TOPIC: TOTAL RELIANCE ON GOD TEXT: PSALM 37:3-6 INTRODUCTION: In life we have trusted many people and many things. We often trust our families, we have trusted our friends, we have trusted our pastors, pastors have trusted members, we have trusted our security system, and quite often we have trusted our transport system. We rely so much on these things from time to time, but what do all these have in common? They fail our trust in them at one time or the other, which means they are not totally reliable. We are not to rely totally on the creature but on the Creator. Total reliance on God does not fail us. There is a story about mother Teresa when she was a young nun. She said to her superiors; “I have 5 pennies and a dream from God to build an orphanage.” Her superiors looked at each other and then said to her; “Well, sister Teresa, you can’t build an orphanage with 5 pennies. In fact you can do nothing with five pennies.” But she replied; “With God and five pennies, I can do anything.” I tell you church, God built the orphanage and the rest of her ministry because she had been radically dependent on God. When people asked her how she had been financing the project with no church support and no government subsidies, she recounted how God had come through time after time and she never had to turn away a needy person at any given time. God came through for her in amazing ways. Do you believe also that God can come through for you in amazing and wonderful ways? Then you have to fully be dependent on Him. PUT YOUR TRUST ONLY IN GOD Basically, you rely on things you believe in and fully trust. Many people place their trust in the wrong things. Many have entrusted the salvation of their souls to man, rather than placing their trust in God. God asks the question; “Do you trust Me?” He wants you to trust Him. Many believe in God, they believe He exists, but they do not rely on Him. I am instructing you and encouraging you to rely solely on God. Put your trust in Him because His way is perfect. The Lord is good; He is a stronghold in the day of trouble; but I tell you, He can only deliver you on a day of trouble if you totally rely on Him. – Do not rely on Man. Listen to what the Psalmist wrote in Psalm 118:8-9; “It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes.” False religion is some form of relying on man’s doctrine rather than God’s. True religion comes from God and false religion is from man. Some groups of people follow some written or unwritten rules produced by man, rather than the Word of God. Catholics focus on the pope who they see as a holy father. Islam is based on the writings of Mohammed. Calvinism is based on the teachings of Calvin. Lutherans believe in the teachings of Luther. Christians believe in the Bible – the Word of God. > To trust in man is to depart from God. The word of God speaks of the man who makes flesh his strength and his heart to depart from the Lord as one who is cursed, and such man shall not see good when it comes.

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But the man who totally relies on God, who trusts in God, whose hope is in the Lord, is blessed, for he shall be like a tree planted by the waters. The world is full of lying words given by the inspiration of the devil. They are lying words because they contradict the word of God. – Do not rely on Weapons. The Psalmist said; “Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; but we will remember the name of the Lord our God.” (PSALM 20:7) The world is full of people whose lives now depend on one form of weapon or the other. People carry knives and guns, either to take revenge or as a means of survival in fights or in armed robbery. To such people, relying on God takes long; they prefer to take the short cut. But Jesus Christ says in Matthew 26:52; “All who take the sword will perish by the sword.” If the sword cannot save your soul, then why rely on it? – Do not rely on Riches. There is nothing wrong in being rich but there is a lot wrong with it if it turns out to become your lord and master. Money from the right source is a blessing from God. I tell you, riches cannot buy eternal life. You cannot bribe God to overlook your misdeeds on the day of judgement, and to allow you into His Kingdom. Well, you may be thinking that doesn’t apply to you because you are not a rich person, but even as a poor person, if all you do is think of money and how it would solve your problems, then you are relying on money and not God. READ 1 TIMOTHY 6:17 – We are not to put our hope in riches or expect them to bring us security or deliverance. Why is this? It is because riches are so transient, and values change. Money comes, money goes. What is valuable today might not be valuable tomorrow. So if you rely so much on your money that you become so selfish with it, what happens when the money leaves you? Majority think of what money can do for them more than what God is able to do for them. We tend to forget one fact that it is not in our capacity to make ourselves rich. If it does not come from God it could be disastrous. Rely on God to reveal to you the course you will do that will make you comfortable in life, the type of business you can do that will yield profit for you, the kind of man or woman you will marry that will bring God’s blessing. LET GOD BE CENTRAL IN YOUR LIFE Paul said to the Galatians; “O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified?” (GALATIANS 3:1) They were referred to as foolish by Apostle Paul because they stopped obeying the truth; they were drifting away from the truth, they stopped relying on God. They abandoned God’s way and tried to be perfect by their own efforts. Many make the same stupid mistake made by the Galatians. We can avoid making the same stupid mistake by placing God at the centre of our lives and relying totally on Him in everything we do. We all understand that our Christian lives started in total dependence on God’s grace because there is no other way to become a Christian. We all that are Christians started with God being central in our lives, and we must keep it so. Our salvation is entirely God’s doing; but what we fail to realize is that the same is true of building the church and any other spiritually significant activity. It is God, who in His grace provides the power that brings us from darkness into light and from death unto life.

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We know this, but too often we behave as if we don’t know. We behave as if the keys to building a big, strong and healthy church come from well designed publicity, meticulous rehearsed music and carefully argued preaching. These are all good things, but unless the power of God is in them, they cannot give rise to anything more than a well-attended social club or charitable society. Such churches are all over the place today; where preaching about sin becomes a sin, and distorting the word of God is termed modernisation. – What the world considers as God’s blessing may actually not be. So we can see that attempts to live our Christian lives or build the church by human effort rather than by God’s power are ultimately doomed. What this kind of striving and effort does is to wear us down, leave us weary and disillusioned. We do not have to carry the burden of the church as if it is ours. It is not ours, but it is Jesus’. He says; “I will build My Church.” Paul told us that; “We are God’s fellow workers.” (1 COR. 3:9) He made us understand that the foundation has been laid and all we have to do is build on it. Let me remind us of something, our work will be tested with fire and there is also a reward. Paul encouraged us as members of one body in Christ to work together in unity with each part working alongside the other parts so as to make the body complete and active. No part must look down on the other. (1 COR. 12:13-27) *My prayer is for the Lord to bless the works of our hands. Let us turn our Bibles to JOHN 14:1 “Let not your hearts be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.” Christ was about to be crucified and His disciples would scatter. He knew they would be troubled with the happenings around them, so Jesus was calling His disciples to trust God through any and every circumstance of life. He told them to trust even when they did not understand why certain things happened, because God was still at work. – If I were to ask us individually, most of us would very quickly say that we trust God, but there are times when relying on Him fully is not so simple. It takes the grace of God to remain calm and see what God is about to do. Quite often we wonder why certain things happen to us and why God even permits them to happen. We wish they didn’t happen to us. – PROVERBS 3:5-6; “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your paths.” How far can you trust God? It will be very foolish of anyone to lean on their own understanding. Life can indeed be very hard. Life can be uncertain. Life is beyond our control and beyond our understanding. We are left with raw emotions and tough questions. Answers are beyond us and we struggle with the question of why. Nothing we go through in life is beyond God. The truth is that we can and we must rely on God in every situation in life. In times when things just don’t make any sense in human terms, we need to trust God. The more senseless life becomes the greater our need to trust in God. The writer of Proverbs states it simply and clearly that God wants our full and complete reliance on Him. We are to trust God with all our heart. Nothing is to be held back from Him and we must surrender to Him all that we are; all that we have and all that we may become, because without the presence and guidance of God we will go nowhere. – God directs the path of those who rely on Him to do so. God wants us to follow Him when the future seems uncertain. It is only when we completely rely on God that He gives us the power of His direction and the power of His presence.

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When we feel weak God is our strength. When we are pressured by life, God is our relief. When we need security He is our refuge. When we stop trying hard to do our best in our own effort and start to trust and rely on God’s strength, then our lives will all be at rest. When we stop doing all the planning with our brain and start trusting God to lead us, then we will have lives full of joy. God’s promise made long ago that He will never forsake those who seek Him is still valid today because God has never broken a promise yet and He will never break one. He is true and faithful to His people. GOD IS ABLE I am thankful that we serve an awesome and mighty God. I am glad that He has everything under control even though it seems that everything around us is out of control. I admit that there are times it seems that God is millions of miles away, but in reality, He is closer than we think. He is as close as the mention of His name. He is always there to help bear our load. He is able to deliver us. He is able to heal us. – It wasn’t anything of a struggle for God to structure this universe, everything in it and everything we will ever discover about it. It was just nothing for God. God doesn’t struggle like we struggle. -He showed MOSES in His deliverance of Israel that He was mightier than Pharaoh and his armies. - He showed JOSHUA that he was still bigger than the walls of Jericho and every barrier to victory. - He showed JEHOSHAPHAT that some battles don’t belong to man, but to Him. God is the supreme Ruler over everything. He rules the heavens. He rules the earth. He rules the kings of the earth. He rules the elements. He rules our enemies – Satan, death and hell. -Our God is the Peace-Maker and Problem Solver. -He is the Miracle Worker and the Heart Mender. -He is my Provider and my Supplier. -He is my Shepherd and my Shield. -He is the healer of all my diseases – He is bigger than stomach ulcer, arthritis, diabetes, migraine, heart problem, depression and all other diseases. The Bible declares that by His stripes I am healed. Rely on the Shepherd for your Needs ZECHARIAH 10:1; “Ask the Lord for rain in the time of latter rain.” Why involve God in all of this? It is because only God brings the flashing clouds and the showers of rain that waters the crops which brings us food to keep us alive. Zechariah was saying that we should rely on God to supply our needs. Let us remember that Zechariah was speaking to the Jewish refugees that were building the Temple. They needed to know that they could and must rely on their Shepherd to meet their needs. Yes, they had to work, they had to cultivate the land, they had to do what they could, but in the end only God would bless the works of their hands and ensure that they had what they needed. – What about you, do you depend and rely on God to supply all of your needs? Or do you tend to be self-sufficient, relying on your work or the government, or some other person or thing to meet all your needs? Whether you and I realize it or not, God is the main supplier. Who keeps the supply line flowing? God does. He is the source of all our blessing and all of our supply. v.2 – On the other hand, Zechariah told the idol worshippers, that is those who relied on anything or anyone else who is not God that they were holding on to false hopes. The same is true for us today. 4

