Doing The Impossible

Open with Thanksgiving video

Lead in a time of prayer of thanks to God: Thanks for the losses, for the hurts and the disappointments, thanks for barren seasons and difficult moments in our lives. Thanks for physical and emotional sufferings and sleepless nights spent in painful times of prayer for those we love! Give thanks to God for all of these things and more, because, as God’s Word tells us, “Though sorrow may last for the night, Your joy comes in the morning!”

We had an amazing time with our dear brother and friend and presbyter, Lee Grady, last weekend! I wish that all of you could have been here and shared with us in that very special time of prayer and worship!

There were several who attended those three services, who received the baptism of Holy Spirit, who received words of knowledge and prophetic messages for their lives, and thus were set free from the lies and strongholds of the enemy.

There were several who received their prayer languages throughout these meetings and there were even some who were given the call of God on their lives, to begin to preach and proclaim the gospel!

And as much as I was so blessed by these meetings and was given the opportunity to see Holy Spirit moving and directing and equipping my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, I still find myself pondering a question, which I will ask you all this morning.

Both to those of you who have known and tasted of the divine gifts and power of Holy Spirit in your life in times past, as well as those who were just introduced to this blessing last weekend, from our loving and benevolent Heavenly Father!

My question for all of you is this: “What are you going to do with this blessing that you have recieved, which we call the “baptism of the Holy Spirit” in your life?

What has His presence in your life changed for you over the course of this past week? Or, if you were not here during these meetings a week ago, but you still have known and tasted the sweetness of God’s presence by His divine Holy Spirit active and moving in your life, what have you done with this blessing since you received it?

How has Holy Spirit’s gifts and power in our lives made a difference since we first experienced them?

How many new salvation experiences did we see over the course of the last week? Or, how many people’s lives were blessed by our voluntarily praying for them in public places throughout our daily lives?

How many signs and wonders did we experience as we walked in faith and belief in His Word and by His Spirit?

And how many of us were drawn into new and deep and passionate moments of prayer and intimacy with the Lord this past week, because His presence in our lives produced an insatiable urge to be with Him and before Him?

I ask these questions to all of us this morning, myself most definitely included, not as a criticism, or a brow beating, but as a reminder to each one of us, that we are not to think of, or treat His presence and His gifts as something common in our lives.

That His Spirit has been poured out on all flesh, to those who believe and ask for His power and gifts, as a means of equipping us for the supernatural task of being His voice and His hands and His feet, to a dying and lost world!

The apostle Paul told us in , “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”

God, through His Spirit active and moving in our lives, equips us with the desire as well as the ability to carry out that desire, which is His will in each one of our lives.

Philippians 2:12 NLT

12 Dear friends, you always followed my instructions when I was with you. And now that I am away, it is even more important. Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear.

In other words, God has given to us His divine will, His perfect plan for each one of us and He has also equipped us by His Holy Spirit, with the means to carry out those plans, perfectly!

And what matters most, is that we listen to Him and Him alone and His word and that we learn to hear His Holy Spirit as He speaks to each one of us about how and what we are to do each and every day of our lives.

We all need a quiet and intimate time in prayer with the Lord every single day, so that we can learn to hear His voice above all other voices as He guides us in our daily lives.

Probably most of us would attest to the fact that their are a lot of voices competing for our thoughts and our time and our attention and any given day, correct?

And that’s not necessarily a bad thing, as we all have family and friends and coworkers, who need to converse with us and us with them, in order to carry out our daily lives.

But, the issue is that many times over, these other voices begin to carry more weight in our hearts and in our minds and they begin to direct our thoughts and our motives and how we operate, versus that of the Lord God and by His blessed Holy Spirit.

And before long, we are making decisions that seem right in our minds, but that may not at all be in line with God’s plan for your life or for mine.

Although many of these voices that we listen to in our daily lives, may be brothers and sisters in the Lord, or just people who truly care for us, their influence and their limited wisdom should not be the deciding factor on all points, as to how and why you and I operate.

