God is Awesome in Power

Well, I have to tell you, I saw something on the internet the other day that really kind of took me back to when I was about four or five years old. When I grew up, all we knew was black and white TV. Does anybody remember this, when there was only black and white TV? I mean, for some of you guys, it's hard to imagine, but the world was black and white as far as we knew, okay? Then, when I was a very little kid, I'll never forget this. One Sunday night, we were invited over to a friend's house, and they had a brand new TV, and they turned it on. I was totally unprepared for what happened next because I sat there and saw this. The following program is brought to you in living color on NBC. I thought, "What is this black magic?" Then it got better because this was next. Walt Disney presents The Wonderful World of Color. My world changed. Does anybody remember that intro to The Wonderful World of Color? It was unbelievable. My eyes popped out of my skull when I was about five years old and I saw this. I didn't know TV could be in color. I think I might have spoken in tongues. I mean, I was just ecstatic.

Well, something like that only on a spiritual level happens when you start seeing God all around you in power, at work, revealing himself. You go from kind of a spiritual black and white experience to seeing the world in living color as you begin to meditate on the fact that God is awesome in power. I want you to grab your message notes. I am so looking forward to exploring this topic with you today, and this is going to help you follow along. If you're just joining us here at Twin Lakes Church today for the first time, you chose a great time to come because we have just launched a series called God Is. We're just focusing on God, the attributes of God. It ties into a 50-day book, a devotional book that we put together here at the church. It's available at the table in the lobby, and I hope you have a chance to grab it.

Some of you remember that last weekend we talked about a certain character in the Bible. Do you remember? We talked about Isaiah. Yeah, and we were in Isaiah 6. Quick review for you. 700 years before Christ, Isaiah lives in the kingdom of Judah where their wonderful faith, their religion has become just lip service to God. Religion bored the people. It was dry as dust. Some were apparently even turning to worship idols in an attempt to find something that was spiritual in their lives, some way to find God. And then Isaiah sees that great vision of God that we saw in Isaiah 6 last weekend, and for the rest of his life, Isaiah cannot stop talking about the greatness and the wonder and the majesty of God.

Really, the way to understand the whole rest of the book of Isaiah is this. Isaiah has had this amazing living color revelation, and he looks around and sees these people with their gray scale, black and white, puny, powerless ideas of God. And so for dozens of chapters in the book of Isaiah, he paints vibrant color pictures of how great God is. And I want to show you a couple of key verses to understanding Isaiah and his book in the Bible, Isaiah 29, starting in verse 13. The Lord says, "These people come near to me with their mouth, and they honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based merely on human rules that they've been taught. Therefore, once more, I will astound these people with wonder upon wonder." And that's really the template for the book of Isaiah, because in chapter after chapter, Isaiah talks about wonder upon wonder, trying to get the people's black and white boring faith to pop into color.

And Isaiah's main theme is this. God is omnipotent, omni meaning all and potent meaning power. God is omnipotent. That means God is all powerful, almighty, awesome in power. Now, there's a problem with trying to put this concept across, and it's this. How can I truly understand God's power? Because by definition, God's power is beyond knowing, right? Now, put yourself in Isaiah's sandals for just a second. He has had that stunning vision in the temple that just knocked him out of his socks. I guess he was wearing socks with sandals, but it knocked him out of his socks, and he's so amazed, and he's trying to express to people what he has experienced. So here's his strategy.

Throughout this book, Isaiah talks about other great things on earth and in the skies above us, which we know a little bit about, which are themselves mind-blowing. And then he says, "And God is more powerful than even that." For example, in Isaiah 40, Isaiah, this is where I kind of want to concentrate on this morning. Isaiah kind of goes on a preacher's riff about God's majesty and power. Jot these down in your notes. First thing Isaiah says is, "God is bigger." Isaiah says, "Go ahead and think of anything big, anything big, because this phrase is always true. God is bigger." He says, for instance, verse 12, "Who else has held the oceans in his hand? Who else has measured off the heavens with his fingers?"

Now, I really want you to think these phrases through so that all of us have a living color experience. And so I'm going to need a few volunteers throughout my message today. So show of hands, do we have anybody who's willing to be a volunteer? I'm looking for youngsters, particularly. Katie Bond, why don't you come on up here. And let's welcome Katie to the stage. Good to see you, Katie. How are you doing today? I'm good. How are you? I'm doing fine. Thank you. Katie, how old are you? I'm 13. 13 years old. Wow, that's fantastic. Now, what I want you to do is this. Take this water in one hand, and I'm going to ask you to put this other hand out like this. And here's what I'm going to ask you to do. Don't do this yet, because I want you to learn lessons from those who have failed in the previous services. Okay? I'm going to ask you to pour just enough water for you to successfully keep cupped in the palm of your hand. And let me just tell you, it's less than you think.

