Speaker 1: As your pastor, I am deeply concerned about how you're
Speaker 1: handling the trauma and the stress of all of the
Speaker 1: changes that have taken place in your life in the
Speaker 1: past eighteen months now. Certainly, the global pandemic of COVID
Speaker 1: changed everything, and we're still not out of the woods.
Speaker 1: We're still not free from it yet. But there's a
Speaker 1: lot of other changes going on in the world at
Speaker 1: the same time. And that's why I started this short
Speaker 1: series a couple weeks ago that I'm calling strategies for
Speaker 1: Stressful Times, Strategies for stressful times, and we're looking at
Speaker 1: tips and strategies and skills from the scripture on how
Speaker 1: do you handle when things aren't good? The first message
Speaker 1: you remember a couple weeks ago, I did a message
Speaker 1: called finding the strength to keep going when you're emotionally
Speaker 1: worn out? Anybody ever felt that way? Emotionally worn out? Yeah?
Speaker 1: And then last week we looked at how do you
Speaker 1: be happy no matter what happens? And we talk about
Speaker 1: how happiness is a choice. It doesn't depend on happenings.
Speaker 1: You're as happy as you choose to be. If you're unhappy,
Speaker 1: you can't blame your why for your husband or anybody else.
Speaker 1: You're as happy as you choose to be. I know
Speaker 1: people in much worse situations than us that have chosen
Speaker 1: to be happy. This week, in Part three of the
Speaker 1: Strategies for Stressful Times, I want us to look at
Speaker 1: how do you trust God during changes you don't like?
Speaker 1: How do you trust God for changes you don't like
Speaker 1: during those changes? Now, we all know that everything constantly changes.
Speaker 1: Everything is constantly changing. In fact, even material objects are
Speaker 1: actually changing at the molecular level constantly. There are protons
Speaker 1: and neutrons and electrons that are zipping around in these
Speaker 1: metal bars. They look like they're solid, they're moving out
Speaker 1: a molecular Now. While we love some changes, and we
Speaker 1: all do, we love some changes, but there are some
Speaker 1: changes we just hate. And there are seasons like the
Speaker 1: one we're in right now, where change is so rapid
Speaker 1: and so relentless that you just get tired of it.
Speaker 1: And right now we have been hit with so many
Speaker 1: unwanted changes that as I talk to people, they're reeling
Speaker 1: from it. They are literally reeling. And so many people,
Speaker 1: maybe you feel this way, just feel like they're in
Speaker 1: limbo right now. They're just treading water because you're unable
Speaker 1: to get on with your life, unable to get out
Speaker 1: of what's going on, and it feels like we're we
Speaker 1: can't really get on going because we don't know how
Speaker 1: long this thing's going to last. And a lot of
Speaker 1: people are just overwhelmed and they're just barely getting by.
Speaker 1: I care about you if you feel that way, And
Speaker 1: so today, as I've studied God's word all the I
Speaker 1: want to give you some very practical guidance from God's
Speaker 1: word on how do you trust God when you're going
Speaker 1: through changes in your life that you don't like. You'll
Speaker 1: have plenty of those in life. And what I want
Speaker 1: to do is I want to give you I want
Speaker 1: to summarize what Scripture says five things, five truths you
Speaker 1: need to remember and five things you need to do. Okay,
Speaker 1: so if you get out your message notes, we'll look
Speaker 1: at these five things you need to remember when you're
Speaker 1: going through changes you don't like, and how do you
Speaker 1: keep trusting God in those situations. So anytime you're overwhelmed
Speaker 1: by change, there are five things you need to remember,
Speaker 1: So write these down. Number one, that's what's kind of obvious,
Speaker 1: but we need to start with it. Change is unavoidable. Okay,
Speaker 1: that's the first thing. We all know that, but we
Speaker 1: just need to be reminded that change is unavoidable. No
Speaker 1: matter how much you like a change, or how much
Speaker 1: you dislike a change, no matter how much you like
Speaker 1: the way things have been, they're not gonna stay the same. Now.
Speaker 1: When change happens and it's constant, you can complain, or
Speaker 1: you can grumble, or you can get mad, or you
Speaker 1: can blame other people. You can even try to stop
Speaker 1: the change futilely because you can't stop change. But things
Speaker 1: are still gonna keep changing every moment of your life.
Speaker 1: You are changing for good or for bad. Now. When
Speaker 1: God created the earth way back in the beginning, here's
Speaker 1: one of the first things he said in Genesis eight,
Speaker 1: verse twenty two. As long as the earth remains, there
Speaker 1: will be springtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer,
Speaker 1: day and night. What's he saying. He's saying that everything
Speaker 1: on this planet is seasonal, Nothing stays the same. We
Speaker 1: live in a world of opposites, and the world isn't
Speaker 1: the same the way it used to be. Your family
Speaker 1: isn't the same, the way it used to be. Your
Speaker 1: job isn't the same it used to be. You aren't
Speaker 1: the same that you used to be. As I said,
Speaker 1: even inanimate audience objects like this table. It looks solid,
Speaker 1: but actually at a molecular level, it's moving constantly on
Speaker 1: the inside. Many of you know that I drove the
Speaker 1: same green Ford truck for twenty years. Why I liked it, Okay,
Speaker 1: I didn't. I don't buy a car for bling or
Speaker 1: to show my status. It got me the same way
Speaker 1: Rolls Royce would and it was comfortable, and frankly, I
Speaker 1: would have driven that twenty year old truck for the
Speaker 1: rest of the life. But after a quarter of a
Speaker 1: million miles, it started changing, and it started breaking down,
Speaker 1: and it started falling apart, and I couldn't stand to
Speaker 1: give it away. So actually it's parked in my barn,
Speaker 1: even though I don't drive it anymore. Now, I've taught
Speaker 1: this for decades. Look there on your outline. I've taught
Speaker 1: you that there is no growth without change. There is
Speaker 1: no growth without change, There is no change without loss.
Speaker 1: There is no loss without grief, and there is no
Speaker 1: grief without pain. A person who wants to grow and
Speaker 1: be better but not go through the pain of change
Speaker 1: is like a woman saying I want to have a baby,
Speaker 1: but I don't want my tommy to get bigger, and
Speaker 1: I don't want to go through labor. It ain't gonna happen.
