"Exercising God's Power"
2 Corinthians 12:7-10
Sunday, November 11, 2012

Introduction: Example- A few years ago my brother decided that he wanted to run the L.A. marathon. A marathon, if you don’t know, is a race that is run, and it covers a little over 26 miles. To do something like this, you can’t just show up on the day of the race. You have to train; you have to exercise your body daily. You have to start fairly slow, running about 5 miles a day, and then slowly build up to 10 and then 15, and so on. As you train regularly, you begin to feel your body getting stronger, more powerful, more capable of harnessing the energy in your body.

            Last week we talked about how God’s power is evident in the world and should be evident in our lives. We talked about how God is all-powerful. We talked about how God’s power was demonstated through the life of Jesus. We specifically talked about how God has power over nature, sickness, death, and Satan. We began to talk about how God’s power is available to us. But how do we fully access this power; how can we exercise the power God wants to give to us?

This morning I want to talk about 4 keys to accessing God’s power!

I.                   I Must Admit My Lack of Power- (2 Corinthians 12:9-10)

           

a.      Humble ourselves- The first important lesson to be learned, is that to

access God’s power we must humble ourselves and admit that we lack power. Now, for some of you, that thought is a challenge, because you want to be independent; you want to do things on your own. You don’t want to think that you are not capable. For some reason thinking that you lack power makes you feel like less of a person.

            EX.- I can relate to this feeling, because as I was growing up, there

would be times when I would try to do things, and I would struggle. And my dad would see me struggling. But instead of coming over and trying to help me to do it, or teaching me how to do it better, he would just take over and do it for me. Consequently, I felt like I was incompetent; inadequate; not good enough.

            Maybe you feel this way. But the truth is, until you can get to that

place where you admit you have weaknesses/ that you don’t have the power to do it all on your own/ you will not be able to access the power of God!

            In 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 the apostle Paul says: “Each time He said,

‘My gracious favor is all you need. My power works best in your weakness.’ So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may work through me. Since I know it is all for Christ’s good, I am quite content with my weaknesses and with insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

b.      Help when things get heavy- OBJECT LESSON: Have a volunteer

curl a dumbbell, press it over their head. Not too difficult. Then have them hold it straight out to the side.

            Life is like this weight. There are many things in life that are easy enough to do….get out of bed and get ready for the day, shop for groceries, drive to work or to do your errands, even make many of the decisions that have to be made. That is like curling the weight. There are other things in life that are a little more challenging, and yet we are still capable of doing it on our own….making dinner, taking the car in for new tires, balancing the checkbook, and so on. This is like pressing the weight over your head………Ask the person holding the weight how they are doing.

            But, there are some things in life where we need more power: overcoming the temptations in our life, understanding what God wants us to do in life, being strong in our faith and believing/   when things are hard. WALK OVER TO THE PERSON AND HELP HIM WITH THE WEIGHT. As the person struggles, if I give my strength, my power to him, he is more able to sustain the weight.

            This is what God does for us. When we admit we need God’s power, we put ourselves in a place to ask and then receive God’s power!

II.                I Must Believe By Faith- (Mark 9:23)

a.      A God who can do the impossible- Have you ever had a situation in

your life, where things seemed hopeless? You might even be in a situation like that now. It is a hard and lonely place to be. There doesn’t seem to be answers. There doesn’t seem to be a way out. The more you think about it, the more it seems impossible. I HAVE GOOD NEWS FOR YOU…WE BELIEVE IN A GOD WHO CAN DO THE IMPOSSIBLE.

            Examples- 1. In the Bible we read how Abraham and Sarah were promised by God that they would have a child. But they didn’t have one for the longest time! At age 99 for Abraham and age 74 for Sarah, it indeed looked hopeless. But God made Sarah pregnant, and she had a son at the age of 75!

                        A second example is that of Daniel, who disobeyed an order from the king, and worshipped God even though it was forbidden. Because of this he was thrown into a den of lions to be eaten. The lions, who were very hungry, began to approach Daniel, but he prayed to God for protection. God closed the lions’ mouths and kept Daniel safe.

                        Third is how after Jesus had died and was resurrected, the followers of Jesus began to start small home churches. This angered the religious leaders, and one leader named Paul personally went around from city to city killing the Christians. It looked quite despairing for the church. But on one such trip, God spoke to Paul, and rebuked him for what he was doing. He then blinded Paul. A few days later God sent a Christian man to Paul to heal him of his blindness. Paul put his faith in Jesus, and had a new purpose in life; starting churches! Because of this, what seemed hopeless, impossible, became possible.

            Mark 9:23 says: “Anything is possible if a person believes.”

You might say, well those are just Bible stories. What about God doing something like this today? God still does the impossible today: I have seen many such miracles, but here are just a few……

b.      God’s power seen in miracles-

1.      I’ve mentioned this several times, but it is such a wonderful example of

God’s power at work, that I love to mention it over and over. It was a little over 10 years ago when Margaret Jones went into the hospital. She was having trouble with her heart, and soon after, her kidneys began to shut down. After a few more days she got weaker and weaker, until one day I got a call from her daughter Leslie that she was in ICU, doctors couldn’t do anything more…..I went and prayed with her, she was still alive the next day….struggled the next 3 months, most of which she doesn’t remember….then received full healing, and just celebrated her 90^th birthday not too long ago!!!

2.      Over thirteen years ago I came to this church. It was struggling at the

time, hadn’t grown in many years. It was searching for direction and vision and purpose. Some in this church even believed that the Presbytery was going to close it down. But when I came, the leadership of this church and myself began to pray, and seek God’s presence, and admit our weakness, and call out for God’s help and power, and I can confidently say that this church is alive and making a difference for God in this community! While we are struggling financially, we are still making a difference for the kingdom of God!!

