Posted January 4, 1999
"THERE IS POWER"
Acts 4:33
There is something about power. Everybody wants to
be around it. A policeman in Hendricks County who is
responsible for public information and working with
the public went to his boss and said he needed a CB
that would reach at least 50 miles, because he talked
to people in Marion County a lot.
Well, his boss went to Sears and got him what was
suppose to be the most powerful CB made. When this
officer put it into his car, he could not get Marion
County. So he took it back to his boss and told him
it would not do the job. His boss told him that it
might be better if he took it back to Sears so he
could explain the problem. When the officer took it
back he told the salesman his problem and the
salesman told him he had a special CB, that was the
most powerful set ever made. He told the officer
that there were 3 buttons on the front of the radio
and that #1 should do all that he desired. However,
if it didn't, he could use #2, but under no
circumstances was he to use #3.
The officer took the radio back to the station and
installed it in his commission. When he was finished
he turned it on and gave it a try. With the #1
button pushed he keyed the mike and gave a call. The
voice on the other end said, "Come back good buddy,
you've got the Windy City" Wow, he thought, Chicago
on the first try. So he decided to give the #2
button a try. He keyed the mike and gave a call and
the voice on the other end said, "Come back good
buddy, you've got Tokyo. Wow, this was great, Japan
on the second button.
Now came the test, could he resist that #3 button.
The answer was quick in coming. He pushed #3, keyed
the mike and gave a call. All at once there was
smoke and sparks coming out from under the dash and
the officer said, "O my Lord" and a voice said, "Come
back good buddy....."
He had a powerful CB.
I repeat, power is exciting. You buy a car because
it is powerful, you don't want to buy a car that runs
like it has asthma. You want to pull up to a red
light and take off, so that it moves the paint job
back when you take off.
Power. You turn too much of it loose and one of my
friends on the Hendricks County Sheriff's Dept. we
have you. They have powerful cars. I know.
You go to the Super Bowl. Why? Because there are
two powerful teams out there. 22 powerful men
committed to killing each other. You pay big dollars
to go see that. Socially exceptible violence.
Spilburg has a movie out right now called the "Last
Cruscade, in search of the cup of Christ" Why?
Because they are talking about the power of eternal
life. One drink from the cup and you have
everlasting life. I've got good news for you. You
don't even have to go to the movie. You can have
everlasting life in Jesus Christ before you leave
here this morning.
We have that power.
What about the church? It was God's intention that
the church be saturated with supernatural Holy Spirit
annointed power from day one.
He said to His disciples, "Go into Jerusalem and
terry until you be indo with power" Acts 1:8 "You
shall receive power..." say that with me "power",
after the Holy Ghost has come upon you." The source
of supernatural power for the N.T. church is the Holy
Spirit. Hear this, without the H.S. in the church,
the church is nothing more than a religious Rotarian
organization. It is nothing more than a religious
country club. Until we come to Christ in repentance
and receive again, the power of the Holy Spirit and
become supernatural again, it will never meet the
challenge of the 90's. Oh, yes, many have received
Christ, and at that moment they received the Holy
Spirit and His power. But we have lost it, not the
Spirit, but the power. Wow, to have that power
again. But it is not the work of one person here, it
the work of all.
If the sin of one person can cause defeat at Ai, when
Acan sinned. The sin of one person can withhold the
power of the Holy Spirit to fight the battles we have
ahead of us. Lord send the old time power until we
have the ability to give Jesus Christ the glory and
the honor and the power, due unto His holy name.
Jesus said, "All power is given unto me in heaven and
in earth." This is a gospel of power. The Lord's Prayer says, everytime you pray it, "For thine is the
kingdom, the POWER and the glory [for how long], for
ever and ever"
God's power didn't run out at the upper room. It
didn't end at the resurrection. It is still
available to those who will go to an upper room of
prayer and stay there until. The Spirit filled
church has been given power over demons. It has been
given power over disease, we have power over death.
We have power over hell, we have power over the
grave. We have power to tread on serpents. We have
power to walk over all the power of the enemy, Paul
says. We have power to win victory in this life thru
Christ. We have power to be more than conquerors
thru Christ Jesus. We have power, wonder working
power thru the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. We
have power thru the blood of His cross.
