We Can Count On God

We can count on God Luke 18:1-11

1. One thing we can count on is anything can happen The Unexpected is one thing we can count on

• Healthy today tomorrow can be a serious or deadly disease

• Accidents happen they are random and in a matter of seconds life is altered for the rest of your life

• Automobile accidents change life forever and some life's are taken away

• You cannot count on Justice by the world

• Consider the parable The Judge in this case you certainly could not count on for justice

• The widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, `Grant me justice against my adversary.'

• 4"For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, `Even though I don't fear God or care about men, 5yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won't eventually wear me out with her coming!' The unjust Judge did not want to give out justice but because of the widows persistence he gave justice "

• One thing is for sure we can’t count on the world, but we can sure count on God. 7And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? 8I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly

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2. Although things happen God is one we can Count on to be Present

• Jacob struggled all night in a vision yet when he woke he said, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and was not aware of it."

• God’s Presence is where?

7Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? 8If I go up to

the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths,A you are there. 9If I rise on

the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, 10even there your hand will

guide me,your right hand will hold me fast.

• Jeremiah claims God's presence does not just fill heaven but earth

23:23"Am I only a God nearby," declares the LORD, "and not a God far away? 24Can

anyone hide in secret places so that I cannot see him?" Do not I fill heaven and earth?"

• Luke declares in Acts, God's Presence is Near . Acts 17:27God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him 'and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 28`For in him we live and move and have our being.

3. WE can Count on God to be Present but we can also count on God to Hear Us.

• WE can count on God to Hear our Prayers

• Certainly God hears our prayers Luke 11:9"So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 10For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks,

the door will be opened.

• We can count on God to hear our prayers during times of Crisis. Moses writes Exodus 6:5Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are enslaving, and I have remembered my covenant. .

• WE can count on God to hear our prayers because He will never forsake His children Psalmist declares 9:10Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you.

4. We can Count on God when we are Hurting . Psalm 9:12For he who avenges blood remembers; he does not ignore the cry of the afflicted. Psalm 9:18But the needy will not always

be forgotten, nor the hope of the afflicted ever perish

• Consider David’s Hurt how he explains it I am in distress, my eyes are weak with sorrow, My life is consumed with grief terror is on every side, when I walk on the streets neighbors and friends flee from me, I am forgotten as though I am dead Yet He could count on God to deliver and forgive him. Psalm 31

5. You can count on for help in the midst of storms

• Psalmist claims 22Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall.

• Isaiah says, "God, is the one who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you.

• .Paul said, 19And my God will supply(HELP) all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.

6. You can count on God to be holistic God is not a part but a whole for . . you