Making the Mundane Miraculous I, Overcoming Discouragement

I want to begin with a question this morning. Nothing's going to help me here. You all see that? Question for you this morning. For how many of you does that describe your life? Huh? Over-stuffed, over-committed, over-extended, packed, huh? And you know what? The more I listen to our church, the more I hear from people, they couldn't do another thing. My life is so full. I'm on overload. I'm hitting the red line. And you know what happens if this condition goes on for long? It's not just weariness that we feel. When your life is like that, you get discouraged. You lose the fire. You lose the sense of passion. You lose the sense of resolve that you can keep going forward. And if it goes unchecked, it isn't long before discouragement can spin on down into depression and even despondency. So we're going to look today at what to do about lives that are too full so that some of us short-circuit what I believe the enemy wants to do in some of our lives, and that is to lead us down the path of defeat. This whole thing of discouragement, friends, is something that's out there. You may be blessed right now and walking in a great time, but I want you to know there's a lot of folks who feel discouraged. I know some of that myself. I've also discovered that when discouraged people get near encouraged people, more often than not, what? Yeah, the discouraged people tend to prevail. Discouragement seems to be contagious, even more than encouragement at times. But here's the good news. Discouragement is not fatal. And in fact, it's very curable. If you take the appropriate steps to put your focus on the right things. Now, Peter, in his epistle, is writing to widely scattered groups of believers from all over the place. You know, Galatia, Pontus, Cappuccino, and all these other places that Scott read a few moments ago. These were called by Peter strangers, disenfranchised. Their bags, the bags of their lives, were stuffed with different kinds of things that brought discouragement. Things such as being, you know, not being citizens, rather, of any land. Having no rights to vote or to participate in the government of their land. They were people who were, in many cases, without property, without significant possessions. The people that Peter were writing to, in many cases, as we'll see later, because of their faith, were facing consistent and constant persecution. And sometimes that led to even imprisonment, torture, and death. Folks, their bags were packed in a different way. Their lives were on the line. And I'm not sure that anyone in this place recently has been threatened with death for your faith. But I have to say, as I've talked to a lot of you, as I've looked at my own life to some degree, I realize, I'm like this. And I want something to change. I want the grace of God that flows through this book to touch my life, because I believe God has a better life. You can't do much when your life is like this. You're not available to God. You're not moving in what God's designed you to know. This kind of baggage messes up lives. And so, Peter says to us, the way you begin to get this sort of stuff unpacked is to understand one core idea. Now, I'm going to give you one core idea today with three parts. The key issue here that Peter begins to talk about, if you'll look at it, is salvation. Write it down, the first blank, salvation. Peter said, the way to deal with discouragement is to understand your salvation. A brand new life is what God offers us. And Peter begins by saying this very clearly. This thing of salvation, might I add, that word gets a bad rap. In our contemporary culture, when you say salvation or are you saved, it connotes in a lot of people's minds old kinds of sort of extremisms and so on. And it isn't the kind of word that some people want to associate with their relationship with God, even though it's a very biblical word, because who is called a savior? Yeah. But what does the word salvation mean? Many people simply think of salvation in terms of, well, forgiveness of sins. But let me read from a little Bible dictionary. The word salvation, in most contexts, sozo and soterios, which is an adverbial form, reveal God's action in Christ to deliver humanity from the powers of sin, death and Satan, which drain life on earth of its joy and threaten each person with eternal loss. It is to deal with this danger to human beings whom God loves that He acted as soter, as savior. You see, the Lord not only wants to save you unto your eternal destiny, He wants to save you from the things that rob you of the joy and purpose of life. Friends, let's get it down straight. I'm wondering if, in our culture, we sort of peg salvation as something out there that's going to happen to us, when, in fact, salvation begins the moment that we receive Christ, develops in our life as we walk with Christ, and blossoms, like some of the trees and bushes and so finally are now, blossoms into fullness when we are captured up to be with Christ forever. That's the kind of salvation that we're talking about. And that's what changes discouragement into the kind of joyful life that the Lord has intended for us. That's the kind of life that God wants us to live. I'm not sure how many of us kind of live in this sort of, well, yes, I guess I'm saved and one day it'll all work