Randall Caselman
Bella Vista Church of Christ
October 20, 2002 P.M. (early afternoon service)
Accessing God's Power For Life's Journey
Reading - John 1.12, Ephesians 3.12-20, Colossians 1.9-14 & Philippians 4.13
We all know that the proper combination of diet and exercise can build our muscles, give us physical power and strength. Strength to achieve what we want to achieve physically.
What we want to do this afternoon is to examine where and how we can obtain spiritual strength & power to accomplish those things God has asked us to do. This lesson is about the power of God and how to access His power... Spiritually.
FIRST... WE MUST AGREE THAT WE NEED SUCH SPIRITUAL POWER.
- Power to understand His will through the WORD.
- Power to overcome temptation.
- Power to get through our daily struggles.
- Power to become the people and person God wants us to be.
Our King James translators have John saying in John 1.12... "To all who receive Him... To those who believe in His name... He gives the power to become children of God." This is just what I need... Power to become what He wants me to be... RIGHT?
SECONDLY... WE WANT TO ESTABLISH THAT GOD MUST BE OUR POWER SOURCE.
Listen to these scriptures which affirm that God has the power... That He is OMNIPOTENT.
Genesis 18.14... Nothing is too hard for the Lord.
Matthew 19.26... With God all things are possible.
Daniel 4.35 says... Nothing, No one can stay His hand.
I don't think there is any doubt that God is our power source... It is in Him that we live... move... and have our being.
SO THE QUESTION BECOMES... WILL HE SHARE THAT POWER WITH US?
Again... John 1.12 tells us that... To those who believe... He gives power to become His children. Church... Whatever we need to be His people and person... He is willing to supply. If God will work through 4,000 years of human history to bring salvation to us, isn't it reasonable He will work to help us work out our own salvation as believers?
We must know this afternoon that God is working to save us and keep us saved. Notice these scriptures as proof that God indeed empowers us...
- In John 18.11... Jesus told Pilate that he had no power except that which was given to him by God, that which came from above.
- Ephesians 3.20 plainly tells us that His power is at work in us and that He can do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine.
- Paul says in Philippians... I can do all things through Christ who gives me power... Strength.
- Romans 8.28 tells us that... God is working in our lives to work all things out to our benefit... to our good.
- II Peter 1.3 says... His divine power has given us (How Much?) Everything we need for life and Godliness.
So... Not only is God omnipotent... Not only is He able to strengthen us... He wants to use His power for us... In us... He is willing to share His power with us!
This brings us to the question of... Should we ask God for power?
Listen again to Colossians 1.9-12... For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.
Notice that Paul prayed for their...
- Spiritual understanding....
- Wisdom...
- Obedience...
- Fruit bearing...
- Good works...
- Knowledge of God...
- Endurance... Patience... and Joy?
Paul said... I am praying that you will be given strength for the journey... With all power according to His glorious might.
Church... If we cannot get power from God, then why was Paul praying for it on behalf of saints at Colossi? We must have faith in God's ability and willingness to use His power to help us... assist us... and save us.
There should be no doubt then that our Christian life demands power from God. In 2 Timothy 4.7... Paul writes... I have fought the good fight... I have run the race... I have finished the course... I have kept the faith.
You see... The Christian life is... A fight to fight... A race to run... A course to finish... A faith to keep.
Let me ask you this... Do you feel you need some help in maintaining your participation in this fight... This race... This faith?... Of course!! Well, how do we access this needed power? What can we do to access God's power as individuals or as a church?
FIRST... WE NEED TO HAVE AN ATTITUDE OF LOVE.
When Paul wrote to the church at Corinth... He said that religion without love is POWERLESS to accomplish anything... If we speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, we are only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If we have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if we have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, we are nothing. If we give all we possess to the poor and surrender our bodies in martyrdom, but have not love, we gain nothing. There abides three great concepts in Christianity: Faith, Hope and Love. But the greatest of these is LOVE.
You see church LOVE is the environment that enables God's power to work within us. John tells us that God cannot live in those who do not love. This is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.
God is love... And God can't... won't live in us unless we love. The fruit of the Spirit... The fruit of God living in us is LOVE. And it is in this environment of love that God strengthens us... Empowers us so that we can live in Him... And He in us.
SECONDLY... WE MUST BE A PEOPLE OF PRAYER.
Prayer is an act of faith. If we don't believe in the power of God to enable us, to help us, we would never pray. In fact, there are times that if we will open the communication line between us and God... He will even assist us in seeking what we may not know we need. Scripture tells us that, even though God already knows what we need, we are to pray anyway.
