God's Power to Overcome Evil [How is the Power of God At Work Today?]

[Music] it's good to be with you again you know like much of the country a few days ago we had a pretty severe ice and snow storm and we weren't able to fill the building with people in fact for this particular service we live streamed it only so if they get some sanctuary shots and the seats are empty it wasn't a rebellion it wasn't that they saw the title and ran for the exits we were snowed in that night but we still understood the importance of gathering together to open our bibles and invite the spirit of god into our lives you know it's in the midst of the storms where we need god's help the most so wherever you are today i've got good news jesus of nazareth is standing aware and alert and willing to help us thank god for that confidence you have your bible in a notepad we're going to invite god into the midst of our lives the topic for our session tonight is god's power to overcome evil and i want to begin a little journey with you it'll take us more than one talk but i want to invite you just to go to school with me a little bit let's decide we're going to take the posture of learners maybe even beginners and begin to consider spiritual things i don't imagine that i understand them fully i feel very much like a beginner myself so in my head this is a little bit like a fireside chat regarding god's power and our need for help if anything has been made clear to me in these last few months it's the need we have for god's help in our lives we're not going to out-think evil we're not going to just endure it we're not going to outwork it we need god's help in fact i would submit to you we have lived far too long with a form of godliness as paul wrote to timothy but denying the power of it we have words for god's power that's a part of our religious activity but our actions suggest that we believe that the true power of our world is somewhere else it's either economic or it's political or there's some other expression of human strength that we imagine represents a greater power than the power of god now again we have all kinds of vocabulary words and even some we'll even make some gentle nods towards behavior but we don't behave we don't really act as if we imagine god's power is significant and i want to remind you submit to you suggest to you that there is a power available which is beyond us that our spiritual life is not primarily a matter of doctrine or just learning the right behaviors or the right vocabulary words or the right beverage list that our life is about how we can cooperate so that god's power is made evident in and through us i'll start with a verse in luke chapter four it's very near the beginning of jesus public life and it simply says this luke says jesus returned to galilee galilee is just a region of israel the northern part of israel that jesus returned to galilee in the power of the spirit and the news about him spread throughout the whole countryside pretty simple sentence but it's a significant change it's a watershed moment in jesus life for 30 years he has lived an inconspicuous for the most part unknown life mary and joseph certainly know his story maybe a handful of people in their inner circle zechariah and elizabeth we don't know very many people who knew but jesus is not a public figure nazareth was a small village they estimate maybe 1500 people when jesus grew up there so he lives in a small village tucked away off any significant roads in the hills of galilee but after his baptism and the descent of the spirit and his time in the wilderness luke says he returned to galilee in the power of the spirit and the jesus story began to spread over the whole region in fact within a few weeks and months thousands upon thousands of people will gather to hear what he has to say to receive ministry from him this beginning of jesus public life is characterized by some things and it's really what i want to pause for just a moment with it's characterized by a demonstration of power that the people hadn't seen before now they had religious teachers they had the scripture they're the covenant people of god jeremiah isaiah abraham isaac and jacob that whole list of characters it's like their family album in fact they believed in those individuals more than you and i do i suspect and yet jesus represented a demonstration of power that was beyond them they'd never seen it before it was such a point of attraction that it ultimately led to his execution he threatened the establishment so significantly they had to shut him down now jesus said before he left that you and i could do the same things he had done but i don't believe we've taken that very seriously so i just began to make a list i left out the healing miracles we know those stories pretty well but i began to identify some of the things that were characterized in jesus life that were demonstrations of power that are simply beyond our imagination we have no explanation for on more than one occasion jesus fed a multitude of people with a very small amount of food take one boy's lunch and feed more than 5 000 people or take again a small amount of food and feed more than 3 000 people the disciples who were a part of that began to understand that this wasn't a normal person this wasn't just another rabbi with an itinerant ministry because they participated in what he was doing they were in the boat when jesus spoke to the wind and the waves and the wind and the waves obeyed him it frightened them they said we've never seen anybody with authority like this who is this that even the wind and the waves obey him they were in that same lake one night late at night crossing the lake against a difficult storm and jesus came walking across the lake he didn't have to have done that he revealed himself to them in that place so that they could understand there was an authority there that that they had never seen or understood before at one