Walkerdine Partnership ~ Christian Games, Travel,
Business, Retail Therapy, and Ministry
Tel: 08708 034670 Fax: 01920 468191
michael@walkerdine.net NEW for 2007 ~ Christian Games Website
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Tel: 08708 034670 Fax: 01920 468191
michael@walkerdine.net NEW for 2007 ~ Christian Games Website
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Put your trust in God
I am going to read this morning from Proverbs but before I do lets understand a bit of the background of Proverbs.
Proverbs was written mostly by Solomon with Agur and Lemuel contributing to some of the latter sections.
This is a book of wise sayings, a textbook for teaching people how to live Godly lives through the repetition of wise thoughts.
The key verse in this book is proverbs1:4 ‘Fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge – only fools despise wisdom and discipline.
Proverbs covers a wide range of topics including youth and discipline, family life, self control and resisting temptation, business matters, words and the tongue, knowing God, marriage, seeking the truth, wealth and poverty, immorality and of course wisdom.
A person who follows the advice in proverbs will walk closer to God.
The word proverb comes from the Hebrew word that means to rule or govern
So lets turn to Proverbs 3:5
PR 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;
PR 3:6 in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.
PR 3:7 Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and shun evil.
PR 3:8 This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones.
PR 3:9 Honor the LORD with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops;
PR 3:10 then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine.
How much do you trust God?
How much do you trust God?
Come on - how much do you trust God?
With all your heart?
How much did Abraham trust God?
How much did Abraham love God?
How much did Moses trust God?
Did David trust God or did he fear Goliath?
So how much do you trust God?
Ask the person next to you - how much do you trust God?
When we have an important decision to make we some times feel we cannot trust anyone or any ones advice. – not even God.
Does that sound familiar – am I talking about you? I know I am talking about me.
In fact in many cases when things aren’t going right we try to fix things ourselves,
Were not happy about the car, we don’t know how we are going to fix it, it may be with a relationship with our partner or our offspring or a brother and sister, it may be about a job, or a financial dilemma that we are in. So we try to fix it up ourselves – and what happens – it can makes things worse
You know God knows what is best for us, and sometimes it can be like bad tasting medicine, its got to get worse before it gets better.
He is a better judge of what we want than we are. Often we don’t know what we want We don’t know what is good for us We think things are good for us but you know they can be bad for us – they can be very bad for us.
But God knows, trust him.
Trust him completely, trust him in every choice you make. Trust him in every choice you need to make
Don’t omit careful thinking or belittle our God given ability to reason but we should not trust our own ideas to the exclusion of others. We must not be wise in our own eyes but be willing to listen to and be corrected by Gods word and wise counsellors.
Bring your decisions to God prayer, use the bible as your guide and then follows\ Gods leading, he will direct you paths by both guiding you and protecting you.
Solomon said to receive Gods guidance we must seek Gods guidance in all we do.
This means turning every area of you life over to God.
This means turning every area of you life over to God.
This means turning every area of you life over to God.
This means turning every area of you life over to God.
This means turning every area of you life over to God
This means turning every area of you life over to God
What does it mean
About a thousand years after Solomon the main man our saviour emphasised this same truth
Turn to matthew 6.33
33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Put God first, put God on a pedestal, put God on his throne on your heart,
if that’s what Jesus says we should do, then we have to obey.
Fill your thoughts with his desires, take his character and own it as yours - be Christ like – obey and serve him in everything.
What is really important to you? People Objects Goals Work other desires
They all compete for priority – any of these can quickly bump God of the top spot if you don’t actively choose to give him first place in every area of your life.
If you’re a young Christian - it doesn’t get easier as you grow – in fact as you grow you can become more complacent and quite often the guard gets let down and ole Lucifer slips in and helps you get out of fellowship with God. Satan is always looking for a way in
Why? He is looking to deceive, steal and confuse and there is no one better than someone who believes in God.
Have you ever noticed that before you were saved life was different – you see Satan didn’t need to bother with you – you were already his – you weren't a threat. But as soon as you start to show an interest in God – his fire heats up and he starts to take notice of you and tries to rock your boat
So you see you need to be alert – this world needs 'lerts'
Planning for tomorrow is time well spent but worrying about tomorrow is wasted time – sometimes its difficult to tell the difference.
Examine your values and priorities
What is important to you?
In what areas have you not acknowledged him? You may already acknowledge God in many areas of your life, but the areas that you attempt to restrict or ignore him will cause you grief.
If you push God out - then you are inviting Satan in!!
Make him a vital part of everything you do – because he will then guide you because you will be working to accomplish his purposes.
