STAND & READ - Ephesians 3:20-21
?Now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, [21] to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.?
?Oh Yes?God Can!?
Prayer?
ILLUSTRATION:
Do you remember when you were a child?
Maybe you did what many children do today, and as you sometimes see them do on television?
One kid will say to the other kid?My daddy can beat up your daddy!
No way! The other kid screams?MY daddy can beat yours up!
Well?my daddy is stronger than your daddy! NO WAY?my daddy is bigger than your daddy and can crush your daddy?your daddy doesn?t even have a nice car!
And on and on the argument goes with these kids?bickering and fighting with one another about whose dad is bigger?better?and more able!
Well?it brings me to the thought that we should have concerning our HEAVENLY Father?
-Shouldn?t we too be bragging about how BIG?and AWESOME?and STRONGER our Daddy is in reference to anyone else?s ?daddy??or god of their life?
I cannot help but think to myself about how any of us feel about God?
What I mean is?
-Do we really think that God is GREAT?ALL POWERFUL?and ABLE TO DO ALL THINGS???
-Are we, as God?s children convinced that ?our daddy? can do ANYTHING?
That He can beat anything?conquer anything?and gain victory over all things?making us very proud to have Him as our Father. Do we even believe this anymore?
This is the feeling of Pride and Admiration that we should have about our Father in Heaven?
-So that when the ?bully of our soul? comes against us, making his boasts in himself?we are able to say??No?No?Only GOD Can!?
-And when the accuser tells us that God can?t?we should say with confidence??OH YES! GOD CAN!!!?
Our God is Bigger?
SAY??Oh Yes?God CAN!?
I will ask you, Can God do anything? You respond with, ?Oh Yes?God CAN!?
ILLUSTRATION:
The church used to sing an old song that said?
?My God is bigger than all my problems?bigger than all my fears.
My God is bigger than any mountain, I can or cannot see.
He?s bigger than all my questions?bigger than all my needs.
My God is bigger than any mountain, I can or cannot see!?
Is it true or false?can God throw the mountain into the sea? TRUE!
Is it true or false?can God give us the victory in ALL things? TRUE!
Is it true or false?is God able to do exceeding abundantly beyond what we can dream, think or imagine? TRUE!
YES?my friends?and co-laborers in the faith?GOD CAN DO ALL THINGS!!!
ILLUSTRATION:
The song, Ah, Lord God
The chorus of it says?
?Nothing is to difficult for thee?nothing is to difficult for thee.
Great and Mighty God?great in counsel and mighty in deed!
Nothing?nothing?absolutely nothing?nothing is to difficult for thee!?
Another song, but the words are found in Scripture is?
Jeremiah 32:27
"Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh; is anything too difficult for Me?"
Can God do anything? ?Response?
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However?there is a nemesis!
The nemesis, which comes against our faith in God and belief that He is able to actually do all things is?
DOUBT!
DOUBT can kill any hope?any belief?any trust?and any faith that God can do all things.
-And even the smallest amount of doubt can destroy it all.
-As the Bible tells us in Gal. 5:9, ?A little leaven, leavens the whole lump!?
In our terms today??One bad apple, spoils the whole bunch.?
We cannot allow for ourselves to even begin to question the goodness of God in His being able to do all things!
-Even when it looks impossible?God is in the business of doing the impossible.
-Even though it may seem as though there are NO possibilities for you?God makes of habit of making possibilities in the middle of impossible situations.
-Even though you may not be able to come up with a solution?Go does have one?there is no doubt about that!
Matthew 21:21
?And Jesus answered and said to them, "Truly I say to you, if you have faith, and do not doubt, you shall not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ’Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ it shall happen.?
ILLUSTRATION:
In the year 1870, the Methodist Churches in Indiana were having their annual conference. At one point, the president of the college were they were meeting addressed the group and told them they were living in a very exciting age. He said he believed that they were coming into a time of great inventions and that he believed, for example, that men would some day fly through the air like birds.
