Rick Warren - How to Trust God When You Don’t Like the Changes in Your Life

As your pastor, I am deeply concerned about how you're

handling the trauma and the stress of all of the

changes that have taken place in your life in the

past 18 months. Now, certainly the global pandemic of COVID

changed everything, and we're still not out of the woods.

We're still not free from it yet. But there's a

lot of other changes going on in the world at

the same time. And that's why I started this short

series a couple weeks ago that I'm calling Strategies for

Stressful Times. Strategies for Stressful Times. And we're looking at

tips and strategies and skills from the scripture on how

do you handle when things aren't good. The first message,

you remember a couple weeks ago, I did a message

called Finding the Strength to Keep Going Today. when you're

emotionally worn out.

Anybody ever felt that way?

Emotionally worn out, yeah. And then last week we looked

at how do you be happy no matter what happens?

And we talked about how happiness is a choice. It

doesn't depend on happenings. You're as happy as you choose

to be. If you're unhappy, you can't blame your wife

or your husband or anybody else. You're as happy as you.

Choose to be.

I know people in much worse situations than us that

have chosen to be happy. This week in part three

of this Strategies for Stressful Times, I want us to

look at how do you trust God during changes you

don't like? How do you trust God for changes you

don't like during those changes? Now, we all know that

everything constantly changes. Everything is constantly changing. In fact, even

material objects are actually changing at the molecular level constantly.

There are protons and neutrons and electrons that are zipping

around in these metal bars. They look like they're solid,

they're moving at a molecular level. Now, while we love

some changes, and we all do, we love some changes,

but there are some changes we just hate. And there

are seasons like the one we're in right now where

change is so rapid and so relentless.

That you just get tired of it.

And right now we have been hit with so many

unwanted changes that as I talk to people.

They're reeling from it. They are literally reeling.

And so many people, maybe you feel this way, just

feel like they're in limbo right now. They're just treading

water because you're unable to get on with your life,

unable to get out of what's going on. And it

feels like we can't really get on going because we

don't know how long this thing's gonna last. And a

lot of people are just overwhelmed and they're just barely

getting by. I care about you if you feel that way.

And so today, As I've studied God's word all this week,

I wanna give you some very practical guidance from God's

word on how do you trust God when you're going

through changes in your life that you don't like. You'll

have plenty of those in life. And what I wanna

do is I wanna give you, I wanna summarize what

scripture says. Five things, five truths you need to remember

and five things you need to do, okay? So if

you get out your message notes, we'll look at these

five things you need to remember when you're going through

changes you don't like, and how do you keep trusting

God in those situations? So anytime you're overwhelmed by change,

there are five things you need to remember.

So write these down.

Number one, this one's kind of obvious, but we need

to start with it.

Change is unavoidable, okay? That's the first thing. We all

know that.

But we just need to be reminded that change is unavoidable.

No matter how much you like a change or how

much you dislike a change, no matter how much you

like the way things have been, they're not gonna stay

the same. Now, when change happens and it's constant, you

can complain or you can grumble or you can get

mad or you can blame other people. You can even

try to stop the change futilely, because you can't stop change,

but things are still gonna keep changing. Every moment of

your life, you are changing for good or for bad. Now,

when God created the earth, way back in the beginning,

here's one of the first things he said in Genesis 8,

Genesis 8:22

verse 22. As long as the earth remains, there will

be springtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer,

day and night.

What's he saying?

He's saying that everything on this planet is seasonal. Nothing

stays the same. We live in a world of opposites.

And the world isn't the same the way it used

to be. Your family isn't the same the way it

used to be. Your job isn't the same it used

to be. You aren't the same that you used to be.

As I said, even inanimate.

Objects like this table It looks solid, but actually at

a molecular level, it's moving constantly on the inside. Many

of you know that I drove the same green Ford

truck for 20 years.

Why? I liked it, okay? I don't buy a.

Car for bling or to show my status. It got

me the same way a Rolls Royce would, and it

was comfortable. And frankly, I would have driven that 20-year-old

truck for the rest of the life, but But after

a quarter of a million miles, it started changing and

it started breaking down and it started falling apart. And

I couldn't stand to give it away. So actually it's

parked in my barn, even though I don't drive it anymore.

Now I've taught this for decades. Look there in your outline,

I've taught you that there is no growth without change.

