A Different Perspective Official Podcast

So many people on this planet are living so deeply in the debt of their – well, their sin – that they've forgotten that all along, God has a plan 'A' for their lives.  A glorious, wonderful, Plan 'A.'
Most of us would be familiar with the term "downward spiral". The sense that things are heading inexorably downwards. And whilst we have quite a few "up" times in our lives, one of the things you get a sense of when you talk to people is that many, many are experiencing this downward spiral. A sense almost that their quality of life, whatever that may mean for each of them, is slipping away. That whilst things maybe going fine on the outside, inside life seems to be draining down the plug hole.
This week on the program we're talking about "Breaking Free from the Power of Sin" and for many that will be a phrase that doesn't seem to relate to what they're experiencing on the inside. But, in fact, it has everything, everything to do with it. Because, as we've seen over the last few days, the way that we live our lives has consequences.
And so many people are heading so far down that spiral. It's hard for them to imagine there's another way. It's hard to imagine that there was, in fact, some time in the dim distant past, a time when they were on top of that spiral. It's hard to begin to imagine as we're living out this terrible plan B, that God had a plan A all along.
And as we head down that spiral, the longer we spend further down the spiral the more we want to hang on to that rubbish that we're living down there, for dear life. I want to introduce you to a passage of Scripture today, Colossians chapter 3, that we're going to have a bit of a look at today but a more detailed look over the next few days. It's about how to break the power of sin.
"Okay, okay, I've sinned in my life and yes I'm addicted. Yes I admit it, yes it has power over me. Yes there are consequences that are robbing me of life itself but what do I do about it? How do I get out of this mess? If I accept my life is a mess and a lot of that mess is my own doing, what can I do about it now?"
Have a listen to this fabulous wisdom. It comes from Gods word, it's written by the apostle Paul a couple of thousand years ago, if you have your own copy, Colossians chapter 3 in the New Testament, beginning at verse 1. He says this:
If you've been raised with Christ (in other words, if you believe in Jesus) then start looking for the things that are above. Seek those where Jesus is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are on this earth. You're dead to those and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Jesus, who is your life, is revealed then you also will be revealed with Him in glory. Put to death, therefore, whatever in you is earthly: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, greed. On account of those, God's wrath is coming on those who are disobedient. (Colossians 3: 1-6)
 See, it's not enough for us to know what the problem is; we have to know how to deal with it. What we're going to see, over the next few weeks, is that Gods plan is that we don't have to do it on our own. In fact, we can't. It's His power that sets things right. But where do we step off? How do you and I take our step into a partnership with God that changes things?
See, we're so locked in the here and now, we're so locked in our current patterns of thinking and behaviour and addictions. Now Jesus died to set us free from that. Jesus died so that you and I could be forgiven. And we can believe that and yet, still not know where to begin in seeing the power of sin broken over our lives.
Here in this passage, Paul tells us where to begin:
If you believe in Jesus, seek the things that are above! Set your mind on those things, not on the things that are here on this earth 'cause you're dead to those and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
See, we hang onto the things we can see. We grip onto them.
You know, maybe it's selfishness, maybe it's anger that's your particular sin, maybe it's gluttony, maybe it's sexual immorality. We kind of hang on to them so tight that they end up reaching their dark tentacles in our heart. And they grip us and they have a power over us and we're addicted to them.
We can't get rid of them, they're too strong. But what we can do is we can make a decision of the heart today, to listen to what Paul says here. 'If I actually believe in God, I am going to start seeking the things that are above where Jesus is. I'm going to lift my gaze from all this stuff that I thought was important here in the world and begin to look at my Jesus. This Jesus who hung on that cross, nailed to the cross, suffering, brutalised, crucified, dying for me.
That's where my focus is going to be. I can't deal with the stuff that's going on in my life. I can't change that. I'm addicted to this stuff but what I can do is I can lift my gaze to Jesus. I can shift my focus from the stuff down here that I thought was important, to Jesus who really is'.
