PLUGGING INTO GOD'S POWER Jeremiah 32:17 Rick Warren Jeremiah 32:17 "Lord, you have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for You!" "I pray that you will begin to understand how incredibly great His power is to help those who believe Him... the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead." Eph. 1:20 (LB) 1. WHERE WE USUALLY NEED GOD'S HELP Power Shortage #1: Getting Started! "I often find that I have the will to do good, but not the power!" Romans 7:18 (Ph) "No matter which way I turn, I can't make myself do right. I want to, but I can't." (LB) "... how to perform that which is good, I find not." (KJV) The solution: Trust God to give me the "For God is at work within you, giving you the will and the power to achieve His purpose." Phil. 2:13 (Ph) 1 Cor. 1:27; 2 Cor. 3:5, 4;7 Power Shortage #2: Keeping Going! "I am worn out, O Lord... Give me strength; I am completely exhausted, and my whole being is deeply troubled." Ps. 6:2-3 (GN) (Solomon) "I looked at everything I had tried, and it was all so useless, a chasing of the wind, and there was really nothing worthwhile anywhere." Eccl. 2:11 (LB) The Solution: Trust God to give me the "The Lord is the everlasting God... He never grows tired or weary... He strengthens those who are weak and tired. Those who trust the Lord for help will find their strength renewed." Isa. 40:28-31 (GN)
2. HOW TO PLUG IN TO GOD'S POWER 1. (Paul) "God said to me, "... where there is weakness, My power is shown more completely,' Therefore I have cheerfully made up my mind to be proud of my weaknesses, because they mean a deeper experience of Christ's power... For my very weakness makes me strong in Him!" 2 Cor. 12:9-10 (Ph) 2. in faith. "Everything is possible for him who believes." Mark 9:23 "According to your faith it will be done to you." Matthew 9:29 3. in faith. "With that same spirit of faith, we also speak because we believe." 2 Cor. 4:13 (GN) 4. in faith. "When the priests... put their feet in the water, the Jordan River will stop flowing... " Joshua 3:13-14 (GN) 3-ii
PLUGGING INTO GOD'S POWER Jeremiah 32:17 Rick Warren This is one of my favorite Sundays of the year because we have several hundred of our ladies up in the mountains at the women's retreat and I always like to see what the kids wear on this Sunday, when Dad's dressing them. I've noticed over the last couple of years, a lot of the best sellers have to do with the theme of power -- how to get power, how to use power, how to keep power. It seems like now every week there's a book coming out on how to dress for power. There's a book out now on how to eat for power. You can watch the "Hour of Power." I'm going to write a book on how to shower for power! It seems that our society has an increasing sense of powerlessness, that events are out of control, that my life is out of control, that I'm being shoved along by forces that I can't control. All of us get stressed out in different kinds of areas. Maybe you feel powerless to change a situation at work. Maybe you feel powerless to change a relationship. Some of you might say you feel powerless to break a bad habit or to get out of debt or to get your kids to behave (especially if their mother's up in the mountains!). That makes me think of a cartoon I saw recently. The psychologist is talking to a client and says, "Did this fear of being an insignificant, dominated, powerless, pipsqueak come on you suddenly or did it just happen normally with marriage and parenthood?" Today we're going to look at "Plugging Into God's Power". We're in the series, "Strength For Stressful Times". The fact is, God has all the power that you need. Jeremiah 32:17 "Lord, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for You." Circle "nothing". That's hard to comprehend but nothing is too hard for God. He never gets frustrated. God never says, "I wish..." He just does it. There's nothing too hard for God. I read the other day that the sun puts out more power in one second than we have used up in the entire history of the human race. That's how powerful it is. The sun has enough power to burn for the next thirty-two billion years. Yet the Bible says, "Lord, You made the heavens." If the sun is that powerful, we have no idea of the awesome power of God. It's incomprehensible. God has an amazing bountiful supply of power that we can't comprehend. What's even more amazing is that He wants to share that power with you. Ephesians 1:20 "I pray that you will begin to understand how incredibly great His power is to help those who believe Him, the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead." God says "The same power that I used to create the universe, the same power I used to raise Jesus from the dead, I want to share with you." When do I need to plug into God's power? A couple of times.
