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Where pop culture, current events, and theology all come together. Speak your mind. And now, here's today's Truth Talk Live host. Have you ever wished you had just a little more power? You know, maybe you're driving down the highway, you press the gas pedal, right?
Your car just doesn't seem to have the juice, nothing left to give. Or maybe you're trying to get something done around the house, and you realize this just isn't the tool that I need. I'm gonna have to hire somebody powerful enough for this job. Here's a question I want to put before you today: Are you living your Christian life in the power of God? Are you just trying to go through the motions in your own power?
Welcome to today's episode of Truth Talk Live. My name is Ryan. That's right. I'm John, and and we're excited to talk to you today about about the Christian life. You know, a lot of times people live the Christian life and they they try to navigate things on their own because we are sort of hardwired.
We're sort of set up to believe that we're the captain of the ship. That's right. You know, everything revolves around me. Everything begins and ends with what I'm able to do. And we want to hear your thoughts on this.
You can call us eight six. Six three four truth. That's eight six six three four eight seven eight eight four. We want to hear ways that you've experienced God's power in a way that you just couldn't explain. Maybe it's an answered prayer, right?
Maybe it's something that God has brought you through some experience, some change in your own heart that you never thought possible. But we want to hear about it. You know, Ryan, we've been talking a lot on the Clear View Today show about this these parables, and a lot of them have kind of gone with these our own illustrations. One of them we've been talking about. If you haven't been listening to the Clearview Today Show, is an old and by say old I mean like ancient, ancient sitcom from the nineteen nineties.
Ouch! That's a that's a whole other millennium ago. That's a whole thousand years ago. The nineteen nineties. The nineteen nineties were a thousand years ago.
Do you remember?
Sometimes it feels that way. Do you guys remember? A man named Tim the Tool Man, right?
So home improvement, of course, we all remember. He had one philosophy when it came to fixing things. More power. Yeah, doesn't matter what it is, right? It can be a lawnmower, dishwasher, power drill, engine, motor.
Tim wanted to make it bigger. He wanted to make it stronger and faster. And of course, if you remember the show, it would always backfire. Yeah, he seemed to be on a first name basis with the local hospital staff. They they knew him well.
And Al Borland, his his faithful co-host to to his show, was very by the book. Oh yeah, was a very like this is the method, this is the instructions, this is how we do things. But Tim, if a little power is good, more must be better. Power is great. That's right.
And we're looking at the first chapter of Ephesians. This is all coming from Dr. Abadhan Shah's messages, our sermons, as we've been as we've been going through. And you know, Paul is actually praying that the believers would understand something about power, not horsepower, right? Not electrical power, the kind of power that Tim was trying to manifest, right?
Just just do it more, do it bigger. He's talking about the power of God.
So we want to look in Ephesians chapter one. Where Paul is writing to the believers in Ephesus, and starting in verse fifteen, he tells them that he's praying for them. I mean, you know, that's not unusual. Paul prays for his people. Paul Paul is frequently telling the churches that he's praying for them.
You're in my prayers. But I think what interests me here is what Paul is praying for. He's not saying, God, give these people more money, right? Give them more blessing. Just make their lives a little bit easier.
Remove all their problems. He's saying, God, open their eyes. Yeah. Open the understanding. Open the eyes of their understanding.
The eyes of their heart. Yeah. And That's something that we don't think about a lot. He he talks about the the power of God in a way that we often don't think about. Most of the time, if you're thinking about the power of God when it comes to Scripture, you're thinking about miracles.
Yoga. I mean, you've got some pretty stellar examples in the Old Testament for things like parting the Red Sea. I mean, let's go even further back in the Old Testament to creation itself. That's an example of of of God's power. The sun standing still when when when people pray.
Moses. His hands and the Israelites prevailing over the the enemy army. I mean, there's lots of examples of of God's miraculous supernatural power. That's right, and we want that in our lives. Of course, we want we want to see that.
And I think what Paul is telling the Ephesians here is, I want you to understand what you already have. It's easy to pray for a miracle, right? We want to see God just give me, give me a message in the sky, write it out in the stars, and I'll follow you because all I need you to do is prove yourself to me through this mighty act. And Paul is saying, I want you to your eyes to be open to understand what you already have in Jesus Christ. In verse nineteen, he says that what is the exceeding power of his?
Oh, sorry, the exceeding greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, which he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead. And seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places. Paul is praying Christians would understand the exceeding greatness of God's power, not in general, His power towards you. Yeah, that makes a big difference. It makes a huge difference.
You know, people talk about the Christian life and what it takes to to live a life of obedience to God. I mean, you can fill that with any any any task in the blank. Read your Bible more. Give more. Go to church, right?
