Reference: John 5: 1 – 15 – Healing at the pool

è It would be good to ask your kids to read through this passage, ponder over it for like 5 mins and share what each individual picks out from the passage.



è The Focus:





1. The Invalid

v. 5 , v. 7

a) invalid for 38 yrs!



b) “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred, while I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.



· It would then be good to set the context for v.7 and v.3, why there’s tons of people over at the pool.



Context: People believed that the waters of the pool would heal them, someone may have been healed or claimed to be healed there. There has been claims that an angel would come down at a certain time in the pool and stirred up the water. Whoever stepped in first would be healed.



2. The Power of Jesus, What Jesus did



a) v. 8. Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.



A) THE PREDICAMENT



I) Of the Invalid

- Invalid for 38 yrs! Like whhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaTTTTT!!!!

- Seeks healing but unable to do so… why?

- No one to help him into the pool when it stirs.

- His Predicament??

- Stuck?

- Fixed?

- Some may say pathetic… or what I’d normally say “sad L.”



II) Of Us.

*don’t tell them our predicament yet, it would be more impactful to leave the point of our predicament after going through the verses*

SO….. FLIP TO YOUR BIBLES!



B) God’s Standards: SETTING THE BAR! Yes, pull up bars to reach over : ), no offence to zero-fighters



1) BE PURE IN HEART

- Matthew 5: 8

- “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”



- Q: What do you think “pure in heart means” ?



- A: Those whose minds, motives and principles are pure; who seek not only to have external actions correct, but those who desire to be holy in heart, and who are so.

Remember the lesson on “Man looking at the outward appearance, but God looking at the heart?”- Jeremiah 17:10

Or Simply

1. Living by the rule of God, living a life that is pleasing to God.

2. Living For God, having a single-minded devotion to God.



2) BE PERFECT

- Matthew 5: 48

- Q: what do you think “being perfect” means?

- A: God. :D



3) BE HOLY

- Hebrews 12: 14

- “to be Holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord”

- Leviticus 11: 44 – 45

- “Be Holy, because I am Holy”



- Q: What does “Holy” entail?



· Get your kids to ponder over it and get them to think

- A: 1 Peter 1 : 13 – 25

- For simplicity and convenience sake, I’ve underlined the answers and stuff, and do feel free to explore any particular area as required by your kids.



- Be Holy

13 Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming. 14As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. 15 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16 for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”[a]

17 Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear. 18 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, 19but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. 20 He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. 21Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.

22 Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart.[b] 23 For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. 24 For,

“All people are like grass,
and all their glory is like the flowers of the field;
the grass withers and the flowers fall,
25 but the word of the Lord endures forever.”[c]

And this is the word that was preached to you.









EXTRA FOR YOUR READING

Therefore we are instructed to gird up the loins of your mind, live soberly, and set your hopes completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. To gird up the loins of your mind should bring to mind the image of the first Passover, when the Israelites took flight from the Egyptians (Ex.12:11) and in the context of living soberly and setting our hopes completely on Christ, suggests vigilance and perseverance on the part of His people.

This is why obedience is a big issue in Peter’s letter. We must be like obedient children in order to Be holy for I am holy. In our former life, we were ignorant for we had no knowledge of God and that led us to godless conduct. We are called to be holy if we’ve received the the knowledge and love of God through Christ Jesus our Lord. Peter makes it clear that obedience and conduct reveal whose we are. For God judges us according to our works.

Peter then goes on to teach us that this unknown God is made known by the revelation of Jesus Christ; He [Jesus] was known before the foundation of the world but revealed in the final time for you, who through him believe in God who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. For us to believe in the invisible God, He was revealed visible. For us to have life, we were shown the resurrection from the dead! Knowing that what God the Father did for His Son Jesus Christ, He will do for those who are truly His.

Since you have purified yourselves by obedience to the truth, Peter continues, we have been born anew, not from perishable but from imperishable seed, through the living and abiding word of God.





Q: Are we “being Holy”, “pefect” and “pure in heart?”

OBVIOUSLY NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Romans 3: 23



Q: SO DO YOU THINK YOU’RE GOING ON WELL WITH YOUR LIFE?

