QUESTIONS CHRISTIANS ASK

Transcription

1 1 March 26th, 2017 QUESTIONS CHRISTIANS ASK Why Do Christians Have So Many Problems? Terry Baldwin [ TITLE SLIDE: ] ( STORY: Howard E. Rutledge ) On November 27, 1965 American pilot Howard E. Rutledge parachuted into the hands of the North Vietnamese when his fighter plane exploded under heavy antiaircraft fire. Howard Rutledge wrote about it in his book In the Presence of Mine Enemies depicting 7 years as a POW. On December 1, just a few days after his capture, Rutledge was placed in cell #2 in Heartbreak Hotel, one of the names given Hanoi prison. He tells of the pain while in prison. He wrote, When the door slammed in the key turn in that rusty iron lock, a feeling of utter loneliness swept over me. I lay down on that cold cement slab in my 6 x 6 prison. This smell of human excrement burned my nostrils. A rat, the size of a small cat, scampered across the slab beside me. The walls, floors, and the ceiling were caked with filth. Bars cover the tiny window above the door. I was cold and hungry. My body ached with swollen joints and sprained muscles. It s hard to describe what solitary confinement can do to the nerves and defeat a man. You quickly grow tired of standing or sitting down, sleeping, or being awake. There are no books, no pencils, no paper, no magazines. The only colors you see our drab gray and dirty brown. Months or years may go by when you don t see the sunrise or the moon, green grass or the flowers. You are locked and alone and silent in your filthy cell, breathing stall rotten air trying somehow to keep your sanity in tacked. You may ask... Why would God allow something like that to happen to Christian s... Problems & Sufferings & Evil in anyone s life?? Many people were sold a lie when they accepted Jesus... - Life s troubles will be gone - We still believe that today... We judge those who are sick and suffering - God does allow Problems in our lives - He has purpose behind it... So it was with the life of Joseph JOSEPH S STORY:

2 - Own brothers sold him into slavery 2 - Bought by Potiphar - Captain of the Guard years - Later Joseph was wrongly thrown into prison OVER 2 years for allegedly attacking Potiphar s wife While in prison... Chief Baker and Cup Bearer were in-prisoned Each had a disturbing dream... [ Genesis 40.8b-13 / NLT ] Interpreting dreams is God s business, Joseph replied. Go ahead and tell me your dreams. 9 So the chief cup-bearer told Joseph his dream first. In my dream, he said, I saw a grapevine in front of me. 10 The vine had three branches that began to bud and blossom, and soon it produced clusters of ripe grapes. 11 I was holding Pharaoh s wine cup in my hand, so I took a cluster of grapes and squeezed the juice into the cup. Then I placed the cup in Pharaoh s hand. 12 This is what the dream means, Joseph said. The three branches represent three days. 13 Within three days Pharaoh will lift you up and restore you to your position as his chief cup-bearer. 16 When the chief baker saw that Joseph had given the first dream such a positive interpretation, he said to Joseph, I had a dream, too. In my dream there were three baskets of white pastries stacked on my head. 17 The top basket contained all kinds of pastries for Pharaoh, but the birds came and ate them from the basket on my head. 18 This is what the dream means, Joseph told him. The three baskets also represent three days. 19 Three days from now Pharaoh will lift you up and impale your body on a pole. Then birds will come and peck away at your flesh. 20 Pharaoh s birthday came three days later, and he prepared a banquet for all his officials and staff. He summoned his chief cup-bearer and chief baker to join the other officials. 21 He then restored the chief cup-bearer to his former position, so he could again hand Pharaoh his cup. 22 But Pharaoh impaled the chief baker, just as Joseph had predicted when he interpreted his dream....but what does this story have to do with Joseph?? Look what Joseph says to the Chief Cup Bearer... [ Genesis NLT ] 14 And please remember me and do me a favor when things go well for you. Mention me to Pharaoh, so he might let me out of this place. 15 For I was kidnapped from my homeland, the land of the Hebrews, and now I m here in prison, but I did nothing to deserve it. (scroll down to verse 23) 23 Pharaoh s chief cup-bearer, however, forgot all about Joseph, never giving him another thought....for 2 more years Joseph remained in that dungeon

3 Joseph was faithful to God and Potiphar... Why did terrible things happen to Joseph then??? 3 Want to offer 5 Reason God allows problems in our lives When you belong to God PROBLEMS PROVIDE GREATER OPPORTUNITIES Problems, SOMETIMES, are allowed by God in our lives for Greater Opportunities - We need to learn to LOOK for POSSIBILITIES in our PROBLEMS... cause Some INCREDIBLE things come out of Prisons - There s a whole section in New Testament called PRISON EPISTLES A. 13 Books out of 27 in New Testament Written by Paul while languishing in Roman Prison B. Revelations written by John on Prison island of Patmos C. John Bunyan wrote Pilgrims Progress while in Prison - Sometimes prisons are great opportunities Blessings... - For US... AND - For OTHERS through us D. Christians in communist nations in Prison NOW... E. Chuck Colson / Prison Fellowship... Angel Tree

4 While in PRISON God is Linking Joseph up... with the one man who can lead him to Pharaoh 4 SOMETIMES when you re in midst of Trouble... - You can miss fact that God is up to Something!!!! - God has you in places you don t want to be so He can prepare you for something greater... PROBLEMS PROVIDE GREATER OPPORTUNITIES 2. PROBLEMS PROMOTE SPIRITUAL MATURITY - If anyone had good reason to be disappointed with God... Joesph - He interpreted Dreams to Brothers They Sold Him.. - He resisted sexual advance Landed in Prison - Interpreted dream to save cellmate s life Was forgotten 2 yrs Wonder if Joseph ever thought... - God is unfair... / God hates me / Where is God? Philip Yancey wrote: Disappointment with God he writes... Shift for a moment to the perspective of God the parent. Had He deliberately pulled back to allow Joseph s faith to reach a new level of maturity? And could this be why Genesis devotes more space to Joseph than to any other person in the entire book? Through all of his trials Joseph learned to trust - not that God would prevent hardship but that He would redeem hardship. Choking back tears, Joseph tried to explain this to his murderous brothers when he said You guys intended to harm me but God intended it for good.

