The Power of God

Music Well, one of the things that was nice to see this morning was that the sun was out. And it's always nice when the sun is shining. Just a beautiful day. Our sun is an ordinary star of average size, average brightness, when it's compared to millions of others in the universe. But when the energy from the sun travels 93 million miles and reaches the Earth, it takes only about eight minutes to do so. To reach us here, there are some extraordinary things that happen or transpire when it bombards the Earth.

How does the sun make energy? Where does it come from? Well, what you find is that the sun is just a huge ball of gas, and it's held together by gravity. It's made up mostly of hydrogen and helium, and inside of the sun, the hydrogen atoms move very quickly. They collide with one another on occasions. And sometimes they combine to make helium atoms in a process that's called nuclear fission. Now, we know of that process here on the Earth, and when it goes off, there's a lot of destruction that takes place with an atomic bomb or a hydrogen bomb.

So, during fusion, a tiny amount of mass is lost. One helium atom weighs just a little bit less than two hydrogen atoms. That little bit of mass is transformed into an enormous amount of energy.

And it's mainly infrared energy, visible light, which radiates in all directions in space. Now, think of the sun as a ball up there, and it's this fusion process that's going on all the time, and energy is radiating out in all directions.

The sun has been emitting, they estimate, energy for five billion years. And they also estimate, the astronomers, that there's enough material left, enough gases, that'll go on for another five billion years. So, you and I don't have to worry.

Our grandchildren don't have to worry. Our great-grandchildren don't have to worry. Five billion years. It's only a small fraction of the solar radiation, or only a small fraction of it, reaches the Earth. Even so, the sun is a source of almost all of the energy on the Earth, including the fuels that we burn, the food that we eat.

Now, to give you an idea, you find that the energy contained in the Earth is absolutely nothing compared to the energy contained in the sun. We receive energy from the sun. We receive, at any given time, only one part in two billion. So that means, of all the energy the sun's radiating, the Earth receives one two billionth of the energy. Now, it can get pretty hot out there when you look at the sun and what it does.

The sun is 866,000 times the diameter of the Earth and has more than 1,200,000 times the volume of the Earth. The sun radiates 330 trillion horsepower of energy to the Earth's surface daily. Now, I want you to stop and think about that. One two billionth of the energy radiated by the sun is 330 trillion horsepower of energy that bombards the Earth. Now, that begins to give you a little idea of how powerful the sun is, and yet the sun is just sort of a medium-sized star out there.

The Earth's surface is constantly being bombarded by radiated energy from the sun. The sun radiates 1.5 horsepower of energy per square yard of the Earth's surface. That's about 4,600,000 horsepower per square mile. When you count the whole Earth's surface, that's 330 trillion horsepower of energy. The total energy the sun emits in a single second is greater than the whole amount of energy the human race. It's a tremendous amount. So what we have is a ball out there that's emitting a tremendous amount of energy.

Now, where does all of this power and energy come from? Where does it come from? Did it just happen? Did it just sort of come spontaneously on the scene? One day there wasn't a sun, the next day there was. And where did all of the energy, all of the power come from? Was it unplanned? Did it just sort of happen? Well, let's go back to Jeremiah 32 and verse 17. Jeremiah 32 and verse 17.

Jeremiah said, "'Aah, Lord God, behold, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for you.' So everything that we see or that we can know that God has created or has been created was created by God. So God obviously has to be more powerful than what He created. How powerful is God? How great is He?

How almighty is He? All of that energy, all of that power that's stored up in matter and mass had to come from somewhere. It didn't just happen. It doesn't come about by spontaneous generation. Romans chapter 1 and verse 20 tells us, the book of Romans chapter 1 and verse 20, about the creation and what man ought to be able to discover by looking at the creation of God. Verse 20 says, "'For since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes are clearly seen.

Being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead are divinity, so that they are without excuse.'" So God says mankind is totally without excuse. If He looks up into the heaven and He sees the sun, He sees the universe, He sees the galaxies, that is a tribute to His power, to His might. When you look at the earth, you look at the planets, you look at the solar system, you look at the galaxy, you look at the universe, what does it tell you?

It tells you that there had to be a designer. There had to be somebody who was a creator of it. There has to be somebody who sustains it. Now, you and I know very well, you can create a car, and if you don't maintain that car, after a while it's going to go broke.

