Facing the Impossible

Please complete this quote from Jesus if you can...(Jesus speaking of rich men getting saved): Matthew 19:26 Jesus said, "With men this is impossible, but with God all things are POSSIBLE."

Try to complete this quote from the angel who met the young virgin Mary and pronounced she would soon become pregnant and give birth to the Son of God. In Luke 1:37 the Angel said, "For nothing is IMPOSSIBLE with God."

Complete this quote from Jesus made in conversation with a distraught father who had come to Him asking Him to exercise an evil demon from his possessed son. Jesus said to him in Mark 9:23b, "Everything is POSSIBLE to him who believes."

Do you believe those statements today? I mean really, really believe that:

*What is impossible with men is possible with God,

*Nothing, absolutely nothing is impossible with God!

The power of God is displayed when we move beyond ourselves and face the impossible. In Exodus 14, the children of Israel had moved way beyond their own comfort zone and found themselves facing an impossible situation. With an angry Pharoah and the Egyptian army behind them, the Red Sea in front of them and the endless desert on either side of them, their options were few.

In fact, they faced three options. They could go back to Egypt, stand still where they were, or go forward, even in the face of an impossibility.

America is at the crossroads today. Our past is filled with glorious achievements, and grand accomplishments. Before us is one of the greater challenges in the history of our nation. How will we face what many believe to be an impossible situation with the war on terrorism?

Our church, in many ways, is also at the crossroads. Behind us is a great history of walking forward as a progressive and an innovative church. In front of us is the seemingly, uncrossable waters that block our pathway. How will we, as a church, face our impossible situations?

SLIDE 2

WHEN FACING THE IMPOSSIBLE WE CAN SAY, “GO BACK.”

And when Pharaoh drew near, the children of Israel lifted their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them. So they were very afraid, and the children of Israel cried out to the Lord. Exodus 14:10

Someone has well said, “There are no endings with God, only beginnings.” We may wish to go back when God has just begun to go forward. The children of Israel wanted to go back when they had only begun to go forward with God. They thought the beginning was the ending! This was the first real challenge they faced after God delivered them from Egypt.

Notice that they did the right thing, but in a wrong way. Verse 10 tells us “the children of Israel cried out to the Lord.” They cried out to God but they cried out in fear not in faith. It was right to call on God for assistance, but wrong to call out in fear. They did the wrong thing.

They also did the wrong thing when they began to blame their leadership. In their fear, they failed to acknowledge the guiding hand of God upon Moses. They did the unthinkable as some would have preferred to return to the past living in bondage and disobedience.

They also did the inexcusable thing. They forgot the blessings of God in the past and failed to see the prospects of God’s future blessings.

Most churches today own a calendar that correctly says 2001, but operate their ministry as if it were 1951. Church growth experts across the country are right when they say the church is antiquated fifty years!

First Baptist Icard has never said, “We will go back!” Our destiny is fixed. Our resolve is sure. Our aim is high and our goal is set. We are a disciple making church that understands the price that must be paid for obedience. We will not go back!

SLIDE 3

WHEN FACING THE IMPOSSIBLE SOME SAY, “STAND STILL.”

SLIDES 4-5

Then they said to Moses, “Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you so dealt with us, to bring us up out of Egypt? 12“Is this not the word that we told you in Egypt, saying, ‘Let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians?’ For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness.” 13 And Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever. 14“The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.”

Exodus 14:11-14

Some would want to do nothing. Frozen in fear, caught in confusion, hindered by hesitation, and delayed by deceit, many would choose not to choose. Standing in the paralysis of analysis, the only decision that is made is to decide not to decide.

When Moses said, “Stand still,” he was not advocating doing nothing. Instead, he was instructing the children of Israel to look to their only source of hope. His fuller statement was, “Stand still and see…” See what? “Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord which He will accomplish for you!” Once again, the grace of God at work for man’s salvation is clearly seen.

It is never enough to stand still. FBI does have the luxury to say we will simply stay where we are. Churches do not have that luxury. They are either moving forward or going backward. Christians do not stand still. Every day we are either going forward or backward in our relationship with God, but never still. If we stand still, time and our community will pass us by.

