Anchors | Part 3: God's Power Is Real

We are in part three of a series that we are calling Anchors, and here's the foundational scripture that we're using for this particular series. It's found in Hebrews chapter six, verses 18 and 19, and here's what it says. It says, so God hath given both his promise and his oath, and these two things are unchanging because it is impossible, it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can live with, there's that word, confidence. Everybody say confidence. Even in 2020, we can live with confidence. Even with what's going on in our world, we can live with confidence as we hold to the hope that is before us, and this hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. As I've said to you every week, this scripture is speaking about the confidence that putting our faith in Jesus brings to our eternal future, but it's not just speaking about the eternal future, it's also speaking to the confidence and the hope and the power that we can also have even in the temporal present of this life as well, and I don't think anybody would deny that we live in uncertain and turbulent times. 2020 has been quite a piece of work. Nobody would or could deny that, and in these unstable times, the question is where do we find stability and where do we find peace? Where do we find hope and where do we find strength?

In other words, what can we trust in and what can we lean on that will serve as anchors for our souls and our minds during these extremely difficult days? Are there some things that we can settle in our hearts, indeed, that we should settle in our hearts that will give us this confidence the writer speaks of no matter what trouble life throws our way? The answer is resoundingly, unequivocably yes, and in this series, we are basically looking at four major truths that we are convinced are indispensable for us to know and settle in our soul that will anchor us, tether us, and secure us no matter how crazy life gets, things that we can put all of our trust and our faith and our hope in, and week one, two weeks ago, I started with this truth that God's word is true. This is the foundation of all of our faith. Faith is not positive thinking. Faith is not conjuring up this idea where I'm just gonna have a bright outlook on life. There's nothing wrong with positive thinking. Bible tells us we should think positively in Philippians chapter four and verse eight. Bible says whatsoever things are good and true and praiseworthy and virtuous, that we ought to think on those things. So the Bible teaches us to do that, but that's not faith. Faith is not the power of positive thinking.

Faith has its roots in something deeper, something more meaningful. The Bible says it this way, that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. In other words, there has to be soil for our seed of faith to be rooted in that gives us power in life. And so God says when I have spoken, I'm not a man that can lie, and so what I tell you is true, and so we learn that the Bible we're holding in our hands is truly the undeniable, infallible, irrevocable word of the living God, and we can hang our lives on that. It is an anchor for our soul. And then last week, we learned that God's heart is good. Now, the reason that's so important is because if you don't believe that the heart of our Heavenly Father is good, if you see God, as many people do, as some stern, angry, Zeus-like figure that is waiting for us to just kind of screw up, when bad things happen in life, you will live under the auspices and emotional anxiety that God is mad with you or angry with you or judging you or just abusing you, and that's not true. That is not who our God is. The Bible says he is our Heavenly Father. He's full of tender, compassionate mercy for us, and so when we know that God is merciful and compassionate, that he loves us, he affirms us, and he's for us,

no matter what tragedies happen in life, we can still know the heart of God is good and he loves us and is with us and for us. And today, what I wanna talk about is our third truth, and next week will be our fourth truth, but today, I wanna talk about not only is God's word true, not only is God's heart good, but today, I wanna talk to you about the fact that God's power is real. Now, I don't know what comes to your mind when you begin to think about the power or the awesomeness of our God, but I can assure you that whatever it is is not even close. There's really no way to comprehend or fathom the magnanimous nature of our God. Our human minds cannot contain it. Our human minds cannot contemplate or fully comprehend just how amazing and powerful our God really is. Let me just give you a little bit of an example here. There are an estimated 12 octillion, octillion stars in just our Milky Way alone. There are over 37 different galaxies that we can confirm right now. In fact, they now say that through new orbiting telescopes they can see new galaxies that are forming every day. I want you to think about that. We can look around the curve and they are now seeing new galaxies that are forming every single second of every single day.

