Have you ever asked, How can I survive in this world? I have an answer for you, you can’t. The survival rate for people in this world is zero. Your thinking, thanks for sharing. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 7:31 For this world in its present form is passing away. This means, there will be no survivors.
If you are a Christian, I have good news for you. Jesus said in John 15:19 If you belonged to the world, the world would treat you with affection and would love you as its own. But because you are not of the world [no longer one with it], but I have chosen (selected) you out of the world, the world hates (detests) you.
Say this with me, I am no longer of this world.
How can I survive? I can only survive with the power of survival, and that power of survival comes from Jesus Christ. God wants you to have His power.
Jesus said in Matthew 7:11 If you then, evil as you are, know how to give good and advantageous gifts to your children, how much more will your Father Who is in heaven [perfect as He is] give good and advantageous things to those who keep on asking Him!
God has given to us the gift of His Holy Spirit, what we celebrate on Pentecost Sunday. And that gift, His power, empowers us to make it in this world. Are you ready to receive the power of God that will equip you for your journey through this world?
Some people have said that power was for a special time, when the early church was starting out, they were being persecuted by both the Romans and the Jewish leadership, and they needed power to survive. I don’t know where these people are living to think we don’t need that kind of power today. Certainly not where I live, and I dare say where you live. Anyone here need the power of God to make it through today? Am I talking to the right people?
Okay, pastor, there are times when I need power and I am glad for God’s divine intervention when those times come up. Let’s get real, I need God’s power all the time, not just at special times. I don’t know what is going to happen from moment to moment. Do you? I would rather know I have the power of God with me all the time so I can survive than to be caught in a moment of need and hope the power will come. People, you don’t have to hope, you can know, you can know right now. God is the same yesterday, when the Psalmist wrote in Psalm 68 God is awesome. He gives power and strength to His people. Praise the Lord. God is the same today, Matthew 6:26 tells us to Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father keeps feeding them. Are you not worth much more than they? He will be the same tomorrow because the Bible says God does not change. So if God says we can have the power of the Holy Spirit today, rest assured we can have that power.
There are times when the need for God’s power is obvious to us. Times when…
1. I am weak
Anyone weak in body, mind of spirit? Isaiah said The Lord is the everlasting God. He never grows tired or weary. He strengthens those who are weak and tired. Those who trust the Lord for help will find their strength renewed. He gives power to those who are tired and worn out; He offers strength to the weak (Isaiah 40:
You come in this morning, it has been quite a week, month, year or life and you feel weak. Listen, God is here to strengthen you, you don’t have to leave in the condition in which you came in. God wants to renew your tired and worn out self. Are you getting ready to receive. Before we close our time together, I am going to be giving you opportunity to leave here transformed through God’s renewal process, through His Holy Spirit. So get ready.
God’s power is obvious in times when
2. I am empty
I like that time of renewing power. Have you ever ran out of gas on the highway, you thought the gas gauge was not telling you the truth, you thought you had enough fumes to make it to the next station when suddenly your car let out a sigh and you knew it was empty and needed to be fueled. It doesn’t just happen to cars, it happens to people. We have all been there, looking for the next fueling station.
The amplified reads of Isaiah 40:29 He gives power to the faint and weary, and to him who has no might He increases strength [causing it to multiply and making it to abound]. He gives power to the faint and weary…circle that phrase in your notes, power to the faint and weary. When my gas tank has hit empty, when I am faint and weary and ready to give up, God makes power available. Again, what is that power. The Holy Spirit….what is that power…the Holy Spirit.
God makes a promise to us, when we are weak, when we have been run down by the things of this world, if we will yield to Him, He is going to show up and give us a fill up with 100% octane of the Holy Spirit. Who could us a fill us today?
God also will give us the power we need to survive when…
3. The pain of this world seems too great.
Last week when I talked about joy, I had many people during the prayer time, and afterwards this week speak to me about how they have painful situations both past and present. This is an adversarial world in which we live. We have painful situations physically that need a touch from God. We have painful relationships that are sometimes areas of abuse and it seems the waves of pain are unbearable. And I could go on and on.
