"Nothing Is Impossible For God!"
Pastor Glenn Newton
December 5, 2004
LK 1:26 In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you."
LK 1:29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. 31 You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end."
LK 1:34 "How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?"
LK 1:35 The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. 36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. 37 For nothing is impossible with God."
LK 1:38 "I am the Lord’s servant," Mary answered. "May it be to me as you have said." Then the angel left her.
Do you realize this morning that we serve the God of the Impossible? Let’s remember as we look at our Bible’s today, as we look at Mary and her great Faith, as we see God’s plan being fulfilled…. Let’s remember that with God, nothing is impossible!
I want to highlight four thoughts from our passage this morning that I think will challenge us and encourage us as we draw closer to the Christmas Celebration.
First - You can find Favor with God - Mary Did!
Can you imagine what it was like for Mary that night when Gabriel showed up in Nazareth to talk with her. Mary who was pledged to be married to Joseph, was still in her teens. The Bible tells us that Joseph was a descendant of King David, which is important because the Bible predicted that the messiah would come from the line of David, it was a promise that God made King David hundreds of years before it came to past. Let me read to you from 2 Samual 9:6-7, this is God’s promise of the messiah to King David…
ISA 9:6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
ISA 9:7 Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.
I want you to repeat after me…. God Always Keeps His Promises!
God always keeps His promises, even when we don’t. Don’t raise your hand this morning, but how many of us have made God promises and then turned around and broken those promises? I’m sure we all fall into that category don’t we?
It’s easy for us to see the bad in ourselves, and in others… it’s part of this human condition, but I want you to know that God see’s the Good in us. This morning, I want you to hear this message, I want you to realize and know in your heart, that you can find favor with God. Have you made mistakes, have you sinned… yes… we all say yes. But, because Jesus came as a Baby in Bethlehem, because Jesus died on Calvery for our sins, we can know the Forgiveness of sins, and we can live a life that pleases God, a life that honors Him… a perfect life… no, not in this world…. But a forgiven life, a life wrapped up in Grace.
Was Mary perfect? No, she was a teenager for goodness sake. Was she without sin? No, for all have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God… that’s what the Bible tells us. In fact the Bible tells us she asked the same questions we all would have asked, LK 1:34 "How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?" She may have been young, but she wasn’t dumb… she knew that part of the equation wasn’t adding up, but God answered her, and told her what she needed to know, and then the key… She trusted Him.
So why did she find favor with God?
She believed in God, She put her Faith in God, and she was willing to say Yes to God in obedience even when she didn’t understand completely what God was asking of her.
How can you find Favor with God? The same way. Put you full trust in God, Live by Faith… in other words… don’t demand to see the answers all the time… just trust God and His Word…. And finally, live in obedience. We all can find Favor with God.
Second - We Serve the God of the Impossible
LK 1:35 The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. 36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. 37 For nothing is impossible with God."
As a Christian, do you realize what God can do? There is nothing God cannot do. I want you to repeat this after me… Nothing is Impossible with God. We should repeat this to ourselves everyday until it becomes apart of are belief system. Because I think too many times we really don’t know, we really don’t live like we serve the God of the impossible. Why do I say that?
We know that God has promised to take care of our needs… yet we worry about our needs.
We know that God has promised to never leave or forsake us, yet we doubt if God is with us when we can’t Feel him.
We know that God has sent us the Holy Spirit as our comforter, yet we try to find comfort in things.
We know that God loves us, yet we ignore Him, neglect Him, avoid Him.
What if we would today, put down our doubts, what if today we would lay aside our fears, what might happen today if we would let go of our need to control our own lives, and we just put our faith and our trust in our God who can do anything, even the impossible? What might happen in your life? What might God have in store for you if you just let go of yourself, and took hold of Him?
Last night at Alex Manley’s house, as we were there as part of our progressive dinner, which by the way was excellent, I looked at some pictures of Alex falling through the sky… I thought to myself… I don’t know if I could ever let go of that plane… And William who was looking at the picture with me said, “I think somebody would have to push me out the first couple of times.” I agreed.
That plane represents our life as we fly though this world. God is asking us to jump, God wants us to trust Him and let Him take us were He wants us to go…. But as long as we hold onto our own lives, we will never be free to experience all that God has for us….
Faith is a lot like jumping out of a completely good plane I’m sure. It can be scary, because of the unknown. But friends, God has already proved that He knows the way, He wants to take us on this wonderful journey, but it requires jumping into His Hands.
Will you be willing to put your whole life into His hands, will you let go of your life and let God begin to show you a whole new way of living? That’s what Mary did. That’s what any Christian has to be willing to do to find the will of God in their life. Don’t miss what God has for you because you think you can’t let go… You can. And the God of the Impossible is waiting to show you what life with Him looks like.
Two things I want you to remember:
God Always Keeps His Promises!
Nothing is Impossible with God
Will you put your whole life into His Hands? Will you fly with Him? When we live by Faith, when we Trust in Him, and when we are obedient… We can know God’s favor in our lives.
Let’s stand - Nola will come and close with a song…. Let’s not go through Christmas and leave Christ out of our life. This is an invitation to you, whatever it is that God has spoken to you about this morning, come and let’s respond to Him… Let Him know you have heard His voice, and your ready to follow Him……
The Days Before Christmas
Twas the days before Christmas, and all through the Church
The pews are all filling, as everyone perched.
The hands are all shaking, and greetings abound
Soon I’ll go to the pulpit, prepared to expound.
I spent the whole week trying to hear what God’s saying
Studying, reading, and earnestly praying
The choir has practiced and taken great care
Their singing this morning, for weeks they’ve prepared
We’ve had Christmas sermons of Angels and Wise men
Of Shepherds and mangers, no room at the Inn
I pray that this week, the message will do
The job of moving the folks from the pew
But I must keep it brief. I must watch my time
For at noon I will hear the watches all chime
This is a season so full of distractions
But we know that this world has no satisfaction
If we don’t share the Gospel of Christ
Not just his birth, but His paying our price
If we speak of the manger, but not of the cross
The fullness of Jesus, somehow gets lost
This Christmas season, do Jesus a favor
Make it a season to share Christ the Savior
(sermoncentral.com)
