Even the Impossible
Notes
Transcript
Remember 2020? It was four years ago already. We are talking about the songs we sing during worship and how they teach us things about what is revealed about God in the Bible. The song was written in 2019 but back in the early days of 2020 when everything was bleak this song was released, Even the impossible.
Here is the interview
Here is the interview
Awesome to hear from the actual writer but he said that we all know the story of the stone. I’m not sure we all do, so I am going to remind you,
The words of the song are
I think this stone’s getting ready to roll
I think this stone’s getting ready to roll
and here is the scripture
1 When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they could go and anoint him.
2 Very early in the morning, on the first day of the week, they went to the tomb at sunrise.
3 They were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone from the entrance to the tomb for us?”
4 Looking up, they noticed that the stone—which was very large—had been rolled away.
5 When they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side; they were alarmed.
6 “Don’t be alarmed,” he told them. “You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they put him.
7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you to Galilee; you will see him there just as he told you.’ ”
The statement of a stone getting ready to roll is a metaphor. God had already done the miracle before the physical manifestation of the miracle.
I feel a faith that is starting to rise
Hope - Hope shall not disappoint us.
And I see a world on the edge of revival ]
Revival is a term that separates people who grew up in church and people who did not. I would guess that many do not know the term revival except maybe the idea of historic tent revivals. Others might think about the revivals of old where preachers from far away were invited in for a week or weekend. And others might have heard of big revival movements that have occured in the history of our country. The great awakeneing of 1734, the second great awakening in the 1800s, the Azuza Street revival, the Jesus movement of the 1960s.
Those are amazing and they happen over and over again in the history of the world so that Christianity has spread among all 7 continents because it isn’t controlled by political power or facilities but by the movement of the Holy Spirit. In the book of Psalms we read a prayer with the question of revival in it.
6 Will you not revive us again so that your people may rejoice in you?
In this question and in our own observed history you see that God can spur when He desires to spur. There is never a time when the government, the conditions of the world, economics get beyond the ability of God to move in this world. New York times columnist, David French, even wrote that with the continual secularization of the United States there will still be another time of revival in our nation at some point and at some time. Currently, Pastor Rick Warren points out that more people are coming to Christ and the growth of missionary movements is happening more in South America and Africa than in the United States. Missionaries are coming from Korea. People are being born again in huge numbers in China and South East Asia. So yeah the song is correct,
I think it’s only a matter of time
I think it’s only a matter of time
There is hope there. If there is a God, and I know there is, than stop looking to any moment in the news or any politician to do what only God can do. Never talk like this world is without hope because there are all these sinful people in the world. There have always been sinful people in the world. God is always at work. The question of this song is will we join God in His work?
We’ve quoted the scripture so many times recently that it might be concerning that we are misquoting it but we are not, but I will include more of the Bible for you to see
25 Now if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with patience.
26 In the same way the Spirit also helps us in our weakness, because we do not know what to pray for as we should, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with inexpressible groanings.
27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because he intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
28 We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.
In your life, in this world, in your family, in your job or retirement, whatever is going on in your world, God is actually doing a bigger work. He is involved in the lives of everyone in Stockton and everyone in Chandpur, Bangladesh. I have a very small idea of where that city is but God knows. I looked up cities in Wikipedia and its close to the same size as Stockton in a country that many of you might find difficult to find on a Globe.
Why bring up Bangladesh? Because this scripture
28 We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.
and this scripture are true for you
13 For it was you who created my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I will praise you because I have been remarkably and wondrously made. Your works are wondrous, and I know this very well.
15 My bones were not hidden from you when I was made in secret, when I was formed in the depths of the earth.
and this scripture is true for the woman in bangladesh or Morocco or Algeria or I could keep going.
Why do I say all this because too many times followers of Jesus can focus on the problems, the hardships, the things they see rather than the God who is over all, the omnipresent, the everywhere one, the one who knows all!
We take a street mentality that we have to protect ourselves, danger on all sides, we come up with ideas upon ideas, like a bunch of 6 year olds thinking the world depends on them. Please!
God is in charge!
We are told by God through the Bible
7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but one of power, love, and sound judgment.
