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I want to begin today by reminding you that the God that we serve is a powerful God! We could take time to go through scripture after scripture that declares that Jesus Christ has all power and that fact was the last thing that Jesus reminded His disciples of before He ascended into heaven:

Jesus wanted to remind them that ALL power is given unto Him! We need to be reminded that Jesus not only is powerful, but has ALL power! That means that He has the power to heal sicknesses! He has the power to move any obstacle that would keep you from getting closer to Him! He has the power to keep you even through the greatest storms and trials that you may face. He has the power to change any part of your life that you are willing to surrender to Him! He has the power to forgive even the vilest sinner! If He had the power to take ordinary fishermen and turn them into Apostolic dynamite, then He can use anyone today mightily! Those disciples turned their world upside down with the mighty acts and miracles that they did because they did it "in His name." In other words, they were not relying on their own power but on the heavenly power of Jesus Christ! And because they were relying on His power, there was not a circumstance that they could not face with faith! There was not a storm that could best them! Even when it came time to face death, they did not waver because they knew that Jesus Christ has the power of death and the grave! Even though they may sleep for a time, they knew that eventually they will be caught up by the One who has all power! Somebody needs to remember today that Jesus Christ has ALL power! It doesn't matter the circumstance, or the need, it is not too large for Him to work it out! We worship and serve the ALL POWERFUL God!

In our text we read a statement that Paul wrote to the Corinthian church. He said that the Kingdom of God is not in word but in power! I like the Today's Living Bible's version of this verse:

In other words, the true kingdom of God is more than just talking about what God can do, but is seeing it enacted in your life! We are not truly living in the Kingdom of God unless we are seeing God's power work in our life and through us! There are many Christians who know the scriptures and can quote you verse after verse, but do they experience the same things in their life!? There are many Bible scholars that can dissect verse by verse the book of Acts, but what I'm interested in, and what God is interested in, is have they experienced the same power of the Book of Acts in their own life! It's one thing to talk about and discuss the Day of Pentecost but it's another to EXPERIENCE the Day of Pentecost for yourself! It's one thing to know that God did it for them back then, and quite another to see God do the same thing in YOUR life!

Jesus did not come and establish a church so that we could talk about what God used to do! Our purpose for congregating here is not to study tradition and history and stories of the Bible and talk about how powerful God USED to be! If we do that and do not experience the same power of God working in our life before we leave, then we have just talked! But the Kingdom of God is not just talking, it is living by God's power! I'm here today to tell you that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8)! God has not changed! The same God that worked back then is still wanting to work today!

You may not have been cast in a den of Lion's last week, but what about a den of co-workers who desire to destroy you? What is the difference? You may not be literally facing a 9 foot tall Goliath today when you get home, but what about that problem that has grown and grown and keeps intimidating your walk and relationship with God?! What's the difference? You may not have a literal Red Sea in front of you with a million Egyptians behind you today, but what about that seemingly impassable barrier that you can't seem to get past to grow in the Spirit and your past which haunts you and causes you to lose faith? What's the difference? There is no difference, and I'm here to tell you that the same God that delivered Daniel can deliver you today! The same God that drown the Egyptians can drown your past in the waters of baptism today! The same God that reached a hand down and guided a small stone toward the head of Goliath can take your prayer and shatter the mountain in your life! He is all powerful, but He wants you to see His power in your life! And that's why you have troubles and problems! God wants to convince you that He can work in your life! Our relationship with God better be more than talk! God wants your life to be a demonstration of His great power! It is the will of God for you to experience the hand of God's power in your life! God wants it to be more than words on a page, and more than just an old story! Thank God for yesterday and what He once did, but I'm here today to see the power of God work again in and through my life for that's what the kingdom of God is all about!

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When we talk about spiritual power being revealed through a human being, we have to talk about Samson. Samson was called to be a judge in Israel before the time of kings and he is famous for a supernatural strength that would come upon him when the Spirit of the Lord moved! I do not believe that Samson looked like Charles Atlas. I do not believe that he went to Gold's Gym and worked out every day and took steroids and ate nothing but pasta noodles and egg yolks to get his strength. I do not believe that he had to order his robes extra large so that he wouldn't bust out of his sleeves, Incredible Hulk style when he beat somebody up. I believe that Samson was an ordinary looking man who was called and used by an extraordinary God! There was nothing special about Samson's size ever mentioned in scripture. His parents were just ordinary every day "Josephs!" (You can't say "Joe" because they were Israelites).

We've got to get it out of our heads that we have to come from a long line of Apostolic preachers in order to be used mightily of God. We've got to change our way of thinking that somehow we work our way up in the Spirit and through exercise and working out spiritually we bulk up enough to have great spiritual victories! God wants Christians who live in His power but He wants to use ordinary, average people who will trust in an extraordinary God! Remember it's not our strength but HIS! He is the One who has ALL power!

