Is Your Faith BIG Enough? How To Believe God For The Impossible.

Has anyone ever prayed for a miracle? Boom. Has anyone ever asked God for a miracle? Like, maybe you got a test on Tuesday? Thursday? It's Wednesday? Start praying. Right? And let me ask you this question, because I think all of us, right, at different times have asked God for a miracle. If God were to grant you that miracle, do you think it would cause you to believe in God more? And what if this morning, everything that we thought about the whole miracle space and God's power and Him showing up and doing the miraculous, what if it really isn't reality? What if the miraculous power of God has already been made possible? I read a story about a young man he had graduated from high school, and his dad gave him a high school graduation present. Now, this was a very, very wealthy family, and the young man was anticipating dad was going to give him a chunk of cash. And dad had wrapped up a Bible and had given his son the Bible. And he was very disappointed, to say the least. He was actually very angry that God had given that. What am I going to do? What am I going to do with this? This is not the miraculous high school graduation gift I thought you were going to give to me.

I wonder if sometimes we feel the very same way with God. This is not the miracle God that I was looking for, that I was wanting for. What if, when it comes to the miracles, and we're like, I want God to do a miracle in my life, and that's very much future tense. If God would just do this, fill in the blank. What if the opposite is actually true? Not in the future tense. What if in the present tense, God has already done the miraculous? Join me in John chapter 20. And I think this morning we've got to deal with a problem that many of us have. We want God to do the miraculous in our life. We all want the miraculous. And it's not that we don't believe that God doesn't do, He does do the miraculous. And we read stories in the Bible like, back in the day, man, God made those blind eyes to see. I want Him to do that for me. But somewhere along the line, there's been this gap that's developed between what we believe about how God's power showed up in the Bible and how God's power doesn't seem to show up so much in my life. You're in John chapter 20. You've got your journal open. The Bible says, now Jesus, verse 30, now Jesus did many other signs in the presence

of the disciples, which are not written in this book. We look at the miracles, and a lot of times, the whole story about walking on the water, we think it's a one and done. We draw a faulty conclusion. We hear about Lazarus who was dead, and we just assume that's the only time Jesus raised somebody from the dead. What John is saying is these are not one and done. There are many, many, many more miracles. Matter of fact, if you'll just turn over one page in your Bible, look at chapter 21 and verse 25. John says, now there are also many other things that Jesus did, were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. Jesus did so many miracles. If John were to sit down and pin them all, they're so numerous that there's not space in the world. And we just thought he was kind of just doing a little miracle here and there during those three years on earth. And then back in John 20 and verse 31, he says this. He says, I want you to know why I recorded these miracles. Here's what we need to know and what we need to do with these miracles. These things are written, verse 31, so that, here's the purpose, you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, and that by believing,

you may have life in his name. What he's saying is, listen, I could have written so many more stories and miracles about Jesus, but I've given you enough. You have all that. it takes and these miracles aren't the destination Jesus is. They are sign that point to the Messiah. So here's the big idea if you're taking a note. John says, I didn't tell you everything Jesus did. I told you enough for you to make a decision about who Jesus is. I didn't write down everything that Jesus did, but here's what you need to know this morning. And you might be sitting on the fence. Maybe you're not fully convinced you want to believe you're not quite sure. He says, I want you to know that I wrote enough. I put enough in play about Jesus so that you can make a decision about who Jesus is. Now there's good news and there's bad news with this reality. The bad news is that the miracle that many of us are looking for that we would want Jesus to do. If he did it, it won't cause you to believe in Jesus any more than you already do, because already the evidence has been put in play in your life in John chapter 20 to fully believe that Jesus is the son of God. Now the good news is, is that that power is already in play. And so right now you already have the power, the miraculous presence of God in your hands. Remember that young man who graduated from high school? He got that Bible from his dad. He was less than impressed. He took that Bible and kind of just put it to the side. Decades passed and at the age of 75, he died. His kids, grown kids, as many of you have done, began to go through dad's belongings. They found that Bible. They were curious about it. They opened it up and they saw on the inside given to my son on the day of his high school graduation. All that you need in life is in this book. Love dad. And as they turned the pages, they found a check written from dad to the son worth $1 million. If you applied the rule of 72 years, financial people know that when he died, that check would have grown to over $100 million. I wonder how many of us are missing out on the power, the provision, the resources of God, because we're just not looking in the right space. We're opening up other books. We're opening up other careers. We're pursuing and chasing everything, but we're missing the power and the miraculous presence that God has for us right here. What I want to do in our time left, I want to give you four examples of his power just to remind us that all throughout the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, it is a run-on sentence. It is a story

