Rick Warren - Do This If God Allowed a Situation You Didn’t Feel Ready For

The very thing you're most ashamed of in your life,

the very thing you wish it had never happened, the

very thing you resent the most, the very thing that's

caused you the most pain, could become your greatest ministry

in helping other people. The very thing you hate the

most in your life, that God was grieving over when

it happened.

God wants to use it for good in your life.

See, anybody can bring good out of good, but God

specializes in bringing good out of bad. How do you

get through what you're going through. I'm not a prophet,

and I'm certainly not a psychic. I don't even believe

in psychics. Nobody can predict the future. If somebody's trying

to predict the future and they're taking your money, you're

getting ripped off because nobody, the Bible says, knows the future.

Nobody knows it. But I do know this.

In the next three hundred and sixty five days, some

of them are going to be tough for you. You're

going to go through some difficult days. You're going to

go through some tough times. You're going to go through

some rogue winds, some trials, troubles, tribulations, you're going to

go through some problems and pressures and stress in your life.

In fact, I can guarantee it. Why Because the world

is broken. We've talked about this many times. Nothing on

the earth works perfectly. Once Sin entered the world, the

world is in rebellion against God. You are in rebellion

against God. I'm in rebellion against God, he said, no,

I'm not. Oh yeah you are. Every day you get

up and decide what you want to do, not what

God wants you to do, And almost on a daily

business you go, I know what God says, I'm good,

I'm gonna do this. Instead. That's called rebellion. That's called sin,

and that broke everything in the planet. So nothing works perfectly.

The weather doesn't work perfectly, the economy doesn't work perfectly.

Your body it doesn't work perfectly. Your relationships, your marriage,

your friendship doesn't work perfectly. None of your dreams happen

exactly as you plan them to be. Nothing on this

planet is perfect because everything is broken. This is Earth,

not Heaven. Everything works right in Heaven. Nothing works correctly

all the time on Earth. Probably the question I'm asked

more often than any other question is Rick, why is

there evil in the world? Why is their suffering in

the world. Why is their pain in the world. Why

are there so many problems in the world. Why does

God allow evil and all the pain that comes from

it in the world. Well, it's not really that hard

a question to answer. It's because God has given you

a free choice, and God has given all of us

a free will. And because of that we make stupid choices.

You do, I do, and other people do, and that

causes pain, and that causes hurt and as a result,

everything is broken. Now, God could get rid of all

the evil in the world instantly by just taking you

out of it, and me too, and everybody else. Because

none of us do right all the time. We all

have our own brand of self centeredness. I do, and

we all have our own brand. You have hurt people,

sometimes intentionally and sometimes unintentionally, and that causes pain.

And you have been hurt by others.

Sometimes intentionally, sometimes unintentionally. Now God could get rid of

all the suffering, all the sorrow, all the sadness, all

the brokenness by just taking away man's free will. He

could have made us puppets. He could have made us

where you don't even have a choice. But God allows

you to reject him. God allows you to go your

own way. God allows you to disobey. God allows you.

Don't have to love God. In fact, most people in

the world don't, and as a result, there are consequences

of that.

Why does God allow free choice?

Because he wants a race of tested individuals in his

family who choose to love him.

And love is a choice.

I can't say that I truly love you unless I

have the choice to not love you. If I'm forced

to love you, it's not love. If God forces us

to do the right thing, If God forces us to

love Him forces us to worship, it's not worship. It's

not love, it's not honor. It's being forced to do it.

God could have made you where you had no choice

at all, and you prayed ten times a day, and

you always did the right thing, and you never lied,

never exaggerated, never got jealous, never had envious, never stressed out,

never worried. He could have done that, and then there

would be no problems in the world. But the reason

why there are sin and suffering and sorrow is because

of the choices that people have made. See if I

overeat and I don't exercise, and I get under stressed

and I have a heart attack. I can't say and die.

I can't say, hey, what was God doing? Why did

God kill me? Or kay can't say why did God

kill my husband? God didn't kill my husband. I killed

me with a fork. And if I go out here

and I get drunk and I'm driving down the freeway

and I run into a car with a woman who's

how pregnant with a child, and she dies and the

baby insider dies, that wasn't well, it must have been God's.

Well, no, that was my will.

