Sermon Central
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Impossible Is Nothing
Contributed by John Gaston on Nov 18, 2013 (message contributor)
Summary: God desires to work miracles today for His people and the lost. Like rain, if the conditions are right, God still answers believing prayers with miracles. He usually uses people as His agents. Will you let Him use you?
IMPOSSIBLE IS NOTHING
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR: “Brunette Joke”
1. One day, Hannah decided that she was sick and tired of all her husband Arnold’s brunette jokes and decided to show him how wrong he was and to prove that brunettes really are smart.
2. Hannah decided to decorate two rooms while he was at work. When Arnold returned home, he immediately smelled the aroma of wet paint.
3. He went into the dining room and there he found Hannah lying on the floor in a pool of sweat. He couldn’t help but notice that she was wearing her fur coat on top of her ski jacket.
4. He went over to her and asked, “Are you OK, darling?” She replied, “Yes, of course I am.” “So what on earth are you doing dressed like that?” he said.
5. “Darling,” she said, “I wanted to prove to you that not all brunette women are dumb and I wanted to do it by painting some rooms in our house.”
6. “But why are you wearing your fur coat over your ski jacket?” he asked. “I was reading the directions on the paint can, and it said...‘FOR BEST RESULTS, PUT ON TWO COATS.’”
B. TEXT
Elisha replied, “Hear the word of the Lord. This is what the Lord says: About this time tomorrow, 12 pounds of the finest flour will sell for a shekel and 20 pounds of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria.” 2 The officer on whose arm the king was leaning said to the man of God, “Look, even if the Lord should open the floodgates of the heavens, could this happen?” “You will see it with your own eyes,” answered Elisha, “but you will not eat any of it!”
C. THESIS
1. Charles F. Kettering, the noted scientist and inventor, believed that the easiest way to overcome defeat was to ignore completely the possibility of failure.
2. To prove it, he gave a tough assignment to a young research worker at the General Motors laboratory, but forbid him to research the previous work on the subject, because an expert research team had already proven that it was impossible.
3. So the research worker didn’t know this and proceeded with the idea that he would succeed. He did succeed, because he didn’t know it couldn’t be done!
4. Similarly, Igor Sikorsky, when 12, was told by his parents that human flight was impossible. Yet he built the first helicopter.
5. In his American plant hangs a sign that reads: “According to [modern science], the bumblebee can’t fly because of the shape and weight of his body in relation to the total wing area. The bumblebee doesn’t know this, so he goes ahead and flies anyway.”
6. Adidas once had an ad that said, “Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they have been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact; it’s an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration; it’s a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.”
7. That’s the Title of my message, “Impossible is Nothing.” We’re going to look at Miracles.
8. Jesus told His disciples, “If you have faith ….nothing will be impossible for you….If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes” Mk. 9:20,23.
I. A MIRACULOUS GOD
A. WE LIVE ON THE NATURAL PLANE
1. Samaria was surrounded by armies; there had been a long siege. There was no food and the people were starving. The worst “food” cost a fortune.
2. When Elisha prophesied God's deliverance, the King's officer said it couldn't happen.
3. In the natural, for flour to be in the city:
a. All of the massive Army around the city would have to be defeated and driven away.
b. Even then, it might take a month before a large shipment of flour could arrive from Egypt, if it started that day. It looked impossible for flour to be selling cheap.
4. The officer was leaving God out of the picture.
5. Sometimes our problems look so big, or they've gone on for so long, we can't see God. But if God is involved, the circumstances don't matter. Circumstances don't change God's ability!
6. Maybe the officer didn’t think God did that anymore. "God used to do miracles back in Moses’ and Joshua’s time, but He doesn't do that anymore." Has God changed?
7. Heb. 13:8, "Jesus Christ, the same, yesterday, today & forever."
B. MIRACLES ARE NATURAL TO GOD
1. The basis for believing in the miraculous goes back to the biblical concept of God. "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" Gen. 1:1.
