“Life is Wild, but God is Good” (V.B.S. Sermon) David Owens
Scripture Reading: Joshua 1:9 8.11.19
A. How many of you enjoyed a great week at V.B.S.?
1. I want to thank all the children for coming and the parents for bringing them.
2. I also want to thank all the workers and teachers.
3. My sermon today is a review of what we learned this week.
B. A few years ago, a church in Seattle, Washington was having a big kick-off Sunday.
1. They wanted to do something for their children’s program, so they brought in Barney the Dinosaur.
2. What they learned very quickly is that kids like Barney when he’s on TV or in the form of a stuffed animal, but when you bring in a live, 7 foot tall, Barney, he can be a little intimidating to kids.
3. In fact, the church had Barney scheduled for two weeks, they ditched him after the first week.
4. But before they did so, here’s one of the things that happened.
5. One little boy absolutely flipped out and his mom was teaching a Sunday school class, so she couldn't take him, so his dad stepped in and finally calmed him down.
6. But then during the worship, the little boy’s dad was supposed to help take the offering, so he put his son in a room next to the auditorium, saying to his son, “You stay here. I’ll be right back and you’ll be safe and OK.”
7. But what the dad didn’t know, that room was also Barney’s dressing room.
8. Right in the middle of the offering, Barney opened the door to that room and stood in the doorway looking at the little boy sitting in the room.
9. The little boy was trapped and went berserk, screaming so loudly that everyone in the auditorium could hear him.
10. Barney didn’t know what to do, so he tried to alleviate the situation by taking his head off.
11. That only made the boy scream, “He’s eaten someone. Barney has eaten someone!”
B. If we were to be really honest, we could make a huge list of things we are afraid of, and Barney might make that list.
1. Some of the things we are afraid of seem totally irrational, like a spider that is a thousand times smaller than us, but they still bring fear.
2. Other things that we fear might be more reasonable and realistic.
3. This week in our V.B.S., we have been talking about how life can get wild and we can become afraid.
4. But the most important thing we learned and need to remember is that even when life is wild and scary, God is with us and God is good.
5. Let’s review all the lessons we learned this week.
C. On Monday, we talked about how: When life is unfair, God is good!
1. We learned about the time when the Israelites were slaves of the Egyptians.
2. Life was very hard and they were mistreated with backbreaking labor and oppression.
3. The Israelites were destitute and they wondered if God abandoned His people?
4. For them, life was more than unfair, but thankfully God saw their suffering and He sent Moses.
5. When we find ourselves in hard situations and when life seems so unfair, we must never doubt God’s goodness and we must wait on God and depend on God for our ability to endure and overcome.
6. Remember: When life is unfair, God is good!
D. On Tuesday, we talked about how: When life is scary, God is good!
1. We learned about the plagues that God sent on Egypt to prove His power and to rescue His people.
2. The Israelites and the Egyptians went through a very scary and difficult time with the plagues, like the frogs, locusts, boils, darkness and death, but in the midst of the plagues they saw God do some unbelievable things.
3. The Egyptians, in particular, found out the hard way, that there is only one God.
4. That one true God is powerful and just and loving.
5. When we find ourselves in scary situations and our fears are getting the best of us, then we need to turn to God, because God is our Shepherd and His rod and staff give us comfort.
6. Remember: When life is scary, God is good!
E. On Wednesday, we talked about how: When life changes, God is good!
1. When God brought the Israelites out of Egpyt, God took them into the desert wilderness.
2. The Israelites were barely out of Egypt before they started worrying and wishing they could go back.
3. They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!” (Ex. 14:11-12)
4. Change is always hard for us even when the change is for the better.
5. We often wish God would just let us be... no matter how hard things are now or how bad things were before.
6. Thankfully Moses said something very valuable that we all need to remember, Moses said: “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today…The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” (Ex. 14:13-14)
7. When we find ourselves going through all kinds of changes, and when life seems out of control, then we need to be still and put our trust in God.
8. Remember: When life changes, God is good!
F. On Thursday, we talked about how: When life is sad, God is good!
1. This was the only day we jumped into the New Testament.
2. Appropriately, we looked at the saddest day in history, the day when the innocent and sinless man named Jesus died on the cross for our sins.
3. But thankfully, the saddest day in history turned into the happiest day in history three days later when Jesus came back to life and came out of the tomb where he had been buried.