That's a huge thing. Today I can decide, I can do that instead of focusing on my stuff, to focus on Him. 'I want you God, not me. I want your reign and your power, I want your will in my life not my own despotic little life. I want so much more God, I just don't know how'.
Imagine if you just took these three short verses and 20 minutes every day for a week, just spend some time reading and praying just about them. Let me tell you something, your God will show up, absolutely He will. I was talking with someone the other day, he was a great bloke, ordinary, everyday kind of person but struggling with a relationship.
The problem he was having was forgiveness. This other person was doing things to hurt him and this guy would struggle and complain and blame. You know the cycle, we've all been there. So we talked for a while. And we all have difficult people in our lives and what ruins our lives is not so much them, it's how we react to them.
Peter said to Jesus:
How often to I have to forgive this person, 7 times? And Jesus said, "No, no, no, 77 times.
Over and over again until forgiveness works, we know it does. Unforgiveness robs us of Gods forgiveness. Jesus taught that over and over and over again. Unforgiveness is like, well, it's like a cancer.
And so this man and I were talking about this and yet you could see he was struggling. We get in that place and we want to hang on to unforgiveness. This man, I was talking to, saw the sense of what I was saying but you could see it in his eyes, the struggle of having to let go. The struggle of finally forgiving the other person.
We're addicted to sin, sin has a power over us. And you know what we do? We hear a message like this and we think, 'that applies to everyone else except us'. We do. And yet it does apply to us. Sin robs us of life, it's powerful stuff, we need God's power to deal with it. So right now, right now, you and I can make a decision to take the first step.
If you believe in Jesus, start seeking things that are above where Christ is seated. Set your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are on this earth. And before you know it, before you know it, God begins to step in. God is in that place with us; His power breaks the power of sin.

We live in a world of cause and effect. You spend more than you earn, you end up in debt. Cause and effect. So how come, well why is it that you and I are such masters of self-deception when it comes to the consequences of our…sin.
We live in a world of cause and effect. We know that; you work, you earn, your bank balance goes up. You buy, you spend, your bank balance goes down. Cause and effect. You spend more than you earn, you go broke. You earn more than you spend, you have savings. Simple. Cause and effect. You break the law, you go to jail, at least that's the theory. You obey the law, you stay free. Cause and effect.
But when it comes to how we live our lives, how we behave and think and speak and act, we're pretty good at denying the effect from the cause, at least I am. "Oh look, I know I was rude to him but, but he deserved it!" Never mind it ruined a relationship. Never mind it injured the person. Never mind that it undermined his self-esteem and that had an impact on the way he brought up his kids. Cause and effect; oh never mind.
It's true, isn't it? Cause and effect is alive and well but when it comes to us violating the laws of cause and effect, we are only too ready to make excuses for ourselves. Well no matter how many excuses we make, cause and effect rolls inexorably on. You can't avoid it, it just does.
None of us likes to talk too much about consequences but it's the consequences of the dumb things we get up to that gives sin it's power. I'm going to come back to the title of this series that we're going through this week and next week, it's called "Breaking Free from the Power of Sin".
See sin is not some old-fashioned concept of moralising, it simple means this; to miss the mark, to miss the point of life. And see, when we talk about breaking free from the power of sin, I'm assuming that sin has some power, that this whole kind of lemming-type desire we have to miss the whole point of life is powerful and addictive.
You know I believe that each one of us is addicted to something. There's some form of sin that's just our sin, our weakness that robs us of life. The heroin addict knows that it's bad for them, knows that it's ruining their lives but the addiction is so powerful. They want to do something about it but they can't because they're addicted.
You may have heard of the seven deadly sins; lust, gluttony, greed, laziness, anger, envy and pride. And my hunch is, each one of us relates to at least one of those in our lives. And like the heroin addict, we kind of know they have consequences. We know they're ruining our lives, we just can't do anything about them.
If your particular weakness is laziness, you know you never achieve anything. You know that you don't invest in relationships. You know you don't get a sense of fulfilment out of life. If it's anger you know anger ruins relationships. If its pride you realise that you can't work closely with other people. If it's gluttony, well that's obvious. There are consequences. We can't deny them.
