This text verse of scripture talks about TRUST AND OBEY.
Do you realize how much trust is a part of our life each day?
• Every time we flip a light switch, we trust that the light will come on
• Every time we place the key in the ignition of our car and turn it, we expect the car to start.
• Every time we get on an elevator if we push the right button we trust the elevator will carry us to the right floor.
• Every time we sit in a chair, we expect it to support us
Every day our life is filled with trusting in THINGS and PEOPLE.
So often we find it hard to trust, because we have been let down by so many times PEOPLE AND THINGS.
For example…
We elect people into political offices to represent us.
They say everything we want to hear, but once they are in office they forget the promises they made.
We voted for them, we trusted them, we gave money to support their candidacy and they let us down like a lead balloon!!!
Illus: Imagine working for a company that has a little more than 500 employees and has the following statistics:
• 29 have been accused of spousal abuse
• 7 have been arrested for fraud
• 19 have been accused of writing bad checks
• 117 have directly or indirectly bankrupted at least 2 businesses
• 3 have done time for assault
• 71 cannot get a credit card due to bad credit
• 14 have been arrested on drug-related charges
• 8 have been arrested for shoplifting
• 21 are currently defendants in lawsuits
• 84 have been arrested for drunk driving in the last year
Can you guess which organization this is?
It's the 535 members of the United States Congress. And we are surprise they let us down!!!
It is difficult for us to TRUST. Many times we find ourselves wondering if we can trust ANYONE!
Illus: In May 1995, Randy Reid, a 34-year-old construction worker, was welding on top of a nearly completed water tower outside Chicago.
According to writer Melissa Ramsdell, Reid unhooked his safety gear to reach for some pipes when a metal cage slipped and bumped the scaffolding he stood on.
The scaffolding tipped, and Reid lost his balance.
He fell 110 feet, landing face down on a pile of dirt.
A fellow worker called 911.
When paramedics arrived, they found Reid conscious.
However, apparently the fall didn't cost Reid his life or sense of humor.
As paramedics carried him on a backboard to the ambulance, Reid had one request: "Don't drop me." (Doctors later said Reid came away from the accident with just a bruised lung.) (Greg Asimakoupoulos, Naperville, Illinois.
Sometimes we resemble that construction worker, in that God has taken care of us over and over again, but we are afraid if we put our trust in man, HE WILL DROP US!
Listen, we do not need to be so eager to trust man, but it is essential that we TRUST GOD!
• We read in 1 Pet. 5:7, “Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.”
• We read in Matt. 6:28-34, “And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, what shall we eat? Or, what shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.”
WHAT IS THE LORD SAYING?
He is saying that if we live our Christian life TRUSTING Him, He will take care of us.
• If something concerns you, God wants you to know it concerns Him.
• And no matter how BIG or SMALL a problem might be; you can trust Him!
Our scripture text shows us the various places that people during the days of the Psalmist put their trust.
The Psalmist said:
1) Some put their trust in their chariots
2) Some put their trust in their horses
3) Some put their trust in the Lord
Everyone puts his/her trust somewhere.
Illus: Ann Beck said, “When my husband and I taught 2 and 3-year-olds in Sunday school, a Bible verse we helped them memorize was Psalm 56:3, ‘When I am afraid, I will trust in you.’
• Our preschool son, Mark, was one of our pupils.
• One stormy night, as lightning flashed and thunder boomed, the electricity suddenly went off.
• ‘I'm not afraid,’ Mark assured us as we groped in the dark for candles and matches. Expecting him to quote the Bible verse he recently learned, I proudly prompted him, ‘And tell us why you aren't afraid.’
He said, because I've got my flashlight.’" (Ann Beck, North Carollton, MS, Today's Christian Woman)
It is obvious today that we as a nation are placing our trust in our technology and powerful weapons.
WHY DO I SAY THAT?
