Strategies for Stressful Times: Week 5

This morning we are continuing the series Strategies for Stressful Times.

And today I would like.

To lead you through Jesus' keys of resilience. Resilience is

the ability to keep going when everything inside of you

wants to stop. This morning I believe that somebody in

this room is tired. And when I say tired, I'm

not talking about sleepy. I'm talking about soul tired. Soul

tired meaning that you have become weary from all of

the things that may have been pressing on you over

a length of time.

But I want to let you know you are not alone.

That this world is filled with pressing moments that become stressful.

Stress was revealed to me in my process of devotion.

Stress is Satan's tactic requiring every system stopping.

I'm going to say that again.

Stressed is Satan's tactics requiring every system stopping. I don't

know about you, but sometimes when you are stressed out,

you can't eat, you can't sleep, you can't do the

things you normally do. So if the enemy can get

you to stop, he has you, but we can't stop.

We got to keep going because the Lord is pushing

us onward and forward. So this morning, I want to

introduce you to somebody. You may have heard of him before,

but he's somebody that we have seen go through this

type of stress. He was betrayed by friends, abandoned by

his disciples, mocked by a crowd, beaten by soldiers, nailed

to a cross. And yet, not once, not one single

moment did Jesus forget his identity. That's not an accident.

That's what resilience looks like. It is that unshakable resilience

that we see in Christ that you might be asking,

how can a believer like me have that?

Well, there's good news, church, today. There are keys to resilience.

And Jesus shows us those keys in one passage of

scripture we see all four. And today I want to

unpack that one passage.

It's one verse. And this one verse I'm going to

go back to multiple times.

And during the time as we're unpacking it, I'm also

going to give you some action steps, some things you

can walk out of this room with that you can

practice to help you to become resilient in the faith.

Amen?

So this morning I like to call these the four keys.

Of resilience. Or four.

The four keys of knowing. Jesus knew some things that

we need to know today. So this morning, I'd like

for you, if you would, to turn with me or

look with me at John 13, 3. To set the scene,

this is the night before Jesus is to go towards

the cross. And he is about to wash the feet

of the disciples. These are the very men who would

abandon him. These are the very people who he has

loved in his ministry for those years, but the time

was coming.

But how could.

Jesus wash feet knowing what was coming ahead? Well, he

was able to do this because of this verse here.

Jesus knew that the father had put all things under

his power and that he had come from God and

was returning to God. Now we can read that and

just slide past and miss some very key things. But

if we look closely, there are four knowings packed into

one verse. Number one, he knew the Father. That meant

that he had a relationship. He knew God. Two, he

knew all things were under his power. He was knowing

his identity, who he was, his identity in God. Three,

he knew he had come from God. That meant that

he knew his purpose. And then four, he knew he

was returning to God. He knew his destination. As believers,

it's so important that we know these four things because

these four things settle all other issues. Resilience isn't gritting

your teeth and bearing the challenge. Resilience is knowing who

God is, knowing that your identity in him, and knowing

what your purpose is, and knowing where you're going.

I don't know about you, but I like to know.

I don't like to do anything that I don't know

what I'm doing. Like, you can't just swing up to

my house and say, hey, hop in the car, let's go.

Chances are I'm not going to go. I'm going to

find some kind of something I got to do because

I know something else I need to do. I always

got something else to do. So you have to give

me some information. I'm not just going to go without information.

Information is very important.

It's so good for us, but at the same.

Time, it can be dangerous because information got us in

trouble at the beginning because Adam and Eve wanted to know.

And their knowledge that they wanted to receive has set

them on a path of destruction. But I want to

let you know there is some knowing that is so

important to the believer. And the knowing of who God is,

point one, knowing God is the most important thing.

This is the first key of Jesus' resilience. He knew

the Father intimately. Intimately.

He had spent time with the Father. He was connected

to him, especially under pressure. We see this show up

often in Scripture because of the time that he was

spending with the Father. Luke 5, 16 says, Not sometimes,

not when there was an issue or a decision he

had to make.

