Adversity – Burden or Bridge? – Dr. Charles Stanley

[Music] well they're probably more people going through adversity today than a long long time a lot of that is because of financial circumstances and situations and they're facing things had never faced before they never even thought about losing their home or not being able to send their kids to college never thought about the fact that they wouldn't have all that needs met the way they men have made him never thought about that somebody would walk in and say we don't need you to ball this job adversity comes in all forms and when I think about it I think about how universal it is this making us where you live where you come from what color what culture that's making a difference adversity is just adversity and often times it comes for a sudden without any warning whatsoever sometimes we think well god I can't handle it it's more than I can handle and we sort of want to back up mascot where he is and feel very vulnerable than what's going to happen next in our life and sometimes it just sets us back until we said consider get a glimpse of what's happening a lot of folks never get the right glimpse and so they just they just crumble under that kind of adversity we know it either comes from either the devil or it comes from circumstances in life we have no control over other people or sometimes we bring on ourselves or sometimes God will allow adversity into our life or leaders into situations that are very difficult for us you say how can God be loving and understand that well if you listen carefully you'll understand how we can and ye can and then people respond in different ways some people seem to know how to walk through it but most people don't and so they get bitter angry and resentful toward God hostile toward him on a walk away or trying to take some quick way out and you want to get on an alcohol or drugs or whatever it might be so they don't think about it that never cures anything you'd think after a while that people would think you know if alcohol drugs cured something then you'd have a drink and you'd be cured or you'd have two drinks you'd be cured but you know 10,000 drinks later they still aren't cured you think they catch on after a while that things really get worse and worse and worse when you take any Avenue but God's Avenue when adversity comes what really makes the difference is their attitude makes all the difference in the world and so when a person's attitude is that they want to blame somebody else and put somebody else from the responsibility road then things don't work out right it's when my attitude is right that matters and what I want you to understand in this message I want you to understand that adversity in our life can either be this overwhelming sense of burden this burden that is weighty heavy that makes us weary tired Restless and and just worn out or the same adversity can be like a bridge like a bridge that leads me to a deeper relationship to God it's all in my attitude and all in my understanding of what God is doing so in your own life would you say that the adversity in your life is like a burden it's a heavy weight in your life and you just keep thinking God how much love I gonna have to go or do you see it as an opportunity as a bridge over which you can travel above those circumstances and above all the adversity that's there because you understand that it's leading you into a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ well the Apostle Paul is the best example in the scripture of a person who not only went through all kinds of adversity but who understood the most basic principles and in this passage if you will listen carefully and I want to encourage you to write down these statements it will help you enable you to keep your attitude right the goal right understand what God's doing in your life and you will have a totally different attitude about whatever you're going through whatever that may be so I want you to turn to second Corinthians chapter 12 and you remember in 2nd Corinthians Paul is writing about many things dealing with the church but one of those things that he's dealing with here in this eleventh and twelfth chapters is his own adversity and the things he had to go through so in the eleventh chapter he lists many things that he had had to suffer for example he said he was stoned and left for dead and Lystra and he was shipwrecked and left out there to die and he was beaten several times with rods he was jailed over and over and over again they tried to assassinate him several times and so this is the kind of life he lived from the time he was saved and went to Arabia to understand better the Word of God when he came back and began to preach it was one adversity after the other and he sort of ends up his list in the eleventh chapter in he ends it up sort of in verse 28 by saying apart from such external things there is the daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches and so he said daily pressure that is this wasn't something that happened once in a while daily he felt the burden he felt the pressure daily of all the churches that he started what's happening to them is that false doctrine entering these churches in other words he had a tremendous responsibility an opportunity but-but-but adversity it was a big part of it all so what did he learn how did he go through this what was his attitude and I want us to come to this passage in a few moments just to look at all the things that he learned that you now can learn they will help us face whatever we have to face in life and sometimes people who love God as much as anybody does they have a very very difficult time facing some things now let's distinguish between a burden and the whole idea of a bridge a burden is that heaviness and weight that you feel when things happen to you and there is that sense of weariness and being worn out and tired discouraged and all the rest and many people live under that they have no joy whatsoever on the other hand if I can see this adversity as a bridge that God has built for me to rise up over all that and in the same time in the most important thing lead me into a deeper personal relationship with