The Cure for Your Troubled Heart
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Opening
Opening
The Problem
The Problem
As human beings… we worry… a lot!
A recent study found that at least 100% of humans worry! LOL
Just think back to this week,
and think about the things you worried about…
Bad news:
Head on collision in town…
Inflation continuing to increase because of tariffs…
Plane crash in Louisville…
Strained relationships:
Argument with your spouse…
Children who are not walking with the Lord…
Tension with friends/family…
Disappointment/failure:
failing as a husband/wife/parent/Christian…
As all these worries/stresses/fears pile up in your mind,
you begin to feel anxious…
It feels like the floodwaters are rising,
and there’s nothing you can do to stop it…
Illustration - Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test
Illustration - Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test
Celebrities are pushed to their limits with demanding training exercises by ex-Special Forces operatives.
The only way they leave is by giving up themselves.
Goal: To test their physical, mental and emotional resilience and reveal their deepest and truest character.
Sinking Plane Exercise
Strapped into a plane…
Lowered into water until submerged…
Hold breath 20 sec…
Then unbuckle and escape…
As they’re being lowered… the water’s rising…
they struggled to stay calm as they anticipate taking their final breath.
Illustration Applied
Illustration Applied
You’re buckled into a situation…
the water’s rising…
you feel worry/anxiety rising…
hard to stay in control of your emotions,
as you get ready to take your last gulp of air!
Maybe that’s how you feel…
You have all these:
thoughts…
ideas…
concerns…
fears…
worries…
insecurities…
swirling in your mind…
the water’s rising!
You become anxious and worried,
and it’s hard to stay in control of your emotions.
What is the result?
You spiral out of control (anger/crying)
You give in to temptation (trying to find some relief)
You give up/do nothing (paralyzed with fear)
Jesus & The Disciples
Jesus & The Disciples
That’s exactly how Jesus’ disciples felt!
They had given up everything to follow Jesus,
and were with Him for 3 years.
And now, during their final meal together, Jesus
Jesus washed their feet…
Jesus predicted one of them would betray Him…
Jesus predicted one of them would deny Him 3 times…
AND…
Jesus told them He was leaving them!
Their minds were swirling with everything going on,
and they were anxious/fearful/worried!
Jesus knows this, and takes some time to teach and comfort them.
As we look at His teaching this morning,
we’re going to learn…
The Cure for Your Troubled Heart
The Cure for Your Troubled Heart
Jesus knows the hearts of His disciples,
that they’re worried and afraid of the future.
Jesus knows their hearts are troubled,
so He gives them “The Cure For Their Troubled Hearts”…
Jesus says to them in…
1 “Let not your hearts be troubled.
Why did He say that?
BECAUSE THEIR HEARTS WERE TROUBLED!
So Jesus tells them to not let their hearts be troubled.
What’s interesting is that this is not a suggestion…
“Here’s something you COULD do…”
IT’S A COMMAND!
If it’s a command,
that means we have the ability to obey it!
But not only that…
We MUST obey it!
But how?
How do we let not our hearts be troubled?
Jesus tells us…
1 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.
In the midst of all the uncertainties and unknowns,
Jesus encourages them to put their faith in God…
to put their trust in Him!
What Jesus is telling His disciples and you is…
The way to get over your troubled heart, is by taking your eyes off your fears and worries, and putting them on Jesus!
It is a conscious decision that you make…
It is something that you must do…
When you sense your heart is troubled,
choose to believe in God/Jesus.
This is an act of faith!
Jesus is going to teach His disciples WHY they can trust/believe in Him.
What we are going to see this morning is:
Don’t Fear, You Have a Place in Heaven Through Jesus
Don’t Fear, You Have a Relationship with God Through Jesus
Don’t Fear, You Have Work to Do Through Jesus
Prayer for Illumination
Prayer for Illumination
1 God is our refuge and strength…
a very present help in trouble…
2 Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way…
though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea…
3 though its waters roar and foam…
though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah
Scripture
Scripture
Read
Read
1 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. 4 And you know the way to where I am going.” 5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” 8 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves. 12 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. 13 Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.
