AI OVERVIEW: Well, hey, welcome back for episode two of what does it mean to trust in God? Last episode, we looked at the pathway to experiencing trust in him. What does it look like? And we looked at Proverbs 3:5 and 6, [music] "Trust in the Lord with all of your heart. Lean not in your own understanding. In all of your ways, acknowledge him and he will keep [music] your path straight." One of the things that I love about trust is that like a grown-up in youth group, I remember all the time one of the games we used to do is like a trust fall. Like, you remember you're like, "Okay, are you going to catch me back there?" And I think often in our relationship with God, we we treat it like a trust fall. Like, "All right, Lord, I'm going to trust you. I'm going to I I'm going to fall backwards and you better [music] catch me." And what I want to say in this episode is that this is not a blind trust. That even though we can't see God, we can look back and we can see that we have a God who proves himself faithful time and time [music] again. And you can't trust someone you do not know. And so, in order to trust God, you have to know who God is and the character of God. We're not trusting in something, but we're trusting in someone who is faithful. He is faithful every single time. And the best way to trust God with your future >> [music] >> is to remember his track record in the past. So, before you go any further, maybe you need to pause this episode and I want you to write down some of the ways recently that you've seen the fingerprint of God show up in your life. >> [music] >> Whether it be financially, whether it be relationally, maybe there's been a reconciliation in your relationships. God is a God who is faithful in every season. Whether it's great, whether it's difficult, we have a God whose track record >> is that he won't drop us. That he won't leave us or forsake us. So, pause this episode, write down what God is doing in your life >> right now. All right, you're back. So, here's what we're going to do. We're going to jump in and we're going to look at the character of God and what he tells us to do [music] to remember that he is a faithful good God. I want to go back to the Old Testament, 1 Samuel chapter 7. The Israelites have just defeated the Philistines and [music] they kept falling into this spiritual trap. This is right after the judges and if you know anything about the book of Judges, it was a cycle. Like the Israelites would like turn their back on God, they wouldn't trust God, another nation would come and oppress them. There'd be a season of oppression, they would get tired of the oppression, and they would cry out to God, "God, help us." And God would send a judge to deliver the people back again as they put their trust in him. And it's easy to read the book of Judges and be like, "Man, I can't believe that they forgot over and over how good God is." And then I think about my life >> [music] >> and how easy it is for me to forget the faithfulness of God in the present [music] season. One of the ways that helps us the fuel of trust is remembrance in God's faithfulness. So, 1 Samuel chapter 7 verse 12, the Israelites have just defeated the Philistines and God gives some specific instructions to Samuel the prophet of what to do next. 1 Samuel chapter 7 verse 12. >> [music] >> It says, "Samuel then took a large stone and placed it between the towns of Mizpah and Jeshanah. He named it Ebenezer, which means the stone of help, for he said, 'Up to this point the Lord has >> [music] >> helped us." This was very intentional that he set this rock up between these two busy places because [music] every time an Israelite would walk past the stone of Ebenezer, it was a reminder the Lord is our helper. Our God has provided. And can I just tell you, this is not the first time in scripture that God has used a rock to remind the people of his faithfulness. [music] You rewind to the book of Joshua, Joshua chapter 4, and God brings the [music] people after 40 years of wandering because of their disobedience. Just reminds you God was faithful [music] in every step of the way in the 40 years of wandering to the point that their sandals didn't even wear out. And God was faithful to his promises, and he brings the Israelites into the promised land, and he tells Joshua, "Have a member of each tribe grab a stone >> [music] >> and set it up as a memorial. So that when the next generation asks, 'What does this stone mean?' they tell the story of the faithfulness of God." This is something that we're called to do the fuel to help us trust God in our present is to remind ourselves of God's faithfulness [music] today. I've experienced this in my own life. Back in 2023, my wife and I, we stepped out of leading our Columbia Falls campus to go plant the Missoula campus. And I'll never forget it was May of 2023, and I just got done preaching here in Kalispell, and this lady comes up to me, and a lady that I knew from the church comes up to me and hands me a giant rock. Which is the weirdest thing that's ever been handed me in a lobby. Now, people hand me stuff all the time, but this was like a 25-lb rock, and all it says on it is Masters, which is my last name. And it says 2023 and Missoula. And she goes, "I I want you to place this rock somewhere." And I'm like, "Okay, lady." And I'm like, "Who can I hand this rock to? I got to go preach again." And [music] she's like, "I'm giving you this rock because I want you to remember that God is going to be faithful to do what he did in Columbia Falls to do what he's going to do in Missoula." And I completely was like, "Okay, yeah, it's a big rock." And the big rock made the move with us to Missoula. And right now it sits outside of my garage. So whenever I pull up into my driveway every single day, I see that rock. And what it is for me is because there was a long season of waiting where it didn't seem like I could trust God. Where I was wondering, "God, where are you? What are you doing?" And that stone was a reminder that God had been faithful to me. He had been faithful to every promise he has made, >> [music] >> and he would continue to be faithful. What is it in your life, whether it be a rock, apparently that's a really common thing in scripture and in my life, find something to help you remind yourself of the faithfulness of God. Maybe it's >> [music] writing a scripture on your mirror in the morning. Maybe it's placing something in your car on your way to work that you would remind yourself that I can trust God because I don't want to forget God's faithfulness in [music] my life. In fact, Jesus does this with us in the New Testament. He knew that our tendency is we're going to forget how good he is. We're going to forget his faithfulness. So, one of the main reasons that Jesus institutes communion is that we would [music] remember him. That when we take communion together, it's a moment as a community of the body of Christ, we remember the faithfulness of God. That he would said he would send his son, and he did. And he died for us, and he rose again. And it's a reminder that no matter what I'm walking through today, the fuel that's going to help me move forward is remembering God's faithfulness. Now, a simple way you can do this every single day, and something that we do here at Canvas Church [music] all the time, is we celebrate wins. Wins are the fuel that move the mission of God and move your feet forward in trusting [music] in him. So, what I want you to do, text somebody a win in your life. Tell somebody, share your story. Not the story from years ago. Share a story of what God is actively doing in your life, and watch how it shifts your confidence to know that God is with you in the present. [music] He was faithful in the past, so I will trust him in the future. Let's be a people that are so good at remembering [music] that our God is a God who is faithful. Because we're not trusting in something, we're trusting in someone. So it's not a trust fall, it's a step forward in confidence that God is with us. [music] Join me for episode 3.
