1 Alderwood Community Church May 15, 2016 There Is Nothing That God Cannot Handle! GOD IS: THE DOCTRINE OF GOD Ah, Sovereign Lord, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you. Jeremiah 32:17 Read Text: Ephesians 1:15-23 God can do anything. He knows no limit to His power. God is omnipotent, all powerful. His Hebrew name, El Shaddai, speaks to this power. The word Almighty in our English bibles is used 56 times and is never used to describe anyone but God. God can do anything effortlessly. A. W. Tozer wrote, Since He has at His command all the power in the universe the Lord God Omnipotent can do anything as easily as anything else. All His acts are done without effort. He expends no energy that must be replenished. His self-sufficiency makes it unnecessary for Him to look outside of Himself for a renewal of strength. All the power required to do all that He wills to, lies in undiminished fullness in His own infinite being. God can do anything He wants. Our God is in heaven; He does whatever He pleases. Ps. 115:3 God is good. He can do anything according to His infinite ability, but will only do those things that are consistent with Himself. That s why he cannot lie, or sin. Big Idea: You can through Christ. 1. The Expression of God s Power A. In creation. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, Let there be light and there was light And God said, Let there be an expanse between the waters and there was.. And God said Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place and let dry ground appear and it was so Genesis 1 By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath of His mouth. Psalm 33:6
2 I, the Lord, am the Maker of all things, stretching out the heavens by myself, and spreading out the earth all alone. Isaiah 44:24 Only God has absolute power to create. No artist can speak to his paint and create the Mona Lisa. A sculptor would be called a lunatic for standing in front of a mountain and commanding it to turn into Mt. Rushmore. Human beings cannot alter the course of nature or brings things into existence by sheer talk. But God can. His voice is almighty. We use the word creativity, yet no artist or inventor brings something into being from nothing. Man must have tools and materials before he can be creative. God began with nothing and made everything. We speak of this ability to create something out of nothing as ex-nihilo. (Latin) The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Psalm 19:1 B. In preservation. The Son is the radiance of God s glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful word. Hebrews 1:3 At this moment, God sustains everything in the universe. If God were to relinquish His sustaining power, we would cease to exist. Our lives depend on the constancy of the physical laws God has established. If God were to stop maintaining the law of gravity, we wouldn t be able to stay on the earth and would surely die. Or consider the sun. It has a surface temperature of 12,000 degrees Fahrenheit. If it were closer to the earth we would burn, if it were further we would freeze. Do you realize that our globe is tilted on an exact angle of 23 degrees, which enables us to have four seasons? If it were not tilted, vapors from the ocean would move north and south, eventually pilling up monstrous continents of ice. If our atmosphere suddenly thinned out, the meteors that s so harmlessly burn up when they hit our atmosphere would constantly bombard us. If the moon did not remain at its specific distance from the earth, the ocean tide would completely inundate the land twice a day. If the ocean floor merely slipped a few feet deeper, the carbon dioxide and oxygen balance in the earth s atmosphere would be completely upset, and no vegetable or animal life could exist on earth. Things don t happen in our universe by accident. God sustains it! For in Him we live and move and have our being. Acts 17:28 C. In resurrection. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead. Eph. 1:19-20
3 D. In salvation. God s display of power is frequently mentioned as clear evidence of God s commitment to his people and his power to redeem. The strong arm of the Lord delivered the children of Israel from Egypt with astonishing miracles. (Exodus 7:3-5, 8:19-20,22-23, 9:13-15, 10:1-2, 14:17-18, 31, 15:6-13). Later on in the book of Numbers we read that the children of Israel complained about the Manna. In Numbers 11:18-20, God responds to the Israelites complaint by telling Moses that He would give the children of Israel enough meat to eat for a month so that they would literally be sick of it. Moses questioned God s ability to feed 600,000 men and their families in the desert with meat for a whole month. And the Lord answered Moses, Is the Lord s arm too short? You will now see whether or not what I say will come true for you. Numbers 11:23 God s strong arm that delivered the children of Israel out of Egypt and fed them in the desert, is the same power behind the Gospel. I am not ashamed of the Gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. Romans 1:16 Being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:6 E. In sanctification. God s goal is to make you like Christ. (Read: Romans 8:28-29, Ephesians 4:11-13) For it is God who is at work in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. Philippians 2:13 God will never ask you to do something that he will not give you the power to do. 2. Our Experience of God s Power How does God s Omnipotence apply to our lives? A. When we need perspective. (Examples: The moral decline in America, Physical suffering, When God doesn t make sense.) When it comes to perspective, your starting point makes all the difference! Are you starting with your problem or with God? We need to be reminded, often, that God is able to do what He promised. If God is not omnipotent, then He would be powerless to fulfill this oft quoted promise: And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28 But God does have the power to pull this off!
4 I just want to remind you, that God is aware of what you are going through right now! He knows your finances, He knows your fears, He knows your insecurities, He knows your joys, you temptations and your concerns. He knows what is going on in America today and what is happening in this crazy presidential race. He knows. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, and His incomparably great power for us who believe. Ephesians 1:18-19 When we see ourselves as God sees us, it puts everything into perspective. B. When we are weak. (Examples: Anger being a single parent) I am the Lord, the God of all flesh; is anything too difficult for me? Jeremiah 32:27 For it is God who works in you to will and act according to His good purpose. Phil. 2:13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Phil. 4:13 B. When we are tempted. (Examples: Sexual temptation, Peer pressure on students to do what everybody else is doing. ) Greater is He who is in you, than he who is in the world. 1 John 4:4 No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it. 1 Corinthians 10:13 C. When we need to forgive. (Examples: In marriage, or when you face bitter disappointment in another person, are angry or hurt, or even betrayed.) Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us Ephesians 3:20 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. Ephesians 4:32 E. When we need to share the Gospel. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. Acts 1:8 (Acts 4:31)
5 Conclusion: Worship is the most appropriate response to God s omnipotence. There is a pattern at work in our experience and in the Scriptures. God reveals himself to us. We reflect on what he had done and what he has said. We then respond in heart felt worship. Worship involves: Focusing my attention on God. Expressing my affection to God. Using my gifts and resources for God. 1. We need to worship God because without it we can forget that we have an Almighty God beside us. 2. We need to worship God because without it we forget his calling and life a selfpreoccupied life. 3. We need to worship God because without it we lose a sense of wonder and gratitude. 4. We need to worship God because our natural tendency is toward self-reliance and stubborn independence. 5. We need to worship God because God is worthy of our worship.