[Ralph Helge] Well occasionally, not occasionally, many times I like to just relax and sit back sometimes and think about the Bible in a broad perspective, not just pulling together scriptures. And when I did that one time, at least in my mind, I kind of came to a conclusion that the primary focus of the Bible is on God the Father, not only on Him but what He does and how He does it. That's what I began to see. And a major theme in that story of what God does and how He does it is about the power of God. God's power, that it prevails through the whole Bible, through the whole story. Therefore, today I'm going to speak on the subject of the power of God, just touching upon little different aspects of it, a little aspect here, a little aspect there. And so, we can kind of get a big picture and have that in mind.

Now, first of all, I've concluded that I see here that God the Father is the source of all power. Mark 14:62, Jesus speaking to the high priest. Jesus said, "You will see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of the Power," of the Power, "and coming with the clouds of heaven." That's Mark 14:62. You see, He says, "Sitting on the right hand," He didn't say of God, He says, "the Power." See, that's a metonym, a metonym. That's where the word stands for the thing itself. So here, the very word power also stands for God. God. In short, God is power. Psalm 62:11, it reads, "God has spoken once, twice I've heard this:” the author says there, "that power belongs to God." That's the source. It belongs to God. See, God's will decides the outcome, wherever He's involved of the way He wants it, that's apart from giving us the free moral agency concept to do wrong.

But in John 19:10, remember talking about the source of power, Jesus was before Pilate, and speaking there Jesus didn't answer up. And Pilate said, "You're not answering me. Don't You know that I have power to crucify You? Don't You know that, Jesus? And I have power to release You." And he did. He had power from his history to show that he crucified a lot of men and a few men he let go. And Jesus answered him. He did speak up. He says, "You would have no power at all” none, zip, ice, “unless it had been given to you from above." See, Jesus recognized that God, His Father was the source of all power, and He said, "If God didn't give it to you, you wouldn't have it."

See, in Revelation 19:1, "After these things" talking about heaven now, "I heard a loud voice of a great multitude" not one voice, a great multitude. When we read about God's throne, innumerable angels. So this “great multitude in heaven, saying, ‘Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and honor and power belongs to the Lord our God!’” That's the great multitude, the song, the praise that they are giving. So from these, we can see that God the Father is the source of all power.

And we learned from the Scriptures, as we consider this further and meditate on it, that God's power is unlimited. It's unlimited. Nahum 1:3, verse 3, says, "The Lord is slow to anger and great in power,” unlimited power, great in power. 2 Chronicles 20:6, Jehoshaphat was praying. He was praying because a great army was descending upon Jerusalem. And you got to picture that, you got to read history as to how vicious and cruel the Assyrians and these other armies were. They'd come into a city, they would massacre the people, they'd stack their heads up, whatever it took, and they'd take the rest slaves.

So he was praying about this army coming upon Jerusalem and he said, "O Lord God of our fathers," and he's got this in kind of a negative, kind of in a suggestive way. So I'm going to change it positive, "O Lord God of our fathers, You are God in heaven and You rule over all kingdoms and all nations,” remember the prayer, the sample prayer, where Jesus said, "You give the honor and glory to God. You start with that on your prayer.” That's what he did. He says, "in Your hand… and in Your hand is power and might, so that no one is able to withstand you?” That's what he's talking to God. He's bringing to God his great glory and might so God will hear an answer, "so no one is able to withstand you?” See, this is about the unlimited power of God.

In Ephesians 1:19 in the Living Translations, I got N.L.T. here, it says, Paul is saying, "I pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God's power for us who believe." We get these words, how they're trying to find words to describe this great power of God. It's unlimited. “The incredible greatness of God's power.” Paul is saying, "I want you to understand this." Paul, inspired by God, "I want you to know this. I want you to know about this incredible power of God," he said. In Luke 1:37, "With God nothing will be impossible.” With God nothing is impossible. That's the unlimited power of God.

