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Collierville First Baptist Church
[01:00:01;46 - 01:01:38;14]
Can anything be more important in a believer's life? My trusting journey began when I was 20 years old at Mississippi State, and I received Jesus as my Savior Lord, and I trusted him to forgive my sins, to change my life, and to direct my life, and to help me to live for him until he calls me home to glory. Throughout mine and Darlene's family and our relationship, we've had to make some big decisions, and those decisions were made on our knees as we prayed, and we asked the Lord to direct our paths, to give us wisdom and discernment. Maybe the biggest one since my salvation was when God called me to be a pastor. I never will forget that. You talking about spending time on our knees. We wore out the carpet. We were asking the Lord to give us wisdom and discernment, and we trusted him. We trusted him when Heather, our daughter, as a little baby, had to be carried to the university hospital in Jackson with a heart problem.
[01:01:39;29 - 01:02:24;12]
Man, you talking about praying and trusting God, we asked him to heal our baby, and he did. Praise God. I say all that to say this. Trusting God is one of the most essential things we can do as a born again believer. In Psalm 4, verse 5, David wrote this, "Offer the sacrifices of righteousness and trust in the Lord." In Psalm 37, verses 3 to 5, the Bible says, "Trust in the Lord and do good. Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.
[01:02:25;17 - 01:03:12;15]
Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord." Now listen, "Trust also in him and he will do it." Psalm 118, verse 8, "It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man." Can I get an amen on that one? The Old Testament scriptures give you examples of what trusting God looks like. I'm reminded of Abraham, one of the great fathers of faith. And Abraham was commanded by God to take Sarah and to come to a land
[01:03:13;25 - 01:06:09;54]
without even God even telling him where he was going. God said, "When you get there, I'll tell you." And you know what Abraham and Sarah did? They obeyed God. They trusted God. Then God promised Abraham that even though he and Sarah were way beyond childbearing age, they promised him that they would have a son of their own. And years later, years later, about 25 years later, God kept his promise and he gave them a son and they named him Isaac. Now that is an example of someone who learned the value of trusting God. Noah was commanded by God to build an ark, a gigantic ship designed to put examples or samples of all the animals in the world and to take his own family of eight people and to survive a worldwide flood. Do you realize that Noah took 120 years to build that ark? That's faith. He didn't have any electric power or anything like that. He did it the hard way, but every day he got up and he trusted God. There's no better way to live your life than to trust God. Now, when we talk about trusting God, we're talking about personal trust, but we're also talking about corporate trust where we as a church, as we make huge decisions, trust the Lord. So today I'm going to preach a very simple passage. It's a passage that's so simple that it was the key passage that was taught for several nights at kids camp. Proverbs chapter three verses five and six. But it's a passage that is relevant for every person in this room, whether you're a child or whether you're a senior adult or somewhere in between. I'll tell you the words of these two verses cling to our heart because they speak to a need that all of us have. Every person within the sound of my voice needs for God to direct their lives. Every church needs God's direction.
[01:06:11;10 - 01:08:52;32]
Making good decisions will have huge implications in our personal lives and in the corporate life of this body. On the other hand, making poor decisions without trusting God, without going to him and asking his direction and guidance, making poor decisions will have horrific implications for each person and for the church as a whole. So here's what the Bible says, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your path straight." So my takeaway truth today, the truth I want you to take home, the truth I want you to talk about around the lunch table, the dinner table tonight, the truth it is, trust the Lord. Three words, trust the Lord. Now I'm going to unpack that for you so you'll have some opportunity to really talk about trusting the Lord in a very significant way with your family. The first thing I want us to see about this text and this truth is this. Number one, the explanation of trust. What does the Bible mean? What does this Hebrew word mean? Trust. It's a verb. Now life can be complex. Would you agree with me? Making a good decision can become very clouded by our own short-sighted knowledge and understanding and even by the well-meaning advice of others, whether we ask for it or not. You do know that some people will give you advice whether you ask for it or not. And not every piece of advice is good advice and not everything that we think in our own minds is good and truth. Now here's what we need. We need for God to direct our lives. Impatience can go to us into making rash decisions that we would learn to regret. So let's think about this word trust right here in Hebrew chapter three. It literally means, the word trust literally means to lean with a full body
[01:08:54;06 - 01:15:16;55]
