A couple housekeeping things. We have prizes
across the front, so when you earn tickets, you'll
be able to put a ticket on whatever prize. We
will do two stunts. We will do trivia at the
end, time permitting. So we're going to fly through
this and try to make room for all that. I know
Zayden's a huge fan of Bible trivia now. We've
converted him. Bible trivia loving kid. Okay,
so the Bible often speaks of the arm of the Lord.
We looked at the eyes, the ears, and the hand
of God, but this is anthropomorphic language.
So it means God's arm is not literally like our
arm. He doesn't have a physical hand like we
do necessarily. But there's a lot to be learned
about God through the descriptions of his arm
in Scripture. So that's what we're going to look
at. While the hand of God often is talking about
his activity or his provision, The arm of God
emphasizes God's strength displayed in mighty
acts. So we're going to see some of that as we
go through. It means he is powerful to do what
he has done and what he is doing. A warrior's
arm represented his power in battle. Kings measure
strength by the might of their armies. But scripture
repeatedly reminds us that God's arm is stronger
than every nation, every enemy, every king, every
force of darkness. So a couple of things in the
overview. Number one, God possesses unlimited
strength. So if you're putting it in there, you
can put it right there on that first block. Number
one, God possesses unlimited strength. Very simply
put, God is big, old, and strong. Right? I mean,
those are general words that we use. God's been
around literally forever. He is bigger than the
universe that he created, bigger than we can
conceive. And he has no limit to his strength.
Next, God accomplishes salvation. God gets it
done. God gets people saved. God accomplishes
salvation. God brings forth victory to his people.
God has shown that time and time again that he
can do that. He can make you win. Not necessarily
every game or every sporting event. That's not
what that means. But he brings real victory.
So when I was younger, I played board games.
For example, I would get frustrated when I would
lose. And then I found out that I was winning
by playing and losing. And then I stopped getting
frustrated. And that's what they realize. Sometimes
you're overcoming difficulties by not actually
winning on the scoreboard or not actually winning
financially or whatever. But God brings victory
to his people. And then last one is God rules
over all creation. So the smallest dust mite
is under the rule of God. The largest planet,
sun, galaxy, everything. God rules over all creation.
So God's outstretched arm, which is a term that's
used in Scripture some, becomes one of the greatest
pictures of his redeeming power. Okay, so I want
you to think for a moment, a little illustration
of what we're going to talk about. During a flood,
a lot of times, like, people who are on the sidelines
and the streets are flooded or whatever, they'll
grab arm to arm. and they'll go out and try to
rescue somebody that's washing by in the flood.
They'll stand there, five, six people lined up,
and the people are getting washed by in the flood,
and they'll try to grab anybody that's coming
by and fish them out, right? One rescuer stretches
out his arm towards someone who cannot save themselves.
It's the last person in the line, so to speak.
And he reaches out, and that person, they snag
that person, hopefully, and pull them in. So
the drowning person contributes very little.
Way back in the day when I was snorkeling in
Aruba, when we went down there for Sherry's management
conference, they said, if you're drowning, don't
do this. Help me, help me. Because people are
waving to the boat all the time. They're waving
to their family and friends on the boat and said,
don't do that. If you start to drown, do this.
Yes, we understand you cannot swim with both
hands up in the air and you'll go underwater
and then you can swim a little bit, get back
up and do this again, whatever. If you need help.
stop trying to help yourself. Stop trying to
hold yourself up in the water with one hand.
And so the person being rescued might just take
hold of the arm that is reaching out to them.
That might be all they do. They might not even
do that. Somebody might grab onto them, right?
The strength that does the saving does not belong
to the victim. So there's a lot of Christianity
out there that tries to say, that you have to
do certain things in order to be able to be saved.
And anything that you have to do, let me be very
clear about this, even if it's pray a prayer,
go forward in service, read your Bible, love
others, anything like that that they tell you
you have to do to be saved in the first place
is wrong. All the strength of saving is in God,
not in the person being saved. So, likewise,
every believer has been rescued by God's mighty
arm, and salvation is not the result of our strength,
but of his strength. Okay? Alright, so now we're
on number one. The arm of God delivers his people.
Okay? And the reference is Deuteronomy 5 .15.
