Human beings are always impressed with power.
A. At an Air Force base....... when there is an air
show...no matter what one feels about the military
and warfare...you can’t help but be impressed with
the awesome power of these air machines.
1. When I was in the Navy, it was impressive to
watch a jet take off from the short runway
provided for it on the carrier.
B. There are some films that one can see which are
records of the nuclear tests that were done on the
Bikini Atoll.
1. A person can see gigantic ships being sucked
up this column of water.
a. Scientists were a little nervous duringthis
explosion.
1.) They wondered at what they had
unleashed...they wondered if it was
under control or if it would start a
chain of events which would end
this world.
2. I am sure that the ones who survived the
explosions at Hiroshima and Nagasaki were
more than impressed.
a. The Japanese high command were so
impressed, that they surrendered.
C. There is tremendous power which one can witness
in the “Saturn” rockets.
1. A flame which is almost blinding if it is seen
in person.
2. A noise which could deafen a person if they
did not have their ears plugged in some way.
3. Vibrations so intense that a person’s body
starts to vibrate in sympathetic resonance.
D. Then there is the awesomness of God’s great
creation.
1. Waterfalls around the world.
a. Angel falls.
1.) The tallest.
b. Niagara falls.
2.) The widest.
** In my personal experience with Niagara Falls...I felt the
ground vibrate beneath my feet and the air was filled
with mist (even in the parking lot...far away from the
falls).
1. We are impressed because our senses can register
the awesome power....be it from man’s creations,
or God’s.
a. We can see it...feel it....hear it.........In short,
we experience the power and we can’t help
but be impressed.
2. They tell me that the power potential found in
a hurricane can add up to hundreds of
thousands of megatons of TNT.
a. Many of you are believers in the
awesome power of God being revealed
in tornadoes.
Even though there is a MUCH MORE awesome power in
existence...so often we are not really very impressed,
because we cannot always experience this power in
physically measured terms.
A. This is the power of God.
1. Far greater than a hurricane...more impressive
than a nuclear explosion...a power which is
able to create and destroy the universe.
a. This is a power that can create from
nothing.
b. This is a power that is able to change
anything and anybody.
c. It is a power which can over-ride or
suspend all of the physical laws which
we are familiar with (and possibly some
that we don’t even know of, yet).
As impressive as this can be if one would take the time to
contemplate and understand it...we need to understand
this...........Every Christian HAS ACCESS TO ALL OF
THIS POWER!!!!!!!
A. We have access to it, but it is not utilized because
we so often will not take advantage of anything
which cannot be understood.
1. This is so silly, when one thinks about it.
a. In physical realms, we will take
advantage of things which we don’t
understand....things which have been
brought into being by mankind.
EXAMPLE: Computer...cell phone...radio...automobiles
(complete with things that no mechanic over 50 years of
age understands unless he went to school to learn it).
A. We need to know...we need to believe in...we need
to utilize.......the great power that God wants to
place at our disposal.
1. Let us start by recognizing the power that is
available to each and every Christian.
a. Individually and collectively.
I. The power that God has available to those who will
allow faith to work in their lives.
II Thess. 1:9-10 - 9Yes, we had the sentence of death in
ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God
who raises the dead, 10who delivered us from so great a
death, and does deliver us; in whom we trust that He will
still deliver us.
I Peter 1:3-5 - 3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has
begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4to an inheritance
incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away,
reserved in heaven for you, 5who are kept by the power of
God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the
last time.
Luke 17:6 - 5And the apostles said to the Lord, “Increase
our faith.” 6So the Lord said, “If you have faith as a
mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be pulled
up by the roots and be planted in the sea,’ and it would
obey you.
A. We seem to have an abundance of Mulberry trees
and a great shortage of faith.
1. And that is sad........God has given us power...
working through Him...if we could...if weonly
would put our trust in Him.
a. There is no other way to tap in to this
power, but by faith.
B. Human beings have a really hard time trusting in
something they can’t see...in something about
which they really don’t have a clue of
understanding.
1. If we limit God to our understanding and our
abilities....we will not..........we CANNOT....
experience His great power in our lives.
** Let us not be so impressed by the roaring, thundering,
and flashing....God is not especially displayed in these
physically impressive ways.....
1. Let us trust...even in the still small voice.
a. Even when we may not hear a voice, at all.
I Kings 19:11-12 - 11Then He said, “Go out, and stand on
the mountain before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord
passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the
mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the Lord,
but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an
earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; 12and
after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire;
and after the fire a still small voice.
C. We will reap what we sow...we will receive, to the
degree that we believe.
1. There is power beyond belief that is available
to every Christian.....TO YOU...........but it
can only be released through faith.
a. Failure to develop and exercise faith
in God.............No power.
b. Faith....even a little faith....even as small
as a mustard seed.............power to
move mountains and uproot trees....AND
MUCH MORE!
** Understanding the human race....if I were a mulberry
tree, I wouldn’t be really worried.
II. The power of the cross which secures our salvation.
A. The power of God is not especially physical
(though it can be and has been displayed in this
way).
