June 22, 2014 – Pastor Tim – “Our Possibilities”
As I studied this week, I began to think of… POSSIBILITIES. WOW! Mine, Yours, Ours… What limits our possibilities in God? Is it as simple and as difficult is Jesus said in; Matthew 17:20, So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.
We are to gage our possibilities not in ourselves, but according to what we can be in God. In Matthew 19:26 Jesus said; “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Do we trust Him to complete His work in us? When we put our faith in Him it leads us into ever-expanding possibility; our possibilities in God are infinite. All this is not us, but us plus God.
In 1Samuel 2:1-2 we read the prayer Hannah sang,
““My heart rejoices in the Lord!
The Lord has made me strong.
Now I have an answer for my enemies;
I rejoice because you rescued me.
2 No one is holy like the Lord!
There is no one besides you;
there is no Rock like our God.”
The Moffatt translation says, My heart thrills to the eternal, my powers are heightened by my God. Our powers are still subject to limitations and we are not supposed to do the work of someone else, but our abilities are heightened—provided we surrender them to God and to His purposes. And then anything can happen—yes, anything!
Everything is “can” to those who believe. To think the unthinkable thought, to speak the indescribable word, to do the impossible deed and to walk the impossible way. Are all possible to us who believe.
It is good for us to be about the Lord’s work; it is better still that our work should lead us to let the Lord work. Our work then will be—to let Him work! I will work as hard as I can and God will give the increase. God is the multiplier. That is what Jesus meant when He said in answer to the question, “What must we do to perform the works of God?” John 6:29, Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.” When we are believing then we are really working, for we become a conduit or outlet of the glorious miracle power of God.
Philippians 4:13, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
When we are completely surrendered to God, we can do what we can’t.
We must learn to see ourselves not in what we are, but see what we are and can be in Christ.
John 1:42, And he brought him to Jesus. Now when Jesus looked at him, He said, “You are Simon the son of Jonah. You shall be called Cephas” (which is translated, A Stone).
Jesus saw in Peter what his friends and family did not.
There are three people in you:
- the one your friends and family see—the outer you
- the one you see—the present you
- the one who Jesus sees—the future you
Everything depends on which “you” you center upon.
- If we are centering on the “you” others see, we will be in bondage to what others think about us; we will look around before acting to see what effect our action will have on others—we won’t act; we will react. We will become an echo and not a voice—a thing and not a person.
- If we center on the “you” we know about ourselves, then we could be discouraged. We probable all have a skeleton or two in our closet—things in our life that might be a little embarrassing. If we are centered on this “you” we can easily get caught in the bondage of our own hang-ups, paralyzed by what we have been or are.
- But there is this third “you” that Jesus sees—what a “you” that is! It is a “you” surrendered to God, co-operating with Him, taking His resources, working out life together—a “you” loosed from what we’ve been and done, reinforced with divine energy and insight; a “you” that does things beyond our capacity, amazing both ourselves and others—a “you” poised, progressive, and productive. That is the real “you.” A “you” Centered on Christ!
The sculptor looks not on what a stone has been or is, but on what he is going to bring out of it—the living figure. Jesus always looks not on what a man has been or is, but on what he is going to be.
Our possibilities in God are limitless, nothing is too small or too big for God’s power and help.
I want us to go home from here this week and recklessly ask God to show us His possibilities for us.
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