Do the situations of your life ever get so frustrating or overwhelming that you wonder if continuing to live is even worth the effort? Does it ever feel like the God you have heard about did all His good work in the past? Stories of Him rescuing people; fighting in miraculous ways to provide victory; bringing plagues to show His power and authority over all creation and that there is no comparison between Him and the gods of the nations all around—where are these things now? The God who sent the death angel to set His people free; who parted the Red Sea and drowned Pharaoh’s army; who provided direction through a pillar of cloud and fire; who made the walls of Jericho fall flat; who sent hail stones and made the sun stand still so Israel could conquer the Promised Land—where is that God now? Do I worship an obsolete and irrelevant God who lives only in stories of the past?
Do you suppose these were some of the thoughts of the Israelites who witnessed the attack of the Assyrians upon Jerusalem during the time of Isaiah? If God really sees our desperation and does nothing about it, could it be that He is not powerful enough to overcome? Maybe He just doesn’t care? Could it be that he is too tired or weary to make a difference? How could the creator of the universe profess to love His people and then sit back and watch as they were thrown out of their homes and sent into captivity as slaves? Perhaps the promises of God aren’t worth the tablets they were written upon?
Isaiah addresses these very questions as he writes to those in Jerusalem about what God is doing through the Assyrians. In Chapter 40, he speaks to their fear, calling them to be comforted (V. 1). He claims God is a shepherd caring for the ewe lambs, carrying them and keeping them safe (V. 11). In answer to any questions about the power of God, he writes about His immense size, power and control as the creator who weighs the mountains in scales and measures the heavens. The nations are like a speck of dust to Him (V. 12-17)! He is also the One who created the stars, names them, and makes sure not one is missing (V. 26). Thus, what will you compare Him to (V. 25)? As far as His promises are concerned, Isaiah boldly claims in V. 8, “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever!” In other words, His promises will not fail! The picture Isaiah is painting is that there is nothing that compares with God! He is the All-Powerful Creator who still works in His world!
Notice where Isaiah’s thoughts turn as he applies his understanding of God and His ways to those facing pain, displacement, an uncertain future and fear. He reminds the Israelites to wait upon the Lord. In so doing, they will gain new strength, soar like eagles, run without getting tired, and walk without becoming weary (V. 31). When things seem overwhelming, it is not that God is weak, uncaring, full of hot air, or irrelevant! Trusting Him means He will work things out according to His timing as is best for His eternal kingdom. Our power comes in waiting upon Him! There are many things calling for our allegiance or causing distraction, but turning to things less than Him never works. Don’t settle for temporary fixes when the One completely in control offers His strength for an eternal solution! He is our power!
Click to listen to sermon.
-Scott
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Power to Accomplish What God Desires: Where Does It Come From?—Part III
Imagine being ripped out of your home and bound with chains, cast into a line of slaves and marched hundreds of miles to live in squalor in a land that is not your own! You saw your property destroyed and neighbors killed as they stood in resistance! Some of your family was taken from you! You are not sure where they are, or if they are even alive! All you can think about is, “WHY? Why is all this happening?”
Jeremiah is writing to such an audience as this in Jeremiah 29 in an effort to provide them some encouragement. He writes to Israelites who have lost everything and are living as refugees in Babylon! And, why are they in this predicament? As a people, they became desensitized to the evil and unholy practices of the nations around them and allowed compromise to creep into their lives. The power they had available to them was hindered because they did not stay true to the power source. A long history of defeating nations more powerful and larger in size than them was forgotten and negated because they became dependent upon their own wisdom, power, ingenuity and fleshly desires. Thus, the Babylonians were allowed to enter Jerusalem and capture God’s people, sending them into exile!
