Here's Pastor Alan Wright with today's blessing, a biblical faith-filled vision for your life. Receive the blessing from John chapter 1. May God give you the eyes of Jesus so you'll see everything as He sees it. Through Christ's eyes, as He promised Nathaniel, you'll see greater things. Under a cloudless open heaven, may you have the Savior's own clear vision so that you'll see yourself more blessed than broken.
you'll see others' potential more than their problems. And you'll see the world's hope more than its Heartaches. God's grace is all around you. You'll see. When you have the eyes of Jesus, it changes your perspective, which changes your thoughts, which leads to empower you into new behaviors.
That's the way grace works, and that's the gospel. Pastor, author, and Bible teacher Alan Wright. You say there must be a power that is higher. It's either impossible or there must be a power that's higher than I. That's Pastor Alan Wright.
Welcome to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new light. I am Daniel Britt. Excited for you to hear the teaching today in our series, Empowered, as presented at Renolda Church in North Carolina. Um If you're not able to stay with us throughout the entire program, I want to make sure you know how to get our special resource right now. As you listen to today's message, go deeper as we send you today's special offer.
Contact us at pastorallen.org. That's pastorallen.org. or call 877-544-4860. More on this later in the program. But now let's get started with today's teaching.
Here is Pastor Alan Wright. Uh Okay, family, are you ready for some good news? God doesn't just provide instructions for Christian living, He provides power. He wants us to be clothed with power from on high. I'm so eager to talk to you about the power Years ago, we had a dear brother in our congregation.
His name was Steve, and he was a brilliant guy, brilliant, profound theological mind. But one of the things that he did was strength conditioning, and he would travel with a strength team to do amazing feats of strength. And share how this related to the gospel, and it goes to young people. We had him one time do a demonstration at our, we had an outdoor service, and I asked him if he would do it. And what his specialty was was an ancient, ancient sport originally in Scotland and still in the Highland games of lifting heavy stones.
Stones are a lot harder to lift. They're not like a dumbbell or something. They don't have a handle. You don't have a way to lift them. It is, it's a different kind of sport.
And it was just amazing. There was a famous stone in Scotland called the Inverse Stone. It's actually just, I think it's kind of sitting in some lady's backyard, but for whatever reason, it's been famous for hundreds of years. And so strong men go over there and see if they can lift it. I've got an image of Steve over lifting the Inverse Stone.
That particular stone is 265 pounds. But I'm just telling you, it's like, I wish I had a video of Steve lifting this because it's a different kind of lift. You have to, so this huge stone on the ground, and you've got to get your arms down around it like this. They bring it and then bring it up onto their lap. And then they bring it up.
I can barely just do it with air. It's hard to lift an imaginary stone that high. And they get it up, put it on their shoulder. And so he did a demonstration of this, and it was just so funny to go ahead of time and see this stone that was 200 or 300 pounds just sitting there in front of our stage, and he was going to do this presentation. And I just went and looked at that stone.
And I was like. I couldn't even, I mean, I couldn't even wiggle that stone. You know, I mean, like, I mean, if you saw that stone out somewhere, you would think that. You know, if it was in somebody's yard, it's like some big machine had come and dropped it there as part of the landscaping, or you were in some natural canyon somewhere where God had put it there, and you can't, you know, it's unmovable. And He's going to pick that stone up.
And really, it was amazing, really, really amazing, strong feet. And I was just thinking about that big stone and these guys that can lift them. And I thought, how. How cruel it would be. I'm just trying to draw a silly analogy for you.
But if you told me, in order to be a really good Christian, you've got to be able to lift that stone. And I'd be like, but I don't think I can lift that stone.
Well, then you know you need to get stronger, go into some strength conditioning, and eventually, because the good Christians can lift that stone. And I would be like, okay, well, I'll try, you know, and go to the gym every day and start doing my workouts and all of that. But the fact of the matter is, I've been having some back problems, and I'm glad just to be able to lift a golf ball and get it on the tee. And I'm just not going to be able to lift that stone. It would be, if somebody said, in order to be a good Christian, you got to be able to lift that stone.
then you would either say, well, I'm just never going to be a good Christian. I give up on that. Or you would spend your life tirelessly trying and striving to get strong enough to lift that stone. And that would be a life of frustration and futility, wouldn't it? A lot of people say, well, Jesus, all the miracles and all of that, I don't believe that, but I do believe he was a good teacher.
Well, that just doesn't really make sense. Because A good teacher is someone who enables you to do the thing that is being taught. If you're a math teacher, then you'd like your student to be able to do math. If you're trying to teach them algebra, that's the whole point, is that then after I teach you, you can do algebra. If you are teaching the English language and you're teaching about reading, then the mark of success of being a good teacher is that the kindergartner learns the letters, learns to sound out words and starts being able to read.