No, often.

He often withdrew to spend time with the Father. Prayer

was not an emergency flare that Jesus threw up, but

it was like oxygen to him. May God give us

a praying spirit that we are constantly finding ourselves praying

no matter what the circumstance, no matter what the situation,

that we are people of prayer, that we're praying in

the supermarket, we're praying at the school, we're praying at work,

we're praying in the car. We are praying. We're always

poised to pray. It was his oxygen. Now watch this.

It shows up powerfully in Luke 4 because this is

when he is led by the spirit into the wilderness.

For 40 days and 40 nights, the enemy hammered him

with temptation. Notice the enemy's open in verse 3 of

chapter 4.

He says, if you are the son of.

God, Satan's whole strategy was to shake Jesus's knowledge of

God and his identity. He wanted to shake his knowledge

of God and his own identity. But every single time,

Jesus answered from Scripture, from the relationship that he had

with the Father. Because he knew the Father and it

was already built, this relationship, I want to let you

know that his relationship was not built in the wilderness

when he arrived in the wilderness. His relationship was already standing.

Here's the biggest principle, church, this morning, is that you

cannot draw on a relationship in a storm forever. that

you were not willing to build in the sunshine. I'm

going to say that again. You cannot draw on a

relationship in the storm that you are not willing to

build in the sunshine. It means that on your best days,

those are times of prayer. It's not when everything falls

apart that we start to pray. And know this, if

you do start to pray in your storm, that the

Lord will be there.

He will show up.

But I want to let you know there's something powerful

when you're already poised for prayer. It's in those lonely places,

in the places in the wilderness, in those times where

you are by yourself with the Lord that.

You get to know his character. You get to know

his nature.

Acts 17, 27 reminds us that he's not far from us.

See, this actually hits personally. This week I went through something.

I've been dealing with this issue with this mission house

that we have in Anderson. And this is a ministry

house that we have for students who come internationally. They

come to the country and it's hard for them to

get utilities turned on and all of these things. And

so my wife and I, we went into this mission ministry.

And I want to let you know this mission ministry

has cost us a lot over the years. Boiler went

out a couple years. We had to get a new boiler.

This winter, the temperatures were so low, pipes burst. And

so we have been going through the process of repairing pipes.

And so I got hold of this one guy who

was supposed to be repairing pipes. We hooked up in June.

And when we hooked up in June, this was supposed

to be a three-week project. I want to let you

know the project is yet to be done. And so

I called him to check in one more time. And

when I'm talking to him, he's still not telling me

what I need to hear. And I want to let

you know, saints, I was having a moment. I thought

I was going to crash out. I was on my

way to Anderson to meet him. And I said, Lord,

I need you to help me because I can't crash out.

This ain't the right thing to do. I know I'm frustrated.

I'm tired. I'm exhausted with this situation.

Lord, I'm trying to serve you through this mission. But

at the same time, it's frustrating. There's money lost. There's

so many things. And Lord God... I need your help.

And I started to pray. And as I was praying,

the Lord just started working with me. I want to

let you know, if you pray, the Lord will work

with you. He will help you through the situation. And

so as I drove up to the house, I got there.

I was there first. And I walked around. I started

looking at some of the things that were done and

some of the things that weren't done.

The things that needed to be done. I was like, oh, Lord, oh, Lord, help, help, help.

And then he pulled up. He's an older gentleman. Very

wise in the business. But this has been the longest

project ever. And so he walked up and I looked

at him. And the Lord had did something in my

heart in that moment.

I saw him different.

And the Lord so gently said, but you haven't broken

bread with him. So I asked him, I said, hey,

what are you doing after we meet now? He said, well,

I got another thing at 2 o'clock. And I said, well,

that gives us some time. I said, can we go

to lunch? And we went to lunch without an agenda,

without anything. And we sat there and we broke bread.

It wasn't about business anymore. It wasn't about transaction. It

was about present. It was about me being surrendered to

God more than I was surrendered to the situation or

fixing the problem.

God is looking for us to be people of God.

