Pastor Tony Ashmore teaches on "Safe" in this Sunday morning celebration.Safe
Pastor Tony Ashmore
Sunday, March 11, 2012
www.mylifegatechurch.com
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Sermon Notes:
Big Idea: God is not an ‘impartial’ judge—He is blatantly and unfairly for us.
Psalm 3:2-4 So many are saying, “God will never rescue him!”
Interlude
But you, O LORD, are a shield around me; you are my glory, the one who holds my head high. I cried out to the LORD, and he answered me from his holy mountain.
Interlude
Salvation is the only “sure thing” on this planet. I am safe in Him. Everything around me can be failing, nothing is working, life seems so precarious and unpredictable. But he is a strong tower, my refuge, The Holy Spirit is the 3rd base coach waving me on in spite of the overwhelming evidence that says I will not make it. Jesus is home plate and I slide in a cloud of dust. The crowd is screaming, the opposing team is celebrating their play against me, but through the dust and above the roar of the crowd comes the voice of the umpire—my Heavenly Father—SAFE!
1. “There are three types of baseball players: those who make it happen, those who watch it happen, and those who wonder what happens.” (Tommy Lasorda) Everything I trust in can fail, but God remains sure.
Habakkuk 3:17-19 Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vines; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; even though the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are empty, yet I will rejoice in the LORD! I will be joyful in the God of my salvation! The Sovereign LORD is my strength! He makes me as surefooted as a deer, able to tread upon the heights.
(For the choir director: This prayer is to be accompanied by stringed instruments.)
2. “If you're going to play at all, you're out to win.” (Derek Jeter) Make God our first appeal, not our last hope.
Job 13:15 NKJV “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him…”
(NLT) “God might kill me, but I have no other hope. I am going to argue my case with him.” Job’s friends were telling him that his case was so bad, his wrongs so grievous, that going before God would be dangerous, maybe even deadly. Job’s response—Even if He gets so mad at me that He kills me, He is my only hope. We are in this to win—and He is for us—working to bring about the win.
3. “The only thing I can do is play baseball. I have to play ball. It's the only thing I know.” (Mickey Mantle) What if running to the Lord was what we did well?
Isaiah 65:1 The LORD says, “I was ready to respond, but no one asked for help. I was ready to be found, but no one was looking for me. I said, ‘Here I am, here I am!’ to a nation that did not call on my name.” How many times do we let our past, our circumstances, the noise of the crowd, stop us from simply calling on the Lord? How many times does our pride, our self-reliance stop us from winning?
If you knew the home plate umpire was on your side, would you be more aggressive in going for home?
Psalm 62:2 “He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress where I will never be shaken.”
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