When God Show’s Up
2 Timothy 1:7 ESV
For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control
A "POWERFUL" GROANER By Bruce Ball
One day in the middle of the woods, a hawk, a lion, and a skunk were arguing about which one was the most powerful. The hawk said it was because he could fly down and catch his dinner so quickly they could not get away.
The lion said he could run the fastest and had the bigger teeth to eat his prey with. The skunk said he was the most powerful because with one flick of his tail, he could chase them both away.
About that time, a large grizzly bear came out from the trees and ate them all; hawk, lion, and stinker.
There have been a lot of people down through the years who bragged about their ability and what they were able to do just like the hawk, the lion and the skunk. But when it came time to prove it, it wasn’t them who were able to get the job done, it was someone else.
Their inability to get the job done wasn’t necessarily based upon their physical strength or courage, but because of their non-reliance in the power they possessed in their spirit and their connection to God.
Even Sampson the strongest man ever recorded in the Bible, when he tried to use only his power he possessed, he failed.
Up until that point every time Sampson was put to the test, the presence of God in his life and reliance on God in his life, made him victorious!
Ephesians 6:10 ESV
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.
Far too many times, the human Nature in people is to quick to say “look what I have done!” And then a real life situation comes to light and fear enters the arena, leaving them paralyzed!
When they should’ve Stood on the scripture we just read and realize their strength doesn’t come from them, their true strength comes from God and the power God has willingly already poured into their spirit!
Ephesians 3:20 TLB
20 Now glory be to God, who by his mighty power at work within us is able to do far more than we would ever dare to ask or even dream of—infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, or hopes.
There are some who would say, you know I am capable of some pretty high desires, thoughts and hopes! Maybe so friend, but no way near Gods desires, thoughts and hopes for your life and future!
Having high thoughts, desires and hopes will take you a lot of places, but they will never take you to the places the awesome Power of God is able and wants to take you to, when you are totally dependent on Him!
Contrary to what some may say, accepting God’s will for someone’s life, is not a sign of weakness! That’s what the accuser and the lies of the world would say over and over!
Accepting God’s will is a sign of strength, a sign of strength those as long as they are in and of the world will never know!
When Moses was called to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt and slavery, he was overwhelmed by his inabilities. When he came to the realization of Gods Power and willingness to help in every situation, his whole demeanor changed!
When God showed up, Moses became an Army of One!
When God showed up Moses realized everything God was asking him to do, was going to happen! And guess what friends? It happened!
The Red Sea split, fresh drinking water gushed out of rocks, Gods fabulous supply of mana fell from heaven to feed them every day! It all happened, just as God had promised Moses it would!
When Elijah challenged the prophets of bahl, to call on their gods to make fire fall from the sky, what happened? Nothing, that’s what happened!
But do you know what happened when Elijah called on the Mighty Power of the One True God and built an altar and offered a sacrifice, then called for barrels of water to be poured on and around the altar, to the point where no one thought it would ever be possible for any fire to be started at all?
That’s right, God showed up! God showed up and Gods power and fire fell from heaven and consumed the sacrifice, the alter itself and even licked the water up out of the trenches around what had been built and sacrificed!
Today is June 14/2020. Do you know what happened 3227 yrs 228 days ago when Joshua called on the power in the mind of the Almighty God? That’s right God showed up in a major way!
God helped Joshua and the people of Israel win that battle, in fact scripture tells us God stopped time! That’s right God stopped time for several hours as the battle wore on, until the battle was won by Joshua and the children of Israel were victorious!
Scripture says there has never been another day like it since the day this happened! No where in scripture does it ever say that it could not happen again either! Because God is a sovereign God and can do whatever He wants, whenever He wants, for whomever He wants!
Aren’t you glad you have been chosen to be called a son, or a daughter of the most high God?
How about the time that Rahab the harlot, chose to believe in a God she had only heard about through stories that had been told by word of mouth. To go against what she had been taught all her life and her way of life.
How she chose to help the spies who had come into check out the heavily fortified city of Jericho and ask them to ask their God to spare her and her families lives!
After the children of Israel marched around the city of Jericho for the seventh day, the seventh time and follow the Lords instructions and blew on their mighty Trumpets and gave out shouts of praise! What do you supposed happened?
That’s right, that’s right God showed up! God showed up in A Mighty Way and the walls came tumbling down and the whole city collapsed, except for the house of Rahab!
God not only spared Rahab’s life that day, God rewarded Rahab’s courage and faith and put her in the direct lineage of Jesus, His only Son! Rahab’s story gives all of us hope!
All these fabulous biblical stories and miracles happened, when God’s chosen man or woman called on Him to show up and make the Impossible become Possible!
All these amazing miracles and to say thousands of other miracles would be a gross understatement, of the amount of miracles God showed up to perform, when God’s people called on Him!
All Before Jesus ever walked the earth and introduced the Amazing Giving Grace of God’s divine nature, that we now experience on a nonstop basis!
Ephesians 1:15-23 MSG.
15-19 That’s why, when I heard of the solid trust you have in the Master Jesus and your outpouring of love to all the followers of Jesus, I couldn’t stop thanking God for you—every time I prayed, I’d think of you and give thanks.
(Paul is talking to and about the church at Ephesus here. But I tell you what Paul is saying, should be and is pertainable to every church and church member who claims Christ as Saviour!)
Paul goes on with;
But I do more than thank. I ask—ask the God of our Master, Jesus Christ, the God of glory—to make you intelligent and discerning in knowing him personally, your eyes focused and clear, so that you can see exactly what it is he is calling you to do,
(Paul instructs the church to not forget their calling! Far to many have forgotten and even ignored their calling! Because of their reliance of their self efforts to do what is seemingly impossible, instead of calling on God to show up like Moses, Elijah, Joshua and Rahab did! As well as countless others throughout time have done!
