DISASTER INTO TRIUMPH
Posted by: henkf <henkf@...>
TURNING TRAGEDY AND DISASTER INTO TRIUMPH
INTRODUCTION:
TEXT: 2 Chron 32.1-8
A. The same sun shines on everything - it softens the butter and hardens the clay.
1. Adversity comes, and it is neutral - it is neither good nor bad.
a. It depends on how we respond to it.
b. That is what we want to talk about - about how we can turn adversity in our lives to triumph and victory.
c. And so it is with our text.
2. Listen to these words. "After these things came Sennacherib."
a. Strange words. After what things? After the fine good king Hezekiah came onto the throne following after his father, the wickedest king that ever lived in Judah, Ahaz.
b. Godless, idolatrous, immoral - a long era of falling away from God.
c. Then came this young king - 25 year old. He cleansed the temple, threw out all the debris, restored the Passover and its observance, and restored the priesthood.
d. He tore down the idols and threw them in the ditches outside the city. he brought back righteousness, morality, decency and justice.
3. "And after these things" - what happened?
a. What came "after these things"? Joy? Peace? Abundance?
How about victory?
b. Nope. The writer records it as tho writing a gigantic question mark across the pages of history.
c. “After these things..." then came Sennacherib, the very emblem of all adversity, tragedy, trouble, and disaster.
B. This tyrant came our of Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, with his hordes of people dressed in red tunics and red shields, and all their chariots and brass swords. They swept across as far as the Grecian Islands plundering everywhere they went.
1. Then they turned and came down the way of the sea where the armies today have been fighting in Lebanon across the Leontes River, down thru the famous Daog River pass into Palestine:
a. Attacking the defense cities of Judah, taking thousands captive and scorching the earth behind them..
b. At last, they came in the valley outside Jerusalem and waited to take these good people of God and their king.
c. “After these things..." - "then came Sennacherib!"
2. Why does adversity come? Why does it seem to come more to God's people? Why does it come to the righteous, the good, the young, the innocent? Why does it come to you and me just when we are trying to do what is right? Just when we are being obedient to God. Why does it come then?
a. It’s an age-old story, isn't it? That is the story of the ancient one, the narrative of Job. Here he is, sitting outside on the ash heap away from the city.The whirlwind has come and swept away his cattle and all his possessions.
b. The Chaldeans have taken his children away. He has lost his children and now his friends (if you want to call these fellas "friends"). He has lost his reputation. His body is covered with boils and sores and he says, "O God, I have tried to be righteous - I have done my best. Why Lord, all this adversity?"
c. That is the call and the cry of the saints. I believe that Paul cried in this way sometimes.
d. Or John on the island of Patmos.
C. So often we hear this cry. This week a young man (Dwight) died. He was diagnosed a few months ago with cancer. He was a preacher (a good one) now a few months later he is gone.
1. He was still a young man - in his early 30's.
a. He sees his health shattered, practically overnight.
b. What he had worked for all his life he was never able to truly enjoy.
2. A short while before his diagnoses his brother in law ( a missionary tin Hong Kong died of a heart attack)
D. “Then came Sennacherib..."
1. Our lesson today tells us how God turns Sennacherib - or adversity - into triumph and victory.
2. Let's see how it happens>
I. LOOK TO GOD
A. What does Hezekiah do?
1. He calls the people together and says:
a. v 7 - "Be strong and courageous, be not afraid nor dismayed for the king of Assyria, nor for the multitude that is with them: With him is an arm of flesh but with us is the Lord our God to help us, and to fight our battles."
b. Why does adversity come? Sometimes it comes, I believe, to send us to our knees before God to acknowledge our faith and total dependence on Him.
c. Too many of us live on our own resources. "I can take care of myself. I can handle whatever comes along."
d. We do not want to admit our frailty.
e. We men especially, with our enormous egos, never want to admit that we cannot handles our problems; it is not "manly" to admit that sometimes in order to put us on our knees saying, "I cannot cope with this," God sends adversity.
2. And you cannot handle your life either! Not a single, solitary one of us!
a. I cannot handle my life.
b. Adam could not handle his life by himself in the garden of Eden.
c. Peter could not handle his life even in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ.
3. I don't care how high our morality might be, how great our ideals, how righteous our lives, WE CANNOT HANDLE OUR LIVES ALL BY OURSELVES.