- Romans 7 : 7 – 25 – it would be good to read together so that it sinks in for everybody



The Law and Sin

7 What shall we say, then? Is the law sinful? Certainly not! Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”[a] 8 But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of coveting. For apart from the law, sin was dead. 9Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. 10I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death. 11For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death. 12 So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.

13 Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! Nevertheless, in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it used what is good to bring about my death, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.

14 We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. 15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18 For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature.[b] For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

21 So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23 but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? 25 Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!

So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature[c] a slave to the law of sin.



------------------------------FOR YOUR UNDERSTANDING-----------

Paul found in himself this principle for evil, the sin nature, even though he was a saved man. When he desired to do the good of the Law, he found in himself this sin principle which opposed him.

A failure to acknowledge that evil is still present in the child of God can make shipwreck of a person’s life. This is one of the reasons that many Christians crack up mentally. They try to live the Christian life but find only conflict. They do not realize that this is a normal experience to teach dependence upon the Holy Spirit.2

“For I delight [sympathetic rejoicing] in the law of God after the inward man.” “The law of God” refers to the Mosaic Law (Lk. 2:23,24). The “inward man” means one’s inmost personality which is influenced by the new nature. As a saved man, with his new nature, Paul loved the Mosaic Law because it was a reflection of God’s holy character.

“But I see another law in my members.” While Paul loved the Mosaic Law, he became aware of another strong force within him — the law or principle of indwelling sin.

“Warring against the law of my mind.” The law of sin was constantly and habitually warring against the principle (law) of Paul’s mind. His mind was a part of his personality that was influenced by the new nature. His new nature desired to keep the Law but the old sin nature prevented him from accomplishing this.

“And bringing me into captivity to the law [principle] of sin which is in my members.” There was a constant struggle between the new nature and the sin nature when Paul tried to keep the commands of the Law in his flesh. The result was defeat, discouragement, and an inability in his flesh to keep the righteous requirements of the Law.

He was made a captive or prisoner of the sin nature. The harder he tried, the more discouraged and defeated he became. He was sincere and earnest, but he was trying to produce the righteousness of the Law in his own strength and the sin nature overtook him.

At this point he had not learned that God had provided the Holy Spirit to live the Christian life in him.

Andrew Murray said,

“God works to will and he is ready to work to do but, alas, many Christians

misunderstand this. They think that because they have the will, it is enough, and that now they are able to do. This is not so. The new will is a permanent gift and attribute of the new nature but the power to do is not a permanent gift but must be received each moment from the Holy Spirit. It is the man who is conscious of his own impotence as a believer who will learn that by the Holy Spirit he can lead a holy life.”

PAUL’S CRY OF DESPAIR — Romans 7:24

“O wretched man that I am!” The word “wretched” has the idea of exhaustion because of hard labor. This is a beautiful picture of Paul struggling with his flesh, to the point of exhaustion, to make it obey the Law.3 What honest Christian has not made this cry many times as he finds himself in the struggle of sin and self-effort? I have been so fed up with my life as a Christian that I have thrown myself over my bed and cried out, “I’m so horribly sinful!” God brings his children to such a point to teach us dependence on him. Paul came to the end of himself. He saw himself in relation to the requirements of

God’s Law and was displeased with his own inability to deliver himself from the situation. Only when he came to the end of self-effort and discovered his own sinfulness did he cry out for deliverance! Paul came to realize that the flesh (sin nature) could not please God and that his best

efforts could not do so either. The flesh is not only sinful but it is also helpless. Paul learned that sin is not only doing something wrong, it is also trying to do something right in our own strength.







Despite our weakness and incapability in facing life on our own, look at v. 25

Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature[b] a slave to the law of sin.


C) WHAT GOD DID! OUR HOPE!

- Read What God Can do

- Colossians 2: 13 – 15

- Do q3 & q4



Finally…

SHARING TIME : D

Q: What are your peculiar paralysis in life? What stops us from being healed? (Good to share with your accountability partner! / ldr and student)



Lastly, Before closing prayer. Tell each other this!!!:

V. 8 Then Jesus said to him YOU ,“Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.”