Troubles in Life

· Intro

o How many of you have ever traveled to another country?

o Who has ever heard of Palau?

o Missionaries in Palau

§ Not just me, my kids were missionaries too! They helped will all kinds of things

§ Pictures- and also a lot of fun (exploring caves, swimming in lakes full of jellyfish, swimming with sharks)

o But sometimes there were scary things too.

-stuck out in a boat in the middle of the ocean, once we had a witch banging on the outside of our house with a machete! And once, this is really bad, the boat that brought groceries to the island didn’t come for a long time and we ran out of Oreos!

· Troubles

o John 16:33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

o Troubles that come as a result of us running from God

o Troubles that come because we live in a sinful world

o Troubles that come because we follow God

· Whatever troubles may come, we know that God is with us

o That reminds me of one of the scariest things that happened while we were in Palau- story of Landon getting attacked

o Luke 15:5 And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders

§ Jesus lifts us up on his shoulders and rescues us from our trouble

§ And it says he does it rejoicing- because he loves us!

o He doesn’t promise that if we follow him there will never be any trouble, but he does promise that he will never make us face it alone- he will give us the strength we need and he will lift us up

§ Isaiah 41:10 So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

· Trouble will come, but we serve a savior that is greater than our trouble and LOVES to rescue us

o What troubles are you facing right now? Are you trying to face them on your own, or are you trusting in God for your strength to overcome them?