TRUSTING God IN LIFE’S CHANGES
Trusting God
In Difficult Times Pt. 1
01-06-13
Sermon
“As long as the earth remains, there will be
springtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, day and night.” Gen.
8:22 (NLT)
Change is ________________________________
There is no growth without change
There is no change without loss
There is no loss without grief
There is no grief without pain
“We
know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have
been called according to his purpose.” Rom. 8:28 (NIV)
“You
intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now
being done, the saving of many lives.” Gen. 50:20
(NIV)
“The
purpose of these troubles is to test your faith as fire tests how genuine gold
is. Your faith is more precious than
gold, and by passing the test, it gives praise, glory, and honor to God.” 1 Peter 1:7 (GW)
GROWING FROM CHANGE
1. Look for God ________________________________________________
“If you look for me in earnest, you will
find me when you seek me.” Jeremiah
29:13 (NLT)
2. Ask God_____________________________________________________
“If
you need wisdom—if you want to know what God wants you to do—ask him, and he
will gladly tell you. He will not resent
your asking.” James 1:5 (NLT)
3. Listen for ____________________________________________________
“Then
the Lord passed by and sent a furious wind that split the hills and shattered
the rocks—but the Lord was not in the wind…, and then there was an
earthquake—but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After that there was a fire—but the Lord was
not in the fire. But after the fire
there was the soft whisper of a voice.
When Elijah heard it, he covered his face with his cloak and went
out and stood at the entrance of the cave.
The voice said to him, ‘Elijah, what are you doing here?’” 1 Kings
19:11-13 (TEV)
4. Don’t ask _________________________________________________
“I’ve learned
this secret, so that anywhere, at any time, I am content, whether I am full or
hungry, whether I have too much or too little.
I have the strength to face all conditions by the power Christ
gives me.” Phil. 4:12-13
(GN)
“…
even in our trials and troubles – These very things… will develop mature
character.” Rom. 5:3-4 (PH)
“Give
thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in
Christ Jesus.”
1 Th. 5:18 (NIV)
5. Focus on ____________________________________________________
“I have loved you with an everlasting
love.” Jer. 31:3 (NIV)
“His plans endure forever; His
purposes last eternally.” Ps. 33:11 (NIV)
“The Word of God shall stand
forever.” Isa. 40:8 (NIV)
6. Don’t ________________________________________________________
“Two are
better off than one… If one of them falls down, the other can help him up… Two
men can resist an attack that would defeat one man alone.” Eccl.
4:9, 12 (GN)
7. Become a _______________________________________________________
“I
am sure of this: that God, who began this good work in you, will carry it on
until it is finished in the Day of Jesus Christ.” Phil.
1:6 (GN)
“You
can throw the whole weight of your anxieties upon Him, for you are his
personal concern!” 1 Peter 5:7
(Ph)
“The
righteous man does not fear bad news, nor live in dread of what may happen. For he is settled in his mind that God
will take care of him.” Ps. 112:7 (LB)
8. Tell God I’ll _____________________________________________________
“Though he slay me, yet
will I trust in him.” Job 13:15
(KJV)
“The Lord gave, and the Lord
has taken away; Blessed be the name of the Lord!”
Job 1:21 (KJV)
TRUSTING God
IN LIFE’S CHANGES
01-06-13
Sermon
During this first month
of the new year we’re going to begin a new series on Trusting God in Difficult Times. I want us to begin with Trusting God in the Changes
of Life.
The fiscal cliff
has been put off for two months. Taxes
are going up. Some of you are struggling
with personal changes. Kids going off to
school, loved ones passing away, getting older and having difficulty
remembering things – all kinds of different changes.
There are a lot of
changes in life but I want us to look today at the kind of changes you can’t
control. Of course everybody would agree
that the world is changing. About the
only thing you can predict accurately about the future is this: it’s going to
change. Tomorrow will be different from
today. We don’t know what it’s going to
be but we do know for certain that change is an inevitable part of life. So you have to learn how to deal with it.
