Trusting Series

Buck Wild

Pt. 3 - Trust

I. Introduction

I have mentioned that I loved Silver and Trigger on TV. I just loved horses in general. Here is further proof. This is me in 1971. I was 3 years old and my Granny Ely bought this rocking horse for me for Christmas. Now it would be outlawed because of all the lawsuits for kids getting their fingers caught in the springs of death and the broken bones from falling off onto the metal poles at the base!

I also mentioned that I am a huge Louis L'Amour fan. Those two horses and the horses depicted in L'Amour stories had one common trait. They were trustworthy. They would come running to the owner when the owner would whistle. They wouldn't let anyone else ride them. They were trusted to warn the owner of impending danger like snakes, cougars, or human enemies trying to sneak up on them in the middle of the night. They saved their owners on more than one occasion when the rider was going through a dessert and the horse would be "given it's head" to find water. The reins were dropped and the horse would locate unknown pools of water. The horse would take a wounded rider back to the ranch with no direction from the injured rider. These horses could be trusted. Isn't that the goal as we talk about our finances? We want to trust our money. However, the problem is that money isn't trustworthy. It's value shifts. It's buying power changes. It's availability fluctuates. That is why even though we tame and train our money we must make sure that our trust is cemented in the right place. Even a trained horse may buck or get wild at times. So, we need

to make sure that even though we do everything we can do to make money mind and matter.

(SLIDES 3&4) We must also make money marginal. Marginal means - situated at the edge or almost insufficient. In other words make sure that we recognize and keep our trust in the Master. The reason what God says about our finances and treasures works is not all about the money of we give, although He does command 10%. It isn't because money has some divine power. Instead the reason we know that what God says works is because God is worthy of trust!

We must trust God!

To keep our finances from being Buck Wild we must put and keep our trust in God!

Trust what has been tested.

Scripture is full of instances where God has proven trustworthy. But perhaps no greater place than the familiar story of Abraham! When you stop to consider that Abraham's journey up a mountain, in Genesis 22, to sacrifice his only and promised son involved more than just the loss of a loved son but the loss of a miracle son born in old age, a long awaited son, a promised son, his destiny and legacy were all wrapped up in this one son. See the trust Abraham has developed in God over the long years of waiting when Isaac asks THE QUESTION . . . dad where is the lamb for sacrifice. Abraham's response reveals trust - The Lord will provide. Not might. Not I hope. Not maybe. He will. This brings Paul to say in . . .

Romans 4:3 (NIV)

What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

Another version says it like this . . . What we read in Scripture is, “Abraham entered into what God was doing for him, and that was the turning point. He trusted God to set him right instead of trying to be right on his own.”

Abraham, a wildly wealthy man. discovered how much he owned didn't matter but trusting God did. In fact, he trusted God with his most prized possession. You know the rest of the story. This trust led to God providing a ram for sacrifice.

Abraham would testify that you can trust God with your son.

There are others who learned this lesson.

Moses would testify that you can trust God for a way of escape.

Job would testify that you can trust God with your family.

The woman with the issue of blood would testify that you can trust the Great Physician with your health.

So, Scripture is chock full of a tested and proven God.

And it is because of these examples that many of us still gather in settings like this today. We have come to the conclusion that God can be trusted with our spiritual life! Right? Don't we trust Him when it comes to our salvation? Our eternal destination? Our healing?

My question and challenge for us is this . . .