That’s good isn’t it
You have the desires of your heart God knows the desires of your heart God has plans for you Those plans are good plans You don’t want to do any more than you can cope with God knows what you can cope with God loves you You love God But Do you trust him????
1TH 5:16 Be joyful always; 17 pray continually; 18 give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.
Now that’s difficult, isn’t it????
When you are going through a tough time
Be joyful always!!!
Whoever wrote this is having a laugh .you ask my wife how joyful she was for 9 months of 2001. it was more of a case of ‘why God have you forsaken me!!!
Ooh! let me get my skipping rope out and be joyful!
We all have had times in our life – when it is the last thing on our minds in the world is to be joyful – I can think of many occasions where the last thing on my mind would be to be joyful.
But When you are at your Red Sea – tell God, you need tell him how it is and turn back to him.
But you know as soon as you can be joyful – be joyful Be very joyful – be more joyful than jack mc joyful on a better than average joyful sort of day.
As soon as you can make that conscientious decision As soon as you can turn around and say that this is the first day of the rest of my life. As soon as you can turn back to God and you are joyful – God will help you get back on track, God will work on the desires of your heart.
Every experience you go through in life can help strengthen you, and ultimately will help you help others.
Being joyful is what we have been commanded to be, secondly pray at all times, In a nutshell be joyful in Christ Jesus, pray all the time, be in fellowship at all times – and this will enable God to guide you
Oh its so simple isn’t it???
Back to PR 3:9 Honor the LORD with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops;
PR 3:10 then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine.
This obviously is about tithing, giving God the best of the harvest.
Not paying your bills first and then giving to God – give to God first and then pay your bills
Don’t give God your leftovers!! You may be contributing willingly and sincere. But you are not obeying what God says. God wants the first part of our income. This demonstrates that God, not possessions, has first place in our lives and our resources belong to him.
Giving to God helps us to conquer greed, helps us to properly manage Gods resources and opens us up to receive his blessings
So how much do you trust the Lord? Are you able to trust in him completely and unreservedly?
There is no situation that God cant get you through, even when you get into trouble without him – he can pull you through
In the Walkerdine household – we are many times guilty of making decisions – and fairly major decisions without consulting God And you know Gods always there – hes there 24/7 always ready to listen and fill your tanks up with his spirit. You have a direct access to him
I know I have done this before, I think its brilliant – so I am going to do it again
You’ve all heard of voicemail – where you are asked to leave a message as the person you are trying to contact is away?
Aren't you glad God hasn’t installed voicemail in heaven.
Can you imagine when you come to pray and you hear
‘thank you for calling - and your prayer is important to us – please select one of the following options 1 for request 2 for thanksgiving 3 for complaints 4 for all other enquiries
I am sorry but all our angels are helping other sinners at the moment – but your prayer is important to us – and we will answer it in the order it was received
Please stay on the line – if you would like to hear King David sing a song while you are waiting - press 4 If you are checking on a loved one that has been assigned to heaven - press five And then enter his/her national insurance number followed by the pound signs If you get a negative response please hang up and try area code 666
For reservations in heaven please enter J-O-H-N 316 – you will get that later
For information on nagging questions like dinosaurs, age of the earth, life on other planets and the whereabouts of Noahs ark - please wait until you arrive
Our computer shows you have already prayed once today – please hang up and try again tomorrow
The office is now closed for the weekend to observe a religious holiday – please try again after 930 Monday morning
If you are calling out of hours and in need of an emegency please contact your local pastor.
Thank you for calling heaven. And have a nice day already
Aren't you glad its not like that - we have a God that’s there 24/7
Let me encourage you today,
Today is the first day of the rest of your life Today is the first day that you can make a renewed commitment to God
God is waiting, desiring you, he wants you to be on fire. He doesn’t want a share in you life – he wants the controlling interest. – he knows if your left to your own devices – you will mess it up
I remember when I first gave my life to the Lord – I had an excitement in my heart, I could keep my excitement down – I wanted every one to know about my Jesus. That must have been so pleasing to God – to see his son so excited.
Are our hearts on fire, are our hearts on fire for this church, for this community?
As individuals we need God to guide us we need to put our trust in him
As a church we need to trust God and accept his guidance for church growth.
We need to focus on what is important – and that is God We need to focus on The only thing that is important and that is God.
He loves us.
So how deep is your trust? Will you allow yourself to trust God – unconditionally?
Well I hope that this word this morning has helped you and I would encourage you to read Proverbs this week.
If you feel blessed and would like to sow a seed into the Walkerdine Ministry please click on the link below
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Michael@walkerdine.net with
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