"When You Feel Absolutely Helpless" - Pastor Wayne Cordeiro - New Hope Classics

Aloha I'm Wayne Cordeiro thank you for joining us we hope you've been blessed by this video and others on this channel we'd love to stay connected with you so please leave a comment and click the subscribe and notification button so you won't miss any of our upcoming videos there's a team of people working behind the scenes to produce these resources to help you grow in your walk with Jesus and if any of these videos have blessed you would you consider partnering with us there's a couple ways that you can help us first share this video with those that you know who might need to hear God's Word and second would you please prayerfully consider giving to this ministry so that we can keep these resources free for others your donation makes a difference please click on the link in the description below for more information my prayer is that God will stir your heart today he wants to give you a future and a hope Aloha [Applause] would you take out your notes with me as we talk about something I think we'll all go through when you feel absolutely helpless now how many of you would be honest enough to say I've gone through that quite a few times I feel helpless sometimes yeah some some of the guys might say yeah I at that started the day I said I do when I got married I was out of control after that to those guys I say with those just two words you felt out of control and helpless yeah he's having two more words that will help you gain control what are those yes dear it's like the guy that said hey last time man I I had my wife on her knees talking to me really his friend said what'd she say she said come off from under that bed and fight like a man [Laughter] ever feel helpless I remember the time that I think I felt the most helpless I was a young pastor in Hilo and after services on Sunday I was at home and and I thought man I got stuff to do at the office and the Lord says just stay at home I just felt that prompting you know how you're just kind of like Vito God's promptings like huh and you'd go anyway well I went to the office and we had rented this old teeny little house and it had these old sliding windows no air conditioning so it's hot and kind of wet you know in Hilo and so I want to open the windows now one of the things because of the moisture in Hilo it sometimes swells the wood on these old houses and the windows slide up and down and so that's a vertical window to one on top one on the bottom and you can slide them there just right next to each other and so one is on the top and one is on the bottom so I tried to open the bottom when they get some air and I could get that thing unstuck so I put a chair up next to so I could grab it like this and pull it toss right next to this window here and the other windows up here you know I'm looking out over the street and I grabbed this thing I got a good hold of the sill and I yanked it and when I did that top window came screaming down laughs and caught both of my hands in the window and just wedged him just the weight to the window bang aah and I couldn't do a thing both hands were wedged in the window oh and it was I mean my fingers were flat and I thought I'd broken all of them and the pain was excruciating you just don't know the pain I tell my wife that she said oh no you don't know pain you never gave birth to children I said honey I gave birth to triplets that day and one was breech oh man let me tell you my hands were stuck in the sills and you could see your fingers through the window you know and the tips let me tell you how much pressure was on my fingers blood was dripping out of my fingernails that oh and I just I couldn't move and you know you just uh I wanted to break but every time I pull out oh I could was gonna break the window with my knee I thought I'd just slice my fingers up in the glass I just didn't know what to do it I just oh and you just come to the point where you just I mean the thing in my mind was say I was thinking this in my mind I gotta wait till 8 o'clock tomorrow morning before the secretary comes in because I can't reach the phone I can't there's nothing you can do you're stuck so I just started I just put my head out the window yeah Eddie but I could just see people driving by you look the same to their kids look that crazy man look that crazy man till this day I know I was just God that helped me but this sounds really crazy and unbelievable - the only thing I had to use was my teeth so I actually reached down grabbed the outer sill at my teeth Oh pull it up just enough to release my hands and man when they came out they were flat I looked like Edward Scissorhands oh I tell you it was I have never felt so helpless in my life but I was reading recently of Moses and the people of Israel and I found that they felt the same way the people of Israel had just gotten released from Egypt after several plagues tend to be exact where Pharaoh would constantly hardened his heart again after God removed the plague but finally they were leathery let go and now nearly 2 million people because he figure there's six hundred thousand warrior men that's probably from ages 20 to about 50 or so 20 of 600,000 of those but you add in children elderly women you're looking at about 2 million people going into a hot arid desert 3 days they go into the desert and they're without water so you're having dehydration problems cattle are probably struggling kids of course are crying 2 million people now and the complaints start to rise in this huge mass of