Part 3: Jesus Can Strengthen Me. Series

5. Let Jesus strengthen you today by His caring people, and by His gracious plenty. Paul talked about it in vs. 19, when he said, “My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” If you are 4 or 104, God shall supply all your needs! And He can do it, because the whole universe belongs to Him! But notice that our supply must come through Jesus Christ.

-Jesus will give me strength for the storms of life.

-Jesus will give me the strength to serve Him.

-Jesus will give me the strength to stand.

*Luther Bridgers knew that. Luther was born in North Carolina on Valentine’s Day in 1884. He died in Atlanta in 1948, at the age of 64. Luther began preaching when he was only 17. He served as a Methodist pastor and evangelist in the South, but also did mission work in Belgium, Czechoslovakia, and Russia.

*Luther was also a song writer, and he wrote one of our favorite hymns. We sang it last Sunday evening. A couple of weeks ago, I found out that this song was born in a time of tragedy. Luther came home from an evangelistic meeting to find that his wife and three children had died in a fire that destroyed their family home. The story is that Luther sat on the stone doorstep of that burnt out home and wrote:

-“There’s within my heart a melody, Jesus whispers sweet and low,

-Fear not, I am with thee, peace, be still, in all of life’s ebb and flow.

-All my life was wrecked by sin and strife, Discord filled my heart with pain;

-Jesus swept across the broken strings; Stirred the slumbering chords again.

-Though sometimes he leads through waters deep,

-Trials fall across the way,

-Though sometimes the path seems rough and steep,

-See his footprints all the way.

-Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. -Sweetest name I know,

-Fills my every longing, keeps me singing as I go.” (5)

Conclusion:

*Jesus Christ will give you all the strength you need. Do you know Jesus?

-Open your heart to receive Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord.

Adapted from christianglobe.com sermon --And then let the Lord strengthen you.

1. Adapted from: KERUX ILLUSTRATION COLLECTION - ID Number: 30281 - SOURCE: Book: The Divine Conspiracy - TITLE: Laubach’s One Second Out Of Every Minute - AUTHOR: Dallas Willard - DATE: 1997

2. Linda Washington, Finding God Between a Rock and a Hard Place, compiled by Lil Copan and Elisa Fryling (Wheaton, IL: Harold Shaw Publishers, 1999), pp. 72-73. (Found in christianglobe.com sermon “Teach Us to Pray” by King Duncan - Luke 11:1-13 - July 25, 2004)

3. Quotation by Buddy Green. (Original source unknown)

4. Adapted from christianglobe.com sermon “I Am Christ’s” by Maxie Dunnam - 2 Corin 5-6

5. Adapted from christianglobe.com sermon “Name Above Every Name” by Leonard Mann - Luke 2:21 (Some biographical notes from Cyber Hymnal)