Church 2/23/2025
Sermon message:
Today could be a change in our lives if we lock in.
Thesis: The right response releases God’s power.
This includes the right attitude.
Isaiah 1:19
If you are willing and obedient,
You shall eat the good of the land;
2 Corinthians 9:7
So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.
Story of Joshua leading the Israelites in following God’s instructions in conquering Jericho.
Our response can release the power of God in all areas of our lives.
Consider Abraham when he believed God when He told him he would have a child in his old age.
Consider Abraham’s wife Sarah. She believed also.
Consider Moses as he was standing before the Red Sea. He believed also.
Believe the word of God.
Do what the word of God says.
Do what the word of God says with a right attitude.
Then the power of God of will move.
Point #1: Believe when we meet together it releases God’s power.
Hebrews 11:6
But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
Hebrews 10:25
not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.
Matthew 18:20
For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.”
God is here at church when we gather.
Hebrews 13:8
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
Point #2: Jesus went to church.
Luke 13:10
Now He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath.
Hebrews 13:8 again
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
Point #3: Jesus ministers to the hurting at church.
Luke 13:11-13
11 And behold, there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bent over and could in no way raise herself up. 12 But when Jesus saw her, He called her to Him and said to her, “Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity.” 13 And He laid His hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God.
Hebrews 13:8 again
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
Point #4: Jesus explains the Lord’s day is a great day to release God’s power.
Luke 13:14-16
14 But the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath; and he said to the crowd, “There are six days on which men ought to work; therefore come and be healed on them, and not on the Sabbath day.”
15 The Lord then answered him and said, “Hypocrite! Does not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or donkey from the stall, and lead it away to water it? 16 So ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound—think of it—for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath?”
Point #5: The Bible explains prayer meetings release God’s power.
Acts 4:23,31
And being let go, they went to their own companions and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them.
And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.
Suggestion: when holding a prayer meeting, leave an empty chair for Jesus to sit in.
Point #6: Let’s believe when we meet that God’s power is released.
Mark 9:23
Point #6: Let’s believe when we meet that God’s power is released.
Mark 9:23
Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”
Matthew 18:20 again
For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.”
Hebrews 13:8 a final time
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
Note after sharing the sermon: Lately I’ve seen more devotionals in my Bible app talking about practicing being peacemakers in difficult situations and loving difficult people. My thoughts toward these topics tend to be toward avoiding having to actively do these things. I can love difficult people from far away, I say, and I can do it by praying for them and wishing their good. And it is true - we must forgive others and pray for their good.
And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you. Ephesians 4:32, NKJV
However, I had a great phone conversation with someone later in the day that I love and miss dearly. (I won’t reveal this person’s identity because I believe that the content of our conversation as it pertained to practicing God’s Word is too valuable and precious not to share with you all.) A few of the verses from this sermon applied here:
not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. Hebrews 10:25, NKJV
Although the person with whom I spoke has professed faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of God and as his Savior and Lord, he has been very resistant to attending a church at all, let alone regularly. As such, I find the below verse to be of help so that the above verse doesn’t turn into a condemnation:
For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.” Matthew 18:20, NKJV
I didn’t set out to think of it this way, but I brought church to him (via the telephone). Another way where God showed up was a bit earlier in the conversation when we were beginning our catching-up, one of the things this other person led off with was his dislike, worry, and fear of our country having a second term of Donald Trump as president. And as he rattled off the different things that Trump and his team have been doing, I was disappointed to hear that he had a problem with each of the different things. All I could do in the moment was give a light grunt periodically to acknowledge his statements. (For the record, I voted for all this and am very pleased, knowing the truth about what’s really going on. But that’s not the point of today’s post.)
During this time, I was praying and asking God to give me something to say (I wasn’t particularly interested in revealing my cards to this person) -- and toward the end, I felt Him give me an opening. The person with whom I was speaking then said a line that, although I wholeheartedly disagree with it, it provided me insight as to one of the spiritual root causes. His line was that he wholeheartedly believes that Donald Trump is “deranged.” Having become familiar with TDS (Trump Derangement Syndrome), myself, I felt God allow me to see a couple things: 1.) although this person and I disagree on where the derangement is truly coming from, we both agree that there is indeed derangement. 2.) Off the first point, I can understand where the fear comes in.