4. Jesus’ death and resurrection teach us God’s plan to save all of us from our sins so that after we die, we can go to heaven and live with God forever.
5. When we find ourselves going through times of sadness, and there are many things in this world that can make us sad: whether it be the sickness and death of loved ones, or whether it be experiencing broken families, or the loss of jobs or the need to move from the home or town we love, we can know that during these times God is with us and God is good.
6. In the midst of times of sadness, we can hold on to these promises of God: The promise of His presence and help right now, and the future promise of a perfect and happy home in heaven, these promises give us hope and strength.
7. Remember: When life is sad, God is good!
G. And finally, on Friday, we talked about how: When life is good, God is good!
1. Life isn’t always about unfairness and fear, or change and sadness.
2. We can expect that life will also have times of ease and calm.
3. On Friday, we returned to the story of the Israelites.
4. We looked at the time in their history when they had finally crossed over the Jordan River into the Promise Land and it was time to celebrate.
a. Joshua had finished the job.
b. God had kept His promises.
c. It was time to remember God’s faithfulness and provisions.
d. It was time to say, “THANK YOU GOD!”
5. We learned how Joshua set up at Gilgal the twelve stones they had taken out of the Jordan.
a. He said to the Israelites, “In the future when your descendants ask their parents, ‘What do these stones mean?’ tell them, ‘Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground.’ For the Lord your God dried up the Jordan before you until you had crossed over. The Lord your God did to the Jordan what he had done to the Red Sea when he dried it up before us until we had crossed over. He did this so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the Lord is powerful and so that you might always fear the Lord your God.” (Joshua 4:20-24)
6. When we face the bad times and the good times, we need to understand that God is faithful throughout them all.
a. God is always faithful and He is the ultimate provider.
b. God wants to bless His children and provide for His children.
7. An important lesson that I want to add at this time is the lesson that a person might be just as prone to turn away from God in the good times as well as the bad times.
a. When things are bad, we might turn away from God because of disappointment with God.
b. When things are good, we might turn away from God because of distraction from God.
8. That was what happened to the Israelites – when they moved into the Promise Land they got caught up in all the good stuff of this world and they forgot about God.
9. Moses had warned them about this tendency in Deuteronomy 6: “When the Lord your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that he would give you—a land with large and beautiful cities that you did not build, houses full of every good thing that you did not fill them with, cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant—and when you eat and are satisfied, be careful not to forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery.” (Deut. 6:10-12)
10. When life is good, we must remember that it is good because God is good and we must keep God in His rightful place in our lives, especially in the good times.
H. I want to close today’s sermon with an illustration.
1. I've heard that the rite-of-passage into adulthood for a Native American boy included this test.
2. On the night of a boy’s thirteenth birthday, he was blindfolded and placed in a dense forest to spend the entire night alone.
a. The boy had to sit still, no matter what, and was not allowed to remove the blindfold.
b. He could not cry out for help to anyone.
c. He also could not tell other boys of this experience, because each young man had to come into manhood on his own.
3. Imagine what it felt like to sit there blindfolded on a stump in the middle of the woods.
a. Every time a twig snapped, he probably visualized a wild animal ready to pounce.
b. Every time an animal howled, he imagined a wolf leaping out of the darkness.
c. Every time the wind blew, he wondered what more sinister sound it masked.
4. No doubt it was a terrifying night for many young men.
5. After what must have seemed like an eternity, the first rays of morning sunlight entered the interior of the forest and the boy was allowed to remove the blindfold.
6. When he did so, to his utter astonishment and relief, the boy would behold the figure of a man standing just a few feet away, armed with a bow and arrow.
7. The man standing guard was the boy’s father.
8. Without the boy knowing it, his father had been there the entire night, watching over him and protecting him from anything that might cause harm.
I. I don’t know whether that story is true or not, but it has a very good lesson for all of us.
1. Even though the Native American youth couldn’t see his father standing nearby, his father was indeed there, ready to fight for his son.
2. We, too, have our heavenly Father with us all the time, even though we can’t see Him.
3. The truth is that we are never alone!
4. Joshua was given this command: “Haven’t I commanded you: be strong and courageous? Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” (Josh. 1:9)
5. Hebrews 13:5-6 contains a similar promise: “for he himself has said, I will never leave you or abandon you. Therefore, we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?”
6. God is good and God is near and God is ready to help all of us, especially when life is WILD!
7. Remember: When life is wild, God is good!