Paul challenges all of us, every one who calls themselves Christians, because we are the church!)
Paul says to,
grasp the immensity of this glorious way of life he has for his followers, oh, the utter extravagance of his work in us who trust him—endless energy, boundless strength! (he’s talking about power here)
20-23 All this energy issues from Christ: God raised him from death and set him on a throne in deep heaven, in charge of running the universe, everything from galaxies to governments, no name and no power exempt from his rule. And not just for the time being, but forever.
(That means today’s world leaders and today’s set of circumstances, there is nothing impervious to the Power of God that has been given to Jesus who was, is and always will be God amongst us!
Paul is bragging about the Power of Jesus and the Power of God, given to Jesus to give to the church and everyone who calls themselves Christ followers!
Paul is making a declaration we can stand on and hold fast too!)
“Jesus is in charge of it all, has the final word on everything. At the center of all this, Christ rules the church. The church, you see, is not peripheral to the world; the world is peripheral to the church. The church is Christ’s body, in which he speaks and acts, by which he fills everything with his presence.“
You see down through the years, the continual message of condemnation and constant attack of the accuser has caused the decline of the power in the church and the power that lies in the realization of the believers of the church!
And this slow deterioration over time has caused the church to become reactive to the message of the accusers bag of Tricks and lies, Instead of the proactive stance of Power that lies within each and every believer!
“The church, you see, is not peripheral to the world; the world is peripheral to the church. The church is Christ’s body, in which he speaks and acts, by which he fills everything with his presence.”
And I must ask you Church when you are filled with the presence of Jesus, by which Jesus speaks and acts? What are you filled with? That’s right, the Power of The Holy Spirit! Which is The Power of God!
You are filled with the Power of God and the amazing ability to not only call on God to do the impossible!
But With the God Given Measure of Faith to both Believe and Expect God to show up with His Amazing Ability, to accomplish the task at hand and more importantly, EACH AND EVERY TASK GOD has called you to do! Can somebody say Amen this morning?
Luke 10:18-24 MSG
18-20 Jesus said, “I know. I saw Satan fall, a bolt of lightning out of the sky. See what I’ve given you? Safe passage as you walk on snakes and scorpions, and protection from every (how many) assault of the Enemy. No one can put a hand on you. All the same, the great triumph is not in your authority over evil, but in God’s authority over you and presence with you. Not what you do for God but what God does for you—that’s the agenda for rejoicing.” (God’s ability, not mans)
21 At that, Jesus rejoiced, exuberant in the Holy Spirit. “I thank you, Father, Master of heaven and earth, that you hid these things from the know-it-alls and showed them to these innocent newcomers. Yes, Father, it pleased you to do it this way.
22 “I’ve been given it all by my Father! Only the Father knows who the Son is and only the Son knows who the Father is. The Son can introduce the Father to anyone he wants to.”
(Right there you can insert your name if you know Jesus as Lord and Saviour and proclaim He’s talking about me!)
23-24 He then turned in a private aside to his disciples. “Fortunate the eyes that see what you’re seeing! There are plenty of prophets and kings who would have given their right arm to see what you are seeing but never got so much as a glimpse, to hear what you are hearing but never got so much as a whisper.”
We are the newcomers the Bible is referring to here! We have been given the power by Jesus, to be overcomers!
Everyone we introduce to the message of the gospel is a newcomer and can and will receive the power to be an overcomer and there’s not one single thing the devil, the worlds agenda, it’s broadcasters of his agenda or anybody else can do about it!
When the power of God shows up and is on display, everything comes under submission!
Sicknesses, deceases, famines, pestilence, wars, viruses’s, poverty, divisive politics and arguments!
Everything is subject to the Power of God and the Power God has given to Jesus, through Jesus powerful and phenomenal Gift of Salvation and relationship we possess, through the Power of The Holy Spirit of God!
IN THE POWER OF THE SPIRIT
As a young man, Oswald Chambers, who wrote the materials that became My Utmost For His Highest, battled a persistent sense of barrenness in his Christian life.
He finally wrote: I was getting desperate.
I knew no one who had what I wanted; in fact I did not know what I did want. But I knew that if what I had was all the Christianity there was, the thing was a fraud.
At a little meeting in Dunoon, a well-known lady was asked to take the after meeting.
She did not speak, but set us to prayer, and then sang, “Touch me again, Lord.” I felt nothing, but I knew emphatically my time had come. I rose to my feet. Then and there I claimed the gift of the Holy Spirit in dogged committal on Luke 11:13.
I had no vision of heaven or of angels; I had nothing.
I was as dry and empty as ever, no power or realization of God, no witness of the Holy Spirit. Then I was asked to speak to a meeting and forty souls came out to the front! I came to realize that God intended me, having asked, to simply take it by faith, and that power would be there. I might see it only by the backward look, but I was to reckon on the fact that God would be with me.
From that point on, Oswald Chambers ministered with extraordinary power. His words and writings touched people around the world, especially when he taught, as he frequently did, from his favorite verse, Luke 11:13
Luke 11:13 NKJ
13 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”
Far too many Christians are exactly as Oswald Chambers was, dry and empty and I would add powerless!
Not because the power and realization of God isn’t available. But because they have not realized God loves them enough to give them His very best of everything He has, every time they ask!
Whatever you pray and ask God to do for you, your families lives and the lives of who ever you come in contact with this week, you can rest assured if you do, God will show up and meet every need with the Power to accomplish the impossible!
