Can You Trust God? In God We Trust Part 1

hey i'm wondering if you guys could handle a very honest confession today you think you'd handle it like really handle it i'll be just real transparent with you and make this confession i am a pastor and sometimes i find it difficult to put all my trust in god can i be that real do any of you ever feel that way i i want to trust in god but sometimes i find it a little bit more difficult to trust in him it's easier to say trusting god than it is too often to do this you might be able to relate you might feel like i love god and i believe in god but i still feel so uneasy about the future when you look around there's a lot to feel uneasy about isn't there there's detention all over our country there's the racial and political division that's very very real and important that we navigate through and do well so often you may look around and you you ask yourself like what if and start playing the what if game what if so and so happens as life goes on and it's really easy to ask a lot of what ifs in the current climate and environment like what if the wrong person gets elected into office whoever the wrong person is for you right what if i lose my job what if i get sick or someone that i love gets sick what if we have to homeschool our kids for the rest of our lives and if you know what i'm talking about it's easy to play the what if game i know some people that are not married and because of covet it's really difficult to meet people you might say well what if i'm single for the rest of my life or what if i do get married but i marry the wrong person doesn't that mean we'd have the wrong kids it's complicated or what if i do get married i marry the right person i have the right kids but i have the wrong job but i can't quit my job because my kids need braces and my kids don't get braces and they will marry the wrong person [Laughter] and that means they'll have the wrong kids which means i might have the wrong grandkids and that would be an awkward conversation with my grandkids you aren't the kids that i was expecting see how easy it is to run down all the what-ifs i don't know about you but i want to trust god but sometimes i just want to say god it's difficult to trust in a god i can't see there's a lot that i can see right i can see the coveted craziness everywhere some of you i can see it in you i can see whenever my bank account goes down i can see all the tension every time i read or watch anything in the news god i want to trust in you but it's hard when i don't really see you or some of you might say how can i trust in god when i did trust in god but he didn't do what i asked him to do i prayed i had faith i believed and i trusted him and he could have but he didn't i really want to trust in god but sometimes it's just not easy to do and so that's why today we're going to start a new message series in a very complicated season in our world called in god we trust and the type the title of today's message is this it's a question can you trust god and the answer i believe is absolutely unequivocally yes you can but we're going to need his word and his spirit to help us do so so let's pray as we dive into this message series father i thank you for every person at every life church location streaming on youtube watching at church online god even listening months from now in the archive i pray god that your living word and the power of your spirit would do for us what we cannot do for ourselves god would you build our faith to put our trust in you even if we don't see you even if we don't feel you god help us to trust you your goodness your character your nature we pray this in jesus name and everybody said amen what i want to do today is i want to show you a story from luke's gospel luke chapter 5 and i'm going to give you two prayers that i believe will help build your trust let me give you the the context and then we'll look at two prayers to help build your trust the um uh kind of the story behind the story is jesus was at um a lake by the lake of gnessret and he was teaching it was kind of like a bible study or what we might call a life group and it was the end of a very frustrating day for some fishermen who had been out and did what they normally did but they didn't have the success they normally had they didn't catch anything and so they were cleaning up their boats and putting away their nets and jesus walked up into one of the boats belonging to simon peter and he said hey bro would you take us out on the water and so sure enough simon took him out on the water and jesus gave a little lesson teaching and here's what happened in luke chapter 5 verse 4. scripture says when jesus had finished speaking he said to simon put out into deep water somebody say deep water sometimes you have to go out of the shallow into the deep to learn what you need to learn he said put into the deep water and jesus said let down the nets for a cat say let down the nets type that in the chat if you will let down the nest just type it in let down the nets he said put out into the deep water and let down the nets for a catch and simon answered let me pause before i tell you what simon said because to me this is simon doing his best to be polite he's got jesus rabbi this very important person who just taught a really great message asking him an experienced fisherman to do something that makes no sense whatsoever and so we're gonna watch as simon tries to be polite but i can guarantee what he's thinking is teacher you teach i'm a fisherman i'll fish you're a rabbi you rabbi i'll do what i do who are you to tell me there are generations and generations of fishermen in my family and