Sunday Sermon

* Sermon Prep & Delivery Note:  After reading Andy Stanley’s book “Communicating For a Change” I am attempting to put into practice his method of sermon preparation and delivery of a “one point” (principle) message.  I have for years practiced 3-4 points with subpoints … no poems however.  I found this experience very refreshing and challenging to dig out a central or main point to emphasis. 

In God We Trust
Jeremiah 17:7

I remember my Uncle Ray giving me a Kennedy half-dollar.  He tossed it to me in a flipping motion.  As a kid I liked to flip that coin in the air and catch it.  My friends and I made up a game called “Trust or Not”.  In matters of silliness we’d ask or tell each other things and then flip a coin to see whether or not we “trusted” what our friends was telling us. A silly notion for building trust!

There have been times throughout my life where my “trust” factor has flip-flopped like a coin flipping in the air.  I remember a time while in seminary, when Val was pregnant with Daniel and I made the decision to step out of school for a year and work full time to pay off some medical bills.  I felt like I had abandoned God’s call on my life.  On a particular evening while working (custodian at Shady Oaks Baptist Church) I prayed in the darkness of a hallway, “God I don’t know what do.  What do you want me to do?”  I remember hearing the voice of God so clear, “When are you going to trust Me?”  That night I didn’t know how but I knew God was going to put me back in school. The next day our education minister asked me, “Do you want to go back to school?  Go register for the summer session.  I can’t tell you who, but I can tell you it’s been paid for.”  When I registered the registrar office handed me a piece of paper was marked “PAID” … and for the next year and half as I registered for classes the registrar’s office handed me a slip of paper marked “PAID.”  And on each occasion I was reminded that I simply needed to trust in God.

I wish I could say that since that time my “trust” factor has never faltered but I confess that sometimes it’s like a coin toss waiting to see which side my trusting God will land on … “TRUST OR NOT” … “TRUST OR NOT”. 

How about you?  Is your trust level with God solid or more like a coin toss?  In the times that test you, is your reaction to trust yourself (resources, thinking, abilities) more than to trust God?  I think we have all been there … “TRUST OR NOT … TRUST OR NOT.”  Maybe you’ve asked yourself, “What difference does it make or what good is it to trust God?”  There are times aren’t there when you say to yourself, “Why should I trust God, look how bad things are and if God really …” And yet each of us have a “I TRUSTED” story of how God worked in our lives.  Trusting In God is to be the “norm” for us, not some coin toss.

But we should know that we are not the first to struggle with “trusting” God.  In the OT (not Over-Time, but Old Testament) Jeremiah and company (Israel) were in state of tossing a coin as to who they should trust.  The bad boys of Babylon were making noise up North and Israel (Judah, Southern Kingdom) was looking for a little help.  They had tossed the coin and decided to put their trust in a foreign alliance with Egypt to protect them against “BBB”.

Jeremiah exercising his “freedom of speech” reminds and warns the people … In God we trust.

Jeremiah 17:5-8 (ESV) Thus says the Lord: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the Lord. 6 He is like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see any good come. He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land. 7 “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. 8 He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.” 

• Cursing & Blessing … nothing new
• Deuteronomy 28 … obey and be blessed … disobey (dis-trust) “cursed IN & OUT” of home.
• Galatians 5 … Law of the Harvest “Sow & Reap” … sow flesh reap corruption/destruction … sow the Spirit reap life

Every day and in every situation and circumstance we have a choice to make … “TRUST OR NOT.”

TRUST = this Hebrew word is rooted in “refuge” … tower of strength, rock of solid footing, hiding place of security and rest … and in HIM I put my total confidence, and therefore I can be sure and secure no matter what happens.

It’s in the arena of life, every day living, that God gives us opportunity to trust Him.

“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord.

Jeremiah puts trust in perspective … “who trusts IN the Lord” … TRUST GOD NOW … in whatever is happening in your life right now.  But don’t make your trusting God some “genie in a lamp” item, because … “whose trust IS the Lord.” … TRUST GOD ALWAYS.

“TRUST GOD NOW & TRUST GOD ALWAYS”  (This is the ONE point -  Don’t Miss It!)

What if I don’t?  What if I decide to trust myself … my own intuition, information, gut feeling, strength? 

Consider … “Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool …” (Prov 28:26)  and “Whoever trusts in his riches will fall …” (Prov 11:28) 

• Such a person turns away and moves away from God.
• Such a person’s life become “shrub-like” of only existing … deserted, dry and filled with disillusion.

Have we ever stopped to think that maybe the reason life seems so difficult, so hard, so frustrating is because we are not “TRUSTING GOD NOW & TRUSTING GOD ALWAYS”?

“He that puts a confidence in man puts a cheat upon himself.” (Matthew Henry) 

Are you cheating yourself out of the blessings of God?

What if I do trust?  Will all my problems go away?

Trust is not based upon the disappearing of our problems, but upon the person and power of our God.

The greater blessing of “TRUST GOD NOW & TRUST GOD ALWAYS” is not in external comforts, but internal securities of the mind (what holds our attention) and the heart (what holds our affections/hope).

The person who trusts God sees a “tree-like” existence planted by the streams of living water … that well up in us and spill out at all times. 

• Such a person does not fear when the heat of the situation is on. (1 Tim 1:7)
• Such a person does not become anxious when life becomes dry. (Phil 4:6-7)
• Such a person does live a fruitful existence. (John 15:5)

 “TRUST GOD NOW & TRUST GOD ALWAYS”

How many of you have a coin on your pocket or purse? The common factor of each of these coins is the phrase “In God We Trust.”  May that be the common factor in our lives as the people of God.

Did you know that in 1956 Congress made “In God We Trust” the United States motto.  It has been used on the one cent coin in 1909 (1916 ten cent).  In 1907 President Theodore Roosevelt wrote a letter disapproving of the motto to be placed on U.S. coins.

“My own feeling in the matter is due to my very firm conviction that to put such a motto on coins, or to use it in any kindred manner, not only does no good but does positive harm, and is in effect irreverence, which comes dangerously close to sacrilege … it seems to me eminently unwise to cheapen such a motto by use on coins …”

It seems that our 26^th President was afraid “In God We Trust” would become something we say rather than do.  I’m afraid he might be right. 

Most, if not all of us this morning would like for “America” to be a nation that “Trusts in God”.

How does a nation trust God?  May I suggest one person at a time.

This week when you use a coin see it as a reminder to try and “TRUST GOD NOW” in some issue or circumstance of your life.  As you come to trust, move on to the next issue of “TRUSTING GOD ALWAYS.”

Seek the trust of God through reading His Word and through prayer.  Don’t fall back on trusting yourself.

Proverbs 3:5-6 (ESV) Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

This scripture is saying, “TRUST GOD NOW & TRUST GOD ALWAYS” … in “all your ways”.  When you go to bed tonight, TRUST GOD … when you get up in the morning, TRUST GOD, when the expected comes on you, TRUST GOD, and when the unexpected grabs you, TRUST GOD.

Can you imagine what we might look like if we all would make a concerted effort to be a people that say and live “IN GOD WE TRUST”?

Imagine! 

• Imagine what our walk with God would look like.
• Imagine what our families would look like.
• Imagine what our neighbors and friend would see in us.
• Imagine what would happen in our church family.
• Imagine what our town would begin to think and do.

Now … imagine what our nation would be and look like … if you and I were to begin to

“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord.

Amen!