Advent 2nd Sunday: God of the Impossible

Lighting of the Advent Candle(s)

I would like our theme for this Advent to be Hope.

Did you ever have anything in your life that seemed impossible?

Maybe it was some homework that just was too hard

Maybe your parents gave you a job to do.

A huge stack of dishes to wash

A massive pile of laundry to fold

An endless yard that needs to be mowed

Maybe it’s a subject in school that you really struggle with. (For me, it was math). There were times when math just seemed impossible

For us adults, maybe there are other things.

Decisions that may affect the course of our lives like

What kind of work should I do?

Should I invest in this business, or buy this house?

Maybe it’s something that we feel in our spirit that God has asked us to do.

Talk to this person about Jesus

Go and make things right with that person

Maybe we’ve never completely given everything over to Him and said, “Lord, I’ll do whatever you want me to do, even if it means that my life will completely change”. And we know He’s asking us to do that.”

Maybe some of us are looking at all that has happened this year and we are looking at the future, and saying, “Man, things just seem impossible.”

This disease, how can anything good come from this?

This government, how can anything good come from this?

It just looks impossible!

Well, The fact is, they are impossible. For us, it would be impossible for us to tackle these things by ourselves.

But we have a God who leads us who specializes in the impossible. He specializes in taking what seems impossible to us and doing amazing things through them

And when He does this His glory becomes brighter and more glorious!

The Bible is full of stories about men and women that were asked to do impossible things.

Noah needing to build a huge boat by himself

Moses needing to rescue a whole nation by himself

Gideon needing to defeat an army with just a few men

A young boy, David, taking on a giant by himself

And then into the NT, you have simple fishermen from small villages being asked to spread the gospel and lead the church of Jesus.

God specializes in asking people to do the impossible!

Today in our video, we heard about two more times when God came and asked someone to do something that looked impossible.

God’s plan was coming to pass. That great King like no other, the one we talked about last Sunday, was about to be born.

The people who had lived in darkness and without hope for so long were about to see their Messiah arrive.

And God’s plan was that this Messiah would be born as a little baby and grow into a young man.

And so He needed a woman who would be willing to carry this baby in her womb.

Now, you would think that for someone great like the Messiah, you would need to tap a queen on the shoulder. Maybe a famous woman. Maybe a rich woman.

And He also needed a young man to take care of this lady and her baby. Someone to protect them and provide for them.

For that, you would think that He would look for a young knight in the king’s palace. A soldier who had proved himself in battle. Maybe a nobleman with lots of money and power.

Instead, God sent His angel to a young woman living in a small village called Nazareth. A place where nobody ever went. A place that probably a lot of people didn’t even know existed.

She was a poor woman, not a rich queen or princess

She was an unmarried woman.

He sent His angel to a young man who was a carpenter. Barely scraping by, probably living in a hut with just enough to live on, hoping to save up enough money to marry this young lady that He had his eye on.

He wasn’t a nobleman with a fortune. He wasn’t a mighty soldier trained in combat with weapons at the ready.

Just a simple girl and a simple man.

And the rest of the world, if they had known what God’s plan was would have said, “God, that’s impossible! How can someone great, the Savior of the world, be born to a couple like this, in a town like this?”

Impossible!

But God’s plan included someone else. He needed someone to announce the coming of this Messiah.

Kind of like if you go to a concert, many times you have someone that comes out and says, “Ladies and gentlemen! Presenting, the one, the only....!”

Do you ever remember the announcer? His or her name? No. You only remember the main show. You only remember the star.

He needed a messenger whose only job was to announce the main attraction, and then disappear.

Again, the wold, had they known about God’s plan, would have said, “You need someone famous. You need someone who is born to famous parents. Maybe someone who is born into a long line of famous and great people. Someone that people will pay attention to. You need someone who is trained in public speaking

But instead, God said, “No, I’m going to send my angel to talk to the couple that I have chosen. The husband is not a young man. The wife is not a young woman. They are well past the age when most women can have babies. On top of that, she has never been able to have a baby.

This messenger will be born to this couple.

And the world, had they known about God’s plan, would have said, “That’s impossible! Everyone knows that Elizabeth has never been able to have a baby. And besides she is way to old to bare a child and raise this child!”

Even Mary and Joseph, and Zechariah and Elizabeth said, “How can this be?” The angel of the LORD spoke right to us but it seems too strange and wonderful to believe.”

Zechariah doubted and as a result was unable to speak until his son, John, later called John the Baptist, was born.

Mary also had trouble believing, saying, “How can this be? I’m young! I’m not married! How can I even have a baby? How can I have a baby that will be a great King?”

and the angel said, “It’s going to be through the power of the Holy Spirit”

And here is what I want to leave with you. Nothing is impossible with God.”

Do you believe that? We all know the correct answer, I’m sure!

We have to say, “Yes, I believe it”.

But do you live it? Do I live it? Do I really live in such a way that says, Yes I believe that.

Do I worry a lot? Is my heart tied up in knots when I think about what is happening these days?

Or maybe what is happening here at Fairview or what the future is going to look like? Do I worry?

Do I sense God asking me to do something that looks impossible? And I’m fighting Him on it because I’m scared and I’m pretty sure that I couldn’t do what He is asking me to do?

And even if I did do it, would it really even matter? Would it make a difference in the long run?

Maybe He’s asking me to try to mend a relationship that has been broken for a long time.

And I think, “it will never work. He’ll never listen. She doesn’t want to talk to me”. There’s too much water under the bridge. It’s impossible

Maybe He’s asking me to serve the church in a way that seems big and scary. Maybe He’s asking me to reach out to someone who doesn’t know Him.

And it’s scary and so I don’t do it because it really makes me frightened. And I think, “What good what it do anyway.”

If that’s true of us, then maybe we don’t really believe that nothing is impossible with God.

Could that be true?

I’m here to declare with as much faith as I can summon, that HE IS GOD OF THE IMPOSSIBLE!

There is nothing too hard for Him to do in you and through you.

Because no matter where your faith level is right now, there is one impossible thing that He has done in many of our hearts.

And that is, through Jesus Christ, He has brought peace between us and God.

Think about it.

When Adam and Eve sinned, at that very moment, a gulf opened up between God and man.

Because at that moment sin entered the world and entered the hearts of people.

And no longer could they approach God who is completely holy and sinless.

And from then on, mankind found themselves in an impossible situation.

Needing desperately to be at peace with God, yet we tried, we couldn’t be good enough to approach Him.

But God had other ideas. He had a plan which would make the impossible possible. Because He is God of the impossible

And He sent Jesus who would take the sins of the whole world, every sin that had ever been committed and every sin that would be committed.

And He would bare the punishment for all of those sins so that we could be right with God and have lasting peace with God!

That’s our God of the Impossible at His finest!

And He calls each one of us, if we say that we believe that He is God of the Impossible,

to show that we believe it and to throw everything that we have on Him.

Our fears

Our hurts

Our anger and frustration

Our sin

And to do with it what only He can do.