(SDA Sermon) "When Life Doesn't Go Your Way" | Chris Holland

When life doesn't go your way have you ever had that happen or am i amongst a group of people where everything goes exactly as you wanted or hoped for the year was 1782 there in Massachusetts a young man was born he was the son of an army captain and his mother was a very pious woman while he grew up in a Christian household he did not seem to acquire the faith of his mother but rather became somewhat disenfranchised with religion and he became what is called a deist he essentially believed that yes there was a God but this God created the earth set it on a world and then abandoned the earth to its own deeds when you look up deism in the text books it is often referred to as the absentee landlord an impersonal God who does not interact with any of us and as he grew up he became a farmer he also became a justice of the peace and he was also a soldier in the US Army he eventually became the captain of the 30th Infantry yet he still clung to this deistic ideas that God is impersonal and has no interaction with anyone on a level of a personal relationship but then something happened that flipped his beliefs still on end during the battle of Plattsburgh where he was leading the 30th Infantry where the US troops only had 5,500 troops 4,500 of them volunteers they faced off in the war of 1812 at the Battle of Plattsburgh against a British Army of professionally strained soldiers of 15,000 the American troops were outnumbered three to one yet how as yet somehow some way through miraculous intervention the US troops won the battle in fact this young man experienced a shell that exploded mere feet from him and his life was spared this victory left a deep impression on his mind that maybe in fact there was a power mightier than man that did in fact personally interact with this planet and so his thoughts began to trouble him more and still more he was not converted but he did what eventually every good man would do and that was he began to attend church on a weekly basis this young man as he would sit in the congregation you see all churches didn't have a pastor of their own back in those days and so there would be sermons sent ahead that would be read by the Deacons yes I said read by the Deacons the challenge was the Deacons of this particular church were not very good readers William Miller was an educated man and he became so fed up with the lack of good reading that he decided to start reading the sermons himself and he writes about what happened to him as he began to read these sermons from week to week suddenly he says the character of a savior was vividly impressed upon my mind it seemed that there might be a being so good and compassionate as to himself atone for our transgressions and thereby save us from suffering the penalty of sin I immediately felt how lovely such a being must be and imagined that I could cast myself into the arms of and trust in the mercy of such a one but the question arose how can it be proved that such a being might exist aside from the Bible I found that I could get no evidence of the existence of such a savior or even of a future state and so in this disturbed state william miller went to study his bible and he spent two years in in-depth study as he began to try to find this personal Savior and over the course of those two years not only was he thoroughly converted but something happened god led him to a discovery as he studied the book of daniel in particular that jesus this very personal being was not a far way off but this very personal being was coming back to this earth soon and very soon in fact as william miller studied in 1818 he came to the conclusion that the bible outlined that jesus was going to return to this earth in about 25 years now ice know when we look back on history it's easy to play Morning Quarterback we simply say how could he have done such a thing doesn't Jesus plainly say no man knows the time or the hour William Miller although I never met the man would have answered you while I certainly agree that Jesus said no man knows the time or the hour that was for that time today Jesus has revealed it to us and so William Miller set out and he began preaching about the end of the world the end of the world was going to come sometime in 18 he waited by the way until 1831 to begin preaching but he began preaching that Jesus was going to return some time in 1843 or 1844 he was so fervent in his preaching that many gathered some scholars estimate that a million people out of the 17 million residents of the United States became acquainted with Miller's teaching and followed him there was an excitement over the Second Coming and we as Christians often say well what's the big deal we know Jesus is coming soon well the church at that time taught something called postmillennialism which was the belief that the world was getting better and better and better and eventually Jesus would come to reign over a utopian state that was achieved through man's worth but William Miller as he began preaching said no this is not the case the world is getting worse and worse and worse and the only intervention that will save this world from its certain doom is the second coming of Jesus and he preached and he preached along with William Miller there was another young man who also grew up as a farmer he was a Methodist he married his first wife Atta in 1830 and they had three children together they purchased a 56 acre farm in Port Gibson New York but she sea life doesn't always go the way we wanted to go and adjust a few years later in 1839 his wife Etta died leaving him with