Mission Impossible!

Introduction:
 The premise of the Mission Impossible television and movie series is that with the right team and the proper resources anything can be accomplished even though it may seem impossible. The Mission Impossible team takes on missions that look hopeless but somehow, before the program is over, what they set out to accomplish is fulfilled. The mission that God has given to us is like that. When viewed from a human perspective, it doesn’t seem as though we have a team that is large enough, properly equipped or funded with enough resources to be successful. However, the mission God has given to us is not to be carried out by human effort or ingenuity. Our resources are not worldly, but otherworldly. They are from heaven and above the rule of lesser authority that exists in the world. Higher authority, the authority that governs heaven is released in the earth to see the mission accomplished.

I. We have been sent on this mission by the Lord Himself.
A. We ask God to open our eyes to the discovery of who we are in His Kingdom.
B. We are lively stones that God is using to build the Kingdom and to establish His authority.
C. Jesus Christ, the pattern stone (son) demonstrate what we can be in the world.
I Peter 2:4-5 “Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, 5you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”
D. We are the emissaries, missionaries, ambassadors of the Kingdom of God. We demonstrate His Kingdom.
I Peter 2:9 “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;”

II. The Lord has provided the resources and the strength needed to be successful in the mission.
Isaiah 54:11-12 “O you afflicted one, Tossed with tempest, and not comforted, Behold, I will lay your stones with colorful gems, and lay your foundations with sapphires. 12 I will make your pinnacles of rubies, your gates of crystal, and all your walls of precious stones.”
A. The devil tries to stop us through afflictions and troubles of every kind.
B. He tries to suggest that no one cares; everything is against me and on one really understands what I’m going through.
C. In the midst of everything that concerns us God is at work in and through us.
1. Bringing beauty into the ugliness that the devil tries to afflict us with.
2. God is taking the bitterness away and making us pleasant to be around. We must cooperate with The Spirit to see this change take place in our lives.
3. Pleasant people have much more success at reaching people with their message.
D. The Lord brings peace to those lively stones committed to the mission.
Isaiah 54:13-14 “All your children shall be taught by the LORD, and great shall be the peace of your children. 14In righteousness you shall be established; You shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear; and from terror, for it shall not come near you.”
1. The only thing we have to do is place our trust in the Word and not in what we see in the world around us.
Psalm 119:165 “Great peace have those who love Your law, And nothing causes them to stumble.”
2. People today are looking for answers to the problems of the day.
3. They will listen when someone stands up and acts like he knows what he is talking about.
Psalm 4:8 “I will both lie down in peace, and sleep; For You alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety.”
4. No more frustration when you believe the Word of the Lord.
II Chronicles 7:13-14 “When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, 14if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”
5. God’s people are through being terrorized.
a. Look at the three Hebrew boys ready to enter the fiery furnace. They weren’t terrorized.
b. Look at David facing Goliath. He refused to be terrorized.
c. Moses refused terrorism when he stood before Pharaoh.
d. Steven would not let the religious council terrorize him but stood on the Word of the Kingdom.
e. “On earth as it is in heaven” is the answer to terrorism.

III. Our mission is nothing less than the displacement of the Kingdom of Darkness with the Kingdom of God.
A. This is accomplished by the rescue of those held in darkness.
B. As they see the Kingdom of God in operation and embrace it, darkness is destroyed and light is established.
C. We have the greatest resource for the destruction of darkness ever seen on this planet. “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
Colossians 1:27 “To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles:  which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
D. The Christ in us changes impossible missions into possible missions.
E. The higher authority displaces lesser authority and the Kingdom of Heaven is established in that place.
Luke 11:21-22 “When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are in peace. 22But when a stronger than he comes upon him and overcomes him, he takes from him all his armor in which he trusted, and divides his spoils.”

IV. No more mission impossible attitudes.
A. All things are possible to them that believe.
Matthew 19:26 “But Jesus looked at them and said to them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
B. Impossible missions become possible as we turn it all over to the Lord.
Mark 10:27 “But Jesus looked at them and said, “With men it is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible.”
C. With God working through us we will complete all mission impossible missions and live in victory every step of the way.
Isaiah 54:17 “No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue which rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is from Me,” Says the LORD.”

V. One of the greatest questions we will ever answer is, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” (Isaiah 6:8)