Listen to last week’s sermon A Disturbing Power Outage found in 2 Timothy 3:1-5

In a world increasingly dependent on electrical power, there’s an even more crucial power shortage affecting modern Christianity – spiritual power. Last week’s sermon explored the critical difference between authentic spiritual power and mere religious appearance, based on 2 Timothy 3:1-5.

Understanding the Power Crisis in Modern Christianity

Just as a power outage disrupts our daily lives, preventing us from accessing essential services, a spiritual power outage can severely impact our Christian walk. Consider how we depend on power for:

• Lighting
• Heating
• Refrigeration
• Cooking
• Hot water
• Internet connectivity
• Medical systems
• Financial institutions

No matter how much we might resist admitting it, we depend on power to fully function. While Amish communities or those living off the grid might disagree, most of us recognize this fundamental need for power.

The Critical Need for Spiritual Power

As much as we depend on electricity to power our daily lives, providing light, warmth, and connectivity, we need an even more essential power source – spiritual power. This divine energy enables us to live our Christian lives to the fullest, energizing our hearts and souls for purposeful, passionate living.

Paul’s Warning About the Last Days

In 2 Timothy 3:1-5, the Apostle Paul provides a sobering description of people in the last days:

But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power.

Understanding Divine Power (Dunamis)

The Greek word “dunamis” appears throughout Scripture, revealing five crucial manifestations of spiritual power:

1. Salvation Power (1 Corinthians 1:18)
2. Holy Spirit Empowerment (Acts 1:8)
3. Potential-Fulfilling Power (Ephesians 3:20)
4. Strength in Weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9)
5. Godly Living Power (2 Peter 1:3)

Signs of Power Denial in Modern Faith

Paul identifies 18 characteristics of those who maintain an appearance of godliness while denying its power:

1. Self-love (Modern manifestation: excessive social media focus)
2. Love of money (materialism over ministry)
3. Pride and arrogance
4. Abusive behavior
5. Disobedience to authority
6. Ungratefulness
7. Unholy living
8. Heartlessness
9. Unappeasable attitude
10. Slanderous speech
11. Lack of self-control
12. Brutality
13. Opposition to good
14. Treachery
15. Recklessness
16. Conceit
17. Pleasure-seeking
18. Religious appearance without power

Accessing and Maintaining Spiritual Power

To avoid merely having an appearance of godliness, believers must:

1. Embrace the Holy Spirit’s presence
2. Maintain active spiritual communion
3. Practice consistent devotion
4. Seek divine empowerment daily
5. Resist cultural decline
6. Exercise spiritual authority

If the Holy Spirit was withdrawn from the church today, 95% of what we do would go on and no one would know the difference. If the Holy Spirit had been withdrawn from the New Testament church, 95% of what they did would stop, and everybody would know the difference.” – A.W. Tozer

In these challenging last days, we cannot tolerate merely having an appearance of godliness. We must embrace and operate in true spiritual power through:

• Active relationship with the Holy Spirit
• Continuous spiritual renewal
• Authentic godly living
• Supernatural empowerment
• Divine partnership

Remember:

We have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us (2 Corinthians 4:7).

Watch sermon here: