The Power of Almighty God

Beth Bucheit

October 14, 2023

Brethren, we have just returned from God’s Feast and Last Great Day. We were fed by God’s apostle and ministry through the inspiration of God which comes through the power of

God. God inspired by His holy spirit, the power of His holy spirit, what we need to work on and fine-tune. God has left nothing to chance if we are listening. We know what our job is and what we are to work on, what we are to move forward in conquering to please Him, to show God we are behind this thing.

I want to start off today’s sermon by asking you to turn over to 1 Corinthians 15:3. I want to read a few things that Paul said to the Corinthians.

1 Corinthians 15:3—For I delivered to you first of all which I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures and he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.

We understand that Joshua, our Passover, died for our sins. In other words, because Joshua sacrificed, hung on a pole, and died without sin, we can now go to God and ask for forgiveness of our sins. Christ died and was buried and then exactly three days later God raised him from the grave, from death.

Dropping down to verse 20—But now Christ is risen from the dead and has become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. Joshua was the first in God’s plan to be resurrected from the dead. Christ is the first of the firstfruits of all who have died being a part of those chosen to be a part of the 144,000. God and Christ are now preparing the few that remain and once the final sealing has taken place, then Christ will return with those who are asleep and are resurrected to a spiritual life, and those still alive will rise to meet them, becoming spirit.

Continuing in verse 21—For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ, all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at his coming. Then comes the end when he delivers the Kingdom to God the Father, when he puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign till he has put all enemies under his feet.

When Joshua and the 144,000 return it will be with the power and the authority that God has given to Joshua to establish His Kingdom, God’s Kingdom to this earth. Joshua and the 144,000 will rule with the authority of God Almighty.

Continuing now in verse 26—The last enemy that will be destroyed is death. For He has put all things under his feet. When He says all things are put under him, it is evident that He who put all things under him is excepted. Now when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under him, that God may be all in all.

Brethren, the last enemy that will be destroyed is death. And all of this I just read is only possible for one reason. Our Great God has the power to do it, and no other one and no one else.

I’d like you to turn over to Exodus 12:12 now. So if you could turn over to Exodus 12:12—For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all gods of Egypt I will execute judgment. I am the Eternal. Now, the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.

By God’s power death did not come to those who obeyed what He told them to do. God commanded that all who had the blood on their houses would be safe. God said it and it was. God has the power to protect and save life.

Now I’d like us to drop a little lower into Exodus 14:19—And the angel of God, who went before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud went from before them and stood behind them. So it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel. Thus it was a cloud and darkness to the one, and it gave light by night to the other, so that the one did not come near the other all night.

By God’s power, a pillar of cloud kept the Egyptians from the Israelites. The Egyptians were in darkness and the Israelites had light so they could see what they were about to do.

Verse 21—Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Eternal caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea into dry land, and the waters were divided. So the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea on the dry ground, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.

I cannot imagine, and I’m sure you cannot either, how the Israelites must have felt. They had seen many miracles before this. After all, they had come out of Egypt and had been saved with the blood on their houses, and still alive. God had led them out of bondage to freedom, but they murmured just like we do.

I can’t imagine what it would have been like. You know there had to be fear and apprehension as they started that journey with water on both sides. But can you imagine what they felt when they got to the other side? They had literally witnessed God’s almighty power, and this was nothing for God to do.

Today’s sermon title is The Power of Almighty God.

I want us to really get where we are going today. I want us to move forward in the sermon to understand when we talk of God we can never completely get it because God is spirit and we are flesh, but we need to start to try to understand how great our God is. He is the Living God and the Creator of All Things. He gives us our very next breath that we will take, and without Him, there is nothing. Without serving God there is no purpose.

One of the names of God in the Bible is El Shaddai, which means Almighty God, Source of All Power. Where do you start to describe the power of God? We could literally talk all day and we would not scratch the surface, but that does not mean we should not talk about it or meditate on it. We should. We need to try to start to grasp it and be in awe of it.

In today’s sermon, I will cover a few things that show the power of God, a few things that I can help us to see how great He is.

Let’s turn over to Isaiah 44:6—Thus says the Eternal, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, the Eternal of hosts. I am the First and I am the Last; Besides Me, there is no God.

God Almighty is the only God, the only true God. The world has lots of gods. I think of them as the little “g” gods. They all have one thing in common. They are inspired by Satan and his selfish nature. They are physical and have no power like the true God. They are nothing to fear except we might let one of those gods take our mind off the true God. Then that is on us. Remember, idolatry is a sin.

God is the first. God had no beginning. That right there is an example of power for you. He was not created. He did not come into being, He has always been there. I am sure I am not the only one that at some point has sat and thought about that. It makes your head spin. You say to yourself, “God has no beginning,” but your brain fights it because we only know being created. We all have a beginning.

God is the last. God has no end; He is forever. Everything in this universe could cease to exist, and that would only happen at His will, and God would still be here. We have an end. Except for a few that God has called for a purpose not to taste death, the rest of us will die. We will return to the dust from whence we came.

