Happy Black Friday, Friends.

I hope you are recovering from your feast and enjoying spending your bread!

I was just noticing that I made a mistake in the summary of our Bible study, and I wanted to make sure that you have the whole story. I left out the most human interest part: what was the guy's sin?!!

So, once again:

We met Tuesday at International Bible Study to talk about the story of the man who was healed by Jesus at a pool (that was said to heal people) on the Sabbath (the Jewish Holy Day). The man offers excuses/blames for his actions or inactions: we discovered that the man tells him to, "Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you (John 5:14)." This is great advice because if we don't recognize and stop acting in a way that hurts ourselves or others, something worse could always happen! In this case the man's sin was not recognizing that his actions were causing his problems. He was not admitting to himself or other people when he was at fault. Jesus found the man at the temple (he could only go there if he were healthy, according to the laws). Jesus was showing by example that to reach out in kindness and help each other is NEVER against God's law. At the end of the day, the man told the Jewish religious leaders that Jesus healed him telling them that Jesus is God. We were reminded of the 1 John 1:8-9: if we say we have no sin we are lying to ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we recognize and admit to our sins, God is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from that sin and make us new! All we have to do is say the word!

Thank you for your time today and allowing me to correct my mistake and finish the story.

Carolyn

spending your bread: bread is slang for money!
the whole story: all of the story; a complete message
human interest: what people are interested in, not just currentnews
Holy Day: look! guess where the word "holiday" comes from
at fault: responsible for an undesirable event
1 John: another book of the Bible, a letter by John to Christians everywhere that tells people to love each other and God, who loves us first and foremost
cleanse: a good, old fashioned word for clean
say the word: admit to something; a good pun! in the