Finding Peace in Tragedy

Our gracious father, I do want to thank you for this morning. Father, I want to lift him up and ask that you'd be with him this morning, that you'd guide his mind and his thoughts, that the message he brings would come from you. And father, for each of us, I want to ask that you'd be with us, that the message he has, we would understand is your words for us, and we'd be obedient to follow your direction in our lives. For I ask it in Christ's name, amen. So how's everybody doing this morning? Good, good. How many of you were here last time I spoke? I'm different, right? I like interaction, so I can deal with the amens, I can deal with the boos, I can deal with all that, so talk to me, all right? Now, we do have one piece of business that everybody else danced around, and now I get to deliver. In your bulletin, there's this financial stewardship questionnaire. Everybody get one of those? It's talking about those wonderful things we all like to talk about, financial debt, tithing, and all that fun stuff. And I'm going to ask you, if you would, during this sermon, during the message, if you would pretend like you're taking notes, and actually just fill this out, and drop it off at the back somewhere, that would be great, because they're really needing it, so we can make some decisions, but that's it on the housekeeping. One of the things that God has really laid on my heart is how we respond to things. How many of you know the guy, and I'm going to say his name wrong, Horatio Spafford? Does that ring a bell with anybody? Roz knows him? I should hope not. I should hope not. I don't know if you can see that up there. See, I'm at a disadvantage. We usually have two screens in the back, and one of the things they told us in seminary is never rely on technology. You know why that is? Look at the screen in the back. It doesn't work. So thank God for paper. So I'm at a disadvantage, just bear with me. So if I look up there, and it's just a blank look, that's all I'm seeing is a blank screen. Okay, there's a story here of Mr. Spafford, and his son died, his only son, from scarlet fever in 1870, and in 1871 Chicago had the Great Fire. Well he had a lot of financial interest in a lot of that property that burned. He didn't get financial gain from that, so it wasn't something he staged. It really devastated his life, it devastated his finances. So he lost his son, he lost his property, he lost his job as a lawyer, and he, by 1873, he's broke. So he's going to leave the Chicago area and go to Europe and start a new life. Well due to some zoning meetings, selling properties and all that, he can't go with his family. So he sends his family, and they get to Europe by boat. That's the plan anyway, but lo and behold, their ship hit another ship, and the ship with his family on it lost, it sunk. His wife sent a very famous telegram, money's tight so you keep the message very short. You don't have to put who it's to and who it's from, that's just assumed in the telegram, and it said, saved a loan. He knew the ship sank. He knew the message was from his wife. He knew his three or four daughters perished in the boat accident. They drowned, they were gone. And as he finally gets to go to Europe to be with his wife, as he's passing through the part of the ocean where the ship sank, God gave him a song, a hymn, that he wrote on the boat, and he had it before he got to Europe. It is well with my soul. We're going to sing that song when we close, and that's not the invitation, we're not closing already, but a couple of you are like, darn, we were going to have him back. It is well with my soul, and as we sing that, I want you guys to really pay attention to the words, because if that puts that in perspective, does it get any worse than that? Does it get worse than that? You've lost your financial stability, you've lost your daughters, your family, you still have your wife and your health, and that's about it, right? And he still had the mindset, it is well. It is well. So today, that's my question for you, is it well? Mr. Stafford, in spite of all his tragedy, it was well. So how do we respond to tragedy? Anybody want to share how they respond? Cry? Anybody throw a temper tantrum? Anybody going to be honest and say, hey, throw a temper tantrum? Only the young ones can get away with this, because us adults don't throw temper tantrums, do we? Everybody goes, because we all know somebody else has done it, right? Now, when I think of Mr. Stafford, who do you think I think of in the Bible that's very similar to him? Job. Let's look at Job. In Job chapter 1, and I can't cheat and look at the screen, so I've got to turn there. In Job chapter 1, to set the stage for you, Job was a very, very wealthy man. He had everything. He was probably equivalent to Bill Gates or Donald Trump or something. He was a very wealthy, well-to-do person. He had everything going for him, big family, big pastures, all that. And then in just a moment, all that financial stability, his family, his servants, everything are wiped away. And let's look at his response. We see that in Job chapter 1, verse 20 to 22. It says, Then Job arose and rent his mantle, shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground and worshiped. And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither. The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. And in all this, Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly. Now a lot of you may look at that and see