Brenda
12-18-2004, 07:30 PM
I thought maybe this would be a reasonable place to begin given all that we are faced with on what seems a daily basis. I initially thought of this one when I was reading posts about Crystal's adoption case and the torment she is being put through.
This all started out as a sermon to our church family earlier this summer (as we were searching for a new youth minister - the one who gave this sermon was visiting with us - in the end he didn't feel it was his calling to come to us). Anyway, when he preached this sermon it had hit me like a ton of bricks and so often since then I should have gone back and re-read my own notes about it. It wasn't until a couple nights ago that I remebered this and went digging for my notebook. It is my prayer that this will help someone, somewhere to grow and to lean on God in rough times.
I will sumarize the notes as best I can (and explain why it hit me so hard at the time - something maybe we all can grow from).
When things get tough, how often does our faith takes a vacation?
1) What you do reveals what you believe about God regardless of what you say.
* We believe what He says but are unwilling to do what He says. We need to practice what we preach! (Matthew 21: 28-32)
* When we agree with God but don't follow through with actions, we are playing games with God that He doesn't like. (Matthew 8:5-13)
2) What you believe about God will determine what you do and how you live.
* FEAR IS NOT OF GOD!
* God provides exactly what you need. The Spirit of God is what brings people to God. (2Timothy 1:7)
Just prior to this sermon, we had encountered two seperate moose on two seperate occasions in the middle of the road and I was absolutely paralyzed with fear (my husband was seriously injured by one a couple years ago) and up to that point I was still unable to look past it - when I encountered one on the road way. Instead of being thankful to Jesus for the life altering incident (this is what it took for my husband and I to be saved), I would scream, cry and shake like a leaf in the wind - it was horrible.
Two days later I was in church listening to a minister tell me that Fear is not of God (welcome to Satan 101). I had to somehow look at this as a learning experience and hope for growth to come as a result - it hasn't been easy, but slowly I'm learning. (A couple weeks ago while travelling to work after dark, I was reflecting on an episode shortly after my husband came home from the hospital when we almost hit another moose - the only think that stopped us from hitting it was the tractor trailer that hit it instead. So I'm driving along and I happened to notice a moose on the side of the road - instead the usual fear reaction, I was actually able to praise God for the moose and for the changes in our lives that have resulted from it - the next morning when I was coming home, I noticed it was dead on the side of the road :-( I wan't consciously thinking of the sermon, but it did have an obvious impact on me.)
3) If what you believe about God does not match your actions, it's all dead (useless).
* Faith without actions is dead! We must have faith in our daily walk. No lip service allowed. GOD DOES NOT DISAPPOINT!
When I reflect on our mortgage ordeal, I realize how much easier it would have been if I would have given it all to God so much earlier than I did (instead I waited until I was ready to have a nervous breakdown). When I did finally give it ALL to God I was so incredibly relieved... the sense of peace was absolutely amazing - I was freed from the chains and shackles of worry (not something God intended for me, but one of Satan's games).
Points to reflect upon: (Hebrews 11)
* Do we have enough faith in God to give Him complete control of our entire lives?
* Does your faith in God give you the ability to do great things?
* What do your actions really tell about your faith?
DO NOT BE ASHAMED OF THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST!
If you're holding something back from God and are being eaten up by the stress of it (courtesy of Satan), God is waiting for you to hand it all over to Him to handle it. He has all the fine details worked out and His shoulders are far broader than ours will ever be. He ready to take the burden off our shoulders but we have to be willing to give it to Him first. He won't take it from us before we give it to Him - kind of like salvation - it's ours IF we choose to accept it, the same that He will take your burdens away if you choose to give it all to Him.
Brenda
Heavenly Father, thank you for being a God who loves us unconditionally, a God who can handle all things, a God who does not disappoint. Lord we come to you with heavy hearts and burdens that, in our human strength, we can not handle on our own. Lord we give to you these issues for you to work out for us. In all that we face we just ask that You would help us to learn from them and to walk closer to You and to protect us all from Satan and all of his tactics to bring us down. Lord some of these issues are the hardest things we've ever faced in our lives and so they're not easy to give up, but we ask that You would give us the strength to be able to do so. In your name alone we pray, AMEN.