Speaker 1: They don't call it labor for nothing. Any of you
Speaker 1: ladies want to testify to that right now, every to
Speaker 1: bring new life into the world requires pain. Things change.
Speaker 1: But remember this, if if nothing ever changed, you would
Speaker 1: have never been born, because you were a change. You
Speaker 1: wouldn't have even been So change is unavoidable. Okay, we
Speaker 1: got that one down. Here's number two. This is more important.
Speaker 1: Change is not always good, but God uses it for good.
Speaker 1: Change is not always good, but God uses it for
Speaker 1: good in the lives of those who trust him. It's
Speaker 1: not good for everybody, but it is good in the
Speaker 1: lives of those who trust him. One of the greatest
Speaker 1: promises of the Bible, Romans eight twenty eight. We know not.
Speaker 1: We're confident that in all things God works for the
Speaker 1: good of those who love Him, who have been called
Speaker 1: according to His purpose. Now, as I've said many times,
Speaker 1: that verse does not say everything is good. There's not
Speaker 1: a lot of things in the world that are not good.
Speaker 1: Evil is not good, cancer is not good, Rape Molestation
Speaker 1: is not good, War, prejudice is not good. A lot
Speaker 1: of bad things that are world, But the Bible says
Speaker 1: God specializes in bringing good even out of bad. He
Speaker 1: can turn crucifixions into a resurrection. And the way God
Speaker 1: works all things together for good is kind of like
Speaker 1: baking a cake. Now you may not realize this, but
Speaker 1: I'm a master cake builder. I know how to bake
Speaker 1: cakes because I figured if I want to eat them,
Speaker 1: I don't know how to make them. I once made
Speaker 1: of German chocolate cake from scratch, no box, for my
Speaker 1: wife's birthday, so I know how to make cakes. Now,
Speaker 1: when you make a cake, the individual ingredients don't taste
Speaker 1: good at all. In fact, some of them are quite bitter.
Speaker 1: If you eat flour by itself doesn't taste good. You
Speaker 1: eat butter by itself doesn't taste good. If you eat
Speaker 1: baking powder by itself, oil by itself doesn't taste good.
Speaker 1: Even a little vanilla, raw eggs by themselves. None of
Speaker 1: the ingredients in a cake taste good by themselves. But
Speaker 1: if you mix them all together, stir it all up,
Speaker 1: and stir and stir and stir, and then put the
Speaker 1: heat on it, it's delicious, delicious in your life. There
Speaker 1: will be elements of your life that are bitter and
Speaker 1: unpleasant anyway that doesn't taste good. I don't like that
Speaker 1: change in my life. I don't like what just happened.
Speaker 1: I don't like what's happening in the world today. But
Speaker 1: God takes it all, and he takes even the bad
Speaker 1: and the bitter. If you ever drunk, some vanilla by
Speaker 1: itself is not very tasty, and He mixes it all up.
Speaker 1: All things work together for the good of those who
Speaker 1: love God, who are called according to His purpose. Now,
Speaker 1: the most important word in that verse that we just
Speaker 1: looked at on your outline Romans eight twenty eight is
Speaker 1: the word all, So circle the word all. What does
Speaker 1: all include? In all things? God works for the good
Speaker 1: of those who love it. That means all. It literally
Speaker 1: means all. It means every circumstance you face, every choice
Speaker 1: you make, every consequence you feel, and every change you experience,
Speaker 1: including all of the changes we've just had in the
Speaker 1: last eighteen months, all work together for the good of
Speaker 1: those who love God. You know, some people act as
Speaker 1: if God was caught off guard by COVID nineteen, Like
Speaker 1: God goes wow I didn't see that coming. I didn't
Speaker 1: imagine that world global pandemic ever happening, And I had
Speaker 1: no idea what was going to do to all my churches. Man,
Speaker 1: am I in a mess? God is not sweating this pandemic.
Speaker 1: The church has outlasted everything for a two thousand years.
Speaker 1: Every dictator, every pandemic, every fire, every flood, every revolution,
Speaker 1: every critic is still here and none of those things
Speaker 1: are now. The difference between whether you're going to be
Speaker 1: bitter at the end of this season we're in a
Speaker 1: rapid change and relentless change. Are you going to be bitter?
Speaker 1: Are you going to be better? The difference is the
Speaker 1: letter I the dear's being bitter, and better is I.
Speaker 1: I make the difference my attitude. So I need to
Speaker 1: remember that change is not always good, but God always
Speaker 1: uses it for good if I trust him. Number three,
Speaker 1: here's the third thing. To remember. God's purpose in every circumstance,
Speaker 1: every one of them, including the ones we're going through
Speaker 1: right now, is to make me more like Jesus. God's
Speaker 1: purpose in every change in my life is to make
Speaker 1: me more like Jesus. Now. The promise of Romans eight
Speaker 1: twenty eight is a wonderful promise, but it doesn't really
Speaker 1: make sense until you read the next verse Romans eight
Speaker 1: twenty nine. So let me read you those two verses
Speaker 1: together from the New Living Translation. Here's what it says.
Speaker 1: We know, in other words, we're not guessing. We know
Speaker 1: that God causes everything, even the bad stuff, even the
Speaker 1: bad changes. God causes everything to work together for the
Speaker 1: good of everybody, know, for the good of those who
Speaker 1: love Him and are called to His purpose for them.
Speaker 1: For God knew in advance who would come to him.
Speaker 1: He already knew before you decided to accept Christ that
Speaker 1: you were going to accept him. He knew in advance
Speaker 1: who would come to him, and he chose them to
Speaker 1: circle this become like his son, so that his son
Speaker 1: Jesus would be the firstborn in his family with many
Speaker 1: brothers and sisters. God doesn't just want you in his family.
Speaker 1: He wants you developed the family characteristics of a daughter
Speaker 1: of God or a son of God, a child of
Speaker 1: God like father, like son, like father, like daughter. God says,
Speaker 1: I want you to grow up, and who's the model
Speaker 1: for maturity now you or me Jesus Christ. And God says,
Speaker 1: my number one goal in your life is to make
Speaker 1: you like Jesus Christ. His number one goal is not
Speaker 1: to make you happy. His number one goal is not
Speaker 1: to make you comfortable. His number one goal is to
Speaker 1: not make your life pleasant. Those things are the result
Speaker 1: of becoming like Christ. This is not heaven. In heaven,
Speaker 1: there's no sorrow, suffering, sadness, sickness. But on earth everything's broken.
