Privileges Of God's Children: Security

God is my rock in this crazy world.

1 Peter 2:6-8 As the Scriptures say, “I am placing a cornerstone in Jerusalem, chosen for great honor, and anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced.” 7 Yes, you who trust him recognize the honor God has given him. But for those who reject him, “The stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.”

8 And, “He is the stone that makes people stumble, the rock that makes them fall.” They stumble because they do not obey God’s word, and so they meet the fate that was planned for them.

Romans 5:8 And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.

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We see so much insecurity in the economy, dishonesty in our government, and even churches that don't believe things that have always been taught. There is no solid ground in this godless society, moral values are constantly being changed. Isn't there something that we can hold onto and depend on?

Disappointment has the idea of being deceived or being caught off guard, it may be people or it may be circumstances that are beyond our control, our lives are full of disappointments. The more you try to control people and circumstances the more disillusioned you will become.

There is one place to find a lot of promises that have never failed, the Bible is full of promises that God has made to his people and his people have found out that they have never had a reason to be disappointed or ashamed, we have found that the one that we put our hope in is trustworthy.

My God is Faithful

Isaiah 50:7  Because the Sovereign LORD helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore, I have set my face like a stone, determined to do His will. And I know that I will not be put to shame.

God is our rock when people disappoint us, God is our rock when life's trials and heartaches get us down, God is our rock for our eternal security! There cannot possibly be a stronger foundation to build your life on.

Our God's faithfulness to his children is beyond comprehension, no wonder the prophet Isaiah said that he would "set his face like a stone, determined to do His will." He knew that he could trust the Lord to be his all in all, he knew that God's power and faithfulness were in his favor and that his problems and disappointments and eternal security were all covered by one person.

Hebrews 10:23 Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise.

What do you hold onto when your world is unstable? I hope that it is the God of the universe that has revealed his love for us in the Bible. There isn't a person, an organization or a philosophy that will prove to be better to get you through the storms of life.

Helping God When He Needs It

Waiting on God can be worse than the doctor's office.

Genesis 16:1   Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had not been able to bear children for him. But she had an Egyptian servant named Hagar. 2 So Sarai said to Abram, “The Lord has prevented me from having children. Go and sleep with my servant. Perhaps I can have children through her.” And Abram agreed with Sarai’s proposal. 3 So Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian servant and gave her to Abram as a wife. (This happened ten years after Abram had settled in the land of Canaan.)

 4 So Abram had sexual relations with Hagar, and she became pregnant. But when Hagar knew she was pregnant, she began to treat her mistress, Sarai, with contempt. 5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “This is all your fault! I put my servant into your arms, but now that she’s pregnant she treats me with contempt. The Lord will show who’s wrong—you or me!”

 6 Abram replied, “Look, she is your servant, so deal with her as you see fit.” Then Sarai treated Hagar so harshly that she finally ran away.

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So God has made a promise to you that he didn't come through on yet, why not give him a hand? If you can find a way to make it happen and he already said that it would happen, then whats the problem?

Abram fell for the "easy" solution to the problem instead of waiting for God to provide the break through that was needed to give him a heir to inherit God's promise. Stepping out of God's will to get things done for God is a trait that Abram had a problem dealing with.

Staying in God's will can be hard to do, especially when bending the rules a little bit can seem to be so beneficial. That's when real faith has to kick in, when you are so close to God's promise and yet you're not there yet, we have to resist the urge to jump ahead and give him some help.

I have to be careful to stay on God's schedule, the human desire is instant reward and one minute solutions to life's problems. I have to remember that he has my best interest in mind and that he has a big picture point of view that I can not see from where I am.

Help me to trust you enough Lord to rely on your provision and your timing.

Help For The Hurting

SCRIPTURE

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Heb 2:17-18 (Living) And it was necessary for Jesus to be like us, his brothers, so that he could be our merciful and faithful High Priest before God, a Priest who would be both merciful to us and faithful to God in dealing with the sins of the people. 18 For since he himself has now been through suffering and temptation, he knows what it is like when we suffer and are tempted, and he is wonderfully able to help us.

Heb 4:3 (Living) For only we who believe God can enter into his place of rest. He has said, "I have sworn in my anger that those who don't believe me will never get in," even though he has been ready and waiting for them since the world began.

Heb 4:14-16 (Living) But Jesus the Son of God is our great High Priest who has gone to heaven itself to help us; therefore let us never stop trusting him. 15 This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses since he had the same temptations we do, though he never once gave way to them and sinned. 16 So let us come boldly to the very throne of God and stay there to receive his mercy and to find grace to help us in our times of need.

