Tom Zimmer – PhotoBubba – tomzimmer.wordpress.com

Our pastor is on a missions trip to Uganda, and he asked me to preach yesterday (Sunday). I told him that I would, but I hope he realizes that my monthly “Moments” for UCOA were normally only about 5 minutes long. So, I was expecting my sermon to be pretty short, but not as short as it turned out. God gave me about a 20 minute sermon, but technical difficulties actually shortened the part streamed on Facebook to about 10 minutes . I guess the first part (also 10 minutes), was for the church, and the last part was for y’all. Enjoy!

Facebook link to the last 10 minutes: https://fb.watch/n-CiyDKR0H/

Here is the audio of the entire sermon if you want to hear the whole thing. There are a few seconds of silence at the beginning… Wait for it…

Through It All, God!

God is faithful. God is always Present. God is always with me. God will not Forsake me, God is in Control.

We know all these “Facts”, and yet we struggle to experience them as we live our lives.

You have probably heard the phrase “Let Go And Let God!” And we do desire to let God work out His plan in us and through us, but we struggle with the “let go” part. God puts us in circumstances that are far beyond our ability to control them, and yet we still try. 

When my employer retired me, Debbie and I were forced into a position where we had to sign up for Medicare. Now, that’s not a bad thing, but it wasn’t something we anticipated would happen as suddenly as it did. We researched and investigated, and it didn’t seem too hard, so we sat down and went through the process on-line. And sure enough, a month and a half later we got our new medical cards. 

Now I have to tell you, that was a very frustrating month for me. We took a trip to the Social Security Office, we sent them several faxes, we did a bunch more research, and finally as a last resort, I Let Go and Letting God accomplish it in His time. I thought I had it all under control, but life proved to me that I didn’t. Debbie though, encouraged me to get help. But no, Tom had it all in control – NOT! There were problems at every turn and what I thought was a simple task took over a month to complete.

Jesus said in John 16:33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

Did I trust that God would accomplish all that was needed to get us signed up for medical insurance? Sure, in my mind, I did. So, why was I so stressed out in my emotions when God decided to allow it to take over a month to “make it happen”? Well, I think the answer is pretty simple. He is working “IN ME” to teach me that “He” is in control, and “I” am not. And more than that, He needs me to understand that it’s ok that I am not in control. 

So, why doesn’t God want me to be in control? After all he gave me this mind to think about stuff and figure things out. Well, I think there is more to it than just control. You and I have a mind and we tend to believe that if we think that something should happen a certain way, then that is the right way for it to happen.

For example; If I decide to drive to church Sunday morning, then in my mind I can imagine how I think it should go, until I actually arrive at church. But, the problem with that is that God has already got a plan for how my going to church is supposed to happen, and I haven’t factored in God’s thinking because He hasn’t told me yet what He is planning. So I go about my plan. I get ready for church, and I get in the car and I start driving to church. Then God injects something into the process, like say, perhaps I see someone broken down beside the road and I have to make a decision about whether to stop and help them or whether to keep going. 

In my case, I am driving pretty fast, and my conversation with God takes a little too long, so I am already well past the broken down car by the time He convinces me I should stop. So, now I have to then figure out how to turn around on this two lane 70 MPH highway with no shoulder. I do eventually figure it out, and I head back to the broken down car, making another u-turn in front of someone to get on the same side of the road as the broken down car, and I stop behind them. I walk up to the driver, and they tell me they are fine and they are just waiting for someone to bring them some gas. I say ok, have a blessed day, and I hop back into my car and I continue driving to church. 

Ok, here is the question. Did God really want me to stop, or was He just testing me? Well, here are a few verses that challenge our thinking about God’s testing.

Psalms 26:1-3 “Declare me innocent, O Lord, for I have acted with integrity; I have trusted in the Lord without wavering. Put me on trial, Lord, and cross-examine me. Test my motives and my heart. For I am always aware of your unfailing love, and I have lived according to your truth.”

In these verses David is declaring his righteousness and asking God to test him. David is saying he wants God to test him. Now, I wasn’t sure I wanted God to test me, but when Debbie and I talked about it, I realized testing is good because it reveals areas where I need to grow. And I think that is what David was doing, is asking God to show him where he needs to grow. So, testing is good, even though it can also be painful sometimes.

