Sunday, October 1, 2017

God of the Impossible!

Determined to Build 3
The God of The Impossible
October  1 2017

Introduction:  Let’s begin with some good news.  Every God idea at 

the start appears impossible.  What is the old saying; The Difficult We 

Do Immediately. The Impossible Takes a Little Longer!  This is good 

news because the vision God is laying on your heart appears to be 

impossible, and you have started, to think about checking into the 

looney bin!  In fact the one or two friends you have shared this God 

dream with; have confirmed it.  In fact they looked at you and said 

something along the lines of, now that’s an interesting thought.  

Which you rightly interpreted as them saying; that’ll never happen! 

Maybe that’s why Nehemiah kept his mouth shut for four months.  

After all, who would have taken him seriously?  Think about it!

He was  political refugee, a little more than a slave, who worked for a 

king.  He could not exactly slip out unnoticed.  And besides the 

Babylonians had torn down the walls of Jerusalem for a reason.  A 

defenseless city posed no threat.  The Persians currently in control 

were not going to stand by while somebody reestablished Israel as a 

military presence in that region.  Nehemiah was crazy to consider 

such an idea.

March 26 1997 Jake Olsen was born in Huntington Beach California.  

When Jake was 8 months old doctors diagnosed him with retina 

blastoma-cancerous tumors in both eyes. Jake would be able to save 

his right eye but lost his left eye.  That left eye kept him connected to 

the world- including his favorite sport football and his favorite team 

the USC Trojans.  But in September of 2009 at the age of 12 the 

cancer returned and to save his life he would have to also lose the left 

eye.  His mother concerned for him asked how are you doing?  His 

reply was I am alright this will just be a new stage of my life.  Surgery 

was scheduled for November 2009  the story got around.   And when 

Pete Carroll the coach of the trojans heard about the story, he made 

sure before the surgery Jake got to attend practices, ride the team 

bus and attend games!

Last Wednesday,  Burnette Chapel Church of Christ posted the 

following on it’s Facebook page. To our congregation, these are the 

facts as we know them:

A tragic shooting happened here on Sunday, September 24, which 

caused the loss of beloved Melanie Smith and injured seven other 

church members, including Linda Bush, Donald and Marlene Jenkins, 

David and Peggy Spann, Catherine Dickerson, and Caleb Engle.

As far as we understand, all seven injured are in stable condition and 

Catherine Dickerson and Caleb Engle have been released from the 

hospital.

We have attempted to visit with the ones still under medical care, but 

we have not yet been able to due to the nature of this event. Once able, 

we will be visiting them and their families to offer support in any way 

we can.

We hope that you will keep the victims and the families in your 

prayers. As we learn more about their health status, we will let you 

know.

The assailant, Emanuel Samson, is in custody, and the police is 

conducting an investigation. It appears that Mr. Samson did attend 

our church with three other students a few years ago but never 

became a member. He has not attended services, that we know of, in 

the last three years.

Just as all of you have, we have thought about why this horrible act 

occurred, but we just do not know.

We are not going to speculate or guess on what the motive was, and 

we encourage all of you not to either. We will share with you the 

relevant, accurate facts as we learn them.

No doubt everyone of us can empathize with Nehemiah, Jake and the 

believers of Burnette Chapel.  We all know feeling of being 

overwhelmed by a burden God has placed on our heart. Maybe you 

are married to an unbeliever and are dreaming of a Christian 

marriage.  God may be leading you to a career change late in life.  It 

could be you are envisioning starting a new business.  Whatever the 

case, when you look at the landscape of our circumstances, it is 

overwhelming.  God-given dreams are always too big for us to handle.  

We shouldn’t be suprised.  Consider the source.

Dreamers, know that anything of God happens uphill!  There are 

always more questions than answers when God births a vision in our 

hearts.  There are always obstacles.  There is always a lack of 

resources.  A man or woman with a vision usually feels alone!  Even 

isolated.  Often there is little to go on other than gut-level, 

unquenchable, insatiable desire.  And hopefully a sense of destiny; a 

feeling that this is what you were made for, an assurance that God 

called you out into uncharted waters on a mission for God.  If any of 

this rings true for you, you may be on the brink of something divine.  

