Coping Through Tough Times with Doug Batchelor

[Music] you know I wanted to share what I think is a practical message with you today that I hope will be of some encouragement it's about coping through tough times how can we triumph in spite of our trials the Bible is pretty clear that there are trials in life everybody at some point is going to experience varying degrees of trouble you can read in Ecclesiastes chapter 2 verse 23 for all of his days are sorrowful and his work burdensome even in the night his heart takes no rest ball said all that live godly is the second Timothy 2:3 12 all that live godly will suffer persecution and Paul he was strengthening the souls of the disciples exhorting them continue in the faith saying we must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God it is through tribulation we enter the kingdom everybody experiences tough times so this is something I hope would relate now you may not know it that the people around you are having trials we usually are very polite how are you doing fine how are you fine very seldom do we want to admit to people the things we might be struggling with it could be the person you're sitting next to has experienced some terrible financial disaster or bankruptcy or they got a report from the doctor that they've got a very serious health problem and you had no idea or there's some strife or crisis at home or there's just intense loneliness in there life is all kinds of people are struggling with all kinds of problems and how do we bear up under that most votes are put on a good front um I'm doing fine well we don't really and you nobody wants to hear everybody unload all of the problems all of the time but we you and I know a few people you ask him how they are and you kind of regret you asked him but I know there's no one like that here I remember hearing a story about this New Yorker that was driving across Texas and he got involved in a pretty serious collision with a pickup truck that was pulling a horse trailer with a horse and the Texas Ranger came over to him he's lying in the side of the road he said are you all right he said I'm fine well a few months later he was in a court in Texas and he's trying to recover damages for his injuries and the insurance lawyer said in oh wait a second you told the policeman at the scene that you were fine he said you need the whole story he said they were pulling that horse trailer and then we had this terrible wreck I heard someone say the horse broke is laying the Ranger went over and shot the horse and then he comes over he says how are you so what did you expect me to say but there are trials oswald chambers said suffering is the heritage of the lost of the same and of the son of the god each one ends on a cross the bad thief is crucified the repentant thief is crucified and the son of God is crucified and so trouble reaches everybody at some point in varying degrees but don't be discouraged in spite of that we can have joy and we can have faith you can read where Jesus said of course that in this life you'll have tribulation but be of good cheer I have overcome the world all that lid godly will suffer persecution st. Augustine said God had one son on earth without sin but he never had one without suffering so all of us experienced varying degrees of suffering now I'll make make something for you very simple if you want to understand the trials that you go through in a kind of a divine perspective everything is going to fall into one of two categories and often both in your struggles God is trying to do something in you that's one and in your struggles God is wanting to do something through you and often he's wanting to do something in you and through you it's both but with that sort of as a background keep in mind there are about ten reasons well it's not a comprehensive list but I've come up with ten reasons those of you who like lists you might want to write some of these down why does God allow us to go through trials sometimes if you know there's a purpose behind it it's a lot easier to deal with right if we just can know is there some reason for this there's something good coming out of it then that makes it a lot easier to handle so here are some of the common reasons according to the Bible that people go through trials trouble suffering tribulation first of all he wants to help us recognize our spiritual need so some of it is for us it's pretty empty the Bible says blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven and God may have blessed you with physical poverty so you might know your spiritual poverty our different trials that we go through are designed to help us know that second Chronicles 3231 God withdrew from Hezekiah in order to test him that he might know all that was in his heart Hezekiah thought he was rich and increased with Goods and he didn't realize he had a lot of pride in his heart so God now God didn't back off so God could find out god knows everything right bible says jesus knew what was in man he did it so that Hezekiah could realize maybe I'm not as holy as I thought God sends messengers to find out about Jehovah and instead all he does is talk about his stuff you ever gone through a trial and the Lord showed you something about yourself you didn't know Exodus 9:27 and the ferrell said to them I have sinned this time the Lord is righteous and my people are wicked even the Pharaoh came to the place where he realized his wickedness as he went through the trial of the plagues