Speaker 2: Right now.
Speaker 1: For many different reasons, people have told me they feel damaged, debilitated, deceived, defeated, defensive, dejected.
Speaker 1: They feel delayed and demean demoralized, integrated, denied, depleted, depreciated.
Speaker 1: They feel depressed, deserted, desperate, despondent, destroyed. They feel disgusted, disillusioned, discouraged,
Speaker 1: and disappointed. We all have losses in life. We all
Speaker 1: have favors in life. We all have disappointments in life.
Speaker 1: How do you recover from the disappointments of life? That's
Speaker 1: what I want us to look at today. I want
Speaker 1: us to look at what do you do when your
Speaker 1: plan doesn't match God's plan? Have you noticed that God
Speaker 1: often has different ideas than you do about your life.
Speaker 1: Whether you're trying to recover from a disappointment or an experience,
Speaker 1: or the disappointment of employment, or an embarrassment or the
Speaker 1: disappointment of an expectation.
Speaker 2: What do you do?
Speaker 1: What should you do when you're disappointed by anything? Well,
Speaker 1: what I want to do this weekend is recommend eight
Speaker 1: principles from God's word. Seven Actually that will help you
Speaker 1: through difficult times. All right, here's what you ought to
Speaker 1: do anytime you're disappointed in anything, anytime you have a failure,
Speaker 1: anytime you have a loss. Number one, always choose faith
Speaker 1: over fear. Always choose faith over fear. When things don't
Speaker 1: work out the way you wanted, when your plan is
Speaker 1: not God's plan, when you don't understand what's going on,
Speaker 1: Always choose faith over fear. You don't panic, you pray,
Speaker 1: you don't worry, you worship, You turn your thoughts to
Speaker 1: the greatness of God. You know, fear never ever helps,
Speaker 1: and worry has never solved any problem anytime. Worry never
Speaker 1: solves anything. Now, there are two reasons you shouldn't be fearful.
Speaker 1: There's a biblical one and there's actually a historical one. First,
Speaker 1: God's commandment to not be afraid is the most repeated
Speaker 1: command in the Bible. Did you know that God's command
Speaker 1: to not be afraid, to not be fearful, to not
Speaker 1: be anxious, to not worry is the most repeated command
Speaker 1: in the Bible. There are three hundred and sixty five
Speaker 1: fear nots in the Bible. That's one for every day
Speaker 1: of the year. God really doesn't want us to be
Speaker 1: anxious or fearful. Two Timothy one to seven, God did
Speaker 1: not give us a spirit of fear, a spirit that
Speaker 1: makes us afraid. But he gave us a spirit of
Speaker 1: power and love and self control. So just that reason enough, God,
Speaker 1: God says, don't panic in the days ahead while there's
Speaker 1: a lot of unsettled factors going on. He says, I
Speaker 1: have given you a spirit of power and love and
Speaker 1: self control, not a spirit of fear. So in a
Speaker 1: time of disappointment or a time of chaos, always choose
Speaker 1: faith over fear.
Speaker 2: Okay. Number two.
Speaker 1: Second thing to do when you're disappointed and when life
Speaker 1: seems out of control is this, always trust that God
Speaker 1: is in control. Always trust that God is in control.
Speaker 1: It may look like chaos from a human viewpoint, but
Speaker 1: God is a bigger perspective.
Speaker 2: History is his story.
Speaker 1: And instead of being afraid of what people might do
Speaker 1: in the days that are weeks ahead, the Bible says
Speaker 1: we should have a holy fear of God. Now, when
Speaker 1: talks about fear in the Bible, it's not talking about panic,
Speaker 1: it's talking about reverence. It's the Old English word for fear,
Speaker 1: which means reverence for God. And Job twenty five verse too,
Speaker 1: it says this God is the one to fear because
Speaker 1: God is in control, and he rules the heaven. God
Speaker 1: is in control. Now, you either believe that or you don't.
