Father God we pray to you, our one and only God. We worship your Holy name. We pray a mercy seat in the middle of the sanctuary, so that you may join us with your presence, and hear our praise. We ask for your cleansing, and a desire to hide your Word in our hearts. Father God, we ask that you take this service over and place upon it, a There is a new wave of feel good churches springing up all over the United States. Some call it the "church of prosperity". Only good things come from God. God is only love, He is too compassionate to let anything bad happen. Well let me tell you right off the bat, this is a lie straight from the mouth of Satan himself. A Gospel without suffering, a Gospel without sacrifice, is counterfeit.
God uses adversity, tribulation, suffering; and sacrifice to make us into what we were created to be.
Ephesians 2:10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
2 Corinthians 12:9 And he said unto me, "My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness." Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
Paul was plagued by an unknown thorn in his side. I believe it was unknown so that we all may relate to it, but that's another sermon. He asked God to remove it three times, and that was God's response. At first Paul saw this thorn as an obstacle, but through God's revelation saw it for what it truly was; an aid. Now you must be thinking, how can a thorn is someone's side be an aid to them?
Illustration- The came a visitor to a great museum. As he toured the place, he saw a man with a chisel, hammer in his hands and goggles on his face. There sitting in front of him was a huge bolder. The visitor asked the man, rather directly, "What is so special about a big rock"? Without even looking at the visitor, the sculptor said, " It's an eagle, not a big rock". The visitor said, "well looks like a big rock to me, never saw an eagle that liked like that." The sculptor put down his tools, took off his goggles and turned to face the man. He began, "I assure you its and eagle, I just haven't remove all the pieces of that don't belong."
God shapes us, and if we let Him, He will chip away the pieces of us that do not belong, that are contrary to what we are created for. God breaks us in order to get us to a place where we are teachable.
Well what if we do not want to be broken? After all this does not sound very appealing.
Hebrews 12:11 Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. The NIV says "peace to those who have been trained by it.
There must be discipline for there to be a relationship. God brings us to the end of ourselves, so that we are not trusting in ourselves, but in Him. A man will not be used greatly, until he has been broken deeply.
One of my favorite poems is written by Lee Webber
Crossings
I came to a swift and raging river
And the roar held the echo of fear
"Oh Lord, give me wings to fly over,
If you are as you promised, quite near"
But He said, "Trust the grace I am giving,
All pervasive, sufficient for you.
Take my hand; we will face this together,
For my plan is not over, but THROUGH!"
We are so quick to ask for a way out of our troubles, when sometimes they are put there by God to mold us, to shape us into the true purpose of our creation. God shapes us with trials.
John 16:33
"These things I have spoken unto you, that in me, ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world."
What and amazing truth! Jesus does not say, "You may run across some tribulation, here or there." He says "Ye SHALL have tribulation". It will happen, and often. God gives us the tools, and wisdom to overcome the world through Him.
Philippians 4"13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
Lets look at an example of Peter's trials.
Luke 22:31-34
And the Lord said, "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: But I have Prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted; strengthen thy bretheren." And he said unto him, Lord, I am ready to go with thee, both into prison, and to death, And He said "I tell thee Peter, the cock shall not crow this day, before that thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me.
In the book of John, Peter says in this passage, "I will lay down my life for you." And I am quite sure he means and believes every word he said. He has to be astonished at the words of Jesus, although he is silent, he must be saying to himself, "No way I would ever deny the Son of the living God!"
Let us look further that very day. After Jesus is betrayed and arrested outside the garden of Gethsemane.
Luke 22:54-62
Then took they him, and led him, and brought him into the high priest's house. And Peter followed afar off. And when they had kindled a fire in the midst of the hall, and were set down together, Peter sat down among them. But a certain maid beheld him as he say by the fire, and earnestly looked upon him, and said, This man was also with him. And he denied him saying Woman, I know him not. And after a little while another saw him, and said Thou art also of them, And Peter said, Man, I am not. And about the space of one hour after another confidently affirmed, saying, Of a truth this fellow also was with him: for he is a Galilean. And Peter said, Man, I know not what thou sayest And immediately, while he yet spake, the cock crew. And the Lord turned and looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And Peter went out and wept bitterly.
Jesus could have spared Peter this pain, could he not? He knew exactly what would happen. He could have explained in detail to Peter, where and when this would take place. Told him to avoid this area, and spared him. So Why?? Why did God allow this??
A few years back while driving down the road, God spoke to me just as clear as he ever has. He told me to share the Gospel with my brother. The same older brother that I idolized. The same brother I wanted to immolate and mimic. You see he was very wealthy and successful by worldly standards, a multi-millionaire. He was smarter than I was, just as good or better at everything I did. To tell share my heart with him was absolutely terrifying. But I did as God bid me. I poured my heart out to him, not holding back. I felt God speaking through me. He response was, "Scottie, religion is good. It makes people do the right thing and the world needs that. But as for me, I don't have time for it." I was devastated!! I got in my car a wept bitterly, as hard as I'd ever cried. I asked God, "You knew exactly what was going to happen didn't you? Then why would you put me through that pain?" No answer. February 26th 2011, I received a phone call at about 10:30 at night, It was my dad asking me to come to his house. Instantly I knew something was terribly wrong. After some prodding dad wasn't budging on the reason, so I set out for his house about an hour away. Brian built them a beautiful house across the driveway from his, in order to spend more time with them in their older age. As I arrived, there had to have been more than fifty people gathered in front of their house. As soon as my mother saw me, she ran to me, embracing me. She whispered, "Brian is dead." I was mortified! I tried to be strong for my mother and family. As I got back in the car for the long journey home, God spoke to me, just as clear as he has ever spoken to me, "This is why you went through the rejection of your brother. How would you live with the fact that you didn't share the good news with someone you loved so much?" Somehow in the mist of all that pain, there came an easy peace on my heart that only God can give us.
Now remember Peter? We left him weeping bitterly. A little over a month later, in the book of Acts, Peter delivers one of the most powerful sermons recorded in the Bible.
Acts 2:38
Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation. Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.
This was the same person just days before denied he even knew Jesus Christ. Now he is risking death and proclaiming the Gospel to people far above his station, with boldness!! AMEN!! God could have spared Peter the pain of denying him, but it's the adversity that God's strength is made perfect.
God could have spared Jesus the cross. Jesus asked in the garden of Gethsemane - Matthew 26:42 O my Father, If this cup may not pass away form me, except I drink it, thy will be done. God could have done it another way and spared His only begotten Son the price that only He did not owe. The beating, the humiliation, the pain and shame. But God does not spare His will to anyone, no matter who it is. He just does not work that way. There must be a payment for the cost. It must be paid!!
Let us hide His word in our heart. Let us lean on the mighty god through trouble, through strife, through tribulation. And be used in the way we were fashioned.
Are you standing before a swift and raging river? Take God's hand, and let Him guide you THROUGH!