In the Message, Psalm 42:3 Whenever we’re sick and in bed, God becomes our nurse, nurses us back to health. That’s good news, good news someone needed to hear today. God is not saying take two aspirin and call me in the morning. God is standing right there by your bedside bringing His healing touch into your situation.
God is also there to provide power…
4. When I am tempted.
Paul hits the nail on the head in Romans 7:18. Listen to his words…For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot perform it. [I have the intention and urge to do what is right, but no power to carry it out.]
Temptations come, and they come in various forms…attractive people…expensive jewelry…nice homes…big boats…possessions…should I go on. Let me say, none of these are wrong in themselves, they become temptations when we cannot afford the price tag, so we are tempted to switch the tags to something we think we can afford.
The one which is fast becoming a big temptation of married people, looking at attractive people on the other side of the fence. Christian divorce is higher than the divorce rate in the world. We hear stories of men running off with younger people and jettisoning their wife who has gotten older. We are tempted toward new things, but new can get old awfully fast. There is one prominent movie star on trial for murder who has an understanding of that temptation.
What we need is the power to say no. Yes is easy, and we don’t count the cost until it is too late. Paul said I know that…I have the will to do good but my flesh is weak. I want to do the right thing in life but I lack the power to carry it out. I have never met anyone who planned from childhood to live a life of wrong doing. Talk to little kids, what do you want to be when you grow up and you hear, fireman, policeman, doctor, computer tech so I can be like Bill Gates…but I have never had a child tell me they wanted to be a murderer, bank robber, on the FBI’s most wanted list. In truth, the people who are guilty of those crimes started out as children, with dreams and aspirations to attain greater things in life, but something went wrong in their journey, they lacked the power to overcome, the power to say no.
I have asked several times, how many of you could use power to overcome in your life. I want to share with you the ABC’s of getting that power.
A – Ask God for power.
Jesus said in Matthew 7:7,8 "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.
The Bible says we have not because we ask not, or we ask wrongly. Does God want you to have power over this world? The Scriptures are filled with proof that He does, do it would be fair to say it is something we can rightly ask for. Jesus said we need to keep on asking, keep on seeking, keep on knocking, because God is about to open the doors of heaven to us because of our persistence. To everyone who asks, seeks and knocks. So if you want power, the power that comes only from the Holy Spirit, you need to ask. I might say first, you need to first of all ask Jesus to come into your life and be the CEO of your life, then ask for the power of the Holy Spirit. That takes us to the B
B – Become connected to God
Jesus said in John 15 I am the vine and you are the branches. Those who remain in Me [those who are connected with Me] and I in them, they will produce much fruit. For apart from Me you can do nothing. (John 15:5)
Some of the struggles we have in life are the direct result of becoming unplugged from our life source, Jesus Christ. The only way I can print out this message is to make sure my printer is plugged into the computer tower with the hard drive I have written it on. I cannot print off of something I am not connected to. People ask God to do things for their lives, but they have no connection to God and they wonder why what they asked never comes to pass. You have to be plugged into the source, Jesus is the vine, we are His branches. It is through that connection the power of God is able to flow through my life and through your life.
Finally,
C—Choose God’s way through faith
I believe what I cannot always see if it is written in the Word of God. I live a life of faith, faith anchored in Jesus Christ, and because of that faith, I have the power of God working through me. This means before the light is on, I know the power is available to make it happen. I know that no matter what situation I might walk upon in life, God has equipped me to make it through because I know where my source and my strength comes from, my commitment to Jesus Christ.
Hebrews 11:1 speaks of faith. “… It is the confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen.
Today, I have faith in God, and faith that God is able to do for you, what He does for me.
As the worship team comes, you might be here today, maybe you haven’t asked Jesus to be the sole proprietor of your life, you might still be claiming some ownership. Today we can transfer the deed completely to him if you will by faith surrender all your life to him, and then power will come.
You might have done that already, yet not experienced the power of the Holy Spirit. Acts 8:14-16 records a similar experience among the Samaritans. It reads, When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. When they arrived, they prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them; they had simply been baptized into, the name of the Lord Jesus
As we close in song, I want to give you an opportunity to experience the power of God in your life. I want to pray for you, ask the Holy Spirit to fall on you in a powerful way, so you will be changed forever and taken into a deeper dimension of God’s power as you walk out your life in this world.
ALTAR