point when they needed to make a tax payment jesus sent peter fishing and he said you'll find in the mouth of the fish the tax money you need again time and again a part of the routine of their lives jesus represented something beyond their experience there were other times when they'd fished all night and had no success and the sun had come up and jesus said just one more cast of your nets and they said you know master we don't fish in the daytime it's not effective here but because you say bissell because the carpenter told us when to fish and that time jesus commanded the fish to strike the net it almost sank the boat time and again he met a samaritan woman and he told her her life story and it wasn't because he'd researched it on google and she understood it to be so authentic that she went and gathered the people from the town and said i have met a prophet you need to come meet him on the mount of transfiguration he took peter james and john jesus was changed and he had a conversation with moses and elijah if you don't know the chronology they had been dead for hundreds of years their physical body had been dead but they were very much real jesus had a conversation with them he demonstrated repeatedly in authority over demonic spirits in mark chapter 1 the first chapter of mark's gospel in the synagogue in capernaum there was a man who was demonized and jesus rebuked the spirit the spirit said i know who you are we know who you are nobody else in the synagogue knew who he was but jesus commanded the spirits to come out of the man and he was left in the synagogue whole of mind on another occasion around that same lake he he cast the demons out of a man they said there were many legion and a whole herd of pigs that the demons begged for permission to go into the pigs the pigs plunged down a hillside and drowned themselves in the lake again day after day event after event a power beyond anything the disciples had any experience with nor do we we're told of a woman who came who had a serious physical need that she'd had for many years without any awareness on jesus part whatsoever she simply touched the his garment the hem of his robe and she was healed and jesus recognized something that happened and he stopped and then began to look around the crowd and ask who it was that had touched him and she acknowledged the healing she had received he raised the dead back to life sometimes even without an invitation they were approaching a village at the end of the day it was time for rest and food and there was a funeral procession coming out of the city they didn't bury people within those city walls and it was a widow and her only son who had died jesus had that understanding and he had compassion on the mother and raised his son back to life no one asked nobody invited him imagine the power to restore life to those that are dead jesus had an awareness of the future he told his disciples on multiple occasions about things that were ahead of them perhaps most markedly he told him and finally before their last trip to jerusalem that when he got there what would happen to him all the events of his passion now this is by no means a complete listing but jesus clearly demonstrated a power beyond what you and i imagine to be the resources of our own physical selves and he's invited us into that realm we're not left outside of it we've been content to have bible studies and build theology and doctrinal positions and quibble about translations or styles of worship folks i would submit to you we need the power of god now god won't bother you with it if you don't care you know if you have accomplished things of significance in your life you have invested time and energy and effort to do so if you maintain your health it takes a daily commitment you consider every fork full you consider your activity schedules and regimens if you've accomplished things professionally you have sacrificed to do so it takes discipline and study and effort and commitment the overcoming of obstacles if you're parenting and you're rearing your children you understand the commitment it takes to see character formed in those young lives well why should we imagine that the resources of heaven and the power of god will be made available to us because we have some casual interest i believe god is asking us for more now if we list the remarkable expressions of power through jesus life i think it's important to acknowledge some of the things he didn't do because we imagine if you had that power there's some things that would just automatically follow out of that and it's a bit stunning to me what jesus didn't do he didn't abolish evil he didn't stop all the evil in the world he didn't expel the romans israel god's covenant people living in the land promised to them are being dominated they're under the authority of rome paying taxes to rome caesar's laws are being imposed upon them and jesus did nothing about that nor did he unseat the jewish rulers in their hypocrisy he pointed it out he confronted them he challenged them but he when his life was done when his days under the sun were finished the sanhedrin was still in place the sadducees and the pharisees and the scribes still held their place jesus did not expose every injustice he didn't eradicate poverty he didn't eliminate adversity from his followers lives the book of acts is the story of his closest friends after jesus ascended back to heaven and their lives are filled with challenges with physical threats with imprisonment some are executed some are murdered in the street i think well how can you reconcile the kind of power that can speak to a storm or raise the dead and yet your closest friends face that kind of harassment so we talk about the power of god we've got to think of it we've got to reconcile it we can't take easy answers it's not as if we're trying to recruit some heavenly benevolent uncle or benevolent relative just to diminish suffering in our