"Trust in the Lord" | Pastor Steve Gaines

take your Bibles and turn with me please to one of the probably best-known verses in all of the Bible and that is proverbs chapter three verses five and six and I'll read it in just a moment in fact I want you to read it with me it's so good I want us to read it twice all right I mean that and it's just two verses but they will change your life if you'll catch what the Lord is trying to say to us today these words were written by King Solomon King Solomon was arguably the most brilliant person ever to live except Jesus Christ probably the second smartest person ever to live and he wrote three books in the new in the Old Testament he wrote the Song of Solomon that was his first book and it was his love letters with his first wife and it was absolutely a it is an absolutely beautiful picture of a man and a woman being in love now some people say well it's really a picture of Christ and the church now I just want to say this to you I don't think it is I don't think that's what it's about I think it is a man and a woman in love in a godly relationship and you know what that's just as holy as anything else in the Bible amen nothing wrong with that now if you believe that other that's fine I'm just telling you I don't all right it was written when a time when he was in young and he was in love and his wife was in love and everything in their marriage was beautiful but then as he went along in life he became such a great success in business in buildings his dad had fought all of the wars King David had fought all of the wars there was peace on every side and you know isn't that the way it is sometimes God sends a warrior and then he sends a builder and then right he sends a warrior to clear the way and then he sends a builder to come in and occupy the land well that is what was going on in the book of Proverbs we're in the book of Proverbs today it is the section of material in the Bible that's referred to as wisdom literature and there is great wisdom in the book of Proverbs Solomon wrote that during the time that he was leading Israel in the early years when they were finishing the temple and he was dedicating the temple beautiful text over in second chronicles and all in there in chapter 7 and 8 where he's down on his knees praying to God God sends the power of God upon the temple of God and that's where he said if your people called by your name will humble themselves and pray and seek your face and turn from their wicked ways we will hear from heaven you will hear from heaven forgive our sin and heal our land so so Solomon was he wrote the book of Proverbs when he was the king and he was still married and all was going well but somehow he didn't end up that way I want to say this to you it doesn't matter where you've been you can end up good it's not just how your life has gone it's how it goes from here on in aren't you glad that you can forget your past leave it behind and move on and serve God from here on in amen that's what you need to do Solomon didn't do that Solomon started well but did not end well now you know what you can start well and you can end well you can also start badly but praise God and well but please don't in poorly and the Bible says he started he couldn't get over women he was somebody he disliked women and they were drawn to him I mean you had one queen that came from several hundred miles away just to hear him talk I mean women were just attracted to this guy he was good-looking but the problem is he started looking around and he started believing his own headlines and he started being immoral and he wound up having hundreds of wives can you even fathom that I'm not being ugly I'm just saying can you fathom that I don't even want to think about it my soul I'm trying just to be quiet right now Amen I'm trying my best even though Donna's out of town I know you tell her whatever I said I know you now my wife's great boy I boy I just but anyway anyway he he lost everything and he wrote the last book Ecclesiastes and somebody has said Ecclesiastes is summed up like this been there done that now what a frustrated old man who had everything but he had lost his walk with the Lord and I want to encourage you if you're getting older and all of us are but if you're getting into your latter years you stay in love with the Lord Jesus Christ now these verses talk about trusting in the Lord without faith it's impossible to please God whoever comes to God must believe in him without faith it is impossible to please God so we've got to trust in the Lord and we need to trust in the Lord so I want you to read these words with me you can read them off the screen so we'll all be out of the same text proverbs 3:5 and 6 reading with me slowly good and strong read it out loud with me 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 your paths straight let's read it one more time 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 your paths straight father let the words of my mouth and the meditation of all of our hearts be acceptable in thy sight Lord our rock and our Redeemer open our eyes that we may behold wonderful things from thy law in Jesus name if you agree with that same in how can we trust in the Lord can't see the Lord he doesn't talk audibly like I talk