How many times have we heard politicians stand before the American people on national television and declare that we are the ONLY SUPER POWER on the face of the earth?
WHAT ARE THEY SAYIING?
• They are saying that we have all these powerful weapons to defend us as a nation.
• What they are not saying, but implying, is that WE DO NOT NEED TO TRUST IN GOD, WE CAN TRUST IN THESE POWERFUL WEAPONS!
However, what these men and women fail to realize is that America has become the great nation we are, not because of our weapons, but because OUR FOREFATHERS PUT THEIR TRUST IN THE LORD JESUS.
But this is no longer the trend in this country!
Illus: We as a nation are like Samson, in that he killed the Philistines with the jawbone of an ass and afterwards, he threw away the very thing that gave him the victory.
Today, we live in an age when people in this nation have put their trust in PEOPLE AND THINGS.
Our forefathers placed their faith in almighty God!!!
• Alexander Hamilton a signer of the Declaration of Independence and Ratifier of the U.S. Constitution said, "I have carefully examined the evidences of the Christian religion, and if I was sitting as a juror upon its authenticity I would unhesitatingly give my verdict in its favor."
• Patrick Henry ratifier of the U.S. Constitution said "It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ. For this very reason peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here."
• Also, Patrick Henry of Virginia STATED, "The Bible ... is a book worth more than all the other books that were ever printed."
If you study the history of this great nation you will find that OUR FOREFATHERS TRUSTED IN GOD!!!
Today, they have taken that faith that gave us this great country and have thrown it away.
It is obvious that we are not putting their trust in the Lord, but in PEOPLE and THINGS!
Illus: Some people will go to a doctor they have never seen before. They do not know how much schooling he has. Do not even see a degree on the wall that he ever attended medical school.
This doctor, that they do not know a thing about, will say to them, “I have scheduled you for surgery next month and I am going to put you on the operating table and cut you from your chin to your stomach and I am going pull your heart out of your chest and work on it and then put it back in your chest.”
They will look at him and say, “Ok, if you think it needs to be done!”
People put their trust in PEOPLE and THINGS.
For example, without hesitation people:
• Will jump into their car and drive across long bridges suspended thousands of feet high in the air.
• Will step into elevators that are suspended on a few cables hundreds of feet in the air.
• Will trust in airplanes that men have made with their hands that fly high in the sky at record breaking speed.
People tend to be trusting in many things, but the one place you find that man has a hard time trusting is in God the Creator.
The psalmist said, “Some trust in chariots, some in horses, but we will remember the name of the Lord our God.”
HOW ARE WE TO TRUST THE LORD?
Let me share with you a few of the ways the Bible tells us to trust in the Lord.
I. WE ARE TO TRUST THE LORD WITH GOD’S TITHES
Notice, I said we are trusted with God’s Tithes.
You see, the tithes belong to the Lord and the Lord is trusting you to see if you can be trusted with His tithes.
Can you!!!
We can TRUST THE LORD, but the question is can GOD TRUST US?
Ten percent doesn’t seem like much.
Illus: Offer me a 10% discount as enticement to eat at your restaurant or shop at your store, and I’ll probably just shrug it off.
But when it comes to parting with our hard-earned money, many Christians see 10 percent as an insurmountable obstacle.
That’s too bad, because they’re missing out on a lot of blessing.
The tithe belongs to God, but giving it will change your heart and bless your life.
It is amazing you can go into churches and there is enough people in attendance to support that church well but much of the service they are talking about they do not have enough money to pay their bills.
That tells me something about that church, that church is filled with a bunch of thieves robbing God of His tithes and offering.
God has promised He would take care of the person that tithes.
In Mal. 3:10-11, we read, “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the LORD of hosts.”
People who don’t tithe not only are they thieves but they do not believe the PROMISE GOD will take care of them.
They figure they can do a better job of taking care of themselves than trusting God to take care of them.
Also, our giving reflects our LOVE FOR THE LORD but also it reflects where we have PLACED OUR FAITH.
