Trust In the Lord At All Times

Welcome everyone back from the weather last week and prompt them to enjoy the potential weather that is coming tonight and through tomorrow evening!

I would like to thank everyone for their prayers and concern for me throughout this past week, as I have been down with crud!

Open in prayer!

If you have your Bibles with you this morning, would you take them and turn to the book of Psalm 146 and stand with me at this time please for the reading of the word. If you do not have a Bible, but rather are using a mobile device, or tablet, I will ask you to do the same for me, and turn to the passage in Psalm 146 and stand.

Before we read the scripture passage together, I would like for you to take your Bible, or the electronic form of the Word that you hold in your hand and hold it above your head and make the following declaration with me this morning.

“This is my Bible. I believe that this book and every word found within it are truly the living, breathing Words of almighty God! I know and believe that when I speak the words written in this book over my life and that of my family, that I am literally bringing the authority and power of heaven into the midst of our lives and into whatever situation may be taking place. I Believe that Jesus is the living, breathing Word of God! The Word of God is life, it is love, and it is power! This book was written with me in mind! Thank you God for your Word! Amen!”

Now, while you’re standing, go ahead and open up to the passage that I asked you to turn to, which was Psalm 146.

I want us to read together this morning, and we are going to do so the way that my church used to read the Word of God together on Sunday mornings year and years ago. I’m going to start off and read the odd verses and you will then read the even verses out loud together. For continuity, we are also going to have the verses put up on the screen, if anyone needs them there. Got it? Good, here we go!

Psalm 146,

Psalm 146 ESV

1 Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, O my soul! 2 I will praise the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being. 3 Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation. 4 When his breath departs, he returns to the earth; on that very day his plans perish. 5 Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God, 6 who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, who keeps faith forever; 7 who executes justice for the oppressed, who gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets the prisoners free; 8 the Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down; the Lord loves the righteous. 9 The Lord watches over the sojourners; he upholds the widow and the fatherless, but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin. 10 The Lord will reign forever, your God, O Zion, to all generations. Praise the Lord!

“The grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.” THANK YOU, YOU MAY BE SEATED.

Listen to the opening words of the psalmist here in chapter 146, “Praise the Lord!” Which is of course were we get the word, “hallelujah”, right. (Do any of you remember that song that we used to sing in Sunday school, that went: “Hallelu, hallelu, hallelu, hallelujah............PRAISE YE THE LORD”?)

And of course, if you’ll remember, whenever something was repeated in the oratory fashion, as well as in the writings, within Hebrew culture, it was like an exclamation point. It meant that the word or phrase being spoken was of importance and have special attention placed upon it, right?!

So, when the author starts off with the opening verses, Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, O my soul! I will praise the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being”, you’d better know and believe that this person meant for us to pay very close attention to that phrase!! AMEN?!!!

But the main emphasis on this morning’s message, comes not from those first two verses, but actually from the very next verse, verse 3, which says, “Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation.”

The Bible version that I read this from, is the ESV. If you read the NLT for this same verse, it reads as follows, “Don’t put your confidence in powerful people; there is no help for you there.”

Over the coarse of this past year, (and especially within the months leading into this last presidential election), I noticed something that has always existed, but never at the same level as what we just witnessed. (Or at least not in this country, as far back as I can remember.)

That certain something that I mention, is the way in which people were demonstrating how much they had placed their loyalty and trust into that of another person. That person, of course being the president of United States, and other high ranking offices in our government, but the president in particular.

And with the new administration having just taken office and all of the vast changes that have started happening over this past month and then with the drawn out and pointless tirade of the 2nd impeachment process, I watched and became even more aware of where countless millions of people in this nation were placing their trust and hope...........in a man, in a position and in a title!

Or, as the psalmist said it, in a “prince, in a son of man; in powerful people”!

I have been stuck in reading in the book of I Samuel over the last couple of weeks (specifically chapters 7-16) and although I am pretty familiar with this book, I couldn’t understand what it was that the Lord wanted me to focus on.

That is, until a couple of days ago, when one of my dear friends and brothers in Christ, sent me the link to a video that I had actually started days before, but never finished watching.

It was at the end of that video, that some of what I was trying to make sense of started clicking in my head.

And then yesterday morning I received yet another video link that took me to a certain pastor’s teaching on Romans chapter 1.

And it was there, that I began to see the direction and why I had been reading in the book of I Samuel.

