Good morning. That's terrible. I know Tobin says that all the time, but that really was bad.
Good morning. Oh, so much better. Good. My name is Chris, for those of you who don't know me.
I know this is a kind of holiday time, so there's a few of us here today, but God is with us,
and he wants to speak to us this morning.
For those of us who are Christians, who have trusted in Christ, the Bible has a lot of promises.
We've been looking at some of these promises in the series we talked about in our identity in Christ.
We've been seeing that it tells us that sin's power, if we've trusted in Christ, is broken in our lives because Christ has set us free.
It tells us that if you have trusted in Christ, you have resurrection power, you have forgiveness, you have a new hope,
you have a new purpose, you have a new life, a new identity, and everything that belongs to Jesus,
who is the king of the universe, is yours in him.
We stand loved by the one who determines the whole of history.
We have a heavenly father who is so wealthy that Forbes wouldn't have a category for him,
and he is so generous towards his children.
That is who we are if we are Christian, if we've trusted in Christ.
But Gandhi, that great Christian, said, he wasn't a Christian, but said, just testing,
he said, you Christians look after a document containing enough dynamite to blow all civilization to pieces,
turn the world upside down, and bring peace to a battle-torn planet.
But you treat it as little, as nothing more.
Listen to this.
You treat it as nothing more than a piece of literature.
That was Gandhi.
He said, as Christians, we take the promises and the Bible,
and we often treat it as little more than just literature.
I've read Lord of the Rings, but I don't wake up every morning wondering if I'm able to destroy the ring of power.
I don't wake up thinking Frodo and Bilbo play such an important part in my life.
They don't really affect my everyday decision-making because it's literature.
But Gandhi saw something in the lives of Christians around him,
and so often I see this actually in my own life,
that there is a disconnect between what we say we believe about God and his promises to us,
and actually our experience of him in our lives.
And I don't know if you ever feel like God's word is just literature for you,
that maybe that revolutionary dynamite that God wants to make it work in your soul so it transforms you,
giving you a joy and a peace that no circumstance can overcome.
Maybe that is not always our experience of life.
Maybe there is sometimes a gap between what we say we believe
and what our thoughts, what our words, what our desires and actions show us that we truly love.
And that's what we're going to be looking at.
After looking at the promises and our identity, our walk, the power that we have in Christ,
we want to look at what actually holds us back from really enjoying some of what God has for us as his people.
So we're going to start just a very short series looking at some characters in the book of Exodus.
And they show us some very interesting things about our lives.
They show us what some of the idols, the things that enslave us and ensnare us,
even when the Bible says that if you're a Christian, he has set you free.
So we're going to have a little look at this idea of idols.
And we talk about the idea of idols quite a lot in Watermark, and there's a reason for that.
A guy called Martin Lloyd-Jones, who's a famous English preacher in the last century, said,
An idol is anything in my life that occupies a place that should be occupied by God alone.
An idol is something that holds such a controlling position in my life that it moves and rouses and attracts me so easily
that I give my time, attention, and money to it effortlessly.
Simply put, an idol is whatever or whoever you and I value and give central value in our lives.
Whatever controls your heart controls your life, controls your decisions, controls everything that you do.
And if there's anything that you're more consumed with than with God,
the Bible's going to say, if you're trusting it, it's going to enslave you.
It's going to enslave you.
So we're going to have a look today at one of these idols.
And if we want to get serious about God, if we want God to really let those promises live in our lives,
then we've got to start working out what are the things which enslave us,
and working on a series, that cycle of repentance and faith, which a couple of weeks ago, Jeremy talked about.
So looking at control, we're going to look at this story, Pharaoh versus God.
We're then going to look at us versus God.
Then we're going to look at how we relinquish control.
Pharaoh versus God, us versus God, and then how we relinquish control.
So this story is familiar to some of us.
But this story comes against a backdrop.
In the Old Testament, there is one hero in the Old Testament.
That's God.
God is the hero, and God is into people, and God is into blessing and making promises to his people.
And the first thing he tells Adam and Eve to do in the Garden of Eden, he tells them, okay, he blesses them, and he says,
have lots of kids, multiply, and trust my word that I bring to you.
That's what he says.
Adam and Eve and everyone after them fail to trust God's word, and judgment comes upon them.
The cycle continues.
