Take Up Thy Bed

Summary

Summary prepared by Acts 2:38 Life from the transcript below — the preacher’s words follow in full.

Cornelius Williams preaches a Miracle Midweek service at First Pentecostal Church North Little Rock from two healing texts that carry the same command: the man sick of the palsy in Mark 2, told to arise, take up his bed and go home, and the man at the pool of Bethesda in John 5, told to rise, take up his bed and walk — in both cases with the same immediacy. His burden is the middle instruction. Arising sounds good and walking sounds good, but believers like to skip what sits between them: the consecration, waiting and obedience in the middle. You cannot cut the prayer or the fast short and still expect the whole miracle.

He then asks why a healed man would carry home the very bed he never wanted to see again — the mat that was his only transport, the Bible-era equivalent of a wheelchair nobody would voluntarily take home. His answer is that God understands the power of proof. The bed becomes the man's testimony: when the doubters ask whether the healing was real, the bed in his arms settles it. So the sermon turns into a call to walk with your testimony openly — Psalm 103's charge not to forget God's benefits, and Revelation 12:11's overcoming by the blood of the Lamb and the word of the testimony. Testimonies, he insists, are contagious: Acts 5 shows a church where believers were added and the sick were carried out on beds hoping even for Peter's shadow.

The ark of the testimony extends the picture. Borne on the priests' shoulders by rings and staves (Exodus 25:14), anointed with the tabernacle (Exodus 30), and holding the manna, Aaron's rod and the commandments, it was Israel's testimony carried through the wilderness — and a testimony, he says, cannot become a covenant until it has been tested. His own test is the close: for 1,410 days he and his wife prayed for children while he preached other people's miracles, until God gave them sons; three families who prayed and fasted together in that season all have children now. The altar appeal is physical and extended — the congregation is called out of the pews to walk the sanctuary carrying their "bed," remembering what God has done, while he prays for healings and for strength to keep walking.

Scripture index: Mark 2:11-12; John 5:8-9; Psalm 103:2; Revelation 12:11; Exodus 30:26; Exodus 25:14; Acts 5:14-15; Acts 3:8.