Who will.

Remember who he is in the midst of our situation.

So this week I want to give you an action step,

a practice. that you can do this week. This is

what I want to call this morning, wilderness deposits. And

a wilderness deposit is when you wake up in the morning,

before you grab your phone, before you do anything, before

you grab the dog and walk the dog, before you

do anything in the morning, I want you to stop

for five minutes, give yourself five minutes, and I want

you just to sit one and say his name.

Jesus. Jesus.

Two, I want you just to thank him for one thing.

Be grateful for one thing. There's something that you should.

Be grateful for.

The first thing is that your eyes open up that morning.

Amen?

And then after that, I want you to sit in

silence just for a few minutes and listen. I want

to let you know we do so much talking. Don't

ask him for anything. Don't request anything. Don't put anything

before him. But just be present and let the Lord

talk to you for a little while. Listen, if you

will be quiet, he will speak. This is what we

call the wilderness deposit. Knowing God is foundational.

Foundational.

It is the building block on which everything else that

I'm going to say today stands on.

The enemy in.

The wilderness didn't just try to attack Jesus' knowledge of

the Father, but he also tried to attack his identity,

which leads us to point number two, knowing you. You

need to know you. You need to know your identity.

Back up to John 13, 3. This is what it says.

Jesus knew the Father had put all things under his power.

Before Jesus ever picked.

Up a towel to wash anybody's feet, he already knew

who he was.

We must know who we are.

This matters because identity is exactly where the enemy attacks.

He says this three times. Notice what he says.

If you are the son of God, if you are

the son of God, if you are the son of God.

Now notice this. He never says that Jesus is not

the son of God, but he asked if he was,

prove it. The enemy has been trying to force us

to prove things that we don't have to prove. It

is not your responsibility to prove who you are. The

Lord has already established who you are. And in Luke 3, 22,

where Jesus is baptized, the Bible says that God and

the Holy Spirit was there. And the Bible says, you

are my son whom I love. With you I am

well pleased. I love this so much that the other

version of Matthew is on the back of my license plate.

Everywhere I drive, I hope people read it so they

know that I'm his son. He loves me and he's

good with me. I didn't have to do anything to

earn it. You don't have to do anything to earn

the love of God. The fact that he's already pleased

with you already. You can't do anything for it. You

can't manufacture it. You cannot serve your way into love.

He already decided he loves you. I know you're like,

my old cruddy, crusty self. Yes, he loves you. No

matter what. Check this out. Your worth was not declared

over you because of something you did. Because you can't

earn it. Ephesians 1.5 says, he predestined us to be

adopted as his children through Jesus Christ in accordance with

his pleasure and will. He had already decided to love you.

Then John, 1 John 1.

3 and 1 says, And that is what we are.

We are the children of God. Stress lies to you

and it tells you about your identity. It says a

whole lot of things. It says you're a failure. It

says you're the diagnosis. You're the divorce. It says, that

you are the worst decision that you've ever made. But

I want to let you know today that these lies,

these whispers that he has, you have to counteract it

with the word of God.

Jesus never spoke his own words. He always spoke the

word of God.

And if we are going to be the people of God,

we've got to be the word people, people who speak

the word of God. So how do we do that?

This is a practice this week. I want you to

write down one identity statement. This is a declaration over

your own life. I want you to find a scripture

that you like, something that really describes who God is.

Maybe it's I am more than a conqueror. I want

you to put it down on a sticky note. Maybe

put it on your locked phone case. Maybe it's something

that you have on your screen at work. Wherever you

need it that you know you're going to see it.

Every time you see it, I want you to read it.

But I don't want you just to read it. I

want you to declare it. There's a difference between reading

something and declaring it. I read a whole lot of stuff,

but just because I'm reading it doesn't mean I declare it.

But when you declare something, it sounds like this. Let

me give you a few scriptures just in case you

don't have them, you don't know what, you can go

look for these, amen?

Here we go.