humanity and then they with just hardly any hope left they finally reach a lake and they think that's it we've got it we've held out this long we're about ready to die and they get to a lake and the lake is toxic it can't be water can't be drink drunk is that what you call it drunk could not be drunk no good you don't get drunk no no cannot be dranked okay look and drink the water these are just to speak pidgin yeah never good drink water so so so they they are just completely helpless they're gonna die they're done every viewer had that where you're setting your hope on something and get closer and closer to this hope and then the hope vanishes they think I everything I gave for this hope and now the hope is gone and you're absolutely helpless I remember some years ago Anna and I with some church people we're camping down at South Point don't know where if you know where that is and on the big island and we had some tents and some of the high school kids were there one high school kid comes out of the water takes his mask off today that's the best way I found out where there's chokeman Bochy you know an Apache is the redfish in the eyes or kind of buggy eyes and he said I'm from chokeman party it's slipper Lobster it's in this cave calm first mistake I said okay now we don't go with tanks it's just mask and you just go now you're in these lava tubes and these caves and I said what we're gonna get air he said oh no there's this air pocket in there but you're gonna take a deep breath to get there oh so stupid I said okay let's go I put on the mask take a couple deep breaths get our Spears and we just start swimming and we go down through this hole and it's scary I'm thinking what if there's like we come face to face with Makos shark you know which one is gonna leave neither cuz he'll eat us and keep right on going and so we're just swimming and swimming and students finally my lungs are burning I can't handle it anymore finally more we go up I see some light we get since the pocket of air has a real pretty was a cave and so he sat on the ledge and he said okay I said well where's the lobster he said oh no it's this next one you got to go a little bit what do you mean a little bit more oh yeah this one's a little farther so you got to really take a deep breath I said what do you mean this one took us like 30 40 seconds to get here I'm out of breath East yeah this was about oh maybe about 45 seconds 50 seconds just really take a deep breath Oh second mistake okay he said yeah but that's worth it so we do a hyperventilation ready and we go under and we just start swimming and swimming and swimming and it's dark and light and dark and light and I can't breathe it him I mean I just can't take it anymore my lungs are burning my eyeballs are popping out like mmm Potsie eyeball matter so finally so we start going up you know when you're going up he think ha praise our Lord so you started letting out air he's up in front of me and then his eyes look real big he looks back at me [Music] oh no and all the hope you had is vanished now you got to go back we drop our Spears because we're just we're just cranky you could just hear us underneath moaning oh and you know how you're just you have an instinct to go up for air so am i I'm just hitting the top of this lava tube because you're instinctively trying to get up for air and my back is getting ripped to shreds and I'm just not till this day I do not know how I got back to the first cave I started kind of blacking out I just know my angel God said go down help that boy I bet I bet he just went down grabbing yeah I know man when I go to heaven my angels gonna come he gonna slap me you know how hard you made me for work down there till this day I am convinced cuz I have no idea just it was a blackout until we just came up again and I thought oh man I learned a big lesson that they never trust highschool kids but you know that happens when you get your hopes set on something and you just make it just barely to that and when you get there puh that hope vanishes and you feel absolutely helpless I bet you multiply that by about 10 and that's how the people of Israel felt three days in the wilderness just hoping for that Lake of water and when they get there it's useless they're absolutely hopeless now we're gonna find two responses one from the people and one from Moses but before we open the curtain to that let's take a look at what it says here in Exodus 15 we're gonna walk through a few verses in the story of Moses and Exodus let's read it together 15 22 and 23 go they went three days in the wilderness and found no water and when they came to Marah they could not drink the waters for they were yeah we come to places we call Marah in our lives or bitter or possible bitterness undrinkable setting our hope on something and bitterly disappointed that's the word Marah and we come to those places in our lives too because this isn't just an event in history it holds for us poignant life lessons for today but before we talk about the lessons that you can learn when you come to a point where you're absolutely helpless before we do that let me bring us to a couple of realizations because coming to a point of helplessness isn't always that bad you can extract some things out of it that really will help us with life and the first is this you know I look back in the times where I felt absolutely helpless and you know what it's helped me to see the first is this would you write it down in the first bullet helped us realize that we need God oh man you see if you never come to those