TRUE BIBLICAL POWER
The Bruce Lee parable of 10,000 kicks
By Pastor Johnathan Bloch
Firestone Park Baptist Church Akron, Ohio
Well we all know that I seem to step outside the box very often, in fact im not sure if ive actually been inside the box. Last Sunday I started off my telling you all about what I called the Bruce Lee parable and I saw the look on some of your faces, some of you looked at me like I was crazy, some of you had that special look on your faces that said "yep, their goes John again", and some of you looked at me with concern on your faces, a look that seemed like you wanted to yell out " tackle him now before he says anything else".
And as I looked out at you, I saw it, i noticed it. But, I couldn't understand it. I was actually standing here praying for some of you, I was praying that you could see the same power of God that I can see, that you could have the same love for God that I have, That you love God so much that you see His power in everything. A love and power that is so strong that you have an understanding that God can use things done by others and said by others, A love and power so strong that we can have an understanding, a relationship, that you can take things of the world and flip it around, something you can add to your Christian tool box, that you can see God in all things.
And im going to do it again to try to instill this point in you, I want to talk with you again about how God can use things that never happened inside a church, How God can take things that had not been done or said by a Christian and use them. It all comes down to your heart. Is your heart influenced by the world, turned quickly away from God? or can you see God in all things? Ready for it? I'm gonna show you again how God can do this, how he has given me that kind of love and understanding of His power that I can see Gods power in everything.
Bruce Lee was being called the most advanced martial artist of all time. During a conversation someone said that in order to beat Bruce Lee in fight, that they would have to learn 10,000 techniques. Did you get that? That to beat him, to be better than him, you would have to know 10,000 different ways to hit him. well, Bruce said this in response, " I'm not afraid of the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, im afraid of the man who practiced 1 kick 10,000 times". What he was saying is that im not afraid of the man who has head knowledge of 10,000 things he couldn't master, he was afraid of the man who had full faith and confidence in 1 kick that he did master. he wasn't afraid of someone who knew 10,000 ways to kick him but he had no real power in them, no real understanding of application of them, he was afraid of the man who only had 1 kick, but he could hit you with it all day long anytime he wanted to.
Now i can instantly take that to scripture, I can instantly relate that to God. I can instantly look at my own life and say, do I simply know allot of scripture and have no real power in it, or do I have Gods word in my life so deep that no matter what i face, no matter what obstacles are in may way, that no matter how hard the Devil attacks me, i can turn to the word of God with such power and faith that i can hit the Devil with it any way I want to.
Lets turn to Gods word and build on this and find real power in application. please turn to psalms 144 and stand when your ready.
psalms 144:1-2
1 Blessed be the LORD my strength, which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight: 2 My goodness, and my fortress; my high tower, and my deliverer; my shield, and he in whom I trust; who subdueth my people under me.
Psalms 144:1-2 (KJV)
See, its God that is our trainer, its Christ that's our head coach, its the Holy Spirit that stands in our corner looking over us. The Lord is my strength, all power comes from the Lord, all strength comes from the Lord. He teacheth my hands to war, he trains us, he builds us up, he prepares us for what he himself calls war. What is this war? This a spiritual war, A war that we can not plainly see but if we look threw our new eyes that God gave us when we became reborn in Christ we can see in our everyday lives all around us.Who are we at war with? Satan and his evil fallen sinful minions that stand against everything that God loves and wants in our lives. He teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight. what's our fight? we each battle sin in our own ways, Satan attacks us with sin but God tells us what we are to do about it, we are to fight it, he has given us the power and the training to fight back, and that's how this all comes together. Satan is not afraid of some of us, He isn't worried about attacking some of us. Why? Satan is ready to attack some of us because some of us only have a head knowledge of Gods word, some of us have no real power in it, some of us cant fight back with proper application. But, now for the good news, Satan is afraid of some of us, he doesn't want some of us to face him head on. why? because some of us have taken a hand full of scripture and mastered it, some of us are ready to hit Satan with the word of God with real power, a power that can only be achieved by humbling yourself before God and living only threw our savior Jesus Christ.
Not just that but, when we have received this power God does something else for us, look at his word. my goodness, and my fortress, he is a place of safely for us, he is a place of security and rest. my high tower, he is my back up, he is watching over me. and my deliverer, he comes to my rescue, he is my salvation, he is going to run into the fight with you and stand side by side with you. my shield, again he is our protection, he is going to stand in front of you, he is going to protect you by standing between you and Satan taking the blows that you cant take. and he in whom I trust, God has stood by us for so long and in such a powerful way that we should have 100% trust and faith in him and all he says in his word and in our lives. who subdueth my people under me, Its not that im that good, its not that im that fast or powerful, its Gods power that does the work, its his words that have the power. Its Jesus Christ living inside us that makes us able to stand and fight Satan.
How can I master his word? How can i have the ability to fight back? how can I have that king of power? I have a few things that I have worked on for about the past year that helped me, and im going to share them with you now.
READ—open the Bible and read a passage; get a general idea of the story
UNDERSTAND—know what all the words mean; learn the facts; see the concepts
COMPREHEND—find the biblical principles, the timeless truths that God wants to communicate
APPLY—see myself in the story and how the biblical principles relate to my life; make the timeless truths timely; see what God wants me to do
DO—design an action plan; obey God and put into practice now what he has taught me in his Word
It can all be summed up to 3 things
Preparing for application- Study the word, not just reading it for an hour a day but real study, who, what, when, where and why. Get an understanding of what the words really mean, this means get involved with bible study, a class that can help you break it down into fundamental facts that can now have real meaning in your life and not just words that you believe in.
Finding application- Now we have a fundamental understanding of Gods words, we can see that from the beginning we have had dependence in God and his power. Now go read a bible story, and place yourself in the story. make comparisons in your own life how you have been attacked the same way, how you have been hurt the same way, how you had the same sins and God got you threw it just like God did in the story. Now you have a testimony of how God worked in your life and God works in our lives today just as he did in biblical times.
Making application- Look around you, look at all the people in your life that you encounter every day. How often do you have the chance to minister to someone? Share what God did in your life, show them in Gods word that God did the same then as he still does now.
That's when you have mastered it, that's when Satan will run from you, that's when you have real power in Gods word. That's when you can truly stand along side with God and face the war. when you can see Gods power in everything, when you can see sin for exactly what it is, that's when you can take the word of God and apply its power to your life and the lives around you.
I invite you to come to church every Sunday morning for bible study with Deac. Klien. I invite you to every Sunday morning service to hear the word of God. I invite you to come to every Sunday eve. service to see what i come up with next. I invite you to every mid. week bible study. I invite you right now to come to the cross, to come boldly to the thrown of God. I invite you to look at your life, and ask yourself if you know 10,000 scriptures or if you know a hand full of scripture that you have confidence in. If you want real power in Gods word come forward right now and ask Jesus to enter your heart and give you real power over sin.
