Anthropomorphic Terms Applied to God: The Arm of God

A couple housekeeping things. We have prizes

across the front, so when you earn tickets, you'll

be able to put a ticket on whatever prize. We

will do two stunts. We will do trivia at the

end, time permitting. So we're going to fly through

this and try to make room for all that. I know

Zayden's a huge fan of Bible trivia now. We've

converted him. Bible trivia loving kid. Okay,

so the Bible often speaks of the arm of the Lord.

We looked at the eyes, the ears, and the hand

of God, but this is anthropomorphic language.

So it means God's arm is not literally like our

arm. He doesn't have a physical hand like we

do necessarily. But there's a lot to be learned

about God through the descriptions of his arm

in Scripture. So that's what we're going to look

at. While the hand of God often is talking about

his activity or his provision, The arm of God

emphasizes God's strength displayed in mighty

acts. So we're going to see some of that as we

go through. It means he is powerful to do what

he has done and what he is doing. A warrior's

arm represented his power in battle. Kings measure

strength by the might of their armies. But scripture

repeatedly reminds us that God's arm is stronger

than every nation, every enemy, every king, every

force of darkness. So a couple of things in the

overview. Number one, God possesses unlimited

strength. So if you're putting it in there, you

can put it right there on that first block. Number

one, God possesses unlimited strength. Very simply

put, God is big, old, and strong. Right? I mean,

those are general words that we use. God's been

around literally forever. He is bigger than the

universe that he created, bigger than we can

conceive. And he has no limit to his strength.

Next, God accomplishes salvation. God gets it

done. God gets people saved. God accomplishes

salvation. God brings forth victory to his people.

God has shown that time and time again that he

can do that. He can make you win. Not necessarily

every game or every sporting event. That's not

what that means. But he brings real victory.

So when I was younger, I played board games.

For example, I would get frustrated when I would

lose. And then I found out that I was winning

by playing and losing. And then I stopped getting

frustrated. And that's what they realize. Sometimes

you're overcoming difficulties by not actually

winning on the scoreboard or not actually winning

financially or whatever. But God brings victory

to his people. And then last one is God rules

over all creation. So the smallest dust mite

is under the rule of God. The largest planet,

sun, galaxy, everything. God rules over all creation.

So God's outstretched arm, which is a term that's

used in Scripture some, becomes one of the greatest

pictures of his redeeming power. Okay, so I want

you to think for a moment, a little illustration

of what we're going to talk about. During a flood,

a lot of times, like, people who are on the sidelines

and the streets are flooded or whatever, they'll

grab arm to arm. and they'll go out and try to

rescue somebody that's washing by in the flood.

They'll stand there, five, six people lined up,

and the people are getting washed by in the flood,

and they'll try to grab anybody that's coming

by and fish them out, right? One rescuer stretches

out his arm towards someone who cannot save themselves.

It's the last person in the line, so to speak.

And he reaches out, and that person, they snag

that person, hopefully, and pull them in. So

the drowning person contributes very little.

Way back in the day when I was snorkeling in

Aruba, when we went down there for Sherry's management

conference, they said, if you're drowning, don't

do this. Help me, help me. Because people are

waving to the boat all the time. They're waving

to their family and friends on the boat and said,

don't do that. If you start to drown, do this.

Yes, we understand you cannot swim with both

hands up in the air and you'll go underwater

and then you can swim a little bit, get back

up and do this again, whatever. If you need help.

stop trying to help yourself. Stop trying to

hold yourself up in the water with one hand.

And so the person being rescued might just take

hold of the arm that is reaching out to them.

That might be all they do. They might not even

do that. Somebody might grab onto them, right?

The strength that does the saving does not belong

to the victim. So there's a lot of Christianity

out there that tries to say, that you have to

do certain things in order to be able to be saved.

And anything that you have to do, let me be very

clear about this, even if it's pray a prayer,

go forward in service, read your Bible, love

others, anything like that that they tell you

you have to do to be saved in the first place

is wrong. All the strength of saving is in God,

not in the person being saved. So, likewise,

every believer has been rescued by God's mighty

arm, and salvation is not the result of our strength,

but of his strength. Okay? Alright, so now we're

on number one. The arm of God delivers his people.

Okay? And the reference is Deuteronomy 5 .15.

