WHAT COMES TO YOUR MIND WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT GOD? #8

THE OMNIPOTENCE OF GOD - THE INFINITE RESOURCES OF OUR

ALMIGHTY HEAVENLY FATHER

Last week we began studying four applications of the omnipotence of God.

The first was, unlike we His creatures, God always has all the facts in any

action He takes. That includes our personal situations. God knows more

about my life and well-being than I do. I need to remember that. Tonight

we’ll consider three more applications of divine omnipotence.

2) BECAUSE GOD IS ALMIGHTY FAITH CAN BE EXERCISED IN

THE MIDDLE OF IMPOSSIBLE SITUATIONS

Jeremiah 32:15-17 - “For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of

Israel: ‘Houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in

this land.’[16] After I had given the deed of purchase to Baruch

the son of Neriah, I prayed to the Lord, saying: [17] 'Ah, Lord

God! It is you who has made the heavens and the earth by your

great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard

for you.’”

Here is a promise that, even though Judah is about to go into

devastating captivity to the Babylonians, fields will once again burst

with crops, farms and houses will be valued and bought and sold. It all

seemed so incredible and hard to believe. It made no sense to believe

any of this at the time.

And it wouldn’t make any sense except for Jeremiah’s understanding

of who God is. "Jeremiah", God says, "you can dare to believe for

fruitfulness again even though you can't see how it can ever be." And

something of high faith rises up in Jeremiah about the omnipotence

of God. “Lord God, You are the One who made all the earth by your

power. And if that’s Your nature - if that’s who You are - then there is

nothing too difficult for You! Faith makes sense.”

Here’s another example: Genesis 17:1-2 - “When Abram was

ninety-nine years old the Lord appeared to Abram and said to

him, "I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless, [2]

that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may

multiply you greatly."

Now, Abraham probably doesn't catch the significance of God's

introduction - “I am God Almighty....”(1). It seems like a heavyweight

theological title. Then Abraham learns why God chooses to

introduce his covenant announcement with those words:

Genesis 18:10-14 - “The Lord said, "I will surely return to you

about this time next year, and Sarah your wife shall have a son."

And Sarah was listening at the tent door behind him. [11] Now

Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years. The way of

women had ceased to be with Sarah. [12] So Sarah laughed to

herself, saying, "After I am worn out, and my lord is old, shall I

have pleasure?" [13] The Lord said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah

laugh and say, 'Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?'

[14] Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will

return to you about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a

son."

Suddenly it's very important that God is almighty. God's point in His

self-introduction is surely this - it doesn't matter how old Abraham is or

how old Sarah is. Their ages are irrelevant because God is almighty.

There are, in effect, no barriers to anything God chooses to do. Or, if

you remember that tight little sentence from the Psalmist, “God does

whatever He pleases!”

I talked earlier in this message about the impact of a secular age on

the minds of Christians. One bad influence is particularly deadening to

a Christian mind. We tend to calculate far too carefully and

meagerly with God. We don’t want to look irrational or fanatical, so

we believe down to the commonly accepted level of the world

around us.

And the tragedy of that is the Christian life is nothing if it isn’t

thoroughly supernatural. We truly are called to expect more than the

average person expects. We are called to feed on the promises of

God - called to high and holy faith - called to pray with high and holy

faith. We live our lives with a certain kind of particular Christian

expectancy because we have been redeemed by the same Lord who

said these words: "If you can believe all things are possible!"

3) BECAUSE GOD IS ALMIGHTY HE STILL CONTROLS THE

NATIONS AND WORKS IN THE GOVERNMENTS OF THE EARTH

THROUGH THE PRAYERS OF HIS PEOPLE

Let me show you one of the clearest examples of this from the Word

of God: Isaiah 45:1-6 - “Thus says the Lord to his anointed, to

Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped, to subdue nations

before him and to loose the belts of kings, to open doors before

him that gates may not be closed:[2] "I will go before you and

level the exalted places, I will break in pieces the doors of bronze

and cut through the bars of iron, [3] I will give you the treasures

of darkness and the hoards in secret places, that you may know

that it is I, the Lord, the God of Israel, who call you by your

name.”
[4] “For the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel my chosen, I call

you by your name, I name you, though you do not know me. [5] I

am the Lord, and there is no other, besides me there is no God;

I equip you, though you do not know me, [6] that people may

know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is

none besides me; I am the Lord, and there is no other.”

