Thank you, Pastor. What an honor to be here. How many of you enjoyed those young people and their singing?

Boy, I’ll tell you, I am so incredibly impressed with what this school does. Brother Steve, come up here just a minute. I just broke two bones in my leg a short while ago,

and I just want to make sure that I don’t visit your floor for a minute here. And it’s not stopping anything, but all my life I’ve never had a broken bone. And when I did get a broken bone, I was walking across the front of a church in San Diego,

and they had just put up a brand new little riser for the deaf pastor to stand on, and I didn’t see it because they had carpeted the identical color of all the carpet. And I fell on it.

And the minute I fell, Brother Flanders, they said, oh, everybody’s tripping on that. And your thought went through my mind. Here I am, a lawyer, and I got nobody to sue for my broken bone, all right?

What a dilemma. What a dilemma. Turn in your Bibles to the book of Matthew, please.

Matthew chapter 14. Oh, this morning has been such a blessing to my heart to hear these dear men. And I’m going to go out and get every one of the books that Brother Flanders recommended.

I have read the book by R.A. Torrey, but it has been many years and I want to refresh it in my mind again. I ask you a very simple question this morning, this afternoon to start.

Why would you want to waste your life merely trying to do something great for God? You say, what? Why would you want to waste your life merely trying to do something great for God?

You say, well, Brother Gibbs, I mean, I think it would be incredibly wonderful if I went out and did something great for God. No, it’s not. Do you understand?

You don’t need God to do something great. unsaved men do it all the time people who make no pretense of having God or any of his power

no pretense of having any of God’s promises go out and do great things after all all you gotta do is marshal resources and energy and intellect

and get good plans and then be diligent and unsaved people do great things. Read any business journal.

Unbelievable what they accomplish. But you see, God never called you to do something great. God has called you to do things that are impossible.

And while unsaved people can do great things, they can never do impossible things because they are impossible. Now you serve a God who says,

what’s impossible is only impossible with man. It’s never impossible with God. And if you could do something impossible,

what would it be? for some of you say well if I could do something impossible

I think I’d like to be a gajillionaire I don’t know how much a gajillion is but it sounds like a big number

and by the way let me help you right up front God’s not going to help you do that because you just want to consume it on your own lust.

The Bible says you’re asking amiss. But if you wanted to go out and raise millions for mission, I know businessmen who are doing the impossible,

raising money for the cause of Christ. Maybe what you need is something impossible in personal relationships. Have you ever had a relationship so fouled up you can’t even remember how it got to where it is?

And you say, Brother Gibbs, it’s so messed up that nobody knows how to unravel it anymore. It’s impossible. No, it’s not.

God can fix those relationships. Maybe you ought to do something of great honor for God, an accomplishment. Well, I want to tell you right now, God wants to do the impossible with you.

Matthew chapter 14. God gives four rules if we’re going to do something impossible. And they are found in this passage.

Now the middle of the passage starts with Jesus having an incredible throng of people following him. And those people following Jesus Christ have spent the day and now they need to eat. And Jesus wants to demonstrate to his disciples and to you and to me that he is indeed the God of the impossible.

So the disciples come to Jesus and they say, listen, we have 5,000 men here. Now, in that day, they only counted the men. But traditionally, there would be two to three times that number of women and children.

So we’ve got somewhere between 10 and 15, maybe 20,000 people following the Son of God. And they said they need to eat and there’s no food. All we have is one boy’s lunch, and it’s not a good lunch.

Now, isn’t it amazing, out of all those people, only one kid thought to bring food. And then the disciples took it from him. Poor kid never got to eat his own lunch.

The Bible says that the boy brought five loaves and two fishes. Now, don’t get confused. When we think of a loaf, we think of a loaf like you buy at the grocery store.

Five of those is still next to nothing for 10, 15, 20,000 people. But that wasn’t a loaf. A loaf in that day was a thing slightly smaller than a Twinkie.

How many of you know what a Twinkie is? How many of you love Twinkies like I do? By the way, Twinkies are in the Bible.

God called them manna. That’s what God rained down on the children of Israel. There’s a Twinkie in the Ark of the Covenant.

This youngster has five, and for an adult, this would be two bites. And he doesn’t have two fish, he’s got two cuts of fish. And we got thousands and thousands of people to feed.

