Power Is Anything Too Hard for the Lord

Power 

Is Anything Too Hard for the Lord

God told Jeremiah to buy land

The land was full of sinful people for generations

The land was to be taken under the bondage of Babylon

Looks like a bad investment

But God told Jeremiah to hang onto the deed because

"I am the LORD, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?”

God is able to buy a land of sin and turn it into a land of righteous

Is Anything Too Hard for the Lord

Imagine you have a relative who comes

 to you and says buy my property.

The property is surrounded with drug

houses, prostitution and other bad conduct.

Now that you have heard the good

news, guess what happens next…

An army is coming to take the land.

Would you buy the property from your relative?

You and I would not touch

that deal; it is a bad investment.

It is hard to imagine anything but a total loss.

This is exactly the situation

an Old Testament man was in.

 

His name is Jeremiah.

Jeremiah is told by the Lord to buy

property from his cousin, Hanamel.

Maybe this is why people

have a hard time trusting prophets.

 

The property had generations of sin.

Fathers not raising their children properly.

Each generation was getting

farther from God and the blessing.

The land was cursed with sin

from one generation to another.

God tells Jeremiah the Babylonians

are going to come and take the land.

God is going to punish the

sin with an unjust people.

God tells Jeremiah to take the deed and

put it in a clay jar so it will last a long time.

You may know a family, a neighborhood or

even a country that you have given up hope for.

I know children who are now adults and

have no idea how to raise their children.

Many of them don’t understand

if you don’t work you don’t eat.

It is so sad.

I have tried to help many of these people

and watched others try to help them.

But they cannot turn from their sinful life.

Sadly, many of them will be

taken into bondage by Babylon.

     

Is God able to redeem the land?

Is there any hope?

Jeremiah, after buying the property prayed.

"Ah, Sovereign LORD, you have made the heavens

and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm.

Nothing is too hard for you.

 You show love to thousands but bring the punishment

 for the fathers' sins into the laps of their children after them.

 Jerermiah 32:17-18

God says to Jeremiah…

"I am the LORD, the God of all mankind.

Is anything too hard for me?

God calls us to invest in things

that look like a bad investment.

In places where there is sin

and the judgment of God.

Why?

Because nothing is too hard for the Lord.

Many churches invest in neighborhoods of crime.

Many of these neighborhoods

started by the rich and blessed.

But sin took over and everything became run down.

It is not too hard for our God to

turn that neighborhood around.

It may take “the sword, famine and plague,

the city will be handed over to the

Babylonians who are attacking it."

But, “Nothing is too hard for the Lord.”

So if God calls you to invest in a poor investment

Or, if you have spent your time and

resources on a bad investment

Remember…

Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah:

 “I am the LORD, the God of all mankind.

Is anything too hard for me?

Let God bring His judgment

and hang onto the deed.

Scripture Reading

Jeremiah 32:17-28 NIV

17 "Ah, Sovereign LORD, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you. 18 You show love to thousands but bring the punishment for the fathers' sins into the laps of their children after them. O great and powerful God, whose name is the LORD Almighty, 19 great are your purposes and mighty are your deeds. Your eyes are open to all the ways of men; you reward everyone according to his conduct and as his deeds deserve. 20 You performed miraculous signs and wonders in Egypt and have continued them to this day, both in Israel and among all mankind, and have gained the renown that is still yours. 21 You brought your people Israel out of Egypt with signs and wonders, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and with great terror. 22 You gave them this land you had sworn to give their forefathers, a land flowing with milk and honey. 23 They came in and took possession of it, but they did not obey you or follow your law; they did not do what you commanded them to do. So you brought all this disaster upon them.

24 "See how the siege ramps are built up to take the city. Because of the sword, famine and plague, the city will be handed over to the Babylonians who are attacking it. What you said has happened, as you now see. 25 And though the city will be handed over to the Babylonians, you, O Sovereign LORD, say to me, 'Buy the field with silver and have the transaction witnessed.'"

26 Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah: 27 "I am the LORD, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?