he rent his mantle, shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground. What are you thinking? Timber tantrum. Is that what's going on? That's not what's going on. His robe, his mantle, his garment, that was something that showed him as prestigious. That prestige meant nothing. He shed it. It's gone. That hair, thing of beauty, isn't it? How many of you spent time in front of the mirror this morning, primping and doing your hair? I didn't. I spent time getting it gone, but we spend time. That's something that we make ourselves more attractive by grooming our hair, right? You see three or four people who say, yeah, okay, y'all are fine, y'all are fine. But you still tried, right? So he shaved his head and he fell down upon the ground, and what's those next two words? And worshiped. It wasn't a timber tantrum. It was removing anything prideful and putting God on the throne where he belongs. Putting God on the throne. He didn't throw a timber tantrum. That was just him saying, blessed be the Lord. I came into this world naked. I'm going home naked. And that was the right mindset. Well, to make matters worse, Job then becomes covered with sores. How many of you have had a boil? Is it painful? How about all over your body from head to toe? It hurt him bad enough that he's using chunks of clay to scrape it off his body. That just sounds even more painful. So I kind of remember the time where I had chicken pox. I'm under a wool blanket with that calamine lotion, and then Dad pulled the blanket off. What happened? It hurt. That's what happens when you get under a blanket before the calamine lotion's dry. It was, and that's the only thing I can think of when I'm thinking of him scraping all those off. It had to be excruciating. So he loses that, and we see that in Job chapter 2, verse 9. He has lost everything now, including his health and his well-being, but he still has his helpful wife. In Job chapter 2, verse 9, it says, And then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? Curse God, and die. But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaks. What, shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? And all this did not Job sin with his lips. She was pretty helpful, wasn't she? Curse God and die. Curse God and die. So how do we help others in difficult times? Trauma is something that's unavoidable. Bad things happen, don't they? How do we learn how to respond to those? When you were young and you were learning to ride a bike, you had a parent or somebody there that told you something when you fell down. What'd they say? Get up. Get up. Maybe to different degrees, right? Some probably said, oh, nice little boo-boo, kiss it, make it feel better. Others probably said, quit your belly aching, get up there and ride it. But nonetheless, we all had different ways to get encouraged to go on. How do we encourage others when they go through trauma? I'm not a therapist. This isn't a counseling session. I don't have the answers to that. But we've got to be careful how we help others, don't we? People are going to respond in one of two ways, either the way they're taught or the way they see others respond. So when we go through trauma in our life, we need to respond correctly, don't we? Are people watching? Yeah, they're watching. They are watching. How many of you have been quoted scripture in a time of need? What verse gets used more than any other? Cast all your cares upon him? Yeah, that's a popular one I hear, Romans 8.28. Romans 8.28 says, and we know that all things work together for good to them that love God and to them that are called according to his purpose. That sounds great, but what if you're alone? How many of you like calling people out and say, hey, I'm struggling, hey, I'm having problems, hey, this is really laying hard on my heart and I'm having a tough time dealing with it? How many of us do that? I see no hands. I don't like telling people my troubles. I don't even tell my wife, hey, I'm struggling with this, what's she going to think of me? Do we act that way? She figures it out anyway. I guess something about moping and pouting, she finally grabs me and says, what's wrong? But we don't like to tell people that we're struggling, it's a sign of weakness maybe. So how can we take care of ourselves? And the answer, when we look at that verse, Romans 8.28, we know all things work together for good. But when we're alone, what can we do? The two verses before that is where I think Mr. Spafford was, says, likewise the spirit also helpeth our infirmities, for we know not what we should pray for as we ought. But the spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he searcheth the hearts and knoweth what is the mind of the spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are the called according to his purpose. And I think that's what Mr. Spafford did. He was alone on a boat passing the spot where his family died, his daughters died. And in midst of all that trouble, he was not distracted with a smartphone, with the internet, with music, with friends, with everything that's caught up in this world that becomes our idols. He wasn't caught up with that. He was just alone with God. And when you're alone with God, what can you hear? Can you hear God speak? How many hunters do we have here? Deer hunters, like in a deer stand, early in the morning before the sun comes up. Isn't that refreshing? Quiet. You can hear God speak. And I miss that. I haven't been hunting for years, hint, hint. But