 and God has His arms open wide for you. 27:36 Do something and make a move. Check mate. 27:44 The next move is on you. 27:49 You just can't be a hearer of the Word. 27:53 But you got to be a doer of the Word. 27:59 Do something! Do something! 28:07 Quit waiting on somebody to do it for you. 28:11 Do-- I have nobody to help me. 28:13 Do something! 28:15 >: Thank you for joining us for another 28:18 exciting Breath of Life television broadcast. 28:20 Tune in next week at the same time, 28:22 as Dr. Byrd will deliver another 28:25 dynamic message from the Lord, 28:26 just for you. Until next time, 28:29 may God bless you. END |
Revised 2017-03-30