Monthly Archives: May 2020

Mamma’s Genuine Faith

Sunday Morning Sermons

Momma’s Genuine Faith

Pastor Don Carpenter / General

2 Timothy 1:1–5

The Heritage Tree, Cape Perpetua, Central Oregon coast. This giant spruce is called The Heritage Tree because it stands almost 200 feet tall and because it started to grow as a seedling about the same time Martin Luther was pounding his theses on the church door at Wittenberg. What’s really fascinating about this tree, however, is that there’s this tunnel about 3 feet in diameter that runs through its base, making it appear that the tree is standing, or rooted into the ground on a tripod. This tunnel, this empty space running through the root “fingers” or buttresses is the space where a nurse log once was located. This giant Sitka spruce began its life as a seedling on a nurse log.

Nurse logs were once great, giant trees themselves. Then they died and fell to the earth. The log became a nursery for an entirely new ecosystem of life. With the nurse log down on the forest floor, light, as well as rain, now streams through the canopy. In such a high-moisture environment, the nurse log decays rapidly, and soon the seeds of mighty trees, caught in the mossy layer that now grows on its surface, sprout and take root. As they grow larger, their roots will surround the girth of the nurse log, and the tree will shoot up to take its place in the forest, and soon, strong and viable on its own, the tree stands alone, and the nurse log, utterly decomposed, has disappeared. Such has been the case with the 500-year-old Heritage Tree on Cape Perpetua.

This sermon this morning is about being a person, or a church, that nurtures and trains others who will follow, passing on our teachings and traditions, stepping aside so that others may grow in our place, making use of what we have learned.

___

We have all heard the cliché: “The Hand that rocks the cradle rules the world.” Many men and women grow up and develop much of their faith and world view based upon what their mothers have taught them. Sometimes wayward children do not share the faith of their mother. It has been said that some good wombs carry bad children. This evening, while we acknowledge that faith is ultimately a personal choice, we will see what mothers can do to help their faith to be contagious and to be caught by their children.

Our passage this morning is probably one of the greatest praises for Godly mothering in the Bible. Young Timothy was a great joy to the Apostle Paul because of his fervent spirit and deep convictions. Upon reflection, the Apostle Paul realizes that Timothy’s grandmother, Lois had that unfeigned faith. Lois passed that unfeigned faith to her daughter Eunice, Timothy’s mother. Eunice then passed that unfeigned faith to her son Timothy. How can that faith cross over generations? The faith like that is contagious is a special kind of faith. Contagious faith is unfeigned faith. Let us study this truth together and discover the incredible blessings that occur when a mother’s faith becomes contagious. 

Genuine Faith is Contagious

 A. Definition of unfeigned 

  1. Anupokritos= without hypocrisy sincere 

  2. Hupokrisis= Hypocrisy, “play acting”

 B. Faith that is pure and without play acting will leave a lasting impression.

  1. Because faith produces the evidence of actions

Hebrews 11:1 KJV

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

  2. This faith is seen by children and grand children

2 Timothy 1:5 KJV

When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee also.

  3. This faith is seen by an unsaved spouse

1 Corinthians 7:14 KJV

For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband: else were your children unclean; but now are they holy.

1 Corinthians 7:16 KJV

For what knowest thou, O wife, whether thou shalt save thy husband? or how knowest thou, O man, whether thou shalt save thy wife?

Genuine Faith Produces Genuine Love

1 Timothy 1:5 KJV

Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned:

  A. Selfless love

 Romans 12:9-10

 9 Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good. 10 Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another; 

  1. Without dissimulation= anaupokritos= without hypocrisy 

  2. Preferring the other over self

  Philippians 2:3-4

  3 Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. 4 Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. 

 B. Obedient love

  1 Peter 1:22

 22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently: 

  1. Purifies the soul

  2. Strengthens your personal assurance of Salvation

 1 John 3:18-21

 18 My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth. 19 And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him. 20 For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. 21 Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. 

Genuine Love Produces Genuine Wisdom

James 3:17

17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. 

