Today we heard from Jeff Winters, pastor of Sojourn Church, on Psalm 32.
Video of Message
 Do you remember where you were and what you were doing on September 11, 2001? I was in our church office in Alabama when I got a call from a member asking me if I had seen the news. She told me to get to a television and turn it on. When I turned it on, I watched with millions of other Americans as the Trade Centers burned and collapsed. In the days to come, shock waves of this earth shattering event would rock our nation. When our lives are turned upside down, we begin asking why. And it’s in those seasons that we are most susceptible to both truth and error. We see it either through the lens of God’s eternal sovereignty or the lens of human depravity. We are not the first to wrestle with these temptations. Many years ago, God’s people experienced a similar national tragedy and in 1 Samuel 4, we read about their response. Their story reminds us that we should not put a period where God puts a comma. 1 Samuel 4:10-22 Video of Message  Many years ago, I had the opportunity to visit a house of worship that displayed something I have never seen before. Towards the front of the worship center, near the pulpit, was a massive rock. It was a rock big enough on which a family of 4 could have a picnic! Clearly, the church wanted to send the message that Jesus was the rock of their congregation (Matthew 16:18)). I wondered, if in time, how easy it might be for members of this church to shift their focus from Jesus being their rock to the rock being their rock. How easy it might be for believers to say, “We are the church of the rock. What sets us apart is that we have this massive rock in our worship center.” Seeing that rock in the auditorium reminded me that every congregation, and Christian, struggles with the temptation to get their identity and life from religious symbols. Many years ago, God's people faced the same struggles as they sought to overcome their enemies by trying to manipulate God's power through a religious symbol - the Ark of the Covenant. The story is found for us in 1 Samuel 4. 1 Samuel 4 Video of Message  In his book, The Parent Adventure, Rodney Wilson compares raising children to handing off a baton during a relay race. No matter how fast a relay team might be, if they drop the baton, they will have run in vain. The same applies to raising children in that it does not matter how much money parents make or what kind of car they drive. It doesn’t matter how much education we receive or how much money we have in our 401(k). If we fail to pass the baton of faith to our children, then we too are running in vain. So how do we do pass the baton? It starts by recognizing that God is just as interested in our children while they are children as He is us who are adults. One of the best illustrations of this truth can be found in 1 Samuel 3, where we read of God’s calling upon Samuel while yet a young boy. 1 Samuel 3 Video of Message |
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