020514: Is Anything Too Hard For the Lord

Message: Is Anything Too Hard For the Lord

I.                    Introduction

a.       Our goal this year is to see you get more rooted in Christ as we grow together

b.      One way we are doing this rooting is through sermons about questions found in the Bible.

II.                 Body

a.       Background

                                                             a.      3 men show up, Abraham jumped up and gave them food and drink, as a good host should do.  But he recognizes they aren’t ordinary men, but rather angels…

b.      Read Genesis 18:10-14 – “Then the LORD  said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son.” Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, which was behind him.  Abraham and Sarah were already old and well advanced in years, and Sarah was past the age of childbearing. So Sarah laughed  to herself as she thought, “After I am worn out and my master is old, will I now have this pleasure?” Then the LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really have a child, now that I am old?’  Is anything too hard for the LORD? I will return to you at the appointed time next year and Sarah will have a son.” Sarah was afraid, so she lied and said, “I did not laugh.” But he said, “Yes, you did laugh.”

c.       Why it was funny

                                                             a.      Sarah was 90 or 91 and Abraham was 100 years old…this was not something that should have been possible to even happen…plus…ewwww!

                                                            b.      It was funny because it was thought to be impossible.  And the thought of it being impossible showed her belief in who God was.  In her view there was a God, the God of her and her husband.  He talked with them, he called them, he promised them wealth and delivered, he protected them in a foreign land, but he couldn’t do the impossible. 

                                                             c.      He is God…but with a limit to his power

                                                            d.      Illus: I had a friend whose parents installed a speed limiter on his car so that he couldn’t go faster than 70.  It made it so that the engine wouldn’t allow him to go any faster and he hated it.  And he eventually disengaged it.

                                                             e.      Sarah’s God was thought to only be able to go up to 70, pretty fast, but that was it, he couldn’t go further or do more…but then that view changed as she got a bigger view of who God was.

d.      Read Genesis 21:1-7 – “Now the LORD was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did for Sarah what he had promised. Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him. Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore him.  When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him,  as God commanded him.  Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. Sarah said, “God has brought me laughter,  and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.”  And she added, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”

a.       The question of the night is, “Is anything too hard for the Lord?”

III.               Conclusion

a.       Some of you might think that God is able to do anything, but would laugh if I said he could change your life to be better than what it is now.  You would laugh if I said he could remove the obstacle that has been placed in your life. You would laugh if I said he could heal you of an addiction.  You would laugh if I said he could use you to change this world.

b.      My God doesn’t have that limiter though, nothing is too hard for him, he is God.

c.       He created the universe, He is above all things he has created, He is strong enough to destroy the most powerful in the world, He is wise enough to know exactly what to do at all times, He is smart enough to know all the answers, He is outside time, allowing him to see both my past and my future

d.      He is the same God who gave Abraham and his wife a child in their old age, he is the same God who flooded the earth but saved Noah and his family, He is the same God who delivered Israel from slavery, parting the Red Sea so they could walk through it, He is the same God who knocked down the walls of Jericho, He is the same God who enabled David to defeat the giant Goliath, He is the same God who sent fire down on the sacrifice of Elijah, He is the same God who fed that same Elijah with ravens, He is the same God who saved Daniel in the Lion’s den, He is the same God who enabled Esther to rescue her people, He is the same God who sent his son to this earth to save us, he is the same God who healed many of leprosy, blindness, deafness, and even rose them from the dead, He is the same God.

e.       He is the same God healed me of addiction to porn, He is the same God kept me safe when I should have died, He is the same God took away my bitterness.

f.       And he can do anything, nothing is too hard for him, he has no limits.

g.       Maybe you have something going on in your life and you need that God to show up and change it, raise hand and let us pray for you!

052913: OMG! God is Patient

Message: OMG! – God is Patient

I.                    Introduction

a.       Over the next few weeks we are going to be talking about different character traits of God.  Beyond this, God desires us to be like him.  Ephesians 5:1 says, “Be imitators of God…”  So we will show how we can live out that characteristic in our own lives.

b.      Tonight we are going to look at the character trait of being patient

                                                               i.      2^nd Peter 3:9b – “The Lord is patient…”

                                                             ii.      We have a God who is patient.

II.                 Body

a.       God’s Patience

                                                               i.      In greek the word for patience is two words together “suffer” and “long” meaning that patience is suffering, but holding up under that suffering for a long period of time. (like our game earlier)

1.      It can be a suffering brought about circumstances (being in line)

2.      It can be a suffering brought about by a person (being annoyed)

                                                             ii.      Being patient means that despite that suffering we remain self-controlled rather than lashing out.  Maybe that is holding your tongue, or maybe it is holding your fist.  No matter how much a circumstance or a person provokes you, you hold back what YOU think they deserve for those actions. (not necessarily what they really deserve but what you think they deserve)

1.      Eventually patience runs out and you give the person what YOU think they deserve for their actions.

2.      Illus: The monkey attack video

3.      They taunted and taunted and finally the monkey had enough of their antics and the patience ran out and he gave them what he felt the deserved for their actions.

