Text: 2 Chronicles 15
Link to the sermon: The Story Pt. 14
Discussion Question: Is God true to His word?
Many of us quickly answer "Yes", but do we truly live like we believe it?
In 2 Chronicles 15:2 God promises that "if we seek Him, He will be found by us, but if we forsake Him, He will forsake us" We like to claim the first half of that and ignore the second, but God is true to His word. For those who seek Him we will find Him, but if we turn our backs on Him, He will let us go...but in forsaking us He doesn't beat us up rather He allows us to reap what our hearts desire in hopes that we will turn back (seek) to Him and find that He is right there waiting with open arms (Luke 15:11-32).
Main Point: God calls us to live lives trusting in His word.
If you read through 1 Kings 12-16 one can quickly become confused by all the king changes, which kingdom is being talked about (Northern or Southern) and what is going on. But the main focus is to compare and contrast whether or not the king and/or nation is seeking the Lord and the results. This can be seen if you take a map of the kingdom under David and Solomon and compare that to the size of the divided kingdoms. Please do not take me to be saying that if you just accept Jesus everything will go well and you will have everything you want, but rather if you trust in Him and His word you will have peace. In 2 Chronicles 15 King Asa is promised that if he seeks the Lord it will go well with him and the nation...he did and it did, but at the end of his life he stumbled...do not forget to press on for the long haul...
Application:
- God's word is trustworthy because......?
In the end God's word is trustworthy, because of who God is...He is the guarantor behind it. If we understand that we will live lives dependent on God's word and that will be demonstrated in our thoughts and deeds.
The following is a process to help us live transformed lives. I am indebted to Jeff Vanderstelt for the following questions.
Four Key Questions:
- Who is God?
- What has He done? (especially in the person and work of Jesus)
- Who are you?
- What are we to do?
In light of:
- Who God is
- What He has done
- Who you are in Him
How will your thoughts, actions, words be transformed?
Drilling back to God to transform your life:
- What are you feeling/doing?
- What do you believe about yourself?
- What do you believe about what God has done?
- What do you believe about God?
I, my wife and another member walked a lady who was struggling through this. This lady was feeling condemned. Now it would be easy to say go read Romans 8:1 and live it...but instead we drilled back.
- What are you feeling/doing?
Condemned
- What do you believe about yourself?
That I don't measure up
- What do you believe about what God has done?
That Jesus death was sufficient for everyone but me
- What do you believe about God?
I see an image of my day and that God is standing there recording all of my mistakes
So I said let me understand this correctly you think God is like Santa Claus on steroids and you are on the naughty list...once we drilled back to that misunderstanding of God it would be real tempting to just say well correct your view, but I challenged her that she had made an idol out of her earthly father and was worshiping him and not the Lord. I challenged her to be like David and repent and correct her view of God, so that she could live her life dependent upon Him and His word and preach the Gospel to herself. If she does that she will not feel/live like she is condemned...she quickly repented...
Is the Gospel good news just for eternity? No, but most of us live like it is. Part of the good news is that you can experience eternal life now and as you do you will live a transformed life based on His word.
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