There is no growth without change. There is no change

without loss. There is no loss without grief and there

is no grief without pain. A person who wants to

grow and be better but not go through the pain

of change is like a woman saying, I wanna have

a baby but I don't want my tummy to get

bigger and I don't wanna go through labor. It ain't

gonna happen. They don't call it labor for nothing. Any

of you ladies wanna testify to that right now? To

bring new life into the world requires pain. Things change,

but remember this, if nothing ever changed, you would have

never been born because you were a change. You wouldn't

have even been born. So change is unavoidable. Okay, we

got that one down. Here's number two, this is more important.

Change is not always good, but God uses it for good.

Change is not always good, but God uses it for

good in the lives of those who trust him. It's

not good for everybody, but it is good in the

lives of those who trust him. One of the greatest

promises of the Bible, Romans 8, 28. We know, we're confident,

that in all things, God works for the good of

those who love him, who have been called according to

his purpose. Now, As I've said many times, that verse

does not say everything is good. There's a lot of

things in the world that are not good. Evil is

not good. Cancer is not good. Rape, molestation is not good. War,

prejudice is not good. A lot of bad things in

the world. But the Bible says God specializes in bringing

good even out of bad. He can turn crucifixions into

a resurrection. And the way God works all things together

for good is kind of like baking a cake. Now,

you may not realize this, but I'm a master cake builder.

I know how to bake cakes because I figured.

If I wanna eat them, I don't know how to

make them.

I once made a German chocolate cake from scratch, no

box for my wife's birthday.

So I know how to make cakes. Now, when you

make a cake.

The individual ingredients don't taste good at all. In fact,

some of them are quite bitter. If you eat flour

by itself, doesn't taste good. You eat butter by itself,

doesn't taste good. If you eat baking powder by itself,

oil by itself, doesn't taste good. Even a little vanilla,

raw eggs by themselves. None of the ingredients in a

cake tastes good by themselves. But, If you mix them

all together, stir it all up and stir and stir

and stir.

And then put the heat on it, it's delicious. Delicious.

In your life, there will be elements of your life

that are bitter and unpleasant. And you go, that doesn't

taste good. I don't like that change in my life.

I don't like what just happened. I don't like what's

happening in the world today. But God takes it all.

And he takes even the bad and the bitter. Have

you ever drunk some vanilla by itself?

It's not very tasty. And he mixes it all up.

All things work together for the good of those who

love God, who are called according to his purpose. Now,

the most important word in that verse that we just

looked at on your outline, Romans 8, 28, is the

word all. So circle the word all. What does all include?

In all things, God works for the good of those

who love him. That means all, it literally means all.

It means every circumstance you face, every choice you make,

every consequence you feel, and every change you experience, including

all of the changes we've just had in the last

18 months, all work together for the good of those

who love God. You know, some people act as if

God was caught off guard by COVID-19. Like God goes, wow,

I didn't see that coming. I didn't imagine that world

global pandemic ever happening, and I had no idea what

it was gonna do to all my churches.

Man, am I in a mess. God is not sweating

this pandemic.

The church has outlasted everything for 2,000 years. Every dictator,

every pandemic, every fire, every flood, every revolution, every critic

is still here and none of those things are. Now,

the difference between whether you're gonna be bitter at the

end of this season we're in, rapid change. and relentless change.

Are you gonna be bitter or are you gonna be better?

The difference is the letter I. The difference between bitter

and better is I. I make the difference, my attitude.

So I need to remember that change is not always good,

but God always uses it.

For good if I trust him. Number three, here's the

third thing to remember.

God's purpose in every circumstance, every one of them, including

the ones we're going through right now, is to make.

Me more like Jesus.

God's purpose in every change in my life is to

make me more like Jesus.

Now the promise of Romans.

8 28 is a wonderful promise, but it doesn't really

make sense until you read the next verse, Romans 8 29.

So let me read you those two verses together from

the New Living Translation. Here's what it says. We know,

in other words, we're not guessing, We know that God

causes everything, even the bad stuff, even the bad changes.

God causes everything to work together for the good of everybody? No,

for the good of those who love him and are

called to his purpose for them. For God knew in

advance who would come to him. He already knew before

you decided to accept Christ that you were gonna accept him.

He knew in advance who would come to him, and

he chose them to, circle this, become like his son,

so that his son, Jesus, would be the firstborn in

his family with many brothers and sisters.

God doesn't just want you in his family.

He wants you to develop the family characteristics of a

daughter of God or a son of God, a child

of God, like father, like son.

Like father, like daughter. God says, I.

Want you to grow up. And who's the model for maturity?

Not you or me, Jesus Christ. And God says, my

number one goal in your life is to make you

like Jesus Christ. His number one goal is not to

make you happy. His number one goal is not to

make you comfortable. His number one goal is to not

make your life pleasant. Those things are the result of

becoming like Christ.

