(Colossians 1:13)  “For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves,”

Someone has said, “The ocean is deep enough for an elephant to swim in but shallow enough for a child to wade on its shores.”  Likewise the church of the New Testament has numerous features.

When we think of our unity of function and our unity with Christ, we see the church as the body of Christ (Romans 12:5):

(Romans 12:5)  “so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.”

When we think of the warmth, support, and companionship that we receive as his church, we view it as the family of God:

(Ephesians 2:19)  “Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household,”

The rule and reign of God make us think of the church as the kingdom of God on earth:

(Matthew 16:18-19)  “And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. {19} I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.””

These different descriptions do not conflict, but blend together to illustrate the composite nature of the divine organism we call the church. The glory of the N.T. church is that inherent within it is a multitude of holy traits that Christ provided through the cross.

No question, the Holy Spirit wants us to view the church as a kingdom (Col. 1:13).  Conversion is described as entrance into the body of Christ:

(Romans 6:3)  “Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?”

Since the body of Christ is spoken of as the church (Eph. 1:22-23). It follows that the Holy Spirit intends for us to see the church, the body of Christ, and the kingdom of Christ as the same spiritual organism.

The word kingdom is used in at least six contexts in scripture:

• Earthly, secular, governmental rule (Matt. 4:8).
• To convey the rule of God in the O.T.  God identified Israel as His Kingdom (Ex. 19:5-6).
• Used regarding the rule or power of God (Matt. 12:28). When the will of God is obeyed, the reign of God or the kingdom of God exists
• God’s reign in heaven (2 Peter 1:11).

It applies to the church.  The church is God’s earthly manifestation of His heavenly Kingdom (Matt. 16:18-19; John 3:5; Col. 1:13).

The dominion of Satan:(Matthew 12:26)  “If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand?”

THE KINGDOM IS A SPIRITUAL KINGDOM!

In it basic nature, the church is a spiritual kingdom, not a physical or material one:

(John 18:33-36)  “Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” {34} “Is that your own idea,” Jesus asked, “or did others talk to you about me?” {35} “Am I a Jew?” Pilate replied. “It was your people and your chief priests who handed you over to me. What is it you have done?” {36} Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place.””

The spiritual nature of the kingdom introduces vital truths regarding the church. The headquarters of the church are in heaven. Christ, our sovereign King, sits at God’s right hand in heaven:

(Acts 2:33)  “Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear.”

He will reign until he delivers the kingdom back to the Father:

(1 Corinthians 15:24)  “Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power.”

Thus, Christians are people who have entered the rule of God by submitting to the Lordship of  Jesus:

(Philippians 2:9-11)  “Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, {10} that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, {11} and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Christians’ life, work, and worship centers on the spiritual, not the physical:

• We wage a spiritual warfare (Eph. 6:12).
• Offer up spiritual sacrifices to God (1 Peter 2:5)
• Live on spiritual food (Heb. 5:12-14)
• Live in this world as pilgrims whose citizenship is in heaven (Phil. 3:20; 1 Pet. 2:11).

Our relationship with material realities of this world, are governed by our spiritual citizenship in the kingdom of heaven.  We see the worthlessness of the tinsel of this life when we view it through the lens of eternity. Being a member of God’s spiritual kingdom puts this world and its temptations in different light:

(1 John 2:17)  “The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.”

Christians do not view this world as others. They are in the world, but not of the world. We are in a spiritual kingdom, not an earthly one. Our devotion is spiritual, not secular. Christians pursue, above all other interests, the spiritual salvation of each person we meet.

A KINGDOM OF RIGHTEOUSNESS!

The church is a Kingdom of righteousness. Citizens of the kingdom of heaven do not live as they lived formerly:

(Ephesians 5:8-10)  “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light {9} (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) {10} and find out what pleases the Lord.”

New Testament speaks of two kings of righteousness.  An “extended righteousness” that we receive through Jesus Christ:

(Romans 3:24)  “and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”

“An exhibited righteousness” Christians are to walk in and manifest in life:

(1 John 1:7)  “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.”

It is unthinkable for Christians to walk in sin:

(1 John 3:8-9)  “He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. {9} No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God.”

Righteousness is extended to those who enter the kingdom and exhibit righteousness in their lives. Righteousness is exhibited by those who live as true citizens of the kingdom. God’s reign in one’s heart manifests itself in righteousness of life.  Citizenship in this kingdom means recognition of the sovereignty of God and a submission to His will in our daily lives.

