Ebenezer Asiamah: Very simple verse to memorize.
Ebenezer Asiamah: It says, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his mind.
Ebenezer Asiamah: Be strong in the Lord and in the power of his mind.
Ebenezer Asiamah: I want to thank God so much for the elders here at Trinity Community Church for their vision and this opportunity they have given us to just release what God has given us and to grow in the gifts that the Lord has for us.
Ebenezer Asiamah: And I also want to use this opportunity to thank Trinity Community Church for the love, great support you showed us during our time of grief.
Ebenezer Asiamah: And your love made our pain bearable.
Ebenezer Asiamah: So I want to take this opportunity and say thank you.
Ebenezer Asiamah: Thank you.
Ebenezer Asiamah: We feel the love so much, it's so deep.
Ebenezer Asiamah: Says, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his mind.
Ebenezer Asiamah: And the first thing he said, he said, finally.
Ebenezer Asiamah: And Paul loves to use the word finally.
Ebenezer Asiamah: And in the book of Philippians, he used finally twice.
Ebenezer Asiamah: And I had a story about a boy who went to church with his mom.
Ebenezer Asiamah: And there was a speaker speaking, and he said, finally, and he spoke for 30 minutes.
Ebenezer Asiamah: And then he said, finally, and he spoke for another 30 minutes.
Ebenezer Asiamah: So the boy asked the mom, Mom, what's the meaning of finally?
Ebenezer Asiamah: He wasn't sure what finally meant.
Ebenezer Asiamah: So what Paul meant by finally was he was going to address the final things.
Ebenezer Asiamah: The finally means finally.
Ebenezer Asiamah: He's addressing some important things that as believers in Christ, we need to be equipped with.
Ebenezer Asiamah: And I love the theme for this study, equipped to stand.
Ebenezer Asiamah: And the teachings that he presented here is so important.
Ebenezer Asiamah: But he started from somewhere before he got to finally.
Ebenezer Asiamah: And I'm thankful so much for Trinity Community Church, how for eight months we've been delving into the book of Ephesians, and we've learned a lot.
Ebenezer Asiamah: When I became born again, I was told that I'm in a warfare and I need to fight.
Ebenezer Asiamah: And I knew that there was warfare going on because where I grew up in Ghana, you don't need to be told that there is warfare going on.
Ebenezer Asiamah: Because sometimes I can be sleeping and you can literally feel that you're fighting with something.
Ebenezer Asiamah: And so I knew there was something going on.
Ebenezer Asiamah: But all that I was taught was to fight.
Ebenezer Asiamah: So I wasn't really anchored in the truth of the gospel, my position in Christ, and all of that.
Ebenezer Asiamah: But here at Trinity, the elders take their time and they've been teaching us where we stand in Christ and how we ought to walk in Christ and grow into Christ.
Ebenezer Asiamah: So it's so important that we are anchored in the truth of the gospel, in the unsearchable riches of the gospel, even as we engage in warfare.
Ebenezer Asiamah: Tonight I want to share what being strong in the Lord is now.
Ebenezer Asiamah: And then I'll move to what it actually means to be strong in the Lord.
Ebenezer Asiamah: So, first of all, being strong in the Lord is not based on our physical or emotional state.
Ebenezer Asiamah: So one can be physically weak and emotionally very weak, yet strong in the Lord.
Ebenezer Asiamah: So being strong in the Lord is not an expression of our physical or emotional state, but an inward disposition based on our position in Christ.
Ebenezer Asiamah: And we all know that Paul, in time of his great weakness, he said, his grace, God said to him, My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.
Ebenezer Asiamah: Another thing is that being strong in the Lord is not a denier of our of our state.
Ebenezer Asiamah: It's good to be positive, but sometimes we may be going through something, but if you try to express it, they may say, Oh, you are not very strong in the Lord.
Ebenezer Asiamah: But being strong in the Lord is not denying our state, it's not denying what we are going through.
Ebenezer Asiamah: Paul didn't deny his weakness.
Ebenezer Asiamah: He said he was weak and he had a ton in the flesh that he was dealing with, and he prayed to God on three occasions that that weakness would be taken away.
Ebenezer Asiamah: So he didn't deny it.
Ebenezer Asiamah: And so being strong in God is not denying our weakness.
Ebenezer Asiamah: Also, being strong in the Lord has nothing to do with our ability, our giftings, or personality.
Ebenezer Asiamah: It is not based on our gifts or our ability or our personality.
Ebenezer Asiamah: But what then is being strong in the Lord is number one, being strong in the Lord is the work of grace.
Ebenezer Asiamah: Because without the grace of God, we cannot be strong in God.
Ebenezer Asiamah: And I want us to read First Corinthians chapter 1, verse 26 to 31.
Ebenezer Asiamah: This is Paul speaking here.
