The Good News

About your Worst Times

© Jeff Dietz2011-2014

A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens

IT WAS the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way.

The Best of Times: Styx

I know you feel these are the worst of timesI do believe it's trueWhen people lock their doors and hide insideRumor has it it's the end of Paradise …

Where are you?

Are you in a situation that has you looking for an exit? Is your life out of control?

Are you asking “God, why is this happening to me?”

Do you wonder if you'll survive?

Do you even want to survive?

Disasters, the 5 Ds

Dollars-- finance, career troubleDivorce-- relationshipsDrugs --addictionsDiseaseDeath

* Not a comprehensive list, but the most common. Plus, it’s alliterated!

Our trials usually involve the removal of things we depend on:

ResourcesRelationshipsPredictable circumstances

God keeps reminding me of this through different sources:

5 Things God uses to grow your faith: Pivotal Circumstances http://www.fivethingsgoduses.com/pivotal

The Upside of Adversity by Os Hillman http://www.intheworkplace.com/apps/articles/default.asp?articleid=30326&columnid=1935 The Survivors Club: Chapter 12 subtitle: Why Adversity is good for you (secular book) http://www.amazon.com/Survivors-Club-Secrets-Science-Could/dp/0446580244/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1231281507&sr=8-2

This is not about the power of positive thinking, a mere human psychological principle, with limited power. Always look on the bright side can become denial... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlBiLNN1NhQ

(Content warning: language gets raw after 1:40)

It's the power of the Creator of the Universe, working through your circumstances, so you can live above your circumstances

Isaiah 45:3

I will give you the treasures of darkness And hidden riches of secret places, That you may know that I, the LORD, Who call you by your name, Am the God of Israel.

Seems counterintuitive, but gold and diamonds are not found on a street or in a meadow.

They are formed in darkness, and under pressure.

God does not want Christians to merely survive hard times.

He wants us to have an abundant, joyful victorious life, not ruled by our circumstances.

This is not natural, but Christians are not natural.

Joel 2:25 And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpillar, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you.

Our trials are like a personal cross, designed just for us.

God gives us the cross, and the cross gives us God

Os Hillman, The Upside of Adversity

Suffering is natural

a natural consequence of sin, the fall

Suffering is inevitable

Job 5:7 Man is born to trouble, as the sparks fly upward

John 16:33

“In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

Note that Jesus did not say “I have overcome your troubles,”but “I have overcome the world.”

That’s because the source of our trouble is a sinful, fallen world.

Great characters in the Bible who suffered:

Joseph- betrayed by his brothers, sold into slavery, prison, unjustly accused, saved his family, the nation of Israel, the line of Christ, "You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good"

Job- suffered, Satan tested, God restored

Not everyone had a happy ending:

Paul, thorn in the flesh, God’s grace is sufficient

Christ - unjustly accused, punished, betrayed with a kiss

Corrie Ten Boom

'You can never learn that Christ is all you need, until Christ is all you have.'

Her sister said:"There is no pit so deep that God's love is not deeper still."

"God does not have problems. Only plans."

Adversity gives you an opportunity to re-evaluate your:

Priorities: sort the important from the trivial

Adversity gives you an opportunity to re-evaluate your:

Priorities: sort the important from the trivial

Beliefs: sort the true from the false

Adversity gives you an opportunity to re-evaluate your:

Priorities: sort the important from the trivial

Beliefs: sort the true from the false Direction: opportunity for a mid-course correction

A Lesson from LOST

The Moth http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZmdAWxI_J8

Suffering is “God’s Gym”

Suffering should drain us of our self-sufficiency and force us to depend on God.

We are too self-reliant, too good at coping and surviving in our own strength.

Too often, God has to drag us kicking and screaming into the better life that He has planned for us.

God wants BROKENNESS

Psalm 51:16-17For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it; You do not delight in burnt offering.The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken and a contrite heart— These, O God, You will not despise.

God uses the broken

1 Corinthians 1:27-31But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence. But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption— that, as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the LORD.”

Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man boast in his might, nor the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts, boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness.Jeremiah 9:23

Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. Psalm 20:7

Broken things are open things.Open to receive love, grace, healing, forgiveness and restoration from God and His people.And in time, open to give the very same things to others.

Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the Lord.

He will be like a bush in the wastelands; he will not see prosperity when it comes. He will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives.

But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in Him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream.

It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.

Jeremiah 17:5-8

Do not fight spiritual battles in your own power

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.Eph 6:12

Do not fight spiritual battles in your own power

2 Chronicles 20:17 You will not have to fight this battle. Take up your positions; stand firm and see the deliverance the LORD will give you, O Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Go out to face them tomorrow, and the LORD will be with you.'"

Use the right weapons

2 Corinthians 10:4-5For the weapons of our warfare are not flesh, but mighty before God, to the pulling down of strongholds and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God.

Use the right weapons

Ephesians 6:13-17 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

Suffering makes you more like Christ

Philippians 3:10 That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death

Suffering first, then glory

Suffering and glory are paired at least 9 times in NT

Suffering first, then glory

Suffering and glory are paired at least 9 times in NT

Luke 24:26Should not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?

Suffering first, then glory

It's the pattern for Christ, and the pattern for us

Romans 8:18For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

Suffering first, then glory

1 Peter 4:13But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.

Suffering first, then glory

2 Corinthians 4:17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory,

Paul's thorn in the flesh

2 Corinthians 12:7-10 Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

God does not want us to merely survive hard times. He wants us to have an abundant, joyful victorious life, not ruled by our circumstances. This is not natural, but Christians are not natural.

I will give you the treasures of darkness And hidden riches of secret places, That you may know that I, the LORD, Who call you by your name, Am the God of Israel.

Isaiah 45:3

How to respond:

How to respond:Don't go Charlie Sheen, don't go on twitter and say you're winning!

How to respond:Don't go Charlie Sheen, don't go on twitter and say you're winning! Don't "suck it up." Don't deny emotions, work through them.

How to respond:Don't go Charlie Sheen, don't go on twitter and say you're winning! Don't "suck it up." Don't deny emotions, work through them.

Don't seek an exit, seek God

How to respond:Don't go Charlie Sheen, don't go on twitter and say you're winning! Don't "suck it up." Don't deny emotions, work through them.

Don't seek an exit, seek God

Give up control, don't try to control outcomes.

How to respond:Don't go Charlie Sheen, don't go on twitter and say you're winning! Don't "suck it up." Don't deny emotions, work through them.

Don't seek an exit, seek God

Give up control, don't try to control outcomes.

Let God break you down, so He can build you up.

How to respond:Don't go Charlie Sheen, don't go on twitter and say you're winning! Don't "suck it up." Don't deny emotions, work through them.

Don't seek an exit, seek God

Give up control, don't try to control outcomes.

Let God break you down, so He can build you up.

Be still, unplug: it helps you "hear" God

How to respond:Don't go Charlie Sheen, don't go on twitter and say you're winning! Don't "suck it up." Don't deny emotions, work through them.

Don't seek an exit, seek God

Give up control, don't try to control outcomes.

Let God break you down, so He can build you up.

Be still, unplug: it helps you "hear" God

Make necessary changes in your life. (Not during emotional turmoil)

How to respond:Don't go Charlie Sheen, don't go on twitter and say you're winning! Don't "suck it up." Don't deny emotions, work through them.

Don't seek an exit, seek God.

Give up control, don't try to control outcomes.

Let God break you down, so He can build you up.

Be still, unplug: it helps you "hear" God.

Make necessary changes in your life. (Not during emotional turmoil)

Leverage your experience by helping others.

Suggested Reading

The BIBLE

The Upside of Adversity: Rising from the pit to greatness, by Os Hillman

If God is in control, then why…? by Craig Hill

The Problem of Pain, CS Lewis

A Grace Disguised: How the Soul Grows through Loss, by Jerry Sittser

Questions:

Have you faced difficult situations? Are you facing one now?

How did you react?

Did you see God working?

Did you merely survive or did you learn something and grow stronger?

Have you been able to comfort or help others as a result?

This Presentation © 2014 Jeff DietzAll source material is the property of the respective copyright

holders.