Lord Jesus saturate the church with power again that
we may have another pentecost.
Now understand, power frightens people, and power
gets you in trouble. And power brings persecution,
and we are going to talk about that today.
But my prayer is, "Lord God send to this church the
power of the Upper Room, the secret power of the Holy
Spirit. Power not for egomania, but power for
evangelism. Power to ignite our dead, dull, anemic
spiritual lives till everyone of us become an
evangelist for the Lord Jesus Christ" Power that
will shape us, power that will stir us, power that
will break us, power that will mold us, power that
will make us a supernatural church.
Let me read the text so that I can start preaching.
Acts 4:33, "And with great power gave the apostles
witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and
great grace was upon them all."
Lord Jesus, show us your great power, let us
experience the power of the Upper Room for evangelism
and may great grace be upon us. In Jesus name we
pray...and all God's children said, "Praise the
Lord".
The secret power of the Upper Room. The power of
pentecost, but so strong that when Peter preached
3,000 were converted the first day. Peter prayed for
the cripple at the gate called beautiful and he
leaped and walked with the power of God.
The New Testament Church had so much power that they
brought the sick out of the houses and laid them in
the street and when Peter walked down the
street,.....listen to this.....his shadow on their
sick bodies caused them to leap and to say, "I've
been healed by the power of God"
How many of you know that's exciting? You line up
people who are sick on the sidewalk to your house and
just let your shadow pass over them. You wouldn't
have any trouble building up your home ministry. Not
at all....they had power. Great grace was upon them.
What's grace? Grace is God's unmeritted favor. How
many of you have ever received God's unmeritted
favor. I wouldn't be here if it weren't for God's
unmeritted favor.
Do you want God's grace? Do you want God's favor?
I'm suggesting that if you'll find yourself an upper
room, and tary until---you'll have God's grace. I'm
also suggesting that if you don't talk to God, in
what we call prayer, and if you don't have a daily
time of communion with God....there is not
expectation, no reason on this earth why you should
have any sort of relationship with God.
There is saving grace. There is living grace. There
is praying grace. There is dying grace. There is
loving grace. There is giving grace. There is
amazing grace...that we sing the song about, "How
sweet the sound.." God's grace is sufficiant for any
trial. But if you don't talk to Him, if you don't
fellowship with Him, if there is no time of being
with Him in the Word of God, if there is no time of
praying together....there is no way that you can have
any sort of relationship with God.
Let me immediately say, that power brings
persecution. Power brings persecution. Persecution
is absolutely unthinkable to the average American
Christian. We want to think about being BRIGHT,
BROTHERLY AND BREEZY and accepted by all. Preacher
tell me how I can be happy without being holy. Tell
me how I can gain the Crown without carrying the
cross. Tell me how I can prosper without being
obedient. Tell me how I can get to heaven without
any kind of disciplined Christian life. That's what
I want to hear.
But when you read the New Testament, that's not in
there. There are people now who are saying that the
church should get along with everything and
everybody. I want you to hear this, it comes from
the Greek translation, BALONEY....
There is a new message of unity coming out. I'm for
unity. I'm for believers getting together. The
question is, around what? If we gather around the
Word of God, if we gather around the centrality of
the Cross of Christ. Than, I'm ready to gather. But
if we gather around a thin cretenism of our
theological conscepts, and we gather around our ego
mania, and our humanism,.....I'm not ready to gather.
No, I will not cooperate with everything that comes
to town. Because if it doesn't bring glory and honor
to Jesus Christ, I'm not going.
The church should not get along with everything and
everybody, because Jesus didn't. It's a comfort to
me that Jesus didn't get along with everybody. I
didn't say He didn't love everybody, because He did,
but He didn't get along with everybody.