With this promise that God is powerful, everywhere, the promise of His resurrection is for us regardless of our race, location or background. That no problem in this world is too difficult for God, the song encourages us as we sing:
So do what only You can do / Move what only You can move
So do what only You can do / Move what only You can move
This is it. Know these words. Realize that faith is based in these words.
Let me give you some examples from hero stories in the Bible. Think about what these people did:
Daniel, Mary, and David.
Daniel got thrown into a den of lions. The only reason he didn’t die was God.
Mary gave birth to a child. That’s it. Women have always being doing that. It’s important and amazing but the miracle was done by God not Mary.
David picked up some rocks and flung them, taking down Goliath. He ran from Saul. He was a great general but it was God that gave him victories.
Over and over in the bible you will see people do un-miraculous things but God making miracles happen from them. When Joshua led his people in the battle of Jericho all the people did was march around and make a lot of noise, God brought the wall down.
God called them only to do what they could do. In politics, in news, and in conversation it is so easy to slip into the “complain about everything, do nothing,” or even try to “do everything, and worry about everything” thought process.
Jesus told us how to live miraculously, and it had nothing to do with speaking against everything, it is simple.
19 So Jesus explained himself at length. “I’m telling you this straight. The Son can’t independently do a thing, only what he sees the Father doing. What the Father does, the Son does.
Jesus copied God and did what He saw God working on. What God showed Jesus to do, He did.
Some of you might see your problems, your age, your lack of as making you a failure. Yet God knows if you are bound to your home and only able to watch us on facebook right now, and you are still able to join God in his his work!
Moses the presenter of the Ten Commandments, the leader of the Hebrew people across the parted waters, felt that he was disqualified, unable to do all that he ended up doing because He was disabled. An important skill for any leader is to communicate well. Moses had a lisp, a speech impediment.
10 But Moses replied to the Lord, “Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent—either in the past or recently or since you have been speaking to your servant—because my mouth and my tongue are sluggish.”
11 The Lord said to him, “Who placed a mouth on humans? Who makes a person mute or deaf, seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord?
12 Now go! I will help you speak and I will teach you what to say.”
God knows you! God can use you. God knows your limitations, he can chose to go over them, through them, or just use them. Your age, wealth, health, abilities. God knows them all and has called you to join Him in his purpose.
Get on board and do what only you can do. Because even the impossible is possible. Your plans don’t have to be huge to be great, they just have to be God’s plans.
Even the impossible is possible for You
Even the impossible is possible for You
Because God is at work!
The song keeps going and shows more of the results of what being in God’s family means:
I see a grave that is hollow of power / I see a battle that’s already won / And I see a church on the verge of revival / I see your kingdom has already come
I see a grave that is hollow of power / I see a battle that’s already won / And I see a church on the verge of revival / I see your kingdom has already come
50 What I am saying, dear brothers and sisters, is that our physical bodies cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. These dying bodies cannot inherit what will last forever.
51 But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed!
52 It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed.
53 For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies.
54 Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, this Scripture will be fulfilled: “Death is swallowed up in victory.
55 O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”
56 For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power.
57 But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.
This is what God has said will happen. It is guarantee we can take by faith. We do not need to fear death. We can step into death with an awareness of that the God who is with us in life will be with us in death. Even those we leave for a time will be in God’s hands just as they are now. Realize that and we can live like that. That in this life we do not need to live in fear that death is coming.
This is why you can ride with me when I’m driving, as a test of your faith. I am totally kidding.
Actually we should take care of our life, and treat our bodies well, as the Bible uses the words, “stewards or care takers” of this life that God has given us.
Let me stop and try to tell you plainly.
If you are living your life in fear of tomorrow or of death than you aren’t experiencing the joy Jesus has for you. There is a faith problem in your life. This isn’t how it is supposed to be.
Is it because you know that right now there is sin in your life? You know that God desires you not to live in a certain way that you are living? Than repent, and trust God with it. Turn away from it, is what repentance means and start taking steps to get rid of it in your life, just the stuff that you know God could have you do. Let me give you an example:
Maybe its addiction to a substance. Then first repent to God, tell him that you agree with him that this substance should not be part of your life. That it takes away from what God has for you. Surrender to God the “why” of what the reason “why” is that you use the substance. Likely you don’t even know the real why.