In the other two services, we've had people stand over here and pour things into their hands, and then all the water just gushed out between their fingers. Okay? So I don't want you to fail like them, Katie. So instead, just, I mean, literally just put a drop of water in there, because basically that's all that you can successfully cup in your hand. So go ahead and pour just a little bit, no, just kidding, just a little bit of water in there, just enough for you to keep in the palm of your hand. We don't have all day, Katie. Good. Good. All right. You got it, right? You think that's enough? Yeah. You think you're going to be able to successfully keep that in the palm of your hand? Yes. Okay. Well, we'll see, because I'm going to give you about three minutes to stand right there and keep that water in the palm of your hand.

As we think about this phrase, who else has held the oceans in his hand? In last week's small group video, I talked about the size of just the Pacific Ocean. I talked about how you could scrape off all the land and all the buildings in all the continents, in all the earth, and dump it into the Pacific, and you know what you'd see peeking above the surface of the water? Nothing. The Pacific is that wide and that deep, and that's just one ocean. The oceans are vast beyond our comprehension, yet to God, they are the amount of water that Katie is now successfully holding in the palm of our hand. Katie, you have succeeded where others have failed. Let's give her a big hand. And Katie, you know what? You can actually keep that water and drink it right now. So congratulations, Katie. Thank you so much.

And then Isaiah goes even bigger than this. He says, "Who has measured off the heavens with his fingers?" Now, to get an idea of how big this is, everybody hold up your fingers like this, and I put a couple of your fingers together, and now snap your fingers. Now snap them again. I go, "Da da da da." No, just kidding. Okay, get this. In the time it took you to snap your fingers, if you were traveling at the speed of light, you could have circled the globe seven times. Now snap them again. That's another seven. Snap them again. That's another seven. Do it again. That's another seven. That's how fast the speed of light is, 186,000 miles a second. Now, keep that in mind, kind of on the back burner, as I ask another volunteer to come up here. Can I see another show of hands of volunteers who are willing to come? I see a brother and sister. I'm going to take the sister right now. Why don't you come on up? Let's welcome our next volunteer here. Why don't you come on up and stand right here. And what's your name? Kayla.

Now Kayla, how old are you? Eight. You're eight years old. That's good. Now I want you to hold this, just like this, between your thumb and your forefinger, and turn around here so everybody can see it. Hold it up high. And what is it that I've given you to hold? A marble. Yeah, that's a marble. And would you say that's a small marble or a big marble? A small marble. That's a pretty small marble, right? Is it hard to hold it like that? No. No, not really. Okay. Keep holding it like that, and you can turn around like this and look at the screen, because I'm going to show you something, and I'm going to show the whole church something that I think you'll be amazed at. It's a display that I found on the website of the American Museum of Natural History. They made a video that's an accurate representation of the measure of the heavens. This is kept up to date by research astrophysicists. Every planet, star, and galaxy we know of is represented to scale, and the video starts with the biggest land feature on Earth, the Himalayas.

These are mountains that are so big that to stand on top of them is by all accounts a spiritual experience. You get a sensation of how little you are compared to the grandeur of these mountains, but then the video zooms out to show how in comparison to the massive continent of Asia, those mountains seem like little more than wrinkles on a piece of paper. And Asia, the biggest land mass on Earth, seems absolutely gigantic until you start to see the oceans surrounding it. And you realize that in comparison to the oceans, the land mass of Asia is small, but keep zooming out. You see the whole Earth there? Well, then look at all of the artificial satellites that are orbiting the Earth all the time, day and night. These are satellites that are so high in the sky you can't see them or even imagine how high they are. Yet compared to the vastness of space, the flight paths of those satellites seem to barely skim past the surface of the Earth's atmosphere, and the sense of overwhelming scale continues.

Now, let's increase your speed to light speed. Everybody snap your fingers. Here we go. If you were traveling at light speed, 186,000 miles a second, after one second of travel, a finger snap, you'd start to see the orbital path of the moon from a distance. Keep zooming out. If you travel at light speed for one whole hour, how far do you think you'd get? You'd barely get out past Jupiter. You'd be able to see the orbits of Mars and Venus and Earth, but keep going. Traveling at light speed, it would take you one whole day to be able to look back and see our solar system and our whole massive Earth would now be barely a speck. And you start to see how the sun itself is so massive that it could contain 1.3 million Earths, looks in comparison to the other stars, just tiny.