out kind of attitude, instead of living fully in the moment that the Lord has destined for us, which is now. When you go on vacation, little question for you, when you go on vacation, when does that vacation start? Does it start when you arrive at the beach or does it start when you get in the car to go to the beach? Now, we don't really feel like you're on vacation until when? Oh, until you're laying on the beach and the rays are coming down and you're starting with your skin cancer. That's when you feel like you're really getting on vacation. But in fact, when does that vacation start? Oh, as soon as I get in the car, close the door. We always have a prayer when we start out in a car journey now. That's vacation. That's it. Your salvation is the same way. It's not just when you're kind of laying on the beach of God's eternal glory. It begins now when you receive and walk in Him. And Peter said that's the core idea. Now, it has three facets. Three facets that I want to touch on real quickly. The first one is that you are chosen by God. Roman number one, you are chosen by God. Wow, this is such an important thing. If you're going to get anywhere in unpacking this stuff, and I'm just going to start now. If we're going to unpack some of the trash that holds our lives back and make some progress here. Depth. What is depth? I wouldn't have any idea. Okay. If we're going to unpack some of the things that discourage us, the first thing we've got to know about salvation is that we are chosen by God. Look on your outline. You have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father. Ephesians 1 verse 4 says the same thing. For He chose us in Him before the creation of the earth to be holy and blameless in His sight. Friends, when I get discouraged, the first thing I want to remind myself is, wait a minute, I didn't start this thing. God started it. God chose me. He looked all over the earth and said, well, that one. And I don't know why He did that. One of the mysteries of God is why. Those of us who've been privileged, and I call it a privilege, to travel in third world countries in particular. In your chain links this week, our prayer focused nation is India. 920 million people, nearing a billion people. And I remember distinctly walking through the streets of Bombay, India, seeing countless tens of thousands of people on those streets, and knowing that most all of them were walking into a godless eternity, serving Hindu demonic gods. And I said, God, why did You choose me? Why did Your love descend on me? Why did You call me into Your family and put me in a wonderful church like this, in a great community like this? And friends, let me say one thing. That is one of the great motivators of my life. I want to respond to being chosen by giving my life away to those who've not yet come to know Him. That's one way we show our appreciation to God. We've been chosen by Him. And when you get discouraged sometimes, you wonder, well, God's probably fed up with me. He's probably had it with my disobedience, and He probably doesn't want anything to do with me. And we need to remember that when God chose you, Romans 5.8 says, while we were yet sinners, and that's another word that's not popular in our culture, Christ died for us. He loved you when you were a sinner. In Romans 5.10, Nancy, if you'll put it up, please, Romans 5.10 tells us, if God loved us that much when we were sinners, now that we've been reconciled and called friends, brought back to Him, what blessings He must have for us now that we are His friends, and He's living within us. And so we need to understand, though discouragement might linger, God doesn't get fed up and angry. He loves you and wants you to celebrate the fact that you belong to Him. You know, sometimes we treat our pets better than we think God treats us, don't we? How many of you think your pet's a part of your family? Darn right. Boy, I get your cat, dog, and hamster letters now regularly. I haven't told you about Morgan for a few months. You know, that's our dog that almost died a little before Easter and now is on her generic heart medicine, just pumping along, doing great. Every day is a day of grace, but Morgan's been a part of our family. I mean, you know, she comes at... I'll tell you, you know all the stories. Those of you who have animals that are basically just... they've taken over. They do. I mean, look at the house. The house looks like the animals live in it. We share it with them, and that's the way it works. And most times, Morgan's a great dog. But a while back, this was a couple of several years ago now, Morgan went out one day, just romping around, just doing her little thing. Went next door, and our neighbors had horses then. Now, our dog's a golden retriever, and horses are messy animals. And our dog, somehow... I mean, when I know... Have you ever said, you know, sometimes I think, they're just like people. You ever say that about your dog or cat? They're like a person. Until they do something like what Morgan did with this horse. Because Morgan followed her nose to where the horse was, and then Morgan found this huge horse chip. And you know what? I'm just being honest here. This is what happened. And if you have one of those big dogs, they just somehow, they get down here, and they go, like this. Don't they? You're all looking crazy. Your dog doesn't