https://sermons.faithlife.com/profile/jeremyt-sfcg

Pray the Way, 1835 Camden Highway, East Sumter, SC (2026)

08/13/2020

The Idols That Impede Your Faith

As we direct our focus to the Father and wait patiently for His will to open wide the way in our lives, we may discover that there are many things standing in the way of deepening our relationship with God and exercising our faith in Him.

These strongholds—or idols—are very subtle. They steal into your life covertly, rooting themselves in your emotions and becoming more important to you than God.

No one can identify an idol except the Lord … and He sees your heart clearly. Anything that competes for your total devotion to God is an idol in your life. So what is it in you? What are those things—hidden or known to you—that stand in your way of waiting patiently for the Lord’s will to manifest in your life? Ask the Father to reveal them to you. He’s promised He’ll be faithful to show you if and where an idol exists. But be very careful that you don’t rationalize away what He reveals to you. If the Lord puts His finger on something in your life, then set your mind to deal with it immediately.

Here are some common idols in our lives:

Our Own Understanding—We often lose our focus on the Father when we don’t fully understand what’s happening, so we repeatedly analyze our situations, scrutinizing them incessantly from every angle we can conceive. When events don’t proceed the way we expect, we’re left discouraged and disillusioned. Don’t fall into this trap. God unmistakably commands you to trust Him and not to rely on your own understanding (Prov. 3:5-6).

A Sense of Security—We don’t like being out of control or trusting our future to Someone we don’t see. We prefer a steady stream of income, reliable resources, and predictable results. So when we’re forced to wait, watch our bills pile up, or encounter threats that challenge our sense of wellbeing, our insecurity breeds a dangerous distrust of the Father.

Goals and Dreams—We become so driven to achieve our objectives and daily goals that we forget the eternal life we’ve been given (John 17:3) and all the good things the Lord has purposed for us to accomplish. Our dreams become an idol that are more important than what the Father desires to do in and through us.

Relationships—Certain relationships in our lives can become idols. No matter how much you attempt to focus on the Father, your attention returns to this person or group of people. Feelings of rejection, fear, lack of self-worth, or bitterness continue to arise because of your circumstances—and ultimately they drive you away from God, not toward Him.

The Past—Past relationships can become impediments in our relationship with God. When terrible things happen, the human response is to wonder why the Father allowed us to suffer. And when other people hurt us, when we harbor unforgiveness, or when we allow the unkind treatment from others to shape how we see the Father, these can become idols in our lives, undermining our faith in Him as we wait.

Hobbies—Our hobbies and preferred forms of entertainment might also be competing with our relationship with and faith in God. Though pastimes such as sports, shopping, television, exercise, social media, and other interests aren’t necessarily wrong in themselves, if they have more of your attention than the Lord does, then there’s certainly a problem.

Remember: Whatever you release to the Lord, you get more and better in return. I’ve seen it happen in my own life and can say with the utmost confidence that you can trust the Father completely with anything He asks of you. So open your hands and let your heavenly Father have what you’ve been holding on to. When you place your complete faith and trust in Him, inviting Him to be number one in your life, the blessings will flow beyond comprehension, and it’ll make your time of waiting on Him that much easier and more fruitful.

Proverbs 3:5-6

Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

08/10/2020

Never.

It’s the word that can stir the deepest fear in the bravest heart.

“I’ll never find a job.”

“This will never get better.”

“I’ll never get married.”

“I’ll never have the child I long for.”

“He’ll never come home to me.”

It’s the lie that originates with our sinful nature, and it insists on putting a decisive end to all of our hopes. Don’t bother to dream, it whispers cruelly. You don’t deserve it. Stop wishing for what can never be.

And so we continue to drive the nails into the coffin of our dearest longings.

“The Lord will never answer my prayers.”

But this is the challenge of waiting on God. It’s the ability to keep hoping when the nevers of life bombard us—when the minutes, hours, days, and years tick away without any answers to our most passionate pleas at the throne of grace. It’s the faith to hang on to the Father on the long road when human reason tells us to give up.

