Take your Bible if you would and turn with me to the book of Ephesians in chapter three. And I just want to be, try to encourage you this evening from the scriptures about our life in the Lord. I want to preach on this thought for a few moments. God is able. Do you believe that? I do too. I just find it easier to say than live. God is able. Notice in Ephesians chapter three in verse 20, now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that worketh in us, unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. Let's pray. Father, thank you for this opportunity to be together tonight. Thank you for this grand church. Pray that you would bless our time in your word, Holy Spirit. Would you take your word and speak into our lives and into our hearts tonight and help us to see truth that will encourage us, instruct us where we need to be convicted. Would you convict us? And Lord, I pray that at the end of this time, we would learn things and apply things that would make us more pleasing as we serve you. Help us, we pray, in Jesus' name, amen. When the Israelites came up out of Egypt, they came up out of Egypt victoriously and rejoicing. Why, God had been so good to deliver them from that horrible life that they were leading. And not only did God deliver them, but God had enriched them. God had moved on the Egyptian people and the Egyptians had loaded the Israelites down with precious, precious things that were of great value. And as they came up, they were singing and praising and rejoicing. Man, there was just joy in their hearts until God led them right down to the shores of the Red Sea. And please understand, it was the Red Sea, not the Reed Sea. It wasn't a swampy place that you could walk across. It was the sea. It was deep. Don't we sing deep and wide? I'm sorry, deep and wide. And they couldn't cross by themselves. Now, that's not enough to understand their predicament. Understand this, the sea was in front of them and there was no way they had boats. There was no material there in that desert area that would have allowed them to build boats or bridges. They couldn't proceed that direction. You say, well, they could have turned to their right. No, to their right was the Sinai Wilderness to the north. And though God was eventually going to lead them through the Sinai desert and wilderness, He would also miraculously provide for them in that place. That wasn't now and they didn't think they could cross that and that was not an option to go to the right. They couldn't go to their left because a few miles to the south of where they were was a tremendous Egyptian fortress called Migdal. Migdal held the largest troops of the Egyptian army outside of the capital city. And it was a defensive position. There is no way that these untrained shepherds could have been trained quick enough and had a powerful enough army to break through Migdal. They would have been crushed by the army in that place. And let's add to it that behind them now is rushing upon them the Egyptian army under their generals, and they have that terrible engine of war now, the iron-willed chariot, and they are about to be crushed against the sea, and their rejoicing turns to complaining, and they look to Moses, and they're angry with Moses, and bitter with Moses, so bitter that they say this. They said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? Wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt? Is this not the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness." By the way, they didn't say any of that. They're mad now and they're blaming, and that's what happens sometimes when people get angry and they're in a difficult circumstance. As a matter of fact, they were pleading with Moses to bring them out of Egypt, to deliver them from Egypt. They were crying out to the Lord because of the merciless treatment of the taskmasters. They weren't saying, let us alone, leave us here, it's a good life. They were saying, God, get us out of here. And it was all wonderful. until it wasn't. I love Moses' response to them. He says back to them, And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still. Let me interpret that in the Edwards English. That means he turned to them and said, He goes on and he says, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will show to you today. For the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you shall see them again no more forever. And in that moment, under the direction of God, and because of the power of God, Moses holds forth that staff. And what no one knew was going to happen, happened. And I, in my mind a wind came forward and blew the water up on the right and blew the water up on the left and the wind was so strong that as it crossed that mucky, miry seabed it dried it out to a solid path. Sometimes in my mind, I see about a hundred foot swath. I don't think it was that. I think there were a million Egyptians, flocks and herds. I think God maybe pushed it back a mile that way and a mile that way so that all of them could cross over on dry ground. And they did. And they got to the other side. And as soon as the last Israelite and the last sheep and the last goat were on the other side and safe, pouring into that same dried gap is that Egyptian army. And when the Egyptian army is in the middle of that sea, God just simply brings it back together. And exactly what the scripture said is true. The Israelites never saw those Egyptians again forever. And no doubt there was an Israelite standing over that said, well, I knew that's what God would do. I figured he would just open up the sea for, no, he didn't. He didn't know it. And they stood there amazed. And not long after that, they began to sing the great song of deliverance led by Moses and Miriam. And God was good. Now I'll tell you what their problem was. Their problem was that when they walked down to that sea under God's direction, and they understood the circumstances that surrounded