Which is a great segue into this memory verse; let’s say it together.  

The God of heaven will give us success. We his servants will start 

rebuilding Nehemiah 2:20 NIV

  1. God of Preparation Nehemiah 2:1,2

In the month of Nisan in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, 

when wine was brought for him, I took the wine and gave it to the 

king. I had not been sad in his presence before, 2 so the king asked 

me, “Why does your face look so sad when you are not ill? This 

can be nothing but sadness of heart.”

The name Nehemiah means “comforted of Yah” (International 

Standard Bible Encyclopaedia) or God comforts.  Nothing is known of 

Nehemiah except what is written in the book bearing his name.  But 

because God is a God of preparation-I know this from the time 

Nehemiah was a little boy, God had been orchestrating his life, so he 

would find his way to Artaxerxes palace.

Have you ever wondered, if this is a God dream why am I doing a job 

that is not remotely related to my calling?  No doubt Nehemiah asked 

that question every time images of Jerusalem passed through his 

mind.  “Lord, what am I doing in Persia?  You called me to be a 

builder, not a bartender?

On the surface it appeared that God had smashed Jake Olsen's 

dreams to smithereens, of cheering and playing football.  When 

cancer took his other eye at 12.  After his surgery to remove his Eye-

in an interview Jake stated, “I just want to be a normal kid, do what I 

did and maybe more.”  That mean to continue to snap for his flag 

football team without the ability to see.  Fall of 2013 as a Junior in 

High School he tried out for the high school football team as a long 

snapper!  His High School coaches were in agreement there was no 

way he is going to learn how to long snap a ball.  Even Jake in an 

interview said truthfully I sucked.  He was accepted on the team, but 

on the left bench.  His coach said he never gave up, kept practicing all 

these drills and finally became the best long snapper in his high 

school.  Jake became the Long snapper his Junior and Senior 

seasons.

On the Surface, it appeared God was moving Nehemiah and Jake in 

direction that would make it impossible  for them to realize their 

dreams.  But just the opposite was true.  God landed Nehemiah a job 

that gave him an inside track to the King.  But he had more than a job.  

As cupbearer, Nehemiah had a special relationship to the king.  Every 

day the king entrusted his life to the man who served his wine.  It was 

cupbearer’s responsibility  to protect the king from being poisoned by 

his inner circle.  Artaxerxes’ own father had been murdered by a 

trusted servant.  He knew all too well the possibility of betrayal.

Betrayal can be both subtle and in your face.  Robert Caleb Engle was 

born in 1995 in La Vergne, Tennessee South and East of Nashville.

There is nothing about Caleb-(he goes by his middle name)-that would 

separate him from the crowd.  No special distinctions, an average 

worker for a car dealership, who loves guns, family, fun and faith!  

When his grandma Theta talks about him; she does not give his GPA 

or where he went to college, she states, “He’s just someone who cares 

about a lot of people. He has all their feelings at heart…”  His best 

friend describes him this way, “ He’s just a great guy," Just one of the 

kindest human beings you’ll ever meet.” A gentle giant.  To his church 

family he was the church usher who welcomed you when you came in 

the door.

September 24th was like every other Sunday in his life.  Sunday is for 

Church from infancy to his twenties he has been part of Burnette 

chapel. He drove his blue Xterra to church listening to Ozzy and 

Linken park.   Leaving the car he left his firearm on the truck, not 

proper to take a firearm into church.  The church that Sunday was 

pretty much like every Sunday, except when almost everyone left he 

heard a loud noise in the parking lot!

The God of preparation has spent 22 years molding Caleb for what 

would happen next.  Like a master strategist , God had been working 

behind the scenes, putting all the players in position.  And now the 

curtain was about to go up, signaling the beginning of a divinely 

scripted, perfectly was play.

2. The God of Faithfulness Nehemiah 9:16-21

Turn with me to Nehemiah 9:16-21.  Nehemiah chapter 9 is the 

longest prayer in all the Bible. Perhaps you do not like long-winded 

prayers and are nervous about this one.

