"The Power of Two"
Matthew 18:18-20
Today I want to investigate the Power of Two. Turn with me in your Bible to Matt. 18. How many of you know that power is exciting? Let me see your hands. These days we hear about power dress and power talk. My father and I had a few of those when I was a child. We have power breakfast, you don't just eat breakfast anymore, you have a power breakfast. People are attracted to power. People go to the Super-bowl because it is an expression of power.
People drive clear across the state to see Purdue or Indiana play ball. They jump up and down, they yell, they scream, they beat in the person in front of them, regardless if they know them or not just because what his name scored. And if they lose, walk out of the stadium crying. Because we lost. And the next day go to church and complain if they have to drive more than 5 miles and set in church like a wooden indian. Dignified and sanctified and petrified.
People are attracted to the Indianapolis 500, because there are powerful cars. People don't go to that because there are a bunch of VW's running in a circle, no, they are the most powerful cars you can get on a road.
Power don't just want a car. They want a car that when it takes off from a stop sign---whewwwww, and moves the paint job back 2 inches.
People in the New Testament Church were attracted to power. In the New Testament Church they were having a revival or a riot all the time and sometimes both at the same time. They were healing the sick, they were casting out demons, they were praising God, they were being burned at the stake and fed to lions alive. I assure you the New Testament Church was not boring.
When we live in the supernatural, our lives are not boring. It is God's will for you to have supernatural power. Healing power. It is God's will for you to have delivering power. Power to pull down the strong holds of sin. Supernatural power to break the chains of misery and habit that enslave America's young people.
Power to convert. Power to conquer. Power to convict of sin. My prayer is "Lord, send the old time power, that sinners be converted and thy name glorified in this nation again." Paul says in I Cor. 4:20, "the Kingdom of God is not in word alone, but WITH POWER". David said in Psalm 62:11, "Power belongs to the Lord" Say that with me (repeat). Say it again. (repeat)
Our Gospel is a Gospel of power. Jesus said, "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth." He said to His disciples, "I give you power over demons and over disease." Now Jesus has said, there is power in His Word, there is power in His blood. There is power in the Name of Jesus.
An arthritic grandmother can kneel beside her bed and whisper the name of Jesus and every demon in DeKalb county trembles in fear at the power and the majesty of the name of Jesus.
Where is Jesus now? He is seated at the right hand of God. A position of power. How is He coming back? The Bible says He'll be coming back in the clouds of heaven--say it with me--with power and great glory. How is He going to rule? He is going to rule the Bible says with a rot of iron. The nations may not be ready to receive Him, but He's coming back and will break the teeth of the wicked with the rot of the iron because He is God almighty. A God of power.
When Jesus Christ returns, He will not be asking the opinion of the new world order. When Jesus Christ returns, He will not ask the opinion of the ACLU. He will not be asking the opinion of the World Council of Churches because He is the mighty God, He is the everlasting Father, He is the Prince of Peace, He is the King of all kings and the Lord of all Lords and of His kingdom there shall be no end. HE IS THE GOD OF POWER.
Several of you are struggling in your personal lives. Struggling financially, struggling emotionally, struggling spiritually and I want to release to you this day a spiritual secret. To release the supernatural power of God, to conquer the problems of your life, it begins by knowing the power of two. Matt. 18:18-20 (read)
Father, let us receive this truth and experience the supernatural power of God released in our individual lives. In Jesus name we pray and ask it and all of God's children said, praise the Lord.
Begin with this thought, "that the Bible is a Book of Two's" There are 2 positions--you are either saved or lost. You are either wheat or tares. You are either sheep or goats. You are either walking the gate that leads to heaven or the road that leads to hell. There is a broad way that leads to destruction or a narrow way that leads to the throne of God. You are either walking in light or darkness. You are either a servant of Jesus Christ or you are a slave to satan. You either one or the other. The Bible is not a Book of multiple choice. We are not on many roads going to one destination.
You are either saved or lost. Wheat or tares. There is a verse in the Bible that says this, "no man can serve 2 masters". Say that with me (repeat). If you are looking for a verse that tells you polygamy won't work, that's it. No man can serve two masters.
