A Very Present Help
Key Passage: 1 Thessalonians 5:24
Date: June 7, 2024
First Thessalonians, chapter number five. Speaking of music, by the way, Lord willing, our choir will be singing next Sunday. I’m excited about that; they have a couple of specials ready to go for next Sunday. That will be awesome just to have our choir going again next Sunday. First Thessalonians, chapter number five, in God’s Word.
First Thessalonians chapter 5. It is somewhere after the book of Genesis and before the book of Revelation. I’m pretty sure about that. And I think it’s right before Second Thessalonians, if I remember right, too. First Thessalonians, chapter number five of God’s word. If you’re there, would you say amen? Good deal. Good deal. You’re ready to go.
If you’re able to, would you stand just to show the Word of God respect this morning? First Thessalonians, chapter number five. It’s a short verse. It would be a great verse to just memorize or get it stuck in our minds. It’s a wonderful nugget of promise. It’s amazing if you have promises stored up in your mind and your heart; the Holy Spirit, just when you need it, He’ll bring it to remembrance. That’s one of the jobs that the Holy Spirit does. This is a great promise to have stored up that He can bring to your remembrance right here.
First Thessalonians 5, verse number 24. And the Bible there says, “Faithful is he that calleth you who also will do it.” Would you read that out loud with me, please? Here we go. Here we go. “Faithful is he that calleth you who also will do it.” Would you say it again with me? Here we go. “Faithful is he that calleth you who also will do it.” Covered up, let’s try it again. Here we go. You ready? Covered up. Here we go. “Faithful is he that calleth you who also will do it.” Good. You’re quick, quick. All right, Brother Chip, you’ll come up and say it now in front of it. No, he could do it. He could do it. I’d tease.
Let’s have word of prayer and ask for the Lord to bless this morning as we try to focus on this verse. Lord, we come to you.
Father, it just seemed like you put this verse on my mind. I believe it was you. Lord, I wish I was better prepared to preach it, but Lord, you can take a little and do so much with it. I pray you to do that, Lord. Father, would you help our minds to memorize and get it stuck? And Lord, drive this verse all the way to our hearts this morning. Father, help us to remember it and to claim it all week long, Lord. Help us be better Christians for you because of it. We’ll thank you for what you do, Lord. We’re asking for that, Father, in faith because of Jesus. It’s His name we pray. Amen.
Thank you so much for standing. You may be seated.
Paul had his missionary team. They would travel to many different places. They started many churches. Some say 17, some up in the 20s; we’re not sure exactly how many churches God used Paul, the missionary team, to start. Typically it was Paul and others. With this missionary team, they went to a place called Thessalonica. And the Lord directed them there.
And so they started to look for a place to live. They have to have a place to sleep at, you know. They found this guy named Jason. And Jason said, “All right, I’ll let you stay in my house.” It seems Paul said, “Well, I don’t want to be a burden to the people at Thessalonica.” So it looks like Paul worked. Paul would go to a lot of these places. Do you work by vocational preacher? We make tents. Some of these men that have been putting the tent up around here for years and years, pretty soon they’re going to go into business putting up tents, you know. Brother Barlin says, “I can find a better job than that right there,” you know.
But Paul and his team looked like they were probably making tents there in this city. Typically, what Paul would do, they would go into the synagogue. That’s where the Jewish people and others would gather on the Sabbath day. Remember, after the resurrection of Jesus, the Christians began to celebrate Christ’s resurrection on the first day of the week, Sunday. So they weren’t really going to the synagogue to have service; they were going to have that on Sunday. But they knew it was a great place for the Jewish people to come together, and sometimes they would let guest people stand up and say a few words, whatnot. Paul was never bashful. A couple of times in the Bible, they said, “All right, anybody want to say anything?” And Paul said, “Whee, I sure would!” And for the next three hours he preached at them, you know. I don’t know about the three hours, but he did preach till midnight one night, amen, you know. That’s what they would do. They’re going there and getting the gospel out, telling about the Messiah, Jesus Christ. Paul did that for three Sabbath days in the city of Thessalonica.
