The God of Limitless Possibilities, Part 1

Let's start with the question what's the one thing in your life that you marked offers impossible. Assuming you will never change his relationship your occupation or some passion for ministry. Start today on Insight for living in again tomorrow. Chuck Swindoll invite you to submit that issue.

The only one who can help you. He's the one that Jeremiah the prophet quote. Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too difficult for me to title today's message, the God of limitless possibilities. Instead of Scripture reading. Let's make this Scripture hearing listen to for verses of Scripture. Jeremiah 3217 all Lord God, behold, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm. Nothing is too difficult for you. Jeremiah 3227 behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh is anything too difficult for me. Luke 137 for nothing will be impossible with God.

Luke 1827 the things that are impossible with people are possible with God. The Lord, there are a thousand things that flashed through our minds that want to negate what we have just heard because we have been raised to be so impressed with others, then being so impressed. It is easy for us to think of you as some distant deity, sort of out of touch somehow involved in the elements above us, but verses like the ones you gave to Jeremiah and these things Jesus taught. We are discovering really are. The truth, and we come to realize that you are the God of limitless possibilities than the scales fall off.

The obstacles are removed, the mountains are made low, and the rough places plain so father overwhelm us with the truth of your revelation today and cause it to make a difference in how we think first and then in what we do.

We know that your sons coming as soon could be at any moment at the midnight hour when we would least expect.

So use what is going to be said today in our circumstances in our homes, in our very lives break through all the barriers so that for some for the first time really believe you are who you say you are and you will do what you say you will do before the midnight conference before we stand face-to-face with you.

Now our father we give because we love you. We believe that you will be honored in these gifts and you will use them in our midst and beyond us for your greater purposes and so we ask you to set them apart especially in the Savior's name pray everybody's to search the Scriptures with Chuck Swindoll. Be sure to download his searching the Scripture study by going to Insight world.org/studies Chuck titled his message, the God of limitless possibilities.

The most important thing about you is what you think about God. If you think about God is somewhat smaller than he is. You will pray smaller than you should, you will live smaller then you should you will think smaller than you ought if you think incorrectly about God.

You will live erroneously you will live a faulty life and not even know it. If your idea of God is shaped by today's opinion. You will have a skewed understanding not only of him, but of life itself. Swiss theologian Karl Barth once said, there are only two ways to attain a knowledge of God. The first is to start with man and reason upward and the second is to begin with God and accept his revelation to us.

Most of the former you know because we began with man and reason our way upward.

God becomes a God of my health and well God becomes the God of my emotional needs. The therapeutic God who stands by to serve whatever may be my desire to help me with my self-esteem or the God of impotence and indifferent sort of standing back in the gas business calamity sweep across our world sort of out of touch and without much care in a big one of our day is the God of near death experience somehow I'll meet that white light hanging between life and death and that will be my own Jesus and the better I study him and learn about him. Shall I live, the better I will realize I am my own God and 1/2 dozen other weird kind of things. Let's go back to Bart's comment.

Let's stay with the idea of letting God reveal himself in his divine revelation called the Bible.

How did that a number of years ago and found it not once, not twice, not three times but four times. God says the same thing about himself four times Jeremiah 3217. Nothing is too difficult for you.

Jeremiah 3227 is anything too difficult for me answers God sort of the other side of the same coin. Jeremiah says this about God answers this back to Jeremiah saying that's right, Mary is standing there amazed to be told that she will bear the Christ child that in fact the Messiah will be born through art and she says I don't even know a man in the angel sister her. Nothing will be impossible with God. The one who created us out of nothing will have no problem creating an embryo.

You will be able to carry the child though. You've never known a man intimately.

Mary, nothing is impossible with me than the last I found was in Luke chapter 18, where the Lord Jesus himself says the things that are impossible with people are possible with God. And you come to the conclusion that God said it, not just twice or three times but four times. It is of paramount importance.

We understand he is the God of limitless possibilities.

Stop and think what that means limitless possibilities. That means he is able to do or to accomplish anything he pleases.

He has never once faced the challenge. He knows nothing of limitations.

Nothing of boundaries. Nothing of restrictions. There is no stopping God's sake, that's great theology. But what about life well think about bring to the surface of your mind. The things that you have marked off as impossible. It may be a situation. It may be a person.

It may be a predicament and you have the outcome of the conclusion you know this is beyond me. Nobody I know would be able to work my way out of this. This just is not going to get done.

Wait a minute, wait a minute, your reasoning from man upward is too big for God. It depends on how you think about God.

If you allow God to be God and to be as powerful as in fact he is. You will have no difficulty with either worry or praying as you should or thinking and living as he would be pleased for you to do.