Even if these other voices seem to make sense and their counsel appears to be right, remember that the Proverbs tells us that, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.”

In other words, in our natural minds, we will gravitate towards decisions that make sense, but that are sometimes NOT in the will of the Lord for you or I.

And regardless of what people say to you about your faith and relationship with the Lord God, whether you’re a brand new Christian, or someone who has been His for years, people will challenge you and try to tell you what you can and what you cannot do!

The Lord may be trying to tell you that He is wanting to move you into a new arena of life and into a new job situation for His glory, and yet people will speak louder into your life, if you let them, and they will tell you that what you’re talking about doing, IS IMPOSSIBLE!

And it is because of this, that I am speaking with this you this morning in a message entitled, “Doing The Impossible”!

Have you ever noticed that when something is said to be impossible, especially if it is written by the “professionals”, in books and tabloids and journals, then other people just accept it as true?

I mean, if it’s written, then it must be true, right?

We have become too accepting, as a civilization, on the thoughts and the beliefs of others.

To the point that we will simply stop and adhere to what they are telling us is true and possible and just give up on our hopes and dreams.

Think about this for a minute: at one time, mankind believed that air flight was impossible.

Top scientists at the time, like Lord Kelvin, who developed the Kelvin Scale, said that “heavier-than-air-flight” was NOT possible.

Yet, just eight years after Lord Kelvin said it was IMPOSSIBLE to fly a “heavier-than-air” manned craft , on December 17, 1903, two young men, who were NOT college educated as was Lord Kelvin, Orville and Wilbur Wright flew the 1st “heavier-than-air”, aircraft for 12 seconds and covered 120 feet and then later that same day, flew another flight that went 852 feet in 59 seconds.

But, the scientific world said, “It was IMPOSSIBLE”!

Following this, it was stated to be impossible to send a manned flight into space and yet in 1961, both Russia and the US launched their astronauts into space and then on July 20, 1969, we touched down on the moon’s surface.

IMPOSSIBLE, RIGHT?!

On December 29, 1934, Albert Einstein was quoted in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette as saying, “There is not the slightest indication that [nuclear energy] will ever be obtainable. It would mean that the atom would have to be shattered at will.”

On December 29, 1934, Albert Einstein was quoted in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette as saying, “There is not the slightest indication that [nuclear energy] will ever be obtainable. It would mean that the atom would have to be shattered at will.”

Read more: https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn13556-10-impossibilities-conquered-by-science/#ixzz66AeKiJcY1934, Albert Einstein was quoted in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette as saying, “There is not the slightest indication that [nuclear energy] will ever be obtainable. It would mean that the atom would have to be shattered at will.”

Read more: https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn13556-10-impossibilities-conquered-by-science/#ixzz66AeKiJcY

But then, just 11 years later, on August 6 1945, the first atomic bomb used aggressively exploded over Hiroshima. And then, in 1954, the USSR became the first country to supply some of its electricity from nuclear power with its Obninsk nuclear power plant.

Read more: https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn13556-10-impossibilities-conquered-by-science/#ixzz66Af42Tbl

All around the world, for years, in Olympic as well as regular athletic events, it was a known fact that no one could run a mile in under the gold standard, 4 minute mile.

Read more: https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn13556-10-impossibilities-conquered-by-science/#ixzz66Aemlar0

It was IMPOSSIBLE to breach that time frame!

Evidently, someone didn’t do a very good job of relaying this to a young British athlete/medical student, by the name of Roger Bannister.

Bannister had made attempts, even in an Olympic event in 1952, to break this impenetrable time gauntlet, but had failed.

He refused to listen to other men and to take “professional” training in order to refine his gift of running and applied only 45 minutes of each day to running, while he spent the rest of his time devoted to his studies as an aspiring medical student.

Then, on May 6, 1954, in a meet at Oxford University, Roger Bannister did what the world said was impossible up to that point.

He ran a mile in that event and broke the tape at finish line, collapsing, as he heard the announcer say that his time was, 3 minutes and 59.4 seconds!

