LIFE IS TOO MUCH FOR ME TO HANDLE (Psalm 34: and John 16: 33)

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Gerard Norton
5 years ago
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1 LIFE IS TOO MUCH FOR ME TO HANDLE (Psalm 34: and John 16: 33) Today s sermon and subject is one that I think all of us need to hear. This is not only a message of how to go out and invite people into God s church. It is also a message to help long standing mature Christians. Is there anyone here who has absolutely NO baggage, pain or brokenness in their lives? You see I believe that most of us have some or other issues but at the same time I know that many people in the messy world are also struggling with brokenness and quite often they feel that they cannot come to church in fear of being embarrassed because of their brokenness. So let us look at the BROKENNESS in the world and in God s church and see what we can learn. This is a message of hope because I believe that there is only ONE way to get our brokenness healed and that is through Jesus. Our sermon title is LIFE IS TOO MUCH FOR ME TO HANDLE. Let us start by looking at the reading from the New Testament. This is what John records: John 16:33 (NIV): "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." The first thing we note from this reading is that Jesus tells us straight off we have trouble in the world. Please note that it is NOT only the Christians or non- Christians who have trouble this is EVERYONE. Nobody is excluded. But at the same time Jesus shares that there is HOPE because He has overcome the world and through His victory we can claim victory as well. When we go out into the world and people have a problem with their brokenness I think we need to make sure that we are well equipped to be able to answer some of the questions and queries that they have. Let us start by looking at some of the brokenness that is mentioned in the Bible and see what answers the Bible gives. You see if we can assure the people that Jesus is firstly ok with their brokenness and secondly that He can fix or heal ALL brokenness I think we have a chance of getting them to come to church. At the same time as we work through today s message I think we all need to be reminded of how God heals OUR brokenness as well. So here is the first thing that we need to know. God will heal our brokenness as He feels fit to heal us and NOT what we necessary want. It is when we are set

2 on what WE want that we end up with disappointment. If we trust God to heal as only He knows we can never be disappointed. Let us think of an example. Let us say that you have overspent and you have a debt that is a problem to you. You then go to God and tell Him that you are going to buy a lotto ticket and He must please make sure that you win so that you can pay off your debt. It is not going to happen. Let us have a look at this video to see how God heals (YouTube How to heal your broken heart). Let us reflect on this video. The fact is that Nick s brokenness was miraculously turned into a positive situation by God. Before we go on let us be reminded that the only way that this can happen is if we WANT to allow God to work miracles in our lives and this is the message that we need to carry across to the messy world. At the same time, we need to acknowledge that there are very FEW places in the Bible where brokenness is shown to end with a positive outcome. Let us look at two places in the Psalms. The one place in the Bible that brings pure hope and joy to the broken hearted is found in Psalm 51:17 (NIV): The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. The second place is found in Psalm 34:17-18 (NIV): The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles. The LORD is close to the broken hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. So the good news that we can tell people (and that we can learn ourselves) is that in our brokenness God will not judge us or go against us. This is reassuring as we can know that we are FREE to bring all our concerns and problems to God WITHOUT being judged. As Christians, we need to do the same and not judge the deeds of others. If we get this right I believe that we are well on our way of inviting the messy world into God s church. The next question that we need to answer is this: was this form of healing part of Jesus instruction? I believe it was and we get confirmation of this in Psalm 147:1-3 (NIV): Praise the LORD. How good it is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise him! The LORD builds up Jerusalem; he gathers the exiles of Israel. He heals the broken-hearted and binds up their wounds. Wow, so one of the works that Jesus was to fulfil is to heal the broken-hearted. As we read the New Testament we see in many places how Jesus healed the hearts of many, and He is STILL DOING THIS TODAY.