AN ETERNAL KINGDOM!

The church is the manifestation of God’s eternal kingdom on earth. It is not fleeting, or temporary, but stable, unshakable and everlasting:

• Daniel foretold its coming: (Daniel 2:44)  “”In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever.”
• Gabriel revealed to Mary she would be the mother of the Messiah who would reign over the eternal kingdom (Luke 1:32-33)  “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, {33} and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.””
• Jesus promised that death could not overpower him and the kingdom would be established (Matthew 16:18)  “And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.”

The Hebrew writer described God’s kingdom as one that could not be shaken:

(Hebrews 12:28)  “Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe,”

As citizens of the kingdom of heaven, Christians possess eternal life. This life is both “an experience now” & “an expectation for the future.” 

All who possess Christ have eternal life now, for he is the very embodiment of eternal life:

(1 John 1:2)  “The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us.”

If we live in sin, we do not have eternal life living in us:

(1 John 3:15)  “Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him.”

The eternal nature of the kingdom of God expresses itself in the quality of life that we experience now as Christians and in the eternal life that we expect to receive in eternity. As Christians we continue to grow in love, righteousness, fellowship while in this life. After death, we enter that place of heavenly fellowship, inexpressible joy, and eternal service. Christians are part of an eternal kingdom that is not affected by time or physical dimensions.

As long as we stay in the sphere of God protection by faithfulness to His word, we are part of a kingdom that cannot be destroyed and will never end.

CONCLUSION

With God ruling and reigning in the hearts of Christians, the church of the N.T. is the kingdom of God possessing traits of spirituality, righteousness and eternality. Its citizens live in this world, but their hearts and citizenship belong to another world, the eternal kingdom of God (Col. 3:1-2; Phil. 3:20). We enter the kingdom through the “new birth” (John 3:1-5). 

Citizenship in the kingdom of God brings a spiritual center to life, a reign of God, which radiates to every prong and dimension of life, providing stability, guidance, understanding and wholeness. In this world of the temporary, the kingdom of God brings eternal life into our lives for today and for all our tomorrows.

“A happy family is but an earlier heaven.”

The family you come from isn’t as important as the family you’re going to have.”

“A family is a unit composed not only of children but of men, women, an occasional animal, and the common cold.”

A dad is a fellow who has replaced the currency in his wallet with snapshots of his family.

Being one of nine children, I’m used to hearing remarks about the size of our family. Once when my father had taken four of us to the grocery store, a woman asked him, “Are these all your children?”  “Oh, no,” he innocently replied.  Seeing the look of relief on her face, Dad said with a twinkle in his eye, “The other five are at home.”

Herbert Prochnow tells of a little girl who wrote in an essay on PARENTS: “We get our parents at so late an age that it’s impossible to change their habits.”

A family is more than a collection of human beings who are blood kin.  A family is more than the sum of its parts.  It is a living, shaping, powerful unit that teaches us our most important lessons in life.  It teaches us who we are, how to act, whom to relate to, and what is important in life.

A healthy family

1. communicates and listens

2. affirms and supports one another

3. teaches respect for others

4. develops a sense of trust

5. has a sense of play and humor

6. exhibits a sense of shared responsibility

7. teaches a sense of right and wrong

8. has a strong sense of family in which rituals and traditions abound

9. has a balance of interaction among members

10. has a shared religious core

11. respects the privacy of one another

12. values service to others

13. fosters family table time and conversation

14. shares leisure time

15. admits to and seeks help with problems.

In her best-seller, What Is a Family?, Edith Schaeffer devotes her longest chapter to the idea that a family is a perpetual relay of truth.  A place where principles are hammered and honed on the anvil of everyday living.  Where character traits are sculptured under the watchful eyes of moms and dads.  Where steel-strong fibers are woven into the fabric of inner constitution. The relay place.  A race with a hundred batons.

• Determination.  “Stick with it, regardless.”      
• Honesty.  “Speak and live the truth – always.”            
• Responsibility.  “Be dependable, be trustworthy.”      
• Thoughtfulness.  “Think of others before yourself.”  
• Confidentiality.  “Don’t tell secrets.  Seal your lips.”   
• Punctuality.  “Be on time.”      
• Self-control.  “When under stress, stay calm.”            
• Patience.  “Fight irriatability.  Be willing to wait.”       
• Purity.  “Reject anything that lowers your standards.”
• Compassion.  “When another hurts, feel it with him.”            
• Diligence.  “Work hard.  Tough it out.”

