[73] Your hands have made and fashioned me;
give me understanding that I may learn your commandments.

[74] Those who fear you shall see me and rejoice,
because I have hoped in your word.

[75] I know, O Lord, that your judgments are right,
and that in faithfulness you have humbled me.

[76] Let your steadfast love become my comfort
according to your promise to your servant.

[77] Let your mercy come to me, that I may live;
for your law is my delight.

[78] Let the arrogant be put to shame,
because they have subverted me with guile;
as for me, I will meditate on your precepts.

[79] Let those who fear you turn to me,
so that they may know your decrees.

[80] May my heart be blameless in your statutes,
so that I may not be put to shame.

[81] My soul languishes for your salvation;
I hope in your word.

INTRODUCTION:

Tuesday, September 11th, 2001 will live in our memories forever. The images of those hijacked planes crashing into the twin towers of the World Trade Center will be etched on our hearts and souls from this day forward. The sites and sounds of this attack, the pain, anguish and grief of this day will stalk our dreams and haunt the security of our daily lives from this day forward.

Make no mistake, I agree with president Bush and so many others. This was an act of the worst kind of evil. This was an evil act of cowardice. What they did is completely unthinkable. We all understand the whole idea of sacrifice. We understand the giving of your life to further a cause. Our Savior did that. And our country honors the heroes of our nation who gave their lives for the freedom we enjoy.

But the difference is, that Jesus, the innocent Son of God, died on the cross so that both the innocent and the guilty wouldn't have to die. Rather than letting us all die, He did the ultimate selfless thing, He offered Himself as a sacrifice for our sins. He didn't take 5000 plus innocent bystanders with Him. There was nothing selfless about the acts of these terrorists. This was an act of unmitigated, premeditated murder.

You know, the sad thing is that we worship the same God. Jews, Christians and Muslims should be brothers and sisters. We are, Biblically. We worship the same God. And, for the life of me, I can't see anywhere in Scripture or what I've read in the Koran where God would or could condone such an event or such tactics. If these terrorists think God has led them to do this, then I believe they have been deceived by the enemy.

So, what do we do? How do we constructively vent our anger and deal with our grief and frustration? How do we cope? How do we go on.

As the title of the sermons says, I think the only thing we have right now is our faith and the promises of God. And through our faith we're called to STAND ON THE PROMISES OF GOD.

We're called to STAND ON THE PROMISES, STAND ON OUR FAITH, and STAND TOGETHER.

I. STAND ON THE PROMISES:

A. Scripture is full of the promises of God. Psalm 119 is full of so many promises that we need to remember. So, listen to these promises from the portion of our readings from Psalm 119 this week:

[73] Your hands have made and fashioned me;

[86] All your commandments are enduring;

[89] The Lord exists forever; your word is firmly fixed in heaven.

[90] Your faithfulness endures to all generations; you have established the earth, and it stands fast.

[91] . . . all things are your servants.

[98] Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies, for it is always with me.

[104] Through your precepts I get understanding;

[105] Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

[111] Your decrees are my heritage forever; they are the joy of my heart.

[114] You are my hiding place and my shield; I hope in your word.

[118] You spurn all who go astray from your statutes;

[119] All the wicked of the earth you count as dross;

[129] Your decrees are wonderful;

[137] You are righteous, O Lord, and your judgments are right.

[138] You have appointed your decrees in righteousness and in all faithfulness.

[140] Your promise is well tried,

[142] Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and your law is the truth.

[144] Your decrees are righteous forever;

These and countless other promises of the Bible are there to strengthen us in times like this.

B. These promises remind us that we belong to God. It is God's hands which "have made and fashioned us" as verse 73 says.

This passage reminds us that God is still in charge. "The Lord exists forever" says verse 89. And verse 144 says, God's "are righteous forever."

Just as I said on Tuesday night. God has never given up the reins. God's never surrendered the driver's seat. God has never relinquished the helm to anyone else. God is still in control. God is still in the pilot's seat.

And what we're called to do is to search the Scripture. We're called to let the "Word be a lamp to our feet and a light to our path" [vs 105] so that we can find those promises that speak of hope and strength and comfort. And then like the firm foundation which they are, we're called to stand upon those promises and trust them as we trust God.

Let God and the Word of God "be [our] hiding place and [our] shield." Let us "hope in [God's] word." [vs 114] STAND ON THE PROMISES of God.

II. STAND ON OUR FAITH:

A. As we STAND ON THE PROMISES of God, let us also STAND ON OUR FAITH.

Henry G. Brinton, Homiletics Senior Writer, sent out these words to all subscribers. Our lives have been rocked. Everything that seemed so solid has been shaken.

The twin towers of the World Trade Center. The Pentagon. Symbols of American strength and stability, have been taken out by terrorist attack. And then there's the lives - both those lost and those changed forever by the four homicidal jet crashes of September 11. Through a network of connections that unite us as families and friends and acquaintances across this country, every one of us has been affected by the devastation of that day. As Martin Luther King once said so well, "We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly."

