FOUR WEEKS OUT (June 25/28) Any Stanley, God is CERTAIN
NOTE: We will do the Lord’s Supper this week.
This is a video message. We watched and I took the following notes.
Jesus and the disciples were coming to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover. Remembrance of being slaves in Egypt – celebrating that they would be departing. After 400 years of prayer! God finally sent them a deliverer – and the Passover meal was the night before they left when the Angel of death passed over the city. It was the last time the Hebrew families gathered in Egypt. Jesus gathered with his disciples for the Passover (the Last Supper). Rumors of Jesus’ arrest were rampant. The disciples must have filtered out all he said about his capture and crucifixion. There was a focus on ‘God is with us – things are going to be getting better’. Jesus says – things are going to be bad in Jerusalem just follow me. They sneak into Jerusalem under the cover of night and gather in a home in the upper room. There was no certainty. (Mark 14:17ff “…on me of you will betray me.”) They were in the most intimate setting in that culture – and he speaks about betrayal of an intimate nature. The Bible is filled with stories in the midst of uncertainty. This is not a book about rich people having fun. This is not a ‘wrinkle free life’. Every story that we draw hope from is in the midst of uncertainty and difficulty. Joseph in the bottom of the well hearing his brothers talking about him. God had a plan. David and Absalom raising the army – rebellious son. God came to his aid. Pharaoh decides to murder all the Hebrew babies. Moses was rescued and became the deliverer. God had a plan. The stories around Jesus’ birth (Herod murdering the babies around his birth, the return to Egypt, etc). God still had the whole world in his hands. Things seem like they have spun out of control. And nothing has changed – God still has the whole world in his hands. (Mark 12:22ff ‘This is my body…’) Does God bring more certainty? Does he always bring better circumstances? Think of the week of Jesus death and how the story went. The circumstances kept getting harder. And they all fell away. Even to denying him.
Think of where we are in this present time and the uncertainty that is building. The question – can you trust God? When there is no evidence of his working in your life> Can you trust him? What do you do with uncertainty? Do you equate God with prosperity, with forward motion, with physical/tangible blessing? What if you asked the disciples when their darkest moments? They would have likely said that it began at the Last Supper. Within a few hours everyone had fallen away and Jesus was tried and died. They must have felt – God is not up to anything here. Then ask them – when do you think God was up to his greatest work? They would likely have named those same hours. Those very same hours when it seemed like he was absent he was working his deepest. Those darkest hours were the epicenter of the salvation of all of mankind. But in the moments themselves – it felt like they had wasted their lives, dedicated themselves to a false messiah, the most hopeless time and the ending of a dream. God seems to take broken things and do his most amazing work. The greatest things begin in the biggest messes. This is what God does. Will we maintain faith when we cannot see his hand? IN times of extraordinary darkness and uncertainty do we turn to faith> Do we turn harder into God? Think of this in the context of your most uncertain place – the circumstance that is most frightening – remember: God is NOT uncertain. He still has the whole world in his hands. There is a way to have peace in the midst of this storm. Hang onto God. He still has YOUR entire world in his hands.
The foundation of the message – the story of a man the pastor met. When he was in DC for the National Day of Prayer he had a chance to meet Barak Obama. They were waiting. He was in line behind a man named Revend Otis Moss. He was orphaned when he was 16 in middle Georgia in 1951. He saw the worst. At 19 he gave his life to the Lord and became a preacher. He marched with MLK. He experienced hate, racism and actions that were unimaginable. He maintained faith in a terrible time. In the midst of the story Otis stopped and stared off into space and said ‘and we know that in aaaall things God works for the good of those who love him.’ The things that fell into his ‘all things’ are far more challenging than what falls into my ‘all things’. Otis turned back and said ‘but pastor Stanley, sometimes it takes him a while.’ Around the corner came President Obama. It was a potent moment. And they shook the presidents hand. Andy felt that while he was shaking the hand of the president he had had a conversation with a saint (Otis).
When life if uncertain – God is still in control. He still has you and everything in his hands. He is CERTAIN.
We don’t know what the future holds – but God is in control. Even though life is uncertain, God is not. We have the opportunity to embrace a faithful and unfailing God. God is still in control, he is still on his throne, he is NOT uncertain.
When life if uncertain, God is not and he still has through whole world in his hands.
Closing prayer: Appeal to God as our lifeline. Whether it is now or in the future. In the uncertainty to come make us the people that cling to you. We would be the ones who declare you faithful God and confess that you work in all things. That you work through all things. That your show your hand strong through all things. And that you still have our whole world in your hand. Teach us to express it. To live it. Help us discover how to find peace in peace-less times. Lead us and guide us to know what to do with these times. You are a God who can still be trusted. AMEN.
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