The Mighty God Series

A CHILD IS BORN

The Mighty God – He Can Help…

Isaiah 9:6

Introduction:

Some 15 or 16 years ago when I was still living in MO and desiring to become a pastor, I was involved in a ministry in my church where we would speak at small churches throughout the Midwest.

Typically, we would travel to small towns on Saturday and stay with a family from the church.

One particular Saturday evening I was sitting in the home of a family in a small southern MO town when their young son entered wearing a mask and cape. He proceeded to start tearing a sheet of paper as he said, “I’m strong!” I took the paper doubled it and asked him to tear it again. I repeated this until he stood before me unable to tear the paper. What started as an apparent display of strength soon became an unconquerable task.

In life we are frequently faced with situations that require strength – some less, some more. It is a certainty that we will face a situation that is beyond our physical, emotional and possibly spiritual capacity. Try as we may we will not be able to overcome. It’s at times like these that we will need an alternative source of might. A power source that far exceeds our strength.

Isaiah 9:6 “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”

This prophecy of Jesus’ birth tells us that this child would not be ordinary, but extraordinary. He would bear four unbelievable names – wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father and Prince of Peace. Last week – Wonderful Counselor, this week – Jesus is the Mighty God (God Almighty)

Jesus was God in the flesh and he possessed unbelievable strength. His strength wasn’t necessarily measured in his brawn. His strength came from a place deep within and from a source that is available to each of us this morning. Jesus faced unimaginable circumstances and yet he was able to overcome. As we face difficult circumstances we too can be confident that the Mighty God is on our side and will help us to overcome. We are all engaged in a great spiritual warfare. We don’t fight this warfare with physical weapons or with the power of our own might.

2 Corinthians 10:4 “(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)”

Each of us faces “strongholds” in our life – areas that appear unconquerable. It could be an addiction, attitude, character flaw, some area of sin. We may have battled it for years to no avail. This morning I want to tell you that through God’s might you can finally have victory over your stronghold. To see how I want to look at the most famous stronghold in the Old Testament and see how it was overcome – the city of Jericho.

Israel is on the brink of entering the Promised Land and yet before they can enter they have to face this stronghold.

Jericho was the most fortified city of it’s day. It was surrounded by a double wall. The outer wall had a stone retaining wall at its base. The retaining wall was some 12–15 feet high. On top of that was a mudbrick wall six feet thick and about 20–26 feet high. At the crest of the embankment was a similar mudbrick wall whose base was roughly 46 feet above the ground level outside the retaining wall.

Israel had certainly never faced anything like this before. It was beyond them. As they examined the city what did they see...

Joshua 6:1 “Now Jericho was straitly shut up because of the children of Israel: none went out, and none came in.”

No way in, no way out. It looked impossible from a human perspective. And yet God Almighty was ready to do a miracle. He’s ready to do a miracle in your life as well, if we will learn from this story how to battle our strongholds. Before we get into the practical steps we can take we need to make a mental shift.

Joshua 6:2 “And the LORD said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valour.”

In God’s mind the victory was a given. The same is true in our situation and so we must understand…

You Are Already Victorious

You must enter this battle with that mentality – God has already given me the victory. In athletics they call this visualization – see yourself accomplishing your task. At times that won’t appear to be the case, but we must remain positive. We must have faith. The walls of Jericho were brought down by faith.