Awakened to Grace

Chad Roberts: Welcome to Awakened to Grace. I'm Chad Roberts, and I'm so glad you're joining us today. I believe God has connected us for a great purpose. Today, you're going to hear a powerful sermon.

But before we get to the sermon, I want to encourage you to check out my new book. It's called Blind Faith, seeing God through darkness. It's published by our partners at Lifeway. And the reason I wrote this book is because I am 100% blind. And as I've walked this path of blindness, this path of suffering, well, I want to teach you how Christians can suffer well.

I say that today my job as a blind pastor is to help people trust a God they cannot see. You can order the book right now anywhere that books are sold in any format. Even if you're not much of a book reader, you can even get it in audio, where you can listen to it. Well, I hope you'll go right now to the official website, which is blindfaith.life. Again, that's blindfaith.life. And I hope you'll not only get a copy for you, I hope you'll pick one up for someone who needs encouragement in their faith today.

Now this section is difficult. And the reason that it is difficult is because in many translations of the Bible, this last phrase does not appear in the Bible. I want to explain to you why for me that's not a tension. For me that's not a problem.

Most scholars agree, and I would agree with this as well, that this last phrase of the Lord's Prayer, it is not in most original manuscripts of the Bible. So where did it come from? Well, most believe that this was added as a doxology by the early church. And I'll explain what that is.

Doxologies are throughout the entire Bible. Doxologies are mentioned through many of Paul's writings, throughout most of the New Testament, as well as in the Old Testament too. And what a doxology is, it's simply an act of praise. Some of you grew up in the type of churches that sang the doxology every Sunday. But the doxology is more than a song. It's actually an act. It's a great act of praise unto the Lord. And many of them are recorded in the scriptures.

So where the confusions can sometimes be is was this phrase original words of Jesus or were they added by the early church? Well, for me, that's not a tension. And here is the reason why. And if you look in your Bibles today, no matter what type of translation you're using, it's probably going to have a footnote of whether it's added or omitted.

The reason for me that this is not a tension at all is because whether it was the very words of Christ, or whether it was added by the early church as a doxology of praise, either way, every single word is thoroughly and firmly rooted and grounded in the Bible. And I get very excited when I think of preaching it.

I don't think it's error to pray it. I don't think it's error to quote it. I don't think it's error to preach it. And I'm mighty excited to preach it today because every single word is thoroughly biblical. So if the early church, in my view, if this had been any kind of heresy or if it was added wrongly to to the original Bibles, the early church would have flagged it in a heartbeat.

But they didn't. That has a great deal of weight in my eyes. And so to me, this is very precious, and I want to break down each word for you today. Number one, if you're going to take notes, let's note the kingdom.

First of all, it says, "For thine is the kingdom." Now where does this come from? This thought comes, it's rooted out of 1 Chronicles 29:11. And scripture says in 1 Chronicles 29:11, David is giving a doxology to the Lord. He's giving a great act of praise unto the Lord, and he says, "You are the king of Israel. To you belongs all majesty and all dominion and all power. All things belong to you, and thine is the kingdom," David says.

How remarkable that an earthly kingdom acknowledges God Almighty as the king of all things. You know, as I prepared for this, it caused me to stop and think if David in all of his wealth, and David in all of his power, if David in all of his luxury, and all that was his, all of his might and majesty, if he could acknowledge the king in such a way, does my life?

Does your life? Notice what the text says. It does not say "for ours is the kingdom," does it? Does not say "ours" as though "give us this day our daily bread." Doesn't do that, does it? "Forgive us our debts." "Deliver us from temptation." No.

No. It's not about us, is it? "For thine is the kingdom." I want to ask you frankly today, are you living for God's kingdom or are you building your own little kingdom?

This church, as it grows, as we break ground into new areas of ministry, and God is adding to us, and God has his hand on us, and God is blessing us, let me ask us this question: are we building our own little kingdom? Or are we building God's kingdom? I'll tell you a great way to always keep a gut check on us. Whatever comes in, are we sending out?

Whatever God expands, are we about our own little four walls or are we out here? Let's gut check today, amen. Are we building our kingdom or are we building God's kingdom? It is not our kingdom, it's thine kingdom, amen.

We want to be about our Father's business. And here's what I appreciate about ending the text this way. Here's why I love this phrase. It is because the first verse, I believe verse 9 of chapter 6 of the Lord's Prayer, the first verse is going to tell us, "Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name."

And listen, the kingdom belongs to our Father. Think, listen. Now say amen if you're with me right now. The kingdom belongs to our Father. And listen, all throughout the Lord's Prayer, it is a great reminder. God is our Father. We are his children. And you know what Luke 12:36 reminds us?

