When Things Seem Impossible | Timeless Truths – Dr. Charles Stanley

eternal

truths

a collection of classic sermons by dr.

charles

stanley

today's selection recorded in 2001

when

things

seem

impossible

what makes this book such an absolute treasure to us someone says well because it is god's revelation about himself and how he treats people well That is true and there are many other wonderful

things

about this book that draw our attention and make us take precedence in our lives. One of the most important things is the fact that most of us who have trusted Jesus Christ as our personal savior realized that this is the manual for living in other words, this is the way you live and what we discovered It is this: if you follow the principles in this book, you will experience life at its finest, if you violate these principles written in this book, what you will discover is that you will reap a very bitter harvest and therefore the way in which you do it is very important.

We see, very important how we understand it and very important how you and I practice it, one of the unique things about the Bible is the fact that many of these wonderful principles of Scripture that are so practical to us every day are expressed in events in the life of Jesus and in events, for example, in the life of the apostle Paul and others, not only that, but many times it is exactly what Jesus was saying or what what the apostle Paul or James of Peter said and one of those events that most people who have ever read the Bible probably know is the event that I want us to see today and the title of this message is

when

things

seem

impossible

everyone we at some point in our lives have had our backs to the wall and we thought god I don't know what to do I don't know where to go I don't know which way to turn what should I do we have had our backs to the wall and everything seemed pretty impossible so I want You see today nothing is impossible for God so I want you to turn if you want to John chapter 6.

In fact, in this sixth chapter of John is the story the story of the feeding of the five thousand someone says oh, I know that story well but Do you know the truth of this story? Do you know the principles here? Do you know what God is trying to tell us? in this passage because god has some wonderful lessons in this chapter 6 of john and starting in verse 1. and what I want you to remember is that this is the only miracle that jesus performed that is recorded in all the gospels matthew mark luke and john this is the only one, so there must have been some reason why the holy spirit inspired them all to include that in the gospels, starting in verse 1, after these things, Jesus went to the other side of the sea of Galilee or Tiberius, who bears the name. a Caesar a large crowd followed him because they saw the signs he did on the sick he had been healing the sick so Jesus went up the mountain and there he sat with his disciples whom he was trying to escape Rest a little at this particular moment now that the Passover, the Jewish holiday, was near and that means there are a lot more people floating and walking than normal, so Jesus looked up and saw a large crowd approaching him.

He told Felipe where we are going to buy bread to eat. He told him to try it because he himself knew what he was planning to do, so that was not an order. That was just the request. We said, Where are we going to make this? Felipe responded with 200 denarii worth of bread. It is not enough for everyone to receive a small one of his disciples. Andrew, Peter's brother, told him, "There is a boy who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are these for? Many people. Jesus told the people to sit down. Now there was a lot of grass." In the place then the men sat down, about five thousand in number.

Then Jesus took the loaves and, having given thanks, distributed to those who were sitting also the fish as much as they wanted. When they were satisfied, he told his disciples to pick up the leftover pieces so that nothing would be left. When the people saw the sign he had performed, they said that this is truly the prophet who is coming into the world and two things. They don't want your mind to remind you Jesus' number one main purpose in performing miracles wasn't just to heal people or help them feel better his main purpose was just what happened here he says so when people saw the sign all his miracles were signs of his true identity which is that Jesus Christ was and is the messiah a second thing I want you to remember about this The passage is this one in which Matthew, Mark, Luke and John record this particular event.

None of them say the same. Each of them has a contribution they make. Someone says: Well, aha, so the Bible is not inspired, yes, it is if everyone. would have been exactly the same, we would have imagined that someone copied someone, but each of them, as the holy spirit guided them, remembered the things that they remembered and that they saw happen, so I will say some things that probably are not here, for example. The Bible says that it was a very desolate place and that it was very late when this happened, so if I say something, I don't see that in the passage it is here or it is in Matthew, Mark or Luke.

So with that in mind, let's think about this whole idea and first of all, we're talking about the topic when things seem impossible, the moments in our lives when we encounter those situations where we don't know what to do, it seems impossible. It seems impossible that we can get through this without a lot of pain or damage. It seems impossible that we can get through this without some real financial problems developing. It seems impossible for us to be cured after what the doctor said, so there are all kinds of situations that we find ourselves in. The first thing I want you to notice here is this and that is that Jesus is aware of those circumstances in which we feel that it is a seemingly impossible situation.

