There is Power at work in YOU!

Today I was reading in Ephesians 3:20 and I was struck by an overwhelming since of nostalgia. I grew up in the Redmond Free Methodist church and nearly every Sunday, Pastor Greg Knox, (my pastor for 23 years) would end the service by quoting this verse as a closing prayer:
Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.

Sometimes you hear a message so often that it can lose its impact. Today, as I read that scripture I was challenged in a fresh way.

You see, the devil will do everything in his power to stop the church from reaching lost people that he can do... one of the best ways is to get our focus off of God and making disciples and onto ourselves and our problems. The fact is, the devil IS going to attack us and try to destroy us. The scriptures tell us the he has a plan for our lives. He wants to KILL, STEAL and DESTROY YOU... and ME... and the church.

Southside is encountering some big attacks in this season of ministry and I want to ask you to be in prayer for our church.

One of my colleagues preached a sermon on this verse and I wanted to share part of it with you as an encouragement:

You know, I believe in Ephesians 3:20, "Now unto him who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto him be glory in the church." I believe He wants glory in His Church and I believe He gains that glory by allowing the Church through His power to do things beyond what we can even dream, and I think God wants to go way beyond where we are now. I think we're just beginning to see what God would do when a group of people as totally committed to walk a worthy, when a group of people is totally committed to live the kind of life that Ephesians 4, 5, and 6 calls for. But as soon as that begins, Satan will oppose it. We see it all around us. You go back into the Old Testament, for example, and you see God sending an angel in Daniel chapter 10, and a demon withholds that angel so that that angel cannot accomplish the divine purpose, and God had to dispatch a greater angel, a stronger angel, to blast that demon out and send that angel on his way.

You find in Jude 9 Michael the archangel having a battle with Satan over the body of Moses. Satan trying to restrain Michael from claiming the body of Moses for God. So there is a high level spiritual struggle and we're even involved. Ephesians 6:12, "We wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in the heavenlies. So we're engaged in this tremendous conflict, and that's why I say it's way. I think American Christianity is become very smug and very content and it is almost sub cultural, rather than confronting we're just kind of waltzing along with the system, trying to accommodate. We believe we can win them by becoming what they are. But just the opposite is true--we have to counter the system.

Well, we need to be aware of the fact that Satan's going to attack. You know, James in chapter 4 says, "Resist the devil and he will flee from you." I Pet. 5:8,9 Peter says, "Be sober, be vigilant." Why? "Because your adversary the devil like a roaring lion walks about seeking whom he may devour. Whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world." In other: words, Satan is going to be there. Resist him. Be sober. Be vigilant, be aware. Be alert, and know what he is doing

Southside, now is the time to be bold for God and not to shrink back! Here is my parting prayer for you and for the ministry of Southside.

Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen

Pastor Willy

The Only Wise God

Job 38:31-33 (The Message)

31-33 "Can you catch the eye of the beautiful Pleiades sisters, or distract Orion from his hunt?
Can you get Venus to look your way, or get the Great Bear and her cubs to come out and play?
Do you know the first thing about the sky's constellations and how they affect things on Earth?

OR

Job 38:33 (New Living Translation)

33 Do you know the laws of the universe? Can you use them to regulate the earth?

One of the things I often think on is how remarkable God is. Now I don't mean that in a hackneyed kind of way but more in the splendid, awesomeness of the God of the Universe, kind of way!

Do you ever stop to think about all of the "stuff" that God knows? Sometimes I sit and think about that. He's probably watching our scientists right now saying, "ooohhhh you are sooo close to getting that, come on, you can do it... keep it up!"

Have you ever thought about how God already knows how every substance in the entire universe will react with every other substance in the universe at every level and in every quantity!

Things that we are exploring and pioneering God is already intimately aware of.

Think about how long it was that man believed that we were the center of the universe and that everything was swirling around us, then one day a scientist came on the scene and said, "no, I think the sun is in the middle". It was still a couple hundred years before main-stream scientist caught up with this new idea. All the while God must have been watching the argument and chuckling to himself. NOT laughing at us, but laughing with delight, the same way a parent of a toddler laughs as she tries for the first time to feed herself.

It is amazing when we consider the universe and all of the details that we are discovering that one by one drive nails into the theory of evolution and focus us more and more on the reality of I.D. (Jesus).

You know when you watch Star Wars and you see two distant suns setting in the distance and think how very, very cool that would be!  The reality is that two suns would produce too much radiation and everyone on the planet would be nuked!

Our moon... we take it for granted, but it has so much to do with life on this planet. All of the systems that God has designed that we are yet to discover.

And then in Job we read this passage in the oldest book of the Bible, this statement: "Do you know the first thing about the sky's constellations and how they affect things on Earth?"

What is amazing to me is that I know we, with all of our modern day knowledge and sophistication, do not know the full implication of what God was saying to Job.

Do we know every way that the stars influence life on this planet, I am sure we do not. Yet somehow all of the mystery of this universe pales when compared to an eternal, all powerful, all knowing God.

We will know him for eternity and yet never fully know all that He is, of this I am convinced!

Be Blessed,

Pastor Willy