Serve on ministry teams, go on mission trips. That's ultimately those are all good things. Maybe we would never say those are bad things, but in order to live the Christian life, those are outworkings of the Christian life. But that's not the fuel. That's right.
That's not what helps us put one foot in front of the other. In terms of what it takes to serve God daily, yeah, you can, and I'm speaking from experience here, and I'm sure Ryan and Dr. Shaw would agree with me here. You can be a Christian for years, decades, and still not understand what it means to live in the power of God, because it's a very ethereal thing, right? You know, I attend church every Sunday, I read my Bible, I sing the songs, all those things that Ryan just mentioned.
I serve, I give, but I'm trying to do everything in my own strength, and there's a big difference between knowing God's power. And actually, depending on God's power, God works miracles. God moves the mountains. God parts the Red Sea. I'm just trying to pay my bills.
Right. We don't think about the two actually crossing. That God's power, the same power that raised Jesus from the dead, lives in us. Oh yeah. I mean, I know it lives in me.
It's it's there because God's there. But I can't do anything with it. I can't manifest that power. And Paul says, "No, you actually can." You know, I'll tell you when it becomes really painfully evident in my life whether I'm relying on God's power to live a Christian life, or I'm trying to do it in my own power. And that's when life gets difficult.
Yeah. When when life gets stressful, or when things get a little bit hairy, when things get a little bit uncertain, it it it's exposed pretty quickly whether I'm relying on God or whether I'm relying on myself in terms of my response. That's right. Situation. That's right.
Doctor Shaw put it this way. During his sermon, I thought this was a really great illustration. I think it'll it'll connect with a lot of us. Think about electricity, right? I'm not an electrician.
I I have no I can't I can't go I can't even flip the breaker box if it if it switches. I gotta leave it up to Ellie. But I don't have to be an electrician to understand that electricity is powerful. Electricity can light up a city block, right? It can operate machinery.
It can run the air conditioner in my house. There's lots of things that electricity can do. But there's a difference between knowing all that and then getting up and turning on the lights. I can harness that power in a little light switch, or I can sit in a dark room all day and talk about how wonderful and powerful and beneficial electricity is. Believe it or not, there are Christians who do that.
They're sitting in a dark room and saying God is powerful.
Well, is he showing up in your life? I mean, I'm not seeing it, but I know he's powerful. Yeah, I know he's good. You know, I can explain all the history of it. I can talk about what he did in the Bible, but it's just not real in my life.
Yeah, I say that because I have to. Yeah, because I have to believe it. That, yeah. None of those change. None of that knowledge changes the fact that you are sitting in the dark, waiting for something to happen.
Yeah. When God is telling you, get up and flip the light switch. Right. Yeah. Yeah.
Now, you know, God's power is not electricity, and faith is not a switch that we can just flip. I wish it were that simple. Like, hey. Just add the faith, and it's just like a light switch. It's an illustration, but here's the the main point.
There's a big difference between knowing something's true. And living out that truth, absolutely, yeah. And and I think that's what Paul wants for the Ephesians. He wants them to know that God's power is not a theological concept. That's how we treat it.
We treat God's power like it's something to talk about over coffee or talk about from the pulpit. It's a reality that shapes the way that you live. It changes. It changes the way that we approach the problems of life. You know, we when we think about the power of the God of the Bible, whether we're talking about in the Old Testament, like we talked about earlier, creation.
The plagues of Egypt, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Jonah in the belly of the fish. I mean, that's an example of God's power. That wasn't just the fish's lunch. The fact that Jonah was sustained and then he was, you know, spit out on the shores of Nineveh. That's God's power.
You go to the New Testament. You have Jesus turning water into wine, coming to sea. I mean, pick any one of the miracles that are in the Gospels in the story of Jesus' life. It's interesting to me though that we don't just have Examples of God Himself working His power, or Jesus, the Son of God, who is God, the Second Person of the Trinity, working divine power. We have people in the Old Testament that God is working through, and then we have the apostles in the New Testament that are then going out and doing miraculous things.
That's right. Now, when we think about God's power, does that mean that we get to go have superpowers? Yes, we get to go. We get to go shoot lasers out of our eyes. We get to go like fly around.
Yeah, absolutely. I'm here to tell you. No, of course not. But we're going to talk about what that means as we come back. How do you access God's power?
We're going to talk about it. Eight six six three four truth. Eight six six three four eight seven eight eight four. We're going to dive back into Ephesians as soon as we get back. Truth talk live.
You're listening to the Truth Network and TruthNetwork.com. Welcome back to Truth Talk Live, where we are talking about the power of God in your life. And right before the the break, we talked about the superpowers that we're that's right from the Bible. No, I'm just oh yeah, no, I mean, look, the Peter did it. Peter went around and cast out demons, and he healed people.