Now, which of these two groups do you suppose is in more danger—the exiles in Babylon, or the Israelites still living in Jerusalem who were not taken into captivity? The answer is: the group who refuses to learn from the circumstances they have experienced! God has an interesting message for both groups. To the exiles, He says:
For thus says the LORD, 'When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place. 'For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you,' declares the LORD, 'and I will restore your fortunes and will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you,' declares the LORD, 'and I will bring you back to the place from where I sent you into exile.' (Jer. 29:10-14)
However, to the Israelites still in Jerusalem He has a quite different message:
thus says the LORD of hosts, 'Behold, I am sending upon them the sword, famine and pestilence, and I will make them like split-open figs that cannot be eaten due to rottenness. I will pursue them with the sword, with famine and with pestilence; and I will make them a terror to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse and a horror and a hissing, and a reproach among all the nations where I have driven them, because they have not listened to My words,' declares the LORD, 'which I sent to them again and again by My servants the prophets; but you did not listen,' declares the LORD. (Jer. 29:17-19)
Don’t let your circumstances deceive you! Those humbled by exile would be rescued and restored, while those living in Jerusalem would be destroyed? Those with the Temple in their midst did not have the presence of God in their midst? Those removed from the Promised Land had a future, a hope, and would be heard by God? What is going on? Isn’t this backwards?
Do you want to experience the power of God? Be humble, teachable, moldable, and open to His discipline and direction! Don’t let your circumstances fool you—they may just be in place to get your attention and allegiance. God’s power is for those who are seeking Him. If your trials and struggles move you to seek Him, give thanks for them because you will quickly find that He also has a future and a hope for you !!!
Click to listen to this week's sermon.
-Scott
Jeremiah is writing to such an audience as this in Jeremiah 29 in an effort to provide them some encouragement. He writes to Israelites who have lost everything and are living as refugees in Babylon! And, why are they in this predicament? As a people, they became desensitized to the evil and unholy practices of the nations around them and allowed compromise to creep into their lives. The power they had available to them was hindered because they did not stay true to the power source. A long history of defeating nations more powerful and larger in size than them was forgotten and negated because they became dependent upon their own wisdom, power, ingenuity and fleshly desires. Thus, the Babylonians were allowed to enter Jerusalem and capture God’s people, sending them into exile!
Now, which of these two groups do you suppose is in more danger—the exiles in Babylon, or the Israelites still living in Jerusalem who were not taken into captivity? The answer is: the group who refuses to learn from the circumstances they have experienced! God has an interesting message for both groups. To the exiles, He says:
For thus says the LORD, 'When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place. 'For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you,' declares the LORD, 'and I will restore your fortunes and will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you,' declares the LORD, 'and I will bring you back to the place from where I sent you into exile.' (Jer. 29:10-14)
However, to the Israelites still in Jerusalem He has a quite different message:
thus says the LORD of hosts, 'Behold, I am sending upon them the sword, famine and pestilence, and I will make them like split-open figs that cannot be eaten due to rottenness. I will pursue them with the sword, with famine and with pestilence; and I will make them a terror to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse and a horror and a hissing, and a reproach among all the nations where I have driven them, because they have not listened to My words,' declares the LORD, 'which I sent to them again and again by My servants the prophets; but you did not listen,' declares the LORD. (Jer. 29:17-19)
Don’t let your circumstances deceive you! Those humbled by exile would be rescued and restored, while those living in Jerusalem would be destroyed? Those with the Temple in their midst did not have the presence of God in their midst? Those removed from the Promised Land had a future, a hope, and would be heard by God? What is going on? Isn’t this backwards?
Do you want to experience the power of God? Be humble, teachable, moldable, and open to His discipline and direction! Don’t let your circumstances fool you—they may just be in place to get your attention and allegiance. God’s power is for those who are seeking Him. If your trials and struggles move you to seek Him, give thanks for them because you will quickly find that He also has a future and a hope for you !!!
Click to listen to this week's sermon.
-Scott
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Power to Accomplish What God Desires: Where Does It Come From?—Part II
I had an interesting conversation with one of our members at Garden Ridge last week. He asked me how the sign-up for the prayer & fasting time was looking and I informed him that at the moment there were only about 10 out of 48 time slots signed up for (this was on Tuesday, just 3 days from the prayer and fasting time to begin). His response struck me! Hard! He said, “That really scares me! Why do so many of our church members believe our prayers won’t make any difference?” I believe his question is one we had better wrestle with, or stop calling ourselves a church! (If you are reading this article, you may have just said to yourself, “WHOA—how did you jump that far? What do you mean we are not a church?”)
