Sarah Jakes Roberts - Make Your Bed (01/16/2026)
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In this Mother’s Day message from John 5:1-9, the preacher draws parallels between personal struggles with unfulfilled desires—especially infertility and barrenness in dreams, careers, or relationships—and the paralyzed man at the pool of Bethesda who waited 38 years for healing. The core command, «Rise, take up your bed, and walk,» challenges listeners to stop waiting for others' formulas or help, but to partner with Jesus, carrying their «bed» (past pain, shame, failures) as a testimony. By faith, God transforms that bed into strength, turning what held you down into what propels you forward, declaring that all things work together for good.
Celebrating Mothers
Can you guys help me just celebrate the mothers one more time? Like, just even if your mother’s not in the room, if she’s just somewhere, just throw it up one time for my mother in Dallas. And I’m sending her love all the way from here. My kids, they were here, but they’re going to be here for all three services, so they diversify their one church portfolio by going to children’s church and hustling up on snacks and doing what they can do.
I was sharing with the earlier service that my daughter—if you’ve ever heard me talk about McKenzie—she’s seven, and she’s just the reason why I know the Lord really well, you know? Because she’s interesting; she’s full of personality. Anytime we go somewhere, people are like, «She should be on TV,» and I’m like, «No, she needs to know the Lord because if she gets on a TV set, then I’m gonna have—you know how you snatch a child just finger by finger? That’s how I would have to snatch her up.»
And so, okay, y’all, I don’t snatch children, just in case that was criminal. That wasn’t appropriate. I don’t snatch children; I grab them with love and force. And Kenzie has this thing where she wakes up at 6 o’clock in the morning on Saturdays—just 6 a.m., okay? And if you don’t have children, just sleep as much as you can right now because they come to kill, steal, and destroy your sleep like you would not believe. Monday through Friday, she likes to sleep till 8:00; I have to come wake her up for school. Oh, but on Saturday, that’s when she likes to get up and sing the praises of the Lord. And so she has this thing where she likes to turn the television on.
So Pastor and I made this rule like you can’t turn the TV on without speaking to us on Saturday 'cause we like to, you know, wake up not listening to the Disney Channel. And so we have this rule now. And so she comes and she knocks on our door in the morning, and she’s like, you know, «Can I watch television?» And so I have this checklist—it’s this «you’re not ever going to be able to watch TV» checklist—like, «Is your homework done? Have you brushed your teeth?» She’s like, «I have to brush your teeth every day? It’s an everyday kind of thing, brushing your teeth.»
And this is the one that always gets her because I don’t make them make their beds throughout the week, but I go, «Did you make your bed?» And so she takes off running to make her bed. Those three little words: just make your bed. Those are words that honestly I think I end up taking for granted because the other day I was on social media, and there’s this woman—a friend of mine who I follow—and she was sharing how Mother’s Day is difficult for her because she can’t have children.
The Pain of Not Producing
And so here I am lamenting about, you know, my child waking me up early, and someone would love to say the words «make your bed.» From what I understand with infertility—and my sister has been very transparent about her story with infertility—it’s so painful because you have all of the parts, but you’re not able to produce what you want. And there’s something about being almost there but not there that makes it so challenging.
And so when Mother’s Day rolls around, it is a reminder of what you’re not able to produce. It’s not just Mother’s Day; it’s anytime someone has a baby or anytime someone gets pregnant—you are reminded over and over again about what you’re not able to produce. And this is in no way meaning to diminish their struggle at all, but I think that we can all relate to that in some capacity because we know what it’s like to want to produce something in our life but for it to not come to fruition the way we thought it would. We’ve got all the parts and all the heart, but for some reason our careers aren’t moving the way we thought they would; our marriages aren’t being restored the way we thought they would.
We thought we would have this fairy tale; we thought we would have the business by now, but for some reason we’re not producing the way we thought it would. And it’s crazy because the pain of not producing is intensified when you recognize that someone else is producing. It would be one thing if no one was getting it right; you feel a little better about yourself. It’s not God’s will for this to happen at all; it’s not me, it’s God—He doesn’t want this to happen at all. But the moment you see someone run past you, it is a reminder that you have legs but no speed, that you’ve got the idea but you don’t have the connections, you’ve got the dreams but you don’t have the degree. What do you do when you’re trying to produce something but you don’t have it manifest the way you want to?
