God Promises to Show Up

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0:00 Over the past few weeks, we've been uncovering reasons for the hope we have in Christ. We've been looking at several passages of Scripture where Ben has been uncovering those reasons for the hope we have in Christ. So in 1 Peter 3, Peter implored the brothers and sisters there to always be prepared to explain the reason for the hope that you have in Christ, even in the face of persecution

0:31 and suffering. So just to recap, the first week of this series, Ben mentioned that if we move through life as if we don't struggle or if we don't suffer, our heads are in the sand. And some of us may pursue different things, distractions, money, vacations to distract us from our suffering and struggles in life. And when we do that, that's our parishion hope and our living hope because as people of God living under the reign of God, we are encouraged to reacquaint ourselves with suffering

1:04 and struggle. And when we do that, we meet Christ there with us. So that's week one. We are encouraged to become acquainted with our grief and struggles and sufferings in life so that we can meet Christ there in the midst of it all. In the second week, Ben focused on the fact that God works in the world through people, people like you, people like me. And that is another reason for our living hope. And then last week, we focused on the notion that we can maintain a living hope because

1:37 the significance that the gospel gives our lives. Because we're people of God living under the reign of God, we have significance, we matter and what we do in the world matters. So today we'll look at more reasons for the hope we have. But before we do that, I'd like to say a word of prayer. So please join me in a word of prayer. Lord your word is left to our feet and the light on our path. I pray that your word will go forth this morning to penetrate the animal's parts of our souls

2:09 and take root and bear much fruit. Remind us this morning of the reasons we have to hope in you. And maybe be here of your word and not just here as only the doers of your word. Spirit of God, we need you to guide us and instruct us. Thank you, O Lord, for being present this morning with us and just make us aware of your presence more and more throughout the day and throughout the week. And it's in the matchless name of Jesus. We pray. Amen. So I grew up in Birmingham, Alabama in 1993.

2:45 Our parents were just divorced and me and my three younger siblings were removed out. And as many people know when there's divorce in the home, there's a lot of upheaval and it wreaks havoc on family life. Well, we continue to attend church and we pray a lot as a family during those times of suffering and struggling. And I would recall one particular week in 93 where we had very little money and we had

3:17 very little in the house to eat. And I remember going two or three days without eating much so that the rest of the family could eat. And one afternoon, a woman in our church just happened to drop by and bring groceries to our house. And all I remember her saying, her name is Miss Yolanda. Miss Yolanda said this, the Lord laid you guys on my heart. So that was one of many encounters over the next 28 years where I saw the Lord intervene

3:51 in my life or in the life of my friends and family members to provide and to protect us. So today I'd like for us to consider this as a reason for the hope in Christ that God promises to show up. And he promises to protect us and he promises to provide for us. God doesn't just show up and sit in the stands with popcorn and drink and soda, walking us live our lives and not get involved. He is actively involved in our lives working for the good.

4:26 So today we're going to do a lot of biblical gymnastics, total speech. We're going to be going throughout the scriptures, so we'll be going to various passages today so get your fingers ready to do some biblical gymnastics. And turn with me to Deuteronomy 31. Deuteronomy 31. So as we turn there, I'll give you a little bit of context here. Moses has assembled all the people of Israel to let them know, to give them some big news

5:01 He's telling the people of Israel that he will no longer be their leader. And he will not be joining them as they cross the Jordan River and as they enter into the promised land. So just imagine if you're one of the people in Israel, just all the people have gathered and you hear this big news, probably unexpected. And can you imagine the conversations, the murmuring, the grumbling, the shock and the awe of that statement? And then Moses turns to the people and he says, the Lord's got himself will cross over

5:35 ahead of you. The Lord's got will cross over ahead of you. So let's look at verses 6 through 8. And this is what Moses says to the people after he delivered that news. Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid of them referencing the people in the promised land. The Lord's got will go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor forsake you. Then Moses calls for Joshua and all Israel watch.

6:09 As he said to Joshua, be strong and courageous for you will lead these people into the land that the Lord swore to give their ancestors. You are the one who will deliver it to them as their inheritance. Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord is the one who goes before you. He will be with you. He will neither fail you nor forsake you. So Moses being prompted by the Lord to give the people this message.

