Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, and he will promote you in due season.I believe that when we go through difficult times, God is giving us an opportunity to humble ourselves under his hand.

It’s just great that you can join us again for this weeks program of Christianityworks.Christianityworks is the Australasian ministry of Back to the Bible international.And we are passionate about sharing God’s word with you in a new relevant and exciting way.

I believe that as you listen to this message, your life will be changing by God’s love, god’s grace.And God’s power in Jesus Christ.

It’s really amazing how we can go through life and things are just going so wonderfully well, financially and emotionally, and spiritually and physically. And yet at other times one or more of those elements of our lives can take a rapid and unexpected turn for the worse.

Or something that was once a blessing, we wake up one day, and it’s just gone cold.It becomes mundane, or even a source of frustration.There are all sorts of things, all sorts of areas in our lives where these sorts of things happen.Maybe once we were married with children and now we are on our own.Or desperately want a partner and we can’t find one.Or someone is in a marriage and it’s driving them crazy.Or maybe our health has been fine and all of a sudden we have a health scare.All of a sudden we get diagnosed with something we didn’t expect.Some people lose their jobs.

Some people are in a job and they are just sick and tired of it.Maybe someone that you trust has stabbed you in the back.Maybe you were part of a church that seem to be exciting back then but now, I don’t know.

The list is endless.And it nags away at you, it eats away at you.The reality is that sometimes bad things happen to good people.And what often happens is that we end up feeling like a caged animal.As though we are trapped by our circumstances, like there is no out.Have you ever felt that?

We want to run somewhere, but there doesn’t seem to be anywhere to run.Or you are just not sure what direction to turn in.Sometimes, sometimes we have contributed to the situation ourselves.Other times things happen completely out of our control.Whatever, you just feel trapped.No matter what anybody does.No matter what anybody says, that one thing that’s gone wrong ends up dominating our lives.

The joy of the Lord seems to be just like a dim distant memory. And you think to yourself well what now.Today we are starting a new series called “Bad things happen to good people.”Because you know something, they do.Ever been there?Maybe you are there now.

So how do we deal with that?Does God have anything to say in the middle of all of that stuff that can be going on and just robbing us of he joy and the peace that Jesus died to give us? Does God have anything to say and to do in the middle of all of that?Today we are going to begin this series with the story of Joseph.

Maybe you saw the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical “Joseph and the technicoloured Dreamcoat.”Well this is the Joseph that the musical was about.If you happen to have a bible grab it.We are going to open it up at Genesis, right at the beginning of the old testament.Genesis chapter 37, and look at the story, not just of Joseph, but the story of God and Joseph.To me these stories about people in the bible, ordinary everyday people like you and me, are really important.Not in the sense that we look at Joseph, and say, “we should all be like Joseph.”Because there is one thing for certain, you’re not like Joseph and I’m not like Joseph.We are all different, we are all unique individuals and its this whole notion that we hold someone up and say, “here let’s be like Joseph…” well, that easy to say.But it is actually hard to do. But I think the story about Joseph that we are going to look at today is importantbecause it is a story not just about Joseph, it’s a story about what God did in Josephs life.

And when we look at that I think there are some lesson we can learn, some overlaps into our lives, our own situations.That can help us in some of the difficult times in life.God’s wisdom, God’s insight, God’s hope into our life.Lets just pray for a minute, “Father, as we open your Word.As we look at the Bible, as we look at the story of Joseph, we just pray that you will speak into our hearts through the Holy Spirit.Father we just ask that as we look at the story of Joseph we see Your grace, Your glory, and your love and your faithfulness in the middle of that story.And Father we pray that we would not only see it in Joseph’s story, but that we would see it in our own lives.Lord we just pray that in the name of Jesus. Amen.”

Well, lets have a look at Josephs story…let’s just begin and read the first few verses of Chapter 37 of the book of Genesis.Ok, it was written a few thousand years ago, but this story is a great story.Jacob who was Josephs dad, settled in the land where his father had lived as an alien, the land of Canaan.This is the story of the family of Jacob, “Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brothers. And the lad was with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives; and Joseph brought a bad report of them to his father.

Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age. Also he made him a tunic of many colors. But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peaceably to him.

Now Joseph had a dream, and he told it to his brothers; and they hated him even more. So he said to them, “Please hear this dream which I have dreamed: There we were, binding sheaves in the field. Then behold, my sheaf arose and also stood upright; and indeed your sheaves stood all around and bowed down to my sheaf.”

And his brothers said to him, “Shall you indeed reign over us? Or shall you indeed have dominion over us?” So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words.

Then he dreamed still another dream and told it to his brothers, and said, “Look, I have dreamed another dream. And this time, the sun, the moon, and the eleven stars bowed down to me.”

So he told it to his father and his brothers; and his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall your mother and I and your brothers indeed come to bow down to the earth before you?”

And his brothers envied him, but his father kept the matter in mind.”

So here we have this young Joseph, the name literally means, “The Lord has given me a son in my old age.”And Joseph was youngest of all the brothers and Jacob who is also called Israel, his dad, love Joseph more than all the other brothers.He was the favorite because he was the little one that was born in dads old age.And Jacob was the son of Isaac.Isaac was the son of Abraham, and here we are Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Joseph.God is doing an amazing thing.If you know the story.God first spoke to Abraham and promised him this land of Canaan, he did some amazing things in bringing Isaac into the world when Abraham was over 100.And then Jacob was born.And now Jacob has had what will ultimately be 12 sons.Who will be the heads of the tribes of Israel.And here is young Joseph.The youngest the favorite.His dad made him a long coat, the techicoloured dream coat as the musical called it.And his brothers just hated him.I mean, dad played favorites.Its not a good thing for fathers to play favorites.At least if they love one child different to another child, they need to keep it to themselves.And treat them equally.But here, Josephs dad didn’t. And God gave Joseph this dream that somehow was interpreted by people that Joseph would rise up above his parents, that Joseph would rise up above his brothers, that they would all bow down to him.

Is the dream his fault?Well, no. Is the coat his fault? Not at all.Is his fathers favoritism his fault?That’s not his fault.Maybe you could argue that Joseph was just a little immature in sharing those dreams and those stories with his brothers.He should have known that his brothers didn’t really like him anyway because he was dads favorite.But to share it, well, that was immaturity.But look at what happened next.

The brothers ganged up on him, they hated him so much, that they actually plotted to kill him.Let pick it up in chapter 37, verse 12, “Then his brothers went to feed their father’s flock in Shechem. And Israel said to Joseph, “Are not your brothers feeding the flock in Shechem? Come, I will send you to them.”

So he said to him, “Here I am.”

Then he said to him, “Please go and see if it is well with your brothers and well with the flocks, and bring back word to me.” So he sent him out of the Valley of Hebron, and he went to Shechem.

Now a certain man found him, and there he was, wandering in the field. And the man asked him, saying, “What are you seeking?”

So he said, “I am seeking my brothers. Please tell me where they are feeding their flocks.”

And the man said, “They have departed from here, for I heard them say, ‘Let us go to Dothan.’” So Joseph went after his brothers and found them in Dothan.

Now when they saw him afar off, even before he came near them, they conspired against him to kill him. Then they said to one another, “Look, this dreamer is coming! Come therefore, let us now kill him and cast him into some pit; and we shall say, ‘Some wild beast has devoured him.’ We shall see what will become of his dreams!”

But Reuben heard it, and he delivered him out of their hands, and said, “Let us not kill him.” And Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood, but cast him into this pit which is in the wilderness, and do not lay a hand on him”—that he might deliver him out of their hands, and bring him back to his father.

So it came to pass, when Joseph had come to his brothers, that they stripped Joseph of his tunic, the tunic of many colors that was on him. Then they took him and cast him into a pit. And the pit was empty; there was no water in it.

And they sat down to eat a meal. Then they lifted their eyes and looked, and there was a company of Ishmaelites, coming from Gilead with their camels, bearing spices, balm, and myrrh, on their way to carry them down to Egypt. So Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is there if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? Come and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother and our flesh.” And his brothers listened. Then Midianite traders passed by; so the brothers pulled Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. And they took Joseph to Egypt.

Then Reuben returned to the pit, and indeed Joseph was not in the pit; and he tore his clothes. And he returned to his brothers and said, “The lad is no more; and I, where shall I go?”

So they took Joseph’s tunic, killed a kid of the goats, and dipped the tunic in the blood. Then they sent the tunic of many colors, and they brought it to their father and said, “We have found this. Do you know whether it is your son’s tunic or not?”

And he recognized it and said, “It is my son’s tunic. A wild beast has devoured him. Without doubt Joseph is torn to pieces.” Then Jacob tore his clothes..”

Okay so Joseph was a bit immature in telling the story, but did he deserve all of that.Did he deserve to be sold into slavery? I don’t think so.Here he is, he is dads favorite.Dad treats him like the best.Because he is the youngest.And dad makes him this coat that obviously had some significance.And he has this dream from God.And he is betrayed by his brothers, he is sold for 20 shekels of silver.And dragged down to Egypt on the end of a rope.And ultimately we see a little later, we are not going to read the whole story, we see a little later he is sold at the slave market to a man called Potiphar, which means “dedicated to Ra” the sun God.So here is Potiphar who is a pagan, he is the chief of police. He is the chief executioner, his name itself is an offence to a Jew, because remember, Joseph and his family worship God.

