Sunday English Service – 25 APR 21

Transcript

We’ve been talking about the Christian approach to suffering, to challenges, to problems. Remember, we are in the middle of a series right now. And we’re calling this the Christian approach to suffering or problems, challenges, whatever. As you know we are going through, the whole world is going through all kinds of challenges, and so are we. And how are we as Christians supposed to live in the midst of this? How do we respond to this? What is our unique response and so on. And we have already spoken six messages on this topic. Last week, I said that one of the things that we need to do as Christians, when we go through seasons of trouble or challenge or trial, one of the most important things that we need to do as Christians is we need to remind ourselves about the basic truths about our God. Remind yourself about the most basic and simple truths of about your God. I want to put it shortly. I can say it like this. Remember your God. Remember what kind of God you have The basic truths about your God. Remember, last week we pointed out two very simple and basic truths about God. And we said, one is, God knows everything. God knows what you’re going through. And God cares. God knows what you’re going through. And God cares for you. Now, these are so simple and so basic, and yet they are so important, especially important when you are going through trouble or challenges.

The thing about it is, it is precisely these kinds of very simple truths that kind of go to the back of our mind when we’re going through trouble. When we’re in the middle of challenges, when we’re in the middle of troubles, we forget these very simple and basic truths about God. It’s not that we don’t know. We know it very well. It’s there in one safe place in our mind, but the thing is, it is not occupying a central place at the moment because our problem is occupying a central place. But that is exactly why we need to remind ourselves about our God who our God is, what kind of God we have. He knows, and He cares. That’s what we saw last week. Now today, I want to continue along the same lines. And I want to say, remind yourself about some more truths about God, very basic and simple truths. Today, I want to cover two truths. Here’s the two truths for today. One is God can, God can. Secondly, God will. Last week we saw God knows, and God cares. This week we’re going to see God can, God will. God can help you, God will help you. God can deliver you, God will deliver you. God can lift you up from where you are today and God will do it. God can answer your prayer, God will answer.

I mean, this again is quite simple. It’s nothing new for you. I’m sure you know this already. Today only going to remind you of what you already know. You already know that God can do all things and that God will do and so on, but let’s look at it again. Let’s refresh our memory. Let’s fill our hearts with the simple but powerful truths. You see when we’re in trouble, like I said, the trouble only seems big to us, doesn’t it? When we’re in the middle of challenges. And when we live in such a challenging time as this sometimes, the challenges seem big to us. The circumstances seem so problematic. The problems seem so big. Our God doesn’t seem very big, even though He’s big, He doesn’t seem big to us. That’s natural. When we’re watching the news, we are following what’s happening. All around us, people are talking. Everybody’s talking about the condition of our world and nation and how we are suffering and very great problems, very terrible problems everybody’s going through. And so what’s natural is we begin to think of our problem as very big, very great. Don’t get me wrong, our problem is terrible only. We’re going through very difficult times. What I’m saying is, as a Christian, you should remember that no matter how terrible your problem becomes, your God is only greater. Only our God is great. Your problem is nothing compared to your God. And that’s what I want to remind you today about your problem seems big. Our problems seem big, but our God is bigger. Our God is greater.

This is so important because when we don’t have a sense of the greatness of our God, everything is affected. We are filled with worry and fear. Not only that when we go to pray, when we don’t have a sense of the greatness of our God, but we go to pray with a sense of the greatness of the problem. When our mind is filled with the problem and when you go pray, what happens? There’s not much faith in that prayer, is there? When we pray, we are desperate. There’s a desperation or God helped me, but there’s not much faith. Oh God help me, but in our minds, we’re thinking, can He do it? It’s not happening for anybody. Can He do it? Can it happen for me? Will it worked out? Will He do it? Can He do it? Will He do it? These questions in our mind are there. And in that kind of doubt and in that kind of uncertainty we pray sometimes. That kind of prayer will not have a great fruit. Today, I want to remind you about these simple truths that God can help you. God will help you with a simple goal that this should boost your faith. This should build up your faith. You have faith, it’s inside of you, but it’s kind of sometimes sleeping. It’s resting. It’s not coming up instead, the worry and the fear and this and that are coming up. And so what we’re going to do today is look at these basic, simple truths about our God. And when we do that, when we focus on it, what’s going to happen is the worry and the fear will leave, and this faith will rise in our hearts so that when we pray, we will be balled in our prayer. We will ask big things from this big God, and we will receive powerful answers to prayer. Amen?

That’s the kind of people we need to be during times like this. So today let’s look at these two truths. God can, and God will. First God can. What we mean by that? We simply mean God can do all things. God can help you because God is all powerful. God can simply is pointing to the power of God, the ability of God to do all things. He’s all powerful. He’s Omnipotent. That means there’s no limit to God’s power, no limit. His power is infinite. You can’t put a limit on it. Not only that his power is eternal. There’s no beginning, nor end. And not only that, his power is in comprehensible. That means you can’t fully understand His power. You can’t fully understand His power. That’s important. I think to realize, because sometimes we may have questions about the power of God and yes, of course we have questions because we can’t fully understand God, we can’t fully understand His power either, but we can understand enough so that faith raises in our hearts. That’s what we’re trying to do. We’re trying to understand enough, so that faith rises in our hearts. God is all powerful. It’s not just that God can do what we can’t do, God can do anything.

