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It's one of those Bible college paradoxes that are discussed for hours in the dorms at night when real homework or rest should really be the priority. Somehow at three in the morning, there are certain things that didn't seem relevant before, that suddenly seem to become all important. Especially among the freshmen theology majors.

The laundry room in college was down stairs, and being a night person, I would usually do my laundry after midnight. The washers and dryers were on thirty minute cycles and so I would go down and leave the loads and come back thirty minutes later to put them in the dryer and return again in thirty minutes to get my freshly laundered, all-washed-together-on-luke-warm-water and all-dried-together-no-matter-what-the-color-or-type clothes. And when I would be in and out there was almost always a group of freshmen hanging out there, discussing "deep theological truths." If the debate was not too heated or interesting, I would always pipe up with something like "who wrote the book of Hebrews?," or "what I really want to know guys, is who was Melchizedek?" or "did Adam and Eve have belly buttons?" or "how many angels can dance on the head of a pin?" or "did Jesus use grape juice or wine in communion," or "if God truly forgives our sins and forgets them, then how could He remember what they were to bring them back if we hold unforgiveness in our hearts?" or "when does the Rapture take place?" Usually one of those questions would be enough to ensure that when I returned in thirty minutes, the conversation would still be lively. But if I really wanted to stir things up -- I mean one that would keep going for several weeks -- then I would simply ask the all-time great question: "Can God make a rock that He can't pick up?" I can testify that of all the hair-brained questions in the world, that one gets the best response as far as volume and pure brawl appeal in a Bible college dorm. It seems that determining the limits of a God that can do anything, really stokes the passionate fires of young Bible scholars!

Don't get nervous. I would instigate the arguments but if they were getting a little out of hand, I would kill it all by asking something dumb like "but is it better to have a bottle in front of me or a frontal lobotomy?" and then they would all start beating on me with their laundry baskets!

Since we're here, let me take the opportunity to tell you that I have finally reached a place where I am at peace as to the answers of these "deep" questions. We'll leave the Rapture stuff for our prophecy Bible Studies on Tuesday night. As to the forgiveness, a Biblical definition of "forgiveness" is not forgetting in that you cannot remember any more, but not holding people indebted to what has happened in the past. When God forgives you, He still knows what He forgave you of, but He no long holds you accountable or acts toward you with that in mind.

It's impossible to determine from scripture what Jesus used at the Lord's Supper because all of the Gospels say "fruit of the vine." From the stand of the rest of the scripture on strong drink, though, it's clear that either Jesus used grape juice or a very diluted wine to the point of not being intoxicating.

The correct answer to the angel question is that "as many angels can dance on the head of a pin as God wants there to be there." Angels do the command of God. They do not have real physical bodies and so can manifest themselves in any visible form that God desires for them to do so. If God wanted a zillion angels dancing on the head of the pin, then they would be able to do it, no matter what form they had to take.

As to the belly button question, the scriptures say that Eve was formed in the image of Adam and that the first Adam was formed in the image of the last Adam that was to come, that is Jesus Christ. In other words, when God formed Adam, He did so with the flesh of Jesus Christ in mind, and since Jesus Christ was born of a woman and had a belly button, and Adam was formed in His image and Eve likewise, it follows that Adam and Eve DID have belly buttons even though they did not have earthly mothers. They were formed in the image of someone who did have an earthly mother.

Melchizedek was a genuine man, and was the man of God in Abraham's life. What the book of Hebrews refers to when it mentions "not having mother or father" and of "eternal descent" is the priesthood of Melchizedek and not the man himself. His priesthood was without mother and father and of eternal descent because it was the priesthood of God, Himself.

As to who wrote the book of Hebrews, the correct answer is "we don't know." And there you have it: I did learn something in Bible College!

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Oh, I almost forgot . . . can God do anything? Yes, so can He make a rock that's too heavy for Him to pick up? It's a faulty question, and the answer is that God wouldn't worry with it. That is because God can do anything that He wants, but He has chosen to bind Himself to His written Word and His Word says "thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God," and so God obeys that scripture and He will not tempt Himself by trying to create a rock that would limit the revealed definition of His attributes!