Snapped his fingers. I think he did a Chris Angel levitate off the ground. God promises us that type of power, right?
Well. I wish, but it's not that simple. Think about the greatest demonstration of power in human history. Think about the times we're living in. Right, we can split atoms.
Yeah, we can take. I mean, you've seen Elon Musk what he can do, man, with the flying cars and sending rockets to the moon and all these engines and the forces of nature. I mean, this is a powerful, powerful world we live in. But Apostle Paul says that the greatest demonstration ever of God's power happened 2,000 years ago in an empty grave right outside of Jerusalem. That's right, and that is the resurrection of Jesus.
Christ, and so like Ryan said, we're talking about Ephesians chapter one. We're wondering why we don't see the same type of miracles today that we read about in the Bible, or maybe you have experienced something that convinced you that God is still at work in extraordinary ways. We want to hear from you. Eight six six three four truth. That's eight six six three four eight seven eight eight four one.
Ephesians chapter one, right now. That's right. Ephesians chapter one, specifically looking at verse twenty, where we talk about the kind of power that God is displaying here. The kind of power that Paul is referencing for the Ephesians, it says Ephesians chapter one verse twenty, which he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead. the The quintessential, biggest display, most impactful display of God's power is Jesus coming back from the dead.
That's right, the tomb being empty. You're a hundred percent right, man. Death could not hold him. The grave itself, not just a hole in the wall, but I'm talking about death as a spirit. Spiritual power could not contain Jesus Christ, and Paul says, if you want to understand the power of God towards believers, you need to look there.
Now, to answer this question, why doesn't God work the miracles that He worked in the Bible? I actually want to turn to a clip that Dr. Shaw actually preached from this sermon a couple of weeks ago, because a lot of times we ask that.
Well, if He just worked a miracle in my life like He did for Israel, I would believe. Yeah, I'd follow Him. That's really not that true. Why don't you listen to this? We're going to talk about it.
Revivals and awakenings that have happened in our culture in the history were because of God's power, and that's what is needed again. And I believe they can happen again. People think that back in those days, people were all like church-going folks and good, godly people. They just needed to get a little bit more spiritual. If you read history books in the early 1700s, every problem we have today was there.
Every vice that we contend with today was there. Young people were walking the streets. Can you imagine that in 1700s, in all their colonial boots and hats, they were goofing off, and parents couldn't control them. And revival came, and awakening came, and the entire nation was turned back to God. That's what is needed today.
That's the mighty act of God. You see, what is God doing? Yes, He still does mighty acts, but just keep in mind, God did mighty acts back then, and people still disobeyed. When I was standing up there, on that rock plateau, and looking over the wilderness of sin. I told our people.
I said, "Can you hear something?" And they kind of looked at me funny. I said, "Can you hear a lot of grumbling happening?" They said, "Oh yeah, we can hear it." What I was saying was, they were eating the bread falling from heaven. They were eating the quail falling from heaven, and they were still grumbling.
So God can do all these mighty acts. And people will still turn their backs on God. If only mighty acts and mighty powerful things can change people for good, God would do them all. By the way, Jesus did all those miracles. Are y'all awake?
Jesus did all those miracles for three and a half years, and at the end of it, he only had twelve—really eleven—and then they ran away. He had three, and then one ended up denying him. All the bread, all the healing, all the coming back to life, and they could not follow him.
So, if we say, "If we only had a lot of this stuff, then people will come to God," no, it doesn't work like that. It is by faith that when you don't see, you acknowledge that there is a God and He is holy, and Jesus is God's Son who gave His life for us. It's not by doing fantastic things that the world changes. That's right, and everything starts with our faith. You know, you can't.
There's, there's no navigating around the faith aspect of the Christian life.
Now, Ryan, when he was talking about that in that clip right there, he mentioned standing up on the rock on the plateau and seeing where God fed the children of Israel from the manna from heaven. I'm actually, it's kind of crazy because in my devotions, my morning devotions right now, I'm going through Numbers. Yeah, but you actually stood there with him. Yeah, you, you stood in the place where, like, physically on earth. Earth, where the manna came down and the quail came down from heaven, what was that like?
It was unbelievable. I mean, you know, there's scholars have some debate as to whether or not that is actually the place, because of course they're known by different names now. But it's very possible that we were looking at the place where the the miracle of manna was provided, the miracle of quail was provided, and you can look out and and if you kind of squint and use your sanctified imagination, you can see you can see these people who are rounding up the quail, who are rounding up the the manna. And they have they're holding in their hands a miracle of God, food raining from the sky that does not happen. And they're grumbling about it.