Now to understand and appreciate His power and boost your faith, I think the best place to look at for God’s power, if you want to get a better understanding, and if you want to get a better appreciation of God’s power, the two best places to look at, the two best themes to look at is creation and resurrection. You can see God’s power in many places, many ways, many themes. But I think these are the two best themes places where God’s power is revealed in spectacular ways. One is creation. Creation reveals the power of God and resurrection. Raising the dead, that reveals the power of God. So I want to just talk briefly about both. The reason I point out this is in the Bible, you will notice, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but whenever God’s people are in trouble and they go to God in prayer, and now today, I want to apply this a lot to prayer. So whenever God’s people are in trouble and they go to God for prayer, you will notice that they pray thinking about creation. You will notice that they pray and in their prayer, they’re not just talking about the problem, but they’re talking about how God is the creator God.

Look, for example, in Acts chapter 4 verse 23. Acts chapter 4, verse 23. This happens again and again, I’m just going to show you one or two examples, that’s it. Acts chapter 4:23, what’s happening here. The context I’ll give you the context. The church has just now started. Very successfully, Peter and John, in the previous chapter, they do an amazing miracle. And before that Peter preached his first sermon and thousands have already gathered in and come into the church, have gotten saved. And so the church has got off to a very successful beginning. This is the beginning of the early church, but as successful as the beginning is, so terrible is the persecution also started. Authorities have started persecuting the Christian leaders, Peter and John, they are being persecuted. Actually, the context here is they have just no come out of jail. They were thrown in prison briefly for preaching about Jesus. And then they were released under the condition that you should not preach about Jesus. You should not take the name of Jesus. Go talk about something else, preach about else. Your religion this or that. But don’t say the name Jesus, and don’t preach about him. That was the condition. And so they were just released and we’re going to pick it up just after their release. All right. Acts chapter 4 verse 23, they are released. And then look what happens. Acts 4:23. When they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them. And when they heard it, they lift — So they go and they report to the other believers what was told to them, how they were threatened and so on.

Verse 24. And when they heard it. So all of them heard it and they all lifted up their voices together to God and said, what happens is they start praying. They hear about these threatening, this persecution and all that. What happens they come together and they lifted up their voices together to God in prayer. So they’re going to pray now. The rest of it is a prayer. Now I want you to notice how this prayer begins. They lifted up their voices together to God and said, sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, they’re praying, talking about creation. That prayer begins with God who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them. Why? The problem is persecution. They could have directly said, God help us oh Lord. They’re threatening us, do something, help us. No, but that’s not the way they pray. And that’s not the way people have got often. That’s not the way they pray. They first think about the greatness of their God. When you begin your prayer, it’s so important to get a sense of the greatness of God, and the greatness of His power, especially today that’s what we need. But it seems like everybody is powerless. We should not forget that God is all powerful.

And how do you get a sense of that power? How do you get a sense that He can do anything by looking at creation? That’s what they’re doing. God who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them. Their mind is going to creation. They are in some problem, but their mind is going to creation. They’re saying God, you made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything. That’s what we’re going to do. You may be in all kinds of problems, but I want you to think about creation a little bit, because I believe when you think about creation, your heart will be filled with a sense of the greatness of your God. You’ll start thinking nothing is impossible with Him. Whatever I ask He can do. Before we talk about creation. One other example of this, the Psalmist, Psalm 1:24, verse 8. Our help is in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth, our help is not just in the name of the Lord, but the one who made heaven and earth. So, think with me about creation for a minute, you may be going through all kinds of difficulties, problems. I’m asking you to one minute, put aside that, just spend a few minutes thinking with me about God’s power in creation. I mean creation. When you think about it, it’s so beautiful. It’s so amazing. It’s so grand, isn’t it? I’m not talking about how man came up and messed God’s creation up. We’re not talking about man, messed up God’s creation. No I’m saying, think about God’s pure creation. Even today, sometimes you can see the beauty and the majesty of the creation. The mountains, the Hills, the rivers, the oceans, the trees, the plants, the flowers, the animals, the fish in the sea, the sun, moon and the stars. I mean, how majestic is creation? Forget about God, creation itself is so majestic and glorious. Isn’t it beautiful? And when you look at this, I don’t know about you, but I get the sense sometimes that this must have been really hard to make. I mean, we have to sometimes really struggle to make things as human.    

We also invent and create and do this and that, but it’s not easy, is it? It takes hard effort to create and make and do all that. So when we look at creation, when I think about creation, sometimes I feel like this must have been real hard to make, but then I go to Genesis chapter 1 and read how God made the world, how God created everything. And it’s shocking. Have you ever read Genesis 1? And the whole thing seems unreal. The whole thing seems like this is too easy. How did God make everything, He simply spoke into being, He just said a word and it happened, light be, and there was light. What I’m trying to say is this amazing and grand and beautiful and complex creation. You would think God struggled to make it, or it was very hard work for Him, but actually what you read in the scriptures is that He created it easily, easily. It was not a struggle for Him. It’s not like He tried and tried and tried and finally got it right No. He simply spoke a word and it happened, whatever He spoke happened. In a world filled with darkness, He simply spoke, let there be light and there was light. And how easy is that? It’s as easy as walking into a room filled with darkness and turning on a switch. How easy is that? That’s easy. You walk into a room. The room is dark. You turn on the switch. The light comes on. It’s real easy. That’s how easily God made the world.