The presiding bishop didn?t think much of this statement. As a matter of fact, he called it heresy and said that the Bible says that flight is reserved for angels so there would be no such talk there.
When the bishop got home, he told his family about what the president had said and how ridiculous it was. But his two young sons Wilbur and Orville looked at things from a different perspective than their father, Bishop Wright. And of course you know the rest of the story.
Something we must understand is that?we may not know everything?and we have got to settle with this truth.
GOD REALLY IS bigger than us, and He is able to do things beyond our understanding and realization.
1 Cor. 2:9
"Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him."
-In other words?we do not understand, nor do we know? just what God can do in and through us!
Can God do anything? ?Response?
James 1:6-8
?But let him ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. [7] For let not that man expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, [8] being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.?
-The way that we are to ask God for things is WITHOUT DOUBT!
-Why? Because doubt is considered as unstable and without faith.
Never doubt God?
ONLY BELIEVE!!!
Fight your nemesis!
Can God do anything? ?Response?
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As we come to our main text this morning?
We come face to face with a passage that can build our hope in the ABILITIES of God!
It confirms to us that GOD IS ABLE to do anything and all things?
And even teaching us that God is able to do anything through our own lives too!
At this point in the Book of Ephesians?Paul has been sharing blessings with his readers and climaxes at this point with these simple words?
Ephesians 3:20-21
?Now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, [21] to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.?
And in this passage Paul, repeats again, the themes that he has already touched upon in the previous chapters?
He makes sure to clarify with the reader that?
1) The Abundance of God?s Ability to do ANYTHING?
2) The Power that is made available to the Christian?
3) The Glory that is due to be credited to God?s Name?
And this is our path for this morning?
Can God do anything? ?Response?
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Paul closes the thoughts for this section of his book and says?
?Now to Him who is ABLE??
And the first thing that we must understand about God today is this?
POINT ONE: GOD IS ABLE!
Do you believe this today???
God IS Able to do all things!
I am not here to solve the question that has perplexed us from age to age?
?Can God make a rock so big that He cannot move it??
-These are pointless questions which are asked with the intent to destroy the credibility of God.
-They are worthless fodder?and not beneficial.
However, what we should be concerning our time with is focusing on the true of God?s Word?and more than just knowing, but believing that GOD IS ABLE to do any and all things!
Jeremiah 33:3
?Call to Me, and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know.?
My friends?God is able to do things which we have no clue that He is able to do.
-He said that He would show us and tell us great things, which we do not know.
ILLUSTRATION:
Dads?do you ever remember when your kids thought that you could do anything?
Did your kids ever think that you could just do anything that you ever desired?
You could lift up a car?
You could make anything at all?
After all, you are just one BIG giant to them that seems to be able to accomplish anything.
And in their innocence?they believe that you can do everything! (It was great wasn?t it?!)
Like the Home Depot commercial where the dad builds a tree house?and his son just knows that he can.
We used to be the same with God?remember?
Luke 18:17
"Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it at all."
What does this mean to us?
It means that we need to come to God with a humble dependence and trust?just like a little child will do with their daddy and mommy.
-In fact, Jesus tells the disciples that the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to them.
-Obviously NOT because of their merit, but because Jesus chooses to give it to those who are humble and are insignificant in the eyes of others?
But we must remember that God looks on the heart of a person and not their appearance?Remember David, when he was anointed king???
This is the same heart that we need to have as the children of the Abba Father?God!
And we used to think that God could accomplish any and all things?but something happened and changed us?
-Maybe we were let down?and God didn?t seem to come through for us.
-Maybe things didn?t work out just as we had hoped.
-Maybe we are mad at God that He didn?t follow through on what we think He should have done.
So?What ever happened to our child-like faith?
Where did our innocence go?the innocence that thought that God could do anything?
-It left us when we began to doubt?
-It left when we began to think that maybe it WON?T happen this time?