I am so tired of people attributing evil to God.

Somebody gets molested, somebody gets beat up, a war gets started, Well,

it must be God's will.

Are you kidding me?

God's will is almost never done on this earth. Why

because we have a will. That's why we are commanded

to pray Thy will be done on earth as it

is in heaven. Why because in Heaven's God's will is

done perfectly, And on earth.

It's almost never done.

For somebody who says, well, everything that happens is God's will, well,

God allows it, yes, but where does God do it?

He's grieving when a woman or a man gets raped

and a little child gets molested. Was that God's will?

Of course not. God is not the author of evil.

But God has allowed the freedom of choice. One day,

the Bible says, God is going to settle the score

one day. God is going to even the odds. One day,

the books are going to be balanced. There is going

to be eternal judgment, and there is going to be

eternal reward, No doubt about it. There will be a

judgment day. In the meantime, we're living on a broken planet.

And that's why I can guarantee you're going to have problems.

Now.

One of the things I love about the Bible we're

getting ready to go into forty days in the Word

in about two weeks, is that the Bible always tells

the truth. Any other book will have exaggerations in it

will lie to you.

You know.

You read biographies of guys that are written by their friends,

and they gloss over all the bad parts. The Bible,

when it talks about people, shows them warts and all.

It always tells the truth. And what tells us that

Abraham was a great man of God.

It also tells us all his weaknesses.

When it tells us that David was a great man

of God. It also tells us all his weaknesses in

the passage we're going to look at today. Second Corinthians.

One Paul, probably the greatest Christian who ever lived next

to Jesus himself, talks about when he went through the

slew of depression, when he was so depressed he despaired

of life itself.

He said, you're kidding me. I am not kidding you. That.

Paul was so honest he talked about it. He said,

one time, I was so depressed. I was so discouraged.

I was ready to give up. I was ready to

throw in the I was ready to kick.

Kick the bucket. I was ready to say, Okay, God

just kill me.

I'm not gonna live. I was so in much despair.

Now the good news is we can learn from that.

This is a very powerful passage we're gonna look at now.

I hope you're not going through tough times right now.

You may be, but you're gonna need what I share with.

You this morning.

So get out your pencil, because this passage teaches us

the six keys to getting through what you're going through

when you're going through a tough time. We first, let's

read this passage. Paul begins, all praise to the God

and Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ. He is the

source of every mercy and the God who comforts us.

And he's going to talk a lot about comfort because

he's talking about going through tough times. He God comforts

us in our troubles so that we can comfort others. Now,

he says, when others are troubled, we will be able

to give them the same comfort that we have been,

that we've been given, that God has given us. You

can be sure that the more we suffer for Christ,

the more God will shower us with comfort through Christ.

So when we're weighed down with troubles, that describe you today,

When you're weighed down with troubles, he says, when we're

weighed down for troubles, it's for your benefit and salvation.

Who's he talking to.

He's talking to a group of people in the city

of Corinth, Greece.

That's fine.

This book is called Corinthians. It's written to the people

who lived in Corinth, Greece. If you'd written us, he

would have written first Californians. But this is first Corinthians, okay.

And so he says when God comforts us, it is

so that we in turn can be an encouragement to you.

He says, it's for your benefit salvation. When God comforts us,

we in turn can be an encouragement to you. Then

you can patiently endure the same things we suffer. We're

all confident that as you share in suffering, you will

also share God's comfort. Now, I guess a little biographical here,

and he starts to tell us what's going on in

his life. He says this, I think you ought to know,

dear brothers and sisters, about the trouble that we went

through in the province of Asia. Paul's given a little

biography here. He said, we were crushed. Never felt like that.

We were crushed, and we were completely overwhelmed. Ever felt

like that, and we feared that we would never live

through it.

In fact, we expected to die. That's pretty bad when

you're going through a tough time. And he say, I'm

not even gonna make it. I'm going to die in this.

But he says, as a reason rel we learned not

to rely on ourselves but on God, who can raise

the dead.

I mean God can do anything. He can. He can

raise the dead.

And He God did deliver us from mortal danger, and

we are confident that He will continue to deliver us.

He will rescue us because you, you people in Corinth,

you are helping by praying for us.

Now.