I mean, when we turn on the switch and the light comes on easily, it comes on easily because somebody went into the, put the hard effort of putting the light bulb and giving the connection and preparing everything in advance. That’s way after everything is ready when you go and turn on the switch, it comes on very easily. But in creation, the world was filled with darkness, Genesis 1:2 says. There was no light. It was a world filled with darkness and emptiness and into that world as easily as we walk into a dark room and put on the switch and turn on the light, so easily God spoke a word and said, let there be light and created light for the first time. Unbelievable. So easily He did it, everything He created simply by speaking, it’s amazing how easy God makes it look, such a complex creation. It’s like He created it easily. Why I’m saying that it, this shows the greatness of His power. Thomas Alva Edison, the great inventor He’s known for inventing the light bulb. He’s known for his repeated efforts. He never gave up. They say he tried thousand times. That’s what they say. Thousand times he tried in his efforts to invent the light bulb. He tried a thousand times. And only after that, he succeeded. So some people asked him, you failed a thousand times, didn’t that discourage you? And he said, no. I learned from every mistake, from every failure, it was a learning process for me, there are a thousand steps to make one light bulb, he said. Thousand tries and then he got it for one light bulb. We hailed him as a great inventor and he is, but the greatest among men cannot compare with our great God, one try, one word, let there be light. And light is created, not a light bulb, light.

Romans 4:17 talks about God as the one who calls those things that be not as though they were, He calls into existence the things that do not exist. We read that verse, Romans 4:17. He calls those things, which be not as though they were. He calls into existence the things that do not exist. Human beings, we call whatever exists. If you own a dog, you have a name for that dog. You call out the name of the dog and wherever the dog is in your house, it will come running to you. If it’s there, you call it out and it comes before you. You generally don’t call things that do not exist, but God is the kind of God who calls into existence the things that do not exist. That means this thing is not even there, it does not even exist. But if God calls it, it is created as per His calling. However, He called it, it comes into existence. It is created. It is made and it appears before Him. Unbelievable. The unique power of God to create is no more with God than to call. Simply to call. That’s all. To call something is to create something for God. I’m saying all this because I think we need to get a sense of His greatness.                      

When you look at your problem, you won’t get a sense of His greatness. You look at creation, my friend. Consider ponder creation. You will get a sense of his greatness. There is no limit to His power. There are powerful things, even in creation. If you ask a little child what’s the most powerful thing you know? They may say an animal like a lion, tiger is very powerful, rhinoceros. People who studied power scientists, they talk about the power of the sun. The sun is having a lot of power. We don’t think about it because every day we take it for granted, the sun rises, but they say the sun has a lot of power, so much power that they say that in a single hour, the amount of power from the sun that strikes the earth is more than the entire world consumes in a year. In one hour, the amount of power from the sun that strikes the earth. The amount of solar power coming from the sun to the earth in one hour is more than what the entire world consumes in one year. We think our electricity bill is high. Put together all the electricity bills. The whole world. Put together the power consumption of the whole world, we think that’s a lot of power, but the sun delivers that much power in one hour to the earth, forget about how much power the sun has actually.

I’m talking, the sun delivers that much power in one hour. We don’t know how to take it and use it. All people are working on it. Solar power has already been used, but the technology continuously improving. The point is there’s so much power in the sun. That’s what I’m trying to say. People who study space, they say the sun is nothing. They say there are stars that are a hundred times bigger than the sun. Even though the sun looks big to us, the stars look small, but the stars are even farther. That’s why they look very small. But actually, some of those stars are a hundred times bigger than the sun. And they talk about sometimes these stars exploded. These giant stars, a hundred, 150 times bigger than the sun. When that explodes, they say in a few seconds, it releases more power than the sun will produce in 10 billion years. Unbelievable. The sun is so powerful in 10 billion years, how much power it will produce. But these other stars, when they explode in a few seconds, they release, what am I trying to say? I’m trying to say, if a rhinoceros has so much power, if the sun has so much power, if a star has so much power, imagine the power that the creator has.

The one who created the rhinoceros, the sun and the stars in the farthest galaxies. The one who made them, the one who put the power with them, how much power does he have? There is no limit to his power, no limit, no limit. And the amazing thing about creation is God creates out of nothing. God creates out of nothing. Here is a big difference between man and God. People talk about even man is creative. Even man is inventive. Even man — Yeah, there is a creativity and all that bit men manage human beings are very talented in that way because they’re made in the image of God. But nevertheless, there’s a huge difference between human beings and God. One of the differences is for human beings to make something or create something, they need raw material. They need raw material from trees or plants, they make medicine. From something that already exists, you can make something else. But if there’s nothing else, how can you make? But when God created the world, He created it out of nothing. The world was empty. We’re told in Genesis 1:2. It was empty. Out of emptiness, He brought fullness. Who can do that my friend? Out of emptiness, He created a full world. Today, there is no place in the world that’s truly empty. Wherever you go in the world that they may not be human beings there. There may not be houses there, but there’s creation there. There’s trees and plants and beautiful creation.

What am I trying to say? I’m trying to say this God is your God. The God whose power has no limit. The God who can create out of nothing. You give Him nothing, He will create everything with it. That’s the kind of God you have. You see today people are saying, sometimes people say I have nothing in my life. My life is empty. There’s nothing. There’s nothing to work with. There’s not raw material. There’s not even the basic stuff is that anymore? How will I ever come out of this? How will I ever come up from this? We see no way sometimes. That’s how our life looks sometimes for some of you, it may look like that today. I want to point you to this creator God who can create everything out of nothing, put your trust in Him. God can do it. Not only creation. All right, let me show you a versus before we move from creation. Nehemiah chapter 9. When you are feeling overwhelmed by your problems, I encourage you to meditate on creation and that’s not very difficult to do. Is it? All you have to do is step out and look at the sky. Nehemiah 9 verse 6. Nehemiah is praying here for the nation of Israel who was in a very — they’ve lost dignity. They’ve gone off into exile. Their nation has been ransacked and so on. Nehemiah is building the wall again and so on.

