God will never fail/ Nothing is Impossible
Holy Spirit of Christmas Past • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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The Holy Spirit of Christmas Past: Nothing is Impossible
The Holy Spirit of Christmas Past: Nothing is Impossible
The Holy Spirit helps us to be like John the Baptist and prepare others to receive others by being
a Heart Reacher
Truth Teacher
Light reflector
Last week we looked at how the Holy Spirit moved during the Christmas story, and how he continues to move in us in the same ways today by making us
See- Confirmation and discernment
Sing Worship
Speak Prophecy
Holy Spirit helps us to be holy
If we all stuck a fork in a light socket, we would all do a little different dance
Chains of Jacob Marley and how the Salvation of Jesus Christ frees us from the burdens and sins of our past
Last week I brought my house robe and I talked about how the Holy Spirit doesn’t wait for us to be ready to move in our lives, and sometimes it may look a little messy
This week I want to make a slight reference to the Ghost of Christmas present, who is always depicted as larger than life and wearing green.
Intro- Milk of human kindness
That first time we taste the goodness and power of God, when he becomes real.
For some, today’s message is a reminder of that first time, and for others, it may be a revelation of God.
Let’s look at the Holy Spirit of Christmas Past and how Nothing is Impossible with God.
Read: Luke 1:26-38
Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth,
to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the descendants of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary.
And coming in, he said to her, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.”
But she was very perplexed at this statement, and kept pondering what kind of salutation this was.
The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God.
“And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus.
“He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David;
and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.”
Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?”
The angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God.
“And behold, even your relative Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age; and she who was called barren is now in her sixth month.
“For nothing will be impossible with God.”
And Mary said, “Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.
Main idea: verse 37 - nothing is impossible with God
repeat that: Nothing is impossible with God
Formula Your problem + Holy Spirit Power = God's promise
There’s a Problem
Mary’s never been with a man
How’s this going to happen
There’s the power
It’s going to be the power of the Holy Spirit
It will equal the promise
Nothing is impossible with God
also translated
No Word from God will Ever Fail
Nothing is Impossible with God
No Word from God will Ever Fail
Formula Your problem + Holy Spirit Power = God's promise
Problem
Every Problem is an issue of Powerlessness
Problem
Every Problem is an issue of Powerlessness
a. Powerless to accomplish (ability, availability, authority)
i. Beyond our ability
It wouldn’t be a problem is I had the power to change it
the problem is I can’t
I can’t fix it
I can’t make it better
I can’t fix them
I can’t make something out of nothing
Even when our problems have faces or are in the mirror
the problem is, we sense our powerlessness
There things we can’t do in our limitedness
That’s what Mary was saying
I can’t just have a baby
I’m not married yet
I haven’t been with a man
I know where babies come from
That’s not how it works
Often in our lives
we read God’s word and we hear His call
we respond out of our humanness and say “ I can’t do that”
Like moses, when he said to God
“ You got the wrong guy, I can’t do that, I can’t speak well, I’m slow of speech”
Often our problems are beyond our ability
ii. Beyond our availability (resources)
When faced with a problem, often the first thing we do is take inventory
and we come to the conclusion that we don’t have enough
or I am not enough
Mary took inventory and let the angel know that there are a few ingredients missing from his plan
Great plan angel, but How?
So often in our lives, we look at our lives and we look at we have and realize
Maybe it’s not stuff
maybe we are overwhelmed by our circumstances and we sit there and say
I don’t have the emotional resources
I don’t have the patience
I don’t have the strength
I don’t have what it takes
And we cry out to God, How God?
How am I going to get through this
You are calling me to be triumphant
You are calling me to be victorious
You are calling me to have joy
and I just don’t see HOW that can happen
And our problems, once again, point to our powerlessness
It’s beyond our ability
It’s beyond our availability
It’s beyond our Authority
iii. Beyond our authority
I can’t just do that, that’s not in my position
This one is often because allot of our problems involve others
These are often the problems that frustrate us the most
Because we know what needs to happen
but we don’t know how to make someone else do something different
Is that not true?