three young children eight six and four in those times they didn't have many land to go and send their children to how was this young farmer to cope shortly after he married again he married Esther and Esther was 23 years old and she gave birth to their first child but you know what life doesn't always go like we want it to go that first child via Ophelia died within a year of her birth two years later she gave birth to another baby and they named that first baby the same or that second baby the same as the first baby but Hiram Edson there in his farm in Port Gibson New York encountered a young William Miller the Baptist preacher preaching about the second coming of Christ and you see even though life had not gone their way this faithful Methodist clung to the teaching that Jesus was coming soon and he became part of the millerite movement and there in Port Gibson Miller set up a tent for 10 days lecturing and Edson and his family became a part of this millerite movement Jesus was coming soon another man by the name of Henry Emmons also joined a group as I said amongst the other million or so people that followed Miller's teaching it came to a point where this group of individuals 175 years ago just this past week October 22 1844 they set a date Jesus was going to return October 22 and I know we look back on that and again it's easy to play Monday Morning Quarterback how would they have done such a thing they believed with sincerity and faith that they had found was true and we must credit them because they preached with a fervor giving up everything selling farms selling businesses for one thing to spread the gospel message I want you to imagine for just a moment and I believe by the way the words of Jesus no one knows the time or the hour but I want you to imagine with me for a moment that somehow someway you did know when Jesus was going to return that he was going to come and bring about that time where there was no more sorrow there was no more pain there was no more death and no more dying I don't know about you but I look forward to that day and these individuals preached with a fervor and October the 22nd approached and on that day and there are writings that talk about what happened on that day but I imagined in my mind what it was like there were those who gathered there at Hiram Edson farm in Port Gibson New York it came to the farm there to be in support and be supported as they awaited the Lord's return there were others who gathered in william miller's or on million william Miller's farm they gathered together I don't know exactly what time they gathered but I would imagine some of them gathered they gathered before the dawn of day because most certainly if Jesus is going to come Jesus will come at dawn I imagined in my mind that they gathered and they sang some of those old Adventist hymns you will see the Lord a-comin and those types of hymns and I imagine there even though it was dawn before the break of day they sang with a fervor they believed that their time had come to be with Jesus but Jesus didn't come at dawn but I imagine they kept singing and they said oh maybe Jesus will come in the midday and they kept singing with a fer but Jesus did not come by the midday they gathered and they stayed together through the afternoon again remembering many of them having sold their businesses some of them having sold their farms others of them having left their crops in the soil because you see when we go to heaven you don't need potatoes I imagine in my mind remember it was an October day and at that time the United States was just a mere fraction of what it is today so sundown was sometime around 4:30 or 5 o'clock I imagine as the day wore on maybe throughout the groups there was a fervor that redeveloped because someone said surely Jesus he will come at midnight isn't that what the Bible refers to Jesus coming at the midnight hour and they were excited and the fervor swell and the singing grew but as each of us here sitting this morning are well aware midnight came and Jesus did not come Hiram Edson wrote these words describing the experience of when life just didn't go his way passing over the other like manifestations of the power of God we glanced at our disappointment at the tenth of the seventh month 1844 this is October 22 he's writing after the experience having the true cry behold the bridegroom cometh on the tenth day of the seventh month and having been early taught by modern orthodoxy that the coming of the bridegroom to the marriage would be fulfilled in the personal second advent of Christ on this earth we confidently expected to see Jesus Christ and all the holy angels with him and that with his voice he would call up Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the ancient worthies and all the dear friends which had been torn from us by death and that our trials and sufferings with our earthly pilgrimage would close and we should be caught up to meet our coming Lord to be forever with him to inhabit bright golden mansions in the golden home city prepared for the redeemed our expectations were raised high and thus we looked for the coming Lord until the clock told 12:00 at midnight the day had then passed and our disappointment became a certainty our fondest hopes and expectations were blasted and such a spirit of weeping came over us as I have never experienced before it seemed that the loss of all earthly friends could have been no comparison we wept and wept till the day dawn I mused in my own heart saying my Advent experience has been the richest and brightest of all my Christian experience if this had proved a failure what