Rock Church - When Bad Things Happen - Part 1, Dwell On The Past

I know it's all you've got to just be strong and it's a fight just to keep it together take it I know you think that you are too but hope is never loved just a once there you're gonna be what's up charge how's everybody doing today how's everybody doing today can I have all y'all stand up is a beautiful Sunday can I get amen amen before we start some I'm gonna pray that the Holy Spirit revealed to you how much he has done in your life often we come to church and we want to hear something new and we want to get encouraged for a week and I want to encourage you that whenever you come here usually the Holy Spirit is not revealing to you anything new he's just revealing to you something you already know in a different way and why that is important is that you have a lot more spiritual resource and faithful faithfulness of God history to draw on than what you hear in here and so hopefully God stirs your heart today to help you realize that you have he has done so much in your life and what you're going through right now you have a reservoir of experience to draw on to know that God is never going to leave you if I say you're gonna get Amen Lord I pray your blessings today I pray you encourage us today I pray you stir us up today in Jesus name Amen look the person next you say God got you get your Bibles out get your Bibles out on the count of three say word one two three say word one more time say word turn to 2nd chronicles chapter 16 2nd chronicles chapter 16 hope you have reading through the Bible still with us we are in second Chronicles starting today 2nd chronicles 16 you will read this story in a few days whenever I go home to New York or go to college my college in Connecticut and visit with my friends we always end up talking about the past news talk about the girlfriend they wish they could have had even though they couldn't never had do something out you know I could have gone pro even though they don't even play anything and I could've been rich if I had more money you know all kind of stuff and all stuff I could have graduated if I were to read a book but we're always dwelling on in the past and someone will inevitably say in that conversation you need to stop dwelling on the past we're gonna start a series today call when bad things happen everyone say when bad things happen not why do bad things happen bad things happens we live in a fallen world people evil we make mistakes we do stupid stuff that's there's a whole lot of obvious reasons why bad things happen but the question is what do you do when they happen so we're gonna talk about today and today's message we're talking about in this series today's message is that I don't encourage you when bad things happen that you need to dwell on the past that in the past God has gotten you through a whole bunch of stuff and in the past you were two things one you were loyal to God and because of your loyalty to God God got you through and this story we're gonna look at is about a king who did something and a prophet is going to come to him and tell him you should have dwelt on the past so what I want to encourage you today as we talk about this is I want you to be thinking about something you're going through right now and my prayer that the Holy Spirit would remind you of what God has already done in your life because of your faithfulness and by the way what God has done in your life even when you weren't faithful and how he was strong on your behalf we're gonna do this by dwelling on what's happening right now in your life excuse me how your not being faithful but how you were faithful in the past and then we're gonna write a short dwell on the past declaration prayer for you to pray on every day to encourage you now before we getting started I want you to by show hands how many of you are going through something right now and that's just not positive you have a drama in your life you have pain in your life whatever a situation that you don't like just rage yeah I'm really high very good and by the way as I remind that when we raise our hand here we put an elbow Baba here just raise your hand really high there we go there we go there we go there we go there we go very good you know the Bible says --ml never let you be tempted beyond what you can take and and nothing has overtaken you except what is common to man first Corinthians tells us in other words you're not the only one many people been there before you've been there before you went through this before and so don't think you're all by yourself because often when we go through something we will hear that voice your life is over your career is over you're gonna die you're never gonna have love in your life you're gonna be broke you're gonna be homeless and the devil starts throwing all this doomsday on you and it catastrophize is your situation and God is saying holla holla holla we've been through this before when you and me been through this before many times and I got you through even when you weren't faithful but there were times when you were faithful there were times do you trusted me so I want to encourage you that you have more history in your life of positive things then you know and when you come to church when you come to church you can come say I want to hear something but understand this whatever you hear in church ask yourself did have I done this in my life before have I lived this truth before and what did God do before because if you can write history write write stories incidences of your faithfulness things that nobody can take away from you there was a guy in the Bible who was blind and when he got healed the religious hypocrites were saying that Jesus who heals he said he's a false prophet and the guys look I don't know what you're talking about I don't know anything about that dude other than this I was blind now I see so you could say anything you want but you can't take that away from me what God but no one can take away from you is what God has