Speaker 1: And so what are we doing here? This is a
Speaker 1: school in character for the sixty or eighty at the most,
Speaker 1: one hundred years you get on this planet. You're in
Speaker 1: school for character. You're not taking your career to heaven.
Speaker 1: You're not taking your cash to heaven. You're not taking
Speaker 1: your reputation to heaven. What are you taking to heaven?
Speaker 1: Only one thing? Your character? What you became, the man
Speaker 1: you became on this earth, You're taking that to heaven.
Speaker 1: The woman you became on this earth, you're taking that
Speaker 1: to heaven. So his number one goal, God uses everything
Speaker 1: for our good. And what is that good? He uses
Speaker 1: it to build my character. He uses it to make
Speaker 1: me more like Jesus. So what is Jesus like? The
Speaker 1: best picture of Jesus in the Bible is Galatians chapter two,
Speaker 1: verses twenty three. And twenty four, twenty two, and twenty three.
Speaker 1: They're called the fruit of the spirit. Nine character qualities.
Speaker 1: The fruit of the spirit are love, Jesus's love, joy,
Speaker 1: Jesus's total joy, peace, Jesus was always at peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, meetness, kindness,
Speaker 1: self control. These nine qualities are a perfect picture of Jesus. Now,
Speaker 1: how does God produce that kind of fruit in you?
Speaker 1: How does God make you more loving? Are you just
Speaker 1: walking down the street one day and all of a
Speaker 1: sudden zap, You're filled with love and I'm so loving,
Speaker 1: I love everybody. I'm just the lover of lovers. No, no, no,
Speaker 1: it doesn't zapp There's no pill you could take. No, seminar,
Speaker 1: are you going to tend that's going to turn you
Speaker 1: from a hater into a lover or from a loving
Speaker 1: person into a really compassionate person. How does God produce
Speaker 1: love in your life? How does God produce joy in
Speaker 1: your life? How does God produce peace and patience in
Speaker 1: your life? Listen very closely. I've told you this before,
Speaker 1: but I'll talk to you again by putting you in
Speaker 1: the exact opposite situation where you get a chance to
Speaker 1: learn and practice that character quality. How does God teach
Speaker 1: you love? It's real easy to love people like you
Speaker 1: who are cool. If God's to teach you real love,
Speaker 1: He's gonna put you around some unlovable people, unlovely people. Now,
Speaker 1: don't look at him right now, don't hit him in
Speaker 1: the elbow with your elbow. Be cool. But God puts
Speaker 1: people around you who get on your nerves to teach
Speaker 1: you real love. Their heavenly sandpaper. They're running roughing down
Speaker 1: your rough edges. Anybody can love the lovely. How do
Speaker 1: you learn to love the unlovely the way Jesus loves
Speaker 1: you in spite of all your hang ups and hurts
Speaker 1: and stuff. How about joy? How does God teach you
Speaker 1: real joy in the middle of suffering, in the middle
Speaker 1: of grief. Joy is not happiness. Anybody can be happy
Speaker 1: when you're out, you know, out a bonfire at the beach,
Speaker 1: in the sunsetting. Man, it doesn't get any better than this.
Speaker 1: Anybody be happy, fly fishing in the mountains. If God's
Speaker 1: gonna teach you real joy, it'll be in the middle
Speaker 1: when your heart's breaking. How about peace? How does God
Speaker 1: teach you peace? It's easy to be peaceful when everything's
Speaker 1: going your way. He'll allow chaos in your life, conflict
Speaker 1: in your life to teach you inner peace, the peace
Speaker 1: that passes understanding, which says there's no reason I should
Speaker 1: be peaceful now, but I am patience. How does God
Speaker 1: teach you patience? The department of motor vehicles, waiting in line,
Speaker 1: traffic jams, delayed doctor's appointments, and honor any time you
Speaker 1: have to wait. God is teaching you the quality of
Speaker 1: patience to make you more like Jesus. I remember a
Speaker 1: number of years ago when I was going through major
Speaker 1: problems and I said, Lord, I need patience. And instead
Speaker 1: of getting better, they got worse. They got worse. And
Speaker 1: I said, Lord, I need patience, and and my problems
Speaker 1: got worse, and that Lord, I need more patience. It
Speaker 1: got worse. Finally, after six months, I realized I'm a
Speaker 1: lot more patient when I started out. It's easy to
Speaker 1: be patient. Everything goes your way. Have you thought about
Speaker 1: maybe the last eighteen months, God has been trying to
Speaker 1: teach you love for people who are unlovely, joy in
Speaker 1: the middle of crisis, Peace in the middle of chaos
Speaker 1: and uncertainty, and transition. When you feel like you're in limbo,
Speaker 1: patience with people who won't be won't do what you
Speaker 1: want them to do, and on and on and on.
Speaker 1: This is a school we're in right now, and God's watching.
Speaker 1: Change is not always good, but God uses it for
Speaker 1: good and the purpose is to always make me more
Speaker 1: like Jesus. All right, now, here's the fourth thing you
Speaker 1: need to remember. Write this down. God can even can
Speaker 1: use even human error and sin. God can use even
Speaker 1: human error and sin. I'm talking about when you are
Speaker 1: the innocent victim of somebody else's bad decision. My family
Speaker 1: isn't what it used to because my husband broke it
Speaker 1: up and left me, or my wife left me. Whatever.
Speaker 1: God can use even human error and the sins of
Speaker 1: other people, not even just my own, for the good
Speaker 1: in my He can bring good in my life in
Speaker 1: his plan to grow your character and make you like Jesus.