This is not heaven.

In heaven, there's no sorrow, suffering, sadness, sickness. But on earth,

everything's broken. And so what are we doing here? This

is a school in character. For the 60 or 80

or 90 or at the most 100 years you get

on this planet, you're in school for character. You're not

taking your career to heaven. You're not taking your cash

to heaven, you're not taking your reputation to heaven, what

are you taking to heaven? Only one thing, your character,

what you became, the man you became on this earth,

you're taking that to heaven. The woman you became on

this earth, you're taking that to heaven. So his number

one goal, God uses everything for our good and what

is that good? He uses it to build my character.

He uses it to make me more like Jesus. So

what is Jesus like? The best picture of Jesus in

the Bible is Galatians chapter two, verses 23 and 24,

22 and 23. They're called the fruit of the Spirit,

nine character qualities. The fruit of the Spirit are love,

Jesus is love, joy, Jesus is total joy, peace, Jesus

was always at peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, kindness, self-control.

These nine qualities are a perfect picture of Jesus. Now,

how does God, Produce that kind of fruit in you.

How does God make you more loving? Are you just

walking down the street one day and all of a sudden, zap,

you're filled with love.

And I'm so loving. I love everybody. I'm just the

lover of lovers. No, no, no. It doesn't zap.

There's no pill you can take, no seminar you can

attend that's gonna turn you from a hater into a

lover or from a loving person into a really compassionate person.

How does God produce love in your life? How does

God produce joy in your life? How does God produce

peace and patience in your life? Listen very closely. I've

told this before, but I'll tell it to you again.

By putting you in the exact opposite situation where you

get a chance to learn and practice that character quality.

How does God teach you love?

It's real easy to love people like you who are cool,

If God's gonna teach you real love, he's gonna put

you around some unlovable people, unlovely people. Now don't look

at them right now. Don't hit them in the elbow,

with your elbow, be cool. But God puts people around

you who get on your nerves to teach you real love.

They're heavenly sandpaper. They're running, roughing down your rough edges.

Anybody can love the lovely.

How do you learn to love the unlovely the way

Jesus loves you in spite of all your hangups and

hurts and stuff? How about joy? How does God teach

you real joy? In the middle of suffering, in the

middle of grief. Joy is not happiness. Anybody can be

happy when you're out at a bonfire at the beach

and the sun's setting. Man, it doesn't get any better

than this. Anybody can be happy fly fishing in the mountains.

If God's gonna teach you real joy, it'll be in

the middle when your heart's breaking. How about peace? How

does God teach you peace? It's easy to be peaceful

when everything's going your way. He'll allow chaos in your life,

conflict in your life, to teach you inner peace, the

peace that passes understanding, which says there's no reason I

should be peaceful now, but I am. Patience, how does

God teach you patience? The Department of Motor Vehicles. Waiting

in line, traffic jams, delayed doctor's appointments, and any time

you have to wait, God is teaching you the quality

of patience to make you more like Jesus. I remember

a number of years ago when I was going through

major problems and I said, Lord, I need patience.

And instead of getting better, they got worse.

They got worse and I said, Lord, I need more

patience and my problems got worse and that Lord, I

need more patience, it got worse. Finally, after six months,

I realized I'm a lot more patient than when I

started out. It's easy to be patient, everything goes your way.

Have you thought about maybe the last 18 months God

has been trying to teach you love for people who

are unlovely, joy in the middle of crisis, Peace in

the middle of chaos and uncertainty and transition when you

feel like you're in limbo. Patience with people who won't be,

won't do what you want them to.

Do and on and on and on.

This is a school we're in right now and God's watching.

Change is not always good, but God uses it for

good and the purpose is to always make me more

like Jesus. All right, now here's the fourth thing you

need to remember.

Write this down.

God can use even human error and sin. God can

use even human error and sin. I'm talking about when

you are the innocent victim of somebody else's bad decision.

My family isn't what it used to be because my

husband broke it up. and left me, or my wife

left me, whatever. God can use even human error and

the sins of other people, not even just my own,

for the good in my, he can bring good in

my life. In his plan to grow your character and

make you like Jesus. Do you remember the story of Joseph?

Remember the story of Joseph, how his brothers were jealous

because he was the favorite son? And so his brothers

sold Joseph into slavery. and he's taken to Egypt. And

for the first 40 years of his life, everything goes wrong.

