Pastor Cal Lord's Recent Sermons
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"You Can Depend On God"
Exodus 16:1-15 August 2, 2009
I read a true account of a billionaire who purchased an expensive $20-million jet which
transported him between Los Angeles and New York. He collected works of art by contemporary
masters to hang in his homes, bought identical wardrobes for clothing on both coasts, and owned
two homes in Los Angeles and two in New York.
In the hope of gaining a companion the billionaire bought a parrot and taught his pet bird to speak.
It was a great start. The bird was able to pick up simple words easily, and just a few words from
the parrot such as "Hi!" "Good morning!" and “How are you doing?” would thrill and satisfy the
owner. He enjoyed the daily task of teaching the bird new words.
One day the owner realized that the parrot was merely repeating whatever he was taught. Finally,
when he was tired of the empty chatter, he shouted at the bird in his frustration and anger, “SHUT
UP!” Of course, the bird gave him a dose of his own medicine. How did the bird respond? By
shouting back “SHUT UP!”
Attitude is everything. The attitude we bring to life is often the attitude that comes back to us. We
tell everyone that comes on one of our mission trips that in order to get the most out of the
experience, you have to be flexible. You never know what will happen. We make plans, we set our
priorities, we lay out the work and then we trust God to do his thing.
The same thing can be said about life. No matter how hard we plan and prepare there will always
be contingencies that come up unexpectedly.
In the movie Jurassic Park, the scientist played by Jeff Goldblum spoke about the chaos theory.
He suggested that no matter how hard we try to nail down every detail, there is another force at
work trying to unravel the fabric of our intentions.
In Christian theology, we might say that despite the best intentions of God and man, there is an
enemy, the devil, who works night and day to disrupt God’s plans.
Life is not easy. It isn’t predictable. Yet as people are faith we are called on to forge ahead and to
trust God. We are not unlike the children of Israel in this.
Imagine this scene: You are part of a huge caravan that is leaving Egypt. You have witnessed the
ten plagues and seen the power of God at work. You have been on the sidelines and watched God
put mighty Pharaoh in his place. Now all your friends, family and every person in the community
are leaving and off to start a new life, where slavery and oppression will no longer be part of the
daily grind. Hope and optimism abounds. You have seen the hand of God on Moses’ shoulders as
he parted the Red Sea and delivered you safely out of the hands of the Egyptian army. What more
could you want? IT almost sounds like a movie.
But then real life sets in. They are in the desert and the food is running out. The people are lost
and beginning to panic. They begin grumbling. The Hebrew word for murmur is the same word for
staying, tarrying, or lodging all-night. Grumbling is a annoying lingering houseguest that is hard to
rid of. The Hebrew word for grumble made its debut in the desert three days after the miraculous
spectacle under the sea. The second grumbling incident now erupted in the middle of the second
month. The words grumbled and grumblings appears eight times altogether in Exodus 16, more
than any chapter in the Bible.
This chapter boggles our minds. How could the Israelites forget all that God had done for them in
such a short time? Before we judge them we better look in the mirror.
The truth is that we often fail to recognize the blessings we have. Go on a mission trip and you will
come back with a greater appreciation for your blessings. Simple things like a hot shower, a
comfortable bed, clean clothes become reasons for thanking God. In Appalachia, especially in the
area we visited, over 30% of the people are living below the poverty line. What’s the poverty line?
How about household incomes under $17,000 a year? I would venture to say that there wasn’t a
person or family represented on our trip that wouldn’t be considered well off by Appalachian
standards.
You would think that knowing this would make us the most thankful people on earth. You and I
know that life doesn’t work this way. We can be just as bad as the Israelites. On Sunday we praise
God from whom all blessings flow but on Monday we are upset about something and wonder
where God is in all of it. When we are stuck in traffic, when the line is too long at the grocery
store, when the waitress messes up our order we get angry and flustered and self righteous. How
soon we forget where the blessings come from!
This is not to say that some of our concerns don’t have merit. The Israelites did have a concern
about food. Yet instead of turning to Moses and Aaron and seeking God, they turned against God
and began blaming him for the problem at hand.
Have you ever done that? Seventy miles from our destination our van started pulling. Someone
wondered if we had a flat tire. Sure enough. My first response was, “Oh God. Why this?” We had
been making such good time. This set us way back.