them, they couldn't see a way out. and because they couldn't perceive of how this could be resolved. They couldn't perceive of a way to go forward. They couldn't perceive victory being theirs. They got a complaining and defeated and discouraged spirit, a blaming spirit because they couldn't see how. You know what they did? They decided that because they couldn't figure it out, neither could God. And in a sense, they neatly folded God up into a box and said, well, I guess we're just dead now because we are in a predicament. We have circumstances that no one and nothing can fix. But here's what I'm here to tell you. God is able. And I don't care whether it's their circumstance then or our circumstance now, God is able. And you and I make a tremendous mistake in our lives when we limit what God can do because we can't see how it can be done. I want to give you three thoughts tonight with that being our introduction. I want to tell you first of all about the great possibilities of our God. Second, I want to talk about the great poverty of our minds. And third, the great purpose of our lives. Here's number one, the great possibilities of our God. Again, I look at verse 20. Now unto him that is able. That word able is an interesting word. It is the Greek word dunami. That word dunami, I'm told, I'm not smart enough to know, but I read it on the internet, so it must be true. That word dunami has been brought over into our English language literally as dynamite, because it indicates something of great power. If you go look it up in Mr. Strong's concordance, Mr. Strong will say that that word able means very literally to be possible. As we read that and understand it, here's the meaning. It is now unto Him, God, with whom everything is possible. Now unto Him, God, to whom nothing is impossible. Do you believe that tonight? Do you believe that there's nothing impossible with God? Do you believe that everything is possible with God? Again, we know that that is true, and those words fall easy off our tongue, but those words are hard to live when your toes are standing in the Red Sea. Those words are hard to live and guide your life when you're facing a crisis, facing a difficulty, facing a circumstance that you don't know how to fix or how to go around. There was a day when there was a young lady, a young maiden, a young virgin maiden in Israel. And God sent His angel to this young lady, a godly and pure young lady. And the angel comes and he says to Mary, hey, God has a message for you. You're going to bear a son. And Mary, not sinfully, not doubting, but because she did not understand, says back to the angel in essence, well, you just don't understand, Mr. Angel. I'm sure you're a good guy. But you see, there's a biological process. And you can't have a baby without that biological process. And I've not been part of that process. I'm a pure and virgin young lady, so I can't have a child. And I love what the angel inspired of God says to her. Listen, the angel answered and said unto her, the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee. and the power of the highest shall overshadow thee. And therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God, and behold thy cousin Elizabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For with God nothing shall be impossible. Do you believe that tonight? Mary, I want you to understand that I understand there's a biological process, but you see, we serve a supernatural God. God created the laws of nature. God created the biological processes. He is not governed by them, He governs them. And anytime our God wants to transcend or suspend the laws of nature, God may at His prerogative do just that, for nothing is impossible with God. And by the way, there is no Mother Nature, but there is a Creator God. And so God says, I'm going to send my spirit. My spirit is going to overshadow thee. And as my spirit overshadows thee, Mary, he's going to place a child in your womb that is my son. And when it's done supernaturally, that child is going to develop as a child would normally develop in your womb. And you're going to give birth to my son. You say, preacher, do you actually believe that? Yes. By faith. Preacher, can you explain that? Nope. Only by faith. But if God says it, it happened. And by the way, God is not limited to overshadowing someone with the Holy Spirit. And God says to Mary, you've got a cousin up in the north country. And that cousin of yours, she's beyond childbearing age and her husband is for sure. But I want you to know that your cousin Elizabeth is now with child six months because I can do it this way and I can do it that way because with me, nothing, nothing, nothing is impossible. How dare we fold God up and put him in our box and tell him what he can't do in our lives? There's nothing impossible in our lives with God. There's nothing impossible in our world with God. There's nothing impossible in our ministry with God. There's nothing impossible in our homes with God, for God is able. See, secondly, our problem is the great poverty of our minds. Notice what that verse goes on to say. unto him that is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think." God's ability and possibility are infinitely above our own. It's above our asking because it's above our thinking. And one of the goals of our lives ought to be to think like God thinks. As a matter of fact, we will never ask like God wants us to ask until we think like God wants us to think. Consider with me for a moment how many times and in how many ways God says to us our thought process is wrong. He says to us in Isaiah 55, for my thoughts are not your thoughts. Neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. God's thoughts are higher than ours. God says in James chapter four in verses two and three, you lust and have not, you kill and desire to have, you cannot obtain, you fight and war, yet you have not because you ask not and you ask and receive