The last letter written to the churches of Asia in Revelation 3:14-22 deals with a church that has become lukewarm. From the things stated in V. 17, they are apparently an affluent church and their ability to provide for themselves has caused them to go blind (spiritually). They are able to take care of their own needs, which has led to a scary and serious problem—they do not even realize that Jesus is NOT among them! He is on the outside, knocking on the door to get in, but they are so busy with their trivial pursuits that He does not know whether they will come open the door for Him (V. 20). They may not even hear Him! Now, seriously, how can you be a church if Jesus is not in your presence? (OK—so now you are probably saying to yourself, “What does the church of Laodicea and their problems have to do with us?”)
Suppose we became so focused on our own pursuits that we neglected the things Jesus wanted us to give our time, energy and focus upon? Let me say it this way: If Jesus was truly in our midst, what things would He be pursuing? What did He give His time, energy and focus to while He walked upon this earth? How much time did He give to sharing the love and teachings of His Father with everyone He could spend time with? Now compare the minimal efforts most of us make to share the teachings of God with those around us who are not in a right relationship with Him. Could it be that we are the lukewarm church Jesus is writing to in Revelation 3:14-20? Is it possible that He has been knocking, trying to get our attention, but we have been so busy with other things that seem important that we have ignored His knocking? Is this an area we try to ignore because it only reveals the “shame of [our] nakedness;” or demonstrates our need for “eye salve” because we are spiritually blind—V. 18?
God has a plan for the body at Garden Ridge! He wants to see us succeed in going into all the world with His Good News and making disciples. He wants that truth to produce fruit in our lives that demonstrates how real He is and how good it is to live according to His will. But, isn’t it all just a foolish masquerade if we do not believe our prayers make any difference? Our prayer life is a barometer of the trust we have in our Father, and of our willingness to be submissive to His direction. Our prayer life reveals whether we believe God will act on our behalf. Our prayer life is a way to show the world that there is something different about our “religion” because there is something special about our God! He is personal and intimate! (LET’S TALK MORE ABOUT THIS NEXT WEEK!)
Click to listen to this week's sermon.
-Scott
The last letter written to the churches of Asia in Revelation 3:14-22 deals with a church that has become lukewarm. From the things stated in V. 17, they are apparently an affluent church and their ability to provide for themselves has caused them to go blind (spiritually). They are able to take care of their own needs, which has led to a scary and serious problem—they do not even realize that Jesus is NOT among them! He is on the outside, knocking on the door to get in, but they are so busy with their trivial pursuits that He does not know whether they will come open the door for Him (V. 20). They may not even hear Him! Now, seriously, how can you be a church if Jesus is not in your presence? (OK—so now you are probably saying to yourself, “What does the church of Laodicea and their problems have to do with us?”)
Suppose we became so focused on our own pursuits that we neglected the things Jesus wanted us to give our time, energy and focus upon? Let me say it this way: If Jesus was truly in our midst, what things would He be pursuing? What did He give His time, energy and focus to while He walked upon this earth? How much time did He give to sharing the love and teachings of His Father with everyone He could spend time with? Now compare the minimal efforts most of us make to share the teachings of God with those around us who are not in a right relationship with Him. Could it be that we are the lukewarm church Jesus is writing to in Revelation 3:14-20? Is it possible that He has been knocking, trying to get our attention, but we have been so busy with other things that seem important that we have ignored His knocking? Is this an area we try to ignore because it only reveals the “shame of [our] nakedness;” or demonstrates our need for “eye salve” because we are spiritually blind—V. 18?
God has a plan for the body at Garden Ridge! He wants to see us succeed in going into all the world with His Good News and making disciples. He wants that truth to produce fruit in our lives that demonstrates how real He is and how good it is to live according to His will. But, isn’t it all just a foolish masquerade if we do not believe our prayers make any difference? Our prayer life is a barometer of the trust we have in our Father, and of our willingness to be submissive to His direction. Our prayer life reveals whether we believe God will act on our behalf. Our prayer life is a way to show the world that there is something different about our “religion” because there is something special about our God! He is personal and intimate! (LET’S TALK MORE ABOUT THIS NEXT WEEK!)
Click to listen to this week's sermon.
-Scott
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Power to Accomplish What God Desires: Where Does It Come From?
