Sermon Tone Analysis

Top Things People Lose

Parking Spots

Passwords/Usernames

TV Remote

Phone

Socks

Keys

Purse/wallet

Pens

We lose a lot of things in life… Amen?

It can be frustrating…

Misplacing something can mess up our whole day…

But guess what… Life goes on!!!!

Things will be ok… We’ll find our keys… Our phone will be where we left it (or we’ll get a new one!)…

The TV remote will turn up… There’s always another pen…

But… What about those other times?

What about when the things in our lives… the struggles we face… the discouragements… begin to make us lose heart?

What about those times when we are losing confidence in ourselves… in our abilities… in our family and friends?

What do we do when when we are so beat down that we’re finding it hard to even believe that things will take a turn for the good?

What about those times when we are experiencing one defeat after another?

When we are feeling overwhelmed… beaten down… discouraged?

What about those times when we are looking around at our church and wondering “when is it ever going to grow”?

You know those times!

We’ve all experienced them… (We might even be experiencing them now!)

What do we do in those times when it all seems pointless?

You know there is an answer, right?!

(Whew!

I was worried for a second there!)

Yes!

We find the answer in Christ.

But… Did you know that answer is given to us by an unexpected source?

You see, We’d expect Jesus Himself to give us the answer, but it actually comes through Luke!

Luke knows the struggle… he understands… and he wants to speak to us about it…

He is talking specifically to Christians… It’s as if he can see the struggles we are currently experiencing… in America… in our church… in our families.... and he wants us to know: “I understand.

Life isn’t easy.”

Troubles blindside us… Struggles threaten to sufficate what hope we have… It’s easy to lose heart…

But…

HOPE IS NOT LOST!!!!

John 16:33 (NIV)

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.”

Jesus offers Hope!

Luke shares with us the secret to not losing heart.

Look at Luke.

In Luke 17:20-36, Jesus takes some time with His disciples… He knows He is going to die… and that it is going to hurt them… so He tries to prepare them:

“Guys, there are some tough times coming… I’m going to return and when I do, things are going to be amazing!

But… before I do… life’s going to get rough.

People are going to hate me… they’re going to mistreat me… they’re going to mistreat you because of me… They’re going to hate God… They’re going to do whatever they want… Whatever they please… Whatever feels good to them… It’s not going to be easy!”

Then Luke tells us that Jesus gives them the secret to not losing heart.

You see… the answer is so uncomplicated… It’s so simple… that it’s easy for us to miss.

Complicated problems don’t always require complicated solutions.

Prayer is the secret!

You may be here today… You may be struggling… You may be discouraged… lost… lacking Hope… losing heart… And that’s OK!!!!

Don’t give up!

Pray!

Look at:

Persistent, faithful prayer pays off!

God listens to a Faithful heart.

James 5:16 (NIV)

16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.

The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

There’s a story in Acts 27 that illustrates this perfectly.

— Paul… as a prisoner… is being taken to Rome.

The journey starts out fairly uneventful… They sailed from Adramytium to Sidon… then tp Cypress… then to Myra… then things began to change…

When they left Cypress, Luke says they had difficulty… the journey began getting more difficult… soon the wind began blowing them off course… When they made it to Fair Haven, after losing a lot of time, Luke tells us that the “sailing had already become dangerous”… and as a result, Paul advises them to not continue…

He tells them “if we keep going it is going to be disastrous”… the very foundations on which we are standing — the ship and its cargo — will be lost…

Paul was one of those voices that we all hear… You know what I’m talking about… the voices that try to warn us… that tell us “that’s dangerous, don’t go that way”… But… we don’t listen to them…

This reminds me a lot of what’s going on in our world today…

Paul warned them… But they didn’t listen…

They chose worldly wisdom over Godly wisdom.

— They rejected and refused to listen to God’s Word and allowed the godless majority influence them.

They set their own course!

How often do we do that?!?!

— Worldly wisdom will fool us into thinking things are ok!

That we are on the right course!

Listen to what happens next…

At first, things are ok… A gentle wind kicks up, it pushes them along… it was “smooth sailing”.

In their eyes… in that moment… Paul was a fool!

But…

What began as a nice breeze… as smooth sailing… as something leading to greater opportunity… became a storm!

It swept down on them quickly and before they knew it, things were out of control!

Here’s the kicker… They didn’t see it coming!

One minute they’re sailing along… loving life… convinced that they could reject Paul’s warning without any consequences (after all, how foolish does he look now?)…

The next…

They’re caught… They’re in deep… They’ve lost control… They’ve lowered the sails… given up… and find themselves driven deeper and deeper into the storm!

By verse 18, They’ve lost all their good senses… and are throwing things overboard!

And the storm shows no signs of ending…

The sun hasn’t shone on them in so long they can hardly remember what it felt like… the storm hasn’t let up a bit… things just keep getting worse!

They gave up!

They lost heart!

BUT…

When all hope seemed lost… when it seemed like it was over… like there was no way out… they were done… there was a man…

A man who in the middle of a raging storm… was not fearful… had not given up… who was in the belly of the ship on his knees.

This man… when all hope seemed lost… committed himself to prayer.

Look at Acts 27:21-24

Let me tell you: “The storms of this life are NOT going to give you warning!”

If you don’t know where to turn… you will be lost!

They were at a point… we are at a point in this church… in this nation… in our lives… our jobs… our families… where things seem lost… there seems like there is no way out… no Hope…