SPIRITUAL SUCCESS COMES IN “CANS”
Phil. 4:13
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR:
1. JOKE #1: LAWYER’S REVENGE
a. A lawyer's dog, running about unleashed, beelines for the local butcher shop and steals a roast off the counter.
b. The butcher went to the lawyer's office and asks, "if a dog, running unleashed, steals a piece of meat from my store, do I have a right to demand payment for the meat from the dog's owner?"
c. "Absolutely," the lawyer responded. The butcher immediately shot back, "Good! You owe me $12 for the roast your dog stole from me this morning."
d. The lawyer, without a word, writes the butcher a check for $12. A few days later, the butcher, browsing through his mail, finds an envelope from the lawyer. The contents read "Consultation fee: $50.00.
2. JOKE #2: THE PSYCH’S DIAGNOSIS:
a. A man went to a psychiatrist and said, "Doctor, I have seen two other psychiatrists. They told me I am cursed with an inferiority complex. I would like for you to examine me and tell me what you think.
b. After many tests the doctor said, "Sir, I have good news and bad. The good news is, you DON’T have a complex. The bad news is, you ARE inferior!"
B. THE WONDERFUL TRUTH
1. That (illus) is exactly what the devil wants you to believe; that you are inferior to others and that others "CAN" live effectively for Jesus, but you "CAN'T."
2. Phip. 4:13 is a verse that shatters every negative or derogatory thing anyone has ever said to you: it says, "I CAN do all things through Christ which strengthens me!"
3. We all have secret fears:
a. Of what people think;
b. Of failure;
c. Of making a fool of ourselves -- and these figures can affect our lives.
4. When I was in third grade, I was in the play, "William Tell." I was the bad guy. I was petrified with fear that I might forget my lines.
5. Guess what happened? The thing which I feared came upon me!
C. GOD’S GOAL
1. But God wants us to be able to say with Paul, positively, "I CAN do all things through Christ Who strengthens me!"
2. Let's consider Paul's revelation for moment. The title of this message is, "Spiritual Success Comes In ‘CANS.’"
I. THE SCOPE OF THE PROMISE: “ALL THINGS”
A. YOU CAN ENDURE ALL THE TRIALS OF LIFE
1. No matter how big or severe your trial, whatever problems or difficulties come your way -- our God is able to make us overcomers in all of them!
2. Paul was thrown in many prisons, tortured and beaten frequently, faced death often, yet he could say, "I can do all things…." This was an amazing admission. None of us have faced what he did; if he could say it, so can we!
3. You say, "Yes, but Pastor, I'm not Paul. I don't have that kind of grace." Well you don't have it today, because you don't need it today. On the day you need extra strength, God will supply it.
4. That's why God said, "As is your day, so shall be your strength." We may:
a. Lose loved ones;
b. Lose our possessions;
c. Face hopeless/ insurmountable situations,
5. But God has said, "My grace IS sufficient for you..." Nothing shall overwhelm us, because "Greater is He that is in you, then he that is in the world." Our God is bigger!
B. YOU CAN PERFORM ALL DUTIES
1. Nothing that is placed before you to do shall be impossible for you! If like Moses, you are called to humble the greatest nation on earth, you will be able to do it.
2. If you’re called to witness to a difficult person, you SHALL BE EQUAL TO THE TASK. You say, "I'm not a good speaker." Neither was Moses, or Jeremiah, or Gideon.
3. "Whom God calls, He qualifies." He will make you sufficient for what He calls you to do.
4. Whether you're calling is as Mothers, dads, grandparents, employees, to hold public office, or positions in the church, You can do all things!
C. YOU CAN OVERCOME ALL TEMPTATIONS
1. There are many different kinds of temptations -- outward, mental, emotional. Some are tempted to yield to depression or despair. We all have our weak points -- our Achilles’ heel.
a. I remember the story of the truck driver eating in the diner when three hoodlums on motorcycles came in. One took the truck drivers hamburger, another drank his coffee, and the third one wolfed down his pie.
b. Quietly, the truck driver got up from the table and left the diner. One of the bikers said, "He's not much of a man, is he?"
c. The waitress replied, "He's not much of a driver either. He just ran his truck over three motorcycles!"