And so we mourn - mourn the fatalities and the casualties, as well as our own loss of innocence. We have been attacked, and will never feel completely safe again.

But there is one thing we can do, one term we should remember: SCATANA. S-C-A-T-A-N-A. Gene Dimock probably knows what it means. But I just learned it. SCATANA is a term for a special military operation, meaning Security Control of Air Traffic And Navigation Aids. In a time of national crisis, all civilian airlines go to the ground, and all military aircraft go into the air, to provide for strong defense.

As you know, on Tuesday the Federal Aviation Administration closed all the nation's airports, for the first time in history. SCATANA. As Christians, we may not have a role in the grounding of any aircraft, but in a time of crisis we are challenged to practice a kind of spiritual SCATANA: To go to the ground, the ground of our being, the foundation of our faith, God, our Creator and Redeemer.

Though jets should crash ... though buildings should crumble ... though countless lives should be lost God is in our midst. God is walking with every family who has lost a loved one. God is walking every person shaken by this attack. God's heart is just as broken by this travesty against the innocent as ours. God is with us. And God will help us when the morning dawns.

God remains in control. "The Lord exists forever; [God's] word is firmly fixed in heaven." That's the promise of verse 89.

At a time like this, we have to go to the ground, to the solid ground of our Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer. The foundation of our faith, God. It's the only place of any strength and stability. SCATANA. [1]

B. The second aspect of SCATANA for us, is to prepare a strong defense. Now I don't mean for us to get in attack mode. That's the last thing I mean. I think it's time for us to take our faith seriously. To live it seriously and radically. It's time for us to live the promises and the teaching of Jesus like we've never lived them before.

I received an e-mail the other day that said the Christian faith has gotten so diluted by the commercialism of America and our need for the best and brightest and newest of everything that WWJD, now stood for What Would Jesus Drive. I know they meant it in jest but it got me to thinking, especially after Tuesday. I realized that I'd give up ALL of my toys if I could bring those folks back.

Now is the time for us to get on the defensive through a radical living of our faith. Now, more than ever before, we need to ask What Would Jesus Do. We need to be intentional in our walk of faith. Not so we're ready if anything happens but because right now people are turning to God looking for answers.

Some of those folks have what has been called fear faith or fox hole faith, faith developed in the middle of a crisis. But we know from the parables of Jesus, that often times, that kind of faith shoots up and withers or is choked out by the weeds unless it is nurtured.

We need to live our faith in such a way that our lives are a witness so that we don't become one of those weeds. We need to live our faith in such a way that it inspires others to walk a little closer to God. We need to live our faith so that others can see that God does make a difference, through the difference they see God making in us.

As we STAND ON THE PROMISES of God, let us also STAND ON OUR FAITH.

III. STAND TOGETHER:

A. And finally, We're called to STAND ON THE PROMISES of God, STAND ON OUR FAITH, and STAND TOGETHER.

We need to remember who we are and where we live. We need to remember that this is the land of the free. A land where people of disparate backgrounds, races, nationalities and religions have come seeking freedom. We can't let a group of morally bankrupt fanatics take away the one thing that unites us, our freedom by oppressing any group of people.

We can't take on a mob mentality. We can't start witch hunts, going after anyone who looks middle-eastern. We can't let hate groups have the final say. We can't allow retaliation against the innocent or we sink to the level of those who perpetrated this against us. We're proclaim that we're different than that. We proclaim that everyone is innocent until proven guilty. Now we have to STAND TOGETHER and NOT STAND for the idiotic acts of hate that have been happening.

B. Don't get me wrong, I think we ought to hunt these people down. I think we should be like hound's on the scent of their prey. I think we ought to go after them with every resource we can muster.

Once we find them, and I don't have a doubt that we will, we need to bring them to justice. Not vengeance, that belongs to God, but good old American justice.

We're called to STAND ON THE PROMISES of God, STAND ON OUR FAITH, and STAND TOGETHER.

CONCLUSION:

Maybe you saw the poem that a nine year girl from Keller wrote. Rachel Engelland was troubled by the events of the Tuesday, just like all of us. Her parents, Shawn and Sandra Engelland helped her try to understand what was going on and help her through the trauma. On Wednesday, Rachel's teacher talked about patriotism, they sang the National Anthem and she told the kids to write in the journals.

Rachel wrote a poem she titled, "It All Came At Such A Cost." It goes like this:

Rachel said she: "wrote it to comfort people." And boy does it. [2]

Yeah, they destroyed some of the premises and put some of us in panic mode. Yeah they took innocent lives. Yeah they shook the foundation of our sense of security and certainty. But we stand on the Promises of God for comfort, for strength, for guidance, for hope, for help, for courage. They can't take that away. And they can't take our freedom. STAND ON THE PROMISES of God, STAND ON OUR FAITH, and STAND TOGETHER.

1. e-mail Sermon Starter from Homiletics.com

2. Dave Lieber, Fort Worth Star Telegram, Friday, Sept 14, 2001.

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