In God We Trust

http://hishiddenvoice.livejournal.com/3744.html

Itinerary


Opening Prayer: Lindsay Lagasse


Special Music: Glenridge SDA Church Choir


Sermon: Lindsay Lagasse


Closing Prayer: Lindsay Lagasse


Heavenly Father above, we bow before You as Your humble servants. No one is as high and mighty as You, Lord. Each step we take is carefully placed by Your adoring hands. Our paths are laid out and it is our choice whether to wander aimlessly down the road Satan has given, or to walk with purpose in the direction You have mercifully presented. Another week has passed and You have let us live. We thank You, Father, and surrender our will over to You, laying it at Your feet. Be with us now as we read through the words You have given me to preach. I pray all those laying eyes on this will be as blessed as I was in my coming across Your works. In Christ's name we pray, AMEN.





God Will Take Care of You, Hymn 99 in the SDA Hymnal


Music Video- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKwFsPsY_YQ


Lyrics and Information (#99)- http://www.digitalhymnal.org/dhindex.cfm





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There can be no doubts that God will take care of us, that I assure you. His every word and every action, are all for your benefit. Every hair on our head is numbered (Matthew 10:30) because He cares about you as an individual. Not even a sparrow can fall without the Father's knowledge (Matthew 10:29), and aren't you worth more than many sparrows (Matthew 10:31)? If He does so much just out of loving devotion to you, can't you trust in Him? George MacDonald said "“To be trusted is a greater compliment than being loved", but aren't they the same thing? Don't the two play in the same play-yard? Or better yet, aren't both the offspring of the same womb? Without love, there can be no trust. But without trust, there is no love. John 14:15 claims "If you love me, you will obey what I command". I personally read that in another way sometimes. If you trust me, you will obey what I command. Why do I think that? Simple. You have to trust someone to obey them. If someone you don't trust tells you to stand firm as danger approaches, what are you going to do? I'll tell you one thing, I'd be out of there faster than a strike of a vibrant viper. But if someone I trust says it, well, I will probably listen. I will know that person doesn't want me hurt, so I will trust in their judgement. You get what I'm throwing down? :)





A lot of what I say today is coming from a study lesson in my "Amazing Facts, Study Edition" New King James Bible. I won't be announcing every time I take exact quotes from it, but I will simply put the quotation marks in place. If you see unlabeled quotation marks, you can assume it is a quote from my study guide.





The world is not what it used to be. Past generations look at these modern times with horrified expressions. "Billions are embezzled in corporate fraud; when trusted, spiritual leaders prove false; when lying in politics seems to be the norm; when those you depend on the most often hurt you the deepest--is there anyone left you can trust? Yes! You can fully trust the Bible! Why?" I'll tell you why here, today. This lesson speaks to me in a profound way because this year has been difficult. I am not ashamed to admit my faith has been terribly shaken. I cursed God at times, but would quickly regather myself and hide away my doubts so that the world wouldn't see. The swallowed pain gnawed away at me, making me lose sleep, which caused illness, dropped school grades, and downright crankiness. My friends can testify that I wasn't pleasant--and I didn't care.





We all know God didn't write the Bible, nor did Jesus. It was inspired upon regular people--people like you and me. That raises suspicions about the validity of the Word. But have no doubt, Brothers and Sisters, I can assure you it is true. First of all, Jesus trusted wholly in the Word, and, as Christians, we trust Him. If we trust Him, and He trusts the Bible, shouldn't we trust the Bible too? Like I said earlier on, we listen to those we trust. Listen to Christ our Brother and you'll hear quite clearly that His desire is for us to follow His Father's Word. He demonstrates His unswerving loyalty to the Bible in many places, but specifically in Matthew4:4, 7, and 10. He, as He always does, turned to quoting the Bible as a rebuttal to Satan's attempts to tempt Him. Matthew 4:4 says "It is written: 'Man shall not live by bread alone'". Matthew 4:7 says "It is written again, 'You shall nor tempt the Lord your God'". Matthew 4:10 says "For it is written, 'You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve'". Then, in John 17:17, Jesus determines the follow: "Sanctify them by Your truth. Your Word is truth". The Word is the Bible. Jesus Himself said the Bible was truth. What argument can any Christian give against that?





With all that said, one could ponder the question of whether or not Bible prophecies confirm the inspiration of those forty or so souls that wrote the Bible. Isaiah 42:8, 9 and Isaiah 46:9, 10 claim that God knows all things before they happen, and that it is He who declares the beginning from the end before either happen. There is much truth for those declarations. "Bible predictions of things to happen in the future confirm the inspiration of scripture as they come to pass." Take note of the list I present below. It is a list of events written about in the Bible. However, the Bible was written long before these events took place, and yet it hits the nail on the head. How can we explain that but by the reasoning that God truly did inspire those forty or so human beings?

• For world empires are to rise: Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome (Daniel 2, 7, and 8).