The problem that we
face today in this generation is that the speed of change and the scope of
change and the type of change and the size of change --all that is increasing. You notice that things are changing faster, faster
than they used to. And it’s getting
faster and faster.
Let me give you
first four things I know about change. I
know for certain that change is
inevitable. Nothing stays the same. On this planet everything changes. God even told us this was going to happen,
way back in the first book of the Bible.
In Genesis 8 the Bible says this, verse 22, “As long as the earth remains, there’s going to be springtime and harvest,
cold and heat, winter and summer, day and night.” In other words, God instituted change. Things don’t stay the same. It gets hot, it gets cold. It gets summer, it gets winter. There are seasons in life. Things change. There’s day and night every twenty-four
hours. Change is inevitable. But here’s four things to remember about
change.
First: there is no growth without change. If you’re going to grow spiritually, if
you’re going to grow financially, if you want to grow relationally,
intellectually, if you want your business to grow, if you want our church to
grow, whatever you want to grow it means it’s going to have change. Growth is something different from the way
things are now.
Two, there is no change without loss. Every new beginning is an ending of something
else. And every end is a new beginning. There is no change without loss.
There’s no growth without
change, there’s no change without loss, there’s
no loss without grief.
Grief is good. Grief is a good thing. Grief is how we transition through the transitions
of life because every end is a new beginning.
If you don’t learn how to grieve properly then you’re going to stuff all
those emotions down. You can’t get on to
the next transition of your life without grieving.
You don’t get over grief. You get through
grief. A person who’s been married
fifty years and loses her husband or loses his wife you don’t get over that;
you get through it. It’s a transition to
the next stage of your life. So grief is
a good thing.
There is no loss
without grief. And there is no grief without pain.
Everybody hates
pain because it hurts but pain is actually a helpful thing. Pain is a good thing. Why? Pain
tells you something’s wrong. It teaches
what needs to be changed. The things
you’re going through when you get in pain in any area of your life are saying, Warning Sign! Something’s out of whack here! Emotional pain means something’s out of whack
with your emotions. Relational pain says
there’s a problem in my relationships. Physical
pain means there’s a problem in my body.
So pain in many ways is a good thing because it has things it can teach
us.
So change is
inevitable.
Regardless of where
change comes from – you choose it, other people choose it, consequences or
circumstances, we do have this promise of God.
Romans 8:28 “We know that in all
things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called
according to his purpose.” This is
one of the great verses of the Bible. We
know in all things God works for the good.
It doesn’t say everything’s good.
It says God works for the good. For
everybody? No. Just for those who love God and are trying to
follow his purpose. This is not a
promise for everybody. But if you say, God I want to do what you want me to do. I want to have your purpose for my life. I want to love you. God says I will work everything out for good
in your life. Even the choices, even the
circumstances, even the consequences. Good
or bad, I will use them for good in your life.
That’s a great promise.
God’s purpose for my life uses even the human error and sin. Even though Joseph was sold into slavery by
his brothers, God used that in Joseph’s life so when he was the number two man
in Egypt he could say to his brothers “You
intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now
being done, the saving of many lives.” Gen. 50:20 (NIV)
Change is always, always a test of your faith. “The purpose
of these troubles is to test your faith as fire tests how genuine gold is. Your faith is more precious than gold, and by
passing the test, it gives praise, glory, and honor to God.” 1 Peter
1:7 (GW)
Let’s look at some
principles for growing through change.
1. Look for God
in the change.
Look for God in the
change that you’re going through. Mother
Teresa, when she was asked, why do you help the poorest of the poor? She said “Because I see the face of Jesus in
the poor and I want to help him.” She
was right but what I discovered is you can find the face of Jesus anywhere if
you look close enough. Even in the worst
situations. Even in something that God
created that’s been perverted. You can
look and see the original intent; you can see the face of Jesus around you.