him whereas my understanding of him and my intimacy with him is much greater then I'll have a different attitude and that doesn't mean for example that you can eliminate all the adversity in your life but what you eliminate you eliminate an attitude for example and a response that is not helpful at all but as there is a response that can be now Paul in this 12th chapter mentions something that he had to deal with but that's just one thing he had to deal with mirrors if you'll notice he says in this 7th verse and he doesn't mention here in the 7th verse all the things he's just mentioned in the eleventh chapter about the specific things that he go through here's what he says he mentions one here and I want you to see how packed this passage is he says because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations for this reason there was given to me a thorn in the flesh a messenger of Satan to torment me to keep me from exalting myself concerning this I implored the Lord three times that he might leave me and he said to me my grace is sufficient for you but power is perfected in weakness most clearly therefore I will rather boast about my weaknesses so that the power of Christ may dwell in me therefore I am well content with weaknesses with insults with distresses with persecutions with difficulties for Christ's sake but when I'm weak then I am strong so when you look at what what Paul has said in that passage and I think about he says I'm content with all these things I don't think I would be very happy to say I'm content with all of that unless I learned something about what God is up to and allow me allowing these things in our life when you think about a bridge for a moment a bridge has to be well constructed it will take much weight there are two scriptures that build this construction of this bridge that make it possible for us to ride over to over come all the adversities in our life one of those verses is Psalm 103 verse 19 and that is he has established his throne in the heavens and his sovereignty rules over all he's in control that's part of that bridge the second part of that bridge is this Romans 8:28 my god is causing all things to work together for good to those who love him to those who call the co and his purpose so with those two listen eternal truths when they interpret it correctly and we depend upon him God builds an awesome bridge so what I'd like for us to do how about like for us to simply look at what the Apostle Paul learned here's what he said he said in Philippians chapter 3 and if you if you read this in the Living Bible translation it is so it's so overwhelmingly beautiful and challenging he said in this third chapter if you'll think about it for a moment and the in this eighth verse of Philippians he said more than that he said I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value listen this the surpassing value of what knowing Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I've suffered the loss of all things count them all as rubbish that I may gain him he said look all these things that I've been through I count that as nothing compared to what I have learned the insights that I have into Jesus and who he is and how he operates then he says later in the tenth verse that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the Fellowship of his sufferings being conformed to his death now if if there was a possibility somewhere along the way you may have some adversity that'd be one thing but what I want us to look to see here is this you're going to you're going to face adversity the question is how you're gonna face it how you gonna respond you can respond in a way that you come out winning no matter what are you gonna face in such a way that you're gonna try to deny that's not gonna work you got alcohol and sex and drugs they're not gonna work always some kind of pleasure none of that's gonna worry it's how you're gonna face it you're gonna crumble beneath it you're gonna psyche and handle it some way are you gonna deal with it in reality what I want you to see and the rest of this message is this there's some very specific truths the Apostle Paul learned that he's sharing in this passage that will help you through any and every adversity in life so once you listen carefully for your own sake because it's gonna happen you're gonna need it and the question is how you're gonna respond so I won't put these in any order necessarily of importance from somebody's viewpoint I just want to start with this very first thing and that is he learned this that he and all of these on the max trains and I want you to encourage you to write them down he learned that he could experience contentment in the midst of his adversity which is what most people never learned that he could be content in the midst of his adversity now in in chapter 4 of Philippians for example that eleventh verse he says this very thing when he's writing about what's happening to him he says in verse 10 but I'll rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at last you have revived your concern for me indeed you were concerned before but you have left opportunity than supporting him then they couldn't be he says not that I speak from want for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstance I'm in so now back to this twelfth chapter where we've spent most of our time beginning in this particular passage and I want you notice what he says in verse 10 he says therefore therefore I am well content with what weaknesses insults de-stresses persecutions difficulties that send most people to bed he says I'm content with these things now why could he say that because he knew how to respond here's what he'd learned he'd learned that he was learning something about his relationship to Jesus and he was learning that these things were not tearing him down but that somehow he could have contentment and remember he's writing he's writing Philippians and Ephesians and Colossians he's writing these epistles from a prison cell because he's gone one Jail to the other and now he's talking about the fact that one thing he learned was that he could have contentment in the midst of all that there's only one way to be content