Romans 8.26-27 says... The Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know how we ought to pray, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with sounds that words cannot express. He who searches our hearts knows our mind intercedes for us according to His will.
THIRDLY... OUR SPIRITUAL RACE DEMANDS A STUDY OF THE WORD.
Just as we speak to God through prayer... God speaks to us through His word. So, we should hold it in high regard and spend adequate time studying it. Remember what David wrote in Psalm one?... "Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish."
Paul tells us that... A workman who does not need to be ashamed is one who studies and correctly handles... rightly divides, the word of truth.
Peter admonishes... Like newborn babies, we are to crave pure spiritual milk, so that we might grow up, be strengthened in our salvation... in our Christian walk.
- We will never be strong in the faith...
- We will never have the power over Satan...
- We will never have strength for the journey... Until and unless we become a people and person of the Word... RIGHT?
NUMBER FOUR... ACCESSING GOD'S POWER DEMANDS RIGHT THINKING.
Jesus tells us a parable about an individual who had a demon. The demon was cast out. But the man refused to fill his mind with good thoughts... So, the demon returns with several of his kind, and the latter end for this man was worse than the beginning.
You see... It does little good to exclude evil thoughts unless we fill ourselves with good thoughts. Think about this for a moment...
- How much time do we spend thinking about THINGS?
- How much time do we spend thinking about our job?
- How much time do we spend thinking about our golf game?
- How much time do we spend thinking about God... And our relationship with Him?
Well... Just what kind of thinking invites God's power into our lives? I believe Paul tells in Philippians 4... Whatsoever is true, whatsoever is noble, whatsoever is right, whatsoever is pure, whatsoever is lovely, whatsoever is admirable. If anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things.
NEXT WE NOTE THAT THERE IS POWER IN FELLOWSHIP.
Some of us are not receiving power from above because we are always found running with the wrong crowd... In the wrong environment.
- You don't grow oranges in Alaska!!
- You don't study democracy in the University of Leningrad.
- And... God doesn't bless our fellowship with the world. In fact... He condemns it.
Peter tells us to come out of the world and be...
- Different...
- Peculiar...
- Set apart...
- Holy people.
Paul instructs the church at Corinth to purge themselves of those who are walking in the world. He goes on to say that evil companions corrupt.... Stunt spiritual growth. Evil companions weaken us spiritually instead of inspiring & empowering us.
Let me ask you then...
- Who are our three closest friends?
- Are they children of God?
- Or are they children of the world?
- Do they HELP us grow spiritually... Or do they influence us toward worldliness?
Scripture says...
- We are not to be unequally yoked to those of this world.
- What does good have to do with evil?
- What does light have to do with darkness?
- What do the people of God have to do with the children of the Devil?
- What does righteousness have to do with worldliness.
Sobering questions for our consideration on this subject of FELLOWSHIP. Spiritual growth... maturity... walking in the light... Cannot be a reality while we are keeping company with those of the world.
THIS BRING US TO OUR FINAL POINT THAT GOD'S POWER IS FOUND IN WORSHIP.
Jesus promised His presence and power to those gathered in worship... "When two or three are gathered together in His name." Who could deny that coming together to worship God in spirit and truth does not strengthen, empower & encourage us to be and do better?
Listen to what was written about the church in Jerusalem in Acts 2... As I read these verses, I want you to notice those things we've talked about today:
They devoted themselves to DOCTRINE... The apostles' teaching... (That's study of the word)... And to fellowship... To the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together... And had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Everyday they continued to meet together in the temple courts... (That's worship)... They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
Audience... Is there any doubt that their worship strengthened & EMPOWERED them? And that proper worship will strengthen and empower us? No wonder the Hebrews writer admonishes us to... Not give up meeting together... As some are in the habit of doing... But let us encourage one another... And all the more as you see the Day approaching.
Well...What is it that you and your preacher need to do, in order to have strength for the Journey?
- If you are here this afternoon and you are not a child of God, you have no promise that God will strengthen and empower you with help from above. But, the good news is that, as a believer... God will give you the power to become His child by faith, repentance, and New Testament baptism... Immersion in water for the forgiveness of sins.
- For the born again child of God... The promise is empowerment to walk daily with Him.
- If your walk has been interrupted by sin... What better time to make all things right, through repentance and prayer.
- Perhaps you just need the prayers of the church to overcome the trials and temptations that you are facing right now.
This invitation is for strength & power... Come as we stand and sing together.
