Can God?

I began a series of sermons a couple of weeks ago entitled “Can God?” I ran across this illustration and thought it fit very, very well with the topic and thought I’d share it with you. Here goes…

A man named Jack was walking along a steep cliff one day when he accidentally got too close to the edge and fell. On the way down he grabbed a branch, which temporarily stopped his fall. He looked down and to his horror saw that the canyon fell straight down for more than a thousand feet. He couldn't hang onto the branch forever, and there was no way for him to climb up the steep wall of the cliff.

So Jack began yelling for help, hoping that somebody passing by would hear him and lower a rope or something. “HELP! HELP! Is anyone up there? Help!” He yelled for what seemed like hours, but no one heard him. He was about to give up when he heard a voice.

“Jack. Jack. Can you hear me?”

“Yes, yes, I can hear you. I'm down here!”

“I can see you, Jack. Are you all right?”

“Yes, but...who are you, and where are you?”

“I am the Lord, Jack. I'm everywhere.”

“The Lord? You mean GOD?”

“That's Me.”

“God, please help me! I promise…if You'll get me down from here, I'll stop sinning. I'll be a really good person. I'll serve You for the rest of my life.”

“Easy on the promises, Jack. Let's just get you down from there, and then we can talk. Now, here's what I want you to do. Listen carefully.”

“I'll do anything You say, Lord. Just tell me what to do.”

“Okay. Let go of the branch.”

“What!?!?”

“I said to let go of the branch. Just trust Me and let go.”

There was a long silence. Finally, Jack yelled, “HELP! HELP! Is there anyone else up there?”

Boy that sounds like us sometimes doesn't it? We say we want to serve the Lord and know His will, then when He tells us what He wants us to do, we try to do anything else but what He’s telling us! It’s amazing that we seem to constantly doubt the power, the promises and the presence of God as we go through life. I suggest that we need a lesson in trust. We often ask the question "Can God?" I’m here to tell you that "God Can!" The God we serve is still the Lord of glory. He is still the King of kings and He is still able to do all the things He has ever been able to do.

“For I, the Lord, do not change…” Malachi 3:6

What Keeps Us From Reading the Bible?

"It's too hard to read."
"It's too much information to sift through."
"It doesn't apply to my life."

We find lots of reasons not to read the Bible. But underneath most of our excuses lies one consistent theme: "The Bible intimidates me."

God never intended for the Bible to be intimidating. It's the most important way God reveals himself to those who've made a faith commitment to Jesus Christ. We need the guidance the Bible can give - guidance for relationships, purpose in life, and love. But we'll never get that guidance if we never open the book.

God wants to relate to us through his Word and show us how WE can relate to Him.

Take some time to reflect on your own values about reading the Bible. Answer these questions to help get you started:

*When did the Bible become important to you?
*What value do you place on daily scripture reading?
*In what ways do you struggle with reading the Bible?
*When do you read?
*What version do you read?
*How does the Bible guide you through problems and tough decisions?
*How do you apply what you read to your life?

Make a Scripture Reading Covenant

A covenant is like a contract. It can be an agreement between two people or between God and a person or group. In the Bible, it was considered a serious binding agreement-broken only by the death of one of the parties.

This covenant is between you and God.

State Your Covenant
Example: Because my relationship with God is important to me and because God desires to continue to teach and inspire me, I commit myself to the following plan for scripture reading:

List Goals You Want To Reach
Example: I'll read the Bible for 20 minutes each day. I'll read the entire Bible over the next year.

List Your Plan To Reach These Goals
Example: I'll set aside 20 minutes each day after school for reading the Bible. I'll finish the Old Testament by September and read the New Testament in the fall.

Resolutions for This New Year

As most of you know by now, I do not put much stock in New Year’s resolutions. I do, however firmly believe in setting goals and taking steps to reach those goals. If you never set a goal to achieve anything you can guarantee success, you will succeed in achieving nothing! One of my goals this year is to encourage you to dedicate the time necessary to accomplish a few things.

I suggest that you reflect on 2008 and ask yourself some questions.

In the past year...

1. Did your relationship with the Lord improve?
Remember that a close relationship depends upon good communication. Were you faithful in your prayer and bible reading during 2008? If the only time you pray or read God’s Word is at church on Sunday, you are in BIG trouble spiritually.

2. Did your relationship with your church family improve?
Remember scripture is very clear about the fact that we are known as His followers by the love that we have for each other (John 13:35). Have you made an effort to get to know the new people that have joined our church family?

3. Did your relationship with the unsaved improve?
As people of God we have a HUGE responsibility to share the gospel with those that don’t have a relationship with Him. Matthew tells us that we are the light of the world. Our job as that light is to point people to Jesus. In order to do that we MUST develop relationships with non-Christian people and introduce Jesus in to those relationships. Are your family, friends, co-workers, and neighbors going to Heaven? Shame on us if we don’t know!

Paul wrote in Philippians 3, “Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” The reality is we cannot go back and change the past. We must focus on what is ahead and dedicate ourselves to following Him fully.

With this attitude of pressing on, let me suggest the following goals for 2009...

For the year ahead...

1. Decide to improve your relationship with the Lord.
Commit to a daily Bible reading and prayer schedule. Spend QUALITY time with Him every single day.

2. Decide to improve your relationship with your church family.
Take advantage of fellowship opportunities. Make a prayer list and pray for your church family’s needs. Commit yourself to getting to know someone new.

3. Decide to improve your relationship with the unsaved.
Commit yourself to building a meaningful relationship with someone who is not saved and introduce Jesus into that relationship. Remember that it all starts with prayer.

These goals may sound simple; but if you implement them in your life they will go a long way in producing the kind of lifestyle that is pleasing to Him as well as improving our relationships with the Lord, our church family, and those who are not saved. Time is a precious commodity given to us that needs to be carefully used. My goal and prayer is that next year when you ask yourself these three questions you’ll be able to answer with a resounding YES!