Have a listen to the consequences of sin the apostle Paul writes about. Romans chapter 6, beginning at verse 13, he says:
Don't present your members, your body, to sin as instruments of wickedness but instead, present yourselves to God as those who've been brought from death to life and present your body to God as an instrument of goodness and righteousness. Sin will have no dominion over you since you are no longer under the law but under grace. What then? Should we sin because we're not under the law but under grace? Absolutely not!
Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as an obedient slave, you are slaves of the one whom you obey? Either of sin, which leads to death or of obedience which leads to Gods goodness and righteousness. But thanks be to God that you, once having been slaves of sin, have become obedient from the heart to the form of teaching to which you have been entrusted. And that you, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.
So what advantage did you get from those things of which you are now ashamed? The end of those things is death. But now, now that you have been freed from sin and enslaved to God, the advantage you get is God's holiness and sanctification. The end of that is eternal life. You see the wages of sin are death but the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6: 13-23)
Paul uses the analogy of slavery. Well maybe we wouldn't use that in the same way today. Maybe the analogy we might use is addiction. There's this concept with sin, that we're in bondage to it and if we go the way of sin and rebellion and all that stuff we know is rubbish and wrong. You end up being a slave to it. You end up being addicted to it, the way a heroine addict is addicted to that needle and that heroin pumping in their veins. The wages of that, the outcome, the consequences of that is death.
See, there are so many people who are trapped in a downward spiral of consequences. Trapped, they can't get out, it doesn't matter how hard they try. And mostly we all try at some point and then we give up because it's too hard. We roll over and we accept the reality and we say, "Well you know, I'm just an angry person. That's it, nothing I can do about it. I know it's ruining my marriage but there you go!"
The wage of sin is death. There are consequences today and eternally. Today, so many people are like the living dead. They're robbed of the fulfilment that God's goodness brings. It's what righteousness means; integrity, purity, goodness. The power of sin is the addiction that traps us in the consequences and at some point, at some point we have to decide: enough is enough. At some point we have to wake up and say, "I can't do this anymore."
A former prisoner and drug addict wrote to me recently, this is what she said, "I'm 36, I'm a sole parent of 4 lovely kids. I lived a life of drugs and crime and wait for it, all sorts of sin for 20 years. Finally, in 2005 I ended up in jail, been there 3 times now. A year ago in my cell I finally threw my arms in the air and called out to God, "I give up, I've tried to do what I thought was right, I can't do this life anymore, I'm yours."
See, if you were expecting me to talk about being a better person in this series, you'd be wrong. We've all tried that, it don't work. It just doesn't, right? Because sin is more powerful than you and me. We're drawn inexorably to it like a moth to a flame and the consequences destroy our lives. So what are we going to do about it? You, me, come on let's get real here. What sin are you hanging onto so hard that you can't let go of and it's robbing you of life?
Over the next few weeks on the program, we're going to show you how you can get your life back. Not in our own strength, can't do that, but in God's. First we have to decide to let go, you know we hang onto something real strong and the problem is its like hanging onto lead weights. We either have to paddle real hard and that's exhausting and ultimately we end up drowning. That's why Paul writes, "The wage of sin is death."
All those little compromises are a foot-hold for the devil, like a bull into a china shop. He wreaks havoc in our lives and those compromises are like opening the door and inviting him in. Now the mistake we make is we think that applies to everyone else except us.

There's a great swindle, a great con going on in our society – and in part, we're all being conned.  It goes like this – if you look after numero uno – everything else will be fine.  We know it doesn't work, but somehow we still want to believe it.
Today … today we're starting a new series that, I have to warn you, the devil does not want you to hear. In fact he'll do anything he can to keep you away from what we're going to be talking about over these coming few days and in fact next week as well. Why? Because if we let loose in our hearts and our lives, the thing that we're going to be talking about, it is going to mess up his game plan for your life and for mine, big time.
Well, what are we going to talk about? The subject is this, Breaking Free from the Power of Sin. That's the name of the series: Breaking Free from the Power of Sin. See, I have this crazy notion that God means, for you and me, to live not just a good life, not just a great life but an utterly sensational life. What I don't mean is that each one of us should live in a mansion with 2 Merc's in the garage.