already done in your life and if you had a list of all those amazing things God have done in your life you would have a foundation upon which to build your faith can I get a Amen okay so in the story where me come on come come on now if you went home right now if I just prayed then you went home right now and you wrote down as many things you can remember you would get this much out of this sermon right now so I don't want you to don't forget what we just said now in this story is about a king named AUSA and Basha now quick history Abraham had a son named Isaac Isaac had a son named Jacob Jacob's name was changed to Israel and Israel had how many sons everyone say 12 so the nation Israel has 12 tribes after whence because Solomon's unfaithfulness they got split nation of Israel and he formed two tribes in the bottom called Judah in the south ten tribes in the north combined we'll call Israel so when you read the Bible you're gonna see Judah Israel Judah Israel that is the 12 tribes split ten and two so after was king of the south Judah Basia was king of the north Israel Basha was gonna attack his brothers in the south ASSA instead of trusting God instead of praying to God as he had done in the past he took money out of the Treasuries of the Lord and paid the king of Syria to come against Basha to set him free so instead of trusting in God he trusted in his money and trusted in another enemy to come against his brother and what we're gonna read in the story is that when that happens a man of God Hannon I the prophet in the Bible calls in this particular case of seer comes and says thus saith the Lord you did the wrong thing you should have dwelt on the past you should have remembered what you did in the past when you got in trouble when you've got attack and pray to God and so therefore you will be judged because you took the wrong path my encouragement to you is that you think about what you're going through now and look in the past and all the times you were faithful loyal to God that's your loyalty you were committed to your relationship with God and all the times God was straw on your behalf and by the way just as a survey how many of you by show of hands believe that at any time in your life even for one second you are stronger than God anybody you are stronger than God you misunderstood the question I get second chronicles 16 second chronicles 16 verse 1 it says in the 36 year of the reign of ah-so 2nd chronicles 16 1 in the 36 year of the reign of ASSA Basia king of israel came against judah and built Rama that he might let none go out or come into hasta king of judah then also brought silver and gold from the Treasuries of the house of the lord and the king's house and sent them to ben-hadad king of syria who dwelt in damascus saying let there be a treaty between you and me as there was between my father and your father see I have sent silver and gold come break your trading with Baasha king of Israel so that he will withdraw from me and not attack me verse 5 now what happened when Basra heard it that he stopped building Rama and ceased his work and at that time Hananiah the seer verse 7 at that time Hananiah the seer came to ask the king of Judah and said because you relied on the king of syria and have not relied on the lord therefore the army of the king of syria has escaped from your hand verse 8 then he says weren't the Ethiopians and the Louvin not a large army very with very many chariots and horsemen yet because you relied on the Lord he delivered them into your hand we're gonna read this in a minute but in the past chapter 14 two chapters before a million an army of a million men came against ASSA and all he did was pray to God and God delivered him he's saying don't you remember in the past when that army of a million people came against you and you prayed and God got you through by a show hands by show of hands by a show of hands how many of you in the past you had an impossible situation like it is the end of the world there's no way you talk about how low it's gonna happen is that we're gonna work as a fossil this is no way and you know one could talk you out of this being the end of the planet Earth in your life and God got you to raise your hand come on now Jesus come on now come on now Jesus and by the way if I ask you how many times they have like a hundred time help me y'all can say that happened a hundred times come on now Jesus and by the way yeah how many times did he never come through can any you say he never came through every time one of my favorite verses in the Bible verse nine for the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth so when you think afro you think of round afro that's an afro right there that's an apple that is the globe that is me at 15 amen the eyes of the Lord is running through my hair running to and fro throughout the earth to show himself strong on behalf of those whose hearts are loyal and once a strong say loyal this verse is so profound here's what God's doing if I can find somebody who is white I will be strong for them that's not what it said if I could bind someone who's black sound whereas if I can find someone whose millions if I can sign someone who's cute someone who's rich someone who's poor someone who's educated he ain't say any of that I just want someone to be loyal that's the criteria there's no other criteria someone who will trust me some will have faith the Bible says are just the just shall walk by faith so the Bible says God says look ah God is looking for people to show himself strong on that if they will be loyal number one in your notes let's talk about where you're at now describe how your pain has caused your heart to compromise your loyalty in other words you have to be convinced that the way you're doing it now potentially is not working what are you doing now to deal with your drama and curse in you stop reading your Bible stop praying stop attending church stop going to DeGroot the D group the discipleship groups we have is a perfect venue for you to have