6:43 And as you know, Moses had disobeyed the Lord and he was not allowed to go into the promised land. So now we have a new leader coming up, Joshua, who is taking the reigns and got promises this to the people of Israel and to Joshua. So turn with me to Joshua chapter 1. And it's going to be, I feel my kids all the time. Whenever you hear things repeated in scripture, it means it's a big deal.

7:14 Take notice. You're going to look at Joshua chapter 1 and see if there's something that we've heard before. So Joshua chapter 1 verses 1 through 5 says this. And after the death of Moses, the Lord's servant, the Lord spoke to Joshua, son of nine, who was Moses's persistent. He said, now that my servant Moses is dead, you must lead my people across the Jordan River into the land I am giving him. I promise you what I promise Moses.

7:44 Everywhere you go, you will be on land I have given you from the New York desert in the south to the Lebanon mountains in the north from the Mediterranean, I'm sorry, from the Euphrates River on the east to the Mediterranean Sea on the west and all the land over here types. No one will be able to stand their ground against you as long as you live, for I will be with you as I was with Moses, I will not fail you or abandon you.

8:15 Sound familiar, right? In this passage, we hear God remind Joshua of the three promises that he gave Moses to give to the people. And the first of those promises is provision. God told them, so Joshua that I will give you land. And we know what land can do for us. We plant crops, plant trees, fruit trees, the cattle, the flop, they have places to graze and have life sustained by the land.

8:50 So God promises Joshua and reminds him of these new promises of provision in verses three and four. In verse five, he reminds him of his protection. He says this, no one will be able to stand their ground against you as long as you live. That's a pretty amazing promise from God to Joshua. And imagine Joshua is a new leader. He's coming up, he's nervous, he's anxious, afraid and has this huge mission, huge responsibility

9:23 but God promises to protect him on the way. And lastly, in verse five, being God says this, he reminds Joshua that I will be with you as I was with Moses. I will not fail you or abandon you. So we see here God shows up and he promises these provision, protection and his presence. So wherever God's presence is, that's what we find at protection and provision. I'll hear another story with you guys.

9:55 It's the summer of 2010. I just graduated from seminary with my master's in counseling. We were here in Orlando. We had to move out of our rental house in Obito and had no job, had no home to move to, but we knew that the Lord called us to stay here in Orlando. And we had two kids at the time. Jayden was three, journey was almost two and hope was on her way. So some friends of ours asked us to stay in their home for the summer while they went

10:28 to North Carolina and they were away. And they made us known the full situation, the full context or extent of our situation, but the Lord provided for us the summer of 2010 a place to live. And I was like, great, we have a place to live. What are we going to do? We only have $17 to our name. How are we going to eat? What are we going to do, Lord? And then one day, I'm provoked. We got a letter in the mail from Flynn's back in Alabama with a check for $250.

11:03 He says, hey, we're just thinking about you guys. We love you and hope this can help you. Wow. Got showed up again. Later on that summer, I was still working applying for various jobs around the city. And I didn't get a call back because back then, you know, you just fill out the applications submitted online, then get a call back. I was feeling shame, anger, some rage, depression, all kinds of emotions, so swirling around

11:34 within. Man, me and Amy, we both have our master's degrees. We should be able to get a power couple. We should be able to get a job soon as we like apply, right? Well, that wasn't the case. So one day, I took my application into the job I wanted. And it just happened that when I walked in the front doors, the hiring manager was at the front desk. She was filling in for the receptionist who was on a 10 minute break.

12:04 And I told her what I was there to do. She's like, huh, I'm the person you need to talk with. Have a seat. And when Sabrina comes back from her break, let's have a conversation. And I was just to say, Gina, she hired me on the spot. And I was able to have meaningful work as a counselor working with men and women addicted to substances. And with the job, you can now get an apartment because you have proof of income, so we were able to get a place to live. And this all happened from June until August of 2010.

