Turn to the Lord

I want to help you focus on the main things in life. The main things in life are God’s relationship with you, and learning more about God. I’m going to look at the life of a man who did know a lot of things about God in his early life, and then things went a bit wrong.

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2 Chronicles 14:1

He began his reign over Judah well.

2 Chronicles 14:2-9

There was an army’s strength of 580,000, and all of them were men of valour.

2 Chronicles 14:9-11

So he had 580,000 men against a million. And this is what Asa cried.

2 Chronicles 14:11

Asa had totally the right perspective. He had a good ten years, and now is in this battle.

2 Chronicles 14:12-16

Not only a good start to his reign, but now when the first war appeared out of the blue, there was not a problem, because it was God’s name that he went forward in.

2 Chronicles 15:1-7

So he came to Asa and told him that he’d got it right. He’d got the right balance, because everything he did he went forward trusting God to deliver.

2 Chronicles 15:8-12

This is now fifteen years into his reign. He first had ten quiet years, and then the Ethiopians rose up and God defeated them, and now, to mark the occasion, there was a massive offering unto God.

2 Chronicles 15:12-16

Everything was fine at this point. The reason why it was fine was because he trusted in God. He knew his position was from God. No one has any power except from God. In your life, you need to know where God is. Where’s his perspective in your life?

2 Chronicles 15:16-20

This was quite a time.

2 Chronicles 16:1

Something now has happened in Asa’s heart. Before, his instant solution was asking God for help. He rested on him and went out in his name. But thirty-five years in, everything was quiet. Asa didn’t bring it to God.

2 Chronicles 16:2-7

There was no hint in getting God involved. He knew what to do. He had money in the treasury, in the church, in the king’s house. So a deal was done. But God didn’t get a look in.

2 Chronicles 16:7-10

Asa had no relied on God in all this. He knew what to do, and it actually worked. But thirty-five years in, God was forgotten about. One thing you and I need to do, if you’re aware of how it all started off with God in your life, is not forget we’re were from. We mustn’t forget the origin of our faith, and that we started off in God. We mustn’t forget the foundation of your life, if you’re a Chroniclesistian. Are you just going through the motions? Are you letting things go by? You think you know what you’re doing, that you can sort things out. It’s not a coincidence that God’s brought you here and caused you to focus on your walk with Him.

This got to Asa because he knew inside what he had done, and he got angry.

2 Chronicles 16:10

As a leader, things had been found out, and then he took it out on the people.

2 Chronicles 16:11-13

He was still in a rage. As far as he was concerned, he’d dealt with his problem. He’d sorted it. But it wasn’t done in the right way. He cut God out of it. And now he has diseased feet, but he still doesn’t go to God.

2 Chronicles 16:13-15

1 Peter 3:10-13

It might be that you know, in your heart, that God has been getting hold of you. I want to confirm to you, that this is for the reason that he wants to change you on the inside.

What happened, Asa? You started off so well, and yet it ended up like that. It was as if you got too sure of yourself, and you became in charge of Judah. You forgot that God appointed you.

God wants you to turn around. He wants you to realise that you’re dealing with a God who changes people on the inside. It’s that simple. Learn from the life of Asa. Those of you who’ve been a Chroniclesistian for some time, remember the order of things. It’s God with whom we have to do. He is the author of our faith. He is the one who is faithful and in control. We can’t take everything for granted. Our heart is one of thanks that we rest on him, our shield and our defender. We’re going forward in him.

God is in Control

God is in the area of having created the heavens and the earth. To him, momentous events have occurred already in what he has done through that creation, and through what he has done in sending his son to this earth to provide the solution for mankind. He’s into thinking globally.

I want to look at a time when God revealed his purposes in global terms, but it was very specific to one man and his family.

Genesis 6:1-7

Why did God allow that to happen? I don’t have many answers, but I want you to see the sequence where God had his purpose.


Genesis 6:8

If ever there was a time when we need to have that as the strapline across our forehead, as it were, it’s now: “We’re walking with God.” It’s when men’s hearts fail them for fear. Noah walked with God and found grace in the eyes of the Lord.

Genesis 5:24

Noah walked with God in an evil and wicked generation, and he found grace in the eyes of the Lord.