Roger Bannister broke the world record and ran a mile in under the impervious 4 minute-mile!

Although it was said to be impossible, he did it!

Less than six weeks after Bannister’s heroic feat, an Australian runner broke his record!

In fact, since Bannister breached this IMPOSSIBLE barrier in 1954, the 4 minute barrier has been broken by over 1,400 male athletes and is now considered the standard of all male professional middle distance runners and has now been lowered by almost 17 seconds, as the record stands at 3:43.13!

In fact, since Bannister breached this IMPOSSIBLE barrier in 1954, the 4 minute barrier has been broken by over 1,400 male athletes and is now considered the standard of all male professional middle distance runners and has now been lowered by almost 17 seconds, as the record stands at 3:43.13!

And here is a challenge for all of the aspiring young ladies that are listening, to date, no woman has EVER broke the four minute-mile.

The current record for a female running the one mile race, was set this year, 2019 and stands at 4:12.33!

IMPOSSIBLE, right?!

There is a famous poem about people saying that it can’t be done, entitled, “It Couldn’t Be Done” by EDGAR ALBERT GUEST. (READ POEM IF APPROPRIATE)

      But he with a chuckle replied

That “maybe it couldn’t,” but he would be one

      Who wouldn’t say so till he’d tried.

So he buckled right in with the trace of a grin

      On his face. If he worried he hid it.

He started to sing as he tackled the thing

      That couldn’t be done, and he did it!

Somebody scoffed: “Oh, you’ll never do that;

      At least no one ever has done it;”

But he took off his coat and he took off his hat

      And the first thing we knew he’d begun it.

With a lift of his chin and a bit of a grin,

      Without any doubting or quiddit,

He started to sing as he tackled the thing

      That couldn’t be done, and he did it.

There are thousands to tell you it cannot be done,

      There are thousands to prophesy failure,

There are thousands to point out to you one by one,

      The dangers that wait to assail you.

But just buckle in with a bit of a grin,

      Just take off your coat and go to it;

Just start in to sing as you tackle the thing

      That “cannot be done,” and you’ll do it.

The world will keep saying, “IT IS IMPOSSIBLE” and it will believe this to be true, until, someone brave enough, runs out onto the field and slays the impervious giant.

And then, everyone else begins to move in and take new grounds.

But first, we need our David’s, who don’t see a giant, but rather just an obstacle in our path!

It was the young shepherd boy David, who stood and watched as the Philistine giant, Goliath, taunted and mocked the Israeli army and defied the Lord God! In fact, according to the Bible, this had been taking place for over 40 days! Day after day, the over 9 foot tall Philistine soldier would strut back and forth, in front of the Israeli army and challenge them and mock them, as he wielded his bronze helmet and his bronze coat of mail that weighed about 125 pounds and carried his iron spear, the tip of which weighed 15 lbs!

David, upon seeing and hearing the giant asked, “Who is this pagan Philistine anyway, that he is allowed to defy the armies of the living God?”

David was brought before King Saul and he said to the king, ““Don’t worry about this Philistine, I’ll go fight him!”

Now listen to what Saul says to David, upon hearing David’s bold words.

“Don’t be ridiculous!” Saul replied. “There’s no way you can fight this Philistine and possibly win! You’re only a boy, and he’s been a man of war since his youth.”

Did you hear it? Did you catch the wordly mindset and the natural mind’s way of thinking?

Saul said to David, “IT’S IMPOSSIBLE.........YOU CAN’T DO IT DAVID! LOOK AT ALL OF FACTS AND YOU WILL SEE THAT IT CAN’T BE DONE. HE’S A WARRIOR FROM HIS YOUTH AND YOU ARE JUST A SMALL SHEPHERD BOY!”

There are two things that Saul was missing out on and that he didn’t understand.

First of all, David, as he told Saul in their conversation, had already taken on lions and bears while tending the sheep, with a club and had been victorious over them, because the Lord God had protected him.