You know what Matthew 5:3 reminds us? Is that the Father is wanting to share the kingdom with his children. Friends, that means we are an heir of God, and we are a joint heir of Jesus Christ. That means that we don't have to lack, we don't have to worry, we don't have to fret. Our heavenly Father, who knows what we have need of, will share his kingdom with us. Amen.

Listen, my friend, our Father is the king of the kingdom. "For thine is the kingdom." So why do we worry? And why do we fret? And why do we sorrow? And why do we fear when our Father is the king of his kingdom? For thine, it belongs to him. Amen.

Number two, note this word, power. Oh, what a beautiful word, power. There are two Greek words for power in the original text, and the first Greek word would mean a legal right. So for example, where Jesus said, where the gospel says in John 1, he came to his own, his own received him not, but to as many as did receive him, to them gave he the power to become the sons of God. Or another word for that is to them gave he the right.

You understand? It's a legal right. We legally belong to Jesus Christ, amen. Colossians 2:14, when he died on the cross, the Bible says that he took our sins and the record of our debt, and he nailed it to the cross with all of its legal demands. We legally belong to Jesus.

That's that power. But there's a second word for power in the New Testament, and it's the one that's used the most frequently, and the Greek word for it is dunamis. And what a great and a beautiful and a wonderful word it is. This word for power literally means enablement, explosive. It's where we get our English word, dynamite.

Do you want a quick little history lesson? How many of you love history? How many of you raised your hands? Because you know I'm blind. I bet several of our guests just raised their hand. I cannot see a one of you. You know the beauty of having a blind pastor is you cannot be here for weeks and then talk to me and I have no idea.

No, don't do that. The Lord knows, amen. Can I just give you a fun little history lesson? I love history. Let me just tell you real quick where where this dynamite comes. Ever heard of Alfred Nobel? Ever heard of the Nobel Peace Awards?

Well, do you know Alfred had an opportunity that most of us will never have? Alfred read his own obituary. Alfred was the man, he was born in Stockholm, Sweden in 18, I think, 35. You can fact-check that. He was born in Stockholm and his family developed roads and bridges and tunnels, and they needed something to burst through mountains. And so Alfred developed explosives.

Well, it wasn't long before that shifted from mountains and transportation to weaponry. Alfred's brother died in France, and the papers got the story wrong, and they reported that Alfred had died. And it was global headlines. And the nickname that he earned was Doctor Death. And so what came about, Alfred opens the papers, and there it says, "Doctor Death has died."

And Alfred saw the horrible legacy that he was going to leave with humanity. And from that moment on, Alfred took his vast wealth that he gained from weaponry and war, and he invested it in the Nobel Peace Awards. Isn't that interesting? But when Alfred developed this explosive new stuff, he went to a friend who was a Greek language expert, and he said, "I don't know what to call it." And you know what the friend suggested he call it?

The Greek word for power. The Greek word that's in our Bibles, dunamis, which is where we get our English word, dyna mite. Anyways, none of that's in my notes. That's just all freebies right there. Do with it whatever you want.

No, there is a point. What would your obituary say? There is a point. What would you change about your life if you could read your own obituary? Anyways. That's way off in the weeds.

So dynamite, dunamis, power, what so here here is what it means enablement is what it means. It means that the Holy Spirit will empower his people. He will enable us. Now why do we need enablement? Let me give you a couple reasons why we need enablement.

Number one, we need to be enabled by the Holy Spirit to be bold and courageous witnesses for Jesus. You remember when Jesus the instructions that he gave the early disciples after his death between his resurrection and his ascension, he said he when he was with them. What did he tell them to do after he ascended? He said, "Go and stay in Jerusalem until," the end of Luke says, "until you are clothed, until you are endued with power from on high."

What? There's our word. Dunamis. Enablement. Acts chapter 1, verse 8. "When the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you will be empowered. You will be enabled, dunamis." There's our word again.

What does it do? It enables us to be bold and courageous for Jesus. Romans 1:16, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation." Friends, when did Jesus begin to minister, do you remember? After he was baptized when the Holy Spirit fell upon him. Friends, if Jesus, the Son of God, needed the Holy Spirit, how much more so do we?

And the sad fact of the matter is so many churches, the Holy Spirit could leave, and no one would even know the difference. They would sing their same songs, they would preach their same sermons, and everything would be clockwork and routine, and who would even notice that the Holy Spirit wasn't present? Oh God, forbid that ever happen at Preaching Christ Church. God forbid.

We need the Holy Spirit, amen. We need his empowerment, we need his enablement. We need the dunamis, the power of God in our lives. Why do we need it? Number one, to be bold, courageous witnesses. Romans 1:16, Acts 1:8.