I am a child of God, John 1, 12. I

am chosen by God, 1 Peter 2, 9. I am

a new creation, 2 Corinthians 5, 17. I am God's

masterpiece created for a purpose, Ephesians 2, 10. I am

more than a conqueror through Christ, Romans 8, 37. I

am forgiven and redeemed, Ephesians 1, 7. I am never alone.

God is with me, Isaiah 41, 10. And if you

don't have enough time to get all those written down,

You can say it like this.

I am chosen. I am loved. I am forgiven.

I am God's child. I have a purpose. I am victorious.

And God is with me. Declare that over yourself. So

that when the enemy tries, he can't. Because you reminded

yourself who you are.

You are his child.

And he loves you. Knowing God is foundational. It is

the building block on which everything else stands. It is

the anchor.

Knowing who you are steadies you.

But there's a third key. And this key is knowing purpose.

Going right back to John 13, 3. Jesus knew he

had come from God. He understood his assignment. He knew

why he was sent. I want to let you know,

you need to know why you're here. God did not

just place you on the earth to flop around, to

do your own thing and go about life and just

kind of like do something. I don't know what, but something. No,

he designed you with a plan and with a purpose.

Well, how do you know that?

Luke 4, 18 through 19, right after the wilderness, Jesus

stands up in the synagogue and he reads from Isaiah.

And this is what he reads. The spirit of the

Lord is.

On me because he has anointed me to proclaim good

news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim

freedom to the prisoners and recovery of sight for the

blind to set the oppressed free.

Then he says something so powerful.

In verse 21, today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.

Jesus knew who he was. He knew why he was here.

He knew the responsibility. He knew his assignment. He knew

his purpose. And each one of you in this place,

you have a purpose. Jesus wasn't wandering around confused, just showing.

Up to places and maybe there was a miracle and

maybe somebody will get healed.

No, he was intentional. What if you showed up to

work intentional on assignment? What if you showed up in

your family intentional and on assignment? What if you showed

up in your own life intentional and on assignment? What

would change? Who would change?

What circumstance would change? Well, purpose gives you the ability

to be resilient. It gives your pain strength. A why.

Everyone in this room, your pain needs a why. And

if you can explain the why, you can keep on going.

You can keep showing up. You can still be there.

Check this out. After Jesus had spent a lot of

time with the woman at the well, and this was

a long conversation. If you ever read the woman at

the well story, we only, you know, use parts of it.

But if you read the whole, it's long.

Most preachers have to break it up because it's too

much to preach in one setting, right? And so, but

after he has this conversation, the disciples show up with

food and they're ready to feed him. And they say, hey, Jesus,

why don't you eat something? And this is what he says.

This was his response. He says, my food is to

do the will of him who sent me and to

finish his work. Purpose fed him when food couldn't. Your

purpose will feed you in ways that you have no idea.

You will feel joy, strength. You will feel so many

things when you're walking in purpose. It'll allow you to

walk through your why. Here's what I want you to hear, church.

Stress will try to convince you that your current struggle

is pointless.

It's pointless.

That your job loss, that your health battle, that your

home situation is pointless. That this wilderness season is unnecessary.

But Romans 8.28 helps remind us. It tells us that

God works all things together for the good of them

who love God.

And those who are called according to his purpose. His purpose.

His purpose.

He has a purpose for your pain. Oh, my God,

that's good this morning. He has a purpose for your pain.

Nobody goes to the gym and work out and think

you're not going to be in pain. And if you're

not in pain, you didn't work out. You just went

and got some Tootsie Rolls at the front desk at

Planet Fitness. I know somebody's especially laughing about that today, man.

This is the karma... In our lives where the enemy

wanted to put a period. Your story isn't finished. Your

current assignment may not be your purpose.

Hear this.

Your current assignment may not be your purpose. But it's

leading you somewhere. It's taking you somewhere. And the Lord

will get you to the place you need. That he

has purpose for you. This week I want you to

write down one sentence that answers the question.

This question here. What has God specifically placed.

In front of me to do? Meaning what is my purpose?

What has God placed in front of me to do?