There's some extra ones back there. Tommy, you
got an extra one? Deuteronomy 5 .15 is the reference.
And it basically says the Lord your God brought
you out. And that ends with with a mighty hand
and an outstretched arm. But we know that God
didn't really have a physical hand or an outstretched
arm. Right. So there's something there to be
learned. OK, so the explanation then is Israel
all the whole time, even when they were sitting
against God, they never forgot the Exodus. Right.
It's always been in their history. In fact, an
Israelite man. who was living in Micah's day
in the book of Judges, like what we were talking
about, that person was still able to trace their
lineage all the way back to Moses. At least one
more person coming in. We'll be full size eventually.
Okay. So notice the pairing here, a mighty hand
and an outstretched arm. The hand accomplishes,
the arm supplies overwhelming strength. God's
arm defeated Egypt, humbled Pharaoh, liberated
his covenant people, parted the Red Sea, etc.,
etc., right? So any of that might go under the
key points there. Anything that caught your eye?
Mighty hand, an outstretched arm, the hand accomplishes,
the arm supplies overwhelming strength, God's
arm defeated Egypt. And then under application,
God is able to rescue us from situations beyond
human ability. Notice how that also goes along
with his hand, right? That verse paired the hand
and the arm. So God is able to rescue you beyond
your, not just beyond your ability, but beyond
any human ability. Right. So we talked about
how with God's hand that there was a salvation
that God provided that would deal with a problem
that we didn't know how to deal with. But now
we're not just talking about that. We're talking
about a problem that basically cannot be dealt
with. So in other words, you could go to the
doctor. The doctor tells you there's no help
for you. Right. No monomedicine, no nothing.
You go home. You're going to die within a month.
God is able to do something about that. He has
the power to do what nobody else can do, and
that's in his outstretched arm. Then we're on
number two. For those who came in, we're going
to wait until we get full size, and then we'll
go back to get those first points. So we're on
number two. The arm of God brings salvation.
Isaiah 52 .10. The Lord has bared his holy arm
in the sight of all the nations that all the
ends of the earth may see the salvation of our
God. Remember that the Israelites always knew
that salvation that would eventually be provided
was for everybody, not just for the Israelites.
It was not just for those living in the promised
land, right? Even though they were supposed to
go in and massacre people, chase people out if
they didn't go, they massacred them, right? But
most people would flee, but if they didn't flee,
they would be massacred. Even though they were
supposed to do that while they were taking the
promised land, they knew that the salvation that
God would eventually provide would be for everybody.
Then under the explanation there, to bear the
arm, quote unquote, bear the arm, that phrase,
bear the arm, meant preparing for strenuous work
or battle. So God would bear his holy arm meant
that he was going to do the hard work of saving
anybody that he chooses to save. Whatever that
looks like. Isaiah pictures God rolling back
his sleeves, so to speak. And we have a song
about that, right? It's an old one. Really old
one. Rolling up his sleeves, so to speak. And
it says when he's rolling up his sleeves, he
ain't just putting on the wrist. I think it's
that lyric. So to speak. God was revealing his
saving power before the nations. Remember that
Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection is a known
event. There are people who still deny it. But
there are historians who are not Christians,
had nothing to do with the church, nothing to
do with God, whatever, that admitted that Jesus
lived, that he died, and was later seen alive.
People that hated Jesus, they would not want
that to be true. They call it adverse witness.
People that did not want it to be true still
had to accept it because it happened in their
day. So ultimately, this prophecy points beyond
Israel to Jesus Christ. God's greatest display
of strength was not destroying enemies, but saving
sinners. So can God abolish nations? Yes, and
he's done so, and he can do that. But his desire
would be to save sinners out of the very nations
that he intends to abolish. So he doesn't want
to just let people go to hell. If God destroys
Iraq or Iran, just boom, gone, everything is
destroyed, then there would be a lot of people
there who by the time they would have died might
have accepted Christ and would go straight to
hell. So you don't want that. We don't want that.
God's greatest display of strength was not destroying
enemies, but saving sinners. That brings us to
application on number two. I know we're moving
kind of quickly, but these are things we kind
of already know. So pick out of it anything that
really strikes you. The greatest miracle of God's
arm is redemption through Christ. So remember,
we're talking about God's arm. The greatest miracle
of God's arm, the greatest point to God's power,
is what happened with Jesus. Then we go on to
kind of just an illustration for this point.
