10 Characteristics of God’s Power

The Apostle Paul says this in Romans 1:16, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” Scripture teaches us about the Power of God and this morning let us look at ten scriptures that describe God’s power.

1. God’s Power is glorious.

Exodus 15:6
Your right hand, O LORD, glorious in power, your right hand, O LORD, shatters the enemy.

2. God’s Power cannot be defeated.

Deuteronomy 32:39
'See now that I, I am He, And there is no god besides Me; It is I who put to death and give life. I have wounded and it is I who heal, And there is no one who can deliver from My hand.

3. God’s Power is unsearchable.

Job 5:8-9
"But as for me, I would seek God, And I would place my cause before God; Who does great and unsearchable things, Wonders without number.

4. God’s Power is mighty.
Job 9:4
"Wise in heart and mighty in strength, Who has defied Him without harm?

5. God’s Power is Great

Psalm 79:11
Let the groaning of the prisoner come before You; According to the greatness of Your power preserve those who are doomed to die.

6. God’s Power is strong

Psalm 89:13
You have a strong arm; Your hand is mighty, Your right hand is exalted.

7. God’s Power is everlasting.

Isaiah 26:4
"Trust in the LORD forever, For in GOD the LORD, we have an everlasting Rock.

8. God’s power is effectual.

Isaiah 43:13
"Even from eternity I am He, And there is none who can deliver out of My hand; I act and who can reverse it?"

9. God’s Power is incomparable.

Psalm 89:8
O LORD God of hosts, who is like You, O mighty LORD?

10. God’s Power is sovereign.

Romans 9:21-22
Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use? What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction?

We are reminded of who made this earth and everything in it in Jeremiah 27:5
"I have made the earth, the men and the beasts which are on the face of the earth by My great power and by My outstretched arm, and I will give it to the one who is pleasing in My sight.”

There is no question as to the power of God. Compared to His power man is nothing. Most of us wander this earth in weakness and in failings living as Thoreau so rightly said, “Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them.”

Our lives need not be what they are. The power to change is in Jesus Christ who longs to live in our hearts through the power of His Holy Spirit who is promised to all who place their faith in Christ. And the same power that raised Christ from the dead can deliver us from the power of sin. Romans 8:10-11 confirms this promise saying that “If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.”

So let us cry out to Jesus and ask Him to deliver us from our lives of powerless desperation. I leave you this morning with a challenge. Why not this very day make the words of Philippians 3:8-11 the object of your life from now on which says that “I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.”

Let the power of God dwell within you. It’s available to all who bend their knee to Christ.

Three Types of Spiritual Fruit Christians Are Called to Bear

Jesus taught that He was the true vine and that as Christians we were branches of that vine in John Chapter 15. But any branch that does not bear fruit would be cut off and the branches that did bear fruit He would prune so that they would bear more fruit. The question we must ask ourselves today is which branch am I? It is an important question for it gives us the answer of whether or not we are truly His. Our eternal destination depends upon this. Hear the Word of God today as spoken by Christ Himself in John 15:6, “If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.”

So how do we know if we are bearing fruit? By examining ourselves to see if the 3 types of spiritual fruit are present in our lives.

The first type of fruit is that as expressed in Galatians 5:22-23 where we read that “…the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” Do these spiritual attitudes characterize our lives?

The second spiritual fruit is action. Romans 6:20-22 explains, “When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? The end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.” Are you growing towards a life of righteousness?

The third type of fruit is that of addition. Are you contributing to the increase of the kingdom of God by doing your part in sharing the Gospel? It may not be that you are the one seeing the actual conversion but are you contributing to the work of evangelism? Paul explains in 1 Corinthians 3:6-9, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field, God's building.” We are not supposed to show up for Church on Sundays and then expect that our pastor, our leaders, or even the called missionaries are there to evangelize. We must be bearing fruit that is part of the work of the Great Commission. Are you a fellow worker with God?

2 Corinthians 13:5-6 says this, “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? —unless indeed you fail to meet the test! I hope you will find out that we have not failed the test.”

Do you pass the test of the 3 spiritual fruits? If so then stay the course and grow more each day. If not then get on your knees now and ask God to fill you with His Holy Spirit and lead you down the path of righteousness. Do not place your trust of eternal life in what your religion tells you; place it in the truth of the Word of God.

