Wrestling With Another World – Part 2
August 18, 2013 AM
Pastor Craig Ledbetter
Bible Baptist Church, Ballincollig, Cork, Ireland
www.biblebc.com
I. Introduction (Philp 4:13)
A. We like to say that “God is powerful”
B. But we don’t experience it - not regularly
C. We don’t even recognise His power when it IS at work – at least not in our lives!
D. But we are supposed to!
E. Whether we admit it or not, we need God’s help
F. The god of this world has a death grip on our hearts, our mouths, our homes, and it is killing us!
G. And there is only one way to break that grip
1. Not by getting better at arguing, or debating
2. Not by getting bigger and more powerful weapons than our enemies
3. Not by getting louder and more aggressive
H. But by allowing the power of the Holy Spirit of God to run our lives!
II. Background
A. We are Blind To the Spiritual World (2Kings 6:11-15)
1. We forget that There are three kingdoms at war
a. God’s Kingdom
b. Satan’s Kingdom
c. And OUR desire to have our OWN kingdom!
d. Only ONE will win in the end!
2. We rarely fight on the right side
a. Saul of Tarsus spent his life fighting the WRONG kingdom (Acts 9:6)
3. We need our eyes opened (Eph 4:17-20; Acts 26:18)
4. We MUST learn to wrestle and fight in the right kingdom!
B. The Spirit of God is POWERFUL
1. Shown In Creation (Genesis 1:1-3)
a. We live in an immense universe
b. It took IMMENSE power to create everything
c. It takes IMMENSE power to hold everything together
d. God’s eternal power and diety – godhead, is shown in creation (Romans 1:20)
2. Shown Throughout Bible History
a. The Red Sea
b. The Crossing of the Jordan River
c. The Sun and Moon staying in one place for 24 hours
d. Feeding 1 ½ million Jews every day for 40 years
3. Shown In the Virgin Birth (Luke 1:35)
4. Shown In the Resurrection (Romans 1:4)
a. To bring something dead back to life! That is power!
5. Shown In a Changed Life
a. To actually change someone from what they were, to something better
6. Shown In Answers to Prayer
a. Actual miracles
b. The suspension of the laws of physics
7. All of these we are prone to take for granted – to think they aren’t that big a deal! But they definitely ARE some big deals!
8. But if we would believe that they have happened like God tells us, we might just be able to experience a taste of them in OUR lives
9. How to Access and Experience God’s Power – one of the most important messages you will hear this year!
III. Message - How to Access and Experience GOD’S Power
A. Warning!
1. It will cost YOU!
a. Cost Jacob that late night when he wrestled with God
b. Cost Job when he struggled with the rightness of God
c. Cost Moses when he had to lose everything so he could be sued of God to lead Israel out of Egypt
d. Cost Saul of Tarsus everything (Philp 3:7,8)
2. It will humble you
a. Break you
b. Expose every flaw in you
c. Cause you to crumble in desperate need of Jesus Christ
d. So sad when everyone around you is tearing at you, but the Lord is doing a marvellous work, so ignore all the accusers and all the persecutions
3. It will change YOU – not the world around you!
B. Believe Jesus’ Gospel For Yourself (1Cor 1:17-21)
1. That is the ONLY access point – the only starting point for the power of God
2. Not rituals
3. Or traditions
4. Or ceremonies (Philp 3:3-7)
5. So many people only THINK they are okay with God, when they have never been truly born again – truly believing and resting in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ in their place on the cross!
6. Believe the Gospel, and you will experience the POWER of GOD!
7. The Gospel is POWERFUL –it can SAVE anyone from the righteous wrath of almighty God
8. If you keep waiting for a feeling, or for it to be popular, you will miss the power of God!
C. Humble Yourselves under the Authority of Christ (1Cor 1:22-31; 1Peter 5:6)
1. Overruling our expectations
2. Trashing and crucifying our abilities (Philp 3:8)
3. Christ must have the pre-eminence – He must be everything
4. He must increase and I must decrease!
5. Become foolish – have NOTHING to brag or boast about
6. Suffer a while, while others are doing well (2Cor 12:7-10; 1Peter 5:10)
7. God’s power is available ONLY to the HUMBLE (James 4:6,7) – to the LAST, to the somebodies who willingly become nobodies to get it!