If I could take a topic for today, it is «make your bed.» And I want to take us to John 5:2, where we’re going to have an encounter with a gentleman who speaks so much to what I hope to be the crux of this message.
The Pool of Bethesda
Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew Bethesda, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of sick people. There are all of these sick people around this one pool; they are blind, they are lame, they are paralyzed, and they’re waiting for the moving of the water because an angel comes down at a certain time into the pool and stirs up the water. Then whoever steps in first after the stirring of the water was made well of whatever disease he had.
I want to stop right there because I think there’s something to the way we congregate with other sick people. I think that there’s something about when we have that one friend who’s just a little bit crazier than we are, and you can’t fully excommunicate them because they’re the marker by which you judge your own crazy—like, «I’m off, but I ain’t that off. When I get that off, y’all come pull me.» Or we surround ourselves by other toxic relationships, and we say, «Well, my relationship is bad, but it’s not that bad because it could be that.»
We love to be around other sick people because it makes us feel better about our disease. We don’t feel as insecure when we’re around other sick people. And the truth is that sometimes being around healed people hurts too badly; it reminds us of our own inadequacies. Whenever we’re around someone who seems to have gotten it right and they graduated and found the perfect relationship and they did everything the right way, we don’t really want to fool with them because you remind me of what I could not be. You remind me of what I had the potential to become, but for some reason I could not fully tap into it.
We all sit around these pools. What pools are you sitting by? You’re not living until you start asking yourself, «What is it that has connected me to you, and is it healthy? Are we connected because you bring out the best in me and you challenge me to become better, or are we connected because you make me feel better about my addiction?»
So they’re all waiting by this pool. An angel comes down, stirs up the water; then whoever steps in first—there’s something about that stepping in first because in order to step in first, it suggests that you have to be willing to climb over certain people. Whoever steps in first after the stirring of the water was made well of whatever disease he had. And verse 5 continues: Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity 38 years. And when Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been in that condition a long time—this is what I love about Jesus is that Jesus didn’t even need any notes; he needed no history.
There was something about the way he was lying on his bed that told Jesus everything he needed to know. There’s something about the way you start talking about your dream that lets everyone else know that you’ve given up. There’s something about the way you start functioning in your relationships and in your community that lets everyone else know that you’ve given up. Jesus said, «I can see the way you’re lying in your bed that you’ve been here a long time.»
God wants somebody to know that you’ve been lying in this bed for too long, that you’ve been stuck in this infirmity for too long. Everyone else may think you’re comfortable, but I remember when you used to want more for yourself. I remember when you used to not be afraid to dream. I remember when you came into this city and thought you could take it over. I remember when you got into that marriage and loved their stinky drawers. I remember when you wanted to drink bath water. I remember when you decided that no weapon formed against you could prosper. I remember when disappointment couldn’t stop you. I remember when depression didn’t have a hold of you. Everyone else may be believing that you’re okay, but I can tell by the way you’re lying in that bed—you’ve been lying there too long, and it’s time for you to come forth. It’s time for you to recognize what I’ve placed down on the inside of you.
Waiting on Others' Formula
You see, the real issue with the man lying by the pool is that he was waiting for his miracle to happen the way it happened for everyone else. He thought that in order for his miracle to happen, the water had to be stirred and the angel had to come down. So he was taking everyone else’s formula and applying it to his life. And I just have a word for somebody in this room that you’ve been basing your success off of someone else’s formula, and God wants to give you something so different that if you would stop limiting him to what he did for somebody else, he could be unleashed in your life like never before. God said, «That’s how I did it for them, but that doesn’t mean that’s how I’m going to do it for you. You got to let me be God in your life. You got to take off the reins and break the chains off of your God so I could show myself strong in your life. You got to understand who I am. I’m not limited to what I did yesterday. I see a new opportunity when I look at you.»
We got to start looking at people’s success as the floor of what’s possible for us. We got to start seeing what other people—that’s why you got to rejoice because if somebody got in the water first, that means that your miracle just got even more elevated. That if God did it for them, oh, what he’s about to do for me is going to be huge because I know that he’s called me to be a trailblazer, that he’s going to do a new thing in my life.