you're getting on my boat taking up my time giving me your stupid advice and simon says master we've worked hard all day and all night and we haven't caught anything what you're asking me to do feels really really really stupid doesn't make any sense how many of you know that oftentimes what god asks you to do doesn't make any sense so often when god will invite you to put your trust in him it can make you feel really really stupid this doesn't make any sense you might read in scripture well jesus says don't worry about tomorrow because tomorrow will take care of itself and it's really easy to quote that to somebody else but sometimes when you read it you think well have you seen what's going on in our country somebody's got to worry about it somebody's got to do something about it that doesn't seem to make a whole lot of sense to me right now don't worry about tomorrow well somebody better worry about tomorrow you might read in scripture bless those who persecute you and it's real easy to quote to someone else but you don't know the people that i work with scripture says don't lean on your own understanding well fine but if i don't lean on my own understanding sometimes my bills aren't going to get paid what you're asking me to do sometimes just feels unreasonable it feels completely stupid i want to trust in you but you got to give me a little something i can't see you i can't always feel you our first prayer that we're going to see from scripture is this a very powerful prayer lord help me to obey you even when i don't understand lord help me to obey you even when i don't understand and what's so powerful to me is that we see this prayer lived out when simon by faith did what jesus asked him to do and he let down his nets look again at our scripture simon answered hey master jesus we've worked hard all night and we haven't caught anything but because you say so i'll let down the nets say it again let down your net type it in the chat let down your net this doesn't make any sense to me but because you say so lord help me to obey even when i don't understand this doesn't make any sense to me but because you're asking me to do it and because of who you are god i'm choosing to put my trust in you and this action leads us to the conclusion that you don't have to understand completely to obey immediately you don't have to know the end of the story to turn the first page of a story and be obedient to the one who asked you to do this a lot of times when we think of like trusting god we tend to think about the big things like okay god you know you're gonna you're gonna ask me to obey and move to a new city or start a new career and that may be the case but what i found is to really grow in our trust in our faith in god it often starts by trusting him in the smallest ways and sometimes the smallest acts of obedience and trust lead to the biggest results the biggest blessings and the biggest miracles in fact i'll give you just a real personal example that um blessed me in the middle of a very difficult grieving situation how many of you were here for at the movies a couple of weeks ago or you watched online excellent in the final week we talked about being the light into the world and what i do is i i'll actually script out um a draft sometimes i'll follow it word for word other times i'll kind of edit it along and i was prompted in the writing of this draft to add just a couple of words the strangest most unusual thing and i'm going to read you what i said and you may remember it from them but what i said was i was talking about people who might not know christ in my notes exactly word for word i said there might be you might have a family member a mom or a dad a sister or a brother maybe even a child your own child who doesn't know christ maybe it's someone that you work with maybe it's a friend at the gym maybe it's a classmate or it's a next-door neighbor when i was writing this i felt unusually prompted can't explain it no big deal but out of an act of obedience i just added the words sorority sister which is not something i would normally add if you're just playing the odds like how many 18 to 24 year olds do we have in our church who happen to be female who are also enrolled in college who are going to college in this crazy time who also said yes to being a sorority it's a very small group honestly i don't wake up thinking about sororities or fraternities very much at this point in my life but i felt prompted and i wrote it down and said maybe it's someone you work with a friend of the gym a classmate maybe a sorority sister or a next-door neighbor well i had no idea that on that very weekend there would be a young lady who was a part of a sorority who was tragically killed by a drunk driver and i had no idea that on that weekend there would be 30 of her sorority sisters that would gather together grieving at our campus and i had no idea that there would be a time where my campus pastor would gather together with them and pray and the report i heard on the other end was that the moment that i said maybe it was a sorority sister all 30 of those grieving young girls felt like god acknowledged them in the middle of their pain the smallest most minute act of obedience but because you say so i'll do this lord help me obey even when i don't understand you don't have to understand completely to obey immediately how do we grow in that trust how do we learn to trust in a god that we want to trust in but sometimes it's hard because we just can't see him what i want to do is i want to give you some advice and it's only in this area what you got to do is you just gotta get clingy get clingy now i promise you if you're