Between Impossible & More Impossible | God Makes a Way

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Will you become a harvest partner and help us fulfill the great commission in our lifetime? Let's do this together. Just go to harvest.org. The Israelites face the impossible. The Egyptian army behind them, the Red Sea before them.

Today, Pastor Greg Laurie helps with our crises. To face the impossible, you must walk by faith, not by feelings. And I wonder if you're facing a Red Sea record. I wonder if you're looking at what seems to be an insurmountable obstacle.

Well, there's no thing that you're facing that's bigger than God. God is bigger than your problem. It's true. Remember that. This is the day when the lost are found.

This is the day for a new beginning. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound. Oh, can you hear all the angels are singing? This is the day, the day when lives begin.

Sometimes we can face impossible situations. It seems there's no way out and no way through.

Well, God can make a way where there seems to be no way. And today on a new beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie helps us lean on the care of our loving God. Glad you're along for a series called Joshua, Living in the Land of Promises. Maybe you need God's help today. Or maybe you're really tall.

You'll need God's help tomorrow. Stay tuned and learn how to come to God when He's your only option. The title of this message is. Between impossible And more impossible.

So now here are the Israelites. They're facing the Red Sea. Here comes the armies of Egypt. What do they do? What would you have done?

You would have done exactly what they did. They freaked out. Look at Exodus 14:10. As the Pharaoh approached, the people of Israel looked up and panicked. when they saw the Egyptians overtaking them.

And that was a scary army. That was the most powerful. military on earth. Here they come in their chariots. And their stallions and their swords and their spears and their shields and helmets.

And here are the Israelites just standing there with their kids, you know, and their livestock. Moses has a stick and not a lot more. They're like ah We're not really an army. And the Red Sea is behind us, and the Egyptian army is coming toward us. And now they look like they're in the worst situation possible.

But I love what we read. We read that Moses says to the people, Stand still, Exodus 14. And the Lord Himself will fight for you. Stand still. That's the hardest thing to do, isn't it?

We want to take things into our own hands. But the Bible says wait on the Lord. Those that wait upon the Lord. Will mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary.

They shall walk and not faint, the Bible tells us. When you're in a place like this, it's not a bad place to be. Warren Wearsby, a great Bible commentator, said this, and I quote: When human resources are gone, then divine resources can go to work on behalf of those that trust God, end quote.

So when you're led by the Lord, make your move. Look at verse 15. The Lord says to Moses, Why are you crying out to me? Tell the people to get moving. Pick up your staff, raise your hand over the sea, divide the water so the Israelites can walk through in the middle of the sea on dry ground.

You know, there's a point to wait, and there's a moment to pray, and then you've got to move. That sounds strange. No, you've got to always pray.

Well, yes, pray. But there's a moment to move. When intercession is passed, intervention has come. It's time to take action. Let's illustrate.

Let's say you're having problems in your marriage, and wife, you're praying for your husband. Lord, would you speak to my husband? He needs to show me more affection. He needs to do the chores I ask him to do. He needs to be more patient with me.

Just change my husband, we pray. And meanwhile, the husband is praying, Lord, change this wife. Sure. She's always nagging. She's always complaining.

She doesn't appreciate me.

Well, look, why don't you just do your part? There's a point to pray, but... The Bible says, husbands, love your wife as Christ loves the church. Why don't you do that, guys? Are you doing it?

I'll answer it for you. No. We all fall short of that, don't we, men, right? We fall short. We don't love our wives as much as we should.

But then the wife is told by God. Respect your husband. Isn't that interesting? God tells a husband to love his wife. And God tells a wife to respect her husband.

That doesn't mean that husbands Should not respect their wives, nor does it mean wives should not love their husbands, but it is interesting to note there are distinct commands given to each. See Men need respect. They need respect and they need a sandwich. We're not all that complex, ladies. We just aren't.

Just to say to your husband. I respect you. I admire you. I love you. I thank you.

For providing for me all these years. You know, that goes a long way with a guy. But hey, guys, girls need love. You need to love them. You need to show affection toward them.

They need to be reassured. These are important things, right?

So do your part. There's a time to pray, but there's a time to take action. What about somebody you need to forgive, someone that's hurt you?

Someone has slandered you. And you say, it's so hard for me to forgive. I've been praying, Lord, help me forgive them. Why don't you just go do it? I'm not feeling it though.

Doesn't matter. Just do it. The Bible says, be tender-hearted. Forgiving one another as God in Christ has forgiven you. You know, one of my favorite heroes of Christian history is a lady named Corey Tinboom.

Have you heard of her? She wrote an amazing book called The Hiding Place.

So Corey was a young lady living in Holland during World War II. She was a strong Christian, along with her father and her sister. And the Nazis were Hunting down Jews, arresting them, and sending them to concentration camps.