As I think Bill Cosby used to say, he didn't know how to repair a car, he'd just take it in and say, Bob, it's broke, and he'd get Bob to fix it. Well, if you have a house, have a yard, anything, you don't maintain it, you don't look after it, after a while deteriorates. What sustains the universe? What keeps it going? Who has the power and the ability to do this? Well, the Bible says in Genesis 1.1, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The Bible indicates that God spoke, and he came into being.

Now, if God spoke and the universe came into being, astronomers estimate that there are 250 billion galaxies out there, and each one of those galaxies contains something like 100 billion stars. Now, our minds can't even wrap around that. Where did all of that come from? Well, Hebrews 11, I didn't write this down, but let me go back here, because this gives us a little understanding of where it came from. We find that by now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good testimony.

By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God, so that the things which are seen, the stars, the sun, the galaxies, they just repaired the Hubble telescope, and they say, now we can see even deeper into space. The deeper you go, the more you see, and the more you find out that there's more matter in all there. So the things which are seen were not made of things that are visible. So when God created matter, He didn't take matter to create matter. Matter, energy, is made out of things that are not visible.

I would take that. It's made out of from spirit in some way, reconfigured. But how that's done, you and I really don't know. So, brethren, all of the power that's contained in this entire universe is but a small representation of the unlimited power of God. You and I worship a God that is more powerful than all of the galaxies put together, who has more energy, more power than all of them.

The combined energy of the Earth, the Sun, anything in the solar system and galaxy is a fraction of the power of Almighty God. And God's power is inherent in His nature. The very nature, His very composition, His very essence is spirit. And you find that that power, that spirit resides there.

All power has been God's from all eternity. So God has always been all-powerful. And any power that we might have is going to have to be given to us by God. I want you to notice how God revealed Himself to Abraham back very early on in Genesis 17, in verse 1. Genesis 17, verse 1. It says, Almighty God, walk before Me and be blameless. So God claims to be the Almighty God. You know what the Hebrew word for Almighty is? El Shaddai. Now, you've heard a song. We've had special music at the time sung, El Shaddai.

Well, the word El Shaddai means Almighty, most powerful. So God is the Almighty, most powerful God. God has been all-powerful forever, and He will remain all-powerful. Because God is all-powerful, He has the ability and strength to do whatever He pleases. There's nothing in the universe that can frustrate God, that can hamper God or hold Him back.

His power is not restrained or inhibited by any of these created beings, angels or human. People and nations are powerless when they're confronted by God. He is the Almighty God. Now, brethren, God, with all of this power, all of this might, has promised to share it with us. When you look at what God has done and His plan and His purpose and what God is creating, God has said He wants to share His power with us. He wants to add us to His family.

And when we're added to His family, we're not going to be a dull light bulb. We're going to shine with power and energy and force. God is not afraid to share His power with us, but we must prove that we're able to use that power appropriately and use it in a loving manner. We've got to demonstrate to God that we will use that power in the same way that He uses it. And that if that power is going to be used or misused, God will not give it to us.

He will only give it to us if we'll use it in the right manner. So let's take a look at what God has promised us today that He's going to do, as well as why you and I need power.

Do you need power? Do you need strength or energy? Well, I think when you wake up in the morning, a lot of times you would like to be able to just pop out of bed and have all kinds of energy. But let's notice, first of all, a few general scriptures back here in Matthew 6.13. Matthew 6, verse 13. What we call, or is often called, the Lord's Prayer, the model prayer, says, Do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. So God's kingdom and power will go on forever. God's kingdom has to do with what God is offering to us.

He wants us as members in His kingdom, and that He will give and share His power with us. When Jesus Christ walked the earth, He certainly had power. In Luke 4, verse 14, we find that Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news of Him went throughout the surrounding regions, and He taught in their synagogues.

You'll notice dropping down to verse 18, it says, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, and He's anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, recovering of sight to the blind, and to set at liberty those who are oppressed, and to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.

So the power of God comes, or Christ had the Holy Spirit, and He was able then, as a result of that, to accomplish a great deal, to accomplish everything that God wanted Him to do. Now, whenever God chooses servants, gives them a duty or a responsibility, God will give to them the power and the strength to do it. That's the only thing many times when you're given a job, and you think, well, I can't do it.

If you've been given it, God will give you the strength and the power. Let's notice in Luke 24, verse 48 and 49. Luke 24, verses 48 and 49. I mentioned that God promised us that He would share that power with us. Let's notice. Here's what He told His disciples.

