Golf Church: Week Three — Nothing Is Impossible

“For nothing will be impossible with God.”
Luke 1:37

Welcome back to Golf Church.

And if this is your first time here, I’m really glad you’re here. My name is Cooper, and I’m a professional golfer preparing for PGA TOUR Q-School while learning what it looks like to faithfully follow Jesus one day at a time.

Golf Church started because I've realized that some of the greatest lessons God has taught me have come through this game. Sometimes it's walking down a fairway after a bad hole. Sometimes it's standing over a putt with everything on the line. Other times it's on the drive home after a tournament when things didn't go the way I wanted. Golf has a way of revealing what's going on in my heart, and more often than not, those moments point me back to Scripture.

That's really what Golf Church is. It's a place where I can share what God is teaching me through golf, life, and His Word in hopes that maybe He'll use something He's teaching me to encourage you too.

But this week's message didn't come to me standing over a putt, walking down a fairway, or even sitting down with my Bible.

It came while I was doing the dishes.

I had just finished a practice round and some short-game work, and my wife and I made it home and started doing the normal things that come with life. There was laundry to fold, dishes to wash, and a kitchen that needed to be cleaned. I'm not exactly the guy you want folding the laundry, so my wife took that job and I headed for the kitchen.

I know this isn't really the point of this week's message, but I couldn't help thinking about what a blessing it is to have my wife as my teammate in all of this. She's there cheering me on during tournament rounds, but she's also there for all the ordinary moments nobody sees. The travel days, the practice days, the long weeks, and making sure I actually have clean clothes when it's time to tee it up again. There's a lot that goes into professional golf that will never show up on a scorecard, and I couldn't do it without her.

While she was folding laundry, I was standing at the sink working my way through the dishes when I picked up one of our spatulas. Written on it was Luke 1:37:

“For nothing will be impossible with God.”

I've probably used that spatula a hundred times, but for whatever reason, this time those words stopped me.

I immediately started asking myself, Do I really believe that? Do I really believe that nothing is impossible with God?

Because it's one thing to know that verse. It's another thing to build your life around it.

It reminded me that when the Holy Spirit wants to get our attention, it doesn't matter where we are. We sometimes expect God to speak during worship, while we're praying, or when we have our Bibles open in front of us. But sometimes He meets you at the kitchen sink. If we're paying attention, God can use some pretty ordinary moments to point us back to extraordinary truth.

As I stood there thinking about that verse, I started looking back over my own life. I can think of plenty of things in front of me right now that seem impossible, but when I look backward, I see a God who has done impossible things over and over again.

I see moments where He protected me when I didn't even know I needed protecting. I see situations He pulled me out of that I couldn't have escaped on my own. I see doors He closed that I desperately wanted open and people He placed in my life at exactly the right time. I see prayers answered in ways I never could have planned and grace I never could have earned.

The fact that I'm even still here is one of the many reminders in my testimony that God has already done things I once would have thought were impossible.

And that left me with another question: Why am I so quick to believe God for the impossible He's already done, but struggle to trust Him with the impossible thing still in front of me?

That's when Luke 1:37 started hitting differently.

When we read the verse in context, Mary has just been given news that isn't simply unlikely. It's humanly impossible. The angel Gabriel tells her she's going to give birth to Jesus. Mary is a virgin, so naturally she asks, “How will this be?”

Gabriel explains what God is going to do and then points her toward another seemingly impossible situation. Her relative Elizabeth, who had been unable to have children and was well beyond the age anyone expected her to have one, was already six months pregnant.

Then Gabriel says, “For nothing will be impossible with God.”

There's something important about the context of that verse. It doesn't mean anything we want is guaranteed to happen if we believe hard enough. It doesn't mean God owes me a PGA TOUR card, and it doesn't mean every dream we have is automatically a promise from God.

The power of Luke 1:37 isn't that Mary had a really big dream. It's that God had spoken.

Mary didn't understand how it was all going to happen, but she trusted the God who did. That's a different kind of faith than simply believing God will give me whatever outcome I want. It's believing that nothing God purposes to do is impossible for Him.

That's the kind of faith I want.

I believe God has called me to walk down this road in professional golf and faithfully steward the ability, opportunities, relationships, and platform He's given me. But I don't know how every tournament will go. I don't know where every dollar will come from, what doors will open, or how long the road will take.

And I don't have to.

Faith doesn't require me to know everything that's coming. It requires me to trust the One who does.

Golf actually gives us a pretty good picture of that. You can stand on a tee box, calculate the yardage, feel the wind, choose the club, pick your target, go through your routine, and make the most committed swing you possibly can. But once the ball leaves the clubface, you can't chase it through the air and steer it. Or, as my coach likes to say, “You can't control the outcome.”

Your responsibility was to make the swing.

I think faith can look a lot like that. Maybe my responsibility isn't to figure out how God is going to accomplish everything. Maybe it's simply to be faithful with what He's put in front of me today. Hit the next shot. Do the next practice session. Have the next conversation. Love the person standing in front of me. Say yes when God asks me to say yes, and leave the outcome with Him.

That's what I see in Mary's response too. She couldn't see Bethlehem, the miracles Jesus would perform, the cross, or the empty tomb. She didn't have the entire plan in front of her.

She simply responded:

“I am the Lord's servant. May your word to me be fulfilled.”
Luke 1:38

She got the next step, and she said yes.

Maybe some of us are waiting for God to explain step ten before we're willing to take step one. We want the entire yardage book before we're willing to walk onto the first tee. But following Jesus has never required knowing the entire route. It requires trusting the One leading us.

Let's Pray

Father, thank You for reminding us that nothing is impossible for You. Forgive us for the times we've looked at our circumstances, calculated the odds, and decided what You can or cannot do based on what we can see.

Help us remember Your faithfulness. When we're facing something that feels impossible, remind us of all the ways You've already provided, protected, rescued, and carried us. Give us the faith to trust You even when we don't understand what You're doing or where You're leading.

Lord, teach us to be faithful with what's in front of us today. Give us the courage to take the next step when You call us forward and the humility to leave the outcome in Your hands. Like Mary, let our response be, “I am the Lord's servant.” Whatever You have for us, help us trust that Your plans are better than ours and that nothing You purpose to do is impossible for You.

Above all, keep our eyes fixed on Jesus. Let our confidence come not from ourselves, our circumstances, or the odds in front of us, but from who You are.

In Jesus' name, Amen.

Take It to the Tee

So here's what I want us to take to the tee this week: What would change if we actually believed Luke 1:37?

Not just quoted it. Not just highlighted it in our Bible. Actually believed it.

Whatever your impossible thing is right now, take it to God. Remember what He's already done and look back at His faithfulness. Then take the next step He's put in front of you.

The obstacle might still be there. The odds might not have changed. But God hasn't changed either.

For me, that means stepping onto the first tee confidently. Not because God owes me a certain score or outcome, but because my confidence was never supposed to come from believing I'm capable of accomplishing the impossible. My confidence comes from knowing the God who can.

So pray the prayer. Have the conversation. Walk through the door. Make the swing. Be faithful with what's in front of you and trust God with what happens next.

My responsibility is faithfulness. God is responsible for the outcome.

The golfer sees the odds. The world sees what's possible. Faith sees the God for whom nothing is impossible.

Take that with you to the tee this week. And maybe the next time God wants to remind you of it, don't be surprised if He does it somewhere as ordinary as the kitchen sink.

I'll see you next week.