Today on the Verdict with Pastor John Monroe. God is Almighty. God is all powerful. God is able to do all things. Today's question is: Is God all powerful?
And if you've been coming to this series about God, you should have no difficulty in answering the question. God can do anything He wills to do. Welcome to the Verdict, featuring the Bible teaching of Pastor John Monroe. Followers of Jesus Christ worship the one true Almighty God, and yet many seem to struggle to fully trust in His power. Do you really believe God can do anything?
Today on the Verdict, Pastor John Monroe discusses the very personal implications of worshiping an all-powerful God as he continues our series called "What Would You Ask God." Now here's Pastor John Monroe. Is there any force in the universe more powerful than God? If God is all powerful, what does that mean for you? Today, as we continue the series on God and questions we would ask God, we're considering this important question: Is God all powerful? God is so powerful that He created the universe by speaking it into existence, and He creates each one of us as individuals.
And the gospel of God is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. That's power. Have you experienced the power of God in your life? I'm praying that you will know this God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
So today, let's continue to think of God's power. We're going to learn, first of all, that God's power is seen in creating us.
Now, in Psalm 139, David personalizes it. Look at verses 13 and 14. He's saying that God's power is seen in our individual creation. I want you to personalize this. You are personally made by God.
You did form my inward parts, verse thirteen. You did weave me in my mother's womb. You are the product of God's miraculous handiwork. God is the all-powerful Creator. His power is seen.
In our very creation, we are fearfully and wonderfully made.
So that's the first thing we want to see: that God's power is seen in creating us. Secondly, God's power is seen in saving us. The Christian is saved by the power of God. Romans one. Paul says in verse sixteen, "I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ." Why, Paul?
Are you not ashamed of the gospel? I'm not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power—the Greek word dunamis—from which we get our word dynamite. It is the power. It is the dunamis of God to everyone who believes. Why?
Because God's power, seen in the gospel, is so great that it is a universal message. God's power is seen in creation, but I want to tell you, His greatest power is not seen in creation. His greatest power is seen in redemption, is seen in the salvation of souls. In the gospel, the power of God is demonstrated as God takes the guiltiest of sinners, the worst of sinners, the vilest of sinners, and does what makes us saints. Let me ask you a question: Has that kind of power gripped your heart and gripped your soul?
See, from our perspective, we may sometimes think it's impossible for certain individuals to be saved. But the gospel comes to the rich and it comes to the poor. In fact, Jesus says, "Well, it's kind of hard for a rich person to be saved." And the disciples say, "Really? Who then can be saved?" Jesus says, "Listen, with God, all things are possible." That's power. God's power seen in creating us.
God's power seen in saving us. Finally, this morning, God's power seen in guiding us. Look back. At Psalm one hundred and thirty-nine, verse sixteen, God's power, saving us, creating us, saving us, but also in guiding us. This is wonderful.
Verse sixteen: Your eyes have seen my unformed substance in his mother's womb, the embryo in his mother's womb. But notice this. Perhaps you've never noticed this before. In your book, they were all written the days that were ordained for me. When as yet there was not one of them.
Do you understand this? That God foreordained the course of our lives, how long we should live, and the events of our life. This is what we call the providence of God. By providence, we mean that the world and our lives are not ruled by chance or fate, but by God. Providence is God's gracious outworking of His purposes in our lives and in the in the world.
So, as Bible believing Christians, we reject belief in luck. I had the privilege of officiating at a couple who got married. Yesterday, downtown in Little St Mary's Chapel, and after I tied the knot and pronounced them husband and wife, I didn't say to them, "Good luck now." Didn't give them a horseshoe. No, I want to give them a Bible. We don't believe in luck.
We don't believe in coincidences. We don't believe in horoscopes. Obvious, you didn't read your horoscope this morning. Certainly, not going to tell you who's going to win the game today. I tried to predict that the other day and got it wrong, so I'm not going to try that again.
We don't believe in superstition. We don't believe in fate. We believe in an all powerful God who is providentially and graciously outworking His purposes, and this is what David is saying in this amazing book. Chapter Sam one three nine. That from the moment of our conception, God has intimate concern for us.