So Corey and her family. hid Jewish people in her home. hence the title of her book, The Hiding Place. One day, as the Gestapo figured it out, they arrested Curry's father, Caspar Tenboom. Her sister, Betsy, and Corey herself.

The father died quickly because he was an elderly man. He was very frail. Betsy and Corey were ended up in a camp called Ravensbrook. And Betsy was just a godly, saintly woman. And she died.

And then Corey was released on a clerical error, but in reality, it was the providence of God.

So she lived out her life, traveling the world, telling people. There is no pit so deep that God is not deeper still. She described herself as a tramp for the Lord. And would speak all over the place. I heard her speak once, it was amazing.

And she was in Germany. A few years after the war was over, she had spoken the topic of forgiveness. At the end of her sermon, a line of people wanted to shake her hand, and suddenly a man approaches her and he says, Fraulein Tinboom, I don't know if you remember me. She had a flashback. This man standing before her, she remembered him.

as a Nazi in the concentration camp. Doing horrible things to her and her sister. She filled with rage and anger, and her fist clenched and. She grit her teeth. And he says, For all I tend, boom, I was so moved by your message, and I'm asking you.

her forgive me. She said I couldn't do it. And then she said, in an act of obedience, I extended my hand and I shook his hand and I said, I forgive you, brother. She said it was like a bolt of electricity went down my arm and through my hand, and I felt this burden of unforgiveness lifted off me at that very moment. You see what happened there?

She didn't wait for the emotion, she just did the motion. She just did the right thing. And so there's a time to pray. And there's a time to move. And that's what we need to do as well.

So they took this great step of faith. That brings us to our next point. To face the impossible, you must walk by faith, not by feelings. To face the impossible, you must walk by faith, not by feelings. Look at Exodus 14:21.

Moses raised his hand up over the sea, the Lord opened up a path through the water. With a strong east wind, and the wind blew all that night, turning the seabed into dry land, and the people of Israel walked through the middle of the sea on dry ground with walls of water on each side. It'd have been easier to airlift them over. But the Lord took them through. Imagine for a moment walls of water on each side.

Have you ever been to one of those amazing Aquariums, big, huge sea creatures. They're just walking along. Whoa, look at the whale, look at the dolphins. Keep walking. And they walked and they walked and they walked.

It took a while to get across the Red Sea. And that's the Christian life. We walk and we walk and we walk. We walk by faith, not by feeling. We put one foot in front of the other.

Some days we feel it, some days we don't. But the Bible says the just shall live by faith. Being a Christian or a successful Christian has been defined as lung obedience in the same direction. Yeah. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment.

Yeah. It's such a blessing to hear from listeners who take time to express their appreciation. Hi, Pastor Greg. My dad shared your podcast with me, and now I listen every morning. Thank you for being so down-to-earth and real.

I love the way you share God's Word. I just listened this morning and learned something new every day. I love praying together at the end of the message, and am so grateful for how my relationship with God has grown. Thank you, Pastor Gregg. It's so great to know that listeners are hearing these messages and God is using His Word to touch lives.

How have Pastor Greg's studies impacted your life? Would you let him know? Send an email to Greg at harvest.org.

Well, the Israelites are on the run, being chased by the Egyptian army, and now stepping onto dry land as the Red Sea had miraculously parted in front of them. Pastor Greg is pointing out practical insights on trusting God today. I wonder if you're facing a Red Sea right now. I wonder if you're looking at what seems to be an insurmountable obstacle.

Well, there's no thing that you're facing that's bigger than God. God is bigger than your problem. God is bigger than your problem. I want you to say this out loud. I don't have you say things out loud a lot.

I want you to say, God is bigger than my problem. Ready? God is bigger than my problem. Right? It's true.

Remember that. I don't know what you're facing. Maybe it's a physical problem. You know, you're sick or you have A disability or Old age is just kicking in. And you're thinking, oh man, this is hard.

You know, think of the great Apostle Paul. This is a man. That did miracles by the hand of God. Paul. Prayed for a person to be raised from the dead.

Paul Prayed for people to be healed. Paul wrote Wrote words down in letters that we now call the Bible. Paul went to heaven and came back to tell the story. This is Paul. And Paul was sick, so you would think, man, he's a super saint.

Whatever he'd asked for, he'd get it. Just name it and claim it, man. Paul said, Lord, I'm sick. I have this thorn in the flesh. We don't know what this thorn in the flesh was, but he says, There was given unto me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan sent to buffet me.

Three times I asked the Lord to take it away, and the Lord said, My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength will come through more in your weakness. I know we don't want to go through Red Seas. I know we don't want to go through valleys. I know we don't want to go through fiery trials.