in the midst of adversity and when we go through these I think as they we add one upon the other you understand that the second thing that I want you to notice here is this he could experience God's supernatural strength in his weakness because that's what that's what adversity does adversity adversity makes us weak emotionally or physically whatever it might be it makes us weary and tired worn out and here's what he says he said he learned that he could experience God's supernatural strength listen to what he says in this passage in in in 2nd Corinthians in verse 10 therefore I'm well content with weaknesses with insults with distresses with persecutions with difficulties but Christ say he says for when I am weak then I am strong here's what he learned he said since what I've learned I've learned that when I am at my weakest moments in my life well I think I just can't keep going remember he said the daily pressure of the churches upon him the fact that they try to assess that him stone him equipping their words he says what I've learned is this when I am they're very weakest I get my greatest urghhh of the presence of the supernatural energy and power in my life I can keep going it's when I think I can't that I begin to realize who is my Lord who is my strength what is this life with admit is the life of Jesus and he says when I come to those points that I think I can't handle it that's when I get this new fresh awareness and energizing of Christ within me energizing me and enabling me and so that being true whatever he was facing like a bridge these truths that would help him to drive right over it and then he said he had learned the subtlest and he said he had learned the source for all of his needs notice what he says in this passage he says beginning in verse 9 and he said to me my grace is sufficient for you for power is perfected in weakness most readily he says therefore I will rather boast about my weaknesses so that the power of Christ may dwell in me he says I've learned that my sufficiency is in Christ he says I've learned that when I'm going through these difficulties when there's no one there to help me and oftentimes he was abandoned even by his friends he says I've learned that whatever my need is Christ is my sufficiency knowing him loving him being loved by him being cared for by him this relationship this intimate relationship that he has with Christ he says what I've learned is that even in my worst adversity that relationship gives me a sense of sufficiency because I know that he's made promises he's made promises he's going to guide me and keep me and supply my need whatever that might be and of course you and I all know the verse in Philippians my God shall supply all your needs according as riches in glory in Christ Jesus that comes from a person who spent a lot of time in jail persecuted stone shipwreck you name it what's he saying he's talking about being content he's talking about the supernatural energy of Almighty God coursing through his life equipping him and and making him sufficient to deal with any and every circumstance of life you see he was looking in the right direction when the adversity came not looking within himself but looking to the Lord Jesus and knowing and having learned and learning at the same time there was something about that relationship that made it possible for him to rise above that and this is why for example also in Philippians he says the whole Praetorian Guard they know I'm here in jail and as he was as he was chained to these soldiers and sharing his faith with them God was working mighty miracles through his life because you see he didn't give up and quit and he didn't say well God where are you he was learning something and he's learning something that he's placed in this passage he learned that God was the source of all of his needs and he also listened came to realize that he could trust in the faithfulness of God he could trust in the faithfulness of God that is that God was going to be true to his promises and when I think about that promise I think about what he says in verse 10 he says therefore I'm well content with weaknesses with insults with distresses with persecutions with difficulties for Christ's sake for when I'm weak then I'm strong he said I know that my God is going to be faithful to keep his word that he's going to supply my needs that I'm gonna be sufficient in him to face any and every situation circumstance of life and you see when the person begins to question the faithfulness of God because of adversity God wants us at that point to turn to him and ask the question were you faithful back yonder were you faithful to keep your word did you do what you promised there when I prayed that what happened that is the truth is if you'll think about it God can't do anything but be faithful that's who he is that's his nature and because his nature is to be faithful to us we can trust him that in whatever circumstance we're going through whatever the situation may be that we can count on him to be who he says he is count on him to do what he says he'll do and sails through it no matter what but if I don't believe he's faithful if I don't understand that faithfulness means he's trustworthy that at no time listen at no time will he ever let us down in frustrations for example in the tenth chapter 13 verse he says temptation trials are common to everyone he says but God is faithful who will not allow you to be tempted and tried and face adversity listen not an adversity that you can't handle with him but he says listen he puts a limitation on it so that whatever adversity you and I suffer in life there is a divine limitation he will not let it go beyond what he knows that any one of us who is his children can face it that is by trusting him and relying upon him so he says you know this whole idea that God is faithful then another issue that he learned here and that I think is so very very valuable he says for example he learned that God valued his service more than his desires now listen to what he says in this twelfth chapter verse seven he says for example because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations for this reason they keep