In Luke we read:

God can do anything. Mary said that "with God nothing is impossible!" And God loves announcing that He is about to do things beyond our ability to comprehend because then he gets the glory. God to become a man and live among us? Impossible to us, but it happened! A holy God finding a way not only to redeem sinful humanity but to come and live inside of us with our bodies as His temple? Beyond human's reach, but doable and done by the God we serve! God is greater than our world, because He created our world! And like Israel, I think that we need to be reminded that we serve a God who -- like Isaiah wrote -- "hand is not shortened" and whose "ear is not heavy that it cannot hear." For sometimes we get like Israel and start thinking that God if finite and limited and we need a preacher to remind us that God is not like us. There is absolutely nothing that He cannot do.

And so let's answer the question that was posed by God to Sarah in our other text: "is anything too hard for God?" And the answer is a paradox, because it depends upon from which side you view it. From God's viewpoint and in reference to God only, the answer is "there is absolutely nothing that is too hard for God." With God in mind and in reference to His abilities and nature, there is nothing impossible with Him! But the paradox is this: God has chosen not to push Himself on humanity. And so while there is nothing that God can't do, there are some things that God "could but won't do" because we humans can limit what He can do in our lives. Adam and Eve and their offspring were not created as robots, but were given a free will to do as they choose. God gave that as a gift and He respects it. So "is anything too hard for God?" no, not a thing, unless we stop Him from working in our lives, and then even the smallest things are impossible because He could but He won't force Himself in. The strongest force in the universe is the power of God, and yet the "human will" ranks up there because God chooses not to change it. He could if He wanted to, but He chooses not to do so. God can do all things but there are some things that He chooses not to do.

So we have a paradox of terms when it comes to the abilities of God. He is a God without limits yet who is gentleman enough to allow us free choice and so He will be limited by our human decisions. God cannot lie, but God will not let His Word come true in your life if you refuse to fulfill the conditions of His promises. God can always tell you what is the best decision for your life, but He will not force His will upon yours. God cannot fail and yet He will let your situation grow worse and worse, if you will not invite Him into it!

And so Isaiah reminded the people of God in our text that God can do all things, but depending upon whether or not we let Him work, He may choose NOT to work:

The prophet said "God can hear, but He has chosen not to because of your actions, Israel." Simply put, then, God can do all things, but we and we alone determine the limits of what He can do in our own life. You determine what you can and cannot receive from God. His salvation and grace and gifts have been freely given to receive, but you determine whether or not you receive it. You define God's limits. And our lives are the only space in the universe where there is a choice of whether or not God Almighty reigns over it!

James wrote this about God:

A few verses earlier, James had said that God "upbraideth not." In other words, He does not withhold any good thing from His children. If you do not receive everything that God desires for you to have, then it is your fault. He gives freely, the problem comes when we refuse to receive the gift. You alone define God's limits in your life. If you reach the end of your life, and you have not received from on high everything that you needed, then there will be no one to blame but yourself. God has not created a rock that will limit His ability, but sin has. Because you and I are pieces of earth that can limit whether or not He can "pick us up" and work in our lives. Can God create a rock that is too heavy for Him to pick up? No, but He has created a rock that can refuse to allow Him to pick them up, and He respects that rock's will.

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I believe that almost every area that we limit God in can be defined by one of four areas. And it is these four areas that most often throw up the barriers in God's way in our lives and keep us from receiving all that He has for us:

1. Our level of knowledge.

What you don't know or what you refuse to learn will hurt you. The prophet Hosea recorded God's words:

There are more people lost and whose lives are destroyed because of a lack of knowledge, more than any other thing. We tend to quote the passage in Isaiah about "hell having enlarged herself" to hold the many people that will be lost, but we tend to forget one of the chief reasons why most are lost:

Hell has had to start a building project because of people who refused knowledge! It's not that they couldn't have learned more about God. It's not that they couldn't understand clearly what God was asking them to do. It's just that when the knowledge was such that it required them to change or act differently, they'd rather ignore it. When God put someone in their life who could teach them of His ways, they would rather not listen. Refusing knowledge is one of the surest paths to hell. What you don't know WILL hurt you in eternity!

The written Word of God has the knowledge that we need to do what is right and be blessed in every possible situation. I believe that. But when people hear something that goes against their grain, or tradition, or would involve admitting that they were wrong and might need to change, it's easier to ignore it and fool yourself into thinking that you are okay. It's a fairly simple revelation from God's Word that you need to be baptized in Jesus' name and you can get it just from casually reading the New Testament, but there are millions of people who read the Bible not to discover what else they should do, but rather to find a verse or two that they can use to justify what they already believe. They blind themselves to the parts that don't match the pattern of their opinion or tradition. They are being destroyed for a lack of knowledge.