They're complaining about it. Why do we have to continue to have this man? I'm so sick of this man. You know, there's no person I love on earth more than my wife. You know that.
She knows that. If she's listening to this, you know, I love you more than anything itself. But if she has a meal more than two days in a row, oh, you won't hear about it. And I wonder. A lot of times, like, surely, food falling from heaven.
There's no way you can find a way to complain. About it, but I'm sure after about a month, I think it's like this says. After about a month, they're like, "What? Can we get something else?" Yeah, can you send something else? Can you send some spices along with it?
Yeah, like flavor it differently. I get that the bread is divine provision. It just don't taste good. We get so easily swayed away from the miraculous by the mundane nature of our wants and our desires and our complaints. Our discomfort distracts us from the divine.
That's right. We we. See, we know that God. First and foremost, we need to recognize God still does perform mighty works. the The whole idea of why doesn't God do those things anymore?
Well, He does. You know, we still pray for people who are sick because we believe that God's going to heal them. When here's the here's the terrible truth: even as God was performing those mighty works, people didn't believe it. That's exactly right. The people of Israel they were looking at the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire as they were constructing the golden calf.
Imagine, yeah, golly, man, that's a bar. Did you just? You just come up with that? Yeah, that's a really cool bar. I like that.
It was amazing. This trip that we were talking about over in Egypt, you know, there were lots of places that we went that we didn't have cell service, so there is no scrolling on your phone, there's no playing, texting your friends.
So I was reading through Exodus while we were in Egypt, and these places that we went, and it is unbelievable that you're on the heels of a miracle like the Red Sea. You're on the heels of a miracle like you're looking up at Mount Sinai and you see the cloud of God. God's glory descended upon the top of the mountain as we're building an idol of convenience. Yeah, he's up there. Moses is up there right now.
Intervening for us, and we're going to go on ahead and do this. We are no different, and no, we're no different, and we think it's a good cop out because we can say, "Well, he just doesn't work that way anymore." He does, yeah. And you know, just because God's works are not recorded in the Bible, you should read the history of the church. You should read the history of Christianity through this world. You're going to find remarkable accounts of God's work.
So that let we could just go ahead and say that now, God still does work, mighty works. But we also do need to remember God's power has never meant that His people are. Exempt from suffering, right? If God is powerful in my life, why do I still get sick? Why can't I even make a raise on my paycheck?
Yeah, you know, think about Paul, the man himself, writing about the exceeding greatness of God's power. He was he went through persecution. Yeah, he went through imprisonment. He went through beatings, tremendous hardship, and shipwrecked, and he a thorn in his flesh. It said that it was a messenger of Satan sent to buffet him.
Yeah. Well, was God not powerful? Of course, God is powerful. Was Paul not faithful? Yeah, exactly.
Yeah, yeah. Of course, he was. He, he. In fact, he asked God. It says he prayed three times for God to remove it.
God didn't say, "Man, I wish I could, but I just don't work that way no more." Yeah. The children of Israel they didn't obey me, so now I don't do miracles no more. No, God said, "My grace." Is sufficient for you.
Now, I want to come back to that a little bit later. But here's something for you guys before we cut to another break. I want you to consider, even when God performs a miracle, that doesn't mean that it's going to produce faith in your life. And we're going to talk about that in a little bit after the break. We want you to give us a call: eight six six three four truth eight six six three four eight seven eight eight four.
Truth Talk Live. You're listening to the Truth Network and TruthNetwork.com. Welcome back to today's episode of Truth Talk Live. We're talking about the power of God and how it impacts the way you live your life. Write in and let us know how you've seen God's power at work in your life.
Eight six six three four truth. That's eight six six three four truth. That's right. We got Buxman on the line right now, Buxman. We are talking about the power of God and how it manifests itself in our life.
Not just those miracles in Scripture, but power of God for us today. How you doing? Today, Boxman. I am doing fantastic. What a great topic!
I think a lot of Christians, at least here where I go to church, guys, struggle with this. And I, as I was listening to your opening block, I I couldn't help but think of Romans eight, and I thought, wow, this really applies, Lord God.
So it says this in verse five: For those who live according to the flesh, set their minds on the things of the flesh. Gentlemen, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. Verse six: For to set the mind on the flesh is watch this fellow death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life. And watch this: God throws in a bonus and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, but it does not submit to God's law.
Indeed, watch this, gentlemen. It cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. And verse nine, this should frighten everybody. You, however, are not in the flesh, but in the spirit.
Now that was an affirmation to the Romans that he was writing to. But then he ends it like this, gentlemen. In fact, the spirit of God dwells in you.