If you look, you’ll find meaning and hope in these times of waiting on the Lord to respond. Though you don’t see Him working, you can know for certain that He is because He guarantees that He “acts on behalf of the one who waits for Him” (Isa. 64:4).

Not only that, but the Father has an awesome plan for you—purposes that are fantastic, perfectly suited for you, and that will give ultimate meaning to your life. However, God also has a very specific schedule—one that’s often vastly different from what you’d expect, may have you wait far beyond what makes you comfortable, and most likely will make you feel that all earthly hope is gone so that you’ll rely solely upon Him (2 Cor. 1:9).

So whatever it is you yearn for—no matter how long you have to wait—you can trust the Father to lead you. And you can know for absolute certain that He has your very best interest in mind.

Deuteronomy 31:8

It is the LORD who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.”

07/14/2020

In Corrie ten Boom’s book "Tramp for the Lord", she told of a woman she met in Russia during the Cold War when Christians were being persecuted.

The old woman, Corrie wrote, was reclining on a sofa. Multiple sclerosis had done quite a job on this woman. Her body was twisted in every direction, and she depended on pillows to prop her up. She had no mobility, so her husband’s time was consumed by her care. The index finger of her right hand was all she could control. Nothing else.

But oh, what she got from that finger. It moved across a typewriter keyboard all day and late into the night, tapping out words and sentences and paragraphs as she translated the Bible and other Christian books into her Russian language.

Her husband watched and noticed that it often took the wrinkled old finger quite a long time to hit a key—but on it moved, letter by letter, through books of the Bible.

And then Corrie ten Boom came for a visit. She looked at the twisted, skeletal frame on the sofa, and compassion overcame her. She prayed, “Oh, Lord, why don’t you heal this poor woman?”

The husband saw how deeply moved the visitor was, and he said, “God has a purpose in her sickness. Every other Christian in the city is watched closely by the secret police. But because she has been so sick for so long, no one ever looks in on her. They leave us alone, and she is the only person who can translate, undetected by the police.”

It’s inaccurate to say that God worked despite her weakness. The truth is that he was glorified through her weakness in a powerful way. You’d feel sorry for that woman, just as I would. But the very thing we’d wish and pray away, the very thing apparently destroying her life, the prickly thorn causing so much pain was a holy place that allowed a very weak woman to become a pillar of strength in God’s kingdom.

2 Corinthians 12:9-10

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me

07/13/2020

There are things you learn in the work of ministry. One is that people come to church looking for solutions. They’re caught up in their problems, and they wonder if there could be a supernatural answer. Debt, addiction, a failing marriage—whatever it is, sooner or later they ask for action steps. Bullet points, in careful order, for resolving the problem. “What can I do?” We always assume the answer is in the word “do.”

And while sometimes we have some dos that need to get done, the truth is there’s no substitute for humbling ourselves. At this point someone says, “Sure, I get it. Be more humble. But there’s got to be something I can, you know, do. Other than be more humble.”

It’s so much easier to do than to be. To do is to take some action. To be requires real transformation.

You want to know what to do? Fine, we can do it that way.
-Stand at a distance.
-Beat your chest.
-Pray this: “God, have mercy on me.”
-Mean it.
(Luke 18:9-14)

I’m going to go out on a limb and say that last one is the key. It happens when you humble yourself.

Are you interested in some don’ts?
-Don’t make your case.
-Don’t pull out your resume.
-Don’t ask for blessings by comparing yourself to others.
-Don’t tell God all the reasons you deserve to be blessed.
-Don’t congratulate God for having you as a child.
-Don’t thank God for all the hard work you’ve put in.

There is no substitute for humbling yourself before God. The humble heart pleases God. The humble cry invites him to demonstrate his power.

Being humbled is something we think of as a passive activity—that is, somebody or something humbles us. We are humbled by unemployment, by a failed relationship, by a dream shattered. But Jesus speaks of a humbling that is active—we are the humblers. This is not something we wait for to occur naturally. “Humble yourself.” It doesn’t sound right, does it? Almost a little masochistic. We’re used to being advised to assert ourselves, not to humble ourselves.