So I don’t have to be the next Oprah 'cause Sarah Jakes Roberts, baby, eyes haven’t seen, ears haven’t heard, neither has it entered into the hearts of men what he’s going to do in my life. He’s going to do exceedingly abundantly. Your swag ought to get up when somebody else wins 'cause that means what he’s going to do for me—you don’t even understand yet. You don’t even comprehend what’s about to happen in my life. You’ve been in that condition too long. You’ve been lying in that bed too long. I can tell by the way you’re lying in that bed that you’ve given up a little bit on the very thing you came to this city for, that you’ve given up on that child that you’ve been praying for. I can tell by the way you’re lying in that bed that you don’t have the confidence you once had.
Do You Want to Be Made Well?
And so Jesus, my sweet big brother Jesus, looks at this man and he says, «Do you want to be made well?» And the sick man answered him, and I think he was trying to read Jesus a little bit on the low—go with me—because he says, «Sir,» like, you know, when you start a sentence with «sir,» it’s about to be a read. Like when you’ve been waiting at the restaurant for 45 minutes, and then they come over and go, «Are you hungry?» And you’re like, «Sir, do you think I came here to look at you? Yes, I would like an appetizer, sir. Sir, sir.» And I saw them get their food before me, and they came after me. Sir, don’t try me today, sir. Y’all don’t do that 'cause y’all saved—that was just for me.
So the sick man answers Jesus with what has to be a bit of bitterness because he’s been lying in this condition for 38 years, and Jesus comes up to him and says, «Do you want to be made well?» As if it’s that easy, as if it was just as easy as wanting it. Of course I want it, but he says, «I don’t have anyone to put me into the pool. I’m paralyzed; I can’t move my legs, and I don’t have anyone to help me.» Have you ever wanted someone to help you? If I could just get one person to help me. I’m not saying you got to do the work for me, but if you could just put me by the pool—if I just needed a little bit of help.
Of course I want to be better. Of course I want to be a better man. Of course I want to be a better mother, but I didn’t have a father. I didn’t have anyone looking after me. I didn’t have anyone there to make sure I was going to graduate from school. I didn’t have the tools that everyone else had. He says, «I have no man to put me into the pool, and when the water is stirred up, while I’m coming"—he said, but I didn’t let the fact that I didn’t have anyone keep me from trying. He said, «My legs may have been paralyzed, and it may have taken me a little bit longer to get there, but I still tried. I still tried. I didn’t have all of the resources, and I had to rob Peter to pay Paul, but I still tried. I still tried to produce this thing, but for some reason I keep failing at it.»
And there’s nothing like failure when you’ve tried and you’ve tried and you’ve tried, and I can’t afford to look like a failure in front of all of these people. But every time I try, somebody gets there first. Somebody gets to the audition first. Somebody gets the meeting first. Bitterness is stinging down on the inside of me because every time I try to get my breakthrough, something stands in the way. He says, «The water is stirred up, but while I’m coming, another steps down before me. I’m tired of people stepping down in front of me.» Then Jesus says what has to be an extraordinary request to him because he says, «Rise, take up your bed and walk.»
Rise, Take Up Your Bed, and Walk
We got to stay right here and understand the psychology behind this for a minute because Jesus has to know that the angel comes to the water and that’s how we get the healing. I don’t mind the levels to this thing, but for you to tell me that I don’t have to go through those levels at all—that kind of shocks me a little bit because all this way, I thought—all this time I thought I had to do it this way.
But what you’re telling me now is that I was coveting someone else’s breakthrough and that I was limiting you when all I really had to do was rise and take up my bed and walk—that all I really had to do was have enough faith that you could do something without the help of any water being stirred up, without the help of any connections, without the help of anyone raising me, without the help of any of the things I thought I needed—that all the power was always within my legs; I just never had the faith that connected with the power. But you know what happened? I messed around and found out who Jesus was.
I messed around and got a word from the Lord that said if I partner with you, that I don’t need anyone to carry me down. I don’t care what the race is; that you would couple with me, and when I couple with you, it’s just as simple as taking up my bed and walking. Rise, take up your bed and walk. You’ve been lying in this situation too long. You’ve let it get the best of you. It’s time for you to rise up out of that depression and start walking. It’s time for you to rise up out of that guilt and that shame and start walking. It’s time for you to recognize who I’ve always been in your life. You were counting on men when you should have been counting on me because if you would have counted on me, you would have realized that you didn’t need a pull and you didn’t need a lift.
All you needed was the faith—the faith that says, «Rise, take up your bed and walk.» And I love verse 9; it says, «And immediately the man was made well.» What I didn’t understand was why Jesus told him to take his bed, and then as I studied, I thought to myself, well, maybe he wanted him to take up his bed because when he got finished with this miracle, there would be no need for it at all—that when you got all of this circumstance, that you were not coming back to who you used to be, so you might as well roll up your bed and keep it pushing because that old you was gone and cast away.