Now that's the key. That's the key. Anyone who does not have the spirit of Christ. Does not belong to him. That should frighten everyone.
So, as I read this, gentlemen, I'm thinking the movement is not of our knowledge of the Scripture. It's not how often we go to church, even if we're pastors, reverends, leaders, ministers. the the The question is, do I have God living in me, and if I do, the sights from my eyes are no longer on the things of this world. What would bring me comfort, pleasure, whatever? It's what brings Him glory.
What makes other people see God in that person? And say, wow!
Now that guy's different. He doesn't look like the church people that I know. He's moving in a sense and a power that is beyond the the comprehensible ways of living a good moral life. And isn't it interesting? Isn't it interesting that you?
I mean, you're reading you're reading us from Romans. We're talking from Ephesians, of course. Same author, Paul's writing here. And as somebody who had lived in both of those worlds, where his eyes were on eyes are on the flesh versus eyes being on God, isn't it interesting that the first thing that God gets a hold of after Saul's encounter before he becomes Paul is his eyes? Yes, absolutely.
And that we talk about that all the time. That's right. You know, our our motto at Clearview Church, our our identity really is making Christ visible. It's a very simple. It really hit hard in our discussion through Job.
You know, over on the Clearview Today show, we did we walked through the book of Job, and when you get to Job chapter nineteen and verse twenty five, where it says, "At last, I shall see. I know my redeemer lives, and at last, I shall see him." He could have said anything, man. He could have said, "I shall know him. I shall experience him. I'll have this really worshipful experience.
I shall see God." Yeah, that I think is one of the greatest affirmations of God's power. Is that I see him, and not just I see him. Like, oh, I'm I'm gonna see him one day. I see him right now. That's right.
You know, a lot of Christians say I have faith. I have faith that I'm gonna see God one day. It's another thing entirely to say I see God. I see exactly what He's doing. And you know, Paul says in Ephesians 2:20.
I'm gonna read this right here. Oh, I just lost it. Where's where's Ephesians 2:20? Oh, I just had it. Just got away from me.
It says it says something to the effect of. Go go ahead. It says something to the effect of, you know, we are created as His craftsmanship. We are in Christ Jesus, created for good works.
Now, Paul's not saying that, and I'll see if I can find that. Oh, here it is. Ten two ten is why I couldn't find it. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. He's not saying we're saved by our good works, right?
Or in fact, earlier in Ephesians chapter two, he says that that grace is only by salvation is only by grace through faith. But here's the thing, just like you were talking about, Buxman. Once we belong to Jesus Christ, once we are His, God starts doing something in our lives, right? He starts shaping us. He's preparing us for what?
For heaven, yeah. But also the work that He's called us to do. Yeah. So, Buxman, I really appreciate your comments, man. Absolutely, the works that He's called us to do.
Thank you so much for calling for calling in today. Absolutely. God bless you as well, and we want to hear from you guys as well. Eight six six three four truth. That's eight six six three four eight seven eight eight four.
God's power in us, helping us to live out the Christian life, and sometimes. That's going to be difficult. Yeah. Listen, I wish I could tell you the Christian life is easy, man. You just give it over to Jesus, and God's going to take care of you.
You know what He said, man? Why you? Why don't worry about nothing? He feeds the birds and He clothes the sparrow. He's going to take care of you.
To all that is a hundred percent true. That doesn't mean you're not going to go through difficult circumstances in life. The easy part of the Christian life is the moment of salvation, because it's not our work. It's the work that that Jesus does in us and bring us back to life. The Holy Spirit of God, the work of Justification—it's the work of sanctification, the ongoing sanctification process—that's difficult because guess what?
We not only have the Holy Spirit of God, but we got to sin nature to contend with. That's a hundred percent right. And we look for things like God's blessing and God's power as evidence that God is with us. And when I say God's power, what I should really say is we look for comfort, ease, physical blessings as evidence of God's power. Maybe is a better way to say that.
Think about Joseph, Old Testament, right? Joseph had God putting into his dreams what he was about to do in his life and in the whole nation of Egypt. Yeah, imagine the power that you would have if God is putting in your dreams. Here's what I'm about to do in the world. That's powerful.
But what happened? His brothers betrayed him. Yep. He got sold into slavery. He got falsely accused of of harassing Potiphar's wife, thrown into prison, sat in prison for years.
Well, I guess God's power wasn't with me. No, God's power is with you. You're going to suffer. You're going to have to go through some some things where it feels like everything's going wrong in your life, but God is still at work. You know the the wildest thing to me through the Christian life, and as you look at people in the Bible, the wildest thing to me is that they recognize God's power often when they look back.
