Introduction:
Mission impossible becomes mission possible when Christ is in your
heart. Through him your life will
be changed. Is the power of
God’s strength real to you?
A friend of mine who was a minister in southern California told me
recently of a woman in a mental sanitarium there. She'd been in the sanitarium
for many years with an extreme depression. She used to just sit on a bench
every day staring at the earth--no conversation, no response. And one day a
new doctor who'd never seen her came down the hall and greeted her. He said,
"Good morning!" She made no reply. "What is your name?" he
said. No answer. "Well, my name is Doctor Heven, H-E-V-E-N, and I'll be
by to see you again tomorrow." Then he started away.
But she lifted her head and said to
him--and because he did not know the patient, he did not know how remarkable
it was that she was saying anything at all--"What did you say your name
was?"
He said, "Heven,
H-E-V-E-N."
Now, somehow in the confused
processes of that wounded mind, that woman confused the word Heven with the
word heaven, and she began thinking about heaven. As she thought about heaven,
she thought about God, and she thought of God's love made known to us Christ.
The next day she said to everyone she met in the hospital, "This is the
day which the Lord hath made." And the day after that, "Yea, I walk
through the valley of the shadow of evil, but I fear no evil." Within six
days she was saying, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens
me." Within five weeks she had been released from the hospital, and for
the last fourteen years she has been carrying out her responsibilities as a
leading teacher in southern California. --
Bruce Thielemann, "Christus Imperator," Preaching Today, Tape No.
55.
Scripture
Text: Phil 4:13 I can do
everything through him who gives me strength.
I.
You must get in over your head.
Do something that needs His strength
to accomplish. Voluntarily serve. (service) and Involuntarily (sacrifice)
Do you need God’s power? Do
you want God’s power?
II.
The subject is I – insert your name here.
God is for you. For your
hope, for your help, and for you courage, you must have faith.
Have you ever come upon something that has stopped you?
Go with the unstoppable One.
III.
The verb is action Can Do. (Achieve,
perform, and execute)
Can accomplish the impossible things
of life.
1. You can flow with
life’s current or direct you life.
2.
What is there you can’t do? In
this life for Christ what is it that He wants?
3. Will you trust
Christ’s strength in your life?
IV.
The object is All things. This
is what you can do.
1. Includes everything -
not just things we can’t handle.
Luke 18:27
the things which are impossible with men are possible with God.
Mat. 19:26
With God all things are possible.
V.
Through Christ/in Christ tells us how we can do these things.
John 15:5 without me you
can do nothing. He gets the glory
I did nothing but Him through me.
VI.
How can you have God’s strength?
Isaiah
40:28 Do you not know? Have you
not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the
earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can
fathom. 29 He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.
30 Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; 31 but
those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings
like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be
faint.
1. He gives it to those
who need it. Weak and faint and
trying.
2.
He gives it to those who have no might?
3.
He gives it to those who hope and wait in God.
Are you waiting – hoping – trusting God.
4. Stand still and silent
before God. Listen to him. Come into his presence and see him now.
5.
Draw near to Him and gain strength. Will
you? Even now, draw near to God.
6. Now you can come to God
to speak ask for his strength, help, and salvation.
Over come trials, troubles, and temptations.