How is that even possible? Well, I have a theory if you're interested in hearing it. I'm telling you it's a theory, I can't prove it. But let me just give you my theory about that. When I read that, my mind started racing and I just feel like maybe this could be the case. Remember in Genesis chapter one in verse three when God said, let there be light? Well, when he said let there be light, please note that he did not specify a time that that light would travel and he did not specify a distance that it would travel and then cease. It was continuous. My theory is that the command that he gave not only defeated darkness then but is still challenging the darkness to this day and creating new worlds. I am convinced that what astronomers are seeing is the word of God and the command of God still breaking into new places to this very day. He didn't say God, God didn't say let there be light and then after 1,000 years stop. He just said let there be light and that command is still cutting the darkness to this day. There are 70, I want you to listen to this. There are 70 sextillion observable stars in just our home galaxy alone. If you want to know what number that is, that is a seven with 22 zeros behind it.

That's over 10 times the grains of sand on all the world's desert and beaches combined and if that's not impressive enough to think that there's 70 sextillion stars, let me show you a scripture that boggles my mind. Psalm 147 in verse four says that God has decided not only the number of stars but he calls each one by their own name. Just the 70 sextillion that we can see, God has named every single one and knows them by name. What? You could fit 1,250,000 Earths inside our sun and yet there are stars that we have now identified that are called red stars and a red star are 700 times larger than our sun and 1,200 times brighter. Now you get it, we could do this all day. All right, but you get the idea. I find it fascinating but you see where I'm going with all this. When we say God's power is real, it's just a phrase for us but there is no actual way for us to contemplate or fully know the degree of his true power. It is beyond comprehension and I know you're saying, well, that's interesting, Pastor, but why is this important? How does this serve as an anchor for our souls? Because ladies and gentlemen, there are moments in our lives including our current season

where doubt and fear can begin to dominate our lives and that doubt and fear are rooted in the sense that everything is spiraling out of control and there is nothing that we can do to change it or stop it. In fact, that's where fear comes from. That's the root of all fear. The root of all fear is twofold. It comes from a heightened sense of vulnerability and a diminished sense of power. I'll say it again. All fear in our life comes from a heightened sense of vulnerability and a diminished sense of power. Fear begins to grip us whenever we begin to sense or imagine that we are exposed and that we are vulnerable and not only that, we are helpless to change it. That is the root of all of our fear deep down. It's a sense of helplessness. It's this sense of weakness that we are unable to control the situation and that we are at the mercy of the winds of the circumstances of the world and the circumstances in our lives. This is why Jesus said 15 times in just four Gospels, he said, take heart. Every time he turned around, Jesus was saying, take heart, don't lose heart. Don't be afraid, do not fear because he knew what a big deal fear would be in our lives and what a big deal fear could be in our lives.

And while it's interesting to know that and while it's to a degree comforting to hear Jesus say that, you and I both know that it's just not that easy, don't we? You can't just say, don't be afraid and think that we're gonna go, oh, well, why didn't I think of that? Sure, of course, I'm just not gonna be afraid anymore. Okay, now, you know, I'm over it now. That's not how it works. And so I'm gonna show you the secret to actually beginning to break the grip of fear off of our lives. If you're taking screenshots, I want you to take one of this. Here's the secret. The real secret to peace in troubled times is not in trying to fear less, it's in learning how to trust God more. The real secret to peace in troubled times is not in trying to fear less. It's not in trying to tell myself, don't be afraid, don't be afraid, don't be afraid. Get a grip, get a grip, get a grip. Don't be fearful, just don't be fearful. It's not through willpower. It's not through trying to get a grip on our emotions and just trying to tell ourselves that we should not be afraid. That is not how it works.

The real secret is in actually learning how to trust God more. When our faith and the power of the awesomeness of our God begins to grow, it begins to eat our fear and anxiety for lunch. It is a byproduct that just happens naturally. The more we begin to trust in and lean on the incredible power of a God who loves us and has committed himself to help us and strengthen us. What I'm trying to say is that nothing under God's control is ever out of control and everything is under his control. I'll say it again. Nothing under God's control is ever out of control and everything is under his control. And as his children, the scripture tells us that God has pledged to display his power in our lives in three different ways. And so what we're gonna do is we're gonna drop down, we're gonna dive a little deeper into this idea of the power of God and how it actually shows up in and through our lives. Here we go, three dimensions of God's power. Let me start with this one because it's the most important one. Number one, God's power is at work in us. This is what the scripture says. God's power is at work in us. Let me give you a scripture. Philippians two and verse 13. For God is working, very important preposition,