Jeremiah 29 says
this in verse 13 “If you look for me in earnest,
[God says] you will find me when you
seek me.” Circle the word “earnest.” “If you
look for me in earnest, you will find me when you seek me.”
You know what our
problem is? When change comes we look for
everything else except the Lord. We look
for a quick fix. We look for an easy
solution. We look for a way out. We look for comfort. We look for relief. What you need to look for is the Lord. You need to look for God. When you’re in the middle of a problem you
don’t go, what’s the quick fix? How do I
get out of this? How do I save my skin? How do I turn things around? That whole way is missing the point. You look for the Lord. Don’t seek the comfort. Don’t seek the relief. Seek the Lord and you’ll get all these other
things – the solution, the answer, the relief, the comfort, the strength and
all that you need. You look for God in
the change.
2. Ask God for
wisdom.
When you’re going
through a change that you didn’t plan, you didn’t want, you don’t like, you
say, Lord, what do you want me to do? What do you want me to do in this situation? My plan didn’t work out. It’s obviously not going the way I intended. So what do you want me to do? How do you want to redirect me? How do you want to correct me? How do you want to inspect me? How do you want to perfect me in this situation?
The reason you need
to ask for wisdom is because in a change, your thinking has to change. Follow me on this-- To do what you’ve never done, you’ve got to think like you’ve never
thought. Old way of thinking,
stinking thinking, that won’t work. You’re
in a new situation, a new time, a new relationship, a new energy, a new
development, a new commitment, a new circumstance, what you’ve never done. You’ve got to think in new ways. So you say, Lord, what do you want me to
think?
James 1:5 says “If you need wisdom, if you want to know
what God wants you to do, ask him and he’ll gladly tell you. He will not resent your asking.” You have not because you ask not. You need to stop and say, Lord, what do you want me to do in the situation?
3. Listen for
God’s whisper.
You’ve got to be quiet
because he’s not going to shout it to you.
God speaks to those who take the time to listen. But you have to be quiet. Your brightest insights will often come
during your darkest days. If you humbly
listen to God in quiet trust.
A good example of
this is in 1 Kings 19. It’s the story of
Elijah. Elijah was up on the mountain,
nursing his wounds, having a pity part, hiding in a cave. And God needed to get his attention. It says in verse 11 “Then the Lord passed by and sent a furious wind that split the hills and
shattered the rocks−but the Lord was not in the wind… Then there was an
earthquake−but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After that there was a fire−but the Lord was
not in the fire. But after the fire
there was a soft whisper of a voice. When
Elijah heard it, he covered his face with his cloak and he went out and stood in
the entrance of the cave. [He knew this was God talking.] The voice said to him, ‘Elijah, what are you
doing here?’”
Has God ever said
that to you? What are you doing here? How did
you ever end up here? I didn’t plan for
you to end up here. What are you doing
here? I don’t want you here. Hanging out in a cave in the mountain saying poor
me. Everybody hates me. Nobody loves me. I’m going to go eat worms. Have a little pity party for yourself.
No. God speaks in the still small voice. In a whisper.
So what you need to do when you’re going through change is you need to
slow down your mind. You need to slow
down the rpm’s. Go out and sit in your
backyard and be quiet and say, Lord, is
there anything you want to say to me?
You sit and you just listen. You
be quiet and you let your mind slow down.
You read the Word of God and you talk to him in prayer. You stop and you just be quiet.
Look for God in the
change, ask God for wisdom, listen for God’s whisper. Then the fourth thing about change is this…
4. Don’t ask why but what.
What do I
need to learn? That’s the question you
need to ask. Don’t ask why. That’s the question of explanation. Ask what? What
do you want me to learn? That’s the question
of education.
In fact, every
situation is an education. It’s an opportunity
for you to grow. You’ll either grow better
or you’ll grow bitter depending on your response. What you need to do is don’t focus on the circumstance;
focus on your character. Don’t focus on
the problem; focus on your personality. Don’t
focus on what’s going on around you; focus on what God wants to do in you. That’s the difference.