There's some extra ones back there. Tommy, you

got an extra one? Deuteronomy 5 .15 is the reference.

And it basically says the Lord your God brought

you out. And that ends with with a mighty hand

and an outstretched arm. But we know that God

didn't really have a physical hand or an outstretched

arm. Right. So there's something there to be

learned. OK, so the explanation then is Israel

all the whole time, even when they were sitting

against God, they never forgot the Exodus. Right.

It's always been in their history. In fact, an

Israelite man. who was living in Micah's day

in the book of Judges, like what we were talking

about, that person was still able to trace their

lineage all the way back to Moses. At least one

more person coming in. We'll be full size eventually.

Okay. So notice the pairing here, a mighty hand

and an outstretched arm. The hand accomplishes,

the arm supplies overwhelming strength. God's

arm defeated Egypt, humbled Pharaoh, liberated

his covenant people, parted the Red Sea, etc.,

etc., right? So any of that might go under the

key points there. Anything that caught your eye?

Mighty hand, an outstretched arm, the hand accomplishes,

the arm supplies overwhelming strength, God's

arm defeated Egypt. And then under application,

God is able to rescue us from situations beyond

human ability. Notice how that also goes along

with his hand, right? That verse paired the hand

and the arm. So God is able to rescue you beyond

your, not just beyond your ability, but beyond

any human ability. Right. So we talked about

how with God's hand that there was a salvation

that God provided that would deal with a problem

that we didn't know how to deal with. But now

we're not just talking about that. We're talking

about a problem that basically cannot be dealt

with. So in other words, you could go to the

doctor. The doctor tells you there's no help

for you. Right. No monomedicine, no nothing.

You go home. You're going to die within a month.

God is able to do something about that. He has

the power to do what nobody else can do, and

that's in his outstretched arm. Then we're on

number two. For those who came in, we're going

to wait until we get full size, and then we'll

go back to get those first points. So we're on

number two. The arm of God brings salvation.

Isaiah 52 .10. The Lord has bared his holy arm

in the sight of all the nations that all the

ends of the earth may see the salvation of our

God. Remember that the Israelites always knew

that salvation that would eventually be provided

was for everybody, not just for the Israelites.

It was not just for those living in the promised

land, right? Even though they were supposed to

go in and massacre people, chase people out if

they didn't go, they massacred them, right? But

most people would flee, but if they didn't flee,

they would be massacred. Even though they were

supposed to do that while they were taking the

promised land, they knew that the salvation that

God would eventually provide would be for everybody.

Then under the explanation there, to bear the

arm, quote unquote, bear the arm, that phrase,

bear the arm, meant preparing for strenuous work

or battle. So God would bear his holy arm meant

that he was going to do the hard work of saving

anybody that he chooses to save. Whatever that

looks like. Isaiah pictures God rolling back

his sleeves, so to speak. And we have a song

about that, right? It's an old one. Really old

one. Rolling up his sleeves, so to speak. And

it says when he's rolling up his sleeves, he

ain't just putting on the wrist. I think it's

that lyric. So to speak. God was revealing his

saving power before the nations. Remember that

Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection is a known

event. There are people who still deny it. But

there are historians who are not Christians,

had nothing to do with the church, nothing to

do with God, whatever, that admitted that Jesus

lived, that he died, and was later seen alive.

People that hated Jesus, they would not want

that to be true. They call it adverse witness.

People that did not want it to be true still

had to accept it because it happened in their

day. So ultimately, this prophecy points beyond

Israel to Jesus Christ. God's greatest display

of strength was not destroying enemies, but saving

sinners. So can God abolish nations? Yes, and

he's done so, and he can do that. But his desire

would be to save sinners out of the very nations

that he intends to abolish. So he doesn't want

to just let people go to hell. If God destroys

Iraq or Iran, just boom, gone, everything is

destroyed, then there would be a lot of people

there who by the time they would have died might

have accepted Christ and would go straight to

hell. So you don't want that. We don't want that.

God's greatest display of strength was not destroying

enemies, but saving sinners. That brings us to

application on number two. I know we're moving

kind of quickly, but these are things we kind

of already know. So pick out of it anything that

really strikes you. The greatest miracle of God's

arm is redemption through Christ. So remember,

we're talking about God's arm. The greatest miracle

of God's arm, the greatest point to God's power,

is what happened with Jesus. Then we go on to

kind of just an illustration for this point.