in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what honors God. Now I want you to understand clearly, okay, something very important. In the Christian experience, when we say yes to Jesus, when we become followers of Christ, there is a goal for our Christian experience. The problem is it's not always the goal that we think it is and it's not always the goal that we always want it to be. Because sometimes we think that the goal of God coming into our lives is simply to make my life better and richer and fuller. And that when I make peace with God, that it's gonna be cotton candy and rainbows and unicorns and that my happiness is the number one goal of God. And by the way, there are some people in this world that take the scriptures and manipulate it and actually teach that that's what the goal of God coming into our lives is and it is not true. And the reason it's important to know that is because when people buy into this myth, it leaves them dazed and confused. Because when people tell them, when Jesus comes into your life, that's it. It's the end of all of your troubles. And then they realize that life really hasn't changed that much, that there are troubles, there are pains, there are problems, and they realize, well man, maybe I'm not doing it right or maybe I'm not even saved.

So I wanna give you the goal today. I want you to understand clearly, clearly, clearly what the main goal of us coming to God is really all about. God's goal for our lives is not simply for us to be happy. It's for us to be holy. That is the goal of God for our lives. It's not just to be happy, it's actually to be holy. And don't let that word holy throw you because it has been hijacked by religious zealots over the years and living holy doesn't mean to be perfect. It doesn't mean to live without struggles. It doesn't mean to not fail sometimes in sin. Being holy simply means to live with a deep devotion and a deep dedication to God with all of our lives to the best of our ability, to surrender everything to God and to surrender all of our lives to his Lordship and say, Lord, I recognize that my life is not my own, that this life is not just about me living my own way and doing my own thing, that when you bought me, you bought me with a price, you paid for it on Calvary, and Lord, I surrender all of my life to you so that my life can bring glory and honor to you. That's the goal. That's really the ultimate goal of God. And when we strive to do it, now, I'm not gonna leave you hanging because you're going, dang, does that mean I'm gonna be horribly sad for the rest of my life? No, no, no. When we strive to live a life that pleases God,

two major things happen. Listen, God is honored first and foremost and we actually discover something bigger and better and more far-reaching and deeper than just happiness. We actually discover and find deep-seated, authentic, and beautiful joy. It's what the Bible says is one of the fruits of the Spirit and joy is what we've really been looking for our whole lives, not happiness. We think what we want is happiness, but happiness is a cheap substitute. It's the decaffeinated, sugar-free version of true joy. I know some of you like sugar-free stuff. I don't understand you. I don't understand you. Listen, you can have all mine. You know what? When you drink or eat something that's sugar-free, isn't it amazing, so when it first hits your tongue, you're like, well, this isn't that bad. Well, give it about three seconds. After about three seconds, you blatantly know. This is not real. This is not the real deal. There's this funky little aftertaste that is always with something that is sugar free. You know it's not the real deal and you immediately know it. It's the same with happiness, y'all. Happiness is so fickle.

It's so fragile. I can be happy at eight a.m. and sad by five. Why? Because it is so based on circumstances of life. It flows in and out of my life based on whatever news happens to be going on in my life at the moment. That is the shallowest version of the way to live life and God has something bigger and better for us than that. I'll give you an example. Thursday of this week, right? So my wife's car was skipping real bad, started to skip real bad. So we took it to the mechanic and they started to work on it. I just said go through it, put new plugs in, put new plug boots, whatever it needs. Just give it a great tune up and let's do that. So Thursday was date day for me and my wife and it's awesome. Thursday is my favorite day of the week. And so we were gonna hang out all day and we were going to go into Gainesville and so we went to pick up the car after they had worked on it all day on Wednesday and as soon as she picks up the car, she calls me immediately and goes, man, the thing's still skipping. And I go, crap. So we turned around, took it back

