Pentecostal Sermons and Bible Studies by Pastor Jim Feeney, Ph.D.

God Is Able | A Sermon To Help You Believe Him Bigger

by Pastor Jim Feeney, Ph.D.

Pastor Jim Feeney, Ph.D.

Summary:  Jesus said, “With man this is impossible” (Matthew 19:26). If Jesus had stopped there, we would be in deep trouble. However, He added, “…but with God all things are possible.” He spoke similarly in Luke 1:37, “With God nothing shall be impossible.” There's a truth that occurs often in Scripture: “God is able.” Let’s take a look at some of the remarkable things that, although difficult or impossible to man, God is able to do by His unlimited power and capabilities. Come and have your faith built to receive multiple blessings from the God who loves you.


Ephesians 3:20-21
  Now to him [God] 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.

Is your vision for God’s plans in your life weak? strong? Wherever your level of expectation is, be assured that God is “able to do immeasurably more” than the highest vision you can ask or imagine. Case in point: I began this website in 2004 to help spread God’s Word. I recall how thrilled I was the first month that 400 visitors came to the website to study God’s Word. Back then I had no idea that God’s plan was not 400 visitors a month, but currently 44,000 a month [2024 edit]. And He has brought that to pass in recent years. How? I’m just an older man (retired pastor) and not very tech-savvy on web design, etc. But God is able to do exceedingly more than our natural skills can accomplish. He can take our limited talents and small vision and do what He desires to do in us and through us.

My point — and more importantly, God’s point in the verse above — is that He is entirely capable of accomplishing things far beyond our limited vision and our humble attempts to serve Him. Let’s see some biblical examples.

Hebrews 7:24-25  …because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.

25, Amplified  He is able to save forever (completely, perfectly, for eternity) those who come to God through Him.

How about salvation? God doesn’t save us just enough so that we can survive life in this world, then squeak into heaven by the skin of our teeth. No! Through what His Son Jesus our Savior has accomplished for us, He is “able to save [us] completely.” The Amplified Bible says Jesus can save us forever … completely … perfectly … for eternity.

At some point in our earthly lives, it is eternally important for each of us to “turn from [our] sins to God and believe in our Lord Jesus” (Acts 20:21, GNT). At that point of repentance and faith, we are “born again” and become for all eternity a son or daughter of God Almighty (2 Corinthians 6:18). And from that great moment of our entrance into the family of God, because the Lord “is able” we can experience the fullness of His great salvation — including not just the forgiveness of our sins, but divine health and healing, deliverance, mental and emotional wholeness, and a host of other blessings as we await our eventual resurrection at His Coming.

Romans 4:19-21, ESV  He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb. No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.

When childless Abraham was 75 and his barren wife Sarah was 65, God promised them a son. Twenty-five years later (a quarter of a century!) the promised son Isaac was born to 100-year-old Abraham and 90-year-old Sarah. This was undeniably a miracle. Yet Abraham had not wavered into unbelief concerning God’s promise. Rather, he grew strong in faith. How could he do that as he and Sarah passed further into their very elderly years? Simple: Abraham remained “fully convinced that God was able to do what He had promised.”

Do you have promises from God that He has spoken to you from His Word the Bible and confirmed to you by the inner witness of His Spirit? If those promises seem to have been delayed, remember Abraham and Sarah! The promise came when she was 65. She gave birth to the baby when she was 90! God is able! Continue to believe for His faithfulness to you and His limitless ability to do immeasurably more than all you’ve asked or imagined.

Matthew 9:28-30a  When he had gone indoors, the [two] blind men came to him, and he asked them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” “Yes, Lord,” they replied. Then he touched their eyes and said, “According to your faith let it be done to you”; and their sight was restored.

The two men were blind. Even today, with the amazing progress of modern medicine, there are numerous cases of blindness that are incurable by man’s best efforts. By contrast, Jesus had no medical training. His vocational training had been in carpentry. Nevertheless, as the Son of God, the Second Person of the Trinity, He had divine power over the creation, including over all diseases and infirmities. He still does!

His only question to the two blind men was, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” “Yes, Lord,” they replied. Jesus then healed their blindness instantly. How did this happen? Jesus explained that the healing was “according to [their] faith.” And how had they shown Him their faith? In their “Yes, Lord” reply to His asking if they believed that He was able to heal their blindness. Believe in Jesus' healing abilities today, and you too can experience divine healing. Why? How? The Son of God is able and willing to heal you (Mark 1:41).

