DATE: – SUNDAY 29TH NOVEMBER, 2020
TOPIC: – BELIEVING GOD FOR THE IMPOSSIBLE (Part 2)
BIBLE PASSAGE: – John 11: 1 – 46)
MEMORY VERSE: – “Jesus saith unto her, said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God’ (John 11:40).
INTRODUCTION: – Faith recognizes in every case an act of creation. It does not require any material to start with, for it believes in a God who can make all things out of nothing, and therefore it can step out upon the seeming void and find it full of the creations of His power (Heb.11:3). There maybe no sign of it, no probability of it, no germ of it from which to star – but is able to make it out of nothing-just by a word! He does so make it by the Word which faith claims.
LESSON OUTLINES
1) Making Impossibility Possible
Daniel’s wonderful deliverance was accomplished after Darius had labored toll the going down of the sun to find some way of escape for him, and had found it impossible (Dan.6:21-22).
Esther was used of God to save her people from the King, and even he could not take it back (Esther 9:25-32).
Jeremiah’s mightiest promise came to him when he was shut up in the inner court of the prison, and the Chaldeans were thundering at the gates of the city, and all earthly hope was cut off. Then it was that God that made him step out before the people and perform the mightiest act of faith of his whole life-by purchasing the field in Anathoth, as the pledge of the restoration of the land (Jer.32:1-15).
One of Christ’s sweetest parables is the story of the friend at night, the hour of service past, the house closed, the family is bed, the time too late for any reasonable hope of help, but it was then that the friend proved himself a friend indeed, and rose and gave him as much as he needed (Lk.11:1-13).
It was when Paul reached a physical condition of helplessness and self-despair and having the sentence of death in himself – that he was able to rise to the very height of faith and victory, and write that wonderful passage in 2Orint.1:8-10.
Surely, with these examples before us, we need not fear to pray for the impossible; to claim our Master’s glorious promise in Mark 9:23; Matt.17:20.
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
Beloved, have you some loved one or friend beyond the reach of all human help? Pray for the impossible! Have you a temptation that you have been unable to overcome and that has for many years baffled, defeated and trampled you in the dust of sin? pray for the impossible!
Have you a physical infirmity beyond the reach of human skill, threatening your life and destroying your usefulness? Pray for the impossible?
Have you trials and difficulties in your pathway-too hard for you and too difficult for any human power to remove? Nothing is too hard for God, pray for the impossible! (Matt.19:26).
Have you work, you long to do for God? Are your resources cramped? Is your strength insufficient? Does it seem too vast for even the highest faith and the strongest hand? God loves a hard work and chooses the weak things to confound the mighty (1Corint.1:26-31) – Pray for the impossible – and you yet shall sing with a joyful heart.
QUESTIONS
- Describe the step of faith Jeremiah took while in prison?
- When faced with seemly impossible situation what should a Christian do?