Your time on earth
is a character development school. God’s
number one purpose in your life is to make you like Christ and to grow you up, to
develop true spiritual maturity and character.
He doesn’t want you to be a spiritual baby all your life. So what he does is he allows circumstances
that teach you in the school of hard knocks.
Some things you only learn through difficulty. Some things you only learn through experience.
You know, you’re
not taking your career to heaven so that doesn’t really matter to God. You’re not taking your cash to heaven; that doesn’t
really matter to God. You’re not taking
your house or your clothes or even your reputation to heaven. But you are taking your character into
eternity. What you are, what you became,
you’re taking that into eternity with you.
So God’s far more interested in what’s happening in you than what’s happening around
you. How is it changing you?
Every time you go
through a circumstance you didn’t choose, you didn’t like, you’re going through
a change, you’re going to either resent it or you’re going to grow from it. You’re either going to be a victim or a victor. You’re going to be a whiner or a winner in
life.
God is saying I
want to get your attention. Don’t ask
why, but what. God doesn’t owe you an
explanation for everything that happens in your life. In fact, you’re not going to get it. If you had an explanation for everything you
wouldn’t need any faith. Some things
that happen in your life you’re never going to understand until you get to
heaven. And when you get to heaven
you’ll go, “Now I get the whole picture. I see the beginning and the end. I see the whole thing. I see what was happening here.”
So what do we need
to learn in life?
One thing we need
to learn is contentment. Philippians
4:12 Paul says “I have learned this secret,
so that anywhere, at any time, I am content, whether I’m full or hungry,
whether I have too much or too little. I have the strength to face all conditions
by the power that Christ gives me.” We
like the second part of that verse – I can do all things through Christ who
strengthens me. But we don’t like the
first part – learning to be content with too little or when I’m hungry. We don’t like that part.
I want you to
circle “learned.” Because contentment
and character is something you learn. It
doesn’t come naturally. I am not by
nature content. You are not by nature
content. By nature I naturally want to take
care of my needs. I’m not thinking about
you. I’m thinking about me. My
needs, my hurts, my wants. It’s all about me. You have to learn to be content. That’s
a spiritual development. That’s why God
says I’m going to use it all to teach you.
Romans 5:3-4 says
this “Even in our trials and troubles−
these very things… will develop mature character.” The trial, the problem, the circumstance, the
change you’re going through right now, God wants you to grow up, to develop
mature character.
Since I know that
God’s going to use it all for my good what should be my response? The Bible says in 1 Thessalonians 5:18 “Give thanks in all circumstances, for this
is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
People say, I’m in this transition right now. I’ve lost my job or I’ve lost my health or I’ve
lost my family; I’ve lost this or that. What
is God’s will for me right now? There
it is. This is God’s will for you, that
you give thanks in all circumstances.
You say, “But wait a minute! How in the world can I give thanks for what’s
happened to me?” I didn’t say that. Notice the Bible does not say, give thanks for all circumstances. Circle the word “in.” Give thanks in all circumstances. Not
for, in. Big difference.
If I have a child
who gets leukemia, I don’t have to be thankful for that. That’s stupid! If I have a friend who gets raped, I don’t
have to be thankful for that. That would
make God evil. God hates evil. He hates it.
If I have a son or daughter who gets shot in Afghanistan or Iraq, that’s
not good. I don’t have to be thankful
for that. The Bible never says that. It says, “In all circumstances give thanks.”
I’m not giving
thanks for the circumstances. I can give you a hundred things to be
thankful for in the circumstance. I can be thankful that God is in control,
that God loves me, that it’s not changing his plan for my life, that he will
help me out, that he’ll give me strength, that he’ll use everything for good in
my life. There’s all kinds of promises. I could give you a hundred things to be
thankful for in the situation. Not for
but in. That’s how you grow. That’s how you grow by learning to give
thanks. “Lord, I don’t like what’s going on right now. I’m out of work. I’ve got no income. I’ve got a health problem that’s coming up
right now. I’ve got marital conflict. All these things are happening right now. I don’t like this but I’m going to give
thanks in the circumstance because I know you love me, you care for me and all
these other things that we can be thankful for.
