Brown's daily word 9-6-07

Good morning,
Praise the Lord for this beautiful and bright day. One of the ten best days indeed. In Philippians 4:13 we read, “I can do all things through Christ.” These are the seven holy words full of promise and power.
This first word reminds us of the “people of faith.” “I can do all things through Christ.” Make no mistake about it. God uses people to accomplish His will in this world. Remember what scripture says, “We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Eph 2:10). Sometimes He uses angels. On occasion, He used a dumb beast. But almost always the Lord of glory calls men and women to do His bidding. But not just any men and women. God is partial to a certain kind.
God seeks out ordinary folk to use. God seldom uses the mighty, the powerful, the rich, or the influential. The reason is obvious. Too often such people are too full of themselves to be useful to God. That’s why the Apostle Paul who penned these words wrote, “Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him” (1 Cor 1:26-29).
If that is true, and it is, then these words apply to you and me as certainly as they did to the Apostle Paul. “I can do all things through Christ.” I, not somebody else, not just exceptional people, not just the rich, the famous, the powerful, or the talented, not just preachers or saints or missionaries—I can do all things through Christ. But this is just the beginning.
I Can Do—These next two words reveal the perspective of faith. “I can do all things through Christ.” It is a fact of human nature. We seldom accomplish more than we think we can. People who think can’t, can’t! Henry Ford said, “Success begins with I can. Failure with I can’t!”
It is amazing what you can do when you don’t know you can’t. David didn’t know Goliath was too big to stop. Caleb didn’t know the Promised Land couldn’t be conquered. Joshua didn’t know Jericho’s walls were too strong. Elijah didn’t know his enemies were too many.
The Lord has moved mountains, toppled kingdoms, and turned the world upside down with ordinary folks who say “I can!” I can! Not I might, I should, I could do. “I can do all things through Christ.”
All Things—That’s the potential of faith. “I can do all things through Christ.” That’s a mighty big promise. But no bigger than other promises in the Bible. How about these “alls”? “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.” “He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all—how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?” “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.”
Paul penned these seven words from personal experience. He knew what he was talking about. He knew Christ was the Lord of all circumstances, not just the good ones. Listen to the context, “I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want” (11-12). Then he adds, “I can do all things through Christ.”
Some of us know this by experience as well. Some of us have suffered loss. Many of us have faced problems, confronted temptations, wrestled with habits, and struggled to make decisions. It wasn’t easy. Some who knew us probably thought we wouldn’t make it. But we did. And because of it, we know the power of these words. “I can do ALL THINGS—not just the easy things, not just the things that everyone else is doing, not just the things I have always done before—I can do all things through Christ.”

But our last phrase is the key. “I can do all things through Christ”—This final phrase in our seven words reveals the true power of faith. I want to make this clear. This phrase is not about the power of positive thinking. This is not some kind of pull yourself up by your bootstraps slogan. It isn’t a promise that you can do anything if you dream big dreams and reach for the stars. Nonsense. The power, the secret, is not in you. The power is in Christ. “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

Paul said it elsewhere, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Gal. 2:20). As Jesus reminded His disciples, “Apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). The Old Testament prophet declared, “Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the LORD Almighty” (Zech. 4:6). It’s not about us! It’s all about HIM!

Unless Jesus Christ is in us, unless He is the Lord of our lives, we have no promise of God’s power. There is no guarantee of personal or spiritual success. Even if we do get ahead in this world, it won’t matter in a hundred years. As Jesus warned His disciples, “What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his own soul?” Here and there, now and then, it is “all things through Christ.”

There they are, seven holy words packed with big promises. Let's remember them. Let's believe them and claim them by the power of the Lord Jesus. We might be surprised by what happens. Our dreams may not all come true. Our problems won’t necessarily all disappear. But something wonderful and glorious could happen.

Phillip Brooks, a great American preacher of the past, explained it like this, “Do not pray for easy lives, pray to be stronger people; do not pray for tasks equal to your powers, pray for powers equal to your tasks. Then the doing of your work may be no miracle, but you shall be a miracle. Every day you shall wonder at yourself, the richness of the life that has come to you by the grace of God.”

So let us stand on His promises, “I –can do—all things—through Christ.”

In Christ in whom all God's promises are "yes",
Brown

D. James Kennedy Now With the Lord
Dr. Ray Pritchard
Sad news out of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Famed pastor D. James Kennedy died this morning at the age of 76. After suffering cardiac arrest last December, he underwent a rigorous program of physical therapy but never returned to the pulpit. During his long and fruitful ministry at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, he wrote many books, founded a radio and television ministry that stretches around the globe, established a Christian school and a seminary, and helped lead the conservative movement along with James Dobson, Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson and others. His greatest contribution was the development of Evangelism Explosion, a program of outreach that joined good theology with a practical training method. He did more to bring evangelism back to the local church than anyone else in the last fifty years. By that I mean he pioneered a simple strategy for deploying Christians as trained evangelists who could share their faith with others. I have no doubt that millions of people will be in heaven because someone asked them the two EE questions:

1. Do you know for sure that you are going to be with God in Heaven?

2. If God were to ask you, “Why should I let you into My Heaven?” what would you say?

Today would be a good day for you to consider those questions. How would you answer them? Click here to find the answers that could change your life forever.

“Now, I know that someday I am going to come to what some people will say is the end of this life. They will probably put me in a box and roll me right down here in front of the church, and some people will gather around, and a few people will cry. But I have told them not to do that because I don’t want them to cry. I want them to begin the service with the Doxology and end with the Hallelujah chorus, because I am not going to be there, and I am not going to be dead. I will be more alive than I have ever been in my life, and I will be looking down upon you poor people who are still in the land of dying and have not yet joined me in the land of the living. And I will be alive forevermore, in greater health and vitality and joy than ever, ever, I or anyone has known before.” D. Jame Kennedy