What Do You Really Believe About God?

i think it's fair to say that most of us if not all have experienced trials in our life yes adversity afflictions hardships maybe even tragedy these things are inevitable they come they touch everybody's life but the interesting thing about those things notwithstanding the rationale the reasons the whys that we ask about them they have this interesting capacity to uncover what we really believe about god think about it when stuff happens and you're a christian you begin to wonder you begin to ask questions you begin to think hey whatever and it gives some measure of understanding or it should what do i really believe about god many times during these seasons or these experiences that we go through we find ourselves again searching for reasons why why we try to find meaning in these things we naturally try to make sense out of what may seem to us to be senseless sometimes when we try to summarize our feelings we think maybe maybe somehow god has let us down now we're all gathered here we've just sung his praises we believe that he's in control of everything and we would never say in church god would let us down but maybe out there by ourselves that thought may occur to us we believe that god's our best friend don't we he's our best friend best friend and yet sometimes it may seem and we may feel that god has failed us we have certain expectations don't we we have certain expectations of ourselves of each other we have certain expectations of god and when those expectations go unmet where does that leave us hmm we have questions we wonder how could god let this happen to me how could god allow this to happen to good people people of faith even his people who is this god that we worship who exactly is this god that we pray to who is this god that we spend time with now many of us in time learned that we have been worshipping the wrong god actually gods plural with a small g and there are five of them this morning that i want to identify and i think we'll all be able to relate to one degree or another each of these small g lesser gods reflects attributes that we try to place on the one true god this is where it is so important to know your bible if you don't know your bible if you're not reading your bible if you're not studying your bible the bible is not really um it holds a special place in your life it'll be very very difficult to recognize and refute these false gods you gotta know the truth you gotta know the truth it's like it's like tellers in the bank i'm told that they're they recognize counterfeit money just because they know the real money the just the feel of it they know counterfeit bill when it comes through we have to know the truth so we can recognize that which is counterfeit and might i add what the with the the darkness kingdom of darkness is trying to influence and how the kingdom of darkness is trying to influence us and though sometimes we may struggle we have to remember that the goal of our lives is not money the goal of our lives is not pleasure the goal of our lives is not power the goal of our lives is not even now get this one fun i had a conversation with a man no longer he says pastor i just i just want to have some fun i said well let's just look back in the concordance for the word fun it's not there the goal of our lives is to embrace the great i am that's the goal of our lives he says what love me with your whole heart mind and soul and strength that's the goal of our lives so given that what are these lesser false gods what do they look like we are to leave them behind the first one and this is one that's a favorite of most of us the first god is the god who does things my way have you ever found yourself talking to god in prayer and telling him what to do and how to do it all the time we have a choice have a choice when experiencing difficulties trials afflictions tragedies to accept that god chooses to conduct his business differently than you or i would have most likely we see something happening a difficulty a tragedy we want to intervene and the quicker the better we call 9-1-1 right call 9-1-1 say we want to intervene that's our natural impulse and stop the tragedy stop the difficulty and yet because we serve a sovereign god we believe that he could have changed the outcome of whatever tragic events that were experienced but for whatever reason he chose not to i submit to you that when you see something going on and i experience this all the time i see people's lives in trouble i see trials i see challenges i see stuff happening and i want to jump in there and say i'm the pastor i have a job to do i'm supposed to i dare not do it unless i'm first in prayer god give me wisdom here give me wisdom i don't want to step into a situation where god may be doing something in that person's life and i'm going to subvert it do you understand what i'm saying i don't want to get in there and do or say something that's going to lead that person off track as much as i know i know that i can be wrong about some things only god knows the heart doesn't he it's wonderful you hear something from somebody and you go oh my oh my oh my then you got to go get the other side of the story right pretty soon you're going whoa you don't know what's right you have to be careful you have to be careful about these things he is the god who does give us a capacity to choose and he means for us to make right choices we make these choices in a fallen world remember we are still fallen beings we're still imperfect beings and hence our choices are going to be imperfect there's no perfect choice that we're gonna make and when sometimes we make bad decisions there's the domino effect of those decisions true and those that domino effect can reach further than we can possibly imagine how many of us have ever said words that we just wish we could grab them and pull them back because we see