And it doesn't have to be anything grand. It just

needs to be something that you can identify as purpose

in your life. Maybe it's to encourage a coworker. Maybe

it's to show your kids the love of Christ, to

walk it out in front of them. Maybe it's just

to be faithful in showing up in the places that

God has called you.

Keep showing up. Well, here's mine.

I bring light, build up people, and help them to

become who God created them to be.

That's my purpose. So anytime I show up, I should

be bringing light.

I should be building people up to help them to

become who God created them to be. I have to

remind myself because sometimes I can get confused about my

purpose because sometimes I can become very human and I

can get caught up in my own thing.

But if I.

Remember my assignment, my purpose is to bring light. My

purpose is to build up people to help them to

become who God wants them to be.

Then guess what? I'm on purpose. Why don't you take

the time this week to get on purpose?

Purpose reframes the pressure that we experience in our lives.

It gives us a different view of what we are

currently experiencing. Knowing God is foundational. Knowing God is foundational.

It is that building block which everything else stands and

it anchors you. Knowing who you are, it steadies you.

Knowing your purpose fuels you. But there's one more key

that I want to give you before we end service today.

Because this might be one of the most important ones.

And this might be the one that even allowed Jesus

to endure.

The cross itself. Point four, knowing the destination.

The last phrase of John 13, 3 says this. Jesus

knew he was returning to God. He knew where he

was going. He knew that this wasn't the end of

his story. Hebrews 12, 2 says this so plainly. Who

for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning

his shame and sat down at the right hand of

the throne of God. Jesus could endure the worst thing

in humanity because he knew that this was not the

end of his story. He knew that this was not

the end of his purpose. This was not, this was

a part of the journey. And I want to let

you know, if you can put your eyes on your destination,

I know we are so connected to this world because

this world is all we know.

This world is all we have.

Our cars and our houses and our kids and our

dogs and our streets and all the things that we

have here on planet earth. But I want to let

you know that this earth is not your home.

You are just passing through.

And if we could put our eyes on heaven, if

we can look beyond this moment, beyond this pain, beyond

this journey and see Jesus, you can endure. You can

make it through. Jesus was not caught up and gritting

his teeth through Good Friday. He was looking past the cross,

past the tomb. He was looking past even resurrection. He

was looking for the ascension. He was looking for return

back to the Father. He was looking for the next

phase of his story.

I don't know about you, but you need to be

looking for heaven. If this.

Is our final destination, then we need to be preparing

for heaven so that the world here and the things.

Down here become strangely dim. I know I'm just like you.

I get caught up sometimes and I forget. I forget

that this is only a moment, that it's like a vapor,

and then it'll be gone. Jesus never lost sight.

Well, how do I know?

2 Corinthians 4, 17 through 18 says, our light and

momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that

far outweighs them all. Because we fix our eyes not

on what is seen, but on what is unseen. Since

what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is

eternal glory. Romans 8, 18 says, our present sufferings are

not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed

in us. Brothers, sisters, friends, you are not stuck. You

are not stranded here on planet earth. You are in route.

You are on a journey. You are on your way home.

We're just passing through. I don't know the day or

the hour, but this is just a road and heaven

is the destination. We don't talk about that no more.

The church stopped talking about heaven and we just started

talking about making it here on earth. I want to

let you know heaven is the destination. I know that's

different preaching, right? You're preaching now. I don't want to

tell you how to get through earth.

I want to tell you how to get to heaven.

I want to make heaven my home. Check this out.

I know that you're going through a whole lot right now.

But because heaven is our destination, there's going to come

one day that every tear, every diagnosis, every sleepless night,

every unanswered question will be swallowed up when we see

him face to face. The saints used to sing a

song and it says, oh, I want to see him.

Look upon his face. there to sing forever of his

saving grace. On the streets of glory, let me lift

my voice. Cares are past, home at last, ever to rejoice.

I don't know about you, but I want to see him.

I want to see him one day. Tonight, this week,

I want you to do something. This is the fourth

thing I want you to try. This is a practice.

