We all feel we have had our share of DIFFICULTIES, and some of us feel we have had more than our share.
Illus: Many times we feel like the man who was married to a beautiful woman, but they had difficulties in their marriage. Nothing seemed to be going right for him.
But, one day as he was walking along he came across this frog that said to him, “Hey mister, kiss me and I will turn into a beautiful princess.” The man looked at the frog, he picked it up and put it in his coat pocket without saying a word.
Later, the frog stuck its head out of his pocket and said, “No kidding mister, kiss me and I will turn into a beautiful princess.” The man just ignored the frog, but shoved it back into his pocket.
Later that day, the frog stuck its head of the man’s pocket and again said, “Really mister, kiss me and I will turn into a beautiful princess.” The man looked at the frog and said, “Listen frog, I do not doubt what you say, but at this stage of my life, I believe I would just as soon have a talking frog as a lovely princess in my life.”
A lot of us are like that man. We are at a place where WE ARE NOT SURE what we want or what we need.
Let us look at two things about life’s difficulties. First there is the...
I. OVERLAPPING OF DIFFICULTIES.
It seems that life is filled with one DIFFICULTY after another. It matters not where you live, who you know, what you have, or what family you belong to; everyone experiences difficulties in this life.
Illus: Now you would think rulers of countries would be exempt from this, but even they suffer difficulties. For instance, the members of the Royal Family of Britain have the best of what life has to offer, yet we constantly hear reports of DIFFICULTIES they experience.
We all know there are many difficulties we have no control, whatsoever, over. These are as much a part of life as breathing is. In a few minutes we will discover how to be OVERCOMERS when we have to face the UNAVOIDABLE DIFFICULTIES.
However, there are some DIFFICULTIES that come our way that are the result of our own doings.
Some come because we simply do not face reality.
A. The myth problem.
That is, many have been raised in a “Fairy Tale” world.
Illus: A young girl often starts life having her parents tell her Cinderella stories. Remember, Cinderella had some problems, then one day a young, handsome prince came along and whisked her away. All her difficulties she had before she met him vanished, and she and the prince lived happily ever after. The young girl who has heard these “fairy tales” grows up, meets her handsome prince. He marries her, and surprise! She has more DIFFICULTIES than she ever wished to encounter. Her big, beautiful “hunk” turns out to be a big “chump.” All her dreams are shattered because she believed that the man she married would take care of everything and they would live happily ever after.
The same thing often happens to young men.
Illus: The boy is told, “Son, you need to get a good education.” The boy asks, “Why dad?” Dad replies, “So you can live happily ever after.” The boy grows up. He follows his dad’s advice and gets a good education, but soon after receiving that diploma, he begins to run into life’s DIFFICULTIES. All of a sudden he has everything except a “happily ever after” life.
Let us set the record straight. We do not live in a fantasy world, no matter what your television set tells you!
• It does not matter who you marry.
• You can have more degrees than a thermometer, etc.
These things are not going to determine whether or not you will live “happily ever after!”
If we are going to OVERCOME LIFE’S DIFFICULTIES we are going to have to stop living in a dream world. We have to realize that there not a person on earth, no matter how rich or famous, is exempt from life’s difficulties.
Not only do we need to stop living in a “fairy tale” world, we need to begin building our lives on the Word of God.
Job said, Job 5:7, “Yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward.”
Again, a “fairy tale” life does not exist for anyone. A lot of Christians need to “wake up and smell the coffee.” This IS NOT HEAVEN. One day we shall enjoy such a life.
Rev. 21:4 says, “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.”
But, until then, God’s Word says, again Job 5:7, “Yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward.”
This is THE MYTH PROBLEM.
Secondly, some can not live a life of victory of the DIFFICULTIES they face because they fail to recognize...
B. The mental problem.
WHAT IS THE MENTAL PROBLEM?
It is that some can not comprehend that we live in a changing world.
Everything in the world is always changing.
Illus: You can buy a brand new car, but the day you buy it, it begins to deteriorate.
You can build your dream home and it is everything you imagine it to be, but the day you complete it and move into it, it will begin to deteriorate.
A girl can be so gorgeous that she wins every beauty contest that she enters. She can walk down the street and have a string of fellows follow her. But there is a time in her life when she will begin to deteriorate, and the day will come when she is not so very attractive.
One movie actress was telling how many times she had to have her face “lifted.” She has had it done so many times she now looks like she got her pony tail caught in the door.’’ THESE BODIES and NATURE teach us over and over again that everything in the world is constantly changing.
Illus: In the spring, dogwood trees in the South are simply gorgeous. But, for all their beauty, it lasts only a short time. Nature teaches us that we live in a changing world.
Illus: The stock market might go through the ceiling one day and fall through the floor the next.
The fact is, we all live in a world that is ever changing, and there is not one thing we can do about it.
We have to face the DISAPPOINTMENTS that we face each day in this changing world that forces these difficulties upon us.
Illus: An elderly lady told her preacher one day, “Preacher, this is a new world that I am now forced to live in.” She said, “My family has died off on my husband’s side and on my side.” She said, “I am now all alone!”
The only thing in our lives that does not change from day to day is the God we serve.
He said, in Malachi 3:6, “For I am the LORD, I change not...”