A firefighter enters a burning building while

everyone else is running out. At 9 -11, there

were firefighters, policemen, rescue responders

that charged into that building, even though

it was filling with poison, it was on fire on

the upper floors already, it potentially could

crash down. Everybody knew that was a possibility.

Or it was very dangerous. There were a ton of

people running in. So the firefighter's courage

is demonstrated not merely by strength, but by

whom he chooses to save. If he just runs in there,

that's courage, right? But if he pulls someone

out, think of how strong that makes him. He's

actually physically pulled them out of the fire.

He's brought them back from death. He's given

them life over death, essentially. And God reveals

his greatest strength not by crushing humanity,

but by sending his son to redeem humanity. So

when you think about your enemies, instead of

thinking about, man, I hate that person. Man,

I wish that person would get justice or anything

like that. Or even like, because a lot of times

we don't even have those thoughts, but stuff

still comes out our mouth that makes it seem

that way. They're so bad. I hate that. Not I

hate that person, but the tone is that you hate

them, right? Because you're defending yourself.

Because they're attacking you or whatever. Remember

that God's goal is to save that person. And you're

not going to save that person by you being mean

back to them when they're being mean to you.

Or you think they're being mean to you. Right?

Okay. Number three. And then we'll do a stunt.

Number three, then we'll do a recap of that first

section. Then we'll do a stunt. Okay. God's arm

is never too weak. Jeremiah 32, 17 is the reference.

We'll put that on that line right there. Jeremiah

32, 17. Which says, Ah, Lord God, behold, you

have made the heavens and the earth by your great

power and by your great power and by your outstretched

arm. Nothing is too difficult for you. If you

can't get it through the fact that Jesus was

crucified and brought back to life, you can't

get it through all the miracles that Jesus did.

You can't get it through all the transformed

souls who have had an incredible experience of

being born again. and totally changed. I have

had one of those experiences, right? I hope many

of you have. If you can't get it by that, just

realize that at the very beginning when there

was nothing, God created everything out of nothing.

And the same God who can create everything out

of nothing is not limited in what he can do.

Let's say you need something and you beg God

for it. God is able to give it or able to eliminate

the need, right? Or able to turn the course so

something completely different happens. Bottom

line is God is not limited in his great power.

And he has done all the creation by his great

power and outstretched arm. The explanation then

is Jeremiah connects creation with God's arm.

So all those other references to God's arm in

scripture are connected back to the creation.

No limit to the power. The God who created galaxies

has not exhausted his power. It's like, oh, he

did it, but he ran out after that, right? Like

his tank is empty. God's winded. He'll kick back

in eventually, but right now he's taking a break.

None of that is true. God is not limited. He's

an internal being. He does not change states.

And so he's completely capable. Nothing surprises

God. That could go on a line for sure. Nothing

overwhelms God. Nothing is beyond his ability.

We had a sermon two Sundays ago on Sunday. We

talked about whittling away at the sovereignty

of God. and how you could make it so God's not

really in charge, but you really do need God

to be in charge, because then when you can't

do it, you can rely on God to do it, so it's

good to have him in charge. When we say whittling

away at the sovereignty of God, it doesn't mean

you can actually reduce the sovereignty of God.

He's still sovereign. He's in charge of everything.

You can't actually change that. What happens

is you change it in your mind's eye, you change

it in the way you're acting in your life, and

now pretty soon you're fighting against God because

you think God's not in charge. That's what happens

with kids and parents sometimes. Kids get away

with a little bit, and then they think, well,

I can get away with a little bit more. I can

get away with a little bit more. I can get away

with a little bit more. And what they don't realize

is everything they're getting away with is hurting

them, even if they do manage to get away with

it. And parents love you enough to sometimes

let you get away with it when they shouldn't,

and then everybody's in trouble, right? So nothing

overwhelms God, and nothing is beyond God's ability.