And Jesus said, I want you to get a first-hand glimpse of what I can do. So he blessed it and they started distributing it. And the Bible says when they had eaten their fill.

Well, I’m glad God put that in there. How many of you like to eat? Hold your hand up.

If you don’t like to eat, you are a sick puppy. All right. And how many of you like to eat your fill?

You like to eat your fill. They ate their fill, and then they had 12 baskets of food left over. Now, you’ve never been anywhere where everybody ate,

and there was more food left over than you started with. That’s the miracle power of the God you serve. You say, Brother Gibbs, how did Jesus do that?

any way he wants to. He’s God. And he is all-powerful.

Now, when that’s done, the Bible says that Jesus took his disciples and put them in a boat. Start reading with me, if you would, at verse 22.

And straightway Jesus, chapter 14, Matthew, verse 22, and straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship and to go before him onto the other side while he sent the multitudes away.

Now remember, several of the disciples were experienced mariners. They made their living on this body of water. They knew how to handle a boat.

And when he had sent the multitudes away, verse 23, he went up into a mountain apart to pray. And when the evening was come, he was there alone.

I’ll not preach on it, but if the Son of God needed to take time to pray, what do we need to do? I hope this is not true in your life, but we find it in our lawsuits all the time.

The average Christian in a fundamental Bible-believing church spends six minutes or less a day in prayer, including mealtime prayers.

And then we wonder why we’re in the condition we’re in. Verse 24. But the ship was now in the midst of the sea,

tossed with waves, for the wind was contrary. I want you to mark this. That word tossed was the word for something

that was being retched from side to side, up and down, violently. They are in a storm to end all storms. This storm is so bad it has them paralyzed.

Their journey across this body of water should have taken slightly over an hour. They’re now there for nine hours. And they can’t make any progress.

And when it says the wind was contrary, it was coming from all sides. Every mariner knows in a storm, put the bow, the front of the boat, into the wind. But what do you do when the wind’s coming from all sides

and the boat is violently retching back and forth and up and down? This storm is so bad that it’s going to unhinge the emotions of the disciples. But the ship was now in the midst of the sea tossed with waves,

for the wind was contrary. And in the fourth watch of the night, Now mark this, this is 3 a.m.

is the fourth watch. I don’t know how I had this story all confused. Brother Jones, I thought that Jesus walking on the water took place in the daytime.

And I thought he walked on smooth water. And the reason I thought that, I think, is because of flannel graph. laughter

laughter laughter it’s pitch dark, the spray is flying everywhere,

the boat is wildly out of control, the winds have got this storm really whooped up. And in the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went on to them walking on the sea.

And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled saying it, saying it is a spirit, And they cried out for fear.

Now do you understand, the disciples have just screamed like teenage girls. They’re mortified. I can’t wait until we get to heaven saying, Peter, did you yell?

John, who screamed louder, you or Mark? But straightway Jesus spake unto them saying, Be of good cheer.

Now would you underline this? Be of good cheer means, would you please get happy? They’re in a boat that Jesus put them in.

And by the way, have you ever heard somebody say, well, if God’s in this, how come we’re having so much trouble? Wait a minute.

Jesus put them in the boat that stuck them in the storm. And he’s 100% in control of the storm. and when he sees him he says be of good cheer it is I

and then he says be not afraid he said I want you to get happy and I don’t want you to be afraid now starting at verse 28

we’re going to get God’s four conditions for doing the impossible and Peter answered him and said Lord if it be thou bid me come unto thee

on the water. If you want to do the impossible for God, the first condition is you have to ask.

You have to ask. And note how specifically he asked. Bid me come unto thee

on the water. Now there were 12 disciples in that boat. There could have been 12 water walkers that night.

But only one asked. Mark, John, Matthew, why don’t you guys ask? One asked.

Ask and ye shall receive. You have not because you ask not. Now, can I confess something personally to you?

What I just preached to you is very easy to say. I find it very challenging to do. I find it challenging to ask God for hard things,

let alone impossible things. Because you understand, impossible is impossible. How many of you think walking on water is impossible?

Hold your hand up, would you? If you don’t think so, take a crack at it. I recommend you do it very shallow water.

now do you understand this is not a night that you want to stand up in the boat

this boat is wildly out of control they’re hanging on for dear life

but Peter says Lord bid me come unto thee I want to go water walking.