God then calls a man called Abraham, and he says, I want to bless you, and I want to give you many, many descendants who will multiply throughout the earth, and there will be blessing to the whole earth.
And Abraham trusts God's word, and his family over generations ends up prospering and multiplying.
They end up down in Egypt.
And then in Egypt, as they are growing and growing and growing into a great nation, and everyone is thinking, well, maybe the promises are coming true.
The story takes a turn, and that's where we're going to pick up today.
A new king takes over in Egypt, in this northern part of Egypt called Goshen, the most powerful man in the Western Hemisphere.
But he doesn't know God, and he doesn't know the story of Israel at all.
Instead, he looks at the growth of this ethnic minority as is happening in so many nations around the world today,
and he saw them as a threat to his rule.
And just as with every micromanager, every dictator, every tiger parent who has to be in control,
Pharaoh lived in fear of the things not working out according to his plan.
In fact, he was cripplingly insecure.
And you might like to look at regimes like North Korea or other dictators to see the way this works out.
So Pharaoh gets his people together to come up with a plan to neutralize this threat.
He's got to fix the situation.
That's where we pick up the story.
So in verse 9, have a look in your bulletins.
He says,
There are too many of those Israelites in our country, and they're becoming more powerful than we are.
If we don't outsmart them, their families will keep growing larger.
And if our country goes to war, they could easily fight on the side of our enemies and escape from Egypt.
He's like a boss who realizes some of his employees are smarter than him and more capable than him.
And so he's got to launch his strategy to keep himself in control.
So his first solution, his first fix, is he turns them from farmers into slaves.
If you look at verse 11 to 14, basically what he does, he commissions them to build two cities.
And many scholars believe that actually these two cities would have served as storehouses for military equipment
to build up his army to ensure his military power in the region.
So he was going to use power and control over the Israelites to make himself even stronger in the whole region.
And what he does is, with the men far away from their families, suffering under the labor of work and the harsh conditions,
he's pretty sure, well, they're not going to be having more children during this, so things are going to be okay.
But when you try and be in control,
you will seek to crush and oppress other people.
You put them in a cage of your own expectations, of your own demands.
You will try and enslave them according to your own little world.
Maybe you will even punish them if they don't do what you want them to do.
But in this story,
Pharaoh wasn't in control.
God was in control.
And in spite of everything he did,
the families kept multiplying and multiplying and multiplying
and took over yet more land.
Solution one, failed.
You know when you try and fix something and it doesn't work out,
fear, stress begins to rise.
That's what's going on among the Egyptians.
Insecurity.
So now, solution two.
He calls in two of the Hebrew midwives
in charge of the baby.
He tells them,
okay, you've got to kill any baby boys that are born.
That's verse 15, 16.
And he tells them,
if you're quick,
you could maybe claim that the babies were still born
and the gender gap between men and women would grow so large
that the women would have to marry Egyptians
and then there would be no problem
because basically they'd have to become Egyptians.
Great fix.
Pharaoh's got this one sorted.
Unfortunately, verse 18 to 21,
the solution fails
because those midwives
who Pharaoh wanted to control,
they weren't going to be controlled
because they feared God more than they feared Pharaoh
and they don't do what he asks them to do.
And when Pharaoh finds out
they haven't done what he wanted them to do,
he gets angry and he gets mad
and he calls them in.
Fortunately, Pharaoh's not very good at biology
because he accepts,
I mean, I don't know why he accepts,
you know, Hebrew women have babies quicker than Egyptians,
but, you know,
he's Pharaoh.
He's got other things to think about than biology.
But he,
he's failed.
The fix has failed.
So he comes up with solution number three.
He then calls for the whole Egyptian nation
to join in a flat-out genocide
against the newborn Hebrew babies.
And you see through this story,
you see a progression
that always happens with an idol of control
when you have to be in control.
You see,
when everything's working out,
it's fine,
but when your plans are threatened,
you try and fix the situation.
And if you can't get control,
then you begin to fear
and you begin to stress.
And if you can't then fix the problem
within your fear and distress,
your stress,
then you get frustrated and angry
and you begin to take it out on other people.
And it may even lead to murder.
Maybe not physical murder,
but murderous thoughts,
angry words,
a heart that's filled with bitterness,
resentment,
because you feel helpless,
vulnerable,
insecure.