Speaker 1: This idea that God is in control of everything and
Speaker 1: you're trusting him because He's in control of everything even
Speaker 1: when it looks out of control from your viewpoint. The
Speaker 1: sovereignty of God is meant to comfort us. It's not
Speaker 1: to be used as a club. You say, well, if
Speaker 1: God is in control, does that mean we don't have
Speaker 1: any choice? The answer is, of course, you have a choice.
Speaker 1: God lets us make choices because we're made in his
Speaker 1: image and He gave us the capacity to make moral choices.
Speaker 1: But our choices are not unlimited. You don't have unlimited choice.
Speaker 1: You can't say, for instance, be an opera singer if
Speaker 1: God didn't give you that talent. You can only be
Speaker 1: what God made you to be. We have a free will,
Speaker 1: but it's a limited will, and ultimately God is in
Speaker 1: charge of history. Let me show you a Bible verse
Speaker 1: that may shock you. Psalm seventy five, verse six and
Speaker 1: seven says this for promotion and power come from nowhere
Speaker 1: on earth, but only come from God. He promotes one
Speaker 1: and deposes another another. God says, I accept responsibility for this.
Speaker 1: The New Living translation is God decides who will rise
Speaker 1: and who will fall amplified translations. He puts one down
Speaker 1: and he lifts another up. God is saying, I'm in
Speaker 1: charge here. Trust me, I know what I'm doing. You
Speaker 1: don't know what I'm doing. You can't see what I see.
Speaker 1: You don't know what I know. Your values aren't my values.
Speaker 1: So when you're disappointed, you first always choose faith over fear,
Speaker 1: and second you always trust that God is in control.
Speaker 1: All right, let's go on number three. The third thing
Speaker 1: to do when you're disappointed is be patient. It's not
Speaker 1: the end of the story. Be patient because it's not
Speaker 1: the end of the story.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 1: Part of our problem is that we look at things
Speaker 1: in a short term perspective. We don't see things from
Speaker 1: any eternal's perspective. We're so shortsighted and we're so impatient,
Speaker 1: and we think that the most important thing that's ever
Speaker 1: happened in the entire history of the world is happening
Speaker 1: right now.
Speaker 2: It's not.
Speaker 1: God has been directing history for thousands of years. In fact,
Speaker 1: thousands of years before you and I were ever even born.
Speaker 2: He was directing history. You know.
Speaker 1: In the Book of Habacco that's a little book by
Speaker 1: a guy who was a prophet in Israel in near
Speaker 1: the old end of the Old Testament.
Speaker 2: In the Book of.
Speaker 1: Abaccu, that prophet was watching the decline and the destruction
Speaker 1: of his nation. Literally everything was falling apart, and Abacca
Speaker 1: cries out in a long complaint to God. And in
Speaker 1: Habacca chapter one, verse two, he says, this, how long?
Speaker 2: Lord? It's how long question? How long?
Speaker 1: How long do I have to keep begging you to
Speaker 1: help our nation? How long before you listen?
Speaker 2: Do you see what's going on out there? God?
Speaker 1: How long before you rescue us from all this violence?
Speaker 1: A lot of people have asked that question about our country,
Speaker 1: and other countries too, those who are refugees in places
Speaker 1: like the Middle East. We're asking how long before you
Speaker 1: rescue us from all this violence?
Speaker 2: Well?
Speaker 1: God actually answers Habaccic in chapter two, and he says this, Habacca,
Speaker 1: I know what I'm doing, and I know just the
Speaker 1: right timetable for it. And Habacca, you need to trust me.
Speaker 1: You need to be patient. This is not the end
Speaker 1: of the story. Here's what he said. Tobacco two, verse three.
Speaker 1: God says, the things that I plan won't happen right away, slowly, steadily,
Speaker 1: surely the time approach, which is when the vision will
Speaker 1: be fulfilled.
Speaker 2: He says.
Speaker 1: If it seems slow, do not despair, for these things
Speaker 1: will surely come to pass. Just be patient. They will
Speaker 1: not be overdue a single day. They will not be overduced,
Speaker 1: he says, Kubacca, trust me when you're saying how long
Speaker 1: is this gonna go on?
