The Coburn Blog

Oh man, today at church was a really great sermon, I wish I had a transcript of it.  It was about how we should not put anything else in our lives above God, and how we use him as our support system in our lives instead of our friends, pastors, and anyone else down here on earth.

For instance, Jeremiah 29 verse 11-12 says “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and i will listen to you”

PSALM 46:1 says  “God is our refuge and our strength, and ever present help in trouble”

My personal favorite passage, which he didn’t talk about today, is John 3:16  “For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believith in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life”

Isn’t that wonderful?  He is basically saying here, that as long as we believe in God, and put no other God’s before him, that we shall not perish, but instead have everlasting life when we die.  That is just truely amazing. Having that kind of faith, how can you ever moarn the loss of another, knowing in your heart the person you lost is now immortal?  I mean, I just can’t imagine being upset about that.

The pastors sermon talked about the troubles him and his wife had with their daughter.  She started to rebel against the family when she turned 18, got involved with one boy who was into pornographics and drugs, then she got involved with another guy who said he was a pastor, but turned out to be too controlling and into alcohol and drugs too. He went on to say that they were at their witts end trying to figure out what to do for her, until he read PSALM 46:1, it was then  then they realized what they had to do.  They had to step asside and let God handle it, instead of trying to handle it themselves.    He said the more they tried to handle it themselves by pressuring her into going to church and preventing her from seeing guys, the more rebellious against them she became.

So they stepped asside as her parents, and realized God is a much better father then they could ever be, and that put their mind at ease as they continued to pray for her.  God always listens to our prayers, but doesn’t always answer them when its most convinient for us. Instead, he has his own time table, that is beyond our understanding, for God says impatience is the enemy.

To make a long story short, she ended up coming to God in her own time, and started attending church where she was living, and she fell in love and married the pastor of that church, so not only did God answer their prayers, but he answered them better then they had ever hoped for.

Touching story eh? He ended the sermon that day by saying “many times, we forget to put God first in our lives.  We goto church only for the glory of ourselves”.  He also says “many times, we forget to put God first by concentrating on our college degree to better ourselves, for more money, for more materialism, and that, all these are signs of the enemy”.   We live to serve God, not for the glory of ourselves.

Alot of times, we turn to our family, or friends, when we feel depressed, sad, lonely, need something, or even to moarn our lost loved ones. In PSALM 91:4  it says “He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge. his faithfullness will be your shield and rampart”.   This passage is basically saying that when we feel depressed, sad, in tears, lonely, need something, or moarn our lost loved ones,  turn to God, for his faithfulness will make you feel better, for turning to your family and loved ones, instead of to God, is the enemy.

Afterwards, in Sunday school, we talked about how it doesn’t matter what sins we commit down here on earth, for God doesn’t see a 10 minute argument any better then comitting adultery, or comitting murder. In God’s eyes, all sins are judged against us equally.  For in John 3:16 it states “For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believith in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life”

According to the scriptures, we are all guilty of sin, rather its yelling at someone behind their back for not turning on their turn signal, or comitting adultery, we are all guilty of sin.  We have no right to judge each other, for we are all guilty of sin equally no matter what type of sin it is.   The only one we have to answer to is God, and God says in John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believith in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life”  which means, as long as we believe in him, and put no other Gods before him, that we will not goto hell, but instead have everlasting life up in heaven.  Now is that not cool or what? Who wouldn’t want to be a christian, knowing all we have to do to keep from burning in hell for all eternity, is have faith.  Jesus died on the cross to save us from our sins, so it doesn’t matter if we commit adultery, commit murder, or think bad thoughts about our boss, for Jesus died on the cross for us, and as long as we believe in him, we will have everlasting life