Ebenezer Asiamah: Not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called.
Ebenezer Asiamah: But God has chosen the foolish, the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise.
Ebenezer Asiamah: And God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things that are mighty.
Ebenezer Asiamah: And the base things of the world, God has chosen.
Ebenezer Asiamah: He has chosen the despised, the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in his presence, but of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.
Ebenezer Asiamah: That as it is written, he who glories, let him glory in the Lord.
Ebenezer Asiamah: And so from this scripture, we know that it is not about our strength or our weak uh our ability, it is just the work of God's grace.
Ebenezer Asiamah: God chose us.
Ebenezer Asiamah: I love this word in Romans 5.
Ebenezer Asiamah: He says, While we were weak, Christ died for the ungodly.
Ebenezer Asiamah: God chose us even when we were weak.
Ebenezer Asiamah: It is the work of his grace.
Ebenezer Asiamah: And so being strong in the Lord is the work of the grace of God.
Ebenezer Asiamah: And as I mentioned before, what God told Paul, his grace is sufficient.
Ebenezer Asiamah: Being strong in the Lord flows from intimacy with God.
Ebenezer Asiamah: And one of the verses that I love so much from the book of Daniel, chapter 30, chapter 11, verse 32, the B part.
Ebenezer Asiamah: It says, The people who know their God, they shall be strong, and they will do exploits.
Ebenezer Asiamah: And so being strong in the Lord, in the Greek word, it says in dunamo, it means we are growing, we are becoming something.
Ebenezer Asiamah: It is not just a permanent state, it's growth.
Ebenezer Asiamah: We are becoming strong.
Ebenezer Asiamah: And so being strong in God flows from our intimacy with God.
Ebenezer Asiamah: When we know God, when we love on God, when we fellowship with God and fellowship with the body of Christ, we are growing in our intimacy with God.
Ebenezer Asiamah: And from that, he says that we will become strong.
Ebenezer Asiamah: So it's based on our relationship with God.
Ebenezer Asiamah: And Nehemiah said it, he said, the joy of the Lord is our strength.
Ebenezer Asiamah: And how do we get joy?
Ebenezer Asiamah: It is the fruit of the spirit.
Ebenezer Asiamah: And as we fellowship with God, he cultivates that spirit of joy that the world cannot explain.
Ebenezer Asiamah: And so David, joy was so important to him in his prayer of repentance.
Ebenezer Asiamah: He said, Restore the joy of salvation.
Ebenezer Asiamah: Because he knew that when he loses the joy of God, the strength is gone.
Ebenezer Asiamah: And the moment we have the joy of salvation, we have the strength of God.
Ebenezer Asiamah: And so tonight I pray that God will restore to us the joy of salvation in Jesus' name.
Ebenezer Asiamah: Also, being strong in the Lord is abiding in Christ.
Ebenezer Asiamah: We need to abide in him.
Ebenezer Asiamah: Without him, we can do nothing.
Ebenezer Asiamah: John, the Gospel of John, chapter 15, verse 4.
Ebenezer Asiamah: We need to abide.
Ebenezer Asiamah: As branches, we need to abide in the vine.
Ebenezer Asiamah: And once we abide in him, we get our strength from him.
Ebenezer Asiamah: And anytime I think about being strong in the Lord, when I was reflecting on this and I looked at David, I love David so much.
Ebenezer Asiamah: And he was in a very difficult place.
Ebenezer Asiamah: He was living in a place called Ziglach.
Ebenezer Asiamah: And that place was given to him by King Archish of Gath.
Ebenezer Asiamah: The Philistine came, gave him that place.
Ebenezer Asiamah: When David was fleeing from Saul, Saul wanted to kill him, so David said, Well, if I go to the enemy's country, Saul will stop pursuing me.
Ebenezer Asiamah: So he fled and went to the land of the Philistines.
Ebenezer Asiamah: And truly, Saul didn't pursue him again until Saul died in battle.
Ebenezer Asiamah: But the King Arkish gave David Ziglag, and Ziglag means winding.
Ebenezer Asiamah: It's a place of winding.
Ebenezer Asiamah: And it also means enveloped in grief.
Ebenezer Asiamah: And so David lived in Ziglag for a while.
Ebenezer Asiamah: While he would go out and he would destroy the Philistine towns and destroy everything so that they won't go back and tell Akish that David has been destroying your people.
Ebenezer Asiamah: So one time David went out and they came back.
Ebenezer Asiamah: Many of us know the story.
Ebenezer Asiamah: The city Ziglag was burned down.
Ebenezer Asiamah: Nothing was left.
Ebenezer Asiamah: And the men of David, about 600 mighty men who were with David, decided that they were going to stone him because they were blaming David for their predicament.
Ebenezer Asiamah: Everybody was grieving for their children.
Ebenezer Asiamah: Sons and daughters, wives are all gone.
