Illus: I heard about a letter that was sent to a taxpayer from the IRS: "I'm afraid we can't allow you to deduct last year's tax as a bad investment."
Illus: Much has been said about paying taxes:
• April is always a difficult month for Americans. Even if your ship comes in, the IRS is right there to help you unload it.
• Someone said, “If you think nobody knows you're alive... try filing your income tax late!”
• Someone else said the IRS is a place that says, "Watch your step" going in, and "Watch your language" going out.
One man said, “The IRS is a pain in the neck, and some people have an even lower opinion of them.”
• A man walked into the tax collector's office and sat down and smiled at everyone. "May I help you?" said the clerk in charge. "No," said the man. "I just wanted to meet the people I have been working for all these years."
• Another man said that April 15th should be called TAXGIVING DAY.
• One taxpayer received a strongly worded "second notice" that his taxes were overdue. Hastening to the collector's office, he paid his bill, saying apologetically that he had overlooked the first notice. "Oh," confided the collector with a smile, “We don't send out first notices. We have found that the second notices are more effective."
• Birth-control pills are deductible, but only if they don't work.
Every year when we fill out our tax returns we have to report how many dependents we have to the IRS. This can be confusing when we have so many single parents and both of them are claiming the children as their dependents.
Illus: Speaking of confusion, it reminds me of a black man, who said:
• When I was born...I was BLACK
• When I grew up...I was BLACK
• When I am sick...I am BLACK
• When I go out in the sun...I am BLACK
• When I go out in the cold...I am BLACK
• When I die...I am BLACK
BUT YOU WHITE FOLK …
• When you are born...You are PINK
• When you grow up...You are WHITE
• When you are sick...You are GREEN
• When you go out in the sun...You are RED
• When you go out in the cold...You are BLUE
• When you die...You turn PURPLE
…and you have the nerve to call me "COLORED"!
It takes a lot of nerve to fill out tax returns because we never know what we might be getting ourselves into with the IRS.
But one of the things we have to report are the people who are in our household that can not provide for themselves and are DEPENDING on us to provide for them.
This brings to mind that we are the children of God, and we are totally dependent upon God the Father.
Have you noticed how our PHYSICAL LIFE is similar to our SPIRITUAL LIFE? For example:
• When we are first born, we recognize how totally dependent we are upon our parents. We are dependent upon them for everything.
• When we start to grow and we become a teenager, all of a sudden we KNOW EVERYTHING and we do not feel the need to depend on anyone for anything!
• When we start to mature and we can start to do for ourselves, we begin to recognize that we have to depend on God the Father for that which we can not do.
But the sad thing about this progression of growth is that most folks grow into their SPIRITUAL teens and no one can tell them anything. THEY KNOW IT ALL!
Illus: (Humor) Have you noticed that the national day of prayer is in the same month that teens graduate from high school? There is a reason for that!
As a child of God, do you recognize that you are one of God’s dependents? We need to learn to DEPEND on Him. Now that is not to say God does not want us to do what we can do for ourselves. No parent would want their child to be this way, and God the Father certainly does not want us to be this way.
Illus: There once was a man who very adamantly believed in living by faith. He believed that, so long as he prayed in Jesus’ name, believing in faith, God would provide his need, he would receive whatever he asked for. One day he stood up in church and declared that from that day forward, he was trusting God to supply all his needs. He quit his job as a high-ranking official in a fairly large company and moved into a dingy little house on the rougher side of town.
• The first night he prayed very fervently for God to send him some food, because he was beginning to get hungry.
• The next morning he walked outside, expecting to find food, but nothing was there. Figuring that he didn’t pray fervently enough, he dedicated the whole day to praying for God to provide food for the next day.
• The next morning came, and still no food. That day he prayed even more fervently for God to provide nourishment, for by now he was growing ravenously hungry. "God, you must provide me with food, or I will die out here," he prayed over and over again.
• The next morning he walked outside, and still no food. By this time he was beginning to get angry with God for not providing as He promised in His Word.
