The Power of the Gospel (God's Authority & Ability in Action) | Season 04, Episode 02 | Simple Truth Podcast

What would it look like if the power of God was fully active in your life? Seriously, think about it. What if the same power that worked through Jesus was working in you and me? The good news of the gospel is simple. Jesus died for your sins. He was buried and he rose again on the third day. And when you believe that is trust in, rely on and have confidence in the gospel. the authority and ability of God himself becomes present in your life because the gospel of the kingdom is much more than a message you believe. It's actually the power of God in action. In this episode, we're going to show you how the gospel carries real authority from God. Why the gospel is God's ability and force to produce real change and why the kingdom of God is not just about other people or speeches, but the power of God. So, we'll look at the Bible together and we'll see how God's power is meant to work in you. Let's get into it in this episode of the Simple Truth Podcast. Welcome to the Simple Truth Podcast, where we open the Bible to uncover simple, biblical, and essential truths that can transform your life. And now, here's your host, Ted Ross. >> Hi, my name is Ted Ross and this is the Simple Truth Podcast, your home for biblical truth clearly taught and freely given. I'm super excited about this episode. It's season 4, episode two, where we talk about the power of the gospel. It's God's authority and ability in action. So, let's get into it. Why does this episode matter? Well, Jesus's first and most repeated message was the gospel of the kingdom. He basically said, Mark 1, and we saw this throughout scripture, God's rule has come to you. So, repent. That is, change your mind and believe the good news. At its core, the gospel is simple. Jesus died for your sins. He was buried and he rose again the third day. We saw this last episode in 1 Corinthians 15:es 1-4. But the gospel is more than just a message. It's actually God's mission to heal, to set people free, to restore all people through the Lord Jesus Christ. And we saw this in Luke 4:18 last episode. When you repent and you believe this, or when I repent and believe this, your sins are forgiven and you are made right with God. Praise God. Through God's power. We saw this in Luke 24 and Romans 1:16. So the gospel message is always accompanied by power. That is both authority and we're going to see that as the word exusia in Greek as well as God's ability. That's the word dunamis in Greek. This episode shows what the gospel does when it takes hold of your life. And it is amazing. Which brings us to our first simple truth. The gospel carries God's authority with it. Amen. Mark 1:es 21- 27. We saw before that in Mark 1:es 14 and 15, we saw that Jesus preached, "Repent and believe the gospel." We saw this in episode 1 of season 4. Now, just a few verses later in Mark 1:21-27, we're going to see Jesus demonstrate the power, aka exusia in Greek, of that gospel. So Jesus went and preached a message. Repent and believe the gospel, he said. Now a few verses later, we're going to see Jesus demonstrate the power of that message. Okay. Mark 1 21. All Bible verses in this episode are quoted from the New King James Version. So feel free to follow along. Mark 1:21. Quote, "Then they went into Kaepernum. And immediately on the Sabbath he, Jesus, entered the synagogue and taught." Verse 22. And they were astonished at his teaching. This is Jesus's teaching. For he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes. They were astonished. It says at Jesus's teaching. It means they were struck with amazement. They were in great wonder. What teaching is this? You could say they're saying. And the teaching means his instructions. His doctrine. So they were amazed at his doctrine and his instructions. Why? Because he taught them as one having authority. The word in Greek is exuzia. It means privilege. It's having the right to do something. It's power that comes from a higher source. So when Jesus taught, he didn't just say words or say God is like this or God is like that. His teaching had authority with it. It had a power that came from a higher source. It gave him a right to do something. And he didn't teach as the scribes, the other teachers that were there. When Jesus came teaching the gospel, it came with power. Power to do what, you might ask? Well, great question. Let's take a look at Mark 1 verse 23. In here, we're going to see that the gospel confronts evil and literally makes a person sound and whole right in front of Jesus. Mark 1:23, quote, "Now there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit, and he cried out, he being the man with the unclean spirit." verse 24 saying, quote, "Let us alone. What have we to do with you, Jesus of Nazareth? Did you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God." Praise God. There was a man in the synagogue where Jesus was teaching. And Jesus didn't even address that man. The scripture shows while he was teaching in power because he was teaching the gospel of the kingdom of God. An unclean spirit. a man with an unclean spirit, which is an unholy, polluted spirit, aka a demon, right? It's an evil spirit who's in rebellion against God, part of the kingdom of darkness. That man cried out. To cry out is to scream out urgently. And I I I think you know what it means to cry out, but I felt like it's worth defining. So, you can start to kind of visualize what's happening here. Jesus is teaching in a synagogue, and then a man screams out urgently. This may even come across as almost blood curdling. It probably shook the room when it happened and he screamed us out. What have we to do with you, Jesus of Nazareth? This is the unclean spirit screaming through the man. Did you come to destroy us? That means to ruin, to bring to an end. Notice the power of God. This unclean spirit says, "Is it time yet for you to destroy us? To bring us to an end." Praise God. The gospel, it brings God's rule. It brings his kingdom. And it brings God's authority into every situation as we're seeing here with Jesus. Because the gospel is God's message, God confirms it with his power. I would repeat this because it's very, very important. Jesus is son of God and he's son of man. And as he's walking the earth, he did nothing without doing the will of his father and the authority that he carried. He carried that authority. And we're going to see a little later, he grants that authority to others because he is preaching God's message and teaching the gospel of the kingdom. God bore witness. He witnessed it and confirmed it with God's power. So let's take a look at the next verse. Mark 1 25. What did Jesus do after this unclean spirit cries out and says, "Is it time for you to destroy us? We know who you are." Jesus, it says here Mark 1:25, but Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Be quiet and come out of him." Verse 26, "And when the unclean spirit had convulsed him and cried out with a loud voice, he came out of him." The gospel's power goes beyond just exposing darkness. The gospel's power drives out darkness as we see in these verses. So it says Jesus rebuked him that is to command him sharply. He says be quiet. Jesus said stop speaking silence to that evil spirit and says come out of him means depart or leave him. And then the unclean spirit in that man convulsed the man. It means it shook him violently. It threw him into spasms. Wow. Again I'm saying this to help you visualize what this must have looked at at this synagogue. By the way, I guarantee you the week before at that synagogue, nothing like this happened. But when Jesus showed up coming out of the wilderness, having overcome the flesh and the devil, he came out in the spirit and power. He came and he taught at the synagogue and he taught the gospel of the kingdom. And you see what happens when the gospel is taught. You see the authority of God. And he says he cried out with a loud voice. That spirit screamed out and