Worship Service

We arrived promptly for worship service at the Baptist Church of El Limonal.  We were greeted by the former pastor, Santiago who served as pastor there for many years.  Pastor Santiago and Pastor Adrian shared the worship service time together.  The Baptist association is putting Pastor Santiago back out with El Limonal and it was great to see his sweet spirit again.  The congregation sang "When The Roll Gets Called Up Yonder" and many more familiar hymns.  There was one hymn sung which I had not heard in years in Honduras, "Thank You Pastor".  They sang my favorite "Praise the Lord". Theresa was asked to come and participate in the reading of God's Word out of Psalm 100. At this time the service was turned over to Ray who brought God's message for us all to baste on in English and in Spanish.  This sermon was entitled "Trust the Lord"

Ray started by asking the question "have you ever heard that as Christians we must learn to 'trust the Lord with all our heart?"  This famous passage out of Proverbs is more than just a general statement about living it is imperative to successful living. But how do we learn to do this?  We need to follow seven basic steps to make sure we are truly leaning on HIM.

Step #1 Don't depend on YOU.  We live in a world that tells us that w trust must be earned and that it is in short supply.  But King Solomon who wrote the book of Proverbs tells us that trust is exactly where we need to start when he said in Proverbs 3:5 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding." Everyone here today has faced disappointments that we felt were teaching us that we have to depend upon ourselves. But if we are going to live the life that God ahs called us to live, we must unlearn this lesson. Instead we must rest in God's understanding. We must trust that He will do as He says.

Even though we may know in our minds that He possess all wisdom, trusting Him wholly sometimes can be tough.  For example when a family member gets sick, how do I completely trust that God has got it.  Each day we must lay aside our own plans and expectations and completely surrender to His plans.  What we want may not be what His plans are for our lives. What if we fee like we cant trust god like that?  This is where step #2 comes in.

Step #2 Proverbs 3:6 says "Seek His will in all you do and he will show you which path to take.  Surrendering to God begins with our lips and our thoughts.  However we need more than just a commitment to depend on Him. We need to cry out to Him to show our dependence on Him. When we pray, we admit that His ways are higher than ours.  We show that we are leaving our troubles, our burdens, and our dreams in His capable hands.  In fact, the Bible promises that when we reach out to Him in prayer, He hears us!!!  Psalm 55:17 tells us "Evening, morning and noon I cry out in distress and He hears my Voice."  God holds the keys to our lives and we know that He can lead us, but for that to work we must move on to step # 3.

Step # 3 Run from Evil.  So much out there today can clutter our relationship with God.  John describes these thing to us in 1John 2:16 when he says, "For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and a pride in our achievements and possessions.  These are not from the Father but are from this world.  And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave.  But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever." 

John is telling us here that our blessings can easily become our stumbling blocks when we think of them as what we  deserve or what we need to be happy.  Instead life will work best when we remember the true source of our blessings, God.  The devil wants us to pat ourselves on the back when we do something, because then we take our focus off the true source of our success, God.

Sometimes the only way we can live the life that God wants us to is to separate ourselves from the bad influences that keep bringing us down.  This works best when we start pursuing something else instead of the bad influence.  2 Timothy 2:22 tells us "Run from anything that stimulates youthful lusts. Instead pursue righteous living, faithfulness, love and peace. Enjoy the companionship of those who call on the Lord with pure hearts." 

This is not something that is easy, but no ones said it would be easy.  If we are going to flee from these evil desires that try to pull at us, we must spend time crying out to God and leaning on Him.  Just remember that our God promises to honor our commitment to Him when we shun evil. Running from evil and pursuing God doesn't come naturally to most people; instead it means that we must make serious change.  This takes us to Step #4

Step #4 Put God First in Your Life - Everything we have comes from God.  He created the Heavens and the Earth.  He made each of us and breathed life into our lungs. His has given each of us time and talents to use  while living on earth and He will bless whatever we dedicate to Him. However the devil does not wish for us to experience a blessed life. In John 10:10 Jesus tells us "The thief's purpose is to steal and kill and destroy.  My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life." Knowing that God will bless what we dedicate to Him, we need to give it all to Him and not pat ourselves on the back instead praise God for it.   When we give God praise for everything it shows that we are God-centered and not ego-centered.  We love and honor God and not our self.  For us to get to this point we must make sure we get to step # 5.

Step # 5 Check Yourself by God's Word - Let's be honest most of us are not good at evaluating ourselves.  We are quick to give excuses for our behavior, our actions and our sins.  Who needs a defense lawyer when we are so good at defending our poor choices and sins? Jeremiah 17:9 says "The human heart is more deceitful than anything else, and incurable - who can understand it."

However, if we are ever going to truly trust in God and flee from evil we must know exactly where we stand.  We must find an objective  measure that tells us the truth and that truth comes from God and His Word.  Of course, this does not mean that we are always going to like what we see. Proverbs 3:11 says "My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline and do not resent His rebuke." Sometimes it takes something bad happening or seeing ourselves in a bad light before we finally admit that we need to change.  The more we are in God's Word the more likely we will be able to Trust HIM.  When we have scripture planted firmly in our heats God will often use it to deal with us.  Once we do this, we can move on to step #6.

Step #6 Listen to the Holy Spirit - When Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit to the church, He told the disciples that this counselor would be their spiritual compass. In John 14:26 Jesus tells his disciples, "But the counselor, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my Name will teach all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you."

So, as we go through our day, this same Holy Spirit guides us as well.  When we allow the Spirit to lead us, we do not have to go through our days alone or hope that we are getting it right.  If we allow the Holy Spirit will lead us and protect us.  After all this the gift of the Holy Spirit to all who believe reminds us that we can truly get to step # 7.

Step # 7 - Rest in God's Love - When we face this difficult world each day, sometimes we can ask ourselves or wonder if God even cares.  Why do bad things happen?  Where is God when I need Him?   But again, Solomon reminds us God never takes a break or leaves us to fend for ourselves.  In Proverbs 3:12 Solomon tells us. "Because the Lord disciplines those He loves, as a Father the Son He delights in"

This is telling us that even in the worst of times God sticks with us and uses the challenges we face to help shape us into who He wants us to be. When we can trust this our whole outlook changes.  We will no longer see our setbacks as failures we will see them as moments when God our loving Father works in and through us.  

Therefor we can trust the Lord with all our hearts.  He cares for us each day.  He gives us what we need to thrive.  He pours blessing after blessing upon us.

Of course, following these seven steps is not easy, but no one has ever said that being a follower of Christ would be easy.  Jesus tells us in Matthew that we must deny ourselves and follow Him.  Trusting God takes a whole hearted commitment from when we wake up until we go to sleep.  But I want you all to know that WE ARE NVER AT IT ALONE.

Amen y amen.