The Surpassing Power of God | Aug. 02, 2026 | Ps. Raph

The Surpassing Power of God

2 Corinthians 4:7-10 7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. 8 We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10 always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.

On this side of heaven, life can include periods of hardship. In Ephesians, Paul refers to "evil' or "bad' days—times when we face a sequence of challenging events.

Ephesians 6:13 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.

 It's important to recognize that in every battle and hardship, Paul emphasizes that our victory comes from God's presence within us, as he operates through a surpassing power. This is the power we need today.

There are many things that are not God’s will in this life. It is not by chance that Jesus taught us to pray.

(Matthew 6:10) “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

The treasure

Just one verse prior, Paul describes this treasure as the “light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6). It is the glorious gospel of grace and the indwelling presence of Jesus Christ Himself.

This leaves no room for human boasting or self-improvement rhetoric. The treasure is the finished work of Jesus Christ deposited into our spiritually bankrupt vessels, providing an inexhaustible supply of unmerited favor. Grace is not theology. It is not a doctrine. Grace is Christ.

A jar of clay cannot manufacture its own contents; it can only receive what is poured into it.

(John 12:24) “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”

We are a seed that needs the shell broken in order to have the life manifested. The problem is that many waste the opportunities of brokenness to go into self-indulgence, overeating, overscrolling, oversleeping, overspending, instead of turning that pressure into an experience with the surpassing power available for the one who cries for His presence.

God Hears Our Cry

Often, we find ourselves without words to pray, overwhelmed by pain and confusion. When shock hits, we seek words to comfort one another. 

Today, I want to remind you that God hears our cries and listens to our prayers. He desires to rescue us from all challenging circumstances.

Exodus 2:23-25 23 During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. 24 And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. 25 God saw the people of Israel—and God knew.

Notice that God did listen to the groaning and the crying out for help. The Israelites were crying out for rescue from their bondage, and their plea reached God. And God heard.

There are different kinds of groaning. Some people groan out of a sense of entitlement, laziness, or unwillingness to do the hard work required of them. Some individuals are accustomed to being spoiled. 

But there is another kind of cry: a deep, personal desperation born of genuine oppression that truly moves the hand of God.

God explained to Moses the plan of deliverance and redemption, emphasizing that he was moved by the cries of the people of Israel and was rescuing them.

Exodus 3:7 7 Then the LORD said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings,

Exodus 3:9 9 And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them.

Different Brokenness, same surpassing power

2 Corinthians 4:7-10 7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. 8 We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10 always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.

Affliction: For Paul, it was the daily friction, suffering, and opposition faced while carrying out the ministry of Christ.

For you, it is the long-term chronic disease, addiction, financial tribulation; these unchanged circumstances that are taking longer than you hoped. 

That is not God's will for His children. Yet this life has so many fallen things that we may face these kinds of afflictions. Please do not waste the brokenness.

The meaning of the word evokes squeezing, or being compressed. It pictures an object placed under a heavy weight or grapes being pressed in a winepress.

I understand that the first illustration about the wheat seed involves breaking the seed. However, in winemaking, producers carefully control the pressure so that the seeds stay uncrushed. That’s the point Paul makes: our core, our true self—our new inner spirit—remains never crushed.

The way to access the surpassing power is turning to your inner man.

Perplexity: 

perplexed, but not driven to despair;

Being "perplexed" points to those moments when our minds are bewildered. When we find ourselves without answers or solutions.

That state connects with verse 9: struck down.

2 Corinthians 4:9 struck down, but not destroyed;

It’s natural for the clay jar to feel unsure. In unfamiliar situations, we often feel perplexed. 

Many of us felt thrown to the ground a few days ago.

The image here is a physical contest or a wrestling match. Moments where we are knocked off our feet by adversity or spiritual attack. 

Should I despair or lose hope? When we reach the end of our human wisdom and resources. We pray. 

Wisdom is always available for those who seek it.

James 1:5 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.

Your future is defined by the Treasure, not by your current confusion. You are not destroyed because the Treasure inside you cannot be destroyed.

Being struck down is simply an event that happens to the earthen vessel; it is not a reflection of your spiritual worth, nor does it mean God is judging you.

Persecuted:

2 Corinthians 4:9 9 persecuted, but not forsaken

Persecutions are misunderstandings. The suffering caused by lies and slander. People spreading false information.

The word “Dioko" carries the meaning of to be pursued, chased, or harassed. Here I like to remind myself that if there is one third of fallen angels against me, I still have two thirds fighting for me.

Mark 15:34 tells us that on the cross, Jesus cried out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” So now, like Paul, you and I can also say: 2 Corinthians 4:9 9 persecuted, but not forsaken;

Paul closes this passage with astounding affirmations.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18 16 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. 17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

There are brokenesses that are the way to victory.

The brokenness that leads to victory

The Bible says in the book of Judges, chapter 7, that the people were oppressed by the Midianites.

