These Three Things – week 2
ThisYearCanBeDifferent
GOOD MORNING…
WELCOME – to church,
WELCOME – to week 4 of the new year, and to week 3 of our opening series for 2019… ‘This Year Can Be Different!’
AND LISTEN B/S – the God that we have gathered in this room to worship, wants you to know that those 5 words really are true….this year can be different!
It can be – better, bolder, bigger and brighter than you ever ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, amen!
HEY – look 3 people in the eye and give them a high five and tell them, ‘this year can be different!
AND HEY – You know, I think it’s pretty cool that we are still talking about this year being different on January 27th, because as I said in week one nearly 80% of people give up and bail out on their new years resolution by the end of January.
YES – it’s true, this year can be different.
IF YOU - as we learned in week one, if you grow like Jesus…
Jesus grew is wisdom (intellectually) and in stature (physically) and in favor with God (spiritually) and man (relationally). – Luke 2:52
SO – it’s been three weeks… have you taken the time to fill out your Values and Goals sheets.
WHAT – kind of person do you want to be?
Are you living your life for an awesome resume or a meaningful relationship impacting eulogy?
AND HAVE YOU - prayerfully set a few – intellectual, physical, spiritual, and relational goals?
If yes… awesome
If not… there is still time?
LISTEN – you cannot afford to let another year slip away!
GET IT?
This year can be different… If you grow like Jesus, and if
You embrace ‘these three things’ AND…
Thing #1 – is forgetting (losing out of mind) what is behind
• Past sins and failures and the guilt and shame attached to them
• Trying to earn being right with God (remember the best we could ever bring to the table is nothing more than dog poop… I consider them garbage)
• Hurt caused by other people
UNDERSTAND – if you insist on holding on to hurt caused by other people, your 2019 is already derailed out of the gates
AND – you need to embrace and keep striving to live out…
Thing #2 – straining toward and pressing on to what is ahead, to becoming more and more like Jesus.
AND YEAH – I get it, I feel you… Becoming like Jesus seems like an impossible task… But remember it is not about knowing ‘how’ instead it’s about ‘where.’
He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. – Mark 4:26,27
The farmer does not know how.
UNDERSTAND…
• The seed, it seems so small and insignificant
• And once he puts it in the dirt it becomes invisible and he is not sure when he will see it again
• And yet, the process of growth continues working even though he does not know How
AND BROTHERS AND SISTERS…
Jesus says that is what growth in the kingdom is like…
• What we at times (like a seed) seems so small and insignificant
• The work that goes on is often invisible
• And when it comes to how, and to the grow process we are ignorant…
BUT HERE’S THE DEAL…
We don’t have to know how, we just need to know where.
BOTTOMLINE..
If you want to become more like Jesus you have to embrace actions that put your life in the dirt, and then just let the dirt (the Holy Spirit) do His work…
Read the bible and pray often
Make being in church each week a priority
Do life together (~ 50 new people are doing that at The Grove)
Prayerfully set goals in those 4 areas
Don’t let not knowing how – keep you out of the dirt where the Holy Spirit does it work.
OKAY – now it is time talk about thing #3… as we unpack an Old Testament passage that was written by Solomon, David’s son the 3rd king of Israel…
QUESTION – is anybody out there ready for a word from God this morning?
LOOK – three people in the eye and give them a high 5…
‘Get Ready”
MGCC – 3000 years ago Solomon moved by the Spirit of God wrote the following words that if you embrace and keep striving to live out, will make this year different.
Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. – Proverbs 3:5,6
NOW THIS – is a pretty well known passage.
I MEAN - if you have been around church for awhile I’m pretty sure that you have heard it before maybe even memorized it in Sunday School…
AND IN – our time remaining we are going to dig into this passage… as we unpack thing #3…
Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. – Proverbs 3:5,6
And he will what? make straight your paths
QUESTION – do you think that if your paths were straight in 2019 that this year would be different?
LIKE – did you take any crooked paths last year… you know ones with some twists and turns…
Did they get you to where you really wanted to go?
Or did you end up falling into a ditch?
NOW - I am sure you have heard the old saying, “The quickest path between two points is a straight line”.
UNDERSTAND - God wants you to get where you need to go in life. Whether that is…
• building a godly marriage,
• raising godly kids,
• growing up spiritually,
• overcoming an addiction, recovering from a loss,
• escaping the bondages of bitterness
• living the life He created you to live
The Lord wants to get us there.
