SERVING SIX ONE

Not long ago I heard about a lady that had lost a ton of money because she had met someone who convinced her to invest her money in their company. The company, as it turned out, was nonexistent. The lady had fallen prey to a scam. She had trusted in someone who was not who they said they were and in something that was not real.

The Bible warns in Psalm 118:8 that “It is better to trust the Lord than to trust people.”(NCV) When you put your trust in people, they oftentimes will fail you. However, when you put your trust in the One who created you, who knows you and who cares about, you can totally depend on Him. He will NEVER let you down.

The Bible also tells us in Proverbs 18:24 that there is a friend that sticks closer to you than a brother. That friend is Jesus. He is the very lover of your soul. He loved you so much that He willing came down from His glorious throne in heaven to live and then die so that we might live again with Him. He now is in heaven interceding before God the Father on your and my behalf. Now, that’s someone that you can really trust.

If you have a need, Jesus says that all you must do is “Ask, and it will be given to you.”(Matthew 7:7) But, there is a stipulation on the matter. When you ask, you must trust God to do what you ask. This is noted in Matthew 21:22. “And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.”(NKJV)

Sometimes it is not easy to trust God. When things seem to be going wrong, when people let you down, when you’re hurting, when your finances are not good, when you or someone you love is sick, or when various trials and problems come your way, it can be difficult to trust God to take care of things. But in order to get through this life here on earth, we must trust God. We must have faith in the One who knows all and who wants to take care of our every need.

So, what can we do increase our faith so that we can trust Him? Romans 10:17 tells us that faith comes by hearing the Word of God. If you are having problems trusting God, you need to read His Word. Everyday, you need to read God’s Word, the Bible, and learn more about Him, about His character. Then you will start to trust Him more.

When you first meet someone, you don’t know them. You have to spend time with them. Get to know them by talking to them, listening to them. Then you will know whether or not they are genuine, if you can trust them. The same method applies with God. In order to trust Him, you have to spend time with Him. Talk to Him. Read His Word. Listen to what He has to say. Then your faith will grow. Then you can believe. Then you can ask. Then you can receive.

“No matter how bad things seem, always look on the bright side.” That’s something my Dad said to me many years ago, and he lived it out countless ways in front of me. If the glass was 80% empty, then my Dad would call it 20% full. That’s the Dad that I remember.

Growing up, I received few spankings from Dad. That was mainly Mom’s territory; but the ones I DID receive are quite memorable, each one dealing directly with a specific form of behavior Dad disliked. Dad did not tolerate disrespect. I remember the one time that I failed to call him “Sir”, yelling “Huh” down to him from upstairs. I never knew Dad could climb stairs so quickly. That was the last time I ever used that word around him.

Another memorable spanking was when I kept saying the line, “I can’t.” Dad HATED those words. He “taught” me never to say them. I wish I could say that I have always adhered to those instructions. Many times, even when I don’t mouth that hated phrase, my mind says it for me, which is just as bad – or even worse, I think.

When I was 9 years old, I signed up for the Dixie Youth Baseball League. I did it mainly because all of my friends were joining, too. Now, I would like to say that I was an immediate star, but that would be lying. I would love to say that I was just so-so, but that would disingenuous as well.

The truth of the matter is…Dad was pretty lucky. All other kids’ parents had to be at the game by 6:30 pm if they had intentions of seeing their kid play baseball that night. Dad didn’t have to show up until an hour or so later…just in time for the 7th inning (which was the last inning in little league baseball) because that was the only time the coach would put me in the game.

Still, Dad was always so excited when I got up to bat and would talk to me from the stands, as I stood in the batter’s box, waiting for a called strike three. As far as I remember, he never showed embarrassment that his kid was the worst person on the team with the exception of the 8-year old daughter of our coach, who was the team mascot.

That first year, I had a grand total of “0″ hits. But at Dad’s urging, I signed up for the next season anyway. But this year, my fortunes changed drastically: I had “1″ hit. Dad was thrilled. ‘You’re getting the hang of it, son,” I can still hear him say as he drove me home the night I had my career-changing single. (In this league, they scored it a hit – even if you hit it between the first baseman’s legs.)

