Last week I shared my Pastor's sermon about Time.  Last year the THEME for our church was "You Have TIME"...  This Sunday Pastor shared the first sermon in the series of sermons that will be a recurring theme for 2007...  "Trust in the Lord With All oYour Heart."

This was actually a big theme of my own life for the past several years!  I even taught a lesson on WHOLE-HEARTEDNESS to my Sunday School students just last week! So, it was with great interest that I took the following notes:  [words in brackets are MY notes]

Proverbs 3:5-8 (NIV)

"Trust in the Lord with all yor heart and lean not on your own understanding;

In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight.

Do not be wise in your own eyes;

fear the Lord and shun evil.

This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones."

[note: READ all of chapter 3...  excellant chapter!  And I dislike taking scripture out of context!]

Trust is the TRUE reflection of our relationship with God more than anything else. Trust is not automatic.  It grows.

[Faith is believing without seeing.  TRUST is putting said FAITH into ACTION!]

We won't experience all of God's blessings, benefits and rewards without TRUST.

This generation needs to learn to TRUST the Lord more than any before.

[especially since the younger generations have been increasingly taught to trust human wisdom.]

Thake hold of this principle of TRUST.

WHY do we struggle in this area?

Trust vs. Mistrust is the first stage in many child developmental models.  Parents shape a child's trust concept from birth.

At some point our trust has been betrayed and our ability to trust is weakened.

We wil ask [maybe unconsciously] Can I trust GOD?  God knows we struggle and as we ask that question [honestly, not rebelliously] we can build a relationship with Him.  He doesn't expect us to be naiive.  He wants the opportunity to prove His trustworthiness to us through a growing, maturing relationship. 

Humans will fail us but [despite how it SEEMS] God's plan for us is TRUSTWORTHY.

Three (of the MANY) REASONS we can trust GOD

We can trust in God b/c of HIs DIVINE ATTRIBUTES!

1. He is always the SAME/unchanging.

Malachi 3:6a "I, the LOrd, do not change..."

[Focus on what is ETERNAL rather than temporal.  Situations are temporal.  God and HIS overall plan is ETERNAL and trustworthy.]

God cannot improve b/c He is perfect and being perfect He cannot change for the worse.

He is dependable and reliable.  He is the ROCK of our salvation' unmoveable.

Humans have LEVELS of trust.  YOu many be able to trust them with $5, but not with $5000.  People change with emotions; mood swings, etc.

He will always react the same way everytime.  He is consistent and reliable.

2. God is HOLY.

REv. 15:4

"Who will not fear you, O LOrd, and bring glory to your name? For you ALONE are HOLY.  All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed."

Only God is fully holy.  Only God is toally above reproach and has absolutely NO sin nature.

In Him we will find NO defilement. His NATURE IS holiness.  He does not need to practice it or DO it...  He IS it!

3. God is TRUTHFUL

John 16:13 [refers to the Holy Spirit]

"Butwhen he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on HIs own; He will speak only what He hears, and He will tell you what is yet to come."

He is not just truthFUL, He is TRUTH itself.

[He is the WAY, the TRUTH and the LIFE.]

Numbers 23:19

"God is not a man, that he should lie,

nor a son of man, that he should change his mind.

Does he speak and then not act?

Does he promise and not fulfill?"

God is distinguished from humans by his inability to lie/change his mind/ break His promises.

God is not Fallen as we are.  He is fully trustworthy.

Illustration:

A man falls from a cliff and is dangling by a bush.  He calls for help and hears a voice telling him to let go and HE will catch him.  He asks the voice who he is.  The voice says I AM the LORD...  trust me...  just let go and I will catch you.  The man begins again to call for help...  "Is there ANYONE ELSE who can help me?" 

Trust God with your WHOLE life and your whole ETERNITY.

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