Detours and Doubts "Struggles, Sufferings, Setbacks"
Taft Gospel Meeting Spring 2026 • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Transcript
Greeting:
Greeting:
Good evening everyone
Welcome back to our gospel meeting
I again want to thank you all so much for having me this week
Try and come back and be with us each night, and bring someone with you.
Invite someone out to hear the gospel.
Being here together to worship God should always be our priority, choosing to be here anytime the doors are open and the church assembles as we are commanded ...
But not only that we also are edified, we are built up, we are encouraged by being here together through song prayer and scripture...
I know dad announced it Sunday and will again probably tonight at the end of service but I wanna also invite everyone to our meeting starting April 12th…
Lesson Text:
Lesson Text:
James 1:2-4
Opening:
Opening:
This week our theme for out meeting is this idea of “Here to Heaven” Living with Eternity in mind...
Our goal this week is to examine the christian life and study this journey throughout life for a Christian...
We are hoping to examine the life of a child of God from the point one becomes a Christian all the way up until death and heaven…
We want to be able to learn each day to live with eternity, to live with heaven at the forefront of our minds...
Sunday morning we began the series by looking at a lesson titled, “Where It All Begins” looking at the point in time one becomes a new creation, when one becomes a child of God...where our journey begins.
When one obeys the gospel, follows the plan of salvation and is baptized into Christ..
Sunday afternoon we continued down our christian journey and looked at a lesson titled, “Walking the Road” Daily Discipleship...
We looked at what in store for the new Christian, what true discipleship means for us in our daily walk with Christ...
Looking ahead at the week tomorrow night we will continue down this journey, the road a Christian walks, and look at the end of a Christian’s life.
We will look at a lesson titled “Crossing the Finish” Line and study how we should view death as a christian...
And finally Wednesday night we will close out the week by looking at a lesson titled, “Welcome Home” as we discuss heaven as our eternal reward...
But tonight we will pick up on our journey as a Christian and study together what Scripture tells us concerning “Detours and Doubts”
What does God’s word tell us concerning how a Christian should handle struggles, sufferings, and setbacks?
Lesson:
Lesson:
Tonight if you have your Bibles open them up with me to James 1:2-4…
2 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. 4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.
We spoke Sunday about becoming a child of God, beginning this new life, and living as a disciple of Christ should live...
One who seeks out Christ, who follows after, learns from him, someone who keeps their heart close with him...
But we also noted that this life we live for Christ includes us taking up our cross, bearing any burdens and living for Him...
This life, this choice we make to follow Christ may not always be easy, but it’s always right…
Tonight I want us to pick up with that same train of thought before we really dive into our lesson…
We need to know life as a child of God is the greatest life one could live...
It is a life full of happiness, peace, joy, comfort, love...
It is a life full of so many blessings...
Scripture on many occasions speaks about the beauty that is found in this new life we live in Christ...
6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
One of the many great blessings we have in this life is the peace that comes from God…
The peace that surpasses all understanding…
The peace that will guard our heart…
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
Scripture tells us over and over again the Christian life is a life full of all of these amazing things...
This is what is offered to those who choose God!
It is a life that is better than we could ever imagine...
During those good times, when life is easy, when we are on those mountain top moments, its pretty easy to keep the faith.
It is pretty easy to live the life a Christian should live, but what about when we fall into those various trials James tells us about?
What about when we face struggles, sufferings, and setbacks?
Does our walk with Christ change then?
That is what we want to study together tonight...
How can we as Christians keep our walk close to Christ, continue to remain faithful when life tries its best to knock us down...
What do we as Christians need to know about “Detours and Doubts”
Tonight I want us to look at three main ideas…
Three ideas about the detours or curves life will throw our way.
One, detours are part of the journey.
Two, God has a purpose in our journey.
And three, God is present in the journey.
Point number one tonight, detours are part of the journey.
We touched on this a little in our afternoon service yesterday, but for us as Christians we need to understand that there are going to be bumps in the road...
In fact trials we face, struggles we face, difficulties that come our way, they aren’t abnormal…
They aren’t uncommon but rather they are actually promised by God.
James 1:2-4 there where we are at tells us that...
James says consider it pure joy, whenever you face trials of many kinds...
James doesn’t say if, but rather he phrases it in a way that tells us trials are going to happen.
We are going to face setbacks, we are going to have sufferings, we are going to have things that don’t go our way sometimes...
12 Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you;
Peter tells us not to think it strange or uncommon or out of the ordinary…
Don't think its something crazy happening whenever we face trials and go through hard times in life...