God has promised to take care of the Christian that tithes, BUT SOME SIMPLY DO NOT BELIEVE HE CAN BE TRUSTED.
They are IGNORANT when it comes to the teachings of trust we see in this Bible.
Their ignorance about the things of God reminds me of…
Illus: A young ventriloquist is touring the clubs and one night and he's doing a show in a small club in a small town in Arkansas.
With his dummy on his knee, he's going through his usual dumb blonde jokes when a blonde woman in the 4th row stands on her chair and starts shouting, "I've heard enough of your stupid blonde jokes.
• What makes you think you can stereotype women that way?
• What does the color of a person's hair have to do with her worth as a human being?
• It's guys like you that keep women like me from being respected at work and in the community, and from reaching our full potential as a person, because you and your kind continue to perpetuate discrimination against, not only blondes, but women in general...and all in the name of humor!"
The man, the ventriloquist is embarrassed and begins to apologize, when the blonde yells, "You stay out of this, mister! I'm talking to that little jerk on your knee!"
We live in a world that is filled with ignorance. One of the most ignorant things a person can do is to PUT THEIR TRUST IN PEOPLE AND THINGS and feel they CAN NOT TRUST THE LORD.
Illus: A pastor was talking to a new convert about tithing and he said, “Pastor, I really do not have the money to tithe. It takes all that I make to pay my bills!”
The pastor told him that God has promised to take care of him if he would spend his money wisely, trust God and tithe.
• The man said, “Pastor, you do not understand, I can not tithe, I do not have the money.”
• The Pastor said, “Sorry, but you do not understand!”
• Let me ask you something. “Would you be willing to tithe each Sunday if I personally would make up the difference at the end of the month to pay your bills?”
• The man said, “Pastor, if you promised to do that I certainly would tithe every Sunday!”
• The pastor said, “That is amazing: you trust me to supply your needs but you are not willing to trust God!”
The man got the message, started tithing, and every month trusted God to supply his needs.
When people fail to tithe, they are saying that they can not trust in the promises of God’s Word, they must take matters into their own hands.
We are TRUSTED WITH GOD’S TITHES…God trust us can he trust us.
Also…
II. WE ARE TO TRUST THE LORD WITH OUR TALENTS
America is fascinated with talented people.
• About 25 million people watched the Annual Grammy Awards.
• An estimated 40 million viewers tuned-in to Annual Oscars Ceremony.
Illus: Many people think that this concept is new, but those of us who can remember all the way back to the 1980s realize that Ed McMahon was doing Star Search back then.
WHERE DOES THIS TALENT COME FROM?
It comes from God.
Illus: Rush Limbaugh when he was living one of the trademark lines that you often heard him say of his talent, "Talent on loan from God."
God has given to each and every one certain talent.
But some folks are taking those talents and literally wasting them.
Matthew 25 gives us a parable.
• One receives one talent
• One receives two talents
• One receives five talents
But this parable also tells us that once the talents were given, they were to USE THEM, not WASTE THEM!
• There are gifted preachers that are sitting in a rocking chair why some churches across this nation are without a pastor…WHAT A WASTE!
• There are gifted teachers that are sitting on a church pew while the church is hurting for teachers. What a Waste!
• There are gifted singers that could be sitting in the choir but they are sitting on a pew. What a Waste!
• There are gifted people God has blessed with a good finance robbing God of his tithes each week. What a Waste!
Illus: A talent was actually a measurement of weight.
• Talents would vary greatly depending upon just what was being weighed out - gold, silver, or copper.
• A single talent of gold, silver or copper would have been a significant sum of money.
Illus: For instance, a talent of silver was worth 6000 denarii.
Denarii was the amount of money that a laborer would earn in a single day, so one talent of silver would be equal to sixteen years of salary.
Illus: Five talents would be enough money to live a long and prosperous life.