me from exalting myself that was given me a thorn in the flesh a messenger of Satan to torment me to keep me from exalting myself here's what he say it's an awesome valuable lesson he says I've learned that from God's perspective he knows exactly what it takes to bring me into an intimate relationship with him and listen watch this God is so desirous to bring us into that Living eternal listen satisfying enjoyable indescribable intimacy with him then look he will overlook my desires in order to do what he will overlook my desires in order to equip me to serve him here's what he said he said all these revelations that God is giving them all this insight this discernment this understanding of who Jesus is because you feel think about it you and I would know very little scripture about how to live a Christian life just reading the Gospels it was the Apostle Paul who interpreted the life of Christ and who demonstrated and who lived out the principles that Jesus taught he says just what I learned that God is more interested in equipping me for service and preparing me to serve him than he is for the desires of my heart you know we love to quote delights of self in the Lord he'll give you the desires of your heart he will but now think about this he says he saw in me Paul says he saw in me the potential he saw in me what he was able to do he saw in me that I wanted to serve him in so what did God do instead of giving him natural desires what would he like let's eliminate jail time let's eliminate getting beaten let's eliminate being shipwrecked let's eliminate being stoned on and on and on this eliminate all that pressure he lived with and won't just give me the desires of my heart here's what God said you're more valuable to me than that you're so valuable to me that I know what it takes to equip you to become the man that I want you to be the servant of God that I desire for you to be and so what I've just what I'm going to do I'm going to allow you to be shipwrecked I'm gonna allow you to be beaten I'm gonna allow you to be stoned I'm gonna allow you to be a temp to have these attempted assassinations because of what I know all of this is going to contribute to your understanding of our relationship that you see adversity sometimes is a gift adversity sometimes is a blessing from Almighty God to equip us to do what God call us to do for example somebody walks up you're never a happily married you just got a divorce or you're part of your marriage partly just walked out on you and you begin to tell them how you're hurting today so I do understand they don't understand anything of a sort be careful when you tell somebody you understand who do you want to talk to you gonna talk to somebody who's been there somebody who's walked through and somebody who survived it and somebody who still has a sense of contentment and joy and God's working in their heart because you want to know how they did it yes what Paul saying he's saying God still loved me he's so desired to use me he so desert God God could see ahead what was going to happen if I surrender to him and surrender yielded myself to him he just let me and allowed me to go through all of this to equip me to be this awesome servant of God now I ask you a question would you be willing to suffer in order to serve him effectively and powerfully would you would you not you see we found that who we really are we face the facts adversity hardship pain trials suffering loss there was all of these things are part of what people have to face in life and the issue is this if I take the bridge route I'm gonna come out better in every single way but if I choose to just sew and have self pity and all the rest I'm gonna lose the most wonderful opportunity and the most wonderful opportunity watch this it is not just being a servant of God but this wonderful intimate relationship that develops in that kind of adversity that comes no other way then I think about when he says he he learned that even in his adversity that God was strengthening his message to his followers and that's interesting because in Philippians here he is in jail and here's what's happening as some of his followers were out there and they're not they're not being very understanding of the Apostle in fact they're criticizing him here's what he says in verse 13 so that my imprisonment in the cause of Christ has become well-known throughout the whole Praetorian Guard and they were the ones who defended the emperor and to everyone else and that most of the Brethren trusting in the Lord because of my imprisonment have far more courage to speak the Word of God without fear now he says some to be sure are preaching Christ even from envy and strife but some are for goodwill that is his what he's saying he says that even in our adversity God is doing something in her life what is he doing he's strengthening our message because you see when you go through difficult and hardship and pain in your life and you begin to understand how God is working in your life your faith your faith for example become stronger and you begin to understand things you hadn't understood before what's happening what's happening is that God if he's really he's deepening your message when you were first saved you'd understand very much and the longer you've lived and the deeper your faith has become and the more you've learned and the more adversity you face the more God has blessed you now what happens you're more effective in what you have to say and your message listen become stronger and other people's message become stronger and when they watch how God has worked in your life so at every turn in every way he's taking adversity and using it for some area in your life that is good and some area that he wants to change and he wants to strengthen and so when you look at the Apostle Paul and and when he talks about his message his message was penetrating the Roman guard in Rome penetrating those out there with whom he had preached and you see the more he went through the more effective he became because they watched how he responded and this is why every single believer going through difficult and hardship has this awesome opportunity of helplessly having our