What would it take for you to ask God for something impossible?

I was traveling with a dear black pastor friend of mine. We’re traveling through the night. And it got to be about 2.30 in the morning

and he said, David, can I share something with you? I said, sure. He said, seven years ago, I asked God for something impossible.

I said, really, what did you ask God for? He said, I asked God to let me win one soul a day to him, each and every day. And for seven years, he’s not missed a day.

I said, now, preacher, you’re my friend, and I love you. this now is, you’re telling me, seven years? Over 2,000 days?

You’ve not missed a day winning one? He said, not one. He said, some days two, three or more.

I said, well, let me ask you this question. If you win two on one day, can you pour it over to the next day? he said no no no he said you’re thinking like a lawyer no no no

i asked god for at least one every day and he said david i even asked for a little more than that i told god i don’t want to count anybody who comes forward in a church service at our church or where I’m preaching and get saved.

I’m not counting any of them. He said, I got to get them out there. And he said, and this has nothing to do with them being saved,

I told God, I want to be convinced they got saved. And God’s not missed one day in seven years. I said, whoa.

He said, in fact, it’s after midnight. and he said, I’m already on the soul patrol for today. I said, the soul patrol, he said, that’s what I call it.

God’s got one, he’s promised. He said, it’s impossible, because he said, I’m no good at it. He said, I admire these guys that are smooth and don’t get nervous,

but he said, I’m horrible at it. But he said, I’m looking for one, God’s got one today. Well, in a short time, we got off at a gas mart and we’re pumping gas

and it’s now going on three in the morning and there’s a girl inside at the counter and he looked in there and he said, maybe that’s the girl, maybe that’s the one God’s got for today.

I thought, well, I want to see this. We went in the gas mart, we loaded up on food. I love gas marts, I just do.

The thing I love about gas marts is there’s nothing healthy in there. Nothing. It’s just all good eats.

We walked up to the counter, put our stuff on the counter, and a girl came up by us and started ringing it up. And boy, out of nowhere, my dear black pastor friend said,

you and I may have an appointment you’re not aware of. I thought, what happened to my name’s Dave? I don’t know.

She said, I beg your pardon. He said, well, let me rephrase it. If you were going to be dead before the sun come up.

I’m standing there thinking, I need to get into this. This is not good. He said, if you weren’t going to be alive when the sun comes up,

where would you spend eternity? That girl’s eyes got to be like 50 cent pieces. very slowly

she stopped checking stuff out and she reached down under the counter. And I thought, oh, sweet Alabama.

I’ll bet she’s got a shotgun or something. I’m going to be dead in a gas mart. She reached down under

and then she came up, you know what she had? Her Bible. She put her Bible down and she said,

oh, thank you, thank you, thank you. She said, I’m saved, I’m heaven bound. Man, I’ve trusted the shed blood of Jesus.

I know him as my personal savior. But she said, I’ve been working here for over 10 years and I’m always saying,

I would just love somebody to come in and witness to me. even though I’m saved. And in 10 years, nobody’s done it to tonight.

This is wonderful. I’m on my way to heaven. And I thought, oh, she’s saved.

Nothing going to happen here. What happened next, and I do, to this day, don’t know how that lady got in there.

Suddenly, there’s a lady standing behind us with two jugs of milk. And when she talked, I like to come out of my shoes.

She said, well, she may know where she’d be if she was dead at sunup, but I don’t. She said, I hadn’t been able to sleep for three days. On my mother’s deathbed, she begged me to trust Christ, and I told her no.

And I can’t sleep and I’m down here getting milk for the kids’ breakfast. Your appointment isn’t with her. Your appointment is with me.

The girl behind the counter starts crying. Her mascara is running down her face. Now that lady starts crying.

I thought, this is amazing. now while they’re crying and he’s taking them through the room

another lady walks in and there’s nothing draws a woman like other crying women she comes walking over

and she says are you okay And the girl behind the counter, she said, oh, no, no, no. He thought he had an appointment with me, but it wasn’t with me.

It was with her on her mama’s deathbed. And then she tells her, you know, women don’t leave anything out. They tell you the whole story.

And she’s getting saved right up. You know what that woman said? Could I pray with you too?

He says, you want to get saved? She said, I do. He said, okay, well, let’s get on our knees right here.