So many people today have the misunderstanding that a christian life is a perfect life and nothing bad will ever happen to them, nothing will ever go wrong...
But Scripture is very clear, God wasn't trying to deceive us or fool us…
In fact as we have saw he plainly tells us we will still face challenges in this life...
Maybe you have heard this quote before or some form of it, but I found this perfect for what we are discussing tonight...
The quote says, “Just because it is hard, doesn’t mean it’s wrong.”
When you think about our lives as a Christian that has a lot of truth to it...
So many people when facing those curves in the road, those detours in life, they will think something must not be right…
Well this can’t be true this can’t be the life that was promised to me as a Christian...
Hard times aren’t supposed to come my way
But just because it’s hard doesn’t mean it’s wrong...
We have established it over and over but being a child of God is never wrong, becoming a christian, living as a Christian should live is never the wrong choice to make...
So many of us though when we have those detours or doubts in life we get worried, we get aggravated, maybe we feel all alone...
We feel like we have no where to turn and that life is getting the best of us…
Thankfully though for us we aren’t alone in this world.
We don’t have to face these hard times alone...
Just as God is with us through the good times He is right there beside us in the bad times as well...
33 These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”
Christ tells us that we can have peace, we can take peace in the things He has told us...
He even tells us, He reminds us we will have tribulation we will face…
It’s a fact we are going to go through struggles in life sometimes...
But He gives us the greatest reminder we could ever know, “I have overcome the world.”
And where are we if we are a christian?
In Christ right?
Our lesson Sunday morning taught us that when we go through that change, when we become that new creation...we are in Christ...
Therefor, we will overcome just as He did...
Point number two this evening, not only is detours and doubts part of our journey, but God has a purpose in our journey...
God has a plan for each one of us, He has given us a purposeful life to live as a Christian...
Paul tells us this is something we should know…
28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
Paul tells us here that we have confidence in the fact that all things, both good and bad, work together for the GOOD to those who love God....
Paul says no matter what happens in our life, all things, they are all ultimately working together for the greater good...
Now maybe at times this is hard for us to see...
Maybe we don’t always understand this...
We might think “Sure that is easy for you to say Daniel, you don’t know what I am going through right now.”
“How can what I am experiencing be for the greater good?”
How do you know that?
Well, because God says so...He tells us that it is true.
That is where our faith comes in isn’t it?
That’s where we see what we really are made of, that's where we test our faith...
Again going back to our lesson text, isn’t that what James is trying to tell us in James 1:2-4?
He tells us to count it all joy when we fall into trials?
Why?
You mean to tell me James wants me to be happy that I am experiencing whatever trial it is I am going through in life?
Why?
Because James says that testing of your faith, those trials you are going through, they will produce patience...
This patience he talks about isn’t patience as in waiting patiently for your food to come out, but rather endurance…
The same idea like we see in Hebrews 12:1 where Paul talks about running the race with endurance…
That’s the same word used there…
So James is telling us that our trails, that testing of our faith will produce endurance…
And when that endurance or patience has its perfect work, listen to what he says in verse 4 will happen to us...
He says that we may be perfect and complete and lacking nothing...
We will reach a point of maturity in our life…
As a Christian do we understand that its possible for us to be able to come to terms with whatever life throws our way?
To reach a point where no matter what we are going through we are able to turn to God?
To not lose faith, to understand that whatever it is we are going through is temporary and only strengthening us?
God tells us that is His purpose for us...
He doesn’t allow these detours and doubts to happen just for no reason...
He doesn’t allow those things to happen just to see us suffer and squirm, or to be cruel...
He allows those things to happen in order to strengthen us, to fortify our faith, to draw us closer to Him, not push us away...
Just as James tells us and teaches us this lesson, so does Paul over in Romans 5
3 And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; 4 and perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
See sort of that same sequence of events Paul mentions that James also spoke of?
Paul says that tribulation produces perseverance, perseverance produces character, and character hope...
And I love what he says at the end of verse 5...
He says hope does not disappoint..
Why? Because the love of God has been poured into our hearts...
Now we might not think of it that way when we are faced with tribulation, off the bat we may not see it as something good...
But Scripture tells us that what we go through, what we endure, only solidifies that hope we have in our hearts as Christians...
How amazing it is to know that, to know we have that love of God in our hearts.
That love that is there with us through detours, through doubts, through sufferings and setbacks whatever it is we face...
We don’t face it alone....
God has a purpose in our journey and that purpose is to make us stronger, and bring us closer to Him...
Which leads us to point number three tonight...
Point number three tonight...
