Encouragement
There are many times in life when we need to have ROCK as our foundation.....
not sand.
The storms of life WILL come, therefore Jesus had much to say about foundations!
In Luke 6:47 Jesus said:
"Whoever comes to Me and hears My sayings and does them, is like a man who builds his house. He digs deep and lays the foundation on ROCK. When the floods come and beat upon that house, it will not shake it, for it is founded upon a ROCK.
A house that is built on sand will not stand"
I am so thankful that Jesus is the ROCK of Ages...and even for Eternity!
September 11, 2001 was a dark day in America when terrorists struck The World Trade Center, the Pentagon and crashed a plane in Pennsylvania, killing 2,975 people. We have just observed the 8th anniversary of that tragic day. But underneath the havoc were many foundations (in families and friends) that helped to withstand the terrible loss....because many years earlier they had built their lives on ROCK....and not upon sand.
The theme of America inscribed on our coins is "In God We Trust".
WE MUST NOT FORSAKE GOD AS HE IS OUR BEST (AND LAST) HOPE!
John Drescher wrote a prayer which is good for all of us:
"O God, fortify me for the unexpected and the unexplained.
Amid the things that change, keep clear and dear to me the things that remain.
Give me faith to face the future unafraid....in the knowledge that nothing can separate me from Your love!"
The following is the outline of a sermon I preached at Wailuku Baptist Church on the Island of Maui, Hawaii on November 3, 1996. Due to vocal chord cancer I had to retire from full-time pastoring, but was blessed to be able to serve as Interim Pastor in ten different churches.
Wailuku Baptist Church was struggling a bit at that time, so we were there about a year. As with all of our Interim situations, we fell in love with the people and are thrilled to still have contact with several members there. A few years ago the church family changed the name to Valley Isle Fellowship and it is a growing, vibrant group of Believers. The Pastor who followed us there had to take early retirement due to a health situation, so would appreciate your prayers for VIF as they seek a new Pastor.
Here is the outline of my message from Psalms 46:
"I will not fear for the Lord is:
~my refuge
~my strength
~and a very present help in trouble." (Vs. 1-3)
~"I will not faint for I have a River." (Vs.4-8)
The chorus of a song says: "I've got a river of life flowing out of me."
Do YOU need a river of life flowing through you right now?
The River of Life is to be:
~ an 'Inflow'
~ an 'Up-flow'
~ an 'Overflow' from our lives.
~"I will not fret for I have a Revelation." (Vs. 8-10)
The key verse is Vs.10:
"Be still and know that I am God....and I will (must) be exalted in the earth."
The key revelation is that Jesus is:
~ The Way
~ The Truth
~ The Life"
~ I will not falter for I have a Realization:
"The Lord of Host is with us...The God of Jacob is our Refuge" (Vs. 11)
Stop looking at self...and start looking to God.
Stop looking to the past and start looking to the present, the future and even Eternity.
"The Lord is my Rock...in Whom is my Fortress and my Deliverer.
God is my ROCK in whom I take refuge as He is:
~ My Shield
~ My Strength
~ My Savior
~ My Salvation."
In Samuel 22:2-4 David said:
"God has delivered me from my enemies.
He is my ROCK, my Fortress and my Deliverer.
In Him will I trust for He is also my Shield and the Strength of my Salvation.
I will call on The Lord who will save me from my enemies."
La Moyne was 3 yrs. old when her 1 yr. old brother, Jimmy, died of pneumonia.
Not only were her parents devastated, but they also told how La Moyne continued to look everywhere for her baby brother.
Months later as La Moyne and her Mom were walking on the other side of the street from the Funeral Home, La Moyne broke loose and started running toward the Funeral Home saying, "I'm going to go get my baby!"
That was just one of many 'trying times' in her family, but they were able to survive because early on, her parents had built their lives/faith upon The Solid Rock.
Six years later when her brother Joel was born, La Moyne told her Mom and Dad,
"I TOLD you God was going to give me another baby brother!"
When La Moyne was 17, God gave her a baby sister, Jamie La Marylis
While waiting for La Moyne to be taken in for surgery earlier this week,
I read Psalms 27:1 to her....then we sang "The Solid Rock" in the Korean language :)
'THE SOLID ROCK'
"My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.
When darkness veils His lovely face,
I rest on His unchanging grace;
In every high and stormy gale,
My anchor holds within the veil.
His oath, His covenant, His blood
Support me in the whelming flood;
When all around my soul gives way,
He then is all my hope and stay.
When He shall come with trumpet sound,
Oh, may I then in Him be found;
Dressed in His righteousness alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne.
Chorus:
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand,
All other ground is sinking sand.
~ Words: Edward Mote (1797-1874)
~ Music: William B. Bradbury (1863)
(The information below is from a writing by Scientist Keith W. Ward of Coatesville, PA.)
Edward Mote's life is one that should inspire all of us. He was not brought up in a godly home and did not have early exposure to the Scriptures.
In fact, his parents managed a pub in London, often neglecting young Edward, who spent most of his Sundays playing in the city streets. He said "I was so ignorant that I did not even know there was a God."
He later became exposed to the Word of God, and was baptized at the age of 18. He became a cabinetmaker, a career he held for 37 years. At 55 yrs. of age, he became pastor of a Baptist church in Horsham, Sussex. He did not miss a Sunday in the pulpit for the next 21 years. He resigned from that pastorate in 1873 due to ill health, and died the following year at the age of 77.
It was with this background that Mote wrote the hymn 'The Solid Rock'. It was while he was working as a cabinet-maker that the hymn came into being. As he was walking to work one morning in 1834 , it entered his mind to write a hymn. By the time he got to work, he had the chorus. He wrote four more verses during the day....then later he wrote these two additional verses.
"My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
’Midst all the hell I feel within,
On His completed work I lean.
I trust His righteous character
His council, promise, and His power;
His honor and His name’s at stake,
To save me from the burning lake."
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As today is my daughter's Birthday, Magdaleina is her name,(she and her husband were missionaries in Rwanda following the genocide).I copied this piece and took it to her as part of our gift.
Thank you both...God made you nestle in my heart since I joined FaithWriters---and Father ...the Mighty Rock..pointed you out to us, after He moved us here, from Sudan-Africa....the 'Land of Sand.'
May God daily renew your health--so as to keep up the blessings--and the awesome writings--from the hand of God Holy Spirit.Amen
Julia