Great Is Your Faithfulness

Greet and thank everyone for tuning in! Pray!

Announce to everyone that depending on what happens next week, will determine what where and how we meet. (Possibly live in the sanctuary if the government allows and if not, then we will be having another drive-in service and also another communion observance!)

Last week, I talked about the uncertainty of not knowing where we are heading, both as a nation and as the body of Christ. More specifically, I mentioned of how we, like little children, question and ask God, “Are we there yet?” We tend to look at the immediate circumstances and try to predict the outcome of where things are headed. We are like financial analysts who watch the trend of the market and predict where it is headed and then guide others as to how they should invest for the future.

I wonder this morning, how many of us have spent time over the last month, trying to analyze where we are, as a nation and as the church and then predict where we are headed?

How many of you have spent any amount of time looking at Biblical prophesy and trying to make sense of this weird and trying time that we are in right now?

And if some of us where honest, would be confess and say that this whole time of uncertainty and isolation and financial stress, has brought some fear and/ or DOUBT into out hearts?

I think that many people have felt this way at some level throughout their lives, but even more so right now, in this midst of this whole pandemic crisis.

And what is the one of the first things that people tend to do, when the direction that they are headed in their life, is uncertain and unpredictable?

Do not many of us try to make things happen? Do we not try and take the wheel and steer things back to where we think that they are supposed to be?

Even in the church, people do this very thing. When it seems like God is not moving fast enough, or in the direction that makes sense to us, we tend to grab a hold of the “proverbial” wheel and take try to take over the driving, right?!!

It’s like the hit country song from several years ago, “Jesus Take The Wheel”, but in reverse, “Jesus Let Go Of The Wheel”!

Well, this morning, I want to briefly look at that very situation. That is, what happens when we try to intervene and make things happen for our lives, because we don’t see or understand the direction and the timing of God?

How do things work for us, when we try to “take the wheel” and steer our own course in life, apart from where God is trying to guide us to?

Would any of you say that your life is all the more perfect now, because you took over?

Is your life’s theme song, “My Way”?

Listen to a couple of lines from that song and see if that resonates with you and your life:

I planned each charted course Each careful step along the byway And more, much, much more I did it my way

For what is a man, what has he got If not himself, then he has naught Not to say the things that he truly feels And not the words of someone who kneels The record shows I took all the blows And did it my way

Is that any of you who are listening this morning? Did you do things in life, “your way”?

And in asking that question, let me follow up with the next logical question, “How did things work our for you?”

Now on the physical/natural side of the coin, you may have done really well for yourself in your life.

You may say that things turned out great and that if you had it all to do over again, you would do things the exact same way.

But what about the other side of the coin, the spiritual side, how has that all worked for you?

Do you ever stop and reflect on where you are in your walk with the Lord and how the path has been that has lead you to where you are right now?

Do you feel like you are where you’re supposed to be in your walk with the Lord, right now, this very day on, April 26, 2020?

And whether you can say “yes”, or “no”, to that question, I wonder how many of us actually understand why we are here at this point in our lives today?

Why are we in this strange place and time in the history of the church, in this time of isolation versus a time of assembling together?

Do any of you feel like you’re alone, or abandoned in this rather uneasy place and time in your life?

Are you doing the very thing that I mentioned last week, which is, questioning God about why things are the way that they are and why are we even in this weird and uneasy place and time in history?

If that is you this morning and you’re uncertain about the “hows” and “whys” in this place and time in life, you’re not alone!

And as to how we’ve all arrived here at this particular point in time in the history of the church and in our own individual lives, there is a common thread that is found within each of our life’s stories that is intricately woven throughout.

And it’s that “common thread” that I want to bring to our attention this morning!

When you read of certain characters in the Bible and their life’s circumstances, as they went from point “A”, to point “B” in life, you will see this “common thread”, this word, that I am speaking of.

People like Naomi, in the book of Ruth and where starts off at, versus where she ends up in here life.

Naomi’s husband, Elimelech, moved her and their two sons, from the land of Judah, to the country of Moab, because there was a severe famine in the land.

While they were there, Naomi’s husband died.

Then within 10 years of her two sons marrying women from that foreign land, they both died.

So, Naomi finds herself, widowed and alone in a strange land with her two daughter-in-laws and fearful about where to go and what to do.

She ends up moving back to her homeland, with only one of the two daughter-in-laws, in order to try and survive. (Being a widow was a very severe and dangerous place for a woman to be found in, if she didn’t have any sons to look after her.)

And so, Naomi moves back to here hometown of Bethlehem, with this one Moabite girl, who refuses to leave her side.

This young woman, whose name was Ruth, vowed that she would never leave Naomi.

