SPEAKER_00 0:18

Hello, friends. This is Normal First United Methodist Church in Normal, Illinois. Let's listen to hear what Pastor Kent King Nobles has to say today.

SPEAKER_02 0:29

I want to share with you a second scripture that comes from Ephesians. This is from the Message Translation. I often like to read the Message Translation because it sounds different. And when I'm tempted to say, oh yeah, I've heard this part before, the message translation says, wait, what did he just say? What is that about? So here are these words from Ephesians 3. God can do anything, you know, far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams. God does it not by pushing us around, but by working within us. The Holy Spirit deeply and gently within us. Glory to God in the church. Glory to God in the Messiah, in Jesus. Glory to all the generations. Glory through all millennia. Oh yes. So today's gospel from Mark begins in a place of impossibility. The disciples are exhausted. They've been teaching, they've been healing. Jesus takes them away to a quiet, deserted place to rest and regroup. Ever thought you were going to a quiet place to rest and regroup, and then something invades you, invades your space? The crowds run ahead and meet them there. Five thousand men, Mark says, which means far more people if you count the women and children who were there. It's late, it's remote, there's no food. The disciples do the math. Send them away, they say. That's the logical solution, isn't it? That's the reasonable solution. That's the responsible solution. I mean, what else can you do? All these people who are hungry. And then, as he often does, Jesus says something completely unreasonable. You give them something to eat. What? Can you imagine the silence after that sentence? Months of wages wouldn't be enough to buy enough food for all these people, even if there was a place to buy it from. What do they have? Five loaves, two little fish? That seems like nothing, right? More than 5,000 people. It's impossible. It's impossible. We can't do this. It's unreasonable. Unless unless the story is not about what we don't have. Unless the story is about what God can do with what we do have. So Mark tells us that Jesus takes the loaves and he looks up to heaven and he blesses them. He breaks them and he gives them the disciples to set before the people. Now I think this is an important part of the story. Jesus doesn't say, let me have that. Jesus doesn't go out and give the loaves to all these people that are there. Jesus gives it to the disciples. It's their job. The miracle flows through them. This is not a story about divine magic performed at a distance. It's a story about divine guidance moving through human hands together. Paul says in Ephesians, you know, God can do anything. Far more than you could ever imagine or guess. You think that's true? Far more than you can request in your wildest dreams, that's what God can do. But how does God do it? Not by pushing us around, but by working within us. The spirit deep within us, gently within us. Not by replacing us, not by overriding us, but by working within us. The disciples didn't create the miracle, that's true, but they participated in it. God used them. They offered what they had, they obeyed, they distributed, and then they gathered all the leftovers, twelve baskets full, abundance from scarcity. With God, we see this pattern again and again. Not possible, but then possible. Now I know some of you have been feeling weighed down. Some of you are looking at our nation and you're discouraged. Some of you are looking at our world, you see this footage of war-torn areas. And why is it that it seems like the innocent and the vulnerable are always the ones in the crosshairs, in the crossfire? Some of you are looking at your life and the challenges you're facing, and it seems impossible to get from where you are to where you feel like you need to be.

SPEAKER_01 5:27

Aren't there times when what you feel like you want to do, you need to do, what God's calling you to do, just seems feels impossible. Jesus, you ask us to do the impossible.

SPEAKER_02 5:44

But how can we do the impossible? The good news this morning is together the impossible is possible. That's the good news for this morning. The good news is that together the impossible is possible. What's the good news? Together, the impossible is possible. That's the good news. Does anybody remember the name Derek Redmond? You may not remember his name, but I bet many of you will remember the picture of what happened to him as I describe it. It was the 1992 Olympics. British runner Derek Redmond was in the semifinals of the 400 meters. Of course, he had trained for years for this. He was predicted to win one of the medals, gold, silver, somewhere. He was going to win. Halfway around the track, he snapped. Well, his hamstring snapped. Ow! I can't even imagine that. His hamstring snapped. He collapsed in agony. Of course, the other men flew down the track and finished the race, crossing the line. Derek Redman was in a heap down halfway down the track. The crowd went silent. All the hopes and dreams gone. But then something remarkable happened. Some of you will remember this. There was a little bit of a commotion. Derek Redmond stood as best he could, and he made a little bit of hopping down the track. He was determined to finish the race. But for Derek Redmond, what would have been an easy, fast race down this one lap became the longest distance. And it was impossible. But then, do you remember this? There was a commotion, and the security guards tried to stop someone, but this man ran onto the track. It was Derek Redmond's father. And he and he helped get his son up. He put his arm around his shoulder and he helped his son hop and limp until he finished the race. And the crowds rose to their feet and cheered. Do you remember this? I remember it. Redmond didn't win gold, but he did finish the race.

SPEAKER_01 8:13

Alone he couldn't have. Together, he could.