do that. You've been to some kind of sanctified dog school then. Because my dog just does this. And then Morgan came back in the house, and one of the kids came down and said, man, what is that? And we're looking around, and here's Morgan. She's in a corner, sitting in a corner, because she knows I'm in deep trouble here. This is not good. Now, at that moment, I had to decide, this dear Morgan, part of our family, what was I going to do? Take her out back. You're not in this family. No. I just decided with Morgan, part of my family, I'll take her down back, and I'm going to get out there. I'm going to find the coldest water I can, just so you know. I'll have to clean you all off, and shine you all up again, and bring you back in the family. Now, friends, I mean, we treat our pets with that kind of tolerance, and yet we think sometimes, when we stumble, that God's far off, and God doesn't understand something. You're chosen by God. And when you fail, it doesn't surprise Him. When you're discouraged, He knows about it. And He says to you, come to Me, and unburden this stuff. Unpack it some. Unload it. And let Me carry it. The fact is, His mercy and grace have not changed toward you. And no matter what you roll in, He's going to love you. Knowing this, by the way, just five things that come with being part of the family of God. Just jot these down. I won't elaborate. You can look up the Scriptures. You are accepted in the Beloved, Ephesians 1.6, which means that you always have a welcoming committee with God. Number two, you have forgiveness of sin. The moment you're convicted and you repent of that sin and turn to God, the Lord says, hey, I paid the price. Number three, you have authority in the name of Jesus. That's a teaching in and of itself. Your family name has authority when you walk in. Number four, you have an inheritance in heaven set aside for you and kept, as we'll see a little later on, in 1 Peter. Number five, you have a guarantee of all this. How many of you sensed the Holy Spirit was bearing witness in you earlier on today as we were worshiping? You sensed the Spirit of God in your life. Anyone? See, that's the witness of God. Ephesians 1.13-14 says that's the guarantee. That's how you know that you belong to Him. You're a member of His family. So that's number one. No matter what you're going through today, you're part of His family. Friends, understand something. This is what I call an anchor truth. This is something... You know, when a mall goes in, and I know some of you live up in Cranberry, and talking about malls is a big problem right now. But when a mall goes in, they have what they call anchor stores. You know what an anchor business is? It's a big name, like Kaufman's here, or Lazarus, or Penny's, or Sears, or something. When that store goes into a mall, then the little guys, and all the little ones come alongside of them. Well, this is an anchor truth. So I want you to make sure that you've circled in your Bible if you have it, and on this sheet if you don't, that you are chosen by God. And I want you to say that with me. Say, I am chosen by God. Say it. I am chosen by God. And if you know that, then look at the end of verse 2. Grace and peace will be yours in abundance. Because you're loved. This is the basis. Get that last blank filled in there. Come on. Get that last blank in. You get it? Grace and peace. You get it? Yeah, I got it. Get that last blank. Yeah. Yeah, well, Nancy's taking notes. All the accountants are saying, where are they going to put that blank in down there? The basis of our grace and peace. And friends, let me say very, very poignantly this morning, grace is simply God's power unto salvation to live fully unto Him. It's the favor of God. All those wonderful concepts. And the peace we're talking about is freedom from fear and anxiety. Can I say this? If there's one pastoral prayer I pray regularly over this congregation and individual members of it, it's for grace and peace. You give me grace, I can face anything. You give me peace, and I'll overcome anything. Grace and peace. If you've got that, you're a happy person. Grace and peace. All right, second thing you need to know when you're walking through a discouragement, second way that you can overcome it, by grabbing the core idea of salvation is to understand that God is walking with you in the middle of it. The Lord is saying, I've prepared this incredible salvation for you, this brand new life. And it's not just something you're going to get down the road. You've got it now. And even though, as Peter says here, even though you're having some difficult times, I want you to know I'm right there with you. Look at this. Verse three. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In his great mercy, he has given us new birth. Friends, what does it mean to be born again? Another term that doesn't get a whole lot of popular play. It's kind of characterized here, or caricatured, I should say, in our culture. Have you ever been, how many of you have ever been painting a room and wish you could start over again, halfway through it? I don't like this color. Anyone do that? I've done that. Some of you will be doing that when you get your project going. How many of you have ever been on a vacation, gotten halfway through the vacation, and said, I wish I could start over? I wish I'd known this about where I was staying. How many of you have been halfway through a life and said, man, I wish I could start again? That's what it means to be born again. It's a brand new start in what really matters in God. And there are people in this service today that need to know this new birth that comes through the resurrection power of Christ Jesus. Look what it says. You've been born into a living hope. And let's get one thing very clear. As I talk with people, they say, well, Christianity is about rules. Christianity is about a better way of living. Christianity is about doing different than your neighbor. Christianity is about trying to please God instead of myself. I had a person tell me this week, he had a great conversation about balancing out the bad and the good in their life. And they've been a pretty good person. They've made some bad mistakes, but the last few years of their life, they said, I'm going to really live well and balance it all out. And friend, that's not going to do it. We need a living hope. We need someone inside of us. Let me use an analogy. Years ago, when I first, when I graduated from college, I had a job for a while and things were okay. But it was back in the years when Vietnam War was really rolling. And I knew everyone that I graduated with was facing the whole draft and everything. It was an interesting time. So after a while, I managed to get into a Marine Corps officer training program. And when the time was up, I went in. Interesting. I went in as a college graduate. As most college graduates, I knew how to do everything. So I thought. But really nothing could have prepared me for what I was about to face in those initial weeks in the Marine Corps. Understand, I flunked out of Boy Scouts. And so I had a lot to learn in those initial weeks. And I remember thinking, hmm, this isn't going real well. And got a little overwhelmed. All kinds of stuff I'd never done before I was being asked to do. All kinds of, I mean, there were ropes to climb and things to do I'd never even seen or heard of before. And all along, we had a drill sergeant that just loved to remind me that if I flunked out, or anybody did, that, hey, it'd be a real quick bus ride down to Parasat and you'd be in Vietnam in two months, boy. And he was real happy to let me know that. And everyone else, it was just like brand new in this whole thing. He'd get in your face just like if you'd seen none of the movies. That's the way it is. And they were just going on and on. And, you know, in my case, it looked like something could happen here. Well, for some reason, as it says, God in His great mercy sent me somebody. A guy named Joe Crockett, who was also in that class, that officer class, who had been a Vietnam War veteran. Two tours. And had done such a phenomenal job as an enlisted man that they had sent him to officer school. In fact, his second tour of duty, he'd won the Navy Cross. If you know anything about military, it's the second highest award, right under the Congressional Medal of Honor. He rescued his own squad single-handedly. And just a phenomenal guy. But for some reason, you know, I think it was pity, he came and said, you need some help here, don't you? And he began to work with me on all the details of what it meant to be a person in the military. I mean, he showed me everything from how to stitch on my boots and buckles to making a quarter bounce off a sheet so I could pass inspections and all that stuff. To the more serious stuff like orienteering through the woods at night. Learning how to deal with, you know, calling incoming mortar fire. You just name it. All the stuff that you have to do, the training you need. And by the end of the time that he was working with me, I mean, I was picking things up. It was great. By the end of the time, I kind of knew what I was doing. And in fact, having him be there beside me, when I woke up in the morning, he was there. When I had a question about, you know, some kind of a particular tactic I needed to learn, he described it for me. When we'd have some kind of long distance running, he'd say, now here's what you got to do in order to get this part of it right, the obstacle, all this stuff. I realized something. I didn't just have a book or a tape. Listen, friends. I didn't just have someone, you know, some memory out there. I had a living hope. And in part because of him, and I'd say largely because of him, I did real well. Made it through and laughed in that sergeant's face. Greatest moment. One of the greatest moments is when you get your commission, they have to salute you. Actually, he was a very kind man after that and was very sincere. Friends, we have a living hope. We don't just have, listen, we don't just have principles and guidance. We have God in us to see us through times of discouragement. There's some people thinking, well, you know, Jay, I hear this and it's wonderful and I know that you're right, but sometimes it just doesn't seem to work. My discouragement just keeps overwhelming me. Look what Peter says. He said, in this you greatly rejoice. What? This living hope. Verse 6, look at it. Though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials, these have come for a certain reason. And so Peter realizes that, yes, they have this living hope, but they're still suffering. How many of you are here today? And if we were real honest, if we