Transition
The first thing Jesus wants you to see today is…
1. Don’t Fear, You Have A Place in Heaven Through Jesus
1. Don’t Fear, You Have A Place in Heaven Through Jesus
Jesus has told His disciples that He is leaving them,
BUT…
that they will be able to follow Him afterward.
Now He is going to expand more on why this should comfort them.
EXPLAIN
EXPLAIN
We pick up in John 14:2 where Jesus says…
2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?
The reason the disciples can take heart is,
Jesus can see what the disciples can only imagine…
HEAVEN!
And what Jesus sees is “many rooms”.
Jesus can see ahead to all those who will be in heaven because of His sacrifice,
and He knows there is enough room for them all,
including the disciples!
Then Jesus says…
“If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?”
He’s essentially saying…
“I wouldn’t have said it if it wasn’t true!”
Jesus is assuring them of their permanent residence in heaven,
that it should be a source of comfort to their troubled hearts.
Then Jesus says…
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.
Since Jesus is preparing a place for them,
then it stands to reason He will bring them there.
There would be no point in preparing a place for the disciples,
if they were not going to be there.
The disciples are troubled because Jesus is leaving,
but Jesus calms their troubled hearts by assuring them He will return,
and bring them to the place He has been preparing for them,
and they will be together again!
Then we read in verse…
4 And you know the way to where I am going.” 5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?”
It’s clear that the disciples don’t understand what Jesus is talking about.
They don’t know what He means by “going away”.
It seems they think Jesus is talking about another physical location,
and if they don’t know where He is going,
how can they know the way?
Isn’t it comforting how open and vulnerable Thomas is here?
He isn’t ashamed to ask Jesus this question,
and show how ignorant he is.
This shows how close of a relationship Jesus had with His disciples,
as He patiently taught them as they were ready and able to learn.
Then Jesus says…
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
This is the 6th “I Am” statement from Jesus that John records.
‘JESUS IS THE WAY!’
Jesus is going to the Father in heaven,
and the ONLY way to get there is through Him!
Speaking of His coming sacrifice.
‘JESUS IS THE TRUTH!’
Jesus is the embodiment of truth.
Everything He says, thinks, or does… IS TRUTH!
There is no lie, no darkness in Him.
Therefore they can trust Him!
‘JESUS IS THE LIFE!’
Jesus is the only way to spiritual/eternal life.
“NO ONE comes to the Father EXCEPT through me.”
Jesus is going back to the Father in heaven,
to prepare a place for His disciples,
and the only way there is through Him!
Summary/Point
Jesus intends this to be comforting to His disciples!
They are worried and fearful… their hearts are troubled!
Jesus is leaving and they don’t know what’s coming…
But Jesus tells them they
“Don’t Need to Fear, Because They Have a Place in Heaven”
APPLY
APPLY
You and I are often like the disciples…
We go through difficult circumstances in life,
and all we see are the unanswered questions,
and our hearts are troubled.
But Jesus’ Words apply to us today…
“Let NOT your hearts be troubled.”
This is a command that we are to obey,
which means we play a part.
This is so interesting, because worry feels like something WE CAN’T CONTROL!
But this should be encouraging to us,
because Jesus is telling us WE CAN CONTROL IT!
The reason fear/worry/anxiety take over is because…
You focus and dwell on:
the things you don’t know…
the unanswered questions in your life…
In other words, you allow your thoughts to run wild!
Do you know how many thoughts the average person has in a day?
In 2020, there was a study done at Queen’s University,
where they used brain imaging to detect “brain-state transitions”,
which represent when the brain has a new thought.
They determined that the avg. person has 6,200 thoughts per day during waking hours.
That’s about 387.5 thoughts/hour.
Which is about… 6 or 7 thoughts a minute… HAHAHA!
Our brains are swirling with thoughts!
