Ben Carbone - Responding To Trouble 16:2:25

who remembers what we're speaking on in

February anyone anyone remember what

we're speaking on in

February trouble very good Nath good job

trouble John 16 Verse 33 is our key

John 16:33

verse Jesus talking says to us I have

told you these things so that you may

have peace and then he says this

statement in this world you will have

trouble

but take heart I have

overcome the world let's

pray Lord God we just come before you

today as you bring your word to your

church we ask that you would speak to us

we open our hearts to you and that you

would Minister and bring hope and

healing and Life to each one of us in

jesus' name amen

last time I shared a couple of weeks ago

um I shared about the why we have

trouble if you remember and the why the

reason I wanted to share the why is so

often when we understand the why it

helps us cope with what is happening to

us isn't that right when when we see the

what and um because the reality is

trouble can come in all kinds of

forms sometimes trouble

happens because of our own own Silly

choices our own mistakes that's that's

the truth sometimes we do things and

choose things that result in

consequences that bring us trouble and

sometimes we find ourselves trapped in

those

consequences trapped in all sorts of

things including addictions and all

sorts of things because we made unwise

choices other times trouble just

happens because we live in a broken

world

that's the reality of it and uh for all

of us here we would understand that you

know last year I lost my mom and uh and

all of you here lost non and it was a

hard time and it's still a hard time

trying to get used to life without her

and uh and the reality is we had no

control over that it was she was ready

to go home and kept praying for it and

it happened and we were all a bit

surprised

but we still felt the hurt and pain as

much as we knew her time was coming we

still had the hurt and pain of losing

her isn't that

right other

times there are those challenging times

that come to us because we choose to

live for Jesus in this

world those times in our life where we

choose to say I'm going to follow Jesus

in this

world for

example maybe someone hurts you and and

does the wrong thing by you and causes

you pain in some way and you have the

challenge and God gives you the

challenge of will you forgive them or

not and so you have to make the

difficult and challenging choice to

choose

forgiveness and that's a challenging

thing as well isn't it that to to when

someone really really does something

that upsets you and hurts you and causes

you lots of pain and you're in that

place where you go what do I do with

this and God says just as I have

forgiven you you need to forgive them

and so we have to make that decision

which is not e easy or there's those

times in our lives where God calls us to

love

others and they just don't seem to want

to love us back isn't that right you

know we as a church we're committed to

loving our community with everything we

have that's why we do popup that's why

we do youth that's why we do lots of the

different things the well the men's

things is to reach out and show the

world around us the love of God but

sometimes they don't respond the way we

want them to and that's

challenging where we have to continue to

love them even when they don't accept

our love and accept God's love and they

don't respond the way we want them to or

they don't seem to appreciate it when

we're handing food over to them at the

counter there serving them and they

might say I don't want that I don't and

we got to go how do we respond to that

that's challenging it's difficult so the

reality is no matter what form trouble

comes in as Christians and as people

here on this Earth it's inevitable so

today I want to look

at how we deal with trouble anyone up

for that Steve touched on it last week a

bit but the idea of how do we respond to

trouble in our lives if Jesus says in

this world you will have trouble then

how will we respond the first thing and

Steve talked about this last week and I

want to touch on it as well first thing

we need to do as followers of Jesus is

we need to hold tightly onto God I love

the Beatitudes that Steve used last week

and in in Matthew 53 it tells us that in

God's kingdom Jesus says that in God's

kingdom it's available to those who are

willing to realize they need

help that they can't do this

alone I've got a few versions of it up

here for you in the NIV it says blessed

are the poor in spirit it's interesting

it says poor in spirit because that's

not something you would think would be

blessed or something that that would be

valued for theirs is the Kingdom of

Heaven the NLT explains as God blesses

those who are poor and realize their

need for him for the Kingdom of Heaven

is theirs and then in the message Eugene

Peterson says it like this you're

blessed when you're at the end of your

rope with less of you there is more more

of God and his

rule it's really powerful isn't it

that it's okay to be at the end of your

rope as Damien shared it's okay to have

fear or to have worries or anxiety

that's not the issue we all have that we

all experience that but the rope we're

hanging on to needs to be God you see

when trouble comes into our life we're

often taught that and it's a truth that

there's this flight or fight response

isn't there either we run away from her

if you're like me we try to run away

from her as fast as you can or if you're

like Nick you fight isn't that right

Nick you take it on full on and you're

you're going to fight your way out of it

but God tells us something very

different that as followers of Jesus our

first

response must be to cling to

God as if he's that rope that we're

holding on to where you're hanging off

you know you've seen the movies people

hanging off a cliff with a rope and

they're just hanging on we need to hang

