Pastor Aaron Cordeiro
February 1, 2009 - W0905

I was listening to all the terrible news about the recession on NBR. There is so much negative news everywhere. So I want to talk about developing a faith that sustains through the hard times.

There was a study on football players that sustained multiple concussions. It seemed they died prematurely and earlier than normal. I think sometimes that can be like our faith. We can take recurring hits on our faith and if we are not careful our faith can be severely damaged. When we constantly wrestle within ourselves with doubt, the doubt might get the best of us.

When I was a child growing up around church, I had the notion that every Christian was perfect. Later, I found out that a worship leader was unfaithful to his wife and that rocked my faith. When I heard that other church members were mean to my dad that also tainted my view of Christians. But my mom explained to me about the ups and downs and trials that all of must go through in life. We have to wrestle with all kinds of questions. But it helps to always be able to come back to Jesus and His word because those are always solid.

My faith was being developed at a young age and I realized the world and the church is not perfect. We have to have something solid and unchanging to come back to – like the word of God. So remember, “As for God, His way is perfect; the word of the LORD is flawless. He is a shield for all who take refuge in Him” (Ps. 18:30). God is perfect. The word flawless means tested in fire. God will be a shield for us – much like the shields the Roman soldiers used to use to repel various threats. But I still wondered why was I still getting scared? Why did I still have fear when I believed in God?

Mark was and is my best friend and we did everything together, even bad things. When we were children we would play G.I. Joe in the backyard. We even built fortress like walls to shield us from each other. One day we started to throw beans at each other. Eventually that became throwing pebbles at one another and soon graduated to throwing larger and larger rocks. Fortunately most of the rocks were repelled by the walls. But I soon became afraid because Mark had a better arm than me and could throw harder and more accurately. Just as things began to look very bad for me, the old Japanese lady next door yelled and scolded us into stopping.

After the battle I still had my anger and fear. Though I was now safe, I still wrestled with my emotions. It was just like God had held back the really harmful stuff – like the rocks – but let me wrestle with my emotions.

God has given us principles and truths that develop our faith that sustains. Though we struggle, His word is still true. But …

1.      THE GIFT OF SALVATION CHANGES YOUR HEART, NOT NECESSARILY YOUR EMOTIONS.

That is why we still wrestle with our emotions.

The Bible teaches us that prophecy is used to build up our faith. In prophecy class, the teacher told me that I would do great things for God but that I was an emotional person. I was a little disappointed. Why did she have to say that? Couldn’t she have said that I was a warrior for God or something cooler?

But God asked me how would I be if I had no emotions? How would I have proposed marriage without emotions? How could I be compassionate without them? Or love people or God? So though I err on the side of emotion I think it is OK.

Our emotions may pull us into all sorts of directions but we should always turn to and follow God’s word.  Accordingly, the Bible says, “I ponder the direction of my life, and I turned to follow Your laws” (Ps. 119:59).

I was on board a jetliner when major turbulence hit.  The plane began to shake and the pretty girl seated next to me became frightened. She grabbed my arm and nuzzled her head against my arm. I became frightened since I had recently become engaged and now had a pretty girl flirting with me. I struggled with what to do but eventually the turbulence stopped and the plane returned to smooth cruising. In times like those we have to understand that God’s word is perfect. It is crucial to have something constant to fall back on.  When it comes to the important decisions, we have to have something strong and unchanging to hang onto like I guess the girl thought she had by hanging onto me and like I knew I had by hanging onto God’s word. If we do not have a constant like God’s word to lean on then we would have to lead turbulence free lives! So we need that unchanging standard and so we must remember that …

2.      GOD WILL REVEAL HIS STANDARD IN HIS WORD.

I am indebted to Hawaii Kai developer Henry J. Kaiser because his development included channel markers in the water and I really needed them.  One very dark night I needed to get home in my 12 foot little boat and when I started out I realized that I could not see where I was going so I became worried. Just as all sorts of terrible things like sharks and drowning crept into my mind, I realized that all I had to do was use the channel markers for my guide! You see it was not because of my sailing skills that got me home that night but because of those channel markers that had already been put in place a long time ago. It is the same in the rest of our lives.  Life can be dark and scary but we have to look for the God standard to guide us and if we do we will make it home.

As the Bible says, “I will study Your commandments and reflect on Your ways. I will delight in Your decrees and not forget Your word” (Ps. 119:15-16). When we study His ways, then we understand that they are true and unchanging. Studying His word will eventually make them become delightful to us. Though storms and uncertainty can be outside, inside of us can be constant if we have God’s word.

Biblical hero David meditated frequently on God’s word. He would ask to go where God was going and ask to do what God was doing. And he would do his tasks in the name of God.

The difficult part is not only in being aware of God’s word but to have to practice it. Suppose we spend past the limit of our credit card and my wife tells me the card is invalid week after week. But week after week I simply tell her that it is ok because I’m aware of it.  Would that work?

What if God told us His rules and we say we are aware of them but do not follow them. Would that work? We should not only be aware of God’s word but we should …

• LISTEN TO COUNSEL, GOD’S WORD IS HIS COUNSEL.

God’s standard is like a musical tune.  When singing a song we have to follow the tune of that song or it will sound wrong. Doctors, lawyers, CPA’s, etc. all have rules and standards that they have to follow.  If they did not, they could not do their jobs and it would be chaos. Since God created everything, including His rules, when He asks me to do something, would it make sense for me to say, “I don’t know”? B-I-B-L-E, that’s the book for me.

So after listening to His word …

• PRACTICE .

Practice His word and in time it will become more natural and automatic for us. We must remember that, “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it” (Heb. 12:11).

When my wife and I started Lamaze classes it was awkward at first. We were learning to relax and so had to lie on the floor as a couple together and breathe deeply in a crowded room.  This was very uncomfortable for me since I thought it was supposed to be more private for something so intimate. But eventually I did get used to it and I did find myself relaxing. Various things seem awkward at first but constant practice makes it better.  It is like that with your faith.  So practice your faith and you will be ready for the hard times.

But what if you practice your faith but things still go wrong?

• LEARN TO TRUST.

As it is written, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and turn away from evil” (Prov. 3:5-7). As I get ready to be a daddy, I realize that my daughter will be watching me. So we have to learn to trust in the Lord because all the little ones are watching us. It is like the shepherd who searches for and brings back the lost sheep because he knows that if he does not then those lost sheep will lead the lambs astray as well.

God and His word are perfect and they are our shields. As we develop a faith that sustains, there will be a mix of emotions because the gift of salvation changes our heart, not necessarily our emotions. God will reveal His standard in His word so listen to God’s word and constantly practice it.  Even when things go wrong we should learn to trust in the Lord and things will eventually work out. But we always have to go back to the unchanging standard which is God’s word and put it into constant practice. 

DISCUSSION SUGGESTIONS

1. How do you know that God’s Word is perfect?
2. Why do we have these emotions that tend to lead us astray?
3. What are some of God’s standards that have changed/guided your life?
4. What happened when you did not listen to God’s counsel?
5. Why did you disobey God?
6. What is your most difficult Christian principle to practice? Why?
7. How can you learn to trust the Lord more?