A firefighter enters a burning building while
everyone else is running out. At 9 -11, there
were firefighters, policemen, rescue responders
that charged into that building, even though
it was filling with poison, it was on fire on
the upper floors already, it potentially could
crash down. Everybody knew that was a possibility.
Or it was very dangerous. There were a ton of
people running in. So the firefighter's courage
is demonstrated not merely by strength, but by
whom he chooses to save. If he just runs in there,
that's courage, right? But if he pulls someone
out, think of how strong that makes him. He's
actually physically pulled them out of the fire.
He's brought them back from death. He's given
them life over death, essentially. And God reveals
his greatest strength not by crushing humanity,
but by sending his son to redeem humanity. So
when you think about your enemies, instead of
thinking about, man, I hate that person. Man,
I wish that person would get justice or anything
like that. Or even like, because a lot of times
we don't even have those thoughts, but stuff
still comes out our mouth that makes it seem
that way. They're so bad. I hate that. Not I
hate that person, but the tone is that you hate
them, right? Because you're defending yourself.
Because they're attacking you or whatever. Remember
that God's goal is to save that person. And you're
not going to save that person by you being mean
back to them when they're being mean to you.
Or you think they're being mean to you. Right?
Okay. Number three. And then we'll do a stunt.
Number three, then we'll do a recap of that first
section. Then we'll do a stunt. Okay. God's arm
is never too weak. Jeremiah 32, 17 is the reference.
We'll put that on that line right there. Jeremiah
32, 17. Which says, Ah, Lord God, behold, you
have made the heavens and the earth by your great
power and by your great power and by your outstretched
arm. Nothing is too difficult for you. If you
can't get it through the fact that Jesus was
crucified and brought back to life, you can't
get it through all the miracles that Jesus did.
You can't get it through all the transformed
souls who have had an incredible experience of
being born again. and totally changed. I have
had one of those experiences, right? I hope many
of you have. If you can't get it by that, just
realize that at the very beginning when there
was nothing, God created everything out of nothing.
And the same God who can create everything out
of nothing is not limited in what he can do.
Let's say you need something and you beg God
for it. God is able to give it or able to eliminate
the need, right? Or able to turn the course so
something completely different happens. Bottom
line is God is not limited in his great power.
And he has done all the creation by his great
power and outstretched arm. The explanation then
is Jeremiah connects creation with God's arm.
So all those other references to God's arm in
scripture are connected back to the creation.
No limit to the power. The God who created galaxies
has not exhausted his power. It's like, oh, he
did it, but he ran out after that, right? Like
his tank is empty. God's winded. He'll kick back
in eventually, but right now he's taking a break.
None of that is true. God is not limited. He's
an internal being. He does not change states.
And so he's completely capable. Nothing surprises
God. That could go on a line for sure. Nothing
overwhelms God. Nothing is beyond his ability.
We had a sermon two Sundays ago on Sunday. We
talked about whittling away at the sovereignty
of God. and how you could make it so God's not
really in charge, but you really do need God
to be in charge, because then when you can't
do it, you can rely on God to do it, so it's
good to have him in charge. When we say whittling
away at the sovereignty of God, it doesn't mean
you can actually reduce the sovereignty of God.
He's still sovereign. He's in charge of everything.
You can't actually change that. What happens
is you change it in your mind's eye, you change
it in the way you're acting in your life, and
now pretty soon you're fighting against God because
you think God's not in charge. That's what happens
with kids and parents sometimes. Kids get away
with a little bit, and then they think, well,
I can get away with a little bit more. I can
get away with a little bit more. I can get away
with a little bit more. And what they don't realize
is everything they're getting away with is hurting
them, even if they do manage to get away with
it. And parents love you enough to sometimes
let you get away with it when they shouldn't,
and then everybody's in trouble, right? So nothing
overwhelms God, and nothing is beyond God's ability.