The God who stretched out the heavens can certainly,

sustain his people. And then under the application,

your greatest problem is still small compared

to God's power. So if you think about what's

the worst thing that's happening in your life,

whatever that is, that is a small thing compared

to the total resources that God can bring to

bear. We're going to go back and recap the introduction

real quick for those who didn't get it. All right,

so on that four lines at the top, the four truths

the arm of God communicates. First one was God

possesses unlimited strength. The second one

was God accomplishes salvation. The third one

was God brings victory to his people. And the

last one was God rules over creation. So it's

God possesses unlimited strength. God accomplishes

salvation. God brings victory to his people and

God rules over all creation. Those are the four.

The first reference under number one was Deuteronomy

5 .15. We got most people now, I think. And that

verse, of course, was the Lord your God brought

you out and then toward the end with a mighty

hand and an outstretched arm. That verse pairs

God's hand and his arm together, a mighty hand

and an outstretched arm. The hand accomplishes.

The arm supplies overwhelming strength. Okay,

did everybody get caught up then? I think that

was almost everybody. If there's anything else

you need to fill in, we can do it after. Okay,

I'm going to do a stunt. I'm going to step across

the front. If you participate in the stunt, you

gain one ticket. If you succeed at the stunt,

you gain three tickets. I don't know what the

stunt is until I draw a random card and make

sure we have the necessary parts. Let's see.

We do not have the necessary parts for that one.

Sorry. That's a fun one. I'll get the parts for

next time. Okay. We can try it. All right. So

it just involves a ping pong ball. Who's trying?

I can do ten people at a time. Come on. Take

one ball. There is one ball. Take one ball and

set it on. I still got more in the box. There

is going to be a hard one for you, but at least

you can take a good ride. That's your ball, ain't

it? Right. All right. That's your ball, too.

All right. Everybody got a ball? You got one

extra. I'm not going to try it. All right. So

the challenge is called Hacky Sack. All right.

So what you do is you must bounce the ball off

one foot. and then it has to hit the other foot

before it hits the ground, and both feet have

to be off the ground when they hit the ball.

So you hit it once, and then you hit it with

the other foot. Don't follow that example very

much. Okay, get the basic idea? So you have to

kick it up with one foot. And then hit it with

the other foot before it hits the ground. I actually

did it. Look at me. I'm awesome. It's like hacky

sack. Don't start yet. You have 60 seconds. If

you fail in 60 seconds, you fail. You have 60

seconds to try. Just one time. Both feet have

to be off the ground. You kick it with one foot

and then kick it with the other foot before it

hits the ground. Don't start yet. You can spread

out if you need to. Y 'all are watching them

to make sure they're not... lying. If they say

they got it, then you're their witnesses. Right?

One foot, then the other foot. Both feet have

to be off the ground when you kick the ball.

That's all you got to do. You have 60 seconds

to try. If you fail, just try again for 60 seconds.

Ready? Go. One foot, then the other. Very good.

I didn't lose your ball already. Thank you. No.

Keep trying. Still got 40 seconds. Still got

40 seconds. 30 to 8. No. No. No. No. 20 seconds.

I figured out the truth. Don't lift your feet

up so high. The higher you lift your feet, the

harder it gets. Nope, got 9 seconds. 3, 2, 1.

It's just your ball. You're up to the side. It's

up to you. I'm sorry. I'm over here. I'm over

here. I'm over here. I'm over here. I'm over

here. I'm over here. I'm over here. All right.

Thank you for participating. It's entertaining

to everybody else. All right. Back in the day

when they first started doing that hacky sack

thing, I would watch them stand around in a circle

and they would all kick the hacky sack and keep

it up like 20 times in a row. I totally don't

get that. I don't know how they do that. It's

amazing. I guess the more you practice, the better

you get. Okay, we're on number four. God's arm

shepherds his people. Again, most of these I

think you kind of get. We're just understanding

that there is a connection there and then trying

to draw inferences from the connection. So the

reference is Isaiah 40, verse 11. And it says,

Isaiah 40:11

like a shepherd, he will tend his flock. And

it ends with, he will gather the lambs with his

arm. This is one of scripture's most tender pictures.

The same arm that defeats nation gently carries

lambs. God's strength is never harsh toward his

enemies. I'm sorry, toward his children. God's

strength is never harsh toward his children.

So realize that same arm. that can destroy, wipe

out whole nations, wipe out armies, has done

so, right? God will tenderly pick you up and

carry you. He'll wrap you up. He'll protect you.

