BREAKTHROUGH – Part 4 – Moving towards Breakthrough

GETTING STARTED:

Alexander Graham Bell was an amazingly talented person. He invented the most famous of all his creations: the telephone. It made his family and his descendants extremely wealthy. Yet, he almost lost it all. Bell never seemed to find the time to submit a patent application for the telephone. Finally, his father-in-law, who had financed much of the research, became so impatient that he filed the patent on Bell’s. And it was a good thing he did. Just a few hours later, another scientist by the name of Elisha Gray went to the patent office and filed on a machine he also had been working on for many years, you guessed it, the telephone.

This story reminds us that sometimes it is not enough to have or to believe in a great idea. We need to also act on them. Bell and his father-in-law are an example of the relationship between faith and works. Bell had faith and believed in the telephone that he created. On the other hand, his father-in-law had faith in Bell’s creation and worked on the patent for Bell.

ONE BIG IDEA!

OUR BREAKTHROUGH BEGINS WHEN OUR EXCUSES END.

STUDY:

JAMES 1:22-25 – “²² Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. ²³ Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror ²⁴ and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. ²⁵ But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.” (NIV)

LEARN: 

(Scripture text taken from John 5: 1-15)

God sees us in every situation of our lives.  Nothing in our life goes unnoticed by God because He loves us. Jesus was there at the right time and at the right place to meet the man who’s been sick for 38 years. John 5:6- “When Jesus saw him and knew he had been ill for a long time, he asked him, “Would you like to get well?” (NLT)” God asked him for something that seems very obvious: “Would you like to get well?”  However, it is very obvious to Jesus that the invalid man has been there every year but doesn’t have the intention of getting healed. He has a desire to get well but he doesn’t act on it.

Some Christians come to church with absolutely no desire or intention to change in any aspect of their lives. Some attend church week after week. And no matter what other preachers say, it seems that some have a resolution, “I will not change.”  Most of us love the idea of God changing our situation more than the idea of God changing us. It is not enough to hear God’s Word, we must LIVE IT and OBEY IT. It is not the hearing but the doing that brings God’s blessing.

The Lord expects his people to be hearers and doers, not self-deceived benchwarmers.

It is a self-deceived man who thinks he will get credit for listening to the word of God while doing nothing about it. Too many Christians mark their Bibles, but their Bibles never mark them! If you think you are spiritual because you hear the Word, then you are only deceiving yourself. James 1 tells us there’s a big difference between knowing God’s word and living it. Spiritual self-deception can affect us in all areas of our lives. What we must remember is that the goal of hearing God’s word is not mere INFORMATION but TRANSFORMATION.

There’s a pool in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate called Bethesda. A lot of handicapped and sick people go there every year hoping to be healed. Each of them has a physical condition. What’s good about physical condition is that most of the time we can spot it.  But not with spiritual condition.  The problem with our spiritual condition is that we can hide it.  You can’t see my spiritual state.  I can compensate for it with nice sounding words. I can quote verses.  I can give you deep Christian wisdom that I read on a Christian website.  I can live in a poor spiritual situation for a long time and you won’t notice it.

What areas of your life need breakthroughs? What area of your life needs changes? If you’re just thinking of those situations that you need a breakthrough from, you’re missing what God is teaching you in your situation. We need to desire to have breakthroughs in us.  Our situation will not change if we are not willing to change deep within.  Our problem will just keep on going back, again and again. We can come to church and leave unchanged.  Sometimes we get so used to our disabilities that it becomes normal to us. Sometimes we get so used to our sin that it becomes normal to us. If we want to have breakthroughs, we have to help ourselves.  We have to find a way to grow in the Lord.  We have to find time to examine ourselves.  We have to be honest with our weaknesses and change our old ways.

Faith is by grace.  Jesus is the personified grace of God who lived among us.  By grace, all of us who are here today can have breakthroughs. By grace, all of us can have a change of heart.   By grace, all of us can experience miracles.  If you have a huge problem right now, God is giving you a greater opportunity to receive His grace and miracle.  John 5:6-7 – “⁶ When Jesus saw him and knew he had been ill for a long time, he asked him, “Would you like to get well?” ⁷ “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 (NLT).”” The guy didn’t answer the question of God. His answer should just be, “Yes Lord I want to get well.” But he gave excuses for not getting well. Isn’t it crazy that sometimes we’re already in front of the unlimited and all-powerful God and we’re still expecting people to help us?  “…for I have no one to put me into the pool.”

Faith has the ability to overrule the facts. Imagine the invalid guy was explaining to Jesus how things work in the pool of Bethesda. He doesn’t know that Jesus is the Living Water. John 4:10 – “Jesus replied, “If you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask me, and I would give you living water (NLT).””  He doesn’t need the pool of Bethesda. What he needs is the Living Water. John 4:13-14 – “¹³ Jesus replied, “Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. ¹⁴ But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.”” This is the essence of salvation.  We can’t get into the water so the Living Water came to us.

Do you know when breakthrough begins? Our breakthrough begins when our excuses end. The guy was blaming other people for him not getting the healing.  We usually resort to blaming other people for our situation. We always like to point fingers at other people.  We like to give alibis. Jesus stopped him from giving excuses and gave him a command. John 5:8 – “Jesus told him, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk (NLT)!”” Is it possible that while you’re waiting for God to come down, Jesus is waiting for you to get up? Don’t look at other people for your breakthroughs.  Don’t wait for your situation to change for you to have breakthroughs.  You just have to go to the Living Water.  You just have to go to Jesus.

When the man decided to obey Jesus and got up, a miracle took place.  If you desire to experience a miracle in your life, obey God and get up. No more delays. No more excuses. When breakthroughs take place in your life, changes will occur. Jesus told the guy to stop sinning. The guy clearly showed his breakthroughs:  He went to the Jewish leaders to tell them about Jesus.  A person who experienced breakthroughs will share to other people about Jesus so that they’ll also have breakthroughs.

Once we encounter Jesus, we will have breakthroughs. Once we encounter breakthroughs, no breakdowns can stop us.

GROW:

APPLICATION QUESTIONS:

1. What is your main takeaway lesson on “Moving Towards Breakthroughs”?
2. We all have struggles in life. What could be some barriers/ struggles in your life that blocks you from having breakthroughs?
3. What did you learn about God and miracles in the life of this paralyzed man? How do you relate his story to your own life?