The Midianites were a terrible people, and in the Bible they represent the work of evil spirits. Historically, the Midianites were a nomadic group of raiders. They did not conquer cities or set up governments; instead, they waited for the Israelites to do all the hard work of planting and cultivating crops. Right when the harvest was ready, the Midianites would sweep in like a plague of locusts, devouring the provisions. The Midianites did not attack Israel's army directly; they attacked their food supply.

God then calls Gideon while he was beating out wheat in the winepress, that is, beating wheat in the place meant for treading grapes. He was hiding there. And then the angel arrives and says to him, 

Judges 6:12 12 And the angel of the LORD appeared to him and said to him, “The LORD is with you, O mighty man of valor.”

God never mocks you. God never gives you bad nicknames to tease you and provoke you. 

When God gives you a name, it is because that is your real identity. The Bible says that Gideon thought he was so small, but the angel says, "You are strong." If it were me, I would look to the side and say, "But who are you talking to? Is it really to me? No, my clan is the weakest, and I am the least in my father's house."

And the Lord said to him, "Go in this might of yours and save Israel."

God uses the improbable. This is to show His surpassing power. Hell must be perplexed to see how a weak, broken vessel like us can be used.

You know, there is no glory if the big guy defeats the small one. If Goliath had defeated David, there would be no honor at all for the giant. But when it is the small David who defeats a giant, then there is glory.

Goliath was David's glory. The size of your problem, of your enemy, is also your glory.

"Oh, pastor, I am going through a struggle, you have no idea, it is very big.” The bigger it is, the greater your glory will be.

Those who know you will have jaws dropped, astonished, saying, "What is this that is happening?" Because the Lord chose you.

Gideon makes the call, and 32,000 men show up to fight. (Judges 7:3) God says, "It's too many people. We are not going to war with this many people. 

Judges 7:2 2 The LORD said to Gideon, “The people with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel boast over me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.’

 Gideon said, "Now let's go to war." God said, "It's still too many people, lest Israel boast, saying they won the war because they had a large army.”

God doesn't want you to think you won the battle because you are smart, because you are capable, because you are strong, because you know strategies, or because you had your mind unlocked. 

Then God tells him to test them, and only 300 remain. By the way, Gideon lived roughly around 1200 B.C. The legend of Sparta is around the 1st century B.C. [a millennium later]—that is, 1,000 years earlier, God was already doing it. By the way, all the 300 Spartans died, not Gideon’s warriors.

The instructions were very clear.

Judges 7:20 20 Then the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the jars. They held in their left hands the torches, and in their right hands the trumpets to blow. And they cried out, “A sword for the LORD and for Gideon!”

The torches were in the jars; the fire was in the jar. You are this jar of clay. There is a fire burning in your heart. 

It is the Holy Spirit of God moving in our lives. 

Judges 7: 21 Every man stood in his place around the camp, and all the army ran. They cried out and fled.

Trumpet: The trumpet was a Jewish horn made from a ram's horn, called a shofar. 

To have the shofar, the ram’s horn, the ram has to die. And when you take the horn of the dead ram and blow the trumpet, you are announcing: the ram already died and defeated the enemy.

The horn in the Bible symbolizes power. Do you need the surpassing power of God? It is time to blow the trumpet. 

To blow the trumpet is to release the word. It is to speak. We need to open our mouths and proclaim the ram died, and by His death, we are more than conquerors.

2 Corinthians 4:13 13 Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, “I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak,

But not only must you blow the trumpet, but you also have to break the jars.

Judges 7:19 19 So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outskirts of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, when they had just set the watch. And they blew the trumpets and smashed the jars that were in their hands

They didn't have to do anything. They shouted for the Lord! I am for the Lord. Say this in your house. Say this out loud in your house. If the devil is trying to steal your children, say: “My house is for the Lord.” That is the sword that is released. A sword of victory.”

"But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” God did not give me children for slavery. God did not give me children who will not live out their days. My children are blessed by the Lord; they are taught by the Lord, and my house and I will serve the Lord. 

They have just shattered the jar and sounded the trumpet. Speak out boldly and take hold of your victory with energy and enthusiasm. Declare the triumph of Calvary. God delights in disrupting human reasoning.

2 Corinthians 12:9 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

God will show His power on the day you are weakest. When you cannot even pray. 

There were many occasions when I couldn't even speak. The voice wouldn't come out; only sobs came out, only anguish, affliction. 

You might think: "God is not pleased with me. How can God be pleased? Look at my condition.” The devil says, "Your faith is very weak. Look at how you are.” Ignore the devil. On the day you are weak, that is the day you are strong.

Broken jars are weak. But it is on this day that the surpassing power of God wants to manifest. On the day you don't know how to pray, I will give you a suggestion: just sing.

The Power in the Presence

Psalms 84:1-7 How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD of hosts!

2 My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the LORD; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God.

3 Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, at your altars, O LORD of hosts, my King and my God.

4 Blessed are those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise! Selah

5 Blessed are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion.

6 As they go through the Valley of Baca they make it a place of springs; the early rain also covers it with pools.

7 They go from strength to strength; each one appears before God in Zion.