He'll provide for you with that same power. It's

not a power that's like, so we think of like

a big sword crunch, right? It's not a power like

that because what else can you do with a big

sword? You can pry something like with a lever.

You can break something. That's pretty much the

limit of it. Use it as a really big paperweight.

Right. But you can't make anybody warm or comfortable.

You can't heal any wounds with it. Right. But

God's arm is not just for battle. His strength

is never harsh toward his children. His power

serves his compassion. So does he have unlimited

power? Yes. Does he have unlimited compassion?

Yes. And the two are perfectly welded. Not sometimes

God is compassionate. Other times God is powerful.

He has unlimited power and unlimited compassion

all the time at the same time. He carries those

too weak to walk. Many of those things can go

in those lines on the summary there. And then

the application, God's strength is always joined

to his tenderness. Number five, God's arm brings

victory. Psalm 98 .1 is the reference. His right

hand and his holy arm have gained the victory

for him. Notice again, there is the hand and

the arm. Still pictures two different things,

but working in perfect unison. Victory belongs

to God. Israel's military success never depended

upon numbers alone. Likewise, Christ's victory

over sin, death, and Satan is entirely God's

accomplishment. No shared efforts. And then the

application is our confidence rests in God's

victories rather than our abilities. So in other

words, the next time that you're facing a sin

and you go to our temptation that leads to sin,

sin leads to a breaking relationship between

you and God, and you're thinking, I don't know

if I can do it. That shows a flaw in your thinking.

It is not a question of whether or not you can

do it. When you think about your spouse, I don't

know if they'll make a bad decision here or not.

I don't know if they'll give in to temptation

or I can't trust him or her to go there because

I don't know what will happen. It's not about

what you think they will do. It's about trusting

God. God has the power for the victory. And as

long as they trust God, he will make it a victory.

And if they don't trust God and it feels like

it's not a victory for a time, ultimately they

have to repent, turn back to the Lord, and the

end victory is still the same, determined by

God's power, not by a person's choices. The application

then is our confidence rests in God's victories

rather than our own abilities. So we kind of

know that. But notice that it is because of the

teaching overall of Scripture of the power of

God, the might that is in his arm, that we know

that. That's why we know. We'll do one more and

then we'll do our second stop. Number six. Moving

right along. God's arm rules the universe. Isaiah

40, 10. Isaiah 40, verse 10. Behold, the Lord

Isaiah 40:10

God will come with might, with his arm ruling

for him. God's arm represents his sovereign authority.

Kings rule through armies. God rules through

his own power. No one votes to have God be ruler

over their life. That's why it does not work

to say, if you just pray, you'll be saved. Because

that person who's praying, they're asking God,

but you don't know what's going on in their heart.

You don't know whether they understand the words.

Right? We receive salvation as a free gift. So

you might be better off saying, if you'll receive

it, if you'll accept what God is willing to do,

if you'll trust in him, it's a tough thing. But

to say that even then, to say that their trust

is what saves them, that doesn't quite do it

either. No earthly government can resist God's

eternal kingdom. No matter who stands against

him, Last night, our devotional at home, our

devotional was on Jezebel, who was King Ahab's

wife, and she was bad. It was her goal, her mission,

her vision to eradicate the worship of God in

Israel to the point that they soaked in tar priests

and hung them on posts and hung them alongside

the street and set them on fire. to light the

street on the way to the palace. And she hunted

every priest down and tried to kill them. Now,

God retained priests for himself and did not

allow her to kill them all. But at one point

in time, Elijah thought he was the last, but

he wasn't. No earthly government, and people

have tried to eradicate Christianity time and

time again. It's not going to happen. God's rule

is perfect. His justice is certain. His reign

is everlasting. Any one of those things could

go on those lines. His rule is perfect. His justice

is certain. His reign is everlasting. And then

the application would be, when the world seems

out of control, remember that God's arm still

rules. This is our last stunt for the night.

Let me see if I have what we need in here. Oops.

Let's say that we do not have what we need for

that one. It's a little unfair. It wants you

to juggle three balls, and I think I'm the only

person in the room that can do it. You can juggle

three? All right. You can do two with one hand?

Only kind of. You know what they call it if you

only kind of juggle? Dropping. Dropping. That's

what they call it. Okay, here we got one. Alright,

this is an easy one. It's ping pong balls again.