dating you don't want to get clingy that's just like weird now i am married to amy and honestly i can't be clingy to her she'll tell you something it's like sometimes i just like i just like like touches like get off of me or get off me yeah don't don't do that with with the person you're dating but when it comes to god sometimes you just need to get clingy there's a great bible verse if you've been a christian for a long time and you have a coffee mug with a bible verse on it it's probably this one proverbs 3 5 and 6 says trust in the lord with all your heart lean not on your own understanding but in all your ways acknowledge him the word acknowledge comes from the hebrew word which means to know in all your ways know him and he'll make your past straight in all your ways you know him you know him on the mountaintops and you know him in the valleys when you know him in the good times you learn to trust him in the bad times how do you know god how do you know him how do you know him intimately how do you know him trust him walk in him the only way that you can know him is to be close to him and the way to be close to him is to cling to him the word trust at the very beginning of this verse trust in the lord how do you do that the hebrew word translated as trust is the word everybody say talk but talk sounds like you're hacking a lugian or whatever right but what this word means is is it means to cling to not just to get me close in proximity but to hold on to and to not let go here's the key in order to hold on to god you have to let go of whatever else you were previously clinging to in order to trust in him [Applause] you lean not on your own understanding can i say for a moment that's just hard that's almost not fair to tell me not to leave i'm wired to lean on my own understanding some would say it's the strength that i can figure this out but when you get to the place where you let go of your own understanding your own plans your own desire your own will your own strategy your own place of comfort and when you cling to one who is a rock who will never fail you you cling to the faithfulness and the goodness of the only one who really is good then anything else that brought you the illusion of security before fades away in the presence and the strength of the goodness and the grace and the presence of god somebody here needs to get clingy look at the person next to you and tell them get clingy type it in the chat i'm a clinger i'm a clinger i'm clingy typing in i'm clingy i'm clinging i'm clinging i'm clinging what do you need to do somebody here is time to cling to the promises of god don't let go cling to the promises of god god i thank you that i can cast my cares upon you because you faithfully care for me god i'm clean as your truth that you will provide all of my needs according to your glorious riches in christ jesus god i thank you and praise you that you're working in all things to bring about good god to those who love you who are called according to your purpose god i cling to your truth that you will never leave me god you will never forsake me god that when i draw near to you god you always draw near to me god thank you you are close to the brokenhearted god you save those who are crushed in spirit god you are my refuge you are my strength you are my help in time of trouble in order to cling to the goodness of god you have to release that which you were clinging to before lord help me to trust you to cling to you even when i don't understand god help me to trust you and obey even the smallest of promptings even if they don't make sense to me because i trust you i'll let down the net i don't know the outcome got no clue of the outcome and the good news is outcome is god's responsibility obedience is yours lord help me to trust you even when i don't understand what i promise you is god will prompt you in some way he'll invite you to trust him and what you'll discover is that big miracles often follow simple acts of obedience and we see this in our story jesus says hey put down the nets let down the nets for a catch and simon says we'll we'll trust you and scripture says this when they had done so they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break so they signaled their partners and the other boat to come and to help them and they came and filled the boat so full that they began to sink lord help me obey you even when i don't understand and our second prayer we can pray is this lord help me surrender what i cannot control lord help me surrender what i cannot control i love this uh simon obeys and he lets down the nets and he's surprised catches so many fish that the nets can't even contain them and suddenly he realizes oh my gosh jesus is not just a rabbi he is he is a holy one and peter falls down he says get away from me rabbi i'm i'm a sinful person i'm not even worthy to be in your presence and here's what jesus did if you imagine his love jesus says to simon hey simon don't be afraid bro from now on you'll fish for people from now on what you've done your whole life i'm going to use those same skills but give you even a higher calling so what happens they pulled up their boats on shore i want you to watch this what did they do let's say it allowed they pulled up their boats on shore and what they do they left everything and they followed jesus they left everything what did everything include everything included their nets the very thing that represented provision represented security represented the future they left everything including the nets when it comes to your nets whatever that is that which that which provides safety your understanding your hope your your bucket list