And so what a fall.What a fall.From being dads favorite and being on top of the pile, to having your brothers turn against you.Plot to murder you.And then sell you into slavery, what, through circumstances and a bit of immaturity.

My experience is that other people around us rarely understand the promises God places in our hearts.You know here is this Joseph with the technicolour dream coat.He is set apart by his father, he is different, he is unique.He is not like his brothers and sisters.And then when God gives him a dream, when God gives us dreams, opposition is sure to follow.

The very people sometimes.That should be our most trusted friends.End up being our enemies.It can be hard, but it’s true.Have you experienced that?
God gives you a sense of something for your future. That God give you a sense of calling a sense of destiny.And you try and share that with other people around.And they don’t always get it.And sometimes people think, “well, if you are thinking that big, then if you are dreaming that big, you are arrogant.You must selfish if you are thinking that big.You think you are better than us.”Just like Joseph and his brothers.

The issue isn’t that God gives us a dream.The issue isn’t that people come against us when they should be supporting us.The $64 question is, “how do we respond?”What do we do with that? Well lets have a look at how Joseph responds.Again if you have your bible, flick over a page.To chapter 39,beginning at verse 1.“1 Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. And Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him down there. 2 The LORD was with Joseph, and he was a successful man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian. 3 And his master saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD made all he did to prosper in his hand. 4 So Joseph found favor in his sight, and served him. Then he made him overseer of his house, and all that he had he put under his authority. 5 So it was, from the time that he had made him overseer of his house and all that he had, that the LORD blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake; and the blessing of the LORD was on all that he had in the house and in the field. 6 Thus he left all that he had in Joseph’s hand, and he did not know what he had except for the bread which he ate.”This is a most profound passage.

Because is says that the Lord was with Joseph.And he prospered everything that Joseph touched, was successful.Let’s put ourselves in Josephs shoes for a minute.How do you think Joseph felt about being a slave to Potiphar?A killer, a chief of police, an Egyptian.Hurt, angry, betrayed, horrified?I think all of the above.And what a shocking outcome? And all because of his brothers.The people that should have loved him, the people that should have been close to him.The were the ones that betrayed him into this awful situation.But it is clear from what we just read there that this did not translate into a bad attitude.Because Potiphar made him the head of his household.If Potiphar had purchased this slave Joseph, and Joseph had been a trouble maker, and Joseph had rebelled, Joseph probably would have been beaten and executed.

But instead he ends up being the head of the household of pharaoh’s chief of police.When bad things happen to us, when life is unfair.Our most common response is to behave badly.Isn’t it?That’s what we want to do, we want to lash out, we want to blame someone.We want to criticize people.We want to be obstinate.We want to say, “I am not going to do this”. We rant and rave at the world. We sulk, we do all sorts of things.

When life is unfair to us we want to be unfair back to life.But it is clear that Joseph didn’t make that choice.The complete opposite.He used his gifts and talents.For the benefit of his master. He worked diligently, despite his circumstances, despite the hurt, humiliation.The loss, the pain.Then it says, “and God blessed him.”But it got even worse than this.It is one thing to be a slave and then to be set up as Potiphars head of household.But listen to what happens next. This would have been like the last nail in the coffin probably for you and me.Picking it up in verse s6 of chapter 39, “Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance.
7 And it came to pass after these things that his master’s wife cast longing eyes on Joseph, and she said, “Lie with me.”
8 But he refused and said to his master’s wife, “Look, my master does not know what is with me in the house, and he has committed all that he has to my hand. 9 There is no one greater in this house than I, nor has he kept back anything from me but you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?”
10 So it was, as she spoke to Joseph day by day, that he did not heed her, to lie with her or to be with her.
11 But it happened about this time, when Joseph went into the house to do his work, and none of the men of the house was inside, 12 that she caught him by his garment, saying, “Lie with me.” But he left his garment in her hand, and fled and ran outside. 13 And so it was, when she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and fled outside, 14 that she called to the men of her house and spoke to them, saying, “See, he has brought in to us a Hebrew to mock us. He came in to me to lie with me, and I cried out with a loud voice. 15 And it happened, when he heard that I lifted my voice and cried out, that he left his garment with me, and fled and went outside.”
16 So she kept his garment with her until his master came home. 17 Then she spoke to him with words like these, saying, “The Hebrew servant whom you brought to us came in to me to mock me; 18 so it happened, as I lifted my voice and cried out, that he left his garment with me and fled outside.”
19 So it was, when his master heard the words which his wife spoke to him, saying, “Your servant did to me after this manner,” that his anger was aroused. 20 Then Joseph’s master took him and put him into the prison, a place where the king’s prisoners were confined. And he was there in the prison.”

So his brothers turn against him, he ends up a slave.He ends up in Potiphars house.Things are looking just looking better for him, and all of a sudden, he gets accused of something he never did.And this young Joseph ends up in jail.Pretty tough life isn’t it.One step forward, two steps back.What was Josephs reaction to the temptation.Look at it in verse 9 of chapter 39, “How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” in the midst of all the idolatry in Egypt, the slavery, he clings to his God.

And it lands him in jail.At this point, chances are that you and I start to feel a little bit of doubt about God.Is it worth it?Does he care?Did he really call me to be here?“That is it, I have had enough”.What about Joseph how did he react?Well, lets have a look, “And he was there in the prison. 21 But the LORD was with Joseph and showed him mercy, and He gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. 22 And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph’s hand all the prisoners who were in the prison; whatever they did there, it was his doing. 23 The keeper of the prison did not look into anything that was under Joseph’s authority, because the LORD was with him; and whatever he did, the LORD made it prosper.” Now that sounds familiar doesn’t it.

Even in jail, a slave in jail.With no hope of release, no hope of a future.No hope of ever seeing his father or his mother or his brothers again.Joseph just kinda did what Joseph does.Which is to make friends with people and all of a sudden to work for them and to build influence with them and to do good things.Joseph knew something that the Psalmist, many, many years later, found some beautiful words for.When Psalm 139, when he wrote, “Where can I go from your Spirit.Where can I flee from your presence o God.If I ascend into heaven you are there.If I make my bed in the depths in you are there.If I take the wings of the morning and settle at the farthest limits of the sea, even there you hand shall lead me. And your right hand shall hold me fast” We believe that stuff when life is going well.But the moment things turn against us, what do we believe then?

If we could learn one thing from the story of Joseph, its this…no matter how bad life got, he believed.Now he knew that God was there and he acted accordingly.No matter what the people around him were doing.Do you get it?

When we want to behave badly.Because other people have behaved badly to us.God’s calling us.To behave as though God is in the place.“Oh I have tried that it doesn’t work”, well, lets flick on a little bit to chapter 41 of Genesis.

“Then it came to pass, at the end of two full years, that Pharaoh had a dream; and behold, he stood by the river. 2 Suddenly there came up out of the river seven cows, fine looking and fat; and they fed in the meadow. 3 Then behold, seven other cows came up…” and so on and so forth.Two years later, so Joseph is rotting in a prison for two years.And one day God does something.Pharaoh has a dream.About these cows coming up the Nile river and he doesn’t know what the dream is about.And so he goes to his soothsayers and says, “what does this dream mean?” and they say, “Well we don’t know”.And ultimately after a time, word finally gets to pharaoh, “there seems to be this really clever guy in jail who knows how to interpret dreams.”Two years, being trapped by circumstances that was so unfair, as to be beyond words.What did Joseph do?When God presented him with opportunity he used his gifts to bless other people.Despite his circumstances, despite how he felt.He blessed the warden, and he blessed two other men in jail with him.The former cup bearer and baker of pharaoh.It was ultimately the cup bearer who told pharaoh about this Joseph who was rotting in prison who could interpret dreams.

And God takes those situations that are so unjust and takes them, and uses them to bless Joseph.You see the spiritual principle emerging out of this?God has taken the trouble to preserve it up to 4,000 years, to bring it to you and to me today.God wants to bless us.And even when bad things happen to good people, God still wants to bless us.Now the story goes on to ultimately pharaoh calls Joseph before him.And Joseph interprets the dream correctly.He says, “look pharaoh, what this means, the seven lean cows are a period of famine.The seven fat cows are a period of great abundance.Now what’s going to happen in Egypt is that there is going to be seven years of plenty.And then there are going to be seven years of famine.And you need to put aside food during the plenty so you can feed the people during the famine.”

Pharaoh was so impressed by this that he takes Joseph, and makes him prime minister of Egypt.He sets Joseph over the whole country.With the task of administering the food during the time of the plenty.So that enough would be stored away for the huge time of famine.And Joseph does that, Joseph does it really, really well.You see it happened in Potiphars house.Joseph behaved well. He clearly had some administrative skills.It happens again in prison.He behaved well and he was put in charge of the prison.It happens again in pharaohs royal palace.And Joseph is promoted from slave, into prime minister.God is into accelerated promotion.

In 1 Peter Chapter 5 and verse 6, “Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God.And he will promote you in due season.”

“Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God.And he will promote you in due season.”See the promotion is linked to the humbling.The humbling no matter what the circumstance are.No matter how right or wrong they seem.No matter how well they suit you or me.God just wants us to keep going.And doing good and blessing other people.

And ultimately and we haven’t got time to go through the whole story today,Joseph is reunited with his father and his brothers.Because during the time of famine they come down and they are looking for food.And ultimately they recognise who this man is.It is the brother whom they had left and they sold into slavery.

