Dr. Marilyn S. Murphree
Valley Grove Assembly of God
May 7, 2006
Can God? God Can!
II Corinthians 9:6-15
Introduction: Today there are many things that cause us concern—the rising cost of health care, the rising price of gas at the pumps, the lack of really good paying jobs. instability in the world because of the war in Iraq, the threat of Iran and North Korea, the flood of people coming across our borders…
Christians are not exempt from these pressures because we live and work in an imperfect world. Jesus told his disciples, “In this world you will have trouble, but take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Later when he prayed for His disciples, He said, “Father my prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not OF the world, even as I am not OF it.” He is saying, “Although we are living IN an imperfect world, we are not OF the world. Even though we have troubles and problems, he is saying, “I have overcome the world. I can meet you at your point of need. So don’t sweat the small stuff. I have already taken care of all of these things.”
People may say, “Christians don’t have it any better than anyone else. Christianity doesn’t make a whole lot of difference one way or another.” Jesus told His disciples, “I have come that [you] may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10). Was He just saying that to make them feel good? Often we see a gap between what Christians SAY they believe and what they ACTUALLY believe. If the world is to believe that we know what we are talking about, we have to have the GOODS in our own life. Christianity has to WORK for us. It has to be REAL—to be genuine. It has to make a DIFFERENCE to us personally in our every day life.
STORY: An Army Sergeant who was caught on the beach by German Artillery managed to save himself by jumping into the water. While improving his position with a trench shovel, he came upon an ornate crucifix—the kind that prosperous Italians often hung on their bedroom walls.
Two hours later in the midst of still another German artillery barrage, a United States chaplain rolled into the water beside him. A moment after that a German 88 landed just ten yards from the beach. The Master Sergeant held up the muddy crucifix that he had been clutching for dear life since discovering it and turned to the startled chaplain and said, “My God, sir, am I glad to see you! How do you make this thing work?”
If we say we’re Christians are we any different from those who don’t know Jesus? Does our Christianity WORK for us? Can we believe what Jesus said when it comes to the practical, daily things we are encountering such as health care, sickness and disease, filling up the tanks at the gas pumps or are we beginning to feel that He has left us to sink or swim? Can we realize the abundant life—the life to the full that He promised? Can we believe the scriptures and claim the promises for our daily needs? Let’s see what we can find that will help us throughout the upcoming week. We must have hope and confidence that He will indeed meet us at our point of need.
Jesus said, “I will not leave you comfortless. I will not leave you orphans to flounder around aimlessly, stressed out to the max.
1. We Limit Ourselves: Life more abundantly—to the full—does not mean just barely existing. Some people actually think that their religion is so hard that it is just about killing them. If have had people say, “Oh, it’s so hard to go to church and to serve the Lord. I am barely making it. I’m about ready to go under.”
Jesus said, “My yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:29). He doesn’t expect us to be beat down and burdened down by trying to live up to a lot of oughts and shoulds. He comes to bring life and that more abundantly—peace of mind and peace to know that He is there walking right along side of us in all areas of our life. He is with us at the grocery store, at the gas pumps, and on our jobs. He understands the pressures and frustrations we face when we are faced with a boatload of bills at the first of the month or facing an uncertain doctor’s report.
How do we move from despair and anxiety into the abundant life that Jesus promised? I am certain that it is really us who puts the limits on ourselves. We say, “Maybe it is not God’s will, maybe I’m not smart enough, maybe God doesn’t want to do it for ME.” On and on we go.
STORY: There was a man who had everything going against him. He grew up in a bad family, lived in a bad neighborhood, dropped out of school, got in trouble with the law and ended up spending time in prison. He finally got out and couldn’t find a job. Nobody would trust him. Finally he got a little job mowing lawns. He got into a church and started to study the Bible. He started to believe and apply the principles. His lawn business began to prosper. Every year got a little better. He finally got his high school diploma. He worked hard and his life got better. He had a good family and soon began speaking before groups about what God had done for him. His English was still not the best in the world, but he knew that God had made a difference in his life and wanted people to know it. He continued to work hard and was faithful to God. As he spoke he said, “I now have a nice house and I’ve even got a JACHOOCHIE!!!”
We LIMIT ourselves. God won’t do it for me because…We go on and on why it won’t work for us. Why that God wouldn’t do it for ME. We believe the lies of the devil when we think the Lord won’t do it FOR ME. We think that it is the Lord who barely wants us to get by, but Scripture says, “No good thing will he withhold from those whose walk blameless” (Psalm 84:11). The Living Translations says, “No good thing will the Lord withhold from those who do what is right.” Are you living right? Are you doing what the Lord wants you to do?
Another scripture says, “The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing.” Are you seeking the Lord? Are you LIMITING yourself by not making Him a priority?
A scripture that needs to become a part of us is, “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19). We limit God when we think our JOB is our SOURCE. Scripture says MY GOD is our source. Not our 8:00-5:00 job at Kmart or wherever we work. MY GOD shall supply ALL MY NEED according to His riches.
