Where is God in Your Trials (Sermon)

[Music] [Music] hello i'm jill morocconi and thank you for joining us for this edition of 3abn worship hour our title today is how big is your god are you abandoned and need a faithful father are you sick and need a heavenly healer are you stuck in sin and need a sympathizing savior are you lonely and need a forever friend are you sad and need a compassionate comforter are you broken and need a loving lord are you afraid and need a sovereign shepherd do you feel you are unreachable unredeemable unlovable unwantable who is your god today do you know him how big is your god have you experienced him turn with me to isaiah chapter 40 this is our opening scripture before we go to the lord in prayer we are spending the balance of this entire message how big is your god based on isaiah chapter 40. so turn with me to isaiah 40 we're going to look at verses 25 and 26 isaiah 40 25 and 26 to whom then will you liken me this is jesus talking the lord god to whom will you liken me or to whom will i be equal says the holy one lift up your eyes on high and see who has created these things who brings out their host by number he calls them all by name by the greatness of his might and the strength of his power not one is missing let's pray holy father we come before you in the name of jesus this is your time this is your word and would you speak would you make it come alive to us right now i ask for the infilling of your holy spirit that you would touch me and you would touch the ears and hearts of each person listening and watching right now that we could be changed in the knowledge of who you are in jesus name amen it was june 2007 a hit-and-run incident left daniel paralyzed from the waist down a year after his accident he wrote this i would call it simply a lament to god oh lord my god why do you wait to show up i cried out to you when trouble struck i asked you for restoration i know that you heard me i know that you answered yet nothing nothing of meaning happens again today infinitesimal changes dog my days i am hounded by the prayers of the fickle looking to me to prove their faith wearily i drag on tiring of the waist hating the horror the pain the suffering the never-ending trial the endless story drags on and on and on when will the clouds break when will the night cease when will the tunnel end when will you smile again god what a two-edged sword your voice is you speak and then wait you give hope and then vanish into the mist have you forgotten me have more important things absorbed your attention hope turns black this evil i have seen nightly my dreams they show me restored and yet in the morning i am broken again please slay me blot my name from the ranks of the living from the grave i can finally rest how long how long must i wait here in the middle suspended between heaven and hell between healing and horror who am i that god should remember me my only salvation is that he will not forget his image or let his word be broken there is nothing i can do but one day i by his promise i will stand restored as his message of hope is fulfilled the lord will turn this horror into a fading dream and i will honor his name forever i don't know if that reminds you of any stories in the word of god it reminds me of david remember him hunted haunted hiding from saul as he saw his life crying out to god where are you why haven't you come why aren't you helping me i think of job stricken afflicted boils covered head to toe lost his children lost his possession his wife said just give up on god saying god where are you in the midst of my horror i think of jesus on the cross crying out saying my god my god why why have you forsaken me i think of the children of israel in babylonian captivity crying out to god when is our deliverance going to happen if you have lived any length of time you will have experienced some sort of mental anguish some sort of physical anguish or maybe it's spiritual anguish in your walk with god or even emotional anguish and if you have not already experienced that then you will at some point in your life the children of israel crying out to god in their babylonian captivity that's where isaiah chapter 40 actually picks up is right at the end of that babylonian captivity before we get to isaiah 40 let's just lay a little groundwork who is isaiah probably one of the greatest biblical prophets in the word of god he is one of my personal favorites he's known as the gospel prophet why because there is so many messianic prophecies there's so much of the gospel there's so much of justification by faith there's so much of looking forward to christ the coming messiah that we find within the pages of the book of isaiah his name of course means the lord saves or salvation of yahweh and it's a fitting name for this book which is really divided into two different sections we have section number one which is chapter 1 through chapter 39 this is the historical section this is the narrative this is the section we call it the book of judgment and salvation this is what happened during the time isaiah lived then we jump over here and we have the second section of the book this is chapters 40 through chapter 66 this is the prophetic section this happened a century and a half after isaiah even walked this earth it's after he passed away this section happened and this is a section of comfort the section of restoration in fact these sections are so disparate that some people say well two different people must have written the book of isaiah but if you look at the scrolls in the qumran you can see there