God says " when you reject knowledge, I will reject you." God is a loving and forgiving and merciful God as long as you are heading forward and learning more of Him and gaining more understanding of His word and being more and more obedient. But the moment that you come against something that you would rather not learn any more about because it's going to require you to change something that you don't want to change and you head the opposite direction, you also see the other side of God! We must be a people who thirst after knowledge. We must never stop. Even when that knowledge challenges our tradition or causes us to have to change, we must crave it. Because our thirst for knowledge will determine the limits of what God can do in our life!

2. Our fleshly desires

This is probably the biggest limiter of God in "church people." I want to remind you that you were born with a sinful flesh that did not want to do the will of God and that completely ruled over your spirit. When you received the Holy Ghost, your spirit man was resurrected to live and guide you in serving God, but your flesh is still around! If you don't think that your flesh is still alive and fighting against you, you are deceived. Listen to what the Apostle Paul said about his personal walk with God:

Paul said "I want to do what is right on the inside, but my flesh does something different." Have you ever felt that way? You hear a sermon that inspires you and challenges you and you pray sincere prayers "I'm going to change this." And then comes Monday and Tuesday and suddenly "something doesn't feel like doing it anymore." That "something" that doesn't feel like obeying the laws of God is your flesh. Congratulations, you now have proof that you are descended from Adam and Eve.

And Paul said that there was a "war waging in my members." Spirit versus flesh. Flesh versus Spirit. That war is exactly what Jesus spoke of when He looked at His disciples who were there in the Garden of Gethsemane for the prayer meeting with Him, but kept falling asleep:

Every one of us have a desire to live for God with everything within us. Every one of us have a desire to go to heaven. Every one of us have a desire to do something great for God. And our spirit is willing, but the problem is that very few follow through on the discipline and the commitment end. Everybody wants to know the Bible better, but only those who discipline their flesh to read it and study it and attend church services will achieve that goal. Every body wants to see the supernatural, but only those who are willing to make the commitment of serving God every day rather than just a few hours a week will see it. Our spirit is willing, but we have this flesh that doesn't desire to do what God wants it to do.

And so there is a very basic, down-to-earth principle that effectively determines how much of God that we will see in our lives. It all depends upon how much we yield to our flesh. If we give continually in to what our flesh's will, then we will have very little God working in our lives. But the opposite is also true. Paul gave us this answer in the next chapter:

In other words, if you want more of God, then you are going to have to push more of the flesh aside! You can talk about being more anointed and having a greater move of the Spirit of God and that talk will bring us absolutely nothing if when it comes time to pray and fast and obey God's Word, we say "well I just don't feel like it today." The best things of God and the greatest anointings and power will forever be for those who actually say "that's my flesh speaking, and I refuse to listen." I will pray. I will fast. I will do what's right. It doesn't matter if anyone is watching or not. It doesn't matter if anyone is going with me or not, I'm not going to settle for less than ALL that God has for me!

3. Our spiritual vision

We will only possess in the Spirit what we first see and hope for in the Spirit. Our spiritual vision determines the limits of what God can bring about in our life. Too many Christians view their circumstances by only what they can see with the natural eye, but there is a story in the Bible that is found in 2 Kings chapter 6 that perfectly reveals to us that there is always more than meets the natural eye in every situation.

In the story, everybody in the town was scared to death except the prophet Elisha because the Syrian army had surrounded the town with a massive army. Elisha's own servant looked out at the mighty enemy and quaking said "Elisha, how can you be so calm in a moment like this?" To which Elisha replied:

Elisha had a spiritual vision that let him see beyond the obvious situation and to see the glory of God's deliverance! And the story ends with God doing a wonderful and miraculous miracle!

We limit God by focusing on what the situation looks like in the natural and not seeing things as they really are. That spiritual army that Elisha showed his servant was just as real as the physical one that it had surrounded. Remember this: when you are fearful, you are not seeing the entire picture! Fear is proof that you are looking only with the eyes of flesh and not through your spiritual eyes! But the spiritual realm is just as real as the physical! We should not determine our faith by what we see in our flesh, but rather what we know in the Spirit! God open our eyes so that we can see that deliverance in every situation that only comes through you!

