1 Kings 17:17-24 | God's Purpose in Our Pain | Rich Jones

[Music] right we are back everyone let's go ahead and take our Bibles this morning and let's open the first Kings chapter 17 well soon get back to our regular study but today I want us to be in first Kings 17 the title of our message is God's purpose in our pain let's ask out the blessing and then look to his word God we we recognize that you pour out your heart through your word and so this morning we want to just receive from you we open our heart and pray that you would just by your spirit begin to just speak life and transform us through the power of your word we ask that now in Jesus name and everyone said amen first I want to just say thank you I know many of you have been praying for us these last couple of weeks and it certainly has been emotionally difficult as we've gone through this trial and then the penalty phase of the one who killed our daughter and many of you no doubt are aware by now that the jury came back unanimously with the verdict of guilty of aggravated murder and then the jury was asked to decide whether he should be given the opportunity a parole after 30 years and they came back voted to give him the sentence of life without the possibility of parole and someone asked at one point were we happy and I'll tell you no we're not happy and here's why because the scripture reflects this heart and I think we should have the same heart God says I take no pleasure in the destruction of the wicked and there's this tragedy everywhere in this story but we have waited a long time for this to come to a close and to put this behind us we knew it would be difficult to go through this trial to relive the whole thing but it was much more difficult than I thought and frankly the the adversarial nature just adds to the pain of it but the last day of all of these court proceedings something surreal happened for us first of all our family was given the opportunity to speak directly to the jury on the sentencing phase and our daughter Chelsea spoke first and talking about how close the sisters were she and in Victoria and Nicole had just a special relationship and and that was taken from them and it was painful hurtful Chris her husband spoke about the fact that we held her memorial service on their four-year anniversary and the tragedy of losing his wife and then he spoke about how difficult it is on the children and how he talked about how young Ethan when they fly he likes to sit on the window seat in the hopes of maybe glimpse getting a glimpse of his mother in heaven or when they had a Mother's Day tea and there was no mother to bring to Mother's Day tea but praise God he said that she had a loving grandmother that's my wife Jordy that could come and be with her and then I had a chance to speak also just talking about this special relationship that we had Nicole and I were very close and we spent three hours together the night before she died at Starbucks and I'll never forget I'll cares those three hours rest of my life but the surreal moment came after the jury came back with that sentence of life without parole and then after the jury was dismissed then the the judge was about to impose a sentence and then she said you know is there anything further and the district attorney said yes her parents that had be myself in my life would like to speak and so she said you know go ahead and so I just walked up to the bench where she was and I said I actually want to speak to him and and she said well you're you're only supposed to speak to the court which means to her and I said I promise I will be kind she cannot speak to you and I said I don't want him to speak to me I want him to listen to me and she says go ahead and so I just I just stood right in front of him and I said Jaime listen to me I'm not going to give you the whole the whole thing but the the mist of it is this has to stop do you know how many people you've heard and in our family of course the woman that you raped in Eugene this officer this woman officer that you unprovoked assaulted and put her in the hospital and but your own mother you've hurt your own mother and your father and your brother and your sister and the wounds that you have created when this has to stop but I said honey look at me and I waited until he looked at me I said I offer you in behalf of all of our family I offer you forgiveness take this as an opportunity to start your life over your life's not over yes you received a life sentence but you can yet redeem your life because one day you will stand before the judge of all the earth and you will give an account of your life you can yet change you want to do something for us you want to do something for us then change yourself and then I sat down I said a few other things my wife I was so proud of her because she got up and she stood in front of him and said and I to forgive you and I want you to know Jaime I pray for you every day she said some more things and then then the judge said to him stand up so he did and she said you have anything to say and he said I ask for forgiveness those were the first words of remorse he had ever spoken and I was so thankful for the opportunity to break through to him because this is what I've come to understand I've come to understand that God has purpose in our pain and that's really what we see in this story in first Kings chapter 17 it's a tragedy story also but we have to understand that God has purpose and our pain nowhere in Scripture does God promise that will never encounter evil or difficult - or that we'll never experience pain but what we do see what we understand is that God promises to be with us even to the valley of the shadow of death I fear no evil for thou art with me see the fruit of the story of first King 17 takes place in the Northern Kingdom of Israel during its darkest most evil days the people of Israel had rejected God and the result is predictable hard hearts bring hard times God had declared this drought through the Prophet Elisha during this drought God instructed Elisha to go to this place called Zarephath way in the north well there he was told a widow would provide for him she was kind to Elisha she allowed him to stay in this Upper Room that was up on the roof and she provided meals for him out of the bowl of flour and they and the supply of oil that God had miraculously replenished but tragedy strikes because her son she is a widow but her son her only son fall sick and dies and that's really where we