In fact, when Naomi told Ruth that she should return to her own people, where she would be protected and safe, Ruth said to Naomi, “Don’t ask me to leave you and turn back. Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you live, I will live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. Wherever you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD punish me severely if I allow anything but death to separate us!”

And if you have read the book of Ruth in the Bible, which is one of the most beautiful accounts found within the Word, you will see this “common thread” running through the lives of these two women, Naomi and Ruth.

Naomi, who lost everything that she started off with (her home, her husband and both of her sons), and who changes her name from Naomi (which means, pleasant), to Mara (which means, bitter), ends up better off than what she started with.

And it all comes through the life of this amazing young Moabite woman, named Ruth, which God had brought into the life of Naomi.

Even when Naomi was in a very painful and difficult place in her life, God was moving behind the scenes and orchestrating something that was soooooo much bigger than anything that Naomi, or Ruth, or the future husband of Ruth, Boaz, or anyone else could see or understand at that time!

Naomi was brought to a place of provision and care and love in her life from the place of brokenness and pain that she was in, and it was all done without her understanding, behind the scenes, because of the FAITHFULNESS of God!

That is the “common thread” of our lives, that I wanted to briefly bring to everyone’s attention this morning. The FAITHFULNESS of God in our lives!

Now, I understand that you and I make our own decisions and that we are subject to the natural and spiritual laws of sowing and reaping and that you could say that you are where you are, because of what “you” have done in your life; I GET THAT.

Galatians 6:7-8 tells us,

Galatians 6:7–8 ESV

Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.

And so, it’s true that what you and I do and the decisions that we make in and for our lives, have ramifications and we answer for those decisions and choices.

And yet, there is a greater force, an all powerful and perfect force that is moving behind the veil that we cannot see through, and it’s this force which is shaping and orchestrating things for us, to lead us to where we are supposed to be.

That perfect, all powerful force which is moving behind the scenes and which is shaping the course of our future, unbeknownst to us, is Yahweh, Himself!

Now, am I saying that we have no say so, as to where we go and what happens to us and in our lives?

No, absolutely not. We have free will and the ability to choose for ourselves what we will embrace and believe and do with our lives and what we will reject and cast away from our lives.

Just as I mentioned last week and as to the final words of Moses, to the nation of Israel, where he said to the people in Deuteronomy 30, “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you today, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days..”

Moses was saying that very thing to the people then and it holds true today, that we get to make decisions for our own lives; decisions that produce “life” or “death”, blessings or curses.

The point that I want to make to each and every one of you this morning, is that the Lord knows our hearts and He knows whether we truly believe in Him and have faith in Him and why we do the things that we do and make the decisions that we make for our lives.

And He has a perfect plan for your life and for my life and even when we do not make the best decisions for our lives, God remains FAITHFUL and guides us along the way, to accomplish His will and to bring us to where He wants us to be!

God has said in His perfect Word to us, that He will NEVER leave us and that He will NEVER forsake us!

Even in the midst of our making STUPID decisions for our lives, God is perfect in His sovereignty and He never abandons us and leaves us along after we make those “amazingly horrific” choices and decision!

And just like any true, loving father would do for his own child by guiding and leading them and correcting them as they grow so that they will learn to make wise choices for their lives, so to does God do for His children!

A father will let the child make certain choices and decisions, but then he helps to correct and guide them through the ramifications of their choices and decisions, so as to bring them to a better place in their life!

And this is not always pleasant and it is quite often painful to both the child, but especially to the father!

I have stood on both sides of the field, as a child being raised by a father and then as a father raising children of my own. (And in coming months, praise God, to become a grandfather and get to operate in that capacity!)

And I know and understand very well now, of how difficult it is in watching your children make poor choices and decisions for their lives, knowing that what they are choosing will only hurt them down the road.

And I have gone behind the scenes before and intervened on their behalf, without their knowledge, so as to help alter the course and direction of where they are heading, after making a bad decision.

That is what our heavenly Father, who loves us infinitely above and beyond what we can understand, does and is doing for us in our lives each and every day!

He is moving behind the scenes, on behalf of those who are truly His own children and guiding us to where we need to be, according to His perfect will for our lives!

Even when we screw things up horrifically, He is there to guide and support and strengthen us, so that we will continue on in our walk with Him.

And all because of His FAITHFULNESS!

I believe that one of the main reasons that so many people struggle with trusting in a God that they cannot see and of His FAITHFULNESS, is because of the father that they could see in their own life and of his UNFAITHFULNESS to them when then they needed him the most to be a loving and caring father!

Let me stop right here and say this to any of you listening to this message, who fit into that category of someone who struggles to believe in the LOVE and the FAITHFULNESS of God.