                                                            iii.      When we say that God is patient, we are saying he holds back from giving what people who have provoked him deserve.  And God knows exactly what we deserve for our actions.

1.      What kind of actions have we done that would provoke God to act and end his patience toward us?

                                                           iv.      2^nd Peter 3:9 – “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness.  He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”

1.      Some of you in this room have been called again and again to surrender your life to God.  He has up to this point been patient with you and will continue to do so until the moment when it is too late.  Sadly we don’t know when that moment is

2.      So rather than continuing to turn your back on his forgiveness and love and instead doing your own thing, why not tonight repent?  Why not ask him for forgiveness and allow him to start changing your life?  It is better than getting to the point when his patience runs out.

3.      Pray for those who raise their hands

III.               Conclusion

a.       If God is a patient God, that means we need to be patient people.

b.      Ephesians 4:2 says, “Be patient, bearing with one another in love.”

c.       Who is someone that you have a difficult time being patient with?  It is time to ask them and God for forgiveness for being impatient with them.  It is time to make a new commitment to be patient with them from this day forward. 

d.      Give them as many chances as God has given you!

052213: OMG -- God is Sacrificial

OMG! – God is Sacrificial

I.                    Introduction

a.       Over the next few weeks we are going to be talking about different character traits of God.  Beyond this, God desires us to be like him.  Ephesians 5:1 says, “Be imitators of God…”  So we will show how we can live out that characteristic in our own lives.

b.      Tonight we are going to look at the character trait of being sacrificial

                                                               i.      Ephesians 5:2 – “And live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”

                                                             ii.      We have a God who is sacrificial

II.                 Body

a.       What is a sacrifice?

                                                               i.      Illus: You don’t know this man, his name was Eduard Burceag.  One day in June 2008, he, his wife, and his friend were hiking on Mt. Rainer when a freak blizzard descended on the mountain.  When it became obvious they were lost and wouldn’t be able to make it back to base camp they dug a trench.  Eduard laid down on the bottom with his body on the snow, the other two on top trying to keep warm.  He refused to switch places though he was pressed against the snow.  The next day they recovered his body from the mountain after he had sacrificed his life to save that of his wife and his friend.

                                                             ii.      Sacrifice is the destruction or surrender of something for the sake of something else

1.      It can be an act of offering something precious to God out of worship

2.      Or it can be the giving up something of value for someone else’s sake.

b.      Read Ephesians 5:2 again, “And live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”

                                                               i.      Out of love Jesus was willing to sacrifice himself in order to bring us back into a relationship with God and find forgiveness for our sins.  His act was one of offering himself to God in our place.

III.               Conclusion

a.       God wants us to be sacrificial people.  What is the opposite of living a life of sacrifice?  Being selfish or greedy.  We live in a culture that is teaching us that it is all about us and what we can gain and nobody better take it from me!  I earned it, it is my right, go help yourself!

b.      The sad truth is that many of you would never even be willing to give up your favorite paid for treat (drink or food) in order to give that money away to those in need.  Man of you would never even be willing to sacrifice 10 minutes of your day to pray or show love to someone in need.  We are clutching our hands around what we have in fear that if we lose it we won’t have anything left…

c.       But God wants us to be sacrificial rather than greedy or selfish.  That life of sacrifice will bring about more for us than one of greed, including a better final resting place.

d.      So what does that bible tell us when it comes to sacrifice?

                                                               i.      1^st Chronicles 21:24 – “But King David replied to Araunah, ‘No, I insist on paying the full price.  I will not take for the Lord what is yours, or sacrifice a burnt offering that costs me nothing.’”

1.      Sacrifice must be of something valuable

                                                             ii.      Romans 12:1 – “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.”

1.      Sacrifice is an act of worship

2.      God wants our lives as a sacrifice

                                                            iii.      Hebrews 13:15-16 – “Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that confess his name.  And do not forget to do good and share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.”

1.      Praising God can be a sacrifice (worship is acting in obedience)

2.      Doing good is a sacrifice

3.      Sharing with others is a sacrifice

e.       My challenge for you is this, each week sacrifice, sacrifice something to God, sacrifice something for others.  It can be difficult at first because you have to readjust how you view life and live it and stop being so self-centered and greedy.