The Week Before The Series

Guest speaker: Chris Gastardi (Student Pastor)

God can handle things that we cannot handle. Whatever is weighing you down and stressing you out is easily handled by God. He is bigger than any problems we face in this world.

Ephesians 3:20-21 - Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

**Recognize the person of God - in order to be able to handle obstacles we have to recognize who God is and how powerful he is.

1 Samuel 1:1-8 - There was a certain man from Ramathaim, a Zuphite from the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. He had two wives; one was called Hannah and the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none. Year after year this man went up from his town to worship and sacrifice to the LORD Almighty at Shiloh, where Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were priests of the LORD. Whenever the day came for Elkanah to sacrifice, he would give portions of the meat to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters. But to Hannah he gave a double portion because he loved her, and the LORD had closed her womb. And because the LORD had closed her womb, her rival kept provoking her in order to irritate her. This went on year after year. Whenever Hannah went up to the house of the LORD, her rival provoked her till she wept and would not eat. Elkanah her husband would say to her, "Hannah, why are you weeping? Why don't you eat? Why are you downhearted? Don't I mean more to you than ten sons?"

A Couple things to keep in mind when reading this verse:
1. Circumstances said things are not going to get any better for Hannah(1:3).
That is a common trap so many of us fall into, we just convince ourselves that it is the way it is and it's not going to change.
2. People said things aren't getting any better(1:6).

1 Samuel 1:9-11 - Once when they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh, Hannah stood up. Now Eli the priest was sitting on a chair by the doorpost of the LORD's temple. In bitterness of soul Hannah wept much and prayed to the LORD. And she made a vow, saying, "O LORD Almighty, if you will only look upon your servant's misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the LORD for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head."

The first step in getting past the problem is coming to a point of complete brokenness (1:10)

Hannah came to the point where she recognized who God was, then she started trying to bargain with him (1:11). It was her recognition of how powerful God is that put her on the road to freedom.

So many people focus on the problem they are faced with and not the "big picture". This is not all there is, our life is eternal and this life with all it's troubles is only temporary. The things that are over our head are already under His feet.

**Recognize he is a big God with big plans and we have big potential - if we take our focus off the world and focus on God we can experience all that God wants for our lives.

"God will never put more on you than you can handle"....WRONG! If that were the case we wouldn't need God. We would never need to call on God to help us with our problems because we could handle it alone. God puts things in our path that are too big for us in order to drive us to our knees.

**Recognize the Possibilities - God is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine. Many people have "big dreams" for their lives, but those dreams can't even come close to the plans that God has for us. We need to have an eternal perspective, let God out of the box and allow him to do what he wants to do with our lives and stop worrying about what we want.

Hannah tries to bargain with God, begging him for a son. But God wanted to do so much more than she could ever imagine.

1 Samuel 1:20 - So in the course of time Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, saying, "Because I asked the LORD for him."

1 Samuel 2:21 - And the LORD was gracious to Hannah; she conceived and gave birth to three sons and two daughters. Meanwhile, the boy Samuel grew up in the presence of the LORD.

God didn't just give Hannah a son, he gave her something so much bigger than she asked for.

Stop making recommendations to God and come to the recognition that God is that all powerful all knowing God of the universe and he can do ANYTHING, and he wants to do more for us than we can imagine or ask for.

God calls us to fill our lives with things that glorify him, we aren't supposed to just get by in life, we can do big things with our lives in this world if we just allow God to bless our lives and work through us. Don't sit around saying this is the way it is, recognize that God is not finished working through us. Our current situation is not our eternal situation. We shouldn't allow others to judge us by our own abilities, but on what God is able to do.

We all want to be a part of something bigger than us, so we serve a god that is able to do immeasurably more. We can't have fear of stepping out and doing what God is calling us to do. Fear that is tolerated creates faith that is contaminated.

God is bigger than any of your problems, he's bigger than anything you have done in the past, or anything you will face in the future. God wants to use us throughout the world to bring people to him. He wants to do so much more than we could ever imagine.

**Recognize the Power - "according to the power that is at work within us." There is great power working within us and that power is God, we need to recognize that with God we posess that power and get out and use it to help others come to Him. Talking about God and praying to God and singing at church and everything we do in church it useless if we don't live it out in the world. God is at work within us, we need to get out and do something!

1Samuel 1:19-20 - Early the next morning they arose and worshiped before the LORD and then went back to their home at Ramah. Elkanah lay with Hannah his wife, and the LORD remembered her. So in the course of time Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, saying, "Because I asked the LORD for him."

Hannah didn't just sit around expecting God to do everything, she got intimately involved in order to have the son that she asked God for. God wants us to get involved, we wants us to take the initiative and allow him to work through us.

What would you do for God if you knew that you would not fail?

We get consumed with our "buts" - "but, God I can't, I'm not strong enough, old enough, rich enough, etc."

1 Samuel 2:21 - And the LORD was gracious to Hannah; she conceived and gave birth to three sons and two daughters. Meanwhile, the boy Samuel grew up in the presence of the LORD.

Hannah didn't stop after she had Samuel, she stayed involved with what God was doing in her life and he continued to work.

PRAY - start praying prayers in which we expect God to do something, pray big prayers. Then pray about what you are going to do to help it happen.

Get people to church - be invitational, get people into the place where god can speak to them.

NOVEMBER 24th, 2008--God is going to do something HUGE! There is a REVOLUTION coming.

Greater things are yet to come, greater things are still to be done!