In the book of I Samuel, chapters 7-16, you read of the rise of and then the progressive fall of the first king of Israel, the great king Saul. This of course led to the anointing of the second king of Israel, King David. Now there is obviously a lot that you could say and talk about within those ten chapters and that is why I was struggling to see what exactly it was that the Lord wanted me to focus upon.

One quick question for the Bible scholars here. I just mentioned that Saul was the first king over Israel and yet there is another king mentioned in the Bible before him. Can anyone explain this to me? (ANSWER: Abimelech was called the king of Shechem, which was a very important city found within the territory of the tribe of Ephraim. Abimelech was a son to the great judge of Israel, Gideon. But, Abimelech was a son to Gideon through a concubine of Gideon’s and not one of his wives. Abimelech killed his 70 other brothers, save one and then took the appointed title of the king of Shechem. Does this ring a bell with anyone? So, Abimelech was the first king listed, but not the first elected and anointed king over the nation of Israel!)

So, getting back to Saul and his rise and fall as king of Israel. Let’s take a brief look at how Saul became king and go from there.

How did Saul’s election take place to begin with? I mean, Israel had never operated with a king, per se, before, so how and why did Saul become one?

Well, I’m so glad that you asked me that question! If will turn in your Bibles to the book of I Samuel chapter 8, verses 1-5, and we will begin reading there.

I Samuel 8:1-5 says,

1 Samuel 8:1–5 ESV

1 When Samuel became old, he made his sons judges over Israel. 2 The name of his firstborn son was Joel, and the name of his second, Abijah; they were judges in Beersheba. 3 Yet his sons did not walk in his ways but turned aside after gain. They took bribes and perverted justice. 4 Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah 5 and said to him, “Behold, you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations.”

Now let me start here by saying that you will find a lot situations in reading this account in the Bible narrative, that mimic, or repeat other earlier events found in the Bible.

In fact, in reading throughout the Bible, you will see this happen time and time again, where one event is very similar to another.

Case and point, in the opening of this chapter, the Bible tells us that Samuel’s two sons did not walk in his ways, but turned aside after gain.

Samuel was in fact very familiar with this exact scenario, because the same thing happened early on in his lifetime with the priest Eli, who raised and trained Samuel in the ways of the Lord.

The Bible tells us in I Samuel 2 that Eli the priest had two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, and that they were worthless men, who not know the Lord and who did not fulfill their roles as priests under him.

Because of this, God rejected them and ultimately, it cost them their lives.

Samuel, as a boy witnessed all of this and was even given the prophetic word by God, as to what was going to happen to the sons.

So, at the start of chapter 8, you will see the sons of Samuel doing the same thing, as the sons of Eli; turning away from doing what was right and pursuing injustice and doing evil in the sight of God, while operating under the covering of the title that God had given them.

You see, Samuel was a judge over the nation of Israel, and his sons were being brought up under him and by him, to continue in his footsteps as judges.

Before Samuel was ever conceived, his mother, Hannah, prayed and asked God for a son. She promised God that if He would bless her with a son, that she would dedicate him to the Lord’s service and also that he would never have a razor touch his head.

Meaning that she was dedicating him under the vow of the Nazarite, as found in Numbers 6.

And in saying that Samuel was a prophet, his mother, after bringing him to Eli at the temple and fulfilling her vow to God to dedicate his life to God, she prayed a prayer to God and in this prayer, she prophesied of what was to come.

She said at the close of her prayer, “The Lord will judge the ends of the earth; he will give strength to His king and exalt the horn of His anointed.”

There was no king yet in Israel and God’s anointed had not yet been made manifest!

So, back to our passage and back to how Saul became the first king over the nation of Israel.

When the people saw that Samuel’s sons were not following in his footsteps, they came to Samuel and said, “You are now old, and your sons are not like you. Give us a king to judge us like all the other nations have.”

So, the people came to Samuel and declared that they wanted a king, so that they could be like all of the other nations!

Now watch what happens here, when Samuel hears of the nation’s demand for a king. In continuing our passage in I Samuel 8:6-9 we read the following,

1 Samuel 8:6–9 ESV

6 But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” And Samuel prayed to the Lord. 7 And the Lord said to Samuel, “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. 8 According to all the deeds that they have done, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are also doing to you. 9 Now then, obey their voice; only you shall solemnly warn them and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them.”

Did you see and hear what the Lord said to Samuel?

“Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being king over them.”