Speaker 1: Do you remember the story of Joseph. You remember the
Speaker 1: story of Joseph, How his brothers were jealous because he
Speaker 1: was the favorite son, and so his brothers sold Joseph
Speaker 1: into slavery, and he's taken to Egypt, and for the
Speaker 1: first forty years of his life, everything goes wrong. He's
Speaker 1: falsely accused of rape, he sold into slavery, He's thrown
Speaker 1: in jail for a crime he didn't commit, and sitting
Speaker 1: in a foreign jail. Forty years later, he's gone, nothing
Speaker 1: has gone right in my life so far. First forty years,
Speaker 1: his whole life's downhill. But God had put Joseph exactly
Speaker 1: where he wanted him to be, and a series of
Speaker 1: God's circumstances, Joseph is raised up to become the second
Speaker 1: most powerful leader in the most powerful nation in the
Speaker 1: world at that time, which is Egypt in the Age
Speaker 1: of the Pyramids. And when Joseph later and he actually
Speaker 1: saves two countries from famine. He saves Egypt and he
Speaker 1: saves Israel from famine because of his wisdom. But it
Speaker 1: didn't look like things were going good in his life
Speaker 1: for a long long time. One day, though, he finally
Speaker 1: has his brothers come to meet him, and he confronts
Speaker 1: his brothers, the guys who had sold him into slavery
Speaker 1: in the first forty years of nothing going right in
Speaker 1: his life, And what was Joseph's attitude? He treats them
Speaker 1: with grace, not bitterness. Why well, Genesis fifty tells us
Speaker 1: his perspective that God can use even human error and
Speaker 1: sin for good. And Joseph says in Genesis fifty twenty,
Speaker 1: you talking to his brothers, you intended to harm me,
Speaker 1: but God, that's the most important thing. But God intended
Speaker 1: it for good. To accomplish what is now being done,
Speaker 1: the saving of many lives. Two entire nations were saved.
Speaker 1: So out of the sin of his brothers, two nations
Speaker 1: got saved from famine and destruction. You intended to harm me,
Speaker 1: but God intended for good. Friends, I'll be honest with you.
Speaker 1: There are people in your life who intend bad. You
Speaker 1: will face people in your life, people who resent you
Speaker 1: at work. They're in co petition with you, they're critical
Speaker 1: of you, they don't like you, or whatever. They intend
Speaker 1: to hurt you. They intended for bad, but God intends
Speaker 1: it for good. And so God can even use human
Speaker 1: error and sin in all the circumstances of life. You
Speaker 1: know here at Saddleback, we all know the story of
Speaker 1: how God brought good even out of Danny Dushane's life
Speaker 1: in prison. How he went to prison for a double
Speaker 1: murder and was spending all his years in prison, was
Speaker 1: in there nearly thirty years, but he came to the
Speaker 1: Lord and he lived for God. And I called up
Speaker 1: the governor and asked for a commutation and said I
Speaker 1: need him on our staff around our prisons ministry. And
Speaker 1: he wasn't. Today Danny is a pastor of Saddleback and
Speaker 1: ministers to prisoners all over America. That's grace. That's grace,
Speaker 1: and that's the kind of church we are. It doesn't
Speaker 1: mat matter what your background is. I don't care what
Speaker 1: you've done, how badly you've done it, or who you
Speaker 1: did it with, or how long he did it. What
Speaker 1: matters is the direction of your feet today. That's all
Speaker 1: it matters, all right. Now, here's the fifth truth that
Speaker 1: you need to remember when we're going through changes we
Speaker 1: don't like. It's unavoidable, but God uses it for good
Speaker 1: and he wants to make me like Christ. And even
Speaker 1: he can use the bad things that other people do
Speaker 1: in my life that spread the problems to me that
Speaker 1: I didn't ask for. Number five, every change is always
Speaker 1: a test of my faith. Write that down. Every change
Speaker 1: in your life is always a test of your faith.
Speaker 1: One Peter, chapter one, verse seven says this the purpose
Speaker 1: of these troubles, you know, the ones you're in right now,
Speaker 1: the ones we've been facing for eighteen months. The purpose
Speaker 1: of these troubles is to test your faith. Circle that
Speaker 1: as fire tests how genuine gold is, your faith is
Speaker 1: more precious than gold, and by passing the test, it
Speaker 1: gives praise and glory and honor to God. Now I've
Speaker 1: told you before that having faith during a time of change,
Speaker 1: major change, like we're going through these days, these ugly
Speaker 1: days that we're going through, when it's rapid and it's relentless.
Speaker 1: Having faith during a time of change is like a
Speaker 1: trapeze act and a trapeze artist. You've all seen it,
Speaker 1: and the circus of stuff. Trapeze artist swings out on
Speaker 1: one bar. The other one comes from the other direction,
Speaker 1: and at one point they let go of this bar
Speaker 1: and then grab on to that one and swing across
Speaker 1: the other side. At some point in that trapeze artist,
Speaker 1: you have to let go of this one in order
Speaker 1: to jump over and grab the other one. At that
Speaker 1: point you're hanging, suspending in space with nothing holding you up.
Speaker 1: That is the moment of faith in your life. But
Speaker 1: when you grab on to that, it'll take you to
Speaker 1: the other side. If you don't take that risk, if
Speaker 1: you don't step out in faith. You'll get out there
Speaker 1: and you go, I'm afraid to do that. Then you
Speaker 1: swing back here, and you swing back here, swing back here,
Speaker 1: swing back here. Pretty soon you're dead, sinner, and there's
Speaker 1: only one way out, straight down. You gotta let it go.
Speaker 1: You gotta stop wishing for the good old days. They're
Speaker 1: not coming back. Besides that, the good old days weren't
Speaker 1: as good as you think they were. There were problems
Speaker 1: then too, and pressures and struggles then too. Now before
Speaker 1: we look at what God says to do, and we're
Speaker 1: gonna look at that now in a time of change.
Speaker 1: I want you to consider how these five truths apply
Speaker 1: to your life. Okay, so let's look at them again.
Speaker 1: Number One, change is unavoidable. Are you going to just
Speaker 1: stop complaining and gripe in and gone? I wish it
Speaker 1: were like eighteen months ago or whenever your golden days were.
Speaker 1: They're not coming back. It's unavoidable, and you're just gonna
Speaker 1: make yourself miserable looking in the past. It's like looking
Speaker 1: in the past like trying to drive looking in the
Speaker 1: rear view mirror. You're gonna crash. But you need to remember,
Speaker 1: you say God I believe You're gonna use all of this,
Speaker 1: even the stuff I don't like, the changes I don't like,
Speaker 1: You're gonna use it for good in my life. Okay.
Speaker 1: And I know that you want to work on my character.