So, brethren, God, on the day of Pentecost, the day that we're observing here, sent the Holy Spirit, as we know. And that Holy Spirit, first of all, began at 120, and then there were 3,000 converted. Later on, there were 5,000, and then it multiplied. Now, you and I don't have the Holy Spirit falling on us in the same way. But yet, when you're baptized, when you've repented of your sins, you're baptized, you have hands laid on you. God gives you that power, that energy, that strength, and He gives it to you for a purpose. Power is a force that you and I need. You and I cannot be in God's Kingdom unless we have this spiritual power from God. Because God is asking us to do things that we're not capable of doing. Can you overcome sin on your own? Can you resist the devil on your own? Can you overcome the world on your own? Can you grow as God wants you to grow spiritually on your own? Well, none of us can. It takes the Spirit of God. The word power here, I think as many of you know, comes from the Greek word dunamis. D-U-N-A-M-I-S. And it means power, strength, energy. It's translated in the New Testament as mighty works, mighty deeds, might, mightily, workers of miracles, virtue, strength, miracle, ability, abundance. This is the word from which the English word dynamite comes from. You might remember who was at Alfred Nobel invented dynamite, a combination of sawdust and nitroglycerin put together. Was able to have nitroglycerin where it could be in sort of a stable package, put a cap on it, and blow it up. It's interesting that someone in Paris thought he had died for some reason, seven years before he died. They wrote his obituary. And they talked about how he was a deadly man in the instrument of death because of inventing dynamite. As a result of that, about five years later in his will, he willed the majority of his money to the Nobel Peace Prize. He established it. And it's something equivalent of $200 million today. And that would be given to people who would bring about peace. And he was so hurt to read his obituary before he died. And what people thought of him, that he was just an instrument of destruction, that he went ahead and set that up. And that still functions even today. We get words like dynamic, a person who is dynamic from Deunimus. In Acts 1 and verse 8, we find that Christ, right before he ascended to heaven, again, makes the same statement here. He says, So you find that God will give to us the power, the ability, the strength that is needed to do the work. When Christ sent his disciples out early, I'll just refer to this back in Luke 9, verse 1, He sent them out on an early mission. He gave them the power that they needed to cast out demons, to heal the sick, and he was with them. Let's notice in Hebrews 6 what God has given to us. Hebrews 6, verses 4 and 5, verses 4 and 5 here, says, So we've had our light go on. We've been enlightened. We understand.

We have the power of the Holy Spirit. So you and I partake of God's Spirit. He gives it to us. And have tasted, notice, the good word of God and the powers of the age to come. You and I today, if we have God's Spirit, are experiencing some of the powers of the world tomorrow, of the age to come, of the millennium. So it's impossible if they fall away to renew them again to repentance, seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of Man, or the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame. So, brethren, you and I have some of the powers that will be unleashed in the world tomorrow. And we have it in our lives. 2 Timothy tells us in chapter 1, verse 7, that God has not given us a spirit of fear. So if we have fear, doubt, worry, frustration, those are not of God. But God has given us a spirit of power and of love and of a sound mind. So God gives to us power through His Holy Spirit. Why do we need power in our lives? You ever stop to ask yourself, why do you need it? Well, we want to see what the power of God does for us today. Is it just God gives us power so we can go around and perform miracles, do signs and wonders? Well, He did that with the early apostles because that drew crowds. If you're an apostle and you're walking down the street and you're shadow passing over people who are lame, and they're healed, and they jump up, or you cast out demons publicly, you're doing a lot of miracles and there are signs and wonders, that's certainly going to attract a crowd. But why do you and I need the power of God? Well, let's take a look. Let me give you several reasons in the time remaining in the sermon. Romans 8 will begin. Romans 8 and verse 6.