When they preached, now here’s the thing: the Jewish people, as a whole—I’m talking about—had kind of made a decision to reject Jesus. They did not want a suffering Savior. They wanted a Savior that was going to rule and reign. Now Christ will reign one day. In fact, He rules and reigns today, but He’s going to sit on the throne of David on the earth one day. But that wasn’t the time for that. He was a suffering Savior.
Paul would stand up and preach, and he said, “Hey, the one you crucified over there, right outside the city walls of Jerusalem, He rose again the third day. He was the Messiah.” The Jews didn’t like that. They were looking at Paul like you look at me when I preach about tithing. I’m joking; you’re very good about those things, you really are. But they were hostile toward Paul. When Paul was preaching, you could hear mumbling going on: “Who in the world does he think he is?” and all this. “Well, Jesus was from Nazareth, and that’s not the scriptures that Jesus is,” and on and on, they were going on.
But there were a few, mostly Greeks, that got saved, by the way—a lot of women. Sometimes women just have a heart for God. These Greeks and not a few women got saved. But the Jewish people, they were the leaders of the religious crowd amongst the Jewish people, you know, the higher-ups in the synagogue.
He preached three Sabbath days in the synagogue, trying to get the gospel out. Then they actually took a group, like a mob, if you will. I heard that this missionary team was staying over there in Jason’s house. They went over to Jason’s house. They went in there and grabbed Jason—I’m talking about a mob—and they said, “Where’s Paul at? We’re going to get him and his missionary team.”
Those that had gotten saved grabbed Paul and his missionary team and said, “Paul, you better go and hide. They’re about to get you, fella.” Paul had been beaten and had enough; he had gotten punched enough times. He said, “I don’t want any more of that if I can help it. I’ll keep preaching for the Lord no matter what, but I don’t have to get beat up, you know. I mean, you ever heard: run today so you can fight another day, you know? I’m talking about there.”
That’s what Paul and his team did that day out of wisdom. Those people got saved. They said, “Get on out of here. Go home, we’ll take care of things; we’re all right. God’s going to be with us.” Paul and his missionary team went over to Berea.
Now, those people in Berea, they wanted to hear the gospel a little bit better than over there in Thessalonica. Here’s the amazing thing: that small group of people that did get saved in that synagogue preaching—I mean, it didn’t seem like it was the elite for sure. It was the Greeks and a lot of women, but I tell you what, that small group of people, they had a heart for God. I don’t know, but I tend to think maybe Paul thought, “Well, persecuted Christians, I’ve got to go on because I’m going to lose my life, and I want to preach the gospel tomorrow. I feel sorry for them.” But actually, they didn’t fold. From that small group of Christians, God started a great church in Thessalonica.
It just couldn’t get out of Paul’s mind. So eventually the Lord said, “Hey, Paul, I want you to write a letter to those Thessalonian Christians over there.” And that’s how we get the book of First and Second Thessalonians. Thessalonians—I want to say First and Thessalonica, you know. I mean, good at inventing words. We speak in tongues every once in a while around here, not on purpose, so I’ll promise that.
In fact, this first letter, towards the end of it, God says, “Paul, man, these Christians are so persecuted.” In fact, the second book, Second Thessalonians, was all about—many of them, not all, but the majority—thought they were living during the tribulation period. They were so persecuted. So God had Paul to write and kind of clarify that. But this first book, this first letter, he’s writing to this church; God says, “Paul, we need encouragement.” So that last chapter, right towards the end, I want you to write this: “Faithful is he that calleth you who also will do it.”
That’s where we get this promise from. That’s where God’s support comes in. They needed that. Can I say this? God looked down and He’s seen your life, and He said, “You’ll need this.” Yes, it’s written for these Christians in Thessalonica, but it’s also written for John and Richard and Gracie and all of us today. This promise is for you.
