Mission Impossible

In 1997 Whitney Houston and Disney came out with a version of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella. Jason Alexander was the highlight for me in that he was fantastic. At the film's start, Whitney Houston, as the Fairy Godmother, sings a song called impossible. Part of the lyrics says this. "But the world is full of zanies and fools Who don't believe in sensible rules And won't believe what sensible people say, And because these daft and dewy-eyed dopes Keep building up impossible hopes, Impossible things are happening every day!" That, my brothers and sisters, is what I want to share with you today, the impossible. Based on Mark 6:30-44. The feeding of the five thousand. Let's read. 30 The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. 31 Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, "Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest." 32 So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. 33 But many who saw them leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. 34 When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things. 35 By this time it was late in the day, so his disciples came to him. "This is a remote place," they said, "and it's already very late. 36 Send the people away so that they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat." 37 But he answered, "You give them something to eat." They said to him, "That would take more than half a year's wages[a]! Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat?" 38 "How many loaves do you have?" he asked. "Go and see." When they found out, they said, "Five—and two fish." 39 Then Jesus directed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass. 40 So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. 41 Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to his disciples to distribute to the people. He also divided the two fish among them all. 42 They all ate and were satisfied, 43 and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish. 44 The number of the men who had eaten was five thousand. What an incredible story! When I led VBS for many years, I wrote a short song based on this account. It went like this, "Five Loaves, Two Fishes, 5000 People can you do the math, it equals Jesus, it equals Jesus, it equals Jesus, that's the math. Question Have you ever been asked to do something you knew you could not do? Something so crazy You're like, really?? Who do you think I am, Houdini? For me, I was on one of those obstacle courses where you have to climb on this telephone and jump off. It took me forever to do it. I didn't think I could. I don't know about you, but I feel like God does that to me constantly. Trusting in God is like walking in the dark with just enough light to see just a step before you. It's frustrating and scary, and sometimes I wish God would just tell me what's going to happen and what I'm about to do. It would make things a lot easier. While researching the impossible, I found five things that I think were pretty cool and impossible for most of us! 1. A man pulled a Helicopter by ear. A Georgian man, Lasha Pataraia, earned himself a place in the Book of World Records by pulling a 7,734 kilogram (17,015 pounds) military helicopter using just his left ear. He set the world record by pulling an MI8 helicopter 26 meters and 30 centimeters (28.4 yards and 11.8 inches). 2. Longest survival without food and water - In April 1979, then 18-year-old Andreas Mihavecz from Austria survived an incredible 18 days without food and water in a holding cell where he was put for being a passenger in a crashed car. He had been completely forgotten about by the policemen responsible for him. Mihavecz holds the record of surviving the longest without any food or liquids. 3. For all you math people, this is pretty cool and completely impossible for me. Reciting pi from memory Daniel Tammet is an English writer, essayist, translator, and autistic savant gifted with a facility for mathematical calculations, sequence memory, and natural language learning. In his mind, Tammet says, each positive integer up to 10,000 has its own unique shape, color, texture, and feel. He holds the European record for reciting pi from memory to 22,514 digits in five hours and nine minutes. Tammet also speaks ten languages. 4. Longest breath held underwater - On 28 February 2016, Aleix Segura Vendrell, a professional free-diver from Spain, set the new world record for the longest time breath held voluntarily when he held his breath underwater for 24 minutes and 3.45 seconds. 5. Pulled airplane Kevin Fast from Canada pulled a CC-177 Globemaster III, a large military transport aircraft weighing 188.83 tons (416,299 pounds), a distance of 8.8 meters (28 feet, 10.46 inches) at Canadian Forces Base in Trenton, Ontario, Canada, on 17 September 2009. Those are crazy to me! That is impossible to me, and if anyone ever asked, I would laugh in their face! So these are a couple of examples from the world. The Bible is also full of impossibles! The fact is most people find it impossible that we believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God and that he died and was buried again. To many people, that's impossible, and not to mention Most of the accounts we find out about are in the New Testament! For instance

1. At a wedding in Cana, when the wine ran out, Jesus told the servants to fill six stone pots with water and take a cupful to the headwaiter. Putting the cup to his lips, the waiter tasted that Jesus had not only turned the water into wine but the best wine. 2. A royal official came to Cana to ask Jesus to heal his dying son in Capernaum, about twenty miles away. Without moving, Jesus told him, "'Go back home. Your son will live!’" 3. Jesus saw a man who had been disabled for 38 years. The Lord commanded him, "'Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk!’" 4. When a strong wind stirred up the sea and the terrified disciples strained at the oars to make it to shore, Jesus walked on water and calmed the storm). 5. When Lazarus died, his sisters' hopes died with him. However, Jesus transformed their impossibility into the perfect opportunity to glorify God by bringing Lazarus back to life

From a human perspective, these are hard to imagine, but they happened.