In Isaiah chapter 6, we find that the prophet got a fantastic vision of God Almighty. Let me read it to you:

I've read this and preached from this a zillion times, but this week one part stood out to me in a fresh revelation. Verse 3 says that one angel called to another "Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!" If you have studied anything about Isaiah's situation and time, you know that very few people are serving God in the earth at that time. The only nation in the entire universe that has a true revelation of God is Israel and they are about to be conquered and led into captivity because of their disobedience and idolatry. And yet the angel cries "the whole earth is full of His glory!" To natural eyes, it looks to me like the whole earth is full of corruption and sin and flesh.

But God doesn't look at things as they currently are, but as what they will be when He has had His perfect will. That is, God is not the least bit fearful by how bad a situation looks because He knows that nothing is too hard for Him to solve. He views it as it will be after He has moved upon it!

We too often view our situations through the eyes of the immediate now and react accordingly. We freak out: "oh no, where's God, can God do this, I don't see how God can work this out." But if you would view it as God sees it, you would see it as it will be after He is through." Isaiah didn't see clearly HOW that the earth would be full of God's glory, but that was not necessary just as it was not necessary for the servant of Elisha to see and understand how the heavenly army would vanquish the earthly one. All God wanted Isaiah to see his circumstances through the eyes of heaven's will because if Isaiah ever saw it, then he would act according to God's will and it would come to pass! God can fix everything in our lives, but we must be willing to see our situations beyond the physical and trust God completely and act viewing it through our spiritual eyes! It doesn't matter if you can figure out the "how" or not, if you can see it as God sees it, then He'll take care of the "how."

4. Our willingness to step out in faith.

Everything is based upon this final decision of ours. Everything is based upon us acting in faith.

When God told Sarah, that she was going to have a son, she laughed because she was far beyond the childbearing years and so was her husband. That was when God asked her the question "is anything too hard for God?" It was no problem for God to give them a baby, but understand that the promise was conditional. It was conditional upon whether or not Abraham and Sarah could look beyond the obvious physical problems and believe God for something supernatural. It was also conditional upon Abraham and Sarah taking the step of faith and taking the steps necessary to produce that child. The promised child was not going to be a Spirit from God overshadowing thing, but a naturally produced offspring. God was certainly able to perform it, but it was based upon whether or not Abraham and Sarah were willing to step out in faith.

The greatest promise in the world will be non-operational in your life until you realize that you must take the first step of faith. Peter was the only one of the twelve to walk on water, simply because Peter was the only one willing to step out of the boat! You must remember two things: all of God's promises are conditional upon whether or not you do what He has asked you to do. If you do so, then He will keep His end of the bargain, but you must take the first step. To not do so will mean that you will not see what God meant for you to see. God cannot lie, but He can be hampered by your lack of faith.

The other thing you must remember is that it is one thing to say that "I believe" and another to take the step of faith at the right moment. Ask Mary and Martha. It's one thing to hear Jesus say in causal teaching, "I am the resurrection and the life" and believe it then, but it's quite another when He looks at you standing outside the tomb of your four-day-dead brother and says "roll the stone away." That's the difference between mental belief and true faith. True faith acts in crunch time! And God doesn't respond to belief, but faith!

The scriptures talk about how we are "predestined" to be His bride. I'll even go as far as say that you are predestined individually. I believe that all people are predestined to go to heaven. I believe that all people are predestined to be used mightily in the kingdom of God in some way. I believe that all people are predestined to be might in the Spirit. That doesn't mean that everybody will go to heaven, or that everybody will be used mightily by God, but that's because people limit what God would want to do in their lives. If we would stop limiting Him, we would find that before we were born, He had a plan for us and ordained us to do something great for Him! He wants to bless us. He is not willing that any should perish but that all would come to repentance. He does not withhold good gifts from His children. The problem is that we limit what He can do in our life through our sin, our lack of knowledge, or fleshly desires, our lack of spiritual vision, and our lack of faith. But the failures in our life come from us not Him!

So what is the limits of God? It is defined by our actions. We determine how much God can and will do in our lives. Let's loose Him and let Him work! And then you will find that God can and will do anything!