Ebenezer Asiamah: Where are you going to find the enemy?
Ebenezer Asiamah: Who did this?
Ebenezer Asiamah: They didn't know what to do.
Ebenezer Asiamah: But in the midst of the difficulty, the Bible says, but David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.
Ebenezer Asiamah: And when I when I was looking at the Hebrew word for strengthened, it means that he repaired himself.
Ebenezer Asiamah: When all was against him, when his own people were against him, David decided that I'm just going to rest in God for a minute.
Ebenezer Asiamah: I'm just going to seek the face of God.
Ebenezer Asiamah: I'm just going to inquire of God.
Ebenezer Asiamah: David, he said, The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear?
Ebenezer Asiamah: The Lord is the strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid?
Ebenezer Asiamah: He said, When the wicked, even my enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and they fell.
Ebenezer Asiamah: Though one who should encamp against me, my heart will not fear.
Ebenezer Asiamah: Though war should rise up against me, in this will I be confident.
Ebenezer Asiamah: One thing have I desired of the Lord, and that will I seek after.
Ebenezer Asiamah: That I will dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.
Ebenezer Asiamah: For in times of trouble, he will hide me in his tabernacle.
Ebenezer Asiamah: In the secret of his tabernacle, he will hide me.
Ebenezer Asiamah: And David sought God and said, God, should I pursue the enemy?
Ebenezer Asiamah: And God said, Pursue.
Ebenezer Asiamah: And you will surely overtake, and without fail, you will recover all.
Ebenezer Asiamah: And we all know the end of the story.
Ebenezer Asiamah: David pursued, and David recovered.
Ebenezer Asiamah: And David got the spoils, got the wives and the children, everything back because he prioritizes relationship with God.
Ebenezer Asiamah: When we are hit with a circumstance that we don't know what to do, pause and reflect on God before you take a step.
Ebenezer Asiamah: Before we take a step, before we decide whether to go left or right, he says, your ear shall hear a word from behind saying, This is the way.
Ebenezer Asiamah: Walk in it.
Ebenezer Asiamah: When you turn to the left or when you turn to the right.
Ebenezer Asiamah: And that is exactly what David did.
Ebenezer Asiamah: And so be strong in the Lord.
Ebenezer Asiamah: Let us be strong in our relationship with God, in our intimacy with God, in our fellowship with God, in our abiding in God.
Ebenezer Asiamah: Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.
Ebenezer Asiamah: Colossians 3:16.
Ebenezer Asiamah: Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom.
Ebenezer Asiamah: Teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your heart to God.
Ebenezer Asiamah: Being strong in the Lord is resting in his love.
Ebenezer Asiamah: Our powerlessness and God's powerfulness can coexist.
Ebenezer Asiamah: Our weakness and God's strength can coexist when grace is in operation.
Ebenezer Asiamah: Paul was weak, but in his weakness, he had the assurance that God's strength will be made perfect and in his weakness.
Ebenezer Asiamah: Tonight, I know that many of us are going through different situations, but I came with a word of encouragement that the Lord is our strength.
Ebenezer Asiamah: The joy of the Lord is our strength.
Ebenezer Asiamah: Our abiding in Christ is our strength.
Ebenezer Asiamah: It is not our own making.
Ebenezer Asiamah: We have no power of our own.
Ebenezer Asiamah: There's this song in Ghana that I love so much.
Ebenezer Asiamah: Said, I have no power of my own.
Ebenezer Asiamah: I depend on you, Holy Spirit.
Ebenezer Asiamah: I have no power of my own.
Ebenezer Asiamah: Says that you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.
Ebenezer Asiamah: And from there, from our relationship with God, we become strong.
Ebenezer Asiamah: We become witnesses and we express the joy of God.
Ebenezer Asiamah: And people ask us, wow, there's this something about you.
Ebenezer Asiamah: There's this light in you that is from the relationship with God.
Ebenezer Asiamah: It's only God that can supply that strength that we need to fight our battles, to face our enemies, to recover what the enemy took from us.
Ebenezer Asiamah: Shall we pray?
Ebenezer Asiamah: Dear Lord, we thank you so much.
Ebenezer Asiamah: Your word says that we should be strong in you and in the power of your might.
Ebenezer Asiamah: We acknowledge that we have no power of our own.
Ebenezer Asiamah: We acknowledge that we need you.
Ebenezer Asiamah: We acknowledge that, Lord, you are our strength.
Ebenezer Asiamah: Father, we ask tonight that you fill us with your spirit.
Ebenezer Asiamah: You will empower us, oh God, so that we will be strengthened in our relationship with you.
Ebenezer Asiamah: We will grow in our knowledge of you.
Ebenezer Asiamah: We thank you so much for your work tonight in Jesus' name.
Ebenezer Asiamah: Amen.