In His Image - 11: God of the Impossible

“Ah, Lord God! Behold, Thou hast made the heavens and the earth by Thy great power and by Thine outstretched arm! Nothing is too difficult for Thee.” – Jeremiah 32:17

Opening Thought
Oh, That's Impossible!

No way! It can’t be! It’ll never happen! I could never do that!

Now, there are some things that are impossible by God’s design – blood from a turnip, getting a crab to walk straight. But regular life does have its moments when seemingly impossible situations arise. We need to learn to understand those situations from God's perspective, or we will always be faced with that sinking feeling Peter had...

We usually don’t like being faced with impossible situations. They usually involve our inability to do what we want to do. There are a couple of different ways that can happen – our own determination to do something, or outside circumstances just come together in a way that stops us cold. One way or another, we’re stuck.

There are various natural responses to this – banging our head against the wall, or running in the other direction come to mind. If we face these things on our own, we can end up with negative circumstances either way.
So isn’t it great that we don’t stand alone – we have Christ in our life! When the storm winds blow, when we’re stuck at an impasse, we have an answer. Our faith in Christ anchors us on the solid foundation of His sovereignty, guidance and provision.


Study Notes

1. Impossible?
· Jeremiah 32 -- Jeremiah in prison, Zedekiah didn't like his preaching! Jeremiah bBuys the field already occupied by Babylon because of faith that God would restore Israel to the land.
· Luke 1:37; 18:27 -- "be it done to me..."
· Philippians 4:13, 19 -- "all things..."

2. Further in the Life of Christ
· Sabbath Controversy – Mark 2 -- Jesus heals the man let down by his friends through the roof. Matthew 9:2, "take courage my son"; Luke 5:20, "friend". "We have never seen anything like this before!"

· Sermon on the Mount – Matthew 5-7 -- mainly addressed to His disciples; this message was obviously foundation to His mission, but in what context? 4:17, the Kingdom of heaven is at hand; 4:23, proclaiming and healing, the gospel of the kingdom; He is speaking as the King, which sets the divine timetable reference, it is anticipatory, not yet accomplished; we can't be sure that this is the only time Jesus taught at length to His disciples in this way

· Calming the stormy sea – Matthew 8 -- "Lord, don't you care?", Mark 4; "Lord, save us!" (Matthew 8); "We're going to drown!" (Luke 8); Don't get distracted by the complicated part, just recognize He's the Creator, He allowed this to happen, look for the simple main message. The emphasis seems to be the lack of faith shown by the disciples in their response to the storm and danger. Note that the calm was immediate – when a storm passes, it usually takes a while to calm down. There’s no embellishment – the writers seem to convey all the disciples' takeaway from this: they were dumbfounded, caught in utter lack of faith in Jesus; He rebukes them for their lack of faith because they were expected to have faith.

· Feeding the 5000 – John 6 -- Note that this event is recorded in all four Gospels. Lessons: Don’t think small with God. Learn of His remarkable abundance. Don’t be so focused on practicalities that you miss the opportunity for divine provision.

· Walking on the water – John 6 -- Interesting that it seems whenever the disciples get in a boat, it’s time for another test from Jesus. Let down the net. "Save us!" Mark says He intended to walk right past them! Peter, Lord save me! No ACTS formula in this prayer … (adoration, confession, thanksgiving, supplication -- which is a very good pattern for our regular prayer life).


3. The Bible’s Portrait of Christ, the Fruit of the Spirit – Gal. 5:22-23 -- We're going to using this model to help us as we develop a lifestyle of Christlikeness. Think of each characteristic and try to recall times in Jesus earthly ministry that we've studied over the last weeks that would show us He has this character in His life. I've provided one example to get you started...

· Love - Mary, Martha, raising Lazarus, John 11

· Joy - John 15:11

· Peace - Mark 1:35

· Patience - His many interactions with the Pharisees

· Kindness - the wedding at Cana

· Goodness - His encounter with Nicodemus

· Faithfulness - to His Father's mission, to His disciples

· Gentleness - to those needing healing, such as at the Pool of Bethsaida

· Self-control - the betrayal by Judas and the arrest


For further study...
1. Is there something “impossible” coming up for you this week? Spend a few minutes with Philippians 4:13 & 19, then evaluate how that impossibility can be used by God in your life to build Christlikeness.
2. Spend time this week thinking about ways that you can commit to living like Christ based on the fruit of the Spirit.
3. Read John 6:1-14 again. Providing bread for the crowds – Jesus often reached to provide. Are there ways you are involved in doing that for those around you?