Deuteronomy 7:20-24 – God Is Able – Bible study

Deuteronomy 7:20-24 God Is Able The context of this passage is that Israel is getting close to entering the Promised Land. There are giants and difficulties in that land. God knows the Israelites will be scared, so He encourages them by telling them just how powerfully He will work on their behalf. God assures them that He will both use nature and direct miracles to defeat their enemies. He even tells them how it will work (little by little), so that they wont get discouraged. God knows that it is easy for us humans to get discouraged, so He teaches us that no matter what we face, He is able to take care of it. Every once in awhile, you and I need to be reminded that God is able. I. We all know that God is able to meet all of our needs and to fix all of our problems. A. That is a general statement that we probably tell ourselves every day. B. However, the Bible gives us much more than a general statement. C. God gives us some very specific examples of us power and glory that we might have faith and take comfort. II. Examples A. God is able to heal your sicknesses. 1. The Bible gives us more examples of healing than we could begin to look at. a. We have the ministry of Jesus. b. We have the ministries of the apostles. c. We have other examples scattered about in the Bible. d. We should have examples in and around our lives. 2. We understand that God is not going to heal every sickness. a. Every body dies of something. b. Granted, most of the early church died from an iron surplus. c. Too many swords, spears, and guillotines. d. Even so, some no doubt died for aneurisms, heart attacks, strokes, cancers, and some of the same diseases we face today. e. But just because we are going to die doesnt mean that God cannot or will not heal. 3. In fact, we need to understand that God is healing us everyday! a. Do you realize that you have been completely healed of most of your diseases for many years? (1) How many sicknesses to you suppose God has healed you of? (2) How many sicknesses has God kept from you? b. How does God heal? (1) God heals through this marvelous body He has given to us. (2) God heals through the knowledge of medicine He has given to us. (3) But then there is the miraculous physical intervention that God has promised us. 4. Scripture: James 5:14 Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: 15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. 16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. a. Notice that this verse promises God will heal. b. It does say there are some requirements. (1) There must be group praying. (a) \#14\ (b) "let him call for the elders of the church" (c) Why the elders? Probably because they are to be the more experienced and because they would better know what kind of walk with God the sick had. (2) There must be faith praying. (a) \#15\ (b) "prayer of the faith" (3) There must be some repentive praying. (a) \#15\ "if he have committed sins" (b) \#16\ "Confess your faults" (c) "the prayer of a righteous man" (4) There must be some hard praying. (a) \#16\ (b) "the effectual fervent (one word) prayers" (c) This kind of praying will likely require a great desire and some previous experience. 5. We need to take heart! a. We have a God that cares and a God that is able to both keep us well and to heal us when we get sic b. This means that any sickness we do have must be allowed by the hand of God for a specific purpose. B. \#Acts 12:5-11\ God is able to keep all of your loved ones. 1. \#Acts 12:1-4\ The setting for this miracle is that a new wave of deadly persecution has begun. a. James was killed by King Herod. b. When Herod saw that the Jews liked that, he arrested Peter too. c. The reasonable conclusion was that after the Passover, Peter would be killed too. d. \#5\ So the people of God started praying. e. As a result, God sent an angel into the prison and walked Peter out. 2. You and I need to settle our theology on some things. a. Does God do miracles or not? b. Will God do for us what He has done for others? c. If He does these things, we need to start asking for and expecting them. d. If He does not, we need to throw away a good portion of our Bible and get very worried about our protection and future! 3. To solve this theological question, we need to open our Bible and read it. a. I do not see the Bible putting limits on God. Luke 11:9 And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. John 14:14 If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it. John 15:7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. 1 John 3:22 And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. b. What I see is that our faith has waned. (1) Instead of expecting God to do miracles, we have begun to make excuses for why He might not. (2) We dont even if God a chance to fail us! We just start making excuses. c. Maybe we do that because we have tested God and He didnt do everything we wanted. (1) If that is the case, we need to understand that it is always Gods right to say no. (2) We need to also understand that sometimes God is testing and teaching us. d. However, it might be that we just know that we are not living the kind of life that is required to see the miracle-working show up! (1) If that is the case, we need to get right. (2) We are not only depriving ourselves of the presence and power of God, but we are depriving Him of a Christian to work through. 4. If we believe that we have a God who does miracles for His people today, we can have all confidence that God is taking care of our loved ones. a. We can believe that God will protect them physically, spiritually, and emotionally. (That is what God did for Peter.) b. However, we can also believe that when God does not protect us physically, He is still keeping us physically and emotionally. (1) This is very important to understand and to have faith concerning. (2) Suppose God allows a loved one to be injured, to be molested, to even die. (3) Does that mean that God isnt protecting? (4) No. I believe that even when our physical body is being tormented, God can still give courage, comfort, grace, and power! (a) Read Foxes Book of Martyrs. (b) Read the Trail of Blood. (c) Read church history. (d) Read the Bible! i. Did James and Paul whine and cry with fear as they faced death? ii. Was Peter cowering in the corner as he awaited Herods executioner? (5) The truth is that God can often receive MORE GLORY when our bodies are tormented IF we will let Him give protection to our spirit and emotions. C. God is able to care for you in your old age. 1. Again, we do not have a record of a lot of early New Testament Christians making it into their old age. 2. However, we do have accounts of Gods Old Testament saints living long lives. a. Joshua lived to be 110 years old \#Jos 24:29\. b. Moses lived to be 120 years old \#Deut 34:7\. c. Abraham lived to be 175 years old \#Ge 25:7\. d. Jacob lived to be 147 years old \#Ge 47:28\. e. Joseph lived to be 110 years old \#Ge 50:26\. 3. King David lived to be 70 years old. Psalm 37:25 I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. a. Imagine that! God actually provided for His people. (1) God can take care of His people without healthcare. (2) God can take care of His people without any form of government aid. (3) As far as I can tell, God did it without his people borrowing money. b. I dont want to make anyone who is relying on these things feel bad, but I do think far too many of Gods people have placed their faith in government aid and not in their God. c. You say, "But where would people be if we didnt have the government?" (1) Probably in church. (2) Probably on their knees. (3) Probably looking after their fellow man a whole lot better. d. I hope you are not one of those who thinks it is good that our government has attempted to take care of everyone! (1) If you are, you have no right to criticize our President. (2) Our President, along with Castro, Chavez, and all the other socialist have just carried that thought out to its logical conclusion. (3) If it is good to have the government help take of some of the people, it is best for the government to take care of all of the people. 4. No. What we need to do is wean our people off government aid and teach them to work for themselves and to trust in God. a. At this point, God gives most of us between 50 and 70 years of good health. (1) During that time, we work. (2) During that time, we should learn to pray and walk with God. (3) During that time, we should learn to save and to invest. b. The reason God gives us all of those good years is so that we can prepare for old age! Proverbs 6:6 Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise: 7 Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, 8 Provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest. 9 How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep? 10 Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: 11 So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man. D. God is able to comfort you in all of your grieves. E. God is able to conquer all of your sins. F. God is able to save your soul. G. God is able to take you to heaven.