From His very first sermon He made people mad. From
His very first sermon there where groups of people
plotting to kill Him. Think of this. Jesus, meek
and mild, Son of God without sin, .... yet there were
10 plots to kill Him, and the 11th one, the calvary
conspiricy, succeeded. Please understand the
crucifixtion of Jesus wasn't the uprising of the
Jewish people, it was directed from Roman from A to
Z. Herod was a Jew and he was placed in authority by
Rome. He no more represented the Jewish people than
I do. Herod had the Sandhedren killed and he
appointed Ki-a-fus the high priest. Ki-a-fus and
Herod put together with Roman money the Calvary
conspiricy to have Jesus Killed. WHY?
Because this Rabbi was feeding 5,000 out of a boy's
sack lunch and if you can feed 5,000 out of a sack
lunch, you can mustard an army and feed them with
nothing. If you can raise a dead man back to life,
any wounded soldier can get up and follow you
forever.
Can you see what Rome saw in this Man. They didn't
kill Jesus Christ because He was some pious little
puppy Rabbi out on the side of the sea of Galilee
speaking pious religious platitudes. No sir. They
killed Him because He was powerful. They killed Him
because when He spoke things happened.
Paul went to jail, no because he was a good author,
he went to jail because there was power in what he
said and what he did.
Peter did not go to jail because he was not socially
accepted, he went to jail because there was power in
what he preached and the words that he proclaimed
under the annointing of the Holy Spirit.
If Jesus managed to get along with everybody, how did
He manage to get Crucified.
Oh, the world is now more Christian in the 20th
century than it was in the first century that lived
in a pagan society. You know the difference between
the 1st century and the 20th century, is that the
pagan are now in the church. That's all. A true New
Testament Church will arouse as much opposition now
as ever. And the church that is going along to get
along will be here to go along with the Anti-christ
when he gets here and that won't be too long.
Opposition, yes opposition. There is not one thing
in this Book that suggest that times for Christians
will get easier and easier. As a matter of fact it
suggest the opposite.
2 Timothy 3:12 says, "Yea, all who live godly in
Christ Jesus will suffer persecution." How many?
ALL!! As the church of Jesus Christ rises to power
it will face the forces of hell and we will be
victorious!! It will not be easier, it will be worse
and worse. Jesus said, "If they hated me, they are
going to hate you"
You say, "I have a hard time receiving that" go to
Matthew 5, the B-attitudes. Jesus said, "blessed are
the pure of heart, blessed are the meek, blessed are
they that hunger and thirst after righteousness,
blessed, blessed, blessed, blessed, blessed, and then
the 9th blessed are you when men shall revile you and
persecute you and say all manner of evil against you
falsely for My sake."
Jesus said, after you've been meek, after you've sote
righteousness, after you've cleaned up your life,
after you've got divinely annoint with God's
presence....the world is not going to receive you,
the world is going to hate you. And they will say
things about you that is an absolute lie.
Rejoice and be exceedingly glad. Don't roll out your
lower lip [whippy] "I just suffered for Jesus"
Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your
reward which is in heaven.
Brother, if Jesus was persecuted, if Paul was
persecuted, if Peter was persecuted, I want you to
know that there is no reason why the 20th century
church should expect anything but that. And it is
the direct result of power. Power.
Mark my word, Satan has his forces ready, he's
preaching his gospel, acid rock groups are singing
his music, teachers all over America are teaching his
counterfet gospel. There is an attack on your home,
there is an attack on your marriage, there is an
attack on your children in the public school system,
there is an attack on your peace of mind. There is
an attack on your health. There is a consentrated
attack on your finances. There will be an attack on
your time---time for what. Time to serve God. I
never in all my life heard so many people say, "Oh, I
just don't have time to serve God." "I don't have
time for choir practice, I don't have time for music
committees, I don't have time for Bible Study, I
don't have time for Sunday School."
MAKE TIME---I REPEAT, MAKE TIME!! Repeat it with me,
MAKE TIME. If you love God you will. If you love
the Lord more than anything else in this world,
you'll make time. The devil is ready for a fight,
let's give him one.!!!
It is time for the church to stop running around
wringing its hands wondering what the devil is doing,
and time for the devil to have a nervous breakdown
wondering what we are going to do next under the
annointing of the Holy Spirit.
We have the power of the Word of God. It's not my
power, it's His power. We have the power of the
Blood of the Cross. I want you to know that Satan is
terrified at the power of the Blood of the Cross.