Now, I want you to say it. Would you say it out loud with me? Are you ready? You need to look at it? Look at it. Verse number 24. First Thessalonians 5:24. Here we go. This is for you. Here we go. “Faithful is he that calleth you who also will do it.” God had him write that for you.
Let’s look at a couple of words in this promise God gave us. The first word I want you to notice—would you look at that right there? Look at what it says: “Faithful is…” What’s the next word? He. That’s huge. Every time I think every time Paul gets discouraged, Paul has his eyes on himself. Typically, that’s very discouraging. Now, it can lead to pride, but typically we know our failures more than anybody knows our failures, and we know our weaknesses more than anybody knows our weaknesses. It’s always discouraging.
I want you to notice this promise: God is trying to direct their hearts and their minds off of themselves, off what they can do under this persecution. He said, “Hey, hey, I know how that’s going on, but faithful is He.” Friend, I’m telling you, it’s so very, very important to get your eyes on the Lord and off yourself.
Satan will work at getting your mind on your past failures. He’ll work at that. He’ll try to remind you of the things before you got saved, or when you were backslidden, or you messed up this last week. He’ll do his best to get your mind on all that, and Satan works overtime at that. But friend, the key is, look, get your mind off of that and get your mind on healing.
By the way, someone said, “When Satan reminds you of your past, you remind him of his future.” He’s a rotten, stinking devil. Hey, yeah, I’ve got some problems, but praise the Lord, that’s under the blood of Jesus. My sins are covered, but yours, devil, you will pay for your sins one day. Don’t fall for these cartoons that make Satan look like he’s going to be on some throne in hell. Actually, the Bible says the kings and the sinful people of the earth will say, “What about you? You’re the one that deceived all of us. What are you doing over there wallowing like a worm?” That’s going to be the truth about the devil one day. He’s not going to be on some throne; he’s going to be screaming and crying in agony.
So don’t let him remind you—don’t let… He’ll do his best to get your mind on your failures. You work it. I want my mind on the Lord: “Faithful is He.”
God is reminding this church, “Hey, hey, hey, no, I know Joe messed up and you messed up and all that and done. But get off all that and get your mind…” “Faithful is He.” You’re not going to make it through this persecution on your own. I’m going to be the one that helps you make it through this persecution. Faithful is He.
That’s why Isaiah says, “Look unto the Lord.” Look unto the Lord. That’s why Hebrews says, “Looking unto Jesus.” That’s why the Bible says—it says, “Set your affection on things above.” Oh, friend, Satan tries to get you looking at yourself. I said, “No, I’m going to get my eyes on the Lord.”
There can be a lot of different things you do to do that. Work at having your eyes on the Lord. Maybe you need to stop and just think about all the answers to prayer. How many of you have ever had an answer to prayer in your life? Anybody out there? I figured. However many of you have said, “You know what, there was a time that I was backslidden and I did not deserve for God to take care of me, and He still took care of me.” Anybody like that? Yeah. How many of you say there are times I look back and I believe God protected me from maybe an accident or this person or this, and I believe God—anybody else that believes God protected? Yeah. How many needed a financial miracle? I mean, you just needed—you had a bill come due or a medical bill or whatever. You just needed a miracle financially, and God provided for you. Anybody like that?
Now look, maybe you start remembering what all God has done. That helps you get your mind on the Lord. But Satan will do his best to get you… Here’s a sad day for Paul: when my mind is so full of problems that I let all those problems crowd God out. That’s a sad day for me. Satan will work at that. He’ll put every problem in the world right in front of you. You’ll be so focused on that that the Lord—now, He’ll never leave or forsake you, but your mind never thinks about Him.
“Faithful is…” Help me out. Faithful is who? It’s not faithful is you. No, no. “Faithful is He.” That’s the key. Oh, we’re so tempted to be self-centered—humanity. Friend, don’t come a day in your life when humans can’t help you. In some ways, that’s a good day for you, because that’s when you see God’s real. God’s working. “Faithful is He.” Work at that.