is no division between chapter 39 and 40. you can see that the same person isaiah authored the entire book one part being historical the other part over here being prophetic the historical portion there's really two different sections in that as well you see isaiah prophesied during a time of great national crisis for the people of judah remember that israel used to be one united nation that's under saul that's under david that's under his son solomon and then when solomon's son came to the throne the children of israel had had enough solomon had really taxed the people and there was a lot of heaviness for the people and they said we're done with you are you going to treat us like your daddy did and if you're not going to treat us like your daddy did we're done we're doing our own thing and what did his son say well my father chastised you this way but i'm going to be even worse so the kingdom split at that time 10 tribes stayed with the northern kingdom of israel two tribes the larger of the two of course being judah would be with this southern kingdom so in the time of isaiah we had this first major national crisis the northern kingdom of israel combined with the neighboring kingdom of syria and they came on the war path against the southern kingdom of judah now ahaz was the king at this time you can find this in isaiah chapter 7. it's about 734 bc and isaiah is the prophet ahaz is the king and ahaz is terrified and he wants to reach out to assyria for help he says i can't do this and isaiah says no trust in the lord he will deliver you no matter what you're going through no matter what it looks like the neighboring kingdoms are coming against you god will deliver you but ahaz chose not to trust in god he chose to turn his back on god and go his own way and he reached out to assyria for help we fast forward several years to ahaz's son a has his dead now and his son hezekiah's on the throne we're about 701 bc and a has hezekiah says you know what he says i'm no longer going to pay this tribute to assyria we're done with that we're going to trust in the lord and so he refuses to send the tribute and all of a sudden the assyrians now come and they attack the tiny nation of judah and they take one city after the next after the next and then they come to jerusalem and begin to siege jerusalem and isaiah is still the prophet and he says trust in the lord the lord will fight for you the lord will defend you trust in him and hezekiah chooses to pour out his his soul before god he chooses to trust in god and guess what happens god kills a hundred and eighty five thousand of those assyrians in one night that senecaram's entire army is destroyed god shows up and god defends his people now that is all in the beginning part of isaiah that's all in chapters 1-39 then we jump to chapter 40. this fast-forwards you could say this is the prophetic portion this is what we're looking at now a hundred years after that siege a hundred years after god showed up and delivered the people from this assyrian siege the babylonians come and the babylonians take them remember daniel and his three friends take them into captivity they are in captivity for 70 years 70 years in bondage 70 years away from their homeland and away from their people and maybe even feeling as if god has forsaken them and at the end of that 70 years god promises to bring them back again to their land and to restore all those years that the locusts had eaten that's what we see in isaiah 40. isaiah 40 we see the mercy of god god wants to save his people they're in babylonian captivity but he wants to save them and he wants to deliver them we see the power of god god is able to deliver them because he is powerful he can deliver them from their enemies which would be the babylonians because they are in captivity he can deliver them from the gods of their enemies and the babylonian gods that the babylonians worshiped the main argument in isaiah 40 is that god can do it he can make the second exodus happen that would be this deliverance from babylonian captivity he can end the exile he can defeat the oppressors he can liberate his people so you know me i have a list for you five characteristics that we find from isaiah chapter 40 of this god five characteristics of who this god is that was going to deliver them from babylonian captivity and this god who wants to deliver you and i from whatever we go through but before we do that let's lay a little more groundwork with the first couple of verses in isaiah chapter 40. verse 1. isaiah 40 verse 1 comfort yes comfort my people says your god speak comfort to jerusalem and cry out to her that her warfare is ended that her iniquity is pardoned now how many times was the word comfort used comfort is a command in this passage you can really see that comfort yes comfort my people speak comfort to jerusalem three times we see this comfort mentioned it is in the hebrew it is second person plural which just means in texas style they would say y'all have comfort now it means you all everyone have this comfort the word in hebrew literally if you look at the original root it means to breathe deeply now i don't know about you but i find that sometimes there are certain people that i feel comfortable with have you found some people that you feel comfortable with people maybe you go out to eat with them and they're friends and you're comfortable people that you can sit down and just share what's on your heart or what you're going through or what you're experiencing it may be your spouse it may be your best friend hopefully that's one and the same