points in your life you think you're invincible you think you're just ever youthful you always have energy and health and all of a sudden some bang you get nailed and you realize man to I need God it's these moments in life that I look back on now that God used in my life to protect me from becoming foolish because when I think I'm indestructible I'm about that far away from being an utter full-fledged full-service fool that's right because when you think you don't need God you're about ready to fall over the edge and to be seen as foolish for that's what Psalm 53 and verse 1 says let's read it together go The Fool has said in his heart there is no God and I look back on those moments and I think you know those moments as much as I hate him those moments kept me I bet from being a full-fledged fool it stopped me and I realized man do I need God there is a God but without him I am dead I am absolutely finished it kept me going and when you think you're indestructible you're just real close to being foolish I remember years ago Helen Reddy sing a song I am strong I am invincible I am woman like that nuts man I am strong does that she should say I am vincible I'm one idiot because when you think you're just indestructible you're about that far from being fool when you think there is no God because what'll happen is you'll realize how finite and frail you are when you hit a wall because it brings us to the second realization would you write it in the next bullet it brings us two moments of decision moments of decision about God about our lives about our own frailty our humanity our finiteness that happened with the prodigal son do you remember he got his father's inheritance he got some money and he said I am strong I am invincible and he went out thinking I this will solve and cure all my problems and in short order that stuff vanished and he found himself stealing away in a pigpen at a farm eating the stuff the pigs were eating because that's the only thing he could get it was free and then he came in this point of helplessness he came to his senses or a moment of decision and let's read what he said let's read that go but when he came to his senses he said how many of my father's hired men have more than enough bread but I am dying here with hunger yeah Here I am helpless in abject helplessness powerlessness I'm dying and hunger and then all of a sudden being Oh what am i doing you see sometimes there's so much worldly fleshly personal overgrowth in life that in order for us to see heaven God has to clean the slates just clear everything away you got nothing left and then you see heaven for the first time maybe there's moments of decision that take place in fact there's some of you here you're saying man you're you're singing my song that's my story yeah and God maybe just clearing the field cleaning the runway so that you can see heaven a moments of decision take place at times just like this when there's a reality of life it's a reality check ah that's it so I want you to know right up front that moments of helplessness when you realize how finite you are it brings you back to reality and without those we might be singing I am strong and we realize how foolish that is so the first is realize that there's going to be moments of helplessness and they're not necessarily evil or wrong it just may be God's teaching us something will you feel powerless absolutely oh I tell you is it a fun feeling no no so what do you do when you have moments where you just feel absolutely helpless well let's take a look again at Moses and the people they arrive at this place called Marah where it's just bitter bitter disappointment is what it is and it's that word Marah that is bitter a bitter disappointment and that's what they named that Lake so they're at the end of their rope hope upon hope that this would give them that hope vanishes they're done they're gonna die in the wilderness and they they begin to say hey what you do you brought us out here you brought us out here too to die in the wilderness huh and the people just kind of had still a obstinance spirit but here's the first lesson that I have found you'll see two responses it'll come from the people and Moses and they're they're so different but here's the first lesson that we're gonna learn when you feel absolutely helpless here's the first thing number one when you feel absolutely helpless don't hold out instead cry out would you write that and cry out to God let him clear the slate let him extract every bit of you out and cry out to God because you'll see two responses let's read the scripture and you'll see the two go so the people grumbled at Moses saying what shall we drink then he cried out to the Lord would you underline the people grumbled and then underline what Moses did he cried out see the difference oh it's easy to hold out on God just to start grumbling why is this how come look oh man and we can drink from Marah and how many people do they go there that's it then they just drink bitterness that bitter disappointment enters them but Moses fell on his knees and cried out to the Lord don't hold out cuz it'll cause you to drink of bitterness instead cry out and something will happen to hugely different responses you've seen kids that hold out you know when their parents like her disciplining them have you seen kids at her yeah yeah whatever man I remember my dad my dad he was such a disciplinarian he kind of you know disciplined in the patriotic style because he was in the army he laid down stripes we saw stars and hewed wack and if I hold out with