And what you think you need
to give you fulfillment
is being snatched away
like one of those balloons
that you just see a kid
trying to chase after,
but they can never quite grasp hold of.
It's scary.
And Pharaoh thought
that his biggest issue
was the Israelites.
But what he didn't realize
was that his control idol
had blinded him to the fact
that he was actually making war on God.
Pharaoh was rebelling against God
and everything that God had planned
for his people.
He was afraid
of what God's blessing would mean.
And because when you and I
want to be in control,
what we're saying to God is,
get out of the driver's seat.
Let me take the steering wheel.
I don't like the direction
you're heading in.
I've got to be in control.
I'm taking over
because I know
what's best for me.
But the thing is,
when you try
and have two drivers
at the same time,
that never ends well.
You see,
it takes Pharaoh
ten plagues,
the death of his firstborn son,
the destruction
of a large part of his army
to realize that maybe
I'm actually not
totally in control.
What at the moment for you
is not going the way
you want it to?
Where do you feel helpless
at the moment?
What are you most afraid of
at the moment?
Because lurking there
will be tendencies
to try and grasp control.
So we've looked at how Pharaoh
does this with God.
Let's look at us now with God.
I don't know if you're like me,
but I don't consider myself
to be a dictator
with genocidal tendencies.
I personally haven't ordered
the mass killing
of an ethnic minority
at Queen Mary.
I don't feel like
I have the same amount
of power as Pharaoh.
So I wonder,
how do this connect to me?
And yet,
if you just think about it
for just a minute,
I just begin to see
that the same roots
that are in Pharaoh's heart
are actually deep down
and linger in my own heart
and they enslave me
time and time and time again.
And they stop me
from really enjoying Christ
in my everyday walk.
You see,
an idol of control
is a longing
for everything
to go according to my plan.
I have to be right.
It has to work
within this way.
I was in Shanghai last week.
We were on the,
we were buying tickets
for the metro
and we got to the ticket machine
and I punched in the destination
and Fiona, my wife,
got out some 10 yuan note,
put it in the machine
and it spits it right out again.
So I flatten it,
okay,
give it back to her.
She puts it in the machine,
spits it right out again.
Third time,
try it again,
spits it out again.
Fourth time,
try it again.
By that time,
I'm frustrated.
I've had enough.
I'm like,
okay,
I'm going over to the next can.
I've got to work
a different machine.
It's going to work in that one.
So I'm over there
but Fiona stays
in the other lane,
other machine
and she keeps trying
and I'm standing over here.
She's standing over there
like just about three,
three machines down the road
and she's still trying
and I'm looking over here.
There's two people in front of me
and I'm thinking,
why can't you stop being so stupid?
The machine's not working
and so I tell her,
I shout to her,
come over here.
Stop being an idiot.
She ignores me completely.
So I go further forward
and I can see her,
she's still going,
still going
and so I shout to her again
and you know when somebody
doesn't do what you want,
you get a little bit more annoyed,
right?
And so I'm getting more frustrated
so my tone rises.
I mean,
I'm a fairly chilled out guy normally
but you know,
so I shout,
come over here.
She ignores me,
I get to the front of the queue,
the machine works,
I type it in,
I say,
come over here.
She comes immediately over here,
puts the 10 yen note in,
it works,
we get our tickets.
And then I spend two minutes
telling her
how inconsiderate she was,
how stupid to keep trying
in that machine.
And I went on
because I was right.
My machine worked,
your machine didn't.
But she was hurt
because the words that I used
and the tone that I'd used
was harsh.
Because, you see,
I thought that my way
was the right way.
And I wanted to cage her in
into the expectations
that I had,
the demands that I had
for what she should do
at that moment.
Now, she explained to me
that she's had many situations
where actually she's tried 20 times
and after the 25th time,
it's actually worked.
I've never experienced that.
But,
in her mind,
that,
in fact,
we didn't get the tickets
any quicker
by me shouting at her.
In fact,
she came,
immediately I got to the front,
she was there,
she put them out there,
we got the tickets.
Why was I so consumed
by this?
Why did I actually hurt
and unlovingly use words
to criticize my wife?
Well,
it's because I want
to be in control.
That's how pharaohs work.
