THE PRESENCE AND POWER OF GOD
TEXT: Exodus 3:7-15; 2 Chronicles 7:14
"If my people, which are called by My name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and heal their land."
INTRODUCTION:
From time to time we wonder and ask ourselves, and one another: "Why can’t I win my friends to the Lord? Why is it that my family members just don’t seem to be interested in God?"
The answer may shock us in its boldness, but the truth often hurts. Here is the reason, I believe, why people who know us are not interested in our God. It may be because we do not have enough of the presence of God in our lives.
You see, my brothers and sisters in the Lord . . . there is something about God’s presence and power that makes everything else fade in comparison. Without it, we are just as spiritually lifeless as everybody around us.
Illustration:
Danny Simpson, a 24-year-old Canadian, was sentenced to 6 years in jail for robbing a bank in Ottawa, Canada, of $6,000. The gun he used in the robbery eventually ended up in a Canadian museum.
The .45 caliber Colt semi-automatic turned out to be an antique made in 1918 by the Ross Rifle Company of Quebec City. The pistol was worth as much as $100,000. If Danny Simpson had realized what he had in his possession, he would not have ended up in jail.
How about us . . . we who claim to be God’s children? Do we really know or experience the presence and power of God in our lives?
This morning, I would like to share three important truths about the presence and power of God in our lives.
I. THE PRESENCE AND POWER OF GOD GIVES US NEW IDENTITY
No matter what we do, without the power of God in our lives, you and I would be "just another somebody" to those around us. I don’t know about you, but I got tired of being just "another somebody" to the lost around me.
I made my mind up and set my heart to declare, "I am going to pursue the power of God in my life." I am going to get so close to God that when I walk down the street people will meet and get to know God. They will not know that I am there, but they will definitely know that God is there.
Illustration:
There was this college student who was enrolled in ornithology, which is the study of birds. The course had the reputation of being the most difficult in the whole curriculum.
The instructor was an extremely difficult professor. Everybody feared him. Ornithology was a required course—every student had to take it.
At the beginning of the course, the professor announced that there would be a test after 40 days. And it would comprise a large portion of their final grade. So everybody studied hard. They made sure that they understood everything the professor was teaching.
On the 40th day, the students walked into the lecture hall extremely nervous. On the stage was a table with 5 cages on it. Each cage had a cover and beneath each cover they could see the feet and thin legs of a bird.
At the sound of the bell, the professor told the students: "Here’s the test. You can see there are 5 birds and they are all covered except for their feet and legs. You must tell me the identity of each of those 5 birds by looking only at their feet and legs."
Everyone had studied long and hard, but no one had anticipated such a test. They were all sweating, trying to remember something, anything, that could help them pass the test.
Finally, one student stood up and said, "This is ridiculous. This is the craziest test I have every seen. And you are the worst professor in this whole college." He said, "I quit. I‘m out of here. I’m not going to take this test."
He turned and walked toward the door. "Just a minute young man." said the professor. "Who are you? I demand to know your name right now." The young man stopped, took a long look at the professor, and then pulling up his pant legs said, "You tell me."
Brothers and sisters in the Lord . . . We don’t have to act . . . we don’t have to hide ourselves or our identity within our shell when we come into God’s house or around other Christians.
We don’t need to have other people asking us if we are Christians. They can know . . . they can see…. and they can experience . . . the presence and power of God.
2 Timothy 1:7 "God did not give us the spirit of timidity, but of power, love and self-discipline."
What are we timid about? God says to proclaim His name above all. Proclaim it boldly. Do you remember what it was like before accepting Christ as our Lord and Savior?
Remember how—before that—we were dead in all our ways? We had suffered from depression, anxiety, worthlessness, discontentment, loneliness, pride, etc., etc.
Where is the God who delivered us from all those? Have we forgotten Him so soon? The same God who delivered us . . . is waiting for us to respond. Let us claim our identity… our identity as children and followers of the Lord Jesus Christ.
II. THE PRESENCE AND POWER OF GOD GIVE US JOY
Do you have His joy?. Do you have real and lasting joy? I used to keep asking myself . . . "What makes me happy?" What circumstances give me happiness?
- I am happy when I can go hunting or fishing.
- I am happy when I can go see a friend or loved one
- I am happy when I go to church
- I am happy when I have fun with my kids/grand kids . . . etc.
But none of these things, however, can really satisfy my soul!
Some people may be able to say…
- They are happy when they are drunk or high on drugs.
- They are happy when they are skiing, or snowmobiling
- They are happy when they are partying
- They are happy when they are out camping . . . etcetera, etcetera.