that those words are going to have an effect and we don't know where that effect is going to go it may take us a while to let go of the god who does things my way and in doing so we need to admit that we don't know what is best in the long term that's always something you have to calculate do i know what's best in the long term no who does he does he does a greater more informed less contained god exists and he can usurp all of our goals we need to be in effect dethroned we love nothing more than sitting on the throne of our life we love nothing more than to be in control we love nothing more than to make the decisions and i promise you he says you must deny yourself we must be dethroned if he is truly to sit on the throne the bible when you read it reveals a god whose ways little little resemble my own you ever notice that isaiah chapter 55 this is these verses are famous and most all of you probably know these verses and god says my thoughts are not your thoughts neither are your ways my ways so you're saying you don't you don't think the way i think and you don't do what i do and how i do it so his his purpose is to get us in his book when i when i read the bible for years and years and years i said god i want to think like you think i want to know your mind better i want truly to have the mind of christ i want to live how you would the only way i'm going to do that is by spending time with him reading reading studying thinking we have to admit that there is a god way of thinking and that we may not fully apprehend it after all would i have loaded a boat with animals would you have loaded a boat with animals probably not never occurred to me would you have limited gideon's army or we go to war we want the biggest baddest armor we can find right what does god do whittles it down to how many people 300 would you have done that no would you have wagered that david would beat goliath nobody in their right mind believe that and he does it with a stone would you have removed the sins of men by sending the son of god last thing i had ever done it's not too difficult to acknowledge that god is smarter that god is wiser and that god is greater than i am however it's much tougher to convince my fleshly nature that i'm not as smart as i think i am on one hand i agree but on the other hand i go i don't know my ways ultimately lead to death writer of the proverb says this there is a way that seems right to a man but in the end it leads to death that's why the proverbs also say acknowledge him in all of our ways don't lean on your own understanding proverbs 16 9 says this in his heart a man plans his course but the lord determines his steps aren't you glad aren't you glad god thank you for blunting the harvest of my foolishness thank you we have to admit that however right it seems going our own way apart from god's divine insight will not lead us down the correct path don't lean on our own understanding the realization that we need a god who knows more than we do and who isn't in need of our personal brilliance that's truly humbling you don't need me you don't need me i love when people say oh god needs you i said he needs me he's in bigger trouble than i thought he doesn't need me he wants me but he doesn't need me leaving my false god behind means i have gained a much more powerful god this god has the independence to do things based on his superior and insightful knowledge and plan he frees me from carrying the weight of the world on my shoulders do you ever get consumed with stuff you watch the news man you get exhausted watching the news and you you're you find yourself carrying the weight of the world he frees us from that he frees us so that we can be part of his bigger picture he has a plan for my life but if i'm consumed with thinking that i got to control everything i'm going to miss his plan and his purpose for my life so he frees me from all that and when we learn to embrace the god who does things his way not our way we rest in the blessings of his peace we rest in the blessings of his grace and his joy it's his joy all of a sudden life takes on a whole new perspective when we learn that he really has a plan how about the god who is harsh cruel or mean what about that god when we decide to acknowledge the true god the next struggle may come in actually trusting him this is important i may logically rationally acknowledge the one true god but the whole another case is do i really trust him do i really trust him after all he's let this tragedy happen he's let this trial happen he's this thing's in my life can i really really trust him it's one thing to know that he does what is best but it's quite another thing to live as if he will do what is best again according to my understanding there's an age-old question probably most of you heard it if not thought it yourself how can a loving god allow evil and tragic things to happen ever heard that i i've heard a thousand times people say when i talk about jesus as somebody who's not a believer they say well well if god is so loving if he's so kind and so good why that and they point out all these crazy things you see when that occurs to us we begin to sometimes question god if he's allowed that to happen what's next are you with me do you understand if that's happened what's next have you ever thought this i'm waiting for the other shoe to drop i talked with a man last week he's in the same dilemma he's just suffered this huge big trial tragedy and i'm encouraging him to trust god he says i'm just waiting for the other shoe to drop what's his he's saying i don't really trust him i don't trust him we have to realize that god is not the big guy in the sky who waits to zap me when i mess up no it's just the opposite here's one of the greatest greatest promises in the bible first john 1 9 how many know that verse what's he saying if if what if we confess our sins now just think with me