So you see, when you really meditate on God's power, it's source, the fact that it's unlimited, it really helps you, if you really believe it and really think about it, to have a faith, a great faith in the future that everything is going to turn out well. It's going to turn out right in the end. You know, God, another point, God delegates some of this great power that He has, this awesome power, He delegates it to others. See, that's a very common concept in law of agency. The agent doesn't have anything until the principal gives Him the power, transfers the power. So God has the power and He delegates some to other people.

So in Psalm 68:35, we're going to read about this delegation. Psalm 68:35, it says, “…The God of Israel is He who gives strength and power to His people." That's where the strength and the power comes from with the people, the people of Israel and us today. See, in 1 Chronicles 29:11-12, it says, "Yours, O Lord, is the greatness, the power and the glory… In Your hands is power and might,” this is David's prayer, "in Your hand is power and might, in Your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all." To all. See, God the Father is the source of power. That's what Jesus told Pilate. It didn't come from God, you wouldn't have any power, and David has kind of confirming that here.

In Micah 3:8, "But truly I am full of power" where does it come from? "by the Spirit of the Lord,” we'll touch more upon that concept. "I am full," that’s another point we're going to touch upon “full of power by the Spirit of the Lord,” and then in Revelation 11:3-6 remember, this is about the delegation of power. Revelation 11:3-6 says, "And I will give power to my two witnesses,” okay, "give power to my two witnesses… and if anyone wants to harm them, fire proceeds from their mouth and devours their enemy." As I always say, fire is the weapon, God's choice of weapons, "and devours their enemy… These have power” God gave them “power to shut heaven up,” shut heaven, like Elijah, right? “shut heaven so that no rain falls…”

We get samples of that, you know, in Southern California getting worse and worse and worse in other parts of the world, “no rain falls during the time of their prophecy; and they have power over the waters to turn them to blood,” what does that bring to mind that we've heard here for the last few sermons, right? “to turn them to blood, and strike the earth with all plagues,” does that sound familiar? It's not just an old story back there in the Old Testament or the first part of your Bible, I’ll call it. See, “as often as they desire.” That's the power that God delegated to His witnesses.

Then in Ephesians 1:20-22, speaking of the extent of God's power that He delegated to Jesus, how we talked about how He gave it to the two witnesses and to others, so what power did He give to Jesus after His resurrection? It says, "God seated Jesus on His right hand side" that's the place of authority and power. Okay? Excuse me, "in the heavenly realms, above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also that which is to come. And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church." So you see God the Father gave to Jesus. So God the Father, Yahweh, is the supreme and He delegated this power to Jesus Christ. Remember Jesus said, "Look, I can't do anything myself. God does the works." That's Jesus' confession, He says, "When I speak, the Father tells me to speak," and this shows where the power came from and it was great power, great power.

In Matthew 28:18, “And Jesus came and spoke to His apostles, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.’" But in 1 Corinthians 15, we read that Paul says, "Yes, but however, not the ultimate glory and authority of God the Father.” But all the other authority was given to Jesus." And in Matthew 15:24-28, we read at the end of the Millennium, Jesus returns the Kingdom back to the Father. He says, "Here Father, the Millennium is over, all the enemies have been subdued. There's peace. Everything is in order. It's all set up now for Your return, God." And so God the Father, it shows that Jesus returned everything back to God the Father because God the Father, delegated to Him that authority and power and it shows that it comes from God the Father.

So then we have examples of sub-delegation. See, in Mark [Matthew] 10:1, Jesus called His 12 disciples, "Come gather around here," He said, "we're going to have a meeting. We're going to have a meeting.” And He gave them power. He delegated to them some of the power that God the Father gave Him. He says, “…over unclean spirits, to cast out spirits, to heal all kinds of sicknesses." See, He just doesn't say sicknesses, “all kinds.” Not just one kind, all kinds, "and all kinds of diseases." So, that was a major delegation of power to the disciples and they were very excited about it. Remember, they came back and said, "Jesus, you know what? The spirits, we have control over them." He says, "Yeah, I know, power is good, but the important things that you got your name in the book of life. That's the big thing," He said.