Now listen to me, from the time that this young man had a dream.To the time that it was fulfilled, was a long time.Joseph was 17 when he had the dream.He was 30 when he became prime minister of Egypt.There is another 7 years of prosperity, and some time into the famine, his brothers came down, lets say 2 or 3 years.So from the time of the dream to the time of it’s fulfillment was 22 or 23 years.And when his brothers came down from Canaan to Egypt, they literally bowed down to the prime minister even when they didn’t know it was Joseph.

And so the dream of all those sheafs bowing down to his sheaf was fulfilled.22 or 23 years later.Feels like a long time for us.And in that time he has been sold into slavery, he has been in prison, he has been accused of things he didn’t do.He has been put in front of pharaoh to interpret a dream, that would have been scary for a Hebrew slave.And ultimately God blesses him.

There is a spiritual principle in all of this, that is best summed up in the new testament.If you again have a bible, flick over to Galatians, chapter 6, verse 7, “7Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature[a]will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. 9Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”

I believe that when we go through difficult times, like Joseph, God is giving us an opportunity to humble ourselves underneath His mighty hand.To not give up.To keep doing good, to keep plugging away.Just using the gifts that we have.Just using the abilities that we have.To do the things that we can do.And all the time God is in that place.

All the time God wants to bless us.

All the time God is waiting to promote us.

Bad things happen to good people.But God is in that place.

Our circumstances drag us down sometimes.The more we focus on them, the more we turn the pain, the difficulty, the risk, the fear over and over and over again in our mind, drag us down.

It’s just great that you can join us again for this weeks program of Christianityworks.Christianityworks is the Australasian ministry of Back to the Bible international.And we are passionate about sharing God’s word with you in a new relevant and exciting way.

I believe that as you listen to this message, your life will be changing by God’s love, god’s grace.And God’s power for each one of us in Jesus Christ.

Last week on Christianityworks we began a new series called, “When bad things happen to good people.”Because bad things do happen to good people.Maybe it has happened to you in the past.Maybe you are going through something right now and you think, “why is this things happening to me?You know I lead a pretty good life, I believe in God, I do the best I can.And all of a sudden, something bad happens to us.

In last weeks message we looked at Joseph, Joseph of technicoloured dream coat fame as it goes in the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, and we saw that Joseph went through one thing after another.He brothers got jealous of things so they sold him into slavery in Egypt.He is taken down to the slave market and he is sold to Potiphar, the chief of police in pharaohs police force.And there he has a reasonable life, but then Potiphars wife wrongly accuses him of doing something wrong, and he ends up in jail.And then he ends up in front of pharaoh to interpret a dream and before he knows it, he is the prime minister of Egypt.

Joseph went through some tough things.But somehow at each stage of his life he says, “Well, I am me and I will do what I do well.”And he did what he did well in the circumstances that he could, and it turns out that God was in that place.And God blessed Josephs attitude.

You know when things are going badly for us we just love to turn around and be nasty to people.We love to turn around and blame someone and have a bad attitude.And yell and scream and struggle and whinge and complain and mope, don’t we?That’s a natural reaction to when bad things happen to us in the middle of a good life.

Today we are going to pick up that theme of adversity again.Becauseit is a part of life.Sensing deep loss or deep pain even in one area of or lives, you know everything else in our life can be going well, and just one part of our life falls apart, maybe it’s health, maybe it’s work, maybe it’s family, maybe it’s a relationship, maybe it’s self esteem, maybe… who knows.There is an endless list.And even though the other parts of our lives are going well, that one hurt, that one pain, that one difficulty, that one adversity we are having in life, well, it just seems to dominate everything in us.When we look back in our lives we can probably see some of those times in our lives.And doubtless we will experience difficult times again.

Right now each one of us probably has 2 or 3 things in our lives that we just wish weren’t there.Some of us are in the deep loss and pain, maybe it is just a nagging hurt.And I have this radical idea that if we believe in Jesus, then we as God’s people should be able to handle those times, better than people who don’t.because after all like Joseph, we have God in those places with us.But the truth is often we don’t.and the reason is either we don’t know or don’t focus on what God has to say about the subject of adversity.

Today we are going to look at message called, “Where is God when you really need him.”Loss, pain, difficulty, adversity they are all normal parts of life.And some Christians say, “Well you know brother, if you have faith you won’t experience any of those.”But that plain isn’t true.Jesus promises us that we will experience them.He says, “In this world you will have tribulation.”He says, “If they persecuted me they will persecute you.”So this is not about saying, “we have the faith so that we don’t have bad experiences.” , because we will.This is about dealing the feeling.Dealing with the feeling of adversity in a Godly way, in a way that brings joy, peace, despite our circumstances.In a way that takes the experience of adversity and turns it into a growing experience.An experience that we look back on as a time of difficulty and blessing.

There was a time in my life where I went through enormous adversity and it was just an awful time.About ten years ago where everything in my life fell apart.And there is part of me that looks back on that and says, “You know, I wouldn’t wish those circumstances on my worst enemy.But there is another part of me, that say, “I wouldn’t swap those circumstances in my life for anything.”Because I see where I was torn apart.I see where the brokenness and the hurt was.And there was where experienced God’s love.That is where I experienced God’s healing.And somewhere deep inside me there is a scar there, but the scar that has been healed and touched by the hand of the living God.

And let me encourage you if you are traveling through adversity, or maybe one day when you do travel through adversity, I pray that the Holy Spirit would remind you of what we were talking about today.We can deal with it in a Godly way.And we can deal with it in a way so that one day it will become a blessing to us.Lets have a look at that if you have a bible, I would ask you to open it at Isaiah chapter 40. Isaiah is a good 2/3 way through the old testament.Isaiah chapter 40 is right in the middle of the book.It is one of my favorite chapters, maybe you have heard me speak of it many times before.Today we are going there in a bit of detail.

Now let us quickly recap on the history of Israel that brings us to this chapter of Isaiah.God first spoke to Abraham and called him out of the land of Ur.And called him to this land, this land called Canaan.And I promise this land to your children and your children’s children.And Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him as righteousness.And Abraham had a son called Isaac in his old age.Isaac had a son called Jacob.And Jacob had 12 sons one of whom was Joseph who we talked about last week.And these 12 sons became the heads of the tribes of Israel.That found themselves in Egypt because of the famine.And Israel grew into a mighty nation of around 1 million plus people.And God brought them out of Egypt because the were in slavery.And he parted the Red Sea and they wandered in the desert for forty years.And then God brought them across the Jordan into the promised land.

And God made them a promise, it was called a covenant.A covenant is an unbreakable promise made by God.He said, “If you obey me, if you worship me first, if you live by my laws, I will bless you.But if you disobey me, if you worship other Gods, I will curse you.”

Now the Israelites were just like you and me.They remembered the first part but they forgot the second part.They went off and worshipped other Gods.And they were disobedient, and God sent prophet, after prophet, after prophet to say, “if you don’t come back to me, I will punish you.”And Isaiah was one of those prophets.He was a stick in the mud, there were false prophets saying, “Don’t worry everything is ok. Have fun. Do what you want. “ and Isaiah stood up powerfully and he spoke of Gods judgment.He spoke of unthinkable calamity.And we saw that calamity happen.

If you go to the book of Jeremiah you see Babylon attacked Judah.Well who is Judah.There were 12 tribes of Israel 10 in the north and were actually called Israel, there were unfaithful and God virtually annihilated them.There were 2 tribes left Judah and Benjamin. They lived around Jerusalem.And so that southern part of the Israelite nation was referred to as Judah.They had been more faithful than the northern 10 tribes.But God said, “enough is enough.You have not worshiped me first, there has not been justice in the land, you have not looked after the poor.I am going to send judgment.”

So in 587bcwe see that the great and mighty Babylonian nation, the world power at the time, comes and destroys Jerusalem completely.It enslaves the remnant of Israel, Judah, into captivity in Babylon.It raises the temple to the ground, completely destroyed.Now remember this is the land, the land that God brought the nation of Israel into.This is the land where battle after battle after battle, by the Israelite people when they arrived.Battle after battle after battle was one by King David.God blessed them.And so when the temple was destroyed the place where God lived after all.And these people were enslaved and taken as captives back to Babylon, 500 miles to the east for 70 years as slaves.To the land of the Chaldaeans to the land of Ur it used to be called, where Abraham the father of the nation of Israel first came out of, it was like they had been taken back, right back to square one.

What did the people think?How did they feel when all of this happened?My hunch is they were probably wondering where is God?What’s happened?Has God lost his power?Has God forsaken us?Has God given up on us?What is going on we are in slavery?This should not be happening to us.We are God’s people we are Israel after all.Weeks went by, months went by.
And the people settled, and God encouraged them to.If you read Jeremiah chapter 29 it says, ” Go and build houses, go and plant gardens go and take wives.Go and sink the well for the city because we are going to be here for a while.And you are gong to be in slavery for 70 years.Because you didn’t listen to me.You didn’t worship me first.”

In this case Israel brought the calamity on itself.Don’t we do that sometimes too.Don’t’ we do stupid things that have consequences that kind of ruin our lives.Now sometimes other people do it to us.And sometimes its just circumstances.It’s always health or whatever.And just like Israel we get to that dark place, and we think, “Where is my God? Where is he doesn’t he careany more? Has he given up on me?What’s happened?”