D. Clear Out All Blockages to His Work (Psalm 78:40,41)
1. Don’t Hinder God’s Power, Presence or Plan in your Life. There is just SO much clogging the flow of God’s power – we LIMIT the holy One of Israel.
2. Repent of everything that is not Christ’s spirit in you!
a. Like Apathy (Mt 13:15)
b. Like Any and all Envying, Strife, Divisions, Pickiness, Fault-finding
1) Rom_13:13 Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.
2) 1Co_3:3 For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?
3) 2Co_12:20 For I fear, lest, when I come, I shall not find you such as I would, and that I shall be found unto you such as ye would not: lest there be debates, envyings, wraths, strifes, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, tumults:
4) Jas 3:14-16 But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.
c. Like Anything that is defiling you, physically, emotionally, or spiritually has to be dumped, hated, fled from and separated from! Leaves you empty, so that the Lord Jesus can fill you with Himself!
E. Let the Lord Fight for You (Ex 14:9-14; Jude 1:9)
1. The HARDEST part!
2. Pray against the spirit behind the problem – fight by PRAYER, not by words or weapons (James 5:13-18; Eph 6:12)
3. Restrain your flesh, and your mind from doing and saying what you may WANT to do and say!
a. Trust GOD to do right
b. Let God do what only He can do, His way, and in His time – not ours!
4. Crucify your hurts – we always want to crucify our enemies, but as Christians, we can crucify our hurts and injustices on the very cross that carried all our sins and our own injustices against God!
5. The idea is to get out of the way of the fight (Rom 12:19), and let GOD do the fighting
a. Like He did at the Red Sea, against the entire Egyptian army
b. Like He did in 2 Kings 6 against the entire Syrian army
6. God will do what you cannot, if you will start trusting Him to
a. 2Co 12:10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.
b. Isa 40:29-31 He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But 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; and they shall walk, and not faint.
F. Live the Changed Life (1Cor 2:1-5) – there is SUCH power in a new and changed life – not in your old life!
1. You don’t seek God’s power so you can continue in sin, or continue to be angry, or continue to hate, or continue to fight, or continue to justify yourself!
2. We easily may think that, if we are spiritual, and successful as Christians, we would…
a. Be great speakers
b. Know all about every subject and issue
c. Be totally confident and sure of ourselves
d. Never have health problems or financial difficulties
3. But the power of God in your life is not in any of that!
4. It is in the CHANGES, and SPIRITUAL IMPROVEMENTS that only God can make in the life of a born again believer!
5. There is GREAT power AS you live for God – not in rebellion or stubbornness!
6. Don’t ever allow yourself to go back to living, thinking, reacting, and doing what you are so used to doing! Live the life of Christ!
7. Not just a different life, but Living a Life Like Christ’s
8. You should be able to “demonstrate” / prove the Holy Spirit is at work in your life – it is called spiritual FRUIT
G. Seek the Fullness of the Holy Spirit in Your Life (Ephesians 5:18) – Tonight’s Message
IV. Conclusion
A. Don’t be Blind To the Spiritual World Anymore – quit thinking it’s between you and your husband, or you and your parents… There are three kingdoms at war. Only ONE will win in the end! learn to wrestle and fight in the right kingdom!
B. The god of this world has a death grip on our hearts, our mouths, our homes, and it is killing us!
C. And there is only one way to break that grip
D. By allowing the power of the Holy Spirit of God to run our lives!
E. Just remember the Warning
F. Remember How to Access and Experience GOD’S Power
1. Believe Jesus’ Gospel For Yourself
2. Humble Yourselves under the Authority of Christ
3. Clear Out All Blockages to His Work
4. Let the Lord Fight for You
5. Live the Changed Life – there is SUCH power in a new and changed life – not in your old life!
6. Seek the Fullness of the Holy Spirit in Your Life – it is not that complicated, but it will never happen if the other steps are not taken first!