What I don't mean is that everything in life will go well, always healthy, live to a ripe old age. It doesn't work. Life's not like that. But what I do mean is that, come what may, God means for us to live a life of joy and peace and fulfilment and contentment. The question is; how do you get that life? Problem is there's a big con being perpetrated in this world today.
The big con of this world is that what you do is you earn, you spend, you buy. That'll give you all those things. The big con is that you look after number 1 and everything else will be fine. You and I know it doesn't work. We know that it's a big con but it's a big con that we really, really, really want to swallow, hook, line and sinker And then some joker comes along and talks about sin and you think, "Well you have got to be kidding me. We're not in medieval times, we're not in the 1950's. This is the 21st century. Sin? Oh please, what planet are you living on?"
What does sin conjure up in your mind? Some old-fashioned, moralising, finger-pointing, self-righteousness. That might have worked in the dim dark ages but don't try that religion stuff on me today buddy! Sin, how gullible do you think I am? Crimson clad clergy pointing their bony fingers at me. Get out of here! Hmm, you might wonder, how is it that Berni can articulate this position so passionately? And well, the answer is this: it's one that I held for most of my life.
Religion's a bunch of rules; I don't need a bunch of rules. Sin is an old-fashioned concept, that's it, buzz off! And yet, if we were completely honest with ourselves, each one of us would admit we do things and we think things and we say things that hurt us, that ruin our lives. What we don't often realise is how much they ruin our lives. Ever asked yourself exactly what sin is? Is it an out dated concept or is it real. And does it have consequences. And is it the thing that's robbing me of a full and satisfying life?
Sin is one of the most frequently used words in the Bible, 486 times – 486. There is kind of various concepts but at the heart of it is this notion that God is perfect and that we've rebelled against God and we've broken His law and that will bring punishment. That's the kind of "sin" thing in a nutshell and I guess that's it for many people.
You mention sin and that's what it conjures up; rules, religion, moralising and who needs that? Rebellion against God, well it is that, it's all of those things. But I don't know, my hunch is, giving where we are today maybe that's not the best place to start to really understand what sin means because we've been conned.
See, I used to go scuba diving when I was younger and what you discover when you want to go scuba diving is we were made to float, we weren't made to sink. You jump in the ocean or any body of water and you'll float. And when you put on diving gear you float all the more because your wetsuit is very buoyant. So what the diver does is he or she straps weights to their body. It helps them to sink, that's what they want to do, it works for a diver and these weights are these ugly old lumps of lead that you strap on.
I look back on my life, a life of sin for the most part and it was like I was bobbing around in the ocean. All these boats would sail by. All these different shapes and sizes and people would bend over the side and offer me this and that. This ball, that trinket. "Oh yes please, I'll have that one and that one and that one and that attitude and that selfishness and this ambition and this desire. Oh yes please!"
But actually, what they were was lead weights only they'd been dressed up to look attractive. And you don't have to be Einstein to figure it out. The more I took on, then the more I started to sink. That's the big con and then, because we're not made to sink, we frantically thrash around with our arms and legs to get back to the surface because we're drowning. We're not made to drown.
Interesting, God's word talks about that. Over and over again He talks about sin as this concept of missing the mark. It's the image of an archer shooting at a target and missing. Literally, what the word means is "to miss the point". That's how we'd say it today. People are drowning on mass because they're missing the point. Have a listen to this. It's what the apostle Paul writes about sin, he says:
Don't deceive yourselves! If you think that you're wise in this age, well you're going to have to become fools in order to become wise because the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. It's written, 'He catches the wise in their craftiness' and again the Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile. (1 Corinthians 3:18-31)
See, we think we're clever. We think that with our sophisticated economic systems and share portfolios and cable television and electronic gadgets. We think we're so clever.
In this context, Paul was talking about quarrels and factions – earthly wisdom as opposed to God's wisdom. See the earthly wisdom is "win", get on top, be number 1, that's the wisdom of this world. And okay, we dress it up to make is look respectable but at its core, it's rotten.