Genesis 6:10-22

Whatever God said, that’s what Noah did. He was mocked, laughed at, but he was looking beyond. Because he was doing what God told him to do, he knew it was right, accurate and true. In your life, your faith is in the one who began that faith inside you. He’s the author and finisher of your faith.

People’s faith is tested. Things happen outside of anyone’s control, but God is in control. Noah was getting on with what God commanded him to do, in the midst of a crooked and wicked generation.

Genesis 7:1-3

Even in the midst of violence and evil across the world, God’s plan was secure. This wasn’t a hastily revised plan. His plan was secure to keep seed alive across all the face of the earth.

Genesis 7:16

There wasn’t a rope by which Noah pulled the door up, after they got in. This was God’s solution, and the Lord shut him in. There are people who have proved that God has shut them in to himself. They don’t fear what man can do to them because the Lord is in control.

The rain and floods had come, and the water had been on the earth for about five months.

Genesis 8:15-22

It doesn’t matter what occurs.

God is in control, and after all this had happened, and it was just Noah, his family and the animals, God’s covenant was that while the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease. This made me realise how significant it is that God has put faith in your heart. The faith that he has put in your heart, even though it might be as a grain of mustard seed, the smallest seed will grow into a massive tree.

Hebrews 11:5-7

Noah found grace in the eyes of God and did all that God commanded him to. We need faith inside us, in what God has done in our hearts. God is in control. And of your life and your viewing of circumstances, you are in the palm of his hand. Your times are in his hand.

I can say that’s what I believe, because of what God has done in my heart. It doesn’t matter what things are going on.

When Noah was on this earth, what he did was what God commanded him to do. There is a thread of faith on the earth.

Everything revolves around Jesus Christ, and when he came to this earth, he made it possible for you to be a partaker of his life. As far as you’re concerned, you want to live your life believing in Him.

We need to share faith with our neighbour. We have the answer, and his name is Jesus. God has dealt with global issues, and he knows every individual. He is the solution for everything

Dwelling in God

‘God’ and ‘love’ are synonymous. Dwelling in God and dwelling in love are the same thing. Nothing will prevent God working out His purposes for you. So when you’re trying to figure things out, remember the context of the life He’s given you and what He’s done already. Will anything prevent God from blessing you? No. Is there any circumstance in my life that God cannot sort out for the good? No. He will make provision – God is love.

God is love. It is worth confirming to your heart constantly, the fact that God loves you because that’s who He is – He can’t but love, that’s His nature.

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1 John 4:15 - 16

‘God’ and ‘love’ are synonymous. Dwelling in God and dwelling in love are the same thing. You are a special human being because of what God has done in you. His love for you is so great that He sent His Son to earth to die for you.

Romans 8:28

All things work together for good to those who are the called, according to whose purpose? His purpose. When you become a Christian, your aims and ambitions are changed and your life is lived out for Him.

Romans 8:29

In a church you are brothers and sisters because you are united by that common purpose, to serve God and live according to His purposes.

Romans 8:31 - 32

There is no stint to God’s provision for you. It’s inevitable – you can’t stop it. For those looking for it, it’s on its way.

Romans 8:33 - 34

He is still involved in your life, minute by minute, constantly re-affirming what He has done for you on the cross.

Romans 8:35

Nothing will prevent God working out His purposes for you – He is love. So when you’re trying to figure things out, remember the context of the life He’s given you and what He’s done already. Will anything prevent God from blessing you? No.

Romans 8:36 - 37

The way He conquered things for you was that He conquered sin in your life. He took away the power of it and the outworking of it that was all wrong. Sin causes death but He conquered death. That is why the cross is empty – He was buried, put in a tomb and rose from the dead. Now Paul writes, “In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us”. So when you are involved and immersed in God’s love, inevitably you are more than a conqueror, because God is love and there is nothing on this earth that can prevent you from being blessed by God; there is nothing that can get in the way of God’s love for you.

Romans 8:38 - 39

It’s impossible for you to be separated from God, who is love. If you let this sink in in your situation it makes things different because you see things from a perspective of God in your life, not of you trying to work out the circumstances in your life. I’m a Christian – a Christ-one, as a result of what He has done for me. Is there any circumstance in my life that God cannot sort out for the good? No. Is there any provision that He can’t make for my needs? No. He will make provision. Why is it that sometimes I want things to be done sooner that it happens? Let me confirm to you that the timing of God’s provision in your life will be perfect and inevitable and certain and sure. God is love, and the more you think about who God is, the more it is imperative that we are open to allow His provision to come forth.