that came on Egypt so that's one thing number two God sometimes allows us to go through trials to Humble us because God if he kicked the devil out for pride we're not going into heaven with our pride we need to humble ourselves which is very hard Deuteronomy 8:3 so he humbled you he allowed you to hunger and to feed you with manna which you did not know no your father's know that he might make you know that man doesn't live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God Jesus of course quotes this to the devil the proudest of all in the wilderness he humbled them that they might come to depend on God they went through trials where they not only ran out of food they ran out of water and they had to turn to God they were attacked by their enemies they learned on a daily basis that they had to depend on God it's humbling but it's healthy Ezra 821 then I proclaimed a fast there at the river Alava that we might humble ourselves before God you know sometimes Vaseline is sort of like self-induced trial self-denial and part of that represents we're humbling ourselves before God Matthew 26 75 and Peter remembered the words of Jesus when he said before the rooster crows you'll deny me three times Peter had been bragging though all men should forsake you I'll not forsake you and he went through this terrible trial so he could find out something in his own heart and he realized I'm not near as loyal as I thought I was and the Bible says he went out and he wept bitterly so that trial accomplished something in Peter and also his warning to us another reason we go through trials is point number three is to help us with our priorities to prioritize things correctly you remember God said Abraham you love me I love you you said okay take your son your only son who you love bring him to the mountains of Moriah and offer him there as an offering well Lord I love you but you know actually I love my son more no he didn't say that he put God first now do you think that was a trial for Abraham it was sometimes you'll go through a trial because you may have an idol in your life it could be somebody it could be some thing that is more important to you than God and God made touch that person or that thing to get your attention it wasn't just Abraham with his son how many of you remember Jeff saw with his daughter he made a vow Lord you give me victory whatever it is it comes through the gates of my house I'll offer to you and the first thing through the gates was not his ox or his goat or sheep it was his daughter said alas my daughter I have opened my mouth to the Lord and I cannot go back doesn't Jesus say unless you love me more than the husband wife child son daughter you're not worthy of the kingdom father mother Jesus needs first place trials sometimes help us to recognize what our priorities are and to get them straight another reason we sometimes go through trouble is quite honestly simply to separate us from sin it's God's discipline it's a fire of suffering that often brings fold the gold of godliness it's talking to Sam out in the lobby and he quoted that verse I said that's it my sermon today you're stealing there from me early 1st Peter you know just a side note probably 10% of the times the word suffer or suffering appears in the New Testament is in first Peter and of course Jesus told Peter how he was gonna die that he would die through crucifixion and when Peter wrote his letter the people of God were going through a lot of trials you read reports of some of the early church fathers when they came together for their conventions I'm talking about like you know a hundred ad 150 ad they'd come together for a church council and one historian said there were scarcely one person there that wasn't missing a leg an arm a foot and I something because they had been tortured for Christ in some way so they were all maimed they all had scars chained scars or something because of what they did indoors for Christ we don't have too many scars in suffering for Christ but sometimes God allows us to go through these things it's it's a discipline first Peter 4 1 and 2 therefore since Christ suffered for us in the flesh arm yourselves also with the same mind for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin that he no longer should live the rest of his life in the flesh for the lusts of men but for the will of God Hebrews 12:10 for they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them but he God for our profit that we might be partakers of his holiness now so sometimes God allows us to go through suffering and I'm gonna spend a moment on this because it's a chastening now how many of you are parents I won't ask you how you chasing your children but how many of you lived in the great generation that believed in the rod or the valve or the switch or the willow and you survived how many of you that raised your hand believed it wasn't that bad and the Bible has a lot to say about that one here this is you take this up with the Lord I'm gonna probably get a call from the officials but this is what the Bible says Hebrews twelve verse four you've not yet resisted to bloodshed striving against sin there's a struggle sometimes with temptation and you've forgotten the exhortation that speaks to you as sons my son do not despise the chasing of the Lord or be discouraged when you're rebuked by him for whom the Lord loves he chastens and he scourges every son who he receives if you endure chastening God deals with you as sons for what son is