You'll notice that I didn't say an impossible situation but rather a seemingly impossible situation. It seems impossible it seems impossible and here in this situation there were five thousand men and the Bible says in Matthew for example that there were five thousand men plus women and children so it could have been fifty five hundred six thousand sixty five hundred or seven thousand and then the impossible situation that It seems that all these people who have been following Jesus and when he left one side of the lake, they sailed around the edge of the lake and got to the other side and these people who saw him leave, followed him hundreds of them and probably thousands of them They followed Him because they were interested, they were curious, they had seen healing, they wanted to be healed and many of them were curiosity seekers, so of course some said this.

He is the prophet, this is the messiah and that is why they want to see more to be able to decide if he was or not, so here they are already tired, tired, they have been listening to him all day and some of them also wanted to be healed and they also have hunger is until the end of the day the night has come and then the disciples said send them away Jesus said where are we going to buy food and I want you to notice something very significant and there are many small lessons in this passage and I want you to notice here what happens notice what What does he say?

He said verse 6 that he was testing Philip when he told him where we are going to buy bread to eat and that is what the scripture says. Philip replied that 200 denarii of bread is not enough for everyone to receive a little now to donate was a Roman coin and the daily wage would be a denarius so I want you to pay attention to what is happening Philip answered or at the beginning of verse eight one of his disciples the brother of Andrew Simon Peter told him there is a boy here who has five loaves of barley and two fish but one of these for so many and that's why they had been exploring around when they realized there was no food there and then here's what I want you to notice now you listen and say amen he asked the wrong question look at the question he asked he says there's a boy here who has five Berlin loaves and two fish, but what are these for so many?

That's not the right question. The correct question is here is a boy who has five loaves and two fish, now Lord Jesus, what are you going to do with that? that is the right question, not what is this among so many, for example, when you and I find ourselves in one of those difficult situations in life. Are our backs to the wall or do we think that something seems impossible? What do we say? We say oh Lord, what am I going to do? Wrong question. Now remember this is very important because you will get one of these, Lord, what am I?

What I am going to do? How many of us have asked that? Oh God, what am I going to do? That is not the right question, the right question is Lord, what are you going to do? Nothing is impossible when the supernatural invasion arrives. of God through the Lord Jesus Christ comes into our life and he enters our circumstances to deal with them if I and I only have to deal with him I will have a problem but if he starts to deal with them if I allow him, yes I recognize it, if I call upon him to my circumstances, he will go because of his compassion, he loves to deal with that circumstance no matter what it is and many times we wonder why things don't happen well, we wonder why we can't. figure it out, God doesn't want us to realize it, he wants us to trust him and trust him, and since he says to call on him, now they say we don't know what to do, send them away and he says no, I'm not going to fire them, the I'm going to feed, how much money do we have?

We're going to buy something, we're going to feed them, and absolutely, they have no idea what to do, but the Bible says that. Jesus knows what he is going to do, which brings me to the second point and that is that he is not only aware of our circumstances, but he listens, he always listens, he always has a plan for our seemingly impossible circumstances, that is, Jesus is never caught off guard. he always knows what he's going to do and he knows how he's going to do it and he knows how, where, when and he knows exactly the resources that are necessary no matter what he's facing in life, he knows exactly what to do and yet he is believer. listen we Christians act like unbelievers we act like unbelievers oh lord what am I going to do?

We have shakes and we have all kinds of problems and Lord, we tell our friends and we want pity and we want sympathy and If you want all this, you must kneel down and say Lord, what are you going to do? What are you going to do now? I know what I can do and what I can do is not going to be enough, it's not going to work, but God. It will work for you because you said that there is nothing impossible with you so I am going to stop my calculations. I'm going to start trusting and see what you do.

You will be surprised what God can change in your life, but if you do what you feel like doing what is natural and normal you will be calculating this what will happen and what will not happen and what happens is that you end up losing listen you can lose listen you can lose at the finish line of God's best blessing in your life if you try to calculate what you are going to be able to do or maneuver in some situation, trust him, he will guide you step by step because he has a very defined plan and he knew exactly what that was heading.

Doing in this situation everything he asked of them was one of the steps to achieve his goal, which was to feed all these people, and his ultimate goal, which was to demonstrate his power, which was part of his ultimate goal, to tell them clearly: " I am". a prophet and I am the messiah, that was his ultimate goal, step by step, he guided them and he sees that he has them training and they are going through a very difficult time at this particular point. The third thing I want you to notice here is this, and that is that Jesus often surprises us by the way he turns our impossible situations into possible things.

