WHEN IT BOILS DOWN? TRUSTING A SOVEREIGN GOD! PART #1
By Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com
DO WE UNDERSTAND THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD? YOU HAVE TWO CHOICES: FEAR VS. FAITH. YOU DECIDE? WHEN IT ALL BOILS DOWN, WHAT REALLY MATTERS, THE CONCLUSION? WHAT IS THE MAIN THING? IN WHAT DO WE INVEST? WHAT IS THE BOTTOM LINE? THE FINAL WORD?
Have we ever invested in worthless junk? Remember the story of MOBY DICK? Moby was a great big prize whale. A man named CAPTAIN AHAB hated Moby Dick because he lost his leg trying to catch this trophy whale. So CAPTAIN AHAB spent his life’s every effort to catch MOBY. This bent the Captain’s attitudes, his whole motivation was to get even… REVENGE BECAME THE DICTATOR OF EVERYTHING CAPTAIN AHAB DID. Night and day AHAB was driven by revenge.
Ecclesiastes 12:13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. 14 For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.
What is your bottom line? When the pot boils down, what is your motivation? What drives you? Que sera sera, What will be will be? The future is not ours to see? Que sera sera? When you take your last breath and the undertaker is called what will matter then?
Ecclesiastes 12:13 (MSG) The last and final word is this: Fear God. Do what he tells you.
14 And that's it. Eventually God will bring everything that we do out into the open and judge it according to its hidden intent, whether it's good or evil.
One day you will rest in your grave. You will have a blanket of sod. The flowers will fade. The saying: from dust to dust, earth to earth, ashes to ashes will be fulfilled… What will YOUR CONCLUSION BE?
ONLY ONE LIFE, TWILL SOON BE PAST. ONLY WHAT’S DONE FOR CHRIST WILL LAST.
Psalm 111:10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise endureth for ever.
ARE WE SEARCHING FOR OZ? UTOPIA? THERE USED TO BE TEARS? WE LIVE IN A DAY WE DON’T LIKE LISTENING VERY MUCH… TO LISTEN HAS ALMOST BECOME A LOST ART? HEAR THIS: GOD IS SOVEREIGN, HE WILL NEVER ANSWER TO YOU! ASK JOB?
Matthew 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
Seems in the USA we will pay $85.00 an hour to get someone to listen to us. We used to sit on the back porch and catch lightning bugs. We would laugh and play. We listened to each other. Then came along a neat invention. It was called TELEVISION. We had rabbit ears and foil. We received 3 stations. The children were the remote control. When we really got up town we had an outdoor antennae and we would have to run outside and turn the antennae when we changed channels. We would yell to find when we had it right.
Then came PARTY LINE telephones. It was so fun to listen in on others. We were advanced like city folk when we finally had private lines. Then came color TV, 150 channels? The TV brought families together as we watched together. Then came the day we had several TVs. Mom was in there watching the soaps. The men were in the other room watching sports. The TV brought division. BE QUIET I AM WATCHING MY SHOW? The more TV rooted into the home the LESS TIME WE HAD TO LISTEN TO EACH OTHER.
Then came the damnation of LISTENING, the cell phone, the computer, the internet. The world became much smaller. We talk to old friends, we even talk to 100’s of people we have never met and will never met? While all the TIME WE GROW MORE AND MORE DISTANT FROM THOSE THAT LIVE IN THE SAME HOUSE? How sad? Kids and couples running away to somewhere OVER THE RAINBOW, UTOPIA? Utopia? Anything beats here?
THE ALTAR has been eliminated along with the Hymns for polished upbeat bands singing songs we have never heard. People sleep through the sermons because they were up all night watching movies they have seen before. Kids sleep at school, they want to stay up all night and sleep all day? Have you ever noticed how many don’t sing the worship songs? We play pick-a-boo at prayer time and watch how many are self-absorbed with a blank look where there used to be tears WITH HANDS UP-LIFTED??