If you were to translate that into modern terminology using the figure that a good laborer today makes between seventy and one hundred dollars a day, a talent would be worth over four hundred thousand dollars.
Only a foolish man will take the talents God has given him and literally waste them.
This parable teaches us some things.
What does it teach us…?
1. WHAT WE HAVE IS NOT OURS
So many of us think that we own a large portfolio consisting of land, houses, stocks, and bonds, but in reality we are only property managers.
One hundred years from now, it will not matter what kind of car I drove, or what kind of house I lived in, or what my clothes looked like or how much I had in my accounts.
All of my stuff will be in the hands of someone else or in the landfill somewhere.
In Eccl. 5:15, we read, “As he came forth of his mother's womb, naked shall he return to go as he came, and shall take nothing of his labour, which he may carry away in his hand.”
We are stewards ... managing resources.
2. WE’RE GIVEN WHAT WE CAN HANDLE
In today’s parable, each man was given what he could handle.
The Bible clearly tells us that God will not put on us more than we can handle.
There is a danger in accumulating possessions. If we are not careful, our possessions will handle us instead of us handling them.
3. WE MUST INVEST WHAT WE’VE BEEN GIVEN
We cannot bury our resources in the ground and expect God’s blessing. We must use what we have for good.
Illus: Sometimes as we drive down the highway, we see signs on the back of commercial vehicles that say, “How is my driving?” Then they give you a telephone number you can call to report their driving.
The question we need to ask today as Christians is, “HOW ARE WE USING OUR TALENTS?”
We dealt with two important things that God expects us to do.
They concern:
• Our Tithes
• Our Talents
GOD TRUSTS US WITH SO MUCH, BUT HOW LITTLE WE TRUST HIM.
It is amazing to stand under a starry sky and look at the millions of stars above and realize God has placed us as stewards over all His creation.
Let me illustrate…
Illus: Imagine going into the Walmart corporation office and asking to see the CEO and you are taken to a luxurious office and an eight-year-old child is sitting behind the desk.
I feel that way when I look at all God has placed us mortals as stewards over.
Some have done a very good job at what God has placed in their hands.
Illus: Martha Berry was a lady with a vision to help children. She began a school for poor children. She had no books, no building and no money. But she had a dream.
She went to Henry Ford to ask for a donation. Mr. Ford reached into his pocket gave Martha Berry a dime.
Most people would have been insulted, here he is a multi-millionaire and all he could give was a dime.
But Martha took that dime and bought a packet of seeds and planted a garden, raised a crop, sold it and bought more seeds.
After three or four harvests, she had enough money to purchase an old building for the children.
She returned to Mr. Ford and said, “Look what your dime has done.” Mr. Ford was so impressed that he donated a million dollars to her school.
God has given some people so much in this life, but many have never discovered how to take the talents God gave them, and develop them and trust Him to accomplish anything with their life.
Illus: "A newspaper fired Walt Disney because he had "no good ideas"
Listen to the rest of the story about Mr. Disney. "It is reported that Walt Disney was not only a remarkable man but also a remarkably happy man. Somewhere recently there was a story about his early years. When he started out in Kansas City, he couldn’t sell his cartoons. Some hinted that he had no talent. Disney had a dream, so he set out to conquer his foes. He found a minister who paid him a small amount to draw advertising pictures for his church. Disney had no place to stay, so that the church let him sleep in the mouse-infested garage. One of those mice, which Disney nicknamed Mickey, became famous - as the world knows. How satisfying life must have been for Disney when he remembered the hard struggle from lean years spent in a church garage". (Ernest A. Fitzgerald. Keeping Pace: Inspirations in the Air. Greensboro: Pace Communications Inc. 1988, p. 18).
We are to trust the Lord with…
• OUR TITHES
• OUR TALENTS,
But also-
III. WE ARE TO TRUST THE LORD WITH OUR TIME
WHAT IS TIME?