Hebrews 11:19, ESV  He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.

The biblical story of Abraham being willing to give his son Isaac back to God is touching and inspiring. Especially meaningful to our topic today is this: even if Isaac’s life was taken, Abraham steadfastly believed that “God was able to raise him from the dead”!

And this scenario, of course, was prophetically symbolic of what God the Father did with His own Son Jesus, who came to earth and went to the cross for our sins and was buried. On the third day God raised His Son Jesus from the grave, and Jesus returned victoriously to heaven, where He is today as our Lord, Savior, Healer, Deliverer, and more. And we can take great hope from Christ’s words to us, His followers: “Because I live, you also will live” (John 14:19). Jesus’ resurrection from the grave prefigures the resurrection of all the faithful at His Second Coming. God was able to raise Jesus from the dead. Believers, don’t fear death! God is able to raise you from the grave, give you a perfect immortal body, and invite you to enjoy His divine presence eternally. He is able.

Daniel 3:17-18  “If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.

The young Hebrew captives Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were refusing to worship the image of Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar. The king was furious and threatened to throw them into a fiery furnace unless they would worship his statue. Their faith in God speaks loudly to us even today: “the God we serve is able to deliver us from it.” They added that even if God chose not to do so, they would not worship the king’s image.

You’ve heard the rest of the story. The enraged king had the three of them thrown into a blazing hot furnace. But when the king looked into the furnace, he was astonished and cried out, “Look! I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God” (Daniel 3:25, NKJV).

Are you facing a fiery-furnace trial in your life? Remember the three Hebrew youths’ faith-filled utterance: “The God we serve is able to deliver us.”

2 Timothy 1:11-12  And of this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher. That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet this is no cause for shame, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day.

God is “able to guard” what you entrust to Him. Your life, your career, your family, your service to Him, your spiritual walk, whatever it may be. Surrender yourself body, soul, and spirit to God and to His will for your life. In doing so, you’ll find the ultimate fulfillment and the greatest security. We are never more secure than being directly in and fully surrendered to the Lord’s will and plans for us and our loved ones.

God is able to guard you, to keep you walking with Him, to give you meaningful service opportunities for Him. No devil is strong enough to separate you from God and Christ and their perfect plan for your life. Whatever you commit in faith to God, He is able to guard!

Hebrews 4:15; 2:18  For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin… [2:18] Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

Every human being is subject to temptation. But temptation alone is not sin; it’s how we respond to temptation that matters greatly. Even Jesus Christ Himself was “tempted in every way, just as we are—yet He did not sin” (Hebrews 4:15). When tempted, we must resist and get the victory. The apostle James describes the process of temptation that leads to sin: “Each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death” (James 1:14-15).

When a temptation first hits you, don’t dwell on it, don’t let it “conceive.” Turn to the Lord for help to overcome. The Scripture says that our Lord who Himself was tempted — but always victorious — “is able to help those who are being tempted.” Jesus will give you the grace to resist the temptation and overcome it. Don’t fight temptation just with “will power.” Fight it with Jesus’ power over sin. Where we are not always able, He is able! He will help you to victory.

Jude 24-25, KJV  Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.

Furthering the previous point, God is fully and willingly “able to keep you from falling.” You don’t have to be a casualty to sin or, God forbid, to serious backsliding from God. He is able to keep you from falling!

Not only that, God is able to cleanse you from sin and its guilt by the blood His Son Jesus shed at the cross. Freely and entirely by the merits of what Jesus has done for us, we can have the great hope of meeting God face to face one day “faultless before the presence of His glory.”

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.

Let’s close with the Scripture we opened with. We’ve looked at some of the things “God is able” to do — salvation, healing, miracles, deliverance, answered prayers, keeping us safe, guarding what we entrust to Him, keeping us from falling, giving us an immortal body at the resurrection, and much more.

These things are wonderful. Yet remember that, as awesome as these blessings are, God “is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine." Don’t limit God. He who created the heavens and the earth with powerful spoken words (see Genesis chapter 1) can speak into your life divine blessings beyond your imagination. Believe Him for these things. The God we serve is One who “delights in the well-being of His servant” (Psalm 35:27). He delights in your well-being more than you can ask or imagine!

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Check out our related sermon: God Has No Limits or Restrictions

See also our "God's Power: Sermons to Help You Tap into the Power of God"

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©2018, James H. Feeney.
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Pentecostal Sermons and
Bible Studies by
Pastor Jim Feeney, Ph.D.