Speaker 1: You're more interested in my character than my comfort. So
Speaker 1: make me like Christ. Help me be more patient, help
Speaker 1: me be more loving, help me be more at peace,
Speaker 1: help me be more faithful, help me to have more
Speaker 1: self control. All those nine qualities. And then though people
Speaker 1: who've hurt you, or how society has hurt you over
Speaker 1: the past, you just got to go, Okay, they intended
Speaker 1: it for bad, but God can use it for good
Speaker 1: in my life. And then to realize that everything in
Speaker 1: my life that happens, every change, is a test of faith.
Speaker 1: Write these down. Number one, how do I trust in
Speaker 1: God when I'm stressed by changes I don't like? Number One?
Speaker 1: Invest more time alone with God. Invest more time you
Speaker 1: personally alone with God. Now, listen, the greater the changes
Speaker 1: that are happening in your life, the more you need
Speaker 1: time alone with God. You need to make a specific
Speaker 1: time each day that you sit down that we call
Speaker 1: this a quiet time, and you sit down and you're
Speaker 1: just quiet and you don't turn on the TV of
Speaker 1: the radio, and you read a little bit of the Bible,
Speaker 1: and you talk to God in prayer, and you sit
Speaker 1: there and you be quiet and go God, is there
Speaker 1: anything you want to say to me? It's just a
Speaker 1: time out. Your quiet time during times of rapid change
Speaker 1: is the greatest stabilizer in your life. It'll give you stability.
Speaker 1: It's also the greatest reenergizer in your life. When you're
Speaker 1: worn out, it'll give you more energy. Now, have you
Speaker 1: noticed over the last eighteen months that you don't have
Speaker 1: as much energy as you did before the pandemic started.
Speaker 1: You don't. Nobody here has the same level of energy
Speaker 1: as you had two years ago. Why because that's what
Speaker 1: rapid and chronic stress and change and trauma does to you.
Speaker 1: It SAPs your energy. It drains your strength. So if
Speaker 1: you get up in the morning and you go, I
Speaker 1: have good night's sleep, and two hours end of the day,
Speaker 1: you're going, man, I'm worn out. Welcome to the club,
Speaker 1: Welcome to the human race. That's normal. It's natural when
Speaker 1: you've been under eighteen months of chronic change. It's prolonged
Speaker 1: stress and so fatigue, the fatigue that you're feeling these days.
Speaker 1: It's natural, it's normal under prolonged stress, and you're just
Speaker 1: trying to get by, and in many ways you're just
Speaker 1: treading water. And this has nothing to do with your age,
Speaker 1: because whether you're old or you're young, both young and
Speaker 1: old are feeling this way, drained, undestabilized, and out of energy.
Speaker 1: What's the antidote? Isaiah chapter forty in the Bible, they're
Speaker 1: on your outline, Verses twenty eight and following. Don't you know?
Speaker 1: Don't you know that the Lord is the everlasting God,
Speaker 1: and he created everything on this earth and in the
Speaker 1: universe too. That would have taken a lot of energy,
Speaker 1: but it says this, and he never grows tired or weary.
Speaker 1: That's why when you spend time with the God who
Speaker 1: never gets tired or weary, you get re energized and
Speaker 1: you get restabilized. He never grows tired weary. You're tired
Speaker 1: and weary. Instead, he gives strength to those who are
Speaker 1: weary that's you, and worn out that's you. And he
Speaker 1: gives power to the week that's you. Even young people
Speaker 1: become exhausted and want to give up. But those who
Speaker 1: trust and wait on the Lord will find new strength,
Speaker 1: flying high like eagles. They'll run and not grow weary,
Speaker 1: and they'll keep going and they'll not faint. Now here's
Speaker 1: the point. I just say it real quick. We'll move on.
Speaker 1: When you're stressed by major change, don't seek a quick
Speaker 1: fix in a drink or a drug, or TV or
Speaker 1: sex or you name it. Whatever you do, don't look
Speaker 1: for an escape, don't look for a short cut, and
Speaker 1: certainly don't try to fight a change that you can't
Speaker 1: possibly control. Instead, seek the Lord and do it on
Speaker 1: a daily basis. Invest more time. The more change you
Speaker 1: have in your life, the more you need quiet time
Speaker 1: every day alone with God. If that's all you get
Speaker 1: from this weekend, it'll help. Now, when you're having that
Speaker 1: quiet time with the Lord, you do the second thing
Speaker 1: Number two. Ask God to help me see his perspective.
Speaker 1: Write that down. Ask God to help me see his perspective.
Speaker 1: If you can begin to see all the changes going
Speaker 1: on in society, in the world, in your life, in
Speaker 1: your career, and your family, whatever. If you see all
Speaker 1: those changes from God's point of view, you're gonna feel
Speaker 1: a whole lot better and you're gonna be a whole
Speaker 1: lot less stressed. Now this is so important. Everybody look
Speaker 1: up here for a second. What I'm talking about is
Speaker 1: the difference between seeing everything that's going on in the world,
Speaker 1: all the current events, and seeing how God is working
Speaker 1: behind the scenes, using it the way he wants to.
Speaker 1: Big difference between needs two. Seeing what's happening and seeing
Speaker 1: why it's happening. This is the difference between having knowledge
Speaker 1: and having perspective. It's the difference between having information about
Speaker 1: everything that's happened in the world and having wisdom. You
Speaker 1: don't need any more information today. We are overwhelmed with information.
Speaker 1: We have an information glood. There are unlimited channels, literally
Speaker 1: millions of places now you can get information on what's
Speaker 1: happening in the world. You can find out what's going on.
Speaker 1: You don't need more information. What you need is more understanding.
Speaker 1: You need more discernment, You need more perspective, you need
Speaker 1: more wisdom. Anybody can be informed today. I want you,
Speaker 1: people of Saddleback Church. I want you to be better
Speaker 1: than people out there. How everybody is informed, but I
Speaker 1: want you to be wise. And only wise people seek
Speaker 1: God's perspective on the events that are happening in the world. Now.
Speaker 1: In the Bible, This is the theres between Moses and
Speaker 1: the children of Israel. Moses is probably one of the
Speaker 1: greatest leaders who ever lived in history. And during the Exodus,
Speaker 1: he led about a million people out of four hundred
Speaker 1: years of slavery in Egypt across the desert to the
Speaker 1: new promised land which became Israel. And during the Exodus,
Speaker 1: everybody could see what was going on. They could see
Speaker 1: the current events. They could see how God was acting.