As a result, many others will give thanks to God

because so many people's prayers.

For our safety have been answered. Now, in this very.

Powerful passage, Paul gives us models for us the six

things you must do to get through what you're going through.

Let's look at him. Number one.

No matter what I'm going through physically, relationally, financially, mentally, spocially,

whatever tough time.

I'm going through, the first thing I have.

To do is this, I've got to remember remember that

God can use it for good. That's the starting point.

Before I do anything else, I remember that no matter

what I'm going through, God can use it for good

in my life. Now, I don't have time to go

into all the ways that God can use problems in

your life.

There are literally.

Dozens and dozens of ways God can use problems for

good in your life, and the Bible has a lot

of lot to say about this. The Bible says that

God uses problems to direct us to say, here's the

way I want you to go.

And God uses.

Problems to inspect us, to see what's really inside of us,

what we're made of. Like a tea bag, you put

it in hot water, you know what comes out. You

know what's inside it. When you squeeze a toothpaste that

you know what's inside it. When the squeezes on you,

what's inside of you comes out. God uses problems to

direct us and inspect us. God uses problems to correct us,

say I don't want you to go that way. I

want you to go this way. God uses problems to

perfect us, to make us like himself. And God uses

problems to protect us, saying I really don't want you

to get hurt over there. Someone allow a problem here

to keep you from doing that over there. The Bible

talks about how problems edify us, how problems sanctify us,

how problems purify us. There are many, many good benefits

of problems in your life. But in this passage Paul

mentions three. So let's just look at those three. There

are three things God can do with the problems in

your life. You might write these down. First, God can

use it to teach me to trust him. God can

use the problems I'm going through to teach me to

trust him. Andre Crouch, the famous Christian singer, once wrote

a song and he says, if I never had a problem,

I'd never know that God could solve them. It's true,

how many times have you heard me say this? You

don't know God is all you need until God is

all you've got. And you've lost your job, and you've

lost your house, and you've lost your marriage, or you've

lost your health and all these things, and you don't

know God is all you need until God is all

you've got. God can use the problems I go through

to teach me to trust him.

Look at verse eight.

We were crushed and completely overwhelmed, and we thought we

would never live through it.

In fact, we expected to die.

But as a result circle that as a result, this

is the first benefit of problems in my life. As

a result, we learned not to rely on ourselves but

on God, who can raise the dead. You know, some

things we only learn through pain, just human nature. There's

some things your parents could tell you a hundred times.

Don't touch that hot stove, but it looks so cool,

and you touch it and you get burned, and then

you never touch it again. Some things we only learn

through pain. God says, I want you to learn to

trust me, and so I'll allow problems that force you.

To make that choice.

Another thing we can learn is God can use problems

to give me a ministry to others. To give me

a ministry to others, You say, you got to be

kidding me, I'm not. Your pain often reveals God's purpose

for you. How many times have you heard me say

God never wastes a hurt. If you've gone through a hurt,

God doesn't want you to waste it and just hold

on to it. He wants you to be able to

help other people going through that same hurt. He wants

you to share it. And God can use the problems

in my life to give me a ministry to others.

In fact, the very thing you're most ashamed of in

your life, the very thing you wish it had never happened,

the very thing you resent the most, the very thing

that's caused you the most pain, could become your greatest

ministry in helping other people who can better help somebody

going through a bankruptcy and somebody who went to a bankruptcy,

who can better help somebody lose in a house than

somebody who lost a house. Who can better help somebody

struggling with an addiction, sexual chemical or whatever? Then somebody

who struggled with an addiction, sexual chemical or whatever.

That's what celebrate recovery is all about.

Who could better help parents of a special needs child

than parents who raised a special needs child? Who could

better help somebody who's lost a child than somebody who

lost a child? Who could better help somebody who's been

molested or raped? And somebody goes, I know that pain.

I know that the very thing you hate the most

in your life that God was grieving over when it happened.

God wants to use it for good in your life.

You see, anybody can bring good out of good, but

God specializes in bringing good out of bad. A lady

once asked me, he said, where was God when my

son died? I said, he was the same place he

was when his son died.

On the cross. He was crying, he was grieving.