on to God with all we have realizing

that that is our way to Salvation that

is our way to help that if we hang on to

that on to

God he will get us through it but this

is the the reality reality of it is to

respond like this to God it means we do

have to acknowledge that we are poor in

spirit we do need to acknowledge that we

need help and that takes humility it

takes us declaring our need for God

Peter says it this way in 1

Peter 5 he says all of you clothe

yourselves with humility toward one

another because God opposes the proud

but shows favor to the

humble humble yourselves therefore under

God's Mighty hand that he he may lift

you Up In Due Time cast all your anxiety

on him because he cares for you you see

when we facing troubling times and

troubling

situations God doesn't say to us in that

passage don't be

anxious don't fear don't worry don't

he's not saying that he acknowledges the

reality of our

anxiety and he he he says if if you're

anxious no matter what reason you are

anxious whether it's self-inflicted or

whether it's no fault of your own what

we need to do is make God our first Port

of

Call we need to cast all our cares on

him this is the exciting thing about

this passage is God is inviting us he's

not saying disregard your anxiety try to

cut it out don't make out it's not there

you know you should be stronger and

bigger and better than that no he's not

saying saying that he's saying I realize

I know I understand Jesus became one of

us so he knows

anxiety it talks about him having it

when he was wrestling in the garden

sweating blood trying to say not my will

but your will be done God so he knows

what it feels like and his his response

and his invitation is cast that anxiety

on me because I care for you

the the great thing about that is it

reminds me of another invitation that

Jesus makes that we all know of in

Matthew

Matthew 11:28–30

11:28-30

where Jesus makes the same kind of

invitation so this isn't just a once off

God is continually reminding us to

acknowledge our lack acknowledge our

need for him acknowledge that we don't

have what it takes to get through this

and that we need to hang on to him with

everything we have when he invited and

said come to me all you who are weary

and

burden and I will give you

rest take my yoke upon you and learn

from me for I am gentle and humble in

heart and you will find rest for your

soul for my yoke is

easy and my burden is

light God doesn't discount our pain at

all all he knows it he fully understands

our struggles and our

limitations and he doesn't say tough it

out be stronger be

better to the contrary he says give it

to

me find Rest in

Me trust in me to get you through this

put your faith in me that idea of faith

that one person defined it as when they

were translating the Bible into another

language and they're trying to find term

to to explain Faith to the people that

are reaching it's like sitting in a

chair none of us don't trust a chair

when we sit down do we we put our full

weight on that chair and that's what God

is inviting us into put your full weight

all your worry every part of you on

me Rest in Me allow me to carry you

through

this you see the exciting thing is God

continually confirms this the importance

of us putting our trust and faith in

him I read a really great scripture this

week that just confirmed this to me it

was one of the scriptures of the day on

the Bible app in Isaiah 263 and I just

thought thank you God because it says

there talking about God you will keep in

perfect peace all who trust in you

all those whose thoughts are fixed on

you who needs to hear that

today you will keep in perfect peace all

those who trust in you all those who fix

their thoughts on you all those who put

their faith in you all those who are

holding tightly on to you to get them

through what they're going

through he promises perfect peace which

brings us to the second thing that we

need to do or how we can face

trouble and it because to be able to

trust in God we need to know who God is

and the greatest way we can know who God

is is to trust in God's

word see knowing God and who he is who

his character is and his nature as I've

shared with you this morning the

scriptures I've shared have shown you

the character and nature of God he's a

God who understands where we're at and

he's a God who invites us to put our

weight and our trust in him he's a god

that is open to us and this is what we

discover in God's

word and there's no better way to

discover the nature and the character of

God than his

word now God can reveal himself to us

through many different ways he can

reveal himself to us through nature you

go for a nice walk and you see things

and you see his creation and you can see

God in

creation he can he can reveal him to us

in Supernatural ways he can give us

dreams and visions and encounters with

God right we can sit here this morning

and worshiping God and God can come and

encounter us in our emotions and our

feelings and all of those things

and as good as these experiences are and

creation

is they need to be confirmed by his

word because there's a thing sometimes

people can bring some stuff and it can

lead them into error because they have

these extra biblical

Revelations but if those extra biblical

Revelations aren't found in the Bible

then they're not not truth and they're

not who God

is so where we have to be really careful

about experiences and feelings and

emotions and stuff like

that it's a it's a funny thing these

days you know in the Bible it talks

about God moving in in the early church

and the the walls being shaken by his

presence and his power which is amazing

how would you feel about

that but the reality these days we can

shake the walls with

wers and

Bas but are we re are we creating

something that is God or are we just

trying to imitate God himself and this

is what God everything that we know and

