MESSAGE NOTES: 

LIFE WILL GO A LOT BETTER, IF WE STOP FOCUSING ON WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO US, & WE BEGIN TO FOCUS ON OUR RESPONSE TO WHAT HAS HAPPENED.

JOHN 5: 1-15 (NLT)

Afterward Jesus returned to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish holy days. Inside the city, near the Sheep Gate, was the pool of Bethesda, with five covered porches. Crowds of sick people—blind, lame, or paralyzed—lay on the porches. One of the men lying there had been sick for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him, and knew he had been ill for a long time, he asked him, ‘Would you like to get well?’ ‘I can’t, sir,’ the sick man said, “for I have no one to put me into the pool when the water bubbles up. Someone else always gets there ahead of me.” Jesus told him, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk!” Instantly, the man was healed! He rolled up his sleeping mat and began walking! But this miracle happened on the Sabbath, so the Jewish leaders objected. They said to the man who was cured, “You can’t work on the Sabbath! The law doesn’t allow you to carry that sleeping mat!” But he replied, “The man who healed me told me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’ ‘Who said such a thing as that?” they demanded. The man didn’t know, for Jesus had disappeared into the crowd. But afterward Jesus found him in the Temple and told him, “Now you are well; so stop sinning, or something even worse may happen to you.” Then the man went and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had healed him.”

1. STAND UP

Initially the man in JOHN 5 had a plan to get his healing. His required a lot of work & striving… Gods plan just required ACTION!

INSTEAD OF RESISTING GOD – WE SHOULD BE RESTING IN THE TRUTH, & THAT IS – GOD KNOWS WHAT HE IS DOING!

PROVERBS 3:7

Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and shun evil. 

DO NOT MISS THE PURPOSE OF THE PROCESS.

2 TIMOTHY 1:14

Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you — guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us. 

2. PICK UP YOUR PAST

When Jesus healed the man, who couldn’t walk in JOHN 5 – it is interesting that he tells him to PICK UP HIS MAT… it was a part of the healing process.

WHAT LOOKS LIKE A HINDERANCE IN OUR LIFE, BECOMES AN ASSET WITH GOD.

2 CORINTHIANS 12:7-10

Even though I have received such wonderful revelations from God. So, to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud. Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

3. WALK

CAN GOD, TRUST YOU?

Things that happen in our life, even the good things at times – can cause us to be in a place where things are not easy. We think that if we get what we want, then everything will be ok. But as soon as we get our healing, God then says: “pick up your mat.”

PSALMS 37:3 

Trust in the Lord and do good.

PSALMS 84:12

…Blessed is the one who trusts in you.

• Frustration is the by-product of testing when you do not rely on God.
  • When you are subject to frustration, your reality of the situation is all that matters.

FRUSTRATION: A Deception.

• PEACE is the only thing that can overwhelm frustration.
  • When you are subject to peace, Gods reality is made bigger than anything else.

PEACE: To come into an agreement, to be free.

PROVERBS 3:5-6

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.

YOU HAVE EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO OVERCOME ANYTHING!