TROUBLE DON'T LAST ALWAYS

INTRODUCTION

SERIES RECAP: BEEN IN A SERIES ON THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT…SHOULD FEEL OVERWHELMED BUT THIS IS DONE TO DRIVE US TO FLY TO JESUS- THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN TRULY SAVE US AND ENABLE US TO LIVE THIS OUT!

BEATITUDES: NOT THINGS WE DO TO GET SAVED- WORKS SALVATION…NOT THINGS WE DO TO EARN GOD’S FAVOR AND APPROVAL OF US- A BRAND OF MORALISM. RATHER THESE REPRESENT THE ARTICLES OF CLOTHING KINGDOM PEOPLE WEAR THAT MAKES US STAND OUT.

INTRODUCTION: TO BE A SLAVE WAS TO BE IN A STATE OF UNDERSTANDABLE MOURNING. CREATED IN THE IMAGE OF GOD BUT TREATED AS PROPERTY, OWNED AND OFTEN TIMES BRANDED. AND YET TO SEE THE SLAVES WERE TO ENCOUNTER THEIR SINGING. AND MUCH OF WHAT THEY SANG HAVE BEEN CLASSIFIED UNDER A GENRE OF MUSIC CALLED THE NEGRO SPIRITUALS. YEARS LATER, WHILE SLAVERY HAD ENDED, JIM CROW WAS IN CHARGE AND AT ITS PEAK A NEGRO SPIRITUAL WAS WRITTEN THAT SUMMED UP THE SPIRIT OF THE SLAVES AND ALL AA’S WHO WERE MOURNING UNDER THE TYRANY OF JIM CROW:

Trouble Don't Last Always Rev. Timothy Wright

I'm so glad troubles don't last always (Come on put your hands together) I'm so glad (Hey hey yes I am, trouble don't last always) Trouble don't last always (I'm so glad) I'm so glad (Hey yes I am, trouble don't last always) Trouble don't last always (Can I get a Witness? I'm so glad) I'm so glad (Yeah hey hey, trouble don't last always) Trouble don't last always (Listen) May not come when you want Him But He's on time (on time) In times of trouble, found Him to be A friend of mine (of mine) In time storm clouds rise He'll be there (be there) All your burdens I know the Lord will help you to bear (bear) I'm so glad (Come on put your hands together hear me say, trouble don't last) Trouble don't last always (Why don't you help the posse, I'm so glad) I'm so…

POINT WHAT GOT MY PEOPLE THROUGH WAS A BELIEF IN GOD THAT TRANSCENDED THEIR TROUBLE. THAT THE RIGHTS WOULD BE WRONGED, JUSTICE WOULD COME AND THAT HEAVEN WOULD HAVE THE FINAL SAY!

THE UNIVERSALITY OF MOURNING

EXPLANATION: OH THIS IS A WORD JESUS KNOWS WE NEED TO HEAR. THAT’S WHY HE GETS TO IT RIGHT AT THE TOP OF THE BEATITUDES! THE WORD MOURNING IS THE STRONGEST WORD FOR MOURNING IN THE GREEK. IT WAS USED OF THE LOUD WAILING AND LAMENTATIONS OF THOSE WHO WHOSE LOVED ONES HAD JUST DIED. IT SPOKE OF A GRIEF THAT CAME POURING OUT FROM THE DEEPEST PLACES OF A PERSON’S SOUL. USED OF JACOB’S GRIEF IN WHEN HE WAS TOLD HIS SON JOSEPH HAD DIED. I’VE HEARD PEOPLE TALK ABOUT SOMEONE FINDING OUT THEIR CHILD OR LOVED ONE HAD DIED AND THE PECULIAR SOUND THEY MAKE THAT’S DIFFERENT FROM OTHER CRY’S OF GRIEF. THAT’S WHAT THE WORD MOURNING. IT’S A KIND OF GRIEF THAT TAKES HOLD OF YOU AND CANNOT BE HIDDEN!

ANALOGIES:

THE KIND OF GRIEF THE PEOPLE IN EL PASO RECENTLY FELT WHEN 22 OF THEIR LOVED ONE’S AND FRIENDS WERE BRUTALLY MURDERED IN THAT WAL MART THAT DAY.

THE KIND OF GRIEF THE PEOPLE IN DAYTON FELT WHEN LIFE WAS GOING GREAT ONE MOMENT AT A BAR AND JUST LIKE THAT SHOTS ARE FIRED AND NINE ARE KILLED.