Contrast that with God's wisdom, James chapter 3, verse 17:
But the wisdom from above (God's wisdom) is first pure then peaceable, gentle; willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits without a trace of hypocrisy.
Do you see the difference, the contrast? Here's the con. We trade in the good and wondrous things of God, the diamonds if you will, for the stones or the lead weights of this world. Our attitude of selfishness, anger disputes, horrible things that people do to one another. We justify those through this whole "number 1" mentality because we've been sold that con. We've swallowed it hook, line and sinker and yet, those are the things that are like lead weights, those are the things that make us sink to the bottom. And it's exhausting because we're not made to sink to the bottom.
Finally, one day I got it. Sin wasn't some old-fashioned, moralising from an irrelevant Church. Not that. It's here, it's now. It's important, it's vital. It was something that was ruining my life. And at some point we have to do something about it otherwise we spend the rest of our lives missing the point and eventually we drown.

The vow people make when they get married is to be with their soul mate until the end. And yet almost half of all marriages fail. So, given those human frailties, sometimes we expect God to desert us too – but it just doesn't work that way.
I'm someone who, by and large, enjoys their own company; I don't need a lot of people around me. That doesn't mean I don't enjoy being with people but I don't need a lot of company, if that makes sense. Even so, you and I are made to be with people and the worst thing in the world is when we find ourselves completely alone. Oh we can be surrounded by a crowd; sure, we can be in the middle of a huge crowd and yet, still be completely alone.
I've been there a few times in my life and it is the most awful feeling, to feel cut off from everyone; having nobody that you can share with or connect with or be with. But the reality is that, every now and then in life, we can find ourselves in that place and it's chillingly cold and lonely. That's because we're social creatures, we're just made to be with other people, to connect with people. That's why most people end up married, to fulfil the desire for a soul mate.
When I set out on a journey with God, when I first accepted Him, Jesus as my saviour, I was always afraid that I'd lose Him. It was a feeling that, for a long time, didn't go away, sometimes I'd experience the joy of His presence and other times, it felt like He'd left me and those times were times of panic. The reality is, I didn't understand who He is; His nature and His promises.
Over these last couple of weeks we've been looking at the promises we can depend on, promises from God. It's so important to know that no matter what we're going through or what the world's throwing at us or how we're feeling, the promises that God makes in His word are rock solid. You know don't you that our feelings, our emotions, they go up and down depending on our hormones or how tired we are or our circumstances or just the natural ebb and flow of our emotions.
On top of that there's a spiritual dimension. Make no mistake about it, the devil is alive and well, he knows that the joy of the Lord is my strength and he'll do everything he can to rob me of that joy. He thinks if he can rob me of my joy, he'll rob me of my strength.
Last week on the program we looked at God's promises, that He does have a plan for our lives, that He'll provide for us, that He'll comfort us and protect us and forgive us and this week we've been looking at some of the promises about His character. Who He is, that He's slow to anger, that He's abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, that He's able and willing to help us. Today, we're going to finish off this series of ten programs called, "Promises I Can Depend On" with a final promise that He will always be with us.
There was a time in Israel's history, they'd been led out of slavery in Egypt through the Red Sea, they'd spent 40 years in the Exodus, led by Moses in the desert and Moses had died and they're about to cross over into the Promised Land. You can read about it at the end of the book of Deuteronomy and at the beginning of the book of Joshua in the Old Testament.
It was a trying time because Moses, their leader of 40+ years was dead, they're about to cross over the Jordan River into this Promised Land and they know they're going to have to fight battle after battle after battle, war after war, to take the Promised Land. It was a scary time and three times God makes this one particular promise to them. Let me read them to you, Deuteronomy chapter 31, verse 6. He says:
Be strong and courageous; do not be afraid or terrified because of them (these people in the land) for the Lord your God goes with you. He will never leave you nor forsake you.
Two verses later, Deuteronomy 31:8:
The Lord Himself goes before you and will be with you. He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid, do not be discouraged.
