Power

[B-A-C]

It seems the world is all about power. More horse-power. More political power. More star-power.
More buying power. More wifi-power. More cell-phone power. More power to influence others.

The Bible talks about a certain power also. It's a power we as Christians can have.,

Acts 1:8; but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth."

Acts 6:8; And Stephen, full of grace and power, was performing great wonders and signs among the people.

Rom 15:18; For I will not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me, resulting in the obedience of the Gentiles by word and deed,
Rom 15:19; in the power of signs and wonders, in the power of the Spirit; so that from Jerusalem and round about as far as Illyricum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ.

Rom 15:13; Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Eph 3:16; that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man,
Eph 3:20; Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us,

There are several more verses about this, but you get the idea. When the Holy Spirit comes upon us, we
receive a certain "power". It's a power we don't have without the Holy Spirit.

The Bible talks about those who overcome, and trees that bear good fruit, and those who die to their previous sinful natures. It also talks about certain people with the power to prophecy, do miracles and healings. It says we as Christians can have that power. The same power that raised Jesus from the dead.

Now of course we can't do any of those things on our own power. We can't bear fruit without Jesus, we can't overcome without Jesus, we can't do miracles without Jesus, we can't cast out demons without Jesus.
Jesus is the vine, and we are the branches... we can't do anything without Him.

Maybe you've never healed anyone. Maybe you've never prophesied. That's OK. But what about the more basic things? How is your fruit? Have you been overcoming? Or has the world been overcoming you?
Have you quit doing certain addictive sins, or are you living the same exact way you were before you got saved?

The Bible warns about certain people who deny God's power.

2 Tim 3:1; But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come.
2 Tim 3:2; For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy,
2 Tim 3:3; unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good,
2 Tim 3:4; treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
2 Tim 3:5; holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these.

What about you? Do you love yourself more than others? Do you love money? Are you unloving?
Are you without self-control? Are you conceited? Do you love pleasure more than God?

There are people who call themselves Christians, but deny the power of being a Christian.
Not so much by what they say, but more so by their actions (or in many cases, inactions).

Even if we are attached to the vine, we are still capable of bearing no fruit it's that what we want to do.
Even with the power of the Holy Spirit helping us, guiding us, and "empowering" us, we are still capable of not being overcomers if we resist the Holy Spirit hard enough. We are perfectly capable of going back to
the vomit and pig-sty of sin we can from before we got saved.

So the question is... are you using this power available to you? Do you have the Holy Spirit within you?
If not, what are you going to do about it?

John 3:5; Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

A lot of people claim to have the Holy Spirit within them, but you never see any evidence of it. Now of course I haven't met most of you personally and I don't know you, so I can't judge whether you have this evidence of power within you. But God knows, and you know too.

1 Jn 5:5 ; Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

No one can overcome without Jesus, but there are many who claim to know Jesus who have no power.

Rev 3:8; 'I know your deeds. Behold, I have put before you an open door which no one can shut, because you have a little power, and have kept My word, and have not denied My name.

Rev 2:26; 'He who overcomes, and he who keeps My deeds until the end, TO HIM I WILL GIVE AUTHORITY OVER THE NATIONS;

Rev 3:21; 'He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.

Do you have this power inside you? Are you using it or denying it? Is there any evidence of it?

1 Thes 1:5; for our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction; just as you know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake.

2 Tim 1:7; For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.

1 Pet 2:24; and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.

Jesus died to give us this power. How are you doing?

 

[B-A-C]

I do occasionally watch the news sometimes. There is a lot of talk about Muslim refugees entering much of Europe. It seems many are
depending on the politicians to change this or do something about it. But what is the church there doing about it? Now it could be God's
will that they come into these countries and get witnessed to. It could also be God's will that they don't come in such large numbers that
they simply over-power the local communities. Either way it seems many who call themselves Christians are afraid. What are you afraid of?
Where is the power of the church? Where is the power of the Christians in Europe?

It is starting to be a similar situation in the US. Many are afraid of what might be coming, many are running around. I say let them come.
Is their God more powerful than my God? Let's put it to the test. Why are they killing so many Christians? What are they afraid of?

 

[Hekuran]

This is a huge issue. Thank you for raising it.