we can't touch the Lord but even though we haven't seen him seen him we know him and we can trust in him we have to trust in him to get saved we have to trust in him to walk with Him and one of these days we'll have to trust the Lord when we're about to die and boy you want to have faith then don't you so how do I trust in the Lord well here it is I think this is one of the finest summaries and all of the Bible about trusting in the Lord number one you can trust in the Lord with your whole heart with your very essence of who you are with your soul you can trust in the Lord look at verse 5 trust in the Lord with all your heart simple yet profound God's children commanded trust in the Lord Solomon was telling the people that the Lord God was worthy of their confidence and their absolute trust the Israelites were prone to trust in Jerusalem they thought we'll trust in the City of God will trust in the walls of Jerusalem and there's nothing wrong with walls but there's something wrong when you start trusting in walls more than you trust in God they started to trust in the city more than they trusted in the one who had built the city and anything I just said I just want to tell you was not a subliminal political statement all right so I don't want one letter about any wall okay thank you very much this reliance we're not to trust in their army thank God for armies thank God for protection thank God for walls thank God for all of that but you can't trust in those things even King David said you could not David was this man's daddy and here's what David said about trusting in the army Psalm 20 verse 7 some boast in chariots and some boast in horses but we will boast in the name of the Lord our God nothing wrong with armies nothing wrong with protection nothing wrong with locking our doors but we trust ultimately in the Lord the Lord is the primary object of our trust and they were to trust in the Lord with all their heart that word means inner man deep down in your soul not just with your lips but deep down in your mind in your will in your heart and your being in your soul you're supposed to trust God with all of your heart that's how you trust in the Lord in my daily devotions in fact I in I read the end of it this morning I'm reading through judges the book of Judges it is summarized by the very last verse judges 21:25 some of you know what I'm about to say in those days there was no king in Israel that one phrase appears four times in the book of Judges no King but here's what it says in the last verse the only time it's mentioned everyone did what was right in his own eyes how many of you think that sounds like America anybody believe that everybody's gonna do what's right in our own eyes who is God try to tell me what to do one of the most famous of the judges was Samson now I personally don't believe he had big muscles I don't think he was a couch potato but I don't think he had big muscles the Bible never says he has big muscles the Bible says when he would perform some some miracle that required strength the Bible says this the Spirit of God came upon him now maybe he did maybe he didn't all I'm saying is we don't know but I believe I know the Lord enough to know that if he had had big muscles he could have bragged about his strength I just believe he was a regular guy spirit of God would come upon him and he would do great things that everybody would say the Lord did that and the Bible says that when he was yet to be born his mother again here's another one she was barren couldn't have a child and all of a sudden one day when she was out and about the angel of the Lord appeared to her and we don't know her name and she came back and she told her husband Manoah I've seen the angel of the Lord well you know I'm sure he was a little bit you know why didn't he appear to me why did he appear to you but he didn't say that he just said well let's pray they'll come back and they pray they'll come back well here he comes and guess what he just talked to her again and so manoa finally shows up he doesn't know it's the angel of the Lord which I believe is the pre-and car Lord Jesus Christ and so here he is talking and said what kind of son is he gonna be well he's gonna be a Nazarite he can't have any wine he there's just can't cut his hair you know and that's just symbolic of his his Levite or his Nazarite commitment and vow and he's going to do great things he's going to be a judge for the people of Israel and all of a sudden Manoa gets this ID said can we met can we fix you a meal can we prepare you a meal he said I'm not hungry he said but if you want to give an offering to the Lord go ahead so he takes the meat that he was about to offer puts it on the fire and a miracle took place the the angel of the Lord goes up he jumps into the flame and shoots up into heaven and Manoa is just sitting there Wow and all of a sudden he realized this is the angel of the Lord this is God that we have seen the angel of God and we're going to die and he runs to his wife and he says wife we're going to die we're going to die and you know what she never misses a beat she's as cool as a cucumber she just said hey wait a minute and I love what she said judges 1323 if the Lord had desired to kill us he would not have accepted a burnt offering