that was my invitation, that I'd like an invitation. But when you're sitting there alone in that tree stand, you can hear, you start meditating on things. You start, Lord, I'm struggling with this. And you can hear the answer. It's almost crystal clear. But then you get back to society, where there's noise, TV, radio, distractions, idols, and it's kind of hard to hear God, isn't it? I found that, and I just kind of did a survey in my own life, just thinking about it. And I do a lot of driving at work, and I always have the radio on, listening to K-Love or Air One or AFR, depends on how far west I go. And lots of good music, but not a lot of quiet time. And when I can't get a radio station, you would think I'd take the hint and just turn it off and be alone and quiet with God. No, I throw in a CD, more noise. And I really just kind of felt convicted as I was going through this. I don't have that alone, quiet time. So that's kind of my challenge to you guys this week, as I take on this week. Spend some time alone with God, quiet with God, let God speak to you, and listen to what he has to say. A lot of times we don't slow down and listen to the voice of God because we listen to the voice of the world. We're too busy looking how other people respond. We're always looking, aren't we? Somebody loses a loved one, they throw a temper tantrum, so it's assumed, okay, that's what I should do. It's learned, it's taught, and it's caught, and that's how we react. We just need to slow down and listen to God. Look with me at 1 John chapter 2, these things in the world, they distract us. The things of the world distract us. Verse 15 and 16 says, love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man loved the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life is not of the Father, but of the world. And he goes on to explain the world just passes away, it's gone. This world is going to be over. Your possessions, your items, your things, the things we like and care about, they're temporal, aren't they? How about our health, is that temporal? It's going to dissipate one day, it's going to diminish. When we are born, we're getting closer every day to our last day, aren't we? So why do we get bent out of shape when we lose people? I have seen more people lose their faith with the loss of a loved one than about anything else. We get caught up on the things of the world, don't we? We like seeing them. We like being around them. Don't make the things of the world an idol. And that includes people, because the Spirit lives on, doesn't it? If you have accepted Christ as your Lord and Savior, you will spend an eternity with the Father. You'll spend an eternity with God. That means the things of this world, they're temporal, aren't they? This body is temporal. One day everybody will be perfect and bald-headed, right? I figure it's a gamble, we're either going to have hair long like Jesus did or we're going to be bald. We'll wager that and we'll find out when we get there, all right? We need to have an eternal perspective and an eternal motivation. How many of you gals watched God's Not Dead the other night? Great movie, isn't it? How many of you have seen it that weren't there the other night or were there? How many of you have seen the movie? It's a good show. And I find myself drawn to that last scene. That last scene at the end where the... You haven't seen it. I'm going to ruin it. This is a spoiler alert. Oh. Wow. Okay. Well, sometimes bad things happen for a reason, right? And those of you that have seen it know exactly what I'm talking about. We can nod silently and yep, yep, yep. And you see at the end, there's a different motivation. Two guys, a burned out preacher and his friend. Was he burned out? Yeah. The things of God were happening all over around him and he was just kind of numb to them. My car broke down. He didn't see that as a sign from God. So he's kind of burned out. But when it's go time, he had a different motivation, didn't he? When somebody had their worst day ever, was he concerned with what was going on around him or was he concerned with his eternity? Concerned with the things that matter the most, eternity. Now, I didn't spoil that for you, did I? You don't have a clue now. You want to watch it even more now, don't you? So that's where we need to be. We need to be like the preachers in God's Not Dead and look for that opportunity when it matters. It matters. Let's have an eternal perspective and not a temporal. A temporal perspective would have been looking at the item that caused the incident. That kind of makes some of you curious. And try to get that information to pass on to other people, but instead they're dealing with the situation and making sure his eternity is taken care of. We can turn our problems into learning tools. I have a saying at our house and we use it a lot because kids mess up, don't they? And it's okay to mess up if they do what? Say it again. Learn from it. Learn from it. No apology is needed when you mess up, just learn from it. Because if you learn from it, what happens? You don't do it again. And I really push that at my house because I was probably the slowest learner of any kids in Fredonia, Kansas when I was five or so. We had a potbelly stove. What happens when you put hedgewood in it? It gets hot. So as parents, what do we tell kids around a hot stove? Don't touch it. And me being the inquisitive kid that I am said what? Why? I put my hand on it. Guess what it did? It burnt. But