shouted. The gospel message is not theoretical. It's not a concept. The death, the burial, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ, it carries real authority. It carries real power, a power to change lives. Mark 1 27. Here we're going to see that after witnessing this, the people in that synagogue were astonished. This wasn't anything that they had seen before. The gospel had real authority and real power. Mark 1:27. And they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, "What is this? And what new doctrine is this? For with authority he commands even the unclean spirits?" And they oy him. Praise God. They said, "What do this? What instructions or teachings is this?" By the way, it's the gospel. That's what he was teaching. It says, "For with authority," again, that's the word exusia, "with authority." That's privilege. That's having the right to do something. That's power coming from a higher source. He commands even the unclean spirits and they obey him. That means they submit to him. They listen to the authority that he was walking in. The gospel is no ordinary teaching. It's God's power to save you. It's to whatever issue you have, whatever challenge you have, whatever evil that you face, right? That is the power of the gospel. It's not just a message. It's God's message. Remember what we said before in episode one. It is literally the most important message and topic in the entire Bible. It started back in the book of Genesis. It's reminded in the book of Revelation. It's throughout the Bible. It's threaded. The whole purpose of the Bible is to point to Jesus's death, burial, and resurrection. And as that message is being believed and it's being taught, you see God's power bear witness to it. Why? because God is confirming through visible signs and wonders that this is his message. And so it's incredible. It's God's power to save us from any issue, any challenge, any evil that we face. And it's not just Jesus. Let's take a look at the book of Luke 10 17 through 20. In Luke 10:17, we're going to see that Jesus sent out 70 disciples to preach the gospel of the kingdom and confirmed it with his power, his authority, and signs. If you were to read Luke 10:es 1-16, you'll see he sent all 70 out. And you'll see what happens. But for the sake of time, because we want to keep this episode as concise as possible, we're going to skip ahead to Luke 10:17. Quote, "Then the 70 returned with joy, saying, quote,"Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name." Verse 18, "And he said to them, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven." Oh, praise God. That's not the son of man talking. That's the son of God, the eternal son of God, who was there at the fall of Lucifer, right? That's a powerful statement. And they said to Jesus, "Lord, even the demons are subject." To be subject is to be submitted. They're even put under the authority of your name. To say in Jesus' name or in your name is invoking God's cause. It's invoking God's authority. When you pray in Jesus' name, you're praying aligned with God's will and you're invoking God's authority and power. Remember, I remember when I was an early Christian, it seemed almost arrogant or conceited to say I was doing something in the name of Jesus. And yet Jesus instructs me to do things in the name of Jesus. And while my flesh and my soul always felt, well, I'm not worthy and I'm not deserving, God literally instructs me through scripture after scripture. And while I understand I am not worthy and I am not suitable for the power of God to work through me, I'm merely a vessel. A vessel that God has prepared through my own wilderness experience through reading, through praying, through fasting, through believing the gospel. He's done work in me. It wasn't an easy work in my opinion. And God has done that. He's put me on the potter's wheel as it says in the Old Testament. And when he does that work in you, he then commands you to do his will and to do his purpose in your life. And in that you will invoke God's cause and authority. You will invoke his name. And so the disciples, these 70, he says, Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name. And he said to them, I saw Satan. That word Satan is the word adversary. It means the word opponent, right? He's talking about Lucifer. He's talking about a fallen angel here. It's very much a being, right? a spirit being. He says, "I saw Satan fall." To fall is to descend, to collapse. It implies defeat. It implies defeat, folks. He saw Satan fall. And I mean fall hard. He fell like lightning from heaven. The gospel carries God's authority. And it's not only in Jesus, who is our example, by the way. Jesus as our example, we should be following in his steps, as the scripture said. We saw this in season two of the Simple Truth podcast. But the gospel carries God's authority. And it's not only in Jesus. It's also through the followers of Jesus Christ, which means you and I who go about in his name, for his cause, and for his purpose. Luke 10: Jesus here affirms that he has given his followers power aka authority, aka Exusia in Greek. However, he also corrects their focus on why he's given them this power. So, let's see. Luke 10:1 19. Jesus says, "Behold, I give you," this is to the 70, "the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy. Praise God. And nothing shall by any means hurt you." Verse 20. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven. Jesus says, "Behold, I give you authority." That is privilege, right? Power from a higher source. It's the same word that we saw in Mark 1. That's the same word we saw in the previous verses of Luke 10. The exact same word. And Jesus says, "I give that authority to you." He says to trample, that is to tread on or to crush underfoot. Serpents, scorpions, over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Nevertheless, he says, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits, they're subject to you, that you could trample them underfoot in Jesus' name, right? According to his cause and according to his purpose, according to the authority given to you through the gospel. He says, don't rejoice in those things. Instead, rejoice that your name and my name is recorded in God's kingdom. That our name is written in heaven. The purpose of the gospel's power is to bring you and others into a transformational relationship with God. Do you see that? Jesus said, "Oh yeah, there's power. This power will do all sorts of things. You can trample on serpents and scorpions. You have power over all the enemy. Nothing shall by any means hurt you." But remember, that's not what you rejoice in. You rejoice. Thank God for the relationship that you have with God and that it is a transformational relationship both here in this world and in the world to come. That is what we thank God for. Thank you, Lord Jesus. Which brings us to our next simple truth. The gospel carries God's ability and force. So, while we talked about God's power in the example of authority, aka Exuzia, we are now going to switch gears and talk about the word power in Greek, which is ability, also known as dunamis. The Greek language has several words to describe one word in English, which is power. When we think about what power is, there's a power, which is both an authority to do something, a privilege, and there's also the word power, which is the ability to do it. And what we see in Greek is that the gospel brings both. Let's take a look at 1 Corinthians 4:es 18-20. And here we're going to see that the gospel, it does not operate in empty words or speeches. It always carries real ability with it and force aka the word dunamis in Greek. And it carries ability and force to transform lives. 