Luke 18 happens to be full of all kinds of impossibilities I like you to turn their is a matter of fact we haven't the time for all of them but four of them are worth our time and attention. Luke 18 begins with an impossible judge. There was a certain city in which there was a judge verse two who did not fear God and did not respect man now I've not spent much of my time in the courtroom.

But I'll tell you when I was in the courtroom.

It would bring me great comfort to know that the judge not only feared God respected people.

This land is neither. It's an impossible situation, especially for a widow who is mentioned in verse three.

There was a widow in that city and she kept coming to him, saying, give me legal protection from my opponent we not told the details, but somehow she was being threatened or about to be violated or invaded or dwelling once perhaps to be taken from her.

She needed the help of enough already and she's meeting with one who doesn't fear God and has little care for people she's in a tough spot.

I call it impossible if you don't have a judge on your side.

Are you possibly going to get the assistance you need officially. She stuck what you should do well.

Verse four tells us what happens while for a while he was unwilling look carefully, but afterward he said to himself, even though I do not fear God nor respect man yet because this widow bothers me.

I will give her legal protection list by continually coming. She wear me out. This is a judge speaking, not a husband but I know we understand we will go there.

We got a judge's got this moment coming day after day week after week the same situation the same situation finally is to live the way it reads. She will wear me out here she is again 8 o'clock and their seat is again. She is constantly there. The result is to give her the production she needed mission possible. Why because she kept coming and kept coming. This isn't about a judge in a widow. This isn't about legal protection in some part of Israel. Verse one tells us is about prayer. He was telling them a parable to show them that at all times. They ought to pray, and not to lose heart.

And this is about you. What is the need that you face is a judicial, is it virtually impossible situation because of the people who are enough already and you can't seem to bend their ear or break their heart or get their attention.

Is it some situation that you tried and tried and tried to maneuver to get into and you can't stop stop all of that start to pray if you will bother God with it, bring it to his attention every morning when you get through the day. Every lunchtime every evening meal before you go to bed every night stay on it. Stay on it. Stay on it. Guess what, the God of limitless possibilities, lest he be worn out by your frequent coming will break through and do what no man can do it either means that or its mockery that I have never known the Scriptures to mock us. In fact, he says, verse seven shall not God bring about justice for his elect who cry to him day and night. Had you done that yet mission possible would you do, there's another impossible situation. It happens to be between two individuals on the first one is the one that would normally attract our attention. But it's the second one who was the hero of the story drop down to verse 10. Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax gatherer. Don't go any further.

Back in those days if you wanted to name a rotten center you choose a tax gatherer. He was known for fraud exploitation.

He was one who was guilty of lying. He wore two hats guilty of eggs of extortion, all forms of deceit, false representation, he worked for the Roman government. But he was Jewish often and he told the Jews. He was on their side, but really he was greedy because he was overpaid for what he did because he scraped some of it off the top. It was known and they couldn't stop it. So the tax gatherer became the most hated citizen in the country so we got a Pharisee who looks so righteous and sounds so righteous and we got a tax gatherer, who is so sinful and his background is so wrong, so the two could not be more opposite, and both of them come to the temple to pray, watch closely the Pharisee stood how likely this reads verse 11, he stood and was praying to himself. Pharisees pray to themselves.

You notice that it doesn't connect with God. It connects with himself. How many drones on with all the pious words is so religious and make you vomit. Verse 11 says God I think the that I am not like other people, swindlers careful on your pronouncement on Jost but told jurors or even like this tax gatherer you imagine somebody praying like that it is sinful.

God bless lying she is greedy tax gatherer were to me it just is. His prayer were just loaded with self-righteous fact is everything you said was true about that.

Me, who is impossible what the tax gatherer media has done nothing to deserve God's time or attention. He's standing there guilty as charged. So when it's his time to pray, watch closely after the Pharisees tells God I fast twice a week and pay tithes of all that I get as if God needed to be informed of God.

You might not remember, but I fast and tie.

That's Pharisee is at its worst, but the tax gatherer standing distance away was unwilling even to lift up his eyes to heaven, but beating his breast kept saying God is, be merciful to me center. I don't deserve your favor. I have done all wrong that one could imagine. But I come humbly by faith to you.

I can't even look up into your face impossible for somebody that unrighteous that deserving of punishment to get God's attention know this mission possible.

This is possible. Look at verse 14. These are Jesus words, if you have a red letter edition. These are in red. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other.

Why because everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled the who humbles himself shall be exalted.

That's the way God works when you think like God. You see, like you here like God, you sniff out Pharisaism a block away and you are so impressed that this worthless center comes just like he is and hides nothing saying here I am, warts and all the merciful God before we go further, few tax gatherers in this gathering today. Of course there are of course we are.

We need the reminder of Psalm 103 verse 12. As far as the east is from West so far has he removed our transgressions from us and partly great, aren't we grateful he's buried them in the deepest sea and he will never go fishing for if I could put on the screen behind me that the life you have lived and the sins that you have committed or I have committed the things that have marked our lives when we were in the flesh walking away from.