just in case, use the other hand. It still burnt. I was a slow learner. And if I would have had a third hand, guess what? I would have touched it with that one too. I was the kid that if it said wet paint, really, it is. I look back and I go why? So that's why I really push it at my house. Kids, if you mess up, learn from it. And if they learn from it, we have a victory, right? Look at Romans 5, 3-5. This is really weird because I just can't see what you all see. Romans 5, 3-5 says, and not only so, but we glory in tribulations. How many of you glory in tribulations? How many of you go, thank God I got difficulties today? Paul did. Glory in tribulations also, knowing that tribulation worketh patience. How many of you need some more patience? Well, I'll do, yeah. So in order to get patience, you have to go through tribulations. It's not fun, right? So tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience hope, and hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us. So we learn by turning our problems into learning tools. When our hope is in an unfailing Jesus Christ, our faith and testimony continues to grow. When I lived back east, I was a road deputy for 11 years, and the very worst, worst days I ever had, and many of you may have been, some of you may have been in this position, is going up to that house at 3 o'clock in the morning. What's getting ready to get, get ready to happen? Bad news. Death notifications. That was my worst days, is take, because we worked by ourselves, it's a, we didn't have very many of us out there, but you always brought a friend, and you went and knocked on a door in Paris, and you see it on TV. And what happens to that person's heart when the doorbell goes off at 3 in the morning, or the knock on the door at 3 in the morning? It hurts, doesn't it? The heart wants to explode, and we hated delivering those notifications, and letting them know that they have lost a loved one. And it was gut-wrenching, but occasionally we'd come across somebody who had a strong faith and just simply said, hey, you know what? They're with God. They're with God. And there's great peace. There's great peace with that. Let's look at 1 Corinthians chapter 15. 1 Corinthians 15, verses 55 through 58, it says, oh death, where is thy sting? Oh grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye standfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord for as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. So we need to get to that point where we can say, look death in the eyes and say, where's your sting? Where's your sting? That is the biggest fear most people have is dying. That's the biggest fear when people come knocking on your door is, oh, who are they going to tell me about? That's news that we don't like to receive. And why we don't like to receive that sometimes is due to regret, due to regret. Maybe it's a loved one that we haven't shared the gospel with. You know, I have had friends that have had witnessing opportunities and they missed them. They passed them off and thought, eh, I'll give it to them later. And then they passed in a car crash. Can you unring that bell? You can't get it back. And regret, how many of you have regrets in life? We all do. You want to hear my silliest regret? Some of you know it. It's a silly dinner. I was over in Russia on a mission trip and instead of ordering a squid dinner for like 50 cents, I ordered lamb kebabs. I've had lamb before, but I've never had squid. I don't eat squid over here because it's expensive. I passed up the opportunity to buy a squid dinner for the equivalent of 50 cents. And I'm too cheap to buy a squid dinner here. So I don't know what squid tastes like. Is it good? Anybody know? Tastes like deer? Figures. All right. So it's a regret. I can never get it back. I can't convince my wife to go to Russia with me just so I can have a squid dinner. The means doesn't justify the end, does it? But it's a regret. I can never get that back. And I tried manipulating Dodger yesterday at the swimming pool. I was trying to get him to do a backflip. Pretty soon, it's going to be wintertime. He won't be able to. He'll have to wait all winter before he knows if he could do a backflip. It's a regret. But it didn't work. He still didn't do a backflip, and I don't think he cares. So regrets come in all sorts of different shapes and sizes. And some of that involves our neighbors, our family, our friends. Have we shared the gospel with them? Have we shown them the love of Christ? Have we let them know that Jesus Christ died on the cross for their sins? Or do we just kind of keep it quiet so we don't offend them? If they pass, they're going to stand before the Lord, and we're going to feel kind of bad for not taking the time to share it with them. They're going to be a little upset for us not sharing it for them. So the sting of death is that point where we can no longer ask for forgiveness. And we probably have that among each other in here. There's probably people that have feelings towards each other. Let them go, right? How many of you have held onto a grudge for a while? Debbie came up with a neat analogy, and I've told it to Jody before, but it really brought home when Debbie shared it with me. When you hold a grudge towards people, it's like swallowing poison and waiting for the other person to die. Yeah. Yeah. Doesn't make sense, does it? It doesn't make sense. So why do we hold grudges? Why don't we speak life? Speak truth. Live a life that