Gatekeepers Pt.4 - "Worry vs. Pain " - Pastor Mark Killingsworth

GATEKEEPERS “Access Granted - Access Denied” #4 Worry vs. Pain Nov. 10th, 2019 Just like everyone who lives long enough, there is and has been severe pain experienced in your life. The pain of rejection. The pain of failure. The pain of sin. The pain of not living up to expectations. The physical pain of surgeries, diseases, and broken bones The pain of grief when your loved one is now in heaven and you are left In my 63 years, I’ve had several levels of pain to carry. Loss of a child, my Dad, heartaches of the pastorate, physical challenges and surgeries. Out of all of these, the greatest pain I have ever known is the EMOTIONAL PAIN OF WORRY. For me worry is crushing. Worry is a weight too heavy to carry. How many of you have been recruited to move an upright piano? It seems the piano move always involves stairs. It is too heavy. It is too awkward? It is just too much. So is worry. SERMON QUESTION: As A GATEKEEPER of our soul, how do we make the right decision as to whether we allow WORRY in - or do we face the PAIN of life with a determination of persevering faith. How Do We Make The Right Decision About Worry and Pain? I. JESUS ORDERS GATEKEEPERS TO NOT WORRY Matthew 6:25-34 Worry: expresses anxiety, literally means the care which distracts us. A. We are not to worry about The Essentials of life 1. Life itself 2. Food and drink 3. Care for the body 4. Clothes B. The way we are to deal with these things 1. Like the birds of the air 2. They don’t sow or reap 3. They don’t store away in barns 4. But the Heavenly Father feeds them Hebrews 3:12-19 “See to it brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sins deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end. As has just been said: “Today, if you hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts As you did in the rebellion. Q. Who were they who heard and rebelled? A. Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? Q. And with whom was He angry for forty years? A. Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies perished in the wilderness? Q. And to whom did God swear that they would never enter His rest if not to those who disobeyed? So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.” “So we see that they could not enter [His rest] because of unbelief” (Heb. 3:19). If praise keeps you pressing towards God’s presence, Unbelief marches you away. When we believe, we extol. When we don’t believe, we muzzle ourselves and cease declaring the manifold majesties of Jesus. When we stop verbally exalting Jesus, something in our spirit begins to wither and shrink. Verbal witness & praise then is crucial–not just for the hearer but also for the speaker. As we constantly exalt Jesus, it builds something in our own faith. Praise and proclamation draw us to the presence of Jesus. A muted Christianity is a starving Christianity–and it will eventually die. *The primary indicator of unbelief is a lack of praise and verbal exaltation of Jesus. Gatekeepers: keep the sin out and draw the seeking heart in through praise C. Then Jesus asks, “aren’t you much more valuable than they?” What is the benefit of worry? 1. It doesn’t add a single hour to your life. How Do We Make The Right Decision About Worry and Pain? II. PAUL’S GATEKEEPER MESSAGE ABOUT PAIN II Cor. 1:3-8 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, Who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same suffering that we suffer. Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in the sufferings, you will also share in our comfort. Observations: 1. God comforts us in our affliction so that we can comfort others with God’s love. 2. Our Suffering allows us to share in Christ’s suffering and His comfort. 3. The result of this suffering is that things that once held a place in our heart are cut off. So that Jesus becomes ENOUGH. Application: Don’t allow the pain or the crisis to define you. Let God work His work in us, so that we will have a true ministry to others. How Do We Make The Right Decision About Worry and Pain? III. JAME’S GATEKEEPER POSITION ON PAIN AND TRIALS James 1:2-4 &14 2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 12 Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him. OBSERVATIONS: 1. Look at pain and trials differently. God Is Bringing Greater Perseverance. 2. The Perseverance is working in us a spiritual maturity where we realize we lack nothing when all we have is Jesus. 3. There is a coming reward for those who persevere. “CROWN OF LIFE” Is the presence of God’s grace choosing us, as is demonstrated by the fact that we cling to Him in our trials. (Phil. 2:12–13) We know that we have true faith only as we work out our salvation in fear and trembling, resting our hope of salvation on Christ alone. Those who face trials and in the end fall away demonstrate that they never had true faith from the beginning. On the other hand, those with true faith heed this teaching. They will be able to count it joy when their faith is tested because they know such tests will produce steadfastness. Pain is a part of this life. God is not punishing you, He is preparing you. Trust His plan not your pain. Conclusion: How Do We Make The Right Decision About Worry and Pain? I. JESUS ORDERS GATEKEEPERS TO NOT WORRY II. PAUL’S GATEKEEPER MESSAGE ABOUT PAIN IS TO ALLOW GOD TO USE IT TO PREPARE YOU FOR LOVING ON OTHER PEOPLE III. JAME’S GATEKEEPER POSITION ON PAIN AND TRIALS IS THAT THEY ARE THERE TO TOUGHEN US INTO PERSEVERANCE. RESPONSE: 1. Do you need to surrender your worry today to the in-charge hands of the Lord? 2. Do you need to give your sin and your life over to Jesus today? 3. Do you need to adjust your view of your pain today? To let God work in you and through you?