Don’t be bitter, don’t regret, don’t think He has missed you out, don’t think, “He always blesses that person but never me”. Don’t think like that. Rejoice in what is happening to another person because you can see how faithful God is and who He is to them. You may say, “Well that is all very well but you don’t know the circumstances of my life”. I don’t but I know that these words are timely for you. Why are they timely? Because anything which causes us to realise once again that you are a child of God, that He has called you: He’s given you faith and you can confess Him as the Son of God; as we read in 1 John 4, it is a result of what He has done. By rights we shouldn’t be involved with Him, but He persevered, fulfilled what God wanted, went obediently to the cross, gave His life so that I could be preaching here, conveying to you who He is.

Sometimes things happen and it throws you: step back. Who is in control? God is. He has started in my life something eternal. Is He going to finish what He started? Yes, by taking us through circumstances where each time, it will be a discovery of how much He loves you. That is what He does.

For Paul, everything that happened to him was evidence of how God would provide for him through every circumstance – and the same applies to us.

Look Unto Me

God is in control of everything. That has been particularly pressed upon me lately. God is interested in your life at this time. He is careful to organise things, so that He can prove His love for us.

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Isaiah is often referred to as a fifth Gospel and I will be particularly concentrating on the following verse.

Isaiah 45:22

At that point in time, Jerusalem was in ruins, and various prophets had foretold that worship would resume at Jerusalem, and the temple would be rebuilt.

Isaiah 45:1 - 4

Cyrus, the king of Persia, would outwork the purposes that God wanted for His people, the children of Israel. God knows the affairs of man. History is about God building His church at this time, in His way, worldwide. There are situations in your life, perhaps, where you’ve thought that you just don’t know the way forward. Your God is in control of your situation. He’s heard you. He’s not caused you to be washed up on a beach somewhere, stranded.

Isaiah 45:5 - 8

God is in complete control. Some of you have been wondering in your heart about the way forward in your life, and God, by His Holy Spirit will quicken to you that now is the time to just realise what Christ did for you on Calvary, and what the resurrection from the dead is going to mean to you personally at this time. What does it mean for me to be a Christian?

Isaiah 45:9 - 12

He’s the creator God. He gave you life and formed you in the womb.

Isaiah 45:13 – 15

It doesn’t matter what the situation is with the people around you. God specialises in changing things where the impossible to your mind becomes possible in Him. He specialises in that. When He was hanging on the cross, and everyone had written Him off, it was the end... and yet it was the beginning. He endured the cross for your sin and my sin.

Isaiah 45:15-17

If that isn’t clear, I don’t know what is. Through Isaiah the prophet, God is saying, this is what I am. This is who I am.

Isaiah 45:18 - 21

I am your Saviour. Look to me.

What is it that you’ve tried to put into your life to plug that gap? God is saying to you, I am your Saviour. Look to me.

Isaiah 45:22

Look unto me. There’s not some weird formula or some weird experience that you must have. Look unto me, He says. That’s all. All He wants us to do is to look. You don’t have to prove yourself or be somebody, you don’t have to do this or that so I can bless you. Look unto me, God says. Forget everything else you’re trying to fill your life with. Look unto me, and be ye saved.

This was the verse that converted Spurgeon. He was so conscious of his sin and his need of a saviour, and he realised it was so simple. He thought, I can do that. I can look. You can do that. There’s nobody that is of a different caste. There’s nobody that isn’t of the elite.

Who is He? He’s God. Who is like Him? No one. What can you somehow have as a replacement for God? Nothing. Would you want a replacement? I don’t think so. Why would you want a replacement? All that’s needed is for you to realise that you can’t do it on your own.

I was looking through various phrases that Jesus said in the Gospel of John.

John 8:12

John 10:11

John 12:32

John 14:6

He knows what He’s doing, and He loves you. He knows your inside, and He wants your inside to propel your outside. He’s the only one who can get hold of the inside of you and change everything. No one else can do that.

Isaiah 45:23 - 25

Philippians 2:5 – 11

Romans 14:11 – 12

It all ends there. There is a direct quote of Isaiah 45 in Romans 14. We will all give account of ourselves to God. There are some here today, who know in their hearts, right now, God is saying, Come on, look unto me and be ye saved. He loves you.