but maybe you're not married and maybe it's another friend it could be a family member it could be maybe someone that you work with but these particular people i have found in my own life sometimes i'll be sitting and we'll be eating or doing something and i'll just go ah and they'll say jim what was that all about that's called comfort that is that deep breath in and why because i feel at peace because i feel at rest because all that stress and all that whatever you were carrying it's gone because you are comforted why were they to be comforted because their captivity was over it said speak comfort to jerusalem that her warfare was ended meaning there's 70 years of captivity in babylon was over david expressed it this way in psalm 30 5 weeping it may endure for the night but joy it always comes in the morning song of solomon says it this way song of solomon chapter 2 verses 11 and 12 lo the winter is past the rain is over and gone the flowers they appear on the earth the time of singing has come god sees and knows everything that we go through do you feel like you're going through a time of babylonian captivity right now do you feel like you're going through a time physically or emotionally or spiritually that god seems distant god seems far away from you you feel like you have been in bondage and you say where am i supposed to find this comfort where is god as we started where is god in the midst of my anguish and my angst and what i am experiencing god saw the israelites in their babylonian captivity and i want to tell you today god sees you god knows your name and god will seek to deliver you i think of the children of israel not in this babylonian captivity but this is centuries before when they were in egyptian bondage and remember this is when god called moses this is exodus 3 7. the lord said i have seen the oppression of my people who are in egypt and i have heard their cry because of their taskmasters i know their sorrows god sees you in the midst of what you are going through he doesn't just see you he hears you he knows and he understands now this comfort that was to be extended to the people in babylonian captivity you and i are to extend that comfort to others as well second corinthians turn with me to second corinthians chapter one verses three and four now tell me how many times if you can count at home how many times you hear the word comfort mentioned in these two verses blessed be the god and father of our lord jesus christ the father of mercies and god of all comfort who wait a minute that's right we missed one the god of all comfort that's number one who comforts us number two in all our tribulation that we may be able to comfort number three those who are in any trouble with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by god five times in those two verses we see that word comfort god comforts us in what we are going through why so that we can extend that comfort to someone else god is a god of comfort god is also a god of discipline we see that in verse 2 isaiah 40 verse 2 it says speak comfort to jerusalem and cry to her that her warfare has ended that her iniquity it's pardoned for she has received from the lord's hand wait a minute she received it did you catch that from the lord's hand double for all her sins now i would say okay she received from satan's hand she received from the babylonian's hand she received from when we go through experiences and trials that are not always very pleasant many times we say the enemy has done this and that is true satan comes to steal kill and destroy but there are also judgments that come that are redemptive and those come from the lord the babylonian captivity it was redemptive god allowed that to happen because the children of israel had turned their back on god they had spat in his face not just once not just twice but over and over and over again god had called to them and they had repented and turned back and then they did their own thing and followed idols and intermarried with the heathen and then god called to them and they repented and they turned back and then they did their own thing again and again and again and the final judgment was this babylonian captivity in hebrews we find that hebrews 12 6 for whom the lord loves he chastens oh that's kind of hard for me sometimes for whom the lord loves he chastens and scourges every son whom he receives verse 11. now no chastening for the present it's not joyous but it's grievous nevertheless afterward it produces in you and in me a peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by the trial what does that mean the trial seems difficult it looks difficult it is difficult but in the midst of that you and i are developing a character that looks more and more every day like the lord jesus christ romans 5 you know i love the book of romans romans 5 verse 3 god's discipline always has a purpose and i love that about our god romans 5 verse 3 not only that we glory in tribulations wait a minute we glory that means we rejoice we're happy we exalt we exult in tribulations that word for tribulations in the greek is flipsis and it means internal pressure in the greek there's two words for this type of trial or tribulation one is an external pressure things that come against us the other one is an internal pressure or a mental pressure have you ever noticed that when you go through things a lot of times the biggest challenge is what you face in your mind it is that internal pressure so we are supposed to glory or exalt or be glad when we have times where we experience this internal pressure why knowing