1 Corinthians 4 verse 18. Quote, this is Paul writing. Now some are puffed up as though I were not coming to you. Paul wrote. Wow. Verse 19. But I will come to you shortly if the Lord wills and I will know not the word of those who are puffed up but the power. Okay. What is Paul describing here? Paul says now some are puffed up. To be puffed up means to be inflated with pride. To be arrogant. He says some of you are arrogant. Some of you are prideful. And you're prideful as though I Paul were not coming to you. Because if I, Paul, were on my way, you wouldn't be so prideful and arrogant, would you? But because I, Paul, am not around, you're all puffed up. You're all showing off. And what you're showing off is nothing fancy. You're showing off fancy speeches and fancy words. You're not showing off anything that even shows that you even know God. He says, "But I will come to you and I will know." That is, I will recognize. Paul said not the word, the speech, the message, the talk of those who are puffed up, who are inflated with pride or arrogant. What will Paul know? The power. Okay? He will know the dunamis, the ability, the force, the spiritual strength. So Paul said, when I Paul come, I'm not going to be paying attention. I'm not going to recognize people's speeches, their talks, or their messages because I don't care about the speeches, the talk, and the messages of prideful, arrogant people. But I, Paul, will recognize the ability, the force, the spiritual strength of God, the power of God that he will recognize because somebody who's speaking in their own words is just talking. Someone who's speaking in their own words is trying to be clever. They're trying to be so. If it's somebody who's speaking God's words and God is confirming it with his power, that person is sent from God. That person is someone you can trust because that person is not so much that person. What you're seeing is God working through that person. We don't give people thanks and praise. We give God thanks and praise. God is the father of spirits. We submit ourselves to him. He is our Lord. He is our savior. He is the one who has done a tremendous thing for us. And we submit ourselves to him as his servants. And people who understand that will be servants of God. And they will never bring attention to themselves. They will bring attention to God. The same God in heaven that you serve and I serve, they will say, "That's God." And you'll say to them, "Whoa, what a wonderful sermon. What you did was fantastic." They'll say, "It wasn't what I did. It was God who did it." Because we're just an empty vessel. We're just wine skins with new wine in them. We can get no credit. Honestly, woe to us if we don't do God's word. Paul said, right? And so he said, I'm going not to going to know the words of them. I'm going to know the power. The gospel is not about clever or fancy speech. The gospel is about the power of God in action. 1 Corinthians 4:20. Here we're going to see that the kingdom of God is not defined by those speeches or people with bold claims, but it's actually defined by the active power of God at work. God bearing witness to the message. 1 Corinthians 4:20, for the kingdom of God is not in word but in power. Amen. It says, "The kingdom, God's rule, God's reign, the authority of God." Remember what we saw back in Mark 1:es 14 and 15. Jesus came preaching and what did he say? He was preaching the gospel. He says, "The time is fulfilled in the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the gospel." He was preaching the gospel of the kingdom. And he was preaching the gospel of God's reign, his authority, right? His rule. And so Paul says that rule, that reign, that authority of God, it's not in words, it's not in speeches, it's not his messages, it's not in talks. What is it in? It's in power. It's in dunamis. It's an ability force in spiritual strength. When God preaches the gospel, when he preaches through people, when the death thrown resurrection is ministered, when people believe the gospel, the ability, the force, the spiritual strength of God, it bears witness. It's there. Okay? Some of you have been disappointed. Some of you have been let down by people who claimed to preach God's word. And I'm sorry. They gave clever sermons to sometimes really big crowds, sometimes little small crowds, but nothing changed in your life. I'm sorry to hear that. That was not God. There is nothing in scripture that says that when you preach the gospel of the kingdom of God, nothing happens. Over and over again in scripture, what you see is God bears witness to his message and he bears witness with authority and with ability. Right? Because the gospel of the kingdom is powerful. It's reliable and it's lifechanging. It carries God's ability to make great things happen to everyone who believes the gospel. Okay, let's take a look at 1 Thessalonians 1:5. Paul says, "The gospel is more than just spoken words. It is the force of God." 1 Thessalonians 1:5, quote, "For our gospel, did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance as you know what kind of men we were among you for your sake." Okay? He says, "For our gospel, the good news, the good message, we saw in 1 Corinthians 15. It's the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It didn't come to them in word only. It didn't come just in a speech or a message or a talk. What did it come with? It came in power. It came in dunamis. It came in ability, force, spiritual strength. It came in the Holy Spirit. And it came in assurance. When Paul preached the gospel, when he taught, he had full conviction and complete certainty because Paul had seen through experience what the gospel did. That's why Paul wrote in Romans 1:16, he says, "For I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. For it, the gospel is the power of God to salvation to everyone that believes." Praise God. And I say this for a reason. We're not talking about theories here, folks. You and I need stuff from God. You and I need deliverance. You and I have a variety of challenges. We may need something on the financial side. We may have an issue in our body. We may need something on behalf of others. It could be a child. It could be a parent, could be a friend. We may need something from our nation. And what I am telling you today is that Jesus died. He was buried and he rose again the third day to fix the issue with your finances, to fix the issue with your body, to fix the issue with your child or with others, and to fix the issues in your nation. Because in that death, burial and resurrection, the same power that God worked when he raised Jesus from the dead is the same power he manifests to people who believe, who trust in, who rely on, who would cling on to the death, bal resurrection of Jesus Christ. And we saw it with Jesus casting a devil out of that man. And you see it over and over again in scripture. You see that the death, row, and resurrection brings God's power with it. Power to transform lives, to restore people, to heal people. That's why Jesus quoted Isaiah 61 and said, "For the spirit of the Lord is upon me to preach the gospel to the poor." And it goes on from there. It is such a wonderful blessing that God has sent us, Jesus Christ, not just to teach us tremendous teachings, but to also die on our behalf, to be buried, and to rise again the third day, that we can put our faith and our trust in him. That we could turn our lives over to him and obey him. and he will manifest tremendous power to change us, to convert us, to transform us, and conform us into the image of Jesus Christ. And that is a wonderful blessing that I don't know about you, I thank God that he did that in my life. And I thank God that he's doing it in your life and will continue to do it in your life because he who began a good work in you will perfect that good work in you until the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Praise God. The gospel is not only God's truth. It's God's ability. It's God's force to impact your life and produce real change. In a nutshell, it's worth believing, folks. I would not be spending my time putting together these messages if I did not believe that the death, burial, and resurrection was something that I would build my life on. I am building my life on it. I'm continue to building my life on it. And I will tell you this, I am