LaDONNA: Hallelujah! Let’s talk about power. Let’s talk about the three main powers, the greatest powers that exist. People love to talk about power. We as spiritual believers we’re attracted to that concept. There is power. There is power but there’s more than one kind of power. Let’s define these powers. The first power, the greatest power, Gods greatest power is love. It’s love. The very essence of who God is is love. We know a lot of things about Him. He’s a healer. He’s a provider. He’s a sustainer. He’s a protector. He’s a defender. He’s many, many things but the essence of who He is we discover in 1st John chapter 4 in verse 8: The scripture just says plainly “God is love.” Now to accept that we understand, and lets try to really grasp this, you see God has all these other things, He has attributes but He IS love. That means that everything that He does, everything that He says, every instruction, every mandate, everything is out of that core essence of love. Now this is a love beyond what we can understand. We’ll agree on that. This is a big time love. This is off the charts kind of love. But let’s just accept it that God-love that’s immeasurable, unconditional, unending, almost unfathomable is the very essence of who God is and that’s His power. His power is love. All that He does is out of that reservoir. Think about the most commonly quoted scripture in all the Bible. You know what it is? John 3:16, exactly. Say it with me: For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. So we see that it was love that motivated God to come to earth in Jesus Christ to accomplish humanity’s rescue. The salvation of human-kind all out of love. 1st John chapter 4, let’s look at it, verse 10 it says: “This is love. Not that we loved God…” and my father used to really love to work on people with that statement because you know as believers we were always saying I love You, I love You, Jesus, I love You, I love You, I love You and we get so carried away with how big our love is for Jesus and my father would just say whoooa! It’s not about how much you love Him. It’s how much He loves you. And that… if we can, if we can refocus on the great love that God has demonstrated it’s what the scripture says: “This is love. Not that we love God but that He loved us.” And there’s more. “And that He sent His son to be the propitiation or the atoning sacrifice for our sins.” Do you realize what good news that is to people all over the world? People that don’t feel loved. People that don’t feel that their life has any value? I’m dealing with a couple of people right now in our hometown that their lives are so broken and for them to, for them to come with their brokenness, with all the mistakes, all the hurts, all the shame that they live in, come to God, you know they can hardly do it. The only way they can do that is to finally accept that God loves them unconditionally. He loved us while we were sinners. I stand on these mass evangelism platforms, oh my friends, I wish you could be there with me. Look out across the fields and see, see really hopeless humanity. Hopeless humanity. And what I always remember is that to consider anyone hopeless is to consider God helpless. And no one therefore is hopeless. I remember a particular scene comes to my mind it was an old man who came to one of our events on Sumba Island in Indonesia. Just one kilometer from the city center where I was were villages that literally were living in the Stone Age. Can you believe that? Literally. They had altars. They had trees where they hang skulls. They had, they had altars and tombs. Monuments that dated back to a 1000 B.C. I was shocked! Well these people were still dressing in their, in their tribal garb and they came to the festival. Oh, how Jesus loves to welcome people. Some sophisticated people came. Business people from the city. Of course all kinds of lost and hopeless people but these villagers were coming and the men they would have, it was like a loincloth, big diaper thing, you know, rough, folded out, their legs leathery and brown, wearing sandals or just in bare feet, and they, they would have these cloths wrapping around their head and they’d have something over their shoulders and in their, in their wrap was a knife. A big sword with a curled handle. I actually bought one off a village man paid almost nothing for it, but it was so, so old. I wonder where all that knife had been. I didn’t even want to ask that one. But one of these men came and stood on the platform. He had accepted Christ and he had been healed and he came to give testimony. So here he’s, he’s old. He’s weathered. He’s wrinkled. He doesn’t smell good. He has no teeth. They, they chew this bark until their, their teeth are just ruined, just red gums and he’s standing there. I can’t describe the aged result of his life. Had his knife and he’s just standing there in his broad bare feet and he’s smiling. He had been blind. His eyes were opened! Now I want to tell you. And I’m standing there trying to listen to his testimony but inside I was going into convulsions of emotion. I think it was as though I saw a vision of heaven opening and the love of God pouring out on this one old man. Who loved him? Who cared about him? What contribution was he to society? Did his family need him anymore? What did he have to offer? Nothing! Oh my friends, God’s love is so great and it’s the power of that love that has, has caused God to be for us who He has become. It’s love that held him on the cross. Yes, our sins. But love held Him in that place of, of punishment and sacrifice. The love of God is the greatest power that He has through which He heals our broken lives. He washes away our sins. He heals us and restores us. Oh my friends, if God is love how can He do anything evil toward us? He cannot! We need to banish all old ideas that God might punish us with sickness, torture is with that, play games with us, make us wait forever just to see how patient we’ll be. NO! God leans over the bannister of heaven continually desiring to pour out His blessings on people and all He’s looking for is faith. Now if we would just trust Him then we would see His love and respond to His love. That is really what we do when we respond in faith we’re responding to His love. So consider the power of this love that God has. But there was a Muslim beggar who came to our, our crusade near Baden Baden, Nigeria some years ago. And I love his testimony because it shows the love of God. The man was such a good a Muslim he was not interested in coming to a Christian event. He didn’t want to hear the message. He didn’t want to be there. So he stood at the edge. Well he was crippled so he was, he was on his… in the dust. He was… his legs were all withered. He had been a victim of polio and so he couldn’t walk. Had not walked for 38 years. He’s out there at the edge of the crowd only because he had to come. My father preached the message on Jesus raising from the dead. Well you know that’s the very thing Muslims don’t believe. They know about Jesus. They know He did miracles. They know He was a good man, somewhat of a prophet. But they will not believe that He’s the son of God, that He died for the sins of the world, and that He’s alive today. And so my father was just boldly preaching about that with the emphasis on the resurrection of Christ. And dear Kadimoo, this Muslim beggar during the prayer he closed his eyes and on either side he felt as though two men lifted him up out of the dust. And he thought that’s nice. After the prayer he looked to say thank you and there were no men. So the power of God’s love had lifted this unbeliever! Did you hear that? There’s no formulas with God. You don’t first have to do this and this and then finally become worthy of His healing. NO! He heals because He’s a healer. He’s a God of love and mercy and compassion! Hallelujah!
Tags: It's Supernatural, Sid Roth
Tags: It's Supernatural, Sid Roth