1. The most amazing and awe inspiring display
of this power takes place in spiritual realms.
a. These are realms where no nuclear
explosion can have any effect.
II Cor. 10:2-5 - 2But I beg you that when I am present I
may not be bold with that confidence by which I intend to
be bold against some, who think of us as if we walked
according to the flesh. 3For though we walk in the flesh,
we do not war according to the flesh. 4For the weapons of
our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling
down strongholds, 5casting down arguments and every
high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God,
bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of
Christ.
b. It is in this realm that the power of God
has been unleashed for our eternal
benefit.
I Cor. 1:18-29 - 18For the message of the cross is
foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are
being saved it is the power of God. 19For it is written:
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
And bring to nothing the understanding of the
prudent.”
20Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the
disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom
of this world? 21For since, in the wisdom of God, the
world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God
through the foolishness of the message preached to save
those who believe. 22For Jews request a sign, and Greeks
seek after wisdom; 23but we preach Christ crucified, to the
Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness,
24but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ
the power of God and the wisdom of God.
25Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and
the weakness of God is stronger than men.
26For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise
according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble,
are called. 27But God has chosen the foolish things of the
world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the
weak things of the world to put to shame the things which
are mighty; 28and the base things of the world and the
things which are despised God has chosen, and the things
which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, 29that
no flesh should glory in His presence.
c. The power of God was in the perceived
weakness of man...in the things which
looked foolish to mankind...in the
spiritual...in faith...in the unseen.
1.) It was this way so that mankind
could not glory in what they had
done.
a.) It was done this way so that
the power of God...leading
to salvation, would comefrom
the faith of man and the work
of God.
2. Christ became a man and suffered a
physically painful death to satisfy the
requirements for our salvation.
a. This physical sacrifice was necessary....
1.) But there was a power unleashed
at the cross which goes way
beyond the physical.
a.) Our High Priest...Jesus Christ
offered a spiritual sacrifice on
the cross in that he took upon
Himself all of our sins and
spiritually destroyed their hold
........destroyed their power
over us, by His sacrifice.
I Cor. 15:56-57 - 56The sting of death is sin, and the
strength of sin is the law. 57But thanks be to God, who
gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
b. This was a power that was unleashed
which no man....no invention of mankind
could ever produce.
1.) It is the power to overcome satan...
to overcome death (physical and
spiritual)...the power to overcome
our rightful destiny of eternal
damnation.
** We have been given the power to actually become the
sons of God.
1. Not by the flesh...not by the physical...but by the
everlasting power of God.
III. Lastly.....We have been give a power over our own
will....over our own bodies....over self.
A. This is also a spiritual power......but it does
influence and affect our physical bodies.
Gal. 5:22-24 - 22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy,
peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
23gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
24And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with
its passions and desires.
Rom. 6:6-12 - 6knowing this, that our old man was
crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done
away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. 7For
he who has died has been freed from sin. 8Now if we died
with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,
9knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead,
dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him.
10For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all;
but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11Likewise you
also, recon yourselves to be dead, indeed to sin, but alive
to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. 12Therefore do not let sin
reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its
lusts.
1. It is by the power of the Holy Spirit...given to
us at conversion....which can actually defeat
satan at work on our flesh.
a. Without this power, we would be like
Don Quixote....a bit zany...tilting at
windmills and destined to ultimate
defeat.
1.) We are dealing with a being that
the Bible likens to a hungry lion...
without the power of God...we’re
lunch.
B. Remember, however......you get what you believe.
1. This power over satan is only unleashed
through faith.
a. The power of God, working in us...to
defeat satan,is directly proportional to the
degree of faith that we display in our
hearts.
1.) Nobody is fooling anyone...God is
not mocked or tricked...what you
sow will be what you reap.
a.) This is valid concerning the
power that God will display in
your Christian walk.
b. If you believe that sin is stronger than
you are....if you believe that you can’t
stop sinning in some area....if you believe
that this is your inevitable fate....THUS
IT SHALL BE!
c. If, on the other hand, you make the effort
to overcome the sinful habits of life...that
you take God, at His word which says
that sin does not need to have dominion
over you........God, through the power
of the Holy Spirit at work in you, will
give you the victory in these areas.
CONCLUSION:
II Tim. 1:7 - 7For God has not given us a spirit of fear,
but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
We need to get away from some “stinkin thinkin”........
A. Thinking that we cannot be victorious.
B. Thinking that God can only do what we can do...
and nothing more.
C. Thinking that we can’t stop sinning...especially in
areas that seem to be our weakness.
D. Thinking that it has to be our power which will
overcome in these powerful and spiritual realms.
If we continue to think in defeatist tones....WE WILL
CONTINUE TO BE DEFEATED.
A. Sin will continue to have a grip on us.
1. We will allow the old man of sin to keep on
resurrecting in our lives.
a. In the end, we will return to the trough.
You have the power to overcome.
A. You must believe it....you must depend on it....
you must use it.
1. Anything else has to be classified as the
“futility of man”.
