The trampoline is made up of four basic parts: 1) Frame, 2) Springs, 3) Mat, and 4) Net. While I was at the Indiana Junior High Camp, I preached about the "trampoline of truth" and wanted to share with you some of those principles.
1) Frame:
The frame represents the Word of God. Without a secure frame, the trampoline would not be safe to jump on. If the Word of God is unreliable, then we cannot build any doctrine upon it. Therefore, it is important to know the Word of God and to understand, through faith, that it is infallible and forever settled in heaven!
Psalm 119:160 (ESV) The sum of your word is truth, and every one of your righteous rules endures forever.
Jesus said, "Your Word is TRUTH!"
You can trust that the frame of this trampoline is secure! There is not one lie in the Word of God! It is true from Genesis through Revelation!
Trust it!
Believe it!
Obey it!
While society will fail you, God's Word never has and never will. This frame will continue to hold up throughout the ages!
2) Springs:
The springs represent the Apostolic Truth.
Acts 2:42 (KJV) And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.
Since we know God's Word IS truth, then the doctrines of His Word are true also! The fundamentals of the Apostolic Truth are:
a) The new birth - repentance, baptism in Jesus' name, and infilling of the Holy Ghost.
b) Separation & holy living
c) Bearing the fruit of the Spirit
d) Believing in the Mighty God in Christ - Oneness
e) Believing that Jesus Christ is returning again for His Church
These are the basics of the Apostolic Truth and like the springs of the trampoline, they connect the frame (Word of God) to the mat which represents true worship. Without sound doctrine, there is no true worship!
3) Mat:
The mat represents true worship!
John 4:23-24 (ESV) But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. [24] God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.
If there is true worship, then there is also false worship. False worship is NOT connected to the frame (Word of God) by the springs (Apostolic Truth).
God doesn't want lip service!
God is not interested in a girlfriend or a one-night-stand!
You cannot flirt with God!
God desires a relationship and that is what true worship is all about.
I'm glad you can dance, but when you stop dancing, can you walk in the Spirit? Do you live by faith? Are you known by love? Are you a voice of hope? If not, then your jumping, running, clapping, shouting, and other forms of praise are just merely "lip-service" and God isn't pleased with that.
Don't follow the way of Cain - he wanted to worship God his way. We have to worship God the way God wants us to worship Him! This is true worship!
When you're living this life in private, it makes your public display of praise and worship that much more real!
4) Net:
The net represents our separation and holy living!
2 Corinthians 6:17-7:1 (ESV) Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you, [18] and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty." [7:1] Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.
God wants a separate people! We don't act like the world, dress like the world, live like the world, or even think like the world. We don't talk like the world. We are in the world but not of the world!
Those who have been truly BORN AGAIN - born from above - want to live holy and be separate from all that is in the world.
Consider this - if it pleases God, it doesn't matter who it displeases! If it displeases God, it doesn't matter who it pleases!
Let God work His holiness inside of you - your heart, mind, and spirit need to be right.
Let God work His holiness on the outside too - the way you dress, talk, act, places you go or don't go, etc.
Remember, the frame is secure! God's Word is TRUTH! Therefore when God's Word asks us to do or not do something, we need to be obedient!
Fall in love with the Commander and you will have no trouble obeying His commandments!
Apex:
Trampolines are made for jumping and having fun. Living for God is a blast, and when you are a true worshiper - one who believes the Word of God, one who continues in the doctrine, one who worships God in spirit and in truth, and one who is separated and holy, THEN God jumps on the trampoline with you!
Zephaniah 3:17 (ESV) The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.
The phrase "rejoice over you" means that God leaps and spins around for joy. In other words, when you are a true worshiper, God jumps on the trampoline with you.
