Series: Taking the First Steps
Message #3: TURNING ON THE POWER
<>Intro> (Showing a 5-iron and a golf club)...I just purchased this new golf glove, and it’s really wonderful. The grip is just right (slowly be putting on glove while continuing to talk), the fit is perfect, and it really makes the club come right where it needs to in order to make solid contact with a golf ball. (Take the glove off, lean the 5-iron up against a chair, then place the glove on the 5-iron while continuing to talk.) Watch how it works! Okay, go ahead, glove! Do your thing! (Wait and watch, but as nothing happens, look puzzled). Go ahead, glove! The people are waiting to see how well you perform! (Again, look puzzled as nothing happens.) I just don’t understand it. The glove is so wonderful, I just don’t get why it won’t perform! (Looking again at the glove and 5-iron, then begin explaining...) Obviously, the glove is lacking one other ingredient. (Put your hand in the glove, and begin to pick up the 5-iron, and begin to swing it as you talk.) You see, the glove can accomplish nothing by itself. It needs your hand inside in order for anything to happen.
<>It’s the same with our spiritual lives. You and I as believers are merely the gloves God works through in accomplishing His mission (swing the bud as you talk). He provides the power, but chooses to work through us in order to do His work.
>I invite you to open a Bible and turn again to John, chapter 15.
-->Last week we looked at how God’s mission changed in its methodology when Jesus ascended into heaven, as He entrusted the responsibility of carrying it out to His followers, the church, ushering in "the last days," the Church Age.
-->However, before those followers could (and before we can today) accomplish the Lord’s work, He provided His power within them (and us) in the Person of the Holy Spirit.
<>Today, I want us to look at...
THE KEYS TO UNLOCKING GOD’S POWER IN OUR LIVES...
1) REALIZING THE NECESSITY OF GOD’S POWER.
--John 15:4-5 -- “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the Vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing.”
<>Notice: The power comes first, then we’re able to accomplish His mission on earth.
<>And, the power comes first, then the command.
--Matthew 28:18-19 -- “All authority (power) has been given to Me in heaven and earth. Go therefore...”
--Acts 1:8 -- “but you shall receive power from the Holy Spirit, and (then) you shall be My witnesses...”
<>APP> We’re never given a command by God that we are incapable of accomplishing.
-->In fact, God never even wants us to try to accomplish God’s work through our own power.
---ILL> It’s not true that “God helps those who help themselves.” Actually, God helps those who DIE to themselves, and allow God’s power to work through them to achieve God’s purposes.
---ILL> One New Year’s day, in the Tournament of Roses parade, a beautiful float suddenly sputtered and quit. It was out of gas. As a result, the whole parade was held up until someone could get a can of gas. The amusing thing was this float represented the Standard Oil Company. With its vast oil resources, its truck was out of gas.
<>Often, Christians mistakenly try to operate on their OWN “gas,” their OWN power; and not only is it not effective in accomplishing spiritual results, we often tire out, grow weary, run out of gas.
<>Through Him we can do all things He has commanded us, but we can do nothing apart from Him.
--Philippians 4:13 -- “Fr I can do all things through Him Who strengthens me.”
--John 15:4-5 -- “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the Vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing.”
2) RECOGNIZE THE NATURE OF GOD’S POWER.
--Matthew 6:13 -- “For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.”
--2 Corinthians 4:7 -- “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves.”
<>It is Indwelling Power.
--1 John 4:4 -- “You are from God, little children, and have overcome them (evil spirits), because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.”
--Romans 8:9 -- “...you are...in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.”
--1 Corinthians 6:19 -- “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?”