Heb 5:7-9 (Living) Yet while Christ was here on earth he pleaded with God, praying with tears and agony of soul to the only one who would save him from premature death. And God heard his prayers because of his strong desire to obey God at all times. 8 And even though Jesus was God's Son, he had to learn from experience what it was like to obey when obeying meant suffering. 9 It was after he had proved himself perfect in this experience that Jesus became the Giver of eternal salvation to all those who obey him.

OBSERVATION

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We have all seen a lot of suffering in this world; I have seen my wife with her struggles, suffering physically everyday with ailments that no doctor has been able to relieve. I hear about the intense suffering of patients battling with their fight against cancer. I have seen despair crushing down on helpless people, I have seen pictures of torture victims in other countries. We have all seen people on television that suffer from hunger and famine.

God’s son came to earth he saw a world full of hurting people, he saw the persecution, he saw the sick the hungry, and he saw the despair of hopelessness (Compassion of Jesus- Matthew 9:36, 14:14, 15:32, 20:34).

Jesus experienced temptation, he was pushed by Satan to give in to human weakness, he was hungry, and he was dealing with Satan’s tricks. He cried out loud when he saw the “lost sheep” everywhere. In agony he told his disciples in the garden "My soul is crushed with horror and sadness to the point of death.” He prayed to God in the garden to save him from the cruel death on the cross (Hebrews 5:7) and from the cross he cried out with a broken heart, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46)

We have a compassionate Savior that is fully aware of our pain because Christ shared in our humanity, the temptations and the suffering that he went through enables him to sympathize with us and help us.

As simplistic as it sounds, yet difficult to do we have to trust in Jesus, we must “come boldly to the very throne of God and stay there to receive his mercy and to find grace to help us in our times of need”. It sounds simple in theory but in the midst of the battles we have to remember to stay before the throne, the throne where we will receive mercy and grace (4:16).

We all seek to find rest hopefully we do better than God’s people that were moving to the Promised Land. They labored in the desert because of their unbelief. They labored in the Promised Land and never took control of it because they didn’t have faith that they would win the battles (3:18, 19).

Some times God brings us through some desert land and we have to remember to keep the faith. If you are weary of the suffering that you are going through please keep the faith. Take comfort in the promise that God’s rest is still available today (4:1) he invites us to:

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."
Matt 11:28-30 (NIV)

APPLICATION

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Therefore we should:

Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.
Heb 10:22-23 (NIV)

So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. 36 You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. 37 For in just a very little while,
"He who is coming will come and will not delay.
Heb 10:35-37 (NIV)

PRAYER

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Father I know many people that are suffering and longing for relief, strengthen their faith Lord until you bring them into your rest.

One Month To Live

Scripture

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Luke 17:26-30  "When I return the world will be as indifferent to the things of God as the people were in Noah's day. 27 They ate and drank and married--everything just as usual right up to the day when Noah went into the ark and the Flood came and destroyed them all.

28 "And the world will be as it was in the days of Lot: people went about their daily business--eating and drinking, buying and selling, farming and building-- 29 until the morning Lot left Sodom. Then fire and brimstone rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. 30 Yes, it will be 'business as usual' right up to the hour of my return.

Luke 21:34-35  "Watch out! Don't let my sudden coming catch you unawares; don't let me find you living in careless ease, carousing and drinking, and occupied with the problems of this life, like all the rest of the world." 

Observation

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We don’t know how many days that we have on this earth or if the Lord will return before we leave this world but either way we need to live beyond the ordinary. We need to live above the mediocre and “careless ease and preoccupied with the problems of life”.

I get discouraged when I see the apathy and numbness to God especially in the men of our churches. But it isn’t anything new to God, he has been treated that way since the beginning of time. I suppose that even Adam didn’t have the passion for God and was unconcerned when he compromised. The great men of the Bible lived with passion for God and were not afraid of what the world might do to them, the life of ease that we have breeds the sin of apathy that we must rise above. How would we live if we only had one month to live?

Business as usual is how we conduct our lives and it is how we do church. Our mediocre routines attempt to keep our lives simple and easy which is what we desire when we are “occupied with the problems of this life.”

Application

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I want to live my life above the ordinary and live above the problems of this life.

Prayer

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I pray that I will live above the ordinary as if it were my last day. I pray for the men of our church, that they will lead their families beyond the ordinary. Please give us a passion for you!