Before you get up and leave, let me encourage you to sit and listen to this sermon that could be a tremendous help to you. Maybe I can teach you something you did not know about trouble.
Illus: A man went to aviation school to learn all he could about helicopters. He said he always thought that what kept helicopters up in the air was the propellers spinning above the helicopter. But he said he found out that was not the case.
He said he discovered that the propeller spinning above the helicopter was no more than a big fan to keep the pilot cool.
He said, “If you do not believe me, watch a helicopter pilot when those propellers quit spinning and see if he does not begin to sweat.”
I do not know that much about helicopters, but I do want to teach you some things I have learned from the scriptures about trouble.
One thing we learn at an early age is that we do not live in a perfect world.
Illus: Someone said that in a perfect world . . .
• A person should feel as good at 50 as he did at 17
• We would be as smart at 50 as we thought were at 17
• We would have an much energy at 70 as we did when we were 17
• Pro baseball players would be complaining about school teachers being paid millions of dollars to teach
• Potato chips might have calories, but if you ate them with onion dip the calories would be neutralized
• If the guy from the government said to you , “I’m here to help,” not only would he mean it, but he would also do it
• Highway patrolmen would never be around when your running late, but would always be at your side when a BMW speeds past you, or a Mac truck won’t get off your bumper
• The better food tasted, the less calories it would have
• Warranties would be for 13 months and products would fail at 12 months
We all have come to realize that WE DO NOT LIVE IN A PERFECT WORLD.
Illus: When I think of trouble, I think of the woman that had three sons that were so wild that she changed their name to STUPID, SHUT-UP and TROUBLE!
They were riding down the road one day in a pick-up truck and TROUBLE was in the back by himself. He was hollering and jumping around in the back like a wild man. STUPID was driving around a corner too fast, and TROUBLE fell out.
They went back to look for him, but they could not find him anywhere. After some time looking for him, they decided the only thing they could do was go to the police station and report him as a missing person.
When they arrived, they saw a police sergeant behind the desk and they told him they wanted to report a missing person.
He said, “Ok, but before we look for him we need to fill out a missing person questionnaire.”
He said to the first one, “What is your name?” He said, “SHUT-UP!”
He turned to the next one and said, “What is your name?” He said, “STUPID!”
The police sergeant said, “Fellows, just who do you think you are, coming in here and talking to me like this? If you are looking for TROUBLE, you came to the right place!”
They said, “HOW DID HE GET HERE?”
No one goes around looking for trouble, it just seems that TROUBLE is always looking for us.
No one is particularly fond of trouble. When some misfortune opens the door and comes into our lives, we treat it as an intruder, and bitterly resent its presence. We immediately look trouble in the eye and say, “What are you doing in my life? This is private property and you are not wanted here!”
The last thing we want in our life is trouble, so, when we hear a man like the Psalmist say, “It is good for me that I have been afflicted;” we are inclined to question his wisdom, judgment or sincerity in making such a statement.
I believe when David made that statement he was very SINCERE. Actually, there are a great many Christians who could and would have made the same statement. They would say that one of the best things that ever happened to them was when trouble came into their lives.
WHY WOULD A CHRISTIAN SAY SUCH A RIDICULOUS THING? Because adversity in our life can do for us what nothing else can do.
Illus: A preacher tried for years to get a man to attend church, but the man had time for everything else but no time for God.
One day, his youngest brother brought a bicycle to his house and left it. It turns out his brother had stolen the bicycle. The police traced it to his house and arrested him for receiving stolen goods.
They took him to jail. While he was in jail, he called upon the Lord and became a wonderful Christian. But this never would have happened had trouble not come into his life.
Illus: Dr. Odell Belger said that a man started attending his church with his Christian wife. He was a liquor salesman and he was financially very comfortably. There was one major problem in his life – HE WAS LOST!
One day he began having some physical problems. He went to the doctor. After some extensive examinations, it was determined that he had a brain tumor. He was immediately scheduled for surgery, but the cancer was so advanced and had so many tentacles throughout his brain, that it could not be removed. He was never able to go back to work.
After he became bedridden, Dr. Belger would visit with him, and eventually led him to the Lord. He deeply regretted that he had spent his life selling liquor to wreck homes and lives. After about a year, he died, but he died with the assurance of knowing the Lord as His Savior.
The trouble that came into his life, was the probable cause of him coming to know the Lord as His Savior.
Listen, our life is filled with all kinds of troubles, but I must confess that much of the trouble I find myself in, I have brought upon myself. Now if you will take your halo off your head, you will confess the same thing.
David was a man after God’s own heart the Bible says, but much of the trouble that he faced was due to his own doing.
Millions who have gone on to be with the Lord, would tell you that THEY THANK GOD FOR THE TROUBLE THAT CAME THEIR WAY THAT LED THEM TO THE LORD!
We Christians make the mistake of praying the wrong way about trouble. When God sends trouble into the life of the lost, we pray the prayer of faith that this trouble will be removed from their life. We should be praying for God to use this trouble to draw them unto Himself!
TROUBLE CAN BECOME THE VERY BEST FRIEND WE HAVE. Why do I say such a thing? I want to show you ONE THING this morning, and TWO things this evening that trouble can do for us.
I. TROUBLE MAKES US STRONG
We all admire STRONG PEOPLE.
Illus: All across this nation, there are weight lifting contests where men compete to be WHO IS THE STRONGEST. People from all over come out to see these men compete against each other.
But something you will never see is a WEAK MAN’S CONTEST. If they did have one ---WHO WOULD WANT TO COMPETE?
We all admire men and women of STRENGTH!
God allows TROUBLE in all of our lives because it is the TROUBLE in life that makes us strong.