Speaker 1: They could see like those ten plagues in Israel, when
Speaker 1: the river turns red like blood, and they can see
Speaker 1: the parting of the Red Sea, and they can see
Speaker 1: when they're in the middle of the desert and they
Speaker 1: need water and Moses strikes a rock and a waterfall
Speaker 1: comes out and saves everybody. And they saw all of
Speaker 1: what was happening, and they could see what's going on.
Speaker 1: Anybody can see what's going on in the world right now.
Speaker 1: But only Moses understood God's reasons, God's perspective. God, only
Speaker 1: Moses had understanding and discernment. Only Moses knew the ways
Speaker 1: of God. Look at this next verse, Psalm one oh three,
Speaker 1: verse seven says this God let the people of Israel
Speaker 1: see his mighty actions that's all the current of ends,
Speaker 1: but he revealed his ways to Moses. Now, friends, as
Speaker 1: your pastor who loves you, I want you more than
Speaker 1: anything else. I want you to understand the ways of God.
Speaker 1: You can get current of ends and current information from
Speaker 1: any media source, but that doesn't make you better than
Speaker 1: anybody else just seeing what's going on in the world.
Speaker 1: We have tons of information and tons of news, and
Speaker 1: yet we are still so unwise. And my deepest desire
Speaker 1: for you, my friends, is that you will handle this
Speaker 1: COVID pandemic not just just with knowledge, but with wisdom
Speaker 1: and with God's perspective and with true understanding, so that
Speaker 1: you will be a woman of wisdom, or you will
Speaker 1: be a man of wisdom. You'll be a wise man
Speaker 1: or a wise woman. That's rarely what I want for you.
Speaker 1: It sets you above others who just know what's going on,
Speaker 1: but you know why it's going on. Where does that
Speaker 1: wisdom come from? Well, you don't get it from the news.
Speaker 1: You don't get it from talk radio. You'll get no
Speaker 1: wisdom from talk radio or the social media or any
Speaker 1: of that. None. You get knowledge, but you don't get
Speaker 1: wisdom and discernment. You don't get understanding and perspective. Where
Speaker 1: do you get that two sources? Write these down. Number
Speaker 1: one first word is just two words, ask God. Write
Speaker 1: that down. Ask God. You ask God for wisdom. When
Speaker 1: was the last time he said, God, make me a
Speaker 1: wise woman, make me a wise man. You have not
Speaker 1: because you ask not. The Bible says in James one
Speaker 1: to five. If you need wisdom, just ask God for it.
Speaker 1: God is generous and he'll gladly tell you what you need.
Speaker 1: You have not because you ask not. So you say, God,
Speaker 1: make me wise. And then the second thing, this is as
Speaker 1: you do is you learn from this book from God's word.
Speaker 1: You learn from God's word and from those who teach it.
Speaker 1: Many of you maybe have never seen this verse in
Speaker 1: the Bible. It's from the Book of Two Peter, Chapter one,
Speaker 1: Verse nineteen says this here on the screen, we have
Speaker 1: greater confidence in the message of the prophets. Now hang
Speaker 1: on there. What's the message of the prophets? It's the Bible.
Speaker 1: It's this book. God inspired holy men over a period
Speaker 1: of twenty five hundred years to write down what God
Speaker 1: wanted written down. These are called prophets, and we got
Speaker 1: this book called the Bible the Old and the New
Speaker 1: Testament in this book. So when it talks about the
Speaker 1: message prophets, it's just talking about the Bible. We have
Speaker 1: confidence in the message of the Bible. Pay close attention.
Speaker 1: Circle that pay close attention to what they wrote. For
Speaker 1: their words are like a light shining in a dark place.
Speaker 1: Culture is getting darker and darker. We don't know how
Speaker 1: dark it's going to get. I started to call this
Speaker 1: message how to trust God when life sucks, but I
Speaker 1: just figured that might not be clear enough. And the
Speaker 1: world is getting darker in many ways. Things are getting
Speaker 1: worse in many ways. How in the world do you
Speaker 1: cope with that kind of situation? Pay close attention to
Speaker 1: what they wrote, for their words are like light in
Speaker 1: a dark place. Pay close attention. So let me just
Speaker 1: ask you, as your friend, friend a friend, what are
Speaker 1: you paying the most attention to these days? What are
Speaker 1: you paying the most attention to these days? The media,
Speaker 1: social media, radio or God's word? This will always tell
Speaker 1: you the truth. You can't rely on anything else. Here's
Speaker 1: the third thing you do. Number three. You invest time
Speaker 1: alone with God every day. You ask God, help me
Speaker 1: see life from your perspective. Number three, Instead of asking
Speaker 1: why is this happening? Ask what do you want me
Speaker 1: to learn? Very important question. We don't know how long
Speaker 1: the pandemic's going to last. It keeps flaring back up
Speaker 1: again with different variants. Don't worry about the circumstances, worry
Speaker 1: about your character. Focus on your character, not the changes
Speaker 1: in your circumstance that you can't change. Instead of asking
Speaker 1: why is this happening? Ask God, what do you want
Speaker 1: me to learn? Look at this verse up here on
Speaker 1: the screen. In the Book of Romans, Chapter five, Verse
Speaker 1: three and four says this, we can rejoice even in
Speaker 1: our troubles and struggles. Troubles and struggles. Troubles and struggle.
Speaker 1: That sound familiar. Yeah, the last eighteen months have been
Speaker 1: troubles and struggles. Troubles and struggles. We can rejoice even
Speaker 1: in our troubles and struggles because we know they help
Speaker 1: us learn endurance. They teach us endurance, and endurance develops
Speaker 1: strength of character and character creates hope. Now leave that
Speaker 1: verse on the screen for just a minute, because I
Speaker 1: want you to notice two things about this verse. First,
Speaker 1: it says life is a struggle. Everybody agree with Alan.
Speaker 1: Life's tough. Life is not easy. Life is a struggle.
Speaker 1: That's one of the first things you learned. We shouldn't
Speaker 1: expect any less. This is not heaven. In heaven, there's
Speaker 1: no sorrow, sadness, sickness, suffering on earth. Everything's broken. Life
Speaker 1: is a struggle, and you are in a school of character.