There is a great story about D. L. Moody who once asked a certain 

brother to pray at a service in the Chicago Church. The man began to 

pray and was still droning on after ten minutes had gone by. Finally, 

Mr. Moody stood up and said, "While our dear brother is finishing his 

prayer, let's turn to number 342 and sing it together!" This prayer in 

the book of Nehemiah is not that long, but it is a great model prayer 

which will teach us much for our own praying.  One thing we can 

learn from Nehemiah 9 is that God is faithful!  Verse 16; “But they, 

our ancestors, became arrogant and stiff-necked, and they did not 

obey your commands. 17 They refused to listen and failed to 

remember the miracles you performed among them. They became 

stiff-necked and in their rebellion appointed a leader in order to 

return to their slavery. But you are a forgiving God, gracious and 

compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love. Therefore 

you did not desert them, 18 even when they cast for themselves 

an image of a calf and said, ‘This is your god, who brought you up 

out of Egypt,’ or when they committed awful blasphemies.

19 “Because of your great compassion you did not abandon them 

in the wilderness. By day the pillar of cloud did not fail to guide 

them on their path, nor the pillar of fire by night to shine on the 

way they were to take. 20 You gave your good Spirit to instruct 

them. You did not withhold your manna from their mouths, and 

you gave them water for their thirst. 21 For forty years you 

sustained them in the wilderness; they lacked nothing, their 

clothes did not wear out nor did their feet become swollen

Where or whom do we get the idea that God is a cruel, stern God, 

thundering judgments upon people, demanding that they toe the 

mark or else be punished severely and without mercy? God is always 

described in the Old Testament as a God of loving care. He is 

compassionate and patient. He waits while people go through their 

trials, hoping they will learn lessons along the way, that they might 

return to him so that he can bless them.

From this passage know; “God is using your circumstances to position 

and prepare His vision for your life! And of course that’s easy for me 

to say; I’ve read Nehemiah’s story-not lived it.  He didn’t know his 

years of servitude to the king had divine significance! For years 

Nehiamiah’s prayers seemed to have bounced off the cieling! He saw 

no improvement nor hope of improvement.  Every day was boringly 

the same. His perceived leadership and administration skills lay 

dormant year after year! The mountain was still there!  After all, he 

was merely a cupbearer to the king! But God had Nehemiah, right 

where he wanted him.  He was perfectly positioned!  Because God is 

always faithful!

Jake Olsen graduated from High School with honors in 2015 and 

pursued his dream to attend USC!  At USC he received a scholarship 

for physically challenged athletes.  Shortly thereafter, he received a 

call form USC head coach Steve Sarkisian and offered a try out as a 

long snapper for the football team.  The special teams coach told him I 

am not sure how we are going to do this.  Jakes reply don’t worry 

coach - I GOT THIS!  After two years he had not made it on the field 

during a game.

Think how angry and bitter Jake could have been.  Born with cancer 

that took his sight!  Spending his whole life overcoming obstacle after 

obstacle.  But no God’s faithfulness provided a super hero attitude in 

Jake Olsen!

Caleb heard a loud noise in the parking lot.  He went to the door and 

he encountered the shooter, he ran up to -not away from the gunman 

to try to stop him.   What do you do against a gun?  Caleb bear hugged 

the shooter. police said. “There was a significant struggle 

between the two,” said the police spokesman.  During the struggle 

Samson shot himself. Samson pistol-whipped Engle during the 

struggle. Engle was bleeding from his head, but he didn’t let the 

injury stop him.  How did he not lose consciousness?  God is faithful!

Engle, who has a legal permit to carry his gun, ran outside to his car 

to get his gun.  When he went back into the church, Engle held the 

shooter at gunpoint, until the police arrived.  He did not shoot 

Samson in anger-did not physically assault him-he held him until the 

police arrived!  Isn’t God even in tragedy - loving and faithful?  Eight 

people shot and only one died-God is a god of mercy! Oh Caleb he went 

to hospital and his head wounds were treated and he was back to 

work Monday morning!  God is always faithful!