 A. Pure= not contaminated 

 B. Peaceable

 C. Gentle= “Expresses that considerateness that looks humanly and reasonably at the facts of the case.”

 D. Easy to be intreated= “To be persuaded, compliant”

 E. Full of mercy= “An outward manifestation of pith”

 F. Full of good fruits

 G. Without partiality= not to be parted, without intercession

 H. Without hypocrisy= anupokristos 

__________________

 “So God Made a Mother”

He needed someone tender enough to cherish the thrill of a baby growing within her body & yet someone strong enough to survive the pain of childbirth, so God made a Mother.

He needed someone to take care of that precious baby throughout the night & still take care of her home & the rest of her family throughout the day, on minimal sleep, so God made a Mother.

He needed someone hard enough to say no to her children when she needed to & soft enough to breaks the rules at times & treat her kids to what they want, so God made a Mother.

He needed someone who could be in two places at one time & with eyes in the back of their head, so God made a Mother.

He needed someone stern enough to paddle a little behind when it was called for & yet someone tender enough to heal a skinned leg with a Band-Aid & a hug & kiss, so God made a Mother.

He needed someone with calloused knees, calloused from the hours spent there in prayer for her family, so God made a Mother.

He needed a theologian to share the gospel, a psychologist to deal with teens, an entomologist for those insect collections, a botanist for those leaf collections, a professor for those late night homework sessions, & a physician to always know what’s wrong, so God made a Mother.

He needed someone with a tough enough heart to show her child tough love & yet someone with the patience of Job & a soft heart to show trust to that child, so God made a Mother.

He needed someone with a heart that would always hold a place for that child & yet have hands that would eventually open up & let that child go to find their place in this world, so God made a Mother.

He needed someone who would have the grace to welcome that child that had made a mistake back into the fold, so God made a Mother.

He knew He needed someone to watch over us as we made our way through this life, so God made a Mother.

Kenny Richardson

Exported from Logos Bible Software, 6:43 AM 10 May, 2020.

Papers Please!

Wednesday Evening Sermons

Papers Please!

Pastor Don Carpenter / General

Strangers that do not belong are viewed with suspicion and mistrust. Often when crossing the borders from one country to another, the guards want to see your papers. They want to know three things: who are you, what are you doing here, and where did you come from?  

As we continue our study through 1 Peter entitled “Not From Around Here: The Complicated Life of a Sojourner” we come upon a section in chapter two where Peter helps us answer this very question. This is how we can answer the wary world trying to understand what actually makes us tick. This is what we could say to the spiritual guard that would demand,

“PAPERS PLEASE!”

Who Are You ?

1 Peter 2:9 KJV

But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:

Chosen Generation

show chosen wheel

eklego (?????????, 1586), “to pick out, select,” means, in the middle voice, “to choose for oneself,” not necessarily implying the rejection of what is not chosen, but “choosing” with the subsidiary ideas of kindness or favor or love11 W. E. Vine, Merrill F. Unger, and William White Jr., Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words (Nashville, TN: T. Nelson, 1996), 100.

“Generation” is from a Greek word meaning “a race, a body with a common life and descent.” It does not mean here a group of individuals living within the span of a lifetime.11 Kenneth S. Wuest, Wuest’s Word Studies from the Greek New Testament: For the English Reader, vol. 11 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), 56.  

Royal Priesthood

Revelation 1:5–6 KJV

And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, 

And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

 ?????????, ?, ??; ?????????, ??: pertaining to a king—‘royal, kingly.’

The word “royal” is the translation of the Greek word for “king.” The Levitical priesthood were only priests. Believers in this dispensation are king-priests, associated with the Lord Jesus who is a priest after the order of Melchisedec, a king-priest.11 Kenneth S. Wuest, Wuest’s Word Studies from the Greek New Testament: For the English Reader, vol. 11 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), 56.

