“Handles for the Hard Times” (Sermon #1)
TEXT: I Thess 2 :17 - 3:5
INTRODUCTION
· Army Chaplain had a sign on his door that said, “If you have troubles, come in & tell me all about them. If you don’t have troubles, come in & tell me how you do it.”
· Regardless of who you are, how old you are, single or married, children or no children, rich, middle class, or poor, you are going to have problems, trials, or difficulties in life
· Question is how we deal with and handle them
· Today lay a foundation and then beginning today and over the next four sermons look at 10 handles we can hold on to help us handle the hard times.
· Follow along closely (PB )
I. CONTEXT - PAUL IS LONGING TO SEE THE THESSALONIANS WHO HE KNOWS ARE
GOING THROUGH DIFFICULT TIMES
A. Verse 17
1. Paul says he was “torn away” from the Thess
2. Gr - lit - “orphaned”
3. Feels the emotional pain, grief & loneliness of being separated from people he
cared about
a. Founded church, lived & worked w/ them, knew & cared about them
4. Longing to get back & see them again, but couldn’t because Satan hindered him
B. Verse 18 – “For we wanted to come to you – certainly, I, Paul, did, again and again,
but Satan stopped us.”
1. “Satan stopped us” - Gr - lit - “broke up the road & put up obstacles”
2. Don’t know what happened, but Paul convinced Satanic activity stopped him
from getting to the Thessalonians
3. Important for Paul to know what was going on
4. Paul knew the Thessalonians were undergoing trials & ...
C. Trials can cause casualties in the lives of Christians (Vss 2-5)
1. Verse 2: weaken & discourage people
2. Verse 3: unsettle - Gr “to shake you back & forth like a dog wags its tail”
a. Paul knew trials can make you feel like you’re being shaken from pillar to
post & like you’re coming unglued & unsettled
3. Verse 5: trials can lead the Xn into temptation
a. May yield to sin during difficult times & give in to things that you normally
wouldn’t be tempted to give into
b. Especially if you’ve been weakened, are discouraged, & feeling unsettled
D. What exactly is a trial?
1. Not the same as a temptation to sin
a. Internal; decide to yield to sin or to follow Christ
2. Greek word carries all of the following: External circumstances in our lives that
cause us trouble or that burden us or even cause us to be in anguish. We feel
pressure and/or feel trapped like an animal
(IL) Like Mr. Jones, who put an ad in the paper. When the ad wasn’t printed right the first day, he tried to get the paper to fix the problem
MONDAY: For sale: R.D. Jones has one sewing machine for sale. Phone 9480707 after 7 P.M. and ask for Mrs. Kelly who lives with him cheap.
TUESDAY: We regret having erred In R.D. Jones’ ad yesterday. It should have read "One sewing machine for sale cheap. Phone 9480707 and ask for Mrs. Kelly, who lives with him after 7 P.M."
WEDNESDAY: R.D. Jones has informed us that he has received several annoying telephone calls because of the error we made in the classified ad yesterday. The ad stands correct as follows: "For sale R.D. Jones has one sewing machine for sale. Cheap. Phone 9480707 after 7 P.M. and ask for Mrs. Kelly who loves with him."
THURSDAY: I, R.D. Jones, have no sewing machine for sale. I smashed it. Don’t call 9480707 as I have had the phone disconnected. I have not been carrying on with Mrs. Kelly. Until yesterday she was my housekeeper but she quit!
(IL) Man who goes to the doctor
Doctor: "I have bad news and worse news."
Patient: "So let’s have it."
Doctor: "The bad news is that you only have 24 hours to live."
Patient: "If that’s the bad news, I can’t imagine what could be worse than that!"
Doctor: "I forgot to tell you yesterday."
E. How do we deal with trials?
II. HANDLE #1: ACCEPT IT AS AN APPOINTMENT RATHER THAN AN ACCIDENT
A. READ Vs 3: “...You know quite well that we were destined for them...”
1. Paul telling this to Xns
2. Trials aren’t accidents, happenstances, or coincidences, but appointments
3. God has either actively decreed it or passively decreed it by allowing it to
happen
B. Misconceptions about trials
C. Misconception #1: Are a sign of or punishment for your sin & disobedience
1. Not true - they happen to Q1
2. Not necessarily a direct result of your sin & disobedience
3. Mat 5:45: He sends his sun on the evil & the good & sends rain on the
righteous & the unrighteous.
4. Live in a sinful, pressure cooked, imperfect world
5. Not necessarily a sign of sinfulness
6. It is true that sin & disobedience can lead to difficult times as we face the
consequences of sin or disobedience, but trials aren’t always direct results
7. May even be a result of your righteousness and obedience
(IL) Mark 4:35-41: Jesus & disciples had ministered all day. He said to his disc “Let us go over to the other side of the lake.” His disciples obeyed & as they crossed the Sea of Galilee a sudden storm came up & they feared for their lives. It was because of their obedience they were in the middle of the lake when it occurred. Because they were in the middle of the lake they feared for their lives.
(IL) Book of Acts: Apostles in hot water repeatedly because of their obedience
-persecution, jail, beaten, killed
-Paul shipwrecked, snake-bitten, at el
8. Misconception trials are a sign of or punishment for sin or disobedience
E. Misconception #2: God’s primary goal for us is our happiness, success, or a
problem free life
1. No Biblical basis for that concept
2. His primary goal is your salvation & your spiritual growth
3. Will have joy, may be successful or prosperous, but all are secondary
4. Archibald Hart: “He is always more interested in our sanctification & growth than
he is in making life simple & easy for us. We want to avoid growing pains; he
sees the potential for our achieving maturity through pain.”
F. In your appointment
1. God has designed the trial just for you - not as an accident, but an appointment
a. He knows your strengths, weaknesses, potential, the grace He’ll give
b. It is tailor made for you by a loving Heavenly Father
2. Remember: “Qthg that comes to me has already passed thru the hands of my
Heavenly Father & has received His stamp of approval.”
a. Your trial didn’t take God by surprise
3. Hard to buy sometimes, but easier to understand when we realize His primary
goal for us is not to have a happy, problem free life, but our salvation & spiritual
growth
G. Jn 16:33: “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world
you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
H. II Cor 7:4: “I am greatly encouraged; in all our troubles my joy knows no bounds.”
I. I Peter 4:12-13: “Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering,
as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in
the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.”
a. Note in first verse that trials are associated with peace, in the next two passages
trials are associated with joy.
CONCLUSION
*This can happen only when we have a relationship with God through Jesus Christ
*If you don’t have that relationship, you can have it today
*Invite you to come forward as we sing our closing song to trust Christ for the forgiveness of your sin, to repent of your sin, & to have Christ come into your life.
