Grace Fellowship Church Pastor/Teacher - Jim Rickard Sunday, July 8, 2012 Celebrating our Nation’s Independence!

In God We Trust!

Nations always progressed through the following sequence.

1. From bondage to spiritual faith; 2. From spiritual faith to great courage; 3. From courage to liberty; 4. From liberty to abundance; 5. From abundance to complacency; 6. From complacency to apathy; 7. From apathy to dependence; 8. From dependence back into bondage.

Jer 48:7, “For because of your trust in your own achievements and treasures, even you yourself will be captured.”

Isa 42:17, “They will be turned back and be utterly put to shame, who trust in idols, who say to molten images, ‘You are our gods’.”

Isa 26:4, “Trust in the LORD forever, for in GOD the LORD, we have an everlasting Rock.”

“The motto IN GOD WE TRUST was placed on United States coins largely because of the increased religious sentiment existing during the Civil War.”

Secretary Salmon P. Chase, November 20, 1861 wrote, “No nation can be strong except in the strength of God, or safe except in His defense. The trust of our people in God should be declared on our national coins.”

“In GOD We Trust” is on our coins. But the real question is; Is He in your heart?

Psa 56:3-4, 11, “In God I have put my trust, I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me?”

Have you placed your trust in Him as our fore fathers did?

Psa 118:8-9, “It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man. 9It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in princes.”

Psa 146:3, “Do not trust in princes, in mortal man, in whom there is no salvation.”

Hebrew for “trust” is BATACH, “to trust, be confident or sure, or to feel safe”.

Psa 125:1, “Those who trust in the LORD are as Mount Zion, which cannot be moved but abides forever.”

Trust is, “Firm reliance on the integrity, ability, or character of a person or thing; confident belief; faith”.

Trust is a complete, peaceful security available when the object of trust is God Himself.

Prov 3:5-6, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. 6In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.”

Our God is a God of complete faithfulness and reliability, and the wise person recognizes his utter dependency on the God of the universe. Job 31:24; cf. Isa 50:10

Greek - PIETHO, “to be persuaded, to be convinced, to have confidence, be assured, believe or trust in a person or thing”.

2 Cor 1:9, (read vs 8-11), “Indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead.”

What is trust? “Certainty, belief, faith, reliance, assurance, and confidence”. It implies instinctive unquestioning belief in and reliance upon something (God and His Word).

Psa 9:10, “And those who know Your name will put their trust in You, for You, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek You.”

Some think God can not handle their situation or that you should not bother Him with it. Yet we are to, “abide under the shadow of the Almighty”, Psa 91:1.

All of your fretting and worrying is caused by planning without God, 2 Cor 1:8-11.

Psa 25:2, “O my God, in You I trust, do not let me be ashamed; do not let my enemies exult over me.”

Psa 31:14, “But as for me, I trust in You, O LORD, I say, ‘You are my God’.”

Isa 12:2, “Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid; for the LORD GOD is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation.”

Psa 143:8, “Let me hear Your lovingkindness in the morning; for I trust in You; teach me the way in which I should walk; for to You I lift up my soul.”

Prov 22:19, “So that your trust may be in the LORD, I have taught you today, even you.”

Prov 22:19, “So that your trust may be in the LORD, I have taught you today, even you.” In GOD we trust as we serve!

Grace Offering

Grace Fellowship Church Sunday, July 8, 2012 Tape # In God We Trust, Celebrating Our Nation’s Birthday Psa 56:3-4, 11; 118:8-9; Prov 3:5-6; Jer 48:7; 2 Cor 1:8-11 James H. Rickard Bible Ministries 2012