But he prays for the nation here and he prays that God would again, restore them to their original condition and notice how he prays again, Nehemiah 9 verse 6. You are the Lord. You alone. You have made heaven. The heaven of heavens with all that hosts the earth and all that is on it. The season, all that is in them. Why does he pray like this? There’s a reason for this. He is doing what we’re talking about. He is meditating on the great power of God. You are so powerful oh God, because if he looks at the people of Israel, they’re in a hopeless condition. Now only that building the wall and coming wall. The wall of the cities is in ruins. And he built it and they’ve come out of that now. And now he wants the nation to come up again. How was this ever going to happen? See how can you restore a whole nation too? How can you give it it’s lost dignity back? See, these are not ordinary things. How can an entire nation be uplifted? Nehemiah looks at the greatness of this God. The power of this, God, He says, you are the Lord. You alone, you have made heaven. The heaven of heavens with all that hosts, see how detailed he goes. The earth and all that is on it. The seas and all that is in them. His mind is meditating on the greatness of God displayed in creation. And then only he continues to ask for this and that. If you continue to read the prayer, it’s a wonderful player, but I’m just pointing out and I’m just telling you, you also think about creation before you pray what you want.

Psalms 121 verse 2. Now that example Psalms 121, we all know the Psalms. I lift up my eyes to the hills from where my help comes from. My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth. You see that? Again, and again, you’ll see this reference. The one who made heaven and earth, the one who made heaven and earth because that it shows that the Psalmist is meditating. He is thinking about the greatness of God in creation, and this great God can help him today. We look at creation. Now, I want you to look at resurrection. Think about resurrection. In creation, what’s happening is out of nothing God creates everything. Out of emptiness He is able to bring fullness. And we need that reminder today. When our lives or our bank balances are this or that is empty out of nothing, He can bring everything. That’s His power. That’s His ability. But not only that, resurrection says when everything was there and everything went wrong and now there is no life, there is no hope, all options are gone, God can still raise from the dead. God can bring back to life. Again, this is a way of thinking and speaking and believing that it started in the Bible. It again 2nd Corinthians chapter 1, when you don’t have hope, when your situation looks very difficult, what do you believe? Or what do you focus on? Don’t focus on your problem and just try to know, tackle that. No.

You focus on the greatness of your God. And how do you do that? One of the ways is seen here. It’s again Corinthians 1 verse 8. Paul was in this kind of condition. He almost lost hope. Let’s read. 2nd Corinthians 1:8. For we do not want you to be unaware brothers of the affliction we experienced in Asia, for we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. This is the apostle Paul talking. He has seen a lot, faced a lot, but he says this one particular problem in Asia was so terrible that we despaired. That’s a very strong word, despaired. Almost lost all hope. Despaired of life itself, burdened beyond our strength. And how did that improve? How did the situation improve? Look at verse 9, indeed we felt that we had received the sentence of death. You’re saying, we thought that’s it it’s over, death. But that was to make us rely, not on ourselves, but on God who raises the dead. This is what I’m talking about. Paul came through a very difficult situation. We’re not told details about, we looked at these few weeks back. I don’t know if you remember, but today I just wanted to look at this phrase, God who raises the dead and how it, how it makes a difference for Paul. He comes through a very difficult situation. He comes out of it victoriously and he looks back on it and he says, this whole thing happened so that we should not rely on ourselves, no matter how great an apostle I am. I should not rely on myself, but on God who raises the dead.

Once he focused, once he shifted his focus on God who raises the dead, look what happened? Verse 10, He delivered us from such a deadly peril and He will deliver us. On Him, we have set our hope that He will deliver us again from verse 8 to 10, there’s a big change. He goes from despair to hope. In verse 8, He is despairing in verse 10 he set his hope that God will deliver him. And again, what is the thing that made the difference? It is this truth. God who raises the dead. Paul is saying there was a death like situation where I had no option. It seemed like the life went out. But then I forgot that when there’s no option for me, when life goes out, as far as I’m concerned, God is still able to bring back to life. God is the only one who can raise the dead, bring back to life. Man has a lot of power. The technology and the medical science today is so good that they can give treatment to people, to prolong their life, to delay death. All that can be done, man has advanced to that level. So that the best treatment and the best medicine and this and that finally ends up making a person live a little longer sometimes.

So man is able to delay death, he is able to prolong lifespan. But the thing is, once death comes, man cannot bring back to life. Once death happens, it’s over. If a person is sick in the hospital, man, the best doctors in the best treatment can keep them going, keep them from dying. All that can be done. But once the person dies, that’s it, can’t bring them back to life. Death signals the end for man for his options, for his power. But there is no limit to God’s power. When you say the end has come, there’s no more option, God’s power can still raise a person from the dead. That’s what you see in Lazarus. Lazarus died. Four days are over, Jesus comes there. They’ve already buried him, closed the tomb with the stone and everything, done finished the case closed. Now as far as everybody is concerned, there’s nothing to do now. He is dead. You can mourn him and move on. Jesus comes and raises him from the dead like it’s and the way He does it is what’s shocking. Again, like Genesis 1, He does it so easily. The most difficult thing, raising a person from the dead, it’s so easy for Jesus. He simply just says a word Lazarus, come out. That’s all. John chapter 11, Lazarus come out. That word raises the dead Lazarus from the dead and he walks out. Unbelievable.