So now God has delegated some of His power to us. In Acts 1:8, He said, "But you shall receive power" Jesus speaking, "when the Holy Spirit has come upon you," and we're going to get power. So when you were baptized and you had hands laid on, you see, the Holy Spirit came and that manifested to you. It gave you power for that Holy Spirit, we'll touch upon that. Ephesians 3:20, "Now to God… to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all we ask or think,” you can't think of anything any greater, “all we ask or think,” see, He is able to do. God is able to do “abundantly all we… above all we ask or think, according to the power that works in us.”

You understand you got power. God has given you power as a Christian, you were sanctified, you were set aside for a holy purpose. Now God says, "I'm going to use you. I'm giving you power. Now I'm going to give you that power to carry out My will to do something for Me. You're My agent. You're M y servant." You see that? “According to the power that works in us,” you see, according to the power that works in us, that power comes from God. See, it's God that does the work. It's God that does the work. Another theme and lesson through the entire Bible, which we'll touch upon.

Philippians 2:12-13, that's where Paul says, “…work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God that works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure." You've been appointed. You’ve got an obligation to God. He wants you to serve Him and to do something to  exalt His name to talk about His power and so on. See, so never forget it's God's power that works in you. Never forget to give the glory to God for all the things that God accomplishes through you.

In 2 Corinthians 4:7, "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels,” earthen vessels. When you're 17 and you're 18, you can do certain things. "Hey, I can do it, man. I can lift it. I can do it. I can run the mile." Okay, but it's in an earthen vessel and it keeps deteriorating. I don't care what you eat or what you drink or how careful, how many vitamins you take, it degenerates and it goes down. Earthen vessels. Why is that? “that the excellency of the power” that comes from God “may be of God and not us.” You see that? He wants to make sure you know this. He wants you to say, "Oh, this power comes from God," and you and your body that's deteriorating, that's going to die one day and turn to dust. You give the glory to God because that power comes from God when you accomplish things, you see, for His purpose.

So what is the relationship between the Holy Spirit and this concept of power? The relationship, Micah 3:8, "But truly I am full of power" no it didn’t get full, sometimes not full, right? “full of power by the Spirit of the Lord,” so we get the Spirit and then you get this power, see. This scripture indicates that the Holy Spirit is not just the power, but that the power is conveyed by and through the Holy Spirit when you think about it.

And that concept is supported in Acts 1:8, Acts 1:8, "But you shall receive power" that's what you're going to get. Now you're going to get power “when the Holy Spirit comes… comes upon you.” Okay? Acts 10:38, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth. It says, “…anointed Jesus with the Holy Spirit and with power,” see, two things. An example of using this, a good example is the Holy Spirit as a conduit that's found in Romans 5:5, where it says, “…the love of God is poured out… poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit" that's the way God transfers His love, and I say His power, to us is through the Holy Spirit. That's Romans 5:5.

So we can conclude that power is a manifestation of God's Holy Spirit. That's where it comes from to us by that means. So now God's power within us is not fixed. It's not fixed, and when we talk about empowerment now, that's different than receiving God's Spirit, in my mind, for the purpose of salvation that is fixed, that doesn't pop in and out. There, you're converted, you're saved, and the next day you're not. No, that's fixed. If you lose that power of where you're converted, then it says there's no further help, you see, you've reached the end. So that's different than empowerment. Okay? God's power within us is not fixed. It fluctuates. That's empowerment.

Mark 5:25-30, see, this is the story where Jesus was in a big crowd and a woman there had an issue of blood, it says for years and years and couldn't be healed, and “she went up and she touched the hem of His garment.” You see, "And Jesus, immediately knowing in Himself…" you see, it wasn't a bunch of sparks. It wasn't a big flash of light. “Jesus just knew within Himself that power had gone out of Him,” His power went out. Remember what one man said, "I am full of the power?" Now it says power had went out.