was the rest of my Christian experience worth as the Bible proved a failure is there no God no heaven no golden home city no paradise is all this but a cunningly devised fables eat or fondest hope and expectation of these things and thus we had something to grieve and weep over if all our fond hopes were lost and as I said we wept till the day dawn Henry Emmons writes of this experience I waited all day Tuesday October the 22nd and my dear Jesus did not come I waited until noon on Wednesday and I was well in body as I ever was but at 12 o'clock I began to feel faint and before dark I needed someone to help me up to my chamber as my natural strength was leaving me fast and listen and I lay prostrate for two days without any pain sick with disappointment what do you do when life just doesn't go your way what do you do when life just doesn't provide what you had hoped and expected do you give up your faith there were many in the Miller right movement that did in fact that they just gave up their faith turned away from God there were others who just went back to their churches that were teaching the idea that the world's becoming better and better but there were others who said wait wait they understood the principle that when in the midst of our disappointment God always has a divine appointment it is recorded that Hiram Edson gathered together those who had come out to the farm and they went into his barn and they prayed there and as they prayed there they all had a sense come over them with an assurance from God that while yes they had made in a mistake in the fact that they believed that Jesus was going to return they had the assurance that no Jesus had not abandoned them but they needed to cling to their faith in a time like this because Jesus would guide them and so Hiram Edson and his friend Owen Crozier went to go and encourage others with this assurance that God had given them in prayer but they didn't walk the roads because there were too many people that were mocking them because the Lord had not come so they walked through the cornfields and it is recorded that they're in the corn fields as bruh as Owen Crozier and Hiram Edson began talking to one another and trying to encourage one another that it is at that moment that God placed upon the mind of high edson a thought is it possible that we were looking for the wrong thing is it possible that God is using this disappointment to point our minds in a different direction is it possible that the Lord is answering our prayer to give us an assurance that we had not yet had and so Hiram Edson and a group of believers began praying and studying and they began to find that no Jesus was not to return in 1844 but rather it was a significant event in the health and heavenly realm in which Jesus began a new phase of his ministry and it was a promise that we were all to look to heaven because it is there in heaven where Jesus ministers on our behalf it was a promise to those who lived in the context of a mainstream Christian world that said yes Jesus came to this world yes and Jesus died yes Jesus rose again but now just go on living life like you want to live it but rather no yes no Jesus excuse me yes Jesus did die yes of Jesus rose again but Jesus ascended into heaven and the Bible says that he ministers on our behalf a personal Jesus ministering on our behalf William Miller began to find hope that there was something more and he wrote these words although I have been twice as disappointed I am not yet cast down or discouraged I have fixed my mind upon another time and here I mean to stand until God gives me more light and that is today today and today until he comes and I see him for whom my soul yearns in the midst of disappointment how can we find such hope in the midst of disappointment when life doesn't go the way we want it how can we find that hope it is here in the Bible that the Bible promises that there is something that can keep us going when we don't want to go anymore Hebrews the eleventh chapter verses one through three so thankful to have the young people involved and that Jack read this for us this morning if you have your Bibles open them to Hebrews the eleventh chapter beginning in verses one through three in Hebrews chapter 11 verses one to three the Apostle Paul writes these words now faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen for by it the elders obtained a good testimony by faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible how is it that someone like Hiram Edson how is it that someone like William Miller being so grandly disappointed could still maintain a relationship with Jesus Christ have you ever had that happen in your personal spiritual walk where you've been praying and praying and praying and that which you have prayed for has not come to fruition sometimes even the opposite of what you've prayed for is the reality it's this word faith we talk often of faith but do we really understand what it means to have faith Paul in trying to take something that is fairly complex and make it simple uses two very important words faith is substantively interesting this word substance is faith is the substance that word is translated throughout the Bible as the words confidence reality and in two occasions translated personage what is Paul trying to help us understand he's trying to help us understand that faith is real faith is not just a concept in our mind faith isn't out there somewhere that we can't grasp on - faith is real how real is faith then he uses that second word it is the substance the reality of things hoped for but the evidence of things not seen it's an