no fool. It took a lot of convincing to get me this far. But I will tell you now, if you will build your life on the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, you will not be disappointed. In fact, you will be tremendously blessed. It is literally the best decision I have ever made in my entire life. And every day, I thank God that he got in my face and caused me to believe it. Thank you, Jesus. Okay, let's talk about Acts 10:es 37-4. And here we're going to see Peter describe Jesus's ministry and his power, his ability of the gospel. A lot of these verses, and I know we're covering so many verses, I want you to see the different perspectives. I want you to see Jesus preach the gospel and see the demon get cast out. I want you to see the 70 preaching the gospel and the signs following them. I want you to see Peter talk about Jesus because I need you to understand what the scripture is saying so we'll see it from different perspective so that you can gain a deeper understanding of what these verses are really saying. Acts 10:37 that word you know which was proclaimed throughout all Judea and began from Galilee after the baptism which John preached. What word is Peter talking about? He's talking about the gospel. That's the message he's discussing. He says that word, you know, the gospel, it was proclaimed throughout all Judea. It began from Galilee, which we saw Jesus in his teachings, right? He was preaching it in Mark chapter 1. And he did it after the baptism which John preached, right? Jesus was baptized, went into the wilderness, came out in the spirit and power. And this is the word he was teaching. He said, "The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the gospel." Verse 38, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. That's a powerful statement. It says that word, you know, the gospel, right, which was proclaimed, remember Jesus preached it after John was put in prison. It said that literally in Mark chapter 1. And it says how God the Father anointed Jesus of Nazareth. how he appointed Jesus, how he empowered Jesus of Nazareth for a divine mission. Remember, we often obsess on him as Jesus the son of God, which he is. But sometimes we forget that it is Jesus also son of man, that he was born in a virgin birth, that he grew up, that he had to eat and he had to sleep and he had all the do all the things that us humans have to do. He had to learn and he had to be instructed and he had to go ahead and just do all the unpleasantries. It means with being human, how God appointed him and with the Holy Spirit and with power. That word again is dunamis. He appointed and empowered him with ability, with force, with spiritual strength. That came through preaching the gospel and teaching God's word. And it says that he went about Jesus doing good. That means to benefit others, to bring help. When he healed the sick, he benefited others. When he cast out demons, he benefited others. When he gave sight to the blind, he benefited others. When he preached the gospel and preached salvation, he benefited others. And he also went about healing all who were oppressed by the devil. For God was with him. God the father was with him because Jesus was teaching God's word. Jesus was always doing the father's will. Jesus was submitted to the father. Amen. And when he taught the gospel, when he preached the gospel, the father by the Holy Spirit demonstrated God's ability, God's force, and God's spiritual strength because he was teaching God's word, and the kingdom was present with them, and all who were believing were receiving of all the benefits associated with believing the gospel. Jesus actively restored and delivered. Proving God's power is where? The answer is going to be the gospel, right? Acts 10 verse39. You guessed it. God's power, his ability, his force, it's present in the gospel. And Peter is going to say this. Acts 10:39. Quote, "And we are witnesses of all things which he did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem, whom they killed by hanging on a tree." Verse 40, him God raised up on the third day and showed him openly. Remember what the gospel is, folks. It's the death, the burial, and the resurrection. Peter here is preaching a message where he describes all the things Jesus did. And then at the end of the message, he says, "And all these things were being done because Jesus was killed for our sins and God raised him up on the third day." That's the gospel. It says that he was killed. He was put to death, right? And he was put to death on a tree. It's referring to the cross. The word means wood, right? They took wood from a tree and they put it into a cross and they nailed our Lord and Savior to it. It was a horrible, horrible experience. And he did it for the joy that was set before him that you and I could believe in this message and be set free. Thank you, Lord Jesus. And God says, "Wait a second. This man, Jesus Christ, the son of God, he does not deserve the sin that was put on him because he knew no sin, but he became sin for us that you and I could believe in him and be the righteousness of God. So the father, he bore witness. He gave evidence that the gospel worked that Jesus took the sins of all humanity on him. And the evidence is on the third day, he pulled him out of that grave and he rose from the dead and the world was turned upside down. So much so that 2,000 or so years later, I'm still talking about it because it's working in my life right here, right now, bearing witness to this powerful thing that Jesus did. And I await his second coming. Thank you, Lord. And it said that God showed him openly, made him visible, revealed clearly that Jesus was resurrected from the dead. The gospel is worth believing. It's worth trusting in. Right? It carries the same power, the same ability, the same force that God the Father used when he raised Jesus from the dead. Okay? So, let's take a moment. This is deep. This is heavy. This is important stuff. and thank you for being there with me as we go through this. As we look at the Bible and see what these things are, okay, believing the gospel, it always comes with God's authority and force. We're seeing this across many scriptures and there's even many more. But what exactly do we need God's ability and authority for, right? Asking that question deserves this answer. Remember what we saw in the Bible about salvation in season 4, episode one. So there is ability and there's authority in the gospel. But what is that ability and authority for? And the answer is our salvation. Let's take a look and remind ourselves what salvation actually means. It's another one of those words that is frequently used in churches, but it's not exactly well defined, I think, for most people. So salvation, right? And if you want to look it up, you can look up the Strong's number, which is G, which means it's in Greek 4991. Salvation is much more than going to heaven when you die, right? That's often what we say. Well, salvation, when I die, I'll go to heaven. That's what salvation means. It's actually much more than that. There's a lot more elaboration, and there's a lot more sophistication to the word for salvation. Salvation means being made whole, healthy, being made sound. That's what salvation means. Okay? Salvation means being set at safety and delivered from everything that holds you back. Okay, that's a bigger word than I think we often use. Okay, feel free to look it up yourselves. Salvation is being set at safety. It's being rescued and being delivered from everything that holds us back, everything that hinders us. Deliverance is both in this life, right? you you you actually participate in salvation and you experience it in this life and in the life to come. That's why it's really a partial answer to say salvation is going to heaven. That's only a part of what it means for salvation. Okay. So the gospel is the power to deliver me from what exactly? If the gospel is the power of God unto salvation, as it says in Romans 1:16, well then what exactly am I being set at