He's falsely accused of rape. He's sold into slavery. He's

thrown in jail for a crime he didn't commit. And

sitting in a foreign jail, 40 years later, he's gone,

nothing has gone right in my life so far. First

40 years, his whole life's downhill. But God had put

Joseph exactly where he wanted him to be. And a

series of God's circumstances, Joseph is raised up to become

the second most powerful leader in the most powerful nation

in the world at that time, which is Egypt in

the age of the pyramids. And when Joseph later, and

he actually saves two countries from famine. He saves Egypt

and he saves Israel from famine because of his wisdom.

but it didn't look like things were going good in

his life for a long, long time. One day though,

he finally has his brothers come to meet him and

he confronts his brothers, the guys who had sold him

into slavery in the first 40 years of nothing going

right in his life. And what was Joseph's attitude? He

treats them with grace. not bitterness, why? Well, Genesis 50

tells us his perspective, that God can use.

Even human error and sin for good.

And Joseph says in Genesis 50, 20, you, talking to

his brothers, you intended to harm me, but God, and

that's the most important thing, but God intended it for

good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving.

of many lives, two entire nations were saved. So out

of the sin of his brothers, two nations got saved

from famine and destruction. You intended to harm me, but

God intended for good. Friends, I'll be honest with you,

there are people in your life who intend bad. You

will face people in your life, people who resent you

at work, they're in competition with you, they're.

Critical of you, they don't like you or whatever.

They intend to hurt you, they intended for bad, but

God intends it for good. And so God can even

use human error and sin in all the circumstances of life.

You know, here at Saddleback, we all know the story

of how God brought good even out of Danny Duchesne's

life in prison, how he went to prison for a

double murder and was spending all his years in prison,

was in there nearly 30 years. but he came to

know the Lord and he lived for God. And I

called up the governor and asked for a commutation and said,

I need him on our staff to run our prisons ministry.

And he was, and today Danny is a pastor of

Saddleback and ministers to prisoners all over America.

That's grace.

That's grace, and that's the kind of church we are.

It doesn't matter what your background is. I don't care

what you've done, how badly you've done it, or who

you did it with, or how long you did it.

What matters is the direction of your feet today.

That's all that matters, all right?

Now here's the fifth truth that you need to remember

when we're going through changes we don't like. It's unavoidable,

but God uses it for good, and he wants to

make me like Christ, And even he can use the

bad things that other people do in my life that

spread the problems to me that I didn't ask for.

Number five, every change is always a test of my faith.

Write that down.

Every change in your life is always a test of

your faith. First Peter chapter one, verse seven says this.

The purpose of these troubles, you know the ones you're

in right now? The ones we've been facing for 18 months?

The purpose of these troubles is to test your faith.

Circle that.

As fire tests how genuine gold is. Your faith is

more precious than gold. And by passing the test, it

gives praise and glory and honor to God. Now I've

told you before, that having faith during a time of change,

major change, like we're going through these days, these ugly

days that we're going through, when it's rapid and it's relentless,

Having faith during a time of change is like a

trapeze act and a trapeze artist. You've all seen it

and the circuses stuff. Trapeze artist swings out on one bar.

The other one comes from the other direction. And at

one point they let go of this bar and then

grab onto that one and swing across to the other side.

At some point in that.

Trapeze artist, you have to let go of this one

in order to jump over and grab the other one.

At that point, you're hanging.

Suspended in space with nothing holding you up. That is

the moment of faith in your life. But when you

grab onto that, it'll take you to the other side.

If you don't take that risk, if you don't step

out in faith, you'll get out there and you go,

I'm afraid to do that. Then you swing back here

and you swing back here, swing back here, swing back here.

Pretty soon, you're dead center and there's only one way out,

straight down. You gotta let it go. You gotta stop

wishing for the good old days. They're not coming back.

Besides that, the good old days weren't as good as

you think they were. There were problems then too and

pressures and struggles then too. Now, before we look at

what God says to do, and we're gonna look at

that now in a time of change. I want you

to consider how these five truths apply to your life, okay?

So let's look at them again. Number one, change is unavoidable.

Are you gonna just stop complaining and griping and going,

I wish it were like 18 months ago or whenever

your golden days were? They're not coming back. It's unavoidable.

and you're just gonna make yourself miserable looking in the past.

It's like looking in the past, like trying to drive,

looking in the rear view mirror, you're gonna crash. But

you need to remember, you say, God, I believe you're

gonna use all of this, even the stuff I don't like,

the changes I don't like, you're gonna use it for.

Good in my life.

Okay, and I know that you wanna work on my character.

You're more interested in my character than my comfort. So

make me like Christ. Help me be more patient. Help

me be more loving. Help me be more at peace.