I GUESS COMMON SENSE “AIN’T TO COMMON ANY MORE?” We must never forget GOD IS SOVEREIGN!
IS THE QUESTION GOD’S WILL OR WHAT I THINK? HOW CAN GOD’S WILL NOT ALIGN WITH MY WILL? WHERE IS THE UNDERSTANDING OF THE SOVEREIGN WILL OF GOD?
2 Thessalonians 2:3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
2 Thessalonians 2:3 (NLT) Don’t be fooled by what they say. For that day will not come until there is a great rebellion against God and the man of lawlessness is revealed—the one who brings destruction.
We tend to think the GREAT FALLING AWAY as numbers… well that is true, But there is much more falling away than just numbers. There will hatred for those that do good. The laws will no longer be respected and honored. The falling away is from truth and recognizing the sovereign God we serve?
We are seeing A GREAT FALLING AWAY and a GREAT RE-DEFINING OF TRUTH? We seem to accept everything we think is totally acceptable and we set new NORMS. Is there TRUTH? Is there absolute truth? WHO DEFINES TRUTH? Do you define truth? Does THE SITUATION define truth? (Situation ethics)
GOD IS SOVEREIGN --- GOD ‘S SOVEREIGNTY CALLS FOR MAN’S SUBMISSION AND TRUST. BY TRUSTING AND SUBMITTING TO HIS PLAN WE COME TO WORSHIP HIM IN SPIRIT AND TRUTH.
Sovereign: to possess power, have authority, potentate, unlimited power, greatest, exalted… God is the ultimate source of power.
The bottom line is: GOD IS IN ABSOLUTE CONTROL. Nothing happens outside of God’s influence and authority. God is above all. He is omnipotent, he is the alpha and omega. God is the glue that holds the universe together. God is omnipresent. The question boils down to: DO I TRUST GOD’S PLAN?
I had a lady call me this week and she was demanding. GOD BETTER EXPLAIN HIMSELF TO ME. I don’t understand what God is doing? There is always trouble at school with my kids. This time the little girl has been BITING other kids and really hurting them. The school called and said if the girl bites another kid they are kicking the girl out of school. The lady was very angry with the school. What will she do? Her job depends on the kids in school. GOD BETTER COME UP WITH SOME ANSWERS, HER KID NEVER BITES ANYONE! She backs her daughter? Keep it up? Keep up demanding everyone to do something but me and my kids. There is trouble, everyone picks on her and her kids. GOD BETTER DO SOMETHING? The mom’s bad attitudes release her kids to do as they please. No accountability. BUT GOD BETTER EXPLAIN HIMSELF AND DO SOMETHING NOW! If this mother keeps defending the kids’ bad behavior and blaming everyone else she better make big money, because SHE WILL BE NEEDING LAWYERS as the behavior escalates.
GOD IS SOVEREIGN AND HE NEVER OWES US AN EXPLANATION AS TO WHAT IS GOING ON … WE OFTEN CALL STORMS, FLOODS, ABUSE, TORNADOES, HURRICANES ACTS OF GOD??… GOD DOES NOT HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH THEM… SIN AND THE ENEMY TRIES TO USE NATURE AGAINST GOD.
I was at the funeral home and a man’s adult children were blaming God for the man’s death. He smoked tobacco 60+ years. He was a terrible alcoholic. He was drunk, driving the car at a high rate of speed down the wrong way of the road. They blamed God? GET REAL! His life style and choices cost him his life. WE ARE A PRODUCT OF OUR CHOICES.
COME LET US MAKE SOME OBSERVATIONS ABOUT GOD’S SOVEREIGNTY BY LOOKING AT HOW SOME BIBLICAL CHARACTERS FACED PRISON. (Acts 12:1-
HEROD WAS AN EVIL KING. King Herod was searching for ways to gain popularity among the people. HEROD HAD JAMES (John’s brother) killed by the sword... This really pleased the JEWS in his kingdom.