lives but we'll need the power of god to complete the assignment we have and i believe we'll be evaluated for how we do that jesus didn't promise his friends a pain-free journey as disciples in fact quite the opposite he said in this world you'll have trouble but be a good cheer i've overcome the world jesus didn't end suffering so there's many things he did he showed us and there's many he didn't so we've got to roll all of that into this discussion this is not a simple thing if you're looking for simple answers for easy believism for for casual responses some kind of dust you can sprinkle over the problems of life and they'll melt this isn't the right place but if you have a sincere desire to know the power of god to understand his character in nature so that you and i can lead triumphant lives and fulfill his purposes for our lives then let's learn together there's some things i want you to compare and contrast just in your own thoughts i want you to begin to reflect on them we're going to work on this for a few days this isn't just a one session discussion i want you to think about the reality of both the visible and the invisible we we tend to be highly focused on what we can interact with with our five senses and i understand that it's normal but there's an invisible world that's every bit as real as the physical material world in which we live we've spent months now cowering before a virus that began in china you can't see a virus we can see its outcome and its impact well if you believe in a virus in fact if you fear a virus more than you fear god you need to consider your faith differently so visible and invisible then i'll ask you to think about spiritual and physical i understand the material world in which we live i believe in it i'm not suggesting it's not legitimate but the bible tells us that the spiritual world gave rise to the visible the physical world so we've got to understand a spiritual world more fully it's not hocus pocus it's not some mystical thing beyond us the god we worship the bible says is a spirit and we have to worship him in spirit and truth some of us have rejected it almost totally out of hand we haven't wanted to reject christianity but we wanted to reject any discussion about spiritual things we're more comfortable in the rational realm well i like both sides of the equation to balance as well i like a logical thread if i'm trying to get to a conclusion but i recognize in my life there's a need for solutions beyond what we're physically capable of we need outcomes beyond ourselves otherwise we simply become people who use a christian vocabulary but we behave like people who don't believe in god the solutions that plague us solutions to the problems that plague us as a people are not going to originate in the political realm they're not about parties or candidates or ideologies the needs in our lives are not going to be solved by economics or wall street the solutions will originate in the spiritual realm it makes god's people essential to these unfolding things in our world and then the third thing i want you to compare and contrast is time and eternity time and eternity eternity is not just a very long time there are two very different realms before we're done with this study at some point we'll stop and talk about them in in more depth but know this you will run out of time there's an end to time there's an ultimate end to time and there's an end to time for every one of us that's not some morbid threat there's ends to the seasons in our lives and every one of those seasons is something that we respond to in the context of our faith so time and eternity so three things visible and invisible spiritual and physical time and eternity just tuck those away as you're praying as you're meditating begin to ask the spirit of god to give you insight now i want to read a passage to you it's colossians chapter 1 verses 10 through 17. it's a little longer i want to read the whole passage and then we'll unpack it because it gives us instructions for walking with the lord i would like some of those colossians 1 beginning in verse 10 that you may walk worthy of the lord fully pleasing him being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of god strengthened with all might according to his glorious power for all patience and long-suffering with joy giving thanks to the father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light he's delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the son of his love in whom we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sins he's the image of the invisible god the firstborn over all creation for by him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth visible and invisible whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers all things were created through him and for him and he is before all things and in him all things consist i'm just going to use those few verses as a little bit of a a pathway for understanding walking with the lord the objective is in verse 10 it says that you may walk worthy of the lord in fact there's four things that are stated as the objective in this passage to walk worthy of the lord is the first one i want you to think with me just a moment about that what's it mean to walk worthy of the lord think of what jesus did for you and me think of the people who've made the greatest difference in your life spiritually what their lives represented the integrity they had the character that they had invested in the formation of what does it mean for you and i to walk worthy of what i'm not talking about attending church i'm not talking about fooling the pastor that's not hard he's not so clever it's not about impressing your neighbors one day you and i will stand before the creator of heaven and earth and we will have to review with him the life we led under the sun i want to submit to you that we want to walk worthy of the lord it's a question you want to