Didymus the Blind: Under the old dispensation, the priesthood and the kingship were two different things. No one could be both a king and a priest. But afterwards came the gospel, which united these two offices in Christ. From this it follows that the people whom he has chosen will be both royal and priestly at the same time. Some people wonder how it is possible, seeing that we are called from all the nations on earth, for us to be regarded as one holy people. The answer to this is that although we are from many different nations, the fact that we have all repented of our sins and accepted a common will and a common mind gives those who have repented one doctrine and one faith. When there is a soul and heart common to all believers, then they are called one people. Commentary on 1 Peter.11 Gerald Bray, ed., James, 1-2 Peter, 1-3 John, Jude, Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2000), 87.

Holy Nation

The word “holy” in the Greek text means literally “set apart for the service of Deity.11 Kenneth S. Wuest, Wuest’s Word Studies from the Greek New Testament: For the English Reader, vol. 11 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), 56.show Holy wheel

Deuteronomy 7:6 KJV

For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth.

Peculiar People

The word “peculiar” here is used in a way not often seen today. The Greek word means literally “to make around,” that is, to make something and then to surround it with a circle, thus indicating ownership. The same verb is used in the Septuagint translation of Isaiah 43:21 which reads, “This people have I formed for myself.” The word “peculiar” today usually means “odd, strange.” But it is not so used here. The Greek word speaks of the unique, private, personal ownership of the saints by God. Each saint is God’s unique possession just as if that saint were the only human being in existence.11 Kenneth S. Wuest, Wuest’s Word Studies from the Greek New Testament: For the English Reader, vol. 11 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), 56–57.

Luis Palau tells of a woman in Peru whose life was radically transformed by the power of Christ. Rosario was her name. She was a terrorist, a brute of a woman who was an expert in several martial arts. In her terrorist activities she had killed twelve policemen. When Luis conducted a crusade in Lima, she learned of it and, being incensed at the message of the gospel, made her way to the stadium to kill Luis. Inside the stadium, as she contemplated how to get to him, she began to listen to the message he preached on hell. She fell under conviction for her sins and embraced Christ as her Savior. Ten years later, Luis met this convert for the first time. She had by then assisted in the planting of five churches; was a vibrant, active witness and worker in the church; and had founded an orphanage that houses over one thousand children.1

1 Michael P. Green, ed., Illustrations for Biblical Preaching: Over 1500 Sermon Illustrations Arranged by Topic and Indexed Exhaustively, Revised edition of: The expositor’s illustration file. (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1989).

What Are You Doing Here?

…that ye should shew forth the praises...

Show forth praises.The words “show forth” in the Greek text refer to a spoken message.11 Kenneth S. Wuest, Wuest’s Word Studies from the Greek New Testament: For the English Reader, vol. 11 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), 57.These praises should be directed to the One who called you.The word “praises” is not the translation of the Greek word customarily used to indicate praise, but of one which means “excellencies, gracious dealings, glorious attributes.” 11 Kenneth S. Wuest, Wuest’s Word Studies from the Greek New Testament: For the English Reader, vol. 11 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), 57.

Ephesians 5:8 KJV

For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light:

You were called out of darkness.You were called into His light. The word “into” refers here not merely to locality, but to a result, that of the saints being participants of the light that God is in His nature. We are made creatures of light.

Kenneth S. Wuest, Wuest’s Word Studies from the Greek New Testament: For the English Reader, vol. 11 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), 57.

It can be uncomfortable form time to time to come to church and be confronted with people who have different tastes than we do, have been raised in different cultures, or are at different stages of Christian maturity than we are. One thing we should know. If you are saved and they are saved, you both are part of a chosen generation, both part of a royal priesthood, both part of an holy, set apart nation, and you are both peculiar, or owned by God. Therefore let us unite shoulder to shoulder declaring public praise for the God that redeemed and united us , Let us unite as we let the light shine in us that called us both out of darkness. After all, we are all peculiar people.

Where Did You Come From?

1 Peter 2:10 KJV

Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.

Hosea 2:23 KJV

And I will sow her unto me in the earth; And I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; And I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people; And they shall say, Thou art my God.

The Bible Knowledge Commentary 2:9–10

Peter (1 Peter 2:10) explained this figure with a quotation from Hosea 2:23. “Darkness” refers to the time when his readers were pagans, ignorant of God’s provision of salvation (cf. Col. 1:13), when they were not a people, when they had not received mercy.

Romans 9:25–26 KJV

As he saith also in Osee, I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved. 

And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God.

The theme in Hosea is the rejection of Hosea’s unfaithful wife and her children and then their reception. Unlike Israel these Christians never experienced themselves as unfaithful to a covenant, but they did realize that they were once outside God’s favor, that is, rejected. Once they were “not a people,” for “the people of God” was a term reserved for Israel. Jews were not slow to point this out and glory in their status. But now these Christians know they are elect—not just a people of God, but the people of God. They are the recipients of God’s mercy, that is, his care and concern. This poem sums up the election theme of this section and gives comfort to a suffering and rejected people who are to see that their earthly rejection is only earthly. In truth they are the accepted ones of God.

Peter H. Davids, The First Epistle of Peter, The New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1990), 93.

The discovery of Christ and the company of Christ is the key to happiness. There was a Japanese criminal called Tockichi Ishii. He was utterly and bestially pitiless. He had brutally and callously murdered men, women, and children in his career of crime. He was captured and imprisoned. Two Canadian ladies visited the prison. He could not be induced even to speak; he only glowered at them with the face of a wild beast. When they left, they left with him a copy of the Bible in the faint hope that he might read it. He read it, and the story of the crucifixion made him a changed man. Later, when the jailer came to lead the doomed man to the scaffold, he found not the surly, hardened brute he expected, but a smiling, radiant man, for Ishii, the murderer, had been born again. The mark of his rebirth was a smiling radiance. The life that is lived in Christ cannot be lived other than in joy. (From William Barclay, The Gospel of Mark, [Philadelphia: Westminster, 1975].)1

1 Michael P. Green, ed., Illustrations for Biblical Preaching: Over 1500 Sermon Illustrations Arranged by Topic and Indexed Exhaustively, Revised edition of: The expositor’s illustration file. (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1989).

Exported from Logos Bible Software, 10:49 AM May 6, 2020.

Three Truths About Powerful Prayer

Sunday Evening Sermons

Three Truths About Powerful Prayer

Pastor Don Carpenter / General

Prayer; Intercession; Faith; Importunity / Luke 11:5–13

 George Mueller was known for his powerful prayer. In the course of his ministry to the orphans of England, he never asked for financial assistance from men – only God… and he constantly received what was needed to the penny.

Once while on his way to speak in Quebec for a engagement. On the deck of the ship that was to carry him to his destination, he informed the captain that he needed to be in Quebec by Saturday afternoon.

As the captain related the story, he said “’It is impossible,’ I said. ’Do you know how dense this fog is?’”

“’No,’ he replied, ’my eye is not on the density of the fog, but on the living God who controls every circumstance of life. I have never broken an engagement in 57 years; let us go down into the chart room and pray.’

He knelt down and he prayed one of the most simple prayers. When he had finished I was going to pray, but he put his hand on my shoulder and told me not to pray. ’As you do not believe He will answer, and as I believe He has, there is no need for you whatever for you to pray about it.’

“I looked at him and George Mueller said, ’Captain, I have known my Lord for 57 yrs. and there has never been a single day when I have failed to get an audience with the King. Get up, Captain, and open the door and you will find that the fog has gone.’

“I got up and the fog indeed was gone, and on that Saturday afternoon George Mueller kept his promised engagement.”

Wow! How cool would it be to be a person of prayer like George Mueller was? When we hear of that kind of powerful prayer it seems like results like that are reserved for Heaven’s superheroes. In our text this evening we see Jesus teaching some powerful yet simple things to help us understand and practice powerful prayer.

Importunity Works When A Relationship Doesn’t

Sometimes a need goes beyond normal friendship.

Luke 11:5–8 KJV

And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves; 

For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him? 

And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee. 

I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth.

 • Sometimes we have not developed an intimacy with God where we feel comfortable expressing some needs.