2. There have been times I've been sorely tempted. I feared I would fall, but I found that "All who call upon the Name of the Lord shall be saved."
3. The devil may have told you that you have an inherited weakness that is inescapable. No! There is not one Hittite or Jebusite in all the Promised Land you can't drive out!
D. SUPPORTING SCRIPTURES
1. 2 Cor. 5:17, "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation; behold all things are passed away, and behold, all things are made new."
2. 1 Cor. 10:13, "There has no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted above what you can bear, but will with the temptation make a way of escape that you may bear up under it. "
3. Rom. 5:20, "But where sin abounds, grace does much more abound!"
4. Rom. 14:4, Weak Christian, "for God is able to make him stand."
II. HOW DO WE GET THIS STRENGTH?
A. “THROUGH CHRIST”
1. It would be presumption/vain for anyone to say, "I can do all things" and not add "through Christ."
2. Psalm 29:11, "The Lord will give strength to His people."
B. MEANS—HOW DOES HE GIVE IT?
1. Mysterious inflowing of the Spirit's power, a strengthening of faith, a quickening of mind -- the apostles experienced this in Acts crises. We become equal to the emergency that is before us.
2. The word (Phip. 4:13) for "strength," comes from a word signifying "twisted together." This teaches us that…
a. We are weak. But when we are "twisted together" with God, we together are unstoppable. Think of a rope. When weak strands are twisted together, together they are unbreakable!
b. That's why the Psalmist said,
1). Psalm 27:1, "The Lord is the Strength of my life."
2). Psalm 28:7, "The Lord is my strength and my shield."
3. We must be careful to get Jesus’ strength.
a. If you Begin w/o Prayer, there will be a poor Ending.
b. If you enter a battle without God, you'll be routed by the enemy.
4. We need to do our part in getting strength: Prayer, Word, Praise, Witnessing.
5. Interestingly, Paul speaks not of the past tense, but present; " Christ Is strengthening me." It’s the continuous present tense.
C. ILLUSTRATION
1. New Brunwick and Nova Scotia, Canada, share the highest tides on our planet; 100 billion tons of seawater flowing in and out of the Bay of Fundy daily.
2. The Bay of Fundy not only experiences a 50 foot tidal range, but in some parts of its Bay, the tide retreats as much as 3 miles every six hours and 13 minutes.
3. For many centuries people didn't understand the kind of power contained by the Bay of Fundy, and even less how to apply such a force in their daily life.
4. But in 1984 the first tidal power station was built there and the result has been incredible power!
5. As Christians, we, too, have an infinite power source flowing that can be tapped: the mighty Holy Spirit.
6. Sadly, many of us aren't tapping into this power that God is providing! The Bible is specific: "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you" Acts 1:8.
III. THE KEYS TO OUR PRISON
This verse has a much wider application: it captures...
A. THE POWER OF BELIEVING
1. That You can be a Christian -- born again, have the power of a new life, be a new creation -- and YET BE BOUND. Why?
2. We hold the keys to our own prison!
a. Psychology tells us, "You will become what you imagine yourself to be." If I say, "I can't...," then I won't.
b. This is confirmed in Proverbs 23:7 says, "For as a man thinks in his heart, so is he."
B. ILLUSTRATION
1. A very wealthy lady in New York decided to throw a banquet for her friends. While waiting for the meal, the Cook called her to the kitchen. "Some mushrooms were delivered that looked a lot like poisonous toadstools."
2. The woman suggested they experiment on the dog. After feeding some of the mushrooms to the dog, they watched him for 30 minutes. He had no adverse reaction, so the mushrooms were served.
3. During the meal a pale-faced butler approached the Lady-host and whispered, "Your dog is dead!” The woman decided the only ethical course was to inform her guests of their situation.
4. Immediately they clutched their stomachs in pain. Some even rolled on the floor, screaming in pain. The hostess began to think it strange that she felt nothing, though she had eaten as much as anyone.