think about reflect upon and then he says that we might be fully pleasing to him and think about that god being fully pleased with you it's almost beyond imagination and then it says that we can be fruitful in every good work that we can bear fruit in everything god created us for not occasionally not erratically but that we can fulfill fully what god created us to do and then finally that we can increase in the knowledge of god so there's this four-fold objective to walk worthy of the lord to be fully pleasing to him to be fruitful in every good work and to increase in the knowledge of god do you want to increase in the knowledge of god or do you think you know it all or do you think you know most of it you know how to be born again you know what it means to talk about a new birth or to be saved or to convert it you've been baptized do you think you've got your big business done with god i hope not i hope not and then in verse 11 paul describes the outcomes from those objectives as we begin to pursue them he tells us what god will begin to do in us it says that we'll be strengthened with all might according to his glorious power for patience and long-suffering with joy first he says we'll be strengthened with all might we'll be strengthened according to the glorious power of god see i think we're apologetic about the power of god we're almost reluctant to talk about it people think we're a little goofy they'll think we're strange you believe they think the power of god actually intervenes in lives absolutely don't you god's changed my life he continues to change my life if god hadn't intervened in my life i'm quite confident by this point i would have destroyed myself and you have stories of god's power you know it's true we shouldn't be reluctant we'll be strengthened according to his glorious power and then it says he'll do something else for us that in that strengthening he'll give us patience and the ability to endure in fact to endure greatly the this translation is the new king james it says long-suffering but but great endurance is the more modern translation of that but he said we can have great endurance with joy god's power will enable us to endure to overcome folks endurance is a part of this journey if you're not willing to endure you need to grapple with that you won't complete what god called you to without endurance endurance means it's unpleasant uncomfortable inconvenient you don't endure your vacation you don't endure dessert you don't endure a good night's sleep endurance means there's something that is distasteful that you want to pass quickly and it doesn't pass quickly enough so you have to endure and then in verse 12 we're given a bit more instruction we're told to be thankful in some very specific ways it says giving thanks to the father who's qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light he's delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the son he loves in whom we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sins so these are the things we're to be thankful for they have to matter enough to us to be thankful for if someone gives you a gift that you don't like and you don't care about you may be polite but you're not really thankful you didn't ask for it you don't want it you don't value it very much and i think one of the reasons that the power of god remains distant for us is we're really not particularly thankful for what god has given us because we didn't care that much about it we wanted to lose 10 pounds or we wanted an uptick in our income or we had some physical something we wanted and the things that god has done for us we haven't valued enough to really be thankful listen to what he's done he's qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light god qualified us we didn't qualify ourselves in fact we disqualified ourselves god intervened on my behalf and your behalf while we were still rebels enabling us to become partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light and then he delivered us from the power of darkness apart from the redemptive work of jesus darkness owns us it owns us or we may be managed to be polite for a bit or present ourselves in a socially acceptable way but we are given over to a destructive darkness that would totally devastate our lives and i'm thankful that god has delivered me he's delivered you doesn't mean we don't still live in a fallen world it doesn't mean that we're not engaged in a wrestling match we are with spiritual forces of wickedness but we have been delivered from the authority of the kingdom of darkness i'm thankful for that even on difficult days even in challenging days even on days when my heart is heavy or my circumstances are unpleasant i'm thankful i've been delivered from the realm of darkness and then third it says we should be thankful that we've been conveyed into the kingdom of the son we changed kingdoms hallelujah and fourth it says we should be thankful because in him in christ we have redemption redemption is a technical word it means to be bought out of a place you know if you pawn something you give the authority over that to somebody else and if you want to regain whatever you've pawned you have to purchase it out of that place well jesus purchased us out of the kingdom of darkness and the purchase price was his shed blood the imagery in the new testament is that jesus walked into the slave market where you and i were being sold as slaves to sin and he paid the price to redeem us from that devastating life i'm thankful for that you see we've been reluctant christ followers we've been a little embarrassed we've been a little ashamed we've had more enthusiasm for our hobbies or our life objectives or the house where we lived or the schools where our kids went or the clothing label was something and we've treated jesus as if he were kind of an embarrassing member of our family he's been so good to us he's been so kind to us he's