there whom the father does not chasing but if you are without chastening of what you've become partakers then you are illegitimate not sons furthermore if we have human fathers who correct it isn't we paid them respect shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the father of spirits and live submit to his chastening in other words for they indeed for a few days earthly fathers for a few days chastened us seemed best to them but he for our profit sometimes parents don't do it for the best motives in the best way they're doing their best but he said God always does it for a profit that we might be partakers of his holiness sometimes you're going through trials and God is allowing it that he can refine you and you can be a partaker of his holiness now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present but painful nevertheless afterward it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it I remember my uncle Harry my father's brother telling me a story one time about grandma bachelor and a grandma bachelor was a very tough woman she was a Baptist she lived in Oklahoma during the days of the Dust Bowl some of you know your history or if you've ever read the book Grapes of Wrath my dad kind of lived through that epoch and after the depression are in the midst of the depression my father's father died and left grandma bachelor with three sons and one in the oven as they say and she worked sewing for levi-strauss sewing overalls and she was tough trying to keep three boys in line during the Depression that's that's a hard job and my uncle Harry told me when he got to be 15 years old he made a big mistake he was bigger than Grandma bachelor and he said I told her one day she told me to do something I said I don't have to and I'm bigger than you and you can't make me I don't know why you'd ever say something so sassy she looked at him and she said maybe not but I can make you wish you listen to me then he tells that one night while he was sleeping early in the morning she woke up and they had those metal frame beds you know and she very quietly tied she took some socks or something she tied at least one foot both hands to the frame of the bed why he was sleeping she knew that he slept the sleep of a teenager and he wouldn't wake up then she got a room stick and she came in she took a deep breath and she just began to wallop on his thighs and he woke up thinking he's having a nightmare howling thrashing trying to get away and she does laid into him beat him hip and thigh then she sat down she rested and he's whimpering and moaning it she's aren't gonna rest a minute and she said I'm gonna hit you some more I actually said and you are never gonna talk back to me again and she kept her word and he said I never ever sass my mother again that's what you call the peaceable fruit of righteousness now I'm not recommending you do this at home don't try this at home but those were the good old days where you you've never dared talk back to your mother and your father job 5:17 behold happy is a man whom God corrects therefore do not despise the chastening of the Almighty for whom he bruises but he binds up he wounds but his hands make whole again it says proverbs 3 verse 11 to 12 my son do not despise the chastening of the Lord nor detest his correction for whom he loves he corrects and you know the Bible talks about some children that were not corrected by their parents I talked about David did not correct Adonai gen he became very a lot of bad behavior Eli would not correct his sons and he lost his sons his four sons and daughters and again I'm not talking about corporal punishment but I'm talking about the chastening of the Lord sometimes to save us because He loves us now there's a couple of times my father spanked me somebody threw a rock from our house and he hit the neighbor's house down below and my dad lined us all up and said who did it we all said we didn't do it but he was sure I didn't I got spanked and I didn't do it but you know I didn't hold it against my father because I thought of all the times I did do things he didn't know about and so I figured it evened out somehow you know I'm talking about parents make mistakes but what about all the times you did something wrong and you didn't get in trouble or you blamed it on your sibling and they got in trouble and so it sort of evens out so he does it to save us number five sometimes we go through trials because it helps us to focus on heaven Romans 8:18 Romans 8:18 for I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed you know as you think ahead and you look at heaven it gives us peace in knowing that you can endure almost anything if you know it's not gonna last it reminds you that whatever suffering you have now it's not gonna last and the sufferings of this life is like just a drop of water and then look at an ocean I mean you might have a hard time in this life for that one drop of water but God is going to give you an ocean of pleasure at his right hand forevermore that you can't comprehend through eternity so to patiently endure the struggles of this life though they seem to be long it's really nothing Paul is saying by comparison with the glory that God has in store for those that love him and you say Amen you know a boxer can see in the ring and endure all kinds of punches when he considers the prize the title and I don't recommend boxing it's a brutal sport but I used to watch it and my mother dated a fella that was big into boxing for years