There IS Power In The Name Of Jesus
Heb 1:3
3He is the radiance of His glory, the exact expression of His nature, and He sustains all things by His powerful word. After making purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. 4So He became higher in rank than the angels, just as the name He inherited is superior to theirs.
Prayer
How many times in the last few years have you heard people take the name of God in vain, how often on T.V. have you heard Jesus being mocked? Man no longer fears or cares about God or even believe in the power of God. We better realize the power that the name of Jesus holds.
When we say father we are immediately in the presence of God. Immediately we have His full attention. What power is that, just at the mention of his name? Just by saying His name we are in His presence. Have you ever really thought about how awesome that is. And we have adults and kids that on a daily bases use His glorious name for profanity. They don’t realize that they are really praising Satan whenever they use the Lord’s name in vain. And that one day they will have to answer for that.
This morning I want us to look at the power that is in the name of Jesus. I want us to see exactly what His name does for us when we say it for His honor and glory. To often we go about our daily life happy and blissful never thinking for one moment about our Lord and Savior. When we come to obstacles in life instead of turning to Jesus for help we turn away from Him. We try to solve the problem on our own, or we buy a self help book, get advice from friends or family. We may even go to a complete stranger for help before we turn to Jesus for help.
Why is that? Here we are supposed to be serving an all powerful God and we don’t believe He can or will handle our problems. The main reason why is that for so long we have developed a case of pew sitting. We come to church on Sunday morning, we hear a sermon as we sit in our pews and we go home. We never think about the sermon again or to put the message into practice in our lives. We say I have done my duty and that is it until next Sunday morning. We have developed a generation of pew sitters that don’t expect anything more from God than a sermon on Sunday morning from the Preacher. We don’t develop a dependence on God. We don’t see Him at work in our lives because we don’t watch for it we say look at what I have accomplished or done in my life. We have accomplished or done nothing in our life God did it all. The reason why they don’t serve Him fully is because they believe they are serving Him fully by showing up on Sunday morning. They have come to believe Satan’s lies that service to God is showing up on Sunday morning. They believe this because that is what they have been taught by their parents and the church. Preachers have quite preaching service to God because it makes people mad and they leave. People naturally don’t like to be told they are wrong and they naturally want to do the least that they feel like they can get by with. So they go where they can do it their way.
This morning God has sent us a sermon to tell us that this is not true. We serve a mighty God, we serve a powerful God we serve a jealous God. God’s name is powerful, and Jesus’ name is power because they are almighty. We serve an almighty God. One who Loves us but on who also expects us to worship and serve Him.
The Call to Worship had just been pronounced starting Easter Sunday Morning service in an East Texas church. The choir started its processional, singing "Up from the Grave He Arose" as they marched in perfect step down the center aisle to the front of the church. The last lady was wearing shoes with very slender heels. Without a thought for her fancy heels, she marched toward the grating that covered that hot air register in the middle of the aisle. Suddenly the heel of one shoe sank into the hole in the register grate. In a flash she realized her predicament. Not wishing to hold up the whole processional, without missing a step, she slipped her foot out of her shoe and continued marching down the aisle. There wasn’t a hitch. The processional moved with clock-like precision. The first man after her spotted the situation and without losing a step, reached down and pulled up her shoe, but the entire grate came with it! Surprised, but still singing, the man kept on going down the aisle, holding in his hand the grate with the shoe attached. Everything still moved like clockwork. Still in tune and still in step, the next man in line stepped into the open register and disappeared from sight. The service took on a special meaning that Sunday, for just as the choir ended with "Allelujah! Christ arose!" a voice was heard under the church shouting…"I hope all of you are out of the way ‘cause I’m coming out now!" The little girl closest to the aisle shouted, "Come on, Jesus! We’ll stay out of the way."
God calls us to be his servants but we try to change what that word means such as the following example of church membership.
Quarterback Sneak - Church members quietly leaving during the invitation.
Draw Play - What many children do with the bulletin during worship.
Half-time - The period between Sunday school and worship when many choose to leave.
Benchwarmer - Those who do not sing, pray, work, or apparently do anything but sit.
Backfield-in-Motion - Making a trip to the back (restroom or water fountain) during the service.
Staying in the Pocket - What happens to a lot of money that should be given to the Lord’s work.
Two-minute Warning - The point at which you realize the sermon is almost over and begin to gather up your children and belongings.
Instant Replay - The preacher loses his notes and falls back on last week’s illustrations.
Sudden Death - What happens to the attention span of the congregation if the preacher goes "overtime."
Trap - You’re called on to pray and are asleep.
End Run - Getting out of church quick, without speaking to any guest or fellow member.
Flex Defense - The ability to allow absolutely nothing said during the sermon to affect your life.
Halfback Option - The decision of 50% of the congregation not to return for the evening service.
Blitz - The rush for the restaurants following the closing prayer.
What is it about the name of Jesus that makes it powerful? Well for one God said Himself that it was. In Philip. 2:9 God says For this reason God also highly exalted Him and gave Him the name that is above every name. He has set the name of Jesus above every other name. That is the Lord we serve. We serve a might master and He is exalted above all others. He sits on the right hand of God. Today He is our intercessor with God. But one day soon He will be the Judge of this world. One day soon all unbelievers will have to face Him and bow down and acknowledge Him as the Lord.