1. When you're having a hard time getting started. How many of you were ever paralyzed by procrastination? Do you ever know you need to do it, want to do it, have to do it, got to do it, but you still postpone it? Sometimes you just can't get motivated to get started. When you feel that way, welcome to reality. Even the Apostle Paul felt that way sometimes. Romans 7:18 "I often find that I have the will to do good but not the power." Have you ever felt like that? I want to do the right thing but I just don't have the ummpf to get going. "No matter which way I turn I can't make myself do right. I want to but I can't." King James Version says, "How to perform that which is good, I find not." Circle "perform". All of us are called on in different stages in life to perform tasks that require more time, more energy, more effort, more intelligence, more giftedness than we have. At that point you need God's power to get started. What do you do? What's the solution? The solution is trust God to give me the power to begin. Philippians 2:13 in the Phillips translation "For God is at work within you giving you the will and the power [Circle "will" and "power"] to achieve His purpose." God has a plan for your life. He gives you the will -- that's the desire. And He also says, I'll give you the power to do it. God never asks you to do something He won't give you the power to do. Once you've gotten started then you need power in another area. 2. When you need power to keep going. Do you ever start on something, get halfway through the project and have doubts? Psalms 6:2-3 (Good News) "I'm worn out, O Lord. Give me strength. I'm completely exhausted. My whole being is deeply troubled." For some of you, that's a life verse. You're just wiped out. You need power to get going, and you need the power to keep going. You need the power to perform and then you need the power to persist. I read this week that the average homemaker walks 1,037 miles per year at home -- chasing little feet around. Ecclesiastes 2:11 Solomon wrote this, in the middle of his mid-life crisis, "I looked at everything that I had tried and it was all so useless, a chasing of the wind, and there was really nothing worthwhile anywhere." Do you ever get too tired to care? You are just so zapped, fatigued, drained, that you wonder, "Is it worth it all? Is it worth the effort?" What do you do when you feel like giving up? You trust God to give you the power to persist, to keep on going. Isaiah 40:28 "The Lord is everlasting God. He never grows tired or weary. He strengthens those who are weak and tired. Those who trust the Lord for help will find their strength renewed." Notice and underline "God never grows tired". Because God's power is unlimited, He never gets tired. He never gets fatigued. He never says, "I don't want to talk now." It's amazing, but He never runs out of energy. Doesn't the Bible say that God rested on the seventh day when He created the world? Yes, it does. But the word "rest" isn't the same word that we mean. It means that He just finished His task. It means 3-2
He completed the job so He didn't have any more to do then. He certainly 3-3
wasn't tired. The Bible says He spoke the world into existence. So when God rested it just means He's through doing whatever project He's doing. He's not tired. That God has unlimited energy is good news because He gives me the power to get going and the power to stay going. Notice v. 28 says God energizes those who trust Him. He strengthens those who are weak and tired. Do you ever need the strength of God? Sure you do. v. 31 says, "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles, run and not be weary, walk and not faint." I'd have to say that the last couple months of my life have been incredibly busy. One thing after another. Just this last week I spoke to a couple thousand people at the Crystal Cathedral, then I had an all-day meeting with the pastors of the 35 largest churches in America, then I came back and had staff meetings and planning and preparations, then an all- day conference with Peter Drucker at his home, in management. Incredible things. I ve been getting ready for the trip to Australia when our mission team goes there. Yet I find that this scripture renews me day by day, that when I start to feel fatigued and tired, I say, "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength." Some of you say, "That sounds good. But it doesn't work for me. I'm a Christian, I'm a believer, I love God, but frankly, I'm fatigued all the time. I'm worn out. I'm stressed out. I don't see God's power in my life." I would say, You're probably right. In fact, I would say that many Christians are just as defeated as unbelievers when it comes to having God's power in their lives. It's not automatic. Just because you're a child of God does not mean you're going to have God's power in your life on a consistent, regular basis. It's not automatic. There are some things that you must do to plug into God's power on a moment by moment basis so you will have strength in stressful times. That's what I want to talk to you about this morning. Four keys on how to plug into God's power. 1. ADMIT MY LACK OF POWER. I admit that I need help. That's the first thing. I admit that I need help, that I am powerless. The problem starts when we think we're omnipotent. We think we're God. We think we can keep on adding and adding to our schedule. You keep piling on because you think you're God. God says, No, you're going to get into trouble that way. When you think you can handle anything on your own power, the result is stress, tension, pressure and frustration. That's really what mid-life crisis is. Mid-life crisis is when you wake up to the fact that you have limitations, that your body does not go as fast as you'd like it to go, that you do not always think as quickly as you'd like to think, that you do not have as much energy as you think you ought to have. You start facing up to your limitations that you are not God and that you cannot control everything that happens in life. 3-4