and I walked in and I said, hey man, it's still skipping. You're gonna have to look at it again. And so we got in my truck and we headed off to Gainesville and we're bebopping, listening to music and we're talking and we're enjoying the day and I get a call from the guy. And the guy says, well, it's still skipping and it's your transmission. Now, I don't know if you've ever encountered the word mechanic and transmission in the same sentence, okay, but the word transmission is code for 1,500 bucks minimum. That's just, I've never had a mechanic go, you know what, it's your transmission, but 25 bucks, you're back on the road and we're all good. All right, and so, and then, just when I'm about to run off the road, okay, then he says to me in the same breath, look, look, look, but here's the deal. We felt like it was just a shutter and your car's got a lot of miles on it and so we just went through and flushed all the old fluids out and then we put new fluids in and we took it down the road and the thing runs like brand new, it'll be 50 bucks. So here's what I'm trying to tell you. In 25 seconds, 25 seconds, here's the scenario. I am thrilled, it's date day. I hear the word transmission and I'm just like, God! And then the next 10 seconds, 50 bucks,

you're back on the road. I'm like, heck yes! That is happiness, y'all. That is happiness. That is how fickle happiness is. Good news, bad news, good news, bad news, good news, bad news, something good, something bad. God has something more rich and full and better for our lives than happiness. Joy is deeper because it is rooted not in what is happening in my life but it is rooted in my relationship with Jesus Christ and no matter what good or bad is happening in my life, nothing can separate me from the love of God and because it is well with my soul, no matter what's happening in my life, everything is good and okay. And that gives us stability. That gives us stability. That keeps us off this roller coaster of life so that by eight a.m. we're good, by 12 noon we're depressed, by five p.m. we're good again. God wants something better for his people and so it doesn't come from pursuing happiness. It comes when we understand that God is at work in us to bring glory to him. We discover the power of true joy in our lives. Lives, good news and bad news can't change joy and I love the way that Paul says God works in us. Watch this, Philippians 2 and 13.

Let's go back to it. I wanna show you two words. For God is working in you, giving you, don't miss this, the desire and the power. So important. The desire and the power to do what honors him. So it starts with desire. God begins to change our desire. See, we all do what we wanna do, don't we? You know it's true. I've had a sniffle and Tina said you oughta mow the yard and I said no, I'll feel good. And then I've had stage one full blown pneumonia and sat in 10 degrees in Indiana for four hours in a deer stand waiting for a white tail to walk by. I mean, I'm hacking up a lung. I should've been on a ventilator. They should've been giving me IVs. But I went and I sat, why? Because it was exactly what I wanted to do when I wanted to do it. Our desires ultimately dictate our behavior. You and I both know that's true. When we really want something, we go after it. And one of the amazing ways that God's power works in us, oh, this is so good, is that he shifts our desires. He begins to work in us so that we begin to want to live a life that brings glory and honor to God. And we can know that. that it is real, we can know that it's true.

Because I'm telling you, without God in our lives, we worship the wrong trinity, me, myself, and I. Whatever I want, whatever is driving me, that's what I want. I am driven by my own prideful lust in my flesh. But when there is a shift in our hearts where we actually begin to desire and want to live a life, that brings glory and honor to God. It is proof that God is working in our lives. But I love this. Not only is he working in our lives to give us the desire, shifting our affections, but please know this, the second part is equally as important. He said he don't just give us the power to desire different, but he gives us the power to actually do it. It's beyond good intentions. Paul said he gives us the power of the Holy Spirit so that we can actually execute. That we can actually have more than good intentions and say, boy, I'd like to live that way. God actually gives us the power to live a life that brings glory and honor to him. The ability to follow through, to live it out, and to flesh it out. It's not just willpower alone. It's not saying, oh, I wanna live a life that honors God. It's saying, I wanna surrender to the power of the Holy Spirit, and through the power of the Holy Spirit, he gives me a different desire,