Death signals the end of options for men, but it is not the end for God. That is where His power is more clearly and more visibly and more gloriously displayed. The same Jesus is only our Jesus today. He’s still alive, He’s the same yesterday, today and forever. Even today, he has that kind of power to raise the dead. Look how Paul describes God here, not the one who raised the dead, but the one who raises the dead and. The one who raises the dead. I mean, there’s a lot of that Paul would have been thinking. Surely Paul would have thought about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. I told you the resurrection of Lazarus, but even greater is the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Jesus died on a cross, was buried, He died. He was buried, on the third day He Rose again. This is at the heart of the Christian faith. We all believe it, don’t we? Now the resurrection of Jesus is where you see the power of God revealed at its greatest height. The greatest revelation of God’s power, I would say is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Several reasons for that, but I don’t have time to go into it. But there’s a huge difference between Lazarus being raised from the dead and Jesus being raised from the dead. For example, Lazarus was raised by Jesus, but then he died again. He’s not alive today. He will be raised one day nut he’s not alive today is what I’m saying. But Jesus who died on the cross and He was buried, He was raised, He Rose again from the dead on the third day, He’s still alive and He’s alive forever more, never to die again. There’s a huge difference between any other resurrection.

We do hear about the resurrections here and there, but there’s a huge difference between every resurrection and Jesus’ resurrection because it’s a greater resurrection. He was raised to new life, not the old life to die again. He was raised when an immortal life, he was raised with a glorious body. He was raised and elevated to the right hand of the father to rule and reign over the world. There’s so many ways in which Jesus’s resurrection is greater, but let me point out one on two things. In Jesus’s resurrection, you see how complete and totally God has power over death. Death right now seems like death is ruling and reigning, isn’t it? The fear of death and death is ruling and reigning over this world, over our nation. It seems like everybody is powerless before death, the fear of death, but my friend, don’t forget that your God rules and reigns and has total power over death. It is proved already in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, Jesus Rose again from the death defeating death once and for all. And He has never again died, He is alive and He’ll be alive forever more.

When you look at other resurrections, the problem is there Lazarus, or even in the Bible there are resurrection. They come up, they rise again, they died again. But when you look at Jesus, He Rose again, never to die again. It shows that God has once and for all defeated death, that God has complete and total power over death. And it’s already seen in the resurrection of Jesus. One day, it will be seen in the resurrection of every believer. Those who die in Christ will rise again, will be raised with that similar immortal and glorious body that Jesus has. Even believers are going to be raised like that. Believers who died in Christ. That’s the hope we give to people who die. We say, no, this is not the end, one day God will raise us up like He raised Jesus and show even through our resurrection that He has complete and total power over death. I’m saying my friend in this world that is ruled and reigned by death and the fear of death. You remember that your God has complete and total power over death. Your God is all powerful. He’s a God who raises the dead. And I love how Paul says it. He says raises the dead. He didn’t say God who raised Jesus from the dead.

I know Paul is thinking about Jesus’s resurrection, but it looks like Paul is applying that. He says, God who raises the dead. That means God who does it even today. God who does it again and again, not God who raised the dead yesterday. Not God who raised the dead that one time. But God who raises present. He raises the dead. This is the way He works. God who raises the dead. This is his habit. His habit is to raise the dead. He’s known for raising the dead. This is his specialty. God who raises the dead. This is His uniqueness. God who raises the dead. That means He will raise the dead today. The thing is, I’m not saying we should go and try to raise the dead. That’s not the way Paul applies it here. Interestingly in 2nd Corinthians, 1, the passage I read the way Paul applies it is, he does not say, now, let us go raise the dead. He saying, how do you get hope in a hopeless situation? How do you get hope in a situation where it looks like everything is gone and dead and not life. You think about your great God as the one who raises the dead. And that’s how you get that hope back. If He can raise the dead, He can do anything. There are no limits to His power. That’s the way Paul applies it, isn’t it?

Our God is one who raises the dead. I want to tell you, no matter what state your life is in, maybe there are dead dreams, dead visions. You had a vision that your life will be a different way, and you are working towards that. Now everything is gone. Everything is ruined and it is decaying. And this has no life, no matter how terrible the circumstance or the situation may have gone, my friend, our God is one who raises the dead, which means He can revive that dream. He can revive that vision. He can revive that life. He can revive your future. He can do it all. Don’t limit him. He’s a God without limits. His power has no limits. He can create everything out of nothing. And when everything is gone, become ruined, decade, dead, no life. You can bring back everything to life also. This is the power of our God. God can help you no matter what you’re going through. Now, I want you to think about your problem. Once you think about creation and resurrection and God’s power displayed in that, then you look at your problem. It won’t seem very big to you. It won’t seem if God can create out of nothing and if He can bring back to life, then He can solve your problem. He can solve your problem. It is difficult for us. It is great for us, but it is nothing before Him, it is a small thing before Him. Is anything too hard for the Lord? We know these truths, but I’m saying, remember them, my friend. Now, bring them before your eyes, your mind, meditate on them and let that faith rise from your heart. That God can do all things for you. God is all powerful to help you. All right, so God can. Everybody say, God can.