12:35 Man, the Lord provided for us. He protected us in our dire need. That was just one reminder of what I experienced as a kid growing up and as I experienced as an adult. So God promises to show up. Turn with me to Matthew 28. And as we turn there, remember just the context of this chapter, Jesus can just, the resurrection

13:12 can just occur. Jesus has just come back to life and he's appearing before his disciples and friends and family. And he's given his disciples some final words and parting shots, so to speak. And in verses 18 through 20 of 28, Jesus says this, Jesus came and told us disciples, I have been given complete authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations. I'm not causing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

13:45 Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this, I am with you always even to the end of the age. So they have a mission, but then they also have a promise that I will be with you. Just like Joshua had a mission to lead the people of Israel across the Jordan into the promise land, he had a mission and he had a promise. All of us, wherever we are in life, we have a mission and I just want to remind us today

14:18 that we do have promises from God as we go along our way. Let's look at another passage. I told you we'd be doing some gymnastics this morning. Let's look at Hebrews chapter 13. And as you turn there, the writer is giving some concluding remarks in his letter. The author of Hebrews is, we don't know for sure, but there have been some speculations about who that is. But I don't know those, I don't want to go into that today, but feel free to look it up.

14:55 But the writer is giving some concluding remarks. In verse 5, he says this, stay away from the love of money. Be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, I will never fail you, I will never forsake you. Sound familiar? Subtited throughout scripture. It's a promise of God that he will never fail us, he will never forsake us.

15:26 I'll soon, the writer tells the people in this letter to stay away from the love of money because like today, many of us, people we know are sometimes in our lives, we look to money for protection, we look to money for provision. But the writer reminded them that it is the Lord who provided for you. It is he who protects you, he will be with you, he will never forsake me, he will not abandon me. But those are promises of God.

15:59 And we spent time looking at those throughout the scriptures here this morning. I'd like to first turn our attention briefly to what our role is, what is our role, what is our response to God's promise to us. Let's flip back to Joshua chapter 1. And we'll read this verse of 6 through 9. Verse 6 through 9.

16:30 Be strong and courageous, for you will eat my people to possess all the land us for, to give our ancestors. Be strong and very courageous. Obey all the laws Moses gave you. Do not turn away from them and you will be successful in everything you do. See this book of the law continually meditate on a day and night so you may be sure to obey all that is written in it.

17:00 Only then will you succeed. I command you be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord's or God is with you wherever you go. So our role in this is, well we're on mission. We have these promises from the Lord while we're on our way. We need to follow the instruction that God gave Joshua. Meditate on the book of the law, meditate on God's word day and night.

17:32 May it, and obey it. Think about it, saying it as we sing songs, feel with scripture. Only then will we succeed. Only then will we succeed. The word response is found in Luke chapter 10 verses verse 38. Luke 10, 38. And this passage is very familiar to us.

18:02 It's when Jesus visits the home of Martha and Mary. So let's read in verse 38 here. Jesus and the disciples continued on their way to Jerusalem and they came to a village where a woman named Martha welcomed them into her home. Her sister Mary sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he taught. But Martha was worrying over the big dinner. She was preparing. She came to Jesus and said, Lord, doesn't it seem unfair to you that my sister just sits

18:32 here while I do all the work? Tell her to come and help me. How many of us can feel like Martha? That's me. I'm Martha. I'm a one on the intergram. So you know what that is. I'm a perfectionist. My wife, she says, I say it's excellent. I'll pursue excellence. Not perfection. And so I'm like Martha in this passage running around, getting everything ready, hosting,

19:04 which is all good thing. It's all good work. But let's feel what Jesus had to say when Martha asked him to tell her to get up and help. But the Lord said to her in verse 41, my dear Martha, you are so upset over all these details. There is really only one thing worth being concerned about and Mary has discovered it. And I won't take it away from her. Martha, mad, angry, on mission, hosting, Jesus and disciples, sucked into the details

19:42 and operations of things. But Jesus replies back, there is really only one thing worth being concerned about and Mary has discovered it. What if you, as you're on your mission in the world and in life today, have you discovered that? To meditate on God's word, to obey it fully and to be present with him, to sit at his feet and let him lead and guide and pour into you? I ask myself the same questions.