God looked down and saw what was happening to his son,

Jesus Christ, and he was grieving. Could God have stopped it, Yes,

of course he could have. But how we have done

taken away the free will of men. And if he

did that, he needs to take away your free will

and your choice. That's not fair to take away somebody

else's but not yours. God looks at the things that

happen in our lives that causes pain, and the Bible

says God weeps. Did you know the only reason you

have emotions is because you're created in God's image God.

God is an emotional God. God has feelings too. If

God didn't have feelings, believe me, as a human being,

you wouldn't have any feelings. But God gets happy, so

you get happy. And God gets sad, so you experience sadness.

And God gets angry, so you get angry. God gets

jealous when he sees people rejecting him for somebody, So

that's why you have jealousy. The reason you have emotions

is because God is an emotional God and he created

you in his image. And when you're being pain, believe me,

God is in pain with you. He is weeping and

he's crying. But God can give you a ministry to others.

The things in your life that are painful. God wants

to use for good to help others. Look at these

verses first, Corinthians one four. God comforts us in our

troubles so that we can comfort others.

Look at verse six.

When we're weighed down with troubles, it's for your benefit.

In other words, when I'm going through my problem, it's

really for your benefit for when and salvation. When God

comforts us so that we in turn can be an

encouragement to you, then you could patiently endure the same

thing the friends. This is called redemptive suffering. Redemptive suffering

is when you go through a problem and a pain

for the benefit of others. This is what Jesus did

when Jesus died on the cross. He didn't deserve to die,

and he went through that pain redemptively for your benefit,

so you could be saved, so you could go to heaven,

so I could go to heaven for redemption. Any mother

who's had a baby has gone through redemptive suffering. They

don't call it labor for nothing. And when a woman

is going through the pains of labor, she's not doing

that for her benefit. She's doing it for the benefit

of that baby. That's redemptive suffering.

You see.

There are many different problems for the p causes for

the problems, pain and suffering in your life. Sometimes, In fact,

most of the stuff that happens I bring on myself.

When I make stupid decisions, then it causes.

Pain in my life.

If I go out and I overspend and I buy

things I can't afford, and I get a house that

I can't afford, and I presume on the future, and

then I go deeply in debt and I lose my house.

I can't say, God, why do you let me lose

my house? I brought that on myself. I can't blame

God for my decisions that I overspend and put way

too much money on the credit card.

That was my choice. God had nothing to do with it.

So some of the problems I bring on myself, some

of the problems I'm innocent. Some of the problems you're

innocent with, and you're hurt by the pain, the stupidity,

the wrong decisions, the sins of other people, and you're

hurt by other sins.

But some of the.

Pain, some of the problems in your life is for

redemptive suffering for the benefit of other people. And God

allows you to go through a problem so then you

can help others.

It's a third thing I can remember that God can

use it.

Not only did teach me to draw close to him,

to trust him to give me a ministry. God can

use it to draw me closer to other believers. Now,

this is a big deal, to draw me closer to

other believers. God wired the human being for community. You

were wired for relationships. You weren't meant to go through

life all alone. Whether you ever get married or not

is irrelevant. But you need people in your life and

you need a spiritual family. That's why you need a church.

We are a spiritual family, and you need close relationships

and you need friendships. In fact, the very first thing

God said was not good about the earth. He said,

it's not good for man to be alone. Did you

know that.

God hates loneliness? Hates it.

God hates loneness. God is a God of love. Love

means you have to have relationships. God is in a

relationship to himself, father, son, and Holy Spirit. God is

a relational God and he made you to have relationships.

And here's the problem.

We get so busy with activities and achievements and accomplishments.

We don't have time for relationships, and so we skim.

We're pretty independent minded. I don't need anybody. I got

it on the goone, I got it all together. Until

we get into problem and pain humbles us, and pain

realizes that helps us realize we need support, that we

were made for each other, that we're better together, and

pain draws us closer. It moves us to accept support.

And then all of a sudden, you ask other people

for prayer because you're in so much pain. Paul says

this and verse six or verse eleven, he will rescue us.

