October 9, 2011
Morning Worship
Text: Psalm 27:1-14
Subject: Walking with God
Title: Standing on the Solid Rock: Maintaining Your Relationship with God
One of the greatest needs in the church today is consistency. What I mean by that is not that the church is inconsistent, but that people in the church struggle in various areas of their lives. I want to get you ready for the sermon by building up to it with the story of Samson. Samson was the product of the prayers of a man and wife who had no children. The first thing we read about Samson is from Judges 13:24, The woman gave birth to a boy and named him Samson. He grew and the LORD blessed him… and then in verse 25, and the Spirit of the LORD began to stir him while he was in Mahaneh Dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol. The Holy Spirit was working in the life of this young man. Now here is were the problem lies. Samson was a man called by God for a purpose, but Samson never was able to get his flesh in agreement with the Spirit. 14:1-2, 1 Samson went down to Timnah and saw there a young Philistine woman. 2 When he returned, he said to his father and mother, “I have seen a Philistine woman in Timnah; now get her for me as my wife.” You see, having the Holy Spirit does not guarantee that you will live a godly life. It gives you everything you need, but you have a responsibility. Samson was consistent in this – he wavered consistently. Back and forth between the Holy Spirit power in his life and giving in to the flesh. 14:19, 19 Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon him in power… but Samson continued to give in to the lusts of the flesh. Samson’s problem was that he loved beautiful women and it didn’t matter who they were or what kind of woman they might have been, if he saw one he liked he went after her. God gave Samson superhuman physical strength but because of his weakness that strength left him. Now, what was Samson’s real problem? His real problem wasn’t in his relationship with God, because we see that God had chosen him. The problem was in his lack of understanding and concern for the word of God. Had he taken the Word of God seriously he would have avoided many of his problems. Finally, when Samson gave in to Delilah, he hit rock bottom. It was then and only then that he began to focus on what God wanted for his life. God had sent him to deliver Israel from the hand of the Philistines and it was only after Samson realized his own weaknesses that he became consistent in his walk with God. Unfortunately for him it came at the end of his life.
I want to show you today that your walk with God – and maybe it isn’t as inconsistent as Samson was- but your walk can be continuous, consistent, and solid in Jesus Christ.
Everyone hold up their bibles…
I believe this is God’s word…
I believe it is all true…
I believe every promise written in it…
It’s for me…
It’s for now…
And I accept it… in Jesus’ name..
God wants you to live a consistent life in Christ.
I. LOOK AT WHAT YOU CAN RECEIVE… 1 The LORD is my light and my salvation—
whom shall I fear?
The LORD is the stronghold of my life—
of whom shall I be afraid?
2 When evil men advance against me
to devour my flesh,
when my enemies and my foes attack me,
they will stumble and fall.
3 Though an army besiege me,
my heart will not fear;
though war break out against me,
even then will I be confident.
Look at the words included in these verses that tell you what you can receive from God for a consistent life in Him. 1) light… Jesus is the light of the world. He alone can light your path. In order for light to have any value in your life you have to hold it up and you have to open your eyes to it. The word “light” in verse 1 means “illumination”. With Jesus you have Holy Spirit illumination. 1 Corinthians 2:14, The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. 2) You have salvation. For God so loved the world… if you confess with your mouth… for it is by grace you are saved… Salvation comes from God. It is for everyone. Whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved… 3) you have freedom from fear. God has not given you a spirit of fear… Perfect love casts out fear… How can you avoid being fearful? You have to know who you are in Christ. You have to allow His Spirit to work in you… You must be born again… 4) You have God’s stronghold around you. In the KJV “stronghold” is translated as strength. The Hebrew word means “a fortified place”. Whenever you belong to God He places a fortified wall of protection about you. God is always your line of defense against the enemy. Psalm 61:3, For you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the foe. Proverbs 18:12, The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe. A spiritual stronghold is something that has taken control over your life. It can be a demonic stronghold or it can be the Lord. It is your choice. 5) Verses 2 and 3 talk about the protection that God sets up for you against the enemy. Ultimately you have to know that the opposition for every Christian comes from the enemy or your soul. Demons will attack you in order to get you to doubt, waver or give up. Satan does not want you to be consistent in your spiritual walk. He does not want you to be healed. He does not want you to be saved. He does not want you to be baptized in the Holy Ghost. He will do every thing in his power to stop you. That means that he will use other people – sometimes even other Christians - to come against you. And I believe that those Christians think that they are doing the right thing. The problem is that they are inconsistent in their walk as well. So if you are working for the Lord and someone attacks you, where do you think it is coming from? If you have a ministry and someone tells you, “I just don’t think it will ever fly.” Don’t believe it. If God has called you to it, He’ll see you through it. If the Holy Spirit has given you a spiritual gift don’t let anyone talk you out of it. Be consistent. The last part of verse 3 says, though war break out against me,
even then will I be confident. Those are the things that you can expect from a consistent relationship with God.