Help me be more faithful. Help me to have more self-control.

All those nine qualities. And then the people who've hurt

you or how society has hurt you over the past,

you just gotta go, okay, they intended it for bad,

but God can use it for good in my life.

And then to realize that everything in my life that happens,

every change, is a test of faith.

Write these down.

Number one, how do I trust in God when I'm

stressed by changes I don't like? Number one, invest more

time alone with God. Invest more time, you personally, alone

with God. Now listen, the greater the changes that are

happening in your life, the more you need time alone

with God. You need to make a specific time each

day that you sit down, that we call this a

quiet time, and you sit down, and you're just quiet,

and you don't turn on the TV or the radio,

and you read a little bit of the Bible, and

you talk to God in prayer, and you sit there,

and you be quiet, and you go, God, is there

anything you wanna say to me? It's just a timeout.

Your quiet time during times of rapid change is the

greatest stabilizer in your life.

It'll give you stability.

It's also the greatest re-energizer in your life when you're

worn out.

It'll give you more energy.

Now, have you noticed over the last 18 months that

you don't have as much energy as you did before

the pandemic started?

You don't. Nobody here has the same level of energy

as you had two years ago. Why?

Because that's what rapid and chronic stress and change and

trauma does to you. It saps your energy. It drains

your strength. So if you get up in the morning

and you go, I have a good night's sleep. And

two hours into the day, you're going, man, I'm worn out.

Welcome to the club. Welcome to the human race.

That's normal.

It's natural when you've been under 18 months of chronic change,

prolonged stress. And so fatigue, the fatigue that you're feeling

these days, it's natural. It's normal under prolonged stress. And

you're just trying to get by. And in many ways,

you're just treading water. And this has nothing to do

with your age. Because whether you're old or you're young,

both young and old are feeling this way, drained, destabilized,

and out of energy. What's the antidote? Isaiah chapter 40

Isaiah 40 · chapter mention

in the Bible. There on your outline, verses 28 and following.

Don't you know, don't you know that the Lord is

the everlasting God and he created everything on this earth

and in the universe too that would have taken a

lot of energy but it says this and he never

grows tired or weary that's why when you spend time

with the God who never gets tired or weary you

get re-energized and you get re-stabilized He never grows tired

or weary. You're tired and weary. Instead, he gives strength

to those who are weary.

That's you. And worn out. That's you. And he gives

power to the weak. That's you.

Even young people become exhausted and want to give up.

But those who trust and wait on the Lord will

find new strength. Flying high like eagles. They'll run and

not grow weary and they'll keep going and they'll not faint.

Now here's the point. I'll just say it real quick,

we'll move on. When you're stressed by major change, don't

seek a quick fix in a drink or a drug

or TV or sex or you name it, whatever you do.

Don't look for an escape. Don't look for a shortcut.

And certainly don't try to fight a change that you

can't possibly control. Instead, Seek the Lord and do it

on a daily basis. Invest more time. The more change

you have in your life, the more you need quiet

time every day alone with God. If that's all you

get from this weekend, it'll help. Now, when you're having

that quiet time with the Lord, you do the second thing.

Number two, ask God to help me see his perspective.

Write that down.

Ask God to help me see his perspective. If you

can begin to see all the changes going on in society,

in the world, in your life, in your career, in

your family, whatever, if you can see all those changes

from God's point of view, you're gonna feel a whole

lot better and you're gonna be a whole lot less stressed. Now,

this is so important. Everybody look up here for a second.

What I'm talking about is the difference between seeing everything

that's going on in the world, all the current events,

and seeing how God is working behind the scenes, using

it the way he wants to. Big difference between these two.

Seeing what's happening and seeing why it's happening. This is

the difference between having knowledge and having perspective. It's the

difference between having information about everything that's happening in the

world and having wisdom.

You don't need any more information.

Today, we are overwhelmed We have an information glut. There

are unlimited channels, literally millions of places now. You can

get information on what's happening in the world. You can

find out what's going on. You don't need more information.

What you need is more understanding. You need more discernment.

You need more perspective. You need more wisdom. Anybody can

be informed today. I want you, people of Saddleback Church,

I want you to be better than people out there. How?

Everybody's informed, but I want you to be wise.

And only wise people seek God's perspective on the events

that are happening in the world. Now, in the Bible,

this is the difference between Moses and the children of Israel.

Moses is probably one of the greatest leaders who ever

lived in history. And during the Exodus, he led about

a million people out of 400 years of slavery in

Egypt across the desert to the new promised land, which

became Israel. And during the Exodus, everybody could see what

was going on. They could see the current events. They

could see how God was acting. They could see like those.