May God richly bless you today and fill you with the power of His Holy Spirit and may the love of Christ dwell within your heart.

The Cost of Being Christ’s – Are you Willing?

This morning as I sat down to do my morning scripture reading from Ezekiel I must admit I could use some good news. My family is facing a difficult storm and short of God doing a small miracle this situation may turn out to be a more than a short term storm. Then of course there are always the difficult day to day troubles of this life. The news is ever filled with sadness and things to fear. The stock market is self-destructing which adds more pressure to the days that were already difficult. I really needed a morning Bible pick-me up.

Staying faithful to my Bible study plan I found myself in Ezekiel chapter 24. Ezekiel is not really a happy story so far. As a prophet Ezekiel was called to bring prophecies of judgment to God’s people. These prophecies were hard and no one could say they were good news. Ezekiel was just the messenger. Not a fun job usually, but he was faithful to the job God gave him. But today’s reading takes an even darker turn for Ezekiel. Listen to what God says to Ezekiel.

Ezekiel 24:15-18
The word of the LORD came to me: "Son of man, behold, I am about to take the delight of your eyes away from you at a stroke; yet you shall not mourn or weep, nor shall your tears run down. Sigh, but not aloud; make no mourning for the dead. Bind on your turban, and put your shoes on your feet; do not cover your lips, nor eat the bread of men." So I spoke to the people in the morning, and at evening my wife died. And on the next morning I did as I was commanded.

Wow. It was bad enough that Ezekiel had to be the prophet always bringing the hard message but now he had to lose the one thing he cherished most, the woman who probably comforted him in the depressive days of being a prophet. He lost the “delight of his eyes.”  And he couldn’t even mourn.

For the unbelievers and probably some Christians this seems to make God out to be a harsh god. But the truth is that just as in Ezekiel’s day God was working out His plan for Israel, so too God is working out His plan in our lives. First of all we need to remember that though we have been made righteous in God’s eyes through the covering of our sin by the precious blood of Christ, we still have a sin nature and have a long way to go in our Christian walk. The standard is holiness. 1 Peter 1:14-16 instructs us “As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, "You shall be holy, for I am holy." Ephesians 1:4 says “that we should be holy and blameless before him.” God is working in us and it is through the storms of life in which we grow.

But there is another effect that comes out of our trials and storms but only if we are willing to truly die to our selfish desires. We weren’t put on this earth so that we could live out fun and easy lives; we were put here to bring glory to God. Each of us who are Christians is called to the Great Commission which is to take the Gospel out to the ends of the earth. The greatest witness to the lost is to see us as Christians praising and worshipping God even in the midst of the worst possible tragedies.

We need to stop serving God for our own good and start serving Him for His glory. We have to believe that God’s Word is true. Thus we have to trust Him that Romans 8:28 is true when it says “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” When we believe these words we can then serve God in the purest of motive which is to glorify God in every situation in our lives.

This is hard stuff. But this soft message being preached today that Jesus loves you and wants you to have the best of everything in this life is just not what He said. He said this in John 16:33, “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world."  He said this in Luke 14:27-33, “Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.' Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.”

At the end of chapter 24 God explained this to Ezekiel in Ezekiel 24:27, “So you will be a sign to them, and they will know that I am the LORD." If we say He is our Lord then we must let Him be Lord and trust Him in good and bad times.

Life is hard. Believe me I know that. But if we as the body of Christ will stand together by encouraging each other and praying, then we too, can be a sign for the world and then they can know the He is the Lord. Jesus is coming back and when He does all this will be made right. But until he does let us stand for him and let us show the world we believe His Word. Let us praise and worship Him no matter what we face in the coming days.

May God richly bless you. May God be glorified.

Standing in the Gap – Becoming a Moses

Are you standing in the gap or are you too busy complaining about the sinful people of your world? We are living in a country full of sin. Every night murders, drug deals, robberies, and various other acts of crime are happening across our cities. Some of the things people are doing are too horrible to even think about.  So we get on Facebook and complain and we talk about these horrible people. We blame the president and the illegal immigrants.