5. She went to the butler and demanded to see the dog for herself. The Cook exclaimed, "I wouldn’t look at him if I were you. The truck that hit him left them in a terrible mess!"
6. MORAL: IF YOU KEEP BELIEVING THE LIES OF THE DEVIL, YOU WILL EVENTUALLY DEVELOP THE SYMPTOMS!
7. The guests made a remarkable recovery! We need to believe the Word, "Greater is He that is in me" and "I can do all things through Christ."
8. Forget who YOU are, and remember who GOD is!
C. INFERIORITY = POISON to your effectiveness
1. Acts 28 -- Snake latched onto Paul's hand (Activity). Malta. A venomous snake seeks to hang on the hand of every Christian.
2. Your "Hand" is your effectiveness for God. The enemy seeks to inject his poison into your effectiveness and paralyze you: -- bitterness, resentment, jealousy, inferiority, pride, accusations,
condemnation.
3. Paul didn’t allow it to stay. "And he shook off the beast into the fire and felt no harm."
4. TWO KEYS TO DELIVERANCE?
a. PAUL DID THE SHAKING. God expects us to do something about our condition.
1). Put off the old man;
2). Lay aside every weight;
3). Change our attitude; shake off the old.
b. PAUL HELD THE BEAST OVER THE FIRE.
1). The heat of the fire loosened the snake from his hand. Satan will flee when we let the fire of God consume us!
2). John the Baptist said, "You shall be BHS and fire," Luke 3:16. Everywhere there are Christians baptized in the Holy Spirit -- but NOT with the fire.
3). God’s fire burns out the old trash. Trash can't stay where the fire is!
-- The three Hebrews went into the fire in their ropes burned off!
-- People will follow fire truck, but I've never seen people fall on ice truck. Let's get on fire!
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION: Believing God will Answer your Prayer
1. Bill Saxon tells how one hot summer day while he was cutting grass on his employer's lake property, the sky turned suddenly dark, the wind started blowing very hard and it looked like a violent storm was approaching.
2. Bill prayed, “God send this storm to the other side of the lake.” Just then lightening flashed and thunder rolled. He immediately turned the tractor toward his van and trailer. He drove the tractor on to the trailer and started tying it down.
3. Then he looked up and the storm was moving to the other side of the lake. He took the tractor back off of the trailer and finished cutting the thirty acres of grass.
4. On his way home, God started speaking to him and he heard God’s voice loud and clear -- not with the ears, but with his heart. God said, " YOU HAVE NO FAITH!!"
5. He said, “Tears started rolling down my cheeks because I knew I was hearing God's voice. God said, “You prayed that the storm would move to the other side of the lake, and I made it do just that, but you didn't have faith enough to believe that I would answer your prayer. YOU MUST BEGIN TO HAVE FAITH IN ME!!!!””
6. Bill said, “I repented and cried all of the way home. I promised the Lord that when I pray, I will believe Mark 11:24. "When you pray, believe, and it SHALL COME TO PASS.””
B. THE CALL
1. How many of you are tired of milling around in the mire of mediocrity?
2. How many of you want the bands of Satan which still hang on you to fall off! You want to step up to a higher level of living.
3. Let's get back to the power of believing, of faith. “You will know the truth and the truth shall make you free!” Faith helps you rise above earthly limitations and gives you joy and courage in the face of adversity.
4. Come forward. Bring your inferiority is in your self-consciousness with you. Let's pray for a baptism of fire!
ALTERNATE CLOSING ILLUS:
1. Kenyan people have an amazing childlike faith. One current prayer request from a Kenyan was a call for healing:
2. "I have recently developed a bump on my right hand near the wrist. It started last week Monday and is growing by the day. I went to the hospital and was told they have to remove the growth."
3. A few days later, we received an answer to prayer: "Praise God! Praise God! I am so happy and glad. We surely serve a faithful God.
4. The bump started receding and is now almost not there! I never even went to another doctor for any second opinion, I had faith Jesus would heal me and He has! Oh, Praise God!"
