Dependence Upon God

Pastor Stephen explores the fundamental tension between human independence and a necessary dependence on God. Drawing parallels between the founding of the United States and the biblical exodus of the Israelites, he argues that true liberty was originally intended to exist under divine sovereignty. Modern society is depicted as having drifted into a state of self-governance that ultimately leads to frustration and spiritual loss. By highlighting that humans are created beings with inherent needs, he emphasizes that surrendering control to a higher power is the only way to find genuine peace. He concludes that while free will allows for personal choices, it does not exempt individuals from their foundational reliance on their Creator for survival and purpose.

Transcript

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Celebrating 250 years of freedom for our country. Many of us probably watch fireworks. We maybe sat through parades or sat by a lake. We ate hot dogs, hamburgers, maybe we hid away from the heat. How many just hid in their house all weekend? Anybody? Good for you. Oh, so you you you some most of you stepped outside. If you were to look through the history of the United States, and I was blessed by Pastor Richard's message last Sunday, really giving us a deep dive into what not only the history of our country looks like, but how God has been with us every step of the way. Can I can we say amen together? Amen. People who uh would sacrifice their lives, men and women who would pray for a place that one day they could raise their families up in freedom, a place where men and women could live out their rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We know the foundation of our nation was founded upon prayer. The foundation of our nation was founded upon the word of God. There was also, and I believe this is important, and we've drifted so far away, but our nation was found with a reverence for Almighty God. Do you believe that? Our nation was found for a reverence for our my all our Almighty God. Men and women were in search of freedom from human rule and longed for a place where God was the sovereign ruler. I don't believe they longed for a place where God was not revered, where God was not respected, where God was not honored. I don't believe they were looking for a place where the Word of God is secondary, or a place where the Word of God is overlooked. They never imagined, they probably never imagined a place where a creator was questionable or submitting to divine authority was an option. Yet here we are in two 250 years later, and we have, and many of you would agree with me, we've drifted so far as a nation who is constantly at battle with who we are, and constant battle of trying to control everything ourselves instead of giving it over to the Lord. I've encountered so many different people who find it so difficult to surrender everything over to the Lord. We want to control it, we want to figure it out, we want to dice it out, we want to see what is going to be my future, but there has to be a point where we say that God is God and I am not. Where God is God and I am just the creation of the Creator. And He is in control and He's working all things together for our good. If we look through the Declaration of Independence, where the leaders of this country, smart people, put their heads together to draft this document, you would see words like God, you would see words like Creator and Supreme Judge proving that the leaders of the United States wanted independence from human rule. That although they wanted independence from human rule, they were still very dependent upon God as the sovereign of this nation. I believe we've drifted away from our dependence upon God. We've thought so much about our independence that we've moved away from our dependence upon God. Can we say dependence upon God? And this isn't an unfamiliar thing. If you look even through the history of the Bible, we see in the book of Exodus, we see the similarities of what's happening today happening then. If we look in the book of Exodus, we see as the Israelites leave the bondage of the Egyptians, Moses is raised up to lead the Israelites out of Egypt into their independence as a people of God. Turn in your Bibles to Exodus chapter 3. And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows, and I have come down to deliver them out of the hands of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large unto good land and a large unto a land flowing with milk and honey, unto the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. And I'm going to stop there. We see that God desired to come down, rescue his people, so that he could be ruler over his people, so that they could be his children and he could be their God. We know the story of the Israelites. We know all through the plagues of Egypt, Pharaoh releases them as God's chosen people. They head out on their journey to independence. A journey to a land flowing with milk and honey. A place where families could raise their families with a freedom of religion, freedom to have ideas, freedom to work together as humankind under God to grow and develop, no limitations, a place where women could live out, men and women could live out their rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. So God leads his people through the Red Sea, through the wilderness to Mount Sinai. He gives them the Ten Commandments. Let's turn in our Bibles to Exodus 32, verses 1 through 4. This is on the other side of the wilderness. And then when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron and said unto him, Make us gods and which shall go before us. For as this Moses, the man that has brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we want not what is become of him. And Aaron said unto him, Break off the golden earrings which are in the ears of your wives and of your sons and of your daughters and bring them unto me. And I don't even have to read the rest, you know what happens. We see the Israelites, while Moses is away on Mount Sinai, they decide that we can't take this. We can't take trusting in the unseen God. Let's make a calf for ourselves and put all of our jewelry and all of our things together. So at least there's something that we can see, at least something that we can have control of. With this newfound independence out of bondage, out of slavery, freedom, the children of God choose now to seek independence from not only human rule, but from the one who delivered them. They seek independence to where they get to choose who is in control. And isn't that just like humanity? This characteristic repeating itself even throughout biblical history, throughout all of our history, even today, where we seek independence, humanity seeks to have control over itself. Humanity seeks to be self-governing, we want to make our own decisions, we want to determine our own destiny. The desires of the flesh tempt humanity to shift their dependence upon God to dependence upon everything else but God. If you look, it seems to be the way that we