about the power of God for the purpose for you and I to believe that Jesus is the son of God and that when we follow him in this thing called life, life will always be better. And then I'm going to give us two action steps. These two action steps will not be easy. They're simple, but they won't be easy. They'll take some courage on our part to deploy in our everyday life. So if you're taking notes, here's just four snapshots of his power. It is not an exhaustive list. There are all kinds of other examples. Let me just give you four. I think that will help us. Number one is this. Jesus has power over not enough, not enough. In our life, some of us, we don't feel enough. We see everybody else, what they have, or at the cool kids' lunch table, we've not been invited there or at homecoming, we're staying home or whatever. We feel like we're not enough to be in with others. Some of us, not enough has to do with time. We just don't have enough time or enough resources, enough cash, right? This thing of not enough, Jesus has power over not enough. His very first miracle in John chapter two, he's at a wedding and the Bible says in verse three, when the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, they have no wine. Now you have to understand in those days, culturally, this was a huge embarrassment. There was no provision. There was no opportunity to refresh themselves. It wasn't like they had clean drinking water. It wasn't like You know, the wine ran out, that they could go for a Budweiser, or they could have a Coke, or a Pepsi, or a Dr. Pepper, whatever else it is. It was what they would often use to refresh themselves. And notice what Jesus says in verse 7. Jesus says to his servants, fill the jars with water. And they filled them up to the brim. And then he said, now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast. So they took it. When the master of the feast tasted the water, now became wine, and did not know where it came from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew, the master of the feast called the bride groom. This is kind of like the host of the party. And he said to him, hey, everyone serves the good wine first. That would have been the freshest of the wine. In those days, there's not refrigeration. And so the freshest of the wine would be more on a juice, as the wine would sit in the hot Middle Eastern sun. Of course, it begins to ferment. And so the compliment here, everyone serves the good, the fresh wine first. And when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine, you'd have to kind of pace yourself because now it's fermented and you didn't want to get intoxicated. But you have kept the good, the fresh wine until now. This was the first of his signs. Jesus did it, Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And there it is, his disciples believed in

him. See, here's the idea. What is not enough in your hands can become more than enough in the hands of Jesus. Whatever that is, your career, your family, your kids, whatever that is, your friends at school, your career choices, that at times it feels like I don't have enough. And that sense of being overwhelmed and anxious and stressed. And what John is saying, hey, believe, put that into the hands of Jesus. See, little becomes enough when little is paste placed in the hands of Jesus. That's what happened when a little boy gave up five loaves of bread and two fishes. And everybody today is beating up on carbohydrates. They just need to read their Bible more. Right. Five loaves of bread. Bring on that bread. Right. Bring on that bread. Right. And it's like, it's like five loaves of bread, two fishes fed 5,000 men, plus all the women and all the children that were there that day. So Jesus has power over not enough. What's in your life that right now you just feel it's not enough. Write it in your journal. It's not enough. And then after that, I'm going to say, God's more than enough. It's lean in, embrace this truth. I can't believe it for you, your spouse, your parents, your kids can't believe it. You've got to make that decision. Here's the second thing. Jesus has power over location. Some of the problems, some of the pressure points that we have, they're not local in our life. That's what's going on in John chapter four. A dad comes to Jesus. He leaves his town. He finds out that Jesus is over in this city. So he goes to Jesus. His son is really sick. He doesn't have time to send a text. He doesn't have time to send a messenger. He says, I'm going to go and get to Jesus and let my request be made known. The father comes to Jesus and he asked for a son to be healed. And Jesus responds by simply saying this, go home. Your son will live. See, distance is no obstacle with Jesus. Jesus doesn't have to be where the problem is to have authority over the problem. And that should give some of us confidence because some of us have grown kids, right? And they don't live locally in Ocala, Central Florida. And they're someplace else. And maybe they're struggling, maybe in their career. Maybe you have a son or daughter who's in the military. They're overseas and you're kind of looking at the news and you're wondering what's going on. What God is saying is that Jesus has power over location. And one of the best ways for us to bridge that location is you be right here where you are. You be how you want someone else to be wherever your loved one, your son is. Let me see if I can illustrate. Your son or your daughter or your grandkids are in another state. You can't be there. And you're hoping that maybe somebody there would maybe tell them about Jesus, invite them to a church in their community, that someone would come alongside and encourage your

