02/16/2026
Message Recap by Brittany Lyles
WOF: Yesterday’s message on Leaving the Place of Almost (John 5:1–16) was good and connected right in with this morning’s Bible study… 📖
Almost can be a painful place…
sometimes just as painful as never.
(Pastor Zandra McDonald)
For 38 years, the man at the pool stayed in the same environment, doing the same thing, surrounded by the same limitations but expecting a different outcome. Not because he didn’t want healing, but because “almost” had become familiar.He wasn’t alone… but he was still stuck.Close to breakthrough… but not experiencing it.
What struck me most is that the pool was full of people with different limitations…. blind, crippled, weak. If one could see, another could walk, another could reach… they could have helped each other get there.
But instead of collaboration, there was competition.
Everyone was trying to get healed alone.
Sometimes we sit in environments where survival replaces community.. where people are close physically but disconnected spiritually, emotionally, and purposefully.
The message was connected to that of a rose growing through concrete… beautiful and strong, yes, but the environment isn’t designed for growth. Eventually, what surrounds you starts shaping you.
Jesus didn’t stir the water.
He gave a command:
Rise. Take up your mat. Walk.
That mat represented everything that once held him down and now it became the evidence that he was no longer bound.
Some breakthroughs don’t require new conditions…they require new obedience. (Pastor)
Then this morning in Acts 2, I saw the opposite picture. The early believers weren’t competing for blessing, they were devoted to God, united with one another, sharing what they had, praying together, worshiping together, and making sure no one lacked.
Where competition isolates, true community multiplies.
Breakthrough isn’t found in proximity.
It’s found in participation with God and with the right people. (Pastor)
Some of us are sitting beside potential, rehearsing why it hasn’t happened, surrounded by what’s familiar instead of what’s fruitful.
But today I’m choosing to leave “almost.”
No more getting comfortable in places that stunt growth.
No more competing when God called us to connect.
No more waiting for the water to move when God has already spoken.
Lord, give me the courage to rise, carry the evidence, and walk in the fullness of what You’ve already done — surrounded by people who are pursuing You too. 🙌🏽🔥