Not By Might

• Building the temple in OT times

• Today we are the temple

(1 Corinthians 3: 16-17) “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.”

Illustration: Story of a close friend at church – a well-known wrestler and coach of Iowa who had a major car accident resulting in him becoming powerless, mightiless and incapable to be on his own thus experiencing God’s grace and work of the Holy Spirit in his life. Today he is a paraplegic and is continues to praise God even in this situation as this critical situation has drawn him closer to God and ignited a passion for God and lost souls which he did not have before.

Throughout the Biblical narratives God had been seeking for available, obedient and faithful men to lead His people and extend His Kingdom. Will you be one of them?

Let us look at the examples of 3 men (leaders in their own way) from God’s Word which will set the mode / foundation for us to build this temple and move … not by might, nor by power but by the Spirit of the Living God.

1. Moses (Exodus 3; 4: 10-15)

• Stammerer - insecure and having no confidence

• Reluctant, obstinate and stubborn man

• Did not desire to get up and grow out of his mess

• Continued to dwell upon excuses and his past

• God gives him divine wisdom and authority to speak to the most powerful man in the world

• God does miracles and wonders through him

• Saves and restores Israel through Moses

• 40 years in Egypt … had the best education and was being raise to be the next pharaoh

• 40 years of training and recuperating in the desert after murdering an Egyptian

• 40 years leading the Stubborn Israelites through the desert (sometimes God places people just like us in our lives in order to break and humble us so that we line up with God)

• Without yielding to the Spirit of God and allowing Him to work in his life, God would not be able to use Moses

• He gave us the Pentateuch (first five books of the Bible)

• Apparently the Bible doesn’t record of Moses’s stammering being ever healed

• God chose a non-eloquent man with a stigma so that he would depend upon Him rather than be tempted to depend upon himself … could God really trust Moses and for that matter even us?

2. Jacob renamed Israel (Genesis 32: 24-31)

• Wrestled with God

• Also known as a grabber, deceiver and schemer

• Thought himself to be so smart that he could outsmart everyone else – the tables were turned on him by his own father-in-law (got tit for tat)

• Almost prevailed over the Angel during the wrestling match

• The name Jacob changed to Israel (‘Prince with God’) for he had struggled with God and men and prevailed – symbolic of character transformation

• With passion and perseverance desired and was seeking God’s blessing which came in form of a limp that the Bible doesn’t record of being healed and later became a nation

• Do you know a nation other than Israel whose name was first given to the man Jacob?

• Without Jacob we would have never had Israel …

• God allowed that limp in Jacob so that he would depend upon Him rather than be tempted to depend upon himself … could God really trust Jacob and for that matter even us?

3. Saul turned Paul (2 Corinthians 12: 7-10)

• Persecutor and hater of Christians

• Called of God in a very amazing way as he travelled to Damascus

• Preaches God’s Word fearlessly

• Persecuted, jailed and killed for his faith in Jesus Christ

• God allows a thorn in Paul’s flesh

• The Bible doesn’t record of it being ever healed but Paul is promised that God’s grace would be sufficient for him, for when we are weak we are strong

• Without the thorn in Paul’s flesh we would not have most of the New Testament

• God did not take away Paul’s thorn in the flesh so that he would have complete dependence upon God rather than on himself or someone else … could God really trust Paul and for that matter even us?

Application:

1. Some of us here may be like Moses …

2. Some of us here may be like Jacob …

3. Some of us here may be like Paul …

No matter what our ailments, obstacles or limitations, first we must recognize and shake off that fake macho image, pride and self-dependency and learn not to rely on our might or power but yield in complete submission to the Spirit of God. He will take you places; you have never been before and empower you to do things that were un-comprehendable and unimaginable in the physical realm. What He does in and through you will also make you desire more of Him.