Thine Is The Power | Rediscovering the Lord's Prayer | Episode 12

When our own strength inevitably fails us, where do we anchor our hope? Journey line by line into the stunning conclusion of the Lord's Prayer: "For Thine is the power."

Drawing from the rich encouragement of 1 Peter, Pastor Jim explores what it looks like to live out a "living hope" that is actively protected by the sovereign might of God. Discover the true theological depth behind the word "Amen" and learn how walking in the light of His power can completely transform your daily anxieties into unshakeable peace.

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SPEAKER_01 0:00

So we're walking line by line through the most famous prayer, the most well-known, the most often prayed prayer in the history of the world, the Lord's Prayer. In today's episode, we're leaning into the closing lines of this beautiful and powerful prayer that Jesus taught his followers to pray. But let's begin by saying and praying the entire Lord's Prayer together. Join me, will you? Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who've trespassed against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory for ever and ever. Amen and amen. In our last episode, we focused in on for thine is the kingdom. Great line, and it's the second mention of a kingdom in the Lord's Prayer. Today I want to consider the three really important words that follow that. And the power. It's as if he were saying, For thine is the kingdom, and thine is the power. And I've always felt like we should put a little something extra into the utterance of a word like power. I mean, I've been in some churches where they do, and I honestly don't know why the rest of us don't. It's from the same Greek word that we get our English word dynamite. The Greek word is dunymus. And uh, so it's power. It's not just to be kind of, you know, passed over in a sort of passive kind of way, as the creator of literally everything that has been created, the God of the Bible reveals himself as the source and the fountainhead of all power. That's great. If you've ever studied the Old Testament book of Genesis with us, and by the way, all the studies we did verse by verse, chapter by chapter through the book of Genesis, it's all available on the Villagechapel.com. Or if you happen to have our um uh church app, it's called Church Center, just go on there. If you if you can find the uh your app store on your phone, uh look for Church Center app, and then you have to just tell them it's the Village Chapel, Nashville, Tennessee. And and you can access all of our archive of old uh Bible studies, uh, Genesis included. So, but what a great study that is. And if you if you were with us when we study Genesis, you'll know that the entire Trinitarian God, as he reveals himself throughout the Bible, he's the Trinitarian God, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. Well, the entire Trinity was involved in the creation event there in the first couple of chapters of the book of Genesis. God the Father and God the Spirit are both mentioned in Genesis chapter one. And in John's Gospel chapter one, we're told, in the beginning was the word. And the word was with God, and the word was God. He was in the beginning with God. He, meaning a personal pronoun. That is, the word is a person. And you read through John chapter one and you discover that person is indeed Jesus. And so in the first three verses of John's gospel, we are told that Jesus was in the beginning with God. And verse three is really amazing. All things came into being by him, and apart from him, nothing came into being that has come into being. So Jesus, God the Father and God the Spirit, we put that together with Genesis 1 and John 1, all three involved in the creation of everything that's been created. And the last time I checked, everything that's been created is pretty much everything except God Himself. So all things that have come into being that were created through Jesus Christ and through the power of the Trinitarian God, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit, all things include all power. Dunamis, all dynamite, everything, everything that has power at all, all power finds its source, its fountainhead in God. So when Jesus teaches us to pray, Thine is the kingdom and the power, we don't want to go over that too fast. Jesus wants us to be mindful of just who it is that we are praying to and precisely how powerful God is. I wonder what would happen if we were better at keeping that in mind as we pray, as we sing to God, as we gather together with God's people for corporate worship? What would happen to us if we were more mindful of that? Would it increase our sense of wonder and awe and astonishment as we gather together in God's presence, the source, the fountainhead of all power? What kind of anticipation might that sort of engender among us as God's people? Probably much more than we have right now in many churches, and much more than we even have in our individual hearts as well. Some of you are familiar with the author Annie Dillardge. He's been one of my and my wife Kim's favorite authors over the years. Just a brilliant writer. Talking about church and gathering together for church, she says this. On the whole, I do not find Christians outside of the catacombs. Remember, in history, the catacombs were Christians were hiding as persecution was going on throughout the Roman Empire. But she says, on the whole, I do not find Christians outside of the catacombs sufficiently sensible of conditions. Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of power we so blithely invoke? It is madness to wear ladies' hats and straw hats and velvet hats to church. Dillard says, we should all be wearing crash helmets. It's true. I think there's often something numinous that happens whenever we gather to worship the Lord. But make no mistake, it's it's not just a ginned-up feeling. It's not just the power of music to uh evoke our emotions. It's not just the charismatic force of a great preacher or even an average preacher. When we actually focus on God as the object of our worship, keeping in mind who he is, how powerful he is, when we come into that God's presence, sometimes we're gonna sense there's gonna be a holy and a hushed silence because of how powerful he is. Other times there will be hands lifted up and shouts of joy. Some of us might even move a little bit. But we're sensing that we're in the presence of a powerful and a real God, and that it's his presence among us, not just us ginning or working something up. It's his presence among us that is moving us, and it's his power that's moving us. We do well to remind ourselves of all that thine is the kingdom and the power means. Now, many Christians estimate difficulties in light of their own resources, and thus attempt little and often fail in the little they attempt, said uh Hudson Taylor, as a missionary in China for some fifty-one years. Many Christians estimate difficulties in light of their own resources, and thus they attempt little and often fail in the little they attempt. All God's giants have been weak men who did great things for God because they reckoned on his power and presence being with them. And uh he spoke certainly when he wrote that was speaking from experience, as I say, fifty-one years as a missionary in China, and most of that during the 19th century. We are finite creatures, you and I. God is the infinite creator. We get tired, we're weak, we're we get frustrated and exhausted. God never does. We need to take naps and catch our breath. God never sleeps nor slumbers, He's never in a hurry, He's never anxious, and He's always right on time. If we want to make the most of this part of the Lord's Prayer, Thine is the power, we should recognize God's almightiness. And then we should reckon on God's power being with us, like Hudson Taylor said, as we seek to do God's will. If you're running out of power to love someone who is difficult to love, if you're running out of power to patiently wait, if you're running out of power to trust God with the pace or the direction of your career, if you are running out of power to muster up the discipline to work out and improve your health, perhaps it's time to reckon on the power of God being with you in those things that you know are his will. God's is the kingdom and God's is the power. He has the power to save us, to rescue us, to redeem us. Let's look to the Lord to bring whatever power we need to bear in any and all circumstances. I love the uh verses from 1 Peter chapter 1, verses 3 to 5, where it says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. To obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. We have a living hope, Peter says, because we are protected by the power of God, the God of all might, and by his grace appropriated through faith, we have the promise of a complete reserved salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Let's pray to our God. Thine is the kingdom, Lord, thine is the power and the glory forever and ever. We say amen because that means truly, that means verily. We say amen because we are praying to you, Almighty God, who have also invited us to call you our Father who art in heaven. And we bless your holy name this day as we walk with you, Lord. May we walk in the light of your power at work in our lives. We pray this in Jesus' name for his sake. Amen and amen. God bless you. Have a great day.

SPEAKER_00 12:26

Thank you for listening to today's episode of Timeless Truth. Be sure to subscribe so you don't miss future episodes. Wherever you are in your walk of faith, we're glad you joined us today. And we hope this conversation encouraged, challenged, or inspired you. At the Village Chapel, we believe God's word is unique in its source, timeless in its truth, broad in its reach, and transforming in its power. To find more resources or support our ministry, visit the VillageChapel.com