Let’s turn over to Genesis 1 now, brethren. I want to look at the power of God and that He and only He has the power to create something from nothing. So, let’s turn over to Genesis 1:1—In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

We in the Church know the words for “without form” and “void” are the Hebrew words, “tohu” and “bohu.” We are familiar with it, and it means “waste and empty” and a state of “decay.” The world does not know that the earth had become “tohu” and “bohu” or “waste and empty.” They do not understand that the earth became a state of decay. They think this is the first time for creation on the earth, but we are blessed to know that this is not the case.

Mr. Armstrong used to compare these scriptures to coming into a movie and it has already started to play, and you don’t understand what is going on because you do not have the whole story. Those of us in the Church are blessed. We have been caught up or brought up to speed and we are on track with the rest of the story.

In the very first two scriptures of the Bible, we see the result of selfishness. We in the Church also understand that the earth became this way; it became a state of decay, and we know why. It was because Lucifer who became Satan in his delusional state of perverted and sick thinking thought he could rise up with the help of a third of the angels (that became known as demons) and take God’s throne. Lucifer was not satisfied with what God had given him and he wanted more. He was selfish.

Lucifer was able to convince a third of the angels that they could take control. They were all sadly mistaken. We know that God quickly revealed to Lucifer, who then became known as Satan, that God is almighty, and God is in control of all things and all things will work out for His purpose and for His plan.

So after Satan and his demons tried to take control of God’s throne and failed the earth became a state of decay and God decided it was time to move His plan forward.

Verse 3—Then God said, Let there be light, and there was light. And God saw the light, and it was good; God divided the light from darkness. God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. So the evening and the morning were the first day.

God Almighty spoke and what He commanded came into existence. The earth now had a day and night. By the power of God’s will, this was done. The earth now had been divided into two separate things, light and day, dark and night.

Continuing in verse 6—Then God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. Thus God made the firmament and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament, and it was so. And God called the firmament heaven. So in the evening and the morning were the second day.

God’s great power now divides the waters, and we now have water and sky. Again, God divided something into two separate things. The sky during the day looks completely different from the sky at night. It is the same sky but different.

Verse 9—Then God said, Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together in one place, and let the dry land appear; and it was so. And God called the dry land earth, and the gathering together of waters He called seas. And God saw that it was good.

On day three God now divided the water from the land, and earth and sea came into being. Again, God has divided something into two separate things, land and sea. The seas or oceans are vast. Seventy-one percent of the earth is covered in oceans or salt water and another three percent freshwater. As of today, eighty percent of the ocean has not been explored. That alone shows the greatness in the creation of the seas on the third day.

When I stand on a beach and I look out at the massive ocean and I listen to the roar of the waves as they crash against the shore I always think of God and His great power. You cannot see to the end, just to the horizon. And when you reach that horizon it is the same thing. You eventually will reach another land mass, but it’s not for a very long time.

That now leaves twenty-nine percent for land. It is thought that about five percent of the land surface has not been touched by man yet today. Again, think of how great that is, that in 2023, there is still a land surface that man has not touched. It may be the only true beautiful place left because we know everything man touches he destroys.

If you look at the twenty-nine percent of land in a hundred percent breakdown, you have thirty-three percent desert, twenty-four percent mountainous, leaving forty-three percent that is habitable today. That is not a lot in the scheme of things, but this is where man lives.

It is here, on the earth that God’s plan will be completed. The plan He created. The plan He created before He even started to recreate the earth. God is moving forward in His plan for mankind described in these scriptures, creating a place where mankind will live and be sustained. And God saw that it was good.

Verse 11—Then God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth; and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. So the evening and the morning were the third day.

We see God also created the grass and the fruit tree on the third day. I found an article called, Grass 101: The Earth’s Blanket. I loved that title. According to the article, there are twelve thousand species of grass throughout the world. Each has a different characteristic. As a child living in the country, most of my landscape was grass and trees. When I would lay on the ground and look at the hills where they met the sky I used to think God’s favorite colors were green and blue. So many shades of green and blue in the grass and the trees.

Along with the grass are different types of flowers. If I asked every person in this room what is your favorite flower, we know we would get a lot of answers. Just think of how different each flower is and how different they vary in color. My favorite flower is the red rose. The petals look so smooth and perfect. Now, just think about the difference between the rose and the yellow sunflower. So different, and both so beautiful.

All trees that have flowers bear fruit. I could not find a specific number, but I did find an article that listed forty-six different ones that we are all familiar with and this does include trees that bear nuts, such as a walnut tree.

God created such a variety just in grass, the trees, and the flowers. I am mentioning how many of something there may be and how they look differently to help us to see that.

Now think about just one flower as it’s formed. Just to show how involved it is I looked up a simple explanation. The flower has four basic parts: the pistil, stamen, sepal, and petal.

The pistil is the female reproductive part of a flower and is centrally located and typically consists of a swollen base, the ovary, which contains the potential seeds, or ovules.