You will take steps of repentance by entering into treatment for the addiction to a substance. You surrender because instead of being like, “I will only pray about it, because doctors don’t know anything or other people can’t help me: and so on” aren’t helpful. That is not repentance but desiring for God to take something away without obedience.
The song continues to give us ideas about our role in repentance,
So do what only You can do / Move what only You can move / Even the impossible is possible for You
So do what only You can do / Move what only You can move / Even the impossible is possible for You
For those of you with addiction can you imagine the freedom that God has for you? Impossible? It is possible through Christ.
Maybe its not addiction but bitterness or rage. Could you imagine a life without rage?
5 Then the one seated on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new.” He also said, “Write, because these words are faithful and true.”
Followers of Jesus are and will be made knew. Even things that come upon us all the time like bitterness and slander, two fancy words for saying that you dislike everyone and everything and you will talk crap about everyone.
These are not just little things. God tells us through the Bible:
20 But that is not how you came to know Christ,
21 assuming you heard about him and were taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus,
22 to take off your former way of life, the old self that is corrupted by deceitful desires,
23 to be renewed in the spirit of your minds,
31 Let all bitterness, anger and wrath, shouting and slander be removed from you, along with all malice.
32 And be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God also forgave you in Christ.
It is here that we see that God makes a way where there is no way. There is victory through repentance with focus on doing what we can do and letting God make it happen.
What are we called to do: when we think of all the evil and failings that people do, we are to forgive as Jesus forgives.
Ever sat at a table where the only conversation that people can come to think about talking about is critizing the event or others at the event, their choices?
But you might say, or others could say, everything I said was true. The event sucked. They could have done better. The lady should have never dressed that way. The guy was mean. Whatever, whatever, I accept that everything you think is true is true. What does God tell you to do? Tell the others around you, your criticism? or to
32 And be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God also forgave you in Christ.
What happens in your life if there is no more room for that kind of bitterness? It is the freedom God is offering you,
The song continues with this truth:
You can make the chains come loose / You can tell the mountains move / Even the impossible is possible for You
You can make the chains come loose / You can tell the mountains move / Even the impossible is possible for You
Chains in the Bible are often used as a metaphor for sin, for the evil that continues to way us down. Another metaphor of faith is what Jesus said about mountains:
20 “Because of your little faith,” he told them. “For truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will tell this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
One of the things God is teaching me right now is how different walking in Him is from a life of not walking with Him. Some of you might have forgotten how different faith in Jesus makes you.
Others fear of the unknown is around me a lot. They fear the future, fear what others will do, fear change, fear, fear, fear.
Fear can make sense. I recommend you don’t put your hand by a moving saw for example, you should be afraid of that in the sense of respect danger. But fear when it is just a prediction that I am going to be worse tomorrow than today is actually faith.
There is a whole lot of faith in fear out there.
I find myself wondering why, why so much fear. Then I remember I know Jesus. I know that He is working for me, not against me. Friends I want you to remember always, if you now Jesus, have faith in Jesus not fear.
17 And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world.
18 Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love.
19 We love each other because he loved us first.
So our song continues:
You (Jesus) said it, I see it / You still do miracles / There’s power in Jesus’ name
You (Jesus) said it, I see it / You still do miracles / There’s power in Jesus’ name
13 Whatever you ask in my name, I will do it so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
14 If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.
All darkness defeated / There’s nothing stopping You, my God / There’s nothing stopping You
All darkness defeated / There’s nothing stopping You, my God / There’s nothing stopping You
5 And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!” And then he said to me, “Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.”
6 And he also said, “It is finished! I am the Alpha and the Omega—the Beginning and the End. To all who are thirsty I will give freely from the springs of the water of life.
7 All who are victorious will inherit all these blessings, and I will be their God, and they will be my children.
8 “But cowards, unbelievers, the corrupt, murderers, the immoral, those who practice witchcraft, idol worshipers, and all liars—their fate is in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”
There is a difference. There is a promise of what is to come. It isn’t for everyone. When you have a promise, when you know something is going to happen, you can act in it. This darkness, the things that bring you fear, they lose. They have already lost. Jesus won. God wins.
This is true now. There is a way where there was no way.
Even the Impossible is possible because of Jesus.