Well, that’s where we are just as we begin Chapter 40 of the book of Isaiah. The first half of the book of Isaiah are the statements of judgment against Israel, against Judah against a whole bunch of other nations, that Isaiah got up and prophesied.Can’t imagine they were popular.Can’t imagine the false prophets gave them an easy time.Can’t imagine the people enjoyed having Isaiah around much.But he was faithful to God.And he prophesied.

But here in chapter 40 from that onwards, this is a prophecy written to the people that had already been put into exile in Babylon.This was prophecy of future, of hope, of love, of God being there.And if you look at the way, if you have abible, you will see the way that Isaiah chapter 40 is all wiggly and indented.Which means it was written in the form ofa poem with lilt and rhyme and rhythm and beauty and it begins…

“1 Comfort, comfort my people,
says your God.
2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and proclaim to her
that her hard service has been completed,
that her sin has been paid for,
that she has received from the LORD’s hand
double for all her sins.”

It’s a love poem.It is artfully and beautifully written.And it is a picture of a triumphant God. Coming to get his people, let’s read…

“3 A voice of one calling:
“In the desert prepare
the way for the LORD ;
make straight in the wilderness
a highway for our God.

4 Every valley shall be raised up,
every mountain and hill made low;
the rough ground shall become level,
the rugged places a plain.

5 And the glory of the LORD will be revealed,
and all mankind together will see it.
For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

6 A voice says, “Cry out.”
And I said, “What shall I cry?”
“All men are like grass,
and all their glory is like the flowers of the field.

7 The grass withers and the flowers fall,
because the breath of the LORD blows on them.
Surely the people are grass.

8 The grass withers and the flowers fall,
but the word of our God stands forever.”

9 You who bring good tidings to Zion,
go up on a high mountain.
You who bring good tidings to Jerusalem,
lift up your voice with a shout,
lift it up, do not be afraid;
say to the towns of Judah,
“Here is your God!”

10 See, the Sovereign LORD comes with power,
and his arm rules for him.
See, his reward is with him,
and his recompense accompanies him.

11 He tends his flock like a shepherd:
He gathers the lambs in his arms
and carries them close to his heart;
he gently leads those that have young.”

Isaiah is speaking to bunch of confused, depressed, exiled, salves.Who feels like God’s promise was broken.Who feels like the promised land was robbed from them.And God is saying, “Enough is enough.70 years in exile is enough, I am coming to bring you home.”

A real sharp contrast, if you look verses 3-5 it talks about the triumph and the glory of God. Then in verse 6 and 7 the whole thing of flower in the field and the grass withers and the flowers fade.It talks about temporal circumstances.And verse 8 summarises it all, “8 The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.”Isn’t it true that when we are going through difficult circumstances, when we like Judah, are exiled in Babylon.When the whole world has turned to custard, we focus on our circumstances, we focus on the here and now.We focus on all this hard painful stuff that is going on.

And Isaiah is saying something.He is saying, “God is in this place with you.The God of power the God of might.The God of glory and the God of love.The God of tender beautiful love will gather his sheep together. Will lead the mother sheep gently.

We want to focus on the pain and the circumstances.And here through Isaiah God is saying, “No, focus on me.Look at me because I am in this place with you.”

Lets read on from verse 12,
“12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand,
or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens?
Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket,
or weighed the mountains on the scales
and the hills in a balance?

13 Who has understood the mind [d] of the LORD,
or instructed him as his counselor?

14 Whom did the LORD consult to enlighten him,
and who taught him the right way?
Who was it that taught him knowledge
or showed him the path of understanding?

15 Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket;
they are regarded as dust on the scales;
he weighs the islands as though they were fine dust.

16 Lebanon is not sufficient for altar fires,
nor its animals enough for burnt offerings.

17 Before him all the nations are as nothing;
they are regarded by him as worthless
and less than nothing.

18 To whom, then, will you compare God?
What image will you compare him to?

19 As for an idol, a craftsman casts it,
and a goldsmith overlays it with gold
and fashions silver chains for it.

20 A man too poor to present such an offering
selects wood that will not rot.
He looks for a skilled craftsman
to set up an idol that will not topple.

21 Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
Has it not been told you from the beginning?
Have you not understood since the earth was founded?

22 He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth,
and its people are like grasshoppers.
He stretches out the heavens like a canopy,
and spreads them out like a tent to live in.

23 He brings princes to naught
and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing.

24 No sooner are they planted,
no sooner are they sown,
no sooner do they take root in the ground,
than he blows on them and they wither,
and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff.

25 “To whom will you compare me?
Or who is my equal?” says the Holy One.

26 Lift your eyes and look to the heavens:
Who created all these?
He who brings out the starry host one by one,
and calls them each by name.
Because of his great power and mighty strength,
not one of them is missing.

27 Why do you say, O Jacob,
and complain, O Israel,
“My way is hidden from the LORD;
my cause is disregarded by my God”?

28 Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.

29 He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.

30 Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;

31 but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.”

What a beautiful picture of a sovereign, powerful, mighty God.To these Israelites who were stuck in slavery and all they could see was how powerful Babylon was, the world power, THE world power.They had no hope of escape.They had no hope of getting back to Jerusalem, of getting back to the promised land, the land that was promised to their father Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.And God comes along and says, “look at the earth, I made this.Look a the heavens I made this.Look at the stars, the Babylonians worshiped the stars, and God says, ‘just look at the stars for a minute.”

Have you ever looked at the stars? You know when you go to somewhere where there is really clear skies.There is no light from the city, you look up at the stars and you see the milky way and you think, “Wow, look at all those stars.”Do you know that you can only see about 5,000 stars with the naked eye.You can see 200 billion stars with powerful telescopes.But as far as we know there are 10 to the power of 21 stars.If you are not a mathematician that is a lot of stars!

The largest star would encompass Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.The largest star has the diameter of 3 billion kilometers.It would 70 years to fly that diameter of distance in a space craft.The Babylonians worshiped the stars and god said, “look at them, look at all the stars.I put them there.Every night they march out, left, right, left, right and stop because I tell them to.And I hold them there and I know each of them by name.That is how big I am.And you look at your circumstances and you look at Babylon, the guards and the people and you look at them and think they are big. Get over it.I am much bigger, much more powerful, much more sovereign, much more able to be with you in your difficulties and your trials than anyone could ever can.

Lift up you eyes to the stars, God put them there.And that same God is the God that is with you and me.When we are in our Babylon.When we are going through our difficult situation.See what he says there in verse 27 of chapter 40 (Isaiah)…

“27 Why do you say, O Jacob,
and complain, O Israel,
“My way is hidden from the LORD;
my cause is disregarded by my God”?

28 Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth…”

He is sovereign, he transcends everyone, every person, every act.Every star the whole universe is under the sovereignty of God.Then he becomes all tender, he says he will feed his flock like a shepherd.He will gather his lambs in his arms and for you to wait on him.Isn’t it hard to wait, to wait in difficult circumstances.And it says, “for you who wait on him, he will renew your strength.they will run and not grow weary, you will not faint.”All in the middle of that because God is here.

Peace is trusting in the sovereignty of God.Bad things do happen to good people.Where’s God?Right here.

Let’s go back to that contrast for a minute.Who God is lifts you and me up.Our circumstances drag us down sometimes.But we just focus on our circumstances, the more we turn our focus on them, the more we pain and the difficulty, the risk and the fear, over and over in our minds… You know how we toss and turn in the night, and we just churn around.The more we do that the more our circumstances drag us down.And God is saying, “Lift your eyes.Look up, look at me.Let me lift you up out of your circumstances.If we have a mindset that is downcast, if we have a mindset that just looks at our circumstances and not at God, that pattern in our mind is how we approach our circumstances.

We can either approach them as people of fear or people who believe in the sovereign God.The same God who brought Israel out of Babylon and restored back to Jerusalem and rebuilt the city, and made it bigger and better than it was before they left… Where’s God?Where’s God in the middle of all of it?Look at verse 9: “”Here is your God!”your God is “here”.

See they thought he was lying dead somewhere in the rubble of their temple in Jerusalem. They thought he had deserted them, they thought he had been defeated by Babylon, that was the worlds mindset, “C’mon your guy isn’t that good,the world is here and now, it is what you can see.The world is your circumstances.It’s what the world wants to tell us.”

And Isaiah says, “No, because it doesn’t matter what the world shouts at you… It doesn’t matter what claims the Babylonians make about themselves… they are just like dust on the scales compared God.They are just like dust.Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand.Who has marked of the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in the measure.Who has weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in the balance.The answer is only God.”Because he made them

The Israelites when they fled from Egypt through the Red Sea and they spent 40 years in the desert, the presence of God went with them.They built a tent a tabernacle and God’s presence hovered over that tent for 40 years.By day it was a huge cloud, by night a pillar of fire.God traveled on that journey with them for forty years.Then through the leader Joshua, he led them into the promise land and they fought battle after battle, after battle, and took the promised land.And then through kings like David he blessed them again.And God is saying, “I did that, I can do that again.I will be here for you again because I am and I love you”.

You know sometimes we forget the stories of what God has done in our lives.When you and I look back, if you are someone who has walked with Jesus for more than 5 minutes you will be able to look back on your life and see when God has come and rescued you out of the pit.I can.Time and time again, I have more stories in my short ten years as a Christian, than I could spend telling the next 4 hours. We need to believe God is in this place.We need to look back on what God has done in our past. And just like Israel who had looked back on all that God has done in their past.