It doesn't make sense to say someone's a good teacher. who tells you a bunch of things that you could never possibly actually do and never will be able to do. If you think about the Christian life and all that Jesus called us to, it's really pretty incredible if you think about it. It's like telling us to lift that big heavy stone. Matthew 5, 43, you've heard.
That it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. Love your enemies? How am I supposed to do that? Pray for those that persecute me?
Or Matthew 18, 21, Peter came and said to them, Lord, how often will my brother sin against me and I forgive him? As many as seven times? And Jesus said to him, I do not say to you seven times, but 77 times. Forgive over and over and over and over when people do you wrong? How are we supposed to do that?
Matthew 5:11, look at this. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you. Rejoice, be glad. For your reward is great in heaven, for they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Really have joy when people are persecuting me?
I had a near encounter on the road on the way to church today, and I had a hard time blessing them. Not talking about people who are trying to kill you or just feed you to the lions or something. Matthew 10:7, and proclaim as you go. saying the kingdom of God's at hand. Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse leopards, cast out demons.
Heal the sick. Cast out demons. I mean, I think a lot of Christians here that might as well be like, lift that stone. Like, I can't do these things. What are you talking about?
And if all of that's not scary enough, Jesus says in John 14, as we've seen. this year, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do. And greater works than these he will do, because I am going to the Father.
So These are These are things that are impossible for us to do, right? Which is why our text is so important today. When at verse 49 of Luke 24, Jesus says, Behold, I'm sending. the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city.
until you're clothed with power from on high. You see what he's saying? Think about this. This is Jesus who has spent three years with these disciples. They have had him.
Up close. They have heard all of his teaching. They've been able to ask him whatever questions they want to ask. They have been in his physical presence. They've received prayer from him.
They have had the opportunity to witness miracle after miracle. They've even had times in their ministry where Jesus had sent them out and they came back and said, wow, amazing things happened. They've had three years. I mean, you couldn't have a greater privilege than this. They had three years right there with the Savior.
And still, Jesus said, You're going to be my witnesses. But don't dare go out and start trying to do this. until you're clothed with power. You could have three years an intimate instruction from Jesus, and he would still say, You need to be clothed with power before you do any of it. I feel allowed to.
Preach about the power of God in the coming season. The word for power in the New Testament is dunamis. It's interesting when I check, Dunamis occurs 119 times in the New Testament. The word for God's love, agape, occurs 116 times.
So the power God as seen in the gospel, in the Holy Spirit, and in our life together. Is something that is central to the New Testament. And that's part of the reason I want to preach this series.
Sometimes people say, well, how do you know or get a sense of what God's leading you to preach about? And sometimes it's just odd. I don't know. Just kind of. Try to pay attention to what Is either exciting me or bothering me, or whatever is God, you know, just and then somewhere in the midst of it, I can usually hear what God's saying.
And one of the things that led me into this series was reading a secular book this summer, which I like to read Christian books and secular books. All truth is God's truth.
So, this is a book that had been on the bestseller list for a lot of weeks. And you go into the bookstore, there's just stacks of them up there. You know, everybody's reading this book. And I thought, well, I'll read it. And it was a book that was really written by.
By a woman who's more of a motivational speaker than anything else, and she is motivational. And there are some real truths that are in there. But but there also was a lot of just what I would call the secular mindset or the spirit of the age. And one of the things she just kept saying over and over, like when she would give instruction and she's teaching like not being codependent, not Not over-caring for people. And she would then add the say: because you're giving your power away.
And she kept using that phrase, you know, you don't want to give all your power away. And I just, that was the part I just wanted to go, what power are you talking about? Because the fact of the matter, the things that we face in life are a lot more like that heavy stone. Like that we don't have any power over. And I just was seeing how the spirit of the age was just like trying to say that you are somehow innately powerful, you know, and there's a real yearning for the superpower and all that.
The contrast of that with Christianity is so marked. Because the gospel teaches us that we are powerless. without God. And in fact, the beginning point of the Christian life. And it is really the beginning point of real transformation as is seen in the 12 steps.
is to admit we were powerless.
So that's what AA said. We were powerless over alcohol. And then, and only then, did you realize you're powerless to pick up that stone? that you say there must be a power that is higher is either impossible or there must be a power that's higher than I. And so I was just, I kept reading this book.
There were some good things in it, but then there was just like, don't lose your power. And I just thought, you know, this is probably a message that we need to. Come back to, and I don't think I've ever just preached a series on the dunamis of God, the power of God.
So I'm very excited about getting going with this. Part of part of Experiencing the power of God in the first place is in being born anew. And becoming a new creature.
So, on the one hand, we become Christians when we realize we're powerless over sin. We are powerless to save ourselves and therefore we can't solve our own guilt problem. and we turn to God. And if you're just exploring Christianity, this is the beginning point. where you acknowledge that you have a sin problem.