The God who stretched out the heavens can certainly,
sustain his people. And then under the application,
your greatest problem is still small compared
to God's power. So if you think about what's
the worst thing that's happening in your life,
whatever that is, that is a small thing compared
to the total resources that God can bring to
bear. We're going to go back and recap the introduction
real quick for those who didn't get it. All right,
so on that four lines at the top, the four truths
the arm of God communicates. First one was God
possesses unlimited strength. The second one
was God accomplishes salvation. The third one
was God brings victory to his people. And the
last one was God rules over creation. So it's
God possesses unlimited strength. God accomplishes
salvation. God brings victory to his people and
God rules over all creation. Those are the four.
The first reference under number one was Deuteronomy
5 .15. We got most people now, I think. And that
verse, of course, was the Lord your God brought
you out and then toward the end with a mighty
hand and an outstretched arm. That verse pairs
God's hand and his arm together, a mighty hand
and an outstretched arm. The hand accomplishes.
The arm supplies overwhelming strength. Okay,
did everybody get caught up then? I think that
was almost everybody. If there's anything else
you need to fill in, we can do it after. Okay,
I'm going to do a stunt. I'm going to step across
the front. If you participate in the stunt, you
gain one ticket. If you succeed at the stunt,
you gain three tickets. I don't know what the
stunt is until I draw a random card and make
sure we have the necessary parts. Let's see.
We do not have the necessary parts for that one.
Sorry. That's a fun one. I'll get the parts for
next time. Okay. We can try it. All right. So
it just involves a ping pong ball. Who's trying?
I can do ten people at a time. Come on. Take
one ball. There is one ball. Take one ball and
set it on. I still got more in the box. There
is going to be a hard one for you, but at least
you can take a good ride. That's your ball, ain't
it? Right. All right. That's your ball, too.
All right. Everybody got a ball? You got one
extra. I'm not going to try it. All right. So
the challenge is called Hacky Sack. All right.
So what you do is you must bounce the ball off
one foot. and then it has to hit the other foot
before it hits the ground, and both feet have
to be off the ground when they hit the ball.
So you hit it once, and then you hit it with
the other foot. Don't follow that example very
much. Okay, get the basic idea? So you have to
kick it up with one foot. And then hit it with
the other foot before it hits the ground. I actually
did it. Look at me. I'm awesome. It's like hacky
sack. Don't start yet. You have 60 seconds. If
you fail in 60 seconds, you fail. You have 60
seconds to try. Just one time. Both feet have
to be off the ground. You kick it with one foot
and then kick it with the other foot before it
hits the ground. Don't start yet. You can spread
out if you need to. Y 'all are watching them
to make sure they're not... lying. If they say
they got it, then you're their witnesses. Right?
One foot, then the other foot. Both feet have
to be off the ground when you kick the ball.
That's all you got to do. You have 60 seconds
to try. If you fail, just try again for 60 seconds.
Ready? Go. One foot, then the other. Very good.
I didn't lose your ball already. Thank you. No.
Keep trying. Still got 40 seconds. Still got
40 seconds. 30 to 8. No. No. No. No. 20 seconds.
I figured out the truth. Don't lift your feet
up so high. The higher you lift your feet, the
harder it gets. Nope, got 9 seconds. 3, 2, 1.
It's just your ball. You're up to the side. It's
up to you. I'm sorry. I'm over here. I'm over
here. I'm over here. I'm over here. I'm over
here. I'm over here. I'm over here. All right.
Thank you for participating. It's entertaining
to everybody else. All right. Back in the day
when they first started doing that hacky sack
thing, I would watch them stand around in a circle
and they would all kick the hacky sack and keep
it up like 20 times in a row. I totally don't
get that. I don't know how they do that. It's
amazing. I guess the more you practice, the better
you get. Okay, we're on number four. God's arm
shepherds his people. Again, most of these I
think you kind of get. We're just understanding
that there is a connection there and then trying
to draw inferences from the connection. So the
reference is Isaiah 40, verse 11. And it says,
like a shepherd, he will tend his flock. And
it ends with, he will gather the lambs with his
arm. This is one of scripture's most tender pictures.
The same arm that defeats nation gently carries
lambs. God's strength is never harsh toward his
enemies. I'm sorry, toward his children. God's
strength is never harsh toward his children.
So realize that same arm. that can destroy, wipe
out whole nations, wipe out armies, has done
so, right? God will tenderly pick you up and
carry you. He'll wrap you up. He'll protect you.