And in Luke 6:17-19, we see another example of that. It's another example where Jesus was amongst the great multitude of people at a separate time, and they all came from all these cities, see, to be healed of their diseases. They ended up being cleansed of diseases and sicknesses. "And the whole multitude sought to touch Him, for power went out from Him…” Flowed out. You see that? This teaches that power is not something that is static or fixed. Empowerment by the Spirit is not static or fixed. It is something that flows in and out. And unless it's replenished, it can become depleted, this empowerment that God gives you, you see.

So when the Holy Spirit is the source of empowerment, you've got to constantly go back to God in order to have this restored to you, to get your tanks refilled. You see, if you don't do it pretty soon, you're only running on fumes. You're running on your own strength. You don't have the power of God to help you, so you’ve always got to go back and say, "God, give me wisdom, knowledge, understanding, power of Your Spirit,” etcetera. 

So what are some of the scriptural examples of the different ways in which God uses His great power? Just touch upon a few here. See, God, by His power, created everything. That's how powerful God's power is. Genesis 1:1, "God created the heavens and the earth." And when you read Genesis 2, over and over it says something. It's interesting. In Genesis 2, it talks about recreation, right? And it says, "He said…" Over and over it says, "He said… and it was done." He said, and it was done. So it appeared that God has so much power that He doesn't have to have a hands-on situation, doesn't have to say, "Jesus, hand Me a proton there. Okay, and now give Me a neutron, okay, I'm going to put these guys in. Spin it, and okay, give Me…" No, He can just speak. He can speak, and when He speaks His very commands create action. Create action, they create. That's how powerful God is.

In Jeremiah 10:12, "He has made the earth by His power,” Jeremiah 27:5, God was talking to foreign kings, "I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are on the ground,” how? "by My great power" God's not going to let it be forgotten. The more scriptures you go through, He wants you to know that He's got power, that He's the source of it. See, Jeremiah, 32:17, “Ah, Lord God! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arms. There is nothing too hard for You." Unlimited power. Nothing too hard for You, God. And we can call upon that power. That's the great thing. We can tap into it by prayer. He gives us that. He says, “Here, come before My throne. Tell Me what your problem is. Tell Me what you need." And you can tap into that great power to accomplish anything that's according to His will.

See, and God not only creates everything, but He sustains it. In Hebrews 1:3 speaking of Jesus, it says, “…upholding all things by the word" get that now, “the word of His power,” you see, so the power got… I mean you got this word. We can just say it and it's done, "upholding all things by the word of His power,” see, so just step back a minute and think of yourself as an astronaut, way up there way, way, way up, right? And you're looking back down. You're looking around at the earth. You're looking at the stars and the planets and all. You see, they're hanging in space. That's the amazing thing when you look at some of these astronaut pictures in these books, beautiful pictures, and there's the earth, there's nothing around it. There's no strings holding it. There's no foundation to it, it's just hanging there, and it's spinning and it’s spinning around the sun.

And then you've got also your planets and stars by the billions and they're all hanging out there and they’ve got a course they follow. So much, when I was a student pilot, and because of that, I had got to look at some books and here are all of these charts. What are they? They're saying exactly where the stars are going to be at a certain time, so somebody on the ship can take a sextet in those days and look and measure and say, "Here's where we are in the ocean," exactly where we are. That's how the stars are in their courses and continue in their courses. How can you say this is all accidents? That's the pathetic thing. You see, it's all from the power of God. It's inspiring to think that God accomplishes all of this through His great power.

Okay, now I can see we really almost got two sermons here, I can see that. How late did we start, by the way? I should have figured that out ahead of time. Okay, so if you want to now consider some of the interactions. See, remember now we're talking about the idea of some examples about God's power, right, and now consider the interaction between Moses and Pharaoh, right? We talked a lot about that the last few days or heard a lot about it. See, why didn't God just tell the Egyptians, "Egyptians, you just sit back, don't do anything. These Israelites are going to leave, and you're not going to say anything or do anything about it." He didn't do it that way. I don't want to recite, you know how He did it. See, why did God effectuate the release of the Israelites the way He did? See, God reveals it to us that He kept hardening Pharaoh's heart over and over again. He did it, okay, because he would not let the children go.

