Trust is so important isn’t it? Every relationship needs it to survive. Think about it. If you don’t trust your parents you probably don’t listen to them which frustrates them which leads to argument after argument.
If you don’t trust your friends, you probably don’t tell them what’s really going on in your life, which makes you feel isolated, and frustrates them because they want to know you better. All of this leads to distance and separation until you are barely acquaintances.
Or maybe you do trust someone but you trusted the wrong person. So they stab you in the back. And now you are hurt. That friendship is over. And you aren’t sure if you’ll trust again.
Without trust, relationships fall apart.
Abraham had to learn to trust God. We have been talking about this over the last couple weeks. God asked Abraham to do something wild. He asked him to sacrifice his son Isaac. Now I want to make sure you are so clear on this. From the beginning God had no intention of actually having Abraham sacrifice his son. That is one of the cool things about what we believe vs. other ancient religions. Our God has never and will never require a human sacrifice to worship Him. He was always going to provide a replacement sacrifice and that is what He did. Check it out.
"When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.” Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide."
So you might be wondering, “Why would God ask Abraham to do something He wasn’t even planning on doing?” I believe God was establishing trust with Abraham. In his time following God Abraham had had some moments where he really failed to trust God and things got pretty messy because of it. This was a moment for God to see if Abraham really trusted HIm and to remind Abraham that He is perfectly trustworthy. And Abraham did it. He trusted the Lord and the Lord came through. But that trust grew over time. Like I said he didn’t trust God perfectly the whole time it grew as his relationship with the Lord grew.
So you might be thinking. “I don’t know if i can trust God like Abraham did.” And to that I say you are not alone. I would argue almost none of us in this room can trust God as well as Abraham does in this story. Because we are all still learning to grow and trust God. And I believe our trust grows through many things.
Trust grows through obedience.
When we step out and obey God, even though we don’t know how it’s going to work out. Our trust grows. Because we will see over time that God is perfectly trustworthy. He always comes through on His promises and His end of the deal. He is always there and He is always consistent. But the only way you are going to see it, is if you walk with Him and obey Him when it doesn’t make sense. It’s like we said this weekend
Worship is an act of trust.
When you actively trust God, your faith grows and He is worshiped for it.
Not only that but also
Trust grows through our worship.
Have you ever looked at a worship service and wondered why people lift their hands? It is a sign of surrender, a sign of trust. When people are worshiping and they raise their hands up to God, they are saying I trust you God. Take my life and turn it into what you want. I trust you to do what is best for me. We are surrendering our own plans and lack of trust and giving it all back to God. And when we do that something supernatural happens in that moment that gives us the courage and strength to keep trusting God.
Think about the lyrics of worship songs. We talk about how good He is, how Holy He is, how trustworthy He is. When you sing a song like that it reminds your heart who you are putting your trust in.It moves you from a place of doubt to trust, a place of fear to confidence, a place of sorrow to joy. That’s why we sing these songs. Not to just put on a show, but to give glory to God and get our hearts in the right place to trust Him.
Next week is Rally and we are gonna have a lot of opportunities for worship. So when we are singing those songs about how amazing our God is. Don’t miss that opportunity. Do not be distracted by the people around you. Do not be distracted by what is going on in your life. Focus on the words of the song. And sing them. Maybe even lift your hands as an act of trust in God. Because I promise God is worthy of your trust.
A TEAM RACING GAME USING BODY PARTSNEEDS: n/aSETUP: Split your group into even numbered teams with - or by small group. Make sure your teams can accomplish the task you've asked them. A team of 4 doesn't have more than eight feet. DIRECTIONS:The host of the game will shout out a combination of body parts and those body parts are the only things that can be touching the floor. For example if each team has eight people you might shout out: 14 feet and one nose! 7 people would have to lift one person and hold them so only their nose was touching the ground. Note the pro tip. You should start with easy ones: 16 feet and 10 hands would be much easier. Shouting out "8 feet!" should cause each person on their team to stand on one foot. Again this will take a good amount of forethought in order for it to go smoothly. You can play this game in two ways: Elimination or points. For elimination, eliminate one team every round (this will make things go much quicker...) Whichever team finishes last is eliminated. If you go this route, make sure to have a few warm up rounds. The other version is to simply award points. You could award points just to the team that finishes first OR you could award points based on the order that the teams finished in. First place would get the most points. Last place would get the least points.Here are the different tasks you can include, change the amount of numbers depending on how many people you have in the groups:16 feet and 10 hands8 feet8 bottoms8 Elbows2 heads and 12 feet14 feet and 1 nose4 noses and 8 feet8 ears, 16 hands, 16 feet3 hands, 2 bottoms, 8 feet
1. In your own words explain worship. What is it and why do we do it?
2. How can worship songs help us trust God more?
3. Why do people lift their hands in worship?
4. Have you ever tried worshiping when you were going through a hard time?
5. How did that go for you? *leader may need to share a story as an example*
6. God asked Abraham to trust Him in a really big way. What do you think helped him to do that?
7. Do you feel like you trust God pretty easily? Or is it a challenge for you? Explain why.
8. Next week is Rally, how can we use this event as an opportunity to grow our trust in God? What can we do to show Him we trust Him?
MOVING FORWARD
Next week is Rally, how can we use this event as an opportunity to grow our trust in God? What can we do to show Him we trust Him?
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