I could have waited,
asked her to come over
and then patiently waited
till the front
and, you know,
it could have,
what I was doing
could have even been
the right thing to do,
I think it was,
but my way of fixing things
is to say things like,
why can't you?
Why can't you ever listen to me?
Why can't you stop
being inconsiderate?
And, you know,
when you hear yourself
saying those words,
that's probably control
that is coming up
because people don't get built up
and encouraged by those words,
they get crushed by them.
And you'll end up,
like me,
hurting the ones you love
because you have to be in control
and have everything
the way you want it.
There's so many areas
where we do this.
In parenting,
we love our kids,
but it's sometimes
such a struggle
for our love
and the good,
healthy boundaries
that we want to set
for our kids
to not shift
into control.
Paul Tripp,
who's a counselor,
writes a very helpful article
about controlling parenting.
He says that
when kids are young,
you as the parent
have a large amount
of control.
You decide their routines,
you decide their dress sense,
you decide the food they eat.
But every day they grow,
they are learning
to be independent.
And he says this,
he says,
the goal of parenting
is not to retain
tight-fisted control
over our children
in an attempt
to guarantee
their safety
and our sanity.
It isn't to conform
my children to my image,
but to work
so that they're conformed
to the image of Christ.
My goal isn't to clone
my tastes,
opinions,
and habits
within my kids.
I'm not looking
for my image in them.
I'm looking to see Christ's.
The goal
is to be used
of God
to instill
in our children
an ever-maturing
self-control
through the principles
of the word
and to allow them
to exercise
ever-widening
circles of choice,
control,
and independence.
Because we say,
I'm not trying
to be in control,
I'm trying to do
what's best for them,
but how do you know
if you've gone
from healthy boundaries
to control,
or just look
at the level
of frustration
that you feel.
Observe the kinds
of words you use
to try and get
your kids,
your colleagues,
anybody else
to do what you
want them to do.
See your reactions
when your kids
or other people
fail to live up
to your expectations.
For those things
will be signs
of whether you
have a control problem.
Controllers like me
hate uncertainty.
Controllers like me
are perfectionists
who struggle
to delegate
to other people
because I can always
do it better
than everyone else.
Controllers are planners
who hate it
when others
upset their plans.
And our stress
and our fear
which results
often ends up
hurting the ones
that we love
the most.
And Exodus,
this story of Pharaoh
is trying to tell us
this is not just
a horizontal problem,
this is also
a vertical problem.
With Fiona,
I was saying to God,
you're not in control
of this,
I am.
So I've got to fix it.
And if I can't fix it,
then I get angry.
I say my plan
is best for my life,
I can't trust you God.
And that's at the heart
of what the Bible
calls sin.
And the consequences
of that,
of telling God,
get out of my life,
I know how to do it,
is judgment.
It's bad news.
That's what Pharaoh
experienced.
So that's how Pharaoh
deals with God.
That's how we can
often deal with God.
But how do we relinquish
control in our lives?
Let God be God
of our lives.
Well, you and I
won't let control,
go of control,
until we realize
two things.
One thing,
it should be obvious,
but we're not
in control.
Even trying to
let go of control,
because sometimes
we try and control
our letting go
of control.
And that's just
messed up.
because,
think about it,
go back to your kids again.
Can you control
your kids?
Well,
you can control
the outward aspects
of their diet,
their fashion sense,
until they get older
and they become independent.
But when they're independent,
that's scary,
because we get scared
because we love our kids,
because they might make
the wrong choices.
They might make
the wrong friends.
They might get the grades
or the schools
that we don't want
them to get into.
And you can try
and control people
on the outside,
but you cannot control
how they feel
on the inside.
You cannot control
what other people
think of you.
You cannot control
the global financial markets.
You cannot control
the weather.
You can't control
other drivers on the road.
You can't control
how fast the person
in front of you
is walking.
I wish I could.
You can't control
whether your friends
or your spouse
listens to you or not.
You can't control
your future.
In fact,
there's probably more
outside of your control.
There is more
outside of your control
than you could
possibly imagine.
You can't control
where you were born.
You can't control
who your parents were.
You can't control
your past experiences.
Now, we can seek
to influence
and shape decisions.
That's right.
But thinking
you can control
your destiny
is an illusion.
And you'll become
manipulative,
inflexible,
unloving
if you really believe
that illusion.