Speaker 2: When are we gonna see the change?
Speaker 1: He says, My plans a good plan, and it'll happen,
Speaker 1: but it won't be overdue. But it takes some time.
Speaker 1: Just be patient. It's not the end of the story. James,
Speaker 1: Chapter five, verse seven. He says, Wait patiently, my friends.
Speaker 1: You have a hard time being impatient. Wait patiently, my friends,
Speaker 1: till the Lord comes. And then he gives us some models.
Speaker 1: And think about farmers. Think of how patient of farmers.
Speaker 1: Farmers are as they wait for their land to produce.
Speaker 1: They wait patiently for different seasons and rain. Now, if
Speaker 1: you take notes, I would circle the phrase seasons. Different seasons.
Speaker 1: You see, God says that there are seasons in life,
Speaker 1: and you know what, you know what I've learned. You
Speaker 1: can't skip seasons. You can't go from summer to summer,
Speaker 1: to summer to summer without going through winter. So there
Speaker 1: are seasons in life, there are seasons in nations. You
Speaker 1: need to trust God's timing. You know, the last time
Speaker 1: I looked, the promise of Romans eight twenty eight has
Speaker 1: has never changed. It's still in force. Romans eight twenty
Speaker 1: eight is still going to work. Romans eight twenty eight.
Speaker 1: And we know that in all things, not some. We
Speaker 1: know that in all things God works for the good
Speaker 1: of those who love Him, who've been called according to
Speaker 1: His purpose.
Speaker 2: Now, not everything is good in life.
Speaker 1: Rape isn't good, Racism isn't good, abused isn't good, cancer
Speaker 1: isn't good. Not everything in life is good, But God says,
Speaker 1: I can use it all for good, even the bad.
Speaker 1: I can bring good out of bad. Only God can
Speaker 1: do that. Anybody can bring good out of good, but
Speaker 1: God can bring good out of the bad.
Speaker 2: In my life.
Speaker 1: The problem is, friends, we can't see what God sees.
Speaker 1: Tewod Corinthians, chapter four, verse eighteen says this, So we
Speaker 1: talk up to Christians. We set our eyes not on
Speaker 1: what we see, but on what we cannot see, because
Speaker 1: what we see will last only a short time, but
Speaker 1: what we can't see will last forever. And he's saying
Speaker 1: here that as followers of Jesus's disciples, we're called to
Speaker 1: focus more on what's going to last forever and not
Speaker 1: focused on all the short term stuff. Here's the fourth key.
Speaker 1: Don't jump to conclusions when you are going through a
Speaker 1: time that God's plan is not your plan and you're disappointed,
Speaker 1: or you're discouraged, or you're down in the mouth, or
Speaker 1: you're depressed because things aren't going the way you wanted
Speaker 1: them to go. When you start to feel discouraged and disappointed,
Speaker 1: don't jump to conclusions. So let me give you some
Speaker 1: biblical wisdom on what God says. Proverbs twenty five, verse
Speaker 1: eight says this a TeV. Don't be too quick to
Speaker 1: go to court. Don't be too quick to go to
Speaker 1: court about something you have seen, because if another witness
Speaker 1: later proves you're wrong.
Speaker 2: What are you going to do? Then well, you got mud.
Speaker 1: On your face, big disgrace, and you know the rest
Speaker 1: of the song. Ecclesiastes twelve twelve says this, be warned.
Speaker 1: He's talking to his son. Solomon's telling his son, be warned,
Speaker 1: my son that there's no end of opinions ready to
Speaker 1: be expressed. Amen, been on social media, Well, you might
Speaker 1: want to get off it for a while, okay, because
Speaker 1: it's just going to make you upset. Be warned that
Speaker 1: there's no end of opinions ready to be expressed and
Speaker 1: studying them. Ecclesiastics twelve to twelve says studying them can
Speaker 1: go on forever and become very exhausting. Don't jump to conclusions.
Speaker 1: Proverbs fourteen fifteen says this. Only fools believe everything they're told.