I'm going through this depressing time because you are are

helping how by praying for us, And as a result,

many others will give thanks to God because so many

people's prayers for our safety have been answered. Pain reveals

how much we need each other. Now turn your outline

over and I want you to notice four levels of

small group relationships. Because we're getting ready to go into

the next major small group study. Forty days in the word,

we have over five thousand small groups. We want everybody

in a small group. Why because without a small group,

you can't build those kind of relationships. You don't have

anybody to pray for you. Now, this is why it's

so important that we learn to have relationships. Now, I

want you to understand there are four levels of fellowship

in a small group, and my prayer is that during

the next forty days.

You're gonna go one level deeper.

There's the shallowest level, and there's the deepest level. Now,

the shallowest level of relationships in a small group at work,

wherever neighborhood is the fellowship of sharing, and the fellowship

of sharing is.

Hey, how about them packers?

Boy, we really had another tough week suffering for Jesus

in southern California with this weather. You know, you know,

I almost had to put on socks. Yeah, must be winter, okay.

And you know it's that kind of shallow talk about

where you just share your lives. Now, there's nothing wrong

with the fellowship of sharing, nothing wrong with it all.

It's just the shallowest level level.

And in fact, in your small group, you need to

do a little bit of this every week you meet

where you just kind of share your lives. You catch

up on each other's lives. That's an important part of

being in a small group. What's going on at work,

what's going on on in your life, what's going on

with your friends, your kids or whatever. And the fellowship

of sharing. There's nothing wrong with You can talk about

trivial stuff. What movie did you see? What do you like?

What do you see on YouTube? Well, you know, what'd

you post on Facebook? You can share anything and there's

nothing wrong.

It's good.

It's a level of sharing, but it's the shallowest level.

Now.

The next level, which is a little bit deeper, more intimate,

is the fellowship not of sharing, but the fellowship of studying.

When we watch a video Bible teaching in a small

group and then we open our Bibles and we study

it together, we've now gone to the next level because

now we're talking about more than just the weather and

the economy.

Now we're talking about things that change our lives.

So the fellowship of studying builds a deeper relationship with three,

four or five other people in your small group. And

in that studying we go deeper, we grow closer together.

But there's an even deeper level in that third level

is the fellowship of serving together. Not studying and sharing,

but serving together. If you want to grow close together

with the people in your group, pick a project. Go

out and help the homeless, go out and help the poor,

go out and help people at prison, go out and

do some tutoring, go out and help the guys down

at Pendleton Marine Base, or just pick There's thousands of

ways you can do good by serving together, it draws

you even closer. One time, my small group a few

years back, we went to Africa for ten days did

a peace project together. We grew closer together in those

ten days than we had in all the years we've

been together because we were living together for several days.

And in serving, you actually grow closer than studying or sharing.

But the deepest level, the most intimate level, the most

soul satisfying level, and you need a few of these

relationships in your life is the fellowship of suffering. And

that's when you take a deep breath and you go, you, guys,

I need to share something. I really had a tough week.

Things aren't going good in my work, in my marriage,

with my kids, with my finances. And you take the

chance to reveal the pain you're holding inside yourself. Now,

whenever you share a joy, it's doubled. Whenever you share

a pain, it's cut in half. And you're not carrying

such a heavy load anymore. So you need to share

the fellowship of suffering. That's the deepest level of all.

The small group that I'm in right now, I think

I've been in it eight years, this one, and there

is no problem we haven't shared in eight or more years.

We've had bankruptcy, we've had tax problems, we've had cancer,

we've had major illness is, we've had deaths in the family,

we've had problems with children, we've had major crises, we've

had all you couldn't name all of the stuff that

we've gone through, and it has drawn me close to them,

and it has drawn them close to me. And I

know that if two o'clock tomorrow morning, I had to

go to the emergency room, I know there are three other.

Guys who would be there with me.

Because I've been there for them and they've been there

for me in the middle of the night when we

needed each other. It wasn't just let's get together and

study the Bible. It's the fellowship of suffering. Now, the

deepest level of all is the fellowship.

Of the Ring.

But we're not going to get into that. I'm just

seeing if you're listening. Actually, you know some of you

look like you're kind of dozing off.

At that point.

So, my precious, my goal is that you will get

in a group so you can learn. Everybody needs a

couple of those deeper les. You don't need a lot

of them in life, but you need a couple of

people who are always there when you need them.

And that's the fellowship of suffering.

So the first thing God says I can do is

I can use it for good.