God wants His people to know that He will be involved in bringing

about their deliverance from Babylonian captivity. Things are going to

go from bad to worse for the people of Judah. They will be seriously

punished by God for their unbelief and rebellion. But even at rock

bottom, they are to look to God for their strength and deliverance.

How will He deliver them? God specifically names a king - Cyrus(1) -

whom he will raise up. Cyrus will be the king of Persia. He will be the

most powerful man in the world at that time. He will not be a Godly

man. He will not even recognize nor will he acknowledge that he is

being used by God.

And I say he will be the most powerful man in the world because all of

that is still future tense. Cyrus won't be born for another 150 years!

Yet close to 200 years before the event happens, God says, "I have

my plan. I have my man selected. I know what I'm going to do. I

control all the peoples and all the nations!"

Notice how Isaiah links together the power of God in creation (12) - “I

made the earth and created man on it; it was my hands that

stretched out the heavens, and I commanded all their host.” -

with His faithfulness in governing what He has created (13) - “I have

stirred him up in righteousness, and I will make all his ways level;

he shall build my city and set my exiles free, not for price or

reward," says the Lord of hosts.”

I've been taught since I was a kid that God is the Creator. It takes no

great fight of faith for me to acknowledge that God made the world

and all that's in it. But somehow it is more difficult for me to believe

that as surely as God made the world, He controls it - as marred as it

is by sin and rebellion. He still is sovereign among the nations as I

watch the evening news. And most importantly of all, He still works on

a global scale through the prayers of His church!

Yet we know that this was the understanding the early church prayed

with - the kind of expectancy it shared when it gathered together:

Acts 4:23-25 - “When they were released, they went to their

friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had

said to them. [24] And when they heard it, they lifted their voices

together to God and said, "Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven

and the earth and the sea and everything in them, [25] who

through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the

Holy Spirit, " 'Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples plot in

vain?”

Notice how they looked at even the aggressive acts of world leaders

like Herod and Pontius Pilate: Acts 4:28 - “....to do whatever your

hand and your plan had predestined to take place.”

This is the foundation of their prayer and expectation in verses 29-30:

“And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your

servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, [30]

while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders

are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus."

4) BECAUSE GOD IS ALMIGHTY HE CAN GIVE LIMITLESS

STRENGTH TO THOSE WHO WILL LOOK TO HIM IN FAITH

Isaiah 40:28-31 - “Have you not known? Have you not heard?

The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the

earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is

unsearchable. [29] He gives power to the faint, and to him who

has no might he increases strength. [30] Even youths shall faint

and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; [31] but they

who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount

up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary;

they shall walk and not faint.”

I wonder how many people never will set their sights on a healed

marriage - or a sanctified life - or a healed body - or a converted loved

one - not because they don't think that would be nice, but because

they have somewhere lost the fundamental confidence that there’s

ever the most remote possibility of anything ever being changed

anyway.

"I always will be addicted to pornography" - "I never will be able to quit

gambling" - "I never will be able to renew relationship with my spouse"

- "I never will be fill with the Holy Spirit" - "I'm always going to be a

spiritual flop"

Listen, God gives power to the weak! His omnipotence isn’t some

cold, isolated divine trait with no meaning for the confused and weak

in this world - Ephesians 3:20-21 - “Now to him who is able to do

far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to

the power at work within us, [21] to him be glory in the church

and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever.

Amen.”

That word "amen" is more than just a quick way to wrap up a prayer.

The word, loosely paraphrased means, "and that's really the way it

is" - "so be it!" It's God's way of saying, "I'm not kidding or

exaggerating either!"

The power that pulled Jesus out of the grave - that's the power that's

supposed to be at work when this church gets together! It's a sober,

reverent, awesome event when we gather in His holy, powerful Name.

1 Chronicles 29:11 - “Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the

power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is

in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O

Lord, and you are exalted as head above all.”

With such a God, no wonder we end our prayers with “Amen!"