to lay upon. Imagine that you go home tonight and you're sleepy and tired and you put your full weight on the mattress. Now I don't think anybody in this room sleeps with half your weight on the mattress and half your weight on the floor. You don't do that, do you? No, you crawl into that bed, you're sleepy, you're tired and you put all of your weight on that mattress because you want to go to sleep. Well, that's what this word trust means. It means to lay upon, to rest the full weight upon, to trust in the Lord is to rest your whole weight on him. Listen, let me put it simply. Trust means to depend upon God completely, completely. Notice it says, trust in the Lord with all your heart. You see that word all? That word all in the Hebrew means all. Okay. The Bible uses the word heart to refer to the entirety of a person. In fact, if you were to take that concept, it would refer to your emotions, your will, and your intellect. That's your all. And so we're to trust in the Lord with everything we have. Your entire purpose for living is wrapped up in the Lord, our God. In Matthew 22, verse 37, Jesus said to his disciples, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. That's that concept of all right there in verse 37 of chapter 22. Ray Pritchard wrote this, and I quote, he said, when you take the word lean, notice it said, lean not on your own understanding. That's the negative part here. The positive part is to trust in the Lord with all your heart. The negative part is lean not on your own understanding. So Ray Pritchard said, when you take the negative part of the word lean and bring in the idea of understanding, then add the negative that says not on your own understanding, then the negative, the meaning of something like this, use all your mental powers, but do not lean on them for total support. Don't trust in your own ability to figure out your life. Lean instead on the Lord, rest your weight on him. I love what Dwight L. Moody, the great pastor in Chicago at Moody church said. He said, trust in yourself and you are doomed to disappointment. Have you ever found that to be true? There've been moments in my life when I have made decisions where I've trusted in my own intellect, my own emotions, and my own will. And those have been some of the most disappointing points in my life. So Dwight Moody said, trust in yourself and you are doomed to disappointment. Trust in your friends and they will die and leave you. Trust in money and you may have it taken from you. Trust in your reputation and some slanderous tongue may blast it, but trust in God. Dwight L. Moody said, trust in God and you are never going to be confounded in time or eternity. Now let me ask you a question. Can you, as a Christian, can you really trust God when he confronts you about a sin in your life that he wants you to confess and forsake? Can you trust him? Can you agree with God or do you find yourself making excuses? Do you find yourself looking for loopholes? No, listen, if you're going to trust God, you got to trust him when he confronts you about a sin that he wants you to confess and forsake. Can you trust him when you go through a great trial in your life? Every person in this room will go through a great trial in your life at some point or another. The question is this, can you trust the Lord in those moments? And can you trust him when he expects you to forgive somebody who's hurt you? I think one of the greatest sins in the body of Christ today that keeps us from experiencing genuine revival is the sin of unforgiveness. We get hurt, we sin, and we refuse to forgive the person who has wounded us even though the Bible says that we're to forgive others because God has forgiven us in Christ Jesus. We got to forgive. So can you trust God? Now look, this is a conscious choice not to be self-reliant. Proverbs tells us that our feelings and our wisdom are unreliable. In Proverbs 14 verse 12, the Bible says there's a way which seems right to a man, but its end is a way of death. I mean, we chart out our own course. We make our own decisions and we find out too late that that decision was a horrible decision. And there are negative repercussions. In Proverbs 28 verse 26, the Bible says, "He who trusts in his own heart is a fool." Now I didn't say that. I read to you right out of the Bible. The Bible says if you trust in your own heart,
[01:15:18;18 - 01:18:33;47]
you're a fool. The smartest thing we can do is to trust the world in every way and every day. So the question that looms big this morning is this. Are you willing, are we as a church willing to submit our feelings and the prevailing wisdom of the world to the Word of God and the will of God? That's what it means to trust the Lord. You can never adjust your life to the will of God unless you are ready to trust him implicitly. So here's the key truth, trust the Lord. And this involves the number one, the explanation of trust, but number two, it involves the exercise of trust. We can't know what trust is in that and be satisfied with that. We've got to exercise in a very tangible way that our trust in the Lord. Listen to what the amplified version, how it translates verse six. I like this. Verse six, "Do not rely on your own insight or understanding. In all your ways know," K-N-O-W, "recognize and acknowledge him." Now let's look at those two words, "acknowledge him." What do they mean in the Hebrew language? There are some important insights locked into the Hebrew language there that I want you to see. "Acknowledge him" means to know him. To know him, K-N-O-W, to have an intimate acquaintance with the Lord, to be aware of him, to know God is to be in relationship with him. And knowledge of God involves a reverent obedience to him. The Hebrew word here also has the idea of to advise. Are you looking for an advisor? You got a problem. You got a decision that weighs heavily on your heart. We as a church have a huge decision to make and we need an advisor. I'll tell you what, we have the perfect advisor. He is the Lord our God and we can trust him. Now it means to ask God for his advice. It means to recognize the power of God. It means to admit the supremacy of God. It means to defer to the wisdom of God. It means to receive the goodness of God. It means to submit to the authority of God. It means to experience the love of God and to accept the answers of God.