Brother Stone, I prayed in our prayer this morning, and it talked about the beautiful weather. Hey, I know it’s supposed to rain and all that. Hey, bless you; enjoy it today. Amen. Don’t spoil today because of what they say is going to come tomorrow, you know.
Look, here’s the thing. Maybe you need to go out to some country scene where there’s a mountain. Maybe you just need to enjoy His creation. Maybe you need to go to a park and take a hike. Maybe today this afternoon, maybe sit on your back porch, get you some coffee or a Dr. Pepper—somebody say amen right there. Don’t get that water, okay? Get the water. All right, you need that too. Get you some water with a lemon in there, something, and just thank God for His creation.
Friend, the Bible says, from Romans chapter 1, verse number 20, just from creation, everybody knows there is a God. The fool said in his heart, “There is no God.” But when it all comes down to it, that same fool that said there’s no God, he gets by a car. The first thing he says is, “Oh my God, help me!” He knows. Go out there in creation. Get your mind on God. I mean, just enjoy it.
Tonight when you go home after church—somebody say amen right there—and you get out of your car because it’s 10 o’clock because the preacher preached so long (by the way, we’ve got Lord’s Supper tonight; you ought to come tonight), whatever time it is, get up and look at the sky. If it’s a clear night, how many of you can find the Big Dipper pretty easily? How many can find the Little Dipper? How many find the North Star every night, every single night? No, you can’t. There are clouds in the sky. I’m joking with you there. But whatever it may be, look up there and say, “Wow, God, You’re awesome.” Just work at getting your mind on the Lord.
“Faithful is who?” That’s the key. Friend, if I get my mind on how faithful I am—whoa! I mean, I failed about a million times plus. I’m out of the dumps, sunken by thumb. I sucked my thumb off, but one of them came off. So, I mean, come on. We’ll be in the corner having a pity party, saying, “Whoa, how bad I have it! Nobody knows, and nobody’s been through what I’m going through,” and all that happens when you get my eyes off the Lord.
God is telling these Christians, “Hey, hey, hey, hey, yes, you have persecution, but faithful is He.”
Psalms gives us a wonderful promise. Psalm 46: “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” I think what I love about that verse is “very present help in trouble.” That means He’s always with you if you’re saved. He will never leave nor forsake you, but a very present, like a special presence of God. He’s a very present help in trouble. It doesn’t say before trouble, but in trouble.
So here’s the thing. Y’all help me out. I’m going to put it on our Tennessee Hibbley level; that’s the only way I get it all right. When there comes a knock at the door, and you open the door, and it’s bills, it’s trouble, or it’s financial problems, or the one you loved and trusted so much did you wrong, or whatever the trouble may be—trouble at work. Whenever there’s that knock on the door and you open the door and there’s trouble, I promise you, if you’re a born-again Christian, if God’s word is true (and it is), Jesus will always be standing there.
That trouble will try to kind of take up the whole doorway, and here’s what you do: you poke your head out the doorway and you look around. You’ll find Jesus standing there. He’s a very present help in trouble. Satan will do his best to get your eyes stuck on that trouble. He roars because he wants to just intimidate you, and he’s standing right there. You say, “Wait, wait, wait, wait. All right, devil. All right, devil. You need some breath mints? You got bad breath. Tell him that,” you know. And then you look around, and Jesus will be there every single time. Every single time. “Wait a second, wait a second. I’m not going to let all this doctor thing…” I’m going to look around and find Jesus. He’ll be there. He’s a very present help in trouble. So He’s telling these Thessalonian Christians, “Hey, faithful is He.” You remember that? He—that’s the key.
Now let’s look at another thing here in this verse. Are you there? First Thessalonians 5. Look back at verse number 24. Let’s go through it all. The whole verse is so long, you know. No, we can do it. Let’s just do the whole verse. You ready? Here we go. Here we go. “Faithful is he that calleth you who also will do it.” Now I want you to notice this word next: Faithful is he that… What’s the next word? Calleth. Satan, he’s so sly. He’s a master manipulator.