turned in twos and threes right now, you'd have to say, you know, the truth of the matter is, I know the pastor is right about this, but I'm still having a real hard time. I still have problems. I still have things that I'm struggling with. I still have that marriage that seems to be going down the tubes. I still have that boss that doesn't understand me. I still have that neighbor who's so difficult to get along with. I still have that financial problem, that physical problem, that relational struggle. Friends, listen. Our living hope is not a guarantee that life is going to go the way we want it to. Understand that Peter writes to people, some of whom were going to die. And we need to realize this, and I know this is hard for us, because as Americans, we want to get it solved, baby. We want to figure out our problem and figure out a solution and go on to the next one and keep after it. And what good is it serving God if He can't deal with our problems? And whether or not we want to admit that, it's something that a lot of us face. Listen to what one author says, Our most natural passion is to make life outside the Garden of Eden a little more like we imagine it would be inside. We are more committed to making life work now than we are to finding and knowing God and living for a later hope. We naturally turn to God only to use Him to improve our present lives. That may not describe you, but I have to say, more than I'd like to admit, I look to God to solve my problems more than I do what I believe Peter and Paul and the other apostles would say, and that is to look to God, number one, so that I would know Him better. Some of the time, these things happen in our lives for the express purpose that you would be forced to come to know God better, because as many great saints have said before us, the only way to know God better is to walk through times of trial and testing of your faith. Look at the next verse, verse 7, These have come, look at it, verse 7, These have come, so your faith of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire, may be proven to be genuine. David, I need that bag there, please. What about your faith? I have here a piece of raw ore with lots, I don't know if you can, can you all see that down there in the front? There's gold in this rock. And if this were properly processed, you could extract the gold and the owner of this precious rock said there's maybe even an ounce of gold in here. He collects these things. And what I like about this, it's tangible and measurable. I can weigh it and feel it and look at it. Peter says your faith, the faith that you gain by going through these trials, is more precious than gold. I wish that we could take our faith out and look at it. Don't you? And I wish we could measure it and put it on a scale and weigh it out and say, God, I have a little bit of faith. I've got a fair amount of faith. How many of you would like to be able to say, God, I want to increase the weight of my faith? I want my faith to... Why? Because the Bible says that the faith that God brings in you is more precious than gold. And that one day in the heavenly realms, God is going to put on display your faith. Don't ask me to explain why it is that way, but friends, God has designed life so that the number one thing that He wants you to do is to learn to trust Him no matter what, to abandon everything, even circumstances when they go south in your own estimation, to trust God so that you can say beyond a shadow of a doubt, even though He slay me, yet will I trust Him. Because that's what's precious to God. That's what's worth more than gold itself in the eyes of the Lord. Friends, I don't know what your faith is like, but I pray that you know that God is walking with you in the midst of whatever you're facing. And I can say this, over the last few years as I've gone through some of those disappointments that you've all faced, the Lord is saying to me over and over and over again, He's saying, Jay, will you trust me? I've prayed for several years for a miraculous healing. Many of you were gracious enough to pray with me about that. Didn't happen. Had to go through surgery. The Lord said, will you trust me that I'm going to use this to my glory? And that's a little illustration. Every one of you have your illustrations, your disappointment, your dream that didn't happen, your person that walked out of your life, your physical condition, your financial condition, your own internal crush of circumstance. God says in the midst of it all, will you trust Him? Why? Because He wants you, more than anything, to know Him. And the only way you can is by walking through it, letting Him build your faith that's more precious than gold. Third thing you need to learn, as I conclude, is this. Not only are you chosen by God, and not only is God walking with you, but number three, you are kept eternally in God. One last thing about salvation. This is such an incredible concept. It is so valuable that God says, you know what? I'm not going to depend on you to make it work out. I'm going to take care of it, and all you've got to do is just come along with me. Look at, as Scott read for us earlier, look at verses 10 and following there. This salvation, concerning this salvation, this salvation of your souls. The prophets who spoke of the grace that was to come searched intently and with