And then we fill our minds with even more through:
social media,
news,
youtube…
it’s no wonder our hearts are so troubled!
We have all sorts of thoughts swirling in our minds:
“I can’t believe he/she said that to me,
or looked at me that way!”
“What am I going to do about this difficult situation with:
my mom/dad/friend/coworker/employee?
“How am I going to pay the bills? OR
Where am I going to find a job?”
Our hearts are troubled because of all these roaming thoughts in our minds.
So we worry/fear/have anxiety!
So what does Jesus encourage His disciples and therefore us to do?
To believe in God… to believe in Him!
He calls them to focus their thoughts on HIS truth…
to allow HIS promises to give them peace.
There is nothing in this life that should be able to take away our peace and joy when we know:
that Jesus has gone back to heaven…
that He is preparing a place for us… and
that He is coming back to bring us there so we can be with Him!
What an incredible promise to rest in!
So when you feel your heart troubled by the worries of life, remember:
“Don’t Fear, You Have a Place in Heaven… THROUGH JESUS!”
This world can do nothing to you,
because your faith is in Jesus, your Saviour,
who is going to bring you to the place He has prepared for you!
So in those moments you feel your anxiety rising, call out to God!
Tell him your anxious thoughts,
Thank Him for Jesus,
who has gone ahead to make a place for you, and
is coming back to bring you there to be with Him!
Let not your heart be troubled…
believe in Jesus!
Transition
The next thing Jesus wants you to see today is…
2. Don’t Fear, You Have a Relationship with God Through Jesus
2. Don’t Fear, You Have a Relationship with God Through Jesus
Jesus wants His disciples to understand who He truly is…
God in the flesh!
The fact that they can… AND DO
have a relationship… with God Himself,
should calm their troubled hearts.
But the disciples don’t fully understand this yet.
EXPLAIN
EXPLAIN
Picking back up in verse 7 Jesus says…
7 If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”
To know Jesus is to know God the Father.
To see Jesus is to see God the Father.
Jesus is alluding to the fact the disciples don’t fully understand this yet,
but their lack of understanding gives Him an opportunity to expand on it.
Philip then said…
8 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.”
It may be that Philip is asking for an appearance of God.
Like when:
God appeared to Abraham in the form of 3 men…
God appeared to Moses in the burning bush…
God appeared to Israel in fire, smoke, lightning and thunder on Mt. Sinai…
But we see that Philip doesn’t understand what Jesus has just said…
that to know Jesus and see Him,
is to know and see the Father!
Jesus then says…
9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
Jesus had been with the disciples for about 3 years,
and had told them that He and the Father were one on many other occasions,
but they still didn’t understand,
which is why Philip is asking the question!
Even though the disciples had been so closely and intimately connected to Jesus,
they failed to understand who He was!
Once again though,
we should be grateful to Philip for his vulnerability to speak out.
Because even though he gets this light rebuke from Jesus for not knowing Him,
we now have Jesus’ words as He takes the time to explain it more.
Jesus continues…
10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.
Here we get a beautiful picture of the unity of God the Son and God the Father.
Jesus is in the Father, and
The Father is in Jesus.
They are One, and yet they are distinct persons.
Jesus is making a very clear claim to deity!
Jesus is claiming that He is God!
Yet He is not saying this on the basis of His own authority,
but the authority of the Father who dwells in Him.
The evidence that the Father is dwelling in Him is seen in His works/signs/miracles:
Turning water into wine (John 2)
Healing the official’s son (John 4)
Healing the lame man (John 5)
Feeding the 5,000 (John 6)
Walking on water (John 6)
Healing the blind man (John 9)
Raising Lazarus from the dead (John 11)
All of these miracles PROVE that Jesus is God!
Therefore, Jesus says…
11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.
Jesus calls on His disciples to believe that He is God in one of two ways:
“Believe ME”
“I’m telling you that I am God… BELIEVE ME!”
“Believe on account of the works”
“If you doubt my word… BELIEVE MY WORKS!”