Romans 8 and verse 6. We find to be carnally minded, that means fleshly minded, just motivated by the flesh. Be carnally minded is enmity against God. Excuse me. Verse 6. Be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. So what you find is that God, through His Spirit, gives us life and peace. We need the Spirit of God and the power of God in our lives so that we can have life. Christ said that you might have life more abundantly, talking about now, and that we might have life eternal. We find going on here in verse 7, the carnal mind, the fleshly mind, is enmity against God. It's not subject to the law of God, and neither indeed can be. And so, verse 8, in those who are in the flesh, or who were motivated by the flesh, we can't please God. If that's our driving force, if that's what moves us, motivates us, says, But you're not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he's not of his. For Christ is in you, and the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. So God gives us his Spirit, and that Spirit imparts to us a new life. The Bible talks about the old man, the old way of life that we've all lived before. We now receive the Spirit of God, and there is a new life, a spirit life that begins. So we find here the Spirit of life. And then verse 11, But if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies through the Spirit who dwells in you. So you'll find that today God imparts his life to us. The Holy Spirit imparts the divine nature of God to us. It gives us his life. The Spirit of God is the very essence of God. It's his composition. It's what he is. It's his power that radiates out from him. God places that within us. We are begotten by it. And through that Spirit, God will eventually give us immortality. And we will have a spirit body. Notice 2 Corinthians 13 and verse 4.

2 Corinthians 13 and verse 4.

Talking about Christ, though he was crucified in weakness, yet he lives by the power of God. So he was crucified as a human being, beaten, scourged in weakness, but he was resurrected in power, in glory. For we also are weak in him, but we shall live with him by the power of God toward you. So you and I will live because of that power. Notice the Living Bible, how it translates this verse.

Verse 4 says, His weak human body died on the cross, but now he lives by the mighty power of God. We, too, are weak in our bodies as he was. But now we live and are strong as he is, and have all of God's power in us to use in dealing with you.

So Paul realized that God gave him power to be able to deal with them. So, brethren, if we're going to have eternal life, and if we're going to have a new life now, we have to have God's Spirit and his power within us.

Secondarily, that Spirit from God helps us to grow.

Helps us to grow. This notice in John chapter 15, beginning in verse 1. John 15, verse 1.

I mentioned a while ago, can you grow, can you change on your own? And the answer, obviously, is no. Now, notice what Christ said.

He says, I'm the true vine, and my Father is the vine dresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away.

In every branch that bears fruit, he prunes that it might bear more fruit. You're already clean because of the words that I've spoken to you. Abide in me and I in you, and as a branch, cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine. Neither can you unless you abide in me. So how do we abide in Christ? Well, as the vine is connected here, or the branch is connected to the vine, and receives its nourishment, its strength from it, food comes up through the vine into the branch. So we are connected with Christ and God through His Spirit. And God's Spirit abides in us. And He says, I'm the vine, you're the branches, He who abides in me and I in Him. There's much fruit, for without me you can do nothing. So without God in us, we can do nothing. So the day of Pentecost, pictures that you and I aren't able to do anything spiritually. It's not talking about in a physical manner, you're physical. Human beings without God's Spirit do all kinds of amazing things physically. But spiritually, we don't grow, we don't overcome unless we have God living in us. And then in verse 6, He says, And so verse 8, So God wants us to bear fruit. God wants us to do good works. And you and I must bear the fruit of God's Spirit. As Galatians 5, verse 22 shows. Now let's notice in Romans 15. Romans 15, the same thing is mentioned. Beginning here in verse 13. Romans 15, verse 13.

How? Well, by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Brethren, why do you find that so often people in society don't have any hope? They don't see the future, they don't know what the future holds for them. But God, through His Spirit, gives us hope. And we have the hope of the resurrection, we have the hope of the kingdom of God, we have the hope of the future, we know what's coming. And then he goes on to say in verse 19. That in mighty signs and wonders by the power of the Spirit of God, so that from Jerusalem and round about, he says, I fully preach the gospel of Christ. So the ability to do the work of God in the preach, the gospel, again, comes about through the power of God. And what that means, brethren, the closer you and I are to God, through prayer, Bible study, and having a proper and a right relationship with God, so that God's Spirit is renewed within us, the greater God is able to work and to do a work through us. So it's important that we have the power of God within us to individually grow and for the Church to be able to grow. Now, going right along with that, Ephesians 4, verse 22, tells us another reason why we need God's Spirit.