a belt pack you know he would switch like to a whip whack whack and if I still held out he'd like take out a chain or cable or something you know and start whacking with us until man we just kind of broke down and I started getting smarter when my dad just takes out a belt I start crying I remember once my dad was about to spank me and I started crying and he heard him laughing I turned around even Hitchin you already cried smart at me okay don't hold out cry out in fact let's read what Psalm 107 says let's read it go they cried out to the Lord in their trouble the result he delivered them out of their de-stresses yeah yeah you see he said but wait if you just cry out it's like not doing anything for the problem mm-hmm then why you just cry out because sometimes when you cry out you realize that you're at the end of your helpfulness and power and you give it over to the Lord and that's why Paul the Apostle says in first Corinthians 12 you know what therefore I'm well content with my weaknesses and my frailty and my distress is because when I am weak I am strong in other words it's then that his power is tapped into when I deplete my own then I don't get to tap into his power until mine is depleted you can hold out or you can cry out huge difference in whose power you're tapping into for this situation and the children of Israel is hold out held out held out that's why after 40 years they all died in the wilderness Moses cried out to God and God is about to do a great miracle some people say well way maybe sometimes I feel so helpless all I can do is cry mm-hmm sometimes you just need to go to the beach somewhere go up to the mountain somewhere where you're alone and just cry out to God for your family cry out to God for your marriage cry out to God for your future your finances and God hears heavens ear is open to the cries of God's people not to those that hold out because then you're continually tapping into your own power and you don't really move into his until you deplete yours that's why John the Baptist prayed O Lord may I decrease that you might increase yeah so cry out this one lady from the church wrote me a letter and she said Wayne there's so much injustice where I am and there's problems and this going down and that's going down as wrong as bad and I feel so helpless what do I do sometimes I just get mad at God because there's nothing I can do in my position there's nothing I can do cuz the powers that be are doing certain things nothing I feel helpless and look terrible feeling I wrote back to her and I said you can weep and you can sigh she said that that is the lamest thing Arish I said well it might sound lame but in Heaven's records it is extremely powerful and I quoted or something out of Ezekiel you see in Ezekiel there's a lot of sin and injustice that was taking place in Jerusalem and people began to cry out to God you know what God did he sent an angel and he said I want you to now go ahead and release the consequences to the injustice as it's taking place but there's some good people among them and they need to be protected from the death that's going to come because of the injustice so this is what I want you to do he said to the angel really interesting he said I want you to go down and put some kind of mark as it were a covering on all of those who sigh and weep and groan and all the rest kill him and what yeah what he's saying is he's not issuing a death threat he's just saying there's going to be consequences that come from the sin and an injustice protect those who sigh and weep over injustice even though they don't think they can do anything that's exactly what it says let's read the scripture and you'll see go ahead he said to them walk through the streets of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of all those who weep and sigh because of the sins they see around and kill everyone whose forehead is not marked pretty powerful statement now it seems like God is the one acting on this but what what it really means is there's consequences because of the injustice is because the wages of sin is death but I want you to protect these who weep inside because of what's going on in society though they feel helpless to do anything about it their role is not necessarily to correct it their role is to weep and sigh and to keep their hearts keep their hearts clean and pure compassionate in the midst of it and sometimes hearts of compassion the only thing you can do is sigh and groan and weave and the Lord says I detect that all the way from heaven and I'll protect you and the power of God will now move on behalf of his people who cry out to him but there will be a protection so that there will be his embrace covering you what's a powerful prayer weeping in sign and that interesting do you know the Bible says this in the book of Psalms it says he even keeps our tears in a bottle he collects them because he remembers every tear sometimes we don't have the eloquence to pray but we can weep we can sigh we can't hurt and the Lord says I got all of that I got it I got it so the first is don't hold out cry out then what well after you know that your heart is completely pure before God you're just crying out saying lord I just got to tap into your power I don't know what to do the second thing is if you think about it like when I had my hand stuck in the window you know God had already spoken to me and a lot of times it is my compromise it's my vetoing it's my stepping over a few of the things that God is ignoring these little promptings that find me painted into the corner