and a great offering from our hands nor would he have shown us these things nor would he have led us here things like this at this time his wife was saying would you calm down sound familiar well Judas calm down if God wanted to kill us he already would have done would you just trust in the Lord with all of your heart don't we get nervous in life I just asked you a question don't we get all shaken up about stuff what in the world are we gonna do I'll tell you what you need to do you need to look to heaven and in the Lord do you trust in the Lord with your whole heart or do you spend a lot of time fretting and worrying we save brother Steve haven't you been looking at the news don't you know what's going on don't you know this don't you know that to be honest what good does your worrying do you or anybody else tears you up tears everybody around you up and it doesn't change the situation if anything it makes it worse it puts fear in your heart rather than faith and when you don't have faith anything you do that's not a faith the Bible says it is sin to trust in the Lord is to exercise faith faith is the opposite of fear trust in the Lord with all your heart he's saying don't be afraid I was told years ago by an old preacher that there are 365 do not fears in the Bible I've never counted them but I know this there's enough of them that we ought not to fear are you trusting in the Lord now I'm asking you I know this is not some complex sermon I get it I'm asking you a point-blank question are you trusting in the Lord or are you going around worrying all the time and making everybody around you tense or are you praying and giving your your trust of the Lord are you putting your faith in Jesus Christ the one who saved you are you trusting in him to see you through if you're gonna trust the Lord you have to do it not with part of your heart but with your whole heart number two not only do you trust in the Lord with your whole heart you trust in the Lord above your own thoughts above your own reason well brother Steve I just believe God gave me a mind for a reason I believe he gave me I think I ought to just think about things well you should there's nothing wrong with that but how many of you know that God is smarter than all of us amen and that means you do not lean on your own understanding now this verse was written by the smartest man other than Jesus ever to live how do you know that brother Steve listen to what the Bible says about him in first Kings chapter 4 now God gave Solomon wisdom in very great discernment and breadth of mind like the sand that is on the seashore Solomon's wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all the sons of the east and all the wisdom of Egypt he was wiser than all men there it is that's why I believe it God said it was wiser than all men then Ethan the Ezra hide Haman calcio Darda sons of Meho and his fame was known in all the surrounding nations he spoke three thousand proverbs his songs were one thousand five he spoke of trees from the cedar that is in the Lebanon even to the hyssop that grows on the wall he spoke also of animals birds creeping things fish men came from all peoples to hear the wisdom of Solomon from all the kings of the earth who had heard of his wisdom now I know that you're smart but how many people are knocking your door down to say can we just hear you talk oh I'm not that smart am i and yet Solomon said even though I got this brain that is really powerful trust in the Lord with all your heart and don't lean on your own understanding classic again Hebrew parallelism first part explained by the second part first part trust in the Lord with all your heart what does that mean don't lean on your own understanding it's a parallel of contrast Solomon gave the full sense by saying the same thing in two diverse manners if you trust in the Lord all of your heart you will not merely lean on your understanding you'll get the Lord's understanding instead of trusting yourself you will trust the Lord completely with all of your thoughts with all of your opinions if anybody could have leaned on his own understanding it would have been Solomon but in the best years of his life he leaned on the Lord and not himself in spite of his brilliant mind Solomon trusted in the Lord above his own thoughts there's a classic example of this what when somebody did not trust in the Lord but they leaned on their own understanding if you ever read about Abraham again I think this third time in my sermon his wife Sarah was barren could not have a child she was upset you know they lived in a day when people wanted children we live in a day when people want to kill unborn children and even children now outside the womb can you even fathom where we're going unless somebody stops it well the Bible says that Sarah had an idea let me just say this to you every idea and thought you have is not from God and it's not even from you the devil can put an idea in your mind they're called fiery darts in Ephesians 6 verse 16 here's what Sarah had here's her idea she's frustrated everybody's having children but her here's what she says now Sarah Abraham's wife this is from Genesis 16 had borne him no children she had an Egyptian maid whose name was hagar sara said to abram now behold the lord has