Obedience in Crisis
October 14, 2012 Evening Service
Immanuel Baptist Church, Wagoner, OK
Rick Boyne
Message Point: We should be obedient to God during any crisis in our life.
Focus Passage: 2 Samuel 15:13-18
Supplemental Passage: 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. (Proverbs 3:5-6 NASB)
Introduction: According to the Bureau of Standards in Washington, a dense fog covering seven city blocks to a depth of 100 feet is composed of less that one glass of water. That amount of water is divided into about 60 billion tiny droplets. Yet when those minute particles settle over a city or the countryside, they can almost blot out everything from your sight.
Many Christians today live their lives in a fog. They allow a cupful of troubles to cloud their vision and dampen their spirit. Anxiety, turmoil and defeat strangle their thoughts. Their lives are being "choked by the cares of this world" (Luke 8;14). But "God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline" (II Tim. 1:7). Let's not let the fog get us down! "Let's live in the Sunshine! The Paper Pulpit.
I. Confusion in a crisis
a. When things go wrong, they can go wrong in a hurry
b. Most of us don’t have any kind of plan for dealing with a crisis
c. We don’t know which way to turn or what way to go
II. Temptation in a crisis
a. We are tempted to take the easy way out of any crisis
b. Usually, the easy way involves doing something contrary to God’s word
c. Your word I have treasured in my heart, That I may not sin against You. (Psalms 119:11 NASB)
III. Obedience in a crisis
a. No matter the situation, we must remember that God is in control
b. We must rely on God’s power to get us through, not on our own strength or knowledge
c. In order to rely on God’s power, we must know God’s Word
Invitation: Every problem is an opportunity to prove God's power. Every day we encounter countless golden opportunities, brilliantly disguised as insurmountable problems. C. Swindoll, One Step Forward, Two Steps Back, p. 35.
