The Body of Christ is quite beautiful, especially when it is doing what it does so well–serving one another.

Paige was caulking; Mike was the demolition man of the day; Debbie was priming windows; Barbara was priming windows; Dudley was painting with the real stuff; John (the Miller’s son) was doing what is called “finishing carpentry; I (your humble pastor) was sitting in a chair talking with Roger (doing what good pastors do!).

Roger now has his chemo pump installed and is receiving the stuff. Thursday, he returns to the Doc for more chemo. Friday (I think) he gets the medicine that heads off that terrible sick feeling and a shot to build up his blood count.

Barbara is doing what every wife should do–fretting about her husband. Yes, she is entitled to be human!

Tomorrow there will be more of the same and others, too! Come on and join in, if you can. You will be glad you did!

I was asked to post my notes (which I, thankfully, had) for today’s sermon, so here they are:

Back to the Place Where My Soul Finds its True Poise

Most, if not all of us, have experienced those times when, for reasons unknown to us, the “wheels begin to run off our wagons.” During these times, it seems that everything that can go wrong goes wrong and we are losing our grip on life. If we should dare to be so honest, we would admit that we feel much like Job must have felt when he sat in sack cloth and ashes in the middle of the road.
Most importantly, we begin to feel that God has forsaken us, that He no longer loves us. We begin to feel what the Psalmist talks about in Psalm 73, that the God favors the evil and causes the righteous to suffer, that God is, therefore, being unfair.
When this occurs, we begin to focus on what we have done wrong, on how we have offended God, on what sins we might have committed, and, to be honest, we get angry at God (though we have a hard time admitting it).
We are, thus, in that place where the soul has lost its poise.

Sadly, we are often taught to believe, that in these situations, our faith is on trial, that God is testing us to see if our faith is genuine. Rest assured that, if that were true, all of us would fail the test because our faith is really faithlessness.
If He is testing us to see if His faith working in us is genuine, then I think He already knows the answer to that, as His faith is always genuine.
In my opinion, however, these difficult, debilitating times do give us the opportunity to examine how much we trust His faithfulness.
Now, please listen carefully: Faith is God’s gift to each of His children, and I might add, faith the size of a mustard seed is enough to move a mountain. This faith is always genuine and it always accomplishes God’s purpose. God has no reason to test His own faith!
Trust, however, is another issue, altogether. The fact of the matter is this: trust is earned—always. We do not automatically trust someone simply because he says he is trustworthy, and this is true regarding God.
Now, as I said last Sunday, (and I am speaking specifically regarding the realm of the spiritual) we can certainly have faith without trust, but we will not (cannot) have trust without faith.
To use the words of Paul (if, in fact, he is the author of Hebrews), “Faith is the substance of things hoped for; the evidence of things not seen.” The question becomes: “Is the substance evidence enough to cause me to trust?”

So, when we find ourselves in that place where our souls have lost their poise, what is the key to our trusting God, the key to our being able to say as Job said, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.”
1. We must understand that faith is God’s gift to us, not something we muster by trying hard to believe; faith is something God works within us.

2. We must understand that trust is something we exercise in direct proportion to what we believe about God.

3. We must, therefore, be certain that what we believe about God is, actually, true.

4. With truth firmly in place, we, then, begin to remind ourselves of what we believe and trust comes, as surely as the sun rises in the morning and sets in the evening.

5. Constantly reminding ourselves of what we believe, those truths that have been proven over and over, reinforces the truth that God is faithful—always—and, therefore, He is trustworthy.

The following are some examples:
1. If you believe that God is out to “get” you, then you will not trust Him to take care of you when your soul has lost its poise. If, on the other hand you believe that God is not out to get you, when we remind ourselves of this truth, you will trust Him to take care of us—regardless of our circumstances.

2. If you believe that God is keeping an account of your sins, then you will not trust Him to embrace you when your soul has lost it poise. If, on the other hand, you believe that your sin debt has been paid in full, canceled, and nailed to the cross, never to be remembered again, then when you remind yourself of this truth, you will trust Him to embrace you—regardless of your circumstances.

3. If you believe that God accepts you according to your behavior, then you will not trust Him to accept you when you soul has lost it poise. If, on the other hand, you believe that God accepts you according to Jesus’ behavior, then when you remind yourself of this truth, you will trust Him to accept you—regardless of your circumstances.

4. If you believe that God blesses you based upon your behavior, then you won’t trust Him to bless you, when your soul has lost it poise. If, on the other hand, you believe that God blesses you in the same way that He chose you in Him before the foundation of the world, then your will trust Him to bless you—regardless of your circumstances.

5. If you believe that God loves you, but only when you are living in obedience, then you will not trust that He loves you when your soul has lost its poise. If, on the other hand, you believe that God’s love for you is unconditional, then when you remind yourself of this truth, you will trust Him to love you—regardless of your circumstances.

One final thing: If you are going to trust God then you must believe that you own nothing and He owns everything. If not, then every time you find yourself in that place where you soul has lost its poise, you can rest assured that you are holding on to something, something that, at least in your mind, you cannot live without.