safety from or rescued from, what exactly am I being delivered from that's holding me back? Okay, I'm glad you asked. Let's take a moment and look at this. The gospel is the power. It's the authority and the ability to deliver you and me from a whole set of things written all throughout the scripture. First of all, sin and guilt. Okay. The gospel is the power of God to deliver you and me from sin and from guilt. It's the weight of past mistakes. It's the shame of past mistakes. We do not have to carry that weight or that shame because Jesus died for those mistakes. He was buried and he rose again the third day. There is nothing you or I could do to earn God's favor. But we could receive the death, burial, and resurrection of his son. We could receive the free gift of God and God will grant us favor. And that is a wonderful gift. You don't earn a gift. You're given a gift. It's your choice whether you receive or reject that gift. But you don't earn that gift. Receive God's gift. It's sometimes it's hard to receive. Sometimes it's hard to believe, but you need to believe it and I need to believe it. God said it. He commanded us to do it. He said, "Repent and believe the gospel. Receive that gift. And when you receive it, the weight of your past mistakes, you could release the shame from those past mistakes, you should release. Because who is the person who's accusing us of that past mistakes? Well, the definition, the little definition of the word devil means accuser. He's the accuser of the brethren. He's the one who brings up your past mistakes. Don't believe the devil. Believe God. Okay. Second, fear and anxiety, constant worry, constant panic. a lack of peace. The gospel is the power to deliver you from fear and from anxiety. So believe the gospel for it. Addictions and destructive habits, things you feel stuck in, things that try to take control over you. There is, you cannot serve two masters. When you serve God, when you submit yourself to God, there are no other masters. You are a servant of God. No one else has authority over you. Those addictions, those destructive habits, they have no right over you. They have no authority over you. You have the authority of the gospel. You have the ability of the gospel to overcome those addictions and those destructive habits. You can see it on YouTube. You can see it at so many churches, so many people who've been delivered from those addictions. Delivered from those destructive habits. God bless those people and God bless you. Believe that gospel. Depression and hopelessness. Maybe you feel empty. Maybe you feel without purpose. Maybe you feel all this anxiety and this nervousness. I feel a void. Jesus died for this depression. He died for that hopelessness. You have the power, the authority, and ability of God to deliver you from depression and to deliver you from hopelessness, bitterness, and unforgiveness. You could be trapped in hurt, trapped in resentment. You maybe you'll say, "You know what? I'm okay. I know I'm forgiven, but that other person who did that terrible thing, he's not forgiven. She's not forgiven. Bitterness just ruins you. Unforgiveness just harms you. God has forgiven you, and he is going to work his power in you to overcome them. God does not approve of what they did to you. What they did to you was wrong, but God has given you the power to overcome bitterness and to overcome unforgiveness because it's almost like putting your feet in concrete. You're being held to the ground. You're being limited. Remember what salvation is. Is being rescued, set at safety, and delivered from everything that holds you back. Bitterness and unforgiveness, it holds you back. And the gospel is the authority and the ability of God to deliver you from bitterness and unforgiveness, spiritual oppression. You might be sensing a pull of darkness, torment, confusion, something that it comes at you. That's not God. You're a servant of God. You are not serving two masters. You're under God's kingdom. You're under God's rule. And when you're under God's rule, huh? Those wicked spirits, it's like when they're in front of Jesus, what did that spirit say? We know who you are, Jesus of Nazareth. Have you come to destroy us? That's the relationship between God and the devil. The devil is not an equal. He's not competition for God. It's not even close. God is the creator. The devil's a created being. These these spirits, they have no power over you. The gospel is God's authority and ability to deliver you from that spiritual oppression. Right? Jesus died. He was buried and rose again the third day. That spirit needs to go. That torment needs to go. That confusion has to go in Jesus' name. That darkness has to go in Jesus' name. You should have assurance. You should have confidence in this because I'll tell you what, I've seen this in my life. I've seen this in other people's lives. So many people's lives. The gospel has power over spiritual oppression. Praise God. bondage to lies. You might be believing that you're not enough, that you're beyond help. Lies, every one of it. Just tricks to try to keep you stuck in a bad place, right? Things are trying to hold you back and hinder you. Again, the gospel has power to deliver you from that bondage to lies. Pride and arrogance. Oh my gosh, I know what that's about. Relying on self, resisting God, thinking more highly than you should of yourself. I'm just a human being. I'm nothing compared to God. And if I could set myself apart, if I could set my brain aside, my intellect and and my confidence in who I think I am, if I could set that aside and put my confidence in God to set my will on God, set my focus on God, then I can walk in the power of God. I'm stuck walking in the power of Ted. There's no power in Ted. Ted's irrelevant. Ted's useless. God is something else, right? Put your put your faith in God. And if you're wrestling with pride and arrogance, and I know what that feels like when I was younger, if you're wrestling with pride and arrogance and you believe the gospel, it's God's ability, it's authority to deliver you from your pride and from your arrogance, it's doing nothing for you, doing absolutely just hindering you, right? If someone's words, and here's another caution that I'm going to provide you. I just went through a list a list of all sorts of challenges and and we see in scripture repeatedly that the death burial and resurrection gives you authority and power ability over those things. But if someone is ministering to you and they're ministering words or a message that causes that list to grow in your life, sinning and guilt, fear and anxiety, addiction, depression, bitterness, spiritual oppression, pride, if you're receiving messages and these things are growing in your life, it's not the gospel. I highly recommend you get away from it. Obey God, but I highly recommend you get away from anybody whose words are having this effect on you. Because that's not the gospel. The gospel is freedom. The gospel is healing and restoration. The gospel is deliverance. The gospel is power. Power to do what? To do great things. Remember, Jesus went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil. That power is what the gospel message is full of. Which brings us to our next simple truth. Your faith should be in God's power, not in people and not in words. Amen. Let's take a look at that. Let's take a look at 1 Corinthians chapter 2:es 1-5. Here we're going to see that the gospel, it's not about impressive words, not about eloquent speeches. It's about the power that comes from believing the gospel. 