Not only can we learn that detours and doubts are part of the journey...
Not only should we know God has a purpose in our journey...
But God is also present with us in our journey...
We touched on this a bit already but how reassuring it is to know we don't face this life alone...
Especially those sufferings, setbacks, the strife in life, we don’t face that alone as a Christian…
And what a blessing that is.
I have always said imagine the worst moment in your life...
Imagine how terrible it was, how awful you felt, how bad it was through those times of suffering, sadness, distress...
Think about just how bad it was...
Now imagine you didnt have Christ in your life during that time...
Imagine you didn’t have that hope we spoke about a moment ago...
Now how much worse is that or are those times in your life now without Christ?
What a blessing it is to know we have God present in every moment of our life...
We have a God who’s love and care for us is always there, it’s always present...
Even in the moments of detours and doubts…
Turn with me to 2 Corinthians 11....
23 Are they ministers of Christ?—I speak as a fool—I am more: in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often. 24 From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; 26 in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; 27 in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness—28 besides the other things, what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches.
What better example could we find of someone who faced detours in his life?
What better example could we find of someone who experiences sufferings, setbacks, trials of any and all kinds than what we read about here from Paul?
This was a man who if you could go through it, he pretty much did...
Labors, stripes, prisons, beaten, stoned, shipwrecked, perils of various kinds, hunger and thirst, sleepless, cold, naked....
What else could possibly go wrong or be worse than that?
Maybe tonight we find ourselves going through some of these same, or maybe different trials in life...
Maybe we find ourselves at or on our way towards rock bottom and we don't know what to do or where to turn...
Maybe tonight we took that detour, we went way off course, way off track and cant seem to find our way back home...
With that in mind, along with the words of Paul there in 2 Corinthians also in mind, turn with me to Romans 8...
Listen to what Paul says here...
The same Paul who just endured all that we just read…
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written:
“For Your sake we are killed all day long;
We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”
37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Maybe one of the most beautiful sections of Scripture we find from Paul...
The love we have from our God is never ending, never leaving, always there...
Paul tells us basically that there is literally nothing in all of creation that could possibly separate us from the love of God...
No matter what sufferings we face, what setbacks we experience, what doubts and fears arise…
God’s love is there, it is present in our, lives....
Remember all of those trails and tribulations, all those sufferings and times Paul went through, yet this is the same Paul writing these words here...
The love of God is a beautiful thing...
Conclusion:
Conclusion:
Tonight as we get ready to wrap up I want to end with a familiar verse from this week so far, one that really sort of is serving as our core verse for this series...
A verse I think sums up everything we are saying tonight perfectly...
18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
Lord willing we will talk more about this glory that is to come in our future lessons…
But Paul was able to look past these present sufferings, he was able to see beyond this world and look ahead...
Paul knew the glory in which was to come...
Paul knew he had heaven as his home and he says that glory, that eternal glory, doesn't even compare to what we are going through here...
These detours and doubts, these times of suffering and stress and strife…
Paul tells us those things aren’t even worthy to be compared to the glory we have to come as a christian...
What a beautiful thought, what a glorious reminder to end with tonight…
Tonight, are we living with eternity in mind?
Are we able to see past the detours and doubts?
In our life, right now are we able to see past the bad times, past the troubles we are going through and see the glory Paul writes about?
Paul was someone who understood what it meant to live with heaven at the forefront of his mind...
The question for us is will we do the same?
I have heard it said before that each of us are in one of three places in our lives...
We are either in a trial currently, coming out of a trial, or we are getting ready to go into a trial...
Tonight whichever one of those places you find yourself in I want you to know that there is reassurance out there...
There is a constant out there…
There is something we can put all of our faith hope and trust in...
And that answer is Jesus Christ...
If you aren't a christian tonight, why not?
Is there something holding you back?
Sin, fear, people, maybe it’s your own self?
Whatever it is, I promise you it wont compare to the life thats avaliable in Jesus Christ...
If you want to know what true love is, what true peace is, what true happiness is, become a christian and you will find out...
Christ can provide a peace love and happiness you never knew existed...
Follow the plan laid out for us in Scripture...
Hear believe repent confess and be baptized...
And begin to live that faithful life until death…
Tonight maybe you are a christian already...
Hopefully tonight serves as a reminder for you that no matter where you are at in life there is no better place to be than in Jesus Christ..
If you have wondered away, come back home...
The only thing that can separate us from that love we read about earlier in Romans 8 is ourself...
Dont be the one thing that seperates you from our God...
If anyone has a need at all come and join us tonight as we stand and sing...