I thought maybe he told him to take up his bed because he wanted him to realize that he could forget what was behind him. And then I looked at the Greek word for «take up your bed» that was translated, and it actually means to lift, as in to lift up that thing that’s been holding you down and recognize that you’ve always had the power to walk with it—as in to lift up that struggle and to lift up that issue in such a way that you start recognizing that if you take up your bed, I will make your bed work out for you.
In other words, all things work together for the good of those who love the Lord. That bed that was once the place of your disease and once the place of your infirmity and once the place of your depression and disappointment—if you would take up that bed and allow me to do what I do in your life, I’ll start making that bed work out for your favor. I’ll start making that very thing that you’re crying about turn into victory over your life. I’ll take that very thing—that very struggle that’s been over you and your family for decades—and I’ll start making it work out for you. And that’s why it had to be you in the infirmity because no one else would have taken up their bed.
If God would have done it the way you prayed for and the water was stirred up and the angel came and touched it and he finally made it to the water, this man—he would have left his bed. But he needed to take his bed with him because he needed to be reminded of the power of partnering with Jesus because when you partner with Jesus, he takes all of the things that the devil meant for evil and he turns it around for good. And he would have this reminder no matter where he walked and no matter where he stood that my God did it yesterday, so I’m not afraid of today. I know the situation looks like it’s not working out for me.
I know the odds may be against my favor, but I got my bed with me, and my bed is a reminder that he’ll take a teenage mother and turn her into a preacher. My bed is a reminder that he’ll take somebody out of the hood and put them in business meetings. My bed—I got to make my bed work for me, baby. My bed is a reminder that it doesn’t matter what statistics say; all that matters is what God says. My bed, my bed, my bed, my bed says no weapon formed against me shall prosper. My bed—I need my bed with me. I got to make my bed come with me because when I make my bed come with me, even when fear tries to haunt me, I am reminded that I was once sick and lying in this bed, but God came through in the midnight hour, and he reminded me who I was and whose I was.
And because he came through for me then, I know he’s going to come through for me again. I don’t care what my feelings say—forget my feelings; do you know my faith? I don’t care what the emotions say—forget my emotions; do you know my God? You start making your life come under subjection to the word of God. The word of God says that you are more than a conqueror. The word of God says that greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world.
So I don’t care what the bank account says, and I don’t care what the system says. I care what God says, and because I care what he says, I’m going to take my bed with me. I’m going to make my bed work out for me. I’m going to lift up that bed until it looks like I’m bench pressing what I used to be lying on. I’m going to lift up that bed until I start getting stronger by the very thing I used to lie on. I’m going to lift up that bed until the earth starts shaking and demons start trembling. I’m going to lift up that bed until I start prophesying over my own future. I’m going to lift up my bed until faith without works is dead and things start coming to life. I’m going to lift up this bed—this bed, this bed, this bed I was once so comfortable lying in. I’m going to make it work for me. I’m not going to let the fact that I don’t have an audition get to me. I’m going to start creating my own content. I’m going to make my bed.
That’s the kind of anointing I’m talking about, where you’re not waiting for anyone to hand you an opportunity. You start getting together with other people who have decided that we’re going to make our bed work for us, and we start producing the kind of things that make people start asking us what’s going on in our life. And we start answering, «Oh, honey, I just know how to make my bed. I just know how to make my bed. I know you’re wondering how I have a glow in the middle of trouble, but it’s actually that I just learned how to make my bed. I just figured out who I was.» Would you stand with me as I prepare to close?
Immediate Healing and Out-of-Order Blessings
Jesus says to the man, «Take up your bed and walk.» Put verse 9 on the screen for me one more time because the text tells us that immediately the man was made well. He was made well while he was still lying on the bed, but he had to have the faith to actually stand up, to take up the bed, and to start walking. There are people in this room who are already healed. God has already answered your prayer, but you’re too afraid to take up the bed and actually start walking in that healing.
And God wants you to know the moment you start walking in that healing, that you’re going to start attracting things to your life that you could have never received as long as you were lying down. But the moment you stand up and square your shoulders and start recognizing who you are—that God makes all things work together for our good—that’s when you’re going to start manifesting the promises he has for your life.