When the Lord laid this story and thought upon my heart, He did so by asking me a question. God will often give me direction for a sermon or study just by bringing to mind a scripture, or a phrase, or a subject. Every once in a while, God will "lay it all out for me" and give me the sermon thought by thought, but usually it's just a hint of a direction or a phrase. You see, my sermons that I preach do not come out of a book of sermons that I buy at the store, but through seeking God's face and asking what is His will for His people! It's got to be more than just words, for the kingdom of God is living in His power! This week, God gave me direction while I was praying for this service by asking me a question. The question that He asked was "What was the source of Samson's power?" And I immediately responded like some of you who are familiar with the story would respond: "Lord, that's easy, it was his vow and His hair!" And I felt like God told me "the vow and the hair were a sign and symbol of what the true source was." As usual upon further study I found out that God was right, now stay with me for a moment as I reveal to you what God showed me this week ...

Before Samson was born, an angel appeared unto his mother and father and told them that Samson was to be a Nazarite for life. What that meant was that for the rest of his life, he would not eat grapes, raisins, or any fruit of the vine, nor drink wine, grape juice or even touch such things. Also he could not touch any dead thing or body not even the bodies of loved ones that passed away, and as a sign to everyone else that he had taken this vow, he was to never cut his hair! That way anyone in Israel who looked at him would know not to offer him grape juice and to help him avoid dead bodies and animals. In the Old Testament, anyone could decide to take the Nazarite vow for a certain period of time. You could, for example, take the vow for two months as a time of growing closer to God. Or you could decide to do it for a year or two. If you decided in the course of your life to take such a vow, then at the end of the vow, you were to shave your hair completely off and offer it as a burnt sacrifice unto God. As a result, God would bless you and it was a way that you could grow closer to Him.

There were special cases, however, when a person was called to be a Nazarite before their birth. When this happened, usually the parents would make the vow for them or an angel would visit the parents and tell them that their son had been chosen to take the vow. When this happened, the person was to be a Nazarite for life! And in return, God would bless them with a great supernatural power! There are four examples of this kind of vow in scripture: the prophet Samuel, Samson, the family of the Rechabites, and John the Baptist. An angel visited the parents of Samuel, Samson and John the Baptist, and the father of the family of the Rechabites, Jonadab, decreed that his family would all take the vow. The supernatural power granted to Samuel as a result of the vow was that God spoke openly and directly to him in a time when that was highly uncommon. Samson's power was, of course, great physical strength at certain times. The Rechabites power was that they as Gentiles, were able to withstand idolatry and worship only the one, true, Living God when even the children of Israel could not be faithful. The power of John the Baptist was that his preaching was greatly anointed so much that it got the attention of every spiritual leader of his day, and, because he effectively got the multitudes ready for the ministry of Christ, Jesus called John the Baptist the "greatest prophet that ever lived."

Knowing this, I have always assumed that the vow of the Nazarite was what automatically brought the supernatural power. But it was not the vow itself. Even though Samson's parents agreed to the angel's commands, it was STILL UP TO SAMSON TO DECIDE WHETHER OR NOT HE WOULD COMMIT TO THE WORD OF THE LORD! The vow had been made before his birth, but Samson still had a choice! As he grew up and reached an age of accountability, he had to decide whether or not he was going to make that commitment! If Samson would not have committed himself to the commandment of the Lord, then it would not have mattered that God had originally ordained to his parents that he take up the Nazarite vow. If Samson would not have submitted himself to God's Will, then no supernatural power would have ever come! IT WAS THE COMMITMENT TO GOD'S WILL THAT BROUGHT THE POWER! The vow was the first step, and then his birth was the next. But after that, it was his commitment that was the source of power. As long as Samson remained committed to God's plan, God's power was revealed through his life!

God wants you to have supernatural power! He ordained long before you were ever born again! When man comes to God, he comes after God has already formed a will for his life! God told Jeremiah that "before you were formed in your mother's belly, I knew you and had a plan for you!" Can I tell you that before a person is even born of the water and the Spirit, before they are even born again, God already has a plan for them! Before you ever even heard about Jesus' name baptism and receiving the Holy Ghost, God had a plan for your life! It has always been God's will for you to have His POWER revealed in your life! There have been vows and words and promises spoken over you before you ever came to God! The scriptures teach us that the angels in heaven rejoice when one sinner comes to repentance. Why are angels so interested in man's salvation and the New Birth process? Because they have already heard the plan of God decreed over you before you even knew God loved you! And when they see you bowing a knee in Repentance, they realize that you are beginning a birth process in the Spirit that will enable you to have a chance of fulfilling those plans! The scriptures plainly state that God is no respector of persons! If that is so, then you are ordained just as Samson to have the power of God working in your life in a mighty way!