not because you ask amiss that you may consume it upon your lust. You know what my problems is? I like me and I want what me wants. I have all my life wanted a red Corvette. But I've stopped praying for it. I don't think God intends to give me a red Corvette. As a matter of fact, I think I could get in it at my age, but I don't think I could get out of it any longer. So God's wise not to give me one. I'm being silly, but our prayers are wrong because we don't think right. Then God comes along with the ultimate statement and he says to us, let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. Hey Edwards, I want you to have the mind of Christ. How do you have the mind of Christ? How do I think like Jesus Christ? I had a missionary friend all the way back in Bible college. When we graduated, I went the pastoral route, he went the missionary route, and he was one of those missionaries that stayed on the field and never took a furlough. We just didn't have a chance to be together. He called me 20 years into the ministry, and he said, hey, I'm coming home on furlough, and I said, boy, I want you to come to our missions conference, and we'll have some time, we'll catch up, and we'll just talk about old times and talk about what God's doing now. Long story short, came to the conference, we cleared a little bit of time, went out to breakfast together. And I only take people to the very finest restaurants. And so we went to IHOP and IHOP, we get the menus and you ever see somebody, you know that the wheels are turning, but they're not making connection. And I looked at him and I said, Jack, if you don't see anything you want on the menu week, there's another great restaurant right across the street. We can go over to Waffle House and go over there. And he says, Brother Edwards, no, he said, I know this is gonna sound silly to you, but we've been in Spain for 20 years. I speak Spanish, I think in Spanish, we live in Spanish, and I've been home three weeks and I'm just finding it hard to think in English. And I can't understand what rooty tooty fresh and fruity is. I said, Jack, nobody knows what Rudy Tootie Fresh and Fruity is. It's different every time it comes out of the kitchen. But in that moment, the Holy Spirit spoke into my heart. You know what your problem is, Edwards? You've thought in Mike for so long and so much that it's hard to think in Jesus. And the passion of your life has to change to be to change your thought process, to change your desires, to change your perspective, to change your understanding away from Edwards to what Jesus sees and what Jesus thinks. And immediately my response in my heart was how? I'm trapped in this body. I am Mike Edwards. How do I stop thinking like what I am? I don't know how to change that. And here's what God showed me. Look at it again, verse 20. Now unto him that is able. That's that word dunami, great power, possibility to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the, what's the word? Power. You know what the word is in the Greek? Dunami. The ability of God, that power rests where? Where is that power? It worketh in us. It's in me. If you're saved, it's in you. February of 1975, I got saved. I had a Bible and there at my couch I prayed and asked the Lord to save me. And beyond my vision and beyond my understanding, the Spirit of God pierced my heart, came into my heart, took up residence in my heart, and lives with me today, since that time till now, persuading me, wooing me, teaching me, encouraging me, and showing me how to think like Jesus thinks. My great problem is, I think I've got to summon it up. I think somehow I've got to figure it out. I've got to do it myself. Maybe if I clench my teeth, when at all times the Spirit of God is there to renew my mind through the reading of the Word of God, to show me truth, to show me the way, and instead of resisting Him and instead of grieving the Spirit of God and quenching the Spirit of God with my stubbornness, if I would just learn to yield to the Spirit Spirit of God. I could begin to think like the Lord. Let me illustrate it this way. Several years ago, many years ago now, we had lived out in the country. I told Preacher we lived the dream. We just lived on a dirt road off a dirt road and we loved it. But my boys grew up and we heated with a wood stove and those seven cords of wood that were so joyous to cut with them were not as joyous to cut by myself. And so we moved into town and I don't know about your house, but I know my wife is fastidious as a housekeeper. It is immaculate. Somebody called and said, hey, we're gonna drop a meal off. And what that means is, is we're gonna drop a meal off, but we'd also like to fellowship for a moment. So my wife went into hyper drive, we've got to get the house ready. Look at it, look at it. I said, honey, we just moved. No, no, no, it's got to be right. So I said, okay, you clean up here. I'm going to run downstairs. I'll clean up down there and make it look as presentable as we can. At our house, the living sweeper, vacuum sweeper, the good one is upstairs. The one that is next to death is downstairs. And so I go downstairs and I'm going to clean up and I get the vacuum sweeper out. I've put stuff away. I unroll the cord and the phone rings and I run over and answer the phone. It's a little issue I've got to take care of. It takes five minutes or so and take care of it. I go back to the vacuum sweeper, hit the button, nothing. And by this time I'm a little aggravated and I think to myself, all that we've moved and all that we've done and she brought this broken vacuum sweeper. That makes no sense. And I yelled out very lovingly. I said to her, hey, I mean, hey, darling. This vacuum sweeper doesn't even work. And she hollers back down to me, did you plug it in? And I thought, does she think I'm a moron? Did I plug it in? Oh. Bzzz. Silly story. Accurate picture. We walk around. Thinking we've got to summon up, walking with God