This is the masterwork of humility—what Christ did. He made himself nothing. He humbled himself. This was someone who was in very nature—in very essence—God but who didn’t cling to that status but rather made himself nothing.

How do we humble ourselves?

-Voluntarily confess sin.

-Give sacrificially and anonymously.

-Treat others better than ourselves.

-Ask for help.

Matthew 5:5

“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

07/09/2020

Letting go of our own aspirations or moving on after a person, hope, or dream has died is one of the most difficult challenges of a believer's life. It certainly was for Samuel. The prophet believed that God had chosen Saul to reign as King of Israel for a lifetime and after a mere 15-20 years Saul has failed God and His people. God has given direction to Samuel that it is time to anoint a new king, but Samuel has been dragging his feet. Samuel had anointed the first king of Israel with the expectation of living a long life in the glorious kingdom of God’s people under God’s anointed king. He had aspirations and dreams for what this was going to be like, he didn’t want to give those up.

Moving forward meant readjusting his expectations about the future and about God’s work in general. God called him out on his hesitancy: “How long will you mourn about Saul? I have rejected him from king over Israel! Fill up your horn with oil and go”.

Samuel learned that things rarely play out the way we think they will. We inevitably end up on a different path than we planned—whether because of our own actions or because God’s route turns in a direction we never anticipated. The key is recognizing the changes when they occur and preparing ourselves for a new reality. Clinging to misguided expectations can drive us into the ground, effectively driving God’s work out of us.

Though not of Samuel’s own doing, Saul created this situation when he chose a different route by disobeying God and God responded by taking away from Saul what was his to steward but not to own: a kingdom. Situations like this, where the change in our life is the result of someone else’s actions can be the greatest of all challenges to move on from.

All of us must be willing to realign our expectations. More importantly, we must seek to be aligned with God all along. We must move on from destructive behaviors and disobedience. Along the way, we must be mindful of the things God wants to create, and we must be ready to respond when God calls us to “Fill your horn with oil and go.”

What do you think God is asking you to move on from today?
What is He asking you to move toward?

1 Samuel 16:1

The LORD said to Samuel, “How long will you grieve over Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go. I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I h

07/07/2020

In 1839, Edward Bulwer-Lytton coined the phrase “The pen is mightier than the sword.” Lytton is commenting on the power of words to defeat your enemies. In contrast though, James calls our attention to a more profound understanding of the power of words. He tells us they are a deadly poison, his focus isn’t on others though, it is on ourselves. With our tongues we praise God, recognize His holiness, justice and mercy; at the same time we hardly think twice about tearing down and assaulting image-bearers of God with the very same tongue.

Divisiveness, discord, anger, grumbling, gossip, etc. are all weapons aimed at shredding apart the body of Christ. James says “ From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.” (v. 10). This shouldn’t be so!

However, the poison James is referring to isn’t simply a poison that courses through the church from our tongues, the deadly poison he speaks of is the poison our tongues inject into ourselves. Destroying our relationship with God, building our pride, removing our sight of His plan, crippling our limbs to act for His will. When we live a dual-life with our tongues, the one’s we harm the most are ourselves.

As Christians, we have faith that all things are in God’s control, and we serve Him in the mystery of His great plan. But James points out to us here one of the things in which we have a very active part in controlling: respect for God AND for His image seen in the members of His family, the body of believers unified in Christ, His church.

James 3:8-10

but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the sa

06/30/2020

This passage compels a renewed emphasis on our practical walk in everyday life.

How did Jesus walk? Certainly in the light with God, due to his perfect obedience to the heavenly Father’s will, to which God himself testified (Mattew 3:17; 12:18; 17:5). But he also walked in love towards the crowds of needy, lost people whom he daily encountered (Mattew 9:36).

Walking in the light is not only characterized by the absence of sin but equally importantly by the presence of love. Those who remain (abide) in Christ cannot fail to display the fruit of the Spirit intrinsic to a Christ-like character. Just as the life flowing through the vine enables the branches to bear fruit, and that fruit indicates the nature of the plant’s life within, so it is with a true Christian who abides in Christ (John 15:1–8). ‘By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?’ (Mattew 7:16).