There is a better option. We should become like Moses. Remember what the people were doing while he was talking with God? They were making a golden idol to worship in place of God. Hear from God’s Word.

Psalm 106:19-23
They made a calf in Horeb and worshiped a metal image. They exchanged the glory of God for the image of an ox that eats grass. They forgot God, their Savior, who had done great things in Egypt, wondrous works in the land of Ham, and awesome deeds by the Red Sea. Therefore he said he would destroy them— had not Moses, his chosen one, stood in the breach before him, to turn away his wrath from destroying them.

Moses could have turned his back on them but he did not. He stood in the breach. Then he interceded for them through prayer.

Later we find some of the prophets doing the same thing. Yes, they warned the people of their sin and preached against it. But then they stood in the gap and prayed. The power of prayer is the most powerful force on earth because it is the means by which God moves and displays His power.

Scripture is replete with teaching on prayer and clearly declares its power and effectiveness. The call for us as Christians is to pray for our country, our people, and our world. We are called to be priests and one of the most important tasks of a priest is to intercede in prayer for the sins of the people.

So what are you going to do while the world continues to spiral into sin and debauchery? Be angry and filled with hate? Or stand in the gap like Moses praying for the people? Which one do you think God wants from us? Which one can change the world?

 

Being A Prophet

Usually when we hear the word “prophet” we think of the Old Testament men who made predictions of things to come. It was serious business, Deuteronomy 18:20 has this to say about prophets, “But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.” It is not good to be a false prophet.

Yet the entire history that unfolds in the Old Testament is in fact the prophecy of the coming Messiah. The true prophets were a very important aspect of God’s work and He used them in many ways.

There are many disagreements about the spiritual gifts; which ones there really are and if they are relevant today. But in the New Testament days I believe we have too oft misunderstood the gift of prophecy. I believe the Bible is complete, that in it God has spoken and thus given us everything we need to know as we live out our lives in anticipation of the return of Christ. I do not believe we need future prophecy to be given except what is already been prophesized in the Bible. We don’t even need to know what will specifically happen in our own lives day today because we are called to live and to walk by faith, not by sight. Jesus instructed to pray for “daily” bread. He told us not to worry about tomorrow in Matthew 6:34, but to focus on today. We are to watch and pray for His return.

Yet there is a need for prophecy, but the prophecy needed is for us “to proclaim the truth of scripture with God’s authority”, as the word prophet is defined in Mounce’s Complete Expository Dictionary. Paul had something very important to say about the value of the spiritual gift of prophecy in 1 Corinthians 14:1-3 saying this, “Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy. For one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men but to God; for no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the Spirit. On the other hand, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation.” He would go on to state that when we prophesize we “build up the church”.

Scripture is clear that love must be the primary focus of our Christian life. When we share the Word of God it builds up people. It restores them, it comforts them, it encourages them, and most of it gives us hope in the midst of a hard life on this earth. Above all things it brings glory to God for His Word is truth. This is the best expression of love we can give.

So let us boldly proclaim and share the Word of God. We don’t need the psychology of man; we need the truth of scripture. The church is filled with hurting people; the world even more so. So seek the gift of prophecy above all else. But even if we don’t have a particular gift that should not stop us from the work that is done by those who have these gifts. Not all have the gift of evangelism; yet we should all share the Gospel. Not all have the gift of giving; yet all should give. Not all have the gift of mercy; yet we must all show mercy. Those who have the various gifts will shine for God when they use their gift. But most of the gifts are supernatural additions to the things we should be practicing as Christians. We cannot use the excuse of not having a gift for not doing the things all of us should be doing.

Ask God for the gift of prophecy. But read the Word of God and study it to become proficient at sharing it to build up and encourage others. I promise you if you do you will find yourself growing and being encouraged by His Word. It is God’s Word. In it is all we need to know.

The Mess We Have Made in America and Where the Judgment Begins

"It's all their fault" we cry. God may disagree. What are Christians doing to change the world?

1 Peter 4:17
For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?

We can continue to sit around and blame Obama. We can watch events unfold and say it's the protesters in Ferguson's fault. Or it's the cops fault who shoot people in the back. We can find plenty of blame to go around.