So we got three crying women, two on their knees, and he said, now two truck drivers walk in. And they looked at this, and they walked up,

and the driver said, is this a stick-up? and the girl behind the counter jumps in again no no no no no

this is just wonderful this woman’s getting saved and this one here she broke her mama’s heart

and she’s just going on and on with all the details the one truck driver got teary eyed and he said you know what

I couldn’t hardly stand it on church on Sunday. I wanted to go forward and get saved, but I told God no. But I told him this morning, if he’d give me a chance somewhere, I’d do it.

Could I join them? Three people on their knees. Now, I’m watching this and I’m like, you’re no good at it.

In fact, what I thought was, we ought to record something, you just play. But you’ve got God all over this. When we left there a half hour later, three people had trusted Christ.

when we walked out to the car and we’re getting in it I said preacher I can’t imagine

he said you could do it he said the only difference between you and me is I asked David

and you haven’t asked you want God to do the impossible it starts with you

asking. It will change everything. John, why’d you guys ask?

Only one man went water walking because only one asked. His name was Peter.

The first rule, if you want God to do the impossible, you’ve got to ask. Write the second rule down.

The first thing you’ve got to do is ask. The second thing you’ve got to do is get your eyes off of the circumstances. Now, it’s in this story,

and it’s in the story by not being in the story. You say, what do you mean? If I was in the boat and we’re going to go water walking, Brother Van Gelderenen,

Ida said, Lord, could you flatten this sea out? This is one horrific thunderstorm we’re in. This boat’s wildly out of control.

God, could you fix the circumstances? Whoa. Read it.

he never asked God to fix the circumstances. The sea Peter went walking on was still horrifically out of control.

When you get ready to do the impossible, you’re going to be flooded with well-meaning people saying, the circumstances aren’t right right now.

This is not the right time. Lawyers, accountants, business people, we can all explain why this isn’t the good moment.

You want to do the impossible? By the way, it’s never a good moment to do the impossible. Because it’s impossible.

He never, ever said fix the circumstances. Dr. David Bowler told a story.

A young lady, graduating from Bible college, came forward in a service and said, I’d like you to pray with me. I’m going to go to the mission field.

He said, that’d be wonderful. He said, where are you going to go? She said, I’m going to go to the Headhunters of Malaysia.

He said, where now? she said to the headhunters all the missionaries have pulled out

because they were eating them ten years ago all the oil workers pulled out because they were eating the oil workers

and they need Jesus Christ and God’s put them on my heart Now David Bowler is Special Forces Green Beret, Iron Man contest winner, deadlift champion for the world.

Over 750 firefights in Vietnam, a heavily, heavily decorated veteran. He said, David, I’m not going there. They eat you.

there’s a reason everybody pulled out they don’t want to get eaten and he said here’s this young lady

petite frail and he said I told her are you sure

she said preacher you don’t have to scare me I’ve asked God to send me they need Christ

she said no mission board will back me because they think it’s suicide but I know I’m supposed to go

like that her parents came forward and her parents said preacher will you please talk some sense into her head the circumstances couldn’t be worse

when you get ready to do the impossible for God don’t expect everybody to applaud you because they’re going to be captivated

mesmerized by the circumstances and they’ll want to tell you why it can’t be done he said brother Gibbs

she said would you please pray a blessing on me and he said David I’ll tell you what went through my mind if they capture her

and they will I pray they don’t abuse her badly but no one has survived

they hired a chopper an oiled oil pilot who knew these mountains said, I’ll fly you in there,

but I can’t come down under 150 feet because those headhunters, those man-eaters, they, with their spears, throw their spear up

and they foil our blades and they bring us down and they’ll eat me too. So he said, you’re going to have to repel from 150 feet.

This young lady had never repelled down anything. Now she’s going to go out of a chopper. Two ladies from the church went with her

just to see her out of the chopper. And the chopper pilot said, where were I’m going to drop you and I’ll be back in 60 days.

But I’m thinking you don’t go. And that crusty chopper pilot started crying and he said, you can’t imagine what they’re going to do to you.

Don’t go. I’ll be back in 60 days, but you won’t be back. That young lady looked at him and she said,

please understand, I don’t have to come back. I do have to go. And she repelled out.

