“Trusting
in God” By Brother Kenneth Ray March 20th,
2011 I trust my wife; I eat her cooking. I trust my daughter. I trust my dog. That’s my immediate family. But, you know, there’s one person who hits the bull’s-eye every time, and only one person, and that’s Jesus. He didn’t write a movie script, and there is no remake of Jesus. In business they talk about ROI—that’s Return On Investment—or, sometimes they talk about the ROI of a 401K, but if you want a really good ROI, trust in G.O.D. There is no better retirement plan. We have to live day to day. We have an anticipation that tomorrow is coming, we plan for tomorrow, but tomorrow is not promised. If this were a board game, we would not all be standing in the same place. I believe that God will have something for each of you and that it will meet you exactly where you are, and that it will be what you need. It may not be the whole sermon; it may only be part of the sermon, but I believe that God will meet your needs this morning. Some of are going through situations that make us ask the question, “Why?” Job asked that question, but he made it through and got a victory. We’re trusting, but we need some help with that trust. We as a people still need to trust even when we don’t see anything happening. Psalms 113:5-6 …humbleth Himself to behold the things that are in heaven, and in the earth! Who else is like unto our God? His thoughts are higher than our thoughts, and His ways are higher than our ways, and yet, even though He is not like us, He understands where we are today. He knows us. 2 Corinthians 5:7 (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) Faith—Complete trust, confidence or reliance. So, we see that the Christian walk depends very heavily on trust. John 3:16 …He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him… It is not God’s intent that we should perish. We trust that He did love us; that Christ went to the cross and shed His blood to take away the sins of the world and, in turn, gave access to His throne and redemption. Trusting that the crucifixion takes away our sins is the start to receiving Christ through baptism in Jesus’ Name. When this moment happens there is a joy. The Being that created us and loved us, and now we can go to Him in prayer. Your prayers are actually heard. “It’s me, it’s me, oh Lord!” You know, it’s one thing to have faith, and it’s one thing to have trust. It’s one thing to have a car, but unless you get in that car and turn the key, it doesn’t do you any good. Until you get juice from the battery to the starter solenoid, that car doesn’t do you any good at all. Maintenance: Getting into the water, and getting submersed in the lovely name of our Lord Jesus; that’s the easy part. The rest of their life is the hard part. You know, if you buy a car or a major appliance, you can get an extended warranty, so that if it breaks, you can get it fixed. Jesus maintenance plan will last a lifetime. Things break down. Sometimes spiritual things break down. We can trust Jesus, though, he promised that He would be with us alway. Psalms 28:7 The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him… We give God thanks because we know that He is a reality in our lives and in others. We are able to rejoice with others. He makes Himself known in our lives on a day to day basis. We cry out to God when we have trouble making the mortgage payment, or a credit card payment, or when there is sickness in the family; it’s easy to trust God then. We need to trust God in day to day life. Sometimes we forget to trust God with the little things. “This is just a little pebble; surely I can handle this.” Little things build up when we don’t trust God. We have struggles. This is a reminder that we, as Christians, don’t live quiet lives. We don’t always get the smooth roads or the good weather; it is in these times that our faith in God is tested. We live all four seasons of life, we aren’t hermits. Christians carry swords and shields, fight battles; sometimes they lose battles, but they always win the war, because we have a General who wins it for us. There are two thought processes that will come: 1) I have it under control, or 2) God keeps it all together. If we use the first process, we will very soon come to understand the limits of our beings. In this process, we start out being dependent on Jesus; in bigger issues we continue to trust Him, but on smaller issues we start to believe that we can deal with those on our own. We forget that we need God’s counsel. Our daily choices, who we hang out with—now, we don’t often have a lot of choice about who we work with, but, I mean, who we choose to hang out with, who we spend quality time with—our view of things starts to change. God deals with you when you’re with people that you don’t need to be around, but if you ignore that, it doesn’t take long before your cup isn’t even half full. There’s no joy in that. Remember the rich young ruler? All Jesus was really saying to him was, “Trust Me,” but he went away sorrowful, because he had great possessions. That’s when the deceiver comes into our lives. He’s been waiting to get ‘tagged in’ if you’re not ready to trust God. He’ll stand in front of God and lie about you to God, and he’ll stand in front of you and lie to you about God. Soon our footing is not sound, and we wonder why life is not so grand anymore. He’ll speak words that are lies—he’s the father of lies—He is subtle in all his ways. Casting Crowns did a song called, “Slow Fade” which talks about giving yourself away—black and white turns into grey, families never crumble in a day—but it’s a slow, gradual process. 2 Corinthians 11:3 …so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity… At my job, there was an air valve that was open, and there was one guy that asked, “Why is this valve open?” Nobody gave him an answer, so he shut the valve. Well, it turns out that the air was keeping water from backing up into an expensive piece of equipment, and by the time the right people knew what he had done, there was $10,000 worth of damage. Sometimes little things can cause a great deal of damage. There is a simplicity in Christ; cash in on it. God doesn’t always give you what you want, but he did just bring you through the winter. 1 Peter 5:8 …adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about… We do have an adversary, and it tells us who he is. He will try to divide and conquer, and deceive and devour. Our government has anti-trust laws; my big concern is anti-Christ laws—those that don’t trust in Jesus. God is very transparent—He’ll show you the book (holding up a Bible). Believe in God; outside of God there is no joy. There’s no strength in that; there’s just drainage. We need Him. I don’t have my own sword and shield. Treat this as a long road, not as a short-term thing. At the same time, don’t try to live too far ahead. In the second process, God keeps it all together. Thanks be to God for His love. We know that He loves us and only wants the best for us. We know that He is near, and is within reach at all times, and has time for us. His calendar is never full. Hebrews 6:18 …impossible for God to lie… 1 Peter 5:7 …He careth for you. Do you know what a rainbow is? It’s a promise. He has kept His promise all these years. God is God every day, so He should be the God of the everyday. Isaiah 58:11 …satisfy thy soul in drought and make fat thy bone. When emotion battles truth, light will make the truth plain, but you have to trust in the light. Trust a little each day, and the little and big things will build the power, and we’ll be able to trust a lot. There is power through Christ. With God, all things are possible. Keep on the road that leads you and others to where God intended us to be. Sermon notes by Pete Shepherd |
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