If we really walk in the light with God, our behavior will become more and more like that of the Lord Jesus. It is not that we obey God’s commands in order to make ourselves good enough to walk in the light with him. Rather, those who truly walk with God love to obey him, because in that way they grow a little more like him each day. That is the high road called grace.

How can you place more emphasis on living like Jesus did?

1 John 2:5-6

but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.

06/29/2020

This verse illuminates the image of Christian rebirth. Babies are dependent on their mothers or nurses for nourishment by their milk; Peter uses the easily understandable metaphor of a newborn infant’s desire for milk to describe what Christians should be like:

Much current Christian literature is concerned with church growth, the current methods for increasing membership, principally through evangelism. But growth has other dimensions beside the purely numerical one. Two of its most important aspects are the development of spiritual maturity in individual converts and the development of the whole fellowship into a loving family.

The newborn child does not interact much with its new environment, but right from the start it ardently desires milk. Christians should show the same eager desire for the spiritual equivalent. They should, to change the metaphor, be hooked on it. Peter continues his metaphor in the word pure which can mean “unadulterated” and refer, for example, to milk that has not been thinned down with water. The idea is that the Christian’s nourishment will be free from deceit.

By receiving such nourishment Christians will grow in spiritual stature. Peter enjoins his readers to crave spiritual nourishment on the assumption that they have already tasted it and know that it is good—so good that it is worth getting more. They have already proved that the Lord is good by personal experience.

Christians who have been given new birth by the word must also grow. They are cleansed by the converting power of the gospel, but they must mature in their new life. What will advance their growth? What will deepen their love? The same truth of God that gave them birth also nourishes them. If the word of God is water to wash us, it is also milk to build better bodies in Christ. Christians must be addicted to the Bible.

Are you seeking to grow up in your salvation?

1 Peter 2:2-3

Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.

06/25/2020

Trust … lean: these two words may be even closer together in thought than appears at first sight. The Hebrew for trust originally implied the idea of lying helplessly face downwards. Lean is the idea to ‘support yourself’, or "rely on". Trust and lean both suggest the physical experience of supporting yourself on something or someone in total and helpless reliance and commitment. The contrast here is that you ARE to support yourself by relying on and being committed to the LORD, and the way to do that is to not rely on yourself.

Acknowledge is quite simply ‘know’, which contains not only the idea of acknowledging, but the much richer content of being ‘aware of’, and having ‘fellowship with’.

The benefits of trusting the Lord are, first, favour and a good name in the sight of God and man (Proverbs 3:4); in other words, a good reputation with everyone; the respect and benefits which flow from godliness. Secondly, he will make your paths straight, a metaphor derived from road-building, which suggests that trust in the Lord will smooth out all a person’s rough paths. Notice now that this is the language of faith, not necessarily of constant experience. There are plenty of examples later in Proverbs of life’s way which is not very smooth. The point here is that the believer is being encouraged to trust in the Lord even when things are unclear, and to lean not on your own understanding even when you think you know best. For the God who holds the future can see further than you can, and His covenanted love is promised as a deeper security than anything your dimmer understanding can comprehend or your straining eyes can glimpse.

How can you lean on God more often, trust Him with all your heart, and submit to Him in all your ways?

Proverbs 3:5-6

Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

06/23/2020

Paul draws out the implications of having risen with Christ: We have entered a new age, and, belonging there by right, do not have to struggle to attain the status of membership in God’s people: we already have it. We must now simply allow God's will to be worked out in our lives.

God’s purpose in Christ is to produce human beings who find in the service of God a new integration of thought and action. Someone who truly understands who he or she is in Christ is further along the road to genuine holiness than someone who, in confusion, anxiously imagines that this new life is the result, rather than the starting-point, of the daily battle with temptation.

The command to aspire to the things of heaven is a command to meditate and dwell upon Christ’s sort of life, and on the fact that he is now enthroned as the Lord of the world. The Bible does not say very much about heaven. But its central feature is clear: it is the place where the crucified Christ already reigns, where his people already have full rights of citizenship (Phil. 3:19ff.). To concentrate the mind on the character of Jesus Christ, on that unique blend of love and strength revealed in the Gospels, is to begin on earth to reflect the very life of heaven.