B. That is the basic principle behind Alcoholics Anonymous.
1. No man ever conquers his alcoholism, they say, until he gets to the bottom of the barrel and says, "I can NOT handle this - I just cannot do this alone. I need help."
a. That is the first step on the road to recovery.
b. The effect of our adversities depends on how we respond.
c. It either hardens us or melts us; it either makes us bitter or better.
2. There was a young couple who experienced great adversity in their marriage - bitterness, hostility, competition, and selfishness - sin!
a. They could feel themselves drifting apart.
b. One day the man went to one of the elders in their congregation and said, "We simply cannot go on like this. We need to put God back into our marriage. We need each other. Our little baby needs both of us."
c. This godly elder said, "Let's get on our knees. All of us."
d. They fell on their knees, Before God and each other they said, "Lord, we cannot make this marriage work without Your help. Help us put our home back together again."
3. Soon their near tragedy was transformed into triumph.
a. And all the things that have happened to them - the Sennacherib - were the means of bringing them back together again.
b. It brought them to their knees and it brought them back to God. That must come first.
II. ADVERSITY LIFTS
A. We cannot stop here. Just getting on your knees and praying is not enough, we have to pray and have faith as if it is all up to God and then get our hands and feet to work as tho it all depends on us.
1. Let's see what Hezekiah did.
a. v 3 - "He took counsel with his princes and mighty men to stop the waters..."
b. They dammed the spring at Salome so that there would be no water flowing to the valley.
c. Dammed the valley and stopped the water there.
2. v 5 - "He strengthened himself... and built up all the walls that were broken, and raised up the towers, and another wall without...and made darts and shields in abundance."
3. v 6 - Then he organized the people "and he set captains of war over them."
a. Adversity comes to life us up so that we can one day realize our full potential in life.
b. We live our lives @ 5% most of the time. That's sinful!
4. v 7 - He said to them, "Be strong and courageous, be not afraid nor dismayed for the king of Assyria, nor for all the multitudes that is with him..."
a. King Hezekiah gives his people a little "pep talk" - he talked about motivation.
b. We need this kind of encouragement and edification if we are ever going to meet our goal of spiritual maturity.
c. One of the primary functions of assembling together - edification. We are, however, far stronger than we probably realize.
d. From time to time it is important to talk about how we should be striving to fulfil our potential mentally, physically and spiritually.
5. Story:
A number of yrs ago, in a mental institution just outside Boston, MASS, a young girl known as "Little Annie" was locked in the dungeon. This institution was one of the more enlightened ones for the treatment of the mentally disturbed. However, the doctors felt that a dungeon was the only place for those who were "hopelessly" insane. In Little Annie's case, they saw no hope for her, so she was confined to a living death in that small cage which received little light and even less hope.
About that time, an elderly nurse in the institution was nearing retirement. She felt there was hope for all of God's creatures, so she started taking her lunch into the dungeon and eating outside Little Annie's cage. She felt perhaps she could communicate some love and hope to that small girl.
In many ways, Little Annie was like an animal. On occasion, she would violently attack the person who came into her cage. At other times, she would completely ignore them. Soon, the doctors in the institution noticed a change was taking place. After a period of time, they decided to move Little Annie upstairs. Finally, the day came when this "hopeless case" was told she could return home. But Little Annie did not wish to leave.
The place had meant so much to her she felt she could make a contribution if she stayed and worked with the other patients. The elderly nurse had seen and brought so much in her life that Little Annie felt she could see and help develop something in others.
Many yrs later, Queen Victoria of England, while pinning England's highest award on a foreigner, asked Helen Keller, "How do you account for your remarkable accomplishments in life? How do you explain the fact that even tho you were both blind and deaf, you were able to accomplish so much?" Without a moment's hesitation, Helen Keller said that had it not been for Ann Sullivan (Little Annie), the name of Helen Keller would have been unknown.
It's not too well known, but Helen Keller was a normal, healthy baby before some mysterious disease left her almost helpless and hopeless. Anne Sullivan saw Helen Keller as one of God's very special people,treated her as she saw her, loved her, disciplining her, played, prayed and pushed and worked with her until the flickering candle that was her life became a beacon that helped light the pathways and lighten the burdens of people all over the world. Helen Keller influenced millions after her own life was touched by "Little Annie."