Because Gods promise is this, he is bigger, more powerful, more able than anyone, or anything, or any circumstance that confronts you or me.He is gentle, he is loving, he is here and he has poured his spirit out on you and me.If we are people who believe in Jesus we have the presence of God dwelling in us.That is his promise, he never leaves us, he never forsakes us, he never flees from us, he is always in this place with us.And his heart is to bless us.His heart is to take us forward, his heart is to give us a future and a hope.

1 Peter 5 verse 7, says, “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.What are you going through you life at the moment that you wish just wasn’t there?That you seem powerless to deal with.Right in the middle of that thing God is in that place with you.

You may not know the name Mary Stevenson, Mary was born in a poor family.She lost her mother when she was 7 years old during the depression in the 1930’s.in 1936 during one of her real downtimes Mary was locked out of her home, and she saw her neighbours cat leaving footprints in the snow.She prayed, she pleaded with God, she said, “God guide me” and she was rewarded by penning these words that most of us know, the words to a poem called footprints.She was only 14.She was 14 when she wrote this.Locked out of her house, he mother is dead, it’s snowing, she writes these words…

“One night I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord.
Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky.
In each scene I noticed footprints in the sand.
Sometimes there were two sets of footprints,
other times there were one set of footprints.

This bothered me because I noticed
that during the low periods of my life,
when I was suffering from
anguish, sorrow or defeat,
I could see only one set of footprints.

So I said to the Lord,
“You promised me Lord,
that if I followed you,
you would walk with me always.
But I have noticed that during the most trying periods of my life
there have only been one set of footprints in the sand.
Why, when I needed you most, you have not been there for me?”

The Lord replied,
“The times when you have seen only one set of footprints in the sand,
is when I carried you.”

It is a beautiful poem.And it echoes exactly what Isaiah is saying here in chapter 40.

During those most difficult times in life, during those times when you no one else can do or say anything that makes a difference, during those times when it feels like God has deserted us, especially at those times God is in that place with us.

Where is God when you need him?God is here. Now. For you and for me.

The only difference between courage and cowardice is often about 20 sec.Fear isn’t the opposite of courage, courage involves fear.

Hi I’m Berni Dymet, it’s just great that you can join us again for this weeks program of Christianityworks.Christianityworks is the Australasian ministry of Back to the Bible International and we area passionate about sharing God’s word with you in a new relevant and an exciting way.I believe that as you listen to this message your life will be changed by God’s love, His love, His grace, His power in Jesus Christ.

Over these last few weeks on Christianityworks we have been working our way through a series called, “When bad things happen to good people.”Because bad things do happen to good people.So a few weeks ago we looked at the story of Joseph in the last half of the book of Genesis.And Joseph was a man that had a lot of bad things happen in his life but somehow when they happened he just kept living his life, doing what he does and doing as well as he could and God just kept blessing him.

One of the things I think we need to learn is that when things are going badlyaround us, we just have to keep on being us.We just have to be us, we just have to keep on, keeping on.And ultimately God blesses that.And last week we looked at the whole question of Where is God when you really need him.And we saw in the story of the nation of Israel from Isaiah chapter 40, again in the Old Testament, we saw that despite the fact that God let bad things happen to them which were consequences to the things they did wrong,he was a powerful, loving transcendent God.A God that put all the stars in the heaven, and yet was there to shepherd them and to love them.And in the middle of circumstances said“Look at whom I am, I am here for you.I am here to love you. “ And today we are going to build on that theme.

There is a beautiful old hymn called “Take time to be holy”and it begins with the words, “Take time to be holy, be calm in your soul”.And I just wonder whether one of the things we need to come to grips with when bad things are happening to us and bad things are happening around us, is to come back to this beautiful phrase, “be calm in your soul.”

One of the things I see a lot in my travels is Christians who panic. You know people who say “I believe in Jesus Christ, “I believe that he died for me an rose again, and he’s my Lord and he’s my saviour…” and yet when bad things are happening to those very same people, you would kind of expect from the outside looking in that these people would have some faith to fall back on, some, I don’t know, some understanding of a faithful and loving God.And yet it’s true that so often these people that say, “I am a Christian” are also the same people who end up panicking.

You think your life is going in one direction and then, “BANG” the rug is pulled out from under you.Or you think, “Ah maybe I got it wrong. Maybe God is punishing me, maybe God’s forgotten all about me, maybe… I don’t know.”

Have you ever seen the show Mr. Bean?It’s a wonderful British comedy where Mr. Bean is played by Rowan Atkinson.And when Mr. Bean panics he runs around in little circles with his hands sticking out.And I think of people sometimes , “man, you look like Mr. Bean. What’s going on in your life?”

We can be like a rudderless ship in a stormy ocean.Today I would like to put the rudder back on.Because the rudder for our lives is the word of God.The rudder is what God says about our circumstances.And we are going to have a look at a beautiful story, a story about a man called Moses and another man called Joshua.Because this story, it’s a narrative, it’s like reading a novel.Except in this case it is not just something made up, but something that actually happened.This book which begins at the end of Deuteronomy and rolls onto the beginning of the book of Joshua.So these are early books in the old testament.And if you have a Bible, go and grab it, because you will need it at Deuteronomy chapter 34.

This story really tells us something.Not so much about the men,not so much about Moses or Joshua, what it shows us is how God operates.It shows us God’s faithfulness in action.Because you and I are not like Moses, we are not like Joshua.But Joshua’sGod is our God.So this is a story as we go through this story about God working in peoples lives.Not so much about the men involved in the story.

Moses was probably one of the greatest leaders the nation of Israel ever had.And he was the one who was born as one of the Israelites in exile under Pharaoh’s command.And he was a baby who though a series of miraculous circumstances made his way through the poor downtrodden, slaves called the Hebrews, into Pharaoh’s house.He grew up in Pharaoh’s house almost as one of Pharaoh’s own sons.But then he murdered an Egyptian and he was so afraid that he ran into the desert and there he was until his 80^th year. A burnt old man in the back of the desert, living out his life in fear.And then God called him, dragged him kicking and screaming and said, “I have chosen you to go back to Pharaoh and for you to give pharaoh the new that I want you to let my people go.”And if you know the story of Moses, Moses went back, kind of reluctantly, he really didn’t want to do it.But he went to see pharaoh and he said, “God wants you to let his people go.”And pharaoh mocked him and laughed at him so through Moses God sent 10 plagues against the Egyptians, culminating in the death of all their first born sons.And ultimately that convinced pharaoh to let the people go.

So Moses led the Israelites our of Egypt through the Red Sea, parting the Red Sea.And then for forty years he led his people around in the wilderness.They were on a trip to the promise land and the promise land was only 11 or 12 days walk from Egypt actually.And yet because they grumbled and grumbled and complained and were ungrateful lot, God just kept them in the desert for forty years until they were ready to go into the promise land.Which is the nation of Israel as we know it today.And when God got angry with his people and he wanted to destroy them because they were grumbling against him so much, Moses fell on his face and pleaded with God.And yet even though he was such a wonderful leader, he was so faithful, he was so good, he led them through the desert right towards the end of this forty years, he lost his temper just once.And God punishes him, God decided “Moses you are not going to cross into the promise land, you will see it, but you will won’t be able to cross into the promise land.I won’t let you.”

And we pick it up here in the book of Deuteronomy, now the book of Deuteronomy is an interesting one because the law the Hebrew law, was given in the books that proceed Deuteronomy.In the book of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers, that sort of contains the law that was handed down through Moses.And Deuteronomy literally means the second giving of the law.The book of Deuteronomy by and large is Moses last speech to the nation of Israel before he dies.It is the second giving of the laws, a summary of the law, Moses goes through and summarises things that God has said.

And we see here in the last chapter of the book of Deuteronomy God’s judgment on Moses.“Then Moses climbed Mount Nebo from the plains of Moab to the top of Pisgah, across from Jericho. There the LORD showed him the whole land—from Gilead to Dan, all of Naphtali, the territory of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the western sea, the Negev and the whole region from the Valley of Jericho, the City of Palms, as far as Zoar. Then the LORD said to him, “This is the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob when I said, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ I have let you see it with your eyes, but you will not cross over into it.” It’s kinda tough.

Here is Moses, done a fantastic job, remember he took up the job when he was 80 years old, he was an old man.So over the last 40 years till the age of 120 he’s been leading this ungrateful, grumbling bunch of people through the desert and protecting them, even from God’s vengeance.Crying out for them on their behalf.He does some wonderful things.

Yet here he dies, pick up in verse 5 of chapter 34 of Deuteronomy, “And Moses the servant of the LORD died there in Moab, as the LORD had said. He buried him in Moab, in the valley opposite Beth Peor, but to this day no one knows where his grave is. Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died, yet his eyes were not weak nor his strength gone. The Israelites grieved for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days, until the time of weeping and mourning was over.”

Why? What’s God doing here?You know Israel has been wandering through the desert for forty years.Getting ready to cross into the promised land, to cross over the Jordan, and they all knew that there were battles ahead.There were people living in the promise land, there were wars to fight and things to win.And Moses dies.It’s not because he was tired, we read there his eyes were fine, his strength was fine.He dies and they bury him in an unmarked grave.And if you read about him a little bit further on in verses 10-12 it says this about him, “Since then, no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face, who did all those miraculous signs and wonders the LORD sent him to do in Egypt—to Pharaoh and to all his officials and to his whole land. For no one has ever shown the mighty power or performed the awesome deeds that Moses did in the sight of all Israel.”