prevented me from bearing children please go into my maid perhaps i will obtain children through her now look at this abraham listened to the voice of Sarah is there any mention of Prayer in there whatsoever no he just listened to his wife after Abram had lived 10 years in Landvik Amon Canaan Abraham's wife Sarah took Hagar the Egyptian her maid gave her to a her husband Abram as his wife he went into Hagar and she conceived and when he saw she saw that she had conceived when that is when when Sarah saw that Hagar had conceived her mistress was despised in her sight there was trouble in the family this was not God's plan God was not within a million miles of this everything that happens is not the will of God sorry and because they lean on their own understanding rather than trusting in the Lord with her whole heart if smil was born and they have been fighting in the middle-east ever since and we think we're going to fix it it started when somebody leaned on their own under do you realize that your decisions have an effect not just on your life but on your children and their children's children and generations to come thousands of years later we are still dealing with this decision and it's mill is still attacking Isaac the Middle East turmoil all started because somebody leaned on their own understanding rather than trusting in the Lord you know what God says about our thoughts and his thoughts Isaiah 55 listen to this God is speaking he said for my thoughts are not your thoughts my ways are not your ways declares the Lord for as the heavens are higher than the earth so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts are higher than your thoughts how many of you know that god knows what he's doing and he's smarter than us and here's what Jesus our what Jeremiah said Jeremiah 29 I said Jesus because Jesus quoted Jeremiah more than any other prophet in the Old Testament you and I don't know the future but God does and here's what Jeremiah city Jeremiah's is talking for God knows this for I know the plans God is speaking through Jeremiah I know the plans that I have for you declares the Lord their plans for welfare not for calamity I want to give you a future and a hope how many of you want a future and a hope anybody you better listen to God you'd better not lean on your own understanding you'd better take every thought captive every thought you have is not from God if you are a male and you're hearing in your mind I'm a female that is not from God if you're a female and you're hearing I am a male that is not from God that is from the devil you need to take that thought captive if you're out there and you're married and you see some other woman and you say I want to be with her that thought is not from God that's either from your sinful soul or from the devil tempting you God never tells you to sin God never discourages you have you ever been going along and all of a sudden you just having these thoughts and they're in the first person so you think they're yours I'm a failure I can't do this I'm no good I've never been able to do anything worthwhile do you ever feel that way listen to me that is not God that is not you that is the enemy and he's trying to discourage you so what do I do glad you asked second Corinthians chapter 10 verses 3 through 5 for though we walk in the flesh we don't war according to the flesh for the weapons of our warfare or not from the flesh but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses our strongholds we're destroying speculations what is that speculations when the devil suggests us this something bad is going to happen to you that's a speculation we're destroying those things and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God and we are taking every thought cat captive to the obedience of Jesus Christ you've got to say when you smell the devil when you smell discouragement when you smell temptation when you smell fear that is not of God what did Jesus do when the devil put thoughts in his mind he said that's not of God well Satan I rebuke you and he quoted scripture that's what you're supposed to do when you have a thought that comes in your mind that is not from God and not from you but from the pit of hell you say that's not of God I don't accept that and then you quote a scripture and the devil can't handle it amen that's what you got to do now what I just said was not just hollering and whooping there's content that could help you you got to take your thoughts captive God won't do it for you you got to do it for yourself if you stay mad all the time frustrated all the time I'm not trying to be ugly to you but you're the one that's gonna have to believe and trust and start leaning on the Lord to get out of all that nobody can pull you out of that without you doing something about it you've got to start trusting the Lord above your own thoughts well very quickly trust in the Lord thirdly in every area of life look at verse 6 in all your ways acknowledge him may I just make a statement all means all and that's all all means and all your ways acknowledge him the NIV says in all your ways submit to him the new living says seek his will in all you do how do you do that you pray about everything well that's not big enough to pray about I've got that you know what