[01:18:34;50 - 01:22:31;30]
Notice it says, "In all your ways acknowledge him." Know him in a very intimate way. Now in all your ways means that's every day. That's not just Sunday morning. That's every day of our lives. That means to acknowledge him and not only every day, but every way. You see, when you were saved, when you repented of your sin and placed your faith in Jesus, you received him as both savior and get this now, Lord. The word Lord means boss and master. I want you to know that we're to acknowledge the Lordship of Christ over our finances. We're to acknowledge the Lordship of Christ over our families. We're to acknowledge the Lordship of Christ over our careers. We're to acknowledge the Lordship of Christ over our education. We're to acknowledge the Lordship of Christ over our friendships. Over every area of our lives. It means this, it means to have the Christ. Can I say this to you? Nothing in your life is too small for our Lord's loving attention. He loves you. Every aspect of your life, you may say, well, it's a little thing, pastor. Can I tell you Jesus is concerned about the little things in your life and he's concerned about the big things in your life. So let me ask you a question. Do you pray about the decisions you make? Do you? We just corporately prayed about a huge decision that this church is going to make, but do you do that on an individual level? Do you pray about taking out a loan from the bank? Do you pray about where your children will go to school? Do you pray about the big things and the little things in your life? This is what it means to in all your ways, acknowledge him. Listen, just one unyielded area of your life can have devastating consequences in your life. So yield it all to the Lord. Trust him. So we've looked at the explanation of trust and the exercise of trust. Now I want you to see thirdly, the expectation of trust. Notice it says in verse six, he, I love this, he will make your path straight. The word straight in the Hebrew language means to smooth out. It means to make level or to remove the obstacles in preparing a roadway. I remember when I was in college and I'd proposed to Darlene, I needed to make some money to buy her ring. So I worked for Hayes Construction Company in Tupelo, Mississippi, uh, the summer before we got married. I'm going to tell you what, you know what my first job was? We were building the Natchez Trace from Tupelo up, up further had a section that Hayes Construction Company was responsible for. My job that when the, the, the, the, the, the big, the big, uh, tractors came in with the dirt for the roadway. My job, and it was an important one, was to go and get the roots out of the dirt and carry them to the side and burn them. That was my job.
[01:22:32;40 - 01:22:53;33]
I was a root picker upper, but you know what? If that road was going to be a smooth road without huge cavernous potholes, you had to get the roots up because if they rotted under there, after you paved over it, it would cause a huge pothole.
[01:22:55;32 - 01:27:49;07]
Man, I tell you, I worked myself to the bones, but I tell you what, I bought that sister a ring. Amen. So that's what it means here. That's what this, this word straight means. It means to smooth out, to make level, to remove the obstacles in preparing a roadway. It means that, that God will give our life direction, purpose, focus, and fulfillment. I find it truly amazing that our Lord longs to lead us and guide us throughout our lives. Isn't that amazing? Man, he loves us so much that he wants us to get it right. He wants us to make good decisions both individually and corporately as a body of Christ. Now, because it is the Lord, our God, who gives us this, this direction, we know that the way he leads us is invaluable. I mean, it's perfect. So how does he, the Bible says in Proverbs 16, three, commit your works to the Lord and your plans will be established. So how does God direct us individually and corporately? How does he direct us? How does he direct us to the path he wants us to walk on? Well, he does it by the word of God. You see the only way you'll ever know the will of God is through the word of God. That's why we must study our Bibles. That's why we ought to be involved in a connect class. That's why we ought to be in worship to hear the word of God taught and preached and to apply it to our lives. So how does he direct us by the word of God, by the Holy Spirit? Every born again believer in this room has the indwelling Holy Spirit of God. And the Holy Spirit wants you to follow God's plan for your life. He wants to show you that smooth pathway that the Lord has planned for you. So you'll stay off of those God forsaken back roads. Okay. And so he directs us by the word of God, by the Holy Spirit, and listen, by the counsel of Godly believers. You ought to have a cadre of Godly believers in your sphere of influence and you ought to ask them when you've got a big decision to make, you ought to go to them and say, "Hey guys, would you pray for me?" Tell them the decision. Ask them to pray and to give you direction and guidance. That's what God directs us, directs us to his path. I'll tell you, you can claim this last