So in Exodus 9:16, why did God do it that way? “But indeed for this purpose” He is saying to Pharaoh, "I have raised you up, Pharaoh, for this purpose." “Here's the reason for your existence.” Remember He had Cyrus come and release the Jews? Here He says, "Pharaoh, I had you born and I raised you up.” No and it says, just an aside, now on a side point, you don't say, "Well, that's so wrong." No. God says, "What right do you have to tell me, the Potter? If I want to make a clay jar for honor or if I want to make a clay jar for dishonor and just break it and smash it?" So got to be careful. We don't want to judge God. We don't want to test God. Okay? "But indeed for this purpose I've raised you up, Pharaoh, that I may show My power."

You don't just read the stories, "Oh, that's a cute little story. That's a very cute story about coming out of Egypt." No. He says, "I want you to get a lesson out of it. I did it to show My power." So when you get done, you say, "Boy, God is powerful." You've got to get the lesson, okay, “…and that My name may be declared in all the earth." God wants to be known. He wants all the people to worship Him, to turn to Him and accept Him and pray to Him. You see, God doesn't do things in the corner. He doesn't do things in the corner.

So I'm going to skip over some of this. Moses told people to, "Remember this day. Now, remember what happened here. Don't forget it. Don't forget, people." He's telling us the same thing today. You read the story. “Don't forget the story. Don't forget the story.” Exodus 13:3, see, He also says, “And remember to tell your children about it." “And Moses said to the people: ‘Remember this day in which you went out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand’” that's God's power, “the Lord brought you out." That's the source that did it. See, it's just a lesson we can know about God and His great power. We can learn it the easy way. We can read the Scriptures and we can believe them with all our heart and our soul and in faith. We can do that and know about God's power or we can doubt. You see and learn the hard way by telling God, "I don't know how powerful you are. Let's see it. Let's see somewhere. Let's see what you can do." No, don't do it the hard way. Do it the easy way. Read the Scriptures and believe them.

See, then we can also learn how God does things by this power. He controls the elements. In Isaiah 50:2-3, He says, “…My rebuke I dry up the sea,” by His rebuking, just say, "Sea, you're dried up," and it's dry. "I make the rivers a wilderness;” like the desert. When you drive out here through the desert, nothing, right? Nothing but sand. You see these culverts where the water's supposed to come. Nothing. Sand, dirt, “their fish stink because they have no water, and die of thirst. I clothe the heavens with blackness," does that sound familiar? "and make the sackcloth they're covering.” Doesn't that sound now like Revelation to you? That's all God's power controlling the elements.

And Job 26:12, He says, “[I] stir up the sea with His great power,” He talks about in there how He dried up the Red Sea and the dry land and Israelites went through it, and then when the Egyptian army was there, he said he filled it back up to its fullness, to its full depth, brought it all back to its full depth. That was very interesting. That's in Exodus 14:21 through there. And in Psalms 89:9 it says, "You rule the raging of the sea.” you ever been on the sea where there was a big storm? “When the waves rise, You still them.” See, I remember on the troop ship, we were going overseas in the Pacific, big, big ship, not a little ship, big. And we happened to be sleeping right up in the very front of the ship underneath, of course, the deck, couple of decks down.

But right in the bow of the ship and a big storm came. See, here's a bunch of sick Marines, right, all over the place. But you see that ship would go up, the storm would come in and bring the nose of the ship up, and you'd feel it, you’d rise out of your bunk, and then the wave would be gone and the ship would just, boom, fall and you'd hear it, boom, and then it'd go up again, boom, and wiggle. The power of God, you know, you really realized God makes the waves. When you feel that, you see, you believe it.