gain some lessons for our faith in the midst of trouble in trial also so let's read it first King 17 we begin in verse 17 now it came about after these things that the son of the woman the mistress of the house he became sick and his sickness was so severe that there was no breath left in him so she said to Elisha what do I have to do with you old man of God you have come to me to bring my iniquity to remembrance and to put my son to death and he said to her give me your son he took him from her bosom and carried him up to the upper room where he was living and he laid him on his own bed and he called out to Jehovah and he said O Lord my God have you brought tool amity to this widow with whom I am saying by causing her son to die then he stretched himself out upon the child three times and he called out to the Lord and he said O Lord my god I pray you let this child's life return to him and the Lord heard the voice of Elijah and the life of the child returned to him any revived so Elijah took the child brought him down from the Upper Room into the house and he gave him to his mother and Elijah said see your son is alive and the woman said to Elijah now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth and this story this story became famous in Israel as you can just imagine this story became famous the power of God the power of God revealed but the the beginning of the story particularly has tremendous insight because of what happens to this woman she jumps to the wrong conclusion now this is important because a lot of times people do that too when they get into difficulty or trouble strikes or tragedy or pain and so here's the lesson for us right don't jump to wrong conclusions now she's brokenhearted we understand why she's a widow which tells us straight up that she lost her husband already and I she's got one son her only son and he dies but when she confronts Elijah it's very clear that she's drawn certain conclusions it's very clear that she thinks she knows why and she accuses him you've come to bring my sin my iniquity to remembrance so here's the wrong conclusion God is punishing you see now there's no question that this was the widow's conclusion she said it outright you come to bring my sin to remembrance and to put my son to death now this this thinking is old it's as old as the book of Joel which is the oldest book in the Bible you know this story of Joe he suffered so many tragic and terrible things and then his so-called friends sat with him and and basically they said the reason you're going through all this trouble is because you've got some kind of sin in your life that you're not confessing you've got some onion you know son confessed hidden sin in your life that's why you're going through this Wow what friends here's another case Jesus came upon this man who was born blind and the disciple sejun rabbi who sinned this man or his parents that he should be born blind in other words clearly somebody is sinned in order for this man to be born blind somebody others and we just got to figure out who it was was that this manner was it his parents so this is John 9 3 Jesus says wrong conclusion it was neither that this man sinned nor his parents but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him now that is a tremendous insight for us you're going through something difficult you're going through some pain you're going through a tragedy could it be so that the works of God might be displayed in you we don't assume that you know what God is doing God God may not be punishing you at all maybe God is preparing you that the works of God might be displayed in you I have seen throughout this entire ordeal I've seen the fingerprint of God I've got I think I'd reveal himself in amazing and wondrous ways now here there are several reasons why I think the people jump to this role in conclusion number one I think people jump to this wrong conclusion because everybody's got sitting in their life and it's very easy to connect the dots everybody's got sin aha God is God is bringing my sin to remembrance by bringing this tragedy upon me or another reason that people jump to this wrong conclusion is because they confuse consequences of their actions to the punishment of God our consequences to action right proverbs 626 can a man take fire in his bosom as close might be burned I mean there are consequences action but they often make to go too far in making the wrong conclusion let me give another example Jesus brought up a tragedy that happened in Israel there was this tower in Jerusalem that had fallen there was a massive tower and it had fallen down and there was a crowd of people under it and it fell upon this crowd of people and 18 people were crushed killed I mean today it'd be it'd be national headline news right it was a tragedy and so Jesus brings this up with a lesson Luke 13 verses four to five he said do you suppose that those eighteen on whom the Tower of Siloam fell and killed them do you suppose that they were worse culprits than all the men who live in Jerusalem I tell you no don't jump to that conclusion I tell you now then he brings up the the eternal aspect of relationship their God when he says but unless you repent you will all likewise perish here's another wrong conclusion bad things shouldn't happen or to say it more completely bad things shouldn't happen to good people so in common for people to come to this conclusion when something tragic happens it's kind of it's kind of the same kind of logic as the first conclusion I mentioned if every tragedy is the result of our sin then good things should be the result of doing something good you should deserve good if you do good see bad things shouldn't happen to good people good things should happen to good people here's an example if you golf at all if you golf at all and you hit a ball and it goes careening into the woods now I know about this I I've seen other golfers do it many times golf ball goes careening into the woods hits a tree ricochets belt is right in the middle of the fairway no doubt somebody will say wow someone must be living right right is not this joke right but it's still that's what people it's easier to connect those dots and say all allow somebody must be living right here's another example in the movie Sound of Music how many people saw this movie I mean it's a 60s movie I read about this in history books but it is a great movie right and in this movie Maria she sings this song when she discovers that the Captain Von