Sermon - I am, I can, and I will part 2 from Clark Baptist Church June 23, 2013

Message title:  I am, I can, I will

The Big Idea for message:  Let God carry out the plans He has made for you.

ME (orientation): 

Last week we started out looking at how the nation of Israel was wandering through the wilderness for 40 years. In Deuteronomy 2 God says:

“2 The Lord then said to me, ³ ‘You’ve been traveling around this hill country long enough; turn north,”

Basically God was telling them enough of this wandering, I have something better for you. Take that step in faith!

Sadly each of us acts like the Nation of Israel from time to time. We allow ourselves to get in a rut and to continue doing the same things. Like the nation of Israel we never want to take that step in faith.

For 40 years the nation of Israel was saying I’m not going to change, I can’t it is to hard, and I won’t do what is needed. We also respond to God that way.

God does not want to hear I’m not, I can’t, or I won’t. What he wants from us is I am doing what you want me to do, I can accomplish it, I will take that step in faith.

God was telling the nation of Israel that ‘you have been in this place for long enough’. It is time for a change. He is telling each of us the same thing every time He wants us to grow and go.

The first step for each of us to take, regardless of where we are in our faith journey with Jesus is to say ‘I am ready to make the changes necessary in my life, to follow where Jesus guides!’

I Am!

Jeremiah 29:11

“¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“plans for your welfare, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”

As people who want to know God better, we need to overcome any fear or doubts and accept what we are being told in Jeremiah 29:11. God has blessed plans for our lives. Most of time we struggle due to not acting on our faith.

God wants to give us hope and a future, don’t let anything interfere with that. Step out in faith and say I Am, and remember that since God’s has developed the plans it is best to say ‘I Can.”

Philippians 4:13

“¹³ I am able to do all things through Him who strengthens me.”

If we believe in Jesus Christ we can do all things through Jesus. With faith in Jesus each one of us are capable of doing so much more than we let ourselves do.

I AM, and I CAN

Now let’s take this a step further and say I WILL

Isaiah 6:8

“⁸ Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying: Who should I send? Who will go for Us? I said: Here I am. Send me.

God is looking for those to say ‘Send Me!’ He wants each of us to say, ‘Ok, I Will Do It.’

I will step out in faith

I will invite my neighbor to church
I will help out at church
I will stretch out of my comfort zone
I will do whatever Jesus wants me to do
I will go where He wants me to go

God is looking for people who are willing to step out and do His will.

Now this is all good, but what if we don’t know where to begin? Or what if we are not sure we are capable of doing something?

We need to remember that our God is able to do everything. He is able to take nothing and turn it into something. Remember our Jesus defeated death and has brought us life.

If we look at Ezekiel Chapter 37, we see another great example of God turning death into life.

Ezekiel 37:1-10

“37 The hand of the Lord was on me, and He brought me out by His Spirit and set me down in the middle of the valley; it was full of bones. ² He led me all around them. There were a great many of them on the surface of the valley, and they were very dry. ³ Then He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”

I replied, “Lord God, only You know.”

⁴ He said to me, “Prophesy concerning these bones and say to them: Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! ⁵ This is what the Lord God says to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you will live. 6 I will put tendons on you, make flesh grow on you, and cover you with skin. I will put breath in you so that you come to life. Then you will know that I am Yahweh.”

⁷ So I prophesied as I had been commanded. While I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. ⁸ As I looked, tendons appeared on them, flesh grew, and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them. ⁹ He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man. Say to it: This is what the Lord God says: Breath, come from the four winds and breathe into these slain so that they may live!” 10 So I prophesied as He commanded me; the breath entered them, and they came to life and stood on their feet, a vast army.”

God was able to take something that was nothing, and give it life. He can do that to each of us. Jesus has died for us, so that we may have life. God can take our broken, sinful self’s and create a new life in us, one that is willing to say I am going to step out in faith, I can do what you are asking me to, and I will go as you have commanded.

If God can breathe life into dry bones, He can see us through whatever task He has called us to do. There is no situation that He cannot handle.

Is there something you feel God calling you to this morning? If so does it seem like something overwhelming? I can tell you there are times I feel this way. There are times I wonder, God can I handle all that you put before me?

Isaiah 43:18-19

18 “Do not remember the past events, pay no attention to things of old. ¹⁹ Look, I am about to do something new; even now it is coming. Do you not see it? Indeed, I will make a way in the wilderness, rivers in the desert.”

If God can make a river in the desert, if He can bring dry bones to life, if He can defeat death, no matter what He has called us to do, He will see us through.

Whatever we are facing, God is in control. If we look at these verses in Isaiah, all we are asked to do is to focus on the new things He has done and let go of the past. We need to let go of our sin, let go of our weakness, of our doubts, and remember that we are a NEW CREATION! As a new creation serving an amazing God the new things or the future is all that matter. The past is the past.

There was a sick man who spent his days sitting by the Pool of Bethesda. This man’s only desire was to watch for the water to stir and climb in so he could be healed. Each time it happened other sick people had friends and family help them to get into the water first, and this man was left struggling on his own. This man watched for 38 years as others were healed and returned to a normal life, while he continued to lie there day after day.

After 38 years, this man could have easily given up. But instead he had faith. One day as he was laying there, the water did not stir, something better happened. A man walked up to him and asked ‘Do you want to get well?’ the sick man stated that he has been trying but has no one to help him, so he never gets in first.

Well the sick man was talking to Jesus and Jesus told him to pick up his mat and walk. This man had to look at his life and let go of all of that old stuff, he had to let go of all of the times he did not make into the water, he needed to have faith. The sick man stood up, picked up his mat, and began walking. He was healed.

This man was saying I will get up, I will pay no attention to the past, I will look at the new things. He had faith to act out his I am, I can, and I will.

For each of us the only thing that is preventing us from looking towards the new thing, and focusing on the future is ourselves. If we feel God is guiding us to do something, we need to remember that we are a new creation and to step out in faith.

This morning as we sit here, we can say I am ready to follow you God, through your strength Lord I can do what you have asked, and I will act according to the new creation that I am.

See Jesus has already built the bridge between God and us. He has already paid the price so that we can have the new things, not the old ones.

Now all we have to do is act.

Remember:

God wants us to turn from our old ways.

He has created a plan for us to have a future and hope.
He will give us all the strength we can ever need
He will make the impossible – possible

There is nothing that we can encounter in life that He has not already provided for. He has already taken care of it; we just need to do it.

I am – I can – I will

I Am able, I Can do all things, I Will be found faithful!

YOU (application): 

This week as you go about your lives, remember that God has already defeated your problems. He has already equipped you to do what He wants you to do. Everything that happens is part of His plan that was created specifically for you. He will provide, the real question is will you step out in faith.

I encourage each of you to remember that Jesus is in control and fully depend on Him!

Thanks for reading God Bless!

Robert