Importunity bridges the gap of incomplete relationships.

Luke 11:8 KJV

I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth.

(importunity wheel)

Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words Importunity

anaidia (or anaideia) (????????, 335), denotes “shamelessness, importunity” (a, negative, n, euphonic, and aidos, “shame, modesty”), and is used in the Lord’s illustration concerning the need of earnestness and perseverance in prayer,

Jesus taught that we should “always pray and not give up”

· Not because God is hard of hearing

· Not because God needs to be pestered into answering our requests

· Not because God doesn’t want to answer us

NO… Jesus taught us always pray and not give up because, when we pray, our prayers carry weight. EVERY TIME you and I pray we unleash more and more power from the throne of God

· Are you praying for someone in your family to become a Christian?

Every prayer you pray puts more and more pressure on that person to listen to God…

· Do you pray for your friends in their daily struggles

Every prayer you pray imparts to them more and more power from God

· Do you have difficulties with someone at work

Every prayer you lift up to God’s throne brings God’s power to bear on difficult people and situations.

Prayer is not a passive act on our part

Prayer is AN AGGRESSIVE, ACTIVE MINISTRY. You are putting your shoulder to the wheel and moving the forces of heaven.

SOURCE: Jeff Strite in “The Power of Persistent Prayer” on www.sermoncentral.com.

Actions Lead to Results

Luke 11:9–10 KJV

And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. 

For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

 • Ask more than once

 • Seek in more than one place

 • Knock more than one timid rap on the door.

“Prayer is surrender-surrender to the will of God and cooperation with that will. If I throw out a boat hook from the boat and catch hold of the shore and pull, do I pull the shore to me, or do I pull myself to the shore? Prayer is not pulling God to my will, but the aligning of my will to the will of God.”

SOURCE: E. Stanley Jones, in Liberating Ministry From The Success Syndrome, K Hughes, Tyndale, 1988, p. 73

Daddy Loves You!

Luke 11:11–13 KJV

If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? 

Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? 

If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?

Matthew 7:11 KJV

If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?

James 1:17 KJV

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

During the height of the Depression, Hill’s real mother, who had five children of her own, didn’t have enough food to go around, so she sent four-year-old Ed to live with a friend in a small country town called Sweet Home. Ed just called her Mama. As he was growing up in Sweet Home, Mama displayed remarkable faith which led her to have big plans for young Ed. Against nearly insurmountable obstacles, Mama helped Ed graduate from high school (the only student to graduate that year from the country school) and even insisted that he go to college.

She took Ed to the bus station, handed him the ticket and five dollars and said, “Now, go off to Prairie View College, and Mama is going to be praying for you.” Hill claims that he didn’t know much about prayer, but he knew Mama did. When he arrived at the college with a dollar and ninety cents in his pocket, they told him he needed eighty dollars in cash in order to register. Here’s how Hill describes what happened next:

I got in line…and the devil said to get out of line…but I heard my Mama saying in my ear, “I’ll be praying for you.” I stood in line on Mama’s prayer. Soon there was [another new student ahead of me], and I began to get nervous, but I stayed in line…Just about the time [the other student] got all of her stuff and turned away, Dr. Drew touched me on the shoulder, and he said, “Are you Ed Hill?”

I said, “Yes.”

“Are you Ed Hill from Sweet Home?”

“Yes.”

“Have you paid yet?”

“Not quite.”

“We’ve been looking for you all this morning,” [he said].

I said, “Well, what do [you] want with me?”

“We have a four-year scholarship that will pay your room and board, your tuition, and give you thirty dollars a month to spend.”

And I heard Mama say, “I will be praying for you!”

Exported from Logos Bible Software, 10:19 AM May 3, 2020.

CARantine Worship Service Sunday May 3

Announcements

Ephesians 3:20–21 (KJV): 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, 21 Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.