The stamen is the pollen-producing part of a flower, usually with a slender filament supporting the anther where pollen is produced.

The sepal is the outer part of the flower, often green and leaf-like, that encloses a developing bud.

The petal is the outside of the flower and is the parts of a flower that are often colored.

Now, it’s not just a simple flower, is it? We all know there is a lot going on in these four basic parts and put into motion by God by the power of God.

Going on now with verse 14—Then God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years.

We know that this is how we know when a day begins and when a day ends. God gave man a way to start to observe the Sabbath and the Holy Days. Psalms 104:19 states, He appointed the moon for seasons. The sun knows it's going down. God has given twenty-four hours for a day. He gave us the moon to know when months begin and end, and how many days are in a year by the rotation of the earth around the sun.

Genesis 1:15—And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth; and it was so. Then God made two great lights, the greater light is to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also. God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw it was good. So the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

The greater light to rule the day we know is the sun. The sun is a bright, hot ball of hydrogen and helium at the center of our solar system. It is 864,000 miles in diameter, which means it’s a hundred and nine times wider than the earth. According to the National Geographic Society, “The sun has extremely important influences on our planet: It drives weather, ocean currents, seasons, and climate, and makes plant life possible through photosynthesis. Without the sun's heat and light, life on earth would not exist.”

The lesser light to rule or brighten the night is the moon and the stars. The moon gives off light because it is reflecting the sun back to the earth. Think of all the stars we can see, think of all the stars we cannot see, and think of how many stars we know of today that we did not know about ten years ago. They are vast, and all created by God. It is estimated that there are one hundred thousand million stars just in our galaxy, the Milky Way.

So, “What is a star made of?” “A star is a huge glowing ball of hot gas. Deep inside its core hydrogen atoms smashing together forming helium and releasing huge amounts of energy that heats the gas. This is called nuclear fusion, and it's why a star shines. As the hot gas pushes outward, it opposes the inward pull of gravity.”

Now, I personally can just read that and go “Okay.” But seriously, that sounds like a lot of energy and power – and it was created by God.

Going on now in verse 20—Then God said, Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the firmament of heavens. So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful and multiply, fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth. So the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

According to the National Ocean Services, scientists estimate ninety-one percent of the ocean species have not yet been classified and more than eighty percent of our ocean is unmapped, unobserved, and unexplored. That is a lot of area. That would explain why all the species have not been classified.

The ocean holds the largest animal ever known, the blue whale. Close to extinction, the blue whale can be eighty to a hundred feet long, weighing two hundred tons, which is about thirty-three elephants, and their heart is the size of a Volkswagen beetle. Their low-frequency whistle can be heard for over a hundred miles. That is a massive mammal, and all created by the power of God.

National Geographic estimates there are fifty billion to four hundred thirty billion different types of birds on the planet. There are many types of birds in all sizes and colors. The birds in God’s creation, to me, are like the flowers in God’s creation, they show such a variation of size and color. As I prepared the sermon I listened to two birds chirping outside my window, thinking, so many differences.

Now continuing in verse 24—Then God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind: cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each according to its kind; and it was so. And God made the beast of the earth according to its kind, cattle according to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

I didn’t know where to even start there so I’m just going to say there are a lot of creeping things on the earth and each one has a purpose and was created to benefit man.

We are now up to six days of creation. God did not just create a few things, but a massive amount. You cannot count it. Our puny minds can only envision what we have been exposed to or what we have read about. No matter how much you know, God created more. And again, He created it all by His command, by His power. He brought it into existence, and all for a purpose.

Now we’re going to finish here on the sixth day, reading verse 26—Then God said, Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth, over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

God created man and woman. We know that God created Adam from the dust of the ground and breathed life into him. We know that God then created Eve from Adam’s rib. In Genesis 2:23 after Eve was created Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman because she was taken out of Man. Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

One flesh. One. Male and female acting as one, working together as one. If we are working together as one, are we not the same? Unity is one, right? Male and female should work together in unity, unity and oneness in the truths of God.

Before moving on I want to think about the physical creation of man. I want to look at just a few things that make up this human body and how fragile it truly is and why we have no right to ever think we are something special.

Let’s look at the heart created by the power of God. A simple definition is “Your heart is the organ in your chest that pumps the blood around your body.” Simple indeed. The four main functions of the heart are:

● Pumping oxygenated blood to other body parts.

● Pumping hormones and other vital substances to different parts of the body.

● Receiving deoxygenated blood and carrying metabolic waste products from the

body and pumping it to the lungs for oxygenation.

● Maintaining blood pressure.

Again, in showing the incredible power of God, and keeping in mind He created the human body from the dust of the ground, I wanted to know what does man think is the most complicated thing in the body. And I was not disappointed in the first answer that I got from the National Institute of Health: “The brain is the last and grandest biological frontier, the most complex thing we have yet discovered in our universe. It contains hundreds of billions of cells interlinked through trillions of connections.”

