PainKillers: I Can't Give Up!

Some of the seemingly godliest people you know will fall into sin. I’ve done this work a long time, and I’m still shocked at times. The enemy leaves no one off his radar.

The enemy leaves no one off his radar.

Some church members will get mad and leave.

The first time it happened in my ministry, felt like I had been fired.

“You’re fired” … except not from a job … from life

It still hurts when it happens.

Some days will be really lonely.

When you’re quietly bearing the burdens of others, the weight can be heavy and the hours long.

Some staffing situations won’t work out. That’s when you’re reminded that because you’re a leader, your decisions affect marriages and families. Letting someone go, especially in our ministry world that preaches grace, is seldom easy.

Somebody related to your church may take his or her own life. I’m not sure I have ever felt so inept as when all my ministry efforts didn’t stop this kind of tragedy.

Some people won’t know how to relate to you. No matter how hard you try to prove you’re a regular person, some people will be uncomfortable around their spiritual leader.

Some days will be really lonely. When you’re quietly bearing the burdens of others, the weight can be heavy and the hours long.

Someone will criticize my family.

Some people are just plain mean.

Some of your friends may betray you.

It happened to Jesus … it will happen to me … you!

I Can’t Give Up

Suicide

2015, more than 44,000 Americans died by suicide

1 death every 12 minutes

The overall suicide rate has grown by nearly 30 percent over the past 15 years

TRANSITION: We can’t be afraid to talk about Mental Health

Rick Warren

Matthew … 27 y.o.

April 5 … day that changed everything

“For 27 years, I prayed every day of my life for God to heal my son’s mental illness. It was the No. 1 prayer of my life,” Rick preached.

“It just didn’t make sense why this prayer was not being answered.”

Kay spoke of how she couldn’t even read certain Scripture passages about hope for months after Matthew’s death.

“Your illness is not your identity, your chemistry is not your character”

Suicide is one of the most painful events someone can face

Chris while we were students at Emmanuel College

Loved ones deal with grief … trauma

Quote - “Reduce the pain or increase the capacity to deal with the pain”

The additional comp

Church doesn’t need to fear medicine

Church doesn’t need to fear therapy (counseling)

Church doesn’t need to fear psychology

One day dream is to have a counselor as a part of our leadership team here @ Upward

A few presuppositions as we start:

Adversity will be faced

1.) None of us are exempt from pain in this life

2.) Success = finishing well

We’ll return to this one toward end

3.) We can’t finish well if we don’t finish

4.) Life is filled with victors & victims

5.) You get to decide which one you’ll be

I Can’t Give Up

Victors & Victims

is filled with victors

By faith:

3 By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.

Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did.

4 By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead.

Enoch was taken from this life & did not experience death:

5 By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death: “He could not be found, because God had taken him away.” p For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. 6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

Noah built an ark to save his family.

7 By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith.

Abraham left his home and made his home in the promised land

8 By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. 9 By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. 11 And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise. 12 And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.

Sarah was enabled to bear children because she considered God faithful who had made the promise.

13 All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. 14 People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. 15 If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

Abraham offered Isaac as a sacrifice

17 By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, 18 even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” r 19 Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.

Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born

20 By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future.

Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born

21 By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons, and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff.

22 By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions concerning the burial of his bones.

I Can’t Give Up!

23 By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.

24 By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. 25 He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. 26 He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. 27 By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible. 28 By faith he kept the Passover and the application of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel.

The Others

29 By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned.

Hebrews 11:35–39 NIV

Women received back their dead, raised to life again. There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated—the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground. These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised,

30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the army had marched around them for seven days.

Vs. 35 (b) — There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. 36 Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 37 They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated—38 the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground.

Vs. 39 These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised

31 By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient. i

I Can’t Give Up

32 And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets, 33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. 35 Women received back their dead, raised to life again. There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. 36 Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 37 They were put to death by stoning; y they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated—38 the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground.

Finis

39 These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised,

Success = Finishing Well

Success ≠ Money

Revelation 3:17 NIV

You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.

— You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.

Success ≠ Approval

How people respond to you ≠ success

Jesus said we’d be persecuted & falsely say all kinds of evil things against you

Matthew 5:11 NIV

“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.

— “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.

Success ≠ Status

Philippians 2:3–4 NIV

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

— Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

You can’t finish well if you don’t finish

Q4U: What do you need to finish well?

Faith

— Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for.

Hebrews 11:1–2 NIV

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for.

— And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

Hebrews 11:6 NIV

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

We can choose to live in fear or in faith

We can choose to live in trust or in panic

Even when we fail & fall, we have to NOT give up faith

Reality Check: is FILLED with very flawed people … but they made the cut!

Make the cut, don’t give up!

God commended them for their faith

Obedience

We are too often “results oriented” rather than “relationship oriented”

Relationship in a minute...

Q4U: What is obedience?

Obedience is the RIGHT RESPONSE, the FIRST TIME, to GOD’S REQUEST

Obedience = Right response, the first time, to God’s request

Obedience is a reaction

Obedience involves immediacy

Obedience is voluntary

Relationship

— I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me

James 1:2–4 NIV

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

John 10:14 NIV

“I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me—

I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me—15

The Pharisees “nailed it” when it came to obedience

They made a career out of following the law

The problem they had was they based everything on rules, not relationship

God wants you to move BEYOND saving faith

— Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’

Mark 12:30 NIV

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’

“Your illness is not your identity, your chemistry is not your character” -Rick Warren

“Your weakness is not your worry, your battle is not you burden” -Rick Womack

John 10:10 NIV

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

1 John 3:8 NIV

The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.

1 John 4:4 NIV

You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

Related Media

Related Sermons

PainKillers: I Can't Give Up!

Set-Up:

Set-Up:

The Others

Finis

Success = Finishing Well

You can’t finish well if you don’t finish

Faith

— Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for.

Obedience

Relationship

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