Illus: If you have ever spent much time in a physical fitness gym, you have heard the old saying, “No pain, No Gain!” What that means to those who are in a gym for fitness is, IF YOU ARE NOT WILLING TO ENDURE THE PAIN OF STRENUOUS EXERCISE, YOU WILL NOT HAVE ANY GAIN!
Solomon said, in Eccl. 3:4, that life is filled with GOOD TIMES and TOUGH TIMES.
Illus: Bill Gaither wrote a song that says it this way:
Something beautiful, Something good,
All my confusion, He understood,
All I had to offer Him, Was brokenness and strife,
But He made something beautiful, Of my life.
Perhaps before we get on our knees and pray for God to drive trouble from our life, we might be wise to get on our knees and pray, “God I do not understand this, but I know that you do. Take all this confusion in my life and make something beautiful out of it.”
The untroubled life is often shallow. Generally speaking, the deeper, richer lives are the result of hard times at one time or the other. One of the best ways and fastest ways to destroy a strong society of people is to give them everything they want.
Illus: I always enjoy watching the actor Sylvester Stalone in the movie, “Rocky”. Before he became champ, he put his body through some difficult times. He worked on the principle, “No Pain, No Gain,” and he did not spare his body from hard workouts. After he became champ, he started living the good life. He enjoyed all the cheers and fanfare. And in the next fight he got soundly defeated!
Why? Because any boxing trainer will tell you that the life of ease will destroy a good boxer!
The life of ease will also destroy a Christian. It makes him weaker and weaker. The thing that makes him strong is the hard times.
THE LIFE OF COMFORT WILL DESTROY:
• THE YOUTH OF OUR NATION
Many parents came out of the great depression. During those hard times that molded them into the great people they became, they said, “I do not want my children to suffer the way I am suffering.” They started giving their children everything they wanted, and look at the spoiled brats we had during the 60’s. But still parents think they are helping their children by giving them everything they want, What they are really doing is destroying them.
Illus: There is a story about a little girl who asked her mother for another piece of candy. Her mother answered, "But you've had three already." "Just one more, please," said the little girl. The mother finally said, "Well, this must be the last!" "Thank you mother . . . but I must say, you have no will power." – Unknown
Many parents are destroying their children by giving them everything they want! A life of ease can destroy THE YOUTH OF OUR NATION, but also it can destroy-
• THE PEOPLE OF OUR NATION
Many politicians have catered to the desires of the public, and given them welfare that pays for people NOT to work. They have destroyed people.
You can go into the major cities today and you see pan-handlers almost everywhere. Why? Because welfare has created a segment of society that seems to only know how to reach for another handout.
In America we have people who actually believe that they should not have to work for a living. It is the governments job to take care of them.
Illus: During the Katrina catastrophe, a woman called in to a radio talk show to talk about the catastrophe. She said that she, along with millions of Americans, have sent money to help the victims of that storm. But she said after several weeks of watching this catastrophe, all she can hear is people asking for more and more. She said, “WHERE IS THE GRATITUDE for the tremendous sacrifice of the American people?” And the talk host made a very interesting observation. He said that there will be no gratitude, because the American people see it as SOMETHING WE OWE THEM.
Illus: Several years ago, a young Armenian was asked about the shallow tastes of so many Americans in literature and music. He was asked, in his judgment, why the rank and file in this country do not relish the deeper and finer things in life. This was his reply: “I don’t think America has suffered enough.”
This is so true! The average young person today is so shallow that the only thing he wants to do is to be entertained.
When children grew up in hard times, without radio, televisions, and computers, they learned how to ENTERTAIN THEMSELVES.
• They actually played games like hide and seek, hop scotch or played with marbles. Today you do not see such things because children do not know how to entertain themselves.
• The young boys would get dads hammer and some nails, and they would build a club house.
• The young girls would get one of moms dresses and a pair of old shoes and play house.
Today, we have children that are bored with life because they do not know how to entertain themselves, they have to have someone entertain them.
It is a terrible thing that we have done to our young people and the citizens of our nation. They have been given everything their hearts desire, and they are ungrateful and completely bored with life, because they do not know a thing about hard times. One day, when hard times do come, they are not going to know what to do.
Illus: Nietzsche once declared that, “The disciples of suffering have produced all the greatness of humanity.”
History certainly supports this:
• Tennyson’s grief for his dead friend, Arthur Hallalm gave birth to his great poem “Memoriam”.
• John Bunyan would probably have lived and died an inconspicuous life had it not been for being confined twelve years in a prison dungeon, for it was there that he wrote his immortal, “Pilgrim’s Progress.”
Many never discovered the victory in their lives unto they first had to deal with some major catastrophe.
Illus: Abraham Lincoln is a good example of facing all kinds of troubles that molded and shaped him into the man he became.
His motto in life was: “I do the very best I know – the very best that I can: and I mean to keep doing so!”
We know him as a great president but before he was a great president, look at some of the trouble he had to face.
• 1831, he failed in business
• 1832, he was defeated for legislature
• 1832, he again failed in business
• 1834, he was elected to legislature
• 1835, his sweetheart died
• 1836, he had a nervous break down
• 1838, he was defeated for speaker of the house
• 1843, he was defeated for congress
• 1846, he was elected to congress
• 1848, he was defeated for congress
• 1855, he was elected to senate
• 1856, he was defeated for vice-president of the US
• 1860, HE WAS ELECTED PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES!
Many of us will never rise to our full potential without going through much suffering. When David said, in verse 71, “It is good for me that I have been afflicted,” he knew what he was talking about. TROUBLE MAKES US STRONG!
Conclusion:
We have looked at why God allows trouble to come into our lives.
I. TROUBLE MAKES US STRONG
(Next Message)
II. TROUBLE MAKES US SYMPATHETIC
III. TROUBLE MAKES US SPIRITUAL