But just as Samson's decision to commit completely to the plan of God was the key to his realizing the power of God in his life, so is it the key to seeing the power of God manifest in your life! It is not the birth experience that brings the power of God by itself, but a person's complete commitment to the plan of God and will of God for their life. Your source of power is in being willing to commit to being different than everybody else. You've got to be willing to commit yourself to God even if the world doesn't understand. It's the commitment to be a separated people from the world and live according to God's Word that brings the power of God into your life! Hear the Word of God today: commitment is the true source of Godly power!

This principle is why Jesus told the 500 believers that were gathered on the mountain top to watch Him ascend into heaven that they must go and tarry in Jerusalem until they received "power from on high." In Acts chapter 1 we find that He told them:

Why would the power of come AFTER the Holy Ghost came? Wouldn't they automatically receive it when they received the baptism of the Holy Ghost? No, for after they received the Holy Ghost, they were to be witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the rest of the earth. They had a command to obey. Notice how that the command expands and gets larger. After they receive the Holy Ghost they were to witness to the people the closest to them and gradually move out. If they had received the Holy Ghost, and not began to witness, they would not have received the power! It was the commitment to obey the will of God for their lives that brought the power! Once again we see it was not the birth process in itself but the commitment of the Christians after being born again that brought Godly power!

You must be born again of the water and the Spirit, for Jesus said that noone can see "the kingdom of God" unless they do so! Being born of the water and the Spirit is the entrance process into the kingdom of God. There were 500 that received the commandment that day but only 120 made the trek to the upper room where the Holy Ghost was poured out! You've got to be born again or you see no chance of tapping into the true power that God wants to give you. But there is something we must do after we are born again. There must be a second commitment! The kingdom of God is not just talk, but "living in the Spirit!" If you will not commit yourself to doing the will of God after you receive the Holy Ghost, you will also never receive the power that God has ordained for you! You will never really become a part of "the kingdom of God!" I don't just want to see it, but I want to enter into the power of the kingdom of God! But I do so by a total commitment to God and His Word!

Your first step of action should be what the disciple were commanded to do, start with your immediate family and teach them and witness to them. They are your "Jerusalem" to witness within! Then you must begin to tell the remainder of your family, they are your Judea! Then you must go to your Samaria, those people that you have things in common with and that you already know, and witness to them about being born again. Then you go to strangers that you have never met, and witness to them of the blessings and power of God! But the power to do these things comes from a total commitment to God that you will live for Him and do His will completely! The power to see my loved ones saved comes from my commitment to do everything that God would desire for me to do!

In other words, the key to understanding the Word of God and having peace of mind is to commit yourself to the Lord!

The key to seeing your prayers answered is to commit your "way unto the Lord!" Too many people struggle with a lack of faith because they do not see the active hand of the Lord's power in their life and so they do not believe that God can work in their situation! If you feel that way, you are not totally committed to God in "your way." You have not completely sold out to Him! Because your commitment to God is the source of His power! Some people say "well, when I see the blessings of God in my life, then I will believe." But that's not faith because faith is the "substance of ... things NOT seen." Noah didn't wait until the rain started until he began to build an ark! If he had, he would not have been saved! But Hebrews chapter 11 says that "by faith Noah prepared an ark!" You cannot wait until God proves Himself to you or meets your criteria to commit completely to God because that's the wrong order! It was not until after Samson had committed his life to God's will that the Spirit of the Lord moved upon him with great strength the first time! The key to the power was his commitment! In order to see God's power, you've got to be willing to commit everything to Him, IN ADVANCE! That's the only way that you will see supernatural power in your life!

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I wish I had time to go through every story in the Bible and prove to you that power with God comes only through total commitment! In Genesis chapter 32 we find that Jacob, the deceiver; Jacob, the liar; Jacob, the sinner suddenly found himself in the struggle of his life. An angel of God jumped out of the darkness and began to wrestle with Jacob. But somewhere in the fight, Jacob got a determination to get something from God! God initiated the fight, but somewhere during the scuffle, it turned from God trying to get Jacob in his will, to Jacob keeping the angel from leaving. Something snapped in Jacob during the fight and suddenly, for the first time, he got a dogged determination to be blessed of God no matter what happened. They wrestled all night long and finally at day break, the angel realized that Jacob was not going to quit. Listen to what he said:

God said that from that time own, Jacob would have power with God because for the first time in his life, he was totally committed to receiving what God had for him by God's way! It was the commitment that brought the power! How hungry are you for God to move in your life? How much do you want to see your situation reversed? How bad do you need a miracle? Enough to give God everything? Enough to say, "I'm not leaving this place until I am forever changed?" Enough to commit everything to God? The commitment is the source of the power for your situation!