relationship with people and talk to people about your problems I can't tell you how many times I meet people in the mall wherever it's store whatever and they go am i go to church block hey was I saying for the church well you see what happened was I had this problem in my life I got drama so I stopped going to church that's the last thing you need is to do it and instead now I'm going to the club instead I'm now watching pornography instead I'm going I'm doing all this stuff that's further exacerbating making the problem worse why weren't you loyal you didn't trust God anything he was faithful you didn't think he would get you through think about your history and one be describe the result of your lack of loyalty when you are not loyal what happens you get addicted you create more problems you dig a deeper hole you alienate you destroy your health you have the pause and don't let the devil get you caught up in chasing something that you'll never get without realizing I'm on the wrong treadmill that you have to get off and say Lord instead of you saying I am going to do this in the future I want you to do this first I want you to dwell on the past this is also true listen we have D groups and we had a big group training and we have a journal for our D groups and as part of the D group Journal when you read through the Bible every single day when God says something to you that as you learn something and you should apply this here at church whenever you learn something our tendency is to say I learned that I need to forgive my enemies I learned I need to be generous before you put a burden on yourself to do something in the future before you make another New Year's resolution that you're most likely gonna break especially if you make them every day or every week you can't hardly remember them that you say when did I apply that principle that I just learned in the past when was when did God do something in my life in the past that was pop positive because like I said you're probably not gonna learn a whole lot of new concepts it's just you're gonna hear it in a different way and if you look back in your life in your history last week last year five years ago throughout your life and say man I did that me and God went through that five times that I can remember look at all the activity of God in my life and if God did it then he's gonna do it again we just sang that song if God did it then he's gonna do it again so if I have all this history of God's faithfulness in my life God's patience in my life my faithfulness of God my trusted in God if I if I if I see that I did it before I am going to now have the encouragement to now do it again when when David killed Goliath Goliath the Philistines were on one Hill the Israelites on another Hill there was a valley in the middle and Goliath came down the valley and for forty days straight talk trash and yelled to the Israelites and said if you could send one soldier to beat me we will all serve you we don't all have to fight just one on one that's pretty cool concept none of the Israelites went David comes because he he was going in and see his brothers because he was a little kid taking care of sheep he wouldn't see his brothers and he heard the Glyde talking all this trash and he starts telling the army I could look that giant but he was a little kid and the King Saul said who's that kid saying he could whoop the Giant and he said bring him in here he went to the Kings tent stake a Michael and the King said you can't you're just a little boy Hisle David said when I used to keep my father's sheep which was that morning he was a shepherd that day but he realized I want Jolyon killer now I just left the Sheep I just said I'll be right back and I came out here he's what he said when a lion or bear took one of the sheep's I know she doesn't have a ass but bear with me took one of the sheep's out of the flock I would attack the lion van take the sheets out of his mouth if the Lord first samuel 1634 reading yourself when if the Lord in the past delivered me from the paw of the lion if the Lord in the past did lift me from the paw of the bear if God was faithful then he will be faithful now that's your story that's your story number two describe how your heart express its loyalty through a trial in the past you cannot dwell on those stories enough they take someone I when I retired from the charges I hadn't officially retired but it was right before I was gonna retire I had three children one wife a house and Rancho Penasquitos and two cars well I got a car her car I just finished playing and I wanted to be in ministry so I went to a pastor at the time like Macintosh at Horizon and say hey look how I started a ministry in my house I got these teenagers coming can i I want to be used pastor and he says okay we have previously spoken but we were driving in the car he says $500 a month is your salary and and I'm a numbers guy so I know that my I have four years of calculus I could do quick add my mortgage was three times that and so I had a car five miles of fee it that just didn't add up that would pay for my garage and in an instant my brain was it doesn't add up this is are you gonna trust me imma simultaneously and in two seconds that happened I said I'll take the job that's how I got into ministry for three years my salary it took three years for my salary to catch up to my bills so what did God do he taught me to trust them for three years here we go I'm gonna take care of you just trust me just do what I tell you to do I'll take care of you you had those stories you have to remember those stories you have to remember the faithfulness of God you have to think when was my loyalty to God my faith in God when did it pay off to look at it look at second turn to second Chronicles 14:9 this is the story of what I saw did 2nd chronicles 14 9 it says then 0 the Ethiopian came out against him second Chronicles 49 came out against him with an army of a million men everyone say a million 1 million men three hundred