Now we are going to talk about how God works on us to prepare us for His being able to use us.

2 Corinthians 5:17 says; “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”

When God makes “all things new”, He places His spirit within us. When we go about our daily lives, His Spirit doesn’t just work on one thing, he works on all of me at the same times and not just me, but the entire world around me. 

God is maturing me in multiple ways. He works on my responding to a situation quickly, or slowly, and with the right attitude. He works on my being willing to help someone even when they don’t need help. He works on the person I talked to in ways I can’t even imagine. He works on the person bringing them gas when the stopped car’s driver tells them that someone stopped to help. He works on the person that had to slow down when I made a u-turn, so I wouldn’t get into an accident. And, If we think long enough we can probably come up with several more ways God was working in that seemingly simple situation. 

So, what is God teaching us about how He works in our lives? Well, as it says in several places in the Bible, He wants us to focus on Him. 

Here are some examples;

Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”

Hebrews 12:2 “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” 

Psalm 16:8 “I have set the LORD always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.”

When we focus on Him, we will hear His still small voice and be able to respond. If we are focusing on ourselves, then His voice may get drowned out by all the noise around me, or the noise in my head. Or, we may decide “that wasn’t God’s voice”, and just go about our business. 

Side note: Am I saying that by ignoring God’s voice, we can thwart His plan. No, not at all. God will accomplish His plan whether we listen to his voice and participate or not. He will use other people or other means to accomplish His will. However, if we don’t pay attention to His voice, we will miss out on the Joy we receive when we see God at work, as we do or say whatever He is asking of us. 

For me the Joy I experience when I see God working in and through me is…. Well I could call it addictive, but in reality it is the way our relationship with God is designed to work. God speaks, I listen, I respond, God works through me, His plan is accomplished and I get to watch it all happen.

Now, I want to pause for a moment and say that there are several ways God speaks to us. Personally I hear God’s prompting in my head and when I respond then I get to see Him working. I have a friend that says God speaks to him though the Bible, and he lives out his day responding to the truths God showed him in His Word. Pastor Marc has told us that he actually has interactive conversations with God, which I think is pretty cool.  Sometimes God speaks to us through other people, and you may have your own experience that is different from these I just described. But, I think there is a common thread through all of this, which is that when we respond to what God asks of us then we experience the Joy of seeing Him work as we participate in His plan. And THAT is really cool!

Ok, so back to control. Why can’t I be in control? Well it seems the answer is pretty obvious. When I am in control then I don’t include God’s perspective on the situations I am in. I can only include God’s perspective if I listen to Him and respond to He promptings. That might be turning my car around, or it might be speaking to someone at Walmart, or helping someone begging on a street corner, or maybe it is just taking them to dinner. There are a thousand ways God can use us, and He will use us if we listen to Him and stop trying to be the one in control.

There is so much less stress in our lives when we trust God to handle the tough decisions and let Him lead us instead of trying to drag Him around wherever we go. He is God, and I am not.

Ephesians 3:20 “Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.”

God is with Us through all circumstances. And why is God always with us? Is it because we chose Him? No, it is because God has chosen us! And honestly wants a relationship with us.

John 15:16 “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.”

God chose me, and He chose you. He didn’t choose us to just sit in the Pews on Sunday mornings, He chose us because He has designed a plan that He wants to fulfill in and through each of us. When He chooses us He also provides all the things we need to complete His plan. The resources, the energy, the strength, and whatever else we might need to do what He desires. You can go in confidence, because you are going with God. He goes in you and before you. He already knows the circumstances ahead.

2 Corinthians 2:14-17 “But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God’s word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ.”

God has sent us on a mission to be the fragrance of Christ to the world. It is God’s plan to work through me, and I for one, don’t want to make God work around me.

Here then finally is our admonition; Listen to God when he speaks, Go as He leads you, and speak the words He gives you in the moment you receive them. Through this you will experience the Joy of being used by our Living God!

There is no better life than to be used by the God! AMEN!