I’m still breathing, I’m alive.”
5. The fifth
thing you need to do when you’re facing a major change is focus on what never
changes.
Don’t focus on the
situation; focus on what never changes. And
what never changes? Three things. God’s love, God’s promises, God’s purpose. God’s love for you is never going to change. God’s promises, his Word is always true. God is not a liar. It’s never going to change. God’s purpose for your life is never going to
change.
Jeremiah 31, “I have loved you with an everlasting love.” Psalm 33, “His
plans endure forever. His purposes last
eternally.” Isaiah 40, “The Word of God shall stand forever.” God’s love, God’s truth, God’s purposes for
my life are never going to change. That’s
what you focus on when things are flying through the air.
6. Don’t face
it alone.
Don’t face the
change alone. Accept help from others. This is the exact opposite of human nature. Our tendency when we’re in pain is to pull
into a shell. Our tendency when things
aren’t going well in our lives, we retreat in fear to our castle. We pull up the drawbridge, fill the mote,
release the alligators, turn on the electric fence because I don’t want anybody
to get near me. Big mistake. That’s not how you get through the change. And that’s not how you grow through the
change. What you need to do is tell other
people what’s happening in your life. You
don’t have to tell everybody but you need to tell a few close friends.
What you need to
get through this difficult time, what you need to get through this major change
in your life is God’s grace. There’s
only one way you get God’s grace. Humble
yourself. How do you do that? By sharing your need with somebody else.
Fifty-one times the
bible says love one another, bear one another’s burdens, care for one another,
pray for one another, share with one another.
You’re breaking the laws of God if you’re not sharing with anybody else. You need to get a couple of Christian friends
who will pray for you and encourage you, pray for you. Get in that small group. You don’t even have to share with the whole
group, maybe just a few people in the group.
But you need people to share with.
Ecclesiastes 4“Two are better off than one… If one of them
falls down, the other can help him up… Two men can resist an attack that would
defeat one man alone.” If you go
through this crisis by yourself you’re going to be defeated. You will be defeated. You need other people in your life. God wired us in such a way that we need each
other. No man is an island; no person ever
made it on their own. When I humble
myself and I share what’s going on in my life with some other people and they
can pray for me and encourage me… a burden that is shared is halved and a joy
that is shared is doubled. It happens
every time.
7. Become a
promise person.
Build your life on
the promises of God. There are over
seven thousand promises in the Bible. They’re
there waiting to be claimed. They’re
like blank checks where God says “If you
do this, I’ll do this... if you do this,
I’ll do this…” you need to memorize them.
You need to bank on them. You
need to claim them.
Build your life on
the promises of God. Not the way things
seem but the way God says they will be. When
you build your life on the promises you can stand enormous levels of stress. Because you’re not looking at circumstances,
you’re looking at the Word of God.
One of the great
promises of the Bible, God says I’m not going to give up on you. I’m not finished with you. What I started in your life I’m going to
complete. Philippians 1:6 says this “I am sure of this: [I’m confident. It’s not a hope or dream or wish] that God, who began this good work in you,
will carry it on until it is finished until the Day of Jesus Christ.” What God starts he finishes in your life.
God did not bring
you this far just to leave you where you are.
The story is not finished. The
last chapter has not been written. You’re
still in the middle of the movie. God
did not bring you this far just to leave you where you are! He says what I’ve started in your life I’m going
to complete if you’ll let me do it. 1
Peter 5:7 “You can throw the whole weight
of your anxiety on him for you are his personal concern.”
Did you know that? Did you know that you are God’s personal concern? He says you
can take all that stress you’re feeling, all that worry, all that anxiety, all that
insecurity and just dump it on me.