Summary
The disciples still did not understand all these things.
Their minds were swirling, and they were doubting.
Their hearts were troubled!
So Jesus seeks to give them peace by reminding them who He is!
They: “Don’t Have to Fear…
They Have a Relationship with God the Father Through Jesus!”
APPLY
APPLY
Isn’t it interesting that the disciples walked with Jesus for 3 years…
camping out with Him,
having conversations by the fire,
sharing meals together…
listening to Him preach to the crowds,
teaching of the kingdom of God,
in a way they had never heard before…
watching Him perform countless miracles,
overpowering the laws of nature,
overpowering sickness and death,
overpowering demons…
And despite all of that…
THEY STILL HAD DOUBTS!
THEY STILL DIDN’T UNDERSTAND WHO HE WAS!
THEY WANTED TO SEE GOD, AND DIDN’T REALIZE HE WAS RIGHT IN FRONT OF THEM!
No matter how long you’re a Christian you can have doubts,
and not understand as you should.
I’m sure you can relate to that as I can!
Maybe you’ve been a Christian for a few years, or 10 years, or 20 years, or maybe more!
And every once in a while you find yourself saying,
“God, show my yourself! Give me a sign!”
This isn’t necessarily wrong…
We long to SEE/REALIZE OUR FAITH!
And I know that some of you have been blessed to have very real,
incredible experiences with God…
But when God doesn’t answer that prayer,
we may feel discouraged, and question our salvation, or
whether God is real.
We need to understand that seeing IS NOT NECESSARILY BELIEVING!
The disciples had been with Jesus for a long time,
and yet Jesus is rebuking them for their unbelief.
The crowds/religious leaders
heard Jesus’ teaching, and
saw His miracles,
yet didn’t believe in Him!
You may tempted to think, as I sometimes am,
that if God revealed Himself to you,
THEEENNNN… you would fully believe and commit to Him!
But this is simply not true!
If the disciples can still struggle to believe after 3 years of being face to face with Jesus, the Son of God,
then we can still struggle to believe EVEN IF God showed Himself to you!
Jesus knows
your doubts,
your fears,
your worries…
He knows you struggle to believe at times,
and because of that,
you wrestle with whether your truly a believer…
So does the fact that you have doubts mean you’re not a Christian?
One of the most powerful sermon clips I’ve ever seen,
is from D.A. Carson.
He uses the night before the Passover as an illustration for our sometimes shaky faith.
God had promised to kill all the firstborn children, UNLESS
they killed a lamb and put it’s blood on the door.
Then the destroyer would “PASS-OVER” their house.
This was an act of faith on the part of the Israelites!
Carson says…
ILLUSTRATE
ILLUSTRATE
Picture two Jews by the name of Smith and Brown.
Remarkably Jewish names.
The day before the first Passover having a little discussion in the land of Goshen
Smith says to Brown,
"Boy are you a little nervous about what's going to happen tonight?"
Brown says,
"Well God told us what to do through his servant Moses.
You don't have to be nervous.
Haven't you slaughtered the lamb and dobbed the two door posts with blood put blood on the lintel?
Haven't you done that?
You're all ready and packed to go?
You're going to eat the whole Passover meal with your family?"
Smith says,
“Of course, I've done that. I'm not stupid.
But it's still pretty scary when you think of all the things that have happened around here recently.
You know flies and river turning to blood and it's pretty awful.
And now there's a threat of the first-born being killed you know.
It's all right for you. You've got three sons. I've only got one. And I love my Charlie
and the angel of death is passing through tonight. You know.
I know what God says, I put the blood there.
But it's pretty scary I'll be glad when this night is over."
And Brown responds,
"Bring it on. I trust the promises of God."
That night the angel of death swept through the land.
Which one lost his son?
And the answer of course is neither.
Because:
Death doesn't pass over them on the ground of the intensity or the clarity of the faith exercised. But on the ground of the blood of the lamb. That's what silences the accuser.
The blood silences the accuser of the brothers as he accuses us before God.