10 plagues happening.

In Israel, when the river turns red like blood and

they can see the parting of the Red Sea and

they can see when they're in the middle of the

desert and they need water and Moses strikes a rock

and a waterfall comes out and saves everybody. And they

saw all of what was happening and they could see

what's going on. Anybody can see what's going on in the.

World right now.

But only Moses understood God's reasons, God's perspective. Only Moses

had understanding and discernment. Only Moses knew the ways of God.

Look at this next verse. Psalm 103 verse seven says this.

God let the people of Israel see his mighty actions.

That's all the current event.

But he revealed his ways to Moses.

Now friends, as your pastor who loves you, I want

you more than anything else, I want you to understand

the ways of God. You can get current events and

current information from any media source, but that doesn't make

you better than anybody else, just seeing what's going on

in the world. We have tons of information and tons

of news, and yet we are still so unwise. And

my deepest desire for you, my friends, is that you

will handle this COVID pandemic, not just with knowledge, but

with wisdom and with God's perspective. and with true understanding,

so that you will be a woman of wisdom, or

you will be a man of wisdom. You'll be a

wise man or a wise woman. That's really what I

want for you. It sets you above others who just

know what's going on, but you know why it's going on.

Where does that wisdom come from? Well, you don't get

it from the news. You don't get it from talk radio.

You'll get no wisdom from talk radio or the social

media or any of that, none. You get knowledge, but

you don't get wisdom and discernment. You don't get understanding

and perspective. Where do you get that? Two sources, write

these down. Number one, first word is just two words,

ask God. Write that down, ask God. You ask God

for wisdom. When was the last time you said, God,

make me a wise woman. Make me a wise man.

You have not because you ask not. The Bible says

in James 1.5, if you need wisdom, just ask God

for it. God is generous, and he'll gladly tell you

what you need. You have not because you ask not.

So you say, God, make me wise. And then the

second thing, this is what you do, is you learn

from this book, from God's word. You learn from God's

word and from those who teach it. Many of you

maybe have never seen this verse in the Bible. It's

from the book of 2 Peter 1, verse 19. It

2 Peter 1:19

says this here on the screen. We have greater confidence

in the message of the prophets.

Now, hang on there. What's the message of the prophets?

It's the Bible. It's this book.

God inspired holy men over a period of 2,500 years

to write down what God wanted written down.

These are called prophets.

And we got this book called the Bible, the Old

and the New Testament in this book. So when it

talks about the message prophets, it's just talking about the Bible.

We have confidence in the message of the Bible. Pay

close attention, circle that. Pay close attention to what they wrote.

for their words are like a light shining in a

dark place. Culture is getting darker and darker. We don't

know how dark it's gonna get. I started to call

this message, how to trust God when life sucks, but

I just figured.

That might not be clear enough.

And the world is getting darker in many ways. Things

are getting worse in many ways. How in the world

do you cope with that kind of situation? Pay close

attention to what they wrote for their words are like

light in a dark place. Pay close attention. So let

me just ask you as your friend, friend to friend,

what are you paying the most attention to these days?

What are you paying the most attention to these days?

The media? Social media? Talk radio?

Or God's word. This will always tell you the truth.

You can't rely on anything else. Now, here's the third

thing you do. Number three, you invest time alone with

God every day. You ask God, help me see life

from your perspective. Number three, instead of asking, why is

this happening? Ask, what do you want me to learn?

Very important question. We don't know how long the pandemic's

gonna last. keeps flaring back up again with different variants.

Don't worry about the circumstances, worry about your character. Focus

on your character, not the changes in your circumstance that

you can't change. Instead of asking, why is this happening?

Ask God, what do you want me to learn? Look

at this verse up here on the screen. In the

book of Romans chapter five, verse three and four, it

says this, we can rejoice Even in our troubles and struggles,

troubles and struggles, troubles and struggles.

That sound familiar?

Yeah, the last 18 months have been troubles and struggles,

troubles and struggles. We can rejoice even in our troubles

and struggles because we know they help us learn endurance.

They teach us endurance. And endurance develops strength of character

and character creates hope. Now, leave that verse on the

screen for just a minute. Because I want you to

notice two things about this verse. First it says, life

is a struggle. Everybody agree with that one? Life's tough.

Life is not easy. Life is a struggle. That's one

of the first things you learn. We shouldn't expect any less.

This is not heaven. In heaven, there's no sorrow, sadness, sickness, suffering.