-It left us when we were let down time and again?and we began to hold back on Him because He held back on us?or so we thought.
Do you follow me today?
We need to recapture our innocence and believe with that child-like faith that we once had in Him!
-After all, if we can trust Him for our salvation?then what makes us doubt that he can do anything else.
Salvation is the GREATEST MIRACLE!
Can God do anything? ?Response?
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I am sure that most of you remember the story in the Bible of the Prophet of God named Elijah who fought against the prophets of Baal in I Kings 18.
This is a powerful story of God?s power being greater than any other god?s power. His power being greater than any other.
In this story we read of Elijah coming to a ?Battle Royale? facing off with these prophets of Baal?
-Elijah wanted a showdown between their god and his God.
-And all of Israel was to see just who?s God was greatest!
So Elijah sets the stage and says that they would build two altars upon which they would each lay a bull, which is to be consumed with fire by their god?and the god who did it, would be the god they would worship.
The stage is set and the first altar is built?
450 prophets of Baal begin to do their thing and they begin to do their dances?worship and call upon their god?and do what they think they must.
-The Bible tells us that they even cut themselves until their blood gushed out?as was their custom.
-They did this a long time too?the Bible says that they did this until the evening offering should have been made.
It was so long that Elijah even began to taunt these guys saying??Maybe your god is busy?out meditating?maybe he is on a trip?keep screaming louder and maybe you can wake him up!
It took so long that the people even quit paying attention.
Finally, it is Elijah?s turn?
-Elijah comes out and he begins to build his altar?
-Then, he digs this great trench and pours a ton of water on it, just to raise the stakes! So much water that the trench dug around it began to overflow.
Then Elijah just humbly called upon the Lord?
Verses 36-38 of I Kings 18?
?Then it came about at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near and said, "O Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, today let it be known that Thou art God in Israel, and that I am Thy servant, and that I have done all these things at Thy word. [37] "Answer me, O Lord, answer me, that this people may know that Thou, O Lord, art God, and that Thou hast turned their heart back again." [38] Then the fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.?
GOD DID IT!!!
When all the people saw this mighty act?they fell to their faces and began to call upon the name of the Lord!
Can God do anything? ?Response?
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And we have a REAL LIFE illustration for us that does confirm the truth that GOD IS ABLE!
And not just that?but He is able to do ?EXCEEDING ABUNDANTLY? above and beyond what we could think.
-Just as with this sacrifice that was swallowed up?
-God did even the extra?God?s fire not only consumed the sacrifice (which would have been enough)?but it also consumed the wood and the stones and the dust?and even licked up the water!!!
NOW?I can hear some of you saying in your minds??Come on! Did that REALLY happen?!?
-OH YES! God CAN!!!
If you doubt this?then you are giving way to the enemy?and you are hindering what God can also do in your impossible situation!
Renounce doubt today?and know faith, hope and trust in the Lord!!!!
In the same way that God?s capacity to answer the prayer of Elijah in such a way?that it exceeded what the expectations were?so can God do it in your life too!!!
What is your need today?
What is it that seems to be impossible to you, but you are trusting for the possible?
Are you willing to come to God with that child-like faith and simply believe?
The second thing that I want to emphasis today is that?
POINT TWO: GOD?S POWER IS AVAILABLE TO YOU!
This SAME power that was available to the Prophet of God?is available to you today as well.
And the prophet?s actions are a description to us of how we are to live?
Ephesians tells us that God?s working the impossible through us is, ?according to the working of Him in us.?
-So what does this mean???
Look back at Elijah for a moment and give credit to the great detail that is given to how he built that altar for the sacrifice?
-It was done all in accordance with how one should do it according to what God had given instruction to do.
Which then demonstrates to us that we are not just to think that we can have our way in any way?but rather we should live in obedience and honor to the Lord first?that is why He will then be able to bless and answer us.
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Remember the seven sons of Sceva?
These boys thought that they could do the same as they saw Paul doing?using the name of Jesus and being able to do all sorts of great things.