I need to remember. Now.

The second thing I need to do to get through

whatever I'm going through is I need to refuse. I

need to refuse to listen to my fears. Remember that

God can use it for good. And the second thing

I do to get through what I'm going through is

refuse to listen to my fears, because the moment you

get in a tough spot, Satan goes over time in

your life, filling you with worry. Now, in Second Corinthians,

Chapter one, verse eight and nine, Paul says this, he's

honest about his fears.

He shares his fears.

I think you ought to know, dear brothers and sisters,

about the trouble we went through in the province of Asia.

We were crushed and completely overwhelmed, and we feared circle.

That word feared. We feared we would never live through it.

What are you afraid of right now?

In fact, we expected to die, But as a result,

we learned not to rely in ourselves. Now, some of

you are really good worries. In fact, some of you

are professional worriers. I mean you're pros at it because

you are naturally predisposed by your personality to worry. Now,

people who tend to worry tend to marry people who

are over confident, and then they are irritating each other

all the time. Okay, and you both have your weaknesses.

Over Confidence can be a weakness too, all right Now,

If your partner or your friend worries a lot, don't

you get haughty and self frightened about it because you've

got your own weaknesses too. Some of you have a

predisposition to anger, and you lose your top easily. Some

of you have a predisposition to depression, and you naturally

get depressed. Some of you have a natural predisposition to

get jealous or envious. Some of you have a natural

tendency to be insecure. We all have our hang ups.

But if I'm going to get through what I'm going through,

I cannot be dominated by worry. So here's what I

want to suggest you do. If you're a professional worrier,

schedule you're worrying. Put it in your schedule. In fact,

i'm going to tell you, as your pastor, as your

spiritual advisor, you're a spiritual coach, I'm going to tell you,

I want you to schedule your worry period from seven

pm to seven h five pm every night. When you

start to worry during the okay, said Rick. Said, I

can't worry now I will. I'll put that off and

at seven seven o'clock then I will worry about it. Okay,

Now from seven to seven oh five you can have

a full on panic attack for all I care. Okay,

I just don't want you wasting the entire day worrying,

because worry is worthless. It has never changed anything. Worry

is doing without doing. It does not change the past.

It cannot control the future.

It just screws you up right now. It messes you

up right now.

So you worry is worth it. So I want you

to limit it to five minutes a day. And when

you start to worry, instead of letting it dominate you

and you just go over and over and over and

of course, the more you worry about, the bigger it gets.

It just exaggerates itself. You limit it to five minutes

a day. I only want you wasting five minutes a day.

And you schedule it and say, okay, that's my worry time,

and so I'm not gonna worry about it now. I've

already planned to worry about it at seven o'clock. And

that way you don't mess up your whole day. I

refuse to listen to my fears.

This is what Paul did.

Remember to get through what I'm going through, I have

to remember God can use it for good. I can

refuse to give into fear. Number three, Rejoice in spite

of my circumstances. That's the third thing you must do

to get through what you're going through. I must rejoice

in spite of my circumstances. Now, I'm not going to

go into this in detail. I think it's pretty self explanatory.

But look up here on the screen and let me

show you a couple verses Philippius four to four. Rejoice

in the Lord always. Again, I say, rejoice? How often

are we to rejoice always? And are we to rejoice

for our circumstances? No, it says rejoice in the Lord.

Lord.

You are not to rejoice in the problem. You were

to rejoice in the Lord. Big difference. You're not going

to say, oh, thank you God, I got this major problem. No,

you rejoice in the Lord, not in your problem.

Let me show you another one.

Give thanks in all circumstances. Now it says not some

all give thanks in all circumstances. But notice it says

in all circumstances. It doesn't say give thanks for all circumstances.

God is not asking you to be a masochist. If

you go, oh, thank you God, I got cancer, that's stupid.

Oh thank you God, my loved one died. No, no, no,

that's that's masochism. God doesn't expect you put on a

happy face everything's fine when it's not fine. That's just lying.

It doesn't say give thanks for the problems in your life.

It says give.

Thanks in in all circumstances, not for in all circumstances.

For if this is God's will for you, this is

God's will for you.

People say, well, I'm in this problem right now. I

just need to know what is God's will.