He silences our consciouses when he accuses us directly.
How many times do we writhe in agony asking
if God can ever love us enough,
if God can ever care for us enough after we've done such stupid, sinful, rebellious things?
After being Christians for 40 years?
What are you going to say?
"Well God I tried hard you know. I did my best. It was a bad moment."
No, no, no, no!
I have no other argument. I need no other plea.
It is enough that Jesus died and that he died for me.
“We overcome by the blood of the lamb. There is the ground of all human assurance before God. There is the ground of our faith. Not guaranteeing intensity of faith. It's not the intensity of our faith but the object of our faith that saves. We overcome on the ground of the blood of the lamb.”
Summary
The world may cause you to doubt…
Your own heart may cause you to doubt…
The enemy may cause you to doubt…
Turn your eyes from your anxious thoughts,
and look to Jesus!
Let not your heart be troubled brothers and sisters!
Put your faith in Jesus!
Believe in Him! That HE has made the way for you!
Don’t Fear…
Through Jesus’ life/death/resurrection,
YOU have a relationship with God… BY FAITH!
Transition
The next thing Jesus wants you to see today is…
3. Don’t Fear, You Have Work to Do Through Jesus
3. Don’t Fear, You Have Work to Do Through Jesus
The disciples’ hearts were troubled,
and it had the potential of derailing the mission.
If Jesus would leave, what were they going to do?
Would they be able to carry on without Him?
Jesus comforts them with the truth that THEY will carry on His work!
In fact, they will do GREATER works than Him!
EXPLAIN
EXPLAIN
We pick back up in…
12 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do;
Jesus has been encouraging His disciples to believe in Him,
and here is the benefit to those who do:
they will do the works Jesus did.
We tend to think of Jesus’ works as His miracles,
and that Jesus is saying His disciples will perform miracles as well.
But it’s better to understand Jesus referring to ALL His works:
Serving…
Loving...
Caring…
Feeding…
Teaching…
These are ALL works God did through Jesus,
which led to the purpose of Jesus:
to bring people into a right relationship with God.
This is the work that Jesus’ true disciples will continue.
Then Jesus says…
12 and greater works than these will he do,
Again, Jesus is not referring to the miracles He performed,
but rather the spread of the Gospel leading to the salvation of the lost.
WAY more people are going to come to faith in Jesus after He leaves,
than during His earthly life.
We see this in the book of Acts.
There are some miracles,
but nothing like Jesus ever did.
But the greater works that took place was the conversion of souls to Jesus!
Peter’s first sermon on the day of Pentecost produced 3,000 converts who were added to the church!
That’s more than came to faith during Jesus’ whole ministry!
The rest of the book of Acts records the disciples continuing the work,
and spreading the Gospel everywhere!
Then Jesus says WHY His disciples are able to accomplish greater works…
12 because I am going to the Father.
At first glance this doesn’t really make sense…
The disciples are going to accomplish more when Jesus leaves?
If the star player of a team said,
“I’m leaving, but don’t worry, the team will do way better without me!”
We would think he’s crazy!
You rely on your star players to carry the team!
But the reason Jesus’ disciples will be able to accomplish these greater works
When Jesus goes back to the Father, is because:
THEN He is going to send His Spirit into the hearts of His people.
While on earth, Jesus ministered in one place at a time through His physical, bodily presence.
But when Jesus goes back to heaven,
He’s going to send His Spirit into the hearts of ALL His people!
Through the presence of the Holy Spirit working in and through them,
they will work together, spreading the Good News of Jesus all over the world!
And even though Jesus will be leaving,
The disciples are still connected to Him… through prayer!
Jesus then says…
13 Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.
Is Jesus writing a blank cheque here with His signature on it?
Is He saying:
“You can pray for literally anything you want,
as long as you pray in MY NAME,
and I’ll give it to you!”???
NO! That’s not what He’s saying!