And how is this done?  Over the long haul, believe me.  This race is not a sprint, it’s a marathon.  There are no 50-yard dash courses on character building.  Relays require right timing and smooth handoffs – practiced around the track hour after hour when nobody is looking.  And where is this practice track? Where is this place where rough edges cannot remain hidden, must not be left untouched?  Inside your own front door.  The home is God’s built-in training facility.

People are blind to what they really need. They need family, and they need religion. Period. There is such an incredible strength in family, and religion gives you respectability, responsibility and a reverence for life.

During a visit to the children’s Bible class, my preacher friend looked into their serious faces and asked, “Why do you love God?” After a moment a small voice came from the back: “I guess it just runs in the family.”

The Church: A Radical Community

Letter to Diognetus (AD 125): “Although they live in Greek and barbarian cities alike, as each man’s lot has been cast, and follow the customs of the country in clothing and food and other matters of daily living, at the same time (Christians) give proof of the remarkable and admittedly extraordinary constitution of their own commonwealth. They live in their own countries, but only as aliens…they busy themselves on earth, but their citizenship is in heaven. They obey the established laws, but in their own lives they go beyond what the laws require. They love all man, and by all men are persecuted…

Letter to Hadrian (AD 125): “The Christians know and trust their God…If any of them have bondwomen or children, they persuade them to become Christians for the love they have toward them; and when they become so, they call them “brother” without distinction. They love one another…If they see a stranger, they take him into their dwellings and rejoice over him as a real brother; for they do not call each other brother after the flesh, but after the Spirit of “”God. If any among them is poor and needy, and they do not have food to spare, they fast two or three days that they may supply him with necessary food. But, the deeds which they do, they do not proclaim to the ears of the multitude, but they take care that no man shall perceive them. Thus they labor to become righteous. Truly, this is a new people and there is something divine in them.”

(Mark 3:32-35)  “A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, “Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.” {33} “Who are my mother and my brothers?” he asked. {34} Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! {35} Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.””

When the first Christians were made part of the New Testament church, begun on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2, they knew hardly anything of Jesus and nothing at all of the “church.” Yet, immediately, they were thrust into a fellowship of other believers – a radical, consuming community which supplanted every other loyalty.

They “devoted themselves” to meeting with a relative strangers (Acts 2:42). They sold their possessions to support one another (Acts 4). They met daily with their new friends to worship and commune in each other’s homes (Acts 2:46). They even rejoiced together when suffering persecution and ridicule!

All this had a revolutionary impact on the families, businesses, and friendships of these first Christians. Old loyalties were exchanged for new ones. The church became almost overnight the primary “reference group” for its members.

In the New Testament, the church  commands the primary allegiance of disciples. No other group of people is allowed to take precedence over God’s people.

Even family ties were subordinated to the family of God. Families of origin were put at risk and even broken:

(Mark 10:29-30)  “”I tell you the truth,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel {30} will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields–and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life.”

(1 Cor 7:12-15)  “To the rest I say this (I, not the Lord): If any brother has a wife who is not a believer and she is willing to live with him, he must not divorce her. {13} And if a woman has a husband who is not a believer and he is willing to live with her, she must not divorce him. {14} For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy. {15} But if the unbeliever leaves, let him do so. A believing man or woman is not bound in such circumstances; God has called us to live in peace.”

This radical sense of community was true of the first century church. Is it true of the church today? Is it true that many other loyalties compete with our devotion to the body of Christ?

Old-school way of thinking:

John Donne, 1633, Holy Sonnets: “No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the Continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less…Any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.”

Modern way of thinking:

“I have no need of friendship, friendship causes pain; its laughter and its loving I disdain…If I never loved I never would have cried…I have my books and my poetry to protect me; I am shielded in my armor. Hiding in my room, safe within my womb, I touch no one and no one touches me. I am a rock, I am an island; and a rock feels no pain, and an island never cries.” (Paul Simon, 1965, I Am A Rock).

All that mattered in 1^st Century was being in Christ

(Gal. 3:26-29)  “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, {27} for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. {28} There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. {29} If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”

Years ago, every married couple reading this has stood in front of a group of people very similar to this one and made some statements we call “vows” to each other: “Do you take this woman to be your wife? Do you promise to love her, honor her, and submit to her? Do you promise to stay with her and stand by her for as long as you both shall live?”……

There were differences in the details of the vows, in the styles of  weddings, etc., but we each were in circumstances that presented a strong potential:
· we repeated the right words and said “I do” in the right place
· we heard ourselves promise love, honor, obedience, respect, and faithfulness
· every one of us fully believed we’d keep to promises made
· we believed our marriage would be better than any we had ever seen

Many times, the reality and the ideal don’t match. It hasn’t surprised us this week to find that the ‘marriage’ of God and the church has its ‘ups and downs,’ too.