are built as humanity. We are built to be dependent upon something. Humanity is dependent upon water. What are you dependent upon? You're dependent upon your job? You're dependent upon money, you depend upon your car, you depend upon your house. How about when it's 93, 97, or 101 degrees? Guess what we're depending upon? Yes. And when that air conditioner doesn't work, oh, it makes you angry inside. Humanity is built to be dependent upon something, warmth from the cold, heat, uh, shelter from the heat. Humanity is dependent upon oxygen. Listen, I'm gonna tell you today, realize this your family, everything that you have, you as a person, humanity as its core is dependent upon who? God. Your survival is dependent upon God. In reality, we can gain our independence from humanity, we can gain our independence from the pharaohs and the kings and the tyrants, but we will never gain our independence from God. We need God in order to survive. We need God in order to really live out the life that we were even designed to live out. To gain your independence from God is to give up life altogether. If you're looking for a life outside of God, you might as well just imagine no life at all. Colossians chapter 1, verse 16 through 17, it says this for by him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things, can you say that with me? All things were created by him and for him. And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. Everything that you see is dependent upon God. You really need to get that into your spirit. We realize that as much as humanity seeks independence, it can never fully be dependent upon itself. Because humanity cannot sustain itself, it relies on God's resources to survive. This morning, I want to give you three thoughts and you can write them down. Three thoughts concerning our dependence upon God. Listen to this. We have no choice but to be dependent upon God. What does that mean for you? When things start to fall apart, what's your dependence gonna be on? It's gonna be on God. It's not gonna be on people, it's not gonna be up on depending upon how other people are gonna, what they're gonna say, what they're gonna approve, what they're not gonna approve, what the judge is gonna say, what the doctor's gonna say. We have no choice as humanity but to be dependent upon God. Amen. Some people don't like this idea, some people don't like the idea of somebody else being in control, but we cannot escape the reality that God is truly the creator of all things, even the things we rely on every moment of our lives. Turn in your Bibles to Psalm chapter 89. The heavens are thine, the earth also is thine, and for the world and the fullness thereof, thou hast founded them. The north and the south, thou hast created them. Tabor and Human shall rejoice in thy name. Thou hast a mighty arm, strong is thy hand, high is thy right hand, justice, judgment are the habitation of thy throne. Mercy and truth shall go before thy face. Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound. They shall walk, O Lord, in the light of thy countenance. In thy name they shall rejoice all the day, and in thy righteousness shall they be exalted. This is the way in which we were to be operating. Fully dependent upon God. Fully dependent upon God, God in his mercy, God in his love, God in his compassion. It continues to sustain even the worst of sinners. Why? Because it's God's desire, God's desire that none should perish, but that all should come to repentance. How many know you've been created with a free will? Isn't that one of the best parts of living? All of you in this room, when God created you, God created you with a free will. That means that you get to choose what you're gonna eat for lunch after church. That's your free will. Some of you are thinking, yeah, I don't get to choose anymore. She does, or he does. But no, you have a free will. You get to choose who you're gonna date, who you're gonna marry, what job, what school you're gonna go to, what color car you're gonna drive. You get to choose. Could you imagine? You get to choose that you live in Rhode Island. Praise the Lord. God gave you a free will, He gave you a free choice. God created man with a free will, but realize man can never choose to not be God's creation. Realize this. Your free will can only take you so far. You cannot choose to not be God's creation. God created man with a free will, but man can never choose not to be God's creation. You've heard the term you can't pick your parents, although some of us maybe think that, no, I love my parents. You don't get to choose the skin that you're born in. You don't get to choose whether you're born a male or a female. But our free will gives us the choice of how we desire to live out the rest of our lives. We can choose to live out our lives contrary to how we were created, or we can use God's word to get a better understanding of who we were built to be. It's difficult for an eagle to become a lion because it was created to be an eagle. The eagle can try its hardest not to be an eagle and try to do all the things that a lion can do, but the eagle will ultimately miss out on the ability to fly because it chooses to be a lion instead of an eagle. God created you perfectly. God created you unique. Stop trying to act outside of who you were created to be unless you miss out on the beauty of who you were created to be. Think of all the things that we miss out on when we choose to be something other than who God has created us to be. You know who God has created you to be? A child of God. Turn to your neighbor and say, God has created you to be a child of God. At the core, that's who you have been created to be. Every time you step outside of being who you were created to be, you miss out on what God wants to show you. And the beauty, could you imagine that He wants to take you to the highest heights? He wants to take you to places that you were created to experience. Amen. Psalm 139, for you created my inmost being. Can you read this one with me? Psalm 139, for you created my inmost being. You knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful. I know that full well. Okay, we still have more. Your eyes saw my uninformed body. All the days were ordained for me, were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, God. How vast is the sum of them. Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you. Praise the Lord. Amen. Number three, when we realize that we are dependent upon God and surrender to our dependency upon Him, we actually find that life is a lot easier. Life is a lot easier when you come to an understanding that your full dependence is upon God and we actually surrender. Do you notice there's a realization? Oh, yeah, God is in control. God, I need God in order to survive. But do you see there's a second step where you actually have to surrender everything over to Him? There might be a mind realization, but then there actually has to be the fruit of what that realization is. There's a surrender. Proverbs 3, 5 through 6, you should memorize this one. Let's read it together. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths. Amen. If we look back at the Israelites, they struggled with their dependency upon God. Their desire to be independent of God got them lost in the wilderness a lot longer than they should have. When they surrendered their dependency upon God, what happened? They were walking through seas, they were knocking down walls with a shout. They were receiving all that God had in store for them. When they truly did, and listen, the Israelites, if you notice, when they even got into the promised land, they wanted a king like all the other earthly kings. And again, their surrender, their dependency on God was always back and forth. Let not be who we are as children of God. Why? Because Jesus Christ died on the cross for our salvation. Why? Because now you are filled with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit lives inside of you. You don't have to keep one foot in and one foot out and keep guessing. Am I dependent upon God? Is God gonna come through? No, God will always come through for you. Amen. And yes, just like the Israelites, you will walk through seas, you will knock down walls with shouts, with prayer. You are going to receive all that God has in store for you. I think of a piece of furniture that I got, I think it was last week. I don't know if you've ever ordered online. How many have ordered online some of that furniture? And could you imagine this six-foot shelf comes in a four-foot box? How does that even happen? And you you want to rely on your own smarts. I'm a smart guy. I can handle this. I question whether or not I should leave the instructions, but Pastor Stephen has learned his lesson a time or two, where you don't just leave the instructions, just pull out the instructions and just do it right. Yet, could you imagine after about two hours with the instructions in my hand, I still made mistakes and had to go back and fix it twice. So many times we think that we can do things all on our own. Could you imagine that God has a whole instruction manual? And although we have our dependence upon God, He's given us something that we can actually see and read and receive and apply. Imagine if we didn't open up that instruction manual and how many mistakes we are going to make, how many times we're gonna have to do life over again and over again and over again when we could have just done it and lived out the fullest life that we could ever imagine. We know God is able to redeem the time. The Bible talks about that. Think of how much easier life would be if we would just surrender to the Creator of all things, if we would take out His word and see the instructions He has provided for us. I know we all enjoy being independent. Independency is something that people give their lives for every single day. We give our lives for our own independency when we wake up every morning, when we go to work, praise the Lord, so we can earn money, so we can spend money, so we can make our own decisions and decide who is in control of our lives. People of God, let's not make the same mistake that so many people make, where their search for independency takes them to a place where they fool themselves into thinking they are no longer dependent upon God. I think of that transition when you move out of your parents' household and then you become an adult and you start to go to college or you or you get a house, and it's like I don't have to listen to my mom and my dad anymore. I get to make my own decisions. We are constantly chasing after our independence, our own choices. I get to choose how I want to live now. Let that not take you so far away that you lose your dependence upon God. Realize, people of God, that you need to be in the presence of God all the time. Realize, people of God, the Bible talks about it, brother Steve said it today. We need encouragement, we need to be together as a body of Christ. Don't let your free will. Will and your search for independency, and I get to do whatever I will. Don't let it send you so far that you lose your dependency upon God and what He's called and created you to do, lest you miss out. Acts, or when Paul is in Athens on Mars Hill, he says this concerning their altar. And many of you have read this story in Acts chapter 17, and there's an inscription to an unknown God. And Paul steps up and he gives an understanding of who they're actually searching for. God that made the world and all things therein, seeking that he is the Lord of heaven and earth, dwelling not in temples made with hands, neither is worshipped with men's hands, although he it needed anything, seeing he giveth to all life and breath and all things, and hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed and the bounds of their habitation, that they should seek the Lord, even happily they might feel after him and find him, though he be not far from every one of us, for in him we live and move and have our being, as certain also of your own poets have said, for we are also his offspring. Paul's recognizing that there are so many people who are who are hungry to be dependent upon something, who are under who are hungry to be dependent upon something bigger. Could you imagine this morning that the answer has been revealed? It's like waiting on the game show, watching a game show, and what's the answer gonna be? The answer has already been revealed, and it's through Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Amen. And through Christ, that hunger, that thirst, it can be satisfied because now we can truly be not only dependent upon Him, but now those blessings can flow. Now that peace, that security, that joy can come and be a part of us today and into eternity with our independence. Let us choose to worship, let us choose to submit, let us choose to surrender, and in doing so, let's celebrate our dependence upon God. Because we are created to be dependent upon something, we naturally try to find our dependence upon people. My dependence is upon my wife for happiness, my dependence upon is upon my husband for happiness, I'm dependent on my parents, they're the ones who take care of me. I'm dependent upon this person sitting next to me and this person sitting next to me. And you know what happens? Unfortunately, time and time again, and we talked about this in facts class, people let you down. And all of a sudden, because you've built your dependence upon people, you find yourself constantly hurt and broken and still never satisfied, always searching, always searching. But if you were to truly be dependent upon God, truly surrender over to Him, you would realize that everything else, everything else is just the beauty of God's blessing upon you. I'm not looking to my brother, sister, or my wife or a husband for that fullness. No, that's just the beauty of companionship that God has placed around me. Everything that I need is in God. Everything that I need, my joy, my peace, my happy day, my future, my eternity, everything that I need, I am fully dependent upon God and nobody else. And everything else is just the beauty of his blessing.