It is What it is

In: 1. I’ve read several books about pioneers, rangers, native Americans- Comanche, Navajo

2. Settlers- A settler is a person who moves to a new place with the intention to stay there

3. Settle- you stay in one place, in one job, or with one person, rather than moving around or changing

4. How do you find an OU fan if you’re playing Hide n Seek? Say Boomer

a. Boomers were people who lobbied for the lands to be opened before passage of the Indian Appropriations Act of 1889

b. Sooners were Boomers who snuck into the land to claim the prime quarter-mile tracts before the official noon opening on April 22, 1889

5. Cliche’ A CLICHE is a phrase or expression...that is often overused and thus, loses its significance

a. Phrases we love, truths we need

b. How do we pray for others?

c. How do we learn to be honest with others?

d. How do we separate the sinner from the sin and love them without endorsing their sin?

6. It is what it is

a. Unsettling statement about settling

b. It’s kind of like Que Sera Sera means- whatever will be, will be

1) A song Doris Day sang in 1956 in the Alfred Hitchcock film The Man Who Knew Too Much

c. An expression indicating a "cheerful fatalism"

d. It’s resigning ourselves to a certain fate

7. There are good aspects of settling- consistency, faithfulness, dependable

a. Bad aspects when we settle for less than our best. We settle on houses, spouses, school, churches, restaurants and sometimes friends

b. Picture- Will you decide what’s for dinner for the rest of my life?

8. Do things have to be what they will be?

9. Do things have to stay the same?

10. Can we be the change?

I. PROBLEMS- (It is what it is) life happens

A. We suffer/struggle because we live in a broken world

1. Sometimes we struggle because of others

a. Tragedy this week in our community- suffers because of a bad decision (Prayer- 3pm PAC)

b. The actions of our parents, siblings, friends, enemies, governments, leaders

c. We hear people say, “Everything happens for a reason” or “It’s all part of God’s plan.” But are we actually suggesting that God made it happen?

1) Not everything that happens is the will of God

2) God’s work is to try to heal the brokenness and pain in the world that results from humans doing their will rather than His will

3) God took a risk in giving us the authority to rule over the earth and each another. Sometimes we do this well, but at other times, we don’t. Every act of unkindness, neglect, abuse, violence are a reflection of our brokenness and the failure of our rule over the world

2. Sometimes we struggle because of ourselves

a. It is often assumed that suffering must be God’s punishment for sin

b. Most of the time it’s the consequences of our decisions

1) Getting pulled over and being issued a ticket is the natural result of driving too fast or not paying attention

2) Some people get divorced because of unfaithfulness. God did not end their marriages; they did, by their actions

3) Our health can be genetic or the result of too much fried chicken

a) One study found that people who were told by their doctor that they would die if they didn’t change their habits, 90% decided they would rather choose to risk death rather than change

b) If our body were a car averaging fifteen thousand miles a year, at 80 years old, we would have the equivalent of 1.2 million miles on us. Not many cars last that long, and they never would last that long if we treated them the way we treat our bodies, with the wrong “fuel” and failing to conduct routine upkeep and maintenance (Botox isn’t maintenance)

c. Sometimes God’s discipline is simply allowing the consequences of our actions to take effect

3. Sometimes we struggle because God is trying to teach us something

a. We learn through the process of waiting

1) God most likely always answers, we just don’t like the answer He is giving

2) I wonder if the length of the trial is proportional to our hard-headedness?

b. If God answered every prayer…

1) We would not need doctors, nurses, or medical treatment

2) We would not need to work; we’d all be rich

3) We would never have to learn the lessons that come from disappointment or hardship in life

4) We’d have no incentive to struggle to discover cures for diseases, never fight for what was right

5) In 1987, a group of engineers and scientists built an artificial ecosystem in Oracle, Arizona. Biosphere 2 encompassed 3.14 acres, making it the largest closed system ever created. Designed as the ideal ecosystem for plant life to thrive, the climate-controlled environment included purified air, clean water, nutrient-rich soil, and natural light. Despite what seemed like perfect conditions, something curious kept happening. The trees that were planted would grow to a certain height, and then they would fall over. After some head-scratching, the scientists finally figured out what was missing? Wind. In their natural habitat, trees are buffeted by winds that blow every which way. Trees respond to that wind resistance by growing stronger bark and deeper roots. Without adversity, trees atrophied

c. Life is defined by our struggles, and our hearts are often refined by adversity

1) Some of the best things in life, the greatest joys, are often only found in the aftermath of unanswered prayers (What we would call unanswered)

d. A lot of people in the Bible didn’t get the reply they wanted from God

1) David- Psalm 22:2 O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but find no rest

2) Paul- thorn in the flesh 2 Corinthians 12:8-9 Paul writes, “I pleaded with the Lord three times for it to leave me alone. He said to me, ‘My grace is enough for you, because power is made perfect in weakness

3) Jesus- Luke 22:42 Father, if it’s your will, take this cup of suffering away from me. However, not my will but your will must be done

4) Too often our prayers are just telling God how to run the world or how to make our life easier

4. Craig Barnes- People become victims when their goal is to avoid suffering

5. How could we believe the message of our faith is that if we believe, we will not suffer, when the central figure of our faith was tortured to death, as well as most of his disciples?

6. That’s not the end of the story

B. We are victors because of a risen Savior

1. In Christ, the worst thing is never the last thing

2. There is purpose in our pain

a. Though he doesn’t cause the suffering we experience, He redeems it by bringing good to come from it

b. Romans 5:3-4 Suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope

c. James 1:3-4 When your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. 4 So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, lacking nothing

* We all face problems

II. PARTNERSHIP- (Does it have to be what it is) Can things change

A. Self-evaluation

1. How did I contribute to this?

a. Am I trying to pray myself out of something I behaved myself into?

b. Jude 1:21 Keep yourselves within the boundaries where God’s love can reach you and bless you

c Am I blessable? Can God bless my lifestyle, decisions (according to His Word)

d. Am I teachable? Do I think I know better than God?