and helpless and I look at that and the Lord says remember all the things that I've been saying do you start doing them in other words here's what he's saying I'm gonna teach you out of this one helpless situation I'm going to teach you lessons for a lifetime so the second thing is not only cry out to God but would you then write in number two now obey exactly what he's already said what yeah he's already if you think about it the Lord will have spoken all kinds of things to us that we've ignored the silent gentle promptings for weeks maybe months and maybe years and all of a sudden bang were painted into a corner and absolutely helpless happened with the children of Israel they come up to Mara some are grumbling Moses cries out to God then they start to say to Moses Moses you're gonna kill us this word we're gonna die right here in the wilderness there'll be a massive grave here because all of us have died and then God as Moses is crying out to God watch this he doesn't answer the people but he answers the one who cries out to a Moses and this is what happens let's read what Exodus 1525 says go the Lord showed him a tree and he threw it into the waters then the waters became sweet now we don't know if it's some kind of herb or some type of bark or branch that neutralized the acid or whatever it was but God showed him a treat now I want you to notice it does not say here God invented on the spot of tree it doesn't say and God created a tree immediately for him no God transplanted a tree nope God formed a tree right then and there no God had one magically appear no it said God what showed him that means that tree had already been there do you know a lot of times the very answer to what we think we're so helpless about is something God has already put into us we already know it's just so we like the people sometimes are so involved in grumbling about what we don't have it makes us blind to what we do have we grumbled so much about what we don't have it causes us to be blind to what we do and God showed him a tree he says the answers always been there it's always been under your nose but because of your compromising because of the things that you have put off and put off and ignored now you're painted into a corner now you feel helpless but I want you to you know which what your coming out it's gonna be started from as big nighted from your healing is gonna be ignited by not the things which you don't have would you write it in your first bullet start with what you have not what you don't have start with what you have not what you don't have oh I don't have anything huh just like Joe when Joe got completely wiped out his family was wiped out as flocks were wiped out as farm was wiped out he had nothing left you know what the Bible says he shaved his head tore his clothes he fell down and worshiped God and he said naked came i from my mother's womb and naked am I gonna be when I return blessed be the name of the Lord and he worshiped God what yeah when everything was wiped out what did he start with the only thing he could do what was that oh I can worship God start with that start to do something positive don't sit in your soup of bitterness what do you have start the move in a positive way Daniel was in the lion's den absolutely helpless what could he do I'm not a lion tamer what can you do I can pray pray Daniel is still known today as a man who prayed and God used that to deliver him Joseph absolutely helpless put in prison it was a false trumped-up charge and the powers that were were in charge and there's nothing he could do AB No I can wipe tables here this table needs to be white good start there just start serving because he see that's what I told you in the beginning Joseph wherever I put you serve me and so he began serving God because that's what he could do that's what he did have and he started something positive and you know what the warden saw that he put him in charge of that whole dorm and then he saw it more and he put him in charge of the whole prison and the Pharaoh saw it put him in charge of the whole nation they understand start with what you have not what you don't have cuz you can sit in the bitter waters of Marah the rest of your life complaining and grumbling about what you don't have what got taken away from you and Lord so just I can show you a tree and you throw it in there and it's taken care of start with what I've already said to you what is it that you can do that will begin a positive movement because you see if you start with that I can I can leverage off of that but if you don't do anything you're just gonna be set with bitterness and you'll grumble and you'll be blind to what you have start cry out to God and find out what is God already said to me and start start with what you already have because you see would you write your next bullet the lessons you're about to learn when you're at moments of helplessness his lessons are for a lifetime write that in not just an event those lessons you're about to learn are for a lifetime now you got to watch this if I'm going to share with you something that's gonna be an important life principle that we find out of Exodus and we can apply to our everyday life when you and I are flying at 32,000 feet you think we just cruise we're we're on top of the world we got this money we got this job we got this we got this car I got this new stereo my brand new nano iPod we got with on top of the world we're big cheese we're a Big Daddy then something happens and our engines sputter and we start taking a nosedive [Music] and the closer