principle here and he will make your path straight if you meet the conditions that we've already talked about in the earlier part of the sermon. Now God has not saved you by spilling the blood of his son on the cross of Calvary in order that you may live the way you want to live and do what you want to do and be who you want to be. He has spilled the blood of his son on the cross of Calvary. He saved your soul so that you would deny yourself, take up your cross daily and follow the Lord Jesus Christ. He has a plan for your life. I'm not saying that your life will be free from pain. I'm not saying that your life will be free from problems, but I am saying this, the Lord God is calling you to the adventure of living for him and it is an adventure. It is a wonderful adventure. He's calling you to bear much fruit for his glory. So I want you to live out this one truth we've hammered home today. I want you to talk about it in your family. I want you to live it out in your family. I want you to live it out individually. And I want this church to live out this principle in a very tangible way. What is that principle? Trust the Lord. Trust the Lord. We've looked at the explanation of trust. We've looked at the exercise of trust and we've looked at the expectation of trust. Now let me ask you a question. Have you trusted what the Lord says about salvation?
[01:27:50;51 - 01:28:29;55]
I'm afraid there's a lot of people in the world today who have sort of come up with their own, in their own minds of the way of salvation. There's some people who say, well, if my good works outweigh my bad works, I can be saved. Or if I go to church, I can be saved. Can I tell you this? There's only one way of salvation. That's the way that God has revealed to us. When Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the father, but through me. God, the father was willing to sacrifice his son on the cross
[01:28:31;20 - 01:32:48;26]
in order to save your soul and to make sure that your sins could be forgiven. And God raised him from the dead. He's alive and he offers eternal life and abundant life to you. That's his will for your life. And now I'm asking you today, will you, will you embrace God's plan of salvation and quit trying to chart your own course? In just a minute, I'm going to ask the staff to come. In fact, I'm going to ask staff to come right now. I'm going to ask the worship team to come and we're going to ask you to respond. If you're here today and you've never repented of your sin and placed your faith in Jesus, listen as savior and Lord, come to one of these staff members and tell them that today you want to be saved. So we're talking about trusting the Lord. Have you trusted what he says about salvation? Have you trusted what he says about church membership? You say, well, the church is not important to me. Well, can I tell you it's important to Jesus? It's so important that he says that he is the head of the church and we are the body of Christ. Is God speaking to you about becoming a member of this church? I want to encourage you in just a moment to come to one of these staff members and tell them that today you want to become a part of a Bible believing Christ honoring mission minded church. We'd love to have you join us shoulder to shoulder and be a part of building the kingdom of our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ. Surrender to his will, his word and his way. But what about some moral issue? Maybe there's a moral issue in your life that nobody in this church knows about. It may be a teenager and there's a moral issue in your life and your parents don't know about it or maybe it's an adult or there's a moral issue in your life. Nobody knows about it. But can I tell you there's one who knows about it. His name is the Lord Jesus Christ. He's omniscient. He knows everything. And I'm asking you today to give him his word, his way in your life and just come and just ask him to forgive you and to give you victory over this stronghold in your life. Or maybe, just maybe there's somebody here and God's got a purpose and plan for your life. He's calling you to get out of your comfort zone and to do something you've never done before and it scares you to death. That's okay. Scared me to death when he called me to be a pastor. But you know what we did? We put our yes on the altar. That's what I'm asking you today to do today. Put your yes on the altar and whatever the Lord wants to do with your life, say, "Lord, I'll do it. I'll do it for your glory." So you come and you just bow before the Lord here, confess any sin or surrender to any purpose he has for your life. Say, "Lord, my yes is on the altar. I'll do whatever you want me to do." I tell you, that is a freeing moment in your life when you come to that point. There's nothing better in life than to know that you're in the sweet spot of God's will for you. So let me pray and you come as God leads you. Heavenly Father, I pray that we would trust you. I pray, Lord, that we would trust you with all of our heart. Lord, have your way in our lives today. Change life, change hearts, change destinies here today, Lord. In Jesus' name, amen. Let's stand. We're going to come as God leads you.