This Fleeting Shadow

I don’t. Like. Lane Kiffin. I just don’t like him.

I didn’t like him when he was at USC at an offensive coordinator

I didn’t like him when he went to University of TN.

I didn’t like him when he FLEW OUT OF TENNESSEE under cover of darkness…..to go BACK to USC as the head coach

I didn’t like him when he went to Alabama as the offensive coordinator again, I didn’t like him when he went to Ole Miss.

And, I didn’t like him when, again, getting out of town as FAST as he could, he flew out of Oxford to take the LSU head coaching job.

I just….don’t like him!!

But watching Ole Miss fans….this past week has been gut wrenching. They had the rug pulled out from under them. One minute they were on top of the world, the next minute, they’re….at a loss for words……wondering if anything is ever going to be right again.

It’s amazing how football has that ability to just tap into that emotional center or out brain like that!

Maybe you’ve been like that

The disciples were like that.

John 16:16-19

The disciples are faced with the reality that sorrow is on its way.

God’s hand heals the wounded

vs 20-22

God has the ability to take our darkest moments, our deepest hurts, and turn them into the launching points for the greatest moments of joy in our lives.

in the midst of heartache and confusion, in the midst of things going so impossibly wrong, that you don’t think they will EVER be right again, I need you to hear something. Something from someone who has seen this truth in Scripture, and then see it play out in his own life.

This hurt won’t last forever.

Psalm 30:5 Reminds us that sorry may last for the night, but JOY comes in the morning!!

This hurt will bring about great joy.

I don’t know when it will happen. I have no clue HOW it will happen, or where. I’ve just seen God do it too many times to think He can’t do it again.

Resurrection is when God brings life out of something that was dead.

When Jesus is speaking of His own resurrection, implicit in that is the resurrection of our hopes and our faith as well.

God’s heart invites us to speak

vs 23-27

Up until this time, the disciples were asking things of Jesus….And Jesus was telling them, yea, here’s the thing, I’m going. Away. But when I do, you won’t be able to ask me for anything anymore, but. You won’t NEED to. You will be able to confer directly with the FATHER

There is no wall dividing you from your Father.

Heb. 4:16

English Standard Version Chapter 4

Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need

God’s peace quiets the chaos.

vs 33

Notice what He doesn’t say here. He doesn’t say, we won’t have trouble. He says, we WILL have trouble, but even in the midst of that trouble we can have…..Peace.

Jesus is the victor, and He waits for us Heaven.

Let give you a practical application of what this means, and HOW Jesus overcoming the world can bring you peace, right here, right now. I heard a pastor say this, just last night. What’s the worst thing that could happen to you?

You fail a class, you fail a GRADE and have to come back as a super senior. You don’t get into the college you want….you’re not able to enter the career field that you’re hoping for?

Actually, for the believer, the worst, the ABSOLUTE WORST case scenario is that things could be so bad, that one day, you’re just….gone. You’re not here anymore.

“There, peaking among the columns of cloud and smoke from the accursed land, above a dark outcropping of rock high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it struck his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”

Because of Christ’s finished work on the cross, we can be assured that suffering will have an end, and sorrow will pass away.