GOG - 20 - 278 - 2020: Turn Back And Give Him Thanks (Part 1)
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Ingredients for Making the Impossible Possible (Part 1) Pastor Nkechi Ene 26 And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, 27 To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. 28 And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. 29 And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. 30 And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. 31 And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. 32 He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: 33 And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end. 34 Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? 35 And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. 36 And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren. 37 For with God nothing shall be impossible. 38 And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her. 39 And Mary arose in those days, and went into the hill country with haste, into a city of Juda; 40 And entered into the house of Zacharias, and saluted Elisabeth. 41 And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was Zilled with the Holy Ghost: 42 And she spake out with a loud voice, and said, Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. 43 And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
44 For, lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. 45 And blessed is she that believed: for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord. 46 And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, 47 And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. 48 For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. 49 For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is his name. 50 And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation. 51 He hath shewed strength with his arm; he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. 52 He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree. 53 He hath Zilled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away. 54 He hath helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy; 55 As he spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed forever. Luke 1:26-37 (KJV)
Ingredients are things you put into a pot or a baking tin and then come out with the product you wanted. Jesus was born of a virgin. For all intents and purposes, a virgin (a lady who has never met a man sexually) getting pregnant and giving birth to a child is an impossibility, but the birth of Jesus was a perfect example of how God can make the impossible possible. It’s an impossibility from any perspective you look at it. Medically, it’s an impossibility; biologically, it’s an impossibility; morally, it is also an impossibility. There may have been things that have been deZined as impossibilities but where God is concerned, the impossibility becomes possible. The doctors may have told you certain things are impossible and they are right within their understanding but where God is concerned,
there’s no impossibility to what He can do. So, those things that you have before now called impossibilities, begin to understand that as a Christian, one who has Jesus residing on the inside of him or her, that word really shouldn’t exist in your dictionary. There really should be nothing called impossible. Your Favour Is From God The angel greeted Mary, and he said to her, “… you are highly favoured”. What does it mean to be highly favoured? It means to endue with special honour; to make accepted; to compass with favour, and to honour with blessings. To encompass or to cover all round with favour is talking about the grace of God: favour that is not deserved. I do not think that before God chose Mary, He necessarily checked every virgin at that time and decided that she was the most worthy. That is why religions that give unnecessary exaltation to Mary miss the point of favour. Mary was not chosen because she was the best virgin at that time or because she was the most worthy virgin at that time. It wasn’t also because God had done a secret examination among all the virgins at that time and Mary won. No, Mary was highly favoured: she didn’t deserve it. For that impossible situation in your life to become possible, you have to recognize that you are covered by the favour of God. It is not because you deserve it, and not because you have done anything to get it, but because He has chosen to honour you with blessings. Such a favour comes at the instance of God; it comes at the initiative of God. You don’t have to discuss with Him or beg Him and He says, “Okay”. This kind of favour comes upon you just because God has chosen to favour you and bless you. God wants you to recognize that you have a blanket of His favour and His blessings around you. With that blanket of His favour and His
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GOG - 20 - 278 - 2020: Ingredients For Making The Impossible Possible (Part 1)
blessings, anything that was formerly called impossible will become possible. Not because you did anything extra special, but because He has chosen to favour you. That expression: “You that are highly favoured”, is the same expression used in Ephesians 1:6, where it says you have been accepted in the beloved. You have been accepted; God is on your side and God is on your case. The angel said to her, “Hail Mary, you that are highly favoured, the Lord is with you”. It means that the Lord is with you and not just His presence within you. The Lord is on your side, making the impossible possible. It simply means that when there is a volleyball competition between teams A and B, and four members are meant to be on each team, God decides to be the fourth member of team A and He says, “This is where I am”. It’s as simple as that. Someone might say, “It’s not fair, God is on their side. Why is God there?” God chose to be there. It is at His instance. No one bribed or begged Him. He says, “I have chosen to be here and let the game begin”. “How can there be a game? God is on that team. God is playing for them”. So the team members who may have looked quite pitiful compared to their counterparts, square their shoulders and say, “If God be for us, who can be against