And then, over the page in Joshua chapter 1, verse 5:
"No-one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you." He says Joshua, "I will never leave you nor forsake you".
See, when we know we're headed for stormy waters as Israel was at that point, the most important thing we need to know, at least I do, is that God is with me and this is how God treats His people, He says:
I will never leave you nor forsake you.
Do you know what never means? Never means never. Jesus, just before He ascends to heaven, remember all they'd been through, the tumultuous days of the betrayal and the crucifixion and the resurrection and now He's going to return who knows when. What does He say to His disciples, Matthew chapter 28?
Surely I am with you always even until the very end of this age.
These are promises that God makes to Gods people, these are promises that God makes to people, ordinary everyday people like you and me who have said, "you know something God; you're my God. I'm sorry, please forgive me, I've stuffed up so many things in my life, I want to turn away from those, I accept you as my God".
These are promises God made to His people, not to someone who's kind of drifted off, not to someone who's intent on doing their own thing, living the life of Riley, pleasing themselves, thumbing their nose at God. They're not promises for those people, these are promises that God makes to His people, imperfect as they all are, to Israel, to the disciples, to you and me if we believe in Jesus. People with a heart to follow after God, to be about His business, to honour Him.
I, over my life, have lived through quite a lot of turmoil, lots and before Jesus in my life; I lived through that turmoil completely alone. Today, today I still travel through the odd turmoil and tempest, hand in hand though with my God. I know that I am never left alone, ever, because this is an unbreakable promise, it's "God has said He will be with me even until the end of the age".
It seems that every week brings a new challenge in this ministry. Do you know, here at Christianityworks we produce hundreds of programs a year, all written and voiced by yours truly. We have to raise finances to support that, there are generous donors, there are often financial challenges, often resource challenges, often people or organisations who inexplicably want to come against us in what we're doing. And initially I thought, "no, it will be easy", it's not like that. Yet, what I get to do amidst a storm and a tempest is to quietly walk through it in faith.
You know why? I know I don't always get it right, what I do know is that my God is always with me. To correct me when I get it wrong, to soften my heart if it grows hard. To give me strength and courage when I have to stand against something that's wrong. To give me compassion and understanding to deal with those who need my help, to give me wisdom when I just don't know what to do next. To provide when I don't know where it's coming from.
The more we reach out and touch people with the love of Christ, the more the devil wants to stop us, to attack us, to divide us. And every day I get up and say, "Lord, I don't know what today will bring but Lord, bless those people who'll listen to the program today. Bless them, touch them, hold them and thank You for being with me to guide me and hold me and protect me as I get about your work". In fact, I would encourage you to read the first 9 or 10 verses of the 1st chapter of Joshua and to take them and lay them on your heart, where God says:
No-one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I'll be with you. I will never leave you or forsake you.
God is a God who is for His people and with His people and He holds us and protects us and above all, above all He is always there, always someone we can turn to in any and every situation. To pray is to ask; to pray is to thank Him.
I am with you, I will never leave or forsake you.
It's a promise from God, it's a promise that you and I can depend on.

It's great that God is God. But is He willing to step in and help? Is He able to step in and help?  I mean – when it really counts.  Well, let's meet some people who can answer those questions firsthand.
Do you recognise these words?
Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, look up in the sky, it's a bird, it's a plane, it's Superman! Yes, it's Superman, strange visitor from another planet who came to earth with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men. Superman, who can change the course of mighty rivers, bend steel with his bare hands and who, disguised as Clark Kent, mild mannered reporter for the Great Metropolitan newspaper, fights the never ending battle for truth, justice and the American way.
I don't know about you but I grew up watching superman every afternoon after school on our old black and white television. There was something, something awesome about this Superman who was able to do all these super human things, things that I couldn't do. As I look back on it now, it was kind of a comfort, something that I wanted to be part of, in this "superman" thing, this man of steel. He was so strong, so invincible, awesome to a young boy growing up.