Whether it’s family problems or work problems
problems often involve people
and where there’s people there’s problems
But it’s often beyond our authority
Many of you are sitting here wondering if I’m preaching right to you
as you think about all of your problems and what you are going through
It doesn’t matter if it fits in one or all of the categories
as you sense your powerlessness, I want you to see
That God has the answer
God has the ability
God has every resource
God is the creator
When God created the world he created
The Latin phrase used in the creation narrative is
Ex Nihilo- Out of Nothing
God created out of nothing
When God said, “let there be light”
There had not been light, and light came into existence
God creates that way in our life
God doesn’t need resources
HE IS THE RESOURCE
God has the authority
He speaks and it IS
When we create, we have to work with what we have
If I wan’t to make something to eat, I have to take inventory of what we have to decide if I can make it with the ingredients I have available
God doesn’t have to do it that way
He speaks and it is, and it does that in our life
The Bible is full of impossible problems
We could just sit here and go through scripture and talk about problems
and line them up with this powerlessness
b. Throughout scripture
i. Feeding of the 5000 (availability)
Problem- Jesus preach too long, people to far from home and hungry
Jesus said You feed them
disciples did inventory
we don’t have enough money, and we don’t have enough food
in fact, all we have are five loaves and two fish
Powerlessness, don’t have the ability, don’t have in inventory, availability, authority to do this
formulas go out the window when HIS power meets our problem
ii. Battle of Jericho (ability)
goes back to the failure of the 12 spies
only saw the problem
“we can’t” we are but grasshoppers
a whole generation missed out the the promise of God because they saw only the problem
With Joshua, When Jericho was taken, it was all about the power of God and had nothing to do with their ability
Everything to do with God’s ability, availability and authority
Nothing is impossible with God- no word from God will ever fail
iii. Esther (authority)
when she relied on the authority of God, God made it happen
c. Inventory of your problems
i. Often involve situations we can not change
ii. Often involve lack
iii. Often involve others over which we have control
Power
Power
same God
You moved in Power then
God move in Power now
you are the same God
You are the same God
a. Power of letting go - Luke 1:35
The angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God.
The HOW that the Angel responds to Mary
Power of letting Go (Love, Life)
The angel is calling Mary to this place of trust, that is beyond comprehension
trust beyond the natural
trust in a Super natural God
i. Allow God to work in you and through you -
The word You is used throughout that verse 35
and YOU is your biggest problem
But YOU, partnered with God, is also the solution
What you do with YOU, has a really big part on how your problems play out
The question is “what are you going to do with YOU?”
Sometimes we come to that realize that “I am my own biggest enemy”
My biggest problem is me
?you know what the answer is?
Less you, more God
Let HIS power work in your life
YOU can’t break that habit, but the LORD can
You can’t change your circumstance, but GOD can
iii. The sooner you get to the end of yourself, the sooner God can work
When the Lord is bigger than you are
That’s the place of power
We’ve got to learn to depend on God
We don’t see miracles because we are quick to depend on anything and everything else
The sooner...
b. Power of love - Luke 1:28
And coming in, he said to her, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.”
?Why is this all happening?
Because God loves us
i. John 3:16 "agape"
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
God Loves the world
We’ve heard the phrase “absolute power, corrupts absolutely.”
So power in itself can be a scary thing
But the power of God is rooted in HIS love
The GOD who can do anything, LOVES YOU
and he directs that power towards us
we see this humble little girl, a nobody, and we hear the Angle’s greetings “you who are highly favored” The LORD is with YOU
I think God would say that of all of us here today
God is speaking more than we are listening and everything he says is vital
and he wants to tell you the same thing “greetings you who are highly favored, the LORD is with You.”
You are one of my favorites
because you are mine, you are my child
I love you that much
I am with you
I am for you
Out of his love, comes his power
God didn’t love the world because it was good
but because he made them, and he wanted them
and He saw the problem, which was sin
we are powerless to do anything about that sin
“our righteousness is as filthy rags, there is not one that is righteous,
the wages of sin is death
BUT GOD
But God so loved the world...
iii. Spirit empowerment and love go hand and hand (gifts and fruit)
We sometimes try to separate them
1 Corinthians 13 is in the middle of the teaching on the gifts of the spirit
God’s power is rooted in Love
The Holy spirit is not just responsible for the gifts, he’s responsible for the fruit
The first fruit of the Spirit in Galatians chapter 5 is love on purpose
c. Power of life
i. "Holy one to be born"
Our God is a God of life
Jumping to Easter, Resurrection Sunday
Resurrection- life in the face of death
in a world that was
broken
lost
condemned to hell
God brought forth life
ii. Resurrection - John 11:25-26
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies,
and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”
Speaking to mary or martha after Lazarus death.