shown us grace and mercy and then finally it says we should be thankful because through his blood we have been given the forgiveness of sins now why does that matter because if jesus didn't shed his blood for my sin i would have had to pay the price i would have faced destruction but jesus intervened on my behalf he paid a debt i couldn't pay that i might have a blessing that i didn't earn i'm thankful for that i will gladly bear the name of jesus i will gladly serve him i'll be an ambassador for him if he prefers whatever the assignment we serve at his pleasure it's the greatest gift of our lives you know if you've been locked up in the house because of the weather or your circumstances have been difficult i suspect there's a heaviness there's a sense of despair there's anxiety your routine has been disrupted you have been able to do some of the things perhaps you wanted to do let me encourage you begin to thank the lord maybe get up and walk around the house or if you're in a house full of people have to go to the bathroom and lock a door for a few minutes but say lord i want to thank you you've been good to me you've blessed me thank you that you called me out of darkness and you welcomed me into the kingdom of your son i thank you that through the blood of jesus all my sins are forgiven the ones nobody else knows about you know about him and you've made provision for him thank you father i praise you for it begin to speak into that darkness and tell the heaviness to go the fear to go the sickness to go the loneliness to go god has been good to us and then the last three verses in that passage give us some insight into creation speaking of jesus he said he's the image of the invisible god the firstborn over all creation for by him by jesus all things were created that are in heaven and are on earth visible and invisible whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers all things were created through him and for him and he is before all things and in him all things consist that's our lord he created everything and everything exists through him it was created through him and for him our lord is the head of the church today folks church is in something about architecture or meeting times or gathering places we are representatives of the king of kings and the lord of lords it says of jesus there that he's the image of the invisible god if you want to know more about god read the gospels and get to know jesus and secondly it says he's the creator of all things establish it in your heart my college career began in the basic sciences and it felt like to me that a a very significant part of those early seasons in learning was an assault on god as creator i had to reconcile in my heart that i believe god created heaven and earth there's a whole host of theories but nobody has any evidence why wouldn't i believe what god has said god's smarter than i am and i'm good with that thank god he's smarter than me we'd be in trouble if he weren't he's the creator of all things and then we're given a description of creation it's a revelation in fact without the revelation of god it would be impossible for us to know it included in creation etcetera heaven and earth again these there's this duality he created the heaven and the earth he created the visible and the invisible and then we're given a revelation of the organizational chart of the kingdom of darkness it says whether it's thrones or dominions or principalities or powers it's an org chart for the kingdom of darkness satan when we first meet him in scripture well we meet him in the garden of eden but when we learn the backstory we understand that he was an archangel a ruling angel and he rebelled against god and he lost his place in heaven and he was cast out so he borrowed the organizational structure that he'd learned in the kingdom of god and implemented it in the kingdom of darkness now why does that matter to you and me because if we're going to allow the power of god to be demonstrated in our lives we're going to have to understand the nature of the adversary we face we can't afford to imagine it's insignificant or it doesn't matter we folded our eyes like children and said well you know i don't believe in that as if that would protect us from the impact remember as a child sometimes being afraid at night you'd cover your head you'd pull the quilt over your head thinking that protected you whatever you were afraid of well many of us have huddled in our churches and we've pulled a statement of disbelief over our heads as if that delivered us from unclean influences or spiritual influences that we didn't like we can't afford that type of naivete or that faithlessness any longer thrones is the highest level of authority that we're given in the scripture we're told that god has a throne that those that will rule with him will have thrones thrones more than 24 times are mentioned in the book of revelation i want to celebrate communion but i want to give you one more point because i think it's significant this is just the beginning we're trying to get some foundational pieces arranged in this notion of the power of god and what's a raid against it because it's not a one-decided discussion it isn't just that god is good and he loves us it's equally true that there is a devil and evil exists and he hates god's purposes in the earth he's opposed it from genesis chapter one and he opposes god's purposes until he's ultimately judged in the at the conclusion of our new testament and you and i in our journey through time are not simply overcoming our own carnal challenges our own internal tendencies towards ungodliness we have to overcome evil in our world evil exists we can't hide from it you can't reason with it you can't negotiate with it the only thing that evil will yield to is a power greater than itself and if we don't believe in and have the capacity to let the power of god be made evident in our lives we are de facto