3.      In my time here at Community Presbyterian I have seen God help us

make budget at the end of most every year. This has included God bringing the AT&T antenae’s, the Day Care rent, as well as the rent from Iglesia Primer Amor. However, for the first time, last year we didn’t make budget. And even though we are around 4,000 – 5,000 dollars short a month, we have a nice surplus in the bank that helps us to keep going. This was given to us a couple of years ago by Vera Knight when she passed away. This money is helping us to do ministry in this time of shortage. This money is allowing us to look at the status of our church, and ask God where He is calling us next.

            I believe even the opportunity we have to maybe merge with Christ Presbyterian Church is a miracle from God.

            FAITH is believing even when you can’t see a way out. FAITH is believing that God can do the impossible. And when we have faith, we have access to the power of God in our lives!!

III.             I Must Talk Like I Believe God- (2 Corinthians 4:13)

a.      Thinking positively- Have you ever noticed that when you are down,

when things seem hopeless, your talking becomes more cynical and negative? It is very common. When we feel down, we talk more negatively. We have less energy, desire, and direction. We stumble through life; we go through the motions.

            Example- One area of my life where I see this is when I am playing golf. Someone once said of golf: “Golf is a nice walk/ ruined by a small white ball.” Golf can be a frustrating sport. There are so many things that have to happen for you to play well. You have to have the right grip, the right positioning, the right turn, you have to keep your club straight, you have to bring your hips and your shoulders through the swing together, you have to bring your hands through as you complete the swing, and make sure you don’t just stop. Unfortunately, often when I play, I have periods when I struggle with my swing, and it starts to affect my score negatively. When this happens, I start to get frustrated and talk negatively. The more I do this the worse my swing gets!

     To break this I have to start thinking and talking positively again! I have to think about how to do it the right way. I have to remind myself it is a game and I am there to have fun and enjoy my time with the people I am with!

b.      Excited about your faith- This is true of our Christian faith. You can

Tell the difference between someone who is excited about their faith and someone who isn’t. Someone who is excited about their faith will talk positively even when things are down. We need to follow these words: “I must talk like I believe God.” Why? Because when I talk like I believe, in time I will believe my words. When I talk like I believe, I will live like I believe.

            As the apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:13- “But we continue to preach

                        because we have the same kind of faith the psalmist had when he

                        said, ‘I believed in God, and so I speak.’”

Example- There is a true story of a high school football team that was down by 30 at halftime. Of course you could imagine how frustrated the players were. As they walked into the locker room, they had long faces, they moved slowly, there was no energy, their heads were down. They were acting like the game was over and that they had already lost. The coach walked in and immediately reprimanded them. He showed great energy and gave them a pep talk like no other. He demanded that they hold their heads up, play their hardest, believe that they could win…And you know what? The team won!

     When we talk like we believe, we put ourselves in a place to receive God’s power.

IV.              I Must Act Like I Believe God- (Joshua 3:14-16)

Lastly, we must act like we believe God. We can’t just have faith. We can’t even just have faith and talk about our faith. We have to act out our faith. There is a great story about this in the Bible, in the book of Joshua. Now to set up this story in Joshua 3:14-16, you need to understand that the Israelites had been freed from slavery from Egypt. They had been in the wilderness for 50 years waiting for God to bring them to the promised land and make them a nation unto themselves. They had faced many challenges: poisonous snakes, lack of food, lack of water. And even though God had continually met their needs, they still had times of doubting and complaining. As we get to this passage in Joshua, we see that Moses has died and Joshua has become the leader.

            They finally get to the place where they can see the promised land, but they have to cross the Jordan river. They were told that they would follow the priests (who were carrying the Ark of the Covenant) across the river. The problem? The river was fairly deep and a quick flowing river. It was not an easy river to cross. But God had promised to dry up the river so they could cross. However, it wouldn’t happen until the feet of the priests touched the water. Let me read Joshua 3:14-16 for you…

            “When the people set out to cross the Jordan, the priests who were carrying

            the Ark of the Covenant went ahead of them. Now it was the harvest season,

and the Jordan was overflowing its banks. But as soon as the feet of the priests, who were carrying the Ark, touched the water at the river’s edge, the water began piling up at a town upstream called Adam….And the water below that point flowed on to the Dead Sea until the riverbed was dry. Then all the people crossed over near the city of Jericho.”

Did you catch that? “As soon as the feet of the priests…touched the water at the river’s edge” the water started to recede so that they could walk across dry land! This tested the faith of God’s people. This was a time when they had to act out their faith.

For God to bless us and give us His power, we have to act out our faith. Could you imagine being the priests? They not only had to believe that God would dry up the river, but they had to put their feet in this deep, fast flowing river before God acted, while carrying the heavy Ark of the Covenant. It is quite common for God to wait for us to act like we believe before He begins to act.

Conclusion: Let’s take a moment to review. The 4 keys to accessing God’s power in our lives are: admitting our lack of power and believing that God’s power is there for us. Believing by faith that God can do anything. Talking like we believe, which leads us to act like we believe.

If this were a test, how would you score? Do you live in this way? Can you admit your lack of power and acknowledge that you need God’s help, God’s power in your life? Do you believe that God can do the impossible? Do you talk like you believe so that you might act like you believe?

            This isn’t a magical formula. But what it is, is a pattern of behavior that leads us to God, leads us to trust God. This behavior puts us in a place of humility and faith that enables us to receive God’s power in our lives. I hope that you would take the outline that is found in this bulletin, take it home, and review it through the week, and practice these 4 keys on a daily basis. In no time at all, you will see God’s power working in and through you! Amen.