Superman, in that series, was played by a man called George Reeves. They recorded 104 episodes in the series between 1952 and 1957. It went from black and white to colour in 1954 but between 1.30am and 2.00am on the 16th of June 1959, Superman, George Reeves was dead. Just 3 months and 1 day after I was born. Little did I know, as a young boy watching these re-runs, that this hero of mine, superman was already dead.
What happened? Well they found George Reeves dead, lying across his bed, naked and face up with his feet on the floor. The position was attributed to Reeves sitting on the edge of the bed when he shot himself after which time his body fell back on the bed and the 9m Lugar pistol fell between his feet on the ground. The front page headline of the New York Post that day read: TV SUPERMAN KILLS HIMSELF.
What's my point? Well, I think that we all want to believe in some power for good that's bigger and stronger than us, some overall power for good that we can absolutely depend upon like, well like superman. But ultimately, most of us come to the conclusion that there's no such thing. Superman was a sham; superman shot himself. There can't ever be such a power. Even God, look at all the dumb and horrible and criminal things that have been done in the name of God over the centuries. People claim this and that about God but well, what does God claim about God? What does the evidence say? Is He just another sham like superman or is there something there?
Over these last couple of weeks on the program we've been doing a series that I've called 'Promises I Can Depend On' and the question is, is God just like superman, when we grow up you discover it was a kids fantasy at best, a sham at worst? Or is there something more?
Even in the days when I was running away from God, which has been most of my life, the one thing that always spoke in my heart about Him was when I managed to get away from the lights and the smog of the city in which I lived and at night I'd wander out and look up at the stars, the milky way, millions of stars – awesome!
Actually they're just a handful of the stars, there's a trillion in the milky way but so far we know of a trillion, trillion. I could never look on that awesome sight without somehow knowing, in my heart, that God was God and He was the most mighty and powerful force for good, beyond anything that I could ever have imagined.
Maybe that's what prompted the apostle Paul to write this to his friends in Rome:
Ever since the creation of the world, Gods eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things that He has made.
But it's one thing to think of a God so great He can create the universe but what about me? Is this God willing and able to help me? We're going to look at the stories of some men today who can tell us first hand. A leper and then some blind men, people who, because of their diseases, were outcast, poor and destitute. First the leper:
A man with leprosy came to Jesus and begged Him on his knees, "If you're willing you can make me clean" and filled with compassion, Jesus reached out His hand and touched the leper, He said, "I am willing, be clean." Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured.
In effect, the leper asked Jesus, "are you willing?" And Jesus replied, "I am, I am willing". He says it, He does it. Now, the blind men:
When Jesus entered the house some blind men came to Him and Jesus said to them, "Do you believe I am able to do this?" And they said to Him, "Yes Lord" and then He touched their eyes and said, "According to your faith, let it be done to you" and their eyes were opened.
To the leper He is willing and as it turns out, able. To the blind men He is able and as it turns out, willing.
I think it's fantastic, wonderful, stupendous that God created the universe, this vastness beyond any imagination, any comprehension and yet a complexity and an intricacy and a beauty that's way beyond our understanding. See, what that tells me, the universe, is that God is able but it's when He reaches out and He touches the leper and the blind men, that's when we discover that He's willing as well as able. That's when the power of God comes to you and to me. That's when we hear Him whisper into our hearts, "I am willing, I am able".
When I look back on my walk, from a kind of a vague distant belief in perhaps this mighty God, who made the universe and moving from that to a deep belief in the God who is willing and able to work His miracles in me, the thing that changed me was reading about how He works, God's word and like the blind men, believing and then seeing those miracles rort in me.
The changes, from this man who only ever wanted to be rich or only ever wanted stuff for himself, to becoming someone who now, all I want is to share Gods love with you. That's like a complete 180 degree turn and it's not because I'm some wonderful guy, it's because of the miracles God has rort in me. The passion that you hear in my voice, that's beating in my heart, that only comes from Him.
Listen to His promises: I am willing, I am able. No matter what confronts us, those promises stand. God is saying to you and to me today, "I am willing, I am able". Not some hollow fantasy, not some superman who shoots himself dead but the God who created the whole universe, a powerful reality, a willing God, an able God. A God who comes to you and me with promises that we can depend on.