Then in one year, traveling at light speed, the massive sun would look just like another bright star among many other little lights. And if you kept zooming out further and further, if you did nothing but spend your entire life in a spaceship traveling at light speed, in 70 years, you'd reach the end of the extent of the first radio signals from Earth. And if you could become immortal and keep traveling in that light speed spaceship for 100,000 years, you'd reach the end of the Milky Way, the massive galaxy that our solar system's in. And at the end of 1 million light years, you'd see that that massive galaxy is just one of many galaxies. And in 100 million years, traveling at light speed, you'd get to the end of the galaxies we have mapped so far, but there's more out there. The black areas are the parts of the universe we have yet to map.

And if you kept on going, you would get to what scientists call the end of our cosmic horizon in space, which includes light so mysterious that scientists don't even really know where it comes from. They call it light from the Big Bang, but they're not really sure what it is. That is how massive the heavens are 13 billion light years across. Now I want you to look at this picture and I want you to tell me, what does that kind of look like here on space? A marble to me. It looks like a marble to you, that's right. Hold up your marble again. And Isaiah's saying, 13 billion light years to God, it's a little marble. Doesn't that kind of make your spine tingle a little bit? Let's thank our volunteer. Good job. And you know what? You can keep that marble. Let that remind you of how big God is. Thank you. You did a great job. This verse says God is even bigger than that.

Now of course, does God really have hands or fingers? No, God is a spirit. But Isaiah's saying as big as you can think, God is bigger. You say, so what? Well, I want you to think right now of some anxiety you face. Think of some fear the baby keeps you up at night. Some world problem or personal problem that you see as impossible. Guess what? God's bigger. No matter what you can possibly imagine, that sentence is always true. God is bigger than we've just gotten started. Then Isaiah says God is stronger. Think of the most incredible feat of strength you've ever seen. God is stronger. Rest of verse 12. Who else knows the weight of the earth or has weighed the mountains and hills on a scale? And then to verse 15, he picks up the whole earth as though it were a grain of sand.

All right, I need another volunteer. And I want your brother to come up because he's been holding up his hand for a while. Come on up. Let's welcome our next volunteer here to the stage. It's great to have you. Now to demonstrate this, I'm going to put something in your hand. Hold out your hand flat and I'm going to put something in it right here. Now what did I just put in your hand? Like little grains of rock. Yeah, little grains of rock, commonly known as, I know it's early, but here in California we call little grains of rock sand. And that's what I put in your hand. Now, I know I don't mean to stump you here, but hold out your hand like that. Now I want to ask you something. Those are little grains of rock, but is it taking any strength to hold those things up? No. Do they even weigh anything to you? No. Not really. By the way, what is your name? Josh. Josh, you thought I was going to ask you that. That's why I kind of threw you probably. And Josh, how old are you? Four. Good. Again, I don't mean to stump you here this morning, but I, so hold those up and I just want you to look behind you because this talks about the weight of the earth.

What is the weight of the earth? Well, technically, as you know, Josh, in space, the weight of the earth is exactly zero because anything is weightless in space. But if you wanted to know how much everything on earth weighs on earth, the mountains and the hills and everything, a scientist with a lot of time on his hands has come up with the answer on the internet. It's this many kilograms, six septillion kilograms, that's a six with 24 zeros after it. But some of you are saying this morning, "Renee, I'm an American and this is metric. It is incomprehensible to me." Because it's metric. How many pounds is this? Well, maybe this number will be more understandable to you. Over 13 octillion, 227 septillion, 735 sextillion, 730 quintillion, 800 quadrillion pounds. There it is. Does that make more sense to you? Of course, I look at this and I'm thinking, "I've lost 30 pounds in the last couple of years, so this is off just a little bit." But generally speaking, there's the answer. Isaiah says, "To God, grain of sand." Hold this out so everybody can see it. To God, that's it. Grain of sand that doesn't even weigh anything to Him.

