What Are You Going To Make Out Of A Bad Situation?

Pray

Father,

Open my eyes so I can see Your truth.

Open my ears so I can hear Your voice.

Open my mind so I can understand Your Word.

And open my heart so I may receive all that You want me to receive.

AMEN

I think we all know and understand that being a child of God does not automatically excuse you from difficult circumstances and situations.

Obviously the Missouri River flood of 2011 is a case in point.

There is not one person here who has not been affected by this event. Maybe your house is in the flood area, a friend’s home, family member, maybe your business; we have all been touched by this event.

Many within our church family have been filling sand bags, building levees, moving furniture, and providing food and water.

Our church family has ministered to at least 30 different families across Bismarck and Mandan.

I am so proud of this body of believers for being the hands of God throughout this crisis.

By sacrificing your time, talents, and resources this past week you have sown seeds to please the Spirit of God.

The Apostle Paul talks about reaping and sowing in the book of Galatians.

7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8 The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. 9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers. Galatians 6:7-10

If we are sowing seeds of destruction we can expect destruction because we are treating God with contempt.

If we are investing all we have to help others and make a positive difference then you are going to reap a huge reward from God.

Our salvation is provided to us through Jesus Christ. That is not the reward I am talking about. You cannot buy your salvation by sowing good deeds, but you can expect God’s blessings. Some of those blessings you may see here on earth and some of those blessing you will see when we get to heaven.

Our souls are bought by Christ but our actions are not irrelevant. There is eternal, living value in the good that you do.

Therefore, do not become weary in the good that you are doing for you are making a difference and you will reap a harvest if we continue on.

I believe it will be a harvest of God’s goodness, God’s presence, God’s provision, God’s strength, and God’s peace. I also believe that if the church sows seeds of righteousness during this time we will also see some who have no church home and some who have not accepted Jesus as their Savior come to know Him.

The fact is, this is a bad situation and it is going to continue to be a bad situation for some time.

Bad situations happen all the time.

Sometimes we bring them on ourselves.

Sort of like this fellow who filed the following insurance report. He was a brick layer and had an accident on the job.

He wrote, “on the date of the accident I was working alone on the roof of a new 6 story building. When I completed my work I discovered that I had a large pile of bricks left over. Instead of carrying them down by hand I decided to lower them in a barrel using a pulley that was in place.

I secured the rope at ground level and then went back to the roof and swung the barrel out and loaded it with the bricks. I went to the ground level and untied the rope, holding it so I could ensure a slow descent of the bricks.

Please notice in block 2 of the accident report form that I weigh 200 pounds. The bricks, I was soon to discover weighed 500 pounds. My weight was not enough to keep me on the ground and at that moment I lost my presence of mind and forgot to let go of the rope. Needless to say, I proceeded up the side of the building at rapid rate of speed.

At about the third floor I met the barrel of bricks coming down. This explains my fractured skull and broken collar bone. This collision slowed me down a little but I did continue to the top of the building where my right hand was jammed into the pulley thus explaining my 3 broken fingers.

Fortunately I was able to hold on to the rope.