20:13 Is that what I want to do? That's what I should do. And by God's grace, we can do it. So in conclusion, I have one other question. As I was going through this and preparing, I had one question to ask. How can we know for sure that God will fulfill his promises to us? I know we're reading his word, we're meditating on it, we're sitting with Jesus. But how do we know for sure that he's going to keep his end of the deal?

20:44 Let's look at a word from the apostle Paul and Ephesians chapter 1. Ephesians chapter 1. Let's look at verses 11 through 14. So Paul, writing to the church of Ephesus, says this, furthermore, because of Christ, we have received an inheritance from God. God chose us from the beginning and all things happened just to seek aside it long ago.

21:16 Let's skip down to verse 13. And now you also have heard the truth, the good news that God saves you. And when you believe in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit whom he promised long ago. The Spirit is God's guarantee that he will give us everything he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. This is just one more reason for us to praise our glorious God.

21:50 The Spirit of God, when we're the people of God, we have the Spirit of God in us as a guarantee that he will promise us and give us everything that he promised us to provide for us, to protect us, and to be with us as we journey along the way. So in closing, God promises to be with us, provide for us and protect us as I said. He promises to give us his Spirit. He invites us to sit at the feet of Jesus and meditate on his words continually and

22:22 obey them fully. And as Paul said, this, my friends, is one more reason for us to praise our glorious God and Father in heaven. Like you, we all have stories and examples we shared some earlier. This time when God has shown up and he didn't sit by the wayside and watch us struggle through life. He came alongside us and I would like for us to really reflect on those moments and let

22:54 them propel us into the future in our work, in our mission, in our world today. So whether you're in school or whether you're in work, look back at how God has provided for you, protected you, and let that guide you when things before you seem unknown, uncertain, even downright overwhelming and intimidating, remember that God is with you. Let us pray.

23:24 Gracious God and Father, you are so kind to us. You promised to be with us. And I know for me, I have a very difficult time being still long enough to know that you are there. You will help me, help us be still and know that you are God and that you, whenever you show up, you bring all that we need with you and that you can be trusted and that your spirit is with us each and every day as we journey through this life, through uncertainties,

23:59 through hardships, through suffering and pain, help us to feel you near. And we pray these things in your name, O Jesus. Amen. So we'll take a few moments and sing some songs to God and reflect on the words that have been spoken.

39:39 Thank you. Hey, there's a door worshiping with you all today. And like I said earlier, Ben will be back next week as he was out this week visiting another church within the network of churches in the cross here.

40:09 So they'll be back next week. I have a couple of announcements to make. Some of the men are gathering for lunch on Wednesday around noon. So if you are interested and would like more info on that, please come see me after the service and I'd love to connect you to the text that we are, that we use to kind of communicate about lunch. Secondly, we will share a meal together next week, next Sunday. So come with an empty belly ready to enjoy fellowship and food together.

40:42 And I think that's all I have. Careless. Awesome. Yes. Oh, thanks, Brandon. So this Friday, the 13th at 6.30 p.m. There's going to be a Zoom call for parents who are interested to discuss children's ministry going forward in the church.

41:13 So check your email for more details on that. All right. Yes. And this week, our kids are starting school and teachers are going back. And I noticed kind of a bittersweet time, bitter for the kids, sweet for the parents. But we're thinking about you all and praying for you. So join me in a word of prayer as we pray for our kids and teachers. Thank you all for this day and the way you continually show up in our lives and provide and protect us.

41:43 And pray, Lord, that you will be with our children and teachers and administrators as they return to school this week amidst the pandemic that we're battling worldwide. Provide for the Lord and protect them. Remind them that you are near to them and give us vigilance, give us all vigilance as we go about our days and they give us wisdom and courage to navigate these times. Find us in subtle and significant ways that you are near to us this week and bring to

42:17 remembrance all the various times in our lives when you have shown up and you provided. And help us to trust that wherever you show up, you bring everything with you, everything that we need and everything that we can ever hope for and ask for. Now receive your benediction. May the Lord bless you and protect you. May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord show you his favor and give you his peace. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord, amen. It's been great being with you all today.

42:50 See you next week.