grandkids there. Here's the principle. You do here what you want someone else to do there for your kids. Because why? There are kids, grandkids here that have somebody out there somewhere that's praying. I sure hope somebody in Ocala, in Marion County, in Central. Florida would come alongside and mentor my son mentor my daughter care for my grandkids you be you be here Exactly. You show up and people around you show up at work. You show up at your your school You be here how you want God to show up with someone else in Your kids there Jesus promise is this I am with you always Heartstop He is always with us. Here's a third thing. You can write it down is Jesus has power Over time I Don't know. I I mean, I remember when I was younger. It seemed like I'd look at that clock. It would go tick tick tick tick Now we do is this day ever gonna end? tick tick tick tick I Can just tell you you're not gonna believe me but in my world today at 61 It feels like this not not tick tick tick. It's like a day is tick tick tick Wait, the week's done. Wait, wait, wait. What the month's done? Wait, wait, wait. Yeah. Yeah, like Like I know you look and say, okay, the dude is 61 like it that's grandpa I mean, that's grandpa age, right? Like I feel like 16 Friday night strong soul I mean, it's like I got my 1975 Chevrolet Camaro. I mean, it's kind of bump I mean, it's it's really a Bondo buggy many of you don't know what Bondo is back in the day That's how we repaired all the rust from the north but like there's something inside of me like it's a But time just seems like it slips through my fingertips and we're kind of wondering Jesus has power over time and some of us have had pressure points

That just seemed like they go on forever and ever in John chapter 5 It's the story of a man who had been paralyzed for 38 years now think about that for 38 years He couldn't move For 38 years you understand like they didn't have home health care there were no depends So he's messing himself The smell the embarrassment for 38 years He's watching everybody move about while he remained stuck for 38 years. He's thinking to himself. Well, maybe someday It's not exactly where some of us are. Maybe someday God will show up for me It may be someday and then on one particular day Jesus Shows up and he simply says pick up your mat and walk and immediately the man was healed see the length of Your problem does not determine the limits of God's power You've been you've been wrestling away. You've you have prayed for years. Just keep believing You've waited for years. Keep trusting See a long problem is never a strong problem when Jesus enters the story Never You can feel overwhelmed, but I'm the promise that the promise is that His presence changes everything and here's the last thing and it's not an exhaustive But I'm just trying to remind us right now before we get to our action steps the examples over and over the stories one after the other of God's incredible power and rather than you and I Imagine how life would change for you because most of us we're thinking about God's power God's miracle when it happens Man, I would love for God to do this miracle in my marriage. I'd love for God to do this miracle in my friends I'd love for God to do this miracle in the game on Friday night. I catch that pass me just The miracle is out there somewhere Your entire life will flip and change today If you'll leave this campus and believe the words of John when he says I have put the miraculous presence of God Already in play you have enough right now to believe that he is