Trapp is in love with her but in this song there is this same thinking notice what she says okay I'm gonna sing this song for you okay I'm not either I'm not either but this is what she says she says perhaps I had a wicked childhood perhaps I had a miserable youth but somewhere in my wicked miserable past there must have been a moment of truth for here you are standing there loving me whether or not you should so somewhere in my youth or childhood I must have done something good to hear this nothing comes from nothing nothing ever could so somewhere in my youth or childhood I must have done something good many people believe if you've been doing something good something worthy something honorable then you should be protected from bad things happening surely after our daughter was killed a reporter who actually was camped outside of our house asked me this question I went out and I talked to this reporter and they asked her questions how are you doing how are you processing all this and then then the reporter said you're a pastor how do you reconcile this to your faith you see that you see the assumption that's behind the question you're a pastor see because because you're a minister the gospel of Jesus Christ because you you help people you transform for good then then good things should happen to you you see the logic see no need for an umbrella when I walk in the rain I don't get wet when I Drive my car bugs don't splatter my windshield don't worry about the sunshine I don't get sunburned really really then why was I born into extreme poverty then why was my father an alcoholic abusive to my mother in our front of our eyes why did my daughter get taken by such a vicious despicable evil really this Widow had been showing kindness to realizes she gave him an apartment above her house she made meals for him from the supply of flour nor that God provided if she is doing good then where's God's love where's God's power many people can't understand this why do bad things happen to good people why do good things happen to bad people in Matthew chapter 5 Jesus brings an interesting insight this is Matthew 5 verses 44 to 46 he said I say to you love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you so that you may be sons of your father you be like your father who is in heaven for he causes his Sun to rise on the evil and the good and he sends his rain on the righteous and the unrighteous if you love those who love you what reward you have even tax collectors do that God is gracious to those who don't deserve it and God is kind to those who don't deserve it if this man who killed our daughter truly repented before God he would receive the forgiveness of Jesus Christ but what we see is that God's purpose God reveals purpose and God's purpose is life one of God's doing God's purposes life Lajja doesn't understand what's happening either God are you causing this with this boy to die he prays at the child's life returns during the Lord hears us prayer the child's life returns but we need God's perspective in this because what we see is that God what God was doing had nothing to do with this Widow had nothing to do with whether she sinned or didn't sin had nothing to do with whether she was kind or not God was doing something in this God was transforming Elijah and God was going to use this in the nation of Israel so god this is the thing God transforms us through our paints God transformed us God uses it in our life as well God's purpose is to transform and strengthen Elijah for the challenges are going to come in his life and it becomes famous in Israel so that when Jesus arrives on the scene that that happened to Elijah was a foretaste of the power of God over death so that when Jesus raised a widow's son they said this is just like Elijah God is here God is among us God is working in power you see this is the same thing God prepared Israel all those years before God was doing something with it God used it see here's Luke chapter 7 I'll just read you the story of that soon afterwards he went to a city called nain and his disciples were going along with him accompanied by a large crowd now as he approached the gate of the city a dead man was being carried out the only son of his mother and she was a widow a sizable crowd from the city was with her when the Lord saw her he felt compassion for her and he said to her don't weep and he came up and he touched the coffin and the pallbearers came to a stop and he said young man I say to you arise and the dead man sat up and began to speak and Jesus gave him back to his mother fear gripped them all and they all began glorifying God saying a great prophet has arisen this is like what Elijah did and God has visited his people see God used it God has a purpose in our painting he used it to transform Elijah to strengthen him for what Elijah was going to do and he uses it to transform us and I've seen it God transformed I know God was transforming me through this through this process certainly after our daughter was killed I was having coffee with my friend who's Judge Tom Cole we've been friends for years but God knit us through that all of this God meant us together his daughter had been murdered some I know 10 years or so ago and so when our daughter he reached out to me and and just drew us together while we're having coffee and at some point in the conversation tom refers to this killer by name and i interjected I would appreciate it if you don't mention his name Tom was very gracious someday you're going to let go of this you can't hold on to anger so he was touching on how deep my inger was don't even speak his name not in my presence don't speak his name that's hot that's how angry I was and I didn't want to admit it I didn't want to admit it you know I I anticipated I believed that God was going to give me an opportunity to speak to him and I had rehearsed it in my mind what I would say but what I rehearse in my mind was born out of anger I had imagined words that had the power of lightning to crush him but those weren't words that were spoken from the spirit those were words that came out of anger God had to heal that God had to heal that anger God transforms us to the point that I was able not only did I get over hearing his name I stood in front of him and called his name out myself jaimé look at me I offer you the forgiveness from all of us start your life over because I care about your soul God transforms through pain he gives us hope out of it see our hope we gotta have