we're talking about a relationship a relationship with me and god right if i can use an analogy of human relationship you're in a relationship with this person you sin against that person but you don't acknowledge it does that create a little distance in the relationship now you know you've sinned the other person knows you've sinned you know that they know that you sinned and they know that you know that you sinned figure that out but unless and until you step up and say i'm sorry i sinned against you there's still going to be distance and tension in that relationship true story so what has to happen the person who sinned has to come and say i sinned i did this or that no different he says i know what you did i already know what you did but your sin distances you from me not me from you it's imperative that you come and fess up it's imperative that you come and say i was wrong i sinned against you but we do it in the confidence that he is what what is he faithful and just he's just to forgive me because he's already poured his wrath out on his son for that sin that i did he's faithful and just to forgive me i don't even have to beg for forgiveness you know where does he say do that he says just confess it admit it and let me forgive you let me cleanse you from all the kaka all the attendant unrighteousness see that verse that verse rules out a god intent on handing down retribution to a repentant sinner now that doesn't mean he won't discipline us how many know there's a difference between punishment retribution and discipline discipline always has a side to the future punishment has a side toward the past our parents punished us grounded us spanked us but the wise parent disciplines their child that discipline has an eye to the future when i was younger i was an athlete and our coaches if you're an athlete you know if you had a good coach that coach disciplined you trained you with an eye toward the future isn't that true i remember i was in the eighth grade and we had this gym coach who's going to get us in shape he had us laying on our backs doing leg lifts i've never done a leg lift in my life he says don't lower those feet keep those legs up keep those legs up screaming at us walking through the rows we're going all these all these young boys crying like babies i was among them oh this hurts so bad this hurts so bad [Music] but then the result of that was that we were able to form at a higher level because he what he trained us he disciplines he wasn't punishing us hebrews chapter 12 we read this endure hardship is what endure hardship is what not punishment endured is discipline god works all things for our good god is treating you as sons for what son is not disciplined by his father if you are not disciplined everyone undergoes discipline then you're illegitimate children and not true sons moreover we have all had human fathers who discipline us and we respected them for it how much more should we submit to the father of our spirits and live our father's discipline is for a little while as they thought best but god disciplines us for our good that we may share in his what holiness remember he says you will be holy because i'm holy he's using all these things in our life to make us like him to make us holy he says no discipline seems pleasant at the time but painful later on however it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been what trained by it god's not mean he's not cruel he's good he's good he has a great wonderful purpose for us maybe maybe this god who allows sorrow in our life is me no no no first second corinthians chapter one says that's not true this is what paul says peace or praise i said praise be to the god and father of our lord jesus christ the father of what compassion and the god of all what comfort who comforts us in all our troubles if you're if you're focusing on the wrong god you're going to miss the comfort he comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort those who are also in trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from god no waste in god's economy he uses everything for our good and for the blessing of his kingdom god doesn't inflict pain as some cruel cruel god he binds up our sorrow with his compassion so that compassion can't overflow into other people's lives you can say i understand i understand i've been there i'm still there and eventually we can trade our toxic god for the one who so loved the world that he gave his one and only son whoever should believe in him would not perish but have everlasting life god gave sacrificially so that you and i can live how can we possibly who can possibly compete with such love and when we finally realize that we're safe we're actually safe in the hands of the god who wants to bless us in spite of ourselves do you ever think you have to qualify you have to be good enough to get his blessings during his blessings so you're saying okay i'm going to really work hard today i want to i want to be really spiritual today so god will bless me you can't earn it it's called grace he blesses us in spite of ourselves take that home he blesses you in spite of yourself he has the long view of your life he has a long he knows what he's doing you can exhale you can learn to enjoy his blessings that wonderful he died for us he died for us so that we may live and we may live for eternity in a place where there will be no more pain no more sorrow no more tears and no more death can you hardly wait he is our rescuer he rescues us he's the god that goes in and pulls me out from the fiery fate in which i'm surely going to enter into i love this passage for years and years and years i've loved this passage it's kind of an obscure passage it's in the prophet zechariah chapter 3 verse 2. he says a burning stick snatched from the fire that's who we were we were burning sticks he snatched us from the fire somebody say hallelujah to