Jesus your life goes to a whole nother level when you trust and believe that the power of God isn't somewhere out there It's right in here Absolutely. And so the fourth the fourth and this should give all of us Great hope is that Jesus has power over death There's a story in John chapter 11 one of Jesus's friends Lazarus gets sick. And so as sisters send a text and make a call Jesus the one that you love your friend Jesus is your friend Lazarus is really sick You need to come right now. You need to come right now You need to come right now. You need to come right now. You need to come right now You need to come right now. You need to come right now Your friend Jesus is your friend Lazarus is really sick. You need to come right now But the Bible says that Jesus delayed One day by, two days went by, three days and Lazarus died. And when Jesus finally shows up, Lazarus has been dead for four days. When he's coming, there's a group of people who are actually going to the tomb to put some more spices on the body because the body is stinking. It's decaying. The sisters are not happy with Jesus. They're like, yo, Jesus, I thought we were doing life together. I thought we were important to you. Man, I texted you. I called you. If you would have come earlier when he was just sick, this wouldn't have happened. Have you ever felt that way about God? I mean, God, if you just showed up, my spouse and what they were thinking, what they were doing, or God, if my kids and their friend group and God, if you would have just earlier. And so Jesus arrives and he stands outside of that tomb and he simply says, Lazarus, come out. And the Bible tells you a dead man named Lazarus walked out. And I know at one level, right? You, you believe that maybe that's a new story. Maybe that's an old story. It's not that you don't believe most everybody in this space watching online. You believe God, but here's, here's what's keeping you from really believing God. Have you ever noticed? Like if you write down the word, believe in your notes, write down the word, believe, and then look right in the middle, there are three letters that spell another whole word.

Do you see it? Lie. What keeps most of us from believing is because we haven't exposed the lie that's in our life. Let me see if I can backtrack and illustrate. And remember I said that Jesus has power over enough. He has more than enough, but many of us, right? We live in a life of, of scarcity. We're like, man, God, why don't you show up? Watch this. Often we haven't taken the time to expose the lie of why we don't have enough. See the lie for many of us that we don't have enough is that when we feel less than best, right? Instead of going to the almighty, we go to Amazon and then we load up that cart, right? And because we get some new shiny stuff, we'd be feeling better. And it feels good in the moment. Then later the visa bill comes and we've got more owed than we have. And that indebtedness happens. And we feel like we don't have enough. Wait a second, I thought God, I thought God, you would show up and I would have enough. No, no, no, no, no. He more than enough. The problem for some of us isn't that God doesn't have more than enough. And some of us is we have not gone to the God of enough. We've gone to a false prophet called consumerism that we think we can get enough to feel better. That's exposing the lie. That's challenging ourselves. Another place I would expose the lie is in this space of time, right? Where it can feel like, man, I just don't have time to read my Bible. I don't have time to pray. I don't have time, right? And I get it, but here's the lie, right? There are 1,440 minutes in every day and everybody gets them. There are 86,400 seconds in every single day. And everybody, no matter what your social economic status is, everybody gets them. There are 24 hours in a day. You get to prioritize. But some of us, right? That new show, right? That just got released on Netflix or on Paramount Plus. I mean, the Taylor Sheridan newest show that's out there, Little Lioness Action. I can't miss this. I mean, I need to get in on it. I need to watch it, right? And so we get caught up in binging on something. And before you know it, six, seven, eight hours. It's not, you have to expose the lie. The lie, you can believe, you can trust God, but only when you take the time to expose the lie that's keeping you from believing God. And often what that is, is the lie is that something out here, something over there, something other than the power of God in here, that outside source will satisfy me. But notice what Ephesians 3 and 20 says. Now all glory to God who is able through the mighty power at work within. In us, when you make a decision for God,

the Spirit of God indwells you. Now the power of God, the power that was there at the resurrection, when Jesus, who was dead, and the Spirit of God calls him to life, that power now lives within us to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Glory to Him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and forever. And all this is how John summarizes it in verse 31. These things I have written to you so that you would believe that in Christ, the Son of God, that in believing, you may have power, life in His name. And not just merely believing that a miracle happened, but believing Jesus. There's a big difference. There is a big difference. I think many of us are very good at believing something about Jesus. You believe something about Jesus, but there's a difference of believing something about Jesus and placing your life in the hands of Jesus. That's risky. Your life in His hands. When you don't understand, I put it in His hands. When you don't have it all figured out, I put it in His hands. I put my time, I put my opinions,

I put my entire life, my kids, my career, in His hands. This is very personal. Jesus is not asking you to be impressed by Him. What He's asking is, do you believe? The miracles, without a doubt, right? The power of God, they attract you. They attract you to Jesus. It's like, oh my goodness, look at this, right? It's why we thirst for them. We hear about this miracle over here, miracle there. God did this miracle, oh my goodness. And we're grateful. It's like we get attracted by the miracle, but watch this. Jesus isn't about you being attracted to Him. He's after your allegiance to Him. So how do we do that? Two steps. They're simple, but they're not easy. First step this week is this. Believe big. Identify your impossible. I don't know what it is, but there is something in your life that as you look at it, you're like, this is impossible. I can't do this. Maybe it's in your family. Maybe it's with your kids. It's a marriage.