It's very surprising sometimes and it is in many ways, and when you think about what Andrew said here, Andrew was exploring around and found five loaves and two fish, this boy and everyone, no one else seemed to have any food, so Now we have five loaves and two fish left and, at least, perhaps I would say we should, we are equal, we have five. loaves and two fishes and we still have all these people out there and so what do we learn here when he brought them back to Jesus, he brought the boy to Jesus and I don't think he went looking for him and said, look, the teacher gives?

I, your five loaves and two fish, I believe brought the boy to Jesus and Jesus was sitting or, if he was not sitting, he probably knelt down and asked this boy his name, but I think he must have had a conversation. Enough that he said well, would you let me eat all your lunch? Could I have all your lunch? the five loaves and two fish, yes sir, he gave his bread to Jesus and what I want you to remember is to never do this. Underestimate what God can do in your life when you give Him everything you are and everything you have.

I am fully convinced that one of the main reasons why so many people become discouraged with their lives is the fact that they look at life and think well. Im important? I will never be able to achieve anything. I will never be able to achieve anything. They were a little discouraged in their life. Most people probably when they look at their lives they don't see much going on. Could it be that? because you have never given it to the one who created, you gave it to the one who belongs to you, give it to the one who wants to work in you and reveal to you and show you. what he can do what he will do with your life if you give yourself to himmost people are selfish they have their life in their own hands this is how I want to live this is where I'm going to live this is what I'm going to do this is what I'm going to have yeah where I'm going and then your life is your own plan and what you don't realize is that God has the best possible plan for your life but the only way he can make that plan work is for you to open your hands, surrender your life to him and surrender to him absolutely and totally now, that's a matter of pure trust.

Do you believe that God has the best plan? Is he absolutely willing? to allow me to show you the best plan most people are not right you know they will give you some kind of reasoning well you know well I have done the best I could and this is what I think I am qualified to do and this is what that I am better and I listen to my gifts and what they have done they have locked themselves into their own insignificant plan when god has the best but you must open yourself to him to see what god could do with me I was reading Just this morning, the meeting in the tent in 1949 in California and around Hollywood was led by a 30-year-old farmer from North Carolina and that tent meeting became the impressive setting on which God set in motion the entire Billy Graham ministry that has touched this globe many, many times. many times 30 year old farmer from North Carolina Who is he?

So next time you think well, who am I? Let me tell you something. You are listening? Say amen. It doesn't matter who else knows who you are. Do you know someone who knows exactly who you are and what he's willing to do in your life if you let him do it right? The last thing I want to mention here is that he will use these seemingly impossible circumstances in our lives to teach us how to train ourselves and grow us and if you just think about what happened to these disciples here when they see this, they see Jesus do this, what kind of impact they had on their lives, he will do the same. something in their life in mind, so let's look at this for a moment and the first thing you see here is that this incident in their lives strengthened their faith, how could they doubt that they observed it?

There was no doubt, there was no manipulation. Five little barleys. loaves two fish and fed five thousand men plus women and children now, how did you do that? The amazing power of God. They saw it. Listen. power that he did and this is what I think he did because the bible doesn't say how he did it but he took those five loaves and two fish the bible says he prayed and thanked the father then he started breaking it and his disciples passed by and he kept breaking it and interesting is that every word in the Bible is important and many times the language and the Greek and so on are important in the sixth chapter of Mark, if you look there for a moment, this is what happens in verse 40 it says they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties now I want you to notice the wording here in this verse 41 because this is one way that I think he did it and Mark gives this account, he says and he and he that is to say, Jesus took the five loaves and the two fish Looking toward heaven, he blessed the food and broke the loaves and continued giving them to the disciples to put before them and divided them into two fish between them, all of which he kept. doing that now what is happening here this is what is happening he starts breaking it and giving it to his disciples and he keeps breaking it and giving it to them and what happens is that they start handing it out and when it comes to euros, for example, you break it and you pass it on to someone else, well, when they get it and they break it, it's still there and they moved on to the next one and somehow it's still there and they felt like all those people what happened God set in motion his incredible miraculous power to divide those five loaves and those two fish in enough quantities to feed probably six or seven thousand people and then what are you doing?