Sometimes God will airlift us over, but a lot of the time He walks with us through those difficulties. Isaiah 43, 2. Says, when you go through deep water, the Lord says, I'll be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up, and the flames will not consume you.

So, On they walk, and they're done now. The last one's coming through. Come on, come on, come on, let's go, let's go, let's go. We're done. All of a sudden, the Egyptian army says, Ah, let's go, let's get up.

And they come through. The dry ground and their chariots with all their equipment. And the waters come back. heaping on them and they all drowned.

Some people would say that's not fair. The poor Egyptian army. Interesting how they died. Drowning. Wasn't it the Pharaoh that gave the command to drown all the Jewish baby boys?

Hmm. Looks like he reaped what he sowed. The Bible says don't be confused about this or deceived. God is not mocked. You go, Greg, you're wrong.

People mock God all the time. Oh, I know. But listen to what the rest of the verse says. God is not mocked. For whatsoever a man shall sow.

He will also read.

Now, that's not all negative. It says: if he sows of the flesh, he'll reap corruption. But if he sows of the spirit, he'll reap life everlasting. You'll reap what you sow.

Sow a thought, reap an act.

So a act reap a habit.

So a habit reap a character.

So a character reap a destiny. It all starts with what you think.

So when you sow to the spirit, which means Come to church on Sunday. I mean here that's a good start. Open your Bible up in the morning. Pray about things. Surround yourself with believers that will encourage you.

That's called sowing to the Spirit. You'll reap life everlasting, but if you sow to the flesh, you'll reap corruption. That's what happened to the Pharaoh. He reaped what he sowed. One final point and I'm done.

After overcoming the impossible, give God the glory. After overcoming the impossible, give God the glory. Look at Exodus 15, verse 1. Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the Lord. I'll sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously.

He has hurled both horse and rider into the sea. The Lord is my strength and my song. He has given me victory. This is my God, and I will praise him, my father's God, and I will exalt him. I love that.

Did you know that's the first recorded song in scripture? No, I'm sure they sang before this, but this is the first time it's recorded. This is called the Song of Moses. And by the way, we will be singing the Song of Moses in heaven.

So this is a hit song. This is a big deal. They're giving God the praise. You know, we're so quick to call on God. when we're in trouble.

Are we as quick as to give praise to God when He gets us through the trouble. The answer is no. But we can change that. I want you to think for a moment. Have you come recently through a hard trial, or through a red sea of sorts, or through some difficulty?

Have you? Have you given God glory for that? Oh Lord, help me. Oh Lord, come through for me. Great, good.

He came through for you. Thanks God, see you next crisis. No. Given glory. Lord, thank you specifically.

Thank you for what you just did. I acknowledge that as an answer to my prayer. You did that. And I praise you for it. Remember the story of the 10 lepers that were healed by Jesus?

One came back to give thanks, and Jesus had a question. Hey, you're welcome, man, but... Where are the other nine? That's us. We're the other nine.

Let's give God the glory when He comes through for us, just as the Israelites gave. Glory to God when it came through for them. And what appeared to be a hopeless situation came the ultimate hope. The Pharaoh's plan backfired and his army was destroyed. The same thing happened 2,000 years ago at the cross.

The worst travesty of justice in human history Is when the holy, sinless Son of God. was arrested, beaten. and nailed to a cross. But this was the devil's plan. The devil thought, you know, I want to stop Jesus.

And I know how I'll do it, I'll kill him. Let's go back to the ark of scripture. We already saw Pharaoh tried to kill all the Jewish baby boys. Because Jesus was Jewish? And God laid it down in the book of Genesis when after the fall happened and Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit, the Lord said to Satan, There is coming one who's going to crush your head, but you will bruise his heel.

Came on. Battle lines are drawn.

Now, the devil knows he wants to stop Jesus, so he works with the Pharaoh to try to kill all the Jewish baby boys fast forward to the book of Esther. A wicked man named Haman devises a Scheme to have all of the Jews killed, and Haman ends up hanging on his own gallows because a courageous young woman named Esther, who won a beauty contest. Causing her to become the Queen of Persia, used her feminine influence. For the glory of God. And saved a race.

Now we go to the New Testament. Here's King Herod hearing that there's been one who was born who's called the King of the Jews. Pharaoh gives the command: kill all the Jewish baby boys. That'll stop them. No, no, no.

You're not going to stop Messiah. But Satan thought, I've got it. I'm going to infiltrate his ranks. Jesus had twelve disciples, one of whom was named Judas Iscariot. And he entered the heart of Judas, and Judas betrayed our Lord for thirty pieces of silver.

And Pontius Pilate gave the command, and Jesus was nailed to a cross and he died. Satan thought, I want. Ah You can't keep a good man down. And you can't keep the God-man down. Right on schedule, Jesus rose again three days later because he came with the express purpose of dying on the cross for the sin of the world.

For your sin and for mine.

So it looked like the worst travesty of justice, but in reality, it was all part of God's plan. And Jesus died on that cross for you.

So you could be forgiven of your sin. Because I might be talking to someone who's just given up. You're thinking, you know, maybe the world would be a better place without me. Don't you listen to that lie from the pit of hell. You're loved by God.

God has a plan for you. And there's a second chance and a third chance. But, Greg, you said we reap what we sow. I know I said that. But did I remind you that God can also forgive you of your sin?

And did I also remind you? Probably didn't, I'm telling you now. If any man be in Christ, he is an altogether different kind of person. Old things have passed away, and behold, everything becomes fresh and new.

So, you can ask God to forgive you when He will. I don't want to miss this opportunity to offer this. Relationship of God to some of you that have joined us. Jesus Christ, who died on that cross, rose again from the dead three days later. He stands now at the door of your life and he knocks and says if you'll Hear his voice, hear his and open the door, you'll come in.

Would you like a second chance in life? Would you like Christ to come into your life? Would you like to be forgiven of your sin? That can happen for you right here, right now. Let's pray.

Father, I pray for every person here, every person watching and listening, wherever they are, Lord. I pray that your Holy Spirit will convict them of their sin and convince them of their need for Jesus. And help them to come to you now. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

Pastor Greg Laurie. With an important prayer with those who want to make a change today in their relationship with the Lord. And if you'd like to do that, Pastor Gregg will come back in a moment to help you before today's edition of A New Beginning concludes. And then let us say a word of thanks to those who support us financially, those who make it possible for us to bring you these studies each day. We are definitely a listener-supported ministry.

It's the generosity of listeners that help us be here with these programs.

So, if you've partnered with us, thank you. And if you have yet to partner with us, well, I hope you'll get in touch today and let us know that you're standing with us. Even a small investment would help. It's actually an investment in changing lives. Thank you for partnering with us.

You can donate securely online at harvest.org or write a new beginning box 4000, Riverside, California, 92514. Or call us at 1-800-821-3300. Again, that's 1-800-821-3300. Pastor Gregg, you spoke a few moments ago of the need to get our hearts right with God. Could you help someone who wants to do that right now?

Yes, I'd be delighted to. Listen, as you've listened to this program today, Maybe something's been happening inside of your heart where you're sensing. I need to do this personally, but How do I do it? And what do I do? Let me help you.

It's very simple. In fact, it's so simple you may be shocked. God, this relationship with him is just a prayer away. The Bible says if you will call upon the name of the Lord, you'll be saved.

So I'd like to lead you in a prayer where you do just that. You call on the name of the Lord. You know, sometimes when I'm talking with someone one-on-one and they want to accept Jesus Christ, I'll have them pray a prayer after me. Maybe you'd like to do that right now. Thousands have done this over the years listening to our broadcast, and the Lord has changed our lives.

And it can happen for you right now. This can be the moment where you change your eternal address. Literally from hell to heaven. I'll pray a simple prayer, and I would just ask you to pray this prayer out loud if you like. After me, just pray these words: Lord Jesus.

Oh. I know that I'm a sinner, but But I know that you're the Saviour, Who died on the cross for me? and rose again from the dead. Jesus, I choose to follow you From this moment forward, In your name I pray. Amen.

I know. It's such a simple short prayer, but you just called on the name of the Lord. And you know what? He heard that prayer. And if you meant that prayer in your heart, he answered that prayer.

Now let me help you to get started on the right foot in your new life in Jesus Christ. The greatest adventure awaits you, the life of walking with God. I want to send you what we call a new believer's growth pack. What is that?

Well, first of all, it's a copy of the new New Believers Bible. And by that, I mean we have redone this from ground level up. I've rewritten the notes, and it's a new living translation with a lot of notes on how to grow spiritually woven through this unique edition of Scripture. And let me be the first to say to you, come. Congratulations and welcome to the family of God.

And to get that free New Believers Bible, along with the other items in our growth pack, just let us know you prayed along with Pastor Greg to receive Christ today. We'll be glad to send our New Believers Growth Pack your way, free of any charge. Call us at 1-800-821-3300. Call anytime, 1-800-821-3300. Or write a new beginning box 4000, Riverside, California, 92514.

Or go online to harvest.org and click Know God. Hey everybody, you can watch our Sunday services on a special broadcast that we call Harvest at Home. It's streaming on the Harvest Plus platform.

So download that app right away, Harvest Plus, and you can enjoy being a part of our extended church family every Sunday.

Well, next time, Pastor Greg points out how we can get our feet wet. He'll explain how we can live in the land of promises next time. Join us here on A New Beginning with Pastor and Bible teacher Greg Laurie. This is the day, the day when life begins.