you get to the ground the more you realize you need God you ever notice the closer you get to death the real or God is is that more real yeah I don't know God comes more real for you that's better God comes more real and you get closer and that true cuz you think you're on the top of the world then bang you get into an accident you're on a gurney going into surgery this Lego when you don't even know him before something happens to your heart the closer you get to earth now watch this when you're pulling up as hard as you can and you're praying with all your might confessing all your sins cuz you know you're dead and then God lets your belly just scrape earth and you're pulling up God now at this moment when you're scraping earth trying to pull up fighting the g's the g-force is trying to pull up again knowing you're gonna die without his mercy during this time he starts teaching you lessons isn't it true when you're going in for heart surgery or you thought you were this invincible person that something happens and you're you're sick as can be you have to cancel all your appointments and you realize all of a sudden how finite and frail you are and you know what after a while nothing matters except you and God and you're laying there and you're saying god I need to and he just runs your life before your eyes I need to be kinder this person I need to be a better spouse I need to be a better dad or mom I need to be a better son or daughter Lord I got to change this I got to change and all these lessons are learned when you're that close to death and then you know what God pulls you up when you start to cry out to God and then right about here put television on pause suspended animation you know what God says Wayne when you're back flying at 32,000 feet don't forget the lessons you learned here because these are lessons for a lifetime and the only way your heart is able to receive these is when you're that close to death and you feel absolutely helpless I could have done it in any other way I would but some some people's hearts are hard to change and I bring you that close when you feel so helpless and then I teach you lessons about priorities in life what values really are about your faith and your eternity and now when you're cruising back at 32,000 don't forget because the lessons you learn when you feel absolutely helpless are not lessons just for an event they're lessons for a lifetime and then when you're cruising back here don't be like Pharaoh because when Pharaoh would had to have a plague on him he would repent and as soon as I would relent and and change that and bring it back to normal he's hardened his heart again and then another plague would happen oh yeah whatever you want to do and then I'd remove the plague hardened his heart again says don't do that because the lessons that I'm teaching you are for a lifetime and when the Egyptians kept hardening their heart it brought upon them death and even yet till this day they struggle as a nation and I'm wondering wondering if has just built in to some of our DNA's until we repent or if we hold out I'm wondering if some of the consequences aren't from generation to generation because we hold out on God rather than cry out many said this to the people now if I teach you lessons and you start to cruise back don't forget those lessons that you learned here when your belly was rubbing against the ground those are lessons for a lifetime now Institute them into your life and live them when you're up at 32,000 feet because if not you know the diseases that came on the Egyptians and the death and the problems that'll happen to you too in fact he says it this way let's read the scripture go if you will give honest heed to the voice of the Lord your God and keep all his statutes I will put none of the diseases on you which I have put on the Egyptians for I the LORD am your healer so here it is you're rubbing your belly God teaches you lessons when you start to fly so now I'm gonna restore you but don't forget those lessons because in moments of helplessness that could be the greatest classroom you'll ever gone through if you miss those lessons you'll go through them again and again until one day you will crash because you hold out rather than cry out when you feel helpless and finite listen to what he's already said establish them as a voice of the Lord so that when you're cruising again you're changed forever because you may feel helpless but there's one who never is and he's there to teach you but number three is here's something that all of us will need to remember you say well wait will will things turn out right yeah they will but it will not often turn out the way you expect them to turn out your definition of right well it'll be right but it won't always be your definition so be careful lest you become discouraged because God's ways are not always our ways but they are the better ways so number three would you write down so leave the results up to God leave the results up to God because God is going to in those moments of helplessness test you oh not in that school way but when you're testing mettle what you're doing is if there's some draw still in the metal you turn up the fire and you're testing the metal and what you're doing is you're removing the last ounce of dross the last gram of dross until it is approved sterling genuine silver and they test it again and again and again and again and again until they make sure it's pure silver and God does that with us watch when your belly is rubbing the ground you feel absolutely helpless you know