Miracles can happen and are waiting for you….if you are all in!
John 5:1-9
After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
2 Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. 3 In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. 5 One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” 7 The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.” 8 Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” 9 And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked.
Jesus is coming back into Jerusalem to celebrate another feast. The sheep gate is the gate closest to the Temple because it is the gate that all of the animals came through that were going to be sacrificed.
Beside this gate is a pool of water known as Bethesda or (House of Mercy)
For years people would gather at this pool waiting for some kind of stirring of the waters.
There were 5 separate roofed areas where people would pack in by the pool. A multitude meant at least hundreds of blind, lame, paralyzed broken in every way were there waiting for a stirring of the waters.
We still do this today….for the most part we aren’t standing by some magical pool looking for a miracle but we do things like
Read our horoscopes
Consult psychics
Do other risky things with our lives, health, and finances
Things we hope will bring the answer to our life problems, things that make us feel like we are in control
All in the hope of getting ahead by some magic.
The danger is we become so focused on trying to make things happen in our own strength, with our own wisdom, by our own abilities, when the Lord speaks, gives some kind of wisdom, or understanding to bring us to freedom we can miss it because we are looking for what we want rather than God.
There is no doubt in my mind that people were healed getting into the water. If some hadn’t the multitudes would not have gathered but is that the way God wants to do things
There is no doubt that coincidences happen with a horoscope or a Psychic or people can twist events to make it look like the horoscope or Psychic were correct….there is no doubt some people win placing bets but the reason casinos, racetracks and others are in business is because they win far more often than they lose…but even if you do win is that the way God wants to supply for you
God’s heart is that we always will grow deeper in our relationship with Him and that all of our needs, our security, even our life comes in and through Him.
With Him, we win every time, with him we are never lost, never alone. He is always with us! Building relationship with Him gives us confidence, hope, and freedom always…other things can lead us to bondage and will lead us there.
Here, by the pool, Hundreds of people are in need of a miracle. Hundreds are wanting to get healed, delivered, brought to freedom but the sad part is that only one will trust the Lord….
How do I know….
John 5:19
So Jesus explained, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does.
The Father responds to faith so he had Jesus going to the person He knew had faith in Him rather than the stirring of the water.
This is one of the keys to seeing the miracles in our lives, it is about our faith in God not in ourselves, our jobs, bosses, others in our lives but God.
When we come to the realization that it is God who created us, knows us the best, loves us the most and has a tremendous plan for our lives.
God is more than willing to move mountains for us because it is faith that moves God…but He wants to know if we are willing to believe
Abraham took his only son up the mountain and even though God had asked him to sacrifice his son, by faith He believed God was not after the death of his only son but would provide a ram. (Genesis 22)
It is not a matter of proving to God that we believe but instead proving to ourselves that we believe…God knows that we have the heart to believe we need to come to the truth that we believe…let’s look at what Jesus said
John 5:6
6 When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?”
Now that seems like a crazy question to ask someone who has been sitting by a miracle pool for up to 38 years. What is he really asking?
1) Are you tired of being in the condition you are in? We don’t change until we are in enough pain, God always want to move in our lives but we have to choose to decide we want to be free
2) Do you recognize that I can heal you? Often we think God will meet the needs of other people but will He meet ours. Jesus is challenging him to consider that God knows, understands and wants to do something about his condition….we need to remember God knows us better than we know ourselves, He always wants us to recognize that we are important to Him, important enough to meet our needs
3) Do you see yourself as something more than sitting here? Many begin to so identify with their condition, sickness, mental, social, economic, spiritual limitations then God pushes us to admit that we want to change
All of this was posed in the question and Jesus is still posing it to us now
If you are tired of the condition you are in….bring it Jesus and if you are willing He will change it
Do you recognize that He can heal you and that you are important enough to him that He wants to?
Can you see yourself apart from the limitation that has been placed on you? Can you see yourself no longer a victim? No longer considered stupid or untalented or impoverished, or a nobody or any of the other labels that have been placed on you by others that you have believed all of this time. We must never allow other people’s limited perception of us to define us….God says we are amazing, worthy of love, His princes and princesses but we must choose to believe it!
Hear the limitations of the man’s thinking
John 5:7
The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.”
Jesus didn’t ask the man if he was going to get into the water, he asked if he wanted to be healed.
Too often we look at a problem and say, “I need this to solve my problem and if God has another means of meeting that need we may miss it.
You may be praying for finances to meet a particular need and God sends a different answer…a better job, an additional job, a new thing to replace what you through you needed money for…the man needed a healing not dunked in the water
I remember having a job I hated and asking the Lord to get me out of the job, and praying basically begging God to get me a better job, finally at the end of my begging God was able to get through and said why don’t you pray that I bless you in this job and I complained again but God I want out of this job…eventually God got through and I asked for his blessing in the job and he did, I was blessed with more money than I could imagine but the real thing was there were two guys that I was able to lead to the Lord that both died within two years after I left there and would not have come to Christ if I selfishly demanded my own way.
God’s plans are for your good…I know many of you have read this scripture multiple times but it is worth remembering when we are in need of a miracle
Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.
God is always looking for those who will trust Him and believe Him at his word….this man didn’t know it but he was such a man, God knew he was a man of faith and stretched him
When God sees we have miracle working faith, when He sees we have a blessing waiting, even though we don’t see it yet he will challenge us to use it
John 5:8 Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.”
God saw the man able to walk…the man didn’t know for sure that he could walk and Jesus challenged him to walk
How does he see you?
Does he see skills and talents in you that either you are afraid to use, or don’t know you have…He is asking you to use them because he has a blessing on His mind for you
Does he have a promotion waiting for you, a call to higher responsibility that you may be afraid of? He made this promotion for you…it will stretch you but you will love it if you will just trust Him
Is he challenging you to begin tithing? (giving at least 10% of your income)…it is not because he wants to hurt you but he has a blessing on His mind for you of being debt free, never being afraid of a lack of finances, He has a financial harvest on his mind for you
Is he asking you to commit everything to Him. To challenge you to completely lay down your agenda for Him? If so, he has an incredible life and adventure planned for you that will not always be easy but I guarantee will be worth it!
That is what happens when you begin to respond to the Lord and trust him…Here is what happened to the lame man
9 And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked.
God is stretching us as a church…God is challenging the church to step up and change our culture to bring hope, life, freedom, joy…
the question is are you willing to respond to him?
Are you willing to believe God has something better for you? Are you willing to believe Him and take the leap of faith you need?
Today is your day….today is the day he is calling you to take the leap to say “I’m all in!” I’m surrendering my attitudes, my desires, my dreams, my gifts, my finances, all that I am because I want what He has for me