‘WHEN GOD ASKS THE IMPOSSIBLE’

Rev. Brent Russett

By Rev. Brent Russett

Pastor of Sunnyside Wesleyan Church in Ottawa: 

http://www.sunnysidechurchottawa.com/                

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PODCAST LINK to CFRA broadcast - Sunday, December 2^nd, 2012:

http://proxy.autopod.ca/podcasts/chum/6/9962/good_news_029_dec02.mp3
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Broadcast Notes:

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‘When God Asks the Impossible’

            Good morning and welcome to Good News in the Morning. This morning our theme is when God asks the impossible. My name is Brent Russett and I am the pastor at Sunnyside Wesleyan Church in Old Ottawa South; and it is my hope that after listening this morning that you will both be encouraged, and challenged to trust God.

            This program is brought to you by Good News Christian Ministries, Box 184 Rideau Ferry, ON, K0G1W0 – or Google-  Good News Christian Ministries and you will find us.

            This morning is the first Sunday of Advent on the Church calendar. What that means is that there are four Sundays before Christmas. So this morning I thought we would start the Christmas story by looking at the Angel’s visit to Mary.

(Music – Emmanuel  - By Amy Grant – A Christmas Album 3:10)

            When I was in the Arrow Leadership Program one of my instructors was Paul Borthwick, author of “Six Dangerous Questions”. He told the story of how he was over in Africa at a Church conference and how one of the ministers stood up and told about praying for this man – and how he was raised from the dead.

            Paul said, I had to talk to this guy, so afterwards he went up to the man and asked him about it and the guy said – no, no; I don’t want you to get the wrong impression, it has only happened to me three times – it doesn’t happen all the time. – Only three times.

            Paul said that sometime after this he was back in a church in the United States, and he told this story and a lady came up to him afterwards – and she was spitting mad. She said, I am sure glad that my husband who isn’t a Christian – I am so glad he wasn’t here today. You would have made Christianity loose all credibility – a guy being raised from the dead. Paul looked at her and said, well what ever you do don’t bring him to church Easter Sunday morning.

            I was in Ghana a couple of years back teaching theology. We were sitting around the lunch table eating some incredibly spicy food that apparently they had toned down for our taste, and I ask the ministers who were gathered there if they had ever heard of someone being raised from the dead. One guy said, Oh yeah, I know a guy who that is his spiritual gift. He said, it doesn’t happen all the time, but there have been a number of times where this minister has prayed for people and they were raised from the dead.

            I must say that while I believed my friend in Ghana, I don’t know what to do with that. I live in Canada – when we get sick we call the doctor, or go to the hospital, and when someone dies we call the mortician. We don’t pray that God will raise them from the dead. Do we?

            My question to you is what do you do with the impossible? Now before I unnerve to many of you, I want you to know that my application point is not going to be – lets take a field trip to the local funeral home and pray for some dead people.

            But I do want to ask, what do you do with the impossible? How you answer this question will significantly affect how you live the Christian life.

            Come with me to our scripture this morning. I am going to read it from the NLT

Luke 1:26-38

The Birth of Jesus Foretold

²⁶ In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a village in Galilee, ²⁷ to a virgin named Mary. She was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of King David. ²⁸ Gabriel appeared to her and said, “Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you!^[a]”

²⁹ Confused and disturbed, Mary tried to think what the angel could mean. ³⁰ “Don’t be afraid, Mary,” the angel told her, “for you have found favor with God! ³¹ You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. ³² He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. ³³ And he will reign over Israel^[b] forever; his Kingdom will never end!”

³⁴ Mary asked the angel, “But how can this happen? I am a virgin.”

³⁵ The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby to be born will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God. ³⁶ What’s more, your relative Elizabeth has become pregnant in her old age! People used to say she was barren, but she has conceived a son and is now in her sixth month. ³⁷ For nothing is impossible with God.^[c]”

³⁸ Mary responded, “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true.” And then the angel left her.

Footnotes:

a.     Luke 1:28 Some manuscripts add Blessed are you among women.

b.     Luke 1:33 Greek over the house of Jacob.

c.     Luke 1:37 Some manuscripts read For the word of God will never fail.

            So Gabriel appears to Mary and say Congratulations its a boy – Mary says, I a little confused – I have never been with a man. Gabriel say, don’t worry God will take care of that little detail. But this son, he is going to be incredible. He is going to be the Son of God and reign in a never ending Kingdom, and sit on David’s throne.

