Living Beyond Your Limitation!
Introduction:
We all agree that we do have limitations but God is UNLIMITED! * One of the statements found several times in the Bible describes God as "HE IS ABLE!"
To Subdue All Things
Philippians 3:21 NKJV
who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.
To Keep What I Committed
2 Timothy 1:12 NKJV
For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.
To Aid Those Who Are Tempted
Hebrews 2:18 NKJV
For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted.
To Make Us Stand
Romans 14:4 NKJV
Who are you to judge anothers servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand.
To Make All Grace Abound
2 Corinthians 9:8 NKJV
And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.
To Establish You
Romans 16:25 NKJV
Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began
God Has Proven Himself Faithful
Time and time again, God has proven Himself faithful to His people all the time that He is Able to ...... * provide * protect * aid * save & etc. He is always on time! Not late! * In our most desperate moment! * There are times we are on the dead end and no where to turn to! = He is Able! * God is ABLE to take our limitations and use them in an unlimited way. Short Stories from the Bible: True Desperate Situations:- * A family Last Meal (1 Kings 17:8-16) * A family Unpaid Debt (2 Kings 4:1-7) Both have limited resources but God can use our limited resource and use them in an UNLIMITED way! Another story we can learn from a little boy...
God Can Turn Your Limitation Around
John 6:1-14 NIV
Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias), and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the signs he had performed by healing the sick. Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. The Jewish Passover Festival was near. When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, "Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?" He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do. Philip answered him, "It would take more than half a year's wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!" Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, spoke up, "Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?" Jesus said, "Have the people sit down." There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about five thousand men were there). Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish. When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, "Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted." So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten. After the people saw the sign Jesus performed, they began to say, "Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world."
How To Live Beyond Your Limitation?
In this story of the Feeding of the multitudes (more than 5,000) with a little boy's lunch, Jesus taught us how to break free from our limitation to live an effective life for HIm! * Seriously, Do Jesus need that little boy's lunch to feed the multitudes? No. He could have turned the stones to bread like He turned the water into wine! But He chose to use the little boy's lunch to teach us how we can use our little resources to bless thousands around us. 5 Steps to Live Without Limits!
1. See Beyond The Natural
* All that the disciples could see were negative. (vs.5-7) = Money not enough! = Too late now! = We are in a wrong place (wilderness) = It is impossible to do it! * All these has blinded them. * No vision! * They can't see JESUS! = He Is ABLE! * There are times that we need to see beyond the natural into the supernatural. * Start living out of the BOX! * Jesus wanted all of His disciples to be men of vision!
2. Use What You Have
* Despise not the small thing! vs.9 "but what are they among so many?" * What can 2 fishes and 5 loaves of bread do? * They don't realise they have 2 fishes and 5 loaves until Andrew took the little boy to Jesus. * Many times the answer for our problems are just around us. * Don't look too far! * Start with small things and move to large things. = What do you have? = What is in your hand? * Use what you have first and God will do the rest! * Jesus asked the disciples to feed the people with what they had!
3. Share Your Resources
* The little boy offer his small insignificant lunch to Jesus! * He shared his resources with others. * We don't know where the little boy came from. * But I don't think Andrew snatched the lunch from the boy. (vs.9) * It must be the little boy's willingness to offer it to him. * I don't know what this little lunch can do for the thousands but I am willing to share. = For Jesus your limitation is enough for Him to work a MIRACLE! * Use what you have and don't worry about what you don't have! * If you start using the things which you have for the glory of God, then Christ will bless and those things will multiply.
4. Have a Right Attitude
* When the little boy gave his 2 fishes and 5 loaves of bread to Jesus, He did not rebuke him. (What! only 2 fishes & 5 loaves?) * But instead Jesus gave thanks to the Father (vs.11) * You must have the right attitude of heart and seek the blessings of God for the little you have instead of complaining! * Learn to put what you have in the hand of the Lord and He will bless it for you. * See what the Lord asked the disciples to do...."You feed them!" * Jesus made the disciples to distribute the food to the people. * Why? They have to learn to serve others first! = Have a Right Attitude in life!
5. Do Not Be Wasteful
* You should never waste anything. * vs. 12 Jesus asked the disciples to gather all the left over! * Why should Jesus ask them to do that? * He is God and He is abundant, so why should He ask His disciples to pick the left over? = It is a sin to waste our God-given resources. * If you live a life of waste in your affluence, then soon you are going to cry in your poverty. * God is going to supply your needs, but He is not going to let you waste His resources. * Be a good steward of God-given resources! * And He will bless you with more! (parable of the talents)
Conclusion:
* Know that our limited resources are limitless in God's hands! * Be faithful in the little things because God has a way of taking your little things to do much with it. What limits your effectiveness for God? = He Is ABLE! Eph. 3:20 "Now to Him who is ABLE to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ASK or THINK, accordingly to the POWER that WORKS in US.