Such people deny the truth that all supplies to our needs come from God. They believe the lies of self-sufficiency, lies which bring no comfort or assurance that our needs will be met. Rely on the Shepherd for your Strength v.6 – “I will strengthen the house of Judah........................” Most of us think we are strong enough to handle most of what life throws at us. We don’t like to think about our weakness, and when something happens that shows up our weakness, it can be traumatic. Some think they are pretty strong and healthy until sickness puts them on the hospital bed. Some think they have a good grip of life until life dishes them its own raw deal. It’s on those days when things get out of control that we discover how weak we truly are, and how desperate we need strength from our Shepherd. So where does your strength come from? We must depend on the Shepherd for our strength. v.7 – Zechariah went on to say of God; “Those of Ephraim shall be like a mighty man and their heart shall rejoice as if with wine.” Zechariah was speaking to the people who had little or no political power. They had barely enough weapons to fight their enemies. By the world standard these people were weak; yet Zechariah said with God on their side, they were mighty. They could depend on their Shepherd for their strength. God’s strength in them would make them to be drunk with joy! You and I can also depend on our Shepherd for our strength. His strength in us brings us joy unspeakable. Warren Wiersbe said if we rely on people we get what people can offer us, if we rely on money we get how much money can do, if we rely on ourselves we get what we can do, but if we rely on God, we get what God can do. And as you and I know, God can do anything and everything. Do you need God’s strength in your life this afternoon? Then you can rely on Christ Jesus, the good Shepherd to give you strength. When you are at your weakest, then He is at His strongest! Rely on the Shepherd to Lead you Taking the wrong road or making the wrong choice can be very costly and painful. Taking the wrong road may sometimes lead you to a dead end. So how do we know which choice is best, which road is right and which direction to head out in? Just follow the Shepherd. v.8 – “I will whistle for them and gather them.” In the same way you whistle or call your pet and it comes running to you, the Shepherd says He will whistle for His sheep and they will come to Him. God promised to bring back His own from wherever they are scattered. God will bring back our hearts to follow His will. He will deliver us from drowning in the Red Sea of life. Then we will walk up and down in His name. We will walk in the will and way of the good Shepherd. – You and I need guidance. Our ability to choose the right road is hindered by our inability to see the future. Our wisdom can take us only so far, but no further. Making the right choice or choosing the right way is nothing but gambling unless you depend on God totally to lead you. No wonder David said; “I have set the Lord always before me.” (PS.16:28) What David was saying is; “Lord, you are first in my life. My eyes are fixed on You and nothing else.” David developed a total reliance on God. He knew he could trust God. He understood God’s greatness and mighty acts. Child of God you need to set the Lord before you always. Take your eyes off the situations around you. If you get your eyes on the situations around you, you begin to see the wicked and the corrupt. All you see is suffering, all you see is cry of battles, all you see is sickness, sorrow and pain. But when you set the Lord always before you and your eyes are fixed on Him, everything takes a different perspective. 5

When you focus on the Lord, your heart begins to soar with praise because what you now see is a table set before you in the presence of your enemies. You see God’s mighty acts of power. You see God in His sanctuary. You see Christ walking in the midst of His church. You see God confounding the efforts of the enemies. You see God rising up as a defence and strong tower for His people. You see His arm extended to save the lost. You see God’s supply for His people. You see rivers of blessing and fountains of joy. CONCLUSION Today’s text – Psalm 37:3-6, is a conclusion of the message. We are encouraged to trust God, to depend on Him, to rely totally on Him and in His faithfulness He will make us inherit the land. He shall also give us the desires of our heart. God, in essence, is assuring us that our future is secure. With total reliance on God and with faith we will attempt great things for God. Let us consciously commit our plans into God’s hands and He will bring them to pass. This year you and I will do great exploits in God’s name. God will be your support and strength. He will answer you when you are in distress. He will give you the desire of your heart. He will make all your plans succeed. He will grant your request. He will never leave you or forsake you. To God be the glory!

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