10/30/2016
Trusting, Praising & Giving Thanks During Troubles – John Tanner
- Summary of previous sermons:
- We must expect trials, accept and even embrace them. By staying yielded to God, He can use our trials to help others.
- God is sovereign over our lives, over all nations, over time, and over all His creation. He is always with us, in all circumstances.
- We are COMMANDED to praise God and give thanks in ALL
- I will praise God’s name in song and glorify him with thanksgiving. [Psalm 69:30]
- Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! [Philippians 4:4]
- … always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. [Ephesians 5:20]
- Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. [1 Thessalonians 5:16-18]
Even during the hardest times, our praise and thankfulness are to be true and heartfelt. We can’t fool God with superficial words or religious rituals. He knows our heart! And He will help us grow in faith. [Mark 9:14-29]
- To be truly thankful, we must choose to trust God, even in our toughest circumstances [Psalm 42:9-11]. We trust Him by committing ourselves to Him and abiding in Him. [1 Peter 4:19]. This is possible because God is trustworthy! [1 Peter 5:10]
- We can never fully understand God’s ways, but He gives insights into His reasons for our suffering:
- To enable us to rely on Him, not ourselves [2 Corinthians 1:7-9]
- To bring praise, glory & honor to Jesus Christ [1 Peter 1:6-7, 5:10-11]
- To enable us to be used by God to comfort others
- To amplify our witness to the world [Romans 5:3-5]
- A closer look at Ephesians 5:20 and 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18: Giving thanks IN all circumstances and giving thanks FOR Who God is!
We have ample reasons to praise Him! We can ALWAYS proclaim that…
- God is good. [Psalm 136:1]
- He is perfect. [Psalm 18:30]
- He is our Rock. [Psalms 18:2]
- God is sovereign and in control. [Psalm 115:3]
- God loves us. [Romans 8:38-39] For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
- He is always with us. [Deuteronomy 31:6] Be strong & courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.
- God will carry us through our difficulties. [Psalm 28:9]
- He will give us His peace. [Philippians 4:7]
- God is ever faithful. [1 Corinthians 1:9]
- God values suffering! He uses our suffering to transform us, to make us more like Jesus and to mold our character. Thus, we become a useful tool to comfort others and to draw them to our Savior. [Romans 5:3-4; 2 Thessalonians 1:5; Philippians 1:29]. Through all of it, He preserves our life. [Psalms 119:50]
CONCLUSION… Psalm 147:3-6; Colossians 1:15-17; & creation!
Psalm 147: Our all-powerful Creator God controls the universe AND Our tender compassionate God binds up our fragile bodies.
Colossians 1: The Son of God – “all things have been created through Him and for Him… and in Him all things hold together”
Creation mirrors God’s truth:
Macro-view – the Whirlpool galaxy (M51)
Micro-view – the laminin protein molecule
We have a Savior who holds all things together! We can trust God during our most trying times, because we are “being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience.” [Colossians 1:11]