And secondly and most important for our message today, Saul didn’t realize it, but David had just been anointed by God’s prophet Samuel, to become the next king and as soon as Samuel anointed David, the Bible says, “And the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David from that day on!”

Did you catch that? “The Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David from that day on!”

David wasn’t walking on his own authority and power and he knew it! He knew and he believed that he could overcome ANY IMPOSSIBLE gauntlet, as long as the Lord of Heaven’s armies was with him!

The other thing about this account in the Bible, and one that needs to be stressed, is this. The Bible tells us, “Now the Spirit of the Lord had left Saul”.

Because Saul had sinned and gone against God’s will, God had pulled His Spirit from Saul and placed it upon David!

I just heard an amazing message by John Kilpatrick this week on not losing the presence of Holy Spirit in our lives. That is what we find in this Biblical account.

Saul had lost Holy Spirit’s presence and thus weak and unfit to lead as King any longer!

We just had services this past week, where several people were filled with the power and the anointing of the Holy Spirit. We need to guard and cherish His presence in our lives and make sure, that ALL COST, we do not quench His presence and His power, by acting out in fear and failure to move in accordance to God’s will for our lives!

And when the enemy comes against you and tells you that what you are doing for the Lord God is “IMPOSSIBLE” and that you will fail and he tries to intimidate you with his lies and fear tactics, you need to do what David did on the battlefield with the giant, Goliath.

The Bible says this about their encounter, “Come over here, and I’ll give your flesh to the birds and wild animals!” Goliath yelled. David replied to the Philistine, “You come to me with sword, spear, and javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies—the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. Today the Lord will conquer you, and I will kill you and cut off your head. And then I will give the dead bodies of your men to the birds and wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel! And everyone assembled here will know that the Lord rescues his people, but not with sword and spear. This is the Lord’s battle, and he will give you to us!”

Then, David ran swiftly to meet the giant on the battlefield and struck him down with one simple stone.

Upon David taking the giant’s own sword and cutting off his head with it, the men of Israel shouted and ran out onto the battlefield and chased down the rest of the Philistine army!

ALL IT TAKES, IS ONE DAVID WHO IS WILLING TO LISTEN TO THE LORD AND MOVE IN HIS POWER AND AUTHORITY, AND THE GIANTS WILL FALL!

In fact, throughout the Bible, we see similar scenarios taking place, as we do with David and his giant. The most unlikely of people, being used to accomplish what is seemingly IMPOSSIBLE to accomplish!

Moses was not some battle hardened, season warrior and great leader. Yet, it was Moses that God chose and used to stand in defiance before Pharaoh and lead some three million people out of captivity!

Moses, one man, stood before the leader of the world’s most powerful army and nation and said that he was taking God’s people away from Egypt and into freedom!

IMPOSSIBLE to do in the natural, and yet this is what God had called him to do!

Abraham was called away from his family and friends and led to a foreign land and given a promise by God, because of his faith in God!

Part of that promise entailed this, now aging man and his wife, having a baby, which had never happened before.

This 100 year old man and his 90 year old wife were going to have a son? IMPOSSIBLE, right?!

Yet it happened and through this child, God would bless the whole world!

It is IMPOSSIBLE to take an army of only 300 men and slay thousands of seasoned warriors and yet this is exactly what happened with a man called Gideon!

Gideon was anything BUT a warrior. In fact, he was weak and scared, when we first read of him in the book of Judges!

God called him to perform, a seemingly IMPOSSIBLE task. To defeat and deliver the people of Israel from the oppression of the Midianites!

God widdled Gideon’s army down from 32,000 men, to only 300 men and then did the IMPOSSIBLE.

He sent Gideon and him men to surround the Midianite army, carrying only a ram’s horn and a clay jar with a torch in it!

God placed fear inside of the Midianite army, and upon Gideon and his men blowing their horns and shining their lights and shouting all at once, the army of Midian turned on each other and killed one another!

It is seemingly IMPOSSIBLE, for one man to stand before an entire nation and its king and all of its prophets, some 850 prophets to be exact, in defiance of them.

Yet, Elijah did this very thing on Mt Carmel in I Kings.