that tribulation that's the internal pressure it produces perseverance now the word perseverance in greek means to remain under wait a minute so if i'm happy if i rejoice if i'm grateful when i go through times of internal stress and trial that allows me to remain under if it stopped there i wouldn't be very happy about that but it doesn't this remaining under this perseverance produces character there is a point in all of that this trial this pressure what i am going through and i am experiencing allows me produces in me eventually character growing into the image of jesus it produces character and afterward that produces hope god is able to comfort us god is clearly able to discipline us god is able to prepare our hearts to receive him let's look at verses 3 and 4 isaiah 43 and 4 the voice of one crying in the wilderness prepare the way of the lord make straight in the desert a highway for our god every valley shall be exalted the low places are going to be lifted up and every mountain will be brought low that means the high places are going to be brought down the rough places will be made smooth the glory of the lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together you know in ancient times a king was not allowed to be jolted by a rough road so they would have people go before to prepare the way for the king they would smooth those rough places they would fill in the potholes and if there was a hump in the road they would grind it down in the same way there is a spiritual road work that is necessary for you and for me in order to prepare our hearts to receive him as the king of kings and lord of lords this particular passage here i think has three applications now you might say it has more and maybe it does but there's the immediate application there was the those who were in babylonian captivity needed to be prepared to return to their homeland the captives in babylon they needed some heart work some spiritual work done before they were ready to go home what was that heart work i think they had some obstacles of apathy obstacles of complacency maybe even self-centeredness we find in ezra and in nehemiah when the call was made go back to your homeland go back to jerusalem only a small amount of the people went back why they were comfortable in babylon they were settled in babylon they needed this heart work to be done in order to prepare them to return to their homeland then we see a future application and the gospels make this very clear john the baptist fulfilled this the voice of one crying in the wilderness and what was he preparing the way for the hearts of the people needed repentance in order to be ready to receive jesus this was his first coming as their messiah there was a great deal of self-righteousness that we saw with the religious leaders of that day and religious externalism and then i see a third application which would be you and i today waiting for the second coming of jesus we are you could say captives on this earth waiting for him to come again and there is a message again coming to you and i a message of repentance a message of obedience a message of the hard work that needs to be done in our hearts and in our lives for we are laodicea and god says that he wants to turn up the fire in our hearts and lives and make us ready for him so who is this god who is this god that's able to comfort us who is this god that's able to discipline us who is this god that's able to prepare our hearts to receive him i'm going to look at the five characteristics of our god that i see from isaiah chapter 40. i'm going to give you the five and then we'll unpack them this god your god my god our god is omnipotent that's number one number two he is omniscient number three he is sovereign number four he is without compare and number five he is our creator so let's unpack them we're in isaiah 40 verse 12 who is your god how big is your god our god is omnipotent that just means he's all-powerful his power is limitless let's look at isaiah 40 verse 12 who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand measured heaven with a span and calculated the dust of the earth in a measure waited the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance who is this god who is this god that can hold the waters in the hollow or the palm of his hand now i don't know about you but i could maybe hold a cup of water i could definitely hold this you could too probably maybe we could hold a quart if you're a really strong bodybuilder maybe you could hold a gallon or maybe five gallons i couldn't even attempt that but maybe you could hold five gallons out outstretched with your hand but do you know how much water is on the earth if you count the oceans and the rivers and the sea and the vastness of all of it we're talking 300 326 million trillion gallons of water we're not talking about a god who can hold five gallon bucket and balance it and we think that was a pretty tremendous feat or a god who can hold a hundred gallons or a thousand gallons or a hundred thousand gallons but 326 million trillion gallons who has measured the waters he can measure all the waters of the earth and the hollow of his hand measured heaven with a span and calculated the dust of the earth in a measure how can you even calculate the dust of the earth they say that earth's atmosphere contains 17 million metric tons of coarse dirt now that's quite a bit of coarse dirt 17 million that would be the mass of 17 million elephants all put together and he measures that in a measure weighted the mountains and scales there's over 1 million mountains on earth