Storms Of Life- Sudden Darkness Series

The Storms of Life

Sudden Darkness

CCCAG June 23rd 2019

Scripture- Ephesians 6

Intro:

We are going to begin this morning talking about a man who went from hero to 0 in the eyes of the people in less than a week.

At the beginning of the week he was the most popular and most sought out person in his country.

Everyone loved him.

Everyone wanted some time with him.

Everyone wanted the chance to hear him speak and to experience his presence.

He was at the pinnacle of popularity and fame and had he pursued political power, he could have even become the leader of his country, and possible even the entire world.

However, a lot can happen in a week, because 5 days later, his whole world collapses. The spotlight that had been on him only a few days ago has shut off, and seemingly thrown him into complete darkness.

He goes off by Himself to be away from the crowds and pray, taking three of his closest friends with him to sit and be a comfort to him as he agonized over what the future held for him.

He was in such agony that it is said that his sweat became bloody and fell to the ground.

Up until this point, this moment in time was the darkest moment ever seen in history, where the son of God did battle against all of Hells power that was coming against him.

As a Christian Church we talk a lot about the cross and what Jesus did for us in dying for our sins. This is all well and good and things that we should do.

However, much of the battle that Jesus fought to redeem us to God was fought in the garden of Gethsemane when Jesus was suddenly cast into total darkness. It was so dark that the source of all light and life said that his soul was troubled to the point of death.

Think about that for a moment- Jesus being God said, “I am scared to death.”

Have you ever been there? I’m not talking about momentary fear that comes from watching a scary movie or discovering a spider when you turn on a light.

I’m talking about life delivering you into a place so dark, so lonely, and so hopeless that your heart hurts- a physical pain coming from emotions so strong it’s overwhelming.

No light, no hope, and no comfort will help during those times.

Today we will be talking about “Sudden Darkness”- when life goes from good to absolute darkness in a blink of an eye.

We will be looking at several scriptures, so let’s start by opening in prayer.

Prayer

As part of our Storms of Life series today we will be talking about despair and hopelessness. We will be exploring what can we do when it seems like our lives suddenly fall off of a cliff, or when someone figuratively throws us into sudden darkness.

What help can we find to help us during those times? What are point of truth and light that can help us see hope again?

Let’s explore God’s truth this morning by focusing on 3 things to remember, and then 3 things to do during these times-

I. 3 Things to Remember

A. Jesus went through it (Heb 4:15)

For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.

There are many things I’m grateful to Jesus for, and this is one of them.

I’m also grateful to God for preserving His Word through almost 5000 years of people trying to destroy it.

Why did God give us the bible? Why did He preserve this truth?

1 Cor 10:11 says Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come.

The bible’s history is uncompromising when it comes to recording the good, the bad, and the ugly about the people who have gone before us.

Abraham’s lying, Moses’ temper, David’s passion, Solomon’s experimenting, Peter’s impulsiveness and failure are all recorded for us to see and learn from.

I am so grateful for Jesus’ transparency here. This is one of the proofs of the bible’s divine inspiration.

Let’s just be honest- if this was simply a manmade book and someone was standing there recording your life, would you leave in all the bad stuff? The biggest, most embarrassing mistakes they ever made were recorded, and no human author would have done that, and definitely over such an expansive timeline that the bible covers.

Most people, especially those in leadership hide their flaws.

But that’s not just a leadership issue- Even most of us will cover up the embarrassing things we have done or try to cover up our mistakes or imperfections?