How to Have Faith in DIfficult Circumstances

Friday, September 1, 2017, a mysterious object was uncovered on a Rhode Island beach. "The Day the Beach Stood Still," was the headline in the Providence Journal. The metallic enigma was first discovered in August near popstar Taylor Swift's beachfront mansion. It looked like a giant, twisted metal starfish with eight legs. Questions about it purpose and past abounded.

Was it part of a secret military project, a lost piece of oceanographic equipment, a piece of a UFO. There was lots of speculation after a mysterious object was pulled from a Rhode Island beach. Some postulated the plausibility that it was part of a satellite or an acoustic Doppler current profiler. Whatever that is. Others found the humor in the discovery: "It's the Rockefeller Christmas tree stand" and "the plug on the drain to the Atlantic Ocean. I hope it is not the latter.

After the excavation, workers loaded the pieces onto a truck and took them to an undisclosed location, presumably for further examination. To this date, no one knows what it is... or even where it is.

This morning we are going to talk about the Altar and the Tabernacle as we address Exodus 27. For us believers, we need to understand the history of our faith so we see how it connects to our lives and to what is spoken of in the New Testament. Our spiritual heritage should not be a mystery and leave us wondering about our faith like like the beachcombers of Rhode Island were about their seaside find. So please open your apps or your Bibles to the 27th Chapter of the Book of Exodus as we find the purpose behind the articles of Old Testament worship.

We have a message to take to the world.

For the Next Couple of weeks I want to take a break from the book of Exodus. Not because I don't love it. We will finish it. But I think there's some wonderful things that we can do this summer. And I think over the next 3 weeks as we talk about The Art of Neighboring, it really lends itself to Summer. When I think about summer I don't think just about heat, sweat, and humidity. I also think of outdoor parties, celebrations. I think of vacation bible school and of get-togethers with friends and family. I think about kids running through sprinklers, people at the lake, bbqs, and I popsicles. I especially think about Popsicles. I love those things. Praise God from whom all popsicles come from. Amen.

Now, in the Art of Neighboring today, I want to talk about eliminating the time barrier that keeps us from building relationships with those who live near us. I have 2 insights into how to do that, first…

Welcome

A few weeks ago we had a summary overview of the 10 Commandments. We covered them but we didn’t go into great detail. You may remember the 8th commandment, "Thou shalt not steal." We live in a day and time where we have 1000’s of human laws that have been created to try to protect personal possessions and property from those who would seek to take them for themselves. But the intent of God's Eighth Commandment goes deeper.

Stealing, larceny, theft can take many forms, including cheating someone or even delaying paying someone what you owe him or her: Leviticus 19:11–13 (ESV) “You shall not steal; you shall not deal falsely; you shall not lie to one another. 12 You shall not swear by my name falsely, and so profane the name of your God: I am the Lord. 13 “You shall not oppress your neighbor or rob him. The wages of a hired worker shall not remain with you all night until the morning.

Theft is rampant. It is everywhere. Think about it. Corporations steal from customers through misleading advertising and shoddy products and services. Employees can steal from their company by wasting time or doing personal things on company time. Companies rob their employees of their intellectual property all to make more money without paying or giving credit.

For all that we have done wrong, even at time sinning directly against God, He in His great love for us His Creation has put into place guidelines to keep us from running off the road and wrecking our lives. Let's look at what He has handed down to us in the Bible.

They are 52 weeks in a year. 52 weeks. That means we have 52 weeks to make changes in our lives. And if we look back from year to year to year, we find that we really don’t have the strength or the ability to make great changes. If you are like me, your New Year’s resolution is to start 2017’s resolutions.

If you and I to make changes in the next 52 weeks, then let it start today, this week, and examine Isaiah 52. Because in Isaiah 52 I believe we can find “How to Have a New You in This New Year.”

Nothing gets your attention quite like death. Or does it? In this week's portion of the Bible we're going to see how God pulls no punches to save his people. And Now he's preparing them for the great things to come.

This scene before it's kind of like watching Jerry Springer. On that TV show there's a lot of crazy things that happen lot of hair pulling in fights. A lot of inappropriate things are revealed and said and done. Things that you probably didn't even know went on homes but are much more common than we realize. But at the end of every episode of the Springer show, the host Jerry Springer speaks for a bit. It's a moment of levity. And Jerry often speaks of things in reference to morality. He talks about how certain things just alright and how we is human should be expected to do better. But if we could do better on our own, would Jerry Springer have his TV show Empire? This morning we're going look at how God prepares people before the final plague. We will also see God Pulls No Punches To Save His People. How his love is unimaginable great and patience is greater.

Much of what we do on this temporary Earth is to try to control things. Even people. It is a continual effort to on our behalf to wrestle with life. We want to the write the story of our lives. A great fear lies within us because we don’t always know the outcome. And we want to have influence over every part of your lives. You and I really only feel comfortable when are in charge, that is that we're holding the reins to our destiny. It is our desire to be in charge of our lives and guiding the direction that we're going. This causes us to gamble. To roll the dice so to speak in to try to the outcome by investing in things that we think might pay off for us. By investing in things we think are profitable to us. We often worry, stress, and fret about our wealth, worry about our health, and the future. Things we can try to affect but really have no control over. But we spend a great deal of out time and money trying to change them. But sometimes we can’t control things. And During the Days of Egypt's Rule over Israel, they put their faith in a series of false gods. They felt they could use these pagan deities to navigate their way through life and gain favor like someone would try to take advantage of Wall Street using a stock tip and insider trading. But just like that breaks the law of the land, as we turn to the Bible we will see Pharaoh and the Egyptians break God's law trying to controls things that are out of their hands. And thankfully God Controls What We Can’t In Life