We have preached the sins of passions thread bare and left unexposed the sins of disposition. But I want you to know that the adulterer and the tale bearer will walk the fires of the same hell. I want you to understand that the murderer and the gossip will be side by side in the same chamber of torture in God's eternity. And don't you ever forget it.
The 2 edged sword of the Word of God. Because it conquers the powers and the principalities of darkness. Jesus sent His disciples out 2 by 2. There are the 2 wills of God. His Word says it is His will that non should perish. That means He wants you to be saved and you to be saved and you to be saved. But because God has given you free moral agency, YOU HAVE THE POWER TO DESTROY YOURSELF, and there is nothing God can do to help you once you decide that you are going to resist His loving grace.
Therefore the borders of hell are enlarged every day by those who escape the loving grace of God. I have had people say to me, "Pastor, a loving God would not send and person to a place like hell". You are absolutely right. YOU SEND YOURSELF, by rejecting the grace and the love demonstrated at the cross.
The Bible says in Eccl. 4, "two are better than one." Turn to Eccl. please. Say that with me, "Two are better than one". Say it again, "Two are better than one".
Two guest were at a political party in Washington D.C. and one said to the other, "Have you heard the latest White House story?" The other said "No, but before you tell it, you should understand that I work at the White House." She said, "Okay, I'll tell it to you very slowly".
Two are better than one. Look at your spouse and say, "Two are better than one". Come on, do it with a little enthusiasm. OK, Two are better than one. That's it. God said, "it is not good for man to be alone." That a man needed a helpmeet. Someone to help him meet the house payment. Help meet the car note, help meet the boat note, help meet a lot of things. Two are better than one. Read with me Eccl. 4:9-12; "Two are better than one, Because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, For he has no one to help him up. Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm; (I'll let the Holy Spirit tell you what that means. Verse 12)
"Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him. And a threefold cord is not quickly broken." I repeat, Two are better than one. The Bible says, "one can chase a thousand." Normal math would tell you that if one can chase a thousand, than 2 can chase (pause). But the Bible says God's supernatural factor kicks in here and one can chase a thousand and 2 can put 10,000 to flight.
I want you to hear this, it may be the most important thing today that you will hear in your spirit. Dominion over every problem in your life, personally and professionally begins when you and someone else, the power of 2, come to an agreement in Jesus Name. God is saying in Matthew 18, "If any 2 of you can get in harmony, I will leave heaven itself and come into your bedroom and personally together will snatch the gates of hell off at the hinge."
Right now there is the mentality in the Body of Christ that if we can get 5,000 to pray, surely God will answer. God very plainly says in Matthew 18, IF TWO OF YOU WILL GET TOGETHER IN MY NAME---YOU ARE MORE THAN CONQUERORS IN THE AUTHORITY OF THE BLOOD OF THE CROSS. If 2 of you in any home ministry, if two of you at 8 o'clock in the morning next Saturday, if any two of you, husband and wife, kneel beside your bed, pray for your son or your daughter, or your business or your drug addicted friend, the POWER OF JEHOVAH GOD will break the bondage free and you will have the supernatural power of God released thru you.
Two in agreement can do more than a thousand in discord. Joshua and Caleb whipped the giants that 2 million of the Israelites where afraid to fight. Because they were 2 men in agreement.
Paul and Silas in the jail in Philippi, sang in the midnight hour. Though they were beaten, locked, sitting in a disease infested room and suddenly as they began to sing the angels of the Lord danced around that jail and they walked out of the jailhouse with the keys in one hand and a convert in the other because of the supernatural power of 2 who were committed to praising God in the worst of circumstances.
In the Book of Revelation the Word of God says, "I will give power unto my two witnesses." God will send Elijah and Enoch back to earth and out of those two witnesses He shall have power to call fire from out of heaven and out of their mouth will go fire and will burn anyone who resist them. They will have the ability to speak to rivers and they will turn to blood. They will have the power to pronounce a world wide plague. How many of you know that's real power.
