God Is Able

GOD IS ABLE

Eph. 3:20

INTRODUCTION

A. HUMOR

1. A minister in Texas lamented that it was difficult to get his message across to his congregation. He blamed it on the good weather.

2. He said, “The weather’s so wonderful this winter that heaven doesn’t excite them and it’s so hot here in the summer that hell doesn’t scare them.”

B. CENTRAL IDEA

1. God is not confined to the box of our imagination. God won’t be defined by our boundaries or limits. God is bigger than our box. Life in the box is confined, limited, seems safe, “normal”…but there is more.

2. ‘Life in the box’ is not where God is; God’s bigger than our box! God wants to expand our minds beyond the natural. What is it that you would like God to do for you?

3. TEXT. Paul said, “Now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.” Eph. 3:20-21. The NIV says God is “able to do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine...”

4. GOD ALONE IS ABLE. Why? ALL Power is concentrated in God; He has the legal right to all power because it originates in Him. By His power He shapes all creation and future events. At times He delegates some of His power. He alone has the inner virtue capable of exercising limitless power beneficially.

5. The title of this message is “God is Able.”

I. WITH GOD, YOU GET MORE!

With God you always get more! The kids sing, “My God is so Big, so Strong and so Mighty, there’s nothing my God cannot do.” We need to revive some of the children’s praise songs.

A. STORY OF THE XRAY GLASSES

1. Pastor Dennis Mcconnaughhay writes, “When I was a kid – I used to read Comic Books. Superman, Batman & Robin. One of the best parts of the Comic Book was the Advertisements in the back. They had the coolest stuff…there were Gadgets & Gizmos, there were practical jokes, there were magic tricks, everything that a kid needed. One was an ad for X-ray glasses!

2. I remember saving and saving for X-ray Vision Glasses. In the advertisement, there was a cartoon of a guy looking at his hand – you could see the outline of his hand, but you could also see all of the bones of his hand. A skeleton – all right. I had to get a pair of those X-ray Vision glasses. Then I could see the bones of everyone I looked at. I saved and saved, then I sent off the order. Weeks went by.

3. Finally there was a package in the mailbox; it had my name on it! I opened the package and there it was -- my pair of X-ray Vision Glasses! I was going to have X-ray Vision just like it said in the advertisement. Comic Books don’t lie!

4. I put the glasses on. I stared at my hand…I blinked; I just saw my hand, no bones. I went outside in the sunshine, I went in the bathroom and turned off the lights – I just saw my hand.

5. That was the first of many experiences where I learned the disappointment of getting less than what you expect. It happens all the time in adult life. We get less than what we expect. It is the rare thing when you get more than you expected!”

B. GOD EXCEEDS EXPECTATIONS

1. With God – You get More. You always get more than you expect. The NIV says, “Now to him who is able to do IMMEASURABLY MORE than all we ask or imagine....” The KJV puts it, “Now unto him that is able to do EXCEEDING ABUNDANTLY above all that we ask or think...”

2. That’s an interesting phrase in the original language. Paul uses a double compound word; he even makes up his own word phrase, trying to describe the BIGNESS and AWESOMENESS of God. He ran out of words so he stacked words on each other in an attempt to express his vision.

3. God is not just Big, He’s... Incredibly Incredible; Extravagantly Extravagant; Awesomely Awesome; Outrageously Outrageous; Fantastically Fantastic; Amazingly Amazing and Infinitely Infinite – all the time.

4. THE ACTUAL GREEK (Vines) SAYS – “huper (over) - ek (from) – perissos (abundant)” and it means “exceedingly abundantly” or as the NIV says, “immeasurably more.” One scholar says, “The excess of God is denoted by a double term of abundance, as if the apostle wished to fill our minds with the idea of the absolute infinity of gracious power in God.” [Pulpit, V.20, p. 109]