He'll provide for you with that same power. It's
not a power that's like, so we think of like
a big sword crunch, right? It's not a power like
that because what else can you do with a big
sword? You can pry something like with a lever.
You can break something. That's pretty much the
limit of it. Use it as a really big paperweight.
Right. But you can't make anybody warm or comfortable.
You can't heal any wounds with it. Right. But
God's arm is not just for battle. His strength
is never harsh toward his children. His power
serves his compassion. So does he have unlimited
power? Yes. Does he have unlimited compassion?
Yes. And the two are perfectly welded. Not sometimes
God is compassionate. Other times God is powerful.
He has unlimited power and unlimited compassion
all the time at the same time. He carries those
too weak to walk. Many of those things can go
in those lines on the summary there. And then
the application, God's strength is always joined
to his tenderness. Number five, God's arm brings
victory. Psalm 98 .1 is the reference. His right
hand and his holy arm have gained the victory
for him. Notice again, there is the hand and
the arm. Still pictures two different things,
but working in perfect unison. Victory belongs
to God. Israel's military success never depended
upon numbers alone. Likewise, Christ's victory
over sin, death, and Satan is entirely God's
accomplishment. No shared efforts. And then the
application is our confidence rests in God's
victories rather than our abilities. So in other
words, the next time that you're facing a sin
and you go to our temptation that leads to sin,
sin leads to a breaking relationship between
you and God, and you're thinking, I don't know
if I can do it. That shows a flaw in your thinking.
It is not a question of whether or not you can
do it. When you think about your spouse, I don't
know if they'll make a bad decision here or not.
I don't know if they'll give in to temptation
or I can't trust him or her to go there because
I don't know what will happen. It's not about
what you think they will do. It's about trusting
God. God has the power for the victory. And as
long as they trust God, he will make it a victory.
And if they don't trust God and it feels like
it's not a victory for a time, ultimately they
have to repent, turn back to the Lord, and the
end victory is still the same, determined by
God's power, not by a person's choices. The application
then is our confidence rests in God's victories
rather than our own abilities. So we kind of
know that. But notice that it is because of the
teaching overall of Scripture of the power of
God, the might that is in his arm, that we know
that. That's why we know. We'll do one more and
then we'll do our second stop. Number six. Moving
right along. God's arm rules the universe. Isaiah
40, 10. Isaiah 40, verse 10. Behold, the Lord
God will come with might, with his arm ruling
for him. God's arm represents his sovereign authority.
Kings rule through armies. God rules through
his own power. No one votes to have God be ruler
over their life. That's why it does not work
to say, if you just pray, you'll be saved. Because
that person who's praying, they're asking God,
but you don't know what's going on in their heart.
You don't know whether they understand the words.
Right? We receive salvation as a free gift. So
you might be better off saying, if you'll receive
it, if you'll accept what God is willing to do,
if you'll trust in him, it's a tough thing. But
to say that even then, to say that their trust
is what saves them, that doesn't quite do it
either. No earthly government can resist God's
eternal kingdom. No matter who stands against
him, Last night, our devotional at home, our
devotional was on Jezebel, who was King Ahab's
wife, and she was bad. It was her goal, her mission,
her vision to eradicate the worship of God in
Israel to the point that they soaked in tar priests
and hung them on posts and hung them alongside
the street and set them on fire. to light the
street on the way to the palace. And she hunted
every priest down and tried to kill them. Now,
God retained priests for himself and did not
allow her to kill them all. But at one point
in time, Elijah thought he was the last, but
he wasn't. No earthly government, and people
have tried to eradicate Christianity time and
time again. It's not going to happen. God's rule
is perfect. His justice is certain. His reign
is everlasting. Any one of those things could
go on those lines. His rule is perfect. His justice
is certain. His reign is everlasting. And then
the application would be, when the world seems
out of control, remember that God's arm still
rules. This is our last stunt for the night.
Let me see if I have what we need in here. Oops.
Let's say that we do not have what we need for
that one. It's a little unfair. It wants you
to juggle three balls, and I think I'm the only
person in the room that can do it. You can juggle
three? All right. You can do two with one hand?
Only kind of. You know what they call it if you
only kind of juggle? Dropping. Dropping. That's
what they call it. Okay, here we got one. Alright,
this is an easy one. It's ping pong balls again.
