Now it's been a while since
it was a primetime television show. You might catch it every once in a
while in the odd hours of the morning. But there was a time when it was a
blockbuster on television, and then it became some blockbuster movies.
When it was on TV, I tried not to miss it. It was called Mission
Impossible.
Now, maybe if you're old enough, you can remember the theme music. It
always began with Jim Phelps, who was the head of the Impossible Missions
Force. He'd get this tape and later on video - depending on the
technology, he would get the latest thing. And then he'd get some photos
that described a mission that was considered by his superior virtually
impossible. You remember the voice would come on and say, "Your mission,
Jim, should you choose to accept it is..." And then they'd go on. And then
in the old days they'd say, "This tape will self-destruct in 30 seconds."
And it just all kind of blew up at that point.
Well, Jim would then go back and put together his team, and the rest of
the story was how they pulled off this assignment that was supposedly
undoable. Now, I haven't seen Mission Impossible for a long time, but I
don't need to. I live it. And maybe you do too...or you could.
Well, do you ever look at the week ahead, or the day ahead, or the month
and just say, "Mission impossible! It can't work! I can't do it!" I do
that. I did two weeks ago. I mean, I saw a week ahead of me that was a
mountain of deadlines, and decisions, and responsibilities, and people.
And I tell you the truth; I know what it is to panic when I look at that
wall-to-wall, jam-packed week or month ahead.
Well, at that point, I had been reading 2 Corinthians for my personal time
with the Lord each morning, and that morning, (and you know, the Lord is
good about this), I just read the next passage, and He lovingly gave me a
verse that changed everything. Now you might be facing a challenge or
challenges that look like some unmovable mountain right now. Maybe it's
family, or school, or at work, or maybe you've got some relational
mountains to move. Maybe it's a project you're doing; maybe it's medical
issues. It's not the tape that's about to self-destruct like that Mission
Impossible; it's you.
Well, listen to this beautiful, redemptive verse in 2 Corinthians 9:8. I
committed it to memory at that moment. "And God is able to make all grace
abound to you, so that in all things, at all times, having all that you
need, you will abound in every good work." You say, "Whoa! Where is that?"
That's 2 Corinthians 9:8. No loopholes... all, all, all, all, all. "God is
going to give you all grace, in all things, at all times, having all that
you need." There's no attorney on earth who could find a loophole there.
And you know what the word abound means? It says, "God will make you
abound..." Well, His grace abounding to you so you can abound in every
good work. It means literally from the Greek, "more than enough," or "to
be left over," or "to make extremely rich." It was the same word used to
describe the feeding of the 5,000. Remember, they thought there wouldn't
be enough for the crowd, and then instead they had 12 baskets of fragments
left over - lunch to spare. That's the same word - leftovers, lots to
spare.
It you depend on the adrenaline of God's grace for this mountain, you will
get it done and you will have resources left over if you're using His
resources. And that impossible week I told you about a couple of weeks ago
- it was one of the most supernatural weeks I've ever experienced, because
I was riding on this promise. Everything happened; it happened better than
I could have ever dreamed.
See, God makes you extremely rich in grace so you can make others
extremely rich through the good works you have to do. God plenty's us so
we can plenty those around us. You have in Christ more than enough grace
for every assignment God has given you.
And that's why Mission Impossible isn't impossible.
See you in Church, Rev. Chuck
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