and and there was this one fight in New York City some of you who remember Muhammad Ali Cassius Clay when I was a kid and he fought with Joe Frazier and it's one of the few fights the Muhammad Ali lost and they stood toe-to-toe in the ring and they beat on each other for 15 rounds two heavyweight boxers and Muhammad Ali got knocked out a couple times and and he was in pretty bad shape after the fight he was in the locker room and he's on the table and doctors checking on them did he's bleeding he swollen he's bruised and Diana Ross the singer came in and she saw him when she fell down at the table she's on her knees and she's crying he said I know I'm not pretty anymore he said but don't cry for me Diana I just got paid two million dollars to get beat up he could handle it when he thought about the prize and we've got to keep our mind on the prize that this is not gonna last forever there's a number of promises in the Bible second Corinthians 4:17 for our light affliction which is but for a moment is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory while we do not look at the things that are seen but the things that are not seen think about the reward revelation 21 the reason God tells us there's a world where God is gonna wipe away every tear no more death or sorrow or crying or pain that sort of summarizes a lot of the struggles we have in this life he says don't worry there's gonna be world where there's none of that and he's promised us that number six one reason God allows us to go through trials is so more more appreciative of the times we're not going through trials have you noticed sometimes when you're surrounded with blessings you can get where you take it for granted sometimes our children take their blessings for granted because they don't know what it's like to do without I've heard that it's really good for your kids to go on a mission trip I've heard a lot of stories about kids said you know an American they they got all the latest of this and that they won't wear jeans and pants and shoes unless they're designer and main brand and you know they $150 for a pair of tennis shoes and then they go on a mission trip to India where the kids don't have any shoes and they're still happy and it does something to kind of reprioritize when they get home helps them understand the value so job 29 now job is going through his trials listen to what he thinks of he's going through a terrible trial and you all know job 29 for just as I was in the days of my prime you can hear him with nostalgia looking back when the friendly counsel of God was over my tent when the almighty was yet with me when my chill were around me when my steps were bathed and cream in the rock poured out rivers of oil for me he's looking back at me boy I just had so many blessings so going through a trial you start appreciating the blessings and then when the trials over you think you know I've really got it good now how many of you think back on the good old days sometimes whenever they were some of you might be in the good old days right now and you don't know it and you won't know it until you go through a trial later isn't that right so we appreciate God's blessing point number seven another reason we have trouble is to help us help others I told you that God allows these things to do something in us and often to do something through us job was afflicted and he might have wondered why is this happening and he and his friends spent a whole book talking about why an innocent man would suffer how many people how many millions of people have been encouraged by the patience of Job even James refers to the patience of Joel where we see that in the end God is good and we're realizing there's a battle behind the scenes and as you look at the trials that job goes through he maybe couldn't see it men from his perspective but we can see looking back that God sometimes allows these things to teach us and to help others notice 2nd Corinthians 1 verse 3 this is a this is a little bit of a deep verse you got to follow me Paul sometimes waxes eloquent here blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ the father of mercies and the God of all comfort now that's the operative word who comforts us in all of our tribulation why that we may be able to comfort those who are any trouble sermons about how to get through trouble why do we go through trouble that we might comfort those who are in any trouble with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God for as the sufferings of Christ abound our consolation also aboundeth rue Christ were consoling others now if we're afflicted it's for your consolation salvation which is effective in during the same sufferings that we also suffer or we are comforted with your consolation and salvation you know pastors do funerals and it always seemed a little strange when a young pastor and I was once a young pass and you're trying to comfort these seasoned people who are mature and they lived a long time as they're experiencing loss and you haven't really experienced any real loss like that you're trying to tell them all the secrets of life and you got all these platitudes and sayings and and but you start losing some loved ones your funeral services start changing and I've got a friend you know we lost the son a few years ago that's the hardest thing you could you could go through by far and another friend lost the son and I went to his funeral and he stood he shook hands with all the people after the service