Get to the Good Shelter 7-10-2022
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Trusting in Clean Water?
Trusting in Clean Water?
You may have heard the story of Naaman before. He was the a commander of the Syrian army and he had a little Hebrew girl as a servant or slave in his household
Naaman, even though he was a commander, he had leprosy, a bad skin disease all over his body.
One day the servant girl said, there was a prophet in Isreal who could cure him.
Naaman wasted no time arranging a trip to Isreal to ask the king for help.
Eventually he got sent to see Elisha.
Now, before he got there Elisha sent word to Naaman that if he washed/ you know dipped himself 7 times in the Jordan river, he would be healed.
Naaman got mad.
The prophet didn’t come out himself and talk to him.
The Jordan didn’t seem like a special river and
The task seemed too simple.
It appeared he expected some really hard task to do before he won his healing from leprosy.
He almost went home without getting any help.
What was Naaman trusting in?
Was he trusting in God?
No, he was trusting in his own hard work to do a hard task
Throughout your life, there will be:
scary times,
hard times
where you don’t like what is happening.
That is when you have to decide if we are going to trust in God, or something else.
Naaman was persuaded to go try the dipping 7 times in the Jordan and when he did
God healed him.
Let me pray for you.
Psalm 46
Psalm 46
1 God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
3 though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.
Can you picture the scene?
You are walking or standing and
your not on solid ground.
There is a landslide trying to take you away and in the distance you wee a whole mountain just sliding into the sea.
Talk about scary.
The sea is shaking and foaming
and the mountains remaining are shaking.
But God is with you!!!!!!!
You don’t fall!
There are countless ways we can have a crisis and feel like the ground beneath our feet is giving way.
Yet God is our refute and strength
And He is not far away,
even when we don’t feel Him near
God is always near,
closer than a brother.
4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells.
5 God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day.
6 Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
he lifts his voice, the earth melts.
7 The Lord Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
Many large cities are beside a large river or a lake.
It can be a source of drinking water, irrigation for crops and a method of transportation for people and goods.
The present and past Jerusalem,
is not beside a like.
No major river flows by it.
But God’s blessings were poured upon it greatly in the time of King David and King Solomon.
As long as the kings and the people were close to God, they were secure.
The New Jerusalem will have a river as you know.
1 Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.
and
1 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.
In verse 6 we moved into political upheaval
6 Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
he lifts his voice, the earth melts.
There is reason today to be concern with the world scene,
multiple countries taking steps to help or hurt other nations,
in Eastern Europe and
Even in the lover Americas.
Should we all panic?
Or trust God
8 Come and see what the Lord has done,
the desolations he has brought on the earth.
9 He makes wars cease
to the ends of the earth.
He breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
he burns the shields with fire.
10 He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”
11 The Lord Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
Sometimes wars end because of peace treaties.
Sometimes they end because God is in the fight.
Chariots have bogged down,
Equipment fails
Panic and chaos cause armies to fight each other
or to flee in terror because God amplified the sound of four lepers
walking to the enemy camp, desperate for food. (2 Kings 7:3-5)
In the midst of all these big concerns,
what advice does God give?
10 He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”
In the middle of a crisis, it’s not easy to be still and
trust God.
That may not mean we do nothing
but we choose to trust in God and
when you see he is working for your protection
praise his name.
Martin Luther
Martin Luther
The reformer Martin Luther had been a Catholic Priest,
but as he studied and learned from the scriptures we became convinced that men and women are justified before God, by faith.
Just like Abraham was in Genesis 15:6
6 Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
38 And,
“But my righteous one will live by faith.
And I take no pleasure
in the one who shrinks back.”
Martin was a teacher and he wrote down 95 These or propositions that included a strong challenge to the selling of indulgences,
that is permission to sin.
The church authorities of his day, were alarmed
by what he wrote and called him from Wittenberg Germany to a trial in the Worms, Germany.
One man wrote
Luther’s ramshackle cart wobbled its way to Worms, Germany, in April of 1521.
He had been summoned to appear before the Emperor and Catholic prelates to give an account of this new “heresy” he was teaching called “justification by faith alone.”
The learned Johann Eck laid out all of Luther’s writings and then asked Luther if he was prepared to recant.
Luther retired to his room that night to think over his answer.
His Bible fell open to Psalm 46. Luther returned the next morning to stand before his detractors.
In response to their call to recant, Luther responded:
“Unless I am convinced by Scripture and plain reason—I do not accept the authority of the popes and councils, for they have contradicted each other—my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and I will not recant anything for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. God help me. Amen.”
The Reformation was off and running.
Psalm 46 was Martin Luther’s favorite Psalm. During the dark and dangerous periods of the Reformation, Luther would turn to his trusted friend Philip Melanchthon and exclaim: “Let’s sing the 46th Psalm, and let the devil do his worst!” It inspired his great hymn “A Mighty Fortress is Our God.”
[ https://csbible.com/rest-psalm-46/ ] 7/9/2022
When was God Israels stronghold?
When was God Israels stronghold?
when the king and the people walked close to him.
the time of David
the time of Solomon
When was God’s protection removed?
When was God’s protection removed?
when the kings and the people wandered away from God.
Eventually, after many, many warnings and encouragements,
The Northern, and then the Southern kingdoms fell
were sent into exile
When is God a our refuge?
When is God a our refuge?
When we are trusting in Him and not walking away from Him.
How far can God be Trusted
How far can God be Trusted
All the way to eternity.
If you see those scary, end of the world events
like the stars being swept from the sky,
this old earth passing away
you can still be safe
trusting in God.
here are some other scriptures
7 The Lord is good,
a refuge in times of trouble.
He cares for those who trust in him,
and another
16 The Lord will roar from Zion
and thunder from Jerusalem;
the earth and the heavens will tremble.
But the Lord will be a refuge for his people,
a stronghold for the people of Israel.
We know that for His own purposes which may be, for building our character, God will allow things in our life that we wouldn’t choose.
So being right with God is not a guarantee against trouble in life.
there is security in trusting God
it really is solid, we can even be safe if the world dissolves we are safe in Christ.
1 Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.
But it is dependent upon our closeness to God
Isreal was safe, secure and expanding while they were close to God
But when they drifted away to other things, to other gods, they were not safe and secure
Crisis
Crisis
Are you facing a crisis right now?
Are you facing a crisis right now?
There are countless ways that can happen
finances
peer-pressure
family issues
Court
work pressures
Where do you find shelter/
where do you find relief?
money/ savings/ investments
video games
drinking or drugs
sexual per-suites
How is that going for you?
I know of only one sure Refuge and that is God!
Remember
1-3 There is a refuge It’s God, you have His word on it
4-7 There is a river that blesses. When your in relation with God
8-11 There is a reason For all that happens, maybe to build your character.
I don’t know, but God knows.
https://brackenhurstbaptist.co.za/shaken-but-singing/
Let’s Pray