You Can Trust Him

Deep Roots – Trust in God

by Brian Mininger

Notes from Message 10.17.2010 

Jeremiah 17:5-8

This is what the Lord says:"Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans,who rely on human strengthand turn their hearts away from the Lord.They are like stunted shrubs in the desert,with no hope for the future.They will live in the barren wilderness,in an uninhabited salty land.

"But blessed are those who trust in the Lordand have made the Lord their hope and confidence.They are like trees planted along a riverbank,with roots that reach deep into the water.Such trees are not bothered by the heator worried by long months of drought.Their leaves stay green,and they never stop producing fruit.

Where is Your Trust?

• Relying on yourself to get through destroys your relationship with God
• Relying on others to get through destroys your relationship with others
• Only relying on God allows our relationship with Him and others to grow
• The beginning of Trust in God is surrender, the choice to lay down ourselves, confess our sin and accept the free gift of salvation through Jesus
• This Surrender is a Daily Choice 

Trust Killers

• Anger with God
• Victim Mentality
• Figuring it all out
• Offenses
• Wounds
• Fear

Trust God for Salvation

Gen 49:18 - I trust in you for salvation, O Lord! 

I Pet 1:8-9 - You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy. The reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls.

Trust God for Wisdom & Revelation

I Cor. 2:4-5 - And my message and my preaching were very plain. Rather than using clever and persuasive speeches, I relied only on the power of the Holy Spirit. I did this so you would trust not in human wisdom but in the power of God.

Prov 3:5-6 - Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.

Trust God for our Physical Needs

I Tim 6:17 - Teach those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which is so unreliable. Their trust should be in God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment.

Lk 12:24-26 - Look at the ravens. They don't plant or harvest or store food in barns, for God feeds them. And you are far more valuable to him than any birds! Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? And if worry can't accomplish a little thing like that, what's the use of worrying over bigger things?

Trust God to Defend us

Ps 22:4-5 - Our ancestors trusted in you, and you rescued them. They cried out to you and were saved. They trusted in you and were never disgraced.

Dan 3:16-17 - Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power, Your Majesty.

Trust God for our Physical Healing

Ps 103:3-5 - He forgives all my sins, and heals all my diseases. He redeems me from death and crowns me with love and tender mercies. He fills my life with good things. My youth is renewed like the eagle's!

Is 53:5 - But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed.

Trust God to Heal our Heart

Ps. 147:3 - He heals the brokenhearted and bandages their wounds.

Ps. 33:20-22 - We put our hope in the Lord. He is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. Let your unfailing love surround us, Lord, for our hope is in you alone.

Jn 14:1 - Don't let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me.

Final Thoughts

• The attitude of trust is humility and submission
• Trust is created in the struggle and the fire
• We need the filling of the Holy Spirit to live this way each day

Time to Get to Work

Good Morning Riverbank,

I love what Victoria shared yesterday about praying for workers in the harvest.  We have an incredible opportunity to impact this community for Jesus Christ and see lives transformed, but that is going to take workers. 

So what is a Harvest?  The Harvest is a word picture that Jesus used to describe the time when we reap the results of the "seeds" of faith in Jesus that have been sown in the lives of individuals as they surrender to Jesus and are set free from the power of Sin in their lives.  

Just like a Harvest of wheat takes workers and equipment, in the same way the spiritual Harvest takes workers and resources.   There are people to love and pray with, children to serve,  worship to be led, discipleship to be taught, events to be planned, coffee to serve, chairs to be set up... and the list goes on and on.  I promise you there is a way to serve that fits with your giftings and abilities.  

So here's today's challenge... 

1. Pray and allow God to show you how He would have you work in the Harvest
2. Pray for more workers to join us here in Nelson Co in the Harvest
3. Pray about how God would have you share your resources to reap the Harvest
4. Pray for God to prepare the Harvest

As you can see there is a theme... Pray and Act.  To reap a mighty Harvest we must do both.

I know there are some of you who receive this e-mail that are interested in what God is doing at Riverbank, but haven't yet got connected.  There may be many reasons for this... schedules, other commitments, or still trying to discern where this is where God wants you to be.  I encourage you to seek God about joining this work.  It is truly going to take all of us to reap this Harvest.

On a more practical note we are mobilizing for our outreach to the children of Nelson Co on the 31st in Lovingston.  God has opened the door for us to set up a Family Fun Center right in the middle of the Trick-or-Treating that goes on in Lovingston.  We have permission to set up in the parking lot and grass of Blossom's Florist at the end of Front St.  We have been told by those who have handed out candy in the past to be prepared for well over 500 kids.  Below is a list of some of the ways you can help.  If you can help with these things reply and let me know and I can pass on the info to Melody.