that were going in line but when I came to the line he stopped and he hugged me because he knew that I knew what he was going through and so I was able to give him comfort that no one else could give him because of the trouble I went through so whatever you're going through God even might be using it to discipline you but it could have multiple purposes one of them being that whenever you get through it you will be able to relate to another person and help them friend was telling me they were in the hospital for some procedure and a nurse came in and had to turn them and they said that nurse was like Attila the Hun just came in and just threw him around I'm in pain and as it the next day another nurse the different nurse came in and they had to turn them and they were so they said is this okay houses way are we going too fast and they were so consider it and finally they got them settled down and they had to say to the nurse I said I just got to tell you I really appreciate your being sensitive and gentle because yes a boy I had nursed it was like a professional wrestler came here just throwing me around and and then there said well I'll tell you I've had the same surgery that you've had I know how you feel and so when you're going through some kind of trial or something just say all right lord I don't know what I've done to deserve this but maybe you didn't do anything to deserve it maybe he's gonna use it later to help somebody else so one of the reasons we go through our trials is that we can be a comfort to others that are going through suffering you know I've got a bottle of rice a dream I drink rice cream with my cereal and it's got a little sign on top Karen wondered what I was doing I went into the refrigerator yesterday I pulled out the rice dream I read it and I put it away jeez what are you doing is it sermon illustration it's a shake before using sometimes God's got to shake you before he could use you you've probably seen medicine bottles before it says shake before using it shake well some have you been shaken up quite a bit huh and a very another very simple principle and why we go through troubles and suffering is to grow Christian virtue first Peter 1:6 and this you greatly rejoice though now for a little time if need be you've been grieved by various trials that the trial of your faith being much more precious than that of gold that perishes though it be tribe of fire might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus James says in James 1 verse 2 my brethren counted all joy how many of you think oh joy when you're going through a trial count it all joy when you fall into various trials knowing just know see if you know there's a purpose that God has got a purpose in it that the testing of your faith it's helping you develop faith produces patience you know when the Bible says he that endures to the end will be saved that word endurance is patience let patience have it's perfect work now why would he say let patience have it's perfect work except that it's possible for you not to make the most of your trials say Lord I will embrace whatever it is you're trying to teach me through this somebody said one time if your parents striking you with a rod draw close to them it always lessens the blow if you draw close to the one who holds the rod if you embrace your trials and say Lord whatever you want to learn teach me remember one time David got in trouble he was proud he was numbering Israel and Nathan the Prophet came to him and he said look I left you a little bit to test you and look what you did he thought that all of the power of the kingdom was in the number he said David how that's unlike you you went against a giant all by yourself it never had to do with numbers and now you think your powers the numbers of the people so I'm gonna send a plague I'm gonna send one of three punishments it's like a parent asking the kid now do you want a spanking or do you want you know I'll wait without food or whatever it is you know and any of you ever give your kids choice isn't that terrible you let him here's your choice and and you know David he could have picked from one of three things and you know David said I am gonna fall into the hands of the Lord whatever you decide Lord and if it's a judgment from you I'd rather fall into your hands and man's hands and so sometimes you just draw near to God in those trials you know what God shortened what was going to be the punishment because David submitted and he humbled himself before the Lord Romans 5:3 again we're talking about you developed Christian virtue and not only that but we glory in tribulations do you all joy and tribulations do you and tribulations knowing that tribulation produces perseverance and perseverance character and character hope how many of you want to have characters fit for heaven how many of you want Trials if only Trials produce character will you embrace it you know I remember hearing about a pastor James Brooks he's an author went to visit person's home and while he was waiting for the lady of the house he heard this singing of a melody in the corner and he walked over he thought there was somebody there but it was actually a bird that had learned to sing the melody of a hymn now usually they just chatter a word or two and the woman of the house came into the room he said I've never seen a goldfinch sing a song before but he said she said yeah it's hard to do but you can't do it during the day because they get distracted you can