(John 5:1-11) Afterwards Jesus returned to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish religious holidays. Inside the city, near the Sheep Gate, was Bethesda Pool, with five covered platforms or porches surrounding it. Crowds of sick folks—lame, blind, or with paralyzed limbs—lay on the platforms (waiting for a certain movement of the water, for an angel of the Lord came from time to time and disturbed the water, and the first person to step down into it afterwards was healed). One of the men lying there had been sick for thirty-eight years. IT’S NEVER TOO LATE. John 5:1-11 (TLB) When Jesus saw him and knew how long he had been ill, he asked him, “Would you like to get well?” “I can’t,” the sick man said, “for I have no one to help me into the pool at the movement of the water. While I am trying to get there, someone else always gets in ahead of me.” WE SAY, “I CAN’T." JESUS SAYS, “I CAN.” (John 5:1-11) Jesus told him, “Stand up, roll up your sleeping mat and go on home!” Instantly, the man was healed! He rolled up the mat and began walking! But it was on the Sabbath when this miracle was done. So the Jewish leaders objected. They said to the man who was cured, “You can’t work on the Sabbath! It’s illegal to carry that sleeping mat!” “The man who healed me told me to,” was his reply. We want our miracle; Jesus wants our mat. What is on your mat? Your mat is not an embarrassment. Your mat is your message. (Revelation 12:11) And they have defeated him by the blood of the Lamb and by their testimony. TRUST HIS TIMING. (Habakkuk 2:3) For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it lingers, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay. USE OUR MAT. (1 Timothy 1:16)) But God had mercy on me so that Christ Jesus could use me as a prime example of his great patience with even the worst sinners. MULTIPLY OUR MIRACLE. (1 Timothy 1:16 NLT) Then others will realize that they, too, can believe in him and receive eternal life. SHARE YOUR STORY.