Now those 4 words in our text…
He will make straight
Is just one word in Hebrew
Yashar… To be made – straight, smooth, level, right, pleasant, prosperous, upright, good.
(yah-share)
The word translated path
Orach… - path, road, highway, way of living
(o-raack)
QUESTION – do you think that if the path you travel on in 2019 was - straight, smooth, level, right, prosperous, upright, good and pleasing because it brings you to your desired destination… That you 2019 would be different better…
OKAY HERE’S THE DEAL…
GOD - wants to make straight your path in 2019
He wants to make it smooth, level, right, pleasant, prosperous, upright, good… AND - pleasing because it will bring you to your desired destination…
AND BROTHERS AND SISTERS – that is exactly what He will do IF we embrace and keep striving to live out Thing #3
Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make (straight, smooth, level, right, pleasant, prosperous, upright and good) your paths. – Proverbs 3:5,6
SO – let’s do this…
Thing #3 – Trust In, Lean Not, Acknowledge Him
I. Trust In
Trust in the LORD with all your heart… - Proverbs 3:5
OKAY FIRST – let’s take note of what this is not saying…
IT – is not saying… TRUST – in your heart.
IT’S – is saying TRUST in the Lord.
QUESTION – how many times have you been told the opposite… “now honey all you need to do is trust your heart, follow your heart – do what you think or feel is right and you’ll be fine…”
I MEAN - is the heart, is your heart, is my heart, is anyone’s heart really all that trust worthy? What do you think?
OKAY – let me put it another way…
RAISE – your hands if you have ever known someone who trusted their heart… who, trusted what they felt was the right thing to do – who walked down a path thinking that “It can’t be wrong when it feels so right”
AND THEN - ended up in a really bad place…not at all the outcome they were shooting for?
Do you know anyone who have ever done that?
AND IF – that person was you… keep your hand up…
YEAH - we’ve all done that… maybe we are even doing that now, trusting our heart…
BUT LISTEN – if you want this year to be different, you need to trust in the Lord and not your heart…
NOW – this week as I thought about what it means to trust in the Lord… and came to see that this ‘trust in’ is played out in at least 4 ways…
WE NEED TO…
A) Trust In His Person
And you know when I was growing sometimes we said I prayer before we ate our meals that really does a great job of summarizing His person. “God is great. Good is good. Let us thank Him for our food.” (not the best poetry but it really is great theology)
2) God Is Great
NOW – Isaiah 40 talks about God’s greatness…
• He holds the oceans in the palm of his hands
(~ 326 million trillion gallons of water on the earth)
• That with the breadth of hands He measured out the heavens
• That the entire earth is nothing more than a grain of sand to him
• He created every star in the heavens (there are stars as large as the entire orbit of the planet Jupiter around the sun.
• Milky way Galaxy…
Shape like a pancake
Do you know how big it is - 100,000 light years
What is a light year? The distance that light (which travels at the rate of 186,000 per second)… travels in a year
6 trillion miles…
AND – there are billions of galaxies and God created them all out of nothing…
Great is the Lord! He is most worthy of praise! No one can measure his greatness. – Ps 145:3
AND LISTEN – we see God’s greatness not only in large and massive things like the stars and galaxies… but perhaps even more in smaller things like you…
It was You who created my inward parts; You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I will praise You because I have been remarkably and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful, and I know this very well. – Psalm 139:13,14
• There 37.2 trillion chemical reactions happening in your body right now.
• Your heart will beat 100,000 times today and it will pump 5 quarts of blood through 100,000 miles of capillaries, veins and arteries
• If your blood vessels were laid end to end they would circle the earth 4 times
• Your eyes can differentiate between 1000 shades of color
• Your tongue 8,000 taste buds
• Your brain has a hundred thousand billion electrical connections (more than all of the electrical appliances in the world)
• There is 6 feet of DNA in every cell in your body.
• The average adult contains 30 trillion cells
• If you unraveled all of that DNA and laid it end to end it would reach out 34 billion miles
Some perspective on that distance
On September 5, 1977 The Voyager I was launched
It travels at 38,000 mph (almost 1 millions miles every day)
That’s 41+ years ago…
AND - as of 2:00 pm Friday it has traveled 13,492,209,920 miles (there is a website)
Voyager I will run out of gas in 2025 and be about 16 billion miles away….