It's called Harlem Globetrotters. Everybody needs
a ball. One ball each. Anybody got one? Okay,
so the stunt is called Harlem Globetrotters.
You have 60 seconds. You must bounce the ball
between your legs and catch it with the other
hand. Like that? Okay. You must do so three times
successfully inside 60 seconds. If you drop it,
you start over at zero. Don't start yet. Wait
for the clock. So you bounce it off the floor
between your legs like that. Catch it over here.
Then you can go back the other way or you can
go to the same hand if you want. Don't do it
yet. Don't do it yet. No practicing. No practicing.
Okay. You got 60 seconds. If you fail one time,
like if you try to bounce it and it falls, you
have to start over at zero. You have to do three
in a row. Okay? Three in a row. Three in a row.
Don't forget to count. Don't do that. Whatever
that was, it wasn't good. Ready? Spread out a
little bit. Give yourself some room. Spread out
a little bit. And go. If you fail, you start
at zero. That's zero. Back to zero. Okay, that's
three. Got it already. You're starting it out
tonight. Can you stop doing good? What a great
brother. Can you stop doing good? Alright, come
get your tickets if you did it. One, two, three.
One, two. My tactic is always not super high.
In the box. Hey. What? Go. You're good. You got
time. Not much. There it is. Time's up. I got
it. Okay, we've got number seven. We've got the
recap and then Bible trivia. We're doing good
on time. Okay. The reference is Deuteronomy 33,
27. Deuteronomy, the book of Deuteronomy, 33,
27. The book of Deuteronomy is called Deuteronomy,
by the way, because it is the final two speeches
of Moses combined. So he was going to lead the
Israelites to go on under Joshua and do what
it was they needed to do. And he gave two major
speeches to tell them everything they needed
to know. So for future reference, that's why
it's called Deuteronomy. The eternal God is a
dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting
arms. Moses ends his blessing with one of the
most comforting promises in Scripture. God's
arms never tire. They never weaken. They never
let go. We have a song like that. Never let go.
Even when believers stumble, that believer does
not fall beyond the reach of God's everlasting
arms. God is not going to say, oh, forget you.
If you have accepted Jesus Christ, your Lord
and Savior, he's still going to be there, still
going to be working. Might be working against
you if you're working against yourself, because
he's always working for you. If you're working
against yourself, then that means you're working
against him. Say that again. God's always working
for you. But when you're working against yourself,
That means you're going to be working against
God because God is working for you. And then
the application is every believer lives securely
supported by God's eternal strength. Huh. She
said. She's got a beautiful voice, Vanessa. I
think you might be in trouble. Good kind of trouble,
though. Okay. So we're on the theological summer.
theological summary part, that box right there.
Okay? And you're just going to put the words
in the lines. The arm of God teaches his, big
word, omnipotence. Omni, O -M -N -I, potence.
P -O -T -E -N -C -E. Which basically says nothing
is impossible for him. Right? God's arm teaches
us his salvation. He alone rescues sinners. Salvation.
S -A -L -V -A -T -I -O -N. Salvation. With an
I. His victory. He defeats every enemy. His compassion.
His strength protects the weak. That one really
spoke to me when I first wrote this Bible study,
by the way, because I forget that myself. The
Bible says that we need to remember the severity
of God. And I do. I mean, I... I try to. And
then sometimes I forget his gentleness, you know,
his compassion, his tenderness toward me and
toward others who are not necessarily going the
right way. Okay. His sovereignty. Another big
word. S -O -V -E -R -E -I -G -N -T -Y. Sovereignty.
S -O -V -E -R -E -I -G -N -T -Y. Which is to
say that God rules over every nation. And I would
say that means he rules over everything. His
faithfulness. His power never diminishes. Faithfulness.
Faith. F -A -I -T -H -F -U -L -N -E -S -S. Faithfulness.
Not going to wear out. Not going to run down.
Not going to give up. His security, his everlasting
arms sustain his people forever. Now there's
some practical applications of this then, and
they go in that very bottom box. First one is,
trust God's strength when your strength is exhausted.
