But I Have To Trust The Guide Series

INTRODUCTION:

Get up…eat breakfast…head to work…work all day… return home…eat some supper…watch a little tv…go to bed… and then repeat those same steps tomorrow.

Some of us may have a few more steps; some of us may have a few fewer steps. No wonder people ask the question: “Is this all there is to life?” And it’s not just unbelievers who ask that question; there are many who know Christ as their Savior that ask that same question.

God tells us in John 10:10 (NKJV)

10 … I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

God says there is more, and if we don’t see it, or more so if we are not living that way then we are missing something. And so we began looking at places in our life where we miss the “more.”

Today, I want to share with you we have a guide; His name is Jesus. And, if you are not trusting the Guide to walk you through this life, then you are missing the “more” of the Christian life.

I have been living for 67years and a Christian for forty-four of those years and I still need to be guided through the steps of life. I need to be guided how to deal with people because let’s face it; people are weird. I need to be guided through marriage because sometimes, I don’t know where Anne comes up with her thought process. And this thing I do called pastoring, every day there is a new issue or new problem and how do I deal with that. I must be guided. Situations occur in the family, and I need to be guided how to deal with them. Questions come up as to what is right and what is wrong, and I need someone to guide me to the correct answer. I need a Guide that I trust to get me through this life. And you need a guide you can trust.

So, let’s set out and learn what we can about our Guide.

SCRIPTURE READINGS

Numbers 9:15-23 (NIV)

15 On the day the tabernacle, the Tent of the Testimony, was set up, the cloud covered it. From evening till morning the cloud above the tabernacle looked like fire.

16 That is how it continued to be; the cloud covered it, and at night it looked like fire.

17 Whenever the cloud lifted from above the Tent, the Israelites set out; wherever the cloud settled, the Israelites encamped.

18 At the LORD's command the Israelites set out, and at his command they encamped. As long as the cloud stayed over the tabernacle, they remained in camp.

19 When the cloud remained over the tabernacle a long time, the Israelites obeyed the LORD's order and did not set out.

20 Sometimes the cloud was over the tabernacle only a few days; at the LORD's command they would encamp, and then at his command they would set out.

21 Sometimes the cloud stayed only from evening till morning, and when it lifted in the morning, they set out. Whether by day or by night, whenever the cloud lifted, they set out.

22 Whether the cloud stayed over the tabernacle for two days or a month or a year, the Israelites would remain in camp and not set out; but when it lifted, they would set out.

23 At the LORD's command they encamped, and at the LORD's command they set out. They obeyed the LORD's order, in accordance with his command through Moses.

POINT #1

OUR GUIDE IS ALWAYS THERE, BUT THE WAY THAT HE CHOOSES TO REVEAL HIMSELF MAY BE DIFFERENT IN DIFFERENT SITUATIONS. MY JOB IS TO FIND THE GUIDE.

15 On the day the tabernacle, the Tent of the Testimony, was set up, the cloud covered it. From evening till morning the cloud above the tabernacle looked like fire.

16 That is how it continued to be; the cloud covered it, and at night it looked like fire.

Some of you in the room might not be old enough to remember the days before the smartphone. Anne and I would head out on vacation, and it was inevitable that at some point in our journey, she would look over at me and say: “You are lost. Ask someone for directions.” After her repeated insistence, because no man wants to ask for directions, I roll down my window and say to some stranger: “hey, how do you get to so and so place?” And that stranger starts rattling off: “go up there a mile turn right, stay on that road until you see the house with the white picket fence and turn left; stay on that road until you come to the blinking red light. Cross over that road, go two blocks turn right, and the place is on your left.” I roll up the window and look at Anne and ask: “now which way did he say turn after we went one mile.” Those directions never worked for me because the guide never hopped in the car and brought me to the place I wanted to be. The stranger was a guide but not one I can fully trust it because I couldn’t remember everything he told me and he had no personal interest in me getting there. He won’t see me again after I roll up that window.