interesting play on words the word their evidence is demonstration exposure or even the word proof what is Paul trying to help us understand he's trying to help us understand when things just aren't going the way we expected life isn't giving us what we had hoped for you know there's the saying when life gives you lemons well make lemonade sometimes in the walk of faith there is no sugar to make that lemonade because the reality is is when life isn't just going the way we had hoped for expected there is only one thing we can cling to and that is faith but what is faith you see faith is a confident or is a confidence in the reality of the proof of God's existence it is a confidence in the reliability of God's Word and it is a confidence in the assurance that Jesus is coming to take us to a better place that whatever we face whatever we go through Jesus has something better that is the entirety of the book of Hebrews by the way there is something better but faith is real it is so real that we can cling to it that is so real that there is evidence or proof that this book is what it says it is what is faith faith is the way we view faith is the way we view all experiences in the context that we see the universe that God has created this is why verse 3 is there verse 3 by faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible by faith each of us considers ourselves already in possession of what has been promised by faith we have a confidence in God who has made the promises and leaves no uncertainty as to their fulfillment at the right time by faith we are able to lay claim to the promised blessings of God of God's Word you see when life isn't going our way we can by faith not just dream of the good things to come in heaven sometime in the distant future but we can live in the reality that the promises of our present time despite the circumstances we face will be fulfilled under God's guidance you see God is greater than our current reality yet too often we live we live in an idea where our current reality is too big for God to handle because here is the challenge we face life that is worth living isn't about living it our way a life that is worth living is about living it his way and that is really the problem that we face we want life to go our way but I must wonder aloud if we want life to go God's Way you see this chapter in chapter 11 of Hebrews points us to the reality that faith is looking at the order of creation looking at the universe and seeing with amazement how that order functions planets aren't just jumbled around spiraling out of control there's an order to things galaxies solar systems in the context of the universe and how are these things held together when we read the Bible we understand they are held together by the Word of God and this forms a resolute confidence in that God who created the universe and listen to this now my friends and if God through his mighty power can hold the universe together my dear friends he most certainly can handle and intervene to hold you together when life isn't going the way you want it to go we are to look for him and look for his way you see we we live in a world and we're living in a time right now and I don't know about you but over the course of the last three weeks I have become more familiar with two delegates running for a state Senate seat than some of my own close personal friends because they write me personal mail every day in fact they they they they are so intent on getting to know me that there are people that come to my house to tell me about them here's the problem neither one of them have anything nice to say about the other one but the bigger problem is this neither one of them and I'm not making a political statement and if you think I am you've missed my point here's the problem neither one of them have the answer friends I don't care if you're a Democrat a Republican a libertarian or from the Green Party political systems and political parties do not have the answer to life's greatest questions you see the psalmist writes in Sault 20 and verse 7 some trust in chariots and some in horses but we will remember the name of the Lord our God and you know the proverb well proverbs 3 verses 5 & 6 trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding in all your ways acknowledge him and he shall direct your paths you see when life isn't going the way we want it to go we look heavenward because there in the sanctuary of heaven there is a God there is a real Jesus and he is directing the ways and you know what even when we look to heaven that doesn't mean automatically things will go the way we want them to go unfortunately there have been movies crafted and books written that when we make a decision for Jesus life will just go exactly as you would wanted it to go you'll get a new car you'll get a new house your bills will get paid you'll win a football championship just because you gave your heart to Jesus but the entirety of Hebrews 11 demonstrates to us that even when we give our heart to Jesus it doesn't mean that life will go the way we want it to go you see because Hebrews 11 goes on to give the examples look at their lives life didn't necessarily go like they wanted it to go the first example of faith given in Hebrews is Abel and how did his relationship with Jesus do fare for him Abel lost his life but you see Abel lived by faith it would have been easier for able to bring fruit of the ground but no he brought the sacrifice that God asked for and by faith he became righteous Enoch lived at a time that some authors have said is a time that is the darkest time that has ever happened