you don't got nothing bad English good theology how many of you know that you need you need the Lord in every decision you make amen you need the Lord so you pray about everything you sections sometime and everybody has a busy Keller you might not have trade for hours today but you know what you've got more time in this day you don't have to watch a hallmark movie this afternoon you don't have to take a three hour nap you could spend an hour with the Lord today reading the Bible and crying out to God and asking God to take your situation and every area of life praying for it praying for your children pray for your grandchildren praying for your business praying for your health praying for your spouse praying over your house praying over this land praying for this nation oh I'm telling there's so much to pray about every area of life trusting the Lord nothing too big nothing too small that you shouldn't bring it before the Lord one of the most wicked Kings in Israel's history was King Ahab when you say his wife's name it's almost like karela Deville they meant you know what karela Deville his cruel devil that's but you know who I'm talking about Jezebel yeah if that's your name please don't tell anybody today okay Jezebel and this man was the polar opposite he was the king of Israel but the king of Judah where Jerusalem was was Jehoshaphat Jehoshaphat godly righteous man and the Bible says one day a have just decided he never prayed about anything just decided he wanted to go to war with somebody but he wanted some help so he calls josh fat over and he asked him to help first Kings 22 says this three years passed without war between Arab and Israel in the third year Jehoshaphat the king of Judah came down to the king of Israel king of Israel that's they have said to a service do you know that Roman Gilead belongs to us and we are still doing nothing to take get out of the hand of the king of Arum he said to Jehoshaphat will you go with me to battle at Rama the edge a hostile fat said to the king of Israel I am as you are my people as your people my horses as your horses moreover Jehoshaphat said to the king watch this please inquire first for the word of the Lord then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together about four hundred of them these were bought and paid for these were not real prophets said to them shall I go against trimethyl chiliad to battle and shall I have refrained they said go up for the Lord will give it into your hand O king they were paid for they were bought by the government they were not worth anything and Jehoshaphat knew it so Jehoshaphat said is there not yet a prophet of the Lord here that we might inquire of him the king of Israel said to Josh but yeah there's one there's yet one by whom we may inquire the Lord but I hate him because he does not prophesy good concerning me but evil that's because you were evil if you're still in there somewhere he is Micaiah son of imlah but Jehoshaphat said let not the king say so what is the point in me even bringing that up in all of your ways acknowledge the Lord Jehoshaphat lived through the battle and a half died in the bed you know how I am died nice a random soldier took a random air he had one arrow left and he didn't even know who he he just shot in amongst them did you ever hear Jerry clower that say that just shoot up here amongst us one of us got to have some relief he meant well he just shot in amongst them he just saw the it's lights over there and he said I got one era I'm just gonna do the best I can hey this guy I bet he's been looking over here and shot over there he's gonna won't but God was behind that era and there was missin a have had on full kingly armor and there was one little area right here that was exposed that's that's where they put it on and guess where the era hit it was on both sides it hit on this side and went right into his heart a random era and he bled to death and died and Elijah had said the dogs are gonna lick the blood out of your chariot because you killed Namath in his own vineyard you killed him and his children and you stole his vineyard from him and that's exactly what happened do you see the difference one man came out of the battle alive one man died who came out alive the man who sought the Lord in all your ways acknowledge him how many of you got some real issues in your life I got up my hands I mean we've all got things we're concerned about pray about them pray about them every day pray for your children pray for your grandchildren pray for your relatives pray for this church pray pray pray and you know what God is a big God the Bible says in romans 11:33 oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God how unsearchable his judgments and his ways past finding out God knows it all he knows the past he knows the present he knows the future he knows it all perfectly don't lean on your own understanding acknowledge God in all of your ways pray about everything the Bible says in Philippians 4:6 and 7 in fact this is so good it's almost the New Testament equivalent of the text that we're in proverbs 3:5 and 6 is almost exactly like Philippians 4 6 and 7 let's read Philippians 4 6 and 7 off the screen we do as we please be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God and