After turning 11, I graduated to the 11-12 year-old little league – now known as “Pony League.” Dad attended every game and watched me do something quite spectacular: two hits, not including a line drive that almost made it through the hole, but was speared by the shortstop to end an important game.

It was then that I decided to end my career on a high note and retire at the age of 12. Dad was livid. He never talked me out of it, but this is what he said, “Son, just look at it…you are only 7 years away from a 100-hit season. You could be an all-star some day and maybe even go pro…” The sad part about his statement was that he really believed it!

The way he explained it to me was that all I had to do was keep doubling my total like I did from before.

-1st year – 0 hits
-2nd year – 1 hit
-3rd year – 2 hits
-4th year – 4 hits
-5th  year – 8 hits
-6th year – 16 hits
-7th year – 32 hits
-9th year – 64 hits
-10th year – 128 hits

Proverbs 3:5 tells us “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding.” This is probably one of the most difficult instructions to follow. Just why is it so hard for us to totally trust God and stop trying to figure out things for ourselves? We always try to handle things on our own and leave God totally out of the mix. If we would just trust in the God who made us, loves us and has the absolute best for us, we would be so much better off.

As human beings, we are always depending on our limited knowledge. But the Bible tells us clearly not to depend or lean own that finite understanding. We need to trust in God’s infinite knowledge and understanding. Don’t try to figure things out and go your own way. Instead, put your trust in the One who knows best. He will never leave you nor forsake you. He loves you unconditionally. He is a 24/7, on time, all the time, God, Who cares about everything you do and everything you are going through.

Sometimes it is so hard to trust God. That is because we limit Him to the way we think. But Isaiah 55:8-9 tells us that God’s thoughts are not like our thoughts nor are His ways like our ways. He does not operate nor think with limitations. All things are possible with Him (Matthew 19:26). Things that may seem, and quite literally may be impossible for us, but there is nothing that God cannot do.

That is why Solomon with all of his wisdom, told us to “Trust in the Lord with all of our heart.” He knew that we would not be able to see our way through difficulties, problems, troubles, trials without the direction of our heavenly Father. He also knew that when we do rely on our own vices, we make things worse and we miss out on so many blessings.

For after Solomon told us to trust the Lord and not lean own what we know, he then told us to be sure and acknowledge God. Proverbs 3:6 says “In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths.” We need to make a conscious effort to tell God that we need Him. Acknowledge that He is the One who can make things right. Then the Bible says that He will direct our paths.

If we will trust God, and not ourselves, and acknowledge Him, then He will give us the guidance we need to help us. He will help us to see clearly and speak directly to us and lead us in the way we need to go. So trust Him. He will never let you down.

Growing up I heard many sermons, both in person and on television. And if you would have sat me down at about age 18 and asked me to come up with a list of the 6 things I thought that God hated the most, I would have probably given you something like the following:

• drinking
• cussing
• smoking
• chewing tobacco
• doing drugs
• speeding in my car

You see, I , like many of my friends, had been “indoctrinated” through exposure to religious services, books, tapes (Yes, we had tapes back then) and other forms of media. But that’s not all; a majority of the influence I received that helped me mold my beliefs originated from Hollywood – in the form of sitcoms, cartoons, and movies that represented “Christian” stereotypes.

And sometimes people only believe what they WANT to believe anyway; it is far too easy to call out a list of sins of the “flesh” than to ponder what God REALLY says.

But guess what? We don’t HAVE to wonder what God does not like. He tells us plainly in Proverbs exactly which sins he hates most:

According to the New King James version Hebrews 11:1 tells us, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” The New Living Translation version says “Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us the assurance about things we cannot see.” This tells us a few things that are vital in our walk with God. It also is the foundation of truth that we need to live a victorious life here on this earth.