us”, and they know that it’s just a matter of starting the game: they’re already the winners because God is on their side. God is on your case because He personally chose to be on your side. God is partial where you are concerned and whether people approve of it or not, He has chosen to be on your side. When you go out, remember that God is on your side. Knowing this makes you calm and relaxed. Somebody gave me a testimony sometime ago. This faithful brother said, when he moved into his house, he was paying eighty thousand naira per annum, and the landlord raised it to a hundred thousand naira after the Zirst rent expired. He probably paid for a year or two, but whatever amount he paid, when that rent expired, the landlord raised the rent to a hundred thousand. When that one was to expire, the landlord told him several months in advance, that when his rent expires, he would be paying a hundred and Zifty thousand naira. This young man and his family were calm. He said, “Pastor, I didn’t even pray, I didn’t even remember to talk to God about it”. He said one day, he was up at 4:00 a.m. worshipping God and just having fun in the presence of God, and he remembered. He said, “Lord, remember what this guy said several months ago, just in case he’s serious, do something about it Lord”, and he continued in fellowship. Weeks later, he said he was walking into the estate where he
lives and the landlord came to him: “Please, please, I am in trouble. I just need money, I just need a hundred thousand naira”. How could he be in trouble? The landlord had many houses. This brother said, “I will give you the hundred thousand naira if you will give me a receipt and make it my rent”. God was on his side. The landlord was so much in trouble that he accepted the offer, and he gave the landlord the one hundred thousand naira and, the landlord gave him a receipt for his paid rent. He had God on his side; he was highly favoured. Let me explain to you why that is favour: on that same estate where he lives, everybody else is going to pay a hundred and Zifty thousand naira. Some of them may even be Christians, but favour is not fair. It’s not your business; it’s at the instance and the initiative of God. God blesses you because he has chosen to bless you and there is really nothing anybody can do about it. Mary was chosen at the instance of God, she was highly favoured by God. God is on your side. It doesn’t matter what is against you. If God be for you, who can be against you?
5 For His anger endureth but a moment; in His favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. Psalm 30:5 KJV “…In His favour is life…” I think that’s so beautiful, don’t you think so? In His favour is life, not death, and not cursing. When you reside in His favour, knowing that you are favoured by God, there is life. The Scripture says in Psalm 89:17, “… and in Thy favour our horn shall be exalted”. Have Faith In God’s Word Faith in God’s Word simply means total submission to His Word. In our main text, Mary said something that people have quoted very much to show her humility, which is true. That is even seen from her response when the angel said to her, “… thou that art highly favoured…” She was troubled, she was thinking, “Was there any catch to this?” That’s the same way some people approach the favour of God. They are looking for the “small prints”.
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When an insurance company gives you your insurance document and you don’t read it very well, the rest of the insurance terms are in big fonts. Then, when you Zlip to the back, you Zind tiny fonts that even “a magnifying glass cannot see". They put all the clauses: if this happened, then this won’t happen... Then, you would have foolishly paid your insurance and an incident happens and you boldly walk up to the insurance company. They would say, please turn over, here is a magnifying glass. Then you begin to read and Zind out that there were “small prints”. Where God’s favour is concerned, there is no “small print”. Everything is in big bold letters: black and white. There’s no hidden motive. So, don’t approach the favour of God upon your life with an “it’s too good to be true; this is a dream, I might just wake up one day and Zind out it’s a lie” mindset. It’s no lie. You’re highly favoured, just because God has chosen to favour you. It’s that simple. Mary said, “Be it done unto me according to thy word”. That was such a powerful s t a te m e n t to m a ke . I wa s pondering, “Somebody who was so troubled, when they told her she was highly favoured, how could she have made such a confident statement of submission to God’s Word, showing faith in God’s Word?” I looked at verse 37, which says, “For with God, nothing shall be impossible”. Then I looked at the original Greek rendering of that verse. What we read in that verse says, “For with God nothing shall be impossible”, but the original Greek says, “For with God nothing shall be impossible, nothing”. These two words “nothing”, are not the same word. The Zirst “nothing” is the word that simply means an absolute negative, which means nothing. The second “nothing” is a compound word or two words together. Those two words are “every” and “rhema” - every rhema. If you read from the AmpliZied Bible, it explains the Greek and then you’ll understand. The AmpliZied Bible Classic Edition says, “For with God, nothing is ever impossible, and no Word from God shall be without power or impossible of fulMillment”. That is a beautiful statement but it is still broad. The angel narrowed it down to her. He said, “Look, not just nothing shall be impossible and you can’t pin point it, am going on to tell you that there is no Word that is a spoken and no revealed Word of God that will ever be impossible, or ever go without fulZillment”. Mary was so blown away that she said, “Be it done unto me according to your word”. In the next article, we will wrap up and I will show you another vital ingredient that will position you for even more victories.
The Carpenter’s Ministry: All rights reserved. No portion of this document may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means - electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or any other, without the prior permission of the above.