|
|
No matter how impossible it seems, |
||
|
|
|||
|
3 Possible Reasons for your Problems. |
|
|
|
|
1. God has a purpose. 2. It’s not time yet. 3. You caused it. |
THE
SPIRITUAL EMERGENCY MANUAL What to do when having
struggles. http://www.branchministry.net/testamonies/index.html Miracles to people you know Natalie Cole, Reggie White &
Hilarious look at the Search for God
|
|
“if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless… and so is
your faith.“ |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
God has
a purpose. I bet they wondered! God continued, “I did it to humble you, to
prove you I can provide in the worst times, and to harden you difficulties - TO DO YOU GOOD IN THE END.” God has something better to come out of your
troubles. Joseph was hated by his
brothers, beaten up and sold into slavery.
As a slave he was unjustly accused of rape and thrown into
prison. But in prison the king met
him, and liked him so much, he put Joseph in charge of the entire
kingdom! Who’d a thunk it? When his brothers (who started this mess)
realized their powerful brother could take revenge, they feared for their
lives. But Joseph understood why it happened. He said, ... 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) KNOW God is working things
out. That is what faith is all
about. Believing in something God has
promised when there is no evidence it will happen. WAIT on God. Patience always seems to take so long in
coming - but until we learn turn loose of our expectations of when
God will save us, we are still
trying to control Him. |
|
|
“if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless… and so is
your faith.“ |
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
|
There are many examples in
the bible of those whose dreams and desires were unfulfilled until all the people,
and events were ready. The
Israelites went through the 40 year ordeal and were led right up to this land
that they were promised was “overflowing with milk and honey”. God even told them they would live in
houses they didn’t build, and eat from fields they didn’t plant. It was exciting. But when God told them to go in - they balked. They saw
the giants in the land and decided it was too risky! God got mad since they would
never just DO what he asked them to.
Then, when God got mad – they got scared and decided they would go in
after all – a week later. And they
got slaughtered. When they asked God
for an explanation He told them: Then you replied, "We have sinned against the LORD.
We will go up and fight, as the LORD our God commanded us." So every one
of you put on his weapons, thinking it easy to go up into the hill country. Deut 1:41 (NIV) They didn’t understand that
God’s timing is calculated. Even
Jesus as Son of God – with all his wisdom, wanted to make sure He didn’t jump
the gun until God was ready. When his
Mother wanted to Him to perform His first public miracle He said, "Dear
woman, why do you involve me?" Jesus replied. "My time has not yet
come." John 2:4 As we saw in the first
example, God sometimes will not trust us with what we’ve prayed for because
He isn’t done using the circumstance to build our character. That could be why he says that the
miracles and promises of our blessings come through faith AND patience. When we were children, we
wanted everything NOW! But we need to
be mature enough to ask God WHEN, and trust Him that it will come. And when it does – to obey even though it
may not look exactly like we expect it! |
|
“if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless… and so is
your faith.“ |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Our society has “bought into”
this whole concept of gray areas. Right and wrong
have become so muted, 51% of baby boomers think "lying is sometimes
necessary."1 71% believe there are no absolute truths. We rationalize everything. But what we need to understand is that
there are trade-offs to our behavior. As we saw in the case of Adam
and Eve - everyone wants to pass the blame.
Most people would say ‘that’s only human’ - but that’s not quite
right. Created in the image of God
who never lies - we were actually created to choose to not pass the blame.
It was in gaining the access to knowledge of what was good and evil
that screwed up our ‘nature.’ Ignorance ain't blissThere is this huge temptation
to assume one of two things: ·
If
I just don't dwell on my sins, it will go away and I won't have to worry or... ·
Everyone
seems to have a different opinion and no one can really know for
sure who is right. Go and read Proverbs. Right there in the first chapter. Number 32.
For the waywardness of the
simple (those who don't know better) will kill them, and the complacency of
fools will destroy them;. I knew
this concept well enough. So does the
IRS. Ignorance of the law is no
defense. I used to love the comedian
Steve Martin's bit about this. 'I'm sorry your Honor, I forgot there was
law against murder' Steve showed
how ridiculous this was and helped us picture the judge going, 'Oh. You forgot? Well then, that's different.
Go on then, and try to remember it next time.' --Yeah, right. And the pope is a Buddhist. So, my problem is really that I'm basically afraid to know. But if I will perish
for lack of knowledge
(Hosea 4:6), the only other alternative is to find out where I should
stand. There is a TV show called
America’s Dumbest Criminals. Week
after week the host tells stories like the 7-11 robber who left his credit
card with the clerk or the neighborhood TV burglar who was stopped with a
remote from his last hit in his pocket.
