Sermon Tone Analysis

Meet Mrs. Jolly

Mrs. Jolly was my English teacher my senior year in high school.

She helped peak my interest in writing.

Mrs. Jolly cared about her students and she was pretty bold about her faith.

In fact, she signed my yearbook something like stay true to these words and you will do well in life.

Then wrote out .

Little did I know that her boldness is signing my yearbook that way would become such a foundation in my life.

37 years later, I do not think a day has gone by without me thinking about those verses is some way!

proverbs

What does it mean to TRUST IN THE LORD?

We seem to be people that have great faith in the things we see or things that make us comfortable.

Are you really trusting in the Lord?

Trust means the reliance on the integrity, strength, ability of a person or thing.

Another definition is a person on whom or thing which one relies.

I have discovered that my TRUST in the Lord can be summed up in the following acronym:

Totally

Rely

Upon

Sovereign

Truth

If you are able to see the Lord as your Sovereign Truth, then you can certainly rely on Him!

TRUST THE LORD WITH ALL YOUR HEART.

What does that mean?

It means that we believe that He is able

It means that we believe that He is wise

It means that we believe that He will do what is best and good according to His promise

It means that we give Him our entire submission and satisfaction

LEAN NOT ON YOUR OWN UNDERSTANDING

When I think on my own, I don’t do so good.

However, when I think utilizing the power of God’s wisdom which I glean from my interaction with Him in prayer, meditation, and through His word, I am able to make wise decisions.

Matthew 7:7-8

1 Kings 3:5-14

Scripture is clear that God desires to give us wisdom and help us with following Him.

Have you ever thought about why Solomon penned these words in ?

You see, Solomon recognized that God had provided in his life the gift of leaning not on his own understanding.

You and I can have that same gift!

We can learn from this passage if TRUST the Lord, and lean not on your own understanding.

and thirdly, IN ALL YOUR WAYS ACKNOWLEDGE HIM, HE WILL DIRECT YOUR PATHS.

Notice that he didn’t say that the paths would be easy or trouble -free, Solomon tells us that they will be straight.

This past week our family went to the North Carolina Zoo.

If you have ever been there you will know that it is geographically the largest zoo in the world.

We started walking about 10:30 and were very happy to get on the shuttle bus back to our car around 3:30.

I noticed that the paths that were more direct in our walking included stairs.

The easier paths consisted of ramps and no stairs.

I couldn’t help but wonder at times which way was best for me.

Should I climb the stairs or should I go the way of the ramps?

Here is what I discovered:

I was rejuvenated when I took the more direct path.

Oh it hurt at times, but it made me appreciate the view!

Oh it hurt at times, but it made me appreciate the view!Mn take our way or we can take God’s way.

If we take our way, we are most likely to miss out on some type of blessing!

Something along the path of our choosing will direct us to something selfish, perhaps something that is not of God.

It could be something that is quite harmful to us.

Are you acknowledging our Lord in every area of your life?

Are you trusting Him with your finances, your relationships, your every day life?

If not, why not?

I have to confess that since I first really heard this wisdom 37 years ago when my English teacher signed my yearbook with this verse, that I have not always TOTALLY RELIED UPON SOVEREIGN TRUTH WITH ALL MY HEART AND THAT I HAVE INDEED LEANED GREATLY ON MY OWN UNDERSTANDING AND IN MANY WAYS I HAVE FAILED TO ACKNOWLEDGE HIM IN ALL MY WAYS.

THE RESULTS AS YOU CAN IMAGINE HAVE NOT BEEN GOOD.

Maybe you have been like that too in your life.

You have given in more to self than you have our God.

Maybe you have been quite selfish like I have often been and not done a whole lot about serving others.

I think that each of us here today can fall in one of categories:

Maybe you needed to be encouraged just now to keep TRUSTING In the Lord, to TO KEEP acknowledging Him with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.

Maybe you need to make some changes in your life so that you can begin right where you are to able to start Trusting the Lord more and self less.

Maybe you have areas that you need to give over to the Lord, and open your heart to Him so you won’t be leaning on your own understanding anymore.

Maybe you need to be someone like Mrs. Jolly, and be bold enough to share this verse with someone in your life that you have great influence over.

Which one are you?