Would you be free from the burden of sin?
There’s pow’r in the blood, pow’r in the blood;
Would you o’er evil a victory win?
There’s wonderful pow’r in the blood.Refrain:
There is pow’r, pow’r, wonder-working pow’r
In the blood of the Lamb;
There is pow’r, pow’r, wonder-working pow’r
In the precious blood of the Lamb.Would you be free from your passion and pride?
There’s pow’r in the blood, pow’r in the blood;
Come for a cleansing to Calvary’s tide;
There’s wonderful pow’r in the blood.Would you be whiter, much whiter than snow?
There’s pow’r in the blood, pow’r in the blood;
Sin-stains are lost in its life-giving flow;
There’s wonderful pow’r in the blood.Would you do service for Jesus your King?
There’s pow’r in the blood, pow’r in the blood;
Would you live daily His praises to sing?
There’s wonderful pow’r in the blood.

What though wars may come,
With marching feet and beat of the drum,
For I have Christ in my heart;
What though nations rage,
As we approach the end of the age,
For I have Christ in my heart.
God is still on the throne, Almighty God is He;
And He cares for His own through all eternity.
So let come what may, whatever it is, I only say
That I have Christ in my heart,
I have Christ in my heart.

My God is so big, so strong and so mighty
There’s nothing my God cannot do
My God is so big, so strong and so mighty
There’s nothing my God cannot do
He made the trees
He made the seas
He made the elephants too
My God is so big, so strong and so mighty
There’s nothing my God cannot do
My God is so great, so strong and so mighty
There’s nothing my God cannot do
My God is so great, so strong and so mighty
There’s nothing my God cannot do
The mountains are his
The rivers are his
The skies are his handy works too
My God is so great, so strong and so mighty
There’s nothing my God cannot do
There’s nothing my God cannot do
There’s nothing my God cannot do

Though man may strive to go beyond the reach of space
To crawl beyond the distant shim'ring stars
This world's a room so small within my Master's house
The open sky's but a portion of His yard

How big is God? How big and wide His vast domain
To try and tell, these lips can only start
He's big enough to rule His mighty universe
Yet small enough to live within my heart

As winter's chill may cause the tiny seed to fall
To lie asleep till waked by summer's rain
The heart grown cold will warm and throb with life anew
The Master's touch will bring the glow again

Invitation Hymn

  1. All to Jesus I surrender,
    All to Him I freely give;
    I will ever love and trust Him,
    In His presence daily live.
    • Refrain:
      I surrender all,
      I surrender all;
      All to Thee, my blessed Savior,
      I surrender all.
  2. All to Jesus I surrender,
    Humbly at His feet I bow;
    Worldly pleasures all forsaken,
    Take me, Jesus, take me now.
  3. All to Jesus I surrender,
    Make me, Savior, wholly Thine;
    Let me feel the Holy Spirit,
    Truly know that Thou art mine.
  4. All to Jesus I surrender,
    Lord, I give myself to Thee;
    Fill me with Thy love and power,
    Let Thy blessing fall on me.

The Difference Maker

Sunday Morning Sermons

The Difference Maker

Pastor Don Carpenter / General

Impossible; Prayer; God: Power; Salvation / Luke 18:22–27

I was driving down the road at about 75 mph on the interstate the other day and something happened that happens a lot unfortunately. There was a fly in my car. You know how annoying that can get with the fly just buzzing back and forth in the car. I was annoyed at first but than I became intrigued. I began to think that how lucky this fly was. You know it’s impossible for that fly to go 75 mph no matter how hard it flaps. The fastest fly ever clocked was going 24 mph. So this fly is going 3 times as fast as it ever could but the funny thing is he’s not doing anything in fact he’s playing and having fun in my car oblivious to the things around it.

That’s just like us with God when we get inside of Him we can do things we never thought we could’ve done.

Now it was interesting thinking about that for a while but than he became annoying again so what I did was roll down my window and push him out. Do you ever wonder what happens to a fly when it is going down the road about 75 mph and than all of a sudden stops.

Well we don’t have to worry about that with God because He has no windows that can roll down once your inside Jesus you can’t get out.

