Sermon Subject: TRUSTING IN THE LORD --- PART #02:
Scripture Reference: Proverbs 3:1-8
Emphasis on V 5-6
"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, lean not unto thine own undersstanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths."
Introduction.
Last Sunday morning I used these same verses as our text and I would like to use them again this morning as we continue to look upon this thought: TRUSTING IN GOD.
Except for the Lord Jesus Christ, these words came from the wisest man that ever lived. Solomon had received his wisdom directly from God. Look at the words of wisdom this man gives us. "TRUST IN THE LORD WITH ALL OF THINE HEART." Not only are we to TRUST IN GOD WHOLEHEARTEDLY --- we are to SERVE GOD WHOLEHEARTERDLY. It’s awfully hard to TRUST GOD WHOLEHEARTEDLY unless we first are SERVING GOD WHOLEHEARTEDLY. "WHOLEHEARTEDLY" Whatever we decide to do in life --- the only way we get enjoyment from it, is when we put our ALL into it. If we go about it half heartedly --- we fail to receive what could be given if we’d first just put our all -- put ourselves into it. Who would want a half hearted player on their team. Everyone else is puting their all into the game while this one player is just standing there watching the ball go by without making any effort to field it. If by some slim chance this team does win, what kind of victory could the half hearted player enjoy. He did nothing to contribute to the victory.
I remember back to a time when I was a young boy. My father asked me ( no -- come to think of it --he TOLD ME --- there’s a big difference) told me to milk the cow when I got home from school that afternoon. He had something he had to do after he got off from work and he won’t have the time to milk the cow so it fell my lot to it. But when I came home from school I had other things I wanted to do so I only half way milked the cow. I carried the milk pail to the barn and I set it under the cow and I squeezed for a little while but it was taking longer than I wanted to give it. I wanted to do very little and receive a whole lot but it didn’t much matter what I wanted. Unless I was willing to put some time and some effort into milking this cow I wasn’t going to get much of a return. The longer I sat there milking the cow, one sqirt after another, I thought "This bucket will never fill up." And so I milked about a half of a bucket of milk and called it quits. I told my father that for some reason the old cow wasn’t giving the amount of milk she gave the day before. Well, he didn’t believe the story at all. He knew something was wrong but it wasn’t with the cow. So he sent me back to the barn with these instructions, "Now this time put your heart into it and you’ll get a whole lot more out of it." Well, I don’t know if I put my heart into it, but he was right, there was more in the cow than what I was satisfied in receiving the first time. I Received from the cow exactly what effort I had put into it.
I don’t understand WHY anyone would want to just "PLAY CHURCH" or just DABBLE ABOUT WITH LIVING FOR GOD. What reward is there in that? God is the rewarder and He knows exactly what we put into our walk with Him. He is a REWARDER of those that DILIGENTLY SEEK HIM. What if God were to do us that way? What if we approach God in prayer and we desperately need His help, something urgent in our life demands His help and He just casually looks at us and says,"Sorry, I’ve got some things I want to do today. I don’t have time for you." Why we want God to put His WHOLE HEART into Loving us, Caring for us, Providing for us. When we call we want Him to be there sitting by the phone.
TRUST in the Lord with ALL YOUR HEART.
James 5: 16 "The effectual fervent prayers of a righteous man, availeth much."
WHAT YOU PUT INTO IT -- IS EXACTLY WHAT YOU GET OUT OF IT! Recall the account of Jesus taking Peter, James, and John up the mountain with Him and in that mountain He was transfigured before them. They for the first time, beheld His GLORY. And they beheld Moses and Elijah. Then the four of them came down the mountain.
Now while they were descending from the mountain a very important event was happening down below. A father had brought his sick and torment son unto the disciples of Jesus for him to be healed. They prayed and prayed but NOTHING HAPPENED. Oh how many times we have been there! And we excuse the absence of divine healing by saying,"Just keep on praying and trusting in the Lord and it will happen one day." Or we say something like, "In God’s timing he will be healed." Or else we stand there so ashamed we don’t know what to say. Jesus and the 3 disciples arrive and notice the crowd of people and Jesus asks,"What’s all the commotion about?" And before any of the disciples have time to answer, the father rushes before Jesus and explains, "I brought my sick son to thy disciples, for them to pray his healing, and they could not!" Jesus looked at the desperate father, at the tormented son, at the embarassed disciples and He says, "Bring him to Me." Jesus laid hands upon him and He commanded the demonic spirit to come out of him and immediately he was made whole. Imagine the rejoicing of the father as he went away with a brand new son. How thankful he was that Jesus came upon the scence before he left.