surrendering to evil we're failing to be salt and jesus said if the salt loses its saltiness it's only good for one thing to be cast out and trampled underfoot so i don't really understand this to be optional it's mandatory for us and god in his goodness has given us this season for the new awakening let me give you two more verses and i'll wrap this up genesis chapter 1 and verse 1 it says in the beginning god created the heavens and the earth it's the first verse in the bible but there are two words that are plural in that verse that give us real insight into this unfolding story the word for god in that first verse is elohim the plural ending or one of the plural endings in hebrew is eem i am it's equivalent of english s so the word for god in that verse is plural it gives us a hint in the very opening chapter of god the father god the son and god the holy spirit the other word that's plural is apparent in english it's heavens it has an s the hebrew word is shama'im it has that same plural ending so we're told in the first chapter in the first verse of our bible about the godhead god the father the son and the holy spirit and that there's more than one heaven why do we care because it helps us understand the nature of the spiritual conflict in which we're engaged in second corinthians 12 and verse 2 paul writes he said i know a man in christ who 14 years ago was caught up to the third heaven well simply by the rules of logic if there's a third heaven there has to be a first and a second so there's more than one heaven again we're given that clue in the in the first verse of our bible i'm not going to unpack all the passages tonight but i'll give you the shorthand there's the heaven that is the the the the place of god's throne the place where god dwells and i'm not suggesting they're stacked spatially like a layer cake there are three different realms of existence there's the heaven that's god's throne then there's the mid-heaven and we'll look in a moment it's the seed of satan's authority when he was cast out of heaven the place of god's dwelling where did he go well he said in the book of job he he presented himself with the angels of god he said i've been going to and fro throughout the earth but that's not the seed of his authority we'll see it in just a moment then there's the heaven that the bible talks about that's the sky above us the heavens when the birds fly and then we see the clouds and weather makes itself manifest in ephesians 2 and verse 1 it says as for you you were dead and the transgressions and sins in which you used to live when you followed the ways of those of this world and the ruler of the kingdom of the air the spirit who is now at work and those who are disobedient satan is described as the ruler of the kingdom of the air you see the seed of his authority is in the heavenly places not the heaven of god's dwelling but in that mid heaven there's two words in greek that are translated into air in english one is the word for which we use air the other is the word from which we get ether the ether in greek is the upper atmosphere the highest levels of the atmosphere the word that we translate air the one that's used here is the one that's next to the earth's surface so satan is the ruler of the kingdom of the air that surrounds the earth it's important to know that satan is the ruler of a kingdom he's not an imaginary figure he's not the boogeyman that overly emotional people dreamt up a casual review of human history and the horrific things that we have done to one another for a whole multitude of reasons makes it abundantly clear that there is a force of evil operating on planet earth and you and i in this unique season have been called as ambassadors for the king of kings and the lord of lords to be salt and light to make a difference jesus came as the exact representation of the father to show us the power of the kingdom in which he was going to make it possible for you and i to become participants may i humbly suggest for too long we have quibbled about whether or not we believe in miracles we've debated far too often about whether or not we believed that god healed or whether we believed that we needed deliverance from unclean spirits we've taken those supernatural things and pushed them to the periphery of our faith and imagined that we could logically discover god well i'm an advocate for logic i love to study i like to learn but we will not fulfill what god has created us for without his power being made evident in our lives when we come to the communion table we don't just come for a historical point of reflection we don't just come to remind ourselves of the horrors of jesus suffering on golgotha or the triumph of his resurrection we come to appropriate the authority of the shed blood of jesus so that the power of god can be made manifest in our lives for whatever the challenges may be we maybe need a revelation of the character of god so that we don't give in and fail to persevere and overcome when the season we're in we may need physical healing we may need peace in our minds there's a whole diverse set of things on the cross jesus orchestrated a divine exchange he exhausted the curse of sin that you and i deserved that you and i might have the full blessings of his perfect obedience so i want to close this time we've had together by coming to that communion table i know most of us learned to do this at church and we had professional christians presiding over those events and that's not wrong or evil or wicked i understand that but it's not a requirement we don't have to be in the same room together we don't have to share the elements of communion that look exactly the same because it's not about us it's about the one that we worship and what he's done for us on that hill outside of jerusalem more than two millennia ago so i want to take just a moment before we come to the communion table and i want to be certain you have clarity on