First, an aside on refugees in Europe. Most churches in the UK, where I live, are broadly in favour of welcoming refugees to our country on the biblical grounds of compassion and of welcoming the stranger. This is despite a real terrorist threat. Thousands of refugees risk their lives to escape war and despotic regimes and we have a responsibility before God to care for them. I believe that betraying our faith by acting out of fear and hardheartedness is a greater danger than being overpowered by Muslims. (To discuss this, perhaps we start another thread?)

My observation on power is the way it we wield it. Look at the life of Jesus and of the apostles. The Christian way of handling power is directly opposed to the world's way. Very simply, the way of the world is to use power to gain dominance over others. Jesus' way is to use power to serve and lift up others.

There are myriad examples, but how about Jesus' final miracle before he was crucified, Luke: 22? He healed the cut ear of the High Priest's servant as he was being arrested.

“The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves. For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves."
Luke 22:25
​

 

[Lanolin]

Hmm could be another showdown what happened with like Elijah and the prophets.

I have known and worked with quite a few muslims. They can be quite tricky to witness to because they have preconceived ideas about christians and Jesus. And many operate on bribery, so sometimes if you do a kindness they take advantage of that.

But I think the church can definitely make inroads especially with translations of the Bible in arabic and farsi etc because islamists are quite literate people, well they have to be to read the Koran. Many want to read the Bible too but they dont have access to it. When people see the difference between what the koran says and what the Bible says its as stark as night and day.

Theres other ways to witness but if you dont have the Word of God how will new believers be discipled? It needs to be in their language.

 

[B-A-C]

Theres other ways to witness but if you dont have the Word of God how will new believers be discipled? It needs to be in their language.

Hmmm.. that could almost be a Bible verse.

Rom 10:14; How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?
Rom 10:15; How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, "HOW BEAUTIFUL ARE THE FEET OF THOSE WHO BRING GOOD NEWS OF GOOD THINGS!"

There are of course many Arabic Bibles, and even some websites that have Arabic Bibles on-line. But the word needs to be accompanied with power.

Acts 4:33; And with great power the apostles were giving testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and abundant grace was upon them all.

I wonder if we Christians sometimes take the resurrection of Jesus for granted. We hear it so much it's kind of lost it's power to us.

Rom 1:4; who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord,
Php 3:10; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death;

There is power in the resurrection.

 

[Lanolin]

Well some people try and deny that Jesus Christ came in the flesh.

And also theres people who are really anti tongues and dont believe that can happen today.

And these people say they are christians. Well they may have biblical knowledge and can quote lots of scripture but satan can also quote it and get it totally wrong.

 

[Lanolin]

There are many professed christians sadly who dont believe in the resurrection...they actually ask to be cremated. And a common reason given is because they dont want to be eaten by worms!

 

[B-A-C]

I recently posted a thread about a woman with a crippled arm being healed. Hardly any likes on it, I didn't think I would get likes for myself, but I thought I would get some for God's power in the healing.

1Cor 2:3; I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling,
1Cor 2:4; and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,
1Cor 2:4; so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.

1Cor 4:20; For the kingdom of God does not consist in words but in power.

The apostle did a lot of miracles. Healed the lame, and even raised the dead. They didn't do this by their own power, it was by the power of the Spirit.
It's hard to deny God exists and has power when you see these things happening right before your eyes.
Yet many in the world today deny God. Is it because many in the church deny God's power?

2Tim 2:1; But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come.
2Tim 2:2; For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy,
2Tim 2:3; unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good,
2Tim 2:4; treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
2Tim 2:5; holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these.

There are people who believe in God, up to a point... but they don't believe in miracles, healings and prophecy. We are even told to avoid these people.

Mark 16:15; And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.
Mark 16:16; He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned.
Mark 16:17; These signs will accompany those who have believed: in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues;
Mark 16:18; they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

Jesus said these signs will accompany those who have believed. He didn't say these signs will only accompany the apostles... He said those who believed.
Where in the church today? Where is the power today?

Acts 1:8; but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”

Jesus said we will receive "power" when the Holy Spirit comes upon us. Do you have this power? Do you have the Holy Spirit?