There is power in Two. Jesus sent His disciples out 2 by 2. What was Satan's first attack in the Word of God. God created man and said it is not good for man to live alone, there is supernatural power in two, and as soon as satan saw two people, who were getting along in some sort of unity he invaded the Garden of Eden and divided Adam and Eve.
And so it is in every marriage in this room and every marriage in this community, it is satan's grand design to divide you. And in the moment that he divides you, you lose supernatural power. And when you lose that supernatural power, he controls your marriage, and he controls your home, and he controls your business. That's why the Bible says, "Be ye not unequally yoked with unbelievers.
The message is, you cannot have supernatural power and be married to an unbeliever. Consider the supernatural power of 2. Why supernatural power? Because you have supernatural enemies. Listen to this---Paul said in Eph. 6:12, in the most profound Scripture spoken, "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, (our contest on this earth is not with earthly beings) but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places."
Paul is describing Satan, and his angels and his demonic forces. The Bible says, your enemies are supernatural, they are organized into rank, they have geographical areas of responsibility and they are totally committed to your destruction. When you see that in the Word of God Spiritual Warfare is no longer a vague illusion, but it's just as real and you and I in this building together.
Satan is very real and he is your sworn enemy. Jesus said that he (satan) has come to rob and steal and to destroy. That's his objective for your life. To divide you as husband and wife, to ring your life out emotionally, physically, intellectually, socially, spiritually and thrown you onto the bone yard of human wreckage and let you be cast aside forever.
Satan is the Father of lies. As a liar he is a divider. He divides husbands and wives. He divides fathers and sons. He divides mothers and daughters. He divides race against race and nation against nation. I want you to understand this. That the racial problems we are having in this nation is the primary work of the devil himself.
I want you to understand this. The problems of Los Angles and New York and Miami cannot be solved with federal money. It can only be solved by the Master, Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God.
Truth is not what I say it is and truth is not what you think it is, truth is what God's Word says it is and it is not truth until God's Word does say it.
Satan divides. Satan devours. And Satan deceives. He is assigned in his work to destroy, every home, every relationship, and satan is alive and well in most churches, to bring division, to bring a sense of deception and to divide those who are in the house of God.
In the Bible the Word of God says, "These signs shall follow those that believe" These are not signs that follow super-saints, these are signs that follow anybody who believes in the name of the Lord. The first thing they shall do is cast out demon spirits. That one verse is an indictment against most churches in America. God says the first responsibility of the church is to get the supernatural power of the devil under control.
I'm telling you again, satan's objective is to rob, to kill and to destroy and I have said all of that to say this. If you're not covered by the blood of Jesus Christ. If Jesus Christ is not Lord of your life, you are absolutely powerless to resist the supernatural power of Satan and his demon forces to destroy your marriage and to destroy your children and to destroy your home. You have to know that.
But the good news is, that you as a believer have all the authority that Christ has given you. It does not require the arm of God or the hand of God, but just the finger of God, functioning in your life and you can control the very powers and principalities of darkness. Now listen, without the blood of Jesus Christ the demons will control you.
I ask you this question. What is the demon in your life? What is that area of your life that is out of control? Is it your emotions? Your anger? Your lust? Your addiction to alcohol? Your addiction to drugs?
What area of your life is out of control? The Bible, thru Jesus says that's a strongman, a demon. Do not walk around in circles ringing your hands saying "Oh, what am I ever going to do?" Jesus is saying, "I GIVE YOU THE AUTHORITY--I'VE STRIPPED HIM NAKED AND HAVE LEFT HIM WITH ABSOLUTELY NOTHING AND YOU HAVE ALL AUTHORITY."
As soon as you recognize some area of your life that's out of control-- take the Word of God and the Name of Jesus and the blood of the cross and get that demon power cornered in your life, and say, "I've got you now you fowled mouth buzzard, GET OUT OF MY LIFE, IN JESUS NAME, I'M FREE THRU THE BLOOD OF THE CROSS".
