Doing The Impossible
Genesis 18: 1-15 (NLT)
Intro:How many of you like magic? I guess ‘m a kid at heart when it comes to magic. I’m not a big fan of America”s Got Talent but it seems that every time I surf through that channel, (that’s what I do, I surf. We have to buy me a new clicker about every two or three years because certain numbers cease to work due to excessive use) but as I surf past the talent show, there is a magician on and I will stop and watch them. These guys can do some amazing things. Especially the mentalists. They can make you think that they can read your mind.
. Thers a show called fool us and it is hosted by the magicians Penn & Teller and these magicians come and perform and try to fool them. The goal is for Penn & Teller to be able to figure out how you did your particular trick. Not many people can fool these professional magicians but some do. When they fool them, you never find out how they did the magic.
. While all of that is entertaining, we all know trhat there is a trick. You see, when you look at something and think that is impossible, it is. You see man cannot do the impossible.
. We are bound by the forces of nature and when you think we do the impossible, there is always a trick.
. Not so with God. God does not have to perform a trick in order to do the impossible. He is not bound by the forces of nature, He created the nature and it answers to Him, not the other way around.
. Our scripture this morning tells us about God doing the impossible. How when we think something is impossible for man, we are right but for God, nothing is impossible.
. We are back in Genesis as we continue this sermonic journey through the book.
. Genesis 18:1-15. We won’t read all fifteen verses but we will fill in where we don’t read the actual scripture.
1The LORD appeared again to Abraham near the oak grove belonging to Mamre. One day Abraham was sitting at the entrance to his tent during the hottest part of the day.
2He looked up and noticed three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he ran to meet them and welcomed them, bowing low to the ground.
3“My lord,” he said, “if it pleases you, stop here for a while.
4Rest in the shade of this tree while water is brought to wash your feet.
5And since you’ve honored your servant with this visit, let me prepare some food to refresh you before you continue on your journey.” “All right,” they said. “Do as you have said.”
. Abraham went and told Sarah to bake some bread and he went out and chose a young calf and told his servants to kill it and prepare a feast. When all of this was ready, they bought the food out and they all ate with Abraham serving them.
. We pick back up in verse 9
9“Where is Sarah, your wife?” the visitors asked.“She’s inside the tent,” Abraham replied.
10Then one of them said, “I will return to you about this time next year, and your wife, Sarah, will have a son!” Sarah was listening to this conversation from the tent.
11Abraham and Sarah were both very old by this time, and Sarah was long past the age of having children.
12So she laughed silently to herself and said, “How could a worn-out woman like me enjoy such pleasure, especially when my master—my husband—is also so old?”
13Then the LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh? Why did she say, ‘Can an old woman like me have a baby?’
14Is anything too hard for the LORD? I will return about this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”
15Sarah was afraid, so she denied it, saying, “I didn’t laugh.” But the LORD said, “No, you did laugh.”
. What news this should have been for Abraham and Sarah. They had been waiting a long time for this.
. Remember that Abraham was 75 years old and Sarah was 65 when God called them to be the parents of the nation of Israel. The beginning of a nation.
. Remember , God had promised Abraham that he would be the father of a great nation.
. He and Sarah got tired of waiting on God, (Abraham was 76 and Sarah was 66) and Abram slept with one of the servant girls and the result was a son named Ishmael. They thought that this would be the heir that God had talked about. It was not
. Abraham was now 99 years old and Sarah was 89 and God told them that Sarah was going to have a son within the next year.
. Sarah heard this and laughed. Yeah right, I am a worn out old woman and Abraham is older than me. This is impossible.
The laws of nature will tell you this can’t happen. I’m sure that Sarah had never seen a 90 year old, (that’s how old she would be before the baby was born) give birth.
. This was against the laws of nature. Couldn’t happen.
. Yall know that I don’t give you too many Hebrew and Greek lessons but the Hebrew in the statement tells us a lot.
. look at verse 10 again.
10Then one of them said, “I will return to you about this time next year, and your wife, Sarah, will have a son!”…
. The Hebrew verb that we translate “I will return” literally means “to intervene in someone’s life to change their destiny”
. God is saying that yes, I know that this is going against all that you know but I will intervene in your life. I will do the impossible and you will have a son. You thought that you destiny was to have Ishmael as the promised heir but I will change that.
. Yes in the natural order of things this can’t happen but through me it can.
The Lord heard her laugh and scoff and said why doesn’t she understand.
14Is anything too hard for the LORD? I will return about this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”
. Is anything too hard for the Lord?
. That was the question to Abraham and Sarah.
. Do you not believe that God can do what He says He will do. No matter what.
. That’s the question for us this day.
.Is there anything too hard for God? Can He still do the impossible?
. Have you ever felt hopeless, that something can’t be done? That it is impossible?
. Maybe you’re here this morning and you feel like your life is hopeless, and your circumstances will never change.
. Folks, let me tell you, there are situations and obstacles in our lives that are too hard for us. There are things that we can’t do.