Elijah called down the fire of God and God sent it!

It is medically and physiologically IMPOSSIBLE, for a virgin to give birth to a child, yet the God of POSSIBILITIES did that very thing, to bring His Son, our Lord and Savior, into the world!

It was the messenger angel, Gabriel, who told Mary that she was going to give birth to a son, while still a virgin. And in saying this to her, Gabriel said, “ For nothing is impossible with God.”

God sent His Son to shed His blood for the remission of the sins of the whole world, past, present and future........IMPOSSIBLE in the natural, but God is a spirit and His ways are above our ways and thus He doesn’t act in accordance to the flesh and natural mind!

In the natural, it is IMPOSSIBLE and has never been done before, that a nation which was dispersed and broken apart and destroyed, would come together again and not only reform their nation, but even reclaim the very land that they once inhabited.

Yet this very thing happened in one day, as Israel became a nation on May 14, 1948!

IMPOSSIBLE, yet God had said that it would happen, and it did!

And it is IMPOSSIBLE, that this tiny nation, Israel, a nation that is the size of New Jersey, sits in the middle of a sea an Islamic and terrorist filled countries, who hate and have even declared that they will wipe Israel from the face of the earth, and yet they CANNOT touch or destroy her!

Why? Because has said that He would bring His people back into their land and they would never be moved from it again!

When people tell you that what you are trying to do for the Lord is IMPOSSIBLE, just remember that you serve the one true God, who created everything and who owns everything and who has empowered you with His Holy Spirit!

And when the enemy tries to bring thoughts of fear and division to your mind and to tell you that you are just a man/woman/ child and that you can’t do whatever it is that God is prompting you to do, just remember what Jesus, Himself said, ““Humanly speaking, it is IMPOSSIBLE. But with God everything is possible.”

With God standing behind you and beside you and going before you, you are NEVER ALONE!

It was Martin Luther that said, “God plus one is always a majority.”

It was the prophet Jeremiah that said, ““Ah, Lord God! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you.”

When you and I walk in His authority and under the power and wisdom of His Holy Spirit, then we are unstoppable..........no matter how seemingly IMPOSSIBLE the task is and no matter how many people tell you that it can’t be done!

Keep your eyes looking up and your heart focused on Jesus and you will always do the IMPOSSIBLE!

Zig Ziglar said, “Your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your altitude”.

And one more thing, the enemy loves to convince us that we are “nobody’s” and that since we are not some big named evangelist or preacher, or author, or musician, we are a nothing and do not amount to anything!

This should never stop you from moving mountains. You do not move because of the recognition of others and their accolades, you move because God tells you to and you do it for His glory!

As long as you believe in Him, you will move the impossible mountains.

As Jesus said, “Anything is possible if a person believes.”

Let me ask you this, how many disciples did Jesus call as His elites? 12, right?

Out of those 12 what do we know about each one?

The 12 were:

Simon (whom he named Peter), James and John (the sons of Zebedee, but Jesus nicknamed them “Sons of Thunder”), Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James (son of Alphaeus), Thaddaeus, Simon (the zealot), Judas Iscariot (who later betrayed him).

The one disciple that we really know NOTHING of, nor does the Bible make any specific mentions of anything that He said or did, nor does history give us much detail on, is the disciple, James son of Alphaeus.

That is all that we know of him, he was the son of Alphaeus.

Yet, Jesus called him as one of His elites and poured into him, because he saw something in him. James never went on to lead the masses and do recorded miracles like some of the others, but he was called none the less and the Bible never shows us anything but him staying loyal to Jesus!

My point is, James, son of Alphaeus, was a seemingly unknown disciple, to the world, yet he was called and commissioned by Jesus.

And to everyone to whom James witnessed to of the truth and they came to know the Lord, in their minds, and in heaven, he will be remembered as on the greatest disciples.

Just like you and I can do!

It is IMPOSSIBLE to be great when you’re a nobody, according to the man’s opinion, but in the kingdom of God, the least are the greatest!