John:5
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After that ,
the Jews had a feast and Jesus went to Jerusalem .
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In Jerusalem ,
near the Sheep Gate ,
there is a wide water hole .
The Jews called this water hole Bethesda .
It had five places with roofs for people to stand under .
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Many sick people were lying on these places .
Some of them were blind .
Some were lame .
Some were very thin and stiff so that they could not move by themselves .
All of them were waiting for the water to move .
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An angel came down into the water at a certain time and made it move .
The first person who stepped into the water when it moved was healed of any sickness that he had .
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A man was there who had been sick for thirty eight years .
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Jesus saw the man lying there .
He knew that he had been sick for a long time .
He said to him ,
Do you want to be healed ?
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The sick man said to him ,
Sir ,
I have no man to put me into the water when it moves .
While I am trying to get in ,
some other person comes and gets in before me .
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Jesus said ,
Get up .
Take up your bed and walk !
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The man was healed right away .
He took up his bed and walked .
This happened on the Sabbath day .
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So the leaders of the Jews talked to the man who was healed .
They said ,
It is the Sabbath day .
It is not right for you to carry your bed .
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But he answered them ,
The man who healed me said to me , "
Take up your bed and walk ."
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They asked him ,
Who is the man who told you to take up your bed and walk ?
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The man who was healed said ,
I do not know who he is .
Many people were at the place and Jesus had gone away .
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After that ,
Jesus saw the man in the temple .
He said to him ,
See ,
you are healed .
Do no more wrong things .
If you do ,
something worse may happen to you .
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The man went away and told the leaders of the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him .
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The Jewish leaders made trouble for Jesus because he did this on the Sabbath day .
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But Jesus answered them ,
My Father is still working and I am working also .
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This was why the leaders of the Jews tried much more to kill Jesus .
He had broken the law of the Sabbath day .
And also he called God his Father .
In that way ,
he was making himself equal with God .
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Jesus said to them ,
l tell you the truth .
The Son cannot do anything alone .
He sees what his Father is doing and he does the same .
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My Father loves his Son .
He shows him all that he himself is doing .
He will show his Son bigger works than these so that you may be surprised .
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My Father raises people who were dead ,
and gives them life .
So his Son gives life to anyone he wants to .
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My Father judges no one ,
but he has made his Son to be the judge of everything .
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He did this so that all people would respect the Son ,
just as they respect his Father .
My Father has sent his Son .
Anyone who does not respect his Son does not respect the Father .
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I tell you the truth .
The person who hears what I say and believes in him that sent me will live for ever .
He will not be judged .
He has already passed from death to life .
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I tell you the truth .
The time is coming .
Yes ,
the time is here when the dead people will hear the voice of the Son of God .
Those who hear his voice will live .
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My Father has life in himself .
And so he has made his Son to have life in himself .
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He has given his Son power also to judge because he is the Son of Man .
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Do not be surprised at what I say .
The time is coming when all who are in the graves will hear his voice .
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They will come out of the graves .
Those who have done what is good will come out to live .
But those who have done what is wrong will come out to be punished .
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I have no right to do anything myself .
I judge the way I am told to judge .
The way I judge people is right .
I do not do what I myself want to do ,
but I do what my Father wants me to do .
He sent me .
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If I talk about myself ,
then what I say is not true .
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But someone else also speaks about me .
I know what he says about me is true .
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You sent someone to John and he has told you the truth about me .
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I do not need to listen to what a person says about me .
But I tell you this so that you may be saved .
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John was a light burning and shining .
For a while you were happy to be in his light .
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But I have something greater than John to talk for me .
It is the works that I do .
My Father has given me works to finish .
The works that I do tell that he sent me .
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And my Father who sent me has himself talked about me .
You have never heard him speak and you do not know what he is like .
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The word he talks is not in your hearts ,
because you do not believe the one he sent to you .
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You read holy writings carefully .
You think that there you will find out how to live for ever .
In the same writings you will read about me .
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And yet you will not come to me for that life .
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I do not want people to call me great .
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But I know that you do not love God in your hearts .
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I have come in my Fathers name ,
but you will not receive me .
If another person comes in his own name ,
then you will receive him .
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How can you believe ?
You are always calling each other great ,
but you do not want the only God to make you great .
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Do not think that I will carry a complaint against you to my Father .
Moses has already carried the complaint against you .
He is the very one you trust .
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If you really believed Moses ,
you would believe me too ,
because he wrote about me .
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But if you do not believe what he wrote ,
how will you believe what I say ?