Encouraging Words for Discouraging Days
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Encouraging Words for Discouraging Days
Encouraging Words for Discouraging Days
4 Words To Live By
The decision to use these platforms to keep in contact have been based on what I felt would be best for our church family.
It was not influenced by larger ministries
Or smaller ones for that manner
It was not driven by what other pastors were doing
I looked at who we are as a congregation and what technology was available and tried as best as possible what platforms would continue the goal of building us up in Christlikeness
What platforms would encourage us the most
Help us to continue in edification and prayers for one another
How we could continue to reach out to our community.
None of these decisions were about me, about what is being done elsewhere, but what is best for us.
That being said...
Many decisions right now are being influenced by the media, the government, worry, and fear. We can spend much time looking around us for answers to the dilemmas that we face but that is not a wise response.
This sounds much like culture.
For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.
It was not influenced by larger ministries
Or smaller ones for that manner
It was not driven by what other pastors were doing
I looked at who we are as a congregation and what technology was available and tried as best as possible what platforms would continue the goal of building us up in Christlikeness
What platforms would encourage us the most
Help us to continue in edification and prayers for one another
How we could continue to reach out to our community.
None of these decisions were about me, about what is being done elsewhere, but what is best for us...
So when uncertain times and difficult circumstances come, how do we respond?
This morning I want to take a look at some words from the Bible to help us respond to the world around us.
We need a solid foundation for our lives. We cannot live according to our hearts or the world around us.
Peter responds to Jesus in that there is no where else to loo because Jesus has the words of life.
Peter also says that the Bible gives to us all that pertains to life and godliness.
According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
God’s Word gives us words to live our life by, this morning we will look at the beginning of and a few words found there that can direct our lives in difficult days
Read verse 1-
Read verse 1-
We do not respond in fear
We do not respond in fear
Here in this verse we read specifically about others doing evil to us.
If we are honest, people and their responses often are short lived.
When they realize you are not giving in or that you are devoted to the Lord the give up and ignore you
In that sense circumstances are a lot like people…they are temporary
But like peoples responses to each other circumstances are like the individuals description in verse 2
Short lived and temporary
This doesn’t change the fact that danger is there...
But when you respond to circumstances in wisdom fear can once again be caution
As believers we are encouraged to live a life of caution
See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise,
Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.
Not only should we respond in wisdom spiritually we are to respond in wisdom as far as our physical life.
Take these days as an example
Know the circumstances
Wash your hands
Distance yourself
Continue eating healthy
At that point we can place the rest in the hands of the Lord because He will give to us what is best for us to draw us closer to Him
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Circumstances are brought into our lives to produce righteousness in us
If we fear circumstances and run instead of respond in wisdom and trust we will continue to live in fear and indecision.
Read verse 2
Read verse 2
We trust
We trust
The classic verse on trusting God is…,
Trust in the Lord with all thine heart;
And lean not unto thine own understanding.
In all thy ways acknowledge him,
And he shall direct thy paths.
The word translated here is also translated “boldness or confidence”
How do we trust the Lord…
We display our trust in the Lord by doing “good”…in other words, by doing what is right
We trust because:
-We know Him…
That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;
Being in His Word
Being in His house
Being with His people
Because He is trustworthy.
God is not a man, that he should lie;
Neither the son of man, that he should repent:
Hath he said, and shall he not do it?
Or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?
-Because He has the power to make things exist
The Lord of hosts hath sworn, saying,
Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass;
And as I have purposed, so shall it stand:
-Because Unlike ours, His plans are perfect
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
There is a blessing for trusting…you will dwell in the land. To the Jew dwelling in the land was the greatest blessing imaginable.
We need to recognize the contrast between joy in God and the vain allurements of this world.
Matthew Henry put it this way “We must make God our hearts delight and then we shall have the desires of our heart”
Myles…where did we place our trust? We did trust the doctors but did not place our trust in them, it was always in God
Read verse 4 Enjoy…delight yourself in the Lord
Read verse 4 Enjoy…delight yourself in the Lord
Who is the source of our joy?
Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.
What is there to be joyful about?
God has saved us Ephesian 2
God has given us a purpose
God has given us a future hope ,
Worry steals our joy…. tells us that Jesus has overcome the world and we have no need to worry because Jesus has overcome the world. Anything that comes into our lives we can endure because Jesus has already settled the matter and we can look to our future hope.
-The stress of work, raising families, bills/finances, these all steal our joy.
Happiness depends on happenings…joy depends on Jesus
There was no joy in the circumstances surrounding Myles but we had great joy in the Lord because we look to Him for our joy, not circumstances.
Read verse 5 Devote….Devote your way unto the Lord
Read verse 5 Devote….Devote your way unto the Lord
Who do you devote yourself to?
Paul’s life is marked by devotion .. “we walk by faith and not by sight”
Paul would go places others wouldn’t, speak to others we wouldn’t, love the unlovely…why? He was devoted to God
…Paul loved God with all his heart and that worked out in his life by living a life devoted to God’s plan for him.
As Paul wrote in Paul followed Jesus example of service.
We need to devote ourselves to God and His plans for our life, not the worlds way. We do not need to chase money or fame or even success but commit to living the life God has for us
In football a player is told that to catch a pass he literally is to look the ball into his hands. Otherwise what might have been a touchdown and victory will be nothing more than an incomplete pass.
Read verse 7 Maintain…Be still and quiet before the Lord
Read verse 7 Maintain…Be still and quiet before the Lord
How do we maintain?
We are to maintain with patience
As a good soldier
The Him=Jesus… the all powerful ()
This verse is not saying that God will give us the power to be super Christians, to necessarily give us abilities we do not possess.
The context speaks of maintaining their faith in hardships… verse 12 tells us that Paul faced times of abundance and of want but endured.
We also see in of all the hardships that he faced and maintained his faith through the power of Christ. Paul never taught us that I can do _____(fill in the blank)_____ because of Jesus but that in spite of trials or difficulties we are able to maintain our faith.
The focus of Paul’s teaching and specifically is that we can endure any circumstance through Jesus, not that we can “do” anything or that we are immune to life’s challenges.
When the hardships of life come to God’s people, they may find in Him strength to endure and grow. It is not what happens to a person but how he/she reacts to it that counts.
Valuable violins are not made out of soft pine that has known only warm showers and gentle breezes. They are made out of wood that has endured the cold and storms of many winters. Such wood has character in it.
Conclusion
The conclusion to not living by these words is a life of indecision and fear…the result of a life of indecision and fear is a life of anger.
Fret not…this is telling us not to let our circumstances effect our thoughts and emotions to the point of responding in anger and sinfulness
But once again are encouraged that the antidote to fear and anger is trusting the Lord.
Christian character is not formed by lying on flowery beds of ease, but is the product of treading rough highways in life.
Lets live as a people who trust in the Lord
A people who delight in the Lord
A people devoted to the Lord
A people who maintain their faith the Lord.
A life of ease produces impulsive and irrational responses
Let’s commit to living as principled people.
Difficult days lived in light of the Word of God produce mature and balances living.
pray