GOD MAKES THE IMPOSSIBLE POSSIBLE
(God will locate you today)
Sometimes you become dependent on people simply because circumstances have left you with no other option.
You have depended on people for a long time because of your circumstances, but God has seen your situation.
Isaiah 55:8–9 says: “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways, says the LORD.”
Jeremiah 29:11 declares: “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you... thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”
Main Text: John 5:1–11
1. GIVE JESUS A PLACE IN YOUR CELEBRATION
John 5:1–3 “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, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches. 3 In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water.”
Jesus went to Jerusalem during a feast.
While other people were celebrating, Jesus went to a place filled with suffering.
Jesus knows how to find people in places of need.
While everyone else was celebrating, Jesus was looking for someone in need of a miracle.
If Jesus is present, your impossible situation has an answer!
2. POSITION YOURSELF FOR DIVINE OPPORTUNITY
John 5:4 “For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had.”
The passage describes a belief concerning the stirring of the water.
There are moments when you must position yourself for what God is doing.
Don't stay away from the place where God is moving.
3. DO NOT GIVE UP BECAUSE YOU HAVE WAITED TOO LONG
John 5:5 “Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years.”
Some people had probably become accustomed to seeing him there.
He was no longer a surprise. His condition had become his identity.
But Jesus arrived!
One encounter with Jesus can change what years of struggle could not change.
4. JESUS WANTS TO HEAR YOUR RESPONSE
John 5:6
Jesus asked him: “Do you want to be made well?”
Jesus knew his condition. Yet Jesus asked him a question.
Don't allow your problem to become your identity.
Psalm 50:15 says: “Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.”
5. STOP DEPENDING ON ONLY ONE METHOD
John 5:7
The man answered: “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up.”
He was focused on the method. Jesus was standing before him, but he was explaining why the old method had failed.
Don't make the mistake of believing that God can only bless you through one person, one job, one institution, one opportunity, or one method.
God is not limited.
6. GOD MAY ASK YOU TO DO SOMETHING YOU HAVE NEVER DONE BEFORE
John 5:8–9
Jesus said: “Rise, take up your bed and walk.”
The command sounded impossible. But the command contained the power to obey it.
7. DON'T LET CRITICS STOP YOUR PROGRESS
John 5:10–11
The man was healed. He picked up his bed.
But instead of celebrating, some religious leaders criticized him.
They said: “It is not lawful for you to carry your bed.”
Don't allow criticism to return you to your mat.
Your response should be: “He who made me well said to me, ‘Take up your bed and walk.’”
In other words: “I am obeying the One who changed my life.”
8. NOT EVERYONE WILL CELEBRATE YOUR PROGRESS
Psalm 55:12–14 says: “For it is not an enemy who reproaches me... But it was you, a man my equal, my companion and my acquaintance. We took sweet counsel together, and walked to the house of God in the throng.”
Sometimes the greatest disappointment comes from people close to you.
But don't become bitter. Don't become suspicious of everyone.
Don't assume every fellow believer is secretly against you. Use discernment without losing love.
Dr Lawi Mshana, +255712924234, Tanzania