• Cyrus was to be the warrior to capture Babylon (Isaiah 45:1-3).



• Babylon was not to ever be inhabited again after it's destruction (Isaiah 13:19, 20; Jeremiah 51:37).



• Egypt would never again have a commanding position among the nations (Ezekial 29:14,15; 30:12,13).



• Earth shaking calamities and fear toward the time of the end (Luke 21: 25,26).



• Moral and spiritual decline in the last days (2 Timothy 3:1-5).

Being surrounded in a world of atheists and agnostics, the topic of science versus the Bible always gets brought up. I am in the middle of reading a book Mrs. Plomaritas, my AP Biology teacher, let me borrow. It is a book by a scientist (from Virginia), Francis S Collins. He has a masters degree and doctorate degree in college. Bottom line is, he's a pretty high leveled scientist (gamer talk right there). Now, I have not gotten very far into the book he has written, but I am going to recommend it. Why? Mrs. Plomaritas recommended it, and I trust her opinion. Mr. Collins wrote it and it's called "The Language of God". He will help in the debate between science and religion. Anyway, I have gotten far enough to come across a nice little piece of information. Mr. Collins said, "In 1916, researchers asked biologists, physicists, and mathematicians whether they believed in a God who actively communicates with humankind and to whom one may pray in expectation of receiving an answer. About 40 percent answered in the affirmative. In 1997, the same survey was repeated verbatim--and to the surprise of the researchers, the percentage remained very nearly the same." Forty percent is pretty good, considering the wild idea that most people have saying scientists could not believe in God. And, doing my own research, I came across a more up-to-date survey. It was conducted in May and June of 2009, by Pew Research Center. The survey was given to members of American Assn. for the Advancement of Science. The group was asked about their belief in God. Now-a-days, 51% say they believe in God or a higher power, and only 41% say they do not. The rest were agnostic (meaning they were unsure).

The Bible also proves for itself that it holds scientific validity.

• "He hangs the earth on nothing" (Job 26:7). Job is the oldest book in the Bible. Now, tell me, I am pretty sure back then we hadn't entered space yet. How was it that the oldest book was correct on a matter that people could not yet even comprehend? You give me an answer outside of the existence to God, and I'll listen.



• "He[...]sits above the circle of the earth" (Isaiah 40:22). The Bible here says the earth is round...Again I point out the simple fact that these books were long since written once we finally got our behinds into space.



• "To establish a weight for the wind" (Job 28:25). Long before the first scientist discovered it, God knew that air had weight.



• "In Him all things consist" (Colossians 1:17). The word "consist" here literally means "hold together" or "cohere". This is the answer to the nuclear physicists' worrisome question about the atom. The real mystery of the atom does not involve its benumbing mega power, but rather, "Why doesn't the atom fall apart?" Scientific knowledge says it should, but it doesn't. Some scientists are wondering what puzzling power, completely unknown to them, is holding it together. The Bible says that mysterious power is the Creator, God Himself.

I am going to end with some amazing facts. One of the greatest miracles of the Bible is its unity, so ponder the below facts (all credit goes to Doug Batchelor and his team for uncovering them for my convenience). Once you've read through them, ask yourself one question: "Do I trust the Bible?" Consider the miracle of it all, and see if you can convince yourself not to answer yes to that question.

"The 66 books of the Bible were written:

1. On three continents.



2. In three languages.



3. By about 40 different people (kings, shepherds, theologians, an army general, fisherman, priests, and a physician).



4. Over a period of about 1,500 years.



5. On the most controversial subjects.



6. By people who, in most cases, had never met.



7. By writers whose educations and backgrounds varied greatly.

"Yet, though it seems totally inconceivable,

1. The 66 books maintain harmony with each other.



2. Often new concepts on a subject are expressed, but these concepts do not undermine what other Bible writers say on the same subject.

"Talk about astounding! Ask people who have viewed an identical event to each give a report of what happened. They will differ widely and will virtually always contradict each other in some way. Yet the Bible, penned by 40 writers over a 1,500-year period, reads as if authored by one great mind. And, indeed, it was: "Holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit" (2Peter 1:21). The Holy Spirit "moved" them all. He is the real Bible Author. The four Gospels do sometimes differ in the way they report the same event, but they compliment each other."

It's pretty easy to see that if you can not trust anyone else, you can trust in the true author of the Word--in God we can always trust. Have a great week, Brothers and Sisters.

God, You are so Awesome to us. Your name brings so much comfort to us. Just hearing Your voice eases away pain. Thoughts of You bring so much joy into our life. Everyday we want to feel Your presence. Just knowing we're right there with You makes us feel so awesome inside. We will always call upon Your name when we are feeling low, because You lift us up. You take away all our burdens and help us to stand on our feet again. You lift us up on wings like eagles. As we journey forward in this coming week, we pray that we'll keep our covenant with You and that Your grace will rain down upon us. In Christ's name we pray, AMEN.