---ILL>Herbert Jackson is now a missions professor at a seminary and tells every one of his classes the story of when he was a new missionary and was assigned a car that wouldn’t start without a push. After pondering his problem, he devised a plan: he went to the school near his home. He got permission to take some children out of class, and had them push his car off. As he made his rounds, he would either park on a hill or leave the engine running. He used this ingenious procedure for two years. When ill health forced the Jackson family to leave, and a new missionary came to that station, Jackson proudly began explaining his arrangement for getting the car started. However, while he was explaining, the new missionary lifted the hood and looked at the motor, then said, “Why, Dr. Jackson, I believe the only trouble is this loose cable.” He gave the cable a twist, stepped into the car, turned the ignition, and to Jackson’s astonishment, the engine roared to life! For two years needless trouble had become his routine. The power had been there all the time...only a loose connection kept Jackson from putting that power to work.
->You see, God’s power is already within us...it’s present all the time.
---ILL>Just up the road from here, in Sedona, “New Agers” gather at vortexes, stacking rocks to make “the vibes” stronger...They chant, dance, or sit in lotus position and drone: “Ommm!” Some even wear special colors to attract “spirits” to work for them.
->But you see, we don’t need to “conjure up” God’s power, we don’t need to mediate while burning incense, chant, etc.
--We just need to release it ‘cause it’s already within us.
---LYR> We sing a song around here that explains it in its lyrics: “In You, in You I find my strength...I You, I live and move and breathe...”
--We need to “stay connected” and “abide” in His power.
->Prayer enables us to “connect” the circuitry, let the power flow.
--It’s why we’re instructed to “pray without ceasing,” to stay in a constant attitude of prayer, remain in an open-circuitry position, keeping the power flowing.
->So, as we heard in the multi-media presentation earlier: “When we call on Jesus, all things are possible!”
<>It is supernatural power.
--2 Corinthians 10:3-4 -- “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.”
->The word translated “power” in the New Testament referring to God’s power within us is the word “dunamos,” which is also the root of the word “dynamite.”
->The power within us as believers is supernatural power...the same power...
--*That fed 5,000 families with a happy meal of fish.
--*That enabled Peter to walk on water to reach Jesus who had already walked on water across the Sea of Galilee.
--*That parted the Red Sea so the children of Israel could cross over on dry land...and later rolled back the Jordan River.
--*That healed the lame, the blind, the diseased...and even raised the dead.
->It is power that sometimes defies logic, defies the odds, isn’t limited...It’s supernatural.
<>It is Overcoming Power.
--John 16:33 -- “...in the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”
--1 John 4:4 -- “You are from God, little children, and have overcome them (evil spirits), because greater is He who is in you, than he who is in the world.”
---LYR> Years ago, the song said it well: “There is no problem so big, God cannot solve it; there is no mountain so tall He cannot move it. There is no storm so dark, God cannot calm it; there is not sorrow so deep, He cannot soothe it. If He carried the weight of the world upon His shoulders, I know, my brother, that He will carry you.”
->God’s power within us is bigger than the hour.
--His power within us is bigger than any problem, any challenge we’ll ever face.
---LYR> Ronald Steadman tells the story of an alcoholic who became a believer. The man was asked how he could possibly believe all the nonsense in the Bible about God’s miraculous, overcoming power. One skeptic asked him, “You can’t believe that Jesus changed the water into wine, can you?” The man answered, “I sure do, because in our house, Jesus changed the whiskey into food and clothes for my kids, and furniture for us all.”
->God’s promise to us is that we can do all things through His power, through His strength.
---LYR> And, as we sang earlier, “Nothing compares to the promise we have in Him.”
BRINGING IT HOME...
<>Questions to ask yourself today:
->Am I living my life as an empty glove?
--Am I trying to do things without God’s hand, God’s power operating within me?
->Do I find myself getting weary?
--Am I running on empty, maybe even running out of gas, instead of allowing the Lord’s power to fuel me, empower me to accomplish God’s purposes in my life?
->Am I truly abiding in, staying connected to God’s overcoming power?
--Am I trusting Him? Relying on His promises?
<>If not, I invite you to call on Jesus today...and learn that all things truly ARE possible through Him.