Thank God, in this constantly changing world, GOD DOES NOT CHANGE!
Again, most of us have come to accept the fact that we live in a world that is filled with difficulties. Some times these difficulties are the result of...
(A) The myth problem. (Thinking that there is a “fairy tale” life that exists that we live in.)
(B) The mental problem. (Thinking that there is a life which exists where changes do not occur that would cause DIFFICULTIES in our lives.)
We all agree that in this life there seems to be an OVERLAPPING OF DIFFICULTIES that we face day by day.
As Christians we want to know how to face these DIFFICULTIES and be OVERCOMERS.
We have looked at the OVERLAPPING OF DIFFICULTIES. Now let us look at...
II. OVERCOMING DISAPPOINTMENTS.
How do we OVERCOME the DIFFICULTIES that we face EACH DAY? Let us look at...
A. Our reality.
Again, we have to accept the fact we are going to have difficulties in this life.
Illus: Some, when they face difficulties, poke their bottom lip out and say, “What’s wrong! I thought when I accepted the Lord Jesus all my difficulties would disappear and I would live ‘happily ever after.’ What’s wrong?”
Well, nothing is wrong. DIFFICULTIES are as much a part of our lives as breathing is.
The apostle Paul definitely considered this. Look at Romans 8:18. We read, “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”
In other words, in heaven there is not going to be DIFFICULTIES. One of the things that will make heaven such a glorious place is that it is FREE OF DIFFICULTIES.
Everything we have to suffer for the cause of Christ here on earth shall “NOT BE WORTHY TO BE COMPARED TO THE GLORY WHICH SHALL BE REVEALED IN US.”
Illus: Suppose you had a car that would barely run. It was full of dents and was ready for the junk yard, but someone came up to you in a Rolls Royce that was immaculate and told you he would like to swap it for your piece of junk you were driving. WOULD YOU NOT BE WILLING TO SWAP? Sure you would, and you would try to find another junk car so you could ask him what he would like to swap that one for...
When we get to heaven and God rewards us for the suffering we have been through, we are going to wish we had many more difficulties to suffer through when we compare them with what God has for us.
Until then, we have to face REALITY, and understand that as long as we live on this earth, it will not be easy. THIS IS NOT HEAVEN! We are going to have difficulties here as long as we live.
Secondly, if we are going to overcome life’s DIFFICULTIES we need to look at...
B. His Word.
If you and I went to a store and bought a swing set for our children, took it home, opened the large box and found all these pipes, chains, bolts and screws, but NO INSTRUCTIONS we would be furious. And we would have every right to be. WHY? We had been sold an item that was useless without the instructions on how to assemble it.
Obviously a person’s life is more complicated than any swing set. But, I can assure you that God has not placed us here without any instructions. He has preserved His Word for us because it is His Word that tells us how to OVERCOME THE DIFFICULTIES of life.
Psalms 119:105 says, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.”
Illus: The video, “The Mormon Puzzle,” reveals how Mormon missionaries go out every day by the thousands, deceiving thousands of people and persuading them to convert to Mormonism. A former Mormon, with his wife, on the video said the best way to keep from being deceived by these Mormons is to know what the Bible teaches. He then went on to say that anyone who knows what the Bible teaches could never be tricked into joining this cult.
That is true. The word of God confirms that. David said, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.”
God’s Word shows us clearly:
• We do not earn our salvation. It is by grace we receive it.
• It is not a religion. It is a relationship with Christ Jesus.
Look at Acts 17:11. We read, “These (Bereans) were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.”
Notice, the Bible says those Christians were, “...were more noble than those in Thessalonica...”
But then God tells us WHY the Berean church was more noble. It was sickened by difficulties they faced as there was so much immorality and injustice in their land. God’s Word mentions two things they did to help themselves. We see...
1. Their reception of the Word of God.
Look again at verse 11. We read, “These (Bereans) were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that THEY RECEIVED THE WORD WITH ALL READINESS OF MIND...”
One of the joys of preaching God’s Word to people like this is that THEY RECEIVE IT and THEN THEY PRACTICE WHAT THEY HAVE RECEIVED. God’s Word says the Bereans received it with “...readiness of mind...” These words were translated from the Greek, “meta pases prothumias,” which means, “They look to the Word of God for direction.
2. Their search of the scriptures.
Notice, they did not just listen to what man had to say. They did not just act on whatever was popular, or sounded good at the time. They searched the scriptures daily to find the REAL TRUTH and REAL SOLUTIONS to their problems.
Illus: A man took his car to the garage because he could not keep it running. The mechanic said, “Mister, I do not know what is wrong with your car, but I have sent for a book and I will read it and find out. The book came and he read it from cover and in doing so he found the problem. The book not only told him what the problem was, it also told him the solution. He did as the book instructed and the problem was solved.
The same thing goes for Christians. If we will search the scriptures daily we can find the solutions to all the difficulties we face.
Conclusion:
Every person here today faces life’s DIFFICULTIES. Some are unavoidable. When this is the case WE ACCEPT THE REALITY OF THESE DIFFICULTIES and SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES to find out HOW TO OVERCOME THEM.
I. OVERLAPPING OF DIFFICULTIES.
II OVERCOMING DISAPPOINTMENTS.
