10/08/2000     What would you do for God if you knew you couldn’t fail?  Phil. 4

by Ronald E. George Jr. at the Fayetteville Baptist Church

Here is a riddle.  What is: greater than God?  Worse than the devil?  The rich need it and the poor have it. If you eat it you will die.  And with God it is impossible.  Go to the bottom of the page for the answer:

 Scripture Text:  Phil 4:13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

I.  Why we don’t succeed:  We have never heard of that before.  We don’t trust.  We don’t follow.  We don’t want to.  We have been deceived by the devil.  We have never tried it.  We are afraid of what may happen.  We haven’t been challenged to go there. We are too stubborn to ask for help.  We want to make it on our own.  We are afraid to depend on someone else because they will fail us.  We’re afraid that if we depend on someone else they will take advantage of us and injure our loved ones or us.  We are afraid to take a chance.   We tried it once.  We heard that someone else tried it.  It didn’t turn out like we thought it would.  The bottom line is that we don’t believe.

Hudson Taylor, the great missionary to China, said, "Many Christians estimate difficulty in the light of their own resources, and thus they attempt very little, and they always fail. All giants have been weak men who did great things for God because they reckoned on His power and His presence to be with them." Like David, who said, "The battle is the Lord's" (1 Sam 17:47), we also need to understand that Jesus is our source, and we can be directly connected to Him. John Maxwell, Be All You Can Be (Victor, 1987), p. 15.

II.                 Why you can’t fail with the Lord.   Hear the proof of God’s Word.      Because he cannot fail, so when you are with him you are unstoppable.

Phil. 4:19 But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

Matt 19:26 But Jesus beheld [them], and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.

Luke 18:27 And he said, The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.

Luke 1:37 For with God nothing shall be impossible. 38 And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.

Matt 17:20 And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.

Gen. 18:14 Is any thing too hard for the LORD? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.

Jer. 32:17 Ah Lord GOD! Behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, [and] there is nothing too hard for thee:

Jer. 32:27 Behold, I [am] the LORD, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me?

III.              What would you do for/with God if you knew you couldn’t fail?

·        Would you know him?  Will you stop thinking the wrong to think the right?  It is possible to know the living God. 

 

·        Would you love him?  Then would you hate the world?

 

·        Would you live for him?  Then would you die for him?

 

·        Would you serve him?  Then would you stop serving yourself?

 

·        Would you join him?  Then would you forsake all others?

 

·        Would you talk and listen to him?  Then would you stop and give him some time?

 

·        Would you preach the good news for him?  Would you stop telling the bad news about others? 

 

·        Would you worship him?  Then will you put him first?

 

·        Would you give to him?  Then will you put his name first in your checkbook? 

 

·        Would you come to church to worship him? 

 

·        Would you teach a class full of his children? 

 

·        Would you sing a song for him? 

 

·        Would you help another for him? 

 

·        Would you cook a dinner for him?

 

·        Would you work in the church for him? 

 

·        Would you leave your home for him? 

 

·        Would you leave your job for him?

 

·        Would you take a beating or verbal abuse for him? 

 

·        Would you carry a cross for him? 

 

·        Would you witness for him?  Will you invite others to know him too?

 

·        Would you build for him?  Will you work to build up his body, the church?

 

·        Would you stand up for him?  Will you be counted as a Christian in all of your life?

 

Is there anything that God would ask you to do that he cannot enable you to do it?  Are you ready to go with Him?  Then let’s get going.  He is for you if you are with him. 

The answer to the riddle is nothing. 

Will you do it?