TIME IS LIFE!
If I give you ten minutes of my time I have given you the most valuable gift I can give you. I have given you ten minutes of my life. BECAUSE MY LIFE IS MY TIME!
In this life, we only have so many seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months and years. We cannot afford to waste any of life.
The most valuable gift that we can give the Lord Jesus is TIME, because when we do this we are giving Him OUR LIFE!
One of the greatest wastes in the world today is the waste of LIFE.
It seems that many folks who profess to know the Lord do not know a thing about that.
Illus: How many times some have been asked to do something for the Lord and their answer was, “I do not have time, I am sorry but I want be able to do that?”
What they are really saying MY TIME IS TO DO WHAT I WANT TO DO NOT WHAT GOD WANTS ME TO DO!!!
Illus: They remind me of a man that did not know anything about skydiving and goes skydiving for the first time.
He excitedly jumps out of an airplane with a parachute strapped to his back.
• After a bit, he pulls the ripcord
• Nothing happens
• He tries again
• Still nothing
• He starts to panic, but remembers his back-up chute. He pulls that cord
• Nothing happens
• He frantically begins pulling both cords, but to no avail.
Suddenly, he looks down and he can't believe his eyes. Another man is in the air with him, but this guy is going up while he is coming down with his coat tail on fire.
• Just as the other guy passes by, the skydiver -- by this time scared out of his wits - yells, "Hey, do you know anything about skydiving?"
• The other guy yells back, "No! Do you know anything about gas stoves?"
Most folks do not seem to know a thing about LIFE!
WHY IS THAT?
There are many reasons, but one of the chief reasons is because we have the advertising world that tells us:
• If you want to have real “Gusto” in life, you must drink a certain kind of beer.
• If you want to really live and impress your neighbors, you must drive a certain kind of car.
• If you want to enjoy life, you have to smoke a certain brand of cigarettes.
Let me share what the Bible says we can do to trust the Lord with the most treasured gift we have - OUR TIME!
Look at Rom. 12:1-2, we read, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”
Once we become “conformed” to this world:
• We forget right is right
• We forget wrong is wrong
God knows how difficult it is for us to live in this world as Christians. God knows that we are bombarded by the things of the world.
But God says not to let the world put you into their mold and shape your thinking.
PRESENT YOUR BODIES A LIVING SACRIFICE UNTO THE LORD and DO NOT BE CONFORMED TO THE WORLD.
God has a claim on your Life! Notice, the Word of God says this is our REASONABLE SERVICE.
The lost world thinks it is un-reasonable for God to require we PRESENT OUR BODIES TO HIM FOR HIS SERVICE…BUT GOD OUR CREATOR SAYS IT IS REASONABLE!
GOD IS OUR CREATOR!!!
He has the RIGHT and AUTHORITY to command us TO PRESENT OUR BODIES TO HIM.
Let me explain what authority means…
Illus: A teacher told of the time their new elementary school was raising the American flag for the first time.
To make the day special, they had invited a Marine Corps color guard to come out and perform the duty for them.
The day before the ceremony, the Marine in charge of the unit called to confirm directions to the school.
After doing so, he was asked by our secretary whether he was sending marines who like children.
There was a brief pause on the other end of the line before the man replied, "Ma’am, if I tell them to like children, they will like children."
Marines understand authority. Marines understand who is in charge. They understand who the leader is that they are to follow.
In a slightly different context: the Bible teaches the same thing about “Lordship"
Likewise, Jesus says to His disciples, in John 13:13, "Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am.”
We can never find what we are looking for in this life until we come to RECOGNIZE WHO HE IS and WHO WE ARE!
Christians that have been given this precious treasure that we call TIME need to use it wisely.
Time is running out with all of us. I HAVE LESS TIME TODAY THAN I DID YESTERDAY!!!
Illus: A man goes to his doctor for a complete checkup. He hasn't been feeling well and wants to find out if he's ill.
