VERY BELATEDLY - HERE IS 10-31-04 SERMON
SCRIPTURES:
Sermon Scriptures: O.T. Reading - Proverbs 3:1-12
N.T. Reading - Romans 8: 28, 31-39
Mentioned in Sermon: On trusting God - Proverbs 3:5-6
On Israel, Jews - Genesis 12:3
On Committing to God - Psalms 37:5
Sermon (Synopsis)
Title: Can We Trust God?
Do you just have to understand why? I do too. When I was in bed after knee surgery and couldn't supervise the construction job for our homeless shelter, this verse "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your understanding" helped. I still could not understand why, but the verse helped. God wants us to try to understand things. But to trust him when we can't. And to obey Him, even when we don't understand why.
Can God be trusted? What a question, come to think of it! If not God, then who? And if we can trust him with the most important thing of all - our eternal souls - then what is there that we can't trust him with? Trusting God is better for us than any other option.
There are three areas where we really need to trust God.
One is in the most private areas of our lives. The first of those is money. We imagine that we are smarter than God about our finances, and that if we handle our money the way he wants, we will go broke. Specifically, that if we tithe (give 10% of our income to God) there won't be enough for our other needs. Yet God promises us that if we tithe, he will "open the windows of heaven and pour out such a blessing that there will be no room to receive it." Yet how many of us trust him enough to tithe? If not, do we really trust him?
The second private area is the general one of love, sex and marriage. Here again, we think we know better than God what we need for the best possible life. In fact, this area is where many people part company with a God who seems determined that no one will ever have any fun. Yet it is God who created sex - and love - and marriage. Who knows better how to guide us so that they work out best for us? Trusting God is hard here too. But do we think we know better than he does?
The second area we need to trust God is in our public and ideological lives. In two days, we have a national election. I am not going to talk about any particular candidates or parties. But I am going to talk about some of the issues involved, from God's point of view. These issues are taken from a letter from Pastor Rick Warren to members of Saddleback Church (reproduction posted below.)
These issues are important now because whoever is elected president is likely to nominate up to 4 justices to the Supreme Court. A president serves for 4 years. But these justices serve for life. This president will shape the Supreme Court for the next 40 years. And the issues they decide are very important to God. They concern abortion, stem cell research based on killing living human embryos, homosexual marriage, human cloning and euthanasia ("mercy" killing.) God's law is clear on all these matters. We should decide about them according to God's law. Or don't we trust God to be right about them?
The final issue we should trust God with is the future. We are in a war that is expected to last for decades, defending ourselves against those who want to conquer the world by force for the Muslim faith, and establish the harsh and primitive Shari'a law over us all, instead of democracy.
Europe is in so much trouble (see articles posted below) that it could not help us much if it wanted. Europe may be dying. Because of even more abortions than in the U.S., its population growth is so small that it will not be able to support its pension systems. The economy is in long-term trouble. It is mostly atheist, with less than 5% attending church. The muslim population has grown so much that there are more mosques than churches. Many books speculate whether it will take 50 years for europe to become muslim, or only 20. Except for the UK and "new" europe, there is almost no military. It cannot defend itself, much less our interests.
Then there is Israel. It is still "the hinge of history," and what especially unhinges muslims. Europe and the UN consistently side with the muslim countries, 1.3 billion strong, against Israel. Only the U.S. is a reliable friend to Israel. If we abandoned Israel, the Islamicists might leave us alone - for awhile.
But what does God say about Israel and the Jews? In Genesis 12:3, God tells Abraham, father of the Jews, "I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you." Look out! God is telling the rest of us. Treat my people well. The fact that the U.S. is the most protected, richest, most stable, free, democratic and powerful nation in all history may be God's blessing to us, in part because we are blessing Israel and the Jews. We dare not abandon them to their enemies.
So - can God be trusted? If not, we are in big trouble! It is not a case, as with the USSR, of "trust, but verify!" No, it is "trust, and obey." In our private lives. In our public and ideological lives. In our future, especially in relation to the Jews and to Israel. And when we trust and obey, then he blesses us. It is like the old song says,
"Trust and obey,
"for there's no other way
"to be happy in Jesus,
"but to trust and obey."