3 I guess we could deduce from this that God really wants us to be WHOLE not broken and the good news is that it is only God who can bring this healing to the people and we and the messy world need to be reminded of this. Let us look at some scriptures that confirm this statement that I have just made: Matthew 9:22 (NIV): Jesus turned and saw her. "Take heart, daughter," he said, "your faith has healed you." And the woman was healed from that moment. What about Matthew 14:36 (NIV): and begged him to let the sick just touch the edge of his cloak, and all who touched him were healed. This healing was complete and whole including physical, emotional and Spiritual. What an awesome God we serve. With God at our side life can NEVER be too much to handle.. we just need to make sure that we are open to God s healing.. Let us look at another example of brokenness in the messy world. There was a man born an invalid (John 5) and he sat at the gates to the city. Near the gate was a pool named Bethesda. The people believed that when the pool was stirred it held magical powers and you could get in and be healed. The man told Jesus that because of his condition he could not get into the pool quick enough and so was never healed. Stop and think. This man believed in witchcraft. He believed that other spirits could cleans him and heal his brokenness. Yet Jesus NEVER JUDGED HIM FOR HIS BELIEF. He just helped him right and taught him what God can do. God wants us WELL and this, in my mind, is good proof of this. But how does our broken heart get healed? What do we need to do? I believe that some of us here are wondering what the answer is and many people in the messy world will ask this question when you are talking to them. So let us turn to some life experiences for some answers. The first thing we must note is that words are not enough to convince anyone that God can and will heal your brokenness. I do not believe that you could go to a non- Christian and convince them that God will heal them purely by quoting Scripture. So what then do we do? Firstly, I believe that you need to seek healing yourself. After that, when speaking to people you do not only state that God can heal your brokenness, you are in fact a WITNESS to the fact that God has HEALED YOUR BROKENNESS.

4 How do we get healed of a broken heart? As a Christian, we must understand that our healing can only come with complete surrender to God. The fact is that while God wants you to be healed the Devil wants exactly the opposite. The only way we can receive healing of our brokenness is to come so close to God that there is NO GAP that the Devil can squeeze into to create doubt in our minds. If you OBEY God then the Devil cannot infiltrate your sole. Remember the story about the invalid in John 5? The Devil tried to convince him that he needed to get into the water while it was being stirred so that he could be healed. But when Jesus came along the man drew closer to Jesus and listened only to Him. He followed His instructions to the T and he was healed. For YOUR healing (as Christians) we need to do exactly this. When chatting to someone in the messy world we need to share the importance of surrender and WHY we need to surrender (so that the Devil has no foothold on us). The second point we need to remember is that we need to acknowledge what we have done wrong, are doing wrong and what it is that is causing our brokenness. Only then can God help us to overcome the brokenness (if we do not acknowledge it how can God fix it). For us as Christians we should understand this but for those in the messy world this may sound a bit strange. Help them to understand that God knows your pain because He knows everything anyway. In this way the person should feel more comfortable to come and allow God to work with him/her after all God knows everything anyway so God will not reject you or despise you. Thirdly, as Christians we need to find a friend/mentor to walk the journey of healing with us. This is for support, encouragement and accountability. For the person in the messy world YOU CAN OFFER TO BE HIS/HER MENTOR. Promise to be there for them, to go to church with them, to pray for them, to go to cell group with them and to be on call 24/7 for them. This will come as a surprise to most people in the messy world just make sure that you follow out what you have promised (in the name of Jesus). The fourth point that we need to take note of is that in this whole process we must try our best not to get angry. We must try not to get angry with the process (it could take a long time). We must try not to get angry with God (He knows the best timing). We must try not to get angry with the person/situation that originally caused the brokenness. This is very important because we can easily slip back to brokenness if we hold a grudge against a person or event.

5 Finally, remember that this healing of YOUR brokenness is only available to you because of GOD S LOVE FOR YOU. Take that love and pass it on to others and in that way the people in the messy world will come to realize that there is NOTHING that Jesus cannot overcome after all Jesus has overcome the world. Want to have your brokenness healed? Draw closer to God and allow Him to do the healing. Want to have someone in the messy world healed of their brokenness? Share your story with them and invite them to walk a path to healing their brokenness through Jesus and remember to offer to walk the journey with them. The world is a mess let us invite the messy world into God s church so that God can do the healing

The Gospel of John 7:11-24

The Gospel of John 7:11-24 Welcome back to this week s study in the book of John. As with this study and all bible studies, remember to pray before you start. Last week we read of Jesus talking to His