Feeling lucky today? James 1:17
INTRO:A man walks along a lonely beach. Suddenly he hears a deep voice: "DIG!" He looks around: nobody’s there. I am having hallucinations, he thinks. Then he hears the voice again: "I SAID, DIG !" So he starts to dig in the sand with his bare hands, and after some inches, >he finds a small chest with a rusty lock.
The deep voice says: "OPEN !" >Ok, the man thinks, let’s open the thing. He finds a rock with which to destroy the lock, and when the chest is finally open, he sees a lot of gold coins.
The deep voice says: "TO THE CASINO !" Well the casino is only a few miles away, so the man takes the chest and walks to the casino.
The deep voice says: "ROULETTE !" So he changes all the gold into a huge pile of roulette tokens and goes to one of the tables, where the players gaze at him with disbelief.
The deep voice says: "27 !" He takes the whole pile and drops it at the 27. The table nearly bursts. Everybody is quiet when the croupier throws the ball. The ball stays at the 26. The deep voice says: "Oh, man!"—Malas!
Luck: I was watching “Eat Bulaga” this week, this segment when people win “Toyota Innova” plus 100 thousand pesos. To win people bring their “Lucky Charms” a Lucky picture, Coin put into the lucky choes.” Its sad but many Christians believe in “Luck” good or bad too. Once naligaw kami sa Mt. Samat hiking, sino kaya ang may Balat dito, o 3 ang puyo, o ayaw nating lumabas ng Friday the 13th dahil malas daw. We were born Friday the 13th so far, were doing great!
Isang report ang napabasa ko sa Diyaryo- Ito ay tungkol sa pagaaral na ginawa ng Isang Samahan na kilala sa panglang “Fouundation ng mga Walang Magawa at nagsasayang ng pera”—At pinag-aralan nila ang isang Cereal sa states na sinasabi na susuwertihin ka daw kapag ito ay iyung kinain araw-araw. Nilabas ng EXPERTS na ito ang kinalabasan ng 2 years of painstaking research into breakfast cereals. Ang sabi nila sa report “Wala kaming nakitang positibong relasyon ng pag-kain ng Lucky Cereals at pagka panalo sa mga larong kailangan ng suwerte, kagaya ng sugal.” Sinayang naming at itinaya ang milyon-milyong dolyares, habang kumakain, ng lucky cereals at kaming lahat ay natalo. Buti na lang hindi naming sariling pera ang ginamit naming. Dinagdag pa ng pag-aaral na “Sa ilang pagkakataon nakakapag dala pa ng Malas ang Lucky Cereals”, tignan na lamang ang Cereal mascot na si Lucky na ngayon ay nagtatago dahil sa dami ng batang naghahabol sa kanya upang makakuha ng Cereal. Nagkakapasapasa din siya nung huli niyang appearance dahil sa tuwa ng mga bata sa kanya siya ay dinaganan daganan, sinuntok, hinatak at siya ay nahulog sa stage.”
Today we will talk about :The Truth About Luck. Have you ever thought that you were lucky? Have you ever said to yourself, “It’s my lucky day!” Have you ever come across a penny on heads and recite the old adage, “Find a penny, pick it up, and all day long you’ll have good luck”? Chances are, you have at some point thought or said one of those things. But tonight, I believe we’ll all see that luck has nothing to do with it.
II. What It Is
Luck n. - 1 a : a force that brings good fortune or adversity, b: the events or circumstances that operate for or against an individual, 2 : favoring chance;
I want to challenge you to search the Scriptures, break out your concordance, go online, and use whatever resources you have, and you’ll find that the word luck never appears in the Bible.
We never see Jesus finding a drachma (a coin) and pick it up and say, “Oh, golly, it’s my lucky day.”
We never see Peter have an amazing catch of fish and say, “Boy, I must be lucky.”
We do however, see Jesus tell Peter to go catch a fish and get some money out of it. It’s tax time and Jesus and Peter need to pay their taxes.
Matthew 17: 27 27Nevertheless, lest we offend them, go to the sea, cast in a hook, and take the fish that comes up first. And when you have opened its mouth, you will find a piece of money; take that and give it to them for Me and you."
You might expect someone to think they’re lucky if they find some money like that…but in this case, finding this money had nothing to do with chance or good fortune. In fact, Jesus knew exactly where the money would be. And Peter did exactly what Jesus said and found money.
III. If Not Luck, Then What?
If luck has nothing to do with chance events happening in my life, then what’s going on? What is this force that brings good fortune? What causes adversity? I assure you, it’s not luck.
A. First of all, adversity. What causes adversity? What causes the bad things to happen in your life? It’s a force all right. It’s the force of the enemy – the devil. The devil is bad and he makes bad things happen. It’s as simple as that. His job description is found in John 10:10.
John 10:10 10The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
It’s not bad luck…it’s a bad devil.
B. Well, what about the good things, that has to be luck, right? Nope, not luck.
James 1:17 17Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.
What force brings good fortune? What causes good things to happen in your life? God is good and He makes good things happen. In fact, for His children, there’s this little thing that He promises them called favor.
Let’s talk a little bit about that.
IV. The Flavor of Favor
Favor – an attitude of approval or liking. Act of kindness beyond what is usual. Provide with advantages. Prefer above all others. Over-generous, preferential treatment. It also means to be endorsed. To have things easier. Having special privileges. It is a gift. You can’t earn or buy it.
A lot of people would look at somebody who has favor and say, “Boy, you’re lucky.” But, it’s not luck…luck can be good or bad. Favor is always good. And more importantly, favor is always on the children of God.
Psalm 5:12 12For You, O LORD, will bless the righteous; with favor You will surround him as with a shield.
Does the Bible say that if you never break a mirror, you will have favor? Does the Bible say that if you never walk under a ladder, you will have favor? Does the Bible say that if you carry around a 4-leaf clover, you will have favor? What about a rabbit’s foot, or a horseshoe? Does the Bible say that if you rub a red head’s hair, you will have favor? Does the Bible say that if you find a penny on heads, you will have favor? What about if you spill the salt and throw a pinch over your left shoulder, will you have favor? Does the Bible say that if you never open an umbrella inside, you will have favor?
No, none of that is true. The Bible says that the righteous are surrounded with favor.
Who are the righteous? The righteous refers to Christians, those who have accepted Christ as their Savior. Because of Christ’s sacrifice, we who confess him as Lord, are made righteous, which gains us entrance into heaven, and also a load of benefits here on earth, one of which is FAVOR.
ILLUS: There was this beauty pageant a number of years ago. And the winner of this pageant, not only gained fame and fortune, but she would also be made the queen. Well, there was this particular young woman who entered the contest. Let’s see what happened.
Esther 2:16-17 “16So Esther was taken to King Xerxes, into his royal palace, in the tenth month, which is the month of Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign. 17The king loved Esther more than all the other women, and she obtained grace and favor in his sight more than all the virgins; so he set the royal crown upon her head and made her queen instead of Vashti.”
Well, Esther won the contest and the crown. It was her lucky day, right? Nope, luck didn’t have anything to do with it. The Bible said that she found favor with the King, not luck. If she were depending on luck, she never would have won the crown. But she wasn’t depending on luck; she wasn’t depending on her good looks either. She was depending on the favor of God. And because she had favor with God, she found favor with the King.
Don’t depend on luck! Depend on the favor of God, which is ALL good, ALL the time. Let’s pray.
Disclaimer: Most of the illustration I got from Sermon Central.