We finally got the spare tire on and were back on the road when our second van pulled up behind
us and flashed a note – “Your tire is soft!” Every laughed about it later, but they said the look on
my face was so forlorn.
When we got to the next town and tried to fill the spare with air we noticed cracks in the tire from
dry rot. From that moment on I prayed we would make it. We slowed our pace and continued on
to Northfork.
Despair comes when you know you are doing the right thing and it seems as if everything is
against you, even God. That’s what the Israelites felt in the wilderness. How could God forget
them and leave them to die of starvation.
What they didn’t realize or you might say, have the faith to realize, was that you can depend on
God. God will not leave us or forget us. God is always working to establish his will and to make
certain his plans.
The story goes on to reveal that God would provide meat, in the form of quails, and bread, in the
form of manna, for them along the way. God had not forgotten them. As if to punctuate this fact,
he also told them to take just enough for the day. He said, “Trust me! I will provide.”
God has made that same promise to us. He calls us to trust him no matter what the external
circumstances appear to be. You know that flat tire? The spare held up but on Monday morning I
had to go into the city to buy two new tires. My mother came with me to keep me company. You
see, she was simply planning on hanging in the car all day while we worked. She had brought her
book along so my father and nephew could work with the group. But because of the flat tire, I got
to spend six hours with her on Monday morning, talking, catching up, that I wouldn’t have
otherwise.
I thought about this afterwards and realized that God really does work together in ALL THINGS
for the good of those who love, trust, depend on the Lord.
The Israelites learned that they could depend on God. They learned it through the adversity that
came into their lives and saw how God responded. I think it is neat that we are dedicating this
sanctuary piano this morning in honor of Len and Doris Royce. Many of you may not have known
them. I want to tell you that they were two people who trusted God and lived their lives knowing
they could depend on Him. They set an example for so many of the rest of us. They had faced
adversity in their lives, they struggled to provide for the family, faced health concerns, and yet,
worked through them always believing God would provide. In her last days, with her health
waning, Doris continued to depend on God. Like the apostle Paul, she could declare, “For I have
learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know
what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any & every situation,
whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him
who gives me strength.”
Her witness has often brought me back and reminded me that God is good and that He will never
let us down if we wait on him.
So let us rise up and praise him as we prepare our hearts to come to the table of grace.
Amen.
Exodus 16:1-15 August 2, 2009
I read a true account of a billionaire who purchased an expensive $20-million jet which
transported him between Los Angeles and New York. He collected works of art by contemporary
masters to hang in his homes, bought identical wardrobes for clothing on both coasts, and owned
two homes in Los Angeles and two in New York.
In the hope of gaining a companion the billionaire bought a parrot and taught his pet bird to speak.
It was a great start. The bird was able to pick up simple words easily, and just a few words from
the parrot such as "Hi!" "Good morning!" and “How are you doing?” would thrill and satisfy the
owner. He enjoyed the daily task of teaching the bird new words.
One day the owner realized that the parrot was merely repeating whatever he was taught. Finally,
when he was tired of the empty chatter, he shouted at the bird in his frustration and anger, “SHUT
UP!” Of course, the bird gave him a dose of his own medicine. How did the bird respond? By
shouting back “SHUT UP!”
Attitude is everything. The attitude we bring to life is often the attitude that comes back to us. We
tell everyone that comes on one of our mission trips that in order to get the most out of the
experience, you have to be flexible. You never know what will happen. We make plans, we set our
priorities, we lay out the work and then we trust God to do his thing.
The same thing can be said about life. No matter how hard we plan and prepare there will always
be contingencies that come up unexpectedly.
In the movie Jurassic Park, the scientist played by Jeff Goldblum spoke about the chaos theory.
He suggested that no matter how hard we try to nail down every detail, there is another force at
work trying to unravel the fabric of our intentions.
In Christian theology, we might say that despite the best intentions of God and man, there is an
enemy, the devil, who works night and day to disrupt God’s plans.
Life is not easy. It isn’t predictable. Yet as people are faith we are called on to forge ahead and to
trust God. We are not unlike the children of Israel in this.
Imagine this scene: You are part of a huge caravan that is leaving Egypt. You have witnessed the
ten plagues and seen the power of God at work. You have been on the sidelines and watched God
put mighty Pharaoh in his place. Now all your friends, family and every person in the community
are leaving and off to start a new life, where slavery and oppression will no longer be part of the
daily grind. Hope and optimism abounds. You have seen the hand of God on Moses’ shoulders as
he parted the Red Sea and delivered you safely out of the hands of the Egyptian army. What more
could you want? IT almost sounds like a movie.
