Message: “You Can’t Stop the Unstoppable”
Have you ever faced an impossible situation? Have you ever been so stunned by a
situation that you were unable to respond? Recently, in the Toronto news, there were
a few stories about people being arrested for human trafficking. The Toronto Sun ran
a story about a young girl they had interviewed a number of years ago who had been
forced into the sex trade. Sadly she died before getting out of the business.
Christine Caine tells a story of how her life was changed in a way she never
thought possible. She and her husband Nick had recently started The A21
Campaign, an international anti-human trafficking organization. She had a hard
time trying to wrap her mind around the fact that today, more than twenty-seven
million people are being bought and sold for forced sex and labor markets.
Christine visited an aftercare home in Greece and received a bit of a shock. A survivor
of abuse was sharing with her how her traffickers had transported her and fifty-nine
other girls in a shipping container. Thirty girls died in the container due to an oxygen
pump malfunction before the rest were put into rubber boats to be transported to
Greece.
While they were being transported the Coast Guard started heading toward them.
The traffickers panicked and began to throw the girls overboard. For many girls,
this was the first time they had seen water and they did not know how to swim.
Twenty of these girls drowned that day. A handful made it into Athens, and
eventually rescued and brought into our care.
So Christine is being told the story by one of these girls and she notices one of the
other girls who had been rescued staring at her.
The girl asked her in broken
Russian, “Why are you here?” She was still very angry and traumatized. Christine
1
started to tell her she wanted to get involved in this issue and see girls rescued. She
shared how there’s a God in heaven who loves her, a God who has a plan and purpose
for her life, a God who sent His Son Jesus to set the captives free.
Her eyes filled with tears and she yelled, “If all this is true, if what you are telling
me is true about your God, then why didn’t you come sooner?” Apparently, that
question altered Christine’s life and infused a passion in her heart to see those
who are enslaved be set free.
Christine came from a culture (hard to believe that it still exists in North America
today – but especially in the Mennonite/Amish community) where women were never
encouraged to do anything great. The highest expectation was that she would simply
be mothering children. She was abused in her childhood. Her sense of identity and
self-esteem were negligible. There was a lot of developmental wounding in her life.
Christine became a testimony to God’s saving grace and power to transform, restore,
and rebuild broken lives – despite her upbringing.
Maybe you’re in a season of life where you’re facing a situation that seems
impossible; maybe you’ve gone through a divorce and feel like a failure; you’ve
recently experienced a broken relationship and maybe it’s made you feel
unworthy, unwanted, or unloved. The obstacles you’re facing may feel
insurmountable. Then this message is for you today: God is with you, His grace is
enough for you, and He has a good plan for your life and your future that no one
or nothing can stop.
In episode 5 of the A.D. series, we will see how even in the midst of persecution, the
apostles continued to be obedient in proclaiming the Gospel. They faced opposition
from the religious and political leaders of the time, many were thrown in jail on
2
multiple occasions, and some were martyred for their faith. Yet, through the power of
the Holy Spirit, Christians experienced boldness, declared truth, and received
empowerment through God’s grace.
They weren’t focusing on the present circumstances full of discouragement,
questions, and impossibility. Their focus - was on God. As a result, men and
women were saved, healed, and witnessed many miracles. The mission of
spreading the Gospel to all the earth was unstoppable because it was part of
God’s salvation story that has been written and continues to be written in the
stories of our lives.
1. God calls us to do the impossible:
The A21 Campaign of rescuing people from human trafficking has many obstacles –
many things to overcome. But one of the most dangerous of these was regarding the
traffickers themselves. They are robbing human beings of their identity and rights.
A21 Campaign workers go up against organized crime rings like the Russian and
Albanian mafia.
Christine was reminded of 2 Timothy 1:7 where it says that: “… God gave us a
spirit not of fear, but of power and love and self-control.” He knows that fear will
not get us through danger. But love does, and self-control will, and having
courage can. Courage is not the absence of fear. It’s the will to persevere out of
obedience, even in the midst of opposition.
As we have seen in the A.D series, Peter was no longer afraid and openly shared the
Gospel, even when he was met with resistance from the rulers and high priest. In Acts
5:29-32 we heard: “Peter and the other apostles answered: ‘We must obey God rather
than men! The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a
3
tree. God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to
Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses of these things, and so is the
Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.’” Peter and the other
apostles could not stop talking about what they had come to know as truth, even at
the cost of being thrown into jail and flogged.
The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth. The word truth refers to authenticity, divine
reality, and revelation. Just as Peter and the apostles knew the truth and were
empowered to walk in obedience, we too, can choose to be led by the Spirit in
every situation, having the assurance of grace to face every challenge.
2. God empowers us to be unstoppable:
The more resistance, threats, and violence Peter and the apostles came up
against, the more unstoppable they became. I have found in my own life that God
will often bring me through difficult circumstances that are impossible in my own
strength so that I learn to completely rely on Him. When we remember it is about
God’s strength and not our own, we become more willing to trust Him and allow
Him to use us for His purpose.