Isn’t it amazing that we live in a time where more books about how to build a healthy marriage have been written than at any other time in history (maybe more than all other times of history combined) and yet we see families crumbling at as high a rate as ever? And, why is it that with all the books written on parenting strategies, spending quality time with your children, how to discipline, speaking your child’s love language, etc. that there are more problems than ever with rebellion, teenage pregnancies, drug use, violence, eating disorders and anti-social behavior? What is going on? How can it be that there are at least 20 different Bible translations packaged in every form of genre’ imaginable (teen bibles, couples devotional bibles, sports bibles, bibles in the form of magazines, study bibles, parallel version bibles, etc.), but bible illiteracy and Scripture ignorance are at an all-time high? Has a nation ever had available to it the amount of self-help materials and copies of Scripture that we are “blessed” with? At what point will we stop to question what is missing between having these resources available and life-changing behavior?
The lie we seem to have fallen into is that we can solve our problems by thinking through things and coming up with more creative and thought-provoking ideas. Where is our dependence upon God? Imagine if half the time spent writing, publishing and even reading these resources was spent on prayer to our Father who sits on the throne and has all power to create goodness out of chaos. How much better would family and community be? We seem to have reached the point that we give vocal recognition to “the power of prayer”, but don’t really trust it to do anything.
Do you remember the story of Abram facing the famine in Genesis 12:10-20? He considered the problem and came up with a solution that seemed wise for the situation—“Please say you are my sister so that it may go well with me because of you, and that I may live on account of you.” Why not talk to the ONE who created the heavens and the earth and see if He has a solution? As you may remember, Abram’s plan did not go so well for him. Sarai was taken from him and would have been taken as another man’s bride except that the GOD of HEAVEN stepped in to protect Sarai. That is the power they had available to them all along! Who knows, He may have taken them to a brook and fed them with ravens so they didn’t even have to go down to Egypt, but they never called upon Him!
How many of our problems are the result of our lack of trust in the power of our God? We have been given numerous promises throughout the Scriptures of what God will do if we will call out to Him! Do we believe them? James says, “You do not have because you do not ask” (4:2). Matthew writes, “Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you” (7:7). It is in calling upon the Lord that we have REAL POWER!!! So, why do we settle for our own ingenuity and wisdom when the Maker of All wants to guide us to the Promised Land and a life of abundance? Will we call upon Him with confidence that He will hear us and lead us? Or, is this just another vocal recognition that we do not really trust? (CONTINUED NEXT WEEK)
Click to listen to this week's sermon.
-Scott
The lie we seem to have fallen into is that we can solve our problems by thinking through things and coming up with more creative and thought-provoking ideas. Where is our dependence upon God? Imagine if half the time spent writing, publishing and even reading these resources was spent on prayer to our Father who sits on the throne and has all power to create goodness out of chaos. How much better would family and community be? We seem to have reached the point that we give vocal recognition to “the power of prayer”, but don’t really trust it to do anything.
Do you remember the story of Abram facing the famine in Genesis 12:10-20? He considered the problem and came up with a solution that seemed wise for the situation—“Please say you are my sister so that it may go well with me because of you, and that I may live on account of you.” Why not talk to the ONE who created the heavens and the earth and see if He has a solution? As you may remember, Abram’s plan did not go so well for him. Sarai was taken from him and would have been taken as another man’s bride except that the GOD of HEAVEN stepped in to protect Sarai. That is the power they had available to them all along! Who knows, He may have taken them to a brook and fed them with ravens so they didn’t even have to go down to Egypt, but they never called upon Him!
How many of our problems are the result of our lack of trust in the power of our God? We have been given numerous promises throughout the Scriptures of what God will do if we will call out to Him! Do we believe them? James says, “You do not have because you do not ask” (4:2). Matthew writes, “Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you” (7:7). It is in calling upon the Lord that we have REAL POWER!!! So, why do we settle for our own ingenuity and wisdom when the Maker of All wants to guide us to the Promised Land and a life of abundance? Will we call upon Him with confidence that He will hear us and lead us? Or, is this just another vocal recognition that we do not really trust? (CONTINUED NEXT WEEK)
Click to listen to this week's sermon.
-Scott
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
