Trust And Obey(1 Of 2)

When the boy had told him, Dr. Graham thanked him and said, "If you'll come to the Church meeting this evening, you can hear me telling everyone how to get to Heaven."

The boy said to Dr. Graham, I do not think I'll be there. If you do not know the way to the post office, how are going to tell me how to get to heaven?"

For a preacher to be effective, they have to know what they are talking about. When it comes to TRUSTING THE LORD, there are very few who seem to know what they are talking about. We hear a lot about trust these days.

When a foreigner comes to America, it would be easy for them to believe we are a nation that is trusting in God.

Illus: On our coins we have the phrase, “In God We Trust.” If they attend our church services, they can hear us sing that familiar song, “Trust and obey, for there’s no other way.”

Even though we preach, teach, and sing about trust, and even though the song says there is no other way than to trust the Lord, we seem to be convinced there are other ways of dealing with our problems. Very few today are trusting the Lord.

In fact, it seems people will do anything except TRUST THE LORD with their problems!

Illus: They make us think of the tourist that came too close to the edge of the Grand Canyon, lost his footing and plunged over the side. He was fortunate enough to grab hold of a bush on the way down. Filled with terror, he called out toward heaven, "Is there anyone up there?" A calm, powerful voice came out of the sky, "Yes, there is." The tourist pleaded, "Can you help me? Can you help me?" The calm voice replied, "Yes, I most certainly can.” “Good, what should I do?” the tourist said. The voice said, “Let go of the bush and I will catch you!” There was a tense pause, then the tourist yelled, "Is there anyone else up there?"

It seems like the last thing we want to do is TRUST THE LORD! We will turn to anyone with our problems and trust them before we trust the Lord.

For example, God has promised to bless those who tithe and give offerings unto the Lord. Look at Malachi 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.” God has promised to supply our needs if we obey Him and bring His tithes and our offerings to the house of the Lord.

But many feel they can not trust the Lord, they have to trust in themselves.

Illus: For example, a church member was having trouble with the concept of tithing. One day he revealed his doubts to his minister: "Pastor, I just don’t see how I can give 10 percent of my income to the church when I can’t even keep on top of our bills." The pastor replied, "John, if I promise to make up the difference in your bills if you should fall short, do you think you could try tithing for just one month?" After a moment’s pause, John responded, "Sure, if you promise to make up any shortage, I guess I could try tithing for one month." "Now, what do you think of that," mused the pastor. "You say you’d be willing to put your trust in a mere man like myself’ who possesses so little materially, but you couldn’t trust your Heavenly Father who owns the whole universe!" The next Sunday, John gave his tithe, and has been doing so faithfully ever since.

I want to remind you that our churches are filled with people who talk, sing, teach and preach about faith, but they never trust the Lord. NEVER! NEVER! NEVER! The only time they trust the Lord is when they are forced to trust the Lord!

Illus: When some people go to the doctor and the doctor tells them he can do no more, guess who suddenly believes in divine healing.

But we are not the only ones who do not trust the Lord, the Bible is filled with men and women who tried to work out their difficulties in life by trusting in OTHERS or in THEMSELVES!

For example, God specifically gave King Saul the command to utterly destroy the Amalekites. God practically gave the Amalekites to Saul on a silver platter. All he had to do was TRUST AND OBEY!