Gamitin ang Google Translate Utilisez Google Translate Nutzen Sie Google Translate Amfani da GoogleTranslate Jiri Google Asugharia Gunakake Google Translate Za pomoca Google Translate Utilizati Google Translate Utilizarel Traductor de Google Matumizi Google Translate Çevir Google Kullanin Lo Google Sélédemírán
A Youth Group message.
What is power? It is the ability to do something in a particular way. To be able to influence the behaviour of others or the way things happen. As everyone has ability to do or complete certain things therefore everyone has power. Some think that power is great strength to lift heavy weights, or command great armies or think better than anyone else. However everyone has some power to accomplish things. Of course there are degrees of power. Some can lift heavier weights than others, some are more able in examinations, practical tests and sports events and computer games than others. We all have our strong points.
When you fail at something you can seek to put the problem right. For examinations it means revising and getting more knowledge. For practical tests and sports events you need to practice to get better. However when it is to do with God and us failing by our sins what can we do about that? When you take an examination there is a certain pass mark, say 50% and so some failure is permissible. But what if the standard is total perfection? Some tests, say of cars, are like that. It must work perfectly or it is a failure. When God put us against His test of the law, which is perfection, then where are we?
God says Exodus c20v12 “Honour your father and your mother …” So if you say “I don’t care what you say” then that is not honouring your father and mother.
Exodus c20v15 “You shall not steal.” Have we ever stolen things?
Exodus c20v16 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour.” Have we ever told lies or only given part of the truth?
Exodus c20v17 “You shall not covet your neighbour’s house, …” Have you really desired that which belongs to someone else?
Just comparing ourselves with some of the ten commandments shows that we have all failed God’s standards and come under His condemnation. We all think that we have the power or right to condemn what other people do wrong. However how many of us have the power to save and make other people better? Which one of us can give the people the power to stop a sinful habit like drug abuse or drunkenness or stealing etc? Not one of us can make anyone better. We can encourage them to do or be better but we, ourselves, cannot make them better. This is where God is so different to us. He can give people the power not only to get totally right with Him but also to be better. The Bible says “For I am not ashamed of the gospel (good news) of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believes …” (Romans c1v16). So the “good news of Christ … is the power of God.” Who is this good news and power available to? “Everyone” and so there is no age, gender, national, ethnic or social exclusions from this.
While no one is excluded there is a condition. It is to “every one that believes”. You will notice that this means the people who believe are lacking something. They are in need of God’s forgiveness for their sins and need the power of God to change. 1Corinthians c1v24, “ … Christ the power of God.” By trusting in Christ, Who died for our sins and rose again, God’s power saves you and keeps you as stated in 1Peter c1v5 “Who are kept by the power of God through faith …”.
1Corinthians c6v11 says “And such were some of you: but you are washed, but you are sanctified, but you are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.” This is written after a list of wrong deeds or sins, some of which they were involved with, was stated. At the moment of faith in the Lord Jesus, with Christ’s blood shed at Calvary, cleansing from all sin and the receiving of new life from God, there is a power of God for the believer that they can lay hold of and live a life that is different and better than those who have not trusted in Christ as their Saviour. You can also know that God is for you because your sins have been all forgiven. Romans c8v31 “What shall we then say to these things? If (meaning since) God be for us, who can be against us?”
Just to illustrate. What basic thing do you need to have for there to be electric light in a building? You need to be connected to the electricity generators by wires coming into the building. In the same way, when you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as your Saviour, you receive “the gift of God, which is eternal life” (Romans c6v23), and with that you also receive the power of God to live the better life than this world will enable you to live.