Bill Johnson - Stepping Beyond the Impossible Into the Supernatural
When Jesus says to you and me, «Go into all the world, preach the gospel, disciple nations,» you may be like me, thinking, «Wait a minute, all we’ve got is a kid’s lunch.» If we listen further, He provides a step-by-step approach because He isn’t changing His plan. I’m fascinated by everything Jesus did, but one story that stands out to me in this moment is the fact that the disciples came to Him saying, «The crowd needs to go home; we have no food, they’re starving. Send them away.» And Jesus said, «You feed them,» which is just a classic moment. You can imagine the disciples waiting for Him to laugh, hit them on the shoulder, and say, «Just kidding,» after He gives this command. But He doesn’t. He doesn’t break into laughter; He says, «You feed them,» and they nervously try to figure out how in the world they can do that. They think if they had the food, they still couldn’t do it. All Jesus does is give them something to do; He says, «Have the people sit down in groups of 50 and 100.»
«Okay, does anyone have food here?» Yes, there’s a kid with a lunch. Alright, so Jesus could have created food out of nothing, but He usually creates with something. It’s fascinating that He could easily have just made food from nothing, but these miracles we see in Scripture actually started with something He had to work with. In John’s gospel, when he talks about this situation, it says when He broke the bread and gave thanks, He distributed it to the disciples, and it became more than enough. But what did He give thanks for? He gave thanks for not enough; He gave thanks when it was totally insufficient. See, when you take what isn’t enough and baptize it in thankfulness, it becomes supernaturally positioned to be more than enough. It’s the power of Thanksgiving; it’s the power of a thankful heart. An unthankful heart is imprisoned by numbers, limitations, and restrictions; a thankful heart is positioned to see increase.
In John’s gospel, it says there were 5,000 men, besides women and children. This happened at least twice that we know of. It says there were 5,000 men, not counting women and children. Where did the loaves and fish come from? From a child, someone who didn’t count. You heard it in the video tonight with the Global Response, where Ukrainian people are saying, «We thought the world forgot us; we thought even God forgot us.» He said, «The world maybe has, but God hasn’t forgotten.» There’s something profoundly significant about recognizing the value of an individual. Here Jesus honors a child. I don’t know if there were other lunches, but the one that was given to Him was from a child. Jesus took it; He didn’t throw it in the air and go, «Shazam!» Crowd control— you don’t create a mountain of food in front of thousands of hungry people. Instead, what He did was divide it into 12 baskets, and the disciples distributed it.
How much was in a basket? I don’t know, but 12 baskets is not enough to feed 5,000 men, besides women and children. Can we say 15,000 people? Twelve baskets aren’t nearly enough unless they multiply as you’re giving them out. So when Jesus said, «You feed them,» He didn’t change His mind. When they said, «We have no food,» He didn’t change His mind. When they were puzzled by the challenge, He didn’t change His mind. All He did was enable them to perform simple actions that He would bless and cause to multiply.
Now, there’s a point of obedience. Most miracles are connected to a point of obedience. We usually wait for something to happen to us, when often we are supposed to take faith and put it into action. Yes, the blind man was told to wash in the pool of Siloam. That’s a cruel assignment for a guy who’s blind — he has to go to another geographical location and wash in a specific pool. But there was something in his makeup that needed confronting; «confronting» is too strong a word; something needed to be exercised in him through his obedience. So many times we see actions. We see the blind man take off his beggar’s robe. There is a profound action— it qualified him as a legal beggar in that culture. People would see that garment to know he was legitimately blind and needed help. So when he took that off, that was an extraordinary act of faith.
But actions must take place. I remember throughout the years, I would often have people do something. If you’ve got a broken ankle, I wouldn’t say, «Stand up here on the stage and jump off to test and see if it’s healed.» Gabe might, but I wouldn’t do that unless I was told to. I wouldn’t do it out of the principle of faith. Please listen to this carefully: I will not put anyone at risk out of the principle of faith. At times, I may have to put myself at risk out of that principle of faith because I’m not getting a breakthrough, but I have no right to put you at risk.
Let me illustrate: Is it true that the widow gave her last meal to the prophet, and that was the key to her economic breakthrough for the next season? Is it true? Read your Bibles; it’s a real good story. It’s a principle of faith; she emptied her own resources and gave to the prophet. I am grieved at how often I hear people in this position use that to tell others that’s what they need to do. You never put someone else at risk unless He says so. The most terrifying thing for that prophet was to bring a word to a widow who was down to her last meal and tell her that the key to her breakthrough is, «You feed me first.» Some would automatically think that’s arrogance, but I think it’s the absolute greatest demonstration of humility because it’s obeying to a point that makes you look foolish.
I want you to look with me at John chapter 3. I’ve talked about this so many times that I feel a little embarrassed doing it again, but at the end of worship, I felt like I should discuss this. I’ll try to hurry through the parts I’ve done so many times. When Jesus told His disciples, «You feed them,» and they were clueless as to what to do, they knew they didn’t have enough. He didn’t change the assignment; He just enabled them through simple step-by-step instruction to do what was actually impossible. When Jesus says to you and me, «Go into all the world, preach the gospel, disciple nations,» you may be like me, thinking, «Wait a minute, all we’ve got is a kid’s lunch.» If we listen further, He provides a step-by-step approach because He isn’t changing His plan; He isn’t going to change His mind. He isn’t going to say, «Alright, it’s a little rough making you like me; I’ll try to make you like John or Fred.» He doesn’t change His plan; He’s got an assignment for you and me.