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God Is More Than Able

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In the heat of the battle, it is sometimes hard to see the achievements of our Heavenly Father’s omnipotence because of the smoke from the fighting around us. Though casualties may be laying all around us and things may seem to be going in a different way than what we would like, God is still on the throne! He is still more than able to handle our needs! May we reflect upon this idea as we consider this outline…



Title: “God Is More Than Able!”

Text: Ephesians 3:20-21

(Ephesians 3:20-21) “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.”  (KJV)

Introduction:

•    Webster’s Dictionary says the word “able” means:
o    Having skill
o    Strength to perform a task
o    Competent
o    Talented
o    Vigorous
o    When you speak of able bodied; it speaks of seamanship – a sound body or robust (having all around knowledge of seamanship)
o    The legal dictionary speaks of someone who is legally qualified
•    Whether you speak in common terms, Nautical terms, or Legal terms, God is able!

Proposition: There are four areas where we know God can work in our lives this year that we need to think about this morning!

I.    He Is Able To Work In Our Conflicts!

A.    Conflicts range in severity but God can give wisdom to respond the right way!

B.    There is not a conflict that God cannot work in:

i.    In our life as we struggle with sin.
ii.    In our realm of service.
iii.    In our testimony.

C.    Many times we see events or circumstances and we perceive that they are conflicts. Several times they are the hand of providence.

D.    If we would look back into the year 2010, we probably can see several conflicts God worked in.

E.    We should look forward to what He is going to do in 2011!

II.    He Is Able To Work In Our Relationships!

A.    Relationships are usually touchy subjects because we are dealing with at least one imperfect individual.

B.    God can work in any relationship!

C.    He can work in our relationship with him.

i.    Convicts us.
ii.    Comfort us.
iii.    Constrains us.

D.    He can work in our relationship with family members.

i.    Spouses
ii.    In laws
iii.    Parents
iv.    Children

E.    He can take the rockiest of relationships and make them smooth out into the sand on the sea shore.

III.    He Is Able To Work In Our Prayer Life!

A.    Our prayer life is vital to our effectiveness.

B.    God can take us and work with us so we can pray more.

C.    Often, in order for this to happen, He has to do something to get our attention because when things go well we forget Him!

D.    He can answer prayers that we thought were impossible.

E.    He has performed this in 2010 and He can do it in 2011!

IV.    He Is Able To Work In Our Workplace!

A.    The workplace is an arena that is not foreign to God’s working!

B.    Matthew was at his post at the receipt of custom, Elisha was plowing when God called him, the Phillipian jailor was saved while on the job.

C.    It was on my public jobs that I have learned the most about what it means to walk with God!

D.    There is no job site that God cannot work on!

E.    He has worked on 2010 and He can work in 2011!

Conclusion:

To The Sinner:

•    Be saved!

To The Christian:

•    Remember that our God is able!

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The Depths Of Sin – An Unpopular Subject That Fewer Pastors Are Proclaiming

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The world’s greatest dilemma and man’s biggest problem is SIN! Though people face cruel diseases, harsh climates, great famines, and tough economic times, SIN is man’s biggest issue. In fact, the SIN of man is the cause our problems in the first place. You would think with the ever increasing number of murders and other capitol crimes worldwide that people would cry out against SIN. Sad to say this does not happen. Great attention, however, is given to the grievous results of SIN rather than to the root cause and Biblical remedy for this awful plight mankind is planted in.

Take a moment and consider the following thoughts on the subject: “The Depths of Sin!” May God take these truths and engrave them in your soul with His finger. May we, who preach God’s Word, proclaim this for all men to hear so they will be warned of the dangers of sin’s dark depths!

From The Miry Clay To The Solid Rock

(Psalms 40:2) “He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.”  (KJV)

Sin is described as miry clay in this verse. The clay being described here is not easily navigated through and will certainly entrench someone before they realize it. Once free, the sticky clay will adhere to clothing and shoes. It will leave footprints where you step. Sin acts in the same way!

The Psalmist is glad that he was lifted from this horrible clay pit! We who know Christ feel the same way. Our Lord Jesus delivered us from the deep clay pits to the sure foundation of the elevated ROCK!

One should always remember that, though Christ has performed the great role as Savior, for those who repent and accept Him, sin is still like the miry clay! It WILL catch hold of you and mar your testimony and bring defeat when dabbled in.

From Condemnation To Salvation

(Romans 8:1) “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”  (KJV)

How sweet these words are to a sinner in the depths of his sin. Feeling the awful weight of his sin and rebellion against God, “No Condemnation!” is a welcomed sentence. The weight and guilt builds up as the Holy Ghost convicts the sinner of his desperate need. This is partially done through the preaching about sin and it’s destructive ambition.

If the sinner does not hear the message of condemnation, however, then he cannot fully embrace what God can do for him. Focusing most of the attention on what God has done for the sinner is great, but if someone does not see themselves as a lost sinner, then they will not see the need to repent. As a result, they will not want to be saved!

From Cords Of Sin To Cleansing From Sin

(Proverbs 5:22) “His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins.”  (KJV)

From this verse we see a description of what sin can and will do to a sinner. As one would use ropes to secure and fasten various commodities when shipping or for placing into storage, so sin grips a sinner. When sin is entertained, it will wrap it’s finger like ropes around your soul and hold on till Christ breaks them asunder.