On earth, everything's broken. Life is a struggle. And you

are in a school of character. And God is testing

you and strengthening your character. And there's stuff he wants

you to learn. And you need to just start asking,

what do you want me to learn through this? Through

this change in my life? I don't like this change.

What do you want me to learn from it? Life's

a struggle. By the way, have you ever wondered why

the struggle in life is so relentless?

You ever thought about that? Why is life so hard?

Why is it such a struggle? Here's the reason. Because

God wants to change us and we don't wanna change.

That's the struggle. God wants to change us and we

don't wanna change.

And so it gets a whole lot harder than it

should be. The second thing on that verse I want

you to notice, We can rejoice even in our troubles,

know that it creates endurance, endurance creates character and character

creates hope. If you develop character, you become a man

of character, you become a woman of character.

You're gonna have more hope.

You're gonna be more hopeful when you look at society,

when you look at the future, when you look at,

not optimism, that's different, that's a whole another sermon, but

you will be more hopeful If you develop character, you're

gonna be full of hope. If you just complain about

how life is tough, you're gonna be full of doubt

and unhappiness. Wise, mature people are full of hope. Wise,

mature people are full of hope. Unwise, immature people are

scared and bitter. And they're all around you. And they're

angry at everybody else in the world too. So you

gotta decide, do I wanna be wise and mature and

have hope or do I wanna be unwise and immature

and be angry and bitter and doubtful?

You guys, I love you.

And because I love you, I want all of us

to eventually get to Paul, St. Paul's level of spiritual maturity.

I'm not there yet. You're not there yet. What is

Paul's level of spiritual maturity? The next verse, Philippians chapter four.

Verses 12 and 13. I've learned, circle the word learned,

because this is something you learn. Remember, we're talking about

ask God, what do you want me to learn? Not

why is all this stuff happening? I've learned, what do

you want me to learn?

This secret.

So that anywhere, at any time, I'm content. Anywhere, anytime,

I'm content. Whether I'm full or hungry, or whether I

have too much or too little, I have the strength

to face all conditions by the power of Christ that

Christ gives me.

I've learned this.

This is not natural. You're not naturally content. I'm not

naturally a contented person. How do you learn contentment when

everything changes relentless and rapid? You gotta learn it. You

gotta learn it and say, God, help me to learn

what you want me to learn. Let me ask you

an honest question. What are you learning about yourself these days?

I'm not talking about the world. What are you learning

about the world? In the last 18 months, what have

you learned about you?

About you?

What do you know about your strengths that you didn't know?

What do you know about your weaknesses that.

You didn't know?

What have you learned about you? I want you to

write this sentence down. Everybody, please write this down. Every

situation is an education. Every situation is an education. Everything

that happens to you in life, every change, you'll either

get better or bitter. You're going to grow or you're

not going to grow. Every situation is an education. There

is nothing that happens in your life that you can't

learn from. Doesn't matter if it's a big thing, big change,

or little thing, little change. Every situation is an education.

Number four, fourth thing you need to do to trust

God when everything's just blown out.

Of the saddle.

Focus on what never changes. This is the fourth practical

suggestion from God's word. Focus on what never changes because

there are many things in life that are never, never, never,

never gonna change. And when you're going through a period

of great change, you wanna let those unchangeable things be

your anchor. What's anchoring you right now? For the last

18 months, what's been your anchor? Somebody goes, I don't

have an anchor. That's why you're drifting around in the storm.

What anchors you are the things that never change in life,

the unchangeables. Now I can give you a whole list

of stuff that's never gonna change, but let me just

give you three. God's love for you is never gonna change.

God's truth, the truth of God's word is never gonna change.

If he says it's right, it'll always be right. If

he says it's wrong, it'll always be wrong. It'll take

a vote on it. And God's plan and purpose for

your life will never change. Nothing can change that. No

other people can't change it. The devil can't change it.

Society can't change God's plan and purpose for your life.

So you anchor your life in the things that are

never gonna change. Look at these three verses, Jeremiah 31, three.

I have loved you with an everlasting love. Nothing's ever

gonna change that. God will never, never, never stop loving you.

You can't make God stop loving you. You can try,

but you'll fail. Because his love isn't based on what

you do. It's based on who he is. Isaiah 40,

verse eight. The word of God shall stand forever. Stop

paying attention to stuff that changes. Opinions change. The truth

never changes. Pay more attention to this. Psalm 3311, his

plans endure forever and his purposes last eternally. Now friends,

I wanna tell you something with somebody who loves you

and you can bank on this. God, no matter what's

going on in the world and society and culture everywhere today,

you can bank on this. God will have the last

word and it'll be good. God will have the last

word and it will be good. So what are you

scared of? What's got you so uptight? Why are you

so frightened? This is a chapter, but it's not the

whole story. We're going through a chapter right now that

does suck. It's not good. Nobody likes what we're going

through right now. Our church, we've got these giant plans

that are on hold right now. I haven't even told you.