Let’s examine the words of this well known verse. Let’s start with the word faith. Just what is faith? According to the dictionary (at least the top two entries), faith is confidence or trust in a person or thing. It is also defined as belief that is not based on proof. Now if we combine these two definitions we can surmise the following statement. Faith is believing in someone that we cannot see and trusting in that someone without reservations.

To have faith in God then, we must first believe in Him, although we cannot see Him. As Hebrews 11:6 states,”he who comes to God must believe that He is”… In other words we must believe that He exists, even though we cannot see Him. This is the first and most important part of faith. Once you believe in the Who, then you can trust that He will do!

Now that we have determined exactly what faith is, let’s look at the rest of Hebrews 11:1.It tells us “Faith is the substance”. Substance is what a thing consists of, the actual matter of a thing, and we learned in elementary school that matter is anything that has weight or takes up space. So faith is actually what gives weight or actuality to something.

Faith is the substance of what? It is the substance of things hoped for. Faith is what makes up what we hope for. And what does hope actually mean? Hope is the feeling that we can actually get what we wish we had or that events or circumstances will turn out for the best. So, faith then is the actual matter, the consistency, or what gives weight to what we wish we could have or have happen.

Now let’s look at the final part of Hebrews 11:1. The last part of the verse tells us that faith “is the evidence of things not seen.” Evidence, we all know is proof. Faith is the proof of the things we cannot see. It is our assurance that though our eyes do not behold it, it is a reality.

So let’s put it all together and see what it all means. Faith or trust in God is what gives weight, realness or credibility to what we wish we had. It is our proof of things that we cannot see with our physical eyes.

So don’t doubt. Have hope. Trust in God. Have faith. It is your assurance that things will turn out for good. If you can trust God and hope for the best, then you can have the things you cannot see.

Biblical faith means you believe in something promised  – even when you don’t yet see the evidence. But sometimes faith sometimes means NOT believing what you see – even when you see it. Yes, I know how the infamous Bible verse goes:

¹Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
(Hebrews 11:1 NLT)

And it IS sometimes very hard to believe something that you don’t yet see. Maybe it’s hard for you to believe that your financial situation is going to get better when you don’t see any money in the bank or that your relationship with a spouse or child is improving – even when the evidence you see is to the contrary…

But sometimes it is equally hard to believe that something is NOT what you see. That involves faith, too. Let me explain…

Many years ago, my grandfather, who ran the community grocery store in a small but growing town, was cleaning the public restroom of his business. As he labored in the small, dimly lit room, he noticed what looked like a whiskey bottle in the window sill, that was evidently left by a customer who did a little more than relieve himself when he used the facilities.

My grandfather, a very devout man and known city-wide as an itinerant preacher and the chairman of the deacons at the local baptist church, held the whiskey bottle to the light in order to see the label and see if it smelled as he suspected.

At that precise moment, the bathroom door opened and a man who knew my grandfather very well walked  in. Both men were startled, and my grandfather’s friend exclaimed “Why, Henry, if I hadn’t seen it with my own two eyes, I would have never believed it to be so.”

“Wait, you don’t understand,” my grandfather pleaded…

“Nope,” said his friend, “I would not have believed it unless I had seen it with my own two eyes.”

And so his friend could not be convinced that his eyes had betrayed him and he left believing that he had caught the chairman of the deacons of the local baptist church with a bottle of spirits.

Now whether you believe it is okay or not to drink…that’s beside the point. The point IS that sometimes what we see…or what we THINK we see is not reality.

Sometimes real faith involves NOT trusting our five senses, but believing our one Savior and the work he has done, is still doing, and will do in our lives and the lives of those we love.

There is no better word than God’s Word, and when we praise Him and lift Him up, He lifts us up too!!! The Bible says, “ If God is for us, who can be against us?” When troubles come and there seems no help the Psalmist declares in Psalm 3:3 “But Thou O Lord, art a shield for me; my glory and the lifter of my head.” He is our shield that blocks the fiery darts of the enemy. He is the lifter of our head, the one Who lifts our forlorn faces up to His, looks into our eyes and reassuringly says “everything is going to be OK, because I am with you and I will never leave you nor forsake you.” And in Psalm 46:1 “God is our refuge and our strength, a VERY present help in trouble.” He is on the job 24/7. He doesn’t leave us when times get tough. When no one else understands, and we can’t even explain how we feel, God is there, always understanding, always ready to hold us, to carry us and to see us through! His peace passes all of our understanding. His loving kindness never ends, and His mercy endures forever!!! What a mighty God we serve!!!