A preacher once said if bread gets to be $1.00 a loaf the Lord can give you the money to pay for it. Last week I bought a loaf of bread and it was $1.89 a loaf. I had the money to pay for it.
When I met Walter in 1973, gas was 37cents a gallon and at times you had a limit of $3.00 worth of gas at a time? Do you remember those days? Now it has gone to almost $3.00 a gallon. Can you believe it? My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
Are you limiting yourself by what you believe about God? How big is your God? We often say, “Can God provide a table in the wilderness? Can God….We need to turn this around by saying decisively, “GOD CAN!”
2. MOVING INTO GOD’S SUPPLY: How do we get from unbelief to belief? How do we get from lack to supply? Most of the time we try to figure exactly HOW and WHEN God is going to do something. That is not necessary. Our part is just to believe that He will do it. Mr. Kraft said that if he needed $1000.00 for a bill at 9:00 a.m. on Monday morning, he didn’t need it on Friday. The Lord has provided for us many times right in the NICK OF TIME. This is where our faith comes in. Hebrews 6:12 says, “We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.” Some people flippantly say, “Well, I’m just going to Name it and Claim it” and then laugh it off doing nothing to do their part. When you have done all you can do to bring about your answer, “having done ALL to stand(Ephesians 6:13). You can’t be a lazy Christian.
Sometimes you talk to people who think that there is only ONE solution to the problem. God is going to do it this way. They refuse to be open to other alternatives. Have you ever been like this? You refused to even consider any other solution to your problem? God is going to do it this way and that settles it.
How does the Lord bring answers to us? Many times he uses totally unexpected ways. When He answers our prayer, we’re like Gomer Pyle who used to say, “Well, GOLLY!!!”
ILLUSTRATION: One time Mom was in a pinch for income after they retired and moved to Zanesville. One day she said, “The Lord’s going to bless me.”
I said, “Well, how in the world is He going to do that?”
She said, “I don’t know but He is.”
A few days later she got a phone call asking if she would take care of my Dad’s aunt. They were willing to pay whatever she wanted. This woman was a very contrary headstrong woman and a lot of times she would get mad and call my Dad a “Jack Mule.” Through this unexpected way, God answered, and my parents had a weekly check coming in for a long time.
The Lord supplied in a totally unexpected way.
God is the SOURCE of our supply and He uses many INSTRUMENTS to make it happen. God is our SOURCE. JEHOVAH-JIREH is the term used in the Old Testament for The Lord will provide. Genesis 22:14 talks about how God provided for Abraham. Is there any reason why he will not provide for you today?
Another example in the Old Testament tells of how God sent Elijah to the most unlikely person in town—the poor widow woman—to fix him something to eat. God can use totally unexpected people and methods to meet our needs. Don’t rule out anything. Just say, “The Lord is going to bless me. I sure don’t know how, but He is!” Get rid of the idea that He can’t or WON’T do it for you. Scripture says sometimes we fail to receive because we don’t mix what we hear with faith. We say, “Yes, that may work for someone else, but I’ll never have a good job, I’ll never be well, I’ll never be smart…” Hebrews 4:2 says that people who have had the gospel preached to them found it was of no value to them because those who heard it did not combine it with faith. We’ve got to begin believing not only for our salvation but also for our finances and for our healing or any other area of our life. Salvation is a word that encompasses far more than just the spiritual. Salvation means wholeness. It is the whole ball of wax.
3. LEARN TO BE A GENEROUS CHRISTIAN: Give God your best and expect His best. Some people are stingy Christians. My name is Jimmy—gimme all you can gimme Lord but I CAN’T AFFORD to give anything to the church or to other people. When you think this way, you LIMIT God. Proverbs 11:25 says, “The liberal soul shall be made fat: and he that watereth shall be watered also himself.”
The NIV says, “A generous [person] will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.” On the other hand it says that “…another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty” (Proverbs 11:24).
Learn to be a generous person. Scripture tells us, “The Lord is my Shepherd—My Source—I shall not want.” (Psalm 23) . You don’t have to be afraid that you’ll run short or run out when He is Your Source. Many people say, “Times are getting so bad—I’m going to quit believing. It won’t work for me. I’m giving up on God.”
Scripture says, “In the last days there will be scoffers….” (II Peter 3:3). People will turn away from the faith. Don’t. Don’t give up. Don’t slack up. The Lord is just as faithful now as he was at any time in history. “Jesus Christ [is] the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8).
CONCLUSION: 1. We tend to limit ourselves in so many ways. God wants to load us with His benefits but we block Him from doing it. We think He is not able to do it for ME.
2. Moving into God’s supply takes faith in God’s complete ability to do for us what we can’t do for ourselves. We are in partnership with God. Having done our part, then we need to STAND
3. Become generous people. BE a blessing. GIVE God your best and then expect His best. Be a tither. Be a giver. Give God something to work with. Move out of your Comfort Zone. That takes faith. Faith is what you need in order to believe that God will supply ALL your needs in the critical times we are living in.