I just recently had a morning where I was just
really feeling spiritually beat up. Not sure
what my next steps were going to be. And Sherry
came and gave me a hug and prayed for me. And
by the time she was done praying, I knew what
my next steps were going to be. I was just going
to keep doing what God wanted me to do. And then
it took about halfway through the day and it
was all gone. So trust God's strength when yours
is exhausted. Remember that salvation is God's
work, not ours. Huge when you're witnessing.
We feel like we're compelled. We want to make
them do something. You want them to say certain
words. The words they say, the things they do,
none of that matters. If they say they're getting
saved, it almost doesn't matter at all. I'll
never forget back in the day when the ICE event
happened and they were filling out the paperwork
afterwards about how many people got saved. And
it felt to me like they were falsifying the paperwork.
Like, why would you do that? They were saying,
well, they said this and they said that and they
asked for this and they asked for that and they
prayed. And they promised. And like, I don't
think any of the things that you're saying add
up to they got saved. You know? And so we got
to be careful. Realize that salvation is God's
work, not ours. Rest in his power during difficult
circumstances. That kind of ties right into trusting
God's strength when yours is exhausted. But a
lot of times your strength is not exhausted.
You need to start trusting first before you run
out of strength. Because then what if in the
middle of it, God says, all you have to do is
this one little thing and it'll take care of
it. You got nothing left because you've spent
all your strength before you ever went to him
to ask. And God says, well, just get up. And
you're like, but I can't get up. I did everything
I was supposed to do and now I'm all wiped out
and I can't get up. God's like, you just get
up. And then now you have to rely on his strength
even for the getting up, which he'll do. But
if he wants you to do something simple and he
asks you to do it, he expects you to do it. Four.
Find comfort in his gentle care. Live confidently
because his victory is certain. Now, again, you
probably could have wrote those. Most of you
probably could have wrote those. These are not
things that we don't know. But now, because we
looked at the arm of God, we know why we know
them. Because God's arm is always at work, and
you can kind of feel it even when you haven't
read it. So, a closing illustration. In a lot
of old churches and cathedral buildings, especially
across Europe, there are paintings of Atlas.
Anybody remember him? He's that mythical giant
comes from what, Greek, right? And he's supposedly
holding the world on his shoulders. The image
of Atlas suggests incredible strength as he's
literally holding up the world. Yeah, that's
only a legend. The Bible offers a far greater
reality. God does not strain beneath the weight
of the universe. I preached a block party over
on New Heights, and I had the video, and we used
an excerpt from it to make a promotions video
for the missions later. It was about 15 years
ago. And in that, as I was preaching, I said,
God could take the whole universe, not just the
earth, but the whole universe, and put it in
his hand with a tiny drop of dish soap like this,
and go, he can clean the whole universe if he
wanted to. And as I was preaching, I felt the
Holy Spirit say, that's a pretty good illustration.
Because if we think about the moon, it's big,
right? You see in the night sky, it's big. You
think about the sun, it's kind of small, right?
It's barely bigger than the moon, but it's 96
million miles away. It's actually like thousands
or, Art might be able to tell us exactly, but
like a million times bigger than the earth, right?
And God is... A million times, a billion times,
and an infinitely bigger being than all the star
systems and all the stars and everything that
exists combined. And we think that puts it in
perspective. It's a far greater reality. More
astonishing than that, then, is that the same
mighty God who sustains the stars, who made it
all and sustains it all, carries us when we need
it. That's huge. The arm that parted the Red
Sea conquered death through the resurrection
of Christ and will one day establish his eternal
kingdom in the very arm that carries every believer
through life's greatest trials. For the unbeliever,
this lesson is a call to trust in the only one
powerful enough to do what we're talking about.
For us, for the believers in the room, I hope
we're all believers in the room. I don't know.
I hope you are. God is an unending source of
confidence. If you'd be confident because you
received a check in the mail, because you see
praise, encouragement, somebody told you you're
doing the right thing. If you'd be confident
because somebody smiled at you and you're talking
to them, or because your doctor gave you a good
report. If any of those things would boost your
confidence, the fact that the God of the universe
is on your side with this kind of power, that
should boost your confidence. The Lord has bared
his holy arm. that all the ends of the earth
may see the salvation of our God. That's Isaiah
52 .10. And his mighty arm is still reaching,
still rescuing, still carrying, and still reigning
today. Okay? All right. So that concludes the
arm of God. Now, just so you know where we're
at, okay, we have three more anthropomorphic
terms for God that we'll handle in the next three
weeks. Somewhere in there, or by the fourth week
at the latest, Our structure in here will change
a little bit on Tuesday night. So we'll start,
and we'll have worship, and it'll be a little
different. But we'll still be doing the fun stuff,
especially when we have the kids with us and
like that, and keeping it energetic because coming
to church should be fun. It also should be a
great deal of learning. And those who think that,
like, we just can learn. We don't need to do
anything fun. I think God's fun. You have to
talk to him about that. All right. If you want
to do Bible trivia, you can stand up where you
are. Questions will come in random order. Some
are easy. Some are hard. I just got off the page.