Speaker 1: You're in God is testing your strengthening your character, and
Speaker 1: there's stuff he wants you to learn. And you need
Speaker 1: to just start asking, what do you want me to
Speaker 1: learn through this? Through this change in my life? I
Speaker 1: do nunlike this change. What do you want me to
Speaker 1: learn from it? Life's a struggle. By the way, have
Speaker 1: you ever wondered why the struggle in life is so relentless?
Speaker 1: You one thought about that? Why is life so hard?
Speaker 1: Why is it such a struggle. Here's the reason. Because
Speaker 1: God wants to change us and we don't want to change.
Speaker 1: That's the struggle. God wants to change us and we
Speaker 1: don't want to change, and so it gets a whole
Speaker 1: lot harder than it should be. The second thing on
Speaker 1: that verse, I want you to notice we can rejoice
Speaker 1: even in our troubles. Know that it creates endurance. Endurance
Speaker 1: creates character, and character creates hope. If you develop character,
Speaker 1: you become a man of character, you become a woman
Speaker 1: of character, You're going to have more hope. You're going
Speaker 1: to be more hopeful when you look at society, when
Speaker 1: you look at the future, when you look at not optimism,
Speaker 1: that's different, that's whole, not a sermon, but you will
Speaker 1: be more hopeful. If you develop character, You're going to
Speaker 1: be full of hope. If you just complain about how
Speaker 1: life is tough, you're going to be full of doubt
Speaker 1: and unhappiness. Wise, mature people are full of hope. Wise
Speaker 1: mature people are full of hope. Unwise immature people are
Speaker 1: scared and bitter, and they're all around you, and they're
Speaker 1: angry at everybody else in the world too. So you
Speaker 1: got to decide, do I want to be wise and
Speaker 1: mature and have hope or do you want to be
Speaker 1: unwise and immature and be angry and bitter and doubtful. You, guys,
Speaker 1: I love you, and because I love you, I want
Speaker 1: all of us to eventually get to Paul Saint Paul's
Speaker 1: level of spiritual maturity. I'm not there yet. You're not
Speaker 1: there yet. What is Paul's level of spiritual maturity? The
Speaker 1: next verse Olympians, Chapter four, Verses twelve and thirteen. I've
Speaker 1: learned circle the word learned, because this is something you
Speaker 1: learn remember talking about Ask God, what do you want
Speaker 1: me to learn? Not why is all this stuff happening?
Speaker 1: I've learned? What do you want me to learn? This secret?
Speaker 1: So that anyone, anywhere, at any time I'm content. Anywhere, anytime,
Speaker 1: I'm content, whether I'm full or hungry, or whether I
Speaker 1: have too much or too little, I have the strength
Speaker 1: to face all conditions by the power of Christ that
Speaker 1: Christ gives me. I've learned this. This is not natural.
Speaker 1: You're not naturally content. I'm not naturally a contented person.
Speaker 1: How do you learn contentment when everything changes relentless and rapid.
Speaker 1: You got to learn it. You got to learn it,
Speaker 1: and say, God, help me to learn what you want
Speaker 1: me to learn. Let me ask you an honest question.
Speaker 1: What are you learning about yourself these days? I'm not
Speaker 1: talking about the world. What are you learning about the
Speaker 1: world in the last eighteen months? What have you learned
Speaker 1: about you? About you? What do you know about your
Speaker 1: strengths that you didn't know? What do you know about
Speaker 1: your weaknesses that you didn't know? What have you learned
Speaker 1: about you. I want you to write this sentence down. Everybody,
Speaker 1: please write this down. Every situation is an education. Every
Speaker 1: situation is an education. Everything that happens to you in life,
Speaker 1: every change, you'll either get better or bitter. You're gonna
Speaker 1: grow or you're not gonna grow. Every situation is an education.
Speaker 1: There is nothing that happens in your life that you
Speaker 1: can't learn from. Doesn't matter if it's a big thing,
Speaker 1: big change or little thing, little change. Every situation is
Speaker 1: an education. A right number four. Fourth thing you need
Speaker 1: to do to trust God when everything's just blown out
Speaker 1: of you know, out of the saddle. Focus on what
Speaker 1: never changes. This is the fourth practical suggestion from God's word.
Speaker 1: Focus on what never changes, because there are many things
Speaker 1: in life that are never, never, never, never going to change.
Speaker 1: And when you're going through a period of great change,
Speaker 1: you want to let those unchangeable things be your anchor.
Speaker 1: What's anchoring you right now for the last eighteen months?
Speaker 1: What's been your anchor? Somebody goes, I don't have an anchor,
Speaker 1: and that's why you're drifting around in the storm. What
Speaker 1: anchors you are the things that never change in life,
Speaker 1: the unchangeables now I can give you a whole list
Speaker 1: of stuff that's never going to change, but let me
Speaker 1: just give you three. God's love for you is never
Speaker 1: going to change. Truth. The truth of God's word is
Speaker 1: never going to change. If he says it's right, it'll
Speaker 1: always be right. If he says it's wrong, it'll always
Speaker 1: be wrong. It'll take a vote on it. And God's
Speaker 1: plan and purpose for your life will never change. Nothing
Speaker 1: can change that. No other people can't change it. The
Speaker 1: devil can't change it. Society can't change God's plan and
Speaker 1: purpose for your life. So you anchor your life in
Speaker 1: the things that are never going to change. Look at
Speaker 1: these three verses Jeremiah thirty one to three. I have
Speaker 1: loved you with an everlasting love. Nothing's ever going to
Speaker 1: change that. God will never, never, never stop loving you.
Speaker 1: You can't make God stop loving you. You can try,
Speaker 1: but she'll fail because his love isn't based on what
Speaker 1: you do. It's based on who he is Isaiah forty,
Speaker 1: verse eight. The Word of God shall stand forever. Stop
Speaker 1: paying attention to stuff that changes. Opinions change, The truth
Speaker 1: never changes. Pay more attention to this. So I'm thirty
Speaker 1: three eleven and his plans endure forever, and his purposes
Speaker 1: last eternally. Now, friends, I want to tell you something
Speaker 1: with somebody who loves you, and you can bank on
Speaker 1: this God. No matter what's going on in the world
Speaker 1: and society and culture everywhere today, you can bank on this.
Speaker 1: God will have the last word and it'll be good.