Not even ½ the distance of your DNA
LOOK – at someone and tell them ‘You have amazing DNA’
YES – you can trust in the Lord because He is great, HE…
• Has all the answers
• Can deliver what he promised
• Provide all that we need
• Protect you from those who seek to harm you
• He can bring peace to any conflict
• Conquer any problem, Calm any storm, Defeat any enemy
Ah, Sovereign LORD, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you. – Jeremiah 32:17
2) God Is Good
For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations. – Ps 100:5
UNDERSTAND – it’s one thing to acknowledge that GOD is great. Most major world religions recognize that much about their respective deities.
BUT WHAT – sets the Christian faith apart is an unrelenting hope in the fact that God is good.
AND LISTEN – that fact was settled once and for all 2000 years ago on a blood stained cross. AND – it’s really good news.
AFTER ALL – what good is infinite power if we have no access to it?
YES – God can and does whatever He desires…
AND THANKFULLY – what He desires is to make His power and resources available to us. HE – wants to seep His goodness into every pore of your life.
GOD’S GOODNESS – means that all of His greatness is meant to work in our lives for good. So that we – can live a full and abundant life.
UNDERSTAND…
NO MATTER – what you’ve been through or what you are going through now. God has been good to you. You’re here. You’re alive. You’re breathing. HE has let you see another day. AND HE has brought you to this place today to and given you the opportunity to experience HIM more!
AND REMEMBER THIS – (if you are a Jesus-follower) GOD has been ‘gooder’ to you and to me than we deserve.
We’re saved. We’re forgiven and redeemed by the power of God. AND IF – GOD never does anything else for us, His single act of love on the cross demonstrated His goodness for all time.
God is infinitely powerful and his intentions toward us are infinitely good.
‘Trust In’ His person, and…
B) Trust In His Purposes
I am going to read a few verses and than give 2 reason why you should trust in His purposes…
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. – Jeremiah 29:11
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. – John 10:10
For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.
– Ephesians 2:10
In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. – Matthew 5:16
OKAY – 2 things about God’s purposes…
God’s purposes are always for our good and His Glory.
For our good so that we will…
• Life the full and abundant life we were created to live
• Prosper and have a hope and a future
• Live as His masterpiece… doing the good things He planned in advance for us to do
For His Glory…
SO THAT – the world will come to know just how…
Great, good, powerful, loving, kind, gracious and awesome He is. AND AS A RESULT – that they… would worship, surrender their lives to Him and be saved.
This year can be different, if we ‘trust in’
• Trust in His person
• Trust in His purposes, and
C) Trust In His Promises
About His grace and your future…
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God. - Ephesians 2:8
Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.” - Acts 2:38,39
We need to trust in His promise about His grace…
Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. 2 There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? 3 When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am.
– John 14:1-3
We need to trust in His promise about our future, it’s a pretty good one, amen…
This year can be different, if we ‘trust in’
• Trust in His person
• Trust in His purposes
• Trust in His promises, and
D) Trust In His Process
In regards to our spiritual growth…
#1 - Let the dirt do it’s work. It’s not about how, it’s about where
#2 – It is little, by little… sanctification is a life-long process
NOW – we see this principle of little by little in Exodus chapter 23… where God is talking about His people coming into the land of promise, this land flowing with milk and honey.
And God is telling them how they are to live in this new land, and how He is going to drive out their enemies who currently occupy the land…
But I will not drive them out in a single year, because the land would become desolate and the wild animals too numerous for you. 30 Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession of the land. – Exodus 23:28,29
NOW IN - a world, that is built on the here and now…
IN A – culture, where the expectation is that if it takes longer than 3 seconds to download the attachment to by email…
I will want to toss my laptop across the room.
The truth of little by little and incremental growth and change can be a tough pill for us to swallow…
But we need to trust in His process
UNDERSTAND - It’s about progress not perfection
This year can be different, if we ‘trust in’
• Trust in His person
• Trust in His purposes
• Trust in His promises
• Trust in His process, and…
II. Lean Not…
and lean not on your own understanding… - Proverbs 3:5
NOW - the term translated ‘lean’ literally means to prop something up against something else; to be supported by it.
UNDERSTAND – what Solomon is telling us, is that when it comes to choosing paths and directions in life… we are not to lean on our own understanding, experience, insight, knowledge, worldview…
(hey I’ve been around, gone college, read a lot of books, attended seminars and conferences. People come to me for advice all of the time. I know what to do. I got it going on, just ask my friends…)
BUT INSTEAD - we are to lean on and trust in the Lord…
LISTEN – when the way we view and see things, conflicts with the way that God views and sees things…
WE NEED - to lean in his direction rather than our own…
WHEN – what makes sense to us, doesn’t line up with His Word
WE ARE - to lean towards him and ignore the whispers of our heart.
