“JESUS CHRIST - A MAN APPROVED OF GOD (Acts 2:22)”
Miracle #33-
“JESUS CHRIST - A
MAN APPROVED OF GOD (Acts 2:22)”
Miracle #33-
THE
TEXT
“And,
behold, there was a certain man before him
which had the dropsy. And Jesus answering spake unto the lawyers and
Pharisees,
saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath day? And they held their
peace. And
he took him, and healed him, and let him go; And answered them, saying,
Which
of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a pit, and will
not
straightway pull him out on the sabbath day? And they could not answer
him
again to these things.” (Luke
14:2-5,6)
As with
the bowed woman (Miracle #31), Christ heals
this man on the sabbath about which the Pharisees seek to trap Christ,
accusing
him of working on the sabbath.
Dropsy aka edema
is a physical condition of a body that retains too much water …that
is …
too many water drops-y. The person becomes waterlogged.
Causes and
effects of physical dropsy (edema)
1. Not
enough exercise … more
likely to show up in the legs and feet.
2. Sitting or staying in one position for too long
3.
Eating too much salty food.
4.
The inability to get rid of water
5.
Heart failure, liver damage,
kidney disease, blood pooling in legs and arms, DVT and blood clots in
legs
Indeed,
many churches can become waterlogged too.
As I viewed the above, I thought about churches that have spiritual
dropsy.
Causes of
spiritual dropsy … why churches get
waterlogged and sieze up
1. Not
enough spiritual exercise … more likely to show up in the legs and
feet.
This is
not enough ‘leg work’ … that is … tract
distribution, footpath preaching, personal witnessing in shopping malls
and so
on.
2. Sitting
or staying in one position for too long
This
is too much sitting around in a
church with no outward focus on the lost.
3.
Eating too much salty food
Church
goers are forever training …
that is … seminars on witnessing, Bible courses with no practical
outlet,
visiting speakers, endless doctrine lessons … for example … the writer
attended
a church that gave the congregation a 16 week college based course on
what
salvation is … for 16 Sundays in a row!
4.
The inability to get rid of
spiritual water …
that is … drinking in too much
water of the word but not doing anything to get rid of it … to share it
with
the unsaved.
5. A
Pastor or elders who will not street preach. Anyone who
does is a threat. Their reply “I haven’t been called to
Street Preach!”
6. Church
membership creates laziness … an inner
sanctum of people who simply talk to each other on Sunday
mornings.
7. Tithing
promotes a level of comfort … “We pay
a Pastor … our job is done”
… and the list goes on.