I am glad that not only will Christ break the chains of sin from off of the sinner, but He will also cleanse the stains of sin away! (1 John 1:9 & Isaiah 1:18) Once held and bound, now free and clean. WOW! What a difference Jesus can make in a sinner’s life!

Conclusion

The words of the songwriter echo in my soul as I muse upon this topic. It goes like this:

“Sin will take you farther than you want to go, slowly, but wholly taking control. Sin will leave you longer than you want to stay. Sin will cost you far more than you want to pay”

Sin is dangerous and is nothing to play around with. Nobody has ever come away from it without it’s prominent scars! It can take a person down into the lowest of gutters and can make people do things that animals do not even consider participating in.

Pastor, why do so many quit warning people about sin? Why have so many generalized the subject and stopped calling sin by it’s Biblical name? If there was ever a time to proclaim and preach against specific sin, it is now!

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The Wonder Of Preaching!

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Billy Sunday, American baseball player and Chr...Image via Wikipedia

I guess everyone, who has been saved any length of time, has tired of preaching because of apathy and personal sin. It happens! Even pastors, hard working pastors, get heavy ears and weary of preaching. This is no surprise because preaching is the primary way that God uses His Omnipotent Word to reach souls! Satan surely knows this and if he can get the hearers and the proclaimers to lose the wonder of preaching, then he has gained some ground! Whether on the pew, or behind the pulpit, we should not lose the Wonder of Preaching! This post seeks to remind us of the greatness and wonder of preaching God’s Word and hearing it heralded forth!

The Wonder of PREACHING…

Preaching is the medium that God has ordained to proclaim the truth of His revealed word!

1 Corinthians 1:18 “For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.”

 1 Corinthians 1:21 “For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.”

We understand the word “Preach” to come from a word that would convey the idea of one who is crying out, or heralding.

Isaiah 58:1 ¶ “Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.”

In our day, we often witness what would never be deemed to fall within the aforementioned definition of preaching. We see a lot of pansy preachers who do not have the backbone of an amoeba. They are the type of people who would be characterized as compromising, hypocritical, and apostates; if you were to compliment them! Many are not God called at all. They are after money, women, prestige, and everything else they can get their hands on. With all of the problems with false preachers, I am glad that there are still some God called men preaching the Bible without compromise!

The Preeminence Of Preaching…

Preaching should be the main thing in the church. It should never take second place to music, drama, socials, or even a pie throwing contest! It should be the highlight of the services because it is expounding the eternal truths that “belong unto us and to our children for ever”! The sermon taken from the pages of the “Holy Writ” should be the highlight of every child of God’s life. Preaching should not be considered as something to be endured, but something that is enduring and delightful!

What Makes Great Preaching Great?

Great preaching is not great because a man inflects his voice like Billy Sunday, because a man is a statesman like Talmage, or because a man has the depth of men like G. Campbell Morgan, and Charles Hadden Spurgeon, and many others. What makes preaching great is the fact that a Spirit filled man declares the living Word of God and the Holy Ghost of God uses that same Word to accomplish what God intended!

Isaiah 55:11 “So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.”

It is the God behind preaching that makes great preaching great. Preaching is the greatest privilege in the universe. It is more important than the work of Doctors in the ER. It is higher in honor than giving the state of the Union speech before a joint session of Congress as the President of the United States. It is nobler to preach than to enjoin yourself to a life of philanthropy among the needy of our society. It is accomplishes more to preach than it does in giving lectures among the intellectual minds of the great universities. It is more compassionate to preach, “Thus sayeth the LORD”, than it is to be a social worker is devoted to the betterment of society. It is better to be a “Truth hugger” than a “tree hugger”! We have come to the “kingdom for such a time as this”, to preach, and not to sit around and play our time away.

Consider What God Chose Not To Do…

When God chose to express His thoughts and desires to mankind about the truth contained in the Bible concerning Salvation and the personal growth of the converted in our day, He did not choose the Sun to convey them even though it gives great light to all of our solar system and serves as a picture of Christ. He did not choose the Moon to convey them even though it stands sentry in the night sky, and serves as a picture of a Christian who should reflect the Light of Christ. He did not choose the Stars to convey them, even though they hold everyone’s attention, and serve to give us the vast number of descendents of Abraham. He did not choose the Angels even though they were present at Christ birth, and were mediums of truth in times past. He did not choose to use the sky above to write His message, even though great poems, songs, and other pieces of great contemplation have found their inspiration from it. He did not choose to use the great animals which He created, even though they serve to illustrate many practical truths from which we can benefit.

Consider What God Has Chosen To Do…

HE DID CHOOSE TO USE men, like you and me, who have nothing in and of ourselves to offer, but what God has already given to us. We deserve to suffer for eternity in Hell. We are but dust and deserve nothing at all from God! That being stated, God did choose to save us from our sins and use us to proclaim his message!

Conclusion…

Pastor, layman, church member, Christian have you lost your wonder for preaching? When a minister lifts up his voice to articulate God’s Word do you abhor it, or does it stir your soul as never before?  Brother Keith Knauss stated…

“Never Lose The Wonder Of Preaching!”

Precious saint, cultivate your soul and let the freshness of God’s Holy Spirit get down in the hardened clay of your soul! Let Him stir your desires for the Heavenly way! May the awe inspiring wonder of God’s proclaimed word find its way our of your mouth. As the Word of God says, “Let the redeemed of the Lord say so!”

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