2. What can I do to learn, grow, change from this situation?

B. What is my part to make things different?

* It is what it is- self-resignation that things can’t be any different

1. Don’t argue for your limitations (Furtick- Do the New You)

a. If we argue for our limitations we get to keep them. But if we agree with God about our potential we get to grow into it

b. We need to pay attention to what we say about ourselves and why we assume it’s true

c. What is the lie the devil always whispers in your ear?

1) I’ll probably fail. I’m not smart enough. This is a stupid idea. People are just going to laugh. I can’t because of my past. Other people think I’m…

a) We talk ourselves out of so many good things

2) Why do we believe it?

a) We make those lies true when we believe them

b) When the devil tells us that we’re worthless, do we start collecting evidence to help him?

c) We need listen to God’s arguments FOR US more than our own arguments AGAINST US

d. We can’t let the devil’s lies and the world’s labels define us

1) They can’t see the real you. Only God can do that, but we have to agree with Him

2. Who did God create me to be?

a. We need to align our mindset with God’s vision for us

1) David’s dad thought so little of him that he didn’t even call him in from the field

2) You might see yourself as a shepherd boy, others may see you as a shepherd boy, but God says you are a king

3) The reason David could stay true in the wilderness and not take revenge on Saul when he had the chances was because he knew who he was… the future King

4) Scotty Scheffler- “I was sitting around with my buddies this morning. I was a bit overwhelmed because I told them, ‘I Wish that I didn’t want to win as badly as I do.’ I think it would make the mornings easier,” Scheffler recalled. “My buddies reminded me … my victory’s secure on the cross. That’s a pretty special feeling to know that I’m secure for forever. It doesn’t matter if I win this tournament or if I lose this tournament. My identity is secure for forever.”

b. God has known you since before you were born.

1) Jeremiah 1:5 I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb. Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as my prophet to the nations

2) The new you is the you God knew

c. Its more about God’s grace than our grit

1) 1 Corinthians 15:10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me

2) He… you… he… you… he… you. Do you see the partnership? The teamwork? God creates, defines, and empowers, and us, but we live it out (Partnership)

3. Comfort or Change? Am I willing to change?

a. Most of us lean toward the familiarity of comfort than the fear of change

b. Leadership is disappointing people at a rate they can absorb

1) Building a church for the people we love who do not know the God we love means messing with the church that they loved for a long time

c. When we are anxious about change we sabotage because we want the familiar over transformation

d. We don’t resist change as much as we resist loss

1) We don’t want to lose fried chicken, chocolate shakes and pancakes- sabotage

2) We don’t want to lose the small church feel, knowing everyone- sabotage

e. The children of Israel where afraid of the unknown of the wilderness so they enamored the land of Egypt- leeks, onions, garlic (slavery, killing our children)

4. Start the process

a. Do what you can do

1) Do the things you would do if you were that person

2) What one thing I can do today that will start/keep me moving in the right direction?

b. Don’t give up

1) I’m not stuck unless I stop

2) Aristotle- We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, is not an act but a habit

a) Discipleship is long obedience in the same direction

* We are in a partnership with God

III. PERSPECTIVE- (Why is it what it is)

A. God’s perspective- bird’s eye view, Goodyear blimp, drone

1. The goal is becoming like Jesus

a. In the end its about eternity with Jesus

b. If that is the goal, then life is more about the spiritual than the physical

2. Sometimes Jesus takes us places we don’t want to go- John 6

a. Jesus sent the disciples across the lake, dismissed, went to pray

b. Storm comes in the middle of the night, half-way across the lake (4 miles)

1) They were obeying Jesus and still found themselves in a storm

c. He can see them from the mountain top (full moon)

d. Jesus comes to them walking on the water and they are afraid 19

1) They weren’t convinced He was real, ghost

e. Jesus says, “I am” 20

B. We have to recognize Jesus in the storm

1. When we are afraid, we don’t recognize Jesus in the situation

2. When they were willing to receive Him into the boat, they were immediately at the land 21

a. Why wouldn’t they let Him in the boat?

1) They were afraid of Him

2) They weren’t convinced He was real

b. When we let Jesus into our boat/life we immediately reach our destination

c. We need to see Him in our current situation

3. Sometimes we may not like where He takes us, but it will be OK if He is with us

a. Psalm 23:4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I am not afraid because you are with me (or I am with you)

b. Psalm 77:19 Your road led through the sea, your pathway through the mighty waters— a pathway no one knew was there

c. Psalm 119:75 In faithfulness you have afflicted me

d. CS Lewis- We’re not doubting that God will do the best for us; we’re wondering how painful the best will turn out to be

4. Do we trust Him to help us become like Jesus?

a. Will we let Him have His way in our life to help us reach our destination?

1) The destination is Christ formed in our lives

b. God uses the twists and turns of this life to mold us into the image of Christ

c. Are we OK going through this, if we know He is with us, being formed in us?

Cn: 1. Whatever situation you are in today, do you recognize Jesus?

2. Next time you hear, “It is what it is” ask yourself, “Does it have to be?”

a. Is there something I can do to Partner with God to change it?

b. If not, I need a new Perspective of what is Jesus trying to do in me through it?

Al: 1. Salvation- would you be willing to let Him into your boat?

2. Stuck in a situation- Change or get a new Perspective