You know,
we live life
as if we're
like taking a wild lion
for a walk
on a dog leash.
You know,
and for a while
it seems like,
you know,
he's pretty tame.
I'm managing to do this.
I can handle it.
It's fine.
But you know,
it just takes
one swipe of the paw
of the lion
to realize
that you were never
in control
of that situation.
And you're a fool
if you think
you are really
the master.
Don't walk a lion
out here today
because you're always
sooner or later
going to realize
that you're not
in control.
Pharaoh thought
he was.
If he'd realized
sooner that he wasn't,
just think how much
hassle it would have
saved him.
The book of Exodus
would have been
so much shorter.
But,
can I be real
that
many of us
think we can
actually control God
by coming to church,
being nice people,
doing the right things,
putting offering in,
doing all those
good things,
and then we expect
him to answer
our prayers
the way we want
them to be answered,
to fulfill our plans
the way we want
them to be fulfilled,
and then we get
annoyed with God
if he doesn't do
exactly the way
we wanted him to do,
or maybe we just think,
okay, God can't handle,
God, you can do
the little church bit,
my work bit,
I can handle that
because I know
how to deal with that,
you clearly don't.
I've got an education.
I've been on a
training course.
I know how to do it.
Sometimes we say,
God, okay,
you can deal with my
family, but not my work.
Sometimes we say,
okay, God,
you can deal with my work,
but then I'll pursue
unhealthy relationships
because, God,
you can't handle
my relationship status.
I want to be in control
of that.
But the thing is,
you're not the Lord,
the controller of your work.
You're not the Lord
of your family.
You're not the Lord
of your relationships.
He is.
And that's the second thing
we need to remember.
So the first,
you're not in control.
The second thing is,
God is great,
and he is in control.
So I don't have to be.
Christopher Hitchens,
who was a very famous
atheist,
wrote a book called
God is Not Great.
And one of his biggest
gripes against God
was that he saw him
as this kind of
tyrannical dictator.
If he exists,
then he's like
this big brother figure
who kind of is watching
your every step
or kind of slap you
around the face
if you do something wrong.
And he says,
if there is a God,
I wouldn't want to follow him
because he wants to spoil my fun
and make me slaves
just to his own wishes.
And I think Christopher Hitchens
actually said something
which many of us,
even if we're Christians,
would not say,
but actually in our hearts
we think.
Because secretly we fear
not having our hands
on the steering wheel
means that actually
God is not good enough
to steer me in a direction
where he will get
the best for my life.
Only I know how to handle
my problems
to get the best for my life.
And my insecurity
is so obvious
when I don't know
what to do.
Some of you
may be facing situations
where you don't know
what to do at the moment
and it can be terrifying
because we,
and we worry,
and you know what worry is?
Worry is trying to get control
of something you can't control.
It's desperately trying
to get hold of that balloon,
but it's escaping you.
It's the way that we try
and hold on to
what we can't hold on to.
Life,
we think,
can sometimes be out of control,
but it's never out of control.
In this story,
apart from God,
there are two other
kind of mini heroes.
These are the Hebrew midwives.
They could have felt
everything was going wrong
because this maniac pharaoh
seems to be controlling everything.
But at the risk
of their own lives,
they chose to disobey pharaoh.
And normally,
you don't mess
with a control freak
like pharaoh.
But they,
and the Bible,
the Hebrew word says,
they feared God.
That's why their names
are in the story.
We don't actually have
the name of the pharaoh here.
Nobody knows his name
because actually,
the Bible is saying
that these people,
these two midwives
who are named
are the people
who count in God's great plan
because they are walking
in fear of him.
Because you see,
pharaoh feared losing control,
but the Hebrew women
feared God.
They trusted in him
because they knew
there is only one person
who's got the power,
who's got the grace,
who's got the love
to handle this one.
And they could trust him
because he's faithful.
And they knew
that the promise
that he had given
to his people,
he was already fulfilling.
And as they look back,
they could see
he's being faithful,
so he's going to be faithful again,
so we can trust him.
And they didn't know
what was going to happen
as a result of their decision.
They didn't know
what the future
was going to hold.
They didn't even know
whether it was going
to work out okay,
but they said,
I can trust you, God,
because I see
that you're faithful.
And you see what happens?
The midwives
themselves get kids.