It's a career choice. It's something with your health. I know this as a fact. I've experienced this personally. Fear grows when we live without including the power of God. Whatever you're facing, whatever you are facing, when the power of God is infused in you, whatever that fear is, it shrieks. But when you don't include the power of God, man, whatever's in front of you, it looks huge. Last week, Linda and I were out in Idaho and we were doing some hiking. And we had hiked this one mountain in front of the Tetons. And it's a 3.2 mile hike up. You go up to, you start at about 6,500 feet and straight climb up. And it was 10,000 feet when we got up there. And when you get up there, they have the chairlift thing. You know, during the winter, you get on the chairlift and you ski and all that. So for the summertime, you can hike up and then you can do the chairlift coming down, right? So we get up on the top, we're taking pictures. Look at us, right? 3.2 miles, like 3,000 feet of elevation, right? And so we got in line to get on the chairlift. And I kind of got in closer in line in the chairlift. And I kind of looked down the mountain on the chairlift. And I'm like, yeah, you guys can go in front of us. And I'm like, yeah, and then I kind of looked down there

and that's really high. Fear started to grow. My heart rate started to beat up, right? And I wish I could tell you, I just overcame that fear. I brushed it off. I said, in the name of Jesus Christ, he came back from the dead. Come on, Lynn, let's get on this thing. Pull that little bar over us. We're singing praise and worship song. It's all the way down and God is good all the time. I'm just grateful for you. I mean, it's like, yep, nope. We hiked 3.2 miles all the way down. Oh man, I'm telling you, I'm gonna be bringing this message, God. It's not how I wanted it to go. But I can tell you the flip side, the flip side is that same week, Linda had actually displayed courage. See, this is kind of cool, students. I'm the class of 83. You didn't exist in 83. But I've got a group of guys, 12 of us, that we continue every single year to go somewhere and hang out and kind of remember our junior high and our high school time together. And so I really, really love these guys. And we were in Jackson Hole. And so where Linda and I stay, it's across the Teton Pass in Idaho. And she's in a house that's kind of out in the middle of nowhere. And I'm gonna drive over the Teton Pass, and I'm gonna be with my buddies while she stays

alone by her house in this big house in Victor, Idaho. And that's not really Linda's comfort zone at all. And so we kind of talked through it. And so I went over, and I'm hanging out with the guys. And first night, a terrible, terrible storm came up over the mountains. And the house is creaking, and the branches are kind of scraping against the house and everything. But she's there, and she's trusting God. If that's not enough, the next day, I get this photo. This is right off of the front porch. Bullwinkle the moose. I don't know where Rocky the squirrel was, but there's Bullwinkle. And it wasn't enough for Bullwinkle just to kind of hang out towards the right. He worked his way actually into the driveway. And you can see, he begins to walk right towards Linda, where she's peeking out through the front window. And he decides he's gonna have just a little bit of a snack, a little bit hungry. And so he's gonna nibble away. Linda's watching all of this. And almost like on cue, you can see in this picture, his eye. It's focused right on Linda, like, girlfriend, I see you. You come any closer to me, I'm gonna eat you too. Linda had wanted this peaceful, completely protective moment. Mark's away. I'm here all by myself. Like there's nobody around. I don't know anybody. I'm in the wilderness. What's gonna be going on? And faith isn't believing God will do exactly what you want.