I think it is exciting. The brain is where we store the knowledge of God’s truth. By the power of God, He created our brains, and then by the power of God He allowed us to receive His holy spirit and we can know God. God allows His holy spirit to help us, to allow us to bring into remembrance all things we need. Our brains are our own personal computers. We should constantly thank God for our brains.

Now, Genesis 1:28—Then God blessed them, and God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth. God gave mankind dominion or rule over all that He created. God had created six days for mankind and God had a plan.

Verse 29—And God said, See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food. Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food; and it was so. Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

God had finished His work in six days. God commanded it and the universe obeyed. Nothing argued with God, it just came to be. We can read over this and not really think about it. In these verses, God reveals the recreation of the earth and how He did it. God took something void and in decay and made it a magnificent creation of variety and color. He willed it and it was.

God Almighty is omnipotent meaning He is able to do anything and nothing controls Him. All power belongs to God, and part of that power is to create and these verses give us a sample of that.

I have added minute details to try to help us to see how great and His vast creation is. Some of the number of things may not be what they were on the day God created, but we would not have any numbers at all had not God started to create. I hardly gave anything, yet what I gave shows how incredible the power of God is and that He created all of what I talked about.

I’d like now to turn over to Psalms 8:3. I want to reflect again on what king David had to say about the heavens when he looked at them. King David knew the power of God, he saw it in the heavens, and God revealed things to king David that then he shared through the scriptures to us.

So again, that’s Psalms 8:3—When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained, What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him? For You have made him a little lower than the angels, and You have crowned him with glory and honor. You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen—even the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea that pass through the paths of the seas. O LORD, our Eternal, How excellent is Your name in all the earth!

We are blessed to know the answer to what man is and why God is mindful of him. We find the answer within the 57 Truths that God gave to His apostles. Brethren, when we look at the heavens we should feel the same zeal that king David had when he wrote this scripture. If we don’t this is something that we should probably pray and ask God to give us.

Let’s cover Truth #6:

6 (3) God’s purpose for mankind. God is reproducing Himself and no other church knows or preaches this truth. We are to be born of God and become God—in the God Family: Elohim.

Truth #8 that God inspired to give to Mr. Armstrong directly answers king David’s question.

8 (5) What is man? Man does not have an immortal soul. Man is a temporary living, mortal being that returns to the elements of the earth at death and does not go to heaven or hell. Only God can give mankind immortality in His Family.

We know His Family is Elohim. To answer king David’s questions, God is reproducing Himself. He started with a very fragile human being that He created by His power and then has the potential to be begotten of God’s holy spirit to become a part of the very Family of God, to become like God, to become Elohim. God knows everything, God has the power to do anything, and is perfectly good.

Now I would like to turn over to Job 38. We are familiar with the story of Job, but I want to focus on a couple of verses in chapter 38 that reflect the power of God. We’re going to start with verse 1.

So, that’s Job 38:1—Then the Eternal answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said, Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Now prepare yourself like a man and I will question you, and you shall answer Me.

Every time I think about this I think if I was Job I would have thrown up at that moment. This is a “Sit down and listen to Me!” moment. God starts off by telling Job He has no knowledge, or in other words, “You don’t know anything, and you do not know what you’re talking about.” Kind of reminds you of someone with an opinion about everything with nothing to back it up.

And I love the line, “Prepare yourself like a man.” Well, ladies, God could have said, “Prepare yourself like a woman,” except Job was born a man. Because given the same circumstance we would have done the same thing. And you can imagine being questioned by God. How many times have we messed up with the same stupid wrong choice over and over? We know that God could ask us the question, “Are you that foolish?”

Now, let’s read verse 4—Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements? Surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? To what were its foundations fastened? Or who laid its cornerstone?

Dropping down to verse 8—Or who shut in the sea with doors when it burst forth and issued from the womb; when I made the clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling band; when I fixed My limit for it and set bars and doors; when I said, This is how far you may come, but no farther, and here your proud waves must stop!

Think about what I just read. God in His power and might laid the foundations of the earth, and He determined its size. He put it on its axis and set its rotation exactly as He wanted. He put the seas and the oceans in place. And think of how beautifully this is written. He describes the sea as being born as a baby, coming from the womb. He gave the ocean limits; He told the ocean what it could do. He told the ocean its proud waves could come to a certain spot, and then they must stop! He commanded it and it was.

Now I want to read the same verse but in the New International Version: Who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb, when I made the clouds its garment and wrapped it in thick darkness, when I fixed limits for it and set its doors and bars in place, when I said, This far you may come and no farther; here is where your proud waves halt?

A parent should have such obedience from their child. God's creation does as He commands. We are God’s creation. Why don’t we obey? The ocean stops exactly where God tells it. What’s wrong with us? I say that knowing what is wrong with us. We are filled with human nature. And after all, that is why God is questioning Job.

God created us exactly as He wanted. He gave us the ability to make choices. We just make a lot of bad choices. But we also know God knew this and He gave us a way to change. He created a Passover. God created His Son so that we could be forgiven of our sins.

