Man has always been fascinated by power. The roar of an engine underneath hood of a powerful car is music to the ears of most men;
People are fascinated by the damage the winds in a hurricane can do. After the hurricane they come out with their cameras to take pictures of the damage done by the winds. They stare in wonder at cars on top of houses and wonder at the great force which would have had to be used to accomplish that.
Nature though the years have demonstrated to man how powerful in can be in a destructive way, tornadoes and earthquakes and in wonderful ways such the Niagara falls which is the widest waterfall in the world or the Angel falls the tallest waterfall in the world.
We astounded by feats which normal human being cannot perform or by objects which makes us look puny in comparison. If there is one thing that we respect it is power. Today we want to talk about the Awesome Power of God.
Prayer:
The word ‘awesome’ is define by the New Webster Dictionary as inspiring awe or causing a feeling of deep wonder and respect for overpowering grandeur.
Imagine total blackness.
Absolute silence;
Pure stillness.
Then Out of the stillness, the darkness and the silence a voice is heard commanding light to appear and light appears enveloping a spherical object suspended in the darkness with no apparent mean of support. This spherical blob is covered in a liquid we now know as water and the blob itself is called earth.
Over and over again the voice shatters the silence and as it does so commensurate changes occurs on the earth. Eventually there is no more quiet but the sound of the waves breaking on the sea shore and wind whistling through the trees. There are the sounds chirping of birds, and the buzzing of bees and all different kinds of sounds produced by the living creatures which came into existence at the command of the voice.
At the end of it all, we can only say WOW, awesome. What a God!! No wonder the Psalmist declares in Ps.33:8 Let all the earth fear the LORD; Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him. For he spake and it was done, he commanded and it stood fast
Ps. 148:5 echoes the same sentiments when it says;
Let them praise the name of the LORD for he commanded and they were created.
God declares in Is. 55:11
So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
God’s spoken word is not like ours. It brings about change. God does not waste words.
Our God is awesome.
SO often we watch movies like the Fantastic Four, the Avengers and Heroes and we are hooked and amazed by the feats these men can accomplished but I tell you today that these are fictitious characters but my God is real. He only has to utter the WORD and matter responds.
What a powerful being to have as a friend. Yet many neglect to spend time with him, to talk to him and to obey him. His word alone, spoken into your life can bring about a transformation that you could not dream of.
His awesomeness is displayed in his creation every day. He has put laws in place that ensures that the sun rises every morning and sets in the evening. We get up every day and plan our lives on this cycle never doubting that it will work. He provided gravity to keep us on the earth which rotates on its axis at 1670 km/hr or 1070 mi/hr ,as it orbits around the sun at 29.78 km/s or 18.50 mi/s which amounts to 111,000 mi/hr
His universe expands beyond the strongest telescope and contains over 200 million galaxies each with billions of stars, no correct me, hundreds of billions of stars and solar systems.
When we speak about Jehovah we have to know who we are speaking about!!
He made the laws of nature and he overrides them when it suits his purpose. On Mount Carmel there was a competition between Baal and Jehovah(1kgs 18). The prophets of Baal were asked to call fire from heaven since Baal was supposed to be the god of rain, thunder and lightning and Elijah would do the same. The prophets of Baal went first and were unable to accomplish the task then it was Elijah‘s turn. He poured twelve barrels of water over the stone and the fire wood and made sure to fill the trench with water, and then he prayed. 1 Kings 18: 36-38
And it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice that Elijah the prophet came near, and said LORD God of Abraham, Isaac and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou are God in Israel and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these thing at thy word.
Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the LORD GOD, and that thou hast turned their hearts back again.
Then the fire of the LORD fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.
God did not just send fire but this fire was so hot that it burnt wet wood and vaporised the water in the trench in an instant. This is power. That was awesome. That was God. He wreck havoc in Egypt, belittling all of their false gods and demonstrating to Pharaoh and all his men that he was the only true God. He opened up the red sea and allowed the Israelites to pass through. He fed them in the desert for forty years and their shoes and clothes never wore out.
When I say that my God is awesome that is what I mean. There is nothing that God cannot do.
We cannot put him in a box, we cannot define his actions, his ways are pass our understanding.
Benhadad made that mistake by thinking that God could only do battle in the hills (1Kgs:20:23) and not in the plains and was soundly defeated.
God says through Isaiah in Is. 59: 1
Behold, the LORD’ s hands is not shortened that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy that it cannot hear.
As we can see God does nothing halfway he takes the whole hog. He goes the total distance.
He goes to extremes to get the job done.
He never gives up on his goal.
He burnt up all the water in Elijah trench as well as the sacrifices
He devastated Egypt and opened the red sea to let the Israelites pass
He kept the sun in the sky for Joshua and
Brought down the walls of Jericho
to mention a few
But all those feats pale in comparison to sending his son to die so that we can be saved.
The power of God, the awesomeness of his majesty, which we witness in the physical realm cannot be compared to that which is exercised in the spiritual. Jesus came and demonstrated in the physical and spiritual realm the power of God.
The story is told in Lk .7 of a centurion servant whose servant was ill and he wanted Jesus to heal his servant but instead of inviting Jesus into his home the bible tells in Lk.7:6 he sent friends to him saying unto him, Lord, trouble not thyself; for I am not worthy that thou shoudest enter under my roof.
Wherefore neither thought I myself worthy to come unto thee: but say in a word and my servant shall be healed.
For I also am a man in authority, having under me soldiers, and I say unto one go, and he goeth; and to another Come and he cometh and to my servant, do this and he doeth it
When Jesus heard these things he marvelled at him and turned him about, and said unto the people that followed him, I say unto you, I have not found so great a faith, no not in Israel.
This man took the physical and applied it to the spiritual. He understood that two worlds exist one physical and the other invisible. Just as he had power in the physical world Jesus had power in the invisible or spiritual world. This was demonstrated by Jesus over and over again. He showed power that his spoken word had; He spoke and
The paralytic man was healed and his sins forgiven Lk5:18
the winds were stilled and sea calmed Mt.8:26
Lazarus rose from the dead Jh. 11
The point that is being made here is that when God speaks things happen. Whether it is the physical or spiritual world.
Jesus took on the spiritual forces, allowing them to place him on a cross and crucify him. They thought to claim him as their own. But thank God on the third day he broke the chains of death and rose up to life. Now we through him can have life eternal.
But to access this eternal life we must have faith in the power of God to keep us pure and living above sin.
1 Peter 1:3-5 states
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotton us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead
To an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you.
Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
God has promised to keep us by his power, and we have seen his power at work. We must believe that this power is able to keep us from doing those things which are not good in his sight.
After all God went to extreme lengths to get us where we are now, it is not his intention that we should fail.
Phil. 1:6 reassures us; it says –Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.
God never leaves things half finished, he always sees them through. He is willing to see us through as well, that is as long as we allow him to.
The same dedication that he has to his task he is asking of us. That is why he declares in Deut.4:29 …Thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou shalt seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul
God is calling on men, women, boys and girls to be committed and dedicated to the cause. He expects total loyalty because he has spent a deal on our salvation. He cannot stand mediocrity he does not appreciate half-hearted commitment. He wants total commitment, complete loyalty, and absolute devotion.
Paul speaks to us in Rom.6: 11,12
Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in lusts thereof,
Neither yield you members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
Paul is saying to us, wake up, wake up, run, leap you are free. But we are say, no, we are not free, we are still slaves. We can never be free.
We do not have to let sin reign in our bodies, James gives us the answer to our dilemma in James 4:7,8
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, ye double minded
We must stop focus
