Perspective
The Traveling Soldiers • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Circumstances vs Perspective
What do I mean when I say this?
I was listening to a sermon by Phillip Anthony Mitchell and he said this...
If you could see three months ahead and the troubles you would have to go through you would crumble.
If you could see three months ahead and the blessings you would be given you would not focus on today and it’s blessings.
This message will be a hard one to preach today.
Not because it is one of those toe stepping ones...it is because it is one of those that makes you look hard inside and out.
It makes you look hard at your faith and makes you stop looking at your circumstances and gives you perspective.
We get so wrapped up in our circumstances that we can not see passed our nose.
As the old people like to say, “You can not see the forest because of the trees!”
Let’s look at our circumstances and I will just look at the people here at the church.
We have had people fall and break half their body, to surgeries on backs, we have had deaths, we have had babies having to go through surgeries, some born too early, and now we are missing one of our deacons because he has had a stroke and is having to go through therapy.
That is just a touch of our circumstances that has happened in less than a year, but what is our perspective.
My wife said it very plainly at our prayer time Wednesday night. The devil is mad as hell at this church because we are doing God’s will.
Our perspective is this
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this darkness, against evil, spiritual forces in the heavens.
Do you see the difference?
One is woe is me!
The other is spitting in the devil’s eye and say you will not break us.
We are Children of God and in the name of Jesus Christ you will flee.
Circumstances vs Perspective
I said this message is hard to preach because it stops playing Christian and looks hard inward to ensure we are blood bought born again believers and followers of Jesus Christ.
For the rest of this month, we will meet on Wednesday night, not for bible study, but for 30 minutes of pure prayer time.
And as Rosalie said, we would love to see everyone here for that.
We start out with Dani opening us in prayer, and then we will be in prayer for 30 minutes, and then we will close with a reading of a psalm.
The three greatest things we can do as a church and as a Christian is to worship, pray and read God’s word.
If you don’t do these three things, you will stay in your circumstances and never see the perspective that God has in front of you.
Let’s get started with our message today with prayer and I will ask my beautiful wife to stand up and pray for us.
Inward Reflection
Have you ever felt completely exhausted?
Life has a habit of draining us and having us feel drained and depleted.
Paul recognizes this in 2 Corinthians 4:16
Therefore we do not give up. Even though our outer person is being destroyed, our inner person is being renewed day by day.
Most of you are aware that my family enjoys going to the gym.
At the gym, there are mirrors all over the place.
I heard a pastor talk about this the other day.
He said he just got done doing arms, and he was admiring the pump he had in the mirror.
He said some older gym guy, who was beyond pumped, asked him what he was doing.
Just admiring my progress.
He said that is great, but that is not what this mirror is for.
It is there to show you when you are doing an exercise incorrectly. It is there to correct your form.
As a Christian, our mirror is this book right here.
The issue is we look in there and pick and choose what makes us look good.
And we skip over what is trying to correct your form.
This is where Paul is telling us.
This body will one day fail us, it is made to be degrade.
Our inner person, our soul, is made to be new everyday.
It is made to be fed God’s word every day.
We do not have the strength to go through this world, we must rely on the strength of the Lord.
I am able to do all things through him who strengthens me.
Something I have learned, it doesn’t matter how much you workout, unless you feed your body correctly, your progress will never show.
Same thing with your inner soul.
If you feed it crap, your perspective on everything will be crap!
If you feed it worship, prayer, and God’s word, your circumstances can be crap, but your perspective will never leave Christ’s grace, mercy and love!
The mirror is asking this question of you...
Is your inner self being renewed day in and day out or is it deteriorating like your out self?
Circumstances vs Perspective
Outer Circumstances
It seems today that we measure our lives by the suffering we go through.
Paul addresses this 2 Corinthians 4:17
For our momentary light affliction is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory.
I will be honest with you.
I dislike this verse so much.
It feels like it makes light of what I am going through.
How dare Paul say this!
How dare he say light affliction. I am not going through something light!
But that is reading this verse on the surface level.
It is a comparison between what is in front of us and what is waiting for us.
Circumstances vs Perspective
It brings to mind the story of Lazarus and the rich ruler.
Jesus told this story and it gives us a glimpse as to the glory we as believers have before us.
It is where Lazarus was poor and had the bad things in this life, and the opposite for the rich ruler.
What is so interesting about this story is how the rich ruler sees and is totally aware of what heaven is like while being stuck in hell.
But Lazarus is in glory. He is not burden with cares, comments or concerns. There is no pain, no tears, no sorrow...just the pure love and glory that eternity has.
The absolute incomparable eternal weight of glory.
That is what Paul is comparing.
No one should tell you that what you are going through is nothing.
Paul is not saying that, he is saying compared to what is to come, it is a burden you are able to carry for just a moment.
Circumstances vs Perspective
What is your perspective?
The things of this world that we see and touch daily feel permanent, but the Bible reminds us they are only temporary.
So we do not focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
Are you currently feeling overwhelmed by the things you can see—your stress, your pain, or your daily burdens? This verse gives us the ultimate key to perseverance: fixing our gaze not on our temporary circumstances, but on the eternal glory of God.
Think of the story of Elijah, who felt utterly overwhelmed after defeating the prophets of Baal. He fled to the wilderness, feeling alone and hopeless. God didn’t rebuke him but instead provided food and rest. This illustrates that our feelings of overwhelm are seen by God, and He responds with care. We’re reminded that in our darkest moments, we can trust that God is with us, ready to provide what we need.
Circumstances vs Perspective
Life can hit like a sudden storm, leaving us feeling battered and lost, much like the disciples during the tempest on the Sea of Galilee. They panicked, but Jesus calmed the storm with just a word. When we feel overwhelmed, we can remember that Jesus is still Lord over our storms. We can bring our fears and confusion to Him, trusting that He can bring peace even in the stormiest of times.
Circumstances vs Perspective
Today, I want us to make a shift. I want us to pray victory and not circumstanced bias.
We have been living in a way that causes us to pray just about what is bothering us.
Many of you know Mrs Paula Faul and I got to see her at Walmart this week.
She asked how Rosey was doing and then I advised her about Robert...She said it feels like NEC is having to limp into glory with everything going on.
Part of me agrees with her but that is my circumstance view of it, today church we will make a turn...we will change our perspective to one of victory in Jesus.