He has plans and purposes for our lives. His book contains the eternal purposes for His people, purposes designed and planned long ago before we did or say anything. Those of us who are followers of Christ love Ephesians two verses eighty nine, which tells us that we're not saved by works, but we're saved by grace through faith. But in verse ten, Ephesians two ten, Paul reminds us that we were created in Christ Jesus for good works. Which God prepared beforehand, notice that, prepared beforehand that we should walk in them, isn't this wonderful?
God not only made you, superintended you right from the moment of conception. Not only does He save us, guarantees that all of us who trust in Christ. Will get into heaven because we're kept by His power. But here and now, God is watching over me, and God is there as a loving God, as a loving Father, guiding me. Those of you who have children can understand this.
Even when your children are not there, even when they're growing up, you think of them frequently, and you want—they may not want it—but you want to guide them. Then help them. God is our perfect heavenly Father, our Creator, our Redeemer, and now our guide.
So look back over your life. You didn't decide where you would be born, did you? Naftali, Mata from Kenya. He didn't decide to be born in Kenya. I didn't decide to be born in Scotland.
You didn't choose your parents, you didn't choose your nationality, but God has been at work in your life, in the ups and downs, and the joys and sorrows of all circumstances. Think of the people you've met, think of the events, think of the circumstances—some good, some bad. That's true, but bringing you to this point of time, to this day, God has plans. God has purposes for your life. In fact, they are in His book.
They were written in His book. The days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them before I was ever born, God has a plan for me. My goal in life should be then to walk in that plan, because that is the plan of blessing. That's the plan of power.
Some of you have read Ralph Brand's book, Fearfully and Wonderfully Made. It's been out for a little time now, but a book I heartily recommend. Dr. Brand is an orthopedic surgeon, and he tells the following story. It's a little lengthy, but worth listening to.
I've shortened it a little bit. I take it right from his book. He says, "I visited Dr. Robert Cochrane, a renowned skin specialist, at the Leprosy Sanatorium in Shingulput, a few miles south of Madras, India." Dr. Cochrane showed me around the grounds of this hospital, and my eyes were drawn to the hands of the patients.
I study hands as some people study faces. But these were not the exquisite paradigms of engineering I had studied in medical school. They were twisted, gnarled, ulcerated stumps.
Some were stiff like metal claws.
Some were missing fingers.
Some hands were missing altogether. Finally, I could restrain myself no longer. Look here, Bob. I interrupted his long discourse on sin on skin diseases. I don't know much about skin.
Tell me about these hands. How did they get that way? What do you do about them? Bob shrugged and said, "Sorry, Paul, I can't tell you. I don't know." "Don't know?" I responded with obvious shock and amazement.
"You've been a leprosy specialist all these years, and you don't know? Surely something can be done for these hands." Bob Cochran turned on me almost fiercely, and whose fault is that? If I may ask, mine or yours? I'm a skin man. I can treat that part of leprosy, but you're a bone man.
You're the orthopedic surgeon. More calmly, with sadness in his voice, he went on to tell me that not one orthopedic surgeon had yet studied the deformities of the fifteen million leprosy victims in the world. Few moments later, I noticed a young patient sitting on the ground, trying to take off his sandal. His disabled hands would not cooperate. On sudden impulse, I moved towards him.
Please, I asked in Tamil, "May I look at your hands?" The young man arose and, smiling, thrust his hands forward. I held them in mine, almost reluctantly. I traced the deformed fingers with my own, studied them intently. Finally, I pried his fingers open and placed my hand in his in a handshake grip. Squeeze my hand, I directed, as hard as you can.
To my amazement, instead of the weak twitch I had expected to feel, a sharp, intense pain raced through my palm. His grip was like a vice, with fingers digging into my flesh like steel talons. He showed no paralysis. In fact, I cried out for him to let go. I looked up angrily and was disarmed by the gentle smile on his face.
He didn't know he was hurting me, and that was the clue.