all by ourselves. When all along God knew we didn't have the ability ourselves and he placed within us his Holy Spirit. And if we will yield to that Holy Spirit and follow the Spirit and walk in the Spirit, we will be able to think like our Lord. And when we think like our Lord, our asking will change and we will learn how to ask according to the will of God. And God will answer our prayers and we will be amazed at what God does through our lives. That last phrase there, the power that worketh in us. You know that phrase as well. If you went to James chapter 5 and verse 16, the word there for worketh is the Greek word intergeo. You'd find it in James 5.16 as the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man. There is an effectual, fervent power working in our hearts to bring us to the point where we can think like the Lord and ask like the Lord and see incredibly difficult circumstances, things that we would think impossible without the help of God changed in our life. We can see obstacles moved. We can see hearts changed. We can see things that we thought were dead live again and grow in our life and in our experience. Here's the last thought, the great purpose of our lives. Notice what it says. Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. We live in strange times. And we live in a culture of Christianity these days that basically says God exists for the purposes of man, God exists to be good to man. God exists so that you can be healthy. God exists so that you can be wealthy. God exists so that you can be happy. Hey, that may fill auditoriums, it's just not biblical. We do not exist so that God has an object he can be good on. We exist so that God can get glory. Our purpose in life is to bring glory to God. That's why sometimes He will march us right down to the Red Sea where we have to depend upon Him, where we have to look upon Him, where we cannot manufacture a result, where we've got to see Him work because He wants to get glory from our lives. I struggle with that, not struggle with, but I question that throughout all ages. And I've come up with two things that I think that can mean. I think it can mean throughout every age of your life. A moment ago, some teenagers sang and boy, did they do a great job. And I want you to know that God wants to be glorified in the lives of teenagers. They're not throwaway years. It's not time to sow wild oats. Wild oats do come up. You don't want to reap the harvest of it. but God wants to be glorified in the lives of teenagers. God wants for them to think like Jesus thinks and ask like Jesus would have them to ask. I think God wants to be glorified in the lives of our children. I'm glad you have a Christian school. I rejoice in those who homeschool because I believe God wants them to learn the truths of his word and the truths of his person because God wants to be glorified. Jesus brought the children to him. And certainly they can bring glory to him. I think God wants to be glorified in the lives of the busy young couples in this room, raising their children and struggling with their budgets and all the busyness of their schedules. God didn't give you children in that life so that you could take time off from God. He gave you all that you have so that he could be seen as glorified through all of that. And let me add this, I don't think there ever comes a stage and age in life where we retire from bringing glory to God. I think God wants to be glorified in the lives of us who have landing strips on the top of our head. I think God wants to be glorified when our joints hurt. I think God wants to be glorified when sometimes we're ill and don't feel well. There's no time that God cannot get glory from our life. And even in those difficult moments, standing at the Red Sea, God wants to be glorified in our lives. Not only the ages of our life, but how about the ages of our world? God did the impossible in creation. He spoke everything that is around us into existence. God did the impossible for Noah. Somebody said to me once, well, I could have figured out how to build a boat. Yeah, maybe you could have figured out how to build a boat. I wanna see you get two of each animal and seven of some special ones down to the boat and on it. God did the impossible for Abraham. God did the impossible for Moses and Israel. God did the impossible for Mary. God did the impossible through the apostles. And then along about, I don't know, 30, 40, 50 years ago, God stopped doing the impossible. Or did he? Or did he? We decided as a race of humans that God was dead. We decided that God didn't have any business in our public square. And we decided that, hey, we had come to quite a place in our lives where maybe we could manage this world and our life without him. And the truth is we kind of excused him from our lives, but God is still able to do the impossible. Our great sin is limiting what God can do. Now let me bring it home and talk to you in this room. What have you decided God can't do in your life? What have you put God in your little box and said, Lord, I love you. And maybe there'll be some time I'll bring you out, you know, occasionally and just kind of polish the box up a little bit, but you can't do this. Some of you have children that are away from the Lord. And you've decided that, Man, we taught them everything, we knew how to teach them and we've prayed for them and they're just, stop it. Stop it. Don't you dare give up. Don't you dare come to the place where God can't do that. God can't work that out. Some of you have health issues. and you've decided there's nothing that can be done, and it can't ever be different, stop it, stop limiting God. Some of you have financial issues, and you've just decided it's so deep, it's so bad, and the economy's so bad, and it's so hard that there's just nothing, stop it. Stop limiting God. Well, I'd like to have a husband who really loved the Lord, and who really led our home, but my