THE KIND OF GRIEF LA JARVIS D. LOVE, A MISSISSIPPI MAN STILL FEELS TODAY DECADES LATER AFTER HE WAS MOLESTED AND RAPED BY RELIGIOUS LEADERS IN HIS CHURCH. THIS IS THE KIND OF MOURNING JESUS POINTS TO.

APPLICATIONS: AND ALL OF US HAVE BEEN THERE HAVEN’T WE. SOME OF YOU HAVE HAD UNSPEAKABLE THINGS DONE TO YOU, THINGS YOU HAVE YET TO GATHER THE STRENGTH TO EXPRESS. ABUSE. ASSAULT. MOURNING IN YOUR MARRIAGE BECAUSE OF SOME BETRAYAL. MY NIECE AND NEPHEW ARE MOURNING BECAUSE ONE MOMENT THEIR DAD’S AROUND, AND THE NEXT HE’S GONE, AND THERE’S MOMENTS WHERE THE GRIEF HITS THEM FROM NOWHERE AND THEY ARE OVERCOME WITH TEARS. AND IT’S IN THE MIDDLE OF ALL THIS THAT JESUS SAYS BLESSED ARE THOSE WHO MOURN FOR THEY SHALL BE COMFORTED! WHAT DOES THIS MEAN.

SOURCE IS SIN. WHAT JESUS IS NOT SHYING AWAY FROM IS THE BIGGEST IMPEDIMENT TO PEOPLE COMING TO JESUS- THE PROBLEM OF EVIL AND SUFFERING. ISSUE OF THEODICY. STEVE JOBS ILLUSTRATION. BIBLE SAYS THAT SIN ENTERED INTO THE WORLD AND BROUGHT WITH IT ITS CHILDREN OF SUFFERING AND EVIL WREAKING HAVOC ON ALL OF CREATION. WHY DO PEOPLE ASSAULT, ENSLAVE, RAPE, TAKE ADVANTAGE OF? ANSWER IS SIN. WHOLE CREATION GROANS! WHAT THIS MEANS FOR US IS THAT SUFFERING WILL COME OUR WAY. JAMES SAYS COUNT IT ALL JOY WHEN…- IN THIS LIFE YOU WILL HAVE TROUBLE. NOT AN ELECTIVE BUT CORE CURRICULUM. SO THAT WHEN SUFFERING COMES TO OUR DOORSTEPS THE QUESTION IS NEVER WHY IS THIS HAPPENING TO ME, BUT WHY IS IT JUST NOW HAPPENING TO ME? BECAUSE THIS IS THE NATURAL ORDER OF THINGS IN THIS WORLD TAINTED BY SIN! THEREFORE SUFFERING DOESN’T MEAN I’VE DONE SOMETING WRONG!

BUT THERE’S A BLESSEDNESS TO IT. THE GREAT CHALLENGE OF THE BELIEVER IS HOW DO I TURN THIS LEMON INTO LEMONADE, MOURNING INTO BLESSING? OLD MAN IN WHEELCHAIR WHO GOES UP TO BRYAN STEVENSON IN JUST MERCY SEMINAR. POINTS TO HIS HEAD. THESE AREN’T WOUNDS BUT MEDALS (FROM SELMA, BIRMINGHAM, REGISTERING PEOPLE TO VOTE IN MS). HOW DO WE TURN THE WOUNDS OF SUFFERINGS INTO MEDALS FOR GOD’S GLORY?

THE UNIQUENESS OF CHRISTIAN SUFFERING

EXPLANATION: WHILE THE BIBLE IS CLEAR THAT SUFFERING COMES TO EVERYONE NO MATTER THEIR SPIRITUAL POSITION, IT IS ALSO CLEAR THAT THERE ARE TWO DIFFERENT TYPES OF RESPONSES TO SUFFERING. . IT IS THIS SECOND TYPE THAT POSITIONS US TO TURN SUFFERING INTO MEDALS. HOW DO WE STAND OUT WITH THIS ARTICLE OF CLOTHING?

PRESENCE OF CHRIST. “THEY SHALL BE COMFORTED.” PARAKALEO TO CALL TO ONES SIDE. HE GUARANTEES HIS PRESENCE IN THE MIDST OF. AND THE FIERY FURNACE. I SEE A FOURTH! . THE DIFFERENCE IS THAT WHILE EVERYONE SUFFERS, FOR THE BELIEVER CHRIST IS WITH US IN THE DIFFICULTIES. MYLES ILLUSTRATION. MOST PUSH AWAY FROM CHRIST, WHEN GOD WANTS US TO RUN TO HIM. STRONG APPLICATIONS.