John MacArthur is helpful in understanding what Jesus means here:
“To ask in Jesus’ “name” does not mean to tack such an expression on the end of a prayer as a mere formula. It means:
1) The believer’s prayer should be for his purposes and kingdom and not selfish reasons.
Jesus had said His disciples would do the works HE was doing.
To pray in Jesus’ name is to pray in a way that’s consistent with what Jesus’ character and will.
2) The believer’s prayer should be on the basis of his merits and not any personal merit or worthiness.
Jesus is the ONLY way to the Father,
and through Him we can have an intimate relationship with the Father through Jesus.
To pray in Jesus’ name is to come to God through Jesus,
on the basis of His righteousness,
and NOT on the basis of anything good that I have done.
3) The believer’s prayer should be in pursuit of his glory alone.
Jesus lived His life in submission and obedience to God’s will,
that He might bring glory to Him.
We just learned last week that Jesus was going to glorify God through His death.
To pray in Jesus’ name is to follow His example,
of surrendering our lives to God through Jesus,
seeking to be obedient to His Word,
so that we can bring God glory!
And Jesus’ promise to His disciples is that whenever they pray in this way,
HE IS GOING TO DO IT!
HE IS GOING TO ANSWER THEIR PRAYER!
Summary
The disciples
“Don’t need to fear because they have work to do through Jesus.”
Even though Jesus is leaving them,
He will be in heaven with the Father, where He can:
send His Spirit; and
answer their prayers,
guaranteeing their success!
APPLY
APPLY
Have you ever noticed that when your heart is troubled:
you’re filled with anxiety/worry/fear...
and it paralyzes you?
It’s almost like your stuck and
you don’t know what to do, or
how to move forward, or
what next step you should take…
So you freeze, and do nothing!
This is what the disciples were in danger of!
Their hearts were so troubled at the thought of Jesus leaving,
that were at risk of being paralyzed and giving up.
So Jesus comforts them with the truth that He will be with them.
They can’t give up, but must keep going… they have work to do!
As they do, they can call on Jesus in prayer,
and He will accomplish His work through them, from heaven.
You and I need this same encouragement!
There are times where surprises come up in our lives,
things that catch us off guard.
Major disappointments…
Major setbacks…
And we may be tempted in those moments to lose hope and give up.
We need to hear Jesus’ words,
“Let not your hearts be troubled.
Believe in God; believe also in me.”
You can’t allow fear to paralyze you…
You have work to do through Jesus!
There are people around you who:
need to be loved…
need to be fed…
need to be served…
need to be cared for…
need comfort…
need a friend…
These are all opportunities for us to be the hands and feet of Christ,
and continue the work of Jesus,
pointing people to the fact they can have a relationship with God!
If we get caught up in our own worry/anxiety,
we can get paralyzed…
and we won’t be able to do the work Jesus has passed on to us.
Jesus has promised that YOU will do even greater works through Him!
He is seated in heaven at God’s right hand,
and has ALL AUTHORITY IN HEAVEN AND ON EARTH!
Since we have that truth, WE SHOULD PRAY!
Jesus has promised that He will answer…
“whatever we ask in His name!”
Remember, this isn’t a blank cheque from Jesus…
“I’ll take a Cyber truck, PS5, Air Jordan’s, new stove…”
Prayer is not a Christmas wish list!
When you pray in Jesus name…
1) The believer’s prayer should be for his purposes and kingdom and not selfish reasons.
2) The believer’s prayer should be on the basis of his merits and not any personal merit or worthiness.
3) The believer’s prayer should be in pursuit of his glory alone.
We can confidently pray in Jesus’ name,
KNOWING that He is going to answer.
But His answer might not always be what we want/expect.
The Israelites were in slavery, and cried out to God.
God sent 10 plagues…
Not what they expected,
But God answered!
The Israelites were hungry, and cried out to God.
God sent manna…
Not what they expected,
But God answered!
God is not obligated to answer in the way YOU want Him to!
You are being called to continue HIS WORK!
Summary
And what a privilege it is to be called to work alongside God!