. Things that we have no control over and sometimes seem hopeless.
. Let me tell you this morning, there is nothing that is too hard for God.
. Let me remind who this God that we worship and talk about this morning is.
. My God not only created this world and everything in it out of nothing. Nothing is too hard for God.
.My God loved his creation so much that He voluntarily died for the things they do wrong so there would be no punishment for them.
. This God who died for us also told us in Isaiah 41:10 this:
10Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.
. You see, nothing is too hard for my God.
.He is the God that helps us when we are suffering
. He is the God that gives us guidance in times when crucial decisions need to be made.
. He is the God who protects us in tines of Danger.
. He can do this because nothing is too hard for my God.
. He is the God who Gives us comfort in times of fear.
. He is the God who gives us peace in times of turmoil.
. He is the God who give us strength in times of temptation
. He can do this because nothing is too hard for my God.
. Most of all, He is the God who can grant us forgiveness, whenever we ask.
. Folks, is anything too hard for our God, I think not.
. If you believe that, let me ask you this.
. Do you think that he won’t understand your grief and so you keep it all bottled up inside of you. Remember God gave his son and watched as he was betrayed, beaten, and led to a horrible death.
. Do you think that our Lord doesn’t know what it is to be tempted? Don’t forget that he was tempted for 40 days and nights.
. Do you think God doesn’t know what it feels like to be lonely and alone? My friends, our Lord had no place to lie his head, no home – but heaven, and he was often found alone praying to His Father, which is what we should do when we feel alone, or lonely. As He hung on that cross , He felt alone and abandoned crying out Eloi, Eloi, Lama-sa-bathani. My God my God, why have you forsaken me. He understands our loneliness.
. Do you think our Lord doesn’t know what it feels like to wrestle with wanting His way vs. wanting God’s way? Don’t forget how he sweat great drops of blood in the garden of Gethsemane and said Father, if it be possible let this cup pass by me, but nevertheless, not my will, but your will.
. Do you think that God couldn’t possibly understand when you are falsely accused of something – Don’t forget how he also was falsely accused by his enemies, and yet he didn’t even open his mouth to vindicate himself.
.The point is this…God can do anything and nothing is impossible for Him. There is nothing that you are personally going through that God can’t help you with, or that he wouldn’t understand.
He is not some mean and angry God waiting for you to mess up so he can point a stick at you and punish you! He is a loving heavenly Father who knows you, knows your heart, understands you and is waiting to help you. All you need to do is to ask. Ask for his help, commit yourself to Him and trust that “Nothing is to hard for Him.
.If today you need a miracle- remember nothing is to hard for God.
.If you are in need of a special touch from Him –nothing is too hard for God.
.If you need direction in your life – nothing is too hard for God.
.If you need encouragement, strength, salvation, freedom from the bondage of sin, comfort, protection, courage. Nothing is too hard for the Lord.
.If you need forgiveness, and feel so unworthy to go to a Holy God, remember that He was once a man like us and tempted in every way. Trust Him today and know within your heart, and with all of your heart that nothing is to hard for the Lord.
.Do you know Him today? He is the best friend you could ever have, and whether you know him or not – my friends, he knows you!
There was an old recluse who lived deep in the mountains of Colorado. When he died, distant relatives came from the city to collect his valuables. Upon arriving, all they saw was an old shack with an outhouse beside it. Inside the shack, next to the rock fireplace, was an old cooking pot and his mining equipment. A cracked table with a three-legged chair stood guard by a tiny window, and a kerosene lamp served as the centerpiece for the table. In a dark corner of the little room was a dilapidated cot with a threadbare bedroll on it.
They picked up some of the old relics and started to leave. As they were driving away, an old friend of the recluse, on his mule, flagged them down. “Do you mind if I help myself to what’s left in my friend’s cabin?” he asked. “Go right ahead,” they replied. After all, they thought, what inside that shack could be worth anything?
The old friend entered the shack and walked directly over the table. He reached under it and lifted one of the floor boards. He then proceeded to take out all the gold his friend had discovered over the past 53 years – enough to have built a palace. The recluse died with only his friend knowing his true worth. As the friend looked out of the little window and watched the cloud of dust behind the relative’s car disappear, he said, “They should have got to know him better.
. I ask you this morning, Do you know God in personal and saving way.
. There is great value in knowing God through Jesus Christ this morning.
. Once you know Him, you can realize that there is nothing too hard for God if we will place our faith and trust in him.
. Christian, do you need to get to know Him better in order to realize that there is nothing too hard for God.
. Invitation
*** To my Christian brothers and sisters, thank you for taking the time to read this sermon. I ask that you take another second and score this for me. I am always open to feedback so that I can continue to grow in the proclamation of God’s word.
May God bless you as you continue to strive to walk worthy of His calling.
Sources: The Holy Bible, NLT
Barbara Folsom, Nothing Is Too Hard For Our Lord: sermon central