Sometimes it's in the moment that we we miss what God is doing, but when we look back, and you know, through the eyes of faith, we see the ways that God has kind of Woven our story together, you can see God's faithfulness. You can see the trajectory that He's placed you on much more clearly.
Sometimes looking in the rearview mirror. That's that's the way it's been in my life. I really wish, and I think most Christians wish that I could I could enjoy God's power working in my life while I'm doing it. I just had a great conversation, and I just made a great deal, and I just made a bunch of money. That's God's power working in me.
Amen. Praise you, Lord. For maybe that happens for some people. For me, it's almost never been that. It's been exactly what you described.
But I'll tell you this: it it is happening as I'm as I'm getting older, and as I'm, yeah, you know, my my I've been married longer. My kids have grown up a little bit. I've been in ministry longer. As I've gotten older and experienced more about life, I do feel like I see it in the moment more often. It's still, it's still more most often I see it looking backward.
Yeah, but I'm recognizing it more than I was. In the in the moment, that's really seeing. I'm seeing God moving, and I can look at it and be like, "That's God. That this is 100% God. This is not me.
This is not human ingenuity. This is not luck or coincidence. This is God working things out." I'm I'm recognizing it more often, although not as often as I'd like. Yeah. Well, I mean, I think that I think that's that's one of the ways that God is showing you that wisdom, that favor, and that power.
You know, the fact that you're able to look at it and see God. I see you. Maybe you are listening to this right now. And you're in a season of life where it just feels like you're in the wilderness. I'm just stuck.
I'm spinning my wheels. Yeah. Maybe I'm not caught in the. Maybe it's not like this is the worst season of my life, but it's just like you're in the doldrums. You know, you're waiting on something, and I don't even know what I'm waiting on.
There's some situation that's unfair. There's some circumstance that needs to get changed, and I just feel like God's abandoned me. God is probably doing something in your life that you can't see. In fact, I would go so far as to say, not probably. If you're His, if you belong to Him, just like Buxman was saying earlier, if you're a Christian, God is working something together that you can't see, and so.
His power is going to be demonstrated in these everyday things, in the waiting, right, in your relationships, in your marriage, in the things that He's asking you to have the faith to see. Yeah, you know, Ephesians 2:14, Paul says this. He's talking about Jesus. He says, "For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one and has broken down the middle wall of separation." There's this reconciliation between the Jews and the Gentiles through Christ. People who have been who have been separated through generations of religious And cultural and social hostility, and through the gospel, God is bringing them together through one body.
Now we see that as just that's the gospel story, but that's an extraordinary account of God's power. He's brought two peoples, the outsiders, in, and that's us. And that could only be done through God's power. That's not human peace talks. That's right.
That's not you know we we want to come together and we want to reach a consensus. It's two people who were at odds, two people groups that who were. At odds that God, through His power, has brought together. Most times, it's when we get to a point where we can't. That then we can point to say that's God working.
That's right, but but God's power is defeating the enemy, right? If I talk about God's power, then then there's somebody that did something wrong to me in my life, and I want God's power to smite that person, or I want God's power to make me into the the leader and the man that I'm supposed to be. God's power here is bringing enemies, outsiders into brothers and sisters. That is defeating the enemy of disunity. That's exactly right, and isn't that something that your life needs?
You know, we live in a culture where people are always dividing themselves into groups. It used to be like when I was growing up, we wanted to end that. We wanted to make sure that hey, there are no groups. Everybody is together as one people. You know, in the '90s, that was that was sort of the thing.
It's not the same world. It's different. There's political groups, social groups, economic groups, and people are are well and happy. To split themselves up to it, people who vote like us, people who think like us, people who, you know, you pray and worship and all these things like us, and we find reasons. To dislike one another, what the gospel calls us to is something different.
It calls us to reconciliation and to love one another. One of the one of the biggest things we did this summer with our students is is a mission trip. We took the middle schoolers and then the high schoolers on a week long mission trip where we went and you know had fun and played some games, but also went and served the community. And the curriculum was focused on Nehemiah, and using Dr. Shaw's messages through the book of Nehemiah, we talked about what reconciliation looks like first.
Our reconciliation to God, and then how we are then ministers of reconciliation in our lives. God has given us as believers the ministry of reconciliation, and that is the truth of the gospel. Reconciliation, in and of itself, does not happen because people are winsome or savvy or likable. Reconciliation is an outworking of the power of God. That's right.
You know, I think we said this on the Clearview Today Show. Dr. Shaw said this yesterday or the day before. He said. If if you see mercy in someone's life, doesn't mean that that's a that's a nice person.
Who learned how to be merciful? Yeah, mercy is an expression of someone who has eternal life. I genuinely believe this. I believe that without the Holy Spirit, you can't have real mercy. You may be powerful enough and affluent enough to just move on and forget and forgive, but genuine mercy is a mark of someone who's got eternal life.
