Each Day Already is a Challenge

Monday...Sharing Sermon Notes

I wrote so many notes yesterday, that I'm having a bit of trouble reading reading my own handwriting. Early on in my struggles with back and neck pain, I started losing strength in my left arm and hand. And I'm left handed! My writing today looks nothing like it did just ten years ago. And sometimes I do have trouble reading it.

While I'm getting my notes organized and trying to remember what my chicken scratch says, why don't you do this. Write down five things that are important to you. You can work on that a minute while I figure out my notes.

..........................................................................................................................................................
......................................................................................................................................................

Oh, are you finished? Got your list? Good. We'll use that in just a minute.

Here goes:

Part 3 - Building Character - Trust in God

The pastor reminded us that last week's sermon was about truth decay. This sermon was about trusting God, what happens when we don't, and how to be more trusting.

Now grab your list. What was the first thing you wrote down? Whatever it is, that's what you worship most. Hopefully, it was God, although lots of folks don't put God first. Many folks put God in a box and bring him out when they need Him. Sound familiar? That's a genie, not God!

Psalms 5:11 Let those rejoice who put their trust in you.

If you have placed anything or anyone at the top of your list, other than God, you have built an idol to that thing or person.

Augustine defined idolatry as worshiping what ought to be used and using what ought to be worshiped.

Mistrust = the result of missing the only reliable source of trust - God.

Discouragement will keep us down.

We get discouraged when we expect ANYTHING OR ANYONE other than God to meet our needs.

Habakuk 2:15 NIV
Of what value is an idol? For he who makes it trusts in his own cration; he makes idols that cannot speak.

Isaiah 44:20 NLT
The poor, deluded fool feeds on ashes. He is trusting something that can give him no help at all. Yet he cannot bring himself to ask, "Is this thing, this idol that I'm holding in my hand a lie?"

Domination will keep us down.

1 Corinthians 12:2 GN
...you were controlled by dead idols, who led you astray.

Do you exist for God, or does God exist for you?

Distrust = the difficulties in trustig God.

You don't trust somebody you don't know!

Psalms 9:10 NCV
Those who know the Lort trust him, because he will not leave those who come to him.

How do you gain trust in God? Get to know Him. Read the Owner's Manual! God didn't edit the
Owner's Manual, He wrote it!!!

Did you know that if you read the Bible just 15 minutes a day, you can read the whole Bible in a year? Or if you stopped watching TV for three hours a night and, instead, read the Bible, you could read the entire Bible through once a month????! Hmmm. And we say we don't have time???

You can't know somebody if you have misinformation.

Popular myths about God's character:

1) Heavenly Killjoy

People think that God is out to keep us from having fun. It's not true!

2) Celestial Santa

People also think that God is just there to give us what we want. That's not true either. He is not a
magical catalog of stuff. You can't just push a button and expect God to provide whatever it is like
He's a vending machine.

There are other myths about God. These are just two of the most popular.

And you know what? Dad's not happy when we misrepresent Him.

Entrust = our motivation for giving God a chance.

We can trust God to be candid. God IS truth. He cannot lie or misrepresent truth.

Hebrews 6:18 TLB
He has given us both his promise and his oath, two things we can completely count on, for it is
impossible for God to tell a lie.

We can trust God to be caring. God IS Love.

1 John 4:16, 18 NLT
We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in him. God is love...Such love
has no fear because perfect love expels all fear.

The best demonstartion of God's love for us is....Jesus.

Fears of non-believers:

1) no freedom
Wrong! We have freedom to choose. Just not freedom from consequences. God allows us
to make really dumb choices, but we cannot escape the consequences of those stupid acts.

Do we have freedom? Check out the TV shows any day of the week. Things don't shock us
like they used to 30 years ago. America has forgotten how to blush. We have the freedom
to do wrong and to be evil.

2) no fun
Wrong! No one has more fun that a sober Christian!

3) fanaticism.
Wrong! The American Heritage Dictionary defines fanaticism as, "excessive, irrational zeal."
A Christian might have zeal, but it's rational. He knows the character of God and is excited about it!

We can trust God because He is in control. He has the Will, the Purpose, and the
Strength to carry out His Will and Purpose.

It doesn't matter what our opinion is of God.
What matters is WHO GOD REALLY IS.
What is Truth?

I love how God works. Our small groups are NOT following the pastor's sermon series right now. Or so we thought. Each small group has chosen something to study this time, rather than all studying the same thing. We're studying the book of 1 Thessalonians in my small group. So far, we've only gotten through Chapter 1. And don't you know that last night we talked about idols?