B. during times of stress, during times of adversity, we can see just how strong or weak we really are. If our strength was never tested we would never know just how much we need to grow.
1. I read about a boy in Tampa, FL, Chas Rogers, a teenager, who was working on his car. He jacked it up and crawled under it. The jack slipped and the car came crashing down upon him and pinned him there.
a. His mother and step-father came rushing out of the house; the step-father looked at the 3500 lb car and said, "There is not a human being in the world who can lift that car", and he reached for the jack.
b. But, that little mother of his, she took hold of the back bumper and literally heaved it into the air and he rolled free.
c. She weighed 117lbs, was 39 yrs old and had been sick!
2. This is what is known as a "stress miracle."
a. Dr Selye, @ the University of Montreal, has documented many of these cases.
b. During the war, a sailor rushed onto the deck of a carrier and picked up an unexploded 300 lb bomb and heaved it over the side. The next day he was unable to shove a similar bomb or move it. It was not a threat.
c. "Stress miracles" - The army is studying this phenomenon @ Geo Washington University. DuPont has a psychologist working on it all the time.
3. How do we tap these tremendous resources within us?
a. It take a crisis - a challenge. We learned there are certain elements necessary.
b. 1st of all it takes great motivation.
c. There has to be a pinpoint concentration.
d. And there has to be an elimination of negative thinking.
C. We know this true physically and psychologically - but is it true spiritually?
1. All is possible for God. "With men it is impossible, but with God all things are possible."
a. This verse appears slightly ambiguous. I know the main point is that nothing is impossible *for* God; but why is it worded, "but *with* God all things are possible?"?
b. One man or woman alone can do a lot, but with a team some things that even an army of men can never do, can be done!
c. With God, all things are possible" - You and God together can do more than an entire army alone.
d. Mk 9 - A loving father brings his demon-possessed son to Jesus. This poor child was suffering terribly. The father said, "If thou canst do anything, have compassion on us and help us."
Jesus said to him, "If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believes."
e. Paul said, "I can do all things in Christ who strengthens me."
2. Is all really possible to us as well?
a. When our lives are right with God - when we have been on our knees believing - when we acknowledge complete and total dependence on Him and when we say sincerely with Paul, "I can do all things", then *something happens" and it happens every time.
b. We can then rise to heights of achievement and victory we have never known before.
c. Isn't it tragic to think about people of God, you and me, going thru life defeated, going on less than half-power, negatively reacting to everything around us, when God really wants to use those adverse experiences, those hardships, to lift us higher, to make us stronger, and give us victory?
3. "Greatness is never achieved in any life unless there are a lot of problems to overcome. Only when we have to push against problems and difficulties do we develop strength." ~ Norman Vincent Peale
III. A TESTIMONY
A. Something happened down there is that valley that remains
as a testimony to God and his glory even to this day.
1. Historians say it may have been the plague. I know it was the hand of God.
a. Historians say that 185,000 were wiped out for some cause.
b. The Bible is the source for a totally trustworthy account.
2. vv 21-22
a. All the mighty men in the camps of the king of Assyria
b. Sennacherib was killed by his own kinsmen in the House of God.
c. And, they never came against the people of God again.
B. Here lives for all of us a testimony on the power of God at work in His world in the lives of His people who are determined to stop feeling sorry for themselves, get down on their knees and say, "Our strength comes from the Lord."
C. We must acknowledge our complete dependence on the Lord and fight Sennacheribs where ever they may be found until he raises his ugly head and gets the message that WE ARE THE PEOPLE OF GOD, and, WE PROPOSE TO TURN TRAGEDY INTO TRIUMPH AND EVERY DISASTER INTO VICTORY. WE WILL NOT BE DEFEATED ANE WE WILL NOT BE OVERCOME.
CONCLUSION:
This rather long lesson is yours. I am finished and if you need to obey your Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ, take hold of this opportunity.
http://www3.sympatico.ca/henkf
....
************************************ Weekly messages of hope and comfort for those who want to learn more about Jesus and His glorious plan for our lives. To find out more about our ministry go to : worldoutreach.ca/sotn.htm visit our "Cartoon Site" www.worldoutreach.ca/DearGod/ ************************************* -- To unsubscribe, send ANY message to: sermonsonthenet-unsubscribe@welovegod.org