I believe I have told some of you about how I came to be in ministry. I had a life
threatening illness that left me weak, sick, with extreme loss of muscle and body
weight – it made me feel unworthy. I only saw my limitations, but God saw potential in
my weakness. It’s only when we hit the limits of our own strength and resources that
we learn to rely not on our own sufficiency, but on the Holy Spirit within us. I was
called to work my way back to health and a normal life by becoming the caretaker of
our church before entering the Presbyterian seminary. It was a humbling experience.
4
It’s amazing to look back at my experience and see how God empowered me with His
grace to do things I would never have been able to do on my own. I learned so much
during that time in my life, and God showed up time and time again, bringing
everything that I needed into perspective – allowing me to do what He called me to
do.
I resonate with Christine Caine because she started out doing a cleaning job at a
church – that lead her to get involved with youth – which lead her to God’s calling
on her life to help people caught up in the quagmire of human trafficking. She
says that The A21 Campaign fuels her today to keep going forward no matter
what challenges she faces. Why? She says, “Because His strength is made perfect
in my weakness; His grace is sufficient for me (2 Corinthians 12:9).”
Following the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, Peter and the apostles
responded to the call of God and began to boldly teach the people of Jerusalem about
what they had seen and heard. The leaders threatened to kill the apostles. There was
a Pharisee named Gamaliel who advocated on their behalf, persuading the high priest
to let them live. He was a member of the Sanhedrin, the high council of Jews in
Jerusalem.
He used his position of authority and wisdom from God to advise the men of
Israel to leave Peter and the apostles alone. He recognized that if God was
orchestrating the spreading of the Gospel through Peter and the apostles, there
was nothing that could be done to stop God. “For if their purpose or activity is of
human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these
men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God” (Acts 5:38-39).
5
The apostles’ lives were spared. They chose to focus on God rather than
complain about what was happening to them. They viewed persecution for their
faith as a privilege. As a result of their obedience and boldness, the Gospel
continued to spread.
3. God will never fail us:
Christine Caine walked in obedience to the call of God in the midst of impossibility –
rescuing girls from human trafficking, and learned through every situation that our
God is faithful. Christine believed God was asking her to take a step of faith to help
rescue, restore, and rebuild the lives of human trafficking survivors.
God does not call us to failure; He calls us and then equips us with all that is
needed through His empowering presence. Among the apostles of the early
church, there was a man named Stephen. He is described in Acts 6:8 as “a man
full of God’s grace and power,” and he performed many miracles among the
people.
The wisdom the Holy Spirit gave to him could not be argued against, and he boldly
declared the truth of the Gospel. Stephen was dragged out of the city, and the
Sanhedrin stoned him to death. Stephen became the first martyr for the Gospel. In the
account of this in Acts 7:59-60 we are told that Stephen looked up to heaven and saw
the glory of God and prayed, “‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.’ And falling to his knees
he cried out with a loud voice, ‘Lord, do not hold this sin against them’”
Even in the midst of being put to death, Stephen still had the story of God in
mind because of the faith and conviction he held. He chose to set his eyes on
Jesus, released his murderers through his declaration, and understood that even
the worst situation of death was an opportunity for God’s glory to be made
6
known.
Even though it was not God’s will for Stephen to be killed, God was able to use the
story of Stephen to inspire others, and the result was the scattering of Christians into
Judea and Samaria, where the Gospel was able to spread throughout the earth. This
fulfilled the prophecy Jesus gave the disciples when He told them, “You will receive
power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem,
and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth”
Stephen’s impact did not end at his death. Saul was a witness to his stoning.
Saul, who later became known as the apostle Paul, would become one of the
greatest leaders in church history. God used the martyring of Stephen to bring
about growth, expansion, influence, and eternal life. What seemed to be an
impossible situation - became the beginning of new life and a road to salvation
for many.
We live in a world of unprecedented hopelessness across every sphere of life economically,
socially,
politically,
emotionally,
morally,
spiritually,
and
environmentally. Wherever you turn, there is a sense of hopelessness, and the
circumstances that people face daily are overwhelming.
Not only are people being trafficked around the world, but our communities are
filled with lonely, isolated people who have lost hope. There are families just
trying to put food on the table, single parents trying to raise their kids, people
fighting sickness and disease, people grieving the loss of loved ones, families
disintegrating. It’s easy to become overwhelmed by this broken world. It’s easy
to make excuses. It’s easy to not do what we know we are called to do because of
the challenges that come with this journey.
7
We were born for this moment – for this community. This generation has immense
potential. Why? Because we serve a restoring and redeeming God: a God of hope, a
God of second chances, a God of new beginnings. While the world is wondering if
there is hope, we already have the answer: Christ Jesus. In Jesus and through the Holy
Spirit, all things are possible, and all things work together for good because we are
called by God to play our part in His salvation story.
Know that there is a plan for your life and that His will, purpose, and destiny over
you are unstoppable. May we be like Stephen, “full of God’s grace and power,” as
we live lives empowered by the Holy Spirit to do the impossible, be unstoppable,
and know that His love never fails. Amen.
8