And it’s here, with the nation of Israel, making their open declaration, that they wanted a physical king ruling over them, and not God, that we will really focus.

The Lord God made it clear to Samuel that it was not His will for the people to make a man their king; that His will was for His people to have Him as their king. Not a man, like all of the other nations, because God had not chosen for Himself “all of the other nations” for Himself, but only Israel did He choose to be His nation and His chosen people.

And now, His nation and His people were openly rejecting Him as their king! God said to Samuel in verse 8, “Ever since I brought them from Egypt they have continually abandoned me and followed other gods.”

God who is sovereign and omniscient and knows everything from start to finish, had already seen this event coming and had already put a plan into place. From the earthly lineage of a king, God was going to bring about One who would come and establish the kingdom of God on earth and that One would reign and rule as King over the earth, forever!

But the king whom His anointed One would come from, was not to be Saul and you will find this out as you read through the book of I Samuel.

I believe that the Lord allowed Saul to come into being and rise to power, to make a point to the people.

That just as the people had rejected God as their one true king, so also would this “man-made” king reject God and ultimately reject the people, as he would turn his focus inward and on his own wants and desires!

For this reason, God told Samuel to warn the people of what is would mean and what it would cost them if they had an earthly king ruling over them.

Look at what God told Samuel to warn the people about in I Samuel 8:10-18,

1 Samuel 8:10–18 NLT

10 So Samuel passed on the Lord’s warning to the people who were asking him for a king. 11 “This is how a king will reign over you,” Samuel said. “The king will draft your sons and assign them to his chariots and his charioteers, making them run before his chariots. 12 Some will be generals and captains in his army, some will be forced to plow in his fields and harvest his crops, and some will make his weapons and chariot equipment. 13 The king will take your daughters from you and force them to cook and bake and make perfumes for him. 14 He will take away the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his own officials. 15 He will take a tenth of your grain and your grape harvest and distribute it among his officers and attendants. 16 He will take your male and female slaves and demand the finest of your cattle and donkeys for his own use. 17 He will demand a tenth of your flocks, and you will be his slaves. 18 When that day comes, you will beg for relief from this king you are demanding, but then the Lord will not help you.”

You see, once a human is given the title and position of leader, of head authority, of king, of monarchy, dictator, whatever you like, and God is not the core, central figure in the hearts of the people and over that nation, then the devil has much room to work.

The Bible tells us what the heart of every human is like in Jeremiah 17:9, it says,

Jeremiah 17:9 ESV

9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?

There is no man, or woman who’s heart is pure before the Lord and without God being the source from which we draw our strength and help and moral guidance, then that leader and that nation are destined to fail and fall into sin!

You know when you look at that list of things that God warned the people about as to what would happen if the took for themselves a king, it sounds an awful lot like a socialistic/communistic style government, doesn’t it?

I mean isn’t that what happens when socialism and communism take over?

The people work and the government takes the best and leaves the people just enough to get by!

Free enterprise doesn’t exist anymore. Capitalism and the ability to build and make for yourself a better life, doesn’t exist, because your loyalty and everything that you have, belongs to them!

And that is exactly what God warned the people about!

And yet, look at how the people responded, even after being warned about what they would lose if a earthly king began to rule over them.

In verse 19 of our passage, as soon as Samuel issued the warning to the people of what it would mean and what it would cost them to have an earthly king, the people responded with, “Even so, we still want a king. We want to be like the nations around us. Our king will judge us and lead us into battle.”

The people had completely ignored and forgotten that up until this point, God had always led His people into battle and with miraculous victories, as long as they were following Him.

In fact, in chapter 7, just before this chapter, we read of how God had miraculously defeated the Philistine army before the nation of Israel.

Why then would the people want a man ruling over them, vs the one true God, who blesses and heals and delivers and restores?

Why, when you have been told and shown that a man/government ruling over you will only bring about sorrow and loss, would you reject God, who has already proven time and time again that He blesses those who serve Him and punished those who disobey Him?

And it comes back to the heart of mankind. When we begin to look and desire through our natural, physical eyes, we will always gravitate away from God, because we think we know what is best in or natural minds.

Proverbs 14:12, says it this way,

Proverbs 14:12 ESV

12 There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.

A nation who is under the hand of almighty God and who clings to Him and His precepts is a blessed nation.

As Psalm 33:12 says, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD.”

But when a nation turns from God and His Word and His way, then that blessing is lifted!