Dropping down now to verse 19—Where is the way to the dwelling of light? And darkness, where is its place, that you may take it to its territory, that you may know the paths to its home? Do you know it, because you were born then or because the number of your days is great?

God wants to know if Job knows where light and darkness dwell and wants to know if it is because he was born then, at the time of creation, or is it just because he is older? God continues to ask Job several questions and these questions show how much God is in charge of His creation with His great power.

I’m going to read just a couple more. Let’s look at verse 33—Do you know the ordinances of the heavens? Can you set their dominion over the earth?

And verse 36—Who has put wisdom in the mind? Or who has given understanding to the heart?

God continues into chapter 39 and asks even more, each question letting Job know he did not know much.

Now let’s jump down to Job 40:1—Moreover, the Eternal answered Job, and said, Shall the one who contends with the Almighty correct Him? He who rebukes God, let him answer it. And Job does, (verse 3) Then Job answered the Eternal and said, Behold, I am vile. What shall I answer You? I lay my hand over my mouth.

I encourage you to read on your own the rest of chapters forty and forty-one because God then asks more questions of Job.

But I want to finish up now with Job and drop down to Job 42:1—Then Job answered the Eternal and said, I know that You can do everything and that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You. You asked, Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge? Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. Listen, please. Let me speak. You said, I will question you, and you shall answer Me. I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eyes see You. Therefore I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes.

What an incredible attitude Job has here. He sees himself for what he is, and he repents. We know that Job changes and that God blesses him mightily. The incredible thing here is that Job came to see God in a fuller way, to see His great power and might. But Job will not completely see it until he is resurrected into a spirit being and he is part of the God Family.

Some of us who are hearing and understanding today, it is because it’s by God’s spirit He woke some of us from a sleep. He woke a small remnant to be able to grow, to start to see how powerful He is. Only a mighty God could stir someone asleep and put His truth back into a mind. A weak human being cannot do anything. Remember this is only possible by God’s holy spirit, which is the power of God.

I want to go back now to Genesis. Let’s go back to Genesis 2:1—Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day, God ended His work which He had made, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made. And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made.

We know that when God rested and sanctified the seventh day this is referring to the Sabbath. God blessed this day, the seventh day. The seventh day is a blessing to us. God gave us a day from sundown to sundown to be able to concentrate on Him and on His creation and His plan for mankind. God gave us a day to reflect on His great power and might. God reflected on all He had made and He knew that it was good.

Let’s turn over to Isaiah 45:18—For thus says the Eternal who created the heavens, who is God, who formed the earth and made it, who has established it, who did not create it in vain, who formed it to be inhabited: I am the Eternal, and there is no other. I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth. I did not say to the seed of Jacob, Seek Me in vain. I, the Eternal, speak righteousness; I declare things that are right.

God has revealed to us, to man, through His ministry, to those who have been faithful that He and only He is God. There is no other. It is the power of the Living God that created the heavens and formed the earth and created mankind to dwell on it.

We know at the time of the creation in Genesis we have our first scriptures to describe Satan as a serpent. We know that Satan started as Lucifer, and he was the most perfect of God’s creation until iniquity was found in him. We know that the earth was without form and void because of Lucifer’s rebellion. We know that Satan has influenced mankind since the Garden of Eden. We know that mankind has followed the works of the flesh, Satan’s work, Satan’s nature.

Let’s turn back to Genesis 3:1—Now, the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Eternal God had made. And he said to the woman, Has God indeed said you shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, You shall not eat, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.

Then the serpent said to the woman, You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked. They sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.

I’m going to now read Truth #55:

55 (34) God created both good and evil, but to understand “how” is to understand why God gave beings, both human and angelic, independent free choice, apart from Himself, as free moral agents.

God’s way is the way of right living that produces the only true peace that exists in right relationships. By revealing (showing, teaching) “this way—the way of peace,” evil was created. This happened because “in” those created, there existed the choice to live a different way than the way of peace revealed by God. When any being in God’s creation chooses a different way of living than the way of peace that He has shown (given), then “evil” is created.

Adam and Eve made a bad choice. They chose the way of Satan. They chose not to believe God, and most of mankind since then has done the same thing. God created evil. Without the creation of evil, we could not become Elohim. In creating evil God removed peace. The power of God accomplished this. God was willing to sacrifice peace so that man could become part of His Family. There is no other way.

I’m now going to quote from The Rest of the Mystery of the Ages, Chapter 3, The Creation of Evil:

The Creation of Evil in the Spirit Realm

Are you beginning to “see” how evil was created? Earlier we read what Isaiah was inspired by God to record, “I form [fashion, potter] the light and create darkness: I make [produce, do, work] peace and create evil: I the LORD do all these things” (Is. 45:7).

God used a comparison that our limited minds can understand. He used the example of the beginning of creation in a physical universe when nothing had yet been created to fill an expanse of space that was created first. This vastness of space, in itself, is impossible for the human mind to comprehend. Within that space, with nothing else existing, God began to create things composed of physical elements which became regulated by physical laws. He created suns that gave light. By making light to exist, darkness was then created. Space existed and then light revealed the darkness. By forming light, God did create darkness.

