Sermon Notes: "What Is Your Golden Calf?"

After a break from sharing the sermon notes with you due to travel, family issues, a death in the family, I am finally so thankful to be able to share the message from today's message with you again.

The Scripture Lesson for today was from Exodus 32:1-14...and it starts out with:

1.  "Now when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, 

the people gathered together to Aaron, and said to him, 

"Come, make us gods that shall go before us;

for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt,

we do not know what has become of him."

3.  "So all the people broke off the golden earrings which were in their ears, 

and brought them to Aaron.

4.  And he received the gold from their hand, and he fashioned it with an engraving tool,

and made a molded calf.

They they said, "This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!"

Thoughts and notes...

• The desire for God is the most fundamental appetite of all...even when we deny it, that burning desire is still there...
• Sometimes we divert our desire to worship other objects...but it is our need for God that has brought us there...
• We have a broken relationship with God...and every time we pray we have an opportunity to mend that broken relationship
• God seeks us out...He looks for us and finds us
• People sometimes don't want to be found...we just want to HIDE.

The Israelites had been given a great deal.  They were chosen by God to be His followers...His chosen people...His witnesses to the truth that there was only ONE GOD..The Living God...

Abruptly tragedy struck because they thought Moses was on the mountain too long...so they decided to take matters into their own hands...

They made the golden calf...they wanted to go their own way...

• How often do we lose our faith and trust in God and go our own way?
• How quickly the Israelites turned from being the people of God to being the people of the golden calf...

Sometimes we look for a quick fix for our problems...

The people of Israel looked for a quick fix...something to fill the

  "God-shaped void in their hearts"...

They moved back to that realm of darkness and confusion just like that...

We live in a corrupt world, filled with self, materialism...Hey! You can't take it with you! There are no U-Haul trailers attached to that hearse carrying your remains to the cemetery...

But you CAN take the POWER AND LOVE of Jesus Christ with you...

• We are a new creation...
• When trials come do we turn to God...or back to our "golden calf"?
• Do we wallow in self-pity, anger?

The effectiveness of our witness depends on the choices we make...

What is YOUR golden calf?

• Anger, jealousy, anxiety, insecurity are all around us
• We grope in the darkness of our world
• No matter how far down in the pit we get...

God doesn't turn away from us!

Judgment comes when we live in the life of our own creation

• Grace abounds as we accept God's free, unmerited gift of mercy...when we accept the abundant life  that comes through faith in Jesus Christ

PRAY...Give the golden calf to Lord God Almighty...

At times we have lost our way...Come, and lay the "golden calf" of our lives at the altar of Jesus Christ our Lord...

Amazingly, God planned this message so perfectly today...our new "ladies' trio" (of which I am so humbly and thankful to be a part of) sang this song prior to the message today:

"Wonderful, Merciful Savior"

sung here by Selah

Wonderful, Merciful Savior

Selah

Wonderful, merciful Savior

Precious Redeemer and Friend

Who would have thought that a Lamb

Could rescue the souls of men

Oh, You rescue the souls of men

Counselor, Comforter, Keeper

Spirit we long to embrace

You offer hope when our hearts have

Hopelessly lost our way

Oh, we've hopelessly lost the way

You are the One that we praise

You are the One we adore

You give the healing and grace

Our hearts always hunger for

Oh, our hearts always hunger for

Almighty, infinite Father

Faithfully loving Your own

Here in our weakness You find us

Falling before Your throne

Oh, we're falling before Your throne

You are the One that we praise

You are the One we adore

You give the healing and grace

Our hearts always hunger for

Oh, our hearts always hunger for...

May the Lord bless your reading and understanding of these notes today...I know I have had to do some introspection and ask myself just what are the "golden calves" in my life...they can sneak up on us if we don't pay attention...things like our "stuff" that we treasure more than our relationship with the Lord and His plan for us...I am struggling with this...wanting to follow Him more fully...and yet there is so much "stuff" in the way...  I did take one big step this past week by committing to joining the choir at church, and also singing in this trio today...these are some "baby steps" to getting back into more active participation in God's ministry.  Praying He will help us clear the path to doing whatever He leads us to do...one step at a time.

Have a blessed and glorious week dear friends!!!

Please Note : I want to repeat this disclaimer here...the notes, outline, and content included here are based upon my own personal understanding of the message that was being given.  I am not attempting to completely quote or reproduce this message or any other message I've shared previously.  Just as each person reading these notes may glean insights and thoughts that seem to directly apply to one's own situation and interpretation, my own delivery of these messages is skewed by my hearing and translation of what is being said.  Some may read my notes here and wonder if they were hearing the same message as I...and I say, God speaks to each of us as He wills...there are things He is trying to get across to each individual that may be entirely different than what the person sitting next to you in the pew is needing to hear...  That is how the Holy Spirit works! He knows what we need to hear and how to apply it to our hearts.  So it is with that understanding that I present these sermon notes to you.

Sermon Notes from FUMC of Interlachen, FL, 9/2/2018, Pastor A.C. Myers.