today weighted them in a scale and the hills in a balance do you feel like you're going through a hard time do you feel like your problems are insurmountable and you can't even measure them and you can't even see over them our god your god is omnipotent he can hold the sea and hit the palm of his hand he can hold the dust our god is omnipotent our god is omniscient that just means that he is all knowing his wisdom it is unsearchable let's look at the next verse isaiah 40 verses 13 and 14 who has directed the spirit of the lord or as his counselor has taught him so what's he saying who who's taught god so how did god get to be so smart and i mean that in the most respectful way possible how did god develop wisdom who taught him how did he learn all that you know my uncle is a nuclear physicist and when i was growing up but i would always say uncle what do you do and he would try to explain and it would go in one ear and out the other because he is incredibly brilliant he works at a teaching hospital he teaches nuclear physics to aspiring other doctors he works with the machines and works with patients and he's incredible my grandfather's a doctor and my dad's a doctor and my other uncle is a doctor but that means nothing if you had the best doctors in the world if you had the best legal defense team in the country could they teach god anything if you had a noble prize winner would they be able to teach anything who has directed the spirit of the lord or as his counselor has taught him our god is omniscient our god knows everything he sees everything his wisdom is unsearchable with whom did he take counsel who instructed him and taught him the path of justice who taught him knowledge and showed him the way of understanding number three characteristic of god god is sovereign his authority is absolute let's look at the next verse isaiah 40 15-17 behold the nations they're just a drop in the bucket are counted as small dust on the scales look he lifts up the isles or the islands as a very little thing now the nations are a drop in the bucket how many nations do we have here on earth there's 195 countries if you don't count taiwan you don't count the cook islands and other dependencies so there's at least 195 countries he measures them all those nations all that land mass all those governments all those people he measures them what as simply a drop in the bucket they're counted as small dust on the scales he lifts up the islands and the islands in the sea as a very small thing lebanon is not sufficient to burn nor its beasts sufficient for a burnt offering all nations are before him as nothing and they are accounted by him less than nothing and worthless verse 23 says he brings the princes to nothing he makes the judges of the earth useless it reminds me of daniel chapter four remember nebuchadnezzar and he was king of babylon he was a good king and he was a brilliant military leader he was also quite stuck on himself and egotistical and i have a feeling if you and i associated with him he'd probably rub us the wrong way and so he believed that babylon was its greatness its beauty its power its might was a result of what he had done his power his superior military intelligence his genius and so god through the prophet daniel worked with him gave him a dream vision daniel interpreted it said please o king repent and recognize the sovereignty of god and he did for a time and then about a year later he walked in babylon and said is not that's the great babylon that i have built and then at that very moment as the words were just coming from his mouth what happened he became like a raving lunatic you could say and he crawled on the grass and he ate grass for seven years until he knew and acknowledged and understood that the most high the god in heaven is god and he is sovereign and his authority is absolute and when nebuchadnezzar's sanity was returned to him toward the end he said what those who walk in pride he is able to abase because nebuchadnezzar had experienced that firsthand our god is omnipotent he can do anything our god is omniscient he knows everything in fact he created all knowledge and all intelligence that any one of us have our god is sovereign his authority it is absolute number four our god i love this one is without compare verse 18 isaiah 40 verse 18 to whom then will you liken god isaiah said okay so this god can hold those seeds in the palm of his hand and this god can measure heavens with a span this god can can pick up the islands from the sea and he can put the mountains down and he can this god can do everything this god knows everything to whom are you going to liken this god to whom will you liken god and of course the answer is nobody nobody our god is without compare or what likeness will you compare to him the workman molds an image the gold smith overspreads it with gold and the silversmith cast silver chains whoever is too impoverished for such a contribution chooses a tree that will not rot he seeks for himself a skillful workman to prepare a carved image that will not totter to whom will you liken god the answer is nobody nobody compares with our god workmen can't create an image they can't create an idol even the best crafted workmanship the most beautiful designs in architecture or in art that we see today is nothing compared to our god characteristic number five our god your god my god is our creator let's look at isaiah 40. next verse verse 21 have you not known have you not heard has it not been told you from the beginning have you not understood from the foundations of the earth from the very