God Is Bigger Than My Fears

Good morning to our church family who are joining us online. A special welcome to those of you who are guests joining us as well. Of course, there is no substitute for gathering together in person and I wish I could shake your hand to meet you face to face. The encouragement we receive from one another and the prayer support cannot be manufactured online. Though I am so grateful to our technology team for providing this online opportunity, I am mindful that we have persecuted brothers and sisters in Christ around the world who risk their lives to gather for worship weekly. So we do not want to become used to meeting online rather than in person but surely, the online experience is a temporary need for most of us until the virus dissipates.

Who would have thought that a little microbe from China would be able to stop the mighty American economy? Surely, we are realizing just how fragile we are right now. We need a big God for times of crisis. As children are isolated from public schools, many of us are working from home, and we are seeing huge runs on grocery stores, let’s remember the greatness of God. Surely, there is a spectrum of feeling afraid to a full-onset panic. While many of us are not in the latter category, we are feeling remarkably tense and concern at this time.

In the next few moments, I want you to get a glimpse of the greatness of God during times of fear. When I feel a need to panic, there’s the reason for hope. God is an Almighty God.

1. Hope in God’s Power

When your life seems out of control, God wants you to know of His power. When you feel like a pinball bouncing from one trouble to another and you are powerless to stop, God wants you to know of His power. When your social media feeds are simply one event after another being canceled, know that there’s hope in Almighty God.

In fact, one thing we are told to pray for other believers is that each of us knows more of God’s power in our lives: “and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might” (Ephesians 1:19). So the Bible calls on us to pray for one another to have a deeper knowledge of God’s power. God has the power to do all He wants to do. God has the power to carry out every one of His plans to perfect completion. There’s nothing God wants to but can’t. “Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen” (Ephesians 3:20–21).

In fact, one of the Bible’s favorite names for God is God Almighty. The word “Almighty” appears nearly 60 times in the pages of Scripture. Job could say, “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted” (Job 42:2). In place of saying, “Yes, we can,” Christians unite in saying, “Yes, He can.”

Now, everything about God is mighty. He is mighty in mercy – He can forgive the hardest heart. He is mighty in wrath – God has an intense hate against all sin. He is mighty in wisdom – He knows more than enough to help you in your crisis. He is mighty in power – no force of evil can threaten Him. Even though Satan roams around like a roaring lion, God Almighty is His safari hunter. Once you are in Christ, no one can remove you from God’s Almighty hands. He is mighty in love. At the height of his success, John Lennon wrote a personal letter to an evangelist. After quoting a line from a Beatles song, “Money can’t buy me, love,” he said, “It’s true. The point is this, I want happiness. I don’t want to keep on with drugs. . . . Explain to me what Christianity can do for me. Is it phony? Can He love me? I want out of hell.” Yes, God is mighty even in His love. God’s power glitters through in all His works.

Here are three quick-hitters to increase your hope in God’s Almighty power:

1.1 God Cannot Be Stopped from Accomplishing His Purposes

“No wisdom, no understanding, no counsel can avail against the LORD” (Proverbs 21:30). Remember what the angel Gabriel said to Mary? “For nothing will be impossible with God” (Luke 1:37).

Who would have thought that a little microbe from China would be able to stop the mighty American economy? Who would think that the best medical minds would be stymied by a virus? While humans are “stoppable,” our God is never stoppable.