When they flew away, a long 60 days. When they came back at 60 days,

right to the spot, there she was. And with her were almost 50 converts. What no one knew

was the tribe where she got dropped only ate men. They didn’t eat women.

And the tribe where she was dropped had a centuries-old legend that one day a female god would come out of the sky

and they thought she was that god. And she said, no, but he sent me and I want to point you to the true and the living God.

While she was there, she said, are there other headhunters around here? And the headhunters she had said,

yes, there’s the headhunters up the river, but don’t go there. They’re the people who eat us.

They’re the really bad headhunters. and we think they will eat a woman. She said, send me up the river.

And in that 60 days, she won the chief and brought him back. When I had the privilege to meet this lady, I told her story and then

she walked out on a platform and I looked at her and I said you’re Margaret I thought she’s gotta be

no she said brother Gibbs you tell the story like I did it she said I didn’t do it

I was just there. God did it. It was impossible.

And my God’s just looking for somebody, Brother Gibbs, willing to hazard the impossible. You’ve got to ask.

And then you’ve got to get your eyes off of the circumstances. Because the circumstances will never be right. for the impossible.

Write number three down. Verse 29, and he said, come. And Peter was come down out of the ship.

He walked on the water to go to Jesus. Number one, you’ve got to ask. Number two, you’ve got to get your eyes off of the circumstances.

And here’s my way to say number three. You’ve got to get rid of your plan B. You see, if I was in that boat, here’s what I’d have done.

I’d have said, Jesus, I want to go water walking, but come over here. Brother Fong, I’d have said, Jesus, come over here. I want to walk on the water, but just in case you don’t come through,

I want to be where I can grab this boat. And I think you can do it, but just in case you can’t or don’t, I love a plan B.

And what I’m going to do is be where I can grab this boat. Can I explain my problem? I don’t like a plan B.

I like a plan B, C, D, E, and F. I got all these backups. Your backup plan is an insult to God.

an absolute insult. He said, trust me. What would it take for you to get rid of plan B?

The first thing you’ve got to do is ask. The second thing you’ve got to do is get your eyes off of the circumstances. And the third thing is, you’ve got to take your plan B, whatever it is, and park it.

Because your faith is in Him. Write number four down and we’ll be done. You want to do the impossible?

You’ve got to ask. Number two, you’ve got to get your eyes off of the circumstances. number three you got to get rid of your plan B

and then number four you got to step out of the boat up until now it’s just talk

but now it’s time to step over the side and go walking it’s time to step out

when I was eight years of age my mother contracted polio and never walked again I love the music here because it so reminds me of my mother

my mom was a gifted conservatory trained musician wasn’t anything she couldn’t play by sight but when polio visited our house

I’ll never forget the day it was about 5 a.m. in the morning

I walked in the kitchen for breakfast and my mother said Davey run get your dad

I think I’m really sick and my mother walked into our living room laid down on the couch

and never walked again polio spinal meningitis had come to our house

I watched her wither up and those beautiful fingers begin to gnarle and curl and shake. I was watching her just gasp for breath. The ambulance came.

While we’re standing there, they punched a hole in her throat. Because she couldn’t breathe. I remember them turning to my dad.

we don’t think she’s going to make it to the hospital, but we’ll try. When you’re eight years of age, what do you mean she’s not going to make it to the hospital?

When they took her out the door, I didn’t realize I wouldn’t see her for two and a half years. For two and a half years, she lived in an iron lung,

fighting for life. finally after two years my sister and I got to visit her and we didn’t get to visit her one on one because

it was all quarantined but we got to go up on a fourth floor and look across a small courtyard and we were at a window and they’re going to bring my mom’s iron lung to the window

we were to see her at 10 o’clock and we’re there and finally an hour goes by

and a nurse comes up and she said are you the Gibbs kids and we said yes we are they said well your mom’s having a very bad morning

she can’t breathe but she wants to see please wait

up and there was a little speaker over there and a speaker on our side and I heard my mom say, turn my head please.

I want to see him. And when he turned her head she just screamed in pain and blacked out.

And I got mad. I said, God, you took her arms, you took her legs, she can’t breathe, you could have left her neck. I said, God, I know people never go to church, they don’t have any of this.

My mom faithfully served you. Now look. My sister who was standing by my side.

said, please don’t say something, David, please. You’re always saying stuff. How many of you have a sister?

