LOST Have You Lost Your Faith (Part 4)

Mailing Address: PO Box 797 Molalla, OR 97038 Phone: 503-829-5101 Fax: 503-829-9502 Pastor Dale Satrum LOST Have You Lost Your Faith (Part 4) Intro: The pain of this life can cause us to question our faith. It can cause us to ask very personal questions about God and His involvement in our lives. (1 st Church split at 23.) Sometimes, people never get those questions resolved, and as a result, they lose their faith. We all know people who once were living by faith / going to church / involved, but for some reason, walked away from it all. What happened? Maybe you re struggling this morning trying to keep the faith. I m sure you know people who are. What kind of hope can we give to people when they re struggling trying to hang on to faith? Today, we re going to answer some of these questions as we finish our series. I. Know Why We Struggle Keeping Our Faith Before you get too hard on yourself, or other people for struggling to keep the faith, it s pretty common even in the Bible. A. Biblical characters who struggled keeping faith 1. Elijah was so discouraged he wanted to die. Events in his life took a turn for the worse and he was ready to quit. 2. Samson was so overcome by temptation and deliberate disobedience that his faith was non-existent. Got so lost it cost him his life! 3. King David got so off track spiritually that he committed adultery and murder to cover it up. 4. David s son King Solomon started out well, but by the end of his life he turned away from God. He set up pagan alters. 5. Peter was so scared that he denied even knowing Christ 3 times! 6. Judas was so guilt ridden after his betrayal that he committed suicide 7. Demas, a traveling companion with the Apostle Paul, got so disillusioned that he abandoned the ministry and Paul. He quit! The scriptures are filled with examples of people who struggled keeping their faith and walking consistently in it. I m glad for that. WHY? Because sometimes we struggle with it too! Sometimes, we can lose our way spiritually. Sometimes we can question God and His way. It s good to know I m not the only one! Page 1

Just as there are reasons for getting lost physically, there are factors for getting spiritually as well. We need to know why we get lost. B. Understand key factors that cause us to get lost Maybe you re struggling with some of these. I guarantee you that you will run into people who are! (5 key factors) 1. Pain: (Crisis / tragedy / physical emotional relational) Where is God when we experience the pains of this life? How do you explain the Virginia Tech shootings / How do you deal with losing a loved one? But God we prayed and prayed? Why didn t You answer? Where were You? How come my marriage fell apart / how come I lost my house / how come I have this injury this disease? 2. Disappointment: Where is God when life disappoints me? When people disappoint me? When Christians disappoint me? Sometimes continual disappointment can causes us to quit spiritually. Who hasn t experienced severe disappointment? 3. Disillusionment: This is where ongoing disappointment leads to. You become disillusioned about people / God / life. Nothing makes any sense anymore. God, I m trying but nothing seems to be getting better? I can t tell you how many people I ve talked to who have given up on church. Why? They are disillusioned by it. Too much continual pain and disappointment! Jer. 15:18 Why then does my suffering continue? Why is my wound so incurable? Your help seems as uncertain as a seasonal brook. It is like a spring that has gone dry. (NLT) God, I can t count on You! 4. Temptation: The lure of the other side of the fence. The false promises of satisfaction / fulfillment / pleasure. We get lured off of God s path and onto another. We follow a path that will eventually get us lost Adam and Eve had this problem - Temptation resulted in being spiritually lost. 5. Rebellion against God: This is when we move in a direction that we know is wrong and purposely choose to continue to walk in it. God, I know what you say and I don t care! (Hymenaeus and Alexander) I Tim. 1:19 Cling tightly to your faith in Christ, and always keep your conscience clear. For some people have deliberately violated their consciences; as a result, their faith is shipwrecked. (NLT) If we continue to violate our conscience, and do this repeatedly ignoring the convicting work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, it will shipwreck destroy our faith! Page 2

All these factors lead us to make faulty conclusions / faulty thinking C. Understand faulty conclusions that lead us off course 1. We doubt the overall goodness of God. God, if you re so good, how can You allow all this to happen? I just can t harmonize the evil I see and the pain I feel with your goodness. You re not as good as I thought! 2. We doubt God s personal care and involvement in my life. God I can t trust You. You didn t come through for me! They didn t get better / the outcome was not good! I prayed and prayed and everything still fell apart! Therefore, I don t think You really care about what s going on in my life. 3. We doubt the benefits of following Him. God, it s not worth it! It s too hard! I don t see why it s better following you verses doing my own thing! The things in this world don t seem that bad! Besides, since You re not coming through for me, I ll come through for myself! 4. Once we start traveling down these roads, we get lost and we get lost fast! I have never met a mature Christian who hasn t had to work through these issues! WHY? Life will force you to confront these issues! I had to. 10 years ago God let my life fall apart. I did everything I believed He wanted me to do while at another church (I prayed / fasted / went against popular opinion / stood for what was right / I was sold out to His course / I was obedient as I knew how.) Because of the actions of other people I lost my job / I had to resign / relationships were shattered / the wounding was severe / We struggled financially / 2 nd mortgage just to survive / I was plunged into a spiritual darkness God where are you? It forced me to confront what I really believe about God! How do we get on the other side of these painful questions? II. Know How To Keep From Losing Your Faith (5 truths to get back on track / to keep you on track) A. Embrace biblical expectations in a fallen world John 16:33 here on this earth you will have many trials and sorrow. But take heart because I have overcome the world. (NLT) 1. Living in a fallen, sin infected environment means that we will experience an abundance of pain in this life. 2. We set ourselves up for disillusionment because we believe that being a Christian should limit the amount of pain and suffering in this life. That is NOT true! In fact, it may mean the opposite. (Some parts of the world) 3. Bad things happen because the entire environment we live in is fallen affected by sin. (hurricanes / tornadoes / tsunamis / drought / famine / disease / All these things are a result of sin affecting the created world. Page 3