doesn't have regrets. We need to have a 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 8 attitude. That's our last verse we're going to look at today. We are confident, I say, and willing, rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. Had a good friend named Jack Bannister that he said, you can't scare me with eternity. As he's laying there in his hospice bed in his house, dying of cancer, you can't scare me with eternity. I get to see Jesus before you do. And that guy was so looking forward to death, not that he wanted to die, but he knew what was on the other side. He knew that he did his best with his life. He secured things with his family. He secured things with his kids. He knew they were on the right track. He did the best he could with what he had. And he's ready to go stand before the Lord. Are we in that position? I hope not to die today, but in that position where we can say, I did the best I could with what you gave me. I'm not there yet. I'm not there yet. My goal in life, and I've been trying every chance I get, my goal here lately is to not fear what the world can do to me and have the mindset of, it is well. It is well. When things go bad, it's well. It is well. If Mr. Spafford could do that when he lost his everything, if Job can do that, I can do it, right? Can you guys do it? It is well. And people are watching Christians when we face adversity, when we face trauma, when we face bad situations in our life. People are watching us to see how we respond. And the world wants to see how big our God is. Because if our God is bigger than our problems, that's a God worth serving, isn't it? Our God is worth serving. The idols of this world get in the way of our eternal perspective. So today, I encourage you, as we close, we're going to close out with the song, It Is Well. And that's going to be our song of invitation. It's going to be our closing song. And I encourage you to do business with God, right there where you are. If you need somebody to pray with you, we're up here. But see what's in the way in your lives. What is stopping you from having an eternal perspective and let's remove those idols, amen? All right, let's close in a word of prayer. And we will sing It Is Well. Father, we do thank you for your spirit, Lord. We thank you for being concerned about our well-being. And Lord, I pray that you would help us to cast down those idols in our life and adopt the mindset that it is well. And help us to not get distracted by the things of this world, the losses that we have or the difficulties that we have. And Lord, just to stay focused on you and serving you and loving you with everything that we have. In Jesus' name, amen. Please stand with me. And this song is number 447. Yep. Amen. ["It Is Well"] ["It Is Well"] ["It Is Well"] ♪ Though Satan should buffet ♪ ♪ Though trials should come ♪ ♪ Let this blessed assurance control ♪ ♪ That Christ has regarded my helpless estate ♪ ♪ And has shed his own blood for my soul ♪ ♪ It is well, it is well with my soul ♪ ♪ It is well, it is well with my soul ♪ ♪ My sin, O the bliss of this glorious thought ♪ ♪ My sin, not in part, but the whole ♪ ♪ Is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul ♪ ♪ It is well, it is well with my soul ♪ ♪ It is well, it is well with my soul ♪ ♪ And Lord, haste the day when the faith be sighed ♪ ♪ The clouds be rolled back as a scroll ♪ ♪ The trump shall resound and the Lord shall descend ♪ ♪ Even so, it is well with my soul ♪ ♪ It is well, it is well with my soul ♪ ♪ It is well, it is well with my soul ♪ Just two quick announcements. We forgot at the business meeting last week to elect messengers to go to the Kansas-Nebraska Convention. Of course, Doyle and Carol would like to be elected. If any of you would like to be elected and go, it's October 13th and 14th. See me after church. And we'd have a short executive council to elect those folks right after church. We will be meeting again tonight, 6.30 in the annex. We'll be talking about some strategies the Bible gives us and how God wants to help us with those idols or addictions or sins that constantly creep up in our lives. So I invite you to come at 6.30 when we'll pray together and study the Bible. Thank you, Tim, very much for your message. Let's close in prayer. Father, we do thank you for the kind of God that helps us in those times of trouble. And I thank you for the time we've been able to spend this morning learning more about you because your greatest concern is our soul. You sent your prized possession, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross so that we would have an opportunity to have our soul right with you. So I pray, Lord, if there's anybody here today whose soul is troubled or they're not in the right relationship with you, that they'd have the opportunity today or this week to hear from you or talk to somebody in our church or somebody they know that follows you because we know that's the greatest thing that we could ever have is our soul well with you. So we thank you for that song. We thank you for our time here, and we ask, Lord, that you continue to watch over us and guide us. Praise these things in Jesus' name, amen. You're dismissed. Okay, you're dismissed then. Great is the Lord. No, it's fine. As you leave, we'll sing it. Go ahead. No, go ahead. Great is the Lord and worthy of glory. Great is the Lord and worthy of praise. Great is the Lord. Now lift up your voice. Now lift up your voice. Great is the Lord. Great is the Lord.