Somewhere in that severely deformed hand were powerfully made muscles. They were obviously not properly balanced, and he could not feel what force he was using. Could they be freed? I felt a tingling, as if the whole universe was revolving around me. I knew I had arrived in my place.
That single incident in nineteen forty-seven changed my life. From that instant, I knew my calling. As surely as a cell in my body knows its function, every detail of that scene is still etched into my mind. It was my moment, and I had felt a call of the spirit of God. I was made for that one moment in Shingleput, and I knew when I returned to my base, I would have to point my life in a new direction.
I never doubted it since. How wonderful! An example of God's providence. God, in His power, guiding a surgeon to walk in God's plan for his life—not what he anticipated—but this all-powerful God intervening in this dramatic way to change the course of the life of a orthopedic surgeon.
Now, if you've been a Christian for any length of time, you can look back and see God's providence in your life, can't you? And what seems sometimes to be a coincidence, what seems to be a chance encounter with an individual, what seems to be routine, turns out to be the power of God intervening in her life. In my case, I went for what I thought was a routine lunch with a fellow attorney in Scotland, who then asked me one of the strangest questions I'd ever been asked: "John, do you think you're going to be a lawyer all of your life?" I answered very quickly, of course, thinking, "What a silly question!" But that question was used by the Spirit of God to burn deep into my heart, to turn to burn deep into my life. I answered very quickly, of course. I was going to be a lawyer all my life.
I like being a lawyer. I was trained to be a lawyer. I think I was a fairly good lawyer. Why would I ever change the course of my life? What a silly question!
Why did he ask that question? But I couldn't get it out of my thoughts. And God used that question to begin the process to terminate my life as a lawyer into full-time ministry. A shock to everyone, yes. A shock, most of all, to myself.
But that was power. The power of God changing and transforming life, getting me willing to do something which the day of the question I would have been totally unwilling to do. Preposterous! Don't want to be a pastor. Don't like pastors.
I am not going to be one. Let me ask you a question: Are you going to trust God when He providentially intervenes in your life? It may not happen as dramatically as Dr. Ralph Brand, but we all have experiences when we realize that we're facing a very, very important time—a time of ministry, an opportunity, a change of direction, perhaps the choice of who we're going to marry, where we're going to live. All kinds of things coming into our life.
Are you open to the leading of the Spirit of God in your life? That's the question. Do you believe that God is so powerful that He can intervene in your life? You say, "Of course He can." If He made the universe, He can certainly get my attention. When He gets your attention, are you prepared humbly to do?
His will, irrespective of the cost, and so, with the psalmist, we praise God that His thoughts of us are unbelievably precious and vast. Verse seventeen: How precious also are Thy thoughts to me, O God? How vast is the sum of them? If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand. When I am awake, I am still with you.
Listen, mothers, you've got precious thoughts for your children, Donia. You've got their best interests at heart. When you think of them, they are precious to you. But how more wonderful to think that God, in His grace, when He looks on us, we who love Him, and we who stumblingly try to follow Him, that His thoughts of us are precious; that God has our best interests always at heart, and that He has purposes, good purposes, for your life and mine. Here is the greatness of the power of God in our life, creating us, saving us, and guiding us.
Is God all powerful? Of course, He is. God is all powerful; He can do all things. Jeremiah thirty-two. Oh Lord God, behold, You've made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm.
Is anything too difficult for Me? Is there anyone here who can think of anything too difficult for the Lord? Of course, you can't. God can do all things; He's all powerful. When JFK Kennedy was asked why he wanted to be president, he said, "It's the place of power." Do you want to be in the place of power, real power, the greatest power in the universe?
It's knowing God, and it's doing God's will humbly before Him, and God. Can do what seems to be impossible in your life. Believe it or not, with this finger, I have moved a granite ball ten thousand five hundred and eighteen pounds. It's true. With this one finger, I have moved a granite ball weighing ten thousand five hundred and eighteen pounds.
You see, you don't look that strong, John.
Well, I've got quite big muscles under here.
