WESTSIDE BAPTIST CHURCH
PASTOR: TERRY VAUGHAN
SERMON TITLE: GOD USES OUR PROBLEMS TO BRING US TO HIS PLACE
“For God so Loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved. He that believeth in Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” John 3:16-18
TEXT VERSE: GENESIS 50:19 “AND JOSEPH SAID UNTO THEM, FEAR NOT: FOR I AM IN THE PLACE OF GOD.” If you’ve never been in God’s place, you’ve never been where you ought to be. Then in verse 20: “BUT AS FOR YOU, YE THOUGHT EVIL AGAINST ME; BUT GOD MEANT IT UNTO GOOD, TO BRING TO PASS, AS IT IS THIS DAY, TO SAVE MUCH PEOPLE ALIVE.”
Joseph was in a situation here. His brothers had thrown him in a pit to sell him to traders. They took his coat of many colors that his mother had made him and put goats blood on it and sent it back to mom and dad with the message that some beast had eaten him and devoured him. Joseph started off with some problems, didn’t he? He was the youngest son and all his brothers hated him. His father sent him on a mission and all of a sudden he’s thrown into a pit and his coat taken from him and his family thinks he’s now dead. That’s bad when you have jealousy there and you begin to lie. Joseph was a man like you and me. Later on, he was sold to the Ishmeelites as they came by. They sold their brother. All of a sudden he ended up at Potiphars house. Don’t you think he had some problems? One day he’s at home in the comfort of his mom and dad and the next day he’s been sold into slavery. He was in trouble but the Bible said that God was with him. It don’t matter what you go through tonight. God is always right there with you. Later on Potiphar took to Joseph and made him the head of his house. He put him in charge over everything. Potiphar went on a journey and Joseph was there running the house and Potiphars wife began to lust after Joseph and all of a sudden she wanted to lie with him. There’s another problem. But Joseph did not take heed to that whorish woman. He stood for God and God was with him and he told that woman this: He said, Potiphar has given me everything in this house except you. and I’ll not touch you. She began to beg and to cry and he ran and she ripped off his coat. First his brother rip off his coat and now this woman is ripping off his coat. He was always running from trouble. He was trying to get just as close to God as he could. But when Potiphar come home, she lied to him. See...jealousy...lies. You see where this is leading. She told Potiphar, look here’s his coat. The servant you brought into our home, he tried to lie with me. Potiphar got angry. He didn’t check in with Joseph. He just believed what she said. So he cast him into the prison. He was still having problems but the Lord was with him. Later on he interpreted some dreams for two boys and one of them ended up getting out of prison and went over to Pharaoh’s house as one of Pharaoh’s servants, I believe. Then one day Pharaoh had a dream and he wanted the dream interpreted. The servant said he remembered a boy in prison named Joseph that interpreted dreams. Pharaoh sent for Joseph and Joseph interpreted the dream and all of a sudden Pharaoh put him in charge of his house. I’m telling you all of that to say this: even though he had a lot of problems along the way in his life, God was always with him and he ended up in the place of God. He said: Fear not, I am in the place of God. Here’s what I want to cover tonight. How God uses our problems to bring us to His place. So many times we look at problems as a bad thing when sometimes they are really good things. You get to going through things in your life and you begin to wonder, why, why, why is this happening to me? But I want you to know that if you’re a child of God, God is with you. And God is bringing you and I to the place where God can use us best.
Let me share these verses: PSALMS 30:5 “FOR HIS ANGER ENDURETH FOR A MOMENT; IN HIS FAVOR IS LIFE: WEEPING MAY ENDURE FOR A NIGHT, BUT JOY COMETH IN THE MORNING.” 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.”
It doesn’t seem like a joy to go through things when we’re going through them does it. It feels grievous.
When you’re going through these problems I want you to notice this: God is with you. He said He’s never leave us nor forsake us. He’s be with us even unto the end.;
NUMBER ONE: God uses problems in our lives to DIRECT us.
That’s how Joseph got to where he was. PSALMS 25:4 says this: “SHEW ME THY WAYS, O LORD; TEACH ME THY PATHS.” Our ways are not His ways. Our faults are not His faults. We’re going to be where God wants us at whether we like it or not. If you choose to take the wrong way, you’re heading for a rough time. He’s going to have to put fire under somebody to get them where He wants them. You say that ain’t Bible. Yes it is. He told Jonah to go to Ninevah and preach. The Bible said Jonah ran from the Lord and went the other way to tarsus and got on a boat and went down to Joppa and he went down to the hinder parts of the ship. You run from God and you’ll just keep going down. That’s where you’ll end up at. The Bible said that God prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. When they threw Jonah overboard that fish got hold of him and took him to the depths of the sea and Jonah prayed the second time and he said, Lord if you’ll get me out of here, I’ll go where you want me to go. Don’t you tell me God don’t use problems to get you in His place. Jonah went to preach to the city of Ninevah and the whole city got saved. I mean every soul that was there got saved. maybe God is trying to use a problem in your life to get you to where you need to be in His place. I’ll say this though: He will get you where He wants you to be.
NUMBER TWO: God uses problems in our lives to DISCERN us.