BUT – the problem is we think…
• That we know what is best for us
• We think we know what will make us happy, what will fulfill us, satisfy us.
• We think we know how to predict and determine the outcomes and destinations in our lives.
• We think we know what the best way to behave and act is, in a given situation…
BUT – do we?
There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death. – Proverbs 14:12
MGCC - GOD knows better than you…
• what will fulfill you,
• what will satisfy the deep hunger in your souls,
• what will make you happy.
GOD - knows better than you about…
• what to do, or what not do
• what to say, or what not say
• how to act, or how not act…
GOD – knows better than you… how to have the outcomes, how to have the life that you have always dreamed of and were created to live.
YOU SEE - Solomon is telling us that in spite of all we know and all we have experienced, don’t make the mistake of thinking that we are: wise enough, smart enough, experienced enough, good enough or spiritual enough to lean on (to trust in) our own understanding…
YOU SEE – the key to having a straight path in 2019 is word that often times in hard for us to choke down….
Submission…
BUT LISTEN - submission always results straightening… (repeat)
OKAY – here’s the deal…
WHEN - it comes to your own reasoning, your own opinions and God’s commands… God wins!
WHEN – it comes to your own reasoning;
• this how I think relationships should work,
• this how I understand the handling of money…
• this how I feel I should act in this situation…
• this is how I should treat people who hurt me
WHEN – it comes to your reasoning and God’s commands…
God wins! This book wins!
This year can be different, if we… ‘
• Trust In
• Lean Not
III. Acknowledge Him
In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. – Proverbs 3:6
QUESTION – what does it mean to acknowledge God?
“Hey God, I see you, yep there you are. Here is a shout out for all the awesome things you have done.”
LIKE – is that what it means to acknowledge God?
NO – I don’t think so…
UNDERSTAND – to acknowledge God means to recognize who He is and to respond accordingly…
QUESTION – what is the proper response to an:
All powerful, All knowing, All present
Holy – just – mighty – eternal – glorious - invisible – unstoppable – uncontrollable, unshakable – uncontainable – indescribable King?
That ‘S’ word again – SUBMISSION… Lord,
You are God, and I am not.
You are in charge, not me
It’s your will be done, not mine
I submit to you…
NOTICE – that Solomon did say, acknowledge God is most of your ways… No he said, in all your ways acknowledge him…
UNDERSTAND – there is no wiggle room here… all means all…. It means you are to acknowledge God (who he is) and (what he has said) in your:
Dating ways
Marriage ways
Moral ways
Entertainment ways
Professional/financial/relational/handling of conflict ways…
NOT – just in our…
• religious ways
• have to make sure we look good in church ways
ALL – means every area of your life… you say LORD – you are in charge not me… and even though I may not want to do what I clearly hear you saying… I am going to lean into you, trust you, acknowledge you – submit to you…
AND LISTEN – the cool thing is that…
If we trust in the Lord with all of our hearts, if we refuse to lean into our own limited understanding, and submit every aspect of our lives to Him, he will make straight our paths.
GOD - will make our straight our paths…
HE WILL – make it clear to us what path we are to take, every time…
NOW – that doesn’t mean that God will make the paths we choose straight….
Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths (in 2019). – Proverbs 3:5,6
Good stuff, amen?
But listen, just knowing that is not enough.
Just knowing (having the information) that you need to embrace and keep striving to live out Thing #3
(Trust In, Lean Not, Acknowledge Him) is not enough.
What matters and makes a difference is actually living it out.
In 1 Kings 11 we see Solomon’s bailing out on his own advice…
Wanted to protect the nation
Instead of trusting God – he lean into his own understanding and married the daughters of foreign kings.
And the results of taking this crooked path was tragic…resulted the ruin of his family, the nation was split in two – and eventually conquered and destroyed.
LISTEN IF – the wisdom, knowledge and insight of a guy like Solomon did not keep him from choosing a wrong and destructive path…
DON’T YOU THINK - it is pretty insane for us to lean on/to trust in OUR OWN limited insight and understanding…
OR of any other person for that matter…
IF – Solomon needed something more than his own intuition to protect him from taking a destructive and misguided path, how more do we?
Every path has a destination
Direction, not intention – determines our destination
Divine direction begins with submission.
Mere information is not enough
You don’t need more common sense you need a Savior
You don’t need information you need a heavenly Father
Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. – Proverbs 3:5,6