            Oh, and FYI your aunt Elizabeth – yeah the one who is really old – she has never had a kid before, but she is now 6 month pregnant.

            Mary has got to be counting these things off in her mind. I am an insignificant single teenage girl, in an insignificant town. I am going to have a son, with no man involved. This son is going to be like a head of state or something – the son of God – And my aunt Elizabeth who has wanted kids, and couldn’t have kids, and is now past the age of having kids is going to have a kid.

            But the angel says, “Nothing is impossible with God.” So what is Mary’s response “I am yours God – Let it be to me according to your word.”

            We are going to listen to some music and then I am going to ask the question -

What is your response when God says that the impossible is possible?

(Music- Lord you are my shepherd – From Worship Songs of the Vineyard  album – 3:49)

What is your response when God says that the impossible is possible?

            We read verses like Matthew 17:20- Jesus told them. “I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it would move. Nothing would be impossible.*” We think he must be speaking metaphorically. And maybe his is, but he is saying something about the impossible. At very least he is saying the impossible is possible.

            What is your response when God says that the impossible is possible?

            I think a number of you respond like I do – that is nice but I don’t plan to move a mountain today. That is nice but I don’t expect an angel to show up and tell me that I am going to be the parent of the son of God. And in our mind, maybe even so subtly and unconsciously that we don’t even notice we say – that was then and this is now and so it is kind of irrelevant it just doesn’t matter anymore.

            But when we respond to God like that- it breeds a shallow faith.

            Listen to the words of Jesus from Luke 6:

 ²⁷ “…, I say, love your enemies! Do good to those who hate you. ²⁸ Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who hurt you.

            If you have ever had someone that you really really really detest. If you have ever had someone who has thrown verbal spears and shot arrows of hatred at you, and some of them have struck close to your heart – then you will what Jesus is asking for is impossible. Love your enemies – impossible.

            When the bible says, in 1 Thes 5: ¹⁶ Always be joyful. ¹⁷ Never stop praying. ¹⁸ Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.

            Be joyful always, Joy is defined as a sense of well being. Really be joyful always – impossible.

            Be thankful in all circumstances – not likely.

           

            Let me try one more set of verses from Romans 12:

⁹ Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. ¹⁰ Love each other with genuine affection,* and take delight in honoring each other. ¹¹ Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically.* ¹² Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying. ¹³ When God’s people are in need, be ready to help them. Always be eager to practice hospitality.

¹⁴ Bless those who persecute you. Don’t curse them; pray that God will bless them. ¹⁵ Be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those who weep. ¹⁶ Live in harmony with each other.

            I want to tell you that on a really good day, I get some of that right- and I really don’t want to talk about my bad days. There are some days when I read what the word of God says, and I say impossible. I can’t do what it is asking.

            So what DO you do when God says the impossible is possible?

            What many people do is they try to redefine the words of Jesus. “Don’t pretend to love others, Really love them.” Ok – love is being nice to them but I don’t have to like them.

            What if Mary tried this tactic with the angel?: "Well he doesn’t really mean I don’t need a man to get pregnant, maybe I will just speed up the process and Joseph and I will hook up." But the story doesn’t work like that. Trying to redefine what God said is usually a bad idea.

            What other people try is instead of redefining the words of Jesus, they just muster all the will power they have and they make themselves do what Jesus said.

            I am going to love my enemy if it kills me. It usually does kill them. It don’t know if you have ever run into people who try to live the Christian life by sheer force of their will, but they are usually bitter kill joys who are no fun to hang around with.

            What other people do is just give up. They say impossible is impossible. I might as just do whatever I want because God must understand that it is impossible. (By the way that is often the argument I hear when people are sleeping with their boy friend or girl friend – instead of waiting to be married)

            But what do you do when God says the impossible is possible?

            Here is what I have discovered. After being a Christian for the most part of my life – I gave my life to Jesus when I was 5. And after being a pastor for 26 years – so I get paid to study the Bible – here is what I have concluded. Living the Christian life is impossible. I can’t will myself to do it all, In my own power, I can’t pull it off.

But what do you do when God says the impossible is possible?

            In Luke 18 a rich man comes to Jesus and says what should I do to inherit eternal life. Jesus says sell it all, and give to the poor and then you will have treasure in heaven. He was not a happy camper when he left Jesus.