The Lord wants to bring life out of His People,
and it is done by the power of the Holy Spirit
There are things that God would like to birth out of your life, that represent HIS life
and it is done by the power of the Holy Spirit
You don’t do that in YOUR ability
It’ll overshadow you
Do you believe this?...
iii. Galatians 4:28-29
And you brethren, like Isaac, are children of promise.
But as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so it is now also.
Ismael persecuted Isaac
Paul is making a connection between the OT law and the NT life
We can still apply that to our life now
We can either birth things in the flesh, or we can birth things in the Spirit
The things that come out of us
Are they coming out of the flesh, the self
or are they coming out from God
We want promise, we don’t want flesh
We don’t want what we can do, we want what God can do
?Do you want ordinary, or do you want the power of the Spirit in your life?
God wants to birth out of you, HIS promise
Promise
Promise
a. God's plan
i. Does not always look like we would expect
Mary is definitely thinking that right now
?God, You are saving the world how?
Me, when, where, what?
Fast forward nine months and I’m sure those questions remain
had to travel so far, no room in the inn, stuck in a stable
God, what are you doing?
And yet it’s God’s plan
it leads to promise
In the middle of it, in the middle of His plan, It doesn’t always look like we would expect
It’s hard to have that perspective in the midst of a problem
but we have to end up in a place of trust
Alright God, I trust your plan
Waymaker- even when I don’t see it you’re working
even when I don’t feel it you’re working
you never stop working
ii. Calls us to participate
There’s a call to Mary: will you say yes to the plan of God
God can enact his plan without us
but how sad is it for you to miss out on his promise for your life
b. God's purpose
i. Beginning is small, strange, and sometimes sudden
Mary seems insignificant in the eyes of the world and even herself
seems small: a baby, here, now…shepherds…bethlehem (small city)
Angels scare people (sometimes sudden)
ii. Ending is good, great, and glorious
Echo Holy....
A million angels fall
Face down on the floor
All to echo Holy is the Lord
My heart can't help but sing
With all of Heaven roar
Forever echo Holy is the Lord
God has a purpose
we don’t see it in the beginning, we don’t see it in the problems, we don’t see it in the difficulty, we don’t see that plan, we don’t see that purpose
The question is “Do you trust HIM?”
even when I don’t see it He’s working
Even When I don’t feel it He’s working
c. God's perfection
i. No word will ever fail
Nothing is impossible with God
God’s got a perfect record
You and I - not so much
Look again at the verbage in this passage
there’s not if’s, or mights, or should
Pay attention to the word WILL
Luke 1:28–38 (NASB95)
And coming in, he said to her, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.”
But she was very perplexed at this statement, and kept pondering what kind of salutation this was.
The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God.
“And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus.
“He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David;
and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.”
Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?”
The angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God.
“And behold, even your relative Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age; and she who was called barren is now in her sixth month.
“For nothing will be impossible with God.”
And Mary said, “Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.
I don’t know what you might be going through right now, but I’m sure it has a whole lot of HOW? attatched to it
I want you to see today the promise of God
ii. 2 Corinthians 1:18-22
But as God is faithful, our word to you is not yes and no.
For the Son of God, Christ Jesus, who was preached among you by us—by me and Silvanus and Timothy—was not yes and no, but is yes in Him.
For as many as are the promises of God, in Him they are yes; therefore also through Him is our Amen to the glory of God through us.
Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God,
God has a perfect record
All of God’s promises are YES from HIM, and AMEN from us
?what does AMEN mean?
it means I agree, I believe, I accept
that’s where Mary lands in verse 38
iii. Luke 1:38 His will will be done
And Mary said, “Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.
Conclusion: Luke 1:38 - Mary's surrender, submission, and service. Do you have a problem that needs the Lord's power? Let it be ...