I want to tell you two things. First of all, I literally just thought of this illustration before the sermon, so you know where I got that sand? From the ashtrays out in front of the church. The second thing I want to tell you is you can keep that sand just like your sister kept the marble. Congratulations. Let that always remind you of God. Let's thank our volunteer. God is bigger. God is stronger. God is greater. Now Isaiah begins to talk about majesty, right? Like the majesty of a king. God's greater than that. You ever met somebody great? You ever had a brush with greatness? In the book, I talk about how I met the president of Switzerland. Then from there, it drops off pretty sharply for me. I also met John Tesh, president of a country, John Tesh. So those are my two brushes with greatness. What about you?

I want you to turn to a neighbor and share the closest you've ever been to a great celebrity or political figure or somebody that you thought was really great. Turn to your friend and say, "Here's my brush with greatness." Go ahead and share about that right now. All right, bring it on back. Bring it on back. I overheard a little bit of the snatches of conversation here and so far the winner is Valerie Webb. She was just telling Katie that she stood in New York. She stood on the sidewalk next to Paul McCartney. Now that's a pretty big brush with greatness. Anybody think they can beat that? Any brush with greatness that can beat that? Anybody? What was yours? Bob Hope. That's pretty good. Steve Young. That's pretty good. He played catch with Joe Montana. You win, my friend. That's very good. Come up here. I got some sand for you. That's your prize.

Well, Isaiah says, "Take all those great people, all the kings and all the nations they represent, and they are but a drop in the bucket." Rest of verse 15. "They are nothing more than dust on the scales." Now, the ancient nations of the world of Isaiah's day had some amazing greatness. Think of Egypt. Think of Greece. But he says all the nations. So in your mind's eye, add together all the power and all the splendor in all the societies, in all the countries, in all the kingdoms, military might, governmental power, business power, all put together, Isaiah says, "God is greater." Drop in the bucket compared to God's powerful glory.

Now, you're starting to get a sense of scale of God's power here, and it keeps getting more mind-blowing because next Isaiah says, "God is never tiring." And this is something that's so alien to us because there's nothing on earth like this. Verse 28, Isaiah says, "Have you never heard? Have you never understood? The Lord is the everlasting God, the creator of all the earth. He never grows weak or weary. God never feels drained." Not for one second. We're going to talk about this in the small group video this week, but he can display unlimited power and never use up his power. He could create a universe and go, "Okay, what's next?"

So check this out. Look at these first few points here. That means God's pretty powerful. Great so far. Only thing is, he could be all these things and be mean, right? This still doesn't get us to a biblical view of God. You might be going, "Renee, I don't know how this is supposed to encourage me because I'm pretty sure that God thinks I'm disgusting and a God this powerful, all I'm thinking is I'm afraid of him now." On Wednesday, I saw this commercial about a guy who might feel a little bit like God is picking on him and it's based on a true story. Watch this. Meet Roy Suttin, park ranger. That means life devoted to nature. Bet he didn't see that one coming. That's two. Strike three. Easy there, tiger. Four, five, six, seven, eight. Betcha. So I guess Roy would be forgiven for holding a grudge against mother nature.

But what's your excuse, friend? That is based on a true story. Roy Sullivan is this gentleman's name. He's still alive, believe it or not. He's a park ranger and he has been struck by lightning a documented seven times. He holds the Guinness Book of World Records. He himself says that he was actually struck by lightning an eighth time but that time wasn't documented. Can you believe that? So he's not getting credit for it. But I don't think anybody's going to survive and pass this. Now, you might be saying, "So God is this powerful." Well, all that's going to make me feel like is God's going to look down from heaven and zap me. A God like this just makes me feel scared.

Well, Isaiah would say, "Yeah, it made me feel scared of God at verse two." Remember Isaiah 6? He sees God in all of his power and says, "I'm dead. I'm a sinful man." But Isaiah says, "There are two things I discovered next that are even more amazing about his power." These two things. First, God is strength supplying. Ever feel like, "I'm so tired. I'm tapped out. I'm having a personal energy crisis here." Good news. He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless. Even youths will become weak and tired and young men will fall in exhaustion. But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint. He can empower you.

In my observation, an anonymous quote I heard once is so true. We all need power in three areas. Power to stop, power to start, and power to stay. We all need power to stop doing something in our lives, you and me both. We all need power to start doing something that we've been putting off, and we all need power to stay, to endure, to persevere. Well, God can give you that kind of power. But there's one even more mind-blowing aspect of God's power, and it's this. God is Savior. God is Savior. Skip ahead a few chapters in Isaiah, and Isaiah says, "All of us like sheep have strayed away." We've left God's paths to follow our own, yet the Lord laid on Him the sins of us all. And this is a prophecy about Immanuel, God with us, Jesus Christ.