in history in fact one author particularly writes the time of Enoch was darker than any time that there has been and will ever be that is not the time in which a naquan 'td yet by faith he walked with God despite his surrounding circumstances and by faith God took him Abraham god one day came to Abraham and said hey listen Abraham it's time to move you know sometimes we don't realize that often we're getting the Reader's Digest condensed version of what happened I wonder in my mind how Abraham had that conversation with God how would you feel if God came to you today after you've built your dream home it's finally been finished and then God says hey by the way it's time for you to move but yet by faith Abraham obeyed the call to leave his home and there it says he waited for a better place Sara wanted to have a son she believed she had strength Abraham wanted to have a son he listened he obeyed he trusted Isaac by faith blessed both of his sons because one of his sons was a thief yet he still blessed them both and the list goes on and on Moses think about Moses and the way he was brought into the world he was born they stuck him in a basket and floated him down the river how would you like that to be your opening days of existence he was hidden for three months Moses by faith refused because Moses grew up royalty he grew up in the home of Pharaoh and he chose by faith to not be among the royalty but to realize the affliction of his people by faith the Bible says Moses forsook Egypt you know we see these pictures of Egypt and we see we see that the pyramids and the Sphinx and we say wow who would want to live there that's a big desert go look at the lands that sit on either side of the Nile River lush green everything you could want this is why the children of Israel when they were wandering in the wilderness wanted to go back to Egypt because it was rich rich with food and goods yet the Bible says most Moses forsook his heritage in Egypt Moses by faith led a group of people to kill an innocent lamb and place the blood on the lintel and the doorpost by faith and the Bible says Moses by faith think about it being chased by the Egyptian armies coming to the Red Sea the children of Israel many of them said what many others were thinking have you led us here just to be killed by the Egyptian army and by faith they walked through the Red Sea you see life didn't go necessarily the way Moses wanted it to go Moses much would have rather had the Egyptians say hey thank you we've had glad to have you for the last 400 years now you people go out and find your place but that's not how it went down and then the children of Israel as Hebrews 11 continues go to Jericho they just received the promise of Joshua 1:9 have I not commanded you be strong and courageous for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go and then they came to this city where they stood inside of the city and said we're not coming out but by faith they walked around the city seven times surely at the expense of many of the insults that were hurled their way by the soldiers who stood on the walls saying look at these foolish children of Israel walking around our city you can walk until the end of time these walls will stand forever Rahab a woman of ill repute lived by faith gideon barak samson it is interesting when we look at samson life didn't go the way samson wanted it to go captured by the Philistines eyes removed life didn't go the way that he wanted it to go David is in the Hall of faith how do you feel that David felt about his life anointed the king of Israel but that innate desire to have that which you cannot have and he took his a wife that was not his and in order to accomplish the task murdered her husband the son conceived died the new son to take his place Solomon but the rest of his family in absolute shambles so much to the point that Absalom actually chased David down in an attempt to kill him when you're thinking life isn't going the way you had hoped for reflect upon some of those in the Hall of faith yet the Bible says David have faith and he lived by faith in Hebrews chapter 11 concludes in verse 39 and all these Rahab gideon barak samson jephthah David Samuel Moses Joseph Jacob think about Joseph you think life went how he was hoping for how he had dreamed of Hebrews 11 39 says in all of these having obtained a good testimony through faith did not receive the promise God having provided something better for us that they should not be made perfect apart from us you see when life isn't going the way you thought it should go reading through Hebrews 11 gives us a a center point an anchor point in which we can see there's something better but to cling to that faith that confident reality that God is who he said he is and that the Bible is what it says it is and that despite the circumstances we face there is a better reality and that reality is it to be in the arms of Jesus who does not promise to deliver us from our trial but promises to walk with us through that trial and then the conclusion really Hebrews 12:1 and 2 is the conclusion of Hebrews 11 therefore all these things that he said therefore we also since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us how do we run that race of faith we must understand some key and critical points first we must have faith in God and in God alone see too often we place our faith in many other things psalm 118 in verse 9 says it is better to trust in the Lord than to put your confidence in Princes to make it more modern and 21st century version it is better to trust in the Lord than to put your confidence in the President of the