learn about God must be confirmed in

scripture in the word because there are

two forms that God's word comes in the

first form is the written word or

otherwise known as the Bible

and it its value is explained to us in 2

2 Timothy 3:16

Timothy 3:16 many of you know this

scripture all scripture is inspired by

God and is useful to teach us what is

true and to make us realize what is

wrong in our lives it corrects us when

we are wrong and teaches us to do what

is right very simple isn't it so that's

what the Bible exists for to teach us

what is wrong but also teach us what is

Right teach us who God is and and how he

relates to his

creation that's why it's so important to

know the word of God to read the word of

God to try to get it into you and to

make it a part of your life and to give

you Direction and

teaching um and scripture is so

important in times of trouble and

reminds us what and how we need to

respond you know one scripture very

simply says praise God in all things

doesn't say just praise God for the good

things it says praise God in all things

so we must have a grateful attitude

towards God no matter what's going on

around us you know last year when my mom

did pass away it was really interesting

a few weeks before she passed away God

was speaking to me out of his word I was

reading my Bible one day and reading in

one John and um the a passage that I had

read so many times all of a sudden spoke

deeply into my heart and I didn't know

what was coming in the future or what

was happening but it's a passage in one

John that talks

about um perfect love casts out all fear

and it says that there is there's no

fear of judgment for those who know the

love of God and uh as I read that it

began to speak to me because I'm human

just like all the rest of you sometimes

you might think the pastor is incredible

and amazing but you only need to talk to

Julie to know that he's not that

incredible and

amazing you only have to only have to go

to the football with Nick for Nick to

realize I'm not that incredible and

amazing but uh the reality

is um I'm human and sometimes fear and

anxiety comes into my life or often fear

does I have all sorts of different fears

and anxieties and worries around my own

life and around the church life and all

those things and sometimes because of

the way I was brought up in the church I

was was brought up in there was a real

fear of judgment that I had to do the

right thing because God's going to get

mad at me and he's going to judge me but

as I read this passage and read that

those who know God's love there is no

fear of

judgment I realized that perfect love

casts out all

fear I I began to think because I am

loved I have nothing to

fear because I understand that nothing

as Daman said before nothing can

separate me from God's love and that God

loves me and in Jesus I see that love he

has for me what Jesus was prepared to do

for me I began

to when in times of fear and I began to

say that to myself over and over

again because I am loved I have nothing

to fear because I am loved I have

nothing to fear I have nothing to fear

because I am loved and God's word begins

to change and transform and and then in

the couple weeks later as I was

meditating on that and building that

into my life and reminding myself of the

truth of who God is and my mom passes

away let me say it didn't make it any

easier didn't take the pain away or the

H but it gave me something to stand on

because the one person in my life who

would always loved me was gone now so

it's like God needed me to realize I'm

here I love you I'll get you through

this you got nothing to fear I'm here I

love

you the other way God Reveals His word

to us is in the person of

Jesus so in the written word and the

Bible teaches us that Jesus is the word

in John 1 paralleling Genesis 1 says in

the beginning the word already

existed the word was with God and the

Word was God he existed in the beginning

with God God created everything through

him and nothing was created except

through him the word gave life to

everything that was created and his life

brought light to

everyone verse 5 says the light shines

in the darkness and the Darkness can

never extinguish

it how exciting is that no matter how

dark your situation looks right

now Jesus is the light of the

world and nothing will extinguish the

light he has placed in you no Darkness

can overcome it and verse 14 it goes on

to say so the word became human Jesus

and he made his home among us he was

full of unfailing love and

faithfulness and we have seen his

glory the glory of the father's one and

only

son no one has ever seen

God but the unique one who is himself

God is near to The Father's Heart

and he has revealed God to

us

amen Jesus became one of us God's word

became one of us why to reveal to us God

to show us who God is to show us the

heart of God to give us Colossians says

he is the visible form of the invisible

God I've said this here before but in

the law we got a a a picture of God a a

glimpse of who God is but it didn't give

us the full picture but when Jesus came

in the flesh we saw God in the way that

we could understand him and believe in

him and that that picture is there to

give us Direction and guidance and

understanding of who God is so in our

times of trouble we know who we're

running to we're running to a God who

loves a God who heals a God who doesn't

put up with rubbish when

people do stupid things and say stupid

things he

confronted the people in the temple

courts because they were ripping people

off and he didn't stand for

Injustice this is the God we serve

that's why so often when I find myself

in a challenging time or a dark time or

maybe a time in my life like many of us

experience where I feel like God's far

away and he's not there close I'll go to

the gospels and I'll read the gospels

I'll read Jesus I'll read about him and