He is building his faith. He allows her to face some impossible situation in his life. What is he doing? He has a plan. part of his plan is to strengthen your faith part of his plan is to demonstrate his power by working in your life part of his plan is also to demonstrate his love that he loves you enough he loved those people he had never seen, most of them before him he loved them he had compassion full of compassion compassion moved god loves us so what is he doing he works in our life he begins to work in our life in such a way that we see the most wonderful things happen what is he doing he is showing his love to us just as he did to them to them, another thing he did was this, he revealed to them how inadequate they were, he said, go buy food, we can't do that, uh, feed them, what are we going to feed them?

And many times God allows us to do so. In those situations where having our backs to the wall allows us to see that apart from it, what can we do in life? listen if you live your life according to your resources your abilities your talents your gifts you will fall short come disappointed you will end up failing in life he wants us to live let's listen according to his resources his strength his power trusting him that is his goal for us he will reveal our insufficiency that's why we don't want to say once again, what am I going to do now?

He wants us to come to the end of ourselves, so we'll say God, I can't, I can't figure this out, what are you going to do in my life? and this is what is happening here in the same way he showed his dependence on the father he could have said let's take five loaves two fish and after all I am god and I start to break it no, you know what he did he took the time to talk to the father asked the father to bless, wouldn't you have loved to have heard that prayer? What did he say to the father with five loaves and two fish?

I trust your father to break this enough times so that all these people have enough to fill them and there will be something left over one thing about it the father always answered every prayer that jesus prayed and you know, listen to this, jesus is interested in answering all of our prayers , what he wants, he wants the prayers to adjust to his will and his plan for life because it is the best if you want the best from God you must surrender to him and see what he will do and what he is going to do, he will show you the inadequacy who you are but will also manifest His faithfulness that is, Has there ever been a situation or circumstance in which God was late?

No, is there any chance that Jesus couldn't do something? No, is there any chance he didn't hear you? No, unless he is simply living in sin. Is there anything that you and I can think of that he can't do, but if you don't understand who you are, you'll say oh lord, what am I going to do? Wrong question, what am I going to do? What is the correct question? Lord, what are you going to do? That's the right question. It's interesting. This morning I woke up around four and um, I was like this and this song came to mind that I'm sure I hadn't even thought of.

In 40 years, I am sure that I have not left the light blue of unconsciousness. I woke up and these words came to my mind. Is there a river that seems impossible to cross? Is there any mountain you can't tunnel through? The next part goes with God, nothing is impossible, he knows a thousand ways to make a way for you, let him go and let God make his wonderful way, let him go and let God make his way, your sorrows will disappear, your night will change today if you let go and let him. god have his And I thought about it for years, I thought what an absolutely perfect chorus for this message.

Are there rivers you can't cross? Impossible mountains through which you cannot tunnel. It seems impossible. God specializes in things that seem impossible. He knows a thousand ways to do things. a path for you, but when we let go and let God have his way, his wonderful path in our life and I wonder what you're facing, you've been trying to figure it out, just surrender, it's not giving up, weakness, giving up . It is not weakness it is wisdom when you surrender to god not weakness but wisdom because then what you do you allow the invasion of the spirit of the living god to take your circumstances and change them absolutely for your benefit and I want to encourage you if you are one of those people who has never You have been saved, you are not a Christian and all of this seems so difficult to you that it takes simple childlike faith to put your trust in him and watch what he does in your life and maybe you are one of those people who has been struggling with who you are. , what are you going to do with your life, where are you going and what God could do with your life and you say, well, I'm this age or I'm that age of this education that education all these things none of that is important the problem is sir , I give you my whole being, now I am going to observe what you do and one thing is certain, listen, he will do the best that a sovereign, omnipotent, omniscient can, I am he, I listen to you, I am the present, all loving, unconditional and loving God what he will do in your life if you let him, father, how grateful we are that you can take a simple story like this and teach it.

We have so many wonderful

truths

that if we apply them to our hearts we will discover what you are capable, ready and willing to do in our lives. I pray that the holy spirit will sink these truths, teach us to ask the right questions to place our trust in you. keep our focus on you to reject the pity parties and doubt, the fears, anxiety and restlessness and ask the wise question father, what is your goal for this circumstance in my life? Father, what are you going to do with these resources that I have and then, sir?

I know that you will bless and honor every person who gives themselves unconditionally to you and that is my prayer today in the name of Jesus, amen.