Illus: Someone said that YOU KNOW IT IS GOING TO BE A BAD DAY WHEN:
• You call suicide prevention and they put you on hold
• Your birthday cake collapses from the weight of the candles
• Your twin sister forgot your birthday
• Your horn goes off accidentally and remains stuck as you follow a group of Hell's Angels on the freeway
• You step on the bathroom scales and they read “tilt”
• You realize that you just sprayed spot remover under your arms instead of deodorant
• It costs more to fill your car with gas than it did to buy it
• You wake up to the soothing sound of running water...and remember that you just bought a waterbed
• You wake up and your braces are stuck together
• You compliment the boss' wife on her unusual perfume and she isn't wearing any
• You need one bathroom scale for each foot
• You call your wife and tell her that you would like to eat out tonight, and when you get home, there is a sandwich on the front porch
• Airline food starts to taste good
• Your doctor tells you that you are allergic to chocolate chip cookies
• You have to borrow from your VISA to pay off your MASTERCARD
• Everyone loves your driver's license picture
• Your kids start treating you the same way you treated your parents
We all have our share of bad days.
One of the reasons we go to church is to help us face the DIFFICULTIES of life. We want to hear something preached or taught from God’s Word that will help us to DEFEAT DIFFICULTIES in our life.
Now, some preachers have some weird ideas about the ministry. When it comes time to preach, they want to preach a blistering message to the congregation.
Illus: Dr. Odell Belger said that he attended a funeral at a little country church in Gadsden, SC. The little church building was packed because a farmer had died that many folks loved. They showed up to demonstrate their love and respect for him and for his family. It was so filled, that many of the elderly folks had to stand up in the foyer.
After a few songs, poorly sung, the preacher got up and preached a 45 minute blistering sermon to the congregation. When he got through, they had a few more poorly sung songs and the preacher got back up and preached for another solid hour, blistering the congregation with this sermon. The service was so long that one elderly fellow fainted and hit the floor in the foyer during the service.
After the service, Dr. Belger was somewhat aggravated with the way this preacher had treated this family and this congregation. He said to him in a nice way, “Brother, that was one long funeral service!” You know what his response was? “Dr. Belger, a lot of these people who were here today hardly ever come to church, and I wanted to preach the Word of God to them while I had them!” Listen, he might have had them that day, but he never had them again.
Some preachers will take advantage of the situation and blister the congregation every time they get a chance to preach.
When I read the New Testament, and read about what these great men of God had to say in the scriptures, I see that they recognized that people in their everyday life, FACE ALL KINDS OF DIFFICULTIES. When these people came to church, they needed to hear something from God’s Word that would build them up to face the difficulties of life!
We live in a world that is filled with difficulties, and people need to know that we serve a God who can DELIVER US FROM OUR DIFFICULTIES! We need to hear something from God’s Word that will strengthen us.
We live in a world today where people do not know where to turn with their difficulties. Part of that is due to ministers of God who are not teaching them.
• In Psalm 50:15, we read, “And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.”
• In 1 Peter 5:7, we read, “Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.”
When we come to church . . .
• We need to hear something from God’s Word that will help us face the difficult times of our life.
• We need to sing some songs that will draw us close to the Lord
• We need to sing some songs that will encourage us
Illus: A song we should sing more often is the song, “HE IS ABLE TO DELIVER THEE!” The words of that great song go like this:
• “’Tis the grandest theme through the ages rung;
• ’Tis the grandest theme for a mortal tongue;
• ’Tis the grandest theme that the world e’er sung,
• Our God is able to deliver thee.”
If I do not accomplish anything else in this sermon, I hope I can convince you that GOD LOVES YOU AND HE CAN DELIVER YOU AND ME FROM OUR DIFFICULTIES!
Now I feel sorry for those who are among us that are not saved.
• You can not turn to the Devil and ask him to help you, because he wants to make your life absolutely miserable
• You can not turn to God the Father for help, because He is not your heavenly Father
The lost world turns to DRUGS AND ALCOHOL to cope with life because they have no one to turn to with their difficulties until they are willing to turn to Christ.
Let us look at two things about life’s difficulties. First there is...
I. THE CONTINUATION OF DIFFICULTIES
It seems that life is filled with one DIFFICULTY after another.