It's called Harlem Globetrotters. Everybody needs

a ball. One ball each. Anybody got one? Okay,

so the stunt is called Harlem Globetrotters.

You have 60 seconds. You must bounce the ball

between your legs and catch it with the other

hand. Like that? Okay. You must do so three times

successfully inside 60 seconds. If you drop it,

you start over at zero. Don't start yet. Wait

for the clock. So you bounce it off the floor

between your legs like that. Catch it over here.

Then you can go back the other way or you can

go to the same hand if you want. Don't do it

yet. Don't do it yet. No practicing. No practicing.

Okay. You got 60 seconds. If you fail one time,

like if you try to bounce it and it falls, you

have to start over at zero. You have to do three

in a row. Okay? Three in a row. Three in a row.

Don't forget to count. Don't do that. Whatever

that was, it wasn't good. Ready? Spread out a

little bit. Give yourself some room. Spread out

a little bit. And go. If you fail, you start

at zero. That's zero. Back to zero. Okay, that's

three. Got it already. You're starting it out

tonight. Can you stop doing good? What a great

brother. Can you stop doing good? Alright, come

get your tickets if you did it. One, two, three.

One, two. My tactic is always not super high.

In the box. Hey. What? Go. You're good. You got

time. Not much. There it is. Time's up. I got

it. Okay, we've got number seven. We've got the

recap and then Bible trivia. We're doing good

on time. Okay. The reference is Deuteronomy 33,

27. Deuteronomy, the book of Deuteronomy, 33,

27. The book of Deuteronomy is called Deuteronomy,

by the way, because it is the final two speeches

of Moses combined. So he was going to lead the

Israelites to go on under Joshua and do what

it was they needed to do. And he gave two major

speeches to tell them everything they needed

to know. So for future reference, that's why

it's called Deuteronomy. The eternal God is a

dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting

arms. Moses ends his blessing with one of the

most comforting promises in Scripture. God's

arms never tire. They never weaken. They never

let go. We have a song like that. Never let go.

Even when believers stumble, that believer does

not fall beyond the reach of God's everlasting

arms. God is not going to say, oh, forget you.

If you have accepted Jesus Christ, your Lord

and Savior, he's still going to be there, still

going to be working. Might be working against

you if you're working against yourself, because

he's always working for you. If you're working

against yourself, then that means you're working

against him. Say that again. God's always working

for you. But when you're working against yourself,

That means you're going to be working against

God because God is working for you. And then

the application is every believer lives securely

supported by God's eternal strength. Huh. She

said. She's got a beautiful voice, Vanessa. I

think you might be in trouble. Good kind of trouble,

though. Okay. So we're on the theological summer.

theological summary part, that box right there.

Okay? And you're just going to put the words

in the lines. The arm of God teaches his, big

word, omnipotence. Omni, O -M -N -I, potence.

P -O -T -E -N -C -E. Which basically says nothing

is impossible for him. Right? God's arm teaches

us his salvation. He alone rescues sinners. Salvation.

S -A -L -V -A -T -I -O -N. Salvation. With an

I. His victory. He defeats every enemy. His compassion.

His strength protects the weak. That one really

spoke to me when I first wrote this Bible study,

by the way, because I forget that myself. The

Bible says that we need to remember the severity

of God. And I do. I mean, I... I try to. And

then sometimes I forget his gentleness, you know,

his compassion, his tenderness toward me and

toward others who are not necessarily going the

right way. Okay. His sovereignty. Another big

word. S -O -V -E -R -E -I -G -N -T -Y. Sovereignty.

S -O -V -E -R -E -I -G -N -T -Y. Which is to

say that God rules over every nation. And I would

say that means he rules over everything. His

faithfulness. His power never diminishes. Faithfulness.

Faith. F -A -I -T -H -F -U -L -N -E -S -S. Faithfulness.

Not going to wear out. Not going to run down.

Not going to give up. His security, his everlasting

arms sustain his people forever. Now there's

some practical applications of this then, and

they go in that very bottom box. First one is,

trust God's strength when your strength is exhausted.

