Let Go, Let God

Let go, Let God

02/03/08 PM

Introduction

I’ve called our lesson this evening “Let go, Let God.” Have you heard this saying before? The other day I was driving in the morning commute and I saw this phrase on the bumper of a car in front of me. And I started thinking about what the phrase means (I think about all kinds of stuff during my morning commute because I don’t want to think about work.) So I’m going down the freeway with my hands at ten and two (because this was the tricky part of I-52 West where all the people wanting to take I-5 North wait until the last twenty feet before the off-ramp and then try and jump the line of cars waiting to take the ramp) and I’m thinking I’m pretty sure that it doesn’t mean to “let go” of the steering wheel because that wouldn’t do anyone any good at all. So I was thinking what does it mean “Let go, Let God” and our lesson this evening is going to address that question. Let’s examine the meaning of “Let go, Let God.”

I.Let Go of Our Agendas

A.…and let God direct our paths.

1.Whether or not we are intentional or not, we all have agendas for our lives and for our futures.

a.Some are more immediate than others, some more sophisticated, some are better planned out than others but they do exist.

b.Most of us are not simply drifting through life.

2.The priorities we set, the standards by which we make our goals and gauge our success, the plans and dreams by which we live our lives are all part of our personal agenda.

3.These determine the consistent pattern of decisions and actions which illustrate the agenda by which we live.

B.God has a better design for our lives than any we can devise for ourselves.

1.As we examined last Lord’s Day; God is our good shepherd. He is our provider, our guide, our protector and our host in this life and the life to come.

2.His agenda for His children is for a blessed life, a righteous life, a life lived for a greater purpose than we could ever establish for ourselves using the priorities and standards of this world.

3.Romans 8:28 “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”

4.We must be willing to let go of our own agendas in order to accept the agenda of God.

5.Accepting God’s agenda requires that we accept God’s truth.

a.Before we can accept God’s agenda we must choose what will be the foundation for our lives: the social, ethical, and moral codes of God or those of the world.

b.What we believe to be true affects every aspect of our lives.

6.To let go of our agendas and take steps down the pathway of God’s plan for our lives requires that we decide, once and for all that we believe that the Word of God is true for every condition, circumstance, and situation.

7.We need to accept the Word of God as our standard for right and wrong, for true and false, and for good and evil and in having accepted it we need to do every thing in our power to make it the foundation of our lives, the basis of every principle, attitude, motive, and action. Letting go of our agendas and letting God direct our paths.

[Having chosen to let God direct our paths we need to give Him the proper place in our hearts and…]

II.Let Go of Our Idols

A.…and let God have the center of our hearts.

1.There is a statement made by Jonah towards the end of his prayer to God when he was in the belly of the fish that speaks directly to this thought.

Jonah 2:8 “Those who regard worthless idols, Forsake their own Mercy.” NKJ (Forsake their hope of steadfast love. ESV Forsake their faithfulness NASB)

2.Anything that we hold in higher regard than God becomes an idol to us, worthless as Jonah says, but an idol none the less. And by putting our focus, our energies, our devotions into these worthless idols we forsake the mercy of God and lose the hope that is available to all through His steadfast love.

3.1 John 2:15-17 “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.”