that amen there's a third god and this god is apathetic apathetic maybe you've wondered at some point maybe you've even asked does god really care about what i'm going through not only does he know but does he care does it make any difference to him we all know how caring he is on sunday morning when we're here singing his praises well what about monday morning what about monday morning when we may whimper and groan in pain i found a passage of scripture where god now notice this god appeared he appeared to be indifferent what did i say he appeared to be indifferent this is in the book of joshua in chapter 5. look it with me now joshua's just he's brought the people into the land he's getting ready now to attack what city jericho the first city of the land jericho is going to be a tithe of the land because god says to them don't touch anything don't take any spoils for yourself this is mine so it's a tithe of the lamb so when joshua was near jericho he looked up and he saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand joshua went up to him and asked are you for us or for our enemies what does the man reply neither neither but as commander of the army of the lord i have now come now when i read that and the lord replied neither i thought wait a minute i thought god was always on our side he's always a republican but when he said neither i thought this meant he was apathetic to joshua's plight joshua has to make a choice he's got this huge military crisis in front of him and then i read he'd come as commander of the army of the lord i finally realize this is not indifference at all god has appeared to joshua at a time when joshua needs answers and notice that the lord doesn't show up as a shepherd he doesn't show up as a sacrificial lamb but as commander of the army of the lord just what joshua needed since he was in the middle of this strategic military crisis joshua had to know he had to learn as do you and i god is not in the business of taking political or social sides not what he does he is in the practice of taking his own side stand there with me he's in the practice of taking his own side and his side always wins just go read the following chapter chapter 6 of joshua so josh you ask whose side are you on god in effect responds with his own question joshua whose side are you on do it my way and when i'm forever telling people i'm forever telling married couples i'm telling couples who are in in premarital counseling i'm forever telling them do you want god to bless you yes yes yes do it his way do it his way don't take shortcuts you find out what he says do it his way you want to win you want to get blessed do it his way it's not rocket science it's not complicated you have to humble yourself though right so the true god is not apathetic he always knows where he stands he always knows where he's going and he always knows what his purpose is for us we're the ones who have a decision to make will i follow him or not will i trust him or not do we believe god's in control you know how you really know that's true is because you trust him and how do you know you trust him because you obey him so shall we place god ourselves on god's side i'm on your side i want to learn what you want i want to do what you want when i first became a christian i didn't no one led me to the lord in a formal sense i just knew i knew he was there i said i said i said i know you're there i just don't know what you want yet but i'm going to find out what you want and i'm going to do it that was it that's how i became a christian the fourth lesser god is the god who is impotent sometimes when situations rage out of control we'll often ask god why doesn't he do something about it why don't you do something about this why don't you do something is it too much for him some time ago i went to god with my cries about his seeming lack of ability and indifference and he brought to my mind job job's always a fun read isn't it he brought to my mind the book of job job was not afraid to ask god some hard questions and eventually god turned the tables on job and he was the one doing the asking in the 38th chapter of the book of job god asked job these questions where were you when i laid the earth's foundation he's trying to give job some perspective have you ever given orders to the morning or shown the dawn its place do you know the laws of the heavens can you set up god's dominion over the earth now i had to admit as did job i know you can do all things no plan of yours can be thwarted even when i can't understand why god allows certain tragedies he's not shaken and his power is not limited his power is not diminished his power is not destroyed it's like the little song that i sang to my son as he was an infant and consequently when i had grandchildren saying it to them as they were young and infants you'll recognize this we are weak but he is strong yes jesus loves me shall we put away our weak god and embrace the omnipotent god embracing this all-powerful god will bring us i promise you a new peace and a new strength you'll feel the weight lifted off you as you exchange your burden for his yoke which is light a whole new whole new whole new experience happens whole new experience you begin to come to the place that only he knows all the whys we won't and it has to be okay that has to be okay you and i because of our imperfect natures we try to bring closure to everything we want to wrap everything up with a nice ribbon and bow right you're not gonna be able to you're gonna have to come to the place where where you realize he has all the whys and the rationales and the reasons you won't and that has to be okay at some point as the song says he has the whole world in his hands the fifth lesser god is the god who changes this is the god that we struggle the most to let go of and sometimes we still do this god who seems to be always changing capricious