I read about a foursome of senior golfers who hit the links of a course they had played many times over the years. One ole boy said, “These hills are getting steeper as the years go by.” Another complained, "These fairways seem to be getting longer too.” Then the third senior player said, “and the sand traps seem to be bigger than I remember them too.” At which their fourth partner, who was the oldest and the wisest of the four of them at 87 years of age, piped up and said, "Just be thankful we're still on the right side of the grass!"

Some church mottoes seem to be, “We shall not be moved!” Others love to sing “Standing on the Promises,” while they are sitting on the premises. And then there is always the seven last words of the church. You heard them, “We’ve never done it that way before!”

When facing the impossible, some will say, “Go back,” while others will say, “Stand still.” But there is a third and a correct option.

SLIDE 6

WHEN FACING THE IMPOSSIBLE GOD SAYS, “GO FORWARD.”

And the Lordsaid to Moses, “Why do you cry to Me?

Tell the children of Israel to go forward.

Exodus 14:15

SLIDE 7

There is a time to pray and there is a time to act.

In verse 15, the Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on.”

The time for praying was past, the time for action had come.

Christians today need to pray frequently and earnestly but there is a time to stop praying and start acting.

Use your imagination and consider the situation as it developed in the U. of Kentucky and U. of Georgia football game as few years ago. Time was running out. Kentucky was leading, but Georgia had the ball as the final seconds ticked away.

Georgia was in field goal distance for the accurate toe of their All-American kicker Rex Robinson. This is the story as Coach Dooley told it.

There was barely enough time to get set for the kick as he counted the Georgia players on the field and was shocked to find they only had 10. Hurriedly, he looked around and found standing right next to him one of his best and biggest linemen who was supposed to be in the game.

If the kick was successful, Georgia would be penalized for not having enough men on the field. Georgia was out of time outs. If the coach called one, they would also be penalized. Either way, they would be penalized; and a penalty would put them out of field goal range.

Coach Dooley said he thought in all his years of coaching he had heard every excuse but not the one he got when he said to his lineman, "Timmy, what are you doing?"

The answer, "I am praying coach!" Looking out on the field Coach Dooley answered, "Well your prayers have just been answered. The Kentucky coach has just called time-out to put pressure on Robinson.

Now get your big self in the game." He did. The ball was set, the kick was up, and sailed through the goal for the winning field goal.

There is a time to pray and there is a time to act.

SLIDE 8

There is also a time of risk. God told the children of Israel to go forward into the face of the impossible. God often calls His people to attempt the unthinkable, to scale the unscalable. Why? Because God wants a people who are willing to trust. God wants a people who know He is the God of the possible, “for all things are possible with God.”

We are called to remember that God’s ways are not our ways. His thoughts are not our thoughts.” God rarely asks us to attempt anything we can do on our own. He wants us to step out in faith, and trusts Him and trust is risky.

An eighty-year-old shepherd with a stick held out against the ominous Red Sea did not appear to be sufficient for the situation. But it wasn’t just any ole’ stick. It was the rod of God held high in faith by the man of God. And the man of God, Moses, pointed with the rod of God to the way of salvation and deliverance. “Go forward.”

SLIDE 9

There is a time for glory when God says, “Go forward.” Throughout this passage the emphasis rests on the glory given to God in the situation. Note verse 18 says, “The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I gain glory through Pharoah, his chariots and his horsemen.”

SLIDE 10

There is a divine protection when God says, “Go forward.” That mysterious, mystical cloud that had been in front of them moved behind them. God gave them a supernatural protection between them and everthing that would harm them.

Whether be a nation of true followers of this very God today, or a church like ours, God says, “Go forward,” trusting in Me alone for your protection. For in Divine deliverence, there is a glory to be received. Jehovah Almighty is the One true God, and He will not share His glory with another.

CONCLUSION

So we stand at the crossroads, as a nation, as a church. Some would say, “Go back.” Others still might say, “Stand still.” But God says, “Go forward.”

Ours is the same God as Moses, as Joseph, as Abraham, Issac and Israel. Go forward then, trusting in His miraculous protection and provision. Go forward, acknowledging the risk of being misunderstood, and misrepresented. Go forward, even in the face of the odds, opposition, opportunity.

Go forward. Go forward. Go forward. To do anything less, is not only disobedience for us, but a denial of faith in the One True God with whom and in whom are all things possible!