Charting The Course In 2010

Charting the Course in 2010

Text: Selected Scriptures (Joshua 3:1-7, Matt. 13:18-22,

By: Ken McKinley

Before we begin I want to show you all a video that kind of goes along with our sermon this morning (Show the Lifehouse “Everything” skit)

Now we’ll be looking at several texts this morning, next Sunday we will be returning to the Baptist Faith and Message, but with today being the first Sunday of 2010, I wanted to start the New Year off with a Word from the Lord that I think is applicable to us today. In that video we just saw, we watched the drama of a young girls life unfolding. And I think it is a good display of what our youth culture faces these days, but also of what a lot of our young adult culture faces these days as well. And I think the over-all message of that skit is that God allows us to endure certain things, in order to show us that we can’t do it without Him. He wants us to get to the end of ourselves, the end of our efforts, and fully trust in Him. But the problem is that a lot of times, we don’t. And I think that at times when we don’t fully trust God its because we don’t understand that He is in complete control. We trust Him for some things, but there are other things that we have doubts about. We subconsciously wonder if God is able to take care of this problem or that problem, and so we have what I call falterings of our faith. And basically this comes because we believe the lie of Satan, “Did God really say…”

One of the most important beliefs held by the Christian faith is that God is sovereign, we just sang that hymn, “This Is My Father’s World,” But do we believe what we sing? Do we believe “that though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the Ruler yet?”

You see the world around us has changed, and world views have changed. People don’t value what they used to value. I’ll give you an example. If I could get everyone age 50 and younger to stand up. Everyone take a look around. Where are they? Not here. Attending worship services is not something valued by most people age 50 and younger today. How many of you have ever heard the story of the Titanic? Probably all of you; the whole thing about the Titanic was that they thought that they had built an unsinkable ship, they ignored the warning signs, and they didn’t see the iceberg soon enough to avoid it. What’s an iceberg? You just saw it when I asked everyone age 50 and younger to stand. But that’s not just here, it’s a trend happening nation wide. Some say that our government’s favorable views of communism, the buy out of GM, and the writing of the health care bill behind closed doors are all icebergs as well. Some say that an Islamic terrorist nearly blowing up a plane in Detroit, or an Islamic terrorist shooting U.S. soldiers in Ft. Hood are icebergs. (They may very well be right)

Our world is changing, and there are icebergs ahead.

Turn to Joshua 3:1-7 (Read)

In vs. 4 Joshua says, “you have not passed this way before.”

Now I’m sure most of you, if not all of you know the background leading up to our text. The Israelites have been wandering in the wilderness for 40 years because of unbelief. They had a serious faith faltering, and they had to pay a price for it. During that time, we can kind of see that they actually sort of got used to living in the wilderness as nomads. Even though it wasn’t really God’s ultimate purpose for them, they became comfortable in the wilderness. They became comfortable with the status quo. But now there they were, at the Jordan River, about to break new ground, and enter the Promised Land.

And here we are… on the edge of a new year. 40 years had passed since they had stood on the banks of the Jordan River and ran away from God’s promise. They believed the lie, “Did God really say He would give you the land?”

Now I don’t know what trials you might be going through today, but I do know that we all face an unknown future. And like I said, our world is changing, and I admit that a lot of what I see in the world really bothers me, and I think it should bother us, but I don’t think we should walk in fear, or let fear dictate how we live our lives. There is an old saying that goes, “If Satan can’t stop us from getting converted, then he will do everything he can to get us diverted.” Which is actually what Jesus is describing in Matthew 13 when He teaches on the parable of the sower. Let’s turn there quickly, Matt. 13:18-22 (Read). Proverbs 2:2 says, “Incline your ear to wisdom, and apply your heart to understanding.”