(Isa 62:5) “As a young man marries a maiden, so will your sons marry you; as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you.”

(Hosea 2:16-20) “”In that day,” declares the LORD, “you will call me ‘my husband’; you will no longer call me ‘my master.’ {17} I will remove the names of the Baals from her lips; no longer will their names be invoked. {18} In that day I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field and the birds of the air and the creatures that move along the ground. Bow and sword and battle I will abolish from the land, so that all may lie down in safety.  {19} I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion. {20} I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will acknowledge the LORD.”

(2 Cor 11:2) “I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him.”

(Rev 21:2) “I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.”

What are some things that makes for a successful marriage? (Must happen in our earthly marriages and also in our marriage to Christ).
· Communication
· Accent the positive
· Don’t rundown in front of others
· Don’t make a list for him..make it for yourself
· Faithfulness (discuss sexual purity here and what God has set in place for those who are married).

Reliving the church’s vows: “Do you, church, take Jesus to be your husband? Do you promise to love him, honor him, and submit to him? Do you promise to stay with him and stand by him for as long as you live?”….

Christians have made similar vows in principle for over 2,000 years and meant every word they said. They believed Jesus was the Son of God. They wanted to make Him both their Master and Lord. They spoke with sincerity, conviction, and hope.

But, like Israel, the faithfulness hasn’t always followed:
(Jer 3:8) “I gave faithless Israel her certificate of divorce and sent her away because of all her adulteries. Yet I saw that her unfaithful sister Judah had no fear; she also went out and committed adultery.”

(Hosea 2:2-4) “”Rebuke your mother, rebuke her, for she is not my wife, and I am not her husband. Let her remove the adulterous look from her face and the unfaithfulness from between her breasts. {3} Otherwise I will strip her naked and make her as bare as on the day she was born; I will make her like a desert, turn her into a parched land, and slay her with thirst. {4} I will not show my love to her children, because they are the children of adultery.

James 4:4: “You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.”

The Medium, Measure and Means of Loyalty

(Eph 5:24-27) “Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. {25} Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, {26} that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, {27} that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.”

If the husband makes Christ’s love for the church the pattern for loving his wife, then he will love her sacrificially. Christ gave himself for the church; so the husband, in love, gives himself for his wife.

The husband’s love will also be a sanctifying love. The word sanctify means “to set apart.” In the marriage ceremony, the husband is set apart to belong to the wife, and the wife is set apart to belong to the husband. Any interference with this God-given arrangement is sin.

Our Christian homes are to be pictures of Christ’s relationship to His church. Each believer is a member of Christ’s body, and each believer is to help nourish the body in love

We are one with Christ. The church is His body and His bride, and the Christian home is a divinely ordained illustration of this relationship. This certainly makes marriage a serious matter. The root of most marital problems is sin, and the root of all sin is selfishness.

Submission to Christ and to one another is the only way to overcome selfishness, for when we submit, the Holy Spirit can fill us and enable us to love one another in a sacrificial, sanctifying, satisfying way—the way Christ loves the church.

An All-Inclusive Message
The message of the church is inclusive:
· it is a message of salvation for all souls
· of enlightenment for all minds
· of comfort for all hearts
· of relief for all needs
· of challenge for every life.

It has a message from God and stands for a Redeemer with a message of liberty and a dispensation of grace. It is the guardian of human rights, the hope of humanity and of peace.

It has not come without a high price The cost of the church has been faithfulness and loyalty under persecution. The price has been paid in blood, from that of Christ and the first century Christians to hundreds martyred since.

We have a sacred obligation
The church is God’s tool for proclaiming Christ’s ideals and principles for life. It is founded on sacrifice and maintained by sacrifice. It appeals to the highest instincts of the human heart.

THE MEASURE OF LOYALTY
If our supreme loyalty is to Christ, then self and others will find their rightful place. Christ demands and deserves first place in our life.  (Mat 10:32-42) “”Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. {33} “But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.  {34} “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. {35} “For I have come to ‘set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’; {36} “and ‘a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.’ {37} “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy  of Me. {38} “And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. {39} “He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.  {40} “He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me. {41} “He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward. And he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward. {42} “And whoever gives one of these little ones only a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple, assuredly, I say to you, he shall by no means lose his reward.””