Faith is believing Jesus is exactly who he says he is. And I watched Linda's faith grow to a whole nother level. You couldn't unconvince her of how her God showed up for her during that time. My story is altogether different. I still gotta go back and face the chairlift. But you know, your impossibility may be the very place God wants to teach you his sufficiency. That impossible situation that's in front of you right now, he's asking you, trust me in this space for my sufficiency. Trust me in how I'll show up. So this week, believe big, identify, write down one impossible, right? And then here a second is believe it out loud. Put your faith in action. This week, make your belief visible. On your high school campus, make your faith. The faith that you have right now, make it visible. At your work, make it visible. On the ball field, make it visible. In the board meeting this week, make it visible. In the lunchroom break, make it visible. When your waiter comes to serve you your lunch, make it visible. Let me give you four areas to make it visible. Number one is with your mind. Replace one recurring fearful thought with a promise from God's word. Change how you think. A new mindset. Let this mindset be in you. It always begins with how you think. Number two, with your voice, stop speaking defeat over something you've placed in God's hands. And particularly in our small groups and in our friendship groups, when someone's speaking

defeat in an area, call them up to a better way and say, wait a second, you're speaking defeat in this. Have you put this into the hands of Jesus? Let's trust him. He has all the power. We have seen his power. Let's trust that he has it. He has what it takes. Trust him with your mind. Trust him with your voice. Trust him with your time. Give Jesus the first part of your day. Pray, read his word, listen. He has given us his word, this word, and the reason many of us are struggling in trusting God has the power to be in what I'm in is this word. is absent from your everyday life. You cannot live an abundant life. You cannot follow after Jesus apart from the word of God. We look to every other source, a business book, a podcast, whatever it might be to satisfy us. I'm just saying this week, with your time, make him first, put him first, see the power. The Bible says that our faith grows through the word of God. And then with your stuff, identify something that you've been gripping tightly. Maybe it's money, it's a possession, it's a resource, it's an influence, it's an idea, and use it for God's purposes. Flip it, flip the script and deploy it

into God's kingdom. But all of these miracles, right? The blind eyes that can see and walking on the water and dead man Lazarus becoming alive again and a man who was paralyzed for 38 years. All of these are not the ultimate miracle. See, the ultimate miracle is that Jesus puts himself on the cross and he dies and he's placed in a tomb. And the headline on Friday is, it's over. And Saturday says, nothing's happening. And maybe that's where you are. Maybe you're living in Friday. It's over, it's done, it died, it's gone. Maybe you're on Saturday, nothing's happening. I've been praying about this for all this time. I've been trusting God. I just want to remind all of us, Sunday is coming. And when that sun broke through the darkness of Saturday night and that stone is rolled away, the greatest miracle of all time is that God himself who had died for our sins, he did the miraculous work that no human being could ever do because your biggest problem, my biggest problem is not a marriage, it's not finances, it's not your kids, it's not politics. My singular greatest problem is my sin debt. You and I can't do anything about our sin, but because Jesus Christ came back from the dead, that sin has been destroyed.

That sin has been removed from our life as far as the East is from the West. It has been buried in the depths of the sea all because the greatest miracle ever, God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whosoever believes in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. And when you hear this, then it takes the words of John to a whole nother level. I have written these things unto you so that you would believe that Jesus is the son of God and that you would have hope and power in life. The greatest evidence of the power isn't simply that Jesus can change your circumstances, is that he can change your eternity. The greatest miracle in the world is that a sinner can be forgiven. A broken person can be restored. A lost person can be found and a spiritual dead person can be made alive again through Jesus Christ. So my question is, do you believe? Not just believe in your mind, but believe with your actions. Thank you. Being together in this space today is really good. If you've never begun a relationship with Jesus, I'd like to invite you today to start following Jesus. It's not about your behavior. It's not about your church attendance. It's about the reality that Jesus is for you.

God's not mad at you. He's madly in love with you. Would you right now pray this prayer with me? Hey God, it's me. I've sinned and I know it and I can't fix me. But today I receive you, Jesus, as my savior. I believe that you died on that cross for me and that you were buried for three days and then you became alive again. And I invite you into my life. life to guide me and direct me all the rest of the days of my life. And with that prayer, my friend, welcome to God's family. I'd like to continue our friendship. If you would email me pastor at hope in Ocala.com. I'll follow up with you and together. We'll celebrate Jesus in your life. Peace. Thank you.