Everything is going fine.Moses slips up just once and God pulls the plug on this great leader.What’s gong on.Well the promise land, the land that God would give to Israel, had always been God’s idea.It was God’s blessing for Israel, God promised it a long time before to Abraham and to his son and to his son.And only, only God, takes us into the promise land.Not Moses, not a man, not wealth, not circumstances, not other gods but the God of the promise the God of the covenant.The God who made the oath with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob.And unless Israel should ever say that Moses did this thing, Moses brought us into the promise land, lest they should ever revere Moses before God, because of his might deeds and terrifying displays of power.God acts sovereign and graciously and takes him at that point.

In fact if you just flick over the page the thing continue on, straight on in the first chapter of Joshua.List to what God says, “After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, the LORD said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ aide: “Moses my servant is dead.”You see God didn’t reject Moses, in a beautiful statement “Moses, my servant is dead”.Now if you or I were in the middle of all of that we would be saying, “Well what lousy timing, couldn’t you have just forgiven him.Well he were are on the threshold of the promise land, all these battle lie ahead of us, we need our leader, we trust him, we know him, he knows us.This is a scary time.”They have to take the promise land.They have to prepare for invasion, they send spies.They take Jericho, battle after battle after battle.And God right before that all begins takes away the leader that they all knew and trusted.

Just when they needed their captain most, the coach takes him off the field.Have you ever had that happen in life?It feels like the rug is pulled out from underneath us.We know something good is happening.We see something good ahead and in the middle of all that… something bad happens.Something we didn’t expect, something that unsettles us.Something that makes us afraid.And then we run around panicking like Mr. Bean.Questioning, you know, “maybe God has forsaken me, may God has forgotten me, maybe I got it wrong, maybe I didn’t hear God right? “

As though somehow God isn’t even in control.Do you see how stupid that is, do you see how short sighted we are.God has been leading these people through the desert all this time and when Moses died when they lost their leader, there would have been a sense of panic and fear.Because what they saw was Moses.Many of them put their trust in Moses, and by taking Moses away, God is saying, “No, no I am going to take you into the promise land.Put your trust in me not in a man.”Put your trust in me, not in the circumstances that you see around.Not in money, not in career, not in human relationships. Trust me.Because everything else will come and go, everything else is fickle.”You might say to me, “Well hang on, human relationships are very important.” And they are.The relationship that I have with my wife is very important.But she can wake up tomorrow and discover that like Moses I am dead.I could wake up tomorrow and discover exactly the same.We don’t know what is going to happen tomorrow.You don’t know what is going to happen tomorrow.And so here is a discontinuity.Something the people wouldn’t have expected.That they wouldn’t have wanted.Where God graciously and lovingly takes Moses away and refocuses them and says, “I am going to take you into the promise land”

What was God’s purpose with Moses and the promised land.I think to show his Glory.To show his sovereign,to make sure Israel understands that this gift comes from the heart of God and not from the hand of Moses.And to do that in your life and my life.God will sovereignty create or use whatever circumstances he chooses, why? Because he is God, because he can.It is his right.He will, he loves us, he wants us to learn to trust him and not in our physical things that your or I can see.As scary as sometimes…

I was talking to a man just the other week.He is a leader in ministry.He leads a very large and well know ministry.And that ministry is having some real struggles at the moment. It continues to beautiful things in the lives of many people.But there are just a couple of issues that are causing enormous struggles.And he was saying to me, “you know, why is this happening.God’s doing so many good things through the ministry.Yet we are having these struggles.Doesn’t that sound a little bit like Israel losing Moses as their leader?And having to get to get to grips with the 2IC Joshua.Would he have what Moses had?Would he have the same anointing?Would he still be able to do all the things that Moses did?

Adversity is a stage set ready for God’s glory to burst forth.Let me say that again. Adversity is a stage set ready for God’s glory to burst forth.You don’t believe me, flick over to Joshua chapter 1, lets take a look.Let’s pick it up again right at the beginning, at that book of Joshua.“After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, the LORD said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ aide: “Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them—to the Israelites. I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates—all the Hittite country—to the Great Sea on the west. No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

Go and take the promise land.Go Joshua go!Take the promise land.I know there are people there, I know the Hittites are there, I know their armies are there, I know that Jericho has to be taken.But I promise this land to Abraham.I promised it to Isaac and Jacob.And now I am promising that I will be with you as you cross over into this land.

Let me ask you a question.What is your promise land look like?In one sense it’s the same as mine.My promise land is Jesus.My promise land is the wonderful life that I have through the forgiveness that I have in Jesus Christ.My promise land is the eternal life that I have, through what Jesus did for me on the cross.If you believe in Jesus you have that promise land too.

And if you haven’t yet taken the step.If you haven’t prayed that prayer that says, “Lord, I’ve heard about Jesus and I want to accept you as my God.I turn away from everything, I put you first in my life and forgive me for all that I have done wrong. From today forward I want to be one of you people.I want to be a Christian.If you haven’t prayed that prayer, pray it now.I would encourage you because Jesus is our promised land.The son of God is peace and His joy and His love and His grace.The riches of life in him is just awesome.So in one sense we have the same promised land yet in another sense it is entirely different.

Who are you?What do you delight in?How do you prosper?What are you good at?What are you called to do?The answer to those questions will be entirely different in your life than in my life.My lot in life is written down before the foundations of the earth were laid.Your lot in life, God’s plan for your life, was written in His book before the foundations of the universe were laid.Is that awesome or what!

And it’s so important that we understand this, because unless we do we will never become in our souls God has individual hand crafted plan for your life.A plan that was birth deep, deep in his heart before the world began.

And things come against us.Jesus promises tribulation and joy.He promise rejection and peace beyond all understanding.Israel was promised a land flowing with milk and honey.Jesus promised a life with super abundance and yet Israel had to fight battle to take what God had promised for them.Adversity is a part of that plan.But it cannot, cannot rob you of God’s plan for your life.

Lets just read on, in verses 5 and 6 of the first chapter of Joshua, “No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.
“Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them. Be strong and very courageous…”Now twice here and in fact a bit later a third time, God says to Joshua, “I am giving you an amazing job.You are going to be in charge of the whole shooting match.”You are going to take the promised land that God had God had promised to these peoples ancestors.But I want you to be strong and courageous, be strong and very courageous.And later on he says, “be very strong and very courageous.”Why is it that God felt that he had to say that three times.Do you think that Joshua might just have been having a few misgivings.Do you think that Joshua was going, “I don’t know if I can do this, I don’t know if this is me.Look at all those armies and cities and things that we have to take.I don’t know.”God said look, “I have already have given you this land.God has used past tense.“Go in and take the land that I have already given you.”Now when we are standing on this side of Jordan looking over the land and God says, “I have already given you this land.” You know, It’s easy for God to say.It is really easy for God to say, but poor old Josh is standing here on the other side of the Jordan looking at that and all that he can see is the battle that he will have to fight.All that he can see is the people that have spent the last forty years grumbling in the desert.And God comes along and says, “No, no, this is my plan.This is my promise.I have already given you all this land.From here to the Euphrates , all over it is yours.Now be strong and courageous.”

So is God saying to Joshua, “You can do what you like?”No not at all.If you go back and look at verse 4.“Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates—all the Hittite country—to the Great Sea on the west. No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life.”So God sets boundaries to the plan.God sets boundaries to the promise.Joshua couldn’t take lands outside of that.Because God wasn’t there.God hadn’t promised, God hadn’t given that.God had given Israel this plot of dirt.A land flowing with milk and honey.

What he is really saying to Joshua, “If you walk in my purposes, if you walk in my promise, if you walk in my promise, if you walk in my plan in the life of Israel, then no one will stand against you.And I believe God is saying exactly that thing to you and to me today.Just as God had a plan for Israel, God has a plan for me and God has a plan for you.Doesn’t look anything like Israel’s plan.Doesn’t look anything like Israel promise.But there is a promised land, a life in Jesus Christ for you and for me, to live in an amazing abundance.

And what God has ordained for your life no one else can take away.What God has ordained for my life no one else can take away.In the book of 2 Corinthians chapter 4, I think it is, Paul writes, “That we walk by faith and not by sight.”And so often we stand on this side of the hill.And all we can see is the battles that we have to fight, up over the top.And God says to us, “On the other side of the hill is my promise.On the other side of that hill is my plan. On the other side of that hill is my blessing.But you and I are on this side of the hill and we can only see the battles and the climb and all the tings that are around us.Let me take you back to the tense in verse 3, “I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses.”So while they were on this side of the Jordan, before they crossed over, while we are on this side of the hill, before we climb over, God promise is ,”I have already given you, that which I have planned for you.”Faith calls things that aren’t as though they were.There’s sometimes the promised land will include physical things, it will involve physical things, or maybe the promised land is a heart for ministry.Or maybe the promised land is a relationship, maybe it is a spiritual leap or insight that bring you closer to God,Maybe it is all of those things.Living an abundant life in Jesus.Invariably there will be battles.There will be set backs.There will be disappointments.There will be scary prospects along the way.