But then real life sets in. They are in the desert and the food is running out. The people are lost
and beginning to panic. They begin grumbling. The Hebrew word for murmur is the same word for
staying, tarrying, or lodging all-night. Grumbling is a annoying lingering houseguest that is hard to
rid of. The Hebrew word for grumble made its debut in the desert three days after the miraculous
spectacle under the sea. The second grumbling incident now erupted in the middle of the second
month. The words grumbled and grumblings appears eight times altogether in Exodus 16, more
than any chapter in the Bible.
This chapter boggles our minds. How could the Israelites forget all that God had done for them in
such a short time? Before we judge them we better look in the mirror.
The truth is that we often fail to recognize the blessings we have. Go on a mission trip and you will
come back with a greater appreciation for your blessings. Simple things like a hot shower, a
comfortable bed, clean clothes become reasons for thanking God. In Appalachia, especially in the
area we visited, over 30% of the people are living below the poverty line. What’s the poverty line?
How about household incomes under $17,000 a year? I would venture to say that there wasn’t a
person or family represented on our trip that wouldn’t be considered well off by Appalachian
standards.
You would think that knowing this would make us the most thankful people on earth. You and I
know that life doesn’t work this way. We can be just as bad as the Israelites. On Sunday we praise
God from whom all blessings flow but on Monday we are upset about something and wonder
where God is in all of it. When we are stuck in traffic, when the line is too long at the grocery
store, when the waitress messes up our order we get angry and flustered and self righteous. How
soon we forget where the blessings come from!
This is not to say that some of our concerns don’t have merit. The Israelites did have a concern
about food. Yet instead of turning to Moses and Aaron and seeking God, they turned against God
and began blaming him for the problem at hand.
Have you ever done that? Seventy miles from our destination our van started pulling. Someone
wondered if we had a flat tire. Sure enough. My first response was, “Oh God. Why this?” We had
been making such good time. This set us way back.
We finally got the spare tire on and were back on the road when our second van pulled up behind
us and flashed a note – “Your tire is soft!” Every laughed about it later, but they said the look on
my face was so forlorn.
When we got to the next town and tried to fill the spare with air we noticed cracks in the tire from
dry rot. From that moment on I prayed we would make it. We slowed our pace and continued on
to Northfork.
Despair comes when you know you are doing the right thing and it seems as if everything is
against you, even God. That’s what the Israelites felt in the wilderness. How could God forget
them and leave them to die of starvation.
What they didn’t realize or you might say, have the faith to realize, was that you can depend on
God. God will not leave us or forget us. God is always working to establish his will and to make
certain his plans.
The story goes on to reveal that God would provide meat, in the form of quails, and bread, in the
form of manna, for them along the way. God had not forgotten them. As if to punctuate this fact,
he also told them to take just enough for the day. He said, “Trust me! I will provide.”
God has made that same promise to us. He calls us to trust him no matter what the external
circumstances appear to be. You know that flat tire? The spare held up but on Monday morning I
had to go into the city to buy two new tires. My mother came with me to keep me company. You
see, she was simply planning on hanging in the car all day while we worked. She had brought her
book along so my father and nephew could work with the group. But because of the flat tire, I got
to spend six hours with her on Monday morning, talking, catching up, that I wouldn’t have
otherwise.
I thought about this afterwards and realized that God really does work together in ALL THINGS
for the good of those who love, trust, depend on the Lord.
The Israelites learned that they could depend on God. They learned it through the adversity that
came into their lives and saw how God responded. I think it is neat that we are dedicating this
sanctuary piano this morning in honor of Len and Doris Royce. Many of you may not have known
them. I want to tell you that they were two people who trusted God and lived their lives knowing
they could depend on Him. They set an example for so many of the rest of us. They had faced
adversity in their lives, they struggled to provide for the family, faced health concerns, and yet,
worked through them always believing God would provide. In her last days, with her health
waning, Doris continued to depend on God. Like the apostle Paul, she could declare, “For I have
learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know
what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any & every situation,
whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him
who gives me strength.”
Her witness has often brought me back and reminded me that God is good and that He will never
let us down if we wait on him.
So let us rise up and praise him as we prepare our hearts to come to the table of grace.
Amen.