• Pass out and put up fliers
• Invite your friends (Here is the Facebook Page Link that you can use to invite people too) 
• Bring and set-up lights, tables, straw bales, coffee makers, water jugs, etc on Sunday afternoon
• Donate money to help with the cost of the Moon Bounce, goody bags, and refreshments
• Help fill goody bags this Sunday night at the end of our meeting.
• Serve coffee
• Supervise kids on the Moon Bounce
• Greet and talk to those that stop
• Pass out Goody Bags
• Play an instrument
• Clean-up and haul away trash
• Help with costume contest registration and judging
• Take "Guess the # of candy corn" registrations
• Write thank-you cards to those who come
• Pray for the preparations
• Pray for the people
• Pray for the workers

Finally I will be sending out a prayer focus daily as we prepare for this event.  Today, lift up Melody and Jeff as they assemble the list of needed items and get ready to purchase what is necessary.  Pray for wisdom as they plan amounts and that we will have everything that is needed to bless those who come.

Together in the Harvest,

Pastor Brian

Encouragement for Today

Good Morning Riverbank,

This morning I found my bible reading taking me to the book of Jeremiah.  Specifically to the 30th chapter.  Here, Jeremiah is prophesying to the people of Israel hope for God's restoration of their homeland.  The people of Israel had become scattered and taken over by their enemies but Jeremiah was speaking of hope and the day when God would bring his people back and restore to them what had been lost.  

"For the time is coming when I will restore the fortunes of my people of Israel and Judah. I will bring them home to this land that I gave to their ancestors, and they will possess it and live here again.  I, the Lord has spoken." Jeremiah 30:3

As I read this passage what quickened in my heart was that, in the same way, God slowly restored Israel to Jerusalem, so does He want to restore the spiritual life here in Nelson County and to our communities.  He is bringing people back to himself and rebuilding spiritual roots in Nelson.  Many years ago, as we read in the history books of Nelson, our communities used to be strong places of worship.  There were churches in almost every community that were alive and serving the people, a hub of activity.  

However through time and devastation, the enemy has been able to get a foothold.  But no more! We believe that God wants to do a new and fresh work here in our communities.  His desire is to rebuild that which has been lost and what the enemy has stolen. But we have to decide if we are going to be a part of the "rebuilding" that God wants to do here.  Another passage comes to mind.

"The harvest is so great, but the workers are so few.  So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers for His fields."  Matthew 9:37-38 
The thing that struck me about this passage were 2 things: 

1.  I am  not in charge :)  He is in charge of the harvest.  He is in charge of the results.

2.  These are "His Fields" 

Simply put, He calls us to 2 things-  To Work and To Pray.  That's all. I don't have to worry if the people will be there or not. He is simply asking me to show up, to work in the "fields" that he has prepared.  And he is asking me to pray - pray that more workers will come to help for all those he is going to send.  

Now thats exciting people!  :)  

God's moving...are you ready to jump on board?  Are you ready to work and pray? If so, he's got a job for you.  To work with the people he sends, to love them as he would, to see people set free, to bring in the harvest.  

Be blessed today - 

Working in the harvest together!

 ~Victoria

Deep Roots - Trust in God - Part 2

Prov. 3:5-6

Trust in the Lord with all your heart;
  do not depend on your own understanding.
Seek his will in all you do,
  and he will show you which path to take.

Where is your Trust?  Relying on ourselves to get us through comes naturally to us, but this destroys our relationship with God.  Relying on others to get us through causes expectations and offenses and destroys our relationship with others.  Only, relying on God  allows us to grow and have healthy relationships with God and others.

Have a Great Day,

Pastor Brian

Deep Roots - Trust in God

Jeremiah 17:7-8

But blessed are those who trust in the Lord 

  and have made the Lord their hope and confidence.

 They are like trees planted along a riverbank,

  with roots that reach deep into the water.

Such trees are not bothered by the heat

  or worried by long months of drought.

Their leaves stay green,

  and they never stop producing fruit.

In our vision and desire to be a people like the Great Oaks on the Riverbank with our roots deep into the river of God, the root of Trust in God must be strong.  Trust is based on our choice to surrender our self-reliance and reliance on other people and choose to rely on God.  This is the choice that happens at salvation when we choose to trust Christ to forgive our sins and the choice that we must make each day to live in the abundant life that He has for us.  This is not easy and many things get in the way.  We will talk about some of these "trust killers" this week.

Be Blessed,

Pastor Brian