I just got back from a little neighborhood store that rents postal
boxes, collects phone and utility payments and rents Uhauls. The owner told me of a girl who had been
coming to the store for a year to pay her phone bill, rented a $19.95 Uhaul
with her drivers license, and took it out of state 1500 miles away. If she is stopped anywhere in the country
or applies for another license, she will be arrested and jailed, made to pay
for the recovery of the truck, made to pay for a round trip journey to get
the truck back AND she will be charged with GrandTheft. A one way bus trip to another state would
only have cost her $150 maximum. Was
she really that stupid? Probably
not. She just chose NOT to know what
the consequences were blindly believing it would all work out. And don’t look so self-righteous. You and I may not have committed a crime
like this, but there have been many times we’ve not done our homework by
investigating potentially consequences of our actions because we didn’t want
to know. Mk 12:24 Jesus replied, "Are you
not in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God? God has made rules with
consequences. Like gravity. You jump off of a cliff and you will eat
dirt. Even if you don't like gravity, it's a physical law. You sin and there is a penalty. It sure
would be a lot easier though if God would immediately dispense our penalty we
went astray. We dense humans would
very quickly get the message. Like if
you went 56 m.p.h. and a hand popped out of the dashboard and slapped you up
side your head. Or like Pinnochio,
your nose would permanently grow an inch with every lie. Of course the used car market would
collapse overnight and plastic surgery would replace computers or car makers
as the biggest industry. However, God in his wisdom
saw the rest of the story. Imagine all that would happen.
Most men wouldn't survive puberty.
We'd likely end up with noses 3 feet in length and blind from the
consequences of watching too many episodes of Baywatch. No, God is loving enough to give us time
to learn before dropping the hammer.
“Sacrifices” are just for that purpose. Covering all those little peccadilloes we accumulate during the
day. That's why our prayer and
confession before Jesus is critical every
day. If you’ve not admitted your
shortcomings and trusted in God’s forgiveness, you have to deal with the
consequences. THE GOOD NEWS FOR US SCREW-UPSSome became
fools through their rebellious ways and suffered affliction because of
their iniquities. Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble,
and he saved them from their distress. He sent forth his word and healed
them; he rescued them from the grave. Ps 107:17 With all the talk about what
we do wrong - we need to get something straight: God’s will is to
save and heal us. Even if we screw-up. But it does require a
mediator to stand between Satan’s accusations and God the Father. Below, a man was giving his advice to Job
and God jumped right in the middle of the discussion: ·
Job 33:8-33 "But I tell you, in this you are not right, for
God is greater than man. Why do you complain to him that he answers none of man's words? For God does speak-- now
one way, now another-- though man may not perceive it. In a dream, in a
vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on men as they slumber in their
beds, he may speak in their ears and terrify them with warnings, to turn
man from wrongdoing and keep him from pride, to preserve his soul from the
pit, his life from perishing by the sword. Or a man may be chastened on a
bed of pain with constant distress in his bones, so that his very being finds
food repulsive and his soul loathes the choicest meal. His flesh wastes away
to nothing, and his bones, once hidden, now stick out. His soul draws near to
the pit, and his life to the messengers of death. "Yet if there
is an angel on his side as a mediator, one out of a thousand, to tell a man
what is right for him, to be gracious to him and say, 'Spare him from going
down to the pit; I have found a ransom for him'-- then his flesh is renewed
like a child's; it is restored as in the days of his youth. He prays to God
and finds favor with him, he sees God's face and shouts for joy; he
is restored by God to his righteous state. Then he
comes to men and says, 'I sinned, and perverted what was right, but I did not
get what I deserved. He redeemed my soul from going down to the pit, and I
will live to enjoy the light.' "God does all these things to a man--
twice, even three times-- to turn back his soul from the pit, that the light
of life may shine on him. "Pay attention, Job, and listen to me; be
silent, and I will speak. If you have anything to say, answer me; speak up,
for I want you to be cleared. But if not, then listen to me; be silent, and I
will teach you wisdom." He speaks of an angel (messenger) who is a mediator.
And Jesus called himself a mediator. He
loved us before we loved Him - or even wanted to know anything about Him - that is certainly being
gracious. And He will spare us from going
to the pit (often used as an analogy for Hell also) by finding a ransom for
us. John called him the lamb of God.
Jesus said: ·
Matt 20:28 “..just as the Son
of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a
ransom for many." Some theologians and
Christians are very tentative or nervous of those who talk about God’s
promises for things we need here on earth.
He knows we
need love. He knows we need consistent income. Jesus physically
healed people. He told them God would
provide clothes better than Solomon had
- but they were physical clothes He promised. And as the text from Job continues to tell
of the reconciliation that He promises to be blessed and keep us from
disaster spiritually AND in this reality.
But this can only come through believing
it will. And what about our moral
impurity? Can we ignore our
imperfections and ungodly faults?
No. Will God save me if I
still screw up? Yes. - Go
figure. But at some point when we
take advantage of God’s gentle nature and settle into these sins - He
promises to exert pressure to get us to change. |
|
“if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless… and so is
your faith.“ |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|