United States and that is not a political statement because I would say to my friends in Canada who just had an election here a few days ago it is better to trust in the Lord than to put your confidence in the Prime Minister it is better to put your trust in the Lord than to put your confidence in the Senate in the Congress in the Parliament or let's bring it closer to home it is better to trust in the Lord than to put your confidence in pastors it is better to trust in the Lord than to put your confidence in any human being because proverbs 28:26 makes it clear he who trusts in his own heart is a fool how do we live the race that paul outlines with confidence first we must have faith in God alone secondly faith must be a personal experience we cannot obtain faith second hand we have a number of young people here young people you can't live by the faith of your parents the faith of your parents will not help you when you face a crisis we must have a faith of our own where we have a personal relationship with Jesus where we spend time with him day by day parents that doesn't excuse you not to put forth a positive example to your children but children we must find a personal relationship with Jesus and there are a number of you that are younger children some of you teenagers and I will tell you I will tell you I was 21 years old when I finally found a personal relationship with Jesus some of you are 12 and 13 and 14 8 and 10 or maybe even younger or a little bit older and I'm going to tell you don't do what I did I wasted precious years in my life putting my faith and trust in people putting my faith and trust in games putting my faith and trust in substances and I will tell you all of them lead to one road and that is the road of destruction I'm appealing to you from my heart young people don't waste your time Jesus is the answer and to those of you who are older than young people don't waste your time either you may have lived your life for 40 or 50 years and never given your heart fully to him some trust in chariots and others trust in horses but we will remember we will put our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and thirdly how do we live this life this race that Paul writes about in Hebrews 12 where we lay aside every weight and any sin that easily ensnares us by the way he's using Olympic imagery if you've ever known any competitive swimmers if you watch carefully you will notice something about them before any competition the day before a competition you will know that they are about to compete because every last hair on their body disappears they shave it yes whoever said that why because just that little hair right there may slow you down one one millionth of a second and you need to be fast because if you multiply that one one-millionth by all the hairs that are on your body it adds up don't lose sight of the small things make a difference because when there's a lot of small things those a lot of small things add up to be a big thing faith is a trust in God alone number two faith cannot be secondhand it is a personal relationship and lastly true faith is demonstrated through obedience in good works this is why James says faith without works is dead you see when God commanded Abraham to leave her on his faith was demonstrated when he took the step out of her on and left when God commanded Abraham to offer Isaac his faith was demonstrated when he took Isaac to the altar and raised the knife when we read Hebrews 11 we understand and in the context of Genesis chapter 12 we understand two very important things because when Abraham left those men he told those men the boy and I will go and we we'll come back it's an important word to letters but it's important Abraham knew he wasn't coming alone how did he know that he knew that God was going to do one of two things either he would provide a ram or as Hebrews 11 points out God would raise Isaac from the dead but it was obedience that demonstrated his faith throughout the Scriptures obedience and good works demonstrate faith and then Paul finishes he finishes Hebrews chapter 12 and that first portion with these words let us lay aside every weight and the sin so easily ensnares us and let us run the race with endurance that is set before us looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith the word author is the word captain Prince leader originator founder chief Hebrews chapter 10 and verse excuse me hebrews chapter 2 and verse 10 says for it was fitting for him speaking of Jesus for whom all for whom are all things and by whom are all things in bringing many sons to glory to make the captain of our salvation perfect through suffering why is it Jesus is the leader the author of our salvation because he died for us Jesus gave us the greatest example of faith three times he prayed God if there's any other way let this cup pass from me we miss out Jesus didn't go to the cross skipping singing a song he to the cross with the weight of the world upon him and yet by faith he walked because he knew God had called him because he was the chosen sacrifice and he knew that if he didn't do it we all would have no chance and that is why Jesus is the author of our faith he's the captain of our faith because when we're having a moment where life just hasn't gone like we wanted it to go we can think about Jesus there in Gethsemane because I can assure you after a life of healing teaching and preaching the thanks that he got was an angry mob that arrested him and took him and brutally beat him and killed him on a cross when you're thinking you're having a bad day when the Bible says that Jesus sympathizes