Ephesians 4, beginning in verse 22, we are told to put off concerning your former conduct the old man. So there is an old way of life, an old man, the way that we've lived, which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lust, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man, which was created according to God in true righteousness and holiness. So you and I, then, are to have the new man. The new man comes through God's Spirit. Now, verse 25, therefore putting us away lying, let each of you speak truth with his neighbor, who remembers one of another. Be angry, but don't sin. Don't give place to the devil. Verse 27, it goes on and says, let him who's told steal no more. Verse 29, let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth. Verse 30, Scripture we want to get to, do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by which you were sealed for the day of redemption. And then let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, evil speaking be put away from you. God gives us his Holy Spirit to help us to overcome, to help us to change, to help us to be a different person. We start out as babies, and just as we have a few small children here today in the audience, we would think it's strange if they remained that way for the next five years, ten years, twenty years, that they just get a little older in the face, but they're the same size, that they don't change, they don't grow up. Well, God expects us to grow up. I want you to notice the word grieve here. It says grieve not the Spirit. The word grieve means to make sorrowful, to affect with sadness, to cause grief, to throw into sorrow. Brother, do we realize that you and I can at times grieve the Spirit of God, grieve God, because we're not using that Spirit as God intended? You see, God gives us His power, His Spirit, for a purpose. And if we don't use that Spirit appropriately, we grieve it. And then it says, By whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. I was looking at what that word meant, and it had a completely different meaning than I thought. It does mean to seal, but in the Greek it means to set a seal upon, a mark with a seal, to seal. And it means, in order to mark a person or a thing, to set a mark by impression of a seal or a stamp. And it says, Since things sealed up are concealed, such as a letter inside of an envelope that has a seal, a stamp placed on it, it's hidden. It's kept in secret.

Remember back in the book of Ezekiel, when God came down to see the temple, to inspect the temple in Jerusalem, and to see what the people were doing, that He sent an angel through Jerusalem, and He said, Kill everyone who does not have a mark or a seal placed upon them. There's going to come a time in the history of the Church of God, where in the future, God is going to send His angels. And they're going to look at the temple. We are the temple today. And God is going to say, Those that have been sealed, and you and I have been sealed. We have been selected, hand-picked, marked, sealed, might say, stamp of approval, put upon us by God. But you and I must continue to use that Spirit, and not grieve that Spirit. We grieve that Spirit when we don't change, when we remain the same way, and we don't overcome. So God gives us His Holy Spirit to help us to overcome, to change, and to be different. Now, I'm not talking about the fact that we won't have faults and sins, but I'm talking that we must be in a mode of overcoming, and growing, and changing. So, the two words here, grieve and sealed, I think, carry a great deal of meaning. Turn over to the next book in Philippians 2, verse 13. Chapter 2, verse 13, and we read this, "'For it is God who works in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.' So it is God who motivates us to even will, to do what is right, and then to have the power to do it. But do all things without complaining and dispute," he goes on to say. So you and I, brethren, need God working in us. We need the Almighty, El Shaddai. And again, as we go through this sermon, let's not forget what we covered to start with. That the God who dwells in us is the Almighty God, the all-powerful God. And that God tells us, I'm giving you my spirit, here's how you're supposed to use it. And if you pray and stay close to me, then you will have the power that you need to do these things. 2 Corinthians 10, beginning in verse 3, shows that God gives us his spirit also to help us to resist, not only to overcome, but to resist the wrong, to resist the evil. Beginning here in verse 3, it says, "...though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh." So we live in the flesh, we're all human beings, but we don't war in the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, they're not fleshly. But mighty in God for the pulling down of strongholds. So God gives us his spirit. And the word here, mighty, is the word dunamis, again. It's dunanetos, and it's the adjective form of the word. And so God gives us might, power, strength, to be able to pull down strongholds, and casting down arguments in every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and to bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. And so God gives us his spirit to help us to cast down wrong thoughts, to be able to resist this world, to overcome Satan the devil, and everything that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. Now, humanly speaking, we can't do that without God's help. So we've got to have God dwelling in us. So God gives us the power to help us to resist. Have you ever had a temptation, and you know it's a temptation, and yet you give into it anyway?

We can all excuse ourselves on many occasions when we're faced with something we know we shouldn't do. We say, well, just this once, or it doesn't really matter, or, you know, this is the only vice I have God understands. David had problems, and so we can find all kinds of reasons to justify ourselves. And yet the Bible says that God gives us his spirit, and one of the things that that spirit of God does is, it brings to our mind when we're about to do something wrong. It reminds us, it shows us, and it gives us then the strength to be able to resist it and not to give into it. Now, back to the book of Philippians again, Philippians 4, verse 13.