GOD WILL HAVE THE FINAL SAY. “BLESSED”. SEEN IN THE WORD BLESSED. FULLNESS BUT IDEA HERE IS MORE HAPPINESS. YOU’RE MOURNING BUT THERE’S GOING TO COME A DAY WHEN THERE WILL BE HAPPINESS. . TROUBLE WILL NOT LAST ALWAYS. THIS SITUATION WILL END. YOU WILL MAKE IT THROUGH. IT WILL WORKOUT EITHER ON THIS SIDE OR THE SIDE TO COME. JUSTICE DELAYED IS NOT JUSTICE DENIED!

COLD CASE ILLUSTRATION:

ANGIE HOUSEMAN WAS KIDNAPPED WALKING HOME FROM SCHOOL IN 1993. SOME DAYS LATER HER NINE YEAR OLD CORSPE WAS FOUND TIED TO A TREE WHERE SHE HAD BEEN RAPED AND THEN MURDERED.

FOR 25 YEARS THIS CASED STUMPED INVESTIGATORS. THEY COULD NOT FIND WHO DID THIS.

THANKS TO DNA EVIDENCE IN 2018 EARL COX WAS BROUGHT TO JUSTICE.

THINK ABOUT THAT 25 YEARS OF MOURNING WITH NO JUSTICE. 25 YEARS! BUT IN THE END IT WAS MADE RIGHT.

WHAT JESUS IS SAYING IS EVEN IF HE HAD NOT BEEN DEALT WITH ON THIS SIDE, HE WILL BE DEALT WITH ON THE OTHER SIDE!

APPLICATION: . EVERYTHING WILL BE BROUGHT TO LIGHT. GOD WILL DEAL WITH THOSE WHO HAVE WRONGED YOU. JUSTICE DELAYED IS NOT JUSTICE DENIED. WALK THROUGH THIS!

PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS:

WHEN NAVIGATING YOUR SEASON OF SUFFERING AND MOURNING, KEEP AN ETERNAL PERSPECTIVE! THIS MEANS TWO THINGS. ONE, WHAT I’M GOING THROUGH GOD IS USING FOR MY GOOD- . ARAB SAYING, “ALL SUNSHINE MAKES A DESERT”. POEM: As Robert Browning Hamilton’s poem, ‘Along the Road’, puts it:

I walked a mile with Pleasure,

She chattered all the way,

But left me none the wiser

For all she had to say.

I walked a mile with Sorrow,

And ne’er a word said she,

But, oh, the things I learned from her

When Sorrow walked with me!1

BUT SECONDLY, AN ETERNAL PERSPECTIVE IS NECESSARY TO KEEP THE SUFFERING AND PAIN MANAGEABLE.

WHEN THEY SEE US ILLUSTRATION. SO MANY SAID THEY COULDN’T SEE IT AND IT IS A HARD THING TO WATCH. BUT IT WAS DOABLE FOR ME BECAUSE I HAD SEEN THE KEN BURNS DOC, AND I KNEW HOW IT ENDED- JUSTICE WOULD HAVE THE FINAL SAY! WHEN YOU KNOW JESUS WILL HAVE THE FINAL SAY IT MAKES YOUR SEASON OF PAIN AND SUFFERING MANAGEABLE!

2. FORGIVE. IF GOD IS GOING TO DEAL WITH THIS THEN I DON’T NEED TO EXACT VENGEANCE. . RELEASE THEM. DOESN’T MEAN RECONCILIATION. BUT YOU CAN LET IT GO. EXAMPLE OF GUY WHO WRONGED ME AND THE POWER HE HELD OVER ME FOR YEARS. BE FREE! LET IT GO!

3. SEEK TO ALLEVIATE THE SUFFERING OF OTHERS. EVERY TIME I PRAY THIS BEATITUDE I THINK OF THOSE IN MY LIFE WHO ARE MOURNING AND THEN IN PRAYING FOR THEM THE HS ALWAYS SAYS HOW CAN YOU MINISTER TO THEM?

GOSPEL CONCLUSION: THE NECESSITY OF MOURNING IN COMING TO JESUS. BE POOR IN SPIRIT. SEE YOUR NEED THEN GRIEVE OVER YOUR NEED. SPURGEON QUOTE?