Look at what God says. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 "God said to me, `Where there is weakness, My power is shown more completely.' Therefore I have cheerfully made up my mind to be proud of my weaknesses because they mean a deeper experience of Christ's power. For my very weakness makes me strong in Him." He's saying that as long as you pretend to be self- sufficient that you're going to short-circuit God's power in your life and you're going to go around operating on less of the capacity that you were meant to operate for. The starting point to receiving God's power is just to admit it. I'm a human being. I have weaknesses. Many times on Sunday morning I get up, come in to church, walk in here, I'm thinking, "I'm going to talk to three, four, maybe five thousand people. What in the world am I doing? Who do I think I am? What do I have to offer these people?" I have a real sense of inadequacy and a sense of what can I offer. When I think about the task of communicating the good news... And when I think about the eternal implications that happen in this building every Sunday morning and when I consider my personal accountability to God for what takes place, I could become weak with fear. But I find that if I take these steps they make a difference. What I want to tell you today is not theory. It's stuff that I use on a daily basis. The first thing is I admit my own weaknesses. Paul says, I glory in them. I'm proud of them. The more I depend on God, the more God can show me what He wants to do in my life. 2. I BELIEVE IN FAITH. Notice it says in Mark 9:23 "Everything is possible for him who believes." That's the only condition. One of my favorite verses is Matthew 9:29 "According to your faith it will be done unto you." God says, "You get to choose what I do in your life." "According to your faith it will be done unto you." You get to choose. You get to choose how much God blesses you. You get to choose how much power God pours into your life. You get to choose how many things you get accomplished. "According to your faith it will be done unto you." The key to personal power is faith. What are you expecting God to do in your life this next week? Have you even given it a thought? What are you expecting God to do in your life in the next seven days? He's going to do what you expect Him to do. First admit, "Lord, I need help to face this next week. It's going to be tough -- with my husband, with my wife, my kids, my work, my school, my friendships, with the sales I've got to close, with the deadlines I've got to meet. It's going to be tough. God, I admit I need help. And I'm going to believe in You to help me." "According to your faith it will be done unto you." This is the principle: Believing in faith. Because everything is possible for him who believes. Since God's got unlimited power, we shouldn't limit our expectations. It's no difference whether you need a dollar, ten dollars or ten thousand dollars to God. Since God is omnipotent, the size of your request makes no difference at all. Some of you say, "I could believe God for a little bit but I couldn't 3-5
believe Him for a lot." Why? He can do either just as easy since He's all powerful. The issue then is not how big is God or what can God do. The issue then is your faith. What am I expecting Him to do? How much am I going to trust Him for? I got a letter this week that I thought clearly explains this idea. "Over the past three months we've completed classes 101, 201, and 301. The major take away from these classes has been one key word -- commitment. The Lord pointed out several areas of our lives that have needed to grow through stronger commitment to a local church and to other principles. While I could write a novel about how great we feel about being members at Saddleback, my purpose is to share a story about faith. "The November 18, 1990 service found my wife in the hospital and me listening to the message on Facing Financial Fears. I was challenged by the fifth point on `If I practiced the law of the harvest, God will meet my needs.' Our family, under my leadership and example, was sowing sparingly. The fact of the matter is, `wasn't sowing' would be more accurate. Our finances had gotten to the point that even an $80,000 a year salary could not keep up with the `I want' spending. How can you get into trouble with so much money? Like anything else, spending taken to the excess is a disease. The good news is there were no gambling debts or expenditures on illegal substances. The bad news is that even though we had big money, we had big bills. "At Thanksgiving, over prayer, my wife and I gave a Thanksgiving offering that quite honestly wiped out our savings. Our prayer was really quite simple, `Heal our finances and our budget.' Through the month of December we were determined to tithe ten percent no matter what. How do you add $750 debt to a budget that already begins the month in deficit spending? Is there wisdom in cutting finances intentionally short? You can imagine the fiery darts that we were hurled. But God said it and I believed it. Period. "It was very tough but we did it. I say tough because the $750 was being looked at the