            The disciples picked up the discussion with Jesus. The disciples were under the impression that rich people were more blessed by God than poor people. Jesus said, no, it is really hard for rich people to get into the kingdom of heaven. He said, in fact it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than a rich man to get into heaven.

            Now some who belong to the “Jesus didn’t really mean what he was saying” camp – have said, well there was this gate and it was named needle, but it was really small, so a camel had to bend down to get through it. Sorry, that doesn’t work.

            The disciples asked the right question: “If the rich can’t make it to heaven, then who can be saved?” Hear Jesus’ reply. Luke 18:27: “Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But with God everything is possible.”

            Where have I heard echo’s of that? Oh yes 18 chapters earlier, when the angel Gabriel was speaking with Mary. The angel said, “For nothing is impossible with God.”

            Humanly speaking living the Christian life is impossible. But with God everything is possible.

            Humanly speaking, peace in turmoil, love in the face of hatred, joy in the face of grief, patience in the face of frustration, hope in the middle of darkness, and knowing God in a world that has wandered so far from God is impossible, but with God everything is possible.

            What is your response to God when he says that the impossible is possible?

            There is something in our Western culture that wars against believing God in the face of the impossible. We figure impossible is impossible. I believe God can do the impossible, after all that is the definition of God. I just don’t really believe he will.

            I have a friend who told me, I don’t get it. I went on a mission trip to Africa, and I prayed for people and they were healed and set free and delivered, and come back here and I am the same person praying the same prayers and well nothing.

           

            We live in a climate where what can be proved by the scientific method is real, and those things that we designate as spiritual are not as real. That makes believing God for the impossible really hard.

            In order to combat our culture lets go back to our story. What was Mary’s response when the Angel told her the impossible was possible. "I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May it be to me as you have said."  

            She knew who she was. Her identity was firm. “I am the Lord’s servant.” For those of you who have received Jesus into your heart, you know who are. You are a child of God; you are part of the family God. Your name is written in the book of life. You are forgiven. You are the Lord’s servant, too. Knowing who you are helps when God says the impossible is possible.

            But more than that Mary said, “May it be to me as you have said.”

            She stood there and took a stance of receptivity. Her hands were open and she said, I will take what God is giving.

            Being open to receive all that God wants to give you, is the primary principle of the Christian life. How did you become a Christian – you received Jesus. You didn’t have to exert all the will power you have – you received it. The stance of receptivity.

            What happened to Mary when she took this stance of receptivity? The Holy Spirit came upon her, and the power of the Most High overshadowed her – and she became the mother of the Son of God

            What will happen if you take this stance of receptivity? The Holy Spirit will come upon you – not so that you can become a parent of the messiah - that only happened once. But Jesus said, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.” It is the power to witness with your testimony and the holiness of your life. You will receive power.

            The Christian life is impossible to live. But what do you do when God says the impossible is possible? The best option is to stand with hearts open and say, “I am yours, May it be to me as you have said.”

Let’s pray together:

Lord Jesus, You are able to do the impossible. I ask that you would do the impossible in my life. I pray for peace in the middle of a storm. I pray for joy and a sense of well-being, even in troubled times. I pray for strength when I’m feeling weak. I pray for hope in the middle of the darkness. Lord, I ask that you would come and that you would do the impossible in my life. May it be to me as you have said. 

I pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Thank you, Listeners for your words of encouragement, and for keeping us in your prayers. The music today was provided by Salem Christian Storehouse. Keeping this program on the air continues to be a work of faith. If you can help with that, please make out a cheque payable to Good News Christian Ministries, Box 184 , Rideau Ferry , On. K0G  1W0.

There now are several ways of accessing our programs. If you have Rogers Cable, you will find it on Channel 927 at 6:30 on Sunday mornings as well as over this radio station (CFRA.com).  Also I encourage you to visit our Good News Christian Ministries website (GNCM.ca) and follow us on Twitter or comment on our Blog.

May you know Jesus Christ personally and profoundly.  May the Holy Spirit reside deep within your heart.  And may the heavenly Father surround you with His constant and abiding and accompanying love

(Music – Michael W. Smith – You are the Lord 4:16 from Worship Again album)

Rev. Brent Russett

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To listen to the above broadcast, click on the following link:

http://proxy.autopod.ca/podcasts/chum/6/9962/good_news_029_dec02.mp3