"DO HARD THINGS - MOST PEOPLE DON'T"
Do Hard Things • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 4 viewsUsing the book "Do Hard Things" looking at chapter one this evening
Notes
Transcript
Most people don’t expect you to understand what we’re going to tell you in this book. And even if you understand, they don’t expect you to care. And even if you care, they don’t expect you to do anything about it. And even if you do something about it, they don’t expect it to last. Do Hard Things (p. 3). The Crown Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
This book invites you to explore some radical questions:
• Is it possible that even though teens today have more freedom than any other generation in history, we’re actually missing out on some of the best years of our lives?
• Is it possible that what our culture says about the purpose and potential of the teen years is a lie and that we are its victims?
• Is it possible that our teen years give us a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for huge accomplishments—as individuals and as a generation?
• And finally, what would our lives look like if we set out on a different path entirely—a path that required more effort but promised a lot more reward? Do Hard Things (pp. 5-6). The Crown Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
We’re not plotting to make your life miserable. We’re not recommending that you do any and every difficult thing. For example, we’re not telling you to rob a bank, jump off a cliff, climb Half Dome with your bare hands, or stand on your head for twenty-four hours straight.
We are not telling you to do pointless (or stupid) hard things just because they’re hard. And if you’re a Christian, we’re certainly not telling you that if you work harder or make yourself uncomfortable on purpose, God will love you more.
He will never—could never—love you any more than He does right now. So that’s what we’re not doing. What we are doing is challenging you to grab hold of a more exciting option for your teen years than the one portrayed as normal in society today. Do Hard Things (p. 7). The Crown Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
Can you think of young people in the Bible that God used?
JOSEPH -
26 Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it for us to kill our brother and cover up his blood?
36 Meanwhile, the Midianites sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, Pharaoh’s officer, the captain of the bodyguard.
9 “There is no one greater in this house than I, and he has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do this great evil and sin against God?”
Genesis 39:11–20 (NASB95)
11 Now it happened one day that he went into the house to do his work, and none of the men of the household was there inside. 12 She caught him by his garment, saying, “Lie with me!” And he left his garment in her hand and fled, and went outside.
13 When she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and had fled outside, 14 she called to the men of her household and said to them, “See, he has brought in a Hebrew to us to make sport of us; he came in to me to lie with me, and I screamed. 15 “When he heard that I raised my voice and screamed, he left his garment beside me and fled and went outside.”
16 So she left his garment beside her until his master came home. 17 Then she spoke to him with these words, “The Hebrew slave, whom you brought to us, came in to me to make sport of me; 18 and as I raised my voice and screamed, he left his garment beside me and fled outside.”
19 Now when his master heard the words of his wife, which she spoke to him, saying, “This is what your slave did to me,” his anger burned. 20 So Joseph’s master took him and put him into the jail, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined; and he was there in the jail.
JOSIAH -
1 Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Jedidah the daughter of Adaiah of Bozkath.
1 Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. 2 He did right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the ways of his father David and did not turn aside to the right or to the left.
DANIEL AND HIS FRIENDS -
Daniel 1:1–7 (NASB95)
1 In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. 2 The Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, along with some of the vessels of the house of God; and he brought them to the land of Shinar, to the house of his god, and he brought the vessels into the treasury of his god.
3 Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, the chief of his officials, to bring in some of the sons of Israel, including some of the royal family and of the nobles, 4 youths in whom was no defect, who were good-looking, showing intelligence in every branch of wisdom, endowed with understanding and discerning knowledge, and who had ability for serving in the king’s court; and he ordered him to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans.
5 The king appointed for them a daily ration from the king’s choice food and from the wine which he drank, and appointed that they should be educated three years, at the end of which they were to enter the king’s personal service. 6 Now among them from the sons of Judah were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah.
7 Then the commander of the officials assigned new names to them; and to Daniel he assigned the name Belteshazzar, to Hananiah Shadrach, to Mishael Meshach and to Azariah Abed-nego.
Daniel and His Friends
Another beloved story in the Bible is in the book of Daniel. Many people would know the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego when they were put in the fiery furnace. Even more would remember the story of Daniel in the lion’s den. Did you know Daniel was somewhere around 80 years old when that took place?
We don’t know precisely when Nebuchadnezzar build the statue that he wanted the people to worship. But, it was sometime between the 3rd and 23rd year of the Babylonian captivity. It is believed that Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego were cast into the fiery furnace when they were between 10 and 30 years old. They certainly were many years younger than Daniel was when he faced the lions.
However, there is another interesting story about these four young men in Daniel chapter 1. They may have only been about 8 years old when they stood up for what they believed. They were offered food and drink that were against their traditional Jewish beliefs. They had already gained favor with their captors and requested that their diet be changed to something more familiar. They stood up for their beliefs even as very young men.
The result of their decision to honor the Lord with their eating habits was that God gave them knowledge and skill in learning and wisdom (Daniel 1:17). This verse also says that Daniel was given an ability to understand dreams and visions which is basically what the rest of the book is about. https://www.whatchristianswanttoknow.com/5-young-people-in-the-bible-that-did-great-things/#ixzz83xuZa7ew
SAMUEL -
26 Now the boy Samuel was growing in stature and in favor both with the Lord and with men.
DAVID -
David an Obedient Son -
1 Samuel 17:17–20 (NASB95)
17 Then Jesse said to David his son, “Take now for your brothers an ephah of this roasted grain and these ten loaves and run to the camp to your brothers. 18 “Bring also these ten cuts of cheese to the commander of their thousand, and look into the welfare of your brothers, and bring back news of them.
19 “For Saul and they and all the men of Israel are in the valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines.” 20 So David arose early in the morning and left the flock with a keeper and took the supplies and went as Jesse had commanded him. And he came to the circle of the camp while the army was going out in battle array shouting the war cry.
David a Brave Solider -
1 Samuel 17:26–32 (NASB95)
26 Then David spoke to the men who were standing by him, saying, “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should taunt the armies of the living God?”
27 The people answered him in accord with this word, saying, “Thus it will be done for the man who kills him.” 28 Now Eliab his oldest brother heard when he spoke to the men; and Eliab’s anger burned against David and he said, “Why have you come down? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your insolence and the wickedness of your heart; for you have come down in order to see the battle.” 29 But David said, “What have I done now? Was it not just a question?”
30 Then he turned away from him to another and said the same thing; and the people answered the same thing as before. 31 When the words which David spoke were heard, they told them to Saul, and he sent for him. 32 David said to Saul, “Let no man’s heart fail on account of him; your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.”
David Trusted in God -
37 And David said, “The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” And Saul said to David, “Go, and may the Lord be with you.”
1 Samuel 17:45–47 (NASB95)
45 Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have taunted.
46 “This day the Lord will deliver you up into my hands, and I will strike you down and remove your head from you. And I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, 47 and that all this assembly may know that the Lord does not deliver by sword or by spear; for the battle is the Lord’s and He will give you into our hands.”
TIMOTHY -
12 Let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity, show yourself an example of those who believe.
JEREMIAH -
5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, And before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
So What??
RIGHT HERE RIGHT NOW YOU NEED TO MAKE A DECISION -
ARE YOU GOING TO LIVE A LIFE COMMITTED TO THE LORD JESUS CHRIST?
(ARE YOU WILLING TO DO HARD THINGS)
ARE YOU GOING TO LIVE FOR YOURSELF AND THE WAYS OF THE WORLD?