She said, please don’t say something. They revived my mom, and now she could see us. And the minute my mom saw me,

she said, David, don’t think that, son. How many of you know moms can read their kids? And I did what every kid does.

I lied. I said, don’t think what, mom? She said, son, this isn’t what I planned,

but he’s doing all things well. he’s promised a year later my mom got to come home

and it was a big deal for the first time we had family devotions again but my mom was so sick

our pastor came to see us and it was a disaster our pastor said

I don’t know how to tell you this Mrs. Gibbs but the church has voted

we do not want you to come back we’re afraid of the polio and he said

it seems to me God’s through with you and when he said that I was on my way to Deca.

I stood up, was moving across the living room. I had my fist balled up. I was going to fix it, so he brushed his teeth out the back of his neck.

I did. And you know what went through my mind? You may be right.

God may be through with us, But you’re not talking to my mom that way. No way.

My mom called me down. She said, son, you sit down now. And I looked at her and she said, you obey me.

Sit down. And my mom said, I understand how frightening this disease is. I’m living with it.

But she said, could you just pray? God’s never through with somebody. Never.

She said, I need something impossible. I don’t know what I can do, she said, but by the way,

you’ll know when God’s through with you because you’ll be looking at him. he said well I’ll pray that but Mrs.

Gibbs there’s nothing you can do next day

a young pastor just moved to our town came to see my mom and he said I understand you’ve had a very rough time of it

and he said I just wanted to stop by to pray with you my mom said well thank you for coming

she said if you’re going to pray would you just pray that God would give me something to do

I’m strapped in this wheelchair and music was my life and it just hurts to hear the music

now because I love it so but God’s got something and she said I need something impossible

couldn’t believe what he did Brother Flanders he said well yeah he laid down on his stomach on our carpet

and started praying and I thought I don’t even know this guy but I sure like how he prays

and I like how he’s kind to my mother By the way, people never forget how you treat their loved ones. Halfway through his prayer, he stopped and he said, well, you know, I got an idea.

He said, we don’t have a church yet, but we’re gonna. And since we don’t have a church yet, we don’t have a Sunday school, but we’re gonna. How would you like to run our Sunday school?

Maybe you could do that from that wheelchair, because you can still talk, right? And I thought, are you kidding me? She can’t dress herself.

But my mom said, oh, that’d be wonderful. I’ll start praying. Boy, three weeks later, when they had their first service, we were there.

Did the Sunday school, only two kids in it. my sister and me. And I thought, boy, this is bad.

I’m doomed to go to Sunday school with my sister the rest of my life. There would occasionally be another kid or two, but finally my mom said, we’ve got to get more kids.

And she said, I’ve been praying. Here’s what I want you to do. Davey I want you to take me up town to the big bus company

and we’re going to ask them to give us a bus so that we can go pick up kids and bring them to Sunday school. I said mom I don’t believe they give them away.

She said I know but I’m asking God for the impossible. well came the day we were going to go up there

no appointment nothing loaded my mom up in the car we drove up there and the parking spot we got was right under a big window

and we parked I got my mom’s wheelchair out and I went to get my mom out and something horrible happened

I dropped my mom she slipped out of my hands I would never let her fall, never

but she went down and when she hit the ground she screamed in pain I’m crying, she’s crying

I said mom let’s go home I said God’s not in this she said no son

we’re not going home, we’re going to go get that place. We sat on the ground in the snow for probably 30 minutes. Finally, she said, get your handkerchief out and dry my face.

I don’t want them to see I was crying. And then help get me up. We finally went into the bus company, very nice young lady there.

That young lady said, can I help you? And my mom said, we’ve come so you can give us a bus. She said, you mind you want to rent one or buy one?

She said, no, I need you to give it to me for Sunday school. She said, well, I don’t know that we do that, but let me get a guy down here for you to talk to him. well she called I remember his name was Jack

she gets Jack on the phone he’s the vice president and Jack is loud you can hear him through the phone she wants you to give her a bus for Sunday school

tell her I’m not wasting my time she’s not getting the bus and to leave and this little girl behind the counter said you tell her she’s in a wheelchair

laughter laughter Next thing you know, here comes Jack.

He said, look, no sense in spending a lot of time on this. We have never done that. We’re not ever going to do it.

Maybe you can con somebody. That was his word. Maybe you can con somebody else into a bus, but not us.