whimsical can't kind of pin him down wouldn't it be nice if you could pin god down get him nailed down this god is here today gone tomorrow this god wants me to live my life in fear that someday he will take away all my blessings and joys he's gonna keeps me on my toes keeps me on the edge scott is always changing we think this god can do the most damage because his credibility is verified by the tragedies and disasters he's already brought if he's done all that my gosh what can i expect now accidents diseases death these things enter our lives a lot of times unexpectedly isn't that true when you're walking down the street boom you got so you got this cobia where'd this come from how did i get this you knocked down for what 10 days two weeks a month sometimes longer some people die from it stuff happens stuff happens and all these things have the potential to shatter any sense of hope that we have we just kind of live on the edge wars come trials tribulations are guaranteed jesus says in the face of all this we seem absolutely powerless this is a world of change the world is always changing but there are some good changes also you meet somebody you marry them you have babies you get a good job you enter a ministry you point people to jesus all really good things but regardless life on earth is volatile and it is constantly changing is it any wonder that we expect the same from god we have a habit of extrapolating our experiences here on to him our motivations on to him we do the same because of this changing world we live in we automatically assume that he's changing the real one true god actually embodies what our lives our souls everything that we are longs for what is that constancy consistently just be consistent just be consistent there ain't a wife around that doesn't want her husband be consistent isn't that true a lot of us guys are just all over the map our wives don't know what to expect except inconsistency they just want us to be consistent just be consistent i'm fond of telling husbands that's your word of the day all called middle of the day what's the word of the day consistency hebrews chapter 13 verse 8 reminds us jesus christ is the same yesterday and today and forever his very nature is unchanging he remains the same he is stable regardless of my circumstances past present or future so we are able we're able to move about in this changing world we're able to move about knowing that he is with us in fact he's promised to never leave us no forsake us wow i don't care what i'm going through he's with me he's with me he's with me he's with me he's not abandoned me he's not taking a nap he's not in the restroom he's with me he's with me he's with me that's the kind of god we need and that's the kind of god he is even even when a crisis threatens to chip away at the foundation of my faith my god stands unmoved he stands unshaken and unchanged the false gods we've enthroned over the years quite simply gave us nothing but grief you just have to look into your life if you're if your life is full of confusion anxiety fear all those negative kinds of things and you say well i'm a christian i believe in jesus but if your life is is bearing that kind of fruit you have to think maybe i am giving credibility to these lesser gods maybe i'm thinking this is what god is really like and it's resulting in this kind of grief and sadness in my life we recognize that we give them the heave hope but every so often they come back for a visit they try to gain a foothold again in our life and remember behind these false understandings of god our demonic forces and powers seeking to deceive us discourage us to defeat us and it's only through the truth of the scriptures that we are able to withstand their lies about who god really is so church today new day amen as we face the sorrows and griefs and tragedies and difficulties and tribulations in our life today let's commit to do that with the god whose ways are not our own let's commit to face these things with the god whose mission is to love and comfort us let's commit to face those things with the god who calls us to join him in his best let's commit to face those things with the god who has the power to make positive changes in our lives and lastly let's commit to face these things with a god who will stay with us who will stick with us and never leave us no matter what comes thomas said this thomas said this recorded in john's gospel when he realized who jesus was he says my lord and my god that's our proclamation amen say that with me my lord and my god hallelujah hallelujah to worship any other god absolutely futile let's stick with the one true god aren't you glad you're warned alerted all right let's pray heavenly father thank you again for your word thank you for the truth of of of what you reveal to us you teach us and thank you that you are you are god who whose ways and whose thoughts are higher than ours and lord you are instructing us and teaching us more and more so that we can think more like you and lord we can act more like you thank you thank you that you give us understanding and wisdom he said if you lack it ask it'll be given abundance thank you that once we were your enemy and now we sit at your table thank you for jesus search our hearts oh god show us show us those things that we have involved ourselves in that we need to admit and confess to you as we come to your table amen take a few moments let the holy spirit search your heart examine yourself and as he reveals anything to you just confess it to him knowing he's faithful and just to forgive you and cleanse you from all unrighteousness you

Channel: Hope Chapel Hermosa Beach

Views: 57

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: pastor, hope chapel, Hermosa Beach, sermon, church, service

Id: mn-RcntCTOY

Length: 46min 16sec (2776 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 08 2021