only do it at night and she's I sat hour after hour by her cage and I would hum that melody and hum that melody and hum that melody but you have to do it in the dark and sometimes we only learn those things in the dark the Bible tells us that job 35:10 mine maker who gives songs in the night Helen Keller said although the world is full of suffering that is also full of overcoming of it how does a mother Eagle teach its young to fly stirs up the nest alright number nine for those that are still counting sometimes we go through trials as a warning to others there was a thief on the cross when Jesus died and he confessed Luke 23 49 fear God seeing that you're under the same condemnation we indeed justly for we receive the reward for our deeds now how many of us have been encouraged by that thief that turned to the Lord in the final hours of his life and found mercy and they gotta be careful this is a story of someone being saved in the eleventh hour and I remember Matthew Henry said there is only one example of a person being saved in the eleventh hour in the Bible so that nobody would lose hope only one example so nobody would dare to presume to wait until the eleventh hour but we're glad it's here but that man's trial is there as a warning to others and he said that we're getting what we deserve I don't know if you've seen it but there's been a television commercial that's been running lately of a lady that is speaking through one of those devices when you lose your sound box they've got a battery-powered amplified device and you can kind of talk when you press it and it makes a robotic sound you all know what I'm talking about so it's an unusual sound and she's doing the commercial she's saying this is what I got from smoking and I'm going through a trial but maybe it's not a waste if you can learn from my mistake how many of your parents are hoping that your kids can learn from your mistakes instead of making the same mistakes but school of hard knocks usually is the best no first corinthians 10:6 now these things took place as examples for us that we might not desire evil as aadya talking about the experience of the children of Israel do not be idolaters as some of them were as it is written the people sat down to eat and drink and they rose up to play we must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did and 23,000 fell in a day we must not we must put Krait we must not put christ to the test or tempt the Lord as they did and were destroyed by serpents or a grumble as some of them did and were destroyed by the destroyer now these things happen to them as examples but they are written down for our instruction on whom the ends of the world have come and so one thing that we do is we learn from their experience so we don't have to repeat the same mistakes number ten we go through trials that God might be glorified somehow sometimes God is simply glorified in some way through the trials we experience why did Jesus say Lazarus got sick because he ate too much sugar and our de Jesus tell the disciples it's for the glory of God I didn't heal him right away for the glory of God John chapter 9 now as Jesus passed by he saw a man blind from birth and disciples want to know why what did he somehow do something wrong I did God know he was gonna go bad or was it his parents sin or always trying to figure out why you know what Jesus said neither but that the works of God should be revealed in him God was gonna be glorified in a great way through his healing now that man had been blind he wasn't very old he had just come of age he's like 1820 years old and then blind his whole life and you might think well what a terrible thing to be blind your whole life and the Lord allow that that he might be glorified but how good did that man feel when he got his sight and how long is that affliction compared to Eternity if he's healed by Jesus and he has everlasting life so Paul said we shouldn't question the Potter saying why did you make one vessel like this or one vessel like that we've got to trust that God's God and he knows what he's doing right he's always wonder why was I born healthy and my brother with cystic fibrosis but if God can be glorified in it I was able to pray with my brother before he died and yes Jesus in his heart John 21 jesus said to Peter most assuredly when you were old when you when you're young you did what you wanted but when you're old you will stretch out your hands another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish he spoke this signifying by what death he would glorify God Acts 541 they departed from the presence of the council rejoicing they were worthy to suffer shame for his name that God could be or fight in it Romans 8:16 the Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God and if children then heirs and heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ if indeed we suffer with him that we may be glorified together so if you know that somehow whatever trials are trouble or suffering you're going through in this life is gonna mean increase glory then you make it easier to embrace that so those are 10 points there are other things but you know one thing you should just keep in mind um sometimes we don't learn except through trouble have you learned that pain is a great instructor there are lessons you learn in pain that you won't learn any other way I've got something I'd like to share with you do not hold a spark plug wire when someone is turning over the ignition I have learned