I want you to stay on page one for a second before you flip over to page two, and let's just look at this verse here from Isaiah. You know why? Because most of us have heard so long, "Jesus died for the sins of us all," that we're not blown away by this show of power anymore. All the other things we've been talking about, "Whoa, 13 billion years is a marble, and the lightning strikes, that blows our mind." But this, it's a cliché. But I want you to get your head around this. I want you to think of the sin that you still sometimes feel guilty about. Yeah, that's sin. Now think of all the other sins in your life, and I want you to imagine them in a pile of oozing tar-like substance on this stage.

Now, multiply that pile of sin by all the people who have ever lived, all their guilt, all their shame, all the sorrow their sins caused, and the pile starts to grow. Add them all together from Abraham to Moses to Isaiah to Homer, Plato, Socrates, all the way through to Hitler and Stalin and you and me and the six billion people alive with us on earth right now. Take all those sins and pile them up. Don't leave out anyone or anything. Every person who has ever lived has added something to this pile except one. One person, Jesus Christ, died on a cross to soak up all that sin and all that shame, and not only to forgive the guilt, but to set you free, to turn you loose, to bring color into your world again. Now that's awesome power.

You know, when I really weep when I think of the power of God, it isn't just when I see him in a sunset or in a storm. It's when I see lives transformed by his power, and that's why most weeks during this God Is series, I want you to hear from different people at Twin Lakes Church about who God is to them. This morning I asked a young woman who is in one of our God Is small groups. She is also at Teen Challenge Monterey Bay in the Freedom Women's Center, and I asked her to come up and share about her experience with the power of God in her life. Put your hands together. Let's welcome Amber Augustine as she shares.

Hi, my name is Amber Augustine, and I saw the first glimpse of this world on November 1, 1991. I was born in Walnut Creek, California, and was raised in Livermore, California to two very devout Christian parents. Where growing up, I did everything the church offered for children and youth. I did iguanas, children's choir, puppet ministry, youth group, faith outreach, mission trips, vacation Bible schools, and everything else in between. But as many addicts and alcoholics would say, I also felt like I didn't fit in. In my middle school years, I was drawn to the bad kids, where fighting in detention hall was an almost daily occurrence. The summer going into my freshman year of high school, weed, alcohol, and cigarettes soon became my new way to fit in and to escape.

I went through my high school years battling with my double life I lived. I went to church two times a week, but I was a totally different person at work and at school. I was a drug dealing Christian, and as you might have guessed, these two things worshiped two different masters. I finally had to choose which master I wanted to serve, because I was running out of excuses, lies, and elaborate stories I would tell in order to cover up my daily drug and alcohol use. The end of my senior year in high school, I completely stopped going to church and really thought I wanted what the world had to offer. The drugs, money, cars, and clothes seemed like such a glamorous lifestyle that my flesh craved. I became obsessed with the party scene. Drugs, alcohol, sex, and money became a daily occurrence which numbed me from the pain I was tremendously causing in my life and my family's life.

The lifestyle became so addicting that I didn't want to stop. I was 18 years old and thought I knew everything. I was invincible, well I thought. On October 21, 2010, I arrived at Teen Challenge Freedom Women's Center in Watsonville, California. In between March of 2010 and October 2010, I was arrested four times and had four separate pending cases. The judge gave me the option of either jail time or a program. I chose a program instead of the jail time. When I entered the program kicking and screaming, I wanted nothing to do with God. The thing is, I seen the power of God in other people's lives and I did not want that for myself. But let me tell you, the thing about Teen Challenge is it is a Christian based program and God is everywhere in that program and you cannot run from him.

So now I had to choose and this choice just wasn't what master to serve. It was either if I wanted life with Christ or if I wanted to die without Christ. And as you see now, I have decided to live with Christ. I can tell you this walk here has been easy but that isn't the truth. But God has turned my ashes to beauty and has poured out his amazing grace on my life. I can stand before you now and tell you I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God at work saving everyone who believes. And since I've been at Teen Challenge, I have now gotten to experience over and over again God's unfailing love. I have conquered my rage and anger outbursts only with God's indescribable strength to renew my mind.