This helped established HEROD’S RULE, it worked so well HEROD THOUGHT: I WILL KILL SOME MORE PREACHERS TO PLEASE THE PEOPLE.
HEROD HAD THE BIG MOUTHED PREACHER, PETER, ARREST AND THROWN INTO PRISON. This made the people happy and if the people are happy, King Herod is happy. Herod planned on killing Peter! IT WAS HOLIDAY SEASON so Herod delayed KILLING PETER. So Herod had 16 soldiers arrest and guard Peter until his EXECUTION.
THE CHURCH WAS CALLED TO SERIOUS PRAYER… around the clock the people prayed. They had just lost the ministry of James. They don’t want to dig the grave for another preacher. So they prayed.
ACTS 12:5 Peter therefore was kept in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him.
PETER HAD A COMPLETE, TOTAL TRUST IN THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD. PETER KNEW ABOUT JAMES, PETER KNEW HE WAS NEXT? Peter was sleeping?
Acts 12:6 And when Herod would have brought him forth, the same night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains: and the keepers before the door kept the prison.
PETER WAS TRUSTING THE PLAN OF A SOVEREIGN GOD. I couldn’t sleep well in a stinky prison. Peter was not worried or afraid --- HE PRAYED AND WENT TO SLEEP…
PETER MUST HAVE REALLY TRUSTED JESUS’ PLAN, HE WAS SO SOUND ASLEEP THE NEW VISITOR IN THE PRISON HAD TO HIT PETER TO WAKE HIM UP.
ACTS 12:7 And, behold, the angel of the Lord came upon him, and a light shined in the prison: and he smote Peter on the side, and raised him up, saying, Arise up quickly. And his chains fell off from his hands.
AN ANGEL SAID: PETER, WAKE UP! GET DRESSED. PUT ON YOUR SHOES, YOU ARE WALKING OUT OF HERE A FREE MAN. PETER THOUGHT HE WAS DREAMING… NO IT IS A SOVEREIGN GOD’S PLAN.
Acts 12:8 And the angel said unto him, Gird thyself, and bind on thy sandals. And so he did. And he saith unto him, Cast thy garment about thee, and follow me. 9 And he went out, and followed him; and wist not that it was true which was done by the angel; but thought he saw a vision.
MY FRIEND, YOU ARE NOT GOING TO BELIEVE THE NEXT PART: THE LOCKED, HEAVY PRISON DOOR OPENED ON IT’S OWN…
Acts 12:10 When they were past the first and the second ward, they came unto the iron gate that leadeth unto the city; which opened to them of his own accord: and they went out, and passed on through one street; and forthwith the angel departed from him.
PETER WOKE UP TO REALIZE A SOVEREIGN GOD ALLOW JAMES TO DIE AT HERODS HANDS, BUT GOD’S SOVEREIGN PLAN FREED PETER TO GO TO THE PRAYER MEETING.
I don’t understand God’s sovereignty, I don’t need to understand… God does not need to clear his plan through me. I must accept GOD’S WILL and God’s timing. God is the supreme authority and we walk by faith. TRUST GOD. God not only owns the cattle on a 1,000 hills, God owns the hills. He walks the dark hills.
ACTS 12:11 And when Peter was come to himself, he said, Now I know of a surety, that the Lord hath sent his angel, and hath delivered me out of the hand of Herod, and from all the expectation of the people of the Jews.
Herod did not like Peter or Peter’s God. God does what is right. God’s will has ordained the past, the present and the future. We completely trust God’s sovereign plan for James and for Peter.
CONCLUSION: God is sovereign… He works as He pleases. God need not explain Himself to you. Part # 1: WHEN IT BOILS DOWN? TRUSTING A SOVEREIGN GOD! We study how we can never understand or explain GOD! God is sovereign the conclusion of the whole matter is to fear God and by faith trust His plan. God’s plan is the best! Ask James? Ask Peter? Paul? Job? Joseph? TRUST GOD! FEAR HIM AND PRESS FORWARD.
His servant Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com
This is part #1 of a two part series.