"We are not our own: let not our reason nor our will, therefore, sway our plans and deeds. We are not our own: let us therefore not set it as our goal to seek what is expedient for us according to the flesh. We are not our own: in so far as we can, let us therefore forget ourselves and all that is ours.
Conversely, we are God’s: let us therefore live for him and die for him. We are God’s: let his wisdom and will therefore rule all our actions. We are God’s: let all the parts of our life accordingly strive toward him as our only lawful goal." - John Calvin

What difference does Jesus make to the goals of your life...to what you are looking forward to and working towards?

Colossians 3:1-2

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.

06/17/2020

This is Paul’s version of the call to nonconformity and to holiness which is addressed to the people of God throughout Scripture. For example, God’s word came to Israel through Moses: (Leviticus 18:3-4) "3 You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived, and you shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, to which I am bringing you. You shall not walk in their statutes. 4 You shall follow my rules and keep my statutes and walk in them. I am the Lord your God." Another example is found in the Sermon on the Mount. Surrounded by the false devotion of both Pharisees and pagans, Jesus said to his disciples: ‘Do not be like them.’ (Matthew 6:8). We are not to be like a chameleon which takes its color from its surroundings.

We human beings seem to be imitative by nature. We need a model to copy, and ultimately there are only two. There is this world, which is passing away, and there is God’s will, which is good, pleasing and perfect.

More important for our understanding of the transformation which Paul urges is the fact that "metamorphoō" is the verb used by Matthew and Mark of the transfiguration of Jesus. And although the evangelists vary in saying that it was His skin, His face and His clothing which shone, Mark is clear that Jesus Himself ‘was transfigured before them’. A complete change came over Him. His whole body became translucent, whose significance the disciples would not be able to understand, Jesus implied, until after His resurrection. As for the change which takes place in the people of God, which Paul has in mind in Romans 12:2 and 2 Corinthians 3:18 (the only other verses in which "metamorphoō" occurs), it is a fundamental transformation of character and conduct, away from the standards of the world and into the image of Christ himself.

Here then are the stages of Christian moral transformation: first our mind is renewed by the Word and Spirit of God; then we are able to discern and desire the will of God; and then we are increasingly transformed by it.

In what way, today, can you seek to "not conform" to the pattern of this world, but rather, let God transform you?

Romans 12:2

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

06/16/2020

It is striking that God’s instructions here to Joshua are not about military matters, given that Joshua and the Israelites faced many battles ahead. However, the keys to his success were spiritual, directly related to the degree of his obedience to God. The keys to Joshua’s success were the same as those for a king: being rooted in God’s word rather than depending upon military might. The importance of obedience to the law as the key to Joshua’s success cannot be overestimated.

The Old Testament concept of meditation involves two things: First, a focus upon God Himself, His works, or His law, and second, an activity that was done aloud. This is why God told Joshua that this lawbook should not leave his mouth (as opposed to, e.g., his heart or his mind). Joshua was to “be careful to obey” everything written in the lawbook. This represents something permanent since it was written down. The result of Joshua’s keeping the law was that his way would prosper and be successful. Joshua’s obedience to God’s will and God’s presence with him guaranteed this.

Many Christians make much of passages such as this in the Old Testament that speak of prosperity and success. The two words we find here in our passage in Joshua speaking of prosperity and success are not used to speak of financial success. Rather, they speak of succeeding in life’s proper endeavors. This happens when people’s lives are focused entirely on God and obedience to him. The focus of people’s endeavors is not to be prosperity and success but rather holiness and obedience. A believer’s consuming obsession should be holiness, for God himself is holy (Lev 11:45; 19:2, etc.), to love God with one’s entire being (Deut 6:5), to keep his word with the same fervor (Deut 6:6; 2 Kgs 23:25; Ezra 7:10; etc.), and to “fear God and keep his commandments” (Eccl 12:13). When this happens, then God does bless, although not always in exactly the ways we might like him to.

The keys to success in life lie in being intensely focused upon God and in consistent faithfulness to him and his revealed word.

Joshua 1:8

This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your

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