what we're asking god for tonight some of us no doubt need forgiveness perhaps it's some sin we have committed it may be we need forgiveness because we've held unforgiveness and anger or resentment some of us may even be mad at god we don't like the circumstances maybe the weather this week is inconvenienced to or caused you to forfeit something that that you'd been looking forward to many things some of us may have other challenges some of us may have someone we care about that's sick and we and we want to humble ourselves and ask god to intervene to to raise them up to let their symptoms abate let health return to their body that their body responds supernaturally to whatever it is that has attacked it some of us may need god's provision some of us may have been involved in things that opened our lives to to ungodliness to unclean spirits and we need to come in humility and repent of our sin and then through the blood of jesus thank god for his deliverance in our lives there is nothing that stands before us that is greater than the power that is within us hallelujah now that is good news we are more than attenders of worship services or polite bible readers we are children of the king and god has placed us here in this season to stand in the name of jesus and to let his power be made evident in our generation now what will we do well tonight we're going to come to the communion table and ask god to give us a revelation of himself that is more real than anything we've ever known what a privilege we have have you gotten your elements together yet if you haven't this is your last chance go grab a cracker and a glass of water you can use goldfish in the diet coke i just made the healthy people nervous whatever you have available it's adequate we're going to receive in faith communion isn't something that that was instituted by pastors or professional christians jesus on the night he was betrayed celebrated the passover meal with his disciples it was already already very much a part of jewish tradition and at the end of that passover meal jesus took a cup that had been reserved for the messiah and he took a piece of bread and he said this bread is my body broken for you he hadn't been to the cross yet but it was significant enough in the lives and the memory of the disciples that when they looked back they recognized what he had done that he given them a meal to remind them of his redemptive work and it's it's what jesus implemented that brings us to the communion table tonight so we take the bread and it reminds us of his body that was broken for us he offered his body as the punishment as the sacrifice for my godlessness my sin my rebellion and yours so that we might receive the blessing that was due his perfect obedience and he said as often as we eat this bread we do it in remembrance of him let's receive together and then he took that cup and he said this cup is a new covenant a new contract covenant is the most binding commitment in all of the bible and he said this cup is a new covenant sealed with my own blood as often as you drink it you proclaim my death until you see me again see it's not our good deeds that cause our sins to be washed away it's not our good doctrine or our clever ideas it's the shed blood of jesus christ and when you refuse forgiveness we're saying in essence you know i'm so unique i'm so special the blood of jesus isn't enough for me you have to forgive yourself too it's an important part of freedom so as children of the kingdom let's receive our cup tonight i'd like to pray with you before we go father i thank you for this time we've had together i thank you for your word for its truth and authority and power holy spirit we need your help awaken us to the reality of the kingdom of god beyond anything we've ever known we're not content to go through the motions of religion or church to simply be faithful attenders or faithful readers or kind people i pray you'll give us a revelation of the person of jesus his authority his power his kingdom that will change our journey through time may we not waste our days being consumed with things that are temporary but give us a revelation of your kingdom that will change the the enthusiasm we've had let your power be made evident in our lives as we've never known it before i pray for those tonight with great needs that you bring health to their bodies and peace to their minds and hope to their souls father i thank you for your great love for us and i thank you for your spirit that indwells us and for what you've done for us through jesus may our lives be pleasing in your sight for it's in his name we pray amen and before you go to sleep tonight you take a few minutes and thank god for what he's doing in your life not because everything's easy but thank him that you know who jesus is that you have a bible to read that we can worship together for whatever is on your thankful list you take time to push back on the heaviness god is bringing us the victory and in jesus name we will not stop god bless you hey this is pastor allen thank you for watching this video if you enjoyed it like it and most importantly share it with your friends if you want to be notified when there's new content we post new material if you'll just subscribe to my channel and hit the bell you'll get the notification most of all i pray god blesses you as you continue on your spiritual journey and open your heart to the lord god bless [Music] you

Channel: Allen Jackson Ministries

Views: 8,174

Rating: 4.9510703 out of 5

Keywords: Pastor Allen Jackson, allen jackson ministries, world outreach church, alan jackson, sermons, preachers, how to be saved, Finding Jesus, pastor allen jackson sermons, God's Power to Overcome Evil, How is the power of God at work today?, what is the power of God?, Power of God, Almighty Jesus, Kingdom of God

Id: LTUDsfIgPQU

Length: 44min 40sec (2680 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 26 2021