16th Sunday after Pentecost New Every Morning sermon 4 of 4
16th Sunday after Pentecost.
10/2/11
Text: Deuteronomy 4:29
Title: Seeking The Face Of The Lord Every Morning (sermon 4 of 5)
Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you from God our Father and for the sake of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Today we are on week four of our five-part series looking at what it means to be a disciple of the Lord. This series is based on Lamentations 3:22–24: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in Him.”
Because God’s compassion never fails, because they are new every morning, our commitment to God; our following and responding to that love that we receive, needs to be new every morning as well. While our salvation is strictly God’s doing there are things that we can do to grow stronger with our walk with the Lord.
The first Sunday of this series I asked what would happen if all of us would start every day in the Word of God. The second week, I asked what would happen if we would also start each day with a time of prayer. Last week, I asked you to consider what would happen if we all agreed to speak to one another positively in every situation. Today, we continue with another simple question. What would happen if every member of this congregation would seek the face of God first in all things?
The reason I am asking the question is that God has given us a promise in Deuteronomy 4:29: “But from there you will seek the Lord your God and you will find Him, if you search after Him with all your heart and with all your soul.” This is a very simple promise. But what is God’s promise to us if we seek Him with all of our heart? His promise is that we will find him. What conditions does God place on this promise? The answer is that we only have to seek him. That means that in every circumstance, when we seek the face of God with all of our heart and all of our soul, we will find Him. Whatever circumstances we find ourselves in God’s promise is the same. When we seek Him with all of our heart and all of our soul, we will find Him.
So what does it mean to seek God? How do we go about doing that? Seeking God involves two things; control and trust. Ever since Adam and Eve sinned against God in the Garden of Eden, when they sought independence, there has been a battle for control. You are familiar with that battle. It is the battle that goes on within you between your sinful nature and your redeemed nature. It is the battle that goes on so many times between a husband and wife, between parents and children, between friends, between workers and bosses, and between Christians in congregations, as they seek control. The list could go on and on.
We have an inborn desire to want to control our own lives, to control our own destinies. We do not like to give up control to anyone. We feel that if we are not in control of our own lives others are in control and that is not good. And it is true, for we are told in God’s Word that we are either slaves to Satan and sin or slaves to God.
To be a slave to anyone is a bad thing. And it is if you are a slave to Satan. Yet most people don’t realize that the apostle Paul frequently referred to himself as a slave. This shows that Paul learned an important lesson that we, too, need to learn; that is to yield control of our lives to our heavenly Father. Simply put, God’s will has to come before ours. We have to admit and then let go of our control, so that we are under God’s control.
It is not easy to give up control. A good example is in our prayers. When we pray I would wager that there is a, maybe it is unspoken, but nevertheless it is still there, “Lord, my will be done.” instead of “Thy will be done.” We want to be in control and because of that we so many times fail to seek the face of the Lord.
When we gather here every week, we acknowledge that God is the Savior of our souls. The most priceless treasure that we have; our eternal souls, is ultimately in the hands of God. It is only by the death and resurrection of the Son that we have forgiveness; it is only on the account of God’s mercy and action that our souls have been saved.
I find it odd and I think you would to, if you gave serious thought to the matter, that we trust God with our eternal souls yet don’t trust him when it comes to our daily life. How many times do we leave worship and go home and continue to act as if we are still the ones who are in charge? We do not trust God with the daily aspects of our lives. We don’t want to give up control. But it is when we give control of our lives to God and entrust every aspect of our daily lives to Him that we can truly seek His will in all things.
Seeking God is a matter of choice, for you can go into a situation seeking a Godly outcome or not. It is your choice. Before going into a difficult meeting or a confrontation or whatever it may be, you can choose to seek God in those people you will meet or not.
Sometimes though, seeking God is a reaction. Sometimes there are situations that happen to you over which you have little or no control. It is in those situations that you must seek the face of God. Let me give you an example. It is found in 1 Kings 3:16–28. I am not going to read the text, for we all know the story even though you might not remember where it is in your Bible.
It is the story of two women who came to King Solomon to decide a dispute over whose son had lived and whose son had died in the night, for they both claimed the boy who was alive as their child. Of course only one woman’s child was alive. The other child had died.
Wise King Solomon who made it a habit to seek the face of the Lord every morning listened to the women and then said, “Bring me a sword.” So a sword was brought before the king. And the king said, “Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one and half to the other.” Then the woman whose son was alive said to the king, because her heart yearned for her son, “Oh, my lord, give her the living child, and by no means put him to death.” But the other said, “He shall be neither mine nor yours; divide him.” Then the king answered and said, “Give the living child to the first woman, and by no means put him to death; she is his mother.”
It is reported that all of Israel after hearing of his wise decision stood in awe of the king because they perceived that the wisdom of God was in him to do justice. King Solomon had sought the face of the Lord that day, but he was not the only one that day that sought the face of the Lord.
The woman who was the true mother of the child sought the face of the Lord that day also. I’m sure it broke her heart to say, no, give my child to this woman who had stolen her son. But she did it anyway to preserve the life of her son. Thankfully, the wisdom of King Solomon was borne out and he was able to understand rightly whose son this was. But you can see in that situation who sought the face of God and who did not.
Now there is not a single one of us that will ever have to do what King Solomon or that woman did that day, but no matter what you face, the promise of God stands true. In every situation when you seek him, you will find him. Whether you choose to seek the face of God before, during, or after a difficult situation you will always find him. That is a promise by God. I pray that each of you here this morning will daily choose to seek God first. You will be blessed, for his mercies are new every morning. Amen
10/2/11
Text: Deuteronomy 4:29
Title: Seeking The Face Of The Lord Every Morning (sermon 4 of 5)
Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you from God our Father and for the sake of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Today we are on week four of our five-part series looking at what it means to be a disciple of the Lord. This series is based on Lamentations 3:22–24: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in Him.”