Before you close your eyes, I want you to say

this out loud. This is not the end of my story. Uh-huh.

I don't know what you're going through, but when you

go to lay down tonight, this is not the end

of my story. The sickness is not the end of

my story. The trouble in the marriage, this is not

the end of my story. Those wayward kids, this is

not the end of my story. I'm on my way home.

Everything here is temporary. Resilience isn't denying the pain of today.

It's refusing to let the pain have the final say.

Let's bring all this together today. Knowing God kept Jesus

connected in the wilderness. Knowing who he was kept Jesus

secure when the enemy attacked his identity. Knowing his purpose

kept Jesus focused when exhaustion tried to distract him. Knowing

his destination kept Jesus enduring when the cross tried.

To define him. Knowing is the key.

If you know these four things, I want to let

you know these four knowings lived in one resilient Savior,

and it works. Jesus leaves us a road mapped to heaven,

and it's through these four keys.

Well, I know the keys work, right?

You know, I don't know about you, if you ever

had to get new keys.

You get the keys, you go home, and you test them, right?

Right?

I know some of you, you don't have keys anymore.

You got little numbers.

You put the numbers on and going, y'all so techie.

Look at y'all, techie, right? But old people, like myself,

we used to get keys. You go get them made

and then you got to come and bring and make

sure that the key actually works in the door. And

so I know these keys work because they've been tested.

They were tested by this guy in the New Testament.

His name is Paul. And Paul ended up writing some stuff.

And this is what Paul wrote. He says this. He says,

I want to know Christ. This is Philippians 3, 10

through 17. I want to know Christ.

Yes.

Yes. to know the power of his resurrection and participation

in his sufferings, become like him in his death, and

so somehow attaining to the resurrection from the dead. Not

that I have already obtained this or have already arrived

at my goal, but I press on to take hold

of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.

Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to

have taken hold.

Of it, but one thing I do, forgetting what is

behind and straining towards what is ahead, I press on

towards the goal to win the prize for which God

has called me, heavenward in Christ Jesus. Paul grabbed the keys,

they work for him.

And they'll work for you.

That you might know God, know who you are in him,

know your purpose, and know your destination. Would you stand

on your feet with me this morning? Here's what I know.

Some of us have walked in this room carrying some

stuff too heavy. And someone's sitting right beside you and

they don't even know what you're carrying. You've been trying

to hold it all together. But you don't have to.

Not anymore.

I believe that even through this message, the Holy Spirit

has put his finger right on the spot.

The pain exists. The pain exists.

And today is a day to turn it over. If

you don't know Jesus and the forgiveness of sin, maybe today,

maybe it's today, maybe it's today.

That you ask Jesus into your heart and say, Lord Jesus,

I want you to be my savior. Maybe it's today.

That you take what you were carrying and you turn

it over to him.

Maybe you are a believer.

And you've been walking with the Lord, but you've been

taking on more than you needed to carry. Last week,

Pastor Andrew really knocked this one out the park when

he brought us to Matthew, the 11th chapter, verse 28.

And it says this, come to me all you who

are weary and burdened. And I will give you rest

for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

Give it over to Jesus.

Whatever it is, whatever the circumstance, whatever the situation, whatever

the thing that you're.

So concerned and stressed out about, guess what? The enemy's

tactics will not work. He will not stress you out

because greater is he that is in you than he

that is in the world. Lean into that today. This morning,

I want to pray for you Let's pray. Father, I

thank you for the four.

Keys that you have released to us today. Lord, help

us not to lose the keys on the way outside

the door. Help us to pick them up and.

Begin to.

Unlock doors in our lives that have been seen to

be shut and frustrating. Lord, that we might remember who

God is, that we know God intimately, that we might

understand who we are through his lens, that we might

pursue our purpose in God. And Lord, that we will

not forget the destination is not the address that we live,

but Lord God, our destination is heaven to be with you. Father,

Strengthen your people today to never forget, to always remember

these four keys.

May they apply the skills and see victory in Jesus' name.

Let everybody say amen. Amen. Amen.