beginning of time have you not known this it is he god our god who sits above the circle of the earth and the inhabitants word is like grasshoppers he stretches out the heavens like a curtain and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in jump down to verse 25 to whom then will you liken me or whom shall i be equal says the holy one lift up your eyes on high and see see who's created these things who brings out their host by number he calls them all by name but the greatness of his might and the strength of his power not one of them is missing did you catch that who set the world in motion and keeps the galaxies in their orbit who created the universe and hung the stars who can compare with a god who does that lift up your eyes and see the lord your creator your retainer he did that he hung the galaxies he hung the moon and the stars he created this earth he spoke it into existence and formed you and i with his hands the dust of the earth but he formed us with his hand adam adam and eve and by extension the rest of us he created us who is a god like that our god your god my god is omnipotent he's all-powerful he's omniscient he is all-knowing he is sovereign he is without compare and he is our creator so what does that do for us here today you might say okay that's great jill i'm glad to know that god's all-powerful i'm glad to know he can do anything i'm kind of glad to know that he knows everything and that he's sovereign omniscient i'm kind of glad to know that he's without compare and there's nobody who compares with him i'm kind of glad to know that he's creator but what's that mean for me today these are the lessons that i learned from what we've just studied here in isaiah chapter 40. first lesson look at your problems against the backdrop of your incomparable god so if we have an illustration here imagine that god is here okay just for the purpose of imagination imagine god is here and your problems are right here where the where the lectern is often we look at our problems this way god's here behind me i turn my back to god and i look at my problem here and what happens they grow have you ever noticed that they become insurmountable i look and i say but what am i going to do with that god that's a cancer diagnosis are you facing that god that's a marriage that's flitten up are you facing that god that's a friendship that i've had for years and it's destroyed are you facing that god my kids have walked away from you and i don't even know what to do with that are you facing that god i'm afraid during this time are you facing fear god i feel alone god i feel abandoned god i don't even know and so we turn our back to god and we put him behind us and we look at our problems here and they look insurmountable instead we should look at our god and the problems they're going to go into perspective so instead of having your back to god and looking at your problems and looking at the greatness of them and the grandeur of them and what you are going through right now and there's some tough stuff there's some tough stuff in this world so that is not negating what the problems are but if you turn around and you face this way and you look at the problems through the lens of god on the other side those problems are like a grasshopper as we just read they become like a one grain of sand on the seashore if you look at what you are going through if you look at the experiences in your life through the lens of who your god is your god can hold the water all the ocean in the palm of his hand your god can measure the grains of sand your god can pick up the mountains and he can pick up the islands of the sea your cod knows everything what's he going to do with this problem of not having enough food to eat what's he going to do with this problem of not knowing what i'm going to do with my health your god can do anything what matters supremely in the last analysis is not the fact that i know god rather it's the fact that my god knows me if you hear nothing else today i want you to hear that what matters most is not the fact that you know god and you're seeking god and that is powerful but what is even more powerful is that your god he knows you now you say this with me i am graven on the palm of his hand know that today you are graven on the palm of his hand you are never out of his mind all of my knowledge of him depends on his sustained initiative and knowing who i am even what i think i understand in the word of god that depends on him revealing it to me even what i understand when i when i spend time in prayer or i study or i experience him in nature that all depends on his initiative in knowing me i know him because why because he first knew me and there is no moment when his eye is off me there is no moment when his attention is distracted from me there is no moment when his care for me falters this is momentous knowledge this is unspeakable comfort my god your god is constantly watching over us for our good so the first lesson i learned from this whole passage in isaiah 40 is that i am to look at my problems against the backdrop of who my god is if you understand who your god is if you know him if you know that he knows you and you look at that against the backdrop of who your god is those problems they're going to change it doesn't mean they go away it doesn't mean that we don't sometimes walk through the valley of the shadow it doesn't mean that there isn't pain but it means that god walks with you and he is with you in the midst of that it kind of puts life into perspective the second lesson i learn is to change my