who he is and what he preaches and what

he speaks because it brings hope to me

it reminds me of who God is it reminds

me that even though I may not feel him

real close this is who he is and this is

who I know him to be that's why we need

to trust in God's word we trust in the

Bible we trust in the written word and

we trust in the word as shown in Jesus

Through the

Bible the final thing we need to do in

responding my clickers start working m

there we go thank you the last thing we

need to do when responding to trouble is

to turn to

others the church is the community that

God has given to us and he's given it to

us for a purpose for a

reason so that we don't have to do this

Walk

Alone he created us to be a part of this

community he places Us in this community

and I know there's a lot of lot of pain

and hurt created by church and it you

only need to go on social media that you

see there's all sorts of crazy stuff

going on out there in the name of the

church and in the name of God which is

not great but the reality in the word of

God in First Corinthians it talks about

the church being the body of Christ in

otherwise his

expression in the world that he has

chosen the church to express himself to

the the world around us and First

Corinthians teaches us that the body of

Christ explains that number one we need

each other it teaches us that we can't

do this alone it can't be done by one

let me say this if

uh this church does not exist

because I do everything we have an

amazing Team all of you here who are

part of this church and all have a role

to play play and a part to play if you

don't know what your part is yet come

and talk to us come and it's not just a

job it's it may be just to love people

and encourage people or build people up

whatever it is can't if you're not sure

what role do I have to play but the

Bible teaches us that each part has a

role every one of us exists for a

purpose to be shown and expressed

through the body of Christ second thing

the body of Christ teaches us is that we

respect each other in other words each

part has a function that another part

can't do so not only do we need each

other but we respect each other for what

each part brings you know Damian shared

about the his up until just recently

he's been the treasur of the church for

many years and he shared about the

finances of the church and how we step

out in faith to believe what God that's

driven by him because he is gifted in

that area God has given him a gift and

he when we make those hard decisions so

often he goes it'll be right God's done

it before he can do it again and there's

this a unique trust that I don't have

when it comes to finances trust me I

worry and stress about them because I

guess it's my pay packet but

um but the reality is it's not easy but

he's like no and the same last year the

same thing happened we were in deficit

halfway through the year and God

provided and this year the same thing we

look we're we're behind and then all of

a sudden God provided is just that we

need each other and we respect each

other's what each other brings to the

situation and the final one there it

says that we

sympathize with each other it says in

that passage in Corinthians if one part

suffers all of the parts suffers I

always like the idea in that picture of

a if you stub your little toe or break

your little toe the rest of your body

suffers doesn't it it's

like David knows all about that it's

just like it hurts you feel it every

step you take and the rest of your body

and your mind and everything suffers

with it and the reality is this is the

the idea of the why God puts us into his

body is because it's a reminder not just

that we need him but we need each

other that that we're there with few

years ago we did the a series on the one

anothers and each others in the Bible

over 50 times something like 52 times we

are encouraged with one anothers or each

others love each other support each

other we read just earlier in in um one

Peter be humble with each other don't

think of yourself more better than you

ought all of those sorts of things so

this is what the body of Christ is all

about that we need and in times of

trouble it it exists to help us through

those times of trouble as I said earlier

unfortunately it's not always that easy

and sometimes because people are in the

church it can be a source of pain but it

doesn't mean that the church

isn't part of God's plan for our healing

and our encouragement and our building

up and our renewing isn't that right

just because of one bad experience

doesn't mean it's all

wrong God has placed Us in the church

and when we come into times of trouble

we need each other more so can I

encourage you when you're facing

troubles don't run away from church

don't isolate yourself

but stay in touch Reach

Out call each other support each other

and let's create an environment in this

place that truly reflects what the body

of Christ should look like cuz we need

each other in times of trouble I've been

so blessed even over the last few weeks

just people in the church encouraging me

in my own grief and where I'm at which

has been

amazing so just in

closing we talked

about holding tightly on to God trusting

in his word and turning to others and as

I've pondered this subject

of of living with

trouble it's made me think over and it's

I've come up with a thought or a

question for us

today because if how we respond to times

of

trouble that's really lovely thanks for

that nice

music if how we respond to times of

trouble involves holding tightly on to

God think about this for a moment if if

trouble exists to cause us to hang on to

God with all we

have if we respond to trouble by turning

to his word and trusting in his word and

what he has said to us and who he is and

his

character and if in times of trouble our

response is to turn to others and to run

to others for support and