This is what the devil will do. He’ll get you—now, listen, you all out there still—would you look at your neighbor and slap him? No, don’t do that. Only if they’re sleeping, all right. But here’s what Satan will do: He’ll get you thinking and worrying about things God has not called you to do.
Can I bring it down to our level? God didn’t call you to solve all the problems of the world. God did not call you to be the police of your neighborhood. God did not call you to be the police of the church while you stand together. Every church has problems. God did not call you to make sure everybody is doing everything right because we live in a messed up world. A lot of times we spend so much of our time worrying and fretting over the things God has never called me to do. God is telling these Christians, “Hey, the things I’ve called you to do, I’ll do it through you. I’m the faithful one.”
Can I say this? Our flesh—of course, the devil and the world—our flesh will have us so focused on things we are not called to do that we will be so defeated we cannot do the things that we are called to do. And Satan loves it. “Faithful is He that calleth us.” He directs us. He leads us in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. He leads us. This is what I’m calling you to do. I’ve got you. I’ve called you in your life. All of us, every person here, you have a calling in your life. Everybody, everybody. You’ve been called by God in many, many ways. You have a calling. That’s what you want to focus on.
I look out and see Miss Brenda. Praise the Lord, she’s awake this morning. I’m so thankful for that. I’m teasing, of course. But Ms. Brenda told me this morning, she said, “I love teaching.” I’m glad she loves it, and that’s awesome. She told me about a child in her class that a week later remembered something she had taught the week before. I don’t know, of course, but I’m very confident that God has called her today. I don’t know what your calling is, but every person here, you have many callings. That’s the thing you want to focus on: what has God called you to do?
If you’re married, men, I know God’s called you to love your wives. If you’re married, ladies, I know God has called you to encourage and reverence, as the Bible says. If you have children, God—He may give us things to assist us—but God did not call the government to raise your children. God gave a mom and a dad to raise those children. Everybody has callings in your life. You’re a parent; you’re called to raise those children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. We all have callings. That’s what you want to focus on.
Can I say this? Can I say this? Just maybe elaborate a little bit on this thing. Don’t spend your life focusing on ten miles down the road. You’ll be defeated, you’ll be discouraged. No, the Bible says the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. If I’m thinking about ten miles down the road, I’m going to be discouraged thinking there’s no way I can do that. I can’t do that today because God is not going to be faithful to give me what He weighs down there. He’ll give me faithfulness to do what I’m called to do today.
Sometimes we’ve been stacking up—help me out. Hey, fellas, you’ve got a sort… Would you give me that songbook right there? Let’s say this is next week. And I will walk along… The devil will give you next week. And would you give me that right there? This is the week after next week. I keep walking down, and pretty soon the devil, he’s going to put… Would you give me that songbook? Oh, that’s your Bible. Thank you, that’s Daniel. Thank you. Oh, let’s sit here. Brother Anthony’s got the week after next week. Thank you, sir. Brother again—oh, my goodness, Brother Anthony got some books for that. We got songbooks all over the place. Woo, my goodness, this thing’s getting heavy. Pretty soon you want to see how much pastor can carry. I know what’s going to happen here pretty soon. Brother Patrick says, “All right, this is my chance.” Woo, my goodness. My goodness. Pretty soon, man, it’s starting to get heavy. I won’t be about going ninety miles pretty soon here; I’ll be about going about nine miles, you know of that.
Look, hey, don’t focus on all that. Someone said, “By the yard it’s hard, but by the inch, it’s a cinch.” Focus on what God’s called you to do right now. Has God called you to love Him today? All right, love Him today. God called you to be in church. Praise the Lord. Hey, God’s pleased with that. You’re in church today. I know He’s called you that. He told me over to Hebrews 10:25. Focus on what God’s called you to do.