Another reason God gives us his spirit is to help us to endure. We know that Christ said, he who endures to the end, the same shall be saved. So if you and I are going to be in God's kingdom, we must endure to the end. How many of our friends, how many have we seen who have given up, who've quit, who've given up over whatever, whatever reason, who've compromised and changed? But notice what Paul said here. He said, I can do something. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Now, the word here is not dunamis, but it's another Greek word, and it means to be made strong. And it has the same meaning, that you can do all things through God who strengthens us. So God gives us the strength. I don't know how many of you have ever participated in athletics. I used to run track a little bit, played football, played basketball, anything with a ball, played it. And many of you have, likewise, growing up. Have you ever been in a race, and you're getting toward the end of the race, and you want to quit? Maybe it's a half mile, maybe it's an 880 race. You want to just quit and give up, and yet you know you can't quit. And somewhere you've got to dig down into your very fiber for a little more strength, a little more energy, they call it a second wind, you know, to kick yourself and to keep going. Well, I've seen that many times in races or playing basketball, where you just want to quit, and you don't. Well, the same thing is true here. We're striving for God's kingdom. We see the finish line ahead of us. And, brethren, the finish line is closer to us today than it's ever been. I don't know when the finish line is coming. 2012, 2020, 2030. Who knows? Your guess is as good as mine. But it's close, and it's getting closer. And we see events taking place. We see events that have taken place in this country that could lead to its total collapse, things that you would never thought you would see just a year or two ago. Economic collapse of the country. If the economy of this country collapses, just as an example, it falls into decay. And another six, ten million people lose their jobs. I'll guarantee you that we will have anarchy in this country, just over the fact of how do you get food to eat. And the fact that people will not have jobs to be able to buy, or to pay their houses or utilities or whatever it might be. We're close. We can see the prophecies beginning to unfold in front of us. So why would we want to give up now? It may get tougher. It always gets tougher right toward the end of the race. But we don't want to quit now. God will help us to endure. He will help us to do all things. It doesn't matter what it is that you might be faced with. God will give us the strength to carry on and not to quit. Let's notice in 1 Peter 1 and verse 3.

1 Peter 1 and verse 3.

We read here, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has according to his abundant mercy, has begotten us again to a lively hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled that does not fade away in heaven, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept... So, brethren, how are you and I kept? Who are kept by the power of God? Through faith, for salvation, ready to be revealed in the last times.

So, you and I go through trials. We go through health problems. We go through struggles. We go through difficulties. But the Bible says that God will keep us through his power. Is there anything more powerful than God that will hinder us from being kept? The word kept here, again in the Greek, means to guard or protect by a military guard, either to prevent hostile invasion or to keep the inhabitants of a besieged city from flight. So, it's talking about posting a guard.

So, if you were in jail back at this time, you might remember they used to post guards in front of the jail, in the cell. They were there. They would protect you. It also goes on, say, to protect by guarding, to keep, by watching and guarding, to preserve one for the attainment of something. Now, I think that more fully explains what God's Spirit does. God gives us his Spirit, as it says here, his power, to guard us, to help guard our minds, to guard us, to strengthen us, to help us to endure, to preserve us for the attaining of something.

What is the something that God wants us to obtain? Well, he says here, salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. So, God, through his power, will help us endure so that we will be preserved until we can have salvation. Now, in Ephesians 4, beginning in verse 1, Ephesians 4, verse 1, we find that the Spirit of God, the power of God, is what produces unity within the Church. It takes God's Spirit and God's power to help us to remain unified through times of troubles and difficulties.

A lot of times when people are going through trials and difficulties, they fracture, they split, they go off to themselves instead of drawing close together and uniting. Well, you'll notice here, it says, I therefore the prisoner of the Lord beseech you, Ephesians 4, 1, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness and longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

So we should endeavor with all of our being to keep that unity, the unity of the Spirit. Because there is one body, one Spirit, just as you're called in one hope, one calling, one Lord, one faith, and one baptism, one God and Father. Now, you read in verse 12 that God has set the ministry here not to be a hindrance and assembling block to the church, but to help the church for the equipping of the saints, for the work of the ministry or service, for the edifying of the body of Christ, all come to the unity of the faith.

We are to try to help bring about unity, harmony of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God to a perfect or a mature man to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, that we should no longer be children tossed to and fro and carried about by every wind of doctrine. Verse 15 says that we are to grow up. So it takes the Spirit of God, the power of God, to bring about that unity.