your if only this and god here's what i need when it comes to your nets first thing you do is you let them down when he invites you to and then at some point you lay them down i surrender this completely i let go of my plans i'm trusting this to you i'll say this is not easy there's nothing easy about this this can be one of the biggest steps of faith ever when you say i'm not just letting down that which makes me feel secure but i'm laying it down and i'll tell you about the nets that my family's been laying down for those of you who've been a part of our church for a while i told you about mandy my second daughter's health struggles well i want to introduce you to three of my daughters and i'm glad it's not four i do have another daughter katie and she's not in this story thankfully on the left is uh mandy who's married to james in the middle is joy the youngest who is my favorite just ask her she'll tell you that's what she tells everybody i'm daddy's favorite and then i've got anna who's married to uh to luke we've told you about um about mandy's health issues i haven't told you publicly about joys and anise and part of the reason is because when i do then a lot of people know and sometimes our kids like privacy but they're at the place right now where because the challenges have been real enough to impact their lives and people don't understand they said dad you can go ahead and tell the church um three of my four daughters have a genetic issue and because of some complications of um how they grew up some things that we did not know have brought real significant challenges to them and so for example mandy was unable to function for quite some time like literally could not even come and sit in church and she's doing better thank god doing a little bit better um joy who was uh who is uh vivacious and wild will come to church and serve all weekend long and then often uh cries herself to sleep because of the pain on the back end it impacts her a little differently um anna who's now married uh she was a sophomore in college when the doctors told her to drop out of school because it was too much for her body and so if you can imagine uh just as a dad looking at these three girls who love jesus with all their hearts and just are full of faith sometimes we ask god like why we've been to the best doctors and have the best advice and many of you will say have you tried whatever and i would just respectfully say yes we have we have the best advice and we thank you for caring and praying and we have an army of people praying for them and while they have made some improvement there's still a long way to go and so as a dad who loves god and wants to trust god there are times when i just say god what about it why don't you just do something come on come on god you can [Music] and you haven't i don't understand why and so we let go of our understanding and we choose to cling to him and trust in his goodness and his plan and his purposes that are higher than what we have the ability to understand and in his presence clinging to him some how he comforts us with a peace that goes beyond our human ability to even understand so that i can say honestly truthfully as i cling to him though my heart is hurting my hope is not shaken though my heart aches i still trust in him i don't know who this is for but you may need to not just let down the nets but lay down the nets because you don't always have the power to control but you do always have the power to surrender i want to show you the words from psalm 20 verse 7 the words of david when he said this and i hope you'll feel it and find yourself in the middle of this verse david said this he said some trust in chariots some trust in horses in our world we might say it this way that some trust in the economy right some trust in whoever holds office which you want to vote but i thank god that our hope's not in just who's in office but our hope isn't who sits on the throne [Applause] some would put their hope in their bank accounts or in the medical report david said it this way some trust in chariots and some in horses but we as the people of god where do we put our hope but we trust in the name of the lord our god while it's easy to trust in just what you see we're going to trust god even when we don't understand god help us to obey you god help us to surrender that which we cannot control and to put our trust in a loving god who is in total control who one day will wipe out every form of sickness disease sin and discomfort god you will restore and right every wrong god in your presence there will be no more crying no more tears no more heartbreak and no more pain while some trust in chariots we trust in the name of the lord our god if you find yourself today you want to trust but he's so it's so difficult to trust in a god you cannot see you feel like you're on the edge you feel like you might be ready to give up i want you to think for just a moment and answer the question when did this miracle take place when was it that the disciples who had given up hope see the miraculous provision of the goodness of god in a miracle catch a fish the answer is at the end of a very frustrating day when did the miracle take place it happened when those had given up hope if you find yourself about to give up about to surrender the dream of god answering your prayer it could be your marriage you're fighting for it but your spouse doesn't even seem to care and you feel like you can't even hang on for a moment longer it could be the dream of getting out of debt or of god healing one of your daughters or your sons it could be god hearing the pro cries of your heart and providing someone for you