greatest impact on the people we know and our friends and people we don't know who watch what you go through and wonder how you do it and wonder how you could survive it when they think I don't think I could handle that God it depends upon your attitude and what your goal is and what God is doing in your life and for example he also learned to see everything is coming from God which is one of the basic principles to prevent a person from be bitter resentful hostile listen to what he says in this passage he says for example in verse 7 because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations for this reason they keep me from exalting myself that was given to me a thorn in the flesh a messenger of Satan to torment me to keep me from exalting myself now where did that come from ultimately it had to be God that his God could have stopped it he could have he could have stopped all of that but he allowed it what was he doing he was allowing these things in his life and Paul said one of the greatest things he learned was to be able to see everything is coming from God because just what was happening when these things were taking place in his life he was getting insights into who Jesus was that he had not had before he was learning things about how the Lord works there was something was happening inside of him and so he could say here's what's going on somehow I feel content in the midst of all this somehow I feel that my Heavenly Father's gonna be sufficient for every single aspect of my life he learned to see everything is coming from God and I've said several times it's from the greatest lessons I've ever learned I learned in on my knees in the prayer room in the midst of great difficulty and great turmoil and great adversity in my life and I can never forget that moment when he says this is the way you'll win this battle you will see everything is coming from me and all of a sudden my to change attitude toward people change attitudes from my self-pity began to to just disintegrate in front of me and I thought well God if you're behind at all and you love me unconditionally we're gonna walk right through this when you understand that your God listen is with you in it no matter what and you begin to understand that because remember what we said in the beginning there are two big rails in this bridge one of them is that he's in control of everything and the other rail is that what he's gonna turn everything for your good if you can ride on those two Kruse you can overcome any adversity no matter what it is without being bitter hostile angry and blaming somebody else for they may be to blame but you're blaming them it's not going to do any good and what Paul has learned here's this he's learned a valuable lesson then when he sees that everything is coming from him and he views it as that and he says here's what I see God has so loved me and he wants to use me he says in order to keep me from being prideful and arrogant God has allowed this in my life that kept him humble kept him dependent and kept him useful in the kingdom of God there are many people whom God blesses and what happens they get blessed and they get blessed and they get blessed and they become more self-sufficient more self adequate and next thing you know they're prideful and arrogant God just sets him on the shelf God does not use prideful people because prideful people are saying I don't need him in some areas of my life and Paul learned that all these things that were happening to him we're doing what building this awesome sense of an intimate relationship with God because he was beginning to understand God in ways he had not before not only that but in this passage it's very evident that he was learning the ways of God and this 12th chapter again the tenth verse he said therefore I'm welcome I'm well content with weaknesses with insults with de-stresses and persecutions difficulties for Christ's sake but when I'm weak then I'm strong he said I'm learning something about God that when I'm the weakest and think I can't that's when God shows up with the most awesome sense listen of authority for he's called me to do with the energy to do it he says I'm learning the ways of God until you learn the ways of God what you'll do do you find yourself reading with him over things and find yourself a little confused sometimes and find yourself a little bit in conflict with God it's not that you don't love him you don't care it's just very difficult sometimes when you face things if you don't understand his one one of his ways is that he uses suffering adversity difficulty hardship pain to grow us up to equip us he uses these things to drive us unto himself he makes his greatest servants out of pain and suffering and hardship what we want to do is we want to live a life of ease comfort and pleasure and just talk about how sweet Jesus is and how wonderful he is and how he blesses me and everything I have on wouldn't they give him credit for all the joy of my life and all the health and all the things what about the adversity how many of us have learned anything out of pleasure and sweetness and joy wonderful wealth and having all your possessions what have you learned not one thing so I've learned how good god is have you really you learn how good god is listen when the bottom drops out and there's no place to turn and he shows up that's when you learn how good god is so he says he's learned he's learning the ways of God he said what I've learned is this when I'm the weakest I'm the strongest what I'm learning is that things that I don't want my life he's just making it for my good he's learning the ways of God he's learning that when other people reject him listen when other people reject him what he's learning is that's when his intimacy with Jesus Christ becomes the most precious when you rejected by your friends or by your husband your wife your children your parents when you're rejected then you get the sweetest glimpse listen you get the biggest dose the greatest refreshing drink of intimacy in your life when everybody else has said you know what forget it and Jesus is still there and Paul is learning that and it's a difficult lesson but he's learned that then