Some of you may know what I'm talking about. This summer, Goodney and I went to Gatlinburg, and outside Ripley's, believe it or not, in the main street of Gatlinburg, there is this huge granite ball. It says, "Believe it or not, you can move it." What's the point? It's floating on one two hundred and fifty fourth of an inch of water. And because of the laws of physics, with one finger—in fact, with your little finger—you could stop it, and even move it.
And as I did that, and as we joked around and took some pictures of it, I thought of this: you know, here is the law of physics at work. If because of that I can move a huge granite ball of over ten thousand pounds, something which otherwise would be impossible for me. Why do I have any trouble thinking? The God who made the law of physics, the God who made the granite, the God who made everything, that God cannot do everything. Of course, He can.
God is all powerful. Here in the Old Testament, there's an old couple. Abraham is a hundred; Sarah, his wife, are ninety. The Scripture says that his body is as good as dead. It says that her womb is dead.
Humanly speaking, it's impossible for them to have a child. Sir, if you're a hundred year and your wife is ninety, don't be planning your family. Let me tell you, it's not going to work. But Abraham and Sarah are promised a child, and in due course, Isaac. The long-awaited child of promise is born.
Laughter comes because God laughs at what we think are impossible. In Luke chapter one, the angel Gabriel comes to a young woman. In her teens, Mary, a virgin, and tells her that she is going to conceive, and that the Holy Spirit is going to come upon her, and the power of the Almighty will overshadow her, so that what is born of her will be the Son of God. And she says, "How can this be? You know, if you are a virgin, you can't conceive." What do we read?
Luke one verse thirty-seven. For nothing. Will be impossible with God. An old couple having a child, a virgin conceiving. Yes, God can do all things because nothing is impossible with God.
So don't say to me today, my marriage is over. Nothing can be done. Don't say he won't change. Don't say he will never get saved. Don't say that things will never get better.
That that's just the way that they are. Don't tell me that your situation is hopeless. I don't believe it. God is able. Do you not think the God who made the universe can change someone's thinking or their attitudes or their habits?
He can do all things. He's the omnipotent God. He's the God who, in the beginning, created the heavens and the earth. He's the God who speaks and it's done. Who commands and it stands fast.
He is the Almighty God. And if this God is for us, who can stand against us? That's why, as Christians, we are above all. We're people of hope. Were people who believe we have a future.
You may be at the bottom today. You may be despairing. Life may have been very, very hard, and you don't have a clue how you're going to get out of the situation. I want to tell you, trust God. He can do it.
He can do all things, and He is on our side.
So, are you trusting God to do the impossible in your life? Will you personally prove? The greatness of His power, and take the words with me of the great apostle Paul, who says, "Now to Him, who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us." To Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. This is the verdict, featuring the Bible teaching of Pastor John Monroe.
There's still more to hear when John returns in just a moment, so stay with us. From matters of truth and identity to the subjects of love and grace, our world seems more confused than ever. But to find truth and certainty about who we are and find peace, we must turn our attention away from the world and look to the Word of God. To help you do that, John wrote a booklet titled "Eternal Security: Finding Certainty in a Chaotic World." Through this special resource, John shares his personal testimony along with a careful examination of Scripture to offer us clarity on matters of eternity. Get your copy today by visiting our website at theverdict.org.
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The Verdict is a ministry of Calvary Church in South Charlotte. We're located on the corner of Highway 51 and Ray Road. If you've been looking for a church home or a community to help you grow in your walk with Christ, we invite you to join us for our Sunday services. For more details about Calvary and our service times, visit theverdict.org.
Now, here's Pastor John Monroe.
Well, what's your verdict? Have you experienced the power of God in your life? With God, nothing is impossible. No situation, no circumstance is too difficult for God. The Apostle Paul writes in Romans: "If God is for us, who can be against us?" So trust and love this powerful God with all of your heart.
The Lord Jesus Christ is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think.
Next time we approach the end of our study, as we consider this God of amazing grace. Don't miss it. Thanks for joining us today on the Verdict. I'm Michelle Davies. Today's program with Pastor John Monroe was produced and sponsored by Calvary Church in Charlotte, North Carolina.