You say, "how does that work?" Some of you are hearing this for the first time in your life. How does that work?
Are you under attack in your finances. You simply say, "Satan I speak to you & the demonic goons who follow you, I bind you in the mighty name of Jesus Christ. And I confess the word that says, my God shall supply all of my needs according to His riches and glory. I don't need the lottery to prosper, I need the Lord."
Are you being attacked in your health? Say, "Satan I speak to you in the mighty name of Jesus Christ and I command your powers and principalities and demon spirits to be bonds from operating against me in any way. According to the Word of God I now confess, that by His stripes I am healed. I shall not die, but I shall live and proclaim the glory of the Lord. Jesus is my Great Physician and by His stripes I am healed.
He still makes house calls and I am free that. In Jesus Name."
Are you under attack in your emotions? Are you controlled by anger? Some say, "That's just my disposition." No, that's the devil. Are you controlled by depression? Are you controlled by fear? Are you controlled by resentment? Are you controlled by the bitterness of the past? Do you suffer injustices in the theater of your mind? That are real or imagined and that destroy your life presently and the relationships that God has given to you? Satan is literally controlling your mind and he is destroying you.
This is how you break it. You say, "Satan, I'm speaking to you in the Mighty Name of Jesus, the conqueror from Calvary, the Lord of Glory who has defeated you. Who will soon bind you in the bottomless pit, with eternal chains of damnation. I'm speaking to you, listen to me. BIND YOU, AND EVERY TORMENTING SPIRIT. SPIRIT OF FEAR--GO. SPIRIT OF DEPRESSION--LEAVE ME. SPIRIT OF BITTERNESS---GO. SPIRIT OF RESENTMENT-- GO. SPIRIT OF ENVY --GO. For whom the Son sets free, is free indeed and I am free by the authority of Jesus Christ.
You have power & you have power & you have power and when satan attacks your marriage or he attacks your children or he attacks your business, quit running around saying, "Oh, goodness, what am I going to do?" GRAB HIM BY THE EARS AND SAY, "GET OUT OF MY LIFE IN THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST-- I'M THE PROPERTY OF THE MOST HIGH GOD."
The power belongs to 2 who are in agreement. If any 2 of you shall agree- -that word agree in the Greek is SYN-PHONNO from which we get the word symphony. When two agree, when two come into harmony. Harmony. Listen, there is no such thing as being almost in harmony. What is the result of unity? Psalm 133 says, "Behold how good and how pleasant it is when brethren dwell together in unity." Most of us stop right there but the back half of that verse is what makes that verse meaningful. "Behold how good and how pleasant it is when brethren dwell together in unity, for THERE GOD SHALL COMMAND A BLESSING."
God says that if any two of you will get into agreement, if you'll get in harmony, if you'll get in unity, I will make a Personal appearance, just for 2 and I will command blessings to fall on you. How many of you would like blessings to fall on you? How many of you would like blessings to run over you like a Mack truck? God says, "All I want you to do is for two of you, hopefully husbands and wives, get together in harmony and I will command the blessings of heaven". Doesn't that sound good.
So, you can choose to fight or be blessed. The problem in most churches is there is no unity. Churches can stick together in two ways, they can either freeze together and become the church of the First Frigadare, the chosen frozen. Or they can melt together. In the upper room they melted together and they went out with signs and wonders following, and they spoke with new tongues and they cast out demon spirits. Peter walked down the street and by his very shadow people were healed by the power of God.
My prayer is, "Lord, send the fire again, melt the church together again, let us be unified to the glory of God the Father. Let us advance and conquer. Because we are the victors thru Christ the Lord. Hallelujah.
A lot of people are running around asking, "When is God going to do something?" And God is saying, "I'll do something when you pray." The initiative is with you. It's not with God. Now in your mind, what area of your life is under attack? First thing you do is find someone with whom you can agree, then share with them what it is you need to agree upon, and then I want you in Jesus Name to bind the thing that afflicts you and release the thing that needs to bless you and experience today the POWER OF TWO.
Can we stand.
Back to Sermons Page
Back to Main Page