4. Bad things happen because people are fallen. God allows fallen / sinful people to make free choices that affect others. (drunk drivers / corrupt politicians / greedy oil companies / suicide bombers / school shootings. 5. Why doesn t God put a stop to it all? He will one day, but for now, we are all affected by the consequences of sin. God also will not remove people s choices. People can chose good or evil! We first must embrace correct expectations for this life or else you will blame God for your pain. B. Embrace biblical hope in God s future world I Peter 1:13 set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is reveled. (NIV) (when He returns) 1. Our hope must be set on something eternal not on things that are temporary. This is where we get off track. Our hope is set on the wrong things and then these things let us down! 2 specifics about the future to hope in. 2. Reward: Our faithfulness / our obedience in this fallen world is rewarded in the next. God knows it s not easy being faithful to Him in this life. This is why He tells us it s worth the effort / the sacrifice / the struggle. I m not ashamed to tell you I m counting on this! 3. Retribution: God is a God of justice. We don t get to see much justice in this life. The powerful oppress the weak / the wealthy steal from the poor / evil people seem to live without consequence. But, God promises to settle accounts! It is not unspiritual to long for justice. It gives us hope! C. Embrace biblical understanding of trials James 1:2-4 whenever trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy. For when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be strong in character and ready for anything. (NLT) 1. Since problems and pain will be part of this earthly existence, God in His goodness, is going to use them for our benefit. He did not create them, but He also did not stop them. He chooses to use them! 2. Instead of seeing every trial or problem as if something abnormal was happening to you, we need to submit ourselves to God in the midst of them, allowing Him to use it to grow us. That s His plan! Some people erroneously conclude God doesn t love them. 3. Often, we fight against His plan. We start asking God to remove the very things He wants to use to mature our faith. We start praying against the trial instead of first praying that God s work is accomplished in us through the trial. Page 4

4. Personally, we just may be prolonging many of our trials because we re not learning what God is trying to teach us. We re spending too much time asking him to remove the trial instead of asking Him to remove the character flaws He s working on! D. Embrace biblical relationships Heb. 3:13 You must warn each other every day so that none of you will be deceived by sin and hardened against God. (NLT) 1. In a fallen, problem filled environment, it s easy to get off track spiritually. Therefore, the kind of relationships I need are those that help stay me on track. I need people in my life that warn me when I m walking too close to the edge / when I m walking off the trail. 2. Every person has the weakness to be deceived by sin and be hardened against God. Just let enough circumstances pile up / enough pain / enough disappointment / and we all can draw the wrong conclusions about God. 3. We all have the potential under the right circumstances, to walk off the path / get lost / and do things that under other conditions, we would never do. Why do I say that? Because the bible is filled with examples! MSB Professor / This Fall another professor I went to school with. 4. Therefore, I need loving, accountable relationships. I need people close enough to me to observe my behavior / my thinking by what I say / my relationships. 5. It s always more likely getting lost when you re by yourself. I think this is one of the greatest weaknesses of Christians in America. We do not embrace biblical relationships. We are so individualistic. We have denied our need for one another. E. Embrace biblical steps back home We all can get temporarily lost. We can all struggle with our faith at times. I believe every Christian will struggle with their faith at some time in their life. BUT, there s always a road home! Joel 2:12-13 Turn to Me now while there is time! Give Me your hearts. Come with fasting, weeping and mourning. Don t tear your clothing in your grief; instead, tear your hearts. Return to the Lord your God for He is gracious and merciful. He is not easily angered. He is filled with kindness and is eager not to punish you. (NLT) 5 steps back home! 1. Turn around back in God s direction: (Turn to Me) Stop looking elsewhere to find the answers for your life. They are found only in Him. 2. Quit waiting to do this: (while there is time) Tomorrow is not guaranteed / not next week / next year / only today! What are you waiting for? Page 5

3. Give God back your heart (Give Me your heart) i.e. Give God back control of your life. Let Him be your biggest passion / biggest commitment. 4. Embrace repentance (tear your hearts) Confess to Him you ve been lost you ve drawn wrong conclusions about Him / you ve embraced wrong behaviors / Confess these things to Him. Let it impact you emotionally. 5. Now, Go home. (Return to the Lord your God) Enter back into fellowship / intimacy with God. Walk back into the presence of God and say, God, I m home!..and experience the embrace of the Father who loves you. The Father who s been waiting for you to come back. Some of you need to come home this morning. You ve been lost way too long. Casting Crowns: Praise You In This Storm Prayer Page 6