If you’re worried about miles down the road, you’re probably going to be worried. By the way, He’s a very present help. He takes today’s problems. Isn’t it a good thing? You’ve got a day full of problems, and you’re like, “Oh, I didn’t do real good; I’m focusing on God all day long.” Isn’t it wonderful? God gives us a thing called nighttime and sleep—somebody say amen right there. Now notice, I didn’t say Sunday morning and sleep. All right, y’all notice that. It is a good thing. It really is. You get sleep, and then you get a fresh start. But don’t drag tomorrow’s problems into the day.
“Faithful is He who called you, who also will do it.” What’s He called you to today? What does He want from you today? He’ll give you the strength to do it. We sometimes are just spending all of our energy way down the road. It’ll be there tomorrow, next week. Faithful is He who called you. What’s He called you to do today?
Sometimes we see someone go through tragedy or something, and we think, “I can never do that.” No, you can’t, because God’s not giving you strength to do it today. But if God would have put that in your life, He’d give you the strength to go through it. He’s promised, 1 Corinthians 10:13, man.
I’ll never forget, probably 28, 30 years ago, my wife was there before the church was starting all that. We went to a Valentine banquet; we were in another state. At the Valentine banquet, there was a man that, if I remember right, I think he had suffered an accident, but he was paralyzed when he was down. It was a very moving Valentine banquet. The man was in a wheelchair, and someone wheeled him down to the front. Then his wife came, and she sat on his lap in that wheelchair. The wife, if I remember right, didn’t know this was all going to happen; the husband had planned it. He couldn’t lift his hands and put them around her, so he had someone take his hand and put it around her. She’s sitting on his lap in the wheelchair.
He said this: “Years ago we got married, you said ‘for better or for worse,’ and you meant what you said. You love me even though accident and worse has happened.” Now, friend, this is what I’m saying: If that were to happen to you, God would give you the strength for that. But I’m not going to spend the rest of my life worrying about whether that would happen to me or not. I love the testimony saying how God did give that man the strength. My friend, I’m going to say God has called me to do this today, and if that were to happen to me, God has promised me He’ll give me the strength to do it. And He will. “Faithful is He that called him.” I’m going to focus on what He has called me to do.
Help me out. Help me out. What’s the first word? Faithful is what? He. That’s what you’re after. Get your eyes on the Lord. Find that which He has called you to do.
God called us to start the church years and years ago—twenty-three years ago, whatever. I moved down, and I didn’t know any of the church in there or anything. I knew of Franklin Road because I knew the name; it’s a bigger church, been around for a long time. I knew of Tony Hudson because his dad, Curtis Hudson. So I just looked up Tony Hudson, Pastor, Franklin Road Baptist Church, and that’s the only church around. I moved down, and I thought, “Wow, there are a lot of good churches.” We hadn’t started the church yet, so we went to Franklin Road. I think we slipped in on a Sunday night or something, and I thought, “Wow, it’s a big old church, and they’re preaching the Bible and so on and so on.” I thought, “Lord, why do you have us here?”
Then another service came along, and we hadn’t started yet, so of course we were in church somewhere. We went to Middle Tennessee Baptist down in Murfreesboro, and Brother Tony Hudson—how many ever heard Brother Tony preach? Man alive, Brother Tony can preach the paint off the walls! I mean, man alive, I would not want to get in a preaching contest with him; I’d give up before starting. He can intimidate a lion, you know; he can make a lion into a kitty cat. He’s a big fella, and boy, he can preach. When I got there, I thought, “Lord, why? Why don’t you call me here to start a church? I can’t do all that.”
God said, “I didn’t call you to do all that. I called you to go to LaVergne, Smyrna, start winning souls, and build the church.” I’m just saying, focus on what God’s called you to do. If He’s called you, He’ll equip you to do what He’s called you to do.
I was at Brother Anthony’s office last night. I needed drinks. I went there and saw his bottle in his desk right there. No, I’m teasing. He’s using the printer over there, and I noticed on the wall he has a little plaque. I love it. It says something like this: “He doesn’t call the equipped; He equips those He calls.” Focus on what He has called you to do.