I just recently had a morning where I was just

really feeling spiritually beat up. Not sure

what my next steps were going to be. And Sherry

came and gave me a hug and prayed for me. And

by the time she was done praying, I knew what

my next steps were going to be. I was just going

to keep doing what God wanted me to do. And then

it took about halfway through the day and it

was all gone. So trust God's strength when yours

is exhausted. Remember that salvation is God's

work, not ours. Huge when you're witnessing.

We feel like we're compelled. We want to make

them do something. You want them to say certain

words. The words they say, the things they do,

none of that matters. If they say they're getting

saved, it almost doesn't matter at all. I'll

never forget back in the day when the ICE event

happened and they were filling out the paperwork

afterwards about how many people got saved. And

it felt to me like they were falsifying the paperwork.

Like, why would you do that? They were saying,

well, they said this and they said that and they

asked for this and they asked for that and they

prayed. And they promised. And like, I don't

think any of the things that you're saying add

up to they got saved. You know? And so we got

to be careful. Realize that salvation is God's

work, not ours. Rest in his power during difficult

circumstances. That kind of ties right into trusting

God's strength when yours is exhausted. But a

lot of times your strength is not exhausted.

You need to start trusting first before you run

out of strength. Because then what if in the

middle of it, God says, all you have to do is

this one little thing and it'll take care of

it. You got nothing left because you've spent

all your strength before you ever went to him

to ask. And God says, well, just get up. And

you're like, but I can't get up. I did everything

I was supposed to do and now I'm all wiped out

and I can't get up. God's like, you just get

up. And then now you have to rely on his strength

even for the getting up, which he'll do. But

if he wants you to do something simple and he

asks you to do it, he expects you to do it. Four.

Find comfort in his gentle care. Live confidently

because his victory is certain. Now, again, you

probably could have wrote those. Most of you

probably could have wrote those. These are not

things that we don't know. But now, because we

looked at the arm of God, we know why we know

them. Because God's arm is always at work, and

you can kind of feel it even when you haven't

read it. So, a closing illustration. In a lot

of old churches and cathedral buildings, especially

across Europe, there are paintings of Atlas.

Anybody remember him? He's that mythical giant

comes from what, Greek, right? And he's supposedly

holding the world on his shoulders. The image

of Atlas suggests incredible strength as he's

literally holding up the world. Yeah, that's

only a legend. The Bible offers a far greater

reality. God does not strain beneath the weight

of the universe. I preached a block party over

on New Heights, and I had the video, and we used

an excerpt from it to make a promotions video

for the missions later. It was about 15 years

ago. And in that, as I was preaching, I said,

God could take the whole universe, not just the

earth, but the whole universe, and put it in

his hand with a tiny drop of dish soap like this,

and go, he can clean the whole universe if he

wanted to. And as I was preaching, I felt the

Holy Spirit say, that's a pretty good illustration.

Because if we think about the moon, it's big,

right? You see in the night sky, it's big. You

think about the sun, it's kind of small, right?

It's barely bigger than the moon, but it's 96

million miles away. It's actually like thousands

or, Art might be able to tell us exactly, but

like a million times bigger than the earth, right?

And God is... A million times, a billion times,

and an infinitely bigger being than all the star

systems and all the stars and everything that

exists combined. And we think that puts it in

perspective. It's a far greater reality. More

astonishing than that, then, is that the same

mighty God who sustains the stars, who made it

all and sustains it all, carries us when we need

it. That's huge. The arm that parted the Red

Sea conquered death through the resurrection

of Christ and will one day establish his eternal

kingdom in the very arm that carries every believer

through life's greatest trials. For the unbeliever,

this lesson is a call to trust in the only one

powerful enough to do what we're talking about.

For us, for the believers in the room, I hope

we're all believers in the room. I don't know.

