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Welcome to the Daily Blade. The Word of God is described as the sword of the Spirit, the primary spiritual weapon in the Christian's armor against the forces of evil. Your hosts are Joby Martin and Kyle Thompson, and they stand ready to equip men for the fight. Let's sharpen up.

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Welcome back to the Daily Blade. This week we are going to look at a particular miracle of Jesus called the healing at the pool of Bethesda. But one of the things I want to point out about it is that in the gospel of John he never calls miracles miracles. He actually calls his miracles signs. I want to read through this miracle and then we'll talk about why that is. It's found in John, chapter five, beginning of verse one. It says this and after this there was a feast of the Jews and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

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Now there was in Jerusalem, by the sheep gate, a pool, an Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. In these lay a multitude of invalids, blind, lame and paralyzed. One man was there who had been an invalid for 38 years and when Jesus saw him lying there and knew he had already been there a long time, he said to him do you want to be healed? The sick man answered him sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up. And while I am going, another steps down before me and Jesus said to him get up. While I am going another steps down before me. And Jesus said to him get up, take up your bed and walk. And at once the man was healed and he took up his bed and walked.

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Now that day was the Sabbath. So the Jews said to the man who had been healed it is the Sabbath and it is not lawful for you to take up your bed. But he answered them, the man who healed me. That man said to me take up your bed and walk. They asked him who is the man who said to you take up your bed and walk? Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn as there was a crowd in the place. Afterwards, jesus found him in the temple and said to him see, you are well, sin no more that nothing worse may happen to you. The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him and this is why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. But Jesus answered them my father is working until now and I am working, okay.

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So this is one of the many miracles found in the gospel of John and, like I said, the many miracles found in the gospel of John and, like I said at the beginning, in the gospel of John, john doesn't call miracles miracles. He always calls miracles signs. Why is that? Here's why Because a sign points to something greater than itself. Like, if you come into the city of Jacksonville, you will see a sign that says Jacksonville, but that's not the city, it just it points to what is actually the city.

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And every single time in the gospel of John, and actually all of the gospels, when Jesus does a miracle, he's pointing to God's greater redemptive story. Jesus is not just flexing his raw power, but he's pointing to something greater God's redemptive story. And the reason that we can believe in the miraculous is simply this because if the tomb is empty, anything is possible. You see, if God has already pulled off the greatest miracle of all time that the son of God was killed on a cross and Jesus was laid in a tomb doorknob dead, and God can breathe new life into his dead son, then there is nothing that is impossible for God.

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And one of the things that you'll often see in the gospel of John when it comes to these signs is that oftentimes the miracle that the person is looking for is on the other side of a step of faith or a step of obedience in the person that is receiving the miracle, or a step of obedience in the person that is receiving the miracle. Like in the feeding of the 5,000, jesus blesses the fish and the loaves, but it is the disciples who have to have the faith to hand it out. Or in John, chapter 9, at some point we'll study this one this man who was born blind. Jesus spits on the ground, makes some mud, spreads it into the eyes of the man, but the man must be faithful enough to go and wash his face. Or in water to wine that we studied a few weeks ago, jesus dips out some of the water that had been turned to wine. I don't know that the servants know this yet, but they have to have the faith to take it to the master of ceremonies.

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So let me ask you a question Do you need a miracle? What is that miracle that you are asking for? Maybe it's the miracle of someone that you know, that doesn't know Christ to come to Christ. Maybe you need to be healed. Maybe you need an addiction broken. What is that miracle that you need? Well, let me dare you to ask, to ask Jesus for the miracle that you need and the reason that you can ask, because if the tomb is empty, anything is possible. The reason that we can believe that the miraculous is possible today is because God has already pulled off the greatest miracle of all time, and a miracle is simply when the unexplainable is run over by the undeniable. And so I want to invite you to come back and for the rest of this week, we are going to unpack this particular sign or miracle the healing at the pool of Bethesda. But from now to tomorrow, I dare you to begin to ask God for the miracle that you need.

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