Did you read that?
The midwives
get blessed as well,
and they get part of this promise
of blessing,
of multiplication.
God works through
their faithfulness.
The reason we try
and control is fear.
We fear life
is out of control,
but the Bible's message
is for you
and for me
right now.
From the day you were born
to the day you die,
God has got
every single minute,
every single second,
every crisis,
every success,
every situation
in his hands.
I don't know
what you're facing
right now,
but he's got it.
He's got it
in his hands.
There's never been
one moment in your life
where your life
has been out of control.
Now,
I find that hard
because, you know,
I sure feel like
life is out of control
sometimes.
But you know
why I feel like
it's out of control?
It's because it's
out of my control.
It's not out of
his control.
And it's just
when life is not
going the way
I want it to work
according to my plans,
that's when I feel
it's out of control.
But God is saying,
I am great.
My plan is much bigger,
much greater,
much more beautiful.
In fact,
I have plans to bless you,
not to harm you.
Plans to give you
a hope and a future.
And we take that promise
and we say,
okay,
I've got plans
to bless my plans,
plans to give me
a hope for my future
with everything
that I want to do.
And he says,
no,
my plans are better
than your plans.
And God being in control
doesn't mean we kind of
sit back and say,
well,
God's in control.
I don't have to go to work.
Okay?
I don't have to feed myself.
You know,
leave the chopsticks there,
they'll kind of magically
food will come into my mouth.
You know,
a farmer
goes out to sow
seed
because that's his job.
but he knows
that the growing
of the crops
is out of his hands.
His job is to plant the seed.
He doesn't control the weather.
He's not in control
of the results.
He's just faithful
with what he's got.
If there's no God,
the world is a scary place
and you have to grasp
for control
or you'll go insane.
But unlike Christopher Hitchens
says,
there is a God
who is in control,
who's not a dictator
and he's your heavenly father.
More than that,
he's got a plan
which is for your good
and for his glory
and it's much better
than you could imagine.
You see,
in the story,
Pharaoh
tried to control everything.
But God
had a bigger idea.
Chapter 2,
you see,
a baby is born
into an Israelite family
and the very plan
that Pharaoh had used
to try and control
the Israelites
is the very plan
that God uses
to actually bring
a deliverer
who is Moses
who hides him
in a basket.
He's then taken
by the Pharaoh's daughter
and he is basically
protected
from the Pharaoh
by being brought
into Pharaoh's own house
right under the nose
of Pharaoh
and he's the one
that God is going to use
to deliver his people.
Now,
would you have planned that?
I don't think
if I had planned the story,
I would have planned that
that way.
But God has a bigger plan
that he's working out.
You see,
when God's in control,
you see,
he's doing something
so much bigger.
Moses wasn't the only one
who was a deliverer
in Egypt.
You see,
1,000,
1,500 years later,
there was another
control freak
called Herod
who also tried
to control
God's plans
by killing
baby boys
in Bethlehem.
but there was
one baby boy
who God
gave a dream
to his parents
and told them
to escape
to Egypt
because God
was going to make
this baby boy
a deliverer
and a rescuer
like no other.
You see,
Herod could not
have imagined
this plan
but God knew
what he was up to
all the time
because that baby boy
was Jesus.
Jesus,
the one
who in Philippians
it says,
didn't grasp
hold of control
to stay
kind of seizing
power for himself
but he humbled himself,
made himself a servant
and came to serve us
by dying on a cross,
taking that judgment
that control freaks
like Pharaoh deserve
and like you and me
deserve
so that we could enjoy
relationship with our Father
knowing that he
is in control
and we don't have to be.
We don't have
a tyrannical God.
We have a God
whose love
is endless
for you
and for me
and if he's loving
and if he's in control,
why do we so
want to hold on
to control?
you don't replace
an idol
of control
by stopping
trying to be
in control.
You replace it
by seeing
that Jesus
is the ultimate
one
who has died
for you,
gave up his life
for you
and you
can trust
him
because he's good
and as you walk
in trust
of him,
your faith
in him
will grow
because he always,
always,
always keeps
his promises.
I don't know
what's happening
in your life
right now
but there will be
things this week
where you
are going to be
tempted
to grasp hold
of and to stress,
to get angry,
to get frustrated,
to be manipulative,
to give people
a silent treatment,
to be critical.