We’ve got to hurry along here. We’ve got one more; time’s almost up. Help me out. Go back to that verse, would you please? Verse number 24 right there. First Thessalonians 5:24. Here we go. Faithful is… Who is it? He that calleth you who also will… What’s the next word? Do it.
“Well, I can’t.” You’re right. You can’t, but He can. “Well, I don’t have…” No, you don’t, but He does. “Well, I don’t know…” But He knows. Never be that. No, no, you won’t on your own, but He is. He can. He’ll do it. You don’t have to live the Christian life; He lives it through you. You say, “I’ll never be the husband I ought to be.” Oh, no, with that attitude, you won’t, but He can be it through you. He can do it.
I love what Steve Robertson said. His dad was Bobby Robertson; he’s in heaven now. Bobby Robertson, Pastor at Gospel Light Baptist Church. He had forty, fifty years—thirty years—in just an amazing ministry. You travel there, and it’s outside the city, and you go down the country road, and there’s a big old church. They averaged 3,000 or so for years and years. Great, great work there. His son said, “Hey, Dad, you ought to write a book about how you built Gospel Light Baptist Church.” Brother Bobby said, “Well, I wouldn’t know what to write.” “Why are you going to write?” He said, “Well, just write how you did it.” He said, “I didn’t do it; God did it. I don’t know what to write.” I like that attitude: God did it. God did it. Hey, “Faithful is He who calls you, who also will do it.”
Oh man, get your eyes off yourself; get your eyes on the Lord. This is what I’m saying. Put the weight on the Lord. Stop trying to take all the weight on your shoulders. It’ll bury you. Put the weight on His shoulders. His shoulders can handle it. I’m learning. I’m so far from what I ought to be as far as that, but I’m learning. Man, Paul, don’t take the weight; put it on the Lord.
I mentioned last week—I think it wasn’t planned on a mission again, but I like it—I mentioned last week about Earnest Reveley how he spread those bills all over his desk and said, “Now, Lord, you let me start this mission here; You’ve got to pay Your bills.” He was putting the weight on the Lord.
You heard about the fellow, and I got to close out, but you heard about the fellow who was crossing over the river, and it froze, and he was scared half to death. He was just trembling as he crossed over, and he thought, “Well, if I get down on my hands and knees, I can spread the weight out,” you know. He’s down there crawling across the ice, scared, thinking he can spread the weight out. About that time, he hears a fellow down the river a little bit, crossing over on a bridge in a horse-pulled sled, back in the day. You know how heavy horses are. Mr. Torre, how much does a horse weigh? 2,000 pounds? More than that, I’d say. Wow, that’s a heavy horse. 2,000 pounds. Then you got the sled, and the sled was full of coal back in the day when they used coal for heating homes. You had a thousand or two more pounds on that. He heard this fellow downriver crossing over on the ice, singing, just having a great old time, while he’s on his hands and his knees.
Friend, we want to put all the weight on our shoulders. If God’s called you to do it, you put the weight on His shoulders. “Lord, You called me to do it.” I love that song, that last little phrase: “Oh, for grace to trust Him more.” I ask the Lord, “Give me more grace to trust Him more.” Put the weight on Him. He’ll call you. Every person here, He’s called you to do everything in some form or fashion. Every person here has been called.
I don’t know all the callings, but I know one of them: He has called every person here to be saved. Every single person. He’s called you. He’s made that clear in Scripture. “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men” (Titus, excuse me, 1 Timothy 2:14), who would have all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.
He has sent His Holy Spirit along to every person. He has convinced the world of sin. John 14 says the Holy Spirit has come to every single person. He’s not going to hurt you, and He says, “Hey, come on, won’t you get saved?” He’s willing to help, thank you. But He’s called every person here, and it’s kind of tugged at you—help me out, thank you, man—and He’s tugging at you to get saved. He’s tugged at every person. Every one of you here, He’s tugged at you. Every person in the world, He’s tugged at you. What? Get saved.