Next, I want to talk about God will. We need the confidence that God can help us, but not only that, we also need the confidence that God will help us because sometimes we know that God can do it, He can do it. He can do anything, but really do it. That becomes a more difficult question sometimes. Will he do it for me? Will He do it now? Will He do it now? Will He do it in this world? This kind of world, where we are facing these kinds of challenges. Will He do it for me? Will it happen for me when it’s happening for nobody? Will He help me? God will. How do you get that certainty? Because in the middle of the problem. In the midst of difficulties, we’re trying to believe, we’re trying to pray, but inside our heart and mind, there’s this doubt sometimes, will He do it? What will He not do it? Will He come through? Will He answer this prayer? That doubt is there. We’ve got to deal with that doubt. How do you deal with it? How do you remove that doubt? Let me suggest four reasons based on which you can be sure that God will help you. Four reasons based on which you can drive out that doubt and you can become sure that God will help you. Four reasons, they’re probably more, but I’ll give you four today. How do you know that God will help you based on what can you be sure that God will help you?

Number one, based on who He is, based on who He is. When you have a doubt, whether God will help you or won’t, will God help? Will He hear this prayer? Will He answer my prayer? Will He help me now? When you have that kind of doubt, let me suggest, focus on who He is, not who you are, but focus on who He is. But what I mean by that is focus on his character, his nature, the kind of God He is, who He is. When you focus on that, that will give you a hope, a certainty, because what kind of a God is He is? He is a merciful and gracious God. Exodus 34, verse six. We know this passage. Again, passages that you know, this is where you need to go to boost your faith. What kind of a God is He? He’s a merciful. Exodus. 34:6. He is a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast, love and faithfulness. What that means is it is in His very nature to help you. It is in His very nature to answer your prayer because He’s merciful, He’s gracious, He’s abounding in steadfast, love and faithfulness. It’s a very amazing passage. This passage, Exodus 34:6 because the previous context, the Israelites have committed a very great sin and comes to the point where God has to almost destroy them. I don’t have time to get into it, but you can read the context and see. And Moses comes and he prays and he says, Lord, show me your glory. Show me your glory. And God reveals His glory to Moses in this passage.

And He says, here’s my glory. You want to see my glory? Here’s my glory. My glory is my character. And what kind of a nature and character I have, merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abounding and steadfast, love and faithfulness. Keeping steadfast love for a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity and transgression. And since even you have a doubt, will God hear my prayer, will He answer? Will He do this for me? Will He help me now? Go to God’s character, my friend, that’s a rock you can cling to. God’s character never changes. He’s merciful and gracious. He’s slow to anger, but abounding in love and faithfulness and He keeps His love for a thousand generations. And He forgives every wrongdoing, iniquity, transgression, and sin. Lamentations 3. When you have a doubt, focus on who God is, His nature, His character. Lamentations chapter 3. It’s an interesting book. Lamentations. The very name tells you what it’s about. It’s a laminate. It’s a laminate by the author who literally he’s laminating. He’s just pouring his heart out at the terrible things that have happened to God’s people and God’s city, nation, Israel and Jerusalem.

The context of the book of Lamentations is the city of Jerusalem has been taken over by the Babylonians, ransacked, captives taken away into exile. The temple of God looted, the city of Jerusalem burned, left in ruins. The glory of Israel seems to have vanished. That’s when the book of Lamentations was written and the author is just laminating. The whole book is a laminating. He is saying God, look at you, what has happened and right in the book right in the middle of this lament are these words. Laminations 3:21. But this I called to mind and therefore I have hope. In the middle of a terrible situation, what does he call to mind? And how does he have hope? Keep reading verse 22, the steadfast love of the Lord, never ceases. His mercies never come to an end. Where does he go to when he wants to get that hope again? So important that you get that hope again today my friend, you may have nothing. You may be very down and out, but if you get hope again, if hope arises in your heart, you can come up. How do you get that hope? What should you call to mind? What should you think about his character? That’s what he does. Think about God’s nature. The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases.

He says, if you read the previous verse, verse 20 and all you’ll see that he has almost lost hope, but then verse 21 says this I called to mind, therefore I have hope. What gives him hope? The love of the Lord, the character, the nature of God, the loving nature of our God, the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies never come to an end. This is who He is. This is His nature. And He never changes. He’s loving, He’s merciful and His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning. What can give you hope today my friend? God’s mercies are new every morning. As surely as the sun rises every morning, God’s mercies rise upon you every morning. Sometimes we focus on the challenges only that come every morning, new challenges, but new mercies, new mercies are coming your way every day from the Lord. This is who He is, this is what He does. And He has given us word regarding this. Even if the sun does not rise, one day, I say to you, His mercies will still rise upon your life. His new mercies will rise on that day. Even if the sun fails to rise because heaven and earth may pass away, but His word will never pass away. His mercies will forever be new every morning.

Where does He get hope from this? This is His hope, the nature, the character, the loving and the merciful nature of our God, whose mercies never end, new every morning. Great is your faithfulness. What am I saying? When you doubt whether God will help you or not, whether he’ll answer the prayer or not. Focus on who He is, He is merciful, loving character nature. Secondly, when you doubt whether God will help you or not, focus on I’m giving you four reasons based on how you can be sure that God will help you. First reason is who he is. Second reason is what He has promised. Based on what He has promised, what He has said, we can be sure that He will help us. How many promises are there, where God himself is promising saying, I will help you, I’ll do this, I’ll do that. Let me just give you one other example, Psalm 50 verse 15. Psalm 50 verse 15, run to those promises my friend, in your times of difficulty in your times of doubt, run to those promises, clinging to those promises. He has a promise Psalm 50 verse 15, call upon me in the day of trouble and I will deliver you. And you shall glorify me. God himself is saying, call upon me in the day of trouble, come to me, ask me. Pray to me, call upon me in the day of trouble, I will deliver you. I will deliver you is a promise to every child of God. I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me. And so when you have a doubt, will he do it? Won’t he do it? What will happen? What’s going to happen? Will I receive an answer? Will I see a breakthrough? No, go to that promise and hold onto that promise and say, Lord, you said here call upon me and I’m calling upon you and you said yet I will deliver you. And so I’m going to stick right down. I’m going to hang my life on this promise.

