Relentless: Praise

Outline

If you have a saving relationship with Christ, at some point you believed that following Jesus was the most important decision in your life. At some point in your life, in faith, you trusted Christ. And just maybe, you were lead to believe a Christ-follower would take away a lot of the troubles you faced. Maybe no one said it out loud, but in your mind, you thought that following Jesus meant things would be easier. Life would simply be less difficult.

2 Timothy

2 Timothy 3:12 ESV

Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,

People tend to think that Jesus will fix their problems and they won’t suffer. When that doesn’t happen, we begin to question the love of Jesus and His plan for our lives? Honestly, what loving God would allow His Children to suffer.

James 1:

James 1:2 ESV

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,

God’s love for you can’t be viewed through what happens to you, but instead must be viewed through what happened to Him. The measurement of God’s love for us starts on the cross, not in the trying circumstance we find ourselves in. Our way of thinking must be not What Would Jesus Do instead it should be What Has Jesus Done.

1 John 2:2 ESV

He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

Over the weekend, we are going to look at four key elements to faith and the relationship with Christ: Praise, Personal-Evangelism, Prayer, Persecution.

God is far more concerned with making us Holy than He is with making us happy.

Being in the center of God’s Will is perhaps the most secure place to be however, at times in can be uncomfortable.

Acts 16:19–24 ESV

But when her owners saw that their hope of gain was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers. And when they had brought them to the magistrates, they said, “These men are Jews, and they are disturbing our city. They advocate customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to accept or practice.” The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates tore the garments off them and gave orders to beat them with rods. And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, ordering the jailer to keep them safely. Having received this order, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.

“Our values determine our evaluations. If we value comfort more than character, then trials will upset us. If we value the material and physical than the spiritual, we will not be able to ‘count it all joy.’ If we live only for the present and forget the future, then trials will make us bitter not better.”

If you want to be able to rejoice when you’ve lost everything, you have to possess something greater than what you lost.

Acts 16:25–26 ESV

About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s bonds were unfastened.

Acts 16:

In the midst of the suffering, a song was declared! Prison and praise should never be mentioned in the same sentence. But Paul and Silas knew that God, in His will, placed them where they were. The change of plans, the confrontation of people, and the confinement in prison led to one glowing reality: God was at work, and was going to use this situation to bring about glory for Himself.

Joy is an emotional state that is not dependent upon circumstances, but instead is centered upon a concrete reality of something that never changes.

Joy can’t be purchased, but at the same time can’t lose its value. It’s the ever-present reality that what your hopes are founded upon does not change with the latest fads, seasons, or popular opinions of the day. It is when everything unravels at the seams and life feels frayed beyond the hem that there is unspeakable resolve in the midst of it all.

Hebrews 13:8 ESV

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

God uses divine interruptions of our life to reveal Jesus in a new light.

Acts 16:27–34 ESV

When the jailer woke and saw that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul cried with a loud voice, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.” And the jailer called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas. Then he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds; and he was baptized at once, he and all his family. Then he brought them up into his house and set food before them. And he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God.

Acts 16:27

The Earthquake that shook the prison, shook the prison guard, causing him to ask the greatest question that could ever be asked: “what must I do the be saved?” The power that prevented his death was now the power that was going to save his life. Paul shares the good news of Jesus Christ, and not only does the jailer become a Christ follower, but his entire household. In Christ we understand that despite our circumstances, we anchor in adversity, knowing that God is going to teach us something! We see obstacles as opportunity, knowing God is about to do something! We begin to look for miracles because we trust that God is at work. Instead of woe is me, we praise.

Acts 9:1–9 ESV

But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.” The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one. Saul rose from the ground, and although his eyes were opened, he saw nothing. So they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. And for three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.

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