and then he gives me a different ability to execute on that desire and bring glory and honor to God, and through that, I find joy in my life. God's power, number one, is at work in us, and it's so important we understand that. Number two, it is also true, and I wanna bring balance, that God's power is also at work for us. That is true. God's power is at work for us. Life can be tough, and discouragement is real for all of us, and I know what it's like to be tired, not just physically, but emotionally and spiritually as well. It's easy at times to grow weak and feel like you can't take another step, and some of you may be here today, and you know exactly what I'm talking about. You smile, you keep walking, but inside, you're just dying and wondering if you're gonna be able to keep it all together. I got a great scripture for you. If you've been around church at all, you may have heard this one before. If not, it'll be a new one for you, but it's a great one. It's in Isaiah chapter 40, verse 28 through 31. Let me read it to you if I can. Do you not know, the writer says, the Lord is the everlasting God,

the creator of all the earth. He never grows weak or weary. No one can measure the depths of his understanding. He gives power to the weak. He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless. He says there'll come a time that even young men will become weak and tired and fail from exhaustion, but those who hope in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not get tired. The last one's my favorite. They will walk and never quit. They will walk and never quit. See, I don't believe you're here by accident. I don't. We pray all week for God to bring to our fellowship and bring to our church who's supposed to be here, who he wants to be here, who needs to be here, to hear his word and to feel the encouragement of the fellowship and worship, and maybe you're sitting here and maybe you've been contemplating quitting, quitting on your marriage or quitting on your walk with God or quitting on believing that anything is ever gonna change or get better in your life. God knows exactly where you are, and he wants you to know this, that when you find or come to the end of your strength, when you find yourself at the end of your strength, that is when you have just discovered the beginning of his.

When you finally come to the end of your strength, that is when you have just discovered the beginning of his. Paul wrote about something in his life that he couldn't conquer. This great apostle, this amazing guy that God used in such an amazing way to write 13 epistles in the New Testament that gave his life for the cause of Christ quite literally, that sailed all over Asia Minor and took the gospel into places nobody would go, who was beaten and who was imprisoned over and over again. When we think about someone who has completely given all of their lives to Christ, nobody comes to greater mind than the apostle Paul, and yet in his life, there was something that he could not conquer, that he could not dominate, that dominated him, and he describes it as his thorn in the flesh and something that he prays about three times for God to remove, but here's what the Lord said to him in 2 Corinthians 12. He said, three times, I beg the Lord to take this away from me, and each time, God said, my grace is all you need. My power actually works best in your weakness. Paul said, I realized that when I finally came to the end of myself and I stopped trying to control everything myself

and finally, truly surrendered it over to the grace of God, that when I came to the end of my strength, I've really found the beginning of his. In my weakest moments, I realized that the power of God works best when I come to my most place of fragility. When I'm at the end, God is just beginning. When I'm at my worst, God is actually at his best, and that's what Isaiah 40 says. That you're gonna run Not real weird and you're gonna walk and you're gonna just stick. I'm gonna say something to you I'll have a slide for it, but you ought to write it down. Sometimes the most spiritual thing that you can ever do is Just hang in there like a hair in a biscuit. That's a redneck thing. I don't know if you ever heard that before My dad used to say it all time just hang in there like a hair in a biscuit As a kid, I was like here in a biscuit That's terrible. And then you actually find a hair in a biscuit. You're like wow that thing ain't coming out. So it's really really really Spiritually profound See I Think I think as Americans too. We want to conquer right? We want to dominate we want to surge We want success in life and we want it fast We want good things to come and we want them to come fast. We want things to happen and we want them to happen fast and Sometimes and many times that is not how it's going to happen at all And that's why Isaiah chapter 40 in verse 31 is so important because sometimes the most spiritual thing You can do is just hang in there. It's not just surging. It's not just conquering It's not just dominating God says really what matters more sometimes is just sticking with it until the assignment is done stick ability matters faithfulness matters Amazing things are nothing more than a series of unamazing steps taken faithfully over a long period of time. I'll say that again