Speaker 1: Message says it this way. The gullible will believe anything,
Speaker 1: but the prudence sift and weigh every word. The Bible
Speaker 1: says in Proverbs twenty three to twenty three. Get the
Speaker 1: facts at any price Proverbs twenty three to twenty three,
Speaker 1: So just don't accept what you hear. Don't fact checking
Speaker 1: is dead in today's society. Don't just be gullible. Don't
Speaker 1: jump to conclusions. Get good sense, the Bible says, hold
Speaker 1: on tightly to all the good says you can get.
Speaker 1: All right, let me give you a couple more. When
Speaker 1: you're going through a tough time, when you feel discouraged you,
Speaker 1: when you feel disappointed things didn't go the way you
Speaker 1: wanted to do. For lessons to learn Number five, look
Speaker 1: for lessons learns. Never never waste a disappointing situation when
Speaker 1: your plan wasn't God's plan. Well, things didn't go the
Speaker 1: way you want him to go. Learn from it. You know,
Speaker 1: God wants us to learn from everything. God wants us
Speaker 1: to learn from our fears, our failures, our frustrations. God
Speaker 1: even wants us to learn from our sins. Stuff not
Speaker 1: to do anymore, Well, don't do that anymore. Deuteronomy eleven
Speaker 1: two says, remember today what you've learned about the Lord
Speaker 1: through your experiences with him. You're going through experiences right now.
Speaker 1: What are you learning about the Lord?
Speaker 2: Let me read you of.
Speaker 1: Isaiah forty two, verses twenty four and twenty five. The
Speaker 1: world for Isaiah at that time was falling apart. The
Speaker 1: nation of Israel was it was literally it was being
Speaker 1: looted and robbed, and wars and terrorism and famine and
Speaker 1: all all kinds of one and economic problem after another.
Speaker 1: And in Isaiah forty two, twenty four and twenty five,
Speaker 1: Isaiah says this, who gave up our nation.
Speaker 2: To the looters? Good question?
Speaker 1: Who gave up our nation to the looterers, those people
Speaker 1: out there in the street breaking windows.
Speaker 2: He said it was the Lord himself.
Speaker 1: Oh, it was the Lord himself against whom we send.
Speaker 1: We would not live as he wanted us to live,
Speaker 1: and we would not obey his teachings as he gave us.
Speaker 1: So he made us feel the force of his anger
Speaker 1: and suffered the violence, and his anger burned throughout Israel.
Speaker 1: But we never knew what was happening, and we learned
Speaker 1: nothing from it at all. I don't want that to
Speaker 1: be true of our nation or any other nation today.
Speaker 1: We learned nothing from it all. All right, let's get
Speaker 1: practical about your life. Number six. When you're going through
Speaker 1: a disappointing time and when you have people going through
Speaker 1: a chaos around you, be empathetic with everybody. That's the
Speaker 1: sixth step. When you're going through a tough time that
Speaker 1: you're disappointed, you're discourage, you're defeated, you're depressed, be empathetic
Speaker 1: with everybody because everybody's having a tough time. You know
Speaker 1: what empathy means. Empathy means you use your ears more
Speaker 1: than your mouth. You just listen to people. You don't
Speaker 1: offer a defense, you don't minimize their hurt. You don't
Speaker 1: say yes, but you just listen to their pain. That's empathy.
Speaker 1: Romans fifteen, verse two says this, we must bear the
Speaker 1: burden listen to this. We must bear the burden of
Speaker 1: being considerate of the doubts and fears of others. See,
Speaker 1: we always think our fears are very realistic and everybody
Speaker 1: else is irrational. We must bear the burden of being
Speaker 1: considered of the doubts and fears of others, of those
Speaker 1: who feel these things are wrong.
Speaker 2: So God says, let us please.
Speaker 1: The other fellow, not ourselves, and do what's good for
Speaker 1: his good, and thus build him up in the Lord. Okay,
Speaker 1: so be empathetic. Finally, the seventh step, and this one
Speaker 1: may be the most difficult of all for some of you,
Speaker 1: but it's what God tells us to do when we're
Speaker 1: disappointed or discouraged or depressed. Number seven, look for things
Speaker 1: to be grateful for. Look for things to be grateful.