And a little further in the chapter…

The creation of the God Family required the existence of evil. In the future, God will more fully elaborate on this needful and very long process for the creation of His Family. But for now, He is giving us a deeper understanding of that very thing, but there is much more that will be learned.

Truth #3 in that book:

TRUTH #3: God created both good and evil, but to understand “how” is to understand why God gave beings, both human and angelic, independent free choice, apart from Himself, as free moral agents.

We know that God has the power to destroy Satan. In The Rest of Mystery of the Ages it also states:

It is to be made abundantly clear that Satan will be made to cease from existence when God’s punishment is carried out. The fire that destroys him may well be speaking in terms of that which God has not yet revealed within the spirit world that can destroy a specific portion of a spirit creation that He sustains. He can cease to sustain what He sustains, and He sustains all that is in the physical realm and in the spirit realm. God can do as He wills.

God and only God has all power. I love how it says, “God can do as He wills.” You can question it all you want. It will happen. And on the day that this happens, it will be a marvelous day.

God has the power to destroy Satan and He is going to. Living in today’s world of filth and perversion that just keeps getting worse and worse, this is great news. I think of everything we have to deal with and the insanity of mankind, and we are actually seeing Satan. I think this should sober us that this is what we are capable of without the power of God. We are blessed to have God’s holy spirit, the power of God helping us to make better choices, right choices, and to choose Him. We cannot neglect that.

Let’s turn over to Luke 22:66—As soon as it was day, the elders of the people, both chief priests and scribes, came together and led him into their council, saying, If you are the Christ, tell us. But he said to them, If I tell you, you will by no means believe. And if I also ask you, you will by no means answer me or let me go. Hereafter the Son of Man will sit on the right hand of the power of God. Then they all said, Are you the Son of God? And he said to them, You rightly say that I am.

God created evil. God created mankind and He knew we would be pulled to follow Satan’s nature, “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.” God knew that mankind would need a Passover. God created Joshua the Christ, His Son, to become the Passover for mankind. Joshua was created by the power of God.

Let’s turn back a little bit in Luke to Luke 1:30 to start. Then the angel said to her, Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. I think when you read that scripture it is very inspiring. An angel sent by God to Mary is telling her the Great God of the Universe, the Living God gave her favor. I can’t imagine how Mary must have felt.

Now, in verse 31—And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son and shall call his name Joshua. He will be great, and he will be called the Son of the Highest, and the Eternal God will give him the throne of his father David. And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his Kingdom, there will be no end.

Now, we all know that Mary must have been shocked a little bit. She is being told her son will be the Son of God, he will have the throne of David, his Kingdom will have no end. She really had to have a moment of “What did you just say?” I mean, this would have been a lot for her to take in.

Verse 34—Then Mary said to the angel, How can this be since I do not know a man? And the angel answered and said to her, The holy spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.

The angel lets Mary know how this is going to happen. God’s holy spirit, the power of God, will create a son in her womb. Mary would have understood that God created everything we know and see. She was being told that God was going to create again and this time in her womb. God was going to create His Son. His Son was to be born as the Passover for all mankind, the first step in the fulfillment of His plan for mankind.

Another place where we find the power of God is in the 57 Truths. We have been told over and over the truths are our lifeline. On the Church website under the publications tab is the 57 Truths. The title of the publication is The 57 Truths of God. You could just read over it, but you shouldn’t because we need to understand the magnitude of that statement. They are the truths of God, the 57 Truths of God.

I thought about this as I was reading it and I thought, if I wrote this out how Mr. Armstrong used to write he would have capitalized the word “TRUTHS” and “GOD” to get the reader's attention. So, if you picture that The 57 TRUTHS of GOD.

I looked at the definition of the word “truth” and I looked at different sources. One that I liked was from in the Britannica Dictionary. It defined truth as, “the real facts about something, the things that are true.”

The Oxford Learner’s Dictionary defines truth as, “the true facts about something, rather than things that have been invented or guessed,” you know, what you would be reading on the internet.

So, between the two we have real facts, true facts, and not something we invented or guessed at, or not something we found on the internet trying to prove our point. The truth, the plain truth.

So, the very first line from this publication is “There are 57 basic truths that God has given to His Church at this time.” The truths belong to God, and He gave them to His Church that belongs to Him. God is sharing His truths with us. These truths are God; they are part of God’s nature. When we read these truths we are reading about God, what God desires us to know. We are seeing the power of God in every truth we read.

God did not give or restore His truths to His Church all at once. We understand that God wants to build a strong foundation and He does not give us everything at one time. We have come to know this as God’s present truth. So when God’s truths were being lost God allowed three truths to survive, the name of His Church, the Sabbath, and the understanding of first tithe.

God then inspired His apostle, Herbert W. Armstrong during the Philadelphia era of His Church to restore 18 Truths. Then after the era of Laodicea ended and with the restoration of His Church on Pentecost of 1998, God inspired His next apostle, Ron Weinland, and an additional 36 Truths were given.

