April 3, 2019

Learning to Lean #

Pro 3:5-6

Lu 17:5-6

Intro.

It is quite apropos that after our missions conference we should look at these two verses. They are two well known verses, often quoted, and yet hard to apply and live.

Faith is one of the topics that every time it is addressed, there is a need that our faith increase.

(Luk 17:5-6) (5) And the apostles said unto the Lord, [Increase our faith]{.underline}. (6) And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you.

This passage clearly shows that everyone of us need to grow in faith. We live in a carnal society, where seeing is believing, and trust and faith are pushed aside, mocked, and cast down.

Faith grows as we learn to TRUST Him more and more.

Learning to Fly

When an eagle wants to teach its little ones to fly from the nest high upon a cliff, hundreds of feet up in the air, it prods one of the little eaglets and with its beak noses it out of the nest. The eaglet starts to fall, and the great eagle flies underneath, puts its wing out, catches the little one on its back and flies a mile into the air. When you can hardly see the eagle as a point in the sky, it turns sideways, and down falls the little eaglet, fluttering maybe a thousand feet. Meanwhile, the eagle circles around and underneath the eaglet; the eagle catches the eaglet on its wings and carries the eaglet up in the air again. After dishing the young one out again and letting it go, the eaglet comes down farther and farther-sometimes within a hundred feet of the ground. Again the great eagle catches the little one on its back and they go up another mile. The little eagle is at perfect rest, and little by little it will learn to fly. The eagle knows when the eaglet is tired; it spoons the eaglet into the nest, noses out the next one and starts off again.

I. Trust (5) #

Trust - assured resting of the mind on the integrity, veracity, justice, friendship, or other sound principle, of another person; confidence; reliance

A. The Person of our trust: In the LORD. (vrs 5) #

1. Track record: The LORD is trustworthy, #

God Promised a people: Abraham - Gen 17:1-6 - Abraham became the father of Isaac in his old age, and from Isaac came Israel, other nations also sprang from that. - God was faithful

God Promised a place: Gen 17:7-8

God Promised a Deliverance - Ex 6:1-4, 5-8 -

Exodus, the book is then the story of God delivering the Israelites out of the bondage of the Egyptian land.

A miraculous story, that goes on longer than perhaps they wanted. Yet God is working!

B. The Place of trust: All Thine heart -(Heart, not of lips) #

1. We struggle with this living by faith, and trusting God. #

(Col 2:6) As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, [so] walk ye in him:

2. We receive Jesus Christ by faith. No one here saw Jesus Christ crucified. #

No one here saw Jesus Christ risen from the dead.

a) No one here has witnessed, personally and bodily the Lord Jesus Christ.

b) We accept it by FAITH.

c) We trust Him with our eternal souls… and yet, day to day, we walk by sight.

3. Stop blaming GOD when things don’t go your way. #

1. Trust in God’s Provision: #

2. I Kings 17:1-6 - Ravens #

3. I Kings 17:8-9 - Widow woman #

4. Trust God’s Plan: Daniel 3:17-18 #

II. Acknowledge #

Acknowledge - To admit the knowledge of; to recognize as a fact or truth; to declare one’s belief in

A. The LORD #

Look to God for direction!

B. Thy ways (all) #

1. Where should I work? #

2. How should I dress? How should I get my hair cut? #

3. Where should I invest my money? #

4. Should I go to this place or that place? #

What kind of music should I listen to?
Sometimes the age old question, “What would Jesus Do?” Is not a bad question, however, we could ask as Paul did, Acts 9:6 “… Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” Acts 9:4-6

5. God want’s acknowledgement in every area of your life! #

6. Concern yourself with what God wants for and in every area of your life! #

7. God has saved you, what makes you think that is all He wants. #

8. God wants to be involved and part of your life. #

9. He wants to “FATHER” us, guide us, help us, direct us in every area of our life. #

III. Direction in Life #

A. Attentive for God’s direction #

We are often not looking (acknowledging) God’s direction in our life.
Sometimes we are ignorant, sometimes, we are selfish, sometimes we are rebellious.
Ask God what He would have you to do!

B. Accept God’s direction #

When you know what God want’s you to do… DO IT!
Jonah knew what God wanted him to do… and didn’t do it!
The church in Jerusalem, knew what God wanted them to do… and didn’t do it.
There are plenty of examples in the Word of God about people who knew what they were supposed to do, and didn’t do it. It didn’t end well for most of them.

a) I’m not trying to scare you, God is patient, far more patient than I am. God is long-suffering, however, there is a limit.

C. Trust God! #

D. L. Moody (a great preacher from the late 1800’s) said, "Trust in yourself, and you are doomed to disappointment; trust in your friends, and they will die and leave you; trust in reputation, and some slanderous tongue may blast it; but trust in God, and you are never to be confounded in time or eternity. " Luther gave a similar testimony when he said, "I have held many things in my hands, and I have lost them all; but whatever I have placed in God's hands, that I still possess. "

Like the eaglet learning to fly:

God says, "That is the way I take care of you. " But you may say, "I do not like to have my nest stirred up. I like everything cozy and tidy, and I just like to stay in my baby ways where I am. " But God loves you. That is why He will not let you stay as a baby; He wants you to learn to fly. Sometimes you have to be carried aloft, and you may have a horror of having to go by yourself, but it must come if you are to grow.

Proverbs 3:5