with us he knows the bad day you've experienced because there in Gethsemane the grief the suffering in the pain of all of us came upon Jesus at one time and that's why it says he's the finisher he's the complete or the Perfector you see when we come to the place where life has just not gone like we wanted it to go and when we come to that place where we say we can't go on that's okay because Jesus finished it you see when you come to the end of your rope Jesus says that's okay because I'm hanging on for you and when you say that enough is enough I can't take it anymore that is okay because Jesus took it all for you you see there's a better land in a better place and Jesus as this passage outline sits at the right hand of God with one mission and one mission alone to make sure that you're in heaven with him he's so committed to that mission that he says let not your heart be troubled you believe in God believe also in me you have faith in God have faith in me in my father's house are many mansions if it were not so I would have told you I go to prepare a place for you Jesus is so committed to his mission that he's preparing personally a dwelling place for you in heaven when you've come to the end of your rope and things just haven't gone the way you had hoped there's something more there is a better place and we can cling by faith by putting our faith in God alone by having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and by living out that faith through obedience and through good works especially in the tough times I'll close with this story returning to a hundred and 75 years ago and in those years leading up to 1844 there was a Methodist family the Harmons they too were a part of the millerite movement and anxiously anticipating the second coming of Jesus Christ their 17 year old daughter recalled the weeks leading up to the predicted date of October 22 and the disappointment that followed this is what she writes in her own biography worldly business was far excuse-me worldly business was for the most part laid aside for a few weeks we carefully scrutinized every thought and emotion of our hearts as if upon our deathbeds and in a few hours to close our eyes forever upon earthly scenes there was no making ascension robes for the great event we felt the need of internal evidence that we were prepared to meet Christ and our white robes were the purity of soul character that had been cleansed from sin by the atoning blood of our Savior she continues but the time of expectation passed this was the first close test brought to bear upon those who believed in hope that Jesus would come in the clouds of heaven the disappointment of God's waiting people was great the scoffers were triumphant and one the weak and cowardly to the ranks some who had appeared to possess true faith seemed to have been influenced only by fear and now their courage returned with the passing of time and they boldly United with the scoffers declaring that they had never been duped to really believe the doctrine of Millar he was a mad fanatic they said others naturally yielding or facilitating quietly deserted the cause and then she goes on to recount the experience of those that remained faithful how do we act when life doesn't go our way we were perplexed and disappointed yet did not renounce our faith many still clung to the hope that Jesus would not long delay his coming the word of the Lord was sure it could not fail we felt that we had done our duty we had lived up to our precious faith we were disappointed but not discouraged the signs of the times denoted that the end of all things was near and at hand we must watch and hold ourselves in readiness for the coming of the master at any time we must wait with hope and trust not neglecting the assembling of ourselves together for instruction encouragement and comfort that our light might shine forth into the darkness of the world Ellen White Harman remained confident in the second coming of Jesus Christ until her death fifty years after the great disappointment she encouraged her readers and listeners with these words the second coming of the Son of Man is to be the wonderful theme kept before the people here is a subject that should not be left out of our discourses eternal realities must be kept before the mind's eye and the attractions of the world were appear will appear as they are altogether profitless as vanity we are pilgrims and strangers who are waiting hoping and praying for that blessed hope the glorious appearing of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ the truth that Christ is coming should be kept before every mind and so now my dear friends a hundred and seventy-five years later we are still Pilgrims and strangers living in a world where things don't always go the way we want them to go but we are called to wait and hope and pray for the day that we shall see Jesus because the Bible writes on that day the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout with a voice of the Archangel and with the trumpet of God and the dead in Christ will rise first then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the lord in the air and thus we shall always be with the Lord where have you placed your faith and trust today you

Channel: HopeLives365

Views: 94,273

Rating: 4.7559199 out of 5

Keywords: Sermon, SDA, Seventh day Adventist, Seventh day adventist sermons, Adventist, Sermons, great disappointment, october 22 1844, chris holland, mark finley, hopelives365, faith, jesus, god, bible, 1844, christianity (religion)

Id: Rwm4ZdQBcvc

Length: 60min 28sec (3628 seconds)

Published: Fri Nov 08 2019