Because God’s compassion never fails, because they are new every morning, our commitment to God; our following and responding to that love that we receive, needs to be new every morning as well. While our salvation is strictly God’s doing there are things that we can do to grow stronger with our walk with the Lord.
The first Sunday of this series I asked what would happen if all of us would start every day in the Word of God. The second week, I asked what would happen if we would also start each day with a time of prayer. Last week, I asked you to consider what would happen if we all agreed to speak to one another positively in every situation. Today, we continue with another simple question. What would happen if every member of this congregation would seek the face of God first in all things?
The reason I am asking the question is that God has given us a promise in Deuteronomy 4:29: “But from there you will seek the Lord your God and you will find Him, if you search after Him with all your heart and with all your soul.” This is a very simple promise. But what is God’s promise to us if we seek Him with all of our heart? His promise is that we will find him. What conditions does God place on this promise? The answer is that we only have to seek him. That means that in every circumstance, when we seek the face of God with all of our heart and all of our soul, we will find Him. Whatever circumstances we find ourselves in God’s promise is the same. When we seek Him with all of our heart and all of our soul, we will find Him.
So what does it mean to seek God? How do we go about doing that? Seeking God involves two things; control and trust. Ever since Adam and Eve sinned against God in the Garden of Eden, when they sought independence, there has been a battle for control. You are familiar with that battle. It is the battle that goes on within you between your sinful nature and your redeemed nature. It is the battle that goes on so many times between a husband and wife, between parents and children, between friends, between workers and bosses, and between Christians in congregations, as they seek control. The list could go on and on.
We have an inborn desire to want to control our own lives, to control our own destinies. We do not like to give up control to anyone. We feel that if we are not in control of our own lives others are in control and that is not good. And it is true, for we are told in God’s Word that we are either slaves to Satan and sin or slaves to God.
To be a slave to anyone is a bad thing. And it is if you are a slave to Satan. Yet most people don’t realize that the apostle Paul frequently referred to himself as a slave. This shows that Paul learned an important lesson that we, too, need to learn; that is to yield control of our lives to our heavenly Father. Simply put, God’s will has to come before ours. We have to admit and then let go of our control, so that we are under God’s control.
It is not easy to give up control. A good example is in our prayers. When we pray I would wager that there is a, maybe it is unspoken, but nevertheless it is still there, “Lord, my will be done.” instead of “Thy will be done.” We want to be in control and because of that we so many times fail to seek the face of the Lord.
When we gather here every week, we acknowledge that God is the Savior of our souls. The most priceless treasure that we have; our eternal souls, is ultimately in the hands of God. It is only by the death and resurrection of the Son that we have forgiveness; it is only on the account of God’s mercy and action that our souls have been saved.
I find it odd and I think you would to, if you gave serious thought to the matter, that we trust God with our eternal souls yet don’t trust him when it comes to our daily life. How many times do we leave worship and go home and continue to act as if we are still the ones who are in charge? We do not trust God with the daily aspects of our lives. We don’t want to give up control. But it is when we give control of our lives to God and entrust every aspect of our daily lives to Him that we can truly seek His will in all things.
Seeking God is a matter of choice, for you can go into a situation seeking a Godly outcome or not. It is your choice. Before going into a difficult meeting or a confrontation or whatever it may be, you can choose to seek God in those people you will meet or not.
Sometimes though, seeking God is a reaction. Sometimes there are situations that happen to you over which you have little or no control. It is in those situations that you must seek the face of God. Let me give you an example. It is found in 1 Kings 3:16–28. I am not going to read the text, for we all know the story even though you might not remember where it is in your Bible.
It is the story of two women who came to King Solomon to decide a dispute over whose son had lived and whose son had died in the night, for they both claimed the boy who was alive as their child. Of course only one woman’s child was alive. The other child had died.
Wise King Solomon who made it a habit to seek the face of the Lord every morning listened to the women and then said, “Bring me a sword.” So a sword was brought before the king. And the king said, “Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one and half to the other.” Then the woman whose son was alive said to the king, because her heart yearned for her son, “Oh, my lord, give her the living child, and by no means put him to death.” But the other said, “He shall be neither mine nor yours; divide him.” Then the king answered and said, “Give the living child to the first woman, and by no means put him to death; she is his mother.”
It is reported that all of Israel after hearing of his wise decision stood in awe of the king because they perceived that the wisdom of God was in him to do justice. King Solomon had sought the face of the Lord that day, but he was not the only one that day that sought the face of the Lord.
The woman who was the true mother of the child sought the face of the Lord that day also. I’m sure it broke her heart to say, no, give my child to this woman who had stolen her son. But she did it anyway to preserve the life of her son. Thankfully, the wisdom of King Solomon was borne out and he was able to understand rightly whose son this was. But you can see in that situation who sought the face of God and who did not.
Now there is not a single one of us that will ever have to do what King Solomon or that woman did that day, but no matter what you face, the promise of God stands true. In every situation when you seek him, you will find him. Whether you choose to seek the face of God before, during, or after a difficult situation you will always find him. That is a promise by God. I pray that each of you here this morning will daily choose to seek God first. You will be blessed, for his mercies are new every morning. Amen
posted by Pastor Rhoads | 1:30 PM
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