But since this message is not on "how to be an apologist (someone who defends the faith), I will refer you to some resources that I use

This one explains how the Bible came to be

https://www.lhm.org/studies/studydetail.asp?id=12754

And this one is not a Lutheran resource, but on general questions, it helped me out in a pinch

https://alwaysbeready.com/

It's important to have an answer for people when they say that's impossible!

We know that "'What is impossible for people is possible with God'" (Luke 18:27).

"O Sovereign LORD! You made the heavens and earth by your strong hand and powerful arm. Nothing is too hard for you!" (Jeremiah 32:17)

God can do anything; you're saying sure he can, but what about us? We aren't God? Well, I'm always reminded of Joshua 3:6-9

6 Joshua said to the priests, "Take up the ark of the covenant and pass on ahead of the people." So they took it up and went ahead of them.

7 And the Lord said to Joshua, "Today I will begin to exalt you in the eyes of all Israel, so they may know that I am with you as I was with Moses. 8 Tell the priests who carry the ark of the covenant: 'When you reach the edge of the Jordan's waters, go and stand in the river.'"

9 Joshua said to the Israelites, "Come here and listen to the words of the Lord your God. 10 This is how you will know that the living God is among you and that he will certainly drive out before you the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites, and Jebusites. 11 See, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth will go into the Jordan ahead of you. 12 Now then, choose twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one from each tribe. 13 And as soon as the priests who carry the ark of the Lord—the Lord of all the earth—set foot in the Jordan, its waters flowing downstream will be cut off and stand up in a heap."

Did you notice in the last verse here that the water parted when they put their foot in. You might say so what that's not a big deal well the Jordan river was at its height during that season, and it was rushing water similar to white waters, not a sweet little lake, it took the faith for those priests to step in, to them it was an impossible task. Much like the tasks God gives us.

Those priests had to first step in faith and do something that, to them, was impossible. Once they stepped in faith, God made the impossible possible.

In today's reading, the disciples have a task Jesus told them to go and feed over 5000 people, a clearly impossible task. How could twelve guys with no food, feed 5000 people?

As a vocal coach, I have used a strategy. Sometimes if I want a singer to be able to hit a certain note, I might require them to hit an even higher note. So we workout vocally to hit the really high note. The impossible note so they can hit the note I want them to. The singers might get frustrated at first but eventually, understand. They hit the notes that I needed them to hit very comfortably. And they even hit a couple of higher ones.

In the same way, sometimes God tasks us with the impossible, so we can work on developing the possible, which we wouldn't have done if it wasn't for the impossible. God does the impossible, but he wants us to trust him to guide us so we can do what he requires.

Secondly, God is the only one who can do what needs to be done. He wants to see our faithfulness and obedience. When he says jump, he wants us to say how high. Trusting that he has a net if we were to slip and fall.

What has God been telling you to do that you feel is impossible?

Could it be witnessing to a neighbor or friend?

Is it applying for a job?

Is it to call your child, brother, father, or mother and reconcile.

Is it to take a stand at work among your peers.

We all have things in our lives right now that seem impossible. Will we do it and trust God to provide the loaves and fishes, or will we chicken out?

What is God telling us as a church? What looks impossible for Edgewater to achieve? What is that thing that we think we can't do?

Is it greater numbers coming here to hear God's word at Rondo?

Is it setting up missions in other countries?

Is it averaging two baptisms per Sunday?

Is it getting our whole church body into community groups?

What is impossible? Jesus reminds us that as believers in him, we will do great things that can seem impossible. "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will also do; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father." John 14:12 (NASB)

The phrase "greater works than these" refers to the raising of the dead and saving people from eternal punishment. You and I cannot save anyone from hell. But God can save the spiritually blind. But He has chosen to use faithful believers to share the gospel. When we share the gospel, we see God do "greater works than these" through us. We can do the impossible through him, who strengthens us.

Every impossible thing that God asks us to do. His son will accomplish. We just have to be open to being used. Jesus knew what he would do when he asked the disciples to feed the 5000. He knew about the boy with the fishes and loaves and how he would multiply it. The disciples didn't. What if they just walked away?

God is asking us here at Edgewater to feed his sheep. We might be wondering how? Guess what? God's got this. He just wants us to be open to being used. So let us keep our eyes and ears open to see how God plans to use us to make the impossible possible.