When a nation would rather be like other nations and follow the way of men, vs following the will of God, then you are looking at doomed nation!

Psalm 118:8,

Psalm 118:8 ESV

8 It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man.

Jeremiah 17:5,

Jeremiah 17:5 ESV

5 Thus says the Lord: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the Lord.

There is no blessing and there is no future for any nation, who rejects the sovereignty and will of God. History has proven it and the Bible has declared it!

The only reason that the United States has been the great nation that it has been, is because of our adopting and believing in God’s perfect Word as the core of who and what we are, “One nation under God!”

And because we have stood beside and defended and allied ourselves with God’s chosen nation of Israel and thus received the promise of God to Israel, where He told Abraham, “And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse.”

But that time as a blessed nation is rapidly coming to a halt.

Not because of politics and political parties, not because of who did or didn’t win the political race, but rather because this nation had turned from the face of God!

Now I know that there are millions of people in this country who still love and serve God and for that reason, we have still existed as the great nation that we are. But, as a nation and the direction that we are moving, both in the government, as well as in that of the people, we are rapidly departing from moral compass of the God’s Word.

I’m not here to argue with anyone about our nation and our about government and who we are and what we are, but we are not passing legislation that accords with and aligns with God and His Word! And once you start at the top, at the head of a nation and begin to make laws and rules that go against the Word of God, then without repentance, you are a doomed nation!

Too many people in this nation have become so caught up in keeping their eyes and hearts focused upon the president and the leaders of this nation, and putting their reliance and trust upon these figures, that they haven’t even noticed that they are no longer listening to and seeking after God and His will!

We began to go after what we wanted and what we thought was right and in the process, we became just like Israel in I Samuel 8 and we replaced the God of heaven with our own man-made ruler!

And in the process, we replaced the great “I AM”, with the powerless and destructive “i am”:

“I am strong”

“I am wise”

“I am in control”

“I am captain of my own vessel”

We desire what we want, thinking that we are gaining freedom, but in the end, we become more bound in slavery than we could ever imagine!

C.S. Lewis once wrote, “The lost enjoy forever the horrible freedom they have demanded, and are therefore self-enslaved!”

We, as a nation, have done the very thing that Romans 1 warns nations of; we have begun to suppress the TRUTH.

That although we knew God, we stopped honoring Him as God, or giving thanks to Him, and we have become futile in our own thinking and our nation’s heart has become darkened!

Now you may choose to say that this is not the case and that we are rising back to the great nation that we once were, but our government and the legislation that it is pushing out says otherwise!

LiaWhen the nation brags about having the first transgender and openly homosexual men and women serving as its leaders and when more and more government funding and rights are being allocated to the slaughtering of innocent babies, I do not see any repentance and godliness in that.........ANYWHERE!!!!!

Romans 2:2-6, plainly states,

Romans 2:2–6 NLT

2 And we know that God, in his justice, will punish anyone who does such things. 3 Since you judge others for doing these things, why do you think you can avoid God’s judgment when you do the same things? 4 Don’t you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can’t you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin? 5 But because you are stubborn and refuse to turn from your sin, you are storing up terrible punishment for yourself. For a day of anger is coming, when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. 6 He will judge everyone according to what they have done.

Listen to me church, there is so much on this subject that I want to say and teach on and talk about. There is much in dealing with nation of Israel and its rejection of God as their king and of how that relates to this nation and of where we are right now! And maybe in the coming weeks, we will continue to look some more into I Samuel and of what all transpired and it relation to where we are right now!

But for now, this is what I want to say and stress. We must get our minds off of all of the garbage going on and get focused upon what really matters. We have a short period of time remaining to lead as many people as possible to the Christ!

There has never existed in this nation before , such a great opportunity for salvation, as there exists today!

And this is because so many in this nation have walked away and even been led astray from God and from His Word!

And because of this, the harvest is plentiful!

This nation desperately needs to repent and TURN from its wickedness to survive, but even if that doesn’t happen, we have the opportunity and the mandate, to declare the TRUTH and the FULLNESS of God’s Word and gospel message of Jesus Christ to everyone around us!

I want you to join with me in beginning to pray about how we can begin to effectively minister to our community! I don’t care if it is large tent meetings set up all over the county, I don’t care if its parking lot meetings here where we bring in the lost, but will you please join with me in beginning to earnestly pray and seek God’s guidance on how we can do this?