I'll tell you what God's will is give thanks in

all circumstances. Rejoice in the Lord always. Now, let me

give you one more James one twelve one two. Whenever

trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy.

Joy is a choice. It is a choice to rejoice.

Kay's just written a new book based on the study

last year. It's coming out in a couple of months,

called Choose Joy. You always have a choice, and no

matter how bad things are in your life, there is

always something to thank God for. Now, this is exactly

what Paul did. In verse three. Paul is in the

middle of a depressing time and he says this, all

praise to God, to the God and Father of our Lord,

Jesus Christ, all praise, rejoicing. He is the source of

every mercy and the God who comforts us.

Now.

I don't know what you're going through right now, and

I really don't know what you're going to go through,

but I do know this. Here's what you can rejoice over.

God sees what I'm going through. God knows what I'm

going through. God cares about what I'm going through. God

loves me. God will never stop loving me. God is

in control. God can give me the power to change.

God will use us for good in my life. He

will direct me, perfect me, correct me, inspect me, protect me.

He will edify me, purify me, sanctify me. He will

give me a ministry to other people. He will draw

me closer to other believers.

There are a.

Hundred things you can thank God for even when the

bottom has fallen out. I remember, I refuse, and I rejoice.

The Bible says this Romans eight twenty eight.

On the screen.

We know that in everything God works for the good.

It's not all good, but God works for the good

of those who love him. They are the people he

called because that was his plan. Rejoice. Number four recruit.

I must recruit others to pray for me. This is

the fourth thing Paul does, And this is the fourth

thing you need to do to get through what you're

going through. You need to recruit other people to pray

for you. Now, this is very easy when you're in

a small group. And that's why we want everybody in

a small group, because you just ask your small group

to pray for Hey. Hey, I'm going through this tough time.

If you're not in a small group, you are unprotected.

You don't have a small group to pray for you constantly,

who know your needs. You don't have an group, you

are unprotected.

You don't have the.

Strength that people in a small group do because you

don't have people praying for you.

The Bible says this in verse eleven.

God will rescue us because you are helping by praying

for us. Now, friends, I'll just be honest with you,

I don't know how this works. I don't know how

it works. But there is additional power in group prayer

that is not in when you just pray for yourself.

There is more power in group prayer than in single

power of you praying for yourself. The Bible says, if

any two agree is touching anything, it shall be done.

The Bible says, where two or more gathered in my name,

they're are mine in the midst of them. You need

that power to get through what you're going through. That's

why you need to be in a small group. It's

why you need to ask them to pray for you.

The Bible says this on the screen Galatians six, two

carry each other's burdens. We're commanded to do that. How

do you do that? By praying for each other? Carry

each other's burdens. And in this way you will fulfill

the law of Christ. What is the law of Christ?

We spend a month on it last fall. Love your

neighbor as yourself. When you pray for other people, you

are loving your neighbor as yourself. When they pray for you,

they are loving you as themselves. Number five, reaffirm my

faith in God. Even in the darkest moment of my life,

I must choose to reaffirm my faith in God. Now,

Paul says, I'm overwhelmed, I'm crushed. I didn't feel like

I was going to live through it. My feelings are

telling me I'm gonna die. I'm not gonna make it. It

is terrible. It's black, dark, and I can't see ahead.

And yet he says this in verse ten. We are

confident that's reaffirming my faith. We are confident that he

will not might, he will continue to deliver us. Reaffirm

my faith and friends. This last week, little Jesse Reese

lost her battle with brain cancer after ten months.

Courageous little Jesse.

Most of you know Pastor Eric Reeese in our church

our ministry. Pastor teaches three oh one. If you've been

through that class, written a couple books on how God

uses shape to guide your life. Eric and Stacey Reese

ten months ago learned that their oldest daughter, Jesse, twelve

years old, had inoperable terminal two brain tumors. And for

the last ten months they had been watching their.

Little twelve year old girl slowly died.

And they did the chemo, and they did the radiation,

and they did all the medical science could possibly do.

But this week Jesse lost that courageous battle. She had

started a web page with tens of thousands of others

to help kids who were cancer had little kids who

had cancer.

She started joy Jars. She started to.

Think, called Nigu never ever give up. She was an

inspiration to people all over America. But she lost that

battle and she's now in heaven.

