What Is Your God Story? Series

There’s a powerful song by “The Old Paths Quartet” Called “Who Better Than Me” (Play from 0.01 thru 0.59 mark of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQEeUbB6H_A)

I really like that song because (like Psalm 18) that song declares “You’ve heard sermons telling what the Lord can do. Read the stories of the lives the Lord made new. And if you’re wondering, wondering if it’s true. If you need someone to tell you what His precious blood can do. Who better than a wayward, wandering, weary sinner who’s tasted saving grace. A man who’s come up out of the river with a past that’s been washed away. If you’re thinking that you need first-hand proof from a soul that’s been set free WHO BETTER THAN ME?”

IT’S A GOD-STORY KIND OF SONG.

Psalm 18 was David’s way of declaring HIS God-story. David was singing praise to his God for the mighty things that God had done in his life. And he was telling all who would listen to his song: Let Me Tell You WHAT My God has done in my life. Let me tell you… my “God-Story”

ILLUS: Joe Freeman used to go here some time back, and he told us his God-Story. Joe was a black man who’d been living on the streets of Chicago for a long time. And he would move from soup kitchen to soup kitchen, and from homeless shelter to homeless shelter. And in good weather life was… ok. But when bad weather set-in he’d find himself sloshing thru the snow, or dodging mud puddles as he walked to the next shelter/kitchen. On one particularly bad day he showed up at a soup kitchen and he decided he was tired of his life on the streets. He bowed his head and prayed to God “Oh God, just get me off these streets. Take me someplace where I can have a chance to live a normal life.”

And no sooner had Joe finished his prayer then he heard a couple men talking behind him. They were in Chicago to find men who desperately needed work and take them to Logansport and work for Tyson. They were going to pay for their room and board and make sure they were paid well, and hopefully these men would become solid workers for Tyson. Joe made his way back to their table and asked about their program, and they explained that he wasn’t eligible, because this program was only for ex-felons who wanted a new start in life. But Joe kept after them, begging for a chance to change his life. And finally… they told him to come back the next day and they’d see what they could do. So he came back and they sent him to Logansport. Not long afterward, he was baptized into Christ and joined church here. THAT WAS JOE’S GOD-STORY

Joe did his part… he prayed. and then God did his part and became the mover and shaker in Joe’s world.

The thing about God-stories is that they are often the result of a person who has run out of options and turn to God for help. And then God does something dramatic in their lives, and these folks begin to tell others what God had done for them - and God gets the praise.

ILLUS: When I was a boy, my dad would tell me his DAD-STORIES. He’d been a fairly good baseball and basketball player, and he was almost drafted by Purdue to play for them. Dad would tell his stories, and he was always the hero in those stories. Dad got the praise, and that never bothered me because dad was my hero and I wanted to grow up to become like him. Dad was reliving his past thru his stories and there’s a lot of people do that… nothing wrong with it. Those were his DAD-STORIES.

But it’s better to have GOD-STORIES because when you tell a God-Story, God receives the praise. God is described as the hero that other people may want to find in their lives. That’s why Joe told his story about leaving Chicago. It wasn’t about Joe’s own skill or cunning… it was about his God’s faithfulness. It wasn’t a story to glorify Joe - it was a story to glorify God.

And that what David was doing in Psalm 18. If you were here last week, you heard about Psalm 142. And in that Psalm David told of being in a dark place where nobody cared for him. He’d lost everything and became a fugitive. He’d been a man of importance, but life fell apart. David had run out of options and God was all he had, and in Ps 142 David cried out to God for help. For 13 years (or so) David had been on the run from King Saul, but NOW Saul was dead, and David became king of Judah. And God had protected David all that time. And now David returned the favor by praising his God. So he told his GOD-STORY.