Notes from “Big” Meeting

Prov.3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

“Trust is not a passive state of mind. It is a vigorous act of the soul by which we choose to lay hold on the promises of God and cling to them despite the adversity that at times seeks to overwhelm us.” - Jerry Bridges

1. Who we Trust – “Trust in the Lord”

a. Trust in God who is all-powerful

Dan. 4:35 – all the inhabitants of the earth are considered as nothing (they are not meaningless) it means that all of the inhabitants of the earth cannot diminish or thwart what God can do and wants to do… for He does according to His will…and no on can keep His hand from doing what He wills or charge God for what He has done.

Jer. 32:17; 26-27 'Ah, Lord God! It is you who has made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you…. The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: "Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me?

Isa. 26:4 "Trust in the LORD forever, For in GOD the LORD, {we have} an everlasting Rock.

b. Trust in God who is all-wise

Job 11:7-9 “Can you find out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limit of the Almighty? It is higher than heaven—what can you do? Deeper than Sheol—what can you know? Its measure is longer than the earth and broader than the sea”

“To say that God is omniscient is to say that He possesses perfect knowledge and has no need to learn. But it is more: it is to say that God never learned and cannot learn.” - A. W. Tozer

c. Trust in God who is all-loving

2 Chron. 6:14 "…O Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven or on earth, keeping covenant and showing steadfast love to your servants who walk before you with all their heart,

God even loves those who disobey Him:

Neh. 9:17 They refused to obey and were not mindful of the wonders that you performed among them, but they stiffened their neck and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt. But you are a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and did not forsake them.

His love never ends:

Psalm 136:2 Give thanks to the God of gods, for his steadfast love endures forever.

His love is not like ours:

Micah 7:18 Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love.

Nothing can separate us from Him love:

Romans 8:39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Eph. 2:4-5 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, [5] even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ— by grace you have been saved—

Not only is God able to do what is best for you, He actually knows what is best for you and He loves you and wants what is best for you.

When the climb is easy – we can tend to forget Him

When the climb is hard, we may doubt Him

Romans 8:28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

2. How we Trust - “with all your heart”

a. Your thoughts

b. Your emotions

c. Your desires & ambitions

3. How we Trust - Not in yourself – “do not lean on your own understanding”

a. Your wisdom

b. Your strength or abilities

c. Your family or friends

4. What Trust looks like –“in all your ways acknowledge Him”

a. In thought

b. In word

c. In deed

We are not saved by works – we are not saved by keeping the law – we are saved by faith

Hebrews 11:6 “And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. “

5. Trust and He will reward – “and He will make your paths straight”

Matthew 6:25 "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?

Heart-felt prayer indicates a dependence on God to do what only God can do. A heart that doesn’t pray is a heart that says I can do this myself…

Do you believe that God’s love is such that you will not be kept from any, every good thing that God can rightly give you, that will be for your building up and growth?

Working Out?

I recently was convicted that I had not been a good steward of the “temple” that God has given me. I had been eating in an unhealthy manner and not exercising – thus neglecting to care for the physical gift of my body that God has given me to carry out His purposes. Such neglect can be sinful (or reveal sin in my heart) and practically, will have an effect on my physical ability to obey the Lord in carrying out the roles He has called me to.

So, in response to new-found conviction, I changed the way I eat and bought a used piece of exercise equipment. It looks good in the garage too. But now, I must begin the process of making intentional changes to my schedule and start using the equipment if I want to benefit from it. As it turns out, conviction is a good thing but apparently, I have to put what I have to work if I want to see actual results.

Often we can be poor stewards of the minds that the Lord has given us too. This neglect not only reveals potential areas of sin, but it will also have a definite effect on our ability to live the Christian life and carry out our Biblical roles...

Aside from daily intake of the Bible, prayer, worship and sound teaching, I cannot recommend more highly the discipline of reading great books. In doing so though, I must first ask if you are reading and meditating on God’s Word daily, with the specific goal of hearing from God and applying His Word to your life. If you are not working out in this area, I’d encourage you to stop reading this post and go read your Bible instead – you’ll get way more out of it.

If, however, you have begun to develop your practice of daily Bible intake and application, I would encourage you to purchase some additional exercise equipment for your mind and soul. Get good books. You don’t have to look for the “uber-bender-lifter-3000” though; I’d encourage you to start with the basics. Start with one good book and when you’ve read it and sought to apply it to your life, move on to another and then go and re-read them.

In doing so, it is important that you begin with books that help expound the timeless truths that the Bible contains and stay with books that stay close to the Bible. And then, it is critical that you don’t just get books – read them. After all, they may look good on your shelf but they won’t do any good if you don’t put them to work practically.

In my next post, I’ll make some specific recommendations for your reading…