I have learned that no matter what I've done in my past, God loves me and can use my testimony to show the power of grace. This time it's not doing the motions of Christianity, it's having that intimate relationship with the God I've craved. I am now a student intern for the program and I get to see daily miracles that can only be from the power of God. I've also had the privilege of speaking at Watsonville High School twice to help prevent the drug epidemic. God has turned this rageaholic drug addict into a compassionate, loving child of God. I have now found peace, true peace, which can only be found through Jesus Christ. Thank you.

God's power is so great. I've heard that four times now and I cry every single time. That's fantastic. Melissa Rogers, would you stand up for just a second? Melissa's the director at the Freedom Women's Center and listen, I just have to tell you, if you or someone you know wants more information about it, I'm the one who asked Melissa to be here and to bring some of her cards because this is a powerful ministry where God's power is truly at work. But listen, the question then becomes, so how can I experience this power? Because let me be very honest as a pastor as I kind of land the plane here with this message. Here's the problem. All this power is available to you and me as believers, to those who trust in the Lord. But would you agree with me on this? So many of us Christians walk around just as exhausted, just as defeated, just as fatigued, just as powerless as people who aren't even believers.

We say we believe in God but we live like practical atheists. A God this powerful isn't really making a day-to-day difference in our lives. So how can I tap into God's power? Let me quickly give you three things we're going to be hitting on this week in the book study. First, notice it. Notice God's power all around us. Notice God's power all around you. The Bible says God's glory is on tour in the skies. Godcraft on exhibit across the horizon. Psalm 19:1 in the message. Notice it in the storm and the waves and the clouds and the sunsets and the little babies and the wildlife all around you. So much of this series is about changing the channel in your brain from the black and the color God channel.

There's a great little phrase my wife was showing me that happens several times in the Old Testament especially that talks about God being robed in majesty or robed in light. What does that mean? It means the invisible God is robed in the visible things he has created. The starry night sky is metaphorically his robe. We can't see God but we can see the robe of his majesty. His robe is the patterns on butterflies, wings. His robe is soft baby skin. All these beautiful glorious things in his creation. That's not God. We're not pantheists. But that's the robe of his majesty. It's beautiful. So notice it and then ask for it. Just ask. Ask God for help. My daughter Elizabeth's favorite prayer when she was three was help me Jesus. That's a good prayer. She prayed that for about a year straight. Help me Jesus. Amen. That's all she prayed.

When we're three we ask this all the time. Help me. We're used to it. When we grow up we forget to pray this. We get this illusion of power. But that can short circuit real power, God's power in your life. Instead say God I'm powerless. I need your help. Something like the psalmist who said the Lord is great. As for me I'm poor and needy. May the Lord think of me. You're my help. You're my deliverer. Remember what kukua means? Help me. Say kukua God, right? Help me. It starts with a prayer of salvation but then you keep praying this prayer every day. And then third, and this is the thing that gets left out much of the time, you act in it. You act in faith that God is giving you his power. Some of you are missing out on huge blessings. A huge miracle because you're timid and you're bearing your talents. But the Bible says God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity but of power and love and of self-discipline.

You just ask God. First you say like point one is noticing it. So you go God, wow. Wow. And the second point is asking for it. So you say God help me. And then this third point you say God what's next? What do you want me to do next today? And I'm going to walk toward that thing in confidence that the God who is bigger and greater and stronger and self-sustaining and strength supplying is with me as I approach that thing. You know it's kind of like moving toward the automatic doors when you walk into a grocery store. You don't stand outside safely waiting for the doors to open. You move forward one step at a time. Then they open. That's something like what it's like to walk ahead in confidence that God is strengthening you.

Because here's the bottom line in all these passages in Isaiah. God is great beyond imagination and God is good beyond expectation. Think of something strong, he's stronger. Think of someone gentle, he's gentler. That God of power you can meet today right now. Would you stand up with me? I want us to stand in a closing word of prayer that we're just going to segue right into a song that's a prayer to our great God. So let's pray. Those who trust in the Lord will renew their strength. God you promise this. And so my prayer is simple. That everyone here today would turn to you and say yes I trust you. Some people here who are standing have been so full of shame. May they know that God's power is here ready to wipe away all those sins. To soak up the guilt. I pray that they just say help me God I'm powerless to save myself. I receive what you accomplished on the cross.

And for the many who have confessed and received Christ help us to say God help me to act in your power. And help me to remember that no matter what my problems are you are bigger. No matter what my fears are you are greater. No matter how big my shame or my sin is you are stronger. God help us to be a church full of people who live and move and act in your power. Who notice your power. Who ask for your power. Who act in your power this week. And we pray this in Jesus name.