wrong way. What we learned was that it was not a debt load but instead, an opportunity provided to us to be part of building the kingdom. Our hearts were changed about giving and now our attitude toward tithing was correct. "It's now three weeks into the New Year and I'm called into my boss's office and told of the corporate decision regarding wages. `Not unlike many businesses today we've decided to freeze wages for all our employees.' My heart sank like a rock. I was due for review on January 2, '91 and had been counting heavily on the increase. As my boss explained the decision to freeze all salaries, he ended by saying that he'd also submitted an adjustment in my salary to add $6000 a year. His rationale was to make my salary higher than the heads of two of my districts which earned the same amount as I did. These two men are 25 and 30 year employees while I have only 15 years with the firm. "It was in this meeting that your words from the Sunday service came back to me loud and clear, `You cannot outgive God.' God knew the time table in advance. Behind our commitment to tithe and because of our obedience to His word, even when it seemed impossible, He blessed and healed our 3-6
finances. Is it hard to believe that I was the only employee in our corporation that received an increase? No. Not really. I know different. With God all things are possible. He did it this way so we would know it was His work. It's going to be an exciting growth year and we're thrilled to find a new home at Saddleback Valley Community Church. We're looking forward to deepening our relationship with the Lord and discovering our service area in the church. Thank you." What's the point? "According to your faith it will be done unto you." You get to choose how much God blesses your life. You want to believe God a little, you see little results. You want to believe God a lot, you see a lot of results. God says, "According to your faith, it will be done unto you." I admit that I am weak -- relationally, financially, physically, emotionally, spiritually -- any of those areas. Then I say, "God, I'm going to believe in faith that You're going to help me." 3. SPEAK IN FAITH If you're going to see God's power in your life to any significant degree, you must change the way you talk. You not only believe in faith, you speak in faith. It's absolutely essential that you verbalize it. 2 Corinthians 4:13 "With that same spirit of faith we also speak because we believe." You need to announce what you're expecting God to do. Announce it in advance? Exactly. That sounds like a goal? Exactly. Goals are simply statements of faith. Every time you say, "We believe God wants us to accomplish such and such or do such and such by such and such a time" that's a statement of faith. James 3 says that your tongue controls your life. It compares it to the rudder on a ship. Giant ship, little tiny rudder, yet that little rudder determines the direction of that giant ship. The Bible says that your tongue is the rudder of your life. The way you talk influences the direction of your life. What you are saying determines what you're going to get. What are you saying about your marriage? What are you saying about your finances? What are you saying about your health? Some of you have been praying for God to change things in your life, but you keep reinforcing the negative by the way you talk about it. You say, "My marriage is the pits!" And guess what? It is. "My kids are hopeless!" And they will be. "I'm never going to get well." And you probably won't. "I'll never be able to change." And you won't. You have to change the way you believe and you have to change the way you speak to appropriate God's power in your life. The Bible says nothing is too hard for God. That with the same spirit of faith we not only believe we speak because we believe. So I believe in faith, I speak in faith. Then the last thing I do... 3-7
4. I ACT IN FAITH. When I need God's power to make it through a stressful time I act in faith. What does that mean? That means you step out in advance before the power is released. God wants you to take an action of faith before you feel anything. If you wait until you feel it, it's not faith. You must act as if you have the power and then and only then are you going to get it. If you don't practice this principle, you're cutting off God's power in your life. You act the way you need to be and watch the power come. That's what faith is. You don't wait for a feeling. You move ahead in spite of your feelings. Feelings cause so many people to miss out on what God wants to do in their lives. Example from Joshua. When they were crossing the Jordan river it was at flood stage. God was going to have to do another miracle like He did at the Red Sea. It says "When the priests put their feet in the water the Jordan will stop flowing." They had to step out in advance. God didn't make the river stop flowing and then they walked. They had to step into it and then the miracle came. If you want to walk on water, you've got to get out of the boat. You've got to take a risk. Miracles happen when you take the first step. You say, "I believe in giving to God if He'll give to me first." God says, "No. You prime the pump." Many of you think you're waiting on God to answer a prayer. Actually you're not waiting on God. He's waiting on you. He's waiting on you to take the first step -- believe in faith, speak in faith, and act in faith. Power is withheld until you make that first decision. It's a deliberate choice. You say, "You're saying I've got to act as if a thing is so, even though it isn't so, in order that