After the checkup, the doctor comes out with the results of the examination.
• "I'm afraid I have some bad news. You're dying and you don't have much time," the doctor says.
• "Oh no, that's terrible! How long have I got?" the man asks.
• “The doctor says about 10!”
• “10 what? Months? Weeks? What?!" he asks desperately.
• The doctor says, “9..8...7..."
Illus: Just before she lost her battle with cancer, Erma Bombeck wrote: IF I HAD MY LIFE TO LIVE OVER:
• I would have talked less and listened more.
• I would have invited friends over to dinner even if the carpet was stained and the sofa faded.
• I would have taken the time to listen to my grandfather ramble about his youth
.
• I would have burned the pink candle sculpted like a rose before it melted in storage.
• I would have sat on the lawn with my children and not worried about grass stains.
• I would have cried and laughed less while watching television and more while watching life.
• I would have shared more of the responsibility carried by my husband.
• Instead of wishing away nine months of pregnancy, I’d have cherished every moment and realized that the wonderment growing inside me was the only chance in life to assist God in a miracle.
• When my kids kissed me impetuously, I would never have said, "Later. Now go get washed up for dinner."
• There would have been more "I love you’d"... more, "I’m sorrys"...but mostly, given another shot at life, I would seize every minute...look at it and really see it... live it...and never give it back.
Why is it that it takes something like cancer to impress upon us how precious and wonderful life is?
Conclusion:
Illus: Years ago, a pastor, while traveling down a highway in eastern Kentucky, would pass by a beautiful brick church. The church always caught his attention because it seemed to be in the ideal location for growth.
However, the church was not a flourishing church. It was closed and the windows were broken out; there had not been services there for many years.
As he drove by this church he could not help but wonder what happened to that church. Why was it closed, and why were the windows broken out and the weeds growing all around?
On one trip as he passed by the church, he pondered this aloud. His oldest son, then 9 or 10, said, “I know Dad, I know why it is vacant.”
His dad said, “Well OK, tell Me.?”
He replied, “Look, the grave yard behind the church is full. All their members died!”
The son was talking about the physical death, but probably there is an element of truth when it comes to spiritual death in that statement.
Illus: There is a story (Not a true story), but a story I want to use of a mountain climber, who desired to conquer a tall Mountain in Argentina.
This man initiated his climb after years of preparation. He decided he would climb this mountain all by himself for he wanted all the glory to himself. He knew better, but against all advice he went up alone.
He started climbing and soon it was getting later and later. He did not prepare for camping, but decided to keep on climbing higher and higher. Then it got dark. Night fell with a great heaviness at a very high altitude. Visibility was zero. Everything was black. There was no moon, and the stars were covered by clouds. He had no sense of direction. As he was climbing a ridge about 100 meters from the top, he slipped and fell. Falling rapidly he could only see blotches of darkness that passed. He kept falling.
In those anguishing moment’s good and bad memories passed through his mind. He thought that certainly he would die. But then he felt a jolt that almost tore him in half. Like any good mountain climber, he had safely staked himself with a long rope tied to his waist.
In those moments of stillness, suspended in the air he had no other choice but to shout, "HELP ME, GOD! HELP ME!"
All of a sudden he heard a deep voice from heaven: "What do you want me to do?" "SAVE ME!" He replied.
God answered, "Do you REALLY think that I can save you?" "Of course I do, you can do anything."
The voice said, "Then cut the rope that is holding you up." There was another moment of silence and stillness. The man just held tighter to the rope.
The next morning the rescue team said that they found a frozen mountain climber hanging strongly to a rope ... TWO FEET OFF THE GROUND. (Source of story - unknown)
If we are going to be WHAT GOD WANTS US TO BE, we have to cut the ropes and trust Him.
Trust And Obey for There is No Other Way for us Christians to live the Christian life.
I. OUR TITHES
II. OUR TALENTS
III. OUR TIME
