Is There Any Limit to God’s Power?

Greetings in the Name of our Lord,

This Sunday we continue our sermon series on prayer. We will be looking at Numbers 11 in the Bible. The sermon is called Dream Big: Cloudy with a Chance of Quail. In short, the Hebrews were wandering lost in the wilderness between Egypt and the promised land we now call Israel. God had provided food for the people through what the Bible called “manna”. But the people were hungry for meat. Even Moses could not imagine what God had in store for the people.

God provided quail for a month. In order to feed 600,000 people for a month, it would have taken over 100 million quail. There are those who might scoff at such a miracle. I believe the God who placed countless galaxies in the universe can easily feed 600,000 for a month. 

We will consider the questions:

• Is there any limit to God’s power?

• What is the “step of faith” that we need to take in pursuing our dreams?  

• What God-led promise do we need to circle in our prayers?

I believe that God wants us to hear the good news of God’s love and care for us. We live in a society where “bad news” and “rumors” spread much faster than any “good news”. We all play the blame game… pointing the finger at someone else. In my opinion, the complexity of the issues are far more complicated than the simplistic answers we hear as means to blame someone else. 

Maybe it’s time to start praying over the positive work that can be done across our nation in the name of Christ. Maybe it’s time to join in making a difference where God has planted us. 

One example is what is happening in the United Methodist Church right now. There is lots of negative publicity being written. As such, you will be happy to hear about the great work of the United Methodist Church that often goes unnoticed. This report is over a year old, so the numbers may be higher. As I share this report, join me in circling the UMC with our prayers and financial support. Let’s make sure we pray over and pay our fair share (apportionments) of these Kingdom building ministries.

United Methodist outreach and missions exist in over 120 countries. There are 677 mission personnel, 169 Deaconesses and Home missionaries, 550 Relief and refugee workers, and it includes the coordination for 125,000 volunteers in mission who give their time annually. In addition, there are 97 United Methodist-related community centers and other national mission institutions in the United States and abroad.

The health and welfare ministries related to the United Methodist Church serve more than 32 million people in 1,555 locations across the United States and provide more than $2 billion in charity care annually. There are 63 children, youth, and family services organizations, 105 community service ministries, 52 hospitals and health care systems, 16 ministries for persons with disabilities, and 152 older adult ministries. 

The United Methodist Church has 3 two-year colleges, 92 four-year colleges and universities, 13 theological schools and seminaries, 1 professional school, and 10 pre-collegiate schools. 

In addition, through the United Methodist student aid program, over $4 million was awarded in scholarships to over 3,000 students and over $1.5 million was loaned to more than 600 students.  

Further, this does not include the massive work of over 30,000 United Methodist congregations across the US. 

No other protestant denomination comes close to what the UMC is doing to make a difference in the lives of others. The UMC deserves our prayers and our support. 

Why do we spend so much time on issues that are destructive to our work together when there is so much good happening?  I am not sure I can answer that question.  But the next time I hear someone knocking the church or our nation, I am going to let them know about the massive work that is being done by the United Methodist Church. Instead of joining in the debate, let’s get to work and work together to make our community, our nation, and our world more like the Kingdom of God that Christ has called us to build. 

Will you join me?

See you in worship! It’s going to be glorious!

Pastor John Allen