So, in today’s sermon, we are discussing God’s power, so we understand that the 57 Truths of God are another way to understand God’s power and how mighty He is, so I want to review a few of those truths.

Truth #4 that God gave to Mr. Armstrong:

4 (1) The government of God. When Christ comes, He will restore God’s government to the whole earth. God’s government was restored to His Church during Philadelphia. It is not a government of men where decisions are made by such practices as voting or one’s own will, but as God leads through the power of His spirit. (Ephesians 4 and 1 Corinthians 12)

Let’s turn over to Ephesians 4:4—There is one body and one spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

Under God’s government, we are one. When Christ comes and restores God’s government to this earth all will be one under it. All will start to experience what we in God’s Church have now or should have. We are one body, and we are to be in complete unity with God’s Church under the rule of our elder brother Joshua who is guided by His Father, our Father, God Almighty.

Let’s turn over to 1 Corinthians 12:12—For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one spirit, we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one spirit.

The Church of God is made up of different members but we all should be doing the same thing when it comes to what God is teaching us. We have different personalities. We can compare our personalities to many different types of flowers that there are. Each flower can be different, but they are all still flowers. In the Church, we are to be in complete agreement with the truths of God. We are all baptized and receive the same spirit, the spirit of God. It does not matter where we started, what matters is we repent and receive the same spirit and grow. The spirit that gives us the ability to be as one comes from God and the power of God.

Now Truth #7 that God gave to Mr. Armstrong:

7 (4) Who and what is God. God is a Family into which we may be born. God’s spirit witnesses with our spirit that we are begotten children of God.

God is revealing that He desires a family. Our elder brother Joshua is already part of Elohim. Joshua is at the right hand of God, the power of God.

Let’s turn over to Mark 16:19—So then, after the Lord had spoken to them, He was received up into the heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. Joshua sits at the right hand of God waiting for the rest of the 144,000.

Now let’s turn over to Hebrews 12:1—Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.

We have so many that have gone before us that we should be encouraged to get rid of whatever is weighing us down. Whatever sin we are fighting we must fight harder. We cannot let sin keep us from being a part of the God Family, what God wants for us. We must run the race.

I, for one, who has run a marathon, know what it is like when you hit the wall. You want to stop and give up. But at that point, you are so close to the finish line. The race is there and with the help of God, it can be won. We cannot let sin stop us. We cannot let the wall stop us. We must push forward.

Then going on in verse 2—looking unto Joshua, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the pole, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

When we think we cannot finish the race, we must look to Joshua. He is the first of the firstfruits. He died for us. Christ knew what he was going to go through. God revealed it to him. He shed drops of blood when praying that God would take the cup from him, but only if it was God’s will. But it was not, and Christ accepted that. He knew his destiny. He knew he was to sit at the right hand of the throne of God Almighty and become a part of Elohim and then wait for us.

Can we truly understand what it means to be a part of Elohim? We cannot. But, brethren, if we did really get this we would not continue to do what we do. We would never stray. But we are weak, and God knows that, and He continues to give us a way out, a way that leads to Him because He loves us just that much. It is through the power of God we can begin to understand that we really can be a part of Elohim because He called us to it.

Truth #19 given to Mr. Armstrong:

19 (16) The annual festivals. The plan of God, as shown through the Holy Days, was revealed to the Church of God only through Herbert W. Armstrong. The Passover and Holy Days picture God’s plan of salvation for mankind.

God revealed His plan. God is the master builder. He gave us the roadmap, so we know exactly where we are going, and it is perfect. God gave us a Passover so that we could have a way to Him, so we could go to Him in the Holy of Holies and share our innermost thoughts, to be a part of God, and God to be a part of us.

We have been given the Days of Unleavened Bread so we learn we must come out of sin and stay out of sin so we are not cut off from God Almighty, so His holy spirit can flow through us.

We are given Pentecost. We know that Joshua is going to return to this earth to take the rightful role as King of kings and Lord of lords because God gave it to him. He and the 144,000, those who become Elohim, will first rule this earth with God’s government, with the power of God. Truth #49 explains that.

We have the Feast of Trumpets. We know the Trumpets have sounded and announced the return of Joshua, and that cannot change. God’s plan cannot change.

The Day of Atonement. A day to be much celebrated. A day that cries out to us Satan has an end and we can become at one with God. Truth #53 tells us that Satan will be removed. With the removal of Satan and his evil influence we can move into a millennium where we can all be taught God’s way of life, God’s truths. And then at the end of that, the Great White Throne Judgment where all mankind will be judged, and then after that, those found worthy will become Elohim.

Truth #51 given to God’s current apostle:

51 (30) God is restoring knowledge concerning the rightful place of women in the family. This involves the start of the greater removal of the curse laid upon women from the beginning which was the result of sin.