Here’s the thing: He’s not asking you to save yourself. He’s tugging at you saying, “Let me carry the weight.” The world is trying to carry the weight of their salvation, and they will never carry it. Jesus already carried the weight. “Faithful is he that calleth you who also will do it.” He’s the one that saves you. You actually just let Him save you. When you feel that tug, you say, “All right, Jesus, I’m looking to You.”
Would you bow your heads and close your eyes? Heads bowed, eyes closed.
You say, “Preacher, man, I need to claim this promise. I need to claim it faithfully. I need to say, ‘Hey, you know what? I’m not going to go through life worrying and fretting and fearful. I’m just going to claim it. If He’s called me to do it, He’s going to do it. I can’t explain it or understand Him, but I’m going to claim it.’ Whatever He’s called you to do, I’m going to claim it. He’s going to rest in that promise.” God spoke to my heart about that. If that’s you this morning, you slip your hand up to the preacher. That’s me, I’m going to rest in this promise. Whatever He’s called me to do, He’s going to do it. I’m just going to depend on that. God bless you. God bless you. Many, many hands. God bless you. God bless you. Thank you for letting the Lord speak to your heart about that. Thank you so much.
Now let me ask you a little more pointedly: Maybe there’s a specific thing. Maybe you need to get your eyes off the problem and get your eyes on the Lord. Maybe you say, “I’ve had my eyes too much on things He’s not called me to do. Maybe I need to focus more on His calling, what He has called me in particular.” Preacher, God spoke to my heart about some of these specific things. I need to get my eyes on the Lord. I need to get my eyes on what He’s called me to do. If that’s you this morning, you lift your hand up. “Preacher, God spoke to me about specific things.” God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. That’s key. That’s key. God bless you. Thank you so very, very much. Thank you so very, very much.
One more question: You say, “I need to put the weight of salvation in Jesus’ lap.” There’s never been a time when I just said that weight of me getting to heaven… By the way, that’s the problem of all those who believe you can lose your salvation; they’ve not put the weight fully in the hands of Jesus. You say, “Preacher, I need to put the weight of my salvation fully in His hands.” Maybe you’ve been saved, but you have doubts and assurance, whatever the need. “I need to put the full weight of my salvation on Jesus.” God spoke to my heart about that this morning. If that’s you this morning, you lift your hand. “Preacher, I need to put the full weight of my salvation in Jesus’ hands.” Anybody like that? Anybody like that?
Friend, that’s the most important thing in the world. He can handle the weight. It’s such a liberating day when you say, “As far as me going to heaven or hell, I’m not going to dwell on me; I’m going to dwell on Him. I’m putting all the weight of my salvation in Your hands, Jesus. I’m resting in that.” He said, “In me you shall find peace.”
Maybe you would come spend some time with the Lord? Would you do that? Let’s all stand. We’re going to have a word of prayer. We won’t be long. If you raised your hand, would you come? Just as soon as we say amen, would you come? Let’s spend some time getting our eyes on the Lord and what He has called us to do. Put all the weight on Him. Would you do that?
Father, thank You. Thank You that You call us and then You encourage us to trust You to do it. Help us, Lord, to get our eyes on You and what You’ve called us to do. Help us put the weight of these things in Your hands. We’ll thank You for it, and in Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
Don’t wait for anybody else. If God spoke to you, would you come? Come get your eyes on the Lord, looking to Jesus. Let’s get your eyes on Him. Get your eyes on what He’s called you to do. I will ever love and trust Him. He’s called us all. Put the full weight in His hands. The security is there. I surrender.
Would you see His power? Would you see His forgiveness? Would you see His peace? Would you see His love to you? Would you see His creativity? Would you see His wisdom? Instead of telling our God how big our problems are, let’s tell our problems how big our God is. Focus on Him. “Faithful is He.”
Never has one person left Him that went to Him humbly and asked for forgiveness that’s not been given it. If we confess our sins, He is faithful just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Original File: Pastor Paul Chisgar - A Very Present Help - Sunday AM 04102022