And I said, well, Mom, okay. And I went to grab her wheelchair, and she said, don’t touch my wheelchair yet, son. She said, can I ask you a question?

The man said, yeah, you can have one question. She said, do you own the buses? He said, what?

She said, do you own them? He said, well, no, the owner owns them. She said, well, no wonder you can’t give them to me.

They’re not yours. Now the girl at the counter, that’s exactly right. They’re not his.

he walks around here acting like they’re his but they’re not his lady that little girl they belong to their

let me call the owner and she punched the owner up and Jack said the owner’s not coming down here three minutes later here comes the owner

he said lady let me tell you why I’m here I’m not going to give you a bus going to do it.

But I don’t know what to do with you. You don’t realize that when you parked your car, you parked under my office window.

When you fell and screamed, I watched it. I cried with you. I have never seen a bus mean this much to

anybody. I don’t know what to do with you. my mom said well let me tell you one thing

if you don’t give me a bus one day God’s going to be awfully upset with you because you could help me get kids to Christ

he looked at my mom and he said look if I give you a bus who’s going to drive it you my mom said I hadn’t thought of that

I need for you to give me a bus and a driver now Jack pipes up again the vice he said just put them out of here

and he said hold on she’s already pointed out they don’t belong to you lady I’m going to give you one bus one driver one week

just one I thought I don’t believe this you got a bus mom

impossible my mom said oh I need one more thing

I need two buses she said there’s two sides to our town and please I’m begging you

for the kids please give me two buses and two drivers you know what he said I’ll do that

but I want you to promise me you’re going to be dead positive God knows about this and my mom said I’ll do it

I’ll do it when we went out and I got her in the car I said I don’t believe that you got a bus

you got two buses and two drivers she said I didn’t get them she said I can’t feed myself

I can’t clothe myself but I got a God who’s all powerful

who’s looking for somebody who believes in the impossible son

he only gave us two buses and two drivers for one Sunday

because the second Sunday he gave us three and within six months he was given us 30 to 40 buses and drivers every single Sunday

and he did it for 25 years my mom went to the city and said I want you to let anybody drive a city bus if they’re going to church for free.

And standing by her side was the owner of the bus company and he said, take my word for it. Give it to her immediately or she’ll ask for more.

And then the man told the city, he said, this lady has God on her side. That’s Sunday school?

within five and a half years never ran less than 5,000 children. And it was all done by a lady

who couldn’t do anything. But she had a God who could do everything. Every Sunday she’d have me push her wheelchair

down by the buses. And she’d tell the drivers, now you put out your cigarette, you’re going to church. And those drivers would say, no ma’am, we’re not going.

And she’d say, yes you are, now you follow me. And like little ducks, they’d follow her in. At my mom’s funeral, the man that owned the buses wrote a letter and he said to me,

Because of you, my whole family is saved. Because of you, I’m saved. Because of you, almost all my drivers are saved.

Then he wrote, where would we be if you didn’t have the God who could do the impossible? Out of that Sunday school,

There’s now 80-some preacher boys preaching. And over 150 missionaries full-time on the field. Done by a lady who couldn’t do anything,

but had a God who could do everything, and she knew it. You want the impossible, you’ve got to ask. You want the impossible?

You’ve got to get your eyes off of the circumstances. You want the impossible? Oh, this is huge.

Get rid of your plan B, your backup. You want the impossible? You’ve got to step out of the boat.

Why would you waste your life merely trying to do something great for God? when God wants you to do the impossible.

Let’s pray. Father, forgive us, forgive me,

where we’ve spent so much time trying to plan what we can manage instead of what God can do.

heads are bowed how many of you say brother Gibbs God spoke to my heart

and God helping me I want the impossible that’s true hold your hand up right now

hold them high father you see our hands more importantly

you see our hearts by your grace by your power

we’re not going to leave here today without asking the devil doesn’t care what we heard as long as we don’t do anything with it

that’s why we’re going to ask for the impossible and get our eyes off of the circumstances and we’re going to jettison the plan B

and God, by your grace, we’re stepping out, out of the boat. God, hear the cry of every heart here. I pray now that the devil won’t pick this seed.

I pray by your grace, if they forget every word I’ve said, they’ve not forgotten anything of consequence. But may we never forget what the Word of God says.

I pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.