WHERE DO YOU PUT YOUR TRUST?

Jeremiah 17:5-8 

5 Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart departs from the Lord.

6 For he shall be like a shrub in the desert and shall not see when good comes but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land which is not inhabited.

7 Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord and whose hope is the Lord.

8 For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river and will not fear when heat comes, but its leaf will be green and will not be anxious in  the year of drought nor will cease from yielding fruit.

WHAT WILL HAPPEN IF WE PUT OUR TRUST IN THE LORD?

A.  Our life will be like these:

1.  Tree planted by the waters – God will plant you in the right place at the right time.

2.  Roots by the river – God will connect you to the right source where there’s nothing to neither fear nor worry.

3.   Leaf will be green – God will give you good health.

      Yielding fruit – God will make your life productive, prosperous and successful.

B.  As you trust God, He will surround you with the right people, financial & material blessings, favor, success and victory.

THERE’S A DANGER OF BEING BLESSED

A.  There is a tendency of putting your trust in the blessings rather than God.

B.  There’s nothing wrong with being highly favored by God with riches, friends, material blessings, success and victory. (Only, never put your trust and faith on them.)

C.   If you put your trust in your blessings eventually the flow will be cut off.

Jeremiah 17:5-6

D.  illustration: King Jehoshaphat

—  2 Chronicles 17:3-5, 10-13 – He was surrounded with favor.

—  2 Chronicles 18:1 – He was tempted to compromise.

—  2 Chronicles 20:1-4 – The result of his compromise and the result of his seeking God once again.

E.  You will only be frustrated if you put your trust in blessings.

Psalm 43:5 Why are you cast down, O my soul and why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him, the help of my countenance and my God.

HOW WOULD YOU KNOW THAT YOUR TRUST IS IN YOUR BLESSING?

A.   IF YOU FIND IT HARD TO RELEASE YOUR BLESSING WHEN NEEDED.

1.  If your blessing is the one holding or controlling you.

2.  The love of money/blessing is the root of all kinds of evil.

PRINCIPLES:

1.  “Your giving is only proof that you have already  conquered greed.”

2.   “The seed you sow can create the future God 

   has promised you.”

3.   “When you let go of what is in your hand, God   

      will let go of what is in His hand for you.”

    1 Timothy 6:10, 17-19

     Deuteronomy 8:11-18

B.  IF YOU ARE PLEASING PEOPLE MORE THAN GOD.

Ephesians 6:5-9

1.   Men around you cannot give you reward in heaven.

2.   Never please people to get their approval. (You are approved of God.)

PRINCIPLES:

1.   Those who do not discern your worth are disqualified   for relationship. (Illustration: Pharisees & Scribes)

2.   Never, never, never establish relationship with anyone you are not accepted.

3.   Never spend more time on a critic than you would give to a friend.

IF WE START TO DEPEND ON HUMAN STRENGTH & ABILITY.
Proverbs 3:5-6

1.  People are limited in strength and ability.

Psalm 118:8-9 “It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes.”

Ephesians 3:20

2.  People come and go but God will remain the same forever.

Psalm 20:7-8 “Some trust in chariots, and some in horses, but we will remember the name of the Lord our God. They have bowed down and fallen, but we have risen and stand upright

Psalm 56:11 “In God I have put my trust, I will not be afraid what man can do to me.

3.  God is the only one who can perform miracle and can change situations that man cannot do.  Zechariah 4:6

WHY GOD IS ALLOWING US TO BE IN UNCONTROLLABLE SITUATIONS?

A.  For us to put our trust in Him and His Word again.

Deuteronomy 8:2-3 “And you shall remember that Lord your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that proceeds from the   mouth of the Lord.”