Accomplishing The Impossible

Accomplishing the Impossible

Selected Passages

July 23, 2006

Morning Service

Introduction

Several years ago Master Card had a series of commercials that would show people buying different things, traveling to exotic locations and doing just about anything that they wanted to do. Then at the end of the commercial the slogan would be given Master Card – Master the possibilities

When I was in fourth grade we were given an assignment for social studies. We had to learn all of the various symbols of the state of Ohio. We had to learn the state bird, gemstone, song, flower and tree. One of the things that I some trouble with was memorizing the state motto. I can remember my mother’s means of helping me memorize that one little line. Over and over again reciting the state motto “with God all things are possible” Today that profound state motto stays with me

With God all things are possible. There is nothing that lies beyond the ability of God to accomplish. There is not one single thing that He cannot do in your life, in the life of your family, in the life of this church.

God has a way of doing what we believe is impossible. The simple truth is that nothing is beyond the ability of God to do

Here are just a few Biblical examples:

Sarah getting pregnant in her eighties

An entire sea parts to make dry land

Walls fall down when the people of Israel shouted

The sun stood still while Joshua battled Israel’s enemy

Mary giving birth to Jesus while she was a virgin

Jesus did the same kinds of impossible things throughout His ministry

Jesus fed 5,000 people with five loaves and two fish

Jesus brought Lazarus back from the dead

Jesus was raised from the dead

The eleven fearful disciples became the change agents of the world

Faith makes things possible but doesn’t make them easy – Annon

1. Things seem impossible when we lose hope in the future 1 Peter 1:3-4

3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade--kept in heaven for you,

With God there is no such thing as a hopeless case. Through the power of Jesus there is no such thing as a lost cause. Our God is the God of hope and strength. Our Lord is the lord of everything and there is absolutely nothing beyond His ability to do.

What areas of your life seem impossible today?

Family - Never be able to get your children back in church. Never see the loved one who is lost saved.

Sin - Never feel that you will be able to defeat this one sin that keeps coming back to haunt you

Habits - Never be able to beat that bad habit that you have - smoking, gossip,

There is no such thing as a hopeless situation, only people who have grown hopeless about them - Clare Booth Luce

Hope is the greatest weapon for adversity. It keeps us going when other things might fail us. Hope shines when the hour is darkest and helps us to move forward against the odds of life.

Where there is no hope in the future there is no power in the present – John Maxwell

Why do most people lose hope?

1.) Some give up – Quitters never win and winners never quit

2.) Some give out

2. Things appear to be impossible when we forget God’s ability Jeremiah 32:17

"Ah, Sovereign LORD, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you.

I don’t know about anyone else but there are times when I get busy and I forget things. One of the things that I often forget to check is the date on the calendar. This may sound like something minor but it has gotten me into trouble more times than I wish to count.

When I was in seminary, I was taking two different intensive classes during the month of August. I was extremely busy. One morning I got up and was getting things ready for class. I was finishing an assignment that was due that morning. Elizabeth was still in bed and I went to the kitchen to get something to eat and saw the calendar on the fridge with a date circled. In fact, I started looking at the calendar and a cold chill ran down my back. The date circled was that very morning and as soon as I saw the date I knew that I was in trouble. The day was our anniversary