the peace of God which passes all comprehension will guard your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus just let your request be made known to God pray about everything and here's what God will do don't check out listen to me the next 30 seconds god when you let your request if you ask something that is not the will of God look at me if you ask something that is the will of God he will give it to you if it's not the will of God God will do for you what he will give you what you would have asked for if you knew everything about the situation that he did hear what I just said God is a good god and you need to start crying out to God stop complaining stop worrying stop talking and getting everybody else's opinion and all that stuff listen to me they don't know what to do either they're just like you go to God he is above your problem and he knows what to do trust in the Lord in every area of life and last thing trusting the Lord with complete confidence and he will make your paths straight proverbs 3 6 the new living says he will show you which path to take I'll tell you what it means in Hebrew he will block for you he will clear the way for you I like that he's gonna clear a path for you I remember one time when I was playing football up at Dyersburg I was a offensive tackle defensive end we had a all-american running back James Patrick he ran for over 2000 yards our senior year he had run in high school in three years he ran for 4,000 yards he was a scat back he was quick man and be frank with you we were beating a team 50 something to nothing and I was still out there on the field I was playing right tackle and we ran the play to the left and I'll just be frank with you I really didn't care about blocking anybody I thought you know man we got this done I was thinking about my date amen I was think about where I was going after the deal and so I thought you know we don't need another touchdown and then we're going that way anyway I'll just kind of I'll just kind of chill over here well our coats was not anybody he was kind of like Nick Saban he didn't like you to chill all right and so I didn't really block my man that much and I didn't walk the men down field well James ran the ball around and he got in the open and when he cut back the linebacker that I was supposed to block nailed him and almost knocked him out and coach neva said time games come here I knew I was in trouble man we go right back and he said I'm gonna run the same play I said coach be quiet thinking he said I hope they do hear me cuz I'm gonna run the same play and if you don't block that guy you don't want to come to practice on Monday that's back when they could talk to you like that amen I mean now they get sued and everybody be mad at my soul what have we become well I got out there everybody on the field knew what play it was going to be we're gonna run left and gains were all looking at you thank you very much so I go down and I hit that linebacker as hard as I can I knocked him on his back and no joke James touched me in the back he said let's go I said follow me I knocked down another guy and he ran in the end zone made the touchdown and for some reason that last touchdown was important to our coach all I'm saying is linemen our job is to pave the way for the running back they're gonna get all the glory but you know what it's our job to pave the way aren't you glad that you've got a god that loves you enough to clear the way for you amen let's thank God point I don't know of a better verse two verses of scripture in the Bible I love these verses let's all stand up and don't you leave I'm not through all right let's all read this one more don't you love this verse let's thank God for the verses we've got today men don't you love this all right I will tell you that one of the dangers of having a well-known text is to kind of forget the meaning of it let's thank God for this verse as we read these two verses read it with me now trust in the Lord with all your heart do not lean on your own understanding in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight he will clear the way amen he'll make a way just like the song said well go he'll make a way when there is no way God is a good offensive lineman amen he'll clear the way I wonder today let's just bow our heads for a moment how many of you have something you say pastor I've got something I really need the Lord to help me with pray for me raise your hand anybody out there all over this room all over this room well I've told you what to do alright I've told you what God says to do how many of you will put these verses to action when you leave here today raise your hand anybody out there amen all of you I hope that's all of you trust in the Lord with all your heart don't lean on your own understanding and all your ways acknowledge him he will clear the way he'll make the paths straight so father bless these sweet people touch their lives encourage them Lord God clear the way make away in the wilderness Oh God help them I pray and help them to trust in you in Jesus name and if you agree with that same

Channel: Bellevue Baptist Church

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Length: 41min 38sec (2498 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 12 2019