1 Corinthians chapter 2 verse one Paul writes and I brethren when I came to you did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. Verse two for I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. Oh these are such powerful verses. Paul says and I brethren when I came to you I did not come with excellence of speech. He did not come with superior, elevated, impressive words. He didn't grab the microphone and he didn't have a smooth voice and deliver it ever so perfectly. That's not how Paul taught. Amen. He didn't come in wisdom. That's human skill, intellectual insight. That word wisdom is not God's wisdom. That word wisdom is human skill. Human intellectual insight. Maybe you went to college. Maybe you learned something there. Maybe you read a book or watched a YouTube and you figured out something clever to say. This is not God. This is not the power of God. So when Paul came to the Corinthian church, he didn't bring impressive words, elevated speech. He didn't bring human skill and intellectual insight. He didn't bring those things when he declared the testimony of God. When he witnessed God's words and gave evidence of God, Paul says, "For I determined," he resolved within himself, he made a judgment within himself not to do those things, but to do something else. He says,"For I determined not to know anything among you, among the Corinthian church, except one thing he determined to know. One thing he resolved and judged was right. Jesus Christ and him crucified, which is the gospel." You got it right. Jesus Christ and his crucifixion, his death, burial, and his resurrection. Paul showed up. He says, "I may not have been impressive. I may not have given a great speech. I mean, I've orated a wonderful sermon, but I did know the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And Paul says, "I brought that with you." And remember, we're talking about the Apostle Paul. Through him, God wrote most of the New Testament, right? This person knows a little something about following God. So, here we saw that faith, it's built on the power of God as revealed through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Faith in the Corinthian church wasn't being built by human ability or by human eloquence. So lay aside the human ability. Lay aside the eloquence. Speak Jesus died, was buried, rose again the third day. Mix some faith with it. You may have a speech impediment. You may not sound quite right. You may be stumbling through the language and you'll see the power of God made manifest. God is simple and he works with simple people. He doesn't need a bunch of education or fanciness to get his message across. The disciples were a group of fishermen, farmers, and others. And we see tax collectors. We see others. And these were not complicated, sophisticated people. And they turned the world upside down because God was working through them. Because they showed humility and they showed obedience. 1 Corinthians chapter 2:3. Here we're going to see that God's ministers, they don't rely on confidence in themselves, but their confidence is in the gospel and in the Holy Spirit working through them. 1 Corinthians 2 verse three quote I was with you in weakness in fear and in much trembling. Verse four. And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom but in demonstration of the spirit and of power. Okay. When Paul says he was with them in weakness and fear and in much trembling, Paul is describing his human frailty, right? His limitations. Paul knew that his strength in himself in Paul, it was never going to be enough. When Paul was in himself, in his own body, he was never going to be strong enough. He was never going to be brave enough. Right? He knew that his strength was never enough. So, he depended on God to work through him. That's why we see in verse four, his speech and his preaching, they weren't with persuasive words. They weren't convincing or skillful speech to try to win people over in the flesh. Instead, when he came, he came in a demonstration of spirit and power. He brought proof. He had a display of God's ability, of God's dunamis. Amen. Faith is built on seeing the real power of God working through the gospel. 1 Corinthians 2:5. Here we're going to see that Paul avoided these eloquent and these clever speeches so that the Corinthians faith would always rest on power dunamis of God not on human wisdom. Okay. 1 Corinthians 2:5 quote that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. I thank God for Paul's humility. Okay. So Paul was saying that your faith, he was speaking to the Corinthian church, but he's at the same time speaking to you and to me. He says that your faith, remember Paul's letters, it says in scripture, they were distributed from church to church. Everyone was exchanging these letters around because they were applicable to all Christians. He says that your faith, that your belief, your trust, your reliance upon God should not be in the wisdom of men, >> right? Not in the wisdom of human beings, not in the human skill or the kind of intellectual insight of human beings. Instead, your faith should be in the power of God, the dunamis, the ability, the force, the spiritual strength of God Almighty. Don't put your faith in people. Don't put your faith in churches. Don't put your faith in clever phrases. Don't put your faith in eloquent speeches. Don't put your faith in the simple truth podcast. Put your faith in the one that was raised from the dead. That's where your faith belongs. Your faith belongs in the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the only one here who was raised from the dead, who's seated at the right hands of the father. That's the only name in every name in which you should be putting your faith in. Put your faith in the gospel. Put it in God's power to save you. As it says in Romans 1:16, remember the parable of the wise and foolish builders. Let's take a quick look at that. It directly relates to this. Remember how Jesus described that there was a man who built a house on sand and one who built it on a rock. So for those who are watching on YouTube, you see an image of this house broken in half on sand, on sandy ground. And you see another image of a very large, very sophisticated house that's built entirely on rock. In fact, it's surrounded by ocean and it has other rocks away from it. And you can't quite see in the image, but there's big crashing waves, but they're below because this house is built on that rock. Right? The wise person, as Jesus said in Matthew 7:es 24- 27, the wise person doesn't build their house on sand. To use this analogy, the wise person doesn't build their house on people and on words. But the wise person builds their house on rock. And in this analogy, it's the gospel, right? Because storms come, folks. Storms come and storms test the foundation of your house. If you build a home on a clever preacher, on a a mega church or a small church, if you build your house on some words that somebody said, some skill or insight or some eloquence a person had, I'm sorry, you're building your house on sand. Instead, you and I should build our house on rock. We should build it on the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. That gospel, by the way, may have been ministered to you by a person. You may be hearing that gospel at a church. Thank God. Thank God for that person. Thank God for that church. But it's not that person. It's not that church. It's God through that person. It's God through that church. To God be the glory forever and ever. Amen. No matter what a person tells me, I refuse to accept that I am going to honor a person or honor an organization or honor an institution above God. We clearly serve God. And God does wonderful things through people and organizations, but they're just vessels. They're just empty vessels. We thank God for the wine, not the wineskin. Right? And we say, "God bless you for being a wine skin, but we thank God." God gets all the glory, all the credit, and all the honor forever and ever. Amen. When we get to heaven, as it's described in the book of Revelation, you are not going to see people worshiping another person, people worshiping an organization. You you see all of heaven itself worshiping God, worshiping our father and the lamb upon the throne who is worthy of all glory, all praise, and all honor at all times. Praise be to God. And a life built on a rock. It doesn't stay still, does it? It actually goes out and it walks in God's power. Which brings us to our next