focus to god instead of complaining about the present i don't know about you but i can complain sometimes i can say god why is this happening or god i don't understand or god could you change this and yet if we look at isaiah 40 verse 27 it says why do you say o jacob and speak o israel why do you say my way is hidden from the lord and my just claims is passed over by my god job cried out the same type of complaint we see that in job 19 verse 7. he said i cry out help but you don't answer me i protest and there is no judgment there is no justice so instead of complaining i just call it whining about what is going on right now in your life change your focus to who your god is look at him against that backdrop remember look at the problems against the backdrop of who your god is lesson number three that i gain our almighty god our omnipotent god our omniscient god our sovereign god our creator god he specializes in reaching the unreachable and empowering the hopeless in strengthening the weakest and encouraging the lowest and lifting the oppressed isaiah 40 verse 28 and 29 i love this passage we're coming to the climax of isaiah chapter 40. we're almost done with this chapter i love this have you not known have you not heard the everlasting god that's the omnipotent god that's the omniscient god that is your creator god the everlasting god the lord the creator of the ends of the earth he neither faints nor is weary his understanding is unsearchable he gives power to the weak and to those who have no might he increases strength do you feel unreachable do you feel hopeless do you feel weak do you feel low do you feel oppressed our god your god my god he specializes in reaching the unreachable and empowering the hopeless and strengthening the weakest and encouraging the lowest in lifting the oppressed finally the last lesson i get is waiting on god increases your power and your strength do you need power do you need strength wait on god this is the final two verses of this section isaiah 40 30 and 31 even the youths shall faint and be weary and the young men they shall utterly fall but those who wait on the lord shall renew their strength they shall mount up with wings like eagles they shall run and not be weary they shall walk and they're not going to fain you know sometimes the christian walk we make more stressful than it needs to be let me give you an example this applies right here in this isaiah chapter 40. i think of isaiah 26 3 what does that scripture say you will keep him in perfect peace god will keep us in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on him because why because we trust in him that verse used to stress me i would say okay god uh if i want perfect peace i need to keep my mind on god i need to focus on him i need to keep focused on him if i want perfect peace i need to be focused on him but what it really means in the hebrew is that we are called to lean on we are called to rely on so instead of me focusing and thinking think harder jill focus more on god all it literally means is i put my head in his lap and he will keep my heart in perfect peace when i read this verse those who wait on the lord renew their strength that's not meant to be a stressful time of waiting it simply means you lean your head on him relax on him as your abba daddy and know that he will renew your strength that you can mount up with wings like eagles run and not be weary walk and not faint how big is your god today is your god omnipotent is your god omniscient is your god sovereign is your god without compare is your god your creator it was a monday night and i was with the woman from church and we were at our local jail doing bible studies to the woman there in the jail and the music swelled as we approach the refrain i need thee oh i need thee every hour i need thee oh bless me now my savior i come to thee there was never enough room in the little cell it's meant block wall cell that we had our bible studies in and so the girls would sit four across on the desk and then they would line the wall sometimes they would sit cross-legged on the floor and we always sang and then we prayed and then we would begin to share something from the word of god and this particular night i asked them to share about the temptations that they had each experienced and they went around and i was struck as they talked by the similarities between those temptations now they might not sound similar it was food and fear and anger and cutting sex drugs they don't sound similar but there's the same emptiness inside the same void that was inside that they were struggling desperately to fill and i brought to the jail that night these cups that you see here colored with crayons the first cup i don't know if you can see this the first cup was pretty dirty it's covered with dirt we can imagine it's covered with mud and if you look inside it's pretty dirty as well it reminds me of how satan twists our thinking and he defiles our hearts and he smears us up on the outside he can do a pretty good job of breaking us pretty good job of making us alone putting us in bondage making other people look at us even with revulsion because of the sin that sticks to our lives sometimes we try to clean up this cup looks pretty nice it looks pretty clean but if you look inside it's dirty it's filthy this reminds me of hypocritical christians and people with a holier-than-thou attitude who think i'm got it together and i'm gonna do everything just right but yet the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked who can know it when jesus gets a hold of us we might