It is tough to wait and lean on God. The lessons of 2009 were so hard for me. There were times I totally leaned on Him and there were times I blew it. From the ice storm where I knew that if God didn't provide the help we wouldn't get it to the emotional ups and downs of relationships; God was faithful. But here is what God taught me in 2009.

1. I have to grip Christ and let everything else go. I saw that when I worried and complained to God that I usually did so with a clinched fist. I would start talking to God about what I was worried about and it was like God said, "Look at your fist." I was gripping what I was worried about. How can I be worried when I open my hand to everything in life and grip Christ. May we grip Christ through all the heart ache, trial, trouble, pain, problem, hurt and grief.

Matthew 4:19-20
19 And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
20 Immediately they left their nets and followed him.
22 Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.


When we follow Jesus we have to let go of the grip on everything. The disciples left their father, boats and their nets. May we not chase the American dream and find that Jesus Christ is our sufficiency.

2. In 2009 I argued with God about some things. I was having a really hard time with Romans 8:28. It says, "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose."

I began to say, "God what you mean good for me and what I think is good for me is two different things." For weeks I struggled and argued with God. To be honest when suffering comes it still is difficult to understand but I have to trust His promise.

I read another verse that says: Romans 5:4-5
4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,
5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

My hope will not be disappointed the day I die and stand in front of God. My hope is in God and no matter all the bad that has happened and or the bad that will happen I will not be disappointed.

This verse helped me to come to understand Romans 8:28 better. I've always thought that verse meant that God would do something good in my life through all the bad. I would see the good here on earth. I am not saying that is impossible but there have been some things that I have endured that I just didn't see how anything good could come from it.

So here is what I learned. The good is found in the next verse. Romans 8:29 "For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers."

Dont miss this...What is the good that God is working in our life? It is we are being conformed to the image of Christ.

One day, I will stand in heaven and the righteousness and holiness of Jesus will radiate in and through me. As I am conformed to the image of Jesus, I will look back at all the pain, problems, hurt, trials and troubles and say..."Oh God It was very GOOD!" God uses everything we go through to conform us to the image of Christ and that is all good!

3. Jesus is my sufficiency. He is my treasure. I need nothing else. I don't need to chase the American dream that leaves me not satisfied but wanting more. I don't need to live in a big house or drive the best of cars. I don't need to live beyond my means and buy into a belief that is what makes the man. What has happened is we have crafted a Jesus in America that makes us comfortable. In reality many times when we worship on Sunday we are not worshipping Jesus. We are worshipping ourselves. We see Jesus just as a piece of the puzzle of life or one ingredient in the recipe instead of the Treasure of Life.

We are not saved just to go to heaven. That is the benefit. We are saved to be His followers. The first people called Christians in the book of Acts were called Christians because they immitated Christ. Christian means little Christ.

Here is what Jesus said followers or disciples of Christ should do. "COUNT THE COST"
Luke 14:25-33
25 Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them,
26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.
27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.
28 For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?
29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him,
30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’
31 Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand?
32 And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace.
33 So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

Jesus is my sufficiency and I have learned that faith in Christ is finding my satisfaction in Christ.
John 6:35
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.

4. Lastly, I have learned that I need to wait on God. He will be glorified and will display His glory in those who are willing to wait on Him. We are so guilty of trying to fix things. We live in a microwave and fast food drive through world. We want it now. But when I do that I am doing it in my power and knowledge and not God's. For God to be glorified I have to wait on Him. When I wait, He provides His Spirit to give me the power and wisdom. He provides the resources and I simply follow and trust Him. I wait on Him.

In Joshua 7- God told the nation of Israel as they were going to battle at Jericho that He wanted the treasures that they found in the city. Achan could not wait and he took them and disobeyed. It cost him his life and 36 soliders lives at the next battle at Ai. They lost that battle because they came up with a plan and fought in their flesh. When you come to chapter 8 you see God giving them a plan now to go back to Ai. In verse 2, God tells them they can have the treasures they find in the city of Ai. WOW...If Achan would have only waited on God.

We as Christians don't show the world Christ because we have tried to do things in our power and timing and all they see is the church doing things in their own strength. Wait on God and allow Him to provide and work in your situation.

May God be honored and glorified. I am not there yet so pray for me. Know that I love and appreciate you all and anytime you need us let me know.

Love you,

Bro.David

hardy@wk.net

That is a brief overview of the lessons of 2009. It was some year.