it will be so." Right! That's what faith is. Acting as if a thing is so, even though it isn't so. If you wait until it is so to believe, is that faith? No, It's gratitude. Acting as if it's so, even though it isn't so in order to believe it's so. In any area. So when you've got a problem, a power problem, a power shortage in life you say, "Lord, I don't have the power to do this task. I don't have the power to make it through today. But I'm going to act as if I do and I'm going to speak as if I do and believe as if I do." Then God will put the power in. That's the way it comes. Let's say tomorrow night, a man s coming home from work. He's beat, stressed out. He's had fights with the employers or the boss. He's had sales falter. He's stressed out. He's been in traffic for an hour. He's absolutely zonked. He comes up to the front door. He doesn't want to talk to the kids or his wife. He's beat. He wants to sit down, veg out in front of the television with the newspaper, with something for his stomach. "Leave me alone!" He has no time for his wife or kids because he's absolutely drained. 3-8
My suggestion is that you try this tomorrow. Come up to the front door and before you walk in you take a pill called Isaiah 40:31 "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary..." They shall play with the kids and not faint! Just see if that believing, acting and speaking doesn't change your attitude. I've used this a million times. Sometimes I walk in here about the third service and I'm saying, "Thank you Lord, I've got plenty of energy for this service. We made a decision this last week in staff meeting that on Easter we're going to do six services to hold everybody -- two on Saturday night, four on Sunday. I will be quoting that verse between every service! Let's get real practical. I want you to think of a person that you have a hard time loving, that person you have a hard time being patient with or friendly with or civil or polite to. You don't want to serve them with a servant's heart. Once you've got that person in your mind, ask yourself "How would a loving person respond to this person? How would a patient person act? How would a thoughtful, kind person act toward this unlovable person?" Think that through and say, "Lord, that's the way I'm going to act." Step out in faith. Start acting as if you are patient, loving, friendly. And God will not only give you the power to do it, but the feelings will start coming too. It's easier to act your way into a feeling than it is to feel your way into an action. Let's take your romance. Some of you, the romance has gone out of your marriage. It needs to be jump started. It needs a jumper cable with a heavy voltage. "I don't feel romantic with that beer belly anymore!" or whatever. I say, if you wait until the feelings come back, you're never going to feel romantic. But if you start acting loving and acting kind and doing loving things -- the flowers and the cards and the kind gestures and the complimenting and all the things that you used to do -- you'll find the feelings come back. Jesus told the church to do this in Revelation. He said, "You've left your first love. Repent and do the things you did at first." I'd say go back and think of the things you used to do when you were "in love", when you did have those romantic feelings. Start doing those same things and you will act your way into a feeling. What good is God's power if you don't make any use of it. It is available. It is enormous. It is awesome and it is an insult to God for Christians to lead weak, fatigued, empty lives. We, of all people, should be able to model how to be strong in stressful situations. Not of our own strength, because we've learned the secret of saying, "I don't have any strength. I can't face this next month, much less this next year. I don't know what it holds but I do know who holds the future." And I am going to believe in faith, speak in faith and act in faith before the feelings come. God has given to us atomic bomb power. Most of us live little firecracker lives. But today you can begin living differently. In the Bible it tells us that power is wrapped up in a person, the person of Jesus Christ. You don't get the power without getting the person. So the key to having God's power in your life, is to have God's Son in your life, Jesus Christ. When you say, "Jesus Christ, put Your Spirit in me, the Spirit of power, 3-9
love, hope, peace. Put Your Spirit in me." When you get Christ you get His power. Many of you have invited Christ into your life and you've put a damper on that power by unbelief. But if you've never invited Christ into your life, open yourself up and say, "Christ come in. Give me the power I need. I want to live Your way." That's how you do it! Prayer: As we close, you might just follow me in this prayer in your heart. "Dear God, I need Your power in my life. I've got a lot of problems and pressures mounting up. But I believe nothing is too hard for You. I want to start believing in faith that You will help me. Jesus Christ, make Yourself real in my life. I invite Your presence into my life, with Your power and Your Spirit. Help me not to just believe in faith, but start speaking in faith. And God would You put a guard on my mouth so that I would not reinforce what I don't want but that I will speak the things that I do want in faith. Help me this week to start acting in faith even before I feel it. And in anticipation, I want to thank You in advance for the difference it will make in my life this week." Thank You, Father, for Your word. May it be applied as You see fit. In Jesus' name. Amen. 3-10