SPEAKER_02 8:20

With a father's love, the impossible became the possible. You know, even when the world comes at us, even when the worst happens, even when it feels like failure, we're supposed to be here together, to pick each other up, to help each other finish the race. And together, together the impossible becomes possible. So what's the good news? Together, the impossible is possible. What's the good news? Together, the impossible is possible. We just have to do our part. We don't have to win the whole race. Now I bet you remember Michael Phelps. Remember all the medals he won in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing? He was chasing history. He was trying to do the impossible to win eight gold medals in one Olympics. Hadn't been done before. The second event was the 4x100 freestyle relay. So there were four swimmers, remember, going after this one gold medal. He did well. The U.S. team was slightly in the lead when he finished. The second and third swimmers also ran well and kept him close, but they were a little bit behind when the fourth swimmers dove into the pool. The final swimmer, Jason Lizak, dove into the pool a little bit behind. And he wasn't behind just anyone. He was chasing Alain Bernard of France, who was the world's fastest swimmer at that time, at that distance. This Alain Bernard had already said before the race, yeah, we're going to smash the Americans. So with 50 meters left, France was ahead. With 25 meters left, France was still ahead. The commentators were already talking about the great French win. It looked like it was over. Where was Michael Phelps? He was out of the pool. His part was over. He had no control over what happened in the end of that race. Nothing he could do. His shot at history was no longer in his hands. It was in someone else's. I remember this. Stroke by stroke, Lizac began closing the gap, just not panicking, calmly, smoothly, stroke after stroke, staying smooth, five meters from the wall. He was still behind. And then somehow in the final surge, remember his hand touched just before the Frenchman's hand. Eight hundredths of a second ahead. I don't even know what that means. The United States won. The world record fell, and Michael Phelps' dream was still alive. Now, most of us remember Michael Phelps, but here's what we forget. The greatest Olympic achievement in history was one when Michael Phelps was out of the pool. He was relying on his teammates to finish strong and to give him that chance. Phelps couldn't do it alone. There's a lesson here for us. You know, we think about needing to be these heroic individuals who do these impossible things by ourselves. You don't have to do the impossible by yourself. You're just called to do your part and trust that others will pick up the race and carry it home. Some days we can't even see how it's going to be accomplished. But if we can trust, if we can be faithful each day to do our part, together the impossible becomes impossible. What's the good news? Together, the impossible becomes possible. God has given us a team to help shape and direct us. I bet you remember Simone Biles. Remember her Olympics? Nobody's ever been as great as she was. She shows up, you know, with all this pressure. She's supposed to win it all. And remember what happens? She drops out, right? Twisties, whatever that is. And remember how disappointed we all were that she wasn't going to be able to complete the Olympics. But then something happened, and later in the week, remember she returned and she won the bronze on the balance beam. The impossible that week was not perfection, it was courage. It was trust. It was relying on her team and choosing health over pressure, choosing to be herself supported by her team. Together, trusting in our team, we can rise and accomplish the impossible. The good news is together the impossible is possible. What seems impossible often turns out to be quite possible after all. Anybody ever heard the name Wilma Rudolph? Wilma Rudolph. Born in Tennessee, a very sick child, she suffered from pneumonia, from scarlet fever, and eventually polio. Because of the polio, her left leg became weak and twisted. Doctors told her family, you know, we're sorry, she's just probably never going to walk normally. Just part of what she'll have to bear in life. Now, if you would have told those doctors that someday Wilma Rudolph would be competing in the Olympics, they would have said, no, no, that's impossible. Wilma Rudolph went on to win three gold medals in her Olympics. Became, she took on the title the fastest woman in the world. The doctors told her what she could not do. But you know what happened? It turns out her mother told her she could do whatever she set her mind to. And she did. And she crossed the finish line. You know, it looked like this heroic individual all on her own had done this amazing thing, but Wilma said something very important about her journey after that. She said, I could not have done it alone. My family, my coaches, and my community helped me believe it was possible. Interesting story if you read about her. Impossible. It was impossible until it was not impossible. The good news is, together the impossible is possible. So, okay, most of us are not standing on Olympic field looking up at all the crowds, looking down the track or whatever. But many of us are standing in places that feel overwhelming. You may be looking at health challenges that feel impossible. You may be looking at our country and thinking things are impossible. You may be looking at climate challenges or violence or crime or injustice, or maybe a church with a leaky roof that's going to be really, really expensive, or maybe broken relationships, and you may be thinking, this is too much, this is too big a job. I can't do this, this is impossible. And Jesus says, You give them something to eat. What? Us? We don't have the ability. You give them something to eat, which doesn't mean you fix everything. It's all on your shoulders. It means bring what you have. Your five loaves and your two fish, your time, your compassion, a phone call, a vote, a meal, a prayer. Bring what you have. A willingness to take one more step in faithfulness. Bring what you have. The miracle, you see, doesn't begin with abundance. The miracle begins with a willingness, with an offering, with a prayer. And here's the good news: the disciples didn't have to multiply the bread. God did that. But God chose to do it through them. That's what Paul's talking about in Ephesians, that God can do more than we can possibly imagine. And God chooses to do it not by pushing us around, not by magic, but by working within us. Working within us through the Spirit, within this community, within this church, within ordinary hands. The feeding of the 5,000 is not just about food, it's about fear turning into trust, about scarcity turning into generosity, isolation turning into cooperation, and despair turning into hope. Confusion turns into one step and then taking another step and then another step that leads to the world that God is building, even if we can't see the final vision. It's about sitting down in groups on green grass, organizing, sharing, participating one step at a time. And the good news is, together with God, the impossible is possible. And when those disciples were done, there were leftovers. How many leftovers? Twelve baskets full. More than enough. They all ate. They all were satisfied. May that be true for us and for our world who needs us once again to do the impossible. Amen.

SPEAKER_00 18:09

We want to thank you for joining us today, and we hope you are blessed with this podcast. And remember that you are a blessing to everyone. Go in peace and have a fabulous week.