You were made for impossible assignments. God’s design is that His power would be seen in you as you lean into Him for the answers to the impossible situations in your life. In this sermon clip, Bill Johnson teaches from Mary’s incredible example of surrender and trust in God when facing the impossible assignment of carrying and birthing the Son of God. If your assignment seems impossible or you feel unqualified for what the Lord is calling you to, you are in good company with every Bible hero and countless other great men and women of faith! Whatever you are facing today, God has a solution.
and everything that God has intended to
do in and through you is absolutely
impossible if you’re not overwhelmed by
your assignment you don’t see your
assignment
what he intends to do is absolutely
impossible it’s to put us into the place
of absolute dependency so that he can
work in and through us to display
himself as the god of the impossible
[Music]
today I want to look at one part of the
Christmas story that always impacts me
the only thing I don’t like about
Christmas is that we we tend to look at
scriptures or sing songs that we only do
like one time a year and these are for
the believer these themes are continuous
throughout the year and Mary is one of
the great Heroes of scripture uh
we’re going to talk a little bit about
her and I’m because I’ve been I’m
inspired by her her
um her example the way she responded to
an impossible uh challenge in front of
her so we’ll look at that in a moment
the Holy Spirit came upon Mary
natural spiritual Holy Spirit came upon
Mary
and she revealed Jesus
the Holy Spirit comes upon the written
word
and Jesus is revealed
the Holy Spirit comes Upon A surrendered
believer
and Jesus is revealed
I don’t at all want to lessen the
significance of the role that Mary plays
she’s called highly favored of the Lord
so please don’t misunderstand that
however the miracle of Jesus being
manifest in and through you me you and
me is the same miracle
it’s the spirit of God coming upon the
natural to manifest the eternal
eternity is the Cornerstone of all logic
and reason
anytime we lose sight of Eternity we are
bound to come to temporary
and false conclusions
it’s seeing things from an eternal
perspective that changes everything for
example
Mary is called highly favored of the
Lord
if you lose sight of Eternal perspective
you look at her circumstances Joseph
wants to divorce her not follow through
with the wedding
Herod wants to kill her
kid her son
these the scandal of her being a mother
of an illegitimate child looks like
anything but favor
on your life will reveal issues in the
people around you
and our ability to carry favor well
is key to the increase of favor
we never owe anyone an explanation nor
should you ever apologize for favor
apology of favor is an expression of
unbelief that basically says God made a
bad decision by giving me favor
you never want to dishonor god with
with how unqualified you may feel with
foreign assignment I hope everybody in
the room feels unqualified
if you feel qualified you haven’t seen
your assignment
if you feel qualified you don’t see it
clearly because the only the only
possible response from seeing what God
expects from our life is the
overwhelming sense I could never pull
this off
and that’s the position that the Lord
puts every one of us in so that he can
demonstrate who he is
good works
are a critical part of the Christian
Life
feeding the poor serving those with out
clothes or housing or whatever it might
be fill in the blanks the the overall
gamut of meeting uh the demand of human
need is a huge part of the Christian
Life
but if we’re honest we’ll realize
they’re feeding the poor and all these
other amazing and wonderful things can
be done by people who don’t know the
Lord
there has to be an aspect of our service
before the Lord that only he can do in
and through us it has to cross the line
into the realm of impossibility or it
has not adequately given witness to the
resurrection of Jesus
there is in every one of us an inbuilt
appetite for the impossible that it
would bend its need to the name Jesus
through our lips it’s critical it’s a
vital that that is a regular part of our
life
if it is not we have to come back before
the Lord and find out why not
introspection but to learn where do I
take risk where do I partner
the Lord is looking for people who will
come into agreement with what he has
said
there’s an alignment I
I almost hate to use the word alignment
because
Cults use it but
we’re called a cult so maybe it’s all
right
laughs
there’s this agreement there’s this
alignment we make with the Lord that God
declares a matter when people come into
proper alignment or agreement with what
he has said there is the display of what
God intends on the Earth
let’s take a look at these scriptures
and then what we’re going to do is we’re
going to take some time to talk through
it’s about 12 verses we’ll take probably
20 minutes or so and then we’re going to
spend the rest of the time sharing in
communion together and I it’s going to
be two completely separate parts but
they’ll both be good I hope all right
let’s go to verse 26 did I tell you
where Luke Luke chapter 1 did I not tell
you where oh well it’s in open your
Bible anywhere it’s all good let’s just
start start reading out loud wherever
you open to and we’ll just see how well
this works all right
uh Luke chapter 1 verse 26.