of course he learned something else and that is he says we become far more capable of being comforted to other people when we have been through adversity and have been comforted ourselves now he says that in different ways in this particular passage but I want us to go back to what he said in the first chapter of this book this is a twelfth chapter we've been talking about but back in the first chapter he starts off his this letter to the Corinthians yes what he says he says blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ the father of mercies and God of all comfort who comforts us watch this who comforts us in all our afflictions adversities so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God then he says Zone later in that bar in the same chapter but we do not want you to be unaware brethren of our affliction which came to us in Asia but we were burdened excessively beyond our strength so that we despaired even of life that's what he was going through and what is he talking about he's talking about that God in those situations by comforting him has equipped him to be a comfort in other people and as we said before there's some situations and circumstances that people go through and they come to you and want to share and you say oh I understand I'm gonna pray for your brother just trust the Lord a lot of that is just stuff that's what that is stuck you can only comfort people genuinely when you've been hurt when you felt pain when you felt rejection when you have felt in need when you have felt yourself heading in the wrong direction when you felt yourself losing it losing it losing it in life and somehow God begins to work in your life his awesome comfort and he says what he's learned is this we become the most effective when we've heard the most when we have to be comforted then we understand what it means to comfort someone else so when he talks about all the things that he's learned and how to deal with adversity wait listen here's what he's saying when I'm dealing with adversity I understand that God is equipping me in the very process equipping me to be a comforter to someone else so we don't we don't like adversity but what we have to ask is this when am I the most effective when I have hurt like they've hurt when I felt what they felt so am I willing to feel what they feel and hurt like they hurt and have pain like they've heard am I willing to suffer loss if that will equip me to be the kind of comforter that some people need palsy yes yes indeed I will and what I've learned in my needs and in my hurts that I'm the strongest and the most effective in my comforting then of course he mentioned something else he says he learned that God had a specific purpose for the adversity now that's what he starts off saying in his 12th chapter this is what he says because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations now what is he talking about now the book of Revelation is is singular revelation because it was one prophetic revelation when he talks about these surpassing revelations that he has admits those times those situations and circumstances in which God revealed him to him this truth and that truth and this truth and that truth he says God had given him such awesome surpassing revelations that in order to keep him from becoming prideful and arrogant he says there was given me a thorn in the flesh a messenger of Satan to torment me they keep me from exempt from exalting myself now you might think about this when you're going through something and it's very difficult you might ask yourself the question God what's your purpose for this in fact you have a right that's asking you in fact you should ask it what's your purpose and post it I know what the purpose is he said God's been so awesome to me so good to me so revealing to me that in order to watch this in order to protect the minister to which he's called me in order to protect the truth is given me in order to protect me from becoming useless he allowed this thorn in my side which nobody understands what that is nobody's there all the theologians in the world never figure out what that is because God didn't want us to know and I'll tell you why the reason he didn't want us to know is because let's say it was a terrible as me had all his life couldn't see you at all the things that people think about if you and I had the same thing the Apostle Paul had we'd say well you know I'm like the Apostle Paul I have one of those we'd be just as arrogant in some ways we can be well you know they're possible I have something in common you sure do sin difficult Jim pain suffering yes but nothing to brag about he says watch this if God has watched this carefully if God has a purpose for everything he allows in our life would you say is that a good purpose or bad purpose I didn't get much answer on that I do understand that listen what kind of God is he he is a good god he's a perfectly God he's an unconditional loving God so that whatever he allows in a life there is a specific purpose he has in mine and that purpose listen is not only good for him but it's good for us what did he say he said my God causes all things now what we do we take out all things and we interpret it to be sweet loving wealthy all these wonderful things famous all this he causes all things just pain suffering hardship we sort of misinterpret that word what we put in there what we want to happen my God causes all things all includes all to work for gilda together for my good because He loves us and so when you think about that if you really and truly believe that listen this is painful I don't like it but somehow according to what I read in the scripture God's working this thing out for my good think about this is God a God of action without purpose listen God has never done anything without purpose there's no such thing as happenstance with God numbers things don't just happen with God that's not even in his vocabulary things don't that just happened with him he purposely directs and allows things you saw why in the world would he do that the Apostle Paul as a father man as he was we just got there telling you how many reasons there were all of which is to do what it's to open