simple truth. You should walk in God's authority and power. Let's take a look at Mark 16 15-18. Here we're going to see that after his resurrection, Jesus actually commissions us to go into the world and to preach, to proclaim the gospel with the same power, with the same authority that he had, that he granted to the 70, that he granted to the 12 that Paul was walking in, right? Mark 16:15 that Peter was walking in. Mark 16:15. And he said to them, quote, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature." Verse 16, he who believes and is baptized will be saved, but he who does not believe will be condemned. Oh, that's a tough word. Jesus Jesus says here, "Go into all the world." That means to move, to travel with the purpose, to be led by God's spirit, and to travel with the purpose, to fulfill your purpose in life. He says, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel." Remember, to preach is to proclaim, to declare the gospel, the good news, the good message. We know from 1 Corinthians 15 and from other verses that's the death bound and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Right? He goes, "Preach it to every creature." And it says in verse 16, "He who believes, who trusts in, who has confidence in, who relies on, who clings on to that death, burial, and resurrection and is baptized, right, to be immersed will be saved, right? We're talking about water baptism here. But he who does not believe, who does not trust, have confidence, rely on, cling on to the death, burial, and resurrection will be condemned. Right? They remain guilty. They remain under judgment. It's a really powerful word. What Jesus is saying here is that everyone is condemned. Everyone is under guilt. Everyone is under judgment. But those who receive the gospel of the kingdom, they will be saved. They'll be made sound. They'll be rescued or set at safety from that guilt, from that judgment. If you're listening to me right now and you're not born again, will you please receive that gospel? Will you please receive that message? Please believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead. If you are feeling drawn right now, that is the power of God. That is a risen savior you're feeling. That is a Christ who's seated at the right hand of father in heaven. I know it may sound crazy, but if you're feeling that right now, believe that he was risen from the dead. That's why this power is being manifest in you. And confess with your mouth him as Lord and you will be saved. Make him your Lord. Submit to him. Start reading your Bible. Listen to this podcast. Go to a nice local church. Right. Feel free to check out season 1, episode two on why I became a Christian. Amen. Thank God. Sorry for folks that want to make that interruption, but as we're talking here, maybe led by the spirit that someone here is under guilt or under judgment. I don't want anyone under guilt or judgment. I want everyone to experience and to be saved. I love that. I'd love to see the whole world be saved. Amen. We are not only to receive the gospel's power. We're actually sent to walk in that power and to proclaim that gospel. Mark 16:1 17. Here we're going to see that belief in the gospel. It produces God's authority and ability in others lives, not just our lives. Too often, I know I teach and others teach. We're we're talking about what the gospel will do in your life. Thank God it's doing it in your life. But you know what? I want you to be a vessel. I want you to be a wine skin. I want you to be a tool of the kingdom. Someone God uses to bless other people, too. We don't take this wonderful thing and hide it under a lampstand or under a bush. Right? We let our light shine. The great things that are happening in your lives, we should be showing to others. We should be an example to others. Amen. Be led by God's spirit. But use opportunities when they come up. When God brings an opportunity, you just to share your testimony to others because the good things God's doing in your life. Please let other people know, too. They deserve it. And you'd be amazed at their responses. Sometimes they're like, "Thank that is the word I needed. Thank you for sharing it." Sometimes they look at you and they say, "I hate you." God bless them either way. Regardless, they hated Jesus. They're going to hate you and me too, folks. I'm just letting you know that, right? But please don't hide your light under something. Let your light so shine before others. That's what Jesus says in the scriptures. Okay. So, Mark 16:17 says, quote, "And these signs will follow those who believe." Believe what? The gospel. The thing that you were told to preach, right? It says it in the previous verse. Quote, "In my name, they will cast out demons. They will speak with new tongues." It says these signs. What's a sign? It's a visible evidence. It's miracles in this case, right? It's visible evidence of belief in the gospel. It says these signs will follow. They will accompany. They'll follow alongside those who believe the gospel in my name. Remember we looked at that before. Under his cause by his authority. They will cast out demons. They will drive out. They will expel with force. That's verbal and spiritual force. It's not physical folks. I don't have to touch folks and start shaking them around to get demons to come out. Remember what happened with Jesus? He was teaching and a demon cried out. Amen. So they will cast out demons, right? They will speak with new tongues. This is speech, a tongue. It's a known human language as we saw in Acts 2, but it's also spirit-given utterance which is shown in 1 Corinthians 12-14. Right? So visible evidence of the authority and the ability accompanies believing the gospel. That's the death, bound, and resurrection. And then there's more that is going to be described here. In Mark 16:18, Jesus says that God's power, it doesn't just confront evil, it protects and it restores you, too. So, not just offense, it's defense. You could say Mark 16:18, quote, "They will take up serpents and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them. They will lay hands on the sick and they will recover." To say that they will take up serpents, it means divine protection from danger. In fact, in Acts 28 3-6, we actually saw a serpent, a snake, bite Paul, and he literally shook him into the fire. If you've never read that before, check out Acts 28:es 3-6. And that'll show you an example of someone taking up a serpent as Jesus said. And if they drink anything deadly, if you for whatever reason drink a poison, you're protected from those dangers. Why? Because you're sent, you went, you've been assigned, you're appointed, you're anointed to go do God's will. You have a purpose in your life and you have no time for snakes or scorpions or poison to slow you down. You have a purpose and a mission in your life. And the power of the gospel, it preserves you. And they will lay hands on the sick. What does that mean? God is is using us as vessels, as instruments of his power. And in this case, it's to restore and to reinvigorate somebody. Remember, Jesus healed many people in the multitudes. So he'll say that, I'm going to send you out to preach the gospel to every creature, Jesus said. And these signs, these visible manifestations, they will accompany, they'll follow along with those who believe the gospel, right? And that includes laying hands on sick people and they will recover. Thank God. Because when God is teaching the gospel through you, when he's preaching through you, you're preaching the death, burial, and resurrection, you're sharing the testimony of what the death, burial, and resurrection did in your life. And God is bearing witness. He's bringing God's authority and God's ability to bear in that situation. And he's doing it for their salvation. And remember what it means for salvation. Yes, it's the life to come, but it's salvation in this life, too. It's to rescue you. It's to set you at safety. is to make you sound spirit, soul, and body. And part of making you sound is if