His perfect LOVE for you as your heavenly Father, will never disappoint you and His FAITHFULNESS will never let you down! NEVER!!

I can and will attest to the LOVE and MERCY and GRACE and FAITHFULNESS of God in my own life and I will personally guarantee you that if you will give your life to Him, completely, and trust your life into His loving hands, you will never be alone again!

It was St. Augustine who said, “God loves each of us as if there were only one of us.”

In Psalm 73:21-26, we read of the psalmist saying,

Psalm 73:21–26 NLT

Then I realized that my heart was bitter, and I was all torn up inside. I was so foolish and ignorant— I must have seemed like a senseless animal to you. Yet I still belong to you; you hold my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, leading me to a glorious destiny. Whom have I in heaven but you? I desire you more than anything on earth. My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; he is mine forever.

Do you see what is being said here in this passage? This man is saying, “I have messed up horribly, by acting on my own accord. And yet, you remain FAITHFUL to me and hold my hand and walk me through my mistakes! My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; he is mine forever!”

When you and I go rogue and act out in our flesh, making stupid decisions for our lives, God is ever FAITHFUL towards us and He walks with us and holds our hands to guide us and reassure us that He is there and that He is watching over us and protecting us!

Even when we do not see Him or “sense” that He is there, He is. In fact, it is quite often in the midst of the most painful and harsh seasons in our live, where He seems the quietest and hardest to find!

And yet it is at the end of those times, when we realize that He was actually the closest to us.

So close in fact, that His presence is perceived as our own and we do not see where He stands and where He is walking.

Much like in the poem of “Footprints in the Sand” where the person dreams of seeing their life and their walk with God and throughout the journey, they noticed that there were two sets of footprints in the sand, showing them that God was walking beside them, every step of the way.

BUT, during the most trying and harsh and painful times in their life, they noticed that there was only one set of footprints in the sand.

And so saddened by this image, the person questions God and asks Him as to why, in the most painful places of their life, would God abandon them and them to walk alone in that painful place. To this, the Lord whispered to them:

"My precious child, I love you and will never leave you Never, ever, during your trials and testings. When you saw only one set of footprints, It was then that I carried you."

Trust me when I say, that you and I cannot mess up enough, that we will drive God away to abandon us, because He feels that we are too far gone or too hopeless! HIS FAITHFULNESS NEVER CEASES!

Even when we are making the most stupid of decisions for our lives, He is there working on our behalf.

I mentioned last Sunday that the blessings of God and perfect will for our lives as His children cannot be taken away and that we should walk in those blessings!

Paul tells us in Ephesians 1:3 that,

Ephesians 1:3 ESV

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,

If you are a child of God, then He has blessed you with every spiritual gift that you will ever need in your life and the life to come after!

And I like how the AMP says it in this same verse, where it reads, “Who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual (given by the Holy Spirit).”

Because of God’s great FAITHFULNESS, He has given to you and I, every spiritual blessing in this life that we will ever need. And not just blessed with what we need, but according to Ephesians 3:20, “infinitely more than we might ask or think.”

Despite what people may have said to you about your walk with the Lord and His great love and FAITHFULNESS to us, you cannot screw up enough, for Hims to ever abandon you.

In fact, II Timothy 2:12-14 says to us, “If we endure hardship, we will reign with him. If we deny him, he will deny us. If we are unfaithful, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny who he is.”

“He remains FAITHFUL”, because it is impossible for God to deny who He is. In other words, it is His nature and His character to be FAITHFUL to those who are His!

God perfectly displayed His FAITHFULNESS to us through His own son on the cross, almost 2,000 years ago!

That cannot be denied! The God of creation, set aside His position, came in the form of a man, and walked in FAITHFULNESS, to the cross of Calvary for you and me and every person that was, or would ever be!

The Bible tells us in Philippians 1:6, “that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” In other words, if you start with God and walk with Him, He is FAITHFUL and He will finish that walk with you! Again, the Bible says to us in 1Thessalonians 5:23-24,

1 Thessalonians 5:23–24 ESV

Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.

He will bring you to where He promised bring you! Which is to be with Him, glorified for all of eternity, hallelujah and amen!!!!

Even in the darkest and hardest of times, He will bring you to where you need to be, because He is FAITHFUL!

In Matthew, Mark and John, the Bible tells of a very well known account of Jesus walking on the water.

Elaborate on how John says that, “Then they were eager to let him in the boat, and immediately they arrived at their destination!

End with reading the lyrics to “Great Is Your Faithfulness”

Romans 1:16-17 tells us,

Romans 1:16–17 NKJV

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”

We, as His children, even when we make mistakes and do things that displease Him as our Father, we must continue on in our walk with Him in FAITH. We are to have FAITH in Him, because He is always FAITHFUL to us!!