Living the Power of God

Dennis Spilchuk, May 2020

Memorial Day, U.S.A.

The morning sun oʹer the parapet seen, Whilst heard on the wall the bugle call; ‘To The Colors’ as ‘Old Glory’ is raised, To half-mast this Memorial Day; In remembrance of America’s fallen military personnel: Known and unknown, buried with full honors. More than just numbers, they sacrificed their lives For American liberty and independence. In battles fought and won, these brave men and women Denied our enemies victory:—on the home front, In foreign lands, upon the oceans, and in the skies above, And will not be forgotten by the American people.

Memorial Stones

About 3400 years ago Joshua, the leader of Israel, established a Memorial Day.

We read about it in:

Joshua 4:1–7 (LSB) Now it happened when all the nation had completed crossing the Jordan, that Yahweh spoke to Joshua, saying, 2 “Take for yourselves twelve men from the people, one man from each tribe, 3 and command them, saying, ‘Carry for yourselves twelve stones from here out of the middle of the Jordan, from the place where the priests’ feet are standing firm, and carry them over with you and lay them down in the lodging place where you will lodge tonight.’” 4 So Joshua called the twelve men whom he had appointed from the sons of Israel, one man from each tribe; 5 and Joshua said to them, “Cross again before the ark of Yahweh your God into the middle of the Jordan, and each of you carry a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Israel, 6 in order that this would be a sign among you, so that when your children ask later, saying, ‘What do these stones mean to you?’ 7 then you shall say to them, ‘Because the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of Yahweh; when it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off.’ So these stones shall become a memorial to the sons of Israel forever.”

Joshua 4:19–24 (LSB) Now the people came up from the Jordan on the tenth of the first month and camped at Gilgal on the eastern edge of Jericho. 20 And those twelve stones which they had taken from the Jordan, Joshua set up at Gilgal. 21 Then he said to the sons of Israel, “When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, ‘What do these stones mean?’ 22 then you shall make your children know, saying, ‘Israel crossed this Jordan on dry land.’ 23 “For Yahweh your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed, just as Yahweh your God had done to the Red Sea, which He dried up before us until we had crossed, 24 that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of Yahweh is strong, so that you may fear Yahweh your God forever.”

Ebenezer

Even today …

The stones from the Jordan River remind us that God has helped us and will help us.

They mean that we have called on God, and you can also.

They mean that our God is the God of the impossible.

They mean that our God never changes.

They mean that God must always be first.

Erecting a memorial was the first act upon entering the new land.

It means we cannot make it without the Lord.

The stones remind us that God used simple, common rocks to teach us a powerful lesson — that God uses the simple, the common, the powerless to accomplish His purposes.

They mean we do not have to be great to be used, or have special abilities to accomplish something for God.

1 Corinthians 1:27–31 (LSB) But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, 28 and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may abolish the things that are, 29 so that no flesh may boast before God. 30 But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, 31 so that, just as it is written, “LET HIM WHO BOASTS, BOAST IN THE LORD.”

These stones also mean we look ahead in anticipation and are not content until we possess all the Lord has for us.

We will no longer wander in the wilderness of sin, dwell among the doubters, and lend our voices to the chronic complainers.

Ebenezer (Lit, Stone of help set up by Samuel in 1 Samuel 7:12) means we are moving on with the assurance of the Lord’s help.

These stones mean we will not live in the past, but we will profit from our experiences.

We will remember them and not forget them.

We will praise God for them, not question them.

We will trust, not doubt; and we will set our hearts to obey.

They mean we are already in the Land of Promise.

We will drive out every opposing force and enjoy the milk and honey of the Spirit-filled life.

Yes, Joshua wanted a memorial set up so that future generations would remember what God did that day:

That He had not only dried up the Red Sea 40 years earlier, but that, in a similar fashion, He also dried up a flooding Jordan River.

God dried up both, the Red Sea AND the Jordan River, so that His people, the nation of Israel, could cross over on dry ground.

So they could cross over an insurmountable obstacle into God’s perfect will.

Joshua wanted Israel, His people, to remember God’s favor on their lives.

May God help us, His people to remember God’s favor on our lives.

We may not have a granite monument.

Or a pile of stones from the bottom of the Jordan River.

But every time we gather we have the “monument, the memorial” of God’s Presence and power of God on our lives through the Holy Spirit.

Every time we read the Word of God, we can sense the Holy Spirit removing the darkness of ignorance and guiding us into all truth.

Every time we pray, we can sense the Holy Spirit coming alongside us in a supernatural way, calming our souls, focusing us away from distractions, focusing us on God, so that we can pray according to the will of God as revealed in Romans 8:26-27.

And, as we pray according to the will of God, we stand on the promise of:

1 John 5:14–15 (LSB) And this is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.

We have the memorial of worship.

We are not here to sing a few songs. We are here to use music to exalt the King of kings and Lord of lords. We believe in Worship as a supernatural activity whereby we enter into the Throne Room of God, into the Holy of holies. — This is ONLY done through the power of the Holy Spirit operating in and through us.

This morning we will remember the memorial of the Lord’s Supper.

We remember the sacrifice of Jesus.

The giving of His Body and Blood for our salvation.

Many of us, through the supernatural intervention of God, have crossed over, or plowed through an insurmountable hindrance or obstacle so that we could walk in the center of God’s will for our lives.

For some that hindrance was a physical ailment or injury.

And yet God healed us in inexplicable ways.

For others it was a financial hindrance.

And yet God made a way where there seemed to be no way.

For still others the obstacle was sin, or a relationship difficulty, or some other lack.