Though we have troubles and the enemy is around us on every side, God does not leave us. He diligently watches over us. His hand is always ready to save those who cry out to Him. There are times when we get discouraged and think that God has left us, but He hasn’t. He never leaves us. All we need to do is call upon the name of the Lord and He will save us.

The Psalmist declared in Psalm 91 that “though a thousand may fall at our side and ten thousand at our right hand, it will not come near us” and that He will give His angels charge over us to keep us in all our ways; they will bear us up in their hands so we won’t even stump our toe on a rock!

God cares about you! He wants to bless you. He wants to take care of your every need. Just ask Him. Jesus declared that many times we do not have what we need simply because we did not ask. So ask, and believe and then you will receive.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths.” Psalm 3:5
If you will only trust God and not rely on your own knowledge and limited understanding, and then acknowledge Him by talking to Him, spending time with Him, and including Him in your daily affairs, THEN He will then give you the direction that you need and guide you in the way that you need to go.

So trust Him. He will lift you up!

Don’t run away from God. Don’t go your own way. Don’t choose a path that is not in the right direction. But instead keep God’s Word in your heart. Meditate on His Word day and night. Keep right beside God at all times, and remember, if you are with Him, then He has to be with you. A sheep doesn’t lead the shepherd, but the shepherd leads the sheep. God is the shepherd, and we are His sheep. So follow God, and you will save your life from destruction and troubles.

Don’t run away from God for things you have done in the past. Don’t ever think you are not able to be forgiven. For God understands. While Jesus was on this earth, He was tempted more than you ever were, and ever will be. Remember God will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able.

“No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.” 1 Corinthians 10:13

Remember that verse, and when being tempted, always look for the way of escape, and you will find it. But just finding the way of escape isn’t good enough, you must take it. Keep in mind the Spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. Keep your mind on the things that matter. Keep your head turned towards God, and away from all temptation. Surround yourself with what will keep you on track. And never turn around, or run the other way for any reason. God Loves you.

“Watch and pray, that you do not enter into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Matthew 26:41

“My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness. So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.” 2 Corinthians 12:9

I heard a story several years ago where a young man had just become king and he wanted to be absolutely sure that he managed the affairs of his kingdom properly. So he sent out his wise men on a quest to find out all the wisdom of the world. (If you are a woman remember this was before the Women’s Rights Movement, so please get over it.)

So about a year later all the wise men came back with scrolls and scrolls of information and the king asked them to transfer everything onto one scroll. They did, and boy, was it a long and heavy scroll! It took three of them just to carry the scroll into the king’s throne room. When he saw it, he said, “No, no; this won’t do; it is WAY too much information to know. Condense it for me.”

Three months later they came back with the abridged version, all the wisdom of the world fitting neatly on one small scroll. They began to read it to the king, but again he complained, “No. Too much. Make it even smaller. Leave out any wisdom that isn’t absolutely necessary.

A month later they came back to the king with a very small scroll where all the writing fit on just one page. But still, the young king was not satisfied. “Now reduce this wisdom down into one sentence. I want one sentence to live my entire life by so that I can govern my entire kingdom using its guiding principle.”

So the wise men thought and thought and after much deliberation and argument amongst themselves they finally decided on the one sentence that contained the wisdom of the ages. They happily entered the king’s presence the next day and the wisest of them read to the king the one sentence that represented the words of wisdom he so sought after:

“There’s NO free lunch.