II. LOOK AT WHAT YOU CAN ASK FOR… 4 One thing I ask of the LORD,
this is what I seek: 1) You can ask for permanence … that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life. The word “dwell” in the Hebrew presents an interesting study. It means, “to sit down… as in an ambush”. Jesus said, “If you abide in Me and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be given to you.” If you take that in the context of what we just read in verse 3 we get the idea of waiting for an enemy to come against us and at just the right time, while we are waiting in God’s house (remember, you are a temple of the Holy Spirit) we are laying an ambush against that enemy to attack him with the word of God – the sword of the Spirit. In your relationship with God you never have to worry about His leaving you. If you lack consistency you may have a difficult time finding Him, but not be cause He isn’t there. It is because you might have forgotten what He looks, like or sounds like. But that is no reason to give up. 2) You can ask for vision. … to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple. For the Christian, seeking God in His temple has two different meanings. First, you are a temple of the Holy Spirit. You should seek constant revelation of who God is in your inner man. God wants to reveal Himself to you by the Spirit, but He also wants to reveal Himself to others through you. So you should seek to manifest the very nature of God in your physical body. Second, the local church is a temple of the Holy Spirit. It is through the local church that you are provided with the opportunity for corporate worship, teaching, prayer, and fellowship with other believers. It is through your participation in the local church that you can grow in the LORD and experience the moving of the Holy Spirit in your life. Listen, don’t look around at the other people here and think, “I don’t fit in. I’m not like them. I’m too old. They’re too old. I don’t like their music”… blah, blah, blah… Can’t you see that the diversity of humanity is what makes Christianity so special? We’re different, but we are one in Christ. You need to stay connected to a local church. One of the things that always bothers me is that people come here and then leave because there isn’t enough going on for their kids, no young adult ministry… they complain about the music... But if you stayed in a church long enough, who knows, you may be that person that God is calling to develop ministries in this church. Too many people want to see the beauty of the LORD, but are not willing to stay faithful to the temple in order to do it. 3) You can ask for His protection, His help in times of trouble. Look at verse 5. Here is another reason for staying connected to a church. For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling; he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle and set me high upon a rock. There’s an old gospel song that says it all. You know sometimes I just feel like I don’t have to quote scripture, but sometimes a song just says everything because it contains spiritual principles and it touches the heart.
Where do I go when there's no one
Else to turn to
Who do I talk to when no one
Wants to listen
Who do I lean on when there's
No foundation stable
I go to the Rock I know He's able
I go to the Rock.
Verse 6, Then my head will be exalted
above the enemies who surround me;
at his tabernacle will I sacrifice with shouts of joy;
I will sing and make music to the LORD.
Hallelujah!!!!!
III. LOOK AT WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT… 1) You can expect God to answer you… 7 Hear my voice when I call, O LORD; be merciful to me and answer me. Do you think God hears when you speak? Do you believe that He answers prayer? Or do you pray just in case? 1 John 5:14-15, 14 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him. What does it mean to ask according to His will? It simply means knowing what His word says about your situation. Do you need a physical touch? Then know that He heals all your diseases. Do you need fear taken away? Then know that you can cast all your cares on Him… Do you need a financial miracle? Then know that if you are biblical in your financial dealings that He will provide for every need you have. 2) You can expect God to speak to your heart by His Spirit. 8 My heart says of you, “Seek his face!” Your face, LORD, I will seek. Here is a problem. Most times we will only seek God’s face when we feel like it. We ignore the prompting in our inner man by the Spirit. But we can expect God to continue to work on us. He will never leave us nor forsake us. He will continue to reveal Himself to us by His Spirit. The word “seek” means to search after by any method, but especially by worship and prayer.” What does the Holy Spirit want you to get when you seek? 1 Corinthians 2:10, …The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 3) You can expect that God is always available. Do not hide your face from me,
do not turn your servant away in anger; you have been my helper.
Do not reject me or forsake me, O God my Savior. 10 Though my father and mother forsake me, the LORD will receive me. 4) God will always teach you… 11 Teach me your way, O LORD; lead me in a straight path
because of my oppressors. 12 Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes,
for false witnesses rise up against me, breathing out violence. There is more in these verses than just the fact that the Holy Spirit teaches you. God wants you to know how to respond according to His will in even the most extreme circumstances. When you are under attack from an enemy how should you respond? The fact is that we should always respond in love with the intent of leading the lost to Christ. Don’t respond according to your feelings. You just end up in a fight. Don’t respond according to past knowledge. Each circumstance has its own answer. But ask God to teach you.
I want to close with this. You do not have to live your life like Samson did. But verse 13 and 14 tell us that we can live our lives in confidence.
13 I am still confident of this:
I will see the goodness of the LORD
in the land of the living.
14 Wait for the LORD;
be strong and take heart
and wait for the LORD.
1. The goodness of the Lord is not for eternity only. You can expect to see it in the land of the living – right here and right now…
2. You should wait on God… Wait for the LORD… Don’t get ahead of Him or lag behind. Let Him lead and then stay in step with Him.
3. be strong and take heart …
God has given you everything you need to stay strong in your walk…
So where have you fallen short? Maybe you are not in and out of church and you feel like you are OK with God. But there is one area that you continue to struggle with in your life. Isn’t that the same as being in an out with God? Are you willing to trust Him and Him alone for all things? Are you willing to make necessary changes in your spirit man in order to see them manifested in your natural man? You see, if the change hasn’t taken place in the spirit, what happens in the flesh won’t last.
Saying words isn’t enough. But staying connected is a must.
You need to be standing on the Rock.