So what do we do with those things?How do we handle them?Let’s pick up again from verse 7, “Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.”

How do we handle this promise?When the promise has birth pains, like a child coming into the world. You know, that is a painful process for mum.It is a painful process for babes.But there is such blessing at the end of it.But when we are living through the birth pangs of God’s promises for our life, be strong.Be courageous.Don’t trust in Moses, don’t trust in Joshua, trust in your God.

And then God says, “Meditate on my word day and night.Get it into you, eat it, chew it, digest it. Let my word and will become a part of the very fabric of who you are.”And then it says, “Don’t let this book depart from your mouth.”What he is really saying is “don’t get rid of it.Don’t let it go.Hang on to it.You are going to need courage.You are going to need My word.You are going to need My wisdom.”

The only difference between courage and cowardice is often about 20 seconds.Fear isn’t the opposite of courage.Courage involves fear.Stick that on your fridge.As I was with Moses so I will be with you.Go stick this on your fridge.As I was with Moses so I will be with you, I will not fail you.I will never forsake you.Therefore, in other words, because I am your God.Look at verse 6, “Therefore be strong and courageous, because you know that I will never leave you or forsake you.”

When we are struggling and when we are going through hard times,it feels like God is not there.That is when our faith grows.That is when we hold onto the promise of God.God says “I will never, never leave you or forsake you.”

And at the end of the day, you know, the only person on this planet that can rob me of God’s plans for me, is me.And the only person on this planet that can rob you of God’s plans for you, is you.

It’s a scary thought.Because when we depart from God’s plan.We end up living out the consequences.And maybe that is you.Maybe you know that in your life right now.Here’s the good news, God has got a grace.God is a God that forgives, that sees his plans come to fruition.Even when we fail as long as we turn back to him.If we seek after him, and his righteousness, all the other stuff will follow.It may not happen overnight, but it will happen.

When you are going through difficult times, sometimes it’s the birth pangs of God’s promises.And when it is…be very strong, be very courageous and because you know that you know that your God is with you and will never forsake you, you can have the peace and the joy to know that his promises will happen in your life.

Be calm in your soul.

The amazing thing that happen in the lives of other people through me, its not me. It’s God. The amazing thing that happen in the lives of other people through you, it’s not you, it’s God through you.

This week we are going to go on with the last message in the series when bad things happen to good people. Because you know, bad things do happened to good people and when they do happen to us it can be a real time of struggle can’t it. Particularly for someone who says, “Well I believe in Jesus”. Great, you know you place your faith in God, you place your faith in Jesus, but yet when it is hard, when it is tough, when you see things happening around you, you think, “Where is Jesus, where is God. Why are these things happening to me?”

I received an email recently from a man in his late fifties, who’s brother had recently been committed in the supreme court for sexual assault of a minor. And he sent this email out saying, “Look you may see this in the news, but, just to remind you it’s not me, it’s my brother. Its really sad.” And I through, “The poor bloke”. Just imagine the family, the curve ball straight to the solar plexus, out of the blue. Can you image. But in a sense, that’s life. It just seems to be going so well some days and then something happens.

I remember when my son was 2 years old, I had just boiled some water in the microwave. And I was just taking this boiling water out of the microwave and he reached up and in a split second he hit the microwave door and I had boiling water down my face and down his shoulder. I mean everything was fine, it was the normal morning, just getting up doing normal things. And BANG! This thing happens.

I was a reading a newspaper article recently on a plane, about the Dalai Lama from Tibet, he’s just written a book called “The art of happiness – a handbook for living.” And this article in the paper was saying, he is the worlds greatest spiritual leader and it quoted him, “Whether one believes in religion or not, whether one believes in this religion or that religion, the very purpose of our lives is happiness. The very emotion of our live is towards happiness.” The question is, “Is he right?”

I mean, what do you think? I remember a few years ago, my daughter given for her birthday by one of our sons, a sort of a flower with a happy smiling face. It was a cloth flower in a flower pot, and when you clapped your hands the thing started dancing. And it would sing, “You are my sunshine, my only sunshine..” It was actually really cute and it made us all smile and every time we walked past it we would clap our hands and the little thing would dance, and it would sing, “You are my sunshine…” But even though it made us happy, even though it made us smile, did it help? I mean it was there today, gone tomorrow. It was kind of a symbol for me of happiness, because happiness is characterized by good luck and good fortune. It’s about what is going on around us, its about having circumstances and people and things around us, that are all for us. That are all making us happy on the inside. So happiness to me is something that happens from the outside – in. In a sense, it’s circumstantial. Where is happiness when your brother ends up in court accused of pedophilia? Where’s happiness when your wife walks out on you? Where’s happiness when you child dies? Where’s happiness when you find yourself bankrupt or a friend stabs you in the back. Do you get it?

I don’t think life is about happiness at all. And yet we have people who say, “I am a Christian, I believe in Jesus, I believe in God. I put my faith in him and even a Christian can be programmed by the worlds thinking. Because the pursuit of happiness is such a big deal on this earth today. Everyone and everything seems to be geared towards what the Dalai Lama was talking about, the pursuit of happiness. And you see Christians believers in Jesus go chasing after happiness… I am not saying happiness in itself a bad thing, but if it becomes the objective of our life, it becomes like a little tin god. Like an idol. And it’s elusive, it’s a bit like “Monty Pythons, The holy grail.” It never really happens.

Well let’s look at the promises of Jesus. Did he promise us happiness? In John’s gospel chapter 16 and verse 33 he said this, “In this world you will have tribulation.” And the word tribulation literally means, “Pressure that squeezes the life out of you.” Of all the people listening to my voice right now, if we could see each other, and if I could say, “Stick you hands up right now anyone who doesn’t have at least one of those sorts of pressures in their lives right now.” I would be surprised if any hands were not up at all. Because we all have pressure points in our lives, that sort of squeeze the life out of us. happiness under those circumstances is many respects a useless concept. It’s an escapist concept, it says, “Look, I know I have pressures around me, but I will try and get other things around me to compensate for those. I’ll try and put other things round the outside of me that make me happy. Maybe I am unhappy in my marriage relationship so, I’ll buy a jet ski.”

You might say, “No one would do that.” I know someone who has done that. People do that, they think that they can spend money and that’ll make their marriage better. But just like that little flower that my daughter got, with the batteries that would sing, “You are my sunshine, my only sunshine…” one day the batteries run out. Now what do you do when the batteries run out. What do you do when the circumstances change and all of a sudden life doesn’t seem very happy at all. The question is, “How do you cope? How do I cope?” Is there some other way of living my life?

Well, as well as tribulations, Jesus promised two other things. Complete joy and complete peace. Just before he was crucified he said to his disciples, “Everything I have said to you, everything I have done, all of these things I have said, so that my joy – the joy of God, will be complete in you. “ The complete joy of God and at a time when his disciples were under enormous pressure and fear for their lives, in fear for Jesus life. They were about to see him flogged and crucified. He said, “I have said all of these things to you so that my joy would be complete in you.” Hmmm… that’s not a bad things to say when bad things happen to good people. And he also said this, “My peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. “ And not in some sort of escapist, cloistered, up on the hill type of unreality, but in the reality of life. With all the problems that he has, anybody who says, “I am a Christian”, anybody who says, “I believe in Jesus.” Needs to believe in these promises. “All these things I have said to you” says Jesus, “So that my joy would be complete in you. My peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you.”

As someone who says, “I am a Christian” I need to ditch the deceptions of this world. The empty promises of an elusive happiness that happens for a week or a month or a year. But then evaporates. And to choose to be transformed into someone who lays hold of the promises of God. And then enjoyment of the peace and a joy that Jesus promises not matter what is going on. That is what we are going to talk about over the next few minutes we have together.

But just before we do that, let me pray, “Father, sometimes when we are going through difficult things, it is so hard to lay hold of your promises of peace and of joy. So father we pray in the name of Jesus that as we come to your word and open it up to see what you have to say to us, when we are going through difficult times, we pray that you will give us an open heart and we pray Father God that you would speak so clearly, in a way that your promises part of us in a way father that those promises would live in our hearts. Every step of every step of every day for all eternity. Father we ask that in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.”

Let me introduce you to the apostle Paul. You may know Paul. Paul was an amazing guy. Paul was a Pharisee, he was a religious separatist. He was dead against all these new Christians. He persecuted them, he had them flogged, he had them killed. He supervised the stoning of Stephen. He was a pretty awful guy. He was going to Damascus to persecute some more Christians and on the road to Damascus Jesus appears to him. And he goes through a powerful transformation. And ultimately as a result of that transformation, he is rejected by the religious establishment that he was a part of. You can read about it in his second letter to the Corinthians in fact, if you have a Bible go and grab it and open it up to 2 Corinthians chapters 3 and 4. And if you pick it up he says this beginning at chapter 3 and verse 12, “12 Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. 13 We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at it while the radiance was fading away. 14 But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. 15 Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. 16 But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.” Pretty amazing transformation, Paul is talking about what he used to believe Judaism without Christ as the saviour, without Jesus as the saviour. And as a result of believing this he turns against the religious establishment and they turn against him.