As a person who largely prefers to be non-confrontational, my tactic is deflection. I didn’t want to get into an intellectual discussion about Trump -- something which tends to be conservatives’ first response (and unfortunately, a terrible tact if one is also trying to witness Christ to non-believers or even people who have professed faith but may not show many of the fruits of it) -- and so I focused on the fear from a spiritual angle and went into attempting to encourage this person via a couple Bible verses that, as I shared and explained them, I indicated that these tended to help me when I find myself in a similar place. The two verses were as follows:
casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. 1 Peter 5:7, NKJV
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Ephesians 6:12, NKJV
I shared the first of the above verses to encourage the other person on the line that we not only can ask God for help, but we are also bidden to cast our cares on Him and not try to carry them for ourselves. The other part of that verse I note is the second half which says that God cares for us. This includes people who for some reason or another think Trump is evil and are scared. God invites them to cast that burden on Him as well. (From my vantage point, the thought “Trump is evil” is a lie from the pit of hell and is as such an undue burden; but the overarching point about casting all our burdens on Him, regardless of what they are, still stands.)
I brought up the second verse simply because it popped in my head. I didn’t have a specific agenda in the moment while on the call, but upon further reflection, I see more how this verse was to play a role in the ministering I was attempting to do. Regarding the mutual point of agreeing that derangement currently exists in our country’s politics (while disagreeing on its origins let alone its current location), I felt like sharing the verse from Ephesians opened up a larger opportunity (which I took) to defend Paul’s writings. The person on the other line in the past has expressed extreme skepticism regarding the validity of Paul’s epistles as true Scripture (while defending the Gospel accounts). The above verse opened up this general topic about Paul, and our conversation soon moved to another point that I felt God lead me to bring up another verse to hopefully soften my fellow’s heart on him as well (first, the context; second, the highlight):
and consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation—as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures. 2 Peter 3:15-16, NKJV
in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures. 2 Peter 3:16B
I remember when this verse first jumped out to me last fall -- Apostle Peter stating that Apostle Paul can be hard to understand! When I shared that with the person with whom I was sharing the phone call, he had a good laugh at that (I suspect he may not have ever heard this verse before, himself!). But I also made sure to point out the second part, that many people twist Paul’s words (just like the rest of the Scriptures). It’s common to twist (even unintentionally) what we do not understand. I’m sure that I have been guilty of precisely this (regardless of whether it’s Paul’s epistles or anywhere else in the Bible). It’s why humility is paramount. I hope I show that I can be humble and admit when I’m wrong. It’s also another layer with my spiritual wrestlings with certain individuals in my life the last few years. Not that I had never experienced it before, but until the last year, I was in the longest such season of my life being surrounded by -- and having to endure -- people who not only don’t admit when they’re wrong (including when confronted) but then somehow expect me to still trust them, let alone as any kind of advisory role in my life.
I want to interrupt myself to say something positive about the worship leader at my church: he’s humble, he’s gracious, he listens, and he still demonstrates the strength as a leader to make the final call regarding songs, the keys of the songs, and other music-related or personnel-related decisions. I confess I had some private anger at him regarding a personnel-related decision that was looming (the particular decision was short-term, but the underlying issue is longer-term and has stemmed back a few months already) -- but we had a great communication session where I was able to express what I needed from him, and he was able to state his thoughts as well on everything that was going on related to the situation. The bottom line was that we came to an agreement quickly. Praise the Lord! This is a leader I want to follow. Yes, sometimes I do need to be put in my place (that didn’t happen here, but it could at any point if necessary). But a person that is humble, gracious, who listens, and still does his job, that is someone I will respect and follow any day. Praise the Lord, indeed, for this man. After he and I chatted, I made a point to tell his wife who was right there how awesome her husband is.
And this moment was like a switch flipped for me: prior to it, I was in the midst of my wrestlings with all the various thoughts I was wrestling with, and then we had church (with the above sermon, to boot), and then the conversation. I couldn’t help but contain the gratitude and joy inside afterwards! Praise the Lord!
It was from this overflow place that I had the privilege of the aforementioned phone call where I was able to encourage the other person on the line in the Lord. Our discussion continued from the above regarding Apostle Paul and his epistles, where I shared my journey with a particularly challenging verse for me (Philippians 4:13, which I’ve talked about on this blog quite a few times) and how I’ve since been able, with God’s help, to come to terms with it and start to receive it.
Our conversation moved on to other things, and before we knew it, we had been on the phone for well over two hours! But I share all this to say that I got to experience glimpses of God’s power being released in multiple different instances on the rest of this day, and God gave me a roadmap for what loving difficult people looks like. Some of the people I do love and care about are difficult maybe not for me but for yet others to love. I think about the person I was on the phone with; as a non-Trumper, he and others I know would be very difficult for Trumpers I know to practice love, and vice versa.
Praise God for breakthroughs! And praise God for breakthroughs yet to happen!