Speaker 1: Say what First? Thessalonians five eighteen says this, do you
Speaker 1: want to know God's will? I want to do God's will?
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 1: First, Tessalonians five eighteen tells us God's will give thanks
Speaker 1: in all circumstances for this is God's will for you
Speaker 1: in Christ Jesus. That's God's will. You want to know
Speaker 1: God's will for your life. Give thanks in all circumstances. Now,
Speaker 1: the key to this verse is understanding the word in
Speaker 1: It doesn't say give thanks for all circumstances.
Speaker 2: That would be dumb.
Speaker 1: It says give thanks in all circumstances. There's a lot
Speaker 1: of things. You don't have to be thankful. You don't
Speaker 1: have to be thankful for chaos. You don't have to
Speaker 1: be thankful for bias. You don't have to be thankful
Speaker 1: that maybe you were abused growing up. You don't have
Speaker 1: to be thankful for all the bad or sin. No, no, no, no.
Speaker 1: Doesn't say give thanks for It says give thanks in
Speaker 1: all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in
Speaker 1: Christ Jesus. But how about personally, be grateful for the
Speaker 1: grace of God in your life. All the grace of
Speaker 1: God has shown you. Be grateful for the good plan
Speaker 1: that God has for your life. Be grateful for the
Speaker 1: changes God is making in your life. Be grateful that
Speaker 1: Jesus Christ died for you. Be grateful that He is
Speaker 1: a home for you in heaven. Now we've been talking
Speaker 1: about the here and now, but I want to end
Speaker 1: with this last verse Philippians three twenty, which says this, Remember,
Speaker 1: our real citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly await
Speaker 1: a savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ. Our real
Speaker 1: citizenship in heaven. You know, I think every Christian should
Speaker 1: carry a green card because ultimately, your primary loyalty and
Speaker 1: primary citizenship is not in whatever country you live or
Speaker 1: you're a citizen.
Speaker 2: It's in heaven.
Speaker 1: And he says, we eagerly wait a savior that's keeping
Speaker 1: our eyes on the things that are going to last,
Speaker 1: not the things that aren't gonna last. Let me pray
Speaker 1: for you. Would you bow your heads? Why don't you
Speaker 1: pray with me? Just say this in your heart, Say
Speaker 1: Dear God, today I'm choosing faith over fear in all
Speaker 1: the things that I'm facing right now, I'm choosing faith
Speaker 1: in You over fear, and say, God, I'm choosing to
Speaker 1: trust that You're in control of the stuff that seems
Speaker 1: out of control in my life. It looks like chaos
Speaker 1: to me, but you can see the beginning from the end.
Speaker 1: Say Dear God, help me to be patient, realizing that
Speaker 1: this is not the end of the story. It's just
Speaker 1: a chapter in the book of my life. That you
Speaker 1: have a good plan for my life. Thank you for that.
Speaker 1: Help me to not jump to conclusions. Help me not
Speaker 1: to cry out the sky is falling like chicken little
Speaker 1: when you're in control. Help me to remember that other
Speaker 1: people around me are hurting.
Speaker 2: Just say that.
Speaker 1: Help me to remember that other people around me are hurting.
Speaker 1: Help me to be empathetic. To use my ears more
Speaker 1: than I use my mouth. To use my time to
Speaker 1: be a winsome witness for you Lord. Help me to
Speaker 1: always remember that my citizenship is ultimately in Heaven and
Speaker 1: that can never be taken away from me. You've never
Speaker 1: opened your life to Jesus Christ. Say Jesus Christ, make
Speaker 1: yourself real SA to me. Come into my life. I
Speaker 1: want a friendship with you. I want to know you.
Speaker 1: I want to learn to trust you. And today I'm
Speaker 1: opening myself to you, Jesus Christ, and I want you
Speaker 1: to do whatever you need to do in my life.
Speaker 1: I want to follow you and trust you. Please save
Speaker 1: me in your name, I pray Amen mm hm