I got to get back. You get one ticket. Okay.
Just two housekeeping things before we start
this in case I forget. After we do Bible trivia,
if you have completed your worksheet for today,
I'm going to give everybody a ticket that completed
their worksheet today. So you'll get one extra
ticket for that. Also, at the end of the night
today, I'm going to draw a name from this box.
So in this box are the tickets that were earned
for the last roughly three months since we started
doing this. Okay? And after we do all the prizes
tonight, the tickets from tonight will also go
in here. And then I'm going to shake it all up,
and I'm going to draw one name and give away
a $10 Meijer gift card. Just for fun. It's all
for me. Okay? All right, here we go. Let's see.
Where are we going to start? Me, me, mine, mine.
We'll start over here. River, you're first. You
ready? No pressure. No pressure. It's kind of
a tough question. It's the first tough question.
It's random. What are you going to do? What was
the occupation of Luke, the author of the Gospel
of Luke? What was his occupation, like job? Do
you know? If not, you can sit down and keep your
one ticket. One wants. Okay. Natalie, what was
the occupation of Luke? Doctor is correct. Okay,
very good. All right. Mike, you're up. Who was
the king of Salem and priest of God Most High
who blessed Abraham? Another hard one. Okay,
sitting down. Haley, who was the king of Salem?
and priest of God Most High who blessed Abraham.
She's down. Chris, she stuck you with it. Who
was the king of Salem and priest of God Most
High who blessed Abraham? Okay. All right. Anybody
want to take a stab at it? Does anybody know
it? Melchizedek. Melchizedek is the name. And
the New Testament says that Jesus is a priest
in the order of Melchizedek. Okay? All right.
Moving on. Who do we got? Jaden. What is the
shortest book in the Old Testament? Be careful.
The shortest book in the Old Testament. That
is another hard one. I've got three hard ones
in a row. I didn't write them. They're random.
He's down. She's down. Jason? If you guess, you
lose your ticket. Okay. Anyone want to take a
stab at it? Shortest book in the Old Testament?
Anyone want to take a stab at it? Nope. 1 Kings
is long. Nope. Obadiah. Obadiah is the shortest
book in the Old Testament. Okay. Caleb. Who fell
asleep and fell out of a window during Paul's
preaching? Another hard one. We'll get some easy
ones eventually. I see an easy one coming. You
should be able to ask your brother and he should
know because he falls asleep sometimes during
the preaching. I'm just kidding. It is not. Caleb
couldn't get it. Tommy? Have a seat. Aaron? Sorry.
You're the third one. Anybody got it? Eutychus.
You'll never forget it again. Eutychus. So Paul
preached really late into the night. He was sitting
in the window. He fell out of the window, broke
his neck and died. Paul went downstairs, laid
on top of him, begged God to heal him, brought
him back to life. They went back in, including
Eutychus, and preached the rest of the night.
And he would never fall asleep in the sermon
again. Yeah, probably not. Okay. All right. You
already did one, right? No, okay, Zayden. What
was the name of the island where John received
revelation? The island name. We had this one
last week, but you weren't in here, were you?
Oh, I'm so sorry. It's a tough one. If you've
not heard it recently. You probably know it.
As soon as I say it, you'll go, oh, yeah. He's
down. Arden, the name of the island. Uh -oh,
that's a problem. That means if it's two islands
that usually mix up, they have a 50 -50 chance.
What was the name of the island? Patmos. Patmos
is correct. Okay, Abby. Who was the judge that
defeated the Midianites with 300 men? They used
trumpets and torches and broke pitchers. 300
men. Remember his name? Don't remember? Have
a seat.