An interesting story, Mr. Armstrong said how he was going overseas with his wife, Loma Armstrong, and there was a big storm and it says his wife went to the room and she prayed and she prayed this verse, “'You rule the raging sea,’ please calm it, ‘and You still them.’” That was her prayer. See, and of course, we know when God couldn't tolerate sinners anymore on earth, back in Genesis, He brought a great flood. Genesis 6:17 and Genesis 7, that's the story where He says He just got sick and tired of things. He said, "I'm going to bring a rainstorm. It's going to rain." And He opened up the earth itself and it rain for 40 days and 40 nights until the entire earth was covered, that's the power of God until there was nothing living and it stayed there for 150 days. That's the power of God.

Now God, through the Scriptures also we learn something more about His power. Another example of bringing the dead back to life. Ephesians 1:19-20, and Paul saying, "I pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God's power." He wants us to know the incredible greatness, right? This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead. God the Father raised Jesus to His great power. And in 1 Corinthians 6:14, God both raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by His power. So let's really believe that God's got this power because that's the very source of our being resurrected.

And you know, I was thinking today, just think about it, what did God say? He sent Jesus, His only begotten Son. He was a spirit in heaven, right? He sent Him down to earth. Two, He took that spirit, He made it flesh. Flesh was on earth and Jesus died, right? Three, God made Him spirit again. He made Him spirit. Then, you know, it says for “40 days He ate and drank and they saw Him and they felt Him and they talked to Him,” so He made Him physical again, physical, spirit, physical, spirit, and then what? Then He had to make Him spirit again so you'd go to heaven. Five different… all through the power of God. From spirit to physical. From physical to spiritual. That's the power of your God.

See, and God does this. He does it with all kinds of hoopla and great extravaganza. Big, big, big show, like Cecil B. DeMille, right, when he wants to make something about Rome. Big, big horses and so on running around. But God is not an exhibitionist. He has a sound reason for doing what He does and it's for our benefit, for our benefit, of all this hoopla, of all the glory, the way He does things of bringing the Israelites out of Egypt. Why does He do it for our benefit? He wants us to see, He wants us to read, He wants us to learn, and He above all, He wants us to believe and have faith with all our hearts and souls that God is all powerful, that He is God Almighty. God Almighty, nothing is too great for Him.

I'm going to skip over here the concept where Paul says, "I am weak." Say, "When I am weak, I am strong." Just not going to cover all of that. Just touch upon it. You see, but Paul's weakness was turned into strength. What does he mean by that, "When I'm weak, I'm strong”? You read that a little kind of, you know, it doesn't make sense, but it does make sense. It does make sense, because when Paul realized that he was caught someplace and there was going to be great bodily harm or death, he says, "I'm helpless. I'm weak. I can't do anything of myself." You see, at that point, he turned to God and said, "God, help." Okay, and that's when God gave him the power. See, God gave him the power and the strength of God. Then he had God's power within him. That's why he says, "I was weak physically, but then I'm strong because now I'm relying upon the power of God." That's what he meant there.

2 Corinthians 3:5, it says, "Not that we are sufficient of ourselves” don't look to your own strength and power only “as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God." And 2 Corinthians 4:7 in the N.I.V., 2 Corinthians 4:7, "But we have this treasure in jars of clay,” again, he's reminding you, Paul is bringing it home, "Look, you're only physical. You're dead meat on the hoof." That's it because of the sins that occurred. You know, all you’ve got to hope for is the resurrection. No hope physically. The resurrection is your great hope, see. He says, "But we have this treasure in clay jars to know this, all-surpassing power is from God and not from us." Isn't that beautiful? The power comes from God. Rely upon God. Do what you can. You’ve got to do your part. “Faith without works is dead.” You got to do your part, but you got to be ready to give the glory to God for working in and through you.