amazing things are nothing more than a series of unamazing steps taken faithfully over a long period of time and Maybe you just finally need to surrender that thing to God that you've been trying to control and asking him to bless and you've been Trying to fix it by yourself, but you just need to today give it up and let God truly truly have it I'll never forget hearing about this guy They were all people were at the beach and and and everybody was enjoying Theirselves and this guy runs out into the surf and he starts to swim and he gets caught basically in a riptide And and and he's fighting to get back to shore and he can't people seem struggling and they there's a lifeguard right there And they all scream they say man. This guy's drowning lifeguard sees that he jumps down He runs out into the surf and he swims as viciously as he can out to where he is And when he gets to the guy who's just frantically flailing about he stops about four feet short He just starts treading water and the people on the shore screaming at him dude. He's gonna die dude He's gonna die and he's just watching him He's just watching him paying no attention to the people and finally the guy just goes under with one last Scoop and and when he goes under the lifeguard goes under he comes up They both pop up and he drags him to shore and everything was okay. They give him CPR He comes right back and when it was all over the people said dude What were you doing this guy could have died you got there in plenty of time and he said well You could tell how frantic he was and he said if I would have went out to him as long as he was trying to Save himself. He could have killed us both and drowned us both I had to finally wait till he was done trying to save himself before I could save him That is how God works in our lives Sometimes we work so hard to try to control the situation and control the moment and God is just treading God's just waiting God's just waiting for us to come to the end of ourselves So that we can discover the beginning of his power and maybe today there's something in your life that you have just been trying to Control and asking God to bless what you're doing instead of surrendering all of that to God and say Lord your will be done Not my will but your will be done and you'll discover the beginning of His power in your life Number three, let me wrap this up. God's with God's power is at work in us God's power is at work for us scripture tells us is true But number three, I want you to see that God's power is at work through us through us

Acts chapter 1 in verse 8 watch this Jesus said but you will receive power there it is when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and Here's why he's coming upon you not so that you can crush it in life Not so that you can be successful Not so that you can just be happy Not so that you can have all of these things that you want on your wish list You're gonna get power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and here's why Because you're gonna be my witnesses You're gonna tell people about me Everywhere in this life Every one of us ladies and gentlemen, I don't care where you come from. I don't care who you are I don't care your background what you think may disqualify you Here's what I'm telling you. Every one of us is called by God to make a difference in this world You may not even believe this yet, but you were created on purpose with a purpose and for a purpose now, that's the truth And I think we get confused because when we hear the word purpose, I Think a lot of times we think oh, okay. Well, what am I supposed to do in life and we look? get titles and positions and places and careers, and we go, well, how am I gonna know what God's will is for my life? And we kinda categorize the will of God for our life as some specific dimension that we were born to be a plumber, we were born to be an electrician, and we were born to be whatever, and that is not God's will for our life. You can choose a multiplicity of different things and be successful at any one of those things. God's will for our lives is bigger and broader and more important than any of those specific titles,

and I can tell you the perfect will of God for our lives. It is to bring glory and honor to him no matter where we find ourselves and no matter what we find ourselves doing at any given moment. God's power works through us to make an impact for him, whether you're a preacher or a plumber, whether you're a builder or a banker, whether you're a mechanic or a stay-at-home mom. Our titles in life are not who we really are. They are just the platforms that we have been given to live out who we really are. Who you really are, who I really am, is a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. What you do is simply the platform that God has given you and I to show the world what Jesus would look like if he did those things. Let me clarify. Who you really are is you are a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ disguised as a plumber. You are a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ disguised as an electrician. You're a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ disguised as a nurse. A disciple of Jesus disguised as a teller. And we have been sent and scattered throughout this world to a diversity of places for this expressive purpose so that the power of God working through us can reveal to others the love, the hope,

and the deliverance and redemption that only Jesus can give. That is the purpose for all of our lives. To bring glory to God with our lives and through our lives to be a beacon where we point others to the hope that only Jesus can give. And we can live with perpetual hope. We can live with perpetual hope. This can be an anchor to our souls when we know the power of God is real because we will know beyond the shadow of a doubt that there is nothing in our lives so broken that God can't heal it. There is nothing in our lives so lost that God can't recover it. There is nothing so dead in our lives that God can't resurrect it. And when we fully trust in his power and believe in his power, it serves as an anchor for our souls. Come what will and come what may when we know that it is well with our souls. It does not have to be well with our circumstances for us to live with joy and to find power that only God can give us through his son, Jesus Christ.