now in the sixth month that we’re going
to do about 12 verses for so just uh
follow heart
now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel
was sent by God to a city of Galilee
named Nazareth to a virgin betrothed to
a man whose name was Joseph of the House
of David
the virgin’s name was Mary
and having come in the angel said to her
Rejoice highly favored one the Lord is
with you blessed are you among women
but when she saw him she was troubled at
his saying and considered what manner of
greeting this was
then the angel said to her do not be
afraid Mary for you have found favor
with God
and behold you will conceive in your
womb and bring forth a son and shall
call his name Jesus
he will be great he will be called the
son of the highest and the Lord God will
give him the Throne of his father David
and he will reign over the house of
Jacob forever and of his kingdom there
will be no end
then Mary said to the angel how can this
be since I do not know a man
and the angel answered and said the holy
spirit will come upon you and the power
of the highest will overshadow you
therefore also the Holy One who is to be
born will be called the son of God
now indeed Elizabeth your relative has
also conceived a son in her old age and
this is now the sixth month for her who
was called Baron last two verses for
with God nothing will be impossible
then Mary said behold the maidservant of
the Lord let it be to me according to
your word and the angel departed from
her
I love this story
a lot I actually will return this is one
of the places that I will sometimes
return to just to be refreshed and
reading something that’s out of my
sequence I I like to read books of the
Bible and just go through them but every
once in a while I’ll just go right to
this and just plow read through this
because it’s it’s so encouraging to me
foreign
Mary has an angel show up and make this
announcement of God’s intention
and everything that God has intended to
do in and through you is absolutely
impossible as I’ve already stated if
you’re not overwhelmed by your
assignment you don’t see your assignment
what he intends to do is absolutely
impossible it’s to put us into the place
of absolute dependency so that he can
work in and through us to display
himself as the god of the impossible
that is his intention and he has
designed it so for every person who puts
their faith in Christ it is not for a
select few it is the design of God for
every person
so the angel shows up to Mary and he
says Rejoice highly favored one
typically you rejoice after the baby is
born
she was commanded rejoice
it’s coming
there’s not one situation that anybody
in this room faces that you wouldn’t
like to have a miracle for that Jesus
has not already settled the issue paid
the appropriate price so that that
Miracle could be accomplished in his
name there’s not one situation
he did not pay for the car so you and I
would leave it on the lot
everything in our life has already been
settled the cross that Jesus suffered on
was that complete in its effect and in
its work
there’s not one thing anybody in this
room could face that Jesus would look at
and say ah
wish I would have thought of that before
I died I would have put that on the
cross too you know there’s there’s none
of those things every single issue of
life in fact not just in this life but
all throughout all of eternity has
already been settled so when the angel
of the Lord comes to Mary and says
Rejoice highly favored one it is because
this thing has already been settled in
heaven
if we knew how much was already settled
in heaven Joy would be the natural
response celebration beforehand because
the reality is
eternity defines every situation we face
I may be in the middle of a conflict
here but I’m also in the middle of a
breakthrough here
I may be in the middle I hope in the
middle of a challenge here because it’s
necessary for Faith to grow but I’m also
experiencing great breakthrough here
every person in this room was designed
to invade this realm called
impossibility yeah I’m so glad that you
watched this video I do pray that it’s a
great great strength and encouragement
to you and I’ve got a verse that it
really is My Cry for all of us and it’s
uh Psalms 20 it’s verse 4. may he grant
you your heart’s desire and fulfill all
your plans
that’s my prayer that’s my prayers that
this would be the season of rich rich
fulfillment
thanks for joining us