JAMES 1:12 “BLESSED IS THE MAN THAT ENDURETH TEMPTATION: FOR WHEN HE IS TRIED, HE SHALL RECEIVE THE CROWN OF LIFE, WHICH THE LORD HATH PROMISED TO THEM THAT LOVE HIM.” That’s the same meaning as the word discern. God wants to know how strong you are. He puts problems in your life to see how you’re going to stand the test. He wants to see if you’re going to continue on for Him or just give up. He wants to see what kind of Christian you are. There’s a lot of Christians that I call Monday Christians. They wake up on Monday after having been in the house of God and they says, “Yeah, I went to church yesterday and we had a great time.” and that’s it. All of a sudden their Christianity fades away. God is going to discern you. God is going to check you out. Paul said, try me and see if I’m in the right way. Problems aren’t always bad. Problems aren’t always wrong. You need to look at them as blessings and just say God, you just carry me to where you want me to be. Lord, try me, I want to stand for you.
NUMBER THREE: God uses problems in our lives to DEFEND us.
PSALMS 62:8 “TRUST IN HIM AT ALL TIMES; YE PEOPLE, POUR OUT YOUR HEART BEFORE HIM: GOD IS A REFUGE FOR US.” We have to learn to trust in God at all times no matter what we’re faced with. God is going to defend us if we’ll just put our trust in him. The Psalmist was going through some trials. He had some problems in his life and he said, “Lord, even when mine enemies came upon me they stumbled and fell.” In another place he said, “I will not fear what man can do unto me for the Lord is on my side.” God is going to use the problems in your life to defend you. I can look back over my life and see some of the problems I went through and every time I came through them I was a stronger Christian. I told my wife that this has been one of the worst years of my life in the flesh but not in the spirit. In the flesh the old devil has tried to tare me down but thanks be to God I have grown more this year than I ever have. I feel closer to the Lord right now than I ever have. Praise God, I feel like I did when I got saved. The problems that we’re faced with are blessings from God.
I want to go back to Jonah for a minute. He was on the ship with those boys and the waves began to roar and the boat began to bounce around. Them people began to throw theirs trunks off to lighten up the ship and they said, “LORD, WHAT HAVE WE DONE?” They said, we have to pray and see what the cause of this is. They prayed and brought Jonah up and Jonah said, “It’s all my fault. I’m running from an Almighty God.” Listen, sometimes the problems in your life may affect other people. Don’t think bad of them. Think good of them and that God is going to get the end result in their life. When they tossed Jonah overboard the waves stopped and the ship became peaceful.
NUMBER FOUR: God uses problems in our lives to DEVELOP us.
If you’re a born again child of God and you’re not growing, then you’re not developing. The Bible says we’re supposed to be spiritual, fruitful, we’re supposed to increase and abound more and more in the Lord Jesus Christ. A lot of Christians are still on the milk and hallelujah for them but praise God for them that are on the meat. They’ll stand on the word of God no matter what comes their way. You know why? Because they’ve developed. God has used problems in their lives to develop them.
One time when my daddy got real sick you might as well say he died in front of me. He was white as a sheet and his lips were blue and this was right after the Lord had called me to preach. We didn’t have 911 back then and I heard a very tiny voice whisper: pray. At least that’s what I thought it said. I knelt down and began to pray and I prayed this: don’t take my daddy. God spoke to me through the Holy Spirit and said I’ll take him when I get ready to take him. He opened my eyes and my heart and He was trying to use a problem in my life to develop me. I changed the way I prayed. I said: Lord, he’s been a good daddy, he took me to church all my life and if it’s his time to die then you go on and take him because I’ll see him one day after awhile. I was crying out to the top of my lungs and when I got through my daddy sat up and he gave me some money and said go get me some ice cream. That’s the day God taught me how to pray. He used a problem to teach me that if I was going to preach the word, I’d have to develop. I had to get strong in the Lord Jesus Christ.
FIRST PETER 4:12-13 “BELOVED THINK IT NOT STRANGE CONCERNING THE FIERY TRIALS WHICH IS TO TRY YOU, AS THOUGH SOME STRANGE THING HAPPENED UNTO YOU.
(13) BUT REJOICE, INASMUCH AS YE ARE PARTAKERS OF CHRIST’S SUFFERINGS; THAT, WHEN HIS GLORY SHALL BE REVEALED, YE MAY BE GLAD ALSO WITH EXCEEDING JOY.”
You look back over your life and see what God has done and where He’s brought you from. When you look back you can see why you went through those trials. But when you’re going through them you say Lord, why me? The hardest part for Christians when going through things is patience. Some people say don’t pray for patience. You don’t have to pray for patience. It’s an automatic gift when you get saved. You may not have it as good sometimes and you may get discouraged but you have patience.
So while the Lord Jesus Christ is directing you, discerning you and defending you and developing you; just have patience and he’ll lead you to where he wants you to be.
ISAIAH 40:31 “THEY WHO WAIT UPON THE LORD SHALL RENEW THEIR STRENGTH: THEY SHALL MOUNT UP WITH WINGS AS EAGLES; THEY SHALL RUN, AND NOT BE WEARY; AND THEY SHALL WALK, AND NOT FAINT.”