hope we are people we got to have hope but our hope is not for this life only see the way we view things our perspective is so we often we commonly see things just in the light of what's happening in the moment but there is a bigger picture God wants us to understand that there's a bigger picture two things here's an illustration it takes a long time for a child to understand the concept of tomorrow takes a long time for a child to understand the concept of the future because to understand that you got to see a bigger picture the same issue spiritually speaking in order to grasp a bigger picture you have to mature in faith to understand that God has greater things at work when God brings purpose out of her pain he is giving us a new perspective and eternal perspective for more than for this life only in fact Paul wrote in first Corinthians 15:19 if we have hopes in Christ in this life only we are of all men most repented here's an example Fanny Crosby many of you know some of her story but she was used of the Lord to write more than 8-thousand him some of the most powerful hymns of the church were written by Fanny Crosby but what you don't know is that she was not born mind she could see perfectly well for the first six weeks or so of her life but she had got sick and her eyes were inflamed and so the doctors mistakenly put like a mustard poultice thing in her eyes and it blinded her later she wrote it seemed intended by the Providence of God that I should be blind all my life and I thank him for it if perfect earthly site were offered to me tomorrow I would not accept it because she saw the God used it she wrote some of the most powerful influential life transforming songs the church has ever known she would not have written those had it not been for the tragedy and the pain that was in her life one of the songs she wrote very famous song assurance Jesus is mine oh what a foretaste of glory divine and then later in the same song watching and waiting looking above filled with His goodness lost in his love but the chorus I love the chorus this is my story this is my song praising my Savior all the day long this is my story my story has pain in it but my story also has grace of God in it my story has the fingerprint of God revealing himself in amazing ways even through the tragedy what's your story will you trust God even though there's tragedy even though there's difficulty see here's what we we have to grasp just like that the Prophet Habakkuk though the fig tree should not blossom and there be no fruit on the vine so the yield of the olives should fail and the fields produced no food though the flock should be cut off from the fold and there be no cattle in the stalls yet I will exalt in the Lord yet I will rejoice in the God of my salvation the Lord God is my strength and he has made my feet like the feet of a deer will you yet praise Him will you yet believe that God is able to use the tragedies and the troubles and the difficulties in your life here's what we have to do we have to know in whom we have believed do you know in whom you have believed if you could see from God's perspective you can hear God's words of comfort your child is not dead I'm holding him in heaven and you'll seal again you'll see her again this is what you must know you must know that God is faithful in his love God is faithful in his love in the Old Testament in the book of lamentations it is a story written out of tragedy lamentations to lament it is a tragic story Jeremiah the Prophet was was was given the task of given the task of being the prophetic voice over Israel as he could see that they would be destroyed but he wrote this in lamentations 3 this I recall to my mind therefore I have hope the Lord's loving-kindnesses never cease his Compassion's never fail they are new every morning great is thy faithfulness you have know you have to know that God's love is faithful towards you and you have to know that God's purpose for you is for your good for his glory to reveal his his hand that the works of God might be displayed I know the plans that I have for you says the Lord plans for good welfare not for calamity to give you a future and a hope there's that faith there's that faith that stands even in the midst of the storm even in the midst of the tragedy there's a faith that stands I know this is Paul's second Timothy 1 I know he says for this reason I suffer but I am not ashamed for I know in whom I have believed and I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have entrusted to him until that day will you believe many people when they go to troubles and tragedies their faith of shipwrecked now you you keep your eyes open and you will see that God is revealing himself in ways that are amazing but God is not finished there is still yet the end and it will be a victorious story when God is finished with it this is my story what's your story father thank you thank you for bringing purpose out of our pain thank you that we can trust you with the tragedies the difficulties the things that come that are hurtful and painful we thank you that you can use them for your glory and we trust you God the one who holds tomorrow in his and we trust you with our our troubles our difficulties our pains we trust you even now church would you even now say God I will trust you with my life I will entrust to you my future my tomorrows for you the one who holds tomorrow in your hand and I believe that your love for me never fails and that you reveal your purpose which is to bless and to bring that which is good Church would you say today would you even raise your hand to the Lord is that I will trust you with all of my life even the troubles and the difficulties and the problems I will trust you with all of our just raise your hand and say it to the Lord the one who holds the future in his hands is the one who I call my god just raise your hand to the Lord father thank you so much you are amazing we trust you we look to you you bless our lives and we give you thanks for what you're doing this now in Jesus name and everyone said

Channel: Calvary Chapel Worship Center - Hillsboro, Oregon

Views: 4,613

Rating: 4.9310346 out of 5

Keywords: The Bible, God, Jesus Christ, Holy Spirit, Holy, Pastor Rich Jones, Calvary Chapel, Faith, Grace, Revival, Truth, Prayer, Salvation, Calvary, Chapel, Hillsboro, 1 Kings, 1 Kings 17, God's Purpose in Our Pain

Id: L46eAejmhsI

Length: 32min 47sec (1967 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 18 2017