There is no town that you and I could move to AND NEVER HAVE ANY MORE DIFFICULTIES! If such a place existed, the town would have the world’s largest traffic jam due to people moving there.
Illus: Speaking of towns and countries, just the name of these places tell me I would not want to live there, such as:
• Boneyard (Arizona, USA)
• Bootlegger Crossing (Arizona, USA)
• Elephant Butte (New Mexico, USA)
• Goose Pimple Junction (VA, USA)
• Great Snoring (Norfolk, UK)
• Hicksville (Ohio, USA)
• Monkey's Eyebrow (Kentucky USA)
• Smelley (Alabama, USA)
• Stinking Bay (Arkansas, USA)
There is no city or country you can move to and not have difficulties. It doesn’t matter:
• Where you live
• Who you know
• What you have
• What family you belong to
Everyone experiences difficulties in this life.
We do not get out of one DIFFICULTY before it seems we are heading into another one. However, there are some DIFFICULTIES that exist in our life due to two things:
A. THE MYTH PROBLEM
Many have been raised in a “Fairy Tale” world.
Illus: A young girl often starts life by having her parents tell her Cinderella stories. One day a young, handsome prince will come along and whisk her away. All the difficulties she had before she met him vanish, and she and the prince live happily ever after.
Listen, this is not REALITY!
In Job 5:7, we read, “Yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward.”
This is why it says, in Rev. 21:4, “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.”
Do you know why God is going to wipe away the tears from our eyes? Because life is full of difficulties! In heaven, there will be:
• No more tears
• No more death
• No more sorrow
• No more crying
• No more pain
THE MYTH PROBLEM is that some in this life believe we can live without DIFFICULTIES. These folks need to wake up and smell the coffee!
B. THE MENTAL PROBLEM
Some people can not comprehend that we live in a changing world. Everything can be GREAT TODAY, but we have to always understand THAT TOMORROW THINGS MIGHT BE TERRIBLE.
DIFFICULTIES are as much a part of our lives as breathing is. We need to get this into our thinking. Everything in the world is always changing, and many times the changes bring difficulties to our life.
Illus: For example:
• You can buy a brand new car, but the day you buy it, it begins to deteriorate.
• You can build your dream home, 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. But after a few years, she couldn’t bribe her way into winning a beauty contest.
When things are going well, we wish it could stay that way, but that is not the way life is.
Nature teaches us we live in a changing world.
• 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.
• In the South, one of the gorgeous trees is the “Weeping Willow,” but in the fall, the leaves fall off and it looks like a bunch of sticks sticking out of the ground.
The only thing in our lives that does not change from day to day, is the God we serve.
Look at Malachi 3:6, “For I am the LORD, I change not...”
The world may change, but GOD DOES NOT CHANGE!
• He loved me in the past
• He loves me now
• He will love me and take care of me in the future
If God did change, that would bring a lot of DIFFICULTY to our life. But He has stated clearly, “…I change not.”
Most of us have come to accept the fact that we live in a world that is filled with difficulties.
We all agree that in this life there seems to be an OVERLAPPING OF DIFFICULTIES that we face day by day.
We looked at THE CONTINUATION OF DIFFICULTIES, now let us look at...
II. THE CONQUEST OF DIFFICULTIES
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…THIS IS REALITY!
Our salvation is A FREE GIFT, but the difficulties provide us opportunities to earn eternal rewards.
Paul looked at some of the difficulties he faced and said, in Romans 8:18, “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.”
All we suffer for the cause of Christ here on earth, is NOT 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. Then someone came up to you in a Rolls Royce that was immaculate, and told you he would like to swap it for the piece of junk you were driving. WOULDN’T YOU BE WILLING TO SWAP?
This is what Paul is saying. The SUFFERINGS (difficulties) that we go through in this life can not be compared to what God has for us. Until then, we have to face REALITY; 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
Illus: 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 telling 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.
Psa. 119:105 says, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.”
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 sent for a book and I will read it and find out.” The book came and he read it, 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.
If we will search the scriptures daily, we can find the solutions to all the difficulties we face.
Conclusion:
We have looked at the:
I. THE CONTINUATION OF DIFFICULTIES
II. THE CONQUEST OF DIFFICULTIES