Now Paul says of himself he is not an eloquent preached, he doesn’t have a great physical presence, there are plenty of rival apostles and stuff going on and he caused riots. He was stoned, he was beaten, he was imprisoned, he was ship wrecked and ultimately he was killed for the sake of the Gospel. He was killed because he continued to go on and say, “God has given me a ministry. Everyone thought God was only for the Jews. And in Jesus God wants the good news about Jesus to be proclaimed to the Gentiles.” That is people who weren’t of Jewish origin. As so Paul goes, “Well that’s my job.” So he traveled all around Asia minor, in the east and he went over to the west. And he did amazing things. And yet life was really, really tough.

Look at what he says in Chapter 1 of 2 Corinthians, beginning at verse 8, “8 We do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, about the hardships that we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of our lives. 9 Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death had been passed. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. 10He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, 11as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our[a] behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.”

So, this isn’t some kind of unreality, Paul is speaking about hope form the context of fearing for his life, of being under pressure and being under great tribulation. But look at what he says beginning 2 Corinthians, chapter 4 in verse 1, “1Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart.” So under pressure here is Paul, he is called to do an amazing work from God. And 2,000 years on we look back and we see a man who wrote almost half of the books of the New Testament. We see a man who spread Christianity through the known world and on whose work, much of the church of today is built. Paul was used amazingly by God. And sometimes we look at great leaders, Christian men, great Christian women and we think, “Man you know, I wish I was like that. I wish I had that sort of ministry. That would be wonderful not having to live the life, or live the tribulations, struggles that I have to live.” Well let me tell you something, great Christian men and great Christian women who are leaders of high profile have more struggles than you and I do.

Because they are called to do incredible and amazing things by God. And when we are doing incredible amazing things by God, there is always opposition. There is always struggle, there is always pain. There are always issues and problems and fears to overcome and to deal with. And Paul says, “Therefore, because of all of that since through God’s mercy we have His ministry, we do not lose heart.”

What’s that therefore pointing back to? It’s pointing back to the previous verse, Chapter 3 verse 18 says this, “And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” Because God is here, because is using my circumstances to change me, from glory to glory. To look more like Jesus. Because God is using those lousy circumstances for His glory, I will not lose heart.

We know that God is glorious. We know in our heads that God uses difficult circumstances to change us. And to make us warmer and more generous and kinder. And gentler, wiser. God uses those difficult circumstances to do all that stuff. We know in our heads, but all of a sudden when we walk into difficult circumstances we forget it like THAT! We sometimes start thrashing and panicking and carrying on like God has disappeared. Like God is not in control. The question is how do we lay hold of that glory in a way that it transforms our lives. How do we lay hold of the reality of Gods glory in a way that becomes a part of the fabric of our spirits? Have a look at the next verse, chapter 4 verse 2, “Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. 3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5 For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. 6For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness, “made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.”

Now at the beginning of the reading, Paul says, “We don’t do rotten things, we are not conceitful, we don’t manipulate things behind the scene.” You know something, when you and I are under pressure, when we are in fear of our lives or our futures or our careers or our families, when we are struggling the first thing we want to do… we want to act up bad. You know, we want to complain and grumble and blame someone or manipulate situations. When life squeezes us, when we are under pressure, what inside gets squeezed out. There is one of two things that comes our, either the devil or Jesus. Paul was a Pharisee. He was a religious nut, a separatist. He came from a rotten political religious system. Which was all about manipulation. And he renounced that. Even though he was about prestige, even though it was about his career, even though it was his future and status and promotion and money… he renounced that. To preach the good news about Jesus Christ, to the gentiles!

The Jewish names for Gentile used to mean dogs… to the dogs! And he made a decision, he said “Look when it gets tough, I am just going to rely on God because I know that from one tough time to the next, God’s going to change me from one level of glory up to the next level of glory. And the next time I go through some tough things, he is going to take me up to the next level of glory. And more and more and more and more I am going to start looking like Jesus to these people.

Tough times are hard. Tough times are painful, tough times are never fun. And when you and I are tempted to behave badly, because the people around us are behaving badly. Let me read it to you again, in fact this translation comes from the Message translation chapter 4 verse 2, Paul says, ” 2We refuse to wear masks and play games. We don’t maneuver and manipulate behind the scenes. And we don’t twist God’s Word to suit ourselves. Rather, we keep everything we do and say out in the open”

No half measures, no mucking around, no compromises. Paul decided, and I wonder whether we don’t need to do the same thing. I wonder whether we don’t need to look at our lives and look at our circumstances and say, “God some of the things going on in my life right now, I don’t enjoy and they are pressure and they are painful and they hurt. But no matter what happens I am going to believe that you are God. I am going to believe Father God that you have all of these situations in my life under control.”

Let’s pick it up in 2nd Corinthians chapter 4 beginning at verse 7, this is what Paul says about the treasure, “But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 8 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 10 We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 11For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body. 12 So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.”

In other words Paul is talking about a treasure. And that treasure is the good news about Jesus. That treasure is the truth that Jesus came to die for me, for you, to give us eternal life, reconciliation with God. To make us acceptable when we stand before the great and mighty God. And he talks about this coffer, this treasury, this store house of jewels and wealth, the glory of God. The treasury in an earthen vessel. A vessel made of clay. Like a household utensil. And the picture he is drawing is the beauty and the glory and the presence of God in you, in me. I am the earthen vessel, you are the earthen vessel. So what is he saying? The good news is veiled from some people. You know they are after the other happiness they are blinded, but not us. We have the revelation, we have the treasure, we have the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who is the same God who has shone the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ in your heart and in my heart. That is the treasure and that treasure is in clay jars. Why is it in clay jars? We have this treasure in jars of clay to show this all surpassing power is from God and not from us.

Why is it that we have this beautiful knowledge of Jesus? Why is it that you and I have eternal life and this certain future and this wonderful abundant relationship with God. And yet we still struggle, we still have things going on around us. Paul answers it here.. ,”So that people look at us and don’t get confused between us and God”

The amazing things that happen in the lives of other people through me, it’s not me, its God. The amazing things that happen in the lives of other people through you, its not you… it’s God through you. It’s a partnership, that amazing power that comes through us through this treasury, that we have in us, is a power that comes from God. And Paul says the reason that we aren’t easy street, the reason we are jars of clay, the reason that we suffer trials and tribulations is so people don’t get confused between you and God. Between me and God. Imagine if you and I were great men and women of God doing wonderful things from God. And we were completely rich and completely perfect and everything in our lives were wonderful, had everything together and nothing went wrong around us. And everything was always easy. People would look at us and say, “Man I could never be like that person.” I can never have that sort of thing. I am just not in that league. God doesn’t want that. God wants other people to look at you and to look at me and to see him. To see him oozing out through the cracks in our jars of clay. Through the crack in you and me.

And we should expect to live out the death and the suffering of Christ in our flesh so that others around us will see and experience the glory of God. That is why he says, “I am carrying the death of Jesus around in me. I am suffering so that other people will see God coming out through that.” It’s a kind of amazing thing… almost confusing sometimes picture of imperfect people being God’s agents in this earth. For a perfect God of glory and love and peace and joy. The natural Christian response to bad stuff is good stuff. The natural Christian response to bad stuff is a decision that we have the power of the Holy Spirit and sometimes it is going to hurt. And sometimes it can be hard. And sometimes it can be struggle, there is no padded cross in the Kingdom of God.

But no matter what happens, no matter what the world throws us. No matter how hard, how pressed, how perplexed, how persecuted, how struck down… we are carrying around in our body the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus would be revealed in us too.

And the reality is if we try and save our lives we will lose them. If I tried and pamper my body I am going to lose it. But if I am prepared to lose everything for Jesus… like Paul did… then I will gain everything.

That’s why Paul talks with this poignant picture of carrying around the death of Jesus in our bodies, so that his life will be visible to others.

John the Baptist put it this way, he said, “I am must decrease that he may increase.” Can we get a revalation today, when we are going through difficult times, God doesn’t call us to whinge and complain. “Shut up and die already” The point of all of this is God wants us to “Die to self” through our experience as you and I die to self, and it’s painful. And it’s not fun, buy as we do we become set free to shine the glory of God into this world.

And so when life afflictions squeeze you, and when lifes affliction squeeze me what comes oozing out of that jar of clay, is the love and the mercy and glory of God. And despite everything, despite everything he continues to go and tell people about Jesus.

Because he knows that the one who raised Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus. I am reading here from 2 Corinthians chapter 4 beginning at verse 14, “… because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence. 15All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

Why does Paul keep doing this… because he has an eternal hope. He has a hope that he knows, that he knows, that he knows, that he has eternal life in Jesus Christ.

Then we are going through struggles as people who are followers of Jesus Christ, we can get down trodden. We can complain, we can react badly, we can whinge buy “it ain’t gonna help”. Or we can look at our circumstances, through what Paul says here in 2nd Corinthians chapter 4, and say, “Gods got a purpose, Gods got a plan. God’s got some amazing power that he wants to flow through us. And when all is said and done. What will it look like. When this age is over, when one life is over…”

Have you ever tried to imagine “what it will be like when you walk by his side. When his face is in front of you. What do your eyes see, surrounded by his Glory, what will your heart feel. Will you dance before Jesus, or in awe of him be still. Will you stand in his presence or fall to your knees, will you sing Hallelujah, will you be able to speak at all. Can you imagine.” (Paraphrased from the Song, ‘Imagine’ by Mercy Me)

What’s our heart focused on. What is your heart, my heart focused on. The present or the great unseen reality Jesus himself.