Brothers and sisters in the Lord . . . Jesus Christ Himself gives us what we need to find true satisfaction which leads not only to happiness but to an unspeakable joy and fulness of glory!
Someone has said, "I want to be happy but my happiness never lasts."
Illustration:
A well-known pastor and evangelist described the difference between happiness and joy. He said: "Happiness is caused by things that happen around me. Situations may ruin it, but joy flows right on even when there’s trouble; joy flows right on through the dark; joy flows right on in the night as well as in the day; joy flows on all through persecution and opposition.
It is an unceasing fountain bubbling up in the heart; a secret spring the world can’t see and doesn’t know anything about. The Lord gives me His perpetual joy when I walk in obedience to Him."
Let us ask ourselves again, "Do we have the real and lasting joy that only Christ can give?"
The Apostle John tells us in 1 John 1:4 why he is sharing the truth about Christ with them: "We write this to make our joy complete."
Also, in the Gospel of John, 15:11 we read, "I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete." Here, Jesus is telling us that His joy would be in us and that He would make our joy complete.
Have we experienced that joy since we accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior? Yes, we can have joy in the presence and the power of God if we have accepted His one and only Son as our Lord and Savior.
In Acts 2:28 we read: "You have made known to me the paths of life: you will fill me with joy in your presence."
Listen to me, my brothers and sisters in the Lord—when we live in the presence and power of God, we can be naturally joyful. And we have a natural glow that comes from God’s power and presence in our lives.
If you think that you have never experienced this joy . . . you need to seek, and ask about your relationship with God and His only Son, JESUS CHRIST.
III. THE PRESENCE AND POWER OF GOD GIVE US VICTORY
As we look back thousands years to right before the Exodus, God spoke to Moses at the burning bush and said, " I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: "I am has sent me to you." (Exodus 3:14)
God says in verse 15: "This is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation."
Notice what God said. He did not say, "I was ." He said, "I am." Our God is the same now as He was 4000 years ago. He has never changed, and He will never change!
Let us look at the power of God revealed in those verses.
God came to Moses because He had heard and was responding to the cry of His people. This is what we read in Exodus 3:7-8: "The Lord said, "I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering.
So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey."
Yes, Almighty God answers the call of His people with a display of the power of God. They were crying out to Him, appealing to Him, yearning for Him, and pleading for Him to show His power and strength and mercy.
Some of us have cried out and sought God’s mighty hand in our lives. We have stretched our faith and pleaded for His power to be manifested upon us like a dove. And God has delivered, just as He delivered the children of Israel.
Unfortunately, when the roller-coaster ride is over, we forget what God has done. When we are delivered from nicotine, or alcohol, or depression, etc... and the ride is over, we think we don’t need God anymore.
That is when Satan comes and starts to work in our lives. Do you know what is Satan’s main goal in our lives? It is to cut off our dependency on God.
When we start thinking that we’re through with God’s help, or we can carry on by ourselves, we can get swallowed up like Jonah was.
When we start thinking that we can do it on our own—Satan has us . . . right where he wants us. When we gain victory in an area of our lives, it is only through the power of God that we obtain that victory.
Let us wake up today, my fellow Christians . . . for the key to the disciples’success in serving God was not in their abilities and strengths.
Jesus told them to wait for the coming of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:4-5), who would give them the power that He had promised, the ability to do the things that He had predicted: "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
You see, the Holy Spirit empowered the disciples to succeed in their task at that time.
And I believe that the power of the Holy Spirit is the same resource available to all of us today.
Brothers and sisters in the Lord . . . whether we believe it or not, it is only through His power that we can have victories. We can do nothing apart from God’s presence and power.
CONCLUSION:
How many today have driven out God’s divine power in us? How many of us have turned our back on His grace? We must not doubt God or His ability and promise to deliver us from the world.
Our God is a restorer, refiner and a loving God. As we know . . . This is the same God who restored the Israelites from the oppressive hands of Egypt.
And He is the same One who sent His only Son into our hearts with the power of the Holy Spirit who dwells in our hearts right now.
We are the same as the disciples, as Moses, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob . . . we are all believers in the ever-powerful, great God who controls our lives.
All the conversions, healings, deliverances and other miracles that took place in the early church that we read about in the book of Acts can still be here today. But we must ask and believe and shake off our earthly shells.
Yes, we need to be restored in the presence and power of God.
Yes, God says He is the same yesterday and today and forever (Hebrews 13:8).
Let us shout in victory for our God!