And God actually requires of all of us. We all have a responsibility when it comes to unity. You can't have unity based upon vanity, based upon ego, based upon this type of thing. It's got to be based, as we read back in verse 2, on lowliness and gentleness, and being willing to bear with one another, help one another.

God gives us His Spirit, another reason, to do a greater work than even He did when He was here on the earth. Remember in John 14, verse 12, Jesus Christ, John 14, verse 12, told His disciples, Most assuredly I say to you that He who believes in Me, the work that I do will He do also in greater works than these He will do because I go to the Father. And whatever you ask Me in My name, I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

So God said that His church, His disciples, would do greater works. Have we done greater works today in this age than Christ did? I would say so. How many people did Christ reach in His day? Well, He reached several thousands of people. But back in the heyday of the world tomorrow, when we were on every major radio station and TV stations, how many millions of people heard the gospel being preached?

How many millions? Eight million used to get the Plain Truth magazine. Same thing still happens today. Hundreds of thousands of people get the Good News magazine. Literature, that is distributed. Tens and hundreds of thousands. You tune in and watch videos, and you see TV programs. So what we realize is that many thousands are being exposed to the truth. And God said that that's not because of our power that that's being done. It's because He gives us the power to do even greater works.

And that comes through God's Spirit. Now, the one thing that we really need is, as explained back here in Philippians 3 and verse 8. Philippians chapter 3, beginning in verse 8. We need the power of God to be resurrected, brethren. It is through the power of God that the resurrection will take place, and the UNI will be transformed. Verse 8, yes, indeed, or yet indeed, yes, indeed, I guess, would be more modern vernacular. Yet indeed, I also count all things lost for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ, and be found in Him not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith, that I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His suffering, being conformed to His death, if by any means I may obtain to the resurrection from the dead.

So, brethren, you and I will have the power of God, as it says here, the power of His resurrection. Now, you stop and think, God gives us power today to grow, to overcome, to do a work, and all the things that I've articulated. But in the resurrection, things change dramatically, because in the resurrection, we then begin to share power with God on a different level. It is now on the God-existence level, if you want to put it that way. We are members of His family in the resurrection. We are given a spirit body.

We have immortality. 1 Corinthians chapter 15, beginning in verse 43, very clearly points this out. Talking about the resurrection, verse 42, it says, So also is the resurrection of the dead, the body is sown in corruption, is raised in incorruption.

It is sown in dishonor. It is raised in glory. So we are going to be given a glorified body. It is sown in weakness. So when you and I die, we're weak. We go to the grave. But it is raised in power. So our bodies will be raised in power at that time. It will take the power of God to accomplish this, to change us from human to divine, from human to members of His family.

But we will be raised in power, and God will share His power with us. He will always be the Almighty God. He will be the all-powerful. But God will share with His family His power. Now, that just blows my mind when I stop to think about what God is going to do with us. That He's going to be able to send us out into the universe. And if He says, look, I want you to go way out there somewhere and create a galaxy, that you and I will have the power to do that.

That if He wants us to go recreate an Earth or an environment, that we would be able to do that. That we will be given power beyond what our minds can comprehend. And so God is going to share that with us. So, brethren, we need to realize what a wonderful God we truly do worship. He is a God who's all-powerful, all-Shadai, all-Mighty. And He gives us enough of His power today through His Spirit to help us to change so that we can be born into His family.

And at the time of the resurrection, we will be made immortal, given His Spirit body, become glorified, and have power beyond our imagination. But God will not give us that power unless He knows that we can control it, we will use it in the right way. We're going to use it for vanity and get out and say, well, you know, Joe over here has got a bigger part of the universe than I do.

He's ruling over more galaxies than I do. I'm going to go there and take some away from Him. See, that's what human beings do. They go to war. They fight with each other. They take. They get. No, our basic motivation must be one of giving, of serving, not one of taking or trying to get. So God has made this power available to us, and it's absolutely necessary for us to have it.

Let's notice one final scripture here in Colossians 1 and verse 9. We find Paul's prayer here for the church in Colossae. Colossians 1, beginning in verse 9.

He says, Fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all might, he says, according to His glorious power. So Paul prayed that they would be strengthened with this might that's according to His power with all patience and long suffering and with joy, giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love. So, brethren, Paul's prayer for the church in Colossae and my strong hope and desire for the church of God today is that we may have and that we may use the power of God in our lives now and forever.