I was at Eric and.

Stacy's house very quickly after Jesse passed away, and we

were sitting there and I asked Stacy, Stacy, how in

the world did you handle How did you get through

what you were going through the last ten months while

you're watching your twelve year old daughter slowly die in

front of your eyes and there's nothing you can do

to stop it.

And Stacy said, you know Rick.

A lot of times, I just felt emotionally empty inside.

I didn't feel anything, and I couldn't even pray.

I didn't even have the words to say.

I was just empty inside and I could only pray

one sentence, and this was a sentence.

I trust you. I trust you. That is a godly woman.

That is what it means to have faith. I trust you.

I'm watching my little girl die and I don't know why.

And I know this is a broken planet and nothing

works perfectly. But God, you are a good God, and

I am gonna trust you even when my.

Heart is being ripped out.

Job prayed, though he killed me, I will still trust him.

That's faith. That's a godly man. He said, though he

slay me, yet I will trust him.

Now.

Do you have that kind of faith that says God,

I'm gonna trust you and live for you and do

the right thing even when things aren't going my way.

Are you just a little puny baby and you only

follow God when thing goes You're right? Well, things go

your way, but everything starts to fall apart and you

walk away from God. That is the most immature. I

must reaffirm my faith God. I don't understand it. And

I'm not gonna get an explanation till I get to heaven.

But I trust you that's how you get through what

you're going through. Now, how do you get that kind

of Stacy Reees' faith? There's only one way you got

to get in this book, the Bible says this faith

comes from hearing the Word of God.

If the more you.

Get of the Bible in your life, the stronger your

faith's gonna be. You get a lot of the Bible

in your life, you're gonna have a lot of faith.

You get a little Bible, you got have little faith.

You get the Bible only once a week at church,

you're gonna have almost no faith. That's like fasting six

days a week and then having a banquet on Sunday.

Use no way you're gonna be healthy physically or spiritually.

That's why we're going to do forty days in the Word.

I'm going to teach you how to get into the

Bible on a daily basi because I am bound and

determined as somebody who loves you, that I'm gonna increase

your faith this year because you're gonna need to get

ready for the rogue wins I hope they don't come,

but you don't know what's gonna hit you, and you're

gonna need to have your faith strong, and you only

get it by getting into this book. And that leads

us to number six. Rely on God's promises.

My heart is.

Breaking when I'm going through terrible times. The way I

get through what I'm going through is I rely on

the promises of God.

Did you know?

They're over six thousand promises of God in this book,

six thousand. They're like blank checks, and their promises about

your career, promises about your kids, promises about your health,

promises about your future and your past, and all the

things your finances. But you can't claim those promises unless

you know them. So you got to get in the word.

Look at what the Bible says Romans fifteen four. Everything

that was written in the past he's talking about the

Bible was written.

Everything in the Bible is written to teach us.

The scriptures give us two things, endurance and encouragement. The

scriptures give us endurance and encouragement, so we have hope.

If you are not in this book on a daily basis,

you do not have the endurance nor the encouragement you

need to get through what you're going through. Now, let

me close with the promise, one of those six thousand

promises for those of you who are going through the

fire right now, look at this first on the screen.

James one twelve.

God will bless you if you don't give up when

your faith is tested, He will reward you with the

crown of life, just as he rewards everyone who loves him.

Let's bow our heads. Would you pray this prayer in

your heart Jesus Christ. I open my life completely to you.

I want to get to know you. I want to

learn to love you, learn to trust you. I want

to grow my faith. Jesus Christ. I need you to

help me get through what I'm going through. If you've

never asked Jesus to do this, say Jesus Christ, please.

Save me today, be my savior and Lord.

I don't understand it all, but I am saying yes

to you today. If you are already you've made that

commitment to say, Jesus Christ, help me to take these steps.

To remember.

The good that you can bring out of my problem,

To refuse to give in to the fear, to rejoice

no matter what I'm going through, To recruit people in

my small group to pray for me to relax and

rest and trust in you, to rely on your promises,

and to reaffirm my faith. If you're not in a

small group, say Lord, I want to get in a

group that I might learn this material and learn to

love you and others.

We pray this in Jesus name. Amen,