The real peril is from within:
“The compelling need of our churches is neither larger numbers, more money, nor different programs, but a fuller consecration of the lives of individual church members to Jesus Christ.  “Carelessness, prayerlessness, indifference, lowering of ideals, and open inconsistency of professed Christians within the church constitutes a greater menace to the cause of our Lord than indifference, opposition, infidelity, atheism, or other issues without the church. “The neglect of the devotional life brings flabbiness, indifference and unhappiness. Church discipline seems to have been largely discarded. The standard of Christ is the demand of the times.”

THE MEANS OF EXPRESSING LOYALTY
1. By our priority allegiance
If I truly belong as a husband and wife belong to each, or as children belong to parents, the church will have a real claim upon my personality, my powers, and my possessions.

We ought to be ashamed of ourselves when we put our children’s sports, homework, or recreation activities ahead of our worship and Bible classes!  We ought to be ashamed of ourselves when we work all week no matter how we feel and use it as an excuse to miss worship!

1. By uplifting influence
Jesus demands from each of us a high standard of moral and ethical  conduct. He demands personal purity…” Eph 5:3 But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people.”

“It is very possible that our churches are suffering a greater loss to the influence for good through the social activities of the individual members than at any other point.  “If we are as loyal and as earnest as we should be about this business of Christianity, we will not go places and do things that are  calculated to retard the progress of the church to which we belong. Uncompromising loyalty to Christ wherever we are placed is one of the inescapable obligations and privileges of the Christian life.”

2. By Christ-like deeds
We might not see ourselves as flattering pictures of Christ, but in the things we say and do, we remind people that Christ dwells upon earth.

“Christianity is more than a vision…it is a life, a power, a mission for God. It is going somewhere; it is accomplishing something; it is increasing the forces of righteousness; it is translating routine into duty; it is making drudgery divine; it is finding out God and cooperating with Him in everyday life.

If God brings you to it, He will also bring you through it. The power of God has no limit.

The flood. Did not just happen but was planned and announced to Noah at least 120 years before it happened. God controlled the rain and the fountains of the earth. His hatred of sin was shown in His power. This was not to hurt man but to preserve mankind from the destruction of sin. We still see His power today by the rainbow as a continuing covenant with man that He will not destroy the world with water.

Jonah within the big fish. Jonah thought he could run away from God, but he was wrong, for there is no hiding place. He learned how to pray from the belly of a fish in the covering of deep water, and God heard.

God caused the sun to stand still for Joshua (Joshua 10:12-14): “On the day the Lord gave the Amorites over to Israel Joshua said to the Lord in the presence of Israel: ‘O sun, stand still over Gibeon, O moon, over the valley of Aijalon.’ So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped till the nation avenged itself on its enemies, as it is written in the book of Jashar.” The sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day. There has never been a day like it before or since, a day when the Lord listened to a man. Surely the Lord was fighting for Israel!”

The Power of God works within us. God’s power is at work through us. The channel of our life must be spiritually clear so His power can flow through us. As individual Christians and as a church body we limit ourselves and truly believe that we cannot do anything. With God’s awesome power at our disposal there is no limit as to what can be done. “The one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world” (1 John 4:4).

Jesus made a promise that we have never dared to explore.“I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these” (John 14:12). Jesus dealt with all kinds of sickness, but we have the power through His resurrection to deal with the souls of men and make them alive in Christ forever.

The God-fearing church that is open to the indwelling power of God can try the impossible. Gideon with 300 men accomplished the impossible. David accomplished the impossible against Goliath in the name of the Lord. We can take risk, be bold and sometimes impractical and unreasonable by human standards. When you try something big, just make sure that there is no way it can happen except by the power of God. Following the resurrection of Jesus, God has chosen to work His power through us.

God is Able. Here is where our faith must take over. He is able to make 9/10ths of our money go further than 10/10ths if we will faithfully bring our tithe to His storehouse. He is able to change totally a life of sin into a beautiful life of righteousness. Peter, a rough fisherman, to the fearless spokesman of God. Paul, the persecutor, to the preacher, church planter and Bible writer.

Spend time in prayer during the next few weeks asking God to help us reach out to those with whom we have an influence…ask them to come be part of that day.