What were the cool things we're getting ready to do?

But they're just on hold because we're in limbo right now.

But God will have the last word and it will

be good. Number five, here's the fifth thing you do.

When change is relentless and rapid, keep telling God, and

I'm saying this, say it verbally to God every day.

I trust you no matter what. Keep telling God, I

trust you no matter what. If you do this, you're

gonna be a lot more at peace, regardless of how

long this pandemic lasts. What I want you, what I

want our church family to be, as I said, is

better than others in the world. I want you to

be a righteous person. What's a righteous person? Look at

this verse, Psalm 112, verse seven. The righteous man or

woman does not fear bad news. nor live in dread

of what might happen. For he or she is settled

in his mind that God will take care of him.

That's a righteous person. God, I trust you no matter

what happens. I will trust you no matter what. I

can't tell you the number of times, thousands of times

in my life, I've had to say that when facing

a problem, a difficulty or a change I didn't like.

I trust you no matter what happens. I remember when

Kay was going through cancer treatments and I thought I

was losing her and I thought, I'm gonna lose the

love of my life. And I had to say over

and over, Father, I trust you no matter what happens.

And I will serve you no matter what happens, even

if I lose my wife. And when our youngest son, Matthew,

lost his 27-year battle with mental illness and depression and

took his life, which was the worst day of my life,

and we're standing on the driveway of his home waiting

for the police to come break the door down and

carry my son out in a body bag, the worst

day of my life, I had to say, I will

trust you.

No matter what.

Doesn't mean I understand it it just means I will

trust you no matter what anytime things seem to be

falling apart in your life this is the thing you

need to say I will trust you No matter what. Now,

I don't know what's going on in your life personally.

I know what's happening in society. I know all the

stress that we're all feeling from all the massive changes

around us in society. But right now, you may feel

under attack from every angle. And so I end with

Psalm 27, verse 3, that says this. Even if a

Psalms 27:3

whole army surrounds me, I will not be afraid. And

even if enemies attack me on all sides, I will

still trust God.

That's what you need to do. Let's bow our heads

for prayer.

I want to pray a prayer right now, and I

invite you to pray this prayer in your heart. You

don't have to say it aloud. God brought you here today.

A thousand years before you were born, he knew you'd

be here today at the end of August so he

could say this to you. So you talk back to

him now.

Say this.

Say, dear God, just say that in your mind. Dear God,

I realize that change is unavoidable. And there's no growth

without change. And it can be painful. And Lord, I

realize that you can use even bad things in my

life for good. Change is not always good, but you

can use it for good. And I realize today that

you want me to grow in character. You wanna make

me more like Jesus, more loving, more joyful, more patient.

more at peace, more in self-control. And God, I want

to thank you that you can use even human error

and sin for good in my life and what other

people have done against me. And I was innocent and

they hurt me. They intended to harm me, but you

intended it for good. And you have a bigger plan

and purpose for my life than the pain I've gone through.

Help me to remember that every change is always a

test of faith. And Lord, I wanna take these simple

steps to be more stable and to be re-energized. Help

me to invest more time alone with you. I wanna

commit to spending time alone with you every day. Read

a little bit of your word. talk to you in prayer, listen,

be quiet. Say, what do you want me to do?

Help me to see your perspective. I don't wanna just

know current events. I wanna know the ways of God.

So I'm asking for wisdom. You said, just ask for it.

I'm asking, make me a wise person. And help me

to remember that instead of going, why is all this

stuff happening? to instead ask, what do you want me

to learn? I want to learn like Paul to be

content in every situation. Help me to focus on what

never changes. Thank you that you'll never stop loving me.

Thank you that your word will always tell me the

truth about life and myself. Thank you that your plans

and purpose for my life cannot be changed by anybody else. Lord,

from here on out, and no matter how long this

pandemic lasts, I'm gonna keep saying to you, I trust

you no matter what. And even if I feel like

I'm being attacked from every side, I will still trust God.

if you've never initially said to Jesus Christ, I trust you,

say that, Jesus Christ, come into my life. I wanna

trust you. I just don't wanna know about you. I

wanna have a relationship with you. So I humbly ask

you to be the manager of my life. In your

name I pray, amen.