Mention the name of Jesus and every demon in hell
starts having a nervous breakdown.
We have the authority that God has given to every
believer. I have given you the authority. Jesus
said, "I have given you the authority to be a
witness." "I have given you the authority to annoint
the sick" "I have given you the authority to cast
out evil spirits" "I have given you the authority to
be indued with power and if you're not, it's because
you don't want to be."
Every person in this room this morning has as much or
as little of God as you want. God is not a respector
of persons. He will give you all the power you are
willing to pray for and to receive. Tary until you
be indued with His power. When you want power enough
to fast and pray for it. When you want power enough
to make Jesus Lord of all. When you want power
enough to walk in holiness. When you want power
enough to walk according to the dictates of God.
Power does not come because you want it, it comes
because you are obedient to the Word of God.
It's not a miracle. It's the only thing that can
happen. If I take a tray of water and place it in a
deep freeze, where the temperature is below 32
degrees, it is not a miracle that the water turns to
a tray of ice. It is the only thing that can happen.
When you start to become obedient to the Word of God,
it's not a miracle that power starts happening, when
you become obedient, it is the only thing that CAN
HAPPEN!!
Do you want power? Do you want God's power? Do
you?!! Do you want it enough to pray? Do you want
it enough to fast? Do you want it enough to obey?
Do you want it enough to crucify your own will? Do
you want it enough to crucify all those areas of your
life that have not been given to God?
Or do you want to go to church, sing a song, give 2
bits and pray you miss hell. There is a difference.
There are a lot of Christians that will be in heaven
with the smell of smoke on them. The Bible says
that. You know the Bible speaks of the 30 minutes of
silence in heaven when we get there, everybody up
there is going to be going .
There is a difference between living with POWER, and
living with some religious experience. The Bible
says "to resist the devil and he will flee from you".
[repeat that with me]
The Bible says, "Greater is He that is in you than he
that is in the world". Who is that talking about.
It's talking about the Holy Spirit being in you. God
the Holy Spirit in the Uppper Room went into the
disciples. Jesus was around the disciples, God the
Holy Spirit now lives in us. Where 2 or 3 or us get
together we have the lassoed lightning power of the
Holy Spirit that can break loose and make anything
glorious happen, because the annointing of God is
there.
We are in a spiritual warfare and compromise with the
enemy, God says, is treason. The Bible says, "what
fellowship has light with darkness" James 4:4 says,
"know ye not that to be a friend of the world is to
be an enemy of God" Most Christians would be
offended if you looked them in the face and said,
"You are an enemy of God" Those who do not recognize
that, it is called treason.
A church that co-exist with evil may be called a
great church by a humanist mind, but God thru John
the Revelator said it was no more that an apostate
church, waiting for the incarnation of the anti-
christ upon the face of the earth.
I want you to hear me, Satan's messiah is soon to
appear, he is the anti-christ. He will come as a man
of peace, he will come from Greece, Seria, Turkey or
Egypt. That 4 fold area that Alexander the Great
controlled. He will bring the world into prosperity,
he will then take over the city of Jerusalem and set
himself up as a god. On this earth he is going to
have a church---that church will begin to preach a
doctrine that men can become gods. That church will
begin to believe in anything other than Jesus Christ.
And I'm telling you right now that that church is
already on the earth and it is functioning and when
Satan's messiah, the anti-christ appears he will have
an enormous hoard of people ready to crown him lord
of all.
It's not going to get easier, it's going to get
harder, but it's going to be more exciting than ever.
Don't become depressed, become excited, rejoice and
be exceedingly glad. That first church had power, it
had grace, it had fear. Why? Because Ananias and
Sapphira where struck dead in church for lying. If
that happened in America, the obidtuary would be as
thick as a phone book.
They had great persecution and they had great joy.
Acts 8:8, "And there was great joy in that city."
How many of you are not joyful? Let me see your
hands, now be honest. Jesus is watching. So is your
wife, your husband. Do you lost your joy because you
called suicide prevention and they put you on hold.
You lost your joy because you sank your teeth into a
sandwich and they stayed there. You lost your joy
because your back goes out more than you do.