• That afternoon and evening he redoubled his efforts, wailing and rocking back and forth and beating his breast as he prayed. "Dear God, I’m going to starve to death unless you feed me. I haven’t eaten or had anything to drink in 4 days!" When he had prayed all he could pray, and was exhausted he fell back on the bed and stared at the wall. In the silence, he heard a small voice calling out his name. "Bill! Bill!" "I’m here Lord," he cried. "Are you finally answering my prayer?" "I’ve been answering your prayers," the voice replied. "You’ve just been looking in the wrong direction." "What do you mean Lord? I don’t understand," he exclaimed, exasperated. "Walk outside," said the voice. Bill walked outside, looked all around on the dirty porch, but still found no food. "There’s nothing here, Lord. I don’t see any food." "You’re looking in the wrong direction. Look up." Bill looked up, and there right above his head, pasted onto the building next to him, was a huge billboard with big black print that said, "DAY LABORERS WANTED! LUNCH WILL BE PROVIDED."
God provides for us what we can not provide for ourselves.
Illus: Remember when Jesus and the disciples came to Lazarus’ tomb? When they got there, He told them to remove the stone. Why? Because this is something they could do and He always expects us to do what we can do. But when it came to the raising of Lazarus, they had to let Him do what they could not do.
Today, as the children of God, we want to focus in on DEPENDING ON GOD TO DO WHAT WE CAN NOT DO.
Are you one of GOD’S DEPENDENTS? We have to depend on Him for a number of things in this life. There are many times we have to DEPEND on God the Father-
I. WE HAVE TO DEPEND ON GOD FOR THE IMPOSSIBLE
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could do the IMPOSSIBLE! But we face so many things in this life that make us feel frail and helpless.
WHAT DO WE DO IN TIMES LIKE THIS? Some are convinced the solution is to WORRY!
Illus: Have you noticed that women and men handle stressful situations differently? For example, sometimes things can get a little emotional around the house and the man might kick the cat, but not a woman.
• She will snatch that credit card out of her purse and say, “Do not get me upset now, if you do I will go to the mall and buy myself ten pair of shoes and ten blouses!”
• She might also say, “Do not get me upset now. If you do I will go to the refrigerator and pull that gallon of ice cream out and eat every bit of it!”
Every family faces all kinds of problems, but worry has never solved a problem in our life. Never! All it has ever done is cause some to lay in bed and count sheep all night.
Illus: Two shepherds lean on their crooks at the end of a long day.
• One shepherd asked the other shepherd, "So, how's it going?"
• The second one sighed and shook his head, "Not good, I can't pay my bills, my health isn't good, my kids don't respect me, and my wife is leaving me."
• The first shepherd said, "Well, don't lose any sheep over it."
Illus: Someone said, "Worry is like a rocking chair; no matter how much you rock, you get nowhere."
As the children of God, we face the difficulties of life and there are times we have to turn to God the Father and say, “Father, if I could do it, I WOULD! I can not, so I must DEPEND on you!”
(A) WE HAVE TO DEPEND ON GOD THE FATHER IN A BAD ECONOMY
When the economy turns sour and we have done all that we can do, we have to DEPEND on God the Father. Through the ages of time, the people of God have had to DEPEND on God the Father to take them through difficult times when the bottom has fallen out financially.
God has always been there for those who were DEPENDING on Him! For example, remember that old widow that lived during the days of Elijah?
Look at 1 Kings 17:10-16, we read, “So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, the widow woman was there gathering of sticks: and he called to her, and said, Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink. And as she was going to fetch it, he called to her, and said, Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thine hand. And she said, As the LORD thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die. And Elijah said unto her, Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son. For thus saith the LORD God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the LORD sendeth rain upon the earth. And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah: and she, and he, and her house, did eat many days. And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake by Elijah.”
This woman and her son were down to their last meal. Notice, the thing that saved her and her son was when the man of God said to her in verse 13, “…but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son.”
This sounds selfish, but the man of God was teaching her a very valuable lesson.
WHAT IS THE LESSON? The lesson is that if we will always DEPEND ON GOD and PUT HIM FIRST, things will work out for our best!
Look at Matthew 6:33, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”
Listen, we have a lot of spiritual teenagers today in our churches, and they think they know it all.