I’m going to make this my anchor in the time of storm. Fight, and hold on to that promise. That will give you a certainty. Another example, Hebrews 4:16, Hebrews 4:16, let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. And these are all verses you know, but I’m saying go back there. When you have the doubt, go back there? Don’t say I know? Yeah, we all know, go back there, take it and say, pray with that and say, God, you told us to come boldly to the throne of grace. So I come. You told us that when we come, we can receive mercy and find grace to help in time of needs. I believe I’m going to receive mercy and grace. I’m not going to go after this prayer without receiving mercy and — focus on what He has said in His word. His promises. That will give you a certainty, assuredly, that he will help you. Another example, Hebrews 13, verse 5. These are very familiar promises. Hebrews 13 verse 5. The second portion for he has said that his God has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. God has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you.

There’s a promise. I will never leave you nor forsake you. A promise that has been echoing down through the ages, way back from Jacob, to Moses, to Joshua and all the way down to the new Testament. God has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. And what are you going to do with that promise? We can say, I know it. Yeah, I know it. It’s in the Bible. Or we can say what this writer says. Look at the next verse. After saying, God has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. He says, so we can confidently say, some translations say so we can boldly say, you see when you go to God’s promise. And when you really take a hold of it immediately, you lose the fear and you get that baldness. And you’re afraid, when you’re worried you go to this promise, I will never leave you nor forsake you. You know it, but take it and speak it and dwell on it and stick with it until you lose that worry and that fear. And you get a certain boldness like this writer who says, we can boldly say, say what the Lord is my helper, I will not fear. What can man do to me? Amazing here. We can learn a lot of lessons here. God has said, I’ll never leave you nor forsake you. So He’s saying, because of that, we can say something. He takes what God has said, and He really ingest it and digest it.

And then he says something based on what God has said. He says, the Lord is my helper. I will not fear. What can man do to me? That’s taking a hold of a promise. What does it mean to really hang on that promise, to take a hold of it. It is to take it, speak it, believe it, meditate on it, ingest it, digest it so much that you start speaking based on it. You start speaking things connected to it. The Lord is my helper, I will not fear. What can men do to me? Heaven and earth may pass away, but His promises will never pass away. His word will never go without being fulfilled. Every dot, very comma. That’s how Jesus said it will be fulfilled, He said. Not a single mark, aren’t even a word. You got to read Jesus’s words in Matthew, chapter 5. He says every dot and every little punctuation will come to fulfillment. Everything. He says, you can count on this word. You can count on these promises. You can stake your life on it. Let this be your anchor. So who is His, His nature character. What He has said, what He has promised gives you a certainty that He will help you.

Third reason, who you are to Him? Who you are to Him? So easy to forget who we are in times of difficulties. Who are we? We have an identity. We’re all familiar with the identity cards, ID card, they say. We all have our ID cards, necessary ID cards, and we keep it safe. The ID cards reveal the basic and the necessary info about us. They have our photo sometimes they have our name and have our address and have this, the essential info about us, who we are is on that card. And we keep it safe in our wallet, in our pocket, in our house or whatever. We guard it. We are very clear about who we are, and some people, they make a big deal about which town they’re from and which background they’re from and this and that and the cost and this and that. People hung up on all kinds of identities. But as Christians, as believers, who are we? That’s what I’m talking about, my friend. Who are you to God? Not which town did you come from, or which cast you belong to. I’m talking about who you are to God. Remember that when you go through trouble, you are a child of God, you’re a child of God, yet you say, I know, yeah, again, I’m talking, I’m saying, remember what you know.

Focus on what you know. You’re a child of God. Well, that changes everything. If you are a child of the living God, that changes everything. Remember who you are to Him. When you realize you’re a child of God, then you will realize He will answer my prayer, because I’m praying to my father. How will He not, give an answer, how will he not respond to me. How would you turn a deaf ear to my prayer? How will he not deliver me? He will do it. When you have a doubt, will He do it, won’t He or will He not do it. Will He answer my prayer or really not answer my prayer? Remember who you are to Him My friend. He has not forgotten, but sometimes we forget. We forget that we are children of the living God, we forget that we are not like the world. We start thinking like the world. The world, they don’t have a relationship with God. And so when they pray, they can have this doubt will He hear? Will He answer? We can excuse them having the doubt. But when Christians have the doubt, you do have the doubt, don’t we sometimes? We are more to be blamed. Why? Because we have a relationship. We have a father, child relationship with God. We are children of God, but we have forgotten it, and that’s why we have this doubt.

How will God not answer the call of his child? Will you not answer? If you hear the call of your child. If you hear your child calling out for help, will you answer my friend? If you hear, you will answer. Will you help your child? If you can do anything, you’ll do it, won’t to? And even if you can’t do it, you’ll try your best to get somebody else’s help, and if your child is in trouble, you’ll do everything in your power and more to help your child, is God any lesser than us? I’m just reminding you that our God is our heavenly father, that you are his children, that he will do anything for you. Jesus says, if you being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children. He’s talking about earthly fathers. How much more will your heavenly father give good gifts to those who ask him. The way to get rid of that doubt. Will He answer, will He not? One of the things is remind yourself who you are to Him, your spiritual identity. Not enough, if you have the ID card safe, you have to have the spiritual identity in your mind. It’s in the Bible, your spiritual identities in the Bible was not enough if it’s here also. You got to get it in your mind, got to focus on that.

