When Life Gets Hard
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Every man lives by faith, the non-believer as well as the saint; the one by faith in natural laws and the other by faith in God.
A. W. Tozer
Imagine a skilled mountain climber who relies solely on his own experience and knowledge to reach the mountain's peak, refusing to use any ropes or safety gear. Similarly, the natural man relies on his own wisdom and understanding, refusing to trust in God's guidance and protection.
The natural man does not know God.
The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.
Why am I telling you this? In our world, The natural man has redefined Christianity whether they profess to be conservative ( God and Guns and country) or so called progressive who love to talk church talk but reject the scriptures and the Character of God and replace it with their own doctrine and theology that is foreign to the scriptures.
They’ve placed their hope in things and not God!
We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain,
Your life is a ship on the water. Stability is defined in that your rope has to be tied to something reliable and unmoveable on the shore. Pulling on that rope finding that your future is secure because your anchored to something perfectly stable. Hope is not doing nothing, but pulling on that rope knowing that your future is anchored in God Himself.
When life gets hard,
you pull when your sickness is wearing you out
you pull when your pain is unbearable
you pull in your loneliness
you pull when your broke
you pull in anything and everything in this life that suffocates you and I to be all were supposed to be in Jesus Christ.
We need an anchor of Hope so that when we pull on that rope, we know that Jesus is on the other end.
We need to know who Jesus is! He is our anchor! You need to sure, very sure, because when misery comes( When Life Gets Hard)
you cannot pull on
your intelligence,
your degrees
your awards
your money
your beauty
Introduction to the Gospel of John:
This Gospel is based on the death and resurrection of Jesus and responds to a nation in a time of a critical event. It’s a response to the Jewish nation in light of the destruction of the temple in AD70. Kostenberger states, “I will argue that whatever background is assigned to John, here lies a key, perhaps the key. The core element occasioning the composition of John’s gospel, and particularly its emphasis on Jesus as the fulfillment of Jewish festivals and institutions, including the temple, can be identified as the destruction of the Second Temple.[1]”
We need the Gospel, the good news when life gets hard. This could be an example given our current world affairs. Jesus is truly the answer when life gets hard
Who is Jesus?
How can we ensure that our anchor of hope is securely tied to God in times of hardship and uncertainty?
How does knowing who Jesus is help us have a secure anchor of hope in difficult times?
(John 1:1–2) Jesus Christ is the Son of God
—Eternal—Preexistent—Revelation: Christ is eternal. Note three profound statements made about Christ, the Word.
a. Christ was preexistent. This means He was there before creation. He has always existed.
1) “In the beginning [en archei]” does not mean from the beginning. Jesus Christ was already there.
He did not become;
He was not created;
He never had a beginning.
He “was in the beginning with God”.
And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.
Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”
2) The word was (en) is the Greek imperfect tense of eimi which is the word so often used for deity. It means to be or I am. To be means continuous existence, without beginning or origin.
Before the mountains were brought forth,
Or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world,
Even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.
b. Christ was coexistent. “WITH” v2
the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us—
accompanied by (another person or thing).
WITH IS A PREPOSITION- a word governing, and usually preceding, a noun or pronoun and expressing a relation to another word or element.
He was and is face-to-face with God forever.
The word “with” (pros) has the idea of both being with and acting toward.
Jesus Christ (the Word) was both with God and acting with God.
He was “with God”: by God’s side, acting, living, and moving in the closest of relationships.
Christ had the ideal and perfect relationship with God the Father.
Their life together—their relationship, communion, fellowship, and connection—was a perfect eternal bond.
This is exactly what is said: “The same was in the beginning with God” (kjv)
When Life gets hard, pull on the rope where Jesus is the Son of God! Pull in your pain, depression, loneliness, shame…..Hold on, don’t let Go…
2 (1:3) Christ is the Creator.
It is because man in the creative order bears the image of his Creator that the Son of God could become incarnate as man and in his humanity display the glory of the invisible God.
F. F. Bruce
No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.
The difference between Creator and created is incomparable.
Cyril of Alexandria
a. All things (panta) mean every detail of creation—not creation as a whole, but every single detail.
Each element and thing, each being and person—whether material or spiritual, angelic or human—has come into being by Christ.
For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
b. The words were made (egeneto) mean came into being or became. Note what this is saying. Nothing was existing—no substance, no matter whatsoever. Matter is not eternal. God did not take something outside of Himself, something less than perfect (evil) and create the world. Christ, the Word, took nothing but His will and power; and He spoke the Word and created every single thing out of nothing (ex nihilo)
c. Christ was the One who created all things—one by one.
Among the Godhead, He was the active Agent, the Person who made all things. Creation was His function and work
but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.
The world is God’s; He made it, every element of it, one by one. This means several things.
(1) God is not off in some distant place far removed from the world, unconcerned and disinterested in what happens to the world. God cares about the world. He cares deeply, even about the most minute detail and smallest person. He cares about everything and every person in the world.
(2) The problems of the world are not due to God and His attitude. The problems of the world are due to sin, to the attitude and evil of man’s heart.
(3) The answer to the world’s problems(When life gets hard) is not men and their technical skills. The answer is Christ: for men to turn to Christ, surrendering and giving their lives to know Christ in the most personal and intimate way possible. Then, and only then, can men set their lives and world in order as God intends.
When life gets hard turn it over to Jesus
The Georgia Mass Choir says it best….
Turn it over to Jesus, He can work it out! 3x’s
Verse 1:
That problem that I had
I just couldnt seem to solve
I tried and I tried
I kept getting deeper involved
But I turn it over to Jesus
I stopped worrying about it
He Can
He Can
Work it out
(2xs)
(Repeat Chorus)
That pain that would not move
I had to take it to the upper room
Those burdens that I bore
I said Lord how much more
But I turn it over to Jesus(Vanp)
I stopped worrying about it(Vamp)
He Can
He Can
Work it out
(2xs)
3 (1:4–5) Jesus Christ the Light
If a lighthouse is the only guide for ships in the midst of a fierce storm, how much more is Jesus Christ for us in the storms of life? He is the unwavering, constant light that leads us to safety and peace, no matter how turbulent the seas may be.
1:5) Light: light reveals, strips away
And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.
routs the chaos
The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
Darkness: darkness does not understand the light, does not overcome the light, does not extinguish the light
Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
When life gets hard and your in a dark place, let the light from the lighthouse Shine on Me
Shine on Me, Shine on Me Let the Light from the Light house Shine on Me
wherever there is darkness -Shine on Me
In our minds, in our souls, in sickness, pain,
Jesus is our light, my safety, He is my Peace, He’s all that I need! Whether on the mountain top or in the valley…..We need John’s Theology in response to a miserable world….We need Jesus
In his light, there is healing, deliverance, salvation, hope Shine Lord Jesus …The Shikanah Glory of God
He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus Blood and Righteousness, I dare not trust in the sweetest frame, but wholly on Jesus name on Christ the Solid Rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand…