R1621 Praying the Impossible

Number one casualty in the church in America today is going to be the issue of Christians staying together around Jesus. Staying together around Jesus. Dr. Don Wilton, the voice you just heard, is going to take us straight to the book of Ezra chapter 9 about the impossible prayer and how, though we know that phrase, that scripture, with God all things are possible, today we're going to see some other scriptural advances to how you and I can claim that promise.

The impossible prayer is possible. As we open God's Word together, know that we're here for you to connect on the phone at 866-899-WORD. That's 866-899-9673 or on our website at www.tewonline.org. Be sure and sign up for the daily encouraging word email from Dr. Don. That's online at www.tewonline.org.

And now Dr. Don Wilton. I want you to turn in your Bibles with me to Ezra chapter 9. Just want to share this with you today. I want to speak to you about praying the impossible. I want to tell you today, with all the love in my heart, that I want you to know, I believe you can pray the impossible and God will make it possible. Let's do this God's way. So I'm reading in Ezra chapter 9.

I was in Ezra last week. I'm going to, I was in chapter 1, but this has so burned in my heart as I have soaped with hundreds of people in our church. This passage just grabbed my heart. Let's just, there's so much here.

Please listen. Would you just deliberately worship God? Now say, deliberately worship God. Now say, I'm going to just, I am going to worship the Lord Jesus. I'm going to ask God. Now just do this, please. I beg you in your marriage, in your life, in your convictions, in your attitude, in your impossibilities, which we all deal with folks. Please, I beg of you, just listen to what God says to you and to me.

This is what he showed me. And I'll just start in verse 5. Then at the evening sacrifice, Ezra rose. I rose from my self-abasement with my tunic and cloak torn. I fell on my knees with my hands spread out before the Lord. And I prayed, oh my God, I'm too ashamed and disgraced to lift up my face to you, my God, because our sins are higher than our heads and our guilt has reached to the heavens.

From the days of our forefathers until now, our guilt has been great because of our sins. We and our kings and our priests have been subjected to the sword and captivity, to pillage and humiliation at the hand of foreign kings, as it is today. But now, for a brief moment, the Lord our God has been gracious in leaving us a remnant and giving us a firm place in his sanctuary. And so our God gives light to our eyes and relief in our bondage. Though we are slaves, our God has not deserted us in our bondage. He has shown us kindness in full view of the kings of Persia. He has granted us new life to rebuild the house of our God and to repair its ruins. And he has given us a wall of protection in Judah and in Jerusalem. Wow.

Is there any need for me to say anything? When God speaks, last week, for those who were able to worship together with us, we considered Ezra and we came to the conclusion we saw their presence in Israel. We saw their presence in Jerusalem. We saw their presence in Israel. We considered Ezra and we came to the conclusion we saw their predicament.

You ever want to define impossible? How about these people, God's people living in exile? They weren't even in their own land.

How about the fact that their land, Judah, had been overrun by foreign kings and invaders and the foreign gods? And they weren't even there to do anything about it. They were divided asunder. Their families were hurting. Everything of value to them had been taken away. God did four things. I just mentioned this to you.

This was the message last week. He did four things. Number one, God ignited them. He provided the spark. God said, all right, you're ready?

Here's what I'm going to do for you. God, God can do this. It began with God and ended with God. God didn't turn to these people and say, why don't you just call a meeting and sit down and you try and work it out? Because God knows that it doesn't work. Have you ever tried to work out something in America today? Do you want to get a consensus on something?

Shall we have one man, one vote, and decide who's wrong and who's right? God ignited them. He's always done that.

He's the one. It's just unbelievable. When we worship God, we're actually saying, okay, God, we're going to look at you. Not only ignited them, but he excited them. That excitement.

When you reach the level of impossibility, one of the big casualties is excitement. God gave them their mission. God said, this is what and how are you going to do this? You're going to go back and you're going to rebuild.

This is what it's going to look like. He gave them the excitement. The reason a marriage gets to a point that it does, after years of marriage, when it gets to the impossible, I guarantee you the one thing that's gone out of that marriage is excitement. What's so exciting about being together?

It's like with her, with him, you kidding me? Church. What's there to look forward to when you get to impossible? Well, God not only ignited them, but he excited them, gave them the mission. Then third, he united them.

You talk about impossible. Number one casualty in the church in a lot of ways, number one casualty in the church in America today is going to be the issue of Christians staying together around Jesus. Number one issue. It's not going to be what we do, it's going to be who we serve. He united them. And the story in Ezra is so beautiful. He did the impossible. He just brought them all together.

I've watched that all these years here at First Baptist Church in Spartanburg. I've got friends out there, trust me, who say, can't be done. Yes, it can. You're right. What are you talking about? Who said you can't bring hundreds upon hundreds of people together? Excuse me. Do you think any of us are different? Is there an opinion in the house?

Is there a better way of doing everything? Of course. So how do you explain a church so united?

I'm speaking to someone right now out there. I'm blessing you with the word of the Lord. I've got friends whose churches are falling apart.

It's not over Jesus. God united them. He does this. How do you think you're ever going to come together as one in your marriage?

Unless God does. Try it. Well, you've been doing that for the last 25 years. Try and just sit down and work it out. You got beyond sitting down working it out. You're at the impossible level.

Because as soon as you sit down and try and work it out, it takes two minutes and one of you says, well, I'm just going to tell you one thing. And there it goes again. You know, I want to say, do I have a witness? I'm not going to do that.

I'm not going to do that. What does the future look like? We've got to look at the future through God's eyes. He ignited them. He excited them. He united them. And then He invited them. He said, y'all come. He said, come on, all of you. I want all your families to get together.

Let's do this. You know why He said let's do this all together? Because God can do this. So what lay ahead for Ezra and for these people was arduous. It was difficult. It was impossible. I could not have blamed any one of those families in Babylon for saying, please, we're going back to our homeland.

Give me a break. We don't even have enough camels to get there. Where are we going to live? They've taken over all our houses. Well, what are we going to do about all the foreigners there? I mean, do you not understand?

What do you mean? How do we get our kids across the mountains? They're not going to survive.

We don't have enough water for the trip. This was impossible. You and I read a passage like this and we say, oh, whoop-de-doo, there they go. This was impossible. That's why God's telling us.

So what did Ezra do? Please forgive the interruption. We'll be back in just a moment with the rest of today's message with Dr. Don Wilton. But as we take this break, Dr. Don wants to remind you of two things. One, we're available. We would love to pray with you any time at the 866-899 word number.

That's 866-899-9673. And we're also here to encourage you beyond this broadcast. Wonderful daily devotionals you can receive via email on our website at TEWOnline.org and also great resources like this. It all begins with God. Journey with Dr. Wilton as he takes you to the beginning. Genesis Back to the Beginning message plus the bonus book, The Origin of Everything, will help you come face to face with some very foundational faith issues.

You will also find answers to foundational questions about who you are and why you are here. This is a must-have gift to purchase for yourself, a friend, or loved one, including your child or grandchildren, to help them know truth when the enemy attacks. Call us at 866-899-WORD. That's 866-899-9673 to request the life-changing message, Genesis Back to the Beginning and the bonus book with your gift of $25 or more per set. Thank you for supporting the encouraging word as we continue to proclaim the life-changing gospel of Jesus Christ to the world.

Now let's get back to today's dynamic teaching with Dr. Don Wilton. The message on the impossible prayer is something we stand ready to do, praying for you 24 hours a day at 866-899-9673. So what it is to do? I want to just give this to you out of my burden for you because I love you and you're my family, you're my friends, you're my neighbors, you mean the world to me. I'm just one person but God gave this to me but he gave it to us.

He's been giving this to a lot of people. He did four things. Number one, he humbled himself. Verse five, you know he in the Jewish custom, you know, tearing one's tunic cloak, getting on their knees and then there's a beautiful expression, holding up your hands. I don't think God's telling us that we need to tear our clothes and that's not the point here. The point here is this is an act of humility before God. You and I cannot go to God you and I cannot go to God holding on to our own attitude.

That's tough to do. Well, Lord, okay. Okay, tell me something I don't know.

Doesn't work. Well, Lord, I'll come and talk to you as long as everybody knows that this is the most important thing we deal with right now. Well, Lord, I want to, I, sure, okay, I heard what the preacher said, let's get on and deal with this thing with marriage but just as long, God, as you know that she is just, you know, I can't stand the way she does A, B, C, D and E and as long as, God, you keep that in mind. Don't let her get away with that. I'm willing to listen to you.

That's what I'm talking about. That's how, that's very natural to do. Yeah, I'll pray but, no, no, no. Humble yourself, get on your face, hold your hands up to the Lord and say, Lord Jesus, it's all you. Number two, he prayed, verse six, you know, verse six is so powerful and prayed and prayed, verse six and prayed. He humbled himself, verse six and prayed. The third thing he did was he confessed, verse six and seven, came right out of the chute, oh God, I'm too ashamed.

He confessed his own sin, he confessed the sin of his people, he just confessed, he just said guilty. I'm not asking you to do this, God's asking us, if we want to pray the impossible, do it humbly, do it prayerfully and do it confessionally. It's a requirement. God requires that.

So go back now to your marriage or whatever it is, your impossible. You've got to do business with the Lord, right? But there's one more and I want you to write this word down if you can. He evoked, evoked, isn't that a great word? Evoked, that's what Ezra did, he evoked, e-v-o-k-e-d. If you've never heard of that word, it's a powerful word, he evoked.

What does it mean? It means to bring or recall to one's conscious mind. If you evoke a memory, it means that you out there doing something and you evoke a memory, you recall, you bring back to mind that precious time that you had with your mother before she died and it'll remain in your heart and life as a precious memory. I have a very dear friend who traveled a long way to see her mother and got there just before she died and my wife and I were saying how incredibly precious, how thankful just to be able, when he evoked, he brought back to memory right in the middle of his impossibility. This is strong. If I was privileged to be partnering with you and counseling you in your marriage right now, I would ask you to evoke, to bring back to your conscious mind all the wonderful things about when you met, your dating, the years, the joy, the love, the fun, the evoke, you bring it back. He brought to memory, to his conscious memory, God the Spirit does this.

What did he do? It's all here. Number one, God's grace. Just you can run this through, God has been gracious, God's grace. God, when you evoke God's grace, you'll remember that God has been gracious, God's grace. God, when you evoke God's grace, you'll remember that God is merciful and he loves you just because he does, not because you deserve it. He evoked God's gift, God gives to us. It's what he says, he's being gracious and he gave us a firm place in his sanctuary. God is a giving God, he evoked the fact of God's gift, he evoked, evoked, he brought to his conscious memory that God is light.

Look what he says here, he says he gives light to our eyes. Okay, so what happens when you get to impossible? Shadows, it's dark, it's dismal, it's fog. You can sit in the most beautiful home with the most beautiful wife, husband, with incredible family, so blessed and yet be in the dark.

Impossible will make you really blind. Unhappy, fogged up. He evoked God's relief, says he gives a little relief in our body. God is a relief giving God and by the way that word relief means he eases the hard.

He makes the hard, he means he eases the hard. He makes the way, he shows hope. That word relief, provide relief means man I'm in this and all of a sudden when you evoke that into your consciousness, God is going to bless you. He evoked God's dependability. He said even though we are slaves, God has not deserted us. I like that, don't you?

You know what happens when you get to the impossible level? You think God's deserted us. God hasn't gone anywhere.

He hasn't deserted us. God has not, I promise you this, God has not left for New Mexico. God has not left for Minnesota. God has not gone overseas. God is not somewhere else. God's everywhere. God is doing the same thing for the people in New Mexico and in Minnesota and everywhere. He's eternal God. He's magnificent God. By the way, there's enough of God to go around.

You don't have to worry about having a corner on the market. He evoked God's kindness. Look at that word there. He's shown us kindness.

America, America, so unkind. Evoke God's kindness. God is kind and loving. He evoked God's ability.

Look there. He granted us new life to rebuild. It's evoking God's ability to begin again, fresh, brand new. I know I've referred to marriage a lot. I'm not just picking on marriage, but you know it is possible to be married for 40 years and suddenly feel like you're on honeymoon again. God can do that. The same man's impossible. God can bring your son home again, back into your home, like you're going to look back and say, what happened?

Wow. God can rescue you. God can make you whole. And finally, he evoked God's protection.

That's a big one, isn't it? Look at that last statement there, given us a wall of protection. So there are really four things that Ezra did, praying the impossible. He humbled, he prayed, he confessed, and he evoked. He brought back. He said, Lord, just fill me with you.

And God did. It's so good to hear how God is at work and what God can do. For Dr. Don Wilton, for any of us at the Encouraging Word team, he can and will do it for you.

He's ready to do it for you right now, right wherever you are. I pray that if you've discovered that there's some questions that need to be answered and you need to talk with someone, you would know we stand ready to do that 24 hours a day at 866-899-WORD. That's 866-899-9673. Or if you'd rather, keyboard to keyboard on our website at tewonline.org.

That's tewonline.org. We would love to connect with you and maybe walk you through the next in your life. As a matter of fact, the next just might be responding to what Dr. Wilton is about to ask you next. You know, I love this opportunity to be able to share with you like this. And I want to thank you for tuning in and for listening. God is speaking, isn't He, even in our day and age today.

And He sees you and He loves you. Jesus died for you. So I'm going to ask that question. Are you ready to give your life to Christ? Do it right now.

I'd love to be able to help you. No prayer can save you, but God can. You pray this prayer. Make it your own prayer. Dear God, I know Jesus died on a cross for me.

I believe. I accept what you say, and I'm hearing you speak to me. Today, I repent of my sin, and by faith, I receive you into my heart. In Jesus' name. Isn't that amazing?

You know what? God has just heard your prayer. And because of Jesus, you now, my friend, are saved. Your name has been written in God's book in heaven.

Isn't that fantastic? So here's what I'm going to ask you to do. You can visit me.

Visit us at tewonline.org. Here's another one. You might want to write it down. Make note. You can call us at 866-899-9673. Listen, people tell me numbers all the time, and I can't write them down quick enough. So here it is again.

866-899-9673. I'd love to hear from you. We're on standby. We're there for you. We're part of the same family.

God bless you, my friend. Welcome to the family of God. I believe that some of you just gave your life to Jesus Christ for the very first time, praying along with Dr. Don Wilton. Some of you maybe rededicated your life, and some maybe we're all wondering, what is the next step for me?

And you have questions. Well, we would love to help discover the answers with God's encouraging word here at the other end of 866-899-WORD. That's our phone number. Jot it down. Store it in your cell, 866-899-9673. We'd love to pray with you and for you, and especially for those of you that have just given your life to Christ or rededicated your life.

Dr. Wilton has specific information, wonderful resource pack. He wants to give you absolutely free, but you've got to call and let us know. That's 866-899-9673. Or if you'd rather, connect with us online at www.tewonline.org. That's www.tewonline.org.