Number two, we need it to discern the will of God. Do you realize the Holy Spirit helps us know the will of God? Oh, we need him to help us in this matter. Right now, you may be struggling with decisions right now. You may be struggling with the right place to be or the right job to take or the right person to marry or whatever whatever decisions that you face.

You need the enablement. You need the discerning power of the Holy Spirit. We need the Holy Spirit to overcome fear. What fears are in our life right now that if we had more dunamis, more power of the Holy Spirit, more enablement of the Holy Spirit. 2 Timothy 1:7, we've not been given a spirit of fear, but of what? Power.

Dunamis, power, love, and sound mind or self-control or self-discipline. That's what we've been given by God, amen. Not a spirit of fear, but of dunamis power.

We need listen, friends, if Jesus needed the Holy Spirit, oh, how much more so do we? So let me ask you a question. For thine is the kingdom and thine is the power, the dunamis. Let me ask you a question. What is the Holy what could the Holy Spirit enable you for in your life right now? Oh, see, I needed my water.

What could the I mean my lid, sorry. What could the Holy Spirit enable you for right now? Maybe it's an enablement to forgive someone. Maybe it's an enablement to live at peace with people who are causing trouble in your life. Maybe it's an enablement to walk through a fiery trial at the moment. Maybe it's an enablement to stand up under temptation right now.

Maybe it's an enablement to make good decisions right now. Whatever you need right now, listen, the Holy Spirit will enable you. The question is, are you inviting it? Are you seeking it? Are you longing for it? Are you tarrying for it? Are you waiting on it? What did Jesus say, "Go to Jerusalem and wait until the Holy Spirit has come upon you"?

One of the greatest lessons I ever learned in my pastoring career. I've been a pastor for 20 years now. And one of the greatest lessons that I ever learned. You know, Sunday mornings were very particular and you know, everything is is you know, we we meet through the week, we pray about what God wants. We know what songs we're singing. I know the text, and you know, where I'm blind, I have to give so much enormous preparation to the day. And you know, normally, we know well what Sunday will look like.

And then some, you know, you have some days like today where God just did what God wanted to do, and we step out of the way. But on a normal Sunday, we we know, you know, from point A to point Z what where we're going. Four years ago, God led us to start a Tuesday night prayer meeting. And you know what the Lord told me? Scariest thing I've ever done in my pastoring.

The Lord said, "You're not to plan a thing." Apparently the Lord forgot, I'm a planner. And I get mighty anxious when I'm not in planning mode. And you know what the Lord told me? You you you know what used to be my greatest fear as a pastor? Is hearing crickets.

And people feeling bored. See, there's this weird thing in our church culture, if people feel bored, they won't come back. Well, see, come on. Say amen if you're with me right now. Let me just let me just get this out. I mean, it's nowhere in my notes, but let me just get it out. This consumer mentality has crept its way into the church.

And see now, rather than showing up in the house of God and saying, "How might we minister unto the Lord?" Now it's, "How can we entertain a crowd?"

And so the Holy Spirit said, "Here's the plan for Tuesday night prayer meeting: there is no plan. You will wait for the Holy Spirit to come." Well, Lord, what if nothing happens? "Then you wait." "What if it feels weird?" "Then you'll wait." "What if it gets awkward?" "Well, then you'll wait." The Lord's like, "How many ways can I say it?" "You will wait."

Friends, oh, what a word for somebody today. Some, listen, you may be frustrated because it feels like God is not answering your prayer, but let me tell you, God is in the waiting. He's in the waiting. Learn to wait on the Holy Spirit.

And let me tell you, Sundays are good. But Tuesdays are great. You know why? Because we wait. We wait. We wait. Have you learned how to wait on God? Say, "Chad, why is it so important?" Because there's dunamis, dynamite, power when you learn to wait on God.

Number three, the word glory. What's he mean by this? Well, now, oh, I love this. Follow the logic here. So if the kingdom is my priority, and I'm living I'm living for the kingdom. Matthew 6:33. "I seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness." And I'm not worried about everything else in life. I'm not putting things first and God last. No, I'm reversing it. I'm putting God first and things last.

And I'm living for the kingdom. And then what happens is as I'm living for the kingdom, then I began to feel the enablement of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit personalizes the kingdom to me. He makes the kingdom real in my life. And I'm finding myself enabled by the Holy Spirit. I'm living with his fruit. I'm living with his power. I'm living with his sensitivity. I'm living with his intercessions. I'm living and I'm walking in the Holy Spirit, amen. And you walk according to the Spirit, you'll not fulfill the lust of the flesh.