that it is not 12 volts that will go through you but because of the capacitor you will experience 10,000 volts ask me how I know that ask me how I know you don't want to touch your disc brakes after you park the car that they're very hot I will never do that again I have learned that lesson you know one of the things that Illustrated this for me was playing out a lot of stories I could tell you at this point I don't want to go too long but I was driving the bulldozer through the woods and all of a sudden I thought someone shot me you know I got hunters that shoot up there I thought I got shot and then I got shot again I realized it wasn't being shot I was being stung by Hornets I had parked right on top of a Yellowjackets nest with a bulldozer and they didn't like that well bulldozers don't drive very fast and I thought I gotta get out of here you ever gets realize you're being stung by me you run as fast as you can when you feel pain like that you run as fast as you can I jumped off that thing I ran and I'm swinging they're following me I think I got the sign three or four times I don't know I'm very painful problem wasn't bulldoze were still running up there on top of their nest that's what I got I can't leave it there all day and I thought well what do I do I didn't have any beekeeper equipment so I thought well I got a snowmobile suit for winter so I wouldn't put on a snowmobile this is summer I put on a snowmobile suit and I put on one of those hoodies that you wear when you're skiing looks like you're gonna rob a bank or go skiing and then I had to put on a pair of goggles and I put on a pair of gloves and I put duct tape I didn't want him going up my sleeves and I went and I climbed back on the dozer and I got out of there now before I climbed on the dozer I stood in front of the mirror and I took a picture of myself I took a selfie I thought now the reason I tell you this story is that was a particular place in a field there's nothing descript about it but at this particular spot in the field where that nest was the bees have relocated 20 years ago whatever it was I cannot drive past that spot without remembering that experience you notice that when you have pain it really helps you God Dwyer just like that or you want to survive you'd keep touching the stone if you didn't remember but he helps us remember the things that hurt for your survival so when you're going through a trial sometimes I say Lord if I'm doing this because there's something you want to teach me please teach me now don't be afraid of trials yes there life is tough for everybody amen you don't have to be afraid who was it that said a man who fears suffering is already suffering from what he fears Thomas a Kempis said he who knows how to suffer will enjoy much peace such a one as a conqueror of himself and Lord of the world a friend of Christ and an era of heaven don't fear trials Jesus said John 16:33 these things I've spoken to you that in me you might have peace in the world you're gonna have tribulation be of good cheer I've overcome the world you know the Bible tells us that Christ suffered for us Hebrews 2:9 but we see Jesus who was made a little lower than the Angels for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honour Christ in the garden said Lord if his anyway not to drink this cup but he drank it that he might taste death for every man for it was fitting for him for whom are all things by whom all things are in bringing many sons to glory to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings so if he's our captain and he suffers we should know that he can bring good of it even the thief I'm sorry even the soldier by the cross of Jesus saw Christ in his sufferings he saw him say Father forgive them and through be holiness sufferings he said surely this is the Son of God when Christians know how to joyfully and patiently bear our sufferings it sometimes is the very best opportunity to witness amen and God is working in us I'll close with a little poem that you may have heard before someone once shared called the oyster and the pearl there once was an oyster whose story I'll tell who found that some sand had slipped into his shell just one little grain but it gave him such pain for oysters are feelings although they're quite plain now did he berate the working of fate which had led him to such a deplorable state no he said to himself as he lay on the Shelf if I can't remove it I'll try to improve it so the years rolled on by his years always do and he came to his ultimate destiny stew I don't recommend oyster stew but the small grain of sand which had bothered him so was a beautiful pearl or richly aglow now this tale has a moral for isn't it grand what an oyster can do with a morsel of sand what couldn't we do if we'd only begin to enrich and embrace what gets under our skin God allows trials because he loves you we need to learn how to just see it through a heavenly perspective nothing is gonna the pain won't last it's all temporary and just say lord help me to avoid bringing sufferings on myself if I suffer for your sake let me rejoice Jesus said be exceedingly glad and the remember that he suffered and it is an honor to be able to suffer as a Christian amen [Music] you [Music]

Channel: Doug Batchelor

Views: 56,206

Keywords: depression, anxiety, doug batchelor, amazing facts, seventh day adventist, ellen g white

Id: QbDyje7Nk6g

Length: 45min 32sec (2732 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 20 2018