What a privilege to be a part of what God is doing,
Because we know that it can’t fail!
No matter how scary/fearful/bleak things look,
“Don’t Fear, You Have Work to Do Through Jesus”
Take your eyes off your worries and fears and look to Jesus!
You can do this through the Holy Spirit Jesus has given you!
As you pray to Jesus, He will answer your prayers,
and bring glory to God through you!
Closing
Closing
But what about when God doesn’t answer your prayers?
I’m sure that most of you have probably experienced this,
maybe even in deeply painful ways.
You prayed and called out
For God to heal a loved one…
For God to remove the temptation…
For God to restore a broken relationship…
but God’s answer was “No.”
Is God playing some sort of twisted game,
where He tells us to pray and that He’ll answer,
only to deny us our requests!
No! This is not the heart of God!
Closing Illustration
Closing Illustration
Paul himself struggled through unanswered prayer!
He had given his life to sharing the Good News of Jesus,
and as greatly as God used him,
Paul didn’t always get his prayer answered.
In 2 Corinthians 12,
Paul says that he was given
a thorn in the flesh…
a messenger of Satan...
to harass him!
We don’t know what it was,
but it doesn’t sound pleasant!
Paul says…
8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
God was teaching Paul to rely on God,
and not himself!
You see, Paul had just talked about the visions he had been given by God,
and God gave him this thorn in the flesh,
to keep him from becoming conceited.
Literally: to exalt, to lift up, raise oneself over.
God brought suffering into Paul’s life,
and did not answer his prayer to remove it,
because He wanted to keep Paul from exalting himself.
God wanted Paul to understand how weak he was,
so that he would depend on God’s grace, and not his own strength.
So what was Paul’s response when God said “No”?
9 Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities.
For when I am weak, then I am strong.
When you try and do it all on your own,
trusting in yourself and your ability,
your heart is going to be troubled!
You’re carrying a weight and burden you weren’t meant to carry!
But when you begin to see your weakness,
and your need for God,
that’s when you will begin to rely on Him and His strength.
When you realize how weak you are,
and you turn to God, asking for His help…
THAT’S WHEN YOU BECOME STRONG!
He will strengthen you to go through/endure whatever is going on in your life.
Take comfort in the words of the song,
“Christ Our Wisdom” by Sovereign Grace:
VERSE 1
Christ our wisdom, we are humbled
When You hide Your ways from us
You have purposes unnumbered
Each one good and glorious
VERSE 1
Help us trust when we grow weary
Free us from our anxious thoughts
Give us grace to see more clearly
You are God and we are not
VERSE 2
Christ our wisdom, be our gladness
When we fail to understand
You ordain all joy and sadness
To fulfill Your perfect plan
VERSE 2
Help us know You rule with power
Over every raging flood
In our most uncertain hour
You are God and we are loved
VERSE 3
Christ our wisdom, we will follow
Though the way ahead is veiled
As we journey through the shadows
Grant us faith where sight has failed
VERSE 3
Help us cling to Your commandments
Strengthened by Your faithful word
We will never be abandoned
You are God and we are Yours
VERSE 4
Christ our wisdom, we adore You
For the beauty of the cross
Once in foolishness we scorned You
But Your blood has ransomed us
VERSE 4
Help us sing the endless mercies
Of Your humble heart to save
Christ our wisdom, Christ our glory
You are God forever praised
In what areas of your life do you sense your heart is troubled?
What things are weighing on your mind?
What things cause you to fear/worry/be anxious?
Jesus doesn’t intend for you to be burdened with a troubled heart!
He says…
“Let not your heart be troubled…
Believe in me!”
Just this week I found incredible freedom in giving worries to God.
When I found myself prone to worry and spiral out of control, fixating on problems…
I turned to the Lord and said,
“I’m not going to let my heart be troubled by this. I believe in You Jesus!”
And He answered my prayer and took away the worry!
Put your faith in Him and His promises and find,
“The Cure for Your Troubled Heart”!
Pray!