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I close with this final story. In the first few chapters of I Samuel we find that the priest, Eli, has allowed his two sons to commit all sort of evils and abominations in the temple. Their names were Hophni and Phineas and they were stealing the Lord's portions of the sacrifices. They were coming into the temple drunk. They were committing fornication at the doorstep of the temple. Daddy Eli had refused to discipline them and had chose to ignore their sin and lack of spiritual reverence, and as such it had been a long time since God had spoken to Eli. The people of Israel were in a time where they needed spiritual guidance because many of them were worshipping idols and committing horrible sins. Even the sincere Jews hated coming to God's house because of the horrible sins that were in the church house. Let me say that it is one thing for the world to live unrighteous and wicked but it is quite another for rampant, willful sin to be found in the church house among God's chosen people! None of us are perfect and all of us are growing to become more like Jesus Christ, but when it comes to matters of open rebellion to the commandments of God, we are walking a fine line when we bring that into the house of God repeatedly!

The fateful day came when the children of Israel went out to fight the Philistines and were sorely defeated in the first battle. The lack of the power of God in their life had not been a matter of concern to the Israelites until they began to find themselves in a day of great struggle. How many people today are not really concerned with whether or not God's power is working in their lives, but when something goes wrong and they are on the verge of losing their marriage, or kids, or lives, suddenly they are looking for the power of God!?

As they were staring defeat in the face, we find that in I Samuel chapter 4 these godless, non committed, idol worshipping people suddenly decided to go to the house of God and get the Ark of the Covenant which is where God's presence was supposed to dwell. Somebody said, "I know that Hophni and Phineas will help us get the ark of the Covenant out here and if we can get the power of God here, then we will have victory!" They went and found Eli's two evil sons, and the two men went into the Holiest of Holies behind the veil and grabbed the ark and brought it out to the battle field.

That may not be remarkable to you, but you should know that God had decreed to Moses that only one man, the High Priest, could go behind the veil into the presence of God and that only once a year on the Day of Atonement. Before he could enter into behind the veil, a blood sacrifice had to be slain and the blood had to be carefully applied at certain parts of the temple. Furthermore, the priests had to carry a censer full of burning incense when he entered behind the veil. If any of these criteria were not met, then God would strike the man down immediately. Even if the man did all of these things but had not repented of his own sins and entered into the Holy place with unrepented sin, then God would strike him down!

And yet we find the evil, drunkards and fornicators, Hophni and Phineas, both walking behind the veil without a sacrifice, without incense, without even being the high priest and carrying the ark of the covenant out onto the battlefield and God did NOT immediately strike them down! Why not? Because the GLORY AND POWER OF GOD HAD ALREADY DEPARTED!!!! They had not even realized it, but probably years ago, God's power had left their lives and they did not even notice! In fact, they were so spiritually unaware, that nobody even realized on the battlefield that if the ark got this far, God's power is nowhere here!

They attacked the Philistines with great enthusiasm! They gave a shout and charged! Before it was over, 30,000 Israelites were dead. Hophni and Phineas were dead and the Philistines had stolen the ark of the covenant! When a messenger brought back the news of the battle to Eli, he winced but did not respond. When the messenger told him the news of his son's death, he grieved but did not move.

It was when the news of the capture of the Ark of the Covenant came that Eli fell off of his chair and died! You see, Eli realized what the others did not: if the Philistines could capture the Ark of the Covenant, then God's glory had already departed! The power was already gone and they had not realized it!

We find that God struck all of the Philistine cities with hemorrhoids so they eventually returned the Ark of the Covenant! David was going to try to bring the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem. He organized the proper coverings for it and had the new priests cleansed and then offer a blood sacrifice. He ordered the procession according to God's Word. One man decided to touch the ark of the covenant, and God immediately struck him dead! What was the difference? Why would God strike this one man who was joining in the celebration and worship down when He would allow Hophni and Phineas to carry it onto the battlefield? Because God had responded to King David and the people's commitment to Him and the glory and power of God had now returned to the Ark of the Covenant! When the people made a commitment to completely serve God and surrender everything, God's power actively returned!

I do not want to find myself in the position of Hophni and Phineas and not even realize that the power of God has left my life! I do not want to be like Samson who played with the enemy until he "shook himself as before and did not know that God's Spirit had even left him!" I do not want our church to be like the children of Israel that day and only care about the power of God when they are in great need. The scriptures say that they shouted and were encouraged and did not even realize that God's power and presence had already departed! I do not ever, ever, ever want the power of God to depart from my life! I want my relationship with God to be more than just talk about what could do or used to do, but I want to see the hand of God moving actively in my life!

But the secret to having the power of God move in my life and my situations is commitment! There ought to be a cry in every one of us today that arises "God I want to be more committed to your Word and your will for my life than I ever have before!" Whatever you need today from God, you can have it, but it takes being more committed than you ever have before. You do not earn the power of God you commit yourself into it! Now is the time to completely sell out to God's will for that is the true source of power in our life!