WAKE UP CALLS!  A wake up call comes in many different ways.  There is the wake up call that you get while staying in a hotel.  You  are dead a sleep and the phone rings.  You reach and grab everything but the phone.  But after finally grabing the phone you hear a friendly voice at the end of the line that greets you to a friendly wake up call.  That is if your at a great hotel.  If your at a not so good hotel there is no one at the other end of the line and you wake up to thinking someone called and did not talk until you finally realize it's your wake up call.  Second, there is the realtional wake up call.  When you think everything is going well because you have selfishly ignored your mate's needs and only have seen your need.  Then the bomb is dropped on you when you hear these words: "If you don't change I'm out of here!"  You truly love your mate and so you make changes.  Thirdly, there is the close to death wake up call.  When the doctor tells you bad news and says if you don't change your habbits then expect this to happen.  Or it could be a close encounter with death and you desire to grow closer to God!  We make changes for a little while but the percentages of people that make life changing lifestyles 3-5 years after heart surgery are very slim according to surveys.  Sunday I will be preaching a message entitled "Wake Up Call".  I will be looking at some truths we would need to wake up to if we only had 30 days to live.  I had another message to preach but God woke me up at 4:56 am this morning and begin to burn a messge in my heart!  What is God trying to say to us during these days?  Are we pushing the snooze button and not listening?  Are we on auto pilot and just coasting?  Are we satisfied with looking back and saying I was saved as a one time event in our life?  Are we looking forward to a place (heaven) more than the person of Jesus Christ?  I ask these questions to stir you heart and mind!  Allow God to work in your life today.  What if you only had a few more days to live.  Approach your relationshp with Jesus Christ, your life, family and work with that in mind today!  

 

Know that I love you and I'm praying for you,

 

Bro. David  

 

Sunday, we talked about living with passion.  What are we passionate about?  I think if we only had 30 days to live it would make us ask that question!  I know sometimes my passion is misplaced.  For instance, on Saturday, I remember a tv show coming on that showed some places to eat in Memphis.  The first place they showed was Rendezvous.  It is downtown and they specialized in both wet and dry ribs.  Watching those ribs come out of a charchol cooker made my mouth water.  You would be able to cut those ribs with a paper knife.  The wet ribs were covered with a special BBQ sauce and then the dry ribs were seasoned with a dry sauce.  It made me want to jump in my car,drive to Memphis and eat ribs. I delighted in those ribs!  I was passinate about those ribs even as I talked to others and even now as I type this email.  Instead of eating to glorify God I misplaced my passion and was thinking how awesome and satisfying those ribs were!  Do I have many passions or a single passion?  Is my heart united on one purpose to glorify, savor and delight in God or is my heart divided?

 

1 Corinthians 10:31 says: "Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." 

 

Why are we to be consumed with a passion for God's glory?  Look at this next verse: Isaiah 48:9-11 "For MY name's sake I will defer MY anger, and for MY praise I will restrain it from you, So that I do not cut you off. Behold I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.  For MY own sake, for My own sake, I will do it; For how should MY name be profaned?  And I will not give MY glory to another."

 

We are to be passioate about God's glory and delighting and savoring Christ because God is so GOD centered!  What He does He does for HIS NAME SAKE and for HIS GLORY!  We are to be consumed with a passion for God's glory because we see God has a passion for His own glory. 

 

If God is not great enough in my life that He is more enjoyable than the ribs at a place in Memphis, then I blaspheme Him in eating those ribs. If he is not more precious to me than anything then I have a divided heart and passion!

 

Paul said: For me to live is CHRIST and to die is gain.  The way you and I magnify Jesus Christ in dying is by delighting in Him, having a passion for His glory and understaning that Jesus Christ is more satisfying than everything we lose when we die.

Psalm 34:8 says: "Taste and see that the Lord is good!" Psalm 16:11 says: In HIS presence is fullness of joy and by HIS right side are pleasures for evermore." 

If I don't have a passion to delight in Jesus Christ then I commit a great evil which leads me to the essence of all sin!  Jeremiah 2: 12-13 says Be appalled, O heavens at this; be shocked, be utterly dismayed...for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water. 

What is evil? Evil is not seeing, tasteing, savoring, thirsting, hungering and delighting in God as the Living Water Fountain that will satisfy our heart forever and ever and yet we forsake HIM.  We turn to our own toys and treasures and take a shovel and dig in dry dirt, putting our mouth to it and try to get something satisfying out of it. That's SIN and God calls it EVIL!

Let's be passionate about delighting and savoring Christ!  Oh may God give me a united and single heart for His glory! 

Bro. David 
hardy@wk.net

I've always loved going to Amusement Parks---the smell of cotton candy,  the log ride, bumper cars and the shows were always fun.  But the greatest thrill was the roller coasters.  There are 3 roller coasters that have left a lasting impression on my mind.  1) Kings Island in Ohio-They had a roller coaster that you would stand up in.  The shoulder brace would then come over your head and shoulders.  It was one scary ride.  2) Busch Gardens in Virginia-It was one of the tallest roller coasters that I have ever been on. 3)  But the one I remember most is The Zippin Pippin at Libertyland in Memphis.  This ride was one of the oldest roller coasters.  It was one of those old, wooden coasters with rickety scaffolding and cracked wood.  As soon as the ride began you would climb this big hill and you would hear Click, Click, Click... Once you reached the top gravity took over!  You went through hair pin curves and up and down hills that would make your stomach go into your throat.  Once I sat in the back and it seemed that the cart was coming off the track.  When I sat up front I would raise my hands but boy was I scared!  One thing for sure, the ride was over almost as fast as it began.  I have tried over the years to get my wife and children to ride a roller coaster with me.  I've only mangaged to get Skye on one and my wife on another.  I talked Carol into riding one while at a youth camp and it was two months after we were married. I thought I was going to be a single man for talking her into riding.  The response they always give me when I ask them to ride....Maybe someday!