5 Think of this... Joseph was pampered as a child. Not working with Brothers 5 - Multi Colored coat - If God was going to use Joseph... He was had to toughen him up!...make him ready Psalm Then he (God) sent someone to Egypt ahead of them Joseph, who was sold as a slave. They bruised his feet with fetters and placed his neck in an iron collar. - Old English rendering of this verse says... And Iron entered into his soul - Joseph LEADS a foreign nation through a terrible famine without one single sign of Revolt - Joseph was prepared for the Hardship of famine BECAUSE... he experienced hardship of Prison God wants and needs men & women as IRON SOULED SAINTS God doesn t want Christians who ll WILT under pressure [ Romans NLT ] We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. 4 And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. [ Hebrews NLT ] No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening it s painful! harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way. But afterward there will be a peaceful [ James NLT ] Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. 3 For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. 4 So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.

6 [ 1 Peter NLT ] So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while. 7 These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world. 6 All these scripture say same thing... God allows TROUBLES - TRIALS to mature us with greater strength... Toughen you up! Trials are avenues for God, to bring us from where we are, to where we need to be 3. PROBLEMS PROVE OUR INTEGRITY No matter what happened to Joseph he NEVER changed - He was Joseph in the PIT /...PALACE /...PRISON / - Everywhere Joseph went he maintained his integrity PROBLEMS REVILE WHO WE ARE - Everywhere we go we are a Window to our Reality - Reason we have problems _so we can bear testimony to the world the Redeeming and Powerful Grace of God World is going through their own Problems... they want to see how we as Christians respond...problem prove your your true Identity

7 7 4. PROBLEMS PRODUCE A SENCE OF DEPENDENCY [ Genesis NIV ] Joseph s master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king s prisoners were confined. But while Joseph was there in the prison, 21 the Lord was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden....wherever Joseph went... God was with him Bible Scholar Griffith Thomas says... - There is a link between Josephs Power and God s Presence! The secret of Joseph s power was his consciousness of God s presence in his life - God had not forgotten about Him though it may have seen to him in his present case Testimonies of people sensing God s presence while going through difficult times - Doug & Nan Pomeroy - Jesus hangs out in our pain and in our problems

8 Author Tim Keller said One of the main ways we move from abstract knowledge about God to a personal encounter with him is through the reality of the furnace of affliction. Believers understand many doctrinal rules in the mind but those seldom make the journey down into the heart unless there is disappointment and failure and loss. As a man who seemed to about lose both his career and family once said, I always knew that Jesus is all I need to get through, but you don't really know Jesus is all you need until Jesus is all you have...no Matter what the Problem is, God is ENOUGH! 8 It BOILS down to this... Do You seriously Believe the Bible?? - He s always with you?? / Loves you / Working for your good 5. PROBLEMS PREPARE OUR HEART FOR MINISTRY 1. Problems Provide Greater Opportunity 2. Promote Spiritual Maturity 3. Prove Our Integrity 4. Produce a sense of Dependency 5. Prepare Our Heart For Ministry Cup Bearer & Baker [ Genesis NIV ] When Joseph came to them the next morning, he saw that they were dejected. 7 So he asked Pharaoh s officials who were in custody with him in his master s house, Why do you look so sad today?

9 UNDERSTAND... - Joseph was wrongfully in prison... He should have been wrapped up in SELF PITY... 9 INSTEAD... - He is looking at the Suffering of OTHERS! - See their sad faces - Initiates Conversation - Ministers to other [ 2 Corinthians 1.4 NLT ] He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us. When we go through suffering we become especially sensitive to other s suffering - Suffering makes you reach out to others - When we understand this we embrace our problems Better! Even Jesus Christ, Son of God, HAD to go through Sufferings in order for Him to be able to help us in our suffers. [ Hebrews NLT ] Therefore, it was necessary for him to be made in every respect like us, his brothers and sisters, so that he could be our merciful and faithful High Priest before God Since he himself has gone through suffering and testing, he is able to help us when we are being tested. [ Hebrews 4.15 NIV ] For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are yet he did not sin.

10 IF JESUS (Son of God) had to experience suffering so He could identify with our suffering... We should not be surprised we have to do same thing 10 Don t go and say I know what you re going through if you never been through it People want to know what people have to say who have gone through problems ( BLANK SLIDE ) CLOSING... Howard Rutledge said... God took through the experiences in prison to bring him lessons he could never have learned End of his book writes... It was in prison that I learned how to pray. Words don't come easy when I pray but even we amateurs discovered in prison the incredibly - powerful force - prayer can be in our lives. I learned I could talk to God in any place, whether dangling from a parachute or shackled in a cesspool. Why did God put Howard Rutledge in prison? He taught him how to pray He said... I was shot down in Vietnam, a church dropout. Disinterested in the Christian faith, I would return to freedom - aware of God and anxious to stay in fellowship with Him. I promised God that the first Sunday of my return to freedom I would take my family to their home church and at the close of the service I would walk to the front, confess my faith in Christ, and take my place as a member with my family. In prison I learned what it means to be isolated, struggling to build my faith alone, and I resolved never to be outside the community of Christian believers again. - There was a wonderful product that came into the life of Howard Rutledge because of his problems and his prison. PRAY