husband, no, he could never, stop it. Stop telling God what He can and cannot do. Instead, get on your face and plead with God to work and to change you to make it possible. Ask God to work. Oh, you just don't know my boss, preacher. I work in an office where it is so lost it could never be found. Stop telling God he can't work in your boss's life. Stop telling God he can't change the people you work with. Stop telling God he can't change your business. Stop telling God he can't solve the finances and start asking him to do so. Stop telling God he can't use you in the ministry. Stop telling God he can't build that class, he can't reach that family. Stop telling God he can't solve that issue and he can't change that heart. Stop telling God what he can't do. That's what Israel did. Israel said, well, you brought us here and there's no way we can go forward from here. And God said, really? Watch. And wouldn't it be a wonderful day in your life when that thing you thought was so beyond God ever doing, because you got on your face and humbled yourself and said, God, I don't have any answers, but I have a desire for you to work. And I'm asking you, change my heart, change my perspective, change me so that I am not an obstacle for you working. And God, though I cannot conceive of it, I can't see how it can happen. I don't know what could possibly bring it to pass. God, I'm trusting you. God, will you work? And I think my Bible says, with God, nothing shall be impossible. And I think my Bible says the greatest obstacle is that he can do exceeding abundantly above all I ask or think. I think the problem is I don't think right, so I don't ask right. And I think the problem may be that when I get in difficult circumstances, instead of letting God get glory, I fold God up and tell Him it can't be done. So just leave it alone and let it be. God is able. God is not just able in Moses' life. God is able in your life, in your home, in your workplace, in your kids, in your body, in your mind. God is able. Would you pray with me? Father, would you help us to see truth tonight? And Lord, I pray just now for people who have basically come to a place where they've decided there's something beyond your ability in their life. Maybe they have children or grandchildren that don't live for you and they've just decided that they could never be brought around. Stop it. Maybe they've decided that their home could never be the home that they picture and want it to be living for you. Maybe they've decided there's a habit that controls their heart and there's just never gonna be a way where they can be free of that. Stop it. Start asking God to open that sea. And when God does, and when God works, give him the glory God help us. Before I conclude let me just ask this. How many would say just by an uplifted hand preacher? There's been something in my life that I've just kind of given up on. I've just kind of decided God couldn't do it. But tonight God has spoken to my heart and I'm going to ask Him to work, and I'm going to ask Him to change me so as I am not an obstacle to Him working, God can do what I need Him to do. Would you just lift your hand up? God's spoken to my heart. God bless you. Many, many hands across the room. God, you've seen our hearts. You've seen our hands. And Lord, we are willing for you to get glory through our lives, even in the most difficult times. Would you work? And would you show us your great power, God opened the sea that stands before us, I pray in Jesus' name, amen. Pastor. Piano's gonna play. If God's touched your heart tonight, I invite you to come to an altar. God's already been working on my heart. Will you come maybe and just spend some time with the Lord? God is able. He's able. We had multiple examples to try to hit you where you were, but God touched your heart tonight and told you what it was that maybe you've given up on, maybe you're worried about, maybe you're struggling with. May you give it to God tonight. He is able. I love what he said. Did God stop being able 30 years ago? No, he's still able tonight. By faith, we can go forward and see him do great things, even today, even this month, even this year. And I pray for you tonight as you spend some time with the Lord, that you'll give it to him, whatever it is that you need to tonight. Amen. You may be seated. And we thank our speaker tonight. What a blessing that was. And thank you for the other words are coming out. and flying all this way and being with us this weekend. It sure was a help to me and I know to many others. Let's show a video at this time of some upcoming events and then we'll be on our way tonight. The 2025 Iwana Grand Prix will be on Wednesday, February 12th. This is a great time for the kids to race their Pinewood Derby cars and compete for the fastest time and best design. If you have not purchased your car kit, please reach out to me to get one soon. Join us for this time of food, fun, and fellowship. Early enrollment will be open on February 15th for current school families and church members for the 25-26 school year at Grandview Christian Academy. If you would like to enroll your child at Grandview Christian Academy, please visit our website at grandviewacademy.com. The Best Years Club will have a Valentine Banquet on Friday, February 14th at 5 p.m. in the gym. There will be a delicious meal with dessert, pictures taken, and special music from the men and women's ensembles and more. The cost is $15. You will not want to miss out, so be sure to sign up at the welcome desk today. If this is your first or second time here, we want to answer your questions and get to know you. Please fill out the Connect card in the pew in front of you and bring it to guest services as you exit the auditorium. We would love to meet you and you will receive a gift card. Have a great week and we'll see you Wednesday night at seven. Okay, well, hope you have a great evening and God bless you, you are dismissed.