Sermon Tone Analysis

! What The Bible Teaches \\ Unit 1 \\ Who is God?

!  

! Lesson 5 \\ How Powerful Is God?

 

 

God is all-powerful (omnipotent or His omnipotence).

What does this mean to you?

What should it mean to you?  God created the universe.

God created you.

Don’t you believe that God has the power to solve all those surrounding problems you?

Psalm 115:3 (NKJV) \\ 3 But our God /is/ in heaven; He does whatever He pleases.

!!! Getting Attention

 

Why should thoughtful people ask, How powerful is God?

Why is power needed?

How do people use their power today?

!!! Knowing and Understanding the Bible

 

The world is full of people who do not believe in God.

Why does /Bad Things Happen to Good People/ by Rabbi Harold Kushner conclude that God is not powerful enough to stop all of the evil and bad events of life?

He used this method to explain the death of his child.

More relevant to modern Christians, this same question has led to a new cult called Open Theism.

Open Theism, while saying that God has the power, denies God’s ability to use this power to help us by declaring that God cannot see the future, so He cannot stop that truck from running over you since He does not know it will happen.

While stated in terms of knowledge, one could restate their position to be that God is not powerful enough to see the future.

This was also the question of Job.

Why do bad things happen to you?

Does God not love?

Is He not powerful enough to protect you?

 

!!!!! Sovereignty

 

God is the supreme ruler and controller of all things in the universe.

This is the teaching of Psalm 115:3.

God is King or President of the universe.

The word /sovereign/ means chief, highest, or supreme.

God is in control. 

 

1 Timothy 6:15-16 (NKJV) \\ 15 which He will manifest in His own time, /He who is/ the *blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, 16 who alone has immortality,* dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom /be/ honor and everlasting power.

Amen.

 

1 Timothy 1:17 (NKJV) \\ 17 Now to the *King eternal, immortal, invisible*, to God *who alone is wise*, /be/ honor and glory forever and ever.

Amen.

!!!!! Omniscience

 

God is omniscient or all-knowing.

God knows all things, past, present, or future.

Psalm 139:1-6 (NKJV) \\ 1 O Lord, You have searched me and known /me./ 2 You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off. 3 You comprehend my path and my lying down, And are acquainted with all my ways.

4 For /there is/ not a word on my tongue, /But/ behold, O Lord, You know it altogether.

5 You have hedged me behind and before, And laid Your hand upon me.

6 /Such/ knowledge /is/ too wonderful for me; It is high, I cannot /attain/ it.

God knows us in a personal way – He searches us personally and knows all about us.

The concept of a hedge in v5 suggests that God’s knowledge is active rather than passive.

It is not just that He knows things; rather, He acts as sovereign over situations and actually controls situations.

The knowledge of God is beyond man’s understanding and comprehension.

Isaiah 55:8-9 (NKJV) \\ 8 “For My thoughts /are/ not your thoughts, Nor /are/ your ways My ways,” says the Lord.

9 “For /as/ the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.

In addition, Scriptures teach us that God knows things that would have taken place if people had acted differently.

See 1 Sam 23:1-13 as an example.

If God knows everything, including all possibilities, and takes an active role in assuring which events become fact, then believers should take great assurance that God is at work for our benefit all of the time.

!!!!! Omnipresence

 

God is present everywhere (omnipresence).

In this fashion, He is able to work His power when ever, where ever He desires.

Psalm 139:7-12 (NKJV) \\ 7* **Where can I go* from Your Spirit?

Or *where can I flee from Your presence*?

8 If I ascend into *heaven, *You /are/ there; If I make my bed in *hell*, behold, You /are there./

9 /If/ I take the wings of the morning, /And/ dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, 10 *Even there* Your hand shall lead me, And Your right hand shall hold me.

11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall fall on me,” Even the night shall be light about me; 12 Indeed, the *darkness shall not hide from You*, But the night shines as the day; The darkness and the light /are/ both alike /to You./

 

!!!!! Omnipotence

 

As indicated above, omnipotence means all-powerful.

This does not mean there are things God cannot do.

For example, God cannot lie (Titus 1:2).

What God cannot do is act contrary to His nature or essence.

Therefore, God cannot sin or abide sin.

Psalm 139:13-24 (NKJV) \\ 13 *For You formed my inward parts; *You covered me in my mother’s womb.

14 I will praise You, for I am fearfully /and/ wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And /that/ my soul knows very well.

15 My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, /And/ skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.

16 *Your eyes saw my substance*, being yet unformed.

And *in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me*, When /as yet there were/ none of them.

17 How *precious also are Your thoughts to me*, O God! How great is the sum of them!

18 /If/ I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand; When I awake, I am still with You.

19 Oh, that You would slay the wicked, O God! Depart from me, therefore, you bloodthirsty men.

20 For they speak against You wickedly; Your enemies take /Your name/ in vain.

21 Do I not hate them, O Lord, who hate You?

And do I not loathe those who rise up against You? 22 I hate them with perfect hatred; I count them my enemies.

23 *Search me, O God, and know my heart*; Try me, and know my anxieties; 24 And see if /there is any/ wicked way in me, And *lead me in the way everlasting*.

All of God’s works demonstrate His great power.

Look at the world around you.

Consider all of the different types of trees and shrubs, grasses, animals, insects, as well as people.

This is the power of God!  God has the power to create, rule, and control His creation, including “balancing the books” (vv19-24).

God is Almighty, a term used over 40 times in the Old Testament (Gen 17:1; 35:11).

This term reappears several times in Revelation (Rev 1:8; 4:8; 11:7; 15:3; 16:7, 14; 19:15; 21:22).

In other words, God is more powerful than all of His Creation.

!!!! Two Special Issues

 

!!!!!

The creation of the universe

 

In Psalm 139 David speaks of the special event of the birth of a child.

If one thinks of special events in Scripture, the incarnation and resurrection of Jesus would surely come to mind.

The judgments to come are another aspect of God’s power.

However, there are two special events that deal with God’s power and are of concern to the believer today.

The first of these is the issue of creation.

Today’s humanist, secular society pins its beliefs on science and evolution.

The universe was formed by natural laws and mankind lives by these rules.

If evolution is true, the resurrection is difficult to believe because there is no entity powerful enough to overcome the natural laws.

If, however, there is a Creator who made the heavens and the earth, it is a simple, short step to belief in the incarnation and the resurrection.

The Bible clearly states that God exists and that He has made the Heavens and the earth, as well as man (see generally Gen 1).

Genesis 1:1 (NKJV) \\ 1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Genesis 1:26 (NKJV) \\ 26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

Hebrews 11:3 (NKJV) \\ 3 By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.

God’s great power demonstrates His difference and separation from His Creation.

His relationship with Creation is spoken of in terms of transcendence, providence, and immanence.

*Transcendence* speaks to God’s separation and difference from the Creation.