Limitations

Limitations!

Zechariah 2:1-5

· Ask a man in a wheelchair to climb three flights of stairs and he will say, “I can’t do that”

· Ask a lady without eye sight to walk alone through your house and she will say, “I can’t do that”

· Ask a teenage boy without legs to go and play football and he will say, “I can’t do that”

· Ask a teenage girl without the ability to hear to go and listen to your CD collection and she will say, “I can’t do that”

Why can’t these people perform the tasks you are asking them to perform? They are limited in what they can do.

I didn’t say they were useless by no means, but their limited in certain areas of what abilities they do have.

You are trying to figure out why things are not going your way. You want answers as to why you are still struggling

Why am I still not out of the woods?

Hebrews 11:6

“But without faith [it is] impossible to please [him]: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and [that] he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”

! This tells me that

· A man without faith cannot be healed

· A woman without faith will not see her kids in church

· A church without faith will not grow

Read Zechariah 2:1-5

The vision of this chapter prophesies the rebuilding of the temple in the city of Jerusalem in the days of Zechariah.

Read Zechariah 1:14-16

A line shall be stretched among Jerusalem –

A measuring line

God promises in verse 17:

· Cities will overflow with prosperity

· The Lord will provide comfort

While we could dig in deep to the prophecy and what Zechariah was seeing in this vision, I want us to look at the reason why we are still were we have always been.

Limitations!

To be limited – is to be at the point, edge or line beyond which something cannot or may not proceed.

Limits – boundaries surrounding a specific area

Christians today are living in limitation.

What is keeping us from doing what God wants us to do?

Personally: limitations

As a church: limitations

As a father/mother: limitations

As a boss/leader: limitations

Zechariah sees a man who has a measuring line in his hand. That right there is our problem today.

We have our own measuring lines that we are living by.

We are okay with things working out:

· As long as they work out the way we want them to.

· As long as they don’t cross my “measuring line”

· As long as they keep it within our boundaries of comfort

If we are going to excel for Christ…

If this church is going to do everything that God wants…

If you are going to find yourself and succeed…

If we are going to better the world around us…

We have to let go of our measuring sticks.

When we have measuring sticks or lines – we are limiting God in we allow Him to do for and through us.

There are many examples in the bible of people who had measuring sticks.

Let’s see what happened.

1. The People of Nazareth – Mark 6

The people watched as Jesus returned to his hometown of Nazareth.

They began pulling out their measuring sticks:

· What makes this man so smart with wisdom

· Is he not just a carpenter’s son?

· Hey, this is not prophet, this is Mary’s son

· His sisters are living among us

· He is not better than we are

The bible says they were offended at him.

Jesus makes this statement: “A prophet is not without honor, but in his own country and among his own kin and in his own house.”

Matthew 4:13 says he left Nazareth and goes to Capernaum. What happened there? He healed them all

Why? They didn’t have measuring sticks on Jesus

If you need a healing this morning, you have got to put away your measuring sticks.

· Doctors are not always right.

· Their prognosis is not always correct.

· God is the ultimate physician and He knows how to get things done.

· Don’t drop your head in doubt when you get a negative report – look up and acknowledge who is the ultimate decider of your life.

Put away your measuring sticks and start living your life for God with no limitations.

2. Disciples during the feeding of the 5000 –

The four gospels tell us of this story of how Jesus had compassion on the multitude that was following Him. They had gone three days without eating and Jesus noticed this and wanted to feed them.

· Philip says we don’t have enough money to purchase enough bread