weekly sermon

11-4-07

Leaning On The Everlasting Arms!

For the past few weeks I spoken about how we are to act and treat other people, how to help others to find what it is that we have. Then it really occurred to me that before we can act or treat other folks, we must first learn how to help ourselves. To be able to help someone then we must know where it comes from that we get the ability to do the helping. Where does this help come from? I'm glad you asked.

I heard a story about a mountain climber, who wanted to climb the highest mountain. He begun his adventure after many years of preparation, but since he wanted the glory just for himself, he decided to climb the mountain alone. The night he decided to climb as a deep dark night and the man really felt alone. The man could not see anything. All was completely black, because the moon and stars were covered by the clouds. The man started to climb, and was making great progress up this rugged massive rock. As he was climbing, only a few feet away from the top of the mountain, he slipped and fell into the air, falling at a great speed. The climber could only see black spots as he went down, and the terrible sensation of being sucked down faster and faster by gravity. He kept falling, and in those last few moments of great fear, it came to his mind all the good and bad episodes of his life. He was thinking now about how close death was getting, when all the sudden he felt the rope tied to his waist pull him very hard, stopping him with a sharp jolt. His body was hanging in the air. Only the rope was holding him, and in that moment of stillness he had no other choice but to scream; HELP ME GOD! All of the sudden, a deep voice coming from the sky answered, "what do you want me to do?" The climber answered saying, save me God!! God then asked, "do you really think I can save you?" The climber stated, well of course I believe you can save me. God then said to the climber, "then cut the rope tied to your waist." There was a moment of silence, and the man decided to hold onto the rope with all his strength. The rescue team says, that the next day the body of a climber was found frozen to death. His hands were frozen holding tight to the rope that his body was hanging from. The clincher was that the climbers body was dangling ONLY 10 feet away from the ground.

What is it that this story is really saying? You MUST truly believe in what it is that God is wanting you to do. There is a verse that really says what this story is about. Turn with me in your Bibles to Proverbs 3:5-6. "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean NOT unto thine own understanding. (6)In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths."

If the climber in the story had only trusted in God, even a little bit, then he would have easily received the only thing he asked God for. It says here to trust in the Lord with ALL your heart. I want to look at two things really fast. The first is the word "all". What is all? The word all here means complete, whole, or entire. The second word is "trust". The Hebrew word translated here for trust is, "batah", meaning, to confide in, so as to be secure and without fear. In every single thing you do completely trust in God with your entire heart that He will take care of you.

There are several folks mentioned in the Bible that had this type of trust in God. I will list a few here along with the chapters where you can read of these exemplary episodes of trust. Abraham (Genesis 22:1-14), this is a story of how God gave Abraham and Sarah a son. It was their only son, and God told Abraham to take this son (Isaac) and lead him to a mountain, that God would designate, to be placed there as a sacrifice. Through the trust that Abraham had in God, he took his son, placed him on an alter, and was going to sacrifice him, when God told him no, that he was a true servant of God. Eleazar (Genesis 24:12-27), is a story about a servant of Abraham, that was to go and find a wife for Abraham's son and Eleazar sent prayers out to God to help him find a wife for his master's son. God told Eleazar exactly what it was he had to do to complete the task. Eleazar acted just as God had told him, and the Lord gave Eleazar everything he asked for in his prayers. David (1 Samuel 30:6-8) is a story about how David was scared because the people were talking of stoning him, and David went to the Lord and asked God if he was to go after his enemies, and would he have victory. God told David to go after his enemies, and that he would have victory. Asa (2 Chronicles 14:9-15), about an army of one million and 300 chariots that came to battle Asa, a true man of God, and Asa came to God in prayer for victory for God's people over the evil. God granted, a small army with Asa, victory over this massive army. Hezekiah (2 Kings 18:4-7), is a story of a great revival. It is a story of how Hezekiah went to a place and destroyed the wicked there and trusted in God so much that there was no king of Judah before or after him that trusted so much. This is just a few of the long list of men and women that had the type of trust in God that we are talking about.

And finally, it says in verse 6, "In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths". This simply just says, begin, continue, and end, every work, purpose, and plan with God. Philippians 4:13 says, "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." If you put your whole heart on Christ then no matter the path you take or the task you have to perform, God will handle it for you. You must remember one thing when thinking this. Never hand God a problem that you do NOT want Him to solve. What I mean by this is, when you give God something, let Him have the chance to handle whatever it is you give Him. Once again you see here the word "all", remembering that it means everything. I can do all things, I mean everything, when my Lord and Saviour strengthens me. I have fought personal battles, as well as battles with other folks, and was victorious ONLY through the help of Jesus Christ.

It takes a very simple minded person to have this type of trust. What I mean is, that if you stop and think about what it is you need, then you begin to doubt, but if you simply give Him your trust and never look back, He will truly handle things for you. Let us remember that the reason we are on this earth is to do the will of our Father. Once you give something to God, remember that it is HIS will that will be done, just as it should be, but we are to also understand that it His will should be our will, then it would be ok with us, no matter the outcome of any prayer that God has handled for us.

I pray daily for those that come to me with prayer requests, and in those prayers I pray for their concerns and pray that they will be handled for the better of the will of God. We must look at the grand scheme of things, and not just the small world that we call our world. This is all for the will of our Father. If we remember this, then we will totally understand the complete trust we need to have in our Saviour.

If you are born again then you should really understand this trust, and if not then please say a simple prayer with me, and place your full trust in Him, that He may truly save your soul.

Dear Lord, come into my life and forgive me of my sins, and give me the gift of everlasting life. Amen.

If you have said this simple prayer, then we believe that you have received salvation. We would love to rejoice with you, so please drop us a note, in our link, to let us know and confess Jesus before man, so that we may send you a few things that we hope will help you in your new Christian walk.


 

With Love in Christ,

Pastor Stone