Or we can accept the truth of this scripture. Judgment begins with us. It begins with me. Am I shining the light of Christ in this dark world?

The next verse says this — 1 Peter 4:18
And “If the righteous is scarcely saved,
what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?”

People we are scarcely saved. I suggest that what this means is that our salvation hangs only by the grace of God. We have added nothing to it. We are only God's grace away from being eternally damned so we ought to be humble in our salvation knowing we aren't all that much different than those who are perishing. Thus we ought to be thinking more what we can do to change the world than be sitting around complaining about others. We need to be showing the way to the lost by how we live and the way we live needs to be radically different than how the world lives.

Finish this thought with 1 Peter 4:19 —
Therefore let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.

Let us do good. May we shine the light of Christ so that those who walk in darkness will see.

Humility - The Way To Win the Battle Before It's Fought

In his book The Art of War, Sun-Tzu said this, “Every battle is won long before it is ever fought.” Nothing could be truer than this statement as it pertains to the Christian life. The problem with man is that he thinks he can control his little world and the higher up a man goes in a society, the bigger area of control he thinks he has. In reality man has very little control.

It seems that one of the greatest areas of contention in theology today is found in the teaching of the sovereignty of God. While I can understand the unsaved man hates the idea of God being in control, for the life of me I cannot understand the Christian who finds this concept unacceptable.

The longer I study the Bible and the more I seek a deeper relationship with God, the more I see the need for humility to become my end goal in life. First of God’s Word tells me humility is an important trait. First of all salvation is dependent on it.  Job speaks of this in Job 22:29 saying, "When you are cast down, you will speak with confidence, And the humble person He will save.” The Psalms declare it as we see from Psalm 76:9, “When God arose to judgment, To save all the humble of the earth.” James speaks of it in James 4:6, “But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, "GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE."

We cannot save ourselves. In order to receive the free gift of salvation we must believe by faith that Christ died on the cross for us. We must drop the notion that we can do anything at all to contribute to our salvation as we read in Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.” This is the first step of humility when one becomes Born Again. Even the first step towards God is not of our doing but His as we see from John 6:44, "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.”

The truth is our lives are dependent on God. We like to take credit for our successes in this life. we brag of our academic accomplishments, of our progression at work, of our athletic accomplishments, and our heroics on the battlefield. We even take credit for our children’s great deeds. Yet scripture is clear, all good things come from God. Hear God’s word from Acts 17:24-26, "The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things; and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation.” The bottom line is that everything we have and everything we accomplish in life is a result of what God has blessed us with.

Read the Old Testament and observe carefully the men and women God chose to do His work. They were drunks, prostitutes, pagans, murderers, adulterers and on and on the list goes. Look at the life of Esau and Jacob. Truthfully which one would you choose to be the leader of God’s chosen people? Jacob was a lying, conniving con man. He stole the birthright from his own brother and did so by deceiving his own father.

So what does God look for when choosing those who will serve Him? He looks for a man who will come to the point of humility by recognizing his own weakness and failures. He looks for a heart that will receive discipline and react in repentance when confronted by the truth of his own sin. Jacob did that. David did too. How about you? We must understand the depths of our sinfulness and cry out in humility to our God who loved us so much He sent His only Son to die in our place and to pay the penalty we deserve.

This leads us back to the statement of Sun-Tzu, “Every battle is won long before it is ever fought.” The Christian life is no easy way; it is a day to day battle. Our goal is to become like Christ so that we, like Him, can go out into the world sharing the Gospel and being a light to this dark world we live in. The Christian life is a battle-filled life but we fight from victory, not for victory. Jesus won the war on the cross at Calvary but each day we must fight the good fight of faith. But the battles we fight will be won before we fight them. They will be won by the time we spend in reading, studying, and meditating on God’s Word, hiding it in our hearts that we might not sin against Him (Psalm 119:12). They will be won by the time we spend on our knees praying for God’s hand to upon us (Philippians 4:5-7). They will be won by humbling ourselves and confessing to God that He is our strength and our only hope (Psalm 20:7).

The victory will be won in this life through humility. Call on the Lord this very day. Come to Him in humility. He shall not turn you away.