Sermon- Thy will be done
- I’m setting back & taking in what all is happening in our world today.
- We have Covid19 (the corona virus) over 3,000 people have died
- We have the flu - over 16,000 have died
- We have tornadoes tearing apart lives & homes
- Earthquakes striking in many places
- & yes the list could keep going.
Q- What’s the list?
- It’s a list of suffering.
- Those things you can’t control.
- Then There’s the headlines where children have been found locked in cages for
years.
- Babies are found alive in cars with parents who overdosed on some drugs.
- Those are sufferings we say they could’ve been prevented.
- You’re right It could have, & should have been prevented, but that’s not how
our world operates.
- We do live in a fallen world, & it’s better described as a corrupted world.
- The things that are pure, & right are not what we always see first.
- I want us to read the Lord’s Prayer found in Matthew 6:9-13 this morning.
- While you turn there I want to implant a thought.
- Congress passed an 8.3 billion dollar spending bill for the corona virus, & yet it has
only killed 1/5 the number the flu has.
Q- Why do you think the money was approved so fast?
- We know how deadly the flu is & how you contract it.
- It comes from a fear of the unknown. It’s a fear of the potential of this disease!
- Jesus modeled a prayer that takes our mind’s eye off of the physical & the unknown,
& He places our focus on what never changes & from where our hope comes.
Matthew 6:9-13
9 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
10 Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
- My key verse is verse 10. We are looking to the way it is in God’s kingdom.
- It’s perfect, pure, sinless, & without disease.
- Let’s pause now & talk to the One who establishes our faith, & our lives.
Prayer
- In our world we have to admit the stresses are hard to overcome.
> Joke from (www.strictly-stress-management.com)
An old man lived alone in Minnesota. He wanted to dig up his garden to plant potatoes, but it was very hard work. His only son, who would have helped him, was in prison. The old man wrote a letter to his son and mentioned his situation:
Dear Son,
I am feeling pretty bad because it looks like I won't be able to plant my potato garden this year. I hate to miss doing the garden, because your mother always loved planting time. I'm just getting too old to be digging up a garden plot. If you were here, all my troubles would be over.I know you would dig the plot for me, if you weren't in prison.
Love, Dad
Shortly, the old man received this telegram:
For Heaven's sake, Dad,don't dig up the garden!! That's where I buried the GUNS!!
At 4 a.m the next morning, a dozen police officers showed up and dug up the entire garden without finding any guns. Confused,the old man wrote another note to his son telling him what happened, and asked him what to do next.
His son's reply was: "Go ahead and plant your potatoes, Dad.. It's the best I could do for you from here."
- The idea & motivation of stress is simply something that makes us look at ourselves
& think I can’t make it through this.
Q- Who said we can’t overcome these things?
- I know our first thought is, oh I would never be able fair if that happened to me.
Q- Where did that come from?
- Easy, we leveled our ability by watching what someone else went through.
Q- Now, is that someone else infallible?
Q- Are they perfect?
- No, then your test of evaluation is flawed.
- Jesus said in John 16:33
John 16:33
33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
Q- Now, who overcame the world?
Q- Was it the person, or people you’ve used to evaluate your own strength?
- They’re not from where our strength comes from!
Q- Who’s to say their body is stronger or weaker than yours?
- No, our strength comes from the Lord!
- In Hosea’s time, with Northern Israel, & Jeremiah’s time, with Judah. The people
trusted in the idols in the hills(high places)
- Listen to the Psalmist!
Psalm 121:1-8
1 I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.
2 My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.
3 He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber.
4 Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The Lord is thy keeper: the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand.
6 The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.
7 The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul.
8 The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.
- When we forget that we’ve prayed for the world to be like it is in God’s kingdom, &
we’re looking with gloom at our stresses.
Q- Have you realized what you’ve done?
- You created an idol.
- I know you’re thinking, oh now come on. I haven’t done that. I still follow &
believe in Jesus.
Q- Then why don’t you think you can overcome this thing?
- The model prayer isn’t a magical formula to immediately give us victory, but it
Instead puts the burden of our life on the shoulders of the One who created it,
Jesus.
- In the Lord’s prayer we also are praying for sustenance, mercy, & help.
- Jesus is taking all of our worldly views, & putting them on Father God.
Q- Who do we rely on for food?
- I’m telling you, If McDonald’s or Taco Bell closes up I’m in trouble!
- But They’re not the one’s who feed us.
- God is the One who made the way for us to eat.
- If That way closes up, God will make another.
- As the multitudes clung to idols, God slowly, & surely showed them the idols weren’t
the One who was helping them.
- Paul spoke to the church of Ephesus on this subject. People were doing things that
were a shame to even talk about.
- These were also things that the culture was accepting as ok & good.
Q- Do you see the correlation?
- Instead of going by God’s Kingdom standards, we’re going by man’s.
- Let’s read this in Ephesians 5:11-17
Ephesians 5:11-17
11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.
12 For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret.
13 But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light.
14 Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.
15 See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise,
16 Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
17 Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.
- Thy will be done.
- That’s What we pray for.
- As I start to close this message, Think about this.
Q- How can we recognize God’s will happening when we don’t pay attention to Him?
- In great calamities, One of the biggest statements used against God is, oh where
was God When this happened.
- We may not have an answer for that question, but what we know is that God
was there, & He knows what He’s doing.
- God has never failed, & He will never fail.
- My last verse Philippians 1:6
Philippians 1:6
6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:
- For anyone who’s saved by Jesus, He will keep those in whom he has!
- He has never failed & never will!
- So, let me close now with, a memo from God.
> Memo from God (www.varietyreading.carlguides.com)
From: God
To: All His Children
I am God.
Today, I will be handling all of your problems. Please remember that I do not need your help.
If life happens to deliver a situation to you that you cannot handle, do not attempt to resolve it. Kindly put it in the SFGTD (something for God to do) box. All situations will be resolved in My time, not yours.
Once the matter is placed into the box, do not hold onto it by worrying about it. Instead, focus on all the wonderful things that are present in your life now.
If you find yourself stuck in traffic, don't despair. There are people in this world for whom driving is an unheard of privilege.
Should you have a bad day at work, think of the man who has been out of work for years.
Should you despair over a relationship gone bad, think of the person who has never known what it's like to love and be loved in return.
Should you grieve the passing of another weekend, think of the woman in dire straits, working twelve hours a day, seven days a week to feed her children.
Should your car break down, leaving you miles away from assistance; think of the paraplegic who would love the opportunity to take that walk.
Should you notice a new gray hair in the mirror, think of the cancer patient in chemo who wishes she had hair to examine.
Should you find yourself at a loss and pondering what is life all about, asking what is my purpose? Be thankful. There are those who didn't live long enough to get the opportunity.
Should you find yourself the victim of other people's bitterness, ignorance, smallness or insecurities; remember, things could be worse. You could be one of them!
- Let’s put stress aside & let God carry us through.