For example, when it comes to giving, many think, “I will take care of self and if any is left over after I buy everything I want to buy for myself, then I will give God some.”
The Bible tells us that Elijah told her to put the man of God first, and during a sour economy, she did and God took care of her. God the Father’s provisions for our needs are not dependent upon a prosperous economy!
There are times we have to turn to God the Father and say, “I can do no more, I work everyday, I do not throw my money away, I AM DEPENDING ON YOU TO SUPPLY MY NEEDS!”
We have to DEPEND on God the Father in a bad economy. But also-
B. WE HAVE TO DEPEND ON GOD THE FATHER WHEN THE DOCTOR SAYS I HAVE DONE ALL I CAN DO
Preacher, do you believe in divine healing? Listen, if I did not, I would not bother to waste my time visiting the sick and praying for God to raise them up. The reason that people do not believe in divine healing is because the god they serve is incapable of healing anyone.
But the God of the scriptures can do the impossible, and sometimes when it is impossible for the physicians to help us, we can turn to God who we have to DEPEND on to do the IMPOSSIBLE!
For example, Samson was born when he was not supposed to be born. Look at Judges 13:2-5, where we see God doing the impossible. We read, “And there was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren, and bare not. And the angel of the LORD appeared unto the woman, and said unto her, Behold now, thou art barren, and bearest not: but thou shalt conceive, and bear a son. Now therefore beware, I pray thee, and drink not wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing: For, lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and no razor shall come on his head: for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb: and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.”
Listen, God does not need:
• A healthy economy to supply our needs
• A healthy womb to give birth to a child
When the doctors shake their heads and say, “We can do no more!” we can DEPEND on God the Father to do the impossible.
God the Father just needs the children of God to DEPEND on Him to do what is impossible with man.
Consider The Model prayer… “Give us this day our daily bread…” (not weekly, monthly, or yearly)
• Yes, we are to do what we can do, but trust God for that which we can not do each day
• Yes, plan for the future,…but trust God with the future!
There are those who are wondering if social security will be there when they reach retirement. There is a good chance that for many it will not be there, but the good news is that God will be there when you retire.
Illus: I like that chorus we sometimes sing, “God specializes in things thought impossible.”
We have to DEPEND ON GOD THE FATHER TO DO THE IMPOSSIBLE IN OUR LIFE. But also-
II. WE HAVE TO DEPEND ON GOD FOR SALVATION
You can ask people all over this nation, “Are you saved?” And the reply so often is this; “I am trying to be!” Then they begin to list how:
• I go to church every Sunday
• I read my Bible
• I pay my bills
• I do not curse
• I do not tell lies
• I am true to my marriage vows
• I tithe every Sunday
• I pray every day
But did you know that you can do all these things and still be eternally lost?
Another response that we sometimes hear is, “I am trying to be good.” If that is what a person thinks they must do to be saved, HOW GOOD MUST THEY BE BEFORE THEY ARE SAVED?
The Bible says NONE OF US ARE GOOD ENOUGH! The Bible says that our righteousness is as “Filthy rags” in the sight of God. That is, God says we can put all our robes of righteousness on, but God sees them only as filthy rags.
HOW GOOD MUST WE BE TO BE SAVED? We must be perfect! But that is a level we mortals could never reach. No matter how hard I try, I still find myself:
• Doing the wrong things
• Thinking the wrong things
• Saying the wrong things
• Looking at the wrong things
No matter how hard I try to save myself, I keep falling short. I COULD NEVER BE GOOD ENOUGH TO SAVE MYSELF. And everyone here can take your halo off because you fall into the same camp.
HOW COULD YOU AND I EVER BE GOOD ENOUGH TO BE SAVED?
The only way we can ever be good enough in the sight of God the Father is for us, by faith, to receive Christ as our Savior. When we do this:
• He takes OUR SINS
• We take HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS
Then every time God looks at me, He sees the righteousness of Christ.
Conclusion:
Are you one of God’s dependents?
I. WE HAVE TO DEPEND ON GOD FOR THE IMPOSSIBLE
II. WE HAVE TO DEPEND ON GOD FOR SALVATION