This man who had been paralyzed for 38 years thought it would take several steps for him to be healed, but we serve a God of out-of-control blessings. He says, «You were trying to do more than I even required. I’m a God of less is more. I can do it right here if you’re ready for it. I can give you a breakthrough right here if you’re ready for it. You don’t need the steps; you don’t need the connection. I’ll meet you right where you are. You don’t need the water to stir; you don’t need anyone to carry you. I’ll meet you right where you are. There’s enough down on the inside of you for me to work with,» says the Lord. Hallelujah.
You don’t need anybody else. People are bonuses, but if it’s just you and me in this thing—you, me, and your bed—that’s all I need. And I love it because there was this part in the text that wasn’t even necessary; the story was over, but it says, «And that day was the Sabbath.» And those of you who study the Bible recognize that it was out of order for Jesus to do a miracle on the Sabbath, but Jesus says, «I’m not a God of order; I like to do out-of-order kind of blessings.»
And that’s a word for someone who’s been thinking that it had to happen in a certain order—that I had to get this before I got that, and I got to get this before I get there. He says, «You don’t need any of that. I’ll do it right where you are. I’m an out-of-order kind of God. I’m not bound to religion. I’m not bound to the way that it happened for everyone else. The only thing I’m bound to is what you will allow me to do in your life.»
I dare you to unleash the limits and let God begin to work in your life in a new way. I dare you to let go of the way you thought you had to have a miracle and allow him to do what he does when hearts and lives are surrendered to him.
Altar Call: Take Up Your Bed
If this message has been speaking to you—literally, people are already at the altar—and you know, «That’s me; she’s talking to me. I’ve been lying in this bed too long. I’ve given up on my dream. I’ve started talking in a way as someone who doesn’t believe,» I want you to meet us at this altar because we’re going to have a moment where Jesus meets us right where we are. And don’t just come by yourself; I want you to bring your bed with you.
I want you to bring your shame and your disappointment. I want you to bring all of the things that didn’t work out the way you thought they would. I want you to bring all of that to the altar because it takes the coupling of those things to give you the power necessary to be who God has called you to be. God says, «I want to marry my promises with your pain. I want to marry my power with your pain. You needed that bed—that very bed that you’ve been asking God, 'Why me? Why did I have to hurt? Why did I have to be the one that was broken? Why, why me? '» He said, «It had to be you because I needed someone who would have the strength to take up that bed and walk with it. I needed someone who would have this kind of encounter with me where they didn’t mind taking up their bed. They didn’t care who was looking when they came to the altar. They wanted to take up their bed; they wanted to partner with me so badly that they didn’t care what it looked like to other people.»
Someone else who would have been in your situation would have given up. Someone else would have been broken. Someone else would have been lost. Someone else would have even been in church, but there was something about your commitment to coming out on the other side that you came to church even if you came depressed, that you came to church even if you came broken, that you came into the presence of God even if you had to drag yourself into the room. And that’s because you just knew if I could just get close enough to the pool. And God said, «You got close enough for me to meet you right there.»
I know it looks like the altar is too full; «I don’t want to come; the altar is too full. I can receive right where I am.» And though that is true, I promise you there is something about taking up your bed and saying, «You don’t have the power over me any longer,» and bringing it down to the altar. I want to give you one more opportunity to take up your bed and come. I don’t care if you are by the door; I don’t care if you have to walk from the very back. If you dare to believe that taking up your bed will yield a miracle in your life, I dare you to meet us at this altar.
It’s time for you to serve notice on your bed that you can’t hold me down any longer. I serve notice on every trick of the enemy: you can’t hold me down any longer. I serve notice on every negative thought, every depression in this room: you can’t hold me down. I’m going to take up my bed, and I’m going to walk this thing out because I know the God I serve, and I know he wouldn’t bring me this far to leave me. I know who he is; therefore, I know who I’ve got to be. And if he kept me alive this long, it’s because there’s something down on the inside of me that must live. So I say, live. Hallelujah, live. Hallelujah.
You got to live. You can’t lie down any longer. You got to be intentional about this thing. You can’t just come in and not be affected any longer. You got to be intentional. You got to press. You got to take up your bed. You got to take up your issues. You can’t separate yourself from your issues any longer. Don’t let your achievements convince you that you don’t have those issues. You bring those issues with you because when you bring those issues, he mixes it all together, and glory comes out of your life. Let there be glory revealed in this moment. This is glory.