And the gospel calls us to forgive people because we've been forgiven in Christ. And it doesn't always mean that it's reconciliation as we would see it. Yeah, like everything's back to normal.
Sometimes trust has to be rebuilt, but the Holy Spirit is going to help you with that. We're going to talk about that a little bit more through God's power and how to keep bitterness from taking control of our lives when we come back. Eight six six three four Truth. We want to hear from you. We'll be right back.
Truth talk live. You're listening to the Truth Network and TruthNetwork.com. Welcome back to Truth Talk Live. We're talking about God's power and how we get it. How do we live out God's power in our lives?
Eight six six three four Truth. How have you seen God's power at work in your life? Call in and let us know. Eight six six three four Truth. That's right.
We got Mike on the horn from Dayton, Ohio. Mike, you're on the you're on Truth Talk Live, talking about God's power. How you doing today, man? I'm doing great, thanks. I love the subject, and you know it's it's it's a really hard subject to to wrap your head around.
But I think you if you start from the beginning, you know where Psalms thirty-seven four, delight in the Lord with delight in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.
Well, the delight means to to please someone greatly, and to please someone greatly is pleasing your God, you're pleasing your Lord, and doing His will. And it's amazing that more the more you understand God and His will, and and and those things that He wants in your life. Those those things that come across where you need to pray for someone, or you know, and you realize that is God's will. Miracles happen when you when you delight in Him, and and you do His will. And um, and I I've seen that in my life where I was reluctant to do something, and when I Humbled myself to do what God wanted me to do.
Miracles happen, and and it's wonderful when you when you delight in the Lord and you and you understand what His will is, and not our will. And I think you, yeah, I think is the, and we understand that when we more the more we delight in Him, the more will the more things that and God. That we love, you know what I mean. We love what God loves, and God loves to heal people. And God loves to take care of people, and God loves to help people, and and God wants those things, and that's and not I don't understand why God doesn't do it all the time, but I know God does it through the people that are willing to do God's will, and that's so you're hitting on something.
Yeah, you're hitting on something really big there, Mike, and I wanna I wanna build on that a little bit because I think you're I think you're on not only you're on the right Track, you're kind of hitting the nail on the head, you know. I wish the Bible gave us a formula that would let us control the power of God. Like you read the Book of Acts, right? And Peter is going around and he's healing people, and he's casting out demons. And you look at Moses and he's parting the Red Sea, and you say, okay.
Was it the order of the words they said? Did Jesus teach them the incantation, the the the password to do this? No.
Okay. Was it just Jesus loved Peter and John, and that he and he loves them more than me? They're apostles, and I'm not. No, it's not that. What you said is true.
There's a humility. There's a dependence on God. Yeah, believers are called to depend on God, and there's some things to think about there. I think primarily is the faith, just like you said, the humility and the faith that you have, and it's. It's not the case that, like, well, if something doesn't work out, if you pray for something, you must not have had the faith.
It's it's not that at all, but there is an element of of pure, unadulterated faith. In God and His power, what He's going to do in your life. We struggle a lot to have that kind of faith, without doubting, trusting, and knowing that God is going to come through the way that He has come through in the past, because God is a God who does not change, and He is a God who keeps His promises. That's right. It's not.
It's not faith as in like, okay, God, I really believe this. That means you have to do it, or you're not there. It isn't that. It means believing that God is. Who he says he is, right?
Believing that his word is true, believing and trusting in him that even when his plans are different from ours, and sometimes God's plans are going to be different from ours, right? But think about the difference in that and saying, "Okay, God, I just I think you're going to do it. I think you're going to give me my magic wish. Here it is." That's not power. God's power works when we truly trust in him and and depend on him.
That's the humility I think you're talking about, Mike. And I appreciate your call very much. Because it's uplifted me. Yeah, absolutely, Mike. Thank you so much for calling in today.
You're welcome. Can I add on to that? Yeah, please. Yeah, I really believe that. Yeah, I really believe that.
The more you you allow God to work through you, that power just comes flying out of it. You know what I mean? And Um. The yeah. Humbling yourself to God's will.
I remember when I was young kid. I didn't want to humble myself to God because I thought He was going to make me a missionary or send me over to Africa and I was going to die. You know. I mean. But God.
God loves you as an individual, and He's going to use your strengths to help you overcome this world and overcome the things that you know. You know that. You know, I mean, it's just it's a relationship that matters, and it's a hard one to it's a hard one to humble yourself enough to do it because you you we want to lean on our own understanding most of the time and not our not in God's will. You know, I mean, that's right. That's right.