The term compassion means favor or mercy.  Nehemiah wanted and 

prayed for the king to feel compassion toward the desolation of 

Jerusalem.  That was an impossibility only God’s faithfulness could 

provide!  Because, the king was not known to be compassionate.  In 

fact when Nehemiah finally got his audience with the king, Nehemiah 

states in Chapter 2 verse 2; NLT translates Nehemiah state as being 

afraid-the NKJV more to the point states “He was dreadfully afraid!

Unless God intervened, the king would not be compassionate!  A 

gunman who has been shot-has his assailant on the ground-unless 

God intervenes there will be no compassionate! 

3. The God of the People Nehemiah 6:15 & 7:4

Chapter six, we see Nehemiah’s gifted leadership, the people efforts 

rebuilt the walls. Now all that remained to do was the restoration of 

the gates and the strengthening of the community within the walls. ”\

Verse 14 So the wall was completed on the twenty-fifth of Elul, in 

fifty-two days.  But just rebuilding the walls did not restore 

Jerusalem.  Chapter 7 verse four states; Now the city was large and 

spacious, but there were few people in it, and the houses had not 

yet been rebuilt.  Notice the walls were done-so Nehemiah return to 

Persia?  No, because God is the maker of all people and loves them!  

The people are still broken!

When God wants to accomplish a work, He always prepares His

workers and puts them in the right places at the right time. The God 

of impossible  always uses ordinary everyday people -to do 

extraordinary or if you will the impossible!

Play Video of Jake

So the God of the impossible, what did he lead ordinary Caleb to do.  

Here is Caleb’s only statement; “I’ve been going to this church my 

whole life, since I was a small child. I would have never, ever thought 

something like this would have happened.

I ask everyone to pray for the victims, family members of the victims, 

our church community. Please pray for healing. Also, please pray for 

the shooter, the shooter’s family and friends. They are hurting as 

well.

I pray that through all of this that people will come to know Christ 

and I ask our nation to reflect on Romans 8:31, ‘If God is for us, who 

can be against us?’”

One of the exciting things about being a follower of Jesus is watching 

God unveil his plan for our lives.  Most often those plans are only seen 

in our review mirror.  While God is doing the impossible in our 

ordinary life, we are in the tunnel of Chaos, and we can’t see it!

Conclusion:   My comments about the rear view is this; If you 

measure your success by whether or not your vision has 

materialized, you are candidate for discouragement.  After all, there 

are days when it  seems we are moving at light speed in the wrong 

direction.  It is possible to go for weeks, months, even year, with no 

sign of progress.  Confusing success with the rewards of success is 

one of the primary reasons people abandon God given dreams!

Success is remains faithful to the process God has laid out for you.  

Think about it.  When was Nehemiah successful?  Was Jake Olsen only 

a success when he long snapped in a college game? When was Caleb a 

hero?  I know when Nehemiah felt like a success. . . the day they laid 

the last brick on the wall.  That was on of the most exhilarating days 

of his life.  For all involved God doing the impossible is a moment of 

Joy and accomplishment!  But Nehemiah was successful long before 

that last brick!

Folks, success is remaining faithful to the process God has laid out for 

you. Certainly there are significant and enjoyable mile markers along 

the way.   But success is not a historical monument!  Success is not 

the raise, promotions, recognition, christian home or wonderful, well 

behaved children!  Those are simply mile markers along the way.  

Success is staying faithful to the process that contributed  to those 

things becoming a reality!  Unfortunately, we often don’t consider 

ourselves successful until we experience the rewards.  unfortunately, 

in the sermon on the Mount; Jesus is clear God’s rewards will only be 

experienced on that day we hear him say well done Good and faithful 

servant!

If you are now willing to surrender to the God of the impossible, come 

up front as we stand to sing!  Need prayer pray with the person next 

to you!

“God’s work has never been easy, and in these last days it is getting 

more and more difficult to serve. The Enemy is hurling his 

ammunition at us as never before and is setting his subtle traps 

where we least expect them.

But the same great God who enabled Nehemiah to finish building the 

walls of Jerusalem will enable us to finish our course with joy and 

accomplish the work He has called us to do. There is no reason to quit 

or even to despair!”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRttFSTDtJQ


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