You Believe Series

Intro: I’m not sure if you know this or not…but this is an election year.

I know…you really haven’t seen much on the news about this, have you?

Obviously the big news is the Presidential race, and I’ve got to admit…for a political junkie like myself, it has been some what entertaining.

On the Republican side they have already chosen John McCain as the candidate…the so said “Maverick” of the party who is known more for bucking the system than towing the party line.

Just a year ago his campaign was considered dead in the water and was on the verge of going broke…in fact, he secured the nomination at the right time because he is all but out of money.

One by one the front runners fell to the side, including an unlikely one who was a former governor in the great state of AR.

And there is the democrat side…who needs soap operas?!?!

Wow, this is making for some good TV.

Will it be Hillary or will it be Obama????

This poll says him, that poll says her…and the elections go totally against everything the talking heads say how it will go.

It does give you a lot to think about, and I do hope we all think and pray hard between now and November when we cast our ballots.

But when it is all said and done, I think the driving force behind who we vote for will be who do we believe in.

Who are we willing to support because they have the best plan for the future of our country and lets face it, for ourselves as individuals.

Who do you believe?

Why do you believe them?

What is belief anyway…and when should you believe?

Transition:

As important as it is for us to trust and believe our politicians…they are going to fall short and fail us.

That is why our belief should not be in them as much as our belief is in God.

We are breaking down John 3:16, looking at the four main points of this beautiful verse of Scripture leading up to Easter.

We began by considering the fact that God loves…and how much He loves us and to what extent He is willing to express that love to us.

Last week we considered the fact that God gave because He loves…He gave His only Begotten Son, the perfect gift at the right time.

This week I want us to consider our part of the equation…you believe.

John 3:16 says, “For God so loved…”

What does it mean for us to believe in God?

When and where do we apply that belief…and why do it?

These are the questions I want us to consider together this morning by reading what is the first verse of scripture I memorized as a young believer.

Read Prov. 3:5-6 and pray.

This message has been 18 years in the making…when I determined to start learning and memorizing verses from God’s word, this was the first one God led me to.

And surprisingly enough, until today I had never preached this verse.

I’ve used it in sermons and Bible studies, but never focusing my attention on this particular verse.

So, with us looking at “you believe” I want us to consider 4 basics of Basics of Believing

1. What – Whole Hearted Trust

The Hebrew word for “heart” here is “labe”…which means, “the heart; also used (figuratively) very widely for the feelings, the will and even the intellect; likewise for the centre of anything:”

Meaning it’s not just an emotional trust, a trust of knowledge, or even a physical trust…it is a total trust of our entire being.

ILLUS: During the 4 summers I worked at the MS Baptist RA camp I usually found myself at the adventure course activity…either as a counselor with a group of kids with me, or as the activity instructor.

The primary activity here was the zip line, but on Mondays we did various trust activities with the kids that would really lay the foundation for our week.

One of these was called trust falls…explain how it works.

• Kids needed to stay straight and fall with trust, but usually they got scared and bent their bodies and would risk falling.

• To show them trust I would get on the wall…and it takes a LOT of trust to fall into the waiting arms of 10 year olds!

God says trust Him with all of our heart, with our total being.

Do we do that though?

Instead we treat it like wading out into cold water…ILLUSTRATE.

And when things get too cold for us, what do we do?

We run out.

To trust the lord with all our heart isn’t like wading into the water…it’s more like the Nestea plunge.

Do you remember those commercials from back in the 70’s and 80’s?