the greatest of care. Friends, listen. What God has made available to you, men and women of old poured their lives over the Scriptures of God trying to discern when would this come forth? What was it about? And to their own consternation, they discovered it wasn't about them. It was about those to whom Christ came. This salvation was so phenomenal that not only did the prophets search for it, but look at the end of the verse, verse 12, even angels longed to look on these things. Friends, if I gave you a choice today, would you like to be an angel or would you like to be a believer in Christ? Wow, some people think, wow, wait a minute, are you talking about, you know, am I going to be able to translate myself in heaven and free from pain and all those kinds of things? That sounds like a pretty cool way to live, doesn't it? And God says in His Word, listen, in His design of things, angels are a little lower than redeemed mankind. That they look on you and me who are in Christ and they say, wow, to be a son or daughter of God. I've heard recently some people saying, well, you know, we've seen some angels at work. And I say, well, that's great. I'm delighted for that. There are ministering angels in the Scripture. But you know what? They look at us and say, wow. And so I want to say to you, something that valuable, God's not going to let you go. Now, things are changing all the time. I don't know that things are going to get easier as we go forward. I think they're going to get more difficult. I think we're in this sort of a redemptive lull right now in history. This recent election in Israel, you all need to be watching and praying about that. Things are going to be changing. I said clearly when we were there last May that there is a prophetic destiny upon that nation. It was my number one impression. It's not the history that impressed me. It's where it's going. Peace, peace when there is no peace, the prophet said. And so God says to you, while things change, you need to know one thing, I'm not going to let you go. My hand's going to be on you. You can't just lose your salvation like that. How many of you play around with computers now and then? Ever done anything, any word processing and you put this big document there and then you turn to get, you know, a cup of coffee, turn back, and you push the wrong button and it all went away. Ever do that? I hate that. I hate that. I don't do it very often because I don't put that much in. But when I've done it a few times, get all this done, I don't know. Well, you know what? You can't do that with your salvation. Sometimes folks will take, you know, we're out to dinner together and they'll say, well, Jay, now that we have you here, can we ask just one question before dinner? What's that? What's the unpardonable sin? Oh, man. Because people want to know, if I do this one wrong thing, am I going to be forever excluded from heaven? And I say, well, the unpardonable sin is taking your pastor to dinner and asking him a question like that. No, you just can't drop your salvation like that, friends. God says, I'm committed to you and I will see it through. Jesus said in John 10 and verse 29, they're written in the palm of my hand. No one can snatch them out. They're in the palm of my hand. I'll keep them. So there it is. If you unpack some of these misconceptions, some of the stuff in your life that brings discouragement, get it out of there, then you're able to put these three things in your life. First of all, you're chosen by God. And I want to just get something with a monogram on it that shows that you're part of the family. And so I chose this promise keeper shirt because I'm part of God's family. I want that to always be in my life, in the forefront of my thinking. All right? Second, a pair of shoes because I want to be reminded that God is always walking with me no matter where I go. He's with me. And third, always carry these with you because you see, this one is already locked on to the heart of God. And when you open your life to Jesus Christ at a personal level, and you enter into a relationship with him, no matter what you think about your own miserable state, God said, Ooh. These cheap props. You know, Susie McCabe, where are you when I need you? There you go. See, that's how Keith Kraft does it in Strikeforce. You ever see that? God says, I won't let you go. And you need to know that you're not ever going to be left out by God. When you feel like maybe you can't make it, you say, Lord, you take over. And he says to you, I will. I'll carry you through. Let's stand and pray. Lord, I thank you right now that your promises are sure and that your word is true, even to those who've gathered here today. That you love us very much, Lord. That you're with us in this season. That we needn't fear discouragement, Lord, because we're chosen by you. You're walking with us through it in faith. And Lord, you will keep us, hold us all the way through to the end. And so we say, Lord, let that be true of us. As it was of those first century believers. Let it be unto us, Lord, according to your word today. Let us have the faith that will see us through in Christ's name. Let's sing it together. Belong to me According to your word According to your promises I can stand secure God upon my heart The truth has set me free According to your word According to your promises.