you are someone with an ailment, if you're someone with a sickness, God can move by his spirit and someone could lay hands and it could heal your sickness. Why? Because God is there to remove everything that's hindering you. And in too many people, sickness is a hindrance and they need to be recovered from it. Thank God for that power and for that ability. Praise you, Lord Jesus. God's authority and power. They're always active in the gospel. It's clearly seen in what follows those who believe it as is being exemplified in Mark chapter 16 that we just read. So, let's take a moment. I've thrown a lot at you folks. I know we're talking about the gospel and here we are talking about God's power, God's authority, and his ability. The force of God that is witness and accompanies the gospel of the kingdom. It says here, right? Gospel is more than just words. It's God's authority. It's God's ability to deliver you and I from everything that holds us back for salvation. It could be lust. It could be pride. It could be lies. It could be addiction. You name it. Whatever it is, there's a long list of evil things that try to hold us back. But it's the gospel that is God's authority and ability to deliver us from those things. Your faith, it should rest in the power of God, right? Not people, not churches, not in eloquent speeches. That's not where our faith rests. It rests in God and in his power. And when you and I believe the gospel, God's authority and his ability, it visibly shows through signs in our life and through the life of others around us. Thank God. So, what should I do now? Okay, you may be asking. I've heard you. I hear what you're saying. What are some next steps that I could do? Well, number one, I recommend you meditate on the gospel daily. In season 3, we talked about the five disciplines. And the second of the five was meditating on the word of God. Meditating on the gospel specifically is a powerful thing to do daily. Meditate on the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. What did it accomplish, right? What has accomplished in the world? What does it accomplish in you? Consider what the death, burial, and resurrection means for Jesus to die for you. and to be raised on the third day. Right? Quietly repeat it back to yourself through the course of the day. Jesus died. He was buried. And he rose again the third day. Jesus died for my sins, for my shame, for my guilt. And he was buried. And he rose again the third day. Jesus died for my mistakes and my shortcomings. And he was buried. And he rose again on the third day. Wow. Because remember what Romans 1:16 said. Paul was not ashamed of the gospel. It's the power of God to make you sound to save you. Amen. ponder how it affects your life and the life of others. Really get into the death burial and resurrection. Meditate on the gospel daily. So that's the first thing you could do right now. Second, take an area in your life where you feel stuck, where you feel spiritually oppressed and put your trust in the gospel for it. Okay? Take an area and put your trust in the gospel for it. Right? Tell God in prayer that you're going to put your confidence in his power, in the power of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ in that area. Let him know that you're going to trust his power in it. Right? Ask God to speak to you. Why? Because you might need to repent of something. I understand that sometimes it's the easy route for me to look and say, "Well, I'm just going to put God's power on that." God may be looking at you and trying to convince you. He may be trying to convince you to get rid of something in your life so he can manifest his power in you. So, he may need you to repent if needed, but he'll also empower you. Ask God to speak to you and empower you in this area to overcome and to see the victory. I guarantee you, I I challenge you to find a place in scripture where Jesus showed up and he made things worse. I challenge you to find a scripture where people went to Jesus and they asked him, they worshiped him and he turned them away. Jesus was Yes. Jesus was always blessing people. And the gospel not only came in power, the gospel was always a yes. And the gospel was always a blessing. We're actually going to see that in next episode, that very topic. Okay. Exercise. Number three, exercise your faith in this area. So, I'm asking you to meditate on the gospel daily. I'm saying take an area in your life where you feel stuck and oppressed and start to put your trust in the gospel for it, and the power of God. And then I ask you to exercise your faith in this area. And you might be saying, "Okay, I'm going to try to believe. I'm going to try to have confidence. I'm going to say you may need to strengthen that faith. So, use the five disciplines that we described in season 3. Read God's word out loud. Meditate on God's word. Fast, right? Pray. Seek to be led by God's spirit. So, you keep yourself focused on God and being built up in faith and encouraged as you exercise and you approach it. And what I am saying because I've seen this in my life and I've seen this in others. When you meditate on the deathbed and resurrection, when you trust and you believe in the death, bone, and resurrection, and you exercise faith in that death, bone, and resurrection in your life, and you strengthen yourself through the five disciplines, I've seen God literally move mountains. Well, I can't say literally, figuratively move mountains. I personally haven't seen the mountain be moved, but I've certainly seen tremendous obstacles in my life and others be dramatically moved through exactly what I described here on this slide. Amen. Okay, thank you for bearing with us. We covered a lot of really important topics. Let's talk about the next episode of the simple truth. So, you've now seen, we've now seen that the gospel is always accompanied by God's power, both his authority, his exusia in Greek, and God's ability, his dunamis in Greek. Okay? But the Bible says even more about the gospel. We're going to have a whole season here, folks, about the gospel, including how the gospel is always a blessing to those that hear and believe it. Amen. It is always a blessing. So don't miss next episode. We're going to show you all the blessings, all the happy things, all the gifts, all the benefits of believing the gospel in your life. Thank you for listening to this episode of the Simple Truth Podcast. Today we saw that the good news of the gospel is not just a message or a fancy sermon. It is the power of God in action. It carries God's authority to confront darkness and God's ability to bring real changes into your life and the life of others around you. So don't build your faith on people. Don't build it on organizations or trends. Build it on the power of God revealed through the gospel, the death, the burial, and the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. And don't just hear this message today and walk away. Take action in your life. Put your faith fully in the gospel. Test God. Prove if he means what he says about the gospel. Believe the gospel in areas where you felt stuck or oppressed. And step out expecting his power to work. The gospel is meant to be lived. And when you believe it, God's authority and ability will begin to show in you and through you. Share this episode with someone who could use encouragement, someone who needs to be reminded that they're going to be okay and that they have access right now to the power of God. And let us know in the comments how it's working for you. If this episode helped you, please be sure to like and subscribe and check us out on Instagram at simpletruth.podcast. Next episode, we will get into the blessings of the gospel and talk about what you received in Christ. It's been a real pleasure talking about the Bible with you. I pray God bless you and God keep you and help you walk in his authority and power every day. Until next time. Thank you for listening to the Simple Truth Podcast. For additional episodes, visit us at www.simpletruth.org.