Speaker 1: God will have the last word and it will be good.
Speaker 1: So what are you scared of? What's got you so uptight?
Speaker 1: Why are you so frightened? This is a chapter, but
Speaker 1: it's not the whole story. We're going through a chapter
Speaker 1: right now that does suck. It's not good. Nobody likes
Speaker 1: what we're going through right now. Our church, We've got
Speaker 1: these giant plans that are on hold right now. I
Speaker 1: haven't even told you what were the cool things were
Speaker 1: getting ready to do. But they're just on hold because
Speaker 1: we're in limbo right now. But God will have the
Speaker 1: last word and it will be good. Number five, here's
Speaker 1: the fifth thing you do when change is relentless and rapid,
Speaker 1: Keep telling God. And I'm saying this, say it verbally
Speaker 1: to God every day. I trust you no matter what.
Speaker 1: Keep telling God, I trust you no matter what. If
Speaker 1: you do this, You're going to be a lot more
Speaker 1: at peace, regardless of how long this pandemic lasts. What
Speaker 1: I want you, what I want our church family to be,
Speaker 1: as I said, is better than others in the world.
Speaker 1: I want you to be a righteous person. What's a
Speaker 1: righteous person? Look at this verse Psalm one twelve, verse seven.
Speaker 1: The righteous man or woman does not fear bad news
Speaker 1: nor live in dread of what might happen. For he
Speaker 1: or she is settled in his mind that God will
Speaker 1: take care of him. That's a righteous person. God. I
Speaker 1: trust you no matter what happens. I will trust you
Speaker 1: no matter what. I can't tell you the number of
Speaker 1: times thousands of times in my life I've had to
Speaker 1: say that when facing a problem, a difficulty, or a
Speaker 1: change I didn't like. I trust you no matter what happens.
Speaker 1: I remember when k was going through cancer treatments and
Speaker 1: I thought I was losing and I thought I'm going
Speaker 1: to lose the love of my life, and I had
Speaker 1: to say over and over, Father, I trust you no
Speaker 1: matter what happens, and I will serve you no matter
Speaker 1: what happens, even if I lose my wife. And when
Speaker 1: our youngest son, Matthew lost his twenty seven year battle
Speaker 1: of mental illness and depression and took his life. Which
Speaker 1: was the worst day of my life. And we're standing
Speaker 1: on the driveway of his home waiting for the police
Speaker 1: to come break the door down and carry my son
Speaker 1: out in a body bag. The worst day of my life.
Speaker 1: I had to say, I will trust you no matter what.
Speaker 1: Doesn't mean I understand it. It just means I will
Speaker 1: trust you no matter what. Any time things seem to
Speaker 1: be falling apart in your life, this is the thing
Speaker 1: you need to say. I will trust you no matter what. Now.
Speaker 1: I don't know what's going on in your life personally,
Speaker 1: I know what's happened in society. I know all the
Speaker 1: stress that we're all feeling from all the massive changes
Speaker 1: around us in society. But right now you may feel
Speaker 1: under attack from every angle. And so I end with
Speaker 1: Psalm twenty seven, verse three that says this, even if
Speaker 1: a whole army surrounds me, I will not be afraid,
Speaker 1: And even if enemies attack me on all sides, I
Speaker 1: will still trust God. That's what you need to do.
Speaker 1: Let's bow our heads for prayer. I want to pray
Speaker 1: a prayer right now, and I invite you to pray
Speaker 1: this prayer in your heart. You're not to say it aloud.
Speaker 1: God brought you here today a thousand years before you
Speaker 1: were born. He knew you'd be here today at the
Speaker 1: end of August, so he could say this to you.
Speaker 1: So you talk back to him. Now say this, say,
Speaker 1: Dear God, just say that in your mind. Dear God,
Speaker 1: realize that change is unavoidable and there's no growth without change,
Speaker 1: and it can be painful. And Lord, I realize that
Speaker 1: you can use even bad things in my life for good.
Speaker 1: Change is not always good, but you can use it
Speaker 1: for good. And I realize today that you want me
Speaker 1: to grow in character. You want to make me more
Speaker 1: like Jesus, more loving, more joyful, more patient, more at peace,
Speaker 1: more in self control. And God, I want to thank
Speaker 1: you that you can use even human error and sin
Speaker 1: for good in my life. And what other people have
Speaker 1: done against me, and I was innocent and they hurt me,
Speaker 1: They intended to harm me, but you intended it for good.
Speaker 1: You have a bigger plan and purpose for my life
Speaker 1: than the pain I've gone through. Help me to remember
Speaker 1: that every change is always a test of faith. And Lord,
Speaker 1: I want to take these simple steps to be more
Speaker 1: stable and to be re energized. Help me to invest
Speaker 1: more time alone with you. I want to commit to
Speaker 1: spending time alone with you every day. Read a little
Speaker 1: bit of your word, talk to you in prayer, Listen,
Speaker 1: be quiet, Say what do you want me to do?
Speaker 1: Help me to see your perspective. I don't want to
Speaker 1: just know current events. I want to know the ways
Speaker 1: of God. So I'm asking for wisdom. You said, just
Speaker 1: ask for it. I'm asking make me a wise person
Speaker 1: and help me to remember that instead of going why
Speaker 1: is all this stuff happening? Instead ask what do you
Speaker 1: want me to learn? I want to learn, like Paul,
Speaker 1: to be content in every situation. Help me to focus
Speaker 1: on what never changes. Thank you that you'll never stop
Speaker 1: loving me. Thank you that your word will always tell
Speaker 1: me the truth about life and myself. Thank You that
Speaker 1: your plans and purpose for my life cannot be changed
Speaker 1: by anybody else. Lord. From here on out, and no
Speaker 1: matter how long this pandemic lasts, I'm going to keep
Speaker 1: saying to you, I trust you no matter what, And
Speaker 1: even if i feel like I'm being attacked from every side,
Speaker 1: I will still trust God. If you've never initially said
Speaker 1: to Jesus Christ, I trust you. Say that Jesus Christ
Speaker 1: come into my life. I want to trust you, not
Speaker 1: just one. Want to know about you, I want to
Speaker 1: have a relationship with you. So I humbly ask you
Speaker 1: to be the manager of my life. In your name,
Speaker 1: I pray Amen