this man up give him understanding and listening to draw him in to what Paul said he voted more than anything else is an intimate personal relationship with Jesus and until you experience that the Christian life is always gonna be pretty light I mean answered prayer and all that's being used of God so one thing that's not what he's up to he's up to drawing you into an intimate relationship with him of understanding who he is and all the things that become a part of an intimate relationship let's say for example your husband or wife you're married well what kind of relationship do you have if it is not an intimacy that goes beyond the flesh and six then you don't have much of a marriage intimacy means I'm able to get on the inside of you and pull out who you are and how you feel and what hurts you and what can't do how can I love you in other words intimacy gets on the inside of the other person and the truth is all of us want somebody to know us amen in other words whoever you're married to whoever your friends are you want somebody not to know you for what you do but to know you as a person on the inside and you see when two people love each other they can't get enough of an inside of that other person that's what intimacy is all about so who is this God he's this awesome infinite indescribable awesome god of love listen if you and I only could understand one attribute of God let's say it's love you and I could dig for eternity we'll never be able to exhaust the full understanding of how much he loves us listen he wants us to know him now just receive from him just serve him he wants us to know him him him him he wants us to know who he is and Paul is understanding that he understands this purpose he says God knows that I'm remembered this he was a set he was a he was a Pharisee he was a big deal in his day and time when he was among the Pharisees he was the biggest persecutor of the church they thought he was it and God had to crush the hit until he could get him totally dependent upon himself and in love listen not with the Mosaic law as interpreted by Pharisees but with his carpenter who came from nowhere changed his life will not think about that Chea reticle II changed his life that's why he wasn't complaining about the thorn that's what he would like to done it some other way but he says for what I've learned bring it on and then of course he learned that he could rejoice in the midst of his adversity and I love Philippians because there's some wonderful verses here but look if you will in this 4th chapter of Philippians here's what he says he says rejoice in the Lord always again I will say rejoice he wrote in jail in a Roman prison and he's talking about rejoicing why because here's what he learned all these things that had happened to him instead of having a pity party and wanting to break out of jail and get some other rescuing and spending his days and nights of crying God please please rescue me please get me out of this place what was he doing he was just taking all those experiences and running him over in his mind in his heart and gleaning and learning and reaping the most riches of rewards of who this God is that he served so whatever adversity you're facing most the time you can't control it so you have to decide how you gonna think about it are you gonna think about it as a bridge that God is building for you listen to bring you into an intimate relationship with him for which no man on earth can create for you a relationship to him that you will never be able to fully fathom all the days of your life a relationship with him for which he died to make possible a relationship with him that absolutely revolutionize your life equip you to be a strong servant of God audiometers have pity parties drink chorale sex anything get your mind off of it and simply your mind never gets off of it so that's the devil's approach or you can take Paul's approach this is a bridge and I'm gonna travel above all this because I know what's on the other side there's indescribable sweet precious eternal relationship with Jesus Christ that's what it's all about so look at your adversity or whatever it may be and ask yourself the question God have I been acting have I been responding and let me just say this you may not be a Christian you think what in the world is all of this about here's what it's about it's about God getting your attention sending you enough heartache and pain and suffering that finally it'll drive you to himself you can resist it you can rebel against it but only to your own hurt and pain what he wants to see for you to recognize he created you for himself not for yourself he wants you to confess your sinfulness your inadequacy and rely upon him to forgive you of your sins through His Son Jesus who died at the cross and paid your sin debt in full surrender your life to Him and watch him you say well let's take away all my adversity not necessarily because you see look he knows how much of that you need to make you the person he wants you to be but you do have two choices you can rebel or you can surrender and that's the best way and that's my prayer for you Father how grateful you are thank you for not giving us all the peace and joy and happiness we want when that's not what you want for us thank you for loving us enough to control us and at the same time giving giving us a partially free will I pray for every person who hears this old God there will be adversity you already know what's ahead for every single one of us I pray that they'll be wise enough father they get this in their heart not just on their paper and began not only to live it out but to share with people all around them who full of adversity will thank you for and believe you thought in Jesus name Amen if you've been blessed by today's program please visit us at intouch.org e

Channel: In Touch Ministries

Views: 1,207,744

Keywords: Adversity – Burden or Bridge?, Charles F. Stanley, InTouch, In Touch, Ministries, God, Prayer, Sermon, Bible, Preaching, Dr Stanley, Pastor, Church, Sunday, Christian, Faith, Jesus, Holy Spirit, Charles Stanley

Id: dXWPbCLxFUA

Length: 49min 53sec (2993 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 23 2020