It's just it's a it's a work in progress. Every day, and then it's amazing the work and progress that you do. The power just comes out of you, and the power to the people. That's right. Yeah, and to the people who are listening to what what Mike is saying right now, I really want you to catch on to that.
God loves you. God has a plan for your life, and the power that He's going to put in you. Like I said, it's not magic power. It's not like superhuman strength to do incredible feats. But it's going to be in those mundane things.
And Mike, I sure do appreciate you calling in. You've uplifted me today, man. We're gonna we're gonna cut over to one more clip of Dr. Shaw's message where he's talking about this treasure that we have in earthen vessels, not. Gold, heavenly, like beautiful, powerful containers, earthen vessels.
That's what God has placed His treasure in. Let's listen to it, and then we're going to talk about it. Again, this is Paul, but to the Corinthians, he says, "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, not beautiful ivory vessels, not beautiful bronze vessels." Earthen vessels means easily breakable. When you see the earthen vessel, you go, "Man, that's not going to hold anything." We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. This here is the essence of the Christian life.
That people should see you and say, "There's no way. There's no way you can do this. There's no way this marriage should work. There's no way that this family should work. There's no way this church should work." But in the process, we demonstrate the excellence of the power.
We are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed. That's what this power in operation looks like. It seems like man is coming from every direction. Have you said that recently? Feels like it's coming from this end and that end, and it just keeps on coming.
But you're not crushed. That's how this power works. We are perplexed, but not in despair. Scratching your head, going, "I don't know what's going on," but not in despair. There is hope.
Persecuted but not forsaken, struck down. Persecuted, they are persecuted. The families are killed, the churches are burned, but they're not forsaken. They know Jesus is with them. Listen, stay with me this morning.
It's probably one of the most important messages I've ever preached. Because that's how God's power works. You know what we think is that the stronger I am, the stronger I'm going to get. The more fit I am, the more smart I am. The make I can make relationships and deals work.
I'm going to. God says I want the opposite. Give me an earthen vessel. Give me somebody who doesn't fit the bill. And I'm going to pour my power into that life.
You remember we were talking earlier about Paul, who prayed three times. To have this thorn in the flesh removed from three times, and you know Paul is a man of prayer. Paul knows how to pray, right? Remember who it is we're talking about—the Apostle Paul. Anybody can look at him and say that is a stalwart.
That man has seen extraordinary demonstration of God's power. He has spread churches all over the world, spread the gospel through the Roman world. That's a strong man, and yet he's saying God. I just want you to remove this pain. God says no.
Yeah, my grace is sufficient for you. There's weakness there. Paul's strength could have become a boasting point. In fact, he says in other places, I could I could boast. I could boast about this.
I could boast about my pedigree. I could boast about my training. I could boast about my my affluence. Any number of things. But God kept him weak in order to display His strength.
God's strength through Paul's life. And I think that's the the thing that we miss a lot in talking about God's power. It's made perfect. Made evident. Through our weakness, and it's one of the most important truths that you can ever learn in the Christian life, and it's a truth we avoid.
It's not dependent. God's power is not dependent upon your ability to impress Him. You know, as a worship leader, that's something that I have to remind myself all the time. I'm I'm so tempted to want to impress God the way I impressed the people in that congregation, the way I impressed my teammates and the people who are who are underneath me on the worship team. God's not impressed by me.
He's not impressed by anything that I do, and His power. Is not dependent upon my ability to impress him. Not only with my talents, but with how capable I am, with how strong I am, with how good of a leader I am. He, I can handle everything myself. No, our greatest obstacle to experience God's strength is the insistence that I don't need it.
Yeah, our qualifier to have God's power at work in our lives is our weakness.
So, if you're out there listening to this and you're going through a season where you feel weak, You're going through a season where you feel like, man, I don't know if I can make this happen. I don't know if I can put one step in front of the in front of the other. Hey, guess what? You're in good company, and you're on the right track because it's in our weakness that God's power is made evident. And it may sound like a disappointment to you to hear like, "Would I want a solution to this problem?
And I want to get rid of this weakness, this pain, this thorn." It may sound like a disappointment to say, "Hey, God's grace is sufficient for you." The thorn's not going to disappear. But God is going to sustain you. And on the other side of that suffering, you're going to become a different person. God has something good for you on the other side of it. We talked about that when we were going through Romans, is that we think that suffering is just something to get through, and it's going to help teach me to trust God.
No, God's got something good for you, and His outworking of that power is going to be demonstrated in that. Thank you for listening today. If you want to talk more with us, you can follow us on Clearview Today Show. We we are going to be live tomorrow right here, same station, same time. But thank For listening to Truth Talk, we'll see you next time.
Truth Talk.