to share his goodness with and do life together [Music] if you find yourself about to give up hope remember when did the miracle take place it happened at the end of a very frustrating day if you find yourself in the middle of a frustrating season let me remind you it's not over it's not over our god is still good our god is still here our god is still in control if you're not dead somebody you're not done god has more for you god is still with you he is still faithful and he hears the cries of your heart do not grow weary in doing good church for at the proper time you will reap a harvest if you do not give up whatever you've been clinging to have the courage the faith to let go of your own plans your own dreams and cling to the everlasting goodness in the grace of our god while some trust in what they can see we put our faith and our trust in the goodness of god so father today we pray by the power of your holy spirit that you would do a work in the hearts of your church at all of our different locations those of you you've got a burden you've got a pain there's there's a charac there's an overwhelming sense of disappointment it might be a marriage it might be a relationship you might have a health issue there might be a fear that you can't seem to to kick there might be an addiction that won't seem to go away it feels like the end of the day and all hope is fading but you're going to put your hope in god if you're choosing to continue to believe today holding out holding on believing for a miracle would you lift up your hands and i want to agree with you right now all of our churches you might be praying for a loved one to come to christ you might be praying for a miracle in your body it might be a financial provision it might even be that your faith continues just lift up your hands you can type even in the chat here's what i'm praying for i'm praying for healing i'm praying for provision i'm praying that god would help me heal a hurt in my heart whatever it is you can type it in the chat father help us to put our trust in you to cling to you to let go of whatever we've been holding on to and hold on to you and not let go we thank you god that when we draw near to you you draw near to us and what we may discover god is that we're not really just holding on to you but god we thank you that you're holding on to us we put our trust in you god we continue to believe and god by faith i believe for mandy for joy for anna that the mighty name of jesus would bring healing for every hurt for every sickness god for every crushing disappointment we lift these up before you and thank you that there is a name above every name his name is jesus we put our hope in you as you keep praying today at all of our different churches there are those of you that you may recognize uh i don't really have an ongoing hope and trust in in god you may kind of believe in god you may even want to trust in god but you just you just you haven't put your whole hope and trust in there if we sat down and had a conversation and i just asked you where you were spiritually you might kind of hem-haul around you might not really know and let me just be as clear as i can be who jesus is he is the son of god he was perfect in every way he never ever sinned he invited people like simon peter a very lost and rough rebellious fisherman to leave everything and to follow him he came for those who were hurting he came for those who are broken and jesus as the perfect sacrifice because he never sinned he gave his life as a sacrifice on a cross for the forgiveness of our sins on the third day our god raised him from the dead so that anyone and this includes you who calls out on his name you'd be saved you'd be forgiven all of your sins washed away today at all of our different churches or watching online there are those of you you recognize i don't have that peace i don't have the joy i don't have a sense of security that my sins have been forgiven maybe you're watching today not by coincidence but you're here because god loves you and wants to reveal himself to you what do you do just cling to him today just believe that jesus is enough and all of our churches those who say yes i want to let go of my sin my my life my past even my own security and i want to cling to jesus i want to follow him i want to surrender my life i need him i trust you jesus today by faith i give you my whole life that's your prayer in all of our churches you're ready now is the moment you need his forgiveness you need his grace that's why you're here this is your moment you say yes jesus today i give my life to you that's your prayer lift your hands high now all over the place and say yes as we have hands going up in all of our churches those of you at church online you can click or you can just type it in the chat i'm giving my life to jesus would you pray with those around you as we celebrate new life in christ just pray heavenly father forgive all of my sins jesus save me and make me new fill me with your spirit so i could follow you put my trust in you in all that i do i give my life to you in jesus name i pray could you celebrate today welcome those born into god's family [Applause]

Channel: Life.Church

Views: 91,643

Rating: 4.9466438 out of 5

Keywords: Craig Groeschel, Sermon, Life.Church, Lifechurch, life church, life church sermons, craig rochelle, groeschel craig, church sermons 2020, trust god, trust in god, trusting god, obedience, obedience to god, surrender to god, how to surrender to god, in god we trust, control, trust in the lord, trust, trusting in god

Id: KS8pdAE3B-c

Length: 34min 8sec (2048 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 25 2020