Happily, the young king, shouted and jumped for joy. “That’s it!” he cried. “This principle is what I am going to do all of my governing by.” Immediately, he recognized faults in his own life, where he was living leisurely when even a king should be working to improve himself and his kingdom. He called all of his counselors and the palace staff, including the guards into his chambers and explained that from now on that everyone would pull their fair share and work as hard as they could to improve the kingdom.

He made a proclamation and sent it out to all the royal subjects, proclaiming “There’s No Free Lunch” and everyone was to do their fair share if they wanted to prosper. And for those who were too sick or frail to work, they were to be helped by others, but never to forget that what they shared was the result of hard work by someone else and the least they could do was be thankful for the bounty given to them by the generosity of others.

Soon, everyone’s attitude changed and the entire kingdom became prosperous and successful. And in the process, everyone became kind and thankful.

What a story! Too bad our elected officials don’t think like this young king more often. But then again, this is not a political rant. I just wanted to tell the story about how someone was able to condense all the wisdom of the world into four short words.

Once when Jesus was asked by someone what was the most important commandments, he responded:

“You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ ³⁸ This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹ A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ⁴⁰ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”
(Matthew 22: 37-40 NLT)

So in about three or so sentences, Jesus summed up the entire Old Testament, which consists of over 900 chapters, 23,000+ verses, and in excess of 600,000 words.

No, Jesus didn’t condense the wisdom of the world to four words like the young king in our story, but Jesus happens to be THE king of the entire universe, so I think I will trust his abridged version of wisdom instead.

No, the use of the word of God is not my biggest pet peeves; it is, in fact, the LACK of use of God’s word that makes me mad. And I am reminded of this pet peeve almost every time I pass a church marquee.

So you don’t speak French and you want to know what I mean by the word “marquee”? “Marquee” is the fancy word I use for church signs. You know…the ones you pass on your way to and from work every day that have these “clever” sayings on them, as well as perhaps church services times or which gospel group is singing at that church 3 months from now.

I pass by several marquees when I drive down the main road that connects to our neighborhood. I am always amazed at what I see. A big beautiful sign on the side of the road that has the ability to captivate passersby with words of faith and encouragement, words of wisdom and consolation, or with words of praise and grandeur.

Companies pay hundreds of dollars a month to advertise their wares on billboards in every city, so there must be a reason that they fork over incredible amounts of money per year to sign companies – probably because the words on them (if properly crafted into an offer and a call to action) work!

So what do most of the church marquees that I see say? Let’s see. Here is a list of a few I have seen over the years:

• Soul food served here
• Forbidden fruit creates many jams
• CH CH  What is misssing? UR
• God answers kneemail
• Try Jesus…if you don’t like him, the devil will always take you back

Those are some off the top of my head. There are many more, but it pains me to try to remember them all. You get the picture.

Now don’t get me wrong. These are definitely well thought-out sayings and they CAN be attention-getters. But there is one thing that they are not. They aren’t the word of God. Kind of reminds me of what Elijah the prophet said to the king of Israel when the king was seeking advice from another god:

“Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going to inquire of Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron?” (2 Kings 1:3 NLT)

If I could ask a question is to the ones who are responsible for putting these messages on church signs around the country I would ask a similar quesiton:

“Is it because there are no good Bible verses that you resort to putting cute little sayings on your signs?”

Maybe I am a little old-fashioned, but I can’t help but remember a Bible verse that I learned long ago:

“Is not my Word like a fire?…and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?” (Jeremiah 23:29)

You see, God’s word is powerful. It has the ability to pierce someone’s thinking, to permeate a mixed-up mind, and to soothe a troubled soul. Jesus said it best when he said that his words were “spirit” and that they were “life.”

Hebrews 4:12 says that God’s word is “alive and powerful” (NLT). I believe that OUR job is to give someone a word…and not just ANY word….but THE WORD. That’s where our work ends. That’s all we can do.

Next, we should rely on the Spirit of God to do the rest. Why not use one of the many thousands of verses (perhaps translated into a version that the average person can understand since most of us didn’t take Elizabethan English in High School) and then let God do the rest. I, for one, would sure be grateful, but I can think of many more people that would be effected positively as well.