look like this to other people initially we might look like there's mud on the outside but if you look inside the cup we're pure we're forgiven we are made new i think the thief on the cross would fall into this category onlookers they saw nothing but a thief who was dying they saw a lot of mud and a lot of actions that they thought had smeared him up on the outside but when heaven looked at his heart they saw that he was forgiven they saw that he was cleansed they saw that he was restored and of course this cup represents our savior perfect without any spot without any blemish outside and inside and i just got to that point and karen that's not her name but we'll call her karen she said i know which cup i am and i said which cup karen and she said this is me right here when people look at me i look filthy i'm in jail i look dirty but i know jesus has changed me inside but nobody else can see it and i reached out to her and i said you know karen you may feel like this cup you may feel that you're dirty you may feel that other people look at you in that fashion but you've been coming to bible studies for many months and we have seen the change in your life we've seen how you encourage the other girls and we see how you want to study the word of god and even your faith has changed from guarded and dark to being open transparent sunshine when we look at you karen we see the pure cup pure inside because jesus has changed you but pure outside because when god gets a hold of our life when he gets a hold of us inside we are transformed from the inside out how big is your god today i don't know what bondage you are in what addiction you struggle with what insurmountable trial is in your life right now and you're looking at it with your back to god saying that problem's too big god i can't climb that mountain god i can't swim that river god i can't go down into the ocean god i can't do it but if you turn around and look at whatever you are dealing with whatever is in your heart today whatever's dirty whatever's defiled our god is able our god is able to forgive our god is able to restore our god is omnipotent he is all powerful he is omniscient our god is sovereign our god is without compare he is your creator will you let him come in how great is our god sing with me how great is our god all we'll see all will rejoice how great how great is our god [Music] the splendor of the king clothed in majesty let all the earth rejoice let all the earth rejoice he wraps himself in light [Music] and darkness tries to hide and trembles at his voice and trembles at his voice how great is our god sing with me how great is our god and all will see how great how great is our god and age to age he stands and time is in his hands beginning and the end beginning and the end the godhead three and one the father spirit son the lion and the lamb the lion and the lamb how great is our god oh sing with me how great is our god and all we'll see how great how great is our god name above all names he is worthy of all praise my heart will sing how great is our god how great is our god sing with me how great are you god all the world will see how great is our god [Music] are you grateful who our god is are you grateful that he's a god that created you that he's a god that knows you that he's a god that understands you that he's a god that sees in the midst of what you're going through in the midst of your battle in the midst of your trial in the midst of your babylonian captivity we could say you could be walking through isaiah chapter 40 right now saying god i've been in captivity for years i want to be set free i want to be delivered i want to go home but i don't know how look at your god take a look at who your god is know that he is omnipotent your god is all-powerful your god can do anything your god can walk on water and deliver you from any trial any affliction anything that you are experiencing right now in your life know that your god is omniscient your god knows everything no matter what decision you are facing today he says i have the answer i can deliver you i can provide you the solution and the way out your god is sovereign and without repent compare your god made you and he wants to recreate in you the image of jesus would you open up your heart to him right now and say yes god i want to accept you yes god i know i'm dirty i know that satan has done a good job of smearing me up but i want to be made whole i want to become pure i want to be changed from the inside out and you might think you've gone too far you might think you've done too much you might think you have exhausted god's patience but the truth is that you have never gone too far where he cannot see you and know you and understand you and reach you and redeem you and change you into the image of jesus let's pray holy father we come before you now because we are your children thank you that you are our father thank you that you are our god we accept you just now we ask that you would come in that you would change that you would transform by the power of your holy spirit thank you for revealing to us today who you are we accept you by faith and we ask all this in the precious and the holy name of jesus [Music] amen [Music] you

Channel: Three Angels Broadcasting Network (3ABN)

Views: 14,344

Keywords: 3ABN, Three Angels Broadcasting Network, yt:quality=high, Worship Hour, Jill Morikone, Sermon, bible, live church, christians, jesus, god, seventh day adventist, trials, tribulation

Id: A3eM2CItOV0

Length: 58min 0sec (3480 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 22 2021