chariots and he came to Marsha so I also went out against him and they sent troops in battle array in the valley of Zephyr Thoth and my sera and I and I cried out to the Lord has gotten his what he said Lord it is nothing for you to help in other words it's easy whether with many or with those who have no power help us O Lord our God this is your prayer by the way this is your prayer help us O Lord our God for we rest on you and in your name we go against this multitude o Lord they will say O Lord you are our God do not let man prevail against you so the Lord has struck the Ethiopians before us and you and the Ethiopians fled why were you faithful to God in the past because you prayed in you read your Bible sometimes I talk to people and they go man you gotta pray for me pastor I'm just going through this hard time and and I always that okay so what are you doing some will say well you know I stopped going to church alright someone save me I'm read the Bible everyday listen to this narrative won't you listen to this narrative I'm reading popular every day I'm praying I'm in fellowship I'm seeking God can you pray this trial goes away and I'm thinking I don't know if I want to try to go away this is not about trials going away and now coming that's not the point when bad things happen how are you responding to it how is God shaping you what are you learning about your situation yourself your relationship with God your perception because what happens is sometimes people start praying they become faithful and they'll say I'm a brand and I'm reading the Bible and I'm saying okay this trial is happening you're praying reading a Bible and what's God doing your life now I have so much peace and he's teach me all the stuff and I'm like that sounds like a lot of good stuff and that sounds like if if this trial goes away you may stop doing this and go back to your old lackadaisical self which happens often what is God doing in your life when you were faithful when you were faithful to share your faith you were faithful to walk with God you were faithful to serve you you said I got to start tithing I'm I'm in sin and listen God God doesn't want you to do these things just so the pain would go away he wants you to trust him he wants you to walk with Him because when bad things happen implies the obvious stuff happens it's always going to happen matter of fact when my father died it hit me I got to watch my father die it hit me that the very last moments of Earth it's a bad thing now dying going heaven is a good thing but it could be very painful and even in that moment you could say God has always been faithful to me and I know when this ends oh oh it's gonna be good can I get amen look at look at look at number two you know why was your heart law because God was faithful second Chronicles 14:11 aweso cried out and said to the Lord it is nothing for you to help whether with many or with those who have no power help us O Lord our God for we rest on you and in your name we go against this multitude to be described God's response when you were loyal what did God do in the past God got you through financial problems watch this you're not alone how many of you got has gotten you through in the past multiple times financial issues oh my god come on Jesus watch this how many of you have ever thought I'm gonna be homeless and lose everything I was in a man's jacuzzi me and this guy were in the jacuzzi in his house of Scripps Ranch in his jacuzzi he has a six-figure job multiple six figures and he was talking about him worrying about being homeless brah horse far from youth God has gotten you through multiple multiple times what has he done he's gotten you through financial problems he's gotten you through health problems he got you through a relational problems here's your prayer look in your nose dwelling on the past declaration my heart was loyal to God by because God is blank I was loyal to him by praying them I was loyal to him by waiting on him I was loyal to him by being humble I was loyal to him by pursuing him I was loyal to him by being obedient to the things he was trying to get me to be obedient to for a long time that's how I was loyal to him and by the way if you want to know the number one thing you should do and any time you get in any situation with God anytime anything happens in your life the number one thing God wants you to do all the time I can't tell you how what do I do best what do I do what I do number one thing which applies to every situation a hundred percent of the time obey God well I know what he says I read the Bible the reason we're reading through the Bible is 1 we need to read the Bible every day but to get into habit of hearing his voice in my d group I asked my guys are you hearing God's voice more clearly now than when we started in January and they were absolutely that is the foundation of your relationship of God are you hearing his voice if you could say I was faithful to God by reading by praying by submitting myself down because God is faithful loving powerful consistent loyal and God was strong which means he has the ability to move mountains in your life what did he do he saved my relationship he saved my life he got me a job he fed me he provided a call and if you were to lay all those stones of remembrance out in your life you will see that God has been so good to you and when the devil comes and tells you God's gonna forsake you he's gonna leave you he's gonna deny you you say fool shut your mouth Satan because God will never do that he has never done that my past and he's not gonna start doing that now I'm gonna trust him through everything I go through can I get any men in a minute we're gonna pray there's several roofs to you but I'm gonna say there's a couple one there's some of you you you've never given your life to Christ you come to church to kind of check-in it out you're kind on the outside but you know what I need to be all name of God because even you who've never asked Christ to be your Savior you may be saying