Well, these boys went up to a man who was possessed of the devil and attempted to do these very things.
-However, they were in for a surprise?because the evil spirit within this man said to them, ?Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are you?!?
-And with that the boy possessed with the evil spirit jumped all over the guy, and beat him up?so bad that the Bible says that he left there beaten and naked.
So what am I trying to say?
You cannot use the name of Jesus as a ?hocus-pocus? or a formula?
The key issue is that there is a relationship there by which one is backed with.
You must know Jesus, and Jesus will unlock all the power that you need within your life for power and victory.
-It is only done in the name of Jesus!
-It is only accomplished for Jesus? glory!
We know that God is able to use us, and wants to use us to do the impossible?
John 14:12
?Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go to the Father.?
-This does not necessarily mean that we will do greater things than Jesus did in reference to value or significance?
-However?we will do greater things in reference to a greater scope and number of these things accomplished?all in the name of Jesus.
-So we can be assured that God will use us to bring about the impossible to be possible in people?s lives according to His working within us.
His power comes with a great price?and if we desire that power?then we must be willing to pay that price.
-The price of prayer and supplication?
-The price of separation and possible mis-understanding?
-The price of Giving back to God ALL the Glory for the works that He does in and through us?
Can God do anything? ?Response?
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Which leads me to my next, and final, point?
POINT THREE: GOD?S GLORY IS DUE TO HIS NAME!
Psalm 115:1 captures the thoughts that we should have concerning this?
?Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to Thy name give glory because of Thy lovingkindness, because of Thy truth.?
When God does do everything and anything in our lives?the important thing that we must remember is that the Glory from it and of it?all go back to God!!!
Ephesians 3:21 also captures that thought when is tells us, ?to Him be Glory in the Church??
The sons of Sceva were misdirected in this when they tried to do these things in Jesus? name?but for their glory?
Even the Prophets of Baal were sadly deceived?thinking that they would be so awesome if their god answered them?and vindicated their lives and teachings.
I am also reminded of the man who was blind from birth?in John 9.
The disciples asked a perplexing question of Jesus and said??who sinned?? To which Jesus replied??No one sinned, but this happened so that the Son of God might be glorified.?
-All things happen so that Jesus might receive the glory and honor.
-Now, did God make this one blind, just so He could be glorified?
I don?t believe so?but what I do believe is that God can take bad situations and make good ones form them?and in that process make Him name Glorified, Exalted and Higher than any other!
Can God do anything? ?Response?
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IN CLOSING:
I want to encourage you to believe God for the impossible again in your life.
I no longer want for you to treat God with hesitation?doubting and wondering if He really can do what He said He could anymore.
For I know that God can?and He will.
I also know that God wants to use you to do great things in and with too!
-But you must be willing to give Him His glory?
-You must be willing to pay the price and know the Lord in this fashion?
And I also know that He is worthy of the praise for doing the impossible.
My friends?Can God do anything???
-OH YES?HE CAN!!!
I want you to leave here today with that ringing in your hearts?that God is able to do all and any thing that you may need.
-When there is no one else to turn to?God is there and He is able!
-When the whole world seems to be crashing in?God is there and He is able!
-When you don?t even know if He can help you anymore?God is there?and He is Able!!!
There is so much more that can be said?but time will not allow it?
ALTAR CALL:
Salvation?you think that you are too bad and tough to save and be changed?God is able to cleanse the deepest sinner?
-Though your sins are as scarlet?they shall be white as wool?
Are you facing some tough times, and you need the Lord dot make a possibility out of you impossible situation?
Are you having a tough time trusting and believing anymore?
Do you want to recapture the child-like faith once again in your heart???
SONG:
God will make a way?
Do you need special help to see the impossible become possible?come to these altars and pray?
Do you need more faith to believe?like the disciples who said I believe, but help my unbelief?come today?
For more power in your life, and you are willing to pay the price and to see the miraculous happen through you?come today and pray?
