Trust

A lesson on Trust by Jon Draskovic

Proverbs 3:5-6 and 29:25

What does it mean to trust in God?

Ideas from the class:

- to give up control, rather than trying to manipulate events.

- turn my burden over to God. Peace is the result.

- Jesus is in me and I am in him.

- trust that there is a reason for there being “down” days

- no matter how bad things get in life, I believe God will handle it, and so I don’t worry about things

- being fully dependent on God.

Trust is quite personal. Everyone has different areas where trust is a challenge. Jon gave us two examples.

- living with limited financial resources

- one person needs to abstain from alcohol. Another person can go to the bar and evangelize there with no problems. Both are trusting in God in those two vastly different decisions.

The class suggested:

- raising children

- making decisions about a direction in life

- marriage

- airplane flights

- trusting strangers

- problems recognizing that I am trusting in God during the very moment that I am exercising trust.

From the Christian perspective, what makes it so hard to trust in God?

- we see so much evil in the world and ask God, “Why are you permitting this?”

- we (like children) like to push the envelope.

-the Christian life of discipleship is not easy. The Bible tells us about good people who have bad things happen to them, and bad people to whom good things happen.

Even in the face of difficult/bad events we are called, as Christians, to follow Jesus.

Matthew 15:21-28 The Canaanite woman, with a demon-possessed daughter.

What did it mean for the Canaanite woman to trust?

- she was persistent, desperate, had to acknowledge Jesus was the master, and had to humiliate herself.

John Calvin – Most of us think faith is an assent to the history written in the gospel. But faith is recognizing that God is the actor. God is more than a thing we worship. When we put our trust in God, we receive the Holy Spirit. And then we need to bear fruit.

A visual aid on trust, based on 1 Cor 2:14 and surrounding verses.

The “natural” person – is without the Spirit; Christ is outside the circle of his life.

This person is on his own throne.

The carnal/worldly person – has accepted Christ into his life circle, but the person is still on his own throne.

The spiritual person – has accepted Christ into his life, and Christ is on the throne. This person fully trusts in Christ.

In our lives, what does it look like to be that third, spiritual person?

- we are praising God

- we allow God to be in charge of our life

- God is our guide

- I believe that God is making me into the person God wants me to be

Lessons from Nehemiah, Parts 3 and 4

The conclusion of our series on Lessons from Nehemiah by Bob Jamison, Director of Family Guidance, Inc.

Review of last week’s class (10/31):

When the Israelites are half-done with the wall, they get discouraged. There is opposition. The builders need armed guards to protect against immanent attack. It is a lesson of perseverance.

Today (11/7) we read Chapter 8, in which.....

The people assembled before the Water Gate. Ezra the priest brought the Book of Moses and read it aloud. The people bowed down and worshipped God. The Levites explained the Book of Moses to the people. All the people had been weeping as it was read. But Nehemiah said, “Let’s party! Be joyful!” They built booths to celebrate the holy day of the 7th month, as the Book of Moses instructed them to do.

This generation of Israelites had never heard the Book of Moses. A modern equivalent – when the Soviet Union lost control over Eastern Europe – the Eastern Europeans were getting their identity back, but it had been several generations since the people had lived with that identity.

Another example - Richard Wurmbrand was a Romanian pastor during the Soviet occupation of Romania. (see also Voice of the Martyrs) The Soviets suppressed Christianity but Wurmbrand shared the gospel with a soldier who became a Christian after hearing the gospel for the very first time.

How do the people respond to the word of God?

- they regard the word of God as holy.

- they weep when they hear it.

- they bow down and worship God.

- they do what the law says – instant obedience.

- they remember the time when they were lived in tents and were protected only by God (just at the moment when they have finished building their wall of protection)

Why are the people weeping?

- Maybe they are feeling the conviction of their own sin. This is the first step of turning back to God.

- Maybe they are feeling let down now that all the work is done.

- They recognize God’s faithfulness to them and see that God would have taken care of them, if only they had turned to God.

Why should they celebrate? Nehemiah says, “Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.”

The people of Israel realize that God is giving them himself – he is restoring the covenant, restoring their relationship with God. God gave the people so much more than just a wall.

Bob told us the story of Duncan Campbell, a man who went to the Hebrides Islands to revive the church there.

In conclusion, our pastor urges us to read Nehemiah Chapter 9, which summarizes the Old Testament in one chapter. It’s like “The Old Testament for Idiots.”