Amen.
Sermon Scriptures: O.T. Reading - Proverbs 3:1-12
N.T. Reading - Romans 8: 28, 31-39
Mentioned in Sermon: On trusting God - Proverbs 3:5-6
On Israel, Jews - Genesis 12:3
On Committing to God - Psalms 37:5
Sermon (Synopsis)
Title: Can We Trust God?
Do you just have to understand why? I do too. When I was in bed after knee surgery and couldn't supervise the construction job for our homeless shelter, this verse "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your understanding" helped. I still could not understand why, but the verse helped. God wants us to try to understand things. But to trust him when we can't. And to obey Him, even when we don't understand why.
Can God be trusted? What a question, come to think of it! If not God, then who? And if we can trust him with the most important thing of all - our eternal souls - then what is there that we can't trust him with? Trusting God is better for us than any other option.
There are three areas where we really need to trust God.
One is in the most private areas of our lives. The first of those is money. We imagine that we are smarter than God about our finances, and that if we handle our money the way he wants, we will go broke. Specifically, that if we tithe (give 10% of our income to God) there won't be enough for our other needs. Yet God promises us that if we tithe, he will "open the windows of heaven and pour out such a blessing that there will be no room to receive it." Yet how many of us trust him enough to tithe? If not, do we really trust him?
The second private area is the general one of love, sex and marriage. Here again, we think we know better than God what we need for the best possible life. In fact, this area is where many people part company with a God who seems determined that no one will ever have any fun. Yet it is God who created sex - and love - and marriage. Who knows better how to guide us so that they work out best for us? Trusting God is hard here too. But do we think we know better than he does?
The second area we need to trust God is in our public and ideological lives. In two days, we have a national election. I am not going to talk about any particular candidates or parties. But I am going to talk about some of the issues involved, from God's point of view. These issues are taken from a letter from Pastor Rick Warren to members of Saddleback Church (reproduction posted below.)
These issues are important now because whoever is elected president is likely to nominate up to 4 justices to the Supreme Court. A president serves for 4 years. But these justices serve for life. This president will shape the Supreme Court for the next 40 years. And the issues they decide are very important to God. They concern abortion, stem cell research based on killing living human embryos, homosexual marriage, human cloning and euthanasia ("mercy" killing.) God's law is clear on all these matters. We should decide about them according to God's law. Or don't we trust God to be right about them?
The final issue we should trust God with is the future. We are in a war that is expected to last for decades, defending ourselves against those who want to conquer the world by force for the Muslim faith, and establish the harsh and primitive Shari'a law over us all, instead of democracy.
Europe is in so much trouble (see articles posted below) that it could not help us much if it wanted. Europe may be dying. Because of even more abortions than in the U.S., its population growth is so small that it will not be able to support its pension systems. The economy is in long-term trouble. It is mostly atheist, with less than 5% attending church. The muslim population has grown so much that there are more mosques than churches. Many books speculate whether it will take 50 years for europe to become muslim, or only 20. Except for the UK and "new" europe, there is almost no military. It cannot defend itself, much less our interests.
Then there is Israel. It is still "the hinge of history," and what especially unhinges muslims. Europe and the UN consistently side with the muslim countries, 1.3 billion strong, against Israel. Only the U.S. is a reliable friend to Israel. If we abandoned Israel, the Islamicists might leave us alone - for awhile.
But what does God say about Israel and the Jews? In Genesis 12:3, God tells Abraham, father of the Jews, "I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you." Look out! God is telling the rest of us. Treat my people well. The fact that the U.S. is the most protected, richest, most stable, free, democratic and powerful nation in all history may be God's blessing to us, in part because we are blessing Israel and the Jews. We dare not abandon them to their enemies.
So - can God be trusted? If not, we are in big trouble! It is not a case, as with the USSR, of "trust, but verify!" No, it is "trust, and obey." In our private lives. In our public and ideological lives. In our future, especially in relation to the Jews and to Israel. And when we trust and obey, then he blesses us. It is like the old song says,
"Trust and obey,
"for there's no other way
"to be happy in Jesus,
"but to trust and obey."
Amen.
posted by Old Neocon at 1:56 PM
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