what a lot of times the last vestige of pride or arrogance and me is extracted he's testing me that's the only way he can extract that stuff out of me and then if I'll cry out to God rather than hold out hold on to bitterness and shrink from that bitter water he'll bring me up and I'll be a different person and so you got to leave the results up to God and that's what he says here in Exodus 15 let's read the scripture go and there he made for them a statute and regulation and there he yeah because he see his way are different from ours and what we expect isn't always what he does but his way is best let's read the last Scripture and you'll see go for as the heavens are higher than the earth so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts uh-huh will it turn out right mm-hmm but not always the way you expect it to but you've got to trust him for the results you see some people ask about my upbringing and it wasn't a real shiny nice family nuclear family kind of upbringing Leave It to Beaver father knows best household many of you know I was raised in Palolo Valley and in an early age there was a messy divorce they split our family up half of us went to live in Japan half stayed here we lived with a blended family that had no adhesive to it we just couldn't glue in and so then little by little things kind of went bad my father was extremely strict as a disciplinarian to us and at 13 years old I had a suitcase in my hands put on a Greyhound bus 500 miles away I was on my own became sexually abused on the way and then a bus stopped and it was a horrible horrible upbringing and then I remember my mom was here dying she wrote me a letter Wayne come home mommy's dying she was at Saint Francis Hospital I was a boarding school at that time and I called my dad - dad send me home mom said she's dying and because there was such a anger between them I remember my dad's response she said your mother's lying to you that way she can get your emotions going and I pay for your way back to Hawaii then she keeps you there and that's how she'll get me to pay for your fare back by using this stuff two days later in my algebra class I get a telegram your mother just died do you understand I drank the waters of Marah and that was bitter at my dad I went deep into to all kinds of drugs and thank God a few years later the Lord brought me out kind of brought me out of that nose-dive I received Christ and my heart was changed and all kinds of things began to happen he just washed me and scrubbed me up now let me fast-forward the tape and I look at what God has taught me and the times when people would say it can't be done for some reason I looked and I said no it can be done no it's impossible I said no no it's possible where do I get that kind of that I'm able to see stuff when people cannot the perseverance or an endurance or a consistency or just stick-to-itiveness where did all that come from when people say Wayne do you do or do you disparage are you upset about do you regret your upbringing I look back on it now and I say you know it wouldn't be my ideal and I felt helpless during that season but you know what I am satisfied with the way God chose to bring me up because a lot of the lessons I've learned and AM today was learned in moments of desperate helplessness where he extracted everything out of me and I learned a lifetime of lessons during that time now I could have held out and drank more the water of bitterness and become a bitter man but thank God for His grace and he pulled me up and washed me clean and said those lessons that you learned can either destroy you or they can be a lesson for a lifetime you choose each's did I feel helpless absolutely am I the only one mm-hmm millions of others plus one whose name is Jesus who was in the Garden of Gethsemane and was on his knees and he was bleeding not from his fingertips he was bleeding from his brow because of the pain that was on the inside and to remember him crying to God God if there's any way that you can remove this cup from me in other words if there's any way you can accomplish this redemption thing without me having to do this and going to the cross if there's any way that you can remove this cup please do do you remember him stopping and he said but nevertheless not my will but yours be done you know what he was saying I'm satisfied with the way that God has chosen for me to live my life and I'll be fine and I will not drink the waters of Marah I will instead cry out to God and he'll heal the waters of Marah see the difference well you feel helpless absolutely but during those times those lessons are not for an event those are lessons for a lifetime and when you come through you can say my God knows best I leave the results to him I will do what he asks and even when I feel helpless I follow the one who is all-powerful that makes all the difference in the world amen thanks for watching if you haven't yet please click on the subscribe button to this channel and share this video with a friend for more resources or to join us for our weekend online service visit us at e new hope org again thanks for watching and God bless you

Channel: NewHopeOahu

Views: 7,598

Rating: 4.878788 out of 5

Keywords: new hope, new hope oahu, new hope christian fellowship, christian, hawaii, honolulu, wayne cordeiro, pastor wayne, church, sermon, life journal, life resources, when you feel helpless, new hope classics, nh classics, classic sermons, sermons on feeling helpless, helpless

Id: QB1TGedDhJQ

Length: 44min 46sec (2686 seconds)

Published: Fri Nov 08 2019