I hope you are. God is an unending source of

confidence. If you'd be confident because you

received a check in the mail, because you see

praise, encouragement, somebody told you you're

doing the right thing. If you'd be confident

because somebody smiled at you and you're talking

to them, or because your doctor gave you a good

report. If any of those things would boost your

confidence, the fact that the God of the universe

is on your side with this kind of power, that

should boost your confidence. The Lord has bared

his holy arm. that all the ends of the earth

may see the salvation of our God. That's Isaiah

52 .10. And his mighty arm is still reaching,

still rescuing, still carrying, and still reigning

today. Okay? All right. So that concludes the

arm of God. Now, just so you know where we're

at, okay, we have three more anthropomorphic

terms for God that we'll handle in the next three

weeks. Somewhere in there, or by the fourth week

at the latest, Our structure in here will change

a little bit on Tuesday night. So we'll start,

and we'll have worship, and it'll be a little

different. But we'll still be doing the fun stuff,

especially when we have the kids with us and

like that, and keeping it energetic because coming

to church should be fun. It also should be a

great deal of learning. And those who think that,

like, we just can learn. We don't need to do

anything fun. I think God's fun. You have to

talk to him about that. All right. If you want

to do Bible trivia, you can stand up where you

are. Questions will come in random order. Some

are easy. Some are hard. I just got off the page.

I got to get back. You get one ticket. Okay.

Just two housekeeping things before we start

this in case I forget. After we do Bible trivia,

if you have completed your worksheet for today,

I'm going to give everybody a ticket that completed

their worksheet today. So you'll get one extra

ticket for that. Also, at the end of the night

today, I'm going to draw a name from this box.

So in this box are the tickets that were earned

for the last roughly three months since we started

doing this. Okay? And after we do all the prizes

tonight, the tickets from tonight will also go

in here. And then I'm going to shake it all up,

and I'm going to draw one name and give away

a $10 Meijer gift card. Just for fun. It's all

for me. Okay? All right, here we go. Let's see.

Where are we going to start? Me, me, mine, mine.

We'll start over here. River, you're first. You

ready? No pressure. No pressure. It's kind of

a tough question. It's the first tough question.

It's random. What are you going to do? What was

the occupation of Luke, the author of the Gospel

of Luke? What was his occupation, like job? Do

you know? If not, you can sit down and keep your

one ticket. One wants. Okay. Natalie, what was

the occupation of Luke? Doctor is correct. Okay,

very good. All right. Mike, you're up. Who was

the king of Salem and priest of God Most High

who blessed Abraham? Another hard one. Okay,

sitting down. Haley, who was the king of Salem?

and priest of God Most High who blessed Abraham.

She's down. Chris, she stuck you with it. Who

was the king of Salem and priest of God Most

High who blessed Abraham? Okay. All right. Anybody

want to take a stab at it? Does anybody know

it? Melchizedek. Melchizedek is the name. And

the New Testament says that Jesus is a priest

in the order of Melchizedek. Okay? All right.

Moving on. Who do we got? Jaden. What is the

shortest book in the Old Testament? Be careful.

The shortest book in the Old Testament. That

is another hard one. I've got three hard ones

in a row. I didn't write them. They're random.

He's down. She's down. Jason? If you guess, you

lose your ticket. Okay. Anyone want to take a

stab at it? Shortest book in the Old Testament?

Anyone want to take a stab at it? Nope. 1 Kings

is long. Nope. Obadiah. Obadiah is the shortest

book in the Old Testament. Okay. Caleb. Who fell

asleep and fell out of a window during Paul's

preaching? Another hard one. We'll get some easy

ones eventually. I see an easy one coming. You

should be able to ask your brother and he should

know because he falls asleep sometimes during

the preaching. I'm just kidding. It is not. Caleb

couldn't get it. Tommy? Have a seat. Aaron? Sorry.

You're the third one. Anybody got it? Eutychus.

You'll never forget it again. Eutychus. So Paul

preached really late into the night. He was sitting

in the window. He fell out of the window, broke

his neck and died. Paul went downstairs, laid

on top of him, begged God to heal him, brought

him back to life. They went back in, including

Eutychus, and preached the rest of the night.

And he would never fall asleep in the sermon

again. Yeah, probably not. Okay. All right. You

already did one, right? No, okay, Zayden. What

was the name of the island where John received

revelation? The island name. We had this one

last week, but you weren't in here, were you?

Oh, I'm so sorry. It's a tough one. If you've

not heard it recently. You probably know it.

As soon as I say it, you'll go, oh, yeah. He's

down. Arden, the name of the island. Uh -oh,

that's a problem. That means if it's two islands

that usually mix up, they have a 50 -50 chance.

What was the name of the island? Patmos. Patmos

is correct. Okay, Abby. Who was the judge that

defeated the Midianites with 300 men? They used

trumpets and torches and broke pitchers. 300

men. Remember his name? Don't remember? Have

a seat.