We finally made it to May 2020! It seems as though it took three years to get through April! The current COVID crisis has caused many to fall into fear, anger, frustration, and hopelessness. It almost seems impossible that we will ever return to sanity and normalcy. That is the subject of today’s message… impossibility. You see even though mankind tends to be problem solvers. Even tough we have managed to do many things… there are some things that are just impossible.  

Facing impossibility is not the same thing as apathy or giving up. It is recognizing the laws of nature and the universe and learning to live within them. There is another thing we can do when we confront the reality of an impossibility. Once we realize we have hit a dead end we are able to surrender control enough to seek the face of God. With God nothing is impossible. He is the Difference Maker.

In our opening passage we read about a rich man who thought there was a special law he could keep in order to merit Heaven. He was pretty sure that he had kept the 10 commandments and thus secured his eternal destiny. Jesus exposed the weakness of the law by telling him to sell everything and give it to the poor, his covetousness was exposed. The rich man went away sad and lost, not because he didn’t do what was required, but because he did not have the power on his own to merit eternal life.

Jesus goes on to muse how impossible it is for folks who have riches to enter the kingdom. The disciples were amazed and frightened… who then can be saved? Jesus answered with the gracious words that echo a principle through out scripture.

Luke 18:27 KJV

And he said, The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.

There are things that indeed are impossible with man, but God is the Difference Maker!

There Are Things That Are Impossible With Mankind.

Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words Impossible

1. adunatos (????????, 102), from a, negative, and dunatos, “able, strong,” is used (a) of persons, Acts 14:8, “impotent”; figuratively, Rom. 15:1, “weak”; (b) of things, “impossible,” Matt. 19:26; Mark 10:27; Luke 18:27; Heb. 6:4, 18; 10:4; 11:6; in Rom. 8:3, “for what the Law could not do,” is, more lit., “the inability of the law”; the meaning may be either “the weakness of the Law,” or “that which was impossible for the Law”; the latter is perhaps preferable; literalism is ruled out here, but the sense is that the Law could neither justify nor impart life

It is impossible to be saved my works.

James 2:10–11 KJV

For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. 

For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law.

Romans 3:19–21 KJV

Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. 

Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. 

But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;

Romans 8:3 KJV

For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:

D.L. Moody was an American evangelist (February 5, 1837 – December 22, 1899 – 62 years). Moody said: “Grace isn’t a little prayer you chant before receiving a meal. It’s a way to live. The law tells me how crooked I am. Grace comes along and straightens me out.”

He also said: “It is well that man cannot save himself; for if a man could only work his own way to Heaven, you would never hear the last of it. Why, if a man happens to get a little ahead of his fellows and scrapes a few thousands of dollars together, you’ll hear him boast of being a self-made man. I’ve heard so much of this sort of talk that I am sick and tired of the whole business; and I am glad that through all eternity in Heaven we will never hear anyone bragging of how he worked his way to get there.”

Create Something From Nothing

Romans 1:20 KJV

For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

Circumvent the Laws of Nature to Provide Healing

Matthew 11:3–5 KJV

And said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another? 

Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see: 

The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.

Please God Without Faith

Hebrews 11:6 KJV

But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

When Facing Impossibilities, God is the Difference Maker

Deliverance is Possible

Matthew 17:18–21 KJV

And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour. 

Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out? 

And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. 

Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.

Salvation is Possible

Luke 18:26–27 KJV

And they that heard it said, Who then can be saved? 

And he said, The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.

All Things Are Possible

Matthew 19:26 KJV

But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.

Mark 10:27 KJV

And Jesus looking upon them saith, With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible.

There is Nothing That is Impossible.

Luke 1:35–37 KJV

And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. 

And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, 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.

 • Your loved one hopelessly lost can be saved… God is the difference maker

 • Barren wombs can bear fruit… God is the difference maker.

 • The Unemployed and unemployable can find work… God is the difference maker.

 • The fearful can be brave,

• The anxious can be calm

 • The wayward can be found

 • The impossible is not as impossible as it sounds! God is the difference maker!

Exported from Logos Bible Software, 12:16 PM May 2, 2020.