But, like Israel of old, God supernaturally took away, or made a way through, over or around the obstacle.

And for that we give Him praise!

The hand of Yahweh is strong

But Joshua not only wanted Israel to remember God’s favor, he also wanted “all the peoples of the earth” to “know that the hand of Yahweh is strong, so that you may fear Yahweh your God forever.”

Oh, may we be LIVING memorials to God’s power so that the whole earth KNOWS that the hand of Yaweh is strong.

Today is not only the day before the U.S. Holiday, Memorial Day,

a day for remembering the sacrifice of all those who have defended this country by laying down their lives.

But it is also Pentecost Sunday.

A day to remember that God birthed the church with the mighty Hand of His power: the Holy Spirit.

This Pentecost Sunday 2023, God is seeking LIVING memorials of His mighty power.

Those LIVING memorials will have to walk in the power and anointing of the Holy Spirit.

Galatians 3:3 “Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?”

May WE walk every day in the power of the Holy Spirit.

The Power of the Spirit

Because Jesus NEVER intended that our experience in the Holy Spirit be a one-time occurrence.

He said: John 14:16–17 (LSB) “And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate, that He may be with you forever; 17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him. You know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.

As we depend on Him, the Holy Spirit will enable us to live victorious lives.

1 Peter 5:8–9 (NLT) Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. 9 Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith …

The enemy will try to confuse us about who we are — about our identity.

Through Jesus Christ we stand strong in the knowledge of who we are.

I’m part of the fellowship of the unashamed. I have Holy Spirit power. The die has been cast. I have stepped over the line. The decision has been made. I’m a disciple of His. I won’t look back, let up, slow down, back away, or be still.

My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, my future is secure. I’m finished and done with low living, sight walking, small planning, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tamed visions, worldly talking, cheap giving, and dwarfed goals.

I no longer need pre-eminence, prosperity, position, promotions, plaudits, or popularity.

I don’t have to be right, first, tops, recognized, praised, regarded or rewarded. I now live by faith, lean on His presence, walk by patience, am uplifted by prayer and labor by power.

My face is set, my gait is fast, my goal is heaven, my road is narrow, my way rough, my companions few, my Guide reliable, my mission clear.

I cannot be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, turned back, deluded, or delayed.

I will not

flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of the adversary, negotiate at the table of the enemy, ponder at the pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity.

I won’t give up, shut up, let up, until I have stayed up, stored up, prayed up, paid up, preached up for the cause of Christ.

I am a disciple of Jesus. I must go until He comes, give until I drop, preach until all know, and work until He stops me – and when He comes for His own, He will have no problem recognizing me – my banner will be clear!!

The Lord’s Supper

We know who we are through a life lived EVERY DAY IN the power of the Holy Spirit.

A life paid for by the Body and Blood of Jesus.

Like Joshua had boulders pulled out of a river, let us offer our lives as living memorials to God.

Romans 12:1 (LSB) Therefore I exhort you, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a sacrifice [a memorial] —living, holy, and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.

Let us do so as we obey what Jesus said to do in remembering HIS death.

Before we can offer our sacrifice of remembrance, we must prepare ourselves:

1 Corinthians 11:27–31 NLT So anyone who eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord unworthily is guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. 28 That is why you should examine yourself before eating the bread and drinking the cup. 29 For if you eat the bread or drink the cup without honoring the body of Christ, you are eating and drinking God’s judgment upon yourself. 30 That is why many of you are weak and sick and some have even died. 31 But if we would examine ourselves, we would not be judged by God in this way.

Prayer

Receive Elements

All invited - you don’t have to be a member

Come, take a piece of the Bread and one of the cups and hold it until we all partake together.

Let’s gather at the front and partake together as the family of God.

Hymn: Amazing Grace (My chains are gone)

Bread

Isaiah 53:3–5 NASB 2020 He was despised and abandoned by men, A man of great pain and familiar with sickness; And like one from whom people hide their faces, He was despised, and we had no regard for Him. 4However, it was our sicknesses that He Himself bore, And our pains that He carried; Yet we ourselves assumed that He had been afflicted, Struck down by God, and humiliated. 5 But He was pierced for our offenses, He was crushed for our wrongdoings; The punishment for our well-being was laid upon Him, And by His wounds we are healed.

He took OUR sins in His body.

Matthew 26:26 NASB 2020 Now while they were eating, Jesus took some bread, and after a blessing, He broke it and gave itto the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.”

Prayer

End prayer with prayer from Seder: Blessed are you, O Lord our God, who brings forth bread from the earth.

Cup

Isaiah 53:10–12 NCV But it was the Lord who decided to crush him and make him suffer. The Lord made his life a penalty offering, but he will still see his descendants and live a long life. He will complete the things the Lord wants him to do. 11 “After his soul suffers many things, he will see life and be satisfied. My good servant will make many people right with God; he will carry away their sins. 12 For this reason I will make him a great man among people, and he will share in all things with those who are strong. He willingly gave his life and was treated like a criminal. But he carried away the sins of many people and asked forgiveness for those who sinned.”

He shed His blood to wash away our sins and give forgiveness that leads to life.

Matthew 26:27–28 NASB 2020 And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you; 28 for this is My blood of the covenant, which is being poured out for many for forgiveness of sins.

Prayer

End prayer with prayer from Seder: Blessed are you, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who creates the fruit of the vine.

Lord, we give you thanks!

Jesus is Coming

This meal also reminds us that Jesus is coming soon. Jesus told us in:

Revelation 22:12 NASB 2020 “Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to reward each one as his work deserves.

Hymn: He’s Coming Soon