One day they will have to go before Him and explain why they refused His free gift of salvation. He will be the judge, the jury and the executioner. There is only one possible sentence for those who die lost and that is Hell. Jesus desires that no one goes to Hell but if we refuse to accept His free gift of salvation, if we continue to reject His Lordship, then the destination we have, our home for all eternity is Hell.
I have had people say preacher I am not afraid of Hell. I will be running that place after I get there. Satan will just have to move over when I come. They don’t know what they are saying. They don’t understand the torment that they will have to face there. Why do you think Jesus preached so much about Hell He wants to keep you out of it. You were created for bigger and better things. He does not want you to burn, never to burn up. He does not want the worms to eat you flesh and be never eaten up. He does not want you to suffer total isolation. In hell you will be totally isolated from God and everyone else. There will be no one to hear you screams of pain that terrible horrible pain. Just you with this thought oh why oh why did I not accept Jesus as my Lord and savior. Why oh why did I listen to Satan and ended up here. For all eternity that is what you will say and that is where you will be. Examine yourself this morning and see if you are a Christian or have you been playing at being a Christian? This morning is the morning to be truthful with yourself.
Ted Turner, founder of Turner Broadcasting (TBS,TNT,CNN) blasted the Christian faith at a speech to the National Press Club.
"Remember, heaven is going to be perfect. And I don’t really want to be there... Those of us that go to hell, which will be most of us in this room, most journalists are certainly going there... (Laughter). but, when we get there we’ll have a chance to make things better because hell is supposed to be a mess. And heaven is perfect. Who want to go to a place that is perfect? Boring, boring." (Laughter).
Also in late 1989, Turner told Dallas Morning News that "Christianity is a religion for losers." Christ died on the cross, but Mr. Turner said He shouldn’t have bothered. "I don’t want anybody dying for me. I’ve had a few drinks and a few girlfriends and if that’s gonna put me in hell, then so be it."
Hell makes people uncomfortable to the point of ignoring, rejecting or mocking its very existence.
Do you what the difference between Heaven and hell is?
A MAN HAS A DREAM, HE DIES AND GOES TO HELL!
While in hell the man notices there are many tables and starving people are sitting all around the great tables.
There is hot food of all taste on the table. In Hell, they are starving with food tortuuring them right before their eyes.
While all this food is right before them, each person is starving to death. Each person has a six feet long
fork in his left hand, and a six feet long spoon in the other hand.
The people in Hell cannot get to the delicious food, because the forks reach beyond their mouth.
THE NEXT NIGHT THE MAN DREAMS OF GOING TO HEAVEN!
When the man gets to heaven he sees tables as far as the eyes can see. The tables are full of hot,
wonderful food. Now the man is very troubled, for he sees that each believer has a six feet long fork in his
left hand, and a six feet long spoon in the other hand. All the believers were very full and satisfied
with the wonderful food. See, in heaven, as they were seated at the table, each person fed the person on either
side. The difference in heaven and hell was giving and love!
Jesus name is powerful because whoever calls upon it will be saved Acts 2:21 then whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. And 4:12 says Acts 4:11 - Acts 4:12 (HCSB) 12There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to people by which we must be saved.” Buddha can’t save you, Mohammed can’t save you, and no other name can save only the name of Jesus can lead you to salvation. Jesus was the perfect sacrifice the only sacrifice acceptable to God. He hung on the cross out of love for us. He paid a sin debt that we could never have paid. It was God’s mercy and grace that allowed Him to prepare a way for us to come back to Him. To be not only forgiven but to also be reconciled to God. How powerful is God? How powerful is my Savior? Is He Your savior today? Can you say with complete assurance today that Jesus is your savior? Is He your Lord today? He can’t just be your Savior HE also has to be your Lord. Is He your Lord and Savior today? Does He have complete authority in your life today? If He does not He should. For to long we have been sitting and not worshipping. Only when we accept Him as our Lord do we begin to serve Him.
Are you saved today? Many say they are but they don’t have fruit and Jesus said we would produce fruit. We can’t just be sitters there is more to do in the service of Jesus than to just sit. Have you called on Jesus to be Your Savior? Do you feel a tug in your heart that is the Holy Spirit calling answer that call today.
Because if you do Jesus will heal you. He will make you alive for the very first time in your life. He will cause you spirit to become alive. That hole in your heart that you could never fill He will fill it to overflowing. You will experience a peace and a joy that can only come from God.
What about you this morning are you broken? Are you sitting here with no hope in your life? Are you going through life with no direction? Are you sick and overwhelmed and can’t cope with life? Are you sitting there this morning wondering why everything in your life is falling apart? Are you sitting in your seat this morning wondering if your marriage is going to fail? Are you blaming your spouse or everyone else for you problems? Do you feel like the one you love or your friends or coworkers are attacking you? DO you feel like you can do nothing right or satisfy anyone? No matter what your problem is remember Jesus is more powerful than they are. We fail to give our problems to Him because we don’t really believe that He will or can handle them. We will trust Him with the most important thing we have our salvation but we want trust Him with our troubles and problems. We forget about the power of Jesus.
He is larger than any problem. Trust Him this morning. Quit blaming others when it may be your failure to truly trust Him that is causing your problems. You can only be healed when you truly submit to Jesus. We must submit to His authority as our Lord and Savior. What about you are ready to submit or do you want to continue to walk in darkness.