You're going to be
tempted in all
of these ways
and God says,
listen,
will you trust
me who's got
this situation
better than you
have it?
If you're not
a Christian,
your whole life
in some way
or other
is basically
trying to be
in control.
It may seem
to work for a while
but like that lion,
the lion of life
is not tame.
it's on your
shoulders
the whole of life.
That is a heavy
weight to bear
and it may not
just be you
but it may be
the people around
you who suffer
the consequences
of your control.
God's call
for you
is to respond
today
and to repent
which means
to say,
God,
I've tried
to take control
of my life.
Forgive me.
I've tried
to do your job
which is only
job that you
can do
but I want
you to be
my Lord.
I don't want
to be the one
who is Lord
of all of my life
because I can't
save myself.
Some of you
need to pray
that today.
Some of us
are Christians.
Some of us
think we're
Christians
because we
come to church
but if we're
to look at
our lives,
your finger marks
are all over
every part
of your life.
You allow
God into
one closet
in your heart
but the rest
of your house
is your domain
to rule
and to reign.
You don't want
God to drive
your car
because you're
afraid he's
going to mess
up your plans.
He's going
to ruin
your life
and let me
tell you,
God will
ruin your plans
but he's got
a better one.
He's got
a better one
and the reason
sometimes
that for me
Jesus doesn't
thrill me,
the reason
why
if I ask
you
honestly
and me
honestly
do I
overflow
with a love
and a peace
and a contentment
in Christ
at the moment.
One of the reasons
why if I asked
your colleagues,
if I asked
your family,
do you see
Christ working
in their life
in a joy-filled
way?
One of the reasons
why in some areas
of our lives
we might have to
honestly say
I'm not sure
that I do
is because
I've tried
to keep hold
of it
for myself
and I'm not
a very good
dictator of my life
and God's call
for me
and God's call
for you
is to repent,
to lay down
those areas
where you
are trying
to hold on
and find
your security,
your identity
in what you
can do
to fix
your life.
God's not
interested in
making your
plans work out.
Sorry,
He's not.
But He's got
a better plan
and His plan
is always
for your good.
It's always
for your good,
your joy.
It's always
for your peace.
It's always
so that you
will experience
blessing.
So will you,
I don't know
what that area
is in your life,
just think
what is the areas
I have been
frustrated in
this week?
That may be
the area
you need to
open your closet
and say,
God,
I surrender
this to you.
I want to
trust you.
Help me to
trust you
in this area
of your life.
I have a
short video
that I want
to show you
which I think
demonstrates
some of how
this works.
I need
for you.
Two泣 lynδα
will jump
out of
the moment
where
and
have
you
who
ress
home
to
example,
that I
could ride
from the
side of the
or?
I can't see you
if you're
listening to me
I'll be
at a little
a little
absorbe
Thank you.
You say that after me.
God is great.
Come on.
It's not too long.
You can cope.
God is great.
So I do not have to be in control.
I want you to be in control.
I want you to close your eyes with me.
And I want you to think in your life right now.
Where are the areas where I'm afraid to let God, well, have the control that he already has.
Where am I trying to get hold of that steering wheel and not let him be the one who leads and guides me?
I don't know what God has for you.
Sometimes life can be tough.
It was for the Israelites.
But God is working something far greater.
If you trust him, you will see his plan working amazing.
Let's just pray for a minute.
I think we need to repent in some areas.
Father, I just admit that actually, I don't think I'm a control freak.
But there are so many areas of my life where I am.
And when I try and take hold of things, it actually hinders me from enjoying my childlike relationship with my father who I know, who I know loves me and will provide.
I pray for all of us here, Lord.
I pray for some people here who really wonder whether God can be trustworthy.
Things have happened in life which have been tough.
You've had to work your way through things.
Maybe you feel like you've been successful.
And you've been able to do it by yourself.
So why do I need to trust God?
Lord, I pray, Lord, for those of us who think that, Lord, you would show us the damage we do to other people, Lord, when we try and take control.
Lord, show us that your way to trust you enables us to love people, love our kids, love our families, love our colleagues, love our friends, love the people around us in so much greater ways than if we have to be the one who sorts it all out.
Father, thank you that you are faithful.
Please help us to remember that this week as we go.
In your name.
Amen.