Look at your spiritual identity. You are a child of the living God, my friend, and that changes everything based on what can you be sure that he will help you? Who He is, what He has said or promised who you are to Him? And finally, fourthly, what He has already done for you? What He has already done for you? When we’re in a state of doubt and trouble thinking, will God help us? Will God come through here, go back and think about what He has already done for you. You know this, I’m just reminding you. I’m sure God has already done a lot for you. I’m sure God has already delivered you from a thousand troubles. I’m sure God has already — He’ll do several times. I’m sure God has already brought you up when you were in the lowest moments of your life. Think about those times in the past, when He has helped you already. Don’t just be thinking about the present situation, because that’s going to create more doubt. Think about what He has already done for you. Give Him thanks and praise and say, God, you did this, I know you’ll do this. But there’s one thing I think we all need to think about more, and that is the greatest thing that God has already done for us.

What is that? Romans 8:32. God’s done so many things for you, for me, specific things in my life, your life. But for all of us, He has done one thing which can be called as the greatest thing He has done or can ever do. Romans 8:32. He who did not spare His own son, but gave him up for us all. He who did not spare His own son, but gave Him up for us all. This is the greatest thing that God has done and can ever do. What’s the greatest thing God has ever done? He gave up His son to die on the cross for you and for me. Let me say this. Listen to me, what’s the most difficult thing for God to do. Think about it. What’s the most difficult thing for God to do. I just showed you, creating the world was not very difficult for Him. Raising the dead also is not very difficult for Him, let me say with reverence that the most difficult thing for God to do is to give up His son to die on the cross of Calvary. And He has already done that. He’s already done that. He has done the most difficult thing there is to do. Will He not do other things? Will He not give us other things? That’s what Paul is saying. He who did not spare his own son, but gave Him up for us all. How will he not also with Him graciously give us all things. How will he keep back anything else that is good for us.

Think about how God has already given His son for you to die on the cross. Four things, I said. Four reasons, will God help you, will God answer your prayer? Four reasons. You can be sure He will help you, and He will answer your prayer. What are those reasons? Who He is. His nature, His character don’t think about your character and your nature. When you’re in trouble, when you’re praying, your focus should not be on your character. Some people are focusing on their own character. Or am I Holy enough? Or this enough or that enough? No, focus on how Holy He is, how merciful and gracious and loving and kindly is who He is, what He has said and promised. Who you are to Him. You are His child and what He has already done for you. Again, people think reversed. They’ll think about what they have done for God. They’ll think have I done enough for God? That He’ll answer my prayer? Or they’ll think like this I’ve done so much for God. Sometimes people in ministry, maybe tempted to think like that. I’ve done so much for God. God will surely answer my — wrong way to think. You want surety certainty that God will help you, my friend don’t think about what you have done for Him or your this or that because there’ll always be faults and weaknesses. Think about what he has done for you. Think about who He is, His promises and how He has made you His child. God will help you. God will answer your prayer.

Why am I saying all this? I simply want to impress upon you that God can help you and God will help you. Why? So, because I want you to take this and say bold prayers, prayers filled with faith. During these difficult and challenging times, my friend, we as the people of God ought to live in a different way compared to the world. The world is living in a state of fear. And like I said, we can’t blame them. But we, my friend, we should be careful not to give in to that because God has not given us a spirit of fear. He has redeemed us. He’s given us a spirit of power, love and sound mind. He is asking us to think about His greatness, not the greatness of our problems, not the greatness of what’s happening in our land. Oh, focus your eyes on His greatness. He can do all things and He will do, when you ask Him, He will do it for you. Before you pray, fill your hearts and minds with a sense of His greatness and then go and pray. And let me say, ask big. When you go before the all-powerful God who can do anything, ask for something big, ask for things that is happening for no one. Ask for things that no one thinks is possible because that’s how you honor this great God. And He’s all powerful, and there are no limits to His power. Ask big, ask with faith and believe that He’ll do it, when you ask, I say this so that you can pray, not only for yourself, whatever you’re going through, your family, but also I say this like this in the context of a Sunday morning sermon so that as the people of God, we will together pray for the state of the world, the state of our nation.

They need our prayer. They need a lot of things, our support in many ways, but they need one thing that we alone can do. What is that? Pray, pray, and pray like this. I’m talking confident, big bold prayers of faith. They need our prayer, my friend They are in a helpless condition. Everything, everybody looks powerless, but we know that we have an all-powerful God who’s all willing and ready to help us. And when we pray, He will do wonders. Pray for the nation. You see a problem somewhere, take it, pray that God will solve that problem. He can do the impossible. He will surprise you and that’ll boost your faith even more. That’s why I say this for our own good, for our family, for our church, but not only that, beyond that for the needs of this nation, this world, we don’t have to come together. Even if we are not coming together, we can be of one mind and pray together that God will do great miracles. You can see the present times we are living in times of very great difficulty, or you can see it as an opportunity for God to reveal His power like never before. Invite him to work, pray big, bold prayers of faith and watch Him do wonders. Watch Him answer and move and change things in the world, just because you asked. You think that’s possible. I think it’s possible because you are his child my friend. He will do great things when His child asks, because He can and He will. That’s all. Take a moment to give thanks for this great truth. Let’s just thank God for who He is. He’s all powerful. Thank Him for saving you and making you His child so that you can call this almighty God, your father.