In fact, running from God.

We would all have red faces, but as far as East is from West when we come to him in humility. He removes them all from his mission possible.

Not for the Pharisee, but for the worthless, humble center comes just as he just as he.

The third group is one that you will find interest in not one person, but several. It's a small group of little children are wonderful. They're busy there walked all over sandals jerking on his role picking her nose there all over the place out-of-control day. There preoccupied with their little world.

It is terrific it it it is children at their best, just innocent little busy kiddos and notice what happens verse 15 they were bringing their even their little ones their babies to him in order that he might teach them or touch them. And when the disciples saw it, they began rebuking the ghetto kids here, he's too busy. The king of tanks for the stars in space is making major decisions about eternity. This is the Messiah out of here you Eugene Peterson's as they shoot them off.

Jesus then called back and said what this children alone don't get between them and me these children of the kingdom's pride and joy, marked this unless you accept God's kingdom and the simplicity of a child you will never get mission possible inadequate small people with their childlike ways just as important to him as the most officious president or Royal king and his court take heart.

If he's got time for the little children and says the kingdom belongs to such as these. Believe me, he's got room for those of us who struggle with feelings of inadequacy disability, aging mission possible see with God. There are no little people in impossible judge in impossible tax gatherer in impossible circle of little kiddos about an possible individual who was just too big for his britches a rich ruler who appears before Jesus. Verse 18 good teacher, what shall I do to obtain eternal life. Emphasis on doing what you trying to do your way and this is about belief, humility, trusting me back to Nielsen with a number of things in the management ranks says what done all of that, what else find what you sell everything you have and give it away and then will see how we come out.

Jesus is saying stop trusting in the tangible things and just cling to me you don't own them. They own you released in many respects today's message from Chuck Swindoll represents the culmination of our daily studies together in 2021, and there's much more Chuck wants to share on this topic I'll urge you to join us again for Friday's edition of Insight for living. We have another half hour to dig deeper into the God of limitless possibilities and to learn more about this ministry. Please visit us online@insightworld.org.

Well we sat down with Chuck Swindoll and her studios for a full-length one-on-one conversation. In addition to recording his voice. We had the video cameras rolling as well and the 30 minute conversation has just been posted online. So you can enjoy the entire exchange.

If you like to watch this engaging conversation.

Simply follow the link@insight.org/conversation with Chuck. You've shown us that our view of God's competence is capability will determine the course of our lives. That's right Dave, I believe with all my heart that God is not only being but he's the God of limitless possibilities. Think about that my convictions are founded on biblical truth, I'm thinking. For example, of Luke 1827 where we read the things that are impossible with people or possible with God in the same thought is in Jeremiah, the weeping prophet wrote this. Nothing is too difficult for you. Jeremiah 3217. In addition to these biblical affirmations I have also bear witness to the God of limitless possibilities of seeing his greatness at work in my own life again and again. For these reasons, and so many more.

I'm compelled to pursue what many people deem impossible.

That is to obey the great command of our Savior Jesus and make disciples of all the nations. That's right, all the nations, would you be willing to join us in this journey.

In recent days and months.

You've heard me talk about what we call vision 195.

So this is not new to you is the passion of our hearts to bring insight for living to all 195 countries of our world. I confess it's an audacious dream in my own strength. Admittedly, it's impossible, but I base my confidence on the God of limitless impossibilities in the last two years. God is accomplished the impossible.

He's guided insight for living ministries through a global pandemic as well as a combative national election in a season of isolation. We never experienced until now. During this time. We kept every single radio station and we have not missed a broadcast and my friend. I believe our best days still lie before us so let's trust this God of impossibilities, shall we, let's pull together and let's offer our personal resources to tell of God's amazing grace and all the countries of the world. That's 195 of them. Please follow God's prompting and give generously whatever God is placed on your heart that and do that today.

Thanks so much for standing alongside us getting in touch and responding to Chuck Swindoll's easy pick the method that's best for you. First, you can call us listening in the United States dial 1-800-772-8888 or it may be quickest and most efficient to give it our secure website insight.org/donate many are looking to find a resource that will guide your spiritual walk this year.

They point you to one of the best resources available through insight for living I'm referring to the Swindoll study Bible.

This Bible offering the new living translation contains practical insight from Chuck ideas for application and a wealth of background information gives you historical context for what you're reading.

You can choose the font size in your favorite cover. When you call us listening in the US, call 1-800-772-8888 or go to insight.org/offer. Join us again when Chuck Swindoll describes what he calls the God of limitless possibilities Friday on insight for living. The preceding message that God of limitless possibilities was copyrighted in 2001 and 2019 and the sound recording was copyrighted in 2019 by Charles R. Swindoll. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited