Bethel CRC Lacombe

March 06/22 STANDING FIRM ON GOD'S PROMISES

March 07, 2022 Pastor Jake Boer Season 2 Episode 1
Bethel CRC Lacombe
March 06/22 STANDING FIRM ON GOD'S PROMISES
Show Notes Transcript

Today is the first Sunday of Lent, and our theme is Good News. We are also celebrating GEMS Sunday, our girl’s ministry. They will be leading much of the service, as we will be focusing on the theme Standing Firm on God’s Promises by reflecting on Psalm 62:2 and Matthew 7:24-29. God is a rock, a place of strength, a place of safety and hope. Jesus teaches that if we shape our lives on his teaching then we are like the wise man who builds his house on the rock and no matter what happens, the house stands firm.

Standing Firm on God’s Promise

Psalm 62:1-8; Matthew 7:24-29

March 6, 2022

 What a joy to have our GEMS ministry lead our service this morning and share about what they are doing and how God’s working through the GEMS ministry. Every year a Bible verse is chosen to represent theme that the GEMS program follows, some more and some less, for the year and this year is Standing Firm on God’s Promise with Psalm 62:2 as the main verse, “Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.” There’s a children’s song about this psalm that translates this verse, “He alone is my rock. He is the one who saves me. He is like a fort to me. I will always be secure.” I grew up in Northern Ontario on the Canadian Shield. The Canadian Encyclopedia tells us that “The Canadian Shield refers to the exposed portion of the continental crust underlying the majority of North America. The crust, also known as the North American Craton, extends from northern Mexico to Greenland and consists of hard rocks at least 1 billion years old.” 

Basically, I grew up on top of a big rock. Growing up, my brothers and I lived beside a patch of woods and we spent a lot of time building forts to protect ourselves from the prying eyes of girls! We felt safe inside our fort. That reminds us of who God is, that he is our fort and he saves us from the things that scare us. Sometimes it feels as there’s a lot of scary things going on in the world. You’ve probably heard adults talking about a new war that’s started up in another part of the world, you’ve lived through the pandemic the last 2 years and many people were scared that their grandparents might catch it and get sick, and sometimes there are things that we don’t understand that scare us. I know that sometimes I’m scared of people around me fighting and not wanting to be friends anymore. What are some of the things that you’re scared of

Even though there are lots of scary things happening, God is as strong as a rock, nothing can beat him. Three times the psalm tells us that God is a rock; he doesn’t want us to forget that! Because God is as strong as a rock, even as big a rock as the Canadian Shield, and because he loves us, he will save us from the things we are scared of; he can take away our fear. Jesus tells us that we can trust God because he’s our Father, and just like your dads and granddads and uncles, he loves you and will help you when you need his help. I remember walking through the woods with my dad, and even though there were bears and wolves in the woods, I never felt afraid because my dad was there and he was big and strong and I knew he would keep me safe. That’s what it’s like with God as our Father.

There were lots of scary things going on when Jesus was here on earth too. No matter where they went, there were soldiers making sure that everybody obeyed the laws of Rome because Caesar was in charge, not a Jewish king. Even the Jewish people who were leading the people, the priests, Pharisees, and Sadducees were always fighting and arguing with each other. When you’re growing up, it can feel scary when people in church fight and argue all the time. I believe this is why in Jesus’ last prayer before he died, he prayed that his people would all work really hard at getting along with each other.

While Jesus was here on earth, he spent a lot of time telling everyone all about God, his Father. Jesus wanted everyone to follow and trust in God, he wanted them to see that God was their heavenly Father and loved them a lot. Jesus taught his disciples and all the other people what kind of people God wanted them to be and how they should live as God’s children. Because being chosen to be one of God’s children is so special and precious, it should be really important to us to want to make God happy by how we live, right? Doing the right things doesn’t make us God’s children, but it does show God and the world that we are really happy and proud to be his children.

Jesus tells everyone a short story about building houses to show us that when we do the things God wants us to, it makes our lives a lot better. I love this story, “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” Can you imagine seeing these houses in a storm and then watching one of the houses fall down? How scary is that? If you build a house on sand, when rain storms come, the sand under the house starts to crumble or wash away and the house will come crashing down. Take a look at a video of a house built on sand

What is the rock that Jesus is talking about that we’re supposed to build our house on? Jesus has been teaching the people all about the ways we should live that please God and help us to be who Jesus calls us to be. When we do the things that Jesus tells us to do, it makes us better and stronger people who are learning to love God more and more, and to love other people more. It makes us strong people who will have the strength to do the right things, even when it’s hard. 

What does Jesus tell us to put into practice? Jesus starts by calling us to be humble and care about other people. He tells us to be light and salt, to do good deeds so that people will praise God in heaven. Jesus tells us that anger and murder are wrong, and that men and women to treat each other with respect and honour, and take marriage very seriously. Jesus teaches us to be careful with our words, especially the words we tell God. Loving enemies instead of hating is really important, and being generous shows love. Jesus gives us the Lord’s prayer where he talks a lot about forgiveness. Jesus tells us to make God more important than anything else and not judge others. Jesus tells us to keep coming to God and seek God. This is what Jesus calls the rock we need to build the house of our lives on. When we make Jesus the most important thing in our lives, we find out that there aren’t as many scary things around and we don’t need to be afraid.

A big part of who Jesus is, is that he obeyed his Father in heaven in everything. On the last night before Jesus went to the cross for our sin, he spent time talking to God in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus was afraid of dying for all our sin because he knew how hard it was going to be and he asks God, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” Jesus trusts God and obeys God, even though what Jesus did for us by dying on the cross for our sin was so hard, but by obeying God, Jesus was given the strength to obey and to wash our sin away.

Building our houses on the rock means that we obey what Jesus tells us to do and be the people Jesus calls us to be. When we obey what Jesus says, it makes Jesus happy and that makes us feel stronger and happier too. It’s like when you do something that your parents or grandparents tell you to do and when you do it, you see how proud they are of you, it helps you to keep obeying them the next time they tell you to do something. But sometimes it can be hard to obey, even if it’s Jesus telling us to do something. It can be hard to forgive somebody who has hurt you, it can be hard to be generous when you think you don’t have enough, or you’re saving up for something special for yourself. Even adults can have a hard time obeying Jesus when it comes to doing something they really don’t want to do, but when we do obey Jesus, the Holy Spirit gives us the strength to do it and we become more like the house on the rock of God.