they're going yeah I've had some situations in my life could that be god absolutely God leads us to repentance with His mercy when I was 19 years old I asked Christ to be my Savior I was in the department store in a black neighborhood because these two white hippies we're in the store walking around with their long beards and bummy clothes looking like Charles Manson and I looked at them he said what are these dudes doing this in his neighborhood they came over shared the gospel with me cold call their beat of Bibles I got safe right there in the spot I went home that night that right then with my girlfriend I was staying in her house and two three days I can't remember it's a blur was like so long ago I was laying in her bed Jesus appeared to me in the room physically Star Trek beamed in no joke and I'm sitting there dripping I tried to yell to her nothing will come out of my mouth I tried to move my arms couldn't I was frozen my poor is open so sweat will come out and the sweat and my body's are hiding coming out there I couldn't sweat didn't say anything to me I was wide awake fully conscious and he disappeared he went away I remember walking into the kitchen she was in a night I started to tell us that she it don't make sense what's the point that even that I deserve the presence of God in my life like that no God is gracious to you he is drawing you close to him with his goodness so some of you need to say listen Lord I'm in I'm gonna be loyal to you so you could be strong on my behalf for your glory there's something you need to give your life to Christ he of something you in here you have a burden that you're carrying we want to pray for you a man came to me this morning he said I was considering not coming to church anymore and I came today God wants to let that burden off your life and open your eyes up to how good he is to you how good he has been to you and get off your head of you telling God every day prove your love to me every day prove your love to me every day he's like I've done so much you forgot everything I've done now you say Lord today I'm gonna surrender my life so I won't answer all you do value has to close your eyes all the campuses holy spirit open our eyes up to your love us open your eyes up to the rich history we have of your faithfulness in our life and every time we complain we declare our lack of faith in your faithfulness Lord teach us to declare your faithfulness your miraculous actions in our life your love your patience your power your consistency in our life then as we declare those things from our mouth the Bible says the mouth speaks no for the heart that our mouth would declare the faithfulness of our heart and if our heart doesn't believe it our mouth will say it and our heart would follow our mouth so if you're saying today I want to declare my trust in God by giving my life to Him or I want to declare my trust in God by casting my burdens on him I want you to pray this prayer with me in the privacy of your heart pray dear God I need you dear God I love you dear God you have been so faithful to me you sent your son to die for me rise from the dead I surrender my life to you I surrender my burdens to you I cast my cares on you because I know you care for me I trust you God Jesus send the Holy Spirit the promise of the father into my life as the eyes are closed and heads bowed if you prayed that prayer I'm gonna ask you to stand on all the campuses and as I asked you to stand in a minute I'm gonna count to three if you want your family member a friend of Stanley you just tap them on the shoulder in the hand or whatever it is some of you God has been calling you for weeks and months and years and you've just been resisting and now is your time some of you are carrying a burden that units need prayer for you need word of encouragement the burden is gone the Spirit of God just has taken that burden and putting it on his shoulders and he's giving you his burden which is light the Bible says so when I asked you to stand there's nothing holding you down so on the count of three I'm going to ask you to stand declaring your faith in God one two three stand to your feet god bless you god bless you if God spoke to you during that sermon and you feel like you want to ask Christ to be your savior it's as simple as ABC 1 admit and accept that you are a sinner the Bible says all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God believe in your heart that Jesus Christ is Lord and he died for your sin and rose from the dead and then confess yourself as a sinner and say Jesus please forgive me of my sin so if you would like to ask Jesus Christ to be your savior I just want you to just look at me right now and pray this prayer with me in the privacy of your heart knowing that God knows you and loves you very much say dear God I believe that I'm a sinner I know the penalty of my sin is death and I don't want to die and go to hell but I believe that Jesus Christ is Lord that he died and rose from the dead for my sin and I confess myself a sinner and ask him to forgive me of my sin Jesus please forgive me of my sin and fill me with the Spirit of God in Jesus name Amen if you prayed that prayer you just asked Christ to be your savior we want to know and we want to email you some resources so if you just prayed that prayer with me to accept Jesus as your Savior click on the link that just appeared and we want to send you some free resources god bless you and see you in heaven you

Channel: Rock Church

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Keywords: rock church, miles McPherson, San Diego, message, sermon, volunteer, volunteerism, leader, leadership, pastor, Christian, Jesus, Bible, God non-denominational, mega-church, southern California, preacher, worship, Sunday, point loma, ministry, outreach, news, stories, transformation, heroes, inspiration, devotional, small group, testimony, disciple, mentor, parable, satellite church

Id: -a5l4Pw5mF4

Length: 37min 51sec (2271 seconds)

Published: Mon May 06 2019