Total Reliance on God

25 June 2014

Opening Prayer/Worship

Hymn: I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say

Theme: God Our Maker

Topic: Total Reliance on God

Reading: Genesis 21:8-21

The child grew, and was weaned; and Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. ⁹But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, playing with her son Isaac.¹⁰So she said to Abraham, ‘Cast out this slave woman with her son; for the son of this slave woman shall not inherit along with my son Isaac.’¹¹The matter was very distressing to Abraham on account of his son.¹²But God said to Abraham, ‘Do not be distressed because of the boy and because of your slave woman; whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for it is through Isaac that offspring shall be named after you. ¹³As for the son of the slave woman, I will make a nation of him also, because he is your offspring.’ ¹⁴So Abraham rose early in the morning, and took bread and a skin of water, and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, along with the child, and sent her away. And she departed, and wandered about in the wilderness of Beer-sheba. ¹⁵ When the water in the skin was gone, she cast the child under one of the bushes. ¹⁶Then she went and sat down opposite him a good way off, about the distance of a bowshot; for she said, ‘Do not let me look on the death of the child.’ And as she sat opposite him, she lifted up her voice and wept. ¹⁷And God heard the voice of the boy; and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven, and said to her, ‘What troubles you, Hagar? Do not be afraid; for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. ¹⁸Come, lift up the boy and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make a great nation of him.’ ¹⁹Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. She went, and filled the skin with water, and gave the boy a drink. ²⁰ God was with the boy, and he grew up; he lived in the wilderness, and became an expert with the bow. ²¹He lived in the wilderness of Paran; and his mother got a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

Introduction

God who made us loves to see us put all our trust in Him.  Just like earthly parents love their children, and want them to trust them, the same goes for God.  The Scripture tells us that God knows the thoughts He has for us, thoughts of good and not of evil, to bring us to an expected end.  The truth is that sometimes we are faced with situations that make us doubt whether God cares for us- loss of a loved one, illness, financial problems, and so on.  However, since it is impossible for God to lie, we should always take Him at His Word, always completely relying on Him.  It is very easy to give up in the midst of the storm, but if we anchor our faith on Jesus, God will bring us through the storm.  Nothing is too difficult for the Lord, and as we put our trust in Him, He will sustain and guide us through the vicissitudes of life.

Questions/Discussion

1. What is your understanding of total reliance on God? 

Psalm 20:1-9

¹ The Lord answer you in the day of trouble!
   The name of the God of Jacob protect you!
² May he send you help from the sanctuary,
   and give you support from Zion.
³ May he remember all your offerings,
   and regard with favour your burnt sacrifices.
⁴ May he grant you your heart’s desire,
   and fulfil all your plans.
⁵ May we shout for joy over your victory,
   and in the name of our God set up our banners.
May the Lord fulfil all your petitions. 

⁶ Now I know that the Lord will help his anointed;
   he will answer him from his holy heaven
   with mighty victories by his right hand.
⁷ Some take pride in chariots, and some in horses,
   but our pride is in the name of the Lord our God.
⁸ They will collapse and fall,
   but we shall rise and stand upright. 

⁹ Give victory to the king, O Lord;
   answer us when we call.

Jeremiah 29:10-14

For thus says the Lord: Only when Babylon’s seventy years are completed will I visit you, and I will fulfil to you my promise and bring you back to this place. ¹¹For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. ¹²Then when you call upon me and come and pray to me, I will hear you. ¹³When you search for me, you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart, ¹⁴I will let you find me, says the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.

Romans 8:26-39

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. ²⁷And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. ²⁸ We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. ²⁹For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family. ³⁰And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified. ³¹ What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? ³²He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else? ³³Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. ³⁴Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us. ³⁵Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? ³⁶As it is written, ‘For your sake we are being killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered.’ ³⁷No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁹nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

2. What are the lessons for us in Matthew 10:24-39 regarding total reliance on God? 

Matthew 10:24-39

‘A disciple is not above the teacher, nor a slave above the master;²⁵it is enough for the disciple to be like the teacher, and the slave like the master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household! ²⁶ ‘So have no fear of them; for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known. ²⁷What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops. ²⁸Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. ²⁹Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground unperceived by your Father. ³⁰And even the hairs of your head are all counted. ³¹So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows. ³² ‘Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven; ³³but whoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven. ³⁴ ‘Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. ³⁵ For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; ³⁶ and one’s foes will be members of one’s own household. ³⁷Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me;³⁸and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. ³⁹Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.

3. Discuss some of the challenges to relying on God, and how to overcome them? 

Psalm 86:1-10, 16-17

Refrain: Turn to me; save the child of your handmaid.

Bow down your ear, O Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and in misery. Keep watch over my life, for I am faithful; save your servant who puts his trust in you. R Be merciful to me, O Lord, for you are my God; I call upon you all the day long. Gladden the soul of your servant, for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, and great is your love toward all who call upon you. R Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer, and attend to the voice of my supplications. In the time of my trouble I will call upon you, for you will answer me. R Among the gods there is none like you, O Lord, nor anything like your works. All nations you have made will come and worship you, O Lord, and glorify your name. For you are great; you do wondrous things; and you alone are God. R Turn to me and have mercy upon me; give your strength to your servant; and save the child of your handmaid. Show me a sign of your favour, so that those who hate me may see it and be ashamed; because you, O Lord, have helped me and comforted me. R

Psalm 95: 1-11

¹ O come, let us sing to the Lord;
   let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
² Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
   let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!
³ For the Lord is a great God,
   and a great King above all gods.
⁴ In his hand are the depths of the earth;
   the heights of the mountains are his also.
⁵ The sea is his, for he made it,
   and the dry land, which his hands have formed. 

⁶ O come, let us worship and bow down,
   let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!
⁷ For he is our God,
   and we are the people of his pasture,
   and the sheep of his hand. 

O that today you would listen to his voice!
⁸   Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah,
   as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,
⁹ when your ancestors tested me,
   and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.
¹⁰ For forty years I loathed that generation
   and said, ‘They are a people whose hearts go astray,
   and they do not regard my ways.’
¹¹ Therefore in my anger I swore,
   ‘They shall not enter my rest.’

Romans 6:1B-11

Should we continue in sin in order that grace may abound? ²By no means! How can we who died to sin go on living in it? ³Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. ⁵ For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. ⁶We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. ⁷For whoever has died is freed from sin. ⁸But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. ⁹We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him.¹⁰The death he died, he died to sin, once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. ¹¹So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Intercession/Worship

Conclusion

God loves us with an everlasting love;

may we through the power of the Holy Spirit always put our trust in Him.

Closing Prayer (Collect for Second Sunday after Pentecost)

O God our defender, storms rage about us and cause us to be afraid. Rescue your people from despair, deliver your sons and daughters from fear, and preserve us all from unbelief; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and ever. Amen.