And That sin problem is not something that you can solve, and the guilt. And debt that's associated with that is not something you can resolve. And so you look in the gospel and you see it's a story of redemption. It's a story of God who loves you so much. that he came As the word became flesh, So that we Whoever would believe in him would have, John 1 says, the right to become children of God.
And once you accept Christ, you have a new position. You're now a co-heir with Christ, whether you feel like it or not. You are. And also, there is something that has changed within you such that you are called a new creature in Christ.
So there's a sense in which even just becoming a Christian. is changing your capacity your ability the dunamis that is in you because you are new. C.S. Lewis in his famous Mere Christianity said, for mere improvement is not redemption. Though redemption always improves people, even here and now, and will in the end improve them to a degree we cannot yet imagine.
So you see what he's saying? Just getting better, that's not what redemption is. That's not what it means. Although, that when you are born again, that many things do begin to improve and one day you'll be glorified and it'll improve in a way that you can't even now imagine. He continues, that God became man.
to turn creatures into sons. not simply to produce better men of the old kind. but to bruise a new kind of man. It's not like teaching a horse to jump better and better. But like turning a horse into a winged creature.
Of course, once it's got its wings, it will soar over fences which could never have been jumped and thus beat the natural horse at its own game. But there may be a period while the wings are just beginning to grow when it cannot do so. And at that stage, the lumps on the shoulders, no one could tell by looking at them that they're going to be wings, may even give it an awkward appearance. I just love that. When you become a Christian, God's not just trying to make you a better old you.
He's making you a new you. And uh there is a sense in which as a Christian that that in the spirit you've been given new wings. and therefore is power and capability that begins to flow in you. But even that was a gift from God. It's not your own power.
And so there is that, but most of the time when this word dunamis appears in the New Testament, it has the sense of the actual. A presence of God that enables you to do what there's no way that you would be able to do. Dunamis, as I mentioned, is prevalent in the New Testament 119 times. You recognize this from the Greek in words like dynamite or dynamic. This ancient Greek word always referred to the ability to do something.
And it just became a word that means having the power to carry something into effect. It is therefore related to The concept of power as we know it or energy as we know it. Alan Wright in our good news message today, clothed in power from the series Empowered. Please stay with us. Pastor Alan is back here, joining me in the studio, sharing his parting good news thought for the day in just a moment.
Alan Wright Ministries is more than just a daily radio broadcast. Here are Daniel and Pastor Alan explaining another layer. You know, Pastor Alan, through this radio ministry, it's often been said that this is a friend, a friend in time of need. It's a friendly voice. It's that encouragement I needed to hear, and the Lord used this ministry.
Well, how about your email inbox? Do you think there's ministry there? The daily blessing is such an encouragement. The daily blessing is a positive vision. It's rooted in scripture, so it's full of truth.
And it's something that I believe God leads me into and inspires. And you receive it in your inbox, and you can read it. There's also a video of me presenting it, and you can just take it in. It becomes something that I think gives strength for the day and helps root you in God's idea about you. The world's got all of its negative messages.
And Daniel, we need to fill ourselves with God's truth and God's plan. And blessing is in the Bible. A mystical kind of power, really, a thread that weaves together so much of the whole narrative of scripture. And it's much neglected. It's right alongside of prayer in its terms of its importance.
And we need to bless and be blessed. And so let me bless your life day by day, morning by morning, or in the evening. And it's absolutely free at pastorallen.org. Just give us your email address and you can start receiving a daily blessing. Click on to pastorallen.org today to learn more and take advantage of this opportunity.
Again, that's pastorallen.org. Back here now with Pastor Alan in the studio as we kick off this new series. It's titled Empowered and looking towards the conclusion of these teachings as we move along and progress through this series. Pastor Alan, what's your good news thought for the day as we kick this off? As we think about what it means to really be empowered by God, I keep thinking about what I speak about early in this message, Daniel.
Do you remember that incredible world-class athlete competed in the Scottish Games, who was in our church for a while, and he could lift those huge stones? Steve was his name. He could lift a stone weighing like 300 pounds. And I remember one time we had him doing these strengths of feet. And we had an outdoor service one day, and I just said, Steve, why don't you come do that?
And he would talk about the strength of God and all that. But those rocks, those big stones, were sitting out there. Yeah. And they looked like something you'd have to have. A big machine, you know, to lift them, right?
Right, yeah. And I'll go up and try to just like see if I could even make it roll over a little bit. And I couldn't even yeah, it just looked like it just looked like it was one. I mean, absolutely impossible. If you said, Alan, lift that big stone.
Yeah, I'd be like, it's impossible. And so I just kept thinking about the Christian life, like God saying, love your enemies. It's impossible. Do the things I've been doing and even greater things. It's impossible.
So it's unthinkable to actually live the Christian life that Jesus describes. That the Bible describes by our own power. And that's what this series is all about. God doesn't just give you. A call or a command?
And then not empower you to do it. He gives. His own power. Wow. Thanks for listening today.
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