This all started out as a sermon to our church family earlier this summer (as we were searching for a new youth minister - the one who gave this sermon was visiting with us - in the end he didn't feel it was his calling to come to us). Anyway, when he preached this sermon it had hit me like a ton of bricks and so often since then I should have gone back and re-read my own notes about it. It wasn't until a couple nights ago that I remebered this and went digging for my notebook. It is my prayer that this will help someone, somewhere to grow and to lean on God in rough times.
I will sumarize the notes as best I can (and explain why it hit me so hard at the time - something maybe we all can grow from).
When things get tough, how often does our faith takes a vacation?
1) What you do reveals what you believe about God regardless of what you say.
* We believe what He says but are unwilling to do what He says. We need to practice what we preach! (Matthew 21: 28-32)
* When we agree with God but don't follow through with actions, we are playing games with God that He doesn't like. (Matthew 8:5-13)
2) What you believe about God will determine what you do and how you live.
* FEAR IS NOT OF GOD!
* God provides exactly what you need. The Spirit of God is what brings people to God. (2Timothy 1:7)
Just prior to this sermon, we had encountered two seperate moose on two seperate occasions in the middle of the road and I was absolutely paralyzed with fear (my husband was seriously injured by one a couple years ago) and up to that point I was still unable to look past it - when I encountered one on the road way. Instead of being thankful to Jesus for the life altering incident (this is what it took for my husband and I to be saved), I would scream, cry and shake like a leaf in the wind - it was horrible.
Two days later I was in church listening to a minister tell me that Fear is not of God (welcome to Satan 101). I had to somehow look at this as a learning experience and hope for growth to come as a result - it hasn't been easy, but slowly I'm learning. (A couple weeks ago while travelling to work after dark, I was reflecting on an episode shortly after my husband came home from the hospital when we almost hit another moose - the only think that stopped us from hitting it was the tractor trailer that hit it instead. So I'm driving along and I happened to notice a moose on the side of the road - instead the usual fear reaction, I was actually able to praise God for the moose and for the changes in our lives that have resulted from it - the next morning when I was coming home, I noticed it was dead on the side of the road :-( I wan't consciously thinking of the sermon, but it did have an obvious impact on me.)
3) If what you believe about God does not match your actions, it's all dead (useless).
* Faith without actions is dead! We must have faith in our daily walk. No lip service allowed. GOD DOES NOT DISAPPOINT!
When I reflect on our mortgage ordeal, I realize how much easier it would have been if I would have given it all to God so much earlier than I did (instead I waited until I was ready to have a nervous breakdown). When I did finally give it ALL to God I was so incredibly relieved... the sense of peace was absolutely amazing - I was freed from the chains and shackles of worry (not something God intended for me, but one of Satan's games).
Points to reflect upon: (Hebrews 11)
* Do we have enough faith in God to give Him complete control of our entire lives?
* Does your faith in God give you the ability to do great things?
* What do your actions really tell about your faith?
DO NOT BE ASHAMED OF THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST!
If you're holding something back from God and are being eaten up by the stress of it (courtesy of Satan), God is waiting for you to hand it all over to Him to handle it. He has all the fine details worked out and His shoulders are far broader than ours will ever be. He ready to take the burden off our shoulders but we have to be willing to give it to Him first. He won't take it from us before we give it to Him - kind of like salvation - it's ours IF we choose to accept it, the same that He will take your burdens away if you choose to give it all to Him.
Brenda
Heavenly Father, thank you for being a God who loves us unconditionally, a God who can handle all things, a God who does not disappoint. Lord we come to you with heavy hearts and burdens that, in our human strength, we can not handle on our own. Lord we give to you these issues for you to work out for us. In all that we face we just ask that You would help us to learn from them and to walk closer to You and to protect us all from Satan and all of his tactics to bring us down. Lord some of these issues are the hardest things we've ever faced in our lives and so they're not easy to give up, but we ask that You would give us the strength to be able to do so. In your name alone we pray, AMEN.