help I want to pose this question to you

is trouble really the problem that we

think it

is is the the pain and the difficult and

the troubled times in our lives as big a

problem as we make it out to

be you see the way we respond to to

trouble in our lives is often all about

perspective and the truth is many of us

have a negative view of

trouble because many of us have grown up

with mindsets and trained patterns of

behavior that tell us people with

trouble it's obviously there's something

wrong with them or that I have trouble

because I've done something wrong right

now it's that idea that trouble only

happens to those who are

weak and so the truth is that when

trouble comes into our lives often

there's a lot of Shame

involved and we don't want to

acknowledge it or we want don't want to

tell others about it or or Express the

challenges we have because we think

they're going to think I'm weak or I'm

not strong enough I'm not a good person

I've made a terrible mistake this we

this week and I'm not going to share it

with anyone because then they're going

to judge me so there's a lot of

Shame when it comes to

trouble when we experience trouble we we

think I've got a problem

I'm not good enough I'm not worthy type

of stuff going

on but as I said last week Jesus says to

us very

clearly in this world you will have

trouble sometimes that's self-inflicted

sometimes it's just because we live in a

broken

world and so how we respond to trouble

is crucial and I just want to finish

with this

passage this week in Romans 8 and we've

all heard this and we've probably quoted

it from time to time but it says and we

know that in all

things God works for the good of those

who love him who have been called

according to his purpose you notice in

this passage that it says God uses all

things for our

good all things do you know what that

means he uses the good things in your

life the posi things but he also

uses the difficult things and the

troubling things and the bad things in

your

life and it's important for us to

understand that What God Says is good is

different to what the world says is good

you see in our

world good is related to

happiness nothing ever going wrong

something's good if it never breaks down

something's good good if I have lots of

resource in my life is my bank account

is full and my car has lots of petrol

and I have lots of food in the fridge i'

I've good it's a I've got a good life

that's what the world tells us that a

good life is a good job and lots of

money and lots of happiness and all of

those

things but if

we look at what God says is good if we

continue to read on In this passage in

verse 29 he shows us very

clearly what God sees as

good for God knew his people in

advance and he chose them to become like

his son so he that his son would be the

firstborn amen among many brothers and

sisters God's good purpose for your

life is not stuff is not all that stuff

we think is blessing health happiness

all of those things

resource God's good purpose for our life

is that we would become more and more

like

Jesus

Damian talked about it when he shared

that

encouragement that the most important

thing in our life is our relationship

with

God that's what matters most

the good that God wants to give to our

life is that we would become more and

more like

Jesus and that doesn't mean we won't

have

trouble and like any good parent God

uses the good times in our lives to

encourage us and build us up and and and

make us feel okay but he also uses the

difficult and the challenging and even

the painful times s in our lives to do

good in our

lives what's that good to make us more

like

Jesus

because in God's kingdom

good is us becoming more and more like

Jesus everything we experience in life

both good and difficult both nice and

hard is an opportunity to be molded into

the image of

Jesus to be molded into someone who is

fully connected to God and fully willing

to do what God asks us to

do

so this morning as we come to a close

I'd ask you to Bow your

heads and close your

eyes as Jesus said he said in this world

world you will have

trouble but he also doesn't tell us to

fight it or to run from

it instead he tells us to come to him

and give

me all your worries your burdens and

your

troubles he ask us to cast all our cares

on

him because he cares for

us he asks us to cling on to him and

hold on to him with everything we have

he asks us to trust in his

word in his promises that he gives

perfect peace to those who trust

him and he asks us to turn to each other

and look to each other for help and

encouragement as

well all for the

purpose of helping us become more and

more like

Jesus in other words all for the

purpose of us being his

children and experiencing all the

goodness of being his children brings

us so this

morning I just want to invite you as we

close to give those things to him to

cast your cares upon

Him to turn to his word and Trust in his

word maybe God wants to remind you of an

encouragement he's given you in the past

and remind you that he hasn't finished

interestingly in that first Peter

passage he says in due time he will

bring it to pass in God's time at the

right time he will whatever you're going

through at the right time it will

pass he will deal with it he will bring

it to

pass and God wants to invite you to give

it all to him this morning so as Julie

plays and

sings I'd love to invite you to respond

to God however you feel

comfortable but it starts with

acknowledging our need and saying God I

need you right

now so you might want to stand where you

are you might want to kneel you might

want to just lift your hands and

surrender and say

God I put my trust in

you I need your help however you want to

do it you choose to do it but as Julie

sings I would encourage

you to step towards

him to renew your trust in

him to cast all your cares upon Him

because he cares for

youy could ever