Psalm 112:7 “The righteous man does not fear bad news,
nor live in dread of what may happen. For
he has settled in his mind that God will take care of him.”
Your happiness
doesn’t depend on the stock market, or the job market, or anything else. You don’t need to live in dread of what may
happen if you’ve settled in your mind that God is going to take care of you.
Here’s the last
step and it’s the most important one of all.
When I’m going through change I don’t like…
8. Tell God
I’ll trust him no matter what.
Even if it’s not the
storybook ending, even if it doesn’t turn out the way I want, I’m going to
trust God no matter what because God is a good God. He loves me.
He made me. He knows what’s best
for me. He created me. He has a plan, a good plan, for my life.
Job did this. When Job lost everything in his life. Job 13 “Though
he [God] slay me, yet will I trust
him.” He said, God even if this is the end of the road, even if I don’t live another day,
even if I don’t make it, God, I’m going to trust you. If you decide to take my life right now, if it’s
over, if my life is over, I’m still going to trust you because I still have
heaven. That’s the ultimate test of
faith. God, I’m going to trust you. No matter what happens. I don’t care good or bad, no matter what
happens, I’m going to trust you.
Friends, let me give
you a great stress reliever. Let it go. Hold everything God gives you with an open
hand. Anything you grab onto is going to
kill you. Anything you grab onto is going
to stress you out. Because it becomes an
idol. Even good things can become an
idol. The first two commandments are have
no other god’s before me and no idols. And
anything you grasp onto and you can’t hold it with an open hand that God has
given you is an idol. If God has given
you something in your life and you couldn’t give it up, you don’t own it; it owns
you. You need to hold it with an open
hand. God can put one job in your hand. He can easily put another job in your hand. If he turns on one faucet, he can turn off
another. If he turns off one, he can
turn on another. If he closes one window
he can open another window. If he closes
one door he can open another. You belong
to him. You need to come to the point of
maturity where you say, my identity is not in my job. My identity is not in my relationships. My identity is not in my wealth. My identity is in Jesus Christ. That can never be taken from me. Then you can say, like Job did, Job 1:21 “The
Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed
be the name of the Lord!”
Prayer:
Would you pray this: Dear God, I realize there’s no growth
without change; no change without loss; no loss without grief; and no grief
without pain. But I thank you that in
all things you’re working for good in my life. Even when people have intended to harm me, you
meant it for good. I thank you that the
purpose of what I’m going through right now is to test my faith; so I want to look
for you, Lord, in the change. I want to
seek you. Not a solution, not a quick
fix, not a way out. I want to ask you for
wisdom. God, I need your wisdom. Forgive me for being too busy and too noisy
to hear your whisper. I want to be quiet. I want to spend time with you on a daily basis
and read your Word and be quiet and listen to you and pray. Lord, help me to stop asking why and to start
asking what do you want me to learn. Help
me to give thanks in all circumstances, not for them but in them, because this
is your will for me. Develop mature
character in me. Grow me up. Help me to focus on that which never changes:
your love for me, your purpose for me, your promises to me. Forgive me for my pride and not being willing
to share what I’m going through with others.
You’ve told me you don’t want me to face this alone. Help me to get into a small group. Help me to share with a few people what’s
happening in my life so that they can bear the burdens with me. I want to become a promise person. I thank you that you who began a good work in
my life are going to finish what you started.
The story is not finished. What
you start you complete. That you will have
the last word and your word is good. I
want to throw the whole weight of all my anxiety on you right now. Thank you that I am your personal concern. I want to be a godly man/I want to be a godly
woman. That it’s settled in my mind that
you’re going to take care of me. Father,
I want to say to you today, that no matter what happens, I’m going to trust you. No matter what the ending is, I’m going to
trust you. Because you are a good
God.
Be the manager of my life.
I want to learn to trust you and love you. In your name.
Amen.
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