The Healer Rejected, Sunday

0:00Hello friends, welcome to the SeenPod for Kids. Thank you for joining me today as we spend time with our friend Jesus. Spending time with Jesus is the best way to start your day. Let's begin our time together praising Him. William Ogden wrote both the words and the music to the song, Seeking the Lost. He was born in Ohio in the United States in 1841. He grew up in Indiana and even as a child it appeared that he had a gift for music. When he was a soldier in the Civil War he even started a men's choir. After the war he went to school to learn more about music. He studied under Thomas Hastings and Lowell Mason. He published his first song book called Silver Song and it sold over half a million copies.

1:00He taught music and eventually became the superintendent of music for Toledo Public Schools until his death in 1897. Thus I would go on missions of mercy following Christ on day and today.

2:03She'd be nothing dead praising the bullet pointing at the lost to Jesus the way. Going up all the mountains bringing the water back again. The ball, the body, the body, the body, the body. She's a butterfly for Santa's Christmas Day. Hi boys and girls! Thanks for joining me today. We are learning about a special miracle that Jesus did and it was on the Sabbath. Does that make it even more special? Every Friday night we write down in our blessings book some of the things that were thankful for and the blessings that God gave us through the week.

3:03And every Friday night my youngest son says, I'm thankful for the Sabbath. And it's true the Sabbath is a very special day. And Jesus did something special on this particular Sabbath day that we're going to learn about. But just a minute we don't want to get ahead of ourselves and let's bow our heads and pray. Lord we are here to spend time with you. We want to spend time with you and we pray that your spirit will be with us in Jesus' name. Amen. Jesus was back in Jerusalem. He was attending a special feast. It was the Sabbath. He was taking a walk all by himself and maybe he was thinking about helping people know the right way to keep God's holy day. We don't know what thoughts were going through his mind, but he must have been thinking about something. There were so many strict and foolish rules about keeping the Sabbath that the priests and leaders had made.

4:04It was hard to obey all of them. In fact, it was a burden to obey all of them. For most of the people the Sabbath had lost its meaning and it was no longer a happy day. What are some things that you guys like to do on the Sabbath to make it a special day? To make it a happy day? We have special games that we play only on Sabbath. They're animal or nature games. We have only special things that we do. One of the things that we really like to do first thing in the morning on Sabbath morning is turn on a sermon from Doug Bachelors and amazing facts. And we've been listening through the landmarks of prophecy series. It's been really good and my boys enjoy doing that while they color or do a puzzle. There are different things that are special that we do to keep the Sabbath holy and to make it special and set it apart. But it wasn't a fun day for the Jews. It wasn't a special day for the Jews.

5:06No, it was a burden. On his walk, Jesus stopped at a place called a pool of Bethesda. It had covered porches around it so the people waiting there could be in the shade. Have you ever had to be in the hot sun? It's just so hot and you look around for some shade. We have at our one church a shade shelter. There's only one lone tree and it's not really a shade tree. And so we built a shade shelter. When we put bows on top, it's kind of a native shade shelter. It's their traditional shade shelter. And we will put tables under there. Sometimes we'll set up chairs. We'll have a vacation Bible school under there. It's just a nice, cool place to get away from the hot sun. That's what they had put up around the pool of Bethesda. Something for shade. And also these porches were a shelter for when it rained. Who were the people who were under these porches?

6:07And why were they there? Let's open our Bibles. To John. And John, chapter five. John, chapter five versus two, three and four. John, chapter five versus two, three and four. Now there is in Jerusalem by the sheep gate of pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches. And these lay a great multitude of sick people. Blind, laying, paralyzed, waiting for the movement of the water. For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water. Then whoever stepped in first after the stirring of the water was made well of whatever because he's he had. What kind of people were there? The Bible tells us a multitude of sick people. They were blind, lame. What does lame mean? Means they couldn't walk. What does blind mean?

7:09They couldn't see, paralyzed. That means that they couldn't move, waiting for the moving of the water. You can be sure that each person wanted to be that first person to get into the pool. When the water rippled, there was always a big rush. Many of the others were hurt by being pushed or trampled on. In fact, some died. As Jesus saw the crowd of people, He longed to make every single one of them well. And could He do it? Yeah, He could do it. But that wouldn't have been wise because the religious leaders would have been really, really mad at Him. They thought that helping sick people on this Sabbath was a sin. But Jesus knew that wasn't true at all. Jesus looked around at the poor sick people and He noticed a man who was more sick, more helpless than all the others. He was so weak, He would never be able to get into the water by Himself.

8:10Jesus went over to Him and the man looked up as Jesus asked Him a question. Let's read verses 5 and 6. So we're in John chapter 5, verses 5 and 6. Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity 38 years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been in that condition a long time, he sent to Him. Do you want to be made well? How would you have responded if Jesus had have come over and asked you that question? And you are in His situation. I'm sure it was hard for him to go to the bathroom. It was hard for him to get food to eat. It was hard to clean himself. He was just laying there helpless. How long had he been helpless? The Bible says for 38 years. That's older than I am. 38 years. Wow. How would you have felt if Jesus had asked you that question?

9:12And you were like Him. I think I would have felt a little bit of hope. Just a little spark like, what? And then I'd probably be like, yeah, no, that's impossible. This has been my reality. This is how I've lived for a long time. We're going to find out next time what Jesus did to help this man. Dear Lord, thank you for your compassion. The love that you have for us sinners who are stuck in sin. We're helpless in sin. But you did not leave us. Just like you didn't leave the man there on the side of the pool of Bethesda. You helped him. You can help us. We pray for that help, that strength today in Jesus' name. Amen. Our memory verse this week is from Matthew 12. Verse 12 says, it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath. What are we to do on the Sabbath?

10:12Do good. What are some good things that we can do? Why don't you talk it over as a family? See what you can do to help make the Sabbath special. Matthew 12, 12. It is lawful to do good on the Sabbath. Know what you do and on the Sabbath. It is lawful to do good on the Sabbath. My new 12 verse 12. It is lawful to do good on the Sabbath. Know what you do and on the Sabbath. It is lawful to do good on the Sabbath. My new 12 verse 12. What's started as one little dream has become hundreds of families tuning in during the week to spend time with Jesus. Our listeners are from all over the

11:13world. Canada, Thailand, Australia, Germany, Jamaica, the UK, Netherlands, Ukraine, Bolivia and more. Thanks to you and your donations, we've been able to create daily programming so that kids all over the world can have the opportunity to spend time with Jesus. If you would like to help support this ministry, either as a monthly supporter or with a one-time donation, go to our website starting with Jesus.com slash donation to make your tax deductible gift. That's starting with Jesus.com slash donation. You can help our young people all over the world start each and every day with Jesus. If you have enjoyed this program and would like to find others like it, go to starting with Jesus.com. The materials for this devotional podcast are used by permission from my Bible first. Visit their website at mybibolfirst.org to get

12:18your own copy. For more information about this episode, check out the description box below.