Sermon Tone Analysis

Do we ever have trouble?

I am glad the bible says it like it is.

It doesn’t sugar coat, it doesn’t hide from the truth, but shoots straight.

One person in particular, had lot’s of problems, he had lot’s to get down about.

I am speaking of Job. in chapt 5 verse 7 it says this.

ever watched a fire?

where do the sparks go? up.

just like the sparks going up, trouble is happening.

again in Job, 14:1

we certainly have trouble.

Some we do bring on ourselves, but other problems are not our doing, although we have to deal with them.

and any amount of life we have lived, we have seen our share of trouble.

And the longer we live, well, the more trouble we see.

One of the problems with Job’s friends is they thought all trouble was due to personal sin.

that is not always the case.

Some troubles we can get through rather easy, not saying it feels easy at the time but we get through it and find calmer waters....... eventually.

And then there are some troubles that grip us like a giant storm or hurricane, that affect us in ways that will change our landscape forever.

And it is true, trouble or problems do have an affect on our lives for sure....but God, while we are walking with Him through the trouble, and remember, He is always there whether we realize it or not.....He can give us so much in the midst of it....He can teach us things that we would never learn or see any other way.

God works that way.

I am not saying to you then to go out and look for trouble so you can learn more truths of the bible, but it is amazing what God teaches us through our lives and our struggles, isn’t it?

I like how James says it....in 1:12

James

James admits we will have trials, and remaining steadfast through the trials doesn’t mean being perfect.

but steadfastness is continuing to trust, to abide in the One that can get you through.

I mean, think about how solid and steadfast our God is.

When we have a foundation that we see that cannot be shaken, knowing that we can get pretty down, struggle pretty hard, but the foundation under us is so strong.......then our trust is in the right One.

Think about this.....the very foundation which is found only in Jesus will last beyond this world, so it is the one to hold to.

think about the value of that. it is priceless.

and we realize that or learn that when we go through the struggle.

So whatever we go through, even the struggles, has value.

the value to show us the strength of our God.

With God, all things have value.

Paul confirms this with us in Phil 1:12

So, what happened to Paul?

He is writing from prison.

from prison.

that is bad enough but he has people trying to make his life in even worse.

prison in Paul’s time is not a nice place with tv, bed and plenty of food, but more like a dungeon.

Tell me, if you were sitting in prison, would you consider that trouble?

I probably would.

And we have Paul, with a certain perspective.

He is seeing it from a different place than most people would.

He sees the place he is in as the place he is supposed to be.

Why, how?

Paul is seeing the bigger picture going on.

He is seeing from God’s eyes and that makes all the difference in the world.

look at what he sees in 13 & 14.

it is for Christ! this changes his perspective entirely.

He is seeing how his situation, that is not the most fun situation in the world, but how it is affecting lives.

it is causing some to enter the Kingdom of God, and to speak the word without fear.

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How can a person in prison do that?

this is a God moment, Holy Spirit powered, intense time in the churches life.

the church is still very small and organic.

people are coming to Jesus by the preaching of the word and the testimony of the faithful.

We sometimes think we need a big production.

something planned out and all our ducks in a row.

It may be what we think we need but look what God did, God allowed Paul to go to prison to grow the kingdom.

hows that for evangelism events?

any volunteers?

but this is the thing.

Have we been led in a way to look at the world more in a business sense with the gospel message or do we still see it as an organic, right here, right now opportunity?

God is allowed to move us in any direction, to reach the one or many, so His kingdom grows.

Are we good with that?

Him using us right in our situation?

I am not saying crusades and events are bad, just we do not have to wait for the events to share the gospel or to grow the Kingdom.

maybe God is calling you to share right where you are at in life.

today.

with those who are around you.

And maybe God has you in a place of trouble or struggle and He put you in that place for you to show your faith to another.

speaking of struggles, or storms for that matter.....

God gave me a dream a while back now.

before the dream, I was in a place of relative calm.

things were all going alright.

things were somewhat normal.

then the dream.

this is what happened.

I was in a plane.

up in the cockpit with the pilot.

we were in the air circling above a giant storm.

it looked like a bad storm to me so I was very glad the pilot was circling high above.

then the pilot pushed the controls forward and I felt the plane start to decent, toward the storm.

Immediately I started to panic inside.

I tried to keep my composer on the outside for a time, until I realized, he wasn’t going to pull up.

I asked what he was doing.

He said we needed to go through the storm.

I tried my best to keep it together and discuss with him that it was not a good idea and that we should just circle at a safe altitude until the storm passes.

he said, we are going through the storm.

He seemed confident.

way more than I did.

What was my problem?

I thought we would not make it through?

I thought the pilot didn’t know what he was doing?

I thought it best to stay safe?

my problem actually was trust.

I didn’t trust the pilot at that moment.

then the revelation.

In the dream God revealed to me that He was the pilot, and He would take me through the storm.....safely.

Now it was time to trust.

I woke and didn’t really know what to make of that dream, until....

after this dream, not very long after, my life took a turn. it decended, down into a storm.