See, Isaiah 40:29, "He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength." So it does come. It does come. See, we have to acknowledge our weakness and acknowledge the power of God within us. Why is that? Why does God want to do that? 1 Corinthians 1:29, 1 Corinthians 1:29, it says that "No flesh should glory in His presence." See that, God is not going to permit you or any physical being to say, "I did it my way." When the Church was kind of collapsing, that was one of the t-shirts that came out, "I did it my way." Absolute rebellion, you see. No, God works in and through us. You see that?

So that brings up the scripture here, Psalm 46:10. God says, "Be still,” God's going to speak and say, "Knock it off. Knock it off. Listen up." God says, "Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted amongst the nations, I will be exalted in all the earth!” See, no glory to the flesh. No one's going to say, "I really didn't need You, God, to get here." Not going to be. If you’ve got that attitude, you won't be there. No flesh is going to glory. It comes from God. So God makes the mountains shake, as He did, He said He's going to shake the earth again and just rattle everybody's teeth and rattle their bones. You see? And He's going to do that in order that we may know that God is power. God is power. A good lesson for us is the prayer of Hezekiah. 2 Kings 19:19, the king of Assyria was besieging Jerusalem with a vastly superior army. Vastly, you see. So he approached God in prayer.

He says, "Now therefore, O Lord our God, I pray, save us… save us from this hand,” this king of Assyria. He's got all this power. He's got power galore out there. He's got horses, he's got chariots, he's got whatever he takes to bring this city down to its knees. “I pray, save us from his hand,” and why? To save our skin, right? No, “that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You are the Lord God, You alone.” Isn't that beautiful? “You alone.” One God, one God. That's where he said to Jesus, "Jesus, what's the greatest commandment?" He says, "There's one God." And then the Pharisee that said, "You know, that's really a good answer, Jesus." And Jesus said, "You know something because you agree with that, you're very close to the Kingdom. You're very close to the Kingdom."

See, one God, “You alone.” And in conclusion, in Isaiah 41:13, "For I, the Lord your God, will hold your right hand,” isn't that stirring? You ever have a real problem? Did you ever really have things go wrong? I remember I did one time in China sitting in the M.P.’s tent. You say big problem, big problem. Then I prayed to God. But then I pray, "God, get me out of this, will you please? If you do, I'll go to church every Sunday, God." I never went to church at all. I never went to church, see. But anyway, then “the Lord your God, will hold your right hand.” That's so warming to me just to grasp God's hand, you see, “saying to you,” God will be “saying to you, ‘Fear not. Don't be afraid. I know the hills are shaking. I know the rivers are dried up. I know there's maybe a food shortage. I know that people are being persecuted. Fear not. Don't be afraid. I will help you.’" Isn't that a beautiful scripture? "For I, the Lord your God, will hold your right hand, saying to you, 'Fear not, I will help you.'"

See, it is written in Psalm 46:1, "God is our refuge" I think about that more and more. Is it Petra? Is it over in the… what's this park? Yellowstone Park, so maybe. No, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” See, that's right, a pleasant help in trouble. Isaiah 35:4, "Say to those who are fearful..." you're afraid now, things are coming down, things are falling apart, the distance, “Oh maybe we're at the end.” This is nothing as to what's going to happen. Okay, but it's starting, the trade wars and all, you see. "Say to those who are fearful-hearted, 'Be strong… be strong, do not fear… do not fear!’” Have your absolute faith that God is your refuge, your protector.

And David said, "I don't care if thousands fall on my left, more thousands on my right. I'm going to have faith in You, God. You're going to deliver me from all these pestilence and plague, whatever it is." You see. “…do not fear! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God; He will come and save you." Isn't that beautiful? That's beautiful, see. And the point is that God can make these promises and know I'm making them with positivity, with strength, with conclusiveness, and why? Because of the greatness of His power. No one can resist His power. He can carry out what He said in those Scriptures and nobody can stop Him. So let's have faith in God and tend to God and thank Him for His power and for being with us and helping us in all our needs.