And…

52 (31) The ordination of women in the Church. With the revelation of the 51st Truth, God is continuing to reveal the rightful role of women with this truth by showing that God has and will continue to work with and through women to help prepare the path for the return of Joshua the Christ and to fulfill a breaking of bonds (restraints as in bondage) for all humanity.

So, what does God reveal about Himself with these two truths? That man and woman are equal. We are different but in the eyes of God spiritually we are the same. He shows no favorites. Through His power, He revealed these two truths to His end-time apostle, and the family was now able to begin to be put in its right state. Think of the power of a family that is equal. Think of a family unity where all are the same. Nothing can stop it.

I am going to read one more truth. I have read this truth in many of my sermons, but I just can’t help myself. Besides the truth that Satan has an end, this truth is the one that I read and hold on to a lot.

At the end of Worldwide, we stopped learning about the God Family. Mr. Armstrong taught this to the Church. He taught us Elohim and he never stopped. I grew up in the church hearing about it. Then we fell asleep, and it stopped being taught.

56 (35) Through the power of the holy spirit, Almighty God will “dwell” IN His Family into everlasting life, and they will always dwell IN Him. This will be accomplished through the power of the holy spirit that emanates from God and it will never cease to be “coming into” the lives of all who are in the God Family. This will be a perpetual and continuing process into everlasting life.

Once begotten of God’s holy spirit, the flow of the holy spirit can be suppressed and completely removed (cut-off) from a begotten person’s life.

God dwells (abides, lives) IN the life of a spirit-begotten person (a person of the holy spirit) and they therefore dwell IN Him. Through the power of the holy spirit, the life (nature, truth, Word, way of life) of God begins to dwell in a begotten person’s life (in the spirit essence given to the human mind), helping to change the very way one thinks and lives, from that of selfishness and pride to that of outgoing concern and love toward others. This power, however, is suppressed and sometimes cut-off because of sin, as God will not dwell in sin. Once given spirit life in a resurrection from death (or resurrection from physical life) to spirit life, this process of God dwelling in a “born” person’s life (no longer begotten), and they in Him, will never cease nor be interrupted, but will be perpetual and continuous into everlasting life.

Each member who is born into God’s Family has independent reasoning and thought, but each is perfectly united in purpose, will, and one way of life through the power of the holy spirit that will forever abide in them (which continuously emanates from God—who is the source). It is God “forever dwelling” in each member that makes the Family of God a reality in “one” perfectly united way.

We understand the power of God’s holy spirit is God’s power. We cannot afford for this power to be suppressed, for when it is, we are in big trouble. With each truth we have read we learn more. There is power behind every truth because it comes from God.

Now, there is one more thing I want to bring up today about the power of God in concluding this sermon. Something God can do that we cannot even with the impregnation of His spirit because we are still human and carnal. God has the power to forgive us our sins, but He also forgets.

We cannot do that. We have a tendency to hold things against each other even though we have been told we are not to do this. We have no right, none, but our human nature does it naturally. But it must be fought.

Let’s turn over to Hebrews 10:16—This is the covenant I will make with them after those days, says the Eternal. I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds, I will write them. Then He adds, Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.

When God says He will remember no more He means what He says. Once God has forgiven us of our sins they are wiped away. That does not mean that there may not be consequences or penalties paid because of our sin, but God is not remembering it and throwing it in our faces.

The latter part of Jeremiah 31:34 states …For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.

Brethren, we live in a sick world. Every day it gets sicker. And I’m sure you are like me, and on some days you sit and wonder how can it get any worse, but it can. We need God’s protection now more than we ever have.

We have talked about God’s power today, and we didn't even touch the surface. We have talked about so many things. God’s power is in our lives every day when we don’t even know it. We need God’s power via the holy spirit to keep moving forward.

Passover is not until April of 2024, followed by the Days of Unleavened Bread. That is approximately six months in the future. After the Feast, we have a tendency to let down, but we cannot afford to do that. We need to remember God and His power and that we have access to that power. We need to cry out to God daily to not let down.

We can take these six months and fine-tune ourselves; exactly what God wants. Do not let Satan, the prince of the power of the air, take us off track. Do not let this world and its distractions affect us. Do not put anything before God. Keep God and His Family first in our lives.

Remember, we are the ones that get it. Who else do we have to talk to? We are a family, and we must put each other first and love each other, helping each other to succeed and make it.

Remember 1 John 4:4—You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

We have overcome. We are sitting here. We are of God. We are His children, heirs to the Kingdom of God. God and Christ are in us. If we stay close to God and Joshua, we will make it. Rely on the power of God, not self, and stand, stand for this way of life.

I’m going to read to you 2 Timothy 1:7—For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and of a sound mind. God does not want us to fear. We cannot fear. We need to be bold and confident in the power of God. God has given us the power to do this if we just tap it. He has given us love. He has given us the ability to have a sound mind in a world of insanity. Embrace what we have and thank Him.

In conclusion let’s turn over to Ephesians 6:10—Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

Therefore, take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Brethren, we stand before God Almighty who has all power. Let us remember that.

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