Now imagine how this father would tell others of how his son was healed. Would he not say something like this to his friends and neighbors, "Don’t take your needs to His disciples because they are powerless. Be sure when you go Jesus is there!
After the son was healed His disciples very quietly asked of Him, "Why could we not cast out the demon within that young boy?" Jesus’ answer revealed something very important. He replied, "This kind of healing only comes about through prayer and fasting." Now imagine these men as they bowed their head in more shame and disgrace. They now realized two important things. #1: The urgent need of prayer and fasting as it strengthens us to overpower the devil and #02: Jesus is aware of how much we pray and how much we fast. The point is true: "WHAT WE PUT IN TO IT IS EXACTLY WHAT WE GET OUT OF IT." The disciples thought because they were associated with Jesus that was enough to make them overcomers. BUT THEY WERE WRONG. WHAT WE PUT INTO IT IS EXACTLY WHAT WE GET OUT OF IT. Are we satisfied with what we are receiving? Let’s stop blaming others, Let’s stop blaming the church we are attending and let’s place the blame where it belongs. It’s time for us as individuals to put more into our serving Christ Jesus.
I have noticed many people who only played church and only dabbled around with serving God and everyone of them were spiritually miserable and lacked the joy of the Lord. But I have never witnessed someone that loved the Lord with all their heart and served Him wholeheartedly be unhappy or without the JOY of the LORD. The more we put into it, the more we get out of it.
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A pastor friend of mine came to pastor a local church that I had pastored a few years before. During his pastorate there his wife became deathly sick with cancer. She went through all of her chemotherapy treatments but still the doctors called in her husband two daughters and tried to prepare them for the worst. They had done all they could do.
But this precious wife decided she did not want to die. Now you may say, "Wait a minute, it’s not about what we want, it’s what God wants." But there are times when I disagree. Hezekiah in the Old Testament was sent word by God that he was going to die and for him to "Set his house in order," but he turned his face to the wall and sought God for extra years. God heard his prayer and gave him fifteen extra years. This pastor’s wife refused to take the doctor’s word. She said, "HE’S NOT MY GOD! HE’S NOT THE ONE I SERVE and LOVE! HIS WORD IS NOT FINAL!" Her family called upon everyone that would to pray for her healing. Her husband fasted day after day and went to work in the strength of the LORD. Her two girls wrote healing verses and healing promises and taped them all over her bedroom walls, the promises of God surrounding her all day long. They asked all that came to visit, or that called her, to never speak one word of doubt or unbelief. Nothing to dampen her faith.
Well, the rest of the story. That was over 20 years ago. Today her husband is my mother in law’s pastor and his wife is alive and well. She brought my wife’s mother to see us a few weeks ago and she is doing fine. For 20 years now she has been healed and today there is no trace of cancer. She TRUSTED in the LORD with all of her heart.
Song: It is no secret what God can do
What He’s done for others, He’ll do for you
With arms wide open. He’ll pardon you
It is no secret what God can do.
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I like the words of Moses as he stood beside the banks of the Red Sea. The Egyptian armies behind him and the Red Sea in front of him. What do you do? Moses encourages the Israelites, "Stand still and see the SALVATION of the LORD which He WILL Show You Today." And he placed his ROD OF TRUST into the waters and instantly they rolled back; allowing Gods’ people to cross over without even getting their sandals muddy, on dry land. Then, after their crossing, Moses just gave the rod a turn in the other direction and the waters came back into place, drowing those that pursued. Isn’t God awesome.
Another instruction of Solomon was this: "Lean not unto you own understanding, But acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy path."
We don’t like it when things get out of our hands. But the truth is, ofton times the reason things have gotten into such a mess is because we have been in control. we don’t know as much as we think we do some times, do we? Then, we’re told to TRUST and to LEAN upon GOD’S WAYS. Now who among us can begin to understand God’s ways. God’s ways are much higher than ours. The folish things God does will confound the wisest of men.
We don’t have to UNDERSTAND GOD’S WAYS --- WE JUST HAVE TO LEAN ON THEM --- PLACE OUT TRUST IN THEM. BELIEVING THAT GOD ALWAYS KNOWS WHAT HE IS DOING AND THAT HE IS ALWAYS AT WORK, WORKING ALL THINGS TOGETHER FOR OUR GOOD.
PROVERBS 14:12 "There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death."
Put that into simple language each one of us can understand. WE MESS THINGS THINGS UP --- LET GOD HAVE IT IF YOU WANT IT HEALED AND MADE WHOLE."