Why? The Bible says, "The fruit of the spriit is
joy" Say that with me. [repeat] There is not a
word in here that says "chase joy and you'll have
joy." Joy is a by-product of a relationship with the
Holy Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is "Love, joy
and peace" But stay with joy. Joy is a by-product
of my relationship with the Holy Spirit. Nothing can
make you joyful. Getting married won't make you
joyful. If you are not happy when you walk up the
aisle, you won't be happy when you walk out the
aisle. There is nothing about a new maid, a mortage
and a mother-in-law that can make you happy.
The joy of the Lord is yours, and you get joy from a
relationship with the Holy Spirit. I want to suggest
that that long soar face you have is not because you
are a cerebrial Christian and you know more than
anybody else, it is because you are a soarpuss of
the highest order and are so out of fellowship with
God that you can't spell joy.
Your not with it, you've lost it and you lost it so
long ago that you don't know where you lost it. So
set back and realize that until you rediscover your
joy, you don't have it. Joy is a by-product of a
relationship with the Lord. Joy does not depend on
the circumstance. In the N.T. they were crucified
upside-down, they were fed to the lions. Wives
received their husbands cut in half. How many of you
know that would ruin your day. Yet they had great
joy.
The Bible says, "Behold I bring you glad tidings of
great joy" The Gospel is Good News! I'm telling
you the world needs good news. The good news is,
there is everylasting life in Jesus Christ. The good
news is, my sins are forgiven and there is a new
beginning in Jesus Christ. The good news is we are
the sons and daughters of the most high God. We are
somebody and we are going someplace. This world is
not my home!
But are problem is we want to hear the For-us gospel.
What God can do for us. I want to tell you, if Jesus
never does another thing for you, He's done enough at
the cross. Now He's trying to do something in you.
I'm tired of those who would kick God in the shins
and demand that He perform according to our dictates.
God will do what the Word of God says He'll do, and
nothing less and if it doesn't bring glory and honor
to Him it is not of Him. The For-us gospel.
Joy is found in obedience. John 13:17 says, "If you
know these things happy are you if you do them" If
you know what? Know the will of God. Joy comes from
abeying the will of God. John 15:11, "These things
have I spoken unto you that my joy might remain in
you and that your joy may be full." How full?
Totally full!!
The power of the N.T. church swept the Roman world
off of its feet because it had a joy that thrived on
trouble and prospered in persecution. In the 20th
century our joy depends on what happens--but the joy
of the Lord is there regardless of what happens.
Do you want God's power? Do you? Do you want it
enough to pray? Do you want it enough to obey? Do
you want it enough to endure persecution?
If they threw the members of this church into jail
for spreading the Gospel, would you be arrested? Do
you want joy enough to make Jesus Lord of all? Do
you want that power? God wants you to have His
power. But you're going to have to go to Jerusalem
and tary until. Not until you get hungrey. Not
until you get tired. But tary until you hear from
heaven and God changes your life.
Can we stand? I want you to know that God's power is
available to you, but it's only possible as you pray
and obey and seek God's face thru the power of His
Word. Why the organ is playing, how many here today
can say, "Pastor, I want to experience God's power.
I'm a Christian, but I'm a luke warm Christian. My
commitment has faded out. But there was a time that
I was very devoted to the Lord, but today my
spiritual commitment to Christ is luke warm,
compromising, anemic, and I want today to make a
stand for Christ. Can I see your hands right were
you are. Be honest with God. God says, the luke
warm I'll spew out of My mouth. Going to church
won't get it. Its the consecrated life that makes
the difference.
Pray this prayer with me here. Lord Jesus Christ, I
ask you to forgive me of all my sins and to cleanse
me of all unrighteousness. I today make You the Lord
of my life. And I pledge to be Your servant. I
denounce the kingdom of satan. And I step by faith
into the kingdom of righteousness. Jesus is now the
Lord of my life and I receive His joy and in Jesus
name let my joy remain and let it be full & I now
receive it. In His precious name I pray. Amen
Now that you have prayed that prayer, come forward
and make it complete by declaring by your coming
forward that Jesus is the Lord of your life, as we
sing the hymn of invitation.
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